U4 Problems

[desm]

If I leave the U4 running and use my Samsung remote to watch something using Samsung Smart Hub, when I go back to the Wiz I find it locked on the WizOS booting screen which can only be reset by using the rear switch, as well as this any recordings active at this time are fragmented into multiple up to 4 minute sections along with a few sections with no data.

The other problem is that any attempt to load the Hbbtv connection ends up with the Wiz locking up and once again it has to be re started using the rear switch.

After having a lot of problems with subtitles I'm beginning become a bit disillusioned after having many trouble free years with a P1, Lite and assorted other PVRs all of which worked happily straight out of the box after the usual set up processes.

[MrQuade]

If I leave the U4 running and use my Samsung remote to watch something using Samsung Smart Hub, when I go back to the Wiz I find it locked on the WizOS booting screen which can only be reset by using the rear switch, as well as this any recordings active at this time are fragmented into multiple up to 4 minute sections along with a few sections with no data.

Not sure what is going on there, but it is certainly not normal behaviour for a U4. See my next comment regarding possible dodgy firmware.

The other problem is that any attempt to load the Hbbtv connection ends up with the Wiz locking up and once again it has to be re started using the rear switch.

The latest firmware omits hBBTV from the standard install, so you can't turn it on. Have you installed the latest firmware from USB?
It's also possible that you have the shipping firmware that was affected by the problem described in this post from PeterU. Check for the "Autotimer" entry in the main menu. If it is missing, then your firmware is probably running that dodgy version.

[desm]

The firmware is 17.5 20180216 which is what was recommended to solve a problem I was having with Subtitles and yes Auto timer does appear in the menu.

[MrQuade]

Hmmmm, in that case, I don't know how you are even managing to start hbbtv.

Did you install any plugins?

[desm]

Yes, I installed the Opera plugin, but using that has the same result as the Hbbtv if you wait the browser loads but as soon as you try to load one of their bookmarks it locks up!

[MrQuade]

Which Opera plugin exactly? OpenOpera?

Just a word of caution for using plugins. Most of the plugins weren't necessarily designed to work on the Beyonwiz units as they come from a variety of sources. When you are installing plugins, be prepared for them to do odd things unless they are ones that have been tested and are known to work.

Don't let that discourage exploring, as many plugins work and are quite useful, but if you go experimenting, just keep in mind that many may crash your PVR, or may not work, and some will even require you to re-load firmware from USB if the crashes are bead enough.

I think that openopera used to be installed by default on the U4, but isn't any more because it was known to cause problems.

Have a read of this thread for a previous discussion relating to the U4.

[desm]

Yes it was OpenOpera, should I delete it? AsI recall the problems were evident before I loaded Opera

[MrQuade]

Yes it was OpenOpera, should I delete it? AsI recall the problems were evident before I loaded Opera

I was more wondering if you had manually installed the hbbtv plugin.
It was included in the shipping firmware image, and probably one or more of the subsequent images. However, if you install the latest USB image, then hbbtv is not installed at all. That leads me to think that your U4 was probably loaded with one of the older USB images, and then received online updates which would not have necessarily uninstalled hbbtv.

In short, you can uninstall openopera, but I don't think that anything you can do will help with hbbtv. A developer is going to have to look into why hbbtv doesn't work on the U4 to be able to fix this.

BTW, when I experimented with this, I invoked hbbtv, and the actual display for hbbtv (I tried iView) appeared in the OpenWebIf screen previewm but didn't actually come up on the main TV screen. I couldn't control the iView interface using either my remote, nor the controls on OpenWebIf. It all appeared to be pretty broken.

Also BTW, even on the T series, as far as hbbtv goes, on;ly ABC iView really works. The SBS hbbtv service does kinda work, but is a bit crappy. None of the commercial channels services worked as they encrypt their data, and the Beyonwiz units don't have the codes to decrypt.
Bascially, all I am saying, is that even when it did work, it wasn't that flash.

[desm]

When I received the unit it ran updates in the set up process and before loading the current firmware I checked and it had the up do date version at the time. I then loaded the current firmware and redid all the settings instead of re installing from backup.

[desm]

I guess the bottom line to all of this is that I'm not overly concerned by the problems with Hbbtv as I have a smart TV that accesses this type of content seamlessly, however the corruption of recordings for unexplained reasons is a real concern, obviously the ability of any PVR to perform it's most basic of functions effectively is critical.

[MrQuade]

That part is definitely not normal, and I believe you are the first to report that behaviour. That's part of the reason I suspected the older-patched firmware, but it sounds like you have started on a fresh basis, so I don't know....I still can't explain how you were able to access hbbtv prior to installing any plugins.

Just so we are clear. When you say that you loaded "current" firmware, are you are saying that you installed the 20180216 USB image? Or was it an earlier USB image?

You mentioned that you were using a different remote, and when you returned to the U4, it was locked up. Have you experimented with using the TV's remote with the U4 screen active to see if the TV's remote could be sending the occasional IR command that the U4 is incorrectly responding to?

The fact that you find the U4 stuck at the booting screen is also very unusual. When you see that screen, have you tried pressing any of the U4's remote control buttons? The booting "bubbles" screen can be displayed if the U4 boots up and can't tune to any channels. The Bubbles image is just displayed since that was the last thing the U4 was told to display.

Pressing remote control buttons can still bring up the GUI in the scenario I described above, but you mentioned that you had to reboot using the rear switch but I wasn't sure what buttons you had tried on the remote?


You probably want to enable debug logging on you U4 to see if you can catch it in the act of crashing like this. The trick will be to find out what is causing it, and to do that, the devs will need more information as to what condition your U4 is currently in, and what is happening that is causing your particular unit to do these weird things.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

If I leave the U4 running and use my Samsung remote to watch something using Samsung Smart Hub, when I go back to the Wiz I find it locked on the WizOS booting screen which can only be reset by using the rear switch, as well as this any recordings active at this time are fragmented into multiple up to 4 minute sections along with a few sections with no data.

Wild guess here, perhaps the Samsung Smart Hub access caused the U4's DLNA server to poop its pants. Turn off the U4's DLNA server if you're not using it - SETUP>>Network>>DLNA server. Stop it (GREEN) and disable its auto-start (YELLOW).

[Grumpy_Geoff]

... You probably want to enable debug logging on you U4 to see if you can catch it in the act of crashing like this. The trick will be to find out what is causing it, and to do that, the devs will need more information as to what condition your U4 is currently in, and what is happening that is causing your particular unit to do these weird things.

+1 from me.

[desm]

HI All, Thanks again for your ongoing input.

To answer a few queries that have arisen:

I'm currently running the 20180216 firmware as shown in my signature, it was loaded from USB and the setup completed from scratch, not from backup.

I use two remotes, the Wiz remote for the Wiz and the original Samsung TV remote for the TV. The Wiz remote is also programmed for the TV but apart from switching the TV on and off it's only used for the Wiz.

When the "Bubbles" screen appears I have tried almost every key on the Wiz remote to activate it without success, certainly I have used all of the usual function keys and also tried a few of the number keys as well the unit will not respond to any key I've tried and can only be re booted using the rear switch.

I have tried using the TV remote when the Wiz has been recording and also when it's just showing TV and have been unable to get any response at all from the Wiz regardless of which key is pressed.

I remember seeing the Debug option somewhere in the menu, but can't recall where, can someone refresh my memory please.

I'm not sure if this is a matter of adjusting settings but this morning when I paused live TV (ch.90) I couldn't restart it without pressing the back arrow button which as I recall goes back 10 seconds, any suggestions?

Generally the Wiz seems to have settled down quite well but I guess I'll have to wait until I use Smarthub on the TV in conjunction with recording to see if the problem recurs.

[MrQuade]

I remember seeing the Debug option somewhere in the menu, but can't recall where, can someone refresh my memory please.

It can be found under Settings in the U4's OpenWebIf.
You can enable debug logs, and optionally (recommended) set the logs to be recorded to the U4's HDD.

I'm not sure if this is a matter of adjusting settings but this morning when I paused live TV (ch.90) I couldn't restart it without pressing the back arrow button which as I recall goes back 10 seconds, any suggestions?

You should just be able to press pause again to resume playing. If it didn't do this then something went wrong, and there isn't really a setting that would cause that to happen AFAIK. The trick will be to see if you can repeat the fault, and spell out exactly what steps you took to reproducably make it happen. That way, someone can investigate.

Also a note, that remember you can initiate timeshift mode by simply skipping back rather than pausing then unpausing.

Another thing to consider too, is that the timeshift buffer is only created after you have been watching a service for a period of time (10s by default). If you try to pause or skip back immediately after changing channel, before the 10s has elapsed, then timeshift mode shouldn't activate at all. (I prefer to set this delay to 3s personally).

[Grumpy_Geoff]

I'm not sure if this is a matter of adjusting settings but this morning when I paused live TV (ch.90) I couldn't restart it without pressing the back arrow button which as I recall goes back 10 seconds, any suggestions?

You may have had it paused over a now/next event transition. I think others have found as you did, that a skip back and then PLAY resumed play.
When that happens to me, I press PLAY/PAUSE twice in quick succession and then OK and it resumes play. Pressing (slow) REW or (slow) FWD would also resume slow play and then OK would get me back to normal speed play.
My button settings have 'Behaviour of PLAY/PAUSE when paused' as "Single step (GOP)", so I normally need to use OK to resume play in any case.

[desm]

Hi Everyone, As some of you will know I have had ongoing problems with my U4, initially with sub titles (Now Fixed) and the major one being truncated recordings. I'm happy to say that with the installation of the 417 Firmware the problem has now been solved! There are a couple of other minor problems but nothing significant.

I have to complement the support guys at BW because whilst it has been a problem since day one and taken three months to solve which has obviously been more than a little frustrating, the support guys have always been there with suggestions, queries and ideas, I have to say I'm seriously impressed with their efforts!

Thanks to everyone in the forums for their input too!