T2 Newbie ... Heat, SSD & Network HDD recording

[exitguy]

Some posts have mentioned that the T2 gets really hot – anybody got any first hand knowledge from their ownership ??
Heat and electronics don't really mix, I was thinking of installing either a WD Blue OR an SSD – hoping that the heat issue would not effect them too much !!

Some posts mention that they are recording to a NAS, I have a Seagate Central (4Tb) on the network that I could use to record to - would that be a viable option and how is that setup (I read the T2 manual but cannot find anything about recording to that type of device)

Appreciate all responses

[MrQuade]

Some posts have mentioned that the T2 gets really hot – anybody got any first hand knowledge from their ownership ??
Heat and electronics don't really mix, I was thinking of installing either a WD Blue OR an SSD – hoping that the heat issue would not effect them too much !!

The tuners can get fairly hot, but it is not something you need to worry about overly. As long as the T2's ventilation slots don't have any obstructions, you don't put anything on top of the T2 (and also don't put the T2 on top of anything hot), you are more than fine.

Just a note that the T2 has two different "off" states. "Standby" mode and "Deep Standby" or "Shutdown" mode. In standby, the T2 just switches off its video outputs and stops timeshifting (so the harddisk can spin down if it is configured to do so). In standby state, the T2 can still record and serce data to the network, and consumes almost as much power as when it is in the "on" state. In shutdown, the T2 consumed >1W of power and is effectively "off" and only wakes in response to a timer going off, or if the user switches it back on.

Some posts mention that they are recording to a NAS, I have a Seagate Central (2Tb) on the network that I could use to record to - would that be a viable option and how is that setup (I read the T2 manual but cannot find anything about recording to that type of device)

The manual is just there to get the basics going, the T2 can do so much more, that the manual could run into volumes if you covered everything (plus it would be out of date as soon as it is published, since the T series are being constantly improved by the community).

To use a NAS as your recording destination is dead easy. All you need to do is set up a mount point to your NAS (to a writable location), much like you would for connecting to any other source of media files. You will then have the option to use that mount as a "harddisk replacement".
It's still worth having local storage for holding settings backups and timeshift data, but the NAS is a good way to go for bulk recording storage.

[exitguy]

Appreciate your answers - have ordered one of the T2 Carton Damaged units and will fit a spare 120Gb SSD I have to start with. That will get me going and I can then "play around" with it and see how it goes as well as get it setup to record over the network (wired).

[MrQuade]

Appreciate your answers - have ordered one of the T2 Carton Damaged units and will fit a spare 120Gb SSD I have to start with. That will get me going and I can then "play around" with it and see how it goes as well as get it setup to record over the network (wired).

That will work perfectly.

[exitguy]

Just an idea - is it possible to have the SSD connected via the USB in the rear using one of these adapters ??
http://cplonline.com.au/adaptors/usb/al ... 5-hdd.html

Decided to keep my good Samsung SSD to do my main PC backup imaging to
So look to get one of these to use with the above adapter (if it will work) or mount internally
http://cplonline.com.au/hard-drives/ssd ... c-ssd.html

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Why not just get a 1TB HGST Travelstar 5K1000? What have you got against a spinner?
http://cplonline.com.au/hard-drives/lap ... 22413.html

I've a 2TB WD Blue in my T2 - no heat issues.

[exitguy]

Why not just get a 1TB HGST Travelstar 5K1000? What have you got against a spinner?
http://cplonline.com.au/hard-drives/lap ... 22413.html

I've a 2TB WD Blue in my T2 - no heat issues.

Nothing against spinners, have a 4Tb Seagate Central used as a NAS on our fully wired place, so just need something quick to setup the T2 and use for the timeshift and other housekeeping stuff that the T2 needs to write - once setup recording and playback will be done to the NAS

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Does the Seagate Central support Samba shares?

[exitguy]

Does the Seagate Central support Samba shares?

Yes

[exitguy]

Waiting, Waiting - It's in Vic now so hopefully might get to my PO box either today or tomorrow.

I see there is new firmware dated Dec, I presume that I should check what version the unit is running and if necessary do a USB update.

[MrQuade]

I see there is new firmware dated Dec, I presume that I should check what version the unit is running and if necessary do a USB update.

Yep! Jump in feet first

Even though the December firmware (in the "17.5 series") still has a beta label, it is very stable and a decent improvement over the general release firmware (the old "16.1 series").

[exitguy]

At last, picked up delivery from the PO yesterday and have unpacked everything just to make sure that all in the box is there.
One thing I noticed - there is a sticker on the box & underside of the unit that looks, like either the serial # or manufacturing info, which shows this:
T205-2015-xxxxx / MAC yyyyyyyyyyyy

Is that the dated it was manufactured i.e. 05-2015 ??
If so then I am not too happy as that would mean the unit is at least 2 1/2 years old !!! - no wonder they were on a Carton Damaged special, because as far as I could see there was no damage at all to the box the unit came in.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

At last, picked up delivery from the PO yesterday and have unpacked everything just to make sure that all in the box is there.
One thing I noticed - there is a sticker on the box & underside of the unit that looks, like either the serial # or manufacturing info, which shows this:
T205-2015-xxxxx / MAC yyyyyyyyyyyy

Is that the dated it was manufactured i.e. 05-2015 ??
If so then I am not too happy as that would mean the unit is at least 2 1/2 years old !!! ...

It could simply be the 'design' month/year. As far as I know, there haven't been any design changes to the T2.
My T2 has the same 'date' string on the sticker and I received it last December. My T4 has '04-2015' and I got it in Sep-2015.
I think the two models were released a month or two apart.

[exitguy]

Thanks Grumpy - you are probably right. Just checking but as you have the same then no problem.
Now off the re-jig the HT cabinet and setup the T2, installed the HDD - so easy (saw some people were saying to remove the Serial connector), no need as the HDD SATA connector fits under it and just push down to connect to the MB connector.

As Arnie would say - I'll Be Back !!

[prl]

At last, picked up delivery from the PO yesterday and have unpacked everything just to make sure that all in the box is there.
One thing I noticed - there is a sticker on the box & underside of the unit that looks, like either the serial # or manufacturing info, which shows this:
T205-2015-xxxxx / MAC yyyyyyyyyyyy

Is that the dated it was manufactured i.e. 05-2015 ??
If so then I am not too happy as that would mean the unit is at least 2 1/2 years old !!! ...

It could simply be the 'design' month/year. As far as I know, there haven't been any design changes to the T2.
My T2 has the same 'date' string on the sticker and I received it last December. My T4 has '04-2015' and I got it in Sep-2015.
I think the two models were released a month or two apart.

My pre-release T2 has T205-2015-00003. The box it came in has T205-2015-00005, but I assume that that's just because it was unpacked and used for testing in Beyonwiz before I got it and then repacked in the "wrong" box. The mainboard is marked IN-M422DT/Ver1.1/2015.01.19, and I guess that that date is the design date. The MAC address reported in MENU>Information>Network matches the MAC address on the sticky label.

The last 5 digits of the serial number match the last 5 digits of the MAC address. I received the test T2 in May 2017.

Beyonwiz does runs of production and the warehouses them until sale; when they go out of stock, they do another production run, so when you buy a new unit, it may have been manufactured a while ago anyway, but I don't know when the production runs were for the T2 or how big they were.

[exitguy]

All up and running, set timers, connected to network & internet - had a "freeze" but I think I might have accidently hit multiple buttons and sent it into having a "spaz attack". Did a factory reset and set up everything again, so far no further problems. The SSD is working beautifully !!

Current version 2016-06-18, I tested out the internet update and it downloaded 4 updates, applied them & re-booted without any problem. So tomorrow I'll do the USB update to 2017-12-04 and see if that goes to plan.

EPG - when you call up the EPG is there any way you can skip fwd to the same time next day and then come backwards ??
- on our 7160 when your are in the EPG Yellow button skips forward a day and Green button skips back a day to the time where you were
i.e. in the EPG your at 3.00PM Sat - pressing Yellow button puts you to 3:00PM Sun, press again you go to 3:00PM Mon etc. and the reverse applies when you press the Green button

Power - Apart from a quick boot, is there any benefit in putting the unit in to Standby ??
From reading some posts if a timer fires the unit wakes up, records and then goes back in to the state it was before the timer was activated - I have left the What to do After Recording option to Auto, but read that if in Deep Standby it will not return to that state after a recording and will stay active. Just trying to save power as I understand that in Standby a lot of stuff is still active, whereas in Deep Standby pretty much everything is off.

Channels - have read the manual and gone through the menu - how can you go through the channel list and delete those not required.

Internet - currently have it connected to our network and thus have internet to it. But, is that a necessary requirement ?? OR can you just connect weekly/monthly to see if there are any updates ??

[MrQuade]

EPG - when you call up the EPG is there any way you can skip fwd to the same time next day and then come backwards ??
- on our 7160 when your are in the EPG Yellow button skips forward a day and Green button skips back a day to the time where you were
i.e. in the EPG your at 3.00PM Sat - pressing Yellow button puts you to 3:00PM Sun, press again you go to 3:00PM Mon etc. and the reverse applies when you press the Green button

Ch+ and CH- will do that for you.

Btw, of you press HELP on just about any screen, it will show you what all the buttons do in that screen.

Power - Apart from a quick boot, is there any benefit in putting the unit in to Standby ??
From reading some posts if a timer fires the unit wakes up, records and then goes back in to the state it was before the timer was activated - I have left the What to do After Recording option to Auto, but read that if in Deep Standby it will not return to that state after a recording and will stay active. Just trying to save power as I understand that in Standby a lot of stuff is still active, whereas in Deep Standby pretty much everything is off.

In standby, the T2 remains connected to the network, so you can share recordings to other devices and stream live TV from the Wiz. It also allows you to set new timers via the Web Interface.

Channels - have read the manual and gone through the menu - how can you go through the channel list and delete those not required.

You don't want to delete unwanted channels, otherwise you risk breaking stuff.

Instead, you want to set up your favorites bouquet.

Press FAV from live TV. You can then copy channels from the "Terrestrial TV (LCN)" bouquet into the "Favourites" bouquet. All of the relevant functions to do this are available if you press the MENU button from within the channel list interface.

See the FAQ for more info.

[Gully]

Just read your post and a big warning in case you missed it - you will need to set everything up again with 17.5 and not restore existing settings.

So everything from MrQuade is all good info but don't bother doing anything with it yet given you are going to upgrade straight away.

[exitguy]

Just read your post and a big warning in case you missed it - you will need to set everything up again with 17.5 and not restore existing settings.

So everything from MrQuade is all good info but don't bother doing anything with it yet given you are going to upgrade straight away.

Thanks for that - I had only set up a couple of timers to see if I could get them to work and was going to leave the complete list until I had updated and got everything stable. So far I think I'm getting a handle on the operation, it was just those minor things MrQuade sorted for me that I need ed to clarify. Roll on the Update !!

p.s. Appreciate all you helping out and pointing out the short cuts to set things up that can save heaps of time.

[exitguy]

Update went smooth so now on 20171204, have been through heaps of settings getting organised like Fav, Timers etc. etc.
Unit has now been running since 1:30 re-boot after update - so far , so good.

Favourites - I set up my Fav bouquet with the channels I am interested in. Originally only put in 21 ABC HD, but later on added 24 ABC News.
When I added 24 it got put to the end of the Fav list, not after 21 and before 30 - how can you sort the list to get it into correct order ??

[Grumpy_Geoff]

...
Favourites - I set up my Fav bouquet with the channels I am interested in. Originally only put in 21 ABC HD, but later on added 24 ABC News.
When I added 24 it got put to the end of the Fav list, not after 21 and before 30 - how can you sort the list to get it into correct order ??

See section 'Making changes to a Favourites list' in the FAQ that was linked to earlier in the thread
Or use OpenWebif's BouquetEditor to drag 'n drop - see pic in this post - viewtopic.php?f=16&t=11579&p=157400#p157400

[exitguy]

You are legends MrQuade & Grumpy - went to that post and when combined with the video provides all the answers, all fixed now.

Internet connection - is that a necessary requirement ?? OR can you just connect weekly/monthly to see if there are any updates ??
** Have no need to share recordings to other network devices, stream live TV from the Wiz or set new timers via the Web Interface **

Power - From reading posts if a timer fires the unit wakes up, records and then goes back in to the state it was before the timer was activated - except if originally in Deep Standby it will not return to that state after a recording and will stay active. Any way to send it back to Deep Standby ??
Just trying to save power as I understand that in Standby a lot of stuff is still active, whereas in Deep Standby pretty much everything is off.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

...
Internet connection - is that a necessary requirement ?? OR can you just connect weekly/monthly to see if there are any updates ??
** Have no need to share recordings to other network devices, stream live TV from the Wiz or set new timers via the Web Interface **

Sure, if that's how you want to roll

Power - From reading posts if a timer fires the unit wakes up, records and then goes back in to the state it was before the timer was activated - except if originally in Deep Standby it will not return to that state after a recording and will stay active. Any way to send it back to Deep Standby ??
Just trying to save power as I understand that in Standby a lot of stuff is still active, whereas in Deep Standby pretty much everything is off.

Set up two repeating Power Timers, see here - viewtopic.php?f=42&t=10883#p147718

[exitguy]

Have read the HOWTO: Discrete IR codes for controlling power states threads and most make sense, even though it refers to the T4

I'm setting up our Harmony 650 and the power commands that are available for the T2 are -
PowerDeepStandby = Presume that this is Off, as if you had selected DeepStandby from the on screen Power select menu
PowerSuspend = Presume that this is Standby, as if your had selected Standby from the on screen Power select menu
PowerToggle = Presume this would be whatever you have set the Power button to do when it is quick pressed
PowerWakeUp = Presume that this is On ??

- on starting Watch Beyonwiz activity want the T2 to switch on and stay on
- be able to switch back & forth between all activities without T2 going off
- last thing at night hit the Off button on the harmony and send everything to Off

Do these settings below look ok for the Harmony set up:
"I want to keep this device On when switching activities and only turn it Off when I press the Off button" - as per HOWTO
"I press two different buttons for On and for Off" - as per HOWTO
Power On Commands is set as PowerToggle / Power Off Commands is set as PowerDeepStandby - ???

[MrQuade]

PowerWakeUp = Presume that this is On ??

The PowerWakeUp command will only wake the Wiz if the Wiz is currently in Standby mode. It will not wake the Wiz if it is off (Deep Standby) mode.

Do these settings below look ok for the Harmony set up:
"I want to keep this device On when switching activities and only turn it Off when I press the Off button" - as per HOWTO
"I press two different buttons for On and for Off" - as per HOWTO
Power On Commands is set as PowerToggle / Power Off Commands is set as PowerDeepStandby - ???

Yep, that setup is pretty much how I configure mine, except I use PowerStandby instead of PowerDeepStandby.

Remember also, that you need to disable the Power Toggle command in the Wiz settings so that PowerToggle will no longer act to turn the Wiz off.
Make sure the following setting is disabled:
MENU->Setup->System->Button settings->Enable remote control short POWER button

PowerToggle will still function to wake the Wiz from Standby or Deep Standby, but will simply no longer do anything if pressed when the Wiz is on. (Also note that a Long-press of PowerToggle will still work though, so you have that flexibility available)

[exitguy]

Bookmarks - from posts see that to SET a Bookmark while viewing you use numeric 0, then when you come back to watch the recording you can use the Next key to skip to a BM or Prev key to go back to a BM. On the normal remote there are Prev & Next as well as ChapterPrev & ChapterNext keys.

Do the ChapterPrev (<<) and ChapterNext (>>) keys act in the same way as Prev and Next ?? OR do I need to program the Harmony with the Prev and Next keys ??

[MrQuade]

Do the ChapterPrev (<<) and ChapterNext (>>) keys act in the same way as Prev and Next ?? OR do I need to program the Harmony with the Prev and Next keys ??

They're the same thing.