Android: cannot play recordings

[stevebow]

If I try to play any recordings from my T4 using the Android app, I get an error dialog:

Player error
Cannot open video stream

The same recorded media plays back fine using the iOS app.

I have added a root password which is configured in the app, but the other functions of the app otherwise appear to work fine.

T4: Last Upgrade: 2015-08-31 06:52
Android App: 1.6
Phone: Moto G

Thanks,
Steve

[prl]

The first question that comes to my mind is: does the problem go away if you temporarily remove the root password and reboot?

[stevebow]

Sorry, I did mean to check the obvious.

I have removed the root password via 'passwd -d root' and rebooted and confirmed the root password is gone from /etc/shadow. But the app insists the T4 is password protected. I have tried using no username/no password, username root/no password, username root/former root password. I have also removed the T4 settings in the app and tried setting up again from scratch, same result. Tried clearing app caches and re-installing app too, no go.

Update: just noticed the same problem on the iPad as well. Turning off Enable Authentication does not fix it either. I have had to reinstate the root password to get the apps working again.

Is there perhaps a special username/password for the app other than root? Unfortunately the built-in About->Help/FAQ simply takes you to the main beyonwiz.com.au website home page.

[stevebow]

Is there anything else I can try or do to help resolve this issue meanwhile?

Can anyone perhaps confirm if setting/removing the PVR root password breaks the apps in that they think authentication is still required?

[prl]

The factory defaults for the root entries in (slash)etc/passwd and /etc/shadow are:
root0:0:root:/home/root:/bin/sh
root::16678:0:99999:7:::
respectively,

Did your reset of the password set them back to those values?

Apologies about the (slash)etc/passwd rubbish, but if I actually put a '/' in there, the stupid forum software accuses me of mounting an RFI/LFI file inclusion attack and won't let me post. Even more stupid is that it's apparently OK with /etc/shadow where the actually interesting stuff is stashed

[peteru]

When I say /etc/passwd, I get no such errors. Perhaps one workaround would be to put a bit of markup around some parts, such as specify black colour for the /etc part. As in /etc/passwd

[stevebow]

Did your reset of the password set them back to those values?

'passwd -d root' removed the root password as expected, however my passwd/shadow files contain much more, presumably all are system accounts:

Code: Select all

root@Beyonwiz-T4:/etc# cat passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/home/root:/bin/sh
daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/bin/sh
bin:x:2:2:bin:/bin:/bin/sh
sys:x:3:3:sys:/dev:/bin/sh
sync:x:4:65534:sync:/bin:/bin/sync
games:x:5:60:games:/usr/games:/bin/sh
man:x:6:12:man:/var/cache/man:/bin/sh
lp:x:7:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/bin/sh
mail:x:8:8:mail:/var/mail:/bin/sh
news:x:9:9:news:/var/spool/news:/bin/sh
uucp:x:10:10:uucp:/var/spool/uucp:/bin/sh
proxy:x:13:13:proxy:/bin:/bin/sh
www-data:x:33:33:www-data:/var/www:/bin/sh
backup:x:34:34:backup:/var/backups:/bin/sh
list:x:38:38:Mailing List Manager:/var/list:/bin/sh
irc:x:39:39:ircd:/var/run/ircd:/bin/sh
gnats:x:41:41:Gnats Bug-Reporting System (admin):/var/lib/gnats:/bin/sh
nobody:x:65534:65534:nobody:/nonexistent:/bin/sh
sshd:x:999:999::/var/run/sshd:/bin/false
avahi:x:998:998::/var/run/avahi-daemon:/bin/false
messagebus:x:997:996::/var/lib/dbus:/bin/false

root@Beyonwiz-T4:/etc# cat shadow
root::16685:0:99999:7:::
daemon:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
bin:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
sys:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
sync:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
games:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
man:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
lp:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
mail:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
news:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
uucp:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
proxy:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
www-data:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
backup:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
list:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
irc:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
gnats:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
nobody:*:16673:0:99999:7:::
sshd:!:16673:0:99999:7:::
avahi:!:16673:0:99999:7:::
messagebus:!:16673:0:99999:7:::

root@Beyonwiz-T4:/etc#  passwd -S
root NP 09/07/2015 0 99999 7 -1
root@Beyonwiz-T4:/etc#

Would resetting the passwd/shadow files back to the default be a good idea as these accounts would then be effectively removed?

I also tried tailing the messages log while setting up the app (which as I mentioned believes the T4 is still password protected) but unfortunately nothing is logged there.

[stevebow]

Ok, so I have spent most of this afternoon trying to figure this one out. Long story short, I found that Open Webif was also having the same problem, asking for a password where none was set. I noticed that the T4 is using Twisted (which is built into the enigma2 exe?) to serve the OW pages but couldn't find a config file for it. Then I remembered that there is a setting for this in the OW plugin config. So I disabled both http and https authentication. And that was the answer. I can now login to OW again and as a bonus I can now also config the T4 without password in the iOS/Android apps again. Actually, seems that disabling only http authentication will do it for the apps.

A little bit of a trap there for the unwary. Perhaps there should be a note in the app that authentication is controlled by the Opwn Webif plugin config? You certainly don't realize this from within the app.

[stevebow]

...so, what was the question again?

Having figured out how the app authentication actually interacts with the T4, I can confirm that with the Android app I cannot play recordings when user authentication is in place but they do play fine without authentication. With the iOS app, recordings will play fine regardless if authentication is in place or not.

This is looking like a bug in the Android app.

[peteru]

And when you turned on authentication, you re-configured the Android app to use the correct credentials?

[stevebow]

Yes.

[nosajw]

Was there an update to this, I have this problem to and would like to see it resolved.
To add to this, I can stream live TV with authentication, I just can't play recorded TV shows.

[MrQuade]

Was there an update to this, I have this problem to and would like to see it resolved.
To add to this, I can stream live TV with authentication, I just can't play recorded TV shows.

It doesn't look like the latest 17.5 alpha firmware has resolved this issue.

It looks almost like the recording player launches a different video player than what is used for live TV. Probably isn't being passed the correct login info.

I can play them from the OpenWebIf just fine, but VLC does prompt for the password each time I try to play a new file.

I suspect that the WizOS app is at fault, and not the Wiz itself.

[Wiz HQ]

Our original app developer has gone awol, I believe we have all the source if there are any App developers in the community who would like to take a look? We probably can't publicly open the source but could release it individually under an NDA..