V2 Observations so far

[MrQuade]

Do you remember your front panel settings so we can try to input your settings on this Vn2 here, which might identify the cause of the problem.

Not changed yet, so easy to remember .

Display state while running = on
Display state in standby = on
Display state in shutdown = on
Show in standby = time
Show REC while running = time
Show REC in standby = blinking REC

But as stated, I never perform recordings in standby, so that one REC state is never used on my box.

[beyonbloke]

Just a general question:

Given all other things being equal, IE: strong signal strength and quality, new HD antenna, and quality coaxial cabling ... why is it that the only real pixelation I ever get on recordings on a DP1, T4 nd V2 ... are when recording free to air HD stations. I virtually never get any when recording SD stations.

I've never really seen a definitive answer, tho a bit of googling reveals many who experience the same.

Thanks

beyonbloke

[prl]

What about MPEG4 SD channels? It's possible that the higher level of compression in MPEG4 makes the same error rate in the bit stream more visible in the video. Also, for a given bit rate, a higher data rate for a video stream makes it more likely to contain a random data area than a lower-rate video stream.

AFAIK, in DVB-T error correction is all done to the bit stream before video decoding and is independent of the video encoding being used.

[Paul_oz53]

Hi beyonbloke,

In a compound word, signal-strength sensitivity.

I live roughly 70k from the Melbourne transmitters. I upgraded to a high-gain yagi aerial with masthead amplifier to a three-way passive splitter in the roof. A T3, T4 and U4 hang off these three splits.

The T3 consistently out performs the T4 and U4 when the atmospheric conditions deteriorate. However, I don't see a difference in HD and SD but that may be because we always prefer HD. If it were consistent I'd suspect underpowered hardware but I don't see evidence of that.

My own experience is that the Beyonwiz tuners are all less sensitive than my various TVs. Why this should be the case has always mystified me. Regardless, it is what it is so no amount of discussion will change it.

I use Kingray active splitters with the T4 and U4 and they do help reduce the severity of the pixelation. But they may not work in high signal conditions because overloading can be as bad as too lìttle signal. May help you or they may not. In our case we get a few bad days around this time of the year. In our case, we've only seen it on the mpeg-2 streams.

[prl]

Signal strength/signal sensitivity affects the uncorrected bit error rate (and hence the corrected bit rate) in the whole data stream for the broadcaster, error correction affects the corrected bit error rate for a given uncorrected bit error rate. But all of that affects the whole data stream for the broadcaster, and is ignorant of whether the error bits are in SD or HD data streams.

It's important to get the best possible signal quality to the tuner input (and that includes making sure that too much signal doesn't enter the tuner), and if you're getting poor signal quality, you'll generally have more pixelation in the decoded video, but it doesn't really go to beyonbloke's question of why HD channels appear to be more susceptible to the pixelation than SD channels being received from the same broadcaster (i.e. at the same broadcast frequency and in the same data stream).

If there is a difference in the visible disturbance to the decoded video, it must be in how those errors affect individual data streams for the channels.

The two HD/SD differences that I can think of are:

• If the two channels being compared use the same video encoding (e.g. both MPEG2 or both MPEG4), then it's simply likely that more error bits will fall in the HD stream because it has more bits/sec.
• MPEG4 encoded video is likely to show more visual effects to a bit error than MPEG2 encoded video, because MPEG4 is more densely encoded. Visual effects of an error may also be more long-lived in MPEG4 because it may allow more time between I-frames (complete frame images rather than differences between images), because reducing the number of I-frames is one of theways that MPEG4 gets better compression than MPEG3 for the same picture quality.
  However, MPEG4 encoding isn't a strict HD/SD difference. Some HD channels are MPEG2, and quite a lot of SD channels are MPEG4.
  Also, because MPEG4 is more compressed than MPEG2, and MPEG4 channel would have a lower probability of containing a bit error than a similar MPEG2 channel, but as said, may show more visible signs of the error.

[beyonbloke]

Given all other things being equal, IE: strong signal strength and quality, new HD antenna, and quality coaxial cabling ... why is it that the only real pixelation I ever get on recordings on a DP1, T4 nd V2 ... are when recording free to air HD stations. I virtually never get any when recording SD stations.

Thanks for your input fellows.

I suspect there are elements of fact in all explanations you have provided, and am left concurring with the comment made by one of you ..."tis what it is"

Regards ... beyonbloke

[Paul_oz53]

Given all other things being equal, IE: strong signal strength and quality, new HD antenna, and quality coaxial cabling ... why is it that the only real pixelation I ever get on recordings on a DP1, T4 nd V2 ... are when recording free to air HD stations. I virtually never get any when recording SD stations.

Thanks for your input fellows.

I suspect there are elements of fact in all explanations you have provided, and am left concurring with the comment made by one of you ..."tis what it is"

Regards ... beyonbloke

Coincidentally, I just watched a program recorded SD from 10 Bold that suffered pixelation.

As prl sets out, there can be problems due to high compression and it is likely to vary between different encoding formats but it is not an effect I've seen.

Cheers

[Sandy B]

Yes, a full USB reflash. A factory reset doesn't fully restore all settings, or fix any possible corruption, though I don't think it would be the WiFi adapter that caused corruption, if there is any..

Carried out a full USB reflash with the following results.

1. Tried to input Mr Quade setting and switching to stand-bye no clock.
2. Restored backup and went to stand-bye clock appeared.
3. later this evening while watching TV noticed that Channel 2 stations completely disappeared from EPG. Made me think it could be an antenna problem, but if it was an antenna problem would I not get a blank screen or pixilation not a complete loss of stations.
4. Re-scanned and re-established all stations including Channel 2 stations. However after a short time pixilation of Channel 2 stations.
5. In frustration switched to stand-bye for the night and clock now gone.

I can understand if it was a "bad antenna" that pixilation of picture on certain channels but not a complete dis-appear of a station. BTW no problem with Channel 2 with TV or alternative video tuners.

Can not understand why earlier today the clock appeared in stand-bye mode, and tonight it disappeared with no change of settings.

HELP!

[prl]

I'm beginning to think there may be one or more hardware problems. Perhaps you should contact Beyonwiz support.

Oh, and no "e" in "stand-by" (or "standby").

[Sandy B]

I'm beginning to think there may be one or more hardware problems. Perhaps you should contact Beyonwiz support.

Thanks, I was starting to think the same thing.

[Sheehan1]

I am new to this forum and I am an old go and struggle with technical stuff. I could not see post a new topics so I am posting a reply. I have just bought a V2 and installed it yesterday. It has an external WD hard drive which formatted. Not sure if I did it correctly but followed the user manual and went into settings/storage/format hard drive . I selected the hard drive with the green button and then hit the red "initialise" button. A message came up about losing data etc and I pressed enter. A window came up with 51 of 100 and I then just exited thinking it was going to take some time. After a few hours I decided to check how to record. I went into EPG and scrolled to a program and pressed the record button. The background of the TV show was now red. I then went to another channel and did the same with a later program. I went into Media this morning to check if I had the two recordings. There were three boxes. Cant remember at the moment what the first and second one were but the third I think was Timeshift.
I clicked on each one and couldnt find any recorded programmes. I previously had a Topfield and the recordings were there and named.
What have I done wrong and what should I be doing
Any help would be appreciated.

[MrQuade]

If you open the "timers" screen, you can check the timers that were set to see if they went off correctly. All past timers should be listed, and you can open them up to check a log of what occurred.

The recordings should have been in the "movie" directory on your harddisk if everything was set up as standard.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

All past timers should be listed, and you can open them up to check a log of what occurred.

That is "open them up" via pressing the INFO button when the timer is selected in the list.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Try this -
Download plugin recontructapsc (from the Extensions section).
Then reboot your V2.
Then bring up the media selection on your exported .ts file
Press MENU, select option Reconstruct AP/SC ...
Select 2/Reconstruct the {blah}
The file creation occurs in the background, so exit the media selection list and await the popup.
When its finished, press MEDIA to return to the directory, select the .ts file and play it - is it any better?

There's some clever blokes on this forum. Yes Grumpy_Geoff, this did work. Only problem is, I need to do it on about 500 files. Can it be done as a "batch" job?

beyonbloke

Do you still want to do this as a batch job?
Since processing 500 files will take some time, perhaps operating on a subset of files at a time.
My thinking is -
Use File Commander to -

• create a new "processed" directory on the USB drive
• copy the script to that directory.

Then for each bunch of recordings to process at the one time, use File Commander to -

• move the group of recordings to the "processed" directory
• then run the script to process them all.

You can then leave those actioned files in the "processed" directory as the script won't process them again.
Just play them from that "processed" directory.

I have the basics of that script and can flesh it out a bit to work properly from F/C if you want to use it.

[beyonbloke]

Do you still want to do this as a batch job?
Since processing 500 files will take some time, perhaps operating on a subset of files at a time.
My thinking is -
Use File Commander to -
create a new "processed" directory on the USB drive
copy the script to that directory.
Then for each bunch of recordings to process at the one time, use File Commander to -
move the group of recordings to the "processed" directory
then run the script to process them all.
You can then leave those actioned files in the "processed" directory as the script won't process them again.
Just play them from that "processed" directory.

I have the basics of that script and can flesh it out a bit to work properly from F/C if you want to use it.
Top

Thanks Grumpy_Geoff, but I was going to just set the "end of movie action" to "pause". Your process of running a batch file seems a bit beyond my expertise to tell the truth.

What's funny is that if I play these same files on the T4, the files play right to the end, without having to set action "on end of movie" to "pause at end".

Why the T4 does this but not the V2 I don't know.

beyonbloke

[prl]

Why the T4 does this but not the V2 I don't know.

I'd guess that the T4 has complete recordings with all the recording metadata, including the .ap and .sc indexes that recontructapsc rebuilds.

Why not copy the metadata files over from the T4 to the V2? That will also copy over the recordings' resume points files, which will let you know which files have been played already on the T4.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Why not copy the metadata files over from the T4 to the V2? That will also copy over the recordings' resume points files, which will let you know which files have been played already on the T4.

beyonbloke no longer has the HDD from the T4 - viewtopic.php?p=179597#p179601

[prl]

Why not copy the metadata files over from the T4 to the V2? That will also copy over the recordings' resume points files, which will let you know which files have been played already on the T4.

beyonbloke no longer has the HDD from the T4 - viewtopic.php?p=179597#p179601

Ah. Missed that. As you were

[dRdoS7]

Hi,

There is some scope for improving tuner performance with firmware updates. This has traditionally happened with every Beyonwiz model released. At product launch, the hardware is usually configured with conservative settings that are very likely to work OK everywhere. If/as feedback comes back from the field, things get tweaked to improve tuner performance in specific scenarios. Australia as a challenging reception area for most tuner manufacturers to get right and often requires a lot of "training" of their engineers to understand the subtleties.

TL;DR: Yes, it is possible to change tuner performance with future firmware updates.

I haven't read anywhere this before!

I can give you some feedback of both the U4 & T2: In some signal areas, where the TV has perfect picture (ie. no pixellation at all, the BWs can have either no picture, or very pixellated). I have seen this several times in various locations. Used same cable, swapped between TV & BWs. This is using the internal tuners, as USB is usually worst of all. Since buying the U4, we haven't run the T2, so don't know if that has improved. Not easy to swap them, but carry the T2 as a spare. Of course we avoid poor signal spots, so it's difficult to know if the BWs have improveded!

TL;DR: The U4 could use some tweaking.

dRdoS7.

[ShadowAD]

Hello All, Strange thing happened tonight for the first time. Was watching the news I had recorded earlier and when finished I hit the stop button and V2 went back to live channel I was on before watching news.

I then pressed the EPG and got a black screen with the PIP playing in the top right hand corner, and a very faint EPG Menu behind the black screen, so I pressed the Exit button and it went back to the above live channel. I pressed the EPG button again and still got the black screen with PIP window.

Then pushed Menu and black screen with very faint Menu in background. Then tried Exit then media and again black screen with faint recording list in background.

Hit Exit and back to live channel again but couldn't get anything else but black screen with other buttons. In the end had to switch off at back because holding power button down to restart couldn't be seen properly behind black screen.

After V2 restarted I pressed EPG and almost all channel menu's blank and had to re-populate.

[MrQuade]

This sound a bit like a problem that happened on the T series occasionally.

The GUI elements would only show up faintly.
This happened as a result of the Infobar fadeout being interrupted if I recall correctly.

The ready fix was to simply press OK from live TV,v and then let the Infobar fade out on its own. That would reset the GUI transparency.

That old issue was fixed, bit it's possible it has returned in done down due to the new drivers and firmware in the V2.

[beyonbloke]

Had 3 different brands at home and this one was the only one that worked for me.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/USB-WiFi-Wi ... OSwGW9aonS~

Can confirn this wireless adaptor wotks on my V2.


beyonbloke

[beyonbloke]

On the V2, under "settings/tuners", there is a "12 volt option" which can be set to " off", "on" or " do not change". Assuming this is for powered antennas, what's the difference between " do not change" and the other options? Why not just "on" or "off", and shouldn't one just set it to off?

The reason I ask is that setting it to off, seems to reduce the output level of the signal if I daisy chain the output from the V2 to the aerial input of the T4, with the V2 in standby mode.

beyonbloke

[prl]

On the V2, under "settings/tuners",

I think you mean "under MENU>Setup>Tuners>Tuner allocation". Please be specific about the setting you mean, there are a lot of them and chasing around the source code to try to work out which one is an unnecessary waste of time.

there is a "12 volt option" which can be set to " off", "on" or " do not change". Assuming this is for powered antennas, what's the difference between " do not change" and the other options? Why not just "on" or "off", and shouldn't one just set it to off?

Setting it to "Do not change" has the same effect as setting it to "Off". Unless you know you have an antenna amplifier connected to the ANT IN on the V2 that is powered this way, don't turn it on.

The reason I ask is that setting it to off, seems to reduce the output level of the signal if I daisy chain the output from the V2 to the aerial input of the T4, with the V2 in standby mode.

The code definitely treats "Off" in the same way as "Do not change": Misc_Options.getInstance().set_12V_output(configElement.value == "on" and 1 or 0) (the other possible values for configElement.value are "off" and "do not change".

[beyonbloke]

Thanks Peter

Sorry for my vagueness and ta for the info.

beyonbloke

[lolek74]

I too noticed fluctuation in signal strength.
This afternoon I run single 10m RG6 cable from roof antenna to double splitter. Checked signal and got 99% for strength and 100% quality on all channels except for channel 31 (on TV)
Connected the same cable to BW and got 55% on top bar and 70-80 at the bottom one. Both of the bars fluctuating.
There is definitively something going on.
My previous PVR was Topfield 2400 Masterpiece so I cant compare V2 to the previous models. Hopefully some firmware adjustments can make some improvements.

Beside of that I;m really happy with the unit.

[prl]

It's not really possible to compare signal indicators between different types of devices, not even between different Beyonwiz models.

Are you having any actual consequences of poor signal on your V2 (like pixelisation)?

[lolek74]

Had some small issues before today's install. I found 2 splitters in the roof and dodgy wiring that previous owner had installed.
Now have no issues. Everything works well.

[ShadowAD]

Hello, I set the v2 to zap to show that started tonight but before it started I was watching a recording I made earlier. When the zapped channel was just about to start it stopped the recording I was watching, but instead of changing to the zapped TV station it stays on the last channel I was watching before starting the recording. Can I change this in the settings somewhere?

PS. The front panel clock has a mind of it's own, sometimes showing in standby, then sometimes not!

[MrQuade]

Hello, I set the v2 to zap to show that started tonight but before it started I was watching a recording I made earlier. When the zapped channel was just about to start it stopped the recording I was watching, but instead of changing to the zapped TV station it stays on the last channel I was watching before starting the recording. Can I change this in the settings somewhere?

No setting for that. It sounds like it is a bug. I am fairly sure that is tested and works on the T/U series on earlier firmware revisions, though anything is possible.....zap timers are not as commonly used as regular ones AFAIK.

I'll see if I can reproduce if I have time, unless someone beats me to it.

PS. The front panel clock has a mind of it's own, sometimes showing in standby, then sometimes not!

That one has been reported and is being looked into. I suspect it has something to do with whether any recordings occur during standby and if you have set the V2 to show "REC" in standby. (Or some other combination of those settings)

[beyonbloke]

Does anyone know of a utility or method whereby I can change Linux filenames in Windows 7. I have a bunch of filenames which I added an * to on the V2, but now can't do anything with them on my windows 7 laptop, eg: copy, shift or rename, as windows regards the * as an invalid character if it is in a filename.

Thanks

beyonbloke

[prl]

Does anyone know of a utility or method whereby I can change Linux filenames in Windows 7.

Are the files recordings or media files? Changing the name of a recording doesn't normally change the file names.

Where are the files stored? On the V2, on a NAS, on removable storage or on the laptop's storage?

[beyonbloke]

Are the files recordings or media files? Changing the name of a recording doesn't normally change the file names.

Where are the files stored? On the V2, on a NAS, on removable storage or on the laptop's storage?

The files are recordings (.ts) and some mp4's that I have ripped from dvd's, that I have added an * to in the filename as I watch them, so I know which ones in a series for example, that I have already watched. At the time I forgot that windows doesn't recognise * in a filename.
They are on a usb drive attached to the V2, and I want to connect the usb drive to my laptop, and back them up (copy) to another usb drive in case I ever lose them somehow.
I'd prefer to do this on my computer (much faster) but it won't let me because of the asterisk sign which windows won't acknowledge.
I could rename the files on the V2 but it would be very tedious.

beyonbloke

[adoxa]

I could rename the files on the V2 but it would be very tedious.

I think using a script on the V2 would be easier than trying to make Windows do it.

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
cd $(dirname "$0")
for fn in *\**; do mv "$fn" "${fn/\*}"; done

Save that (as Unix/LF!) in the directory that needs renaming, put it on the box, open MENU>Sources / Files, navigate to it and "Run script". Unfortunately, it won't work with subdirectories, so move/save it to each directory that needs renaming (or wait for someone else to come up with a better method).

[beyonbloke]

Save that (as Unix/LF!) in the directory that needs renaming, put it on the box

I'm a bit unclear as to this bit. Do I do this in notepad or something? Can you explain to a dummy?

Thanks

beyonbloke

[adoxa]

Save that (as Unix/LF!) in the directory that needs renaming, put it on the box

I'm a bit unclear as to this bit. Do I do this in notepad or something? Can you explain to a dummy?

If you're on 7, notepad won't work (you need 10 for Unix line endings). I'll attach it for you. Before I do, I'm trying to make it work with subdirectories, but does it need to?

[beyonbloke]

No sub directories involved.
Ta beyonbloke

[adoxa]

Here you go.

[beyonbloke]

Got that. Getting there. What do you mean " put it on the box"?

Where do I put that file (internal flash? folder?

How do I execute/run it?

Not done this b4 but I'll try anything

beyonbloke

[MrQuade]

Hello, I set the v2 to zap to show that started tonight but before it started I was watching a recording I made earlier. When the zapped channel was just about to start it stopped the recording I was watching, but instead of changing to the zapped TV station it stays on the last channel I was watching before starting the recording. Can I change this in the settings somewhere?

I've confirmed that this is happening on my V2 and U4, both on 19.3. I'll need to flash the U4 back to 17.5 to check there unless someone else gets there first.

[adoxa]

1. Copy remove-star.sh to the directory on the USB that needs renaming.
2. Plug the USB into the V2.
3. Live TV>MENU>Sources / Files, then navigate the directory structure to get to the directory of interest.
4. Highlight remove-star.sh, press OK, UP (to select "Run script"), OK (to run it).
5. No output (other than progress/finished) means it worked, your files should no longer have a *.

[beyonbloke]

#!/bin/sh
cd $(dirname "$0")
for fn in *\**; do mv "$fn" "${fn/\*}"; done

Thanks for that. What can I edit "dirname" in on windows 7. The rest is clear now.

beyonbloke

[adoxa]

No need, it uses the directory it's in ($(dirname "$0") is a command to get the directory of the script).

[beyonbloke]

No need, it uses the directory it's in ($(dirname "$0") is a command to get the directory of the script).

Ok, all went well, execution finished etc, BUT it didn't remove asterisk. Tried rebooting. Still the same.

beyonbloke (if I disappear, I have to go out soon. I'll post back tomorrow if I have success ... cheers)

[beyonbloke]

Ok, all went well, execution finished etc, BUT it didn't remove asterisk. Tried rebooting. Still the same.

I did want to get rid of the asterisk in the file names IN the directory, not in the directory name itself. I hope I was clear in that

beyonbloke

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Ok, all went well, execution finished etc, BUT it didn't remove asterisk. Tried rebooting. Still the same.

I did want to get rid of the asterisk in the file names IN the directory, not in the directory name itself. I hope I was clear in that

beyonbloke

That's what that command in the script does, as per this example.
Creat file with asterisk in name
Run command
Observe no asterisk in name now.

Code: Select all

root@beyonwizu4:/tmp# touch test_file\*
root@beyonwizu4:/tmp# ls -altr
drwxrwxrwt    7 root     root           140 Jan  4  1970 ..
srwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             0 Jul 17 08:07 .listen.ciplus.socket
srwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             0 Jul 17 08:07 .listen.camd.socket
srw-rw-rw-    1 root     root             0 Jul 17 08:08 hotplug.socket
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             5 Jul 17 08:08 was_timer_wakeup
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Jul 17 22:33 test_file*
drwxrwxrwt    2 root     root           140 Jul 17 22:33 .
root@beyonwizu4:/tmp#
root@beyonwizu4:/tmp# for fn in *\**; do mv "$fn" "${fn/\*}"; done
root@beyonwizu4:/tmp#
root@beyonwizu4:/tmp# ls -altr
drwxrwxrwt    7 root     root           140 Jan  4  1970 ..
srwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             0 Jul 17 08:07 .listen.ciplus.socket
srwxr-xr-x    1 root     root             0 Jul 17 08:07 .listen.camd.socket
srw-rw-rw-    1 root     root             0 Jul 17 08:08 hotplug.socket
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             5 Jul 17 08:08 was_timer_wakeup
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Jul 17 22:33 test_file
drwxrwxrwt    2 root     root           140 Jul 17 22:33 .
root@beyonwizu4:/tmp#

You did copy the script file to the directory containing the "asterixed" files, yes?

[beyonbloke]

You did copy the script file to the directory containing the "asterixed" files, yes?

Yes, I copied Adoxa's file to a directory called "ALF HITCHCOCK" (I'm a fan) in which many file names have an * in them. I went to file commander, found ALF HITCHCOCK directory, found the .sh file, selected it, ran it, it said "execution finished" ...but no joy????

beyonbloke

[Grumpy_Geoff]

You did copy the script file to the directory containing the "asterixed" files, yes?

Yes, I copied Adoxa's file to a directory called "ALF HITCHCOCK" (I'm a fan) in which many file names have an * in them. I went to file commander, found ALF HITCHCOCK directory, found the .sh file, selected it, ran it, it said "execution finished" ...but no joy????

beyonbloke

Rename the directory to 'ALF_HITCHCOCK' (i.e. no space). Then run the script again.

[beyonbloke]

Rename the directory to 'ALF_HITCHCOCK' (i.e. no space). Then run the script again.

Just tried that, ran script, rebooted, no difference.
Thanks all. Gotta go.
Will check back tomorrow.

beyonbloke