V2 Observations so far

[ShadowAD]

Hello, Something's happen twice in the last few days. The booting icon "the circle with spikes" appears during a random show and locks everything up. Nothing works on the remote and the only way to get rid of it is turning the power switch off at the back of the unit. I waited for a good ten minutes to see if it went away by itself but still had to turn power off?

[MrQuade]

The spinner appears when some task is blocking the GUI from updating.

A common cause for this is if you have any Autotimers that are misconfigured.

Do you see the spinner appearing briefly at certain intervals or do you just get these one-off big lockup events?

Do you have any other plugins installed?

[ShadowAD]

Two (2) one-off big lockup events? As for plugins I am not familiar with using them and haven't installed any new ones. The V2 was recording 3 shows using 3 turners out of 4, and I'm quite sure that was the same scenario when it happened the first time. It's happened twice and about 4-5 days apart from each other, but always during recording 2-3 shows at the same time.

[MrQuade]

What are you recording onto? Regular harddisk plugged into the USB3 port, or something else?

[ShadowAD]

I have the 1TB HDD I purchased from you with the unit plugged into the USB2. The powered USB3 Hub is in the USB3 slot with Quad Tuner and WiFI Dongle connected to hub.

[MrQuade]

I have the 1TB HDD I purchased from you with the unit plugged into the USB2. The powered USB3 Hub is in the USB3 slot with Quad Tuner and WiFI Dongle connected to hub.

Not from me. I'm just another Beyonwiz customer .

That sounds like a normal setup, so I wouldn't think that would be a problem (though I would personally put the HDD on the USB3 port and the hub in the USB 2 port).

Do you use Automtimers?

[prl]

Do you use Automtimers?

That would be my prime suspect, too.

[peteru]

I would suspect the hub. Beyonwiz have mentioned elsewhere that the USB3 hubs they supplied have tricky connectors that can cause issues. The symptoms you described would be very much consistent with devices just disappearing from the USB bus.

[beyonbloke]

By any chance, can anyone recommend a usb wifi dongle on EBAY that will work on my V2?

Thanks

beyonbloke

[ShadowAD]

Okay, I don't know why? I had the hub plugged into the USB2 and had everything plugged into hub including the HDD. So I changed it as said above and now have the HDD in the USB3 slot and the Hub, Tuner and Dongle going into USB2.

I did a test and recorded 8 shows simultaneously to max out the tuner to see how it coped. I left it to record for about 5 minutes and all recordings played back okay without any timeout or error.

As for setting Autotimers, I did set one for the first time tonight for The Voice. I also had the unit recording the Channel 9 News before The Voice and noticed after restarting the unit after it froze, the News had stopped recording in the background about the same time the icon came on the screen.

I should also mention I have a 40 minute padding on the end of all recordings, so after the News it would continue to record A Current Affair and a bit of The Voice before stopping. I assume the original recording would stop and the autotimer would take over.

Sorry for the misunderstanding MrQuade, and thanks for your help.

[ShadowAD]

By any chance, can anyone recommend a usb wifi dongle on EBAY that will work on my V2?

Thanks

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~

[Sandy B]

Time is set from the TV stations.

Apparently it went crazy again this morning with the loss of time and TV stations. Currently think that it might be an antenna cable issue, which requires further investigation. Thanks for the hint regarding checking the time.

Will keep you informed

The machine has gone craze again, last night on shutting down the clock failed to appear, and this morning have to reboot in order to get going. The V2 was set to internet time.

History of usage to date:

Stage 1. Set up with only HDD in USD 3, appeared to function normal. Only operated in this mode for a few dates. V2 set to TV station time.

Stage 2. Installed WiFi unit and all appeared to work, however would get a dropout of IP address. Had to reboot to achieve IP address. Don't think there was any problem with the clock, V2 set to TV Station time.

Stage 3. Installed USB hub (MSY purchase) with WiFi and 3rd tuner attached, V2 still set to TV Station time. This is when the clock started going funny and freezing of the picture. Yesterday evening it recorded 2 programs but failed to record ABC News at 7.00PM, as it all jammed up between recordings. The V2 was not switched on till after the ABC News and it required rebooting.

Stage 4. After reboot from stage 3 above, switched to internet time and machine worked well until switching off with no clock displayed on the front panel as detail in initial comment.

I currently suspect that it might be the WiFi unit, however strange that the installation of the USB hub with attached WiFi and additional receiver caused the additional problem (I think) to increase from just an IP loss to freezing and clock issue.

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~

I have ordered the above WiFi unit mentioned above (the $8 is really killing me), till it arrives will revert to basic operation of TV time and only the HDD attached to the USB 3 slot to try to isolate the problem.

[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~

Appreciate the info. Thanks ShadowAD


Have just ordered one.

beyonbloke

[beyonbloke]

Greetings

On my V2, I have noticed that if i set "action when movie ends" to "return to movie list", then about the last minute and a bit or so of the movie is cut off when the movie returns to movie list . Very annoying.

I can solve this by setting "action when movie ends" to "pause movie". Then the movie runs right to the very end. I then have to press"stop" to return to the "movie list".

Not a critical issue, but an annoying one that doesn't occur on the T4. Just wondering if any one else had noticed this or should I just put it in the "majority uninterested" quirk basket?

Thanks ... beyonbloke

[MrQuade]

Not a critical issue, but an annoying one that doesn't occur on the T4. Just wondering if any one else had noticed this or should I just put it in the "majority uninterested" quirk basket?

I hadn't noticed it, but I normally use the "Play next" option as well.

It's definitely a bug and a moderately serious one at that as that is definitely not normal or desirable behaviour.

The V2 has a bunch of interesting behaviours that seem (to me) to be related to media playback and timing.

Is this happening on recordings, or is it on "other" media?
And is it happening consistently on all media of the same type, or only certain examples.

[beyonbloke]

Is this happening on recordings, or is it on "other" media?
And is it happening consistently on all media of the same type, or only certain examples.

I shall investigate tonight if it happens on .mp4 movies. It definitely happens every time on .ts movies.

I have also noticed some strange differences on slow motion behaviour between .ts and .mp4 movies, like having to press buttons twice on .mp4 files, and being unable to resume normal play on .mp4 files without fiddling around.

Haven't noticed any behaviour on recordings, with ends being cut off, but I haven't actually looked for it yet on recordings. Will do so.

Will report back.

beyonbloke

[MrQuade]

I have also noticed some strange differences on slow motion behaviour between .ts and .mp4 movies, like having to press buttons twice on .mp4 files, and being unable to resume normal play on .mp4 files without fiddling around.

That could be influenced by your settings. What have you set as the PLAY/PAUSE button behaviour?

I shall investigate tonight if it happens on .mp4 movies. It definitely happens every time on .ts movies.

Haven't noticed any behaviour on recordings, with ends being cut off, but I haven't actually looked for it yet on recordings. Will do so.

It's probably a .ts file that lacks pre-existing indexing information which is leading the V2 to think it has reached the end of the file early. Recording .ts files shouldn't suffer from this. You probably should remux those .ts files into another container with some software that does a decent job of indexing.

[beyonbloke]

That could be influenced by your settings. What have you set as the PLAY/PAUSE button behaviour?

I have it set to "play"

It's probably a .ts file that lacks pre-existing indexing information which is leading the V2 to think it has reached the end of the file early. Recording .ts files shouldn't suffer from this. You probably should remux those .ts files into another container with some software that does a decent job of indexing.

I think your right. It only happens I've discovered on TS files that I recorded on the T4 and am now playing on the V2. I'll simply leave the "on end of movie" setting to " pause at end". Means one more button push to get back to movie list but I think I can handle that.

The strange "slow motion" behaviour I've discovered only happens on MP4 files. I press slow motion and all is good, then I have to press "play" three times to get back to normal play operation ??? One press on play does nothing, the second freezes the frame, and the third resumes playing. Fortunately I only really use slow motion on footy which is TS.

Thanks MrQuade for your interest.

beyonbloke

[MrQuade]

I think your right. It only happens I've discovered on TS files that I recorded on the T4 and am now playing on the V2. I'll simply leave the "on end of movie" setting to " pause at end". Means one more button push to get back to movie list but I think I can handle that.

Did you copy over the .ap and .sc files with the .ts files from the T4 too?

[prl]

I think your right. It only happens I've discovered on TS files that I recorded on the T4 and am now playing on the V2.

How are you doing the playback? If by DLNA (i.e. via /media/upnp), that may not be making the recording's metadata (including indexing) files available.

[beyonbloke]

Did you copy over the .ap and .sc files with the .ts files from the T4 too?

No, I only copied the .ts files. Did I boo boo there? Looks like I did (trying to save space).

How are you doing the playback? If by DLNA (i.e. via /media/upnp), that may not be making the recording's metadata (including indexing) files available.

I have simply copied the .ts files from the T4 HDD to a usb drive and plugged that drive into the V2, and am playing the files from that.

beyonbloke

[prl]

Did you copy over the .ap and .sc files with the .ts files from the T4 too?

That will be the problem, then. The other files contain (amongst other things) the indexing information that MrQuade referred to. They also contain the description information about the recording taken from the EPG.

No, I only copied the .ts files. Did I boo boo there? Looks like I did (trying to save space).

Yes you did , and you saved a trivial amount of space:

Code: Select all

root@artaxerxes:/media/hdd/movie# ls -l '20190628 2155 - ABC HD - Silent Witness.'*
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           271 Jun 28 21:54 20190628 2155 - ABC HD - Silent Witness.eit
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root     2627539324 Jun 28 23:25 20190628 2155 - ABC HD - Silent Witness.ts
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         84176 Jun 28 23:25 20190628 2155 - ABC HD - Silent Witness.ts.ap
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root            24 Jun 28 23:25 20190628 2155 - ABC HD - Silent Witness.ts.cuts
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           178 Jun 29 12:54 20190628 2155 - ABC HD - Silent Witness.ts.meta
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root       2159824 Jun 28 23:25 20190628 2155 - ABC HD - Silent Witness.ts.sc
root@artaxerxes:/media/hdd/movie#

The largest non-ts file in the recording (2MB) is 0.08% of the size of the .ts file (2.6GB). The .ts.sc and .ts.ap files contain the index data.

[beyonbloke]

[quoteYes you did , and you saved a trivial amount of space:][/quote]

I guess that's why I'm an "apprentice".

In general, I must say I'm impressed with the V2. I love the small size. With the "video enhancement" plugin, it outputs a very nice picture.

Appears to be stable and less susceptible to "impule" noise generated pixelation as on my old P1 and the T4. I now get mostly pixelation and picture breakup free recordings. I find myself using it more than the T4.

Doesn't get hot either and no fan noise is nice.

Just my 2 cents worth ...

beyonbloke

[Spot]

I'm not completely computer illiterate but you Beyonwiz experts are speaking a completely foreign language. Eg: What's a bouquet, and who thought that was a good name for it??

... just sayin'.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

I have simply copied the .ts files from the T4 HDD to a usb drive and plugged that drive into the V2, and am playing the files from that.

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?

[MrQuade]

I'm not completely computer illiterate but you Beyonwiz experts are speaking a completely foreign language. Eg: What's a bouquet, and who thought that was a good name for it??

It's a term that was coined in the native territories that developed the original Enigma2 PVR firmware.

The Beyonwiz firmware is based on firmware developed for dozens and dozens of other PVRs overseas, so it uses terminology common to all.

It's just a nice single-word term to describe a collection of services. It helps to define a word for a specific concept to avoid ambiguity.

I understand what you are saying though. It's not a commonly used term here in Australia. You'd normally use "Favourites list" or something similar, bit strictly speaking, any arbitrary list of services might not be your "favourites" so to speak.

[Spot]

It's a term that was coined in the native territories that developed the original Enigma2 PVR firmware.

The Beyonwiz firmware is based on firmware developed for dozens and dozens of other PVRs overseas, so it uses terminology common to all.

It's just a nice single-word term to describe a collection of services. It helps to define a word for a specific concept to avoid ambiguity.

Okay, I understand that and it does make sense. Thanks MrQuade.

I understand what you are saying though. It's not a commonly used term here in Australia. You'd normally use "Favourites list" or something similar, bit strictly speaking, any arbitrary list of services might not be your "favourites" so to speak.

Hmm, now I have less idea what a bouquet is than I thought.

[MrQuade]

Hmm, now I have less idea what a bouquet is than I thought.

Just a "list of channels" in the most basic sense.

There are three TV bouquets in a default Beyonwiz installation. Two of them are automatically filled out as a result of performing scans, and the "Favourites" bouquet is the one that you are expected to populate with your preferred services (commonly called channels).

You can of course make as many other bouquets as you like. Say if you want to separate out all the SD channels from HD ones, or put all the news ones together etc....

You can also configure some IP streaming services as entries in your bouquets, but that's an adjacent kettle of fish.

Having many bouquets and organisation strategies is more important in the European markets where they have a combination of terrestrial and satellite broadcasters all coming together into the one PVR, and they can select from hundreds of different services.

[beyonbloke]

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

[MrQuade]

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

It should be quite easy to do from the command line. I'll let someone clever contribute the actual command to batch process a directory full of files .

[Grumpy_Geoff]

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?

Yep, you can run it from the command line as shown in this post.

But before you go to the hassle of creating the .ap and .sc files, do you still have access to the HDD from the T4?

[beyonbloke]

Yep, you can run it from the command line as shown in this post.

But before you go to the hassle of creating the .ap and .sc files, do you still have access to the HDD from the T4?

Unfortunately no. It was on the way out and after copying as much as I could, I ditched it.

beyonbloke

[prl]

Hmm, now I have less idea what a bouquet is than I thought.

Just a "list of channels" in the most basic sense.

I prefer "list of digital services", myself, because a bouquet can contain things that aren't what you'd normally think of as "channels": HDMI IN on the T4 & U4, digital streaming services, and other bouquets (list that allows you to select your current favourite list is itself a bouquet).

[Sandy B]

Further to my previous post dated Tuesday 02 2019 08.40.

We have been operating the V2 with the 3rd receiver attached directly to the USB 2 slot and set to TV time.

Last night when I switched the V off the clock did not display in the front panel, turn back on & off clock was still gone This morning still no clock repeat on off no clock check settings all good on & off = no clock Reset front panel display settings with clock to display switch off = no clock All other functions appear to be working, including front panel display when in TV and recording play back mode. A rebooting of the machine res-established the front panel clock, the clock has all the time displayed the correct time.

This is the second time in a few days that the V2 has had this problem, surely rebooting every second day is not normal operation.

[Gully]

Further to my previous post dated Tuesday 02 2019 08.40.

We have been operating the V2 with the 3rd receiver attached directly to the USB 2 slot and set to TV time.

Are you networked to your V2? If so, you would be best using network time.

Whether that addresses this problem, I'm not sure but it would be the best thing to do and see if it fixes it. It will definitely make the time more reliable.

[Sandy B]

No not on the network, as per previous posts I believe that the WiFi unit may be faulty and causing other problems. As stated it is on TV time. I do not think it is a time issue as the correct time is displaying, unlike previously when on network time when the time went out of wack. It appears to be, I think something inside the box or something.

[netmask]

Purely as an experiment in order to eliminate sources have you actually tried using Internet time? Far more accurate than TV time, especially if TEN is involved or NINE for that matter...

[prl]

Purely as an experiment in order to eliminate sources have you actually tried using Internet time? Far more accurate than TV time, especially if TEN is involved or NINE for that matter...

I doubt that the Sandy B's issue is with time setting, it seems to be more likely to be a firmware (possibly front panel firmware) problem, or a front panel hardware fault (less likely).

While I'd normally agree that time setting using network time is better than using broadcast time (use it myself), Sandy B doesn't seem to have a reliable network connection.

I think the problems with broadcast time can be pretty fairly attributed to all the commercial networks. Even though we've had digital TV for nearly 20 years, and nearly 40 DST transitions, someone always seems to mess up either the broadcast time, or the EPG, or both.

[Sandy B]

Purely as an experiment in order to eliminate sources have you actually tried using Internet time? Far more accurate than TV time, especially if TEN is involved or NINE for that matter...

Internet time was tried with a potentially dodgy WiFi dongle and that caused all sorts of problems including time freezing on the clock and freezing of playback picture, TV picture and remote stopped functioning. The only method of recovery was a power off reboot. Currently waiting on replacement WfI unit so the box is not currently networked. HHD in USB 3 and 3rd receiver in USB 2 are the only attached devices.

As mentioned the time is displayed when in TV mode and is correct and it records programs as scheduled. The only fault is that the time does not display when switched off/standbye and the only way to recover the clock on the front panel is a reboot.

[Sandy B]

I doubt that the Sandy B's issue is with time setting, it seems to be more likely to be a firmware (possibly front panel firmware) problem, or a front panel hardware fault (less likely).

Totally agree, has anybody got a solution on how to identify/isolate the cause.

[beyonbloke]

Totally agree, has anybody got a solution on how to identify/isolate the cause.

Not really up to speed on your issue, but I assume you've backed up and then done a facory reset?
I DON'T use network time even tho I'm online, and have never had any issues.

beyonbloke

[peteru]

Not really up to speed on your issue, but I assume you've backed up and then done a facory reset?

A factory reset is not sufficient when troubleshooting. You must perform a full USB reflash.

[Spot]

I too have seen the clock not display a couple of times after a complete shutdown on my V2 after the recent update, but I have not seen it since I reset the unit (so far).

I use internet time but I doubt that matters.

[Sandy B]

You must perform a full USB reflash.

Are you suggesting a full USB firmware update?

I was half thinking the same thing, is it possible that some files became corrupt during the very recent firmware update. I was thinking that the old "dodgy" WiFi unit may have caused the corruption, would that be possible.

[prl]

You must perform a full USB reflash.

Are you suggesting a full USB firmware update?

I was half thinking the same thing, is it possible that some files became corrupt during the very recent firmware update.

Yes, a full USB reflash. A factory reset doesn't fuly 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..

[Spot]

FWIW, I just put my V2 in Standby and the clock did not display.

[MrQuade]

What are your settings for all the "Show REC ....." Settings in that front panel settings screen?

I'm wondering is maybe when the display is switching to showing "rec" it is somehow clearing the setting that tells it to show the time. The only setting I have set to "rec" is in standby mode and I don't do any recording from standby.

The front panel time display hasn't blanked on me to date.

[Spot]

What are your settings for all the "Show REC ....." Settings in that front panel settings screen?

I don't normally use Standby either but I've been messing around with networking and connecting the V2 to my Windows machine.

My settings are:

Display state while running = off
Display state in standby = on
Display state in shutdown = on

Show in standby = Time
Show REC in use = REC
Sow REC in standby = REC

[MrQuade]

Thanks, thats a start, and theyre definitely different to what mine are set to. I'll set mine to the same as yours and see if the problem triggers.