Front Panel Ignores Settings

[PStepanas]

Under Settings | System | Front Panel Settings, you are supposed to be able to change the behaviour of the V2's Front Panel -- specifically the time display and brightness, and the power button light.

The V2 appears to be ignoring my selected settings. Occasionally, it will even randomly change its behaviour. Is this "normal" (a firmware issue), or is this a manufacturing fault with the unit?

Furthermore, the time display panel is incredibly bright for this kind of device, even on the supposedly dimmest setting. Is it supposed to have a red filter over the top of the display (as would appear to be required), or is this also "normal" (hence a poor design decision)?


As I understand the settings, the V2 has the following modes that are supposed to affect the front panel:
- Off -- no power, no front panel display
- Shutdown -- power is still on, but the unit won't respond to timers and front panel display is off
- Standby -- unit is in sleep mode, will respond to timers, and will display something on the front panel
- Recording in Standby -- no HDMI output, but unit is recording, and will display on the front panel
- On -- user is watching TV or a recording from the DVR, but no recording is taking place, front panel is active
- Recording -- user is watching TV or a recording from the DVR, and the DVR is recording something, front panel is active

The defaults appear to be:
- Standby = no display or lights on front panel
- Standby Recording = Red power light, no display
- On = Blue power light, TIME display
- On and Recording = Violet power light, REC display

What I actually have set is different:
- Use LED for power and recording = OFF
- Shutdown = TIME display, Red power light
- Standby = TIME display, Violet power light
- Running = TIME display, Blue power light

In other words, I want the TIME always displayed, and always some colour of power indicator, but with no effect from recording.

And what the V2 actually does is different again:
- Standby = no display or lights on front panel
- Standby Recording = Red power light, no display
- Running = Blue power light, TIME display
- Running Recording = Violet power light, TIME display

Clearly, something is not right.

I did try resetting factory settings and doing a manual firmware update, but that didn't help.

[MrQuade]

You'll want to be running the latest beta firmware to get the latest fixes for the front panel settings.

See here for some history.

Take note that if you run this beta firmware, you must also immediately switch to the beta update feed before running any online updates, or you risk stuffing up some software package versions.

[adoxa]

The V2 appears to be ignoring my selected settings. Occasionally, it will even randomly change its behaviour. Is this "normal" (a firmware issue), or is this a manufacturing fault with the unit?

As MrQuade mentions one bug has been fixed (the LED would always be blue after a restart), but there's also another issue where the time disappears, which is seemingly random, so hard to fix.

Furthermore, the time display panel is incredibly bright for this kind of device, even on the supposedly dimmest setting. Is it supposed to have a red filter over the top of the display (as would appear to be required), or is this also "normal" (hence a poor design decision)?

Normal, unfortunately, and can only be made dimmer by external means.

- Shutdown -- power is still on, but the unit won't respond to timers and front panel display is off

Timers do respond in shutdown.

[PStepanas]

Good to know it's a firmware problem (and a hardware design fault for the clock brightness). I was very concerned I had been sent a faulty unit.

Nonetheless, I find it bizarre that such an obvious thing hasn't been fixed.

Anyway, I will look into the beta firmware, as suggested. Thank you for that.

One question: how long would it likely take for this kind of fix to move from the beta firmware to the public firmware?
(I'm not a fan of betas for critical services like a DVR.)

[MrQuade]

Good to know it's a firmware problem (and a hardware design fault for the clock brightness). I was very concerned I had been sent a faulty unit.

Nonetheless, I find it bizarre that such an obvious thing hasn't been fixed.

There are a few parts of the firmware that Beyonwiz simply doesn't have the soure code to be able to fix, so some stuff either needs a workaraound, or if that's too ugly, needs to wait.

Anyway, I will look into the beta firmware, as suggested. Thank you for that.

One question: how long would it likely take for this kind of fix to move from the beta firmware to the public firmware?
(I'm not a fan of betas for critical services like a DVR.)

Hehehe "critical services", though I suppose we can factor in spousal abuse for missing their shows .

There is really no telling how long a beta cycle will last. In the past, they have been a matter of a couple of months, but lately, the delay between beta and release has been quite a wait.

The good news is that once a firmware series has made it to a release state, like the 19.3 series has, it is in pretty good shape. Any betas that are then iterated from that stable release are also generally very reliable. Any problems that get introduced are usually fixed within a day or so, and problems are generally pretty rare, and pretty much never fatal .

When 19.3 is done, and we move to 20.x or 21.x, then you may want to wait before leaping back onto the beta train if you are concerned about instability .

[Iman_Oldie]

I've only had my V2 for a couple of hours and noticed this glaring bug.
I thought it odd not to have an LED showing in Standby and after trying various settings it still has no LED in Standby.
The LED changes colour as you make the setting but after an on/off cycle it disappears.
At least I know it is a known problem but a pretty basic one IMHO.
The clock is terrible as far as brightness goes. The minimum setting is too bright. I can't imagine anyone setting it higher as it becomes a blur at higher settings.
The REC doesn't come up when recording either!
Not impressed!

[MrQuade]

Blame Huawei for not releasing all the hardware drivers source code.

They're is only so much off that front panel that can be fixed without more control of the hardware.