Any unwanted V2's for sale?

[brianh]

I am posting in the hopes that someone on the forum may have a V2 they want to get rid of. My God-daughter has moved into a unit and I'd like to sort out a decent PVR for her.

I've been trying to contact Beyonwiz shop a number of ways (& recently PM'd WizHQ) to ask about the likelihood of the V2 returning. I've had no success, so I thought my next best option is to ask around in case there's a pre-loved unit someone wants to sell.

Please PM me if you have one,

If you know of a decent alternative, I'll consider that as well.

Cheers,
Brian

[sub3R]

... If you know of a decent alternative, I'll consider that as well.

The Fetch Mighty seems to get pretty good user comments on the whirlpool forum Brian. PG (pgdownload) likes it & he was well up on PVRs in the old Topfield days. I don’t think it is easy to get content off & onto a PC though, & I’m not sure if you can use two as a server/client (watch content on one from the other over the LAN) – I could be wrong about the latter though.

A family member has one & he told me he prefers that to the T2 he has. He is very Tech savvy so I don’t know if that is why he prefers it, but I doubt it. I think he mainly uses it for catch-up TV. He told me it doesn’t have forward & reverse skipping, only fast forward & reverse, but apparently that works brilliantly & is on a par with his old TIVO.

[prl]

My understanding is that the Fetch boxes are FreeView compliant and don't have useful ad skipping. However, posters on Whirlpool who use the device say that its fast forward capability is quite good for skipping ads. Just different.

[Paul_oz53]

Not a V2 but I am looking to dispose of a T3. The remote is a T4 remote and showing its age but spares seem to be about the only thing beyonwiz is still selling.

Currently has a 120 GB SSD. I rebuilt the PSU recently with quality capacitors so it owes me about $80 plus postage.

[IanL-S]

Oh the temptation .. but do I really need another Beyonwiz. No, cannot justify it even at $80 plus postage.

IceTV is currently developing an Enigma2 based bring-you-own hardware PVR solution. At this stage not much is known about it. Not sure how flexible it will be (will it work with free-to-air rather than IceTV EPG - as it will presumably be an plugin, it would probably be able to be disabled), or the cost involved. I will interested to see how it works (I am an IceTV beta tester), if it ever gets off the ground.

Ian

[Blot]

You could use an intel nuc to build a pvr, there is good software (I forgot what it is called, but it is the main one used if you google heaps). I also have not researched setting up a infrared remote dongle with it, but I am sure it would be an interesting project.

The only problem is no standby, but the v2 standby only saves just under 2watts.

[raymondjpg]

You could use an intel nuc to build a pvr, there is good software (I forgot what it is called, but it is the main one used if you google heaps). I also have not researched setting up a infrared remote dongle with it, but I am sure it would be an interesting project.

The only problem is no standby, but the v2 standby only saves just under 2watts.

From what I have seen on the IceTV site, such a standalone IceTV PC application would likely be based on a linux box. From there on it's just hazy to me, so I'll wait and see if, for example, it could be run in a VM.

I use Flircs and Harmony 200s or 300s to control my HTPCs based on NUCs with Intel integrated graphics.

I have no experience with HTPCs running in linux. Windows is preferable for me principally because of better graphics drivers (from what I have read) and because I'm more familiar with its workings. Windows could probably be put in S3 or S0 standby and set to record with wake timers. I don't know if that could be done with linux, but I'd be surprised if something like that couldn't be implemented.

[IanL-S]

From what I have seen on the IceTV site, such a standalone IceTV PC application would likely be based on a linux box. From there on it's just hazy to me, so I'll wait and see if, for example, it could be run in a VM.

I understand Enigma2 only runs on Linux, so Linux it is. I also wonder if it could be run in a VM or using Windows Subsystem for Linux. Need to investigate these possibilities.

Ian

[raymondjpg]

From what I have seen on the IceTV site, such a standalone IceTV PC application would likely be based on a linux box. From there on it's just hazy to me, so I'll wait and see if, for example, it could be run in a VM.

I understand Enigma2 only runs on Linux, so Linux it is. I also wonder if it could be run in a VM or using Windows Subsystem for Linux. Need to investigate these possibilities.

Ian

Maybe OT for this thread, but I'd say that this is something that would best be brought to the attention of whoever may be developing the app or OS for IceTV. Also, it would be good for the developer to bear in mind that wake timers are probably a good idea, if not essential, if such a device or application is to succeed as a replacement for a dedicated PVR. For example TV Scheduler Pro (formerly DVB Web Scheduler) is able to wake a Windows PC to run recording, but I'm not sure if it has the capacity to return Windows to a standby state, which is another feature that would probably be essential. Then there is the whole issue of live TV....

[brianh]

Thanks all for the suggestions,

I've PM'd Paul to accept his offer of the T3 - while sourcing a custom solution might be interesting, it needs to be an interface my God-daughter is familiar with and one I can support remotely.

I did wonder what the Humax boxes were like but much prefer a BW when I can get one.

[Blot]

Hopefully they just ran out of manufacturing options in China or wherever it is built because of covid.

[Paul_oz53]

Thanks all for the suggestions,

I've PM'd Paul to accept his offer of the T3 - while sourcing a custom solution might be interesting, it needs to be an interface my God-daughter is familiar with and one I can support remotely.

I did wonder what the Humax boxes were like but much prefer a BW when I can get one.

Hi Brian, packed and ready to send - just need an address. Send me a PM.

[IanL-S]

Thanks all for the suggestions,

I've PM'd Paul to accept his offer of the T3 - while sourcing a custom solution might be interesting, it needs to be an interface my God-daughter is familiar with and one I can support remotely.

I did wonder what the Humax boxes were like but much prefer a BW when I can get one.

Good pont about the way an alternative Enigma2 PVR looks to the user. In my limited experience the main menue of wizos is unique.

I got the impression from the thread on the IceTV forum that there are supply issues with Humax; possibily similar to those facing Beyonwiz. Thus the development of a hardware independent solution.

Ian

[MrQuade]

I don't know whatever came of the project to develop an Enigma2 build for x86, but that would have opened up all sorts of home brewed PVRs. Possibly lots of headaches supporting all of the possible combinations of hardware and relying on the CPU for some codecs or demuxing activities, but I wouldn't have thought it would pose an insurmountable problem.

I can see that consistent IR control support might get interesting....

I am wondering what stops them developing a raspberry pi build too. I would have thought that a pi4 would have plenty of grunt once you add some USB tuners.

[IanL-S]

I don't know whatever came of the project to develop an Enigma2 build for x86, but that would have opened up all sorts of home brewed PVRs. Possibly lots of headaches supporting all of the possible combinations of hardware and relying on the CPU for some codecs or demuxing activities, but I wouldn't have thought it would pose an insurmountable problem.

In my recent reseach on this issue I do not recall anything recent about a build for x86. Demuxing may, as you say, be a challenge.

I can see that consistent IR control support might get interesting....

I was thinking the same thing. IR recever itself is not a big problem, the real issue is to the OS to correctly recognise the device (RCU) and to have an appropriate key table (if I recall correctly they are follow the NEC protocol). This is not the sort of thing most users would want to deal with; somewhere I have a program that runs on my ancient Rasberry Pi that can be used to find device ID and command codes.

I am wondering what stops them developing a raspberry pi build too. I would have thought that a pi4 would have plenty of grunt once you add some USB tuners.

I think the solution one would be looking for here is Enigma2 optimised for one or more Linux builds. There are several linux distros that have biulds optimised for Rasberry pi.

I think there is an Enigma2 build that works wiith either Codi or Plex which may or may not be an issue. It uses a keyboard to work with Enigma2 which is not something most users would want to deal with.

Ian

[prl]

I think the solution one would be looking for here is Enigma2 optimised for one or more Linux builds. There are several linux distros that have biulds optimised for Rasberry pi.

As far as I can tell, there's no Raspberry Pi build for enigma2, and I don't think that there are any non-Linux builds for enigma2.

[IanL-S]

Peter, I could not find a Rasberry Pi specific build of Enigma2. I could not find a build of Enigma2 that could be installed on PC running Linux rather than on specific PVR hardware. There was a project to develope a Linux distro that included Enigma 2 but nothing has happened since about 2016. It was x32 rather than x64 if I recall correctly. When I get a chance I will load the iso onto a vertual machine and see what happens.

Looks like IceTV will have a major task. At this stage they will only support one RCU and one particuar USB tuner

Ian

[MrQuade]

I just saw this new Android box featured in a Youtube video via my random wanderings:
https://youtu.be/_2FGKaTxp60

This sort of thing would make for an excellent platform for PVR/media duties.
Heaps of CPU grunt (blows the NVidia Shield apart)
Powerful GPU with HDMI 2.1 support
HDMI IN and OUT (Now that is a BIG one for some)
WiFi and DUAL LAN ports.
Tons of USB capacity.
M.2 and SATA HDD support.

It looks like it is currently "just" an android TV box, and no idea on how you would access the HDMI IN functions.
They claim that there will be general Linux support later on, which would then make this into a platform you could twist into just about any shape you wanted (assuming you had the will and technical talent).

[Star6key]

Looks very interesting. Reading the comments, it's funny how there are so many people that love the Shield. I've got the 2019 model, and I could not get it to play my video files (through Plex) without it dropping frames. Using the U4 with the DreamPlex plugin, it's perfect.
The Shield has been sitting in its box collecting dust for the last 2 years (at least it's keeping the ATV 4k company)... mehhhhhhh

[MrQuade]

Looks very interesting. Reading the comments, it's funny how there are so many people that love the Shield. I've got the 2019 model, and I could not get it to play my video files (through Plex) without it dropping frames. Using the U4 with the DreamPlex plugin, it's perfect.
The Shield has been sitting in its box collecting dust for the last 2 years (at least it's keeping the ATV 4k company)... mehhhhhhh

Was it dropping frames, or just not fully matching framerate?
I have found that the Plex implementation of frame rate matching in particular is not terribly smart. It only wants to switch between 50 and 60Hz to match content, and does not think that 24fps content warrants a switch to a native framerate, and instead just sticks with 60Hz. (in that regard, operates a lot like the "multi" setting on the Wizs).

I find 24-60 conversion vaguely annoying, but I tend to be willing to overlook it when I am dealing with streamed or downloaded content.

For good or bad, the Shield remains the gold benchmark for Android TV devices. Despite its age it is still very relevant, and when it was released all those years ago, it was an absolute beast. The continued support and updates from NVidia on the software front is downright unheard of.

As good as the hardware sounds for that other unit I linked, I think that it will be the official software support that would disappoint. Chipset manufacturer support for the drivers would go a long way towards making this a viable platform for homebrew developers to just run with it.

[Star6key]

...
Was it dropping frames, or just not fully matching framerate?
...

Can't remember. Either way, it would aggravate me to the point of wanting to use it as a frisbee out the window.

...
I have found that the Plex implementation of frame rate matching in particular is not terribly smart. It only wants to switch between 50 and 60Hz to match content, and does not think that 24fps content warrants a switch to a native framerate, and instead just sticks with 60Hz. (in that regard, operates a lot like the "multi" setting on the Wizs).
...

Most of my stuff is 24fps, so what you say makes sense ( ).

...
As good as the hardware sounds for that other unit I linked, I think that it will be the official software support that would disappoint. Chipset manufacturer support for the drivers would go a long way towards making this a viable platform for homebrew developers to just run with it.

Generally, the hardware is the easiest part of most electronic devices. It's the software that seems to totally baffle developers (in a consumer environment).

Totally OT, but I have a Seiki washing machine (front loader). It's brilliant... most of the time. Occasionally it has issues with load imbalance when trying to spin dry. The bright sparks who did the software made it so that when it was out of whack, it would spin down slowly, but not slow enough to actually allow clothes to fall and hopefully change the imbalance. It would then speed up, but obviously it would be still out of balance and so it would slow down again... repeat ad nauseum. It would have made much more sense for it to come to a complete stop so clothes would fall. When I see it happen, I put it on pause and let gravity do its thing.

[Bodogbodog]

For those after a "spare" Beyonwiz V2 – there is 1 for sale on eBay from NASA Electronics at $249 – described as Seller Refurbished and with a 45 day warranty and includes a built in dual tuner, Remote, Wifi dongle, Power Adapter and HDMI cable – no HDD

I've grabbed one and there's one left @ https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/115502412211

Hope it helps someone looking for one

Update: The original 2 units have gone but they’ve listed a further unit for sale @ https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/115503426153?

[mkwilson]

For those after a "spare" Beyonwiz V2 – there is 1 for sale on eBay from NASA Electronics at $249 – described as Seller Refurbished and with a 45 day warranty and includes a built in dual tuner, Remote, Wifi dongle, Power Adapter and HDMI cable – no HDD

I've grabbed one and there's one left @ https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/115502412211

Hope it helps someone looking for one

Update: The original 2 units have gone but they’ve listed a further unit for sale @ https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/115503426153?

Another V2 became available on their eBay page last night (I bought it as a backup). For those looking it might be worth bookmarking their page and checking regularly (that's what I did).

[Bodogbodog]

Looks they’re going to be listing them regularly - another one listed today @ https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/115509365504?

[Bodogbodog]

And another one listed today from NASA at $249

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/115519910194?

[dugby]

Thankyou for posting about the ebay V2s

I just received that last ebay V2 offered by NASA.

Just ran it continuously for 24hrs and all good, so hopefully the limited 45 guarantee is a non issue.