Timers not recording - intermittent

[CJSStK]

Hi there
Hopefully this is the correct topic area for this submission. I have a BW U4 (since 2018) and its working very well and reliably. However in recent times I have noticed that scheduled recordings (I use IceTV) have not worked ie the video file is 0 bytes, and generally missing the .sc and .ap files. Its predominantly Tuner A but sometimes Tuner B (as per .meta file). I hasten to say that its not a big problem and a very small percentage (about 0.01% by my calc) of total recordings. But I am curious to understand the possible cause and whether it might indicate an emerging problem. The other thing I noticed using the BW web interface is that both Tuner A and B (but not Tuner C) show a notation DVB-T and a red dot - not sure what that indicates.
Cheers

[MrQuade]

Hopefully this is the correct topic area for this submission. I have a BW U4 (since 2018) and its working very well and reliably. However in recent times I have noticed that scheduled recordings (I use IceTV) have not worked ie the video file is 0 bytes, and generally missing the .sc and .ap files. Its predominantly Tuner A but sometimes Tuner B (as per .meta file).

Zero length files are usually a sign that the tuner has failed to receive any signal. The timer works, the U4 is running, but there was no actual data incoming to record.
Hard to know what might be causing that to happen.
Firmware up to date? Do these recordings happen after starting up from standby or shutdown, or do some of them happen while the U4 is in normal live operation.

The other thing I noticed using the BW web interface is that both Tuner A and B (but not Tuner C) show a notation DVB-T and a red dot - not sure what that indicates.

The dot is telling you what each tuner is doing.
A green dot means it is being used for live viewing and a red dot means it is being used for a recording.

[prl]

The other thing I noticed using the BW web interface is that both Tuner A and B (but not Tuner C) show a notation DVB-T and a red dot - not sure what that indicates.

All three tuners on my test U4 show up as DVT-T2 in Open Webif:

Tuner A Si21682 (DVB-T2)
Tuner B Si21682 (DVB-T2)
Tuner C Si21682 (DVB-T2)

Is Tuner C also missing from your list of tuners in MENU>Information>Devices?

[CJSStK]

Thanks for the response.

The firmware version is 17.5.20190207. Would this be the most up-to-date version. If not, and just checking, if I upgrade would my recordings be preserved. I remember with a Topfield I had ages ago that if you updated the firmware it blew away all of your recordings.

The errors occur in the majority of cases (about 80%) when starting up from standby, but there have been a few instances where I would probably have been watching tv at that time. Interestingly (and a worry) about 75% of the errors have occurred over the last twelve months and generally later in the evening, but there is no particular pattern other than that, that I can discern.

Cheers

[CJSStK]

Just saw the new post. I can see all three tuners in Open Web currently showing DVB-T2 and inactive ie not watching live TV or recording, which is correct.

Cheers

[MrQuade]

The firmware version is 17.5.20190207. Would this be the most up-to-date version. If not, and just checking, if I upgrade would my recordings be preserved. I remember with a Topfield I had ages ago that if you updated the firmware it blew away all of your recordings.

That version is pretty ancient. The date on that was from early 2019 (2019 -02-07) and is using the last major series 17.5.

When there is a major series update, you cannot update online. The update must be performed using the USB method.

The latest firmware is from October 2021 from the 19.3 series, and can be found here:
viewtopic.php?f=45&t=14964

You won't lose recordings when you update using the USB method, though your settings (including timers) will be wiped out.
Since you are using IceTV, to restore your timers, you could just re-send them from the IceTV website after the update.

You can also simply back up your settings prior to the update, and then you will be prompted to restore them automatically after the update. I don't think there are any known issues with moving from 17.5 to 19.3 with your old settings.

[IanL-S]

Thanks for the response.

The firmware version is 17.5.20190207. Would this be the most up-to-date version. If not, and just checking, if I upgrade would my recordings be preserved. I remember with a Topfield I had ages ago that if you updated the firmware it blew away all of your recordings.

<<snip>>
Cheers

With Toppys it was most unusual for firmware update to nuke the HDD; this happened when the file system was changed (which required reformatting) and if major changes were made in the way recordings were saved. The intial firmware of the TRF-2400/2460 used *.rec (like European Toppys) rather than *.mpg, and this was changed in December 2009 if I recall correctly. I think reformatting also happend once or twice with the MPEG 2 HD Toppys. I think it also happend with the TF-T6000 (a realy bad PVR).

Ian

[CJSStK]

Thanks for the feedback. I will update the firmware and monitor things from here.

Cheers

[CJSStK]

Sorry to trouble you again, but I seem to have a problem with the software update.

Here is what I have done.
Formatted a 4Gb USB drive to FAT32 (using Mac Disk Utility)
Downloaded the U4 update files from the link advised earlier.
These download to a folder named U4
Uncompressed the roots.tar.bz2 file
This creates a new folder called rootfs with numerous sub-folders
Copied all this content maintaining the same folder structure to the USB drive
Powered down the U4
Inserted the drive into the front USB port on the U4 and rebooted
At the time of boot up I can see from that the U4 box is accessing the USB drive
However no update takes place - the U4 proceeds to complete a normal boot up process.
I can see that the USB drive is recognised (size, format type) in Setup-Devices Information. I infer from that, that the USB port is working correctly.

Then I tried again renaming the folder U4 to Beyonwiz (having read the user manual this seems to indicate what the system is looking for)
Rebooted and no change - the U4 completes a normal boot up process

I have tried the same process with another USB drive but no change to the outcome.

It seems as if the U4 is checking the USB drive but does not find anything of interest there.
y
I have also tried an on-line update via the Setup menu but it tells me nothing to update.

Is there some other step I should be carrying out? Is the folder naming/structure I have used appropriate?

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Is there some other step I should be carrying out? Is the folder naming/structure I have used appropriate?

Any advice appreciated.

You're cocking up the firmware files.
Do it exactly as per the guide - https://beyonwiz.com.au/u4/HowToUpgrade ... U4v175.pdf

[CJSStK]

Thanks for the response. Perhaps I was not clear.

When I download the U4 update using the link advised by BW it comes as a folder of six files named U4. One of which is a compressed .bz2 file. When I uncompress this it creates a folder named rootfs (under the U4 root folder) with various sub folders. There is no folder named beyonwiz created yet but from how I interpret the guide I expected to see one. Anyway all of the package files incl the extracted rootfs I copy to the USB at this time retaining the U4 root folder name. That did not work so I renamed folder U4 to Beyonwiz. Still did not work etc as per my earlier post.

Can you help me undesrtand where I am cocking this up.

Cheers

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Can you help me undesrtand where I am cocking this up.

Sure.
The zip file contains a "beyonwiz" folder. Inside the "beyonwiz" folder is another folder - "u4" (and that folder contains a bunch of files that you don't touch).
The extraction should result in a "beyonwiz" folder containing a "u4" folder which contains six files (as per step 2 of the "how to").
Copy the resultant "beyonwiz" folder to the thumbdrive (as per step 3 of the "how to").

[CJSStK]

Thanks. I think my confusion arose because the download from BW came as a U4 folder, not as a zip file. Don't know why. Hence no beyonwiz folder to extract.
So working back I created a beyonwiz folder on the USB drive and copied the untouched U4 folder to the USB beyonwiz folder and the upgrade went through very quickly in a couple of minutes. Although the on-screen message said it could take 5-10 minutes (is that a worry?). Now sitting on Ver 19.3.20191106 as per Setup info. Did not even blow away all the timers which I expected. Restored settings from my backup all seems to be working ok.

Cheers

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Now sitting on Ver 19.3.20191106 as per Setup info.

That's an old firmware version. The latest is in this thread here - "Current firmware - 19.3_20211010"

[CJSStK]

Thanks and updated. Cheers

[prl]

Did not even blow away all the timers which I expected.

Re-installing the firmware from USB will certainly delete all your timers.

Restored settings from my backup all seems to be working ok.

But restoring settings will restore the timers to what they were when you last did a settings backup, which may not include recent timer (and other setting) changes. If you didn't do a settings backup just before you did the firmware re-install, you may want to check that all your timers are in fact there.

[CJSStK]

Settings will be OK as I did the backup a couple of days ago and nothing has changed since then. Just to be safe I'll force a download of all timers from IceTV now.
Thanks much appreciated.
Cheers