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sdavisnz
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  #2167383 25-Jan-2019 12:17
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ElectronicFerret:

I picked up one of these yesterday for testing (I own a small rural ISP) and I have to say I am not impressed..



  • Runs really hot

  • WiFi range is limited and depending on your physical setup, mounting it on the back of your TV will reduce the range/signal even more.

  • Requires you to have a google account to get the latest firmware

  • Bluetooth remote has limited range when the unit is mounted to the back of your TV

  • Out of the box, the freeview button did not start the freeview app (Required 1.2GB of firmware and app upgrades)

  • Firmware upgrade reset everything (WiFi password, google account, etc)

  • Freeview app asks me to re-enter password every time I start it

  • No EPG, always comes up EPG data is updating


And the biggie for me - no freeview on demand, I have absolutely no idea how to access this feature.  I'm guessing it's via the inaccessible EPG.


Hopefully they sort this out as we were planning on recommending these to our less tech savvy customers as a way to access the upcoming Spark Sport service.


On top of this, when you set up a freeview on demand account, take note of the characters available on the onscreen keyboard.  You set up your password on a different device by clicking on a link in an email, but then need to type that password into the SmartVU - I set up a password with an underscore and question mark in it, and then had no way to enter it on the SmartVU...and no way to reset it from the website.  I had to click the forgot password link on the SmartVU, wait for the email and reset my password to one with more generic characters in it. It's a shame, they had the forethought to add a ".com" and a ".co.nz" button to the keyboard, but not even the standard character set found on a normal keyboard.


 


 



You can cast on demand as smartvu has cast built in.

Unit runs hot, - put sticky like heat speaders on like the raspberry pi ones.

Also I have one in bedroom and it's noisy when sleeping so I have mine powered by TV USB port.




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vulcannz
436 posts

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  #2167563 25-Jan-2019 18:31
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Mines started doing the EPG is updating thing now. Tried rebooting, checked my firewall logs. Did see some very odd ICMP traffic (the Vu is sending type 3/code 3 messages to the gateway).


sdavisnz
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  #2168390 27-Jan-2019 14:30
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I've just figured out to to manually enable cec volume control.

If you want to control tv/ht/soundbar volume via HDMI cec but when you change volume it only changes the android volume, this will fix it.

Turn off hdmi cec on the dongle in the settings
Reboot smart vu
Turn on cec

It should start controlling volume of connected device.




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sico77
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  #2168583 27-Jan-2019 19:10
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Picked one up on special as we have issues with terrestrial Freeview signal. 

 

Freeview streams ok I can flick through channels no probs, but there is no guide at all.

 

Centre button just shows "EPG data is Updating"

 

Anyone have a fix for this?


freitasm

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  #2168584 27-Jan-2019 19:12
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It does take some time to update at first...




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ElectronicFerret
125 posts

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  #2168607 27-Jan-2019 19:52
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freitasm: It does take some time to update at first...


Mine has been plugged in since Friday and the EPG has still not yet updated

Gwilson
136 posts

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  #2168613 27-Jan-2019 20:06
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Me too.  Says it is updating EPG but doesn't seem to ever actually complete doing this...


 
 
 

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sdavisnz
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  #2168622 27-Jan-2019 20:36
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Same here, maybe broken system




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sdavisnz
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  #2168624 27-Jan-2019 20:40
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They prob got epg xml off Matt huisman bit he recently changed his epg url lol.




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Gwilson
136 posts

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  #2168697 28-Jan-2019 06:43
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Could be, maybe pointing to the old full URL instead of i.mjh.nz?  Just a thought as Matt did shorten the URL to make typing on a remote control slightly easier.

 

Intersting that this post could not be submitted with his old URL - some rule blocked it with Matt's name.


vulcannz
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  #2168700 28-Jan-2019 07:08
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freitasm: It does take some time to update at first...

 

 

 

Yeah nah it's been broken for a few weeks it seems.


RedactedRetracted
96 posts

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  #2168727 28-Jan-2019 09:06
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They use their own API for the EPG (same domain as what is used for Freeview OnDemand)

  #2168839 28-Jan-2019 11:52
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EPG data is Updating... has been for days...

 

Tried resetting and updating the SmartVU....

 

 





Gordy

 

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.


sdavisnz
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  #2168960 28-Jan-2019 14:21
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There is an unofficial fix for this

If you follow

https://mjh.nz/2018/12/freeview-live-tv-android-app-unlocked.html?m=1

Download modified apk,

It was modified today to pull epg data from working url.

Uninstall old Freeview app
Enable unknown sources
Install sideloaded app

Epg will start working, also bonus, it won't ask you to sign into a Freeview acc.




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vulcannz
436 posts

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  #2168964 28-Jan-2019 14:29
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What impact does that have? For example will official smartvu updates stop? I'd really like DishTV to sort it out officially (just lodged an enquiry on their website).


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