Satellite HD PVR

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727 posts

Ultimate Geek

#386285 30-Sep-2010 12:22

Things continue well. I don't have the external disc drive sorted yet, but that can't really be blamed on the Vu+. It looks like it is JFS format, and looking under the hood of the Vu+ I see it doesn't support that. I've had confirmation from the openPLI development team (yes - the people who actually write the code!) that there isn't a plan at the moment to add it, but that may just be because nobody asked before.

I've had my first couple of 'green-screens-of death'. These have so far occurred only when I was experimenting with the crossEPG extension. It's not really documented, and quite what it does I don't know, but it's broken. Its absence doesn't affect operation in any way; the standard single and multi-service EPGs so far have been faultless.

Last night I had a few occasions where the audio dropped out while watching a previously recorded HD program. Pausing and restarting playback fixed it.

A very tiny point, and it is an entirely relative and subjective thing: the markings on the remote control are a little hard to read, especially in a darkened room.

Otherwise - I'm still a happy camper.

Jaxson

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#386286 30-Sep-2010 12:29

xarqi: I've had confirmation from the openPLI development team (yes - the people who actually write the code!)

Wow.

Thanks for the updates. I'm selling my single tuner unit and seriously considering one of these as a replacement, so I appreciate the info.

xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek

#386288 30-Sep-2010 12:33

Jaxson:
xarqi: I've had confirmation from the openPLI development team (yes - the people who actually write the code!)
Wow.

Yup.

They live here: PLi® Images website

Jaxson

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#386296 30-Sep-2010 12:44

Might want to check here too perhaps for the Crossfire EPG thing:
http://www.austech.info/dreambox/24560-crossepg-enigma2-7-day-hd-epg.html

Perhaps it's not configured for NZ satellites or something?

http://www.austech.info/other-linux-based-receivers/43697-vu-duo-7day-epg-help.html too.

xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek

#386318 30-Sep-2010 13:40

Oh - while I remember: a few more tiny quibbles.

When accessing files stored on a server, no confirmation is required for deletion. Have a file highlighted, accidentally press the red button, and it's gone. Maybe there is a preference that needs setting somewhere. Again, not a bug, or even a problem in normal use, just a minor weakness.

If a menu is being displayed, you can't just hit the power button to go to standby - you have to exit the menu first.
On that note, it can sometimes take 3 or 4 "exits" to climb back up through the menus, so getting back to the live display can take a few seconds.

I can't get the unit to stream live TV across the net using the WebTV feature, and I haven't yet been able to control it remotely. It does have a built-in web-server, and looks like it'd be happy to serve files via SMB, but mine doesn't have a disc drive yet.

An accolade...

The remote control is very responsive, with no lag detectable, other perhaps, than that brought about by network/server delay in directory listings. Point it just about anywhere in the room and the box will respond.

And a correction - "zapping" from the channel list does switch services, but doesn't clear the on-screen display.

---
And just to recap:

The only significant operational problems I'm sure of now are:
- mute button doesn't work sometimes (seen with playback across the network only);
- deep standby is broken - unit won't restart properly.

The possibility of audio drop-out on HD replay has arisen, but it's too early to say if that was a "glitch", or a real problem.

I had some issues with playback of a .TS file, but I can't be sure the problem wasn't with the file itself.

xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek

#386516 30-Sep-2010 22:17

There's a decent chance I'm about to get banned, so if you hear nothing more, that'll be the reason.

I hope things work out for other Duo users as they are so far for me.

LookingUp

411 posts

Ultimate Geek

#386539 30-Sep-2010 23:36

Banned - why?

I'm another very happy Vu+Duo camper. Can't say I've had your problems either, but then I've only tried streaming to "local" PCs - will do SD over WiFi and HD over LAN without any problems.

Did have a few playback glitches but found it was a uShare plugin I had loaded to try to serve media to a BluRay player, but then found I didn't need it anyway, and service returned to normal when I uninstalled the plugin.

To be fair it's not perfect, but it does do pretty much all the things the MySkyHDI / T-Box/ Tivo people wish their boxes could.

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

Quic Broadband

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xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek

#386543 30-Sep-2010 23:47

Nice avatar!

LookingUp: Banned - why?

I stirred up a can of worms (if you'll excuse the mixed metaphor) over the problems I had with the retailer, and some of the mud may have landed on another victim, rather than a (n alleged) culprit. When the dust settles, I may be deemed to be in breach of the Terms of Use, or just booted out as a trouble-maker.

I'm another very happy Vu+Duo camper. Can't say I've had your problems either, but then I've only tried streaming to "local" PCs - will do SD over WiFi and HD over LAN without any problems.

Yeah - I haven't really been able to stream from the Duo yet as it doesn't have a hard disc - I can see it there as a server though so that'll probably work when the time comes.

Did have a few playback glitches but found it was a uShare plugin I had loaded to try to serve media to a BluRay player, but then found I didn't need it anyway, and service returned to normal when I uninstalled the plugin.

To be fair it's not perfect, but it does do pretty much all the things the MySkyHDI / T-Box/ Tivo people wish their boxes could.

Any joy with the crossEPG thing? Have you tried other images or are you just running on the openPLI one it shipped with?
Have you played media files resident on your LAN? Does the mute button work for you when you do?

Jaxson

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#386599 1-Oct-2010 08:37

xarqi: There's a decent chance I'm about to get banned, so if you hear nothing more, that'll be the reason.

Would hope not. Regardless of how the business side of things work out I think your technical input has been spot on. In addition others have come forward in the same situation as you with regards to that company.

treenz

17 posts

Geek

#386634 1-Oct-2010 09:43

Name and shame I say, if you put something up for sale why do you then not deliver it. Do you want to do business or not. I would say that is the downfall of the Vu+Duo is that you can't seem to get your hands on one very easily. I bought one off the same supplier (I think) and I haven't got mine yet (a month later). I might have thought differently if I had known the problems everyone was having. So money gone and no unit. It is a pity as it looks like it is a good product.

LookingUp

411 posts

Ultimate Geek

#386684 1-Oct-2010 11:46

Any joy with the crossEPG thing? Have you tried other images or are you just running on the openPLI one it shipped with?
Have you played media files resident on your LAN? Does the mute button work for you when you do?

I've just used the EPG that it came installed with, which works rather well, although doesn't pick up the HD channels beyond what's on next. That is a bit of a pain, as it means you have to use the EPG to set a recording for (say) TV1, and then manually edit it for TV1 HD. I can live with this for the moment, but am thinking that it must be pretty easy to find and hack the EPG file to simply copy entries for the appropriate SD channels into the HD equivalents. A wee software dev project maybe...?

I haven't tried playing media from my LAN, as by default, my main PC is off. I'm actually using the Vu+Duo as the media server for other components, as I leave it running. It actually works OK as a NAS :-) For example, the photo viewers that I've tried on the Vu+Duo aren't as good as the one on my BluRay player (Oppo BDP-83), but the BluRay player can pull photos off the Vu+Duo over the LAN just fine. Similarly, there is absolutety no problem watching a movie stored on the Vu+Duo on a PC over the LAN, or on a laptop over WiFi.

Your eariler comment about web access to the Vu+Duo did confuse me. If it's on your LAN all you have to do is open a browser window on your PC and put in the Vu+Duo IP address, and you should get the Vu+Duo web interface. Through that you can view TV (I use VLC on the PC to do this), search the EPG and set up timers etc. - all while the Vu+Duo continues to do whatever it's otherwise doing.

To be fair, I have had the odd complaint about playback skipping/freezing from the missus when I've been poking around on the computer while she's watching something, but that's generally only when the Vu+Duo is already taking a hammering - something like recording HD channel x while she watches time shifted HD channel y, while I'm asking it to serve me an HD channel or recording to the PC.

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek

#386721 1-Oct-2010 13:20

LookingUp:

I've just used the EPG that it came installed with, which works rather well, although doesn't pick up the HD channels beyond what's on next. That is a bit of a pain, as it means you have to use the EPG to set a recording for (say) TV1, and then manually edit it for TV1 HD. I can live with this for the moment, but am thinking that it must be pretty easy to find and hack the EPG file to simply copy entries for the appropriate SD channels into the HD equivalents. A wee software dev project maybe...?

I think this is what the crossEPG and similar plug-ins are supposed to address - getting program listings off the net, rather than off the satellite. I don't have SKY, so the only HD I get is SBS, and that has an 8(?) day EPG.

Your eariler comment about web access to the Vu+Duo did confuse me. If it's on your LAN all you have to do is open a browser window on your PC and put in the Vu+Duo IP address, and you should get the Vu+Duo web interface. Through that you can view TV (I use VLC on the PC to do this), search the EPG and set up timers etc. - all while the Vu+Duo continues to do whatever it's otherwise doing.

Hmmmm - that's what I would have expected too. I can get a screenshot, and the now/next EPG, and toggle the standby mode, but that's about it. If I click the TV icon next to a channel, which I assume is how to watch the stream, iTunes starts up, but I see nothing. From the flashing lights on my hub, it looks like the traffic is there though. I think I have to reconfigure my iMac so that m3u traffic goes to VLC, not iTunes. Seems a promising idea.

Have you used "Deep standby"? My unit won't restart reliably from that state (2/2 times I tried, that is).

xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek

#386750 1-Oct-2010 14:00

Yup - I changed the "helper application" for .m3u from iTunes to VLC - that works. The "Webremote" feature still seems dead in the water though.

LookingUp

411 posts

Ultimate Geek

#386757 1-Oct-2010 14:19

Good that you've made some progress :-)

The web remote doesn't work for me either, but I don't see that as too big a problem. It might have something to do with browser security, but I haven't bothered chasing it.

I haven't tried deep standby, or any other type of standby for that matter - I just leave it on, as my thought was that I'd use it as "always on" network storage. I haven't got around to fully implementing this yet, but see it eventually taking care of storage of my general PC files, so that I can access them via laptop, Vu+Duo, BluRay player, whatever, without having to leave the PC on all the time. I'll probably do that by adding a 2 TB eSata drive onto the Vu+Duo, so that the internal 2 TB drive can be reserved for recordings.

On the web interface, the EPG search is kind of useful, but make sure you have pop-ups allowed, as it took a while for me to figure out why that didn't work. Simply type in a word or two and it will give you a list of all relevant EPG entries, and you can set them as timers off that list.

One other feature mentioned earlier was the ability to schedule a "zap" as a type of once or regular recording. I initially wondered what that was for, but have found it very useful. You set a "zap" if you want to remember to change channels to watch something - you can then forget about it, and the Vu+ will automatically change channels for you at that time :-) We've got a repeat "zap" set to turn the TV to TV1 at 6:30 every morning, so it's one less thing to do when turning the TV on in the morning.

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek

#386763 1-Oct-2010 14:34

LookingUp: Good that you've made some progress :-)

The web remote doesn't work for me either, but I don't see that as too big a problem. It might have something to do with browser security, but I haven't bothered chasing it.

I don't think it's a big issue either - when a powerful feature that's not needed for core operation and that I'd never imagined would be included only works well, and not perfectly, I'm not going to complain too much!

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