Attention Australian Beyonwiz Users

[stephenh]

Now that I have stable openATV systems working on my two beyonwiz boxes

Potentially working up to giving openATV a go on my U4, @Dugby, how are you finding it so far for everyday use?
Any "gotchas" from an Aussie point of view?

StephenH

[IanSav]

Hi StephenH,

Unfortunately, Beyonwiz does not have any of the image backup features. I would have suggested you simply backup your box and try OpenATV and then you could switch back easily if you had any reservations about proceeding. OpenATV *can* backup a Beyonwiz partition but this is not helpful while you have only the Beyonwiz image running on your box.

Regards,
Ian.

[Garyvx]

OK so I've install OpenATV on my V2 and now I'm having a quick play with it.
One thing I cannot seem to get working is on my Windows10 laptop I cannot see my V2 any more in Windows Explorer.
I can get OpenWebif working so I know its there.

Regards Gary

[Dugby]

OK so I've install OpenATV on my V2 and now I'm having a quick play with it.
One thing I cannot seem to get working is on my Windows10 laptop I cannot see my V2 any more in Windows Explorer.
I can get OpenWebif working so I know its there.

Regards Gary

Assuming your V2 is TCP/IP networked to your laptop, you need to create a password in openATV on your V2.

In the openATV menus, select Settings > Network > Password Settings menu, create a new password, and SAVE.


Go to your Windows 10 Explorer, after you click on "BEYONWIZV2", a popup window asks for Userid and Password.

The userid is "root"
The password is that which you just created in the V2.

you should now be able to access the V2 folders.

[Dugby]

Potentially working up to giving openATV a go on my U4, @Dugby, how are you finding it so far for everyday use?
Any "gotchas" from an Aussie point of view?

StephenH

The initial U4 installation steps were a bit vague and do require patience and allow it a good 5+ minutes. So here are my U4 notes.


1 Extract the openATV firmware file openatv-7.4-beyonwizu4-20240812_usb.zip to a clean FAT32 USB stick. USB stick must be USB1.1 compatible

2 Insert USB stick into front of U4 (Behind door on RHS)

3 Power On U4,

4 When asked: TOUCH power on button (only need to do this ONCE)

5 Allow firmware to install and system to reboot.
Upon reboot the U4 will again find the USB FW install option and will ask you
to PRESS again to install - IGNORE this request. Allow openATV to boot up.

6 Respond appropriately to the wizard setup questions.

8 Power down using remote control button, by selecting Deep Standby. Click OK

9 Remove USB stick.

10. Power on, via RC button

11. Within the openATV menus, Install Prl's "tv-australia" picons

12. Within the openATV menus, Install IanSav's "overlayHD" skin, and then activate the overlayHD skin.

13. Enable the LCN feature for channel selection settings.

14. Immediately perform an image backup to your HDD.


All up, the above steps will probably take 30mins.


I have been using openATV on both my U4 and V2 for 5 days now, and find that they operate faster than the legacy beyonwiz firmware.

Since openATV uses Python 3 and most likely newer H.265 codecs, this v7.4 openATV makes the U4 and V2 feel like new tech.


Best part is that the openATV ecosystem is alive/ongoing and new packages are available to those who go "beyond-wiz" (sic).

[stephenh]

Thanks to @IanSav and @Dugby for the helpful and detailed replies, much appreciated!

As it happens I had a couple of spare hours today and gave openATV a quick spin.
Didn't get that far beyond the initial setup however as it quickly became apparent that the latest nightly build (15/08/2024) doesn't recognise my Tuners D/E, which is a PlayStation 3 (dual) DVB-T module connected via the rear USB port. It has happily been running on the BW stock firmware for years. I seem to recall somewhere in the depths of time that support got added to the BW firmware at some point, but my memory is vague? The Tuners identify as "SCEH-0036 (DVB-T)" if that helps at all.

@IanSav is any chance the drivers could be added back into openATV as well?

I've rolled back to stock for now pending some clarity.
Rolling back was much less painful than I thought it would be, which was a pleasant surprise!

[Dugby]

Thanks to @IanSav and @Dugby for the helpful and detailed replies, much appreciated!

As it happens I had a couple of spare hours today and gave openATV a quick spin.
Didn't get that far beyond the initial setup however as it quickly became apparent that the latest nightly build (15/08/2024) doesn't recognise my Tuners D/E, which is a PlayStation 3 (dual) DVB-T module connected via the rear USB port. It has happily been running on the BW stock firmware for years. I seem to recall somewhere in the depths of time that support got added to the BW firmware at some point, but my memory is vague? The Tuners identify as "SCEH-0036 (DVB-T)" if that helps at all.

@IanSav is any chance the drivers could be added back into openATV as well?

I've rolled back to stock for now pending some clarity.
Rolling back was much less painful than I thought it would be, which was a pleasant surprise!

I actually had trouble with the 15/08/2024 build which seemed not to work with my U4’s internal tuners.
Hence I regressed a couple builds and started with 12/08/2024

I read that your install had issue with external tuners, however did it that build work with your U4 tuners ?

[stephenh]

I read that your install had issue with external tuners, however did it that build work with your V2 tuners ?

I tried it on my U4, no V2's here. Internal U4 Tuners showed up fine, but not my external USB dual tuner.

[Dugby]

I tried it on my U4, no V2's here. Internal U4 Tuners showed up fine, but not my external USB dual tuner.

Thanks for your response. In my append that you responded to, I incorrectly asked about V2 tuners, my question should have been about U4 tuners.
I have edited and corrected that earlier append.

I have both U4 and V2 boxes that I migrated both to openATV this week, so momentarily confused the boxes in my append.

[IanSav]

Hi StephenH,

Thanks to @IanSav and @Dugby for the helpful and detailed replies, much appreciated!

Not a problem. This is what I was hoping to achieve for all the Beyonwiz customers who were feeling abandoned, a new home with people to discuss things and get help from each other.

As it happens I had a couple of spare hours today and gave openATV a quick spin.
Didn't get that far beyond the initial setup however as it quickly became apparent that the latest nightly build (15/08/2024) doesn't recognise my Tuners D/E, which is a PlayStation 3 (dual) DVB-T module connected via the rear USB port. It has happily been running on the BW stock firmware for years. I seem to recall somewhere in the depths of time that support got added to the BW firmware at some point, but my memory is vague? The Tuners identify as "SCEH-0036 (DVB-T)" if that helps at all.

@IanSav is any chance the drivers could be added back into openATV as well?

The drivers are already there just not installed by default. If your Sony PlayTV Dual Tuner is the same generation as mine (Sony PlayTV dual tuner DVB-T - LinuxTVWiki) then you just need to install the "dvb-usb-dib0700" Driver Package. (MENU - Plugin Browser > GREEN (Install Plugins) > Driver Packages)

Install the package, shutdown and power off your box such that the tuner memory is cleared and then start your box as normal. The two extra tuners should be there when OpenATV starts.

Regards,
Ian.

[stephenh]

The drivers are already there just not installed by default.

Ah! Thanks Ian, good news indeed!
I'll have another go over next few days when I get another window, and this time will hopefully stay on openATV and work through any niggles as they crop up. Standby for more annoying/stupid questions...

😁

[Garyvx]

Assuming your V2 is TCP/IP networked to your laptop, you need to create a password in openATV on your V2.

In the openATV menus, select Settings > Network > Password Settings menu, create a new password, and SAVE.


Go to your Windows 10 Explorer, after you click on "BEYONWIZV2", a popup window asks for Userid and Password.

The userid is "root"
The password is that which you just created in the V2.

you should now be able to access the V2 folders.

Thanks Dugby, that worked, but that gave me complete "root" access.
Using the Beyonwiz firmware you only had access to the Logs and Movie folders.
I assume I could setup a user that only had access, but I'm wondering if there is one by default.

Regards Gary

[IanSav]

Hi StephenH,

Standby for more annoying/stupid questions...

That is one of the points in offering Beyonwiz owners a new home to discuss things and get help. I hope more users will join and help each other like they did on the Beyonwiz forum. (I would like to get back to spending more time on firmware development. )

Regards,
Ian.

[Dugby]

Thanks Dugby, that worked, but that gave me complete "root" access.
Using the Beyonwiz firmware you only had access to the Logs and Movie folders.
I assume I could setup a user that only had access, but I'm wondering if there is one by default.

Regards Gary

With "root" access, and if you have performed an image backup of your new openATV installation to your USB attached SSD,
you can now move a copy of the image backup via your network to a NAS or other network storage device (eg your laptop).

I have used these backup/restore activities to do some testing of my U4 installations- which had a hiccup and now openATV is working satisfactorily on my U4.

[Dugby]

Hi Dugby,

Press MENU > Setup > Usage & GUI > Channel Selection Settings and then select "Numbering mode" a press LEFT/RIGHT until you see "LCN numbering". (This setting is also found via pressing UP or DOWN to select the Channel Selection screen and then press MENU > Settings to get to the same settings menu as before.)

Regards,
Ian.

Ian, thanks for the tips about LCN.

Took the opportunity in today's rain to tidy up my openATV setups on both my U4 and V2, by flashing the operational firmware via the internal menus, to 20240817 and 20240816 respectively.

LCN is now enabled for both these firmware levels(as per your instructions).

I am most pleased with how both of these boxes are running openATV, and quite surprised that the older U4 seems to be faster (operationally) than the newer tech V2.

Both U4 and V2 running openATV are very stable and subjectively faster than the legacy firmwares: beyonwiz-19.3-beyonwizu4-20211010_usb and beyonwiz-19.3-beyonwizv2-20211010_usb


I have undertaken image backups on both boxes and satisfactorily tested the image restores, and am very pleased with this recovery feature.


Regards and thanks.

[IanSav]

Hi Dugby,

What do you think about the LCN changes? I pushed for this to be added even though it is of limited value to many OpenATV users because it is something I always wanted. Do you think other Australian users will like the feature?

(The feature has now been extended to European cable users and I believe it is being enjoyed there as well.)

Regards,
Ian.

[stephenh]

What do you think about the LCN changes? Do you think other Australian users will like the feature?

Not that you asked me but I appreciate it! :-)

So yes, I’m now on openATV again with my extra 2 tuners working, thanks to you @IanSav
Have the basics working but ran out of time to explore further. Seems promising so far!

One thing I didn’t manage to figure out quickly is how I get my Logitech wireless USB keyboard working as I had it on the stock firmware.
It still wants to be behave like that old-style T9 keyboard where only the number keys work. I know it'll be in setup somewhere...

I think part of my problem is going to be that it’s so long since I set up my U4 that I’ve long forgotten the subtleties of what I tweaked and added, what were config changes and what were plugins etc.

EDIT: I realise now that I can hit the "Text" button to bring up the on-screen full keyboard and at that point my physical keybaord also then behaves "properly", but that means I have to hit "Text" each time I want to do this. That wasn't the case on the stock firmware, it was seemingly always in "Text" mode?

[Dugby]

Hi Ian, on my V2 the LCNs are working perfectly.

However on my U4, the LCN is partially working -
1. All the 20,30,70,90 channels are switchable between each other by selecting them numerically.

2. the channels not ending with a zero seem to be not recognised numerically.

3. all 58 Perth channels are listed in a window and selectable by using the up/down arrows

4. I’ve performed an automatic channel scan without making progress on this.

I’ll try more problem resolution later today

Thanks

[IanSav]

Hi Dugby,

Are there any settings differences between the boxes?

Regards,
Ian.

[Dugby]

On both V2 and U4 boxes, for the Channel Selection Settings, the three pages of settings are identical.



For the problem U4 box, I've undertaken an automatic channel scan on the U4:

On the U4 when I list the channels using the Up/Down arrows, there are no LCN numbers listed against
1) 71, 72, 73 etc
2) 13, 14, 15 etc


Interestingly there are LCN numbers listed against the following channels and I can number punch these channels successfully:
3) 33, 35, 36
4) 92, 93, 94, 96, 97
5) 2, 21, 22, 23, 24
6) 20,30,70,90


Seem the issue is with service providers for 7 and 10


If I manually toggle using the up/down arrows and press enter, all 58 Perth channels are viewable.