Emporium

17 minutes ago, sts41 said:

is there a place we should report bugs?

Here is fine..

It's just that it was also reported elsewhere, which is why I mentioned it.

It has already been reported and they are aware of it.  For now, EPG can be accessed either through the menu, or through the home page. 

Keep in mind that you can still use BuzzTV 5 on this device (select from home screen).  BuzzTV 6 will still have a few issues, and they are slowly being ironed out.

1 hour ago, Rover1 said:

Not sure. However when I was checking to see why I could not find Nordvpn on the 4500 I was prompted to update You tube which updated, another program that updated and Aptoide, which came back saying it was a dangerous update. When I said ignore and load anyway it started then immediately went to update failed

It's not dangerous.  It is google, just being google.  They don't like another app store   On my pixel 7 at least, I can go into the playstore options, and disable "play protect".  So it stops scanning everything I try to install. 

I honestly don't log into the play store on my buzz boxes, since I just have all the apk I need on a usb stick and I sideload them all, so I can't really say if you can turn "play protect" off on the version installed on the boxes, but I don't see why you would not.

You just download the latest apk directly from Nordvpn, put it on a usb stick and install it using appinstaller..

https://nordvpn.com/download/android/

And there is a link saying "Download VPN APK here"

I did not check the aptoide on my box, but on the aptoide web site, there is no hit either for nordvpn.

https://en.aptoide.com/search?query=nordvpn&type=apps

18 minutes ago, sea157 said:

And did it turn itself off after the recording was recorded?

 

I did the same thing earlier and it recorded and the light remained red the whole time.  I just set another recording to start in 7 minutes, and turned it off.  I'll go check later and see if it is still off

But this has been like that, even on BuzzTV 5 (at least on Android 11 boxes) for quite a while now.  The boxes do NOT turn on to record.  I have not tried it on my Android 9 devices in quite some time however.  This is not something new on Android 13 or BuzzTV 6.

Numerated items above:

1. Powerstation box
2. HDMI Cable
3. Power supply
4. Cable for power supply
5. Silicon plugs (Green/Yellow) to plug any unused ports on the box, should you wish.
6. Energizer AA batteries (as usual, no cheap batteries here)
7. extra retaining rubber plug for NVMe
8. Buzz BT500 remote

Connectors on both sides of the box
Front side: USB3, USB2, and USBC along with the green power button with the buzz logo on it.
Back side: Power connector, TF (MicroSD), Optical connector, HDMI and gigabit Ethernet port.
(Not pictured) There is a small LED bar on the top of the box (under one of those hex patterns) And it is Green when power on, Red when in suspend (I assume will be same when powered off), and nice touch, you can turn the LED BAR off all together from within the menus.
 

Cover comes off the bottom, to reveal an NVMe slot. There is already a single rubber retainer in the 2280 size location. However you can surely install 2230, up to 2280 NVMe drives, and either move the existing plug to support it, or use the spare one if you are using something smaller than a 2280.

Power supply is a universal 100-240V, 50/60Hz with c(UL)us certification markings. Unlike previous Buzz power supplies, this powersupply has a separate 2 pin power cable going to it as you can see. No ground and does not take up more than one plug on an outlet or any power bar. I received the North American version so the power cable has the standard NEMA plug on it, but for other countries, I assume buzz will either include a universal plug adapter, or a different power cable to connect to the power supply.  The included power cable connecting to the power supply is about 2.5ft long, and the power supply with the cable going all the way to the barrel is about 3.5ft long, giving you a total length of about 6ft.

For those who care about the power supply other specs, it is rated as 12V 3A.
The barrel connector at the end has a 5.5mm OD, 2.1mm ID (pulled out my calipers to confirm) and is Center Positive.

This box is quite a bit bigger than other buzz boxes. It measures roughly 6 inches (~15cm - front to back) x 5 inches (~ 13cm side to side) x just over 2 inches high (~5cm). measurements are approximate

Mine is "out for Delivery" here in Montreal   Should get it later today.

Guess I'll have a chance to play with it a little, before my business trip next week.

One thing I would like to see would be, on VOD (and possibly TV series) to be able to override the TMDB entry that something was associated with automatically.  Or have other DB available instead of just TMDB (like imdb or something).  Similar to what Plex allows you to do.

Example, in VOD, if I search for "IF 2024", which is a new movie.  It is there, and finds it, but it has the poster and metadata of the Paris 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony   If I use a different app, with the same service, it has the correct metadata. 

Note, the search issue is NOT necessarily a buzz issue.  If you go to the TMDB DB, and search for "IF 2024" it also brings up the Paris 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony.  But if you search for just "IF" it bring up the correct movie entry as first hit.

Obviously not a deal breaker by any means, but it would be nice to be able to manually override, or bring up a list of hits from the TMDB (or other) to choose from if it is wrong.

41 minutes ago, sea157 said:

I would like to also see a way to have this happen.

I would like to see if your box is turned off then wakes up to record a program once the program is recorder the box turns off again.

Example: If I have a program scheduled to record late at night, after I turned my box off for the night, it wakes up to record the program but after the program is recorder the box stays on for the rest of the night, or until I manually turn it off the next day. .

As far as I know, boxes with PVR+ do not even "wake up" as you think.   I have one of my boxes connected to a monitor on my desk (in my home office).  And when I have recording scheduled, The box stays off (red LED) and it still records in the background.  So obviously no need to shutdown afterwards

And I don't put my boxes in standby.  Power button is always set to "shutdown" in my case.

In the past, yes, they used to wake up, record what they had to record and stay on.  But pretty sure both my Classic and X5 do not do that now.

Did you GRANT the app permission ?  The app requires permission for "Files and Media" at least to be able to manipulate the files.

Please post what box model you are using, since BuzzTV 5, runs on Android 9, 11 and 13 boxes.  And ideally what version of BuzzTV 5 you are also using.

.935 is the latest also on the 4500, I just checked my box to make sure it was not skipped.  But my firmware is at V20220919, so you firmware is not up to date also.  If you do an "Update" and it says you are at the latest, then maybe reach out to buzz with your MAC, and firmware number and see if they can push it to you.

Like Ryu mentioned, in menu-Settings->configuration, try changing the video players. On my service, the best options are Primary for LiveTV, and "Backup" for VOD/TV Series, but that may be different depending on your service.

For VOD/TV Series, you can also choose external and that way you can choose to use external VLC, MX Player, HB Player or whatever other media player you have. I sometimes used that for some oddly encoded movies, but for the most part, I use backup.

Also, do you have the "Tunneled playback" and/or "RealTime streaming" options enabled ?  If so, turn them off.  They are not compatible with all services and can have side effects.

Also, another test if all else fails, is to turn off "Timeshift" feature if you have it enabled.  Sometimes a faulty/flaky USB stick can cause issues with timeshift.

57 minutes ago, DiRama said:

I have a network share on my pc and added network to es explorer on buzz tv 5. Is there a way to switch recordings from internal storage to SMB folder?

No.  Not with BuzzTV 5 at least.

When you are in the server page, and you select the server just created and hit OK, what does it do ?

4 hours ago, TonyC said:

Same as the xrs 4900?

The 4900 never had buzztv 2

But the truth is, since buzztv 2 the options have not changed that much.  On Buzztv 2, you had a certain number of "slots" available (I think it was 13), and you had only 3 reserved for M3U lists.

As of BuzzTV 4 (which has carried over to BuzzTV 5) it changed and you have 3 separate options (MAC/XC/M3U) and you can add as many server entries as you want in each sub type.   And in a recent update (few months ago), they added back the option to be able to change MAC on BuzzTV 5.

BuzzTV 6, there is rumour that you may have more than one server active at the same time (similar to another popular software), but since no one has seen it yet (at least not anyone who is not bound by any NDA), it is hard to provide details.

If they shipped yesterday, then people should start receiving them this coming week.  Not sure if they will have buzztv 6 or if buzztv6 will be an OTA update, but I guess we'll find out soon enough.

If you create or download your own M3U file, you can put it on an SD card, on the box, or on a USB stick and you can choose it.    But keep in mind that, these means that the M3U file is not dynamically updated like the M3U file link typically provided by your service provider.

I create my own M3U file which is a collection of links from various sources.  And even one custom one for my mom with some select international channels and a few others she wants (if I keep 3000+ channels on there, I'd be getting a call 5 times a night when she gets lost browsing.   But to avoid having to manually update her box every time I change a link, I have just put the m3u files on pastebin, and have created an M3U entry with a link to that file on pastebin, instead of loading it locally.  So if I update the file on pastebin, the changes are reflected on mom's box after a "refresh".

So if you don't have an m3u file you want to "test" then like DU mentioned, just ignore it.  It's a nice feature to have for lcal testing, but not something that is used by many.

30 minutes ago, Michael Wright said:

The cabling, it all passed on my test gear, and the U5 is the only streaming device out of over a dozen in the house that has issues. Everything else runs just fine. I have home runs from my electrical panel to the AV gear, NetGear switches, a variety of QUALITY Cat6 Ethernet cabling, installed myself and tested. The ifi device worked, it solved an ongoing issue along with improving the picture quality. In fact, I have a dedicated ISP for the streaming, and a separate one for the rest of the house. And yes, I swapped around ISPs and still had an issue with the U5. For $89 it was worth a shot, and I could return it if it did not work, well, it worked. Lot's of folks swear by these ifi sticks, stating it solves these hang up issues with a variety of devices, especially with streaming music and some hardware. Saying it is snake oil when so many out here, at least in my research, have solved these annoying issues with this particular device.  

Some of the streaming devices, all without issue, all hard wired... 2 Roku Ultra units, two Apple TV units, one Volumio Rivo Streamer, one WiiM Ultra streamer, two WiiM Pro and one WiiM mini streamers, one Pi2 Mercury V2 streamer, and probably a few more... The U5 is the only one with issues, and the ifi LAN stick now has it running pretty solid. Snake oil or not, which is BS, the device works. 

Tested ?  With what type of tool and what type of testing ?  True network cable testers are prohibitively expensive for most people (including small businesses), often >USD$3K.  It is often cheaper to replace any suspected cable than to even consider getting real testers.  Most cheap testers out there just check basic continuity and that means squat. I can use old ribbon cables to build the patch cables and they would show as "passing" any testing.  And you may have quality cabling (as you claim), but what about the termination ?  Doesn't take much to break the CAT 6 compliance.  Untwist one too many time, leave a little too much slack, etc.  Everyone picks up a cheap $10 crimper and some jacks and thinks they are a pro because youtube told them they did it right.  Most don't even know that there are different jacks for solid and stranded cables.

Your device is snake oil, and what you claim of "improving the picture quality" is BS.  These are digitally encoded streams.  So unless you are losing massive amounts packets, so the device is forced to interpolate there is no way it will IMPROVE the picture quality.  And if you are losing packets, then there is an issue on your network.  Now if it was an analog signal you were passing over these cables, it would be different. 

Switches can also fail over time and there are different quality switches.  And even for unmanaged switches (I won't get into managed, since sky is the limit on those), there is a reason why there are $10 switches and $300 switches.  Low end junk will just split the signal and decrease the attenuation causing marginal signals to just get worse.  And the longer your runs, the worst it gets.   Better switches will properly regenerate the signals.  On the low end they will regenerate but better ones will condition and regenerate.  "If" this device does "anything", it is the latter (condition and regenerate a crappy signal), which means there is something wrong somewhere on your network.

If you feel this "solves" your "problem", then knock yourself out.  But you are just masking some other issues on your network.  Last year in April you kept blaming the U5 for all sorts of stuff, and at the end of the day you changed server providers, reset the U5 and you said that things stabilized and you and you were not heard from for a year.

Keep in mind IPTV is more than just getting a single server provider.  ISPs are actively trying to put a wrench into things.  So what works today may have issues tomorrow.  I know the various ISPs locally are alternating between who is blocking or throttling what regularly.  And many say to use VPN to help, but even a big VPN provider (n****) has been having issue with streaming services also.  So don't compare streaming a youtube video with streaming from an IPTV service provider.

Cabling and cable routing can make all the difference.  I have a buddy of mine who moved into his newly built home this summer, and during construction he had the whole thing wired for CAT 7 cabling using Panduit parts, from a local reputable network firm who did the install. And they used shielded riser rated cabling where needed.  In his previous house, he had a mixture of Mii box, Nvidia Shield, and even a few buzz boxes.  He had 2 boxes (even wired), that no matter what he did would always have glitches and freezing for IPTV and everything else seemed fine.  Fast forward in the new home, same ISP, same router, same boxes, but completely new wiring, and I gave him a 24 port Netgear Prosafe switch, and he is amazed that all his devices are now solid.  No glitching, no freezing, nada.

But, if you feel this snake oil product helped you, then great.. It just proves that it is not the U5 the problem.  It is something on your network obviously because you did not change anything on the U5.

Why the 2 separate threads... Check your other thread... But pretty much same response as Ryu

I assume you have an E2 variety ?

What software you running ?  5.0.x or 4.0.x ?

On BuzzTV 5, you create the MAC server entry in the Server screen, and save it.  Then if you highlight the entry, you should have a red button to edit/delete the entry.  And  I believe it is blue to "change MAC".

Sorry dude, but this device looks like a bunch of snake oil.There is 0 technical information on it.  Just a bunch of marketing buzz words.  Any testing and non-bias reviews have shown negligible differences.

I don't see how you say this is applicable to both wired and wireless.  This is a ethernet device with RJ45 ends.  What does that have to do with wireless ?

Your money is better spent replacing aging network hardware people may have in their network setups already.  Crappy old model Dlink switches are huge problems on networks even if your devices are not directly plugged into them.  I have had at least 3 cases (one being my own network), where an old dlink switch was causing chaos on the network.  Had all sorts of dropped packets, inexplicably, devices would stop communicating and other bizarre issues.  I tried for weeks to figure out the issue, until one day I just unplugged and replaced the dlink switch with another switch, and the whole network just stabilized.  Worst part is this dlink switch I replaced was not even a "main" switch, it was just a small switch I had in my garage for the occasional testing.  My main switch at the time was a 24port Netgear Prosafe managed switch.  The dlink was not even feeding anything at the time, it was just connected to my main switch.

Also, if you do have cables running in the house, ensure they are of a good quality.  And if you crimped your own ends, make sure the connections were properly done.  The amount of poor crimping I have seen, is nuts.  If your cables run very close to power cables, that feed high powered devices (like water heaters, larger motor/compressors, heating systems, etc..) try to use shielded cable (STP instead of the usual UTP).  It does make a huge difference for network stability.

Cables are NOT all the same.  And just because they are stamped CAT 7, CAT 8, etc.. does not always mean they are better.  I'd prefer a good quality CAT 5, over crappy $1 cable claiming to be a CAT 7.  And just because those $10 network cable testers say the cable is good, does not mean it is good.  Just means there is continuity on all pins.  But when you put a load on it, it may not behave properly.

Fix the source of the issues, rather than spending money on these snake oil products. 

The U5 is NOT the problem.  It just streams.  I have a U5, X5, Classic, E5, B5 and older boxes on my home network and have no issues with freezing on any of them (at least not once I got rid of that crappy switch).  I was at mom's yesterday and she has the lowest model (the B5) and for 3 hours I was there, there was not  a single glitch.  But in her case, the modem/router and the B5 are right next to each other, connected with  short cat 6A cable, with no other wired devices on the modem. rock solid.

29 minutes ago, DiRama said:

I don’t know how to confirm that and it does not allow me to pick anything other than internal storage when I click on it. 

Did you try a different USB port ?  Did you check on a PC if the zip file is still on the USB stick ?  Worst case, try copying the file to another USB stick (copy to your PC from USB, and then put another usb stick and copy the file to the root of the new USB stick.

And no, credentials are not needed (I assume you mean google account).  I never use my google credentials, since I just sideload everything anyhow.

Can you confirm if there is a .yaml file inside the ZIP file ?  Don't lose that zip file if it does

When you go to restore, and you put cursor over the "Internal storage", and you click OK on it, does it not allow yo uto switch to the USB stick ?

I clearly mentioned in my post above, to "Check to make sure there is a ZIP file created on your USB stick before doing a reset (otherwise no backup) ".   Did you check ?

16 minutes ago, allaboutbuzz said:

If you haven't already posted it

Which model #s is this happening on?

For me it's on the Classic that I tried it on.  Have not tried the other boxes.

12 minutes ago, DRAG00N519 said:

I know it's not the greatest solution and I don't really use aptoide so I'm asking as well but in theory couldn't you just go find the apk file for the older version that worked and then that would fix the issue or do they not put the latest versions of certain apps on older versions of aptoide?

AptoideTV is a system app I believe on buzz boxes, so no uninstalling.   Really surprised however that I could not "uninstall updates".  

Anyhow, truth it, I don't use it much either.  I have all the latest apks of the apps I typically use on a USB stick and I just use the Appinstaller to quickly install everything one after the other   And any new apps I want to install, I download them to my NAS directory where I keep all my apks, and using something like solid explorer, I connect to the NAS and install them remotely.

Just power up my Classic, and it had updated to 5.1.2 and it give the same issue

Went into settings->apps and I stopped it, and cleared data and then try to reopen, it give the "release notes" for "what's new" with 5.1.2 and then permission for files, which I grant, and then give the error

Just checked, and 5.1.2 seems to be the latest available online also.