Emporium

What model box are you running and what firmware/software version do you presently have installed on it ? FYI: Firmware is specific to each box and not related to BuzzTV5. This post "should" have been created under the specific box thread.

OK. Sorry for the late reply, but I was outside prepping for our lovely winter Anyhow I powered up my classic, and installed 3 different M3U servers... My person collection of about 100 public channels with direct links I maintain. But no EPG, since I just don't have time to link them A popular free service, with over 1200 channels with about 48hr worth of EPG. My main IPTV service, with over 10000 channels, and 3 days of full EPG. All 3 M3U lists worked like a charm and no issues changing channels. Super quick to respond. OK, my 3rd one, did take some time to load up all the channels and EPG (but still under a minute), but once loaded everything was smooth as expected. If you press OK to bring up the channel list, do you see all you channels ? If you scroll down and then press OK on another channel, does it change to that channel ? If you just press the CH+ or CH- button, nothing happens ? What firmware/software version are you running on your box ?

Why would you want to switch if it all works ? When switching to secondary, before you back out of the menu, give it about 5 seconds. I did notice that sometimes if you back out too quickly it will do as you mention since it starts to stream just as you are switching from one screen to another, so it glitches. Other option is if you do find yourself with the small screen, then long press the back button, to exit the BuzzTV app, and then enter again and it should be full screen again and the backup player should be still selected and used. But I really don't understand why you would want to switch, if it works fine already

I use M3U on many of my boxes for many free lists and even one collection which I have put together for some locals which have direct online links (as a backup for some family). Have not experienced any issues on my B5, E5, Classic or X5 with them. Later tonight I will check again on the Classic and try one other larger one, in case it is maybe something to do with the size of the epg XML file. Have you tried to temporarily NOT use an EPG URL ? See if channel changes work as expected. Maybe there is something in the EPG that it gets hung up parsing.

And that is what had been said above. BuzzTV settings are backed up. But it is not a backup in the sense that if you you restore it, you will NOT have the backup of your other 3rd party apps (vpn, video players, speed testers, ets..) It is just the buzztv app settings and options. But before resetting your box, I strongly recommend to check and make sure you have the backup file(s) on your USB stick, and that it was not stored internally.

I have never used MicroSD for anything other than flashing a box. Even Class10 spec is so outdated, it only means the card has a minimum write speed of 10MB/s. Many cards can do a lot more, but nothing forces them to guarantee that. Not very high speed when you consider USB 3 real world transfer rates are around 80+MB/s and even USB2 is a little over 20MB/s real world. Also not sure MicroSD is the best option for TS, since TS just writes continuously, so unless you have a high endurance card, not sure it will survive very long even if it could be used. And MicroSD is a little more complicated with all the classes and features.. Class 10, U1, U3, UHS-I, UHS-II, V6, V10, V30, etc.... And even if you get a card with the highest spec, not sure the integrated MicroSD card slot is designed to take full advantage of it. You would have been better off with a USB3 drive honestly. Also, you should NEVER format any storage (USB, MIcroSD, etc..) as internal storage. Always leave it as "portable storage". Making it internal, will try to install some apps to the card and eventually when it fails or you remove it, you will be stuck in a situation where only a hard reset would allow you to truly recover. Formatting MicroSD as Internal (aka Adopted) storage was Android's attempt to help with devices that had low onboard storage, but it is a nightmare in my opinion. Unless you are really stuck with no other option, leave it as portable. Apps (like camera, recording, etc..) will be able to use it as portable storage and offload from the internal.

And if you go into settings with Remote/accessories, it shows that the remote is connected ? In the image above it says "connecting" not "connected". the BT is not connected and you are using IR only on the remote. You may need to re-pair the remote. My basement is about 20ft long, and there are no issues at that distance. My box is on a small shelf on top of the TV.

Allocation unit size wont make a big different for this. Leave whatever is the default. But just being exFAT will allow you to download larger files at least.

Still at 5.0.884 ? 5.0.906 was released just a few days ago and pretty much ALL my boxes updated to .906. And I just turned on my second X5 (which has been off for a few days) and within 2 minutes it was downloading .906. Is your service using XC or MAC login ? I have no freezing with my service, and channel changes are pretty quick.

If you suspend, there is nothing that guarantees that your VPN connection will be able to "resume". If anything, it may hang, due to expired session keys. After a shutdown, upon reboot most VPN have option to reconnect automatically. I have a VPN setup on my mom's tablet and it often suspends and quite often it causes the VPN connection to eventually fail. So the easy solution (since giving her too many details will confuse her), is to just reboot the tablet. Once rebooted, it just auto connects to the predefined server and works like a charm. On TV boxes, shutdown is the cleanest way, and setup the VPN to auto connect. I have setup mine up to manually use wireguard protocol (lightest for these boxes), and it is quick to connect that it is pretty much always connected before I can connect to my IPTV service anyhow.

My understanding is that he is hardwired from the buzz box to the pod. But the Pod is WiFi backhaul to the router (as typical for many ISP offering Pods to "extend" the range). So the connection ("wired" or not), is only as good as the wifi connection the pod can maintain with the router.

Wired connection IS more effective (for stability), but you are NOT truly wired. You are wired to a wireless pod So you connection will only be as good as the stability of the Wi-Fi connection that that POD can give you. WiFi router, is very important for a stable connection, And "IF" you can get wired all the way to the Router, then that would be a truly wired connection. Wireless podd is subject to all sort of interference for other sources, including neighbouring routers, cordless phones, microwave ovens, and the list goes on. Obviously your "experiment" proves that the WiFi receiver/transmitter on the buzz box is better than whatever POD you are using.

This service is a mess. They have some nice channel selection for international, but that is it. I had tried it a few years back. They do not support anything other than a pile of different M3U, and even on their web site they VERY clearly state that if you use any other app other than the one they recommend, you will not have VOD, TV Series, and even EPG in many cases. In many of their instructions (for setting up different apps) they state: Important! Before you begin, please note we only recommend using ******* app for the LIVE TV CHANNELS ONLY *Movie and TV show lists will NOT display posters in ******* **For Movies and TV Shows (VOD) we highly recommend using the ****** TV app or ***** Apps. Looks like you will be stuck creating dozen+ M3U server entries, and it will not be pretty either. You can setup the LiveTV channels and the EPG link they provide. But for the VOD/TV Series, as much as I hate to say it, you are probably better off installing their app or the other one they recommend.

It is not necessarily the box. Could be your service provider... BUT!!!! It could also be your ISP that has started blocking some feeds. I have 1 service that during major sporting events, only 1 of our large local ISP blocks most of the channels. And other friends with different ISP have no issue with same server. Only way around it for my customers with that ISP and that service is to use a VPN service to bypass the blocking.

For VOD, I always use external, and have it set for VLC, which I keep up to date. It works best for me. LiveTV is on Primary. It will depend on your server, their encodings, and other factors. If you didn't have choices, you'd be stuck. But you have choices, you choose what works for you, and that's it. And you say you "HAD had to do a factory reset", you did not say why. Was it because it was hanging up, and needing to reboot like it is doing now ? If so, it could be your service providers servers acting up and causing the box to hang.

Lol.. i noticed after I posted. You found your answer that was given to you last year when you had the same issue... Priceless Anyhow, glad it works.

keep scrolling right...

And what instructions are those If you had asked me, I would have told you to not even format the SSD on the U5. If possible I would have told you to install it on a PC and format it using the exFAT filesystem. Using FAT32 (which is the default for most android box portable storage), will yield a limitation of 4GB file size limit. Meaning if you do any super long and high bitrate recording, it would fail after 4GB. Same would go if you try to download any large >4GB movies from the VOD to your local SSD. This is NOT a limitation of the buzz box, but rather the FAT32 file system. So you can blame Microsoft for it Actually hard to blame them considering it dates back to the mid 90s.

The original 4900 came with the BT-200 (best remote buzz ever made). This is an IR and BT remote. But the IR is disabled as soon as it pairs/connects to a BT device. Did you try to unpair the remote, and then repair it ? (you may need to use a remote with USB dongle, or a keyboard/mouse to navigate if your original remotes don't work. To re-pair a BT-200 (same as BT-100), got into the settings screen and select the "remote and accessories" option. Then ensure that the Bluetooth is turned on. Then if there is any presently paired remote, go down and remove it. Once removed, select the "add accessory" option, and the box should start scanning. While it is scanning, on the REMOTE you want to use, ensure there is a fresh set of batteries, and press the "OK"+"VOL-" button simultaneously until the Red LED starts to slowly pulse, which indicated it is in pairing mode. The box should see a BT200 remote, and if you select it it should pair. To ensure the batteries are in decent conditions, try long pressing the bottom right "blue" button, which should turn on the backlighting feature on the BT200. press a few buttons and see if the backlighting remains on. IF the batteries are too weak, the backlighting will not work too well. You can long press the blue button again to turn off the backlight feature. PS: You can check to see if the IR on the remote is working by ensuring all your buzz boxes are powered off (to ensure remote is not paired), and then simply pointing a cell phone camera at the front of the remote, and see if there is a red light emitted when you press any button. The only reason I can see for the BT200 to NOT emit any IR signal is that is is already paired to some bluetooth device. You did not by any chance pair the remote to some laptop, or a phone ? This would make it completely useless to a buzz box (since the IR will be disabled, and the BT is connected to another device), unless you re-paired it to a buzz box. PS#2: For the Bluetooth to work better on these old boxes, please make sure that the WiFi and Bluetooth on both enabled. Even if you are "wired" for internet, keep the WiFi on, but not connected.

Are you doing only LONG recordings, or you have tried with short ones also ? Reason I ask, is because the internal format on the box is in FAT32 filesystem format. Unfortunately, FAT32 has a limitation of 4GB per file. Anything longer and it will fail. For longer recordings you will unfortunately need to format whatever media you are using, in exFAT format. ie: plug it into a PC and reformat the USB or SATA drive to exFAT in order to accommodate larger than 4GB files. Just curious, you do not have a Vizio TV or using some electrical heater/fireplace with remote ? Reason I also ask, is because my mom has both, and the Vizio remote has a few keys which mess with the BuzzTV box. And her electrical "fireplace", when I try to change the temp it powers off the buzz box. So it seems like some devices have conflicting IR codes. On her box that has this issue, I just put the box out of site and put electrical tape on the front to avoid any IR from getting through, and got her an ARQ-200 remote. Inconvenient, YES, but really unlucky to have 2 devices that also mess with the buzz IR codes. If issues persist, I strongly recommend to just bite the bullet and try a factory reset and see if that helps. Yes you will lose everything on the box, but at least you will know if it is some sort of internal glitch or something that is latched. Considering most of us do NOT have this issue it is something exceptional. RESET Video for the 4500, but procedure is identical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l1x3KJl_jE

Are you wired or wireless ? Have you tried rebooting your router ? Is box from a clean boot, or after multiple suspends ? Try unplugging the power, and let it boot up properly (boot animation logo and all) to ensure it is a fresh clean boot. I have not checked on the X5, but many of my older boxes (buzz or other), if I keep suspending them, eventually they network starts to act up. So I have since stopped suspending them and just always do a shutdown. OK, adds an extra minute to the boot time, but at least I don't need to guess what is causing any glitches.

Sounds like an issue with the service or a single movie. It happens.

For TV or VOD/Movies ? Different providers use different encoding for some of their movies. And there is no universal player that can play everything. Would be nice, but it doesn;t. In my case, with my services, I have no freezing regardless of which player. But the backup player does seem to take a few seconds longer to initialize and get started, but once it starts, it is smooth. So no big deal. If it is for VOD, you can also set your player to external and select any other player you prefer to use (MX Player, VLC Player, HB player, etc..). VLC player is already installed, but others you obviously need to install. This is WHY you have options. If backup works better for you, then stick with backup.

OK.. Haha.. Force Max volume is not on the Android 9 boxes (only the Android 11) One less thing to keep track of. But seriously, all this thread to avoid 1 extra button press when you power off the box ? Lol... For me it is just muscle memory... Green button to shutdown the box (and when I see the shutdown message), I press the red button to turn off the TV. Funny enough, even in my bedroom, when I am using a computer monitor (instead of a TV), and it just wakes up on HDMi signal, and goes to sleep 5 seconds later when no signal detected, out of habit, I press Green and then RED (even though red does nothing on this one).

If you are using a BT200 (best remote Buzz ever made), I see no reason to even use CEC Once you program the keys on the learning remote, you will have the Green button to turn the box on/off. And red button to turn TV on/off. You will even have a TV Source button if you want (or you can program it to anything else you want if you don't care for that option - I programmed it to my TVs sleep timer - press once, 30 minutes, twice 60, etc..), and you will have VOL+/- on top for the TV volume, and you have the separate volume for the box (disable the Force max volume option). I don't bother with CEC. I turn it off, just set the TV volume to about 60% and then just use the separate TV and STB power buttons (RED/GREEN) to turn the box and TV on/off, and then control everything from the buzz box. Trying to complicate things with CEC.. What for....to save 1 extra click of a power button that you have programmed on the same remote ? And the implementations of CEC are so inconsistent from one vendor to the other, and sometimes some HDMI ports on some TVs have proper implementation and ones on the SAME TV have partial and others none. Unless you have all boxes and TVs being latest and greatest generations, you are just in for frustration. What exactly are you trying to achieve with CEC anyhow ?