Emporium

If you press the info "i" button once you get the program info.. Second time you'll get more details and on the bottom it should show you the details about the audio/video stream. Now, that is what the stream coming in is. But, if that stream has just been upconverted at source, that is another story.

For downloads, I found that downloading smaller non-4k movies ,works fine. When downloading larger 4k movies, it starts well, but after the 1GB mark, it does often fail. I have alternatives in my case, so I don't bother downloading the VOD on my buzz box. Don't know if it is something with the download manager used or our specific server. DU and I had a discussion about it, in the "testing" section on another site, just before xmas

Like Ryu has mentioned, no HDD or thumbdrive will help with these issues. However if this is a regular issue, I would try (as a test) to connect directly to the Spectrum modem via an ethernet cable directly. I know it may not be convenient, but at least it will tell you if it is the WiFi system of the modem/pods which is the cause of the issues. I've seen many ISP modems with integrated wifi which are fine for the typical burst of data from web browsing, but tend to choke with straming. If hardwiring helps and makes it better, but running a direct cable is not an option for long term, you may want to consider some of the better Powerline adapters (something like the TP-Link AV2000 series - not cheap, but very well rated and stable). These will work in most situations unless you have some very strange electrical home setup or really old home still using knob and tube type wiring. Oh ya, and don't plug them into power surge protectors, they can be affected. Amazon does sell them, so at least if they don't work for you, you can return within the 30 day return period if sold and shipped by amazon. Also, are you sure it is not the service itself ? Have you tried with some Free streaming channels (like the Pluto ones or others) ? If you haven't, PM me and I can send you the M3U link for the Pluto channels. At least you can see if it is the service that is causing the glitching/buffering. One other thing, have you tried with both media players (Primary and Backup) ?

Like you said. It is probably already as removable. IF you "erase and format as device storage", only then will you get the option for "erase and format as removable storage"

There is unfortunately no mute button.

Check a different forum (since you are not allowed to discuss services here) and you need to buy an IPTV subscription. Google is your friend

I hear ya. But does this app INSIST on always having the latest version in order to watch ? That would be ludicrous if they impose that kind of limitation. I don't always care to have the latest version honestly of any app. Typically I only update apps if I encounter a bug and see in the changelog that it has been fixed or some attempt to fix it. Usually I am the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" kind of guy (unless I have committed to testing some beta).

For now, you can use the APK I posted above. It will install/update to the latest version without a hitch. I did it on my X5 and installed and mention that it would update my existing installation. Keep in mind that very often Aptoide will only show you the general Android version, not the AndroidTV version. The link I have provided above is to a copy of the APK for AndroidTV (which is what we want on the Buzz). I had a similar glitch with the Windscribe VPN client, which aptoide only offered the Android version which made it painful to use with just a remote, since it required mouse cursor. Downloaded the AndroidTV version, installed that and it was so much better and optimized for use with a standard remote.

If that is the case and if they always insist on latest version (which would be annoying), then only real option I see is to login to the google play store, install it from there and let the play store keep it up to date regularly. Not of fan of using the google play store on these devices myself. I prefer to sideload all my apps. I keep a USB stick up to date with all my latest apk files in order to quickly be able to install on any device.

Did you try updating to the latest version of the app ? Latest version was released yesterday and it is version 2.16.2-rc2. In case you need a copy of the latest APK, I have put a copy in the link below. It easily installs and updates the preinstalled version on the X5 without a problem. Unfortunately, all I can say is that it starts, since I don't have a disney+ account. You can test it and report back if it is any better. https://anonfiles.com/O9o2FeW5y0/com.disney.disneyplus_2.16.2-rc2-23013110_minAPI21_nodpi_apk

Never had those types of issues. What firmware version and buzzTV version is your box running ? You connected via WiFi or cable ? Like nbs mentioned, are you sure it is not your service ? Have you tried with another service or any public list ? When you say it freezes, have you tried hitting the HOME button on the remote a few times to go back to the main home screen ? Could be a strange stream that is freezing the media player. Have you tried switching media player (just in case - I do have some services that work better/quicker with one media player over the other ) ?

Well I do have one going through an analog amplifier (and that is on my old Yamaha receiver), but that is not a fair comparison, since I am use some cheap HDMI to audio extractor, and then the HDMI going to my TV and the audio going to the Yamaha. The speakers are all JBL "Control 1 Pro" models and they have a sensitivity of "87 dB SPL, 1 W 1 m" whcih is pretty average, and they are 4ohm. I don't know what the SNR is, but that should not make a difference in terms of perceived loudness. That is more for clarity and that would also need to be considered along with the THD of the amplifier you are using, since everything gets compounded. If you are using one of the 1/8" jacks adapters into the A/V port, all I can tell you that the quality of these adapters varies a LOT. I have my older E2 connected to a crappy Audiovox old analog only TV using one of these adapters. I went through about 4 adapters till I found one that is acceptable. They are made so cheap, that even the jack length is off by fractions of a mm on each one, that in some cases, I needed to slightly play with how deep I would install the adapter, otherwise certain items would not work (left channel, right channel and even the video would get distorted). At the end all the ones I bought from amazon were junk. I ended up using one that I had from my ancient WDTV Live unit, but the cables were differently mapped. One of the audio outputs was actually the video, and vice versa. It's not perfect, but it works if you don't play with it too much. Which device are you using first of all ? If it is one of the newer boxes (X5, U5, etc..) then turn on the "enable max volume" setting. This will effectively fix the buzz box to the max output settings and all remaining volume controls would be from your amplifier. This is similar to many other STB I have seen even from cable receivers like the old Scientific Atlanta or Motorola boxes. They have an option in the settings for variable output (which is great for connecting straight to a TV and controlling volume direct from the box), or they have a FIXED output settings, which is designed to be used for external audio devices, like receivers, soundbars, etc... If your box is one of the newer ones (Android 11), and you are using an external sound device, you should enable this "max volume" option. If you have one of the older devices (Android 9 or older), you just need to adjust the box volume to a setting of your liking. Like I said, in my case it is about 65%. There are others who prefer to crank it all the way up. But that would also depend on the input sensitivity of of your amp. Sometime it can overpower the inputs on some devices, giving you really distorted sound.

Don't know what you are smoking but there is no preamplification issue with any of the boxes. I have pretty much every box model since the xrs4500 series (xrs4500, xrs4900, x5, u5, b5, e5, st4000, hd5, e1, e2, ..and even my original xpl3000) and I have them connected in many different ways. Some direct to TV and using integrated crappy TV integrated speakers ; one on a TV with a Bose sound bar ; another connected through my Yamaha receiver and JBL control 1 speakers; one connected to a computer monitor via HDMI and using the audio out from the monitor to the a basic set of Bose Sound companion computer speakers ; and even one connected to another computer monitor, but using my Anker soundcore Bluetooth speaker paired to it. The only method I have not connected it is using the optical output, but that should not make any difference since there is no internal amplification involved on that, it is a pure digital audio output. They all work exactly as expected. And in some scenarios I even found that it was louder than other devices, so on the newer boxes (5 series- running Android 11) I had to disable the "max volume" option they have (if using external volume control) to decrease the volume output by the box manually to match other inputs a little closer. On most boxes I typically leave the volume control at about 60% to 65%, and then control the volume using the external source.

Is it written anywhere that they DO support HLG ? If they don't, then why would you "assume" that they do ? Truth is, 90% of the users of these boxes don't care about many of these feature, and in many cases, even know what most of these features even means Chipsets can support piles of things. But devs choose what to support, depending on what the masses would want to use, and there are other reasons behind the scenes, like the maturity of the OEM sdk and drivers to support many features. No one falsely claimed to support anything, which they don't. I had purchased another brand box a while back with an S922, and it is supposed to support piles of different features, but they were all half developed from both amlogic and the box maker, that they were more of a distraction than anything else. I would have preferred that they just remove all the attempted support for it, or allow us to turn it off But that never happened and that box (great specs on paper), is now collecting dust.

However be careful using the suspend option in the screen saver screen. I tried it for kicks, and when it kicks in, it puts the device into a bizarre state. LED was still blue, but device was in a suspend state, and no mater what I did with the remote (BT or IR), it would not respond or come out of the suspend state. I needed to pull the plug. I didn't do piles of testing, but twice that I tried it, I got that issue. I typically have it set for the BuzzTV app to exit after 2 hours. It is rare that I would not touch the remote for 2 hours. If I don't, odds are I have fallen asleep So it bails me out to the home screen after 2 hours of no remote activity, and then after a little while, the screen saver kicks in (fading clock). But I do not have the suspend option enabled.\

allaboutbuzz mentioned a while back that they are working on implementing TWRP for backups on the newer devices. But never got into details. But TWRP is not for selective app backups. It typically a backups to ensure if something goes wrong (corruption or otherwise), you can restore your system to a known state. It typically backs up system, data, and boot sections of a device. To allow you to restore them on the "SAME" device. Not to another device. Would it be nice to be able to export favorites, sure... But is it a simple task, I can assure you not. And even if you make it as such that it can only be used on same server setup and within a day max of exporting (to ensure not many changes on server side playlists), there will still be cases where it fails. And you will have people complaining that they can't import a backup.

It would probably be for the exact same thing. It is meant as a backup/restore for the exact same box. Would help in case you need to do a factory reset. And not sure if it is for ALL boxes or just the new "5" series (X5, U5, E5, B5, etc..), since those have no backup at all if I recall.. Doing a backup/restore system between devices can become a source of headaches. Backup would need to be tied to a specific server. Then you'd need to decide hat to tie the backup to, channel number is not an option, since that can change. Then you have various channel tags (similar to M3U file), but it can work, assuming servers don't cut corners and properly create those tags. I have seen many that do cut&paste jobs for many channels and use same tag IDs which causes all sorts of issues even when sorting out EPGs. Can it be done, sure. And for 95% of the cases it could work. But it will not be 100% idiot proof and you will get people complaining that service x backup they took last week, they can't restore properly this week, and it causes all sorts of issues (because there were channel changes, offsets, etc.. between those times). Guess we'll see.

The one in config settings just exits the BuzzTV app and stops streaming if you don't do anything un BuzzTV after a certain amount of time (like if you want it to stop streaming in case you fall asleep). Typically goes back to home screen. The one under screen saver would put the box into suspend mode if the box stays idle for more than x amount of time.

104Mbps should be plenty. Most of my buddies use 60Mbps (and so did I for a while) and no issues. Most streams are 5 to 11 Mbps, unless you are doing true 4k streams and even then, it depends. But if you are connected via WiFi, then stability is more of an issue than speed.

Could be everything you mentioned and other stuff. STB Hardware/Software WiFi quality (can test by trying to use an Ethernet cable) Internet provider throttling (can sometimes overcome by using a VPN) The service itself (subscription) (can test by trying a different service - they are pretty cheap) Sometimes just one of the sources used by the service is having issues (not much you can do other than changing services)

You are referring to the ARQ-250, not the BT--250. The BT-250 does not have a MIC as far as I know, but the ARQ-250 does.

Ya, the last channel and info buttons are not far. But they are in different places from the BT200 (which I prefer - probably because I'm also used to it). I have 2x BT200 (from my 2 xrs4900 units, but on one of them I have recently added an ARQ-200 (to keep the second BT200 as a spare). I do have the BT250, and I do like it more than the BT400. It is a little thicker than the BT200, and button layout (around the Dpad) is similar to the BT400. But it does bring back the discrete buttons that were mentioned earlier. And it does incorporate an Air Mouse. When Air mouse is active, the only other key that is active is the "OK" key. I would have liked to have a few other keys active (like the back button and the home button which would be handy), but it's not a deal breaker. The little blue LED stays on while the remote is in Air Mouse mode.

TheHD5 does NOT have suspend option on powerkey definitions. It is just shutdown and restart. However it does go into suspend if you turn off the TV and you have the appropriate CEC settings configured. OK, the BT400 may not be my favorite remote (I'm still love my BT200), but I don't use any of these buttons (VOD,TVSeries, Server, etc..) anyhow. Don't think I ever used them once on any of my buzz remotes, other than during initial testing. In the dark, I hate looking at a remote to find a button. I am so used to the dPad and all the key buttons around it (Menu, back, guide, mouse cursor), that it is just easier, even it if is 1 or 2 clicks more, to just use those buttons. I admit, I liked having the "Last CH" and "info" button around the dPad (like on the BT200), but that is personal taste. Maybe I just got used to simplistic remotes, like on my older MiiBox 3 and it is all just muscle memory after a while.

Welcome to the forum. However please keep in mind that changing anything in the developer options can cause some apps to misbehave, as harmless as some of the options may seem. These are typically harmless, but I have seen some apps do strange things even depending on how certain things are implemented. And the impact is not that dramatic on an android box, as it is when you disable these animations on a windows machine..

If the behaviour changes, I'd hope that that it is selectable as an option, because I personally prefer the loop around. One of the biggest annoyances with other software is that when you hit the end, you need to PGUP all the way back to the top. Thanks, but no thanks.