Buzz X5 Recording Issues

[cyrowth]

• Box model: X5-128 purchased June 2022
• Firmware: V20230815
• BuzzTV5 Version: 5.0.893
• Stream type:  XC API   (2 very good IPTV Services w/ 2-3 connections)
• Media player for LiveTV:  Primary 
• Records to Internal Storage
• Ethernet connection, Express VPN (150 Mbps down, 11 Mbps up)
• All CEC settings OFF; Power Key setting is Shutdown

Can anybody help with my chronic recording issues with my Buzz X5 when using Buzz TV 5 app for recording.  Typical of my experiences since new, I set recording of 2 hour show to begin in 90 minutes.  Review setup and added 10 minutes to duration beyond programming.  Upon completion of the recording, the little program icon in PVR showed 2:09 min duration.  However, when viewing the recording, it only contained the first 29 minutes of the show.  This partial recording occurs over 90% of the time.  With this recording and most other I have done recently, I also recorded the same show on the X5 in Tivimate using the same IPTV service.  The Tivimate recording was for the full 2:10 mins with no buffering or other issues. 

Any help would be appreciated.  I always have the Tivimate workaround, but my wife has learned to use the Buzz X5 and all its features over the past year and now is very comfortable using it as a cable replacement.  She really doesn’t want to have to relearn recording if I can get the Buzz recording feature to perform reliably.

[dishuser]

if what you're recording freezes or changes source recording will fail

[cyrowth]

My primary IPTV service hardly ever buffers.  Most recordings are the only activity on the X5 at the time (i.e. we are not looking at other channels -- usually set the recoding, leave the X5 on, go do something else).  My highest success rate when recording comes when i set the recording and shutdown the X5.  It turns on to record and more often records successfully the whole show than any other way I have tried.  Since Tivimate successfully records the same show with the same feed (many test of this comparison), it's unlikely to be programming freezes or source switching ?

[dishuser]

source can be changed in the blink of an eye

[cyrowth]

What do you mean by source switching ?

[dishuser]

where the feed is coming from

 

[cyrowth]

Dishuser, thanks for your inputs.  This issue has persisted with the BuzzTV 5 app recording feature throughout 15 months – with 5 different IPTV providers (current ones the best by far).  During this entire period, my Buzz X5, Mecool KM2 and the new Onn Google TV $20 Walmart device have recorded countless programs nearly flawlessly using Tivimate and the same IPTV providers – while Buzz PVR rarely recorded properly.  Since this recording issue doesn’t seem to be a widespread issue, maybe it could be something unique to my specific box ?

I would even be willing to buy a new Buzz box if I thought it would cure this issue as I think they are the best available on the market by far.  But all other features of the X5 and BuzzTV 5 app perform perfectly, so I can’t think of what box/app defect would only affect recording for me and no one else ?

[dishuser]

record same program with both apps at same time and see what happens

[cyrowth]

That's what I have been doing for the past 2 months.  Leaving the Mecool and Onn boxes out of the discussion, using the X5 the most recent 7-10 recordings where I used both the BuzzTV 5 app recording feature and Tivimate on the X5 -- recording the same program from the same source, the BuzzTV5 resulted in partial recordings most of the time as noted in previous posts and Tivimate recorded the entire program as setup.

[nbs.]

Have you ever tried recoding to an external stick?

[dishuser]

scheduled or on the fly?

[cyrowth]

nbs, I have a 256Gb micro SD card installed in the Buzz X5.  I initially set it up to record to the SD card.  When the partial recording issue manifested itself, early on, I switched over to internal storage thinking that this would be more reliable.

dishuser, I almost always schedule recordings in advance.  Never had success recording a program we were currently watching on the fly, so I started setting these recordings to start 5 minutes in the future.  Did this for things like live sporting events where we had to go out and wanted to watch the end of the match.  I have tested these scheduled recordings of the same program with the same source using BuzzTV 5 and Tivimate on the X5 and get the same results -- partial recording on the Buzz Tv 5 and full recording on Tivimate.

[nbs.]

Have you ever reset your buzz?

When you record on the fly did you set up one button record in options?

Edited September 14, 2023 by nbs.

[cyrowth]

I have reset the Buzz X5 several times for other reasons, but not within the past 6-8 months (reinstalling my many apps, services, favorites, and saved Movies and TV series is more than I am willing to do over again for a small chance it will improve things).  The one button record feature is NOT enabled.

[dishuser]

29 minutes ago, cyrowth said:

I have reset the Buzz X5 several times for other reasons, but not within the past 6-8 months (reinstalling my many apps, services, favorites, and saved Movies and TV series is more than I am willing to do over again for a small chance it will improve things).  The one button record feature is NOT enabled.

put your apps on a drive

all the rest can be done doing a backup to a drive

[cyrowth]

Can all my installed apps be moved to the 256GB SD Drive from internal storage ??  If so, how ??

Is there a global Buzz X5 backup feature or must personalized data and settings be backuped app by app ?

[nbs.]

the new backup and restore will save buzz 5 preferences,,favs and server

[dishuser]

1 hour ago, cyrowth said:

Can all my installed apps be moved to the 256GB SD Drive from internal storage ??  If so, how ??

Is there a global Buzz X5 backup feature or must personalized data and settings be backuped app by app ?

you can use a file explorer app and transfer your current apps

for the rest go to livetv/menu/settings/configuration/app settings/backup & restore

[dishuser]

so I tried twice using scheduled recording

one was 2½ hours and only 55 minutes recorded

other was 2¼ hours and only 51 minutes recorded

definately a bug in software

5.0.893

Edited September 15, 2023 by dishuser

[cyrowth]

dishuser, thanks for testing this feature.  Was ready to conclude it was just my box.  Will use Tivimate as workaround until issue can be investigated and addressed by Buzz.

[dishuser]

so for stream I was using auto and according to my service it was picking hls

I changed it to ts(mpegts)

did a scheduled recording to internal drive and it recorded the whole movie which was just over 2½ hours

[nbs.]

I'm heading out for the day I'll do a couple of recordings and report back tonight

[cyrowth]

My stream format is also set to Automatic.  Is there any downside to normal live TV viewing to switch this to TS or M3U8/HLS ??

[nbs.]

7 hours ago, nbs. said:

I'm heading out for the day I'll do a couple of recordings and report back tonight

Both my recordings worked well 

One was a 2 hour movie and the other was an hour show

Recorded from epg on a MAC server 

[cyrowth]

I changed my stream format from Automatic to TS as suggested by dishuser and scheduled a 2 hour recording.  It recorded the full 2 hours -- the 1st time in awhile.  I will try additional recordings with the TS stream format, but hopefully this setup will continue to record successfully.  I don't know how to check what format was selected with the Automatic setting, but this may turn out to be a contributor to the issue.  Both my IPTV services are Xtream Code services.