X5 how to

[Terry Knapper]

Is anyone having an issue with the range of the remote(BT-400)

If have tried blue tooth on, blue tooth off.

I am assuming that the "receiver" is on the same "pannel" as the

on/off light.

Although I am using ethernet, I left my antennas on, just incase.

I am also assuming that the remote is infrared in operation.

 

[dishuser]

if you paired the remote only the power and source buttons are IR

I can point my remote in any direction and it works

[Emporium]

You can try to unpair and then repair the remote if you want.  It sometimes helps.

Go to Setting -> Remotes and accessories.  Then select the BT400 if it is there, and select "unpair".  

Then from the "Remotes and Accessories" menu, select "Add accessory", and then put the remote into Pairing mode (simultaneously press and hold the OK button and Home button for 4 seconds, until the LED starts blinking.  The remote is now in pairing mode and should be seen by your box.

In case you need it, the manual for the BT400 remote can be found on the Buzz site.

https://buzztv.com/site/smart-remote/

I don't point the remote to the box either.  So I can't say I have tested the IR much, except for some minor debugging when testing/playing with the bluetooth.  The BT works pretty sell so far.

 

[dishuser]

I've never had to press ok/home buttons to pair

I just point it at the box

this applies for both remote in settings or using the remote app

[Terry Knapper]

It seems , to me, that if you do NOT want to control your TV with the BT-400, then 

you do NOT have to pair it.

In my case, pairing or not, I still have  quite limited range of my remote.

Since the remote is IR, where is the IR receiver, is it on the on/off panel?

Having a bit of experience with IR, I know that the receiver has to be in relatively 

close line of sight to work properly. 

[dishuser]

whether you want to control tv or not blue tooth pairing is for remote to box only

[Emporium]

OK.. You don't need to pair the remote if you prefer to use IR only.  The IR on the Buzz boxes is a lot better than many cheap Chinese boxes and does not need VERY direct line of site, since it does spread quite well  But I do find that the range will drop quite a bit as the batteries get low, especially if backlight is on.

On the older BT200 at least I think the BT also took priority over IR if the remote was paired, and battery was low.  I even had a remote which I thought I damaged the IR, because the BT was working fine but the IR had ZERO response.  During testing of different boxes, I often use the same remote.  On one box, I'll have it paired with BT (and box hidden behind screen to avoid IR affect it, and on the other box, I will use only the IR portion.  And it worked fine until one day the IR stopped (hence I thought it was broken since the BT still worked fine).  Then I put in a fresh set of batteries, and all worked perfectly again.

Controlling your TV, has nothing to do with the BT function of the remote.  BT will allow you to control the box even if you do not have line of sight or even want to hide the box behind the TV.  Also has a pretty decent range in my experience.

Keep in mind however, that if you are VERY close to other RF signals, or in an area with a lot of RF, BT effective distance can be affected.

 

[Terry Knapper]

Thanks for all the input!!I

I believe a lot of my issues(other than me) were battery related.

A fresh set of batteries and all is good!!

On another note;

Has any one been having  problems recording since the last update? 

My last scheduled recordings have lasted only 10 seconds.

[Terry Knapper]

A recording question, what else.

I have 4 "providers". It appears that I can only

"connected" to one service at a time.

Does this mean that I can only record the service I am connected to? 

[dishuser]

17 minutes ago, Terry Knapper said:

A recording question, what else.

I have 4 "providers". It appears that I can only

"connected" to one service at a time.

Does this mean that I can only record the service I am connected to? 

I can start recording from first server and then switch to a second server and it still records

[Terry Knapper]

Thanks "dishuser".

How about scheduling two shows on different servers at the same time?

I suppose I am just being lazy.

I could try this my self.

Just thought some else may have already tried.

[dishuser]

1 hour ago, Terry Knapper said:

Thanks "dishuser".

How about scheduling two shows on different servers at the same time?

I suppose I am just being lazy.

I could try this my self.

Just thought some else may have already tried.

give it a shot and post result

[Terry Knapper]

My first test.

I set up two recordings to start a 6:30 AST, about 15 min from now. 30 min programs.

The two recordings are of different programs, on different channels, on two 

different servers.

To make things more interesting I also set up the "X5" on a third server and left it there

while I watch with a different app(TVmate) on a different server(that last of my four servers).

If you never hear from me again, you will know something went horribly wrong!!!!  

[Terry Knapper]

OK. Neither show recorded.

The shows appear on the PVR recording page, but

with a length of 00:00:00; where as a recording (that I did a few days ago) of 30 min  shows

a length of 00:37:00, in this case the bit of extra time was because I added some time

to the end of the recording.

Keeping in mind that I left the X5 on a server other than the two I was recording on 

may explain the no recording time.

 

[dishuser]

I used one button record

will try a scheduled right now to see what happens

Edited September 3, 2022 by dishuser

[dishuser]

didn't work but I can record on one server and watch tv on another server

[Emporium]

Terry, one potential issues I see with your method is the implication of Tivimate in this whole equation.    The way the recording probably works is using one of the basic kernel level signals (SIGALRM, etc...) to wake up the device and then trigger the recording.  The fact that Tivimate also has recording options (even though you are not using them), I have no clue how it handles, initializes or masks any of these signals.  In theory inter-process signals should not affect each other, but if you will be doing the test next time, stay within the buzzTV 5, and don't use tivimate for now.

I obviously have not coded any of these pieces of software, so not 100% sure how they each implement these features, but when signals, alarms, timers ,etc.. are involved, when you debug, try to involve the least number of variables and work your way up.

 

 

 

[Terry Knapper]

I also used one button record.

But, the recordings I choose , were about 15 min before they started.

About the TVMate, when I did my test I disabled the servers being used in my X5.

 

[Terry Knapper]

A few interesting things on my recording "test"

All though I DID NOT  "connect" to the two servers I had set recordings on,

the PVR recording page DID show the channel and program that was to be

recorded, it just didn't record them.

I find it interesting that the X5 found the channels on the servers NOT connected!

On another note. After I  was done my "testing" I set up two shows  to be recorded,

on the same channel, one after the other. Each show was one hour.

The X5 recorded for 1.5 hours, so I missed the last half of the second show.

This has happened to me a lot lately.

I guess, until this thing is possibly fixed, a fellow will have to extend the first recorded

program to take in the second program. 

 

[dishuser]

it didn't find them if you used scheduled recording

you put them there

[Terry Knapper]

Good point.

 

[Terry Knapper]

Another recording question, what else!

I noticed that the record times are in the 24 Hr set up.

If a show starts at 2300 and is done at midnight(0000), and I try

to set up a scheduled recording, the X5 will not accept 0000 as a stop time.

I have to set the stop time to 2359. 

I DO realize that I can add time to all my recording(s), but some times I run into

problems when recording one show right after another.

TK  

[nbs.]

1 minute ago, Terry Knapper said:

Another recording question, what else!

I noticed that the record times are in the 24 Hr set up.

If a show starts at 2300 and is done at midnight(0000), and I try

to set up a scheduled recording, the X5 will not accept 0000 as a stop time.

I have to set the stop time to 2359. 

I DO realize that I can add time to all my recording(s), but some times I run into

problems when recording one show right after another.

TK  

if you are recording two shows together its usually easier to record from epg if possible

[dishuser]

you have to change end date to next day since 00:00 is the beginning of a new day

[Terry Knapper]

So , if I am recording a show, say, Fri from 11PM until 12 midnight, and I want

to extend the recording by 5 min then I have to set up a 2nd scheduled recording

from Fri at mid until the following Sat at 5 min after midnight.  

Does that sound about right?