Tiviar Alpha Plus Combo STB

peking97

Can anyone confirm that there is a two year warranty on the Tiviar?
Bought from WOS Sept. 2018.

greasepalm

Most boxes from Wos say 2 year warranty,what is wrong with it?

greasepalm

Just in case if people were not aware many channels can only be got from a sky subscription.

Johnboy1951

greasepalm wrote: »

Just in case if people were not aware many channels can only be got from a sky subscription.

One of these days I must find out how many, and of those how many I would watch ..... from a basic subscription.
Not including extras such as sport, movies etc etc.

It might be an interesting exercise to see what I would be paying for.

I do like lists

greasepalm

I grew up with ones like sky 1,sky atlantic, fox and loads of others which were great at the beginning but got worse in quality.
You might have that list done by friday.

peking97

greasepalm wrote: »

Most boxes from Wos say 2 year warranty,what is wrong with it?

Box will not power-up. Mostly it's completely dead but at random times it appears to start the power-up cycle but then fails after a few seconds and dead again!

greasepalm

Have you another power supply to check with.Is there a hdd fitted or usb inserted?

Rpdana

Hi,
new here and new to satellite. I have the Tiviar Alpha+ with OpenATV version 6.0.
I've connected ethernet and looked at updating the software but got a message warning me that 'there is a risk that Tiviar will not boot after online update...a new flash will increase the stability....an online update is done at your own risk'

What are the benefits of updating the software and what's the recommended approach?
Thanks

greasepalm

That is a very old image as Atv is on 6.4 now.Think on the first few posts is a newer image version that super ceded 6.0.It might have to be a new flash by usb but others using Atv will guide you.

peking97

greasepalm wrote: »

Have you another power supply to check with.Is there a hdd fitted or usb inserted?

If only I had another power supply!!
Yes HDD fitted by WoS and no USB inserted but the good news is that WoS have authorized an RMA number so presumably it's still under warranty although I will have to cover the cost of return to them.

greasepalm

peking97 wrote: »

If only I had another power supply!!
Yes HDD fitted by WoS and no USB inserted but the good news is that WoS have authorized an RMA number so presumably it's still under warranty although I will have to cover the cost of return to them.

Yes i have had to do that once or twice,remove batteries from remote if using an post

swoofer

There are no benefits updating the software an if box is working ok leave well alone. In fact if it is working good have you done a backup just in case? Are you sure its 6.0? Mine is 6.1 and thats 2 years ago. Its the THBB image with a great skin.

@peking have you tried box with the hdd disconnected? Has it been running hot ie not well ventilated? What image are you using and skin? Have you tried pushing the power cord at the back in a bit tighter? In fact try a different power cord.

swoofer

Rpdana

@swoofer and @greasepalm Thanks for getting back to me on that.

Yes, I'm sure it is 6.0 I checked last night via the information panel.The box is also about 2 years old, I never really used it much until recently, more time on my hands due to current circumstances.

I was curious to see if I could get some internet content such as Netflix or stream some fils using it as I don't have a smart TV.
If there is no benefit to updating the software why so much discussion on here about updating?
What do I need to do a backup?
The terminology is new to me and while I've search online for references to the box most of the search results lead me to this or other forums.
What do you mean by THBB with a great skin? Also what do you mean by a new flash with USB?
As I say totally new to satellite but do have a reasonable level of IT skills.

swoofer

Yes I checked back and 6.0 is 2017. I don't know where you bought it but it may have come with 6.0 preloaded. I have time on my hands as well. You wont get netflix on it and one of the reasons for updating you may get a few newer apps. IPTV has taken a lot of the fun out of these boxes and you can use it for iptv but that's another story.

The latest version of openatv is 6.4 and it is still in beta form , also they have taken it upon themselves to lock it until you create a new password. So dont use it, best is 6.3 but read on.

These boxes are tricky so a few on here have been good enough to create a custom image and give support. In fact you are in the right thread. Go back to the beginning and you will see the poster THHB the image I am using is in post number 32. If you follow the guide you will have a good box and openatv 6.1. Then if you look under software management you will see a facility to do a backup and will have the option to back up to hdd or usb. Choose USB but it has to be formatted to fat 32 first.

You will need to know how to FTP to the box and mention is made of filezilla which is free but WNSCP is better and I hope you are using windows.

However, these boxes are tricky so you should do a backup before you start, with VERSION 6.0 I don't know what is under software management but it should give you a backup facility.

To update box to version 6.3 you download it in zip format and then unzip to a usb BUT make sure no other files are on usb and its fat 32. When box is updating you should get the message " do you wish to restore settings?, and can say yes BUT you will already have done a backup to the hdd and that will have the settings, if you have not done a backup I don't know what will happen as I have back up ingrained in my brain. These boxes are fussy with usb sticks so its best to have a few. sandisk is good.

The image I am using was created by THHB so its now referred to as the THHB image and its ace, 2 years and not a peep. Read this thread a it has all the answers and I will be just repeating myself If you are still totally flummoxed post back and say what you have on box, ie hdd, name of skin, 2 feeds from sat plus saorview, connected to internet. Its like anything easy when you know how.

peking97

swoofer wrote: »

@peking have you tried box with the hdd disconnected? Has it been running hot ie not well ventilated? What image are you using and skin? Have you tried pushing the power cord at the back in a bit tighter? In fact try a different power cord.
swoofer

No didn't disconnect the HDD as I didn't want to open it as RMA authorized by WoS and in fact it's on it's way back via Parcel Motel at the moment.
It wasn't running hot. Using NCM's latest image 6.3 and whatever skin that includes. I had tried a different power cord to no avail.

Fingers crossed WoS will sort it!

Rpdana

swoofer wrote: »

Yes I checked back and 6.0 is 2017. I don't know where you bought it but it may have come with 6.0 preloaded. I have time on my hands as well. You wont get netflix on it and one of the reasons for updating you may get a few newer apps. IPTV has taken a lot of the fun out of these boxes and you can use it for iptv but that's another story.

The latest version of openatv is 6.4 and it is still in beta form , also they have taken it upon themselves to lock it until you create a new password. So dont use it, best is 6.3 but read on.

These boxes are tricky so a few on here have been good enough to create a custom image and give support. In fact you are in the right thread. Go back to the beginning and you will see the poster THHB the image I am using is in post number 32. If you follow the guide you will have a good box and openatv 6.1. Then if you look under software management you will see a facility to do a backup and will have the option to back up to hdd or usb. Choose USB but it has to be formatted to fat 32 first.

You will need to know how to FTP to the box and mention is made of filezilla which is free but WNSCP is better and I hope you are using windows.

However, these boxes are tricky so you should do a backup before you start, with VERSION 6.0 I don't know what is under software management but it should give you a backup facility.

To update box to version 6.3 you download it in zip format and then unzip to a usb BUT make sure no other files are on usb and its fat 32. When box is updating you should get the message " do you wish to restore settings?, and can say yes BUT you will already have done a backup to the hdd and that will have the settings, if you have not done a backup I don't know what will happen as I have back up ingrained in my brain. These boxes are fussy with usb sticks so its best to have a few. sandisk is good.

The image I am using was created by THHB so its now referred to as the THHB image and its ace, 2 years and not a peep. Read this thread a it has all the answers and I will be just repeating myself If you are still totally flummoxed post back and say what you have on box, ie hdd, name of skin, 2 feeds from sat plus saorview, connected to internet. Its like anything easy when you know how.

Brilliant, thanks. Will review

GSRNBP

I think I have kind of a silly question. My box came with a world of satellite usb stick - 4 files: crossepg, media, movie, time****.

I have a HDD installed, can I use this USB stick to reflash my box or does this need to stay plugged in?


Second question as it has been a few years since I followed this guide last:
Re: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=106783394

How do I use that backup? Do I follow the instructions to flash with OpenViX and then transfer the backup files to the HDD by putty?

swoofer

Its best to leave usb plugged in, it saves the HDD spinning up too often.

Where did you get the mention of openvix? Thats a totally different image. Ahh I see now re vix, no, that;s just a written guide, its done by the vix people but applies to all images. Its telling you how to flash an image any image to the box.

You download the backup, unzip it to a usb stick, not the one already in use,, that has been formatted to fat 32 and then follow the guide.

You dont need to use putty and I dont know where you are getting that idea from.

Now this is important what image have you on the box already? go to menu, information, you may have a Vix image.

GSRNBP

swoofer wrote: »

Its best to leave usb plugged in, it saves the HDD spinning up too often.

Where did you get the mention of openvix? Thats a totally different image. Ahh I see now re vix, no, that;s just a written guide, its done by the vix people but applies to all images. Its telling you how to flash an image any image to the box.

You download the backup, unzip it to a usb stick, not the one already in use,, that has been formatted to fat 32 and then follow the guide.

You dont need to use putty and I dont know where you are getting that idea from.

Now this is important what image have you on the box already? go to menu, information, you may have a Vix image.

I have Open ATV 6.1, do I need to update to a newer version before flashing the backup linked? I tried just doing the backup and once it rebooted it is stuck on -00-

swoofer

6.1 is the backup and that works fine. Power on from the back and it should restart.

Sigma101

peking97 wrote: »

Box will not power-up. Mostly it's completely dead but at random times it appears to start the power-up cycle but then fails after a few seconds and dead again!

I have the exact same problem. Sometimes the box powers up, sometimes not. When it powers up it typically freezes on one channel and doesn't react anymore to any commands. I got mine from Satworld just 6 months ago. They're not answering their phone or responding to mails. I'd love to know how you get on with your repair.

greasepalm

Sigma101 wrote: »

I have the exact same problem. Sometimes the box powers up, sometimes not. When it powers up it typically freezes on one channel and doesn't react anymore to any commands. I got mine from Satworld just 6 months ago. They're not answering their phone or responding to mails. I'd love to know how you get on with your repair.

Where is your epg been stored is it internal flash? needs to be hdd or usb or box will run out of memory.
What is your box ip --- 192.168.1.**


Enter that into web browser and it should open webif and see if any buttons used there do more than remote.
Satworld were contactable to the trade.

peking97

Sigma101 wrote: »

I'd love to know how you get on with your repair.

Well it's on it's way back to WoS at the moment. I'll post again if any developments.

Sigma101

greasepalm wrote: »

Where is your epg been stored is it internal flash? needs to be hdd or usb or box will run out of memory.
What is your box ip --- 192.168.1.**


Enter that into web browser and it should open webif and see if any buttons used there do more than remote.
Satworld were contactable to the trade.

Thanks for the info. The epg is stored on the hdd. Webif is accessible when the box powers up correctly. When the box freezes it's no longer visible on the network. Most of the time the box wont power up or it will stay frozen on one channel. I've spoken to Satworld since and they say it needs to be reflashed. I can post it to them but they didn't commit to covering their own costs for reflashing. Do you think I could reflash it myself?

Atlantic Dawn

Having an issue on the epg of the FTA satellite channels, getting some listings for certain shows and their descriptions showing as "S/Lge Retro:magic wekeend on This Day:24.05.09......" looking like another show corrupted in to it. So far I've tried manually deleting the epg file and downloading fresh one, when the epg updates same isssue occurs. Saorview channels fine.

Anyone got any ideas?

peking97

Sigma101 wrote: »

I'd love to know how you get on with your repair.

Quick update...just got an email to say they are replacing my box...doesn't say what with!

greasepalm

peking97 wrote: »

Quick update...just got an email to say they are replacing my box...doesn't say what with!

Not many 3 tuner boxes around so maybe zgemma h7s??:eek:

swoofer

You should ask them, that tiviar has gone up in price now, can you remember what you paid for it? I'd say you get a tiviar.

kindalen

Please ignore.

swoofer

restart th network in box.

peking97

swoofer wrote: »

You should ask them, that tiviar has gone up in price now, can you remember what you paid for it? I'd say you get a tiviar.

I paid 160 stg but that included an internal 500GB HDD and 16GB USB stick.

swoofer

That was a great bargain, you should see the price of it now!!

peking97

swoofer wrote: »

I'd say you get a tiviar.

Correct. New Tiviar recd. this afternoon and working fine, fingers crossed. Only left WoS on Wed midday and recd. here this afternoon! Full marks to DPD.

ITV2

Just looking at this tread on the Tiviar box, I currently have a Saorview TV, a Sat connection for Astra 1 via TV and a Freesat Humax recorder box, would this box be my best option instead of my current set-up?
Ta in advance.

greasepalm

No not instead but as a bonus box as then you have the options of viewing and recordings on same provider sat or saorview at the same time.

john_doe.

Hi I have two boxes network which share a harddrive.

All recordings go to Box 1 harddrive and I can watch all recordings on box 2.

Works great most of time.

When I have power cut on box 1 however , it looses the network mount on box 2 and I have to restart box 2.

Has happened quite a lot and getting a bit annoying. I have set the mount manager to remount after 1hr, but for some reason I need to restart box 2 to get it back working regardless of the hour.

Anyone know how to remount automatically without restarting box 2 all the time .

Thanks

GSRNBP

I'm having trouble initializing my internal hard drive on the box. Getting this error:

greasepalm

GSRNBP wrote: »

I'm having trouble initializing my internal hard drive on the box. Getting this error:

Is this a brand new hdd,have you tried a format and then tried initializing it.

GSRNBP

greasepalm wrote: »

Is this a brand new hdd,have you tried a format and then tried initializing it.

No, I was having trouble with the box, so re-flashed and now this error when trying to initialize it. I kind of assumed initializing it would re-format it anyway given the warning about losing content - if I need to reformat can I do that from within the box or is it a remove situation?

mburke

Is it possible to add Pick HD to bouquets or is there a manual way of adding it?

swoofer

Have you the frequency for PICK HD and then I can tell you as I will have to do it. I cant find PIck HD

John mac

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=113732641&postcount=644

info here about it ,

Atlantic Dawn

mburke wrote: »

Is it possible to add Pick HD to bouquets or is there a manual way of adding it?

swoofer wrote: »

Have you the frequency for PICK HD and then I can tell you as I will have to do it. I cant find PIck HD

Best to wait until Wednesday when it launches. Easiest way I find to add a channel is to run an automatic scan so new channels are found, then add it to the bouguets.

Menu->Service Searching->Automatic Scan->(then make sure 28.2 is enabled to search), then click on Scan. Will run for about 20 minutes.

Then when all channels found click on the Fav button on the remote, then red button for All channels, find Pick HD, then press the Menu button and select Add Service to Bouquet and then just choose where you want to add it to and press OK, job done.

logonmar

Has anyone else encountered a problem when tuning to Saorview. I select my correct transmitter (Spur Hill, Cork) and do a scan & I get 38 channels both TV & Radio & many blanks
HOWEVER it is not recognising RTE1!!
I have RTE2, Virgin etc. but no RTE 1

Any ideas how I might correct matter please?

robbKer

logonmar wrote: »

Has anyone else encountered a problem when tuning to Saorview. I select my correct transmitter (Spur Hill, Cork) and do a scan & I get 38 channels both TV & Radio & many blanks
HOWEVER it is not recognising RTE1!!
I have RTE2, Virgin etc. but no RTE 1

Any ideas how I might correct matter please?

Sounds to me like your aerial might be slightly off line. Do you have ALL of the virgin channels ie virgin 1, 2 and 3?

RTE 1 and RTE 2 are on different muxes so if you cant get one it usually indicates that the box isn't getting enough signal from that particular mux. Although this is not always a foolproof method of proving this try connecting the aerial direct to the TV and tuning on the TV. Does RTE appear there and does the TV give an indication of signal strength and quality (Rte 1 vs Rte 2)?

I have found that while the TV might tune in fully, the signal strength might not be enough to tune properly on the Tiviar....

logonmar

robbKer wrote: »

Sounds to me like your aerial might be slightly off line. Do you have ALL of the virgin channels ie virgin 1, 2 and 3?

RTE 1 and RTE 2 are on different muxes so if you cant get one it usually indicates that the box isn't getting enough signal from that particular mux. Although this is not always a foolproof method of proving this try connecting the aerial direct to the TV and tuning on the TV. Does RTE appear there and does the TV give an indication of signal strength and quality (Rte 1 vs Rte 2)?

I have found that while the TV might tune in fully, the signal strength might not be enough to tune properly on the Tiviar....

Yes I have all the other channels and I suspect I've changed something on the settings for scanning.

I've searched around to try and find optimum settings for scanning both FTA & Saorview channels on a Tiviar (or any other type of box).
Can anyone please link me to the ideal settings (incl sub settings) for scanning please

swoofer

When you scan saorview the channels come in all over the place RTE1 could be right at the end, what kind of signal quality are you getting on DTT with signal finder?

I will be looking at a Tiviar in a little while, what do you mean by sub settings?

And finally I did hear that RTE1 did require an aerial change

There are 2 muxes, 45 and 39 are you using both?

lev

Hello All,

Firstly thank you all so much for sharing so much information about this box. I have been using the Tiviar Alpha plus for the last couple of weeks and have been able to customize my bouquets and apply to slyk skin to make it act and feel more like the a sky box that the family were used to.

I do have a question regarding the radio bouquet setup. Is it possible to have my bouquet of favorite radio stations appear in the same EPG as my TV stations? It seems very clunky switching to radio and seems to require a few button presses on the remote. I was hoping there might be a more user friendly way to get to the radio stations. Webif seems to have the bouquets completely separate too.

If anyone has come across a solution I'd be very grateful.

Thanks!

swoofer

Yes you can do that but the tiviar I set up has the radio stations deleted. Have you heard of dreambox edit, that's what I use. You can download it and then create a radio bouquet under tv bouquets and then add your radio channels. And its pretty neat.

I assume you are on windows OS.

Ps what sky skin did you use?

And come back if you need a bit more

PacMan

I have set up a "Radio" folder, and can download and move the radio stations in whatever order I like.
Also EPG available for recording