Cost-Effective, High-Functionality, User-Friendly Replacement for Pay TV

NewClareman

Sigma101 wrote: »

I was hoping someone could help me here. I recently bought the Tiviar Alpha+ box. The box came with OpenATV installed. I’ve tried to install NewClareman’s image in post 1 here but the box doesn’t appear to recognise the USB stick at all. I’ve tried different USB sticks (256MB and FAT32 formatted). I’ve tried front and back USB ports but no luck. I’ve found an online manual but it has no relevant information and the commands it describes appear to bear no resemblance to what I can see on the screen. Any ideas appreciated.

You need to do an online flash, full details a few posts back.

Sigma101

Thanks for that. I eventually got the box on the network and was able to copy into the images folder and trigger the flash from the GUI. It looks great. I've no terrestrial channels at the moment - i imagine i have to re-tune these. I've abandoned it for today as the kids have taken over the TV. I'll have a closer look tomorrow.

NewClareman

Sigma101 wrote: »

Thanks for that. I eventually got the box on the network and was able to copy into the images folder and trigger the flash from the GUI. It looks great. I've no terrestrial channels at the moment - i imagine i have to re-tune these. I've abandoned it for today as the kids have taken over the TV. I'll have a closer look tomorrow.

It’s very straightforward, just search for Saorview on this thread.

Barr

I've run into some bother

I tried to re-flash the Tiviar , it accepts the USB key and looks like it is downloading fine.

But at the final stage when it finishes booting , take out the usb key , I keep getting the message Run Alpha+ . It is stuck on this everytime.

What should I do next ?

Its always worked before so not sure what gone wrong

NewClareman

Barr wrote: »

I've run into some bother

I tried to re-flash the Tiviar , it accepts the USB key and looks like it is downloading fine.

But at the final stage when it finishes booting , take out the usb key , I keep getting the message Run Alpha+ . It is stuck on this everytime.

What should I do next ?

Its always worked before so not sure what gone wrong

Later versions of OpenATV appear to require an online flash, look back a few posts for details. If you select one of the Jan 2019 images, from the link at the start of this thread, you should be able to reflash your box from usb.

Milsey

NewClareman wrote: »

The default IPTV player for OpenATV6.2 is no longer supported. Stream player is the default player with OpenATV6.3, but proved problematic with this box. I have the updated player installed and I’ll post an updated image, over the next few days.

That would be great. Yea I read since that the guy that maintained that player got pissed off and pulled supporting it.

greasepalm

NOTE to all users never insert/remove usb devices while boxes are powered on.

NewClareman

greasepalm wrote: »

NOTE to all users never insert/remove usb devices while boxes are powered on.

Can you provide a reference for this advice, please - I thought that the recent versions of Enigma2 used Udev, for dynamic device detection. (However, I’m open to correction as I’m not a Linux expert.)

Barr

NewClareman wrote: »

Later versions of OpenATV appear to require an online flash, look back a few posts for details. If you select one of the Jan 2019 images, from the link at the start of this thread, you should be able to reflash your box from usb.

Thanks for that I'll give the older images a whirl , see if I can get it up and running again.

greasepalm

Its possible to blow your usb ports if boxes are powered on + hdmi cables spike also so box and tv powered off first.
Many users have found out later about these unknown issues and costly repairs or replacement.

Just doing the same thing as was told many years ago on wos

NewClareman

greasepalm wrote: »

NOTE to all users never insert/remove usb devices while boxes are powered on.

greasepalm wrote: »

Its possible to blow your usb ports if boxes are powered on + hdmi cables spike also so box and tv powered off first.
Many users have found out later about these unknown issues and costly repairs or replacement.

Just doing the same thing as was told many years ago on wos

Many years ago, dynamic device detection did not exist, in windows or Linux. The standard advice was to switch off devices before plugging or unplugging usb devices. Thankfully, those days are long gone. Otherwise, as just one example, cars with active technologies such as AndroidAuto would be a non-starter.

Of course, if reflashing an older version of OpenATV from USB the box must be rebooted. An ideal time to insert your USB key would then be when the box is switched off.

Johnboy1951

NewClareman wrote: »

Many years ago, dynamic device detection did not exist, in windows or Linux. The standard advice was to switch off devices before plugging or unplugging usb devices. Thankfully, those days are long gone. Otherwise, as just one example, cars with active technologies such as AndroidAuto would be a non-starter.

Of course, if reflashing an older version of OpenATV from USB the box must be rebooted. An ideal time to insert your USB key would then be when the box is switched off.

Care is still required so that the USB stick is not unplugged while it is being written to. That access needs to be stopped before unplugging else there could be corruption of content.
That is the purpose of having "Safely Remove" available on operating systems ..... it ensures that access has stopped before letting the user know it is safe to unplug.

The high horse brigade

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Care is still required so that the USB stick is not unplugged while it is being written to. That access needs to be stopped before unplugging else there could be corruption of content.
That is the purpose of having "Safely Remove" available on operating systems ..... it ensures that access has stopped before letting the user know it is safe to unplug.

This reminds me of my brother. I said to him once "you shouldn't just unplug a usb key, you should safely remove it" to which he replied "I did, I pulled it out slowly" ^_^

Sigma101

I set up this box a couple of days ago using NewClareman’s image and it’s working great now (thanks NC!). I’ve had a few niggles which I’ve resolved by reading these threads. There’s still a couple of small problems that I haven’t been able to address mainly relating to the AutoBouquetsMaker (or my lack of understanding of same):

My ABM scan creates two bouquets called ‘All stations’ – one populated with all terrestrial channels and the other with all satellite channels. I’ve renamed them using the OpenWebIf facility but of course they keep getting overwritten with ‘All stations’ on scan. I haven’t found a way to permanently rename them, and I can’t hide them or permanently remove them.

If I switch the box to standby at night it will be on again in the morning. Could it be that it’s not reverting to standby after a scheduled ABM scan in the middle of the night, even though the settings in the ABM Configure indicate that it should?

NewClareman

Sigma101 wrote: »

My ABM scan creates two bouquets called ‘All stations’ – one populated with all terrestrial channels and the other with all satellite channels. I’ve renamed them using the OpenWebIf facility but of course they keep getting overwritten with ‘All stations’ on scan. I haven’t found a way to permanently rename them, and I can’t hide them or permanently remove them.

If I switch the box to standby at night it will be on again in the morning. Could it be that it’s not reverting to standby after a scheduled ABM scan in the middle of the night, even though the settings in the ABM Configure indicate that it should?

I don’t know where you’re getting two Bouquets called ‘All Stations’ - I only have ‘Main Channels’ and ‘All Stations’. You can hide either/both of them using the ‘Hide Sections’ in ABM, under setup. I have found no easy way to rename them, either. I had thought to hide ‘All Stations’, as the Terrestrial channels are duplicated elsewhere. However, if any new terrestrial channel is added this is the only Bouquet where it will appear automatically.

I think the problem with the box staying on is related to CrossEPG, I’m having the same issue. I’m finding it difficult to resolve and I’d appreciate suggestions from someone with expertise in this area.

NewClareman

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Care is still required so that the USB stick is not unplugged while it is being written to. That access needs to be stopped before unplugging else there could be corruption of content.
That is the purpose of having "Safely Remove" available on operating systems ..... it ensures that access has stopped before letting the user know it is safe to unplug.

That’s a very fair point. I think it’s covered in the flashing instructions but, under no circumstances should the USB key be removed while flashing from the key. It could brick the box, permanently.

Apart from that, I wouldn’t worry too much, in day to day use. The worst that would happen is that a program being recorded on external storage would be lost.

greasepalm

Do providers need to update your old epg data.Every now and again services need updating to obtain the new data having removed the older data first.I used a usb flash drive for my epg and formatted it and set it up again having updated providers.

NewClareman

NewClareman wrote: »

I think the problem with the box staying on is related to CrossEPG, I’m having the same issue. I’m finding it difficult to resolve and I’d appreciate suggestions from someone with expertise in this area.

With my current build, which I haven’t listed online, this issue appears randomly. It still occurs when ABM is disabled, so not due to that.

it appears that CrossEPG sometimes fails to update from standby, leaving the box powered on. On a test run of 10 times, this happened twice. All I can do is post it back to the developers, along with the logs. (Unfortunately, I’ll have to redo the tests as debug mode was not active when I did them previously.

@greasepalm Thanks first the suggestion. I’m only using SkyUK OpenTV, so not a provider issue.

Gerry Wicklow

+1 on that crossEPG is gone very flaky these last few weeks. Random crashes, randomly loosing settings.

galtee boy

From reading the posts here from the last week or so, I can see why non techy people ( myself included), are nervous about investing in these type of boxes.

corsav6

galtee boy wrote: »

From reading the posts here from the last week or so, I can see why non techy people ( myself included), are nervous about investing in these type of boxes.

From reading the posts here it only makes me want 1 even more ha ha.

dulpit

galtee boy wrote: »

From reading the posts here from the last week or so, I can see why non techy people ( myself included), are nervous about investing in these type of boxes.

To be fair, a lot of the issues people run into are due to tinkering and playing with settings/etc. If you set the box up once (very straightforward) and don't want to play with any of the additional settings, you'll be able to use not a bother.

NewClareman

galtee boy wrote: »

From reading the posts here from the last week or so, I can see why non techy people ( myself included), are nervous about investing in these type of boxes.

To be honest, they work fine for the general punter. Flash the image, set up your local transmitter, and you’re good to go. The only issue I’ve had, in nearly two years of use, is the recent one with the EPG updating. I’m sure it will be resolved soon.

I do understand where you’re coming from, though. Ideally, I’d have liked to update the first few posts, to keep all the necessary information in one place. The sheer number of posts, many entirely irrelevant to this custom build, make it all seem very complicated. I’ve done my best to divert these elsewhere...

galtee boy

NewClareman wrote: »

To be honest, they work fine for the general punter. Flash the image, set up your local transmitter, and you’re good to go. The only issue I’ve had, in nearly two years of use, is the recent one with the EPG updating. I’m sure it will be resolved soon.

I do understand where you’re coming from, though. Ideally, I’d have liked to update the first few posts, to keep all the necessary information in one place. The sheer number of posts, many entirely irrelevant to this custom build, make it all seem very complicated. I’ve done my best to divert these elsewhere...

Fair enough, like a lot of things I suppose, don't fix it , if it ain't broken ! As someone else said, get it up and running and leave it alone. You've put an huge amount of information into this thread, thanks.

hbab2009

Hi, received my Tiviar Alpha+ today, looking forward to setting it up. But to be honest i'm not at all technical.

Few questions......

1) Does the Tiviar have to be connected to the internet?
2) Will the 7 day EPG update without being connected to internet
3) Adding the Picons, can I do this using a USB? If I download the PICONS file to USB and then load to Tiviar?
4) Running to the room at the moment is a UHF aerial coax and 2 sat cables. Do both sat cables have to come directly from the lnb or can I run the 2 sat cables to an amp and then the amp is fed by 1 cable coming from lnb?

greasepalm

Box functions better with a lan connection for added enjoyment.
I know sat epg can update without a lan but unsure on saorview as all my boxes are on lan.
Box has 2 separate tuners for sat so would need two feeds from lnb on 28.2 or if you had multiple sat dishes on various feeds then a diseqc switch is needed. eg 13,19.2 and 28.2.
Multiple sat feeds allow on tuners mean you then have the choice of viewing and recording other channel on sat.
Picons i dont use but others can explain how to.
Enjoy your new box.

NewClareman

hbab2009 wrote: »

Hi, received my Tiviar Alpha+ today, looking forward to setting it up. But to be honest i'm not at all technical.

Few questions......

1) Does the Tiviar have to be connected to the internet? No.
2) Will the 7 day EPG update without being connected to internet Yes.
3) Adding the Picons, can I do this using a USB? If I download the PICONS file to USB and then load to Tiviar? Yes.
4) Running to the room at the moment is a UHF aerial coax and 2 sat cables. Do both sat cables have to come directly from the lnb or can I run the 2 sat cables to an amp and then the amp is fed by 1 cable coming from lnb? Typically you would run the sat cables directly from the LNB .

Answers in red.

Johnboy1951

May I interject and ask a question here?

What kind of 'amp' is referred to here?
A splitter maybe?

4) Running to the room at the moment is a UHF aerial coax and 2 sat cables. Do both sat cables have to come directly from the lnb or can I run the 2 sat cables to an amp and then the amp is fed by 1 cable coming from lnb?

Barr

NewClareman wrote: »

Later versions of OpenATV appear to require an online flash, look back a few posts for details. If you select one of the Jan 2019 images, from the link at the start of this thread, you should be able to reflash your box from usb.

I have tried both the older images numerous times and the box is still stuck:(

The box recognises the USB , all the messages come up saying its flashing , f-roots , D boot , boot, but at the end of the process all I ever get is "Run Alpha+" with the power button flashing.

Is this a sign the box is fooked.

I've put on the same image before without issues.

Whats my best route now to get it going again ... is there some way of resetting it.

swoofer

There are a few things you can try but if its still under guarantee might be best to send it back. try this.

1. If you have a HDD installed disconnect it. And disconnect all other cables as well including any other usb's

2. USB sticks are a bugger and even though it looks like its reading file may be corrupt. So if you have other usb format it and when formating you could use a tool by hp, its better than windows. see here

https://download.cnet.com/HP-USB-Disk-Storage-Format-Tool/3000-2094_4-10974082.html

3. I forgot to mention when you have flashed are you watching via hdmi or scart?

4. Get a brand new copy of openatv 6.3 from here
http://images.mynonpublic.com/openatv/current/index.php?open=tiviaraplus

5. I cant remember whether I used back or front usb but if you tried front then try back.

6. There is one other fix where you could re-load the bootloader.

And finally did the box go belly up and was that the reason you needed to re-flash? Did you load any additional software and can you FTP to box when its showing run alpha etc?

7. NB If you get it working you can then reflash the image you want BUT download a new copy and delete that old one.