Skippa - Feedback & Questions

[Aussiebec]

So I've had my Skippa nearly 2 weeks, only watched one show.  I previously had a Topfield MP5000 which only needed a new hard drive after 8 years and 2 remotes.  So I needed to upgrade and the Skippa was appealing.

Thoughts:
I love the size, so neat an tidy.

I think the EPG will take some adjusting compared to what I was used to one channel showing at a time as opposed to time slots.

It was so easy to set up.

The remote control is like a clone of the Foxtel remote and I wished it was a bit more modern in it's look and feel.  I have a Samsung SmartTV and the remotes are light, small.

It would be nice if the remote buttons glowed.

I have only watched one show and found the skip function a bit hit and miss but after reading another thread found you can't skip the promos.  Didn't realize at the time of watching. The skip function probably kicked in after 5 secs of the first ad.... caught me a couple of times reaching for the remote to skip manually thinking it wasn't working.

Love the APP, I use that instead of the EPG.

Questions:

Does anyone find that when Skippa is on standby it sounds like it is constantly running?  My Toppy was silent in standby.  It is driving me nuts especially as it is in my bedroom.  My husband actually turned it off during the day and I missed a recording.

Do failed recordings reschedule themselves?

Can I log/remote into the Skippa to watch any recordings via my laptop?  I know my SmartTV has picked it up but just curious about watching via wifi on the laptop in another room.[/li]

[stretch4x4]

Mine is silent but I think you are the second person to mention a noise..
Maybe it is just sitting funny.. Maybe throw a rubber mat or some paper towel under it and see if it sits down..

And yes you can copy files off the skippa remotely or stream things (I haven't tried the latter yet)

In a future update, hopefully you can stream live tv too not just recordings :)

[warkus]

You need to put rubber feet under it...

4 times 12x12x8mm rubber feet, cheap as chips from Bunnings, it removes almost all of the micro vibrations from the unit sitting on a hard shelf. When applying the rubber feet to the base of the unit, make sure you disconnect power first before turning it over - this is because of a point you raised, ie it always runs even in standby so the hard drive will be spinning and you don't want to turn it over while its spinning, not really a good idea.

Essentially it is always on 24/7, when you put it into standby it pretty much just switches off video, that's about it... Advantage of this if you call it that is virtually instantaneous on from pressing power.

I posted about the rubber feet being missing on the unit in another thread, it is one of only 2 gripes I have with the unit, the other being the remote.

As for watching recordings on your laptop...I posted this on whirlpool, it will work for you too on your laptop...

-------------------

I'm running...
core2quad CPU 2.6ghz
8gb ram
Windows 10

Downloaded and installed Kodi 15.1
After install I ran the program
Click on videos
Then files
Then add videos
Then click browse
Then click upnp devices
Then click the skippa
Then click Raw Recorded Files (you will NOT see any recordings at this point)
Then click OK
Then click OK again on the next screen

Now the Skippa is added as a folder under "videos / files" in Kodi and is a static link, so you only need to do that above one time.

Now just click on the skippa listing, select the file you want to stream, and hey presto, full screen playback of recordings from the skippa.

Fast
In sync
Whilst it's recording 2 other shows
No noticeable performance issues at all

[Aussiebec]

You need to put rubber feet under it...

Thanks for the suggestion will invest.

As for watching recordings on your laptop...I posted this on whirlpool, it will work for you too on your laptop...

Thanks, Whirlpool was my next visit.

[Leon K]

Hey Aussiebec,

Do failed recordings reschedule themselves?

Failed recordings don't reschedule themselves, but you will receive an email notice to this effect so that you are aware of the fail and can then schedule again to make sure there are no conflicts (timer conflicts are largely the most common cause of failed recordings).

P.S Thanks for your feedback everyone!

[Bijengum]

How much data does the skippa use. I will be using it on mobile broadband. Need to know how much data it requires to keep up to date.

[Leon K]

Hey Bijengum,

How much data does the skippa use. I will be using it on mobile broadband. Need to know how much data it requires to keep up to date.

SKIPPA uses approximately 500MB - 2GB per month under normal operating conditions - that is updating the EPG and downloading / uploading timer information. SKIPPA fetches these updates every 10 minutes.

It you use catch-up services you will incur a higher data usage - which is dependant on how much you watch. For example, full quality HD Catch Up programs will use approximately 1.6 GB per hour, whilst SD Catch Up programs will use approximately 585 MB per hour.

Cheers,
Leon

[Bijengum]

Are there any options to do updates less often to reduce the data required

[Aussiebec]

Downloaded and installed Kodi 15.1

Warkus, your instructions are perfect and so easy to follow.  Thanks for taking the time to post. 

As for the rubber feet not sure this is the solution.  I went and picked up the unit (carefully) and it feels like the hard drive is running and it is really hot.  It is in a well ventilated spot no crap around it.  Again my Toppy never ran hot even when it ran.  Is this something I have to put up with or can be resolved?  I wonder if it's worth a new thread on it's own to gauge if it's a one off?

Bec

[Leon K]

Are there any options to do updates less often to reduce the data required

There is not..

[Bijengum]

What about turning the unit off and only having it on during the times it need to be on to record.

[Leon K]

What about turning the unit off and only having it on during the times it need to be on to record.

Yes you could certainly do that in a pinch, although we recommend having it online at all times to have the guide updated throughout the day - but if you know that you will only be recording shows at night after 6pm for instance then it would be perfectly acceptable to then only plug it in at 5pm in time for it to make any updates.

[Muddy]

Does anyone find that when Skippa is on standby it sounds like it is constantly running?  My Toppy was silent in standby.  It is driving me nuts especially as it is in my bedroom.  My husband actually turned it off during the day and I missed a recording.
[/li][/list]

Mine is also constantly running and is noisy. I would love to find out if this is fixable. I have submitted questions to support and only had a half hearted response at this stage.

[warkus]

As mentioned already above the Skippa runs 24/7 even in standby and that goes for the hard drive too. It pretty much only switches off "video" in standby.

Rubber feet, on the bottom of your unit will definitely help with the noise level, but as for a deep standby or HDD power off, only IceTV will be able to answer whether this feature can be added to the firmware or not.

People have been asking for it on the Altech 9600 for ages and it's fallen on deaf ears over at UEC and as this unit is also a UEC manufactured unit, I don't like your chances of getting it added, but that's only my opinion.

Mark

[SkippaLounge]

Hi
I will receive my skippa next week all gong well.
I just had a question based on other people's experiences, I know for long time users skippa is just another vehicle for the Icetv service but I feel for me the opposite may be true coming from a TiVo where the Pvr was great but the epg was all over the place.

Any way I wanted to know why when making a series recording does it have to contact the server? What is it doing at this point and why can't whatever it is wait for the next 10min check in.

Also if there is a conflict when setting multiple recordings you get an email to notify you (before or after the fact?) but is there no instant on screen message that says this?
No internal mechanism to know as you set recordings that there is a conflict