Time-shift configuration

[IanL-S]

Time-shift is not configured by the IceBox configuration wizard. In recent days the members of the beta testing team have been testing time-shift and it seems to work as one would expect.

Time-shift is configured using TVHeadend.


It is important to click on save!

Once time-shift configured, when you are watching live TV you can pause, and go backwards or forwards in the same way you do when playing a recording.

At this stage, I am not aware of any way of saving the time-shift buffer. When you change the channel being used, be time-shift buffer is cleared and a new time shift buffer is created for the channel now being viewed.

The size of the time-shift buffer is up to you; I prefer to set it to 3 hours and sufficient storage to store 3 hours of HD recording.

[robertdowdell]

Hi Ian
I haven't been able to work out how you access these settings from the IceBox.

[IanL-S]

Sorry I did not make this clear. You have to access the TVHeadend web server which is located on the IceBox from a computer or tablet. Open you web browser of choice and enter the following address:

http://ip address of your Ice Box:9981/

You can find the ip address of the IceBox on Kodi System Information.

[robertdowdell]

Thanks. I found it. Will have to give it a go.

[nedsnow]

Hi,

I just set up my new IceBox, but I'm having problems trying to configure timeshift. When I go into the configuration page, it looks like the one above, but when I fill in what I want and click save, the entries go blank, and nothing is changed. It feels like a permission problem? What am I doing wrong?

Thanks
Ned

[IanL-S]

Not seen anything like this before. Try rebooting the IceBox. [When everything else fails, restart/reboot.] Close TVHeadend before the reboot. Then after rebooting, log into TVHeadend again. Please provide update(s) on your progress.

[nedsnow]

Thank for your reply. I rebooted the IceBox and tried again. I did it with Chrome and Firefox on Linux, and Chrome and Edge on Windows. The result was the same. When I first go in, I see either the details as I last changed them to, or only the enabled line, unticked, with the Advanced box blank. The enabled checkbox won't "stick". I never see any "Red Border" when I change something. That being said, the feature does seem to have been turned on.

As for timeshift itself, I'm a bit disappointed. I can pause, but I can't see any way to go forward or backward in the buffer. There's an icon with an arrow and a vertical bar that I assume should go to live TV, but it just says "Seeking XX:XX" on the screen and the picture doesn't change. Unlike all my other experiences with DVRs (Tivo, Humax 7500T, Humax 10000T, Humax 2Tune), I can't rewind live TV (or can't find how to do it). That's an important feature for me.

Regards,
Ned

[IanL-S]

Hi Ned, I added the red boarder to make it clear where you need to click to save the setting.

In my limited testing I have not had major problems navigating the time-shift buffer (when using IceTV IceBox RCU - more difficult when using a keyboard!). Navigation is similar to playback of recordings.

[MD]

Hi Ned,

It sounds as if time shift isn't enabled or maybe a misunderstanding. Ignore the tick disappearing as we think there's a bug in TVHeadend that takes it off even though it has been set,  and simply check in live TV.  I'm using it on two IceBoxes right now and when I pause the top bar shows two bars.  The blue one is the length of the TV show to the time you paused, the white bar is the time shift period which will lengthen the longer the show is viewed as live.  It will also show the word "Timeshift" in blue.

The default behaviour of the IceBox is to NOT have live TV running all the time but to be used for recording. However, the IceBox can automatically run time shift in whichever live channel you are watching, hence when you choose a show different to the last one watched a "Switch" option changes to the channel of your choice via the EPG or the "Channels" list. 

[nedsnow]

Thanks for that. Pilot error, as usual: it didn't occur to me that I had to go up to the bars to navigate. However, unless it's something else I just can't see, there don't appear to be fast forward/reverse arrows like there are on recordings.

Ned

[Ian_AW]

How to you get this to stick?

I can make the changes when the IceBox profile is selected, however after saving it when I go back and check it, it is back to being disabled?

If I hover over the Save button, a tip comes up saying "Save pending changes (marked with red border)"

[IanL-S]

You just click on the save button. The behavior is somewhat peculiar as once it is set there (as far as I can see) is no indication that it has been set. This may explain why it is classed as experimental.

[Ian_AW]

Not Time-shifting, but I have been driving my IceBox using a Mini Wireless Keyboard and Touch Pad. I can use all the features of the standard remote except for a keyboard command to do what the Power button does.

What do those with a BYOB do? Do they have to use the standard remote?

My reason for using the Mini Keyboard (which I got with an Android box) is that the standard remote control was too inconsistent and I would spend ages pressing the right arrow that the system would time out.

[IanL-S]

The standard IceTV RCU works with the BYOD. The two after-market RCUs I have tried work (although one is decidedly hit-and-miss). Neither fully replicates the IceTV RCU. One has Ch+/- buttons which some may prefer. One thing that I have trouble with is the different layout of the RCUs, and differences in the symbols on some of the keys.

I have USB keyboards attached to all my IceBox, some are wireless and some are "wired". When doing a reset or reinstalling from USB stick I use the keyboard rather than the on-screen keyboard as it is much faster.

Ian

[TimC]

I found that enabling Timeshift as suggested worked OK from a Timeshift perspective, but then it started doing little jumps of its own randomly every minute or so.
Going to a different channel didn't stop the random jumping.
Disabling it didn't stop it either.
I had to restart to get it to stop.