Trouble starting IceBox

[boofhead]

Hi

I few days ago I found the UI sometimes froze, sometimes showed glitzed UI.

I restarted then it rescanned the channels. Appears it installed 1.11.6.

I setup my timers, 3 commercial channels 7:20pm to 11:50pm. It started recording and never stopped.

After a reboot it still didn't behave normally.

I tried a hard reset option. It started booting and stayed on the IceTV screen for about 6 minutes. Something seemed a bit off so I restarted the box with the power button. Now it shows the IceTV boot screen for about 10 seconds, bottom right shows A2 then 99. Shortly after a black screen then the TV says it has no input.

What steps should I take now?

[TimC]

I tried a hard reset option. It started booting and stayed on the IceTV screen for about 6 minutes. Something seemed a bit off so I restarted the box with the power button.

Most of the actions you have taken seemed fair enough, although I would have suggested a soft reset first.
A hard reset is fair enough as it takes the unit back to its initial setup. Interrupting it was unwise though.

You may now have partially reset software that doesn't load properly. You may need to reload the software manually.

General folder. this post shows how to reload the update.

However before you do that, try plugging the TV into the other HDMI port. It is possible the IceBox has switched HDMI ports. It does do that occasionally following a reboot.

[boofhead]

I tried the process. I can't do the steps that are required to be run on the Icebox. I kept my finger on the power button until it restarted.

It did the 2 restarts, showing the Icebox boot screen. Then it shows nothing. I have left it running for 10 minutes and checked. TV doesn't detect any input. I tried both HDMI outputs of the Icebox TV.

If there is a bad setting that it is migrating as a part of the update process then I feel I will be going around in circles. Is there a way to reset all the settings remotely?

[MD]

Hi Nathan,

Looking at your account you purchased this IceBox in March 2003  but the free 90 days subscription has long expired as has your account?  So you can't connect to our servers. What happened in the meantime.

Anyway, on the assumption you don't have a second account, and this forum email agrees with your IceTV account one, I have added another free 90 days.  That should at least get you started but please note you must update your software to the latest automatic adskip v1.11.6 for stability.

[boofhead]

I have downloaded IceBox-Generic.x86_64-1.11.6.img.gz and put it in the update folder. Forced the box to restart by the power button on the box. It doesn't show anything on the TV. I am at a loss at what to do next. I guess I could but a USB adapter for the SSD drive, format the SSD drive and expand the update and boot?

Does it need an active IceTV account to work?

[TimC]

Does it need an active IceTV account to work?

To work as intended, yes.

I am sure it is technically possible to disable the IceTV component and run just the LibreELEC/Kodi software, but if you wanted to do that you would have been better off just buying a NUC and loading the LibreELEC and Kodi software.

You may not understand what IceTV actually does. Here are some of the benefits:

• IceTV provide a processed Extended Program Guide (EPG) that identifies the repeat status of programs on the guide i.e. if it has been shown on that channel previously it is tagged as a Repeat. If not, it is tagged as a New program.
• IceTV interacts with your PVR to set timers remotely
• Allows Series recordings to be set up
• IceTV provides a web page and a phone app that are used to manage your recordings

When you combine 1., 2., 3 and 4. you have the capability to manage your recorder to set recordings remotely.  All you need is access to the internet. I have personally set a timer to record a program while I was on holiday in New Zealand.

You can also set a series timer to record all new episodes of a series. Once set up the timer waits for a new episode to appear and it sets your PVR to record it, even if it's a couple of years later at 4:00 AM in the morning. You can even set it to record on any channel, so if it pops up on another channel you still get it.

Add to that automatically skipping adds and more, you have a service that is well worth paying for.

IceTV really try to do their best to provide a great service. I encourage you to give it a try.  While you are at it do a bit of googling to see if anyone else is offering anything similar.

By the way I have no connection with IceTV other than the fact than I am a happily paying customer and have been for well over ten years. I would be lost without them.

I very much recommend you give it a try.

[boofhead]

I managed to get it working. I reinstalled. I needed to disconnect the SSD so I could get to the EFI settings and change the boot order priorities. Then I could boot from USB.

Sometimes the TV has issues detecting inputs. Sometimes going to TV settings triggers it to detect a valid input. My guess is something about the TV. It used to work fine online and now it keeps thinking it has no internet connectivity and can't update TV apps yet if I skip updating the streaming apps, it can stream using Netflix and Disney+ fine. Used to be fine until an update 2/3 through last year.

I purchased the box because the old Beyonwiz had issues. I wanted a small, easy to use PVR where updates are well managed. Something my aged parents can use. Not a lot of options on the market.

[MD]

The IceBox is running the latest firmware v1.11.6 so why would you want to boot to a USB?

[MD]

If you really do want to get into it you'll need a keyboard, either USB or wireless. Connect the keyboard then turn the box right off buy pulling out its power pin. then after a few seconds with the esc button pressed down in the keyboard plug its power back in.  Release the escape key after a few seconds on the box will boot into its BIOS where boot options are available.  From memory the quickest way is then to go to BIOS Save and Exit a simple reboot choice is available.

[boofhead]

The IceBox is running the latest firmware v1.11.6 so why would you want to boot to a USB?

I couldn't get it to boot so it would show anything on my TV. I reinstalled.

[boofhead]

Since I got it working, it seems I have the same issue as before with the timers being wonky. Has something about the timers changed?

When my box was updated to 1.11.6, it needed a reboot as some things were a little flakey. After reboot the timers didn't work correctly. That is when I tried a hard reset which didn't seem to complete, hence needing to reinstall as it wouldn't boot.

The timer issue is, I used the UI to set the timers, along with the web config via http://lan ip:9981/ which is convenient with PC, 2 of the timers appear to start recording but never stop. Attempts to stop the recording says errors. Attempts to play the recording show displays the text "error". The amount of space (after over 12 hours of recording two channels of HD) seems to be very minimal. I need to restart the box to stop the recording. As it doesn't properly stop, so the shows don't show in the list of recordings. It doesn't start at the correct time, either.

In the pic of the screen, the left portion shows the local time. The right portion shows seemingly +10 hours from local time (effectively UTC+20 hours), has something changed since the update?

I am not trying to record any particular shows. I am aiming to record a particular time period no matter what TV show is on. Before the update, it seemed to work reliably.

[TimC]

The timer issue is, I used the UI to set the timers, along with the web config via http://lan ip:9981/ which is convenient with PC, 2 of the timers appear to start recording but never stop. Attempts to stop the recording says errors. Attempts to play the recording show displays the text "error". The amount of space (after over 12 hours of recording two channels of HD) seems to be very minimal. I need to restart the box to stop the recording. As it doesn't properly stop, so the shows don't show in the list of recordings. It doesn't start at the correct time, either.

When you say that you used the UI to set the timers, do you mean the HTTP}\[IceBoc IP adderss]:9981/ UI?

If so, I can see why you might have problems.  It may be possible, but it would be very easy to stuff up.

The best way to set a timer is to use IceTV App or the IceTV TV guide website at https://www.icetv.com.au/.  You need to log in with the same username and password as the IceBox.

You simply select a program from the guide and "Schedule a new recording".

You can also go to the on-screen Program guide on the IceBox and select a program to record, but from what I understand, timers set in this last way aren't captured by the IceTV servers.  They are only local to the IceBox.
I could be wrong on this last one though. It may have been fixed by now.

If you are setting the timers from the app or the website, then my apologies.

One thing worth being aware of is that a reset will take the Regional settings to their default settings. From recollection I think that was Australia/Melbourne. It doesn't sound like that would be your issue as that should just move the Start/finish times to be an hour out (depending on your time zone), not endlessly recording and the other strange behaviors.
It certainly sounds like there is something very strange going on with your time and date settings.

[boofhead]

It seems the image I embedded in the above post disappeared, https://ibb.co/j84hm12

When I say UI, I mean from the Icebox. The Icebox UI and the web UI show the same information, start time, end time which look correct. The right hand portion of the timer on the Icebox UI shows a time 10 hours into the future. Even then, I would expect the recordings to start and stop recording X hours. They seem to keep on recording and can't be stopped.

I am not interested in recording a particular program. I am interested in recording blocks of time.

I double checked my regional settings. It defaulted to Sydney and changed it to Hobart. Times are the same.

Before the update, the timers worked as expected. Since the update (and before I reset the config), they have been kaput.

As for using the phone app, when I go to the Google Play Store, it says my Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is not compatible. It has Android 14.

[raymondjpg]

Since I got it working, it seems I have the same issue as before with the timers being wonky. Has something about the timers changed?

I don't know if anything changed, as I haven't used timer rules on IceBox before, but it looks to me like they are not working as expected now.

If I set a "Recording:Timer rule" for a block of time for every day on a channel, only one timer turns up in the timer list, and it is not the same time period as set in the rule. It looks like it is set for 10 hours later than what I set in the rule.

This discrepancy is reflected in the TVHeadend config UI and I can't see any obvious reason for it.

One for the technical gurus I think.

[TimC]

It seems the image I embedded in the above post disappeared, https://ibb.co/j84hm12

I see your problem and I suspect there may be a bug behind it, which I can't help with.
It looks like when you set up a timer in the way you have, the Icebox sets the end time 40 hours ahead, resulting in impossibly long recordings.
I also found that if you try to stop or delete the timer, nothing seems to happen. I think it does in the background, but a restart is required to make it apparent.

Before the update, the timers worked as expected. Since the update (and before I reset the config), they have been kaput.

You will need help from the IceTV guys. It may be that the last update introduced a bug. You are using your IceBox in a way that most IceTV enthusiasts wouldn't think to use and as a result the bug may have slipped through the beta testing.

I am not interested in recording a particular program. I am interested in recording blocks of time.

You have an unusual approach, which is basically to record everything on every primary channel (Except ABC) for a block of time and skip to the programs you are interested in later. And an IceBox is one of the few PVRs that can give you the four tuners that will allow you to do that. Do you realise you can probably record secondary channels at the same time as well, i.e. 10 Peach, 7 Flix, etc.?

However, your approach presents a few problems.
1. Your recording approach circumvents most of the advantages of having access to IceTV. IceTV offers a fairly sophisticated way to manage the recording of programs of your choice. I happily pay the $8.99 a month, as I get great value from it. Your recording approach nullifies the all the advantages, but I am not sure whether the IceBox will work without an IceTV subscription though.
2. Unless you are pretty rigorous in deleting the recordings, you will start to run short of drive space fairly quickly. 1TB is a lot of space, but 20 hours of recording a day is also a lot.
3. Add Skipping requires some post processing of the recorded file, and it takes an hour or so per hour of recording to set all the add markers. For the long sessions of time you are recording, you may find that the post-processing struggle to keep up with your recordings. That doesn't stop you from watching the programs though.

However, you are perfectly entitled to use your IceBox in any way you want.

I double checked my regional settings. It defaulted to Sydney and changed it to Hobart. Times are the same.

The change to Hobart time won't have much impact, except you will now get the Hobart program guide rather than Sydney's. There probably isn't a lot of difference though.

As for using the phone app, when I go to the Google Play Store, it says my Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is not compatible. It has Android 14.

I use an Iphone, but I gather Android 14 may be a superseded operating system. Can it be updated to a later version?
In any case, I don't think the app will help a lot for the way you are doing your recording, apart from showing the current TV guide. However, you should still be able to use the IceTV website.   

Regards
Tim