Walmart US Digital STB Questions - Page 37

dogleg69

In all of work you've done on the 2010/20 have you been able to compare the firmware for the ota and subscription units and seen any differences that might be noticed?

Do you know if the difference between the operating modes(fta/subscription) of the two types of units was hardwired or just firmware?

I am mostly curious because of the channel 41 problem I have on a pair of my units and thought you may have seen a difference....

There is no difference in the hardware to my knowledge (if we are talking about db2010's -- be they walmart or usdtv). There appears to be only one codebase for both fta and subscription. The codebase sets flags to determine FTA or not. All of us are now running the fta.

I've never noticed anything hardcoded regarding frequency 41. I have never experienced the problems some are having, so it is hard for me to comment. If it were freq 2 or 69, then I would suspect a memory or arrary bounds issue.

Added a db2010 and a HT7012 manuals:

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=5...12cc0853efd9eb

The HT7012 just says that the second coax is "disabled". I don't have any of the Proton hardware to play with to help out.

What would really like would be to be able to remap the IR code.
I have a TV with TVGOS it's able to control a VCR or a cable Box and a VCR. If I could remap the IR code to those of a cable box (Just need to change channel) It would be really great.

I am a Roku HD1000 Photobridge junkie and am amazed at how simular these two boxes are. They even share the same power supply unit (PSU) and the motherboard is very simular.

from the info and pictures in this thread
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1#post12981911

Look at the third picture
http://rev-a-dead-roku-club.blogspot.com/

The PSU for the HD1000 fails alot and we have found out how to fix them and upgrade them to be a lot more robust. Some people even swap the PSU out for an ATX version or a Morex (brand) type. I am currently trying to Find the Kernel for the latest firmware (2.0.3X) of the Roku box and notice that they both share 1.5.18 (according to this link from a post in this thread ( http://www.linux-hacker.net/usdtv/ )), so I wonder if I can get/find the Kernel source here?

Couple questions..

1. Do these power supplys fail after a year or two also?
2. Is there a Guru that I can contact to catch up on this box and compare it to the HD1000
3. Anyone have the source code for the Kernel?

Now I just now found this box, that's a shocker, it was like twins seperated at birth. I don't know how I have not seen this in my 3yrs of tinkering with the HD1000. Today I was looking for info on the MMON and was looking at X-225 and found this ( http://www.elinux.org/Wiki/HiSense ) and BAM...

Thanks, Matt

EDIT: So after reading all 37 pages, I now know a little more. Also, it seems the the HD1000 PSU is only the same on the 7012 series, the 2010 uses a different type (probably due to the U-SAN one failing so much?)

EDIT #2: So after more reading in other locations as well, it looks like I may be barking up the wrong tree. The 7012 is the HiSence box with the same Xillion 225 and Power Supply Unit as the Roku HD1000.

Any HT7012 gurus here? I did ping "CharedPC" since he had pictures of his box.

Anyone know where a replacement power supply for one of the DB2010s might be found?

The one I have requires the ribbon type connector.....

Thanks

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Well I saw the same symptoms on KCET HD-Los Angeles (PBS). They broadcast on UHF 59 (Virtual Number 28). It's not doing it now, but at the time it was repeatable. Two minutes or so on 28-1 (not the other subchannels) and it would lock up and lose the signal. You couldn't change channels or simply power off. You need to hold the power button in and do a reboot.

I have a USDTV DB2020 box. It currently has SW ver 2.7.15. I think just certain shows throw it off.

See attachments of some prototype screenshots. I'm still testing and getting everything to work. Here are the planned features:

- if box is off, turn on and change to timer channel
- if box was off when timer turned on, turn box off at end time
- when you turn the box on via front panel or remote, it will still tune to the last timer channel
- if box is on and timer fires, change channel (no warnings, just change)
- if box was on when timer fired, the end time will do nothing
- does not support a specific date. Valid options are every S,M,T,W,TH,F,S or M-F or Daily
- there are 10 timers
- when you upgrade, your timers will be lost (because the timers are stored in NAND flash and they can't be copied across). This can be addressed in other ways, but for now we will have to re-enter timers on update of firmware.
- the channel spinner is initialized with enabled channels (not all channels)
- if you enable/disable channels in the edit channel list, they will not show up in the timer channel spinner until you unplug the box. This is a bug, but it is not a show stopper for beta.
- the minutes spinner has 00, 05, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55. Thats 12 items in the list instead of 60 min to spin through.

This is slightly different than a VCR/DVD. I wanted the channel to change even if the box is on when the timer fires. Too many times my VCR did not record because I forgot to turn if off (which is understandable since there is a physically resource - tape - involved).

I did some user acceptance testing with my kids. They could set timers without any coaching or instruction - so the GUI passed in my opinion. Have completed the GUI, persistence store and timer logic. Still have to do some testing and negative testing before I consider it completed. I am concerned about keeping accurate time on the box. To mediate this, the time is updated when the box is off and idle using the channel setup to get the time. Need more testing on this.

Please review the screens and above functionality and make comments/suggestions. Will the above features get the job done (when/if they work)?

This is Great News! I did not expect you to make such fast progress given your time constraints. I look forward to the "official" software release.

One of the final issues is the keeping accurate internal time. A manual time entry could be added. However, I really don't want to enter/setup a time manually. I think the time will loose accuracy as time goes on, so we would continually have to update manually.

The problem is that the box was setup to get its time info from 99-1 -- the USDTV information channel. Since that is gone, the time gets updated when you:

- Set System Time via the UI
- Downloads an update (turned off in mod versions)
- downloads the epg guide. Uses each channel's stt block from the psip for that channel.

So, to get around this, I'm doing the following:

- set the system time when you request it via the UI (save the channel to timeChannel)
- when the box is off, periodically update the system time using the timeChannel
- when the system tries to set the time, only set it if the current stt block in the psip was from the timeChannel

So, this means if you can find a single channel in your area that keeps good time, it will only set the system time from that channel. It will also periodically update the system time using that channel while the box is off.

If you change the timeChannel via the GUI in Set System Time, the timers will be re-sync'd. When you save a timer, all the timers will be re-sync'd. This is an attempt to keep them as accurate as possible.

Initial testing show the timers are working. Still need more testing. If anyone is willing to help test, please let me know.

Count me in for testing PM me the location of the updated firmware......

Let me know the information you need from testing......

Here are two questions I would like feedback on:

1) How many items do we want in the minutes spinner?

I had orginally only put them in increaments of 5 mins. However, for testing I'm using increments of two. It's not that bad because the orignal remote response is fast. However, there is no hold button down for repeating. So, would it be best to have 00-59 inclusive, every 2 mins, every 5 or what?

2) The box is in the off state and a timer #1 fires and turns the box on. Timer #2 fires before the end of timer #1 and changes channel. So, should the box turn off (since it started in the off state) at the end of timer #2? Or, should the box be left on since another timer started?

I would prefer that if the box started in the off state, it should return to the off state. However, this might confuse someone that is say chaning the channels and watching TV before the end of timer #2. The box would turn off while you were watching TV when it gets to the end of timer#2.

I coded it that if it the box starts in the off position, it will return to the off position (either manually or by the end timer). I put in a workaround that if you go to the Timers List page, it will reset the needToTurnOff flag.


If anyone has opinions on the above questions, please post. Getting closer, all test scenarios are working. I will say, creating these simple timers was much more difficult that I first thought -- mainly due to the accurate time and all the on/off scenarios.

I reworked a spinner to allow for paging by 25% using the Ch +/- buttons. This will allow the user to use the up and down arrow to increase/decrease by 1, or the ch+/- button to scroll by 25% of the spinner.

So, the minutes spinner will have 00 - 59 inclusive. Using the ch+/-, it will roll 00, 15, 30, 45, 00, 15, ... (60/4 = 15). I don't like my VCR becuase I have to at most press the up/down 30 times.

You seem to have thought every bits and intricate details for the timer. I liked your UAT (User Acceptance Test) methodology :-).
Count me in too for testing the firmware. Currently the system time in my box is set to the time obtained from NBC. factory default was the first channel (2.1 - CBS) in the channel list. Unfortunately, CBS is always 30 min off, so I had set it to get the time from NBC.
Great work indeed..

That a very good idea. I'm in to test.

With all the progress you made, do you still think there's no way to change the Ir code?

Can you explain this in detail? I don't know enough about IR codes or how a IR receiver works.

For example, I got hold of a cheap RCA 6373 Univeral remote. It is the kind you punch in the code for a particular manufacturer and it will send out the correct signals. I can print the hex IR code when it comes in. Any button from the orignal remote printed the correct hex number. Any other IR signal sent prints hex 0xFF -- that is any and all other signals are 0xFF.

So, I don't know enough about how IR codes are mapped or how they work. If you can help educate and explain, I'll certainly look into it.

What type of codes do you have? What set of IR codes would you like to see remapped?

sorry to jump into the middle but I have a question about my (walmart) DB-2010
A few months ago it died, All I have is both signal and power LEDs flashing every half second in unison. (green) Is this bad? should I throw it out or seek further help.

Thanks

Have you made a serial cable so you can get into the shell to watch any error messages? Also, have you tried to upgrade the firmware?

I have not seen the double green flashing lights. It certainly sounds like the software is detecting a hardware problem and telling them to blink. I will look around and see what I can find out.

I don't know that much myself. But here's what I think I know.
IR receiver is normally handle (in Linux) by the module LIRC (Kernel) . So if they use that module it should be fairly simple to remap the IR scan code to scan code of another machine (i.e Echo Star).

The idea here is:
#1: To be able to use any cheap remote (Has your RCA remote)
#2: To allow TV equiped with TVGOS to control the box.

If I could remap the code I would remap them to those of EchoStar Box. Echo Star will use the same IR code for the DTVPal has those for their current box . Thus allowing it to be control by TVGOS.

If you don't know much about TVGOS here's the link

If we can find what they are using to control the IR we should be able to remap them, so if it's not LIBRC can you send me the list of module they are using there's probably other module to control the IR I should be able to find wich one they are using.

I have an idea. Let me dig around. If the IR receiver can accept any range of frequency, then I can envision a solution for this problem.

However, when you first asked, I printed all remote codes as you would shoot it into the db-2010. All remotes I tried except for the original, the printed hex was 0xFF. However, maybe I was using an int instead of a long long or something. I'll check on a few things and get back to you.

The box does not use LIRC. It reads 1 byte from /dev/uirt0. The usdtv IR codes fit into a single unsigned char byte.

From what I have read and can tell, this type of mod would be difficult. Looking at the lirc code from lirc.org, every remote sends a different number of bytes to be read and processed (thus each config file is different).

So, it is not as simple as I thought (mapping x to y). There are different buffer lengths, pulses, repeat bits, gaps, masks, etc... for every remote. If it were using lirc, it would be more doable. As it is today, it would be pretty difficult.

If you can get the codes and lenghts for the TVGOS, then we may be able to come up with something. Does the TVGOS use lirc? If so, what does the config file look like?

Just a little suggestion but shouldn't this topic have it's own website?
I mean a website dedicated to all of the usdtv owners with it's own links, developers blog, fourm, and downloads.
That would be cool if somebody could do that.

Yes, agree. Since Tim Rikers site is already out there maybe he would allow it on his wiki.

I have some content that I would like to put on a site, but have not pulled a site together yet.

Anyone have suggestions where to take this?

Haven't posted here in a while. would like to know how to update to 2.9.3 also my STB does not have audio or video anymore. It has a strong signal but says the channel is off the air

Mdviewer25,
Have you tried the reset sequence (guide, aspect, exit, prog, info, 0)
or if you have the newer software you can hold the power button in for about 5 sec.
(not sure if that does a hard reset)

find 2.9.3 at the link half way up this page (#1084)
if using 2.7.15 or newer it is easy. just copy file to blank usb stick (I used sd card in usb reader) no linux formating needed like when installing 2.7.15

Since AVS went down, a few posts were lost. Just posting this for history sake.

The 2.9.4 version is ready. Thanks to kousikb, Kro, smintn, allen97 and the excellent work of the original MetroLink team, the timers are ready. Please find release notes, pics, manuals and software for the USDTV Hisense db2010 at:

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=5...12cc0853efd9eb


Quick rundown-

- Added timers feature
- Add a timer from the EPG screen
- Keep the system clock upto date via a single station
- Turn off auto scanning of channels
- Keep EPG upto date while box is off


I do recommend reading the release notes when you upgrade. It has alot more detail and scenarios of how things work. If you have questions, please post.

Dogleg69, Thanks for all the time you put into this.

had some problem using the EPG timer until i re-read the notes (you have to press info button)

Thanks again, Tim

Dogleg69, I just tried 2.9.4 and must say the timer is definitely a nifty feature. You have given my box more value than it initially had. Thanks for all the work you put in. You did an excellent job with the menus. I didn't even have to read the notes to figure out how to use it.

Thanks for the kudos. You would think a simple timer would be pretty easy, but I was surprised how complex it actually was.

The EPG timer:

- press Program Info on a program from the EPG page
- that brings up the expanded description
- press OK to add that as a timer (if one is available)
- press INFO or EXIT to just close the window

That is not optimal, but since we can't add any new physical buttons, it was the cleanest I could come up with. kousikb suggested adding a timer from the EPG screen during test and I was able to design and slip it in.

Yes adding timer via the EPG is really slick and cool. You don't have to remember the timing of the program and the duration while adding it (assuming EPG info is correct). What I do is I add the timer via EPG, and after adding I go the timer screen and check the timer configured and set the DVD recorder timer accordingly. I missed the prime time broadcast for the olympic opening ceremony. So I searched in the EPG if there is a late night repeat, and it sure did at 2:30AM. So I set the timer to record from 2:30AM to to till the end. And now I have the opening ceremony in DVD too and lot of my friends are watching it, because they missed it too.