Walmart US Digital STB Questions - Page 40

You know what? Me being a newb shines through on this here - I was testing with AC! And yes, I did test the black and white on AC, and yes it arced and scared the hell outta me (my cat sitting there was indifferent however!), but it did not weld my leads and throw a main breaker, so that was lucky. I will test using DC and see what I get. As far as ground, I was just using the case itself - it seemed to be working, is that good enough for a ground?

Mike

smintn - great post. Thanks for all the good information. I could swear that one of my original subscription boxes said db2010. Then USDTV pushed a new version of software out over the air. After that it said db2020. I have no idea what the difference is -- not that it matters I guess. The software works on both.

Until proven otherwise, I think your db2010/2020 explaination is the best so far. Thanks again for a great post.

It should be......

Hi - I had one of these HiSense boxes given to me by a family member. They had it hooked up and working great. After taking possession of it, I hooked it up to my TV in the same fashion, though it simply isn't working - The two lights come on, but nothing else happens (no image on the screen, unresponsive to remote control, etc.).

My family member checked out my setup and saw nothing wrong with it. They also told me that they had a similar issue when they bought it - then it suddenly resolved itself.

Any suggestions?

Should my program guide be updating everytime I go to it?
For a second I see the channel I'm viewing then it jumps to the antenna/updating thing??
I am running the latest update 9.4...

How is it hooked up (composite or component)? Was this type of connection the same as your other family memeber was using? The box will only output on the connection type specified in the Video setup.

dogleg69

Tonight I finally got to hookup my old vcr to my db-2010 to record a couple of my favorite thursday night shows.

After I got the time correct on both units and set all the recorder timers up etc it recorded the program flawlessly

Thanks for the great job on the programming!

My Walmart USDigital ATSC tuner quit last night (one year old) and I'm now looking for another atsc tuner (even if it comes with a recorder). I picked up a panasonic dmr-ez28k from circuit city last night ($196) but am not too happy with the picture. The old USD had a super-sharp picture vs the new pana. using HDMI cable.

Are there still any good atsc tuners out there for over the air use?

My tv is a rear porjection sony hd ready. It can broadcast really sharp resolutions.

I'm in no way an expert here but I shopped around for quite along time. I'm not willing to shell out $200 on a decent tuner. If I were you I'd hit ebay for another one of these. I'll be buying another one for my projector soon.

forgot I had to actually unzip the file before I put it on the USB stick. I successfully updated from 2.7.11 to 2.9.3 today(10/4/08). I still have the other unit that quit last year. Is there any hope for fixing that one or should I trash it (had flashing red lights last September)

The Samsung is available from a number of online and local retailers for ~$160.

I have been chkg eBay but no luck... I already got a samsung 260. Its decent but not as sharp as the USDigital.

I Just searched on ebay for hisense and found 6 of them. You should be able to snag one for under $50.

"hisense" ???

That's the brand name of the receiver.

dogleg69

just a report

I left my db 2020 on for a couple of days to see if after reloading the old firmware and reloading the newest firmware would make a difference.....well channel 41 locked up the reciver as always.

I did note that when I pressed program info (the only thing that would function) it showed 12:59pm then after a reboot the time was showing 12:00pm and then of course I reset the system time......It was set to NPT(PBS) time.

I have now dug up the other 2010 I have to try it in the same way to see if it will stay up longer than 2 days...report to follow

My wallyworld unit(2010) just keeps going and going... except on saturdays watching This Old House,Ask This Old House etc on the NPT(PBS) station occasionally the sound will shut down the picture is just fine, the quickest way to get the sound back on is to press the audio button on the remote or power down the receiver and turn it back on...the sound seems to stay up constantly on all the other stations I watch....

Great info. I called a few of the PBS stations and tried to talk to some of the engineers. May have a lead on some of the problems -- esp with the PBS broadcasts. However, I changed jobs and it is consuming me right now. Still have hope of adding a disk. Just have to find the time.

What firmware version is the most stable? I will not use the timer.

Just published a new update - 2.9.5. The only difference between 2.9.4 and 2.9.5 is fixing the video mode magic sequence. DavCorn requested this a while back and I haven't had time to publish. So, If you are running 2.9.4, and don't need the set video mode magic sequence, then you do not really need to upgrade.

The latest and most stable version is 2.9.5. Beta versions are not published. If it is on the site below, then it is a release candidate.

http://www.mediafire.com/dogleg69


2.9.5 - 2008-10-13
-----


- Add magic sequences for people without orginal remote (specifically
the RCA RCR6373/RCR6473). In addition to (from 2.9.4):

Aspect: Press Exit/Clear, 0, 0, 1, OK/Enter
CC: Press Exit/Clear, 0, 0, 2, OK/Enter
Audio: Press Exit/Clear, 0, 0, 3, OK/Enter

Add/fix the cycle video mode magic sequence (it was broken in 2.9.4):

Video: Press Exit/Clear, 0, 0, 4, OK/Enter

The original code to cycle video mode still works too:

Video: Press USDTV Guide (usually red), Aspect, USDTV Guide

The way this works is that you press one of the above video sequences
and then press a number between 1 and 5 to select the
video mode you want. The following are the video modes:
1 - Composite/S-Video
2 - Component 480i
3 - Component 480p (HDTV)
4 - Component 720p (HDTV)
5 - Component 1080i (HDTV)

This allows you to select a video mode even if there is no menu on the
screen. It is handy if you change TV's or hookup
using a different outout and you forgot to set it before hand.

Anyone ever have a problem with their box just refusing to turn on at all? We have had 3 boxes in the family for at least a couple years. All were updated to the newest firmware last fall and worked pretty well.

This month 2 of the three now refuse to turn on at all. Both indicator lights on the right remain red. They cannot be turned on using the remote nor using the button on the face of the boxes. They have been unplugged and plugged back in with no luck.

I could see one box breaking b/c of something internally, but two at the same time? Is there any other way to "trick" the box into turning on? Perhaps someone else has had a similar problem and found an easy fix?

Thanks!

dogleg69

I have tried several times and my 2 ebay units still do not like the digital channel 41. Three days and the units shut down. And yes the walmart unit still just keeps chugging along. I have no ideas why this is happening to the ebay units, I tried all the different firmware and the same thing happens within 3 days

What is the main difference between the original kernel versus the kernel we use now? Wonder if there is a difference between them that would cause this? probably not

I purchased one of these nice boxes from ebay.....it came and has worked well. I discovered this forum and have read through most of it and decided that I wanted to upgrade my firmware. I checked my box and for software version it has 2.7.15 and for hardware version it has db2020. I downloaded and unzipped version 2.9.5 (from the windows folder) and put it on a 8GB stick formatted in fat32. I placed the stick in the usb slot, unplugged, replugged, and the machine starts out with a blue screen that says PLEASE WAIT... with a red signal light and a green power light. It stays in this state for approximately 45 seconds then the screen goes blank for about 2 seconds then flashes blue with the PLEASE WAIT message and immediately goes dark and both lights turn red. If I turn the power button on, the unit works as normal but it still has the 2.7.15 version of software running. What am I doing wrong? I also went and downloaded all the upgrades: 2.9.2, 2.9.3, and 2.9.4 and tried them with the same result. I even tried the linux version using dd293 and it did the same thing.

Hi
Can one use Hisense USDTV FTA for learning linux shell programming?
Does the processor having framebuffer for developing GUI?

thanks

dogleg69: Feel free to register on eLinux.org and add any USDTV reverse engineering info you like.

Based on what you are saying, the only thing I can think of is that the 8GB stick is too "new" or too large. I have had trouble with larger memory sticks not being recognized by the kernel.

Otherwise, everything you described was correct. The behavior you described means it either couldn't recognize the mount or the files on the stick were corrupt/not recognized.

So far what you have done is NOT install or download any firmware to the box (just saying no damage done). Make sure it is the only thing on the stick. Make sure you are getting the FTA software and not a "from subscription".


Also, I typically use a 16MB, 32MB or 128MB drive when I teste and flash. The symptoms tell me the problem is on the stick end, not the box.

Don't quite understand what you are asking here. I would not recommed learning unix/linux shell scripting on this box. It is a stripped down kernel. The GUI is proprietary. USDTV purchase a very cool company in Florida called Metro Media. That company was a leader in linux based DTV and PVR software back in the day. USDTV purchased the company to jump start the software dev. They got rid of them the first bankruptcy.

I believe the above to be true. I didn't work for either or know anyone at either company personally. That is just want my research shows. In any case, the Metro Media folks created a platform called MediaWorks to interface with the Xilleon chip (and other chips). Too bad they went down. From what I can tell, they had a very smart team.

I'm no expert, but here is what I understand. The EPG comes from the PSIP from each station. The ETT in the PSIP provides the titles and times. The EIT block in the PSIP provides the detailed descriptions. Each station sends out their own PSIP information.

EITs are typically broadcast in 3 hour blocks. They are updated at hours 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, and 21 in UTC.

So, the db2010 pulls the EPG information via PSIP and then calculates the next time new EIT information will be availalbe (meaning at most 3 hours). When the next time the EIT information will be available, it sets a flag that it will need to repull EPG information.

So, you will sometimes see the show you are watching, sometimes see the antenna for a short amount of time and sometimes all the data is stale and it has to parse all the data from each station (meaning it uses the tuner to cycle thru and tune to each station for a while to pull and parse its PSIP).

I did change it to only tune enabled channels and that helped a bit. It also updates when the box is off. However, this is not consistant on all my boxes. I have found that if you create a timer (use like timer 10) and set it for 2am or 4am or whenever you are watching it to come on for 2 mins and then turn off again, this helps keep the guide up to date better.

That's the best I know right now. Again, sorry for the delay in response.

Billy_tn, I have had success using a old 64mb SD memory card with USB card reader to update, good luck!

it does take a long time to read the update into memory, then it has to reboot..

Any progress on this PBS station problem? I'm experiencing lockups with KCET 28.1 in Los Angeles. I'm still using the original software that came with Hisense.

Any hints about what you think is causing it? Bad PSIP information? It's strange that on rare occasions it doesn't lock up. Also 28.2 .3 or .4 won't lock it up ever.

Thanks,

TIM

I'm having the same problem (box won't load 2.9.5) and I've tried it with a 32MB compact flash formatted as FAT (too small for FAT32) and a 1GB stick formatted as FAT32. Both were fresh and clean formats with "usdigital_update.bin" as the only file on them. The software and hardware are the same as billy_tn. I got the file from your mediafire.com site. Serious bummer. :^(

Any ideas, suggestions, direction???

Jim