Vu+ driver bug affecting recordings

[Larry-G]

as pointed out Vu hardware drivers are a area we nor any other team for that matter have any control over. bugs found will be reported but in the end they will decide what they need to work on and fix and we just have to accept what were given.

[Huevos]

There's no way to work around a driver.

Not in this case but sometimes there is. When a driver does a job and then hands back over to Python it is possible to test the output of the driver is within an expected range.

[parkher]

A have Duo and ET9000 and I'm thinking about buying Ultimo as I urgently need another receiver.

I also have freezes with Duo, but worse, I think: they occur while recording. Also sound continues without picture for some time and then the receiver hangs completely. I need to switch it off, even disconnect from the power source and keep that way for about 10 minutes, only then it boots and works again.

So I'm afraid to see this in Ultimo. This problem began occurring only recently with Duo. Also, some channels are not recorded while most are.
On the problematic channels, recording starts and is indicated, but the file stops increasing after less than two hundred KB.
This happens on Eurosport 2 HD which has many sound tracks. So perhaps that is the reason, but I need to record it.
However I found another channel which has only one audio track and used to be recorded without problems but no longer.

Perhaps it is time to re-initialize the drive, or to make an image update.
Still, those issues are causing me to think - perhaps better to get another ET9000 after all? Even with the time bomb.
Especially if those driver issues continue across all Vu+ models, and, therefore, are not being fixed.

[Rob van der Does]

The problems you are talking about are no known issues for a DUO. So either the DUO has developed a hardware problem (possible, but not very likely), or there is something wrong in your system.
By the sound of it it could very well be that there is something wrong with (one of) your feeds.
A broken LNB or a bad connector could cause just what you described: possibly water in one of the connectors?
Anyway: this is not a driver problem, and probably not an HDD problem either.

A very good way to investigate your problems is to swap your DUO & ET9000.

BTW: What 'time-bomb' do you mean?

[Larry-G]

perhaps better to get another ET9000 after all? Even with the time bomb.

This is exactly how baseless, false rumours get started.

let me say this in a way you will understand.

There is NO timebomb in any image or drivers for any Vu machine.

There NEVER has been a time bomb in any image or drivers for any Vu machine.

There will NEVER be a timebomb in any image or drivers for any Vu machine.

However it is perfectly reasonable for Vu to protect their investment and only provide drivers that work with their genuine hardware not these dodgy chinese clones. and for the record we do not in any way shape or form support any cloned hardware on this forum.

[Rob van der Does]

He was referring to the ET:

perhaps better to get another ET9000 after all? Even with the time bomb.

[Larry-G]

He was referring to the ET:

No i dont think so, There would be no practical reason for a so called timebomb on a machine that has yet to be cloned. Timebombs refer to a incident many years ago when to combat the rise of clones in the DM500 a very popular team at the time ( supposedly as it has never been proven it was them ) planted a few lines of code which at a certain date and time ( hence timebomb ) rendered all the cloned boxed useless.

This new Myth and i call it a Myth as it's just that, of the Vu machines having a timebomb ( some have even claimed ViX 2.3 was rushed out early for this purpose ) is total fact-less nonsense.

[Rob van der Does]

Anyway: he is referring to ET with his 'timebomb'.
I know this term has been used for ET's related to the battery-clone protection. So maybe he means that?

[Larry-G]

Anyway: he is referring to ET with his 'timebomb'.
I know this term has been used for ET's related to the battery-clone protection. So maybe he means that?

yes that is a possibility although just a factually incorrect on his part.

[parkher]

Yes, I was referring to the battery in ET9000.
Perhaps I should not have used "time bomb" because of the DM500 connotation
Sorry about that.
But I feel that it is exactly a time bomb. It may never go off during the useful life of ET9000 or it might. Not every battery is perfect.


As to the Vu Duo recording problem, could it be that the stream is somehow corrupted in such a way that it looks fine on TV, but it is ALWAYS not recorded?
I have noticed so far two problematic channels that seem to have nothing to do with each other:

Fox News channel on Astra 2, and Eurosport 2 NE HD channel on Hot Bird (this is the critically important one, I don't care about recording Fox News).
So one is SD and DVB-S with one audio track. The other is HD DVB-S2 with multiple audio tracks.
Fox News channel was fine initially. Only later I noticed that it is no longer recorded.
I know that it moved to a different transponder at some time, but I think this is not related, the problem probably began not at that time.
Eurosport 2 HD is a relatively new channel and its recording never worked on Duo.

The problem occurs even when recording a single channel. But it looks pretty much the same as when recording several channels simultaneously several channels (4?) are recorded ok, but the 5-th, 6-th stay at zero length.
This length for Fox News is 0, but for Eurosport 2 HD - 192000 bytes or something like this.

However, on ET9000 I have a relatively new ViX image but on Duo - an older OpenPLi build.
I just checked - there is no problem with recording on ET9000.
I gave ET9000 to my sister so currently I don't really have it.
But I have two satellite dishes both showing those channels so, I guess, I could test with a different dish and therefore with a different lnb.

The issue that concerns me - if this non-recording issue is somehow a driver bug, then it also could be in Ultimo, not just in Duo.
So there is a sure battery "time bomb" in ET9000 but also possible driver bug "time bomb" in any Vu+
But perhaps I should not have raised this issue before updating my Duo image - everything might get fixed.

[Rob van der Does]

Well, we disagree there. But surely if you see it that way, you'd better never buy any ET, simple as that.

And about the VU's: no manufacturer has flawless drivers. There are, and always will be, imperfections. Happily they can (and should) be solved. But why call that a 'timebomb' than?

[parkher]

Other than that battery, I like ET9000 very much.

Oh, one more thing: ET9000 seems to have a problem with custom lnb settings.
LOF 10750 did not work with my ET9000 but it works fine with Vu+ Duo, or with Octagon SF918 HD.
Is it a driver issue?
But it is not a big problem, I just used universal lnb with adjusted by 1 GHz transponder frequencies - calculator not needed
I had to do this only for one satellite.


How good is Vu+ support from the manufacturer compared to ET?
I see that Vu+ is behind ET with the linux kernel.

Even with that battery I would probably buy another ET9000, except for two things:
- an ability to record from cable with Ultimo may come handy as I do have cable.
- Ultimo is something new to try.

[Larry-G]

well as far as the kernel goes, some would say ET / XT rushed to v 3.3 just to say "we were the first" ( not my personal opinion as i dont own or use a Xtrend receiver ). so i would not gauge manufacturer support levels solely on the fact that one has a newer kernel than another. Generally i'd say both offer great manufacturer support with regular driver updates and support but like all things there could be room for improvement.