Several new user questions: Guide data free trial, remote reboot, and ATSC 3.0 issue

[Flyoffacliff]

I have used conventional and Youtube TV DVR and before and just bought an HDHR Flex 4K, and have some questions. I outlined some of my other confusion in my other thread: viewtopic.php?t=78913
But I will try and keep this one shorter.

It seems that my 14 days guide is working, and I am able to schedule recordings without getting any errors, despite me not purchasing Guide service and having it linked, or setting up any local clients running the DVR software. How are these things (14 day guide, DVR, and even buffering in the video player) working without purchase or setup?

My best guess is:
1. The Flex includes a free trial, despite the documentation indicating that it's only for other models.
2. The DVR let’s you schedule things with no storage available, but they will simply fail.
3. The device has built in flash storage to buffer a certain number of minutes.

Next question: Is it possible to reboot the device over the network?

Next question: I have a channel broadcasting 3 ATSC 3.0 signals. One works, one has DRM, and one just says “Unable to play channel: No video data”. Signal strength is good and I tried it on multiple days. What is up with this?

Thanks

[jasonl]

You can run the DVR software (either on the FLEX or on a computer/NAS box) and use it for buffering live TV and can schedule recordings without a DVR subscription, you just can't actually record.

The device can be restarted using the hdhomerun_config command line program that is part of the Windows software (the download that includes the DVR, not the viewer app), the Mac software, or that is available in most Linux distros' repositories.

Code: Select all

hdhomerun_config deviceid set /sys/restart self

We would like to get some diagnostic data to see what is happening with the ATSC 3.0 channel:

1. In a web browser go to http://hdhomerun.local
   NOTE: That address will go do the first HDHomeRun device found on your network. If you have more than one HDHomeRun device, use the "device ID" printed on the bottom of the unit instead of "hdhomerun" in the address. For example, if your device ID was 104FFFFF then you would go to http://104fffff.local
2. If it tells you that a firmware update is available, please install it
3. Click "System Menu"
4. Check the "Send diagnostic information" box (if this box is already checked, please un-check then re-check it)
5. Go back one page
6. Click "Channel Lineup"
7. Click on "Detect Channels"
8. After the scan finishes, open the HDHomeRun app and try to watch the problem channel

Reply back and provide us the device ID of your HDHomeRun and which channel is the problem one and we will check the logs. You can find the device ID on a label on the bottom of the HDHomeRun itself.

[Flyoffacliff]

You can run the DVR software (either on the FLEX or on a computer/NAS box) and use it for buffering live TV and can schedule recordings without a DVR subscription, you just can't actually record.

The device can be restarted using the hdhomerun_config command line program that is part of the Windows software (the download that includes the DVR, not the viewer app), the Mac software, or that is available in most Linux distros' repositories.

Code: Select all

hdhomerun_config deviceid set /sys/restart self

We would like to get some diagnostic data to see what is happening with the ATSC 3.0 channel:

1. In a web browser go to http://hdhomerun.local
   NOTE: That address will go do the first HDHomeRun device found on your network. If you have more than one HDHomeRun device, use the "device ID" printed on the bottom of the unit instead of "hdhomerun" in the address. For example, if your device ID was 104FFFFF then you would go to http://104fffff.local
2. If it tells you that a firmware update is available, please install it
3. Click "System Menu"
4. Check the "Send diagnostic information" box (if this box is already checked, please un-check then re-check it)
5. Go back one page
6. Click "Channel Lineup"
7. Click on "Detect Channels"
8. After the scan finishes, open the HDHomeRun app and try to watch the problem channel

Reply back and provide us the device ID of your HDHomeRun and which channel is the problem one and we will check the logs. You can find the device ID on a label on the bottom of the HDHomeRun itself.

Oh ok, so the live TV is buffered on the FLEX built in RAM memory?

Thank you for the information on restarting. For some reason the command line config program does not get a start menu shortcut created with other utilities like the GUI version. I had to open the installed folder in program files to know it existed. Is there more documentation on this somewhere?

Thanks, I followed those steps. The channel seems to be working now, maybe it was just a temporary issue

[jasonl]

Live TV can be buffered on any HDHomeRun DVR that exists on the network. The DVR will only be run on a FLEX device if a drive is attached.

More information about the command line program is available at https://info.hdhomerun.com/info/hdhomerun_config .