Thread: AZ Box Do's and Don'ts

It is almost a year now since I bought my AZ Box Premium Plus. I can't honestly say that I like this receiver. I does not rate as high as others I have owned when it comes to being user friendly. I will say it does has it's good points, which brings me to the point of this thread. I have asked for and received quite a bit of help learning to use this receiver, which I do appreciate. But I have been told so much that I don't know which is true or false. I am going to list some of the things I have been told to do and not to do with the AZ.

1. Do not use the power switch to turn off and on.
2. Use the remote only to turn it off and on.
3. Use the remote as little as possible.
4. Do not delete anything using the remote.
5. Re boot after each addition or deletion that is made.
6. Re format the USB stick each time before doing a back up.
7. Do not move channels in the channel list.
8. Do not scroll up and down the channel list.

I hope to get your valued opinons on this. As it is I spend most of my time trying to keep this receiver in order than watching TV.

1. This I agree with but my elite is wacky. The ethernet port is shot (I knew it when I bought it) but if I power off on the back sometimes it gets stuck in "boot" and I have to repeat this a few times to get past that
2. agree..but then how else ya gonna turn it off?
3. I use mine all the time to enter TP info and such. I only have 3 sats loaded (motor, C-Band and AMC16 which I have a fixed dish at) so I use the remote all the time. No issues with mine on that
4. I delete channels and programs all the time with the remote. With no ethernet I have no option but to remove them that way. I usually remote the TP in the list which removes the channel
5. huh? The only time I reboot (hit power off then scroll to reboot) is when it freezes up or I upload software. I add and remove channels in the list all the time.
6. I dont do a backup (since the azbox is slaved) so moot point. But I use one USB stick for all receivers software upgrades
7. I have done this only a few times but I have done it and it works fine
8. I dont get what you mean

One thing I'd add is dont rename the channel. When you do timers and recordings do not work (or they get hidden titles and you have to find them)

1&2 I use the remote to turn off, then when the AZ says too shut down I switch the power off on the back.

3&4 I use my remote for everything as I never was able to get MAZ channel editor to work for me, and I'm a computer junkie?? I add satellites, TPs and delete same with zero problems to date?

5 I do this sometimes, but not always.

6 Up until the LAN function stopped working on my Elite, I always did firmware updates from the USB hard drive connected to that box. Do that still with my Ultra but I'm still running firmware 5020 on both. Not sure the "format" before use is necessary as I didn't start using one on my Elite until the LAN function got zapped last summer. Always do backups to that hard drive also but I move the files with an FTP client to my computer. On the Elite with broken LAN though I recently started using a USB stick to do channel list backups and restores, ie, I use my Ultra for blind scan on my 10ft dish then transfer that data to the Elite on the 7.5ft dish system.

7 Never moved channel lists.

8 Not sure what you mean with this one? So how are you suppose to navagate the channel list without doing this??

One thing I will add here is that when you create a new satellite location, make sure you go in and add at least ONE TP to that satellite BEFORE you reboot!! Neither of my AZs like empty satellite locations. I always put in 3650 H 29270 on C band and 11700 H 29270 on Ku band sats that I create.

Originally Posted by Iceberg

8. I dont get what you mean

Hit the OK button, the channel list appears, then use the up and down arrows to scroll to the channel you want, then hit OK to bring it up.

Originally Posted by Iceberg

One thing I'd add is dont rename the channel. When you do timers and recordings do not work (or they get hidden titles and you have to find them)

I don't use timers or do recording. One of the main reasons I bought this receiver was because I could rename the channels to keep track of them, unlike the Quali TV where I could never remember what was where.

Originally Posted by Lone Gunman

One thing I will add here is that when you create a new satellite location, make sure you go in and add at least ONE TP to that satellite BEFORE you reboot!! Neither of my AZs like empty satellite locations.

I figured that one out real quick. That's why I didn't mention it.

Originally Posted by Diamond Jim

Hit the OK button, the channel list appears, then use the up and down arrows to scroll to the channel you want, then hit OK to bring it up.

Whoever told you not to do that was just plain incorrect.
That is the proper way to do it in that screen.

As for the power off:
What you were told is just a misconception: You never power off the receiver by just pressing the power button on the back of the receiver. That can cause problems. The proper way is to use the remote to shutdown the receiver and when the screen says it is now ok to turn it off .... THEN... you press the power button on the back of the receiver to turn it off.
So what you were told is correct in a way just taken out of context or not fully explained.
Some early models of the Azbox did not have the function on the remote to shut down the receiver like it now has in the firmware.
that is where this procedure has come up and made some unsure of how to do things properly.

A couple of things I can think of. When re-naming a channel, only do it in the Advanced Scan area, never in the main channel list. You won't have any problems then.

Scrolling through the channel list. The only problem I have ever had with that is every now and then it "re-sorts" the channels alphabetically when you are scrolling (too fast?). If you have moved channels in your list, using the "default" sort doesn't restore it to your original list (it sorts it to when the channels were scanned in). Therefore, I have to re-load in my channel list ever time.

Couple of other points. I have found that sometimes when moving or deleting channels, the list will re-sort back to the default setting I list above (usually when deleting channels). To avoid this, I have found that never be on the channel to be moved or deleted. That seems to significantly reduce that glitch.

Of course, always backup your channel list before any major changes. I also ftp to the computer all the files on the USB stick, /DISK2, and DISK1/DISK2_backup, every week or so, or before and after major changes. If you can't ftp, then every now and then take out your USB stick, plug it into your computer and keep backups of your channel list.

Originally Posted by stargaze

As for the power off:
What you were told is just a misconception: You never power off the receiver by just pressing the power button on the back of the receiver. That can cause problems. The proper way is to use the remote to shutdown the receiver and when the screen says it is now ok to turn it off .... THEN... you press the power button on the back of the receiver to turn it off.

I didn't state that quite right. I never use the power button in the back. I was talking about the power button in the front that puts it to sleep and wakes it up. I never power down, I always put it to sleep when not in use. Maybe I misunderstood what was being told to me and took for granted it was the button on the front they were talking about.

Originally Posted by Keith Brannen

If you have moved channels in your list, using the "default" sort doesn't restore it to your original list (it sorts it to when the channels were scanned in). Therefore, I have to re-load in my channel list ever

Keith, a few weeks ago some of the channels lost their SRs. I din't know what to do and paniced. I played with it for a day or so to try to figure the easiest way to get them back, I finnally gave up, deleted and then rentered them. I was later told that all I had to do was hit the default button and it would have restored the SRs and channels. Is that true?

I have to agree with you about scrolling too fast. That has caused it to revert a few tims for me. Once I started to scroll up the list and only went one channel and it reverted to alphabetical. Strange, but yes I do agree that scrolling too fast casues problems.

Thanks for all of the tips. If you know of anything I haven't covered, please mention it. Anything I can learn to make this receiver easier to work with without using a computer makes my life easier.

Originally Posted by Diamond Jim

Hit the OK button, the channel list appears, then use the up and down arrows to scroll to the channel you want, then hit OK to bring it up.

I do that all the time. But again with having the Manhattan the azbox is mainly for 4:2:2 feeds so I dont scroll through it much. But when I've had a bunch of channels in there I use the OK button then scroll through the list

Originally Posted by Diamond Jim

Keith, do I understand you right, If the channel list reverts to alphabetical I can hit the default to restore it instead of using the USB stick?

If you hit the default sort, it will restore them to how they were scanned in (oldest to newest, which is the way the channel file structure is set up, a new channel is always added to the end of the list, regardless of satellite) so if you don't move channels, then you would be fine. Since I move channels, I have to restore using the USB saved file.

Originally Posted by Diamond Jim

Also, a few weeks ago some of the channels lost their SRs. I din't know what to do and paniced. I played with it for a day or so to try to figure the easiest way to get them back, I finnally gave up and deleted them and the rentered them. I was later told that all I had to do was ht the default button and it would have restored the SRs and channels. Is that true?

I have never had that happen, so don't know whether it would have worked or not (but think not, as it sounds like the transponder went AWOL from the satellite). I would have just re-scanned in one satellite and seen whether that restored the data to the channels. If not, then delete and re-scan, as you did. If it ever happens again (hope not!) then you can give it a try.