AZBOX AzBox miniMe American edition version 2.00 beta firmware

Yeah, I have 2 paperweights. I don't see why this firmware can't be flashed in the manner we do it Europe through the interface that comes with these boxes from the factory, at least if something goes wrong with the flash it can be erased by using the 'normal', 'recover' button at the back. I think Surge said in the past this was faulty and didn't work which is rubbish, I have used it on my other Minime a few times.

Please stop making unfounded statements like this. As you are not an embedded software engineer involved in AzBox firmware development, you have NO idea what issues are at hand. Unlike the AzBox Me, the European recovery interfaces that came with the miniMe are severely flawed as they simply got copied from the Me and were never properly tested by OpenSat on the miniMe.

From what I remember, the main issue was that the recovery interface only worked if an Ethernet cable was plugged in and the receiver was able to acquire an IP address via DHCP from a router. Unfortunately, these issues can't be fixed as that specific code is burned on a read only flash chip which can't be updated. Considering the fact that many of our North American users don't even have their receiver connected to the Internet, this was a showstopper for us so we had no choice but to design our own recovery system from scratch before being able to release the AzBox miniMe American Edition.

Thank you for your understanding
 
Please stop making unfounded statements like this. As you are not an embedded software engineer involved in AzBox firmware development, you have NO idea what issues are at hand. Unlike the AzBox Me, the European recovery interfaces that came with the miniMe are severely flawed as they simply got copied from the Me and were never properly tested by OpenSat on the miniMe.

From what I remember, the main issue was that the recovery interface only worked if an Ethernet cable was plugged in and the receiver was able to acquire an IP address via DHCP from a router. Unfortunately, these issues can't be fixed as that specific code is burned on a read only flash chip which can't be updated. Considering the fact that many of our North American users don't even have their receiver connected to the Internet, this was a showstopper for us so we had no choice but to design our own recovery system from scratch before being able to release the AzBox miniMe American Edition.

Thank you for your understanding
Please stop making unfounded statements like this. As you are not an embedded software engineer involved in AzBox firmware development, you have NO idea what issues are at hand. Unlike the AzBox Me, the European recovery interfaces that came with the miniMe are severely flawed as they simply got copied from the Me and were never properly tested by OpenSat on the miniMe.

From what I remember, the main issue was that the recovery interface only worked if an Ethernet cable was plugged in and the receiver was able to acquire an IP address via DHCP from a router. Unfortunately, these issues can't be fixed as that specific code is burned on a read only flash chip which can't be updated. Considering the fact that many of our North American users don't even have their receiver connected to the Internet, this was a showstopper for us so we had no choice but to design our own recovery system from scratch before being able to release the AzBox miniMe American Edition.

Thank you for your understanding

What unfounded statement I'm I making? The interface as you describe with an Ethernet cable connected works perfectly in my other Minime's I have 4 of them, so what is the issue of anybody that side of the pond plugging their box into a router just for a firmware flash? Why is it 'severley' flawed'? It does work. Infact, you might sell more boxes if this was the option to flash firmware as your American users could try out other firmware without the worry of having to send the box back for reflash in the boot 1 sector.
I may not be a software writer, I don't claim to be, but I have owned every AZBox that were available over here in Europe, and I can honestly say, none of the firmwares I have tested are 100% bug free, in fact out of all the receivers I own these are the worst in time spent rebooting them just to get them to work! and I have tested no end of firmwares. In all fairness to yourself, your American version is the best of them all for the MiniMe as regards for enthusiasts try to find feeds, in all the European software, the blind scan is appalling, except for Open ATV 3.0 which resides in My ME along with your North American AZtrino. I find the 3.3.1 Kernel the best for enthusiasts like myself who use blindscan.

Any way that aside Is my box totally bricked? If so, I might as well hit the recovery button on the back and get it working with Open ATV 3.0, unless you have the answer?

You answered the above in your other post.
 
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the fact that it cannot seem to blind scan the NBC MUX on AMC-6 (Quick or Detailed) is driving me crazy. You can find them with the auto scan, but not with blind scan.

Good news! We were already able to replicate and resolve the above issue so this fix will be included in the next firmware update. Now working on adding proper error validation for USALS latitude and longitude parameters.
 
I am in the return process of this Azbox. If the 2.0 firmware resolved the issues, i was gonna cancel the return, but since reading this, i will let the return process continue and it will be the happiest trip to the post office to return the Azbox. I might re-purchase the unit in some future date if i actually see positive posts in some unknown future date. But as of right now, i am OFFICIALLY DONE with the AzBox MiniMe
I am pretty much feeling the same. There is a 30-day return policy and that time has about run out, so I too am going to have to return mine as well. I am having troubles getting the dealer to work with me on this, let alone even reply to emails so will see how this goes as well. This has not been a fun experience at all. I also agree with perhaps re-purchasing if and when the kinks get worked out. . My old X2 Premium HD blind scans in 1/2 to 1/4 of the time of most others and has been far more stable than the AzBox miniMe. With all sincerity, I wish everyone involved with this project the very best of success. I just do not have the luxury of time to wait for any further updates.
 
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Jeez... I wasn't even aware the new firmware had come out. But, I am SO VERY GLAD i didn't. My frustration level was so high on 1.86 firmware. I don't wish to go through that again with 2.0 - Hearing about the lockups, and firmware reflashing and the fact timeshift still isnt working, I cannot use this stb in real world. I actually watch tv on my working STB's.

I am in the return process of this Azbox. If the 2.0 firmware resolved the issues, i was gonna cancel the return, but since reading this, i will let the return process continue and it will be the happiest trip to the post office to return the Azbox. I might re-purchase the unit in some future date if i actually see positive posts in some unknown future date. But as of right now, i am OFFICIALLY DONE with the AzBox MiniMe

You are so lucky that you were not aware because the update was actually worse for me. I can't watch NBC West (103W) anymore after the upgrade for some reason after watching it for a few minutes the picture has motion breaks. The signal is rock solid as always (90%). On the NBC East (103W) the picture does the same thing after the receiver is on that channel for awhile. Never had any issues before the upgrade and now I have to wait to see if they will release a firmware so I can downgrade to the 1.86 version. I've cut down my FTA watching because of this feed issue. I bought a Seagate 1TB storage device and it won't recognize it. it did before, it just couldn't write to it. The movie folders are there but it just can't see it.

It's already too late to return the unit back for me for I am stuck with it. If any other FTAers read this thread, please do yourself a favour and look to other receivers like the MicroHD. I traded it in for the AZbox Minime 4:2:2 and it is not worth the trouble. Come the new year I have to suck up the lost and buy a 2nd receiver as a back up.:(
 
Not sure what you mean exactly as I got a whole bunch of official artist videos by searching for "VEVO" as part of the keywords. A default of 10 results get displayed at a time so to go to the next page of results, press menu then the green button.

I did exactly what you did and NOT ONE official VEVO video was found during the search. All videos were of PRIVATE channels posted of people with their own variation of a song and making a video. Give me the exact search you entered and I will post what my findings were and if they were the same.
 
New issue with upgrade. Audio changes on NBC channels on 103w causes corrupted or no sound. For example, I switched from aaa to aac and it worked for a time and then no audio at all. Changing channel and returning restores the audio. I also switched to aag and the sound became choppy. Switching back to aac caused either choppy or no audio at all. A channel change again corrects the audio, at least for awhile. This did not occur before version 2.0


I get motion break ups with mainly 103w NBC West feed, which is the strongest transponder on NBC MUX. I don't have audio issues, but video issues. Amazing how this just happened right after the upgrade to 2.0. It looks like the box is having problems with processing the picture. This is very disappointing especially for the holidays. I can't time shift programs from the WEST feed anymore. Now I have to rely on the MOUNTAIN feed, which is an hour later for some programs.

Whoops, spoke too. Audio is breaking up on Mountain feed. :-(
 
Unfortunately, you can't downgrade to previous firmware versions at the moment as the older firmware versions are in IMG format rather than KFL so they don't include the kernel.

The 1.x versions including 1.86 use a different kernel version than version 2.00 so if the system allowed the 1.86 IMG firmware to be flashed, the receiver would fail to boot and safe mode would not work either as the kernel would not have been downgraded as well.

We will soon create a KFL version of the 1.86 firmware for people who wish to downgrade to the 1.x firmware versions.

P. S. Recording was tested as working under the new 2.0 firmware so there's no need to try and downgrade because of this. As per my other post, please ensure your recording directory is correct in recording options. Only thing that does not work 100% yet is timeshift but manual or scheduled recordings should have no issues.


It may have been tested at your end, but you can see that people have issues with the box being recognized. I could browse with 1.86, but when I pressed record the box would freeze and required reboot. Unless, you tested it with a storage drive that is less than 1TB. But, I'm sure that AZbox would have made that apparent to the public with documentation included in the packaging that you should not use 1TB or more storage.
 
Unfortunately, you can't downgrade to previous firmware versions at the moment as the older firmware versions are in IMG format rather than KFL so they don't include the kernel.

The 1.x versions including 1.86 use a different kernel version than version 2.00 so if the system allowed the 1.86 IMG firmware to be flashed, the receiver would fail to boot and safe mode would not work either as the kernel would not have been downgraded as well.

We will soon create a KFL version of the 1.86 firmware for people who wish to downgrade to the 1.x firmware versions.

P. S. Recording was tested as working under the new 2.0 firmware so there's no need to try and downgrade because of this. As per my other post, please ensure your recording directory is correct in recording options. Only thing that does not work 100% yet is timeshift but manual or scheduled recordings should have no issues.

P.S. It would have been a good thing to have a step down version ready in case people have issues with this firmware instead of having to wait for another release to go backwards. At least we could have enjoyed the holidays with what we were used to.
 
I get motion break ups with mainly 103w NBC West feed, which is the strongest transponder on NBC MUX. I don't have audio issues, but video issues. Amazing how this just happened right after the upgrade to 2.0. It looks like the box is having problems with processing the picture. This is very disappointing especially for the holidays. I can't time shift programs from the WEST feed anymore. Now I have to rely on the MOUNTAIN feed, which is an hour later for some programs.

Whoops, spoke too. Audio is breaking up on Mountain feed. :-(

Is this with version 2.01 as well? A few parameters in the tuner module that were enabled for debugging purposes were disabled again in v2.01. This could be what's causing your performance issues with the NBC MUX on 103w.

I currently don't have access to the 103w NBC MUX as i'm home for the holidays and over here, I only have a C-band dish with a Ku LNBF not set for the 25 degree offset skew. However, I did check with the 105w NBC MUX and there are no video or audio playback issues under firmware version 2.01.

Please try upgrading to 2.01 for now and I will try to find a bit of time within the next day or so to release a KFL version of 1.86 so that you may downgrade if 2.01 still does not work out for you.
 
I get motion break ups with mainly 103w NBC West feed, which is the strongest transponder on NBC MUX. I don't have audio issues, but video issues. Amazing how this just happened right after the upgrade to 2.0. It looks like the box is having problems with processing the picture. This is very disappointing especially for the holidays. I can't time shift programs from the WEST feed anymore. Now I have to rely on the MOUNTAIN feed, which is an hour later for some programs.

Whoops, spoke too. Audio is breaking up on Mountain feed. :-(

Had a chance to test this firmware on the Ku NBC MUX and was finally able to replicate the issue you are experiencing. Strangely, only the West feed seems to be impacted which explains why it was not noticed during regression testing.

Fortunately, the issue was not difficult to solve so the upcoming version 2.02 of the firmware which will be released momentarily fully resolves this issue.
 
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If it said that the upgrade was successful then the update process fully completed. You also were able to boot to the new firmware at least once so your issue is obviously not related to a failed firmware upgrade.

A flashing AzBox starting... message means that for some reason, there's a setting in the configuration file that somehow did not get saved properly.

Fortunately, the fix should be easy but I would first like to try and replicate the issue you are experiencing.

Regardless of the issue, this should not prevent you to boot in safe mode so please try to boot in safe mode again by:

1. Holding power for 5+ seconds until blue light ring starts flashing then release.

2. Immediately press & hold the 1 key on your remote and don't let go until you see "AzBox starting in safe mode..."

3. In safe mode, try to update with the kfl file on your USB flash drive and wait till the update completes. Please not that the "Preserve user settings" question won't get asked this time as your are in safe mode.

4. Once the receiver is reboots, hold down the 0 key till you see the "AzBox starting..." message then let go.


Hopefully this gets you back up and running. If safe mode still not works then don't worry as a flashing "AzBox starting..." message can also be fixed either via FTP or telnet by deleting the offending configuration file.

If we are able to replicate your issue then I will be able to let you know exactly which file to rename or delete.


I tried 1 t& 2 but my box still not working. No video.
 
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