Posts by provels

Sounds like a captive portal, like coffee shop or hotel.

Not a fan of flash for this purpose. It's the write/rewrite issue. With Timeshift enabled, every time I change the channel, the file is erased and restarted. I use a standard 1TB laptop HDD in an external USB powered enclosure. YMMV.

Hi there! I downloaded the apk directly from the - https://github.com/ProtonVPN/android-app/releases

Installed on my Z8 using File Manager. Currently using v5.5.68.0 from Aug 21. Have not tried the latest, but working fine. HTH

Revisiting this problem it turns out my connection problem was caused by an ad block list in my firewall. Everything I read at the Proton app development site shows the app requirements are indeed Android 6, so maybe their support just blew me off. At any rate, app now working fine on the Z8.

I have only a 150Mbs line and have only very occasional buffering issues, most likely VPN-related. Likely your provider is overloaded at their end; whether network, servers, or both. Happens with the cheapest providers in my experience. On a side note, I don't really understand why there is even a buffer setting in the app. Buffers don't cost anything. Why wouldn't you want a 10 second buffer at all times?

Quote from Kruijf

Proton works from android 6 so that's not the issue.

After chatting with them, they say it needs 8 for the current client. If that's indeed the case, don't upgrade like me, at least from Google Play. I found older releases at

Releases · ProtonVPN/android-app

Official ProtonVPN Android app. Contribute to ProtonVPN/android-app development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

I'll try downloading the APK's from July and see if that works. Thanks for the reply!

Good day. I'm having an issue with my Z8 and a ProtonVPN (paid) connection. I have no issues connecting to servers on any other device, wired/wireless, Windows, Android, FreeBSD.. When I launch the app, it briefly connects to Estonia of all places for a second or so, then drops. I'm not able to connect to any other servers (or even Estonia) after that. Un/Reinstalled, confirmed subscription, no help. I'm wondering if the newest Proton version is incompatible with whatever (so old) Android version is on the Z8 (is it Android 7.0?). Any thoughts? Thanks for reading and any replies.

Do Formuler devices no longer offer Samba for network access?

Just asking, but how much bandwidth do you even need for video? I've never seen more than ~15Mb even for 4K/Dolby 5.1...

Looks to me like the operating system storage, not memory, has failed. After a reset, I'd make sure the system has all the latest updates from the Market.

FWIW - My Z8 gets stuck at 7 PM when it can't find the DNS/NTP server so it can get the current time. Maybe the Z11 is similar.

It's not you, it's provider. Garbage in/garbage out.

I have a Z8, so maybe yours is different. Look for CEC in Advanced Settings and turn it off. Some TVs like my Samsung are always listening and will turn on if the box turns on. HTH

RE. Formatting - I would suggest formatting NTFS with 64K clusters. Best for file systems that use large files like multimedia, avoids fragmentation.

Thanks for the info. Hmm, looking at my Z8 recordings done to an actual mechanical HDD I have a max file size of 4GB before it splits. Drive is formatted NTFS, 64K clusters since files are large. Don't know if the Z11 has such a a limitation. Good luck.

No solution here, but what application are you using to merge?

VLC Media Player should read them without issue.

Hello! I'm having an issue with a Monday-Friday scheduled recording. It works for the initial 5 days, but the schedule disappears the following week. Is that expected behavior?

There are additional weekly (single instance) recordings that are scheduled for a single day. They seem to work fine and are carried over to the following week. What's happening?

Thanks for reading and any replies.

I wonder if this may be actually upload congestion on the providers end. For example, I have one channel that offers SD, HD, and FHD. The higher the resolution, the more buffering I experience, even with the buffer set at 10 seconds. This is on a Z8 on a 75Mbs line and 4k only seems to take around 16Mbs. Not that concerned though, since the TV upscales to 4k anyway. Yeah, I know it's not REAL 4k but acceptable.

I have a Z8, but it sounds like we have the same provider.

JMO, but if they kept upgrading the Z8, they probably wouldn't that many Z11s. Like how my 2021 Motorola phone is still on Andriod 11...

Same here earlier. Wait until the provider straightens thing out...

The only place I see a misc folder is on my external HDD. It's only contents are related to SmartTube Next. Perhaps in your case it's installed programs? Dunno. Maybe you can uninstall a few programs and get control of things. Maybe it's .apk's. Can you enable Samba and browse the storage from another computer?

Quote from gheagy

I assume this means it's possible to watch some TV programming that has already occurred. That could be useful.

It is, and when you come in on a show or movie that's already started, you can just pop back to the beginning. Or if 2 shows overlap, watch one then the other.

"Go away! I'm 'batin'."

Aren't those provider specific? I used to have a great provider where at least 80% of the channels had catchup, but they vanished when I was forced to change providers. Wish I could find another like that.

Quote from Narl

Anyone have any additional thoughts on this?

Short of backing up your box, un/reinstalling MTV2 and restoring, that's about all I got. Not even sure if un/reinstall is an option...

Is AFR enabled in Player Options?

Sam's right. I use an old laptop HDD (at best 5400, maybe 4200 RPM) in a $5 enclosure and it works great.

Just a thought, but are you hardwired or Wi-Fi? If hardwired, is Wi-Fi also enabled?

Just some thoughts. Remote worn out? Tried a backup, reset, and restore? Get a 24 hour trial from another provider and see if it improves?

I just enable Samba on my Z8 and browse to them from a PC.

In my experience, USB flash drives are built down to a price point and aren't really suitable for extreme repeated writing/deleting/ rewriting. Besides your recordings, if you're using Timeshift, every time you change a channel a new cache file is started. Change the channel, another is started. This repeated writing is hard on cheap flash. In my case that could be 50 or more times a day. I would suggest using either a regular hard drive or SSD in an external enclosure. Even a throwaway laptop drive is suitable. I'm using a cast off 1TB 2.5" spinny disk in mine. Other's MMV.

Thanks much, Sam!

Just giving this a bump.

Hello! I have a Z8, and a mid-line Samsung Q70 65" TV. My content is generally live TV at 720 or 1080. In this situation would I be better served doing 4K upscaling at the Z8 or the TV? Is this a matter of the quality of the engine in the 2 devices? Personal preference? Skip it altogether?

Also, do folks generally use the AFR feature, even though the black screen appears on channel change?

Thanks for reading and any responses. Loving my Z8 for 2 years already!

I'm seeing v1.6.7 and v7.15.5 being offered as official/regular updates (not beta) in my Z8. Is that correct?

I found I only needed a BT mouse. I used an MS Sculpt Mouse until it died. Found a physical keyboard to be unnecessary. No I'm using an old Dell TP713 USB touchpad, but being RF it doesn't have much range. But still beats typing on tiny keys.

Be sure CEC is disabled on the Z11. Your TV or other equipment may be turning it on. I had that problem with my Samsung TV polling for CEC clients even when the TV was "off".

Hello again! I've started having a problem with random voice sync sometimes. I have a few channels in my list that are duplicates, that's fine. Sometime I bring up a channel and the voice is about 7-10 seconds behind the video. I thought maybe it was just a provider problem; so today that channel happens to have a problem, fine. But recently I've noticed I can bring up a duplicate channel and sync is fine and when I switch back to the other lagging duplicate, THAT'S FINE TOO! Is this just more MTV2/Android weirdness?