Posts by provels

  • Z11 - Failed recordings continue

    My recording problems continue. For example, I had a couple of recordings scheduled back to back, one 3 hours and one 2 hours. Oddly, they both quit at 17 minutes and 4 seconds. In the notifications, I saw "Remarks: (7)". Anyone have a clue what that means?

    Another time, I was watching (same channel) when this same recording pair started, alert that recording was starting for both, recording light on, Z11 shutdown when finished, etc. Notifications showed both recordings started/stopped as scheduled. When finished, both recording were empty.

    Other recording fail randomly, sometimes showing notification, other times not. Some succeed.

    I have mixed/match 3 different USB enclosures, both USB ports, and 3 low-mileage HDDs, LAN wiring, ports, reset/restore, reset/rebuild from scratch, paperclip reset, deleted all schedules and recreated, etc., etc.

    Box is out of warranty now, since Formuler doesn't honor and my seller stiffed me (not surprised).

    If anyone has any experience or feedback resolving these issues, please reply. I won't likely buy a Z15 if my Z11 never works as well as my Z8 does.

    Thanks for reading and any responses.

  • Z11 Pro/BT1 problems with recording.

    So where do I stand on this?

    Who actually warrants the device, vendor or Formuler? Might make a good stickie for the Forum.

    Who should respond to me from Formuler? What happened to the logs I sent?

    After 35 years in IT, I know all it takes to find bugs is to have someone else run your software. "You're doing it wrong!" LOL

    Like I said, I'm open to a beta if that might solve this, but since this problem started in September and it's now April, I suspect hardware, particularly device/boot media.

    Still waiting. Please, SAM, F_Peter

  • Z11 Pro/BT1 problems with recording.

    Quote from reddragonskate88

    Not to high-jack your thread, but I formatted my USB stick to NTFS and it didn't fix it. I also read into the threads you had linked previously and seen SAM recommend shutting off CEC, so I did that and it also didn't fix it. The next thing I will be trying is to switch the power off mode to shut down (I've always had it set to stand-by since owning a Z8) Just thought I'd let you know you are not the only one this issue is happening to.

    Try the second USB port if you haven't already. I have always had mine power off since my Z8. Power off will still start a recording (when it works). I always did that because I didn't want my HDD or SSDs powered on 24/7. Good luck.

  • Z11 Pro/BT1 problems with recording.

    This morning I turned on the TV to see what adventure awaited! Only a single recording instance programmed, should be easy. When my 0500 recording tried to start, I got the Shutdown prompt, then after 15 seconds I got the Recording Start prompt. As usual the Shutdown reached zero first and the box shutdown. It then rebooted and went through the loop again. It did that 5 times, then finally began the recording about 10 minutes late.

    Totally normal, right?

    Maybe finally starting the recording got it out of its system, but judging from past performance I doubt it.

    Logs sent again, but no holding my breath.

    So if Formuler isn't responsible for warranty, and the seller says same, who do I see? Bob in Budapest? Tim in Thailand?

    Believe me I'm as tired of this as you are. Please advise.

    -------------

    EDIIT - The 0500 program completed at 0900 and box shut off. Let's see what happens tomorrow.

  • What's going on with the Z11?

    Quote from rura

    What's going on with the Z11? I have a lot of these devices in use. They all crash—the screen freezes and the device goes back to the home screen. This started happening a few days ago.

    Quote from SaskFarmer

    I am having the exact same thing. Both devices. Just tried to factory reset and set things up again.

    I was able to watch 1-2 minutes of live TV and then MyTV crashes and goes back to the Z11 home screen.

    Would these be IR or BT remotes? Curious. I've seen the same thing happen with mine with BT. Seems like the remote starts lagging like the button wasn't recognized, then I try again (or another button like Return) and it crashes back to the home screen.

  • Z11 Pro/BT1 problems with recording.

    1. Here's some posts from you folks about warranty: Search - Formuler-Support Forum (English)

    Because of your lack in being able to assist in resolution, I foolishly assumed the device was faulty. See pics at bottom. I didn't think this was normal to see when the box powers on at 0500 when it was off (this time) and had not recorded anything since 2300 the night before, followed by the second pic 10 seconds later. The turn off wins, the box shuts off then boots again. Normal to have recording schedules complete, or partial, or ignored altogether? To stay powered on when programmed to power off? The box worked great for the first 4 months, same schedules.

    2. Just read Post #19, copy and paste of what I sent.

    I would even be open to some beta if that might fix this. It's the software. While typing this, I had a 30 minute test recording running, I had deleted all scheduled programs, box powered on fine, recorded, did not power off. I turned it off manually.

    Things I've tried, anything I can control.

    Menu Reset/Restore, several times
    Menu Reset/Rebuild from scratch
    Paper Clip Reset/Rebuild, twice
    2 power supplies Z8/Z11
    Uninstall MTVO3/Reinstall, many times
    3 external drives, HDD/SSD in 3 different enclosures, all NTFS, 64KB
    Wired/wireless
    My DNS, Quad 9
    DHCP/Static Address

    Any suggestions?


  • Z11 Pro/BT1 problems with recording.

    So I guess it's the warranty route unless you can offer some support from Formuler devs. A dozen logs and no reply.

    Note to seller:

    Hello. I ordered this item in April, 2025. Since September, I have been going round and round with the Formuler support forum. Tickets can be referenced
    Here - Z11 Stops Recording Randomly, also Remote Problems
    and here - Z11 Pro/BT1 problems with recording.
    They have not been able to resolved these problems and I believe I simply have a bad unit. I would like to get replacement under warranty. Please advise ASAP. Thanks for reading your reply. Order details are attached. Let me know if you need anything else. Thanks again.

  • Z11 Pro/BT1 problems with recording.

    This morning I was up at 7. Box off when I went to bed. Box on, hopefully recording my 5 AM show. At 9 AM it should have shut down. Did not. Turned on TV, 'REC' showing on home screen. Checked with a utility that monitors my WAN, shows no data being used. It's 945 AM now 'REC' still showing, red light showing. 5 AM program recorded only 1 minute and 43 seconds. Logs sent.

    Can't we just agree that this unit is FUBAR and should be returned as warrantied?

  • Z11 Pro/BT1 problems with recording.

    So last night I tried to record 3 shows back to back. Different external HDD, different enclosure.

    First one scheduled for 85 minutes, recorded.

    Second scheduled for 120 minutes, went only a minute and 13 seconds, then exited.

    Third was scheduled for 60 minutes, went for 82 minutes.

    No indication that second or third recording completed in notifications.

    Box remained on afterwards.

    More logs sent, still no response from Formuler.

  • Z11 Pro/BT1 problems with recording.

    Quote from tinpanalley

    For whatever it's worth, my Z11 Pro Max basically now decides randomly to just not record. Just recording error -1. Whether recording live or whether I set overnight. Absolutely lost about what it could be other than maybe a new USB flash drive.

    That's as good a place as any to start, certainly cheap enough. Getting a small one for testing is good enough, you'll always find a use for it later. Might be a problem that requires system patching, though.

  • Z11 Pro/BT1 problems with recording.

    So I turned on the box at 1115 AM, it popped up the 60 second prompt to start recording the show I had scheduled for 5 AM as soon as I started MTVO3. I canceled that.

    At 1120, I set a recording for 1130-1200, it powered on, recorded, and powered off.

    I also set a second recording for 1230-1300, it powered on, recorded, and DID NOT power off.

    Time is correct on the box, DNS is working, there is no CEC in use.

  • Z11 Pro/BT1 problems with recording.

    So last night, I had a program set to record. Oddly enough, the program recorded in full, and the Z11 seemed to shut off, but the HDD light was still on. The program I had set for the AM did not start to record. I had to pull power from the Z11 to reset it, as it did not respond to either the BT1 or the IR remote from my Z8.

  • Z11 Pro/BT1 problems with recording.

    Good day. So now more Z11 problems for me.

    Sometimes scheduled recordings don't happen.

    Box doesn't shut down after recordings that do occur are finished.

    I have factory reset the box multiple times and restored backup, even setup the box from scratch (portal, channels, recordings, everything) without benefit.

    Just now I set a half hour recording and left the TV on so I could see what's happening. The Z11 powered up a little before at the set recording time, then when the home screen came up the shutdown countdown started, then about 10 seconds later the recording start countdown started. The shutdown finished first so it powered down. Then it powered up again and started the recording countdown again. The program then started recording at 2 minutes after the hour. Did not shut down at end. Help?

  • USB flash drive or microsd?

    Thumb drives are generally manufactured down to a price. When the chip is tested, it gets sold as the volume of good cells it has plus a margin of spares. Same with SD cards. full size and micro. They aren't recommended for the amount of write/rewrite these boxes do, especially in timeshift. Every time you change a channel, it starts over. An SSD or even a HDD disk are better suited.

  • Z11 Stops Recording Randomly, also Remote Problems

    Sorry to hear, I feel your pain.

    But I think stopping at the EPG's end of the current program is by design. It's so it doesn't just record forever, or until disk space runs out. Better to schedule the recording, or start it manually after the EPG start time. I've also noticed it will complain about recording shows back-to-back if you have added any extra start/stop recording time in the options. I've just set mine to zero. Good luck, maybe the devs will issue some patches for the stopping issue.

  • Programmed recording failed

    I've seen all those issues you've listed in your posts #3 and #11. In my experience, failure to set the time automatically means the box is having trouble getting DNS so it can find a time server. There should really be no reason to set the time manually. My old Z8 would always display "7:00 PM" when it had a DNS problem. My Z11 seems to display a random time when it has a problem. I run my own DNS now so I haven't had problems with that, but I've tested the Z11 by disconnecting the ethernet. DNS may also be the reason it's not recording randomly, meaning it can't find the provider (or possibly has lost its network connection). I would recommend a wired connection if possible. And experiment with the Private DNS server settings. I don't use them, but maybe someone else can recommend the best one or search the forum. Don't use Starlink so no help there.

    There's a T-shirt I've seen that says:

    It's not DNS.

    It can't be DNS.

    It was DNS.

    I do know if my box is warm-booted, the USB hard drive will not mount. It has to be started from power off. I don't use standby because the drive stays powered on and I want the drive off.

    That said, I admire your analytical skills. :thumbs_up:

    EDIT - OK, jumping into the DNS rabbit hole...

    What IP address does Starlink provide? - Starlink Help Center

    "The IP address 206.214.239.194 indicates that Starlink is not connected to our Point of Presence (PoP) and therefore unable to receive its allocated IP address. The default 206.214.239.194 address is expected when Starlink is not connected to the PoP.

    In addition, when the Starlink is in the process of connecting to the network, a default DNS server of 34.145.127.1 will be provided. Once the Starlink has verified connectivity with the Starlink network, then the DNS server will update to the DNS servers (usually 8.8.8.8 and 1.1.1.1)."

    Content Filtering - Starlink Help Center

    "Under the hood, the Content Filtering feature works by setting a custom DNS server provided by Cloudflare (Cloudflare for Families). When Content Filtering is enabled, your router uses one of Cloudflare's DNS servers to help prevent access to specific categories of websites."

    Maybe the answer. Or not... :clinking_beer_mugs:

  • Constantly resetting

    Sounds like hardware. Perhaps the power supply, internal storage, or RAM is failing. I doubt there's a way to get the factory image to reflash it. If you have a VOM, check the output of the power supply. After that, crack it open and look at the capacitors. Never been in one, but if they're the cheap electrolytics like one finds on a motherboard, maybe you or a tech could try replacing. Not much to lose at this point. Good luck.

    Swollen-Capacitors-on-Motherboard.jpg (640×430)

  • Programmed recording failed

    Quote from RK73

    Not sure if this is applicable to my question. I have Max Pro 11. I have HD connected that has been formatted NTFS. My issues seems to be intermittent. As above it records fine if I hit record now. Sometimes the recording works fine. The first one today was but the second one only recorded 9 minutes. Quite often on the EPG there is "the play triangle in red". Again, sometimes if I click on it, the program plays and I don't think it is from HD, as it doesn't show up on the list of recordings. However. quite often, as today, it says cant play this recording now?? Any light anyone could shine on this would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks

    Regarding your first part of your post, I have seen the same issue randomly. Sometimes the external hard drive doesn't connect at boot and the recordings fail. This has happened with different enclosures containing different drives and also recording to a NAS. I normally pull the power plug (from Formuler "off") to reset the hardware. Sometimes the recording process just stops. A few days ago I was watching while recording a show and I saw the recording light just disappear. I'm not sure if it's MOL3, Android, or the Formuler hardware. Did the same on occasion with my Z8. But I wish Formuler would issue an update to their part of the package. You know, replace old stale bugs with minty-fresh new ones! :smiling_face:

    The "Play" icon means the channel should be available to play on demand from the EPG. This is called "Catch Up". I have only had one provider where this worked very well, but that was several years ago. On occasion it does work, but more than a little flaky. Sometimes even if it plays, it will exit partway though. I've given up using it. It's a provider feature, not a MOL one. My current provider no longer even shows the icon. I think it's being abandoned because of the additional storage required on the provider's side. One less feature, one less problem.

    "Parts left out cost nothing and create no service problems." ~ Bunkie Knudsen, General Motors :waving_hand: