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Forum Index : Other Stuff : My Fetch died.
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
My Fetch TV box died.  Fetch is a set top box for your TV. It has a internal HD for storing recorded TV and time shifting / rewinding live TV. Its connected to the net, so I can use NetFlix or rent the latest movie titles, which I did once every couple of months. My Fetch was from Internode, my internet provider, and I paid $10 a month for it. Couple of nights ago I wanted to record some TV, and went in to clear out some space from my recorded TV library, the HD was about 85% full. When I clicked on delete, the Fetch box reset itself, starting doing a software update, then came up with a HD failed to mount error. Rebooting just restarts the same sequence, with a HD mount error. Called Internode, its a common problem, and yes, I've lost all my recordings So looks like all those Doctor Who and classic Batman episodes are gone forever, plus a bunch of movies I didnt get to watch. Google tells me this is a common problem. The bigger problem though is there is no way to get your recordings off a ( working ) Fetch. You can not backup your Fetch box recordings, so if it dies, you loose your recorded TV. Internode offered to send a replacement, but I decided to quit the service. I didnt want to put together a new library of favorite shows only to have another Fetch box die on me. So my question is, has anyone used a Raspberry Pi as a set top box? I've seen a few tutorials on setting one up, but was curious if any forum members have any experience with this? One of my main needs is dual tuner, so I can watch one show while recording another to a external HD. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9306 |
I use a RP3 as my main media-player. It boots into OpenELEC. I have not tried a DTV tuner stick on it, but I understand that OpenELEC detects and can use those too, and you just specify where you want things recorded to. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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yahoo2 Guru  Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
I am looking at using an intel NUC, not sure it will all work with my satellite gear yet. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
I looked into using a Raspberry Pi, but it was looking too complicated. So this is what I ended up doing. I discovered my TV has a USB input and can be used as a PVR. Cool, but I can only record what I'm watching, which is kind of pointless. But I also discovered the TV also has 3 HDMI inputs. So I bought a HD set top box from Jaycar, with a USB port. This would let me record another channel to the one I'm watching, I can watch one channel using the TV's aerial input, while the set top box records another channel. This only partly worked, the Jaycar set top box struggled to play back its own recordings. It would play, but speed search was painfully slow and would often freeze up entirely on high def recordings. Plus the files from the set top box wouldn't play back if I plugged them into the TV. So I took the Jaycar unit back. Next day in my pile of hand me downs ( my relatives know I'll collect whatever electrical junk they want to get rid of ) I discovered a Teac set to box HDB849. Its high def, about 8 years old, and also has a USB port. Would it record and play back in high def, and would the files also work on the TV? Yep! So I looked for and found the remote, gave it all a good clean, and its now back in service as my PVR. For its age, it actually works pretty good. I added a old spare 250G external HD, so now have space for days of recordings. But what about the latest movies, etc. For this I bought a Chromecast. Its a $47 device that plugs into one HDMI port on the TV, a power outlet, and connects to my wireless network. The Chromecast uses my smart phone as a remote control. I can use Google Movies to select the latest release movies. I can subscribe and use Stan, Netflix, and free streaming like iView. The phone basically lets me select the media and then acts as the remote, the Chromecase does the streaming directly from the internet, leaving the phone free to do other stuff. It works surprisingly well. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| greg199 Newbie  Joined: 03/11/2015 Location: AustraliaPosts: 39 |
Wow. Talk about determination. Well done. |
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| Pete Locke Senior Member  Joined: 26/06/2013 Location: New ZealandPosts: 181 |
I use a free to air satellite RX with an old school (10+yrs) Panasonic Hard drive recorder for record now, watch later stuff. New smart t.v with wireless connect to the net, and wireless mirror function to the laptop for net movies and the like. And it's got its own satellite RX for main stream T.V. All plays through the home theatre. Simple and works well. Cheers Pete'. |
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| Boppa Guru Joined: 08/11/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 814 |
You can copy movies off a fetchtv box hdd- but it requires removal of the drive and fitting to another computer (linux seems to work better with them for some reason, windows often cant see the recordings where ubuntu or other linux breeds can When I was living in the caravan, I had a xp box with 3 usb tuners plugged into it, and nearly 10 terrabytes of external hdds plugged into usb hubs attached for storage (I had nearly run out of actual drive letters for them all!) One thing I didnt like about the fetchtv box is that it doesnt actually record the video as a data stream, it appears to be simply a video stream into a capture card, which means that unlike an actual data stream recording, that will buffer any glitches and resend the data until it has a full picture, the fetch tv box simply `records what it sees'- which made it useless at my sisters place due to the new nbn being basically crap- at best it got 1mbs, and often dropped under 500kbs- which after being on a cable connection was so pathetic she cancelled it after a couple of months- every fetch recording was watch 30 seconds. freeze for 5 seconds, watch 30 seconds, freeze for 5 seconds... I have a mate who has successfully used a pi as his tv server, but I think he actually records to/ from his nas system in the house |
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