Just some notes regarding AZBox recording

[AcWxRadar]

Is there a backdoor for WiFi hackers?

Hi Radar and the group, I just wanted question the wisdom of leaving the AZBOX with the default password on a wireless network. If the wireless network is open or secured with WEP it would not take much of a script kiddy to get into your wireless network and perhaps use the Linux OS of the AZBOX to compromise other computers on the network.

If you are going to use a wireless router make sure it has WPA encryption and use a strong password.

Also, because the AZBOX has telnet open by default you might want to make sure the WAN side (Internet) of your router has the telnet port blocked. A easy way to check it to go to grc.com and run the shields up test near the bottom of the page. Run the common ports scan and see what happens.

BTW - wired Ethernet runs much faster then wireless. It could make a big difference on large file transfers and other then running the wires is easier to setup then wireless.

Got to run, DC

DC,

You bring up a very valid concern. I don't think that I personally need to fret over this because of where I live (no one can hack into my WiFi due to the distance that my home is from any road or other home - out in the sticks here).

I may have to get my guru nephew to try to hack into my system just to test this, but I don't think you can work it through a back door in this way.

I may be wrong, so it definitely deserves some research. We certainly don't wish to allow a compromise of anyone's PC and personal systems/information.

RADAR

 

[madmadworld]

cd/dvd's

First of all, I am going to have to place some blame on my DVD media - SONY DVD-RW. MadMadWorld and I discussed this together in a few PMs recently. He has recommended another brand to try that he has had good luck with. I'll allow him to introduce that himself, but I plan to test them myself.

RADAR

not a lover of typing not good at it so i will post the pm to RADAR here.
this stuff is the best.
to bring it into our forum, all other media is DTV or Dish and these cdr/dvd's are master feeds. there is no argument of this.
recording music was my main hobby for over 30 years.


pm to RADAR
cd/dvd's
but when it comes to cd's or dvds there are only one i buy Taiyo Yuden (TYs) made in Japan you buy them no trouble ever again. well i hope.

added:never seen a report of rot with TYs. this is data lost over time.

they invented this stuff we call disc's they are not hard on the $ if you buy on sale and a few hundred at a time. they made the Fuji's at best buy till 2003 but not now. all other media is class b.

cheapest are the ones to buy
i bought here before 100 $25.99 save your old spindles.

Taiyo Yuden Silver Thermal Lacquer 8X 4.7GB DVD-R Media (Value Line) 100 Pack in Tape Wrap - SuperMediaStore.com

 

[Larry1]

You may also have a problem with your DVD drive. In repairing notebooks, I have seen a lot of defective recorders, brand did not make a difference. For my home computer I use a Pioneer drive, have two actually. Both are now quite old and both still perform flawlessly. (DVR-106D, DVR-110D). Now stand alone DVD players I have had a couple that give a lot of read errors. The only discs I ever had problems with were old 1x speed discs that cracked around the centre hole. That is other than the ones I authored incorrectly. For hard drives I prefer WD over Seagate, as the last two that have failed on me over the last 10 years are Seagate. the WD drives are still going great. The noisy one in one of my TiVo's is also a Seagate. may just be bad luck, but for me I prefer WD now.
For VideoReDoTVSuite, have you upgraded to the Beta version? Hopefully they will have a H.264 version out soon, but like you stated, most of my recodings are only 480P as well. Some of the DVD players now will play the mpeg files without the need to convert to DVD format. Philips is greatly known for there players for playing a vast variety of files, but sometimes you loose the fast forward or fast back functions, varies with the player. Now I don't have one, but a lot of people like the WD media player box. Plug your USB stick (or hard disk) into it and play your files. Not as reasonable as a cheap DVD player, but also an option.
Good luck with your recordings.....

 

[Smith P.]

Compression types for HD source: H.264 or AVC [sat/cable] and VC-1 [BR/VOD].

 

[AcWxRadar]

Bad DVD media or Bad DVD drive?

You may also have a problem with your DVD drive. In repairing notebooks, I have seen a lot of defective recorders, brand did not make a difference. For my home computer I use a Pioneer drive, have two actually. Both are now quite old and both still perform flawlessly.
Good luck with your recordings.....

Hello Larry,

I had questioned the DVD drive, too. However, I have now tried these same discs in my new Gateway Media Center PC and also in a LiteOn HD-A760GX HDD/DVD recorder. I am getting errors with all three devices, so I am very suspicious of the DVD media.

I have found a few discs out of this stack that I can write to just fine.

I have had extremely good luck with these in the past and have over 350 titles recorded on these very same discs, so I am a little befuddled here. Maybe it was just a bad or poor batch that I got the last time.

Will have to do more testing with other brands, like the one MadMadWorld mentioned - Taiyo Yuden, and possibly other recorders.

RADAR

 

[vc2]

SMB Server

Does the AZBox have SMB server software? With SMB, you should be able to make the AZBox appear as a network drive allowing you to drag and drop files between devices.

I have a networked media player (Popcornhour A100) that's based on the same chipset (Sigma Designs SMP8634). I've found SMB file transfers to be faster than FTP transfers.

 

[AcWxRadar]

SMB Server

vc2,

I am not certain of SMB support.

In the Network Service listings, there are the following options:

SSHD
FTP
File Server
Dynamic DNS and
Telnet Server

The File Server option requires entry of the following information:
Workgroup
Server
Account
Password

The Dynamic DNS option requires entry of the following information:
DNS System
Host Name
User Name
Password

I am not certain what advantages the other options beyond Telnet and FTP would offer. I have only setup these two to support FileZilla and the MaZEdit programs for FTP and Telnet use.

RADAR

 

[vc2]

vc2,

I am not certain of SMB support.

In the Network Service listings, there are the following options:

SSHD
FTP
File Server
Dynamic DNS and
Telnet Server

The File Server option requires entry of the following information:
Workgroup
Server
Account
Password

The Dynamic DNS option requires entry of the following information:
DNS System
Host Name
User Name
Password

I am not certain what advantages the other options beyond Telnet and FTP would offer. I have only setup these two to support FileZilla and the MaZEdit programs for FTP and Telnet use.

RADAR

The File server option may be a SMB (SAMBA) server.

This would allow you to connect the AZBox's Hard Drive to a PC through an ethernet network connection. The AZBox drive would then appear as another drive on the PC. No need to FTP. Just Copy and Paste.

On the PCH A-100, I was getting around 8MBps with FTP and over 30MBps with SMB.

 

[AcWxRadar]

SMB Samba server

The File server option may be a SMB (SAMBA) server.

This would allow you to connect the AZBox's Hard Drive to a PC through an ethernet network connection. The AZBox drive would then appear as another drive on the PC. No need to FTP. Just Copy and Paste.

On the PCH A-100, I was getting around 8MBps with FTP and over 30MBps with SMB.

I had always wondered what these other Network Options were intended for and were capable of. If it can function as you think may be possible, it might resolve several issues regarding speed and connectivity.

Beyond that, if the AZBox has the required hardware, many things could be possible by writing new applications and plug-ins. There is definite potential here.

RADAR

 

[concord]

I wonder how many routers and which ones allow this and how to go about it. It could possibly resolve many issues in setup procedures and possibly make it more simple.

Thanks for the idea! If you have done so already and had success in this specific purpose, please write a step-by step instruction if you have time. This might be a really beneficial direction for many to take.

I don't understand the entire set of rules regarding this notion, so it is out of my league at this time, but it does sound good.

RADAR

Ok, I typed up some steps for a D-Link router that is using DHCP, but yet set a fixed/static IP address for the AZBox by using the MAC address of the AZBox.


As for SMB, it was mentioned earlier in the thread: http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-ai...es-regarding-azbox-recording.html#post2021107

 

[adm22]

Firmware 3877

Firmware 3877 was relased for the AZbox earlier today. I TOFTT and discovered that it actaully fixed one of the 3 big problmes I was having with the unit. It also has the audio dropout problem that I had read was in the previous version (which is why i did not use it) fixed

The timer now works. When you reserve something to play the box comes up asking you if you want to change the channel If you select nothing it changes on its own and the box goes away! Yeah!! So my earlier message in this thread about having to set two timers one to turn on the other to turn it off is not applicable. If you want it to change channels unattended just set it up to reserve a programme to PLAY and it should work OK.

That leaves two biggies as far as I am concerned. Tested to see if either was fixed and they were not.

The audio through the scart at least is not in stereo. Have not checked the RCA jacks but figure they would not fix one and not the other.

The black level on ABC on G4 is still a dark grey. So is NBC on W5 but the audio is useless there so even if it was fixed this still could be used. I did put in a suggestion that that they somehow allow one to selct multiple audio channles to be output at once.

I do NOT think the guys doing the firmware understand the problem (NTSC setup is wrong) and have nothing to test it on in Europe. Plus from reading the AZBox forum. I am convinced that most of the people there do not have English as their primary language.

 

[AcWxRadar]

not a lover of typing not good at it so i will post the pm to RADAR here.

MadMadWorld,

Hey Mad Friend, you are plenty good at typing and I know that you have a lot of good information to share, please continue to do so when you can.

Gordy (RADAR)

 

[zamar23]

There are reports that file copy speed is about 2.5 Mb/s via FTP, and 4 Mb/s via AZBox Samba Fileserver. The NAS File Copy speed restriction is imposed by OpenSat for now due to current firmware stability issues. Anyone knows models of AZBox Wireless and Wired Network Controllers? The network chip models should be visible after removing the box cover. It will allow to figure out max hardware capable Network Speed, and if recording SD/HD stream to a LAN share drive is possible. Playback of kept in AZBox Hard Drive High Def. files via a remote HTPC is reported OK via Samba Fileserver.