Jump to content


Photo

Stability and different boxes


  • Please log in to reply
12 replies to this topic

#1 -M-

  • Senior Member
  • 128 posts

+4
Neutral

Posted 13 June 2019 - 19:14

How is the stability of OpenPLi? Does it depend on box model?

Is some vendor better?
Have some vendor better support and help if problem arise?

For example how about Vu+ and Zgemma?

Support for Broadcom have been around for long time (from beginning), but HiSilicon is new. How about boxes with HiSilicon, are they stable?

PS. I have latest weeks tested an H7C box and have seen at least 3 exceptions (craches), in /var/log/messages.



Re: Stability and different boxes #2 WanWizard

  • PLi® Core member
  • 68,309 posts

+1,719
Excellent

Posted 13 June 2019 - 21:31

First rule of development: "there is always one more bug". ;)

 

Having said that, in general stability issues are virtually always related to drivers.

 

When it comes to vendors there are two types, manufacturers and OEM distributors. The first design and build their own hard- and software (like VU+, Zgemma, Dags), the second buy their hardware from an OEM manufacturer, with several degrees of customisations. In some cases the second are actually local or regional distributors, for example Ceryon / AX / Mutant, or Qviart / Xsarius. In some cases they are supported by the development team of the manufacturer, others don't have their own developers, but have outsourced the development, which of course has a cost. Support varies, some are very on it (like Mutant / Qviart / Xsarius), some are responsive in the beginning, but sometimes are not willing to spend any money on a box no longer being produced or approaching end-of-life. It is quite a bit of work, having to chase them for all outstanding issues.

 

As to hardware, I think the shift from Broadcom to others will continue, Broadcom is discontinuing it's products for the bottom end of the market, and that is still the bulk of the sales in STBs.

 

And if you see issues, post them. We can't fix the issue, or forward them to the vendor, if they are not reported. ;)


Currently in use: VU+ Duo 4K (2xFBC S2), VU+ Solo 4K (1xFBC S2), uClan Usytm 4K Pro (S2+T2), Octagon SF8008 (S2+T2), Zgemma H9.2H (S2+T2)

Due to my bad health, I will not be very active at times and may be slow to respond. I will not read the forum or PM on a regular basis.

Many answers to your question can be found in our new and improved wiki.


Re: Stability and different boxes #3 -M-

  • Senior Member
  • 128 posts

+4
Neutral

Posted 14 June 2019 - 08:25

Thanks for great information.

 

It's only until this year I looked at these open source (enigma) software and boxes (well very very long time ago I tried a DreamBox and build, but never used it for normal TV usage - not possible). I was little surpriced that the vendor need to support OpenPLi (and other E2 images), but understand now little how it works. By the way, is it any document of overview of OpenPLi software design? How about the interface against the Broadcom drivers (BSP)? Does OpenPLi have a requirement document against the box vendor?

 

As I understand the box vendor needs to supply a BSP with Linux and chipset drivers. The Linux part needs to be open source, but not all drivers (kernel and user space). What interface is used between OpenPLi (Enigma2) and the BSP part?

 

and how is this on HiSilicon, which interface is used for these chips?

 

PS. As it comes to bugs (crash), I have little time and want to check little more before write about them. Also need time to write :-(



Re: Stability and different boxes #4 Erik Slagter

  • PLi® Core member
  • 46,951 posts

+541
Excellent

Posted 14 June 2019 - 09:15

The interface (API) is dictated mostly by how DMM (Dream Multimedia) created it in their implementations of enigma2 and the drivers. The other vendors will have to follow this design for existing functionality. For new features they can choose the interface (which will mostly be dictated by Broadcom anyway), which, in theory, other vendors will need to follow. We at OpenPLi are a bit more strict in this than other images builders, which tend to allow for all sorts of exception code for different vendors. We try to avoid that as much a possible.

 

This concept is the same for Broadcom, HiSillicon and any other SoC manufacturer. We don't care what SoC is inside, as long as it plays by the rules and then it will be no problem to build an image for it.

 

The API consists mainly of the well-known DVB4Linux API, which has been in the kernel for ages. Quite a bit of functionality is not covered there, though and has alternative access, like additional ioctls and /proc (/proc/stb/...) entries. AFAIK there are no driver implementations yet that use /sys.

 

If you want to know how it works and how it was designed, I can only suggest: "Use the source Luke"! The original implementation of Enigma2 by DMM wasn't really documented and everyone of us (image builders) have kept to that tradition. Let me warn you: it's not pretty.


* Wavefrontier T90 with 28E/23E/19E/13E via SCR switches 2 x 2 x 6 user bands
I don't read PM -> if you have something to ask or to report, do it in the forum so others can benefit. I don't take freelance jobs.
Ik lees geen PM -> als je iets te vragen of te melden hebt, doe het op het forum, zodat anderen er ook wat aan hebben.


Re: Stability and different boxes #5 -M-

  • Senior Member
  • 128 posts

+4
Neutral

Posted 16 June 2019 - 15:50

Thanks for info. I will look little at source code, but this overview information was very good first.

So box vendor needs to write drivers for E2 on top of the chipset drivers. The chipset drivers API is in user space. So this will be little tricky, I guess. They probably hook up on some other API, maybe undocumented. That is reachable from kernel modules (since E2 drivers is in kernel space).

Is it any co-operation between box vendors? I guess they do their own implementation of the drivers (Vu+ and Zgemma look different).

PS. I can say that I first thought that E2 was working against Nexus API and the box vendors more or less only build Broadcom drivers.


Is it only Broadcom and HiSilicon chips in supported boxes, or any third chipset vendor?

I look around and to my surprice found that it is many boxes with HiSilicon. I found Mutant HD60, Maxytec Multibox 4K, Gigablue UHD TRIO 4K, Octagon SF8008, Zgemma H9, Formuler Zx 5G IPTV. All using Hi3798MV200 with 1GB RAM and 8GB flash (except H9 with 256MB flash). Have anybody seen another HiSilicon chip in supported box?

Re: Stability and different boxes #6 WanWizard

  • PLi® Core member
  • 68,309 posts

+1,719
Excellent

Posted 16 June 2019 - 16:18

No, there isn't any cooperation between box vendors afaik. We can only hope that once something has been "invented", others copy it for sake of compatibility, instead of reinventing the wheel. 

 

That doesn't always work, DMM for example has in the past deliberately changed IOCTL's to break compatibility with open source Enigma, forcing them to use "if DMM then..." all over the code. Which is one of the reasons we stopped making DMM images.

 

There are more chip vendors, but we don't make images for them.


Currently in use: VU+ Duo 4K (2xFBC S2), VU+ Solo 4K (1xFBC S2), uClan Usytm 4K Pro (S2+T2), Octagon SF8008 (S2+T2), Zgemma H9.2H (S2+T2)

Due to my bad health, I will not be very active at times and may be slow to respond. I will not read the forum or PM on a regular basis.

Many answers to your question can be found in our new and improved wiki.


Re: Stability and different boxes #7 twol

  • Senior Member
  • 442 posts

+15
Neutral

Posted 16 June 2019 - 17:00

I look around and to my surprice found that it is many boxes with HiSilicon. I found Mutant HD60, Maxytec Multibox 4K, Gigablue UHD TRIO 4K, Octagon SF8008, Zgemma H9, Formuler Zx 5G IPTV. All using Hi3798MV200 with 1GB RAM and 8GB flash (except H9 with 256MB flash). Have anybody seen another HiSilicon chip in supported box?


... and that has happened amazingly quickly all using (as noted) the same chip - how that will develop with American (Trump) sanctions on their parent company (Huaweh) will be interesting

Gigablue Quad 4K & UE 4K
.........FBC Tuners:
------------------> DUR-Line DCR 5-1-8-L4 Multiswitch to 1.5M dish(28.2E)
------------------> Spaun SUS 5581/33 NFA Multiswitch to 80 cm dish(19.2E)
.........DVB-S2X into 90cm dish (27.5W)

Octagon sf8008, AX HD61, Edision Osmio 4K+, Zgemma H9Combo using Legacy ports on multiswitches
Zgemma H9twin & Zgemma H9 C/S mode into Giga4K
 


Re: Stability and different boxes #8 -M-

  • Senior Member
  • 128 posts

+4
Neutral

Posted 17 June 2019 - 08:40

ARM have stopped HiSilicon from using ARM. However they have some kind of license for ARM v8. But even their low-end chip using V9. With cortex stop (used in Hi3798MV200). So it seems stop for production of these chips. - but I'm not sure about this, only my conclusion after read on internet.

Regarding why this chip - I think it is an explanation. This chip is low price regarding what is in it, for example H265, 4K and OpenGL. It's possible to have a box without this for lower price, but slower cpu, less memory. However the box vendor need to implement & support the drivers for E2 and go plus (money). If the box should be cheap, they cannot add so much profit. So the cheap box will end up cost like Hi3798MV200 boxes, so better take that and get more features.

Re: Stability and different boxes #9 twol

  • Senior Member
  • 442 posts

+15
Neutral

Posted 17 June 2019 - 12:13

Existing technology is OK - its the future chips that are in design phase using Arm that will be at issue.

Gigablue Quad 4K & UE 4K
.........FBC Tuners:
------------------> DUR-Line DCR 5-1-8-L4 Multiswitch to 1.5M dish(28.2E)
------------------> Spaun SUS 5581/33 NFA Multiswitch to 80 cm dish(19.2E)
.........DVB-S2X into 90cm dish (27.5W)

Octagon sf8008, AX HD61, Edision Osmio 4K+, Zgemma H9Combo using Legacy ports on multiswitches
Zgemma H9twin & Zgemma H9 C/S mode into Giga4K
 


Re: Stability and different boxes #10 Pr2

  • PLi® Contributor
  • 6,046 posts

+256
Excellent

Posted 18 June 2019 - 19:06

HiSilicon are chipset produced by Huawei that's why they lost the ARM licence.


NO SUPPORT by PM, it is a forum make your question public so everybody can benefit from the question/answer.
If you think that my answer helps you, you can press the up arrow in bottom right of the answer.

Wanna help with OpenPLi Translation? Please read our Wiki Information for translators

Sat: Hotbird 13.0E, Astra 19.2E, Eutelsat5A 5.0W
VU+ Solo 4K: 2*DVB-S2 + 2*DVB-C/T/T2 (used in DVB-C) & Duo 4K: 2*DVB-S2X + DVB-C (FBC)

AB-Com: PULSe 4K 1*DVB-S2X (+ DVB-C/T/T2)
Edision OS Mio 4K: 1*DVB-S2X + 1*DVB-C/T/T2
 


Re: Stability and different boxes #11 twol

  • Senior Member
  • 442 posts

+15
Neutral

Posted 18 June 2019 - 20:02

HiSilicon are chipset produced by Huawei that's why they lost the ARM licence.

Huawei are the parent company....HiSilicon are their subsidiary that produces the technology components and used Arm‘s patents and designs to produce the chipsets ... they are still planning to move into a new chip manufacturing plant in Cambridge, England near to Arm.

Gigablue Quad 4K & UE 4K
.........FBC Tuners:
------------------> DUR-Line DCR 5-1-8-L4 Multiswitch to 1.5M dish(28.2E)
------------------> Spaun SUS 5581/33 NFA Multiswitch to 80 cm dish(19.2E)
.........DVB-S2X into 90cm dish (27.5W)

Octagon sf8008, AX HD61, Edision Osmio 4K+, Zgemma H9Combo using Legacy ports on multiswitches
Zgemma H9twin & Zgemma H9 C/S mode into Giga4K
 


Re: Stability and different boxes #12 -M-

  • Senior Member
  • 128 posts

+4
Neutral

Posted 1 July 2019 - 09:20

DVB4Linux API

While read this I was thinking about something I called Linux TV. Needed to take a deeper look, "/proc" sounded strange for me. Compared a little, but it isn't the same ioctl's (but some the same). Didn't look so much. The API I was thinking about is handled by a German company (atleast a few years ago). Sorry, forgot to check the name of this company/API.
 

(like VU+, Zgemma, Dags)

Who is Dags?

I notice that Maxytec have their files on a Mutant server. Are they related?
By the way I recognice the Maxytec Multibox 4K, it looks like a stb from China producer MaiYue.

Re: Stability and different boxes #13 Frenske

  • Forum Moderator
    PLi® Core member
  • 27,380 posts

+393
Excellent

Posted 1 July 2019 - 09:36

Dags is the manufacturer of Xsarius and Qviart hardware.
The reseller of Mut@nt is also going to deliver the Multibox in Holland.
The Maxitec Multibox is an OEM brand like many others like the V8 plus and the one you mentioned.

Mijn schotel is een T90 met 10 LNB's. Daarnaast voor de fun nog een draaibaar systeem met een Triax TD 78.

Dreamboxen heb ik niet meer echt actief. Verder heb ik ook nog een een VU+ duo2 met 500Gb harddisk + een VU+ Uno, Zero, Solo 4K, Ultimo 4K, Zero 4K, Uno 4Kse. + ook nog een Xtrend ET7x00. Daarnaast heb ik ook nog diverse andere modellen w.o. een Formuler F4, ET8500, ET7500, Mut@nt 2400HD, Xsarius Fusion HD se en verder nog wel het e.e.a. waarmee op verzoek vanalles wordt getest. Iemand moet het tenslotte doen. ;) :)
Los van de eerder genoemde modellen heb ik nog wel een rits aan testsamples als Mut@nt 2400HD, HD60, GB UE4K, GB Trio4K, Maxitec Multibox combo en Twin, Octagon sf8008, sf8008 mini en last but nog least enkele modellen van het Grieks Duitse Edision.

Voor centrale opslag van media gebruik ik een Qnap 219P 
met tweemaal 2 Tb harddisks + een Synology DS414 met 12 Tb Totale opslag.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many answers to your question can be found in our wiki: Just one click away from this "solutioncentre".

Als ik alles al wist hoefde ik ook niets te vragen. If I had all the knowledge I had no questions at all.



0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users