ReelBox Smorgasbord
From ReelBox Maniacs
This is a collection of (partly strange) tips from several sources. Use them on your own risk.
[edit] Reboot via button press
There is a combination of buttons you may press to restart your ReelBox. Like the well known Alt-Ctrl-Del you have to press three buttons: Power-Eject-Record.
[edit] Frontpanel check
If your frontpanel does not seem to function like defined, there is a procedure available to check it: when switching on power, press the Eject button. You will see 0:00 on the display. If you press one of the four buttons below the display, you will see a corresponding number. Beginning from the leftmost button, your display should show 0:02, 2:00, 0:32 and 4:00.
The codes of the remote control will also be displayed.
The four buttons below the display may also be used to edit the illumination level for the buttons.
To exit this mode, press Record at the frontpanel or Standby on the remote control.
[edit] CMOS reset
There is a jumper to reset the CMOS settings on the mainboard of the ReelBox Lite. It is located near the power supply next to the IDE connector.
If you (think you) need to reset your CMOS settings, power off your ReelBox and unplug the power connector. Open the box and set the jumper to the RST position. Wait some seconds and set it back to the OK position. Reassemble the box, plug the power connector and switch on your box.
| Attention! |
|
Do not set the jumper while your ReelBox is connected to power. You may damage your box. |
[edit] Enable scart in connector
When your ReelBox is switched of, scart in is connected through to scart out. You may also enable this, while your box is up and running. You have to logon to your box via telnet as user root. Then use the following command sequence:
| Code: enable scart connect through |
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reelhwctl -scart-enable 0 |
| Note: |
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I am not shure, what this may be useful for at the moment of this writing. |
[edit] Focus FS453 configuration
If you want to play with the configuration settings for the video scan converter chip, here are some hints:
- request the data sheet at the focus website. It will provide you with all the information about the approx. 80 registers.
- take a look at the files in /etc/fs453/ on your ReelBox
- run fs453 -n and enter h to get information about commands available
[edit] Brightness of Graphical Display
If you go to /etc/init.d/reelpowersave, you'll find the following line:
| File: /etc/init.d/reelpowersave (part of) |
|
$REELFPCTL -clearled 1 #this is now done in reelpowersave |
Change it to something like
| File: /etc/init.d/reelpowersave edited (part of) |
|
$REELFPCTL -clearled 1 -brightness <n> #this is now done in reelpowersave |
with <n> being a value from 0 to 240, you may set the brightness of the display of your ReelBox when it is in standby mode.
[edit] Bigger Fonts on the Display
If you like to see some bigger fonts in the graphical display of your ReelBox, you might want to read this.
In the directory /etc/video/plugins/graphlcd/fonts there are softlinks named f_m_*.fnt pointing to the fonts used. You can recreate this softlinks to make them point to bigger ones. Restart the vdr (go to standby mode and up again) to see the effect.
[edit] Overlaying the cramfs
Did you ever want your ReelBox to use files from a directory on your harddisk instead of the ones on the DoC? There is a solution!
Install a fully featured mount command, f.e. to /opt/bin. Use this mount command to issue a sequence like this:
| Code: overlay the /usr/share/reel directory of the DoC |
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mount --bind /mnt/hd/opt/usr_share_reel_for_testing /usr/share/reel |
This is quite useful while testing some new features, if you build some software on your own.
[edit] Identifying the Mainboard Revision
There are two versions of the mainboard for the ReelBox: rev1 and rev2 (rev3 is a gag from these marketing guys. It doesn't really exist. In fact they are talking about rev2 mainbaord in a ReelBox Lite case - which is a normal ReelBox Lite at the end). Revision 1 has been available in the early PVR 1100s only normally. Reel-Multimedia called them back, but some of the boards did not find their way back. As there have been problem with revision 1 mainboards in terms of network and harddisk support, you may want to make sure not to buy a box with a revision 1 mainboard. To do so, you have to open the case and search for the FOCUS FS453 chip. On the left of this chip, there are the labels R382, R383, R384 and R386. Take a look at the pictures to identify the mainboard revision. Please have a close look - the colour of the board is no indicator of the board revision! Some of the revision 1 boards also have a wrong interface chip labeled Mag.Com mounted.
[edit] Watching your Remote Control Unit
If you like to see, what your ReelBox receives from your remote control unit, try to start vdr_control manually (kill the old process, start a new one and send the vdr process a -HUP). If you don't know, what we are talking about, ... well: get some linux knowlegde or just stay happy without it. ;)
[edit] Semaphore Files on your ReelBox
By creating or deleting specific files on your ReelBox, you may cause several action:
| Code: reread list of recordings |
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touch "$VIDEODIR/.update" |
| Code: put the ReelBox into standby mode |
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touch /tmp/vdr.shutdown |
| Code: wakeup from standby mode |
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rm /tmp/vdr.shutdown |
| Code: put the ReelBox into deep standby mode |
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rm /tmp/vdr.shutdown; touch /tmp/vdr.deepstandby |
| Code: create a wake up timer (to bring the Reelbox up from deep standby mode) |
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echo "<unixtime_code>" > /tmp/vdr.wakeup |
