Very old youview T1000's internet withdrawal

[Solar]

I have 2 of what I assume are T1000s.  Black things with BT branding. They are slightly different.

One stopped connecting to the Internet from February. The other still does but it's one that has not been turned on recently and when I tried it yesterday it asked to do a software update. Can I assume that as long as I refuse the updates (is that possible long term?) it will retain its Internet connection?

Problem is that its not been used much because it tends to fail after tens of minutes of use until cooled down. So I can't use it long term.

[Midnight_Voice]

@Solar 

Photos would help. The only difference between T1000s, as far as I know, would be in the stencilled BT markings on them; if they are very different, then one could be an old black BT Vision box, but I wouldn’t expect that to work at all.

You can (still) check in Settings/Device information what exactly you have; mine is a DTRT1000, Variant 80B07000.

For update-dodging, we found in 2016, if memory serves, that you mustn’t leave the box on overnight or it will update itself, and you only get a handful of requests for permission to update before the box just does it without asking anyway when turned on. You can of course postpone this indefinitely by disconnecting the Ethernet cable, but that rather misses the point.

But we were told that even if the box didn’t get updated, the YouView servers would anyway stop responding to input from boxes identifying themselves as T1xxxs,

Which actually seems to be what’s happening, as I still have the 3.3.168 (227a6c) and 29.107.0 software it  updated to on 8th February,  with only the Platform changing from 4146 to 4150, and ISP from 6002 to 404.

The significance, if any, of these last two I don’t know, though the 404 may be a techie joke 😛

Quite how it can tell me that I have the latest version of software, and yet complain of no internet connection when I try to update players and apps, I don’t know. But maybe it detects software updates by them having been downloaded, but not yet installed? That would explain it.

When retuning (or even before) Subscription channels has dropped to zero, so at least I don’t have the annoyance of all those BT TV channels being shown in the EPG when I can’t get them.

But overall, it doesn’t look like the box has been neatly transformed into a non-internet box by a final update; it appears genuinely surprised it can no longer reach the internet, and continues to erroneously diagnose this as a problem to be solved, and not the new order of things, planned and implemented 😢

[DarrenDev]

Just a reminder: there haven't been any software updates since 2016, except a certificate update in 2018. To have changed the box to recognise that it was decommissioned would have required a software update with new functionality.

The box decommissioning was done in config - specifically, Platform Config 4150.

[Manatee]

We have a T1010 that was new in its box since we purchased it and put it away in 2014.

A couple of weeks ago, we unboxed it and fired it up (as a replacement for a trusty, and faultless, 9300T).

It operated with limited programme information, but, unwittingly, we left its internet connector in overnight, and the next morning it had downloaded an 'update' (actually a 'downdate') which effectively made the machine useless to all intents and purposes.

Is it possible to regain the original software version, by perhaps doing a reset without the internet connector plugged in? Or perhaps by some other means? At least that would then give some limited operability, rather than effectively nothing worth having at all.

Proper Bang and Olufsen small-size flat-screen televisions don't like all this (usually1080p) HDMI-only junk that's exclusively sold now as TV boxes, but the B and O SCART picture quality is very much superior to the rubbish sold nowadays as 'bedroom televisions'. What is on the market nowadays may, if one is lucky, have some transient internet functionality for certain equipment, but it is not, in any real way, progress ... when you look at the internal construction of a Humax 9300T, it's like breath of fresh air, compared to the stuff that's coming out of Wuhan now.

Any help appreciated.

[DarrenDev]

@Manatee no - it's not possible to revert back to the previous version.  I'm confused though - what do you mean when you say it's made it useless?  The update just disables the internet connection, so shouldn't be any different to it not being connected in the first place?  It can still be used for watching or recording TV.

[zulu17]

@DarrenDev  @Manatee 

 Only observations

i  believe Youview and BTTV gave their Youview boxes a new look  upgrade  c july 2014.  given that @Manatee  box  had  been unused since purchase in 2014 I don’t  know what  would Youview servers do when presented with such a historic box with very old legacy software. 

i would still think though that the box should perform as it Freeview viewing and recording.

( note the 2014 new look changes  were an earlier update than the  later 2016 next generation BT/ Youview )

[Midnight_Voice]

@Manatee 

Why are you replacing the ‘faultless’ 9300T? Did it finally fault?

But I suggest you source a YouView DTR-T2xxx, (but not xxx= 000) possibly from CeX, though unguaranteed ones are on eBay cheaper.

These all have the SCART output that will do justice to your early B&O flatscreen.

Though if the 1080p HDMI the 2 series YouView boxes can do doesn’t look better on a more modern TV, better swing by Specsavers on your way home 😛

[gomezz]

A properly designed device would include a "Restore to Factory Settings" option which would include restoring the firmware from a copy of the initial version hard-baked into its read-only memory. Don't know if the T1000 has such an option though.

A lesson to others to not to connect things to the internet that don't need to be.

Personally currently hoping that the dodgy Chromecast "update" does not get pushed out to my dongle or that it has now been revised to work properly (I am sticking rather than twisting until the All Clear sounds).

[Midnight_Voice]

@gomezz 

It’s worth recalling that the first thing a brand new YouView box does is downloads its operating environment from YouView’s servers.

So while there is some hard-baked stuff in there, it serves only to download the software and firmware the box actually runs on.

So not ‘properly designed’ according to you, though it is to me. The last thing anybody wants is a software error that you can’t stop coming back after every factory reset.

[Manatee]

Thank you for your response ... I concur absolutely with your sentiments in your opening sentence.

And thanks to all those (in particular DarrenDev) who responded to my note ... the information given has been most helpful. As a result I will be chiming up the T1010 again, just to see (now with extra knowledge from yourselves) what it's giving me ... from my recall from when we last tried it a few weeks ago, it was all notably inferior and poorly rendered compared to the UI that the 9300T delivers, particularly in regard to a decent programme guide ... the terrestrial guide that the 9300T has is, and always has been, extremely effective and easy to use.

And, no, our 9300T has not, and never has, failed. But, if one were to have a brand new T1010 in stock, were we wrong to try it out to see if it could deliver what it claimed it could 'on the box'? ... in the event, it couldn't.

Incidentally, as precautionary maintenance, the 9300T is now getting a new OE WD320 hard drive (off the shelf from Poland) and a new silent fan ...  both items inexpensive and easy to install.

In conclusion, it's also worth remarking that our B and O tv, a recently-purchased NOS BeoCentre 6-26, with a screen resolution of 1366 x 768, does produce easily enough pixels for a 26" screen, but, really, it's the B and O picture quality (and processing), rather than merely how many pixels it's got, that makes it so enjoyable to view, even when playing via an old Humax. So, if someone thinks a HiSense from Curry's is the way to go for bedroom tele, then maybe it's not us who should be going to Specsavers.