Q & A

Most users today use an iptv subscription. This gets you all the available UK and USA channels as well as a large selection of other international TV stations.

MESSAGE ME  FOR DETAILS AND HOW TO SET THIS UP  FROM ONLY £3.33 PER MONTH.

Some of the most common questions people ask about recording.

If you have a question which isn't answered here,  you can message me on Facebook:

Q. I want to add a larger hard drive (HDD) or USB to my Zgemma box.

1. with your box still turned on, insert your USB or HDD cable into the front USB socket of your Zgemma.

2. Press the blue button on your remote control to open quick launch menu and navigate to "Harddisk Setup" at the bottom of the page. Press right and highlight Initalisation and press OK.

3. Select the new drive you have inserted from the list and press OK and then red to initialise. (this will erase anything saved on the drive)

4. Once the drive has finished initialising , press exit to return to the quick launch menu and navigate to "Mounts" navigate to "Device Manager" press OK, Highlight your newly initialised drive and press "red button" to use as HDD. Now exit back to TV and hold the power button down and select deep standby to shut down the box.

5. When the box has gone through the shutdown procedure, unplug the old USB stick from the rear and insert your new device. Now restart your Zgemma box.

6. Once your box has restarted, press the "menu" button, Highlight info panel and press OK. Scroll down to "Swap Manager" and press OK.

7. Press whichever colour button it says to "create swap file", select your new drive and then scroll down and select 256mb from the on-screen list. Press OK and wait a few minutes while it creates the file. Once finished, Press "Red" to activate followed by pressing "yellow" to autostart the swapfile. Now you can exit back to TV.

8. You should now be finished and can check by pausing or recording some TV. Keep your old USB stick safe as this contains a backup of your sky subscription key. If its plugged into a PC or laptop it will require formatting which will wipe all info from the USB drive.

Q. I had recordings on my USB stick which I would like to transfer to my new hard drive. (see above)

1. Insert your old USB stick in the front panel, and press "File List". Press "Yellow" to open bookmarks, and select your old USB memory and press OK. You can now view the recordings on the old drive. (If this doesn't work, reboot your box while leaving the USB drive attached to the front USB socket)

2. You can view any of these recordings or highlight one at a time and press "green" to move. Then select your new drive. Remember it can take a good few hours to move a lot of movies or TV shows. Once completed, press File List, then Yellow and highlight  media/hdd/movie to return the planner to your recording list. you can exit to live TV and it will continue to work in the background.

Q. How do I record and set series link?

1. From the EPG highlight the show you want to record & press -> Record. A box will open with 2 choices.

Press -> Green to Record or ->Blue to Record Series.

2. From the Information Bar, Press -> Record Button and highlight the recording option which suits -> OK.

3. From any live TV screen you are watching, -> Press Record Button and highlight the recording option which suits. -> OK

Q. How do I view / edit programs I have set to record in my planner?

1. Short press of the red button will call up your "Timer Overview".

2. Long press of red button will call up already recorded programs.

3.  Press -> Menu Select Timers -> OK then either "Timers" or "Auto Timers".

Q. When I delete  a program from my timer it keeps returning?

 A. This is because you have series linked a series. See answer 3 Above on how to select "Auto Timers".  Highlight the Show you want to permanently delete and press -> Yellow, Select Option 1 "Yes and delete all timers generated by this autotimer" ->Press OK. This will bring you back to the Auto Timer page. Now you MUST press ->GREEN to save or the timer will return.

Q. How do I Play TV Shows I have recorded?

Press the "File List" button near the centre of your remote control. Highlight what you want to watch and press -> OK. You can fast forward or rewind using the buttons beneath the coloured buttons or use the "Left" & "Right" buttons of the centre circle. You can FF or REWIND at any speed from  2X to 128X. To stop playback, Press -> Stop (the button beside record)

Q. How do I Move Through The Tabs in The EPG & Recordings Screen?

Either side of the 0 (zero) button are directional keys for "Left" & "Right". From The EPG Simply press these keys to jump to HD, Entertainment, Movies, Music etc. The Tabs in the "Planner" screen are not functional and are only there to make the screen look more like Sky's own.

Some more frequently asked questions. This list will be updated with any new relevant posts as they arise. 

Q. I Have  Sky Q setup at Home, Can I Still Use One of These Boxes?

If you have Sky Q already then you will have a different setup at your dish. You may need to change the LNB to a standard Sky one, Or a Hybrid which can run both frequencies.

If you are in the process of getting Sky Q installed, Ask your installer to fit a hybrid LNB using the excuse that you also plan on using Freesat in the house at a later date. It costs approximately £50 to change one of these LNB's 

Q. How do I backup or restore my settings

1. Blue button -> Backup settings
2. Blue button -> Restore settings

Q. How do I change the order of channels in the EPG or edit Custom_Swap.txt 

1. WooshBuild v4+ includes the Country / Region plugin which stops the need to manually swap channels. If you are running a version prior to v4 and BBC1 and BBC2 are the wrong way around, or BT Sport HD is still on your listing, please upgrade.

Q. How to check your satellite signal strength

1. Menu -> Setup -> Service Searching -> Signal finder.  You then use the left and right buttons to swap tuners

Q. How do I move across the EPG categories (bouquets)

1. With the EPG open on your screen, using the PREV & NEXT button so the remote will move you through, All Channels, Entertainment, Music, Sports etc. like Sky+ used to.

Q. I get a message about the timeshift being at the end.

1. This occurs when you have been on the same channel longer than the timeshift is set for. To prevent this message showing, change the duration of the timeshift.
   Menu -> Setup -> Recording & Timeshift -> Timeshift Settings.
   Now scroll down to “Timeshift buffer limit [in hours]” and increase the number. The larger your USB device, the larger the number you can have to store timeshift.

Q. How do I change the update time of AutoBouquet E2

1. Green button -> AutoBouquet E2 -> Menu button
   Now look at the bottom for the schedule time. Change this to a time to suit you. Remember to save the settings. This may be by using the green button to save, or by pressing the red button to go back. Please read your screen carefully.

Q. How do I change the update time of CrossEPG

1. Menu -> Setup -> CrossEPG -> Configuration
   Look for the scheduled time and make it a time to suit you. Remember to save the settings. This may be by using the green button to Save, or by pressing the red button to go back. Please read your screen carefully.

Q. What is the smallest USB stick / Micro SD card I can use for recording etc.

1. As a general rule of thumb, the bigger the better. WooshBuild has always been setup with a view to someone using a 8gb USB stick. With the cost of USB storage becoming cheaper, it is however suggested to have a minimum of 16gb.  A 128gb stick will work and an external HDD is even better as they are faster and larger.

Q. How do I make a complete backup of my box or restore a previous backup

1. Insert a USB stick in the front port (It must contain a file called backupstick.txt)
   Blue button
   complete backup
   green button (USB)
   Wait 5 minutes until it says operation complete
   Exit right back to main TV screen
   Remove USB
   
   
   2. Putting it back on a box
   Insert USB in front
   Blue button
   Flash online / Local
   Yellow button (local)
   Yellow button (devices)
   Find the USB stick and select it, it will then show you the zgemma.zip file. You should be able to select that, then press green button to flash.

Q. How do I add a plugin such as Kodi Direct

1. From full screen TV press the Green button followed by the green button again. You will now see a list of sections and within those sections are plugins which are available to be added to your box. KodiDirect is in the extensions section. Highlight this and press OK. Now find the plugin you wish to add to your box and, highlight it and press OK.  To be honest, Kodi direct is more trouble than it's worth. My favorite setup if you want to use  Kodi is on an Amazon Fire stick. If you need advice or one of these sticks set up, just let me know. The box has IPTV player which works very well for streaming the latest movies and TV shows. Press the green button or the portal button and select IPTV player.

Q. How do I remove plugins

1. From full screen TV press the Green button followed by the red button. You will now be presented with a list of everything installed on your box. Normally, most plugins are installed to the Extensions section. Highlight and press OK. Now highlight the plugin you want to remove and press OK. Then press OK to confirm it’s removal

Q. How do I alter the position of my screen or make the menus fit better

1. Due to all televisions being slightly different, some will display this image without issue, others may show the TV around the edges when in a full screen menu. If you feel you need to change the position of your screen to fit your TV better, complete the following steps: 
2. Menu -> Setup -> Usage & GUI -> Extended GUI -> OSD Position
3.  Now move down to "Width" and start pressing the left arrow button until the red border appears on the right. Just as it appears, press the right button a couple of times to make it disappear again.
   3. Move Down to "Move Up/Down" and start press the right arrow until the red border appears at the top of the screen. Again, just as it appears, press the left button a couple of times to make it disappear
   4. Move down to "Height" and start pressing the left arrow button until the red border appears at the bottom of the screen. Guess what.... just as it appears, press the right arrow key to make it disappear.
4. So to recap, once by one you have moved the red border for left, right, top and bottom on to the screen before moving them just out of view.
   
   Once you have done the above steps, press the Green button (Save) and then the Exit button 4 times to return to the TV.

Q. Change the storage location of the EPG

1. Press the Menu button -> Setup -> CrossEPG -> Configure.
   Press the left or right direction button on the remote to select your USB device.
   Press the Red button (back) to return to the menu.

Q. How can i check ecm values

1. Select Menu/Info panel/Softcam panel and the values are shown there, (make sure the channel is set on a subscription channel otherwise no values will be shown.)

Q. How do I hide unwanted bouquets

1. Press the TV button -> Highlight the unwanted bouquet -> Menu -> 8 -> yes.

Q. Does flashing my box remove all existing data

1. Yes, but only what is on the box, not the USB device. If it asks you "do you want to initialise your USB or storage device" after re-flashing your box, select NO

Q. My line / channels have stopped, how do I restart them

1. Red button -> (or Menu) Highlight  Softcam panel -> Green button (restart)
2. If it doesn't start, install the line again and then go into softcam panel and press the green button to restart it. 
3. To re-install your line, ensure your box is on channel 106 (Sky1)  Press Green -> USB Cam Importer -> OK

Q. I just went to update my software (OpenATV) online and got the following message:
Your Image is out of date! etc. etc. Do you still want to update? no/yes

1. The answer is yes. This just means you have missed quite a few updates, but as of now we have not known any problems being caused by updating anyway.

Q. I always have x updates available: Software Manager and CrossEPG, Bootlogo

1. This is because if these two components are updated they will stop functioning correctly.
   CrossEPG will stop working and Software manager is responsible for allowing WooshBuild to be flashed online. Both of these components have been locked so they cannot be updated.
2. The Bootlogo update is trying to replace the new boot screens, not a chance!

Q. Not enough space to flash message when trying to flash WooshBuild online

A. Occasionally OpenATV will identify and “mount” your USB device incorrectly. This can cause the error message about “not enough space, you need 300mb”. To check that your USB has been mounted correctly, please try the following solution:

The box has decided to refer to your USB device as something other than media/HDD

Go into mount manager and change the type to HDD: Red button -> Plugins -> Mount Manager

Q. How to add picons to EPG screens

1. Menu/Set up/Graphical InfobarEPG and GraphicalEPG both require the Service Title mode to be switched to Picon and Service Name setting.

Q. Problems with my Volume Control

This seems to be an intermittent fault in Openatv V5.3 

1. Turning up and down (using short press) around 70-80% volume causes my box to lose sound.
   If you raise the volume to around 80-85% then long press the down volume the sound seems to come back..
2. Using the volume control then move to where volume returns (@ 85) then reduce volume by one step at a time to the desired  level. Using the fast movement does not seem to resolve.
3. If that does not solve the problem then restart the box to clear the problem..

Q. Problems with no space on recording device

1. Go into Menu -> Setup -> Recording & timeshift. From there select timeshift and re-select the location. Once done do the same for recordings.
2. By re-selecting them it makes you physically select the device you want to use. This is handy if the box has mounted your device as something other than /media/HDD

Q. Sky 1, Sky Living & Sky Atlantic have no program description between 7pm and 1am : 

1. CrossEPG has, for some reason, this great bug where at 7pm each night 3 or 4 channels have no EPG descriptions until 1am. This is a bug with CrossEPG and not WooshBuild
   
   The simple solution to this is to remove the CrossEPG plugin (green button -> Red button -> extensions) and then install the epgimport from the download plugins section. You will then need to follow the setup instructions in Kiddac's bare bones guide on setting it up -> Bare Bones OpenATV New setup Guide
   
   xmltv-import is not covered by WooshBuild so any issues with it need to be asked in a separate thread

Q. When I type a channel number it takes ages to change channel. Can I change this?

1. This was one of those “can’t win” situations. In previous builds the remote number pressing time delay was just the box default but people sometimes complained that it wasn’t long enough. As a result I extended the time delay via the settings so that even my mum can press the buttons and have enough time to make a cup of tea before it switches channel..
   
   To alter the speed of the channel changing after you have type a channel number either simply press the OK button which will change the channel instantly or edit the settings to suit your needs.
   
   Menu -> Setup -> Usage & Gui -> Channel selection settings -> Up arrow once to see where you need to change.
   
   In here you will see you can alter quite a lot.

Q. I had folders on my storage device and now they have gone and the file has been moved

1. WooshBuild v4.xxx includes Grog’s excellent movie organiser plugin.
   
   This plugin makes me very happy as your Zgemma box is now closer to an original Sky+ box than ever before. The Movie organiser plugin is enabled by default with WooshBuild v4 and will remain enabled as standard as getting as close to a plug and play Sly+ box is my goal.
   
   If you have more than one recording of the same program, like a Sky+ box, the plugin will create a folder and move the recordings to the folder. Again, just like Sky, when you delete recordings in the folder and are left with just one recording, the folder is removed and the one left gets placed back in the main section of the device.
   
   To disable the Movie Organiser please do the following:
   
   Green button -> Select Movie Organiser -> Press the left direction button once to disable -> Green button (OK)

Q. Problems trying to use pause and live rewind with an HDD installed

1. Providing your HDD has been initialised it should work as standard.
   
   Go to Menu -> Setup -> Recording & timeshift -> timeshift settings -> timeshift location
   
   That needs to be set to /media/hdd/timeshift, but it is worth re-setting it anyway by pressing OK on it and locating the folder yourself.
   
   Don't forget to save settings.

Q. How can i add new bouquets

1. Press the fav button followed by the menu button. The next screen has options and by selecting the second one you can add a new bouquet and edit the title to whatever you want to call it.

Q. When I press the file list button or planner button from within the EPG the appearance has changed.

1. This has happened because an OpenATV over the air update has put them back on your box.
   
   Enhanced Media Centre becomes the default media player and changes how the file list is displayed.
   
   You can remove both plugins without issues. Removal will automatically put your recordings list back to normal,
   
   From full screen TV:
   Green button -> Red button -> Extensions -> Highlight EMC Media Centre and press the OK button.
   When asked to confirm, select YES. This will remove EMC.
   
   Do the same method of Programme Listener and Volume Adjust.
   
   Once removed, restart the Gui.

Q. How do I add a micro SD card for timeshift or recording (not 2S model)

• Using a microsd card for timeshift can speed up your box by putting less stress on the USB device. It can also be used for recording, EPG and picon storage.
  
  Insert the micro SD card in the side slot and may see a popup message about no playable files. You can ignore this.
  
  Press the blue button -> Harddisk -> Initialisation -> Select the Micro SD card and intialise it.
  
  Once initialised you can then go and change storage locations such as timeshift
  Menu -> Setup -> Recordings & Timeshift -> Timeshift settings -> Timeshift location. The same applies to Recordings.
  
  Sometimes, depending on the card size, the box ill fail to initialise it. The forum has topics already covering the use and setup for SD cards, including how to do it manually on your computer.
  
  

Q. Is R.O.I Sky Sports channels already on this build

• Yes, they are located in the sports bouquets and are names RoI
  
  By running the WooshBuild Country / Region plugin you will always be up to date* when new channels are available, moved or need renaming. (give me chance to add it though.)
  
  
  

Q. How do I manually set my Record & Timeshift locations

• Menu -> Setup -> Recording & Timeshift -> Recording settings -> Location.
  
  This as a general rule needs to be set to /media/HDD/movie. Even if it says that already, press OK on the location and manually go through the devices and folders to highlight the movie folder on your usb device, then press the green button to select it. (DON'T open the movie folder) then press green again to save.
  
  
  
• Menu -> Setup -> Recording & Timeshift -> Timeshift settings -> Location.
  
  The instructions above apply to timeshift too.