This guide will take you through the every day usage of the IceBox.
Table of Contents
- Using the TV Section of the IceBox
- Home TV Settings
- TV Settings on the IceBox
- Using the IceBox
- Software Updates
- Technical Questions and Nerdy Stuff
- Teach yourself
Using the TV Section of the IceBox
Channels
Kodi - Down to “TV” then “Channels”. A list of all scanned in channels will be present. These channels will match the channels you had activated in your IceTV account - "Guide Setting".
Left arrow for “Options”. Various options are present which are shortcuts to various choices as listed below. Simply needs exploring.
Guide
Kodi - Down to “TV” then “Guide”.
Scrolling up through the Guide to the top row enables the guide to be sorted to view just one Network group. "TV Channels" are your complete IceTV - "Guide Settings" ones.
To sort the guide channels into alphabetical order press the left scroll button of the remote until the EPG runs all the way back to its beginning at which point a sort menu will appear so you can sort by name etc.
Timers
Kodi - Down to “TV and across to “Timers”.
“Timers” lists all upcoming recordings and enables options such as varying padding time for a specific airing (good for tennis that may run very late!!).
To sort timers see the bottom left "left arrow/half cog" icon beside "Options". The left arrow means press the left button and the half cog means a setup menu. Press the left scroll button of the remote and a sort menu will appear the same at the one for the guide enabling the timers to be displayed in the order you choose. That option is available for "Channels" too.
Search
Kodi - Down to “TV”, across to “Search”.
Recording Preferences
All recordings set on the IceBox currently have a padding default of -3 and +30. This can be adjusted in the IceTV plugin.
Go to "Add-ons" on the home screen and go to the right and select the big IceTV button.
Select this and you will see the options for "Pre-Padding" and "Post-Padding", if you select and change these two values then go to the right and select the "OK" button on the right they will be applied.
Home TV Settings
Firstly disable any setting on your TV, usually under "Picture" or similar, that says:
- Frame interpolation
- Video interpolation
- Motion smoothing
- Motion plus
- Smooth motion
- Enhanced motion
- TruMotion (LG)
- Auto Motion Plus (Samsung)
- Motionflow (Sony)
These are settings to interpolate between frames to give a fake representation of a true smooth image and can cause judder/jitter in replay. Your TV may allow the "feature" to be disabled on the specific HDMI port used by your IceBox or it may simply be across all inputs. Either way it is commonly considered to be a nuisance (a Google search will answer any questions).
When the TV setting is disabled switch the TV off, wait a few seconds then on again.
TV Settings on the IceBox
NOTE: The IceTV Setup Wizard will set all these for you however occasionally the TV interaction with the IceBox via the HDMI cable can change them so in case they are needed for reference:
Kodi "Cog", then "System", then down that menu and set user to "Expert", then "Display" and choose "Resolution" = 1920 x 1080p and "Refresh Rate" = 50.00.
Note: If a 4K TV is used and the IceBox is rebooted for any reason these settings should be rechecked as the TV connection can change them. If so set them back to as above.
In "System" go down one to Audio.
In "Audio" press "OK and you should see your TV listed, choose it for the audio output. It will be confirmed if you can hear the "click" from your remote. If your TV is not listed work through the choices until you hear the "click".
Kodi "Cog, " then "Player".
"Videos, then set "Adjust display refresh" rate to "Always".
Finally down to "Processing" at the bottom of the Video main screen and check "Use MPEG-2 VAAI" which should be set it to "On". This improves the picture quality for SD channel recording.
Using the IceBox
Setting Recordings
Recordings can be set by either the IceTV app, website or on the IceBox Guide itself. Recordings set but not yet recording will show as a "tick" in the lower left corner of the Guide (EPG) or in the "Timer" list. Recordings currently recording show as a red dot.
NOTE: Recordings set on the IceBox Guide itself do not yet synchronise with IceTV so will not show up on your IceTV account website or app. They will show on the IceBox Guide or Timer list as described above.
View Recordings
Kodi - Down to “TV”, across, choose “Recordings”.
A list of your current and completed recordings are listed here.
SHORTCUT - press the “IceTV" logo on the remote to go straight to the list.
To play recording - choose from the list which will be a folder with number of episodes if a series is present. Press "OK". Press “Pause/Start” and "Stop” as usual.
Sort Recordings
Note the symbol above at the bottom left - "Options" - "Half a cog" and "Half a left arrow" combined. This means press the left arrow on the remote and the sort choices will appear. The same method applies to "Channels" and "Timers". For the EPG press the left arrow until the EPG scrolls to its end when the sort choices will appear.
Delete Recording
Highlight the choice and on the remote press , scroll to "Delete", (plus other choices will pop up).
Skip Adverts on Replay
Kodi System “Cog” - choose “Player”.
Choose "Videos".
Choose “Skip Steps" which can be +/- 10sec, 30sec, 60sec, 3min, 10min, 30min.
Blue is “On”, white is “Off”. Choose the list and it will appear vertically, then by scrolling the list one can choose which to remove by pressing “OK” for off or on.
Skip Delay is the time period between each right (forward) or left (back) arrow press.
For example a single press on the right arrow gives a 10 second skip, two quick presses give a 30 second skip, three quick presses give 60 seconds and so on. On the example shown above 30 seconds and 60 seconds have been disabled hence are in "white", so one press for 10 seconds, two quick ones for 3 minutes. The same applies going backward with the left arrow. The Skip Delay defines the "quickness" of the button presses.
Depends on your individual preference.
The up and down arrows give +10 or -10 minute skips. These may be re-configured if possible to give an option of fast forward or back at later updates.
Automatic Commercial Skip Usage and Settings
The IceBox has automatic commercial detection. The process runs after a recording has finished and on average it takes about 20 mins to process a 1 hour recording, however only 1 recording is processed at the same time so it might take longer if more than 1 recording finishes at the same time.
When commercial's have been detected the IceBox will automatically jump past them with a notice on the screen that it's jumped a commercial. If this was incorrect you can skip back into that skipped part of the programme.
You can see the detected commercials on the playback screen as such:
or
If you don't wish to use AutoSkip you can disable it by going into the IceTV settings by going down to "Add-ons" on the home screen of the IceBox.
Then pressing right to get to the IceTV logo icon and pressing the "OK" button on the remote control to select it
Then you will see the IceTV settings screen, where you can disable "Automatic Commercial Detection"
Then go right to the OK button and then press the "OK" button on the remote control
Screen Saver
This dims or blacks the TV screen to save any burn through.
Kodi setting "Cog" - choose "Interface".
Choose "Screensaver".
"OK" to choose Screensaver mode".
"OK" and down to your choice". Please NOTE "Get more" on the right. Choose that and other screensaver options can be selected such as "Google Earth".
Down to your "Wait Time" (when screensaver comes on) Then back arrow to get back to the main screen.
Power Saving
Kodi "Cog", then "System" and down to "Power Saving". Choose a suitable time to put the display to sleep when idle.
Enabling Subtitles on Playback
To enable subtitles for a particular recording you can:
Start watching the show then press the "OK" button on the remote control.
Go across to the "Subtitles" option along the menu at the bottom of the screen (it's the second last option) and select it by pressing the "OK" button on the remote control.
Change the setting to on for "Enable subtitles".
Go across to the "Close" button on the right of the window, then press the "OK" button on the remote control.
Software Updates
Software updates happen automatically in the background.
Technical Questions and Nerdy Stuff
Look around as there are many options and sometimes different ways in. See Kodi Settings “Cog” and look around - ie - Interface -choose different skins etc.
Unnecessary menu items can be removed by highlighting any one and the option appears in the centre of the TV screen. NOTE - please don't delete "TV" as it is the menu for all IceTV services, recordings etc.
"TV Shows" and "Movies" are for content viewed via the IceBox, either imported or, to save hard drive space, via an external drive or NAS etc. including recordings exported from other home PVRs.
Please use our IceTV forum page for all technical questions that our experienced users can answer.
https://forum.icetv.com.au/iceforum/
See "IceTV IceBox"
Teach yourself
Use the Kodi Wiki - https://kodi.wiki/view/Main_Page
Use the Kodi forum - https://forum.kodi.tv
Use the LibreELEC forum - https://forum.libreelec.tv