B2 Newbie questions

[LC MusicLover]

Hi:  Just received B2 Monday.  Things are going ... OK.  My Wifi strength is a bit low, -63, but I've got a different dongle to try, and I could move things a bit.  But...

1. Is there a coherent manual anywhere?  Seems like I have to search here, and go to Questions and How-tos on the Brennan site and hope I can find it.  For example, it says to switch to power off the device prior to moving the dongles, but how do you do that?  I see 'Reboot' and 'Standby' in the device menus, but no 'Shut down'. Do you just use the power switch on the back?

2. Why can't I see any of the V-Tuner stuff in the web UI? No Regions, and the search function does nothing.

3. Is there a way to automatically start the NAS every time you turn the B2 on?

4. Is 'Get Libresoft' a one-time thing?  Or do you have to do it each time you start the B2?

5. Generally, do folks turn their devices off when not using?  Standby?  If standby, how do you wake it up?

6. Is copying files to the NAS the quickest way to load a lot of music?  I note that copy rates are quite slow (under 5 Mbps) -- slow ethernet port?

To be clear, I'm not unhappy with the product (I save that for my Hugo2go). Just hoping to get over the 'new user' hump as painlessly (and quickly) as possible.

Thanks (another) Bill

[LC MusicLover]

Also, how do I label this conversation?  Or is that an administrative function?  (And where's the 'dumb newbie questions' label :)

[Daniel Taylor]

You'll definitely want to improve that WiFi signal strength to something better than -50.

1. No manual, other than the website.  But lots of good info on the website.

Power off with the power switch on the back.

3. Once you have established a NAS connection from your computer (or tablet, etc) to the B2, it will be enabled every time you turn on the B2.  When you connect to it, it takes quite awhile for the computer to see what's there.

5. Differring opinions on that.  I don't use my B2 a lot (yet) so I turn it off when not in use.  When it's in standby, most anything will wake it up:  button press, WebUI.

6. NAS is definitely an option for loading music onto the B2.  I'm not sure it it's the fastest way or not.  But if you do it that way, be sure and run the Scan Disk command afterward so the B2 can update its internal list of what's there.

[Fred Waltman]

Welcome! I got my B2 about two week ago so I am not by any means an expert :)

To power off I hold the Play/Stop button until it says "Saving" and then turn it off with the switch on the back. The Saving part is important because there may be updates that are pending and this makes sure everything is ready to turn off.

As for #5 I leave mine on all the time. I believe it goes into Standby mode automatically when there has been no activity for a period of time. This is also when it will compress and CDs you ripped directly Touching any key brings it back to life. Probably doing something from the Web UI will as well.

On #6, you are connecting via WiFi so that can be slow. I am not using the bluetooth dongle so I do bulk transfers via a USB stick and that has worked well for me. I've also done it thru the web UI -- this mostly for one album at a time.

Fred W

(the new Fred, not the Fred that has been here a while)

[LC MusicLover]

Thanks for the responses.  @ Fred -- no, I'm using Ethernet to connect to the NAS -- on my PC, entering the Ethernet IP address in Windows Explorer to open the NAS.

Cheers, (still the other) Bill

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Bill,

1.  There is no manual in one place; all of the information is on the Brennan website or on this forum.

2.  The v-tuner issue is possibly due to your very poor signal level; -63dBm is not going to be reliable.  Every -3dBm improvement is a doubling of the signal strength, and I believe that if your signal is not at  -50dBm or better, then you will have nothing but trouble with your B2.

3.  NAS runs by default on the B2.  It is always on from when it leaves the factory.  Just set up your PC for NAS once and it is there permanently or until you use 'Stop NAS' .

4.  'Get Libresoft' is a one time action, and then is functional until it is manually turned off.

5.  I leave my B powered up all of the time, but I set the 'Screensaver' setting to '16' which causes the screeen to blank out after 5 minutes of non-use, thus preserving the life-span of the display.

6.  The fastest way to transfer music data is to use the USB based 'Import' function.  This will load music data at about 27GB per hour.  NAS is really only usable for large data transfer if you have a Cat5 wired connection from the B2 to your router.  The wired connection on my B2 runs at about 12GB per hour, a good bit slower than the USB transfer.  I would not even try to run this across wireless.

  Also, if you are using a wired Cat5 ethernet connection, then I would remove the wireless dongle from the B2. 

Regards,

Peter.

[LC MusicLover]

Thanks Peter -- interesting about removing the wifi dongle.

As far as moving from a USB drive, the problem is that none of my external drives are formatted 'correctly', so I'd have to re-format a drive, then copy the files to that drive, then copy to the B2.  I doubt the end result would be much faster than watching the files slowly transfer from my NAS to the B2. Luckily, no human intervention needed once the copy is initiated.

I really appreciate the assistance.

[Daniel Taylor]

As I understand it, you can also upload albums through the WebUI.  And in that case, you shouldn't have to run the Scan Disk command afterward.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

If you are going to use USB, then get the B2 to do the formatting of the stick for you and use USB pot A on the B2.

Old Fred :))