If you need to install apps on your legacy TVPad here are the instructions.

1. Download the following file https://mega.nz/#!LAsl0CSI!SLOWXYcLSuL7IHeIicL-H2OrQl7oif9vrFookuGRg9o

For TVPad 1, use this file instead

https://mega.nz/#!eckhRLba!GgbEIy8oMzMEyiox7DLUEC3k6wmM9ut-8iDw3xznPnI

1. Format your USB drive with fat32 partition. (Right click on the drive -> Format)
2. Place the file you downloaded from Step 1 onto the USB
3. Place the app’s pkg file onto the USB
4. Plug into the TVPad, then the installer should pop up
5. You should have two options, use the first option to install the apps on the usb. The second option is to remove all apps
6. Done

NOTE: Majority of the apps for TVPad 1- 3 are still working as of Jan, 3rd, 2016

Changing DNS on TVPad 4

Changing DNS on TVPad 1-3

Seems like we had our domain wrongfully seized. We are working on following up with that. For the meantime, please goto http://tvpadtalk.ca

There was a report on on forum TVPadtalk that TVPad had planned to shutdown the service for TVPad 1-3 commencing January 1st, 2016.

I had a chat with the live support on the official TVPad site and the rep did confirm this.

I don’t think they understand the impact of shutting down their previous devices. As a user of TVPad, we must let this company know.

Let’s organize a email petition and send it to their upper management. Although it may not be worth anything but we still have to let them know.

Feel free to discuss this on the comment under!

See this forum post for further discussion – http://tvpadtalk.ca/index.php?p=/discussion/411/tvpad-set-date-to-disable-all-tvpad1-tvpad2-and-tvpad3-petition-letter-boycott-needed#latest

Rough draft

亲爱的 TVPa​​d 高层管理人员,

我本人对您们的Tvpad 1, Tvpad 2, Tvpad 3 关闭计划很不满意.

本人是一个Tvpad 的忠实用户. 但是经过这事以后我拒绝和抵制TVPad. 我将会告诉我的朋友停止购买TVPad

请重新考虑您的关闭计划
Tvpad 忠实用户上

Translation:

Dear TVPAd upper management,

I am not satisfy with your plan of shutting down TVPad 1, 2 ,3.

I am a loyal user of TVPad, but after this incident I will stop using and boycott TVPad. I will tell me friend to stop buying TVPad

Please reconsider your plan.

Sincerely Loyal TVPad User

Translation:

Dear reseller,

Because of TVPad 1,2,3 hardware cannot support our upgrade, due to that reason we can no longer support the regular usage. Because of this we will create a pop up suggesting users to upgrade to TVPad 4

The window will say:

Dear user: TVPad will upgrade the backend system, because of the hardware requirement of this upgrade your TVPad cannot support it. Your device will be shutdown on 2016, Jan, 1st. To ensure the normal operations, we recommend you to upgrade to TVpad. You can enter your old MAC address on our official site to get a discount on TVPad4.

The window will pop up starting at Dec, 21, to match up with our upgrade promotion.
Due to this, please be prepare. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Edit (Jan, 16, 2016): At the present time we do not recommend the UBox as a TVPad replacement due to stability issues with the streams and other customer service issues.

With the recent outage of TVPad, people are looking for a reliable alternative to TVPad. The Unblocktech box packs a powerful specs wise compare to TVPad but is it enough to dethrone the king? Lets find out.

Presentation

The unit is packaged nicely. The overall un-boxing experiencing feels pleasant. Everything is packed very tightly and nothing feels cheap from the moment you opened the package. I would say the presentation rival if not better than the TVPad4 experience.

The unit itself is about 25% bigger than TVPad 4. Comes in a clean white colored casing, nothing too special jump out on the design. However I’m definitely not a fan of the red LED/IR receiver at the front of the box. Overall nothing to complain about.

The package comes with

• warranty card
• instruction manual
• power supply
• the unit itself
• hdmi cable
• AV cable

 Starting up

Everything is plug and play as an Android box should. Most people shouldn’t have issue hooking this unit up. The back of the unit is nicely lineup, nothing cluttered.

Performance

The box boots up quick. Way faster than a TVPad. Once booted everything is feels snappy. No real complain here. However will need to note the remote is like any android box and need direct line-of-sight for it to properly register a function. If you are used to a TVPad remote the no problem.

Content, Content, Content GALORE!

This is obviously the most important factor, so lets get into it.

WOW! It’s my first reaction when started the Live channels. The bundled live TV app is impressive none the less. At the time of this review (Dec, 17, 2015) the default Live TV app has 92 (12 channels per page) pages of channels! Yes you heard it right. 92 pages of channel (1100 Channels)! If you are a content whore, this alone is well worth the price of admission. There are obviously some channels that don’t work but those are far in between and some repeated channels but nothing major to nitpick about.

Here is a breakdown of each category

Cantonese – 3 Pages

Taiwan – 7 Pages

Mainland – 7 Pages

Sports – 6 Pages

Movies – 4 Pages

Reality – 3 Pages

Kids – 2 Pages

News – 4 Pages

Japanese – 4 Pages

Indian – 13 Pages

Korean – 6 Pages

Italian – 2 Pages

Vietnamese (Beta, none of the channels I tested worked) – 6 Pages

Malaysia – 6 Pages

Arabic – 27 Pages

The absent of European and North American channels is noticeable. So if you are looking for primarily English content you need to look somewhere else.

For the HKers, the standard affair of TVB, TVB HD, J2, Peral, TVB News, ATV, ATV HD are all there. A nice addition is the HKTV Live channel. The quality is good, comparable to TVPad streams.

The channel lineup is none the less impressive. A lot of channel resembles of SunRay/Season TV.

The device is perfect for the people who need a box to watch live Japanese / Korean TV.

Video on Demand

For those people who can’t always catch live streams, VoD is definitely one of the top priority on a lot of people’s list. And this is where I feel the UB box is a BIG let down.

Out of the box, the unit doesn’t have any VoD app installed. You would need to get into the UB app store and get one installed. Although not a particular hard task, I still rather have the necessity installed.

I have installed this particular app call “Drama”. This app ensembles the “Hong Kong Fast Watch” VoD app on the TVPad. This app contains different recorded shows on TVB in different category. Such as drama, variety, kids, animation, news, sports. When playing a show, it gives you the 4 quality of playback options; Smooth, SD, HD, 1080P. HOWEVER… I could not get any show to play! Tried all the quality options. NOTHING WORKED.

For the Mandarin speakers, there are a few apps to download for VoD. Unfortunately I don’t follow the Mainland stuff, so I didn’t really play with it.

For the Japanese and Korean content seekers. There is one option here. This app can be installed from the UB store. I played around with the app a bit and it there are a bit of content in there. Although it’s worth noting that this app takes content from public sources like DailyMotion for example. With that in mind, I don’t feel the content available in this app is reliable. However I’m happy to say that all the content that I tried playing with this app worked.

Timeshift & Replays

Unfortunately this is where the UB Box lacks. There isn’t any native Timeshift app (For Cantonese at least), so if you are user of that feature on TVPad. You are out of luck here.

Edit: The Reply app will continue onto the next show if no other is selected. So that does compensate for the lack of Timeshift!

Fortunately there is a 7 Days reply on both Cantonese and Mandarin Channels. They do work as advertised, the interface similar to TVPad’s but is a little harder to navigate.

Conclusion

The UB Box Gen 2 definitely does what it advertised to do and it does do it well… well to some degree.

The device is perfect for cord cutters who would like to watch Asian contents occasionally.

As for a device that serve as a primary Asian viewing device, there are some caveats.

1. Some vital app doesn’t work, for example the Cantonese VoD app
2. Some channels don’t work (not too many but I have noticed a couple while surfing)
3. Since the Box is Android based, the interface can be AND will be hard to navigate for many. (especially for elders). This is the major one for me.
4. No timeshift (Major for some people) Replay app will continue to play

With the recent demise of TVPad, a whole lot of us is seeking for a reliable replacement. At this price point (I bought one for $114 from Aliexpress) it’s not a tough decision to make. Since it does do majority of the things well.

With that said, this device is definitely not a direct replacement for a TVPad. Reason being (at least for me) is TVPad was designed to be easy to use and navigate, similar to a Apple ATV. With Android OS in the mix, the UB box definitely would be prone to some problems. Whether it be configuration or an app just stop working. This is also an apparent problem with Moonbox.

With the future of TVPad up in the air, finding a replacement is a must for a lot of sons and daughters. The UB Box Gen 2 is a good cheap alternative (not a replacement) for TVPad. I hope that Unblocktech could make the interface for this box a little easier to navigate, or at least design a Easy Mode GUI that is geared towards elderly. Let’s face it, our parents don’t need more than 5 apps…

Photos taken with BlackBerry Priv
Video taken with XiaoMi Yi Camera

The news had broke that TVPad will be shutting down service for all previous generations of TVPad (See this topic – http://tvpadtalk.ca/index.php?p=/discussion/411/tvpad-set-date-to-disable-all-tvpad1-tvpad2-and-tvpad3-petition-letter-boycott-needed#latest) . Many of us who have these old versions of TVPad are forced to upgrade to TVPad 4 due to this.

We need to tell the management of TVPad that this is not acceptable and we will no longer support your company if this goes through.

Please join the action of many other TVPad owners and send them an email on your thoughts.

The link below contains a Chinese complain letter, it also contain the email address you can send it to. Make sure you BCC to all 4 email addresses!

http://tvpadtalk.ca/index.php?p=/discussion/446/action-day-tvpad-users-please-act#latest

P.S. – You don’t need to send the English translated letter!

Don’t throw away your TVPad 1 just yet ! Thanks to Phantoman’s TVPad 1 firmware fix, the dead TVPad 1’s are now back to life.

Edit: Phantoman have now released a easy to use greenman fix method !

Bundling with the paid DNS solution, you can get majority of the apps back online!

See more information at this thread.

http://tvpadtalk.ca/discussion/484/how-to-permanently-activate-the-green-man-on-tvpad1

There has been a few questions asked on our forum about how to setup the box on first use. Here is a quick start guide.

1. Goto the UB Market and look for this icon 
2. Install it and run it. This is a one click installer which will install all the Video apps for you. One the installer screen you will be able to select what to install, just select all.

Getting VOD (Cantonese/Chinese/Korean/Western)

1. Look for this icon  and open
2. Once it’s loaded click on the following 
3. On the next screen you will be able to find the different categories at the top 

Disclaimer: This demo unit was provided to me from HTV without charge.

I can’t speak on how well HTV1 or HTV2 work, but the HTV3 I’ve been testing had impressed me… A LOT!. HTV is bringing serious heat to the Chinese IPTV market. Here is the full review of the HTV3 IPTV Box from HTV.

Quick video overview at the bottom

Presentation

From the moment I unwrapped the DHL packaging I was immediately wowed by this product. The packaging for the HTV3 is definitely one of the better packaging I have seen from a Chinese company. It doesn’t feel cheap like most Chinese Android boxes, it has a solid Premium feel to it. 

The top flap is secured by a magnet, while the unit is placed in a foam “cradle” on the top level. The power adapter/remote at the 2nd level and the power/HDMI cable at the basement. All the components are tightly packed, you could tell they have spend time designing the packaging. I know this may not matter to a lot of people but to me this shows the company is taking the extra steps to bring a better customer experience.

Package Contents

• HTV3
• Power adapter
• microUSB cable
• Flat HDMI cable (a VERY NICE suprise)
• Remote (No battery tho)
• Warranty Card

Unit Layout

All the essential ports (Power, HDMI, AV, Ethernet) are at the back. While there are a microSD and 2 USB ports at the right side of the unit. Nothing too different than other boxes. 

Booting up the HTV3’s

You may wonder why there is a microUSB included in the package and initially I don’t either. Until when I began to plug in the HTV3, then I quickly realized the USB cable is to power the unit. Yes, the microUSB cable is for powering up the unit!!! I don’t know why more Android box manufacturers (TVPad/Unblock) don’t do this. By using a USB powered option they are saving a lot of headaches for owners who may need a new power adapter. A nice touch and a pleasant surprise none the less.

Upon powering on the unit the “Home” logo on top of the unit and the blue LED at the front will light up in blue.
This “Home” Logo does serve a useful purpose to my surprise again! Whenever the HTV3 loses internet connection the logo will change to a red colour. This is mightily useful for helping elderly parents to troubleshoot and I LOVE this. Anybody who bought a TVPad for a parent will know the struggle when it comes to troubleshooting. 

Once the unit has been booted up, you are prompted by a language (8 languages) and a GUI (Graphical User Interface) selection (2 Selection: Colorful and Classic Mode). The Colorful mode resembles the TVPad 4 interface while the classic mode is a lot like the TVPad 1 – 3 interface. I chose the classic mode as everything is nicely organized by; Live Channel, Vod, Playback. The interface HTV3 provides definitely solved the complain I had with the UB Box. Having an easy to use interface is definitely another plus for elderly users. 

Using it; a overly positive experience

Let’s get to the meat and potatoes (or rice in this case :D).

On the initial startup, there isn’t any apps included with the unit. Everything can be easily downloaded using the HTV app market like the UB box. The apps do install quickly and there isn’t the annoying android app installer confirmation you would see on the UB Box. The app installation experience is similar to what you would see on a TVPad 4; a complete Click and play experience.

All the standard Live TV affair (Cantonese, Main land, Taiwan) is here so I’m not gonna go too much into it. In the main Chinese app (with Mainland + Cantonese “ChineseTV”) there are 130 streams. The Taiwan app (TaiMinTV) has 37 streams. It worth noting that the available live stream on this unit is reliable and smooth. A lot more reliable than the UB Box stream and better quality than TVPad 4’s streams overall.

For those who is looking for Vietnamese live streams, they are here (12 streams). Unfortunately both Japanese and Korean live streams are absent here. (See bottom for further details)

As for Vod (Video on Demand) everything is here once again. Korean & Japanese dramas are available in Cantonese dubbed (TVB aired) as well as the latest releases in their original languages with Chinese subtitles.

One feature parents will like with the HTV3 is the Cantonese cartoons/anime/movies for kids that’s available in the Vod app.

There are a few standard English channels such as CNN, FX, HBO, BBC, Discovery, NG. Not enough to compare to the UB Box.

Some caveats about the VoD is that some of the older shows (not actively in circulation) don’t work. All the recent ones loads no problem.

Timeshift & Replay

Timeshift is absent from HTV3 similar to UB UBox. However Replay for both Cantonese and Mainland is available.

Edit: The Reply app will continue onto the next show if no other is selected. So that does compensate for the lack of Timeshift!

The Cantonese replay app is the exact same app that UB box uses. While the Mainland app (WonderfulPlayback) is different than the one UB uses, although they do achieve the same result.

Complains

Here are a complains that people that brought up in the forums

1. The remote is overly sensitive (I didn’t find this to be the case. I found the remote to be quick responsive.)
2. No responses from support ticket (I couldn’t confirm this but I brought this up with the HTV rep. I will update this post in a little bit)
3. Vod will skip a minute every 15 minutes or so (I was able to replicate this on a movie) Update: They are currently working on a fix and will be released within 1-2 weeks*

The Verdict

I know this review may sound a lot like an advertisement for the HTV3 but it really isn’t. In my opinion the HTV3 is currently the best box available for Chinese viewers. There hasn’t been enough quirk that I could start complaining about this box.

For the Chinese viewers who are looking to replace their TVPad. The HTV3 is a no brainer. It is easy to use like TVPad and it can do everything a TVPad does but a bit better (except for timeshift). Both unit retails for $299USD (If you plan on buying the HTV3, use my exclusive coupon “padmanfriends” and save $60  + Free SHIPPING!) @ http://www.htvbox.com/

For the Japanese/Korean viewers you will have to make some tough decisions to make. Currently the only box I have seen with live Japanese/Korean streams is the UB box. Although the VoD on the UB box is a bit wonky. As for sticking with TVPad… That’s really a decision you need to make yourself. I personally am boycotting TVPad until they can give us some sort of answer. As a TVPad user, I’m pretty upset at how they have stayed quiet. 

With the TVPad’s future up in air, users like us (purchase for elderly parents) need another stable solution and we need it quick since TVPad is scheduled to shut down their legacy devices anytime from now. HTV3 is a solid replacement and not just a substitute for TVPad.

Forum Discussion @ http://tvpadtalk.ca/discussion/516/htv3-review-now-up-60-off-free-ship-coupon

Here’s a few things that I didn’t bring up in main review that I also liked about this box

1. Good reception on the remote; I didn’t have place myself right in front of the unit directly. During the writing of this review I’m sitting probably about 4 feet away and about 25 degrees from the unit and the remote presses still registered. I couldn’t do this with either TVPad or UB
2. The remote does give a “click” feedback similar to the TVPad 4 remote.

   Where I am positioned

3. Apps and streams do load up quickly

Photos taken with BlackBerry Priv
Video taken with XiaoMi Yi Camera
Audio with Tascam DR-05

Just a short mini review of this new app.

• Dramas now work!
• Have Cantonese dubbed Korean/Japanese shows
• Have Korean/Japanese shows in their languages with sub
• Have movies
• Have mainland Chinese stuff
• Free!
• Loads pretty quick. FF/RW works
• Adult content (Password: 1818)

• Old dramas often don’t load
• Limited selection

A representative from HTV had confirmed to me that a new VOD app will be released in 4-5 days to fix the skipping issue when using it for 15+ minutes.

The app will automatically update itself when it launches itself.

Over the last few days the main Cantonese app (not yuetv) on TVPad 4 seems to be only semi-functional. Is yours experiencing the same thing ? Share your findings.

Forum Link

If you are getting the 4120 L error on your TVPad 4 then the remedy is to update your Cantonese App.

To do that you must go into the TVPad Store and update it that way.

Thanks to one of our forum member (killer23d) at TVPadtalk.ca, we now have a method to factory restore (soft unbrick) the Ubox 2. If your Ubox is dead due to the app updates that has been ongoing for the last few days then this is the fix you need. It will bring everything back to stock.

S800 uses an Allwinner H3 CPU, thus any tools designed fro Allwinner such as the Orange Pi will be quite compatible to it.

This is the Baidu Pan from UB FB page http://pan.baidu.com/share/home?uk=2654569005#category/type=0

I downloaded the S800-160127-s.img because it is consistent with the file naming structure from the support requests on their FB page. https://www.facebook.com/hkunblocktech/?fref=nf

The next tool is Phoenixcard, it is a utility to burn the IMG to a Micro SD card. The SD card will be needed to re-write the firmware to the box. I ran the Phoenixcard tool, selected the drive letter, chose the IMG file, clicked on the “Product” radio button and “BURN”. The SD card was burned within 5 minutes.

This is the steps I took to write the firmware:
– Unplug the power cable
– Insert Micro SD card
– Plug the power cable
– Watch the progress bar on the TV until “Card OK” shown and box shuts down
– Unplug the power cable
– Plug the power cable

For information regarding this restore process, see this link http://tvpadtalk.ca/discussion/668/restore-factory-image-for-s800-to-20160126-for-the-experienced

If your Moonbox M3S refuses to boot up properly, you can try the following steps to factory reset your unit.

1. Unplug all cables from your box
2. Insert a needle or paper clip into the update/reset button (bottom of the unit) and HOLD
3. Plug in the HDMI cable first then the power cord
4. While holding on to the update button the screen will go blank then the Android boot screen would appear. Once you see the Android screen release the update button
5. Select Erase/Wipe data
6. Once completed, select Reboot to start your box. (DON’T FORGET TO PLUG IN YOUR LAN CABLE) when restarting your box

The new Hong Kong channel Viu TV is now available on both HTV3 and UBTV. Have yet to see it on the TVPad channel listing yet.

Edit: now on TVPad 4 as well

Check it out!

A forum member had reported that there is now TVB Anywhere banner appearing on their TVpad.

There is now a free trial avaiable for TVPad 4 users for a limited time.

For more information, see this forum link

It appears TVPad has release a new IPTV box called the StarTV box. The interface looks quite familiar with TVPad4’s

Any reviews ?

Thanks to our new sponsors htv-box.com & cntvpad.com, they have provided our readers with a $15 off coupon. Not to mention they also offer free worldwide shipping by DHL !

For TVPAD 4 -> http://tvpadtalk.ca/discussion/777/coupons

For HTV3 -> http://tvpadtalk.ca/discussion/778/coupons

I have a few forum members asking me how to watch their TVPad remotely or on another screen. So here it is.

Depending on your budget there will be 1-2 extra component you will need for remote viewing.

1. Video streamer (Video reboradcaster)
2. HDMI to component converter **Not required if your video streamer have a HDMI input/output

Poorman setup

For the poorman’s setup, you will need a streamer with at least a component input/output.  The media box (TVpad,HTV,Moonbox,Ubox) HDMI signal will go into the HDMI-Component converter. The component output will then be connected to the video streamer (Slingbox,Vulkano) componnet input. The output of the video streamer will then be connected to the component of the TV.

Richman setup

If you have extra money and you want to spend on this setup, you will need to buy a streamer with a HDMI input/output. The only box I know that have such option is the Slingbox 500. For this setup the media box HDMI signal will go directly to the video streamer, then the HDMI output for the video streamer will go to the TV HDMI.

Local Viewing

Once everything is connected (including the network connection) you should be able to connect and watch live with the app for the video streamer you are using. No router configuration is necessary

Remote Viewing

If you want to watch remotely (outside of your network) then you will need to open the port for your router to forward to your video streamer.

Slingbox port: 5001

Vulkano: 56123

Once the port has been forwarded properly to your video streamer, you should be able to connect to your home network’s external IP and it’s associated port for your streamer

To find your external IP, you can go on http://www.ipchicken.com/

If you are not familiar on your router’s port forward setup, you can goto http://portforward.com to get help

Software Files

Vulkano computer software- http://www.monsoonmultimedia.com/support_downloads.html

Vulkano Android App- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.monsoon.paidandroidplayer

Vulkano iOS App- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vulkano-player-for-flow-blast/id416187972?mt=8&uo=4&at=11l6hc&ct=fnd

Slingbox Browser viewing- http://newwatch.slingbox.com/

Slingplayer Android phone Free (Slingbox 500, Slingbox M2, Slingbox M1, SLINGBOX 500, SLINGBOX 350, SLINGBOX PRO-HD, SLINGBOX SOLO) – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.slingmedia.slingPlayerFreeApp

Slingplayer Android tablet Free (Slingbox 500, Slingbox M2, Slingbox M1, SLINGBOX 500, SLINGBOX 350, SLINGBOX PRO-HD, SLINGBOX SOLO)- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.slingmedia.slingPlayerTabletFreeApp

Slingplayer iPhone- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/slingplayer-for-iphone/id309280605?mt=8&uo=4&at=11l6hc&ct=fnd

Slingplayer iPad- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/slingplayer-for-ipad/id405564910?mt=8&uo=4&at=11l6hc&ct=fnd

Slingplayer (for older slingboxes) – Windows http://download.slingmedia.com/player/pc/SlingPlayer_2.0.4522_Setup-Global.exe

Mac http://download.slingmedia.com/player/mac/SlingPlayer-1.0.10.dmg

Slingbox IR Blaster File- https://mega.nz/#!ScUD0RYb!h6GiSpmNlrCX1hoTG3_R01Q5EcfckFIDR3C-2Acn8Dc

Parts

This tutorial will teach you how to watch your TVPad, HTV3, Moonbox, Ubox remotely on an Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Mac computer.
Network Rebroadcast Device (Video Streamer)
———————————————-
Slingbox 350 $64.9 @ Amazon (NO HDMI-Require HDMI converter) – http://tvpadtalk.ca/slingbox-350
Vulkano Flow $99 @ Amazon (No HDMI- Require HDMI converter) – http://tvpadtalk.ca/vulkano-flow
Slingbox M2 $139.44 @ Amazon (NO HDMI- Require HDMI converter) – http://tvpadtalk.ca/slingbox-m2
Sliingbox 500 (Refurbished) $169.99 @ Amazon (With HDMI) – http://tvpadtalk.ca/slingbox-500-refurb
Sliingbox 500 $230 @ Amazon (With HDMI) – http://tvpadtalk.ca/slingbox-500

HDMI to Component Converter $25.50 @ amazon – http://tvpadtalk.ca/hdmi-converter

Forums Link: http://tvpadtalk.ca/discussion/803/tutorial-how-to-watch-tvpad-htv-moonbox-ubox-on-your-android-ios-computer