I tried it with a retired Huawei Joy Box, and found that there are only three methods that are really useful.

Last month, a telecom technician came to my home to replace a 4K IPTV box. The Huawei Joy Box EC6108 that was replaced had been in service in the TV cabinet for seven years and was officially retired. The master said before leaving, "There is no need to return this one," so I dared to let go and toss with it. This weekend I tried all the possible paths, and I will put my conclusions first.: There are only three roads that are really useful, and one of them can only be considered half a road.

Distinguish before taking action: Who does this box belong to?

This step is more important than the tossing itself. The property rights of the set-top boxes that are "given for free" when the operator installs broadband basically belong to the operator. They are loaned to you for use, not given away. Last year, I accompanied my mother-in-law to cancel the telecommunications broadband service. , the master will take back the time cat and the set-top box after acceptance. If one is missing, the original price will be paid, and the set-top box will be compensated around 200.

How to judge? Look at the sticker on the fuselage.: Those with the words "China Telecom", "China Mobile" and "China Unicom" printed with the SN code are centralized purchasing and customization machines. The property rights of the Tmall Magic Box, Xiaomi Box, and Dangbei Box you bought yourself are yours, so you can do whatever you want.

I was able to keep my Yuehe because the rules in some areas stipulate that the equipment belongs to the user after a certain number of years. The master made it clear that there was no need to return it, so I dared to do it. If you are unsure, calling the 10,000 number and asking before logging out is better than digging through the trash to find the box afterwards.

There is also a little lesson I learned from my mother-in-law’s trip.: When the master receives the equipment, he checks the SN code on the sticker according to the work order. One code is assigned to each unit, so it is not enough to just hand over a box. So even if it is definitely yours, it is recommended to put it in a drawer and put it in a fixed place. Don’t tear off the sticker on the body. If the policy changes one day, you need to check it. If you can find it and the code is correct, you will save yourself a trip to the business hall.

first road: Move to the bedroom and watch IPTV, the most practical thing is zero cost

Many people think that the box and the TV are tied one to one, but this is not the case. The IPTV box is bound to broadband lines and IPTV services, and has nothing to do with which TV is used. After my house got a new box, I moved the old Joy Box to the bedroom to connect it to the old TV. I had an HDMI cable and a network cable. When I turned it on, I entered the live broadcast list and could watch all the channels correctly.

What's really annoying is that there is no IPTV port in the bedroom. IPTV uses a dedicated port of the optical modem or a separate VLAN. If you just plug in a network port, the screen will probably be black. Two solutions: one is IPTV and broadband single line multiplexing , define VLAN on the switch, one line and two signals ； The other is a router with built-in IPTV function, such as The IPTV switch in the advanced settings of Xiaomi router , fill in the VLAN, and any LAN port can feed the box. My home optical modem changed the bridging, and the IPTV VLAN was in accordance with the The article about saving IPTV after changing the bridge connection I copied it down, so it lights up when the network port in the bedroom is plugged in.

Two pitfalls not to step on are mentioned in front. First, don’t count on wireless. Most carrier boxes lock the path to wireless connection to IPTV, and the official does not provide wireless technical support. Hard connection can cause lags in the slightest and can’t switch to the channel in severe cases. ； Second, don't move the box to another broadband, such as moving it to a rental house and plugging in someone else's network cable. The IPTV account is bound to the broadband, so you can't just plug it in and watch. Moving boxes across broadband requires meeting three conditions:: My new home is still ordering broadband and IPTV services from the same operator. I called the 10,000 number to change the binding relationship of the set-top box to the new broadband name. It is useless without either one. If you find it troublesome, it would be easier if you use a soft terminal directly in the rental house or use a mobile phone to project the screen. I'm here The article about watching IPTV on two TVs Alternate routes have been written about.

second way: Insert a USB flash drive as a local player, the second spring of old TV

Boxes such as Yue Box are equipped with Android 4.4, which comes with file management and media center. It can be recognized directly when the USB flash drive is plugged in. I copied a bunch of files and tested them: You can easily drag the progress bar on 1080P movies, and you can also play 4K H.265 demo movies - HiSilicon Hi3798M quad-core 1.5GHz chip comes with hard decoding, which was what it was used for back then, and it is stronger than the decoding capabilities of many old TVs.

But there are three pitfalls that you need to know first. First, the remote control is very slow to turn through files. There are more than 200 files in the USB disk, and it is difficult to turn the pages. It is best to organize the directories into one layer on the computer in advance, instead of nesting dolls. Second, the plug-in subtitles only recognize the srt format with the same name as the video, but not the ass special effects subtitles. The subtitle encoding must be saved in UTF-8, otherwise the Chinese characters will be question marks. Third, if you connect an old TV without an HDMI port, the AV three-color cable will only have 480P, which is fine for watching cartoons or movies.

Who is this path suitable for? It is most suitable for those with elderly and children at home. Copy a batch of cartoons for your children, which are not connected to the Internet, are not afraid of messing up, and can be played with just a click of the remote control. It is much more refreshing than starting a smart TV with a bunch of advertisements and entrances. If your TV itself is a smart TV and the built-in player can still be used, there is no need to go through this detour. The article about TV connecting to the Internet For the old 100-megabit TV I mentioned, using a box to hard-wire it is a way to make up for the shortcomings.

I jotted down a set of numbers during the actual measurement.: A 3840×2160 H.265 demo video with a bit rate of more than 30 megabits per second. The progress bar of Yuebox was dragging without any lag or screen lag. The body was only warm after being played for 40 minutes. But after all, it only has 1G of memory. Pressing the home button during playback to exit and then reenter requires reloading for more than ten seconds. When a full-time player is fine, it will show its cowardice when multitasking.

The third one counts as half: Install third-party apps, you can do it but don’t follow the tutorials

Want to turn your old box into a serious Android box and install apps like Dangbei Desktop and TV Home? It's a good idea. The carrier-customized version basically locks the USB installation. The "Unknown Source" item in the settings is gray and there is no response when I click it. The mainstream method of online tutorials is to enter the operation and maintenance menu to open ADB debugging, and then use the assistant software on the computer to push the installation package. The entrance password and steps are different for each model. ZTE uses one method and Skyworth uses another method. There is no such thing as a universal tutorial.

I don't recommend that most people go this route, for two reasons. First, this kind of cracking state is not reliable. After the box is connected to the Internet, the firmware is pushed and upgraded in the middle of the night, and the hole may be locked back, which is a waste of time. ； The second is that the box was bricked due to hard use. It was only on the day I canceled the broadband that I remembered that I had to pay it back. The money I lost was enough to buy two new ones. Coupled with 1G of memory and Android 4.4, installing Dangbei Launcher is just like that. It takes more than 40 seconds to boot, and the slider still freezes.

I really want an Android box that can be used to install apps at will. A second-hand Xiaomi box or Dangbei box for 100 yuan is much less troublesome than messing with this one. This half of the road is reserved for those who have itchy hands and are sure that the box belongs to them.

The electricity bill is bigger than you think

Do some math before deciding to keep the box. Previously, I used metering sockets to test the devices in my home one by one. , the set-top box has 15 watts in standby mode, which is almost the same as the 14 watts in boot mode. Turning off the remote control only turns off the picture output, and the motherboard is still at full capacity. It was this Yuehe that was tested this time.

If the 15-watt unit is turned on all day long, it will consume 131 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, which costs around 70 yuan. If it is looked at every day in the bedroom, it will be money well spent. ； If it's stuffed in a drawer and left to collect dust while still plugged in, that's a total loss. So the conclusion is simple: Plug it in when in use and unplug it when not in use, or equip it with a power strip with a switch to cut off power with one click.

ending: Take your seats and proceed in this order

After finishing the above path, you just need to check which path you should take for the one you have.

The processing sequence is as follows:: First call to confirm who owns the box. Once the ownership is clear, move to a room and try IPTV. If you can't try it, you can step back and use it as a USB flash drive player. If you can't unplug it and put it in a drawer. This set of ideas is similar to what I wrote before Old mobile phone for monitoring , Use old optical modem as a switch It's all the way: Retired digital devices at home, Router is also good Regardless of the box, it is more cost-effective to first think about what piece of hardware is left in it and then assign it a job that only does that thing, rather than throwing it away and buying a new one.