I own an E2 and lately have lost the favorite channels several times.  I know that I can go into Settings and use "Backup & Restore" to save the box's configuration which I believe includes the favorites (?), but is there a way to backup only the favorite channel list?  Is that list saved on the box perhaps as an XML file?  

Do the newer Buzztv box models allow backing up the favorite channels only?

Thank you.

Have you tried to go into backup ?  What version of BuzzTV are you running on the E2 ?  I believe it originally came with BuzzTV 4, and later it was updated to BuzzTV 5.  Which one do you have installed (if you bring up the menu, the version is typically printed on bottom left of the menu).

When you go into backup options and it prepares things, you are prompted with 2 options

• Backup Application Settings
• Backup servers + Favorites + Favorite Groups

And you can choose only 1 option or both.  I'd recommend both, since the backup file is tiny, and you have the option of what to restore later, so you can ignore one upon restore if you need.  The second option is designed to take a snapshot of your server entries, and all the favorites you have created.  Obviously the favorites are bound to each server, hence why it backups the server and the favorites details in one.

The backup options creates a ZIP file, and inside the zip file is a single .yaml file which includes all the backup info.

You can save it internally, but I would recommend putting it on a USB stick (and check that you have a non-zero sized sized file), that way if you have to reset your box, you always have a backup.

All boxes running BuzzTV 5 have this backup option.  And as far as I recall, all boxes with BuzzTV 6 (I just confirmed on the Classic AI).  Possible exception for now is the G-Series, but I'm sure something will be added shortly (if it hasn't already).

Edited October 9Oct 9 by Emporium

Thank you very much Emporium for your clear reply.
My E2 is running BuzzTV 5 but when I select the Backup option I do not get the 2 options you mentioned; It just asks me to confirm backing up to the USB drive.

Probably the feature for the 2 options was added later.  My E2 is old but it still does a good job streaming.

I tested a full backup & restore and it did restore the favorites. I will stick with this until I buy a newer model.

Thanks again.

What version of BuzzTV 5 are you running ?  Truly curious.

screenshot from the About section

Can I install a newer firmware on this box like maybe BuzzTV 6?  Whenever I reset the box and it updates itself, it always ends up on the version above.

That is the kernel, I wanted the buzztv version.  That is where the functionality is.

My kernel is a little older than yours.  And no, there is nothing newer as far as I know.  And really no point, if it ain't broken, don't fix it 🙂

But BuzzTV I am running 5.0.969 (which is pretty recent - from earlier this summer).  If you do not see that, hit "Settings" in the menu and then you should have option for "Check for Updates" so it can get latest version of the app.

If you have recent enough version of BuzzTV 5, From that menu (which you can get to by hitting the menu button while in LiveTV), you can go to Settings->configuration and if you scroll down a bit, the first item under "App Settings" is "Backup&Restore".  And that is where you can do the backup I am mentioning.  And the nice thing about this version is that the file it generates can be used to restore on pretty much any BuzzTV device going forward, so you can easily setup a new device if you ever upgrade and not need to redo all your favorites.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 9Oct 9 by Emporium

I followed your instructions and found that I do have the same 5.0.969 version.

I then navigated to the backup options and can now see the 2 options you mentioned.  It is great indeed that the backup file can be restored on newer devices.

Thank you kindly for taking the time to provide a complete and helpful response that quickly helped find what I was looking for.