Yamaha vtuner issue

Hello,

The web radios stopped working this morning on my RX-V477, and I have to pay a ransom of €3 to VTUNER to access a feature that was included in the original price of the device, as Yamaha has not developed an update for older products, likely hoping that we will invest in new ones. This is called planned obsolescence and it is illegal under French law. (the only radio I can listen to is the one I manually added, and I regret not being informed of this change beforehand, as the function is now locked)

Refusing to pay for a service owed by Yamaha, I contacted customer service to express my anger and my intention to launch a boycott campaign, as well as a legal procedure (matter of principle).

You can contact Yamaha at this address: https://member.europe.yamaha.com/contact (1000 characters max …)

Copy of my message addressed to Yamaha:

“This morning, the radios stopped working on my RX-V477. VTUNER informs me that I need to pay to continue using the service initially included in the price of the device.
The Yamaha website mentions that the service provider has changed, which requires an update, but the RX-V477 is not compatible with it.
In reality, Yamaha does not want to pay for the development of an update for this old product in the hope of pushing the customer to buy a new one.
This is planned obsolescence and, above all, a deep disdain for customers!
I hereby demand, through this message, that you implement a solution to allow me to once again access the web radios on my RX-V477 for free.
Failing this, I will consider that Yamaha does not respect its customers and the legislation in force in France. This will lead me to widely share my opinion as well as to encourage a boycott of all your brand's products.”

Hello,

I just conducted a successful test by copying a file from vtuner onto my box's hard drive.
This file is recognized by the amplifier, and after selecting the file, the amplifier streams the radio.

This file contains only one line with the radio's address:

Example of file: Couleur 3.m3u

http://stream.srg-ssr.ch/m/couleur3/mp3_128

However, there is no playback from a USB stick.

Eric

Hello,
Indeed, Yamaha France made an announcement on its website regarding this, they are migrating to a new service (Airable).
Some equipment can be updated, others - like mine, an RX-V473 amplifier - cannot.
List of compatible and incompatible equipment: https://fr.yamaha.com/fr/news_events/2019/0305_av_update_on_internet_radio_station_access.html

I wrote to vTuner to find out if by contributing, the "old" equipment still benefits from the service (which I find to be of very good quality).
See you later
Guillaume

Hello,

For your information, the YCast project (vTuner server emulation) in its dev branch:
https://github.com/milaq/YCast/tree/dev
is operational in my case (RX-477).
I can once again listen to my favorite radios with the amplifier independently.
You need:
- to have a DNS server on your local network (in my case, a Synology NAS)
- a server that will host the YCast daemon, which is written in Python (for me, my home automation box Jeedom)
- some networking and Python knowledge to get everything done successfully.

Best regards,

FredY/Alfred

Hello Yannick,

It would be good to mention the error message in order to get you a solution.

Have you tried from another web browser to see if the problem persists?

Best regards,
ChariduP - Have a nice day :)
CCM Contributor

I own a RX-V577, same problem, no more vtuner radio, I had a favorite station which is gone, I think a general boycott campaign of Yamaha products is in order and I won't hesitate, they could at least provide an update for these devices bought for me 6 years ago, it's planned obsolescence, I really regret buying a Yamaha piano for over 10,000 euros, it's over, the next one won't be a Yamaha.

Hello,

In the coming weeks, I should be able to test with an iPhone on my RN500, not sure if it’s the same setup as yours, by the way, please write here the version of the OS, check if AirPlay exists?

Hello,

Thank you, I resolved the issue. I had reset all my devices but it didn’t change anything, and then I tried a factory reset of the box (4K SFR), not just a simple restart, and now everything works, even though I had never changed the settings of the box...

Good evening Fredy, can you detail your configuration for Ycast? I have the same setup as you but I haven't configured the DNS server yet. Is it complicated to make Synology/Jeedom/AV app communicate with each other? Thank you.

A complete tutorial in French is available for those with a basic knowledge (Raspberry Pi):
http://blogmotion.fr/diy/vtuner-alternative-ycast-18186

The amplifier no longer connects to vtuner.

I have a configuration line but nothing happens.
Does Yamaha no longer belong to Vtuner? Can we use another service to listen to the radio?

Same for me, I can no longer access my favorites from my Yamaha amplifier because the service has become paid. Well, 3€ a year is reasonable. But it's a bit annoying to pay for something that was free until now, and especially to pay for a service that can be found for free absolutely everywhere on the net... So I won't pay. The solution? A Bluetooth receiver connected to an input on the amp. You connect your phone to this receiver and you stream any sound, including the sound from your favorite radio stations :)

Other solutions: stream from an Android TV box like a Mibox, or simply connect your phone with a jack cable, or even the good old FM antenna! We already pay the TV/radio license fee, we’re not going to cough up for all this again just because Yamaha doesn't update its old equipment :p

Hello
Same thing with a RX-V677 more compatible with Vtuner.
I will never buy Yamaha again.

Hello,

Same situation for me with an HTR 4067 (based RX-477).

I’m trying to set up my own vtuner "server" based on:
https://github.com/milaq/YCast

Unfortunately, it’s not working yet :-(
The amp communicates well with the server (installed a local DNS with an entry for vtuner.com, manually modified the amp configuration to point to this DNS).
I can retrieve the directory list which displays correctly on the amp, but then when I press OK on this directory it says [NO CONTENT] (it’s not happy :-)).

I’m open to any info if someone manages to make it work.

FredY

Thank you to the people who are developing the YCast project. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to manage that at the moment and I am forced to use iTunes to send my favorite station streams to my Yamaha amplifier via Airplay.

What makes me angry in this situation is that Yamaha is doing nothing to address the problem. I tried to read an M3U file with a list of radios via the USB port, which works well on the old Orange internet radios, but Yamaha devices are not compatible with this very useful function (or is the syntax particular?)

It's fine for Vtuner to charge for its list, but not for users to be able to manually add streams to their device. We should be able to do this directly from the web server of the amplifier.

Moreover, it would have been courteous to warn in advance to add my favorite stations, as I can still listen to the radios I had manually added via Vtuner.

In short, zero points for Yamaha and Vtuner!

Hello everyone, I own a RX 600, but in my case, I managed to keep all the favorite stations saved, for others indeed you have to pay...

Hello, I have a RX-A1010 that’s starting to age but I’m super satisfied with it! Much more reliable than all the AV brands I’ve had since the late 80s.
Yamaha isn’t being nice about this, but nothing is free and I think that $3/year is not a big deal, let’s put it into perspective! Compared to music streaming services, at least it’s ad-free… and the account activation is immediate. Good service from vtuner.

Hello,

I did indeed pay $3 to continue using Vtuner with my RN5OO amplifier. However, after the latest updates to Mac OS X, Airplay no longer detects my amplifier. Is this a problem with my amplifier or are others experiencing the same issue?

same issue with my Denon AVR3313
truly outrageous