Problems with vTuner

You have problems with the basic operation of vTuner. I am not talking about problems with accessing that is no problem. I am talking about problems with vTuner itself. There is a thread around here of a person who is unable to register his Onkyo because it was an open box special which the original owner had registered its MAC address. I see what the problem is. I had registered the unique MAC address of the failed Onkyo, it is going back to Crutchfield where I assume it will be repaired and sold somewhere, that person will have trouble registering that unit because I already have. I just setup the replacement NR709 I registered it's MAC address normally. but when I accessed my account it asked me which receiver I wanted to sign in with. This is ok but I could see no way to delete the MAC address of the first unit, If there is a hidden nook where this can be done please tell me so the future owner of this NR709 does not have the head ache trying to use vTuner. The basic problem is the software assumes each new registered MAC address is a new account. This is because vTuner is mostly used in net radios. You "tune" a net radio with on screen displays on the radio it self and the choices are stored on that radio. The Onkyo is more like a smart phone where you access your account online either directly or via an app, such as iHeart Radio, in fact you could consider Onkyo vTuner an App. The setup needs to be something like iPhone's setup on iTunes it asks each time you register a new iOS device if you want to create a new or assign it to the existing account that way the new iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch sync's with all of the other devices. You can easily remove an Apple device from iTunes. This is what needs to be done with vTuner I know this isn't strickly an Onkyo thing it is vTuner but you have dedicated Onkyo vTuner account access site so you do have some irons in the fire.

Hi transmaster,

I will forward this information to our engineering division. Thank you.

I'm the one with the TX-8050 that is having trouble registering with vTuner. The unit I have was not sold as an open box unit, but apparently it is or is a repaired unit that has gotten back into the retail stream. I have communicated my problems with the vendor (Amazon) and have gotten assurances that I can return the unit. However, I really hate to inflict this problem on someone else, considering the unit operates properly in all other respects.

It is unfortunate that this can happen. The ID# (or MAC address) of any networking equipment, including this receiver, is normally set in hardware and not changeable. I suspect that audio designers are a little behind the curve in computer technology. Unfortunately virtually all Internet radios and network receivers are stuck with using services such as vTuner since none of them have true Internet browsers built-in. The TX-8050 and all of the Onkyo receivers have this limitation. Which means they are dependant on tuning services.

I am still hopeful of having vTuner cancel the existing account of the previous owner so that I can register. However, they have tried once, but failed to cancel the existing account. And have not responded to my inquiries since then. I'll give them a little more time, but I may end up returning the unit if I don't get a response soon. If vTuner can't cancel an existing account, I'll need to broadcast a warning thru vendor channels and user forums for potential buyers to not to purchase open box units and be very cautious about the purchase of network receivers.

Hi GerryC42,

As previously stated this issue has been brought to the attention of our engineering department.

As I said up thread this is not really Onkyo's problem but it can impact customer satisfaction vTuner is not going to get the nasty e-mails and phone calls. The solution is fairly simple just write a few lines of code for the vTuner Onkyo website accounts to enable the cloning of your account to the new receiver and the ability to delete the MAC address of the old unit. And add iHeart Radio 8^) You can directly enter the URL's of streaming radio stations that are not indexed in Onkyo vTuner. The rub in this case is you can not setup an account. :^(

Hi transmaster,
We have our engineer working on this issue and hope to have a solution for you soon. As for your code and iheart radio suggestion that will be forwarded to Japan. Thank you for your patience.

Looking forward to the next firmware update. 8^)

Hi transmaster,
We are glad to see that you are excited, but please be aware that Japan gets a lot of suggestions and they try to go through as many as possible, but we will have our engineer continue to work on the issue you are having. Thanks again for your patience.