A MAG or Formuler box running Vizwriting, from the MAC label to the first bulletin

The MAG or Formuler box setup, in eight steps

1. Photograph the label before the box disappears behind the TV

   Turn the box over before it is wired in and tucked out of sight. The label underneath carries the MAC address, twelve characters in pairs, and a MAG’s address starts 00:1A:79 without exception. Send a photo of that label in the WhatsApp chat instead of typing it out, because one swapped character registers somebody else’s box. On a Formuler, hold off: the MAC that counts is the one MyTVOnline displays in step four, which on many models differs from the label. The reply brings your portal URL.

   Line up a login: terms from $15

2. Connect it and confirm it reached the network

   Plug in the cable, power the box and let it reach its home menu. Before typing anything, open the network information screen in the settings and check that the box shows an IP address from the router. A box with no address produces a portal error later that looks like an account problem but is not one. Wi-Fi works, but 4K nature and science channels hold steadier on a cable.

3. MAG: fill in Portal 1 and restart

   Press Setup or Settings on the remote and work through System settings, Servers and Portals. Portal 1 name takes any label, perhaps the room the box lives in; Portal 1 URL takes the portal address exactly as it appears in the WhatsApp reply, with nothing trailing after it. Confirm with OK and restart the box from the menu or at the switch. A MAG fetches its portal only while it boots, so until the restart you will keep seeing the built-in menu.

4. Formuler: open MyTVOnline and pick a route

   Launch MyTVOnline 2 or 3 from the Formuler home screen. For the portal route, choose Add Portal, give it a label and type the portal URL; this screen also displays the MAC that MyTVOnline presents, and that is the value to send in the chat if it differs from the label. Taking the Xtream route instead? Choose Xtream Codes as the connection type and enter the server URL, username and password. A portal ties the account to this box alone; the Xtream login also opens in any other player you own.

5. Bring the news and factual groups to the front

   The portal opens on a long run of groups by country and genre. Find the news group for the country you follow most and add the channels you open daily to favorites. On a MAG portal that is usually one of the colored buttons named in the on-screen legend; MyTVOnline lets you build favorite groups of your own. A list of a dozen, say three bulletins, the Weather Channel and a few factual networks such as Discovery or National Geographic, turns 25,000+ channels into two presses of the remote.

6. Find the replay marks in the guide

   Open the guide with the EPG or Guide key and move back along a channel’s row. On channels that carry catch-up, finished programs show a replay mark (its look depends on the portal or the MyTVOnline version), and selecting one plays the program from its opening seconds. That is how a 9 p.m. bulletin you missed becomes a 10:15 p.m. one. Each channel keeps its own archive length, and channels without catch-up simply show no mark.

7. Open the on-demand section for documentaries

   Live channels are only half of what the portal holds. The on-demand section, often labeled Video Club on a MAG and VOD or Series in MyTVOnline, lists the 120,000+ titles by category, with non-fiction among them. Search inside that section with one plain word for a subject, such as volcano or railway, rather than paging through categories with the arrow keys. Multi-part programs open into seasons and episodes, which keeps a long history or nature run in order.

8. End on a live bulletin, then keep a note

   To finish, tune a news channel a minute before the hour and watch the bulletin begin; the info bar should name the same program the guide promised. If it does, the clock, the portal and the listings agree. Then save the MAC and the portal URL in a note on your phone. A factory reset, a firmware update or a new router can empty the portal field, and with that note the box is back on the news in two minutes.

Once it plays: where the factual side lives

With the player signed in, the rest is finding things. Live channels arrive in groups, and the on-demand library keeps non-fiction on shelves of its own; the Vizwriting documentaries and news channels page explains how both are arranged. What airs next on most channels, the 9 p.m. bulletin included, is in the Vizwriting program guide. A bulletin that aired an hour ago can often be replayed through catch-up, on the channels that carry it.

MAG or Formuler box faults, by what the screen shows

The portal says this box is not registered

The portal is answering, so its address is fine; the MAC it received does not match the one on file. On a Formuler the usual cause is sending the label MAC instead of the one MyTVOnline displays. On a MAG, compare your photo with the MAC the box lists in its own settings, watching for a 0 read as a D or an 8 read as a B. Send the corrected value in the chat and restart once the reply confirms it.

The box hangs on its loading screen after a power cut

When the power comes back, the box often finishes booting before the router does and asks for the portal while the network is still down. Wait until the router lights settle, then restart the box. If it happens after every outage, a cable shortens the wait, and nothing in the portal field needs changing.

Listings run an hour ahead of the bulletin

Every guide entry is placed by the clock inside the box. A MAG keeps its time zone in the system settings; a Formuler takes it from the Android date and time screen. Correct it, restart, and the listings and the replay marks shift into line together, so a replay no longer opens on the tail of the previous program.

A 4K nature channel stutters while HD news plays cleanly

A 4K stream asks several times more of the connection than an HD bulletin, so this points to the line rather than the channel. Move the box to a cable if it is on Wi-Fi, and on a MAG check that the video output resolution in the settings matches the TV instead of a lower fixed value. Where the list carries an HD version of the channel, that is the fallback.

Favorites vanished after a reset or update

Portal favorites on a MAG are usually kept by the portal against the MAC, so they return once the box reconnects to the same portal. MyTVOnline keeps its favorite groups on the box itself, and a factory reset clears them. Keeping the list in the phone note beside the portal URL makes rebuilding it quick.

Nothing above matches? A photo of the screen sent on WhatsApp usually settles it faster than a description, and the Vizwriting not-working page covers faults that are not tied to one device.

Read next: the players for MAG or Formuler box

Prepared by Vizwriting Team · Updated September 5, 2026