OT: PVR's

essex-commuter
essex-commuter Posts: 2,188
edited June 2013 in Commuting chat
Anyone here use a Freeview PVR or are you all Skyed up?

I don't watch much TV but do like to record the few bits I do watch and view it at my leisure.

My Humax 9150 is playing up, the signal has deteriorated...I've done some tests with different Scarts and different TV's...it's all pointing towards the box playing up. Humax have sent me a detailed email telling me to do a manual tune which 'should sove it', it didn't. They are now telling me to reformat the drive which I will try tonight (will lose all recordings, I'm not bothered but SWMBO is a bit peeved). If that doesn't work it looks as if I will have to buy another one.

I don't want to spend a fortune, I don't need a big HD...any recommendations?

Comments

  • cyclingprop
    cyclingprop Posts: 2,426
    edited May 2013
    Get a TV with a USB output so can record to an external HDD :). Plenty do ...
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  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    Have you checked it's not getting too hot? In the middle of a big stack of electronics, in cupboard, vents/fan getting clogged up with dust etc? Does it work better when you first turn it on? Maybe try running it with the lid off, see whether that helps...
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  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    Wow, someone else who only has Freeview! I thought I was the only person in the world who didn't have Sky and wasn't addicted to Game of Thrones and all these other American series.... I just don't get time to watch enough telly to make it worth having anything other than Freeview and in any case I live in a conservation area and in theory am not supposed to put a satellite dish on the side of the house (even though everyone else in the area does and the council does nothing about them...)
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  • essex-commuter
    essex-commuter Posts: 2,188
    It's been working fine for about 18 months, can't see why it would start playing up due to excess heat etc., but will check tonight.

    Will try another manual tune then a reformat and go from there.

    Only watch about 1 to 2 hours of TV per week.
  • asprilla
    asprilla Posts: 8,440
    I've ditched sky and got Freesat. I've got the Humax Freetime box because it's got integrated iPlayer and ITVPlayer. Was also supposed to have 4OD and Demand5 by 2013 but doesn't.

    It's a decent box, but might be a little over budget for what you are thinking.
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  • davis
    davis Posts: 2,506
    Like you, I watch very little TV. I did have freeview, but when I moved the new place didn't have a working aerial, but did have a working satellite dish. I just went for FreeSat with the Humax HD PVR. No way would I give Sky any money.

    Could you be affected by the 4G mobile signal? The date fits, although iIt's not actually all that likely. See here for astonishingly helpful, clear instructions.

    Other contenders could well be the aerial or the cable. Have you actually tried a different Freeview receiver on that same piece of cable?
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  • essex-commuter
    essex-commuter Posts: 2,188
    davis wrote:
    Like you, I watch very little TV. I did have freeview, but when I moved the new place didn't have a working aerial, but did have a working satellite dish. I just went for FreeSat with the Humax HD PVR. No way would I give Sky any money.

    Could you be affected by the 4G mobile signal? The date fits, although iIt's not actually all that likely. See here for astonishingly helpful, clear instructions.

    Other contenders could well be the aerial or the cable. Have you actually tried a different Freeview receiver on that same piece of cable?

    I'm not in an area affected by 4G testing, but good call.

    When I plug the aerial directly into my TV the signal is fine. I moved the PVR box to my daughters room and tried it on her TV and the signal was affected...so pretty sure it's the box.
  • mrc1
    mrc1 Posts: 852
    We have the same PVR (another Freeview household) and ours started doing a similar thing around a year ago. There is an option in the main menu which restores the factory settings but which retains all your recorded programmes. If you haven't already tried that then it's worth a go.

    It sorted the problem with ours but did mean we had a split of working channels - some in the 800 range (BBC mainly) and the remainders in the normal position. Never got to the bottom of that but we moved a few months ago and the box has worked perfectly in our new place with all the channels being in their normal position.
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  • essex-commuter
    essex-commuter Posts: 2,188
    mrc1 wrote:
    We have the same PVR (another Freeview household) and ours started doing a similar thing around a year ago. There is an option in the main menu which restores the factory settings but which retains all your recorded programmes. If you haven't already tried that then it's worth a go.

    It sorted the problem with ours but did mean we had a split of working channels - some in the 800 range (BBC mainly) and the remainders in the normal position. Never got to the bottom of that but we moved a few months ago and the box has worked perfectly in our new place with all the channels being in their normal position.


    Cheers, will try that. From what I've been reading channels in the 800 range indicate receiving signals from more than one source...which is the issue Humax customer services believed I was suffering from. Will have a little play when I get home.

    Why is there always something to fix or something to sort out!!!
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    Few questions:
    How is the PVR connected to TV? SCART/HDMI/UHF?
    What's the nature of the signal deterioration? Pixellation/big square blobs/picture occasionally freezing, or poor picture quality/ghosting/"static"?
    Does it affect playback of recordings that have previously been ok, or is it restricted to recordings made recently?
    Does it affect picture quality when looking at something like a program guide or setup menu?
    Have you tried a different cable between PVR and TV?

    Reason for asking these is to narrow down whether the signal deterioration is on the way into the box, or on the way out...
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  • essex-commuter
    essex-commuter Posts: 2,188
    TGOTB wrote:
    Few questions:
    How is the PVR connected to TV? SCART/HDMI/UHF?
    What's the nature of the signal deterioration? Pixellation/big square blobs/picture occasionally freezing, or poor picture quality/ghosting/"static"?
    Does it affect playback of recordings that have previously been ok, or is it restricted to recordings made recently?
    Does it affect picture quality when looking at something like a program guide or setup menu?
    Have you tried a different cable between PVR and TV?

    Reason for asking these is to narrow down whether the signal deterioration is on the way into the box, or on the way out...

    PVR connected with scart.
    Signal deterioration is mainly picture freezing for 1/2 to 1 second - jumping. Occassional pixellation. Quality apart from that is crystal clear.
    Set up menu is fine, good picture.

    Last night I reformatted the hard drive and manually tuned again. It made no difference. The oly observation I made is that when I first done it and tried it it wasn't too bad, I thought I had fixed it. I left the machine on (it had been off all day) and when I tried it later in the evening to show MissEC bhow clever I was it had gone poor again...so myabe worse once it was 'warmed up'.

    Still think it's the box given when the aerial is connected direct to the TV the picture is fine, and when I try it on another 'good' TV it plays up on that too.

    Thinking send it back for repair or just purchase a new one :-( PITA that's for sure.

    Thanks for the comments so far.
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    Given the way the picture's breaking up, I'd say the issue is either the tuner within the PVR, or (far more likely) the signal strength. Issue is definitely on the way into the PVR rather than on the way out. Bit of a faff, but you could test this by taking it to someone else's house.

    My guess is that the signal strength is a bit low, and that your TVs are a little bit more tolerant of poor signal strength than the PVR. Couple of thoughts:
    Sounds like you have multiple TV sockets in the house; are these fed from a single aerial? If so, are the multiple connections via a proper splitter?
    Have you checked the aerial alignment? Your PVR may well have a signal strength indicator, which you could use to help you tweak the aerial and get a stronger signal.
    Is there foliage growing in front of the aerial? If so, this could explain a deterioration over the last month or so.
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  • essex-commuter
    essex-commuter Posts: 2,188
    TGOTB wrote:
    Given the way the picture's breaking up, I'd say the issue is either the tuner within the PVR, or (far more likely) the signal strength. Issue is definitely on the way into the PVR rather than on the way out. Bit of a faff, but you could test this by taking it to someone else's house.

    My guess is that the signal strength is a bit low, and that your TVs are a little bit more tolerant of poor signal strength than the PVR. Couple of thoughts:
    Sounds like you have multiple TV sockets in the house; are these fed from a single aerial? If so, are the multiple connections via a proper splitter?
    Have you checked the aerial alignment? Your PVR may well have a signal strength indicator, which you could use to help you tweak the aerial and get a stronger signal.
    Is there foliage growing in front of the aerial? If so, this could explain a deterioration over the last month or so.

    Nothing in my set up has changed. When I moved into the house 9 months ago I ran all new coax to the 3 TV points, they meet at a splitter/amplifier in the loft. No issues with anything blocking the antenna, and the antenna hasn't moved. Fine until a week or so ago.

    Will look at taking the box to a friends house to try.
  • forward_loop
    forward_loop Posts: 314
    TV's and PVR are often optimised for different signal strengths iirc. As an example, my TV works fine showing 100% signal, but the PVR will cut out and provide a "weak signal" (its default signal cutout message) until the masthead amplifier is turned down. (four feeds)

    PS - plenty of TV's have USB in - but I dont think I have seen any with USB out to HDD option !
  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    we have a virgin PVR for the living room and a TIVONIC's one in another room.

    Both can use catch up tv ie iplayer and what not which is handy. most seem to have horrendous interfaces has to be said. but they do work.
  • edhornby
    edhornby Posts: 1,780
    we have a freeview HD+ recorder box from Humax, the first one was dodgy and John Lewis replaced no questions asked (nice one JL)

    there have been tuning issues on ours as well because the broadcast codes have changed - you need to look up your local transmitter codes (Winter Hill for us) and manually reprogram the C050 C051 etc channels onto the box to get the better signal responses
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  • essex-commuter
    essex-commuter Posts: 2,188
    Had a friend bring round his Humax last night and coonect it up to my TV...it worked fine. My PVR is therefore shot. Will get another Humax because I like them, think I will get a HD one this time.

    Thanks for all the advice.
  • essex-commuter
    essex-commuter Posts: 2,188
    New Humax Fox arrived yesterday...works perfect. Decided to upgrade model wise, now have a 500Gb hard drive, HD tuner (x2) and a better UI.

    Much better box all round, kinda glad the old one gave up the ghost now.

    There endeth this thread. Ta.
  • mrc1
    mrc1 Posts: 852
    How much was the new one?
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  • rubertoe
    rubertoe Posts: 3,994
    the 4G signal is going to mess with the freeview signal, I had a leaflet drop on my door mat the other day.

    Same frequency innit.
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  • essex-commuter
    essex-commuter Posts: 2,188
    mrc1 wrote:
    How much was the new one?


    £139 + £6 delivery.
  • mrc1
    mrc1 Posts: 852
    Cool cheers - thinking about changing ours it is has been playing up a bit recently.
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