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A few months on - giving the 3view unit another go!
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I'm going to give the 3view unit another go over the festive period. Mostly looking forward to having access to BBC iPlayer via the TV in the living room.
I'm encouraged by the news that Ed has resolved the HD channels issue and new firmware with all the fixes, now including iPlayer, has just been made available. So what better time to dip back into 3view.
Firstly, I was wondering about the best way of setting it up. Is it better to let the machine go through the installation/set up process and then check for updates, or should I go through the manual start up intervention procedure (holding down the on/off button I think) and do something through that route?
I'm encouraged by the news that Ed has resolved the HD channels issue and new firmware with all the fixes, now including iPlayer, has just been made available. So what better time to dip back into 3view.
Firstly, I was wondering about the best way of setting it up. Is it better to let the machine go through the installation/set up process and then check for updates, or should I go through the manual start up intervention procedure (holding down the on/off button I think) and do something through that route?
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Let the machine set itself up from 1st install, and then, at your leisure, download the latest sw available from www.3view.com, or via the box itself if connected to the net.
I think John Lewis and maybe Play.com have stocks at the moment, although the pre loaded sw will be an earlier version.
(I am not sure if they are still selling directly off the 3view site)
i Player and web browsing will all work OK from the off, but the latest sw has the latest You Tube access codes which will be required to watch it.
I am sure you will get plenty help and advice from fellow DS posters if you need us
Good luck & let us know in due course how you get on
Regards
Little Phil
Time slip? If you mean pause a rewind live TV then it can and always did.
Peter
Where you can watch a program before it has finished recording.
Thanks Phil. I took the route of going straight to the hidden menu on startup and formatting the drive and then using the option to download the latest software straight to the box. Am now watching BBC iPlayer which is great.
Is there an option to watch high defintion programmes on iplayer? A broadband speed check meaures my line at 9.1MB and we have AV 200MB homeplugs so I'm hoping we are well eqipped to take advantage!
Ah then yes you can start watching a recording before its finished and once again always could :-)
Peter
Found it many thanks. We've been watching the Nativity this evening as we missed the first episode last night. On the first two attempts the HD version became flaky nearly 2 mins in so we setted for the SD version, which was 'at least as good' in video quality as watching some of the channels on freeview!
Surprised that HD was flaky, your BB and LAN speeds should be more than enough. I have 5.5Mbps broadband and 85Mbps home plugs (in 1960s wiring using extension cables too, so certainly not "optimised"!) and have had absolutely no drop-outs at all with iPlayer HD on the few occasions I've used it.
Perhaps it was at the BBC end instead, lots of demand to watch that prog? Alternatively could be your ISP throttling, or even local contention ratios on the line to your exchange?
(My BB provider is Newnet, and as an aside although its not the cheapest it has certainly provided the best service I've experienced since I got broadband in about 2004)
Matt
Like you say, otherwise I am sure my virgin fibre optic 10pm line is way more than upt to the job. I would have thought!
Marc lovely to hear from you on here! You will be able to watch any HD program via the iPlayer with your speeds. I only get 5-6 mbps with mine (and that's at best!) and I can watch HD. The 3View unit is very good at streaming content in my opinion. There will just be a short delay when you first begin to watch a HD program but then it usually plays all the way through without any freezes or needing to buffer.
GG
Anyone else noticed that?
Hey thanks for that lovely warm welcome GG:) Yes I think its normal to have a short delay when an iplayer programme starts so that the box has a short buffer to begin with. Certainly SD programmes are fine and at this time will do for us.
Thats what I am noticing but when it comes to HD versions only. There seems something going awry with my box in this regard - doing the same via the 'iplayer big screen' on the laptop is not flagging a problem at the moment, thats on wireless (wireless g) and not on the 200MB homeplugs the 3view box is on
Welcome back Marc
Just a thought but have you checked the speed of your 200MB homeplugs. The 200 is a nominal maximum and in reality you will be getting a lot less that than although I would be surprised if it is less that 10MB which should still be plenty. It may well be slower than the wifi though if you have a strong wifi connection.
My 200MB homeplugs typically give me 40-60MB which is still pretty decent though (between two rings on the same old fashioned fusebox - pretty ropey wiring).
On a related subject, one of my homeplug units died this week and I contacted 3view about the fabled freebies. Ed replied yesterday saying they were expecting a delivery this week and he would make sure mine was sent out in the first batch. I guess it won't be till the new year now but it has saved me going out and buying more.
I think I am right in saying the ones with 'no' signal are on the currently tuned mux. Presumably a bug in the level metering. I guess that means if you tune to the 'good' one you are then safe to delete the one showing a level.
Hi Andy. Thanks for that. Like you say, I have found the signal meter readouts change depending on channel/multiplex you are on. Changing to the second channel 1 slot and then going into the channels menu I find that there are now no signal meter displays at all for both instances of BBC channels. I've changed to ITV1 and meter reading display has disapeared for additional channels (ITV, Ch4, Five etc).
Nether mind, I know which channels to get ride of anyway (or hide) as they are liable to suffer from blockiness and stuttering. I'm also going to do another scan (the keep and scan option) to capure the HD channels and other missing ones.
Could there be a general problem with HD from Crystal Palace this week?
Andy I tried testing the iPlayer big screen using the homeplugs by taking the ethernet cable going into the back of the 3view unit and plugging it into the laptop (switching off wireless), and while I had real problems with topgear in high quality on the 3view unit, I could watch it no problem via the laptop of the end of the same network cable. I wonder if the BBC have made a change to the HQ stream and the 3view unit needs another round of tweaking?
Hi Marc
The current firmware (34275) has the Winter Hill fix on it for HD channels. Maybe (and I should emphasise I'm no expert) this fix is causing HD reception issues on non Winter Hillers. (Please let me again emphasise that I've got no evidence for this). However, perhaps its a bit of a longshot, but why not try the previous firmware (34033) which doesnt have the Winter Hill fix.
PS If the above is a plonking idea please dont moan at me too much.
Homeplugs only work well when they do not have to go through a circuit braker in the mains fuseboard.
So switch off the circuit braker that feeds the homeplug that feeds the pvr.
does the homeplug that gets the signal from your router and i assume your router also switch off.
If only one side is off, then that's your problem as going through two circuit brakers will put your feed down nearer say 1 Meg.
If both the router and the PVR are off then that's not the problem.
Sometimes taking both homeplugs off the mains for 10 mins and switching on and off the switches on the socket sorts things out.
eddie
I thought that was a good idea and gave it a go. Downgraded firmware and managed to put the HD channels in