Right , it seems we need to get to the bottom of this red light thing. I suspect it is in the third party code supplied to us, but I am going to ask my technical people if they have seen it and if they are tracking it and trying to fix it. Watch this space and I will keep all informed. ( It will takes weeks - Dont ask !!)
Interesting to hear the 'red light' isn't just something that's happened to me! I've had my (Amstrad) box for about three weeks now, and I've seen two different variations:
1) As described above, recording is finished but red light stays on.
2) One of two dual record items finishes, and recording light goes off - but on checking the Sky planner, the second programme is still recording as it should be.
Now that it's happened a couple of times I'm less worried about it, and consider it more of a quirk (and hopefully a software quirk that will be fixed with an update) rather than a total disaster - whatever the light is showing I've never had a failed recording. It's just more reassuring to have the display showing the correct status.
Rather than pull the plug, I found that to get things back to normal, if the light is showing, but there's no recording, start a couple of new recordings off and then cancel & delete them - the light will go out. If something is recording but the light isn't on, then start a second recording and cancel that. The light should stay on for the original recording.
Other than that, I'm thoroughly impressed with both Sky+ and the Amstrad box.
Hiya Mr A....
Not knowing a lot about Sky+ boxes, only that they recored onto a harddrive, similier to a PC, does this mean they're prone to viruses the same as PC??
If so, how do you get an anti-virus to sort out this problem.... ??
The unit un like a computer does not connect to the internet and you dont have a cd rom drive to introduce new programmes, as such it cant pick up any viruses.
Hiya Mr A....
Not knowing a lot about Sky+ boxes, only that they recored onto a harddrive, similier to a PC, does this mean they're prone to viruses the same as PC??
If so, how do you get an anti-virus to sort out this problem.... ??
That answers my question... cheers.. by the way, I've been reading this forum & diagree with what people have been saying about Amstrad products, my first PC was a Amstrad 6128 back in the eighties, with built-in floppy drive, it was great.....
I know hope & pray that when my PACE Sky+ box get replaced this week-end (by prior arrangement, due to having 3 failed PACE boxes since 15th Feb), that I get an Amstrad....
Thanks again for the info.....
Rgds...
Right , it seems we need to get to the bottom of this red light thing. I suspect it is in the third party code supplied to us, but I am going to ask my technical people if they have seen it and if they are tracking it and trying to fix it. Watch this space and I will keep all informed. ( It will takes weeks - Dont ask !!)
Sir Alan
Thanks for that! I'm pretty certain it's not the box but it'd be good to have get confirmation that it's a software 'bug' as we could then look forward to it being ironed out in a future update.
As I said it's not a real problem for me as I know my recordings are okay, but I guess if it can be confirmed then it might save people from having unnecessary call-outs and your technical guys from getting boxes returned for something that's not your fault!
Just a comment from a new forum member, great to see Sir Alan Sugar taking the trouble to post in the forum, all I can say is well done, it’s just a pity Sky or Pace could not be bothered to do the same.
As an owner of a pace Sky+ Box V2 I think since Nov 03 I am reasonably pleased with it
As it has been almost trouble free just requiring a couple of resets, a lot less than my previous pace sky box
Just one question why is there such an issue about installing a larger hard drive, from Sky’s point of view, I paid for the box if I am prepared to risk the warranty then surely that is my problem, I was all set to drop a Maxtor 120 gig in until I heard of the 17 Min bug, guess I’ll wait for a while before going ahead.
For the second time since installation my Sky + ( Amstrad ) appears to have either a record/playback problem. this time on playback the recording alternatively plays/freezes/plays/freezes. Any ideas ? is it a box problem, signal problem or what.
It seems intermittent , that is some programs record/playback fine.
For the second time since installation my Sky + ( Amstrad ) appears to have either a record/playback problem. this time on playback the recording alternatively plays/freezes/plays/freezes. Any ideas ? is it a box problem, signal problem or what.
It seems intermittent , that is some programs record/playback fine.
I had this a few times, I also have an Amstrad Sky+, I blamed it on the fact that constantly flipping round channels whilst doing a recording on another channel. I thought it might be because I have instant rewind enabled.
I have seen something like this . Can you tell me how long the freeze is, is it just for a half second or so, or is it longer. And does it just do it now and again or several times in one run.
What I have seen is just a split second freeze/judder with no time patern, in other words it just happens for no reason and does not happen again for days weeks
For the second time since installation my Sky + ( Amstrad ) appears to have either a record/playback problem. this time on playback the recording alternatively plays/freezes/plays/freezes. Any ideas ? is it a box problem, signal problem or what.
It seems intermittent , that is some programs record/playback fine.
We got it and know about it, it effects both Amstrad and Pace and will be sorted in a new down load one day in the future. Will advise when nearer the time.
Sir Alan
QUOTE=Mr_P]Thanks for that! I'm pretty certain it's not the box but it'd be good to have get confirmation that it's a software 'bug' as we could then look forward to it being ironed out in a future update.
As I said it's not a real problem for me as I know my recordings are okay, but I guess if it can be confirmed then it might save people from having unnecessary call-outs and your technical guys from getting boxes returned for something that's not your fault!
Mr Sugar - first intance was a complete freeze after a few minutes playback ( see my earkier post - information showed a one hour program was 857minutes !
this second episode - it plays a minute or so then freezes a few seconds, ad infinitum
could it be bad sector(s) on Hard Drive. Could it be linked to " No satelite signal" message - again intermittent on menu changes ?
Simple answer dont know what you have there. Has it now stopped ?was it just one session ? or has it done it every time you try to record. ?. I will ask my people for mkore info. It sounds to me you may have to do a HDD reformat which is a very simple few key presses. I will get back to you via this forum.
Mr Sugar - first intance was a complete freeze after a few minutes playback ( see my earkier post - information showed a one hour program was 857minutes !
this second episode - it plays a minute or so then freezes a few seconds, ad infinitum
could it be bad sector(s) on Hard Drive. Could it be linked to " No satelite signal" message - again intermittent on menu changes ?
We are not convinced that a HDD re format will solve what you have but you can try it and see. But you will lose all your recordings.
To reformat the HDD this is what you need to do:
Power off box from the mains.
Hold in the left and right arrow keys and power up the box at the mains. Keep these 2
keys held in until the green ring on the front of the box starts
flashing. Then press the select key. The box will reformat the HDD then
reboot the box.
As I say you can try that and see if the problem goes away or maybe do nothing and see how it goes. One of the things that drives us nuts is the faults we see that we cant replicate, these are some times caused by quirks in the transmission which has nothing to do with the box.
We got it and know about it, it effects both Amstrad and Pace and will be sorted in a new down load one day in the future. Will advise when nearer the time.
Sir Alan
Ah, and whilst in the bug fixing mode could you please advise the status of the inconsistent calculation of HD space. It seems that the % figure is calculated using MOD 40 (IIRC, sure U can let us know the exact method) and the displayed bar is calculated correctly. Is the code being amended in a future download? Thanks
Eh sorry but dont understand what you are talking about. I am a simple commercial idiot remember. If you have fault/problem with the product you need to talk to me in joint up writing in simple terms.
Ah, and whilst in the bug fixing mode could you please advise the status of the inconsistent calculation of HD space. It seems that the % figure is calculated using MOD 40 (IIRC, sure U can let us know the exact method) and the displayed bar is calculated correctly. Is the code being amended in a future download? Thanks
And there was silly little me obviously mistakenly getting the impression you were talking to your technical bods to answer the earlier question. In my ignorance I assumed you would do likewise. Sorry, I assumed that having "access" to SAS meant access to Amstrad's technicians.
Oh I have access to them allright, I just wonder if they know what you are banging on about ,will pass it on anyway
Sir Alan
QUOTE=Methanoid]And there was silly little me obviously mistakenly getting the impression you were talking to your technical bods to answer the earlier question. In my ignorance I assumed you would do likewise. Sorry, I assumed that having "access" to SAS meant access to Amstrad's technicians.[/QUOTE]
We are not convinced that a HDD re format will solve what you have but you can try it and see. But you will lose all your recordings.
To reformat the HDD this is what you need to do:
Power off box from the mains.
Hold in the left and right arrow keys and power up the box at the mains. Keep these 2
keys held in until the green ring on the front of the box starts
flashing. Then press the select key. The box will reformat the HDD then
reboot the box.
As I say you can try that and see if the problem goes away or maybe do nothing and see how it goes. One of the things that drives us nuts is the faults we see that we cant replicate, these are some times caused by quirks in the transmission which has nothing to do with the box.
Sir Alan,
Since you are not convinced it will change things, and since I would like to watch some more recordings then I will probably reformat sometime next week. I will then report back on wether or not anything has changed. As you say faults/problems like this are always difficult to pin down. As i said I appreciate the reply since I think Sky would struggle with this.
Since you are not convinced it will change things, and since I would like to watch some more recordings then I will probably reformat sometime next week. I will then report back on wether or not anything has changed. As you say faults/problems like this are always difficult to pin down. As i said I appreciate the reply since I think Sky would struggle with this.
Hi Guys - yes it does freeze at the same point/points.
Incidently I recorded two programs at the same time last night.
One is fine, whilst the other appears to have a second or two edited out ( Missing ) every few seconds affecting both sound and vision, making playback very jerky.
It makes for very difficult viewing beleive you me !!!
I am starting to wonder if you have signal problem . The way you can check this is very simple. Forget recording. Do you get any glitches while watching LIVE i.e Freeze -stop and start. If yuu do then you need to check the signal bars on your unit by going to service menu. They are not very acurate but will give a sign as to if one tuner signal is down against the other. It could be a poor aligned dish and LNB in which case you have to get abloke down to realign it.
Hi Guys - yes it does freeze at the same point/points.
Incidently I recorded two programs at the same time last night.
One is fine, whilst the other appears to have a second or two edited out ( Missing ) every few seconds affecting both sound and vision, making playback very jerky.
It makes for very difficult viewing beleive you me !!!
I am starting to wonder if you have signal problem . The way you can check this is very simple. Forget recording. Do you get any glitches while watching LIVE i.e Freeze -stop and start. If yuu do then you need to check the signal bars on your unit by going to service menu. They are not very acurate but will give a sign as to if one tuner signal is down against the other. It could be a poor aligned dish and LNB in which case you have to get abloke down to realign it.
If the problems are only on a number of channels, use the transponder lineup guide in the satellite section of Digital Spy to work out which transponders then go into the installers menu and manually tune these transponders. Take note of the signal strengths / quality there as the normal meters are only for the default transponder.
Comments
Right , it seems we need to get to the bottom of this red light thing. I suspect it is in the third party code supplied to us, but I am going to ask my technical people if they have seen it and if they are tracking it and trying to fix it. Watch this space and I will keep all informed. ( It will takes weeks - Dont ask !!)
Sir Alan
Not knowing a lot about Sky+ boxes, only that they recored onto a harddrive, similier to a PC, does this mean they're prone to viruses the same as PC??
If so, how do you get an anti-virus to sort out this problem.... ??
Rgds
Sir Alan
cant
That answers my question... cheers.. by the way, I've been reading this forum & diagree with what people have been saying about Amstrad products, my first PC was a Amstrad 6128 back in the eighties, with built-in floppy drive, it was great.....
I know hope & pray that when my PACE Sky+ box get replaced this week-end (by prior arrangement, due to having 3 failed PACE boxes since 15th Feb), that I get an Amstrad....
Thanks again for the info.....
Rgds...
Thanks for that! I'm pretty certain it's not the box but it'd be good to have get confirmation that it's a software 'bug' as we could then look forward to it being ironed out in a future update.
As I said it's not a real problem for me as I know my recordings are okay, but I guess if it can be confirmed then it might save people from having unnecessary call-outs and your technical guys from getting boxes returned for something that's not your fault!
Cheers,
Paul
Just a comment from a new forum member, great to see Sir Alan Sugar taking the trouble to post in the forum, all I can say is well done, it’s just a pity Sky or Pace could not be bothered to do the same.
As an owner of a pace Sky+ Box V2 I think since Nov 03 I am reasonably pleased with it
As it has been almost trouble free just requiring a couple of resets, a lot less than my previous pace sky box
Just one question why is there such an issue about installing a larger hard drive, from Sky’s point of view, I paid for the box if I am prepared to risk the warranty then surely that is my problem, I was all set to drop a Maxtor 120 gig in until I heard of the 17 Min bug, guess I’ll wait for a while before going ahead.
It seems intermittent , that is some programs record/playback fine.
I had this a few times, I also have an Amstrad Sky+, I blamed it on the fact that constantly flipping round channels whilst doing a recording on another channel. I thought it might be because I have instant rewind enabled.
What I have seen is just a split second freeze/judder with no time patern, in other words it just happens for no reason and does not happen again for days weeks
Whats your exact experience
Sir Alan
We got it and know about it, it effects both Amstrad and Pace and will be sorted in a new down load one day in the future. Will advise when nearer the time.
Sir Alan
QUOTE=Mr_P]Thanks for that! I'm pretty certain it's not the box but it'd be good to have get confirmation that it's a software 'bug' as we could then look forward to it being ironed out in a future update.
As I said it's not a real problem for me as I know my recordings are okay, but I guess if it can be confirmed then it might save people from having unnecessary call-outs and your technical guys from getting boxes returned for something that's not your fault!
Cheers,
Paul[/QUOTE]
this second episode - it plays a minute or so then freezes a few seconds, ad infinitum
could it be bad sector(s) on Hard Drive. Could it be linked to " No satelite signal" message - again intermittent on menu changes ?
kind regards
joe
Sir Alan
I appreciate your interest,
thanks
joe
Sir Alan
To reformat the HDD this is what you need to do:
Power off box from the mains.
Hold in the left and right arrow keys and power up the box at the mains. Keep these 2
keys held in until the green ring on the front of the box starts
flashing. Then press the select key. The box will reformat the HDD then
reboot the box.
As I say you can try that and see if the problem goes away or maybe do nothing and see how it goes. One of the things that drives us nuts is the faults we see that we cant replicate, these are some times caused by quirks in the transmission which has nothing to do with the box.
Ah, and whilst in the bug fixing mode could you please advise the status of the inconsistent calculation of HD space. It seems that the % figure is calculated using MOD 40 (IIRC, sure U can let us know the exact method) and the displayed bar is calculated correctly. Is the code being amended in a future download? Thanks
Sir Alan
Sir Alan
QUOTE=Methanoid]And there was silly little me obviously mistakenly getting the impression you were talking to your technical bods to answer the earlier question. In my ignorance I assumed you would do likewise. Sorry, I assumed that having "access" to SAS meant access to Amstrad's technicians.[/QUOTE]
Since you are not convinced it will change things, and since I would like to watch some more recordings then I will probably reformat sometime next week. I will then report back on wether or not anything has changed. As you say faults/problems like this are always difficult to pin down. As i said I appreciate the reply since I think Sky would struggle with this.
regards
Joe
Sir Alan
Incidently I recorded two programs at the same time last night.
One is fine, whilst the other appears to have a second or two edited out ( Missing ) every few seconds affecting both sound and vision, making playback very jerky.
It makes for very difficult viewing beleive you me !!!
regards
Joe
Sir Alan
If the problems are only on a number of channels, use the transponder lineup guide in the satellite section of Digital Spy to work out which transponders then go into the installers menu and manually tune these transponders. Take note of the signal strengths / quality there as the normal meters are only for the default transponder.
Phil