As far as I know, everything has been ok lately. Or at least the Mrs hasn't complained and called it the stupid cr*pview

Cheers Tom

The Hoarder Next Door failed to record tonight on C4-HD. The timer was still on the timers list. Tried to set it to record on 47 at 11pm but it wouldn't accept the comand saying it was already set. Couldn't delete the left over timer, had to cycle the box off and on again to be able to clear it. Only then could I set it to record on 47........It's now recording as requested.

Cheers Tom

I'm sure you know this fault already, Futaura, but it's just happened to me that I'm watching Bayern vs Barca and have been told that a programme is due to record so I'll have to switch channels or cancel the recording. Nothing else is recording.

After okaying the message I can then switch back to the footie.

Yep - http://pvrbugs.futaura.co.uk/view.php?id=340 . This bug is present on the Saorview T7660 boxes too, where this is an even bigger problem as Saorview only has one mux (problem only shows up on Freeview when you are watching a channel on the same mux that the recording is due to start on). It goes without saying that I have tried to emphasize to Vestel that this is an important bug to fix.

Something to watch out for when retuning - it's handy on the T7650 (and T7300) that the timer list isn't erased during an automatic channel scan (unlike earlier models), but this can currently cause problems. Specifically, during the current spate of 4G related retunes, if you have any existing timers set on a channel on a mux that moves frequency, these timers will fail to record. However, for series timers, subsequent episodes will be picked up correctly and recorded. The solution is to delete these timers from the timer list and set them again via the EPG, but ensure that the info pane is not visible when deleting the timers otherwise navigating to a problem timer can cause the software to crash and restart (if you're lucky it won't crash and the channel name will be blank instead - e.g. "[]"). The other solution is to perform a first time installation which will rescan and erase all timers. Needless to say, I've informed the relevant parties, so hopefully this issue will be addressed in a software update.

Thank you Futaura

We've just come back from a 2 week holiday and found that there are several missed recordings.
We're still going through the list to work out exactly whats missing but I'm sure something has gone wrong and the box needs a reset.
When on standby ( set to low power ), the front display shows the green light and clock as if it's in high power standby.
The last recoding was Holby City on the 13th although there should have been others on that day and for the rest of the week.
The missed recordings are still on the timers list.
Once we've got all the info for what needs picking up through on demand, I'll switch the box off at the mains to see if the display returns to normal.
I'm presuming that should sort the display out and hopefully resolve the get the recordings going again.
I hope this was just one of those random glitches and not another bug that only surfaces when the box is left on standby for 2 weeks.....

Cheers Tom

Just noticed Bug # 373

That could be our problem as we had one timer set to repeat weekly rather than on series link although the other recordings were ok after the 1st of that weekly timer.

We've just removed the weekly timer and the box now goes into low power standby. Fingers crossed the timers will behave now...

Cheers Tom

I have to admit I've never used a repeating timer on the T7650 or T7300! I've never had the need for one, since accurate recording is pretty reliable, more so now that Channel 5 recently started employing accurate recording signalling. I guess repeating timers could be useful if there are channels that are not providing the information required to set up series timers.

I've yet to verify the content of that bug report, which is a little vague unfortunately, but have now set up a daily timer to see if anything strange happens.

To be honest, we only used it to record the celeb versions of Pointless rather than every program ( at least I think it was that, I'm still half asleep ).
So Channel 5 are now using accurate record? All we need now is a rocket up Channel 4's backside

Cheers Tom

Definitely, since just before mid-April. To start with I thought the box had missed the start/end in error, purely because the start and length in the library looked unusual . For example, with The Mentalist, you would always get the tail end 1-2 minutes of the news bulletin at the start of the recording where it started recording at 21:00, but now the recording tends to start at 21:02 just before the programme actually starts and after the news has finished. It may well be experimental currently - I'm not sure, since I don't record a lot on these channels, but I don't think 5* or 5USA have accurate recording yet. It certainly seems to be working quite well on Channel 5 itself though - the ultimate test will be a split film item, with the news in the middle. I'm surprised nobody else seems to have noticed this, or at least I didn't see any threads about it in the other forums, as it was a much complained about problem (I might even have been known to moan about it on occasion ).

Channel 4 have had accurate recording for a long time - I know it works on C4, C4 HD and E4 at least. Of course, they have been known to make mistakes - Homeland springs to mind.

Apart from this last two weeks with the # 373 bug, the bulk of our recording issues have been on Channel 4. I know the Mrs has had several issues with Alan Carr-Chatty Man, maybe we're just unlucky?

Cheers Tom

ITV!!! I lost at least the last 5 minutes of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Ep 1 - the news overran

I had read the book so I know what "really" happened but would like to have seen what ITV made of it.

Hmmm... I don't recall any problems - I record it from 4HD on Fridays. However, I can now confirm the issue with repeating and/or time based timers. Recommend is too weak a word - you simply must not set timers manually via the timer list. Always set event based timers using the other methods, including via the EPG. I'm still trying to pinpoint the issue and come up with a simple test case, but I have seen enough already to know that time based timers are very bad news in the current software .

The issue resurfaced this evening.
After deleting the offending timer and setting a new one via the EPG just as a test, all seemed well earlier. The new recording worked fine and the box returned to low power standby.
The next timer failed to record though so maybe once one or more events get messed up it sends all other pre-existing timers off.
Unplugging from the mains didn't do anything, I've had to delete all the timers and reset them to clear the issue. I'll find out tommow if it's settled down again.
I'll keep my fingers crossed and report back. I'm glad you've managed to duplicate the problem but I won't be setting any manual timers any time soon

Cheers Tom

After deleting all timers and setting them again, the box is now recording as plan and going into low power standby

Cheers Tom

Yes, I had a similar experience last night - all 5 recordings, after the daily timer had finished, failed to record. I didn't spot the first one until later - I deleted that timer. When the subsequent 4 timers failed, I pressed record on live tv to start the recording in each case. It's strange because although the box wakes up to start the recording, it just simply doesn't start recording at all. However, it seems to be behaving itself properly again this morning without deleting/resetting any timers (except the repeating one).

The simplest test case (after I spent ages playing with overlapping recordings, etc) is just to set a repeating timer, and after the first recording for that timer, the box will refuse to record anything else. But, if you then delete the time type timer completely, it springs back to life most of the time. For instance, when a programme is still on and not recording due to this bug, deleting the type timer then causes the failed recording to suddenly start up. I guess there is probably some code in the repeat timers that causes it to ignore all event timers until the next repeat timer (or maybe just any manually set timer).

There was that much going on at home yesterday, doing that may have worked for us. I'm almost certain though that ours must have been one of those exceptions as deleting the repeating timer still wouldn't allow the box to go into low power standby. All is well again now though.
Just one more little bug for you guys to work on. You really must love your job

Cheers Tom

Hehe... wish it was my job - all these bugs would have been fixed quicksmart . Actually, my box is still not behaving itself, contrary to what I thought when testing this morning. Like in your case, all existing timers that were scheduled before the repeating timer completed did not actually record today either. Can't think of another way to revive the timers without deleting and resetting them, as you say. Daily and weekly timers probably react differently, but ultimately whenever one completes it will stop the box from recording. Needless to say I shall be firing off a detailed report on this issue.

Could someone please confirm which PVR we are discussing currently? I'm assuming it is the Vestel T7650?

Colin

Yes, the T7650, but I'm guessing the T7300 and T7660 are affected in the same way also. That said, timer behaviour has changed a fair bit between the T7300 and T7650. I'll check on the T7300 once I am happy that my T7650 is back to normal (still experimenting to see how many timers were messed up). The T835 does not have the daily/weekly repeating timer option - I half wonder if this issue is the reason why .

If there are any rockets left over from Channel 4's backside attack maybe the software developers ( presumably not Vestel ) need one or two also?

Cheers Tom

Thanks for that. I'll try and pay more attention in future.

Colin

I've just discovered that my Logik has recorded the whole of RSPCA Animal Rescue, PickTV 1900hr 26 05 2013... with NO SOUND

Have rebooted, no change.

EDIT - And The Glee Project at 1800hr same day! AND An Idiot Abroad at 0015hr same day!!

I hardly ever watch PickTV but I'm sure it has recorded the RSPCA programme OK in the past.

Mostly the programmes are no loss but I do like me animal rescues

EDIT AGAIN - I don't think it's to do with the PVR, just found this:

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1628781

Looks as though my Onkyo hifi might be responsible in combination with Pick's transmission quirk?

I'm sure the sound would be on the recording, physically, if Pick TV did broadcast the sound. Have you tried playing the recordings whilst tuning to different live TV channels?