So, a little update... Firstly, I have set up a @VestelPVR account on Twitter - not really posted anything yet, but I may use this to post my news and ramblings, etc, in the near future.

Next, I think the issue described at http://pvrbugs.futaura.co.uk/view.php?id=384 has been mentioned much earlier in this thread. It affects all T7655 models, and the T7650 with v1.49 (I don't remember, but I think the bug may have been a side effect of the new record 2 channels and watch another channel feature). I have numerous recordings on my boxes that demonstrate the issue, but only recently stumbled upon a way to reproduce the bug consistently, and it has been quickly fixed on the T7655 emerald.

Speaking of side effects, the above fix seems to have triggered something else - last Wednesday I had 3 timers set to record at 9pm, and I was surprised to find the box had recorded all 3 programmes! Although I've not tried it yet, I think 4 simultaneous recordings may also be possible. Of course, this is limited to recording on two different muxes only. I don't think this is an intentional feature yet though, as the user interface still tries to limit you to 2 recordings. Nonetheless, it is good to know that fundamentally the hardware and software is fully capable to do this. Does anyone know if Humax boxes have this feature? It is a rather cool and useful feature .

Ending on a negative note, the deinterlacing issue has not been fixed yet - watching motorsport is particularly unbearable in this regard, as I can't help but notice the flickering.

I think there's probably three reasons why the PVR market is smaller:
1. With BT, Talk Talk, KC and Orange joining the other major ISPs in offering PVRs as part of their packages many people will get their PVR from their ISP. The only mainstream ISP I can think of which doesn't offer a PVR is PlusNet.
2. There are many cheap TalkTalk YouView PVRs on eBay available now with great specifications.
3. The digital switchover has been completed so although some people will be replacing or upgrading theirs the peak demand is over.

Despite this, there are quite a number of Freeview PVR manufacturers left in the UK market:
- Echostar
- Harvard, now part of Chengdu Geeya (Goodmans and View 21 brands)
- Huawei (sells a YouView box)
- Humax
- IceCrypt
- Manhattan
- Panasonic
- Samsung
- Sagemcom (including those sold under the Philips brand)
- Vestel
- Plus retailers' own and licensed brands

Thank you, Andrew.


Following! (Hoping for not too many retweets )


WOW!

The more I look at it, the more it looks like a bug, and clearly unintentional - whether the 3rd recording starts or not appears to depend on the precise order in which the 3 timers fire. Have been trying to reproduce it all day without success (pulling the plug each time the conflicting timers screen appears in or to keep 3 overlapping timers). But, it did happen to me the last two Wednesdays, and I captured a serial debug log of it this week to prove it which was sent to Vestel.

I fear Vestel may view it as a bug, although probably low priority so not worth fixing . However, it would be nice if it could be turned into a fully fledged feature - it surely shouldn't take a lot of effort. Besides, the existing record 2 watch another channel on same MUX functionality still needs cleaning up as it has never worked seamlessly since it was introduced on the T7650 (the latest T7655 inherits all the same flaws).

I could swear some other PVR had this feature already but I'm struggling to find it with Google.

Has anybody else noticed sound distortion (loud blips and pops, even during quiet scenes) on the HD channels the past week or so? In the past I've heard this on 5.1 content only, but now it is happening with 2.0 sound too. Happens on all HD channels for me, including BBC News HD right now. The problem isn't constant, but reasonably frequent. Happens with all the Vestel HD models.

Does this sound familiar soup_dragon? I'm thinking this could be what you reported much earlier this year. Could be transmitter specific and related to a change in decoders which the Vestel software isn't handling correctly (I don't hear the problem on my Sony TV's tuner).

Yeah, that sounds like my problem exactly. I'd describe the frequency as more often than not. Maybe a few times a minute. As I reported earlier, for me, it only seems to be on the newer BBC HD channels that started earlier this year. Not sure if it's related but there is a reported problem that the BBC are supposedly working on at their end but the status hasn't changed since about may this year

Tom

As I said when you reported the issue months ago on COM7, it didn't happen here. So, it must be transmission/encoder related - here it started happening a couple of weeks ago on both HD muxes, and I first noticed it on ITV HD. Watching The Code last night on BBC4 HD (2.0 source), it was popping and crackling all the way through on my T7655, so I switched to my TV for the second episode and the sound was fine on that.

Seems some other devices are affected too, such as the Digital Stream, but it is hard to say whose fault it is. Could be buggy software in the PVRs, buggy encoders at the transmission stage or a bug in Broadcom chipsets - possibly all three. I'm going to try and record a good example of this to see if Vestel can help.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's something that only requires a simple fix. If they actually decide to release a firmware update is another matter. You never know though

Tom

Hello,

I have a Bush B1TBHDPVR (T7650) which I would like to connect to BBC iPlayer via the ethernet socket in to my internet router. After switching the unit off and on a few times and re-inserting the ethernet cable, I have only been able to connect briefly to the iPlayer menu but have not been able to watch a programme due to the connection being lost. The unit belongs to my mother and she has never been able to connect satisfactorily to iPlayer but has not been sufficiently concerned to do anything about it.

I telephoned Argos Technical Support yesterday and was informed that iPlayer might no longer be available via this unit. However, the fact that I have been able to make a brief connection to iPlayer would suggest that is not the case. Given that the unit has never been satisfactorily connected to iPlayer, I am inclined to think that the ethernet socket might be faulty.

As the unit was purchased in January 2013, I was advised to contact Argos Customer Services, who suggested that I have the unit inspected by an independent engineer to determine if the connection issue is being caused by a faulty component and, if so, to obtain a report to that effect, whereupon they will be willing to allow me to return the unit for replacement.

Before doing that, I would like to be certain that it should be possible to connect the unit to iPlayer before paying for an engineer to inspect it.

Thanks in advance,

Michael

Yes, the T7650 still has a working iPlayer via the red button (it's the older T7300 that has lost iPlayer, which is what Argos support are getting mixed up with). Which software version is the box running? Latest public release is v1.49.

Assuming the T7650 is running the latest software, it sounds more like a networking issue rather than a faulty unit. Is the connection to the ADSL modem/router fully wired (I.e. not via a wireless bridge, for example)? Is it the Ethernet link going down (you'll normally be able to see this by the router light for that port and/or the IP Settings settings screen on the T7650 which should show the link status as good without changing)? And presumably your broadband speed is fast enough?

Thanks for your speedy reply.

I have checked the unit and it states the software version as being v1.36. I have tried to upgrade but got a message saying 'no new software available'.

I've sent you a private message regarding updating to v1.49. If this doesn't solve the iPlayer problem, it would be interesting if you could post the details shown on the IP Settings screen. As I said earlier, it is important to differentiate between an internet connectivity problem and an Ethernet connectivity problem. The latter of course could be due to a dodgy socket, as you say, a dodgy cable or a configuration issue on the box.

I have reason to believe that all hope is not lost yet .

For those interested, these are the files that I've shared with Vestel:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?...Hc&usp=sharing

The mp4 files were captured using a camera, and unfortunately the clicks are muffled somewhat and sound lower pitched than in reality. The problem is most obvious in the ITVHD video. The chunk.1 files are the recording files transferred directly off my T7300 - interestingly, MX Player plays these with no audio distortion.

As a follow up to this post I have now discovered and cured the problem.

My old TV had a lack of HDMI ports so I was using a cheap switch unit. When I bought the new TV I rewired the connections but left the HDMI switch inline with the T7650.
It was this switch going faulty that was causing my symptoms, as has been proved by a direct cable connection, error free for quite a few weeks now.
So pleased to report T7650 not guilty.

One interesting thing I did find, while I was checking the connections, if the T7650 was playing a recording and I disconnected the HDMI lead when reconnected the playback had stopped and returned to the library screen, HDMI handshaking!?

Can't say I've ever tried that - the usual thing if HDMI loses sync during playback is that it loses the current playback position and returns to the previous resume point, which was annoying with my old TV as my AV amp likes to lose sync every now and then. But, yes, to answer your question the software reacts to hot unplugs in various ways.

The blue screen issue that you had before was probably a HDCP issue, and the switch was stopping it from working. Glad to hear you sorted it all out though.

Just tried with my current direct connection and I get the same result, goes back to the resume point or if none to the start. Which I suppose is resume from the last play point = beginning.

Not sure if this is known as a work around for the live pause buffer issue but........

Just tried pausing the news to have another look at one of the cameras rolling into shot and as the box had been on for a good few hours the buffer had filled and it refused to rewind. I changed channel and all of a sudden the live pause works again.

Please forgive me if I'm stating the obvious but if I remember correctly the last time this was discussed, the only way was to put the box into standby and then on again to flush the buffer.

Cheers Tom

I think you're getting two different issues mixed up. Time shift buffers are recorded in chunks, and once a chunk fills up a new one is created and that's when the problems start. Everytime you change channel, a new time shift buffer is created so time shifting starts working again, but the old buffer is not deleted. These old time shift buffers are deleted on boot up with v1.49 and earlier on the T7650, so if you don't use low power standby mode the drive will eventually fill up with time shift buffer files. The latter was addressed in v1.54, IIRC, with the buffers getting deleted after each channel change. The time shifting bug may have been fixed on T7655 emerald - there was a fix listed relating to HD time shifting.

Ah, right o

Cheers Tom

The Humax Freeview HDRs do not have that feature.

But it is passible to record 3 simultaneous programmes using a different method on the Humax Freeview HDRs.

The live buffer is maintained for all live programmes being watched. If you are already recording 2 programmes and keep the Humax HDR tuned to the 3rd channel, then when 1 of the other recordings has finish it then allows you to start a recording from any point from the accumulated live buffer.

Do we have anybody here whose local transmitter is Mendip? I'm asking in relation to the sound glitches issue on the HD channels.

Not only the Mendip transmitter......
Check this out ....https://www.avforums.com/threads/psb...-pops.1914401/

Regards
Edit --- and I have just seen you have posted there !!!

Hehe - what I'm asking is does it happen on Mendip, specifically? I know it happens on some other transmitters, but unsure if it happens on all. A certain company is based in Bristol hence why I'm asking about Mendip .

ooops ok !!!
Must check out this popping and crackling on my View21 PVR --- I am on the Preseli transmitter in West Wales which doesn't have COM 7 which some people say is the problem?
Regards

It was, but the problem started on PSB3 too in mid-October.