My parents called me last night to say that their Alba ALDTR160 (Vestel T825) often won't come out of standby without a lot of trouble.

It continues to record from the timer as it should but when they press the ON button "nothing happens".

If they power cycle the unit at the mains, then eventually after a few goes it will start up.

Are there any known faults like this?

I suspect some sort of power supply problem, but I wouldn't have thought it needed much more power to drive the SCART to the TV than it does to record?

It's still within guarantee so I can ask them to return it to Argos, but I think that Argos are more likely to offer a replacement than a repair. As the ALDTR160 is no longer available they will have a have a different machine which they won't understand how to use. This will require me to travel 400 miles to install the new machine, and then spend half a day explaining how to use it, Then I will have to provide telephone support for the next 2-3 months to iron out the teething troubles.

Each of these phone calls last about an hour, and every call involves Mum asking how she can stop it recording each episode of Neighbours 5 times ("You can't stop it Mum, they're sending the wrong information from the transmitter."). Each call also ends with her demanding to know why they've done all this digital switch over, and what was wrong with the old system? And to be honest I can't give her any sort of satisfactory answer, because for them DSO just means that they are £800 poorer and now have a load of unreliable technology they don't understand how to use. The whole business has made her quite depressed

I know it's a bit of a long shot, but if anybody has had similar experience - with the DVR, not the parents - and found a fix I'd be really grateful.

My Wharfedale (Vestel T825) only infrequently has the 'will not switch on' issue, but so far has only happens when it is recording. So far I have not been able to identify a fix.

If you exchanged your parents' PVR at Argos and get a different Vestel then the Menus will be at least almost identical. If there are any differences then your parents may not even notice.

Just a thought, some friends of mine were having an issue with a DVD player that wouldn't turn on. When I went to see them it turned out he was quickly jabbing at the standby button and she was rather ineffectually sliding her finger over the button.
I showed them how to just press and release, which cured the problem!

Do you mean the ON button on the remote, on the unit itself or both? If it only happens with the remote, then the remote may be "bunged up" inside and a clean will fix it.

It is more of a concern if it really does take multiple power cycles to power up - it will take a couple of minutes to boot up and check the HDD normally. It could be a PSU problem (capacitors tend to be the most common part to fail) or knackered HDD can cause symptoms like this. It's hard to say for sure without more detailed info.

The new Hitachi and Bush PVRs in Argos use exactly the same interface and remote control as the ALDTR160, being Vestel T835 based.

As far as I can tell (from a distance), the problem is the same from the front panel power button too. However I will get them to confirm this.

It's good news that the new Hitachi and Bush PVRs use exactly the same interface and remote control as the ALDTR160, because learning how to drive it was really the biggest hurdle for them.

It's a shame about the single SCART, but I think I can explain to them how to switch to the second SCART on the TV when they want to watch a DVD.

This sounds like one of the software bugs I see regularly on my T825-based Logik.

What I have observed is that, every now and then, the PVR becomes completely unresponsive to any of the front panel buttons and also any remote control input. Since my PVR is usually left in stand-by this usually manifests itself as not being able to bring it out of stand-by. But I have also noticed essentially the same behaviour on a few occasions when the PVR is in the "on" mode. In which case it is not possible to turn it off, start playing a recording, or do anything really that involves a button press.

Interestingly, it is purely the UI that is unresponsive. If the PVR is set to record (or is already recording) then that works as normal. On one occasion the UI stopped responding whilst I was actually watching a recording -- I couldn't pause it or return to the library but it continued playing just fine. Because this doesn't stop recordings taking place I rate this as less important that the regular major recording/live TV stuttering that I see (and no, I'm not in Winter Hill or any other post-DSO area).

A power cycle fixes it although occasionally it powers up in the "UI unresponsive mode" so needs a second or third power cycle. Actually, when in this mode it does respond to the power button being held for 10 seconds which will perform a "soft" reset. This is less stressful on the PSU than a power cycle so is my preferred way of clearing the fault.

What I see anyway is quite definitely a software fault and nothing to do with the PSU. I think that this is confirmed by the fact that it can actually be fixed by holding in the power button.

I'm looking forward to the T825 firmware update in case that fixes this or the more important bugs of stuttering recordings/live TV and glacially slow EPG.

Pete

Whilst I agree that some of the symptoms could be attributed to software (indeed I've experienced them too), the part about the box requiring several power cycles before it starts up is a different concern. Without more detailed info it's hard to diagnose - e.g. does the box hang with a specific message on the front panel after power cycling.

I don't know what the fix for the DSO-related software update exactly does, but it'll be interesting to see if it improves general responsiveness and lessens stuttering. I don't suspect there will be many other changes, and I doubt the EPG speed is going to improve much - I'm still at loggerheads with Vestel over that particular matter.

Anyway, leaving automatic updates enabled should help avoid most of the software instability bugs as it will cause a reboot at 3am each day.

Thanks for all the advice. The parents are going to return the Alba to Argos, and are looking to replace it with the Argos Hitachi or Argos Bush in the hope that the menus etc will be familiar enough for them to use.

Not sure if the Bush models are in stock yet, but the Hitachi ones are and IMHO look more stylish too. It may be worth taking into account that Hitachi offer support themselves via email and phone at a better level than the Bush which will presumably be handled by Argos.

You mentioned the single SCART drawback... if you have the PVR connected to one SCART on the TV and the DVD player to another, normally you will find that the TV will automatically switch to the second SCART when the DVD player is switched on, and switch back when it is switched off, although this does depend on how the TV handles SCART signalling. Also, on CRT TVs, it was normal for just the first SCART to support RGB, whereas LCDs may support RGB on all sockets (my Sony does at least).

mine powers right down no lights on the front pannel, i press the power button on the box and it tends to come on but having problems recording as well. I press rec and red line come on epg but when i check if it is recorded it hasnt and has gone in my LIB for a diffrent day when programme is not even on!

Is it definitely the ALDTR160? Sounds rather like a low power model

parthena

Found in the menu how to knock off the machine going into power save (which there is nothing in the manual about).

It now seems to be recording ok now fingers crossed

I didn't think the Alba PVRs had a low power standby mode? If your PVR is a Vestel with a Low Power mode that should not affect it's ability to record when set to this mode. The unit should automatically come out of the Low Power standby mode about 15 minutes before the scheduled time of any programmes that have been set to record.

Colin

T825 firmware update?. When and where will that be available?. I thought Vestel had abandoned all work on the 825s?

Gosh, where have you been the last few months. Sorry!
Have a look at the threads on here, Vestel have been quite industrious sorting out an issue that appeared post-dso in Winter Hill. (As have Humax, Panasonic)

I guessed it should but as long as it works with it off that setting thats ok, more hassle than what is worth as i bought it online

Seems to be recording BBC1, 2, ITV but when i tried C5 and other statations after this they would not record. When i prss the record button no red line come up and does not go in the timers.

The only thing i can think of is the signal is not good enough, could this be the case or is there a fault with the box?

It may be that when you select a programme in the EPG there is an earlier instance of the same programme maybe on a different Channel even. If so the PVR will set a timer for the earlier event. You can check if this is so by pressing the OK button after you have allowed sufficient time for the timer to be set (this can take several seconds to be completed, maybe 30s or more if you already have a large number of timer events set). If after pressing OK you are given the option of deleting the programme then this confirms the Timer has been set for a different instance of the programme rather than the one you selected.

Colin

I have deleted all my timers and everything in my Libary and it still wont let me record anything other than bbc1,2, ITV, c4. So do you think the box is faulty?

Can you watch Live TV without any picture and sound problems on all Channels? Can you use the PIP (Picture in Picture) features (this is to check if the second tuner is working.

You still haven't said whether you have an Alba ALDTR160 PVR or a different Vestel PVR? If you have a Low Power mode (as implied in your Post #12) then I don't think your unit is an Alba. I'm trying to establish whether your unit was working in the Low Power mode or was apparently powering off randomly which could cause your problems.

Colin

I do have a Alba.

Yes picture and sound are fine on live TV, I will check the PIP latter.

Thank You

An Alba with power saving mode?

When did you buy it? As I think this is the first time someone has mentioned one with low-power mode.

Wouldn't surprise me if the later T845R model has low power mode. Anyone know if the TUTV T845 has a low power mode?

about a month ago.

What is the firmware version? I'd say if it was bought in the clearance then it probably is a T845R .