Afternoon,

I've had 9 months faultless service from my 8520, but now when watching HD channels through it (the main reason I bought it!) it just stutters all the time. Recordings are playing back OK. Tried a factory reset to no avail. Am I just stuck with it?

Cheers,

You can also get a Humax HDR-Fox T2 1TB PVR if you wanted to http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/product.asp?ProdRef=10096

The state of TV at the moment I probably rarely have more the 10 hours of programmes on it, never mind 250.


I had similar issues with HD before it died - or to be more precise kind of became comatosed. It seems to be breathing, just won't spring to life - and CPR is doing nothing.

I read somewhere, can't remember where though, that with the Phillips box if you set the HDMI format specifically to 1080i and NOT to Auto then you don't get the stuttering.

This is currently working, we'll see how long it lasts! Thanks very much for the suggestion!

I just got a reconditioned Philips HDT8520 and I've noticed that, when viewing programs recorded on the HDD, the sound can have little pops/crackles in it every 5 seconds or so. A bit like listening to a vinyl record. They're not really loud just annoying.

However, if I rewind live TV and watch recordings that way, then the sound is fine. Is this a known issue?

I recorded "Lewis" on ITV3 Thursday evening. Started watching it last night. I got to 1 hour 25 minutes of the two hour programme and my HDT8520 switched back to live TV. I thought I'd somehow switched it off so tried to start the recording again. I then discovered it had only recorded 1hr 25mins of the programme.

Whether it was the box was at fault or the recording signal from ITV switching it off I may never know.

I have just switched on and I have a notice asking uf I want to watch the programme in HD or SD and it says press the button you want, I have done that and it does not go away so did anyone have this.

Yes, I've had that a few times. It's only started recently.

The only way to get rid of it is to switch off at the mains and start again. Unless someone knows different.

I have a 8520 which I bought as a refurbished unit from Maplins a few months ago. It has the latest 7.21 firmware. Basically it hasn't given me much trouble & I like the picture quality. One thing that has just started to happen is that the front panel led display is playing up, keeps fading on & off. It looks like a loose connection somewhere because if you give the box a gentle tap it comes on again for a while. It seems you cannot take the box apart to check very easy without breaking a seal. This of course would invalidate the warranty. Anyone else had this problem?

My machine has just gone wrong with all indicator lights, including the "rim" light, flickering.
Is this a known failure mode? If so, can anything be done? Is there a way to reset other than power cycling?

Further to my previous reply I have found that if I'm watching a programme that's only in SD, BBC Regional News for example, and the following programme is in HD then the box comes up asking you to select HD or SD. If for some reason I don't select something immediately, say I'm out of the room, then when I do try to select HD nothing happens. This has happened a few times recently, the last time at 7.00pm last night.

I have to switch the box off at the mains and reboot..

In case others have this problem and see this query through searching, the fault lay with the external power supply. Replaced it through eBay and so far so good.

can anyone suggest a method for copying a stored one hour programme on my 8520 to a Philips DVDR 3440H ? I can't find any instructions in the manuals

Scart to Scart making sure that freeview unit is set to scart (press the V out button on front) to Scart in on 3440H Scart out on 3440H to TV scart so you can monitor results you may have to experiment with the scarts on the back of 3440H to get the the right way round, when finished press the V out on freeview box to setting you use or you may get no picture

Thanks for that I will try that. I think I'll wait till after the Xmas in case I cock things up !

Something very strange has been happening, I've been recording episodes of the ITV programme
'Great Night Out', and after a couple of days they have dissapeard from the recording library, in two cases before I've had a chance to watch them.

After the last episode, I watched it straight after the recording, then protected it. The day after it had gone.

Is it possible that the programme is tagged in some way, that it can only be stored for short time and will then be deleted ?

In the 'settings' there is an auto-delete option which I keep turned off. Could it be that? How full is the drive? If it is close to being full then maybe it is auto deleting to free up space although I would have thought it would have gone for the oldest recordings first.

Hello Squirrel, thank's for the reply.

Auto delete is OFF and there is about 36 hours of HD recording space left.

I just remembered something about a limit in the number of recordings that the Philips can do, could this be the problem. If so, why is it only effecting this particular programme, all the others remain in the library until I delete them.

I've just deleted a lot of old recordings to see if that helps.

John

There was something about a limit of 254 programmes BUT whether that was a total of all progs or series record counting as one or not I cannot say.

Must admit I haven't known recordings to disappear like this before. The only recording problem I get is if/when recording two progs simultaneously say BBC1 & Film4 and the box is left tuned to a different channel then sometimes it seems to fail to switch the tuner and you get a red-triangled unplayable recording.

When I had problems, which I attributed to the "file name limit" because the disk was only threequarters full and deleting records cured it, the recordings simply did not start- i.e. no red light. BTW while I had over 130 items at "root' level and several series folders with 10-15 records, I don't think I had reached 254 in total.

An annoying problem I have started getting is after I have watched a recording and select "Delete", occasionally it tells me it's a protected recording and I have to enter my PIN. I have never protected any recordings. Why does this happen?

Secondly, after getting many duplicate series recordings, mainly from Channel 5 programmes being recorded on Ch5+1 and any repeats on 5USA, I have had to resort to selecting just one individual programme at a time to record on Ch5. Despite this I still occasionally get a duplicate recording on Ch5+1. This only happens on Ch5.

I have taken this up with Ch5, who say it's not their problem, I think it is. I have spoken to an adviser at Digital TV UK who says it's Ch5's problem, in fact the adviser I spoke to said he gets the same problem. I have also taken it up with OFCOM. They told me that even though it's not in their remit they did speak to Ch5. They admitted to OFCOM the problem may be caused by:-

This is part of the Ch5 reply to OFCOM

They added that while they haven't conclusively identified the cause of the problem, it seems that they may relate to the fact that channel 5 is carried on a different Freeview "Multiplex" to Ch5+1 & 5USA and some models of PVR may not be correctly ignoring repeat broadcasts on the second Multiplex.

I have put this to Philips for their comments, I am still awaiting a reply.

Another annoying thing from 5USA is their scheduling of Law & Order at 6.00pm to 6.55pm each evening. The programme always start 2-3 minutes late and usually finishes just before 7.00pm. The recording always misses the end. Ch5's advice, "you should add extra time to your recording". Makes you wonder why we bother to buy these new fangled one touch recorders in the first place doesn't it?

I am sure Ch5 sends out the recording signals at the time the programme is scheduled to start and not when it actually does start.

In this case the recording is successful, and can be played the same day, but the day after, it disappears from the library listing, very strange.

I've deleted some files, so I will see what happens after Fridays recording.

I've also set my old Thompson standard def PVR to record it to see what happens with that.

A agree that there IS something wrong with the start/stop timer signals on C5 and subsidiary channels. My wife asked to series record the sitcom Dhama & Greg on 5USA at 12 to 12:25 each recording was chopped a couple of minutes short. I sat and watched what was happening and at 12 noon the shopping show stopped and then trailers for 5USA progr started. The PVR switched on exactly at that point so we gor over 2 mins of trailers. The program started and then 25 mins after starting to record the PVR stopped but the program still had 2 mins to run!

This only happens on C5 channels. Unfortunately the Phillips PVR has no option to add padding.

They did the same with Law & Order which was broadcast at 6.00pm to 6.55pm on weekdays last week and earlier in the year. Any other time they schedule L & O for one hour. If you had recorded, as I did initially from the guide, then you "always" missed the final 3-4 minutes.

However, you can add padding with the Philips. When you select your schedule recordings you will see the opportunity to manually create a recording. Select "New Manual Recording" All you need to do is enter the programme details, i.e. start time, stop time. channel No & repeat mode - once, daily, weekly or Mon to Fri. I use this facility a lot with Ch5 programmes to add a few minutes to the stop time.

However, we shouldn't have to if Ch5 got their finger out and sorted the problem.