I live in NI so in order to get ITV 1 HD on the EPG I will have to enter an English postcode. Once this has been done, what channels can be changed in the menu to be regional variants?

Would I be able to replace BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV 1 with BBC 1 NI, BBC 2 NI and UTV?

If I want to record something from UTV and it is also on ITV 1 HD on 119, will it pop up informing me it is in HD and offer to let me record that instead?

It would be nice to have the HD channels on the SD numbers if you have a HD box. Why would anyone want to watch/record the SD channel when the HD version is available?!

BBC 1 and 2 are the only channels you can customise irrespective of the postcode

With a fullish Drive Paddy..even a short trip away can overload the system if like me.. your wife has every Soap down for record ..in case the grand-kids come round etc..Hence she watches in HD and i clear out the SD build up every week..

Stan

Right, I bit the bullet last night and bought a HDR. I'm in Single Feed mode at the moment until my Quad LNB arrives.

Everything seems grand so far, apart from a few niggles.

Start up time is rather slow. Even from Standby rather than a full power on.

I went to test the recording facility last night and put City Slickers on ITV 1 HD on 119 to record. The time came for the film to start but nothing happened, it wouldn't record. The icon was in the guide beside the title but that was it. I was able to change channels when the box should have locked itself to ITV 1 HD for the film (seeing as I'm only using 1 input at present). What happened there? I had to go to the channel and manually press record, but I had already missed the first 5 minutes. I have set up some series links and hope they record without problem.

When I powered the box on this morning it asked about tuning channels. Does it do this every time it's powered on or are there new channels available, hence why it asked? I deleted some channels from the guide and don't want them reappearing all the time when a new scan is done.

Why in the guide are some channels abbreviated, but if you press the green button to go to "List" they are not abbreviated? Seems rather strange... And also the channel numbers are in from the left more than the other text, leaving less room for the channel names and probably why they are abbreviated. Simply realigning the text should sort that out, a rather simple design error I think. Even if not moved there is room for the name, as evidences in the "List" section, so why abbreviated in the Guide section?

Apart from those, a lovely box. Let's just hope we get more channels on the service, especially some HD ones!

Assuming you have installed the short link cable as per the diagram on the bottom of P16 depending on which version of ITV-HD you have at 119 you would still have access to record/view the following channels

ITV1-HD Crystal Palace at 119

104 Channel 4
125 More4 +1
300 Film4
301 Film4 +1
974 Channel 4
750 RTE Radio 1
751 RTE Radio 2fm
752 RTE Radio Lyric FM
753 RTE Raidio na Gaeltacta
102 BBC Two
105 Channel 5
106 BBC Three
107 BBC Four
600 CBBC
601 CBeebies
950 BBC 1 London
957 BBC 1 NI
968 BBC 2 England
102 BBC 2
705 BBC Radio 5 Live
706 BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra
960 BBC 1 Scotland
964 BBC 1 Wales
969 BBC 2 NI
970 BBC 2 SCOTLAND
971 BBC 2 W
103 ITV 1 Border England
103 ITV 1 Central East
103 ITV 1 Thames Valley
103 ITV 1 Wales
103 ITV 1 West
103 ITV 1 West Country South
118 ITV4 + 1
119 ITV 1 HD (Crystal Palace)
114 ITV2 +1
103 ITV 1 Anglia South
103 ITV 1 Border Scotland
103 ITV 1 Meridian South
103 ITV 1 Tyne Tees North
103 ITV 1 Yorkshire West
139 horror CH+1
514 Clubland
786 BFBS Radio
807 Jewelery Maker
141 BET + 1
138 Horror Channel
811 Thane Direct
210 CNBC
202 S4C2
809 JML
400 Wedding TV
405 Food Network
406 Food Network + 1
140 BET (Black Entertainment TV)
103 ITV 1 HD (red button)
986 Teletext (Watch Only)
999 Freesat Info
861 Gala TV
206 Russia Today
402 INFORMATION TV
205 France 24
690 Inspiration TV
694 God Channel
851 Netplay TV

ITV1-Granada at 119

121 Channel 4 + 1
122 E4
123 E4 +1
124 More4
975 Channel 4 + 1
103 ITV 1 London
103 ITV 1 Granada
103 ITV 1 Anglia North
103 ITV 1 Central West
113 ITV2
117 ITV4
602 CITV
977 ITV 1 London (audio described)
101 BBC One
952 BBC 1 E Mids
953 BBC 1 East (E)
955 BBC 1 N West
963 BBC 1 W Mids
966 BBC 1 Yorks
967 BBC 1 Eyrks*L
101 BBC One
956 BBC 1 NE & C
958 BBC 1 Oxford
959 BBC 1 S East
961 BBC 1 South
962 BBC 1 S West
965 BBC 1 West
108 BBC HD
951 BBC 1 CI
954 BBC 1 East (W)
103 STV
103 UTV
115 ITV3
116 ITV3 +1
731 Talk Sport Radio
119 ITV 1 HD (Granada)
304 Movies4Men
306 Movies4Men2
515 Vintage TV
724 Absolute Radio
725 Absolute Classic Rock
726 Absolute 80's
728 WRN
729 JazzFM
777 Insight Radio
790 TWR Radio
403 Showcase
504 B4U Music
692 Revelation
812 Ideal World
813 Create A Craft
815 Jewelry Ch
135 CBS Drama
870 Babestation
208 Bloomberg TV
801 price-drop tv
814 Speed Auction TV
693 Islam Channel
142 TRUE ENT
302 True Movies
303 True Movies 2
500 Chart Show TV
501 The Vault
502 Flava
503 NME TV
603 POP
604 POPGirl
605 Tiny POP
606 Kix!
203 Al Jazeera English
209 NHK WORLD TV


If you then recorded one of the 2nd channel choices you would still have had some 3rd channel viewing options depending on which 2nd channel you chose to record

I don't thave the secondary cable set up, my quad LNB should be here at the start of the week and have nothing planned to be recorded until mid-week.

I set it up with a Manchester postcode to get ITV 1 HD Granada on 119 as it has the full 1920x1080 resolution rather than the 1440x1080 of ITV 1 London.

When I get the second cable run set up, do I have to reset the box completely or will it automatically recognise that there is another feed available? Will that affect the EPG line-up or the currently scheduled recordings?

Oh, what is the most recent software? I think mine said 1.00.13 or something like that. Is there anything more recent. It said it couldn't find anything last night when setting the box up but I understand there is a newer version out and the updates are broadcast continually on satellite rather than periodically...

You should always add the loop cable if working with only 1 lnb, the firmware is set up to assume it's there. Without it the box will assume that it can record various combinations and will fail when it actually tries to do so. You have the latest firmware, a factory reset will be required to recognise the second connection when you fit it.

If we had UTV HD we wouldn't have any problem Paddy. It's a downright disgrace we can't receive at least ITV 1 HD on the EPG here.

Still, I suppose UTV will have to have something sorted by March 2013 (the DSO date that seems oh soooooo long away) when some sort of terresrial ITV HD station should be available on Freeview HD here ????????????????????? Or will they ?.

I wonder if we'll still be missing out at that stage ????

I honestly wouldn't want UTV HD anyway even if they did launch it.

Brain Box, starting earlier and earlier into the 11pm hour showing gaming crap instead of programming/films that network is showing? No thanks. I'll probably stick with ITV 1 HD Granada and un-local ads for Channel 4. That's all I'm missing out on by not having an NI postcode set, but am losing out on a HD channel if I don't.

Completely agree with you Paddy. I thought this sort of thing was scrapped years ago because it was deemed to be nothing more than gambling.So why have the powers that be at Havelock House resurected this crap ?

I also find the UTV DOG an absolute pain as well and I record programmes on ITV London virtually 100% of the time in order to avoid it, unless it's something local I'm interested in. Why are NI viewers subjected to this type of thing ?

Still, about the only advantage of an NI postcode is the fact we have a limited RTE service with a basic Sky subscription. I suppose with Freesat that doesn't really matter though.