Notwithstanding the severity and range of problems being exhibited by this box, Samsung providing a tracking mechanism seems to augur well, ie acknowledging the issues and advising plans for May release, June release, further investigation or design feature.

Humax have historically been rated for their support, but I don't think HDR problems have been officially acknowledged so publicly. Humax fixes were hinted at on this forum but I don't believe any plans were so clearly announced. Granted the problems were/are less severe, but the timescale for Humax fixes would appear to be years not this month / next month.

The issue of accurate recording v manual padding I believe is something for which Freesat management needs to take responsibility. Otherwise the freesat user finishes up with a problem while the broadcasters and manufacturers can blame each other.

Indeed, why they did not include a program end signal in the specification heaven knows!

Plus making it a requirement to use the full EPG features and not just use it for basic information.

This Samsung box however sees the start signal but seems to stop recording at the scheduled time which can cause the end to be cut off (only happens some times).

The Humax HDR stops recording using the next program start signal.

Automan.

As does the Sky HD box I believe... But then we have sky set to 3 mins before and 1 after on padding just to be sure!

Not sure if we're going to get the capability to archive recordings made onto USB - even if just USB sticks. There seems to be mention of DRM issues for USB hard drives which seems an odd one. Where does DRM come into it?

OK may be some issues with BBC HD content being copied AT ALL - but other content for archiving purposes surely is ok? Humax do it...

A few more FAQ's with answers from Samsung...








No fix for this then


Signal levels / Quality are lower than with my old Humax-HDR so I guess the tuners are not so good?

Automan.

A few more...




Yes, it is a design feature so you don't press a button by mistake. Pull the other one

Automan.

> This feature is designed so that there is uninterrupted viewing of a recording (i.e. prevents accidental selection of other buttons).

Probably bug: standby button is not disabled, one can accidentally press is while viewing the recording

To be honest, I've never tried using guide while watching recorded programme. But I don't buy this kind of "explanation".

> Signal levels / Quality are lower than with my old Humax-HDR so I guess the tuners are not so good?

It's just a visualization, cannot be compared with another STB.

>I have found pressing 0 on the remote works best, back quits the guide.

Back button works. If filter is on, pressing the back key clears the filter, second press quits the guide. 0-press focus first channel on selected genre. I have found, that it works same way on the channel list. Personally I think I like this feature.

Another GEM,
Just wasting my time setting some recordings for this Friday which will most likely have vanished by then.

Anyway, tried to record from ITV3 a Kojak TVM.

Anyway, I never got the record symbol and tried again only to get the famous already scheduled message.

Checking the library timer it has picked Kojak from UTV on channel 4211 from the 05-05-2011

So perhaps it can look for other showings but I did not realise Freesat channels were now 4 digit long....

http://i336.photobucket.com/albums/n...4-28224138.jpg

Automan.

Shock, all my planned recordings have vanished today including my UTV one

Automan.

i'm currently only using my Samsung to record series linked programs. Any one off show or films I'm still using my Humax. Hopefully after Monday this will change.

That is how John Lewis describe this product

Automan.

Over The Air Upgrade....

If this starts on the Wednesday 4th May should it not be listed on the DTG Site?

http://www.dtg.org.uk/industry/download_schedule.php

Automan.

Thanks, that's what I had thought too ( about auto support) but I guess only forum members with ex-sky dishes / new 28E only dishes have bought so far. I am tempted to try buying one to test it out if the sw update proves generally reliable, but without manual timers I'd be relying on setting other sat channels via epg which is mostly going to be just now and next. (Main German channels should be okay and BVN gets a full epg these days on my hdfs, but German eurosport has lost its epg a few months ago) we'll see in a few days time.

How many of us think Samsung have software engineers working away, writing, debugging and testing software for launch this bank holiday Monday?

I have my doubts

BTW. Just been watching more Family Guy episodes that started recording on time but have the ends cut off

Automan.

Amazing, firmware is on their website and am now downloading (35mb)...

EDIT: Now Flashing from a 16GB USB Stick...

Automan.

flipping heck, i would have give you 100-1 on it not turning up.

don't no what odds i will give you on it actually solving all the problems though.

i hope it does work, i recently bought both the echostar and humax machines and had to return them both for various reasons, so i have got my eye in this thread now.

Good Luck

New Version
Firmware 0.39/1.43
Software Version 003.000.0273

HDMI Audio Issue - Not Fixed
Can Record more than one film from chn4 family - fixed
Recording Clash Management message - Enhanced, offering delete of offending item or items.
CHN4 HD EPG - Well it was populated for a bit and is now empty again.
Indication of new recording in Series link folder - No

I may make not of my planned recordings and give it a factory reset.

Automan.

I have performed a reset which clears all channels and timers but not your recordings.

Series link symbol in guide now ok, (white "S" on a grey backround which becomes red if you set it to record the series).

My CHN4 HD EPG seems better now and if you opt to record from CHN4 it will offer you the HD version.

I have deleted all my 1 second recordings and now only time will tell if it works better...

New recording clash message in verbose mode (Press Red)

http://i336.photobucket.com/albums/n...5-02120313.jpg

Automan.

PATHETIC!

I still cannot record one off programmes, they disappear from the timer when the box goes into standby.

Samsung are beyond a joke. Why on earth would they not fix this?

I've just noticed that the box still records loads of 1 second programmes.

What was this patch actually supposed to fix?

Adult channel exclusion and edit of main channel lists now seem to be saved.
Still no audio from media player if loaded from a DD channel.
Recording length playback time bar now starts at 00:00:00 rather than 01:00:00 (when you press info).
It seems to be selecting items from the correct BBC regions to record.

I left my one in low power standby for over an hour with 52 recording events set
Just checked and now 51 (as one has recorded).

http://i336.photobucket.com/albums/n...5-02200404.jpg

I also have not witnessed an audio glitch yet on a HD channel but of course still too early to be sure.

Thunderquaker, you may want to try a factory reset to see if it helps.

Of course, we will know more but Tuesday....

Automan.

Automan, to do a factory reset do I go to Settings, System and change the option in Reset to Defaults?

Cheers

yes, that is the option which I think is poorly named.

Automan

Box is still a heap of ???? IMHO

Every single single event timer I set yesterday (3 pages of) have now gone

Also as reported by Thunderquaker I have 2 new 1 second recordings.

So yes they have fixed some things but not enough to make the box of any real use.

Today I also had more of trouble trying to get the box to talk to the TV with the TV saying "No Signal" but I did have sound from my AMP. I had to power cycle all to get it to work.

Automan.

Have now turned off low power standby to see if that helps save single timers.

I set some films on film4 to record and then went for the HD movie on 4 this afternoon.

Pressed record and it said something like "conflict will record it from chn4+1".

http://i336.photobucket.com/albums/n...5-03080417.jpg

But I wanted the HD version and was given no option to resolve conflict another way.

Automan.

I think HDMI is now worse via my AMP so I have tried direct to my LG 3D TV.

This works better with it picking 1080p in Auto and in manual lets me pick all modes (now via my Sony Amp STR-DH810) if only offered 576p.

Also turning off low power standby does not change the standby power which still goes down to 0.7 watt.

Lastly, much to my surprise Samsung posted my question....


Automan.