The datestamp in the v4.8 OAD confirms it was the software that I had been testing for a couple of weeks until last Wednesday. So my recommendation stands - v4.6 users should update, because it at least won't be any worse than v4.6. Everyone running v4.1 or earlier should avoid (unless they have the hardware available to perform a downgrade to v3.4) because v4.8 still exhibits many of the serious problems introduced in v4.6.

Okay, thanks.

Thanks to all for the postings re v4.8. I will stick with v3.4 for the time being.

Hopefully Vestel will eventually take note of all the comments here and on Futaura's Bug Tracker and issue an upgrade worth installing!

Vestel Turkey are certainly well aware of the problems - I'm not entirely sure who is working on the update and who broke things in the first place, and whether these are in fact the same. Whatever, I'm guessing some other team (Cabot in the UK perhaps) was involved in adding the new Freeview features in v4.2 and in turn undoing much of the good Vestel Turkey had done with the code upto v3.4 in particular.

I am more shocked about the v4.8 OAD than the v4.6 OAD which in itself was a complete surprise. After 4 days testing v4.8, I initially reported 2 weeks ago that v4.8 did seem a little better having not been bothered by the "Service is not running" banner at that point (I saw it for the first time 10 days later), but did report the frequent extended HDD/timer access was still present, which I'm sure is a large cause of the responsiveness problems (if not the only cause). Perhaps some others who tested v4.8 were more positive than me, but for me there was no hiding that v4.8 was not the magic fix being sought. Really must try and find a way to force the "Service is not running" banner, because for now it seems a random occurance.

Of course, this is all speculation, and it may be that Vestel had already pre-booked these slots with the DTG, originally to repeat the v4.6 OAD (in the past it has been normal for T835 update broadcasts to be repeated at least once or twice). Obviously, repeating the v4.6 OAD would have been a bad idea, and instead v4.8 was the latest software available to provide to the DTG in time for the broadcast slot this week.

You were correct, of course. Also the bleeding green button still there.

No slowdowns yet, so will leave it as 4.8 and see if slowdowns become a problem.

As per Futaura's recommendation, now the OAD window has closed, I have reverted to my previously stable v4.1.

Hope Vestel sorts the problems and releases a solid version soon!

I never realised the there had been an update to 4.8. My box is apparantly updated but I am still getting the same ridiculous problems, keep up the good work Futaura because I can't be a**ed with it all.

Ah, this explains why my box has suddenly slowed down. Looks like I need to downgrade to 3.4 again.

Well my box is much better since the upgrade, its found all the channels and its not losing them after a couple of hours, still I would never buy another Vestel PVR there just to much trouble.

Another problem on my box, which has occurred twice in recent weeks.

Yesterday morning I switched box on from low power and watched a 1 hour prog from library.
Switched box off, clock now showing. return 8 hours later to find clock still showing the morning time. Had to turn off/ on at plug in order to restore , it came up with 0000 showing then went back to red light showing, at which point I was able to switch on.

A software problem ? or warning of a hardware failure ?

Got to be the software IMO. When you switch off, it'll check for updates, and it sounds like it is getting stuck there - maybe the cause behind the "Service is not running" message is triggering this failure too.

I suffered a HDD failure last night, so I had to replace with a 2.5 250GB HDD.

Is anyone else experiencing long pauses/responses from the remote/settop box waiting for it to catch up?

Otherwise the box is fast im happy.

Bump Bump

See the posts above discussing the recent 4.8 software update.

Colin

Aside from the main problems with this update, an issue I have with the 'book me' functionality is the the booking screen disappears as soon as the trailer ends. It's fair enough that the 'book me' icon disappears at the end of the trailer but the viewer has to digest the booking screen and press the right button to confirm, so a bit more time is needed.

Is it standard for the booking screen to disappear at the end of the trailer?

Yes, with the current software. With the T7300, the booking screen never auto-closes, so hangs around after the trailer ends, and if there are two trailers in a row in then adds the second trailer to the list too. I agree that the behaviour on the T835 is not good, and really should be the same as the T7300. Also, I'm not sure if it is possible or not, but it should also hide the HD series items too, because obviously they can never be recorded on the T835.

Tonight I was recording two programmes at the same time, so I switched my Hitachi to standby when they began. When I put it on after the recordings had finished, it was back at First Time Installation, so a retune was carried out, but it has remembered all the timers and the recordings seem to have worked fine. What a carry on.

Why won't mine do that . I knew I was going to have to do a FTI and reset up the timers next week anyway, but I have had to do it today as had the dreaded SNR.

I query whether the new region selector is working properly. After the channel scan had finished, it said multi regions had been found and asked for primary secondary etc.
However it only let me choose between Any and Berks&Hants.
Most of my channels come from London CP but it also picked up '42' from Meridian, so surely the choice should have been London and Hants.

Also I'm asking when are we going to be able to text with the remote , seriously why is the number pad laid out like a phone pad with the alphabet underneath ?

The alphabet is used for entering a text search in the Guide search. Another less useful function is to edit the channel names in your Channel list.

This is unnecessary, IMHO. My conclusion so far is that the "Signal is not running" problem is random - you can get rid of it by putting the box into low power standby and turning it on again. I've had that problem occur within hours of an FTI.

I know that this was tested in the Wenvoe and Mendip transmitters areas, because Cabot are based in Bristol. Primarily the testing would have been choosing between those transmitters, with Wenvoe having the Welsh variations and Mendip not. Personally, I could not contribute much in testing of this as AFAIK I can only pickup a signal from Tacolneston, but I did query the fact that I always get the TRD selection requester still - it only gives me the choice between East Anglia and Any, so I don't really see the point in that. My T7300 and T835 both behave in the same way in this respect.

Thanks, I should have worked that one out. Have never used search function.



It would only go down to Clock standby not full low power mode. I suppose I could have tried switching off at mains.

Not even after a number of minutes? This is something I will test. Normally it will be checking for OADs at this point, but obviously it will fail because there is an issue with the tuners when the "Service is not running" problem is present. If you switch off automatic updates, it will enter low power mode immediately at all times, which is what I have my boxes set up to do, but obviously it is not exactly what I would recommend if it means you could miss an OAD of a proper fix.

No, I left it all night hoping it would cure itself. But clock still showing this morning. Automatic updates was set to on.

If the 'service is not running' occurs again I will try what you suggest and turn updates off, although now I'm so close to DSO and therefore won't be able to revert to analogue I will probably order cable to downgrade (upgrade!) to 3.4.

Apparently the 4.8 update is due to be broadcast again from Monday 16th April 10 a.m. till 9 a.m. Wednesday 18th April:
http://www.firmware.org.uk/Hitachi/HDR255.html

Not sure how accurate this information is as the DTG schedule lists this as new - if it is v4.8 it should listed as a repeat. So, in one way or another the information listed is incorrect - I guess we'll have to wait until Monday to see if it is a repeat of v4.8 or perhaps really a new version (v4.9?). Of course, it's certainly not the first time information on the DTG site has been wrong. v4.8 is the latest numbered release that I've tested.