As have I when my Humax has misbehaved and chopped 20m off the end due to some disk fault or other. But I don't do that regularly as it eats into my download allowance!

The HDR is better in this respect than the 9200 and very rarely misses even a second (and this demonstrates that the major channels do send the signals at the correct times) and no strategy will ever be 100% perfect. I would expect the AR performance of a 9150 on the latest firmware to fall somewhere between the HDR and the 9200.

I'm willing to be corrected on this - but if you disable SL/AR haven't you also disabled the mechanism by which it will recognise an alternative showing? It's now only looking for a time, not a programme.

I've had the HDR for about a year now - and I can't recall a single instance of AR failing.

Others' experiences may be different.

Accurate-Recording and Series-Link work very well for me with the selection of recordings I make and I wouldn't want to be without it. I simply don't have the time to go checking through the guide to find the next programme in a series I want to record. Nor do I want to be faffing about padding every reservation I make. Only today my 9200 is recording British Touring Cars and MotpGP, two programmes I'd forgotten was on today.

I started this thread to highlight the fact that ITV1 AR/SL wasn't working properly and as people in other regions don't seem to be having the problem I can only assume it's an East Midlands only problem. I did think it might be linked to the lead up to a recent mode change but now I'm not so sure.

I use a Vestel PVR to back up my 9200 to cater for when the 9200 produces un-acceptable results. The Vestel PVRs do Accurate Recording very well.

Colin

If we ignore my bias against AR... I wasn't suggesting that it isn't a good idea, just that I don't trust it. Clearly, I am in a minority of one here. If everyone else trusts it - fine. I might give it a go on something unimportant just to see if it changes my view...

I wonder if the problems I've noticed (not just on the Humax) with the programme guide not being up-to-date, alternative recordings not being suggested and your problems with inconsistent ITV1 AR operation are all part of the same problem - possibly just in the East Midlands.

Has there been a mode change to the D3&4 Mux? I thought it was the ARQA/B and SDN muxes that had the mode change.
Last edited by EEPhil : 30-04-2012 at 10:39

You are correct. But I didn't quite say that.
If you disable it - it doesn't work (obviously).
If it is enabled but you manually alter the start/end time then AR/SL for that recording are disabled.
I have the AR/SL/etc enabled, but then go into edit the start/end times manually later.

Your signature indicates you use more than 1 transmitter. If you have channels from more than 1 transmitter on your Humax pvr (channels in 800's). If so not surprised you have AR problems. You need to delete all the radio and Tv channels, choose one transmitter and add the 6 mux manually.

I don't remember know which multiplexes changed, Waltham and Nottingham changed on different days and ITV1 AR/SL did return to normal shortly after, see my post #19.

Your 'services' text on the left of your posts suggests you receive signals from Waltham, Sutton Coldfield and Belmont. Are you aware that receiving from multiple transmitters is known to cause problems with AR, SL and the EPG?

EEPhil, if you need Manual Search instructions (courtesy of Alan ) you could look here as I did the other day much to my surprise. Latest version at the end of the thread.

EDIT: Corrected word.

I don't remember now which multiplexes changed, Waltham and Nottingham changed on different days and ITV1 AR/SL did return to normal shortly after, see my post #19.

Your 'services' text on the left of your posts suggests you receive signals from Waltham, Sutton Coldfield and Belmont. Are you aware that receiving from multiple transmitters is known to cause problems with AR, SL and the EPG?

The signiture indicates that I can use more than 1 transmitter, not that I necessarily do.

I had AR problems/doubts etc, BEFORE adding extra transmitters - ie. before DSO. I have CHOSEN not to use AR because I don't trust it. It may be my fault now if I add another transmitter, but it wasn't before DSO.


Er, thanks - but my Humax and TV are already manually tuned. (Nothing in the Alan comment surprised me ).

I checked using my dongle and BBCA and D3&4 use one error correction and a mux bitrate of ~24Mbps whilst the rest use a different error correction and ~27Mbps. So no obvious changes to the ITV1 mux.

Hence the "IF you have". I made no assumption that you did use multiple transmitters, merely pointed out that if you did it is likely to create AR problems.

I used the word "suggests" and Graham used the word "if", nevertheless two of us (and probably more) got the impression that you do receive from multiple transmitters. As you have complained about AR and EPG problems it's not unreasonable for us to assume you are receiving from multiple transmitters.

I've changed my profile to give a more accurate indication.

PDC worked 100% of the time with me, but suspect that was partially due to not using it during the first two years when there may have been some teething issues. I of course only used it with BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4.

Curiously on the 9200/9150/9300 using the programme guide to auto set the recording, but manually changing the start and end-times which cancels AR/SL only switches of part of the mechanism by which it will recognise an alternative showing. The programme id (and therefore probably the series ID) is still attached to the timer. Unfortunately when editing cancels AR/SL the alternative showing functionality is disabled IMO unnecessary. If Humax had decided to keep it active and done nothing else then the replacement timer would need to be adjusted by the owner to re-enter the manually adjusted start and end-times. If Humax had decided to keep it active and also transfer padding from the old timer to the new then the added complexity of that padding causing further clashes may be too much for the developers to cope with.

When a Humax is not setup to record ‘on-time’ then the alternative functionality is also not active. The programme ID (and therefore perhaps the series ID) is still stored with the timer. Keeping the functionality does not add any extra complexity. It is a pity that this functionality is not switched on.

I may have confused something here.

1) I'm know that I've had the alternative showing working when manually adjusting the start and end times of 2 programmes . When entering a third item, if that has an alternative, then the message is displayed suggesting that the matter can be resolved.

However, I thought I had seen an occasion where, on entering a third item, one of the original 2 recordings was moved. Of course, this only happens if I haven't been messing with the start/end times already. (So - enter all 3 items before adjusting the times!)

But recently, and relevant to this thread (well, I thought so), even the situation in 1) doesn't work. (eg. yesterday set Humax to record Have I got news for you and The Mentalist, but adjust times to start ~20:55, then try to record Newswatch on BBC News. This used to offer to record it at 3-4am the next day. Now I just get the "can't record more than 2 items" message). I thought this might be connected with the difficulties pointed out by the OP - even though on a different channel.

The ITV1 East Midlands weekend series recording problem (i.e. the one mentioned in post #2) isn't only with Humax machines, by the way - I have a Hitachi box and I keep finding there is no "record series" option for In Plain Sight on a Saturday night / Sunday morning and I have to set each episode to record separately. But yesterday I noticed it had suddenly added an extra timer for this coming weekend's episode, because of the old series timer I had kept, so it looks as though they fixed something yesterday. But whether they have fixed everything and permanently, we'll have to wait and see.

No I never thought it was just a Humax problem but it's good to have confirmation of the weekend ITV1 Series-Link problem here in the East Midlands. My Panasonic recorder doesn't do SL but it does do Accurate-Recording very well and that has shown that ITV1 AR is coincident with the schedule time at the moment. I shall check tonight to see if there has been a fix.