All the recording I've done so far have been okay, at least until last night with a 1hr program on 5 US, it was about 1min late starting and stopped about 2 mins from the end.

I changed it from Auto and am trying the 2 mins padding either end see if that helps. I assume in this manual mode recording are made purely on 'clock time' and not a signal from the broadcaster.

Also, anyone noticed any strange behavour with aspect ratio, occasionally it outputs 4/3 on programs which I know are 16/9 and indeed show in wide format on my old HDR 500 and a media box I have. Not all programs just the odd few, if I set the TV's aspect to auto it will zoom and fill the screen but then I cannot see the volume on the right side, so I've left the TV at 16/9... just a observation.

Channel 5 don't use the accurate record system so if there programmes overun the scheduled end this what happens.

Problem with autopadding is it's an option that pads every recording, which puts you in a catch22 situation. If a BBC programme overuns by more than your end padding then you lose the end of that, whereas if auto had been used you wouldn't have.

I record very little CH5 and derivatives content, the few that I do I prefer to set a manual repeating recording with manual end padding.

Thanks Graham for your helpful reply. I've put it back to auto as your'e right of course, the benefits probably do outweigh the negs when one thinks about it.

Had a interesting experience this morning, when I tried a Edimax EW-7711UAn wireless dongle arrive in the post.

Just thought I'd give one a try as there so cheap, was going to use it on something else, but I turned off my cheap home plugs and thought I'd try it on the 1000S.

I'm pleased to say that it works superbly, infact for some strange reason in my case it seems to work even better than my cheapo Comtrend homeplugs, BBC HD loads fast and no sign of buffering at all. I tried several progs streaming in HD and it seems snappier and quicker than my homeplugs.

I can only assume that all Homeplugs are not equel, I've had these Comtrend plugs for a while, they worked ok, but I'm surprised to find this dongle working so well.
Infact I'm leaving it on the HDR1000s as there is no doubt it seems better than my homeplugs, can only assume these homeplugs I've been using are not as good as I thought...lol

Some of the Edimax WiFi dongles uses the same chipset as the one used by the official Humax dongle. If you google wifi dongles compatible with Humax HDR FOX T2 (same dongle as sold for the HDR-1000s) you will find a number of hits.

Yes I did read that about the dongles, this is one that was recommended by a few Humax users. What surprised me however was how well it actually works, I can only assume the homeplugs I was using were not quite as good as they were cracked up to be.

Iplayer now starts up quickly, with no sign of stuttering even in HD.. so definately a good buy for 11 quid.

Really starting to like this HDR1000s a lot, I think once a few of the minor fixes are done, it will be superb, one certainly cannot complain about picture quality either, it's really excellent.

What exactly does Auto Padding do, versus manual padding?

Well as I understand it, the auto mode does not use padding, it relies on a signal sent by the channel broadcaster to tell the box the program is starting or finishing.

The problem is... I gather a few channels are not too accurate timing wise. Only one I've had issues with so far was 5USA last night where the front and end got chopped off 1 or 2 mins, had no probs with other channels.. not yet anyway..lol.

I assume the manual padding merely relies on fixed clock time so one has to rely on the program starting at the right time, or within the padding time you have set. The auto mode should in theory be better but only if the broadcaster sends the signals at the right time. There has been a couple reports from users of 1hr programs continuing for 2 or 3 hours, but I've had no such problems myself... one can only assume their box failed to pickup the signal indicating the end of the program.

Auto padding retains series recording where manual doesn't create series folders so to emulate a series recording you have to set a repeat pattern.

ah.. I shall have to note that Graham... cheers

BTW regarding that dongle, it did work great until I put the dongle into the rear USB meaning it was at rear inside the TV cabinet, it worked fine for about 30mins then came to a halt...lol, especially on HD stuff...only way to make it work reliably was to use a extension cable to bring it out in the open. It was strange because the 1000s was showing a wireless connection of 125mbps, once the antenna was out in open it jumped to 140mbps and it worked okay again even on HD progs.

Think I jumped the gun in praising it up. anyway I did some more tests and as long as antenna is clear there's little between the dongle and Homeplugs. In the end I reverted back to the Homeplugs. figured it should be better (peace of mind.

I believe the old HDR500 cannot use a wireless dongle.. can it ? reason I ask is because I pitched the homeplugs from that to use on the 1000s.

No the Foxsat can't use a dongle. If you want to connect wirelessly you need a wireless bridge.

I don't understand clearly what you mean by that. I am using manual padding, beginning and end, and have set series link for several programs. All of which are recording properly into a series folder.

Manual padding is when you go into future recordings and edit one. Auto padding is what you set in settings and applies to all recordings

I think you misunderstand.

Turning on AutoPadding disables AR universally but retains the ability for the box to follow series recordings and file them in a series folder.

Creating a manual timer by editing the times for a programme set from the epg (Foxsat-hdr only) or adding a manual timer (G1 & G2) creates a one off recording which won't be in a series folder at all on a Foxsat-hdr. You can though set a repeat pattern. Not tried this on a G2 box yet, but I guess it's possible the new box is clever enough to file content with matching names in a single folder. I will set up some tests to find out
This only applies to the single recording, existing series recording reservations will still use AR if the broadcaster supports it and will be filed in the usual way.

Ah, OK. I'm confusing terms here. I think you and Graham refer to "Auto Padding" as being what is set in "Settings", regardless of whether it's set to "Auto" or padded "n Minutes" front and end. Manual recording is where you set the specific begin/end time of a recording, like in VHS times. I haven't figured out how to do that in the 1000s yet.

Correct AutoPadding is set from the menus by changing Auto to another setting.

The Foxsat-hdr lets you edit a recording set from the epg to create a manual version (which you can pad by editing the start/end times). On the HDR-1000s to create a manual recording open My recordings press right (set recordings)

I've had a few "missed" recordings recently - ie where the programme is not recorded at all, not where a 'recording failed' message appears.

These were:

The Sky At Night (BBC4, Thursday evening)
Saturday Drama (Martin Beck) (Radio 4, Saturday afternoon)
Points of View (BBC1 HD, Sunday afternoon).

In the latter two cases the entry in the 'Planned recordings" has been moved forward to the next episode, for "Sky At Night" (a monthly programme) it's been left as it was.

My quality figure on 407 is 100% (I have the larger type of Sky minidish despite living on the south coast).

Anyone else have problems with these programmes?

More missed recordings:

Points of View, Sun BBC1 HD (second week running)
The Infinite Monkey Cage, Mon, Radio 4 FM

I've recorded quite a few programs, and numerious films over last few weeks and touch wood all were recorded.

The only issue I noticed on a couple films was that channels 5 & 5USA missed about 1 min from the start and finish, all others were fine, and this issue on channel 5 recording times is already known so think I'll have to start padding those out a little.

More missed recordings:

Saturday Drama (Martin Beck) (Radio 4 FM, Saturday afternoon) again!
Formula 1, Sunday, BBC1HD (very vexed about that one!)

Can I ask if the box when the box was last used to watch live TV prior to Saturday and did you watch any live TV Saturday evening or Sunday morning prior to the F1 coverage. Was the box in sby throughout.

The box was certainly switched on on the Saturday evening, although to watch recordings rather than anything live (although of course it would have been showing live TV at least for a few seconds here and there), including watching Merlin (HD) a couple of hours after the broadcast.

Then it was left on Standby from late on Saturday 'til about 7pm on Sunday, when I switched on to discover the lack of an HD F1 championship finale

Thanks, being looking at how often the epg refreshes when only used to make recordings from sby. Booting the box from sby refreshes the epg in a few minutes so not likely to be related. You aren't the first to report problems with FI coverage, it sounds like a G2 epg issue.

How did that go, any chance of an update .

Ongoing, but something does seem to have changed.

From the extended test it looks like the epg may refresh every 2 or possibly 3 days. After 9 days recordings were all made but the epg was missing two days.

Started a second test yesterday to try and find out how long before the box pickups the missing extra days.

Like the first testing that indicated there may be a problem I set a early morning daily series recording only yesterday. (The only recording set)

This morning booted the box without lnb cables and had a surprise. The epg has updated to Wednesday and for the first time ever now/next data is also present.

Whether this is a result of the single recording or a new overnight refresh of the epg or I just happened to hit on a period when epg refresh happens will take more messing to find out. This change may of course have taken place during the extended test (the box wasn't touched at all) so could have influenced the results.

To summarise box will now apparently work OK for periods in excess of 8 days without booting. How often the epg is refreshed is not known (hence response to late schedule changes).

If you plan on leaving the box for a longish period I would set a short daily watch only timer just to be on the safe side until the actual epg refresh is better understood.

Thanks for the update.

It will be interesting to know how and when it does refresh the EPG.
If the box is left in standby with no recordings set, does it still refresh the EPG, if it does I presume it must be switching itself on occasionally ?