Hi guys, has anyone experienced a similar problem and how did you fix it??

My 530 won't change channels on Sky for a timer recording. It will start and end recording without a problem, but just doesn't change channels through the magic eye. It will change the channels when I select a channel within Guide and it flicks over to Eurosport for the EPG download with no problems so it appears the box is just not sending the signals to the Sky box when a timer recording starts. Any ideas?

Cheers!

Are you setting the recording via a manual timer or via the EPG?

If manual, once you've programmed it, go into Guide and edit it - I think the channel number is not initially set when you do a manual timer.

If via EPG, make sure the channel you are recording is set up correctly, with the correct channel number, in Guide+. Try a test recording so you can be there to watch what it does.

Well I spoke to Pioneer who tried to fob me off to Sky! I gave up with them and after finally getting round to some proper investigation I've discovered that it won't change the Sky channel when coming out of standby. When the recorder is already switched on it happily changes channels without a problem.

I have re-contacted Pioneer who have now said that the recorder has to be switched on to successfully change channels, which I think is ridiculous as it switches off after a timer recording, so if you want to record two programmes you're screwed!

I have come up with a solution by setting an additional timer recording for 2 minutes before the main recording so the box is already switched on, but this isn't an ideal solution as it involves messing about rather than just selecting the program I want to record! Also, it halves the number of timer programs I can set.

What I wanted to ask is if this is the experience of other DVR530 users? Does yours switch on and change channels successfully, or does yours also have to be switched on? I just get the feeling Pioneer are trying to fob me off again!

Sorry it's a bit of an essay!

Cheers

This doesn't sound right to me. I have a 630 and it works perfectly well in standby, it's supposed to. It switches itself on 2 minutes before the programme is about to start, waits for itself to warm up, then changes the channel.

HI

My Pio 530 has just started doing the same thing, no channel change on Freeview box out of standby.

It's been working fine for over a year!

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers

Murph.

Bit crap given these energy conscious days.

My 530 has started doing this, damn annoying. Anyone find an answer?

I found by doing a full reset (instructions on this forum somewhere) fixed it for a couple of weeks then it started doing it again. I've gone back to putting an additional timer at the start of recordings just to bring it out of standby. Once it's out of standby it changes fine. I keep meaning to get back to Pioneer but not got round to it yet!

If you are going to get ahold of Pioneer, call them as they don't answer their online fault logging system. Be interested to know If they give you anything other than "heyho, that's last years model"

Mine started doing the same thing about a week ago.

Solved by a reset (power on, hold stop on the machine and then power off)

Resetting loses all your channel listing, scheduled recordings, and all your Guide Plus+ setup, but it is easily redone and my previous recordings were on the HDD still.

Mine seems to be working fine, I only hope it lasts more than a couple of weeks.

Bit odd that this has started happening to multiple people. Is there something else afoot?

I did notice in a different thread on here someone called Pioneer about a different problem and they were told the GuidePlus system sometimes sends dodgy bits of data that hashes everything up.

I thought I'd have a go at optimizing the hard disk last night to see if it's some sort of issue with it taking longer to 'warm up' when it switches on than it should, but I won't get a chance to test it until tonight.

Oh yeah, the reply to my second attempt of contact with Pioneer (See post #3) was as follows:


And when I suggested this is useless as it switches back to standby after the first recording I got this:


What a load of b#*&5h1t! (And I think they need a spellchecker!)

Interesting.. I have just tested the timer after optimizing and it now changes channel from standby! Either it's a co-incidence or a fragmented hard drive slows the machine down enough for it to 'forget' to change the channel as it starts up and looks at the hard drive!

Lemme know if it works for anyone else...

Mine seems to have an intermittent problem where it doesn't manage to send all through channel numbers to the sky box. Eg it sends the 1 and the 0 for sky one but not the 6 sometimes..and then when I test it it sends 101 fine..it seems to come and go. I think when I move i'm going to get Sky + and relegate the pioneer to another room, maybe the 2nd sky box

On my Pioneer unit, when doing a recording from standby, the IR pulse is correctly sent to my set-top-box...

... but the IR pulse is no longer sent when the Pioneer wakes up to do an EPG data download

Has anyone else seen this????

I wonder if it has decided to try and get the updates from the terrestrial ITV channel? You could try the optimize HDD as I did above or the reset procedure (also explained above). NB the reset procedure clears all the GuidePlus settings and timers, although recordings on the HDD will remain intact.

HTH

GoodOmens, you are one of the only ones on here (AFAIK) where the swap channel actually works on the EPG update.
Stick a 1 minutes program in the program list at 02:28 and 14:58 for channel 410 to resolve the problem. Oh and set it to HDDr.

My 630 changes channel alright (at the moment!), but it won't pull EPG data through the cable box, so I have had to set the source for ITV to channel 3 on the rf tuner aerial so it can pick it up from ITV teletext instead. It's annoying as it means things recorded from ITV are lacking the aspect ratio information and so-on that normally gets included automatically on every other channel.
Has anyone else had trouble getting their EPG to work through cable?

In theory there should be no problem receiving EPG data via a cable box. Do you know if it is cutting teletext data? What brand / model is the cable box?

Does optimising the HDD (defragging) destroy the recordings on it?

No, it's just the same as defraggin' the harddisk on your PC. Your thinking of formatting.

Thanks....getting the non changing channels problem!

Had my 540 for about a year now and just started experiencing the same problems as above - not changing channels when coming out of standby.

Went down the Nitram route first by de fragging the HD and this solved the problem with no need for a reset and no need for a new EPG download.

Suggest anybody else try a drefrag. first - much easier