Despite all the problems i've had with the 710... I don't mind a replacement so long as it is one that has been de bugged as it were.... has anyone else on here accepted a replacement and had no problems?.... I suppose what i'm saying is are the current 710's on the shelf as of November 2006 ok...? Or are they as useless as the ones available a year ago..?

I just know I'm going to regret this ...
If you've read the tread you'll know that I too contacted Sony, then on their advice I took it (at my own expense) to an Authorised Service Centre (this important as I believe they can cut through some of red tape, and also have a reputation to consider, mine actually opens on a Saturday so that you can drop stuff off, although they were 20 odd miles from where I live)

Well since it's return it has behaved impecibly, no lockups no titling problems etc. The freeview tuner is far superior to my last one (Goodmans GB3), although the signal strength where I live is pants so it drops out often.

My version number is now at 1.0.0.0.0 (first version I think) although this is a new machine and originally it was higher.

The service centre said they replaced the 'MPeg board' (and that this would have been prohibitively expensive normally, but Sony OK'd it, this alone makes it worth taking to an Authorised Service Center. I wonder if Sony are trying to keep up the 'there's nothing too much wrong with this bit of kit' approach?)

Hope this helps.

If you get the chance take it to an authorised service centre, Sony then
have to log the incident anyway ...

Hi there,

As i'm still in the hands of the dealer I don't suppose the dreadfull 710 is going to get "proper" service at wherever its been carted off to. I doubt it will even be looked at... I imagine they will plug a telly in get a picture maybe record a bit and then say it's ok...... which it will be... but the real test is to live with it for a day or 2 and then see what happens....... but it does seem this mpeg or mheg board (whatever its called) swap does seem to be the answer in some cases.... oh well i'm fed up thinking about it all now really... reading all these posts just makes me so angry at how we have all been treated by SONY... what a dreadfull business it all is..

I have got a Sony repair agent coming to my house tomorrow. I do have numerous examples of the titling error saved on the hard drive so I am not expecting that they will be able to deny that there is a titling error problem. The lock-up situation is a little trickier due to the infrequency of it happening, so they will have to take my word for that.

Just playing devil’s advocate, what if they say that the titling error is not their fault and they have no control over the EPG data? I suspect they may have a reasonably strong point, just in the same way that they have no control over what the other broadcasters put out. For example, if the BBC decided that they had had enough and stopped broadcasting, it would hardly be fair to take the thing back to Sony and expect them to make it receive BBC programmes, would it?

Having said all of this, I don’t think that the 710 does what it is supposed to do. It is advertised as having an EPG that automatically titles programmes, and I can’t find anything in the manual about rebooting it all the time to stop it from locking up, unless I’ve missed that bit.

As I see it, Sony are not intent on fixing these issues, I’m not even sure whether they still make this model, so it is extremely unlikely that they will commit any resources to a modification / software update. After tomorrow’s visit, which I am confident will be fruitless, I will start to push John Lewis for my money back. It is a shame because idea of the a hard disk recorder is excellent and versatile. I just wish they could make it work!

Further thought..... I really wouldnt mind if the EPG could be disabled and you only used it like a VCR and had to set the timers by hand.... is there such a feature? Being able to disable the EPG. Cant think you'll get much joy from yr SONY bloke tommorow...... why not show him all these posts..? Not that any of it will filter up to the SONY bosses.....

I use my 910s in this way - I always set the recordings manually. The title is that collected from where recording started, which is normally always wrong. However, for time-shifted stuff that I watch then delete, I don't really care if the title isn't correct. For films and so forth that I want to keep/archive to DVD/whatever I manually update the title information then set protection on the recordings. OK, in the real world this is hardly ideal but (touch wood) I've not run into any serious problems using the kit in this way. I only use my 910s as glorified VCRs, and I haven't really been bitten by the 710/910 titling and lock-up problems to any real degree. That said, my 310 is still away being 'looked at' because the pile of junk locks-up whenever I try and use it.


Clem

Also Worth A Try
This bloke is a manager at SONY dealing with Home Electronics or some such............ the address is active as this out of office reply suggests....

Jonathan.White@eu.sony.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Sender,

I shall be out of the office on Tuesday the 21st of November. I will have no access to my e.mails.

For general matters please contact Jane Curtis on +44 (0)1932 816427 and she will direct your enquiry to the appropriate member of the business unit. I can also be reached on +44 7774 142629, however I am in business meetings most of the day.

Regards

Jonathan White
TV/HV Business Unit
Sony UK

THIS BLOKE APPARENTLY IS ANOTHER MANAGER AT SONY..

darren.ambridge@eu.sony.com

THIS IS THE OUT OF OFFICE REPLY THUS PROVING THE ADDRESS WORKS....


Thank you for your message.

I'm out of the office on business until 22-November, with limited email access - please call me on my GSM (07899) 943408 in the event of any urgent issues.

Thanks
Darren

THIS BLOKE APPARENTLY IS A FAIRLY SENIOR.....

ADDRESS WORKS FINE (WELL IT'S NOT BOUNCED BACK YET)


gregory.kukolj@eu.sony.com

As an addendum to my last post. When I droppped off my 710 for repair they told me that the first thing they ALWAYS do is a 2 day 'soak test' (BTW this is NOT a Sony company, they are an independant Sony authorised repair center, and are also authorised by panasonic, jvc etc etc), so any problems which are of the intermittant type should also be picked up.

For those in the Manchester area here are their details:

M W E S
The Falcon Centre
Victoria St
Chadderton
Oldham
Lancashire
OL9 0HB

Telephone: 0161 6788388
Fax: 0161 678 8389

Parking
Loads on site

Delivery
You can send it to them at you own expense.


Products Supported at this Center

CRT Televisions Walkman and Portable Audio
Recordable DVD LCD and Plasma TV
General Audio
VHS & DVD Players
In-Car

They are open Saturday mornings until 1.00pm.
Ring them first as they are a small outfit.

I can thoroughly recommend them, they are fast and effecient.

Just to add to the long list - I have had a Sony 710 for about 3 months - I do like it. However it has had approx 5/6 lock-ups starting around 2 weeks after I got it - the first 5 or so were all in a bunch over a week or so and then just another one about a month ago. My titles are also not showing correctly - just channels and numbers but only on certain programmes - others are coming through OK - this only began about 2 weeks ago.

I seem to remember that the lock-ups were related to changing channels whilst watching Freeview but didn't really take much notice at the time - thought it was just a faulty machine I'd got - I usually do seem to get these.

Very interesting thread! I initially posted on Radio and Telly forums who said they had never heard of the problem. Was directed to AV forums where there was a thread with other people saying they had this problem - then was directed here.

Will be interested in developments.

I use the timer record facility - as per a normal VCR - I never trust any other method of recording. To date, I've never had an overrun and only rarely had a channel ident error. Obviously, the show titles are often misleading because it uses EPG titling. I always allow a minute before the programme starts and several after in case of 'schedule overruns'

I have had the same problem of locking up with a 710. Holding down the standby button for 10-15 seconds only seems to provide a short term fix. I believe most makes of recorders with a hard drive have this problem, probably caused by a build up of static electricity. The best method of fixing it (albiet tempory) is to completely disconect it from the mains i.e. unplug it from the socket rather than just switching the power of.

I'm sorry but I fail to see how a build up of static electricity can be the cause of this issue I assume your logic is that the constant rotation of the disc platters generates static and is somehow not earthed through the case?? If so then why wouldn't a PC/Server/Network Storage Device suffer the same issue?

Agree. Unlikely to get such predictable problems from static(assuming for a minute that static was present - computers etc have the same set up (HDDs spinning for years non-stop, with circuit boards in very close proximity the world over and they don't suffer like the 710 ).

As for fixes - scheduled downloads showing are:

"Fri to Mon 01/12/06 to 04/12/06
Sony RDR-GXD360, RDR-HXD560, RDR-HXD860 & RDR-HXD1065"

We must be exclusive in the 710 club; or should that be excluded?
Last edited by grn : 23-11-2006 at 17:48

Should also have added to the last post that I had two overruns on recording last night...one was recording from Sky three, the second on a.n.other channel- cannot recall which, but it was an old Police Camera Action prog. Both recordings made using timer, both overran. 1st one stopped when second recording stated. 2nd recording stopped when we spotted it!

So not sure if this conincides with anyone else having a problem yesterday eve.

"static" is just an internet myth, started by Sky years ago. Disk drives have carbon brushes on them to ensure that everything remains at the same potential. All the power cycle does is a complete reboot of the computer, which will clean up from memory leaks and other software bugs.

Hi, my first post. Just to add my voice to the throng

Have had a 910 since October 2005.

Use machine all the time. Moved house with difficulty mid 2006 so 910's hard drive was almost full with 160+ titles. Have turned machine off every night because of fan noise .
Original Software Version v1.00.00

No problems ...until after Sunday 12/11/2006 when I've had at least two '0' channel recordings, at least 3 mega go slows when changing channel but only when using remote channel up/down.

Most annoying is the full titles missing like everyone else. Drives me mad keeping track of them particularly as I purchased the 910 for the title/EPG link.

Have problem with my fingers and do a lot of timeshifting so entering even brief multiple titles can be painful.

Recent Sky+ box appearances on Watchdog give me hope that our problems might be voiced - has anyone approached / had feedback from Watchdog?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6179902.stm OH DEAR WHAT A SHAME........ THIS REALLY IS A COMPANY THAT IS FALLING APART......

Nope, not yet!! sent an e-mail to watchdog with a link to this thread, heard nowt,let you know if i do

This bloke seems to be a big noise at Sony as well
peter.evans@eu.sony.com

Just emailed him, and the address seems to work. This Gentleman seems to be involved in Digital TV so may well have a n idea of the EPG issues in the 710 and the 910 etc.

But please please please, We must be polite in our contacts with Sony. We may well be boiling over with anger at Sony right now but it does NO good if we get shirty.

Anyway there we are.

Yesterday ran Easy Setup leaving EPG blank.

Left 910 on overnight and EPG updated (noisily) at 4am.

Sadly test recordings - titles still blank. Had hoped it might have worked, at least temporarily, as it has for others!

Had a 2 hour extended recording of Keeping Up Appearances from 1.25pm on BBC1 today, still titles blank

Seems to me that my last extended recording was on a Sunday.

So got to think about EPG stored in machine and EPG components downloaded when recording. The title listed when recording comes from machine stored EPG and replaced by live EPG title from some sort of memory buffer at end of recording.

Not sure whether in this or another thread, someone mentioned that this buffer could be corrupted in some way leaving it out of phase and returning a second line of data. Or could be blank leading to a default entry like you get with line recording.

Solution either way - purge buffer.

But we've reset everything including formatting Hard disks to no avail.

Except!

System clock.

So disconnected aerial and powered down unit, cut mains for 5 minutes.

Restarted machine, checked clock could be reset.

Used EPG to select P.O.V. on BBC1 AT 5.05

Adjusted clock forward to 4.58.

Machine recorded P.O.V (no signal)
Title remains after recording

Manually set program recording time

Readjusted clock to 4.58

Machine recorded P.O.V (no signal)
Title blank.

Hope buffer cleared.

Reset clock to real time.

Set P.O.V. to record.

Again powered down unit & cut mains for 5 minutes.

Reconnected aerial

Restarted machine, checked clock was not adjustable.

Watched list as recording started and at end of recording was glad to see (you may have guessed ) the title 'Eastenders' appears.

Recorded 4 more progames all with correct titles.

Hope it stays this way - will advise

It worked for me - hope it works for you

Cause?

Am really close to transmitter so signal etc fully in the green but have noticed momentary interruptions in signal lately strangely only on Sundays. Perhaps if this comes at the wrong time it corrupts data held. This could explain the variable time to get the fault. Could be the signal is also being tweaked as has been speculated.

Yesterday (Sunday 26/11/06) I had two recorded programmes (EPG used) run over - one was Ray Gosling OAP on BBC 4 (9-10pm) overran by 1/4 an hour then turned off - the other was BBC4 again - Planet Earth The Future - over ran by at least 15 mins then I turned it off.

I have never had this before that I am aware of.

I am also still not getting correct titles when using EPG - last night recorded the remainder of the Ray Gosling programmes on BBC4 - 12.20am (Mon) to 2.50am and used the manual timer. Title is correct this morning unaware at the moment whether there has been an overrun or not.

Hi,

Add another one to the list. I've owned a Sony RDR-HXD710 since around April 2006 (bought from Amazon) and have been experiencing all the following:

- lock ups / go slows (machine must be rebooted)
- EPG timer overruns, 8hr recordings etc
- 'Channel 0' Blank screen recordings
- Titling issues

Apart from the lock ups most of these problems have only been manifest in the past month or so. I got the lock ups since day one. I think the 'Channel 0' recordings may happen if the machine is recording whilst in the middle of a lock up/go slow.

Myself, I'm pretty sure the lock-ups have something to do with the Freeview receiver. My machine hardly ever does it if left on standby, and it always seems to lock up when my kids leave it on CBeebies (ch 71) at the time the channel goes to closedown. It's not acceptable though.

Anyway, the problem has become too much to put up with. Last week I missed 'The State Within' 'cos of a 'Channel 0' recording. Called Sony, they claim no knowledge of the issue (yeah, right!) and said take the machine to an authorised repairer. This is what I shall do... will update on progress

You know, I'd been wondering whether the increase in title problems was something to do with the BST/GMT switchover. Hmm, but maybe I'm just trying to find straws to clutch at.