[ironeagleuk]

Originally Posted by Top Up TV

All,

We are running a special promotion in the Daily Mirror tomorrow (14th June) and wanted you to know about it.

Get the paper to find out how to buy a Top Up TV+ DTR for £99.99 including the first month of Top Up TV Anytime free.

Regards,


Top Up TV

Source: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...8#post15306788

[psionic]

Originally Posted by SDore

Hello,

Sorry I haven’t posted for a while but Kieron has been very active covering all the bases so I’ve been relegated to a ‘watching brief’. Kieron is now taking a very well earned break and so, you’re stuck with me again for a bit.

We’re likely to be running the next OAD very shortly so I thought I’d give you a run-down of what we've found in testing and the Beta trial:

Improvements & Developments

• Subtitles – closed captioning both on Live and Recorded events
• Plasma Blanking is implemented with variable trigger times in TV Set-Up
• Video Glitching is improved (see below1)
• EPG synopsis pop-up delay maximum is increased to 10 seconds
• Library status icons are now displayed in TUTVAnytime pop-up
• “Disk space remaining” value is now reported in the Library screen as well as in Planned Recordings
• “Messages” and “Customise Top Up TV Anytime” have been repeated on the Main Menu screen
• “Messages” now displays the number of unread messages
• Conflict logic has been augmented to allow addition of new Anytime segments
• Advanced menu has been included in standard menus
• ALOD has been improved*
• CA Authorisation handling has been improved*
• Impulse Record & Retrospective Buffer has been tidied up
• MHEG (as seen in BBC multiscreen) has been corrected
• Placeholder handling has been corrected
• Time offset protection has been introduced*
• “Purge VOD schedule” is added*
• “Disable Time Checking” is added*


* File handling on boot and startup has been improved which should lower the incidence of ALOD and we have had good results in testing and in Beta.

* We have an issue in previous builds where an activation is received by the unit and passed to the card but is not reported to the higher level application. This means that – whilst the authorisation is on the card – this is not recognised by the Anytime system and the VOD (and decoding of encrypted channels) will fail until the box is forced to go and look at the card which is done on a power cycle or if the card is reseated. This is now fixed.

* We have had – as many of you have seen – problems caused by rogue time offset or descriptor tables being broadcast by – well, no names, no packdrill. This is obviously critical to our system in a way that is less so for other boxes as the system uses the time/date data to determine when it records and deletes. This has led to recordings disappearing and VoD not being loaded so we have built some protection logic into the box to guard against this.

* We’ve also added “Purge VOD Schedule” and “Disable Time Checking” as engineering options. These are to allow us to get rid of a VOD schedule if the TOT/TDT data is incorrect and the box won’t revert to the updated schedule and to get it to ignore incorrect TDT/TOT references. I suspect we won’t have to use these much.


Still to Do

1st event record†
Recording failure due to over-cautious space prediction†
“Signal Error” message clearance†
File handling on FF transition to Play or FR~


†Recordings of the first event in a day part channel are failing. This is due to a bug in the SI handling and will be solved in the next build.

†Recording failure due to “predicted to fail due to lack of disk space” – this can currently be experienced even when the box reports enough space available for a recording. This has been identified and fixed in the alpha build we’re testing now but was too late to make it into this release.

†The tuner drivers can sometimes report “no signal” either for a momentary drop out or for errored packets. This icon should be cleared by the high level application when this call is resolved but in some cases is not. This results in the icon being displayed over present video. We aim to fix this in the next build.


2.81 Conclusions

Side by side tests with 2.44 and from the Beta tests have shown that 2.81 is better than 2.44

Stability also seems to have improved and the UI and feature enhancements have been well received.



The next build

We’re already busy with the next build and have the UI and application changes in alpha test.. I won’t spoil all the surprises though but you can expect this to follow soon.


Future work

~Low level file handling issues are causing the device to lose track of where it is in a file during the playback or trick play of an event. This often leads to big ‘skips’ in the playback unless transitions are performed through ‘play’. We’ll keep you posted on this.

~General stability – we always aim to improve the general stability of the box and will continue to do so over the next builds – again - we’ll keep you posted.


Thanks again and I look forward to hearing how it goes.

Simon

Click the arrow for the link

[psionic]

Originally Posted by SDore

Hi Dave,

Yes, one of the (many) things that we're aiming for is an 'ultra-low power' standby mode which will reduce the power consumption of the box to a trickle and will shut down all but the essential services required for operation. The fan is the main generator of noise and this will operate when the disk creates heat in the unit. Even after the ULPS is implemented this will mean that it has to operate during recordings so - if you've got any TUTVA material selected the fan will run during this download period which is typically in the middle of the night.

You might want to consider putting the unit is a (well-ventilated) cabinet or something to attenuate the noise unless - as your post implies - you have de-selected all your TUTVA channels in which case you could turn it off overnight but bear in mind it's designed to be left on and I don't know what this will do to it's working life.

If you do this I woud advise that you make sure none of the channel boxes in "Customise TUTV Anytime" are ticked and that you only power down from standby. You will - of course - miss all the TUTVA programming gems and the content is getting better all the time.

Oh, and one more thing - if you want the EPG - you'll need to make sure it's powered up again in the morning.

(I also can't guarantee that the EPG download won't change broadcast time again)

'hope this helps,

Simon

Click the arrow for the link to the posting

[psionic]

Originally Posted by SDore

Hello everyone.

Sorry I've not been on the Forum for a bit but I thought I'd keep quiet as Kieron's been doing such a sterling job.

Reading through the threads though, I thought I'd let you know of a method to solve the ALOD which works and doesn't involve the risk of electrocution by taking the box apart (which I can't recommend). I know some of you have come accross this ocasionally. N.B this method does wipe your content but it's better than not having a working box.

The good news is that the latest build (see main TUTV thread) addresses this but for those of you who have the problem between now and then..

1. disconnect the power from the box
2. reconnect the power to the box
3. at the same time as you reconnect the power, press the front-panel standby button repeatedly
N.B. the amber light will stop flashing and appear 'steady' quickly after this
4. as soon as the amber light goes steady, press the following sequence of front-panel buttons in brisk succession:

Up, Down, Left, Right.

This invokes a BIOS level HDD re-format and has - as I say - always worked for me. You still lose your content I'm afraid but it's a bit less bother than taking it apart.

Best wishes,

Simon

Click the Arrow to see the original post

[psionic]

Originally Posted by SDore

This is an interesting request Paul, we're just starting a project to look at the whole UI again and see if we can come up with better ways of doing some things. 'Favourties' and how they are displayed is one of those areas.. no promises but we'll keep you informed.



Yes, the 1am problem has been solved. I'll be glad to hear that it works for you. Let us know.



Not yet I'm afraid John. We do have some new c/s drivers to integrate next so it may well be that these improve it but until we work them into a build it's hard to know. This fault is known to us but is very rare.. do you come across it often?

Thanks for the feedback.

OAD is now confirmed and ready for air. Kieron or I will let you know exactly when it'll be on.. it's scheduled for Tuesday at the moment.

Best,

Simon

click arrow

[psionic]

Yippee it's here

Originally Posted by SDore

This build is now on air.

It features fixes and enhancements such as; subtitles support, GUI improvements, better VoD management and elimination of the "1am" problem.

We hope you enjoy using it.

Best wishes

Simon & Kieron

[Deathwarmedup]

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

All,

we're looking into this right now - it's clearly a new issue (although not related to the new software download). I'll report back as soon as we've isolated the problem.

One thing: how much disk space do people have available before 1:00am?

thanks,

Kieron.

Posted earlier today. Ref to missing 1am downloads.

[psionic]

7/7/07 Kieron Edwards - Various issues

Jumping back whilst fast-forwarding

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

This has been an issue with all the builds to date - we're fixing it now (it's rather tricky!).

The low-level drivers sometimes get confused as to where you are in the particular recording and so - unfortunately - as you FFWD (I always shoot through ads at 32 or 64x) it suddenly jumps back.

I know it's annoying - and it will be fixed. We know what's causing it and where the fix is needed.

regards,

Kieron.

Disk space estimates

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

Rene is right - we are able to calculate the space the VOD recordings use accurately because we know the broadcast bit rate for them.

For your own library we have to assume a worst case (i.e. you're recording BBC1) and report based on that. If, in reality, you record a lower bitrate channel (QVC for example) - you'll find you can record far more content.

regards,

Kieron.

Missing Downloads

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

I'm looking into this right now - I'll report back when I've found out what's going on.

regards,

Kieron.

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

All,

we're looking into this right now - it's clearly a new issue (although not related to the new software download). I'll report back as soon as we've isolated the problem.

One thing: how much disk space do people have available before 1:00am?

thanks,

Kieron.

[riko]

20/07/07

Kieron Edwards regarding the showcase/info channels appearing/disappearing

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

All,

the reason for the appearance and then loss of the channels was caused by the broadcast server (and it's spare) both suffering a configuration issue. The result was we launched the new channel list (with Info and Showcase) and immediately hit a problem that caused the carousel to be broadcast in a corrupted state.

We corrected that on Tuesday afternoon. Anyone scanning before then probably had to pull the plug on their box. Everything should be back to normal now.

Those of you who have picturebox and find that it plays a load of UK Gold instead - we apologise for this. A switch in the broadcast chain failed and the operator (in the company we use) didn't switch it back.

regards,

Kieron.

[psionic]

22/8/07 Kieron Edwards - ITV2/3 problems in Scotland

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

All,

we're aware of this issue and are talking to Siemens (who implemented the central channel control system for Freeview) to identify why, in only Scotland, the changes to ITV 2 & 3 appear to be causing some decoders an issue.

regards,

Kieron.

Deleted, psionic beat me to it

[psionic]

24/8/07 Kieron Edwards - Problems Saving Content

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

I'm afraid the latest software includes a regression that stops saved content being saved properly - it still gets deleted after 7 days.

We've fixed this and will have it included in the next download.

Once again - I'm very sorry about this - I know it's annoying.

regards,

Kieron.

[psionic]

24/8/07 Kieron Edwards - Missing Downloads

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

We've been working on fixes for this and have a build in test that is significantly better on this issue. We will release it once we're happy that the problem is solved.

regards,

Kieron.

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

It's the usual balance - I want the problem fixed but I'll only download it when I'm 100% happy that it's correct. Be assured it's our No. 1 priority at this time.

Sorry I can't be more specific at this time.

regards,

Kieron.

[psionic]

24/8/07 Kieron Edwards - Trailer Booking

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

Nigel,

you're quite right. I'm awaiting the argument between the Playback people and the MHEG people because, as things stand, the text and fast text colour keys are reserved for MHEG apps and this booking feature appears to be predicated on one of those keys being used.

regards,

Kieron.

[psionic]

24/8/07 Kieron Edwards - Freeview Playback and Series Link

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

All,

In the next download we've changed the logic so that the series link remains regardless of the success of the last download.

We will be adding the couple of bits of Freeview playback we don't currently support in a future download.

regards,

Kieron.

25/08/07 Kieron Edwards post regarding FF and RW during playback

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

Jin,

this is a problem we've had for some time - although 2.81 shows it more. The DTR sometimes gets lost in the video buffer and so jumps backwards. The issue is in the low level drivers and we're working on a fix right now and will sort this out in a future download.

regards,

Kieron.

25/08/07 Kieron Edwards post regarding blank downloads

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

We're aware of the blank recordings issue and this is, of course, unacceptable to us. The next planned download will fix this.

The skipping video issue is, as I say, at a lower level of code and this requires more integration and test effort. I don't want to delay the next download (which includes new features and fixes other issues) just for this. I know it's annoying (I have a DTR under the TV at home) - but I have to prioritise things.

regards,

Kieron.

[psionic]

26/8/07 Kieron Edwards - Various

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

I've recently just bought the Thomson DTR box and have a few questions...

1. I don't use it to subscribe to topup, just as a freeview pvr, so sometimes I unplug it at night. When switched back on and eventually viewing a channel a few minutes later it will reboot and switch itself off into standby. Why?
>> Not sure - which channel and at what time of day? I've not seen this happen myself.

2. I would probably just leave it on all night on standby if it wasnt for the noisy fan. Why doesnt the fan switch off when the box is in standby? Especially as the box wont be downloading overnight so the harddrive shouldnt be active and wont need cooling.
>> We will be downloading an update that provides low-power standby. At the moment - the box doesn't power off the fan when in standby. The box has been designed to do this and has the hardware to support it.

3. What is the grey block that links the rf loop out and rf loop in connectors on the back of the box and does it have to be left in place for box to work?
>> The external connector between the two tuners is less noisy (or lossy) than an internal connection. It connects the two tuners.

4. When you press the info button on the remote control, the description of the program is cut off in mid sentence leaving you without a full description off the channel. My other basic freeview boxes all manage to display the full programme description available.
>> I know - not good UI design. We're correcting this.

5. In the tv guide why do you have to wait x amounts of seconds for the info banner for a programme to appear. Why not just have the info button allow you to select the info at your own control. The information obscures the channel listing and you have to keep moving the cursor just to keep the programme banner from appearing and obsuring your view.
>> Because Gemstar have a patent on getting a synopsis when you press a button. This, to us, appeared a good compromise solution. You can change the period of time if you like.

6. An old astratec box I had, used to display the current channel you were on in a small box while you were in the guide. This worked well and could have been used here.
>> On the plus side - when you're in the guide our box knows it has two tuners to play with. Having PiP means one tuner is definitely lost.

7. Box randomly selects viewing start points when you rewind/fast forward.
>> This is a known bug (we've posted about it before) and we are in the process of fixing it.

8. When viewing recordings can I choose which a time point at which to view the programme or do I have to fast forward it to that point risking the box selecting its own random view point?
>> We haven't implemented book marks. We may do - I've not planned anything as yet. How many people feel it's worth having?

9. If I've been watching a programme from the start and want to record that programme in full at any given time, will the box record the whole programme as it has the start of it in the buffer?
>> Yes - we run a proper rolling buffer - although you need to check your options as the default is 30mins and you may want to increase this. If you want an hour or more increase this figure.

I've only had the box a week or so, and just had a bit of a play with it, havent read the instructions. I appreciate its no SKY+ box but it does seem to have an uneccessary unfinished feel in certain areas.
>> In fairness - the Sky+ box represents four years of development and we launched last December. Reviews in "Stuff" have compared us and found us to be very close in terms of functionality and flexibility. Our view is we want it to be as good - if not better - and we will continue to improve the product. From a hardware perspective it's as good - we're just honing the software to be everything it should be.

regards,

Kieron.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...9#post17586859

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

Pinebox,

I quite agree. Actually more changed (on air) with 2.81 than simply downloading new software. However - that's not the point - it should simply work. Simple as that.

Correcting this issue is our No. 1 priority at the moment - all our engineers (with help Thomson and Nagra) are working on this.

regards,

Kieron.

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

Obviously a bad signal (poor aerial or bad weather) will cause issues. Also - the PVR is working pretty hard. Even if you left it alone - with all channels selected it's doing 35ish recordings a night - every night. And then there's your recordings on top.

Compare that to other PVRs without push VOD and it's a busy schedule. Sky+ didn't get pushVOD until four years after launch.

We've worked out a lot of the issues and will download the fix once we're sure it corrects the problems.

regards,

Kieron.

[psionic]

28/8/07 Kieron Edwards - Missed Recordings

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

Just to reiterate what's been posted earlier: we're more than aware of the problem and are working around the clock (seriously - I've done nights on this) to track down the issues and fix it.

regards,

Kieron.

Kieron Edwards - Plasma Blanking Bug

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

Not only that - but I'm willing to award a prize to anyone who can reproduce it!

regards,

Kieron.

[ironeagleuk]

Swiftly following on from the Plasma Blanking post above

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

.. to be clear: who can reproduce it repeatedly!

K.

[psionic]

30/8/08 Kieron Edwards - Incorrect Time Problem

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

Cheesefish,

we've seen this before - and it can be caused by one of the multiplexes your receiving from broadcasting an incorrect time signal. We have added code to protect against this BUT if the first time signal the box receives is wrong it has no way of knowing that the others it gets are actually right.

The best way to check for this is to turn the box off and then un plug the aerial. Then remove the brick (or bridge) from the two tuners at the back. Now, firstly turn off the time checking (disable time checking = yes) and then go to MENU, 4, 6, RED and insert the aerial into tuner 1 (the right hand tuner input as you look at the box).

Now walk the tuner 1 (using RED) up the frequency list and watch the clock. When it reaches one of the frequencies it will jump as it receives the incorrect time.

If you could let me know which frequency and what TX you receive from I can get the party involved to correct the issue.

regards,

Kieron.

[psionic]

1/9/07 Kieron Edwards - EPG Favourites

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

Sorry - this is a new one on me. Personally I've always wondered if anyone actually uses this feature (we nearly removed it on the grounds we thought no one did).

I'll look into a fix. It may not make the next download (which is nearly complete) - but it will be corrected.

regards,

Kieron.

[psionic]

1/9/07 Kieron Edwards - Large File Delete auto-reboot

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I think that what's happening is that the box gets busy doing the delete (nothing wrong there) but then the watchdog process confuses this and thinks that it's hung (it hasn't) and so reboots.

I take it the recording has still been removed after the reboot? I would expect the box to find the half deleted file on disk and then remove it as it appears corrupted. You should then get a message posted about it.

I'll look into this anyway - thanks for the post.

regards,

Kieron.

Kierons post regarding the broadcast issue of the 2nd and 3rd of September

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

I'm here!

We're very sorry about the VOD schedule issue. As you've spotted - a new schedule was broadcast on Friday that used BST instead of GMT and this has caused the issues we've all seen. We've broadcast a new schedule this morning that corrects the problem.

We're changing procedures to stop this happening again. As I said - we're very sorry about this.

regards,

Kieron.

[psionic]

29/9/07 Kieron Edwards - 1AM download issue

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

I'm sorry to be a pain - but I'd really like to work out what is going on. I have seven boxes that I personally monitor every day and I've never had this 1:00am issue.

Would you please tell me:

1. The hours and minutes left free (not percentages - the box doesn't think in those terms) - I need to know exactly how many hours and minutes are displayed.

2. What channels you've got selected (or, if it's quicker - what channels are deselected).

3. Does the recording fail and no message gets posted or does it fail with a message? If there is a message - what does it say?

4. Can you also confirm you're running s/w build 2.81

Thanks for your help - I'm sure the solution is something trivial - but I'd like to end this issue.

regards,

Kieron.

[psionic]

29/9/07 Kieron Edwards - Incorrect MUX Time Signals

Originally Posted by KieronEdwards

Graham,

we do have logic in to prevent large jumps and we're now running checks to see if what's happening is a sequence of small jumps (i.e. the broadcast time shifts by 5 minutes but does this several times).

regards,

Kieron.