Just wondered what happens to my set timers after the clocks have gone forward?

Anyone who's had their digihome since the change of clocks last October know?

Perhaps anyone else would be able to guess if not.......

Let's hope nothing happens, and it all works fine

Having said that, in October when the clocks went back, I distinctly remember my already set timers (repeating and single) all being wrong (1 hour out), and additionally the start times shown for recordings on the library screen changed too.

Hopefully this is fixed in v5.3, but I somehow suspect it isn't - will find out soon enough.

Yes, it was always a bit of an issue with Sky Plus too, it always used to have the wrong times listed in the event planner when the clocks used to go forward or back, used to sort itself out, usually!

The Freeview EPG time appears to be transmitted independently by the 3 main UK broadcasters (i.e. BBC/ITV/C5)

Last autumn, after the October clocks change, I was receiving the correct EPG time for all BBC and C5 mux channels but all the ITV/C4 EPG's were 1 hour out (on the Borders/Selkirk Transmitter at least)

I called Freeview UK, then Digital.gov.uk, then finally was recommended to phone ITV direct as their channels were the only ones affected.

Initially they gave me the "maybe your freeview box is faulty sir" response, so I pointed out we have 3 Freeview receivers in the home, all different brands, and that the problem only surfaced AFTER the Ocober clocks change.

So then they said "maybe your ariel is faulty or your signal is too weak" so I told them I have GOOD/VERY GOOD signal levels showing on all 3 boxes, so the helpdesk operator ran out of standard responses and said she would have to pass my query on to the technical team and phone me back.

One hour later I received a phone call where the ITV operator said one of ITV's 'boxes' was incorrectly configured and needed rebooted. She also thanked me for letting them know about the problem and said the EPG time should now be correct.

When I checked the EPG's all channels on all networks were now displaying the correct time (although there ia sometimes up to 1 minute difference between BBC & ITV EPGs).

I hope the same thing doesn't happen with this weekend's clocks change as it wasn't easy for me to convince the front-line helpdesk staff of a major TV network that the problem is with the company's technical equipment and not my own.

Let me know if anyone experiences EPG time differeces between networks after the clock change.
Last edited by dez_borders : 24-03-2007 at 11:04

Interesting thread

I noticed my Tosh DVD/HDD recorder is two minutes behind my Digihome box which I installed about a week ago.

If the Digihome is getting its time from the transmitions I guess it is likely to be the correct one ?

Regards

Jerry

Hi Jerry,

Depends how accurate the clock on the EPG computer if the network's are. Are BBC/ITV/C5 EPGs all 2 minutes out from the Tosh box? If they are then I would say the Tosh box is the incorrect time and needs the clock reset.

Dez

Thanks Dez, I meant the clocks on the front pannels

Where can I see the times on the diff channels ? and for that point where can I also see the signal strengths ?

I went into my Tosh and noticed it was set to manual time. I changed it to auto and it changed the clock to 1/2 hour forward of current time. Goodness knows what that is all about

Anyway I changed it back to manual and set it myself to the same as the Digihome time.

Regards

Jerry
Last edited by jerrysimon : 24-03-2007 at 12:37

It makes you wonder if the TV companies have anybody watching their own channels sometimes!

I made a complaint last year that there were transmission problems from Waltham affecting all Channel 4 channels.

I set up a thread on Digital Spy too where i had lots of people saying they had the same fault.

It was only when i produced these details that we got beyond the "faulty box/Weak signal" stock excuse.

Hi Jerry,

The front panel clock (on the Digihome) displays the internal clock, which is set to the EPG time of the channel last tuned into - therefore it should always be acurate to within a minute of the BT talking clock - PROVIDED the Broadcaster's EPG time is accurate. The EPG varies slightly for regional programming (e.g. BBC Scotland, ITV Borders, etc.) so it's possible for the EPG time to be correct in one region and wrong in another - as happened in Borders/Selkirk transmitter with ITV/C4 last autumn.

I assume the time displayed on the front panel of the Tosh is it's internal clock time, which needs set/corrected manually?

If you go into Digihome's Setup menu, then to Manual Tuning, each channel displays the signal strength received.

Hope this helps.

Dez
Last edited by dez_borders : 24-03-2007 at 22:35

Well I guess now we've all found out. On my Timers page a one-off recording set via the EPG showed a time one hour earlier than it should have done and the weekly ones (again set via the EPG) all showed a time one hour later. Not impressive really. I have v5.3.

Dez,

Thanks very helpfull.

Yes my Tosh's clock is manual as was proved this morning when it did not update.

The Digi/Dual updated by one hour correctly.

I checked the manual tuner menu. It says I have between good and v/good signal. This is a bit cinfusing too. Only one channel is listed 45 ? if I change it it says enter between 21-69 I think. I take it this is not the full list of channels but a generic channel on which all the programmes are broadcast in my area ?

Regards

Jerry

Same here. I have had to delete my 4 weekly repeating timers as the start and stop times are all one hour out.

To be fair to Digihome though, I owned a single-record high-quality/brand-name PVR last year and it suffered the same problems on BST/GMT clock changes. All timers were out by 1 hour.

I think it's a global problem for the majority of PVRs.


To finish on a positive note, the Borders/Selkirk transmitter is showing the correct time on all BBC/ITV/C4/C5 MUX EPGs this morning.
Last edited by dez_borders : 25-03-2007 at 11:40

Oddly, i have no problems at all, all my Timers show the correct time this morning, perhaps it's a transmitter issue or something?

Any daily/weekly repeating timers? Seems those are the only ones that get messed up with v5.3 and twin record v1.0. Which might be an improvement - I don't recall if single timers got messed up in v4.x back in October

With v5.3 I notice that the start times in the recordings library have all moved forward an hour too, which is slightly annoying - interestingly that particular issue is fixed in the v1.0 twin record software.

Personally, I have no sympathy for any manufacturer that has problems with DST changes - I mean it's hardly rocket science, but I guess real world testing opportunities are limited, obviously.

Hi Jerry,

The manual tuner signal level only displays the value for the currently selected channel. Actually that's not quite true, it displays the signal strength for the currently tuned MUX.

A mux is a collection of channels MUltipleXed into a single frequency. There are 6 MUX's(2xBBC, 2xITV/C4 and 2xC5 - I think that's the way they are split) between frequency 21 to 69. Hope this info helps?

Dez
Last edited by dez_borders : 25-03-2007 at 18:19

Panasonic DVDR programmed from EPG for Time Team, checked timer events this morning and found it would have recorded Deal or No Deal 1 Hour earlier instead.
Noticed last night also that most if not all programme times on EPG were 1 hour out!
Implies a serious software bug, somewhere in a range of Digital Recorders.

I have a Techwood 160gb with firmware 4.9 and yesterday set it via the EPG to record 'The Royal' on ITV1 tonight at 20:00. I checked the settings today and all was fine. It is now 20:20 and it is recording now, so my machine seems to be running according to plan.
I have tried the twin record firmware and found it to be quite unstable compared to 4.9 which runs as it should. Pity really because the twin record would be great if stable.

All timers (daily and weekly) fine! odd if others are having trouble with theirs, i would guess it was transmitter issue this time.

To expand on this a little (although this is getting somewhat off-topic - have a look at http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/terrestrial/tuning/ for more detail):

The 'channel' in the Digihome manual tuning menu is the UHF channel number to be scanned to see if it is broadcasting a multiplex carrying a bundle of digital channels.

So you should normally be interested in the six UHF channels on which you receive digital multiplexes A/B/1/2/3/4 in your area.

To find them have a look at www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/transmitters.html and specify your region.

I quite like the following site, which also lets you specify your postcode and returns the distance & direction to your local transmitters:
http://www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe? and specify your postcode.

Thanks velocite,

Interesting links

Jerry

I have the digihome 80 Gig latest firmware. My clock was showing the correct time on Sunday morning BUT!!
All of my schedules were one hour late. I record Coronation Street on a regular weekly basis. They all showed one hour late eg today is now 8-30 and 9-30.

I had to delete the lot and re-enter them all pah!
Last edited by Toen : 26-03-2007 at 19:15

In an earlier post I mentioned I had this same problem and I too reentered my weekly schedules (fortunately only three or four of them) using the EPG. However the really bizarre thing was that when I checked in the TIMERS page a few days later they were all starting a whole week late and I would have missed this weeks recordings.