Just got one of these marvellous machines.

But a bit disappointed to find there's no menu option to change the menu colour scheme.

White text on a light blue background does not make for easy reading!

I notice on here http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/vestel/update.htm that the menu colour scheme with the dual record firmware looks much easier on the eye than the original here http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/vestel/digihome.htm.

Can anyone who has installed the dual record firmware confirm this?

TIA

zcx

The Dual Record firmware has a lovely deep blue as you've seen in the pics- it is definitely better than the original firmware's scheme.

Just be sure you don't mind a bit of EPG trouble (see the other threads) before you upgrade!

|| Sam

Many thanks Sam.

Yes I've been reading the EPG threads. I don't mind losing days on the EPG, but EPG record failures make me nervous.

Do you know if it's possible to backup the v5.3 firmware before you do the deed so you can roll back if you can't live with the dual record stuff?

zcx

Well I upgraded to twin record and the only problem I have is I seem to be missing one day on EPG and it takes longer to populate.

I have not had a problem with missed recordings yet even if I set two to start at the same time. Maybe I have been lucky.

In terms of rolling back to v5.3 unless you have a copy of the firmware to re-install you won't be able to. Version 4.9 is readily available and you can re-install that. When the next autoupdate takes place then you will go back up to v5.3.

I haven't tried but I notice on the update procedure you can select get file on the terminal software. Not sure if it is possible to get the v5.3 firmware from the unit before you upload the twin record firmware ? would be nice if someone could.

I recommend you try the twin record software. You have nothing to lose. At worst you will only be able to put v4.9 back on but as I said in time that will auto update to v5.3. I think v4.9 is pretty stable.

Jerry
Last edited by jerrysimon : 24-03-2007 at 10:07

I've not had any problems with missed recordings either - I think it's probably just transmitter related, and when they screw up the now/next info it will break event based recordings.

Another problem with using the twin record software on the 32Mb boxes is that there doesn't appear to be enough memory for mheg (digital text) to work at all well, if at all. So, pressing the red button or browsing teletext will usually hang.

Thanks Jerry I'll give it a go.

zcx

Hi Futaura

I haven't read about the problem with MHEG text before. That could be a show stopper for me since we often use the subtitles.

Tnx for the warning!

zcx

Probably subtitles are ok actually - just tested and they seem ok. If they stop working, rebooting will usually bring them back again. Everything else, MHEG-wise, seems to be quite problematic though - even the placeholders on the radio channels often don't load, and trying to find the weather on BBCi or teletext is either extremely slow in loading (unlike the v5.3 single record software which is very speed) or it just hangs.

Would it be a good idea to post a definitive list of pros and cons for the dual record firmware?

zcx

Would you say that this problem only occurs if one is actually recording 2 programmes at the time when trying to use interactive?

(I'm still thinking about upgrading, have all the gear but... oh for your 64mb RAM )

parthena

Nope - it does it even when not recording anything, as I found out with MotoGP today when the red button graphics didn't display and wouldn't react. And ITV1 is stuck on "loading" when I press the text button. Maybe a reboot will bring it back to life.

Digital text (i.e. MHEG functions) has always been flaky in my experience with this and other Freeview boxes. I wouldn't condemn the dual record firmware's ability to handle MHEG just based on this.

BTW what Vestel clones have 64MB?

zcx

None officially, yet, AFAIK. Perhaps the Daewoo boxes have 64Mb though, since they have twin record and use Vestel/Cabot's middleware, but the Daewoo boxes use a different hardware design to Vestel's, from what I've seen of photos of the Daewoo inards (unfortunately there's not a close-up of the dram chip to tell if it is 64Mb or not).

I've always found the MHEG stuff to work perfectly and speedily on the single record firmware, and likewise the 64Mb twin record firmware. It's just the v1.0 twin record firmware used on 32Mb boxes that has problems with MHEG.

Hold on, I'll just whip me top off. Avert your eyes ...

It's 32Mb - a single DD2516AKTA (Class 6B-E) (DDR333B) (2.5-3-3).

MHEG is a dream on the Daewoo. It works even while dual recording.
Last edited by PTD : 30-03-2007 at 22:27

What a pity the RAM's not fixed in the bottom, I'da got out me bins

So is the Daewoo software/firmware more economical with resources than the Digihome's post-production, bolt-on jobbie, would that account for the better performance?

I shouldn't really ask, I won't understand it anyway... but it's all so fascinating

parthena

Thanks - that's very interesting. Perhaps MHEG is just broken, as in buggy, in the V1.0 twin record software. How's the EPG on the Daewoo - does it always keep the full 7/8 days on all channels?

At the moment it's a full 8-day population. It only falls short when there are problems at source, as with any pvr.

It does have a habit of deleting old epg days at midnight, ok fair enough, but including any current program extending over midnight. I find this slightly annoying.