I bought the Digihome DTR80 (T816 based) from Argos back in August. Brilliant box, can't fault it at all, very user friendly and twin tuner features are great. However, it has recently started to cut short recordings, on different channels including BBC, so Freeview playback is not working as it should. Checking the Freeview tags as the programme is running you can see that according to the broadcasting schedule the next programme has already started, only by about 5 minutes at the most, but very annoying if you've recorded part 4 of 4 of a series only to find the end missing!
The question I am asking here (and via Vestel too by the way - Michael Cattini is very helpful) is - does this box have auto padding or not? The manual says it does, Digihome helpline says it should, and despite getting a replacement from Argos at the helpline's advice the new box is identical - the menu option in Setup is just not there. Helpline's advice now is to return the box and get another make - which I don't really want to do, mainly as this is a great box, and also as all the other makes of similar price are seemingly rebadged T816s anyway!!
If I could tell the box to record 5 or 10 minutes past the scheduled end time all would be perfect with this box!
BTW I am running software v2.4 - despite manual scans this seems to be the latest broadcasted software for this model.
All advice gratefully received, except for telling me I can alter the timers manually - I've done that (as long as the programme hasn't started) but then you lose the programme information and also not possible once the timer has started. Thanks!

True. It isn't there in the "Recordings" setup (on the latest version of the software at least)

What happens if you edit a Timer event and change the record type to "Time" - does that automatically add any padding when you save the event (like it does on T810)?

Sorry I can't do this - I don't have a T816....

Yes, if you change to TIME then you can extend as long as you like. Trouble then is the programme info disappears as it's no longer an event. Also can't alter timers at all while the programme is running.
The manual says the padding is there, so where did it go?

Can't seem to find the thread, but this was already discussed recently. Basically, the Freeview Playback build of the software does not have any padding, since it is replaced by "accurate recording" support. The software shown in the manual is not Freeview Playback build.

So does that mean then that the Freeview Playback does not build in any margin for error? The programme info tags broadcast alongside the programmes are often out of synch so this renders Freeview Playback unreliable. All I want is to let Freeview Playback do its stuff but just to be on the safe side build in an extra 5-10 mins of recording to cover these time anomalies. I would have thought this was a simple software add-on which wouldn't interfere with the Freeview Playback operation at all....?

Pretty much so, we're now at the mercy of the broadcasters

Sounds ideal, although it wouldn't work for the program start of course, since it can't start recording 5 minutes earlier since it won't know when that is until the signal occurs for the program start. To be honest, Freeview Playback is a bit of a joke when only the BBC channels support accurate recording to any degree of reliability - it was dumb to launch it before all the broadcasters started supporting it. I dread to think how well series link and split recordings will work once with have the Group 2 software for the T816 - not Vestel's fault by any means.

Yep, for the most part the BBC channels do it right (although they do occasionally miss the last minute or so - I recorded 'Not Going Out' twice and the last couple of minutes was missed each time) Other channels are much worse though - one episode of 'The IT Crowd' started recording 28 minutes into the programme, giving me about a minute of that week's episode!

Wouldn't it be good if Vestel could enable the accurate recording for the starts of programmes (it is handy when you play a recording from the start and it's in exactly the right place) but give you the option to auto-pad the end based on when it was meant to finish? After all, with 250GB to play with, its not like we're going to run out of HD space!

That's exactly what I'm after - I don't mind missing the beginning of programmes but it's kinda pointless to sit through a whole series to find the vital last 5 minutes has been lost to 'accurate recording'!! And this has happened as much on BBC channels as the others. Just an inaccurate end buffer would be fine! Strangely enough last night it was the other extreme - the last episode of the Restaurant on BBC2 started recording halfway through the opening sequences and then overran into the following programme by the corresponding amount - I sat and watched it happen, I was actually pressing Record as it started as I thought the timer wasn't going to fire, and a minute later my record request was cancelled and the EPG timer kicked in!
I'd quite happily use the timer function, if only they'd build in the option to manually name the recorded sequence - a whole library full of BBC2 blank programmes even with 80gb is not very helpful - even with a video you could write on the label!!!
Such a pity as this box is as near perfect as you can get for the money, just to have a little control over end times would make it superb. Any programmers out there??

I've got one of the older T810 boxes and its never missed a recording (it has 10mins padding on the end). If the acuurate recording feature of Freeview is anything like the PDC system on VHS recorders it will be a waste of time anyway - I missed far more programmes when I had the PDC turned on then when it was turned off.

Perhaps there should be an option to turn off accurate recording?

I've got a T810 as well (with the standard 5.3 single record firmware) and we've only missed programs that have run stupidly late. The only problem is that it is running out of disk space.

The Evesham looks like a cost effective way of getting more disk space and improved functionality (the T810 would then go to the parents) so I mentioned the new t816 to SWMBO. Once she heard of the unreliable accurate recording and the extra steps needed to set up an alternative timer event, she vetoed the idea.

She is happy to set up timers on a T810 because of its simplicity so I would end up doing it all again if I switched over to the T816! To be honest, that's why I haven't installed the dual record software on the box - for me, the disadvantages would outweigh the advantages.