Recoding freeview from Evesham ALQEMI32 VX

Kurtz · 06-01-2008, 22:13

Has anyone managed to record freeview from the Evesham ALQEMI32 VX?

I've just spent a frustrating afternoon trying to get my Aunt's TV to do timer recordings to a Toshiba DVD/HDD recorder.

Although the Evesham changes to the channel to be recorded, it won't bring the DVD/HDD recorder out of standby mode.

We know the DVD/HDD recorder is fine. It comes out of standby and records what it sees on the scart connection with a panasonic IDTV.

The TV's scart 2 is setup to output TV/DTV (as per config screen). This can be recorded manually on the DVD/HDD recorder.

Has anyone else had similar problems, or know of a solution?
Ta.

bobcar · 07-01-2008, 00:22

Ok, my comments assume the DVDR doesn't have a Freeview tuner built in otherwise you wouldn't be trying to record off the TV.

The best solution (by far) is to add a PVR to do timeshifting and you can then record anything you want to keep using the DVDR to record from the PVR. The next best thing if that is too expensive a solution is to get a separate cheap freeview STB and just use that for recording.

Forget about recording off the TV it's absolutely the worst way of going about things - the TV has to be switched on to the correct channel (ok so it has a timer etc but you get syncing problems - it's basically a real pain) and the recording quality is low because it can only record PAL not RGB. You also can't record one channel and watch another. Recording off the TV has nothing going for it, don't do it.

Kurtz · 07-01-2008, 19:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobcar

Ok, my comments assume the DVDR doesn't have a Freeview tuner built in otherwise you wouldn't be trying to record off the TV.

The best solution (by far) is to add a PVR to do timeshifting and you can then record anything you want to keep using the DVDR to record from the PVR. The next best thing if that is too expensive a solution is to get a separate cheap freeview STB and just use that for recording.

Forget about recording off the TV it's absolutely the worst way of going about things - the TV has to be switched on to the correct channel (ok so it has a timer etc but you get syncing problems - it's basically a real pain) and the recording quality is low because it can only record PAL not RGB. You also can't record one channel and watch another. Recording off the TV has nothing going for it, don't do it.

Thanks very much for the reply. I understand the pitfalls of the setup they have. Unfortunately they were recommended this stuff from the guys at Evesham, and have been struggling with it for the past 3 months.

I got collared over Christmas and was asked to see if I could sort the mess out. We made some progress. But even if we got the thing to work properly, it is just too complicated to be reliable.

What I'm hoping for, is guidance/conformation that someone else has got this to work. If they have, then perhaps this kit is faulty and Evesham 'might' swop out the DVD/HDD recorder for one with freeview.

chrisjr · 07-01-2008, 20:25

Sounds like the TV and recorder do not speak the same dialect of xxLink (each manufacturer calls it something different). Sounds like the recorder understands Panasonic's QLink variant but not whatever the Evesham speaks, if indeed the Evesham speaks any form of xxLink at all.

Or maybe it is simply turned off! Though I know from experience that getting two different manufacturers kit to talk to each other can be a real pain. My old Sony Freeview box was sometimes able to kick my Panasonic DVD into record. More often than not it went off in a huff and did something weird that only switching it off at the mains would cure. In the end I just gave up on it and resorted to manually setting everything.

The easiest solution has to be a Freeview recorder. At least that way there is only one box to set and it can work totally independently of the TV. And of course it does mean they can record a different digital channel to the one they are watching.

If she specifically asked Evesham to supply kit that could do what you describe your Aunt may have some comeback under the Sale Of Goods Act. If a supplier tells you that a bit of kit can perform a specific task that you want it to and it turns out it cannot do it then they are liable to fix it even if the kit itself is not actually faulty.

broadz · 08-01-2008, 10:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurtz

Has anyone managed to record freeview from the Evesham ALQEMI32 VX?

I've just spent a frustrating afternoon trying to get my Aunt's TV to do timer recordings to a Toshiba DVD/HDD recorder.

Although the Evesham changes to the channel to be recorded, it won't bring the DVD/HDD recorder out of standby mode.

We know the DVD/HDD recorder is fine. It comes out of standby and records what it sees on the scart connection with a panasonic IDTV.

The TV's scart 2 is setup to output TV/DTV (as per config screen). This can be recorded manually on the DVD/HDD recorder.

Has anyone else had similar problems, or know of a solution?
Ta.

Does anything in the Evesham's manual suggest that it has the ability to send a wakeup signal to a DVDR that is connected to it via scart and tell it to start recording? On the few occasions that I have recorded something from my idTV to my DVDR remotely, I have just manually input the recording time, picture quality and channel (AV1) in the DVDR timer settings, selected the digital channel to be recorded in the TV timer settings and let them both work indepently of each other - but because they are both set to start at the same time, it works.

Your Panasonic id TV had a feature to wake up the DVDR. But that is an extra feature of the Panasonic - not necessarily the norm for all other Digital TVs.

Scorpio · 08-01-2008, 10:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurtz

Thanks very much for the reply. I understand the pitfalls of the setup they have. Unfortunately they were recommended this stuff from the guys at Evesham, and have been struggling with it for the past 3 months.

I got collared over Christmas and was asked to see if I could sort the mess out. We made some progress. But even if we got the thing to work properly, it is just too complicated to be reliable.

What I'm hoping for, is guidance/conformation that someone else has got this to work. If they have, then perhaps this kit is faulty and Evesham 'might' swop out the DVD/HDD recorder for one with freeview.

dont even bother spending money on a new DVDR (unless yours is brand new and you will get your money back) just spend £20 on a small dedicated STB as suggested by Bobcar - simple, cheap and sorted in a flash......................or go for a proper PVR and then use the DVDr for archiving at night.

Rgds,
Scorp

Kurtz · 08-01-2008, 19:54

Thanks for the replies. I've spoken to my Aunt today. She will be writting a stiff letter of complaint to Evesham. She fully accepts it has been a while since purchase.

I don't recall a comprehensive set of specs in the Evesham manual. The Tosh was much clearer. I can't find an online manual for the Evesham. So I'm not too clear if the Evesham supports any sort of xxLink.

06-01-2008, 22:13	#1
Kurtz Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 3	Recoding freeview from Evesham ALQEMI32 VX Has anyone managed to record freeview from the Evesham ALQEMI32 VX? I've just spent a frustrating afternoon trying to get my Aunt's TV to do timer recordings to a Toshiba DVD/HDD recorder. Although the Evesham changes to the channel to be recorded, it won't bring the DVD/HDD recorder out of standby mode. We know the DVD/HDD recorder is fine. It comes out of standby and records what it sees on the scart connection with a panasonic IDTV. The TV's scart 2 is setup to output TV/DTV (as per config screen). This can be recorded manually on the DVD/HDD recorder. Has anyone else had similar problems, or know of a solution? Ta.

07-01-2008, 00:22	#2
bobcar Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 14,718	Ok, my comments assume the DVDR doesn't have a Freeview tuner built in otherwise you wouldn't be trying to record off the TV. The best solution (by far) is to add a PVR to do timeshifting and you can then record anything you want to keep using the DVDR to record from the PVR. The next best thing if that is too expensive a solution is to get a separate cheap freeview STB and just use that for recording. Forget about recording off the TV it's absolutely the worst way of going about things - the TV has to be switched on to the correct channel (ok so it has a timer etc but you get syncing problems - it's basically a real pain) and the recording quality is low because it can only record PAL not RGB. You also can't record one channel and watch another. Recording off the TV has nothing going for it, don't do it.

07-01-2008, 19:53	#3
Kurtz Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 3	Quote: Originally Posted by bobcar Ok, my comments assume the DVDR doesn't have a Freeview tuner built in otherwise you wouldn't be trying to record off the TV. The best solution (by far) is to add a PVR to do timeshifting and you can then record anything you want to keep using the DVDR to record from the PVR. The next best thing if that is too expensive a solution is to get a separate cheap freeview STB and just use that for recording. Forget about recording off the TV it's absolutely the worst way of going about things - the TV has to be switched on to the correct channel (ok so it has a timer etc but you get syncing problems - it's basically a real pain) and the recording quality is low because it can only record PAL not RGB. You also can't record one channel and watch another. Recording off the TV has nothing going for it, don't do it. Thanks very much for the reply. I understand the pitfalls of the setup they have. Unfortunately they were recommended this stuff from the guys at Evesham, and have been struggling with it for the past 3 months. I got collared over Christmas and was asked to see if I could sort the mess out. We made some progress. But even if we got the thing to work properly, it is just too complicated to be reliable. What I'm hoping for, is guidance/conformation that someone else has got this to work. If they have, then perhaps this kit is faulty and Evesham 'might' swop out the DVD/HDD recorder for one with freeview.

07-01-2008, 20:25	#4
chrisjr Forum Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Reading Posts: 27,916	Sounds like the TV and recorder do not speak the same dialect of xxLink (each manufacturer calls it something different). Sounds like the recorder understands Panasonic's QLink variant but not whatever the Evesham speaks, if indeed the Evesham speaks any form of xxLink at all. Or maybe it is simply turned off! Though I know from experience that getting two different manufacturers kit to talk to each other can be a real pain. My old Sony Freeview box was sometimes able to kick my Panasonic DVD into record. More often than not it went off in a huff and did something weird that only switching it off at the mains would cure. In the end I just gave up on it and resorted to manually setting everything. The easiest solution has to be a Freeview recorder. At least that way there is only one box to set and it can work totally independently of the TV. And of course it does mean they can record a different digital channel to the one they are watching. If she specifically asked Evesham to supply kit that could do what you describe your Aunt may have some comeback under the Sale Of Goods Act. If a supplier tells you that a bit of kit can perform a specific task that you want it to and it turns out it cannot do it then they are liable to fix it even if the kit itself is not actually faulty.

08-01-2008, 10:09	#5
broadz Banned User Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 2,313	Quote: Originally Posted by Kurtz Has anyone managed to record freeview from the Evesham ALQEMI32 VX? I've just spent a frustrating afternoon trying to get my Aunt's TV to do timer recordings to a Toshiba DVD/HDD recorder. Although the Evesham changes to the channel to be recorded, it won't bring the DVD/HDD recorder out of standby mode. We know the DVD/HDD recorder is fine. It comes out of standby and records what it sees on the scart connection with a panasonic IDTV. The TV's scart 2 is setup to output TV/DTV (as per config screen). This can be recorded manually on the DVD/HDD recorder. Has anyone else had similar problems, or know of a solution? Ta. Does anything in the Evesham's manual suggest that it has the ability to send a wakeup signal to a DVDR that is connected to it via scart and tell it to start recording? On the few occasions that I have recorded something from my idTV to my DVDR remotely, I have just manually input the recording time, picture quality and channel (AV1) in the DVDR timer settings, selected the digital channel to be recorded in the TV timer settings and let them both work indepently of each other - but because they are both set to start at the same time, it works. Your Panasonic id TV had a feature to wake up the DVDR. But that is an extra feature of the Panasonic - not necessarily the norm for all other Digital TVs.

08-01-2008, 10:25	#6
Scorpio Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Somerset Posts: 3,048	Quote: Originally Posted by Kurtz Thanks very much for the reply. I understand the pitfalls of the setup they have. Unfortunately they were recommended this stuff from the guys at Evesham, and have been struggling with it for the past 3 months. I got collared over Christmas and was asked to see if I could sort the mess out. We made some progress. But even if we got the thing to work properly, it is just too complicated to be reliable. What I'm hoping for, is guidance/conformation that someone else has got this to work. If they have, then perhaps this kit is faulty and Evesham 'might' swop out the DVD/HDD recorder for one with freeview. dont even bother spending money on a new DVDR (unless yours is brand new and you will get your money back) just spend £20 on a small dedicated STB as suggested by Bobcar - simple, cheap and sorted in a flash......................or go for a proper PVR and then use the DVDr for archiving at night. Rgds, Scorp

08-01-2008, 19:54	#7
Kurtz Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 3	Thanks for the replies. I've spoken to my Aunt today. She will be writting a stiff letter of complaint to Evesham. She fully accepts it has been a while since purchase. I don't recall a comprehensive set of specs in the Evesham manual. The Tosh was much clearer. I can't find an online manual for the Evesham. So I'm not too clear if the Evesham supports any sort of xxLink.

DS Forums

Recoding freeview from Evesham ALQEMI32 VX