Hehe yeah I know - I moved it

Hi

does anyone know if this firmware upgrade is suitable for the Sharp TUR 160H PVR?

I believe it is a Vestel machine and is haveing some stuttering problems with Channel 5 when recording.

Hi


According to the Futaura website, that Sharp is one of the many Vestel T810 clones. Does the identification sticker on the unit include the code T810 anywhere within it? If so, that could be taken as verification.

Be aware that Freeview reception problems resulting from the inadequacies of your aerial system will tend to afflict the Muxes 2 & A channels (inc. Five) most readily. Resist the temptation to grasp for "exotic" explanations (firmware) before the ordinary ones (signal)!

You can look in the Menu | Configuration screen for the version number of the currently-installed firmware.

If you do want to update the firmware, you'll need a PC with a serial port, the MS HyperTerminal program (comes with MS Windows) and a straight-through M-F serial lead.

John Owen's illustrated instructions for the process are the most palatable I've found on the internet.

Regards

Just to add to what StoppingService says if you can't see a label identifying which hardware version you have (some brands don't have this) then the software version you have now will be enough to tell. Compare it with the info on Futaura's website. If you definitely have the Sharp TUR 160H rather than Sharp TUR 160HA then you do have a T810. The later Sharp TUR 160HA has the T816 hardware. Also if yours is single record only then it is a T810 unless it has been previously modified with the "un-official" software upgrade.

Colin

Has anyone noticed any differences/improvements between V5.3 and V5.6 of the T810 firmware?

My Digihome PVR80 came (from Argos) with V5.3 seventeen months ago and has always been pretty well behaved - hence I've had no desire to upset it with a firmware flash which may add nothing tangible.

But it would be good to know if V5.6:
(i) contains improvements and
(ii) is no less stable than V5.3

Comments, anyone (other than the wise "if it ain't broke...")

Hi velocite,

I found myself in the same boat as you yesterday teetering on the edge of upgrading from v5.3 to v5.6 without having a backout plan. I gave up trying to get a copy of v5.3 and just went for it. The upgrade was painless.

So far all I can say is that it looks good. If anyone could supply us with the original v5.3 firmware then I'd suggest you would be completely safe to move to v5.6.

I was particularly interested in fixing a fast forward bug I'd seen in my mother-in-laws v4.4 model, it would lock up the machine after a while in fast forward. I've been unable to reproduce that issue in v5.3/v5.6. I won't know for sure that v5.6 fixes it until I go round to their house to upgrade their machine.

I hope that's a little help,
Cheers,
Mark

Does version 5.6 have the twin record feature, or is it still the official "record one - watch another"?

It is still single record.

Colin

Hi



I've just been trying to upgrade my Digihome PVR80 (Vestel T810) with the (official) v5.6 firmware. I bought a serial extension lead (9 pin, RS232, male-female) from Kenable Ltd on eBay, for the purpose. Using that lead, John Owen's instructions and HyperTerminal, I had the PC and the HDDR talking - I had the "Aurora" Boot Loader display in the HyperTerminal window. Did the transfer, which took much less time than I expected but it completed without any error message. Having connected-up to my AV equipment, I looked in the Configuration screen - and found the firmware version hasn't changed!

Returning to the PC and looking closer at their details, I now see that the file (posted by ShamblesX) from http://rapidshare.com/files/11073371..._t810_v5.6.bin is only 3,979 bytes in size; whereas the v4.9 file within the ZIP file from http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/files/pvr80bins.zip (which also includes the unofficial twin-record firmware) is 973,284 bytes!

Now, either Vestel took advantage of a major advance in compression techniques between the release of v4.9 and v5.6 or I don't have a true copy of the latter firmware.

Would crank61 be willing to post the Vestel T810 v5.6 firmware somewhere online? Would ShamblesX be willing to repeat the upload made to RapidShare?

Thanks/TIA

Hi



I've just been trying to upgrade my Digihome PVR80 (Vestel T810) with the (official) v5.6 firmware. I bought a serial extension lead (9 pin, RS232, male-female) from Kenable Ltd for the purpose. Using that lead, John Owen's instructions and HyperTerminal, I had the PC and the HDDR talking - the "Aurora" Boot Loader announced itself in the HyperTerminal window. I did the transfer, which took much less time than I expected but it completed without any error message. Having connected-up to my AV equipment, I looked in the Configuration screen - and found the firmware version hasn't changed!

Returning to the PC and looking closer at their details, I now see that the file (posted by ShamblesX) from http://rapidshare.com/files/11073371..._t810_v5.6.bin is only 3,979 bytes in size; whereas the v4.9 file within the ZIP file from http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/files/pvr80bins.zip (which also includes the unofficial twin-record firmware) is 973,284 bytes!

Now, either Vestel took advantage of a major advance in compression techniques between the release of v4.9 and v5.6 or I don't have a true copy of the latter firmware.

Would crank61 be willing to post the Vestel T810 v5.6 firmware somewhere online? Would ShamblesX be willing to repeat the upload made to RapidShare?

Thanks/TIA

The .bin file I have for T810 v5.6 is 951kb (I haven't used it yet, my Vestels are both twin-record) - if you want to PM me your email address I'll see if I can send it to you.

parthena

Here mate http://www.aouq23.dsl.pipex.com/vestel_t810_v5.6.bin

Hi

@parthena: I have the attachment, thanks for giving me your individual attention.

@ShamblesX: I have the download, thanks for making the world a better place.

Regards

i have aquired a techwood aedtr80s7, im assuming its a pvr80, it looks exactly like the digihome one but i think it came from tescos, would this firmware for the digihome work on mine ?

Not sure - depends on whether the AEDTR80S7 is Vestel T810 or T816 based. There should be a clue on the label on the underside of the unit and/or on the packaging. Probably it is T816 based, in which case no, this software won't work on it. Checking your current software version against the ones listed at http://www.futaura.co.uk/vestel.html may help figure things out also. I wouldn't advise updating a T816 machine unless you have a really old software version, since the best version (3.7) comes in three different builds, and unfortunately the best version isn't available to use for RS232 updates .

Hello all,

Just to let know that I've just managed to update my Digihome PVR 160 to V5.6 firmware using a USB to serial cable and Tera Term Pro instead of Hyperterminal. So if anyone else is in the same boat as me (Stuck with Vista and no serial port) and wants to know how to upgrade firmware drop me a line and I'll do my best to help you.

Cheers

Rob

can anyone tell me if there is a series link available for the pvr160?

There is no Series Link available for the PVR160. It is the earliest (AFAIK) model and is not even Freeview Playback ennabled for 'accurate recording'. However, as I have said before, my PVR160 is very accurate

parthena

how you mean?

Yes, you said that in the post here on AV Forums a couple of daya ago but when I queried what you meant (next post to yours) you didn't reply? . So I still don't understand what you mean? Do you mean your PVR160 accurately records in accordance with the scheduled time. If so then that is not what is meant by Freeview Playback Accurate Recording and is not much use if the programme starts earlier or finishes later than scheduled time. Of course you may be lucky sometimes and be covered by the artificial padding produced by advert breaks on commercial channels.

Colin

No, that is not what I meant.

I don't know how it works, but 'event' recording on my PVR160 (with twin-record upgrade) gives the same accuracy as my DTR250 Freeview Playback version 1 (= non-Series Link, an Evesham, the same as your Hitachi, Colin, I think). It seems to me that the EPG updates itself and my recordings start and finish in line with programme broadcasts, not with Radio Times times!

Now you've got me all confuddled

parthena

OH yes, I forgot you have the un-official dual record software. I recall futaura saying that that software is equivalent to an early version of the T816 series of software. So that probably means it has the Freeview Playback Accurate Recording functionality. That means recordings start and finish when they are triggered by the Now/Next status changes rather than the EPG data. I think the term "Event" was first used to describe recordings controlled in this manner. If you change the Timer setting to "Time" instead of event then it uses the EPG time data. The unit also uses the EPG time data if the recording is on a channel which does not support Accurate Recording.

Glad we cleared that up

Colin

The thing is, with anything techie, I'm always punching above my weight

parthena

Since upgrading from v5.3 to v5.6 six weeks ago, I have had my T810 PVR80 lock-up twice whilst recording films (on CH4 & CH5).
On both occasions the PVR “froze” around 40 minutes into a timed recording (the PVR was in standby).
The hard drive was still spinning, but the front display remained stuck at the time the freeze occurred. The remote could not coax it out of this state, and the buttons on the front of the unit did not respond (even to the 5 second press of the standby button)

On both occasions I had to power off and on and wait for the disk check which, after a while, completed OK.

In all other day-to-day respects everything is otherwise fine.
My hard disk is almost empty and I have good signals on all six MUXs with no dropout.

The question is whether my PVR80 (which worked well for almost 2 years) is dying, or whether this is a fault introduced by the v5.6 firmware.

Has anyone else experienced this same issue?