Hi there,

My wife is not happy. For the third or fourth time my Sony RDR-HXD970B hasn't recorded East Enders.

It's setup as a series link recording, and 9 out of 10 times it works. So I need some help, because I sold her on the Sony, when she was saying she wanted Sky+ - and I've been getting it in the neck.

Ok, so what have I done to try and fix it. Well, I've upgraded the firmware to the latest version.

Deleted and recreated the series link.

Searched these forums to see anyone else is having the same problems.

I have noticed two odd things, that I've searched the forum for, so sorry if this is a common problem. On the digital EPG I sometimes have gaps on the main stations BBC, ITV etc. I've also seen on the EPG the record symbol in grey instead of red.

How do I force the EPG to fill in the gaps, and what does a grey symbol mean?

Thanks.
Last edited by PhilStol : 09-10-2008 at 09:20

Sorry, but get Sky+ - it's by far the easiest to use, and the most reliable on series link.

Thanks Nigel, but I was hoping I could give the Sony one more chance to get it's act together, and Sky+ at £204 a year (minimum) is a cost we'd rather not have.

Are you leaving the recorder in standby,overnight,so the epg is updated on a daily basis.
The Grey symbol means that the programme is set to be recorded using series recording.(Page 56 of the manual).

We always switch to standby when we're not using the recorder. So it will always be off during the night.

The gaps in the RPG are also random, so between 10:00 and 15:00 they'll be data, but then between 15:00 and 18:00 they might be a gap. This gap would be just on BBC1, all the other channels will have data.

So grey means future recordings, i tried to find it in the manual thanks for the link. I've read that page - and the problem I have is, when we noticed East Enders hadn't recorded I checked the EPG - this was during the credits, and the icon was grey. It should have been red - because it was the next recording. Strange.

Its probably not the Sony that's at fault, the Freeview series link system is well known for having problems.

not recording Enders for the wife should be a criminal offence LOL..
set the thing to record the BBC1 editions,the BBC3 same night editions and the sunday omnibus as punishment..

This is the fall back position when it misses the BBC1 showing. However, I still got it in the neck that she couldn't watch it THAT night.

I love her really.

Why not get Virgin and get it on IPlayer?

Because we don't have cable in our area, and have spent £100's on the Sony box.

I moved house to get Virgin.

Sign up to Tiscali. They're doing some good bundled stuff at the mo. The Digital TV has a 'catch up' feature which means you can watch missed programs upto a week later.

I hated the idea of Broadband (i'm in the trade so it's a busmans holiday for me) but I paid for BB + Anytime Free Landline calls + tv for £30 month as it was less that the monthly bills for the (wifes) telephone bill.

The picture quality is better than my (expensive) Sony PVR.
No affiation etc etc, just a surprised customer.

BTW you can still use your PVR to record 'off air' so it's like having another tuner.