Aldi - Technosonic PVR £99.99 - Freeview

Lorian

massem wrote:

What's the plan? I haven't been able to pick up this or the 1.1 update. If the 1.5 update stops it being returned I need some advice please.

The cunning plan didn't work. See post 127 onwards in this thread where someone has the same problem.

The only thing to do is ring key's helpdesk number. If they know how to fix this issue then please let us know!

bagpuss

paultoon wrote:

Me too. Haven't had the dreaded No Signal since update, but have had blocky signal breakup which I've never had before. Otherwise the update seems to have been a big improvement, but I'll monitor the breakup situation over the next few days.

Unfortunately me too - it is really annoying when it is something that you really want to watch and how do you explain to a 2 year old why CBeebies is "not working!"

At least with the No Signal prob the box was usuable now it is just impossible

EDIT: Whilst I was typing this up was on the phone holding for Key who have told me that even though my signal was fine before (although we did get NO Signal messages) that I should have my aerial checked (!) and that if this does not solve the problem then the unit is faulty. I asked what I should do as I had been offered a swap back in December to be told that they would do this but as they have no boxes available he had no idea of the ETA for a swap. Whilst I appreciate his honesty I am really angry now as they have been aware of issues now for some time and should have known that a certain number of boxes would still have issues and need to be swapped yet there have been no contingency plans for this. To say that I am angry is an understatement, as I am now left at home trying to recover from surgery with a two year old and no Cbeebies to give me at least some quiet time!!!

I would be interested to hear if anyone else has had any other advice on the broken picture/blank screen scenario from Key - also is there any other number we can contact them on that doesn't take 20 mins plus to connect each time ?????????

Lorian

bagpuss wrote:

Key who have told me that even though my signal was fine before (although we did get NO Signal messages) that I should have my aerial checked (!) and that if this does not solve the problem then the unit is faulty.

Pretty big coincidence your aerial falling over or the unit going faulty at the same as the firmware upgrade.

I feel like a broken record saying this but have you tried doing a "first time installation" from the setup menu? Does this help? Please note this shouldn't remove your saved programmes but will remove any future timers.

Do you use the winter hill transmitter?

vdub_2

Well I am having big problems with my recordings.

I set Peter Kay to record last night and when I went into the recordings list there was about 30 Peter Kay recordings all where about 2 seconds long.

All other previous recordings had disappered.

And when I deleted all the Peter Kay recordings, the Free Disk space now shows 54mb total

Lorian

vdub wrote:

I set Peter Kay to record last night and when I went into the recordings list there was about 30 Peter Kay recordings all where about 2 seconds long.

Was the disk full, or at least did it think the disk was full?

I guess you'll have to reformat the disk to get the space back (default code is 0000) but you'll loose any saved recordings.

Panduroo_2

dollop wrote:

Yes, when playing back a recording if i alter the volume with the TV remote, for instance, playback stops. A few other buttons have the same effect. yet it only seems to conflict with the PVR on playback only. The TV is a Schneider. Thanks for all you have done regarding this PVR.

I've had that problem since the upgrade too (mine is a Bush tv) - bit annoying but I've got around it by using the PVR volume alone when playing back...I can cope with that I think, but it would be good to get it sorted.
I haven't lost signal at all since 1.5, but I occasionally lose sound on the channel I am viewing, or get sudden loud 'white noise' when I change channel, which is sorted by switching off and on again, but is a nuisance none-the-less....anyone else had this?
I don't think there have been any other problems - recordings all seem fine etc.... :j

Jaxer

Mine was pretty stable on the 1.1 Firmware apart from the intermittent No Signal, and occasional "freezes" in Stand-By - both of which were sporadic enough not to be too much of a problem.

Since I upgraded to 1.5 on Saturday (18/03/05), I haven't had any "freezes" from Stand-By, and up to today, apart from a few "longish" black screen pauses on switching channels, there weren't any actual No Signal messages.

This evening, I was flicking through the channels, and then went back to BBC1 (by pressing the number "1" on the keypad), only to get the picture appearing and disappearing (with the "blocky" interference mentioned previously) every few seconds, with a black screen in between, until after about 20 seconds, I got a No Signal message. This lasted for about 15 seconds and the picture re-appeared. However, when I changed channel, the same thing happened on the new channel, making it impossible to watch.

A hard reboot seems to have solved this (for now), but it's worrying that we seem to be taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back on the upgrades!

Another problem I've had since the factory original 1.0 software, right through to the current 1.5 upgrade is with the playback of recorded programmes. The whole system seems to freeze on a frequent basis (about 1 in every 4 attempts) when I go to the "List" of recorded programmes (by pressing "play") and then select a programme to watch. I have the blue screen and the TV "in picture" in the corner, but this goes to black, with no sound, and no response to any inputs, either from the remote, or the buttons on the unit itself. The only way out, again is a hard reboot.

Finally, I have a Hitachi TV, and find that the Volume Up/Down on the TV remote have the exact reverse effect with the PVR (ie. pressing volume Up on the TV remote sees the volume bar decreasing on the screen!) - I've managed to get around this so more of a minor hinderance than anything too annoying.

scoobie

bagpuss wrote:

Unfortunately me too - it is really annoying when it is something that you really want to watch and how do you explain to a 2 year old why CBeebies is "not working!"

I would be interested to hear if anyone else has had any other advice on the broken picture/blank screen scenario from Key - also is there any other number we can contact them on that doesn't take 20 mins plus to connect each time ?????????

I am also getting a blocky picture since the upgrade. I'm afraid its about the last straw, I think the machine will be going back once I've watched whats recorded on it.

diygardener

Looking at all the problems people have had since the upgrade makes me happier than ever that I gave up on the PVR101 a few weeks ago when the promised upgrade dates were not being met. I now have the Digifusion FVRT145 at just £25 more from Argos. This allows me to record 2 - yes 2 channels simultaneously while watching something I recorded earlier. I can "chase play" (watch a program from the beginning while it's still being recorded). It also automatically records whatever channel you switch to so you can rewind up to 30 minutes of it without having had to press pause earlier. And if you press the record button part way through watching a program, you have a good chance of capturing the entire program as it stores that previous 30 minutes as well. OK, the GUI is not brilliant, but I'm getting use to it. This is a lot of extra function for just a small additional outlay. And it doesn't seem to have heard of a "no signal" banner!!!

bagpuss

Lorian wrote:

Pretty big coincidence your aerial falling over or the unit going faulty at the same as the firmware upgrade.

I feel like a broken record saying this but have you tried doing a "first time installation" from the setup menu? Does this help? Please note this shouldn't remove your saved programmes but will remove any future timers.

Do you use the winter hill transmitter?

No I use the Blue Bell Hill transmitter and sorry for making you sound like a broken record but after posting (when I was FURIOUS) I did go back and read and since then have rebooted and fingers crossed things do seem to be much better! Did not try the first time installation as the Postman Pats and Fireman Sams that are on there are my saving grace at the moment! BIG THANK YOU TO LORIAN for all the help that has been provided to all of us MSE users. I think that Key, Technosonic and Aldi really owe you BIG TIME! How about a free PVR 101 as a thank you LOL!