Aldi - Technosonic PVR £99.99 - Freeview

marsha11_2

kcegginton wrote:

Lost & Found! Here's one of those mind games: Record Prog1, watch it and delete it then record Prog2, later record Prog3, watch it then delete it. What programmes have you got in the Recordings List? Well my PVR101 has just Prog1!!! That's twice now a deleted programme has come back to life but more importantly why has Prog2 gone awol?

I've also had this problem with lost recordings and resurrected deletions. It only appears to happen if the box has been turned off, it's ok if you leave it on standby. After deleting all the recordings again the free disk space did not show 76293 Mb i.e. the lost recordings were still taking disk space even though they were not accessible. I had to reformat to get the disk space back. It needs a UPS until it's fixed!

LesD

marsha11 wrote:

I've also had this problem with lost recordings and resurrected deletions. It only appears to happen if the box has been turned off, it's ok if you leave it on standby. After deleting all the recordings again the free disk space did not show 76293 Mb i.e. the lost recordings were still taking disk space even though they were not accessible. I had to reformat to get the disk space back. It needs a UPS until it's fixed!

Can any of you technical experts suss-out if this is a terminal illness for the 101 or is it likely that a software update (should one materialise) could sort it??

marsha11_2

LesD wrote:

Can any of you technical experts suss-out if this is a terminal illness for the 101 or is it likely that a software update (should one materialise) could sort it??

Not sure as this is my first PVR. I'll give 'em a chance to fix it, but it's going back if they can't.

GrahamS_4

So far I've had these faults with the Aldi PVR:

"No Signal"
ITV no sound
Lock up on standby
Buttons on top of the receiver don't do what they say!

and how do you watch one program while recording another?
If I start to record one channel and then try to switch to another, it asks if want to cancel the recording.
Where's the second tuner then?

GrahamS.

paultoon

kcegginton wrote:

Here's a new one...

Has anyone had problems with the aspect ratio? This afternoon, both BBC1 (sports) and BBC2 (snooker) have been displaying stretched (horizontally). I use a Toshiba widescreen TV (and yes its remote brings the PVR101 out of standby - possibly more) and so have the pvr set to 16:9. Quickly cycling the pvr's 'Wide' button and stopping on 'Auto' gives a correctly proportioned picture for about 1 to 2 secs before it becomes stretched again. ITV, 4 etc display correctly but 4:3 channels are coming out 16:9 (remember the 'Wide' button is left on 'Auto').

I too get the 'No Signal' screen (it only tends to happen after a timed recording has been made) - although waiting a minute can bring rewards (as can using timeshift although that sometimes displays the 'No Signal' message at the same time!!! but with no audio).

Talking of no audio - yesterday, the timer brought the pvr out of standby to make a scheduled recording - I got back before the end and switched on the TV - there was a picture - that's good, most boxes don't switch on the TV output during a timed recording - but there was no sound. Further more, switching channels didn't bring the audio back on - that only appeared once the timed recording stopped (with a loud click in the speakers).

Playing with the timeshift feature (shuttling fwd and back) caused a complete loss of video and audio (although the menus remained) and only a power cycle would restore (ab)normal operations.

Lost & Found! Here's one of those mind games: Record Prog1, watch it and delete it then record Prog2, later record Prog3, watch it then delete it. What programmes have you got in the Recordings List? Well my PVR101 has just Prog1!!! That's twice now a deleted programme has come back to life but more importantly why has Prog2 gone awol?

I got fed up of waiting for the help-line so I've e-mailed Key Electronics (don't know if I've got the right contact address but we'll find out.

I don't want a Humax, I don't want a Digifusion - I want this machine working the way it should - is that too much to ask?

We need a definitive answer as to whether there will be an over-the-air firmware upgrade that will address all these reported problems - so, who can we pester?

Clive.

Clive, I've had exactly the same problems as you, and share the same opinion - I want to stick with this box, but only if the update will fix the problems. I posted about it over on the Digital Spy forum:
http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showpost.php?p=6562237&postcount=161
I'll give Technosonic until after the New Year to produce or promise an update. After that it will probably be time to try a Digifusion!

By the way, anyone wonder why this Aldi product wasn't branded Tevion or Medion and only has a one year guarantee? In my experience, every Tevion or Medion kit I've tried has been excellent, and came with a three year guarantee. When Aldi offers a Tevion PVR I'll be more confident it will work!

shovon

kcegginton wrote:

Here's a new one...

Talking of no audio - yesterday, the timer brought the pvr out of standby to make a scheduled recording - I got back before the end and switched on the TV - there was a picture - that's good, most boxes don't switch on the TV output during a timed recording - but there was no sound. Further more, switching channels didn't bring the audio back on - that only appeared once the timed recording stopped (with a loud click in the speakers).

And I thought i was the only one with this particular problem as it doesn't seem to have been mentioned before!

Can anyone else confirm that it happens to them also? Specifically the loss of sound but not picture when the machine comes out of standby to perform a timed recording?

I find if i reboot the pvr either after waiting for the recording to finish or stopping the recording midway, that the sound returns to all channels and even to the recording.

I have no ITV1 sound loss problem either.

On the Sutton Coldfield transmitter btw.

I can't trust this 101 to make timed recordings also, as I tried a couple of late night timed recordings after putting the machine in standby and they did not record.

Lastly, say you're watching TV late and decide that you can't be bothered to stay up till the end of a program so you start a recording say for 30 mins by simply pressing the record button and go to bed. How can you ensure that the pvr will go into standby after it finishes? Is there an easy way or do i have to go into the timer list and set it from there?

Here's hoping for the 28th update!!

cougar101

:mad: Just found out that I can't record channel 5 seems OK other channels but refuses to go into record mode whilst watching Alices adventures in wonderland :mad:

creddish

solomonp wrote:

monty58.

To cure the no sound on ITV, select channel 9 and then down arrow back to ITV channel 3. This is the work around

That didn't work for me. I had to power cycle.

Colin

Zaphod_Beblebrocks

Has anyone else noticed a pattern to the loss of signal, seems to happen to mine after anything involving the hard disk, ie recording timeshifting, and also if the time on the display freezes.

creddish

gekktel wrote:

Using the 'loopthrough' for my satellite receiver (thru the Aldi PVR) I get very poor colour reproduction. In particular it seems to have a problem with green and yellow shades. Anyone else here having a problem like this? Colour reproduction from PVR Freeview itself is okay.

Works OK for me. I have my Pace Sky box TV output set to RGB and that is connected to the Technosonic VCR Scart. I have DVD player connected to the Sky VCR Scart. The Technosonic TV/DTV switching function work fine too.

Your problems sound like dodgy Scart connections assuming you have the video settings set correctly.

Colin