UPC DVR Reviews / Questions / Help

Mr Velo

belmulletman wrote:

Nick Jr. gone for me as well!!

Awww, no Lazytown for you guys tonight then

Eamo71

elderlemon wrote:

Doe's anyone have the DVR and Nick Jr. Mine (Nick JR) is no longer working since the DVR was installed - Says I haven't subscribed to the channel. NTL office people say its the box, the engineer who came out says its not. Can someone confirm that they are getting Nick JR ok.

thanks.

yep NJ is not working for me...

Eamo71

Paddy_Fowler wrote:

Awww, no Lazytown for you guys tonight then

yeh but the yung wans aren't happy about it though....

Vikings

Had it 'installed' today. First off only half the channels which I should have had were available. There was no Sky Sports or Setanta/Nasn which I had paid for, rang them up and was told they could do nothing until morning so hopefully that will get sorted in a couple hours time.

The broadband that was also 'installed' at the same time does not work, we were told the engineer would come back to look at it - not a chance. Maybe tomorrow.

Just glad we hadn't cancelled the eircom or sky yet! Might just wait and see how this pans out, if its not sorted and sorted soon the retentions department will have to do some convincing!

rogue-entity

Ordered the DVR, and a replacement remote for the old Pace box. Remote arrived yesterday, Engineer should arrive on Thursday morning to install the DVR. *crosses fingers*

rogue-entity

Engineers arrived nice and early today to install the DVR.
Took about 15 minutes so to install, and all the basic channels were working. It took about 2 hours before the sport and movie packages were activated. So far, the box is working great compared to the Pace decoder in the other room. My only complaint so far.. the DVR functions dont work.

I can watch the channels fine, though it took a while before the box recognised the movie and sport packages as being subscribed, before that, I would have to press left or right, use the guide, or manually enter the channel numbers to watch them. Now I can flick though them using the Ch+/- buttons.

But any time I try to enter the Digital Video Recorder option from the menu I get a message saying "the media box is busy" or "at this time you cannot watch a programme you recorded and record at the same time" and it backs back into the menu once I press OK.

Customer care have said its probably stuck in the provisioning system..
Anyone else had this problem??

belmulletman

Have to say, i've not had that problem.... mine just worked... i've my fingers crossed for ya that it'll sort it's self out!

rogue-entity

Im the second person in Waterford with one of these boxes.
I've been told they tried to send a "dehit" to the box, but it took half an hour to go through their system, so they suggested the DVR is probably caught in their provisioning system.. waiting for activation or some lark. She also suggested there might be some issue with the City Code/Activation Code..

So far I have tried unplugging it for 30 seconds to reboot it, and still no joy. The box still gives me one or the other of those error messages and I cant use any of the DVR features.

Edit: Has anyone else noticed how hot the box gets or is it just me? I put my hand on top, and its quite hot.. when I looked at the bottom, I can see a fan, but the fan doesnt spin when the box is running.. anyone else notice this.. or is it just me?

belmulletman

Hey Guys...
Has anyone noticed that the guide isn't currently going past Tuesday??
I noticed this last thursday, but thought it might fix it's self...
I know this is wrong, because last week when the xFactor finished, i was able to set it up for the following week...
I've tried refreshing the network and all that jazz but nout seems to be working! anyone got any suggestions?

Alun

belmulletman wrote:

Hey Guys...
Has anyone noticed that the guide isn't currently going past Tuesday??
I noticed this last thursday, but thought it might fix it's self...
I know this is wrong, because last week when the xFactor finished, i was able to set it up for the following week...
I've tried refreshing the network and all that jazz but nout seems to be working! anyone got any suggestions?

Just checked mine and it's the same Mind you the old one always seemed to have problems with weekends .. maybe the person at ntl: who feeds the hamster is on holiday

The tax man

Same story here too. Hopefully it's just a glitch that will be sorted on Monday.

rogue-entity

Well.. NTL agreed that that the unit they sent me, was faulty, they are gonna replace it for me the day after I get back from the UK which is nice.

I assume from the complete lack of responses to my queries, that I am the only boardsie that has had this problem with their DVR, and can assume then, that the new DVR I will get should work properly.

BendiBus

belmulletman wrote:

Hey Guys...
Has anyone noticed that the guide isn't currently going past Tuesday??
I noticed this last thursday, but thought it might fix it's self...
I know this is wrong, because last week when the xFactor finished, i was able to set it up for the following week...
I've tried refreshing the network and all that jazz but nout seems to be working! anyone got any suggestions?

I'm waiting for you guys to get the bugs to be ironed out before I sign up

Is it still possible to set the machine to record based on date/time/channel even if the EPG is kyboshed?

murpho999

Well I have the same problem with the EPG today, only 3 days now whereas it was for 7 days.

Also, in the last few days I have had problems with the mini guide.
Sometimes it doesn't start at all and other times when it does work I cannot switch it off. Only way to clear it is to switch box off and back on again.

Hope it's just a glitch, will call them on Tuesday if it's still not working.

Is anyone else having this problem with their mini-guide?

belmulletman

Right... i phoned NTL about the guide, or lack there of, and told her that it wasn't just me that anyone i've been talking to (both on here, and a few of my mates have the box as well), has the same problem...
So she went ahead and booked for someone to come out to me to look at the box!!! I know... i was like, WHY? the box is fine, the problem is obviously on your (as in NTL) end, and the guide info isn't been fed to the new DVR units.
ANYWHO, so she went ahead and booked it for some reason! hopefully it'll be fixed before thrusday as i wont be able to get home to for the guy to come and look at it!!

Has anyone else phoned, as she said i seemed to be the first person on the system who'd reported it! if the guide isn't working properly for ya, give 'em a call, as the only way i can see this getting sorted is if enough people complain about it!

Eamo71

murpho999 wrote:

One drawback I have found also is that if you are watching a program and half way through you decide to record it, it only records from the moment that you press record, and does not save the part you have already watched. You can do this on Sky and is handy, especially if you think that a program you are watching may be interesting to someone else in your house. With the UPC box you will miss the start.

OK maybe I'm being thick here but let's say you were 15 mins into the programme and decided somone else in the house would be interested in viewing it... Could you rewind it to the start and then press record. I'm under the impression that it buffers live programmes from the start of transmission...

paulm17781

Eamo71 wrote:

OK maybe I'm being thick here but let's say you were 15 mins into the programme and decided somone else in the house would be interested in viewing it... Could you rewind it to the start and then press record. I'm under the impression that it buffers live programmes from the start of transmission...

I don't *think* this works either which is a pity, I tried to rewind something that was near the end and it only allowed me rewind to the point I started watching.

WellyJ

paulm17781 wrote:

I don't *think* this works either which is a pity, I tried to rewind something that was near the end and it only allowed me rewind to the point I started watching.

Thats because you have to be on the channel for it to buffer.

If you change to a channel and try to rewind its not gonna work.

murpho999

Eamo71 wrote:

OK maybe I'm being thick here but let's say you were 15 mins into the programme and decided somone else in the house would be interested in viewing it... Could you rewind it to the start and then press record. I'm under the impression that it buffers live programmes from the start of transmission...

I had thought of this as well and tried rewinding to the start after 10 minutes and then pressing record but it only records from the live transmission. It doesn't make sense as the beginning of the program is already in the unit's memory. Sky+ does this for you no hassle, and is a nice feature.

I do wonder if NTL actually tested and compared a Sky+ box before releasing their own, after all, a box that only records one station, has no series link and other functionality lacking is just not good enough when you consider that they have had about 3 years to look at Sky's product!

paulm17781

murpho999 wrote:

I had thought of this as well and tried rewinding to the start after 10 minutes and then pressing record but it only records from the live transmission. It doesn't make sense as the beginning of the program is already in the unit's memory. Sky+ does this for you no hassle, and is a nice feature.

I do wonder if NTL actually tested and compared a Sky+ box before releasing their own, after all, a box that only records one station, has no serious link and other functionality lacking is just not good enough when you consider that they have had about 3 years to look at Sky's product!

I'd agree, I was expecting this to blow Sky+ away. Sadly it is typically NTL and does what it is meant to (record, pause) but gives you very little else.

Eamo71

murpho999 wrote:

I had thought of this as well and tried rewinding to the start after 10 minutes and then pressing record but it only records from the live transmission. It doesn't make sense as the beginning of the program is already in the unit's memory. Sky+ does this for you no hassle, and is a nice feature.

I do wonder if NTL actually tested and compared a Sky+ box before releasing their own, after all, a box that only records one station, has no serious link and other functionality lacking is just not good enough when you consider that they have had about 3 years to look at Sky's product!

Yeah I tried it shortly after posting and it didn;t work. i know it's annoying that the NTL box doesn;t have some of the features of Sky plus but I still like it a lot. I reckon the HD box will address those issues. Here's hoping anyway.
BTW Murpho I don't have a scanner to post that press pack for you. Sorry.

murpho999

Eamo71 wrote:

Yeah I tried it shortly after posting and it didn;t work. i know it's annoying that the NTL box doesn;t have some of the features of Sky plus but I still like it a lot. I reckon the HD box will address those issues. Here's hoping anyway.
BTW Murpho I don't have a scanner to post that press pack for you. Sorry.

Well the box is a lot better than the old Pace box,so that is a positive.

However, after a week of use now, I am somewhat disappointed with the product. Apart from the features missing that Sky have had for ages, I find the whole system to be a bit fiddly.

Am I the only one who has problems with changing channel by keying in the 3 digit channel number? I find if you do not key all 3 numbers in quick enough (ie 1 second) that you get 'channel unavailable' and then it goes to channel 101.

Also, the rewind function can be fiddly too. Whenever I rewind, and then press play, it doesn't seem to play back from where I want but jumps about 10 seconds ahead. It can be very hard to get it to play from the exact moment you want.

Hope you're right about the HD box, as they really need to offer something more than Sky have if they want to win over customers.
No problem about you not being able to scan the pack!

Eamo71

murpho999 wrote:

Well the box is a lot better than the old Pace box,so that is a positive.

However, after a week of use now, I am somewhat disappointed with the product. Apart from the features missing that Sky have had for ages, I find the whole system to be a bit fiddly.

Am I the only one who has problems with changing channel by keying in the 3 digit channel number? I find if you do not key all 3 numbers in quick enough (ie 1 second) that you get 'channel unavailable' and then it goes to channel 101.

Also, the rewind function can be fiddly too. Whenever I rewind, and then press play, it doesn't seem to play back from where I want but jumps about 10 seconds ahead. It can be very hard to get it to play from the exact moment you want.

Hope you're right about the HD box, as they really need to offer something more than Sky have if they want to win over customers.
No problem about you not being able to scan the pack!

Yes you hav got be quick changing bthe channle number LOL. This is somthing my missus is trying to wrap her fingers around (besides my throat as usual! ).

rewind and play doesn't seem to be causing me any problems....how fast are you rewinding there are four different speeds, yes?

I think the USP on the HD box will be entry price as opposed to technically blowing away Sky's HD offering. There will however be three tuners. And I'm sure by that stage we'll have series link and so on...
It will be interesting to see how compressed the HD signal is. Sky defo comporess its HD signal. Compare BBC's HD world Cup coverage to Sky's. The beeb's HD was much better.

tapsdub

Was just wondering if anyone is experiencing any freezing issues
with the new DVR ?

While flicking through the channels it seems to freeze / lock up
and the only way to reset it is by switching off at the mains.

This has happened on average once a night since the install.

There is nothing recording at the time and no download messages appear.

Any ideas ??

silvine

When is the HD box coming out? Any idea on pricing?

elderlemon

Nope, I've got none of that and I've had mine for almost a month. You might think about getting it replaced as it sounds like its duff.

tapsdub wrote:

Was just wondering if anyone is experiencing any freezing issues
with the new DVR ?

While flicking through the channels it seems to freeze / lock up
and the only way to reset it is by switching off at the mains.

This has happened on average once a night since the install.

There is nothing recording at the time and no download messages appear.

Any ideas ??

belmulletman

tapsdub wrote:

Was just wondering if anyone is experiencing any freezing issues
with the new DVR ?

While flicking through the channels it seems to freeze / lock up
and the only way to reset it is by switching off at the mains.

This has happened on average once a night since the install.

There is nothing recording at the time and no download messages appear.

Any ideas ??

Mines' locked up a couple of times, but only when i've been doing stupid stuff with it (flying through the channels, then hitting the guide button, and realizing i meant to hit the menu button, and exiting out and what not)... but that's only happened maybe twice over the past few weeks, so i know it's my own fault!

belmulletman

Actually, Tax man or DingDong, do either of you guys know where we can log bugs / issues found? or could you guys' note it to someone?
the one thing that really bugs me, and it's noted above, is when you go to change the channels, if you don't do it fast enought, it reverts back to 101!! WHY? (on a side note: I freaking HATE RTE1!! most stupid channel ever, i mean we back our TV license, but yet we are subjected to Ad's everywhere, and sub-par programmes they've bought in, and even worse Irish made shows!)
If you enter one or 2 digits and decide "actually, na, i'll stay watching what's on now".., surely it should stay on the channel you were just watching? PLUS, it seems like it's set to about 2 or so seconds to accept a channel input, this needs to be increased, at least another second to second and a half of what it's currently set at!...

cheers guys... hope you can help!

Eamo71

Hi all,

Anyone having any trouble tuning in your DVD player to the UPC remote. I have tried the codes provided and the other option in the manual and to no avail.
My DVD is a Toshiba SD360E.

Thanks,

E71

belmulletman

Eamo71 wrote:

Hi all,

Anyone having any trouble tuning in your DVD player to the UPC remote. I have tried the codes provided and the other option in the manual and to no avail.
My DVD is a Toshiba SD360E.

Thanks,

E71

Correct me if i'm wrong, but i though that "dvd" button was for Dvd Recorders only and not for standard DVD Player controls!?