DVD Recorder with Hard Drive

elswhere

Guys i purchased a Sony DVD recorder yeaterday and hooked it up to my old sky box which has Freeview from SKY. I was hoping to set it up to tape ITV, CH5 etc.
Have to say i'm stuggling with the set-up of it.
Can i get the EPG of the Sky box(according to the instructions i can but this is where i'm stuck) on the Recorder so i can just set the programmes to tape for the week. i know i can manually put in the ones i want to tape but this seems like hard work when the EPG can be set-up.
in the inital set-up of the Recorder it was asking me for my post code - what do i put in here.

evilivor

The Sony DVD recorder probably has GuidePlus+ built in and that's what's asking for a postcode.

Put in a Norn Iron post code. Then in the Host Channel, choose Manually and select whatever channel number Eurosport is on your Sky box. For the other options choose Satellite; Skyplus, box type and choose the port the Sky box is connected to. The DVD recorder will then try and change channels using the Guidelink cable which should be in front of the sky box’s remote control point. If it changes the channel your in business, if not try fiddling around to make sure the signal is reaching the front of the Sky box.

If that works, and it should, leave the recorder on standby with Eurosport selected on your Sky box (you don’t need to be a subscriber), after a short while you will see the DVD recorder display EPG on the front panel – this means it is look for the listings. When this is finished, go into the Guide section of the Sony’s menu and you should have a list of channels – the BBCs, ITVS, and RTE 1 and 2 etc. They won’t have logos at this stage. You then need to leave the recorder on standby for a while – it depends what time you are doing it – the data is transmitted at 2.30am, 6.30am, and 2.30pm – it takes about two hours to do it and the recorder needs to be left in stand by during. After that, you will have a shiny new EPG with a list of channels and logos.

elswhere

Thats great - thanks for all that info. I'll try it this eve when i get home. Yea it has the GuidePlus+ but i didn't know how that worked. when i left it last night it has EPG on front panel so i must be nearly there. Thanks again.

evilivor

elswhere wrote: »

Thats great - thanks for all that info. I'll try it this eve when i get home. Yea it has the GuidePlus+ but i didn't know how that worked. when i left it last night it has EPG on front panel so i must be nearly there. Thanks again.

PM me if you need more info. Main thing is channel has to be set to Eurosport the first time. After that it'll automaticaly change to it whenever it needs to.

jimrad

Hi elswhere..
Had one of these a while back and as far as I can remember you'll probably find that the channels are out of synch with the EPG..if so you'll have to go to the edit setup and manually change these in order to be able to record with guide+( A blue list with all the channels listed)....This is because you have set it up with a UK post code so the SKY UK listings will show up in the recorders EPG...can be a bit of a pain but once done it's grand,if I remember rightly it shows the ITV's..not sure if your FTV card has ITV on the SKY EPG?..You may need to come back here for more info.
good luck

posullivan

hi there , am in the same boat, am living in england with a SONY dvd hdd (with guideplus) recorder with an analogue tuner for terrestrial tv andold can record off a sky digibox .This will be redundant with the digital switchover in 2009.I am planning to get a newer model as it gives me most of the sky+ functionality with the irish sky card that i have over here.
I was planning to take the older HDD back to use with my parents freesat from sky card equipped digibox in west cork so they can record stuff onto it rather than the old crappy vcr that they have but i assumed that i could not do it as they were not a subscriber to eurosport.
My question is, as the host channel on sky for the guideplus data is eurosport, i was under the impression that you could not use guideplus equipped recorders with freesat from sky cards as eurosport is encrypted (as you are not a subscriber) so the guideplus data is also encrypted/unusable.
Could someone confirm whether this is untrue or not.
I would be glad if i am wrong as i can then ship the old analogue sony HDD recorder off to my parents so they can record RTE 1 AND 2 off analogue(at least until DTTswitchover in ireland) and all the freesat from sky channels as well with a pseudo-skyplus functionality !
many thanks
Paul

evilivor

posullivan wrote: »

hi there , am in the same boat, am living in england with a SONY dvd hdd (with guideplus) recorder with an analogue tuner for terrestrial tv andold can record off a sky digibox .This will be redundant with the digital switchover in 2009.I am planning to get a newer model as it gives me most of the sky+ functionality with the irish sky card that i have over here.
I was planning to take the older HDD back to use with my parents freesat from sky card equipped digibox in west cork so they can record stuff onto it rather than the old crappy vcr that they have but i assumed that i could not do it as they were not a subscriber to eurosport.
My question is, as the host channel on sky for the guideplus data is eurosport, i was under the impression that you could not use guideplus equipped recorders with freesat from sky cards as eurosport is encrypted (as you are not a subscriber) so the guideplus data is also encrypted/unusable.
Could someone confirm whether this is untrue or not.
I would be glad if i am wrong as i can then ship the old analogue sony HDD recorder off to my parents so they can record RTE 1 AND 2 off analogue(at least until DTTswitchover in ireland) and all the freesat from sky channels as well with a pseudo-skyplus functionality !
many thanks
Paul

Afaik, you only need to be able to see the Eurosport teletext. If you can get that you're in business.

That said, with the digital switchover in the UK, I presume Guideplus are going to have to get another host channel as currently they use ITV terrestrial and Eurosport on sat. One of those is going to be redundant and the other only available to subscribers.

posullivan

thanks for that , that has clarified it a bit, will see if i can get eurosport teletext out of the freesat sky box when i next go back home ,may be able to get another few years usage in some shape or form from my old sony HDD recorder.
cheers
paul

elswhere

Guys I'm back again. I havn't had a whole lot of time the last few evenings to fix this. i still havn't got it working.
The eye changes the channel to Eurosport fine and when i put recordsr into standbye EPG comes up after a minute or so. but it dissapears again after about 5 mins. when i check the listings there is nothing.
In the set up i have put in

English - as language
UK - as where i live
post code of the person i got the card from in uk - as my post code

posullivan

i did a search on digitalspy.co.uk and found the following thread from 2006,
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=6931592
there are some useful tips,etc
in REPLY 7 on of the poster said It seems that some sky boxes randomly lose the text streaming ability (even though all seems ok with the picture etc.) and when this happens guideplus is unable to download the listings. The solution is to simply re-boot the sky box and all should be ok.
might be worth trying to see if it helps, may do the trick
regards
Paul

evilivor

elswhere wrote: »

Guys I'm back again. I havn't had a whole lot of time the last few evenings to fix this. i still havn't got it working.
The eye changes the channel to Eurosport fine and when i put recordsr into standbye EPG comes up after a minute or so. but it dissapears again after about 5 mins. when i check the listings there is nothing.
In the set up i have put in

English - as language
UK - as where i live
post code of the person i got the card from in uk - as my post code

With some Sky boxes, you need to connect directly from the DVDR from the tv out of the Sky box.

elswhere

sorry EvilIvor can you go through this for me. Do i use Scart or normal connection or both.

evilivor

elswhere wrote: »

sorry EvilIvor can you go through this for me. Do i use Scart or normal connection or both.

I don't have a Sky box so I don't know what you mean by "normal connection", but using Scart. connect the sky box via scart from TV Out on the Sky box to AV2/L1 scart on the dvdr and connect the dvdr to the TV via the AV1 scart port.

lahinch9

This Thread ia probably dead, but anyway here goes....
i bought a sony HDD recorder and same story it wonth pick up EPG from Eurosport CH 410. I dont subscribe to eurosport does this make a difference, I am using sky box on FTA

evilivor

lahinch9 wrote: »

This Thread ia probably dead, but anyway here goes....
i bought a sony HDD recorder and same story it wonth pick up EPG from Eurosport CH 410. I dont subscribe to eurosport does this make a difference, I am using sky box on FTA

Check teletext on Eurosport: if you can get text, you can receive Guide+ data.

lahinch9

Text doesent work on Eurosport UK (Channel 410 sky). Its an old sky box with expired card that i brought back from UK. when I go to Eurosport oit asks me to call a number to subscribe... when i select text it asks to press tv on remote then text, whe i do this is says no text available. Text works fine on other channels eg ITV.

I tried re-booting the sky box but still nothing coming thru.

Me thinks i am snookered - eh?

evilivor

lahinch9 wrote: »

Text doesent work on Eurosport UK (Channel 410 sky). Its an old sky box with expired card that i brought back from UK. when I go to Eurosport oit asks me to call a number to subscribe... when i select text it asks to press tv on remote then text, whe i do this is says no text available. Text works fine on other channels eg ITV.

I tried re-booting the sky box but still nothing coming thru.

Me thinks i am snookered - eh?

Have you tried it from both scarts on Sky box? I remember there being an issue with some Sky boxes only transmitting the Guide+ data through one of the scarts though cannot remember which one.

Going back to first principles, have you get it all set up properly, optimum setting is to use a Belfast post code.

lahinch9

Thanks

Let me try the other scart this evening, believe i have set it up guide + correctly,with
fundamentally i believe the problem i have is related to TEXT not available on Eurosport UK (CH410) with by sky box - i have tried both woith and without sky card in box

let me try switching scart points... I will get back 2 u

evilivor

lahinch9 wrote: »

Thanks

Let me try the other scart this evening, believe i have set it up guide + correctly,with
fundamentally i believe the problem i have is related to TEXT not available on Eurosport UK (CH410) with by sky box - i have tried both woith and without sky card in box

let me try switching scart points... I will get back 2 u

No worries. I know that I have one set (Sony) receiving the data fine on Eurosport through a Sky box with no subscription so, unless it's an issue with your box/model.

If in doubt, go back and try settings from the start, i.e, Select Country, enter Northern Ireland post code; select: Satellite and Sky Digital as provider, etc. Then once the process is complete, put satellite receiver to Europsport/410, power off the DVD recorder and after a few minutes you should see "EPG" appearing in the display for about 5/10 mins. When that goes, power up the box again and you should have a channel list at very least.

lahinch9

Funny thing happened, ity just started recieving the guideplus yesterday. I have no idea what I did differently, fingers crossed it will keep going withouut further tinkering. I have to to say the guide os really handy and takes the effort out of recording.

Thanks for the help and guidance (Pun intented!)