Ferguson Ariva HD Combo

wex_martron

I got the hard drive working after a bit of fiddling around and formatting etc. About a month has passed and we've been recording stuff and watching it without issue. Then I turn it on today to look at an item we recorded and there was nothing on the disc. The usb drive is found and working properly it seems but there is no sign of any of the info saved by the ariva. When i tried the drive in my pc the files are there. What's going on? A product like this and for this kind of money shouldn't have this kind of problem. I'm seriously pissed off with this thing at the moment... I think a format using the ariva unt would fix the problem but then I'm going to loose the programs we've recorded. It's f***ing Bullsh1t.

STB

wex_martron wrote: »

I got the hard drive working after a bit of fiddling around and formatting etc. About a month has passed and we've been recording stuff and watching it without issue. Then I turn it on today to look at an item we recorded and there was nothing on the disc. The usb drive is found and working properly it seems but there is no sign of any of the info saved by the ariva. When i tried the drive in my pc the files are there. What's going on? A product like this and for this kind of money shouldn't have this kind of problem. I'm seriously pissed off with this thing at the moment... I think a format using the ariva unt would fix the problem but then I'm going to loose the programs we've recorded. It's f***ing Bullsh1t.

Did you delete any info files ?

If you are seeing it on a PC and not on the ariva it would seem that an info file is not being found.

What you could do is move the files to your c: drive. Format the harddisk presumably in FAT32. Connect it back to the ariva, record somthing short, see if its finding the recording, then copy those files you had copied to your c: drive back onto it (probably into the directory structure). Its records on many similar boxes.

patrickpc

wex_martron wrote: »

I got the hard drive working after a bit of fiddling around and formatting etc. About a month has passed and we've been recording stuff and watching it without issue. Then I turn it on today to look at an item we recorded and there was nothing on the disc. The usb drive is found and working properly it seems but there is no sign of any of the info saved by the ariva. When i tried the drive in my pc the files are there. What's going on? A product like this and for this kind of money shouldn't have this kind of problem. I'm seriously pissed off with this thing at the moment... I think a format using the ariva unt would fix the problem but then I'm going to loose the programs we've recorded. It's f***ing Bullsh1t.

I'm also having problems recording on the Ariva Combo. I am running the latest firmware and using an 8GB USB memory stick which is above the required speed for recording. I can record and playback TV fine but I am unable to pause live TV. I have enabled Timeshift in the PVR settings menu with a default recording time of 1 hour but it is still not working. Has anyone else had similar issues or can someone let me know what I am doing wrong? I just try pressing the pause button whilst watching TV and nothing happens..

Thanks.

rurs

wex_martron wrote: »

I got the hard drive working after a bit of fiddling around and formatting etc. About a month has passed and we've been recording stuff and watching it without issue. Then I turn it on today to look at an item we recorded and there was nothing on the disc. The usb drive is found and working properly it seems but there is no sign of any of the info saved by the ariva. When i tried the drive in my pc the files are there. What's going on? A product like this and for this kind of money shouldn't have this kind of problem. I'm seriously pissed off with this thing at the moment... I think a format using the ariva unt would fix the problem but then I'm going to loose the programs we've recorded. It's f***ing Bullsh1t.

This can happen if you turn off the power without using the "uninstall" option in the PVR menu.
Don't panic, you can get the Ariva to see the drive again....

If you have a Windows PC, connect the USB drive, right click the drive in My Computer, Properties, Tools, then Error Checking.
Tick "Automatically fix file system errors", then Start. It only takes a minute.

Reconnect to the Ariva, give it a minute or two to sort itself out, then all your recordings should be visible again.

victory10

The maximum recommended disk drive is 750GB, and as a 750GB is hard to find locally (they go 500GB, 1000GB, 1500GB but not 750GB) with the prices of 500GB and 1000GB nearly the same, I am wondering if anyone has tried using a 1000GB formatted as FAT32 (recommended by Ferguson) and if you would expect any unforeseen problems.

patrickpc

victory10 wrote: »

The maximum recommended disk drive is 750GB, and as a 750GB is hard to find locally (they go 500GB, 1000GB, 1500GB but not 750GB) with the prices of 500GB and 1000GB nearly the same, I am wondering if anyone has tried using a 1000GB formatted as FAT32 (recommended by Ferguson) and if you would expect any unforeseen problems.

Hi Victory,

I haven't tried a (**AMENDED**) 1TB drive but I have a spare one at home so will try it later and let you know how it works.

I still can't pause live TV using the pause button on the remote. I can record TV fine but pressing pause just doesn't do anything. I have enabled Timeshift on the PVR menu. Can anyone help ? Any ideas why it's not working for me?

Thanks.

victory10

patrickpc wrote: »

Hi Victory,

I haven't tried a 1GB drive but I have a spare one at home so will try it later and let you know how it works.

I still can't pause live TV using the pause button on the remote. I can record TV fine but pressing pause just doesn't do anything. I have enabled Timeshift on the PVR menu. Can anyone help ? Any ideas why it's not working for me?

Thanks.

Hello patrickpc,
Thanks for the offer. I hope you mean 1TB, not 1GB. I appreciate it very much.
I also tried to record a channel, using 8GB SanDisk Cruzer USB Flash and then use time shift, but it is also not working for me. So obviously we are missing something here with regards to the proper operation of the time shift and pause live TV. Perhaps it is related to the type of the USB flash. Please try to test pausing live TV when you test the external 1TB HDD (you mentioned 1GB, but I need the test for 1000GB. Maybe it is a typo error).
Anyway, I am sure that we will find a perfectly good reason why live TV pausing doesn't work.
Good luck.

rurs

I've tried several memory sticks now, none of them timeshift. Setting timeshift on in the menu, then pressing pause is all you should have to do.

It works with hard disks, I think it's safe to assume it just doesn't work with memory sticks. I don't know why.

patrickpc

victory10 wrote: »

Hello patrickpc,
Thanks for the offer. I hope you mean 1TB, not 1GB. I appreciate it very much.
I also tried to record a channel, using 8GB SanDisk Cruzer USB Flash and then use time shift, but it is also not working for me. So obviously we are missing something here with regards to the proper operation of the time shift and pause live TV. Perhaps it is related to the type of the USB flash. Please try to test pausing live TV when you test the external 1TB HDD (you mentioned 1GB, but I need the test for 1000GB. Maybe it is a typo error).
Anyway, I am sure that we will find a perfectly good reason why live TV pausing doesn't work.
Good luck.

Hey again.

Ok - first of all I think it's true that this box doesn't allow timeshift / pause when using a memory stick. I attached a 500GB hard disk, reformatted it and now timeshift works perfectly. I had tried 3 different usb sticks previously and none worked.

Secondly - Victory - I tried the unit with a 1 TB portable HDD (Samsung) previously formatted to Fat32 and it wasn't recognised by the unit. I didn't want to reformat it again as it contained some stuff I need but I don't think the Ariva will recognise it anyway. The spec says a max of 750GB so I guess we can't complain. If you do buy (or have) a 1TB drive you may be able to create 2 Fat32 partitions on it - 1 * 750GB (primary) and 1 * 250GB (secondary) and it might pick up the primary one...

Thirdly - I had another problem which occured twice so far - the audio just stopped working on all stations (DTT and SAT) for no reason. The TV wasn't muted + the picture was perfect. When I restarted the box the audio came back. Anyone else had this problem before?

Thanks,

-P

victory10

Hello patrickpc,
Thanks for the tests. Now we know that USB sticks don't support time shift. Perhaps it is something to do with the drive speed.
Ferguson recommend only one partition, so I will need to use either 500GB or try harder to find a 750GB external HDD.
Regarding the audio problem, if this happens again, try to record a few minutes of any of the channels before restarting it and then play the recorded file and see if the audio stream was recorded or not.
Hope that this was just a one time occurance.

patrickpc

victory10 wrote: »

Hello patrickpc,
Thanks for the tests. Now we know that USB sticks don't support time shift. Perhaps it is something to do with the drive speed.
Ferguson recommend only one partition, so I will need to use either 500GB or try harder to find a 750GB external HDD.
Regarding the audio problem, if this happens again, try to record a few minutes of any of the channels before restarting it and then play the recorded file and see if the audio stream was recorded or not.
Hope that this was just a one time occurance.

Thanks Victory - I am hoping the audio problem doesn't recur but if it does I'll try your suggestion of recording and playing back to see what is happening. I'm pretty sure there will be no audio on the recording however as when this issue occured on the Ariva (I was watching a DTT station) I switched my TV over to a direct feed from the rooftop aeriel (my Panasonic TV supports DTT MPEG4 as well) to see if the DTT audio was coming through there and it was fine - same channel as well.

I haven't seen the problem since the weekend but would like to hear if anyone else had the same issue with the audio dropping but picture remaining?

The Timeshift feature is pretty good - great to be able to rewind a show you are watching in real time.

Thanks.

Tony

Heres a channel list for satellite and Woodcock Hill transmitter kindly prepared by Lez . Hope this helps someone

victory10

There is a nice feature while recording: You can watch a different channel, provided it is tranmitted from the same transponder frequency.

Paul Kiernan

victory10 wrote: »

There is a nice feature while recording: You can watch a different channel, provided it is tranmitted from the same transponder frequency.

Taking this a step further, this link shows the channels on each transponder. By choosing to record from a specific ITV or BBC region, you can make the channel you want to watch available. So, for example, if you want to record from ITV1 and watch ITV2, then record from ITV1 London, not UTV, as ITV1 London is on the same transponder as ITV4. You can then watch ITV4 as you record.

gtg60

victory10 wrote: »

There is a nice feature while recording: You can watch a different channel, provided it is tranmitted from the same transponder frequency.

No, that isn't that unusual, what makes this receiver stand out is that you can record from one tuner (i.e. Sat or DTT) and watch the other! Main reason I bought this unit for my folks!

rurs

@patrrickpc, regarding the audio problem, did it happen as soon as you turned on, was it from standby or a cold boot? I've never had this problem, but the only thing I can think of is some sort of HDMI issue. Are you using HDMI for video and audio, and listening through your TV speakers? Maybe the order you switch things on could be having an effect?

I don't generally use my TV speakers as they're worse than rubbish, I have a set of powered speakers connected to the RCA audio jacks, but that might mean I wouldn't notice this particular problem.

patrickpc

rurs wrote: »

@patrrickpc, regarding the audio problem, did it happen as soon as you turned on, was it from standby or a cold boot? I've never had this problem, but the only thing I can think of is some sort of HDMI issue. Are you using HDMI for video and audio, and listening through your TV speakers? Maybe the order you switch things on could be having an effect?

I don't generally use my TV speakers as they're worse than rubbish, I have a set of powered speakers connected to the RCA audio jacks, but that might mean I wouldn't notice this particular problem.

Hi Rurs,

No - the audio loss problem happened after the combo box and TV had been switched on for some time - not at startup. I double checked the HDMI connection last night in case it was loose but it seemed fine - I don't think this was the issue as the audio started working again after powering off and on the combo box. If it happens again I will try recording the incident as per Victory's suggestion to see if the issue is with the signal being received or the box itself.

I'm hoping the audio loss problem won't happen again as other than this I am very happy with the unit. It's not perfect but I reckon it's better value than the Edison Argus VIP2 which costs around 50-60 Euro more for more-or less the same features. Will be interested to see what other units appear (and at what price) over the coming months once the DTT thing really takes off.

-P

patrickpc

Hi there,

Two questions:-
1. Is it possible to get a replacement original remote and if so how much?

2.Anyone know of a Simple and Cheap Universal remote control which can be used Combo? I am looking for the basic functions only as not everyone in the house was blessed with technical abilities.

=====================================
Essential Functions required ( that I can think of)
=====================================
On /Off
Channel Up / Down
Vol Up / Down
Mute
Source For switching between TV and STB control

===================
Other Functions required
===================
Play / Pause
FF/ FR
Stop

Probably a few more needed but I don't want to over-complicate.

Many thanks - Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

STB

patrickpc wrote: »

Hi there,

1. Is it possible to get a replacement original remote and if so how much?


Take back cover where batteries are located - it should give you the remote ID. Then have a look here

http://www.avukltd.com/brand/FERGUSON.htm

If its less than €20 then it obviously okay.

Q2 You will pick up a programmable remote in a €2 shop. if it doesnt have record buttons on it, it cant do it obviously, so look closely at remote keypad

rurs

Some discussion here of similar request.

Seasons greetings to one and all..or should that be One4All?

victory10

victory10 wrote: »

The maximum recommended disk drive is 750GB, and as a 750GB is hard to find locally (they go 500GB, 1000GB, 1500GB but not 750GB) with the prices of 500GB and 1000GB nearly the same, I am wondering if anyone has tried using a 1000GB formatted as FAT32 (recommended by Ferguson) and if you would expect any unforeseen problems.

Found at last a 750 GB WD MyBook Essential external hard disk.
Checked it first on PC running Windows XP Pro and it has two drives, main hard disk with 750 GB formatted in NTFS and the second drive looks like a virtual CD drive, with all the back up software from Western Digital WDSmartWare, whick is not possible to delete.
As Ferguson recommeds only FAT32, I had to format it first using their tool guiformat.exe , downloadable from their website.
The formatting gave me a hard disk with 198GB, but I wasn't concerned at this stage with the size. Just needed to see if the receiver would recognize it.
When I hooked it up, using the external power supply that came with it, the receiver just got crazy and kept switching on and off until I disconnected the USB cable.
I have no idea why this has happened, as the size is now only 198 GB (maximum allowed is 750GB).
Tried adding some photos and a file that was recorded previosly on the USB stick, but this didn't help.
I am completely at loss and would appreciate any tips on how to get the receiver to become stable when the HDD is connected.

victory10

The problem with WD MyBook Essential was resolved.
As mentioned before, the complete drive has two drives: The main hard disk partition of 750GB and a virtual CD which is read only and can't be deleted.
But I found that it is possible to hide it by following the WD support page here:
Virtual CD (VCD) Manager for Windows
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/wdsmartwareupdate/utilitiesstep1.asp?id=wdfMB_Essential&os=win

Following the instruction, it was possible to hide this drive and now my PC was able to see only the 750 GB Hard Disk formatted in FAT32 using the guiformat.exe and using Allocation Unit Size as 8192
Next, connected the drive to the Ariva HDcombo. This time it was quite stable and after few seconds, it gave me an info that USB drive is OK.
Checked the recognized size and it was 731GB.
Started recording a channel and then checked that Time Shift works OK.

wex_martron

rurs wrote: »

This can happen if you turn off the power without using the "uninstall" option in the PVR menu.
Don't panic, you can get the Ariva to see the drive again....

If you have a Windows PC, connect the USB drive, right click the drive in My Computer, Properties, Tools, then Error Checking.
Tick "Automatically fix file system errors", then Start. It only takes a minute.

Reconnect to the Ariva, give it a minute or two to sort itself out, then all your recordings should be visible again.

Thanks...

victory10

The PVR recorded trp file can be editted (trimmed) using the Smart Cutter Ps/Ts (Portable) application.
Supporting M2TS, TS, PS, TP, TRP, MTS, MPG, VOB; H.264/AVC, AVCHD, MPEG2, DVD etc.
http://www.fame-ring.com
It is good for trimming the beginnig and the end, but not in-between commercials.
All you have to do is make a copy of the whole subfolder of the recorded trp file (please keep the original file until you are certain the trimmed file is exactly how you want it) and replace the DATA00.trp file with the editted file, after renaming it to DATA00.trp
The conversion didn't take long for a 15 minutes test clip.
If you have for example a trp file with several music clips with commercials in between, you can do a recursive trimming using the original file each time and end up with several music clips that you want to keep. It would be just like having a jukebox. When finished, you can rename each clip with the receiver editting menu.

There are several other interesting products with trial versions which puts a watermark on the converted file, but the application I used didn't put a mark. The prices are quite reasonable.

sweetnuts

wex_martron wrote: »

Thanks...

Thanks here too. My PVR just stopped working but now all is good again.:)

rurs

sweetnuts wrote: »

Thanks here too. My PVR just stopped working but now all is good again.:)

Glad it worked..I'm not sure why it does work, but at least it does

It's a good idea to use a flash drive to do firmware updates or channel list restores for the same reason. The Ariva reboots when you do these, with no option to do the "USB uninstallation" (as Ferguson call it..."Unmount USB drive" would be more accurate)

victory10

gtg60 wrote: »

No, that isn't that unusual, what makes this receiver stand out is that you can record from one tuner (i.e. Sat or DTT) and watch the other! Main reason I bought this unit for my folks!

Good feature. But when I tried to record a sat channel and switched over to DTT, it wasn't possible to switch back to the sat channel that is being recorded without stopping the recording.

rurs

victory10 wrote: »

Good feature. But when I tried to record a sat channel and switched over to DTT, it wasn't possible to switch back to the sat channel that is being recorded without stopping the recording.

That should be possible, I know I've done it in the past...
It will throw a minor wobbler if you switch to channel not being recorded, or not on the same transponder. You have to go directly an available channel. Try it using the blue "find" button.

rurs

Any recommendations for programs to transcode MPEG4 .trp files to MPEG2 suitable for burning to DVD, and for taking out ads?

I've tried MPEG Streamclip: works really well for MPEG2 sources, very easy to edit out ads etc., but just hangs on my machine when I try to load MPEG4 files.

AVS2DVD: audio ends up way out of sync, otherwise a good all in one solution.

Super: can't remember why I gave up on this, think it was something to do with multiple audio tracks giving problems...

Any other suggestions/experiences?

victory10

rurs wrote: »

Any recommendations for programs to transcode MPEG4 .trp files to MPEG2 suitable for burning to DVD, and for taking out ads?

I've tried MPEG Streamclip: works really well for MPEG2 sources, very easy to edit out ads etc., but just hangs on my machine when I try to load MPEG4 files.

AVS2DVD: audio ends up way out of sync, otherwise a good all in one solution.

Super: can't remember why I gave up on this, think it was something to do with multiple audio tracks giving problems...

Any other suggestions/experiences?

Lately I came across the Smart products which support
M2TS, TS, PS, TP, TRP, MTS, MPG, VOB; H.264/AVC, AVCHD, MPEG2, DVD etc.
http://www.fame-ring.com
The trial versions are fully functional, but leave a watermark.
You can try to cut the mpeg4.trp ads using SmartCut and making several files, then use merge so that you would have one clean mpeg4.trp file.
Use SmartShop to convert it to mpeg2 file or select "Output DVD" and it will make a DVD for you in addition to mpeg file.