Sony PS3 Play TV - catch 22 in setup

fast_eddie

Hi,

I got the Sony Play TV tuner yesterday and tried to set up last night, unsuccessfully - I would appreciate if anyone else has met and overcome the same issue.

The device is detected OK by the PS3, and setup continues to the Channel Scan. The channel scan then finds no channels and fails, but doesn't allow me to go any further so I cannot change settings or do the firmware upgrade required for full Irish (MPEG4) functionality.

I'm in Meath, which should be OK for coverage from the Irish DTT tranmistters. I have a good rooftop aerial which receives UK freeview channels no problem (I know, I know, it's a different system different transmitters etc).

The annoying thing is that when the Play TV device is scanning, I can see maybe 20 or 25 instances where signal strength is between 63% and 80% (mostly mid-70's). Surely these are channels?

Is there a minimum signal strength required for the Play TV to acknowledge that a channel exists?

How do I get past the failing setup and get the firmware upgraded, which might allow more success in the channel scan?

Thanks for any help,
Eddie

Pangea

fast_eddie wrote: »

Hi,

I got the Sony Play TV tuner yesterday and tried to set up last night, unsuccessfully - I would appreciate if anyone else has met and overcome the same issue.

The device is detected OK by the PS3, and setup continues to the Channel Scan. The channel scan then finds no channels and fails, but doesn't allow me to go any further so I cannot change settings or do the firmware upgrade required for full Irish (MPEG4) functionality.

I'm in Meath, which should be OK for coverage from the Irish DTT tranmistters. I have a good rooftop aerial which receives UK freeview channels no problem (I know, I know, it's a different system different transmitters etc).

The annoying thing is that when the Play TV device is scanning, I can see maybe 20 or 25 instances where signal strength is between 63% and 80% (mostly mid-70's). Surely these are channels?

Is there a minimum signal strength required for the Play TV to acknowledge that a channel exists?

How do I get past the failing setup and get the firmware upgraded, which might allow more success in the channel scan?

Thanks for any help,
Eddie

Hmm not sure whats the problem there
My problem at the start was that the channels showed up with the names but there was no picture, I found out I had to go to settings and about to update it to the latest firmware.
As for the signal strength , mine showed up at 13% signal strengh but I have flawless Irish Mpeg4 channels.
Maybe change the country selection to 'Other' for the Irish channels and try it , or UK for the freeview. Im not sure if Play tv can display both at same time?

mjsmyth

If memory serves me right, Play TV has to find a signal to allow you to carry on with the install.

When you do an initial install of PlayTV, if you can get a DTT signal, it will add the channels to the channel list, you just won't get a picture. After the initial install, you can update the software to be Mpeg4 compatible.

It would seem to me that you can't get a DTT signal at the moment for some reason, perhaps your aerail needs to be tweaked..

fast_eddie

Thanks for the replies folks.

I should have mentioned, I can get perfect quality (audio only) Irish channels on my Freeview-capable Samsung TV. This is MPEG2 only, so I wouldn't expect video, but it does show that the aerial has good Irish DTT reception.

I've tried selecting various regions during the PlayTV setup (one of the 7 steps which I can actually get at) and "UK" seems to give the closest to success, "Other" doesn't even get the 70% signal strength which UK does.

Anybody experience similar?

Thanks,
Eddie

fast_eddie

D'oh!!!!

I followed the old diagnostic process of "change everything until it works", it turns out the issue was with the USB cable which was supplied with the (2nd hand) PlayTV.

When I plugged in a USB cable which had come with a phone or some other gadget, the Channel Scan immediately found 160 channels including 57 TV channels. Setup completed successfully, and software upgrade (to v1.21 I think) applied successfully so the Irish channels are now in full audio and video.

Always the little things, isn't it?

Thanks for the help!
Eddie

watty

There are a lot of USB cables just made with phone wire (CAT3). They are rubbish. A proper USB cable has high quality twisted pair for data (Heavier than CAT6), pair of straight power wires and good foil + braid screen.

mjsmyth

57 TV channels, sounds good. Just so you know, the current Play TV will show Irish HD channels (should any arrive), but will not show any UK HD TV channels as they use a different system.

We here in Ireland use Mpeg4 and DVBT as our standard for DTT, but in the UK they use Mpeg2 DVBT for SD and Mpeg4 DVBT2 for HD.

From what I have read online, there will be a new release of the PlayTV module for the UK that will decode UK HD TV.

fast_eddie

57 channels with good reception but not all good content!

We've cancelled $ky, and bought a Goodmans FreeSat PVR box which is excellent, but obviously wouldn't do much for DTT which means no Irish channels once analog is turned off...

So - whenever that happens - the PlayTV seemed a good option for €60 to keep us watching the Irish channels (but also with EPG and PVR capability).

Most of the non-Irish TV channels are already showing up on the Freesat box, including some HD.

Cheers,
Eddie

mjsmyth

you have the best of both worlds there, there are some channels on Freeview that don't appear on Freesat and vice versa.

I too have a Freesat HD receiver and Play TV, but unfortunately down here in Kildare, we can't get the UK Freeview. Its amazing how much free tv is out there.

watty

fast_eddie wrote: »

57 channels with good reception but not all good content!

We've cancelled $ky, and bought a Goodmans FreeSat PVR box which is excellent, but obviously wouldn't do much for DTT which means no Irish channels once analog is turned off...

If it's an HD Freesat box, it's likely you can add all the Irish DTT channels to it via Saorsat. Supposed to be running long before Analogue is turrned off and will be identical to Saorview. 2nd small (optionally in a box) Dish with Ka LNBF needed and regular Diseqc switch.

Sponge Bob

Not Sony ..again :eek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyVh1_vWYQ

mjsmyth

Thats a bit harsh when talking about Play TV, it does exactly what it is meant to do.

When it was released in 2008, there were no DTT DVBT2 receivers commercially available, it is only in the last few months that one can buy them with relative ease.

lgs 4

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Not Sony ..again :eek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyVh1_vWYQ

good one like to see this been sold on a shopping channel

etcetc

sorry to op for butting in

i am looking to borrow/buy the set up disc for this i cant cant find mine

anybody on the northside dublin with one i will drop it back as soon as i am finished

thanks