Ferguson Ariva 250

Tony

gerkildare wrote: »

[btw - I'm assuming I'll have to re-scan for Saorview, yes?]

Yes, reason for this is Saorview frequencies are different for each transmitter so its not possible to include these in a channel list for everyone . I was hoping users here would post up lists for their local transmitter but this has not happened so far.

excollier

Try here, just click on the relevant transmitter for frequency/polarity.
http://coverage.rtenl.ie/index.php
For starters: Holywell Hill, Co. Donegal Ch 30 / H
Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, (Mongorry Hill), Ch 53 / V

Just off to walk the dogs in Mongorry Forest now, right beside the transmitter.

henryhenry

I placed an order yesterday afternoon for my parents and received the box this morning. Great service Tony.

The only thing i cant seem to do is back up the channels list. Anyone know how to do this?

Tony

henryhenry wrote: »

I placed an order yesterday afternoon for my parents and received the box this morning. Great service Tony.

The only thing i cant seem to do is back up the channels list. Anyone know how to do this?

Thanks for the kind words . You can use "dumpfile" in the tools/usb to back up a list to a USB key. You can also download this from the link a few posts back

gerkildare

Thanks to JonathonS, Tony and ChorleyMatt - all works fine, have deleted most of the crud channels.
Now for a nice walk!! ;-) G

henryhenry

Tony wrote: »

Thanks for the kind words . You can use "dumpfile" in the tools/usb to back up a list to a USB key. You can also download this from the link a few posts back

That did the trick. Thanks again Tony.

icdg

There is to be no discussion of using this box for the following:

• card sharing
• using to access Sky Digital subscription channels (even if you have a legitimate Sky subscription. Sky viewing cards may only be used in Sky Digiboxes and there is no legal CAM for Videoguard)

kelsca

Hi,
Does anyone know if you
can stream to this box-ariva 250 from pc
I ask as it is able to receive youtube etc.
Thanks.

iarann

Hi,

On a 250 If I record a program what format is it in, can I plud HDD into PC & edit this on PC eg in Adobe Premiere Elements.

Anybody have experience with this?

J

STB

iarann wrote: »

Hi,

On a 250 If I record a program what format is it in, can I plud HDD into PC & edit this on PC eg in Adobe Premiere Elements.

Anybody have experience with this?

J

They files recorded on the Ariva are TS files and are fully editable with a variety of free software.

The Ayatolla

I've read reports of issues with the 120, can anyone confirm the reliability of the 250? Contemplating purchasing one

SchrodingersCat

There was a bad batch of 120's around christmas that had a dodgy nvram. However, if you had bought your 120 outside of this batch it was fine. I have one 120 and three 250's and have had no issues with any of them.

The Ayatolla

Looks like a 250 could be on the cards so. Parents TV is still using Analogue and also have a Dish connection near, and the one-4-all remote option looks like its gonna seal the deal!

SchrodingersCat

Yea, I would recommend it, as it has some great points like the remote (as you mentioned), the menu system looking pretty slick (although its not as easy to navigate as say sky or some dreambox firmware images), the media player (which plays everything thrown at it from a usb drive) and especially now that STB has uploaded a full channel list for it.

The Ayatolla

How is its user-friendliness? Both parents are quite old and something thats easy to use with a simple remote would be the job! Saves me training them

dodzy

The Ayatolla wrote: »

How is its user-friendliness? Both parents are quite old and something thats easy to use with a simple remote would be the job! Saves me training them

Get a channel list loaded and they'll be fine. Even without, parents have a weird way of "adapting" easily to these boxes or similar ( especially where corrie or eastenders is concerned )

SchrodingersCat

dodzy wrote: »

The Ayatolla wrote: »

How is its user-friendliness? Both parents are quite old and something thats easy to use with a simple remote would be the job! Saves me training them

Get a channel list loaded and they'll be fine. Even without, parents have a weird way of "adapting" easily to these boxes or similar ( especially where corrie or eastenders is concerned )

Dodzy hit it on the head there. Get stb's channel list and you should be grand. You could also delete all lists except for the "saorview and freesat" list to simplify it further. Also, the fact that it's a combo box and has a 4 in one remote means that's it's pretty easy to use as you can get rid of the multitude of remotes. My own folks and my aunt were quick enough to pick it up.

SmallBalls

Hey guys, received one of these boxes less than 24hrs after I ordered it, great stuff, thanks Tony.

Just a quick question, I've done all the upgrade stuff listed below including the rescan of Saorview but on 'Favourite list 1', I can only view the satellite channels, Saorview channels come up as 'No Signal'. But if I switch to 'All Channels' list I can view everything, Saorview channels and Satellite.

Why are the Saorview channels not showing up in the 'Favourite list 1? Am i doing somthing wrong? This box is for my parents so want it as simple to use as possible so the 'Saorview & Satellite' list is going to be the best I think. Any thoughts?

STB wrote: »

Ariva 250 Channel List based upon firmware version 1.19B1 - upgrade to this firmware first before doing the following.

If you are already on version 1.19B1 then you just need to go to Tools, Upgrade by USB, then right click til you get userdb and then click down to start and flash this file to your box. When it gets to 100% it is done.

Channel Lists included (Astra 1, 2 and Hotbird)
Favourite List 1 - Saorview & Satellite (Ordered)
Favourite List 2 - BBC Red Button
Favourite List 3 - Sky Channels (Alphabetical - Including Sky 2 HD/Sky Summer HD)

All Channels
Hot Bird
Astra 1
Astra 2A (Alphabetical)
Eurobird

You may need to rescan your Saorview channels for your area. This one includes Mt Leinster.

Tony

My pleasure. I'd say whats probably happening is the original Saorview channels are still in the favourite list so you need to delete these and them move the re scanned channels into the favourite list . You probably have the newly scanned Saorview channels at the end of your "all channels list " and if you look in the "Terrestrial " list you will probably see two sets of Saorview channels.

Hope this helps

SmallBalls wrote: »

Hey guys, received one of these boxes less than 24hrs after I ordered it, great stuff, thanks Tony.

Just a quick question, I've done all the upgrade stuff listed below including the rescan of Saorview but on 'Favourite list 1',

STB

Thats exactly what it is Tony.

The First favorites list is the Saorview and Satellite Channels in one channel list. The Saorview Channels are for Mt Leinster (Ch45) so thats why they are not working.

Removing the old Saorview Channels
What you need to do is press menu, go to Tv Channel List, Press Blue for Edit, Blue again for delete and then pick the channels you want to delete with the Ok button (it will X them) and then exit by pressing the menu button again. It asks you do you want to save, press Ok.

Adding the new ones
To add the new saorview channels scanned to favorite list 1. Whilst in Channel list, left arrow and it will give you DVB-T - Press the Fav button and choose Fav List 1, then pick the second set of Saorview Channels in the dvb-t list and add them with the Okay button. And then menu to exit, Okay to Save.

You can move the around using the move option within these menus.

I have renamed "favorite list 1" by going Edit Channel Menu and Favorite and renaming it. Unfortunately when you share the firmware and someone else loads it on their box, the new person has to rename it as the Fav list names dont come accross naturaly.

phil49

Somebody may be able to help me here.
I have an Ariva HDCombo for a number of years and recorded a lot of programs on a usb hdd.
I have recently purchased a 250 combo. On moving the hdd to this receiver I can see my files on it but I cant seem to be able to play back any of them. Any help would be appreciated in resolving this issue

The Royal Scam

I have been told that I need to have a HDD with it's own power supply to record and pause on my 250, I have never bought on of these , can anybody recommend one for me, 'cause I have'nt a bulls notion . Thanks

dodzy

The Royal Scam wrote: »

I have been told that I need to have a HDD with it's own power supply to record and pause on my 250, I have never bought on of these , can anybody recommend one for me, 'cause I have'nt a bulls notion . Thanks

The same questions are getting asked over and over again on this thread ( and the sister thread for the 150 I'm sure ). The SEARCH function on Boards actually works sometimes.
There have been many who have had success with the 2.5" USB Powered unit but the success rate is higher with the AC powered units. Personally I prefer a USB stick, but then that suits us for only periodic recording, with the added bonus of no clutter. Each to their own.....

jrmam

STB wrote: »

They files recorded on the Ariva are TS files and are fully editable with a variety of free software.

came across this thread searching for info ( I am going to buy one of those diy kits and this is the box that comes with it ), any chance anyone could post a sample file ( only a couple of seconds with sound is necessary ) I'd like to see what existing kit I have will play nicely with this format.

Gerry Wicklow

.TS files are essentially the raw data that is transmitted. Many common players including windows media player, VLC, etc will show them with the same quality as originally broadcast. The file also includes all audio tracks and subtitles.

The Ayatolla

dodzy wrote: »

The same questions are getting asked over and over again on this thread ( and the sister thread for the 150 I'm sure ). The SEARCH function on Boards actually works sometimes.
There have been many who have had success with the 2.5" USB Powered unit but the success rate is higher with the AC powered units. Personally I prefer a USB stick, but then that suits us for only periodic recording, with the added bonus of no clutter. Each to their own.....

What kind of USB stick do you have?

STB

jrmam wrote: »

came across this thread searching for info ( I am going to buy one of those diy kits and this is the box that comes with it ), any chance anyone could post a sample file ( only a couple of seconds with sound is necessary ) I'd like to see what existing kit I have will play nicely with this format.

They are MPEG-TS files. As Gerry said above, thats a raw transport stream which incudes subtitles etc if you wish. There is also an option to record as a PS which wont capture the subtitle data. Within that file the encoding will be dependent on what the broadcaster uses video and audio wise. So for Saorview all the Channels are MPEG4 AVC (H264 Part 10) and the Audio is MPEG. The UK standard definition stations off satellite will MPGEG2 and the HD stations the same as Saorview.

Existing free software such as Format Factory and Xmedia Recode work fine for converting should you wish to.

VLC will play them straight off.

jrmam

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

.TS files are essentially the raw data that is transmitted. Many common players including windows media player, VLC, etc will show them with the same quality as originally broadcast. The file also includes all audio tracks and subtitles.

Sure I understand what a ts file is, I am more interested in contents, e.g. the audio/video codecs, fps, cbr etc. does the box just dump the stream as is ? or does it output in a different format ( I have no idea )
Even If it dumps the streams raw although I know saorview uses H.264 and aac/ac3 I know little else. However I kinda assumed the box would record to some common hd or sd format... ( sometimes players that have pvr capability offer some primitive editing functions which you would expect for reasons of practicality it would depend on using a common recoding format ) if that is the case I'd be interested in seeing a sample file.

jrmam

STB wrote: »

They are MPEG-TS files. As Gerry said above, thats a raw transport stream which incudes subtitles etc if you wish. There is also an option to record as a PS which wont capture the subtitle data. Within that file the encoding will be dependent on what the broadcaster uses video and audio wise. So for Saorview all the Channels are MPEG4 AVC (H264 Part 10) and the Audio is MPEG. The UK standard definition stations off satellite will MPGEG2 and the HD stations the same as Saorview.

Existing free software such as Format Factory and Xmedia Recode work fine for converting should you wish to.

VLC will play them straight off.

ok, thanks alot, that's clear then, probably best then to wait 'till I get the box to see, I think I can handle any transcoding nonsense I might have to deal with if I have to

MickserB

Hi guys, long time reader, just bought a Ariva 250, box flashed with latest firmware V1.19B1, scanned chans and it's working well from that point, but have found that the wireless dongle when the box is turned off and back on, doesnt connect automatically? Is it supposed to connect automatically to your router or is this a manual thing having to select it?

Its the Ralink 5370 chipset dongle, pop it in and it shows my wireless router in the list, I select it, enter in my code WPA code, it accepts it, but doesnt seem it wants to connect, sometimes, it times out, I have turned the router off (UPC) and back on and the dongle will scan and scan and scan and then connect, but as soon as the box is turned of, same scenario, its very hit and miss and I am just wondering if its a setting or perhaps I may need to do something with the Mac address in the router to allow the dongle to connect or the security in my router perhaps etc,

Cheers