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Saorview PVR Box has arrived.
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Hi all,
I have completed the first phase of testing the new box in with a signal from Northern Ireland and a signal from Saorview at the same time.
In quick summary it works great with no issues found.
The main reason for this testing is that the system up the North is slightly different, and may cause issues, depending on the box and how it handles things. Freeview & Saorview at the same time is not part of the testing procedure for ROI nor UK.
The setup was an aerial that picked up Saorview and Freeview. The freeview signal was from the North, and consisted of two multiplexes, PSB1 (BBC etc) and PSB2 (UTV etc). It did not detect the DVB-T2 mux, but that is probably just a weak signal problem. I hope to test a stronger DVB-T2 signal in the coming weeks.
There are options during initial setup, UK and ROI. I tested both options but ROI was used most. The only differences between both options I could see was channel lineup.
As expected when UK is selected all Saorview channels appear on numbers 800 upwards. The UK channels appear in their expected numbers from 1 upwards. The Saorview channels seem to be ordered from 800 upwards in alphabetical order (3E first, then RTE, then TV3 etc), however I noticed it is not strictly fully alphanumeric, as all characters don't seem to be checked. It may also be using something else to order them such as order received or order in multiplex. An annoying problem in UK mode is also the Saorview Radio stations are interspersed with the TV stations. It is possible to delete channels, but not resort them. Also the channel guide can be setup to only view TV stations.
When ROI is selected the lineup is better. All the Saorview stations are at the start, in their usual order, immediately followed by the UK stations with no jump to 800. Also the radio stations are not interspersed.
When you select EPG, not all information appears instantly (at least after initial powerup), however without selecting channels on different muxes, the information shortly updates for every channel. After that when you return to the guide, the information is already there. Seamlessly the information is there for all channels 7 days into the future.
Series linking works perfectly on all UK and ROI channels You can record any two channels on any two Muxes at the same time. You can also watch any channel on any of these two Muxes at the same time (better than a Sky + box). If you attempt to watch a channel on a third mux, an error is displayed. This is perfectly normal, as the box only has two tuners (like all/most + boxes) and so it can only receive two muxes at the one time.
To fully test possible problems, which happen with other boxes, I put the box to sleep, and tested to see if it would properly wake up and record various muxes, various shows from Saorview and Freeview and if any recordings would fail or be missed. This can happen on other receivers, especially single tuner models, as it can only get information from one system at a time, and so struggles to know when shows are about to start and awake at the correct time. I could find no faults or problems, however more testing is needed.
In general it would be important to test if having been only used for Freeview recording on two NI muxes for say 2 or 3 weeks that it can wake up to record the next episode of a Saorview show that may have been on a break for the summer. It would be important that the box does update the Saorview guide regularly so it knows when shows are starting. However it does hint at this in the user manual, where it mentions it comes out of sleep every now and then to check the EPG.
Times
There have been problems with other boxes not displaying the correct times. This is because Saorview and Freeview handle times differently. I could find no fault, but it may be only during "summertime" that any fault appears. During wintertime the time seems OK, even if the TV is installed as UK or ROI or the TV is booted up with a Saorview or a Freeview channel last used. This is not the case for other boxes.
In General
I never connected a network (computer/internet) cable so I have not tested these options. I suspect there is no software to do anything at this stage and there may never be.
In General
A slightly annoying quirk, is that every time a recording is about to start, a message appears on screen "a recording is about to start, you will not be able to watch this channel, press OK to continue or cancel to cancel the recording" This should not need to be displayed if you are on the same mux as the recording, or if only one recording is taking place, as you can still watch your channel. If you select "OK" you are taken to the channel about to start recording. This is quite annoying as 99% of the time you can simply go back to the other channel you were watching, and continue watching the show. The "trick" to preventing madness is, after reading the message, to look at the LED display on the front of the box (the channel number), press OK, then go back to the channel you were just on. If you select OK, and don't know the channel number, it's a pain to go hunting for the show you have been watching. I would recommend to the manufacturers to rename this display box to "A recording is about to start, press OK to view the recording, press cancel to cancel the recording. If two recordings are taking place on different muxes you may only be able to view limited channels" It would be then nice if it returned you to the channel you have been watching, if possible. A simple firmware fix could make the box more user friendly.
In General
The red LED display on the front is bright and clear, if a bit "80s" It's slightly annoying all leading zeros are displayed so RTE1 becomes 0001 instead of 1. I could find no option to turn it off, nor the red "sleep" LED so if using it in a bedroom cover it with tape.
The general impression was the box is quite small and very useful. The remote is very flat so not as easy to use in the dark compared to a Sky remote. Fast forward is to the right of pause, so when speeding through ads, I often paused it afterwards instead of pressing play.
The power supply (wall adapter) is quite small and supplied DC to the box. However it needs lots of room below the socket as it fits below the socket. This is fine in newer houses but in older houses where the AC socket is on the skirting board an AC extension lead is needed.
Overall it seems to be a big step up for those in "4 channel land" and especially for those living in border areas.
For those relying on Satellite for the UK channels, this box would need to be combined with a FreeSAT+HD box, meaning a 2 or 3 remote option. A universal remote may solve this, but may still be fiddly to use. It would be good for someone to try this out.
As with any PVR, they get hot, so mount them in a well ventilated space, make sure they are horizontal. Even when not recording they still record continously to the hard drive in case you want to pause or rewind live TV. For this reason do not plug out or move the unit while powered up and the green light is on. To plug out, turn unit to standby and WAIT 3 MINUTES for a red light on the display, then plug out. Normally it is recommended to leave it plugged in all the time so it can update the TV guide. It has very slow standby power consumption.
I would like help from others to do more testing. In particular I would like to hear from someone in the Dublin area with DVB-T2 BBC HD reception from Wales or Northern Ireland(even as far south as Arklow). All I would like to do is test the box for compatability, a 5 minute job. Please send me PM
Also I would like someone in an overspill area from NI or Wales to perform longer term testing of the box over months or years, so try and pick up any issues of incompatability. To support this I am willing to loan my box (with a fully refundable deposit of 200 Euro) to someone who wants to continue the testing. If you want to keep the box afterwards that's fine.
Also I would love someone in a border area, who also has a Freeview+ box (like the humax) and has noticed the problems with time display/missed recordings etc to offer to compare the two boxes. I would like to know which is best from a user perspective, in border areas, a Freeview+ box or the new Saorview + box.
It should also be noted that there should be other makes of Saorview + boxes on the market in the coming years. These will meet Saorview + specification but border area operation would need to be tested by us.
If anyone would like me to test anything else let me know.0 -
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I have been told the recording message is a fault and will be fixed in future. It seems to only happen when a recording starts on the same Mux being watched, which in the case of saorview is every time. It did not happen on older revisions of the software.
The fault is logged here for the UK software:
http://pvrbugs.futaura.co.uk/view.php?id=340
It seems as if the user manual was written by this guy:
Here is the front logos
Note that the Irish version DOES NOT have a USB port on the front, just the rear.
Here is a label from the bottom that confirms it's the newest model T7660
and here is a photo of the large desktop sized hard drive
In future postings I will attach photos of the inside. If interested click on the attachment to view.0 -
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Here is an image of the remote. Note it is slightly different that other versions of this box being totally flat and the layout of the buttons etc. As I said having pause next to fast foward was annoying to me in the dark. Also I sometimes hit stop instead of fast forward. Some other models have play/pause as one button.
I have ordered a programmable universal remote compatable with a humax foxsat HDR to see how well it would work in a combined FreeSat+ and Saorview+ setup. I can't park up the mountains to record all my UK shows off air from the north!
I have not tested the Peppa Pig issue.
So I let the pigs fly tonight (cannot test daytime)
I manually selected Peppa Pig for 9:45am to record one episode:
The next time it was on was in the afternoon:
and the error appeared when I went to record this episode:
However if you look closely at the description both shows are identical. (shows the following day are different). I assume the box is correct, the afternoon show is an exact repeat of the morning show, so the box is not faulty
I was able to record the next days show manually without the error appearing. I could see the scheduled recordings in the timers menu. So I think it was just a mix up.
It is better to set series link and let it worry about this, rather than manually selecting every episode. I'm off to have my pork dinner now
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I have been told the recording message is a fault and will be fixed in future. It seems to only happen when a recording starts on the same Mux being watched, which in the case of saorview is every time. It did not happen on older revisions of the software.
The fault is logged here for the UK software:
http://pvrbugs.futaura.co.uk/view.php?id=340
It seems as if the user manual was written by this guy:
Here is the front logos
Note that the Irish version DOES NOT have a USB port on the front, just the rear.
Here is a label from the bottom that confirms it's the newest model T7660
and here is a photo of the large desktop sized hard drive
In future postings I will attach photos of the inside. If interested click on the attachment to view.
The UK Freeview HD+ equivalent of this box comes with a 1TB HDD for the same price at £180...0 -
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