Bargain Alert: New Ferguson HD DTT/Sat Combo Box - €63 before postage

Johnboy1951 · 29-08-2011 05:23PM

Tony wrote: »

HDMI to DVI converter will most likely work

.... but would have to bring the audio to something separately?

Tony · 29-08-2011 06:05PM

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

.... but would have to bring the audio to something separately?

Yes of course as most monitors have no speakers

Johnboy1951 · 29-08-2011 06:32PM

My monitors do have speakers .... but the DVI does not carry audio I believe ....

trebor28 · 30-08-2011 03:45PM

Tony,

got my replacement stb yesterday.

everything seems fine with it so far, thanks!

philahern · 30-08-2011 03:47PM

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Could the Ariva Combo be connected to a computer moniter to watch TV?

The moniter has a DVI and VGA connection.

I tried this and it didn't work. My monitor did not support any of the resolutions of the box and I kept getting out of bounds errors. I presume if I had a HD monitor then it would work.

mcg1987 · 30-08-2011 06:43PM

It was reccommended to me today that i should try one of these boxes to receive freeview in my house in moville, co. donegal.

My problem at the moment is that we have a wideband aerial installed for freeview from limavady but can hardly get any stations on it for some strange reason because there are no obstructions whatsoever between here and the transmitter and i know a lot of people from the surrounding area that are getting freeview from there.

Anyway i set up my grid aerial again today and now get every analogue channel available but do not know how to combine the two aerials to get them to work together!

so as i say i was recmmended this box. i'm wondering how will this benefit me if at all and what is involved in the installation??

any help much appreciated!

bmaxi · 30-08-2011 10:41PM

I copied some films to my hard drive and the media player presents them in the menu as .mpg but when I try to play them I get "video codec not supported".
I won't pretend to know much about file formats but I understood from the manual that it would play .mpg.

Correction, the folder icon on the left says mpg but they are actually .avi. Even so I thought it should play them.

STB · 30-08-2011 10:49PM

mcg1987 wrote: »

It was reccommended to me today that i should try one of these boxes to receive freeview in my house in moville, co. donegal.

My problem at the moment is that we have a wideband aerial installed for freeview from limavady but can hardly get any stations on it for some strange reason because there are no obstructions whatsoever between here and the transmitter and i know a lot of people from the surrounding area that are getting freeview from there.

Anyway i set up my grid aerial again today and now get every analogue channel available but do not know how to combine the two aerials to get them to work together!

so as i say i was recmmended this box. i'm wondering how will this benefit me if at all and what is involved in the installation??

any help much appreciated!

Answer in other thread you have going.

khumbu · 30-08-2011 11:11PM

philahern wrote: »

I tried this and it didn't work. My monitor did not support any of the resolutions of the box and I kept getting out of bounds errors. I presume if I had a HD monitor then it would work.

Try changing Menu->system->tv system to one of the following:- 480i, 720p_60 or 1080i_60. 720p_60 is highest setting that worked on my 720 monitor. unplug & then plug back in cable each time you try a different setting.

Suafd · 30-08-2011 11:16PM

Tony wrote: »

This is not normal, sounds like you may have a dish alignment, lnb or cabling problem .

Got a new cable and connectors and this appears to have solved the powering up problem, thanks.
However, I still cant receive the NI stations (and some others like ITV2 and ITV4 and true movies). Is there a region setting on the box or is the dish the problem? (As an apartment resident, a particularly awkward one.)
I'd be very grateful for any help with this,
Thanks

khumbu · 30-08-2011 11:17PM

bmaxi wrote: »

I copied some films to my hard drive and the media player presents them in the menu as .mpg but when I try to play them I get "video codec not supported".
I won't pretend to know much about file formats but I understood from the manual that it would play .mpg.

Correction, the folder icon on the left says mpg but they are actually .avi. Even so I thought it should play them.

avi is only the container...
Ferguson recommend media info on their website to find out the video & audio type contained a media file.

Ariva 120 will not play divx encoded video or mpeg1 layer2 audio for example.

STB · 30-08-2011 11:29PM

bmaxi wrote: »

I copied some films to my hard drive and the media player presents them in the menu as .mpg but when I try to play them I get "video codec not supported".
I won't pretend to know much about file formats but I understood from the manual that it would play .mpg.

Correction, the folder icon on the left says mpg but they are actually .avi. Even so I thought it should play them.

You cannot fool the machine! It knows its limits......

Look the best free encoder out there is Format Factory (Second best is Xmedia Recode). It is simple, fast and easy to use - there is no more codecs required to download once you install it. Convert the file to MKV format.

Files can be labelled AVI but encoded with DIVX or XVID which is a subset of AVI. I could bore with file container format talk, but if you want the movies to play then encode them at 25 frames per second in MKV.

HorseRadish · 31-08-2011 12:00AM

Hi Tony

Trying to apply the discount code at checkout but keep getting this:

The coupon code (Boardscombo) was not recognised, please check and re-enter.

Doing my head in

Spocker · 31-08-2011 12:20AM

HorseRadish wrote: »

Hi Tony

Trying to apply the discount code at checkout but keep getting this:

The coupon code (Boardscombo) was not recognised, please check and re-enter.

Doing my head in

I'd say it's because Tony has reduced the price on his site

HorseRadish · 31-08-2011 12:32AM

Spocker wrote: »

I'd say it's because Tony has reduced the price on his site

My bad

mmmmcl · 31-08-2011 12:34AM

darth_maul wrote: »

If the Ariva 220 also uses ABS files I would say the below may work

Should work

***EDIT***
Just checked and the A220 does uses ABS files so 99.999% sure this would work, Please report back after you have tried

Many thanks, as I've successfully updated the channel listing using the upgrade by usb and the userdb option on the Ariva 220 with Tony's latest channel listing.

Tony · 31-08-2011 10:04AM

Spocker wrote: »

I'd say it's because Tony has reduced the price on his site

Indeed

Guys were having problems with browser cookies etc so thought it best to show the price without needing to enter a voucher code (you can still use code "Boards.ie" (without the " ") to get 10% off everything else) if you click on the link below in my sig you get the reduced combo price automaticially.

Chuck Stone · 31-08-2011 09:05PM

Just for clarification is the price I'm seeing on Satellite.ie the boards user's price?

Is it easy to put your channels where you want them i.e. your own personal preference?

For example

RTE1
RTE2
BBC1 (NI)
BBC2 (NI)
UTV
CH4
ETC
ETC

Thanks in advance.

peace2804 · 31-08-2011 09:24PM

I have a little issue with my Ferguson Ariva 120, basically the sound cuts every now and then for a second or so, it doesn't always happen but it's quite annoying.

The thing is I had already a dish installed and I was using another receiver and I haven't had this issue before.

I haven't updated the firmware neither.

Do you know what causes this problem guys?

Cheers.

@ chuck stone: Yes you can have different favorites groups and it's very easy to create one, everything is on the manual of the box

Tony · 31-08-2011 09:25PM

Yes to both questions, you can do this on the main list as well as favourites.

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Just for clarification is the price I'm seeing on Satellite.ie the boards user's price?
Is it easy to put your channels where you want them i.e. your own personal preference?

For example

RTE1
RTE2
BBC1 (NI)
BBC2 (NI)
UTV
CH4
ETC
ETC

Thanks in advance.

Tony · 31-08-2011 09:26PM

Does this just happen on satellite channels or on terrestrial too ? How are you connecting to the tv ?

peace2804 wrote: »

I have a little issue with my Ferguson Ariva 120, basically the sound cuts every now and then for a second or so,

peace2804 · 31-08-2011 09:30PM

Well it happens to the terrestrial channels and to hotbird as well, I haven't finished installing the astra channels.
The Ferguson is connected via HDMI to the TV.

Tony · 31-08-2011 09:31PM

Ok try a scart connection and see if the problem repeats

peace2804 wrote: »

Well it happens to the terrestrial channels and to hotbird as well, I haven't finished installing the astra channels.
The Ferguson is connected via HDMI to the TV.

peace2804 · 31-08-2011 09:33PM

Ok thanks Tony, I'll let you know in the next few days

.

LordSutch · 31-08-2011 10:37PM

I have finally got myself an 8 Gig flash stick to do some test recordings. All seems pretty good apart from the Transponder list problem (mentioned previously I think)? When recording you may wish to change channel by pressing the (OK) button to see the available channels on the same transponder + Terestrial channels > but on my box when I press the OK button during recording I get all channels, and I mean all channels & on all transponders too! < I suspect this has been fixed in the latest Firmwars update? but can somebody please clarify, and if so, then where do I get that update? how do I store it, and how do I download it onto my Ariva 120?

Finally, how then do I upload (my own personal channel list) from my USB stick onto the Ariva without interferng with the new Firmware?

Apologies if this hads been answered, but I cant find it.

Tony · 31-08-2011 10:45PM

Click on Darth Maul's name and click on "find other posts"

[QUOTE=LordSutch;74143081
Finally, how then do I upload (my own personal channel list) from my USB stick onto the Ariva without interferng with the new Firmware?

Apologies if this hads been answered, but I cant find it.[/QUOTE]

Chuck Stone · 31-08-2011 11:28PM

peace2804 wrote: »

I have a little issue with my Ferguson Ariva 120, basically the sound cuts every now and then for a second or so, it doesn't always happen but it's quite annoying.

FWIW I've been noticing a similar little sound-dip glitch just this evening while watching saorview DTT channels just through the built in TV tuner itself.

(Spur Hill transmitter).

khumbu · 01-09-2011 10:15AM

I noticed a glitch in firmware that may be significant when RTENL start broadcasting on muxII.

If user is recording a programme on one of the terrestrial channels say on muxI, but is surfing through channels some channel numbers on the front display & on gui are out of sync with saved channel nos.

Channel order
1 RTE1(MuxI) , 2 RTE2(MuxI), 3 TV3(MuxI), 4 TG4(MuxI), 5 3e(MuxI) 6 RTE1 +1(MuxI), 7 Future service 1(MuxII), 8 Future service 2(MuxII), 9 Future service 3(MuxII), 10 BBCHD, 11 BBC1 HD, 12 Future Service 4(MuxII), 13 ITV1HD, 14 Ch4 HD, ....etc.
The Future service channels (greyed out) were tuned in when muxII was on air. I have them skipped so that when channel surfing it jumps from 6 to 10.

The issue occurs when a user is recording a channel off muxI. Then while surfing the channels the channel list now looks like this.
1 RTE1(muxI) , 2 RTE2(MuxI), 3 TV3(MuxI), 4 TG4(MuxI), 5 3e(MuxI) 6 RTE1 +1(MuxI), 7 BBCHD, 8 BBC1 HD, 9 ITV1HD, 10 Ch4HD .... etc.
I understand that while recording off one mux none of the alternative mux channels will be accessible but you do not expect the channel numbers of remaining channels to change while recording is in progress.

bmaxi · 01-09-2011 11:14AM

STB wrote: »

You cannot fool the machine! It knows its limits......

Look the best free encoder out there is Format Factory (Second best is Xmedia Recode). It is simple, fast and easy to use - there is no more codecs required to download once you install it. Convert the file to MKV format.

Files can be labelled AVI but encoded with DIVX or XVID which is a subset of AVI. I could bore with file container format talk, but if you want the movies to play then encode them at 25 frames per second in MKV.

Thanks STB, you had recommended that to me before and I had already started to convert to .mpg but there are over 50 films:eek: and when I was given them I thought .avi would play on the Ariva, I know .mpg will play on the Ariva and on my TV. Format Factory really is an excellent app.

Tony · 01-09-2011 12:13PM

Why do guys jump to the conclusion that theres something wrong with the firmware ? I'd suggest you move the future channels below channel one IE to the end of the channel list , that way you will not have them to set to skip .

khumbu wrote: »

I noticed a glitch in firmware that may be significant when RTENL start broadcasting on muxII.

.

Bargain Alert: New Ferguson HD DTT/Sat Combo Box - €63 before postage

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