Saorview decoder €49.99 Lidl 27th October

Brian P · 24-10-2011 03:43PM

STB wrote: »

No. The USB device will not be recognised either afaik.

I have a W.D externally powered 300gb USB hard drive which my son no longer uses. But it says ( when I check it in my in my pc windows XP) that it is NTFS. Is it an easy procedure to change it to FAT 32?

dowtchaboy · 24-10-2011 03:51PM

Brian P wrote: »

I have a W.D externally powered 300gb USB hard drive which my son no longer uses. But it says ( when I check it in my in my pc windows XP) that it is NTFS. Is it an easy procedure to change it to FAT 32?

Yep - just right click on whatever letter it shows up on in MyComputer and select "format" and choose FAT32 - you will of course lose any data on it.

Brian P · 24-10-2011 04:22PM

STB wrote: »

Fat32 has an acceptance limit of 4g per file. It will be split automatically when you exceed that for one recording.

I wouldnt call it an issue.

Do you mean that a sports recording over 3 hours will split into two parts but will otherwise be perfect? Am I correct in saying then,that besides the split,and being less efficient with space than NTFS,I can record happily for hours on end with my FAT 32 USB external drive and retain the recordings for a no of weeks if I wish and will only be limited by the size of my hard drive?

STB · 24-10-2011 06:22PM

Brian P wrote: »

Do you mean that a sports recording over 3 hours will split into two parts but will otherwise be perfect? Am I correct in saying then,that besides the split,and being less efficient with space than NTFS,I can record happily for hours on end with my FAT 32 USB external drive and retain the recordings for a no of weeks if I wish and will only be limited by the size of my hard drive?

Yes. Absolutely. Of course if you want to join those file back together you can copy the TS files to a PC..... but when joined it wont play back on the box itself, but they could be archived to disc to edit/encode in another format for playback on other devices.

And by the way the max size of the drive you can format in FAT32 is 32G on certain OS's (eg Win XP). This Free Tool bypasses all that.

dowtchaboy · 24-10-2011 06:44PM

Brian P wrote: »

Do you mean that a sports recording over 3 hours will split into two parts but will otherwise be perfect? Am I correct in saying then,that besides the split,and being less efficient with space than NTFS,I can record happily for hours on end with my FAT 32 USB external drive and retain the recordings for a no of weeks if I wish and will only be limited by the size of my hard drive?

Yep - it's really quite handy, unlike the Sky box where you can only watch it on that box. You can unplug the drive and play the files from it on a PC/Mac - suggest you install latest VLC - it's great at handling all sorts of formats. These files (presuming they will be .ts files) are not very efficient though - seems to be about 1G per halfhour (or hour - can't remember) so not brilliant for building up a library or for ending to relatives abroad.
If you end up watching some of these on a laptop in bed, say - the quality of the picture, and the detail you will notice, on a screen less than 2 feet away is amazing.

Brian P · 25-10-2011 04:51PM

STB wrote: »

And by the way the max size of the drive you can format in FAT32 is 32G on certain OS's (eg Win XP). This Free Tool bypasses all that.

My HD is now showing FAT32 thanks to this extremely simple tool. I'll get the decoder from Lidl on Thursday.Thanks again to dowtchaboy and STB.:)

dowtchaboy · 25-10-2011 05:19PM

Brian P wrote: »

My HD is now showing FAT32 thanks to this extremely simple tool. I'll get the decoder from Lidl on Thursday.Thanks again to dowtchaboy and STB.:)

Glad you are sorted.
However - just one point - I am NOT a Windows expert but AFAIK you do NOT need that tool for a simple format of the drive to FAT32. That tool, it appears, is needed in the rarer case where you need to do this format during an install of Windows, when, for some reason, the Format tool will only create a 32G maximum drive (partition??):

You cannot format a volume larger than 32 gigabytes (GB) in size using the FAT32 file system during the Windows XP installation process.

I don't think you need to do anything other than rightclick/format/select FAT32 under normal circumstances. However, using that tool isn't going to hurt!

BTW: even though NTFS is considered to be better than FAT32, if you are in the habit of transferring stuff back and forth between PCs, external Hard disk and Apple Macs you will need to stick to FAT32 - Mac's can read but can't write to NTFS drives without some additional software.

Brian P · 25-10-2011 06:19PM

dowtchaboy wrote: »

Glad you are sorted.
However - just one point - I am NOT a Windows expert but AFAIK you do NOT need that tool for a simple format of the drive to FAT32. That tool, it appears, is needed in the rarer case where you need to do this format during an install of Windows, when, for some reason, the Format tool will only create a 32G maximum drive (partition??):

I don't think you need to do anything other than rightclick/format/select FAT32 under normal circumstances. However, using that tool isn't going to hurt!

Believe me I tried your suggestion numerous times and one other "fix" which I Googled rather than STB's link which totally intimidated me due to the amount of instructions:rolleyes: but for some reason "Format" would not allow me to change from NTSC to FAT32 and didn't even give me the option of changing to FAT32. Luckily the first link in STB's "fix" changed the drive to FAT32 almost immediately and I was thankfully able to ignore everything else.... but I'm becoming less illiterate daily thanks to the help of you and others.Thank s again.

Mark#1 · 25-10-2011 06:24PM

Hi.

I'm not too interested in the PVR functionality of this Lidl machine - just fancy a basic DTT solution for now.

Anyone care to offer thoughts on whether this machine should/would be integratable into an AV system controlled by a Logitech Harmony One remote?

I'll nip over to AVForums & Logitech's site later on anyway, but if any of you guys know, do tell.

Thanks,

Mark

martin12 · 27-10-2011 01:44PM

Sold out within hours nationwide

Brian P · 27-10-2011 03:27PM

yep:mad:Approx. 40 sold in my local within a few hours.Doesn't really matter anyway as I had a rush of blood yesterday and ordered the Ferguson Ariva120 combo box off eBay for approx.€90 delivered.I have Sky which I'll hang on to but my curiosity got the better of me and I need a toy to play with.

nowhersjohnny · 27-10-2011 06:07PM

Got one this mornning, people where buying them in 3s and 4s, they where sold out in 1 minute in Dundalk,

I have been messing with it and it does support PVR functions, but you have to format the hard drive to 80gis or less in FAT32, anything above this crashed the box. (i used... EASEUS Partition Master 9.1.0 Home Edition) free from filehippo

It plays divx and mp3 files but not mkv. Supprised

The record timer works well.

Nice system for the money.

dambarude · 27-10-2011 06:53PM

Got one of these today.. but it won't work. It shows 'In it' on the LCD but nothing appears on the screen? Any solutions?!

dahamster · 27-10-2011 06:58PM

dambarude wrote: »

Got one of these today.. but it won't work. It shows 'In it' on the LCD but nothing appears on the screen? Any solutions?!

Thats init-> initialisation. You need to go through the installation process. Press menu - setup - installation(or similar). Make sure u have an aerial connected.

dambarude · 27-10-2011 07:06PM

But shouldn't something show up on screen? Everything's connected but nothing appears on the screen - so I don't know what is actually happening (if you know what I mean).

MrSneeg · 27-10-2011 07:32PM

is the box connected by HDMI lead, if so select the HDMI input via you TV remote, AV or SOURCE or INPUT button on TV remote.

dambarude · 27-10-2011 07:45PM

No, I've had to connect it by SCART (our TV is reasonably old).

Greenpiece · 27-10-2011 10:02PM

I have same issue as you, tried with older Sony set via scart lead.

So I connected the stb via hdmi to my newer Samsung tv and was able to go through the setup menu and tune it it. Then I tried, again using scart lead with my Samsung and it worked fine. So stb is working fine and scart lead is ok.

When I went back to old Sony set again it does not seem to recognize the stb via the scart. I am now looking for scart to phono type lead to see if that may work instead.

Nyquistic · 27-10-2011 10:29PM

I got this to work from the "init" display while connected to an old TV via SCART, so that does work. Sometimes a set needs a 5V switching voltage on one of the SCART pins before it will display anything, but you may be able to get something from the "AV" key on the remote of the TV.

Nice little unit, records fine in SD and HD and finds all the Irish TV and radio channels and also records radio. I used a Tevion 8GB USB stick (recent deal in Aldi) and it was already formatted as FAT32.

One thing though: you can't watch one channel while recording another ... even on timer, it will switch from what you're watching to the channel you set to record. Still not bad as an extra feature though, and all for €49.99!

Greenpiece · 27-10-2011 10:54PM

Yes agree, good value. Just tried same set up connecting via scart to a Philips without any problems so must be tv scart specific as you say.

Media centre worked fine as well just plugged in USB stick and no problem. How many hours SD will an 8GB stick record?

Does anybody know a work around to the 5V scart problem?

Nyquistic · 27-10-2011 11:16PM

The way it's supposed to work is that when you have e.g. a video recorder connected to a TV, when you switch on the recorder it pulls one pin on the SCART high and the TV sees that as a command to switch to the AV channel. Some really cheap SCART cables might not have that pin connected, so it'd be worth trying another cable.

SD uses about 1GB per hour I think. The USB device has to be USB 2.0 and formatted as FAT32, and I think someone said it shouldn't be larger than 80GB. The box needs to be switched off totally before connecting or disconnecting. It takes a minute or two to actually switch off, so be careful. There's a LED on my USB stick so I wait until that's gone out completely before disconnecting.

I can play back the TS files fine on the box, but having some difficulty on a Windows 7 box, have tried both Media Player and VLC.

dowtchaboy · 28-10-2011 12:23AM

Nyquistic wrote: »

I can play back the TS files fine on the box, but having some difficulty on a Windows 7 box, have tried both Media Player and VLC.

Have you updated your VLC recently - should be at V1.1.11? Works OK for me on .ts files - mine are not from the Lidl box though.

Nyquistic · 28-10-2011 12:33AM

dowtchaboy wrote: »

Have you updated your VLC recently - should be at V1.1.11? Works OK for me on .ts files - mine are not from the Lidl box though.

Yes, thanks, I'm on the latest VLC. I've managed to convert to M4V using Handbrake, so the video's there in the file but there's no audio.

nowhersjohnny · 28-10-2011 09:24AM

Nyquistic wrote: »

Yes, thanks, I'm on the latest VLC. I've managed to convert to M4V using Handbrake, so the video's there in the file but there's no audio.

Try downloading the codecs.

http://www.filehippo.com/download_klite_mega_codec/

Gerry Wicklow · 28-10-2011 09:25AM

TSDoctor will fix TS files to run on Windows in a few seconds.
http://cypheros.de/index_e.html

MACHEAD · 28-10-2011 09:35AM

Went in to Banbridge store first thing yesterday morning on the way to work, but they didn't have any of them, even though they were on on the website.

Notice that it's been taken off the the site this morning. Wonder if they were worried about people up here buying them and finding a lack of Saorview coverage, then bringing them back.

Pity though, I'd have liked to have tried one out. Even if I had to wait till next October to get a service!

Tomk1 · 28-10-2011 02:06PM

MACHEAD wrote: »

Went in to Banbridge store first thing yesterday morning on the way to work, but they didn't have any of them, even though they were on on the website.

Notice that it's been taken off the the site this morning. Wonder if they were worried about people up here buying them and finding a lack of Saorview coverage, then bringing them back.

Pity though, I'd have liked to have tried one out. Even if I had to wait till next October to get a service!

Still on the site
lidl.ie/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_ri_ie/hs.xsl/index_14607.htm
I say they must of sold like hot-cakes, went in to have a look at the box & none there, I heard one of the staff saying to a customer, should of been here this morning.

Just want to ask anyone that got one, does the MPG5 work aka the tele-text load fast.

MACHEAD · 28-10-2011 02:39PM

Checked site again just now, and when you select local store, the refreshed page comes up sans Saorview Box!. Hope all retailers aren't going to follow that policy.

nowhersjohnny · 28-10-2011 02:53PM

Tomk1 wrote: »

Still on the site
lidl.ie/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_ri_ie/hs.xsl/index_14607.htm
I say they must of sold like hot-cakes, went in to have a look at the box & none there, I heard one of the staff saying to a customer, should of been here this morning.

Just want to ask anyone that got one, does the MPG5 work aka the tele-text load fast.

The teletext is very fast, yes the boxs where gone in one minute flat, Dundalk only had 12 Boxs, I was luck and Im from Newry.

People had 3 and some had 4, I only took one. One man walked in behind us calmly as not to look like a d%^$ and I ran. He didnt get a box and was standing complaining. They should have said 2 per customer.

nowhersjohnny · 28-10-2011 02:55PM

MACHEAD wrote: »

Went in to Banbridge store first thing yesterday morning on the way to work, but they didn't have any of them, even though they were on on the website.

Notice that it's been taken off the the site this morning. Wonder if they were worried about people up here buying them and finding a lack of Saorview coverage, then bringing them back.

Pity though, I'd have liked to have tried one out. Even if I had to wait till next October to get a service!

They where never for sale north of the border, You need to check Lidl Northern Ireland and you wont see these boxs. Im from Newry and drove to Dundalk for mine.

Saorview decoder €49.99 Lidl 27th October

Comments