Exciting news for Freeview 'Light'/'Lite' viewers ...

[Svendo]

My Humax freeview PVR has two tuners, so you can record two channels, and you can still watch any channel on the same multiplex (Mux, group of channels, the channels broadcast on one 'old fashioned' analogue channel), or watch a recording. Which makes it better than the SKY+ box. Except when you live down the road from ColinJ and also have FreeviewShite!

 

[ColinJ]

My Humax freeview PVR has two tuners, so you can record two channels, and you can still watch any channel on the same multiplex (Mux, group of channels, the channels broadcast on one 'old fashioned' analogue channel), or watch a recording. Which makes it better than the SKY+ box. Except when you live down the road from ColinJ and also have Freeviews***e!

Well, at least you can get Film4 now too!

 

[marinyork]

My Humax freeview PVR has two tuners, so you can record two channels, and you can still watch any channel on the same multiplex (Mux, group of channels, the channels broadcast on one 'old fashioned' analogue channel), or watch a recording. Which makes it better than the SKY+ box. Except when you live down the road from ColinJ and also have Freeviews***e!

The box the humax is based on could theoretically record 4 programmes at once.

 

[marinyork]

But can you record any combination of 2 channels, and watch a recording that you made earlier?

That's what I can do now on my Freeview Box and I find it very handy. It is amazing how many times there are no decent programmes on for ages, then 2 come along and clash. Actually, that is probably predictable due to the channels competing with each other rather than thinking of what the viewers actually want, which is for their favourite shows not to clash!

I am not sure why you keep on labouring this point. There are a variety of reasons why one may not be able to do what you said, but is it indicative of freesat PVRs? No of course not, don't be silly. Some boxes are actually single tuners. Some only have single line, sometimes the second tuner may stop working for a variety of reasons. The odd box (I know of only a single box that allegedly had the issue you describe). Then there is the issue of LNBs. There is also the problem of padding which can mess up recordings.

 

[ColinJ]

Several months have passed since my original post ...

I have discovered that I have a problem recording Film4. I can watch it live, but my recordings are blank. The PVR starts when it should and the recordings 'library' shows a recording of the correct length, but it will not play.

I noticed that the PVR was failing to record some programmes properly but it finally dawned on me tonight that most, if not all, are on Film4. I confirmed that I can watch any channel I want 'live'. I can also 'pause' any of the channels except Film4.

I have searched online and found quite a large number of people mentioning the same problem. It is really annoying because I prefer to watch films at the times of my choice, rather than when they are broadcast.

I'm still trying to find a solution. I suspect that the answer lies either in a fix to the EPG or to the firmware of the PVR but I can't see the latter being fixed now since it is an old model.

 

[zimzum42]

I'm still trying to find a solution. I suspect that the answer lies either in a fix to the EPG or to the firmware of the PVR but I can't see the latter being fixed now since it is an old model.

I had loads of problems with Film4 but solved them by resetting to factory settings and then doing an 'installation' scan of all the channels rather than just a normal scan for new channels. All good now

 

[ColinJ]

I had loads of problems with Film4 but solved them by resetting to factory settings and then doing an 'installation' scan of all the channels rather than just a normal scan for new channels. All good now

Yes, I saw that a lot of people did that and the problems went away. I tried doing that but all my subsequent Film4 test recordings failed too ...

It's an odd problem - I can watch Film4 perfectly happily so the PVR obviously knows how to tune into it. Somehow though, the recordings are not being triggered properly. I'm wondering if something in the PVR's EPG makes it try to select the previous Freeview channel rather than the one it was moved to before Christmas?

 

[zimzum42]

Not sure then, good luck tho!

 

[ASC1951]

Those of you who watch TV via Freeview and are in a small community served by a Freeview 'Light' transmitter, as we are here in Hebden Bridge, may have been as annoyed as I was when I discovered that the great digital switchover did not provide a full set of Freeview channels..

I'm a bit further east, so I probably get mine from a different transmitter, but I have had to hunt around for missing channels. And the sods have dropped the signal strength, which presumably means I have to nip along to Maplin for a booster to stick on my coax cable?

 

[phil_hg_uk]

@ColinJ I finally got round to getting a free-view Ariel and I got a Humax You-View box and the initial impressions are good. I like being able to go back through the last 7 days telly from the TV guide and not having to faff around looking through the separate players (iplayer etc) looking for stuff as it does it all for you straight from the tv guide.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm a bit further east, so I probably get mine from a different transmitter, but I have had to hunt around for missing channels. And the sods have dropped the signal strength, which presumably means I have to nip along to Maplin for a booster to stick on my coax cable?

Unless you are tucked away in a valley somewhere, like me, you will probably be getting the full complement of Freeview channels direct from the Emley Moor transmitter. (We get a subset known as 'Freeview Light/Lite' from our local transmitter on the hill on the south side of the valley.)

It's a digital signal so as long as it is strong enough for you not to suffer signal dropouts you will be fine. (Dropouts are obvious because the picture freezes or breaks up into pixellated blocks.)

I get a reliable enough signal from an indoor aerial plonked on a bookshelf and pointing through a window to the mast on the hill!

@ColinJ I finally got round to getting a free-view Ariel and I got a Humax You-View box and the initial impressions are good. I like being able to go back through the last 7 days telly from the TV guide and not having to faff around looking through the separate players (iplayer etc) looking for stuff as it does it all for you straight from the tv guide.

Sounds good! It's a solution that I was thinking about. I am already on TalkTalk and they do a You-View deal including a free box. I might see if they will upgrade me to fibre and You-view for a small extra monthly charge.

Meanwhile, I have filed a technical report with Film4. Let's see how they respond to it ...

 

[ASC1951]

...It's a digital signal so as long as it is strong enough for you not to suffer signal dropouts you will be fine. (Dropouts are obvious because the picture freezes or breaks up into pixellated blocks.)...

Dropouts are exactly what I get. My aerial is in the roof, but there is about a 10m run of old coax to the telly. It used to be just fine, but now it can't cope. Signal booster?

 

[ColinJ]

Dropouts are exactly what I get. My aerial is in the roof, but there is about a 10m run of old coax to the telly. It used to be just fine, but now it can't cope. Signal booster?

It might be that your old analogue aerial was a narrowband one tuned to the wrong band for the digital signal, in which case a new aerial would be the solution - read this for more details.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Dropouts are exactly what I get. My aerial is in the roof, but there is about a 10m run of old coax to the telly. It used to be just fine, but now it can't cope. Signal booster?

It cured the problems we had and we were getting no signal through on most channels. pre-signal booster we were lucky if it found more than 5 channels and no radio stations. After a reasonable quality signal booster was installed we now get all channels including radio stations and only loose the signal when a train goes past - thankfully only once an hour and they pass at our house!

 

[Linford]

I got a Sky Now TV box a few weeks ago (was called a Roku Box). Need a decent broadband package, and data rate

Costs £10, works out at £6 per month for the popular channels...well worth the money

https://shop.nowtv.com/?DCMP=KNC-Brand-