MySky HDi Bugs/Quirks

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50 posts

Geek

ID Verified

#154792 6-Aug-2008 22:15

I have also noticed very jumpy fast forward & rewind compared to older MySky although I recently discovered this seems to be an issue with HD channels. SD channels appear to be as smooth as old unit.

Anybody else here concerned with storage capacity? A 1 hr HD show typically consumes 5% of space which only gives around 20hrs HD storage. SD programs seem to take up a similar amount as older MySky unit. Does anyone have any info on actual recording times we can expect with MySky HDi? I was kinda hoping for more than the old unit as but it appears we will end up with less - a lot less if you record mainly HD material. I guess there is a fair amount of reserved space for HD pay per view but I hope this sort of thing can perhaps be altered with updates to the unit.

I have noticed a little more heat but not really any more noise than older unit. I also have HD unit installed alongside older unit and am finding the identical remotes a real pain.

Otherwise happy with the upgrade though. I thought the Rugby last Saturday looked absolutely amazing through my 720p projector.

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Pomphobetus

21 posts

Geek

#155309 8-Aug-2008 20:00

I have noticed that an HD movie takes up about 10% of the disc space. Left the whole weeks news on TV3 HD undeleted and half the disk was filled.
Having problems with jerky playback too. TV3 news tonight had broken up sound so that it wasnt useable. The picture seemed OK. Crashing about once a day even when just watching an SD channel and no recording.

paul151

309 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#155348 9-Aug-2008 01:07

Had the box installed today so far one lock up while changing channels and did a soft reboot to sort.

Will report of fast forward / rewind impressions etc in a few days...

Watching the olympic opening right now... looks good.

whatty

42 posts

Geek

#155492 9-Aug-2008 20:40

Got my Mysky HD today.

Number of small issues but distribution to other TV's for the average user (some get arounds)and clash of ir remote controls with original mysky1 are more of a major FU than a bug. What a bunch of morons, could have been easly avoided. Also dissapointed with the quality against freeview HD broadcast so all in all not impressed!

BL Sky. Direct broadcast of the warriors was allmost not bad though, good truck OSB still recon should have gone 720P. Bad artifacts in places.

At lest the hardware is black with low level lighting, still wish they had gone with the BskyB one.

Also if anyone knows of a better IR extender than the DS ir 300 Trans Electric Co one please PM me with one or post in this thread. Sporardic operation if at all with the mysky box but fine with the motorola original.

Long time reader but not a lot of posts so hey everyone..

datahawk

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#155546 10-Aug-2008 08:53

Two full lock ups since install (3 days ago) resulting in the loss of recorded programs (That's really great when they are one off programs and not going to be repeated soon !). I too, am not impressed with Sky's delivery of HD content compared to Freeview. TV3 via the MySky HDi box is simply a no-go for me because the quality is so much greater from my HTPC (and we got to watch the games opening show in HD on TV1 Freeview). Because we don't 'do' the sport channels, I am now questioning the $599 to move to a MySky box. The only thing it has going for it for me at this stage is the DD 5.1 via movies. I look forward to stability and qualilty improvements.

AncestralGeek

91 posts

Master Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#155548 10-Aug-2008 09:21

Seven sleeps late (weather was atrociouson 30th July) the Mysky installer finally turns up. Not of to a good start as he only had one HDi unit with him not two as ordered and were showing on his job sheet. Text’s to his partner got that sorted and the units were installed.

To date no lockups however my brother had his unit installed yesterday afternoon and by evening had his first lockup. Asked him to confirm that the unit was recieving a signal from the remote (standard sky remote). No sign of any acknowledgement of a signal from the unit. Asked him to check that the remote was generating a signal. It was not so remove batteries, rub on jeans, reinstal and all is well there. Soft reboot MySky: still locked; open the cover and use the Red Button: still locked; power off at the wall: that got its attention and powered up OK. All is well again.

Question: Did the remote playing up contribute to the lockup.
Only ask as a number of people have identified the lockup's as happening while using the remote.

Tip: to check that a remote it generating a signal (those units whose signal is not visible to the naked eye) aim the remote at a digital camera and you will be able to see if there is a signal on the camera LCD. No clue as to strength etc just existance.

allstarnz

1719 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#155840 11-Aug-2008 11:30

I have found it's locked up a couple of times, so far. Mostly when recording on one channel, then rewinding on another or even the same channel. Very annoying, esp as you'll lose the recroding prior.

Tockly

345 posts

Ultimate Geek

#156028 11-Aug-2008 20:52

Just rang Sky to book a tech to come and look at my STB. I am getting at least two lockups per day.

The CSR did say that this unit was very "sensitive" with the remote control and it does cause alot of lockups.

Will be interesting to see what the tech says when he comes on Wednesday

patdude

64 posts

Master Geek

#156098 11-Aug-2008 22:36

I've had MySky HDI for 2 weeks now and it's image quality is pretty good. Setting the box to display 1080i also improved things as it allowed the box to up-scale SD broadcasts, which cleaned them up quite a bit compared to the original mysky.. Setting the MySky HDi's 4:3 display to stretch also eliminated the 4:3 letterboxing issue ... Capacity-wise HD movies do consume quite a bit of space, but there is a USB and ESATA port on the box which will hopefully be enabled - being able to add 1Tb of additional capacity would be very cool indeed...

Unfortunately about the only show stopper thus far is that MySky HDi seems to intermittendly have trouble receiving a signal from the remote.... Whilst there's a some theories about this being caused by LCD and Plasma screens radiating a small amount of IR energy (which I find dubious as all my other IR controlled devices work fine)... This smacks of a software issue or poor IR receiver design??? Hopefully Sky are working on a software fix as this is otherwise a very cool box...

datahawk

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#156788 14-Aug-2008 09:02

For the benefit of those interested, the IR transmission is unusual with these Pace boxes. I ran into problems trying to 'learn' the MySky remote into my Philips Pronto NG. Only around half the buttons would work with the pronto. I played around for a full day with the codes because I was determined to get it to work for me and finally found the following....

"The Foxtel remote (which looks similar to UK Sky remotes) uses a conventional IR protocol, but the bit rate is about twice as fast as RC5/6 codes, which may be outside the useable range of some learning remotes and senders, and some users have reported compatibility problems."

On this basis, I went hunting for 'Foxtel' instead of 'Pace' codes and found a file on RemoteCentral with AU Foxtel codes. I can confirm that they are the same as our boxes and I now have a fully working Pronto NG screen for the MySky unit.

I don't believe that the lock up issue (mine, 4-5 since install 7 days ago) is caused directly by the remote. I am suspecting tuner conflict or maybe that the third/fourth tuner is not active yet as the cause (?). My lockups occur when using the remote while recording is taking place and it seems to be when dual channel / overlap recording is happening.

Look

66 posts

Master Geek

#156804 14-Aug-2008 09:35

datahawk: For the benefit of those interested, the IR transmission is unusual with these Pace boxes. I ran into problems trying to 'learn' the MySky remote into my Philips Pronto NG. Only around half the buttons would work with the pronto. I played around for a full day with the codes because I was determined to get it to work for me and finally found the following....

"The Foxtel remote (which looks similar to UK Sky remotes) uses a conventional IR protocol, but the bit rate is about twice as fast as RC5/6 codes, which may be outside the useable range of some learning remotes and senders, and some users have reported compatibility problems."

On this basis, I went hunting for 'Foxtel' instead of 'Pace' codes and found a file on RemoteCentral with AU Foxtel codes. I can confirm that they are the same as our boxes and I now have a fully working Pronto NG screen for the MySky unit.

I don't believe that the lock up issue (mine, 4-5 since install 7 days ago) is caused directly by the remote. I am suspecting tuner conflict or maybe that the third/fourth tuner is not active yet as the cause (?). My lockups occur when using the remote while recording is taking place and it seems to be when dual channel / overlap recording is happening.

Hi Datahawk, In your investigation of MYSky remote issues did you find any clue as to how I could tweak the IR in one remote and at the HDI box to change the frequency? Its such a pain having an SD box and an HD box with the one remote servicing both. Thanks.

Anyone else struggling with this issue? Anyone heard of an "IR Converter".

wreck90

780 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#156832 14-Aug-2008 10:41

datahawk: For the benefit of those interested, the IR transmission is unusual with these Pace boxes. I ran into problems trying to 'learn' the MySky remote into my Philips Pronto NG. Only around half the buttons would work with the pronto. I played around for a full day with the codes because I was determined to get it to work for me and finally found the following....

"The Foxtel remote (which looks similar to UK Sky remotes) uses a conventional IR protocol, but the bit rate is about twice as fast as RC5/6 codes, which may be outside the useable range of some learning remotes and senders, and some users have reported compatibility problems."

On this basis, I went hunting for 'Foxtel' instead of 'Pace' codes and found a file on RemoteCentral with AU Foxtel codes. I can confirm that they are the same as our boxes and I now have a fully working Pronto NG screen for the MySky unit.

I don't believe that the lock up issue (mine, 4-5 since install 7 days ago) is caused directly by the remote. I am suspecting tuner conflict or maybe that the third/fourth tuner is not active yet as the cause (?). My lockups occur when using the remote while recording is taking place and it seems to be when dual channel / overlap recording is happening.

I am looking at installing a House IR distribution system. Most of my stuff is in cabinets and I want to be able to operate components without opening cabinets and/or from different rooms .

But, I heard that many IR distribution systems do not work with MySky 1. I suppose it would be the same for Mysky HD, so I might have to go for the Mysky compatible Blue-eye product.

BadMac

69 posts

Master Geek

#157083 15-Aug-2008 00:31

Look:
datahawk: For the benefit of those interested, the IR transmission is unusual with these Pace boxes. I ran into problems trying to 'learn' the MySky remote into my Philips Pronto NG. Only around half the buttons would work with the pronto. I played around for a full day with the codes because I was determined to get it to work for me and finally found the following....

"The Foxtel remote (which looks similar to UK Sky remotes) uses a conventional IR protocol, but the bit rate is about twice as fast as RC5/6 codes, which may be outside the useable range of some learning remotes and senders, and some users have reported compatibility problems."

On this basis, I went hunting for 'Foxtel' instead of 'Pace' codes and found a file on RemoteCentral with AU Foxtel codes. I can confirm that they are the same as our boxes and I now have a fully working Pronto NG screen for the MySky unit.

I don't believe that the lock up issue (mine, 4-5 since install 7 days ago) is caused directly by the remote. I am suspecting tuner conflict or maybe that the third/fourth tuner is not active yet as the cause (?). My lockups occur when using the remote while recording is taking place and it seems to be when dual channel / overlap recording is happening.

Hi Datahawk, In your investigation of MYSky remote issues did you find any clue as to how I could tweak the IR in one remote and at the HDI box to change the frequency? Its such a pain having an SD box and an HD box with the one remote servicing both. Thanks.

Anyone else struggling with this issue? Anyone heard of an "IR Converter".

Hi Look, I have been thinking about your issue for a few days now and have come up with one partial solution (patent pending). Do you know anybody whos into electronics and circuit design? If not I'll have a hack (how much are you willing to spend?), but basically, heres my idea.

The MySky remote is a learning remote so a button could be taught to operate a function. A little circuit could be built that when it receives the "programmed" IR code, turns on an IR emitter and floods the IR input of the MySky device you don't want to control (ie stops it working until an IR off code is received, either with another button or a toggle function on the button), obviously the same would apply to the other decoder but using a different code and button on the remotes. I think the IR flood would be much simplier than trying to do something mechanical (my first thought).

Basic operation, if you want MySky 1, press button 1 and MySky2 is stopped from receiving IR codes until button 1 is repressed. If you want MySky 2 press button 2 and MySky 1 is stopped from receiving IR codes.

Doesn't allow simultanious operation of both devices by 2 different people (without some form of neuro based co-ordination), although I think theres a way around this as well (Bluetooth/RF capable programmable/learning remotes).

[Edit] Did some quick research and there are a few existing devices which could be adapted probably all up for around $100.

stuzzo

534 posts

Ultimate Geek

#157091 15-Aug-2008 00:47

One suggestion to the ir clash problem suggested on another forum that sounds quite promising is one of the battery replacement RF systems. You replace one of the batteries of one of the remotes with the transmitting device that sends the ir signals via RF to a receiver unit that feeds ir to the corresponding box.

You'd need to prevent the boxes from seeing each other ir wise and also probably tape the top of the RF MySky remote.

Also you'd need to ensure the RF unit could send the shorter MySky codes OK. Obviously it wouldn't allow you to have a single universal remote but it just might work otherwise.

datahawk

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#157132 15-Aug-2008 09:25

Hi Datahawk, In your investigation of MYSky remote issues did you find any clue as to how I could tweak the IR in one remote and at the HDI box to change the frequency? Its such a pain having an SD box and an HD box with the one remote servicing both. Thanks.

Anyone else struggling with this issue? Anyone heard of an "IR Converter".

I don't have two MySky boxes but if I did, I would hide the normal remotes and use something like the Pronto that has extendable RF controlled IR senders. i.e. The Pronto has an optional extender called a 'RF Blaster'. (You can use several of these for a single remote if you want). They are controlled by RF transmissions from the remote and each blaster can have a different RF ID code assigned. The 'blaster' can transmit the IR and also has sockets for those little IR cables to 'cover' the IR receivers on your relevant equipment. In this case, you would create two remote touch screens on the Pronto (one for each MySky unit assigned to separate RF blasters) and have separate RF receivers controlling the MySky boxes either by their IR output or the wired cables covering the MySky IR receivers if they happen to be in the same room. My idea has not been tested, I am only thinking out loud here.

Overall, this is still an expensive and messy solution to a problem that should not exist 'these days'. Almost all of my much older other home theatre equipment has the option to change the remote output so that you can use two of the same items in the same room.

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