New Freeview Dish TV recorder - 1TB, Chromecast support, 4K HD

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#2306740 27-Aug-2019 14:06

dm2000: I don't believe that the built-in Chromecast supports Netflix.

Oh damn. Will have to test it tonight. I thought all Chromecast devices were standard on this regard.

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dm2000

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#2306743 27-Aug-2019 14:14

From the brief conversation I had with DishTV, the box isn't Netflix certified for either the app or Chromecast. It's something they're working on, but no ETA, unfortunately...

freitasm

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#2306750 27-Aug-2019 14:23

Yes, I knew about the wait for the app certification - thought the Chromecast was something separate.

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AdamB

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#2306754 27-Aug-2019 14:32

Interesting. I had tried casting Spark Sport to the box but that hadn't worked either.

I wonder if it will now that there's an app for Spark Sport.

Seems somewhat of a redundant feature if you can only cast an app that is available directly from the box.

dklong

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#2306822 27-Aug-2019 15:40

AdamB:

I now only use this box for watching Spark Sport, which works brilliantly well.

I use the Panasonic or a chromecast for everything else.

So @AdamB .... Just to clarify, are you saying you use a Panasonic HDRecorder for recording OTA TV in preference to the A2?

AdamB

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#2306842 27-Aug-2019 16:06

dklong:

AdamB:

I now only use this box for watching Spark Sport, which works brilliantly well.

I use the Panasonic or a chromecast for everything else.

So @AdamB .... Just to clarify, are you saying you use a Panasonic HDRecorder for recording OTA TV in preference to the A2?

Yes correct, the HST270. I got the A2 about October last year after ditching Sky. Got the Panny shortly after, after getting very frustrated with the A2.

The Panny is a good reliable box, does what it says on the packet, but like everyone says the interface is pretty archaic. But once you find your way around using it on a day to day basis is perfectly fine. The full featured remote is a big plus in that regard.

I record pretty much everything that I watch on Free To Air and watch later skipping the ads. Also watch Netflix or On Demand via the Panny.

The biggest drawback is only 2 (?) tuners. Occasionally have to revert to watching a third program On Demand if there's ever a clash of that many programs. Hardly ever.

The A2 has improved since I bought it and as I say Spark Sport is brilliant on it. But I'm quite happy with the Panny now and sticking with that.

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#2306847 27-Aug-2019 16:18

Be aware that the Panasonic DVRs are less than perfect too.

One of the flaws is that they do (or did not when I last looked) not allow program overlap on the same channel. Two successive programs on the same channel with (say) a default five minute overlap at the end of each program will be treated as two recordings.

That means that programming say:
- TVNZ 1 - One News at 6 18:30 to 19:00 plus 5 minutes
- TVNZ 1 - Seven Sharp at 19:00 to 19:30 plus 5 minutes
- TVNZ 2 - Neighbours from 18:30 to 19:00 plus 5 minutes
would require three recording slots, with only two available.

Of course, you could cancel the overlap after One News.

Or the Panasonic may use the Plus One channel. Unfortunately that is only SD, not HD. I guess that's OK with some people but the quality of SD (576i) on the Plus 1 channels is pretty awful.

This also raises a question about the A2 - does it have the same flaw?

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#2306858 27-Aug-2019 16:50

@freitasm, @AdamB & @AlickW : Thanks for the further feedback! :-)

It is surprising how many DVRs and even HTPC programs don't support using the one tuner for 2 programs back to back on the same channel. I guess the A2 may have the same flaw but with 4 Satellite tuners it would be less of an issue :-) The Chromecast limitations on the A2 would seems to reduce the options quite a bit however.

Very interesting however that you own both AdamB but choose to record off the Panasonic. I'm fairly sure my friend has a Panasonic TV too so I guess the remote probably integrates pretty well also. I'm very aware that neither are perfect, but it probably comes down to which features he uses the most and which unit does that/those the best.

Thanks again for the feedback!

AdamB

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#2306867 27-Aug-2019 17:13

Yes I have a Panasonic TV too. So I use the DVR's remote and the TV's is seldom used.

Two buttons on the same remote to turn DVR and TV on. One button to turn both off.

AlickW is correct, that is definitely an issue to keep an eye out for with back to backs and it has caught me out before. Another downside of only 2 tuners.

I have a habit of previewing the second program to make sure it's got the start. If it ever has then it will be at the end of the previous recording, as long as you haven't already deleted it.

freitasm

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#2306975 27-Aug-2019 19:36

Ok, tested with Netflix and it doesn't see the A2 as a Chromecast target - it shows only my Fire TV.

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#2307031 27-Aug-2019 20:42

Netflix is the thing that stops me getting this; I need access to my netflix sub via a remote and the tv for the kids to access and use the kids profile... If they could get Netflix certification it would make this box better, unfortuantely from my last conversations with them it was not on the cards.

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#2307093 27-Aug-2019 23:17

dmshimself:

I went through the same process a month or so back having moved to an are which was satellite only. I had one other option initially as I'm long time user of mythtv. I tried very hard to get mythtv working with a vbox but pretty much failed with the program guide, tvheadend was better, but the vbox just didn't stand up to full time use. In the end, NM had a good deal on for the A2 and the 4 recordings as a time swung it for me. It works fine wiith the basics, although the audio sync always seems to be slightly out, no matter how much I fiddle with it. As it runs kodi, that allowed me to sensible play existing media as the A2 doesn't seem to be able to do that out of the box. Searching for programs was a bit hit and miss until I started using 3 chars initially and thn the hits were accurate. An extra remote I bought worked fine too.

The on-demand seems reliable to me and we are only on 10Mbit ADSL here.

Overall it could be a lot better, but I would say was fine for the average non-techy user as long as you buy it from somewhere where you can take it back easily.

MythTV works fine with PCIe and DVB-S(2) tuners that have Linux drivers. I have both working on my MythTV boxes. It is just hard to find ordinary DVB-S2 tuners on sale in NZ now. But there is no problem importing them.

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#2307116 28-Aug-2019 07:52

fe31nz:

dmshimself:

I went through the same process a month or so back having moved to an are which was satellite only. I had one other option initially as I'm long time user of mythtv. I tried very hard to get mythtv working with a vbox but pretty much failed with the program guide, tvheadend was better, but the vbox just didn't stand up to full time use. In the end, NM had a good deal on for the A2 and the 4 recordings as a time swung it for me. It works fine wiith the basics, although the audio sync always seems to be slightly out, no matter how much I fiddle with it. As it runs kodi, that allowed me to sensible play existing media as the A2 doesn't seem to be able to do that out of the box. Searching for programs was a bit hit and miss until I started using 3 chars initially and thn the hits were accurate. An extra remote I bought worked fine too.

The on-demand seems reliable to me and we are only on 10Mbit ADSL here.

Overall it could be a lot better, but I would say was fine for the average non-techy user as long as you buy it from somewhere where you can take it back easily.

MythTV works fine with PCIe and DVB-S(2) tuners that have Linux drivers. I have both working on my MythTV boxes. It is just hard to find ordinary DVB-S2 tuners on sale in NZ now. But there is no problem importing them.

Thanks for that, but unfortunately my mythtv box couldn't take those types of cards and I couldn't justify buying a new PC just for that. It's a shame that silcon disk don't do a satellite version of their hdhomerunner as that was rock solid on DVB-T for many years. The irony of me then going out to buy a new box as a consumer based satellete DVR is not lost on me :-)

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#2307546 28-Aug-2019 21:57

dmshimself:

fe31nz:

MythTV works fine with PCIe and DVB-S(2) tuners that have Linux drivers. I have both working on my MythTV boxes. It is just hard to find ordinary DVB-S2 tuners on sale in NZ now. But there is no problem importing them.

Thanks for that, but unfortunately my mythtv box couldn't take those types of cards and I couldn't justify buying a new PC just for that. It's a shame that silcon disk don't do a satellite version of their hdhomerunner as that was rock solid on DVB-T for many years. The irony of me then going out to buy a new box as a consumer based satellete DVR is not lost on me :-)

Oops - I seem to have left out one crucial word in my post. So I will try again: "MythTV works fine with PCIe and USB DVB-S(2) tuners that have Linux drivers." So you could just add a USB DVB-S2 tuner or two to your MythTV box. There used to be USB DVB-S2 dual tuner units also, but I have not seen any recently.

And if the PC is one that has the video card overlapping the only spare PCIe x1 slot, there is a gadget you can buy that will fit under a lot of video cards and extend the PCIe x1 slot out on a USB 3 cable. I am running my 8-tuner DVB-T2 PCIe card like this outside my MythTV box. Maybe you could do something similar with a multi-tuner DVB-S2 PCIe card. Or if you need PCI cards, they are available second hand.

Personally, I can easily justify buying a new PC in order to keep running MythTV - it is so superior to the alternatives. And a second hand box is fine for MythTV usually - you may need to buy a new Nvidia card to go in it, but older hardware does just fine for the rest of MythTV.

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#2307556 28-Aug-2019 22:31

Aha. Well I searched long and hard for USB DVB-S/S2 cards and those I could find were typically v expensive (even imported) and single program record only or didn't seem to be well implemented in Linux or ... the supplier seemed a bit off or ... My HP Microserver just does't have PCI slots that are at all accessible, but runs FreenNAS very well indeed. I also realised that after some 30 years of tinkering with mythtv, it was time to spend some spare time on other matters.

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