MagicTV 3600.. my quick impression report (updated)

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › MagicTV 3600.. my quick impression report (updated)

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4100 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 887

#343601 21-Jun-2010 02:37

MadKiwi: No reception problem fixed,

Added a Diplexer into aerial line to split UHF & VHF signals.

Apparently the Magic Box hates any VHF signal

Works like a charm!!

Cheers

At no extra charge from Harvey Norman?
Or did the extra Diplexer box from the aerial people cost you directly?

evanh

152 posts

Master Geek

#344386 23-Jun-2010 04:21

evanh: Exactly! Freeview approving it did nothing positive. It was already a good unit that has user feedback being listened to by the manufacturer.

Oh, man, talk about screwed! I just got the aerial up and had a decent play with this thing. It wouldn't even let me record a bit of ch100 FreeviewHD demo channel. :( So much for a recorder ...

MadKiwi

18 posts

Geek

#344399 23-Jun-2010 07:28

Aerial cost extra, but ASI cut me a good deal. HN are more the wiser now and are going to be letting future customers know.

Cheers

will77

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#344900 24-Jun-2010 14:23

Hi guys
I am new to this forum and have read through all 28 pages of this thread but no one seems to have had the same issue with the MagicTV box that I am having. Either that or I don't really understand about the different muxs and what you can and can't do with recording/watching the different channels. I'll try to describe what is happening.

I have set series link on Packed to the Rafters on TV1 and Underbelly on TV3 which are both on at 8:30pm on Wednesdays. While these were recording, my wife was watching Packed to the Rafters at the same time. I went to watch Underbelly later on and found it had recorded an hour of nothing at all. The program was listed as recorded in the recordings list, but on playing it, there was nothing recorded and the length of the recording went from 1 hour 4 minutes down to 1 second. Not only that but when I changed the channel to TV3 to watch live tv (the MagicTV box was not recording anything at this stage), it gave me a message of "No Signal. Check the external aerial connections." The only way to get TV3 (and Ch4) back was to restart the box.

I have had the same problem when trying to record programs on TV1 and TV2 and watch programs on TV3 at the same time. It ended up recording nothing of TV1 and 2 and I had to restart the box to get it to recognise these channels again.

When I first installed the box, signal strength was 80% and quality was 100%. Now when I check them, the two yellow bars for strength and quality flash randomly.

Has anyone experienced anything similar and know what to do to fix it? Is this a dud? This is the second MagicTV unit that I have had trouble with (I took the first one back to Bond & Bond because it gave up after 3 days) and I am starting to doubt it's quality.

Thanks for any help.
Will.

Chis

99 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 17

ID Verified

#344995 24-Jun-2010 19:42

Seems like one of your tuners (if that's the right word) isn't working.

All the scenarios you listed should work fine: You should be able to record two channels and watch a 3rd, as long as two of the three are on the same mux (from memory the following groups are each on one mux: TVNZ 1,2,6,7; TV3,3+1,4; and Maori/others). Your symptoms suggest MTV's only getting signal from one tuner=1 mux at a time, and it was taking you turning the unit off and on again to switch the one that was working onto a different mux.

So sorry, but you've probably got another dud and certainly worth taking back.

will77

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#345173 25-Jun-2010 11:58

Thanks Andrew. I suspected this might be the case but wasn't sure given MadKiwi had problems with too much signal and I thought that this might apply to me as well.

Back to Bond & Bond I go.

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wiredr

203 posts

Master Geek

#345350 25-Jun-2010 19:35

i have found a way to jump forward 30secs and back 15secs .

some one else try this and confirm . i am using release 3.12

play a recorded program and ff 2x then press the mute ( briefly ) button and the prog will jump forward 30secs press 2x rewind and press mute ( briefly ) and the prog will jump back 15 secs .
coool

Gemini

429 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 23

#345390 25-Jun-2010 21:31

wiredr: i have found a way to jump forward 30secs and back 15secs .

some one else try this and confirm . i am using release 3.12

play a recorded program and ff 2x then press the mute ( briefly ) button and the prog will jump forward 30secs press 2x rewind and press mute ( briefly ) and the prog will jump back 15 secs .
coool

Dayum, better upgrade to 3.12 already

Nutts

65 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 8

#345406 25-Jun-2010 22:20

Umm, no luck with mine. Running release 3.12 as well but it just ff x2 and mutes. I use a harmony remote most of the time and I tried it with that as well but no such luck.

N

Nutts

65 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 8

#345410 25-Jun-2010 22:31

With my harmony I have managed to program it to ff x32 for about 4800 ms and then play again using sequences etc. That gives me about a 4 min add skip most of the time but it is a bit hit and miss. Also as its been done from the remote you have to make sure that the remote is aimed at the magic to catch the play command after the 4800 ms pause. No problem if its sitting on the arm of the chair.

I tried installing the Hong Kong MTV3500 commands in my harmony remote to see if the command from the remote gave the 30 sec skip or if it was done in the magic its self. You guessed it. Its done in the magic so the commands from the Hong Kong remote and the NZ remote are the same. I figured they would be but it was worth shot just to make sure.

N

wiredr

203 posts

Master Geek

#345433 26-Jun-2010 02:06

Nutts: Umm, no luck with mine. Running release 3.12 as well but it just ff x2 and mutes. I use a harmony remote most of the time and I tried it with that as well but no such luck.

N

it jumps after the mute is unmuted .thats why i said " briefly "

New World

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Gemini

429 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 23

#345437 26-Jun-2010 07:57

wiredr:
Nutts: Umm, no luck with mine. Running release 3.12 as well but it just ff x2 and mutes. I use a harmony remote most of the time and I tried it with that as well but no such luck.

N

it jumps after the mute is unmuted .thats why i said " briefly "

My mute stays on no matter how briefly I press it ...

What am I doing wrong?

wiredr

203 posts

Master Geek

#345438 26-Jun-2010 08:02

you need to press twice very quickly , it appears that removing the mute is what causes the jump . not being on mute . and closer examination the jump is only 15 secs forward and rev.

Mac2008

121 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#345565 26-Jun-2010 17:27

evanh: Just been reading more of this thread and I'd have to disagree with the suggestion that the general public won't buy a product without certification. Saying that certification is important is your typical marketing spin. Joe blogs just wants it to work, certified or not. If certified means it does work then yes that's what Joe would want. But in the case of Freeview it seems that certifying means that it stops working. People aren't that dumb.

Certainly, the salesmen (plural) were keen to tell me how the MagicTV isn't Freeview certified and that meant it's possible to copy recordings.

Hi evanh, the reason manufacturers have gone for Freeview approval is not so much that the general public wont buy non-approved products, it is more that the retailers won't sell non-approved products. So for a manufacturer/supplier how much of their product will be sold if they are not in the main retail outlets? Not enough to bother with the Mheg-5 licensing fees and the engineering costs of producing a unit for the NZ broadcast specs.

On the other hand, it has been noticed that with Freeview's media coverage there is a growing number of people who are choosing to buy only Freeview approved, partly because the product has had to pass a certain level of testing. The usefulness of this testing of course can and has been questioned, but the end results still stand - that many consumers are choosing to buy Freeview approved, even with the built-in limitations.

I'm not sure which side I stand on personally, but I am looking forward to more firmware updates from Magic when they are released.

Mac

evanh

152 posts

Master Geek

#345567 26-Jun-2010 17:37

I make it 8-10 seconds forward jump, although you do get more for 4 presses of the mute button, and I think it's intended as compensation for the 2 sec stutter. Exactly why a mute function causes a temporary complete freeze up of the unit is beyond me!

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