Dish T1020 Freeview HD STB with USB PVR, your experience?

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641 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#492247 11-Jul-2011 22:57

My email back to support:

This did not solve the problem.
Tonight the glitch appeared in both the 1News and Shortland street recordings.

- Both files were over 4GB in size.

- I hooked up the drive to my PC, and played the files in VLC player - Not a problem at all.

The problem therefore is not recorded. And has something to do with playback on the Device.

As mentioned previously there are a few of us discussing these problems here:

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=86197&page_no=1

It would be good if you guys could contribute because at the moment the agreement is that this device does not work.

Thanks

I like your reply, especially the "at the moment the agreement is that this device does not work" part.

By the way, would you mind to record NCIS or SVU on TV3 tomorrow and see the problem is the same or worse. TV3 boardcast in Dolby Digital and should make the recording better.

Also, do you need a plugin of VLC to play the mpeg file? Or the standard VLC player handles the mpeg file perfectly?

Thanks!

AKLWestie

641 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#492249 11-Jul-2011 22:58

AKLWestie:

My email back to support:

This did not solve the problem.
Tonight the glitch appeared in both the 1News and Shortland street recordings.

- Both files were over 4GB in size.

- I hooked up the drive to my PC, and played the files in VLC player - Not a problem at all.

The problem therefore is not recorded. And has something to do with playback on the Device.

As mentioned previously there are a few of us discussing these problems here:

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=86197&page_no=1

It would be good if you guys could contribute because at the moment the agreement is that this device does not work.

Thanks

I like your reply, especially the "at the moment the agreement is that this device does not work" part.

By the way, would you mind to record NCIS or SVU on TV3 tomorrow and see the problem is the same or worse. TV3 boardcast in Dolby Digital and should make the recording better.

Also, do you need a plugin of VLC to play the mpeg file? Or the standard VLC player handles the mpeg file perfectly?

Thanks!

Sorry, I mean it should make the recording bigger, not better...

DaMo73

121 posts

Master Geek

#492253 11-Jul-2011 23:10

BraaiGuy: The Dish T1020 is a Freeview approved product. Its even listed on their website. Wonder if freeviewtv do any tests before approving a product? If so, surely they too would have picked up on this!

Freeview is just a banner for the networks. The set top box makers are the ones who should ensure their products do what the public expects them to and clearly Dish TV isn't living up to that.

If you feel this box isn't living up to the expectations that you would expect it to, I would contact Consumer Affairs and lodge a complaint.

Hell, even get Fair Go on the case if you feel it's worth it.

giollarnat

138 posts

Master Geek

#492494 12-Jul-2011 15:19

i think the difficulty is with this t1020 that it started out as a freeview stb not a MyFreeviewHD (which it still is not - no integrated hdd).

and the usb PVR function has only been added recently via firmware upgrade. so it's all still being tested and updated.

if you give the dishtv support line a call the tech support guy (Craig?) is onto it.

Anyway having said all that I've tried 2 different external IDE HDDs both full formatted with guiformat in FAT32 to no avail. T1020 won't recognise them just registers the USB device plugging in and out. One of their people said that older IDEs are iffy for the t1020 because of slower read/write (he didn't seem too clear on this) but a SATA hdd should do the trick fine.
(And yet someone here has posted success with IDE drive - i feel left out LOL)

So i'm waiting on a 2nd hand SATA enclosure to test out a recent 2tb drive. I know it works well with my 8gb usb flash drive but that aint gonna get me far eh... It is annoying to have 600gb worth of IDE drives sitting idle in their nice enclosures.

Anyone have a trick up their sleeve to get it to recognise your IDE HDD?

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#492531 12-Jul-2011 15:47

Anyone have a trick up their sleeve to get it to recognise your IDE HDD?

This may sound stupid but have u tried resetting the unit via the front on/off switch while the usb drive is switched on and connected? Strangely I have found this being more reliable than actually powering on/off the unit by unplugging it from the wall.

giollarnat

138 posts

Master Geek

#492556 12-Jul-2011 16:21

yeah thanks. when i do that it just lists itself as "init" initializing the drive i suppose, for quite a while, and once finished still won't recognise it.

do you know what size of sector you FAT32 formatted your drive with?

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#492580 12-Jul-2011 18:03

giollarnat: i think the difficulty is with this t1020 that it started out as a freeview stb not a MyFreeviewHD (which it still is not - no integrated hdd).

and the usb PVR function has only been added recently via firmware upgrade. so it's all still being tested and updated.

Not true. I bought mine with the old firmware, my old manual even explains the USB PVR on pg 45 - 46. I updated the firmware recently.

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Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#492581 12-Jul-2011 18:04

giollarnat: yeah thanks. when i do that it just lists itself as "init" initializing the drive i suppose, for quite a while, and once finished still won't recognise it.

do you know what size of sector you FAT32 formatted your drive with?

No idea, will let you know

AKLWestie

641 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#492641 12-Jul-2011 20:30

giollarnat: i think the difficulty is with this t1020 that it started out as a freeview stb not a MyFreeviewHD (which it still is not - no integrated hdd).

and the usb PVR function has only been added recently via firmware upgrade. so it's all still being tested and updated.

if you give the dishtv support line a call the tech support guy (Craig?) is onto it.

Anyway having said all that I've tried 2 different external IDE HDDs both full formatted with guiformat in FAT32 to no avail. T1020 won't recognise them just registers the USB device plugging in and out. One of their people said that older IDEs are iffy for the t1020 because of slower read/write (he didn't seem too clear on this) but a SATA hdd should do the trick fine.
(And yet someone here has posted success with IDE drive - i feel left out LOL)

So i'm waiting on a 2nd hand SATA enclosure to test out a recent 2tb drive. I know it works well with my 8gb usb flash drive but that aint gonna get me far eh... It is annoying to have 600gb worth of IDE drives sitting idle in their nice enclosures.

Anyone have a trick up their sleeve to get it to recognise your IDE HDD?

IMO I think they should test the firmware and the recording and playback function before they release the fireware/STB into the market

I was using it with a Western Digital Element 2TB 3.5" harddrive. I think it is actually a SATA drive wrapped by a nice enclosure (at lease I cannot find a 2TB IDE drive from www.wdc.com) and I had exactly the same problem during playback.

If one of their people said older IDE drives don't work, why don't they put this kind of info on their website? It will save a lot of people a lot of time.

AKLWestie

641 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#492643 12-Jul-2011 20:32

do you know what size of sector you FAT32 formatted your drive with?

The WD Element 2TB used had a sector size of 512 bytes (that is what openSUSE said). And the cluster size was 32KB.

AKLWestie

641 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#493192 14-Jul-2011 08:02

BraaiGuy:
AKLWestie:

OK, problem still there and appeared in both the 1News and Shortland street. 1News was a hell of a lot worse though.

Both files were over 4GB in size.

I hooked up the drive to my PC, and played the files in VLC player - Not a problem at all.

The problem therefore is not recorded. And has something to do with playback on the Device.

Interesting!!

Can you tell me what is the extension of the recorded file? Is it .mpeg or .ts?

Good news is that the STB has no problem to record / dump the video stream on the hard drive, so it is only playback problem. Are you going to tell the support guys about this?

By the way, when you play the file back on your PC, is both the audio and video OK? Are they in ysnc?

Thanks!

My email back to support:

This did not solve the problem.
Tonight the glitch appeared in both the 1News and Shortland street recordings.

- Both files were over 4GB in size.

- I hooked up the drive to my PC, and played the files in VLC player - Not a problem at all.

The problem therefore is not recorded. And has something to do with playback on the Device.

As mentioned previously there are a few of us discussing these problems here:

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=86197&page_no=1

It would be good if you guys could contribute because at the moment the agreement is that this device does not work.

Thanks

Have the support people get back to you?

Cheers!

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#493216 14-Jul-2011 09:03

Nope, nothing as yet...

giollarnat

138 posts

Master Geek

#493302 14-Jul-2011 13:06

BraaiGuy:
giollarnat: i think the difficulty is with this t1020 that it started out as a freeview stb not a MyFreeviewHD (which it still is not - no integrated hdd).

and the usb PVR function has only been added recently via firmware upgrade. so it's all still being tested and updated.

Not true. I bought mine with the old firmware, my old manual even explains the USB PVR on pg 45 - 46. I updated the firmware recently.

what i meant was - it isn't certified as a MyfreeviewHD, only a FreeviewHD stb, and it is very quiet about advertising its PVR functionality. For example on the Freeview website it doesn't even mention it on the T1020 page under "features".
I think that this is somewhat intentional in that the DishTV people know that it's far from bug-free yet, letting it go under the radar so that only the committed fiddlers like us will have a shot... using us as beta testers basically... it's a cheap product compared to MagicTV Tivo etc so i don't mind as long as i can get it to work properly some time soon!

thx for the sector info - i tried a few different formats but no joy, it just doesn't like my IDE HDD. so i've just bought a SATA enclosure to try a newer HDD and we'll see how that goes...

giollarnat

138 posts

Master Geek

#493310 14-Jul-2011 13:16

two more things - they are really slow on the email because it goes via customer service... phoning tech support gets you straight through no queues etc.

as for this playback problem - have you tried changing HDMI output settings to lower/higher or native resolution? maybe upscaling the recordings to 1080p or downscaling or something is stuffing things up...?

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#493321 14-Jul-2011 13:31

giollarnat:
BraaiGuy:
giollarnat: i think the difficulty is with this t1020 that it started out as a freeview stb not a MyFreeviewHD (which it still is not - no integrated hdd).

and the usb PVR function has only been added recently via firmware upgrade. so it's all still being tested and updated.

Not true. I bought mine with the old firmware, my old manual even explains the USB PVR on pg 45 - 46. I updated the firmware recently.

what i meant was - it isn't certified as a MyfreeviewHD, only a FreeviewHD stb, and it is very quiet about advertising its PVR functionality. For example on the Freeview website it doesn't even mention it on the T1020 page under "features".
I think that this is somewhat intentional in that the DishTV people know that it's far from bug-free yet, letting it go under the radar so that only the committed fiddlers like us will have a shot... using us as beta testers basically... it's a cheap product compared to MagicTV Tivo etc so i don't mind as long as i can get it to work properly some time soon!

thx for the sector info - i tried a few different formats but no joy, it just doesn't like my IDE HDD. so i've just bought a SATA enclosure to try a newer HDD and we'll see how that goes...

Well mine displays the MyFreeviewHD logo on the front. And its one of the reasons I bought it. I knew it did not have a hard drive but had the option of adding an external drive.

I think the model that is on the freeview website being referenced is the one with old firmware.

I agree that its a cheap product, but it should at least do what its advertised to do.

On the Paceelectronics website there is more information about the PVR features. It even recommends which drives to use. See here:

http://www.paceelectronics.co.nz/products.php?product=Dish-TV-T1020-%252d-Freeview|HD-USB-PVR

Going to be sending the guys at paceelectronics an email too. Hopefully they can also comment.

Let me know how it goes with that SATA Drive.

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