New Freeview HD hardware: eXtra Terrestrial Freeview HD tuner

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176 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 25

#182182 5-Dec-2008 00:46

Jaxson: Did anyone watch Prison Break last night?

Box had a mental last night. Bad pixelation, kept showing that damn powerball dishwasher thing (was this just my box or actually broadcast often?!) Clock stopped working and when I changed channel the banner wouldn't disappear. Turned on and off at the rear power supply but noticed the clock was out again on the front panel this morning.

On a plus note the audio dolby 5.1 was perfect throughout the whole show. In fact I have no problems with this on TV3 as it's in dolby all the time. Issues only on all other channels with the base standard 2 channel audio.

Anyone else watch this show? Cheers.

Can't comment about Prison Break, as I recorded on my analogue hdd recorder, since we still waiting for the pvr software upgrade.

( Pete I ask again, Hows the PVR upgrade coming)

But my clock was out this morning, & yes I have the latest firmware running ( the one to stop this happening )

robjg63

4161 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1427

Subscriber

#182195 5-Dec-2008 07:57

FPR:
Jaxson: Did anyone watch Prison Break last night?

Box had a mental last night. Bad pixelation, kept showing that damn powerball dishwasher thing (was this just my box or actually broadcast often?!) Clock stopped working and when I changed channel the banner wouldn't disappear. Turned on and off at the rear power supply but noticed the clock was out again on the front panel this morning.

On a plus note the audio dolby 5.1 was perfect throughout the whole show. In fact I have no problems with this on TV3 as it's in dolby all the time. Issues only on all other channels with the base standard 2 channel audio.

Anyone else watch this show? Cheers.

Can't comment about Prison Break, as I recorded on my analogue hdd recorder, since we still waiting for the pvr software upgrade.

( Pete I ask again, Hows the PVR upgrade coming)

But my clock was out this morning, & yes I have the latest firmware running ( the one to stop this happening )

My tv3 is always like that. TV1 is occasionally like that.
Box reboots by itself once a day or so. Bad pixelation is a fact of life.
My tv signal is otherwise excellent for VHF/UHF and I've had the strength tested and its very good apparently.

Clock has been fine since the last upgrade.

Found this post yesterday on another forum
http://forum.dtvforum.co.nz/showthread.php?p=3584#post3584
The posted dated 19-11-08 says:

i had one of the original et's before it was downgraded with the nz meheg5 software . the unit worked flawlessly but didnt have epg . i then recieved the later model loaded with the 27/9/08 meheg 5 update .
the timer function disapeared , chanell changing became slower, the unit freezes if left on tv 3 for too long, remote locks up, unit doesnt remember preference changes ie, setting tv3 audio from ac3 to aac, status bar used to show station resolution ie, 1080i and 720p etc.
whoever is writing this software ,and its not only the et that is affected , seems to be experimenting and applying band aids rather than writing good quality software that works,
i think that a lot of the curent crop of stb,s have good hardware but are being handicapted by poorly written middleware,

Hell - I'd love to try the old firmware...
R

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

Jaxson

8172 posts

Uber Geek
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Trusted

#182214 5-Dec-2008 09:02

Watched CSI Miami last night and once again 5.1 audio was perfect. No random powerball pixelation stuff last night since turned off and on again but my clocks out always now, unless I go to the EPG to force it to check the time. CSI Miami was a bit 'pixelated' really at times given it was a HD show but this could be transmission, I can't say.

inichol

29 posts

Geek

#182232 5-Dec-2008 10:23

Hi Jaxson

What do you mean by "random powerball pixelation stuff "?

Sometimes when the picture on my ET breaks up its only part of the picture - like someones head after it suddenly moves.
Sometines it may be just the left part of the picture. Are these the sort of effects you are referring to?

Picture breakups most noticable on TV3 and occasionally TV1. Dont watch the other channels often enough to comment.

PVR must be due in the next day!!! - but noted that Pete has not responed to any other requests for updates on dates.

Ian

Jaxson

8172 posts

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Trusted

#182239 5-Dec-2008 10:44

I had this mental situation where during prison break it kept showing for say 1 sec only the same screen for most of the show and through the ad breaks as well. It was from the ad for the dishwasher powder that has a little red ball in the block. Not sure if it was broadcast like this as part of a promotion to count them (doubt it tho) or if anyone else had this same issue. Reset the power to the box after the show and haven't seen it since. Hence random, it was odd.

robjg63

4161 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1427

Subscriber

#182258 5-Dec-2008 12:21

Jaxson: I had this mental situation where during prison break it kept showing for say 1 sec only the same screen for most of the show and through the ad breaks as well. It was from the ad for the dishwasher powder that has a little red ball in the block. Not sure if it was broadcast like this as part of a promotion to count them (doubt it tho) or if anyone else had this same issue. Reset the power to the box after the show and haven't seen it since. Hence random, it was odd.

If you pull the aerial cable out the unit tends to repeat something from a few seconds before - presumably it has a buffer. Though that buffer should naturally be in constant change - Cant think why you would keep seeing the same bit over again apart from bad software.

I am still hopefull that the hardware in the box (my second) is ok and that there are software issues that cause the reboots/crashes and excess pixelation. In some ways the trend to devices being little computers with software to handle everything, rather than being just a hardwired applicance causes quite a lot issues. At least you can rely on your electric jug and toaster to work (for now).

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

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gibbo

30 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#182261 5-Dec-2008 12:29

gibbo:
Hinko: I am now running Firmware 1.05 16 Nov 08 off KauKau, Wellington.

I have not seen any more green screen flashes, which is good.
The jerky images seem to have vanished now, which is good.

Concerningly I am finding there is now much more depixillation on this new firmware on TV3, seems associated with scene changes - frequently the beginning of a new scene. Did not happen on the older firmware, nothing else changed. Seems like another channel is briefly displayed.

I'd also really appreciate an update on the composite sound issue please Pete. In the continuing absence of any explanation seems to suggest to me that this is a hardware issue.

yeah seeing the depixlation issue as well and its a different media stream breaking in, either an ad or TV3 news reporter feeds. Once it happens will continue all night every 10-15 mins or so. Next time it happens Im going to power cycle the ET unit to see if its potentially an ET fault or the TV3 media stream

Any one else seeing this.

Your powerball issue sounds familar. Im sure its not a poor signal issue either. So perhapes time to post this one up into the generall Freeview forums and see it is just a ET issue or a TV3 issue?

DaveB

1139 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 456
Inactive user

#182339 5-Dec-2008 16:26

gibbo:
Your powerball issue sounds familar. Im sure its not a poor signal issue either. So perhapes time to post this one up into the generall Freeview forums and see it is just a ET issue or a TV3 issue?

I would doubt that it is a TV3 issue as no problems with my Zinny and if there was, I am sure others would have made comment in this thread. I am sure you would be better off keeping the discussion here along with all the other problems this box seems to have.

gibbo

30 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#182397 5-Dec-2008 23:11

Given that your not seeing it on your zinny, then leads me to think it's yet another SW bug, memory management/leak would be my guess and not clearing out old contents. Given that it appears that a power cycle fixes the issue also leads creed to a mem leak, though I have to power cycle my unit once every few days of it just refuses to change channels, clear the volume bar off screen etc etc

wiredr

203 posts

Master Geek

#182427 6-Dec-2008 03:35

gibbo: Given that your not seeing it on your zinny, then leads me to think it's yet another SW bug, memory management/leak would be my guess and not clearing out old contents. Given that it appears that a power cycle fixes the issue also leads creed to a mem leak, though I have to power cycle my unit once every few days of it just refuses to change channels, clear the volume bar off screen etc etc

as i said in post http://forum.dtvforum.co.nz/showthread.php?p=3584#post3584, Porly written software. mine eems to lock up if left on 3 ,changing chan seems to clear the cache or update the epg , which would also explain why there is a soft reboot some times when changing chan.
there is another theory i have which is . the epg data is synced to the ch currently being watched , if the epg data doesnt match the the ch time stamp then the program will try to update the epg, if a new update isnt found then it will keep looking forever, hence the lock up, or an unrequested reboot,
remember i never experienced epg freeze up on the original ET , this problem was introduced after the 27th sept update,
if i am correct then every one using an et with the 21/11 update will have

slow chan changing
slow epg display
random reboot when changing ch
freeze up if left on one ch for more than 6 hours

BadMac

69 posts

Master Geek

#182462 6-Dec-2008 12:11

I have the latest update.

My channel changing is normal (ie same as its always been)
The EPG was always slow on first use, it still is. Seems normal after that.

I have never seen a reboot on channel changing, can you describe it a bit better? is it all channels, of just certain ones?

I used to get frequent lockups, but the last 2 firmwares have made the box rock solid, I leave it on always and the last lockup was last week. I will now leave it on TV3 and see if it locks up for me.

Sorry not much help, but other than the Optical out and occasional breakup issues, mines pretty solid now (I have 3 in various configs).

New World

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rizzo

18 posts

Geek

#182467 6-Dec-2008 12:37

I am still using the bog standard issue, as my attempt to update failed, so I put it on hold till I felt I needed to. So far I am happ I didn't update, as everything has worked fine, however, on starting up last night, I too had a lockup on channel 3. First time it has happened,

Hinko

282 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#182469 6-Dec-2008 12:47

Pete would you please clarify, where you say on the website http://www.satlinknz.co.nz/extra_terrestrial.html:

"Clock inconsistancies when receiver is on standby - Fixed 21 Nov 08 update
Distortion on bottom audio red & white output. Top ones are OK.'

Does that mean you are saying the distortion fix is to use only the top RCA outs?

Does this also mean you regard this audio issue as fixed?

I think in the absence of any response here, it would seem the only conclusion is that there is no further fix coming?

Please kindly clarify this for us.

robjg63

4161 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1427

Subscriber

#182470 6-Dec-2008 12:55

BadMac:
I have the latest update.

My channel changing is normal (ie same as its always been)
The EPG was always slow on first use, it still is. Seems normal after that.
I have never seen a reboot on channel changing, can you describe it a bit better? is it all channels, of just certain ones?
I used to get frequent lockups, but the last 2 firmwares have made the box rock solid, I leave it on always and the last lockup was last week. I will now leave it on TV3 and see if it locks up for me.
Sorry not much help, but other than the Optical out and occasional breakup issues, mines pretty solid now (I have 3 in various configs).

for me(latest firmware and replacement box):
Channel changing ok
EPG ok - though I do find that if you try navigating (ie tomorrow/next week) it tends to cause the box to reboot.
Dont think I have seen it reboot on channel changing recently - but it has.
Every hour or two its inclined to spontaneously reboot all by itself - it always comes back on with the channel it crashed on - so you have to wait about 1 minute after a crash to start watching again. Doesnt matter what channel. Thats either hardware fault or kernel (software crash).

tv3 pixelates much worse than the other channels.

Never had 'the original' firmware to compare against - would love to try it though.

The last firmware upgrade made the signal strength indicator go from 5% to 40-50%.

Is slightly annoying that the sound level on these boxes is quite low and also annoying that when I set tv3 to the mpeg stream (I think thats the slightly louder stream that matches the other channels) it wont remember that setting when you change channels.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

cb1

339 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 44

#182519 6-Dec-2008 19:50

One positive item to report - noticed in the EPG that Base FM was listed, so tried a re-scan of the channels and there it was - a new radio channel!

I've encountered similar problems to those already reported - nice (???) to know others are getting same problems and hopefully will all be sorted out soon. I get
- occasional pixelation
- lock ups (of various flavours - 1) complete lockup , 2) "i" information banner won't go away unless you press exit, can't change channels unless you select the list and choose one). Power reset seems to fix it for a while
- clock problem did seem to be alot better with the 1.05 Nov 21 firmware, but noticed today time was well off what it should be
- signal quality has always 100%, but signal level has increased with latest firmware from 5-10% to 40-50%

Looking forward to the PVR functionality. Is there any further info about recommended compatible USB drives, new manual, etc? I see the new Zinwell model being advertised has 250gb drive.

For the speed of the EPG and Teletext, I was wondering if the data could actually be held in memory and refreshed every hour or so. That would speed up the access. My Philips tv has a 1300 page memory for Teletext and refreshes when you change to a teletext channel, so after 30 secs or so you get instant access to all single pages and those with sub-pages may take a couple of minutes to be stored while it cycles through.

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