They have gone to a full HD EPG on the 3700 - so the speed is about the same , so they have taken advantage of the increased CPU/GPU speed, it looks really nice in full HD though, if they had stayed with the same resolution as the 3600 it would have quicker - but not a biggy, the FF/RW is better and it now has 1.5x FF,x2 with audio, I have a power meter (It is an Elto) I dont have a 3600, if you can check for standby and in full in use , ie record 2 x channels , playing and moving through the EPG, this should give maxiumum power use aswell, for interest the heatsink is only slightly larger than the CPU/GPU and doesn't cover much of the board
Bob123: They have gone to a full HD EPG on the 3700 - so the speed is about the same , so they have taken advantage of the increased CPU/GPU speed, it looks really nice in full HD though, if they had stayed with the same resolution as the 3600 it would have quicker - but not a biggy, the FF/RW is better and it now has 1.5x FF,x2 with audio, I have a power meter (It is an Elto) I dont have a 3600, if you can check for standby and in full in use , ie record 2 x channels , playing and moving through the EPG, this should give maxiumum power use aswell, for interest the heatsink is only slightly larger than the CPU/GPU and doesn't cover much of the board
I was hoping you might do the standby power test on the 3700 and post the results here. To see how it compares with the hungry behavior of the 3600.
For the EPG then, one assumes that there is two sizes now. I'll get you to force 576i to test for faster scroll on SD outputs.
Will find the power meter this evening , I will check the EPG , but I would assume that they would have to downscale it from the Full HD out , I do find in general that many TV's are a little slow with the EPG, I would certainly only use the the HDMI output for the box , will post the power data later , I have have looked at many many boxes over the years and am always comparing them to others and always looking for the perfect box , some are good some are bad but the Magic ones are still best for HD/REcording and use, I have had the Panasonic 380 on test also and I also like that as a unit , but the HDD is rather limited at 250Gb but in saying that you can also use compression is a space is an issue I put a 2Tb in the 3600 I had and also now the 3700 and hence space is not an issue
Bob123: They have gone to a full HD EPG on the 3700 - so the speed is about the same , so they have taken advantage of the increased CPU/GPU speed, it looks really nice in full HD though, if they had stayed with the same resolution as the 3600 it would have quicker - but not a biggy, the FF/RW is better and it now has 1.5x FF,x2 with audio, I have a power meter (It is an Elto) I dont have a 3600, if you can check for standby and in full in use , ie record 2 x channels , playing and moving through the EPG, this should give maxiumum power use aswell, for interest the heatsink is only slightly larger than the CPU/GPU and doesn't cover much of the board
I was hoping you might do the standby power test on the 3700 and post the results here. To see how it compares with the hungry behavior of the 3600.
For the EPG then, one assumes that there is two sizes now. I'll get you to force 576i to test for faster scroll on SD outputs.
Hi Evanh, EPG in Full HD out of the HDMI and downscaled to simething like 576 lines so it is the same EPG so the speed is the same
Power use in standby (ie clock on display) is 11 watts acording to the Elto power meter - I will test the current draw off mains another day with a proper meter (it should be the same but maybe a little more accurate than the Elto) - I will also see if there is a deeper sleep in the menu
Bob123: Hi Evanh, EPG in Full HD out of the HDMI and downscaled to simething like 576 lines so it is the same EPG so the speed is the same
Power use in standby (ie clock on display) is 11 watts acording to the Elto power meter - I will test the current draw off mains another day with a proper meter (it should be the same but maybe a little more accurate than the Elto) - I will also see if there is a deeper sleep in the menu
That's fine as is. Looks to be about 5 watts less - a definite improvement. Thanks.
A few features from the latest Hong Kong software you could check.
1 Support USB Wi-Fi adapter to access online content.
2 Add Remote control Audio Volume control - if the remote VOL+/- keys are not learned to control TV volume, the remote VOL+/- keys will adjust Magic TVTM audio volume from 0 to 30, default is at the maximum volume 30. - if the VOL+/- keys are learned for controlling TV volume, user can change Magic TV audio volume in Settings->Audio->Volume
3 Added Rename Programme function - in Recorded Program List, user can press "OK" key on a recorded program, select "Rename Programme" to rename a recorded program name. Please use remote key 0-9 to input alphanumeric characters. Once a program is renamed, the original program name is lost.
4 Added Slow Motion and Fast Forward playback with Audio - when the image is paused during timeshift/instant rewind or file playback, press ">>" key will switch between 3/4x, 1/2x, 1/4x and 1/8x Slow Motion playback modes. Please press "play" key to resume normal playback. - added 1.5x Fast Forward mode, and plays audio during 3/4x and 1/2x Slow Motion, and 1.5x and 2x Fast Forward. - user can disable audio playback during Slow Motion and Fast Forward in Settings->Playback Setup->Fast/Slow Forward Audio->On/Off
5 Support Magic TV Remote Control app (free iPhone app) on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad (iOS 3.1.2 or newer) - please get the Magic TV Remote Control app on Apple App Store, or at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/magic-tv-remote/id429349002 - when Magic TV is connected on the same home network (using wired LAN, or USB wi-fi) with iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, Magic TV Remote Control app will find the Magic TV and display a Remote Control interface for user to control the Magic TV. - Magic TV Remote Control app can control multiple Magic TV connected on the same network. - please read this article for more detail operation about Magic TV Remote Control app http://www.avbuzz.com/audio-video/201104/mtv-remote/0.htm
I wonder if the slow-mo modes have the same jumpiness that ff/rw and pause have. It's really frustrating having the Play button suddenly jump a few seconds either way when resuming normal playback.
evanh: CPU clock rate is nearly 3x faster so that really will speed up the menus. One hopes at least!
It may be able to transcode 50Hz to 60Hz much better too which is useful for imported 60Hz TVs and some old CRTs without a usable 1080i50 mode.
Bob123:
fatjulio: On the 3700, do the Kordia channels (eg Prime) still have incorrect video levels? On the 3600 those channels look washed out in comparison to the TVNZ and Media Works channels.
I didn't look at this on the 3600 - was it via the analogue and digital outputs , I actualally did really look at Prime on the 3600 to notice - ideally you would have a test card on all 3 muxes - I am guesing it is small difference you are seeing on the 3600
It isn't small, the difference is huge and it really needs to be fixed. But it probably isn't so noticeable on TVs with bad black levels [i]or[/i] heavy handed internal processing. It should be more noticeable on a CRT or a high end plasma because it sure makes Prime look horrible to me.
With the 3600 there was a bug where if you set the aspect ratio to 4:3 (for non widescreen TVs) and used the "Zoom1" mode which is the semi-letterbox mode, the picture was overstretched horizontally by 5% making it unwatchable. If this bug is still around perhaps you could instigate someone to get this fixed? Because it was a big spoiler for using the MagicTV with a 4:3 TV.
I have been following this thread for the past year or so and learnt a lot about my MagicTV from everyone, so thanks!
Recently ours has started playing up - causing major disturbance to the household harmony :)
It has started randomly skipping segments during recordings. Fast forwarding over them during playback doesn't help and causes even more confusion when jumping backwards to find where we were. It has affected at least 10 recordings in the last month and drives us NUTS. The gaps vary but are usually about 10-15 minutes long. Restarting the unit seems to help any other recording made that night, but we never know what tomorrow's recordings will bring...
Sometimes when the unit is restarting I see a "No HDD" error on the screen but it disppears after about 10 seconds.
Is there anything I can try? I think the firmware is 3.16 - it's the one with 10-forward and 6-back fast-forwarding - providing that magic 4 minute ad skip. I can upgrade the firmware if you think it might solve the problem but the 4 minute skipping would be sorely missed!
One thing I have never tried is to fragment the disk which I think I saw in the menus once, "re-ordering" or whatever they called it. Could this fix the problem? We create and delete about 3 programs everyday, so if it's like a computer disk it could be well fragmented by now.
As a last resort I can bundle it up and send it in for repair but it we rely on it a lot these days and never watch live TV anymore. Any advice greatly received.
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