MagicTV 3600.. my quick impression report (updated)

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

1 | ... | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | ... | 92

12 posts

Geek

#531784 11-Oct-2011 09:08

With regard to the problem with buttons on the remote - this happened to the play button on our remote. Since it was within one year of putchase (just!) I got a new remote from the distributer on the condition that I returned the faulty remote and providing they fund no evidence of misues I didn't have to pay for it.

The replacement remote works fine.

ChrisNZL

311 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 29

#531860 11-Oct-2011 11:40

Thanks for the replies. Fiddling with it some more, seems like if I hold down a button for just over 1 second it goes through. I guess the box just no longer responds from the moment the button is pressed? *shrug*

Wish it was instant like it used to be but oh well, seems good enough I suppose. Cheers.

Creator of Tallowmere. Working on Tallowmere 2.

Jimmy22

377 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 40

#531864 11-Oct-2011 11:50

ChrisNZL: Thanks for the replies. Fiddling with it some more, seems like if I hold down a button for just over 1 second it goes through. I guess the box just no longer responds from the moment the button is pressed? *shrug*

Wish it was instant like it used to be but oh well, seems good enough I suppose. Cheers.

eventually the remote will stop entirely if it is the same issue as mine , i took a few months to finally stop, then i "lost the ruth" and split it/cleaned it with amazing results. Funny, it almost seemed better than new :) . if you have a learning remote try copying the command and see if the learning remote works better , if it does you know your remote has got crap in the contacts like mine and several others have had.

JefWright

85 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#531866 11-Oct-2011 11:51

ChrisNZL: Thanks for the replies. Fiddling with it some more, seems like if I hold down a button for just over 1 second it goes through. I guess the box just no longer responds from the moment the button is pressed? *shrug*

Wish it was instant like it used to be but oh well, seems good enough I suppose. Cheers.

That doesn't sound like something I'd be happy to *shrug* ;-).
There are a few things that could be going on. The remote or the MTV might be intermittent or somehow "laggy". You can often hear a remote control operating if you hold it near an AM radio tuned off station; that might give you an idea whether its the remote not sending reliably or the MTV not receiving reliably.

Jimmy22

377 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 40

#531867 11-Oct-2011 11:53

all video cameras and cell phones ? can see infrared so i just do that to have a look ;)

edit : Yep my phone camera can see the remote working :)

ChrisNZL

311 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 29

#531874 11-Oct-2011 11:58

Jimmy22: all video cameras and cell phones ??can see infrared so i just do that to have a look?;)

edit :? Yep my phone camera can see the remote working :)? ?

Very clever! It is the remote then, not the box.

If it becomes completely unusable, I know what to tackle now. Thanks!

Creator of Tallowmere. Working on Tallowmere 2.

Mighty Ape

Shop now at Mighty Ape (affiliate link).

lorenzo

91 posts

Master Geek

#531941 11-Oct-2011 13:39

Worst come to Worst - there is a guy selling the Magic remotes for $65 on Trade me

latimers

54 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#531997 11-Oct-2011 16:31

I've just received the following in an e-mail from Maori TV as an explanation of what happened on the RWC quarter-final weekend:

"Our freeview report generated the one series ID which is why the 2nd game did not record as it was the same as the first game. According to Freeview, programmes with same series ID are picked up as REPEATS therefore they will not record."

They are trying to make sure it doesn't happen again!

Jimmy22

377 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 40

#532010 11-Oct-2011 16:50

new program = human error factor it seems.
So how do we combat this ?
Check our own "to record" schedules a bit more closely perhaps ? i mean that is the only way we can be sure it wont happen again to us .

I think ill scan my to records every sunday evening for the week .

heheh the new tech seems to just multiply the error rather than make it fool proof. Now at least you know 100's of others have missed out too, and sky probably have some one audit the code they are given and do these tweaks , but i have seen it happen on sky too. I canned my sky thanks to them not doing a proper job of this on the kids channel , which was very important to the smaller member of the family and rubbed off on me , they didnt get that 50% of the reason i had the box was to give my wee one the latest toons, as good a reason as any to go magic..

latimers

54 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#532019 11-Oct-2011 17:10

I'm not sure there is a water-tight way to combat it. Hopefully Maori TV will be more careful in future.

My strategy will be if I notice anything like more than one programme getting an [R] when I set one to non-series record or if a completely unrelated programme gets an [S] when I set a programme to series record, I'll be onto the TV station involved right away (and I now have contact details for Maori TV, the only station that I've had a problem with).

My back-up strategy is to also set my Play TV to record if it's an important (to me) programme. Problem with that is, the Play TV EPG only has the next few hours' programmes for TV3 and Prime (and others).

bfginger

1331 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 192

#533553 14-Oct-2011 23:30

SCUBADOO:
2lostkiwis: Here's an update as requested. It's the same as the last except it changes the skip forwards and backwards to 4 minutes.

Thank you. The perfect combination.

With only two skipping keys I would not say there is any perfect solution. Different people use the PVR in different ways and ad breaks do vary in length.

The reason I motioned for 5 min backwards and 4 minutes forwards is because although the majority of advert breaks are 4 minutes a significant minority of them are now 3 minutes long, if not shorter, especially on the non Mediaworks channels. The 1 min difference between backwards and forwards lets you move back a minute or move to any specific minute with a multiple key press (which is easier than it sounds). I have seen TV1 go a whole hour with only one 4min ad break which doesn't sit well with 4/4mins.

I was going to make the 4 minute request but did not want to hassle you too much.

Well done.

I don't like to either,Most of us don't have the time or inclination to keep hacking a device until the network interface light does Morse code.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

ChrisNZL

311 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 29

#533557 14-Oct-2011 23:57

Would be great if you could set the number of minutes to skip in the options somehow :\

Creator of Tallowmere. Working on Tallowmere 2.

JefWright

85 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#533848 15-Oct-2011 22:31

ChrisNZL: Would be great if you could set the number of minutes to skip in the options somehow :\

I'm just so grateful to be able to skip now. The details almost don't matter.

The way I've heard this done on similar devices is during playback the number keys skip by that number of minutes (perhaps less a couple of seconds to allow for "oh yeah the ads" reaction time). When you get this wrong, you'd need a way to skip backward - perhaps by a little over a minute would be most common?

Cheers, Jef.

bfginger

1331 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 192

#533873 16-Oct-2011 00:22

The main problem with making the skip-backwards button go back 1 minute is that it becomes unusable for moving back through large portions of the recording - the advantage of 5mins back / 4mins forwards as you can both jump back 5mins, as well as jump back a minute by pressing both buttons. The old beta firmware had 6mins back / 10mins forwards and it was quite easy to jump forwards 4 minutes that way.

Nutts

65 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 8

#533928 16-Oct-2011 10:58

I find the 1 minute skip fd and 8 sec bk very good by using a programmable remote. These settings allow for great manipulation. I have set up one button that gives 4 x fd commands and the standard skip fd button is still 1 minute. I use that one for progammes that have 3 minute ad breaks. The bk 8 sec I have found a little short so I have the skip bk sending it twice. (16 sec)
My daughter has a Magic as well and she use's the magic remote. I have programmed the input button on that to do two commands. If you put it in learning mode to learn a command and send it two (one after the other very quickly) it will lean them both. I have not tried more than two with the magic remote but with the programmable harmony I have managed to get one key to learn 4 commands as if it was one. So it sends 1 minute skip fd 4 times one after the other by pushing the button once. Remember it is sending 4 commands so is not instant. Takes about a second to get them all sent so the remote has to be pointed at the magic for a touch longer that just sending the one command.
Some Harmony remotes allow sequencing as does mine but that is very slow by comparison sending the commands and I am not using that feature in this case.
Just thought this might be of use to s few out there.

Cheers

M

1 | ... | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | ... | 92