Ultraplus 700HDMI How does it rate?

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › Ultraplus 700HDMI How does it rate?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

727 posts

Ultimate Geek

#483222 20-Jun-2011 15:24

Please, users, place only feedback if the set is not faulty as we do not sell product with crashing issues.
We frequently get individual feedback not based on facts and this is shedding a bad light on all the other, perfectly working units, as it happened to our UltraPlus 980, at the moment the best HD single tuner receiver in NZ without any doubt. Cheers

If you REALLY want to open this dialogue again, I'm happy to oblige.

The first 980HD I got was indeed faulty. It would not turn on from the remote control reliably.
When I returned it, the next two off the shelf wouldn't turn on at all!

When I finally got one that at least started up, I was able to enjoy discovering dozens of flaws ranging from the trivial to the horrendous.

Here are a few:

Crashes and lock-ups!
- could be: on stopping playback; on stopping 1 of 2 current recordings; on playing some media types, including downloaded commercial movie trailers where encoding could be expected to be correct; could be when recording to a WD Elements drive; when copying to the unit over a network while recording is underway; or just in normal operation - boom - dead in the water.

Impossible to overlap recordings from the same service. Hey - at least that was one step ahead of the first unit I got that had shipped with obsolete firmware meaning it could not record two events simultaneously as advertised at all!

Oh - this one is a doozy!
Set a program to record using the EPG, and sometimes you'll get whatever was on 12 hours earlier instead. Hey no problem - we'll watch Teletubbies instead of Outrageous Fortune.

While on the subject of the EPG - there are major inconsistencies between the graphical EPG and the timer list, and incorrect calendar timer entries.

Checking the EPG in single service mode can cause the tuner to switch services unnecessarily.

A paused replay will restart if a timed recording starts.
A replay may also stop erroneously when a recording starts sometimes.

Oh - and don't delete a service whatever you do, or every timer for a higher indexed service will end up recording the wrong thing.

Recording to a network device? Don't be surprised if your recording overruns as the way the unit measures elapsed time is unreliable.

Files are chopped into 4GB chunks even when a Linux file system is used where this is not a restriction.
On which topic - don't expect to format a drive using the 980HD and then move it to your computer to access the files on it. It's not documented anywhere, but I think the format used is JFS. Life would be a lot easier if EXT2 or EXT3 had been chosen.

And a few trivial items:
The front panel LED does not work as described in the documentation, or, indeed, at all.
Many of the on-screen messages are close to gibberish.
The virtual keyboard is terribly awkward to use.
The "Standby Power" menu item is in a ridiculous place, in the A/V output setting section.

Etc, etc,etc ad nauseam.

Anyone apart from Ultrapower think these are "one-off" faults affecting a single unit?
Anyone apart from me think this smacks of an under-developed product rushed to market?

UltraPower

40 posts

Geek

#483230 20-Jun-2011 15:41

You are the only person I know who placed lot of negative feedback about the 980HD on this site however I asked you to contact us but you did not, I was informed you have received a refund and you don;t have this product anymore . Just by clicking on your comments on this site I can only see lot of attacks on our product. Those plenty of issues which you mentioned on the site do not exist in our product.Product is always sold out without any complaint, I repeat again we have one set faulty out of 800sets same as with UltraPlus 900 and UltraPlus 700HDMI Sorry mate you need to contact us if you need any answer and 980HD is not relevant here.Cheers

NZCrusader

646 posts

Ultimate Geek

#483246 20-Jun-2011 16:17

UltraPower: Minuses:
USB recording is very badly implemented. It ships with time slip recording enabled so that you always have
the last 2 hours or whatever time you specify available for replay, This is great except that the
unit will frequently crash during record. This feature can be turned off.
Also, timed recordings will invariably cause crashes.

Hi there,

your set is obviously faulty , please contact your dealer or us to fix it . We are sorry that it happened to your unit, however, you should asked us if that is normal before you place such negative feedback and we could have taken care of it.

Please, users, place only feedback if the set is not faulty as we do not sell product with crashing issues.
We frequently get individual feedback not based on facts and this is shedding a bad light on all the other, perfectly working units, as it happened to our UltraPlus 980, at the moment the best HD single tuner receiver in NZ without any doubt. Cheers

UltraPower.

Just reading through this thread, you don't really seem to take negative feedback very well.

If you are going to provide a service or a product, you have got to take the good with the bad.
Not everything you do will be perfect, or at least perfect to everyone. Fact of life.

Not only that, but also feedback is feedback. If the product is faulty / crashing etc. Then perhaps you need to take a closer look at the parts or software used, or manufacturing processes. If someone has had a difficult experience with your product. Then that is the feedback they will have.

Also if you are going to talk your product up, then you cant just dismiss issues or downsides people have found with your product.

It literally means that there is still room for improvement & instead of turning a blind eye, act upon it & help yourself to make a better product.

You just to be saying:

"Ok guys we will accept any feedback, as long as it is ONLY good feedback".

Change the tune imo.

-My feedback on your posts.

NZ / AU Battlefield 4 Gaming Community
http://www.sonsofvalour.net/forums/forum.php

jcddcjjcd

63 posts

Master Geek

#483354 20-Jun-2011 19:38

Well I am glad there have been further comments, lets have more both positive and negative, that is what the thread was for.

I though my comments were very balanced but had noticed generally that Ultrapower is very defensive.
You don't generally see suppliers getting involved in, and trying to own discussions in forums.
I would like to hear from anyone who actually records every night, that is the only way to get an impression of how the unit works in this regard.

I have tried half a dozen makes of set top boxes, it is something I enjoy doing, and I have to say that generally most boxes have some issues.

As has been mentioned, trying to use automatic time settings just doesn't work when you use more than one satellite, say D1 and D2. You have to use manual and since these units don't remember time if turned off and on your are really left with an unreliable way of recording programs.

But lets be realistic, these units are not expensive when compared to say a Panasonic Freeview recorder which for a lot more money does handle all these issues.

I will go to my supplier and ask for an other unit to try and will report back in a couple of weeks.

Regards John.

jcddcjjcd

63 posts

Master Geek

#484565 22-Jun-2011 18:43

No need to wait 2 weeks. I had the unit swapped out and have had enough failures to prove the point.

The two USB sticks I used this time were:
8Gig Adata PD7 200x readyboost which reads about 18MB/s and writes about 6MB/s
16Gig Transcend JetFlash 600 which reads about 30MB/s and writes about 18MB/s
These are real world speeds in Windows 7 so they are pretty good.

The first timed test failed because the unit lost
track of the USB stick. In other words the light on the USB stick is usually on indicating it
has been detected but these units seem to just loose them.

The next two immediate record for 1 hour both failed and had 0 bytes of data. PC format
required.

I wont be bothered testing another but still would love to hear people with a better experience
reporting that here. If you don't plan to record they are a very good box. If I have been unlucky please tell me.

Regards,
John.

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#484783 23-Jun-2011 08:13

Have you tried an actual hard drive instead of a memory stick?

I agree it should work fine but there may be a technical difference between the two. It rings a bell but I can't find any info easily right now on it.

I use a laptop hard drive (seagate ex PS3) in an external enclosure, usb powered, and it seems to work well for me. I use it to record once every 2 weeks, from like 11.50pm through to 3am or so.

I checked the time on my unit the other day and it was still correct, but I think I've gone back in previously and found it was back to Auto instead of Manual. As above I use the Manual time setting to be able to know it's going to start at 11.50pm NZ time and not that time overseas on the other satellite.

I always keep my unit on in standby, never right off at the wall. (There is no physical on/off switch on the unit which is annoying if it locks up!). It's not very eco friendly as it's quite warm, even on standby.

jcddcjjcd

63 posts

Master Geek

#484812 23-Jun-2011 09:29

This is helpful. Maybe it is better with a hard drive. I will give it a try in a couple of days but if anyone else has found this successful please let me know.
I guess the hard drive is spinning all the time or does it tolerate a spin up from a drive that can manage its own standby?
Regards,
John.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#487300 29-Jun-2011 10:13

The clock/time settings are lost with the loss of power but the timer record entries stay, at least for a brief power loss to reset the hung unit. Rather pointless as the clock defaults to 2008 so the timer won't come on for another 3 years...

xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek

#487309 29-Jun-2011 10:35

Isn't the current time reset automatically from transponder data soon after a restart?

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#487386 29-Jun-2011 12:24

xarqi: Isn't the current time reset automatically from transponder data soon after a restart?

Good point, I'll check.
Depends if it defaults to auto time or manual time entry.

Might only be a problem for how I use it.
I set it to manual so I can set a time here in NZ I want it to record.
That way I don't need to know the local time in the country overseas that it's coming from.

xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek

#487395 29-Jun-2011 12:54

Jaxson:
xarqi: Isn't the current time reset automatically from transponder data soon after a restart?

Good point, I'll check.
Depends if it defaults to auto time or manual time entry.

Might only be a problem for how I use it.
I set it to manual so I can set a time here in NZ I want it to record.
That way I don't need to know the local time in the country overseas that it's coming from.

If you're recording from the EPG you shouldn't need to worry. EPG data is in UT I believe, and is displayed based on the time zone setting of the receiver. Mind you, that is for a properly engineered unit, so 'your mileage may vary'.

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#487410 29-Jun-2011 13:56

Yeah unfortunately there is no EPG data for the channel I regularly record, so my situation is a bit different to many. I don't know what local time my show starts in Indonesia, and luckily I don't need to care as I just make sure I start recording at 5am NZ time etc. I guess it all comes down to what you are trying to do with it.

I might try pulling the plug again and see if the unit defaults to auto for time, in which case yes, it should grab it from the satellite. In fact I'm pretty sure it does this, so yeah you're totally right about that. Leave it long enough and it should sync itself. To some degrees this conversation is now not about the UP700 unit specifically sorry.

jcddcjjcd

63 posts

Master Geek

#487446 29-Jun-2011 15:00

If you have more than one satellite, say D1 and D2 then you can't use Auto Time because when you go the the other satellite the time is completely different. The only way is to use manual time and set it every time there has been a power down. This is true of nearly all Set Top Boxes.
Even on one satellite I have found Auto Time to be problematic on nearly all boxes.
Regards,
John.

kiwigull12

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#566164 8-Jan-2012 17:41

I have recently purchased the 700 upgrade (702), and after putting up with a Dish receiver for 3 years, this is light years ahead. However it has a few niggles for me.

1) The remote buttons are awkwardly placed -i.e the fast forward keys down at the bottom of the remote makes it somewhat difficult to handle at times-well most of the time, and it is next to the Pause button, which I often hit instead of the FF button. Placing them higher & apart from each other would be better IMO.

2) When I setup within Time Manager to record a programme it will sometimes-not always start to record about 15minutes before the setup time. It may be that there is a setting that I don't know about that is causing this, but seems odd that it is only occasionally it will do this.

3) Unable to jump through the ads as it does not record chapters like my faithful DVD recorder, so that's when I need to use Fast Forward which is awkward.

4) Have also had a freezing issue twice now-something that all these machines seem to suffer

Otherwise I think it's a great unit, and the added SBS channels I didn't get with the Dish receiver are welcome.

It's a pity that Freeview is losing TVNZ7 this year, and also Stratos has gone I see.

The Dish receiver is now in the trash can where it belongs

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#566200 8-Jan-2012 19:06

kiwigull12: I have recently purchased the 700 upgrade (702)

Isn't the 720 the 'downgrade' that doesn't have the card slot of the 700?

kiwigull12: 3) Unable to jump through the ads as it does not record chapters like my faithful DVD recorder, so that's when I need to use Fast Forward which is awkward.

The time slider bar thingy is your friend here. It allows you to slide forwards and backwards as the actual fast forward/rewind stuff is slow/limited to only a few times faster etc.

The fast forward type buttons don't behave quite 'standardly' which threw me a bit to start with but that time slider thingy sorted most of my issues well.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8