MagicTV 3600.. my quick impression report (updated)

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35 posts

Geek

#712605 5-Nov-2012 22:13

lorenzo: Please let us know how your experience with the upgrade goes. I too have similar sounding lockups and self reboots, after a long time with absolutely no issues. I was starting to suspect the original HDD but not so sure and like the modded ffwd frwd too much to change the o/s at this time.

No luck! It died tonight - less than 24 hours after upgrading the firmware. The wife acceptance factor has completely gone out the window! She hates the damn thing and wants it gone. "Get MySky" is all I hear these days! When I say died, it appeared to be recording the news tonight (on the display panel) but the remote wouldn't bring up any interface. It had locked up completely yet again.

I'm composing an email to MagicTV support now to see if they can suggest something. Has anyone else had these problems and was there a resolution? It's a great system if only it would be reliable again.

I didn't mention in my prev post that I also ran the Check-HDD menu item buried in System menu yesterday too. It looked like it was going to take hours so I left the machine running, only to return a couple of hours later and normal tv was showing, so I have no idea if it found and corrected anything or not. I was expecting an on-screen summary.

One other thing, occasionally when I boot the machine it displays a "Hard disk not found" error but then resumes just fine so I have blamed that on a timing issue reading the disk before it's running properly. Could it be an indication of a faulty disk? I am loathe to buy another disk just to try it but I am due to purchase a 2.5" laptop backup disk soon and wondered - can I fit that in place of the 3.5 for a few days test? The SATA connector is universal between the two types isn't it? Can anyone see a problem with that? I know there's some instructions in this thread somewhere about how to format and initialise the new disk so no problems there...

Thanks for any advice!

wklie

191 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 5

Trusted

MagicTV

#712619 5-Nov-2012 22:23

gpf: I am loathe to buy another disk just to try it but I am due to purchase a 2.5" laptop backup disk soon and wondered - can I fit that in place of the 3.5 for a few days test? The SATA connector is universal between the two types isn't it? Can anyone see a problem with that? I know there's some instructions in this thread somewhere about how to format and initialise the new disk so no problems there...

If you're buying the 2.5" HDD anyway, please try it and let us know. In general, 3.5" is recommended and it'd probably not be easy to mount the 2.5" securely inside the Magic TV anyway.

Instructions again:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=62095

lorenzo

91 posts

Master Geek

#712632 5-Nov-2012 23:21

wklie:
lorenzo: I too have similar sounding lockups and self reboots, after a long time with absolutely no issues.

Time to replace the HDD. I personally prefer 3.5" Hitachi (now acquired by Toshiba).

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=62095

Yes seems like that's where it;s heading

evanh

152 posts

Master Geek

#712648 6-Nov-2012 02:25

Yep, the lockup's have been getting more common for me lately too. I've been surviving on regularly turning off the power switch at the back - definitely fixes the freezes temporarily. Sometimes the menus become sluggish, I know it's due a power cycle when this occurs.

It may be due to HDD fragmentation. Mine is almost full again and I've been editing (shortening) many old recording to make space for the newer ones.

I'm about to fit a 2TB HDD so should notice a distinct improvement if this hypothesis holds any water.

Tracymac

14 posts

Geek

#712736 6-Nov-2012 10:40

I have also been experiencing it MTV3600 freezing and the only way to fix is to switch off at the back and turn back on. Only problem is if it's recording at the time, it will interrupt the recording.

I've just downloaded firmware 3.18. How do you get notifications that there is a new firmware to download?

Tracymac

14 posts

Geek

#712737 6-Nov-2012 10:42

Also I am not technologically minded so have no idea what all this other stuff you are doing to your magic TV's is all about. I just hope like heck it will right itself. Have contacted support via email a couple of times and they seem good to deal with.

Do you think the 3600 will eventually crap itself? I think we have had our one for about 2 years.

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Jimmy22

377 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 40

#712753 6-Nov-2012 10:59

i have my unit on a timer , it shuts off from 130am till 630am to save the 25w it draws for nothing even while "off" but i guess im giving it a reset and cool off period too. i switched off live pause a long while back and have overlap's set at 2mins so it falls in the cache without locking itself up over a conflict.

Tracymac

14 posts

Geek

#712804 6-Nov-2012 12:08

I see there is a timer standby and tried it once, but according to my husband who was still watching it at the time, it didn't turn off (it wasn't recording either).

Isn't timer standby the same as turning it off via the remote? I try to turn magic tv off every time I'm not using it.

Jimmy22

377 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 40

#712830 6-Nov-2012 12:31

my timer is an external product so it fully powers down the product , the timer on the MTV3600 is next to useless as it sits in standby at 25w and runs full steam at 35 ish from memory. only the 3700 has real power saving features IMO

rosswakelin

15 posts

Geek

#712831 6-Nov-2012 12:31

This is just another "me too" for the 3600 lockup issue.
My 3600 is quite old, I bought it when they first came out. Every 10 days or so it refuses to
bring up the menu, and the only fix is to power cycle it using the mains switch, and then its fine
again.
Are we looking at a component age issue here? My system stays "warm" 24 hrs a day, so is
something (motherboard capacitor maybe?) starting to show a lifecycle problem?

nigelb999

37 posts

Geek

#712855 6-Nov-2012 13:01

At the moment I keep my MagicTV 3700 on all the time, but I'm now thinking about turning it off each night before I go to bed in order to save power and give the unit a rest (cool down period).

When I read the manual it says there are 3 standby modes Fast Startup, Energy Saving, and All Off. I want to keep it on Fast Startup mode - that way it will display a picture a few seconds after powering up.

If I turn the unit off via the remote control before going to bed, will MagicTV automatically start up and record programmes that have been scheduled for the early hours of the morning (while the unit has been switched off)?

Is it a good idea to turn it periodically turn it off when not in use? Does anyone have any experience of that, or any known advantages of leaving it on all the time instead?

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Tracymac

14 posts

Geek

#712872 6-Nov-2012 13:23

Nigel, yes I turn mine off every night via the remote and it always starts up to record the programmes set (and I think turns off again?). It wouldn't if you turned it off via the switch at the back.

Menu not coming up annoys the living daylights out of me!!! I get so mad, ha ha. Once I pressed the guide button so many times it froze..... maybe thats when the freezing started? Has caused a few arguments with hubbie too as he thinks I cant' use the remote, it's all my fault and takes it off me... makes me madder. (laughing now at these memories, so silly to fight over something like this!)

Jimmy22

377 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 40

#712894 6-Nov-2012 13:47

magic tv remotes are also rubbish and last a year maybe before most used buttons begin to die. Harmony remote is the best replacement i know of . i believe ALL power down modes are OK for recording start up , just need to allow extra time e.g. 2 mins to allow the box to power up

The lowest power mode uses .3w or something like that , all others are in the tens of watts , but i believe it works perfectly to record, why not make up a bogus recording during the weekend and test it out while you are watching , but make sure you ask it to fire up 2 mins early!!

PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#713082 6-Nov-2012 18:44

nigelb999: At the moment I keep my MagicTV 3700 on all the time, but I'm now thinking about turning it off each night before I go to bed in order to save power and give the unit a rest (cool down period).

When I read the manual it says there are 3 standby modes Fast Startup, Energy Saving, and All Off. I want to keep it on Fast Startup mode - that way it will display a picture a few seconds after powering up.

If I turn the unit off via the remote control before going to bed, will MagicTV automatically start up and record programmes that have been scheduled for the early hours of the morning (while the unit has been switched off)?

Is it a good idea to turn it periodically turn it off when not in use? Does anyone have any experience of that, or any known advantages of leaving it on all the time instead?

It creates confusion to start discussing the 3700 in this thread.

Could such discussions be kept in the 3700 thread please?

theoldfarter

235 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 21

ID Verified

#713102 6-Nov-2012 19:18

Jimmy22: i have my unit on a timer , it shuts off from 130am till 630am to save the 25w it draws for nothing even while "off" but i guess im giving it a reset and cool off period too. i switched off live pause a long while back and have overlap's set at 2mins so it falls in the cache without locking itself up over a conflict.

What happens to the current time setting? Does the 3600 hold its time & date when there is no power to it?
Also, is there no effect to the timers you have set?

What's this 2 minutes overlap you mention?
What's the difference between having the live pause on or off?

I have had the 3600 for approx 18 months and have had no lock ups, yet.
I am using firmware v3.16 with the 1 minute jump forward/8 second jump back modification.

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