MagicTV36000 Problems

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Jayne

12 posts

Geek

#139318 4-Feb-2014 19:27

Hi,
I have a MagicTV box and it has the latest hardware on it but I seem to have never-ending issues with recording.
Take today for instance, it was set up to record 4 programs this afternoon.
At 6.30 I turned on the TV and had no picture (this happens a lot). We have managed to deduce that if this happens the Magic Box is usually recording something and our only option is to turn the box off and on again which always looses us our recordings.
I understand the loss of the recording isn't supposed to happen?

We noticed the Magic Box appeared to be stuck on 4mins and was not moving so we realised that we had no choice but to switch it off and on again.
Upon doing this, I checked for the programs that were set up to record today and the first one only recorded for 4 mins at midday, so the unit had been stuck like this since midday and nothing else had recorded.
This happens ALL the time.

Now the other issue we have is that usually all problems with MagicTV happen when Prime TV is involved. Today, the TV was on Prime from when we turned it off last night.
If we are recording 2 programs at once, we better not be on Prime or we cannot change channels.
If something is setup to pre-record and we're watching Prime, we cannot change. If we're watching another channel and we have something set to record on Prime, Magic changes the channel to Prime right in the middle of what we were watching and we can't change back!
This only happens with Prime.

I am incredibly frustrated as you can imagine.

Hoping someone can help me please?

Thanks,
Jayne

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457 posts

Ultimate Geek

#980280 4-Feb-2014 19:36

With the 'No picture' issue just try unplugging and plugging in the HDMI cable. I have this once every couple of weeks and with mine it's just a 'handshake' issue.

Jayne

12 posts

Geek

#980326 4-Feb-2014 21:14

Thank you for that. Will try that. it won't fix the Magic Box issues though will it?

wklie

191 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

MagicTV

#980341 4-Feb-2014 21:51

1. MTV3600TD was introduced in 2009 and has already been superceded by MTV3700TD in 2011, so the MTV3600TD does not have the latest hardware.

2. If HDMI frequently has no picture, try using component ouput instead of HDMI, i.e. red/green/blue video cable + white/red audio cable.

3. Turning the rear switch to off when the Magic TV is recording corrupts the HDD and is not recommended. The more corruption you have the more recording/playback problems you'll experience.

4. If recording gets stuck all the time, try to do a Settings -> Recording -> Advanced -> Check and Repair HDD. Also turn Settings -> Recording -> Timeshift -> Instant Rewind to off. If problem persists consider having the HDD and/or the power supply replaced.

5. MTV3600TD has two tuners. If your 2 recordings are on two different muxes, you can't watch the third mux, and Magic TV will automatically switch you away from what're watching to honor the bookings you made if necessary, and this is normal behavior (because the hardware does not have three tuners). If your 2 recordings are on the same mux but the Magic TV refuses to switch to a second mux, one of your twin tuner hardware has failed and therefore the Magic TV fallback to single-tuner mode.

LUMIN Network Music Player, Magic TV New Zealand and Australia firmware lead

Jayne

12 posts

Geek

#980406 4-Feb-2014 23:02

Hello,
Thank you for your answer.

Latest hardware is the wrong description/words maybe then. I have downloaded and installed updates from the Magic TV website. I thought that was updating the hardware.

I understand about the 3 channels and being unable to change to another one when recording 2, maybe I described that one wrongly. But all these issues only happen when Prime TV is being used. It does not seem to interrupt viewing when Prime is not involved but maybe that's just coincidental? We have obviously had this box for a few years.

We will have a look at the cables and see what's going where and perhaps change them around like you suggest.

I will do the Check and Repair and the Instant Rewind that you suggest.

We did not know that turning the Magic Box off corrupts the HDD. We found we had no choice but to do this. Is there another way to deal with it when it's non-responsive please?

Thank you very much for No.5, it explains very well how the box works and makes complete sense to me.

Thank you again very much for your help. Hopefully we'll have some better luck in the future.

Jayne

Jayne

12 posts

Geek

#980556 5-Feb-2014 10:55

There were no errors in the HDD and I have turned Time shift to off.

butlerboy

457 posts

Ultimate Geek

#980570 5-Feb-2014 11:06

Jayne: I have turned Time shift to off.

While having the timeshift is handy it does tie up one of the tuners constantly as it's always recording the channel you're on for 'x' amount of time(2-3 hours I think) so you may end up with conflicts in the schedule. Hopefully you get your issues sorted. I've had my MagicTV 3600 for about 5 years now and it's still probably the best MyFreeview recorder around besides the newer 3700.

butlerboy

457 posts

Ultimate Geek

#980571 5-Feb-2014 11:08

Jayne: Hello,
Latest hardware is the wrong description/words maybe then. I have downloaded and installed updates from the Magic TV website. I thought that was updating the hardware.
Jayne

Your mean 'software'

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Jayne

12 posts

Geek

#980574 5-Feb-2014 11:19

Thank you, yes I do

I don't usually make that mistake!

Jayne

12 posts

Geek

#980575 5-Feb-2014 11:21

butlerboy:
Jayne: I have turned Time shift to off.

While having the timeshift is handy it does tie up one of the tuners constantly as it's always recording the channel you're on for 'x' amount of time(2-3 hours I think) so you may end up with conflicts in the schedule. Hopefully you get your issues sorted. I've had my MagicTV 3600 for about 5 years now and it's still probably the best MyFreeview recorder around besides the newer 3700.

Thank you, I think I've had mine about that amount of time too! I appreciate your input :)

B1GGLZ

1961 posts

Uber Geek

#980643 5-Feb-2014 12:38

butlerboy:
Your mean 'software'

Actually its "Firmware"

Jayne

12 posts

Geek

#980652 5-Feb-2014 12:49

Oh dear... Haha

Well whatever it is, I downloaded and installed it!

bfginger

1267 posts

Uber Geek

#981054 5-Feb-2014 22:56

I have a MagicTV box and it has the latest hardware on it but I seem to have never-ending issues with recording.

Go into Settings, System, System Info and check that you have the 3.18 firmware installed.

Take today for instance, it was set up to record 4 programs this afternoon.
At 6.30 I turned on the TV and had no picture (this happens a lot). We have managed to deduce that if this happens the Magic Box is usually recording something and our only option is to turn the box off and on again which always looses us our recordings.
I understand the loss of the recording isn't supposed to happen?

I'm not sure what is happening there but as the others said, plug in the supplied YPbPr component cables. That means three AV cables for video and two for audio, and try setting the Magic TV's video output format to 1080i50. HDMI has better quality but it's tricky and prone to all kinds of handshake problems that analogue isn't. You will need to switch to the component input on the TV so try temporarily unplugging the HDMI cable if you're not sure.

If your TV is an LCD you should turn overscan off to improve the picture quality. If it has an inbuilt Freeview tuner it won't need the Magic TV for watching broadcasts.

If the Magic TV has crashed when the recording started you won't have any recordings and the display picture will either be blank or freeze-framed. If it crashed during recording, the partial recording should still be there after restarting. There is a little switch on the back for turning off and on - if it crashes, use this instead of the wall switch. Don't turn the Magic TV off unless it's in standby if you can help it.

Try deleting unwanted recordings from the "Trash" manually instead of relying on the Magic TV to delete them when a new recording begins.

The 3600 doesn't have a true standby mode so restarting the box every so often like once per week may reduce the likelihood of crashes. You can do this by going to Settings, System, Restart.

The Magic TV doesn't have any cooling fan so I think some units could be sensitive to overheating in some cases. The timeshift feature runs the HDD constantly which increases heat. You can set the Magic TV to automatically go to sleep (standby mode) after 3 hours of inactivity, and set it to automatically enter standby after it's finished recording (unless prompted otherwise). Check that it's in a well-ventilated spot. You could put it on little blocks so there's more airflow underneath.

B1GGLZ

1961 posts

Uber Geek

#981097 6-Feb-2014 08:49

bfginger:

I'm not sure what is happening there but as the others said, plug in the supplied YPbPr component cables. That means three AV cables for video and two for audio, and try setting the Magic TV's video output format to 1080i50. HDMI has better quality but it's tricky and prone to all kinds of handshake problems that analogue isn't. You will need to switch to the component input on the TV so try temporarily unplugging the HDMI cable if you're not sure.

If your TV is an LCD you should turn overscan off to improve the picture quality. If it has an inbuilt Freeview tuner it won't need the Magic TV for watching broadcasts.

If the Magic TV has crashed when the recording started you won't have any recordings and the display picture will either be blank or freeze-framed. If it crashed during recording, the partial recording should still be there after restarting. There is a little switch on the back for turning off and on - if it crashes, use this instead of the wall switch. Don't turn the Magic TV off unless it's in standby if you can help it.

Try deleting unwanted recordings from the "Trash" manually instead of relying on the Magic TV to delete them when a new recording begins.

The 3600 doesn't have a true standby mode so restarting the box every so often like once per week may reduce the likelihood of crashes. You can do this by going to Settings, System, Restart.

The Magic TV doesn't have any cooling fan so I think some units could be sensitive to overheating in some cases. The timeshift feature runs the HDD constantly which increases heat. You can set the Magic TV to automatically go to sleep (standby mode) after 3 hours of inactivity, and set it to automatically enter standby after it's finished recording (unless prompted otherwise). Check that it's in a well-ventilated spot. You could put it on little blocks so there's more airflow underneath.

Gosh, if you have to keep doing all that all the time then the unit is hardly "fit for the purpose". My Panasonic BWT720 runs 24/7 and I've never experienced any of these problems. Never missed a recording except due to EPG stuff-ups by the broadcaster (so I regularly check any recording schedule now or use timer recording if doubtful) and never had it crash while recording or at any other time. Only time I've ever had to do a cold start in the last 12 months was once when the network connection disappeared after a power brown-out and wouldn't re-establish after the modem/router came back on. The only other cold starts were due to power outages.

Jayne

12 posts

Geek

#987446 14-Feb-2014 18:54

Thanks for your replies. I always switch the box off on the box not the wall. Had to do it again today as recoding froze at mid-day and couldn't get a picture, again, on the TV.
I will try to have a go with the cables you talk about but I am having a bit of an issue understanding what to do. :)
I have a plasma TV.
But I must agree with the comment above about this unit being hardly fit for the purpose. :) it shouldn't be this hard or be such a problem.
Thank you,
Jayne

wklie

191 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

MagicTV

#987491 14-Feb-2014 19:42

recoding froze at mid-day

Frequent freezes during recording and/or playback usually means there are hardware problems. The most likely culprit being a failing HDD.

This thread talks about replacing the HDD:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=62095

LUMIN Network Music Player, Magic TV New Zealand and Australia firmware lead

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