MagicTV 3600.. my quick impression report (updated)

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118 posts

Master Geek

#713967 8-Nov-2012 09:33

cb1:
Is it possible to format the new 1TB drive in the Magic box, copy files from the 2 partitions from the old drive to new one using a Windows 7 pc (previous posts described using Linux - would have to go via another drive),

I do not think so as Windows (any version) does not read JFS partitions.
If you download linux and burn the image to a CD/DVD, you can boot from the CD/DVD, and you have an option to run linux directly from the CD/DVD, (trial I think) rather than installing it. That way, you can prep the 1TB drive in the MagicTV, then install both that and the old drive in your PC. Boot to linux and run it all from the CD/DVD, and you will not have to worry about damaging your Windows 7 installation. If you are like me and not familiar with Linux, you will have to google some commands to mount the disks as root, and then copy the files across.

cb1:
Maybe run chkdsk while the drive is in the pc to see what it says

Once the drive is installed in your PC, go to the manufacturer's website and they should have a drive testing program. Run that if you have any issues. Hiren's boot CD is a good utility disk that has all those types of programs.

cb1:
What I have noticed is some 'auto restarts' - power on the unit with the remote, shows the picture/sound briefly, then shows a screen that it's going to restart (with an OK, but doesn't give you the chance to press OK) and then powers off and restarts.

I too have been getting this lately. The last time it happened, I turned the MagicTV on and then got side tracked. When I came back, the MagicTV was operating correctly. The restart occured as soon as I pressed the Play button to bring up the list of recorded programs. This was the first button I pressed and I have not had it happen since so cannot comment further.

Mighty Ape

Shop Mighty Ape for electronics, games, computers books and more (affiliate link).

terryr

33 posts

Geek

#713985 8-Nov-2012 09:58

SNAP. My 3600 is also experiencing reboots. For a few weeks now everytime I go to turn it on and then switch TV input to the 3600, it spontaneously restarts/reboots. I initially thought that it was because I was switching input to the 3600 as it was booting up and knowing that HDMI requires a negotiation when starting that maybe it was getting a bit upset (I've always done it this way before and it was OK). So next time I turned on the 3600 well in advance of changing TV input. that seemed to work a couple of times, but the next time I switched the 3600 on it rebooted almost straight away.

I hope we get to the bottom of this and soon. I don't want to rely on the 3600 if indeed a serious flaw is now showing itself! I have the hacked firmware with the skip 4 minutes, which I seriously love and no way am I changing firmware until another hacked version is available!

Dare I say it (and please dont flame me on this) I also have a Tivo. But as it was a gift I'm damn glad I never bought it as it's rubbish! I won't go into detail here as it's not a Tivo discussion, but the "excellent" Magic Box, which although is getting slightly tarnished I'd like to say I still love.

Terry

butlerboy

456 posts

Ultimate Geek

#713989 8-Nov-2012 10:17

interesting, i've been experiencing the same reboot issues for the last month or two. i've just taken to turning it on a few minutes before i need to use it, otherwise it's still running fine. fingers crossed it isn't a sign of anything more serious.

PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#714085 8-Nov-2012 11:40

I went to buy a 1 TB Hitachi Deskstar to upgrade my 3600, but the store was out of stock, so I bought a 1TB WD Blue Caviar instead.
Subsequently, I read in here of possible heat issues with a standard drive and I'm having second thoughts about using this.
I also have available a 1.5 TB WD green caviar which I had bought for another job, and a 2TB Green Seagate Barracuda.
I'm not sure what "green" means in Seagate terminology.

Anyone have any advice on which they think would be the most suitable option?

I could also return my WD blue and exchange it for something else.

veryshort

81 posts

Master Geek

#714106 8-Nov-2012 12:31

Hi Team ,
+1 on the restarts as well it has just started on My 3600 it has just start to throw its toys out of the pram on start up , I have switched from HDMI to Componant and the problem is still there , swapping over my inputs to my tv wont be the source of the problem ... we have emptied the trash bin but my other half has about 60 Progs on the HHD still to watch ... Im running 3.17 without the FFWD hack so its pretty stock .... having read through the few posts of the last week Im picking this is now HDD Related. is it please possible for someone to post step by step instructions on replacing the HDD be it with a higher storage one of the same size , as im having trouble finding that info buried within the forum and through others might benefit from a simple guide being posted .its funny how its just started to fault now we have two of these units { 3600 } and it seems to be the one that gets used the most its around 2yrs old , I look forward to seeing what other might find as well .

Cheers
Andrew W

nickt

86 posts

Master Geek

#714111 8-Nov-2012 12:37

Given the variety of people with different firmware and self-installed drives, perhaps this is related to a change in transmission, eg more computation so they're running hotter. The change of season might be related too. Alternatively, we may just be getting enough accumulated errors as hard disks age.

MurrayM

2324 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#714133 8-Nov-2012 13:23

nickt: Given the variety of people with different firmware and self-installed drives, perhaps this is related to a change in transmission, eg more computation so they're running hotter. The change of season might be related too. Alternatively, we may just be getting enough accumulated errors as hard disks age.

I too was beginning to think that the problem isn't necessarily HDD related, would be a heck of a coincidence if we all started getting HDD errors at once!

Is it possible something has changed in the Freeview transmission that causes the MagicTV to occasionally do this? Perhaps it's receiving something that it isn't expecting? For me it happens when I first turn the MagicTV on (i.e. come out of standby mode), never seems to happen while I'm using the MagicTV, and it doesn't happen always.

butlerboy

456 posts

Ultimate Geek

#714163 8-Nov-2012 14:08

MurrayM: For me it happens when I first turn the MagicTV on (i.e. come out of standby mode), never seems to happen while I'm using the MagicTV, and it doesn't happen always.

same here.

SCUBADOO

170 posts

Master Geek

#714187 8-Nov-2012 15:02

Ditto.

I have had my 3600 for perhaps 3 years?

Started to reboot on power up from standby perhaps 3 months ago.
Repeatable c80%.

Edit: 7600 to 3600 (-:

RingoTB

118 posts

Master Geek

#714188 8-Nov-2012 15:04

PimpMyMagic:
Subsequently, I read in here of possible heat issues with a standard drive and I'm having second thoughts about using this.
I also have available a 1.5 TB WD green caviar which I had bought for another job, and a 2TB Green Seagate Barracuda.
I'm not sure what "green" means in Seagate terminology.

Anyone have any advice on which they think would be the most suitable option?

The 'green' means it is not a 7200 RPM drive. The Seagates are usually 5900RPM and other brands are 5400RPM.

I started out running a 'green' Seagate 5900RPM 2TB drive. I decided it was too big, and downgraded to a 1TB 7200RPM Seagate. yes it gets warm, but I can still hold it on my hand.

Either the 1.5 or the 2TB drives should be fine. I suspect the Seagate will be 5900RPM and the WD will be 5400RPM.

veryshort:
having read through the few posts of the last week Im picking this is now HDD Related. is it please possible for someone to post step by step instructions on replacing the HDD be it with a higher storage one of the same size , as im having trouble finding that info buried within the forum and through others might benefit from a simple guide being posted.

After you replace the hard drive, follow steps 1-5 stated in the owner's guide Rescue Procedure (p.69 of Owners Guide ver 1) to get the unit into rescue mode. (Steps are also below)

1. Visit www.magictv.com/nz/support.html and find the newest version of the firmware (MTV3600TD_(version-number).zip for example).
2. Extract the contents of the zip file and put all files into the root directory of a USB storage device (a thumbdisk for example). (Make sure to delete all other files and folders first).
3. Insert the USB drive into one of the Magic TV™ USB ports.
4. After switching on Magic TV™, repeatedly press (not holding it down).
5. Magic TV™ will enter Rescue Mode, and autodetect the firmware on the USB drive.

When the firmware is found, press "1, 5, 9, 0, 0" and then it will ask if you want to format the hard drive. Press 'OK' to execute the format operation.

PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#714207 8-Nov-2012 15:51

Thanks for the reply.
I checked the specs for the Blue caviar. It's significantly noisier, consumes more power and is 7200 RPM.

I think I'll return and swap it for a 2 TB Green. (They don't have 1 TB).

The 1.5 TB that I have is earmarked for one of my TiVos.

bfginger

1237 posts

Uber Geek

#714352 8-Nov-2012 19:30

I wish the Magic TV had an option to playback a recording 4% slower to get rid of the PAL speedup.

Has anybody else had recordings spontaneously changing themselves from "Keep Until Disk Full" to "Protected"?

In general, 3.5" is recommended and it'd probably not be easy to mount the 2.5" securely inside the Magic TV anyway.

Does the Magic TV's unified SATA/power plug fit into a 2.5" drive?

I suspect that the lockups and/or freezing may be related to HDD data errors.

I've suspected the Magic TV's lockups can be related to disc access too. I've seen a rare issue where it'll lock up as a recording starts but whether it's a dodgy hard drive or a software bug I don't know.

My HDD is running near full and I put the cause down to resultant drive errors or fragmentation.

If defragmentation is a problem you could try defraging the JFS partition in Linux after backing up the drive and see if that makes a difference.
http://www.ehow.com/how_7503263_defragment-jfs.html

My Magic TV was supplied with a Hitachi Cinemastar 7K1000.C. I don't think it is an especially good hard drive as is not very quiet, vibrates alot and produces a bizt bizt noise during disc access. It is basically a mainstream desktop hard drive which they put less cache into and installed PVR-specific firmware then called a PVR hard drive. I read in a review of the Cinemastar that its PVR-specific firmware doesn't do normal error correction which makes it unsuitable for desktop use but I'm not sure what they mean by that.

Vibration is behind alot of the noise that comes from the Magic TV as besides what noise is generated directly from a hard drive the discharging of vibration into the box and cabinet produces more. The front of the Magic TV's lid which vibrates against the top of the case causes alot of the noise - placing a small weight on top of the box quietens it.

Choosing the right hard drive is important as there are alot of differences between models. Most run too hot, are too noisy, vibrate too much or park their heads all the time.

After looking over alot of hard drive specification sheets I decided the best option is a Western Digital Red which is a superior version of the WD Greens. It doesn't park its heads by default (but that can be enabled), it runs cool, quiet, has 1tb platters, a longer 3y warranty and anti-vibration technology. The 2tb WD Red is the only 2tb drive on the market with less than 3 platters and the 1tb drive is one of only a few with a single platter
http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?l=s101087187&cols=104,1198,776&o=produkt_namn
When I get a Red up and running in the Magic TV I'll report whether it's as good as it is on paper.

I do not think so as Windows (any version) does not read JFS partitions.

Perhaps the Magic TV would work with the second partition formatted to EXT like the first. JFS is supposed to be less CPU intensive but someone said the 3700 doesn't use it.

The 'green' means it is not a 7200 RPM drive.

That isn't the only difference. The WD Greens park their heads by default after just 8s. The WD Blues aren't alot better and some are worse. This isn't ideal behaviour in a PVR or a Linux system.

In this review it shows how to extend the WD head parking delay to a saner number.
http://www.anandtech.com/print/6157
Their utility won't work with some of the newer drives but it's worth a try for anybody using a WD Green or Blue as the default behaviour isn't suitable unless they're in an external backup enclosure or battered Windows laptop.

PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#714405 8-Nov-2012 22:00

bfginger:
Their utility won't work with some of the newer drives but it's worth a try for anybody using a WD Green or Blue as the default behaviour isn't suitable unless they're in an external backup enclosure or battered Windows laptop.

Are you referring to WD's auto park disabling utility?

I intended using that if I had any problems. I know it does when the drives are used in a TiVo.

cb1

313 posts

Ultimate Geek

#714410 8-Nov-2012 22:10

Thanks to Bob123, RingoTB + others for the very helpful information.

Looks like I'll have to have a play with Linux before attempting to copy the previous recordings to a new drive.

Since these auto starts appear to be common problem, I'll try an email to Dishtv about the problem. Will let you know about any response.

PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#714415 8-Nov-2012 22:20

I have a linux install on one of my PCs but don't know much about it. It's an alt boot on a Windows machine.

Can anyone suggest a linux disk cloning program I can use to clone my original drive on to my new one?

Then I plan to resize the jfs main storage partition and re-copy the files over.

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