Magic TV. Can you save to external hard drive or stream from one?

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › Magic TV. Can you save to external hard drive or stream from one?

NZRobin

161 posts

Master Geek

#57582 18-Feb-2010 02:36

The Magic TV website lists this under rear connections,

"Other connections:
USB 2.0 x2 for firmware upgrade and connecting external storage and camcorders"

This indicates to me that you can save to an external HDD or stream from one as a camcorder would.

But I thought I had read somewhere that neither of these things can be done. Can anyone confirm yes or no?

Thanks

Robin

Quotes

" Robot wars.... thats a sport!!!"

"Believing something doesn't make it so."

terryr

33 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#300015 18-Feb-2010 08:15

The functionality does exist but (and this is a BIG but)) to be licenced as a freeview system the contract prohibits this ability. There is another forum article (topic ID 43120, same forum) that mentions this (and many other things). Sorry you'll need to read thru some 13 pages of stuff, most of it pretty interesting actually.

There was a hint that over time the restrictions may be loosened a bit and I think the manufacturers would be keen to enhance the box's abilities.

katipo

35 posts

Geek

#300199 18-Feb-2010 18:07

On Magic TV's NZ site there's mention of the restrictions in the FAQ. However, the MTV3600D Hong Kong model (seemingly identical to the MTV3600TD NZ model) has no restrictions for exporting content. I was quite keen until I read of the heavy handed restrictions our FreeView approved boxes get. Even if they loosen the restrictions to allow SD exporting in the future (as hinted at in the FAQ), it'll be too little too late. I'd much rather an "unapproved" device, as our MHEG5 EPG isn't all that crash hot anyway. Now if some bright spark could adapt the HK firmware...

terryr

33 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#300296 19-Feb-2010 09:23

Someone did try to load the HK firmware version but it wouldn't load. It may be that our box is "slightly" different to the HK version. Could be something as simple as a code to state location and the firmware will check this to confirm correct type of firmware.
Other articles suggest that these types of files may be in a TS format, I think that is a streaming format. However to get to them would require taking drive out and interrogating it, which negates the warranty. Of course even if one was to do this, then you'd need to do it everytime you want to grab a new recording, not a good idea I think.
Another part of the "heavy handed" restrictions is the exclusion of a time skip option. My old Panasonic HDD recorder (analogue) has a button, press it for each 30 sec skip. 8 pushes and I've skipped all the adds in a break. I hardly ever watch TV live now, unfortunately as the Magic Box has now taken centre stage I have to FF at 32x which takes considerably longer then 8 pushes of a button, and generally I overshoot and have to back up.

fatjulio

90 posts

Master Geek

#300300 19-Feb-2010 09:30

It would be interesting to know if the HK MTV3600 would work here. It does MHEG-5 and MPEG4/H.264
It wouldn't cost any more than a local one.

katipo

35 posts

Geek

#300606 20-Feb-2010 21:44

I also have an old Panasonic HDD recorder, and I use the Time Slip button all the time (+-1 min incr), also Manual Skip (28 secs), and of course multi speed FF/FR. I suppose, there's always the option of getting a new HD Panasonic recorder. However, they're still a little pricey.

Apart from the obvious warranty issues, has anyone tried removing their Magic TV's drive and seeing if the PC can read it. As a Linux box, I assume it's Ext2 formatted. You would only need to do this once your drive was full to purge some recordings.