UltraPlus 900HD micro PVR firmware v1.08.79. Extra recoding time not working

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › UltraPlus 900HD micro PVR firmware v1.08.79. Extra recoding time not working

BS

70 posts

Master Geek

#82548 1-May-2011 17:55

I recently bought the UltraPlus 900HD micro PVR which I am very happy with, I have it connected to Seagate Expansion 1TB usb2 external HDD, my only problem is the extra recoding time function not working, however I can overcome this by adding the time manually to the start time but then it records the program name as the previous program, I also find that the time shift doesn't appear to delete a previously time shifted program, it appears to keep righting a new file to the HDD, maybe it's not meant to but then I can't see the time shifted file in the list of recoded programs to delete it manually, so I have to connect the HDD to the computer to do the deletion, or will it automatically delete the "time shift" files when it needs extra room, mind you it will take some time to fill a 1000GB HDD
Thanks Bryan

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727 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#464242 1-May-2011 19:28

Interesting report.
I wish I could offer something helpful and constructive, but all I can say is that I hope it works out well for you.

There is a user here, "Ultrapower", who I believe is the importer of these. He may be along to offer some help soon.

You do have the latest firmware loaded?

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 134

#464250 1-May-2011 20:01

Freeview shop have a new firmware you could try it is .83 angainst your 79
http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/downloads-i-23.html

Also I found that to apply firmware with my 9000HD which is different to yours but may still apply, is to do a factory reset after loading the new firmware. I was always frightened of losing all my channels doing a factory reset and having to rescan them, but they are intact still.

Always worth a try

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

BS

70 posts

Master Geek

#464401 2-May-2011 10:37

Hi Thanks for the replies I might try the .83 firmware it did come with .87 but I had no end of problems, but wasn't sure if it was a faulty HDD, I originally had it hooked up to a Western Digital 500BG Elements HDD, it would only occasionally record the full program, I had the extra recording time set to 2 minutes and it would start OK but then shut down after a couple of minutes and fail to record the rest of the program, the Western Digital then died, it was nearly 3 years old and the cost of sending it under guarantee to Singapore was $47 so would rather put the money to a bigger HDD.

Now I don't remember which came first, changing to the Seagate HDD or changing to the 1.08.70 firmware, but then noticed that although the programs recorded fine the extra time function didn't work.

One thing I did notice with the Seagate HDD is that while the PVR is on even when not recording the activity light keeps blinking, this never happened with the Western Digital so maybe a different firmware keeps the HDD powered up so it doesn't fail to record.

Still only minor niggles and certainly not as flaky as the old Topfield I had, the quality coming through the HDMI is brilliant, being able to record 3 programs while watching a 4th "wow" only limited by what's available on the 1 transponder, so if I want to record the HD SBS channel no other programs are available, it must be the only program on that transponder that I can get.

Cheers Bryan

xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#464429 2-May-2011 11:33

Have you tried getting support from the retailer, or failing that, the importer?

BS

70 posts

Master Geek

#464435 2-May-2011 11:46

I have the latest firmware from the retailers website "Satnet" and that helped, I also see the firmware is the same version on ultrapowers website, but might do like you suggested, contact ultrapower on this forum and see if any new firmware is in the pipeline.

Bryan

kiwisat

147 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 2

#464645 2-May-2011 21:23

"One thing I did notice with the Seagate HDD is that while the PVR is on even when not recording the activity light keeps blinking"

Try switching off the timeshift recording function. Upgrade defaults the timeshift recording to auto so that is a possible reason for HDD activity.

Paul

Samsung

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BS

70 posts

Master Geek

#464761 3-May-2011 09:50

Thanks Paul, you're right it fixed it, I did originally have a flash drive on the second usb port but found it wouldn't record to it, so had the record and time shift on the same HDD, I have just tried the flash drive on the second usb again and the time shift seems to be working, could be the original firmware was the problem not the flash drive.

Thanks Bryan

BS

70 posts

Master Geek

#465132 4-May-2011 08:56

Just to confirm the "time shift" fills it's available space and then stops working, it means you either have to remove the usb flash drive or HDD and delete the time shift files on a computer or reformat with the UltraPlus, could be easy to reformat the wrong drive and delete all your programs.

Will just press he record button in future and forget about time shift, at least that's 1 up for the Topfield it at least reset the time shift buffer every time you changed channels and didn't fill up all available space.

Bryan

xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#465201 4-May-2011 11:04

Has the problem with the "additional recording time" feature not working been resolved yet?

BS

70 posts

Master Geek

#465245 4-May-2011 12:31

No not yet, I just work around it by adding time manually to the end, and leave the beginning set to the standard start time, other wise as I said the program stores the previous programs name so Emmerdale is stored as TV One News for example, it's not often that a program starts early, much more likely to over run, and its more annoying to miss the end but can usually pick up the tread if a few seconds are missing at the beginning, now just waiting for a later firmware, hope they can resolve the problems.

The time shift has turned out to be the most annoying, if you aren't aware of what it does, it just eats up disc space with no way of seeing what is being stored until it won't record anymore.

Bryan

BS

70 posts

Master Geek

#466644 8-May-2011 09:15

I had turned the time shift off but found that the PVR missed 2 ot of 3 recorded schedules one day, when I had the time shift set to auto, with the time shift and program recording on the same drive, I never missed a record schedule, it looks like I will have to run the time shift just to keep the activity lamp blinking on the HDD other wise the recording seems to just operate for a few seconds and then switch off and you only get a few secs of the program recorded, if they would just put up a list of compatible disc drives it would help, or update the firmware,

AliExpress

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UltraPower

40 posts

Geek

#466950 9-May-2011 01:45

Seagate Data HDD has not been recommended to be used with this set or any other HD PVR set from us or any of our dealers, you need to ask the supplier which HDD you could use before getting so many issues . Please contact us for you need any help. Also we have always the latest SW first but we have to test them before placing in
our web-site to avoid any issue. Cheers

BS

70 posts

Master Geek

#466993 9-May-2011 09:07

I have tried 3 different HDD First a 3.5in external case with WD drive then a WD Elements 500GB and finally the Seagate 1TB which showed the fastest transfer speed of them all, but after your replay to the other forum 'Ultraplus 900HD micro PVR' that I should use the v1.08.87 I will download it and see how it goes.

But both the Satnet and Ultrapower web sights have the v1.08.79 as the firmware and that is what I installed on mine. I will also go back to the WD elements HDD and see how I go.

Do the 2.5inch usb2 powered disc drives work on these PVRs as that would be my proffered option.

Bryan

Jaxson

8172 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1332

Trusted

#467043 9-May-2011 10:59

The Ultraplus units (we at least the 980 one) had a USB drive speed test function. Surely if the drive reports as being fast enough in this test then it should be ok.

I found the Ultraplus and especially the Hyundai combo unit very picky on what drives it would work with. If you want to run with it then you really would be best to buy the hard drive from the place that sells the receiver as well, but often these are at crazy prices compared to what you could pay for a drive elsewhere. There's nothing in the manual that says don't use this brand etc and it becomes costly for the end customer to have to try different ones etc.

UltraPower

40 posts

Geek

#467065 9-May-2011 11:57

Hi, we recommend the HDD's but we don't sell them (check UltraPower web-site) . Customer has the option to purchase the HDD in any store however, has to go back to this store if it has any fault . If purchased through our agents and something went wrong , customer needs to send the whole thing for checking to our agent and that could explain the higher price comapring to retail shops. Cheers

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