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9242: Firmware update V184 (Jan 19, 2010) Please read post 1 for IR Spray Issue

58K views 265 replies 82 participants last post by  JK5000 
#1 ·
It appears the 9242 has received a new firmware update V184.

I noticed it when the Favourite List now is highlighted.

Any other changes?



Edit by 57. Many people are having problems with the PVR acting erratically - channels changing by itself, turning on/off, info/guide coming up, etc.

This is due to changes in the firmware which causes IR interference from other devices (like LCD TVs) to impact the PVR more than before. Read the following post on the problem carefully and thoroughly. It also outlines the many solutions discussed in this thread. Bell are aware of the issue and are working on a solution, however, in the meantime, if you have an LCD TV, using the proper settings will help with the problem (and provide you with better picture quality too). This is not really a new problem, but it has been exacerbated by the new firmware.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=64463



It would be nice if people were to post the other positive or negative changes that came with the new firmware.
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#65 ·
bell hd pvr 9242

My receiver is going crazy also, program info window keeps coming up and channels change and power goes off and on, all these damn things.
I called and got a techie who got me to reprogram my remote address LOL.

We also did soft reboot, didnt work, and unplugged cables and power, still didnt work, I have had it off all night now and will try it again.

I may be a dope 3 years ago when i bought the 4 yr ext warranty because I'm skeptical of new electronic eqiupment working, but it looks like a good purchase now.
Even though, it is BELLS fault with the update, and to get them to fix it I cringe.
I absolutely hate having to call and work with{complain to} Bell
but if they don't get the issue resloved I know I can take back my receiver.
 
#66 ·
Temporary fix for V184 bug on bell 9242

I talked with level 2 tech support at bell, and apparently the issue with the remote repeating functions like crazy is due to the auto-brightness and auto-contrast on some tvs. I had the same issues with functions being repeated over and over, and bell said they were now working on a patch that would be rolled out. For now they told me to turn off any auto brightness and auto contrast features. I couldn't find those but found something about dynamic picture, and switched that, so far, the problem seems to have lessened.
 
#68 ·
It makes perfect sense, the issue appears as HDMI sync problem (auto-brightness/auto-contrast/whatever the case) between the pvr and the TV - I have noted this simply by turning off my TV while the receiver was acting up and yet still connected to my sony receiver and immediately the lights on the 9242 stopped flashing and operated normally.

Somehow the sync problem causes the IR system components to go haywire resulting in the receiver going into an unstable state and failing.

I work in support and I always tell my customers that you can't predict the outcome of a failure as it is just that: undeterministic, because it was never expected to happen in the first place.
 
#70 · (Edited)
Well I'll be!!! I just tried setting the Light Sensor on my Sony Bravia LCD TV to OFF and all's returned to normal. I repeated this while the receiver was in the random menu selection state and the switching stopped as soon as I changed from ON to OFF and resumed immediately when I returned to the Light Sensor ON setting.
Thanks for the tip! BTW, last word from the Bell level 2 tech around noon was that "a new version should be ready Monday or at latest Tuesday"... a guesstimate I suppose.
Funky's component question is interesting... I think sync is carried on the green signal if not connected as a separate component. Would like to know if this worked, in any case. I don't have an extra component cable at hand to try it myself.
 
#72 ·
I didn't post an "idea". The Light Sensor is an auto adjust feature to compensate brightness etc for ambient light, as suggested by others above. I just checked the whole procedure again again and got exactly the same results. The feature may be named or implemented differently by other manufacturers, but this sure works for now with my Sony.
 
#74 ·
I just checked my 9242 and it is at firmware version V184. It has acquired an IP address from my router.

I'm not seeing any problems with the remote, but I have a Panny plasma (V10) with the auto brightness feature disabled.

The 'nickname' feature works for me, but it's very tedious using the numeric keypad on the remote control to enter it.

I'm not using an external hard drive, so I can't comment on that.

On the Diagnostics / Connection screen, it now displays the connection for phone and broadband. In my case, it shows phone connection failure (no landline) but OK for the broadband connection. I tried the Call Out feature, and it succeeded using the broadband connection.

So far so good - no weird behavior or reboots.
 
#75 ·
bell 9242pvr update issue

I tried using svideo and had the same issues, I tried component cable, as soon as i plugged in the video(green) input to my tv the channel info window went nuts coming on and off repeatedly, so same old...
I did however find that as the screen is going whacko, when I pushed the menu button and had the list of options on the left and the picture on the right, that the picture in the smaller window was not acting up, I left it for a minute and then cancelled the menu screen. The channel info window seemed to have stopped coming on and off. This could just be by chance of course but it has been runing okay now for an hour.
 
#78 ·
I still very much doubt that it has anything to do with spraying of IR throughout the room. I scanned the room with my digital camera looking for sources of IR blasting while the problem was actively happening and found none.

Beforehand I did test the digital camera on various IR emitter sources to ensure that an IR source was visible on camera.

I suspect the IR is just glitchy, such that normal use causes these symptoms. It's never happened when I use the front panel controls.
 
#83 ·
An idea from another thread is to press play as your last command as the 9242 seems to keep repeating whatever the last command was, if it repeats play while watching nothing will happen. Still need to be careful when navigating the menus but at least you can watch programs with relatively no issues.
 
#84 ·
New functionality in the 9242 that I hate is that pressing Guide multiple times does not switch the guide to the next favourite. Instead it brings up a dialog box that forces you to then select the Guide you want.

I hate it.

Anyone know if you can switch back to the old behaviour?
 
#86 ·
Hugh: Go to menu 8-2 (Preferences-Favourites) You can go back to the other way of changing the Guide type.

It was added because many, many people were hitting the guide button several times and unaware they were on the HD Only list. They would think that they lost channels and were calling for help.
 
#89 ·
For those of you with the IR issue, please see the following thread on the topic. It has nothing to do with two-way HDMI connection. It's IR intereference (spray) from the TV. Various workarounds are outlined in the post:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=64463

(This sort of interference is not viewable on a digital camera) The issue was also discussed in the following (parallel) thread:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=119419

Hopefully revised firmware with less sensitivity will fix the issue for you once implemented, however, proper setup of the TV will usually help too, providing not only a resolution to this issue, but also better PQ on the TV.
 
#91 ·
Yeah, the firmware changed the sensitivity to IR. It seems to be affecting mostly people with LCD TVs and mostly people who have left the LCD in default picture modes, high backlight levels, etc. These are items that should be changed when you get the TV home, but probably 90+% of people don't do. I believe it's easy to test if you unplug/turn off the TV and the lights on the PVR return to normal. (too bad the PVR has no "display" on the device itself.)

The people who are actually discussing the "features" of the new firmware in this thread (and not the IR problem) are likely people who don't have LCDs, or have set them up properly.
 
#95 ·
Thanks to everybody who has shared their comments about the remote control issue.

We're finding that Sony users have to turn off the Light Sensor option in the General Settings options in the menu. This feature seems to affect the receiver, especially when the TV and receiver are in a darkly lit room. The problem goes away once this option is turned off.
Although if you go back into the Sony TV main menu that seems to affect the receiver until you leave the TV menu.

Of those that are seeing this issue, is anybody not using Sony?
 
#92 ·
Hugh: Go to menu 8-2 (Preferences-Favourites) You can go back to the other way of changing the Guide type.
Thanks DrewSat.
 
#93 ·
57, I think your on the money with your call here about IR sensitivity. My TV settings were not altered when the new firmware was applied. I did have my TV's picture settings customized unlike most people. I guess that the IR must come off the physical screen itself rather than a remote-style IR (LED) blaster where it's easily visible on a digital camera.

Bell still can't go off the assumption that everyone customizes their picture settings. I think it was short sightedness and lack of QA on their part.

Now I'm left trying to figure out what settings work best on a Bravia KDL-52W4100 series to cause the least amount of interference until Bell does push a fix down (days, weeks, months, ever?).
 
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