New Firmware / (HD) IPG for 8642, 4642 Discussions - Read Post 1 and Links There

[vmpv]

Nothing to do with the new firmware but I have noticed serious FF/Rew issues when recording two HD sports events at the same time and trying to watch one from a previous point in the recording. Drives me crazy in Football season

[57]

Delays with remote commands can be because the "system" is busy and due to limited resources stacks up the commands until they can be executed. This can often also result in a reboot when the system is overloaded. Repeated button presses are "bad". If you don't encounter the issue when the system is not as busy (recording several programmes for example) then that's likely the reason.

Whenever possible make recording easy on the system by recording when you're not watching (utilizing timeshift repeats, etc). I realize this is not always possible.

If you encounter the issue at other times, have a look into IR interference. Thread link below:

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

[Andrew]

Despite being assured I would not lose my recordings when I switched to the new firmware (as a prelude to installing the whole home PVR) and would only lose them if I reverted back again, I no longer had any recordings after the switch. In the past whenever I lost recordings they remained in the recordings list but would not play. This time there was no indication they ever existed. The tech who was installing the whole home filter said that it seems to have been happening randomly for the last month.

[Dolfan]

Originally Posted by 57

Delays with remote commands can be because the "system" is busy and due to limited resources stacks up the commands until they can be executed...

I have staggered my recording schedule so that whenever possible I am not recording two shows at the same time when I could be using the TV and to help in the event I fall asleep or get called away which means that generally between 8 PM to 11 PM I am watching and recording at the same time. Usually the show I am watching is the one being recorded, but in certain events when time shifting isn't available (like Friday night at 8PM, I record on Nikita CTV2 while watching another channel as CTV2 does not have time shifting).

Again, I have only seen this issue occur when I am FF or RR using the cache and recording the show at the same time. I doubt it has to do with the IR interference as it does not happen when I am watching previously recorded shows, or when I switch to the recorded version of the show I was watching when I had the issue (IE at 9:38 I had the problem, so I retrieve the show from my List of recorded shows and have no problems with FF and RR).

Never had this issue with the old software. Not that I am willing to downgrade, I am working through it, but it can be a pain in the a**.

[shamusom]

Has anyone had issues with external hard drives with the new firmware? How do you really know it's working? Whenever I plug in the ext. hard drive the box reboots itself and takes minutes to boot up again.

Anybody know more about this? Before with the old firmware when you plugged in an external hard drive you would get a message popup on screen. With this firmware, nothing.

[TL_Gator]

There's no message that comes up when you boot it up.. but it works. At least mine does... I lost some recordings on it when I first got the new IPG.

[Dolfan]

When I first got the firmware upgrade, I was using an external 500 GB drive. Once, I wasn't able to see my recordings after some power issues, but the problem was resolved with a power cycle of both the external drive and the 8642.

[shamusom]

I lost all my shows when upgrading to the new firmware.

I still can't tell if my external drive is working or not. Is there an easy way to confirm this? Not sure how to tell any more.

Thanks

[Holmes108]

My external HDD (the new, official Rogers one) gave me a pop up and I had to format it. It didn't work the first time I turned everything on (I never got the prompt.) I unplugged everything, and then turned everything on again and the message popped up. The instructions were clear that the message should show up.

It took a few minutes to appear because of the long load the box does after being unplugged. It's definitely working because my recordings went from about 70% to 7%.

Anyone who never got the message, but believes the drive is working properly may want to keep an eye on how the percentage changes after recordings, just to make sure they are getting use of it.

Originally Posted by shamusom

I lost all my shows when upgrading to the new firmware.

I still can't tell if my external drive is working or not. Is there an easy way to confirm this? Not sure how to tell any more.

Thanks

Depends on the size of the internal drive. If you have the 160GB drive like I do, then an hour of HD would be approx 4-5%. And hour of SD would be about 1-2%. This is assuming the drive isn't working.

If you have a 1TB drive, an hour of HD should be barely 1%.

[57]

Note though that the percentage is not very accurate when the HDD is not very full on the 8642 as discussed in the iHDD thread. If you have more iHDD questions, please ask in that sticky. Record at least 10 hours of HD overnight and you should know since that would be roughly 50% of a 160 GB HDD while it would be under 10% of a TB drive.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=122489 iHDD Thread.

[yyzlhr]

Just noticed a new bug where my 8642 will just randomly turn on by itself and when you turn it off it will just turn itself back on again. If you just leave it for a while it will turn itself off. Very annoying when trying to sleep.

[icemankent]

BUG with SCHEDULED RECORDINGS
If you go into your scheduled recordings, you'll notice that it ONLY shows you the programs that are upcoming for the next 6 days - even though you have set up recordings that happen on day 7, etc.

This is extremely frustrating especially if your program (that was previously scheduled) just finished recording, and you wish to now go into your scheduled recordings to modify it - it won't even be displayed in your list until the next day - so you're just going to have to wait to make any changes !

Scenario - I record Fringe as a "series" every Friday.
This week I actually watched it (while it was recording).
I decided that I would edit the series to change the stop time to be "5 minutes after".
When I went into "scheduled recordings" - it was not there for me to modify, so I was SOL until the next day.
FIX THIS STUFF ALREADY, rogers !

ON DEMAND
What is the deal with the FF no longer working with On Demand programming ???!!!
I thought there was something wrong with both my pvrs until on one of the programs, there was even an actual disclaimer from Rogers that preceded the program - basically stating that the FF button is not supported for the program.
WHAT ?!
I then tried playing other content - childrens programming - same deal - I CANNOT FFWD the programs at all !!!

This is complete madness.

[yyzlhr]

Certain programs have the fast forward function disabled to force you to watch the advertisement. This is a licensing restriction not a firmware problem. This has existed prior to NextBox. You'll get the disclaimer before each program if trick modes are disabled. If you have the same issue and no disclaimer preceded the program thats a different problem.

[icemankent]

Originally Posted by yyzlhr

Certain programs have the fast forward function disabled to force you to watch the advertisement. This is a licensing restriction not a firmware problem. This has existed prior to NextBox. You'll get the disclaimer before each program if trick modes are disabled. If you have the same issue and no disclaimer preceded the program thats a different problem.

Yes - the FFwd problem exists on all the "variety" of on-demand programming I have tried over the last few days.
(Not just on the programs that have explicitly announced it. Also, there was no advertisements at all, so that was not the case).
It does this on both my 8642s.
I would like someone else to confirm this please.

[TL_Gator]

It does the same on my 8642 - can't ffwd on demand programs. I thought it was just part of the new FW update, that they took away that feature..