Bell TV 9242 HD PVR Discussion thread

[Wires]

Your post makes the assumption that BEV has software engineers that write the firmware for their receivers (I have no idea if they do). If I was to guess, Echostar (I think they make the 92xx series?) writes all the firmware, and they concentrate on fixes for Dish network (due to volume alone).

My assumption, which has no evidence to prove......

[hugh]

Just deleted a lot of posts.

This thread is for owners of the 9242 to discuss the receiver.

If you want to discuss installation, we have an entire forum to do that and if you don't own it then please use the potential buyers thread

[markl]

Originally Posted by hugh

Just deleted a lot of posts.

This thread is for owners of the 9242 to discuss the receiver.

If you want to discuss installation, we have an entire forum to do that and if you don't own it then please use the potential buyers thread

As a new owner, the problem with the sort of forum splitting IMHO is that people looking to buy want to ask owners what they think and questions on the 9242, by splitting all the foums on this site it is much slower to get any sort of useful reply. Just my 2 cents on the subject as a new 9242 owner.

[macrob]

I wonder if any people with HDMI video trouble such as long times for HDMI to pick up on video or long channel changes are coiling and tying the HDMI cable into bundles if it's too long for the distance from their receiver to the tv.... If the cable is deformed by coiling and tying too tightly, the performance can be degraded. Note the minimum bend radius in the link is 1"- for a good cable. I've seen a lot of people choke the heck out cables with cable-ties to tidy up the mess of cables instead of planning the layout using correct lengths of cables. So DO NOT coil and tie HDMI cable in a bundle... Instead get a section the right length for your installation so you won't need to coil it. Each tv hdmi input could be affected differently by distorting the HDMI cable on its input. In theory, you could kill the performance of the cable by coiling it.
(just sayin')

Here is a link to an interesting review on HDMI cable: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/other...benchmark.html

[sofaspud]

Add me to the list of 9242 owners. I just uninstalled one of my two 9200s (jump to live bug, broken frame-by-frame trick play features on PVR) and replaced it with a new 9242. I have it connected via component cables to a circa-2004 JVC 61" LCOS RPTV and Toslink optical connector to a Denon A/V receiver.

My motivation for replacing my 9200 with the 9242 is to get the trick-play PVR functions to work again. Like when I hit the "frame back" button, it doesn't jump back one and half minutes like both of my 9200s do (keep in mind, these bugs only affect the units with the Maxtor hard drive).

I did a test recording (HD Golf on ch. 817), and so far, it works fine. I rewound about two minutes behind live, and after 30 minutes it did not jump to live.

$499 + tax to get it working like it should have in the first place.

[gsjacobs]

The HD Preference option in VuPass is not working for me, am I alone with this problem?

Background: I've had the 9200 for a couple of years and then recently acquired the 9242. So I have pretty good experience using VuPass and the PVR. I was pleasantly surprised to see the new option in VuPass to 'Set Resolution' in the 9242 that the 9200 didn't have.

Example: I currently have a VuPass timer 'Skiing' and it is set for 'HD Preference' and 'New Episodes'. In the 'Daily Schedule' for Saturday Feb 2, at 11am (Mountain time) it lists about 20 instances of the Womens world cup Downhill from St. Moritz Switzerland. These match all the different chanels of CBC. I have the tuner in single mode. Two of those 20 instances are flagged to record, the rest, including the CBCHE 802 instance, are all flagged as skipped by priority, so the 'HD Preference' is not working. I have to manually go to each of the others and force it to skip, in order to get the 802 channel.

How does this HD Preference actually work, is it based on known HD channel numbers (e.g. 800 series channels) or is it looking for guide data (e.g. looking for HD in the title or description?)

I'm guessing that this HD Preference option is looking for the text 'HD' in the title in the guide, and not the well known HD channel numbers. If this is true, and given the extremely poor data quality and reliability of the text in the guide, this option will rarely work. Have a look around the forum for all the other threads complaining about the lack of quality in the guide data.

[scrooloose]

I imagine it's looking for the HD in program title. Not everything on the HD channels is actually HD, so it wouldn't base it on that.

Skipped by Priority would imply there was a timer conflict. It can't record more that two programs at once. Was it trying to record three or more events during the times it skipped an event you thought would be recorded?

-Mike

[gsjacobs]

Originally Posted by scrooloose

I imagine it's looking for the HD in program title. Not everything on the HD channels is actually HD, so it wouldn't base it on that.

Skipped by Priority would imply there was a timer conflict. It can't record more that two programs at once. Was it trying to record three or more events during the times it skipped an event you thought would be recorded?

-Mike

I'm aware that HD channels don't have constant HD programming. We're now in the middle of the World Cup downhill season, and the World Cup programming I've seen thus far into the season and that originates in Europe, is in fact HD. But my experience so far also is that the guide doesn't necessarily have that specific text 'HD-' preceeding the title/description, which is exactly my point; yet another example of innacurate guide data.

As for your suggestion about the skipped by priority, yes there is a conflict, and I pointed it out in my original post. The show I want to record is on at 11am on CBC, and so all 18 of all CBC channels (including all the local CBC's in the 200 range AND the described video range) are conflicting with each other. It's trying to record all 18 different channel number instances of the exact same show. And as I pointed out, it selects 2 for recording (seems to choose the 2 with the lowest channel numbers) and then flags the rest as 'skipped by priority'.

The 'HD Preference' would be ideal, if it actually worked.

[gtpalmer]

I just got off the phone with yet another Bell tech telling me they don't support HDMI related problems (which they blame the audio drop outs for.) They are sending me my 3rd receiver. I purchased my original a month ago directly from Bell. Has anyone tried switching to a rental option after purchasing?

[kandkt]

The 'HD Preference' would be ideal, if it actually worked.

Why don't you set up the timer without the HD in the front and set it to a specific channel. That is how I have all my timers set up. Avoids all the duplications on the non-HD channels as it only looks at the specific channel you tell it to. Also, do NOT put the HD in front of the program name. Vpass will record it if the guide does or does not have the HD in front, but if you put HD in front and the guide does not have it, it will not record.

[gsjacobs]

Originally Posted by kandkt

Why don't you set up the timer without the HD in the front and set it to a specific channel. That is how I have all my timers set up. Avoids all the duplications on the non-HD channels as it only looks at the specific channel you tell it to. Also, do NOT put the HD in front of the program name. Vpass will record it if the guide does or does not have the HD in front, but if you put HD in front and the guide does not have it, it will not record.

So you agree that the 'HD Preference' option doesn't work? As I stated in my previous post, my VuPass timer only has the text 'skiing'; I don't have 'HD' text in my search term. I could set it to a specific channel as you suggest, but then I'd miss the shows on other networks (like TSN, NBC, etc), and I would need a seperate timer for each potential channel, which clutters up the timers list. If it comes to that, I'll do it.

[kandkt]

So you agree that the 'HD Preference' option doesn't work?

I haven't had my 9242 long enough to confirm, but that is exactly the way I set up all my timers in my 9200 and it seems to work flawlessly.

[buddyktown]

Hey All

New to the the site!

I just got a new 9242 delivered by Bell couple of days ago. I also own a 6100 and a 4100. All conneted up via an SW44.

Anyway, my 9242 is connected to a 50" Samsung Plasma (HP-T5064) via a monster cable HDMI connection. All is run through a Monster power cleaner and surge protector. The 9242 is output at 1080i to the TV.

My HD channels look great, no problems what so ever. The problem is with my SD channels. They have these white dotted vertical lines going through them, spaced equally, about 3 inches apart across the screen. This only started happening with the new 9242.

My 6100 and 4100 do not have this problem when viewing SD channels on the TV's they are connected too.

I have disconnected and reconnected every cable involved, reset the receiver, unplugged power from everything...reconnected it all and still no change.

If this problem was happening on all my recievers, then I would think it was at the SW44 switch and maybe a grounding issue with the connections at the Satellite...but it's only with the 9242 receiver.

Please Help!!!...thought I would try all you experts in the forum before phoning Bell and getting put on hold forever...

Thanks in advance!

[DrewSat]

Originally Posted by gsjacobs

So you agree that the 'HD Preference' option doesn't work? As I stated in my previous post, my VuPass timer only has the text 'skiing'; I don't have 'HD' text in my search term. I could set it to a specific channel as you suggest, but then I'd miss the shows on other networks (like TSN, NBC, etc), and I would need a seperate timer for each potential channel, which clutters up the timers list. If it comes to that, I'll do it.

It looks like the PVR is recording all skiing events because there is no episode number attached to the shows. The pvr is probably looking for this episode data to ensure it's not creating duplicate recordings. I suspect this feature works quite well with Series that have episode numbers but skiing events don't have episodes. Nevertheless, I'll bring this up with the software group to see if the software can be tweeked.

[Coop]

I just got off the phone with yet another Bell tech telling me they don't support HDMI related problems (which they blame the audio drop outs for.) They are sending me my 3rd receiver. I purchased my original a month ago directly from Bell. Has anyone tried switching to a rental option after purchasing?

Just wondering if the units have been in factory seal boxes or not when they bring them to you?