Bell TV 9242 HD PVR Discussion thread

[scrooloose]

Now I would suggest that replacing your own hard disk is an extreme step. Not recommended while the unit is under warranty!

-Mike

[mondoguitar]

Correct, just giving him another "option" should he choose to take it, as we all know BELL's customer service is not the greatest and if I can, I prefer to do things myself depending on the cost, but that's just me. It was only intended as supplementary info, not telling him he should go forward. He can use his own judgement.

I also thought it might be helpful to others though as well who's receivers are NOT under warranty.

[scrooloose]

Yes, I'd probably do the same thing myself, before accepting a refurb for my 9242. Hopefully I won't have to make that decision. Anyway, at least he has all his options!

-Mike

[dosborne]

Keep in mind that although the list may be valid for DN, it may or may not be valid for EV. The list is (at least for the 5x00 series) stored in firmware and therefore subject to change. DN and EV use differnet firmware, although lots of overlap, but no guarantee that the HDD model/version was actaully used, therefore could, in theory, be removed as supported.

If I owned it, I would be more inclined to make it work myself, particularly if I didn't see many of the common issues that plague some of these units. If a rental, I wouldn't touch it at all, ever. Send it back.

[mervincm]

I was wondering if there is a way to disable the Bell "screen saver" that is displayed when the unit is off? I have an auto HDMI switch that senses the presense of a signal and it does not work since I switched to the 9242 (from the 6100) since there is always a video signal present.

and yes I read all the 30 pages of posts on this thread and did some searching
TIA!

[haystack]

Did you check with Bell?

[mondoguitar]

You cannot completely turn it off with the remote. The receiver is designed to stay in "standby" mode, even when you power off, so it can receive software upgrades and record shows throughout the night. Maybe future firmware will change this, but I doubt it... that seems like the way it was designed to be.

[Tom.F.1]

If the Box did shut off, you wouldn't like the 4 minute boot up time.

Do a reset, thats how long it takes to boot. And if the guide needs update upon power up, add another 8 minutes.

[mervincm]

bah thats a drag, it was nice to have the hdmia switch automatically move to the source I wanted to view. Now I am back to always having to help the kids and my wife swap inputs to get the SAT/DVD/XBOX360 working again. Why they would not just not output a signal in standby mode like all the rest of my gear does is beyond me

Thanks for the info!

[mondoguitar]

Well the 5x00's didn't have a screensaver when you manually turned the power off, they shut down pretty much completely. It only took them about 2mins to turn back on and acquire signal, so I think the 12 minutes would be a LITTLE exaggerated. BTW, downloading the guide is optional... if you don't do it, it will still download the guide while you're viewing TV, just not as fast. Either way, no receiver is perfect. I'm just glad I don't have the SHAW HD PVR 6416. You want to switch from 1080i to 720p or change closed captioning options, you have to turn off the receiver just to enter a hidden menu. THAT is a joke

[dosborne]

The boot-from-cold on the 9x00 is significantly longer than the 5x00 series. With a cold boot you face the long startup and switch/signal check which can be in the 5 minute range, the (optional - but not really) guide download which can be another 5 minutes, and perhaps a longer delay (up to 20 minutes) if your encryption keys are out of date.. Unless you pull the power cord, none of them are powered down. Just because the HDD spins down doesn't mean they aren't rolling keys and doing other things. Downloading the guide is optional, but not really. You can't do much if you don't have guide info. You must knwo the exact channel you want to watch. Most timers will not fire without guide info. The guide of course will not load without info.

[huardp]

I am renting a 9242 PVR, the first unit I have got was frequently freezing the image and sound. To get the signal back to normal, I had to change channel and come back to the desired channel everything was getting normal again, it could happen 2 or 3 times per hour when defective.

I returned the unit for a reconditionned one, sometimes when I program a recording, it starts normally but after a few minutes the image freezes but the audio keeps on recording, losing all the advantages of a pvr.

Now BEV offers me to change the unit again but I am a bit tired of losing my time on the phone with them, I am planning to change to Videotron and break my contract with them on the base that they don't fullfill their part of the contract.

[habskilla]

huardp,

goodluck let us know how that works for you.

[dhmesa]

huardp, you are just unlucky. Mine has been working A1 since the day I got it. I am renting it (free) for a year but will buy something when my contract runs out. I am totally satisfied with the 9242 except for the disk size. 30 hours of HD fills up fast. Just wanted to let you know that there are some 9242 units which actually work the way they are supposed to so don't give up. Videotron is worse.

[Tom.F.1]

I had problems with my first unit. They replaced it.

This one still has the audio dropouts problem, but i don't get the freeze ups at all anymore.
And recordings work.

If its a refurb you got, maybe you got the one i gave them back.

Good Luck!!