We now have TiVo January 11, 2009
Posted by a1291762 in : computers, mythtv, pvr , add a commentMy PVR has died. It freezes up and doesn’t do anything.
Unfortunately, my MythTV box has yet to prove itself capable, let alone easy enough for Bree to use. So since it’s in Australia now, we got a TiVo. They’re being sold as TiVo HD but it seems to be just a Series 3 box.
Based on usage so far, the TiVo is much easier to get around than my old PVR though it actually has less flexibility and is slower to use as a result (eg. things are in menus rather than relying on hardware buttons for various functions).
Surprisingly, the thing I most miss from my old PVR is the bookmark feature. TiVo saves the position of each video when you stop watching but my old box could set arbitrary bookmarks. This and other little niggles reveal that TiVo is designed for a single viewer. I guess that may have been true when it first started out (early adopters were most likely geeks) but these days, I would have thought most people had families and thus multiple viewers. TiVo’s suggestions? Useless when people with different tastes use the same unit (so we’ve turned them off). The now showing list? There’s no way to organise it and with multiple people’s shows, that’s a pain in the arse. There’s KidZone but it’s a separate mode and limits shows by rating rather than by any kind of organisation.
Still, these are relatively minor issues. The addition of recording via EPG makes up for this and the fact that Bree can use it cinches the deal.
It’s not all roses though. My box has reset itself twice now. Once at 2am while I was watching it (the TiVo folks say that’s not supposed to happen) and again last night but I’m not sure when. I suspect it was at 2am again because that’s the time TiVos apply system updates. The TiVo support people think I might have a faulty unit.
New Sound System December 28, 2007
Posted by a1291762 in : pvr , add a commentI got a new sound system for Christmas. It was a boxed set with a Sony HT-DDW885 receiver and a full complement of 6.1 speakers. I’ve got the DVD player and PVR going through it now and with a bit of fiddling, I’ve got the remote handling the setup.
The system came with a cable to connect the DVD player’s digital audio via coax. Other systems are expected to use Toslink (that’s all my PVR does anyway) so I had to go and buy a cable for that. My PVR also has incompatible video output. You see, the receiver supports only composite, component and HDMI. My PVR outputs composite, S-Video and SCART. So the only way I can connect the PVR through the receiver is via composite or via a SCART breakout adapter. I picked up one of those only to find that my PVR outputs RGB instead of component (stupid European standards). I could buy a converter for $130 but I’m a cheapskate. Using composite (which is how I connected the PVR before) turns out to be a pain because the receiver is a switch only, it doesn’t convert video formats. The problem is that the TV doesn’t like having multiple video inputs in Wega Theatre mode. I want to use the TV as the center speaker but you can only make this stick in theatre mode.
Harmony 525 to the rescue. I’m now using S-Video to connect the PVR to the TV (not sure why I didn’t use it before, I had 2 spare cables) and the Harmony remote runs through the 10 button presses required to navigate the TV’s menu to enable the center speaker. It’s not particularly elegant but it works. In fact, due to the loooong startup time of the TV the setup is done before I get a picture.
I also discovered that I can add a “sequence” to my remote (aka. macros ?). I’m pretty sure that wasn’t an option before… the harmony “app” is just a browser so I guess they may have updated the back end without updating the displayed version number. I had a look but unlike the pre-activity implicit macros, these macros are limited to 6 commands. That’s not enough to navigate the menu. Suck.
Oh yeah, did I mention how awesome this thing sounds? I’m not experienced in this stuff, this is my first >2 speaker setup. I tested it out with the Balrog scene from LOTR. It’s got some distinctive (as opposed to rumbly) bass that lets you know the sub is working right. I’m also really impressed ability to hear and understand spoken words but I think it comes more from having a center channel than anything else. The receiver has a cool auto-setup mode where it makes sounds from the speakers and measures them with a mic to get the levels set correctly. It nicely handled the fact that I haven’t got around to connecting the rear speakers yet (need to put holes in the wall for that) and that the front speakers aren’t an equal distance from my chair.
My favorite feature? Dynamic Range Compression. It’s something my ancient CD player (one of the first “stackers”) had and something I’ve been pining for in AV equipment since. In a sound-proofed room or during the day when it’s ok to turn up the volume you don’t need this (unless you’re watching a movie on TV and hate the “ad volume spike”) but I like to watch TV at night and I can’t afford to turn up the volume or I’ll wake everyone up. During the day there’s more background noise anyway and I don’t like excessively noisy environments (I don’t like the loudness of cinemas). So I’ve got the receiver doing “extreme” compression and I’m loving it.
Time to do the PVR shuffle again August 14, 2006
Posted by a1291762 in : pvr , 6commentsSigh. Just when I was starting to think they wouldn’t release any more, OpenTel has released firmware v2.27 (29/7/06 Auto Tuner A-B) for my ODT4200PVR. I can’t even remember what I’m running now. I think it’s 2.04 because the hard disk sleeps and that didn’t happen in the original firmware. That must also mean that the corruption bugs I suspected aren’t present. At least, I haven’t seen them. Must have been a bad signal or something.
The problem with trying new firmware is that (according to the manufacturer) you need to completely reset the device. This means you lose all your channel defs, your recording info and any recorded movies. Worse, each time I upgrade, I seem to find really annoying bugs within a few days that make me want to downgrade again.
I’ll probably aim for a sunday afternoon upgrade. I might end up throwing out some shows but these days I never seem to “catch up” with my viewing. All the good shows seem to be on at the beginning of the week. Most importantly, Bree and the kids won’t be here so I can drag computers and cords around with impunity.
The usual place I get firmware from is still listing the 2.04 changes but the opentel site seems to have finally become more than a placeholder and lists these changes:
1. This is new Australila ODT4200PVR s/w (Terrestrial PVR).
2. Main Version :
3. release date : 2006.05.03Improvements of this version (ver 2.27)
1) Add the Daylight Saving Option : AUTO/ON/OFF
2) Volume level adjustment
3) Solved the rewind problem
4) Fixed some OSD bugThis software is for Austrailia only.
It’s always seemed odd to me that they don’t use a single software build for all countries. I wonder if they really have solved the rewind problem (it’s been in every change list so far).