Fetch TV HD-PVR at Tesco from 04/06/2010 - [Part Five]

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New firmware is released..on the fetch website..

Happy holidays from the FetchTV Team! As of 15 December a new software update v4.8.01-11 for the Technika SmartBox8320HD is now available, to address some of the issues that have been identified in the software so far. In particular:

* Improved HDMI handshake
* HDD management improvements (the check disk manager is more reliable)
* Correction of video and audio freezes
* Added setting in "Display" to ignore broadcasters' recommendations (both in EPG and the green 'book me'
* Added possibility to suspend timeshifting (press STOP while on PVR DIAGS page), it will resume when needed
* Stop fan when in normal standby
* Stop recording playback when it's being deleted from My Recordings
* When starting recording via REC button on live, don't create series linking
* Fixed condition when series link would be changed to one shot, and then disappear after next time
* The 3rd F key (F-circle) now opens 'rec timers'
* Improved messaging when WiFi authentication fails (both at start up time and when configuring WiFi via menu)
* Reconnect to WiFi when connection is lost (if access point restarts)
* If you rewind a movie once it reaches the beginning it resumes playback
* Improved trickplay (FFW/REW and skip) when playing content from the box via PC (VLC) or from another SmartBox
* Improved audio and video streaming compatibility with WMP12 on Win7

Cheers, Roo
 
Cheers roorooroo.

Yes thanks! Although I think there seem's to be a problem. The beta firmware im using is 4.8.01-09 and when I try to download the latest official release it downloads upgrade8320HD-4.8.00-02.zip

When I try to install it the box says its already up to date.

Edit: I was right, they have made a mistake and linked the download URL on the FAQ to a much older release. This is the correct URL for the latest release (right click, save as)
 
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New firmware is released..on the fetch website... Cheers, Roo

You are my Heroo :D (Only for a day, Ched regains the title thereafter ;) )

Kargo, I didn't have to do anything complicated like right-click/save-as, your link did it all for me - thank you!

It looks as though Fetch/Netgem have been beavering away on our behalf - O we of little faith :p

Fingers crossed.
 
Just applied the 4.8.01-11 firmware and it's probably the biggest improvement between stable 8320HD firmware releases ever (also took almost 10 weeks to turn up though). The box is much more stable (hard to make it crash now), simultaneous recordings finally work and even my wi-fi is stable too.

I still get "slats" (repeated strips of video) in the bottom half of the screen when picture-search FF'ing, but at least the FF'ing doesn't crash the box 3/4's the way through like it used to.

The "TODO list" (what is that? Seems to just be a date-sorted version of the recording schedule, which begs the question why it isn't the default!) is still doubly-buggy: leaves out some scheduled programmes that are indeed <7 days and then includes a lot that are more than 7 days away (my remrecord script can set recordings 14 days in advance, unlike the EPG, so I can test this easily), despite the TODO page claiming it's only going to show recording schedules for the next 7 days.

I'd say that the 4.8.01-11 is a "must have" firmware release - it's one I can truly say makes the box pretty reliable and less annoying. It's fixed most of the major issues I had with the box and this time around, I will be happy to wait another 10 weeks for the next firmware release and I think it's the first firmware release that will slow down the return rate of the box to Tesco. As ever, it's the firmware that should be been on the June 2010 launch of the box - it might have given the 8320HD a better rep from the off.
 
Made mine crash with the new firmware
What were you doing to get it to crash? I've found 2 betas and the final quite hard to crash myself. I'm not sure the final fixed a recent bug I found in the betas though (exiting to live TV from playing a recording - e.g. the stop button - causes live TV to continuously skip frames), but even that didn't cause a crash.

Crashes are annoying, but if you can reproduce them with the same action, then at least you know what to avoid the next time (and can report them to Fetch TV too!). It's the random crashes that are the real killers - reporting them to Fetch TV isn't going to help them narrow down what causes a crash (it's why I tended not to report them to Fetch TV w.r.t. the previous "stable" firmware, because it just crashed unpredictably).
 
Another thumbs up here for the new firmware. Was a bit confused at first as Fetch gave out the wrong download link but as of this morning I've seen they have now corrected it.

Agree with rkl that this has to be the most stable release from Fetch, I am very pleased that the fan now stops when the box goes into normal standby and I find that the HDMI fixes have stopped the box interrupting my blu ray player (as I use a HDMI switch). I am very pleased that they managed to get this out before next week when there will no doubt be a lot of xmas recording going on by most of us.

I find disabling the timeshift to be a weird procedure though, I'll press stop when in the digital recorder menu and I'll get the message that timeshifting and recording has been stopped although if I exit the menu and return to it I can see that timeshift has re-enabled itself again or If I was to schedule a recording on the guide this would trigger timeshifting to be re-enabled. Personally I think the option to disable timeshifting should be in the Display menu with the recommendations setting as I still think its hidden away.

Anyway, I've decided to keep timeshifting enabled on my box as I don't see the point in losing the rewind function when I have bought a Freeview+ HD box. Instead I'm okay with manually deleting the timeshift every now and again to minimise disk checks.
 
For the hell of it, I rewound at 600x to the beginning of my buffer, about three days ago, but you have to be quick, as half hour programmes zip by in about 3 seconds. My box has been pretty stable, so the things I have noticed most with the new release have been the improvements in network access. It will now quite happily play mkvs from the network without requiring extra servers (IE from the built-in server on a PCH and a Windows 7 PC). It also plays wtv files from Media Centre, including HD ones from my satellite card. It is also close to being usable on my quite complicated maze of machines and folders on my network. It can find files which are accessed via symlinks which are four machines deep. Together with playing avi files from my old mini dv camcorder, this is looking pretty capable now.
 
It Crashes when your recording a program and you press info to see what on the other channels instead of using the guide been doing that for a few months now, it does it 70% of the time for me, hoped this update has sorted it out but no.
 
It Crashes when your recording a program and you press info to see what on the other channels instead of using the guide been doing that for a few months now, it does it 70% of the time for me, hoped this update has sorted it out but no.

In the previous version I could get the odd reset when doing various items and of course these cause the 30 sec or so of missing program when recording. Must admit this seems unbreakable so far including on mine pressing info and flicking round the channels as indicated above.

Re the ToDo on an earlier post I have never understood it as the previous version happily recorded series link programs that weren't in the todo list, well not when I looked, although whether they then appeared on the day I don't know.
 
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This is the sort of feedback I've been looking for. Might actually splash out on one now.:thumbsup:

Thanks to all who contribute-I'll keep checking the thread for more juicy tips.
 
First time i have left the box on sandby overnight because of the fan, the box switched itself on around 4-5am is that normal?
 
I haven't touched my box since it was switched off into low-power standby last night - it's still in LP standby this morning.

Being a tragically disorganised person, I can't give you specific feedback since the new software - but it feels much more stable.

Do you think we could compile a wish-list for the next upgrade? I would like

- the recordings library to be sortable alphabetically, there should be an option for it in the library that you can highlight and OK, and do the same again for it to revert to Date:MostRecent First

- I'd like the skips to be Up/Down Arrows=30sec back & forth and R/L Arrows=2mins back & forth.

I really am impressed with performance since this upgrade :)
 
- the recordings library to be sortable alphabetically, there should be an option for it in the library that you can highlight and OK, and do the same again for it to revert to Date:MostRecent First

R/L Arrows=2mins back & forth.

You already can can't you ??? :thumbsup: A similar feature has existed for a long while.

When on the recodings page Press >> till it says at the top of the page MY RECORDINGS (by name)

You can sort by date, name or expiration the later only applies to downloaded films etc.

I like the 15min jump on left right personally.
 
Do you think we could compile a wish-list for the next upgrade?
Already have had one up since my blog started - it's here.

> the recordings library to be sortable alphabetically, there should be an option for it in the library that you can highlight and OK, and do the same again for it to revert to Date:MostRecent First

In fact, there should be a folder system with many sorting options (I'd like filesize order myself! Why doesn't the 8320HD display the filesize of recordings anywhere?), which I mention in my wishlist.

> I'd like the skips to be Up/Down Arrows=30sec back & forth and R/L Arrows=2mins back & forth.

My Philips hard disk recorder lets you set the skip forward (right arrow) and skip backwards (left arrow) intervals separately, which is quite cute. The skip of 15 mins for left/right is frankly ridiculously long (especially when 600x FF is available) - that and the up/down rate need to be user configurable.

Talking of skip speeds, I'd like picture search FF to go:

10x (i.e. lose 5x - who uses that?!), 30x, 100x, 300x (I think 600x is too fast - you should use right arrow for larger-than-300x jumps forward).

And when you're playing back a recording, the info banner's progress bar shouldn't show the original start and end broadcast times (useless if you're playing it later on!), but the elapsed time (replacing the broadcast start time) and the total length (where the broadcast end time is now) in hours:minutes:seconds.

> I really am impressed with performance since this upgrade

And it explains why - despite doubters in this forum - I held onto the 8320HD because the hardware was good and I felt Fetch TV would eventually come good with the firmware. Disappointing that they kicked in the 10-week beta programme when the firmware was still in a bad state though - if I were Fetch TV, I'd have released one of the betas after 5 weeks or so as a "final", because it was stable enough by then and was needed to stop the flood of returns still happening (yes, people in here were posting that they'd returned the box in that 10 week period).
 
- the recordings library to be sortable alphabetically, there should be an option for it in the library that you can highlight and OK, and do the same again for it to revert to Date:MostRecent First
Isn't that what the >> key does in My Recordings? (check the header)
 
And it explains why - despite doubters in this forum - I held onto the 8320HD because the hardware was good and I felt Fetch TV would eventually come good with the firmware.
I think that you may need a little therapy to deal with your love-hate relationship with the SmartBox. You seem to hate it and all that FetchTV does by implying that they're not up to the task, but then you still love it so much that you can't part with it.
It's like being disappointed by a girlfriend and hating her parents, but then xxx is so good...
 
I think that you may need a little therapy to deal with your love-hate relationship with the SmartBox.
Actually, I'm a lot happier now that we've finally got a stable codebase out to the public and you no longer need roll your eyes at the random crashes or the failed simultaneous recordings. It's like the box itself has gone in for therapy (or surgery?) and come out with a non-schizo personality.

BTW, the 8320HD is part of a very lazy year-end review of media players on The Register (see page 3), but they just linked to old reviews and didn't actually re-review them (e.g. the recent 8320HD firmware update might have rated the box higher). Also, although they mention the 8320HD, the picture is of an N8000 and the rating at the end is for the N8000!
 
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Thanks for putting me straight on the recordings sorter :)

I find the 15-minute skip redundant. As said, the hi-speed ***/REWs do the job as long as the box doesn't crash. 30-sec and 2-min to-and-fro skips are perfect for varied ad-breaks.

Now to see how the partial and unasked-for recordings pan out.

Note - the plural of FF is "F F s" joined up, but DS think I'm swearing, hence the *** above :rolleyes:
 
> I really am impressed with performance since this upgrade

.

I think that you may need a little therapy to deal with your love-hate relationship with the SmartBox. You seem to hate it and all that FetchTV does by implying that they're not up to the task, but then you still love it so much that you can't part with it.
It's like being disappointed by a girlfriend and hating her parents, but then xxx is so good...


I'm sure you said that before after a previous firmware update and then continued to complain bitterly about the box. Bipolar with a bit of OSD thrown in by any chance?:D not you of course I mean the box.:devil:

Give it some time to see how the firmware works out before pronouncing it as the solution,:lesson: lots of users have been reporting a wide variety of problems with their boxes and not all share the same problems as others. What works for them may not work for you and visa versa.

In the mean time I hope it is a significant step forward as considering the reports on this forum it was in a desperate state for a few users.
 
Great, another update! and they STILL haven't sorted out the bloody controller remembering last commands :thumbsdow
 
This box fortunately never gave me much grief, but it's superb now after the latest update :smashin:
 
This has never happened on mine.

I don't even know what it is :confused:

But my unit is still telling me I can't record a programme cos it's clashing when it's not. I've looked in the schedule and can't see what could be causing the problem.
 
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