[Tetlee]

I bought the Pace twin digital tv recorder a week ago and so far have found that the constant picture freeze is making any digital television unwatchable. Really it's as though someone is sat with the remote constantly pressing pause. I can't understand how this can be so bad on what I understood was a top of the range product (as far as freeview is concerned). I've had the Netgem i-player for 12 months prior to this and have hardly had any interferance atall in that time (have now re-connected the netgem to test and again, no interferance).
My question is, is this normal with this box? and is there a possibility that the picture freeze issue could be at least improved with a software update (currently on the march 2003 software)?
My signal strenght is averaging around the low 50's both channels today, although yesterday was in the mid 40's, freezing is just as bad though so this seems to make no differance.
My arial is an external digital and was profesionally fitted and like I said, had no problems for 12months with Netgem freeview.
Bit rate error is at 1.000E-9, think I read that someone was getting 1000000E-9 so could this be the reason for my poor performance? if so what can I do to help it?
Sorry to come in as a noob to these forums and ask so many questions. I'm in deperate need of help and if it's unlikely that I will see any improvements then I'll be listing my Pace on ebay this weekend as I've really had enough.
Thanks in advance for any replys. Would be much appreciated!

[LV426]

From the details you gave, your signal strength is good enough, and your bit error rate is as low as it gets. The impirtant detail there is the number before the E (the lower the better with 1.000..... being the lowest) and the number after the E (the higher the better with 9 being the highest).

Are you referring to watching live, or watching recordings?

If live - your numbers don't give rise for concern - but it may be that something local is interfering with the signal occasionally (such as - a bad thermostat in a freezer or fridge or heating). On analog, this might be seen as a momentary horizontal flash on the picture and/or a splutter in the sound. On digital it would cause a freeze and/or sound glitch (crack)

If recordings - then, yes, the October software improves this greatly. Await the next download.

[Tetlee]

Thanks for the reply Nigel.
In answer to your question, it's with the live tv that I'm having the problem, haven't really bothered with the recordings as they suffer from the same freezing effect.
It sounds from what you say that everything should be working fine. I don't think it could be anything to do with my fridge/freezer, this is in another room and is only something like a year old. What I can't understand is that since having plugged my Netgem back in last night, I have barely had a glimmer of interferance (just the very occasional little digital blocks, these are rare and only tiny so hardly noticable).
I wonder if my Pace box could be faulty? this would be a disaster as I only bought the thing a week ago but have somehow managed to lose the receipt not only that but I payed cash so really no comeback atall.
Anyway, if you do have any ideas as to how I could improve things I'd appreciate hearing them.

Many Thanks

[LV426]

I have no doubt that the resilience of tuners varies hugely from box to box and it may well be that the Netgem is more able to see through occasional glitches than the Pace.

You might consider, as an initial trial, to replace every aerial cable you can get access to, with a new, fully screened one (such as is used for satellite receivers), new plugs and so on. And make sure that the FIRST thing the aerial cable goes into after it comes out of the wall, is your Twin.

As for the box being faulty - well, it may be. Although I suspect not - I still think you have intermittent interference. For info - another room doesn't make a difference; interference can travel through your mains wiring. And new equipment doesn't guarantee it is fully suppressed. It could also be your central heating thermostat or boiler - pretty well anything. It could even be next door. (Just an opinion based solely on what you have described).

Take a really good and critical look at your analog reception from the same aerial - watch out for brief flashes across the screen (perhaps only a small sparkly on one line) and/or occasional clicks in the sound. Either might suggest electrical interference. The absence of either might simply indicate that they are too small to see.

If you are certain that it is at fault, then, under the terms of the Sale Of Goods Act - you are entitled to a repair or a refund. You do NOT have to show a receipt.

Hi....... had a similar problem with my Twin...

Bought on 04/01/04 and had latest software download, was all working sweet picture/signal wise. Perfect on every channel

Then about a week ago CH5 started jumping/freezing and gradually became unwatchable. On checking I also discovered the same problem with Radio 1 and Bid up /price drop although I couldn't care less about the last 2 channels.

Checked signal strength and showing 32 - 40 % on most channels most on 32% were fine with no picture freeze.
The affected channels were showing fluctuating bit rate errors between 0.1 > 0.9000 or something like that.

Fixed the problem by replacing the cable from aerial wall socket to back of Twin from a standard fly lead to some higher quality cable (telewest cable they left behind previously) Now works a treat with bit rate fine on all channels.

Not sure what suddenly started causing this but maybe worth a try if you haven't already replaced the box.

[MAW]

Ver unusual way round to have the trouble, netgems are notoriously sensitive to anything and everything and like a strong signal. I'd hang on and get the firmware update, it might just cure it, maybe do a reset before. You might either have one with faulty or old firmware. I now have a pace, but sell netgems. Netgen is stuttery at home for me, but pace is fine. Netgem can work better depending on where in the rack you put it, it's that sensitive. I'm sure you've got a dodgy box in some way.

[Tetlee]

Ah, thanks for those posts/replys. Interseting to get opinions, I did decide to wait for the software upgrade which I've just this minute completed. Will have to see if it cuts down any of the picture freezing, however I now have a new problem which it doesn't seem to have fixed, a couple of channels (bbc2 being one, think bbc3 is the other) can pick or chose wether even to work atall. After completing the software upgrade I switched to bbc2 and hey presto.....nothing, blank screen, if I select that channel via the list it's the same result so not a channel select problem. Really starting to wonder if I do have a faulty box, I checked with Argos and it sounds that although I've lost my receipt they will still exchange the box so perhaps it's worth trying another one and hope it's much better. As I said before, my old Netgem was damn near perfect so must be problem with the Pace as opposed to a connection, also the tv arial goes directly to the Pace, arial was proffesionaly fitted last year so that should be rinkydink.
Anyway, thanks again, any other thoughts please let me know. Do you think it's worth trying a second Pace incase it is a faulty box? guess I have nothing to lose.

[Tetlee]

Hi again all,
Just thought I'd update my Pace Twin situation here. I did wait for the software ugrade which I carried out on 5th Feb, however I was dissapointed to find that this did not cure my picture freeze problem, or my later problem with the odd dissapearance of bb2 and bb3 (sometimes present, other times not there).
On a much lighter note, I went back to Argos today (having lost receipt so no real proof of purchase) in the hope of exchanging the box. I couldn't believe their response "would you like a refund", almost bit their hand off!!! so happily have my 200 notes safely back in pocket
Now I just need to decide whether to take a chance on the Humax 8000t, I know it only has 1 tuner but I haven't heard anything too bad regarding bugs, think my main reservation is the fact it has no pay tv card slot, nice to have the option with Top up TV looking likely in the near future.
If anyone has opinions of the Humax I'd love to hear them, till then it's back to the Netgem, a great box but I really want the HDD to go allong with my Philips dvdr75 I just bought, cheapest way to get the HDD/DVDR combo at present

[MartinImber]

I surprised at the problems my Twin has been perfectly behaved, unlike my Twins!