Sony RDR HXD 970 1.70 Update unsuccessful

Coutet

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Sony RDR HXD970 1.70 Update unsuccessful

I have two problems with an RDR-HXD 970, no digital channels and no ability to record via timer programming to the HDD from an external digital tuner. The two problems may be related and a firmware update may also play a role, which makes the choice of what to do rather complicated. I was given the 970 in November and was delighted to discover that it could receive MPEG4 channels even if it was born as an MPEG2 machine. But it was only capable of this the first one or two times I used or rather explored it. I’ve been wondering if my memory fails me about this, but the colours were different from those of the Sagem tuner, I use. Wondering what to do I became aware of the firmware updates available and installed first 1.70, then as recommended 1.66 and then 1.70 again. Still no digital channels. Exploring its ability to record from the Sagem tuner, it actually did so, but only once, later attempts which all seemed to run properly and produced HDD recordings proved to be black when played. The one successful recording demonstrates that I remember correctly though. When I received the 970 it may have been on the verge of developing a fault, or may have been going back and forth, at times being capable of receiving the digital channels, at other times not, and the updates I installed may have swung and locked it into the not state. And the same thing with the ability to record?
If firmware can change an MPEG2 tuner into an MPEG4 one, a repair technician will have to know about this in detail, be a specialist, and how do you locate one? Instead of relying on firmware, it may be more practical to replace the the MPEG2 tuner chip or chipset with an MPEG4 one, such as the one in the Sagem tuner?
An additional frustration is that the 970 apparently contains a diagnostic capability that however is only accessible by a special remote (mentioned by Sherry in her 970 post), not likely to be available generally in repair workshops, or by unpublished combinations of buttons on the user remote.

Coutet
 
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Welcome to the forum.

I think you must be under a misapprehension about the machine recording MPEG4.
It is just not technically possible.
I can only think the likeliest explanation is that you recorded a programme from the Sagem tuner, which may well be able to receive MPEG4 broadcasts, but when you copied them over to the Sony DVDR via the analogue link they are then re-encoded as MPEG2.
This machine has no MPEG4 encoder and cannot record in such a format.

Is the external Sagem unit solely a tuner, or is it also a hard drive recorder?
I ask because it is normal that recorders provide no recordable output when timer triggered as they are recorders in their own right. Recordings from them have to be transferred as a separate operation.
I'm seeking explanations here as to why you cannot get recordings from the external box.
The above may explain it... or it may simply be setup issues due to the wrong type of input signal type being selected ( or the appropriate signal type not being appropriately output from the Sagem)
It is difficult to be specific here because there are so many territorial variations of this machine and I do not know what is appropriate for your locality.
eg. Does the machine have scarts or does it use other connector types?

But you have too many problems here mixed up.
To simplify, the first thing is to get the unit working as it should on it's own.

Again I do not know what type of digital transmissions occur in your locality. Such things have been subject to enormous change in recent years and it is quite possible that the machine is no longer able to receive broadcasts from your location.

A very simple and common mistake with this machine is failure to connect to the digital aerial input. Check for that. You may have the aerial connected to the analogue tuner input... then rescan for digital channels.
 

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