All posts by Steve
Below are all of Steve's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
js: Thanks js - Your diagnosis fits very well. Those are the 15 channels I have managed to avoid by chance. Unfortunately the Sony RDR HXD870 doesn't have the option to manually scan for digital channels to avoid UHF 24 (or 27). You can only tailor scanning on the analog tuning that is now obsolete. But at least I now know where the problem source lies and have a quirky way round it, as described previously. The only last question now is, who is responsible for the rogue channel(s) and do they know what effect it is having of what I presume is a vast number of Sony RDR HXD870 owners in the very large Winter Hill catchment? If you know how to let them know so they can resolve it properly, please do. Thanks - I'm very grateful as this has been bugging me for over 1 year now.
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js: Thanks - I may well explore this using your links, but I'll only post more info if I get anywhere. I'm thinking (suspiciously) that if the original broadcaster was Sony or related to Sony, they may be reluctant to correct it because the problem has most probably led to HXD870 users abandoning them and buying new Sony gear. I tried to do that a few years ago but I discovered that the newer Sony recorders only record in very high quality and only allow a quality reduction when you transfer from HDD to DVD. But that is done in real time so that writing three 1 hour drama episodes to a single DVD would take 3 hours, and not the current 15 minutes. I contacted Sony at the time who could only confirm their new recording approach. So in the absence of a decent replacement, I bought 2 used cheap HXD870 units off eBay. All done for now - Thanks again.
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js & Steve Donaldson. Hi both. I'll leave the technical stuff to your good selves. But just to add that in my case, as a result of having 3 identical recorders, I was able to know instantly that it was not the devices at fault. So I was able to choose to experiment to resolve the problem. Had I had only one (as will be the case for many owners) then I would probably have assumed it had broken and scrapped it, given the age. It makes me wonder how many owners have scrapped theirs unnecessarily! Whoever caused this problem ought to be informed if at all possible, so they can at least learn from it. Thanks for your interest.
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Karl:
Hi Karl,
It was the js post a few days ago that identified the channels I'd managed to miss when I'd achieved a successful retune were in UHF 24 and UHF 27 (15 TV channels in total)
The EPG gets through even if I avoid the daily Sony updates. However, the EPG does have the gaps you describe, particularly for the few days ahead. Probably best to summarise the learning curve I went down as it might differ slightly for others in different locations. Here's what I did:
1. I needed to find out when the Sony updates occur (I knew 10:00 and 14:00 because I'd seen it happen, but I knew something happened overnight as well. So I set up 2 min recordings at half past each hour during the night to trace when the fault arose, which is the last hour mark after the last recording success. That's how I found 03:00 and 05:00 (05:00 may not happen every night I think)
2. I set up daily recordings from 09:59 to 10:01, 13:59 to 14:01, 02:59 to 03:01 and 04:59 to 05:01. I set these up over a year ago and all 3 recordiers have been avoiding the Sony update ever since.
3. Obviously, I needed a successful re-tuning that missed the erroneous channels first which was hit & miss one year ago, but I now know that starting the "replace channels re-tune" sequence without the aerial in and plugging it in after approx 10% done misses the erroneous channels and gets what I want. It is trial and error, but after a few attempts I get success. If the erroneous channels come later for your area then perhaps the manual aerial in/out process may need experimentation.
4. One interesting thing I can't explain is that of the 3 identical recorders I have, they have gradually become out of sync slightly with the clock such that one unit finishes its 2 min recording before another one starts. I thought that would upset the process, but no - they all still avoid updates reliably.
5. You must ensure there is enough HDD space left for these recordings, which is where I slipped up last week, which kicked off this whole fiasco again. But even 8 mins per day to cover say a max 3 weeks holiday is workable if you plan ahead
6. EPG usage - I find that series record has always been unreliable. Potentially perhaps due to occasional EPG update omissions. I always take series record off and set the time 3 mins early and run 10 mins over. The only time this doesn't work is if the broadcaster makes a last-minute change due to live sport overruns or a national crisis news bulletin.
7. Why do I do all this instead of catch up TV etc some may ask? Well primarily I hate watching Dramas interrupted by 4 mins of adverts every 15 mins. I edit out the adverts manually which is fairly easy with the Sony system. Also most catch-up systems don't keep everything available long enough for me, especially if I want to re-watch an old series. Blank DVD's aren't too expensive. I find the standard definition and a quality setting to give 3 hours/DVD is acceptable. I usually do films at a 2 hours per DVD quality.
I hope other Sony RDR HXD-870 owners find this layman's experience useful.
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Steve Donaldson:
Hi Steve - Nice point re using SEP mode for these short update avoidance recordings. It seems that the EPG updates are not part of the Sony updates I'm avoiding because the EPG has always been populated OK during the last year when my system of avoiding Sony updates has worked successfully throughout. Albeit that some bits of the EPG guide don't go very far ahead ( 1 or 2 days only sometimes) but from Karl's comment, that seems normal.
Re clock timing - I agree. So this indicates that the Sony updates are triggered by the recorder unit and not some aspect of the transmitter broadcast, as I had assumed previously. Pity there's nothing in the Sony menu to facilitate stopping updates by user choice.
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Friday 30 June 2023 2:52PM
Just come across your website (30-06-2023) after many unresolved Sony RDR HXD-870 auto update problems and can hopefully provide a lot of info to shed light on my 'still not fully resolved' problem.
I am in the SK22 postcode area and can see the Winter Hill to the NW which is approx 35 miles distant. Reception from my roof aerial has been and still is very good.
I have 3 of the extremely useful Sony RDR HXD-870 recorders that are more useful than Sony's newer recorders. So they are important despite being old. THE PROBLEM is that they auto update 4 times a day. Last summer they all got stuck on an update. Search re-tuning found all the usual channels, but dropped the picture and sound within a few seconds, despite being able to show the correct details of the programme being transmitted. Re-tuning attempts at different times of the day often found differing numbers of total channels. Sometimes I was able to re-tune successfully, but the next auto update would add any channels missed previously and the problem would return. Eventually I found a way round it by setting the units to record 2 minutes of TV at the update times of 03:00, 05:00, 10:00 and 14:00 (from 1 min before and 1 min after) which forced the units to not update. I delete these unwanted recordings daily usually. All good as long as I avoid filling the HDD. But last week the HDD became full (I was away) and it stuck on update again. Re-tuning several times this week always finds 168 channels and always causes the lost picture /sound problem. Tried Sony's firmware update advice without success. BUT here's the rub - Someone mentioned online that there appears to be some channels that cause the problem and that there may be a conflict for more than one transmitter source when auto re-tuning (or something to that effect). So I unplugged the aerial, started the auto re-tuning, let it get to 10% done then plugged the aerial in to allow the remaining channels to be received. It found 155 channels and hey presto - it now works again. So what is the explanation? What channels did I avoid in the first 10% search that must be where the problem arises? Still an issue, because I still have to force the unit not to update 4 times per day using my record 2 mins at each point routine.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated and happy to provide further info.
Steve