Freeview reaches out to EPG-less DVR owners

Inverto

Inverto units affected by this were still being sold (as clearance items) by Maplin up to about a week ago, until I advised them of the pickle they would get themselves into if they didn't stop, so although they've probably not been manufactured for several years, they're still around from less scrupulous and/or attentive retailers.

Promising news though.

Argh!

And there was me thinking I'd done something wrong. Tried to re-tune our FVRT200 a couple of nights ago as C4 reception had gone totally SH1T and then found all the program guides had gone.

You couldn't add a list of the effected models to the story could you.

Letters, Digits.

Does this not highlight the great digital step backwards that many of these devices represent? In many cases, it seems the only way to record a program is through the EPG, with no option to do such insanely clever things as set a channel, date, time, and duration.

While that's less "user friendly" for the people who struggle to program VCRs, and selecting a programme from the EPG is much easier, surely allowing the users to set timers the old "unfriendly" way AS WELL makes good sense. If nothing else, it means they can carry on using their device if the EPG disappears (or is unavailable or just not correctly populated for some reason - which I've seen often enough).

Useless?

Hardly "effectively useless", just inconvenient as you now have to enter recordings not on now and next manually. All the other PVR functions are still working fine. My Digifusion is still recording the daily Tour de France highlights from ITV4 without any intervention. As others have said, I'll wait for the new HD PVRs to be properly sorted before buying.

If it can record and export "radio" I'd still consider it.

"Radio" on Freeview is unevenly supported anyway. I have a Grundig-labelled box that records to USB sticks (choose for recording speed very carefully), but its radio files only play back in SMPlayer - which I can live with - and it may have a TVireception/picture problem.

There's DAB but there are problems there too.

upgrade to HD? a working SD would be nice! Also no effected Model list

Given that since the Rowridge transmiter changes last year I can't even get SD Freeview, upgrading is not the answer. We have to wait till 2012 before analogue is turned off and we get a back our FreeView. Now if only FreeSat PVRs were as cheap as Freeview PVRs I'd be o.k.

The freeview PVR that I have had sat doing nothing for a year is a DigiFusion, sounds like it still won't work in 2012!

Why 'The register' can't list the affected models or link to where they are listed is beyond me but is typical of 'The Reg' I have emailed a complaint along those lines at least twice, but never had a reply.

Affected boxes?

All PVRs and Digiboxes that had a 14 day EPG that updated at 3 am.

Job done.

I have a Digifusion FVRT200 box, paid £38 for it, stuck an old 160 gb drive in it. It has given me excellent service, never missed a recording. I'm loath to bin it and will put up with manually entering recording events. It is capable of recording 2 channels at once while you view an earlier recording. It is too good to throw away.

I just wish I had the tools to rewrite the firmware to use the 7 day guide.

Surely an argument to hold off Freeview HD!

Surely the fact that my Thompson DHD 4000 box has been forced into obsolescence is a good argument to hold off buying any of the freeview HD boxes until they have matured! (Plus, as people have said, dual tuner Freeview HD PVRs are not going to be cheap!!)

Hope freeview succeed in helping get my EPG back

Why can't you use standard DVB EPG?

In Germany, for example, every station transmits a standard EPG which is defined in the DVB standard. It's free to use by everybody building a DVB reciever so you just have EPG without having to pay.

Why on earth did you have to re-invent the system to make it incompatible?

(BTW I have a VDR based solution which has a special plugin to also do Freesat EPG, so as an access control system it's kinda pointless)

Title ?

I've read a suggestion elsewhere that our Sale of Goods act would apply. Whilst these boxes may be out of their manufacturer warranty, it could be argued that they have stopped working due to a design fault - and so have not been "reasonably durable". Given that 6 years is often touted as a reasonable time to expect electronics to last, then many people should be entitled to partial refunds from the supplying retailer (though it does seem a bit harsh on the retailers who sold these in good faith - I guess they'd have a claim against their suppliers if still around to claim against).

If Maplin were selling them until recently, then those that bought them would be entitled to a replacement or full refund.