187 replies to this topic

[rogers]

fossicker, on Oct 25 2006, 07:12 PM, said:

The Wintal can still be used as a "Set Top Box" with the ability to record all the other channels.

I was hoping you wouldn't have mentioned that, obviously nobodys that gullible!

As an update since I last posted I have the Wintal unit plugged in and tuned to CH 7. Have been pressing the record button at random times and letting it record for 2 - 5 hours. It has not locked up. So not sure if it is cured or CH 7 has changed anything.

[mcben47]

fossicker, on Nov 13 2006, 03:53 PM, said:

Did they tell you what they did to fix it, or did they swap it for a new one?

Was same unit (serial # matched) and HDD had a recent recording still in place, i.e. no reformat/purge had occurred and it continues to record 7 as required. Only time will tell re reliability

[fossicker]

rogers, on Nov 13 2006, 06:35 PM, said:

As an update since I last posted I have the Wintal unit plugged in and tuned to CH 7. Have been pressing the record button at random times and letting it record for 2 - 5 hours. It has not locked up. So not sure if it is cured or CH 7 has changed anything.

CH 7 hasn't changed anything, mine locked up last night whilst recording "Egypt".
It locked up at 1hr 58sec, and I missed the last few minutes of the show.
I usually only record CH7 on the Wintal when I am home, so that I can press chase play to stop it from locking up, but last night I forgot to.

[Dr. Zachary Smith]

I haven't looked through this entire thread, so kick me if I repeat other suggestions.  I own both the Wintal and Digicrystal alternative PVRs.  The Wintal started to have picture drop-outs on both ABC and channel 7 recently.  I fiddled about with the aerial leads...a little improvement, but not much.  What amazed me was that my old Dodgytech HD STB on the same aerial line (via splitter) was working fine on all channels and showing reasonably-good signal strength.  The clue came when I bypassed the splitter and connected the aerial lead direct.  ABC improved dramatically and channel 7 was more tolerable.

Yesterday I visited my local Tandy and bought a GME Kingray (Aussie-made...hooray!) amp./splitter.  Fired it up...problems all gone!  The improvement was dramatic and even though it has cost me 50 bucks, well the easing of heartache was worth it.

[mcben47]

mcben47, on Nov 13 2006, 08:14 PM, said:

Was same unit (serial # matched) and HDD had a recent recording still in place, i.e. no reformat/purge had occurred and it continues to record 7 as required. Only time will tell re reliability

Hi Folks, seems my fortnight took a bit longer. To much work, TV  etc.
Anyway all is still well with the Wintal box, but just this week the remote seems to have died. As I had taught a DSE multi remote how to drive it, it is still workable, just a bit fiddly. See Wintal now have a new twin tuner with USB transfer to PC. mmmm wonder whether I will be so stupid to go down that path?

Any one tried the new unit see

http://wintal.com.au...s/43126043.html

[Greensborough hills]

Is it only me or my wintal PVR X10 with original firmware that is still experiencing this problem?

The guys that have flashed the firmware to 3.41b have all the lockup stopped?

I experienced a lockup last week while recording Dancing with the stars
Reading this forum, I should have checked what the recording time was and if it was XX:XX:58.

I will try and flash my PVR to see if that stops the problem, should I use the firmware on the WINTAL site or should i use the hacked 3.41b grobie firmware?

Any advise and response would be appreciated.

[Neon Kitten]

Greensborough hills, on Mar 30 2007, 08:18 AM, said:

I will try and flash my PVR to see if that stops the problem, should I use the firmware on the WINTAL site or should i use the hacked 3.41b grobie firmware?

My observations have been that:

1. The only firmware the Channel Seven lockup bug DOESN'T happen with is the Grobi 3.41 beta firmware.

2. The down side of that Grobi firmware is that it does not like recording Ten's new stat-muxed broadcast. Live Ten is fine, but recordings can be so glitchy as to be unwatchable.

If only Grobi has released a 3.42 with English text intact. As it stands, there will likely never be any firmware for these PVRs that solves both of the two major problems.

[stewartjm]

casey_sb, on Sep 29 2006, 02:16 PM, said:

FYI I was having very similar issues with my PVRx10 after 12months of ownership.

I upgraded the firmware and changed out the HDD with same type/rating but the issues were still evident.

I noticed excessive heat with the unit so I checked out the Switch Mode Power Supply Uniy (PSU).

In the PSU I noticed that two capacitors had expanded and were very hot. I removed these capacitors and discovered both were faulty (showing high equivalent series resistance -ESR) and that they were significantly underated ie 10v 2200uf in a circuit delivering unregulated 17v dc. The 5v part of the power supply was fine

This 17v DC unregulated should be 12V regulated as it supplies the hard disk drive voltage. I replaced capacitors in the power supply with higher voltage rated ones. This regulated the voltage back to 12.6v.

System is now working fine with all functions and with no excess heat being generated!!

Now lets see if it is long term cure.

Have to fully support Casey. Had strange issues with my PVR-10, lockups, non record then nothing. Unit looked dead. Took off the cover, heard the HDD clicking, thought dead drive. Took out the drive and the unit fired up just as digital set top bax, all good. Replaced with an identical WD HDD, same noise and no startup. Looked at the low voltage electro caps in the PSU, all bulged tops. Did the replacement with higher voltage caps. All perfect and working now with original drive. By the way measured the 5v & 12v rails and they were correct with a DMM, if I have checked AC ripple I would have seen the issue.

Thanks Casey saved me a couple of hundred.

Stew

[Donny05]

Just wondering Casey_sb if your mods are still going ok? I am having the same troubles with my PVRX10A and am looking at sending it back on warranty. I would also like a bigger hard drive but the radio sales tech I talked to today said it can't be done?

Cheers, Jason

[doogs]

My supernet locked up on seven again last night.  Has there been a difinitive solution to this yet?

Doogs

[-Bishop-]

Looks like my Supernet 1160T has the same bug, have recorded loads of stuff on 7, but tonight for the first time it locked up during 30 Rock, just how people discribe in here.

I'm not real happy about it, I record a few channel 7 shows, and now I'm just not sure I can trust it anymore...

[bobbysdad]

This has been a problem for well over 2 years now.
Why isn't anyone closer to a resolution to it?
.... and still Ch 7 locks up.
This is totally unbelievable!    
(Supernet 8000-T: Melbourne.)

[Neon Kitten]

bobbysdad, on Sep 14 2008, 03:08 PM, said:

This has been a problem for well over 2 years now.
Why isn't anyone closer to a resolution to it?
.... and still Ch 7 locks up.
This is totally unbelievable!    
(Supernet 8000-T: Melbourne.)

Wow, the memories...

The Wintal/Supernet Digenius-clone PVRs are essentially obsolete. As far as Wintal goes, Radio Parts Group *never* supplied any support at all for them, and refused to even fund firmware fixes.

The Channel 7 lockup bug was fixable with a firmware update from Grobi, a German company that also sold Digenius-clone PVRs. However this update caused problems of its own with Channel 10. Grobi's many subsequent firmware updates were German-language only, presumably to stop Australian users from nicking them

Sadly, despite the Digenius clone being a really nice, lean and fast SD PVR, it's been consigned to the dustbin of history in Australia.

Of interest, by the way: Channel 7 is also causing problems with the Beyonwiz series of PVRs. Under certain conditions, the 7Sd and 7HD streams can throw the Sigma Designs decoder in these PVRs into a tailspin, rendering every other channel AND recordings unwatchable until either the PVR is rebooted or an MPEG video file is played over the network.