Dog's dinner
Member
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2010
- Messages
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- Age
- 77
- My Satellite Setup
- Dreambox DM8000 HDD
- My Location
- Norway
Well, I promised I would post an update on how things were working out as soon as I had the time and energy. Funnily enough, I visited the forum a few days ago, with precisely that in mind, but instead of writing about my experiences I started answering an earlier post about the weak audio signal from the rca out connection. I'd written a couple of paragraphs before I realized that I was answering one of my own questions from four or five months back. Pity I didn't post the answer when I come to think of it because it was very useful.
Rather than repeat the well-known advantages of the Dreambox DM8000 (ravishing picture, brilliant audio, multiple tuners etc.), I think I may as well move on the to problems. Just to put it in context, I use the Dreambox mainly to listen/record (on the installed WD 1.5TB Green hard drive) music from various radio channels broadcasting by satellite. I rarely watch the television, and what viewing I do do is largely restricted to news. I do like a nice crime programme, though (George Gently, Lewis etc.), which I usually record from the three free to air channels of the Norwegian state broadcaster via the terrestrial tuner.
Quibble no 1. Imagine a situation where you've been an early bird and timed a recording (say 7-9 pm) for a programme on certain radio channel (say BR-Klassik) during the day. In the meantime you switch to another radio channel (the excellent Spanish Radio Clasica for instance) and go about your daily chores. A few minutes past 7 you turn on the tele to check whether the recording has started only to discover that you're still tuned to the Spanish channel. No problem, you say to yourself, just switch over and you'll only have missed the news update and introduction to the concert. Grab the remote, press the bouquet button, "all change for BR-Klassik".
Now if you expected the Dreambox to change seamlessly to the desired channel, you'd be disappointed. You get that ominous message "tune failed", which always reminds me somehow of the Eurovision Song Contest and the notorious "null points". Never mind, you say say to yourself, it'll soon pick up the channel. But it doesn't. You try moving up and down the programmes in your bouquet of "German Radio Stations". All the other ones work fine, but not a sound emerges from BR-Klassik - only that confounded Eurovision message, "tune failed".
Now the red recording light is on - so you think, never mind, it's recording something. It's just that I can't hear what. Let's turn on the chase play feature. So you open your pvr (short for preventable venereal relapses). There it is. BR-Klassik. Click on it. Nothing. Nada. It's as empty as the backside of the moon. The Dreambox is busily recording absolutely nothing.
Right, let's see what the manual says for situations like this. Surprisingly little. Nothing in fact.
So, enter the timer via the menu. Delete the recording - Are you sure you want to delete it? No, not really, but what else do you suggest? So you delete it. By now, of course, the concert - which you still haven't heard a note of - is spoiled, and you're too irritated, upset, with a pervasive sense of disempowerment to listen anyway.
When you've done half a dozen times, you realize that the Dreambox has to be tuned to the station you want to record. I read somewhere in these pages something about being on the same transponder. I expect what happens is that I've haplessly crossed over to a wrong transponder, which would explain everything.
The next quibble is this. Say you've recorded a few of the new Miss Marple programmes - which were aired here during the Christmas hols on the national terretrial channel. You've only got one terrestrial tuner, but you've only got three terrestrial channels, so not much could go wrong here. But you'd be wrong. Dreambox has a trick or two up its sleeve here too.
I generally record things to listen/watch later. Sometimes a day or so later, sometimes even weeks or months. On my old and trusty Pioneer DVD recorder, I've still got programmes from last summer on the hard drive, still perfectly watchable.
I didn't wait weeks or months to watch the Miss Marple features, however. A few days after recording them, I opened the pvr, scrolled down to the first Miss Marple, clicked "go", and off we went. For about three minutes. Picture glorious, sound marvellous. Detail brilliant. You don't take to the actor playing Miss Marple, but never mind. Sit back and enjoy! Ooops! Cogs withing cogs and wheels within wheels. Those two grey cogs start churning, the picture breaks up into successively smaller strips, the accursed green screen of death appears, and you're told that dreambox is awfully sorry, but something's happened to the software and it has to restart. Don't worry, though, it'll be sending the log file directly to the makers.
If you're like me, you may at that point have been recording a concert via the satellite tuner. That would obviously have taken a hit from the software getting its knickers in a twist. Another recording for the bin.
After it's up and running again, you try watching the Miss Marple programme again. Do you want to continue at 3'40" where you left off? Yes please. Oooops! Here we go again. Restart.
OK, try the next Miss Marple mystery - one down, two to go. Oooops, machine breaks down at about 5 minutes this time. Obviously, Miss Marple disagrees with the Dreambox. Delete the lot. No great loss. Temporary glitch.
Zip forward a couple of months, to February. A new series, George Gently. Might be promising. Record all the three episodes of the first series. Episode 1 - get to within 15 minutes of the end, and thing so far are looking good. You thought. Wrongly. Green screen of death, new crash log, etc. etc.
None of the Gently episodes can be watched to the end. None of the two Thorne episodes either. Each Thorne episode is broadcast in two bits to make room for a news update. None of the four halves can be seen to the end.
Time to get the little grey cells working (for a change). Import the ts file to the work/music editing computer. Move it onto a USB stick, plug the stick into the Dreambox, and Bob's your uncle! No he's not. Dreambox still gets a catatonic fit at exactly the same places. OK, plug it into your new Oppo DVD player. Ooops. No sound. Picture's great though.
OK, try converting the ts file to a DVD. I use TMPGenc Authoring Works 4. I've never given it a ts file from the Dreambox before to work on, but it seems to accept it. A couple of hours later, there's a nice lot of vob files. Load onto the memory stick, plug into Oppo. Great picture - sound too. But they're totally out of sync. When I tested it before getting Authoring Works to start creating the DVD, it was in sync. Very odd.
OK, see if it works with the much simpler WD TV HD Media Player. No sound with the ts file, and out of sync with the DVD vobs.
OK, try streaming from the computer via the hardwired router to the hardwired dreambox. Absolutely ghastly picture - virtually unwatchable. And, of course, you're old green screen of death makes yet another unwelcome appearance.
OK, use the cutlist editor to remove everything you've already watched of an episode. That should remove the problematic bits of the recording. But no.
OK, last option. Try watching the whole thing in Cutlist Editor mode. Abracadabra and sim sala bim, for the first time in about 55 tries, you get to see the end of a film or programme. True, only a third of the telly screen is actually given over to showing the programme. Never mind. You're pleased with yourself. Now you know who dun it.
According to the log files, the Dreambox has crashed 51 times since I've had it. That's not the whole story though. It has catatonic siezures as well - and relatively frequently, with or without the grey cogs whirring in the background. These freezing episodes aren't logged - reasonably enough since the Dreambox software has stopped working by then. The strange thing is, you can press a couple of buttons on the remote in relatively quick succession one day, and the Dreambox does what you want it to. Do exactly the same thing the next, and it freezes up. It even froze a couple of nights ago when I pressed the power button to turn it off.
Of course, when it restarts after a seizure, your computer's lost its connection with it via the router. The network has to be restarted and, if necessary, a new IP address doled out.
All this wouldn't matter too much. Most of the telly programmes I can happily live without. What does brass me off though, is that I can't risk watching a recorded programme while recording a concert, or indeed a film. A couple of days ago, I film I was recording ended up in four separate pieces with minutes lost in between each while the dreambox went into recovery mode. Binned, of course.
One final thing. I use the cutlist editor not only to watch programmes, but, strangely, to edit out unwanted bits at the beginnings and ends of recorded programmes. In comparison with the Pioneer DVD recorder - which also operates with a hard drive - editing on the Dreambox is difficult to do accurately (i.e. to the frame), and it takes absolutely for ever. My five-year old Pioneer executes cuts immediately. The Dreambox is sooooo slow. Cutting in the background, it says. Reminds me of the prodigal council road worker resting on his spade. (It takes all day to restart after one of its freezing fits as well.)
Those are two major quibbles, and one minor one. I've contemplated changing the software to a Nabilosat Blackhole affair, though I doub't whether I'd be competent enough to do it successfully, and would it make any difference? I did try updating the software using the DreamUp program. Needless to say, it didn't work - and yes the IP addresses were correct and correct procedures were followed.
I'm sure these problems can be ironed out - they may not even have anything to do with the Dreambox per se. It's a question of knowing which questions to ask.
There are two
Rather than repeat the well-known advantages of the Dreambox DM8000 (ravishing picture, brilliant audio, multiple tuners etc.), I think I may as well move on the to problems. Just to put it in context, I use the Dreambox mainly to listen/record (on the installed WD 1.5TB Green hard drive) music from various radio channels broadcasting by satellite. I rarely watch the television, and what viewing I do do is largely restricted to news. I do like a nice crime programme, though (George Gently, Lewis etc.), which I usually record from the three free to air channels of the Norwegian state broadcaster via the terrestrial tuner.
Quibble no 1. Imagine a situation where you've been an early bird and timed a recording (say 7-9 pm) for a programme on certain radio channel (say BR-Klassik) during the day. In the meantime you switch to another radio channel (the excellent Spanish Radio Clasica for instance) and go about your daily chores. A few minutes past 7 you turn on the tele to check whether the recording has started only to discover that you're still tuned to the Spanish channel. No problem, you say to yourself, just switch over and you'll only have missed the news update and introduction to the concert. Grab the remote, press the bouquet button, "all change for BR-Klassik".
Now if you expected the Dreambox to change seamlessly to the desired channel, you'd be disappointed. You get that ominous message "tune failed", which always reminds me somehow of the Eurovision Song Contest and the notorious "null points". Never mind, you say say to yourself, it'll soon pick up the channel. But it doesn't. You try moving up and down the programmes in your bouquet of "German Radio Stations". All the other ones work fine, but not a sound emerges from BR-Klassik - only that confounded Eurovision message, "tune failed".
Now the red recording light is on - so you think, never mind, it's recording something. It's just that I can't hear what. Let's turn on the chase play feature. So you open your pvr (short for preventable venereal relapses). There it is. BR-Klassik. Click on it. Nothing. Nada. It's as empty as the backside of the moon. The Dreambox is busily recording absolutely nothing.
Right, let's see what the manual says for situations like this. Surprisingly little. Nothing in fact.
So, enter the timer via the menu. Delete the recording - Are you sure you want to delete it? No, not really, but what else do you suggest? So you delete it. By now, of course, the concert - which you still haven't heard a note of - is spoiled, and you're too irritated, upset, with a pervasive sense of disempowerment to listen anyway.
When you've done half a dozen times, you realize that the Dreambox has to be tuned to the station you want to record. I read somewhere in these pages something about being on the same transponder. I expect what happens is that I've haplessly crossed over to a wrong transponder, which would explain everything.
The next quibble is this. Say you've recorded a few of the new Miss Marple programmes - which were aired here during the Christmas hols on the national terretrial channel. You've only got one terrestrial tuner, but you've only got three terrestrial channels, so not much could go wrong here. But you'd be wrong. Dreambox has a trick or two up its sleeve here too.
I generally record things to listen/watch later. Sometimes a day or so later, sometimes even weeks or months. On my old and trusty Pioneer DVD recorder, I've still got programmes from last summer on the hard drive, still perfectly watchable.
I didn't wait weeks or months to watch the Miss Marple features, however. A few days after recording them, I opened the pvr, scrolled down to the first Miss Marple, clicked "go", and off we went. For about three minutes. Picture glorious, sound marvellous. Detail brilliant. You don't take to the actor playing Miss Marple, but never mind. Sit back and enjoy! Ooops! Cogs withing cogs and wheels within wheels. Those two grey cogs start churning, the picture breaks up into successively smaller strips, the accursed green screen of death appears, and you're told that dreambox is awfully sorry, but something's happened to the software and it has to restart. Don't worry, though, it'll be sending the log file directly to the makers.
If you're like me, you may at that point have been recording a concert via the satellite tuner. That would obviously have taken a hit from the software getting its knickers in a twist. Another recording for the bin.
After it's up and running again, you try watching the Miss Marple programme again. Do you want to continue at 3'40" where you left off? Yes please. Oooops! Here we go again. Restart.
OK, try the next Miss Marple mystery - one down, two to go. Oooops, machine breaks down at about 5 minutes this time. Obviously, Miss Marple disagrees with the Dreambox. Delete the lot. No great loss. Temporary glitch.
Zip forward a couple of months, to February. A new series, George Gently. Might be promising. Record all the three episodes of the first series. Episode 1 - get to within 15 minutes of the end, and thing so far are looking good. You thought. Wrongly. Green screen of death, new crash log, etc. etc.
None of the Gently episodes can be watched to the end. None of the two Thorne episodes either. Each Thorne episode is broadcast in two bits to make room for a news update. None of the four halves can be seen to the end.
Time to get the little grey cells working (for a change). Import the ts file to the work/music editing computer. Move it onto a USB stick, plug the stick into the Dreambox, and Bob's your uncle! No he's not. Dreambox still gets a catatonic fit at exactly the same places. OK, plug it into your new Oppo DVD player. Ooops. No sound. Picture's great though.
OK, try converting the ts file to a DVD. I use TMPGenc Authoring Works 4. I've never given it a ts file from the Dreambox before to work on, but it seems to accept it. A couple of hours later, there's a nice lot of vob files. Load onto the memory stick, plug into Oppo. Great picture - sound too. But they're totally out of sync. When I tested it before getting Authoring Works to start creating the DVD, it was in sync. Very odd.
OK, see if it works with the much simpler WD TV HD Media Player. No sound with the ts file, and out of sync with the DVD vobs.
OK, try streaming from the computer via the hardwired router to the hardwired dreambox. Absolutely ghastly picture - virtually unwatchable. And, of course, you're old green screen of death makes yet another unwelcome appearance.
OK, use the cutlist editor to remove everything you've already watched of an episode. That should remove the problematic bits of the recording. But no.
OK, last option. Try watching the whole thing in Cutlist Editor mode. Abracadabra and sim sala bim, for the first time in about 55 tries, you get to see the end of a film or programme. True, only a third of the telly screen is actually given over to showing the programme. Never mind. You're pleased with yourself. Now you know who dun it.
According to the log files, the Dreambox has crashed 51 times since I've had it. That's not the whole story though. It has catatonic siezures as well - and relatively frequently, with or without the grey cogs whirring in the background. These freezing episodes aren't logged - reasonably enough since the Dreambox software has stopped working by then. The strange thing is, you can press a couple of buttons on the remote in relatively quick succession one day, and the Dreambox does what you want it to. Do exactly the same thing the next, and it freezes up. It even froze a couple of nights ago when I pressed the power button to turn it off.
Of course, when it restarts after a seizure, your computer's lost its connection with it via the router. The network has to be restarted and, if necessary, a new IP address doled out.
All this wouldn't matter too much. Most of the telly programmes I can happily live without. What does brass me off though, is that I can't risk watching a recorded programme while recording a concert, or indeed a film. A couple of days ago, I film I was recording ended up in four separate pieces with minutes lost in between each while the dreambox went into recovery mode. Binned, of course.
One final thing. I use the cutlist editor not only to watch programmes, but, strangely, to edit out unwanted bits at the beginnings and ends of recorded programmes. In comparison with the Pioneer DVD recorder - which also operates with a hard drive - editing on the Dreambox is difficult to do accurately (i.e. to the frame), and it takes absolutely for ever. My five-year old Pioneer executes cuts immediately. The Dreambox is sooooo slow. Cutting in the background, it says. Reminds me of the prodigal council road worker resting on his spade. (It takes all day to restart after one of its freezing fits as well.)
Those are two major quibbles, and one minor one. I've contemplated changing the software to a Nabilosat Blackhole affair, though I doub't whether I'd be competent enough to do it successfully, and would it make any difference? I did try updating the software using the DreamUp program. Needless to say, it didn't work - and yes the IP addresses were correct and correct procedures were followed.
I'm sure these problems can be ironed out - they may not even have anything to do with the Dreambox per se. It's a question of knowing which questions to ask.
There are two
