Hi Everyone!
Sorry to interrupt but would be grateful if people with techi know-how could comment on my Pace Twin issue....
Just bought one from John Lewis (£198), has March 2003 software, very buggy! I know about June 5th/6th software update but... When I try to do an instant record the screen freezes or becomes very choppy. The recording is subsequently choppy, however changing the channel I am watching to a channel on a different multiplex fixes the problem as far as the recording is concerned.
Looking at signal info if both tuners are set to the same multiplex (either same channel or different channel i.e. ITV and Chan4) the bit error rate is very bad. Changing one tuner to a different multiplex gives perfect results!. Signal strength is good.
Multiplex 1 is however free of this problem apparently.
My question is: Is this a software issue that will be resolved with the upgrade or a hardware prob?
Looking at signal info if both tuners are set to the same multiplex (either same channel or different channel i.e. ITV and Chan4) the bit error rate is very bad. Changing one tuner to a different multiplex gives perfect results!. Signal strength is good.
Multiplex 1 is however free of this problem apparently.
My question is: Is this a software issue that will be resolved with the upgrade or a hardware prob?
I believe when this has come up before that it has turned out to be a hardware problem.
I'm really happy with my Twin and looking forward to the update this w/e.
However i'm getting some break up on the ITV/C4/C5 mux. I noticed earlier in this thread people were talking about signal strengths. Is it possible to see the strength of the signal the twin is receiving ?
If it is can this be done on a per channel basis ?
I don't have a booster and it looks like I may need one if the update this w/e makes no difference.
However i'm getting some break up on the ITV/C4/C5 mux.
C5 is on the SDN mux, so you're really talking about two mux's here. What they have in comon is both broadcast using 64QAM, rather than the more robust 16QAM used by the other mux's, so they are more likely to suffer from reception problems
Is it possible to see the strength of the signal the twin is receiving ?
Yes, look under Signal Information in the main menu. Here you will see both signal strength and error rate for both tuners. The latter indicates the quality of the signal.
I have installed a Twin at work and have asked the person who uses it to leave it on BBC1 when they leave on Friday evening.
Will the machine automatically update itself or does the process require any user intervention?
What are the sort of levels I should be looking for ie what is a good reading / borderline reading / and poor ?
In my case I get a signal strength in the 75%-80% region, and a Bit Error Rate of 1.000E-9. That gives me good results.
I don't know what the lower limits are. I would expect the levels needed vary depending on what is the cause of the breakup you see. You may have a borderline signal which occasionally strays into the bad, or you could have a good signal which is occasionally overwhelmed by strong impulse interference.
Good news - I've just checked with the Engineering Channel Download Schedule and found that the Saturday download is now listed as New instead of Provisional.
It would seem my results ar epretty shocking ! - I'm amazed I get a picturte so good :-
BBC 1 48%
BBC 2 48%
ITV 34%
C4 34%
C5 27%
SKY 37%
Error rate is constant at 1.000E-9
Not looking to good so a booster looks like a requirement
Your signal strengths are mostly better than mine!
I get
BBC1/2 41%
BBC4 32%
ITV/CH4 32%
CH5 25%
SKY 41%
I get minimal break-up though. Just occasionally on CH5 MUX. I live 20 miles south of WInter Hill transmitter and aerial is in loft which explains low signal strength.
My signal is around the 25 - 38 but very good in not breaking up. Would an aerial booster do any good and whats best with a digital signal ? Any help on this ?
I got my Twin July last year, it developed the same problem that you are describing about 2 months ago.
I Emailed Pace who said it could be reception or a fault with the twin.
I had my reception checked, it cost me £35 and was found to be OK.
John Lewis returned it to Pace who promptly lost it .
To cut a long story short John Lewis Gave me a new box and refunded the £35 for the reception test.
I have had no problems with the new Twin other than having to put up with the original March 2004 software.
My signal is around the 25 - 38 but very good in not breaking up. Would an aerial booster do any good and whats best with a digital signal ? Any help on this ?
Martin999 :cool:
Aerial installation isn't my field, so treat the following with caution. Having said that here's my understanding of how to go about getting a good signal.
There is no substitute for as big an aerial as possible mounted as high as possible. Maximising the metal in the sky is the best way to improve the signal. The existing aerial may be of the wrong group, depending on your transmitter, and if it's getting on a bit wind and weather will have taken their toll. It's worth considering replacing it.
Run a high quality shielded downlead directly from the aerial to the stb with no joins or connection boxes in the way. Use CT100 satellite cable or something of similar quality. This minimises the amount of interference the downlead will pickup.
As far as amplifiers go the original advice for DTT was to avoid them. Over the years this seemed to change a little to say a modest masthead amplifier (of say 13db) is OK in weak signal area's.
The general advice on signal boosters at the stb end is to avoid them on the garbage in, garbage out principle. If you have interference amplifying the signal will amplify the interference as well, so you're better off trying to improve the aerial to avoid it in the first place.
Having said that as a pragmatist I know some people have improved things with a booster. If you can borrow one to try then see if it makes a difference. If not then look to replacing your aerial and downlead.
Just checked the Pace website - it's been updated with details of what we can expect in the download tomorrow. Not very exciting I have to say...
Pace will download a new version of software for the Twin Digital TV Recorder at 10.00am on Saturday 5th June. The download will run until 9.00am on Monday 7th June.
To receive the download, you will need to be tuned to a BBC channel. By accepting the download, you will receive the following enhancements:
More channels per page displayed on the guide.
Extended guide data displayed (if broadcast)
Improved navigation around the guide which includes:
Shortcut to next day
Shortcut to previous day.
Return to Now
Zoom
Option to have playback loop continuously or stop when complete.
Option to add up to 5 minutes before the start and after the end of a scheduled event to allow for slight over run of event.
Your signal strengths are mostly better than mine!
I get
BBC1/2 41%
BBC4 32%
ITV/CH4 32%
CH5 25%
SKY 41%
I get minimal break-up though. Just occasionally on CH5 MUX. I live 20 miles south of WInter Hill transmitter and aerial is in loft which explains low signal strength.
I get Mux 1:43%, 2:41%, A: 47%, B: 45%, C: 39%, 41% through a set-top aerial and booster. But Tuner B appears to be slightly better than Tuner A, and the numbers can vary by as much as 5% depending on what the other Tuner is on (I get higher numbers if the other tuner is tuned into a strong signal). It also varies depending on the time of day (the signal is worst in the early-afternoon, best at night). The bit error rate never budges from 1.000E-9 except during a channel change, at which point the bit error rates for both tuners go haywire.
Option to add up to 5 minutes before the start and after the end of a scheduled event to allow for slight over run of event.
.
This is useful but i hope its intelligent. In other words, if you set Corrie at 7:30 and EE at 8, will it clash because of the extra minutes or just change at 8. I think its called 'soft padding' in Tivo / Sky+ circles!
This is useful but i hope its intelligent. In other words, if you set Corrie at 7:30 and EE at 8, will it clash because of the extra minutes or just change at 8. I think its called 'soft padding' in Tivo / Sky+ circles!
Yeah - it does that. This feature was in the previous update (1.7.55) ...
Edit: sorry , not very clear, I meant it doesn't clash, it just doesn't add the minutes ... so if the first one overruns or the second one starts early, you miss bits ...
Yeah - it does that. This feature was in the previous update (1.7.55) ...
Edit: sorry , not very clear, I meant it doesn't clash, it just doesn't add the minutes ... so if the first one overruns or the second one starts early, you miss bits ...
Martin
Great, thanks.
Im still on the original SW so looking forward to this weekends update.
Does anyone know if a future SW update might enable live pause whilst something else is being recorded or is this a hardware restriction?
It would seem my results ar epretty shocking ! - I'm amazed I get a picturte so good :-
BBC 1 48%
BBC 2 48%
ITV 34%
C4 34%
C5 27%
SKY 37%
Error rate is constant at 1.000E-9
Not looking to good so a booster looks like a requirement
Signal on my box
BBC 1 51%
BBC 2 50%
ITV1(HTV) 53%
C4 53%
Five 48%
S4C 47%
Ftn 36%
Sky News 44%
Above is using a booster and sharing ariel with another STB.
B.E.R is at 1.000E-9 on all. Good picture on all channels.
I experienced a similar problem. Signal strength was fine... no problems until both tuners were tuned to the same multiplex and then the error bit rate went crazy and it suffered picture/sound breakup etc. I swapped the box and the new one was fine.
Update intalled first time.
Only differences that I can see at the moment is that the news multiscreen works ok and the guide loads much faster.
The only new features on this are the zoom operated by the vol + and - buttons and the next and previous days.
Can anyone else spot anything I have missed
Comments
Sorry to interrupt but would be grateful if people with techi know-how could comment on my Pace Twin issue....
Just bought one from John Lewis (£198), has March 2003 software, very buggy! I know about June 5th/6th software update but... When I try to do an instant record the screen freezes or becomes very choppy. The recording is subsequently choppy, however changing the channel I am watching to a channel on a different multiplex fixes the problem as far as the recording is concerned.
Looking at signal info if both tuners are set to the same multiplex (either same channel or different channel i.e. ITV and Chan4) the bit error rate is very bad. Changing one tuner to a different multiplex gives perfect results!. Signal strength is good.
Multiplex 1 is however free of this problem apparently.
My question is: Is this a software issue that will be resolved with the upgrade or a hardware prob?
Any comments will be helpfull. Thanks all.
I believe when this has come up before that it has turned out to be a hardware problem.
I'm really happy with my Twin
However i'm getting some break up on the ITV/C4/C5 mux. I noticed earlier in this thread people were talking about signal strengths. Is it possible to see the strength of the signal the twin is receiving ?
If it is can this be done on a per channel basis ?
I don't have a booster and it looks like I may need one if the update this w/e makes no difference.
TIA,
Mike.
C5 is on the SDN mux, so you're really talking about two mux's here. What they have in comon is both broadcast using 64QAM, rather than the more robust 16QAM used by the other mux's, so they are more likely to suffer from reception problems
Yes, look under Signal Information in the main menu. Here you will see both signal strength and error rate for both tuners. The latter indicates the quality of the signal.
It's actually done on a per mux basis. All channels on a mux share the same signal, so also share the same signal strength and error rate.
TIA
Mike.
Will the machine automatically update itself or does the process require any user intervention?
Thanks,
Darren
In my case I get a signal strength in the 75%-80% region, and a Bit Error Rate of 1.000E-9. That gives me good results.
I don't know what the lower limits are. I would expect the levels needed vary depending on what is the cause of the breakup you see. You may have a borderline signal which occasionally strays into the bad, or you could have a good signal which is occasionally overwhelmed by strong impulse interference.
BBC 1 48%
BBC 2 48%
ITV 34%
C4 34%
C5 27%
SKY 37%
Error rate is constant at 1.000E-9
Not looking to good so a booster looks like a requirement
I get
BBC1/2 41%
BBC4 32%
ITV/CH4 32%
CH5 25%
SKY 41%
I get minimal break-up though. Just occasionally on CH5 MUX. I live 20 miles south of WInter Hill transmitter and aerial is in loft which explains low signal strength.
Martin999 :cool:
I Emailed Pace who said it could be reception or a fault with the twin.
I had my reception checked, it cost me £35 and was found to be OK.
John Lewis returned it to Pace who promptly lost it .
To cut a long story short John Lewis Gave me a new box and refunded the £35 for the reception test.
I have had no problems with the new Twin other than having to put up with the original March 2004 software.
Aerial installation isn't my field, so treat the following with caution. Having said that here's my understanding of how to go about getting a good signal.
There is no substitute for as big an aerial as possible mounted as high as possible. Maximising the metal in the sky is the best way to improve the signal. The existing aerial may be of the wrong group, depending on your transmitter, and if it's getting on a bit wind and weather will have taken their toll. It's worth considering replacing it.
Run a high quality shielded downlead directly from the aerial to the stb with no joins or connection boxes in the way. Use CT100 satellite cable or something of similar quality. This minimises the amount of interference the downlead will pickup.
As far as amplifiers go the original advice for DTT was to avoid them. Over the years this seemed to change a little to say a modest masthead amplifier (of say 13db) is OK in weak signal area's.
The general advice on signal boosters at the stb end is to avoid them on the garbage in, garbage out principle. If you have interference amplifying the signal will amplify the interference as well, so you're better off trying to improve the aerial to avoid it in the first place.
Having said that as a pragmatist I know some people have improved things with a booster. If you can borrow one to try then see if it makes a difference. If not then look to replacing your aerial and downlead.
Pace will download a new version of software for the Twin Digital TV Recorder at 10.00am on Saturday 5th June. The download will run until 9.00am on Monday 7th June.
To receive the download, you will need to be tuned to a BBC channel. By accepting the download, you will receive the following enhancements:
More channels per page displayed on the guide.
Extended guide data displayed (if broadcast)
Improved navigation around the guide which includes:
Shortcut to next day
Shortcut to previous day.
Return to Now
Zoom
Option to have playback loop continuously or stop when complete.
Option to add up to 5 minutes before the start and after the end of a scheduled event to allow for slight over run of event.
Radio screen saver.
-Still, better than nothing I suppose.
I get Mux 1:43%, 2:41%, A: 47%, B: 45%, C: 39%,
This is useful but i hope its intelligent. In other words, if you set Corrie at 7:30 and EE at 8, will it clash because of the extra minutes or just change at 8. I think its called 'soft padding' in Tivo / Sky+ circles!
Yeah - it does that. This feature was in the previous update (1.7.55) ...
Edit: sorry , not very clear, I meant it doesn't clash, it just doesn't add the minutes ... so if the first one overruns or the second one starts early, you miss bits ...
Martin
Great, thanks.
Im still on the original SW so looking forward to this weekends update.
Does anyone know if a future SW update might enable live pause whilst something else is being recorded or is this a hardware restriction?
Cheers.
BBC 1 51%
BBC 2 50%
ITV1(HTV) 53%
C4 53%
Five 48%
S4C 47%
Ftn 36%
Sky News 44%
Above is using a booster and sharing ariel with another STB.
B.E.R is at 1.000E-9 on all. Good picture on all channels.
Not sure, but it appears to be hardware related in that the Twin cannot perform two 'write' operations simultaneosly.
On the update's contents, it's nothing terribly exciting, but assuming it has bug fixes, what else were we expecting?
Antonio
Only differences that I can see at the moment is that the news multiscreen works ok and the guide loads much faster.
The only new features on this are the zoom operated by the vol + and - buttons and the next and previous days.
Can anyone else spot anything I have missed