TV Drive installed yesterday

[Jacquesb]

A complete disaster so far - at the moment I only have terrestrial channels on the previous STB and the TV Drive is not working at all.

5th January: Call centre – Gary agreed TV Drive could be ordered at no additional cost provided 2nd box was disconnected. Nicola arranged to disconnect 2nd box from 5/2/07 and Jo (in sales ?) arranged for TV Drive install and cable modem move for Tuesday 16/1/06 from 12 – 18:00.

16th January @ 16:00: called centre to confirm engineer would attend. He could/would not confirm as some systems were down and suggested I call back at 19:00 if an engineer has not showed up.

16th January @18:15: engineer arrived apparently from "another area" as he was doing someone a favour by finishing off another job. He had no W/O for the cable modem move but called his boss who claimed that there was no record of that request. I guess moving the modem could have taken 30-40 minutes and he was not very keen to undertake that at 18:15 with a TV Drive to be installed as well.

16th January @ 18:40: I called and spoke to Carly – she also claimed there was no record of the cable modem move although she did seem to know that it was upstairs ! Carly has re-arranged for 08:00 – 13:00 on Thursday 25th.

16th January @ 18:30: engineer removed black Pace box and moved the silver Samsung STB to the back room – said he has asked for the removed channels to be reinstated – this did not happen – see below. TV Drive installed but not tested. He left an HDMI cable but did not seem inclined to fit it and claimed that all the channels would “arrive� as soon as the box was hit. Engineer departed at 18:50.

Tested TV Drive which is exhibiting a few problems:
• No access to menus via TV Drive or Home buttons.
• Cannot enter channel numbers on remote control so, effectively have no TV.
• Occasionally pressing Channel + or Channel – moves up or down one channel.
• Pressing RESET makes no difference but box seems to lock on channel 999 for 12-15 mins each time (I know that spiel by heart now).
• Unable to check any record, delay or playback functions as remote seems to be permanently locked.
• Coonected HDMI lead but cannot access menus so cannot set it up as recommended in the User Guide.
• Humming noise is quite noticeable.

17/1/06 @ 09:00 call centre Stuart (Manchester) has promised Samsung channels will be reinstated within 24 hours but transferred me to faults for the TV drive. Indian guy apologised 4 times, claimed systems were all down and asked me to call back in 2 hours !

17/1/06 @ 09:10 call centre (India) 1st attempt was “cut off�, but on 2nd attempt agreed an engineer call was necessary for the TVD & arranged for Thursday 18th between 12:00 and 18:00

17/1/06 @ 16:00 still no channels on STB, called again Amit (India) said they could not help as all systems were down and suggested I call back in 2 hours.

17/1/06 @ 16:15 – called again, Saikat (India) took the card number, sent some signals to the box and promised the channels would be back on in 2 hours; if not, I should call back (again).

I am very p+*&^&% off !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JD|]

The menus thing I had yesterday but It was cause the scart lead was in the bottom slot after I put it in the top slot I could see the menus.

Same with engineer here said they dont plug in the HDMI cable ! which I had neatly run in and sitting beside the scart.

And for number 3 exactly the same have phone faults 7 times!


1) its all fine will fix itself in 2 hours
2) 3 hours later computers are down.
3) you have to wait 24 hours.

Day 2
4)Computers are down
3)You have to wait 24 hours (after waiting 24 hours ) then sent signal! phone back in 2 hours if no luck
4) Computers are down
5) 30 mins on hold computer are down but subscription channels are sent on different frequency engineer needs to come out.

6) phone customer services they tell me that India call centre may not understand my Irish accent he will phone them and call me back (still waiting)


I'll resend signal
Computers are down...


Computers are down could this be the next Little Britain Sketch?

JD

[TurtlePoo]

Yep... I can relate to everything you have said:

See post:

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...php?t=33606398

Why can't they just tell the truth? At least then we'd know where we stand!

[Jacquesb]

Thanks JD - too tired tonite, but I will look at the cables again in the morning and call the "help line" yet again.

Interestingly, a couple of times when they (our friends in India) have said systems are down I have phoned back within 15 minutes and the systems are not down then so I almost get a sensible answer, but still no action.

JB

[Jacquesb]

Some success!!

Checked all the cables & both scarts now connected, one to TV, t'other to a DVD recorder. After much delay - sticks at ch999 showing Virgin media for ages - I can now watch TV and access all the menus. Access is quick and it seems very functional.

However, at the moment though I have no sound at all. I have the HDMI cable connected and HDMI enabled - are there any other settings I need in order to hear the TV ?

Thanks
JB

[Stephen]

If you have the HDMI connected you don't need the scart connected to a TV.

There is an option in the settings for HDMI override. try changing that and that may fix the lack of audio.

[Jacquesb]

Thanks DY - when I disconnected the Scart to the TV the sound returned to all except the HD channel + when I changed the HDMI override back I have sound on all channels.

Fantastic - thanks for all your help.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Jacquesb

Thanks DY - when I disconnected the Scart to the TV the sound returned to all except the HD channel + when I changed the HDMI override back I have sound on all channels.

Fantastic - thanks for all your help.

No bother glad to help.

I have my Surround amp connected to the TV Drive and have the HDMI override enabled which means the HD channel will only output sound through the optical connection. So if you are listening on the TV instead all channels have sound apart from the HD as its outputing Dolby Digital to the amp.

I think its similar for the scart, when the HDMI is enabled in the options it disables the scart but if its still connected I think it tries to output the sound through it.

[Jacquesb]

However, I still have no channels to the other STB. Called helpline again this morning but UK people would only say that the request has gone in to faults, then they transfer me to faults.

The first guy said, after about an 8 minute wait, that all systems were down. I tried again about 20 mins later, the guy said that he could see that signals had been sent to my box but could not understand why these had not arrived (well, India is a long ways away). He then said my channels would be reinstated by the end of the month - 30th January !!! - not acceptable and after much to-ing & fro-ing he has promised an engineer for Friday 19th morning.

I then called the billing people who firstly said there would be no recompense until the fault was fixed. When I asked when a cancellation would take effect - 30 days' notice she said - I rejected an offer of free phone calls as I don't use the ntl phone but accepted a BB upgrade from 2 to 4MB at £12.49 per month for 3 months, instead of the current £17.99; but I have to remember to cancel that after 3 months or it will go back to £25 per month.

I'm not sure if I can still claim from them when/if the fault is actually fixed - that would be pushing it a bit I suppose.

Getting there, JB

[Stephen]

If I still had my residential systems access I would offer to take a look and check your account to make sure everything looked right. But as I am now in the Business dept I don't have access to that system.

[Jacquesb]

Engineer - arranged for TV Drive - just left. He replaced the old STB and I now have the correct channel setup. My thanks to you guys on the board for your help - it's working.

A few minutes with a competent engineer has restored my faith in NTL - if only they could sort out the faults help desk!!

TV Drive is brilliant - panic over.

JB

[Stephen]

I'm amazed the engineer arrived today, even though he was booked to come tomorrow.

Its good that NTL can do things right occasionally.

[Tod]

Was the new TV Drive you had installed V+HD branded?

[Ruck and Maul]

If you ever lose the screen or just get the pictures coming thru (and not the menus), you can change the method of output with out using the menu screens,

Just press reset, then hold down the play/pause button and the stop button on the stb simultaneously until 'boot' comes up,
let them go and 'output' should show on the display,
pressing fastforward on the box will show you what it's currently set to and if you keep pressing fastforward it will scroll thru the different options, (hdmi Ypbpr, SD) and rewind sets the resolution (720p,1080i etc)
Press ok to save and it'll reboot and come back again!

Just to let you know!

[Jacquesb]

Tod

No, it is branded as a TV Drive but the remote has a very prominent Telewest brand ! - a bit strange as I have been an ntl customer for many years.

The channel 999 is now a static display with the Virgin media logo and a promotion of the V+ HD box - "coming soon".