FREEVIEW - top up anytime recordable

Recently got the Top Up Anytime DVR but having issues with channels freezing etc etc Phoned quite a few times with some help but still have intermitent problems. Wondering if anyone else has had reception problems and found out how to fix it? Its not the aerial as this is a new digital aerial. We have also got a booster plugged in but its about three years old, should I invest in a new digital booster?

[nicke261192]

Proberbly your arial or you may live in a bad signal area

Originally Posted by nicke261192

Proberbly your arial or you may live in a bad signal area

Nope!

We have a standard free view box upstairs, which uses the same aerial with no problems.

[superbiatch]

It could be the box, i changed mine a week or so ago and touch wood it hasn't frozen yet

Originally Posted by superbiatch

It could be the box, i changed mine a week or so ago and touch wood it hasn't frozen yet

I think its the box aswell. I'll give them a phone and ask if they will replace.

[altis]

Before you do that, swap the boxes and see if the fault follows them. If it does then the fault is in the box. If it doesn't then the fault is within your aerial system.

[Graham M]

Originally Posted by NEONKNIGHT

I think its the box aswell. I'll give them a phone and ask if they will replace.

Umm given that your upstairs box works fine (Closer to the aerial?) maybe it's the cabling in between

[arkwright23]

Originally Posted by NEONKNIGHT

Recently got the Top Up Anytime DVR but having issues with channels freezing etc etc Phoned quite a few times with some help but still have intermitent problems. Wondering if anyone else has had reception problems and found out how to fix it? Its not the aerial as this is a new digital aerial. We have also got a booster plugged in but its about three years old, should I invest in a new digital booster?

He you tried disconnecting the booster. We have a new LCD tv with built-in freeview and aerial booster. (or words to that effect) When I set it up I found that some channels did not load, but when I switched the booster setting to 'off' they loaded ok. I don't know how this works as I would have expected the opposite.

Originally Posted by arkwright23

He you tried disconnecting the booster. We have a new LCD tv with built-in freeview and aerial booster. (or words to that effect) When I set it up I found that some channels did not load, but when I switched the booster setting to 'off' they loaded ok. I don't know how this works as I would have expected the opposite.

Yes thats been done aswell. You need to switch off the booster when scanning for channels or else it picks up loads and loads of poorer quality channel receptions aswell.

I phoned toptv once again and was asked by the help desk if channel five was having the same problems (picture and sound freezing) which it does. I was then told that if this was the case then ALL channels would be the same as they use the channel five frequency for freeview! Think this might be a rubbish excuse myself.

I was also told to get a digital aerial (which we have already got!)

I was then told that work was being done on the Winter Hill transmitter from August to November - so its take your pick as to what the problem is.

I have now put the freeview recorder back in its box and will cancel the toptv direct debit and try again the end of November. I can't help but get the nagging feeling that its the freeview box thats not working correctly though...

[Matt D]

I have read some quite negative comments about the TUTV PVR box...

Originally Posted by Matt D

I have read some quite negative comments about the TUTV PVR box...

I agree Matt, judging by the comments on other websites. The box I got was a Thompson DTI 6300. Bought it for £45 which was half the recommended price at the time (still overpriced if you ask me).

[Rita Malone]

The Thomson company are renowned for faultiness in their products. Thomson jumped on the Topuptv bandwagon so that Thomson could get out of liquidation. Notice how no other company are prepared to make their own Topuptv DTR.

The box you have has had numourous software updates. Nearly a year later and many are still waiting for the holy grail of a software to iron out all the wrinkles. Having said that, each software improves certain aspects of the box functioning but then another problem occurs: failed downloads, corrupt recordings, repeat episodes, the Amber Light of Death, box crashing or hanging up when doing recordings. Recordings cutting off or only record ten minutes or doesn't record at all. It is like when Topuptv changed their service from classic to modern, they probably didn't believe Thomson were so rubbish. I reckon if they had approached Pace or Panasonic or Amstrad, the Topuptv service may be more reliable, both technically and in a service kind of way. Ten pounds a month is not value for money, when you consider the endless problems that STILL occur. I even heard that even if you don't subscribe and only using the box for freeview, can still cause more problems.

Customer services is a joke, it costs a lot of money to make a call. The amount you spend trying to get through, you could have paid two months subscription. However, when Topuptv does work as it should, it isn't a bad service and is a good addition to the freeview channels. But it is very rare for the box to work in an acceptable condition.

[arkwright23]

Originally Posted by NEONKNIGHT

I phoned toptv once again and was asked by the help desk if channel five was having the same problems (picture and sound freezing) which it does. I was then told that if this was the case then ALL channels would be the same as they use the channel five frequency for freeview! Think this might be a rubbish excuse myself.

Channel five uses UHF channel 68 as do about 10 others including QVC and SETANTA. I have 52 freeview tv channels and they certainly don't all use the same frequency as channel 5. The signal for UHF channel 68 has been poor to average, but is now average to good with all the relevant channels not breaking up now. Incidentally, does anyone subscribe to Setanta on freeview and if so what has the picture quality been like?

Originally Posted by Rita Malone

The Thomson company are renowned for faultiness in their products. Thomson jumped on the Topuptv bandwagon so that Thomson could get out of liquidation. Notice how no other company are prepared to make their own Topuptv DTR.

The box you have has had numourous software updates. Nearly a year later and many are still waiting for the holy grail of a software to iron out all the wrinkles. Having said that, each software improves certain aspects of the box functioning but then another problem occurs: failed downloads, corrupt recordings, repeat episodes, the Amber Light of Death, box crashing or hanging up when doing recordings. Recordings cutting off or only record ten minutes or doesn't record at all. It is like when Topuptv changed their service from classic to modern, they probably didn't believe Thomson were so rubbish. I reckon if they had approached Pace or Panasonic or Amstrad, the Topuptv service may be more reliable, both technically and in a service kind of way. Ten pounds a month is not value for money, when you consider the endless problems that STILL occur. I even heard that even if you don't subscribe and only using the box for freeview, can still cause more problems.

Customer services is a joke, it costs a lot of money to make a call. The amount you spend trying to get through, you could have paid two months subscription. However, when Topuptv does work as it should, it isn't a bad service and is a good addition to the freeview channels. But it is very rare for the box to work in an acceptable condition.

Not sure where the 'get into TopupTv to get out of liquidation' story came from but its wrong.
Thomson are also known as Grass Valley. They certainly aren't a mickey mouse one string to their bow company.
They make the BBC HD H264 encoder in use for the BBC HD tests on satellite, as well as the first Sky HD STB.
They make well respected studio and camera broadcast equipment, certainly not known for its 'faultiness'.

The majority of the Bromley and Knowsley/Hayes headends are Thomson equipment. Ok maybe known for its faultiness

[Rita Malone]

Thomson are probably good at making other equipment but when it came to the Thomson Topuptv DTR, these boxes are highly unreliable. You only have to look at Digitalspy to get some idea how dodgy these boxes are.