Freeview recorders, catch up TV etc.

[joe384]

My mum has an old twin tuner panasonic freeview recorder and it works great.

Occasionally when she missed shows we could get them on catch up TV on the virgin box which wasn't too bad either.

However when we got a her a new TV with freeview play I thought she could use that, however it's not that simple. Freeview play is touted as an easy way to catch up on missed shows, but in reality it seems it's just a link to the various streaming services (which may or may not have the program you missed)

What hifi says this: "Ultimately, Freeview Play's grand design is to save people the effort of going into those catch-up apps and searching – heaven forbid we perform more remote clicks than we have to."

But that is exactly what happens when we try to use it? Plus it is really annoying having to create an account for each streaming service.

I tried to use the virgin TV catch up the other day and it seems they have done the same thing with their catch up TV - It just links up to the various streaming apps (and you have to go through the whole logging in process again)

Am I missing something here?
What options are available these days for recording freeview?

 

[joe384]

The Freeview site is really annoying me "If you have a Freeview Play TV or set-top box it means that you’ve got on-demand TV built in, so you can catch up straight away on any shows you might have missed."

Any?

From expertreviews: "Not all programmes are available on-demand, so there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to watch a movie or episode you missed, particularly where there are licensing restrictions, but the holes are getting fewer and further between."

Not all. No guarantee

 

[Mottie]

Freeview play is touted as an easy way to catch up on missed shows, but in reality it seems it's just a link to the various streaming services (which may or may not have the program you missed)

You can access catchup streaming services but with Freeview play, you can easily go back one week without all the faffing about. See my post here:

https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/tv-for-mum.573302/page-2#post-5072576

But that is exactly what happens when we try to use it? Plus it is really annoying having to create an account for each streaming service.

You only have to do it the once though and when done, you can exit the catchup programme you are watching to watch something else and when you next open it, you can pick right up where you left off from.

 

[ETAF]

I have freeview play on 2 devices , and its very easy to use , you just go back 1 week and if available you can watch directly
I set accounts up , and once set so far i have never needed to re-setup again.

Not all programs are available on catch-up, for the reasons you have given, which is easy to see on the guide , mine have a little Play icon if available - so even if you go back over the previous week and it's not there , it won't be on the app anyway, as far as i can find.

BUT sometimes, after the first episode of a series , they drop the entire series on catchup , so you don't have to wait a week to see the next episode. We did this recently on holiday with a new series that started on Sunday called Showtrial, and we watched the series during the week while on holiday.
And when you go via guide to the catchup service, you can also see the series and episodes available.

I don't know how virgin media catch-up works now, but i thought it was the same when i looked at it many years ago for a neighbour who was having problems.

 

[pcaouolte]

I use one of those twin tuner Panasonic Freeview recorders, the last time I looked they were still available to buy new. We record anything that we want to watch and play it back at a time convenient to us. For the odd few times that the Freeview recorder fails to record the program we have a Roku streaming stick which gives access to iPlayer etc. I guess the Roku stick only gets used a few times a year.
I don't have Freeview play but I guess that your Mum could use it as an occasional backup instead of the Roku stick if she retained her old Freeview recorder.

 

[JohnD]

In my district, some of the free view channels have poor signal at times during the night

I am guessing that they reduce transmission power or something.

Is this common?

 

[ETAF]

if you use this guide, you should find out which transmitter is best, and what power they are on
https://www.freeview.co.uk/corporate/detailed-transmitter-information

used to be a site called https://ukfree.tv/ and that was very useful to see the area's drill down on maps , get an idea of aerial direction etc, I just get errors now from it
It also provided all the maintenance schedule and likekly changes in power and interference
But I have not really used for 4 years since setting this house up, and nolonger help people in the area with TV , computers , hifi etc

 

[JohnD]

Done that, but I don't know why the signal should drop on, say, "yesterday" and Dave +1" in the middle of the night when BBC and other channels are fine.

 

[ETAF]

depends on the MUX they are using for Yesterday & Dave+1
if you turn on the TV to one of those stations , then in settings on the TV you maybe able to get a reading of the Signal Strength & Quality
It may also give you the MUX Frequency Number, so you can then see what the other channels are on
Its usually Quality not signal strength that often causes breakup on the TV

Has it always happened ?
has the aerial moved slightly - so maybe some MUX are weaker?

Cant find the MUX v Channel info as i say the site seems to be down for me
engineering work
https://www.freeview.co.uk/corporate/platform-management/planned-engineering-works

 

[joe384]

I have freeview play on 2 devices , and its very easy to use , you just go back 1 week and if available you can watch directly
I set accounts up , and once set so far i have never needed to re-setup again.

Not all programs are available on catch-up, for the reasons you have given, which is easy to see on the guide , mine have a little Play icon if available - so even if you go back over the previous week and it's not there , it won't be on the app anyway, as far as i can find.

Yes, thanks - I took a look at lunchtime and noticed the logo on the guide. I would say apart from the 4 main channels there is not an awful lot available though.

Maybe I am being a bit egregious over the account setup, but it can get annoying clicking through all the agreements and typing in PINs etc for each service.

BUT sometimes, after the first episode of a series , they drop the entire series on catchup , so you don't have to wait a week to see the next episode. We did this recently on holiday with a new series that started on Sunday called Showtrial, and we watched the series during the week while on holiday.
And when you go via guide to the catchup service, you can also see the series and episodes available.

I don't know how virgin media catch-up works now, but i thought it was the same when i looked at it many years ago for a neighbour who was having problems.

I think Virgin catchup used to use the cable network somehow, but now it seems to be a link to the various streaming apps now.

Does anyone know if the newer recorders (with freeview play) link everything up into the same guide? That would be nice.

 

[Lucid]

Freeview Play simply integrates what's in the previos 7 days catch-up aps in to the TV guide. If it's not in the app then it won't be in the TV guide either, and vice versa.

Any differences in what's perceived as the amount of content are simply a question of presentation. The apps may well go back further, and so it can look like there's more content.

Not all content makes it on to catchup. There could be contractual reasons for this such as Hollywood restricting how some of its content is accessed.

Setting up accounts is a PITA, and it's a necessary evil with a new device. Once done though, the TV should remember its settings so you don't have to repeat the chore.

Accessing catchup via a pay TV service such as Sky or Virgin gets around some of the login pain because of an umbrella agreement form that broadcaster. Once out from under that shade then you're dealing with each channel directly, hence the need for multiple logins.

 

[winston1]

In my district, some of the free view channels have poor signal at times during the night

I am guessing that they reduce transmission power or something.

Is this common?

No, transmission power is not reduced at night. More likely local interference that gets switched on at night. LED street lights perhaps, it has happened before.

 

[Mottie]

Maybe I am being a bit egregious over the account setup, but it can get annoying clicking through all the agreements and typing in PINs etc for each service.

As I said, it's only the once for each device. I find it convenient once set up. I can watch half a programme on my phone, iPad or other TV then pick up from the same place on any other device I want. There must be other apps you sign up to?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I tried to use the virgin TV catch up the other day and it seems they have done the same thing with their catch up TV - It just links up to the various streaming apps (and you have to go through the whole logging in process again)

Am I missing something here?
What options are available these days for recording freeview?

You only need to set up an account once for each streaming account, then it logs you in automatically after that. Some channels, you can step back in time through the program guide and watch what you missed directly.

If you plug a USB HDD into the set, you can record off air programs, though likely you will be limited to either watching or recording / watching and recording just the one channel at one time, most only seem to have one single tuner.

 

[Lucid]

Done that, but I don't know why the signal should drop on, say, "yesterday" and Dave +1" in the middle of the night when BBC and other channels are fine.

Unless there's engineering works then it's unlikely that transmitter power changes from day to night. Quite a few transmitters do use different power levels for the various muxes though.

My local transmitter is Winter Hill (Granada region, N.W. England). The main Public Service Broadcast (PSB) muxes run at 100,000 Watts. These are the muxes that almost everyone should be able to access.

The Commercial muxes are those where channels outside of the Government's PSB commitments live. The power levels for some are much lower; 20,000 Watts IIRC for at least one.

There are also some targeted muxes serving a much smaller populations. These are the local muxes for Manchester and Liverpool/Preston. These are more like community channels, and run as little as 1000W.

How much signal you receive from the various muxes will be determined by geography and the type and positioning of your aerial. It's quite possible to have good reception for one of the lower-powered muxes but poor reception for an equal Wattage mux at a different RF frequency. This is because most aerials have an uneven gain curve. What that means is they're better at some frequencies than others.

What has also happened over the past 3 decades is a substantial shift in rearranging the positions of the muxes on the tuning range. In practice, what that means for my region is that aerials with gain curves that were a perfect match for Winter Hill 10 years ago now suck. The muxes have almost completely moved to where the aerial has much lower sensitivity.

The nett effect is that muxes which were once received without problem have become marginal for those affected.

The nature of digital TV means that as long as the minimum threshold of signal is achieved then the picture looks as good as any of the higher powered muxes. However, being on the low borderline means that any slight change results very quickly in pixel blocks and then total loss. The signal.is on a knife edge.

Folk wonder if having an old aerial can cause problems. I can tell you as an installer, I have been to homes where the aerial is maybe 30-40 years old and still pulling in great signal. Equally I have been to troubleshoot at homes where a new aerial was installed 2-3 years ago and they're having problems. Often it's either they've been down the DIY route and bought the highest gain aerial without realising all the gain is in the wrong place, or from time to time it's a local aerial installer stuck in their ways. They've always install 'X' model of aerial, but because they didn't do a proper site survey they're not aware of the local conditions which make that aerial unsuitable at this property when 500 yards up the road it works just fine for another home owner.

Old aerials can work, but the Achilles heel is often the single-shielded coax. We use double-shielded now because digital is more sensitive to noise picked up in cables. TBH, if anyone is going to go to the trouble of replacing the cable then they should replace the aerial too. It doesn't add much to a job cost, and it's way cheaper to do it in one hit rather than get some out twice.

In your case, @JohnD I suspect that your signal is marginal. You're losing the lower powered muxes where the combination of transmitter power and aerial reception makes the signal borderline.