Glad I didn't get a 3View!

oijonesey

oijonesey

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When looking for a PVR I had narrowed down to a choice of two - the Hummy and 3View - because I wanted the whole networked/streaming/iPlayer/On Demand type stuff to play with. So today I randomly wondered whatever happened to 3View and had I made the right decision? I found this recent post on a 3view forum...

Source: http://www.3viewpvr.info/pages/news.htm

15 November 2012

Warning to potential purchasers

...Furthermore, potential purchasers should be aware that the 3view PVR ('set-top box') never did, and never will, function as it was originally conceived and advertised. At the moment many functions are unavailable, it is unstable, and it is only capable of being used in a limited fashion after installing a patch which has been generously provided by a user. Please also note: the manufacturer of the 3view has failed and manufacture of the units and its constituent parts has ceased.

Oh boy did I make the right decision!! Does anyone have one of these? Were they ever any good?
 
3View was on my shortlist until I picked up a cheap unwanted present, customer return Digitalstream. But haven't 3View been ressurected now or am I thinking of TVonics?
 
gomezz said:
But haven't 3View been ressurected now or am I thinking of TVonics?
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I don't think it's 3view - a quick google doesn't bring anything official looking - just lots of forums. A shame really as they were aiming in the right direction - just a pity they couldn't keep it all together before the Custom Firmware turned up on the Hummy and made it do everything the 3view was trying to do (and more probably). So there you are - af123 is responsible for the collapse of 3view!! You heard it here first folks - I'd call to send him to the tower if he didn't already live there!! :)
 
Tvonics' IPRs and Brand have been acquired by Pulse-Eight, though they will not have warranty responsibility for products reviously purchased from Tvonics. They are committed to the PVR products linking into their own products. Quote from DigitalSpy Forum

"We are a small company focused on Home Entertainment/Home Theatre and we felt TVonics was a good fit for our business, one of the initial features I plan to build in, is our world class CEC support, so you can use a single remote for the entire TV stack".

Though my main PVR is my HDR-Fox linked to a Panasonic TV, I have a HD-Fox connected to a Technika TV. I have a Tvonics HD500 with the HD-Fox in case I need to record 2 programmes at once. The Tvonics is not a bad piece of kit and does what a PVR should do (with a few restrictions). It incorporates a HDMI switch so my HD-Fox, HD500 and Panasonic DVD Recorder can all work with the single HDMIsocket of my Technika TV.

Unfortunately its remote does not control the TV (nor most Panasonics) and so I still have two remotes rather than the single one when I use the HD-Fox. At £115 from Pulse-Eight the Z500HD (same unit different package) is not a bad buy for a standard PVR.

Martin
 
I did consider getting a 3View box a while ago, but was put off by all of the negative feedback on various forums. I seem to recall that the box was not Freeview certified, as it did not meet the specification requirements.
 
Not being Freeview certified was a good thing as it meant they had freedom to push the envelope of functionality and modificability. For those us looking (and failing) to find an HD successor to the Topfield this looked interesting.
 
gomezz said:
Not being Freeview certified was a good thing as it meant they had freedom to push the envelope of functionality and modificability. For those us looking (and failing) to find an HD successor to the Topfield this looked interesting.
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Indeed - as I recall it was the desire to create something moddable that prevented them getting the certification. Although as we now know that needn't have been a barrier to invention!
 
gomezz said:
..... For those us looking (and failing) to find an HD successor to the Topfield this looked interesting.
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I've had the Humax hdr t2 with custom firmware for the last 2 yrs & it's the mutts nuts.

I've not owned a Topfield so cannot compare but the custom firmware really makes a big difference for me.
 
If it is not able to automatically set up recordings based on series and / or keyword searches then it is not even close.
 
gomezz said:
If it is not able to automatically set up recordings based on series and / or keyword searches then it is not even close.
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Not sure what you mean by your reference to series here, but when you tell the humax to record a program in the EPG it does detect whether it is part of a series and asks whether you want the series or just the program.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
HarveyB said:
Not sure what you mean by your reference to series here, but when you tell the humax to record a program in the EPG it does detect whether it is part of a series and asks whether you want the series or just the program.
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But you have to do that for manually for each series. The Toppy does that but also will record any future series without you telling it to or record related programmes which are not not series linked but share keywords. The next level up if you like.

A good example is the F1 coverage spread across various BBC channels including the Red Button stream which is *never* series linked and across their radio channels too. My Toppy is set up to record the lot regardless of how they manage to screw up series linking or moving coverage to the non standard channel. I don't have to wait for next season to appear in the EPG before I can tell it to record it. Same with MotoGP.
 
MartinLiddle said:
How closely does the Remote Scheduling Auto meet the requirement?
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Yes you can do that with the Toppy as well but it is not the same thing.

Edit: Missed the Auto. Yes that seems to be closer to what a Toppy can do. How reliable is it in practise?
 
It's reliable enough, you just have to be careful about the search terms and ensure the Humax reboots often enough.
 
With the number of repeatedly repeated series the automatic any-series could be a distinct disadvantage.
I'm thinking especially of the US dramas, but it doesn't happen only with them.
 
It generally works very well. I have the same setup as you describe for F1.

The main problem, as with everything is the broadcasters' lack of consistency and control over the EPG data.

The auto scheduling system emails you when it does something though so means you get around 7 days to have a look. As an example I have an auto rule to record every series of Octonauts and whenever I get an email telling me that it has scheduled one I take a look and cancel it if it isn't a new one. Since the RS portal is on the Internet I can do that during my commute or from work or wherever. The RS portal keeps a history so won't schedule duplicates as long as the broadcaster doesn't screw up.

Another approach is to just have it email you when it finds something, giving you 7 days to decide whether to schedule it. I do that for things like "Congo" appearing anywhere I the synopsis. Lots of matches I don't care to record but occasionally something worthwhile then I can just go in to RS and set it to record. A week ahead and there will be plenty of reboots of the box for it to filter through.
 
Oh, forgot to add - a new series of the Octonauts does indeed start this week and I would have missed it were it not for RS Auto.
 
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