Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
I have an HDR-FOX stationed elsewhere for use by a "normal" person (ie not a technophile like us). It started out as a digibox replacement (providing digital terrestrial TV reception for a steam TV via SCART), which was easy enough because the TV automatically switched to an active SCART input.
A DVD player was also connected by another SCART input, and I replaced all the remotes with a Logitech Harmony 300. This has the advantage of automatically controlling the TV for volume and mute (regardless of which device its main function is switched to), unlike the Humax universal remote. Using a universal remote also means the user can use the same remote whatever changes of equipment might occur (only one set of buttons to get used to).
Everything went swimmingly until the TV was swapped out for a digital. Unlike my LG, the Samsung 32EH5000 we acquired does not remain on HDMI when switched off - when powered up again it is likely to be on internal tuner. I toyed with connecting the HDR-FOX by SCART (which auto-switches), but the loss of quality was noticable (particularly for media menus and EPG) and the user vetoed that idea.
The internal tuner is fine in itself, but then the user has to remember that the PVR functions are unavailable. It is less trouble to route all TV watching via the Humax, and then all facilities are available all the time.
The Harmony came to the rescue to some extent: the "Watch TV" button can be programmed to power up the required selection of devices and also send an input command to the TV to force it to the required state. Unfortunately it does not always work (sometimes some of the commands don't get actioned), leading to frantic phone calls for help.
I have therefore developed a crib sheet which guides the user through a series of actions to get things working normally again, and to a limited extent to bypass faults and try to establish basic TV reception. In the main, a few simple actions will get things back to normal, and the user will get used to these and not need the crib sheet for them. The crib sheet does not (and cannot) attempt to overcome every possible problem, it would be far too complicated (and take too long to write). It is reasonable that anything beyond the normal should elicit a phone call!
I am informed that more advanced models of Harmony include a "help" function, which can be programmed to similarly guide the user through a series of actions to restore normal operation.
The crib sheet is a series of questions and actions in prose. I considered a flowchart, and used one in my planning, but flowcharts are not a good fit for this application. The boxes on a flowchart need to be self-explanatory, which is fine when the target audience has sufficient domain knowledge to understand brief jargon, but in this case longer explanations are required which could not fit within reasonably sized boxes. Also, unless you are used to reading flowcharts they can be off-putting in themselves. Flowcharts are a useful tool for a different job.
I present my crib below, in case anybody is faced with a similar problem and can make use of it. If I need to alter it I will update this post. Obviously it will not apply in detail (unless you are also using the same Humax/Samsung/Harmony combination), but it should provide enough of a start for people unused to writing technical documentation, and a bit of customising should finish the job. (The presentation is a bit limited due to the restrictions of the forum posts - my finished version uses a centred main title and indented paragraphs where appropriate.)
A DVD player was also connected by another SCART input, and I replaced all the remotes with a Logitech Harmony 300. This has the advantage of automatically controlling the TV for volume and mute (regardless of which device its main function is switched to), unlike the Humax universal remote. Using a universal remote also means the user can use the same remote whatever changes of equipment might occur (only one set of buttons to get used to).
Everything went swimmingly until the TV was swapped out for a digital. Unlike my LG, the Samsung 32EH5000 we acquired does not remain on HDMI when switched off - when powered up again it is likely to be on internal tuner. I toyed with connecting the HDR-FOX by SCART (which auto-switches), but the loss of quality was noticable (particularly for media menus and EPG) and the user vetoed that idea.
The internal tuner is fine in itself, but then the user has to remember that the PVR functions are unavailable. It is less trouble to route all TV watching via the Humax, and then all facilities are available all the time.
The Harmony came to the rescue to some extent: the "Watch TV" button can be programmed to power up the required selection of devices and also send an input command to the TV to force it to the required state. Unfortunately it does not always work (sometimes some of the commands don't get actioned), leading to frantic phone calls for help.
I have therefore developed a crib sheet which guides the user through a series of actions to get things working normally again, and to a limited extent to bypass faults and try to establish basic TV reception. In the main, a few simple actions will get things back to normal, and the user will get used to these and not need the crib sheet for them. The crib sheet does not (and cannot) attempt to overcome every possible problem, it would be far too complicated (and take too long to write). It is reasonable that anything beyond the normal should elicit a phone call!
I am informed that more advanced models of Harmony include a "help" function, which can be programmed to similarly guide the user through a series of actions to restore normal operation.
The crib sheet is a series of questions and actions in prose. I considered a flowchart, and used one in my planning, but flowcharts are not a good fit for this application. The boxes on a flowchart need to be self-explanatory, which is fine when the target audience has sufficient domain knowledge to understand brief jargon, but in this case longer explanations are required which could not fit within reasonably sized boxes. Also, unless you are used to reading flowcharts they can be off-putting in themselves. Flowcharts are a useful tool for a different job.
I present my crib below, in case anybody is faced with a similar problem and can make use of it. If I need to alter it I will update this post. Obviously it will not apply in detail (unless you are also using the same Humax/Samsung/Harmony combination), but it should provide enough of a start for people unused to writing technical documentation, and a bit of customising should finish the job. (The presentation is a bit limited due to the restrictions of the forum posts - my finished version uses a centred main title and indented paragraphs where appropriate.)