HD PVR questions

Polish

Polish

Immigrant
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
23,745
Reaction score
249
Location
Wild West
Hi all,

Want to go purcgase one today, i called MC last night with some general queries but two are still puzzling me.

1. The MC agent tells me that the two LNB cables coming out my wall is insufficient, i need some kind of a splitter to input the two and output four to go into the PVR. Is that true ? Is it really necessary and how much are they, will it work without ?

2. Due to the fact that this decoder is HDMI connectable, is there any marginal picture quality improvement on non-HD channels simply becasue of the cable being hi-def ?

Appreciate any input
P
 
1. yes you need to buy a 2x6 multiswitch. It's around R350 at spaceTV. The decoder takes 4 inputs therefore the switch requirements.
2. I did notice SD channels were better in quality but that could just be me.
 
1. You need a 4 way splitter you can pick one up from around R350 (well thats what I paid for mine)
 
1. Yes you will need a 2 by 6 multiswitch, the HD PVR has 4 tuners, it will work with only the 2 points but you will not have all the functionality, eg: tuner1 is for picture, tuner 2 and 3 are for the two recordings and tuner 4 is for the EPG, i could be mistaken though, as long as you have one cable in tuner 1 and 4 you should be able to watch but maybe not able to record etc. Go to the multichoice website/forum they have alot of info.

2. My SD channels do look slightly better via a HDMI cable.
 
1. It's not strictly speaking true. You only need the splitter if you want full HD PVR functionality. If you only want to watch one channel, even a single cable would be enough.
 
There are 2 types of splitters the 2 in to 6 out and 2 in to 4 out
I suggest you get the 2 in to 6 out one its slightly more expensive but it allows you to have the option on adding a single view decoder for extraview if you have another tv in the house
You need to connect all 4 inputs.
On this decoder you can watch one channel while recording 2 others the first 3 input cables are for that then the 4th cable is for pay per view one day when DSTV releases it

The SD channels are still in the same resolution as the normal decoder if you had good cabling with your old decoder you won't really notice any difference in picture quality on the SD channels but the HD channels are much much better
 
killkom said:
The SD channels are still in the same resolution as the normal decoder if you had good cabling with your old decoder you won't really notice any difference in picture quality on the SD channels but the HD channels are much much better
Click to expand...

Although people say that the RF output on the Pace (black) HD PVR is poor, and this is of concern to me as I am interested in buying at present.
 
Yes, i want to buy today. Makro is running the R2499 special between 27 March - 5 April..............should i specifically be hunting for a diffrent model due to compromized RF ?

Is the RF worse than a standard single view decoder (which is what i have now) ?
 
All the answers above are correct. Either that or get a SATCR LNB which uses one cable directly into the PVR.
 
Jola said:
Although people say that the RF output on the Pace (black) HD PVR is poor, and this is of concern to me as I am interested in buying at present.
Click to expand...

I have the newest silver one. And have been having small irretating problems with it from the word go. Might just be my specific decoder but it needs a reboot every morning I switch on the Tele. If my Plasma is off in the lounge and the STD DF TV is on in the bedroom the decoder keeps rebooting for some stupid reason. I'll take it to MC sometime to have it exchanged.
 
Pitbull said:
I have the newest silver one. And have been having small irretating problems with it from the word go. Might just be my specific decoder but it needs a reboot every morning I switch on the Tele. If my Plasma is off in the lounge and the STD DF TV is on in the bedroom the decoder keeps rebooting for some stupid reason. I'll take it to MC sometime to have it exchanged.
Click to expand...

Does not sound good ! Anyone else with the UEC (silver) HD PVR have this problem ?
 
Just slightly off topic here.... Something to bear in mind if you have a DVD Recorder connected to the HD PVR (the new Silver one....and the tiny SD DSTV decoder), Mulitchoice seem to have implemented "copy once" flagging technology on the unit. So you can only copy to the DVD recorders' hard drive but you cant copy that to DVD.
I have ordered one of these..... http://www.xdimax.com/grex/grex.html#TRN ...... Hopefully that will work
 
Leftfoot said:
Just slightly off topic here.... Something to bear in mind if you have a DVD Recorder connected to the HD PVR (the new Silver one....and the tiny SD DSTV decoder), Mulitchoice seem to have implemented "copy once" flagging technology on the unit. So you can only copy to the DVD recorders' hard drive but you cant copy that to DVD.
I have ordered one of these..... http://www.xdimax.com/grex/grex.html#TRN ...... Hopefully that will work
Click to expand...

I have a DVD Recorder (LG) linked to a Black HDPVR (Pace) and there is no restriction at all. I have the latest firmware.
 
oook said:
1. It's not strictly speaking true. You only need the splitter if you want full HD PVR functionality. If you only want to watch one channel, even a single cable would be enough.
Click to expand...
Not really because the decoder wont boot up with just a single cable (except of cos if its a SatCR), once its booted it can do without tuner 4, but you wont have EPG info

Polish said:
Is the RF worse than a standard single view decoder (which is what i have now) ?
Click to expand...
Yes, quite a bit worse

Pitbull said:
I have the newest silver one. And have been having small irretating problems with it from the word go. Might just be my specific decoder but it needs a reboot every morning I switch on the Tele. If my Plasma is off in the lounge and the STD DF TV is on in the bedroom the decoder keeps rebooting for some stupid reason. I'll take it to MC sometime to have it exchanged.
Click to expand...
Definitely not normal, when you say it needs a reboot, why exactly?
 
Polish said:
What if i link the HD PVR to my old decoder via Xtra View, will the RF still be just as bad ?

Also, if i want HD plus Xtra View do i have to pay R65 (or whatever it is ) x 2 ?
Click to expand...

Your old standard decoder will need to be model 1110 or 1131 for it to be Xtraview compatible
But if you connect them up then the RF feed can carry both decoders, the HDPVR will remain bad but the other decoder's feed will be good

No, it will be your subs (R529 if premium) + R65 (only once), this R65 includes HD access, PVR functions & Xtraview.
Their billing system is shocking & often charges this twice so keep an eye on your account
 
Smurfatefrog said:
Definitely not normal, when you say it needs a reboot, why exactly?
Click to expand...

It's stuck on 0000 and nothing I do makes it show picture again. Unless I reboot it manually.(In the morning)

When watching on the SD TV in the bedroom and the HDMI camble is in the Plasma but the plasma is switched off the TV in the room brings up a blue screen when I walk to the Lounge the PVR did a self reboot. And the longer I live it like that the more frequent the reboots. I have now noticed that if I switch the PLasma off and remove the HDMI cable then it doesn't do it no more :confused:
 
Seems like a HDCP issue, but this type of thing as been a problem with the Pace, not the UEC
Basically your TV is not authenticating the HDMI signal when the TV if off so it sends the decoder into a spin. Is your plasma fairly old? Maybe see if a firmware update is available for it
 
TheMightyP said:
I have a DVD Recorder (LG) linked to a Black HDPVR (Pace) and there is no restriction at all. I have the latest firmware.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the ones I am talking about are the new UEC ones (silver). The copy protection issue is even mentioned on the DStV forums. http://forum.dstv.com/showthread.php?t=4956&page=15 Apparently its only applicable to the new UEC models but will soon be activated on the other PVR versions
 
Is there anyone that actually owns a PACE and is completely happy with it ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X