April 11, 2010

Upgrade now or wait?

Another week, another BBC HD recording fail on my SA V+ box. This time Jonathan Creek - it showed okay after recording but when I sat down to watch it last night it had mysteriously "failed". Darn it.
But should I demand a Samsung V+ now, or should I wait until they increase the recording capacity? My V+ disc is now permanently running at around 90% full (even with the occassional failed recordings) so my dilemma is "stick or twist". Does anyone know if there is a disc capacity upgrade imminent? With Sky1 HD still strongly rumoured and the OFCOM dictated Sky premium HD channels 20 hours of HD recording capability just isn't going to be sufficient.

8 comments:

Moe said...

I would wait it out, if you get a replacemnt one now you can bet upgrading in future will be expensive.

Anonymous said...

I agree,Had constant problem with mine.Thank god for VOD

joff81 said...

ive only ever had about 4 things not recoord on my SA box and then the HDD was almost full.

personally the issue is more user than equipment if you fill your HDD to 90% full then no offence but recodrdings are bound to fail. its probably an inbuilt software feature to stop the software crashing completley one the HDD is totally full.
simple solution is to delete some of the crap you have on your HDD or watch more tv or stop relying so much on the PVR feature its only there as a last resort anyway.

once you get rid of most of the content on the HDD and start again you will find that the recording no longer fail. if you stil lhave issues give the HDD a format as a good "spring clean" never hurts.

bradmcr said...

If you report a fault with your existing SA V+ now you'll probably get a Samsung V+ as a replacement, I know when I got my second HD box (Samsung) the driver told me that he never gets any SA V+ anymore to swap out.

Nialli said...

@joff81. Ah, but I had already stripped my hard disc down before attempting to record Jonathan Creek. As I was going away for the best part of a week, I decided to throw off all the old films and stuff and then set the V+ for a bumper HD week (Doctor Who, Creek, a couple of HP films for the family, Mad Men, True Blood, etc). The disc was probably about 50% full when it failed with Creek, but it has recorded Mad Men fine (which was broadcast a few days later). What is strange is that it is only BBC HD recordings that fail - the other HD channels have never failed for me.

Simon said...

if your box is full why my use a dvd recorder, the v+ boxes all have export capabilities

Erich said...

Sort it out now. Don't accept a sub-standard product or service. If - or when - better boxes and increased capacity become available, you find a way to get your hands on it then. A threat to cancel your service should do the trick, but there are other ways to get what you want as well.

Banjo Ted said...

Incidentally, we had our old Atlantic box replaced with a Samsung one yesterday. The difference is remarkable - so fast when navigating the menus, virtually silent. Even the menus aren't artifically stretched!