Videoplus - what went wrong then?

[Simpo Two]

I was out yesterday but wanted to record Culshaw & Stephenson (BBC1 9.30-10.00pm).

The Videoplus number was 19337. I tapped this into my Sony HD/DVD recorder and selected 'PCP/VDS On' which as I understand it corrects for any changes in actual transmission times from those prescribed.

So why, when I got back, had it only recorded the first minute of the programme?

[headcase]

cos videoplus is sh*te.

[Simpo Two]

Anyone else?

I can't think of any other way to record a programme if I'm out, and if I know why it did it perhaps I can stop it happening again. Ta.

[Toffer]

Hello Simpo 2, I am aware of the problem and it is simply poor programming on the part of schedulers. Any slip in programming during a period (perhaps a day) completely messes up subsequent Videoplus coding....probably best to try the Luddite method I use of starting recording a few minutes early and finishing 20 minutes late...so you don't miss the end! It will be like returning to the halcyon days of BetaMax!
Incidentally, there is currently a classic Sony C9 VCR on ebay for £600.00!

[Simpo Two]

Ah right - so the code bcame incorrect. I thought it was a blip whereby the 'end' signal for the PDP/VCS thingy was transmitted too early.

Maybe I'll use manual next time.



I often wonder how the codes are derived - some are only four digits, other about eight.

[Zod]

Hello there, how is life back there in the 1990s?

[headcase]

LOL you could get a PVR but they also suffer with the same problem :P

[Tiggsy]

I thought this was going to be a "where is now" type thread...betamax styleee.

No idea people still used this!

That said....i just bought some Magic eye books and i thought they would be out of print too!

[bonsai]

How deliciously retro.

[Simpo Two]

Zod said:

Hello there, how is life back there in the 1990s?

Great


The machine is a Sony RDR-HX510 HD/DVD recorder; hardly obsolete technology I'd have thought?

So anyway, how do you 20-somethings record TV programmes when you're out?




(I know you can get an Irish video recorder which records programmes you don't like and plays them when you're out)

Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 17th November 18:31

[strudel]

Humax HD-R freesat pvr. Next best thing to sliced bread in my opinion.

[Simpo Two]

Humax sounds too much like Hyrax:

[Zod]

Simpo Two said:

Zod said:

Hello there, how is life back there in the 1990s?

Great


The machine is a Sony RDR-HX510 HD/DVD recorder; hardly obsolete technology I'd have thought?

So anyway, how do you 20-somethings record TV programmes when you're out?




(I know you can get an Irish video recorder which records programmes you don't like and plays them when you're out)

Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 17th November 18:31

I'm 42!

Let's see:

Sky+
V+
Windows Media Center
EyeTV for Apple
other PVRs, such as Humax.

[Simpo Two]

Zod said:

Sky+
V+
Windows Media Center
EyeTV for Apple
other PVRs, such as Humax.

Good list.
Sky+ - costs money every month
V+ - costs money every month and I think you need cable, which I can't have.
Windows Media Center - I don't want to sit at my desk to watch TV
EyeTV for Apple - nope, got me there, but do I need a Mac?
other PVRs, such as Humax. - I don't think it's the recorder that's the problem, but the timing signals.

You know, I think I'll just carry on as before - it works 99% of the time. Cheers all

[Zod]

You don't sit at your desk with Media Center - you plug it into your TV.

It is so much easier to browse a channel-by-channel TV guide and simply click record on every programme you want rather than type out multi-figure numbers from the paper into boxes on a menu.

[Tiggsy]

Simpo Two said:

Zod said:

Sky+
V+
Windows Media Center
EyeTV for Apple
other PVRs, such as Humax.

Good list.
Sky+ - costs money every month

That often happens with good stuff. Its why cars are expensive and sitting on the kerb going "broom" is free!

[Simpo Two]

Zod said:

You don't sit at your desk with Media Center - you plug it into your TV.

It is so much easier to browse a channel-by-channel TV guide and simply click record on every programme you want rather than type out multi-figure numbers from the paper into boxes on a menu.

Ah, thanks. That sounds like my Sony Freeview box - you browse the EPG, select the programme and press 'record'. To my amazement, at the due time it fired up the HD/DVD recorder and worked. Does that system get its signals a different way to Videoplus? If not then it would have failed as well.

However, in reality, the box needs rebooting every few days and most of the Freeview channels are repeats, adverts or crap - so it only gets fired up when 1-5 fail me and I'm bored with PH. Even UKTV History, the only decent channnel, now stops at 6.00pm, and Dave, which was 12 before it was 19 and called something else, has only Top Gear. Which is fine, but does pall after a while.

Sky - well yes, I'd like Nat Geo and History, but not for £15pcm on top of the licence, and they're probably full of adverts too.

Don't worry technofolk, I have a mad plan to throw away the TV, replace it with a big computer monitor and download everything on demand via ADSL broadband... When the perfect system emerges and looks like lasting for more than 6 months before it's obsolete or the company goes bankrupt, I might upgrade. Now where's my pipe?

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 18th November 18:01

[Emeye]

I thought the latest freeview+ recorders (I have a Humax 9200) take into allowance any delays or changes to scheduling?

This link mentions it: http://www.freeview.co.uk/freeview/Products/Digita...

I don't watch much TV, but everything I record seems to have started on the button.

[mouseymousey]

Simpo Two said:

Even UKTV History, the only decent channnel, now stops at 6.00pm

Ah yes, but if you had a PVR you could record all the good stuff during the day and then watch it when you get home.

Simpo Two said:

Sky - well yes, I'd like Nat Geo and History, but not for £15pcm on top of the licence, and they're probably full of adverts too.

Ah, but using a PVR you could fast forward through the ads!

Simpo Two said:

Don't worry technofolk, I have a mad plan to throw away the TV, replace it with a big computer monitor and download everything on demand via ADSL broadband... When the perfect system emerges and looks like lasting for more than 6 months before it's obsolete or the company goes bankrupt, I might upgrade. Now where's my pipe?

Edited by Simpo Two on Wednesday 18th November 18:01

Well, you could keep your TV and play downloaded content on it by one of many means.

Come join us in 2009, we're having so much fun

Seriously though, a PVR will change the way you watch TV. I've been hooked since TiVo came out in the UK about 9 years ago and just can't imagine watching any TV without one now.

[headcase]

TiVo , OMG retro again, I have a Rubiks Cube does that count? :P