Hi all,
Thanks for all the info, from forum members, here is my take on this problem and little more.. sorry for it been so long, but the more the clearer I hope the success people I have with these instructions.
Sony HX - 750 Setup for Republic of Ireland, NTL, PACEM with Gemstar EPG
(also note - very basic Mitsubishi TV, bought about 10 years ago)
Background - I bought the HX750, with the expectation that would it be trivial enough to setup. I had thoughts about getting a multimedia PC, as you know from previous posts, which would give me plenty of flexibility. But Alas I was desperate enough to experience myself at the cold face at least one of the good options/cheaper options out there. Juke box functionality, USB connetivity, Recording to Hard Disk Drive (HDD)) were important aspects of my purchasing choice. Also I wanted to get a better understanding of the technologies and it limititations, quickly. Quickly is the operative word I didn't want to be mucking about with a PC for days on end.
Issue #1 - Can't get the basic cabling right (The Manual instructions are misleading for my configuration)
On the PACEM you have limited flexibility - there is a SCART out, and no Antenna coaxial out, just Antenna in. You need a splitter to solve that problem. (or run a coaxial from HX-750 - 'Antenna out' to the PACEM, and of course the run the coaxial straight from the wall to the HX-75- "Antenna in')
HX - Initial Setup
- Scart Video In - Scart from PACEM (setup type as "Video" and NOT as "Decoder")
- Scart Video Out - Scart to TV
- Coaxel from Wall with Splitter - One line going to PACEM, Other line going to Antenna In of HX
- Select Auto-Tuning - The HX will auto-tune using its Analogue Tuner, and setup the "basic pack" of NTL channels. This is an important step, as doing this will allow you to both watch and record at the same time. N.B. Also ideally you want your recorder to use the Antenna In (Analogue channels) when it possibly can for recording (you can overwrite the defaults in the Gemstar Editor). Note you can't change NTL Digital channels when its recording to Disk.
- Also setup the set-top box controller gadget. (vital to the complete solution)
Explanation of this Setup: This means that all Analogue/Digital transmissions are going through the HX. (so you need the TV to default always to this SCART, e.g. when the recorder is no standby). Alternatively if you use the original SCART from NTL, I believe you can put the cable tagged VCR into this, and the other scart scable as normal to the TV. But you will still need another scart to go from your HX to your TV (not sure what happens if you use the coaxial option as stated in the manual, e.g. connect the HX to the TV via coaxial, surely you will get reduced quality and possibly only get the NTL basic lineup. Is this coaxial out just a retransmission of the coaxinal in!?!)
Guide (Gemstar) - Setup
- Country - UK
- Post code - BN71NN (Belfast)
- Went through other setup steps, selecting NTL and PACEM and LINE 1 as the External receiver (during this I also selected the PACEM that made my Green ligth flicker, it selects channel 12)
- Even though I don't have Sky - Setup second receiver as SKY-DIGITAL (you select it through Satelite)
Note: Also
NO need to go near the Host Channel setup, the system sets this correctly to Tuner Channel 10 - ITVULTS (This is an ID which signifies UTV)
- Put your HX on standby, and the following day you should have recieved all the schedule data. [Optionally, after about 30 mins of standby if you go into GEMSTAR info - you will see stats on the next download, number of files etc, in here you should probably see next download time set to sometime on morning I saw mine set to 3.00am - it seems to pull down the lineup seperately from the schedule. So the schudule is pulled down at 3.00 in the morning. Which makes sense as this probably most time consuming process.]
- The biggest issue now is that alot of the program numbers are set incorrectly for NTL, will need to look into this further, probalby down to the provider I picked (there maybe a better match, also with Sky Digital in the mix it probably confused the hell out of it). Not a big deal really, as I can reset the numbers easily throught he Gemstar Editor, and also turn a good few of the channels off that I will never use for recording purposes. I hope this never resets itself to the defaults!
Explanation of this setup: Firstly their is no EPG for Rep Of Ireland available on Gemstar even though there is an option to select it and postal code. (this is misleading - however the Instructions clearly state thats is available in UK only, obviously left their for future proofing). You can see on their website that Ireland is not listed). The most important step is to select UK, BN71NN irrespective of anything else. Secondly the Sky-Digital setup, tells the system to also to include RTE1, RTE2 in the lineup (and probably other non-NTL channels, which you can turn off in the Editor menu). Obviously the HX never attempts to receive data from this as their is no signal, from Line 2 (line 2 is the inputs at the front of your HX - I would use this for recording old Video Tapes)
Conclusion: First out you are missing a few of the basic Irish channels, like TG4, Channel6 (not a huge deal). The setup is a little messy, as it varies a little from the Installation Manual. I really need to put this EPG through its paces in terms of day to day usage. I've heard through some forums that things get reset, so that is really poor. If that happens you might as well chuck the whole lot. Let see how things go through the week. I'll report back I promise.
Issue #2 - USB connectivity - Connects to my pen drive ok. But doesn't connect to my external Maxdor HD (.5 Terrabytes), which is a real bummer! Probably some limitation with size of disk.
Issue #3 - One of the big functional issues with the HX and probalby its brothers is that it won't read movies from USB, you need to have it on DVD. However this is clearly stated in the Manual. Just be warned about this limited functionality.
Last words, I'm still going to purchase a Mutli-media/PVR PC and probably after a while (when I get bored in a few months) use this recorder as a secondary device or use in another room (as a device that has all the kids DVDs/Videos, with all the videos/dvds hidden away.
Hope this helps?
Additions/Corrections anyone?