Digicrystal 9000 PVR & Digital Set Top Box Review & FAQ

182 thoughts on “Digicrystal 9000 PVR & Digital Set Top Box Review & FAQ”

1. hi there I just brought one of your digital recorders from ebay I have a free to air aerial do I need to update to an digital aerial to record digital

   EDITOR: I dont sell Digicrystal 9000’s. I just reviewed the one that I bought. The place to get TV antenna advice is http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showforum=82

2. hi finally got it tuned in but it wont pick up our local stations … GWN and WIN in western australia bunbury .. or because they not digital it may not? … any suggestions thx ….

   1. Many regional TV stations are not broadcasting digital tv signals yet. Best way to find out if they are or not is to call them.

   2. If they are broadcasting a digital TV signal then you might not have done the channel tuning properly. In that case follow my Channel Tuning instructions

3. I can confirm the differences between the 11-03-2006 and 23-02-2006 firmware. I loaded the 11-03-2006 firmware first and tried to access menu functions during recording without success. Loaded 23-02-2006 firmware and could access menu functions during recording. Strange that a later release has less features.

   EDIT: yes it is strange!

   however digicrystal are open to suggestions and im beta testing unreleased firmware for them, hopefully they can end up with firmware that has the “bonus” 23-02-2006 features with the “black screen when recording ends” bug fixed

4. Can i watch another channel while recording on the digicrystal 9000?

   EDITOR: Your question has already been answered at Question: What are the Positives and Negatives of the 23-02-2006 firmware?

5. I have a Supernet Digital Terrestrial Receiver. Unfortunately the remote was lost whilst moving house and I was wondering if you could tell me where I’d be able to buy a replacement remote at a relatively cheap price. I tried retravision but they wanted $60 odd. A friend seems to think that I’d be able to pick one up for around $20-$30 from Big W but I’m a little concerned whether it would actually work? Any advice you can throw my way would be greatly appreciated.

   EDITOR: Was it a remote for the supernet 8000t?

   If so I would suggest contacting either:

   Digicrystal in Sydney 1300 557 201
   or
   Wintal in Melbourne 1800 337 366

   Because they manufacture the Digicrystal 9000PVR and Wintal X10A which are almost identical to the Supenet 8000t and they might be willing to sell you a remote.

6. I recently bought one of these units and it works great except for one thing. It cant reliably do record and playback simultaneously.

   When I use time-slip (start watching a program while still recording it), or if I watch one previously recorded program while recording another, the screen breaks up every couple of seconds and becomes jerky, like stop-start motion.

   This is not due to the reception. I tested this by recording one program without doing anything else. Then I played that program to verify that it recorded without problems. It played back fine. Then I set the unit to record something else, then re-watched the first program — it went bad – jerky and image breaks up. So it could only be that playback while recording was causing the problem.

   It seems to me like the unit cannot cope with the load of playing back and recording at the same time. Is this a problem with all units or just mine?

   EDITOR: I often watch something I’ve recorded earlier while another program is recording and have never had that problem. I suggest that you join the Digital Broadcasting Australia forums and ask your question in the DVD Recorders & Hard Disk Drive Recorders sub-forum to see if anyone else has experienced the problem

   If no one can figure out why it happened then Digicrystal has a good reputation for replacing faulty products so call them or the place you bought it from and arrange a swap (assuming its still within the 1 yr warranty)

7. I see that Digicrystal have released a firmware upgrade dated 27/03/06. Have you any comments on it? Digicrystal aren’t too big on documentation on their website, don’t seem to be aware of the concept of release notes.

   EDITOR: The 27-03-06 firmware is still worse than the 23-02-2006 firmware

8. Can I upload audio files such as wma or mp3 onto the digicrystal and play them back. Is there a jukebox funtion?

   EDITOR: No and No. What it does is process a digital TV signal from your TV antenna, display Digital TV channels and record them to its hard disk.

   I think you’re a bit mixed up and need to look at a DVD player to do what you want

9. Just purchased the Wintal x10A unit to replace a series of 4 Toshiba HDD J35 twin tuner PVRs which were riddled with firmware imperfections and faults. Finally decided to cut and run and get my money back.

   As I already owned a Digicrystal 9000PVR (bedroom unit) and understood its operation quite well, I decided to buy another to replace the Toshiba units in the main loungeroom. Unfortunately my local Strathfield had run out of stock and so I had to buy the Wintal alternative. Are the remotes on these units interchangeable? Also, is there any chance that future units will be equiped with component-outputs?

   As a final comment…Steer clear, all ye folk that are tempted to buy the new-fangled twin-tuner PVRs from Toshiba and Dgtec. Many firmware woes await you. If you have the dosh…buy the LG units instead. No firmware issues, tidy interface, etc…BUT they only work with Plasma /LCD/CRT tvs that scan at a native 100Hz.

   EDITOR: I have no idea if the remotes are interchangable as I dont own both the wintal and digicrystal units … why not try and see and report back to me?

   New digicrystal models in the future may perhaps be equiped with component outputs, but the current hardware for the 9000PVR model wont change, it will just get new firmware

10. As requested…I just tried the Digicrystal PVR remote on the Wintal PVR. Total success! All features on either remote totally interchangeable. This means that a hapless individual losing/damaging their remote could contact either company for a new remote, if necessary. I am now interested to see what each company charges for remote replacements. I will ring them to find out and report back to you, in the interests of all your readers.

    EDITOR: Thanks thats useful information. Does the wintal’s “One Touch Record” button work on the digicrystal? Awaiting your report on remote control costs

    PS If you post with a real email address then I can correspond with you directly, email addresses are not displayed on the site.

11. Do you know what the AV button on the remote does? I was hoping the RCA Video connector on the back of the Digicrystal 9000 was a Video INPUT, but it appears to give Video OUT. Likewise for the Audio connectors. Is this correct?

    EDITOR: The AV button does nothing. The digicrystal does not have an MPEG2 video encoder on board to accept audio/video INPUT and as far as I know no PVR does.

    The audio and video connections on the digicrystal can only output the current digital TV signal its tuned to or a recorded program you’re playing, to a TV or VCR etc

12. Can I setup a stb inline with this pvr so i can watch 1 channel while recording another? if so what would be the best way to do it?

    EDITOR: I currently pass through the Digicrystal 9000 signal to a VCR for the rare occasions when I want to tape a digital show while watching an analog show, but I only have one STB so I dont know if you could setup another STB inline with the 9000 PVR to watch a digital channel while you record another digital channel.

    Perhaps you could buy a cheap second STB from ALDI or Dick Smith Electronics and try it out?

    If you use the 23-02-2006 firmware for the Digicrystal 9000 then you can flip between all the channels related to the one you are recording eg: ABC, ABC2, ABC HD etc

13. Just bought a 9000 PVR. On first test of recording got a Hard Disk full message after less than 1 hour! Then had various other errors including Recording Directory limit reached – only 2 small recorded fragments on HDD. Disconnected from mains and now seems to be OK. Have you any idea what may have caused this?

    EDITOR: Thats definitely not normal behaviour. I’d go back to where you bought it, tell them what you told me and ask to swap it for another Digicrystal 9000 PVR

14. The price for Wintal/Digicrystal replacement remotes…around the $60 mark, but retailers contacted were not sure of exact price.

    As regards one of Paul’s questions…you can loop the Rf cable from the Digicrystal /Wintal units through to another STB. I have done this using a HD Dgtec box and my Wintal unit. This creates a de-facto “twin tuner” STB box setup in that I can watch one box on my tv’s “AV1” input and record on the PVR at the same time. When I want to watch a recorded program I flip over to “AV2” and, hey-presto, I get to watch my pre-recorded show(s).

    As regards the SPDIF digital audio output to a surround-sound amp…in my case I use a cheap RCA selector box and flip between the two unit’s outputs to send digital audio to the amp. This setup works just fine.

    See Paul, you don’t have to spend a fortune and risk the firmware calamities of some of the new twin-tuner PVRs…

    EDITOR: thanks for that detailed feedback 🙂

15. hi,i have just purchased a pvr 9000 and was wandering if there is a way of recording a program while watching another, i tried to record a show and switch to my normal tv and this works but the picture quality is really bad on the tv because the pvr is causing bad static through the tv while it records, any help would be grateful, thanks.

    cheers, mick

    EDITOR: Thats what I do as well (watch the live analog signal if the digicrystal is recording already) because the digicrystal only has 1 channel tuner.

    Another option is to buy a cheap 2nd set top box and plug it into another TV input. You could watch live digital tv using that when the digicrystal is recording.

16. I have just purchased a 9000pvr. How can I tell what firmware upgrade is included in the software level I am using?

    EDITOR: Press the MENU button on the remote twice. Then choose EXTRAS and SYSTEM INFO

    That will display the firmware version eg: 3.41B and the date eg: 23-02-2006

17. Is “720 x 576i” maximum video out resolution of it? Since this receiver change digital signal to analog, how can we have this resolution?

    If, it is possible to have this resolution with which of the cable connectors and I have a 42 inch analog TV, I think maximum screen resolution of analog tvs, is “400 x 576i” for PAL, Do i need to buy a HD Ready or SD TV to receive all details or Pixels of video out of this receiver?

    EDITOR: The SD picture resolution is 720×576 pixels @ 50Hz interlaced (576i). The digicrystal 9000 is an SD Digital TV receiver. To receive all the all details or Pixels of video out of this receiver you need to connect it to:

    1. a Widescreen 16:9 screen size TV, which will display the digicrystal 9000’s signal on the whole screen top to bottom and left to right.
    2. a 4:3 screen size older TV, which will display the digicrystal 9000’s signal on the whole screen left to right with black bars at the top and bottom.

    For more information read the Australian Digital TV Glossary

18. I found a full review of the Wintal PVR-X10 and although it is a bit old and therefore was based on old firmware (before July 26, 2005) there is some useful information there http://www.around-oz.com/innovations_mh/wintal_pvr.htm

19. Hi
    I was thinking of buying this item and taking it back home to India, when I cam across this blog.
    I was wondering whether this unit would be able to tune to cable analog signals. This is because though we may have digital terrestrial broadcast in India, most of the premier channels are through cable operators and probably 90% of them are analog or the cable operators distribute them that way.
    I was wondering why it is that the digital tuner would not be able to tune to these channels as by theory the digital tuner should be able to tune both digital as well as analog signals. I think thats what happens when you use a TV tuner card in a computer which work quite well.
    Please let me know.
    Regards
    Chayan

    EDITOR: this set top box has firmware specifically to tune into Australian digital tv channels. It doubt it would work overseas and it cannot tune into cable analog signals.

20. I recently bought this 9000PVR and am quite happy with it (kids love ABC2) However on checking for firmware version it states 2006-03-27. Probably a silly question but does this mean it already has the 23-02-2006 firmware installed? I would assume yes. Are there any later firmware?

    EDITOR: As stated above, the firmware dated 23-02-2006 has more features than newer firmware dated 11-03-2006 and 27-03-06

    For example with 23-02-2006 the kids could watch ABC2 live while you record ABC1. No other firmware release has this feature

21. Overall I have been very pleased with the SDT9000 PVR – my first venture into Digital Broadcasting. However I have recently experienced a problem with the displaying of program info. Until recently when I recorded a program the relevant program info was displayed in the Hard Disk Menu. Recently I have not been able to receive any program information. Event Info not available is displayed when I hit the info button and the HD meno only displays the channel recorded and the date – no program info. Just to confuse matters even more – program info is display for a few seconds when the unit is switched on, but then is not available from the Info Button!!

    Any ideas? Cheers Haggis

    EDITOR: I have 4 ideas for you to try:

    1. Put the Digicrystal 9000 on standby so the time shows on its LCD, unplug its powerpoint from the wall with it still on, then plug it in again. See if the EPG works

    2. Go to “Menu” -> “Edit Settings” -> “Factory default”. See if the EPG works

    3. Update your firmware to the 23-02-2006 version. See if the EPG works. I would recommend upgrading to the 23-02-3006 firmware even if steps 1 or 2 work because it has more features than any other firmware release (as of 10/06/06).

    4. If all these ideas fail my only other idea is to take it back to where you bought it and swap it for another Digicrystal 9000

    ——————–

    Haggis replied on 14/06/06 saying:

    Thanks very much for the quick reply. I am happy to report that the first fix worked. I had previously reset the box and rescanned the channels without unplugging the 9000 from the power point. As soon as I unplugged it the EPG worked on restart.

    Once again thanks for your help.

    Cheers

22. How do I backup my channel settings etc before testing new firmware in case I want to return to the previous firmware

    EDITOR: when you run dcon2-en.exe, press:

    “l” (lowercase l) to save configuration to PC
    “L” (uppercase l) to save scanned channels to PC

    If you dont like the new firmware, flash the previous firmware again and then when you run dcon2-en.exe, press:

    “s” (lowercase ) to upload configuration to the STB
    “S” (uppercase ) to upload scanned channels to the STB
    

23. 
    Is anyone running this PVR with Foxtel? Is it possible? If so what components (cords) go where and how??

    EDITOR: The Digicrystal 9000 cannot be used with Foxtel, it can only receive Free to Air Digital TV signals.

    Foxtel have their own PVR Called the Foxtel iQ.
    

24. I have just purchased the Digicrystal unit from Strathfield, and everything works perfectly except for recording from channel 7, where the picture pixelises and the sound drops. It is fine on all other channels, time shift fine (although I haven’t tried time shift on 7). It is the latest firmware release (27/3/06). Has anyone else ever experienced this issue?? Thanks!

    EDITOR: You havent said where you live, but this problem has been reported by quite a few people iving in Melbourne who use the Wintal PVR (clone of the Digicrystal 9000). However few if any Digicrystal owners have experienced this problem.

    More details at the Digital Broadcasting Australia forums

25. As regards Shane’s question of June 13, 2.24pm. Unfortunately the Wintal and Digicrystal have no AV inputs to allow them to be used with Foxtel.

    Your best bet is to go a few rungs up the price ladder and purchase the SD twin-tuner PVR unit made by Legend or pay a little more for the HD twin-tuner PVRs from LG or Sony (Be aware that the LG unit requires a tv that scans at 100Hz.). From personal experience I’d steer very well clear of the Dgtec SD twin tuner PVR and, especially, the Toshiba HD twin tuner PVR.

    You might also want to investigate upgrading your PC by inserting a digital tuner card or USB digital tuner unit. The USB devices / cards are all bundled with PVR software and the cards are usually equipped with AV inputs to capture video and audio. Good luck!

26. 
    As regards Mick’s problem (June 14th). Mick, I have been told (unverified) that channel 7 is presently re-adjusting its signal and this might account for the trouble you’re having. Regardless, I own the same unit as you do and the Digicrystal alternative. They run off 2 separate aerials on the roof in a rather poor signal area of metro-Melbourne and yet I have no trouble with seven at all. If you continue to have problems with seven I suggest that you check all connections on your antenna leads and if they are okay, then ring the Wintal help line number (inside your manual). I have found their telephone help to be of high-standard.
    Hope this helps.
    

27. If I buy a digital video camera, is it possible to download the images onto the hard drive of the set top box? If it is, what extra ‘bits’ if any, would I require to do it? thanks!

    EDITOR: This is not possible with any Digital TV set top box.

    A decent digital video camera should have RCA outputs that you can connect to your TV and view the footage directly.
    

28. I’d like to upgrade to the 23-02-06 firmware. I think I can live with the Black Screen bug. There’s just one thing about the bug that I’m not clear on. When you stop recording the screen goes black and you have to change to another channel then change back to get the picture back. So what would happen if you have 2 timers set to record on the same channel, say an hour apart, would the second timer work? or would it just be getting a black screen? Thanks

    EDITOR: The second timer will work just fine. PS to save timer space for other programs I’d use 1 timer slot to record from the beginning of show 1 to the end of show 2 on that channel

29. My earlier comment – “I have just purchased the Digicrystal unit from Strathfield, and everything works perfectly except for recording from channel 7, where the picture pixelises and the sound drops. It is fine on all other channels, time shift fine (although I haven’t tried time shift on 7). It is the latest firmware release (27/3/06). Has anyone else ever experienced this issue?? Thanks!”

    This seems to have been a poor reception issue. I live in Albury/Wodonga and have added a masthead amplifier and all works perfectly. Odd that poor reception would only become apparent during record, but it did! Hope this helps someone else

30. Hi i tried to update my firmware from your site 23-02-2006. I managed to load up tvbox but could not change firmware my current firmware is e/3.41 B 2005-10-06 15:16
    I was wondering if you had 23-2-2006 firmware to put in digicrystal site unable to show any firmware to download or any i trying to do it wrong.

    cheers jayson

    EDITOR: not sure what you did wrong. All you need to do is uncompress the ZIP file, connect the cable between the Set Top Box and COM1 port on your computer, and run upd_com1.bat

31. Will a USB TO SERIAL RS232 converter work sufficiently with the PVR for upgrading the firmware? I have found one on eBay for $10 including delivery.
    thanks for your help,
    Adam

    EDITOR: im not sure Adam. To be safe I’d buy a dialup modem cable which definitely will work as recommended in the FAQ

32. Hi, I recently bought a Digicrystal SDT9000PVR – I have an old Sony Triniton analogue tv – and the townhouse I rent doesn’t have an outdoor antenna. I now get terrible reception, the tv breaks up, ABC doesn’t have sound unless I press any button on the remote of the PVR. Do you know of any updated indoor antenna that might help. I’m using the old rabbit ears which were fine for the analogue tv. Also when I buy an lcd tv, will the reception be better. Thanks so much.
    Lindi

    EDITOR:
    1. Do a channel rescan on the digicrystal (follow the channel tuning instructions above)

    2. try and get a better indoor antenna or move the TV to a room with better reception

    3. You haven’t said where you are, you could be in a digital TV reception blackspot. Go to http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showforum=82 and select the geographical forum for your state/city and ask people in your area for tips

    4. Buying a new TV (CRT/Plasma/LCD etc) will not improve reception quality in any way so don’t waste your money on one.

33. Lindi…I have to agree with the editor’s recommendations 100%. I have tinkered with setting up STBs on televisions running off indoor antennas and never had great success. The reason is quite simple. With analogue reception (tv the “old” way) the tv tuner can sometimes create an image with quite a faint signal.

    Digital reception is different. Think of the signal as a stream of 1s and 0s being sent to your receiver to create the picture. If the stream is significantly interrupted the receiver looses too much information to adequately construct an image with the result that the picture either freezes (the STB’s valiant effort to maintain a picture…any picture!) or breaks up with pixelation and horrible squeals.

    A friend of mine, who is a tv tech., told me that although digital reception is interference-free and not subject to the reception problems that befall analogue transmission, the “fall-off” point for reception/no reception with STBs is quite sharp…you either have signal or you have no signal at all. There’s no in-between, as there is with analogue tv. He also said that using indoor “rabbit-ears” was a no-no.

    Sorry…this is probably what you didn’t want to hear BUT perhaps you can pressure the landlord to install a proper aerial to your unit…wouldn’t hurt to ask, huh?

34. Hi i live in Nth Sydney and i expericene problems with the PVR9000 and channel 7 not working i have another digital tuner in my PC that works 100% with ch 7 i have tried having the digicrystal box only connected to the ariel but this hasnt helped. channel 7 used to work fine on the digicrystal it seems to have stopped for some reason, i have the most recent firmware. any suggestions ?

    EDITOR:

    1. unplug and replug into powerpoint while its still on.

    2. rescan using channel tuning guide (at top of this article)

35. Hi,
    Do you know what the standby watt usage is for these following units? DigiCrystal SDT-9000PVR, Wintal PVRX-10, Supernet 8000t, Supernet 2120t. I have checked their websites, downloadable user manuals and rang their customer hotlines but have been unable to find the details. the only wattage usage i can find is that they use approx 28w max which I assume is when the unit is running. I am also looking at buying a new unit off eBay, do you know if the warranty is usually honoured at the service centres?

    Thanks
    Luke

    EDITOR:

    1. Sorry, i’ve no idea what the standby watt usage is. My source says the DigiCrystal 9000 uses “15W Maximum”

    2. The warranty should be honoured by the Digicrystal head office.

36. Any rumours of when the next firmware upgrade will be available for the Digicrystal 9000 PVR? i.e. without the blank screen “bug”.

    EDITOR: The latest comment from Digicrystal on new Digicrystal 9000 firmware is “the engineers are working on it”

37. I purchased 9000PVR three weeks ago. Have been recording to hard disk without any problem. Today I tried to copy a few things from harddisk to dvd recorder. Alarm appeared:- uncopyable movie – cannot record. Then I tried to record live tv transmission thru the PVR to dvd and the problem is same. I have been previously recording tv shows using DGTEC settop box to dvd without any problems which leads me to conclude that digicrystal pvr is telling the dvd recorder that its signals are copyrighted. Have contacted support@digicrystal on the phone but they couldn’t explain why this was happening. They have promised to write back. Any ideas/suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

    EDITOR: Sorry I havent got a DVD recorder so can’t confirm your problems. I would suggest asking your question at the Digital TV Australia forums

38. Do not know if you answer questions on Teac Set Top Box or not but is there a simple reason why when I record to a VCR the picture is R/S Colin

    EDITOR: no idea sorry. I would suggest asking your question at the Digital TV Australia forums

39. Does the Digicrystal have a buffer which automatically records the last hour (for example)to the HDD? The Topfield has this feature.

    Thanks
    Geoff

    EDITOR: The Digicrystal 9000 doesnt have any such buffer

40. Thank you so much for comments regarding the landlord installing outdoor antenna – they did I have perfect reception. Another problem I’ve encountered is a dotted line that has appeared half way across the screen on the bottom left corner on Channel 10. I was playing around with the PVR 9000 last night trying to record and this line appeared. I checked the other channels and also switched to analogue tv and there were no lines at all. This morning I rechecked and the line was still there on channel 10 – anyone else had this problem.

    Thankyou
    Lindi

    EDITOR: No idea about the dotted line problem. I would suggest asking your question at the Digital TV Australia forums

41. For George:
    Check your connections. I bet that the signal output is set to RGB or Y/C…try CVBS or the selction that works best for your DVD recorder (select this in the signal output area of the PVR menu). If this doesn’t work consider spending approx $30 on a signal improvement box (Macrovision remover) from someone like Jaycar electronics and connect this inline from the PVR to the DVD recorder via the video lead. Hope this helps.

42. do you know if it is possible to use a USB to RS232 adapter to transfer video files off the Digicrystal PVR?

    EDITOR: No because the Digicrystal 9000 has no USB functionality.

43. Great unit, 1 question. When starting a record by pressing 0 or 5 will it just continue recording till the hard drive is filled up or is there a way of setting how long to record for (3 hours would be great).

    At the moment I am having to set a timer just to record what I am watching

    EDITOR: Your assumption is correct. When starting a recording by pressing 0 or 5 it will continue recording till the hard drive is filled up or you press stop.

44. Re the dotted lines on the bottom left of channel 10 it is transmitted by the station. It is usually only visible if you are viewing picture in 16×9(wide screen) on a 4×3 TV. None of the other stations have this displayed. If you look at the pattern closely you will see it changes slightly when they switch from program to advertisements

    EDITOR: Thanks Glen 🙂

45. Just purchased two SDT-9000PVRs from Strathfield for $210 each. If I could have got enough mates together to buy three then Strathfield would have sold them to us for $200 each.

    Everything seems to be working fine so far. Someone must have played with it at the store because it was already tuned in, but only to a couple of channels. Reset it to the factory default and everything worked ok.

46. 
    Has Digicrystal stopped supporting the 9000-PVR? I’ve been to their website and can’t find any upgrades for this unit, only ‘model 9070p’

    EDITOR: I’ve been told that “the 9000 will be retired soon”. Digicrystal might keep releasing firmware for a while or they may not…
    

47. Do you know how to format the drive on the SDT-9000PVR. I did it once before a long time ago with one of the hidden functions but cannot remember what it was. Any idea ?

    EDITOR:

    1. Navigate with remote to the list of recorded programs on the PVR 9000’s hard disk

    2. press “MENU”

    3. Press “OK”

48. Hi
    I have recently bought a Supernet PVR and all channels and recording work OK, however I notice there is a slight synch error between the picture and sound. I have found no reference to this in any FAQs and wondered if you had heard of this trait. I have contacted the supplier but no response yet.
    Paul

    EDITOR: No idea sorry. I would suggest asking your question at the Digital TV Australia forums

49. Recently brought a Digicrystal 9000Pvr Set Top Box. I have notice when ever someone turns off a light in my house the sound on my T.V fades. Then slowly returns to normal volume after about 10 seconds.

    Never had this problem, before adding the Set Top Box to my system. Seems to be picking up some sort of electical interference through the S.T.B. Spoke to a guy at the local Stratfield Hi Fi store who told me he had the same unit with the same problem. Any ideal on how to solve this anoying problem would be greatly appeciated.
    Cheers.
    Ken

    EDITOR: I get exactly the same problem Ken

    Im told it occurs because the cables between the antenna output in the wall to the STB need to be Quad Shield coaxial cable. As yet I havent bothered to replace the old coax cable im using.

    If you get new Quad Shield coaxial cables and they get rid of the volume fade please email me
    

50. I have just bought a Digicrystal 9000Pvr Set Top Box & I was wondering how you delete certain TV programs after you watch them without deleting the whole hard drive ? I could not find any instructions for this or any FAQ’s.

    EDITOR:

    1. Get the recorded program list displayed on screen.
    2. Navigate Up/Down until you get to the show you want to delete.
    3. Press “OK” on the remote once
    4. A list of 3 choices will appear on screen, the 3rd one will be “DELETE”
    5. Press Down on the remote until “DELETE” is selected, and press “OK”

51. I’ve discovered a hidden feature on the PVR 9000 thanks to a post from yabbal on the Digital TV Australia forums:

    yabbal: On thursday I have a timer set to record channel 7 from 8.30pm to 12.30 to record lost, 24 and stargate. When I playback the recording I can bring up a list of shows in the recording (by pressing the “LIST” remote Button) and jump to the start of each show allowing me to skip straight to stargate for example.

52. I am having problems recording programs using the timer function (9000PVR). The program does get recorded but for some reason it does not record right up until the end of the program. Usually the last 3-5 minutes of the program is cut off and not recorded. Any suggestions on how to fix this? The time seems to be correct when I look at the LED display.
    Thanks,
    Lib

    EDITOR: All the Australian free to air TV networks vary broadcast times from the published TV guide and their own EPG’s (Electronic Program Guides). The best way to make sure that your show gets recorded in full is to add 5-10 minutes extra at the beginning and end of the program you want to record.

    eg: 19:00-20:00 should be recorded as 18:50-20:10 to be safe.

53. I recently bought a 9000PVR to replace the set top box that I ready had. Before hand I was getting every station clear and good, but now channel 9 breaks up and freezes but before it didn’t. Any suggestions? I live in Singleton WA.
    Thanks

    EDITOR: I suggest you do a channel rescan on the digicrystal by following the instructions at http://www.bhatt.id.au/blog/digicrystal-9000-pvr-digital-set-top-box-review-faq/#tuning

54. I have just purchased a Sharp LCD 32″ TV and have a digicrystal 9000PVR – After setting it up I notice there is some ghosting on sports channels. One of the reasons I bought this tv is because of the excellent response time according to reviews and also my parents have one and there is no ghosting whatsoever – even with football. The place I bought the tv said it may be that the digicrystal can only be connected to the TV to the S Video outlet. It doesn’t have a component out outlet which apparently is better. Can you give me some advice about what I should do, if anything.

    Thankyou, Lindi

    EDITOR:

    Using a SVIDEO cable has nothing to do with it. With a digital signal you can get interference, but I’ve never heard of anyone getting ghosting, are you sure you’re watching the TV with it set to display the SVIDEO input and not the analog signal?

    Not sure what you mean by “Sports channels” because all the free to air TV stations show various sports

    I suggest you do a channel rescan on the digicrystal by following the instructions at http://www.bhatt.id.au/blog/digicrystal-9000-pvr-digital-set-top-box-review-faq/#tuning

55. Just thought id pass on a recent discovery.
    my digicrystal 9000 would occasionally pixelate the screen image and drop sound as though it was losing/had a weak signal, even though the signal was in the green (3quaters+).

    this problem had me bugged for a while, but eventually discoved the problem.

    Like many other people i assume, my tv cabinet has a small 4-5cm in diameter hole in the back for all of the cables to go though, so through this hole i had my antenna connection AND my xbox power cable and connectors, tv power cable and connectors, dvd power cable etc etc, in addition to this, my cables where “neatly” coiled together at the back of the unit.

    What this was doing was causeing electrical interfearence to my signal, and made the picture randomly pixelate and the sound crackle, squeek and pop.

    i replaced my antenna cable with a better quality insulated cable, and uncoiled it from the other cables, it still passes throught he same hole, but it’s no longer coiled with the other cables. The result is a slightly better signal, but no more random pops clicks and pixelisation.

    so if anyone else is having similar problems indicating a low signal, even though their signal strength is strong, id suggest you seperate you antenna cable from the other cables, or if need be replace it with a bettre quality insulated cable.

    EDITOR: Good idea Nathan, I’ll try separating the PVR 9000 cables from all the others and see if that reduces the electrical interference

56. Following on from the ghosting I am experiencing on my Sharp Aquos LCD, the guy from Retravision came and had a look last night and said it was definately because I was using the S Video outlet and that I needed to buy a SCART to component cable (PVDC750) which would fix the problem. I explained that the Digicrystal 9000PVR doesn’t have component out but he said it does and it will work, if not, I can have my money back. My parents have the same TV and don’t experience any ghosting at all on the tv, whether they are watching sport or a news item. Can you confirm with me whether this cable with work.

    Thankyou

    EDITOR: If they’re willing to give you your money back if it doesnt work than it can’t hurt to try, however: The Digicrystal 9000 does NOT do component out, only RGB out using a SCART connection

57. Is there any documentation on how to actually configure the Favourite Lists (on 23-02-2006 firmware)? If I open up the menu, a channel list is displayed on one side and a favourite lists list on the other side of the screen. Somehow I was unable to find any button on the remote that does anything useful in there …

    EDITOR: The instructions are at the bottom of the screen that you mention.

    “Select an entry that you want to remove or a position where you want to insert new entries and press OK”

    Basically the idea is to delete all the channels on the left and then bring across channels from the right to left in the order you want.

    This way you end up with a favourites list without all the HD channels, duplicate CH7 and CH10 channels, EXPO advertising, Christian channel, Macquarie advertising etc

58. Do you know if the PVR9000 outputs 5.1 audio from the s/pdif output

    EDIT: that’s a tricky question because i’m not an audio expert and only have a stereo sound system myself.

    However regardless of what its capable of I’d say it will be outputting stereo sound because according to the very knowledgeable people at http://www.dtvforum.info there are very few (if any) programs on any of the Australian FTA Digital channels ever broadcast in 5.1 audio

59. Just got a Supernet 8000t today, and my wife informed me that, while I was at work, the Supernet PVR became un-responsive and displayed a poor or lost signal error (after a few hours of use). Seemed to work fine when I got home and turned it back on. I had a Koss STB prior to this and never had any signal trouble.

60. Hi, i have 2 question about the firmware upgrade 23/02/2006

    firstly, the positives are all good, i want these features, but the negatives may pose a problem, that i just need clarifying.

    when you say, after you finish recording a channel, the channel goes black and you need to switch channels again for it to get the signal back, can someone please explain what will happen in the following situations.

    Hypothetically:……
    A. i have 2 timers, first records ch 7 at 6:00, second records channel 10 at 7:30 i am not home so cant switch the channels or pwoer on/off the pvr.
    Q) do both show record perfectly fine as the timer has done the channel switch?

    B. i have 2 timers first records chanel 7 an 6:00 second records chanel 7 at 10:00, i am not home so i cant switch channelse or power off.
    Q) does the first show record, but the second fail?, i know i could use 1 timer to record alll night, but hypothetically that will include seveal hours of wasted storage untill ive trimmed or deleted the files.

    C. assuming the above situation failed, but the first one worked. could i set 3 timers, first at 6:00 channel 7, second at say 9:50 on ch 10 for 1 minute (to force a channel switch), and then a 3rd at 10:00 chanel 7 to get the show i wanted.

    All I really need to know, is whether the positives outweigh the negatives, and is the screen blacking out thing a major problem/inconvienience, and if so, is there a workaround like the 3rd situation i mentioned?

    EDITOR:

    A. Will work fine as the timer has done the channel switch

    B. Both shows will record properly. However I wouldnt bother with wasting 2 timers, i’d just use 1 timer spanning both programs.

    C. Not required as situations A. & B. will work

    Overall I think the positives outweigh the negatives, and the screen blacking out is only a minor inconvienience. However the choice is yours. If you don’t like the results of 23/02/2006 you can always reflash to another firmware version

61. For Frank:
    Yes, the 9000 PVR will output 5.1 via the coax SPDIF connection. HOWEVER… many stations are not broadcasting 5.1, just standard Dolby surround or Mpeg audio. Occasionally 9 broadcasts “McCloud’s Daughters” (ughhh!) in 5.1 and the odd film or two.

62. Anyone tried Digicrystal’s new twin PVR yet? I’d love to know if they’re any good or plagued by the same troubles other manufacturers have had with twin tuner units

    EDITOR: from what I’ve heard I would avoid them until the firmware is fixed up.

    To see what I mean read the thread about the Digicrystal SDT-9070P Twin Tuner PVR on the Digital TV Australia forums

63. Thanks for the quick reply. Seems none of the manufacturers can get their act together when it comes to twin-tuner units…they all seem to have firmware issues of one type or another. Crickey…we can send people to the moon but we can’t set up twin timers in simple electronics!!! 🙂

64. I have been sending you messages saying that when I watch sport programmes on any channel using a Sharp LCD Aquos 32″ with Digicrystal 9000PVR I get ghosting. I should’ve been saying pixelating. It’s terrible to watch. This can be football, tennis, anything with movement. Can you help. I live in an Eastern suburb of Brisbane.

    Thankyou, Lindi

    EDITOR: I have previously pointed you towards http://www.dtvforum.info

    I am no fan of LCD TV’s and anyway pixellation with digital TV signals is usually to do with a poor signal from the antenna not the receiving equipment

65. Just a quick word to the wise (that means anyone reading this page… 🙂 ) …If you haven’t bought the Digicrystal PVR yet and have been looking at this page for background info. then may I humbly suggest that you ought to make your decision soon. It seems that Digicrystal are about to cease distribution of PVR9000 soon and, priced at $228 at Strathfields at the moment, this unit is a steal. After the many and varied experiences I’ve had with various-brand PVRs, the Digicrystal is a pearl. Also, it is electronically identical to the Wintal unit and costs 60 bucks less!

    EDITOR: I agree completely.

    PS If you’re willing to haggle with the salesperson you should be able to get it for $215 or less, closer to $200 if you buy more than 1 (eg: if you do a group buy with friends)

66. Sir, Does the digicrystal 9000pvr have the feature where you can split the screen into 4, 6 or 9 channels at the same time please. Or should I buy a dearer set top box? Thanks.

    EDITOR: No, and such a feature would be pointless because Australia has so few Free To Air TV Channels.

    Save your money and grab the PVR9000 before they stop selling it (quite soon)

67. Just wanting to thank you for excellent detail on setup and operating of the digicrystal 9000 – it has helped with some blips and i am very pleased with such a bargain purchase – especially after a hideous time with a Strong STR 5290 which cost a heap and has been a total failure

68. Thank you very much for such an informative docco and your effort is 2nd to none in helping new user of PVR like myself. I’ve purchased a Supernet 8000T-PVR last week and love to watch “crystal clear” free to air TV since. It also allow me to record to catch up with daily news after the kids sleep. I’ve a small problem. It can view all channels except Channel 10. But after lend it to a friend to try last weekend, I can’t view ABC & ABC2 any more when I got it back. Any help would be appreciate ? Also, because I live in Sydney and has 1 extra antenna to capture Wollongong channels, I can view Channel 10 Wollongong but as soon as I try to record, the picture and sound breakup

    EDITOR:

    1. I would do a factory reset and then a channel rescan as per the instructions above to get ABC and ABC2 reception back

    2. re: CH10 wollongong signal, I would ask other people who live in your area what they do at the Digital TV Australia Forum – sydney section

69. Does anyone out there know if t is possible to put a hard drive in a Digicrystal 8800 STB and use it as a PVR?
    I have noticed the remote is the same as a Digicrstal PVR one and has the PVR function keys on it.

    EDITOR: I would think not. Just for starters the firmware would be completely different let alone differences in internal hardware components.

70. Sir, I believe Digicrystal SDT 9077P has twin tuners and also does Component out. Is this true please and what price are they? If not can you tell me what machine has all these features please as my installer (a friend) says I need the Component out
    feature. Thankyou Warren.

    EDITOR: Sorry, I don’t own a 9077P so I can’t comment. The best place to ask your question is at http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showforum=8

71. Hi, I just bought one of these of Ebay for $150 shipped. GREAT UNIT and reading your site was what prompted me to buy it!

    Quick question I remember reading a trick with the volume + key to skip ads but cant find it anywhere, can you please point me in the right direction? Thanks!

    EDITOR: thanks 🙂

    I think the “trick with the volume + key to skip ads” refers to their newer twin tuner units. As far as I know the PVR 9000 can only skip ads by fast forwarding through them at 6x or using the skip 5min back/forth buttons on the remote

72. Hi , i’ve had the Digicrystal PVR 9000 for 2 years and never had any problems, except for now. it appears the hard drive or playback function has packed it in. I cannot playback any of my recordings, it will just revert back and display the play time of 0:00:00 and a recording time of 0:00:00. It will still record programmes and the disk space will vary accordingly but i have no way of knowing whether it is actually recording as i cant play them back.

    EDITOR:
    The first thing to try which sometimes fixes odd behaviour by the PVR 9000 is to turn it off via the remote so it displays the time on it’s LED. Then unplug its from the powerpoint with the powerpoint still switched on. Then plug it back in. This might do the trick.

    If that doesnt work, technically you’re out of the warranty period (unless you bought an extended warranty for 3 years). However I would give a call to your State fair trading department eg: http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au because you could be covered under an implied warranty if they feel you should reasonably expect a PVR to last more than 2 years.

73. I unplugged it from its powerpoint after posting my comment. I had unplugged it numerous times previously when it first went on the blink but this time it seems to have done the trick.

    Just on general feedback the box has served me extremely well over the past couple of years and i have given it a good work over, especially with a new born (on call 24/7) just press rec and come back to it later.

    However, i was looking at upgrading to the digicrystal twin tuner as it is annoying not being able to watch another programming when recording another. Is the new twin reliable enough?

    EDITOR: Good to hear your PVR is working again. Re: digicrystal twin tuners, please refer to comments 62. & 63.

74. g’day is it possible to recover deleted programmes? I unintentionally deleted one in the process of starting to watch it.

    EDITOR: That must be really annoying 🙁 Unfortunately there is no way to recover deleted programmes on the PVR 9000

75. The DigiCrystal PVR 9000 is advertised in the latest Strathfield Catalogue dated 02/10/2006 for $198 I’m off to get mine now!!

76. Strathfield stores have started to run out of the PVR9000 units and so if you aren’t quick they’ll all be gone. The retailer is now concentrating on selling the twin-tuner units from Digicrystal and a new single-tuner model from Omni. Interestingly, the Omni unit has a hatch over the installed hard drive making it simple for the user to fit a new, larger unit. Apparently the firmware accepts HDs with different sizes easily. The cost is $280….I’m tempted… EEeek!

77. I’ve had my PVR9000 for 18 Months & now I can’t seem to get the channels to scan or the PVR to work. I’ve tried resetting the power with it powered off by the remote & with it powered on, but no luck.

    I’ve reset it back to default & no luck at all
    Any ideas?? Thanks Russ

    EDITOR:

    1. Have you tried unplugging it from the powerpoint while it’s on (but not recording anything or playing a recording)?

    2. The 2nd option is to see what the folks at the PVRs, DVRs, HDD & DVD Recorders section of the Digital TV (Australia) Forum can suggest

    3. If unsuccessful, I guess you’ll have to look at getting a new PVR. The PVR9000’s are currently in run out mode available for less than $200 if you can find stock, or you could try one of the new twin tuner models, but I havent heard of any cheap ones that have reliable firmware yet

78. Steer clear of th twin-tuner units. Mr. Bhatt is right…the firmware still has glitches. Many of the twin-tuner units from other makers also seem a little flakey in the firmware department, except for the venerable Topfield units. “Toppys” are legendary on the DTV forum for their build quality, “tweakability” and firmware stability.

    Russ…I would guess that your hard drive has developed bad sectors if it hasn’t responded to the hard reset described above. If this is the case then you can change the HD yourself if you are technically-minded. Unplug the unit, open the case, carefully remove the IDE ribbon cable and power supply lead. Make a note of which screws went where and the same for the cables. Go to a computer shop and get a HD of the same brand (You have to stick with the Western Digital 80Gb hard drive which won’t over-tax the power supply…)and install it. Tighten screws but don’t over tighten, especially around the hard drive. Replace the cabinet. Try to do all of this in a static-free environment and ground all screwdrivers to earth by touching them to a metal table leg, etc. before touching the internal screws or components.

    Plug the unit back in and power up. If the tv channels are still in memory then is best to clear them and start-over. Do a factory reset from the main menu and re-tune the unit, being careful to choose Australia and your state when asked what locality you are in. All should be well afterwards. Good luck.

79. Hello tonite I tried to record Smallville for my son on Ch 10 on my PVR9000 but it wouldn’t let me. A mess keep coming up harddisk is full but I have nothing in it. All the other channels recorded fine. Thank u

    EDITOR: Have you tried to reformat the hard disk to see if it makes any difference? (see comment 47. for instructions)

    Next step would be to unplug and replug it from the powerpoint while in standby mode. That often fixes little glitches

80. 1. I understand the 9000 saves files with filenames of the show from the EPG info that was transmitted with that show, but what if you record two shows one after the other and it gets saved as one file, what filename will it get.

    2. And as shows sometimes don’t air at the scheduled time it’s a good idea to set timer to record about 5-10 mins before or after the show, so which EPG info would the filename use in this situation, as it may record the last few minutes of the previous show and the first few minutes of the next show.

    EDITOR: In response to your questions:

    1. the description will probably be of the first show, but it depends on other factors as well eg: if the shows were equal length, how many shows you taped in one block etc

    2. It’s anyone’s guess what the recordings name will be

    Note: that in the case of 1. and 2. you can use the hidden feature described in comment 51. to display a list of all the shows in the recording and be able to jump to the start of each show

81. Just a thought, does the DigiCrystal, (or any PVR for that matter), spin down the hard drive after a certain amount of idle time.
    If you were using your PVR just as a STB to just watch live digital TV and weren’t going to record anything, the hard drive doesn’t need to be spinning, the PVR would run quieter, would use less power and there would be less wear on the hard drive which would prolong its life

    EDITOR: if you use the hard disk to play/record something it keeps spinning for a while and then idles the hard drive (you can hear the sound difference) after a few minutes of inactivity or live TV watching

82. Hi Neil here
    I enjoy taping rage and other music shows now that I have a recorder that can go the distance. I can then delete the songs I dont want. What would be fantastic would be to be able to join those songs together in one long recording. At the moment I get ejected back to live tv after every song. Is there a way to join recordings or perhaps make a playlist? thanks

    EDITOR: To get that kind of customisation and sophistication you’d have to setup a HTPC (Home Theatre Personal Computer) with a Digital TV tuner and video editting software. An example of the setup required can be found at the OCAU Basic HTPC Part List

83. Compared with other PVR’s, the 9000 seems to be a solid performer with little problems, (unlike the newer 9077P).

    The only real problems the 9000 seems to have (as discussed on the DTV Forum) is it has a dim LED, and no dedicated Play, Rewind, Fast Forward buttons on the remote, (have to press the PVR button first then use the numeric buttons).

    So is there a way to brighten the LED, is there some adjustable pot inside the unit, or maybe replace a resistor with a lower value.
    And what about the remote, is there any tricks or shortcuts so you can fast forward or rewind a recording without having to press the PVR button first, then the numeric buttons, (it seems silly to not have dedicated buttons for these common features).

    EDITOR:
    1. I don’t know if the LED brightness can be modified
    2. You have to press the PVR button to fast forward etc, there are no dedicated PVR function buttons

84. re comment 83 by ian
    1. the dim lcd is not a problem, but a feature. the lcd is supposed to be dim so that it doesn’t glow in a low lit room (like a home theatre) and cause excess light.
    2. you dont need to press the pvr button every time you want to rewind a recording, you cant view recordings unless you are in pvr mode, so you press it once to get into pvr mode and watch the recording, and if you want to rewind or ffwd, just press the button on the remote. you cant rewind live tv as the device doesn’t automatically cache the live channel. all other times* you would already be in pvr mode anyway.

    * unless you have upgraded the firmware to the one that allows you to exit while recording and edit timers etc. IF, you are in pvr mode RECORDING live tv, and exit out of pvr mode (pressing exit) the pvr continues recording,if you have done this and you wish to rewind a bit of the live show you are watching then you need to re-enter pvr mode first.

    EDITOR: Note that I made my comment from the perspective of using the 23/02/2006 firmware that allows you to exit while recording and edit timers, watch other channels on the same network eg: ABC/ABC2 or 9/9 TV Guide etc

85. Okay guys (& gals)…now hear this. My local Strathfield is now completely out of stock of the PVR9000 and won’t be getting any newies. They have swapped supplies of their single unit line to the Omni single tuner PVR, of which I know very little except that you can update the HD on the units through a user accessible door on top of the box.

    Stock of the 9000PVR still exists in some stores so go and snap them up, if you want one. I now own 3 (Don’t ask!!!…okay, I have set up no.3 to dump recordings to a DVD recorder- just call me a gadget nerd!).
    After the 9000 runs out that’s all folks. You’ll have to get the Supernet or Wintal whilst they are still in production (which may not be long…). You have been warned….now go and spend, spend, SPEND! 🙂 😉

86. re comment 84
    Hi Nathan.
    Yes I understand that the dim LED on the 9000 is a feature but I also know that quite a few people have complained about it, and one or two have even taken their 9000 back because it is too dim, (even in low light).
    The funny thing is that with the new DigiCrystal 9077P people are now complaining that the “Power” and the “Lock” LED’s are now too bright.
    DigiCrystal seem to go from one extreme to another.

87. Hi All,

    I recently purchased an SDT-9000PVR from Strathfield in Brisy at a bargain price of $189. I had no problems setting up but after a while it took ages (from 30 secs to not at all) to tune a channel. When it did get a station, the signal strength was always great, but while I was waiting for it to tune, it was indicating “no signal” or “scrambled signal”. When I re-scanned the stations only a few would come up.

    I did the reset factory settings, turn off fix which did work for a little while (maybe a few minutes) but then the old problem of tuning would re-appear.

    Bad signal? Maybe but the old STB worked fine and so did the one on the laptop (with a crappy 25 cm antenna. So I replaced all of my connectors with F-type and new Quad cable but, you guessed it, problem returned.

    I called Digicrystal and they said to do the “restore factoy settings, shut down and set up” again, and if the problem continued, return the unit. The problem did continue and last night when I tried to change stations it always plyed CH10 even though it was indicating it was on a different station. I did another channell scan and every chanel came up as CH 10!

    I thought wow that is really weird, so I went and checked the unit and I found that it was very hot. Because of space limits I had the STB sitting on top of the VCR and this was adding heat. So I re-arranged everything, cooled the STB and bingo all problems fixed! Wow, sorry to bore you but this may help others who have their units stacked close to each other.

    On another point, I read earlier that the AV button doesn’t do anything but the STB shows “AV” on the screen and the manual says it does do something but the Chinglish is to difficult for me to understand. Can anyone please advise me?

    Cheers to all.

    EDITOR: thanks for the tip about reducing the heat load on the PVR9000. You are correct the AV button doesnt do anything, it’s a leftover from the german STB that was modified into the PVR9000 for the AUstralian market.

88. re comment 87 by MattyB
    Good tip about the heat problem, I don’t have a PVR as yet but when I do get one I would have also put it on top of the VCR.
    Do you use your VCR alot for it to generate that much heat to affect the PVR.
    I’ve just checked my VCR and the plastic casing is cold in standby mode but maybe it will heat up when in use, will check it out.

89. re comment 88 by Ian

    The VCR doesn’t seem to heat up up much, it seems like the STB produces most of the heat particularly when reording or playing from the hdd. The place where the STB, VCR, and DVD are all above a large TV so maybe that;s adding to the problem.

    I have now increased the space between the shelf and the STB to increase the air circulation. I hope summer is not too hot…

90. Ian… If you can, take your unit back and get another one. If it has shown signs of malfunction due to heat stress then one or more of the capacitors may be slowly frying away. When they do “die” the capacitors will bulge outwards on top and the voltages on the PCB will go haywire. If you can’t do a straight swap and the unit is out of warranty, then get a techie to open the box and have a look at the board inside to check for damage.

    The PVR9000 is the culprit as regards the heat, not your VCR. They generate a great deal of heat and more than a few techies I have spoken to think they should have been fitted with a small venting fan. For all users…locate your units in an area where they are well-vented. On all three of my PVR9000s I have fitted extra rubber stick-on “feet” from Jaycar Electronics to raise the unit a little higher to improve ventilation.

91. Thanks Btty, I think it’s the heat from the PVR when the HDD is in use which causes the problems. I have elevated the unit an extra 20mm to increase ventilation, but it still gets too hot. When it does get too hot it will not tune channels and does not stop, play, pause correctly. When I place my hand on the top of the unit, it is very hot, maybe 60 degrees c.

    When I place a cool gel pack (in an absorbant wrapping) on it, after a few minutes it returns to normal operations: it’s obviously a heat problem! Does anyone else suffer the same problems, this is really starting to test my patience.

    When the HDD is not in use the unit seems to stay pretty cool, but we mainly got the unit to record for the kids, so it gets too hot alot!

    Is there any word of a fix for this problem from Digicrystal or is this just a matter of returning for a refund.

    I welcome any comments.

    EDITOR: that sounds seriously out of order, mine never gets beyond warmish to touch even if its recording several hours in a row for sports events etc. Also when I bought it I set it to record 12 hours in a row over night and it still wasnt hot in the morning.

    I would contact Digicrystal to try and get a new unit assuming they have any left.

92. I have a supernet, which I’ve had for quite a while. every so often when timer recording the recording will stop after a certain period but rec still appears in the display. The unit will not respond to any buttons pressed and I have to switch off at the power to get the unit to respond. Sometimes it will record 5 minutes, sometimes an hour. The worst thing is if not knowing when it will happen and missing a program I want to record. Any ideas on why this happens?

    EDITOR: I’ve never had that problem or heard of other wintals/supernets/digicrystal STB’s with a similar problem, is the unit less than 12 months old? If so you could return it under warranty

    Other options include making sure it’s not overheating (see previous comments for possible solutions) and upgrading to the 23/02/2006 firmware to see if that helps

93. Thanks for the info. How do I upgrade the firmware?

    EDITOR: Download it, read the firmware FAQ, unzip it, connect your Set top box to COM1 and run the upd_com1.bat file

94. Thanks, I will let you know if this fixes the problem. Incidentally I haven’t checked if the unit gets hot but it is not stacked.

95. Matty… Your unit is most definitely stuffed. If it is heating during the recording phase then this is due to the internal power supply having trouble pumping “juice” to the hard drive. What will happen next is, as I explained earlier, the capacitors in the power supply section will fry. Then you’ll be in serious trouble. Take the thing back or, if you can’t, and have a technician friend, ask him/her to replace the power-supply capacitors with ones of a slightly higher rating and capacity.

96. Ken… the hard drive has developed bad sectors, causing the unit to lock-up due to not being able to lay down new data streams and not knowing what to do next, hence the locked “rec” display. Take it back. Sorry for the bad news.

97. hi there,

    I purchased a digicrystal 9000 in 2005. I downloaded the upgraded firmware – 23/2/2006 however what is the best way of uploading to the stb?

    EDITOR: follow the instructions in comment 93.

98. Re comment 95 by Btty.
    How many caps need changing, do you have the board locations?
    What are the original caps rated at, and what should they be replaced with, (how higher do you need to go to be safe).
    I do some board work at work (mainly power supplies), so I’m pretty handy with a soldering iron, although I always replace the caps with the same specs as the original.
    As I understand it you replace the caps with the same capacitance, but a slightly higher voltage.
    So a cap rated at 220uF / 50V would be replaced with a cap rated at 220uF / 63V.

99. Ian…
    Join the DTV forum at this address: http://www.dtvforum.com.au

    And send a personal message via the forum messaging service to this guy: http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showuser=20291
    He is an expert at this stuff and can help you more than I can.

100. Hi,
     I had a similar problem to Steve (number 6) and was getting frustrated with it, thought i would have to sent it back. After experimenting i found that changing my aerial lead from my outlet inside from a longer cable to a shorter one fixed the issue. Thought this may be of help to someone. P.S. This is a great newsgroup you have setup keep up the good work

101. Brett…your fix was a clever one. The Digicrystal units are particulary sensitive to variations in signal and my recommendation to anyone setting a new aerial system in their home is to use a type of 75 ohm coaxial cable called “quad-shielded.” This offers the least signal resistance and excellent interference blockage. In my own home I found that the PVR9000 that I set up in my lounge room was starting to have reception problems due to too many connections being made to the one aerial lead (dvd recorder, video recorder, etc…). I ventured into my local Tandy shop and bought a “GME Kingray” indoor signal boosting amplifier (Made in Australia…hooray!) for $50. I connected this direct to the aerial lead and then on to the main feed into the first of the devices requiring aerial connection. The net result was a dramatic improvement in picture stability and signal strength and quality.

102. I have just purchased a Supernet PVR on E bay and am having the same problem as Ken (92) ie the unit locks up part way through timer recording with rec displayed on the front panel. The unit does not seem to get hot. Is there any way to fix this problem and if not will Supernet ( ozauctionbroker ) replace the unit? It’s less than 3 months old.

     Editor: You will have to ask the retailer ozauctionbroker (from ebay?) what their warranty process is. My guess is that you’ll have to pay courier fees to send it back to them, then they’ll evaluate whether theres a fault

103. I have just read an article from PC Pro which seems to address my problem.6) Using this modified firmware and/or replacing the hard drive will not fix the reported problem of the PVR occasionally locking up during scheduled recordings from Channel 7 in Australia. Does anyone know anything about this as it seems to be my problem. I tried taping the golf on 7 and the unit locked up 4 times out of 5 tries.

104. Ron: If the lock-ups are only happening on channel 7 then I think you have a reception problem. Go to Tandy or DSE and buy an indoor signal booster for about 50 bucks. Connect it to your PVR via the aerial-in lead. If it works, your problem is solved. If it doesn’t, Tandy/DSE have a “no-questions-asked” refund policy, as long as you have your docket and the original packaging. Worth a try, huh?

105. Hi, just bought a supernet through ebay and still having teething problems with installation but should be able to fix most of these after reading your comments. Just one question about Electronic program Guide, I can only get info about the current program and the following program after pressing the info button twice. Am I supposed to be able to view a full day or weekly program? The people I bought the box from said I need to subscribe to somewhere but don’t know where.

     EDITOR: Good question Jeff. While the Digicrystal/supernet can display upto 7 days of EPG it is upto the Tv channels to transmit this information to the STB.

     Unfortunately 7, 9, 10 and SBS only transmit EPG’s with “Now and Next” information. The ABC is currently trialling an extended EPG in some parts of Australia with the intent of transmitting 1-3 days of EPG information for ABC1, ABC2 and ABC HD

     The guys you bought it from didn’t know what they’re talking about. Some high end STB’s can subscribe via an internet connection to an EPG provided by a 3rd party like IceTV. The Digicrystal/supernet is not one of these STB’s.

106. The editor is quite correct. The free-to-air stations in Australia have been very pig-headed in implementing some extra features of digital tv that other countries, notably in Europe, broadcast routinely. I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that our free-to-air services also have their fingers in the Pay-tv pie???

     In Europe where the basic design and firmware originated for the Digicrystal, Wintal X10A and Supernet units (all electronically identical, BTW…), it is quite common for a whole day’s programming info to be included in the EPG transmission stream. In Melbourne this is now happening on an ad hoc basis with the ABC but the commercial channels persist with their “now/next” restriction! And don’t get me started on the sound broadcast stream!!! So far, the only program that has been broadcast in true 5.1 sound has been intermittent episodes of “McLeod’s Daughters” (Ugh!). The Digicrystal 9000 and the variants can all receive 5.1 sound in either Dolby or DTS sound. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why Australian broadcasters persist in blocking this feature when it is common done in the US and Europe.

     Adding to the editor’s comments… If you want a PVR9000 be quick…there aren’t many left and they have been heavily discounted by Strathfield Car Radio. After this shipment there will be no more. Then you will be forced to buy the more expensive (and internally identical) Wintal PVR X10A or the Supernet units…which in themselves will not be around much longer. Buy now before these units disappear. the twin tuner units, except for the venerable Topfields and including the Digicrystal 9070s, all have firmware issues with their twin-tuner units.

     And a a last comment to Mr. Bhatt. Bravo, Sir, on providing this excellent tech blog. I hope you continue with the site once the PVR9000 becomes extinct. Perhaps you can concentrate on the newer twin-tuner Digicrystal PVRs.
     Happy New Year to all!!! 🙂 😉

     EDITOR: Thanks 🙂

     Keep an eye out in the next few months for new articles on “Digital TV in Australia: Myth vs Reality” and an in-depth review of the DNTV Live! USB Hybrid which I recently purchased.

107. Just bought a DigiCrystal 9000 for Christmas and have only recorded a few half hour TV shows to check it out.
     On one recording the filename had just the channel and date,
     “7 Digital 04/01/07”, isn’t it supposed to have the program name taken from the EPG?

     EDITOR: Yes it should

     Yesterday I set the timer to record “The King of Queens” on channel 7, but as we all know the TV stations never transmit shows on time, so I always add 5-10 mins to the start and end of each timer, anyway, it recorded “The King of Queens” OK and also several minutes of the following show “Airline”, when I got home to watch the recording it was listed as “Airline 05/01/07” and not “The King of Queens”, (obviously it took the EPG info from the last show it was recording).
     Is there a way to rename the recorded file?

     I played the file until the end of “The King of Queens” then pauses it, then pressed 8 to call up the edit functions and selected “Delete from here to the end” to delete the beginning of “Airline” but the filename was still called “Airline 05/01/07”

     EDITOR: No, you can’t rename recorded files, it doesn’t matter whether you delete bits or not

108. The editor’s comments, above are 100% correct. Now for some official news. The Digicrystal PVR9000 is no longer being imported from China. The stock in Strathfield stores now selling at $188 is the last of the units, EVER! The Digicrystal twin-tuner models still have firmware issues but will probably have this fixed up by February. You want a 9000 you better go and get one quickly. My local Strathfield now has no more units and ringing around (I was trying to get one for my brother…) proved to be fruitless, at least in South-East Melbourne.

109. Yes, the 9000 is now discontinued, not only that, there will not be any more firmware updates from DigiCrystal, which is a bummer because I asked them if they could change to skip amount to 30 seconds instead of 5 minutes so you could skip over ads.
     Having the skip amount set to 5 mins is too much, (I think the newer model is set to 30 secs).

     It would probably be quite easy to edit the firmware to change the skip amount, what software do they use to edit the firmware?
     Would be great if you could edit it yourself, if you do stuff it up you could always flash back to the official firmware.

     EDITOR: I very much doubt you could edit it

110. The firmware is in machine-code and you’d have to be a programing genius to fiddle with it. From memory (not that I use the function that much, I prefer to fast forward…) if you hit the “six” key the unit skips about 5 minutes forward.

111. Re Comment 110 from btty
     Yes I know that if you press 6 it will skip 5 minutes forward.
     What I was getting at in my post is that 5 minutes is too much and it would be good if you could change it to skip by 30 secs.

     EDITOR: The reality is that you can’t change the firmware and they aren’t going to update it because they don’t sell the product any more.

112. My SDT 9000 PVR has recently developed a problem, making the HD function unusable. It appears that i can record a program, but when I go to replay the program, the unit comes up with ‘0.00’recorded time and goes back to the live program. The problem can be rectified temporarily by resetting the unit through a power off reset. This ‘fix’ is only temporary, as after a certain amount of time (Maybe an hour or more?), the problem re-appears! I have tried deleting the HD, turning the unit off, then on, and also doing a factory default reset, but to no avail.
     has anyone else had this problem, or know how to fix it? Is my HD defective? Is it possible that a firmware upgrade would fix the problem? (Would need to get a cable to go from laptop to unit for this to work, i.e., USB to RS232)
     Thanks,
     Rob

     EDITOR:

     1. For starters if it’s less than 1 year old send it back under warranty

     2. Try resetting to default settings

     3. Try re-flashing the firmware

     4. Call Digicrystal to see if they can fix it for a reasonably low amount of money

     5. Keep it as a STB and buy a new PVR 🙁

113. Rob…what the editor has told you is pretty much correct however I’d be betting that you have a problem with overheating in your unit. The 9000 and its clone, the Wintal X10A suffer terribly from heat build-up in the circuitry doing dreadful things to capacitors and the hard drive.
     1/Is your unit in an enclosed space with poor ventilation?
     2/Is it sitting on top of an amp that gets hot?
     3/Does it sit in direct sunlight?
     4/Is it siting on other electrical equipment?

     If you answered yes to the previous questions…move it fast. Then, pull the power plug for 5 minutes, re-plug in, reformat the HD (see instructions) and reset…with a full channel rescan. Also, do as I have done, buy some stick-on furniture “furniture feet” (check your local 2 dollar shop) to raise the unit slightly. This provides better airflow. Hope this helps.

     Note for other users of this excellent blog (thank you Mr. Bhatt); Digicrystal is busy working on firmware revisions for their latest PVR, which is a twin-tuner job. Most of the bugs have been ironed-out and I will purchase a unit as soon as the Australian DVB forum indicates that they are “problem-free.” I’ll report on my success (or otherwise!) right here a.s.a.p. Keep 🙂

114. Re comment 101 by Btty
     I am also thinking of replacing my coax cable with a quad shielded one and maybe getting a GME Kingray amplifier/splitter like you did.

     When watching back an hour long recording, I may get a loud audio chirp/screech sounds and a bit of pixalation for a second, this may happen about twice in the hour.
     I don’t know if it’s because of a low signal strength or some impulse interference, (like the fridge motor turning on).

     I’ve just checked my signal strength in the 9000PVR and all channels have a steady C/N of 24.1 except channel 10 which fluctuates between 21.1 and 24.1.

     What was your signal strength before and after you got the GME Kingray amplifier?

     EDITOR: I think that audio chirp is because of interference. We get that on our PVR 9000 whenever a motorised kitchen appliance is used or when a light switch in the same room is turned on/off

115. Ian…my signal levels were similar to yours. Mr. Bhatt is right … Fluro lights, fridges, etc… can cause audio chirping and pixellation on-screen. Quad shielded cable will go a long way to stamping this interference out and the signal amp will do wonders for the stability of your signal. Good luck. 🙂

116. Thanks guys, I’ll go and get some quad shielded coax this week to go from the wall socket to the 9000.
     But what about the coax in the wall going from the wall socket up to the antenna, that would pick up interference too wouldn’t it, (that may need changing too in the near future).

     Oh, and Btty, what is your signal strength now that you have the GME Kingray amplifier? (you didn’t say).
     You said you had similar signal strengths to me (C/N of 24.1), so what is your C/N reading now?

     Also, with these impulse interference problems from kitchen appliances, is this interference getting into the PVR 9000 thru the coax cable, or could the interference also be getting into the PVR 9000 thru the mains lead?
     These appliances could be putting dips and peaks into the power lines, maybe a UPS that filters the power and gives a stead 240V could also eliminate some interference.

117. Ian. My signal strength reads almost maximum. The interference is transmitted through the coax so you will need to look at changing the cable in the wall, too. I’m not sure about RF interference through the power cables but you could do what I have done to minimise this possibility by buying some clip-on ferrite chokes from somewhere like Jaycar. I put a choke on the power cord and aerial lead…it did help. Good luck.

118. Hi,
     I have the digicrystal 9000 for almost a year without any problem. It has been indicating the free space on the hdd as %,eg 70%etc. Recently it started to stutter a few times on playback. So I deleted everything on the hdd. This stops the stutter but now the free space is expressed in gb.The questions are:

     1/ How can I get back to % ( easier for my wife)
     2/ Does it need to reformat the hdd to get rid of the fragmentations
     3/ How to format the hdd?
     Looking forwards to your comments.

     EDITOR:

     1. Display the list of recorded programs, press “Info” on the remote to swtich from GB free to % free
     2. No
     3. Display the list of recorded programs, press “Menu” on the remote. “erase hard disk” will appear on the screen. Press OK.

     Try unplugging and replugging it from the powerpoint. That often fixes little bugs

119. Does anybody know anything about the new model HD set top box that is out HDT-9500 with HDMI?

     Ive been looking at buying one and came across this blog.. so i thought id ask, its just that i haven’t heard of the brand before but after reading your comments seems the brands and the units are value for money without many issues… hope im right?

     EDITOR: Hi Dusty

     I note that you’ve asked the same question at the DTV Forum Australia – HD Set Top Box Receivers forum. That’s the best place to ask about the HDT-9500 model because other people who own will hopefully answer your questions. i cannot because I don’t own the HDT-9500 myself

     If that doesnt work I suggest that you ask jok11n directly because he works with Digicrystal.

120. Dusty…I agree with Mr. Bhatt…especially about jok11n. I do know someone who has this unit connected to a HD plasma set. He’s been very happy with it and has it connected via an HDMI cable. Hope that helps in your decision making…:)

121. Hi Guys

     I have the 9000 PVR and it is simply the best gadget I have ever purchased, I love being able to watch and record at the same time – very cool.

     I have recently purchased an Acer LCD TV (AT3220B – see ACER website 32inch) and wanted to hook it up to the PVR, however I have currently connected it using the scart supplied with the PVR and connected it to AV1 on the LCD (L&R, Vid and s-vid) which works ok.

     However, there is also component input (two of them) which has the L&R, R,G,B – I connected the pvr using a scart cable with just RGB, however the picture was a purple/pink colour (I also ran the L&R audio through rca). I made sure all the plugs were in exactly the right spot but to no avail.

     There is also another input on the LCD TV for AV3 which has L&R, Vid, R,G,B – do you think it might work on this section? I noticed on the set top box you can change the output to C/Y or CBVS or RGB. Would this make any difference.

     EDITOR: The Digicrystal 9000 does NOT do component out, only RGB out using a SCART connection

     Personally I use the standard SCART to SVIDEO cable which comes with the PVR 9000 on our 68cm wide screen and it looks great

     For more info I would suggest asking at Digital TV Australia forums – HDTVs & HD Capable Displays

122. Hey Neerav, great page. I have the following issue with the SDT9000 that I hope you or someone reading can help me with:

     The signal on my 9000 pvr oscillates from a maximum of C/N 24.1 down to sometimes as low as 15. Whenever this signal drops below about 21, the picture breaks up and the sound chirps. This only occurs occasionally, but may go on for up to half an hour during the day time. I have quad-shielded cable running from my wall socket to my PVR with no other connections (no other TVs/VCRs/etc.).

     I live in an apartment block and so I don’t have access to the aerial. I have tried running the signal through a DSE indoor antenna with amplification, but this made no difference.

     Is there anything else I can do or try? I notice some people have used a Kingray amp – is there a model number? Will this be any different to the DSE amp I have already tried?

     Ian – any resolution to your problems? They sound the same as mine.

     My wife is threatening to turn back to analogue and I have to admit is driving me up the wall too.

     Any help would be appreciated.

123. For ease of use and less headaches do as the editor has suggested and stick to SVideo…the picture will be fine. It’s also a good idea to buy a high quality SVideo cable…don’t just use an el-cheapo from the two dollar shop.

     You will need to buy a scart to RCA/SVideo converter plug (from DSE or Jaycar) for about 12 bucks and the cable will set you back anywhere from $15 to $30, depending upon the quality you select.

124. Topher,
     If you only have access to an indoor aerial then you’re stuffed, I’m afraid. No amount of amplification will work in this situation. These units need good signal. Ask your landlord to give an access point to the outdoor aerial…he has to do this under the lease agreement.

     Once you get aerial access then you might want to consider buying the signal amp. There is only one model of Kingray amp. available at Tandy…buy that one and avoid the DSE unit like the plague.

125. Thanks for your suggestions btty. I should have been clearer in my original comment.

     I have an outlet in my living room that is the signal from the aerial on the roof of the apartment block – but I don’t have physical access to the aerial for the purposes of changing/adjusting anything up there. I am just using the DSE antenna to amplify the signal from the roof aerial (i.e. not using it as an indoor antenna).

     Your point still applies, so I will go to DS and swap the DSE amp for the Kingray and see what happens.

126. Topher…

     Okay, that makes sense. What is probably happening is that the signal from the indoor aerial is fiddling with the amplified signal from the outlet. Buy the Kingray unit (Should be around the $55 mark) and see how you go. If worst comes to worst you can always return the Amplifier and get a refund (as long as you kept all the packaging and docket…) from Tricky Dickies.

     If you have no luck talk to other tenants in your building to ascertain if they have problems with reception as well…if that is the case, ask your agent to talk the landlord into having the outdoor aerial serviced. Good luck. 🙂

127. Can I program my set top box, that it records every week at the same time, without having to put in every single timeslot?

     Mascha

     EDITOR: sure you can

     1. Choose one of the 12 timer recording slots

     2. Go to “Date”

     3. If its currently displaying something like “2007-04-12”, press “LIST”

     4. It will now display a day of the week eg: Mon, Tues, Etc. The set top box will record on that day each week from now on. You can also choose multiple days in one timeslot (eg: Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri @ 14:00-15:00) if your show runs Mon-Fri every week.

128. Hello,
     Just want to know how to reformat the drive. Post 113 suggested to follow instruction. Where is the instruction, couldn’t find it in the mannel.
     Also, does the hard drive get fragmented after frequent records and deletes, and requires periodic defrag. If so , how to defrag.
     Thanks and Cheers

     EDITOR:
     1. Display the list of recorded programs, press “Menu” on the remote. “erase hard disk” will appear on the screen. Press OK.

     2. It doesn’t get fragmented and you can’t defragment it anyway.

129. Hi there.
     I have a Digicrystal PVR9000. It works fine and records and plays as expected.

     I also have a DVD recorder with analogue tuner only.

     I have set up the PVR9000 to timer record and the DVD recorder to timer record at the same time so that the DVD has digital input. The output from the 9000 if fed into the DVD AV1 input channel.

     This all works really well EXCEPT that the Digicrystal leaves the recording information on the screen after is starts from the programmed time and this is recorded in all its glory onto the DVD.

     I can manually remove the big blocky info by manually pressing OK a few times but for timer unattended recording this is not an option.

     Can you help – is there a way that this Info is not put on the screen or can it be removed automatically after a few seconds?

     This would be really helpful

     Regards Peter

     EDITOR: instead of recording the live signal to DVD why don’t you let it record to the PVR, and then later on play it back from disk and output to the DVD recorder after removing the info display?

130. Hi,
     I have had my PVR for about 12 months and all has been well until this week, for some reason I cannot playback any recordings I have made on my 9000PVR. When I press play the screen comes up with

     play 00:00………..00:00

     Dome are old recordings that I have already watched part there of but now I cannot play them back, any idea’s.

     Rob.

     EDITOR:

     1. Turn the PVR off using the remote so it just displays the time on the LED
     2. Unplug it from the powerpoint and then replug it

     That often fixes little bugs

131. hi

     great page just a quick question ( ihope this hasnt been sent already and i’m repeating myself) please let me know if i use both the 9000 and the 8800 in the same room together will the remote interfere between units?????

     hmmmm please email me back

     thanks
     sam

     EDITOR: since I don’t own both I can’t guess what will happen, it’s best to try it for yourself.

132. I bought a supernet 8000 about 18 months ago. I live in a rural area and a tv technician said it would improve our reception!!

     Only recently have we had access to digital tv on all channels and are using the stb more. It quite frequently has a distorted picture and the screen ‘rolls’ (tv doesn’t). It is almost impossible to read the print/instructions etc due to ‘waving’ and the fact that the writing is in pink (which is also reflected in hair and eye colour) does not help.

     I was hoping someone would have a similar problem on your page, but I couldn’t find it. Thank you. Glad I found your page – it’s great.

     EDITOR: I would strongly suggest that you get these checked by a quality TV antenna installer:

     1. The wiring between your roof antenna and the TV and how many times the signal is split between different TV’s (if any)

     2. The actual setup of your roof antenna, and if its pretty old whether it needs to be replaced.

     After doing these make sure you rescan channels on the supernet to take advantage of any signal improvements

133. Just noticed a firmware bug with the timer recording.

     I have the timer set to record 1 program every Sunday night and 2 programs every Monday night.
     On Sunday night the PVR works as expected by turning on from standby mode, recording the program then going back into standby mode again, but on Monday night when I have 2 programs set to record, the PVR turns on from standby mode, records the first program, but doesn’t go back into standby mode at the end of the recording, I then have to manually put the PVR into standby mode with the remote.
     A few hours later when it records the second program, it works as expected by turning on from standby mode, recording, then going back into standby mode.

     So it seems that if you have 2 timer recordings set for the same day, it doesn’t go back into standby mode after the first recording, but single timer recordings do go back into standby mode.

134. Hi there again.

     My original post was 129 and I have found out some new things since then.

     First I had always previously copied from the HD to my DVD recorder as suggested but this was a long process since the playback was in real time.

     I gave up for a while and tried other methods but didn’t have any success with the Digicrystal – that is until today!!!

     The recorder would ALWAYS display the PVR info no matter what, when it booted up from standby. I tried lots of ways to set the timer and finally hit upon the successful and in hindsight reasonably obvious method through trial and error.

     First set the timer in the normal manner, but instead of going into standby mode ready for record just display the PVR menu again, press OK 3 times to clear it and THEN go into standby mode.

     Works a treat without fail.

     I am a happy chappy.

     Peter

135. I posted this problem a few weeks ago but it seems to have disappeared.
     Anyway, my problem is that I have noticed that sometimes when I record using the timer, the 9000 doesn’t always go back into standby mode afterwards.
     When the timer is ready to record a program it is supposed to go from Standby mode into PVR mode, switch to the correct channel, then start recording.
     At the stop time it is supposed to stop recording, then go back into Standby mode again.
     I would say that 70% of the times it does do this properly, but 30% of the time it stays in PVR mode, wasting electricity.
     I have unplugged the PVR but it didn’t seem to fix the problem.

     Any suggestions on how to get it to go back into Standby mode after recording, or is this another bug in the firmware?

     EDITOR: Sorry i haven’t been able to replicate this bug, we often have several timer shows/day and it always goes to sleep again shortly after recording finishes.

136. Is there a known fix for my problem – I cannot watch a recorded program while the machine is recording another program. As soon I press play the record bar comes on screen, shows 00 then it goes straight to the program currently on.

137. Have been using the 9000 for a couple of years and more than happy with it.The only issue is not being able to hook up to Foxtel. I saw comments earlier saying that cannot connect 9000 to Foxtel. Has anyone worked out a way to do it since the posting last year?

     EDITOR: Its not possible and will never will be

138. I too am now having the Hard disk full problem. Formatting the hard drive did not clear the recording list which is strange. I am going to remove the Hard drive and replace it with a Western Digital 160 gig Drive in the next few days. I tried resetting it and it worked for a while but it fails to solve the problem. Will attempt a firmware upgrade first as I have not done this yet. Will also check the heat but have not noticed this as an issue. Thanks very much for maintaining this Forum.

139. Re message 138.

     I have turned the box off for a few minutes and that has solved the problem for a little while. It has kept some of the recordings but record anything new even though it claims to. Will change the hard drive probably tonight. What format is it?

140. I’m having trouble picking up SBS. It’s got the freq on 536500 instead of 536625. Can this be fixed ?

141. For anyone having random problems with these units (and more for the technicians out there) – they’re all very similar in construction. Check my webpage link – I solved the problems by repairing the power supply. http://www.rjmb.net/pvr-x10/ should be similar for digicrystal units

     EDITOR: thanks for the tip James

142. Hi I have three different digital set top boxes
     A Digicrystal non PVR which resides in our onsite van in the shoalhaven area
     it is running perfectly.
     Our second unit is a Supernet 8000 PVR used in Sydney once again perfect,
     with the Supernet 8000 PVR I have transferred some video to a PC as described by
     http://users.bigpond.net.au/pcpro with complete success.
     Last week I picked up on E-bay a Tevion 160 GB PVR (which is another clone of the above units) $100.50
     (It is refurbished with 3 months warranty)
     Now my query is can the process as described by http://users.bigpond.net.au/pcpro
     Be done in reverse, I have a lot of unwatched TV shows on my PC in the mpeg 2 format
     I normally take my PC to the Van which is a pain to relocate, it would be much neater to take the more compact newly acquired Tevion which can hold aprox 100 hours
     Ciao Alf

143. I have a Supernet PVR. It has a “twin” tuner that really only allows single recording to its 160 gig HDD, but you can watch other channels live.

     I cannot access shows that I have recorded. From what I can see, they are on a separate page to what is currently being shown. The Up/Down keys don’t navigate to the earlier recordings, only through the 3 most recently recorded shows that are being displayed.

     PVR tells me that its HDD is 94% full. That’s another issue. How many hours are you supposed to get from a 160 gig HDD recording SD broadcasts?

     Is there any trick to navigate multiple pages, if that is how they’re displayed or recorded, or do I need to do the old “power off reset” trick?

     Thanks

144. Update on my earlier question regarding a Supernet PVR. It appears that what has happened is that all but the latest three programs, all recorded last night(Wed 3rd Oct) have been deleted.

     What could have deleted these recorded shows without human intervention?

145. I just got the problems report hdd full when it is not, not recording, properly, no playback from hdd. Also taking several hours to start when powered on and off. First happened when power was disconnected for a few hours.

     I had a look at the repair page at http://www.rjmb.net/pvr-x10/ and checked the power supply, capacitors were bulging, but voltage seemed OK.

     Experimentally tried running it with the hdd plugged into an external power source (from a usb external hdd case) this fixed the problems instantly.

     I have now made a hole in the casing for this external power supply which has me up and running. Trying to decide whether to make that permanent or try to do the capacitor replacement. Based on previous experience if I try to solder anything to the circuit board I will destroy it completely.

146. Hi mikedufty.
     I had the same problem with my 9000 & after reading the avice on this page http://www.rjmb.net/pvr-x10/ (Thank-you)I decided to give it a go.
     The complete fix cost me $2.35 plus 1 hour of my time, I had never done anything like this before but it’s not that hard “just take your time”
     My 9000 now works like new again. When just 2 days ago it was going in the bin.

147. Hi, I have had my 9000 for about 18 months and up to recently worked magic. Lately it has started to freeze up, so I would do the trick of turning it off at the wall while it was going but now the thing has packed up the mess on the TV is saying no signal and it not picking up any channels when scanning. Then it has come up with hardware defect. Any tips or advice?

     Steve

     EDITOR: I haven’t come across that problem before Steve. Hopefully one of my readers can help you

148. I looked at PCPRO’s upgrade firmware, but it is not hosted there any longer, is their an new link to it?

     My box is out of warranty, and it has been developing problems like described here. Goes to full% or odd numbers, recordings stop and when you try to play things it goes back to live, or stalls on 00:00:00, recordings stop and etc. Originally, when splitting an recording it started to loose one section, at times. I suspected that their was bad sectors. Factory reset, or turning off at the wall, only made it go away temporarily (pity they can’t retain timer ands channel settings). I have noticed it was an lot hotter than usual.

     I did notice that it took similar times for the error to turn up from recording. Thinking it was bad sectors, I recorded multiple times (to consume the bad sectors) then it seemed to clear up, but it now won’t even go to record (live) mode.

     I am not particularly well, and have only scanned the messages, but I am interested in exploring an bit more about the machine.

     Putting the hard drive in an Windows XP machine, it comes up as an uninitialised removable drive. I did go into the hard drive configuration, but did not touch anything.

     I would Like to upgrade my hard disk and recover files on the present disk:

     What type of format/file system does it use?

     Have heard that you can solder an USB port through contacts on board.

     How do you “hard reset” mentioned above.

     What is stored on the HDD (timer data, channel data etc)?

     Thanks.

     EDITOR: I strongly suggest asking this question at the DTV Forum Australia PVRs, DVRs, HDD & DVD Recorders section

149. I just thought I’d post some an update on what is the latest version of this box.

     The Supernet 1160T – Possibly ‘the’ last version of this box, currently selling on ebay for the insane price of around $110, it has the Digicrystal 9000 faceplate, a 160gb drive, new remote, and possibly a new revision of the 3.41 firmware.

     The Good – It’s still a fantastic bit of gear for the money, 160gb drive is great, and seems fairly bug free.

     The Bad – The supplied remote is truely awfull, it limits functions and small nubered buttons makes using the pvr hard/er, there are still a few bugs, nothing huge I can really pick on yet, but you will run into some glitches.

     I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s got new firmware, maybe not a new version, but one that may have been modifyed to use the 160gb drive, firmware is dated 2007-06-16, and as much as I’d like to try the pro version, I fear if I flash to anything else, I’ll never get back to the original, because you can’t back it up from the pvr, and you can’t download it anywhere.

     So, still a great PVR, hard to fault at the price, but if anyone knows how to back up the firmware that comes on it, I’d really like to know.

     EDITOR: Thanks for the update, personally I was getting a new PVR I’d opt for HD so I could view the new 7/9/10 HD content that’s finally being broadcast

150. i currently have a digicrystal 9000 and am planning on buying a second pvr and am wondering if anyone here has used or purchased the dvx-555U ($69) from strathfield?
     im wondering how it compares to the digicrystal.

     it would be very helpful for me if someone has any experience with it and or preferably both units are they able to give me a quick side by side comparison of the 2. also details like can you trim/edit/rename files with the dvx-555u, is one easier to program, does one unit stand out as superior etc. pretty much the pros and cons for each units differences.
     cheers

     EDITOR: My newest review is of the DVX-555U SD Digital Set Top Box (STB) PVR

151. I just got a dvx555u. It is not as nice as the PVR 9000. The main failing is you can’t start watching a recorded program while it is still recording. You also can’t watch a saved program while it is recording something else. The epg setup is also not as nice. I also experienced some gaps (skips a few seconds of show) when recording from SBS. I am thinking of trying to return it for a refund.

     EDITOR: thanks for the tips Mike

     PS Soon after you wrote this comment EDITOR: I got a DVX-555u SD Digital Set Top Box (STB) PVR which I then reviewed in detail

152. Following up my previous comments. I neatened up my external hdd power supply, but it only worked for about 2 months, then I started losing signal and having to restart. I have now just replaced the capacitors on the power supply board. Took about 2 hours for me. Plugged it in and it all seems to work for now. Will have to wait and see if it is reliable. If not I’ll probably buy a supernet version from e-bay. Definitely not happy with the 555.

153. Now that we finally have full 7 day EPG from the commercial tv stations (instead of just Now and Next), I’ve noticed that my 9000 doesn’t seem to handle it properly.

     When I press the Info button twice to bring up the full EPG, on some channels it will automatically select the current tv show, while on other channels it will automatically select a tv show 3 days ahead, and I have to then scroll back to today.

     When I bring up the full EPG for Channel 10 it automatically selects the current tv show but somehow thinks it’s day 37 of 44, (top right corner displays 37/44).
     If I scroll forward it will display the EPG correctly for the coming week, but if I scroll backwards all the previous days are empty except day 1, which contains the EPG for that day.

     So I’m not sure if this problem is the 9000 or Channel 10.

     EDITOR: That doesn’t sound right Ian. Mine works fine

     Are you in Sydney watching channel 10 or somewhere else in NSW watching a network 10 affiliate channel?

154. I am joining the chorus with contributors 138 and 148. My 9000 has worked a treat for nearly three years and now has turned to cactus. It says the hard drive is full when its not, it says it’s recording and adds to the list but there is nothing there and I can’t access the hard drive file of previous recordings at all. Initially I could reboot it with the old unplug-at-the-wall trick -but that has lost its irresistible charm. I now have a perfectly good set top box but not a PVR. I have looked at other comments but can’t work out what has happened here and whether anything can be done about it — please advise

     EDITOR: Not sure that I can help you Murray as my PVR9000 is still workign fine (touch wood). Have you tried contacting http://www.digicrystal.com.au/ContactUs.asp to ask them for help

155. Murray, as mentioned here and on the DTV Forum, the DigiCrystal 9000 does suffer from power supply problems, leaking or bulging capacitors, see post 141.

     My 9000 had similar problems to yours with one week to go on the warranty, so it was repaired under warranty.
     If you are not comfortable with soldering the capacitors yourself, I think I read somewhere on the DTV Forum that DigiCrystal were selling the power supply for $40, so give them a call.

     EDITOR: thanks for the tip Ian

156. can anyone post instructions on how to install a mtv dvb-t hd set top box to dvd vcr i also have foxtel conected to the vcr help

157. I’ve just posted this on the DTV Forum and thought I’d post here as well:

     As daylight saving in NSW usually ends on the last Sunday in March, my DigiCrystal 9000 automatically put its clock back by one hour early this morning, the problem is, NSW has now extended daylight saving and we now put our clocks back next Sunday.

     Luckily I was up at 3:30am this morning and noticed that my DigiCrystal 9000 had put its clock back to 2:30am, so I adjusted the timezone to GMT+11:00 to add an hour to its clock, otherwise all my timer recordings for this week would have been an hour out.

     So just check your PVR clock to make sure it’s correct.

     The DigiCrystal 9000 hasn’t had an official firmware update since March 2006, so its automatic daylight saving switches are now incorrect.

     EDITOR: Well spotted Ian, I was expecting the problem to occur so I checked all my gadgets this morning and manually forced the ones which changed time to GMT+11 for the next 7 days when i’ll switch back to GMT+10 on the morning of 6th April

158. Thanks everyone for the great comments and suggestions. My 2 yo Digicrystal 9000 has been misbehaving for a while (it looked like interference etc) and finally completely died this morning – ‘hard drive full’ message, unresponsive and would not play or record. After following the instructions on http://www.rjmb.net/pvr-x10/ I replaced the low voltage capacitors in the power supply and it works like new! Only $5 from Jaycar to replace the lot, and got it fixed in time for end of the football!

159. Here is a list of symptoms that have been cured in my Digicrystal 9000 by replacing electrolytic capacitors in the unit’s power supply (see links and other comments elsewhere in this very useful blog – thank you Neerav). I used capacitors with 105 degrees rating (important) and some with a higher voltage rating than the original, eg. 16 or 25 in lieu of 10 volts.

     * A click noise from the speakers, with temporary loss of sound that slowly comes back up. You might think it due to external interference, but perhaps it is internal interference from a capacitor discharging wildly!
     * “Hard Disk full etc.” messages occurring, usually some way into a recording, but while there is tons of space still left on the disk.
     * Inability to play back recorded programmes – it drops back immediately to Live and thinks the recorded programmes are zero length. This may be overcome temporarily by pulling the power plug, waiting a few seconds and replugging, but problems are likely to recur soon after and for no known reason, eg. some programmes may complete recording but not others (nerve racking).
     * Failure to recognise stations sometimes, if you do a station scan.
     * Slight slowness in starting to play and in changing between channels, ie. generally a bit slower in operation, including slowness in getting going again after being powered on from the wall (eg. LED flashes for some time).
     * ‘Unreliable signal’ or ‘no signal’ sometimes when changing channel.
     * More sensitive to ‘line noise’ eg. if a nearby fridge turns on or even a light switch thrown. (Am not certain of this as I moved house and it stopped, but it should not have been happening and perhaps faulty power regulation within the unit was implicated.)

     The capacitors were replaced in two hits several weeks apart, as the local electronics shop was rather deficient, but after a second wave of problems I looked inside the box again, to find two of the non-replaced capacitors bulging at the top. No doubt this is because the unit runs rather hot and the components are not the best, so they may not last too long. One might suspect that part of the reason the unit runs rather hot is that most of the vent holes on the underside are blocked off on the inside by sheets of insulating plastic! No doubt this makes the unit safer, but perhaps at a price! (I noticed in a shop that a later twin tuner model does not seem to have such a sheet in place, so presumably won’t run as hot and be more reliable.) Some users suggest however that their unit does not run hot, though mine has.

     It seems likely that more and more owners will be experiencing this sort of thing as the units get older and as the susceptible components burn up through time.

     EDITOR: great tip there, I’ve highlighted your post so other people with the same problems will notice it

160. Just replaced the power supply capacitors on my dads unit and it works again. Just look for the bulging caps on the P/S board. It is interesting to note that some dell Pc’s with similar Caps on the motherboard (cross on top) also went off after a while. Symptoms where: displaying H/D full flickering LED no signal etc. $6 and it’s fixed. word of warning; make sure you STB is well ventilated.

161. Our almost 3-yr old Supernet 8000T was also getting flaky so I followed the procedure on James McBride’s page http://www.rjmb.net/pvr-x10/ and now it’s as good as new. I ordered the replacement caps online from Jaycar: $5 + $5.50 P&H. It had been a while since I had done any electronics soldering but there was no problem: the components on the PCB are quite widely spaced so I didn’t need to be a soldering genius to do the job. And in any case, the thing was stuffed so there was nothing to lose.

162. Thanks for a great website. I have a Wintal PVR x10 bought in 2004. I had all the symptoms mentioned by Crystaliser in No 159 and replaced all the capacitors for $5 from Jaycar two weeks ago which fixed all the problems. I also upgraded to 23-02-2006 firmware.

     However since then I have been having the same problem as No 92 ie
     “every so often when timer recording the recording will stop after a certain period but ‘rec’ still appears in the display. The unit will not respond to any buttons pressed and I have to switch off at the power to get the unit to respond. Sometimes it will record 5 minutes, sometimes an hour. The worst thing is if not knowing when it will happen and missing a program I want to record. Any ideas on why this happens?”

     Btty had commented that it was due to bad sectors on the HD. Is it just coincidental that this new fault has only started since I upgraded the firmware?

     Also since HDs are now so cheap – WD 80GB $42 can I just replace the old one and assume the firmware will format it.

     Thanks – David

163. Hi Please help I am trying to find the comments on the HDT9500
     I am abought to purchase but confused,
     am I correct thinking that the 9000 is the older model and the 9500 is the new release so it should offer the same if not better use.????
     theconfusedone

164. My Supernet 8000T PVR started playing up a few weeks ago (hard disk full, play 00:00………..00:00, etc), and after reading about bulging capacitors, not only did I fix the PVR, I also fixed a DVD player which was about to get chucked out!

     I do have one issue with my PVR though. The volume from it is lower than the TV, even though I have set the volume bypass to ON. It’s the same whether I use the RCA or SCART output.

     Any reason for that?

165. Hi. I have not read all the posts so far, so maybe what I’m about to say has been said here or somewhere else. I have a Supernet 8000T PVR, which I purchased 3 years ago from eBay. I would have to say that the PVR is probably the best electronic device I have ever purchased and the Supernet has been faultless so far. My post is about the fact that my son discovered that when you press the ‘info’ button to bring up the details of your chosen program, you then press the ‘list’ button. By pressing ‘list’, the timer recording details are automatically hi-lighted for you where you then, of course, press exit and okay to complete the recording timer set up. I’s as simple as that. Just remember to be generous and allow more recording time to ensure the show ending is captured! I would be surprised that this feature has not been noticed by anyone here, but the instructions that came with this unit where almost criptic and very limited in detail. While I’ve got your attention I just want to say that I’m about to take delivery of the Panworld HDT-9750P PVR. It’s a twin tuner, 250GB High Definition PVR that’s very popular at the moment on eBay. I paid about $235 plus delivery. The winning bid prices seems to very from low 200s to just over 300! This one has the ‘picture in picture’ feature, which I did not know about until after I won the bid lol. Anyway, I’ll keep you guys posted with how it performs. Hopefully I’ll have it up and running by this weekend so I can watch the F1 GP. Last Sunday it commenced at 9pm, while SD version was delayed until 11.30!. Rob

166. I have an supernet 8000T set top box and require to reset the internal clock can anyone help me with the process
     Macka

167. Sorry, forgot to say ….i have a Digicrystal SDT 9000 PVR (& no remote)

     Hi,
     My kids have lost the remote control on me!!!getting fit changing channels but want a remote again!! Any ideas as to best option?/ I know I can but learning remotes etc but dont have the original.
     Cheers

     EDITOR: call Digicrystal on 1300 557 201 or email support@digicrystal.com.au and they might sell you a remote if they have any spare.

168. Not sure if this thread is being read any more, but I have a SDT9000 and recently (last 3-4 weeks), the EPG info has gone off the blink. Is this due to changes to the EPG (due to Freeview), or other causes. I plugged in a DVX STB and the EPG is present. Anyone?

     EDITOR: My PVR 9000 stopped working completely around Christmas time so I suspect the same may have happened to yours. EPG’s are still being transmitted as normal

169. Something has changed. My Supernet 8000T now takes a lot longer to stabilise the EPG than it used to – I press the EPG button and the current program shows but pressing the button again takes me to the beginning of the day rather than the current program on the list. It does this even if I leave a good while after tuning to the channel.

     Further, the box no longer records the list of shows during recording, just the misspelled “Indexmarke” every hour.

     Anyone any information on what’s going on here?

170. I’ve lost my remote control for my SDT 900 pvr. How can I get hold of another one?

171. Hi Tracey, you can buy the logitech harmony remote, it has the digicrystal remotes in its database. works fine for me. Good luck.

172. I have aSDT-9077P which is approx. 2 years old.It is freezing up to the point that now I cant even turn it off on the unit(only at power switch)It picks up a channel but then I cant use any other function(have tried new batteries and turning off power)Is it time to get a new one or can it be repaired?

     EDITOR: I’d say get a new one, the cost of trying to repair it would probably pay for a whole new much better PVR

173. My EPG also stopped working on CH9 a few weeks ago now Ch7 is out also. EPG is ok on an old digicrystal HD box though. Wierd… and frustrating!

174. I have had a Digicrystal 9000 PVR for approximately 4 years, with no problems. However, I recently turned it off for 2 weeks whilst away on leave. On returning I have restarted it, done a “Factory Default” reset and adjusted the time to daylight saving time, but it will no longer record programs. When the time for recording arrives, the little dot in the top left-hand corner of the display starts to flash, but it no longer reads “Rec” as it used to. Nothing in the instructions covers this problem, and no-one at Digicrystal appears to be answering the phone. Any ideas?

175. have 2 unused digicrystal pvr 9000 remotes if helps tracy and razzer rossco.

176. Hi,
     I own a digicrsytal 9000PVR digital set top box and my remote has stopped working. I was wondering where i could get a replacement~ I brought it online a few years ago and couldn’t remember the site i brought it from.. But after reading the posts, i thank you, as now i know!

177. gday, im lost!!!!! ive got a strong top box,SRT 4652, it has been working fine until recently. its basic, just going from dish to unit, then the tv. to do a manual scan what satellite, frequency, symbol rate and polarization do i need? all im getting at the moment is NITV and shopping channels!!!!!!!!!!! help, thanks, rod

178. Hi I am after some assistance with my STB.It has been working fine until recently. The module is LHD2 and the issue is, when I switch the box on the LED reads 8888 with the indicator lights all on. There is no signal at the TV. I have tried to reset the box disconnecting the power and when its reconnected the same LED come on? Could you please help or indicate where I could seek assistance with this problem.

179. @Charles,

     Please check your firmware version. I recently purchased a RIMTEL 160gb pvr (today actually) It runs of the Digi firmware (another rebadge?) However unlucky me the firmware it says I have is the E 3.41B which from everything I’ve read states that it thinks its just a standard stb instead of a pvr (to which I plan to return the product tomorrow abit peeved)

     Please check your firmware version.

     Also does anyone have anymore information on firmware versions? As I said mine is a E/3.41b dated 2006 06 15 and boot loader S 1.8.

180. I have a Digicrystal 9000 which I fixed a number of years ago by changing the capacitors.
     I now have this problem.
     When first turned on the remote works (change channels etc) but after about a minute the remote (with new batteries) stops working.
     I can still change channels using buttons on the unit itself.
     I presume something must be wrong with the sensor circuitry.
     Anyone else had this problem or can suggest how to fix.

181. I have a digi crysral set top box dsd1 No: 14247. I cannot tune it so that I receive all the seven (that is channel 7 channels). Currently all I get is the main station on all positions. Is there anyone in the Perth W A area that can help me. The company I bought it from has now gone out of business. My phone number is (08) 9470 1044.

182. I had the same problem with my Digicrystal 9000 remote.. great post thanks!

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