» posted on Friday, October 22nd, 2010 at 14:01 by Nigel

PVR software beta for Icecrypt T2200 Freeview HD box

When I first reviewed the Icecrypt T2200 Freeview HD box for RegHardware, one of the promised features was an update to enable recording to USB hard drives. And now, I’ve managed to get my hands on a beta version of the firmware that makes it possible.

You’ll need a USB stick or external hard drive, and though the T2200 can play back from FAT-formatted devices, it can only record to those formatted using NTFS. While it can format a drive via the Installation menu (System Recovery / Format Hard Disk) it won’t do that if it doesn’t recognise the partitoning – in fact, the drive won’t even show up as available.

So, to re-use a drive that had been formatted using the Digital Stream PVR, for example, I had to delete the partitions and recreate them in Windows, before the T2200 would recognise the drive – but considering many other PVRs want drives formatted in Linux, that’s not a major worry.

Recording

Setting a recording is a simple matter; just highlight a programme in the EPG and press Record, or press OK twice (the first press sets a ‘pre-select’, which changes to the channel, but doesn’t record).

You can also do an instant record – just press the record button while watching TV, and it will run for the time specified in the Recordings menu. Press the button again and a pop-up allows you to specify a duration, or ‘after this programme’ or ‘after next programme.’

Press Record a second time and you can easily alter the duration of an instant recording

There’s no series linking or automatic tracking of start and stop times at the moment, but you can set repeat recordings with options for every day, every weekday, every weekend, or weekly, and you can adjust start time and duration to give you a bit of leeway in case the schedules slip.

There's no series link, but there is a comprehensive range of repeat settings

The Recording menu in the settings section also allows you to turn on buffering, so you can rewind live tv for 30 minutes, 1 hours, or even up to five hours.

Timeshift can be switched off, or enabled - for up to five hours

Two other points worth mentioning: first, while recording you can watch another channel on the same multiplex, and second the box will record from standby, and then go back to sleep afterwards.

Watch one channel while recording another - the channels in white are available, others are on a different mux so can't be watched during recording

Playback features

During playback, you’ll find some useful features in common with Topfield’s PVRs. For example, type a two digit number, like 75, on the keypad, and playback jumps to the 75% position.

Pressing the play button brings up the on-screen progress bar. While this is displayed, you can use the |< and >| keys to jump to the start or end.

The progress bar shows bookmarks; it's easy to navigate around a recording

Whether the progress bar is displayed or not, press green to set a bookmark, and yellow to jump to the next bookmark. If no bookmarks are set, then the yellow button will jump forwards 30 seconds. Fast forward doubles each time you press the button, up to 64x.

There’s a reasonable file browser – you can create folders, and move files to them, though the on-screen keyboard isn’t the easiest to use.

Recordings can be saved to an NTFS disk, and organised into folders - but they are encrypted

It’s worth noting that although the files are saved as .rec (which is the format used on Topfield PVRs), you won’t be able to play them on your PC. You can see them, but they’re encrypted, to comply with the Freeview HD content controls. Even SD recordings are protected at the moment, though perhaps that may change in future.

Installing the update

If you want to have a play, you can download the zip file for the update below. Note that it’s a beta test, so use at your own risk. Unzip the file and copy the TFD file onto a USB stick. Plug it into the T2200, and you should see an on-screen message telling you that a device has been connected – if not, try another USB stick; it worked for me with one formatted as FAT-16, but not as FAT-32.

When the stick has been detected, go to the main menu, select Installation, then Firmware Upgrade, and USB Firmware upgrade. The screen will show a file browser, and you should see the firmware file; select it and press OK to begin the update.

Click here for the T2200 beta firmware (zip)

filed under Digital TV · Products | 295 comments | tags: beta, freeviewhd, icecrypt, pvr

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295 Responses to “PVR software beta for Icecrypt T2200 Freeview HD box”

bob said:
Oct 23, 10 at 22:28
good update,works fine,
Alastair said:
Oct 25, 10 at 11:49
The encryption of the .rec files renders USB recording as virtually useless in my opinion.

It would be great to be able to move recordings to a PC, edit them, convert them and then play them on other devices (e.g. mobiles) or store them on a NAS. That’s what I do with my Toppy at the moment.

Without the ability to do this, the only advantage of USB recording is that you can expand the disk space available to the PVR.
Nigel said:
Oct 25, 10 at 12:05
But this is a standard set top box; the recording is not something that it did before – so that makes it far from useless. You might not like the fact that you can’t do all the things you hope to do with a recording, but without this update, it wouldn’t be possible to record AT ALL from the T2200.
There are inevitable compromises dealing with the Freeview HD content control situation; the compromise at the moment is that this unit stores all content encrypted; that might change later. But it’s also worth remembering that you do not have any specific legal right to make an archive of recordings in UK law, nor is there yet a format shifting exemption to copyright rules.
Alastair said:
Oct 25, 10 at 12:49
My mistake. Hadn’t read the article properly and I thought this was a PVR!
bob said:
Oct 26, 10 at 14:45
will i be able to record a hd movie from say itvhd channel to a 16gb usb stick.
Lee Branch said:
Nov 12, 10 at 17:09
2 very important questions for me are:

1. Can it downmix DTS audio in MKVs?

2. Does it support MKV Chapter marks?

thanks for any assistance given.
Daniel said:
Nov 13, 10 at 01:52
I did install the update…works very well. I have looked online to play .rec file on my computer and several sites said VLC player works but it does not recognize the extension…is any way to convert into a playable content on PC?
Nigel said:
Nov 13, 10 at 07:02
VLC will normally play .rec files, but Freeview HD has content controls, which are there to stop high quality copies of programmes being uploaded to the net.
The current recording software on the T2200, rather than just encrypting high def programmes, encrypts them all, and that is what makes them unplayable with VLC.
Nigel said:
Nov 13, 10 at 07:04
I’m not sure about chapters, but am pretty certain there is no DTS support. That said, I have a limited number of mkv files here to test with.
Lee Branch said:
Nov 24, 10 at 15:06
Cheers Nigel, appreciated.
Mike Clarke said:
Dec 06, 10 at 13:34
Hi Nigel

Thanks for the T2200 PVR download, great as it means another piece of hardware ( existing PVR can disapear.

What info rdo you have as to the network capability of the T2200 , for IPTV Icecript seem to be waiting for Freeview to make Ipleayer etc avilable , whay wait for Freeview I do not fully understand the delay till mid 2011 when others have made the move .

Any help and advice would be apreciated

Regards

Mike
Nigel said:
Dec 06, 10 at 15:15
The advantage of waiting for Freeview is that, essentially, they don’t have to do anything themselves – if and when iPlayer comes to Freeview in the same way that it has on Freesat, as long as the interactive engine in the box is up to scratch, it will just work.
Coding a solution themselves means signing a deal with the BBC, and doing lots of work which all costs money – and that’s obviously a lot less attractive than waiting for something to land in your lap.
As for thing like network media playback, I’ll see what I can find out about that.
brian said:
Dec 11, 10 at 11:59
update worked thank you
hope series link is in next upgrade and a better way to cancel recording
also encryption of the .rec files is not very good but time will
tell as other software wil come out to make it play on computer or quick conversion for dvd discs

remote is still very unresponsive cant explain but not right lets hope
better version comes out

i could not record to usb stick 32 bit
but ok on hard disk i am going to put itgb disk on see how this works
Rob Leitch said:
Jan 01, 11 at 20:31
Hi Nigel, great news about the beta version. I have a T2200 and will try upgrade to the beta version this weekend. Two questions:
1. Do you have any idea when the full version will be released?
2. Can I use a formatted USB hard drive in the USB port or is it only meant for USB memory sticks?
Nigel said:
Jan 01, 11 at 20:34
You can use an external hard drive – that’s what I’ve been doing. But I’m not sure whether or not it will have enough power for most drives, and you may be best off having a drive that has its own PSU, rather than relying on USB power.
Rob Leitch said:
Jan 01, 11 at 23:10
Hi Nigel, that;s helpful and what I suspected. Loaded beta software and it’s working brilliantly. One final question – I have a 8GB USB stick formatted on NTFS. Each time a record it says I have a max of 40 mins recording time. I would have thought 8GB might have got me a bit more. Any thoughts?
Nigel said:
Jan 02, 11 at 00:53
I found that it always gave much the same message; I think the beta has an error when it comes to calculating the amount of available space
rob said:
Jan 06, 11 at 22:28
Nigel, just a quick note to say that this beta upgrade is perfect for my family’s basic recording needs. At the mo, we simply have a 32GB memory stick poking out of the front (that could be better) and can record programs to our heart’s content. So easy. I think it’s a winner for people who want something simply: a way to record a program because they are out or it’s late. It’s also has the kind of really dummy proof easy to use interface that would work well with an older generation! Thanks for posting it. Are you giving icecrypt fedback?
Nigel said:
Jan 06, 11 at 22:31
Yes, I do feed info back to IceCrypt
Bernard said:
Jan 08, 11 at 21:58
Can anybody tell me how to record via hard drive or usb, I have beta download installed, please help me, thank you
Bernard said:
Jan 08, 11 at 22:01
Hello Nigel, can you please tell me how to record via external hard drive or usb , I have installed the beta version, thank you
Nigel said:
Jan 08, 11 at 22:07
You need to make sure the drive is formatted using NTFS – which you can do on your PC – and then it’s pretty much just a case of finding the programme in the guide, and pressing the record button on the remote to schedule it.
Bernard said:
Jan 08, 11 at 22:09
Hello again Nigel, Having connected ethernet cable to icecrypt and enabled it in setup, what do I have to do to connect to the internet,hope you can help Which control on remote do I use for the
internet , sorry to be a bore, thank you
Nigel said:
Jan 08, 11 at 22:14
At the moment, there’s no internet functionality available, so it’s something of a moot point.

In theory, if the BBC releases iPlayer as part of the red button service, you should be able to access that, but I don’t have a timescale for when that will happen
Bernard said:
Jan 09, 11 at 15:04
Nigel, thanks f to external hard driveor the info, but tell me do I use the usb socket on Icecrypt to record, thank you
Bernard said:
Jan 09, 11 at 18:23
Nigel, sorry about typing errors in last message, thanks for the info. but could you tell me do I use the usb socket to record to external hard drive
Nigel said:
Jan 10, 11 at 19:30
Yes; format the drive on your PC, and then plug it into the USB socket on the T2200.
Simon said:
Jan 17, 11 at 17:10
Been testing the beta for a few weeks now and it works well recording to an external 500GB 2.5″ Samsung drive. Few annoyances though e.g. deleting a recording takes you back out of the menus where I think it should leave you where you were at the list.
Also I wish they could make the box start up a bit quicker from standby.
Ken Hodges said:
Jan 31, 11 at 19:10
As an aside, for those using extermal SPDIF fed Dolby Digital AV Amplifiers, this Beta recording firmware allows Dolby Digital 5.1 to be available.
Not available on HDMI yet, stereo PCM only available there
BBC 1 HD BBC HD & Ch 4 HD regulary transmit Dolby 5.1, but never seen ITV HD do it.

You will need to go into “Menu” “Settings” “AV Output” Dolby Digital (Plus) and set to ON.

On the down side, still get internittently problems with HDMI lock (I use 1080i), cured by deselecting and reselecting or if being extremely troublesome into standby and back.

Also under “Playback” there is a new option “Starting Position”–Start or Continuing. If this means after stopping playback it will continue from last stop — does not work on own recordings or imported media files? Can use book mark on own recordings but this not available with media files.

Also if replaying a file (own or imported) and a sheduled recording starts tor finishes, the replay will be rudely terminated!

Look folward to the final software, hopefully will incorporate Freeview + features such as EPG recording updates and series recording.
Mind you this version is still very useful.

Ken Hodges
Bernard Bonsor said:
Jan 31, 11 at 21:48
Hello Nigel, could you tell me if you know the recording format for Icecrypt t2200, thank you.
Nigel said:
Feb 01, 11 at 11:04
Off the top of my head, it’s the same .rec format used by other Topfield PVRs. I’ll have to plug the unit in to confirm that, by my recollection is that they were .rec files.

These are essentially the transport stream as received (which is what all PVRs tend to record), but with a Topfield header added, which contains information such as the EPG data.

VLC ignores the header and will play the file with no problems, and MPEG StreamClip should be fine, too.
Nigel said:
Feb 01, 11 at 11:11
Actually – as discussed at considerable length elsewhere on this blog – no channels broadcast using any form of Dolby 5.1 on Freeview HD, whether plain Dolby Digital, or Dolby Digital Plus.

And the T2200 does not transcode AAC audio to Dolby Digital. The options in the menus are handle conversion of Dolby Digital Plus to Dolby Digital, which is a pretty simple operation, compared to transcoding.

Without transcoding from AAC 5.1 to Dolby Digital 5.1, a box will not produce a multi-channel surround signal via SPDIF.
Bernard Bonsor said:
Feb 02, 11 at 20:55
Hello again Nigel, more info. please, My tv is a Sony Bravia led. freeveiw hd, my problem is I can receive hd on my television but not through my T2200, the hd programs are shown in the guide on t2200 but when I click on hd program I get message saying program is scrambled or service not running, any answers please, many thanks, Bernard. Ps. I use an ariel amp for t2200 which is in another room.
Bernard Bonsor said:
Feb 05, 11 at 17:35
Me again Nigel, I had an e-mail from Icecrypt web site last week regarding software to connect to internet via T2200, they told me that the software is on “gonedigital ” having looked I can’t seem to find, can you help, thank you Bernard Bonsor
Nigel said:
Feb 06, 11 at 18:31
You will find a link to the firmware file at the bottom of this blog post – just before the comments start
Bernard Bonsor said:
Feb 08, 11 at 21:07
Hello Nigel, me again, having installed beta software for internet connection , how do I get to internet and what buttons to push on remote control, any answers please, many tnanks, Bernard
Bernard Bonsor said:
Feb 25, 11 at 21:32
Hello Nigel, having been given the wrong information about internet connection for Icecrypt 2200t2 PVR. from Icecrypt , I wonder if you know of any update for this hardware or when it might be avaliable , yours sincerely, Bernard Bonsor
brian said:
Mar 05, 11 at 12:48
connected my 1tgb hitatchi hard drive from tesco
47 quid working for over a month now this hard drive turns it off when not in use and comes on when asked reccomend it
Jeremy said:
Mar 10, 11 at 14:07
Hi Nigel

First of all many thanks for this blog…
My questions are do you need to format the usb drive to fat-16 to install the firmware? and if so how do you do this? I am using windows 7 and for some reason it only offers me NTFS and Fat-32… any ideas?

Many thanks
Nigel said:
Mar 10, 11 at 14:32
I’ll have to do some swapping round of kit to check this for you, but I’d give it a go with NTFS, which I think should work. I have found that quite a few of the Freeview HD boxes I’ve had here are fairly picky about USB keys, so if one doesn’t work, it’s always worth trying another one.
Fred Chan said:
Mar 11, 11 at 16:30
Used this beta software. The USB stick has to be inserted into USB port before booting up the machine. If I insert the USB flash stick in without putting the machine on standby then the TV channels would change downwards endlessly. USB stick has to be formatted using Windows PC to NTFS. Formatting on the machine (using system recivery option) does not make it recordable. That is for my 8GB Sandisk Cruzer.
David said:
Mar 29, 11 at 15:00
Nigel you mentioned you were looking into the networking functionality? Is this/Will this box be able to stream video files over a LAN?

Also @ Feb 01, 11 at 11:04 you say: “VLC ignores the header and will play the file with no problems, and MPEG StreamClip should be fine, too.”

Yet earlier you said this box encrypts .rec files making export to PC pointless…could you clarify as that’s a dealbreaker for me!
Timmy said:
Mar 29, 11 at 16:51
On the back of the PVR there is a slot for Ethernet. Can I use this as DNLA client and read shared hard drives.

What else is this slot being used for
Nigel said:
Mar 29, 11 at 18:48
I’ll check what you can do with the .rec files from standard def – it’s not plugged in at the moment as I have way too much HD stuff here to keep it all running. But I should have time this week to check and confirm one way or the other.

Streaming functionality is not planned at present, as far as I am aware. Again, I’ll chase up with the importers for the latest.
Nigel said:
Mar 29, 11 at 18:49
The ethernet slot is a mandatory requirement for Freeview HD, with the intention that, should broadcasters decide to, they’d be able to provide video services over the internet, much like the way iPlayer is delivered on Freesat. But no such services have yet launched, and the T2200 does not have any DLNA playback functionality. It only has local media playback.
Nigel said:
Mar 31, 11 at 13:01
OK; I’ve plugged the drive I was using for recordings into the Mac, and all the .rec files are unplayable, sadly, including ones from BBC Two in SD.
chris said:
Mar 31, 11 at 19:35
hi nigel , ive just bought the t2200 , great piece of kit. The one major thing missing from is it an FTP server. I can ping the box from my pc but not ftp to it. Please could you find out if there is an ftp server running on the box or does it need a password. This would make it a great box if we could ftp movies to hard disc not fussed about streaming to it.Cheers.
Nigel said:
Apr 01, 11 at 12:09
Sorry, no – there’s no ftp server and probably no perceived need for one, as the standard box has no hard drive. (The T2400 does have an FTP server, however). Since any disk you use with the T2200 will be an external one, you would be best off connecting it directly to your PC first, and copying films that way.
chris said:
Apr 01, 11 at 13:16
thought so , pity. I tried a port scan last night nothing was available. Im going to try and hook up an old nas drive to it , see if i can use it as a hd pvr/media player with a visable hdd on the network.
VICINC said:
Apr 02, 11 at 13:43
Any luck with a use of ethernet for interactive services e.g. iplayer, itv player for kind of ondemand? otherwise I do not see use for the ethernet port
Nigel said:
Apr 03, 11 at 17:23
Those services may be added later, by broadcasters. That was the intention behind the inclusion of the port in the specification.
Ian said:
Apr 10, 11 at 10:29
Hi all, I see this has been going on a while although I’ve only just got the unit and the PVR update. And I’m delighted with all of this

One question, does the USB HDD keep rotating when NOT used? I had to buy a very specific USB drive for previous equipment as the delay in the drive ‘booting up’ was such that the recordings never started. I’m now using a Maxtor 1TB external USB drive formatted on my PC. Oh, the HDD unit flashes it’s light occasionally – suggesting it’s doing something!

Thanks,

Ian
chris said:
Apr 11, 11 at 07:49
Hi , Ive just found this

http://wotsat.techradar.com/news/bbc-iplayer-rolling-out-freeview-hd-and-improving-virgins-tivo-05-04-11

Does this mean the box will be getting an iplayer upgrade , as long as its compatible with …..
“TVs and set-top boxes that support the D-Book 6.2.1 specification”
Nigel said:
Apr 11, 11 at 09:25
I’ll check on that; the new spec is mandatory for boxes tested and released from this month, but it won’t necessarily be mandatory for older ones to be udpdated (this new version of the D book also makes the dolby digital transcoding mandatory, too)
kerry said:
Apr 13, 11 at 08:00
I have just updated my devuce with thise software, although I don’t have a spare drive yet to properly try it out. This is going to sound a little bizarre, but since upgrading I have no volume control on HD channels via the T2200 remote.
Let me explain, no HD channels everyyhing is fine, the OSD for volume shows and volume indeed goes up and down, switch to an HD channel and the OSD graphics show, but has no effect, the same applies to sound mute. At some point, something I must have treid set everything back to working, but I don’t recall what it was. The usial solution of switching everything on and off results in the volume problem reappearing. Its not the end of the world, but I guess I have to make a choice , reload the original and see if that solves it?
Sebastian said:
Apr 13, 11 at 22:08
I’m not very impressed by the T2200.
When flicking through channels the box REGULARLY seizes on a channel and the box becomes unresponsive to the remote control, forcing me to shut off the unit by the on/off button – of course having to wait 20 seconds before it comes back on again.

Also I noticed when the T2200 boots (i turn it off at night) the screen will turn on and off a few times for a minute or so, and then settles down.During this flickering on and off some flashing lines crackle across the screen.

I’m using the brand new Viewsonic 27 inch monitor with 1 millisecond response time. It doesn’t like 1080p settings and crackles and pops madly with spark-like streaks going across the screen. When I first used the T2200 and did that to my monitor I thought it had killed my Viewsonic.

But the T2200 works fine on 1080i , and shows BBC HD and the other HD channels just fine in 1080i…
I think this T2200 is another malfunctioning piece of £100 dustbin worthy poo that might have damaged my monitor.
Of course the Viewsonic is advertised to work as a television, it’s fully HDCP compatible and I’ve turned off any ‘Dynamic Contrast crap- ‘ it just makes the picture bright when things are dark and things go dark during bright pictures.

Wish I’d bought a real DVB-t unit by Humax or Panasonic…
Icecrypt? Should be renamed Ice-Ripped.
Sebastian said:
Apr 13, 11 at 22:53
Okay- just downloaded the .zip file, updated my T2200 and tried recording on a 4gb USB formatted with NTFS.

First I get the message ‘only 20 mins left’ …should be 2 hours left I think…
Second, the file doesn’t show up when I press stop…

So there’s another 20 minutes of my life wasted.
Think I’ll stick to smoking cigarettes to shorten my lifespan, at least cigarettes always work.
Any real patch to fix the issues I mentioned in my other complaint, like the seizing/crash of the T2200 when using up/down channel buttons on remote and the sparking lines across my screen when it boots from off?
Or the 1080p problem that shouldn’t happen because my monitor is compatible with all SD and HD formats?

Nothing wrong with my Viewsonic 27 inch one millisecond beauty, it works okay on my PC at 1920×1080
John said:
Apr 14, 11 at 09:54
Sebastian does sound very upset!! On the positive side I bought the T2200 a couple of days ago from Amazon, have installed the test software and I have found it to be pretty good. I have tried to replicate the problems that have been brought to the blog without success. I will be using the T2200 to watch and record HD TV programmes which are broadcast in 1080i only so I do not have an issue with the 1080p problem, although I agree that it should do what it says on the tin.

I use satellite HD receivers, namely Fortecstar and Technisat and think the terestrial T2200 is not too bad in comparison. Technisat have covered most issues best in my view.

My only concern is that Topfield will cease to support this receiver, as with any software upgrade it will compete with their much more expensive PVR’s. No official software update by Icecrypt bodes ominous.

Thanks for the upgrade Nigel. I will let you know if any gremlins creep in.
Nigel said:
Apr 14, 11 at 09:57
I’d hope that support will be a bit more robust for this because it’s not strictly a Topfield product, it’s an IceCrypt one. I know that’s a subtle difference, but it essentially means that rather than Topfield doing it all by themselves and then just sending them over here for the distributor to sell, it’s effectively commissioned by the distributor, and I have a feeling that gives them more leverage in getting support.
As for Topfield PVRs in the UK, I really don’t see much (or any, really) sign of a new one of those appearing.
Nigel said:
Apr 14, 11 at 10:01
I’d stick with 1080i and let your panel do the hard work – there’s not going to be any 1080p broadcast, in any case.

I would also suggest that you contact Turbosat with the exact model number (and firmware possibly) of your monitor; HDMI compatibility issues are by no means unknown, or exclusive to these boxes. I’ve had other gear here that does weird things in various modes, such as a green border on two sides of the screen, albeit nothing as dramatic as your experience. Often firmware tweaks have resolved that, though I appreciate it’s not exactly ideal.
Martin said:
Apr 14, 11 at 23:23
I bought the T2200 a week ago, at first i was very disappointed as I had similiar problems to Sebastian, when switching it on it kept cutting out and had white horizontal interference lines, once it had been on for a couple of minutes it improved but still had intermittant cutting out and sound clitches mainly on HD channels. [Hitachi 42 inch LCD TV]

Then I read about the 1080p problem, so i changed the settings to 1080i and the probems all but went, apart from a short while when it was first swiched on.

I then found a driver update to fix this problem on Icecrypt website,
t2200_driver-update_100929 heres the link;
http://www.icecrypt.com/index.php/downloads/view.download/5/93.html After installing this the 1080p problem has been fixed.

Spurred on by the success of this I then installed the beta pvr software, this seems to work fine, except for one minor glich.

I cannot get the pause live tv to work, time shift is disabled in the settings and it won’t let me change it – any ideas ?

Anyway overall I am now very impressed with the picture/recording quality and functionality, all for £69 from tescodirect – BARGAIN.
Keith said:
Apr 17, 11 at 12:19
Hi Nigel

Been reading your page for a while, thanks for all the info.
Recently bought a T2200, an absolute bargain, just one problem.

When trying to playback avi video files via the Usb stick, that were created on another brand of pvr, the video is fine, but there is no sound. Although, there isn’t a problem playing these files on a Windows pc.

Any ideas?
Nigel said:
Apr 17, 11 at 13:21
Most likely due to a codec issue; what PVR did you create the files on? And did you then process them on the PC? I’m guessing you must have done, to end up with an AVI file. AVI itself is a ‘container’ format, which means it can contain lots of different types of audio and video. If you reconvert, using a different audio codec, you may have more luck.
Martin2 said:
Apr 17, 11 at 14:09
Only got the box yesterday PM (a steal at only £57.48 from Tesco direct with free in-store pick-up), have upgraded to the beta firmware and at the moment as a test device am having no problems recording to or playing back from a 4GB NTFS formatted USB thumb drive (incidentally did the firmware upgrade from an old FAT32 formatted 126Mb thumb drive with no problems).

However, like Martin above I cannot seem to get the ‘time shifting’ functionality to work. I’ve tried reducing AV/Output to SD 576 just in case the small 4GB drive and available recording time glitch were responsible, but the recording setting still shows up as disabled and I don’t seem to be able to change it. If press pause whilst watching live TV the screen image and sound freeze, but when I unpause/press play after a second or two of delay it simply ‘catches up’ to the live broadcast. As an aside an LED flashes on my USB drive when it is being accessed during recording or playback, but shows no activity when trying to pause live TV – I’m assuming that the box doesn’t come with any internal memory?) Unfortunately, right now I can’t test a larger USB hard disk as re-formatting to NTFS will mean loss of data – even if this is the next logical test.

This feature is arguably more important to me than the PVR functionality, as I tend not to plan my viewing in advance, but am often interrupted by young children, inopportune phone calls or questions about what we’ve just been watching, so it’s nice to be able to hit pause. Also if a film or similar does come on that I want to watch there and then, I hate adverts, so would rather pause go away and do something else for a while (or with shared muxes possibly watch another channel?) and then be able to fast forward through the ads.

I appreciate that this is Beta firmware and am therefore willing to use ‘work arounds’ if anybody can suggest them, or of course any other solutions?

Is it just myself and Martin above with this problem or are others able to pause live TV with just a USB thumb drive or memory stick?
Nigel said:
Apr 17, 11 at 14:16
You may need to try a larger disk; it’s also worth checking the settings for the length of time that timeshift will run for – the box will probably try to allocate the space it needs, and if it can’t do that, then it will most likely not allow you to pause. As someone else has noted too, the report of time used/available is not accurate in this software, and I wonder if that might affect how much space it wants to allocate.
Mundo said:
Apr 17, 11 at 14:16
Hi Nigel

New to the icecrypt and wondered if the beta patch listed on this site will also carry the other updates which icecrypt have delivered

When it arrives I want to put the latest patch on which will give it stability and the option to record to a usb stick

Thanks
Nigel said:
Apr 17, 11 at 14:20
There’s a separate update that addresses some issues with 1080p support, but I’m not sure off the top of my head if there’s a later one that combines both. I’ll check that out during the week.
Martin2 said:
Apr 17, 11 at 14:52
As a completely separate issue, I only have a Samsung HD Ready TV, so capable of outputting 720P and 1080i (not 1080p), at the moment I set the T2200 to output in 1080i (if set to Auto it switches to an unsupported mode for SD channels – when switching between HD and SD content).

I’ve also noticed that when changing the resolution/output the menu doesn’t provide a list of options but switches straight to the new mode, of these several have been “unsupported modes” on my panel leaving me with , a blank screen, i.e. no access to the menu (I would suggest that this working in the dark could be improved in future firmware releases – maybe show the mode on-screen for a second allowing you to move on to the next mode rather than switching straight to it).

Anyway, received wisdom is that fast moving action (e.g. sport is better viewed in non-interlaced 720P mode (or presumably 1080P if you have it), but that you get better definition with 1080i (e.g. HD nature documentaries). That said the limited HD channels that we have in the UK are apparently all and only broadcast in 1080i.

So am I correct in understanding that on an HD Ready TV, as opposed to Full HD, a 1080i signal/or output is being down-scaled by the TV to ‘fit’ the panel? If this is the case, and here is the real question, on an HD Ready TV am I better off setting output on the T2200 to 720P or 1080i? I would have though that this question was even more relevant to SD content where the T2200 would presumably first be up-scaling to 1080i, only for the TV to then down-scale the image again (i.e. two sets of image scaling/manipulation – surely bad?).

I guess that the related question is, how good is the T2200′s up (and down)-scaling, am I better off ‘feeding’ the Samsung rescaled 720P output from the T2200 eliminating the need for further processing by the Samsung, or, in the case of HD content, let the T220 feed the TV un-scaled 1080i and let the Samsung downscale as necessary?

The common sense answer would seem to be to try various combinations and see what looks best to me, but since I haven’t had time to do this yet was just wondering if there was ‘technically’ correct answer?
Mundo said:
Apr 17, 11 at 17:01
Hi
Does that mean I can install both updates (thought one might overwrite the other)
jon said:
Apr 17, 11 at 18:49
Hi,

Will the Record function work with a 16gh USB stick?

and

How do I update the box for record function and too fix the 1080p?

Cheers
Nigel said:
Apr 17, 11 at 20:23
Each update is actually a complete firmware in itself, so one will overwrite the other. So, until there’s a firmware released which fixes both issues, then it’s a case of one or the other.
Nigel said:
Apr 17, 11 at 20:24
As mentioned in another response, it’s one fix or the other until there’s a firmware that combines the two. I think record will work with a 16GB stick, but I don’t have one that large to test it with, and really you would be best of buying a cheap hard drive, in my view.
Martin said:
Apr 18, 11 at 20:58
Pause Live TV

Just tried it again with a 16gb usb stick and I can now set time shift to 30 mins or 1 hour, last time i tried it there were other files on the usb stick, so looks like you need quite a bit of space for this function. I am now trying to revive an old 400gb usb drive which was broken by doing low level format. Also note that you can alter a usb drive to NTFS from FAT32 without having to reformat by using something like Easus Partition Master available free.

1080P Problem

I installed both patches and no longer have the problem, the 1080p patch did call itself a driver update, so i suspect that the updated driver remained despite the pvr update. There is still a slight glitch where the sound occasionally cuts out for a fraction of a second, though its not a big problem and I haven’t confirmed that its just on 1080p yet.

Media Files

I have played quite a few avi and mkv files, most of them have worked but one or 2 avi’s start but just stop straight away and a couple of them cause the t2200 to reboot when you move to them before even playing. One mkv file had no sound, it was a 13gb file though ! It would be useful if they could improve file support to save me having to connect my laptop to the tv for a few files.
Mundo said:
Apr 19, 11 at 12:27
Just had delivery of the unit and wondered if there is a limit on the size of the HDD that can be attached

I have a couple of old USB HDDs knocking around which I think are 300gb

Look forward to setting it up tonight and hooking it up to my surround sound and new 32″ HD TV
Nigel said:
Apr 19, 11 at 14:25
Not aware of any limit; I think one of my test drives is 300GB and had no problem with that at all.
Mundo said:
Apr 19, 11 at 16:01
Not sure if you can answer this but here goes….

My current set up to playback avi and divx files is through my Toshiba DVD/Divx player, and when I connect a 300gb usb HDD it limits the number of files displayed on it to 500.

This is fine if I store large files on it, but if I have several TV series recorded in folders and go over the 500 limit I cannot see them even though they are on the HD.

Don’t suppose you know if this limit still applies to the icecrypt do you….saves me filling it up if so

Thanks
Jon said:
Apr 19, 11 at 19:28
looking to update, then record off the same usb key.

To do this do i need to set in one format first to do the update then another to record?

Cheers
Mundo said:
Apr 19, 11 at 23:51
Just installed the box and then applied the patches

It records to disc OK and the HD bits are very good, pity there are not more HD channels though (we have a V+ box in the lounge and the HD range and content is superb)

Problems I am encountering are juddery playback on avi files which are smooth as silk when running through my Toshiba divx player

Tried the same files on both machines but the new box has a slight judder as it plays them

Tried tweaking the settings on the TV but as it plays OK through the Toshiba I presume there is something the new box does not like in the avi files

Tried a large MKV file (4gb) and it just says playback stopped and goes back to the tv screen

Also tried another 700mb avi and the picture also judders

Any ideas on any settings I need to tweak
Martin said:
Apr 21, 11 at 10:28
I’ve played a lot of divx and mkv files and some didn’t play, but the ones that did play were excellent quality, they played as well or better than my Sony DVD/DIVX Player and my Laptop, particulary impressed with the low noise in the constant/dark areas which seems to be a problem on my Laptop.

Mundo – USB Memory drives can vary greatly in performance, my drive is quite a good high speed one, if yours is a ‘cheap’ lower speed one maybe it can’t read it quick enough and buffers it differently than your Toshiba which may cause the stuttering. Other than that I don’t know, I didn’t need to change any settings

Has anyone managed to get a USB Hub to work ? I’ve tried two and they don’t seem to work, it would be great to be able to connect multiple devices without having to keep disconnecting/reconnecting each time ?
Mundo said:
Apr 21, 11 at 12:09
Hi Martin

Think you are right about the buffering bit

Tried the avi on my usb drive and also from my HDD, both same results, then thought it might be something to do with the NTFS format so changed that to fat32, same result.

Both devices and the same avi work fine through the Tosh

Think I will use my Tosh for watching avi stuff and just attach a 32gb usb pen drive to the new box for recording and replaying HD stuff (which it does very well)

Pity about the original problem though as it would have been nice to just have the one device connected

Will give it one last chance with my new Kingston 32gb pen drive when I get the chance tonight

Also tried a couple more MKV files, quite large at around 4gb but it would not entertain them. As soon as it started to load it went to “playback stopped” and dumped me back to the tv
Adam said:
Apr 21, 11 at 20:32
I was really impressed when I picked up my T2200 just over a week ago, however at the moment the recording function is just plain broken, I’m using an 8GB stick formatted to NTFS but when recording the box seems to randomly pick a number for how much of the recording to retain, an example is that the box was recording (and showed recording on the front panel) for 3 hours but when I went to view the recording it only actually had 54 minutes on the stick. Another time I record for an hour and it only had 8 minutes to watch! this really is infuriating.
John said:
Apr 22, 11 at 14:07
It looks like everyone using a low memory stick is having problems. I think Nigel mentioned this a week or so ago.
I have been using a Buffalo 500gb hard drive, loaded about 10gb of mp3 onto it and recorded lots of tv programmes without fault. I really like the 64 times fast forward. One thing I have noticed is that it does not save any recordings less than a minute long, which is understandable.
Kenny said:
Apr 22, 11 at 21:06
I’ve been trying to play various MKV’s through the T2200, same problem as others, MKV files simply cause box to quit to TV. I’m thinking that this is because MKV is just a container, the codec used within the video file itself is incompatible. Hardly ideal, as converting MKV’s is a pain!

I’ve had some similar problems with AVI files, some will play without any complaint, and others just simply stop. In some cases, the T2200 playback quality is not quite up to the same standard as the Xbox360 for playing AVI’s. I’m wondering if this is due to the power to the USB from T2200 is not equivalent to the Xbox, as it is the same flash drive used on both devices.

Anyone have any ideas? Possibly a powered HDD will sort things?
Ian said:
Apr 26, 11 at 09:57
Hi, I’ve been getting a troublesome error on returning when a timed recording had been set. A grey/black box is on the screen entitled ‘Record Error Occured’ and below that ‘TimeShift Restart’.

I couldn’t do anything except remove power and reboot then reinstall – what is the problem and the cure please?
Nigel said:
Apr 26, 11 at 09:59
What size disk are you using? Most of the people who have been reporting problems seem to be using relatively small capacity drives, such as USB sticks. It can take only a couple of recordings to fill up one of these, especially with the timeshift turned on.
Ian said:
Apr 26, 11 at 10:05
I’m using a Maxtor 1TB USB HDD – so I don’t think that size is the problem!
Alan B said:
Apr 26, 11 at 10:29
Was looking at getting one of these, was just wondering if you can turn off the unit if its set to record something late at night. can’t see that anyone else has asked this question. Thanks.
Alan B said:
Apr 26, 11 at 14:00
Just been re-reading your notes above and noticed that you mentioned;
‘Two other points worth mentioning: first, while recording you can watch another channel on the same multiplex, and second the box will record from standby, and then go back to sleep afterwards.’
So my previous query seems to be answered, ordered one and getting it Thursday.
hugh P said:
Apr 26, 11 at 18:48
I get sound dropouts for a fraction of a second on all channels occasionally seems to happen when the news is on mostly.
I presume this is a software bug with the hdmi sound. It’s annoying, but can probably put up with it.
chris said:
Apr 27, 11 at 07:58
any news if iplayer is coming to the T2200? Cheers
John said:
Apr 27, 11 at 11:50
Have been using the T2200 for a couple of weeks now. Using the Buffalo 500mb hard drive the recording facility has been good. I have recorded from powered down, recorded selecting from the EPG, instant record and time shifted.

Using a 16mb sandisc cruser blade I get the limited time message every time I record but the full programme is recorded even if it is more than what is on the message.

I get the sound drop out every now and agiain. It is random, sometimes I watch a programme for hours without it happening, sometimes it occurs every 5 mins or so.

The unit has locked up 3 or 4 times under normal use. It happens when changing channels quickly. All is ok when II reboot.

The T2200 reminds me of my Fortecstar HD Passion + sat receiver. Hard drive choosy.Temperamental and frustrating. I have updated the firmware via usb a number of times during the two years I have had the Fortecstar and now I am waiting for the next release to stop Ch 4 HD from jumping.

Receivers like the T2200 and Passion are great if you don’t want a simple, uncomplicated life.
Ash said:
Apr 27, 11 at 17:29
I just picked up my bargain price set from Tesco after having taken a look at your Beta mentionings here. Was going to get ready to install the Beta…. but then i noticed the box already had a recording function? Popped in and formatted the USB stick and it seems to record just fine.
Looks like it’s shipping with the updated firmware now? Or could it previously record SD channels but not HD? (I can’t test HD as I only discovered after ordering that my area doesn’t have it yet *facepalm*).
And the USB stick is 32GB and detected as so, but says only 9gb ish is free. Will have to test to see if it can go over this limit.
Madeline said:
Apr 27, 11 at 21:36
Hi, I just got one of these from Play.com for £69.99, which I thought was a bargain… However, none of my BBC channels are working properly, only the HD ones. The picture is great on the BBC HD channels, but all the others are pixelated and the T2200 does not like this as it freezes when I hop onto any BBC non HD channel. I really cannot understand this as my Toshiba TV (HD ready, not full HD) picks up all the BBC channels perfectly through its in built freeview. This is really annoying as one of the reasons I purchased this box was to get better quality on the Channel 4 and ITV channels which were prone to dropping in and out of signal occasionally.
My problem now seems to be reversed and I don’t like the idea of hopping between the TV’s freeview and the T200 to watch BBC 2 etc.
It should work right? or do I have a duff unit?
Please help a distressed and not very tech savvy female!!!
PS I have installed the firmware? update onto the unit.
Thanks in advance
gary said:
Apr 28, 11 at 06:37
Hi i cant get the firmware download to unzip, i have tried with winzip but it says … file must be zipped have spent hours!! please help.
Thanks. Gary
Alan B said:
Apr 29, 11 at 09:39
Picked mine up yesterday, set it up fine but having problems trying to put the firmware on, tried a couple of USB sticks and a 2.5″ hard drive, all with just the firmware and PVR updates on them but the on screen menu doesn’t see them. Anyone else had this problem and managed to get round this?
Sticks were on FAT32 and hard drive was NTFS.
Ash said:
Apr 29, 11 at 11:25
The Box I picked up can already record without a firmware update, maybe the boxes you have picked up can’t see the firmware because they already have it or a newer one on there?
Alan B said:
Apr 29, 11 at 14:15
Sorted, didn’t realise you had to go to installation, firmware updates for it to show them. Thought they would be visible in USB looking at what was on disc.
Did firmware update, and PVR update. Picked a program to record and turned it off, 10mins later it turned itself on and started to record (rECo shows on display)
Happy Days.
Ian McCluskey said:
Apr 29, 11 at 20:26
Didn’t get an answer to the ‘Timeshift Error’ after reporting the HDD capacity but also, I am getting intermittent sound drop out as others are. It doesn’t seem related to channel or anything else for that matter.

Is anyone helping with these problems?

Cheers
Martin said:
Apr 30, 11 at 11:31
Ian – what format is your HDD, I think it has to be NTFS Rather than FAT or FAT32 ?

Nigel – Are you able to report back to ‘Icecrypt’ about the sound dropouts, although they are not a major issue they are annoying ?

Ash – they still haven’t released the beta pvr software on their website, so i am surprised you box already had it, I suspect someone installed it and returned the box which they then resold to you !
Ash said:
Apr 30, 11 at 11:36
This is always a possibility. The software version showing in the System Status menu is TF-TEST 1.04.00 . Is this the same as the beta one people are installing? From the filename of beta firmware (containing 100930) it looks different, but obviously I can’t tell unless I install it.
Ash said:
Apr 30, 11 at 12:27
Also to note that in that menu it also says Last Update Sep 8 2010. Does this change when the software is updated? If so the firmware was put on before it was freely available from here in late October
Martin said:
May 01, 11 at 12:31
Ash – mines also says TF-TEST 1.04.00 and the date is 30th September 2010, I updated mine a couple of weeks ago, so the date appears to be the date of the Software not when it was installed, not sure why yours is the 8th though.
Alan B said:
May 02, 11 at 10:51
Mine also says ‘TF-TEST 1.04.00 and the date is 30th September 2010′ but it said that before and after I did the PVR update. Not having any of the probs mentioned above but;
One other problem I’m having is that we Can’t watch normal freeview within the TV on certain Channels without having the unit powered on. Ariel is into back of unit then out to TV however it says no signal on a lot of channels, only one or two are watchable.
Has anyone come across this?
Nigel said:
May 02, 11 at 10:58
The date on Topfield firmware updates is the build date; together with the version number, it forms a unique identifier (ie, it’s possible to have two firmwares with the same version, but different build dates, though pretty rare).

Pass through issues are probably because it’s not a passive pass-through – few devices are now, and the signal output the to TV will be at a lower level (on some boxes, if you enable energy saving, you get nothing from the pass-through output). Each connection on the aerial introduces a bit of loss, and it may be that all you will see on the TV when there’s no power to the Icecrypt box is the strongest channels.

Regarding some of the other questions raised, I’ll try to get answers for you as soon as I can, but with all the holidays lately, it’s not been that easy to get hold of people.
Alan B said:
May 02, 11 at 11:07
Thanks Nigel, will have a look into the energy saving you mentioned and report back later.
Alan B said:
May 02, 11 at 21:27
just an update, changed passive to active on the box and this then displayed the time when turned off instead of just a red light. tried TV channels and all worked fine ( which you need if your recording as not all channels are available on the box) Tried to record something when it is switched off, didn’t think it was working as rECo wasn’t displayed but checked and it did still record fine. pausing live tv fine as well. getting to grips with this now and very pleased with what it can do, with the advantage of the HD channels we didn’t have before.
Ian said:
May 02, 11 at 22:28
Hi again. My 1TB HDD is NTFS. My software version is the same as Martin’s.

Is the sound drop out related to the pvr software or do all boxes do this?

Thanks
Paul said:
May 05, 11 at 21:54
Hi,
I just got one of these from Tesco too and mine already had the beta software on so I doubt this one was another return. It didn’t look like it had been repackaged or resealed.
I haven’t go around to trying to record yet as it is sitting on top of my toppy which I still use to record.
Was wondering if you have heard about any future firmware releases yet for the netcast stuff that has been illuded to?
Thanks
Paul
Kenny said:
May 07, 11 at 18:08
I sent one back to Tesco as audio was cutting out, I had already upgraded the firmware on it, any issues with yours cutting out Paul? Possibly the same one…
Malc said:
May 07, 11 at 19:50
Hi. What does it format the drive to when formatting using the recovery option? Thanks.
brian said:
May 08, 11 at 15:19
i have upgraded my t2200 and run it on a 1gig drive
not sure if to upgrade t2200_driver-update_100929.tfd
as it not playing mkv files it stops stright away with just a flash of screen for 1 sec is this driver newer than upgrade one ? any help?
Kerry said:
May 11, 11 at 06:44
Ok I’ve has this box about 7 months now, rightly or wrongly I bought it with impression that an upgrade was around the corner to allow me to record as well. I thought I was buying a reasonable quality product and having read some of the customer complaints as regards Humax boxes and their lack of support this seemed a good move. I think its time to admit I made a mistake. I have upgraded to the beta software, anthough not managed to record anything due to formatting problems with the USB sticks I currently have. My box locks up fairly frequently requiring re boots to clear it. The sound cuts out for 2-3 second intervals on a regular basis. I will go back to the standard software release I think, cross my fingers that it might last for 18 months or so, then probably sadly have to junk it. Icecrypt will not feature on my shortlist again anytime soon, this is clearly a poorly tested and/or produced product. Please tell me that not all Freeview HD boxes are as flaky as this?
Alan B said:
May 11, 11 at 21:45
I must be one of the lucky ones, had the box three weeks now. Not experienced any sound issues, firmware and pvr updates have been installed and recording onto a 1TB drive, series, separate programmes, especially if their on the HD channels. Only downside I have found is that you can only watch one of the other HD channels when recording one, I just switch to TV freeview to get over that.
John said:
May 12, 11 at 21:41
Looks like this blog won’t last much longer. No answers to our problems are forthcoming.
Nigel said:
May 12, 11 at 21:48
There are plenty of other things I’m doing because I do, after all, have to earn a living.

But I have passed as many comments and questions as I can on to the guys at Turbosat, who distribute the Icecrypt kit.

I’ve not yet had a response, and there’s not much point in me posting all the time to say I’ve yet to have a response.

Remember this isn’t an official support forum; it’s something I do in my free time.
John said:
May 13, 11 at 08:11
I am sure everyone with the T2200 who makes contributions to the blog appreciates very much the efforts you are making Nigel.

Turbosat/Icecrypt or whoever is behind the receiver surely must understand that the longer the box is marketed without any official upgrade that fixes the problems the harder it will become to market under ever increasing competition.

I agree with Kerry, the receiver promised great things when it was launched a year ago.Very good reviews with the promise of upgrades.But there has not been any, and the longer this draws out the less likely it will happen.
Marc said:
May 13, 11 at 21:51
To maybe help clarify a few points.

I got one of these from Tesco a week ago, and it already has software to record.
The software version is TF-TEST 1.04.00 and the build date is September 8th 2010.

Formated a Kingston Data-traveller 8gb USB drive to NTFS using my PC and plugged it in, hey presto, all recording options became availablle.

Hope this helps someone.
Adam said:
May 14, 11 at 07:27
I’m just about ready to give up with this box now, after trying )and failing) to get it to record reliably onto an 8GB flash drive I purchased a 1TB hard drive, formatted to NTFS, last night I set the box to record 3 programmes on the same channel at different times and this morning only the first programme has actually been recorded. Also tried to record a couple of programmes overnight a few days ago and it didnt manage to keep either of them (even though it did show that it was recording on the front panel). It seems to me that Icecrypt have pulled the wool over peoples eyes as a lot of us have purchased this box under the promise of recording capability yet they haven’t even bothered to release a final version of the software upgrade.
John said:
May 14, 11 at 11:13
The only official software upgrade on the Icecrypt site is on page 2 of software downloads.A link made by Martin 14 April on the blog.

Website says that upgrade is 29th Sept and fixes cutting out issue after booting when unit is set to 1080P. It says nothing more.

Why are Icecrypt selling units with software versions called TF Test as mentioned by Marc. If this is the case why is this version not on the Icecrypt website. Could you help Nigel.
Nigel said:
May 14, 11 at 11:15
I tried to get hold of my technical contact yesterday, but didn’t have any joy. I’ve also sent an email too, so hopefully will hear something soon.
James said:
May 14, 11 at 18:11
Thanks Nigel for the blog which is the only real forum for us owners.

Got one today with 1.04.00 supporting recording and is stable on 1080p with a Sony TV and via a Denon amp.

Found the One-For-All remote code 1783 (Topfield) gets most buttons working.

Hope Turbosat / Icecrypt have a development contrct with Topfield because if anything needs firmware updates it’s Freeview boxes in general and PVRs in particular.

Agree the box freezes easily if you change channel quickly.

Plays my HD video files well including ones with DD 5.1 soundtracks – over the optical with the DD menu option enabled. I assume though that for some sources I will have to drop back to PCM.

I did find that after a couple of plays my off-air recodrings were stopping after a couple of seconds with a blank screen and audio going back to live. Worried that the files were corrupt and losing all confdence in the box, I found that jumping to say 50% (5 0 on the remote as above) and then back to zero does seem to fix things.

So, a good box for the money but needs software maintenance.
Ash said:
May 15, 11 at 13:55
Just to update on the misreported USB size. Whilst the “only 20 minutes of recording time” warnings can be ignored, my 32gb card stops recording when it hits the 9something gb mark (as when blank it does say 9.7gb/32gb free). Sadly I was hoping this would be ignored too and it would just keep on recording.
James said:
May 15, 11 at 14:48
Regarding off-air recordings failing playback after a couple of seconds, this seems to happen if tuned to a different channel (not just mux) than the one used to make the recording – very bizzare. Change it back and the recording will play through.

Channel freezing on up/down is quite common, happens also when stepping onto a low signal channel or one that only broadcasts part-time. Sometimes the remote’s power button does still function.

Also agree that “continue” does not seem to function. If playback is stopped then it always resumes at the beginning.

The above all seem very elementary defects.
Marc said:
May 15, 11 at 23:39
Sharing the experience.

I find the unit freezes when it encounters a MHEG screen declaring channel off air when flicking through channels. So am using the list or Fav options to select channels.

The remote is awful. It’s probably causing more problems than the box.
Ian said:
May 16, 11 at 09:18
Can I also have some information on why .mkv files won’t play with sound please?

Thank you
Ash said:
May 16, 11 at 10:22
.mkv files can contain a variety of sound types and encoding bitrates. I’m sure not all of them will be compatible on the machine. Which ones are I don’t know though
Nigel said:
May 16, 11 at 10:24
MKV is a somewhat problematic format for a lot of manufacturers, because it’s a ‘container’ format. That means that it simply specifies how the audio and sound tracks are wrapped up together, but not how each of them is encoded individually. The practical upshot of that is that a box has to not only understand how to unwrap the MKV data, but then what to do with the contents.

If you’re not getting sound, then the problem is that your MKV has been created using a sound format that the box doesn’t understand; it may be possible to get a copy with sound in a different format, or it might be possible to decode that format with an update.

I think the test MKVs I have here use AC3 audio (that’s Dolby Digital), which the box will send out to the AV processor via the optical connection. Other MKVs, of course, may use different formats.

This isn’t just a problem for the Icecrypt box – Humax doesn’t officially support MKV for pretty much exactly this reason. By saying ‘MKV is supported’ you risk making a rod for your own back when someone finds one that doesn’t play properly and demands you fix things.
Kelvyn Taylor said:
May 16, 11 at 19:17
Just got one from Tesco (£57), firmware is shown as 1.04. Haven’t tried the new firmware yet, but it seems to have an onboard buffer of some description, as it can pause live TV even without a USB drive in (although it can’t fast forward to catch up again).

With a 4GB USB stick, timeshift setting is unavailable, but it records OK – think you were right about it needing either a larger disk. Going to check with a bigger disk when I can.

Great value, thanks for the tips, Nigel!
Roland said:
May 17, 11 at 09:19
Have to say just got a 2200 from Nicecans (60 quid delivered) and instllaed the PVR software update. So far, works great.

This is one great bargain.
Roland said:
May 17, 11 at 09:20
I meant to add a big THANKS to Nigel or I wouldn’t have known anything about the update.
James said:
May 17, 11 at 23:19
Many comments above refer to MKVs stopping playback straight away. After experimenting with ripbot264 which does a fine, but slow, job of generating HD MKVs I found that files encoded using a version newer than 1.6.0 will fail.

After further trial and error the culprit seems to be the version of mkvtoolnix needing to be no newer than 3.4.0. Therefore, stick to 1.6.0 or it is possible to use the latest version 1.6.5 by transplanting in the mkvtoolnix tool sub-folder from 1.6.0.

Other niggles by the way: there seems to be an aspect ratio problem with some channels appearing as a small 16:9 box within the 4:3 region. Also, the box is maybe underscanning, as with my TV set to 1:1 pixel there are thin black bars left and right of some (BBC) broadcasts.

Nigel, can you collect and pass on a bug-list? Looking at your Topfield blog through, I fear history repeating itself.
Simon said:
May 18, 11 at 14:35
Hi guys, just a share of my own experiences here … I got my box from Tesco for the very reasonable sum of just under £60 (next to a Freeview HD PVR at £180 !!!) and after connecting it up the T2200 was up & running really quick with all channels (incl. HD) found and working well. I too had a pre-installed ‘ Test 1.04′ firmware which after reading this conversation I expected would mean I could record right away onto an 80GB Core branded USB2 drive. However no record options were shown, the box did see the drive and even backed the system up to it but even with a re-partition and format of the drive to NTFS it was not showing the recording option in the menus so … I decided to re-flash the firmware using the 1.04 firmware sourced from this website and all went well and seemed to do the trick, after the flash and reboot the recording menu was there and I’ve set some recordings up for later to test … Thanks for all the help via comment on this page, it’s a ruddy good box and what a top mod for it
Steve said:
May 19, 11 at 09:06
Hi,
I am also trying to get my T2200 to record to a USB disk drive but so far with no success. I installed the beta firmware from a FAT formatted memory stick and It all seems to function properly when I test with a memory stick formatted to NTFS but the external hard disk isn’t accepted by the T2200 although it knows there is an external device connected and the disk drive activity light flashes (old Maxtor IDE drive in USB connected case – about 150GB free). I can only assume its a formatting issue or there is something about the USB case that is upsetting it. I’ve tried various reformats but nothing seems to work.
Any suggestions would be welcome. Despite the problems it the T2200 was well worth the money from Tesco.
James said:
May 20, 11 at 19:27
Fed up with freezing? OK without the Red Button? Turn off Interactive Service from the Menu->Misc (seen on Reevoo).

Try it and report back!

Might also fix the recordings playback freeze after a couple of seconds problem too…
Ash said:
May 21, 11 at 15:29
Cunning plan James. Not yet come across the problem myself but makes perfect sense. I’ve been confused when the red button pops up during me watching a recording. Could see how this could cause some freezing
Nigel said:
May 24, 11 at 11:13
Wouldn’t surprise me – the Topfield 5800 becomes a much more stable box when the interactive services are turned off
Nigel said:
May 24, 11 at 11:14
I’m trying to keep up to date on this; been stuck in someone else’s office this week and last, so not as much time as I’d like, but should wrap this project up in a couple of days, then I’ll hassle Turbosat some more.
matty said:
May 29, 11 at 11:06
my external HD box {1TB) is full of 720P films….theres lots of different Audio codecs but i do beilive the T2200 Does not play DTS5.1 {if memory serves me right} so i always stick to the AAC {advanced Audio Codec} codec films. plays everyhing else…Also the only prob i found with this box is i cant seem to get Subs to play {.SRT files} when they are in a seperate folder from the film….
Nigel said:
May 29, 11 at 11:43
Do you know what your AV gear supports?

I have a feeling that results may vary, depending on what the receiver supports; if you have something connected that can understand a DTS bitstream, you may be in luck. But if it doesn’t, then you’ll certainly only get whatever the T2200 (and most other players) can decode themselves, which can then be output as PCM.
Bret said:
May 30, 11 at 19:17
Has anyone had an issue where at a random point during video playback, the box will suddenly emit a really, really loud static noise?

The noise continues even if the file is stopped and the box has to be turned off to stop it.

It seems to be very random- it can play several videos in a row before it happens and it doesnt always happen on the same one!
When it does happen though we are blasted with noise and have to scramble to turn off the tv quickly.

I’m using the beta drivers (which have been great, huge thanks to Nigel for supplying them!)

Bret
James said:
May 31, 11 at 21:32
@matty – for MKVs at least I don’t believe there is DTS pass-through – only AC3 DD5.1 onto optical. I find both .idx/.sub and .srt subtitle files are recognised and listed – as long as the filenames match the .mkv and are in the same folder – but then they don’t actually work…

@bret – sounds like a processor crash to me. If there is no correlation with a single film or a particular encoder used for a number of films then you must suspect a hardware fault.

By the way, a number of posts above refer to intermittent sound loss. Is this on HD and is it the recent issue caused by the BBC swapping between 1080i and 1080p? There is already a Humax fix out and a Sony one on the way. It would be unwelcome – to say the least – if our box became unusable due to lack of software updates.
Nick Nicolaou said:
Jun 02, 11 at 14:47
Having tried (and returned) several Freeview HD receivers, I acquired a T2200 receiver which, so far, has proved to be an outstanding product in terms of picture quality, functionality and ease of use.

However there is one particular aspect of this model on which I seek assistance from current owners. Following the software update to add USB recording capability, I have connected a PSU-powered NTFS formatted 250GB IDE hard drive but it does not appear to be recognised as no file list is visible. The hard drive has already been partitioned using Windows7 (according to Nigel’s directions above) for back-ups. Is it necessary to format the hard drive as a single, empty volume specifically for recording?
John said:
Jun 02, 11 at 15:20
Is it possible to change the channel order in the Icecrypt T2200 EPG? I upgraded to the beta PVR firmware and all seems well besides the lack or channel ordering and some playback problems with MKVs (as reported in earlier comments).
Tom said:
Jun 02, 11 at 18:58
Hi,

Thanks for this page, it’s been really useful both before deciding to buy the icecrypt and installing the firmware update.

The update went fine, no problem. However, when I press the red record button I get an error message:

“Please check the external device.

Mounted external device is read-only mode.”

Any advice? It’s only a small 4gb usb stick, so do I assume it’s just that (I’ve got a big hard drive in the post, so will try with that when it arrives)?

I haven’t seen this error message mentioned elsewhere, so I thought it worth asking.

Thanks again.
Tom said:
Jun 02, 11 at 18:59
Sorry, one other thing. When I try to record from the Guide (pressing the ‘OK’ button twice on the program I want) nothing happens. Could be a related problem with the size of the device I’m using, I suppose?

Tom
Nigel said:
Jun 02, 11 at 19:00
Yes, probably. If there’s a disk in there, then the device will reserve space for the pause buffer, and that will take up pretty much all your 4GB drive
Bret said:
Jun 02, 11 at 19:17
Hi James,

Thanks, I came to the same conclusion because it didnt seem to matter what file type i used or which usb device, and it wouldnt always do the same thing with the same file.

I have exchanged it, so far no problems with the new one, touch wood. I will avoid updating the drivers just in case but it seems more likely that it was hardware than the firmware update.

Tom, I had the same message when my USB was fat32 but worked after making it NTFS so it could be that?

Thanks all! Brilliant box for the price.
Steve said:
Jun 02, 11 at 19:57
I think I have the same problem Nick Nicolaou is seeing. I’m starting to think it just doesn’t want to work with an IDE drive in a USB caddy. I’m awaiting delivery of one that contains a SATA drive to see if that is the answer.
Nigel said:
Jun 02, 11 at 20:45
You should be ok – I’ve used a USB / IDE drive without difficulties.

However, some of these things can be notoriously picky; with the various Freeview HD receivers I’ve had here, I’ve found some that only allow firmware upgrades from certain USB sticks, while others insist on a different one.
Ian said:
Jun 03, 11 at 12:06
Hello again, I’m still waiting for an update on the internittent sound loss problem – any news anyone?

Also. I noticed one or two mentioning .mkv file incompatibility – I bought a media player which playes straight from my 1TB HDD via HDMI connections to my TV – it’s perfect. Saves a lot of problems and all I have to do is connect the USB lead from the icecrypt to the media player and vice-versa as and when necessary. It’s worth pointing out here that these units aren’t sold as recorders (at least mine wasn’t) so this ability is a bonus.
James said:
Jun 03, 11 at 19:12
Re: audio drop-outs, as I asked a few posts up is this on BBC HD and is it the recent issue caused by the BBC swapping between 1080i and 1080p? There is already a Humax fix out and a Sony one on the way.

I’m assuming that Nigel has had no joy in finding out about any planned updates from TurboSat?

With careful choice of encoder, MKV playback can be OK. Off-air recording can be reliable – I’m using a new WD Elements drive and get none of the USB hassles above. Similarly, I’ve had no more freezing since turning off Interactive Services.

So, although these sort of issues may not qualify as must-fix and although the box may not be sold as a recorder, it is reasonable to expect basic Freeview functionality be maintained i.e. we get firmware updates to fix sound drop-outs and to be able to use the Red Button without freezing.
Bret said:
Jun 04, 11 at 16:37
Well, I’m stumped now.

We took the box back for a return and got a new one.

The new one worked for a day and then suddenly- the same thing- a sudden and sustained burst of static noise !

This time it happened during normal TV viewing .

So… it wasnt the individual box, and its not just during video playback now.

Looking might it might be my TV!

The TV has never done thing before, so im wondering if its a problem with the HDMI port… or its just dying on me.

Still thanks for your help everyone. I’m rather lost now!
Nigel said:
Jun 04, 11 at 22:57
I’ve been trying to get hold of them, but no luck yet.
Steve said:
Jun 06, 11 at 22:28
I now have my new USB external disk drive, a Buffalo 1TB drive and it works perfectly. I can only conclude there was something wrong with my other drive and as Nigel says the T220 must be a bit picky about which drives it likes.
John said:
Jun 07, 11 at 19:56
Lot’s of people would like to get hold of them Nigel.
Colin said:
Jun 08, 11 at 04:33
Hi All

Had this box for 2 weeks now. This is a great thread for info. Thanks to all who have contributed.

I’ve found the Icecrypt pretty good. No major issues at all. It already had recording firmware installed when i bought it.

Has anyone been able to get the playback to pick up from where it left off? There is an option, I think the options called choose either “From Beginning” or “continuing”. But i can’t get it to work. All recordings play back from the start. Anyone got this working?
James said:
Jun 08, 11 at 19:10
No joy with .MKVs but for off-air .RECs simply use the bookmark facility – see Nigel’s article above.

Press Green during playback – with or without the timeline displayed – you’ll see little red markers. Then when you return to the file press Yellow to step through the bookmarks.

By the way, once when rewinding with the left cursor though the live time-shifting buffer a small PIP window appeared near the progress bar – not been able to reproduce this since.

The 1TB T2400 dropped to £200 at play yesterday but it’s up to £250 now.
John said:
Jun 09, 11 at 15:45
I got my T2200 from Tesco yesterday and installed the beta software today.

The box now seems to provide all of the functionality listed in Nigel`s information above. I loaded the firmware using an old memory stick that I FAT re-formatted on my laptop and used a Maxon hard drive known to be NTSF formatted for recording to, the recordings would not start on a small portable drive I have as I guess it is not NTSF formatted.

I am blown away with the quality of the HD pictures provided by this box and all for less than £60, it records from the programme guide and it will time slip although I have not tried this yet.

Can I express my thanks to Nigel and the rest of you guys who have posted here, as I would have not considered buying this box had it not been for this web site and its informaton.
I would have bought the more expensive Humax equivalent as I have an early dual tuner standard def box from Humax that that performs brilliantly.
Icecrypt should be aware that it is the support of sites like these that help their sales and should make an effort to respond to requests for information.
Woody said:
Jun 09, 11 at 20:26
Hi folk,
I got this box from Tesco Direct last week – and it came with the ability to record to USB – without needing to install the beta firmware – which was cool. Two things – one which may help some and a request:

1. I have been finding that randomly, although the T2200 can see a USB drive, it shows it contains zero files and has a free space that matches the formatted size of the drive. If I then disconnect the drive, powercycle and reconnect – then all the recordings files are again visible and freespace is reported correctly. I am experimenting, but I think that this is happening if the box is allowed to go to sleep – and that when it wakes up, it is not correctly re-detecting the devices (and contents) connected to it. So for those folk who are having difficulty with USB drives – try turning off the powersaving modes – as that is what is working for me well so far.

2. Now my request to you: does anyone know what the RJ45 network port is for – or if it can be used for anything? Mine definately has a DHCP client – as it is correctly requesting and receiving an IP address and I can scan the port and find various services running (if I recall – there was an SMTP server). If this is for future upgrades like iPlayer – I guess that we are unlikely to see that released now?

Thanks,
Woody.
Nigel said:
Jun 10, 11 at 11:53
OK; I’ve managed to get hold of the chap at Turbosat about some of these issues.

With regard to the sound dropouts, it looks likely that these are to do with the switching between 1080p25 and 1080p50 on the BBC HD channels.

The latest firmware on the Icecrypt site has an updated driver for 1080p, which should hopefully fix that issue, but I’ve not had that confirmed, or had time to check it myself. However, this firmware doesn’t include PVR functionality.

On the PVR firmware, it may be worth setting the output format to 1080i instead of to Auto, and seeing if that makes a difference.

If anyone can try that, please let me know.

With regard to the ethernet port, that would ultimately be for iPlayer and similar service, but a) it’s not rolled out on the platform yet, and b) it may require a firmware update.

I gather that Turbosat are talking about firmware updates with Topfield, but I don’t know when we’ll see something.
James said:
Jun 10, 11 at 18:11
Nigel, thanks for trying to get in touch with TurboSat but things aren’t any clearer to me.

Nowhere is there a clear definition of either: the firmware fitted to current production, the firmware on your site, or what is in the so-called driver update, and whether new owners still need to re-flash.

Driver updates and patches may be normal for PCs but not so much for consumer items. It’s strange to have one build with a better HDMI driver and another with recording support. In the absence of release notes some user experimentation might resolve this for the rest of us.

As I mentioned above this year’s BBC encoder change has required positive action from some STB/TV manufacturers, although a few had foreseen this within the specification and coded around it. Realistically last year’s firmware is more likely concerned with fixing the HDMI driver when up-scaling the final output to 1080p rather than being related to the input stream switching format on the fly.

The BBC likes to play with the various HD platforms so manufactures do need to be ready to maintain their products. Some people paid a lot more than £60 for their T2200.
Nigel said:
Jun 10, 11 at 18:59
Sorry – not much sleep the last couple of days so I may not have been quite as lucid as I try to be. I’ll try to clarify when I’ve had a lie down.
James said:
Jun 10, 11 at 21:04
Thanks, guess I was just disappointed in not seeing much hard info from TurboSat even after all this time.

If the audio drop-outs are just HDMI handshake and covered by current firmware then great as my set-up is working fine (in SD).

However, f they are indeed related to the recent BBC HD 1080p25 – 1080i50 encoder switching – see the list of affected manufacturers here http://www.whathifi.com/news/update-bbc-experiments-with-1080p-broadcasts-on-freeview-hd-but-viewers-complain-of-audio-dropo then I’m worried because like most people the box was purchased specifcally to get HD and we go live here next month.
John said:
Jun 11, 11 at 18:31
Is it possible to hardware reset this box? I’ve been sucessfully using the pvr beta firmware for over a week but the box became unstable today. This happened while fast forwarding a recording to the end of the file. The box is now stuck in a continuous rebooting cycle displaying either “boot” or “run” on its LED panel. Nothing is displayed on my 1080p TV . I tried removing the external harddisk and also unplugging the box from the mains for a few minutes to no avail. Thanks.
GCD said:
Jun 14, 11 at 18:21
OK i just bought one of these and they are fantastic, i cant get any HD channels but i think that’s more to do with my rubbish communal aerial….anyway i was wondering is there a way to increase the recording time, at present if i press record it will continue for 2 hours then stop, despite the fact that there is 6 gig of space left.
James said:
Jun 14, 11 at 20:34
@GCD as Nigels article above under “Recording”, you have various ending options available after you’ve started the recording, or you can change the default length in the Recording Menu. Assuming, that is, that these are possible with only 6GB left on the clock.
hugh P said:
Jun 14, 11 at 21:36
My remote seems to be packing up it’s just started to only working when its less than 6 feet from unit I’ve changed the batteries. This does not look good
GCD said:
Jun 15, 11 at 16:12
@James…Thank you….i cant believe i missed that…now up to 5 hours recording….Fantastic stuff.
Nigel said:
Jun 16, 11 at 09:27
Silly question perhaps but a few time with the Topfield pvrs people found the very thin shipping film over the sensor, so worth just checking you’ve peeled everything off
Julian said:
Jun 16, 11 at 14:00
I bought my T2200 from Tesco for a few pence over £57 seven weeks ago, having already read Nigel’s blog and all the comments up to that time.

I installed the PVR beta firmware, formatted a 300Gb Maxtor IDE drive to NTFS in a USB 2.0 enclosureand connected it to the STB.

My recordings are perfect, no sound cutting-out or any of the other “features” mentioned in previous comments.

Considering that the price was already reasonable for a Freeview HD STB with no PVR facility, I now consider it a bargain and would like to add a massive THANK YOU to Nigel for all his informative spare-time work.

Now then… if only there was a way to decrypt those .rec files to edit on my PC…
Phil Hornby said:
Jun 16, 11 at 14:37
Just got an IceCrypt T2200 (from Play.com) and this device *does* appear to transcode AAC to Dolby (at least via the optical o/p), when running the ‘beta’ software.

I tuned to BBC HD by chance, when it was showing a re-run of “Yellowstone”. My Yamaha RX-V361 lit up all the 5.1 indicators and declared that it was receiving a Dolby Digital 3/2/0.1 signal, using 48KHz samples at 640Kbps. Checking on Freesat and Virgin Media, their o/p was at 384Kbps instead.

Pressing the ‘audio track select’ key on the remote (just above Menu), revealed a choice of “Auto | eng [HE-AAC] | eng [HE-AAC]”

The first two entries gave the output described, the last one gave a (silent) dolby 1/0/— signal @ 128kbps – no idea what that’s about…

System id: 32002
Loader Version: V1.01
Device Version V1.00
Software Version: TF-TEST 1.04.00
Hardware Version: V1.00
Last Update: Sept 30th 2010
John said:
Jun 16, 11 at 15:32
Like John above my also box is now in a run boot cycle that I can not break out of. Is their a factory reset for this problem?
James said:
Jun 18, 11 at 19:35
@hugh P a “T2200 Replacement Remote” is now listed on Amazon
@John I suspect only TurboSat can help – either with identifying a recovery mode from power-on or with a replacement. Did this happen after re-flashing?
@Phil this is encouraging, Ken Hodges also posted about the likelyhood of transcoding at the end of January.
John H said:
Jun 19, 11 at 17:28
Hi James – It had been flashed just after purchase a week ago and had worked perfectly since.The day it failed I had used it for playback and, without turning it off, I returned later to find it displaying the menu page. Attempting to leave the menu or rescan channels caused it to reboot followed by the display indicating run. I tried reloading the firmware but it made no difference.
Having scoured the web I could not find a fix so its gone back to Tesco, a shame as I really liked the box but am now a little wary of getting another as others seem to have had the same problem.
John P said:
Jun 21, 11 at 18:00
I was thiinking of purchasing the Icecrypt T2200 but decided to email Icecrypt first regarding firmware for recording. These are the replies I had:

1) We have not released this software and it now looks unlikely that it will be officially supported.

2) It was to do with certification. We could not support this software whilst keeping the Freeview badge/certification due to copy protection problems.
John H said:
Jun 21, 11 at 22:40
John P that is very interesting. But I wonder how Humax get around it with their HD Fox T2 box.
James said:
Jun 22, 11 at 20:02
Which leaves them in a dilema – if they ever get round to releasing a new OAD or USB update then will it remove USB recording – a feature we have now and that most reviewers and purchasers last year assumed to be pending.

Whilst it’s true that the offical website download is supposed to not include it, current production boxes do support USB recording without any resort to the Beta download above.

As well as Humax boxes does the T2400 PVR not support an external USB? Surely others do too?

On the other hand it’s quite possible that conditions for compliance with the latest DBook are quite strict.
Nigel said:
Jun 23, 11 at 08:36
I’m away on holiday at the moment, but will chase this up with Turbosat when I get back
John said:
Jun 25, 11 at 16:42
@John H

I contacted Topfield support about my continuously rebooting T2200 but they just told me a return it to Tesco. There doens’t seem to be another set top box that will record to (and play from) an external NTFS drive so I asked Tesco for a replacement. To Tesco’s credit they did make the returns process as seamless as possible, and a new T2200 arrived a couple of days later.

No significant problems to report with the new T2200. Fortunately recordings made with the previous T2200 play with the new one (I was concerned there was a unique encryption key for each unit). All is well, besides slight encoding artefacts in some recordings – but there is always the worry that this T2200 will pack up at any moment.
ted ponsonby said:
Jun 27, 11 at 13:32
ive been told by the makers that no official firmware is avalible !ted,
Mike said:
Jul 12, 11 at 13:58
There is definatly no official software provided by the manufacturers (or so they tell me) so presumably any pre-installed has been installed by a previous user in a returned box

Couple of queries; can I use the usb hub to playback material recorded on another machine (Sony HDT500)??

Also do all usb devices allow you to reformat to NTFS; I am going to buy a 32gb one and dont want to waste my money

Many thanks in advance
Nigel said:
Jul 12, 11 at 16:45
Not necessarily; Topfield (who make these boxes) has form for not actually officially releasing a firmware, but still putting it on the production line systems, which is something we’ve seen before over on the Toppy.org.uk forums.

It’s also possible that the recording firmware has been installed by IceCrypt/Turbosat on some systems; I’ll try to find out about that.

I would consider it pretty unlikely you’ll be able to play back recordings from another brand, but it’s worth a go; you almost certainly wont’ be able to do so with HD content, which should be encrypted when it’s stored on removable media, however.

As far as formatting a USB stick goes, you can do that in Windows, without any difficulty.
James said:
Jul 12, 11 at 19:40
@Nigel, yes if you would be so kind as to clarify the current and future firmware situations, as mooted in a couple of your posts above.

Many existing and prospective users are directed here, mostly in the belief that they must install the beta, when it is very likely that the same functionality is already included in the factory install (which differs slightly in date).

There are signs of life for their other products on the Icecrypt download page http://www.icecrypt.com/index.php/downloads/viewcategory/5.html but our T2200 more resembles an endangered species.
Mike said:
Jul 12, 11 at 20:45
Further investigation would seem to indicate that any recordings from the Sony box are encrypted and as such unplayable.

How do you check if a software update for recording has been installed on your box?

Thank you all
James said:
Jul 12, 11 at 21:55
Go to Menu->Information->System Status

It seems version TF-TEST 1.04.00 includes Recording. A date of Sep-8-2010 seems to come with a factory install and Sep-30-2010 from the beta download above.

In any case, it’s fairly obvious that you have the recording function after attaching a USB drive. I would suggest not flashing the beta if you already have TF-TEST 1.04.00 unless we find out via TurboSat that the slightly newer version contains functional improvement.
Steve said:
Jul 12, 11 at 22:30
Hi guys,

got a bit off an issue with a T2200 box (i think). Got it linked up to my tv via a HDMI cable, and every so often, and very randomly, the sound goes, like a static, white noise in its place.

To stop it you have to turn the tv off (not the T2200 box) and when the picture comes back the sound is normal. This happens while watching the tv, avi files from external hard drive and is very random and irritating.

I have tried several cables, and am actually starting to think its the tv, i only have 1 hdmi socket so can’t try it in a different one. Perhaps it could be the settings on the T2200 box?

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Cheers,

Steve
James said:
Jul 12, 11 at 22:41
@Steve – take a look at Bret’s posts at the end of May / start of June above
Matt said:
Jul 22, 11 at 16:48
Note to James re:1.04.00 shipping on new units and having rec out of the box, it doesn’t – mine still needed the update
Ian said:
Jul 24, 11 at 10:57
Hello again, I still have a problem with short drop-out of sound for a few seconds about once an hour. It’s not the HD output setting as I’ve tried different ones or the BBC HD switching as I don’t yet receive HD (it starts in my area next month, August 2011). But when I weigh up what I have for what I paid then it’s worth it! I have a 1TB HDD connected and the record/payback quality is superb. I now don’t miss anything I would otherwise not see. I’ve had very few troubles and I’m delighted with the box and not looking to change it – for 4x what I paid for this!!!

Thanks to Nigel and anyone else that’s been putting their efforts into sorting out all of our issues – I, for one, am grateful to you all. I’m still dropping by to see if there’s a ‘cure’ delivered but even if there isn’t – what the heck!!!

Ian
James said:
Jul 24, 11 at 21:01
Can’t help with audio drop-outs, but completely agree with your comments – it’s certainly £100 (with 1.5TB HDD) very well spent.

We’ve just gone through DSO and so have HD channels for the first time. Also the box *does* transcode AAC into DD 5.1 on optical, and so the overall TV improvement has been the largest I can remember since the introduction of colour.

With Interactive Services turned off the box is glitch free for me, with no missed recordings or other major flaws so far, notwithstanding the H/W failures and sound probs reported above.
David said:
Jul 28, 11 at 13:18
If you do not want to pay for a new T2200 @ tesco I note that Turbosat are flogging graded sets for £45 on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ICECRYPT-T2200-HD-T2-GRADED-/260813270351?pt=UK_ConEle_SatCableFreeview_RL&hash=item3cb9aead4f Only two left now. 6 month warranty. And they also clearly state at the end of the listing THIS ITEM IS NOT A PVR RECEIVER”
James Hawthorn said:
Jul 29, 11 at 11:34
Hi All,

Whats the max size Hard disk/Stick anyones put on this kit? Waiting for my delivery of this and want to know what max size I can get before it might start locking up etc. ill get a seperatly powered one to be safe of course…

Cheers
James.
Ian said:
Jul 30, 11 at 20:11
Tthe size of Hard Drive seems to be whatever you can buy – I have a 2TB HDD, externally powered, which works fine. I don’t see the point of going any larger. I have 40 films (all .mkv HD) and 2 complete TV series (Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire) which take up 500GB of the drive so there’s plenty of capacity and scope for even more
James Hawthorn said:
Jul 31, 11 at 23:14
Ian, Cheers mate, ill probably go for the same then..

James
Daz said:
Aug 05, 11 at 21:32
Just wanted to point out in case someone else is in similar situation I was after just buying one from Play.com with Firmware:

Software Version: TF-TEST 1.04.00

you still have to install the firmware linked in this post. I thought it shipped with the pvr function and tried for 2 days trying different USB sticks before realising the recording function wasn’t actually loaded on.

Loving the unit so far. First time in 4 years since buying a HD TV I can actually watch a HD channel
Trevor said:
Aug 08, 11 at 10:41
Just bought one of these from Turbosat, read all this thread before using. Downloaded and installed both firmware patches (recording patch second), turned off ‘interactive services’, turned on ‘active’ pass through and Voila! This box is an absolute little treasure.
The freeview HD is absolutely fantastic, it records brilliantly (to both USB powered and AC powered drives),with no fuss setting up the recording, plays media files brilliantly (which is great for me as i’ve a massive collection of films on mkv).
Will admit took me a little while to get used to the remote, but now no problems at all!!
The media playback (video) is easily on a par with my WD HDTV player, which i can now re-use elsewhere in the house. Not too concerned over the audio as i only play it back via my TV (Pioneer Kuro 8G), as i don’t yet have a surround sound system, which sounds great.
Easily the best bit of kit under £50 that i’ve ever bought and it’s saved me bundles as i was close to buying the new Sony 1TB Freeview HD PVR @ £299.99
James said:
Aug 08, 11 at 19:45
Yes it’s very good value for £60, but without any firmware updates we will increasingly be left behind. Apart from Freeview+ features like Series Record and accurate recording which would be very useful, the IPTV side of things is taking off now.
Take a look at the new CH110, 11, 112 on MuxD which will operate over the net, and the BBC is sensibly enough following DBOOK 7 standards http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2011/08/bbc_iplayer_connected_tv.html
Al said:
Aug 10, 11 at 14:48
My apologies if this is considered as blasphemy on this site but if you like the T2200 (as I did) it may be worth you investigating the Humax HD-Fox-T2. It can also record to a usb hard drive with the latest firmware and is available for around £90.

Coming from a 2 tuner PVR, the only negative point of the HD-Fox-T2 (which also applies to the T2200) is that it only has 1 tuner – I’m surprised how lost I feel without 2 tuners.
Steve said:
Aug 10, 11 at 15:48
Hi – is it normal for these boxes to get quite hot? Mine feels like a radiator when its been on an hour or so and am slightly worried it will start to develop problems over the long term.

Also one other question – the box I bought already had the pvr firmware already on it and I believe other people have bought the unit from Tesco with the sofware already updated so does that mean its now being officially supported by the manufacturer?

thanks…
Daniel (another one) said:
Aug 12, 11 at 21:03
Thanks Nigel. I was looking for a cheap Freeview HD Box. After reading this post, I download the Firmware then I ordered the box from Tesco Direct. I am more than happy with the product and even happier that with this firmware I have just recorded a program (in HD) and I am watching in now. Thanks a million + 1
Stephen Carlton said:
Aug 13, 11 at 12:02
The Humax is indeed a very good box provided you are connecting to your TV via hdmi.
My TV has the older DVI type input and the Humax refused to work with that and as if to rub salt into the wound randomly changes the scart output from RGB to composite!

Also, the humax needs the disc drive to be in a Linux format for recording, making transferring other files onto the drive very awkward.

Although the Icecrypt isn’t so advanced in some respects, it seems to suit my needs much better.
Alan B said:
Aug 25, 11 at 16:01
Used to have a samsung tv connected to this, just recently changed it to an LG one, however the same thing occurs with both TV’s. When I set the box to record something and want to watch a different side to that recording which I can’t on the box. I switch to the freeview on the TV however certain channels I try to watch go all ‘blocky’ breaking up at times which is quite annoying. Usually end up watching the programme as can’t watch something else.
Ash said:
Aug 26, 11 at 21:43
Alan B I’m guessing that’s because the passthrough signal in the box isn’t boosted? If the freeview is sapping all the signal decoding the channel and then not boosting the channel back to it’s original level before passing it out again you’re going to get a weak signal going to the television. As I don’t have any freeview going into freeview I can’t test this to see if any boxes are better than others at boosting the out signal
James said:
Aug 26, 11 at 22:21
There shouldn’t be any “sapping” going on as such.

Worth checking the Standby Mode is Active in the Menu.

Also, I’ve experienced a nearby PC having this kind of effect on a marginal signal strength channel, some say this is due to the HDMI cable. But a freeview box shouldn’t generate RFI.

It’s worth looking at the signal strength meter on the TV as you try different box settings, or switching the box or other devices on and off, or physically re-arranging them.
Alan B said:
Aug 27, 11 at 19:32
Thanks Ash & James for your comments/advice, just about to go on Hols but will try when get back and report on findings.
matthew said:
Aug 31, 11 at 22:29
hiya,i hope someone can help i have done a retuned my Icecrypt T2200 and for some reasom am not getting bb1 bbc 2 bbc 3 & bbc news can some tell me why is this happing and can i fix it?

many thanks

matthew
James said:
Sep 01, 11 at 12:17
Thanks for the upload NIgel, much appreciated. But I would like to know where/how you got it, and if they have any plans for regular firmware updates that we can download? Did you send them an email and they sent it to you?

Thanks.
Nigel said:
Sep 01, 11 at 12:25
It came from the UK distributor, with whom I have a pretty good relationship, having worked with them for over five years on the Toppy.org.uk web site.
Stephen said:
Sep 01, 11 at 20:50
I bought this box purely as a well priced HD Freeview receiver which was reviewed as doing what it was meant to. So;
1. Huge credit must go to Nigel for bringing us this beta firmware to our attention.
2. I can’t believe the gripes I’m reading about the PVR limitations – get real folks, this is a cheap receiver which has been tweaked to allow basic recording. It is NOT a PVR, it doesn’t have Freeview+… if you want one of those, go buy a box for a couple of hundred quid.

I am blown away with the fact that this sixty quid box also fundamentally replaces my excellent WD-TV media player but records too!

As for updates to the firmware to further improve functionality – why on earth would Topfield want to allow this box to compete against their core range?
Roland said:
Sep 05, 11 at 13:16
First a big thanks to Nigel and all the others for this informative set of posts !!!

Had the Icecrypt T2200 for a week now and have been impressed by it’s media playing ability and now the ability to record with the firmware update.

However I’ve just noticed (like another poster) that the SD BBC and ITV1 channels have lost their signal whilst HD ones are still good.

This “may” be due to the imminent Freeview switchover for phase 1 in a few days here in the midlands but the TV and hard disk’s tuners have those channels fine and with a good signal

Much weirdness I know but any thoughts welcome !!

Cheers
Alec said:
Sep 06, 11 at 13:04
I think the problem is Stephen is although it now sells for 60, when it came out many like me paid closer to 150 pound (not exactly a cheap set top box). It was marketed as future proof, and all the reviewers seemed to have been informed that PVR functionality, iplayer capacity etc were all in the pipeline.

While it is pretty much future proof hardware wise, that is little good when there are no corresponding official software updates.

To make matter worse, if we get updates to fix some fairly serious issues (like I have to turn off interactive services to prevent the box stalling between HD and normal channels) we are likely to lose key features like being able to record.

For 50/60 pound it is a great set top box, but for those that paid alot more it is a box that is unlikely to fulfill its potential
James said:
Sep 06, 11 at 19:43
Indeed, 11 months and no software updates. These are part of the deal with freeview boxes and the like, especially if you paid full price, and especially for ones still being sold.

On http://www.icecrypt.com/downloads/viewcategory/5.html they update their other boxes from time to time but even Nigel doesn’t seem to be able to bring us any news from Icecrypt these days.
Nigel said:
Sep 06, 11 at 20:42
The slightly odd situation with IceCrypt is that it’s not a manufacturing brand, it’s a marketing one. The brand belongs to Turbosat, and they use it on boxes that they select from various manufacturers.

So, for instance, the T2400 PVR is made by a company called HomeCast, and their engineers have delivered updates including functionality such as Dolby transcoding.

The T2200 is made by Topfield, of whose engineers I have a somewhat low opinion these days, certainly compared to their keenness when the TF5800 first appeared in the UK. I think as the specifications for the UK market have become more detailed, Topfield have become less willing to make the effort to comply fully with them
Alan B said:
Sep 19, 11 at 10:16
Just experienced first major fault with this box and can’t seem to rectify it.
Was fast forwarding through a programme recorded when it stopped and reverted back to the viewing channel mode. The box then turned itself off, then back on again and the following sequence displayed ‘LO1, Boot, Run’ and then is just hangs.
Tried turning the box of by remote and a small dot appears on the display, then the standby light comes on but no clock display.
The same sequence happens when turning back on, have turned off at mains overnight thinking this would reset the box however this morning the same still happens.
I have had to unplug the arial cables and plug together as no display is reaching the tv at the moment.
Does anyone know if there is a way to reset (I can only get a blank screen when ‘run’ is displayed and no functions work on remote)
Nigel said:
Sep 19, 11 at 10:19
My first thought would be to put the firmware update from this page in a USB stick, plug that in, and then power up, and see if the loader is bright enough to spot it, and try re-flashing.
Alan B said:
Sep 19, 11 at 11:00
Many thanks for quick response Nigel, will try that when I get home from work, and let you know my findings.
Alan B said:
Sep 20, 11 at 09:50
UPDATE TO YESTERDAYS POST – Tried firmware update again, box seems to read USB stick (flashes) however still suck in a loop boot and run, TV changes from receiving no signal to a black background once run appears. Box then starts over again after about 15seconds doing the same loop. Only button that seems to do anything on remote appears to be the on/off one.
looking like its replacement time under guarantee from shop.
James said:
Sep 20, 11 at 14:27
I’m afraid there are similar posts above and a replacement seems to be the only option. There does not seem to be a power-on hard factory reset in case it’s a corruption of settings data rather than a hardware fault. Probably worth buying a spare!
Ash said:
Sep 22, 11 at 18:18
Just to update, I risked getting a portable USB powered 320gb buffalo HDD to overcome my USB stick problems, and so far it’s working great. Was worried it wouldn’t have enough power, but as it’s a small laptop size disk all seems to be working well.
John said:
Sep 24, 11 at 13:42
I’ve had my box a couple of weeks and the record functionality has worked very well. You can even schedule a recording and leave the box in passive standby and it will boot up and record. Only two bugs of note; the estimated time left is wrong and the box will freeze randomly if interactive services is turned on.

It is a huge shame about the encryption, although it is a legal requirement. When my warranty runs out I will open the box up and attempt to retrieve the key. The system’s OS is linux and hopefully it will be stored on a flash card inside I can just pull out and mount.

Also to ask a question that was posed earlier and didn’t get an answer. Does anyone know how the box deinterlaces 1080i content? Some boxes use a quick and dirty method that effectively reduces the resolution down to 540p before upscaling back to 1080p.
scott murphy said:
Sep 26, 11 at 13:41
hi Nigel
i have just bought this unit but im unable to use the USB. i have plugged my hard drive in but it is not showing up on the screen.
Any ideas?
regards
Scott
Nigel said:
Sep 26, 11 at 13:43
What format is the hard drive in?

Is it externally powered, or USB powered?

Both these can have an effect on whether or not the drive will show up.
Ash said:
Sep 27, 11 at 16:49
Now call me dim, but I can’t find any way to rearrange the channels. Am I missing one or is this something it lacks? I know you can play with favourite lists, but I just want to swap the usurping channels from the new transmitter over to the old ones. Now I can get HD from the new transmitter, it’s also replaced my local channels with it’s local ones, which I don’t mind so much other than their signal strength being much lower.
The other box we have in the house just replaces the ones you delete with any alternatives in the list, butt hat doesn’t seem to happen on the icecrypt.
Other than making a favourite list or changing to channel 801 to watch my local bbc, is there a way I can get it onto channel 1?
ian said:
Sep 28, 11 at 16:24
when I first got this unit I used a usb powered harddrive and it worked but if left for a while it powered off. I then grab a powered 2TB western digital from currys and I have had no problems since
well apart from some recording’s ending too soon so I think it’s best to add time on .
Peter said:
Oct 08, 11 at 10:37
Hi Nigel

I’m looking forward to, and praying for, a firmware update that would fix the MKV issues noted above and add more audio/video codec support to the Icecrypt media playback arsenal.

Maybe I was hoping for too much from an abandoned product. HD is great and the PVR is a bargain extra, which I may use in the distant future, but media playback support would be much more appreciated, as it would save me having all those little boxes attached to my tv.
Peter said:
Oct 08, 11 at 10:38
Yes, I know, its all about ME!
Peter said:
Oct 11, 11 at 17:11
I have also noticed that my T2200 has a tendency to randomly skip past a file that is part of a sequence of files being played. Pressing the previous button goes back to the skipped file, plays it perfectly and then continues playing the sequence as expected until another jump.

File navigation is slower than Royal Mail.
john cottam said:
Oct 17, 11 at 13:00
Hi Nigel

I just bought a T2200 from Amazon and updated with your firmware.

The Recording option in Settings is greyed out.

When I try and record in EPG it only cycles to P (little round P in the name of the program on the EPG) and empty, not the record option.

I updated the Firmware again and the same thing.

Am I missing something?

My USB stick is FAT32 and my usb HDD is FAT32 also.

SW Version is TF-TEST 1.04.00 and device version v1.0.0

Thanks
john cottam said:
Oct 17, 11 at 13:39
aha .. it would help to read .. will format or create a new NTFS partition .. doh !!

Let’s see how it goes ..
Alec said:
Oct 20, 11 at 16:42
In a bang of smoke my Icecrypt died last week. I have replaced it with a Humax T2 (£60 Humax direct) I have to say its a much better box (handles media better, Iplayer, DNLA, Photos etc).

I know not much help for those with and icecrypt, but if your undecided or looking for another “PVR ready” device, I would strongly recommend the Humax instead.
Ash said:
Oct 24, 11 at 14:52
My condolences :’(
andy said:
Oct 24, 11 at 17:12
i cant change the time shifting option. just stuck on disable??? any ideas. thanks
Martin said:
Oct 25, 11 at 13:32
Andy,

I had the same problem with an 8GB stick, but it worked fine with a blank 16GB stick, so it’s probably done to free space.
Ash said:
Oct 26, 11 at 13:39
I’m wondering if the write speed of the USB stick may affect the timeshift option if not just the space required? To note, my 32gb stick only registered as 9gb, so maybe 8gb is detecting as even less?
Nigel said:
Oct 26, 11 at 14:57
The unit will reserve a fair bit of space for timeshift; and I think if you change the allocation it will affect the remaining space – but it’s also not very good at reporting things like this accurately, either.

If there’s no timeshift option at all, then I would suspect that it can’t see enough space on the drive to even start recording. I’d try reformatting in that instance.
Herbert (Bert) Johnson said:
Nov 15, 11 at 19:20
I have read your report saying that VLC will play the Icecrypt T2200 .rec files, I’ve tried to play these files on my computer with the latest VLC update, however it will not play them, it does try you can see the hard drive light flickering as it tries to read it, I have also tried VideoReDo as suggested elsewere, but to no avail, I just get “no header file found”, I hope you are able to shed some light as to the reason this is so.
Regards Bert.
Ash said:
Nov 15, 11 at 21:00
“VLC will normally play .rec files, but Freeview HD has content controls, which are there to stop high quality copies of programmes being uploaded to the net.
The current recording software on the T2200, rather than just encrypting high def programmes, encrypts them all, and that is what makes them unplayable with VLC.” from Nigel

So afaik you’re out of luck
Bert said:
Nov 16, 11 at 10:47
Thanks Ash, for reminding me about the T2200 recording everything (including copy protection) I do remember reading that on this site but had forgotten about it, That makes this T2200 almost useless to me, as I hate watching any interesting film or programme that is full of advertisements, so normally I just edit them out with VideoReDo, pity really because I think T2200 is good recorder for the money, I will continue to look for some method of editing these recordingsand if I do I will be back to make report.
Ash said:
Nov 17, 11 at 18:54
If you wanted to open up the box and find out whatever encyption ID is hidden in one of the chips onboard you may well be able to find a way to view them on your pc, but that all seems far more trouble than it’s worth to me
John said:
Nov 23, 11 at 19:00
is there any hope of a final /finished version?

As said by some of the other people
i emailed icecrypt and they said the had nothing to do with the software firmware.
I am hoping to get one soon
thanks
Martijn Mugge said:
Nov 24, 11 at 18:02
Still considering whether to buy the T2200. Anyone know whether it can be connected to the internet and receive BBC iPlayer?
Nigel said:
Nov 24, 11 at 18:29
Afraid the current firmware doesn’t support iPlayer, and I would consider it quite unlikely there’ll be an update at this stage
j said:
Nov 29, 11 at 16:52
Hey guys just got this from the manufacturer:

“[Techradar review]This review has caused us no end of problems, BBC iPlayer was never anticipated on this model, only the T2400. Unfortunately we don’t get to proof the review before it is printed to check for accuracy.

The Beta version of the recording software was released and then Freeview changed the criteria for the external record facility whilst it was in testing and would not approve it as a final release. This, along with a particularly aggressive market price meant we did not continue to develop the recording software.”

So your stuck with the test firmware I’m afraid!! Still a good £120 cheaper than anything else for a HD recorder though!!!
Stuart Nunn said:
Dec 14, 11 at 16:16
I have just bought the T2200. Does anyone know how many hours a 32Gb or 64Gb flash drive will hold?
Ash said:
Dec 16, 11 at 14:53
Stuart if the flash drives are anything like the 32gb USB drive i tried to use then it doesn’t seem to detect the full capacity, I only ever saw 9gb. My 320gb usb powered hdd is fine however, and HD recordings take up approx 2.85gb per hour
J said:
Dec 17, 11 at 11:50
Would T220 owners be able to watch VisionTV network a new service coming soon?

http://www.visiontvnetwork.co.uk

Note:
It requires broadband connection
J said:
Dec 17, 11 at 14:12
Sorry a mistake!

Hello Nigel
Would T2200 owners be able to watch VisionTV network a new service coming soon?

http://www.visiontvnetwork.co.uk

Note:
It requires broadband connection
Thanks for your help
J
Nigel said:
Dec 19, 11 at 19:21
I’m afraid it’s unlikely; try tuning to channel 112. If you can watch what’s being broadcast there, then other services like Vision TV will work.

If you can’t, then the software that supports the interactive services isn’t up to date enough to support Vision TV and similar services, and it looks unlikely there’ll be an update.
J said:
Dec 19, 11 at 20:17
thanks for your help
can’t expect everything from a box of £60
J

but i’ll try the channel when i get time and comment back
Stuart Nunn said:
Dec 20, 11 at 14:42
Hi Ash. Thanks for letting me know. I’ve connected up a 500Gb external hard drive with about 120Gb empty space and it seems to be working just fine.

My wife thinks we’ve gone back to the dark ages of videos because we can only record one channel at a time
mike d said:
Dec 27, 11 at 17:59
nigel, many thanks for all your efforts in making then maintaining this blog. I’ve just bought one of these, largely thanks to your efforts and am delighted with it. much appreciated !
J said:
Jan 03, 12 at 16:47
Hello Nigel,
I tried the Ethernet connection and connected it directly to the router and it didn’t work as you suspected.

This is just a thought I had:
If the Icecrypt T2200 box does not support Fully the HD standard surely it would be forbidden from displaying the Freeview HD logo on the box (and on the website) and therefore they should fix the software or say they have nothing to do with the T2200 any more and discontinue the box, stopping other sellers from selling it.

Note: I am very happy with the T2200 recorder as such a cheap price compared to other Freeview HD recorders.
IF IT SAYS IT ON THE BOX IT SHOULD BE SUPPORTED
James said:
Jan 03, 12 at 21:02
@J

After 7 months I still rate this box as a bargain of the year – the leap in picture and audio with HD was considerable and it’s recorded very reliably – even if finding and maintaining the schedule is laborious.

When I bought it I had no illusion that IP based services (that did not even exist then) would be supported. If you feel you were mislead then I suggest you get a refund. Machines first marketed after April have to comply with the latest d-book – ours only had to have a socket fitted to get the logo back then I’m afraid.

One of the posts makes it fairly clear we are unlikely to have any S/W support. This is more serious as I think support is to be expected when buying a Freeview machine and especially unfair on those who paid full price.
Nigel said:
Jan 04, 12 at 08:19
Sadly, as pointed out by another commenter, it’s not as straightforward as that.

The box earned certification at a specific time, and that certification isn’t withdrawn, even though the requirements may have changed.

So, for example, any box approved now will have to offer Dolby transcoding and support these new IP channels. But older kit is still entitled to the logo, even though it may not support all this.

More annoyingly there seems to be no publicly available list of which kit was tested against which version of the spec.

For a little more on this, see my post on ‘The magic number’ from last spring.
J said:
Jan 04, 12 at 20:04
thanks for the quick reply
J said:
Jan 04, 12 at 20:06
I agree with James though this box is the bargain of the year for me.
terryshep said:
Jan 11, 12 at 17:18
Nigel, forgive me for this elementary question, but in your preliminary description of this box, you speak of selecting a program and pressing the Record button – or to record live, pressing the Record button during live play. My question is: where is this Record button? my remote, as supplied with the box, does not have such a button, nor does the documentation mention it. Neither does it mention any button with a dual purpose. I am perplexed.

Please take me by the (metaphorical) hand and lead me to the promised area of the remote!

Thanks in advance.
Nigel said:
Jan 11, 12 at 17:24
The Record button on the remote is the one with a red dot on it, towards the bottom on the left hand side, just above the white button.
Mike said:
Jan 14, 12 at 15:09
Hiya had the box since christmass
. Did the flash to record worked 3 times, but now stuck in run, boot loop. Any way around this folks?
terryshep said:
Jan 14, 12 at 17:50
Thank you, Nigel for such a prompt response. I have now been able to record and playback a program, thanks to your advice.

Although I have only just acquired the T2200 from Tesco, and it had the latest version of the software installed, it needed the firmware upload in order for it to recognise its responsibilities regarding any recording activities, although it had recognised the USB stick. Since I am noticing a few artifacts in the HD display occasionally (on 1080p), I’m wondering if I need the other update as well.

Never mind, for £59 + £9 16Gb stick from Amazon, I have an HD PVR!
Matt said:
Jan 18, 12 at 17:02
It has been mentioned that

“while recording you can watch another channel on the same multiplex”

There are 6 freeview Muliplex’s so can I record and watch only the same one or can I record and watch any channel at the same time?

Thanks
Nigel said:
Jan 18, 12 at 17:06
You can only watch another channel that’s on the same multiplex – there’s just one tuner, so it can’t switch to another mux and still record. But the box can display any channel from the mux to which it is tuned.
Matt said:
Jan 19, 12 at 09:39
Thank you Nigel

Bit of a big limitation that I hadn’t realised before I ordered the product yesterday morning.

But after reading all the comments on here and other reviews it seems that at £60ish it certainly represents decent value for money.

Just as an aside, if I am recording BBC1 for example, if I try to view ITV (which is on a different Mux) will it stop the recording and show ITV or just not show ITV and keep recording?
Nigel said:
Jan 19, 12 at 11:04
Well, it’s only got a single tuner, so it can’t do anything else. In fact, many of the boxes on the market don’t even allow that, merely restricting you to watching the channel that’s being recorded.

Quite a few twin tuner boxes behave the same, preferring to limit users choices, rather than having to deal with the explanation of why you can sometime watch other channels, and sometimes not.

My recollection (I don’t have the T2200 connected up right now) is that if you try to change channel to something on a different mux, you’ll get a warning message telling you that you can’t, because of the recording.

If you want to watch ITV1 while recording BBC1, just record the HD version, as all HD material is on the same mux.
James said:
Jan 19, 12 at 19:35
It also lets you play back a file or recording from disc while recording another.
Graham said:
Jan 20, 12 at 22:00
Hi, does the pause function work on this box?
Graham said:
Jan 20, 12 at 22:01
Pause live TV that is. ^^
Nigel said:
Jan 21, 12 at 09:44
Much as the recording function – you need a suitably sized and formatted disk connected via USB.

Then make sure the time shift function is turned on in the menus, and press the pause button
Graham said:
Jan 22, 12 at 13:08
I cant seem to enable the time shifing function? I can format my USB stick via the box.
Nigel said:
Jan 22, 12 at 13:10
What size stick is it? If it’s too small, you won’t be able to – the box will want to reserve a few gigabytes per hour of time shifting, and also allow space for other recordings too. I can’t remember exactly what the lower limit is, but it’s worth trying with a larger stick, or a proper hard disk.
Graham said:
Jan 22, 12 at 13:23
Ah thanks for the qiuck reply. Its only a 4gb stick was just going to test it. I need to get a hard drive so i cant do any further testing at the moment.
Matt said:
Jan 23, 12 at 14:14
My T2200 has arrived so I’m going to have a play around with it tonight.

Biggest USB stick I have is an 8gb one though, so I’ll invest in a bigger one before I attempt the rec. feature.
Ash said:
Jan 23, 12 at 18:38
Yes a 4gb won’t be big enough for pausing as far as I can tell. Usually a 2hr slot gets reserved when pausing things on other machiens i’ve used, and as an hours HD recording is around 2.85gb there won’t be enough space on such a small card. An external HDD works a dream though
Matt said:
Jan 24, 12 at 09:56
First impressions of the t2200 aren’t all that good unfortunately.

1) Scrolling through the resolutions etc (520p, 720p, 1080p etc) seems to cause a total loss of picture & no way to go back to the menu to rectify this, meaning I have to turn the box on & off again so I can put the res. back to Auto.

2) Box locking on a channel, with the box & remote becoming unresponsive again causing me to turn the box on and off again. Although this does appear to have been cured by turning the interactive features off as noted above (a slight irritant I will admit)

3) I receive less channels than I did with my 5 year old £14.99 own brand box it was replacing. However I am in need of a serious aerial upgrade as I only received approx 18 channels before & now I receive 12.

4) It’s a good 15-20 seconds before the picture is displayed on the tv from when the On button is pressed. With my old cheapy box there was no delay at all.
However, I did watch an .Avi file and the playback was very good, as was the .JPEG viewing.

I’m assuming the Download from the Icecrypt website will sort point 1 but as pointed out by Nigel on 17/04/2011 it’s either that download to solve the freezing or the download on this site for the PVR facility, you can’t have both. In which case I shall have to go with the PVR download.

I didn’t get a chance to do the update so I shall do that tonight.

I’m hoping that the PVR facility is as good as everyone has said on here, otherwise this box might get a swift return to the shop for just being a bit awkward, especially when for an extra £15 you can get a fully fledged 320gb Dion PVR at my local Tesco
Ash said:
Jan 24, 12 at 18:55
Point 1 of those sounds more like an hdcp/hdmi issue with the TV. My TV has audio problems sometimes when switching between inputs and going back to a device that needs HDCP.
So far I’ve only had a bit of a lock up once though so I’m doing quite well
Matt said:
Jan 25, 12 at 10:33
Night 2 with the T2200 and things have improved massively.

Did the upgrade for the PVR facility and it was faultless.

Recorded a half hour show onto my 8gb usb stick. Was really happy with the ease of recording and the playback quality.

I also had no freezing/locking of the box.

I didn’t touch the Quality settings & just left it on auto and the box was fine.

Still stuck with approx 12 channels although now looking to get a Wide band aerial fitting.
James said:
Jan 25, 12 at 19:50
Freezing when changing channels or on playback is easily fixed by disabling Interactive Services from the menu.

HD performance is so superior I just leave this box on that mux and can therefore flip between BBC, BBC HD, ITV, and C4 while recording – a good compromise I think.
Matt said:
Jan 29, 12 at 13:20
So, got my new fancy aerial installed yesterday and I’ve got all the Freeview channels I could hope for.

Still quite impressed with the box.

Picture quality on the HD channels is better than that of the SD ones & I’ve not had any further problems with the box.

However, something did dawn on me last night…

Price of the box £59.99 – Tesco
Price of a new external hard drive- £40ish

Price of a refurbed Humax proper PVR £89.95…

Seems if you need to buy an external drive like me, this probably isn’t the bargain it once seemed.
terryshep said:
Jan 29, 12 at 15:04
Having checked this deal, Matt, I can’t see any trace of the magic letters HD in the product description. Maybe not so cheap after all?
Matt said:
Jan 29, 12 at 16:39
I’m much more interested in the PVR function than the HD really.

The HD is a bonus but would happily take the PVR over the HD
James said:
Jan 29, 12 at 22:45
It’s not, and isn’t sold as, a PVR. Also, the difference in IQ and SQ with SD is so considerable that you simply can’t compare it with last generation SD boxes – in fact, I don’t think they should still be selling SD boxes at all.

The only product this should be compared to is the Humax HD box (at around the same price) which also needs a USB drive. Last year, HD PVR’s were typically around £300.
Matt said:
Jan 30, 12 at 09:14
I’m not quite sure what you mean by iq & sq.

However this box is certainly being marketed as a PVR

http://www.humaxdirect.co.uk/product.asp?ProdRef=10069

Therefore a very good deal in my book
Mr AR said:
Feb 02, 12 at 20:22
Hi,
Am after some help! I have a Icecrypt T2200 . Got a USB in it , downloaded the Beta download, all is fine, except! when I record I can only watch certain other channels, not all. As soon as I stop recording I can access all channels again?
The channel list menu shows all channels but as soon as I record I loose lots, they are still in the menu but they seem locked? (they arent) , stop recording they are all accessed again.

Any ideas greatly appreciated,

Regards
Nigel said:
Feb 03, 12 at 13:32
That’s because the box only has a single tuner. The tuner select a radio frequency, and the box can display the channels available on that frequency; with analogue TV that’s just one channel (so when you set an old VCR to record, you watch another channel using the TV’s tuner). With digital TV, a radio frequency carried a “multiplex” of channels, which is a group; there are six such groups, the main ones being the main BBC channels, the ITV/Channel 4 group, Channel 5 and TopUpTV, HD channels, and two others.

So, if you’re recording a BBC channel, your available choices will be only those other BBC channels on that multiplex; similarly, if you’re recording an HD channel, you will only be able to watch one of the other HD channels.

To change to a different one would mean that recording couldn’t take place, as the tuner would have to change radio frequency.

All PVRs have restrictions like this; in fact, many are more restrictive, and simply say you can only watch the channel that’s being recorded, even though others could be displayed, because that’s the simplest thing to explain to users, without all the technical details of multiplexes.

For the greatest flexibility, you need a twin tuner recorder – the T2200 is a capable box, but it’s still fundamentally a single tuner receiver, with recording functions as a useful extra.
Mr AR said:
Feb 03, 12 at 19:50
Thanks for the info Nigel,
Gonna keep running with the T2200, might look at a twin tuner in future,
Am happy enough with the T2200 for a while yet though!

Regards,,
Paul Fox said:
Feb 08, 12 at 15:15
Slight issue with my box.
As of the weekend, when I turn on the external HDD, the T2200 looses the aerial signal (message pops up ‘Signal Lost’). I have no idea why this happens. I can access all the old stuff recorded on the drive fine.

Can someone shed some light on this?
Liz Batten said:
Feb 22, 12 at 12:46
Thanks for really clear instructions. I downloaded the update, put it on the memory stick and uploaded to the Icecrypt T2200, but it could only see it as “read only” device. Then I re-read your formatting instructions, formatted to NTFS and it works! Excellent – thanks very much.
ian ryder said:
Feb 27, 12 at 17:24
can any one tell me how you check repeat recordings ?? I want to cancel one but cant find where
Robin said:
Mar 30, 12 at 01:32
Slightly left of field question, but is it possible to get this box working with an NTSC TV? Not to receive channels, but to use the playback facility. If there is a way, feel free to jump in and let me know
Nigel said:
Apr 01, 12 at 11:42
If the TV has an HDMI port, then whether or not its built in tuners are NTSC or anything else is immaterial. But check what the TV supports as HDMI resolutions – you’ll probably need the /50 versions to be on the list, eg 1080i/50 for 50 frames per second, where a US set would normally expect 1080i/60 because they have 60Hz mains instead. I can’t off the top of my head remember if the T2200 has 60Hz output options, and mine’s not plugged in at present to check.

If the TV is happy with a 50Hz HDMI signal in any case, you’ll be fine. I don’t know how widespread that is on US kit – in the days of the VHS, while it was common for most decks over here to be able to play back US tapes, american friends tell me that it was not so common to find the reverse on their equipment.
shaun said:
Apr 04, 12 at 19:49
Bought one of these a couple of weeks ago, and a seagate 500gb HDD. Had great difficulty getting the box to recognise the firmware on my 16gb stick. Eventually managed with a 2gb stick formatted in FAT16, if anyone is having similar bother. Such a format can be forced in WIN7 using the command prompt.

Problem 2 however, is deleting stuff. My recording list shows sometimes, and doesnt show sometimes. Switching it off and on seems to fix this, but its weak. When i try to wipe a recording using the blue button i get “cannot delete this file in playing”. Any ideas guys?

Thirdly, i can programme a record using the EPG and the record button, but if i want to instant record, the record button doesnt appear to do anything, and the epg will not let me record something already playing. This is MUCH more annoying.

Any help on either of the above problems would be greatly appreciated.
Graham said:
May 18, 12 at 15:29
I have tried a 32GB USB in my product but it says the USB device is in read mose only and wont let me record?
Ken said:
May 18, 12 at 16:23
Graham:
Looks like your USB memory is formatted FAT32 which cacses that result.
Suggest formatting NTFS. If you cannot do in Windows on your pc Google & down load the HP Usb formatter– HPUSBFW, which will do both FAT & NTFS.
Ken H
Graham said:
May 19, 12 at 09:49
Thanks Ken, i seem to be having a problem with my USB stick, it wil not format to NTFS with windows or the HP USB Formatter which you have suggested.
Graham said:
May 19, 12 at 10:01
Got it all working now .