Wrong Channels Selected by Series Record

Mo Needham

I am in Swindon (the region is West) but when I use Series Record the unit chooses BBC Wales for the second recording (and reception is rubbish). How do I stop this?

Under Settings I have input my postcode - could this be the problem?

Ken Abrahams

I am experiencing the same issue in the Northwest of England. Any Series Record scheduled for BBC or BBC2 selects the correct channel for the first episode but then defaults to the BBC Wales equivalent for all subsequent episodes. Like Mo, my BBC Wales reception is very poor (Signal Strength 25%) so recordings are unwatchable. This appears to be a recent issue as previous BBC Series Recordings had been on the correct (Northwest) Channel. I have submitted this as an enquiry to the YouView Support service.

Philip Trott

Ken Abrahams said:

I am experiencing the same issue in the Northwest of England. Any Series Record scheduled for BBC or BBC2 selects the correct channel for the first episode but then defaults to the BBC Wales equivalent for all subsequent episodes. Like Mo, my BBC Wales reception is very poor (Signal Strength 25%) so recordings are unwatchable. This appears to be a recent issue as previous BBC Series Recordings had been on the correct (Northwest) Channel. I have submitted this as an enquiry to the YouView Support service.

Hi Ken, have you had a look on the Digital UK website http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/ with your PostCode to check if there are and issues with the masts in your area, or changes to service at all which may be causing this to happen?

Also is this only happening on BBC series recording, or does it occur on others channels e.g. ITV?

Rob McDermott

We've been getting the same problem in our top floor flat in York. The box can pick up Yorkshire, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and North East versions of the BBC channels. Our antenna is pointed at Yorkshire as that's the one that gives local news and weather for York, and that's the one we always select after tuning.

Series link programmes often decide to record one of the other two, seemingly at random. This is annoying both because the quality of the recordings suffers, and because when we record BBC breakfast to be able to watch the local weather we get the wrong region! I've tried re-tuning and hiding the unwanted channels in the TV guide but this has no effect.

Mo Needham

Rob McDermott said:

We've been getting the same problem in our top floor flat in York. The box can pick up Yorkshire, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and North East versions of the BBC channels. Our antenna is pointed at Yorkshire as that's the one that gives local news and weather for York, and that's the one we always select after tuning.

Series link programmes often decide to record one of the other two, seemingly at random. This is annoying both because the quality of the recordings suffers, and because when we record BBC breakfast to be able to watch the local weather we get the wrong region! I've tried re-tuning and hiding the unwanted channels in the TV guide but this has no effect.

A YouView boffin told me the solution was to carry out a Factory Reset (this wipes out all of your current recordings and settings).  I haven't tried it, for obvious reasons, so can't confirm it works.

Strangely, our unit now does it less often and, when it has done it, the recording was fine.  I think one way to stop it is to check the list of Planned Recordings, if you see one set for the wrong region delete it and then set it to record again.  A faff, but it works.

I don't think a Factory Reset will work.  The System tries to be very clever - for example - I wanted to record the Robson Green fishing series but missed the first episode.  I highlighted the second episode in the Guide at set it to record all episodes.  Amazingly (without me helping) it new I hadn't recorded the first episode and found it repeated on a different day.  It recorded that episode automatically.  I think it is this function, after a sneaky sherry, that causes FreeView to hunt round and record the show you want but from a different showing.

Mo

Rob McDermott

Rob McDermott said:

We've been getting the same problem in our top floor flat in York. The box can pick up Yorkshire, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and North East versions of the BBC channels. Our antenna is pointed at Yorkshire as that's the one that gives local news and weather for York, and that's the one we always select after tuning.

Series link programmes often decide to record one of the other two, seemingly at random. This is annoying both because the quality of the recordings suffers, and because when we record BBC breakfast to be able to watch the local weather we get the wrong region! I've tried re-tuning and hiding the unwanted channels in the TV guide but this has no effect.

Yeah I do think that it's the series record algorithm trying to be too clever for its own good. We've taken to just setting shows to record individually which is a faff as you say but does get around the issue.

If a factory reset is the only thing that may fix the issue then that's a bit rubbish, really. I have no intention of losing half a hard disk full of recordings!

David6

Just adding another voice to this.  I am experiencing the same thing, I have a  DTR-T1000 and TalkTalk for broadband.

When schedule a series I get a whole mix of BBC ONE, BBC ONE  N WEST, BBC ONE WALES, BBC ONE HD

Sometimes it records two at once, sometimes they both work, sometimes one, sometimes they both fail.

I have done a retune and deleted scheduled and re-scheduled the series, but it keeps happening.

Lbear1

David6 said:

Just adding another voice to this.  I am experiencing the same thing, I have a  DTR-T1000 and TalkTalk for broadband.

When schedule a series I get a whole mix of BBC ONE, BBC ONE  N WEST, BBC ONE WALES, BBC ONE HD

Sometimes it records two at once, sometimes they both work, sometimes one, sometimes they both fail.

I have done a retune and deleted scheduled and re-scheduled the series, but it keeps happening.

Your box does a tune check as part of its housekeeping so reinstates any weak stations you have available. These should go into the 800s but you may find that the first mux (transmitter) it encounters is treated as the "correct" one.

One way is to get filters to reduce the strength of only the weak frequencies below the threshold of the YV box. That could get complicated/expensive so you might start off experimenting with a variable attenuator to reduce the signal over the total spectrum so that only the transmissions from the most powerful transmitter group are above the "digital cliff".

Sanj

David6 said:

Just adding another voice to this.  I am experiencing the same thing, I have a  DTR-T1000 and TalkTalk for broadband.

When schedule a series I get a whole mix of BBC ONE, BBC ONE  N WEST, BBC ONE WALES, BBC ONE HD

Sometimes it records two at once, sometimes they both work, sometimes one, sometimes they both fail.

I have done a retune and deleted scheduled and re-scheduled the series, but it keeps happening.

Hi David,

We have looked into this for you and found that this can happen if more than one regional variant is available to you. As peter has mentioned attenuating your signal may be a good option for you. 

We would recommend speaking to an aerial specialist to find out what would be the best option for you to filter your signal so that you only pick up your strongest transmitter.

Let us know how you get on.

Regards,

Sanj 

Roy

David6 said:

Just adding another voice to this.  I am experiencing the same thing, I have a  DTR-T1000 and TalkTalk for broadband.

When schedule a series I get a whole mix of BBC ONE, BBC ONE  N WEST, BBC ONE WALES, BBC ONE HD

Sometimes it records two at once, sometimes they both work, sometimes one, sometimes they both fail.

I have done a retune and deleted scheduled and re-scheduled the series, but it keeps happening.

Sanj, why don't you just fix your broken software so that it has the discriminatory capabilities the meanest supermarket TV or set-top box takes for granted?

David6

David6 said:

Just adding another voice to this.  I am experiencing the same thing, I have a  DTR-T1000 and TalkTalk for broadband.

When schedule a series I get a whole mix of BBC ONE, BBC ONE  N WEST, BBC ONE WALES, BBC ONE HD

Sometimes it records two at once, sometimes they both work, sometimes one, sometimes they both fail.

I have done a retune and deleted scheduled and re-scheduled the series, but it keeps happening.

I was going to ask what the ETA for fixing the bug is, as I may wait rather than spending money on a hardware solution.

Mo Needham

I think attenuating a good signal is a strange solution.  I paid good money to have a new aerial installed and then more good money on a YouView box.  Another solution might be to change from YouView - that'd solve the problem!
I looked at the planned recordings this morning before I left home.  Two BBC programmes were going to record from BBC Wales (Holby and Blandings) - I cancelled the series record and then used the Guide to reset them using BBC1 West (my area).  The next recordings will be correct - after that it will probably revert to Wales, strange when I used the Guide and BBC1 West to set it - YouView obviously ignores the selected channel and searches for the programme ID.  So, the problem persists but my main reason for starting this strand was that it caused failed recordings due to low quality - strangely I do not get that problem any more (low quality) but... if I attenuated my signal? 

Sandy Brown

Ken Abrahams said:

I am experiencing the same issue in the Northwest of England. Any Series Record scheduled for BBC or BBC2 selects the correct channel for the first episode but then defaults to the BBC Wales equivalent for all subsequent episodes. Like Mo, my BBC Wales reception is very poor (Signal Strength 25%) so recordings are unwatchable. This appears to be a recent issue as previous BBC Series Recordings had been on the correct (Northwest) Channel. I have submitted this as an enquiry to the YouView Support service.

This problem exactly has happened on my tv. Only happens of BBC1 hd. Works fine if you record a single programme but reverts itself to BBC Wales if you series record.

Roy

Ken Abrahams said:

I am experiencing the same issue in the Northwest of England. Any Series Record scheduled for BBC or BBC2 selects the correct channel for the first episode but then defaults to the BBC Wales equivalent for all subsequent episodes. Like Mo, my BBC Wales reception is very poor (Signal Strength 25%) so recordings are unwatchable. This appears to be a recent issue as previous BBC Series Recordings had been on the correct (Northwest) Channel. I have submitted this as an enquiry to the YouView Support service.

What do you see when you make the check Phil describes in the post above?

SRFman

I am having this problem now (in 2022!). Did YouView not fix it? Surely it must be a simple fix to only record from the requested channel! What happened back in 2014 and 2017 when this problem was previously raised?

Roy

SRFman said:

I am having this problem now (in 2022!). Did YouView not fix it? Surely it must be a simple fix to only record from the requested channel! What happened back in 2014 and 2017 when this problem was previously raised?

Greetings  @SRFman and welcome to the Community!

There was a channel rearrangement last week, at least in the South where I am, and maybe elsewhere. Although the YouView boxes are pretty good at following these, they aren’t perfect, so a retune is advised if you are having issues.

On another tack, YouView boxes are rather cleverer at recording than just to consider the requested channel; this pays dividends when, say, the Olympics bumped Homes Under the Hammer from its usual BBC1 to BBC2, and the box, working off Series CRID and Programme CRID, detected this and followed it there.

As it can do with +1 channels if it can’t record off the main channel for some reason.

And as it will attempt to do with Regions, as in 2017 above, rather than fail the recording, if not always successfully.

So; what was it supposed to record, and what did it record, and on what make and model of YouView box on what ISP?

And what else, if anything, was the box doing at the same time - e.g. making a second recording, being watched live, being watched on catchup, having a recording watched, etc.?

Darren

Not series record but once in a while I like to record QVC HD for the tech hours or the practical idea/electrical home shows and have of late found at times it will record the QVC SD channel and and not the QVC HD channel that I have scheduled to record. I also occasionally order of QVC.
I know in bad weather I sometimes get a weak signal from coms 7.
I also know Coms 7 is due to close by end of June.

jdhtyler

Still doing it in January 2023 
Records series on a weak signal from WEST instead of Wales I live near Cardiff

Why do you not fix it, allow me to select my transmitter or deleted WEST signals.

My signal strength is not brilliant WHY record from a weaker signal.

Youview via Talktalk.

We have been plagued with poor software for years.