# Sony HX750 DVR - Guideplus/Host Channel problem



## Shrimp (30 Jun 2007)

Apologies for posting another techie question which should probably be directed at a specialist forum, but seeing as the Sony HX750 DVR seems to be a popular enough model in Ireland I was hoping to find someone who has successfuly set up their Guideplus on it. I managed to do this fine on another model a few months back but the Guideplus set-up is quite different on the Sony. I'm fairly certain I have everything right up to the point where I choose my host channel settings. (eg I've told it I'm in the UK, I've put in a Belfast postal code, I've selected NTL Cable and Sky Digital in the settings, even though I only have NTL, etc. The DVR is able to change channels when it sends a signal in the set-up process, which suggests everything's fine up to this point).When I go to the host channel set-up section I'm asked to choose a 'Source', either Tuner, Ext Rec 1 or Ext Rec 2. I actually haven't a clue what I'm meant to choose here, but I've tried all three! I know I have to use ITV as my host channel - when it asks me to choose a 'Programme number' do I put in 3, ie the position where I've put ITV on my DVR/TV? If not, what number do I put in? If there's any one out there who's solved this problem I'd love to hear the solution - thanks!


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## cinders (2 Jul 2007)

hi Shrimp - don't have an answer on this, but I would like to know if you got this sorted.  We just got the HX750 DVR also but haven't managed to set up the guideplus or timer recorder yet! I've had a look at the website but am none the wiser on how it all works.


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## norbert (6 Jul 2007)

NTL user in Dublin: I bought Sony HX750 last week.  Hooked up scarts as they were on the old vcr.  Checked the net about ntl and guideplus.  Used belfast code and uk country.  No joy.  Rang NTL, they never heard of guideplus. Changed around the ext scarts at the back (i.e. scart from ntl with tag 'vcr' should be inserted into Line1/Decoder on back of HX750.  Then guideplus recognised the code for Belfast and changed the channel for me in the small box on top left corner.  Once that is recognised, stick the tiny set top box controller on the pace box and try and keep the HX on standby in order to allow guideplus update.  Every five or six hours, the guideplus updated itself.  It took about 18 hours in total.  BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4 were the only channels automatically configured to guideplus a day later.  You need to go to guideplus editor to change the source and channel numbers to get RTE1 and RTE 2 etc to record properly.  Keep trying- it will work.


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## cinders (6 Jul 2007)

thanks norbert, will try this out over the weekend & see if we can get it working! there have been threats of sending the new dvr back to the shop such is the frustration with it!!


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## aircobra19 (6 Jul 2007)

Does it matter what code you use and what belfast code did you use?


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## norbert (6 Jul 2007)

The UK code i used was:-  BT71NN   
There should be a space left over - don't worry about it.


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## Shrimp (7 Jul 2007)

Blushing madly here, discovered in the end that the problem was that the g-link sensor thingie wasn't close enough to the NTL box, so that's why Guideplus wasn't coming through on the DVR. Working perfectly now.Cinders: I'll come back tomorrow with the exact set-up for you, hang on in there, it WILL work!
PS It is possible to get RTE1 and RTE2 listings for Guideplus (and properly updated every day), you just need to lie in the settings and say you have Sky Digital - honest, it works! Again, I'll come back tomorrow with the exact settings.


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## cinders (8 Jul 2007)

thanks Shrimp, would appreciate the update as still haven't got it working.  (I've threatend to invite my 7yr old nephew to come over & set it up for me as its obvious we are no longer techie savvie!! )


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## PETC (11 Jul 2007)

I have a Sony HX725 and was also struggling to get the guideplus to work properly. I just have basic NTL and no external receiver or set top box (STB). Thanks to Norbet and Cinders I am now able to get all (including the RTE's) the basic NTL channel info by using the UK code BT71NN and telling it I have Sky Digital. It seems you can tell guideplus anything and it doesn't really check, it just needs these parameters to send you the right channel info.

I told it my post code was BT71NN, I had an external receiver (on line 3) and that I had sky digital. I also manually set up the host channel to ITV or tuner 3 in my case. After setting it all up I left it overnight and all the info arrived along with a lot of other channel info. Then I went back in guideplus and using the editor I switched off the channels I didn't have and corrected where my channels were on the tuner. It had set them up as external receiver 101 etc because it thought I had an external receiver.

Now, at long last, I can use the Sony EPG (GuidePlus) to record all I need.


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## MarkIreland (14 Jul 2007)

Hi NTL Dublin user.
From the posts below can i assume it IS possible to set up a DVD HDD using NTL to use Guide Plus +.

Ive just bought Sony rdrHX750.

I have NTL - I have plugged that into line one of Sony Unit
I have connected TV (Smart Link to Line 3)
I have connected NTL analogue to RF in of Sony HDD

I have gone into set up of Guide plus on the sony Unit

Oh yeagh rang NTL and asked about Guide Plus + - Didnt understand what I was asking and then said they only support their own boxes etc.

ANyway apologies in advance if this Post sounds too basic.

Set it as follows 

Language English
Country UK
Post Code BT71NN
External Receiver 1 NTL - Pace - LINE 2 (doesnt give me an option to set it to line 1)
Ext Rec 2 none
Ext Rec 3 none

Then go into Host Channel Set up

Set to automatic

Any ideas why its asking that decoder is connected to line 2 when its connected to Line 1
when i pick NTL box for ext rec . Always asks me about channel 12. NTL channels here in dublin are all three digits.

I Suppose im picking at straws that u can get guid Plus working here in dublin with NTL.

Thanks for any help


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## MarkIreland (14 Jul 2007)

One last thing

in Basic set up of HDD 

Vido in/out 
Line 1 In is set to Decoder


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## MarkIreland (15 Jul 2007)

hi all

seems to have worked sort of ....

But opnly have bbc1/2 itv / channel 4

any ideas


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## norbert (16 Jul 2007)

On the main guide plus screen, highlight 'Grid'.  Then move across the screen to the extreme right to 'Editor'.  All the individual channels should be listed.  You should be able to see RTE at the very bottom of the list.  Highlight the source of RTE and change it to 'Tuner' and select the appropriate channel. e.g. 01 if it is the first channel on your video/DVD.  Then when you go back to RTE through the Sony, the name of the programme should be shown for a few seconds.  Do this to all the available NTL channels and cut down on the clutter of unwanted channels by turning off the ones that are not available to you in the editor e.g. Channel 5.


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## MarkIreland (16 Jul 2007)

Hi Norbert

Thanks for the reply.

When i go over to editor I only have the following

BBC1
BBC2
ITVNI
CHANNEL 4
Channel 5

Ive switchd channel 5 off in Editor. Im not at the box now but maybe there is a scroll bar in editor that I have missed by a mistake. ANy other help appreciated.


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## PETC (16 Jul 2007)

Sounds like it's working but only giving you the channels for NTL Northern Ireland. When you say you have NTL is it basic NTL analogue or NTL digital and through an external receiver?


You may just need to tell it that you have Sky Digital. From memory, after you set the post code and external receiver you have to tell it the cable provider. Regardless of what you have tellit Sky Digital and answer yes to everyhting after that. Then go to the setup section of guide plus and set the host channel to whatever channel ITV is on. Then leave it overnight with the HDD in standby and NOT unplugged. When you check guideplus you chould see a lot of channels and the RTE's will be at th end. Go int the editor switch off the ones you don't want and fixe the channel on the ones you keep, they will be set up for an external receiver.


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## MarkIreland (16 Jul 2007)

Hi PetC

Thanks for ur Post.

I have NTL Digital via NTl pace box (old model big box). 

I have connected this into line 1 as its marked as decoder.
Im a bit confused why when setting external decoder it only seems to accept line 2 as Im sure this is going to cuase me problems if i want the Sony unto to record automatically from NTL digital.

Thanks again


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## PETC (17 Jul 2007)

MarkIreland, 

That's as far as I can bring you. I have a HX725 which has line 1 as the TV out and line 3 as the decoder in. My line 2 is a component output. All I can suggest is you check the the cabling again or check the scart cable that you are using. I'm not an expert on scart cables but there are ones that only have 15 of the pins wired and ones with 21 pins wired. You may need to have 21 pins wired as the sony will need to communicate back to the NTL box and not just accept a signal in. All I can think of at the moment.


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## MarkIreland (17 Jul 2007)

Thanks

In basic set up I changed line 1 from decoder to Video and started to get NTL STB staions.

Also set external decoder to line and set it to PACE NTL.

Switched off for a few minutes and back on and saw that ALL staions now there but no programme info. CHecked this morning as thout it would download over night , when i looked this morning all stations gone again.

Two steps forward one stap back....


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## PETC (17 Jul 2007)

MarkIreland,

It can talk up to 24hrs to get all the info. Make sure it's left on standby overnight. Did you manually set the host channel to ITV or UTV?


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## MarkIreland (17 Jul 2007)

When set on Automatic it picked up ITVuls, but when i looked at ity this am seemd to haev lost it. Will check this evening


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## cinders (20 Jul 2007)

MarkIreland - did you get it sorted yet? I have been a bit lazy this week & haven't tried to set it up again, yet. I'm planning on disconnecting all the cables tomorrow and starting afresh!


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## MarkIreland (26 Jul 2007)

Hi All

Just to confirm status - Can download all info for core uk channels bbc1,bbc2,itv,ch4.

But when I tell it i have additional channels such as sky digital and it downlaod it resets / removes all info and even loses the host channel.

Can anyone confirm that they have got the additional channels (programme info) using NTL analogue signal in Dublin (West).

I have a call out to sony who are saying tehy dont support it in Ireland but are investigating and a call out to NTL to see if they are doing anything special to the Host Channel signal.

Thnaks in Advance


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## MarkIreland (26 Jul 2007)

Hi All

Just to confirm status - Can download all info for core uk channels bbc1,bbc2,itv,ch4.

But when I tell it i have additional channels such as sky digital and it downlaod it resets / removes all info and even loses the host channel.

Can anyone confirm that they have got the additional channels (programme info) using NTL analogue signal in Dublin (West).

I have a call out to sony who are saying tehy dont support it in Ireland but are investigating and a call out to NTL to see if they are doing anything special to the Host Channel signal.

Thnaks in Advance


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## edserman (8 Aug 2007)

Hi all,
Thanks for all the info, from forum members, here is my take on this problem and little more.. sorry for it been so long, but the more the clearer I hope the success people I have with these instructions.

*Sony HX - 750 Setup for Republic of Ireland, NTL, PACEM with Gemstar EPG*
*(also note - very basic Mitsubishi TV, bought about 10 years ago)*

Background - I bought the HX750, with the expectation that would it be trivial enough to setup. I had thoughts about getting a multimedia PC, as you know from previous posts, which would give me plenty of flexibility. But Alas I was desperate enough to experience myself at the cold face at least one of the good options/cheaper options out there. Juke box functionality, USB connetivity, Recording to Hard Disk Drive (HDD)) were important aspects of my purchasing choice. Also I wanted to get a better understanding of the technologies and it limititations, quickly. Quickly is the operative word I didn't want to be mucking about with a PC for days on end.




*Issue #1 - *Can't get the basic cabling right (The Manual instructions are misleading for my configuration)

On the PACEM you have limited flexibility - there is a SCART out, and no Antenna coaxial out, just Antenna in. You need a splitter to solve that problem. (or run a coaxial from HX-750 - 'Antenna out' to the PACEM, and of course the run the coaxial straight from the wall to the HX-75- "Antenna in')


*HX - Initial Setup*
Scart Video In - Scart from PACEM (setup type as "Video" and NOT as "Decoder")
Scart Video Out - Scart to TV
Coaxel from Wall with Splitter - One line going to PACEM,  Other line going to Antenna In of HX
Select Auto-Tuning - The HX will auto-tune using its Analogue Tuner, and setup the "basic pack" of NTL channels. This is an important step, as doing this will allow you to both watch and record at the same time. N.B. Also ideally you want your recorder to use the Antenna In (Analogue channels) when it possibly can for recording (you can overwrite the defaults in the Gemstar Editor). Note you can't change NTL Digital channels when its recording to Disk.
Also setup the set-top box controller gadget. (vital to the complete solution)
*Explanation of this Setup:* This means that all Analogue/Digital transmissions are going through the HX. (so you need the TV to default always to this SCART, e.g. when the recorder is no standby). Alternatively if you use the original SCART from NTL, I believe you can put the cable tagged VCR into this, and the other scart scable as normal to the TV. But you will still need another scart to go from your HX to your TV (not sure what happens if you use the coaxial option as stated in the manual, e.g. connect the HX to the TV via coaxial, surely you will get reduced quality and possibly only get the NTL basic lineup. Is this coaxial out just a retransmission of the coaxinal in!?!)


*Guide (Gemstar) - Setup*
Country - UK
Post code - BN71NN (Belfast)
Went through other setup steps, selecting NTL and PACEM and LINE 1 as the External receiver (during this I also selected the PACEM that made my Green ligth flicker, it selects channel 12)
Even though I don't have Sky - Setup second receiver as SKY-DIGITAL (you select it through Satelite)
*Note: *Also _NO need_ to go near the Host Channel setup, the system sets this correctly to Tuner Channel 10 - ITVULTS (This is an ID which signifies UTV)
Put your HX on standby, and the following day you should have recieved all the schedule data. [Optionally, after about 30 mins of standby if you go into GEMSTAR info - you will see stats on the next download, number of files etc, in here you should probably see next download time set to sometime on morning I saw mine set to 3.00am - it seems to pull down the lineup seperately from the schedule. So the schudule is pulled down at 3.00 in the morning. Which makes sense as this probably most time consuming process.]
The biggest issue now is that alot of the program numbers are set incorrectly for NTL, will need to look into this further, probalby down to the provider I picked (there maybe a better match, also with Sky Digital in the mix it probably confused the hell out of it). Not a big deal really, as I can reset the numbers easily throught he Gemstar Editor, and also turn a good few of the channels off that I will never use for recording purposes. I hope this never resets itself to the defaults!
*Explanation of this setup: *Firstly their is no EPG for Rep Of Ireland available on Gemstar even though there is an option to select it and postal code. (this is misleading - however the Instructions clearly state thats is available in UK only, obviously left their for future proofing). You can see on their website that Ireland is not listed). The most important step is to select UK, BN71NN irrespective of anything else. Secondly the Sky-Digital setup, tells the system to also to include RTE1, RTE2 in the lineup (and probably other non-NTL channels, which you can turn off in the Editor menu). Obviously the HX never attempts to receive data from this as their is no signal, from Line 2 (line 2 is the inputs at the front of your HX - I would use this for recording old Video Tapes)


*Conclusion: *First out you are missing a few of the basic Irish channels, like TG4, Channel6 (not a huge deal). The setup is a little messy, as it varies a little from the Installation Manual. I really need to put this EPG through its paces in terms of day to day usage. I've heard through some forums that things get reset, so that is really poor. If that happens you might as well chuck the whole lot. Let see how things go through the week. I'll report back I promise.

*Issue #2 *- USB connectivity - Connects to my pen drive ok. But doesn't connect to my external Maxdor HD (.5 Terrabytes), which is a real bummer! Probably some limitation with size of disk.

*Issue #3 *- One of the big functional issues with the HX and probalby its brothers is that it won't read movies from USB, you need to have it on DVD. However this is clearly stated in the Manual. Just be warned about this limited functionality.

Last words, I'm still going to purchase a Mutli-media/PVR PC and probably after a while (when I get bored in a few months) use this recorder as a secondary device or use in another room (as a device that has all the kids DVDs/Videos, with all the videos/dvds hidden away.

Hope this helps?

Additions/Corrections anyone?


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## MarkIreland (20 Aug 2007)

Hi All
I have st up the unit to doanload core stations and Freeview and all is fine. If I add on SKY Digital or NTL after the three hour EPG download the unitis seems to lose all data including the Host channel.

This would indictae there is a technuicla fault with my unit due to size of data. Anyone else experiencing such problems ?


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## moe1013 (28 Aug 2007)

Thanks to all for the above postings. I have had terrible difficulty setting this thing up for my 65 year old Dad. I will try again with the above info.

 Personally I think Sony have some cheek selling this thing here. The simple fact is that it is designed to be used with an EPG/guideplus only. The "manual" way of recording is a nightmare to use, worse than any old VCR from years ago. 

The Sony helpline more or less agreed with me when I complained, they could offer me no solutions, Anyone else out there thinking of buying a HDD recorder I would suggest look carefully at the ease of manual recording in any model as this country is simply not set up for it (NTL in particular)

I have ordered the new NTL recorder (see other topic) in the hope it will simplify things....we shall see


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## willmy41 (28 Aug 2007)

I have the Sony HX750 and Sky Digital. When I want to record a programme I have to enter the date and time and the programme name manually. I can't watch one programme and record another. Had I known this a few months ago I would have just got the Sky+ box. Maybe that's the idea behind all this.


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