jakxVW Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Firstly may I just say hello to you all, as a newbie and only just getting into motorhome life on the road, I thought I should share my Avtex experience so far... Before venturing out & about again with this very recently purchased tasty TV we thought it best to try some recording at home. Bought a LaCie Rugged USB 500GB hard drive, managed to format it to FAT32 and set a few recordings from the EPG. Unfortunately I missed the (simple) fact any recording above 4GB file size ends up as 2 separate files - due the limitation inherent with FAT32. The upshot of all this is that although I bought a HD PVR it appears it's impossible to record any HD films or longer programmes in a single file... I wish I had known this before I spent almost £400? Has anyone here any experience of this fundamental 'flaw'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakxVW Posted August 15, 2013 Author Share Posted August 15, 2013 Poorly explained, I had meant to say... I bought an HD TV expecting it to be a 'virtual' HD PVR by simply adding a hard drive... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 I sent mine back when it would not recognise my WD media box via HDMI. a box thats plays every file thrown at it! *-). Neither would it recognise hardly any file via USB card...A smart TV? I think not! 8-) so am I surprised that your are experiencing difficulties..not in the slightest. Still looking for a truly "smart" HD portable TV but no one seems to be making small ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Remember the old 'separates v music centre' debates many years ago , we'll we are now at full circle where many devices purport to perform myriad functions. Some do a reasonable job but I feel that you can get a pretty good HDTV quite cheaply and feed it a good source, like Sky hd or bluray. Also, these separates have better more intuitive controls dedicated to one main function. We have sky hd in the van along with a midpriced HDTV connected via hdmi. Pretty damn good pic too, and can control sky box from smartphone if forgotten a recording.... Can't do that with a USB stick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakxVW Posted August 16, 2013 Author Share Posted August 16, 2013 I don't want to be too hard on Avtex over this, maybe a future software update might give the recording program a bit more freedom. Essentially it's down to the FAT32 USB hard drive limitations and only through selecting HD movies to record, rather than SD. Most TV programmes are of 60 minutes duration anyway and I guess will duck under the 4GB file size limit. And, anyway, watching a split movie isn't that much worse than fast forwarding through the adverts! Even joining the 2 HD movie halves on VideoReDo for example doesn't help, the Avtex doesn't 'like' that either but they are playable on my Humax box, and I imagine also on the WD TV Live, though I haven't tried that yet. Putting it all into perspective, going off for a break in the 'van isn't really (for us) about watching a TV screen - apart from those rainy afternoons... 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 jakxVW - 2013-08-16 9:32 AM Putting it all into perspective, going off for a break in the 'van isn't really (for us) about watching a TV screen - apart from those rainy afternoons... 8-) Agreed, but we do like to watch the odd selected/recorded program but when it suits us. We watch little TV but almost none of what we do watch is 'live'. We usually watch a little if weather a bit iffy or, perhaps in the evening, but I like the choice we have of channels (sports, movies, etc) and of the time we wish to watch. Having used a dedicated PVR (mainly Sky+) for a long time I feel this is a pretty good unit, especially now you can stream progs, including BBC iPlayer etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 the reason I bought the Avetex was because I just wanted to bring a couple of USB sticks with some movies and TV series on. I dont want sky or extra boxes, my leisure interest is mainly reading. I did not even want to bring the WD live box but was prepared to it if need be..but the fact that the TV would not recognise it via HDMI was the last straw. I need a new TV for bedroom so that was the main reason for purchase.....ended up watching some content via USB on laptop which is good enough for us.. As usual in nearly a month we only watched 2 movies, the Kindle Paperwhite a far better purchase! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakxVW Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 Update on this 'ere FAT32 recording 'limitation' - I checked a few of the larger (HD) files, seems that when, or if, a single recording reaches 3.93GB it (cleverly) commences to record the remaining 'footage' as a separate file. Not really a problem, easy to rename (a film for example) with the suffix Act 1 or 2 - I just think Avtex should have made the max 4GB single file size clear, even if only in the small print! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 the just under 4 gig limitation is common to all USB sticks I think. record to a portable HD while on the topic of TV's anyone seen a decent compact "smart" TV on the market yet...could do with one for Spain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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