RDR-HXD890 - Freeview EPG Not working

[brian_mk]

My RDR-HXD890 has been stuck displaying 'UPDATING' for at least 2 days.

All front panel buttons & remote have no effect.

After Power cycling, the machine returned to the same state.

After searching Internet forums, I found many posts from people with the same issue. Most were dated around 2019.

I tried most of the suggestions:-

A Soft Reset got the machine out of update mode but EPG no longer works and, following auto-tuning, all BBC channels are missing. All other Freeview channels were found.

A Factory Reset did not fix the problem.

The machine displays Software Version 115. I tried to initiate a manual firmware update but no updates were found.

Has there been a recent change with Freeview EPG such that it is no longer compatible with this machine?

[PatJW1]

I spoke too soon! Back to stuck on update. After holding on off button it comes back on but as soon as I access EPG or BBC it lasts for about a second then goes black.

[PatJW1]

Mine same. Thought I'd sorted it yesterday. Lasted 12 hours now back to updates and screen blinking out.

[No_Pic]

I received an email from Freeview at 13:45 today 29/8/23 advising that the problem has been fixed.

I did a factory reset and 'Easy setup' immediately afterwards.

The 14:00 EPG ran, and stopped, as per the expected normal behaviour.

Upon switching the Sony recorder on after the 14:00 update both BBC1 and BBC2 appeared OK , and behaved, as normal.

At this point so far, so good.

[Mooly01]

 Same for me. Contacted by Sony to say try it again and see if OK. It is at the moment.

[liketv]

Same for me. Have been advised that if/when this occurs in the future, to email as soon as possible: help@freeview.co.uk

[brian_mk]

"Same for me. Have been advised that if/when this occurs in the future, to email as soon as possible: "

Hmm - that sounds like freeview are saying 'we can't be bothered to carry out proper regression testing before releasing channel & EPG updates. Instead we will just wait for users to complain'.

They broke things twice this year following the 21st June and 23rd August channel updates. Perhaps it's time for users complain to Ofcom.

The next time it goes wrong (and it will) visit https://www.freeview.co.uk/help/updates-alerts to find out how they've moved the channels around and screwed things up.

[liketv]

Thanks to Brian_mk for the link to the Freeview Updates page. Very useful. We’ll need to keep a close eye on this, and perhaps take preventative measures (see further down). However, bear in mind that although most broadcasters will give plenty of notice to Freeview of upcoming changes, on occasion there will be little or no notice.

The sporadic Update/EPG problems are caused by faulty info re: broadcasting changes sent in by one or more broadcasters; incidentally, the most recent was NOT caused by the BBC (although their channels were among those affected).  

I don’t think that Freeview should be blamed. They neither cause the problems, nor do they actually fix them.

The reason they want people to email them help@freeview.co.uk  a.s.a.p. if/when the problem occurs again is that as soon as they know that there’s a problem, the Freeview Tech Team will contact the Tech Teams at all the broadcasters that made changes, requesting that they check all their coding etc. 

The broadcaster who finds a fault then fixes it after which it informs Freeview. (It’s also possible that more than one broadcaster has faults.)

Of course, it was very unfortunate that this time the issues lasted for so long, and over a weekend and public holiday. I can only presume that the tech team at the broadcaster responsible for the latest problems wasn’t working over the weekend.

The only, totally impracticable way to avoid these occurrences would be if every single broadcaster obtained Sony RDR HXDs and the other very old affected equipment, and tested each one before sending in the codes to FV. Never going to happen!

There are potentially two conceivable things that we can do ourselves, but certainly neither is ideal (and I know that we shouldn’t have to take preventative measures!):

1: If it’s possible to keep a spare, always keep a Sony RDR HXD disconnected, so if/when the problem occurs, you’ll at least have one machine that’s unafflicted.

The “spare” disconnected Sony can be rotated with the connected Sony/s, so that each receives some updates at some point.

2: If it’s not possible to keep an unconnected spare, then set timer events for the updates times to prevent updates. If you have more than one Sony, you can rotate them, so they will each receive updates at some point*.

*Re: suggestion 2: I don’t know how this will affect the Sonys long-term. Perhaps someone who understands these things will enlighten me!

[brian_mk]

I have to disagree with you on one point...

Freeview ARE to blame.

They are the organisation responsible for channel and EPG changes. If it goes wrong it is their fault.

The CEO - Johnathon Thomson is ultimately responsible.

I just hope he is not given a bonus following both freeview channel update fiascos that have happened this year.

They are trading service quality for profit.

[EMS_MO72]

Hey all

If anyone is still having a problem with the device being stuck on update, try to turn off the device, unplug the aerial, then power on the device again and try to update .

If the same issue happened, try to do a factory reset while the cable is still unplugged, try to update the device after the factory reset again and it should work. 

[sheneker]

This happened in June 2023 and again after the 23/8/2023 Freeview channel update.

I phoned Freeview, who admitted there had been a problem with their update, affecting the domestic equipment of many users, including Sony users.

After the 23/8/2023 update, I phoned them again and they admitted that this occasion had been even worse, affecting even more manufacturers' kit and therefore many more users than just Sony.  That took the whole August Bank Holiday weekend for Freeview to put right.

I asked them what Quality Standards they used and what was the back-out procedure, should anything go wrong just before a Bank Holiday, with lots of sporting events, etc. to watch on TV.  They haven't answered that yet.

On Tuesday (after the Bank Holiday) I phoned Ofcom, who didn't want to know about it - seemingly too much bother, saying that if I had been calling about a TV programme's content, they might have been interested, but this sort of thing isn't their responsibility. 

I asked: "So you're not interested in a Freeview national TV channel update clobbering many people's TV equipment, so they can't watch TV over the Bank Holiday weekend"?  "No, not our responsibility".

They told me to contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline, which I did.

Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline were just as unhelpful.  The young lady didn't appear to have a clue, didn't want to know, as Freeview is a free service, so nothing to do with them.

They suggested I contact the TV Licencing Authority !!

Freeview didn't make any announcement that they had messed-up their channel update, so their customers shouldn't worry that their home equipment was broken.  Some people may have gone out and bought new, in the belief that their home entertainment kit had gone 'POP'.

At the very least, most users affected are likely to have wasted a lot of time, wondering what was the matter and fruitlessly trying to retune their equipment.

Apparently there are at least 4 companies that may be involved (but I'm not sure of their relationship):

- Freeview

- DTT Multiplex Operators Ltd

- Everyone TV

- DTV Services Ltd

Does anyone know to whom Freeview is accountable?   They cannot keep broadcasting defective channel updates, which clobber people's TV systems.