Ferguson Ariva HD Combo

victory10

This is off topic, but I wanted to share this with you. The only relevance is that you can use the Ariva Combo to watch.
The San Remo Song Festival finale is tonight. RAI UNO on Hot Bird 20:35-01:20 (check local time).
Enjoy

hifinut

would appreciate if anyone knows what speed usb i should buy for recording, also is 16 gb a reasonable size , thanks

rurs

hifinut wrote: »

would appreciate if anyone knows what speed usb i should buy for recording, also is 16 gb a reasonable size , thanks

I think 9 Mb/s is the recommended speed. I recently tried a 16gb class 6 SDHC card in a USB card reader (which would be 6 Mb/s minimum) and it worked fairly well, although HD recordings had occasional glitches. Timeshift also worked.

Someone else had a 16gb pen drive working, anything less and timeshift doesn't seem to work.

File sizes:
~1.7 - 2GiB per hour SD from satellite (mpeg2) / ~3GiB per hour HD

~1GiB per hour SD from DTT (mpeg4) / ~3GiB per hour HD

It varies with resolution, and number/bitrate of audio tracks.

So 8-16 hours of SD recording on 16Gb.

I'm considering one of these myself. Class 10, so should have no trouble with HD, it comes with a miniscule card reader, so the front flap might even close.

hifinut

thanks for that , it looks like a mighty useful item, ill order one

victory10

Over the last few days, teletext information is not showing in channels that usually send it.
Before I make a major step like reinstalling everything from scratch, I just wanted to ask here if anyone has a solution.
This is not high priority at the moment, as I have a better receiver on all the time, which has much better teletext module than the Ariva Combo, but would need to sort this out some time.
Another problem that I have is that the Terrestrial audio has gone, luckily I can watch the same channels from Amos 4W.
Thanks.

Edit: Sorted
Switched off the receiver using the on-off switch at the back, and after initializing, both problems disappeared.

reggie71

holyhutzpa wrote: »

I'm not getting any now or next info through - my Ferguson combo doesn't know what's on! Firmware is pretty recent. Has anyone had this problem? Is it a setting?

Am experiencing the same problem and haven't been able to find a fix as yet. We have the box since November 2010 and all was fine. only lost the now & next programme info in the last couple of weeks

victory10

reggie71 wrote: »

Am experiencing the same problem and haven't been able to find a fix as yet. We have the box since November 2010 and all was fine. only lost the now & next programme info in the last couple of weeks

If you are sure that Now and Next is being transmitted, try switching off the receiver using the On-Off switch at the back, wait few minutes, switch it on and hopefully it would sort it out after initialization.
This helped me to get the teletext information back.

reggie71

victory10 wrote: »

If you are sure that Now and Next is being transmitted, try switching off the receiver using the On-Off switch at the back, wait few minutes, switch it on and hopefully it would sort it out after initialization.
This helped me to get the teletext information back.

Thanks for that Victory10. Will give it a go later.

listermint

rurs wrote: »

I think 9 Mb/s is the recommended speed. I recently tried a 16gb class 6 SDHC card in a USB card reader (which would be 6 Mb/s minimum) and it worked fairly well, although HD recordings had occasional glitches. Timeshift also worked.

Someone else had a 16gb pen drive working, anything less and timeshift doesn't seem to work.

File sizes:
~1.7 - 2GiB per hour SD from satellite (mpeg2) / ~3GiB per hour HD

~1GiB per hour SD from DTT (mpeg4) / ~3GiB per hour HD

It varies with resolution, and number/bitrate of audio tracks.

So 8-16 hours of SD recording on 16Gb.

I'm considering one of these myself. Class 10, so should have no trouble with HD, it comes with a miniscule card reader, so the front flap might even close.

That looks really good, I had a WD 120GB hooked up to mine, but it keep dying. Think it was overheating.

Do you reckon this would be an issue with flash?

The micro reader looks excellent.

rurs

listermint wrote: »

That looks really good, I had a WD 120GB hooked up to mine, but it keep dying. Think it was overheating.

Do you reckon this would be an issue with flash?

The micro reader looks excellent.

Can't imagine overheating would be an issue with flash drives, as there's no moving parts.
Maybe the issue with your HDD was power supply? Did it have a separate power supply, or was it powered directly from the Ferguson USB port?

victory10

I was investigating few days ago frequent disconnection problem with my DSL broadband service.
The DSL modem was placed about 60 cm from the Ariva Combo receiver and the external power supply for the external WD HDD.
I had my suspicions that the DSL disconnections might be caused by noise from my satellite system equipments, so I used the cheapest method to test interfernce which is using a portable radio set on an AM station.
The radio just went crazy when I put it near the Ariva Combo receiver, even in sandby condition or the HDD power supply.
Needless to say that the modem is now as far away from it as possible and the disconnection problem seems to be less frequent than before.
I suspect that the new HDD external power supply is contributing a lot of noise, as it doesn't have a ferrite supression like the one I have for my PC backup, which does have a ferrite and the noise is far less.
I have other receivers like Nokia 9800S and it seems to be very quite in comparison.

listermint

rurs wrote: »

Can't imagine overheating would be an issue with flash drives, as there's no moving parts.
Maybe the issue with your HDD was power supply? Did it have a separate power supply, or was it powered directly from the Ferguson USB port?

It is powered by the ferguson, just seems to fail after a couple of days and unit is quite hot. This is usual for HDD but I dont think it likes the constant read write with Time Shift setting on.

Maybe a flash would be more durable here. Anyone used a flash with theirs yet?

victory10

listermint wrote: »

It is powered by the ferguson, just seems to fail after a couple of days and unit is quite hot. This is usual for HDD but I dont think it likes the constant read write with Time Shift setting on.

Maybe a flash would be more durable here. Anyone used a flash with theirs yet?

I use a San Disk 8GB flash and it is good with no overheating.
The external HDD with external power supply is preferred to external HDD with power coming from the Ariva box, as it will not overload the internal power supply which is important if you want the box to live for a very long time.
The flash that I have doesn't allow time shift. Perhaps a larger size like 16GB or 32GB would.
The flash stick LED keeps flashing (so this is why it is called flash ), which is a bit distracting, even when the box is in standby. With an external HDD you can turn the unit sideways if you don't want to see the LED.

listermint

victory10 wrote: »

I use a San Disk 8GB flash and it is good with no overheating.
The external HDD with external power supply is preferred to external HDD with power coming from the Ariva box, as it will not overload the internal power supply which is important if you want the box to live for a very long time.
The flash that I have doesn't allow time shift. Perhaps a larger size like 16GB or 32GB would.
The flash stick LED keeps flashing (so this is why it is called flash ), which is a bit distracting, even when the box is in standby. With an external HDD you can turn the unit sideways if you don't want to see the LED.

Thanks!

small bit of black tape will stop that LED in its tracks.

Will look into larger Flash Drives, would prefer something small with the potential to last.

victory10

listermint wrote: »

Thanks!

small bit of black tape will stop that LED in its tracks.

Will look into larger Flash Drives, would prefer something small with the potential to last.

Good idea, but I use a USB 4-Port Hub with a short lead which serve to protect the USB Flash and the receiver from accidental bashing on the front and help me to hide the LED.
I think the price of 16GB or even 32GB is quite affordable at the moment.
The SanDisk Cruzer Blade or the Cruzer Slice look quite small, but I haven't tried them myself.

victory10

Ferguson new replacement for the Ariva HD Combo is Ariva 200 Combo.
There is an English user guide in the Ferguson website.
How about starting a new thread?

rurs

victory10 wrote: »

Ferguson new replacement for the Ariva HD Combo is Ariva 200 Combo.
There is an English user guide in the Ferguson website.
How about starting a new thread?

Start it yourself:D
Maybe when the price is clear, and someone has one.
Looks like it's based on the Ariva 200 satellite only box. So better multimedia support:
Video files containers: AVI, MKV, MPEG, MPG, VOB, TS, TRP, MP4
DVR (default record format)
|
|-> video codec supported in containers: mpeg2, H.264
|-> audio codec supported in containers: MP3, AAC, AC3

Also a functioning LAN port, with Shoutcast radio support.

I wonder will the watch one tuner, record another be available? The manual isn't explicit, it just mentions watching the same transsponder while recording, but that could just be a carry-over from the Ariva 200 manual, it's mostly the same.

victory10

rurs wrote: »

Start it yourself:D

I don't think it would be a good idea to start another thread, as most
issues would be identical and the solutions are already here.
Perhaps it would be better to request the forum administrator to just change the title to:
Ferguson Ariva HD Combo and Ariva 200 Combo
This would give us the chance to compare the performances, without jumping between threads.
The price at freesat.ie is €189.00

Tony

victory10 wrote: »

I don't think it would be a good idea to start another thread, as most
issues would be identical and the solutions are already here.

I'm not sure about that as its a completely different chassis

STB

Tony wrote: »

I'm not sure about that as its a completely different chassis

And chipset.

Infact if they are based on the 200 range....... well they will run enigma.

jock54

Hi guys, i have been reading this thread with great interest from the start.
I started out doing some homework on this Ferguson Ariva HD Combo which brought me on to this thread. I had no idea at first that their was a combo unit available that would allow me to view FTA and the new digital channels all from the one box. As i said only for this thread i probably would have gone off and bought the non combo unit just for the Irish channels, so i'm delighted that i found this.
Their was also a price mentioned of €189.00 from a Dublin supplier and after doing more research on the product, i happened to source another Irish supplier with a way better price. I will write more on this after i have checked it out in more detail.

victory10

Hello jock54,
Please note that the Ferguson Ariva HD Combo has been discontinued.
You should consider Ferguson Ariva 200 Combo instead.

jock54

Sorry my mistake ? the unit thats on offer and i'm buying is the ferguson Ariva 200 Combo. I wonder why they decided to discontinue the HD model or does anyone know what the differance is, its still HD i hope.

Tony

Yes it is still HD and its a smaller neater unit. The USB socket is still on the front though which is disappointing.

jock54

I have been just into the Ferguson web site and going by the information there , its saying that the Ferguson Ariva HDcombo is the newest model and not the Ariva 200 Combo as stated by victory10 . Correct me if i'm wrong but i seem to be getting twon different messages here. This is what it says in the Ferguson site.
It is the newest digital combo HD receiver (DVB-S2 & DVB-T) from Ariva series.
And also looking at the picture of the back of the Ariva HDcombo, its looks more advanced with two scart connections instead of one on the 200 combo.
Can someone with more information on this reply as at the moment i'm a little confused.

Tony

This is the newest model http://www.ferguson-digital.eu/en/hd-ariva-receivers/286-ariva-200-combo.html

Jock can you also tell me what the supplier with the better price is if you don't mind?

jock54

Thanks Tony for your reply and information but its still very confusing in the Ferguson web site for anyone thats not familier with the units.

watty

They have no CI+ models?

victory10

watty wrote: »

They have no CI+ models?

The Ariva HD Combo (discontinued) has
1 Card Reader
2 CI slots

The Ariva 200 Combo has
1 Card Reader
1 CI slot

watty

CI is not CI+

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Interface#Definition

Many broadcasters moving to CI+ only slots for CAMs for added Security.

The interesting thing is that all TVs and setboxes with CI+ must implement MHEG5 also.

Topup TV uses CI+ for Skysports.

Ordinary CI is obsolete.

This is good news for Ireland:

The CI Plus Application MMI is based on the UK-DTT MHEG-5 [23] engine specification and is subset to provide
sufficient functionality to enable a module application to present text and graphics with minimal control over the
broadcast stream. All content to the CI Plus presentation engine shall be supplied to the host directly from the CICAM
through the Application MMI resource; the CICAM itself may optionally source file data internally from the CICAM
and/or directly from the broadcast stream.
The CI Plus Application MMI may operate in a Host that supports other application environments e.g. MHEG-5, MHP,
etc. The host implementation of the CI Plus Application MMI may elect to support the interface using any existing
MHEG-5 application environment or with a separate implementation instance. The CI Plus Application MMI shall take
precedence over any existing application environment and may optionally be presented on the host native graphics

Many European operators switching to CI+ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Interface#Operators
This is why Lidl's recent non-Freeview Digital TVs happen to be Irish Compatible. They are MPEG4, HD and CI+

See also http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2011/02/18/ci-plus-back-with-the-dvb/

A CI+ slot will of course work with existing CI slot compatible CAMs.