USB Series Recording

[E61DRC]

Having just replaced an 11 year old 40" Sony TV with a 55" A80J, I am checking the many new features. I have connected a 500GB USB HDD for recording programmes from Freesat channels and this works fine for one-off recordings, but seems to have a problem with series recordings. If I set up a series recording then it records the first episode without problem, but has difficulty finding future recordings especially for programmes that are daily rather than weekly. At the moment, there are three entries in the Recording timer list that say "Searching for next episode" with no indication of which programme is involved. I have a 5 year old Samsung 22" TV that does series recordings perfectly so I am a bit disappointed with the new Sony.

[HannahEd01]

Hey there, I searched the manual for you and there's no mention that you can actually record freesat, only digital  (FreeView).

Check this: https://helpguide.sony.net/tv/iaep1/v1/en/03-01_05.html?hl=recording

Are you maybe using a box? In this case check with the box support.

[E61DRC]

Obviously, I am using the TV to record with a USB HDD plugged into a USB port at the back. Recording one-off programmes on Freesat seems to work fine, but recording series is unreliable.

[HannahEd01]

Hello again, what I was saying that I don't think it's supported tho. Maybe someone else can help. ^^

[E61DRC]

If recording from Freesat is not supported then it is difficult to explain why there are two satellite tuners on the A80J.

[HannahEd01]

I would say contact Sony about this, I couldn't find any articles talking about it..

[royabrown2]

@E61DRC 

These Sony Android TVs have had satellite tuners, one or two depending on the model, since their launch in 2015. These would pull in the motley collection of channels coming from whichever satellite was being pointed to, in clear or encrypted, free or paid, English language or foreign language, with just the standard Now and Next by way of an EPG.

They have had Freesat only since 2020 though, Freesat is primarily a curated selection of internet channels with an EPG showing more than just Now and Next.

So a question here is what mechanism Sony TVs use to record FreeView; is it just blindly taking the timeslot and channel shown in the EPG, or is it using Accurate Recording, where every programme has a unique Programme CRID, and every series a unique Series CRID, and every Freeview channel provides the start/stop of every programme on every channel, not just the programmes on that channel, with those CRIDs, so that a Freeview recorder, no matter what Freeview channel it is tuned to, is made aware that the programme it is lying in wait for, or a programme in a series it is lying in wait for, is just starting on a certain channel, and it should switch to that channel and start recording?

If the latter, then unless Freesat implements a very similar mechanism, and recording on these TVs has been modified to use it for Freesat recording, you won’t be able to record series.

[E61DRC]

As explained in my first post, you can set up series recordings on Freesat with the Sony. Why do some regular posters feel the need to answer questions when they obviously do not have clue?

[royabrown2]

@E61DRC 

‘Plonk’.