Impending loss of Guide Plus+

[sue1512]

I have a Sony HXD890 DVD recorder and last night saw a message on Guide Plus+ about the loss of service from the 1st of January. Apparently this affects 'older' DVD recorders, including the HXD890 and many similar models. It is not being carried any more by analog ITV.

Can anyone shed any light on this? I bought the set with the intention of using Guide Plus+, and there was never any indication that the service would not be continued. I live in an area where it is difficult to get permission for dishes. (Babergh Council are Rubbish). I can apparently use Freeview EPG, but this is not as user friendly as Guide+. What are Sony going to do to help owners of these sets. The sets have only been available since March 2008 so cannot be considered obsolete.

http://www.europe.guideplus.com/en/ASO_UK.html

[rooobb]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to share the fact that in Italy we are too in the same boat.

I've asked to the local Sony the possibility to have the same version used in the RDR-DC serie ported to RDR-HXD and distributed to the customer by even selling it for a fee: till now I have no official answer, the moderator told me he forwarded my request to Sony engineers... I'll let you know if something happens

[Bazza96]

Hi Sue and other HDX 890 sufferers,

Well, would you believe it? At 1530 on 21 December, 2010, I was aware of the HDD running... "That's odd, I thought?" Then, lo and behold, it came to pass that Guide+ was, once again, fully functional! Host channel reset to ATV Channel 0003.

What a Christmas present... Hope you all had the same experience. It went like this :smileyshocked::smileyhappy::smileylaugh:.

[AlbertRoss12]

Dear Bazza96,

Make the most of your returned GuidePlus+, for at midnight on 31st Dec, it shall be turned off again.

It will go like this

Then we will need new firmware from Sony.

[Bazza96]

Hi AlbertRoss12,

Thanks for the (not so good) news! Is it clear which download I will need?:smileyconfused:

Regards, Barry

[englishsinger]

I have an RDR-HX525 which doesn't have freeview. If you also have a BSkyb or Virgin set top box, the solution is quite easy for most models.

Go into the Guideplus 'set up' and change the host channel from 'Automatic - ITV1' to 'Manual' and select whichever source is the signal from the set top box (in most cases ext. rec. 3) - then select the appropriate channel number for Eurosport. That will do it. 

Not sure how it works with freeview but I think it'll be similar and just a case of changing the host channel.

[sue1512]

Thank you for all of your reponses. I will never buy a Sony product again.

[AlbertRoss12]

The Sony Guide Plus set-up manual for these affected players (specifially the RDR-HXD870 plus others in the series)

http://support.sony-europe.com/tutorials/tvhc/guides/epg_setup/epg_setup.aspx?site=odw_en_GB&m=RDR-H...

shows the GuidePlus+ source being changed from analogue TV to other sources e.g. an external receiver or ideally the inbuilt DTV tuner. This is exactly what us affected owners need to do to overcome the now actual loss of GuidePlus+.

But this is not possible an the actual unit. Misleading or what!

Can somebody from Sony on these forums please give us an answer whether you intend to issue a firmware update for these receivers please, now that the GuidePlus is no longer available on analogue ITV.

[Jeff_Tann]

Just wanted to add my voice to the other dissatisfied customers.  I also have an RDR-HXD870 plus a sky digibox which is my external receiver. I tried setting guide plus to obtain listings from UK Eurosport (Channel 410) which is also supposed to be a host channel but that didn't work either. Its been set to Eurosport for three whole nights now with the sky box left on and no listings. Even if it did work it would mean having to leave the sky box on overnight, every night to keep listings up to date. My area doen't switch fully to digital till July 2011 but I do have Bid TV available on freeview now. In common with others I cannot select D.TV in host set-up and I now have to program recordings manually which is not what I thought I was buying. The EPG is not up to the job as it does not carry any Sky listings, only Freeview listings for the limited number of channels I can receive at the moment.

Come on Sony. You are one of the major players in the market. Surely you have the technology already available in the "newer" models which could easily be adapted for a firmware upgrade to keep your loyal customers loyal in the future. All my A/V equipment is Sony as I thought I was buying a quality brand and sadly I now think I was mistaken.

The product cannot do what it says it can do and I feel misled by this misrepresentation. Unless they come up with a fix, and quick, that will be the last of my hard-earned they will see.

Jeff

[mick_jones]

I was very disappointed when this happened. I really thought Sony would have thought further ahead and future proofed their products a bit better. After all my RDR-HXD770 DVD recorder is less than 2 years old. However I have got it to work again by setting the host channel to Eurosport, channel 521 from our Virginmedia cable TV box. Whether this works on Sky or not I don't know but I hope this information may be useful to others.

[flami1968]

thanks all of you for the informations about the guide plus+, now everithing is clear, i got a dvd hd rcording that won't work anymore with the guide plus+ due to the end of the analog signal, i bought this sony product 2 years ago and I consider it as new, me and my partner didn't consider the mess of digital and analogue before buy it, we just found the logo "guide plus+" and we thought that was great, "modern" and easier to use compare the normal epg, we didn't though that after 2 years the sony device it would be obsolete.

We won't buy a "new" device just to get the guide plus+ and have the same problem after a couple of year because something will change again (don't trust anymore the market) it will be a waste, so we decide to

don't buy a new DVDHD recorder, we won't upgrade our TV with a new one (my dream was a bravia but due to the lack of service with our "old" device we can't afford to buy 2 things) but we'll "downgrade".

My partner did some research and we decide to downgrade to a used Trinitron 36" 100hz (paid £20.00)  with integrated freeview that can use the "smartlink function" to program our dvdhd sony recorder so we don't need to setup the recording manually, CRT is still working great compare to the cheap lcd, we recycling stuff

until will be the total switchover and there will be a more friendly standards.

Not sure we will buy new sony product in the future, for sure we'll buying old sony stuff at the moment.....

PS

sony next time put a label on your product with short life feature  ex: "please be aware the guide plus+ in this product will work until ....." so we know we are buying something useless but at lower price .......

customer will be happy and sony will gain in reputation as well

regards

flami

Message was edited by: flami1968