Series recordings fail on XR55A80J

[CinnamonJalapeno]

I have a USB hard drive plugged in to my XR55A80J for recording programmes on FreeSat. I set a recording up as being for the whole series by going to the programme guide, selecting the programme, choosing Record and selecting the option for the series.

The first episode records correctly. However, subsequent episodes in the series fail to record. In the Timer List, the title for subsequent episodes gets replaces with "Searching for next episode" and the date is shown as a non-existent date (Sat 2 Jan, whereas 2nd Jan was a Sunday).

Anyone else had this? Is there a fix for it?

[E61DRC]

I have the same problem and posted about it (but received no useful replies)

https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/android-tv/usb-series-recording/td-p/3822580

[CinnamonJalapeno]

That's a shame. I've filled in a support form with Sony too, so I'll see if anything comes from that.

[HannahEd01]

Hey guys, as far as I know, recording satellite channels isn't supported in Sony TVs. Do let us know what comes from the Sony escalation.

[CinnamonJalapeno]

Sony says it records digital television and radio, which covers both FreeSat and FreeView. It doesn't differentiate between the two when it comes to recording.

Unfortunately it's still complete silence from Sony.

[HannahEd01]

Hey CinnamonJalapeno, I'm pretty sure that digital means Freview only.

[angelacr]

I have a satellite box (Dreambox with openATV image) as my tuner and can record satellite(s) without problem. And clearly if the guy is trying record a series and gets only a single program Sony TV can record from satellite too. It just appears a bit messed up with scheduling.

Recommend getting a NON-SKY satellite box it makes life easier and you can put a 4 Tb drive inside most boxes these days. Change your LNB to a twin and run two cables. One to the satellite box and one to the TV, then you can record one channel and watch another, if need be, for very little extra cost.

Although having said all that I really don't record that much these days. Fast forwarding through adverts is doable but I prefer uninterrupted viewing so resort to downloading BBC and ITV content directly with yt-dlp.  No adverts is brilliant for watching the likes of Vera

[CinnamonJalapeno]

Analogue satellite broadcasts in the UK ended 20 years ago. FreeSat is most definitely, without any doubt whatsoever, digital television! Sony makes no distinction between FreeSat and FreeView in its documentation. Both are digital. It's also worth pointing out Sony doesn't specifically say it can record FreeView - it just says digital, which covers both.

As angelacr points out, the Sony can record FreeSat. It just fails to set the next episode in a series, meaning you have to remember to manually set every episode.

I have ended up purchasing a 2nd hand Humax FreeSat recorder which very reliably records FreeSat programmes, including whole series', and will record two channels simultaneously. It's disappointing that Sony has implemented it so badly.

The hardware seems to be excellent, and the third party software (from Google, and the apps from various companies including Apple, Amazon and Disney) are all good. However, the bits of software that Sony wrote are terrible. It's as if they are an afterthought to which they paid very little attention.

[CinnamonJalapeno]

@angelacr yt-dlp sounds interesting. Can you point me to some more information?

[angelacr]

Certainly; I find google.com the best of the search engine bunch.