Unable to record on my BT box.

[Grieveson1]

Scheduled programmes have failed to record. I cannot set up a new recording using my remote, the EE TV app nor the button on my box. I have plenty of free disk space. I have carried out a factory reset but am still unable to record. Help please!

[David_H]

Hi @Grieveson1 and thanks for posting. Sorry to hear you have a problem recording, I've been able to track your Humax box down and can see it's reporting a disk error code which is why you have the problem recording.

As you have already tried a full factory reset / delete recordings process and that hasn't fixed the problem, I'd recommend contacting the helpdesk to request a replacement box is sent out to you - I'll put a note on your account to say that we've recommended this option, but do drop me a direct message if you have any problems and I'll help where needed.

Thanks,

David

[frustrated21]

I have exactly the same problem on the same day 12th April was my last recording- has BT updated something and caused some people to be unable to record?

[Grieveson1 · Accepted solution]

Hello. It was discovered that I had an error on my box, so I needed a new one.

[Midnight_Voice]

@frustrated21 

Have you tried a Factory Reset?

If you can still watch recordings, though, best watch what you can before doing this, as it has to wipe the disc and start again.

After a Factory Reset, if it was data corruption on the disc, it should come back good as new. However, if it was a hard fault on the disc, or a hardware issue, the box will be unrecoverable, and you should as BT/EE for a replacement.

I wouldn’t set too much store on this having happened the same day as it happened to another customer though; the box failure rate, though low, is such that it would not be unusual for two or more to give up the ghost on the same day.

[frustrated21]

Thanks,

We have tried the factory resets, and we have been told we can backup the recordings first - so im going to try that before a hard reset.  although im not sure how we would then watch them again!

I cant imagine having to tell a 6 year old they have lost all their programmes in the morning!

[gomezz]

Hold your horses! As far as I know you *cannot* back up your recordings. What you can do is a reset that preserves your recordings. But, of course, if the disk is corrupt then that is probably not going to help.

[rbz5416]

@frustrated21 

@gomezzis correct. Backing up has never been considered important by Youview, despite the hardware almost certainly being capable. At least on the Humax boxes.

[Midnight_Voice]

@rbz5416 @gomezz @frustrated21 

With a modicum of technical knowledge, a Linux distro, and a YouView box hard disc placed in a caddy, it may be possible to copy off all, some, or none, of any terrestrial SD broadcasts on the disc that are outside the realm of any disc corruption that has occurred.

HD broadcasts, and the BT-supplied channels are encrypted and can’t be copied this way.

These can be copied in real time, if they will still play on the box, via the ‘analogue hole’, by using an HDMI to composite video converter into one of those increasingly rare DVD hard disc devices. But this will likely drop the quality to 576i.

Professional equipment can be used via an HDMI to component video converter to get HD quality, albeit analogue again. And stuff we don’t talk about can yield you HD digital copies on BD-Rs 🤫

But none of this is cheap or easy, and it’s only for the really, truly, irreplaceable. And fortunately, it’s very unlikely that YouView showed your wedding, unless you are royalty 😛

It’s very likely, though, that for anything a six-year-old might be attached to, you can still get it on streaming, or on purchasable DVDs or BluRays.

Certainly, the EE Apple TV box, and most other devices beyond the Pro box, are predicated on the as-yet-optimistic view that everything is going to be available on streaming 🤨