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Bell TV 9241 HD PVR discussion thread

1M views 3K replies 596 participants last post by  dshag 
#1 ·
This discussion thread is for owners to discuss the new ExpressVu 9241 HD Receiver when it becomes available.

Any posts discussing when it will be available or from NON-owners will be deleted and the poster will receive an infraction.

Once again, this thread is for OWNERS only.

For non-owners who would like to learn more and discuss the new ExpressVu 6131 or 9241 receivers you can discuss it here.
 
#1,639 ·
SD channels

Recently had a new (not re-furb) 9241 installed bell tech as part of the swap for a 9200. Since then there have been continuous problems with getting or maintaining the SD channels. Almost always get the error message 002 i.e.
'sat not currently available' as if there was storm activity. It's mostly noticed in the 500 level channels but exists in a number of others as well. When the channel does come in there's often freeze-frame as well as loud clicking noises
which can make a program unwatchable.

Oddly, to me, there are no similar problems on any of the HD channels. A neighbour suggested the problem may be a mis-aligned dish.

Before calling Bell has anyone had/have a similar issue with the 9241? The same situation exists with a new 6400 on a second TV.

Apologies if this issue has been previously dealt with but I did a search and wasn't successful.

Thanks.
 
#1,642 ·
It depends on if you will be charged or not, since you have dish care and as well you recently had a tech come and change you to a 9241 and the issue wasn't corrected then, then you should be entitled at this time to get the issue corrected for free because really the tech should have caught it when he ran check switch on the 9241 but may have not bothered to fix it, it could also be a LNBF that is on its way out if its a DPP Twin and he didn't change to it or perhaps a bad switch or LNBF if your on legacy SW44 setup. (You mention you have another receiver correct?)
 
#1,643 ·
Yes, as part of the swap of my 9200 I was able to get a 6400 along with
the 9241 and they were installed by Bell techs about a week apart. Began to notice the problem when the 6400 was installed prior to the 9141 being installed a week or so later. Before that, with the old receivers, this issue didn't exist except during storms and then both HD as well as SD channels were affected as would be expected.
 
#1,644 ·
"When the channel does come in there's often freeze-frame as well as loud clicking noises"

You mention clicking noises so its also possible that the 9241 you got has a bad hard drive inside the unit that causes and error while trying to load the channel into its memory so you can skip back and forward and such, pvr functions as its known (possible because it was driven to your home and possibly could have hit a bad bump or was sliding in the truck for some time) you don't know the history, so don't expect it to be perfect even if it looks brand new, (I chimed in because I read the previous post without adding this fact in)
 
#1,645 ·
I am suspecting a dish alignment issue or perhaps some bad hardware now, only other idea i have is after that storm, the connectors are full of water and are causing issues. Just a hunch but again I am pretty sure you are entitled to a tech visit since it hasn't been that long for a failure to occur
 
#1,646 ·
Update

Called Bell yesterday and the CSR immediately scheduled a tech to arrive for today, no charge.

Tech arrived and insisted the problem was not a dish re-alignment issue but
a problem with a tree blocking the sight-lines. I pointed out that the old receivers weren't affected by the same tree and that the loss of SD channels only showed up with the two new receivers. He then said that the new HD receivers aren't designed to watch SD channels. When told that was an absurd idea he agreed to check the dish and re-align if necessary.

The problem was immediately resolved and after an hour seems to be holding.

We'll see........
 
#1,649 ·
Wow seriously, that's the best nonsense I have heard in a long time, HD receivers not receiving SD channels properly, (Last time I checked they are backwards compatible or did that change due to a new policy?!?!?!) LOL, how else do customers with HD receivers get there internationals channels....aren't they not in fact SD?? LMAO



"wfg"-----> Good thing you where persistent and knew it wasn't a line of sight issue as it was working properly before, I am going to assume this but I am thinking laziness had a role here, and he or she (the tech) didn't feel like going up there ladder and doing there job because it seemed hard...sigh But congrats on getting yourself back in order!
 
#1,650 ·
First time I've had a need to use a Bell sat. tech in years and I'd forgotten the
dodgy quality of the one who installed the second tuner for the dish about 5 years ago. For the swap I had 3 different techs, 2 to deliver and set-up
receivers and the latest one. The first two were ok, but didn't exactly
fill me with confidence that they knew what they were doing. Both
shrugged when I suggested the signal strength for 91 was weak at
55-60%.

In contrast, I've needed Bell internet techs numerous times over the
past two years or so and almost everyone of them (10 to 15) have
been knowledgeable, competent and never once tried to b.s. me. Maybe
they're all part of the same unit, I have no idea, but I've never felt
that any of the internet techs were clueless. All of the problems
were and still are, a result of old Bell infrastructure resulting in
slow speeds. Which is why I'm switching to tech savvy.

Thanks to all for the feedback.
 
#1,652 ·
No problem......I'm near Jane and Bloor in Toronto.

But what really bugs me is that I can't
get more than 5.7 mbps download yet one street over there's a new switch box
and they can get a full 12 mbps. To make matters worse I'm on a short street
and the box is only 8-10 houses away. In addition both streets are a similar distance to the main station.

Techs are frustrated because Bell won't upgrade the box on my street so they have to take the customer frustration. Meanwhile we're constantly told by Bell marketing that a full 12 mbps is available.
 
#1,653 ·
Ah, all that info was about the old interweb stuff, I do not deal with those Techs but do know most of the Managers from your area with regard to Bell TV.....
 
#1,657 ·
Hi. I am having trouble getting my 9241 to recognize any internal hard drive.

The drive that was shipped with the unit died completely. The drive doesn't respond to sata power at all. That was an Hitachi HCP725032GLA380. The drive has had problems for awhile but lasted for about 3 years.

I then purchased a replacement drive, the Hitachi HCS5C1032CLA382. IT is also not recognized. It does respond to sata power. It spins up. It is usable in a PC situation.

I recently had the opportunity to test the latter drive in another 9241. It worked. A different drive also worked. Neither drive works in my unit though. We tried it with the sata data/power cables from the working 9241 as well, no change.

Here is what happens. When I turn on the PVR, it responds with power/green and then HDTV/blue for a few minutes. The record/red light then flashes. This happens if there's no drive in the unit, or if there is a drive in the unit. The unit will be totally frozen this way until it shuts itself off, after a few hours. It can then be turned on and used as an ordinary non-PVR device. So from that standpoint, everything is fine. However, after a few hours it will reboot looking for a hard drive, fail to find one, and then be frozen for a few more hours until it shuts itself off.

I guess my question is, does anybody have anything useful to suggest, or any information that would be of use?

Thank you in advance.
 
#1,658 ·
I have never worked on 9241 myself, but have worked with many hard drives for pc, I know somewhere there is more detail information about
what/which hard drives will work with 9241, Perhaps somebody else can find it for you, sorry I'm not feeling well but I can give one small suggestion.
Make sure the sleep function for drive your installing is turn off.

So the drive does not try spin down after certain set amount of time.
The only way I know would be go to the drive site and see if there any option/drivers that turn sleep off first on PC side,
then have the drive reformatted back under 9241.

It is also possible just that drive may not work with your 9241. But I wish you luck and hope somebody else with have better answer for you,

There is also another thing you may consider, The HDD controller of Main board on your 9241 could also gone bad..
 
#1,659 ·
Unless the replacement drive matches EXACTLY to the list of ones that work, it will NOT function. Even 1 digit difference is enough to stop it working.

I would suggest locating the list of drives that are known to work and checking your replacement drive against that list.
 
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