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The code drop was first reported on the Digital Spy forums just before 7am this morning (Thursday); the update addressed a number of issues that have been discussed on the dedicated TV Drive forum.
One of the major bugs fixed is an issue whereby the PVR would tune away without warning from a selected channel to a "channel off air" message. Another, whereby manually padding out a programme's recording time would risk other the failure of other recordings without warning, has also been resolved.
Red-button interactive services should no longer fail, and the interactive application permitting access to Sky Movies 9 and Sky Movies 10 before the watershed is now constantly available.
In addition to measures that were principally bug fixes, a number of enhancements to the operation of TV Drive were also made.
One of the most popular new features is the enabling of widescreen video output when archiving, permitting users to empty their TV Drive hard drives and archive programmes in the desired aspect ratio (previously restricted to 4:3 letterbox only).
TV Drive users will now also be able to stretch 4:3 programming to 16:9 when using the high definition outputs. The process of getting the box into high definition mode has also been streamlined; a wizard on the display and audio menu screen will guide viewers through selecting the appropriate settings on their TVs. Another improvement has been made to the audio setup screen, with users now being able to force the box to output in Dolby Digital 5.1, overriding the auto-negotiated HDMI settings.
A new "recovered recordings" list, added to the "recordings by date" menu, shows programmes that failed to record properly because the TV Drive's hard drive was full or because the box was deprived of power.
The final new feature delivered with today's code drop is a PIN protection override, permitting users to disable PIN protection on all recorded programmes.
There are, however, a number of outstanding issues still being reported by TV Drive users. An infamous problem whereby a user will be stuck with a white-edged black screen when exiting playback of a recorded programme while two recordings are taking place has reportedly been fixed, but was not included in today's code drop. A display issue involving series with more than 10 episodes, where not all episodes are immediately highlighted for recording, is still to be resolved; this is particularly critical, because if a user schedules the additional recordings manually, failed recordings may result. Also, despite the audio improvements included in today's release, audio cracking and pops that are particularly noticeable when the box is hooked into a home cinema system are still intermittently present.
Keep up to date with all the latest TV Drive discussion on the dedicated TV Drive forum.
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