Digital TV Station timers

Over the past week or so my PVR has been showing incorrect times on its display. That means that it has an incorrect time in its memory, which in turn means that it will fire itself up to record stuff at the wrong time.

Why would this be?

Last night I bounced around through the different stations with two different PVRs, and it seems that whenever I went to WIN TV (or the other channels broadcast on the same frequency: GO! and WIN HD), the ‘Info’ time was wrong, showing several hours earlier than it ought to have. When I changed to a different station, the time reverted back to the correct setting.

We really are in the hands of the TV stations when it comes to recording, and not just because a station’s broadcast times might be incorrect. If its embedded clock is incorrect it can wreck your other recordings.

Update (10:33am): So it wasn’t just me.

Update 2 (10:55am): Okay, as I write this sentence it is 10:38am on Monday 15 March. On the Topfield 7100 WIN TV is showing 7:58pm on Sunday 14 March. I switch over the ABC and the time is now 10:41am today. I switch back to WIN and after about 20 second, the time resets to 7:57pm yesterday. I go to SC10 at its 10:41am. Prime TV is 10:42am. SBS is showing 10:43. GO! on 88 is okay for about 20 seconds, and then resets back to 7:57pm.

Using a Beyonwiz DP-P2 ABC2 is showing 10:45am. SC10 HD is also showing 10:45am. WIN HD is showing 10:46am. With the Topfield, WIN HD switched back to 7:57pm yesterday.

This is odd, because it was the Beyonwiz that was showing the incorrect time. It could be that it polls the station for a time update less frequently.

To check that I’ve just switched off the BW and then switched it back on. I figured it would do a time check as part of the startup. Sure enough, within a few seconds of starting on WIN, the time reset to 7:57pm yesterday.

Final update (11:04pm): I’ve just checked with a Sharp digital TV and it is acting in the same way, showing the correct time on all stations except for the WIN ones, and then resetting to 7:57pm on 14 March with those.

All fixed update (6:16pm): I rang WIN TV in Canberra this morning to report this. The girl on the phone said that they were aware of the issue and expected it to be fixed soon. It seems to have been okay all afternoon.