FAQs

Can I skip adverts on recorded programmes?

Yes! There are two easy ways to skip through adverts in your recordings:

1. Fast For­ward

   • Press @fa-remote-ff to fast for­ward through content
   • Each press increases the speed up to 64x
   • Press @fa-remote-play to resume nor­mal playback

2. Quick Skip

   • Press @fa-remote-d-pad-right to jump for­ward 30 seconds
   • Press mul­tiple times to skip longer advert breaks
   • If you go too far, press @fa-remote-d-pad-left to jump back 10 seconds

You can cus­tom­ise both the for­ward and back­ward skip dur­a­tions by nav­ig­at­ing to Home → Set­tings → Play­back.

Want to learn more about play­back con­trols? See Play­back.

Can I transfer recordings from the T2-R or T3-R to ?

No, it’s not pos­sible to trans­fer record­ings from the T2‑R or T3‑R to the short-mod­el. This is due to restric­tions from Freeview that pro­tect HD record­ings using spe­cial encryp­tion, which our devices don’t imple­ment. These include:

1. DTCP-IP for secure stream­ing or trans­fer­ring of HD recordings.
2. AACS for lock­ing HD record­ings when copied, allow­ing only one copy to be made.

Even if record­ings were trans­ferred, the receiv­ing device would need to sup­port DTCP-IP and AACS to play them.

While trans­fer­ring SD record­ings is allowed, for con­sist­ency, our devices cur­rently treat all record­ings the same.

Using both record­ers togeth­er? #

If you plan to keep both your T2‑R/T3‑R and short-mod­el, you can pre­vent remote con­trol inter­fer­ence by pair­ing your short-mod­el with its remote. See: Pair your short-mod­el and remote to pre­vent inter­fer­ence with oth­er Man­hat­tan devices.

Can I connect the to an older TV without HDMI?

No, the short-mod­el is designed for use with TVs that have HDMI inputs and only fea­tures an HDMI out­put for audio and video.

While devices are avail­able that can con­vert HDMI inputs to ana­logue out­puts (com­pat­ible with SCART or RCA con­nec­tions), these may not deliv­er the best res­ults. If used with the short-mod­el, menus are likely to appear in poor qual­ity and may be dif­fi­cult to read.

Some of our older products, such as the Man­hat­tan T1, T2‑R, and SX, were com­pat­ible with our option­al Ana­logue AV kit. These mod­els fea­tured a mini-jack ana­logue out­put, which the short-mod­el does not have. As a res­ult, the short-mod­el is not com­pat­ible with the Ana­logue AV kit.

Can I play my own videos or media files on the ?

No, the short-mod­el does not sup­port play­ing videos from USB devices or stream­ing media over your net­work. This includes:

• Video files stored on USB drives
• Record­ings from oth­er Freeview recorders
• Media stream­ing via DLNA or oth­er net­work protocols

While we under­stand this would be a use­ful fea­ture, sup­port­ing media play­back would require extens­ive devel­op­ment to handle the many dif­fer­ent video and audio formats that exist. For now, the short-mod­el focuses on provid­ing excel­lent Freeview record­ing and play­back capabilities.

If you need to play media files, we recom­mend using a ded­ic­ated media play­er or smart TV apps for this purpose.

What is Freeview Play Channel Management and why do BBC HD channels appear twice in my channel list?

You may have noticed that BBC HD chan­nels, such as BBC One HD, appear twice in your chan­nel list. This is because your short-mod­el is required to use a new fea­ture called Freeview Play Chan­nel Man­age­ment when con­nec­ted to the internet.

Here’s what Freeview Play Chan­nel Man­age­ment does:

1. Man­ages chan­nel num­bers: Freeview Play alloc­ates chan­nel num­bers based on your loc­a­tion, avail­able trans­mit­ters, and any region­al con­flicts. It handles this auto­mat­ic­ally through the Freeview Play server.

2. HD chan­nel swap­ping: For example, you will see BBC One HD on both chan­nel 1 and 101, with BBC One SD mov­ing to chan­nel 611. This change is part of Freeview’s plan to make HD chan­nels more prom­in­ent. BBC chan­nels are the first to do this and oth­er broad­casters may follow.

3. Inter­net chan­nels: Without an aer­i­al, you can still access five inter­net-based BBC chan­nels: BBC Three (301), BBC Scot­land (302), BBC ALBA (303), BBC NEWS (501) and BBC Par­lia­ment (502). More chan­nels may fol­low in the future.

How do I remove the duplic­ates? #

Option 1: Hide or delete duplicates

1. Go to Home → Set­tings → Chan­nels → Edit Channels
2. Choose to hide or delete the duplic­ate channels

Option 2: Turn off Freeview Play Chan­nel Management

This will restore the tra­di­tion­al Freeview chan­nel num­bers, with SD chan­nels start­ing at 1 and HD chan­nels at 101. It will also remove the five inter­net chan­nels. How­ever, since these chan­nels are already avail­able via your aer­i­al, this shouldn’t be an issue for most users

To dis­able Chan­nel Management:

1. Go to Home → Set­tings → Chan­nels → Freeview Play Chan­nel Management
2. Press OK to per­form a full retune.

Import­ant: Retun­ing will reset favour­ites, hid­den chan­nels, sched­uled record­ings, remind­ers, and region­al set­tings. You can also choose to restore any deleted channels.

We know see­ing BBC chan­nels twice might be con­fus­ing, and we’d likely dis­able this fea­ture by default if Freeview Play Chan­nel Man­age­ment wasn’t required!

Can I reorder channels on the ?

No, it’s not pos­sible to change the chan­nel order on the short-mod­el. Freeview Play requires man­u­fac­tur­ers to keep the offi­cial chan­nel numbering.

How­ever, we plan to add a fea­ture that will allow you to reorder chan­nels in your Favour­ites list. This means you’ll be able to cus­tom­ise the chan­nel order when fil­ter­ing by Favour­ites in the TV Guide and Home Screen.

You may have noticed that BBC One HD appears at both chan­nel 1 and 101, with BBC One SD moved to 611. This is part of Freeview Play Chan­nel Man­age­ment, which auto­mat­ic­ally man­ages chan­nels when your short-mod­el is con­nec­ted to the internet.

If you prefer the tra­di­tion­al Freeview chan­nel num­bers, with SD chan­nels start­ing at 1 and HD chan­nels at 101, please see: Why do BBC HD chan­nels appear twice in my list with Freeview Play Chan­nel Man­age­ment??.

How do I stop my filters resetting after standby?

By default, any fil­ters you set (like favour­ite chan­nels in the TV Guide) will reset when your short-mod­el goes into standby. To keep your fil­ters active:

1. Go to Home → Set­tings → Menu Options
2. Select Reset Fil­ters Automatically
3. Change the set­ting to Nev­er

Now, your fil­ters will stay act­ive even after standby, until you clear them manually.

Keep in mind, each of the fol­low­ing menus has its own fil­ter settings:

• TV Guide
• Home Screen On Now
• Record­ings
• Fea­tured
• Search Res­ults

To manu­ally clear a fil­ter in any menu:

1. Press @fa-remote-blue to show fil­ter options
2. Press @fa-remote-yellow to clear the filter

Why is an internet connection needed to search the TV Guide?

Your short-mod­el needs an inter­net con­nec­tion to search the TV Guide because the search relies on data from the Freeview Play serv­er. This allows your device to access:

• More detailed pro­gramme information
• Images of the programmes
• Epis­ode and series numbers

This makes for a much rich­er and more help­ful search exper­i­ence than just using the broad­cast sig­nal alone.

How do I customise HDMI-CEC features on my ?

The short-mod­el sup­ports HDMI-CEC fea­tures, which allows TVs and con­nec­ted devices to con­trol each oth­er through the HDMI cable. You can adjust these set­tings by going to Home → Set­tings → Sys­tem → HDMI Con­trol.

Here are the options available:

1. Activ­a­tion Sync (Default: On)

   • Auto­mat­ic­ally turns on TVs and con­nec­ted devices when the short-mod­el is used
   • Puts the short-mod­el into standby when the TV is switched off

2. Turn Off Devices (Default: Off)

   • Turns off TVs and con­nec­ted devices when the short-mod­el is switched off

3. Auto Power On (Default: Off)

   • Turns on the short-mod­el when you switch to its HDMI input on your TV
   • Turns on the short-mod­el when the TV is switched on, as long as the short-model’s input was last selected

Import­ant: HDMI-CEC must also be enabled on your TV and oth­er con­nec­ted devices. #

Man­u­fac­tur­ers use dif­fer­ent names for HDMI-CEC, such as:

• Sam­sung: Anynet+
• Sony: BRAVIA Sync
• LG: Sim­pLink
• Panason­ic: VIERA Link
• Philips: EasyLink
• Toshiba: Reg­za Link
• Sharp: Aquos Link

Check your TV or device’s manu­al for instruc­tions on enabling HDMI-CEC features.

How do I use the Web Remote to control my ?

You can con­trol your mod­el using a vir­tu­al remote on your phone, tab­let or com­puter through any web browser. Your device must be con­nec­ted to the same net­work as your short-model.

To set up and use the Web Remote:

1. Enable the Web Remote:

   • Go to Home → Set­tings → Inter­net → Brows­ing Options → Web Remote.
   • Press OK to turn it on.
   • A web address will appear on your TV screen..

2. Access the Web Remote:

   • Make sure your device is con­nec­ted to the same net­work as your short-model.
   • Open a web browser on your device.
   • Enter the web address shown on your TV screen into the browser’s address bar.

3. Use the Web Remote:

   • Once con­nec­ted, a vir­tu­al remote will appear on your screen, work­ing just like your phys­ic­al remote.

Note: The Web Remote can­not cur­rently be used to wake your short-mod­el from standby mode.

Can I browse the web on my ?

No, while the short-mod­el uses a web browser to run stream­ing apps like BBC iPlay­er and ITV Hub, it doesn’t sup­port gen­er­al web browsing.

This design choice helps ensure:

• Stable and reli­able performance
• Effi­cient use of sys­tem memory
• Pro­tec­tion against secur­ity risks
• Reli­able record­ing func­tion­al­ity (for T4•R)

The pre-installed stream­ing apps are spe­cially optim­ised and tested to work with­in the short-model’s cap­ab­il­it­ies. Unlike gen­er­al web­sites that can use unpre­dict­able amounts of memory (espe­cially those with advert­ising or social media ele­ments), these apps are designed to work with­in spe­cif­ic memory lim­its to main­tain con­sist­ent performance.

Does the need an internet connection?

Can I watch Freeview channels without an aerial?

You’ll need an aer­i­al to watch most chan­nels on your short-mod­el. How­ever, a small num­ber of chan­nels can be streamed over the inter­net, but these can­not be recorded.

Freeview Play inter­net chan­nels #

When con­nec­ted to the inter­net, the short-mod­el can stream these chan­nels without an aerial:

• 301 BBC Three
• 302 BBC Scot­land
• 303 BBC ALBA
• 501 BBC News
• 502 BBC Parliament

These chan­nels will appear if you con­nec­ted your short-mod­el to the inter­net dur­ing setup and selec­ted to receive them. If you didn’t have the inter­net con­nec­ted at that time but do now, you can per­form a retune by going to:

Home → Set­tings → Chan­nels → Auto Retune → Retune & Clear Pref­er­ences.

Please note that Freeview Play Chan­nel Man­age­ment must be turned on to receive these inter­net chan­nels. It’s enabled by default, but if you turned it off, you can switch it back on by going to:

Home → Set­tings → Chan­nels → Freeview Play Chan­nel Man­age­ment.

Learn more about Freeview Play Chan­nel Man­age­ment here.

Live TV through apps #

You can also find addi­tion­al live chan­nels from the BBC in the BBC iPlay­er app. Addi­tion­al live TV options are planned for ITVX and oth­er apps in future updates.

Hybrid chan­nels (aer­i­al and inter­net needed) #

Some chan­nels in the 200 range are hybrid chan­nels, stream­ing live con­tent via apps. For example, 254 On Demand 365 provides Crime, His­tory, and Nature chan­nels, while 255 France 24 streams mul­tiple ver­sions of the news chan­nel. How­ever, you’ll need an aer­i­al to tune these hybrid chan­nels first, before access­ing their inter­net streams.

Import­ant note about aer­i­als #

For reli­able recep­tion of most Freeview chan­nels, we recom­mend using a rooftop or loft aer­i­al. Indoor aer­i­als typ­ic­ally don’t provide adequate sig­nal strength or quality.

Can I use the outside the UK?

No, the short-mod­el is designed spe­cific­ally for use in the UK with Freeview Play.

If you try to use the short-mod­el out­side the UK:

• You may not be able to receive TV sig­nals as the short-mod­el is built for the UK’s D‑Book TV spe­cific­a­tion and DVB‑T and DVB-T2 broadcasts.
• Stream­ing ser­vices like BBC iPlay­er and ITVX will be blocked due to geo­graph­ic­al restrictions.
• Pro­gramme guide data and inform­a­tion will not be available.

We recom­mend pur­chas­ing the short-mod­el only if you live in the UK.