Knowledge Base

Troubleshooting

Can I watch a third channel while recording two others?

Yes, you can watch a third chan­nel while record­ing two oth­ers, but it depends on which chan­nels you’re record­ing. This is because digit­al TV chan­nels are broad­cast in groups called multiplexes.

A mul­ti­plex is a group of digit­al chan­nels broad­cast togeth­er on the same fre­quency. In the old ana­logue TV days, each fre­quency could only carry one chan­nel. With digit­al TV, that same fre­quency can carry mul­tiple chan­nels — that’s why we have so many more chan­nels avail­able today.

Here’s how it works with the T4•R’s two tuners:

  • If both record­ings are from the same mul­ti­plex, you can watch any oth­er channel
  • If the record­ings are from dif­fer­ent mul­ti­plexes, you can only watch chan­nels from those same two multiplexes

For example:

  • Record­ing BBC One HD and ITV1 HD (both on BBC B mul­ti­plex)? You can watch any oth­er channel
  • Record­ing BBC One HD (BBC B mul­ti­plex) and Film4 (D3&4 mul­ti­plex)? You can only watch oth­er chan­nels from those two multiplexes

Mak­ing it easi­er to choose chan­nels #

To help identi­fy which chan­nels you can watch while recording:

  1. Go to Home → Set­tings → Menu Pref­er­ences → Flag Unavail­able Channels
  2. Turn this set­ting on
  3. Chan­nels you can’t cur­rently watch will be clearly marked

Oth­er view­ing options #

While record­ing two chan­nels, you can always:

  • Watch a pre­vi­ously recor­ded programme
  • Use stream­ing apps like BBC iPlayer
  • Watch live chan­nels with­in apps that offer them

Note: The T4•R will warn you if select­ing a chan­nel would require stop­ping a recording.

For a list of which chan­nels belong to each mul­ti­plex, vis­it the Freeview chan­nel list­ings page and look for the Mux” column.

Why isn't my Loop Out working when the is in standby?

If your aer­i­al sig­nal isn’t passing through to anoth­er device when your T4•R is in standby, it’s likely because the Loop Out in Standby set­ting is turned off. This set­ting is dis­abled by default to con­serve energy and meet UK/EU power con­sump­tion requirements.

How to enable Loop Out in Standby #

  1. Press HOME on your remote
  2. Go to Set­tings → Sys­tem → Standby Options
  3. Select Loop Out in Standby
  4. Press OK to turn it on

Once enabled, your aer­i­al sig­nal will con­tin­ue to pass through to con­nec­ted devices (like your TV) even when the T4•R is in standby mode.

Why can't I set a series recording for some programmes on my ?

The abil­ity to set a series record­ing on your T4•R depends on the broad­caster mark­ing the pro­gramme as part of a series. If the broad­caster doesn’t identi­fy the pro­gramme as a series, the option to record the series won’t be avail­able. This means you’ll need to set indi­vidu­al record­ings for each epis­ode manually.

How to identi­fy if a pro­gramme is part of a series:

  • Series Icon: Look for the series icon next to the pro­gramme in the TV Guide.
  • Record­ing Options: When you press the Record but­ton on a pro­gramme, the T4•R will expli­citly ask if you want to record the series if it’s marked as part of a series.

If you don’t see the option to record the series or the series icon is absent, it’s because the broad­caster hasn’t sched­uled it as a series.

Why isn't space freed up when I clear Recently Deleted recordings?

The way stor­age space is dis­played on your T4•R dif­fers depend­ing on where you look:

  1. In the Record­ings Menu (press RECS):

    • The free space per­cent­age shown at the top already includes Recently Deleted recordings
    • Clear­ing the Recently Deleted sec­tion won’t change this percentage
    • This gives you an accur­ate view of your total avail­able record­ing space
  2. In Hard Drive Inform­a­tion (Home → Inform­a­tion → Hard Drive):

    • The free space shown in GB does not include Recently Deleted recordings
    • You’ll see the space increase after clear­ing Recently Deleted recordings
    • This shows you the cur­rent tech­nic­al state of the hard drive

The Recently Deleted sec­tion acts like a recycle bin, giv­ing you a chance to recov­er record­ings before they’re per­man­ently removed. The space is already coun­ted as avail­able because these record­ings will be auto­mat­ic­ally deleted when space is needed for new recordings.

Why won't my remote learn from my LG Magic Remote?

The T4•R remote can only learn infrared (IR) sig­nals dur­ing the teach­ing pro­cess. While LG Magic Remotes use both Bluetooth and IR tech­no­logy, they must be spe­cific­ally set to IR mode for teach­ing to work.

Set­ting up your LG Magic Remote for teach­ing #

  1. Put your LG TV into standby mode
  2. On the LG Magic Remote:
    • Press and hold both BACK and HOME buttons
    • Wait until the power but­ton LED turns sol­id red briefly
    • The remote is now in IR-only mode

Once your LG Magic Remote is in IR mode, you can pro­ceed with the stand­ard remote teach­ing pro­cess: How to con­trol your TV with the T4•R remote.

Return­ing your LG Magic Remote to Bluetooth mode #

Most basic func­tions (like volume, power, and chan­nel con­trols) will con­tin­ue to work in IR mode, but advanced fea­tures like voice con­trol and point­er will be unavail­able. To put the LG Magic Remote back in bluetooth mode:

  1. Turn your TV back on
  2. Press OK on the Magic Remote to recon­nect Bluetooth

Why has my only found 5 channels?

If your T4•R has only found five chan­nels dur­ing setup or retune, it’s likely receiv­ing no aer­i­al sig­nal and is only pick­ing up the BBC’s inter­net-based channels:

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

These chan­nels stream over the inter­net and don’t require an aer­i­al connection.

Troubleshoot­ing Steps #

  1. Check Aer­i­al Connection

    • Make sure your aer­i­al cable is firmly con­nec­ted to the Aer­i­al In sock­et on your T4•R
    • Try remov­ing and recon­nect­ing the cable
    • Check the cable isn’t damaged
  2. Test Your Aer­i­al Signal

    • Con­nect the aer­i­al dir­ectly to your TV
    • Per­form a chan­nel scan on your TV
    • If your TV also can’t find chan­nels, you likely have an aer­i­al or sig­nal recep­tion issue
    • If your TV can find chan­nels but your T4•R can’t, please con­tact our sup­port team
  3. Review Your Aer­i­al Setup

    • For reli­able Freeview recep­tion, you need a suit­able rooftop or loft aerial
    • Indoor aer­i­als often don’t provide adequate sig­nal strength
    • If using sig­nal amp­li­fi­ers or split­ters, try bypassing them temporarily

Next Steps #

Why is 103 ITV1 HD showing the wrong regional content?

If you’re see­ing incor­rect region­al news or weath­er on 103 ITV1 HD, it’s because ITV doesn’t provide HD broad­casts for all region­al vari­ations. Some regions share the same ITV1 HD feed, which may not include your spe­cif­ic loc­al content.

To watch loc­al con­tent, switch to the stand­ard defin­i­tion ITV1 chan­nel (usu­ally Chan­nel 3). The SD chan­nel provides the cor­rect region­al pro­gram­ming, includ­ing loc­al news and weather.

Note:

  • This situ­ation is due to ITV’s broad­cast arrange­ments and affects all devices, not just the T4•R.
  • There’s no issue with your device or sig­nal reception.

Why don't some apps like ITVX offer live TV channels on the ?

Cur­rently, only BBC iPlay­er offers live TV chan­nels with­in its app on the T4•R. The avail­ab­il­ity of live TV stream­ing with­in apps depends on both the app pro­viders and Freeview Play plat­form requirements.

For now, you can watch all main chan­nels (includ­ing ITV, Chan­nel 4 and oth­ers) through nor­mal Freeview broad­cast when con­nec­ted to an aer­i­al. We expect more apps to add live TV stream­ing fea­tures dur­ing 2025, which will be delivered to your T4•R through soft­ware updates as they become available.

Why is there no sound from my ?

If you’ve lost sound on stand­ard defin­i­tion (SD) chan­nels, the most com­mon cause is that your T4•R’s intern­al volume has been turned down com­pletely. This can hap­pen par­tic­u­larly if your remote’s volume but­tons have been pro­grammed to con­trol your TV or sound­bar instead.

Quick Fix — Reset Volume #

  1. Press Home on your remote
  2. To reset the T4•R’s intern­al volume to max­im­um, enter this sequence: 951 → RED

Note: This sequence only works from soft­ware ver­sion 2.00. If your T4/T4•R has an earli­er soft­ware ver­sion, please update. You can check the soft­ware ver­sion by going to: Home → Inform­a­tion.

Under­stand­ing the T4•R’s Audio Sys­tem #

  • The T4•R has its own intern­al volume that affects all audio except Dolby from HD channels
  • By default, the T4•R remote’s volume but­tons con­trol this intern­al volume
  • When Dolby is enabled (in Pic­ture & Sound Set­tings) and your TV sup­ports Dolby, HD chan­nel audio bypasses the intern­al volume control

Best Prac­tice for Volume Con­trol #

For optim­al sound qual­ity, we recommend:

  1. Set the T4•R’s intern­al volume to max­im­um (using the reset sequence above)
  2. Use your TV, sound­bar, or AV receiv­er to con­trol the final out­put volume
  3. If you prefer using the T4•R remote for volume con­trol, ensure it’s pro­grammed to con­trol your main audio device.

Why are my recordings starting late or ending early on the ?

There are sev­er­al com­mon reas­ons why you might miss the begin­ning or end of your recor­ded pro­grammes. Here’s what might be hap­pen­ing and how to fix it:

Broad­caster Sig­nalling Issues #

When using Auto­mat­ic Pad­ding (the default set­ting), the T4•R relies on sig­nals from broad­casters to know exactly when to start and stop record­ing. Some­times these sig­nals can be incor­rect or miss­ing, caus­ing record­ings to start late or end early.

To resolve this, try switch­ing to Manu­al Pad­ding, which adds a fixed amount of time before and after each record­ing. See our guide on the dif­fer­ence between manu­al and auto­mat­ic pad­ding for how to change this setting.

Record­ing Mul­tiple Pro­grammes #

The T4•R has two tuners, mean­ing it can record two chan­nels at once. When you have mul­tiple record­ings sched­uled close togeth­er on dif­fer­ent chan­nels, the T4•R might need to stop one record­ing to start anoth­er. This can mean miss­ing the end of one pro­gramme or the start of another.

Back-to-Back Record­ings #

When record­ing con­sec­ut­ive pro­grammes on the same chan­nel, the T4•R has to man­age pad­ding care­fully to avoid over­lap. This might mean some pad­ding is omit­ted between pro­grammes. Learn more about how this works in our guide to hand­ling con­sec­ut­ive record­ings.

Still Hav­ing Prob­lems? #

If you’ve tried these solu­tions and are still miss­ing the start or end of your record­ings, please con­tact us and we’ll help you invest­ig­ate further.

Why is my Bose soundbar responding to my remote?

If your Bose TV Speak­er sound­bar (mod­el 431974) is unex­pec­tedly respond­ing to your T4•R remote – for example, chan­ging volume when you press chan­nel but­tons – this is a known issue with that spe­cif­ic Bose model.

How to Fix This #

Bose has released a firm­ware update that resolves this prob­lem. To fix it:

  1. Vis­it the Bose TV Speak­er Firm­ware Update page
  2. Down­load and install the latest firm­ware fol­low­ing Bose’s instructions
  3. After updat­ing, your sound­bar should no longer respond incor­rectly to the T4•R remote

Still Hav­ing Issues? #

If the prob­lem con­tin­ues after updat­ing your soundbar’s firmware:

  • Check that the update was suc­cess­fully installed
  • Con­tact Bose Sup­port for help with your soundbar
  • Or con­tact our Cus­tom­er Ser­vice team for addi­tion­al assistance

Note: This issue spe­cific­ally affects the Bose TV Speak­er (mod­el 431974) and may not apply to oth­er Bose sound­bar models.

Why does my switch off after 3 hours?

By default, your T4•R is set to auto­mat­ic­ally go into standby after 3 hours without any inter­ac­tion. This is an energy-sav­ing feature.

To change or dis­able this setting:

  1. Go to Home → Set­tings → Sys­tem → Standby Options
  2. Select Auto Standby
  3. Choose your pre­ferred dur­a­tion or turn it off completely