I've just had an email from Ross technical support concerning timer
recordings on the Ross HD Satellite Receiver (B&Q/Homebase).

Although marketed as an HD box with "live" recording through the USB,
the receiver has 8 timers and limited PVR functionality. Ross now
confirm that the timers use low-level systems which remain active when
the box is in standby. However, the calendar is a high-level function
which requires the full chip-set to be powered up.

Consequently, a timer which is set to start a recording with the box in
the low-power standby mode will only work on the same day, because the
calendar isn't being updated at midnight.

The work-around is to use the normal standby mode, with the low-power
option turned off. The oddity here is that two timers are then needed -
the first to power-on the box and the second for the recording duration.
Without using the "every day" and "every week" options, this reduces the
number of timer slots to four.

I've had one failed recording with this method, after cold-booting the
box with it tuned to 3DsatTV. The box took the time from the clock on
this channel, which was more than two hours in error...

Apart from the built-in player, I've found that recordings from the Ross
can be played back on a PC with Windows Media Player, simply by changing
the file extension from *.ts to *.mpg. They can be played "as is" using
"Media Player Classic".

The Ross can also be persuaded to record the Freesat EPG, which can then
browsed on a PC.

--
John Legon