I have a Pioneer plasma PDP-5070HD TV and a pioneer dvd-recorder with HDD, model DVR-531H. Both have G-link connections. The plasma TV is connected directly to the cable from the wall and uses a cable card to receive various channels. A TVGUIDE is available on the TV. I would like to use this guide to record programs on the Pioneer DVD recorder. Is this possible? How?

Currently, I have connected the video/audio out from the TV to the 'L1' input on the DVD recorder to record on its HDD. I can manually record in "real time". However, I would like to use the HDD recorder as a DVR. Can the g-link connections on the TV and the DVD recorder be of any use here? If both are connected through this link then can the TVGUIDE "turn on" the DVD recorder automatically and start recording?

Thanks for help.

Options

I have not used "G-Link," but my Pio 640 has a feature that would allow it to function as a SD DVR. One of the line inputs is switchable (in the set-up menu), so that when it detects a signal, it starts recording. If your TV has line outputs, you could run those to your Pio, and it would start recording when you turned your TV on, assuming you had set that option, and left your Pio set to that line input.

If your TV allows you to program channel changes, you could program the Pio to turn on and record, coinciding with the TV. I used to have a Philips TV that would let you program channel changes, but my current 56" Sammy DLP doesn't do that, I don't think...

I own a Pio 531. As far as I can tell, its "g-link" port is not interactive: you can't hardwire it directly to the TV and have the TV operate the recorder. According to page 106 of the instruction manual, the only way to have an external tuner or set-top box control the 531 is via IR transmitter. You would need to connect the little transmitter that came with the 531 to your TV g-link port, and place the transmitter in front of the 531. Your TV would need to have selectable control codes for other devices: you would set the TV to control a "Pioneer VCR". The 531 has to be powered on continually for this to work, since it only accepts commands to "record" and "stop".

All in all this is not a terribly satisfactory way to use the machine. The Pio 531-533-633 recorders are a paradox: they were designed chiefly to control an external cable/satellite tuner via their own TVGOS system, but unfortunately that system was poorly implemented and failure prone leading many owners to disable it. Yet without their TVGOS running, the 531-533-633 are nearly useless as DVRs. They work fine as long as you are willing to set their incredibly annoying manual TVGOS timer windows along with your cable/satellite box or TV-tuner timers. But the 2005 Pios are near-worthless if you desire even semi-automatic operation. They were unique in their stunningly bad TVGOS engineering, the other machines that employed TVGOS (Panasonic and Toshiba) left the Pios in the dust, especially the Pannys which were really the only units to fully perfect the concept. The Pioneers that came after (640, 550, 560, etc.) are much better units, albeit without the TVGOS feature. The 531-533-633 are faulty but decent machines if you can live with disabling the TVGOS.

When I last checked, the g-link out from TV's would only work VCR's. Check the Pio's manual and see if they list any codes for DVD recorders. The newest models may be different now, or, you might get lucky and find a VCR code which will work a DVD recorder (although that's doubtful).

Otherwise, you'll have to set timers through the TV Guide on Screen feature on the TV (which you can do), and separate timers on the recorder. You need to check your Pio's manual for the information on how set recordings through the guide.

(I don't think you can't use the "auto-start" feature on the recorder, because I believe the TV has to be left on. The manual will tell you for sure if it needs to or not.)

Just to followup on Rammitinski's thoughts, he is correct that the 531-533-633 do not have an "auto-start" feature: as the only Pioneers ever made with TVGOS and g-link, they omitted this feature (auto-start returned on the 640 and later models, but as Rammitinski noted this is designed to work with cable/satellite boxes, not TVs). I am unable to include a snapshot of the actual 531 manual in my post, but I can verify it specifically mentions on page 106 that if you want an external g-link source to control the 531, that device should be set to control a "Pioneer VCR", emphasis on the term VCR. Apparently the record and record stop commands for Pioneer DVD recorders are the same as for their old VCRs, and Pioneer assumes older g-link hardware may only list Pio VCR commands. The 531 can respond to any of three different remote codesets, for the convenience of owners who have more than one Pioneer, but g-link hardware most likely only transmits remote code 1. Make sure your Pio 531 is at the default "remote 1" setting before trying to control it via g-link. (The remote codes are set in the 531's Home Menu>Initial Setup screen.)

Thank You Citibear and Rammitinski. This is disappointing and I was afraid of what you posted here. When I first got the Pio recorder, I had tried several VCR codes but could not make it work. Hence, thought of the g-link connection!

I guess, my only (workable) way is to split the cable feed to the recorder. Use the TVGUIDE on the recorder to program the recordings. The downside is that I will not be able to record the (clear) digital channels that are available via cable for free. But at least I can program the analog channels (for a few years). Do you see any issues with this approach.

Thanks.

Options2000, yes what you suggest is how the 531 was intended to be used so you should not have any problem. You do have three potential "gotchas" to watch out for, however:

1) the specific TVGOS system in the 531 is very fragile and is known to fail easily, caused by hard drive corruption, if/when it fails the HDD is not really repairable and the recorder ends up as scrap metal.

2) the TVGOS in the 531 is analog-based, and at AVS we are getting many reports now that the analog pilot signal is being phased out as cable systems transition to primarily digital retransmission. At some point in the not-too-distant future, analog TVGOS will be gone and the utility of the 531 will be diminished greatly.

3) if your cable system transitions completely to the new digital QAM standard, the 531 tuner will not be able to pull any channels off the cable connection.

I really don't want to be overly negative here, but the Pioneer 531-533-633 are a special case. It is a sad fact that a great many owners consider them to be the "recorders from hell". Based on my personal experience servicing several dozen Pioneers over the last few years, I tend to agree that the 531 becomes disposable once the TVGOS burns out its hard drive. The 531-533-633 hdds cannot be repaired once they corrupt, nor can they be replaced, because the TVGOS operating system of the recorder is stupidly coded onto the hard drive not firmware in the recorder. While there are various methods posted on the net explaining how to code a fresh hard drive with the Pio TVGOS system, trust me on this: its a nightmare process, and it almost always fails. Pioneer itself now refuses to accept these models for post-warranty repair: that should be a heads-up for anyone considering long-term use of these machines.

At this precise moment in time, owners of the 2005 Pios need to carefully weigh their options, and act soon before the options disappear. There is still a core group of hobbyists who want the TVGOS feature at any cost, no matter what the obstacles, and they avidly purchase 531s off eBay and CraigsList because their rotten reputation drops their selling price to less than half that of comparable TVGOS Panasonics. You can still get $200 or so for a 531 with a functional TVGOS. I advise selling while there is still a market for the 531: you can add another $50-100 and pick up a new Pioneer 460/560 from Canada or a Magnavox H2160 with built-in ATSC/QAM tuner and hard drive. Either would be more reliable and flexible than an aging 531.

If you picked up your 531 used at a good price, or you bought it new a long time ago, you can certainly gamble and let it run the TVGOS flat-out for as long as the unit can endure. Some of them last years, many flame out after six months of full TVGOS operation. When they work, they are great recorders, just understand the risk involved. If the unit dies, it can't be fixed, and resale value plummets to as little as $50. I got my own 531 used from eBay three years ago, I paid $200 and have preserved it by disabling the TVGOS altogether and using it manually. Since I primarily use it to transfer VHS tapes to DVD, turning off the TVGOS doesn't affect me, but I would not want it as my main machine (I have a couple of Pio 450 and 460 units for cable recording).