I consider not having to worry about placement to be a big big plus.

While a timer fix would be nice, what with the advent of the T-165 and integrated tuner availability for OTA timing, I can live with manual recording of D***.

Timer will come, just not in this release.

So far so good still


dave

Now, if what I am testing now works, then maybe, just maybe, .... ;0

dave

Okay, looks like Richard and I just got the last bug worked out. Too late in the evening to finish up because he has to finish the docs, and I need to review.

But, to get ready, here are some things you can get ready. The process will be to link you to an update patch process. You will need to take you disc, make a gi file from recordnow max, run the patch, and then make a different disc with recordnow max. Thats it.

If you dont have recordnow max, you can get a trial version at

http://www.stompinc.com/trial/index.phtml?stp.

I would load it up now and install since its 12 Meg.

Again, I have yet to make the s/w fail in 24 hours with HBO, HDnet, and PPV no matter how I change channels, have the computer laying on top of the dtc100, etc. This looks like the real thing!!!!!!!!

So, get ready, and hopefully, if nothing else comes up, be looking tomorrow and let the fun begin.

Dave

This sounds like great news, Dave!

Finally!

I had to call my computer nerd son to stop by to help me on Sunday. I'm READY.

Great news Dave and thanks for all the work. I'll try this when it is ready. The one thing that I would consider HUGE is if this means that I can get recordings to my HTPC so that I can play them back through ZoomPlayer. Leszek has some new software for the HTPC that fixes up more signal issues than his old stuff, but I hadn't gotten around to trying it, yet. I'll wait for this new stuff from you guys and then try the combo.

I'm able to get short bursts to run from my HTPC now (or longer sessions with stuff from Dish) and it looks so good on my 116" wide screen with my D-ILA projector that I would love to be able to run all my 1080i stuff through there instead of the deinterlacer/scaler in the projector.

I know you mentioned that other things could be done with the AVX-1. It sounds like I might be able to use it in some way for DishNetwork stuff at some point if I decide to order that service, as well as the DirecTV that I have now. I'm guessing that this would require buying a Dish STB (or mod) from Richard if he releases one. Now that it looks like he will be free to do that :)

Thanks,
Darin

I am not sure how the AVX-1 would be of any use for Dish. As far as I know it is simply a "stream fixer" to take care of some things unique to the DTV signal.

Ran all night again on HBO, no problemos.

This release no timer or PC from AVX-1. Its on the list for a future release.

Now, wouldnt it be cool if one company could offer solutions that work for HD for both Direct TV and Dish? ;) Now, any of the big boys working towards what us customers really want with all sat, pc based, etc?
This is why I ask, where are you spending your money. With someone who continues to improve what we want. Or companys that dont?

I hope today is a good day.

Now, if you really want to be even one more step ahead, take your B2 disc, and image it into a .gi file called (VERY IMPORTANT!!!!) CDIMAGE.gi
(Again, using the recordnow max program.)

Then you will ready for the patch.

Dave

Dave,
Great news! What shall we call this release, Gold 1.0?

The release we will all be patching is 0.8B2 CD. Will be patched to 0.8B3.

Gold would imply 169time is done. They are never done giving us new features as you have and will continue to see into the future. Now, if we could just get a s/w package for a tivo function written, who needs the 921 or any of these limiting devices, we can just do it all ourselves!!!

Dave

Originally posted by h2ofun
I have a hub between the avx-1 and dvhs deck so the cabling is about 25 feet.

Did I see you type hub? :D Very cool! Off to make my image file now :D

Dave,
I think you have a current version one ahead of what I have. Mine is 0.8.B1.

Is this going to be a problem?

Thanks

Again, the hub was for entending. I tried will all connections through it and couldnt get to work. Richard say his requests were to get the computer off from a distance, which I showed worked just fine.

Boot your CD. Right at the very end, it will tell you the version. I am not aware of anyone getting b1's but me and Don. Let me know what the screen says.

Dave

Dave,
You are correct again. My CD is labeled B1, but the version shown a boot time is B2.

Thanks

Cool. Glad it was just a mistake on the label. Now if Richard would just wake up. (He usually works way into the early mornings)

Dave

I had a B1 when I bought the AVX-1, but a replacement B2 arrived soon afterward.

i'm ready!

I'm waiting with worm on tongue... baited breath :D

Now, can I have a little fun. Where are the folks that have beaten me up in the past saying I am lying? This cant be done? Etc? I havent given you the link yet, so maybe I am just kidding? ;) (One never forgets personal attacks)

Dave

Just tried to call him. Darn, no answer.

Dave

dave, you're the best, i always read but hardly ever post. i love this stuff!
dan

i downloaded the stomp product, waiting for detailed instructions. !!!

Yep, this is a huge huge milestone. Now, the goal of this release. We have tested the best we can. I dont have SHO, but Richard does. We need you to beat it up and find any problems. Its still called B3 which is Beta 3. So, again and Don has said in the past, this is a BETA again. (What s/w from anyone is not beta, ever find a Microsoft bug? ) The avx-1 is the base for some many other products to come.

Dave

Again, if one has the stomp product, put your CD into your burner.
Run Stomp. If the wizard comes up, shut it down. Right click on your s/w and do build global image. Make a folder to put this stuff in. Then call the file name (CRITICAL TO DO RIGHT)

CDIMAGE.gi

and do build it.

Let me know if anyone has issues.

Then you are ready for the patch. Have a new CD ready to burn. DONT BURN OVER YOUR B2 Master!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dave

can't wait for link!!!

ok,ok,ok, pant pant; image is built!!!

Cool.

The patch will come from the 169time web.

For folks who cant do the update, I send a note from a PM to Richard asking what he will be doing. It wont be as quick as burning yourself.

Dave

yippi!!!
refresh
refresh
refresh
refresh

Richard awake tet?

how big is the patch file? and .exe i assume??

Still no picking up the phone yet. He must have worked real late last night.

The zip file is about 47kb.

Dave

Hopefully it will be out for six feet under!!

Originally posted by h2ofun
Again, if one has the stomp product [...] build global image [...] call the file name (CRITICAL TO DO RIGHT)

CDIMAGE.gi

Dave -

Is this "global image" anything other than an ISO image file? Sure would be nice to use the freeware CD2FILE.EXE and FILE2CD.EXE (http://www.goldenhawk.com/freeware_body.htm) programs to do this. No installation (just unzip), small, no expiration or nags... As long as our ISO image were named CDIMAGE.gi would the patch work?

Thanks again for all your efforts on this!

Okay, just got off the phone with RIchard.

First, if one cant make the disc, then as the avx-1 manual says under update, the disc is free, but you have to pay for shipping. (This is the same as any other free s/w I get from any other company.)

The docs are not done yet but I think I talked RIchard into putting the patch file on the web and I will link you too it and tell folks how to do.

So, I already told you how to get the file ready.

You down load the zip file into the SAME folder as the CDIMAGE.gi file and folder. Unzip the files into this SAME folder. Then run the .exe If everything works you will get a passed message. Then you use stomp to record this patched gi file to a DIFFERENT CD and mark B3.

Then go boot it and post back how it works.

Tick, tick

Dave

YOU MUST USE THE STOMP SW. YOU MUST DO THE GI FILE.
NOTHING ELSE WILL WORK. We cant support everything.
THis happens to be the number 1 s/w I happen to use and have never had an issue with it. It was well worth the price I paid.

This is a very special patching process. If you dont follow exaclty, it wont work. (This is why it didnt ship yesterday, I kept screwing up in hindsight)

Sorry, but its free so should be no issue.

Dave

Okay, here it is. Again, NO DOCS YET!!!!. Save as .zip

http://www.169time.com/UPD3B_GI.ZIP

Please post your results.

Dave

Is this expected:

Update 0.8B2 to 0.8B3 process started.
Process completed

Press Enter to Exit

STOP in module UPD3B_GI at address 0562:01b6
Press any key to return to system

same as I got

ok
booting up the 169

bam!
turned it all on in no particular order, tuned into hbo, and perfect!!
changed channels to sho, perfect!!
hdnet, perfect!
yippi!!
now i can record 5th element!!

Yep, thats expected

dave

wow, it even tunes in the nonHD shows

Cool, keep the inputs coming. I think this is the real "1.5" for the avx-1.

dave

Yep, but no audio

Okay, who is going to do the pc s/w so we get our PVR? THen RIchard can finish the ability to dump the avx-1 to the PC. (He will get to this anyways)

dave

Same here perfect after boot. I will post back in 4 hours

Originally posted by h2ofun
Again, if one has the stomp product, put your CD into your burner.
Run Stomp. If the wizard comes up, shut it down. Right click on your s/w and do build global image. Make a folder to put this stuff in. Then call the file name (CRITICAL TO DO RIGHT)

CDIMAGE.gi

and do build it.

Let me know if anyone has issues.

Then you are ready for the patch. Have a new CD ready to burn. DONT BURN OVER YOUR B2 Master!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dave

Right click on your S/W?, what is S/W?

Sorry not very computer literate

Lon

hehe, even did the digital ota, (the masters) I know i dont need it for that.
why cant i just leave this thing on all the time?
very very nice work!

The process is not ready for ordering a disk. It will be posted on Web when ready.

Roger, if you noticed, we put in the resync data too so you can see how many times it resyned, very very cool feature.

The right click on mine is the burner I am using. You probably can get from other buttons too.

Dave

Danny, no reason to power cycle the avx-1 anymore from what I have seen.

Dave

wow, this is too cool
for a timer recording (which i have never done in my entire life, and i just turned 46) , could i just tune to the channel i want on the dtc100 - leave it on - leave the house, and have the 30000 tune to I-2 and start at a prescribed time??

First burn of CD... The avx-1 didn't recognize the CD as a boot disk???

Any help??

Danny, yep ( I just turned 46 two weeks ago.)

BRmorgan, put down your steps by step. ALso, what h/w you are using.
Did you see the patch successful on the PC screen?

Dave

Dave,
I ran UDB3D.exe and it finished succesfully. Next I opened RecordNow. Then I dragged CGIMAGE.gi onto the "Folder or file on disk" column of RecordNow. Next pressed F6 to record. Processed finished in about 5 minutes. Inserted disk into avx-1 and rebooted.

Thanks

If anyone has the available time can someone post step by step instructions for the computer illiterate like myself, something like patching 169time software for dummies.

Anyway if not I will just order the disc from 169time.

Thanks,

Lon

The size of my post update CDIMAGE.gi file is 144,838,808

Hope this helps,
Brian

My burner is a Pioneer 104 running on a dual Athon MP motherboard running XP professional.

Hope this helps,
Brian

This is what happens when you let the all knowing try new stuff.

If I would have taken CDIMAGE.gi and imaged on the boot disk it would have worked.

Thanks,
Brian

Lon, I have basically posted all the steps. Where are you running into trouble with? Post your step by step of what you are doing and I will try and help until RIchard gets the docs done. I thought it was better to get out than wait for these.

dave

Brain, are you up now?

Dave

Dave:

I downloaded Stomp product, I put the 169time CD in the burner and could not get to build global image.

I am still waiting for "Deceived" to finish so I can play it back and see how it went. So far I have had 11 resyncs. This is probably due to the heavy rainstorms out here in Sacramento :> Hopefully I can start watching the movie around 3PM PDT. Unless I get sucked into watching the end of the Masters....

I like the resync count. It would be nice if the output did not scroll. How about if only the resyncs or other errors were logged to the screen? Probably much lower on most people's lists of priorities.

Yes, It's working, It's working.

Thanks,
B

Great brian.

Lon, what do you mean couldnt get to GI burn?

When it comes up, do you see you burner on the left panel?
I right click this and the second thing down is build GI

I am using 4.6 instead of 4.5 so guys, what exactly does 4.5 look like.
Same?

I am starting to get the thunder stuff here in auburn. Maybe I can blow back to sac.

So, if the signal gets messed up, it has to resync. But in the two days I have been running around the clock, the only resyncs I got were at the movie change times.

dave

The reason I like the avx-1 scrolling output is you know its working.

Dave

With the avx-1 disk in the CD burner select on the main menu Drive -> Build Global Image. Then press build.

Hope this helps

Up and running with B3!

No long term testing yet.....

My setup is a 169time Proscan 105/AVX-1 & Mits HD2000U. I continue to use my usual hookup & startup procedure. No issues. Can now change channels/inputs on the Proscan and the AVX-1 does resync and allow recording. I have brought up the guide and info and the AVX-1 comes back with no issues.

My hookup (that has worked from the beginning) is as follows:

- Proscan 105 (highest in my vertical cabinet)

- firewire cable with RF chokes on both ends

- Mits HD2000U (a few inches below the Proscan)

- firewire cable with RF chokes on both ends

- 55 inches of other gear HT gear & shelves

- AVX-1 (bottom of cabinet)

In my setup the HD2000U DVHS deck is the "common" firewire connection

I have a power control center that allows me to power cycle any of the 169time gear and DVHS gear.

-------------------------

Great work 169time team!

Regards,
George

George great. We need input on any Mits users since neither Richard nor I have one. Is it working the same, better? I know Don seemed to have a real detailed process he had to use. Does a just use it like the JVC stuff work now?

Dave

I guess I have been lucky all along. I never had any issues with the Mits recording. I had been content to leave the AVX-1 off until I was about to record. By the way, I never disconnect the firewire cables! Having the AVX-1 connected but off never bothered playback. As I reported above, my DVHS deck is the common firewire connection (not the HDVR in Proscan).

My recording setup process was/is as follows:

1. Turn on the Proscan (it is often on already as we watch OTA & DirecTV normally).

2. Turn on the Mits DVHS (load tape). Press IEEE1394 input button if "D" is not activated.

3. Turn on AVX-1 (I have a SONY G400 monitor on a KVM + Belkin Expandview PC Video splitter and use very good shielded VGA cables). This allows me to observe setup/startup without always firing up my projector (PLV-70). When I see the AVX-1 has synched up with the video, I switch back to looking at the output from the Proscan to await the time to press the record button on the DVHS deck.

4. Press record - as long as the satellite signal has been good, my recordings have been perfect.

I do occasionally have to power cycle either the Proscan or the Mits deck to get DVHS playback through the Proscan to work.

With the new software I look forward to being able to leave the AVX-1 on for extended time for advanced setup to record. I have a slink-e on the HTPC and a nice scheduler that can "press" the record and stop buttons for me. Right now, I record only what I can be physically present to do.

Many thanks.

George

George, Thanks. Having as many of the DVHS decks that have ever been produced is one of 169time goals.

I continue to look forward to others experiences. I have to admit, when I loaded it up and it just worked, where did all the fun go with pads, power cycling, etc? ;)

dave

I got some mixed results. I only watched the first hour of "Deceived" before the tape ran out. I guess it was not fully rewound....

1) The audio seems pretty stable. There no noticeable dropouts and the video seems to stay in sync with the audio.
2) Unfortunately I did get numerous "glitches" on the video. Nothing too bad, but there was definitely more than 10 in the 60 minutes of tape I watched. It showed up as either a "jump" or just a sprinkle of "noise" on the picture.

I suppose it is hard to say anything definite with only one sample. There is the possibility that the bad weather around here was a factor. Although the storm had cleared up for most of the recording and I don't think it started raining again after 1PM PDT. Now I just need to record the other half of this movie so I can see how it ends :)

JHL, you got exactly what you said the screen had. With the weather, you could have had a lot more. Dont think its fair to imply what you have said.
If the signal gets messed up for the sat, you are going to see it on any taping device.

Restart and avx-1 and watch the screen. See how many resyncs you get over time. Again , 48 hours of running, I didnt get any other than the shows changing. Let me know what you see. Its getting real black up here again.

Dave

Originally posted by h2ofun
Roger, if you noticed, we put in the resync data too so you can see how many times it resyned, very very cool feature.
Dave,

Thank you. This basically takes care of something that I said I was concerned about a long time ago. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to know if a tape had a lot of glitches if they always got fixed up, but with the running counter I can just look and if there are too many I can just discard the stuff on the tape (assuming that resyncs mean I'll see glitches on the tape).

I got mine up and running. I basically do a channel down on the 30k to get things rolling. I saw a sync there and then after 2 lines another one. Then I let it run for about half and hour and when I got back it showed 3 total resyncs (just 1 unexplained). I switched from HDNet to HBO-HD and got one for that. I'm still taping and it has been going for another 20 minutes with no more resyncs. I haven't watched any of it, yet.

EDIT: I see that they happen on show changes, so maybe that was my one unexplained one.

BTW: I doubt that we will get this, but I'm going to mention it as one way that I think we could get the resync data and also give Roger what he wants. Instead of always printing a new line, it could just put out a whole line if there was a resync, but just a "." with no newline every 10 seconds or so when everything is working fine. Then we would know it was running, but also be able to calculate approximately where the resync happened on the tape. So, the code could look something like this (depends on the language used):

if (no_resync_in_last second)
if (!(TSecs % 10))
print(".")
endif
else
print("\nTSecs=...
endif

Thanks,
Darin

I am getting an error message when I execute the EXE. in the folder that contains the gi file and the patch.

The eroor message is:

Original 0.8b2 to o.8b3 process started.

Original version 0.8b2 image not verified.


Lon

Lon,
Just burn the CDIMAGE.gi file to a blank CDR. It can't verify it becouse you ran the patch already and the image file is now at 0.8b3.

LJG that is either becuase the image file is not named correctly or you have already applied the patch.

Originally posted by jrichards
Lon,
Just burn the CDIMAGE.gi file to a blank CDR. It can't verify it becouse you ran the patch already and the image file is now at 0.8b3.

Jeff:

After I burn the CDIMAGE.gi file to blank CDR, what should I do next?

Boot it.

You guys are good. It took me an entire day to find out I hadnt named the file correctly. ;)

Darin, I will pass you ideas to RIchard.

Dave

I just finished watching "Six Feet Under". It was recorded without any unexpected resyncs; there was only one. I assume this occurred when the show itself started.

Audio is still perfect. Video showed a lot of pixelation every few seconds when I started playing the tape on my Mitsubishi 1100U. Since I had recorded it on a JVC 30K, I took the tape back upstairs and played it the episode there. I noticed quite a few "stutters" and an occasional pixelation throughout the 45 minute episode. I think there must have been 12-15 overall.

This time, I think weather was NOT a factor and there is probably some other noise somewhere in my configuration. I will continue to tape some more programs to build up my sample set.

John

Originally posted by h2ofun
Boot it.

You guys are good. It took me an entire day to find out I hadnt named the file correctly. ;)



Dave

You mean I am good to go?


Lon

Lon, once you burn the patched image, you should just put it in.

John, keep the status coming. Now, for what ever reason, if the signal is getting messed up, then the s/w will keep resyncing. Again, in 48 hours, I had only resyncs at the show changes.

Dave

Okay, whats going on with folks? I have to assume if folks were having issues, you would be posting. ;)

So, is everyone have the same success Richard and I had?

I tell ya, Richard is the man. It may take him a while to get to something, but until he has it fix in his head, no reason to use the fingers.

Again, looking for both success and issues stories.

Dave

Did a few tests last night. Channel changing during recording etc. Excellent results. Recorded Salton Sea last night too. Didn't watch it all but only saw one 'pause' for 2 seconds about 5 minutes into it. Before I couldn't record Anything on HBO. Gonna try a couple of other shows today.

MRwilson, thanks for the status. It seems one still needs a clean signal, but nothing nothing like before. Keep letting us know.

I did get input back from RIchard on the screen dump. We are talking about adding the feature that one could set the time on the machine via keyboard, and then the screen dumps could only be with a sync and then in theory you would know exaclty where on the tape the issue was.

Keep the upgrade ideas coming.

Dave

Recording Fifth Element right now. We'll see how it goes.

I don't have a monitor on my AVX1. Guess I need a 9" vga or a vga -> composite video so I can plug it into my tv and read the messages. Anyone know of a cheap one?

not to go slightly off topic, but is Fifth Element in 16:9 yet? or still 4:3?

MrWilson, Try looking in a used computer parts store. I have some in my area and 15" used monitors sell for about $40.

Anyone who cares about a "glitch" really needs to have a monitor connected to see whats going on.

Dave

Kirby, yes, this mornings was 16:9 and looked great. Its in DPL and not 5.1 though.

Clark, thanks but I need SMALL. I've got 4 15" and a 19" monitor in the closest I'm not using.

Mrwilson, I would hook up the monitor now if you can, just to see whats going on. Long term, you probably dont need it.

dave

Can't make this new version crash. It's almost perfect as far as stable. I still get a few video glitches but not as many as before.

Good Job!

I think I will start using it again.
Jeff

Jeff, now if you cant make it die, thats great. I am waiting for Don to beat up on it now.

If one has glitches, the s/w will pick up, but atleast it fixes itself now.
So again, the cleaner the signal, the better it will be.

Dave

I fired up the Mits last evening at the start of the Sopranos and then let it run through "Six Feet" and 15 minuts past that. No problems on the Sopranos and no video problems the rest of the way either.

However, when HBO went to 5.1 (for Six Feet) the audio suffered dropouts lasting for about 20 seconds each interspersped with 5 seconds of "good" audio. These audio dropouts lasted until Brenda's dad's funeral on the cliff when the audio cleared up and everything was fine again with the remainder of Six Feet being perfect. However, the same audio problem occurred when Six Feet was over and the broadcast went to 2.0 audio. I never did hear the preview of the next episode.

Of course, all of the rebooting of the Mits and the DTC-100 was performed prior to recording, in order to get the "blinking light" on the DTC-100.

I do have a couple of questions:

1. Does this mean we can now leave the AVX-1 connected to the firewire at all times? I look forward to installing this unit in my rack which does not provide access to the rear.

2. I have seen mention of connecting a monitor to the AVX-1. Which jack on the AVX-1 do I use, and what am I looking for once I'm set up? Perhaps there are detailed instructions on this procedure elsewhere that I missed.

Mikey, I know I have no concerns on the JVC. You guys will have to tell us on the MIts.

There is a standard 15 pin VGA plug on the back on the avx-1. Its just a std computer. You dont have to have it. I just like to look and see what the resync count says.

Dave

One nice side effect of the new software I noticed. My local ABC affliate broadcasts the weather on the first sub-channel and the HD broadcast on the second sub-channel. They're encoder or broadcast hardware vendor recommended that to them. So when I record and watch Alias I have to use channel + on the JVC to get to sub-channel 2. When recording/watching ABC through the AVX1 now I only see the sub-channel with HD content. Very nice.

I really think its time I just bit the bullet and bought the JVC. The Mits is fine, but it appears from what I see the JVC works better with this setup. I can then still use the Mits to playback records made on the JVC (right?) and use the JVC to record only, and play D-Theater tapes. Anyone happen to know when Bestbuy is going to have another preferred customer 10% off sale? Seems like its about time.

I recorded HBO from 8:30AM to 11:30AM PDT this morning. I should have most of "The Fifth Element", but I have not had time to watch it yet. I will post my results later today.

The AVX-1 is still running and only reports 3 resyncs. I think what ever dropouts I have seen so far are related to a different problem.

I know each time HBO changes the movie, I get one resync.

Dave

And I have to say, the JVC is much more flexible with the AVX-1. (And the dtc100)

dave

Originally posted by bfmorgan
This is what happens when you let the all knowing try new stuff.

If I would have taken CDIMAGE.gi and imaged on the boot disk it would have worked.

Thanks,
Brian


Brian:

What exactly did you do wrong and waht did you do to correct it?


Lon

Never Mind I got the CD I Burned to boot,

EDIT


but some how the CD was burned of software version 8.2, back to the drawing board


Lon

Re 0.8B3 software and the "pad"

The new software certainly has solved many of the old problems, however the new software has nothing to do with the 6dB pad and the problem it addressed. I would not remove the pad, especially if your dish to satellite receiver cable is short, e.g., less than 50 feet.

The pad adds attenuation to help insure 3rd time reflections are below the receiver threshold and thus cannot combine with incoming signals to produce invalid data. If your transmission line is long, normal cable attenuation produces the same effect.

I don't recommend amplifiers in the transmission path unless the cable length is extremely long, e.g., over 150 feet. So long as signal strength (actually bit rate errors) are the acceptable range, I still wouldn't use an amplifier.

Here is some more data.

I recorded "The Fifth Element" this morning on my DTC-100. When I played in back on my TV connected to a Mitsubishi 1100U, the video stability was the worst I have seen with the new code. There was pixelation about every 10-15 seconds and I also noticed video noise just above the black bar on the bottom of the picture. This reminded my of what I saw yesterday on the same TV watching "Six Feet Under". I have had NO problems watching OTA recorded on the DTC-100 on this TV.

Next I took the tape upstairs to my projector and the DTC-100. Here the picture was much more stable but there was still some pixelation, about one/minute. I did not notice the weird noise above the black bar at the bottom. This was the same thing I saw yesterday with "Six Feet Under"; the picture quality seemed better with the JVC 30K and the DTC-100.

I have just removed the signal amplifier, which I was using to help the original software record. I see that the signal strength for the satellites is 72 for 101 and 64 for 119. There are still very few resyncs reported by the AVX-1. I will record "The Fifth Element" once again at 5PM and see how things look.

Originally posted by Robert Cobler
Re 0.8B3 software and the "pad"
.

I don't recommend amplifiers in the transmission path unless the cable length is extremely long, e.g., over 150 feet. So long as signal strength (actually bit rate errors) are the acceptable range, I still wouldn't use an amplifier.

Everything you say makes a lot of sense. However, I recall the early FORUM discussions about the need to add an inline amp. I dutifully inserted the RS inline amp and the result was near perfect recording from SHO and HD NET, but only an occasional decent recording from HBO.

Then the attenuate the sat signal idea became the rage.

I then concluded that there was no hard and fast rule.

With the new software, I have acheived a perfect HBO recording with the amp still in the line (perfect except for the audio dropouts when the programming changes to or from 5.1).

On the theory that less is better I am going to remove the amp. I anticipate no change one way or the other.

Hi -- haven't posted before, but thought I'd chime in on this one.
Started running the new B3 patch on the avx last night (via JVC 30K) & like most others had good success. Was able to change channels repeatedly between SHO, HBO, and HDNet, enter and exit the guide, disconnect / reconnect antenna input, disconnect / reconnect firewire, etc.. all with no lock-ups, pixelization, or drop-outs. Also turned everything on, off, and back on with no regard to sequence & even skipped the CH 2 to I2 channel down ritual on the 30K --- no apparent problems. Viewed channels for about 1 hour with no problems.

Decided to leave all equipment on overnight and during the day to check the long term stability. Left the channel set on HBO. This afternoon (about 20 hours later), checked on the picture. There had been about 25 resyncs over the 20 hour period tuned to HBO. Video and audio were present and in sync, but there was severe pixelization randomly across about 1/3 of the screen. This pixelization was continuous but picture was not overly choppy. Interestingly, I then changed channels to HDNet and then to SHO. All three channels had the same degree of continuous pixelization. Channel changes and video/audio sync still worked well with no freezes or dropouts, however -- my system had simply gone into a continuous pixelization mode on all HD channels, as if signal strength was lacking. I was confident that signal strength wasn't the issue since I always have strong signals and never see any pixelization from satellite. My first suspicion was the 30K because of it's general reputation for flakiness with regard to pixelization (a lucky guess), so I cycled the power on the 30K and everything came back to perfection --- no pixelization on any channel. It's been an hour and everything is still fine.

Thought I'd post this in case anyone else has a similar experience. I've used the AVX / 30K combo extensively over the last 8 months & have experienced all the typical AVX B2 problems, and the typical 30K tendency to pixelate under certain tape playback conditions -- but, overall the 30K has generally worked reliably and I've had a 70-80% success rate with recording HBO and SHO movies over 8 months. This strange, continuous pixelization mode was a unique experience since it involved live data and was not associated with lockups, loss of sync, or any one channel.

I am currently watching "The Fifth Element" after REMOVING the inline amp from my configuration. The results are much better so far, but I have only watched about 10 minutes of it.

The pixelation has not been seen but there were one or two very brief "stutters" in the video. However, everything recovered without any intervention.

For my next experiment, I will record "Hard Eight" from HDNet.

Last try, I have a folder containing the CDIMAGE.gi and the Patch file saved in zip, I unziped the patch file and double clicked the UPD3B_GI.EXE file and I get the message original version 0.8B2 to 0.8B3 procees started.

Original 0.8B2 image not verified.


I was told to burn the CDIMAGE.GI to CD, which I did and the CD contained software version 8.2

I think I need to wait for the CD from 169time.


Lon

Re-do your CDIMAGE.gi file by overwriting it using stomp with your original CD in the drive. Then try again. Sounds like your image file is bad. Also make sure the image file is in the same directory as the patch files.

Someone had mentioned no sound on standard DTV channels. Thats because they are MPEG audio and not DD. I have gotten sound from 501 (hbo) when a movie with DD is on. If your receiver decodes MPEG audio then maybe it will play back via toslink.

Lon, dont give up. I spent an entire day finding my dumb mistake!!

Erase you folder and start over from scratch, and doc each step. THe only way I saw the error you talked about is if I had the wrong name. Or I believe it you have already patched it. You are doing a .gi file?

We will get you there.

Dave

I don't know where to give the credit, but I've gotten some HBO stuff through the AVX-1 to work on my PC for the first time. I'm using the latest AVX-1 software and the latest DVHSTool, but that is about all I changed since the last time I tried this a couple of months ago.

I recorded The Fifth Element twice today and watched about 15 minutes of the second tape. I didn't see an problems in the few places I checked or in the part I watched. I also transferred about 10 minutes to my PC, which ended up in 2 files. When I tried to play the 1st one back in ZoomPlayer it hung ZoomPlayer and I had to kill it. I then tried the 2nd file and it looked good. Then I used the HDTV2MPEG2 utility to cut the first few seconds off the first file and it then played back fine. I do get a few stutters that I think are from my CPU not being fast enough, but I also get these with Dish 5000 recordings (I'll have to check to see if they happen in the same place each time, but there weren't very many of them). In the past with AVX-1 recordings I couldn't go more than about a minute without ZoomPlayer getting hung up or skipping on one spot repeatedly, so this looks like really good progress, since I let one little clip loop for maybe 10 minutes without any problems. I'll also try playing back on my AccessDTV card, since that one has totally chocked on AVX-1 recordings in the past.

I'll of course have to do more testing to see if I get similar results with other recordings. I'm transferring the whole 5th Element at the moment and I'm setup to record Osmosis Jones in the morning. I'm also trying to figure out if I can upgrade my Athlon 1800+ to a 2600+ without changing anything but the CPU. If not, I might look into ordering a Radeon 9700 to replace my 9000 or put together a Pentium 4 3.06 GHz system.

--Darin

Ok, stupid question time. My DTC-100 still hasnt received a new software download (stuck back on 40b) so I dont have raster timing option yet.

I have used the service menu to pick a centering option that comes close on HD and SD channels, but there is still a slight alingment problem. If I make a recording like this, and play back, am I going to see this same black edge on the tape? Or is the DTC-100 the only problem, and recordings made will playback fine once I get the upgrade (or if i play back with the DVHS connected right to TV)?

Also, does anyone know if someday the software upgrade will be sent, or if I absolutely have to take my unit in to have it flashed?

Just reviewed Richards updater doc. Should be out hopefully today

dave

Still no Luck.

I deleted all files and folders and started over.

I ran Stomp, did a build global image with 169time CD installed, named the Global Image File CDIMAGE.gi, created a folder in program files and put CDIMAGE.gi in that folder, I downloaded the patch file as a zip file directly into the folder containg the CDIMAGE.gi file, I unzipped the file and double clicked the file containing UPB3B_GI.EXE and got the same failure as before.


I get the message original version 0.8B2 to 0.8B3 procees started.

Original 0.8B2 image not verified.

Lon

Lon, I know your CD is in the mail.

Weird. That only thing I would guess now is the CD you are using is having an issue. So unless you have a few to try, you may be stuck.
Hopefully that CD will be there soon.

dave

Dave:

Thanks for your help, I just called home and the CD arrived today.

Now lets see how I can try and beat up the AVX1, I don't think it is possible.

Upgrade process worked fine for me...

Give it a shot. The more we can find about bullet proof, the better.

dave

So far AVX1 is as stable as HDVR OTA, great job 169time.

Lon

Lon, GREAT. Thats what I had found in 2 days of testing.
Richard is the man!!

Dave

My upgrade arrived and was installed tonight.

Takes a lickin' but keeps on tickin'.

Really an awesome step forward as the upgrade simply removes almost all of the alchemy from the startup process and makes the AVX-1 virtually idiot-proof.

It's like one of those blow up clown punching bags we had as kids. Knock it over and it just stands itself up all by itself!

Now add in timer functionality, adapt to the 6000 and...the sky's the limit!

Todd great!!!! Just wait until the next set of products come out.
169time is the consumer HD company.

;)

Dave

Dave,

I don't have a CD burner, etc. so I will need the CD also from 169time. Remember that I have two units. You mentioned before not to contact 169time directly about the CD. Is it now time? or can you get me two from them?

Sorry to be a pain. Didn't realize my computer was such a dinosaur before this week. :)

Jeff

Originally posted by h2ofun
Todd great!!!! Just wait until the next set of products come out.
169time is the consumer HD company.

;)

Dave

Don't be such a tease! What is in the works? I've been hoping that 169time will add the Sony HD-100 or HD-200 to its lineup of modified STBs. If this happened, I would jump on board in a second (as I wouldn't have to purchase a new STB).

My experience with 8B3 and my Proscan105/AVX-1 with Mits HD2000U continues to be excellent.

I did have one major glitch using a Fuji SVHS 160 tape where I recorded Artificial Intelligence (AI). I could read the tape via DVHSTool but could not get playback through the Proscan. (I actually have two Mits decks - one is setup with the 169Time gear and one is only connected to my HTPC).

I had just gotten a JVC DVHS Cleaning tape and gave that a shot - did the trick so I am relieved.

My startup process is now easier and has worked without fail.

I leave the AVX-1 firewire connected at all times. The AVX-1 gets turned on only for record. Its off (but firewire connected) for playback. Using an external power switch, I power cycle the Mits DVHS deck when I change modes from record to playback (or reverse). I now never do the 1394 list rebuild on the Mits. After a Mits power cycle with the Proscan tuned to an OTA digital channel, the Power button on the Proscan always returns to the blinking state. I have not had to power cycle the Proscan for two days (since I started using 8B3).

Over the last few days during my recording sessions (mostly for testing), I have changed channels on the Proscan numerous times while in record mode. The AVX-1 shows a resync but picks right back up and apart from a short breakup on the tape where I changed the channel, I am getting great recordings.

I have also had success using a scheduler on my HTPC to activate timed recording (causing the Mits to start/stop recording). The scheduler sends a command line to Girder which has the Slink-e plugin configured with IR commands for both the Proscan and the Mits. In this case, I have the AVX-1 running already. I can start and stop recording as well as change channels on the Proscan. Kind of cool! I scheduled my system to do 4 different short recording sessions (1 HBO, 1 SHO, 1 HDNet and 1 OTA). Worked like a champ - with no hands!

Great work 169Time team!

Dare I wish for being able to have the HTPC be the recorder rather than the DVHS deck?

Regards,
George

George:

I'm glad you posted. With the update, I have had basically the same experience with the Mits that you have, although I have the DTC-100.

You answered two questions that I have had:

1. That is is OK to leave the AVX connected to the Mits at all times.

2. That a reboot of the DTC-100 is not necessary at the same time you reboot the Mits.

As I posted earlier, the major problem I have experienced is audio dropouts when HBO switches from 5.1DD to 2.0DD and back again. How you experienced anything similar?

What is your physical arrangement of the three components? In other words, how far apart are the units? I want to place the three in my rack about 6 inches apart in a vertical direction. This was not possible before the upgrade, and I had to place the AVX 12 feet from the Mits.

First off, I would like to say, great update.
Update process went without a hitch.
Because I am short 1 component input on my amp, I'm going to try leaving the avx1 on all of the time and watch the dct100 through the firewire of the Jvc.
I hooked the S-vid connector of the dct to another input so I can look at the guide etc.
So far, so good. This seems to work :) .


The reason for my post though is that I tried to use the external timer of the dtc100 to start and stop the jvc (the wire that plugs into the back of the dtc and sends an infared record signal to the vcr).
My thought was to leave the vcr turned on and set to I-2 and let the dtc send the record signal to the jvc via infared.
I set the vcr code in the dtc (016 I think it was) and set a manual timer in the dtc.

In my testing, I've found that the dtc sends out a power toggle before the record signal.
This means that the vcr has to be off for this to work.
The only problem is that if I power the jvc off then back on, it usually won't pick up the picture on the I link (I get a white screen with the jvc on screen graphics).
If I don't touch anything (jvc is still set to I-2), and press the reset on avx1, after booting, picture comes in.

So, if the dtc didn't send a power toggle, or sent a discrete power on, I think this would work, but I can't see any work around.

So, for now, we have to press record button manually (but at least we can record :) )

Anyone know where I can buy one of those external remotes with a Timer on it?

Jeff, sorry for the confusion. Contacting them was before the s/w was out.
Its not problemo to contact them now and get what CD's you need.

dave

Xfactor, my opinion for 169time is there is no need to do another direct tv box now. (They could do easily but. )

My input to them is get the timer working, and the 6000.. This way they have a solution for all the sat stuff. After that, will have to see again.
I look at what gets 169time the most volume.

Dave

Great posts. Finally, as expected, we have a reliable engine. Now, this engine can be used with different cars. ;)

Dave

Dave,

The only reason most of us DirecTV'ers would want a different box is probably to have one with the APG, and spiffier graphics. But my solution is to just keep the DTC100 as a record only device, and will buy a new HD STB. I just wish D* would send down the darn software update on the DTC-100!

Hopefully I can play with the unit tonight, been tied down (literally, almost broke my ankle) so I havent been able to give more feedback from a Mitsu DVHS/TV user.

Kirby, I agree with you but again, since 169times goal is to record only, spiffier isnt on the chart. Reliability is , and the dtc100 is a proven work horse.

Now if they had more folks, money, etc, they would love to have all this stuff but, oh well, staying small has its positives also.

Dave

True, and dont get me wrong, I wasnt complaining :) I could care less if the DTC-100 doesnt have APG. If it records reliably, I will be happy! :D I just cant wait to be able to hop over to the equipment rack and mess with things...

I agree, but I am hoping it will be a 6000 so I can have both direct and dish.

dave

Originally posted by h2ofun
Xfactor, my opinion for 169time is there is no need to do another direct tv box now. (They could do easily but. )

My input to them is get the timer working, and the 6000.. This way they have a solution for all the sat stuff. After that, will have to see again.
I look at what gets 169time the most volume.

Dave

In my opinion, they will make more money but adding a newer box than adding timer functions. I'm not sure a timer function is a huge selling point when this solution is the ONLY option available for D*. Indeed, even when D* does have a recording option it likely won't have firewire, so this will still be the only viable solution for people looking to archive.

I am willing to bet a number of people are on the fence who would love to either have their HD200s modified or would purchase an HD200 and have 169time do its work if such an option were available.

Again, unless some has some other data, getting the 6000 next seems like a larger market?

Dave

I agree with Dave that the 6000 would be the next logical step. Having a recording option with Echostar and its 5000+HD modulator, doesnt cover many people. Besides, that combo cant even receive Discovery or any new HD channels because it doesnt to 8PSK. Get the 6000 done and you can go after all Echostar HD subs.

On the other hand, I still wouldnt mind seeing a new generation DirecTV box. But I do understand where its importance is in the food chain. I dont know yet what timer functions I will need on my DTC-100 unit, since I will use my Pronto Pro to do timer functions, change channels, start/stop recording etc.

Of course all my logic could change if one provider decides not to bring aboard new HD channels. At that point, if one does add things like ESPN, HD movies, whatever else, and the other doesnt, I would focus more on whichever provider has the most programming for us to record. Wouldnt make any sense to devote precious hours to a mod for a provider offering only 2-3 channels, while the other offers 5 or more. Just my $0.02.

I agree with Dave, no need for another DIRECTV box, the DTC100 works great to record, so one box for DIRECTV and one box for Dish seems right.

I would really love to see recording to Hard Drive either a seperate HDPVR or software for HTPC, and lastly perhaps recording to HD DVD maybe the new Sony.

Like Dave said 169time has a well working engine that can go into many cars.


Lon

Responses for Mikey Mo's questions:

My physical arrangement has the Proscan and Mits Deck in the top of a tall vertical e-center cabinet and the AVX-1 at the very bottom. This was the situation prior to the release of 8B3 and I have not changed it. The actual distance between the AVX-1 and the Mits (which is under the Proscan) is 55inches.

Regarding audio drops. I have not noticed anything in particular as I typically wait to see the movie studio logo at the beginning before I press the record button and similarly press the stop button before the credits are over at the end. Over the next few days I will look for the transitions and report back. As a side note, I have noticed that receiver/amps are not all created equal in their sync time to changing audio formats. In my case, my Yamaha seems very fast to sync.

Regards,
George

Originally posted by h2ofun
I agree, but I am hoping it will be a 6000 so I can have both direct and dish.

dave

Yes... The 6000 would be great!

Is it safe to say the AVX-1 solution DirecTV is now nearly idiot-proof?

Willie
PackerFan

It would be great to use the current HDVR board and just make up a new wiring harness for the 6000. Guessing that is possible. This way, Richard could greatly simplify the hardware design and then just concentrate on a connection scheme. From the customer's point of view, we could have a significant 169Time hardware investment and then when the desire is to switch to an E* service, just purchase a wiring harness and plug in the HDVR board after unplugging it from the DTC-100. Slick right?

For those of you who don't know, the HDVR board with the 2 1394 jacks is removable and a plug-in wiring harness is what connects it to the MB in the DTC-100. Richard designed it this way so one could send back the board for upgrades rather than having to send back the whole DTC-100. He also has a bypass connector that connects up so the DTC-100 is enabled when the HDVR board has been removed. A design like this makes so much sense if it can be done for E*.


PS- Glad all of you have had great success with the B3 software. Since I don't use the AVX except for HDNet, which records perfectly, I haven't had the need for installing it yet. When I get more time I'll play with it but interest may only be to add stability for the menus and guide info. In the mean time I will be on the sidelines. :)

So, far yes, nearly idiot proof. Again took me a day to figure out I didnt spell the gi fire fight.

dave

Has anyone tried connecting the AVX1 to MYHD or HIPIX to record to Hard Drive?

Lon

I'd have to agree as well, first a timer for the dtc and then the 6000 (which would work for bell expressvu as well)


Originally posted by h2ofun


My input to them is get the timer working, and the 6000.. This way they have a solution for all the sat stuff. After that, will have to see again.
I look at what gets 169time the most volume.

Dave

Don,
The upgrade is a must. No more guessing. It works every time.

Help needed.

I hooked up my DTC100 today and I am using the new software.

The AVX is on the other side of a table a few feet away from the DTC100 and recorders.

First let me say I have been using the Mits deck with the DTC with no trouble. Very dependable.

Now that I have the AVX hooked into the chain it keeps loosing contact with the DTC and i cant record or playback. If I set the dtc to antenna the light starts blinking again and i can also get playback from my tapes. If I switch back to HBO HD or HD net the light stops blinking again and I can no longer get playback from my tapes. I then hooked up my JVC 30K thinking things would work better and same thing. Antenna input works but switch back to direct and I loose all communication.

I did reset the Mits address and the new address from the AVX does show up on the JVC but stll nothing between the deck and the DTC even if I unplug the firewire for a second and plug it back in.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Well now Ive tried everything I could think of. I cant get this thing to work with ether VCR.
Same old stability problem. I had a stable recording system but as soon as the AVX comes into play forget it. Ive read everything and tried everything and cant get it to work.

Now my JVC no longer sees the AVX.

Mine didn't at first until I power cycled the DTC. It took about 30-45 seconds for the JVC to 'see it' then.

Trying to get the JVC to work with the AVX and the AVX is now saying " to many errors in packets cannot proceed"

Ill try the dtc power down trick.

Originally posted by h2ofun
There is a standard 15 pin VGA plug on the back on the avx-1. Its just a std computer. You dont have to have it. I just like to look and see what the resync count says.

Dave

Dave,

How exactly does this work for you? I have a monitor hooked up to the AVX1, and as soon as its boot process is all done, the screen starts to scroll lines reading "Analyzing-2" at a rate of about 4 lines a second. Is this correct?

Also, during the boot process, there are tons of errors, mostly warnings about /etc/modules.conf being more up to date than the copy in /lib/modules/... I dont know for sure if there are other errors, scrolls to quick, and I dont have way to scroll back. Is this common behavior with the patch?

Well I did the power down on the DTC100 and nothing. My JVC still does not see the AVX. If I switch the DTC to antenna the JVC see it.

Kirby I am also getting a ton of scrolling errors and it keeps saying no HDVR found regardless what deck I use.

Alan, lets take it on step at a time. I dont believe you can do playback through the dtc100 unless you are on a DTV signal. I believe this means it cant be a sat signal. I always playback through the component output of the JVC since never had to worry about.

So, I wouldnt worry about playback or recording first. Just hook up the dtc100 to one side of the JVC deck fw. Hook the avx-1 to the other side of the jvc deck. Load up the avx-1 s/w. Make sure the jvc is seeing the avx-1, NOT the dtc100. Flip to HBO, or HDnet, or SHO. What happens?

Dave

Hi Dave
No matter what I do nether one of my decks see the AVX. Ive tried everything.

Also regarding playback. The Mits does playback via firewire. Its the only way it will as it does not have HD analog outputs. Don Landis says in order to do this you must disconnect the AVX from the deck. I need to get to first base first of course.

Dave can you PM me your number. This would be much easier via phone instead of typing all night and waiting for someone to reply.
Thanks!

Try resetting the I-link in the JVC menu.

mrwilson

Tried that. Does not work.

I'm about ready to shoot this Mits deck.. I got playback to work finally after power cycling the DTC100, the DVHS, and disconnecting the firewire cable between the two. But then as soon as I try to record, if it works, I have to go back through the entire power down/disconnect procedure on all devices. I'm about ready to just take the plunge and get the JVC. Argh.

Kirby

I have both and cannot get ether to work so dont spend the money yet.
Its also frustrating when you cant talk to someone about this. Its the kind of thing that you type and wait 10 hours for a answer that does not work. I am ready to rip this thing out again and go back to my old system.

Sorry guys but I am very frustrated at this point. Ive spent hours on this and paid an installer to remove my old sat system and re install my Direct system and now Ive lost all my recording capability:(

I should say I have a Dish 5000 hooked to the antenna input.
If I switch over to it the light starts to blink and the tape deck sees the deck and I can also play back my tapes via firewire.
No such luck when watching direct. The light stops blinking and I canot no matter what I try get any of my decks to see the DTC 100.

Alan,

Well unfortunately, I just ordered the JVC. But if something happens that I get the Mits working I can return the JVC for 30 days. But I also wanted to have 2 DVHS decks, and be able to playback D-theater if I so choose. At least with 2 decks, I can hopefully get one stable with just recording, and the other for playback.

The light on my DTC100 doesn't blink when I have the AVX1 selected (I-2 in my case).

Kirby
Concidering the price drop of the 30K you cant go wrong.

Alan, I again suggest one step at a time.
Dont worry about recording or playback!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you dont have a monitor connected to the output of the avx-1, I would do that first. Make sure the thing is booting up and looking for hdvr or what ever it says. Do you know its booted correctly?

Then, just do watching the signal via output of the component of the JVC.

Again, baby steps.

Dave

Dave a monitor is hooked up and the JVC does not see the DTC100 so I cannot record. The AVX reads deck found waiting for instructions and just sits there. Iver reset the firewire address in the JVC, Ive unplugged the DTC100, Ive unplugged the firewire for a few seconds and plugged it back in and nothing. However if I switch the DTC to antenna all is well even if no source is connected to that input.

Alan,
You can call me if you want. I'll try to walk you through it. I'll be answering calls until 11:00 pm tonight.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff for your time. I am now up and running solid. I was expecting the lights to blink on the dtc 100 when in sat mode but Jeff explained they only blink in antenna mode. Well with your help I am all set and I feel stupid I could not figure this out on my own. Especially being in the business. Shame on me:(

Thanks Jeff. Alan, I again spent an entire day messing up the conversion because I didnt read the instructions. Oh well, computer can drive ya nuts.

So, will be looking forward to your post on how it works. If you can make me, Jeff and Todd happy, we are in good shape. (Don, need ya too but ...)

Dave

Well I want everyone to know part of my frustration came from not understanding what to expect from the interaction from each piece of equipment in the chain.
Thanks to Jeff I now have a complete understanding of how everything works and I even have my JVC deck going strong with no trouble.

This system so far is now very stable. I can leave it all running and change channels and play tapes and do what ever I want. The AVX is now a silent system running in the background. Do as you please as if its not there.
This is great.
Congratulations Richard you have a winner :)


Thanks again Jeff.

Your welcome Alan.
You had things working just didn't have any indication of when it was working correctly. Once you know what the Blinking Light and Firewire ID's are supposed to do it's all down hill from their.

Record away!

Jeff

Alan- Just got back in here at midnight. I see Jeff has you going.

One reminder, with the Mits, never have the AVX connected unless you are ready to record Sat signal. I know some people have their own ways to do this that they claim work but I have never confirmed that reliable. When you play back, always have the AVX disconnected and tune to "antenna" and to a DTV signal, such as the ch 3 output from your dish5000 set to an HDTV channel like 9440 HBOHD. JVC deck is different and I have no advice on that. The new software may change this but the above is the way I use it and I have not had any of the problems others keep having and I've been running stable since August.
Dave, I will get testing on the new software but currently, I'm quite busy shooting and editing TV Shows. When I get more time, I'll check it out. It was all I could do to warch Fifth Element this week and I did record it using both the MIts off the HDVR2/Mits and the Panny DST50 tuner/PVHD1000. Both tapes are excellent!

This is excellent news. I'll have to update and burn a new CD. Looks like Richard has finally come through... just in time for The Fifth Element on HBO.

Was there ever any question? ;)

Dave

11 hours later and the AVX is still running stable in the back ground. I did some time shifting in the middle of the night and all went well.

Alan, are you using the JVC or Mits right now?

Alan, great.

Dave

kirby
I am using the JVC at the moment but my mits also works now.

Don,
You have to unplug the firewire cable becouse you can't pick which firewire sorce on the mitsubishi deck. Also the mitsubishi deck doesn't show the DTC100 or the AVX in the forewire menu.

Originally posted by jrichards

You have to unplug the firewire cable becouse you can't pick which firewire sorce on the mitsubishi deck. Also the mitsubishi deck doesn't show the DTC100 or the AVX in the forewire menu.

Jeff:

Can you be a bit more specific. Are you referring to the firewire cable from the Mits to AVX? And then disconnect only during playback through the DTC-100? Or do you mean between recording sessions?

I have a Mits that is dedicated to the 169units. I playback through a second Mits or my JVC.

My goal is to leave the recording Mits connected to the DTC-100 and the AVX at all times. This will allow me to install all three units in my rack where the rear is not readily accessible. I posted this goal earlier, and George Sullivan responded that he leaves them connected.

What do you think?

Just have to disconnect the AVX-1 - Mits cable for playback or OTA recording.

"Don,
You have to unplug the firewire cable becouse you can't pick which firewire sorce on the mitsubishi deck. Also the mitsubishi deck doesn't show the DTC100 or the AVX in the forewire menu."

I knew that but it is good you pointed it out for those that use the Mits and didn't realize it.

Alan- I'm glad you have found the new software working and I suppose I should take some time this weekend to burn a new CD and check it out. I'll have to climb up on the roof and connect my Sat C kit again to see how it works for Showtime HD. I still get that channel but not HBO HD anymore on DirecTV.

Mikeymo-

With the B2 avx software I had recommended to always disconnect the AVX-1 cable after stopping the recording and to connect it just before hitting the record button on the Mits. The reason was to avoid the need to have to reboot the AVX all the time. I actually documented a 2 week period of never rebooting the AVX by following this procedure and it was completely stable for many recordings and playbacks. If I didn't disconnect the AVX cable any other function change including ejecting a tape or changing a channel on the DTC100 would be a cause for the eventual failure(5min to 30 minutes later) of the AVX that necessitated the reboot procedure.
All this may be unecessary now with the new B3 software. However, playback, as Jeff said, may still require a FireWire disconnect.

There are many ways to wire this stuff up and many procedures to get it to work. Others have come here to describe these ways but I prefer the one I have documented because it has the most flexibility and options for a single VCR solution- both record and playback.

Of course your mileage may vary.......

I absolutely do not have to unplug the firewire connection from my AVX-1 to do playback of my recorded material or to do recording of OTA. I simply have it turned off (using the normal front panel power button).

When I want to do playback, I use the following sequence.

- Ensure the AVX-1 is powered down (using the normal front panel power button)

- Turn on the Proscan (if not already on). I am NOT rebooting/removing and reconnecting AC power or disconnecting/reconnecting any cables for the Proscan. With 8B3, I have not had to reboot the Proscan once!

- Tune (if not already there) to a digital OTA station. Here in the DC area, I typically use the CBS digital station as it is the strongest/most stable signal for me. I have experimented with all of our digital OTA stations and it does not seem to make any difference).

- Cycle the AC power on my Mits DVHS (using an external power control switch - not the power button on the Mits). I do make sure that it is off via the front panel button before I do this as this disengages the tape transport (just being careful). By the way, a nice thing is that the Mits deck keeps the time for at least several minutes so the AC power cycle does not screw up the time either.

- Watch for the power light on the Proscan to blink (it always does after I cycle the power on the Mits DVHS deck). Note that the blink occurs regardless of whether the front panel power is active on the Mits deck. Emphasis: shortly after the Mits DVHS deck's AC power source is switched on, the Proscan power light starts blinking. I have done this many, many, many times without any failure!

- Press the front panel power button on the Mits deck, load a recorded tape (if it was not already in) and press play. A few seconds later, the OTA station picture disappears and the picture from the DVHS tape appears.

-----------------------

In my case, this has worked for me since I got my 169time modified Proscan 105 and AVX-1 with 8B2 software several weeks ago. For me 8B3 has added stability to the AVX-1 function (a great thing) but did not change the connectivity. In fact the only change to my startup process is NOT ever having to reboot the Proscan. As I posted before, with the stability of 8B3, I now have a timed recording process that can accomodate changing channels as well.

For some this may look complicated because of all of my commentary associated with the steps. For me it has been 100% repeatable and very simple.

Regards,
George

QUOTE:
"I absolutely do not have to unplug the firewire connection from my AVX-1 to do playback of my recorded material or to do recording of OTA. I simply have it turned off (using the normal front panel power button)."

That would be another way to do it. It does the same thing as disconnecting.

George- Connecting and unconnecting the 1394 AVX cable for playback is faster than cold power booting the AVX but it also assures you have rebooted the AVX fresh for the next time you need to record.

Jeff- did you ever get your 1394 cable switch/IR remote control to work that you were designing last August? Just curious.

OK; here is my latest experience.

I decided to record DEPERADO from HBO this evening at 8:00.

I last utilized the 169 units last Sunday evening for "Six Feet Under".

I had not disconnected any firewire connections. I turned on all three units (DTC-100, AVX & Mits) via the front power switch. The DTC-100 was tuned to a local digital station, but the light "did not blink". I decided to try to record anyway. I switched the DTC-100 input to D*** which was tuned to HBO. Utilizing the Mits remote I switched the Mits to "D" using the 1394 button.

I waited for the 5.1 DD signal to come on for the movie and pressed the record button on the front of the Mits. I walked away.

I just finished watching the entire movie and the picture pretty much freeze free. Yes, there were a few video dropouts and freeups. Of more concern, were the audio dropouts I experienced (and posted about) with Six Feet Under. The audio dropouts were for no more than a few seconds each, but I should estimate this happened about ten times total.

When the movie ended the audio signal went to 2.0 without incident, until about 30 seconds later when I experienced video and audio dropouts. I actually expected this.

I have made perfect HD NET and SHO recordings in the past, but the new software is a miracle for HBO recording.

When finished recording I turned all three units off by their fron panel switches and left the firewire connections intact.

I watched the movie on a second MITS via firewire to my Mits 73711 RP TV.

All in all a very satisfactory viewing experience this evening.

Originally posted by Don Landis
George- Connecting and unconnecting the 1394 AVX cable for playback is faster than cold power booting the AVX but it also assures you have rebooted the AVX fresh for the next time you need to record.

Jeff- did you ever get your 1394 cable switch/IR remote control to work that you were designing last August? Just curious.

Yes I did make one IR unit and two Manual A/B Switches.

I've now played with the new AVX-1 software a little and can say that I'm very pleased with the results. It's significantly more stable--enough that I would encourage anyone who's been hesitating solely because of the stability issue to join the rest of us and get one. There appears to be another 169Time sale going on right now (until April 25th) so the combo has never been cheaper.

When the DTC-100 timer-record feature works with the AVX-1, I'll be even happier.

It's still not bulletproof; in the course of my brief testing I saw the AVX-1 go into a loop ("Analyzing-2") after I had changed inputs on the DTC-100. I had to hard-power-cycle the DTC-100/HDVR to clear this as rebooting the AVX-1 was insufficient.

But except for a brief and entirely expected pause when the channel was changed, I was able to make stable recordings from HDNet on 199, HBO-HD on 509, and SHO-HD on 543.

Even more interesting is that I was able to make 480i recordings from the standard definition HBO channel on Ch. 501. There was an audio sync problem, but I didn't expect to be able to record it at all. In fact I was also able to record from some of the other SD channels (DirecTV demo stuff) though there was a problem with the audio, possibly because the audio stream is MPEG-2 instead of Dolby Digital.

The SD recording thing might be worth playing with a bit more. I expect that the audio is present in the recording and with the right playback STB it might be recoverable. It's even more likely with a PC and all the pick-apart-the-steam tools that others here are playing with.

What I haven't done yet is to record an entire program from HBO or Showtime and then watch it all the way through to see how glitch-free it is. But there's no question that things are much better than they were.

I feel a little less apprehensive about the likely demise of Echostar's QPSK stream.

Ron, the SD stuff is not supported. RIchard has told me the audio wont work and since 169time is an HD shop, no effort will be done to fix.
(I assume we would rather have avx-1 timer and a 6000. ;) )

Dave

I don't expect support for it (the Unity Motion/HDVR is similarly able to record MPEG-2 stuff from satellite) but I think some enthusiasts here may be interested in it nevertheless. As I said, I expect that the audio really is present in the recordings and can be made accessible with the right STB or software tools.

Wow, what a difference!!! I just got my JVC deck installed, and hooked up. My setup now, has my Mits TV and Mits DVHS connected together. And my 169time, JVC deck, and AVX-1 connected. Made an OTA recording on the JVC, played it on the Mits, perfect! Switched to HDNet, recorded 5 minutes, played it on Mits, perferct!!! Now this is how recording was meant to be! :D

Now I need to get my HTPC built so I can rip movies from tape and store them on it for playback! Thanks 169time!!!

Cool Kirby, what we want to hear!!

Dave

Dave,

its amazing how well the JVC works compared to the Mits deck. I fought many many hours with the Mits, and never was able to get it to consistently record and playback OTA or DTV channels. But now, I have the JVC, and it all worked first time. And I can confirm, spacing doesnt seem to matter, I have about 6" between the JVC and AVX1, and the same distance between the JVC and DTC100. No ferrite cores, no inline anything, it just works. I dont know if my problems before can be attributed to the Mits deck or not, but I really was beginning to think I would never get it to work! Happy now!

I did find one weird thing with the new software. It looks like it flags it as 4x3. I usually play back recordings in my second JVC thats set to 480i 16x9 into a dvd recorder. All of my recordings previously came out as 480i 16x9 but since the new software its being downconverted to letterboxed 4x3 instead.

Will ask Richards opinion

dave

Originally posted by mrwilson
I did find one weird thing with the new software. It looks like it flags it as 4x3. I usually play back recordings in my second JVC thats set to 480i 16x9 into a dvd recorder. All of my recordings previously came out as 480i 16x9 but since the new software its being downconverted to letterboxed 4x3 instead.

I guess I sorta noticed this, but havent tested it to know if its doing this all the time or not. I recorded only a 5 minute blurb of some 4:3 1080i material this afternoon from OTA, and when I played it back, it played in 16:9 (stretched from 4:3). I assumed that my Mits dvhs picked up on the sub-channel that one of my CBS's broadcasts, and I didnt bother to try and change the channel on the recording.

I assume you are only referring to OTA recordings?

Kirby

Glad your up and running:)

Alan, me too! Its really quite funny how easy the JVC makes things!

From Richard about the above question

Neither the AVX1 nor the HDVR modify the signal in that manner. If this
happened to me I'd check the settings in the playback deck and monitor, or
substitute a another deck. Perhaps a change in the source signal caused
this.

Dave

I know that when RIchard was working with all the decks, it was clear the Mits communication was "different" than the others. Without any help from companys, he did the best he could with no support.

Dave

So is anyone having success with the mits useing the updated software.

I assume you are only referring to OTA recordings?

Nope Sat. recordings.


Dave, I do have a recording of Jimmy Neutron from the B2 software, I'll see if it does the same.

Originally posted by tonyb100
So is anyone having success with the mits useing the updated software.

Works for me...

glad to hear it... thanks

tony- I hope to test this on my mits this weekend. I have some time, finally, with a break in the work load for a day or two.

Guess I need to go through this thread and find the links to the process. I recall reading about in whiole at NAB that there was some special software I needed to buy online to burn the CD. :(

Dave- If I dump the beta 2 cd image to a folder and then perform the patch update to that folder, why can't I dump that folder with updated patched files back to a blank CD-R CD using my standard windows XP burn software? What is special about the utility you recommended as necessary to burn the CD? I will do it if I have to but don't understand why my normal software won't work, or will it?

Don, you have to use the process.

The s/w you download is a free trial.

Give it a shot, it works GREAT.

Dave

Apparently the patch tool was written to modify the prioprietary ".gi" file format used by that stomp software.

I hope the stomp software doesn't turn into nagware or mess up my other CD writing software.

Still a fairly creative idea to make a patch tool that takes advantage of 30 day trial software so we don't have to buy anything.

;) I have a good idea once in a while.

I use stomp as my number one recorder.

Dave

"Apparently the patch tool was written to modify the prioprietary ".gi" file format used by that stomp software. "

Bitch mode hat on-

It is so easy to just use standard software. Why programmers and computer designers MUST find it necessary to do things in a complicated and customer unfriendly way is beyond me. I really think Richard, as talented as he is fits this category. He like so many need to get out of the cave at least 10 minutes a week and view the real world. I already have a different CD burning tool with each computer that I purchased. All different! then there is the standard that comes with the OS. It works just fine too. To use a temporary free ware to market one's product just shows lack of good design smarts.

Another example of how stupid some product designers are. It just isn't small one man shops like Richard and 169Time. How about Canon!
I just bought a new Canon G3 digital still camera. Very tiny and very high picture quality. Cool! Now for the stupidity of this. Canon in its infinite wisdom knows that nobody uses a small still camera tethered to a wall socket! Yet there high IQ wizards decided to bundle the basic camera package with an AC power pack that is 1.5 times the size of the camera with a 6 ft. AC line cord that is large enough to power a small window air conditioner along with a 6 ft heavy duty DC cable with henumgus RF filtering toroids on it. OH, you don't use the camera plugged into an AC outlet like we do, says their nitwit CSR? No, I use it with a battery but where's the battery charger? That doesn't come with the camera package. You have to buy that separately but we're currently out of stock. Price? it is $180 for a humongus box that will charge the tiny battery. I went to Best Buy and bought a small multipurpose charger for Li Ion batteries of all sizes that runs from 12vdc as well as AC using a wall wart pack. It all fits nicely in my small camera bag as it is barly larger than the battery itself. Anyone need a Canon AC power pack? You could probably use it to jump start your 18 wheeler truck next winter or power your G3 should you be like those at Canon CSRs who use AC power to shoot digital stills!

Rant mode hat off and out to research the propritary CD burning software. I'll load it in my wife's computer! PVR- was it creative idea or just the same kind of thinking like that Canon G3 AC power supply that comes standard with the camera?

Don, you have to understand we tried a few different s/w packages and this was the only free one we could find that seemed to work on all the various burners we had. The other choice would have been to force everyone to pay for shipping of a new CD. Your choice. ;)

Dave

The only problem with using the trial-ware is that if we have a new patch after 30 days, I bet we wont be able to use the software to burn again. Depends on how they trial works though. It was a good idea though :D

Are you serious? Since when does one install a CD burner that won't burn with it's own software? Since when does a CD burning software that comes with the burner refuse to data burn the files you select? Pardon my computer ignorance, but I have never had a problem burning any CD here with any of the software with any of the files I have selected. I would guess that the issue is as PVR stated and that is you guys designed the patch to address only the *.gi or whatever the proprietary image file structure is, only. That's OK but I'm just saying that you could have done without the need for that particular software. Maybe you were in the RA paranoid mode of people hacking the code then. Bet that is the real reason to do it the way you did. If so then say so. I do respect your right to do it for that reason. but, not because 169Time is dependent on the stomp company to distribute it's product. Anyway, out of here to do the process.

Kirby- just change the system date on your computer to the same date as the last date you loaded the software. This usually hacks around the tally date counter in the code. When you use the software for the last time, make a note to yourself to change the system date on your computer at the bios and OS levels to that last date before launching it. Once it expires, your usually dead. Need to go get another copy under a different user name to proceed. Then, again, if you are like Dave, just buy it and scrap all your other software. If Dave says it's good, than I believe him but I already have good enough software to burn CD too.

Don, you sure got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. ;)

You know Richard well enough that he has done everything as easy as he can to protect his product. Assume the glass is half full, there is no reason other than that. If it could have been done easier, it would have been, but it cant.

Dave

"You know Richard well enough that he has done everything as easy as he can to protect his product."

Yeah, I know. That's what I thought.

It was really the Canon G3 that had me pixxed off today. :) but the $39 power pack is actually pretty good.

I'll probably do some PPV testing as most are reporting some good results with the HBO/SHOtime HD now.

Thats pretty weird that it didn't come with the charger, I got the G2 last year (Canon makes amazing cameras) and it came with everything, the charger (which I would say is the same width as the camera, half the depth), software and the special wireless remote. One bad thing though is that when you actually pull the images off the camera using USB it basically sucks up the ENTIRE battery, so you're basically forced to keep it plugged in when downloading the images.

On topic again, I've been reading this thread for 5 months now, but I'm still undecided :D The AVX-1 requires a D-VHS deck and I've been reading alot of negative things about them, and opening the deck and messing with intricuit parts and cleaning them seems too much for me to do :) A representative from 169time told me that there will be a software upgrade in the future that can stream the firewire directly to a PC instead of having to connect it to a D-VHS deck, if this was already out I would've got the AVX-1 now. But who knows when this software update will come out, the Dish 921 might be available by then :cool: .


Edit: BTW, I believe there is a tool that converts .GI to .ISO

I issues on the DVHS decks I believe have been overblown by a few.
JVC I believe has worked with the vocal folks and is resolving the issues.
I still use decks on a daily basis w/o any issues. And at the prices now,
how can one lose?

Dave

Dave- I built the new 0.8B3 CD and tried to boot it but ran into an old problem with my AVX that Richard is aware of. It is not sensing the 1394 card again. This happens when the AVX is cold. After it warms up in about 3-4 hours it will or should work as it always had in the past.

In the meantime, I researched this thread and did not find any clear cut instructions on the cd burning process. Mostly it's YOYO procedure. You did state the process in very brief description but it was in two different posts thread page apart.

Anyway, I read where others were getting error reports and didn't see any response to them. Guess? this is normal.

Mine was:

Update success...

Stop in module UPD3B_GI at address 055F:01B6


Not sure why and not sure why it was different address than what others reported but that is what I got.

The new CD booted fine but generated an error when trying to sense the OHCI PCI card. FWIW- the original cd's I have stop at the same point. As I said, I'll let the AVX box warm up and soon it should sense and finish the boot up as it has done in the past.
I have had the AVX off since March and that is why it has coold down to RT.

Phire- I recommend you get a card reader for dumping the pics off. I use a PCI card for my notebook in the field and a USB reader at home. Cost $14 ea. Cheap! This is my 3rd digital camera in 6 years. My otherone got smashed in my luggage on the flight home from NAB. Good excuse to upgrade. :)

I just got my JVC deck last week. So far so good. Before I got it, I simply mailed a question to Marek @ JVC asking if I needed to send it in for upgrades or not. Quite simply, he replied stating that I should send him the serial number, and if its one they have identified as potentially having a problem, he would arrange for it to be sent in. Simple enough answer for me, and thus I purchased it.

Now I am in the process of getting parts for my HTPC so I can pull the streams from tape and put them on hard drives for future playback and storage.

I still use decks on a daily basis w/o any issues. And at the prices now,
how can one lose?


Dave, I am very happy to hear this about the JVC. When the 921 comes out I want to get a JVC (assuming the issues have been resolved) if the 921 still is not supporting the Mits as they said it would not as of March. But the 921 will nopt be out until Fall or late summer at the earliest so by then they may have these other limitations worked out.

Don, you CD updated correctly based on message.

Okay team, got a timer question for ya.

Richard continues to work and struggle with timer. I is aware of some folks having an issue here and there but he can reproduce. I know I havent had a timer failure in a long time.

But there is another way. I just took the dtc100 remote vcr dongle out and programmed it for the vcr. It seemed to work okay. So, Richard says one way that we could get timer going today is unsolder one wire off the dtc100 which removes the timer sensor signal he grabs. This was the remote dongle from the dtc100 would do all the control of the VCR.
This would be used for OTA and the avx-1 sat.

Any interest in more detail on this?

Dave

Folks, Richard has updated the zip file with the process update procedures.

Go to www.169time.com and click on the right side for the avx-1 update process.

Dave

Still trouble with the AVX.

I have been spending money on PPV the last few days and making my recording with the AVX.

I finally player them back today. 3 out of the 5 are blank and the other 2 I cant get them to play unless I put my VCR in play and hit FF then the movie appears and I have to hit play from there. Once the movie kicks in it studders every few seconds. I them hooked up my Mits to see if it was my VCR. The AVX reads it found the Mits and everything starts and is fine. I play back the tape and nothing. Blank. I have to hit play and FF again on this deck and it shows up and I then hit play and it skips or studders every few seconds.

My only good recording is from ch 199 the CES show and that does not show. I have to hit FF again and then play and that also studders.

Please any ideas.

Bad JVC?

Can it record reg stuff.

I am not having any issue on any channel.

Dave

I have 2 JVC decks and 2 Mits decks.

Same problem with all. I just hooked up my my Mits and recorded and same thing and just hooked up my 2nd JVC same thing.

The AVX reads found VCR waiting for transmision and then starts its normal reading. All my VCRs find the AXV.

None of my decks play the tapes back. I have to FF on all of them and once the tapes do grabe and you can see the movie they are not smooth. There are studders every few minutes.

Alan, thats exactly what two of my "updated" decks did. They would record the tape, but not play on the deck it recorded on.

Again, step by step. Are you able to watch the component outputs from your JVC with the avx-1 and it works?

Will send your stuff to RIchard

Dave

Dave
Yes I while I am recording the component outputs of the JVC are working and spitting out video.

None of the tapes I have recorded with playback but yet there is video on them if I FF in the play mode the video appears. Please note the tapes I record from over the air Dish 5000 play fine so it is not my deck. This also happens on both of my MIts. Same thing. I just recorded with my mits to play back on my mits up stairs and it wont play but the video will show up if I hit play and ff.
This is not my decks. Its something with the AVX. I can record over the air and all is well. If I record with the AVX no playback and I have 2 seperate systems and same thing on ether.

Again, will send note to richard. Somethings not working right. I thought you recorded at the beginning talking to Jeff fine? Arent solution issues fun to deal with?

Dave

Ok here is what Ive found out.

First off my system consist of one JVC and one Mits at my recording station. I have a second JVC and Mits upstairs in my HT.
All the tapes Ive recorded do not play upstairs and will not playback without the DTC100 in the chain. So they do playback if the DTC100 is connected but if I remove it from the chain its a no go.

Can anyone else play their tapes in a different machine withot the DTC100.

Alan:

I've got two JVC 30k's, one for recording the other for playback which is not connected to DTC100, and plays back tapes perfectly that where recorded on the "recording" JVC30K.


Lon

Finally got around to watching a movie I taped.
It would glitch (pixalate and audio drop) about 3 times a minute (basically unwatchable).
To fix it I did 3 things (I did all 3 at once, so I don't know which one was the fix):
1)Unplugged/replugged the Jvc (mine seems to go screwy on a regular basis)
2)Turned the avx1 off (I use two 6 to 4 pin firewire cables so this takes the dtc out of the chain as well).
3)Hooked up an RF antenna cable and tuned the Jvc to a regular tv channel.

After this, there was only one glitch in the whole movie, but it was different. It was a 2 second pause with no pixalating.

The rest was perfect, 100%, A1, etc, etc.

"More detail on this?" , absolutely.

So the timer software is there already? I haven't tried it,just assumed from posts that is wasn't there for satellite based stuff.

I tried the vcr dongle (posted a couple of pages back) but my problem was that the dtc (apparently) sends a power toggle before the record, thus the vcr had to be turned off to make this work. While the vcr turned on and hit record ok, 75% of the time, it wouldn't lock onto the picture from the I link.

If the software is there, maybe that is causing problems with the vcr dongle? If this is the case, unsoldering the wire will cure this?

In my opinion, if the vcr dongle could work, it should be as good as a firewire sent control.





Originally posted by h2ofun
Don, you CD updated correctly based on message.

Okay team, got a timer question for ya.

Richard continues to work and struggle with timer. I is aware of some folks having an issue here and there but he can reproduce. I know I havent had a timer failure in a long time.

But there is another way. I just took the dtc100 remote vcr dongle out and programmed it for the vcr. It seemed to work okay. So, Richard says one way that we could get timer going today is unsolder one wire off the dtc100 which removes the timer sensor signal he grabs. This was the remote dongle from the dtc100 would do all the control of the VCR.
This would be used for OTA and the avx-1 sat.

Any interest in more detail on this?

Dave

Lets see.

Alan, something is funky with your stuff since no one else seems to be having any issue. Step by step.

Here is what I got from Richard.

"Interesting. Is there more than one AVX1? If so, be advised that the disk
I sent him is only for the unit with the serial number that matches that
written on the disk, and it may not work correctly in a different avx1."


Judd321, you basically have shown one of the JVC failure modes. The RF input. Also, unplugging the JVC gets it out of the mode where its output decoder locks into pixels. I saw the second issue, never saw the first.
Without having all the decks I had, I would have blamed it on the 169time products, but it was always the JVC. So all I can say is be careful as to what part you blame first. I, and others are having perfect success with the avx-1. Again, there are some many parts in this thing, its not easy to find. So this is exactly how the MPAA wants to keep it. Something thats not easy. But sure worth the effort.

The timer recording s/w isnt in the s/w. Again, if one has the dtc100 modified, the avx-1 cant be connected to use the dongle. But a wire could be removed and then the dongle would work with the avx-1, just means NO more firewire control.

Dave

I only have one AVX.

I can record with my Mits just fine. I can record with my JVC just fine. None of my 4 decks will show the image when playing back the tapes unless they are going through the DTC 100.

I can however record and playback all over the air (dish5000) tapes just fine will all my decks and both my JVCs play Dtheater tapes just fine. Nothing wrong with the decks.

If I record ch 199 and take the tape to my upstairs Mits it will not playback.
If I take that deck and plug it into my DTC100 it plays.

Alan, I have no idea. Never hear of such a thing. Please give RIchard a call
after lunch are time. He will probably be in the lab.

We will get to the bottom of this, but am a loss now. Again, see what RIchard suggests. Sending him back the avx-1 may be what stuck doing but again, hes the man.

Dave

Dave,

After seeing the price of the disk from 169time, and since I would need two of them, I decided to purchase a burner, etc. and do myself. It burned fine and booted up the avx-1 fine. I will be recording Fifth Element at noon Denver time to see what the results are.

Jeff

Dave, don't misunderstand me.
I absolutely didn't blame the avx1.
Because my Jvc has been wonky since day1 (I'm waiting for the issues to get sorted out before I send it in), I blamed it first. I just posted what worked for me in case someone else had similar issues.

The steps I tried, I got from reading this forum over the last many months.

After I performed the above mentioned steps, it played absolutely perfectly (except for one 2 second pause which is quite acceptable).


Now, back to the timer thing. I think we can get this working, but, I don't quite understand what you mean.

You said :
"The timer recording s/w isnt in the s/w. Again, if one has the dtc100 modified, the avx-1 cant be connected to use the dongle. But a wire could be removed and then the dongle would work with the avx-1, just means NO more firewire control."

If the timer record via firewire is not currently set up, why would we need to disconnect the control wire to get the dongle to work?

When I tried the dongle, I could get it to record. The only problem was the power toggle that was sent out first (my jvc won't seem to lock onto the I-link after a power on).

(I'm sure its obvious, but somethings not sinking into my thick head)

Thanks for any input.

Alan Just curious, You mentioned that if you took the tape and played it upstairs in the Mits that it would not play. This may be a stupid question but are you playing the Mits through a firewire capable device such as a Mits RPTV or the 30K that has an MPEG decoder built in? You are aware that the Mits will not send any digital signal through its analog outputs. It does not have a MPEG decoder like the JVC and will only playback digital tapes over a firewire through a set capable of decoding the HD MPEG bitstream. When you mentioned that you saw images when FF but not in play, it almost sounded like you were using the analog outs.

Can you describe your playback chain as to how you have it setup upstairs? Will the tape playback in the JVC using the component outputs to your HD capable monitor? The recordings you made with the Dish 5000 are all HD sources correct?

Perhaps you can try Judd31's solution and hook up an antenna to the JVC. He mentioned that he had studders every minute until he hooked up an antenna to his JVC, then the studders went away. It seems there may be a firmware issue with the JVC as far as requiring an antenna connection to get proper playback. Just a thought.

Here is where I got the remote I use.

http://www.oneforall-int.com/comfiles/index2.html


dave

Judd, from what I understand, with no avx-1, the timer from the dtc100 and jvc work fine via firewire.

But, Richard says with the avx-1 in the loop, it will not function correctly now. So removing the control wire for the 169time board, would allow the dongle to work and not mess up other stuff from what I hear.

dave

Hello Clark

My JVC upstairs has the component outputs directly tomy Seleco 300+.
The Mits is connected to the Samsung via firewire and the Samsung spits out the HD signal via DVI to the projector. All tapes work flawless except those recorded using the AVX.

On the mits if Ihit play and FF I see the movie but if I hit play I get nothing.
On the JVC I get no playback at all. If I chose play and hit FF I still see nothing.

If I hook any of these decks to the DTC100 and choose over the air to where the light starts blinking so there is comunication and hit play the tapes play fine.

Very strange.

Alan- I wasn't going to mention it because it is a real long shot but your symptom does spell like a dirty control track head. The fact that ONLY AVX recordings on two different vcr's would be inconsistent with that, however. I'm stumped to offer any technical advice from the VCR end and certainly not qualified in the AVX operation that would cause this.

OK, now my AVX is really screwing up! I cant believe this!!! 1 hour and 10 minutes into arguably the most important recording ever, TFE, and can you believe this??? Totally pixelization, loss of signal, everything! Cant 169time do something about this darn thunderstorm??? ;)

Ok, sorry to cause any heart attacks with Dave or Richard :) The recording up to the point when the storm moved in was excellent. Played back 15 minutes of it, and no video or audio problems. I love this thing. Please work on the weather though! :D

Kirby, you had me going.

I have to decks going with TFE. One started fine, the other I glad I was there since it didnt. Got to try and see whats going on there.

Now that I think of it, that was the deck I put the dongle vcr number in.
I bet that messed it up. Okay, back to taking it out after its done.

Dave

Richard was nice enough to spend some time with me on the phone today
and is sending me a different AVX for trial purposes. After examining all possibilities it looks to be the culprit.

Great, something sure seems weird.

Not bad support for a Sunday, let alone Easter Sunday at that. ;)

dave

What model remote Dave?

FYI-

It's been 29 hours for the AVX to warm up and still will not boot past the:

ohci1394: pci_module_init Failed

instruction, followed by a Help line about incorrect IRQ etc.

It tries 3 times and then just freezes with a flashing curser.

This has happened at least a half dozen times before since August last year but after 1-5 days it seems to fix itself by leaving it turned on. It only fails after being left off until the AVX is cold. I may need to send it back to Richard for hardware check out this week.

Dave- I did discuss this with Richard last year so I have never sent the box back because it always fixed itself the day I was ready to send. Have you ever seen this? I have not opened it up. I was thinking that the boards may need reseating, especially the Fire wire card as that is what's failing in the boot up.

Before you ask, yes, this happens with all 3 of my boot CD's now.