I do know how to read hex, but my listed host channel makes no sense to me. It's listed as 0xB07 (without the B it might make sense). I'm not using cable, but even cable numbers don't go that high. Can someone please decifer this for me.

In Detroit area, with OTA, it should be analog channel 56, the PBS station, 0x38. (Mine is) I have no idea why yours reads what it does. Is it receiving guide OK?

JohnS-MI,

I'm not so sure that it's 56. It used to be 62, but I suddenly stopped getting the guide, and the host was listed as 0x0. After reorienting my Silver Sensor, I got what I quoted to you earlier, and the guide seems to be ok.

JohnS-MI,

I'm not so sure that it's 56. It used to be 62, but I suddenly stopped getting the guide, and the host was listed as 0x0. After reorienting my Silver Sensor, I got what I quoted to you earlier, and the guide seems to be ok.

I've only had my unit since early December. Since I learned how to get into diagnostic mode (probably mid-December) mine has always read 0x38, which translates to 56. I'm about 8-10 miles north of all the Detroit stations. A56 is not on the same tower as D56, in fact it is the same bearing as channel 50, about 40 degress off the majority of the stations. I have to reorient my antenna when the tv is off to allow guide reception. When I do that, the guide is perfect.

Over the weekend, I was able to download the latest firmware (1.17) to my box. menu->troubleshoot->version verified the update.

As I just found out.... Channel 13 in Chicago is transmitting TV Guide Data now (That's what I'm receiving for past few days....) I'm giving it a boot (653214741) to see what other channels are transmitting.....

What difference is between TV Guide v7 and v8?

From a conversation last week, V7 is referred to as "Legacy" TV guide, and V8 is the 'newer' one. What the differences are, I'm not clear, but in your DVR (Any type he told me) that if you can find your firmware versions, if you find V7.x you're 'Legacy', V8.x 'Newer'.

My 3410a started out life at V1.15, with TV Guide V7.x (Actual version info a couple of pages back, where I posted the complete firmware differences between V1.15 & V1.17, so I'm guessing we're all "Legacy" TV guide units..

I was told that (In Chicago) CH7, 32, (And I'm guessing 13) are transmitting 'Legacy' data, and CH 11 is transmitting the 'newer' data, and the data will be on SD (Analog) transmissions only. I'm not certain of other cities.

I can inform that the Data is transmitted on Line 15 & 278 (Line 15 of both Fields).

Other than that, I'm kind of clue-less, but I plan on learning more......

Is there any way to force/trick the 3410 into picking a particular host channel?
I've tried turning off all the analog channels except for channel 2 (PBS WGBH Boston) and then did a guide "reset"
by entering the Guide, selecting the "Message" tab, pressing "down" once to TV Guide On Screen ID Number, then entering "653274147" on your remote, which does reset all the guide listings and the clock. But, after power down overnight, the "753159852" menu still lists channel 4 CBS as the host channel.

As I just found out.... Channel 13 in Chicago is transmitting TV Guide Data now (That's what I'm receiving for past few days....) I'm giving it a boot (653214741) to see what other channels are transmitting..... What in the heck is on channel 13? I haven't been getting any guide data at all for the past few days on my Sony DHG-HDD500. I'm just OTA and I'm 40+ miles out and I sure as heck don't get any channel 13 from Chicago. I'm hoping you mean through cable. I get channel 13 from Rockford OTA (NBC), and that could potentially really screw me up. Just what I need - another expensive doorstop. Anyhow, I did a reset. We'll see what happens.

I have "Prefer Digital" selection turned on on my OTA receiver (Mits 62525)... Last week I forced a scan of TV Guide cause it came up with the Hex C (Ch 13).. I had no idea a 13 existed either... So last night, when for the 2nd time in as many days a re-directed channel came up "No Signal" (I re-direct OTA channel numbers on the Logos, re-directing from Cable to OTA channels, forcing 3410a to look at OTA antenna instead of Cable channels for HD).. Anyway, when we get the "No Signal" message, I have found that I can reset it by going into Channel Edit, and disabling & re-enabling the OTA Digital channel number..... (Which usually causes some panic, as the scheduled recording isn't recording, and I then must find the channel number the HD Channel IS transmitting on, to re-enable it...)..

Anyway, last night found TV Guide on "C" which is 13... So, on the Mits turned off "Prefer Digital" (Allows it to call up Analog channels) and dialed in 13..... A spanish channel came up..... !!!! Kinda Noisy.... (I've an outside antenna at 52' aimed SSE --- I'm NNW of the Chicago) Have no idea where they transmit from.... So I sent the commands to force the LG to Drop the channel and go searching again....

A couple posts up was the question "How can you force a specific TV Guide Channel"...
Dunno, but I hope to find out in a week or so!!!!

PPS: I don't even have CH13 in the TV Guide!!!!

Last week I forced a scan of TV Guide cause it came up with the Hex C (Ch 13).. I had no idea a 13 existed either...
Anyway, last night found TV Guide on "C" which is 13... So, on the Mits turned off "Prefer Digital" (Allows it to call up Analog channels) and dialed in 13.....


Actually, a minor typo or error here. Hex "C" is "12." Not being in Chicago area, I don't know if you guys have a 12.

A = 10, B = 11, C = 12, D = 13, E = 14, F = 15

From a conversation last week, V7 is referred to as "Legacy" TV guide, and V8 is the 'newer' one. What the differences are, I'm not clear, but in your DVR (Any type he told me) that if you can find your firmware versions, if you find V7.x you're 'Legacy', V8.x 'Newer'.

My 3410a started out life at V1.15, with TV Guide V7.x (Actual version info a couple of pages back, where I posted the complete firmware differences between V1.15 & V1.17, so I'm guessing we're all "Legacy" TV guide units..

hmmm...In trying to figure out why my 3410a Guide did not have info for the SF Bay area's main PBS station's HD channel, I learned that other people with devices using the TV guide DID get those listings. I was further told that that's because they had a more recent version of the guide in their devices.

I had previously gone to the official support site for the guide, the TV Guide On Screen (http://www.vgi.com/support/) . There you can see the support is divided into 2 sections, one list that includes the 3410a and another group "other" that must include more recent devices, such as the Sony HDD250/500. Maye these correspond to the V7 and V8 that you mention. The TV guide is also discussed at great length in a non-Sony support site for the HDD250/500, http://pvr.hidyman.com/.

I've had very few problems with the guide. Missed a few recordings, but not much. Then, just last week, I got basic cable and high speed from comcast. (I get a few more channels now, but I primarily signed up for the high speed...) anyway, now my guide is all hosed and never remembers anything from one day to the next. It turns on channels I don't want on. It changes channels from my OTA preference to the cable analog...And now I can't tune to the antennae analog stations, only cable analog (which is worse quality). I previously got the guide from PBS analog. I haven't check what is from now that I got comcast.

I have "Prefer Digital" selection turned on on my OTA receiver (Mits 62525)... Last week I forced a scan of TV Guide cause it came up with the Hex C (Ch 13).. I had no idea a 13 existed either... So last night, when for the 2nd time in as many days a re-directed channel came up "No Signal" (I re-direct OTA channel numbers on the Logos, re-directing from Cable to OTA channels, forcing 3410a to look at OTA antenna instead of Cable channels for HD).. Anyway, when we get the "No Signal" message, I have found that I can reset it by going into Channel Edit, and disabling & re-enabling the OTA Digital channel number..... (Which usually causes some panic, as the scheduled recording isn't recording, and I then must find the channel number the HD Channel IS transmitting on, to re-enable it...)..

Anyway, last night found TV Guide on "C" which is 13... So, on the Mits turned off "Prefer Digital" (Allows it to call up Analog channels) and dialed in 13..... A spanish channel came up..... !!!! Kinda Noisy.... (I've an outside antenna at 52' aimed SSE --- I'm NNW of the Chicago) Have no idea where they transmit from.... So I sent the commands to force the LG to Drop the channel and go searching again....

A couple posts up was the question "How can you force a specific TV Guide Channel"...
Dunno, but I hope to find out in a week or so!!!!

PPS: I don't even have CH13 in the TV Guide!!!!My guide seems to be repopulating tonight, so I hope eveything works out. I did some checking and there is a low power 3kW channel 13 in Chicago. It's WOCK-CA. From what I can gather, it does sound ethnic. But it says they also show MTV2 (most likely late at night, the way 28, now 41 did a couple of years back). There doesn't seem to be any channel 12 in that direction, at least not in the general vicinity.

I've had very few problems with the guide. Missed a few recordings, but not much. Then, just last week, I got basic cable and high speed from comcast. (I get a few more channels now, but I primarily signed up for the high speed...) anyway, now my guide is all hosed and never remembers anything from one day to the next. It turns on channels I don't want on. It changes channels from my OTA preference to the cable analog...And now I can't tune to the antennae analog stations, only cable analog (which is worse quality). I previously got the guide from PBS analog. I haven't check what is from now that I got comcast.
Josh-
This may help you or it may not. The 3410A may be confused about the source of the guide data. Try setting the 3410A back to 'OTA only' and then delete all of the analog channels that it has scanned. You don't need to delete them from the guide, just remove them from the available channel list. Then go back to 'OTA and cable' and do a complete rescan of all the channels. Hopefully, you'll be fine after that.

Josh-
This may help you or it may not. The 3410A may be confused about the source of the guide data. Try setting the 3410A back to 'OTA only' and then delete all of the analog channels that it has scanned. You don't need to delete them from the guide, just remove them from the available channel list. Then go back to 'OTA and cable' and do a complete rescan of all the channels. Hopefully, you'll be fine after that.

Thanks Hyrax,
I'll give it a try...It can't get any worse than it is now.

You are SO right... 13 is D 12 is C
Guess that's what happens when you run out of fingers!!! :)!

I stand so very corrected!!!! (You can see I don't convert Hex much, eh?)

P.S. Fox is on 12 on cable.

DUH!!!

A few posts back, I complained that my host channel was listed as 0xB07. It used to be decimal channel 62. Last night it was lister as 02, which does make sense. I wonder what in the world is the reason for these frequent changes in host

I wish I knew. After 2-1/2 months of perfect operation, mine switched away from PBS and is back to its old tricks. If someone finds a way to force a certain Host Channel, that will be a major help to us all.

I have never been able to force a specific host channel. Whenever, my guide data gets lost, I run the setup routine twice, once for a different zip code, and a second time back to my own zip code. That clears out the host information, and enables my 3410a to find a new host channel that works.

The problem here seems to be that PBS has a more advanced TVGOS version which my 3410A does very well with. Fox has the older version, so if the LG gets locked onto that, all the old glitches return.

If anyone in Chicagland finds that their 3410a is using channel 7 (Hex 7 --- Yes! I got that right :)! )
please inform me, OK?

Thanks

Jan J and UncD2000 - my NTSC DVR's with the last version of TVGOS have the host channel listed as 20 (Chicago). I'm not sure if that's actual or hex. But they've been updating and working fine - it's my Sony ATSC HDD500 that shows 11 that's been giving me fits recently just like your 3410a's. (The NTSC's used to say 11 up a few months ago.) They must be really screwing around with something.

20 is probably over the air CH32... (16*2 in Hex is 20, 16*2=32)
My C CH12 is probably CH32 off Cable, as it is put on channel 12, and thankfully there is no CH12 over the air.... I'm still kicking myself about the Hex mistake I made!!!!

I was going great for 2-1/2 months with 0 x B (Ch. 11 PBS). When problems started up again, I checked, and sure enough it had changed itself to 0 x C (Comcast Ch. 12 = WFLD/Fox). On each of the last two nights, a recording that was entered manually by time and channel No. failed to occur.

I'm surprised you got B (Ch 11) to work at all... From the conversation I had last week, they only transmit the "Advanced" type data (V8.x), not "Legacy" type data (V7.x).

I hope to talk to them next week....

Once I get business stuff over with, I'm going to ask them a couple questions....
1. Is there a way to point a V7 device (3410a) to a specific channel?
2. Can a V7 device use V8 data from Ch 11 (Chicago specific question) ?

I was thinking that the V8 data was what was causing the unprecedented good performance that I was getting until a few days ago when my unit decided to go back to Fox. I plan to program it to record Las Vegas tonight and see what happens.

I haven't been getting any guide data at all for a few days now (Chicago - OTA). From what it sounds like, other's are still having trouble. I'm at my wit's end. I've been trying everything. Any suggestions? How do I do a complete unit reset? My other, NTSC DVR's TVGOS is fine.

Outside or inside antenna? What is your picture quality on CH32. That is the Primary "Legacy" data transmitter for TV Guide in Chicago...

Here's a test to try... Turn on Closed Captioning... On CH32.. If you are getting poor Closed Captioning (incorrect words), that prooves your reception on 32 isn't optimal... TV Guide data is more complicated than Closed Captioning.
If your signal on CH 32 is not good, neither will be your TV Guide Data.

Rammitinski...... Wife just informed me that TV Guide locked up today and didn't record her soaps.... Got the infamous "invalid source to record".
She found LG turned on, and didn't record anything, and didn't turn off.
Did the famous 10 second un-plug, and data is still there, and nothing unusual is in scheduled recordings.... Hmmmm.. Makes me think we got sent bad data!!!! (By the way, the suggestion for checking corruption in Closed Captioning came from LG support supervisor who was in communications with TV Guide/Gemstar at the time...)

Rammitinski...... Wife just informed me that TV Guide locked up today and didn't record her soaps.... Got the infamous "invalid source to record".
She found LG turned on, and didn't record anything, and didn't turn off.
Did the famous 10 second un-plug, and data is still there, and nothing unusual is in scheduled recordings.... Hmmmm.. Makes me think we got sent bad data!!!! (By the way, the suggestion for checking corruption in Closed Captioning came from LG support supervisor who was in communications with TV Guide/Gemstar at the time...)


Jan, the same thing happened to me here in Washington, DC. I got "invalid source to record" message. I did the 10 second un-plug and all is fine. I wonder if something got input into the guide data that was more than just a local occurance.

-James

Rammitinski...... Wife just informed me that TV Guide locked up today and didn't record her soaps.... Got the infamous "invalid source to record".
She found LG turned on, and didn't record anything, and didn't turn off.
Did the famous 10 second un-plug, and data is still there, and nothing unusual is in scheduled recordings.... Hmmmm.. Makes me think we got sent bad data!!!! (By the way, the suggestion for checking corruption in Closed Captioning came from LG support supervisor who was in communications with TV Guide/Gemstar at the time...)Just checked it and it's back! The zipcode change I tried must have did something. The guide is all populated and ordered just like I last had it. It's like it was still there, but it was hidden for some reason. That happened last week too, but it came back the next day. (By the way, my antenna is indoor, but channel 32 analog comes in perfectly - I'll recheck the host channel tomorrow just to see which it is now, but it should be the same.) I hope it's cured.

Would any know or know how to find out what channel(s) TV Guide data is on in LA area?

Here's a question for the 'Group'....

I re-direct channels from Cable to OTA. In other words, I channel edit the Icons in TV Guide so that the OTA HD channels here in chicago are assigned to The same Icons in TV Guide.
For example, I'll Re-Direct CBS from 89-3 (or whatever it was selected to by TV Guide) to
2-1. That changes it from cable to the OTA feed.... Doing 2-1, 5-1, 7-1, 9-1, 11-1, 11-2, 20-1, and 32-1 that way...
This is usally trouble free and flawless... Except....

Occasionally, when a scheduled recording is done, NO-SIGNAL comes up. The signal is there, the LG just can't find it...

I've found when this happens, the "Fix" is to go into menu, channel edit, then DISABLE and RE-ENABLE the channel that the HD OTA channel is really transmitting on..

For Example: If 2-1 is reporting NO SIGNAL, I got to Channel Edit, and Disable then Re-Enable channel 3 (Where 2's HD transmission is really on).. Then all is fine...

This happens occasionally, not all the time... It happens enough times to be a pain...

The reason why I'm re-directing the HD feeds (Away from Cable) is because the OTA signal is a higher quality (less compressed) than the equivalent channel on Cable.

I've seen this happen on Both V1.15 and V1.17 firmware....

Just wondering if anyone has found a different way around this problem that they'd like to share..... Wife is not used to recording problems

("VHS deck never did this with regularity"...) I have to admidt -- she's right!!!

So.... Anybody want to share how they got around this problem????

Hello,

Forgive me if this is the wrong board, this question seemingly covers multiple topics.
Does anyone have any experience using BOTH a 3410A and 3510A?
I would like to know if the remotes interfere with each other.

Thanks,

Peace,

Timmer

I finally got one of these. If you have D-VHS with firewire and TV's without, they're Gr-r-reat.

I sent an email to a fellow "in the know" regarding the re-direct that I was doing on the OTA HD feeds vs. the Cable ones.....

And he said he thought I had done something that wasn't intended based upon the origional intent of the software, but has promised to "hook one up and try it" as he hadn't thought that this was possible.... We were also discussing other TV Guide issues...

Then he wrote something that got my attention..... Saying something like "the new product under developement doesn't have ths problem" ......... Hmmmm.......

So I answered him something like: "Well, if channel re-direct wasn't planned, and I found a way to get it to work, you can certainly see that I'm pushing the envelope with the 3410a.... If you've got a new box on the horizon, It would behoove you to beta test it REAL WELL...... I know someone who could beta test it for you........."

I'm waiting for an answer....

I finally got one of these. If you have D-VHS with firewire and TV's without, they're Gr-r-reat.
Locomo -
I agree. The only problem you'll find is with cable HDTV stations that have sub-channels. For example, ABC is 112-1, CBS is 112-2, and NBC is 112-3. If you record any of these stations onto the 3410A and then try to archive the recording to a D-VHS deck you tend to get a lot of drop outs. I've never tried recording directly to D-VHS from these stations, so this may work.

I also get all of those stations OTA, and then everything work like a charm!

"the new product under developement doesn't have this problem"On another thread, the Australian model LST-5402 is discussed. It has 2 tuners (OTA only), HDMI, and random access to the 160 GB HDD. Maybe they'll take this model and add QAM tuning for the U. S. market.

Well guys here we are 3 years later and the damn things are still operating better than those new Sony's. My 3 still stay up al night after recording an evening's worth of QAM 256 cable. Wish I could have it answer "YES" when it asks "do you want me to shut down". I probably have on recorders in the morning 80% of the time.

Every so often, one of the recorders chooses to act up by resetting the channels to the cable numbers but it only requires an hour to bring them back. In the last year that has happened less than a dozen times total on the three machines. Wish i had bought dozens because so many visitors want to buy one and can not find them. I still use the original 120GB HD. With three machines that is adequate. Anyway, just stopping by to say that mine are still running well. I use them an average of 4-5 hours per day per machine, recording and playing back recorded material. From Friday to Sunday they run 12 hours per day. Greatest thing since apple pie. Wish LG would build us a new one but like C Band satellite receivers, that will never happen. Stay well Unc2000, JanJ, Hyrax and all the rest of the 3410A pioneers.

Locomo -
I agree. The only problem you'll find is with cable HDTV stations that have sub-channels. For example, ABC is 112-1, CBS is 112-2, and NBC is 112-3. If you record any of these stations onto the 3410A and then try to archive the recording to a D-VHS deck you tend to get a lot of drop outs. I've never tried recording directly to D-VHS from these stations, so this may work.

I also get all of those stations OTA, and then everything work like a charm!

Luckily, can get those stations OTA also. That tuner is way better than the one built into my TV.
However, I'm having 2 problems. I can't figure out how to watch what I'm dumping from hard drive to D-VHS.
Two, it won't let me watch copy-once material from a Mits D-VHS machine. I can see, not being able to copy, but watching is a different story.
The strange thing is if you FF through the tape you can see the material is there, but when you hit play, you just get a blank screen.

Art,
Glad to see you're still happy after all these years :) I like 3410A so much that I've decided I better buy a back-up unit. I panic at the thought of going without one. As they say around here, these things are wicked pissa.

I wish I had a BUD!

Tim

About the 3410a, I agree, Art and Hyrax. As a matter of fact, I'm getting a little nervous because I only have one back up unit. I probably won't accumulate any off e Bay because of the large number that people had trouble with.

However, I'm having 2 problems:
1) I can't figure out how to watch what I'm dumping from hard drive to D-VHS.

To be able to monitor what you're sending to the D-VHS deck, you need to connect the deck to your TV and then set your TV's input to the D-VHS deck.

However, I'm having 2 problems:
2) It won't let me watch copy-once material from a Mits D-VHS machine.

If you've connected the Mits deck to the 3410A via firewire and then trying to watch the material through the 3410A, I believe you are in fact first copying it to the HDD. This means that you're breaking the 'copy once' rule. You need to connect the Mits deck directly to your TV.

Hope this helps.

The 3410a seems fairly good... Has some TV Guide bugs, has some hardware bugs, doesn't lend itself to upgrades as silmply as some other gear, (Which would have improved this product, and made it "last longer" in the marketplace.)... But looking at the way the Sony box has had many TV Guide bugs..... The 3410a is adequate for most uses.... Not 100% a winner, nor a 100% loser....

Base on my reading and my experience w/ LG and Sony boxes, the so call TV Guide Bugs are caused by your local TV Guide carriers. They change channels and/or listings w/o notices and/or their hardware failures.

I tend to agree, based on my own experiences.

To be able to monitor what you're sending to the D-VHS deck, you need to connect the deck to your TV and then set your TV's input to the D-VHS deck.



If you've connected the Mits deck to the 3410A via firewire and then trying to watch the material through the 3410A, I believe you are in fact first copying it to the HDD. This means that you're breaking the 'copy once' rule. You need to connect the Mits deck directly to your TV.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Hyrax.
The Mits D-VHS has no mpeg decoder so it's S-Video output won't display HD.
The only way to display from the Mits is firewire, and my display has no firewire.
Also, the LG specifically won't let me copy the tape, but it should allow me to view it.
The main reason I bought the LG was to be a front end for the Mits.

Locomo,

According to LG manual, you should can copy from/to Mits D-VHS. Just make sure, there is no other D-VHS vcr connects to LG, and Mits does not connect any other firewire enable device.

If you connect the tape to lg firewire and hit firewire button on the lg remote control, it should let you start to display what the tape is sending it. The LG out can go via y pb pr to the display. While it is displaying you should be able to hit record on the lg and transfer the tape to the lg hard drive for editing or later viewing. Seems to me that firewire does not allow for copy guard systems to pass. Double check the LG manual but I think this works.

Copy freely, I can view and record to hard drive.
Copy once, can't even view.

So, it is 5C @ work. :-)

Luckily, can get those stations OTA also. That tuner is way better than the one built into my TV.
However, I'm having 2 problems. I can't figure out how to watch what I'm dumping from hard drive to D-VHS.
Two, it won't let me watch copy-once material from a Mits D-VHS machine. I can see, not being able to copy, but watching is a different story.
The strange thing is if you FF through the tape you can see the material is there, but when you hit play, you just get a blank screen.

After you dump what you've recorded on the LG's hard drive to the Mitsubishi DVHS deck, you can play back the tape through the LG. However, before you go into the IEEE 1394 menu on the LG you should tune to an OTA digital channel where the broadcast flag is not active (try PBS) to avoid potential encryption issues. The tape should play just fine that way. Just remember to use only the LG's FireWire interface to control the DVHS deck...there is no need to use the VCR's remote at all.

Anybody have a Non-functional LG 3410A that would want to be experimented on?

I'm looking for a non-functional unit for an experiment...........

????????

I have an LST-3410A in "Like New" condition For Sale.

Drop me a PM.

Jay

I sent a 4xx sn unit in for repair and to my disappointment received a 3xx sn unit. I remember somewhere in the 119 pages of this forum there was a difference stated for function/capabilities but I can't seem to find it. What is bad about my 3xx unnit thwat is correct in the 4xx unit?

I have a non functional LG 3410A if you are interested.

I sent a 4xx sn unit in for repair and to my disappointment received a 3xx sn unit. I remember somewhere in the 119 pages of this forum there was a difference stated for function/capabilities but I can't seem to find it. What is bad about my 3xx unnit thwat is correct in the 4xx unit?

Bottom line: if it works, don't worry (be happy). I have one of the first 3xx units with the oldest firmware, and it's still doing fine. It's not so much WHICH version of hardware you have as much as some of the units had quirks or (worse) didn't process "bad" EPG data (which is heavily dependant on local broadcast stations).

I can only seem to find refurb Maxtor MaXLine II (5A320J0) 320 GB Hard Drive on line since this is a discontinued item. Anyone have recommendations for another large capacity drive replacement for the LG3410a. Any thoughts on buying a refurb Maxtor drve?

Thanks,

James

[QUOTE=Bill Shenefelt]I sent a 4xx sn unit in for repair and to my disappointment received a 3xx sn unit. I remember somewhere in the 119 pages of this forum there was a difference stated for function/capabilities but I can't seem to find it. What is bad about my 3xx unnit thwat is correct in the 4xx unit?[/ Somebody mentioned way, way back that the tuner seemed a bit more sensitive in the newer units, as if maybe they upgraded the chip. But this was never really confirmed for sure.

Still looking for a non-functional 3410a unit...

By non-functional, I don't care if it has a working hard drive in it.

Reason for looking for Non-functional..... Cheaper!!!
I will be cutting into the circuitry, and if it works, fine. If not, it will be a dog to put back where it was prior to the surgery!!! :)

I'm guessing that my chances are 20-25% that I'll be successful.... I'd hate to take a fully functional unit and trash it....

I Just got confirmation that TV Guide firmware in the 3410a cannot be upgraded...
I got this information from the company who does TV Guide.

So what happens after the analog shutoff? How will we get the guide then?

If you're hooked up to cable, standard definition television will most likely still be available that way. I understand that Gemstar, TV Guide's parent company, is also looking at including the guide within the digital stream. Whether or not the 3410 can decode that is another question. However, keep in mind that it does decode the individual program guides that are included in each digital stream as part of the PSIP metadata we transmit.

So what happens after the analog shutoff? How will we get the guide then?

So what happens after the analog shutoff? How will we get the guide then?

You still can do manual setting recording.

If you're hooked up to cable, standard definition television will most likely still be available that way. I understand that Gemstar, TV Guide's parent company, is also looking at including the guide within the digital stream. Whether or not the 3410 can decode that is another question. However, keep in mind that it does decode the individual program guides that are included in each digital stream as part of the PSIP metadata we transmit.
I haven't seen any evidence that the LG decodes the PSIP program guides, at least in any way that we can see or use...has anyone else seen these data on your LG 3410a???

(I HAVE seen these data on my Samsung 165...)

Manual recording got it. I get the guide well for right now. Who knows if the digital stream thing will work in '09. Only time will tell.

In the last 12 months the Comcast/Moto 6412 and the HD Tivo have entered our household. These 2-tuner/random HDD access DVR's have demoted my 3410A to occasional backup assignments. With the expected advances in DVR technology, I have a feeling that most 3410A's will be expensive doorstops three years from now, and whether they can still get the TV Guide will be a non-issue for most of us.

does[/I] decode the individual program guides that are included in each digital stream as part of the PSIP metadata we transmit.

So what is PSIP? I have only OTA and C band satellite. The Guide is almost a necessity for recording on my Toshiba Symbio. I am at least able to record easily on the lg 3410A but not as nice as with the tv guide. At least if I know what is on the networks at what time I can set up my 33410A's to record. Kind of tough to do it with a couple of themm alternating to see what is on and get them started in time.

When a program I have recorded gets to the end I see a dialog box that says something like End recorded program but then my unit freezes up. It won't take any input from the remote after that except I have to power down and back on again to reset. Is this typical for the 3410A. If I stop the recorded program before it reaches the end there is no problem.

When a program I have recorded gets to the end I see a dialog box that says something like End recorded program but then my unit freezes up. It won't take any input from the remote after that except I have to power down and back on again to reset. Is this typical for the 3410A. If I stop the recorded program before it reaches the end there is no problem.


I have had this on my 3410 from time to time, So I always stop the program
before it freezes up. Not a big deal to me only had this may 2 or 3 times before
I learned. I have seen other post of this problem before alo.

Mike

When a program I have recorded gets to the end I see a dialog box... then my unit freezes.
That freezing is not exactly normal. I always try to hit the stop button as soon as I see the dialog box and the 3410A behaves as you'd expect. If I let the dialog sit there for a minute or so, it sometime freezes. I think it has frozen that way twice in over two years, so it is not a common occurence.

So what is PSIP? I have only OTA and C band satellite. The Guide is almost a necessity for recording on my Toshiba Symbio. I am at least able to record easily on the lg 3410A but not as nice as with the tv guide. At least if I know what is on the networks at what time I can set up my 33410A's to record. Kind of tough to do it with a couple of themm alternating to see what is on and get them started in time.
Bill - I don't remember what the letters stand for, but PSIP data comes along with each digital channel and has various kinds of data about that particular channel INCLUDING program info for that channel (assuming the station is doing its job). I can see that data on my Samsung 165 receiver, although it's never been complete enough to be very much help.

I have seen no evidence that the PSIP program data can be seen on the 3410a...so I think the guy who posted that is wrong...though I'd be happy to be corrected on that...

Tony

When a program I have recorded gets to the end I see a dialog box that says something like End recorded program but then my unit freezes up. It won't take any input from the remote after that except I have to power down and back on again to reset. Is this typical for the 3410A. If I stop the recorded program before it reaches the end there is no problem.

Several have complained about that. My unit "almost always" gracefully accepts a "stop" command, and then everything else works. I think I've only had to do power off once because it froze at end.

I lost all guide info last night on 2 machines hooked up to Comcast cable Annapolis MD. Anybody else?

I got both units working again by running the select left arrow routine toget to the diagnostic T5. I ran 10 and started again.

Art

Art Comcast in Skokie (North of Chicago).... No lockup here.... But the data that leaves Massachusetts may take differing paths to each of us....

When I have a lockup (every 3-4 months) First thing I do is check for new Icons... Twice I've found new icons for channels I don't have.... But that was part of it here....

Jan

I lost all guide info last night on 2 machines hooked up to Comcast cable Annapolis MD. Anybody else?

My two machines are fine with Comcast in Washington DC.

-James

In the last 12 months the Comcast/Moto 6412 and the HD Tivo have entered our household. These 2-tuner/random HDD access DVR's have demoted my 3410A to occasional backup assignments. With the expected advances in DVR technology, I have a feeling that most 3410A's will be expensive doorstops three years from now, and whether they can still get the TV Guide will be a non-issue for most of us.The way I see it is, by then there'll probably be something better anyway, but even if not, there'll always be an older TV in the household that could probably use the digital tuner. And there's the manual setting method too, of course. I would think that with the recent upgrades TVGOS has made (channel logos), that that's a pretty good sign that they plan on keeping the service around and usable. TVGOS has actually been around a LOT longer than most people probably realize. It was being built into sets and VCR's for quite a few years before it was implemented in DVD/DVR's, and has already gone through many changes and upgrades in order to keep it viable. As long as it's still profitable enough (remember, it does have advertisements that go along with it), they'll probably find a way to keep it around and compatible with these units. Just not sure which ones, though. If ALL analog methods are truly, eventually cut off, then it's a given that our NTSC only units will be without it. I can't remember where, but I thought I read that they're already starting to switch over to putting the data in the digital channels some places, and that the whole switchover will all be done through the signal, without any upgrades needed to the unit. I could swear I saw it in a HT magazine somewhere. Oh well. It's not one of those things that are way up on my list of priorities of things to worry about anyway, but if I hear anything, I'll pass it along.

there'll always be an older TV in the household that could probably use the digital tuner. And there's the manual setting method too, of course. . . TVGOS has already gone through many changes and upgrades in order to keep it viable.Good points. A displaced device that can record HD from a good tuner with OTA and QAM capability can still be quite useful. The Guide isn't a necessity, but is a nice bonus for as long as it keeps working.

Good points. A displaced device that can record HD from a good tuner with OTA and QAM capability can still be quite useful. The Guide isn't a necessity, but is a nice bonus for as long as it keeps working.
well...I already had a stand-alone digital tuner when I got the 3410a, so this unit is definitely for recording (as well as watcing or playing back when not recording)...without the TV Guide, it's a lot less convenient to know WHAT to record...go upstairs to the computer in my study? nah....if the TV Guide stops working before 2010, his unit is probably going back to CC, which gave me a 5 year warranty when I bought it a year ago

^ that's an interesting idea. Will they even take it back, or will they exchange with a different one?

I lost all guide info last night on 2 machines hooked up to Comcast cable Annapolis MD. Anybody else?

I lost all guide data as well, Comcast Arlington, VA. I've tried a few fixes, haven't gotten any data back yet.

I guess it is my turn!!!
Comcast Cable in Skokie, Illinois (North of Chicago).
Wife says TV Guide is gone tonight, but it taped a soap at 2PM.
The 5 second Power disconnect fixed it!!!

P.S. No New Icons

At least the newer version of TVGOS on the Sony received the update. This seems to be universal over on that thread. I think they're still in the process in other areas. I wonder if maybe they're redoing the previous version that's on the 3410a now? The losing of the guide was the first thing to happen when they were doing it. Even people such as myself who never had any problems at all had this happen. If so, then just hang in there - it should rectify itself, but you still should probably do a complete reset. Usually, after it finally does clear up for good, people notice the logo changes. They'e a bit larger on average and more colorful, but definitely an improvement. Also, a few channels that didn't have them now do. On my Sony it seems like they widened the OTA channel listing radius some, too (unless it's my imagination). I'll have to check out the guide on my older SD DVR.

^ that's an interesting idea. Will they even take it back, or will they exchange with a different one?
If it doesn't work as advertised, say if the TV Guide is gone from analog stations, I think they would have to offer an equivalent unit - which in this case would likely be a unit that gets its guide from a digital station....no big deal, if they exist. If there isn't an equivalent device, they're suposed to give a store credit....

I also got roughly the same kind of service agreement from BB for my new Sony HDD-250. So I plan for these to be the mainstay of my system for the next several years...

This is from interpreting from examination of the block diagram, I don't think you'll be receiving TV Guide information off digital transmissions.... on the 3410a. It isn't wired that way...

maybe I'm just an optimist, but when FM radio came out, MA did not completely go away. Is it that likely that analog transmissions will completelly disappear from the market?
Also with the line of sight and reflective transmission characteristics of UHF, are digital stations likely to move to VHF.

maybe I'm just an optimist, but when FM radio came out, MA did not completely go away. Is it that likely that analog transmissions will completelly disappear from the market?
Also with the line of sight and reflective transmission characteristics of UHF, are digital stations likely to move to VHF.
I think the government is salivating, waiting to sell that bandwidth for other purposes...that's why Congress was willing to pass a bill to give most people with analog TVs a credit towards digital-to-analog converters....they're anticipating getting a lot more than that back from the subsequent sale.

maybe I'm just an optimist, but when FM radio came out, MA did not completely go away. Is it that likely that analog transmissions will completelly disappear from the market?
Also with the line of sight and reflective transmission characteristics of UHF, are digital stations likely to move to VHF.

The local TV engineers that I've queried on this all agree that the government will not allow analog broadcasts to continue as they currently exist, and that VHF stations will more than likely have to migrate to UHF. Remember, the government is counting on the revenue from the sale of the analog spectrum, so there is absolutely no way they'll be able to allow TV broadcasters to continue to use it.

The channels that will be released after the digital changeover are 52-69. Most stations have chosen to revert to their VHF frequencies... for example here in Denver... channel 7 is operating their digital simulcast on channel 17... but after the switch in 2009 will revert back to 7. The same will happen with channel 9. Temporarily operating in channel 16 until the switchover. Then back to 9. Oddly enough our CBS affiliate, channel 4, has elected to keep their digital channel - 34 after the transition. So don't throw out those VHF antennas yet!!

[QUOTE=avnstf]Congress was willing to pass a bill to give most people with analog TVs a credit towards digital-to-analog convertersQUOTE]

Might a digital to analog converter carry the tvgos over from the digital domain to something the 3410A could read???

Although OTA analog transmissions will cease, cable companies are not required to convert to "all digital." There is nothing to prevent a cable headend from maintaining the basic analog service that they provide now for local stations, local access channels, etc. They would have to convert the OTA locals from digital back to analog to do this, but it would be attractive to customers who would like to keep their old TV's and VCR's working without converter boxes. Whether they would continue to transmit analog TVGOS info is another question, however.

For what's it's worth, this unit;

http://www.crwww.com/CRWeb/IP-HDVR-specs.asp

is using the 'guts' from the 3410, reported to be purchased new from LG in December.

Although OTA analog transmissions will cease, cable companies are not required to convert to "all digital." There is nothing to prevent a cable headend from maintaining the basic analog service that they provide now for local stations, local access channels, etc. They would have to convert the OTA locals from digital back to analog to do this, but it would be attractive to customers who would like to keep their old TV's and VCR's working without converter boxes. Whether they would continue to transmit analog TVGOS info is another question, however. You would think so, but who knows? Maybe for awhile, but I don't know for how long. Have you seen all the new 4:3 SD TV's with ATSC tuners (and still with NTSC ones) that are starting to come out in the BB and CC ads recently? Maybe these tuners are capable of receiving the TVGOS data digitally. I'm wondering if they'll let an OTA station maybe at least have an analog channel or bandwith of sorts just to broadcast TVGOS. Even so, I'd think it would have to be an existing one, because it'd be insane of them to build their own outfit that would transmit that powerfully and far-reaching in every pre-existing city. Or even to maintain it, now that I think of it. Of course, they could add enough ads to cover 3/4 of the screen to pay for it. God, that would suck. I know - it still wouldn't be worth it. My mind is just running away with itself, now. Oh well - food for thought, anyhow.

In order for SD TV's to be compatible with digital cable, they will have to start incorporating QAM tuners, not ATSC, as ATSC tuners can only grab OTA channels, but they cannot pick up digital cable channels.

Over the weekend, I download the latest firmware (1.17) to my LG3410a.

I'm testing an internally mounted Seagate 300GB, 7200rpm drive(ST3300631A-RK). I also mounted a fan inside to exaust the heat from the box.

-James

Does Anyone know if anyone is still selling the LG LST-3410a ???
I just bought a JVC HMD-H30000U and would like one for it's firewire output!!! I would like a "New In BOX" or "Refurb" unit ; or a good used one!!! I don't have any firewire input for my new D-VHS recorder!!! I would like OTA & QAM along with the hard-drive PVR.
I don't seem to find any on the web.... Circuit City lists them "In Stores Only" ....BUT none in my area!!!
I hear LG does not want dealers to sell these units over the WEB!!! Are they dis-continued???
Am I looking for one too late???
I am just new to HDTV!!!
Any help or leads appreciated!!!
I live in the PHILADELPHIA area!!!
BRAD...

In order for SD TV's to be compatible with digital cable, they will have to start incorporating QAM tuners, not ATSC, as ATSC tuners can only grab OTA channels, but they cannot pick up digital cable channels.Yeah, I wasn't even thinking of that. They're all in cahoots, for sure. I know in the Chicago Comcast thread, someone just reported that they're now being charged an extra $1.99 if they want to continue receiving the Music Choice channels that came free with the Local Basic level. Are any of you Chicago or other area Comcast subscribers with Basic getting them scrambled now with your QAM tuners?

Yep, they're scrambled now, so my 3410A is out of luck on M/C. Still get them with my Comcast 6412, but of course I'm paying for them in my package.

silveghost1926:[Does Anyone know if anyone is still selling the LG LST-3410a ???
I was just browsing on e-bay and there is someone who has 5 of these units that are refurbs with a 90day warranty.

silveghost1926:[
I was just browsing on e-bay and there is someone who has 5 of these units that are refurbs with a 90day warranty.

I bought a couple of refurbished Zenith HDV-420's from the guy, so I can vouch that he is a legitimate seller. I got one for my GF and one for my Dad in separate transactions. The units work fine.

Now whether the 3410a's got refurbished right is another matter . . .

I was in CC today and was informed that these are coming soon by the sales manager... is it possible they are being re-released and are improved in any way ? $419 is the price...

I was in CC today and was informed that these are coming soon by the sales manager... is it possible they are being re-released and are improved in any way ? $419 is the price...

I don't think it is likely that this SKU would reenter production.

I don't think it is likely that this SKU would reenter production.
I tend to agree with you, though I did notice that CC put it back on the website maybe a couple of months ago at the $419 price, saying it was only availiable it stores, or something like that - I had to laugh!

I had gotten one there in March 2005 for $700, but felt we needed another unit, though preferably not for $700... I ended getting one of the 2 Sony HDD-250s available in SF bay area BB stores last month...

For anyone in or near Nashville, the Electronic Express has them for 450 closeout price.
Just a info for anyone waiting on the CC.

Maybe they're releasing them with upgraded copy-protection. I wouldn't be surprised if they did have that if they were re-released, seeing as how so many of the newest DVD/DVR recorders seem to have it.

Anyone know why the LG3410a will sometime display "scrambled" vs "no signal" when it encounters an encrypted channel. Even though there is a good signal it still displays "no signal."

-James

Anyone know why the LG3410a will sometime display "scrambled" vs "no signal" when it encounters an encrypted channel. Even though there is a good signal it still displays "no signal."I've found I can force it by entering the subchannel when it's already locked on the major channel. For example, if you're on 101-5 and getting "no signal," enter "-5" and it will say "scrambled" if it is. Alternatively, enter "-1" and it will go to the lowest defined channel and say "scrambled" or "no signal" as appropriate.

If I then press Channel Up I get varying results. I may get one more scrambled subchannel before it goes to the next major channel, even if there are several. If several channels are defined but not scrambled or even active, I can usually Channel Up through all of them. But the only way I've found to map all the scrambled channels is to get locked on the major channel, then laboriously check each possible subchannel (-1, -2, -3, etc.) until I get tired of it.

I've found that when a channel that I know is there shows up as "No Signal"...
If I go into menu, channel edit, and go to channel where "No Signal" is seen, disable it, and re-enanble it... Then it comes back!!!

Has done this on V1.15 & V1.17.. Dunno why

Hey fellow owners. I'm losing one of my units. The hard drive is jumping around as if it is failing. Has anyone purchased a replacement hard drive recently. If so, can you give me a model no. brand and source? I've tried cooling the unit but it does not help. I run these 3-12 hous a day. Please help.

I need a replacement HD. Any ideas?

I just put mine up for sale in the forum sales area.

I swapped out the 120Gb drive for a Maxtor 320Gb unit.... Had no problems getting it... but multiple people who have contacted me for that information told me later that the 320GB and 250GB "Quickview" drives were obsoleted by Maxtor....
A page or so back, someone used a Non Quickview drive without a problem.... though he added a fan....
Be aware that the 320Gb Quickview drive I used drew less current (Therefore Heat) than the 120 Gb Seagate it replaced....

I think Mr. Wookatok needs to take over this thread for a while and describe his experiences with the 320Gb drive he installed!!!!

Art.... Did you try re-intializing the drive?????

There's a new 250Gb Quickview drive on Ebay right now!!!

Do a search on Quickview

Art, I repalced my original drive with a Seagate 300GB, 7200rpm drive(ST3300631A-RK, with rebates it was only $100) and added an internal fan. So far, I have had no problems with the drive.

I think Page Computers had the Maxtor 300GB, 5400RPM (non-QV drive) a couple weeks ago. The Maxtor QV drives were on back order.

-James

Art there is a thread on the LG3410a with the Maxtor 300GB drive upgrade here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=370472

-James

I have had my reserve light on for about a month. I have tried to plug and unplug, but no luck. 3 sec to 3 days and it doesn't leave. I have not had guide data for months and can not find demo pin to try to reset that way. Any suggestions or help would be appreciated.

That "Reserved" light is an indicaton that you have a programmed record set...

Do not worry....

Jan, thanks for responding. Here is the whole story and my solution (poke holes or advise where necessary).

There is no future event scheduled to be recorded. My original setup was cablevision feed directly into unit, worked flawlessly for a long time (even though others on this board had problems). Months ago I started to lose guide data and time on unit and reserve light would come on. Previously would either unplug unit and let guide data update, or reset with pin and start process from scratch.

A few months back guide data would not update at all and now reserve light will go away when I unplug it, but returns the minute it powers on. Thus I can't record, nor get to the guide setup. I can watch the feed and change channels but that's it.

A few days ago, cablevision sent new digital boxes (said I needed them by May 9th, as I won't be able to view the feed???) so I set up the sci. Atl. 4200HD first by using the f conn. to see if that would update it overnight (but the last setting on the 3410a was direct feed in), it did not. Then I tried the firewire, but the 3410 says unsupported devicee. So todays plan is to set up the 4200 as av1, leave the 3410 off overnight and see if that does anything.

If so, then I plan to see if I can get back to the guide setup menu and see if I can set it up 2 ways. Split the signal before the 4200 and go in as av1 and a direct feed for the hd recordings. My splitter is a rca digital 5mhz-1.0ghz, but also don't know if this screws up the 4200 or io service. Thanks for any input or feedback.

Seeing that you have a history of recent problems, methinks you need to blast your TV Guide settings and start over....
However, with your change to digital cable, I'd get that squared away with everything else first, and then return to the 3410a.
Once you have everthing else working fine, and a known good cable to the 3410a, I'd try this:

The following is the "Warm Reset" for TV Guide in the 3410a, that will keep your cablebox and Zipcode settings, but will force a drop of data channel, and will force TV Guide to reload in entirety... It will take a day or two to get the data.

To force a "Warm Reset" for TV Guide Go to the Messages menu and hit select, where you see the code number for TV Guide for your 3410a, and then enter: 653214741 then hit select again...

TV Guide will reboot, and it will start looking for TV Guide data again.... You'll know in 2 days if it found anything.. If it doesn't, it could be that your cable company doesn't receive an SD channel transmitting Gemstar/Norpak data. If so, try hooking up an outside antenna to get local channels.... You may have to get TV Guide data that way...

If it does find data, you'll have to select the channel lineup like you did when you first got the 3410a... and after the lineup is selected then you can edit your TV Guide data...

I'd also suggest disabling channels you'll never schedule a recording on... Such as newschannels and QVC... By disabling them in TV Guide, it's less data for the system to deal with, and your guide will fill up a bit faster, and will be less prone to problems...

Keep us informed on your success....

Jan the only menu I can get to is the main one that has channel scan, ect. If the message menu requires you to get into it by pressing tvguide on the remote, nothing comes up when I hit that. (it use to when the guide was functional or no reserve light was on). If it is somewhere else please let me know and I will try that.

If there is also a "hard reset", I don't mind trying that also. Thanks

Are you willing to blast EVERYTHING, include stuff on drive?

But before we go that route.... (and we may)... Try this...
Disconnect all antennas, cable, and try a quick (2-3 second) power cycle on box. See if TV Guide comes back (clock should come back in 5-10 seconds, and after hard drive space graphic comes up) try to get to TV Guide...

IF you can get to TV Guide go to messages and do what I posted above...

Then, after TV Guide reboots, re-connect antenna & or cable.

If it doesn't come up, we go the next level....

The hard drive stuff is the only thing I was looking to save. I did try the quick power cycle (did not disconnect the outputs, only all the inputs) but all that happens is that a green dot appears to the right of where the clock is when I press tvguide on the remote (although I haven't had the time there in a long time, all I have are dashes). The reserved light comes on before the hard drive graphic.

Also the firmware version is the original 1.12. My guide was never right from the beginning, and I never cared, since I didn't mind setting the timers manually. As far as I was concerned, me not playing around with the guide, or using it to set recordings, kept me away from trouble (until the last few months).

I guess I'm ready for the next level, but also keep in mind, if there is a way to disable the guide and get rid of the reserved light and keep the hdd content, I'm all for it, even if I have to go back to setting the clock manually. Thanks again for your help.

I'm not familiar with V1.12 I Think MRHIFI is....
The info I was giving you works for V1.15 firmware, but I'm not certain about V1.12

Hopefully he's lurking in the weeds and will pass along his V1.12 information....

Jan, if HIFI doesn't come out of the weeds (we can give him some time though, in no hurry), I'll take whatever you have for v1.15 and try to apply it to my unit, thanks

Spike4,

Sorry I did not respond sooner. I've been in Daytona Beach, FL getting my condo ready for summer rental. If anybody is heading to FL, contact me and we'll work something out.

Recently, I had two 3410A's lose all guide info. Otherwise they performed well. After trying every possible fix I was familiar with, I tried going into the Diagnostic 5 menu. Hitting #10 will completely return the unit to factory deliverd status. You get there by turning the unit on. Then press the select and left arrow button at the same time. Now go to #10 and select it. You will have a factory fresh unit in no time. My two failed units have been working fine after the procedure. Now, I've lost a HD in one unit. It is beginning to chatter. I must replace it. Good luck.

Thanks Mr.HIFI, good luck with your condo. I am assuming that this procedure will also erase the hard drive (factory delivered status), correct? (if all else fails I will do this) and thanks

Ps. The weeds in Daytona must be nice (and warm)

yes, it erases and reformats the hard drive. But the last resort "simultaneous select and left arrow key press" reset does work. I had to do the same thing a coupla weeks ago when I lost guide data and couldn't get it back trying all of the other simple to intermediate reset attempts. In your case with that stuck green reserved light, I'd suspect that would be the only reset which would get rid of that corruption.

Thanks, chef, looks like I'll back-up the hard drive content (of course try a few more little things, like asking for a rehit for my cable box, to see if that signal helps) and then take the plunge.

My new cable box (sci. atl. 4200hd) has a rf bypass module port. Does it matter if I ask for a rehit with a splitter before the box (one end into the 3410) or get the bypass module and get rid of the splitter, hook it up that way and then ask for the rehit?

(Obviously grasping at this point) But thanks everyone for your help.

I'm not familiar with V1.12 I Think MRHIFI is....
The info I was giving you works for V1.15 firmware, but I'm not certain about V1.12

Hopefully he's lurking in the weeds and will pass along his V1.12 information....

I'm not sure running v1.12 is your problem; I've been running the same as I have one of the first (hardware) units. Follow the suggestions for other (Guide, Unit, etc.) resets. Usually a quick (2 sec) power cycle will help as well.

Thanks Stanton, I will try everything one more time, then "factory set" the unit. I am guessing that none of the "easy" stuff will work however and that the hard drive must be erased.

I Just got confirmation that TV Guide firmware in the 3410a cannot be upgraded...
I got this information from the company who does TV Guide.


Jan, does this mean that the Gemstar upgrade process described in the Service Bulletin (Gemstar flash upgrade) will not work for V 8 or that Gemstar will not provide the software?

-James

OK, I guess it's my turn. :(

One of my 3410s (the one I got for my Dad) is acting up. It's doing things neither of my other two have done, nor have I read about it on this thread.

It first started when I was dubbing HD content from DVHS tape (from a Mits 2000) to DVDR with the LG acting as the go-between, a process I have performed successfully many times: Mits to LG via firewire, LG outputting 480i s-video to Sony GX300. Everything was going fine, but suddenly the picture pixelated, went completely "mosaic." The screen goes completely green; this was accompanied by screeching digital sound in the audio.

I broke the 1394 link and checked the straight video output. No change. Audio would cut out, then go out of sync, etc. Audio buzzing and picture all broken up. Then it stopped doing that for ten seconds, but there were dots remaining on the screen. Then it totally crashed again. This happened in all modes: SD cable channels (Comcast) and HD off air. Playback of SD and HD recordings--no difference. And on all outputs: S-video and component, toslink audio and RCA jacks. Completely unwatchable.

Thinking it might be a heat issue, I installed a fan (bought the stuff a while ago, but had only installed it in one unit). Powered it up again, and the unit started freaking out pretty much right away, so it's not a heat issue. I dumped some SD programs from the HDD, thought that fixed it. Pleased with myself, I walked out of the room for a minute. When I came back, my wife said, "Uh, I did it again." "Really?!?" "Twice." Great.

This one is a 351- w/1.12 FW. Is it the hard drive? Would that affect live tv as well? It sure seems like a hardware failure of some kind.

I'm considering re-initializing the HDD. I'd rather not, since there's something my Mom wanted that I, of course, hadn't dumped to DVDR, yet. I could swap the HDD into one of the other units to see what happens, but I'd like that to be a last resort. I did get the extended warranty from BB, but I'd like to avoid a service nightmare if it's something I can easily remedy myself.

I'll tell you what one of my other units is doing later...

I await your sage advice.

Is it the same area of the same program that's corrupting? Degrading to DCT blocks is a sign of data error....

This one is a 351- w/1.12 FW. Is it the hard drive? Would that affect live tv as well? It sure seems like a hardware failure of some kind.

I await your sage advice.

LOL 'sage advice'...
Your question implies you're getting the problem from live TV, but your example doesn't explain how that would be possible. I think that all live TV gets written to a buffer on the hard drive before it is displayed. Going from the Mits via Firewire to the 3410A may also be writing to the HD buffer buffer, but much of what goes on with Firewire is a mystery to me.

If I were you, I would try dumping your mother's show to your Mits D-VCR.

Is it the same area of the same program that's corrupting? Degrading to DCT blocks is a sign of data error....
Jan, all output is affected, whether watching live tv or playing back any programs. When playing and a portion is distorted, searching back and replaying the same section may produce stability for a moment, but it locks up again eventually. It's actually more like a bad case of the hiccoughs.

Your question implies you're getting the problem from live TV, but your example doesn't explain how that would be possible. I think that all live TV gets written to a buffer on the hard drive before it is displayed. Going from the Mits via Firewire to the 3410A may also be writing to the HD buffer buffer, but much of what goes on with Firewire is a mystery to me.

My "example" simply recounts how I first witnessed the malfunction. As I explained, I went on to check viewing and playback from s- and component outputs directly to the tv. Picture and sound were still hanging up, as described, intermittently.

I have also suspected that live TV is written to a buffer on the hard drive.

If I were you, I would try dumping your mother's show to your Mits D-VCR.
All output is affected, so dumping a show to any recording device is not an option.

Based on your description, I would be worried you have a hardware failure in the "decode" or output video circuitry. Why?

1) I'm quite sure that live TV is NOT buffered in the 3410 unless you're using "Timeshift" (I can easily tell/hear when the hard-drive is spinning/caching and when it isn't)
2) You've eliminated heat as a transient cause (the only time I've experienced close to what you've described is when the unit got too hot)

My biggest worry with this unit is that someday the heat issue will cause a permanent hardware failure, and maybe that's what happend in your case.

Thanks, Stanton. Yeah, you're right about the "spinning" noise while timeshifting, so maybe the hard drive is out of the signal path with live tv. I'll try a couple other easy things, but I fear the worst.

Just wanted to see if anyone else has had this happen before I send it in for service.

Thanks to all.

Based on your description, I would be worried you have a hardware failure in the "decode" or output video circuitry. Why?

1) I'm quite sure that live TV is NOT buffered in the 3410 unless you're using "Timeshift" (I can easily tell/hear when the hard-drive is spinning/caching and when it isn't)


I agree with your failure assesment, but find it interesting that you're so sure it doesn't buffer live TV. About every half hour I get a very slight glitch when watching live TV. The glitch is very slight when watching live TV, and much more pronounced when watching recorded stuff. I assumed the glitch was from buffering, but maybe I'm wrong. The 'live glitch' could be caused by one thing, whereas the more pronounced glitch I see in a recorded show could be from buffering.

It sounds to me that the HDD is always spinning whenever the unit is turned on, but I could be wrong. I don't know what else would be making the noise I hear if it isn't the HDD.

I agree with your failure assesment, but find it interesting that you're so sure it doesn't buffer live TV.

About 6 months ago, the hard drive in mine "died". Would constatnly say "dvr is initializing". During this time, I was still able to watch live tv. Search my previous posts on this thread for the details...anyway, based on this, I know it doesn't buffer live tv. (not saying that it cannot....actually, I know it can...timeshifting feature). After replacing the hard drive with WD 200GB, unit works fine, well as fine as these units go...

OK, I guess it's my turn. :(


I agree with Stanton, that you probably have a hardware decode problem of some sort. Before you send it in for service, pull out the hard drive and throw in a cheap PC hard drive. You will not lose the shows on the drive you pull out (assuming you don't do anything damaging to the drive). When my hard drive in my unit died about 6 months ago, I swapped out several drives experimenting to try to recover my shows (never got it back...), but on the few good drives I swapped out, upon recording something, swapping out HDD, recording something else, putting back in other HDD, same thing I recorded before was still there upon removal and re-insertion. Any size hard drive will work (within reason); One of the sizes I tried playing around was about 20GB. Unit worked fine, but you couldn't record very much.

On this note, you could put the HDD with your mother's show into one of your other units to view it and or back it up.

I have reread most of these 122 pages (and am trying all the little tricks). I did get the clock to turn back on through the select and left button, albeit the wrong time and the machine thinks it's 2004, but it could be a start (letting it try and update itself even though the reserved light is still on).

But when all these little tricks don't work and it's time to hard reset, please feel free to poke holes in the following thoughts:

In an effort to save the content on the hard drive, I was thinking of purchasing another hard drive, putting it in in place of the original, then I am free to hard reset, upgrade firmware, and play with diagnostics with the new drive in. When I am somewhat happy with it all, just put back original drive and everything should be there. In the event this happens again, just swap drives and do it all over.

Thoughts, and thanks

That would be an approach, assuming that the file allocation table on the drive installed right now is not corrupt.

Thanks Jan, I'm hoping not, right now, for playback at least the hard drive is fine. Originally I thought the hard drive got "reinitialized" when put back in, but then I read josh's post, so dug back further.

So here's the latest:

I went over to check on the unit yesterday. It was on, just hadn't shut off after recording the previous night's Daily Show. Not such a big deal since I've seen quirky stuff like this from the 3410's before.

Anyway, when I turned on the monitor and receiver, with the LG still tuned to Comedy Central, picture had those little dotted white lines I was talking about before, and audio out through the toslink was fine. I pulled up the program list, saw that the last night's show had recorded, and I exited the program list. Guess what? The dotted white lines were gone. Interesting. I played a bit, changed channels, played back programs, and everything was working fine again, glitch-free. Too good to be true, I thought.

Taking advantage of my window of opportunity, I popped a DVD-R into my recorder and started dubbing a program. When I checked the disc later, though, I found that just after an hour in, there was a minor glitch in the video. At the same time, the audio became garbled/fuzzy (more on this later) and was then replaced by a very loud, high-pitched buzz, like an alarm. The picture was fine after this point, but the audio screeched like this throughout the rest of the recording (no, I didn't sit there listening to it--I chapter skipped and spot-checked the disc at low volume).

So, the output section is obviously toast. Interestingly, though, the receiver was set to the digital audio output from the LG before I stopped the DVD recording, and the sound was fine. At least in this instance, only the analog output was screwed up. I'll have to confirm this prior to service. Not that they ever listen to specifics.

Another thing: Before I started my recording, I went into the TVG OnScreen. The TVG, which has been working fine, asked for my channel lineup. When I entered the Listings, the grids all read "No Listing." From one night without a download? Odd. But, probably not related to the other problem. I'll see if the guide has repopulated later today.

I mentioned a few posts back that one of my other 3410s had a problem. The problem occurred when (gasp!) I was dubbing programs to DVDR. The audio from the RCA outs suddenly became garbled, like everyone was talking through a filter, "digitally" distorted. All audio was messed up, music distorted badly, like certain frequencies missing. But the problem was intermittent. And only on the analog audio output; optical digital output was unaffected.

I checked all connections. Both analog audio outputs. Switched cables. Switched input devices. The verdict: definitely the analog audio output section of the 3410.

I opened the unit to look for any obvious problems, checked to be sure all chips and terminals were properly seated. Did it help? It seemed to, at least it behaved normally for the rest of the dubs I had left. But since I finished dumping everything off the HDD, now it's only connected via toslink to my processor. Yeah, I know I have to do some more tests. Some day.

Anyway, some of this may sound familiar from my previous post. The audio on that recording from my dad's LG sounded exactly the same right before the screeching noise started: garbled/filtered/distorted. But the audio from my unit never started "screaming." It was just the program's soundtrack, distorted.

Maybe the two units have a problem in the same section. One is just worse than the other. I'd be curious to know if anyone else has experienced problems w/the analog audio outputs since I have now experienced it with two units. Maybe I'm just lucky.

BTW, my unit is a 451 w/1.15 FW, and my dad's is a 351 w/1.12 FW.

Cheers.

Yesterday evening, Wife tells me TV Guide is prompting to select a Cable channel linup... (Comcast, Skokie Illinois, north of Chicago)
Selected correct list, and at first it appeared that nothing changed.... But no!

Whereas I edit the DTV OTA channels from cable numbers to OTA numbers, some were re-directed, and some were eliminated altogether!

CBS (2-1) , NBC (5-1), ABC (7-1), WGN (9-1), Fox (32-1) remained correctly programmed as OTA channels.

However:
WTTW changed from (11-1) to the cable channel equivalent, but remained ON.
WTTW changed from (11-2) to being removed from the channel list, and tuned OFF. I'm pretty sure this channel is not on cable.
WYCC changed from (20-1) to being removed from the channel list, and turned OFF. This channel IS on analog cable, on channel 20.

So there you have it. Some channels not reverted to cable channels, some are, some turned off an are not on cable, and some turned off when they are on cable, and 2 years later, I'm still waiting for a logo that is on cable, but the logo's not sent!!!

A few months ago, I asked the folks at Norpak when they were going to include Oxygen channel Logo, so I can add it to the list (Wife would like that!).. As you know, No Logo, no listing!! I checked last night... No new Logos, Oxygen included!

Guys at Gemstar/Norpak are at it again!!

I did a reset on my Sony DHG-HDD500 today (for reasons I won't get into at this time), and for the first time, it listed my headend (which is Carpentersville) in the options. So it looks like they're still screwing around with the system.

This is the company who bought the motherboard stock on hand from LG when LG got out of DVR business....
I talked to them, briefly... Never got to price..... Don't know any more....

http://www.crwww.com/CRWeb/IP-HDVR-specs.asp

Ok, none of he little tricks worked, so I got another drive, unplugged power and connector from original drive and plugged into new drive. That seemed to work. I then went into "select and left" and got to fact-set (could't get it to scroll there, only got there by pressing several numbers until it came up) and hit select on the remote. Upon doing this it only blinked and did nothing else. Then I hit exit.

Good signs were that it did clear previous channels and said I needed to channel scan, was able to set clock and also cleared the reserved light, but I could not get to setup menu, where it asks you for cable, ect. Not able to reach guide. And if shut it off and back on, the reserved light returns.

I repeated this several times, including recording with the new hard drive, and every time, it was the same. Also, it did not erase the recording from the new drive, so I'm thinking that I missed a step as all reports were that it will erase the drive.

For right now, I have repeated it again, and did not do a channel scan, but did add channels for my local pbs, abc and fox stations and have shut the unit off in the hope that the guide and/or the setup screen will return.

Anyone see a step that I missed or could add, thanks.

Exactly what does, and what does not work now...
Its a little unclear where you are right now...

TV Guide doesn't come up.
You have a new hard drive istalled.
You did or did not do a factory restart?

Jan I thought I did a factory reset by hitting select after I saw fact-set t5 on the display. Is that correct?

check for PM

I'm having a clock problem I've never seen before: even after re-setting the clock, the time eventually changes during the next day's download cycle. The really strange thing is it seems to always want to go BACK 2 hours (almost like it was set to PST from CST). I'm almost positive it's an EPG data problem (the unit is otherwise in good working order and I've had no power issues), but I don't know who to call. Is anyone else in Dallas experiencing this "time" problem??

Wild Ass Guess, but if you remove all scheduled recordings, reset the clock, then re-enter all scheduled recordings, does that help?

Wild Ass Guess, but if you remove all scheduled recordings, reset the clock, then re-enter all scheduled recordings, does that help?

Yeah, for a few hours, and then it reverts back to "West Coast time". It's not always exact at first, and it doesn't matter how many times I do it. For now, I'm (manually) setting the record time back 2 hours to compensate, but I would feel better if someone else in Dallas was having the same problem (of course, then I would have to figure out who to strangle at the PBS station).

With all this diagnosing and debugging talk going on, you all might want to purchase one of these:
http://cgi.*********/LG-LST-3410A-HD-STB-Tuner-PVR-DVR-Service-Manual_W0QQitemZ5880062448QQcategoryZ61396QQcmdZViewItem

dickm

Ok, that didnt work. The link got munged up. Its an ebay link to a guy that sells LS-3410 service manuals for $14.99. Go to ebay and search because I cant figure out how to get the link posted correctly.

dickm

Nice thought, but service manuals won't do any good for EPG type problems. Might help for hardware, but then again, I wouldn't have the tools to diagnose anyway.
I hope someone from the Dallas area reads my earlier post.

Nice thought, but service manuals won't do any good for EPG type problems. Might help for hardware, but then again, I wouldn't have the tools to diagnose anyway.
I hope someone from the Dallas area reads my earlier post.


Stanton, did you try changing the zip code in the setup menu to a near by neighborhood or even a different city?

Stanton, did you try changing the zip code in the setup menu to a near by neighborhood or even a different city?

No, but I thought about it. However, experience (I've done this before to fill in EPG data) tells me that:

1) Any zip nearby will come from the same local (PBS) feed, which I suspect to be corrupted (wrong time zone) anyway
2) If I go with an "out-of-town" zip code, I'll download the wrong EPG (and channel) data, or possibly get nothing.

At least now I can select something 2 hours earlier and then edit the title. I keep expecting the time to magically return to normal when someone figures out the set the wrong timezone in the EPG feed.

I sent a copy of my last Gemstar post to a 'friend' to show how things get balled up in TV Guide land.... I thought you'd like to hear his reply.......

"Yup, the TV Guide folks have been creating problems for about two years
since I have been involved. What's really nice is when they send NO
data at
all for a day or two. Our service folks get swamped with calls not
knowing
where the real problem lies. When the the TV Guide guys blow it, both
terestrial and cable guides end up empty. However, I think my service
folks
have wised up to the fact that when they here screams from all over the
country, it's a TV Guide problem."

I'm new to this tread so excuse me if you guys have already addressed this topic:
I'm looking for a OTA HD DVR. Sony has discontinued their unit. Is there currently anything else on the market? If not, is there going to be in the near future?

I'm new to this tread so excuse me if you guys have already addressed this topic:
I'm looking for a OTA HD DVR. Sony has discontinued their unit. Is there currently anything else on the market? If not, is there going to be in the near future?
Please don't post twice, but i answered your question in the thread you started.

Thanks and welcome. :D

I have successfully reset the unit many times (using the #10 option in the diagnostics). I can manually set the clock (as long as I do it before I power down) and I can record once the time is set, but I can not get the tv guide or to the tv guide setup.

When I do shut the unit off and turn it back on the reserved light comes back on and the time can not be touched. If I go to ez-scan it correctly tells me that I need to run the guide setup before using ez-scan. I can however set the channels through edit and I can view and record, but I can not obviously set a recording in advance, since I can't get to the vcr+ nor the guide.

It is as if the guide setup no longer exits on my system or has shorted out (maybe uplugging and plugging back in so many times). Any ideas? Has anyone come accross this before? Thanks.

It is as if the guide setup no longer exits on my system or has shorted out (maybe uplugging and plugging back in so many times). Any ideas? Has anyone come accross this before? Thanks.

I had something similar happen for a few weeks last year. I would do the following:
1) Make sure you erase/delete any timed recordings to get rid of the green "reserved" light (which also lets you manually set the clock)
2) Instead of doing a "guide reset", try changing to an out-of-town zip code for a couple of days, and then changing back. What usually happens is your host EPG channel is messed up, and there's a code/menu you can go to find out what it is; I don't know it off the top of my head, but you can definitely search for it in this thread (remember the channel number is in hex).
3) Once you get your host channel correct and you can download EGP data again, a quick (<2 sec) power cycle can always be used to restart downloading if necessary; you should see a pattern to when your "guide" light goes on/off (e.g. mine is usually on from about 11pm all the next day until around 6pm, and then off during prime time).

Stanton, thanks, but can't change the zip, because I can't get to the guide even when I reset and the reserved light is gone. No guide and no guide setup (where you would put in the zip).

After factory resetting, normally the guide setup comes up to tell it your config. and zip, ect. But mine wont come up.

The "Genius's" at Gemstar/Norpak sent revised Channel lists to Chicagoland yesterday & Today.... Removed all the extra unused Network Icons (WTTW still has 2) forcing us to either program in SD or HD in the one remaining Network Icon for CBS, NBC, ABC, WB, FOX.

I checked.... There a couple new Icons, but not Oxygen (what I called them on 1.5 years ago) ["I'll forward the request.... Just wait a couple months"]

EDIT: Remainder of Network Icons showed up the next morning....

The "Genius's" at Gemstar/Norpak sent revised Channel lists to Chicagoland yesterday & Today.... Removed all the extra unused Network Icons (WTTW still has 2) forcing us to either program in SD or HD in the one remaining Network Icon for CBS, NBC, ABC, WB, FOX.

I checked.... There a couple new Icons, but not Oxygen (what I called them on 1.5 years ago) ["I'll forward the request.... Just wait a couple months"]

I really wonder how they keep their jobs.....

My Toshiba 46HM94 DLP rebooted for unknown reasons yesterday, and today I've got several new icons, including one for Oxygen (which is funny because we don't even have that channel on our Comcast system).

Well Ain't that Special (You get Oxygen and don't get it, and I do get it and don't get an Icon)!!!!

Must post an EDIT:
Overnight more network Icons 'arrived', so re-editing channel list again to correct channel numbers to icons.... No Oxygen Logo, though....

Sure is interesting with this box... Never know from one day to the next who's keystroke error will reset your box, you know????

Note I edited above posts... More Network Icons showed up overnight (but no Oxygen)

The "Genius's" at Gemstar/Norpak sent revised Channel lists to Chicagoland yesterday & Today.... Removed all the extra unused Network Icons (WTTW still has 2) forcing us to either program in SD or HD in the one remaining Network Icon for CBS, NBC, ABC, WB, FOX.

I checked.... There a couple new Icons, but not Oxygen (what I called them on 1.5 years ago) ["I'll forward the request.... Just wait a couple months"]

EDIT: Remainder of Network Icons showed up the next morning....


New channel listing here in DC also with Comcast. I had to remap most of the SD channels. The over-the-air assignment were not changed.

-James

Still on the learning curve for the 3410A. I'm about 2 years late compared to most but its still fun. Few questions. Did anyone ever figure out a way to use the cable box to pass the premium (scrambled?) HD channels into the 3410a? From the best I can tell the only way would be to use the composite (SD) output from the HD cable box which wouldn't make much sense. Also, if one were to subscribe to ESPN-HD does that mean the signal is descrambled by the HD cable box or would the 3410A be able to receive it? I'm guessing the cable box is required.

Also, is it possible to integrate or combine channels from both a cable box and a direct cable connection? What I mean is the 3410 would tune analog and digital clear cable from the direct cable connection but would use the cable box (analog output into 3410) to receive premium channels? I realize this means the premium HD channels would be downconverted but at least they would be integrated into a single guide.

I'm sure someone probably tried this but since the LG is 5C compliant, ie it works with D-VHS recorders, has anyone tried connecting the 3410 to the firewire output from a HD cable box? Would this allow the cable box to do the descrambling and still pass the HD signal. I don't have an HD cable box so there is no way I can try.

Also, is anyone in the Chicago area getting SciFi channel with your 3410? My brother who lives in Chicago cannot find it after a channel scan. He mentioned they moved it from the analog teir to the digital teir last year. I told him I couldn't think of a reason the 3410 couldn't find it but thought I'd ask you as I think there are a few people in the Chicago area. While I'm guessing you have it remapped, where did you find the SciFi channel?

Thanks in advance.

Still on the learning curve for the 3410A. I'm about 2 years late compared to most but its still fun. Few questions. Did anyone ever figure out a way to use the cable box to pass the premium (scrambled?) HD channels into the 3410a? From the best I can tell the only way would be to use the composite (SD) output from the HD cable box which wouldn't make much sense. Also, if one were to subscribe to ESPN-HD does that mean the signal is descrambled by the HD cable box or would the 3410A be able to receive it? I'm guessing the cable box is required.

Also, is it possible to integrate or combine channels from both a cable box and a direct cable connection? What I mean is the 3410 would tune analog and digital clear cable from the direct cable connection but would use the cable box (analog output into 3410) to receive premium channels? I realize this means the premium HD channels would be downconverted but at least they would be integrated into a single guide.

I'm sure someone probably tried this but since the LG is 5C compliant, ie it works with D-VHS recorders, has anyone tried connecting the 3410 to the firewire output from a HD cable box? Would this allow the cable box to do the descrambling and still pass the HD signal. I don't have an HD cable box so there is no way I can try.

Also, is anyone in the Chicago area getting SciFi channel with your 3410? My brother who lives in Chicago cannot find it after a channel scan. He mentioned they moved it from the analog teir to the digital teir last year. I told him I couldn't think of a reason the 3410 couldn't find it but thought I'd ask you as I think there are a few people in the Chicago area. While I'm guessing you have it remapped, where did you find the SciFi channel?

Thanks in advance.
All descrambling of HD, digital, and encrypted channels is done with either a leased STB or a CableCard enabled device. It enters your home's coaxial network encrypted, and there's really no way to pass it from a leased STB to the LG because the LG is not meant to use the composite/firewire inputs as a programming source, but only a way to input auxillary A/V feeds, or in the case of firewire, input/output. You could do some experimentation (with regards to the composite) by plugging in a VCR or DVD player and seeing what you can get, but the LG would not recognize any programming coming from the STB via composite as specific channels.

... You could do some experimentation (with regards to the composite) by plugging in a VCR or DVD player and seeing what you can get, but the LG would not recognize any programming coming from the STB via composite as specific channels.

twitchee3,
I understand everything you said except for your comments above. From page 16 of the manual, "Use your HD DVR to control your cable box with the TV Guide On Screen System." I understand the 3410 may not recognize the composite input as a specific channel but it sounds like the TVGOS can be used with a cable box composite input.

My question is can the 3410 be connected simultaneously to cable TV (RF input no cable box) and a cable box (composite input with channel changing via Glink) so that channels from each can be integrated into the TVGOS?

Thanks again.

Via the infared machine control input, it might be possible. I haven't tried it.

Also, SiFi in Chicagoland was moved to digital cable about 2 weeks after last year's HBO & Showtime move.

It was un-announced and comcrap took a lot of flack on it...

Does that mean Scifi is like HBO, Showtime, etc in that it requires a cable box so you can't tune/record it with your 3410?

No, it's not a premium channel like those, but you'll have to subscribe to, I believe, the first digital tier to get it (and will need to rent a tuner). You should be able to use the LG to record it, however, I'm not familar with it's workings, as far as using an IR blaster to change the channels for recording. Or if the TVGOS will work with an external tuner. Maybe you should check with the people over in your local, HD cable company thread. (By the way - HBO and Showtime will even cost you more yet to subscribe.)

The "Genius's" at Gemstar/Norpak sent revised Channel lists to Chicagoland yesterday & Today.... Removed all the extra unused Network Icons (WTTW still has 2) forcing us to either program in SD or HD in the one remaining Network Icon for CBS, NBC, ABC, WB, FOX.They removed all my HD locals. As of last night, no programming in the Guide for WTTW-DT 11-1.

The 9-10 PM hour Sunday night was a classic. At 9:00, the 3410A signed on to record Gray's Anatomy on Ch. 7-0. I caught this at 9:04 and changed to 7-1. Then at about 9:50 my Comcast 6412 decided to reboot (never happened before in almost a year of usage) while it was recording from WBBM-DT and WMAQ-DT. I had to stop watching an older show from the HDD and program in 2 quick manual entries to finish the shows that were recording. These DVR's are great as long as you are willing to supervise them constantly. Can't wait for the MPEG2/4 HR20-250 from D* later this year. I'm sure it will have its own set of issues to deal with.

Never know from one day to the next who's keystroke error will reset your box, you know????

Wouldn't mind a keystroke error that got my guide setup back, lol.

They removed all my HD locals. As of last night, no programming in the Guide for WTTW-DT 11-1.

The 9-10 PM hour Sunday night was a classic. At 9:00, the 3410A signed on to record Gray's Anatomy on Ch. 7-0. I caught this at 9:04 and changed to 7-1. Then at about 9:50 my Comcast 6412 decided to reboot (never happened before in almost a year of usage) while it was recording from WBBM-DT and WMAQ-DT. I had to stop watching an older show from the HDD and program in 2 quick manual entries to finish the shows that were recording. These DVR's are great as long as you are willing to supervise them constantly. Can't wait for the MPEG2/4 HR20-250 from D* later this year. I'm sure it will have its own set of issues to deal with. Are you sure it was 11-1 you lost and not 11-2 (the digital version of the main analog channel 11)? I lost 11-2's guide info the other day and I had to switch it with another, unused WTTW slot in my channel guide. Then I started getting the info. Actually, none of this matters to me now, as I've lost ALL info in my Sony again since yesterday. Still have the guide - just "no listings". It's probably something of my own doing, though.

The new guide that I am now getting on the 3410A displays only analog channels. I have entered the OTA or QAM numbers for the local HD channels, but no WTTW-DT programming appears in the guide. As Jan J would say, score another one for the geniuses at Gemstar.
(Still no Oxygen listing either, Jan. At least they are consistent on that.)

Don't give up hope (Local HD Channels)
When I got the new line-up, the local HD channels showed up the next day...

Here in the Philadelphia PA area Comcast has removed the local Network High Deff channels from QAM un-scrambled Digital cable lineup!!! ABC. NBC, CBS, Fox etc is on the lineup ....BUT only in 4:3 low deff !!! There is no High-Deff left on QAM Digital Cable from Comcast here anymore!!! I receive my High Deff from an Over The Air antennae now!!! Over The Air is much much sharper , with no compression like I believe Comcast Cable uses here!!!

I can make this suggestion, until you get your DTV logo's back......

Go into TV Guide, then hit menu to access the top menus,
arrow over to Setup, and in the menu where you can turn an Icon off or on, you can also RE-DIRECT channels...
For example take the ABC icon, and let's say the OTA channel is 7-1 but it's presently turned on, but for channel 15 (Just an example)... As long as it is highlighted, and turned ON, you see the reception in upper left window, and 15 is listed as the cable channel for that icon.
Just enter 7-1 (or correct OTA channel) and you should hear a click and see the proper OTA channel..

At this point, you've re-directed the OTA channel onto the Cable Icon!!!

Hi, for the past several weeks I have noticed that when watching an over the air recording from KIRO 7, Seattle, Washington, of Late Night With David Letterman on my 3410A the sound is way out of synch. Other shows I record such as CSI do not seem to have this problem. Is there any adjustments I can make on the unit to synch up the sound? I am not home at night to see if the problem exists if I was just using the 3410 as a tuner, so I am not sure if the problem is with the unit or the over the air signal. Charles

Here in the Philadelphia PA area Comcast has removed the local Network High Deff channels from QAM un-scrambled Digital cable lineup!!! ABC. NBC, CBS, Fox etc is on the lineup ....BUT only in 4:3 low deff !!! There is no High-Deff left on QAM Digital Cable from Comcast here anymore!!! I guess we can expect this in Chicagoland soon as well. If so, it was interesting while it lasted. Maybe this is why my local HD logos disappeared from the guide a few days ago. I changed the channel numbers to the proper HD OTA designations. I still have 2 PBS logos, so I leave one on the analog channel to keep the guide working. Unfortunately, I am not getting any PBS program listings at the moment, but everything else is displaying properly.

chasieb: The out of sync audio & video is a feature from the Transmitting TV Channel you are watching..

Yeah, Letterman was really out of sync awhile back for me too, for about a week. I was watching it out of Rockford, IL. Come to think of it, all 4 of their digital channels were having that problem somewhat at the time. They're all fine now. By the way, Unc and Jan - I'm still getting the HD channels in my guide on the Sony. Been having problems getting all of the listings, but some have come back after I reset with a nearby zipcode. Boy, that would really suck if they started scrambling the locals (even though I'm only OTA right now). I thought by law they couldn't do that (?).

There's no legal requirement to carry unencrypted HD locals. Comcast has been doing it, but WOW cable has always encrypted them. Comcast never encrypted the music channels until last month here. Looks like they have taken note of all the QAM tuners on the new TV's.

I was also of the belief that cable companies are not supposed to scramble local networks. Actually, I'm pretty sure of this. Maybe they can get around this by carrying just non-HD locals unscrambled but are free to scramble the HD feeds? I have Time Warner and they don't scramble local HD, but they did start scrambling everything else recently like TNT-HD and Discovery HD which used to be in the clear. It's funny though because one of the premium movie channel HD feeds has been in the clear for quite a while.

I was also of the belief that cable companies are not supposed to scramble local networks. Actually, I'm pretty sure of this. Maybe they can get around this by carrying just non-HD locals unscrambled but are free to scramble the HD feeds? I have Time Warner and they don't scramble local HD, but they did start scrambling everything else recently like TNT-HD and Discovery HD which used to be in the clear. It's funny though because one of the premium movie channel HD feeds has been in the clear for quite a while.
HD or not, cable companies CANNOT scamble or 5c protect local networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, PBS).

For anyone that believes that they lost their hd locals, have you tuned in your channels manually (channel edit), then checked all of your subchannels in those groups?

spike4 --- What we were losing were the LOGO's in TV Guide. Gemstar/Norpak has the capability to load different and new LOGO's into TV Guide. From what we learned last week, the have to power to remove them as well.... In my case, the 'missing' DTV Logos for networks in Chicago were part of last week's Channel reset... The next day, after selecting from an altogether new (for LG3410a standards) list of cable channel list options. Before last week, the selections revolved around MSNBC and CBS channel placement on cable (Comcast -- Skokie Illinois).
Last week it revolved around MSNBC and the TV Guide on Cable (the one they replaced HBO, channel 4, with last fall)

[Side issue here -- I blocked out channel 4 off cable and replaced it with CH4 local (from a modulator fed from cable box output) -- So wife can record HBO on a VHS deck 4 rooms from the Cable box, like she used to do when HBO was on analog cable! :)]

So I had to verify that cable TV Guide was on CH 4 in order to select proper list...
Wife didn't know, because she knows CH4 is the cable box output!!!!
(Always a fun time here!!!)

So after complaining here, the next day I received the missing logos, and to be clear, I edited my post that the wayward LOGO's re-appeared -- a day late!!!

I keep watching and waiting for the LOGO's to arrive late at other locations....

It's my recolection that Cable companies are supposed to carry Local HD Channels.. How many of them I'm not clear about....

Vent: It would be nice if Gemstar/Norpak would download 3-4 User Programmable LOGO's.... So we could select the Logo we need an extra for, and the cable or OTA channel for that LOGO, and (Because they already had us select what cable channel lineup we wanted -- They would know what data to feed us).... For example:
I want OXYGEN for my wife... It's on channel 67 on (Comcast Skokie). I've already selected the channel lineup for Comcast Skokie, so then all they have to do is send data for the LOGO Selected, for that channel!!!

THERE I GO AGAIN ---- MAKING SENSE!!!! SHAME ON ME!!!!

Thought silveghost said Comcast removed the hd locals from the unscrambled qam.

Thought silveghost said Comcast removed the hd locals from the unscrambled qam.
Perhaps they did, but you should inform them that doing so is ILLEGAL!!! The FCC mandates that if you subscribe to basic cable, they must also broadcast CLEAR UNENCRYPTED HD LOCALS. All channels you would receive through an OTA hookup with an antenna. Furthermore, the cable company CANNOT enforce ANY 5c flags upon this content.

twitchee, my thoughts were that maybe they didn't, but switched the actual channel that they show up on, on the lg and that a manual search might find them.

twitchee, my thoughts were that maybe they didn't, but switched the actual channel that they show up on, on the lg and that a manual search might find them.

Yes, the channels move around fairly often. It has happened at least once a year for me. The sneaky thing was they once swapped CBS and NBC.

Yes, the channels move around fairly often. It has happened at least once a year for me. The sneaky thing was they once swapped CBS and NBC.So does that mean that you went to watch Letterman and instead found that you were watching Leno? YIKES!!!!

Greetings,

Forgive me if this question has been answered before but after reading the first 50 pages of this thread, I wanted to see if someone can guide me in the right direction.

We have had great luck with our 3410a and use it all the time. However, we only use it for HD and to record OTA HD with no other SD programming. We usually use the timeshift function when we need to but the only real problem I have is the recording of programs from the guide and it seems to only happen within the last few months.

Let me explain. We record for example Lost, desperate housewifes, king of queens, CSI, TWo and half men, Greys anatomi. When I look inside the schedule menu, sometimes some shows are greyed out with a ?mark and then all of a sudden if I add something else they just disappear from the recording schedule and drop off. Can you only add a certain amount of shows? Also, if I go into the guide, the show that dropped off still has a check mark next to it so it looks like it is supposed to be recorded but does not show up inside the schedule menu.

Help?

The "greyed-out/question mark" usually pops up in Schedule when you have a show set to record regularly or weekly--and for some reason when the LG looks ahead toward next week it doesn't find that show scheduled, could be bad guide data, a missing download for that day (like your LG was left on and didn't get data) or merely that the network is running a different show in that timeslot. The LG isn't smart enough to adapt for you a la a Tivo--hence you get the greyed out question mark telling you there's a discrepency. Usually just cancelling it and re-entering when you see your show appear again in the guide is enough.

I haven't let any of those grey conflict show notifications accumulate, and I've never had more than a dozen scheduled shows, so I can't tell you if there is a limit.

The "greyed-out/question mark" usually pops up in Schedule when you have a show set to record regularly or weekly--and for some reason when the LG looks ahead toward next week it doesn't find that show scheduled, could be bad guide data, a missing download for that day (like your LG was left on and didn't get data) or merely that the network is running a different show in that timeslot. The LG isn't smart enough to adapt for you a la a Tivo--hence you get the greyed out question mark telling you there's a discrepency. Usually just cancelling it and re-entering when you see your show appear again in the guide is enough.

I haven't let any of those grey conflict show notifications accumulate, and I've never had more than a dozen scheduled shows, so I can't tell you if there is a limit.

Thanks for the response and this probably makes sense to me as well but i wonder why it is doing this since the guide has always worked for me in the past. This juststarted a few months ago after my time for some reason got messed up.

What do you think is going on with the way it is dropping of scheuled recordings when I go into the schedule?

Greetings,
We record for example Lost, ....
Help?

I have found the guide data is too unreliable to use the record every week option. This is not directly the fault of the 3410A, because the guide data comes from the stations, but whenever the guide data confuses the 3410A, the 3410A can often not recover. And that is the fault of the 3410A.

Therefore, every Monday I setup the weeks' recordings. There are 3 shows a week I do this for. During the week I'll add other shows that look interesting. I always use the one time record option. I've missed too many shows by letting the 3410A go unattended, so I've gotten in the habit of checking the Guide every morning to make sure that the shows I expect to record that evening are properly selected.

Obviously, if I go on vacation I need to set up recordings for longer times - I also setup a VCR to record any show that I possitively don't want miss while I'm away.

Thanks for the response and this probably makes sense to me as well but i wonder why it is doing this since the guide has always worked for me in the past. This just started a few months ago after my time for some reason got messed up.?

We are slaves to whoever provides the guide data. Some one has probably been changing your guide data. There is more to the guide data than just what show is playing on what station. The Time comes with the guide data.

For the past several weeks (it may have been the last few months) there have been frequent changes in my guide data. Channels have moved in the guide back and forth between various numbers. One night Fox was channel 3, then it was 25, then it was 3. ABC was 5-1, then it was 9-1, then it was 5-1 again. Everything I had set to record on those nights got dropped.

Greetings,


Let me explain. We record for example Lost, desperate housewifes, king of queens, CSI, TWo and half men, Greys anatomi. When I look inside the schedule menu, sometimes some shows are greyed out with a ?mark and then all of a sudden if I add something else they just disappear from the recording schedule and drop off. Can you only add a certain amount of shows? Also, if I go into the guide, the show that dropped off still has a check mark next to it so it looks like it is supposed to be recorded but does not show up inside the schedule menu.

Help?

If you select a show in the schedule menu and then use the down arrow to scroll down you should see the other scheduled programs( the menu shows move up after you reach the bottom).

-James

I was one that never used the guide data, but what did work for me was using the vcr+ (all done by times, ex. 9-10pm wed ch. 110-5), then it asked if once or weekly, ect. and I would hit weekly and it never missed a show. It is a workaround, but not an answer to the question.

For those that use the guide, check your recordings tonite, the Bush speech will delay some of your rercordings by 20-30 mins. Mine seems to be OK with this and the recordings are recording on schedule, but do your best to make sure. Also obviously this warning only obtains to eastern and central times zones.

Thanks for the heads-up. My wife would kill me if I missed recording 24.

Hi everyone,
I sat down and watched Legends of Jazz w/ Ramsey Lewis on channel 11 in Chicago tonight (recorded previously). The picture (HD) and sound quality (DD) were as usual beautiful.

Over time my hard drive has been accumulating shows I just don't want to part with. Has anyone fiqured out how to connect a PC through the firewire for archiving shows to other hard drives or burning to DVD?

I have toy'd with the idea of a hard drive bay on a piggyback cable. Switching the B+ power supply would manage hard drive access. I have done this on PCs with limited case space, successfully.

Sincerely,
Martin

For those that use the guide, check your recordings tonite, the Bush speech will delay some of your rercordings by 20-30 mins. Mine seems to be OK with this and the recordings are recording on schedule, but do your best to make sure. Also obviously this warning only obtains to eastern and central times zones.

Just checked. It started record ON TIME, NOT ON SHOW. At least on 3410.

Just checked. It started record ON TIME, NOT ON SHOW. At least on 3410.
My Guide had shows starting 20 minutes late. I actually added an extra hour at the end just to make sure.

Hi everyone,
Over time my hard drive has been accumulating shows I just don't want to part with. Has anyone fiqured out how to connect a PC through the firewire for archiving shows to other hard drives or burning to DVD?

I have toy'd with the idea of a hard drive bay on a piggyback cable. Switching the B+ power supply would manage hard drive access. I have done this on PCs with limited case space, successfully.

Sincerely,
Martin
Martin-
Many of us have toyed with ways of saving files. Connecting a PC to the 3410A doesn't seem to be a good option. I believe you can connect a MAC, however, and get the shows that way. A Mini MAC on a network might be the simplest computer based method.

Others have tried the 'Hard Drive Swap', as you suggested, with some success.

I have recorded shows to a D-VHS deck and then dumped the show to my PC. Very work intensive, but it does work.

I have also made some reasonably high quality recordings by connecting the S-Video out to a VCR. Others have done this to a DVD recorder and had good results. No it is not high def, and no the audio isn't DD - but it looks great on a 50" or 60" RPTV. THis is by far the simplest and fastest approach.

I believe that the HD-DVD/BD-DVD recorders will have firewire inputs in the future. If their price (and media costs) ever become reasonable they would be my method of choice.

You are wrong.. THERE is no legal requirement that cable companies broadcast local channels. Obviously, HD is not required. This is a fact.

UPDATE TO MY 3410A friends....

My 3 3410A's are working perfectly. I record 3-6 hours/day per machine and watch when I find time. 2 machines have 300GB Maxtor QV HD's. One has the original 120GB Seagate. This is the finest piece of input gear in my system. I normally use the 3410A in 16x9 mode and use the VGA output to my DWIN 3 gun CRT. One of the fellows in another chat room designed a transcoder that resolves the brightness variation issue when this PVR was used with a DWIN CRT projector. The issue had to do with the width of the sync pulse.

You are wrong.. THERE is no legal requirement that cable companies broadcast local channels. Obviously, HD is not required. This is a fact.
I don't think so. Cable companies must carry local channels as part of the FCC's "must carry" regulations. They are not required to carry multiple feeds though, i.e. analog and digital of the same channel. That's part of the "dual-carriage" requirement that was shot down by the FCC. They are also required to carry them unscrambled. Now I know that applies to analog, but whether or not that also applies to digital I have no idea.

Who are you saying is wrong? Cable companies must carry local channels as part of the FCC's "must carry" regulations. They are not required to carry multiple feeds though, i.e. analog and digital of the same channel. That's part of the "dual-carriage" requirement that was shot down by the FCC. Whether cable companies can scramble those channels is another question though. I thought they were required to carry them unscrambled.
Correct. They CANNOT scramble the local networks that are avialable through OTA as well. IF they carry the locals in HD, they cannot scrable those either.

UPDATE TO MY 3410A friends....

My 3 3410A's are working perfectly. I record 3-6 hours/day per machine and watch when I find time. 2 machines have 300GB Maxtor QV HD's.

Art, where did you purchase the QV HDs?

This happened 2 weeks ago... I waited this long so as not to post one day, and retract the next.......

Approx One year after I installed a 320Gb QV HD (Maxtor--now out of production)... Approx 3-4 months after 1.17 firmware upgrade (Which also wiped the drive),
I Re-initialized the hard drive, as I had some degredations to DCT blocks that caused problems and playback stoppage during PBK and Serarch..... It gave the impression of a data error. I was thinking that possibley the drive was going... and was ready to swap drives if the re-init didn't fix it.

2 weeks after, and maybe 30 hours of recordings... No DCT problems during playback or search fwd/rev.... Posting in case someone else has symptoms like this.....

Martin-
I believe that the HD-DVD/BD-DVD recorders will have firewire inputs in the future. If their price (and media costs) ever become reasonable they would be my method of choice.

Hi Hyrax,
As has been posted elsewhere on the avsforum, the picture quality perceived by the viewer (me too!) is very dependent upon the size of the video display. When I'm watching material on my projector (96" diagonal) I see everything. HD content really makes it sing. On our 50" HD set well, 480p is great and 1080i is not as important (but nice). 480i is OK due to tiny scan lines.

The HD DVD demos I saw on a 1080P set (~50") were unbelievable a few feet away. (CC had blank Blue-Ray disks last weekend ~$35 each). They also note that they would not get the HD DVD players from Toshiba as Toshiba required the acceptance of the entire electronic skew. CC does have the Toshiba HD DVD player listed on their website.

One of my VCRs died last week and I will not replace it as I consider the format "dead". Anyway, the market is ruled by hard drive/DVD recorder combos now. I admit I have not tried to copy down rez'd HD programs. Most broadcasts are copy protected so... they may not copy.

I will try a firewire (IEEE-1394) hook-up to my computer later to the 3410a. the LG manual was pretty specific about the two (2) devices that were compatible.

Sincerely,
Martin

If anyone is successful with getting a Windows XP Home system to connect and transfer into and outof the 3410a, I would be very much interested in the procedure....
Jan

I know earlier in the thread Vividlogic's DTV Recorder was discussed for connecting a PC to the LG. I don't know if anyone ever got it to work though. There's a new version available, if anyone is interested in trying it.
Vividlogic DTV Recorder 1.1 (http://www.vividlogic.com/products/dtvr_download_now.html)
I plan on trying it myself, I'll let you know what happens.

Nevermind, looks like that version isn't really so new and it's been tried already anyway. Based on other forum postings it seems like it would just be a waste of time.

Nevermind, looks like that version isn't really so new and it's been tried already anyway. Based on other forum postings it seems like it would just be a waste of time.

Hi dep3523,
When the two (2) devices specified in the LG manual are connected is there hand shaking going on? What about that RS-232 interface on the back? Can that access more than the LG's Bios?

Sincerely,
Martin

Looks like our "Fiends" at Gemstar/Norpak are at it again!!!

Wife calls me around noon to tell me TV Guide is asking for a channel lineup... I talk here through it, and realize that they changed the list parameter's (Again!)...
Last time the parameter's were based on CBS and Cable TV Guide. Today it is based
Based upon CBS and WTTW. (List 4 our our system-- 60076 Comcast Skokie)
Wife says TV Guide Data is still there, Channels just resent!!!

So when I get home I check for logo's... Some new cable logo's, but no Oxygen....

And ALL Extra Network Logo's have been removed (again!)... Re-directed the one's that are there for OTA (CBS 2-1, NBC 5-1, ABC 7-1, WGN 9-1, WTTW 11-1, Second WTTW (pre-programmed to no channel and OFF) 11-2, WYCC 20-1, Fox 32-1

This is getting to be an irritation!!! Can you imagine people on vacation when this crap is pulled???

Hi dep3523,
When the two (2) devices specified in the LG manual are connected is there hand shaking going on? What about that RS-232 interface on the back? Can that access more than the LG's Bios?

Sincerely,
Martin

Other that an interesting way to gain access to diagnostics, and to upgrade LG (not TV Guide, just LG) firmware.... RS232 doesn't seem to have any other use...

Awhile back I asked if a sound synch problem I was having was caused by my 3410A while watching playback of Late Night With David Letterman. The response was it is the broadcast channels fault, so I emailed KIRO 7 in Seattle WA and complained and although they never responded to me, several days latter the problem was resolved and sound is now in synch. Chas

depending on the MFG's model, it can take between 4 and 10 video frames to UpConvert from SD to HD. And another 4 to 8 frames to encode HDTV to MPEG for transmission.
If you have SD and HD feeds, you can imagine the confusion that can arise sync-ing audio and video...

It also takes time for HD to be converted back to video, and audio can get out of sync there, too!!

Using a Downconverter to take HD and make SD out of it takes time as well...
3-6 frames...

4-6 years ago, in HD transmission infancy, there was a firmware upgrade on a series of HD UpConverters that interacted with ALL Panasonic HD Displays... They all lost audio due to a firmware upgrade snafu!

Also, very early HD receivers --- you could change between two HD channels, and every time you swtiched back to same channel, the audio was out of time with video a bit differently than the last time you switched!!!

This is the second time this has happened....
Yesterday I posted that a new channel list was forced upon us. Last night I checked, and there was no Local OTA Icons... So I edited the Icons with cable SD channels to the OTA HD Channels....
Today, I checked, and more Icons were downloaded! Correct OTA Icons, Correct OTA channels.... !!

What's wilder.... Now I have 2 sets of Icons for the same channels (due to my editing of the cable channels to OTA.... One set at the top of the list, the other at the bottom of the list!!! They both report ON and same channel numbers!!!

Still no Oxygen!

What the heck, I think I'll leave them that way!!

Anything for a laugh, eh???

[QUOTE=Jan J]This is the second time this has happened....
Yesterday I posted that a new channel list was forced upon us. Last night I checked, and there was no Local OTA Icons... So I edited the Icons with cable SD channels to the OTA HD Channels....
Today, I checked, and more Icons were downloaded! Correct OTA Icons, Correct OTA channels.... !!
QUOTE]

I got hit with a channel reset sometime late last night or today. I missed the first 30 minutes the scheduled recording of ER. I wish they would only send out update when the add new channels.

--James

Hi Hyrax,
As has been posted elsewhere on the avsforum, the picture quality perceived by the viewer (me too!) is very dependent upon the size of the video display. When I'm watching material on my projector (96" diagonal) I see everything. HD content really makes it sing. On our 50" HD set well, 480p is great and 1080i is not as important (but nice). 480i is OK due to tiny scan lines.

The HD DVD demos I saw on a 1080P set (~50") were unbelievable a few feet away. (CC had blank Blue-Ray disks last weekend ~$35 each). They also note that they would not get the HD DVD players from Toshiba as Toshiba required the acceptance of the entire electronic skew. CC does have the Toshiba HD DVD player listed on their website.

One of my VCRs died last week and I will not replace it as I consider the format "dead". Anyway, the market is ruled by hard drive/DVD recorder combos now. I admit I have not tried to copy down rez'd HD programs. Most broadcasts are copy protected so... they may not copy.

I will try a firewire (IEEE-1394) hook-up to my computer later to the 3410a. the LG manual was pretty specific about the two (2) devices that were compatible.

Sincerely,
MartinBased on the DVD Recorder threads, the most sensitive models to the broadcast flag seem to be newest Sonys and Toshibas. The Panasonics appear to be OK.

This is the second time this has happened....
Yesterday I posted that a new channel list was forced upon us. Last night I checked, and there was no Local OTA Icons... So I edited the Icons with cable SD channels to the OTA HD Channels....
Today, I checked, and more Icons were downloaded! Correct OTA Icons, Correct OTA channels.... !!

What's wilder.... Now I have 2 sets of Icons for the same channels (due to my editing of the cable channels to OTA.... One set at the top of the list, the other at the bottom of the list!!! They both report ON and same channel numbers!!!

Still no Oxygen!

What the heck, I think I'll leave them that way!!

Anything for a laugh, eh???My Sony HD DVR's guide is still giving me fits lately, too. The upcoming Panasonic and Samsung SD DVR/DVD recorders with TVGOS will be compatable with satellite (finally!). Something tells me that all this fiddling around they're doing might have (at least partially) something to do with that. (By the way - I get Oxygen in my guide out here!)

Two nights ago I lost all info in my guides on the two units I have operating. Last time this happened i had to do the factory reset at select and left arrow. I am fed up. you can not rely on the guide to pick up programming. Also, once they go down and you have to reboot, you will lose everything on the hard drive. I have over a dozen shows on that hard drive. It is obviously someone playing with whatever feeds these things. When two go down simultaneously you know it isn't the machines. BTW, I receive Comcast cable in Annapolis and OTA.

I lost the guide a couple of weeks ago and have been doing manual settings on VCR+ screen. The guide is nice when its there, but other than having to supply the titles, the manual setting works fine. My Comcast 6412 DVR gets about 80% of the usage lately.

I just sent the following to a contact in the TV Guide data stream.......




Other items (Now speaking as a User, not broadcaster)….

We spoke months ago about my needing an Icon for Oxygen, and you said you’d ask for me… Oxygen was put on our cable system (Comcast, Skokie, Illinois, years ago on Channel 67).

After all the TV Guide resets that have occurred where we select new channel lineups, and get new Icons, Oxygen Icon is never sent….

How can I get this????

And WHEN are the bi weekly channel resets going to stop? Does anyone know that stops all recordings until A new channel list is selected? How does one go on vacation when resets are occurring every 2 weeks or so???

(This information is a list of many LG3410a users all over the country getting resets within 2 days of each other!)

LG 3410a running V7 TV Guide software (WFLD is Primary in Chicago, WLS is Secondary)….

Thanks

I'm having a clock problem I've never seen before: even after re-setting the clock, the time eventually changes during the next day's download cycle. The really strange thing is it seems to always want to go BACK 2 hours (almost like it was set to PST from CST). I'm almost positive it's an EPG data problem (the unit is otherwise in good working order and I've had no power issues), but I don't know who to call. Is anyone else in Dallas experiencing this "time" problem??

The clock returned to "normal" time this morning just as mysteriously as it went haywire a month ago. I was going to try some zip code tricks once the TV season was over (so I didn't lose any stored programs), but now everything's back to normal!
I'm convinced someone at the local PBS station had an incorrect setting in the EPG feed, but I'll never know without third party feedback.

I've been getting all the guide data for the last couple of days now on my Sony. Now that I don't have to record manually, I've been going nuts scheduling and recording stuff. I didn't realize how much I missed having the guide until I got it back. I'm also getting the info OTA for the cable channels like before (even though I've got satellite), and it's nice to be able to have those two guides integrated again. Just gotta keep my fingers crossed.

Based on the DVD Recorder threads, the most sensitive models to the broadcast flag seem to be newest Sonys and Toshibas. The Panasonics appear to be OK.
If you send something out via S-Video does the broadcast flag get sent to the recording device? Since you are converting from digital to analog in the 3410A, I don't see how the recording device would be able to know about the broadcast flag. Or have I missed something?

Another thing to consider is that the 3410A may not recognize the broadcast flag. It lets you dump everything to D-VHS tape via Firewire, and you can dump it more than once.

If you send something out via S-Video does the broadcast flag get sent to the recording device? Since you are converting from digital to analog in the 3410A, I don't see how the recording device would be able to know about the broadcast flag. Or have I missed something?

Another thing to consider is that the 3410A may not recognize the broadcast flag. It lets you dump everything to D-VHS tape via Firewire, and you can dump it more than once.
S-video is not a digital interface and thus does not carry 5c flags or encryption. Just because it let's you dump anything to DVHS does not mean it doesn't enforce flags, it just means that flags may not be incorporated by your provider, and if it's OTA, there won't be any flags anyway.

S-video is not a digital interface and thus does not carry 5c flags or encryption. Just because it let's you dump anything to DVHS does not mean it doesn't enforce flags, it just means that flags may not be incorporated by your provider, and if it's OTA, there won't be any flags anyway.

The point I was trying to make is that to date there is no evidence that the 3410A enforces the 5c flag. It may well be true that my provider does not yet use the flags, but if there were a problems with the flags being enforced I am fairly sure someone else would have run into it.

I may be wrong, but believe that we should be able to copy any show that we've recorded on the 3410A onto any DVD recorder via the S-Video connection.

Agreed. There is nothing unusual in the vertical interval of the video...

The point I was trying to make is that to date there is no evidence that the 3410A enforces the 5c flag. It may well be true that my provider does not yet use the flags, but if there were a problems with the flags being enforced I am fairly sure someone else would have run into it.

I may be wrong, but believe that we should be able to copy any show that we've recorded on the 3410A onto any DVD recorder via the S-Video connection.
Yes, via S-video as there is no way to enforce 5c over analog connections. However, if you could get around 5c (digitally that is) by just using a non-5c enabled stand alone box, there would be little point for cable companies to implement 5c wouldn't it? Also, 5c shouldn't be implemented on ANY channels the LG can receive, since 5c will only be enforced on subscription channels, which are encrypted and can only be received via a leased STB or CableCard compatible device installed with a CableCard.

I think that my ? on the 3410A might have been answered in reading the last # of pages here (sorry I did not read all 125 pages) but i'm not sure so will ask.
I have dish satellite but also have "basic" lifeline cable (2-13) with local Time Warner cable. I found that my Sony SXRD when scanning the cable input will pickup the above channels but also picks up all the local HD networks (NBC,ABC,FOX,CBS) and PBSHD. These channels are in the area of ch. 75.xx to 85.xx.
My question is: will the 3410A find these channels as did the SXRD? If so, a 3410 might be worth it to me for recording HD networks. If not, then it would not be of interest to me.. Thanks, Gerry

I think that my ? on the 3410A might have been answered in reading the last # of pages here (sorry I did not read all 125 pages) but i'm not sure so will ask.
I have dish satellite but also have "basic" lifeline cable (2-13) with local Time Warner cable. I found that my Sony SXRD when scanning the cable input will pickup the above channels but also picks up all the local HD networks (NBC,ABC,FOX,CBS) and PBSHD. These channels are in the area of ch. 75.xx to 85.xx.
My question is: will the 3410A find these channels as did the SXRD? If so, a 3410 might be worth it to me for recording HD networks. If not, then it would not be of interest to me.. Thanks, Gerry
Yes, the LG DVR will pick up and record these channels, as well as receive guide data for them.

Thanks for the response! Will have to do some googling as to the best place to look for purchasing a 3410... Gerry

There's one in the for sale forum.

Thanks for the response! Will have to do some googling as to the best place to look for purchasing a 3410... Gerry
It's either ebay or a few select Circuit City stores. Or perhaps a private party.

Oxygen Icon is never sent…(WFLD is Primary in Chicago, WLS is Secondary)….Jan, whatever happened to WTTW? For several months early this year I was doing great with the guide via Host Channel 0 x B. Then it reverted to "No Listings" about a month ago. This morning the guide is back with the local HD channels and 0 x C (WFLD) is displayed. (Same old TNN logo and no Oxygen of course).

Another anomaly is a 2nd WTTW analog logo showing Ch. 94, but the 3410A gets nothing on 94 from Comcast. My 6412 cable DVR shows a duplicate listing for WTTW on 94 in its guide, but that is apparently a virtual number with the actual transmission remaining on 11.

WTTW is transmitting TV Guide V8 Data....
WFLD and WLS are transmitting TV Guide V7 (Legacy) data.

If your 3410a TV Guide firmware says V7.xxxx then you'll get data from WFLD or WLS
If you have V8.xxx firmware in your 3410a, I'd be amazed, as it is a different chipset!!!

I hear the new Sony DVR's have V8, but I've only seen V7 on 3410a's


When I got data last couple times, there was a 2nd WTTW Logo, but no channel assigned to it, and it was disabled (OFF)