Hey Jan,

My 3 3410's are working well since I reset them again using <select, left arrow and the doing a factory reset> This is getting annoying. is everyone resetting this way?

You mentioned something that perked myy interest. Two of my units are 1.17 ver units and the other I believe is a 1.16? (Not sure about that last one any more). What is this about a version 1.18? Would you elaborate on its benefits and are we likely to be disenfranchised if our machines are 7.1 or older units? Do you have the update for 1.18? Would you reach me privately if the answer is yes?

Sorry guys but unless I am proved wrong I read that cable operators are only required to carry local SD or HD, not both. They are not reuired to carry the locals in QAM64 which would make them accesible to everyone. Many tuners are QAM64 equipped not 256. Furthermore, they are allowed to charge for those local channels. In 1985 in Bowie, MD the cable operator was only granted service rights if he provided local free. It only lasted a couple years. As soon as a new operator came in, the free locals were gone.

I bought it from Weaknees.

To my knowledge V1.17 is the latest/last.
The V7.xxx TV Guide is referred to (By the folks that program TV Guide) as "Legacy" or the origional TV Guide. V8.xxx TV Guide is the later version data...

V7 units will not lock to V8 data (Or aren't supposed to -- I remember your posts)

V8 units will not lock to V7 data

If you go and examine your software and firmware versions in the 3410a you'll see a line just for TV Guide... That line, if it starts with V7. would indicate a 'legacy' or early version TV Guide data compatability...

I did contact a fellow and asked about commands that were available for TV Guide, and he gave me the same Reset commands that have been posted before. (Reset commands had unit scan channels looking for the primary channel in the area. If no primary channel is found, the software will then re-scan the list, looking for the secondary channel.
I requested info on anything else, such as: Forcing to look at one channel to the exlusion of others, and any other information.... But I was given no further information.
I was told that the hardware in our 3410a's would NOT SUPPORT V8 TV Guide, though.

From what I've seen in print, programming TV Guide involves both a serial and parallel port interconnect to that D9 Service connector... That's enough for me to steer clear of the Service connector, as a mis-wired or full RS232 pintout has the capability of doing God Knows What with TV Guide!!!!

I'd love to see how the TV Guide is loaded, though!!!!

How come no one ever published a "Quick Guide" or somesuch for the 3410a? With all the codes/tricks that are out there, and the heavy postings by a handful of folks, I thought we'd have something in text or Word by now. Don't bother asking "why not you": I don't have the time!

Stanton,

I would be happy to do it if I knew all the "tricks". I know enough that whenever something goes wrong, I must push the select and left arrow ro get into the service menu. I go to #10 and pray. That has fixed everything every time however to do it I must erase or lose everything i have recorded. Not good!!!!!!!!! This v7 vs v8 business is going to kill the usefulness of this device. I'll bet we will lose that legacy version within a year or less. Why would they keep it up? I have noticed that my RCA DTC100 has just started getting program info. after I've owned it for 7 years. It works beautifully but like the LG requires a reebot too often.

Trick Number 1:

Move to a place close to a tower with guide data on a single strong signal

:-)

I got an answer from the contact in the TV Guide chain.

"As for your Guide user questions, I need to direct you to our Manager of CE Technical Support. He and his group can help answer these questions better and more accurately than I can. I've CC'd him on this email."

You folks saw the post I sent him...... I Can't wait!!!
(Anybody want to take a bet that I'm about to be slapped silly?)

This v7 vs v8 business is going to kill the usefulness of this device. I'll bet we will lose that legacy version within a year or less. Why would they keep it up?

Since the 3410a isn't the only consumer device that utilizes EPG (just my favorite), I find it hard to believe that they would "obsolete" a version--especially if a hardware incompatibility prevents upgrade. At this point, I'm more worried about when the analog channels go away--again because I understand this unit can't find it on a digital channel (although I don't understand why). Of course, that shouldn't happen for at least another 3 years or so. I guess the bottom line is: eventually this thing will become a "dumb hard-drive recorder".

Since the 3410a isn't the only consumer device that utilizes EPG (just my favorite), I find it hard to believe that they would "obsolete" a version--especially if a hardware incompatibility prevents upgrade.".

I agree. I also am more optimistic about the EPG lasting past 2009 - for the same reason that you don't think TVGuide will not obsolete us. It seems to me that there are so many consumer devices that use the the EPG that money will have to pass hands and at least cable TV will continue to provide the data.

Is anyone getting guide info for this channel via Comcast cable? If you do and you happen to be in South Florida, please tell me what zip code you're in. My unit has listings for all of the Discovery Network's channels except this one.

For about two years with the LG, I never got guide data for DiscoveryHD or INHD1 & 2, which Comcast happened to be transmitting in the clear. Anytime I needed to record something I had to enter it manually. Recently Comcast began encrypting every HD except the locals, so it's no longer an issue.

Since the 3410a isn't the only consumer device that utilizes EPG (just my favorite), I find it hard to believe that they would "obsolete" a version--especially if a hardware incompatibility prevents upgrade. At this point, I'm more worried about when the analog channels go away--again because I understand this unit can't find it on a digital channel (although I don't understand why). Of course, that shouldn't happen for at least another 3 years or so. I guess the bottom line is: eventually this thing will become a "dumb hard-drive recorder".

Here's my take on the reason it was obsoleted:
I have no data to back it up...
However... I've heard that the amount of Support calls this product received, forced an increase in support personell (the one's you talked to when you called). With the amount of TV Guide questions, and 'oddites' ( I hesitate to say 'problems' :) ) this caused another increase in support personell.

There were other issues: In-ability for easy field upgrade in firmware, or TV Guide firmware, and there were some problems with early firmware receiving signals and other technical issues, each of which increased support costs.

This increase in personell for support in multiple areas were not expected by the company, and caused an expense not taken into consideration. I believe the selling of the remaining motherboards to that company --http://www.crwww.com/CRWeb/IP-HDVR-specs.asp was an economics decision based upon the expense of the support personell that wasn't considered in the 'profitability' of the product. My take is it was a profit & loss issue, and it was killed by the bean counters when they looked at the amount of un-planned on support that they found would be necessary to support it.

Now LG has a 'new' DVR (that I'm trying to get info on), but it is only packaged with a HD Display...

As, If, and When I get any data, I will pass it on here.....

So my wife did a recording of Indy 500 via TV Guide......

Who won? It stopped at about lap 168......

Here's my take on the reason it was obsoleted:
I have no data to back it up...
However... I've heard that the amount of Support calls this product received, forced an increase in support personell (the one's you talked to when you called). With the amount of TV Guide questions, and 'oddites' ( I hesitate to say 'problems' :) ) this caused another increase in support personell.

There were other issues: In-ability for easy field upgrade in firmware, or TV Guide firmware, and there were some problems with early firmware receiving signals and other technical issues, each of which increased support costs.

This increase in personell for support in multiple areas were not expected by the company, and caused an expense not taken into consideration. I believe the selling of the remaining motherboards to that company --http://www.crwww.com/CRWeb/IP-HDVR-specs.asp was an economics decision based upon the expense of the support personell that wasn't considered in the 'profitability' of the product. My take is it was a profit & loss issue, and it was killed by the bean counters when they looked at the amount of un-planned on support that they found would be necessary to support it.

Now LG has a 'new' DVR (that I'm trying to get info on), but it is only packaged with a HD Display...

As, If, and When I get any data, I will pass it on here.....You're not referring to the newest 50" plasma or the 42" LCD LG models with the built-in DVRs, are you? Those have been out for a little while now. There was also a preceding 50" plasma model out with the same.

If so, and you want to check them out, your local Best Buy should have them.

I'm pretty sure those are the only DVRs they're releasing in the USA.

Those are 'supposed' to be revised models...
However, I'm not wild about the displays...

But if they make a new DVR only, I would be
very interested in looking at it.

I got htit last week here in DC with bad guide data. Comcast added several new stations to my lineup (extra HD for CBS, ABC and NBC). However there were also stations that have call letters for PA, KY and other locations (WHYX, WCAU WGAL KYDU, KY, WPVI). After waiting for 3 days, no guide data loaded.

I had to switch to a nearby zipcode to get the guide data to download and get rid of the bad data. I have not switched back yet. I will wait until something else happens that requires me to reset the box.

-James

I guess the bottom line is: eventually this thing will become a "dumb hard-drive recorder".Which is IMHO good, as it's the TVG data that's been causing problems for people anyway.

All I ever really wanted was timers that I could program to record a particular channel starting at time A and ending at time B, and in fact every timer I've ever set on my 3410A has been a manual one…

Although it's true that the guide data has been known to cause some headaches, I'd much rather have it than to not. I like to know when and which shows are on and whether they are repeats. Looking the info up on the internet is not as convenient and TV guide magazine has gone to s**t, especially since changing to more of an entertainment magazine. They don't even list sports anymore, an often used feature on my LG. And since I don't have digital cable, only analog, the LG is my primary source of info. I have only had a few times where one of my LG's was without data in the past couple years and they have never been without data at the same time. Which is very perplexing. Good luck to figuring that one out.

The problems associated with the TV Guide could have been eliminated if LG has been a little more thorough in their support of the LST-3410A. Instead they chose to take the quickest and least expensive way out by virtually abandoning it. When it works as intended, this DVR is excellent and very easy to use. With properly written software for the TVGOS, and correctly implemented protocols for both NTSC/ATSC and QAM tuning, there is absolutely no reason why LG could not continue to sell hundreds of thousands of these boxes. The reported inability of the unit to work with the latest version of the TVGOS software is just one glaring example of how short-sighted LG engineering is.

100% Agree with Rudy1

I'm not sure I agree with you two. I've never had a problem out here in CA that wasn't attributable to user error. I don't do cable, though.

I'm not sure I agree with you two. I've never had a problem out here in CA that wasn't attributable to user error. I don't do cable, though.

You are fortunate, and I actually envy you. Most of the stations in the Miami market do a less than stellar job of transmitting a digital signal, and the LG-LST3410A has been designed with too little tolerance for variances in the ATSC/QAM signals it receives, let alone the TVGOS stream. For a device this sophisticated (and expensive---I own two of them), there are simply too many design flaws to overlook, despite its excellent performance when things work smoothly. For example, why on Earth would they disable analog OTA tuning if you select "CABLE" in the TVGOS setup menu? The TVGOS currently relies entirely on carriage of the stream by analog stations...and not all cable systems do it (my headend manager is not even aware whether or not they carry it on their analog tier or of which channel it might be on!). And the inane restrictions on the FireWire ports (not being able to daisy-chain components, something that IEEE 1394 was designed for) seem completely pointless.

LOL.

My 169time rig is so finnicky about firewire that I didn't even notice the 3410a was tempermental, too. Just chop my arm off and I'll forget about my headache . . .

More info on V7 vs. V8 TV Guide, and V7 Limitations....

Question was, how do I get an Oxygen Logo on my V7 TV Guide in the LG3410a....

Answer:

If this is ‘the’ problem with the guide not listing a specific channel your family enjoys, the core problem is that Guide v7 and its predecessors were built with backward compatibility to the original system. One of the original limits built into the system was a fixed cap the number of channels the guide could manage. There were many such limitations that we have struggled over the years to overcome. The v8 guides broke that chain and did away with most legacy limits. For the older v7 guides, I believe it is possible to swap the station you want for another station that is hopefully of less value to Guide+ consumers in your market. Please respect that this is much more detail that would normally be provided to customers.

You are fortunate, and I actually envy you. Most of the stations in the Miami market do a less than stellar job of transmitting a digital signal....
Rudy -
Of course you're right, but so is wilsonsoohoo. Where you are wrong is on your perspective. The LST3410A has been on the market almost 3 years and I think the LG did a better job with it than any other stand alone recorder on the market at that time. Heck, go read the posts about other systems that use the TVGOS stream. Brand new systems (DVD recorders & TVs) appear to be having a much harder time getting guide data than most of us 3410A users are.

Where you are right on the money is that they didn't design for the reality of the US market. They designed it in Korea where all the station(s) follow the rules. They designed it thinking that every cable company would always pass the TVGOS stream.

The disappointment for me is that there were not more new generations of this box. This was an excellent first generation attempt. Think how wonderful a 4th generation would have been.. Their must not have been enough demand to justify the development costs.

Well stated Hyrax:

The disappointment for me is that there were not more new generations of this box. This was an excellent first generation attempt. Think how wonderful a 4th generation would have been?

However, I'm not sure how many of us, burned once by LG and its failure to support or service the first gen adequately, would have taken the bait twice, at least not without some form of buy back/swap program. Frankly, I'm lucky to have gotten 1) a good unit and 2) more than my money's worth (thank you BB open box) but if I had paid real early adopter prices I'd be a lot more pissed, still. So while I can also see your perspective about having "perspective," have to say I'm with Jan and Rudy on this. Where LG corporate went astray was in their fairly blatant stalling, coyness and disregard for us, once they dumped all the units they could on even more unsuspecting BB and CC customers, LG never showed any coherent willingness to try to make good, to retain us as future customers. That's tough to overcome, even if a second gen product were in the pipeline and perhaps why they bailed. Don't forget, there are plenty of problems with this device unrelated to receiving guide data as well.

And, minor point, and not to appear to pick on him, but wilsonsoohoo was not correct, at least not in how I'm interpreting/potentially misinterpreting his point:

I'm not sure I agree with you two. I've never had a problem out here in CA that wasn't attributable to user error.

in general, some of the smartest, most diverse and most interdisciplinary AVS users have this device--user error isn't a factor when users are experienced and also able to compare functionality and performance of the LG with other HTPC, QAM and DVR devices they own receiving and recording the same signals. We proud, we few owners of the LG spit in the face of user error--we know this thing inside and out and thanks to this thread have eliminated user error.

And, minor point, and not to appear to pick on him, but wilsonsoohoo was not correct, at least not in how I'm interpreting/potentially misinterpreting his point...
...in general, some of the smartest, most diverse and most interdisciplinary AVS users have this device--user error isn't a factor when users are experienced and also able to compare functionality and performance of the LG with other HTPC, QAM and DVR devices they own receiving and recording the same signals. We proud, we few owners of the LG spit in the face of user error--we know this thing inside and out and thanks to this thread have eliminated user error.

LOL, I like your take on 3410A owners. Perhaps I misinterpreted Wilson. I took him to mean user error at the TV stations. I can think of very few instances where 3410A users made mistakes. 100% of my problems have been caused by something being screwed up in the guide. And I agree with Rudy that a well designed unit should not lock up because the guide program gets confused by bad data. If the computer programs I write did that, I'd be a landscaper ;).

BTW, is there another stand alone device on the market that allows you to record HD OTA and QAM using a channel guide? Even my Fusion 5 Gold will not do it (I have to manually record QAM stations...they cannot be mapped to TitanTV listings).

My EyeTV 500 has separate inputs for QAM and OTA and records both via TitanTV seamlessly, though it isn't technically a standalone device, since it has to be connected via firewire to a Mac.

I have one of the two firewire ports is broken on my system. It is a 551 version that is still under warranty until the end of Sept. Should I send it in for repair and risk getting a different unit or since the daisy chaining doesn't work just limp by with the one port?

My EyeTV 500 has separate inputs for QAM and OTA and records both via TitanTV seamlessly, though it isn't technically a standalone device, since it has to be connected via firewire to a Mac.

That looks easier to use than my Fusion 5, but except for the QAM recording from TitanTV is extremely similar. Too bad I'd have to buy a Mac to use it.

I have one of the two firewire ports is broken on my system. It is a 551 version that is still under warranty until the end of Sept. Should I send it in for repair and risk getting a different unit or since the daisy chaining doesn't work just limp by with the one port?

What do you mean by broken - physical damage? I'm asking because my 3410A stopped 'seeing' my D-VHS deck on one port. I then plugged the D-VHS deck into my computer's firewire port and had it (the D-VHS deck) reset the firewire connection. After that my 3410A started working with the D-VHS deck again. In otherwords, it was the D-VHS deck that was having trouble with the 3410A port and not the 3410A's port that had failed.

BTW, is there another stand alone device on the market that allows you to record HD OTA and QAM using a channel guide? Even my Fusion 5 Gold will not do it (I have to manually record QAM stations...they cannot be mapped to TitanTV listings).Sure - there's the Sony DHG-HDD500/250. No firewire out though.

What do you mean by broken - physical damage? I'm asking because my 3410A stopped 'seeing' my D-VHS deck on one port. I then plugged the D-VHS deck into my computer's firewire port and had it (the D-VHS deck) reset the firewire connection. After that my 3410A started working with the D-VHS deck again. In otherwords, it was the D-VHS deck that was having trouble with the 3410A port and not the 3410A's port that had failed.

How did you go about doing this? I've got FireWire ports on my Macs, but I've never used them with my D-VHS deck. The oldest one is now ignoring anything I connect to either of its FireWire ports.

Sure - there's the Sony DHG-HDD500/250. No firewire out though.

The original design for the Sony DVRs included two iLink ports. They were removed prior to the release of the boxes (even the cosmetics were changed for some reason). I suppose existence of the IEEE 1394 ports made some content providers nervous.

How did you go about doing this? I've got FireWire ports on my Macs, but I've never used them with my D-VHS deck. The oldest one is now ignoring anything I connect to either of its FireWire ports.

It is an awkward thing to do. I've got a JVC DH5U. In it's i.Link setup screen (Main Menu->Initial Setup->Other), there is a menu item called 'Reset Number'. I tried this when the DH5U was connected to the 3410A and nothing happened. I then plugged the DH5U into my PC, via Firewire, and the PC would not find the DH5U, until I told the DH5U to reset the number. I've had to do this only once in 18 months.

Sure - there's the Sony DHG-HDD500/250. No firewire out though.

Wow, looks like a nice device. I thought I'd buy one, but they're not available. I then checked out the user reviews at Amazon, and a number of people hate the Sony DHG-HDD500 because it keeps on losing its TVGOS guide data. The phrase $1000 door-stop was used in one review.

It is amazing to me how many devices are using TVGOS when you consdier all the people that are having problems with TVGOS.

It is an awkward thing to do. I've got a JVC DH5U. In it's i.Link setup screen (Main Menu->Initial Setup->Other), there is a menu item called 'Reset Number'. I tried this when the DH5U was connected to the 3410A and nothing happened. I then plugged the DH5U into my PC, via Firewire, and the PC would not find the DH5U, until I told the DH5U to reset the number. I've had to do this only once in 18 months.

Thanks for the info. I have the Mitsubishi decks and they have a similar screen. I'll have to give it a try next time I'm messing around with one of my setups.

The port is physically broken. I looked at it in the light and the connector in one of the two ports is broken. The other one recognizes my D-VHS deck.

Informational TV Guide note:

A week (or so) ago, a software bug was found, and may have been the cause of recent frequent TV Guide lockups, Channel line-up, and losss of data for V7 TV Guide systems.

Cross your fingers!!

Informational TV Guide note:

A week (or so) ago, a software bug was found, and may have been the cause of recent frequent TV Guide lockups, Channel line-up, and losss of data for V7 TV Guide systems.

Cross your fingers!!

Jan, my TV Guide data finally downloaded correctly last night. I hope this is it for a while.

-James

My Guide indicator has remained on constantly for a week or two, and the listings are working fine as well. Our 6412 cable DVR and D* HD Tivo have much better guides, but of course there are monthly fees to keep those units operating.

Wow, looks like a nice device. I thought I'd buy one, but they're not available. I then checked out the user reviews at Amazon, and a number of people hate the Sony DHG-HDD500 because it keeps on losing its TVGOS guide data. The phrase $1000 door-stop was used in one review.

It is amazing to me how many devices are using TVGOS when you consdier all the people that are having problems with TVGOS.Best Buy has the HDD500 on it's website for $799.00. Some stores are selling the HDD250, usually open box. My local BB has one complete for $469.00, or something like that. I never had any problems at all with the guide myself until recently. Same goes for my two SD DVR's with TVGOS. They seem to be screwing around with the service on the station's end or something. The problems usually clear up if you have patience. I know that they're starting to come out with DVR's with TVGOS that will work with most satellite tuners and most digital cable boxes, so maybe it has something to do with that. Most of the reported complaints and problems center around people not getting guide data with a cable card (with certain cable companies). But many people do get the guide data with a cable card. As long as you're still getting the analog host channel, you shouldn't ever have to worry. Even if they switch over to all digital, they still usually will include the analog host channel. You may have to request them to do so, though. I only use it for OTA, so I've never really had that situation. It is an excellent tuner and DVR otherwise, though.

There's a huge thread on the Sony here if you want to check into it. There's also your local area cable company's HD thread if you want to see if you can find someone in your area that's using the Sony with a cable card.

I'm quite sure Gemstar doesn't plan on suddenly going out of business after 2009. More than likely they'll find a way to use the digital channels (either ATSC or QAM) to continue to provide a service similar to TVGOS. :D

Update...

After posting the software bug mention a few posts above......
I learned that Canada is still "Down" but should be up shortly!!!

Both of these were recently confirmed by a 2nd source, so MAYBE, MAYBE things will return to normal....

Don't ask, I can't tell, without exposing people!!!

BTW, is there another stand alone device on the market that allows you to record HD OTA and QAM using a channel guide? Even my Fusion 5 Gold will not do it (I have to manually record QAM stations...they cannot be mapped to TitanTV listings).

Hi,
I believe this Sony unit (DHG-HDD250) functions in all respects like the LG 3410A. It's bigger brother has a larger hard drive too (DHG-HDD500). A friend of mine has one (couldn't get the 3410) and loves it.

I have considered buying an DHG-HDD250 but, the prices are still up.

My LG 3410A works great 99% of the time. I am only using OTA, recording just a few channels in HD. As the forum recommended, I removed all the channels I never watch from the Guide. It only screws up when a scheduled recording is cancelled at the source.

Sincerely,
Martin

Just found this thread. Interesting as I'm looking for an Oxygen icon as well. I'm in NY state on Adelphia. Been receiving for the Oxygen channel for many years now, yet no icon. Very strange and very frustrating.

(Not using an LG though, using a Panasonic)

After working fine for a few months, my LG3410 started giving me a lot of macroblocking and audio dropouts. At first I mistook it for reception problems. I use a Silver Sensor indoor antenna, I'm usually "watching one, recording another" so aimming for two channels can be a problem. Finally it got unwatchable, and then stopped with an HDD error message.

I reformatted the drive and it was fine again for a couple of weeks. Now a small amount of macroblocking has started again.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Should I just reformat occasionally? Is there anything else I can do as maintenance?

Should I just replace the drive because it is going to get worse and crap out completely soon?

Looking for any "voices of experience" here. I generally record/watch/erase so reformatting when everything has been watched isn't a serious problem, but never knowing whether the program will be watchable is.

The only times I have seen macroblocking errors are when it's OVERHEATED. However, that's not when watching the HDD nor have I ever seen HDD errors. I guess what I'm asking/saying is: does this happen only when the unit is hot??
BTW, I too use an (indoor) Silver Sensor antenna.

yes, sounds like HDD is dying - expect to replace it soon...
you are describing the same behavior/result i saw with my Zenith HDR-230.
(i don' t have an LG3410/3510/a/b/c/whatever).

The only times I have seen macroblocking errors are when it's OVERHEATED. However, that's not when watching the HDD nor have I ever seen HDD errors. I guess what I'm asking/saying is: does this happen only when the unit is hot??
BTW, I too use an (indoor) Silver Sensor antenna.

I don't think so for several reasons:
*My TV has built-in tuner, so normally 3410 is only on to record or playback, not general watching.
*I've put some spacers under it to improve circulation. It doesn't seem to get terribly hot.
*The blocking I noticed last night was mostly in the first hour of 2.5 hour recorded movie. Both the recording and playback were from a "cold start" in which it had been off for hours. On prior problems, I don't really recall where in program cycle.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Looking for any "voices of experience" here. I generally record/watch/erase so reformatting when everything has been watched isn't a serious problem, but never knowing whether the program will be watchable is.

Hi JohnS,
I record pretty much HD content only. I would expect this to be most sensitive to macroblocking all the way around (receiving and playback). I have experienced this a few times but, blamed it on thunderstorms or atmospherics. Never reformatted but did wipe the HD once (by mistake).

I will keep an eye on this and report back.

Sincerely,
Martin

If you remember my posting a few pages back, my 320Gb Maxtor drive started degrading to DCT Blocks, and a re-initialize fixed it....... Temporairly...
I called Maxtor, and it was under warranty.... I have a Warranty replacement drive coming to me now.... (Backordered)... I downshifted to the Seagate drive in the meantime...

I should be getting the replacement drive later this week.

If you remember my posting a few pages back, my 320Gb Maxtor drive started degrading to DCT Blocks, and a re-initialize fixed it....... Temporairly...


If re-init is only temporary, I guess I need new drive before fall season comes. Not much new content now anyway.

There don't seem to be many Maxtor Quickviews of any size around. I found a couple places with 160 GB and 300 GB. Quickview model is what I need, right?

Yes.

There have been people who used regular hard drives, but "Retry" on those drives are not locked out, and therefore, the drive may stop and retry, retry, retry, causing pix to freeze.

The Quickview drive, if it encounters a media error, will degrade to DCT Blocks, but keep on playing....

OK, replacement drive has been installed, and removed drive at UPS for trip back to Maxtor.

Wife viewed her programs so I could swap drives.... Warmer than I expected... I put taller feet under chassis for more ventilation access under the unit...

By the way, had no trouble getting warranty status. Gave them serial number, date purchased, and they said it was under warranty.. Forgot to ask them how long warranty was...... They asked what the problem was...
I said, Video degrading to DCT Blocks.... Did a Re-initialize, and it acted up a few days later, so I swapped to another drive, and problems went away...

They had two options... Pre-Shipment, and Exchange. Pre-Shipment is where you put up your ChargeCard, and they ship a replacement to you... If you fail to return the origional drive in 30 days, they charge your card for non-exchange (didn't ask what that was)....
Exchange is where you ship bad drive first, then they ship you one..

You know what.... You might just call Maxtor, and tell them you have a out of warranty QV drive, and ask what the purchase price might me..... You never know...

So, with the recent software patch to TV Guide, and a new drive.... Let's hope that the amount of my posts falls drastically!! :)!

Hey! A guy on dslreports.com is selling a maxtor drive cheap!!!

Worth a gamble!!!

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16244443

Just got back from a week's vacation...
TV Guide worked fine...
New Maxtor drive worked fine....

Did I miss anything???

After working fine for a few months, my LG3410 started giving me a lot of macroblocking and audio dropouts. At first I mistook it for reception problems. I use a Silver Sensor indoor antenna, I'm usually "watching one, recording another" so aimming for two channels can be a problem. Finally it got unwatchable, and then stopped with an HDD error message.

I reformatted the drive and it was fine again for a couple of weeks. Now a small amount of macroblocking has started again.

Has anyone else experienced this?


Earlier this year I had a similar problem. I would get occasional dropouts in the recording which were not in the original program. The drops would become more frequent until finally I was unable to even access the recorded program list or the Guide. Reformatting the drive and unpluging the 3410 would fix the problem but it would come back a week or two later. I figured the drive was going but I finally discovered that the problem was being caused by corrupt guide data being sent by the host. Once this was corrected, things returned to normal and I have not had the problem since. I would definitely try unpluging the 3410 for a moment, and then change the zip code in the setup menu to something else and then back again to force the 3410 to search for the guide channel. Also make sure your antenna is aimed properly at the host transmitter. The host channel can be found in the service menu. There are several posts in this thread on how to retrieve this.

I was just checking out Circuit City's website and they've got the 3410a marked down to $419.99 now.

Still says "coming soon", though.

Looks like LG finally took the 3410a off their website...

Hopefully it's because a new box is coming out ??????

Nothing similar that I've heard anything about.

Who knows.

No bugs with TV Guide since the TV Guide Software patch of ~3 weeks ago!!

Other's finding this, too????

Mine has been working fine. Pretty amazing after nearly 2 years of ownership during which I gave up several times on ever having the Guide on any kind of consistent basis. Hope it keeps up.

Is this a patch that we have to download and install, or did it come over with the guide data?

No bugs with TV Guide since the TV Guide Software patch of ~3 weeks ago!!

Other's finding this, too????

While I haven't done much with teh 3410 since the end of the regular television season, I have noticed that the "Guide" light is very consistently on now, whereas before it wasn't. It's really beginning to look like Gemstar finally fixed this problem.

Boy, I wish I could say the same for my Sony DHG-HDD500. I'ts been the opposite situation for me. Guide worked famously for the first few months, and now the last few weeks it's been a total POS.

Boy, I wish I could say the same for my Sony DHG-HDD500. I'ts been the opposite situation for me. Guide worked famously for the first few months, and now the last few weeks it's been a total POS.
My system had been working well for most of the last year, but starting about 3-4 weeks ago I started having all sorts of problems with the 3410A's guide. I had the dang thing lock up on me a couple of times a day. I finally did a system clear/restart (a ritutal invloving unplugging it for a day, plugging it in and turning it back on, deleting all channels, changing the zip code to a different state, turning it off for a few hours, turning it on, gaving it the correct zip code, scanning for channels, turning it off over night) and the next morning everything seemed to be working again correctly. I've not had a problem for the last few days anyway.

There is probably an easier way to reset the thing, but this always works for me. The point being that you may want to reset the Sony box.

Is this a patch that we have to download and install, or did it come over with the guide data?

It was a patch in the TV Guide software for TV Guide/Norpak hardware (in the program stream at TV Stations!)...

The patch involved only V7 TV Guide, which is 'Legacy' devices only... Sony gear is NOT Legacy.... (Sony is using V8 TV Guide)

LG 3410a is a 'Legacy' TV Guide product

My other 2 SD DVR's use V7 and I've never had any problem with them. They've always gotten the info for all of the digital channels fine, too.

Sounds more like it may have been a problem with particular units.

Actually it involved only certain data (don't know which, by the way). Some of the data was being sent on the wrong field.
TV Guide is sent on Line 15 of field 1 and field 2 (or, Line 15 and line 278 is another way of stating it)...
Whatever this data was, it was supposed to be sent on one line, and it actually got sent on the other field...
The fix was to correct the stream and send the data in the correct location...

Methinks this mis-aligned data caused the resets we were having.........

It was a patch in the TV Guide software for TV Guide/Norpak hardware (in the program stream at TV Stations!)...

The patch involved only V7 TV Guide, which is 'Legacy' devices only... Sony gear is NOT Legacy.... (Sony is using V8 TV Guide)

LG 3410a is a 'Legacy' TV Guide product

My two LG 3410a units are working correctly now. A couple weeks ago I reported that Comcast (DC) added several new stations to my lineup (extra HD logos for CBS, ABC and NBC) and the Guide did not download. In addition, there were also stations that had call letters for PA, KY, Virgin Islands and other locations not in my area (WHYX, WCAU WGAL KYDU, WPVI).

Let's hope everything stays fine for a while.

-James

We had a power surge last night, and my 3410A was killed. I'm going to send it in to get repaired, but will need to find a replacement just in case. Where are good places to buy them these days (other than ebay)?

Also... if you've got 2 units, can you transfer between them via Firewire?

A friend brought me his 3410a, saying it had gone senseless in a storm...

By the time it got to me, I plugged it in, and it worked fine....

Have you let it sit unplugged for a while ????

Can you give any other symptoms?

A friend brought me his 3410a, saying it had gone senseless in a storm...
By the time it got to me, I plugged it in, and it worked fine....


What happened was we lost power twice in a split second.

It's 100% dead. No LEDs turn on, no fans rotate, and there is no hum from the power supply. I'm going to unplug it for over night and then open it up to check it if there is a fuse, and see I can see anything wrong.

Now that it is not working, I miss it terribly.

That sounds like a fuse to me... Let me check..... I'll post later...

Hey! Do you have an ohm-meter?
If so, with power plug disconnected, try this...
Measure the resistance of the two power prongs (what you would normally stick into the wall outlet) and turn the power switch off and on, documenting the resistance you measure...

If you measure no difference off to on, and they are both real high resistance....

Hopefully you blew a fuse! It's in the end of the power supply board.
From the front of the unit, that will be the left-most board in the rear.

Hey! Do you have an ohm-meter?
If so, with power plug disconnected, try this...
Measure the resistance of the two power prongs (what you would normally stick into the wall outlet) and turn the power switch off and on, documenting the resistance you measure...

If you measure no difference off to on, and they are both real high resistance....

Hopefully you blew a fuse! It's in the end of the power supply board.
From the front of the unit, that will be the left-most board in the rear.

Jan-
Thanks! I'll get out my old (and I do mean old - last time I used it was when I built a Heathkit receiver), trusty Ohm-meter.

Tim

A friend brought me his 3410a, saying it had gone senseless in a storm...
By the time it got to me, I plugged it in, and it worked fine....


Very, very strange. It is now working. Earlier today I unplugged it for a couple of minutes. When I plugged it in again it still was not working. So I left it unplugged all day. I plugged it in half an hour ago, and it is working. It just picked up the time, so I suspect it will start downloading data later tonight. Odd behavior, but I'm happy.

And I think I may need to buy a better surge protector.

Also... if you've got 2 units, can you transfer between them via Firewire?

This was something I asked about also way back when I got my units. I ended up with 3 for the price of 1 (~$400, through LG's mixups) when I sent my original unit back for a firmware update. The answer is no, you can't hook units up together to transfer anything. It makes no sense to me.

That's Twice now I've heard that exact senerio!!

Braindead after storm.....
Sit overnight un-plugged.....
Works when plugged in!!!

I'm pretty paranoid... Over the years I've scattered MOV devices by computers, TV, VCR, DVR's etc....
and then a few years ago I added a Whole House Surge Supressor (in Circuit Breaker Box)

Glad it worked out for you!!!!

That's Twice now I've heard that exact senerio!!

Braindead after storm.....
Sit overnight un-plugged.....
Works when plugged in!!!

I'm pretty paranoid... Over the years I've scattered MOV devices by computers, TV, VCR, DVR's etc....
and then a few years ago I added a Whole House Surge Supressor (in Circuit Breaker Box)

Very strange. I did have it on a cheap computer surge protector, but now I'm thinking of getting some sort of line conditioner (Monster HTS3500MkII?) for most of my stuff, and a UPS for my projector. I wonder...does a computer UPS works for projectors?


What does something like a whole house surge supressor cost?

Whole house surge supressors fit in circuit breaker box, closest to incoming line.
You get the same MFG as your circuit breaker box...
I've a GE Breaker box, and it was a bit harder to find a GE whole house surge supressor than say a Square D box.... but eventually a Menards (of all places) special ordered it for me.

Cost approx $50. I installed it myself...
(Basically moved two circuits from top to bottom of panel, and installed Surge supressor in place of the 2 moved breakers mounted at top of box, where line comes in...

I did leave the other MOV devices installed (paranoia).

Glad to hear of your success

Looks like LG finally took the 3410a off their website...

Hopefully it's because a new box is coming out ??????

Well, how about it? If there's to be a new box, then there must be a product announcement lurking somewhere out there, and I can't find it. Is this just another LG product following the LG set-top-box HDTV receivers into oblivion?

Well, how about it? If there's to be a new box, then there must be a product announcement lurking somewhere out there, and I can't find it. Is this just another LG product following the LG set-top-box HDTV receivers into oblivion?

When asked at this year's CES, LG reps reportedly stated that they would not be producing any more HDTV set top boxes...and that probably means they won't be marketing a successor to the LST3410A (at least not in America). Most of their high end displays now come with built-in DVRs with pretty much the same features as the 3410A, so they probably don't have much incentive to introduce a new model. Perhaps when OCAP becomes the standard we might see new STBs, but it appears the current trend is towards integrating DVR features into the displays (probably because it allows manufacturers to charge a premium for displays).

They can put as many DVR's in displays.... But they'll sit on dealer's shelves....
I'm committed to separate units, connected in parallel to separate display and separate sound systems......

That makes the most sense to me... This way you get the best Audio and Video.

Heck, If I'm going to spend big bucks on a system, I'm going to spend and get the best of both worlds -- Audio & Video....

I wouldn't consider a DVR in an HD Display from Mitsubishi, and I'm sold on the Mitsubishi DLP.....
I prefer the flexibility of separate units.....

And Yes, I do have a "Single Line" drawing in order to determine how it all connects together...

All Analog audio feeds Mitsubishi display, and Mitsubishi Switched analog audio output feeds Bose TV Analog audio input.

Digital audio from sources feeds Bose digital audio inputs, with Bose auto-switching to digital on it's own. Wife selects "TV" and gets All Analog Audio feeds as well as Digital TV audio. (Thank you Bose for this auto-switch featrure)

The other digital sources: DVR, DVD'(s), are selected manually via Bose..

Most flexible system I ever put together...

If LG won't make another DVR.... It's Their Loss!!!

They can put as many DVR's in displays.... But they'll sit on dealer's shelves....If LG won't make another DVR.... It's Their Loss!!!

I fear we've seen the last of the OTA DVRs with firewire. No one is producing them any more. That's why I'm looking for a spare 3410A.

Fortunately, you can still build your own. I'm looking into adding a Mini Mac to my network and using it to interface with the 3410A. BeyondTV interfaces nicely with my FusionHD card for OTA recording and I should be able to can send the show to the Mini Mac fairly easily.

This is more complicated than using a STB, but what choices do we have? Perhaps, in the far future, we'll be able to record on HD DVD recorders, but it will be years before the disks are cheap enough.

No problems for me except for the occasional total loss of guide data. Last one about 2 weeks ago. I have to go to the setup menu and do a factory reset. Complete setup takes an overnight. Maddening. I have 3 of these running and it is completely random which one has to be set up again.

Jan,

I had a lot of respect for you 'till I saw you mention BOSE. Ughhhh........ The 3410 A should not have to share shelfspace with BOSE junk. BOSE is THE biggest maarketing scam perpetrated on the American public. It started with the BOSE 901's and got worse.

OK, I'll continue messaging with you but just do not mention BOSE....It makes my skin crawl.

Kidding of course!!!!!!!!! We have to get you into some "MANLY" Audio gear like Electrovoice, JBL, Klipsch or Altec Lansing.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and give him the benefit of the doubt and guess that his SO had something to do with the choice of the less intrusive, imposing satellite/subwoofer setup.

(And Art - the 901's are actually the only thing they've ever made that were halfway decent, albeit overpriced!)

I'm not as sensitive to audio.... as I am to video.

The Bose system, was convienent because it was an entire package, with multiple in's & out's... and the before mentioned auto switchig between analog and digital inputs on same crosspoint.

I know an audio purist will turn up their ears at the mention of that name, but it was a simple way on integrating a flexible audio system into the video system.

And, once I found out how to disable the "automatic equalizer" system, and manually adjust it, it actually sounds quite good!!!

But I have been known to say: "AUDIO!!!! TOO MANY KNOBS!!!" :)!

Found this online, have never seen anyone mention it.

Grab TV Guide Manually
Sort of. Ordinarily, the LG will download the TV Guide data only when it is off. This is because the tuner must switch to the analog channel for your guide-- which it can't do if you have the unit on and in use. If you know the analog station that locally broadcasts your TV Guide, and you happen to want to watch it, tune to that station and your unit will immediately begin downloading TV Guide data while it is on. This is a great way to jump-start the download process. You can even do this while watching a recorded show.

I am not at home, so I can't try this.
Let us know if you have any luck trying this!

Peace,

Timmer

Just picked this unit up as an open box from CC for $325. I realize it may be a little outdated, but thought the price was too good to pass up.

Thanks for all the info provided here!

tony

Wow! Good grab!

I used to sell 901's out of the trunk of my car. I'd pick them up in NY nd sell them in MD. This was 40 years ago. People really bought the hype. I did have a german enginerr from Siemens who hated them after he got them home. Said they were "dark". He wound up with JBL 100's. I sold the 901's again the next weekend. 40 years ago. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH YOUTH!!!!

Jan... hope you know I'm just having fun wih you. I do have some sand filled Wharfedale's that you can have for nothing if you come to MD.

I used to sell 901's out of the trunk of my car. I'd pick them up in NY nd sell them in MD. This was 40 years ago. People really bought the hype. I did have a german enginerr from Siemens who hated them after he got them home. Said they were "dark". He wound up with JBL 100's. I sold the 901's again the next weekend. 40 years ago. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH YOUTH!!!!

Jan... hope you know I'm just having fun wih you. I do have some sand filled Wharfedale's that you can have for nothing if you come to MD.So you were one of "those" guys who I tell to get lost everytime they approach me in a parking lot? :)

So far, everything is going pretty smoothly. I got the guide to load for all except my ABC affiliate. Is this typical that the guide may not work for some stations?

I am quickly becoming aware that 12 hours of time will fill up fast! I may look into a harddrive swap, although If spending more money it might make more sense to buy a second DVR so that I have all the advantages of dual tuners.

No Sweat, Art.... As I said, The Bose was an all in one solution...
and with exception of one speaker breaking under warranty, it's been good.
Once I disabled that Auto Equalizer function and manually adjusted EQ, sounded even better....
I did have a couple go-rounds with Bose over stuff, though...
Their CD won't play MP3's, show pix files, etc., and when I called them on it they got defensive and asked me who said it would play those files....

Also got defensive nature from them when I asked the specs of propagation delay of the digital inputs, vs. analog inputs. I wanted to know if I would have to figure any delay into it for a delay box I was borrowing....

"Sorry, can't tell you that, it's PROPRIETARY INFORMATION...." You know what, after 3-4 days with me calling 5 or 6 times a day, and working my way up the ladder to the point where everyone knew my name after about 3 days....... It finally dawned on them that it was simpler for them to tell me the answer I needed than to spend the un-told minutes or hours on the phone with me, tie-ing up their support and manager's lines....

Less than 4ms. (OH DARN!!! Now I have to shoot you!)

I've been through nearly all 129 pages of this forum, applied all the tricks I read about, but nothing has worked. I'm having the same prolem spike4 described: the Guide will not come up at all. I bought my unit when it first came out and it worked flawlessly when I had it hooked up to my antenna. The Guide became flakey once I switched to Comcast. When the Guide becomes inaccessible, unplugging the unit for 2 hours usually makes it all better. Not this time. I tried several power cycles, pushed the unit back to factory reset via diagnostic menu, entered the 100102 code with EZ-Scan highlighted--I just cannot get the Guide to come back.

The factory reset was a mixed blessing. It left the HDD untouched and allowed me to set the clock (as long as I did it before power-off), but it also reverted my input to antenna. Without a functioning Guide I have no way to tell it to switch to cable input--let alone set the ZIP code, etc. I also ran the "Gemstar Test Mode" and "Demo Test". The former didn't seem to do anything but switch to channel 19--maybe that's the data channel it uses. The latter did successfully run the demo.

My versions are...
S/W: MP1.12
H/W: 10.4
DB: 4.15
TV Guide: 0.0.0

Is the "0.0.0" a bad sign--like the Guide EEPROM is corrupt? I honestly don't know if there was a legitimate value there when I bought it. I'd rather not send the unit to LG (though that's what they recommended).

To be clear, this is not a case of "no listings" or "bad data" in the Guide. My Guide won't come up at all, so those neat Guide reset codes and diagnostic screens are not possible.

Please help! I want my Guide back! Spike4: did you ever figure this out?

The 0.0.0 for TV Guide IS A VERY BAD SIGN!!!
V1.12 (Firmware version for LG3410a) is an indication that it isn't one of the latest units.
Firmware in this area can be upgraded, but that won't help TV Guide whatsoever!!!

Do you ever get a Setup screen for TV Guide? Antenna, Cable yes or no, and Zipcode?

The following is a WAG (Wild Ass Guess)
If so, please enter the following (In case it has something to do with your zipcode)

Select cable yes, box no, and zipcode 60076 (I Know it isn't yours, it's actually mine, and I know the data is good here)...

Then, with this selected, then see if your TV Guide is anything other than 0.0.0 It should be V7.XXX

If this doesn't help, and Spike or others don't provide any help.... It could be the TV Guide CPU isn't running, and that would mean a trip for refurbish...
I know TV Guide can be re-loaded, but I've never heard of the firmware being made accessable to anyone except at the service center, which last time I heard was in Huntsville Alabama.... But with the product now not supported, I have no idea where this information could be found....

Anybody have other ideas????

[QUOTE=tony123]So far, everything is going pretty smoothly. I got the guide to load for all except my ABC affiliate. Is this typical that the guide may not work for some stations?
QUOTE]

Data for OTA and Cable stations is handled via TV Guide.... Just because you can receive OTA channels or Channels on your local cable system doesn't mean the data is being sent...

The LOGO for the channel you want needs to be sent to you via TV Guide. You can Re-Direct an existing Logo (ABC Logo for example) and edit an different channel number into it, and that may fix your situation... If it does, fine. If it doesn't, or the programs on that channel don't match the programs in the (channel edited) TV Guide Logo, that means that TV Guide doesn't understand that the zipcode you entered is covered by that ABC Affiliate. A simelar problem is excess Logos for stations you Cannot receive... Some success has been found by using a different zipcode, closer to that affiliate, but that could scramble the cable channel logos for your area....

Thanks Jan! I'll try your zipcode suggestion.

Also, is there a customer service number available for this TVguide service. I'll try contacting them too.

TV GUIDE DOES NOT, WILL NOT, RESPOND TO QUESTIONS: COMMENTS, PLEADS FOR HELP, SUGGESTIONS, COMPLAINTS. They sit behind their phone information "loops", and say nothing to no-one!

And do pretty much what they want, with no regard for anyone, or feedback........

If any company needed feedback, it's this one!!!

Sorry to be so brutal, but I call it like I see it!!!

Hey Jan,

What do you think is the implication of these units not being supported. I may buy a fourth. Thoughts?

Hey Jan,

What do you think is the implication of these units not being supported. I may buy a fourth. Thoughts?

I firmly believe that the 'support' here is as good, or better, than the 800# support that used to exist for this product...

I presently have one unit, and that keeps me from doing the tests I so want to do with this unit.

I would LOVE to get ahold of a non-working uint cheaply, as I would want to do some playing around with it (after fixing it)....

I would love to try and make a 19Mc Video I/O for it!!! Would probably disable it for other uses, but would keep me off the streets for a long while!!! :)!

(Read: Winter Project!)

Interesting....

I went to the tvguide website and pulled up the listings (which are identical in graphics, etc. to the LG) based on zip code. It included all the same stations that my LG does, but included the ABC affiliate I don't get on the LG. I would assume all this information is coming from the same source.

I'll try shifting my zip code slightly tonight.

If TV Guide says that you should have the ABC affiliate you don't get....
Go into the Guide Setup, and scan downward, as the Logo you seek may be at the bottom of the list!!!
You can then move it to near the top of the list, and then put it where you want it to reside!

Do you ever get a Setup screen for TV Guide? Antenna, Cable yes or no, and Zipcode?

Jan,
Thanks for the quick reply. I could bring up both the Guide and the Guide Setup at will (free to choose antenna, cable, zip code) from the time I bought the unit (2.5 yrs ago?) until recently. Now, I can't get either to come up. I was hoping a factory reset (tried the demo pin too!) would force the unit to ask me fresh about my hookup and zip code. No such luck.

LG said it would be $99. to diagnose + parts. Apparently, lbor is "free" and/or included in the $99. I read elsewhere on this forum about others who had firmware upgrades to 1.14 or 1.17, but it wasn't clear to me exactly what "bugs" such upgrades fixed. (I understand, as you say, the DVR firmware wouldn't help TV Guide.)

So far, everything is going pretty smoothly. I got the guide to load for all except my ABC affiliate. Is this typical that the guide may not work for some stations?

I only get 'No Listing' for a station when it gets incorrectly mapped. This may be your problem as well.

Go to the guide screen that lets you see edit the channel line-up in the guide. First of all delete all the channels you don't want in the guide. There may be lots of channels listed that you don't get, or that you don't care about. For example - I deleted all of the SD stations except for the major networks. The fewer stations in the guide the better. I kept the major network SD stations because I'm not sure which one includes the TVGuide data.

While you're in this screen, take a look and see what numbers are associated with your ABC channels. My local ABC channel is 5-1. Occasionally, the guide thinks it is channel 705. So I manually edit it back to 5-1.

Did you all see the unit on EBAY that sold for $713.00? Seller said that unit had been to the factory several times for work. It was a 4.51 and 1.17.

Thanks Hyrax. This may very well be my issue. I'll have to play with that tonight.

When you say "delete" unused or unwanted channels, I assume you are refering to the screen that allows you to turn them on or off. I have them all off except for the dt versions of all the major networks. Maybe I should turn on the SD versions too if that is where the guide info is coming from.

Did you all see the unit on EBAY that sold for $713.00? Seller said that unit had been to the factory several times for work. It was a 4.51 and 1.17.
Yeah and that was without a DVI cable, I want venture a guess that perhaps foul play is involved considering that the other auctions the seller has listed go for around 500.

Electronic Express has them for $450.

When you say "delete" unused or unwanted channels, I assume you are referring to the screen that allows you to turn them on or off. I have them all off except for the dt versions of all the major networks. Maybe I should turn on the SD versions too if that is where the guide info is coming from.

ding, ding, ding, I think we might have a winner. As has been mentioned before, it's best never to turn off the analog channels of the major networks and your local PBS in the guide--even if you only watch the HD versions--push them further down the priority listings but do keep them. Cut other crap channels to reduce the load on the guide download--but not the SD networks.

As far as doing a factory reset, a couple of you have mentioned it--exactly how are you doing it? Because if you're doing it correctly a la the simultaneous two front button press method, that wipes your hard drive in the process. So dpr005--what are you doing that leaves your hard drive untouched?

I picked one of these up and so far I like it. I have not spent much time with it though. Anyone have discrete on/off codes?

It's off to another home.

I used to have UltimateTV box, so I was wondering is there any way to record straight to a tape, by that I mean bypass the hard drive? My drive is getting full and in the meanwhile I would like to be able to timer record HD reruns, if it is possible to go to tape direct?

Anyone know if the 300gb 7200 rpm drive will work? What about the 500gb 7200 rpm drive?

I'm guessing it would be ok, as long as you don't significantly increase power and temperature specs...
Nice thing about the Maxtor is it actually is LESS temp and current draw than the Seagate that it replaced!!! Always a nice start!!!

I just looked for info on max drive size... I thought I had an email with that info, but I must not have saved it....
The earlier version of the 3410a (I forgot model number) was limited to 120Gb, even though it was stuffed with less than that.
The 3410a is limited at something like 1.4 Tb or such...
Now be aware that some who added larger drives have reported timeouts when large amounts of programs resided on the drive. My wife hasn't encountered this, but there have been enough posts to mean it's a distinct possibility....

I don't believe it was ever determined if speed of drive had anything to do with it... Maybe previous poster's can chime in with more specifics.....

Specs of Seagate ST3120025ACE (What shipped in 3410a):
Startup current +12v = 2.3A
Idle Watts 7.5W
Read/Write Watts 12.0W
Seek Watts 12.5W
Standby Watts 0.9--1.05 (Typical/Max)
Power on to Ready 10 Seconds

Acoustics:
Idle <2.5 Bels
Seek 2.8 Bels

Average data transfer Rate = 48Mb/sec

I have been using my 3410A with 300GB 7200rpm Seagate drives. When the drives are new and unfragmented, I can get over 45 recordings on a single drive starting from a cold boot. Now that the disks are somewhat fragmented, I only get ~35 recordings starting from a cold boot before the disks fail to initialize properly. If you are willing to keep the 3410A powered on, you should get many more than 35 recordings on a 300GB drive.

I have been using my 3410A with 300GB 7200rpm Seagate drives. When the drives are new and unfragmented, I can get over 45 recordings on a single drive starting from a cold boot. Now that the disks are somewhat fragmented, I only get ~35 recordings starting from a cold boot before the disks fail to initialize properly. If you are willing to keep the 3410A powered on, you should get many more than 35 recordings on a 300GB drive.

What kind of programs were you recording (HD, SD, analog)? I assume your talking about 30 and 60 min. HD shows. I was up to about 55 programs on the standard hard drive. All were SD digital from cable, the entire seasons of Criminal Minds, Invasion, and Surface. At about 40 programs it started to not initialize in time to start recording, but at about 50 it was no longer a problem strangely. I've since been watching those prgrams so I've only got about 30 recordings on it now.

All my recordings were OTA ATSC SD and HD recordings. My observations indicate that it's the number of recordings that limit the ability of the drive to initialize, not the length of the recordings. To avoid problems, I try to keep my saved recordings to 30 or less.

Thanks for the tips. I will probably pick up the Maxtor 300 7200.

After reading all these posts, i'f i want to buy this DVR over ebay, what are the exact firmware and guide version that i neeed???

thankl you

Writing this from work... Embroiled in a mess...

You don't have option on Guide firmware, V7 is all that can run in 3410a.

Firmware V1.15 and V1.17 means it was a last run unit.

I've heard V1.12 is early run of 3410a, and hear it can be upgraded.

Gotta run...

Anyone knows the difference between v7 and 8?


I heard that v7 is Legacy. Is Gemstar going to support v7 for a long time??? I don't want to be obselete in 2 years...

thanks


Writing this from work... Embroiled in a mess...

You don't have option on Guide firmware, V7 is all that can run in 3410a.

Gotta run...

Anyone ever figure out a way to get the recordings off the HD and onto a PC (without dumping to DVHS)?

I'd love to hear this answer since I still don't have an answer for my direct to tape question.

Getting the recordings off the LG and onto a PC is complicated. It's been discussed before on this thread and I myself have given up on the idea because it is far too difficult. If you've got a Mac then you're better off. It's your best bet to transfer the recordings. That's also been discussed elsewhere in the thread.

I used to have UltimateTV box, so I was wondering is there any way to record straight to a tape, by that I mean bypass the hard drive? My drive is getting full and in the meanwhile I would like to be able to timer record HD reruns, if it is possible to go to tape direct?

You can, but to do so you will need a remote with a built-in timer, such as the Sony RL-VM1000. With such a remote, you can set up macros to turn on the LG, tune to the desired channels, then activate the FireWire interface to control your DVHS deck. The VCR records whatever channel the LG is tuned to, and the FireWire interface has all the necessary controls to preclude having to set up a macro for the VCR as well. I've done it a few times with my Mitsubishi HS-HD2000U.

Anyone know why the 3410A see the Moto 6412 but says it is not a compatible device? Is there a work around?

So dpr005--what are you doing that leaves your hard drive untouched?

Well, I have to go by memory now...I boxed the unit up and sent it back to LG for repair. But, I hooked the composite output up to my TV, presed Select+LeftArrow simultaneously (on front panel), and this showed the diagnostic menu--10 items as I recall. I can't remember if I ran Item #9 or #10 (without seeing it again), which brought up a secondary menu with a couple choices. One was "factory default" or "factory reset" (or similar language). I executed this and, as I recall, the front panel said something like "please wait" or "working" for a few seconds, then ended with "good" when complete. This did NOT erase the Program List but did revert everything else to default settings--except recover the TV Guide. Pehaps v1.12's reset is "softer" than later versions? Or maybe something else caused the reset to be incomplete? I don't really know. I subsequently reformatted the HDD using a separate diagnostic menu command but that didn't help bring the Guide back either. (Didn't expect it to; it was a last-ditch effort before sending it back.)

This did NOT erase the Program List

If I'm remembering the select and left arrow > service menu > #10 reset, it does wipe the hard drive of any stored recordings, but I have later firmware than you. The one time I had to do it, I had already tried the empty hard drive > reformat, so my drive was empty anyway. I thought others had posted the factory reset does wipe the drive in the process--and was curious if the reason yours remained intact might explain why your problem was never resolved and why you weren't getting that jumpstart.

Sorry for delay.... V7 is all that will work in 3410a. V8 is in Sony's DVR, and Maybe Mitsubishi's DVR....

As for how long...... At least as long as SD transmitters are transmitting... After that, it will depend on whatever deals TV Guide/Norpak make with cable companies....




Anyone knows the difference between v7 and 8?


I heard that v7 is Legacy. Is Gemstar going to support v7 for a long time??? I don't want to be obselete in 2 years...

thanks

Jan J,

From your statement, I would imply that it is unlikely that the guide (V7 or V8) would be available after the analog shutdown from OTA sources, either because the 3410a is incapable of pulling guide information from ATSC stations and/or the ATSC stations won't broadcast the guide. Do you have any information regarding this matter?

Jan J,
From your statement, I would imply that it is unlikely that the guide (V7 or V8) would be available after the analog shutdown from OTA sources, either because the 3410a is incapable of pulling guide information from ATSC stations and/or the ATSC stations won't broadcast the guide. Do you have any information regarding this matter?
I believe I'm currently getting my guide from Comcast. There is no reason to believe this will change after the analog shutdown.

Hyrax,

I ask this question, because I get currently get my programming from satellite and OTA. I don't expect to switch to cable after the analog shut down.

The LG3410a is designed to look for TV Guide data on Line 15 and Line 278 of NTSC analog transmissions. (That's Line 15 F1/F2).

NTSC Analog transmissions will go away at some time in the future, to be replaced with HD Transmissions.

There is plenty of data locations in HD transmissions, but if the 3410a only receives TV Guide Data via Analog NTSC transmissions............ that's a moot point.

Seeing that TV Guide is already being transmitted on Cable, in NTSC, and, it's a good bet that Cable will support the (Millions?) of TV sets that no longer receive anything after the switchover to OTA HD Digital....... (Think of the new-Untapped Market!!) You'd think that with a potential market already in place that is THAT BIG... That something could be lashed together quickly (Probably using VITC inserter hardware retrieved from TV Stations as they go dark)......

I have no inside information, I fix things...

Hyrax

If the station you get your Data from off cable is an analog NTSC transmission, it will go dark when the swtichover date arrives....

For example, in Chicagoland, WFLD (32 OTA) is primary TV Guide for V7, and WLS (7 OTA) is secondary transmission site. (Both transmit, but WFLD gets the data indicating "Primary" -- If WFLD goes off air, all the sets (after an un-known amount of time) would start scanning for another channel, until they find WLS, and then the 3410a will lock to that.

I know that WTTW (11 OTA) is transmitting V8 data, but don't know if there is a secondary transmission..... Possibly John knows more on that...

Just for the record, my two older SD analog-tunered DVR's (Panasonic, Sony) which both have V7, actually get their info from channels 11 (WTTW) or 20 (WYCC). They also receive all the info for the digital counterparts, as well. My Sony HD DVR gets it from 11.

I wonder if there would be any possibility for TVGOS or the station to retain whatever bit of an OTA analog signal they would need (from within the required range) to transmit the data after the "shutdown".

I bought that used 3410a from Dave in Washington.
It was interesting to note a couple of things I previously hadn't noticed...
Dave lived in Washington State (PST), I'm in Chicago (CST)


I set the zipcode, then clock, then waited for data.. About 5 min later, clock changed back to Pacific Time!!! Then, and an hour or so, it changed back to CST. I never looked for a Time Standard indicator.... 3410a must be getting that off the antenna or cable.

As in recent past... Cable Icons came first, and OTA icons came the following day.

(Still no oxygen... though 3 'game' icons remain in list. I guess my plea's went un-heard.)

The 'single line' drawing of the RF, Video, Audio is getting pretty complex here, especially so since I'm blocking out CH4 from incoming cable, and mixing a local CH4 (derived from SVideo and stereo audio from CableBox) back into cable before distribution to the house (So Wife can record cable shows on VHS deck).

This is the unit that I may do some experiments on this winter.... I'm hoping to be able to find the one data line that selects the analog video input, soas to program a recording via VCR+ then force the machine to select the analog inputs, and therefore record an external video input by a timestamp.
If that works, my next plan (Far More complicated) is to be able to generate a 19Mc signal via external HD signals and record that. THAT will be very complex....

Hey! It keeps me off the street!!!

Interesting reading..... Regarding how channels are added to TV Guide....

The channel assignments used to be done manually and that group no longer exists. We have built an automated system based on population and viewer ranking data. We have channel reassignments to perform throughout the US and Canada market but we are waiting to complete the transition to newer/faster servers, as the calculations are more than the current system can handle. (The new servers are physically installed but the full transition may be a few months to complete.)



I asked the head of Technical Operations to run some of our analysis tools and he provided me with a summary of the analysis. In short, performing an automated channel reassignment for Chicago will alter 21 channel assignments. The professional sports channels GAME6, GAME7 and GAME8 would drop away along with about 17 other channels. Based on the current calculations the Oxygen channel would just miss the selection window. Oxygen ranks nearly identically with about 10 other channels in your lineup. Without manual intervention, Oxygen will not be added when we perform a channel reassignment.



Now, since about 10 channels are more-or-less ranked the same it is not unreasonable to request management approval for Oxygen to be preferentially added. The ball is back in your court. As (Name Removed) recommended in May, you need to contact (2nd Name Removed). He is the Manager of North American Consumer Electronics Technical Support for TV Guide. He can open a ticket and only then is it possible for Technical Operations to seriously consider acting on your channel reassignment request.

Dear Sir:
I’m a broadcast engineer by trade, and TV Guide V7 user
With 2 LG 3410a’s on Comcast (Skokie) cable.

I’m writing you to request you add an Oxygen Logo to the V7 TV Guide transmissions to Zipcode 60076.

Oxygen has been on our cable system on Ch 67 for years, and in the 1.5+ years that I’ve had the LG3410a
DVR’s, I look for that Logo with every channel upgrade that occurs, and this never seems to occur.

Actually it’s not for me, it’s for my wife……

Another suggestion…. A USER PROGRAMABLE ICON. You get to select one or channel of your choosing, and
Based upon channel selection you program into the Programmable Icon, you receive data for That Channel.

Prior to your sending multiple network Icons, I used to re-direct the ABC, NBC, CBS, WGN FOX & PBS icons to the HD
Equivalent channel, so that I could record HD OTA Channels, instead of reduced bandwidth cable HD channels. Of course,
This worked only if the Lineup’s of the re-directed channels were identical….

Thanks for your time….

Just received:
"I will look into this and let you know what we can do. Either way as soon as I know I will give you an update."

Ugh. After nearly two years of essentially no problems with my Guide and recordings, I have the dreaded "No listing" across the board. It started last week. It began sporadically by not having listings on some channels at some times of day. I think all channels (well, I only have the local networks displayed in the guide) had no listing for parts of the schedule while other parts of their schedules had program info. But in the past few days, no program info on all channels all times of day.

I've tried unplugging it, but only for a few minutes at a time. I'll have to try that unplug-overnight trick. I tried putting the demo pin back in and taking it out. Doesn't seem to help.

I posted my problem in my local HDTV reception thread, but no one else appears to be having this problem (at least no one has commented on my post). So I guess it is the LST3410A that is the culprit.

I am not sure which of my locals trasmits the guide data, but I've ensured that all of the local analogs are set to "on" on the receiver. Does anyone in the DC area know what station sends out the guide data?

I've noticed that the Guide light seems to always be lit when the receiver is off. I saw someone else in the past few pages of this thread mention they've had the same thing happen. It is definitely picking up something, because it correctly sets the time.

Here is my info, in case someone can recommend something for me based on it:
S/W MP1.15
H/W 10.4
DB 4.15
Guide 7.1.20
Date 02:51 PM Apr.06.2004

So what else can I try? I don't want to wipe out my hard drive, but if it may help, I'll try it. I should mention I switched out the old drive with a 300GB about eighteen months ago, but that's never been a problem; well until it started to get pretty full of content. But that's unrelated as I watched most of the stuff and deleted it more than a month ago.

My 3 units all have lost the Guide Info. I am in Davidsonville, MD east of DC. I did a factory reset today on 2 units to see if it comes back. I think they screw it up purposely so we will buy the cable PVR. Try select and left arrow. Then go to Factory Reset. That will wipe out your HD. Call me at 301-261-7576 if u want to talk about it.

Jan,

I have A/B'd the Cable and OTA feeds here on the Annapolis Comcast feed. I can not tell the difference on my 120" 3 gun CRT Front Projector.

Also, Wish this No Listing Issue would get resolved. I sure hope that we are not left out in the cold because we use the Legacy update.

Art,

Thanks for the response. It is both encouraging and discouraging to hear that you are experiencing the same problem. It means that our units aren't screwed up - what would be the chance that four would crap out at the same time? If we knew who in our area sent out the guide data, we could attempt to contact them. I thought I heard at one point it was WETA, but I think I also heard WJLA at another point. One of the tech guys at WJLA posts in our Local HDTV thread, so I guess I can shoot him a PM and ask if it is them and if they've made any changes recently.

Could you please report back if the factory reset fixes the problem? I want to do this as a last resort, as I still have about ten hours of stuff I'd rather not lose before watching it. If that is the fix, I'll be watching a lot of TV this weekend before wiping my hard drive.

Thanks,
Dave

I wouldn't be surprised if these problems are further on up the chain w/ Gemstar. I have a Toshiba HDTV w/ TVGuide. For awhile, everyone with a certain version of the firmware lost the TV Guide listings. Who knows what Gemstar is doing to fix one problem -- and then perhaps unknowingly causing another.

Art,

Thanks for the response. It is both encouraging and discouraging to hear that you are experiencing the same problem. It means that our units aren't screwed up - what would be the chance that four would crap out at the same time? If we knew who in our area sent out the guide data, we could attempt to contact them. I thought I heard at one point it was WETA, but I think I also heard WJLA at another point. One of the tech guys at WJLA posts in our Local HDTV thread, so I guess I can shoot him a PM and ask if it is them and if they've made any changes recently.

Could you please report back if the factory reset fixes the problem? I want to do this as a last resort, as I still have about ten hours of stuff I'd rather not lose before watching it. If that is the fix, I'll be watching a lot of TV this weekend before wiping my hard drive.

Thanks,
Dave

Uh-oh.

Didn't the aliens infiltrate our satellite network right around Independance Day?

Damn ugly bastards . . .

Well, the WJLA tech guy gave me this quick response.

"We will start using the Tribune data feed into PSIP starting on August 1st."

I'm not sure what it means. He didn't confirm that they are the ones who transmit the guide data. Does anyone know if that is a function of this Tribune thing? If so, I can live a few weeks without guide data as long as I know there is a definite fix on the horizon.

EDIT: It doesn't sound like it is responsible for TV Guide.
http://www.tribunemediaentertainment.com/products/tv_elec_psip.shtml

Sounds like it is a failure to get data to the primary transmitting site, or the box that does this is not working correctly...

Well, there went that theory. WJLA doesn't send out the guide data. He doesn't know which local station does.

And I may have been wrong about the clock resetting itself after being unplugged. I plugged the unit back in from an overnight unplug and the clock is still incorrect. I guess all the times it reset itself in the past week were while I was still getting a few program listings.

Anyone get the Sony HDR-HC1 to work with the LG?

Like many here I've recently had trouble getting guide data. It's working at the moment, and from what others have written and my own experience, I think I know the requirements.

When I first got the LG it got guide data from local channel 10, which was the only one that had separate guide listings for analog (10) and digital (10-1). Recently it stopped getting data from 10. It now gets it from channel 6, which has only an analog entry in the guide. If I reassign 6 to 6-1, I get no data. Of course there are several channels in the guide that I don't get at all, so I picked one and said I get that on 6. Still no data. I've concluded that to get guide data,

1) The LG must be able to receive an analog station broadcasting compatible data (from cable, if you tell the LG you have cable). Some cable companies strip off the guide data.

2) That channel must be enabled in the Ch. Edit table.

3) That channel must be assigned to its corresponding entry in the guide. Assigning it to a different, unrelated entry won't do (bummer!).

At the moment the only way for me to continue to get guide data is to leave channel 6 assigned as analog. So if I want to set up a recording on that network (CBS) I have to remember to do it on the VCR+ button by time and channel. If I use the guide (or the published VCR+ number) I'll get the analog feed.

I have the original 1.12 firmware (guide 7.1.20). I'd be interested to know if anyone gets guide data without meeting condition 3 above, especially with later firmware.

As of this morning, one unit downloaded the additional digital stations over night. It has all the program information. The other unit has downloaded only the Comcast cable lineup without the digital cable or analog feeds.

So, to summarize. I am connected to Comcast Cable with no box and I have a rooftop antenna. My 3 units work well when they are working. About a week ago, I saw that "No Listings" were creeping in from the right side of the screen. Eventually, I lost all program listings. As I have done half a dozen times before, I performed a factory reset the day before yesterday using left and select and the factory reset selection. That caused both machines to download cable analog stations. I ran EZ-Scan which gave me 130+ channels from the Antenna Digital, the cable analog and the cable digital. Because I have a C/Ku Band, 12 ft dish and 4DTV and an HDD200 HD decoder, I watch all the cable and movie type channels from the big dish, not the cable. I shut off all the channels that are not in the local area. I reassigned the digital numbers to the cable channels i.e. Cable Channel 9 became 122.1 and the other locals were reassigned as appropriate. The next night, last night one unit downloaded a slate that includes digital channels on the guide. The Program Listings for the stations I turned on were available also. One machine is back to normal. The second machine will not update to Digital feeds in the guide. I am going to turn on/off the stations exactly like the working unit to see if that brings down the correct slate and the Program Listings. More later......

This is getting way too complicated.

Using V1.15 and V1.17 I have (in the past) re-directed Fox (V7 Primary) from 32 to 32-1 without an issue with getting data, BUT, I believe it's because TV Guide Diags was pointing to 0C which is 12, where Fox is on Cable. So, I can guarantee you that with V1.15 and V1.17, even with only one ICON, you CAN re-direct away from the primary TV Guide channel, and it will still download data... This was PRIOR to the point where TV Guide sent OTA icons as well as Cable Icons.

In past 4 or so months, I've noticed on a complete data re-load into TV Guide, that the OTA Icons, are sent THE DAY AFTER the cable Icons.... FYI.

I'm still re-directing a couple channels 20-0 to 20-1, PBS un-channeled logo to 11-2... FYI

Now that I have two 3410a's (on same firmware: V1.17), it will be interesting to see if I have multiple box TV Guide failures, or single... MR HIFI, what has been your experience????

Lately, both units are failing together. 6 months ago they failed independently. 3 days ago, as I mentioned in my previous message, both lost program listings. Today I woke up and had listings on one unit. 3 hours later, the other unit has listing info. however that unit has no digital channels in the lineup. I wish we could figure what channel must be "on" in each market in order to get Lising Info. You would think the company , Gemstar might supply that. Without that info., it is very easy to turn off a station. Jan, if your redirection idea is correct that might explain some of the anomalies. In my case, in the MD/DC area where my antenna points toward the DC stations but my cable is in Annapolis, I get all the Baltimore and DC stations on cable analog and digital and the same on my OTA antenna. I switch most of these off so that I do not get 3 duplicates of the same info. but the one I turn off may be the one I need.

BTW Jan when you connect to cable, the unit will not get the OTA antenna analog. So if Comcast decides not to send the data (which is the reason I think it fails) how are we supposed to get the Gemstar info.?

I understand your last question, Art, but I have no answers...
Any info I'm certain of, I'll post, but as you can see, I'd like to know more...

I see the data we're transmitting, but I have NO WAY of determining if it is correct, without routing an off the air feed into the box on a diagnostic input, and then calling someone and asking that he dial into the box (not LG, the box inserting Line 15 Data) and test it.
The answer I will get is: "It's Good" or "It's BAD, and what field is bad". If it's bad, they have no further info as to "WHY" it's bad..... All they get is Pass or Fail, and field number.

When I was chasing the "failure" messages a few months ago, I had got it to Which piece of equipment was causing the failure message, but it looked (digitally and analog) no different than the signal being sent..... I got 2nd Mfg's tech rep (who I knew people there) and they couldn't get any further data either... It was at that point when the software bug was discovered by TVG folks, (explained to me that some data destined for Field 1 was sent to Field 2, or visa versa) and when that was fixed, they then said my problem was on field 2, and in 10 minutes we found the flaw on field 2, and fixed the path.
Moot point, cause we're the Secondary V7 data originator)...
Rumour has it that TVG in Canada took a couple more weeks to fix than USA.

That's all I know!!!

But, that stabilized my TV Guide at home....

Art,

I'm interested to see if I have any program info when I get home today. I'll post when I find out.

Dave

By the way, was given this link by a salesman last week....
I ordered one, Got it today!!
Brand New...

Before I lose the link, here it is:

http://www.dvdremotecontrols.com/Mfrs/LG/LGDVD/6711R1N139A.htm

Hey Jan, do you think you could fix one the firewire ports on my LG? Apparently I'm too late to get it repaired under warranty and I would do it myself but I haven't the time. I only have one functioning port on it and I want to use the other one to go to my Mac but the functioning port is being used by my DVHS VCR. It seems I was a bit too forceful on the broken port and have broken the pins inside of the port. Does this seem like something you could fix?

Art,

I'm interested to see if I have any program info when I get home today. I'll post when I find out.

DaveOK. When I got home last night..."No listing" throughout. Then I did some searching through all the menu options like I've done all week and noticed my zip code was listed wrong, and cable options were active. I forgot to set up my zip code and OTA options the night before when I plugged the receiver back in after being unplugged for about 20 hours. :o I set it up properly, and now this morning I have most of my listings back. Some of the networks still show "No listing" for parts of the day. In particular, FOXs primetime line-up tonight is missing. But I'll take what I can get.

I'm hoping it will continue to receive data and get a full schedule listing soon.

Thanks to those who tried to help me. I wish I knew what caused the loss so I could troubleshoot it quicker in the future.

Typo... see next

Page 3-63 & 3-64... It appears that there is no buffer between 1394 port and IC146.
If it's an electrical failure, you may be out of luck.
However if it is just bent pins, and no damage has been done.....
My guess is, if you can cross reference the Firewire jack to a Jack Number, then look for this in the parts list.... (wink, wink)
And find someone very good at soldering on PCB's!

OK. When I got home last night..."No listing" throughout. Then I did some searching through all the menu options like I've done all week and noticed my zip code was listed wrong, and cable options were active. I forgot to set up my zip code and OTA options the night before when I plugged the receiver back in after being unplugged for about 20 hours. :o I set it up properly, and now this morning I have most of my listings back. Some of the networks still show "No listing" for parts of the day. In particular, FOXs primetime line-up tonight is missing. But I'll take what I can get.

I'm hoping it will continue to receive data and get a full schedule listing soon.

Thanks to those who tried to help me. I wish I knew what caused the loss so I could troubleshoot it quicker in the future.

Dave, I'm in SW DC and did not get hit this time with the TVGuide bug. I have two units and both are fine. The last time this happened to me I changed my zip code and was able to download good guide data.

-James

I have 2 units, one with v1.12 and the other with v1.15.

I'm also in the DC area and have not gotten tvguide listings to come up for quite a while.

Dave, I'm in SW DC and did not get hit this time with the TVGuide bug. I have two units and both are fine. The last time this happened to me I changed my zip code and was able to download good guide data.

-James
Hey James.

At one point, I did change my zip code from 20010 to 20009 to see if that would help, with no luck. I'm thinking that leaving it unplugged for about twenty hours was what may have finally fixed it for me, once I finally remembered to reset my zip code after plugging it back in.

Son of a Gun!!!

August ought to be interesting!!!

Jan and Eileen, I just wanted to let you know the coming to a guide near you or more important in your home will be the Oxygen Channel. The changes to have this added have been made and in August time frame it will be rolled out. Please send me an email if by the end of August it does not appear. Jan thank-you for your continued support and if I can be of any help for you or our mutual customers let me know. As the manager of support here at TVGOS it is my charter to support both consumers and manufactures.



Best Regards

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I read that!!!!

Son of a Gun!!!

August ought to be interesting!!!

Jan and Eileen, I just wanted to let you know the coming to a guide near you or more important in your home will be the Oxygen Channel. The changes to have this added have been made and in August time frame it will be rolled out. Please send me an email if by the end of August it does not appear. Jan thank-you for your continued support and if I can be of any help for you or our mutual customers let me know. As the manager of support here at TVGOS it is my charter to support both consumers and manufactures.



Best Regards

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I read that!!!!

Jan,

Great job! Thanks for all your efforts to keep the LG3410a and TVGOS up to date.

-James

Thanks for all your work on TVGOS, Jan. It is very gratifying to hear that someone there actually cares about consumer problems and concerns.

Anyone get the Sony HDR-HC1 to work with the LG?

Wow. That didn't even occur to me and I have both units. I'm not surprised you haven't gotten a response. There can't be more than a handfull of people that have both a 3410 AND an HDR-HC1. But I can't try this now since I don't have the 4 pin to 4 pin 1394 cable. Time to place an order at monoPrice. I will be surprised if this works, but the cables are pretty cheap so it's worth a try. I'll post the results once I get a cable.

Greg

Here's an interesting question for those with multiple units... Wife has in-advertantly stopped a recording with a mis-aimed STOP command, meant for other unit in playback....

I haven't cracked the 'book' yet, but has anyone tested putting layer's of Scotch Tape over the sensor to de-sensitive it somewhat???

Open for ideas... (Units are already at lowermost and uppermost-to-the-right of all the units: Cable box, SVHS, CD, 2x DVD machines...)

Wow. That didn't even occur to me and I have both units. I'm not surprised you haven't gotten a response. There can't be more than a handfull of people that have both a 3410 AND an HDR-HC1. But I can't try this now since I don't have the 4 pin to 4 pin 1394 cable. Time to place an order at monoPrice. I will be surprised if this works, but the cables are pretty cheap so it's worth a try. I'll post the results once I get a cable.

Greg

Hi Greg,
I have a slew of cables. If you were closer, I would just give them to you. Let me know how things go. Thanks.

It appears to me that the 3410A has been around for a few years now. I saw one site that said closeout special. Has LG replaced it with a newer box? Are there other manufacturers making this type of box?
Here's my situation- I currently have Dishnetwork and it appears that I am going to lose my Distant Networks (ABC,CBS,ABC,Fox) :(. I have a Dish HD DVR. I also have basic cable from TW (I can't get any OTA where I live). With my Sony SXRD I scanned the cable feed and found the HD versions of the networks riding on the cable up around channels 75-85. This is fine except I don't have anyway of recording them. MY understanding is that I need a unit with a QAM tuner in it that will find and tune the channels up in that channel area and give me the ability to record them.
Any suggestions of what's available to do the above task would be greatly appreciated.. Thanks in Advance, Gerry

Got the cable from MonoPrice.com in the mail today (really speedy delivery!) and connected the 3410 to the Sony HDR-HC1 camcorder. Pressing the 1394 button on the 3410 remote brings up the message "Unsupported IEEE1394 Device". I tried selecting different modes on the camcorder with no success. So it appears this camcorder is a no-go with the 3410. Unless anyone has any ideas on ways to trick the 3410 into supporting it.

It appears to me that the 3410A has been around for a few years now. I saw one site that said closeout special. Has LG replaced it with a newer box? Are there other manufacturers making this type of box?
Here's my situation- I currently have Dishnetwork and it appears that I am going to lose my Distant Networks (ABC,CBS,ABC,Fox) :(. I have a Dish HD DVR. I also have basic cable from TW (I can't get any OTA where I live). With my Sony SXRD I scanned the cable feed and found the HD versions of the networks riding on the cable up around channels 75-85. This is fine except I don't have anyway of recording them. MY understanding is that I need a unit with a QAM tuner in it that will find and tune the channels up in that channel area and give me the ability to record them.
Any suggestions of what's available to do the above task would be greatly appreciated.. Thanks in Advance, GerryThe only other ones are the Sony DHG-HDD500 and 250 DVR's. They also have a cable card slot.

Last time I checked, Best Buy was still selling the HDD500 online. Many of the stores have the HDD250 on clearance - most are display models, I think.

They are an excellent unit, especially if you're just using it mainly for OTA. You cannot archive material in HD from them - only SD.

Here's an interesting question for those with multiple units... Wife has in-advertantly stopped a recording with a mis-aimed STOP command, meant for other unit in playback....

I haven't cracked the 'book' yet, but has anyone tested putting layer's of Scotch Tape over the sensor to de-sensitive it somewhat???

Open for ideas... (Units are already at lowermost and uppermost-to-the-right of all the units: Cable box, SVHS, CD, 2x DVD machines...)I haven't tried this, but it might work for two units: Cut some polarizing material (maybe from old Polaroid sunglasses) to fit over the DVR sensors and the remote LED. Orient the pieces so that one sensor gets horizontal light, the other vertical. Make the one on the remote horizontal (or vertical; doesn't matter). Operate one DVR holding the remote in the usual way, the other holding it sideways, the way idiot gangsters hold their pistols in movies.

It appears to me that the 3410A has been around for a few years now. I saw one site that said closeout special. Has LG replaced it with a newer box?No, and all reports are they don't plan to. They probably got tired of dealing with all the returns.

Are there other manufacturers making this type of box? Sony, but I think they're also discontinued or nearly so. Otherwise, just dedicated boxes for DirecTV and Dish, and whatever the cable company will rent you.

Here's my situation- I currently have Dishnetwork and it appears that I am going to lose my Distant Networks (ABC,CBS,ABC,Fox) :(. I have a Dish HD DVR. I also have basic cable from TW (I can't get any OTA where I live). With my Sony SXRD I scanned the cable feed and found the HD versions of the networks riding on the cable up around channels 75-85. This is fine except I don't have anyway of recording them. MY understanding is that I need a unit with a QAM tuner in it that will find and tune the channels up in that channel area and give me the ability to record them.
Any suggestions of what's available to do the above task would be greatly appreciated.. Thanks in Advance, GerryIf you've read through this thread you know that the owners of this DVR have a love/hate relationship with it. It has some really annoying design shortcomings and reliability problems. And I suspect its ability to get a program guide at all will disappear when analog broadcasts do in a few years. But it's one of a very few stand-alone boxes that record HD, and when it works it does what it does so well that most of us are willing to put up with its foibles.

A more versatile solution is an HD tuner card in a PC. I use the MyHD MDP-130 because it has a hardware MPEG-2 decoder and its own output, so neither the computer nor its video card need to be anything special. But most any such card can record the HD transport stream to a hard drive, and then it's just files to manipulate. There are also devices that will access the files over Ethernet and send HD to your display. That might be the best way of all, because you can stick the noisy computer in another room. Just make sure whatever card you buy can do QAM. And you'll be limited to whatever digital channels your cable company doesn't encrypt, which may be just the broadcast locals.

...With my Sony SXRD I scanned the cable feed and found the HD versions of the networks riding on the cable up around channels 75-85. This is fine except I don't have anyway of recording them. ... Gerry

Well, the 3410A is the easiest way to go - I don't think there is anything else currently on the market that does what it does - though Sony did have something similar.

I believe one option is that you can use the SXRD's iLink/Firewire OUT to a D-VHS deck. Or to a Mini Mac. Within our expected lifetime you should also be able to use the Firewire out to a HD DVD/Blu-Ray recorder. Right now I am recording HD content on my PC and burning High Def material to double layer DVD+R media and playing it on my Toshiba HD DVD.

Edit: I forgot cable companies will rent you HD_DVRs. Another way to go if available.

OK!! Got my attention!!!!

Hyrax -- Am I to understand that you are archiving recordings out of 3410a onto PC and therefore onto a DVD recorder?

I think you will have a very interested group (Me, Included) wanting to know how you did this..... Could we implore you to explain how you did it, in detail?

Thank YOU!!!

Jan -
Sorry for having got your hopes up. I do use a D-VHS deck to get recordings from my 3410A into my PC. However, it is a slow, PITA process. These days I usually use a pair of Fusion5 Gold cards and SnapStream to capture directly into my PC. It is amazing how fast you can fill 1TB of hard drive space that way.

Once the video is on my PC, it is pretty simple to write the Hi Def material to a DVD+R disk and play it in HD on my Toshiba HD DVD player. The Toshiba HD DVD player is the best $500 I've ever spent on HT equiptment. Before I got the Tosh, I would have said the same thing about the 3410A.

OK!! Got my attention!!!!

Hyrax -- Am I to understand that you are archiving recordings out of 3410a onto PC and therefore onto a DVD recorder?

I think you will have a very interested group (Me, Included) wanting to know how you did this..... Could we implore you to explain how you did it, in detail?

Thank YOU!!!If you archive a recording from the 3410A to DVHS, you can then use the DVHSTool or CapDVHS programs to archive the DVHS recording to a PC. I have found that programs recorded at 19.3Mbps can be archived directly from the 3410A to a PC using Vividlogic DTV Recorder software. Another option that I have not tried is to archive 3410A programs to a Mac using VirtualDVHS, and then copy the files from the Mac to a PC. None of these solutions is nearly as convenient as recording broadcasts directly to a PC with an ATSC/QAM capture card.

If you archive a recording from the 3410A to DVHS, you can then use the DVHSTool or CapDVHS programs to archive the DVHS recording to a PC. I have found that programs recorded at 19.3Mbps can be archived directly from the 3410A to a PC using Vividlogic DTV Recorder software. Another option that I have not tried is to archive 3410A programs to a Mac using VirtualDVHS, and then copy the files from the Mac to a PC. None of these solutions is nearly as convenient as recording broadcasts directly to a PC with an ATSC/QAM capture card.

You can capture directly to a mac from the 3410a using avs browser enhanced using firewire. You can then use virtualDVHS to use the 3410a to play it back. The 3410a sees the mac as a DVHS device when you press the 1394 button on the remote. It requires a mac with a G3 266mhz cpu or higher and an OHCI compatible firewire chipset. An older ibook works great and is fairly inexpensive these days. Since you can hook up the mac and 1 external firewire drive before the 3410a complains the drive space available becomes almost unlimited since you can keep hotswapping drives(path mac->external->3410a). This is extremely convenient since it will also work with Motorola and Scientific Atlanta STBs. Passing the .m2t file across a 100mbit LAN to a PC for editing only takes a few minutes.

The only drawback would be with an unattended recording since iRecord(an application that makes this setup act as a DVR) doesn't currently work with the 3410a although it does see it in devices.

Can someone direct me to a copy of VirtualDVHS please?

I have found that programs recorded at 19.3Mbps can be archived directly from the 3410A to a PC using Vividlogic DTV Recorder software.
Unfortunately that means no QAM stations or OTA stations that have sub-channels cannot be archived using Vividlogic.

None of these solutions is nearly as convenient as recording broadcasts directly to a PC with an ATSC/QAM capture card.

Exactly what I've discoverd.

Unfortunately that means no QAM stations or OTA stations that have sub-channels cannot be archived using Vividlogic.
I can't speak from experience for QAM, because I don't have cable, but my recordings from OTA stations with subchannels could not be archived to a PC with Vividlogic.

Can someone direct me to a copy of VirtualDVHS please?


http://developer.apple.com/sdk/

It's included in firewire SDK 22.

Thanks I'll check it out.

Hey Jan, do you think you could fix one the firewire ports on my LG? Apparently I'm too late to get it repaired under warranty and I would do it myself but I haven't the time. I only have one functioning port on it and I want to use the other one to go to my Mac but the functioning port is being used by my DVHS VCR. It seems I was a bit too forceful on the broken port and have broken the pins inside of the port. Does this seem like something you could fix?

I looked in detail for you today....
On the board the firewire jacks are J112 & J113. Those should have been on Page 4-22. But wern't...

Looking in the parts breakdown list, I haven't seen those jacks anywhere...

So I then looked at the schematic at the Firewire drawing. 3-64... The jacks are labeled "F" in that drawing...

Back to parts list looking for an "F"... The only "F" I find is fuse & Fuse holders....

Sorry.....

Got the cable from MonoPrice.com in the mail today (really speedy delivery!) and connected the 3410 to the Sony HDR-HC1 camcorder. Pressing the 1394 button on the 3410 remote brings up the message "Unsupported IEEE1394 Device". I tried selecting different modes on the camcorder with no success. So it appears this camcorder is a no-go with the 3410. Unless anyone has any ideas on ways to trick the 3410 into supporting it.

Same here and the same with the Moto 6412. What gives???

Same here and the same with the Moto 6412. What gives???
The 3410A only supports devices that identify themselves as D-VHS devices. It is a very short list of devices. The Mac program VirtualDVHS works because it lies...

The 3410A only supports devices that identify themselves as D-VHS devices. It is a very short list of devices. The Mac program VirtualDVHS works because it lies...


That means it can be done!!! Now if someone would just write code that lies for a PC.......

The 3410A only supports devices that identify themselves as D-VHS devices. It is a very short list of devices. The Mac program VirtualDVHS works because it lies...

Thanks. Too bad. Now can someone come up with a hack???

That means it can be done!!! Now if someone would just write code that lies for a PC.......
One company did, VividLogic and after several years of effort it doesn't really work all that well. This shouldn't be that ahrd, but it is.

Son of a Gun!!!

August ought to be interesting!!!

Jan and Eileen, I just wanted to let you know the coming to a guide near you or more important in your home will be the Oxygen Channel. The changes to have this added have been made and in August time frame it will be rolled out. Please send me an email if by the end of August it does not appear. Jan thank-you for your continued support and if I can be of any help for you or our mutual customers let me know. As the manager of support here at TVGOS it is my charter to support both consumers and manufactures.



Best Regards

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I read that!!!!

I've already seen Oxygen channel in my TVGOS lineup.

Now we've got to work on them to add "Create" and the local Comcast Sports Net channel (here in Chicago at least)!

Well, the 3410A is the easiest way to go - I don't think there is anything else currently on the market that does what it does - though Sony did have something similar.

I believe one option is that you can use the SXRD's iLink/Firewire OUT to a D-VHS deck. Or to a Mini Mac. Within our expected lifetime you should also be able to use the Firewire out to a HD DVD/Blu-Ray recorder. Right now I am recording HD content on my PC and burning High Def material to double layer DVD+R media and playing it on my Toshiba HD DVD.

Edit: I forgot cable companies will rent you HD_DVRs. Another way to go if available.

is having to go with cable in order to get the networks. I talked to them today and have to go from basic cable to "digital" cable in order to get the HD channels with a 8300HD DVR. Figuring it out overtime it will take awhile (in the difference) to even out with purchasing something that could end up being troublesome.

Thanks to all who have given their thoughts on the situation!!!! Gerry

One of my two LG-3410s got hit with a select channel line-up yesterday. Of course, when I selected line #6 for the assignment of my channels the guide listings dissappeared and the line-up in the edit mode included stations not in my location (i.e. KY, VI, PA etc.)

I changed the zip code last night and will check to see if the guide loaded the correct information when I get home from the job.

-James

How sensitive would you say these tuners in a 551 serial # 3410A would be? I seem to pick up all OTA channels except NBC4's digital channel which is 28 and is a problem. Other tuners in the household that can pick it up are: a Samsung HDTV built-in 26" direct view, and a JVC HM-DT100. I really want to pick it up on the LG so that I can tape-delay preseason football. Any Help will be appreciated.

How sensitive would you say these tuners in a 551 serial # 3410A would be? I seem to pick up all OTA channels except NBC4's digital channel which is 28 and is a problem. Other tuners in the household that can pick it up are: a Samsung HDTV built-in 26" direct view, and a JVC HM-DT100. I really want to pick it up on the LG so that I can tape-delay preseason football. Any Help will be appreciated.
It is a last generation tuner (Generation 3, I believe). Current tuners are called 5th generation (there was no 4th generation, for odd reasons) and appear to be more sensitive. For example, my Fusion 5 PC card gets better reception than the 3410A.

Do you have cable TV? You can almost definitely get a HD NBC station for 'free' via cable. Most networks are clear QAM, you just have to look for them. They are not goingto be as good as your OTA stations, however - they'll have lower bitrates.

The Mac program VirtualDVHS works because it lies...

That means it can be done!!! Now if someone would just write code that lies for a PC.......

No, Jan, it means it's time for you to come over from the dark side and add an Intel Mac to your arsenal of tools (like Hyrax recently did.) It's not just the code, it's better overall firewire implementation on the Mac as well. Many die-hard PC types bought their first Mac when they found out about VirtualDVHS.

A more versatile solution is an HD tuner card in a PC. I use the MyHD MDP-130 because it has a hardware MPEG-2 decoder and its own output, so neither the computer nor its video card need to be anything special. But most any such card can record the HD transport stream to a hard drive, and then it's just files to manipulate. There are also devices that will access the files over Ethernet and send HD to your display. That might be the best way of all, because you can stick the noisy computer in another room. Just make sure whatever card you buy can do QAM.

An even MORE versatile solution is to buy a quiet core duo Mac mini, keep it right there in your living room but also on your gigabit home network, and team it up with an EyeTV 500, which can do QAM and OTA. Then play around with VirtualDVHS as well, if you're so motivated. Then boot into Windows should you ever feel like it via Boot Camp or Parallels.

I spent some time on the phone and with emails today....Talking to Comcast, trying to determine if a certain HD channel that is un-encrypted in one part of the country is a fluke, or signs of things to come...

Was probably the most frustrating conversations I've had with people for many years.....

I was told multiple times that there is NO Un-Encrypted HD on their cable, and when I told them where it was (OTA Broadcasts) they told me I did not have permission to recieve it!!
(Actually I don't -- it's far too compressed! OTA HD broadcasts are better)

Every so often the pitch was made to 'get another box!'... Consumate Salesmen, ALL OF THEM!!! Can't speak techspeak, can't say anything but 'Get Another Box!'

After talking to 3 people and one manager (Who doesn't understand what QAM is) I'm convinced that dumb workers make even dummer managers!!!

Absolutely the worst conversation I've had with Comcast (Since the last call!)

chefclk:

Sorry, I don't do Mac's!! (That's all I need.... another computer system to be upgraded every few years!!!) :D!

It is a last generation tuner (Generation 3, I believe). Current tuners are called 5th generation (there was no 4th generation, for odd reasons) and appear to be more sensitive. For example, my Fusion 5 PC card gets better reception than the 3410A.

Do you have cable TV? You can almost definitely get a HD NBC station for 'free' via cable. Most networks are clear QAM, you just have to look for them. They are not goingto be as good as your OTA stations, however - they'll have lower bitrates.I think you might be a bit confused about that.

Pretty much all of the standalone tuners that have been released in about the last 2 or 3 years have got 4th generation chips, including the LG 4200a, the Sony DVR's, the Accurian, the ProBrand, The Samsung, the USDigital, the Sylvania, the Motorola (I believe), etc. etc. There are no standalone tuners with the 5th that have been released to date, and there may well never be. I'm pretty sure that most of the tuner's in TV's up till the latest, at least, have the 4th, too. I think even most of the new ones do still, except for possibly the LG's (but I'm not totally sure on that).

Cable TV is out so that is not an option. The antenna guys are coming tomorrow to finish up with the VHF install so maybe they will be able to get it all up and running. Thanks Ram I think your right on this on because the tuner in the LG is younger than any of the tuners I have.

Yeah, they've generally gotten a bit better with each generation, although LG's 3rd might still be a bit better than some of the worse 4th generation models, since their tuners are generally regarded as the best.

I know my two 4th generation chipped tuners are pretty excellent (Sony & R.S. Accurian). I get over 25 channels steadily from 40+ miles away with just an amped indoor antenna!

Actually, I heard the 4200's had 3rd and the 3410a was SUPPOSED to have 4th, but ended up with 3rd generation HD tuner, like the predecessor to the 3410a had (unit before 3410a had an 80Gb drive, and was limited in firmware to a max of 120GB Drive. That's why the firmware for 3410a won't work (don't even TRY IT!) in the earlier version.

I forgot the model number of the DVR that preceeded the 3410a

I recently purchased an LG model LST-3410A HD DVR. It is connected to my Panasonic High Definition Plasma screen (Model TH-42PHD7UY) using a DVI cable.

When I am watching a digital recording or OTA signal, I get a great image for about 3 hours. Then, the screen and sound disappear for about 10 seconds and then reappear. Next, after about 15 seconds, the image and sound disappear and I see the message "DVI Blocked" on the screen. The black screen and "DVI Blocked" image stays on the screen for about 15 seconds. Finally, the image and audio return to normal. Yesterday, I tried to watch a 30 min. program, but I got theses interruptions 27 times!

This problem does not appear until after about 3 hours of use, so I suspect heat may be a contributing factor.

Can someone help me with this problem?

Thanks

do you have a DVI connector on your computer monitor? If so, disco the Plasma and connect the computer monitor and see what happens after that time....

SamSpade..... Try this..

Setup/Options/DVI Level..... If it's set for Expanded change to Standard...
That causes problems (expaning black levels) on some units...
Page 34 in manual....

Are many people using the DVI out? Is it generally working well? I'm asking because I'm getting a new projector today and it has a HDMI connector. I've been using a component cable so far and have no complaints. I'll have to use the HDMI with the Toshiba HD DVD player, so I'll definitely be running HDMI to the PJ. It would be nice to have just one cable going to the PJ, but not necessary (and it requires buying a HDMI switcher). So I wonder if I should (and can) switch the 3410A to DVI out and use a DVI-HDMI converter so that I can connect to the new PJ. Will I see an improvement in PQ from my efforts?

I've been using DVI output (with LG set to "NATIVE") for years.
Using a DVI to HDMI cable, and going into Mits 62525 without a problem...
And Yes, I am using expanded DVI levels...
I've only one HDMI input on the Mits, so the 2nd LG unit is going in YUV (also "NATIVE")

I'm finding that running the LG units in "NATIVE" and letting the Mits do the transcoding to 720P (Mits 62525 is 720P display) gives me the best pix quality...

Also, I am noticing a bit better pix using DVI/HDMI than YUV

I've been doing some testing between the two units.....

This seems to be accurate.... If I add a spacer (picked up some self adhesive 'feet' and stuck them to existing 'feet' of the 3410a).... That raises the distance between the shelf and the bottom of the 3410a by about 3/8"

This increase in space, between the bottom of the 33410a, and the shelf seems to improve cooling, and the temp of the top of the case is a few degrees cooler!!

No Kidding!!

Hi All,
For those who are in need of another option similar to the LG 3410A here's one. My current LG 3410A is running great thanks to the AVSforum.

I recently purchased an HP z555 Digital Entertainment Center (audio component model). These are being heavily discounted to move them out ( less than $750). It is quite a value since it does the HDTV DVR stuff plus; three tuners (one ATSC), a DVD player, FM radio tuner, iTunes music manager, smart cards, WiFi or Ethernet connection, internal hardrive expansion bay (personal media drive), streaming video in and computer. Included is a remote, keyboard and hook-ups.

It has been running for two weeks and hasn't screwed up yet. The Guide is downloaded from the internet and is complete (for my area) in northwest suburban Chicago. Sub-carriers (i.e. 11.2) are present.

Picture quality looks the same as the LG 3410A and Sony DVD player on a Yamaha projector (96" diag).

Sincerely,
Martin

I recently purchased an HP z555 Digital Entertainment Center (audio component model). .... The Guide is downloaded from the internet and is complete (for my area) in northwest suburban Chicago. Sub-carriers (i.e. 11.2) are present.
Martin
Martin -
Does the HP z555's guide work with QAM and with QAM sub-channels? For example does it work if you want to record something on 11.2 (OTA PBS HD) and 112.4 (QAM CBS)?

I'm pretty sure it only works with OTA as is. Maybe someone else here can tell you if there's anyway to add QAM to it.

I was thinking about grabbing one myself for that price when I noticed it a few weeks back. - not sure if I really need it though. I still may get it if I see it and I'm in the frame of mind to do so.

Martin -
Does the HP z555's guide work with QAM and with QAM sub-channels? For example does it work if you want to record something on 11.2 (OTA PBS HD) and 112.4 (QAM CBS)?

Hi Hyrax,
Unlike the 3410A the z555 manual does not mention QAM. I do know that I see and have recorded 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 on the HP. I am sure the other stations would work just as well. The 3410A was never able to record the sub-channels thru the Guide while the z555 can. The Internet Guide provided on the z555 is quite an improvement (always connected and up to date).

HP does mention straight thru connections for NTSC (antenna or cable), ATSC antenna. Cable box transfer of ATSC to the z555 and thru the unit directly to the Monitor are mentioned.

Sincerely,
Martin

Hi Hyrax,
Unlike the 3410A the z555 manual does not mention QAM. I do know that I see and have recorded 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 on the HP. I am sure the other stations would work just as well. The 3410A was never able to record the sub-channels thru the Guide while the z555 can. The Internet Guide provided on the z555 is quite an improvement (always connected and up to date).

HP does mention straight thru connections for NTSC (antenna or cable), ATSC antenna. Cable box transfer of ATSC to the z555 and thru the unit directly to the Monitor are mentioned.

Sincerely,
MartinCan you also get the guide info for the cable channels through the same internet source, and therefore record those channels directly through the guide, just as you would do with the OTA stations? Or can you only set recordings for the cable channels manually (if you actually can record them)?

If you can pass ATSC cable through, is that only 480i? Can you pass through SD satellite?

Finally got word from LG on the status of my unit. (See earlier posts regarding my sending it back for repair after it failed to bring up TV Guide.) They want $936! They have to replace the main board AND the Gemstar board. They would not explain to me the root cause of failure. I asked them, "TV Guide is the only portion not working. I can still manually record and play back recorded programs. Can't the firmware just be reloaded? Or, wouldn't it be sufficient to change the Gemstar board (~$140) and not the main board (~$700)?" They said the problem is on the main board and, once you change that out, you have to bring in a new Gemstar board too.

I was an early adopter of this product (January 2004?) and I paid ~$1100 to the only place on the Web that I could find selling it (couldn't find any shop locally that could even verify its existence at that time). The anticipation of this product (actually, its promoted-but-never-released predecessor announced by Zenith much earlier) was killing me. In the time I've had it, I've loved it and it's driving me crazy watching "regular" TV while it's at LG.

But, $936 to repair something I've only had 2.5 years? That is utterly ridiculous. I can probably find a used one on eBay for less money. Or, maybe I should switch to another product. What do you folks recommend?

That's a Bummer!!!

I was looking inside one a month ago, and just looked at some drawings...

From what they told you, the component failure is probably on the interface to Gemstar board on motherboard.
I haven't a clue why you change both boards, unless both boards are keyed with a specific serial number that the other board must have programmed in to accept it. You can actually get to the serial number of the Gemstar board from within the setup menus, but I don't recall if I ever saw a serial number when connected via a laptop on service port.

But, $936 to repair something I've only had 2.5 years? That is utterly ridiculous. I can probably find a used one on eBay for less money. Or, maybe I should switch to another product. What do you folks recommend?

If you live not to far form Nashville, TN, you can buy 2 brand new ones w/ $900 from Electronic Express.

I bought a used 3410a that has an intermittent problem. I make a timer recording which appears fine in the program list, but when I try to play it, after 5 or so seconds the picture freezes and I have to turn the machine off to regain control. It happens with about one out of every four recordings. My question is, is this something that reformatting or some other workaround might fix, or should I return the unit? Does anyone recognize this problem? Thanks for any wisdom on this! I hope this is the right thread to post this question.

Do you get any message indicating "HDD Failure"???
You might, for grins, re-initiate the hard drive... It will wipe everything, but start over with fresh hard drive init.

I have encountered a drive problem that was fixed when the drive was replaced...
It was a 320GB QV drive, not the stock 120Gb drive.

Do you get any message indicating "HDD Failure"???
You might, for grins, re-initiate the hard drive... It will wipe everything, but start over with fresh hard drive init.

I have encountered a drive problem that was fixed when the drive was replaced...
It was a 320GB QV drive, not the stock 120Gb drive.

No, I don't get any message. The machine just freezes, and the only button on the remote that it responds to is the ON/OFF. I thought I read once on this thread that a bad sector will result in the message you describe. So, I'm wondering if the problem might be in the electronics (gulp!). Still, your suggestion about doing the re-init is worth a try. Thanks.

Can you also get the guide info for the cable channels through the same internet source, and therefore record those channels directly through the guide, just as you would do with the OTA stations? Or can you only set recordings for the cable channels manually (if you actually can record them)?

If you can pass ATSC cable through, is that only 480i? Can you pass through SD satellite?

Hi Rammitinski,
Some of the questions you ask I don't have experience with. I never have had cable TV and no longer have Satellite.

The Guide does have setup for cable channels (satellite too?, I'll check), there are two infared outs for controlling two boxes (cable or satellite). Input to the z555 though are only composite or S video. Neither of these has the bandwidth to carry an HD program signal. The HP User's Guide notes direct connection of HD sources (cable box or satellite) to the display device.

I believe the Guide is provided by "zap2it".

Eventually I hope to add an outboard or internal Blueray or HD DVD.

Sincerely,
Martin

You should look at the price of one of our units is going for on ebay. The item number that if you put in the search bar there to get it to come up is 330012971934.

Hi Rammitinski,
Some of the questions you ask I don't have experience with. I never have had cable TV and no longer have Satellite.

The Guide does have setup for cable channels (satellite too?, I'll check), there are two infared outs for controlling two boxes (cable or satellite). Input to the z555 though are only composite or S video. Neither of these has the bandwidth to carry an HD program signal. The HP User's Guide notes direct connection of HD sources (cable box or satellite) to the display device.

I believe the Guide is provided by "zap2it".

Eventually I hope to add an outboard or internal Blueray or HD DVD.

Sincerely,
MartinOK, so then the next thing to try and find out is if you can actually use the guide to program the cable programs. I've currently got SD satellite (along with OTA), but I'm guessing it's a long shot that you can program satellite channels with the guide (only manually probably). At the very least, I could just use the info for the cable/satellite channels to see what's actually on the channels. I do that now with my Sony DHG-HDD500 DVR. I get the cable/satellite info OTA, but I can't run the satellite through it - everytime I try to hook it up (it can be picked up through the RF cable input on channel 3), within a day or two I lose the guide.

Thanks.

If you live not to far form Nashville, TN, you can buy 2 brand new ones w/ $900 from Electronic Express.

You're right! I found them on the web after reading your post. But, after reviewing the specs on the Sony DHG-HDD500, I think I'm going to jump the LG ship. The Sony unit holds 4x more, has CableCARD, HDMI, and you can record and watch a previous recording simultaneously--what a concept! I can get a new one for ~$650.

As you know, I've been critical of TV Guide and the companies that are involved with them... in the past.

As you may have determined, a few months ago I had dealings with them on a professional level, and quite inadvertently a software bug was found in TV Guide V7 at the origionation end, which fixed the work project, and also the fixing of that software bug has turned to benifit all of us V7 end users.

Because I had the 'ear' of a couple people there, I put in a request from my wife, to get the Oxygen Channel on TV Guide. I also gave them information on how custom channel editing on our V7 TV Guide gets un-programmed at times, during the upgraded TV Guide lists. It took a while, but from the contact friends that I'd made from the problem at work got the correct person involved. I posted his email to me here, indicating that Oxygen would arrive in August.

I was awaiting the infamous "Select which channel list matches your area", and wondered what type of outtage that this might bring.

WOW, WAS I SURPRISED TODAY!!!!! I went into TV GUIDE Setup, and found near the bottom, Oxygen Channel, already pre-programmed for channel 67 (where we find it on Comcast Skokie).

NO CHANNEL LISTS TO SELECT!!!!!
NO LOSS OF TV GUIDE SETTINGS, OR DATA!!!!
NO LOSS OF CUSTOM CHANNEL EDIT SETTINGS!!!!
OXYGEN DATA APPENDED RIGHT INTO THE LIST!!!!!

WOW!!! I'M REALLY IMPRESSED!!!! It all happened in the BACKGROUND!!!

I know that this change affects the entire Chicagoland Area, but you might all check to see if upgrades in your area may have involved new channel icons that you previously didn't have...

WOW!!!!! (Don't you wish this was 2004?)

You're right! I found them on the web after reading your post. But, after reviewing the specs on the Sony DHG-HDD500, I think I'm going to jump the LG ship. The Sony unit holds 4x more, has CableCARD, HDMI, and you can record and watch a previous recording simultaneously--what a concept! I can get a new one for ~$650.

There 2 things missing on Sony:
1. Firewire port (IEEE1394)
2. External A/V in

Just think you may need know.

As you know, I've been critical of TV Guide and the companies that are involved with them... in the past.

As you may have determined, a few months ago I had dealings with them on a professional level, and quite inadvertently a software bug was found in TV Guide V7 at the origionation end, which fixed the work project, and also the fixing of that software bug has turned to benifit all of us V7 end users.

Because I had the 'ear' of a couple people there, I put in a request from my wife, to get the Oxygen Channel on TV Guide. I also gave them information on how custom channel editing on our V7 TV Guide gets un-programmed at times, during the upgraded TV Guide lists. It took a while, but from the contact friends that I'd made from the problem at work got the correct person involved. I posted his email to me here, indicating that Oxygen would arrive in August.

I was awaiting the infamous "Select which channel list matches your area", and wondered what type of outtage that this might bring.

WOW, WAS I SURPRISED TODAY!!!!! I went into TV GUIDE Setup, and found near the bottom, Oxygen Channel, already pre-programmed for channel 67 (where we find it on Comcast Skokie).

NO CHANNEL LISTS TO SELECT!!!!!
NO LOSS OF TV GUIDE SETTINGS, OR DATA!!!!
NO LOSS OF CUSTOM CHANNEL EDIT SETTINGS!!!!
OXYGEN DATA APPENDED RIGHT INTO THE LIST!!!!!

WOW!!! I'M REALLY IMPRESSED!!!! It all happened in the BACKGROUND!!!

I know that this change affects the entire Chicagoland Area, but you might all check to see if upgrades in your area may have involved new channel icons that you previously didn't have...

WOW!!!!! (Don't you wish this was 2004?)

That is so cool Jan! Thanks for all of your help with these TV Guide issues. I know it's really appreciated.

This may have been discussed here (I haven't checked yet), but any idea on what happens with our 3410A program guides when analog OTA goes away in 2009?

OK, so then the next thing to try and find out is if you can actually use the guide to program the cable programs. I've currently got SD satellite (along with OTA), ...
Thanks.

Hi Rammitinski,
I will have to experiment with the Guide, telling it to download the Guide for cable and satellite. Based upon what I read in the User's Guide, connection control scheme is for one or two cable boxes, one or two satellite receivers, a VCR or any combination of the three two at a time. The User Guides say .... about controlling these. I will have to look into it.

Sincerely,
Martin

I you have scanned the thread here, looking for TV Guide diagnostics.
When you run it, on the first page of data, I think after Host channel with be a hexidecimal number. That number is the channel you get your data from.
In the past, a good test would be: if your Closed captioning from that channel was good, then your TV Guide data would be good, too!

For example, my host channel is 0c that is Channel 12 for me.

I you have scanned the thread here, looking for TV Guide diagnostics.
When you run it, on the first page of data, I think after Host channel with be a hexidecimal number. That number is the channel you get your data from.
In the past, a good test would be: if your Closed captioning from that channel was good, then your TV Guide data would be good, too!

For example, my host channel is 0b that is Channel 12 for me.

So then Jan, you must be hooked up to Comcast cable. WFLD (Channel 32 OTA) is on cable channel 12 for me here in Palatine and my box likes to lock up to that channel as well.

In doing a full system reset over the weekend, I learned that the box apparently favors cable channels over OTA channels. After the reset, I only hooked up my antenna. The box then locked to 0x20 which is "32". After the program guide loaded, I re-introduced the cable connection to the box and had it re-scan. After the re-scan, the box switched back to 0x0B, which, as you know, is channel 12.

I'd actually prefer that the box used the OTA channel, but I don't see anywhere where we can force it to do that, other than by disconnecting the cable input. That's one feature I'd like to see added.

Jan 0xB in hex is 11 not 12. I should know because here in NYC we get our guide from 0xD and that is PBS WNET 13. Sometimes the guide comes from WNYW FOX 5 which in hex would be 0x5.

I think this is the 2nd time you've corrected me on this, within this same post!!!
I keep starting to count from 0....

0c hex is 12 decimal...

Good post, John.. I wondered if this was occurring, but never spent the time to confirm it!!!

Hello...here's the problem maybe someone can help! When I hook-up the box and plug it , the front panel lights with the orange timer symbol, clock, and guide light is on. When I turn-on the power...I can hear the harddrive start to spin-up but then the front panel displays "Hello" and thats it. It seems to freeze-up there never outputting any video to the display. Any ideas?

thanks in advance!

Hello...here's the problem maybe someone can help! When I hook-up the box and plug it , the front panel lights with the orange timer symbol, clock, and guide light is on. When I turn-on the power...I can hear the harddrive start to spin-up but then the front panel displays "Hello" and thats it. It seems to freeze-up there never outputting any video to the display. Any ideas?

thanks in advance!

I had a similar problem when I first purchased my unit - or at least it sounds similar. My unit was brand new and i was tempted to just return it. But, being the engineer, I thought I'd take a quick look inside for anything obvious, such as a cable not connected properly. I tried reseating all of the cables but that didn't help. I then took a look at the dip switches on the main circuit board and to my eye some of them didn't look like they were fully switched into position. So, I wrote down a map showing what appeared to be the existing position for each switch, then exercised each one back and forth a few times making sure they ended up in the proper position. Bingo! Problem solved! And the problem has never returned.

OK. I tried the dip switch thing..it was worth a shot but no luck thanks anyways!

Has anyone checked to see if they received any 'new' Logo's?

The update that occurred in the Chicagoland area was to happen (so I was told) later in the month in other areas....

Has anyone checked to see if they received any 'new' Logo's?

The update that occurred in the Chicagoland area was to happen (so I was told) later in the month in other areas....

I guess I'm going to have to check one of these days. I kinda forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder.

Has anyone checked to see if they received any 'new' Logo's?

The update that occurred in the Chicagoland area was to happen (so I was told) later in the month in other areas....Yes - they are here!

On my Sony DVR with L8, there are a few channels added at the end of the list. The most notable ones are "Create" (PBS), WGNDT2 (The Tube), and - believe it or not - Comcast Sports Net!!!!!

I turned them on last night and they were all filled in with info today!

With the older L7 version of TVGOS, I'm getting "Create", "The Tube" and WLSD2 (7-2) now. But, unfortunately, no Comcast Sports Net (sorry, guys :( ).

Well hi all,
My z555 was working pretty well until the "Microsoft July 2006 Media Center Update 2" hit. After that HD content began "framing" in Live TV and recorded TV. By framing I mean video looks choppy.

I spent two evenings in a chat sessions with HP representatives regarding the problem. After uninstalling the Update the DTV tuner was gone. Subsequent nights could not get the tuner to work after re-installing drivers and pushing code.

The final verdict in the last on-line chat was to re-install everything (software, drivers, Updates). Essentially rebuild the machine.

I cannot stress the fact that this machine and perhaps all machines labeled "Media Center" are not suitable for use as basis for a home theater system. Additionally, HP should be accountable for providing customers with operating systems that are proven and up-to-date out of the box when new regradless of production date.
If the problems that I and others are experiencing with our computers, monitors, Blue-ray, HD-DVD DVD, CD players, IPODS are due to DRM, macrovision or other copy protection we have a right be re-embursed for suffering, time and investment through a class action suit. As consumers we should not have to trouble shoot software, equipment or technologies.

I cannot recommend this machine for AVS Forum members (beware!).

Sincerely,
Martin

Well,
I'm sorry I brought up the HP z555 Digital Media Center z555 in this Forum earlier. It seemed like the logical progession from the LG LST-3410A. Please read my quote from another post if your interested (above).

For now, I will stick with the LG LST-3410A. For me (thanks to the AVS Forum thread on the same) the LG LST-3410A works flawlessly recording over the air HD content.

Sincerely,
Martin

Ramitinski.....

I checked this AM and on both units not finding the 'Tube' Icon (9-2) you mentioned...
How is it displayed at your end?

PS. Martin.. Sorry to hear of your HP problems!!!

Ramitinski.....

I checked this AM and on both units not finding the 'Tube' Icon (9-2) you mentioned...
How is it displayed at your end?

PS. Martin.. Sorry to hear of your HP problems!!! In the hidden channel listings, it says "WGNDT2", with no logo.

But in the turned on listing in the guide, it has "WGND" for the logo.

The guide info just says, continously, "THE TUBE Television Network".

I don't think it had any channel number assigned to it, either - I think I had to add it myself when I turned it on. Maybe you should try a soft reset if it's not there.