Interesting, I'm moving to Pasadena, perhaps 6 miles from Mount Wilson. I never thought being too close would be a problem. Right now I'm about 23 miles away.
I'll have to look into that

You will have plenty of signal in Pas but when you start to split the signal to several receivers is when you need to possibly use a distribution amp.

The signal could easily be split it into two but if you split to four you may find the signal starting to become marginal so you add a DA to boost the signal.

You could just take one of the splits and amp it, but it is preferable to put the antenna signal into the amp and make sure the amp has enough gain to provide enough output for all the drops you require, the problem is that you'll probably find that the signal from the antenna is too strong for the amp so a variable attenuator is usually put in the circuit in front of the DA.

Most of the amps we use have variable gain with seperate gain adjustment for vhf and uhf as well as variable tilt compensation to adjust for cable attenuation at the upper uhf being more than for the lower uhf, but that is way beyond what a household system requires.

If you need any help with set-up just let me know and I'll bring a meter and check the levels for you.

Greg.

Interesting, I'm moving to Pasadena, perhaps 6 miles from Mount Wilson. I never thought being too close would be a problem. Right now I'm about 23 miles away.
I'll have to look into that


In the past people living that close have had multipath problems caused by the signal bouncing off the many ridges close by. I would imagine that it's very location dependent and I'm guessing that locations to the north and west would be the worst. You might check the Local HD Info and Reception forum to see if that might be a problem.

So here on T/W Cable in Manhattan on channel 107.4 we have Universal HD. :)

It's awesome because they show Battlestar Galactica in HD on Sunday.

Unfortunately, I can't find a UHD (or whatever it should be called) icon in the guide.
(or for IaTV either) So I have no Guide info and have to go to the universalhd website to see what will be on.

Does anyone know if the channels in the guide are ever updated?
or is this static, based on your zip code. I think I have a possibility of 437 channels that I can map.

Cheers,
-Kevin

My guess is that TV guide adds channels and makes corrections all the time. I suggest that weekly you either look thru the guide listing or you do a program search to see if that channel shows up. Please keep in mind that the on screen guide software and data is not unique to the Sony recorder.

Originally Posted by Wolfie
Here's something. On a 60 hour device, I have 55 hours of recorded material, all HD. And, yet, I have available space on HDD1 of 26% and HDD2 of 18%. Doing the math, does that mean I have a capacity of 98 HD hours on this machine?
Your math is a little off.If you have 26% on HD1 and 18% on HD2 you would have 26+18/2=22% left on the machine.You have 55 hours recorded on the machine wich represents 78%.55/78 gives you approx. 70.5 hours given similar content.If you will,78% of 70.5 hours is 55 hours.You probably have more recordings of Fox & Abc or other 720p sources because those recordings take less space than 1080i recordings.I learned this from my LG 3410A dvr when i noticed that 720p recordings ran around 6GB/hour and 1080i around 7.5GB/hour.

My listings have continued to rebuild properly for two straight days now. Looks like you need another guide reset. :(

Mine have also continued to fill in.

Per G* test local PBS channel shows VBI-some good-some fixed-some bad. What does that mean?

This means your PBS signal is too weak. I had the same problem. You need to adjust your antenna to get better reception on that channel if you can. That will resolve your problem.

JP

JP--Thanks for the tip. I'm located between Kansas City and Topeka--closer to Topeka. I had my Silver Sensor pointed toward the Topeka PBS station and never did get the clock. Last night I pointed it toward the KC station and when I checked this morning I had the clock :) I'll check tonight and see if I have the guide data and if so I'll install the cablecard and hope for the best.

The point for me was even though the G*test showed VBI from the Topeka PBS station I had to realign the antenna to get the info to download.

As a point of curiosity--if there is more than one station sending VBI info how does the Sony select which channel to use?

TIA,

JHawk

Here is a shortcut to check the status of a repair order...

http://eservice.sony.com/webrma/web/search.do?workOrderNumber=XXXXXXX&operation=search

replace XXXXXX with your Event ID or Work Order Number.

JP--Thanks for the tip. I'm located between Kansas City and Topeka--closer to Topeka. I had my Silver Sensor pointed toward the Topeka PBS station and never did get the clock. Last night I pointed it toward the KC station and when I checked this morning I had the clock :) I'll check tonight and see if I have the guide data and if so I'll install the cablecard and hope for the best.

The point for me was even though the G*test showed VBI from the Topeka PBS station I had to realign the antenna to get the info to download.

As a point of curiosity--if there is more than one station sending VBI info how does the Sony select which channel to use?

TIA,

JHawk

I live east of Kansas City and am getting clock and guide data fine. I am having missed recording problems though. What is the host station for KC. Is it KCPT (PBS) or some other station?

I live east of Kansas City and am getting clock and guide data fine. I am having missed recording problems though. What is the host station for KC. Is it KCPT (PBS) or some other station?

I am assuming it is KCPT--I did the G* test on all of the analog KC stations I can receive and KCPT is the only one with VBI info. I live in Lawrence and have Sunflower cable which is all digital. It will interesting to see what happens after I add the cablecard (based on what others have said in this thread when they added the cablecard).

JP--Thanks for the tip. I'm located between Kansas City and Topeka--closer to Topeka. I had my Silver Sensor pointed toward the Topeka PBS station and never did get the clock. Last night I pointed it toward the KC station and when I checked this morning I had the clock :) I'll check tonight and see if I have the guide data and if so I'll install the cablecard and hope for the best.

The point for me was even though the G*test showed VBI from the Topeka PBS station I had to realign the antenna to get the info to download.

As a point of curiosity--if there is more than one station sending VBI info how does the Sony select which channel to use?

TIA,

JHawk


I have multiple stations providing VBI data, PBS, FOX and ABC, but the unit will only get it's clock and guide from PBS. VBI can contain different content, so it's not because VBI packets are being received that they necessarily contain the TVGOS data.

JP

Wouldn't it be nice if the wait was because Sony is upgrading the units before they ship the rest of them out? yeah....riiiight :D

And wouldn't it be cool if they could upgrade these units to be able to record 2 things at once, the OTA feed to one hard drive, and the cable feed to the other hard drive? :D Now there's a thought!

My listings have continued to rebuild properly for two straight days now. Looks like you need another guide reset. :( I still have "No Listings" today, so I did a reset. I tried that new "Broadcast" option. We'll see what happens. I was getting 11.2 listings on my remapped WTTW 11 slot. I really hope they haven't taken this away, as I watch that channel A LOT. Over on the LG 3410a thread, JanJ from our area says we're now getting listings from channel 13. Huh? I'm hoping he means cable, because I sure as heck don't receive any "channel 13" from Chicago out where I'm at (Crystal Lake - OTA only). I DO receive a channel 13 (NBC) from Rockford, though, and I sure hope that's not what's screwing me up. If so, I'm really gonna be up ****'s Creek.

As a point of curiosity--if there is more than one station sending VBI info how does the Sony select which channel to use?
TIA,

JHawk

My understanding is that the Sony searches for the Guide station starting at VHF channel 2 and steps up from there, and stops where it finds that station. If guide data is not downloaded for three days, the unit will again start to search for the guide station. Some posting say that by tuning in the guide station before switching the recorder to standby, speeds up the process.

My HDD500 is on the way, does anyone know if my Panny DMR- E80 DVD recorder will record fullscreen 16:9 image (via S-video) from this Sony DVR. I know it will not be HD. but I want a fullscreen 16:9 copy to DVD.
If I have to, I will also buy one of the Sony DVD recorders (900 or 715) with component inputs if that will do it from the HDD500. thanks.

My HDD500 is on the way, does anyone know if my Panny DMR- E80 DVD recorder will record fullscreen 16:9 image (via S-video) from this Sony DVR. I know it will not be HD. but I want a fullscreen 16:9 copy to DVD.
If I have to, I will also buy one of the Sony DVD recorders (900 or 715) with component inputs if that will do it from the HDD500. thanks.

Are you sure those DVD recorders have component video inputs? I don't think they do.

VBI can contain different content, so it's not because VBI packets are being received that they necessarily contain the TVGOS data.

I think closed captions are transmitted via the VBI data.

My HDD500 is on the way, does anyone know if my Panny DMR- E80 DVD recorder will record fullscreen 16:9 image (via S-video) from this Sony DVR.

I have an E85 which does this successfully except for one thing which may or may not matter to you.

Set the FORMAT to either 480i or "SD Out" (the latter displays the menus and closed captions via S-video or composite, the former does not), and SCREEN MODE to "Squeeze". This gives you the entire 16:9 image, compressed horizontally (or stretched vertically, depending on your point of view) to fit into the 4:3 frame.

When playing back the DVD on a 16:9 TV, use the TV's aspect control to stretch the 4:3 image back to full screen.

In order to play the DVD properly on a 4:3 TV, the TV needs to have an aspect control that can put the image in letterbox or pan&scan mode (depending on your preference). If it doesn't, you'll have to rip the DVD onto your computer, tweak the DVD's screen mode bit, and burn a new DVD. On my Mac, I use a program called MyDVDEdit to do the tweaking. I think a similar program for Windows is canned "ifoedit".

Some DVD recorders can set the screen mode bit to 16:9 for you, but the E85 doesn't, and I expect the E80 doesn't, either.

When dubbing SD material that has been upconverted to HD with bars on the sides, again use either 480i or "SD Out" format, but set the screen mode to "Side Crop". This gets rid of the bars, and gives you a normal 4:3 image. You can also use "Side Crop" to dub the center portion of 16:9 material and throw away the outer portions.

Thanks for the info, am deciphering it all BUT I don't care much about 4:3 playback compatibility, I'm all widescreen. Only want to get full 16:9 playback on my 16:9 tvs. I assume most of these settings. (crop, squeeze) etc are on the HDD500?

And yes, the Sony hard drive DVD recorders (RDR-HX900, RDR-HX715) both have component IN, as do most all Philips (Magnavox), some Yamaha, and a few others.

Are you sure those DVD recorders have component video inputs? I don't think they do.

Yes. The Sony RDR-HX900 has component inputs. I have it and it does have component inputs.

Yes. The Sony RDR-HX900 has component inputs. I have it and it does have component inputs.


Can they record a 480p signal over component?

My HDD500 is on the way, does anyone know if my Panny DMR- E80 DVD recorder will record fullscreen 16:9 image (via S-video) from this Sony DVR. I know it will not be HD. but I want a fullscreen 16:9 copy to DVD.
If I have to, I will also buy one of the Sony DVD recorders (900 or 715) with component inputs if that will do it from the HDD500. thanks.


Good luck with the 500 and I'm glad you got in a succesful order. When did you order it? I think I ordered my second one around 2/18 but I'm still waiting (ordered online). Also, I didn't know that you could output the 500 to a dvd recorder. How do you plan to do that?

Can they record a 480p signal over component?
i think so, but even with 480i, you should use upconverted dvd-players, ie 1080i/720p output to hdtv.

I guess I'm a bit slow on the take this morning as I remember that the HD 500 obiviously has video out connection which can go to a dvd recorder (presumably downgraded from HD to SD).

I guess I'm a bit slow on the take this morning as I remember that the HD 500 obiviously has video out connection which can go to a dvd recorder (presumably downgraded from HD to SD).
blue-ray dvd burners from samsung wil be out in april 2006.

HoopNoop, I do have a Tweeter order in... but no news is probably bad news. I ordered by phone around 2/15 I think, I'm not optomisitc on it.

I went ahead and bought one for $150 more on ebay with orig sales receipt (important for any warranty work). I should get it this week.

If Tweeter comes thru great!, two hdd-500s for 65% of the orig retail cost of one is fine by me.

as far as Blu-ray. we'll see what it will actually allow you to record.

HoopNoop, I do have a Tweeter order in... but no news is probably bad news. I ordered by phone around 2/15 I think, I'm not optomisitc on it.

I went ahead and bought one for $150 more on ebay with orig sales receipt (important for any warranty work). I should get it this week.

If Tweeter comes thru great!, two hdd-500s for 65% of the orig retail cost of one is fine by me.

as far as Blu-ray. we'll see what it will actually allow you to record.
my local bestbuy has 1 display of hdd250 for 499.99

Hidyman, Could you provide a direct link from your ISP provider like: http://in-touch.net/hidyman-pvr that points to your FAQ page? The DNS entry for pvr.hidyman.com doesn't seem to be correct in the main DNS servers.
So I guess nothing ever happened to straighten this out, and that's why pvr.hidyman.com (http://pvr.hidyman.com/) never got put into the first post of this thread?

So I guess nothing ever happened to straighten this out, and that's why pvr.hidyman.com (http://pvr.hidyman.com/) never got put into the first post of this thread?

Hidyman has been awol for quite awhile.

Are there any HDTV recorders on the horizon, or even ones available now, that have dual tuners? This sony seemed really nice, and the price was definitely right, but I can't get the guide via cable or OTA, and I've pretty much decided that the unit is going back. I think I'll be putting the $300 towards a new receiver instead.

Come tomorrow afternoon there will be another DHGhdd-500 available at the tweeter in whitehall. It's open box, and doesn't work for crap. No cables, only remote. Good luck getting them to lower the price a little.

I just spoke to Cox in Phoenix Az. Now their position is that they won't install the card because they need to first test it in the recorder. I asked when that testing would be completed but could not get a date.

I just spoke to Cox in Phoenix Az. Now their position is that they won't install the card because they need to first test it in the recorder. I asked when that testing would be completed but could not get a date.

That is outrageous. You should call Cox'x corporate office and make a stink. There's just no excuse for that behaviour. Cox in Phoenix can't be different than Cox in other states. They have to be bound by the same mandated FCC laws. If Cox installs cablecards in DVRs in other states, Arizona shouldn't be excluded!

That is outrageous. You should call Cox'x corporate office and make a stink. There's just no excuse for that behaviour. Cox in Phoenix can't be different than Cox in other states. They have to be bound by the same mandated FCC laws. If Cox installs cablecards in DVRs in other states, Arizona shouldn't be excluded!


I don't know if it is an FCC mandate or not, but my opinion is that if any device has a cablecard slot and is compliant with the OpenCable standards, they MUST install a cablecard if a customer asks for one.

I don't know if it is an FCC mandate or not, but my opinion is that if any device has a cablecard slot and is compliant with the OpenCable standards, they MUST install a cablecard if a customer asks for one.

Any suggestions on how customer can force them to install it? Their latest roadblock of needing to test it may give them a valid excuse for not putting it in.

Any suggestions on how customer can force them to install it? Their latest roadblock of needing to test it may give them a valid excuse for not putting it in.

How do they plan to obtain one for testing purposes? eBay??

I would tell them that this device is fully compliant with the OpenCable standards and that if they really think it is necessary to test it, then YOU can be their first beta tester (you will probably need to escalate the call to a someone other than level one customer service).

I haven't had to do this, so I can't say for sure that this will work.

When I had mine installed, I just told them that I needed 2 cablecards. I didn't say what they were for when I called to set up the install. The technician had never installed one in anything but a TV, but he did it anyway. The setup really isn't any different for the cable company (assuming that there are now copy protection issues). They note the necessary numbers from the menu and pair the card with the device.

My HDD500 is on the way, does anyone know if my Panny DMR- E80 DVD recorder will record fullscreen 16:9 image (via S-video) from this Sony DVR. I know it will not be HD. but I want a fullscreen 16:9 copy to DVD.
If I have to, I will also buy one of the Sony DVD recorders (900 or 715) with component inputs if that will do it from the HDD500. thanks.

Before I got my Sony HDD, I had a Motorola HD receiver, and recorded HD programs in 480p letterbox on my Toshiba DVR via Svideo. I know it also works with component video since I used it on a Phillips DVR for a week before returned it and got the Toshiba. You should be able to do the same with the Panasonic since no screen adjustment is needed.

Before I got my Sony HDD, I had a Motorola HD receiver, and recorded HD programs in 480p letterbox on my Toshiba DVR via Svideo.

Do you mean 480i letterbox?

my local bestbuy has 1 display of hdd250 for 499.99

Got an open box 250 from BB for 399.99 just a couple days ago.

Any suggestions on how customer can force them to install it? Their latest roadblock of needing to test it may give them a valid excuse for not putting it in.

If they have authority over cable, try filing a complaint with your public utilities commission.

Are there any HDTV recorders on the horizon, or even ones available now, that have dual tuners? This sony seemed really nice, and the price was definitely right, but I can't get the guide via cable or OTA, and I've pretty much decided that the unit is going back. I think I'll be putting the $300 towards a new receiver instead.

Come tomorrow afternoon there will be another DHGhdd-500 available at the tweeter in whitehall. It's open box, and doesn't work for crap. No cables, only remote. Good luck getting them to lower the price a little.

I wouldn't let the lack of a dual tuner discourage you too much. I split off my OTA signal and feed the second line to a used Voom receiver that I bought on Ebay. This effectively gives me a second tuner although I can't record on it. But I certainly use it a lot when I am recording on the Sony.

Any suggestions on how customer can force them to install it? Their latest roadblock of needing to test it may give them a valid excuse for not putting it in.

Go to the FCC Web site and file a complaint with full details. Cards are mandated since July 2004 (yes, that's 2004). The Sony, like most other equipment, has been "self-tested" according to CableLABS specs and is on the official CableLABS list as such. In March of 2006, there is NO EXCUSE for refusing to install a card.

Then call the cableco and don't accept anything less than talking to a tech supervisor. Go in person if you have a local office. Tell them you are filing a complaint with the FCC. Demand a card. Don't give up.

I wouldn't let the lack of a dual tuner discourage you too much. I split off my OTA signal and feed the second line to a used Voom receiver that I bought on Ebay. This effectively gives me a second tuner although I can't record on it. But I certainly use it a lot when I am recording on the Sony.

My tv has a built in ATSC tuner, so I'm OK with that. I would like to be able to record from 2 HD sources at once, or even an HD and an SD. Maybe they don't make an HD one because the hard drive wouldn't be able to keep up with the amount of data being recorded from 2 HD sources. I wonder if they could even do that with an HD and an SD. While I don't HAVE to have the dual tuners, it's a nice feature. Maybe the upcoming Tivo 3 will have it? Just curious. I'd like to avoid Tivo if possible, but if they are the only option I might have to bite.

Geoff

My tv has a built in ATSC tuner, so I'm OK with that. I would like to be able to record from 2 HD sources at once, or even an HD and an SD. Maybe they don't make an HD one because the hard drive wouldn't be able to keep up with the amount of data being recorded from 2 HD sources. I wonder if they could even do that with an HD and an SD. While I don't HAVE to have the dual tuners, it's a nice feature. Maybe the upcoming Tivo 3 will have it? Just curious. I'd like to avoid Tivo if possible, but if they are the only option I might have to bite.

Geoff

TiVo Series 3 has been demonstrated (as a prototype) with two ATSC tuners, two QAM (digital cable) tuners (and supposedly two NTSC tuners, as well)...

#@!&^% Got it today. Nothing on the DVR. Installed in on my computer. It has an ADM8513 chipset. :( The product #99-012084-382 isn't even on the SMC website. I'll try to find an USB RTL-8150 chipset nic somewhere......

Welcome to the fast-n-loose Windoze IHV world. I just ordered a Linksys USB100M - they are supposed to be RTL8150-based. They sell for $20 - $25 around the net. I guess at this point, our first successful baby-step will be finding an RTL8150 chip!

I also built a 400GB IDE disk in a USB box - nothing yet, but the HDD500 did briefly access it during the boot cycle. Probably just device enumeration.

Andrew

Do you mean 480i letterbox?

Yes I meant 480p. 480p produces a better picture, although lots of new TVs automatically convert 480i to 480p.
By the way, for over a year I watched HD shows in 480p, and assumed that the only thing I was missing was sharper images. After I got my TV to display 1080i, I discovered that HDTV also substantially enhances color.

Sorry Ray.

I had thought that s-video and composite output was limited to SD, and SD=480i. That was how you could copy freely restricted material. The idea being to prevent HD copying. Not that 480p is HD, but it is much better than 480i.

TiVo Series 3 has been demonstrated (as a prototype) with two ATSC tuners, two QAM (digital cable) tuners (and supposedly two NTSC tuners, as well)...

It has 4 tuners, two digital (ATSC/QAM) and two analog (NTSC) and you can record two programs at a time in any combination. ATSC and QAM count as one digital tuner.

It has 4 tuners, two digital (ATSC/QAM) and two analog (NTSC) and you can record two programs at a time in any combination. ATSC and QAM count as one digital tuner.
It also has 2 cable card slots, one for each tuner, and from what I hear it supports cable card 2.0.

Here is a question: Will the cable card 2.0 devices be at all compliant with current cable card slots for the Sony? I believe that I read that the answer is no but it would seem sensible for them to make the new cable cards compliant with older cable card technology (sort of like HD DVD players being able to play regular DVDs).

Picked up a 500 from Tweeters. :)
Has Super Bowl & Winter Games on it. :)
Will sell a Moto Voom receiver with DVI output for $65.00.
I'm using the 500 & Sony 60" XRB's tuners only for OTA.
Not a glitch out of the 500.

Welcome to the fast-n-loose Windoze IHV world. I just ordered a Linksys USB100M - they are supposed to be RTL8150-based. They sell for $20 - $25 around the net. I guess at this point, our first successful baby-step will be finding an RTL8150 chip!

I also built a 400GB IDE disk in a USB box - nothing yet, but the HDD500 did briefly access it during the boot cycle. Probably just device enumeration.

Andrew
please do keep us informed about your progress.

have you tried to connect hdd500 to a computer via usb???

Picked up a 500 from Tweeters. :)
Has Super Bowl & Winter Games on it. :)
Will sell a Moto Voom receiver with DVI output for $65.00.
I'm using the 500 & Sony 60" XRB's tuners only for OTA.
Not a glitch out of the 500.

I have the SuperBowl too, but I bought mine at the last minute and didn't have the TVGOS, so mine is listed as "Unknown". :( But I have it anyway, for what it's worth.

Wolfie

Here is a question: Will the cable card 2.0 devices be at all compliant with current cable card slots for the Sony? I believe that I read that the answer is no but it would seem sensible for them to make the new cable cards compliant with older cable card technology (sort of like HD DVD players being able to play regular DVDs).
According to the the primer (http://arstechnica.com/guides/other/cablecard.ars) at Ars Technica: "hardware with a CableCARD v1.0 slot ... will be compatible [with CableCARD v2.0 devices], but only in unidirectional mode, which means that it will get no benefit from the newer card." In others words, if you insert a v2.0 card into a v1.0 slot, then the hardware will function the same as if you inserted a v1.0 card into it.

According to the the primer (http://arstechnica.com/guides/other/cablecard.ars) at Ars Technica: "hardware with a CableCARD v1.0 slot ... will be compatible [with CableCARD v2.0 devices], but only in unidirectional mode, which means that it will get no benefit from the newer card." In others words, if you insert a v2.0 card into a v1.0 slot, then the hardware will function the same as if you inserted a v1.0 card into it.

Well, at least this means that we could use them with the Sony! I have Verizon Fios coming in my area and they are supposedly going to have 2.0 cable cards coming some time early next year. So, if this is true, I'd at least be able to use them but without the interactive features (which I didn't care much about anyway)!

Well, at least this means that we could use them with the Sony! I have Verizon Fios coming in my area and they are supposedly going to have 2.0 cable cards coming some time early next year. So, if this is true, I'd at least be able to use them but without the interactive features (which I didn't care much about anyway)!

Don't they have 1.0 cablecards now?

It also has 2 cable card slots, one for each tuner, and from what I hear it supports cable card 2.0.


Which I guess will mean Cox will refuse to install 2 cable cards in it,,LOL

I don't know if it is an FCC mandate or not, but my opinion is that if any device has a cablecard slot and is compliant with the OpenCable standards, they MUST install a cablecard if a customer asks for one.


Not to mention that the cable card is part of the QAM tuner - which doesnt know if its part of a Sony TV, a Sony Dishwasher, or a Sony Motorcycle,,,!!

So if they will not put it in a Sony DVR, then they should also not put it in a Sony TV.

A quote directly from the Cox Web page on Cable Cards -

"A CableCARD, which is provided by the cable operator, is shaped like a thick credit card and contains electronics for decrypting digital cable programs so that the programs can be displayed on the TV screen. It is inserted into the CableCARD slot on a Digital Cable Ready TV or other digital cable ready device and replaces a traditional set-top box."

note the words "or other digital cable ready device"

Here is the link to the complete page - and note that there is no mention of any "tested" list of "approved" equipment. It just has to be Digital Cable Ready...

http://www.cox.com/support/phoenix/cable/faq.asp#4

Hey Jane!

I'm in the same boat! My impression is that you can't simply get a software update under your warranty (you need to have something wrong with the unit such as the 161-6 problem). Now, I'm sure that you could claim a problem like this and get a fix with a software update. My impression is that there is some disagreement as to whether such an update is needed. Speculation has it that the latest version of the software will allow for the programming guide to work during the switch to all digital OTA broadcasts -- but the earlier versions may not.
Hi Neighbor!

I am only a few miles east of Rt. 7 from Leesburg.

I got my HDD-500 through ebay and got the original receipt from the seller. It was bought in PA. My sister found an open box here at local Tweeter. They offered a 4 year performance warranty for $50. I thought that is a fair price. So I went ahead and got it for mine too. It is a complicated machine. I use it a lot, at least for the first few weeks since I had it. I am glad to pay the extra $50 to make sure it runs for 4 years. Actually, my receipt says 5Y. I am still not sure if they would cover firmware upgrade. But when I have a valid reason for the upgrade, I will make sure they do something about it.

Thanks,

Jane

My tv has a built in ATSC tuner, so I'm OK with that. I would like to be able to record from 2 HD sources at once, or even an HD and an SD. Maybe they don't make an HD one because the hard drive wouldn't be able to keep up with the amount of data being recorded from 2 HD sources. I wonder if they could even do that with an HD and an SD. While I don't HAVE to have the dual tuners, it's a nice feature. Maybe the upcoming Tivo 3 will have it? Just curious. I'd like to avoid Tivo if possible, but if they are the only option I might have to bite.

Geoff

The DirecTV HR10-250 can record two high def steams at the same time from DirecTV, OTA, or a combination of both.

The DirecTV HR10-250 can record two high def steams at the same time from DirecTV, OTA, or a combination of both.
...and $13/month fee in addition to directv fee.

I picked up an HDD250 today from Best Buy. Last one at my store, but another local store (Mira Loma) had 7 left. Paid $500. I have been reading this thread since these boxes came out and I think I have adjusted my expectations properly. I don't expect it to be a TiVo, or even very good. All I want is essentially a second tuner (I already have an 80 hour TiVo) for other programs and the ability to do simple timeshifting of HD. That said, I am not going to open it up until tommorow because of that event TiVo has planned.

That said, I am not going to open it up until tommorow because of that event TiVo has planned.

What event would that be?

No idea. All I know is that they have a press conference scheduled for tommorow where they will unveil "new initiative." It is likely either a Series 3 or their free hardware program. Hoping for a Series 3.

No idea. All I know is that they have a press conference scheduled for tommorow where they will unveil "new initiative." It is likely either a Series 3 or their free hardware program. Hoping for a Series 3.

I am guessing it is the free hardware program. I think it is still too soon for the Tivo S3.

I think you should just open that HDD250 and hook it up so it can download the guide overnight. :rolleyes:

My DHG-HDD250 was working great until Saturday when I clicked on the TV Guide instead of listings it said "Updated information will be available within 24 hours. The guide is rebuilding your channel list based on your setup change". I didn't make any setup change, though. I waited for the 24 hours, nothing changed. I've done a warm and cold reboot and waited. The same message still appears. When I enter the service menu my host channel is blank. I called the Sony help line and they said to take the unit in for repairs. Do you think this is necessary or is it a problem with the station sending the TVGOS info? The person on the phone said the guide should at least be showing some info after the resets. I know most of you groan when you see a post like this but I'd appreciate the help. I've read the FAQ and a good percentage of this board and haven't seen this come up before. Thanks in advance.

My DHG-HDD250 was working great until Saturday when I clicked on the TV Guide instead of listings it said "Updated information will be available within 24 hours. The guide is rebuilding your channel list based on your setup change". I didn't make any setup change, though. I waited for the 24 hours, nothing changed. I've done a warm and cold reboot and waited. The same message still appears. When I enter the service menu my host channel is blank. I called the Sony help line and they said to take the unit in for repairs. Do you think this is necessary or is it a problem with the station sending the TVGOS info? The person on the phone said the guide should at least be showing some info after the resets. I know most of you groan when you see a post like this but I'd appreciate the help. I've read the FAQ and a good percentage of this board and haven't seen this come up before. Thanks in advance.

Sigh, this has been happening with greater and greater frequency to me too. Search for "Updated information" in this thread. One person claims it's the TVGOS data, another said that Sony told him to ship it in for service. I can tell you that I have this problem right now when I turned on my HDD500. Here's the odd thing: when I change the channels, the pop-up Info display does show the correct program information, so the information is in the box somewhere and the Sony software seems to know it, but the TVGOS software is confused.

I'm calling Sony to ask about sending my units back - I expect new firmware (I have 1.2.06 now), and I might mention the "160-1" error. I'm worried that I'll lose all the HD movies I have saved on the disks.

In case anyone else is having the same problem: I am in Austin, my TVGOS channel is 18, KLRU.

Andrew

...and $13/month fee in addition to directv fee.

Yes, that is why I sold mine, bought the Sony DVR, and am cancelling my DirecTV and going OTA only :)

Plus you need to consider $5 per month for each additional receiver and the programming package at $32 + per month.

please do keep us informed about your progress.

have you tried to connect hdd500 to a computer via usb???

That won't work because USB is asymmetric: there is one host (computer) and one or more slaves. The HDD500 is a host; so the best I can do is plug in a slave peripheral and hope that the firmware in the box recognizes it. Then I have to figure out what the heck it wants out of the peripheral, and how I can use that to shim myself into pwning the box. <evil laugh>Muahahahaha!</evil laugh>

Andrew

My DHG-HDD250 was working great until Saturday when I clicked on the TV Guide instead of listings it said "Updated information will be available within 24 hours. The guide is rebuilding your channel list based on your setup change". I didn't make any setup change, though. I waited for the 24 hours, nothing changed. I've done a warm and cold reboot and waited. The same message still appears. When I enter the service menu my host channel is blank. I called the Sony help line and they said to take the unit in for repairs. Do you think this is necessary or is it a problem with the station sending the TVGOS info? The person on the phone said the guide should at least be showing some info after the resets. I know most of you groan when you see a post like this but I'd appreciate the help. I've read the FAQ and a good percentage of this board and haven't seen this come up before. Thanks in advance.

My suggestion is to wait. I had same problem and eventually the guide returned. Hope your clock shows the right time. After I reset my guide, it took several days for the correct time to appear. As I recall, problem was at the PBS station.

My DHG-HDD250 was working great until Saturday when I clicked on the TV Guide instead of listings it said "Updated information will be available within 24 hours. The guide is rebuilding your channel list based on your setup change". I didn't make any setup change, though. I waited for the 24 hours, nothing changed. I've done a warm and cold reboot and waited. The same message still appears. When I enter the service menu my host channel is blank. I called the Sony help line and they said to take the unit in for repairs. Do you think this is necessary or is it a problem with the station sending the TVGOS info? The person on the phone said the guide should at least be showing some info after the resets. I know most of you groan when you see a post like this but I'd appreciate the help. I've read the FAQ and a good percentage of this board and haven't seen this come up before. Thanks in advance.

Be patient. I have had this message a few times but now everything is working great. I know, for the cost of this unit, you expect everything to be perfect but HD is new and there are issues. If you have the correct time you can record manually. There is not a unit that will record HD as well as this Sony, without some kind of lease or monthly cost. I have stopped worrying about the guide and maybe that's why it is working so well. I doubt it but maybe this is a good story for positive thinking. I now have two units and both are working flawlessly!!!

Are most of the people having issues using OTA or cable?

I'm calling Sony to ask about sending my units back - I expect new firmware (I have 1.2.06 now), and I might mention the "160-1" error. I'm worried that I'll lose all the HD movies I have saved on the disks.



In my case at least, they did not erase any material. They updated the software and I had to go through setup again, but the returned unit worked fine with the original cablecard (no reauthorization from the cable company needed) and all the recorded material on the disk was still present when I got it back.

Marc

Hi folks-

My 500 just made it back from Sony yesterday, having been updated to latest firmware and apparently having had the "electrical adjustment" made (they BETTER have done the adjustment!).

When I got it back, I let it warm up to room temp, then inserted the cable card, hooked up the cables, and with some trepidation plugged it in.

It booted normally, and went right into the setup screen. It remembered my zip code, so whatever software upgrade they did, didn't wipe that. But it did ask me for which lineup to use, and after I picked one (fairly randomly, as there were two equally likely candidates). After setup it told me the guide would rebuild and be available in 24 hours, as expected.

I tried tuning some channels and there was no problem tuning HBO-HD and other encrypted channels. So, the cable card authenticated fine. This was borne out by the diagnostics screens.

I turned it off, and within about 10 minutes had the correct time.

A day later, I turned it on and found listings for days 1,2,8 as expected. My previous recordings were still there.

Spent some time reordering the channels, and am now watching stuff that was previously recorded. The unit will be off mostly for the next few days to make sure the listings come in OK.

I'm hopeful that the 161-6 error is truly fixed! Will report back...

Marc

Hi folks-

My 500 just made it back from Sony yesterday, having been updated to latest firmware and apparently having had the "electrical adjustment" made (they BETTER have done the adjustment!).

When I got it back, I let it warm up to room temp, then inserted the cable card, hooked up the cables, and with some trepidation plugged it in.

It booted normally, and went right into the setup screen. It remembered my zip code, so whatever software upgrade they did, didn't wipe that. But it did ask me for which lineup to use, and after I picked one (fairly randomly, as there were two equally likely candidates). After setup it told me the guide would rebuild and be available in 24 hours, as expected.

I tried tuning some channels and there was no problem tuning HBO-HD and other encrypted channels. So, the cable card authenticated fine. This was borne out by the diagnostics screens.

I turned it off, and within about 10 minutes had the correct time.

A day later, I turned it on and found listings for days 1,2,8 as expected. My previous recordings were still there.

Spent some time reordering the channels, and am now watching stuff that was previously recorded. The unit will be off mostly for the next few days to make sure the listings come in OK.

I'm hopeful that the 161-6 error is truly fixed! Will report back...

Marc

What was your original firmware version, and what is it now? .13?

They just shipped mine today, supposed to arrive on Friday...I have missed it a lot!

So it turns out that I have an RTL8150 USB Ethernet nic. :)

My Windows driver say this device is a Billionton USBKR100 USB 10/100 LAN Adapter.

I think I've had this for about 5-6 years. It definitely is USB 1.1
(bought at Fry's hidden in the junk box in my closet)

I guess I'll try seeing if it works on the HDD-500

Does anyone have any pointers with trying to get this to work?

Thanks,
-Kevin

My DHG-HDD250 was working great until Saturday when I clicked on the TV Guide instead of listings it said "Updated information will be available within 24 hours. The guide is rebuilding your channel list based on your setup change". I didn't make any setup change, though. I waited for the 24 hours, nothing changed. I've done a warm and cold reboot and waited. The same message still appears.

Reset the guide in the 9012 menu.

Yes, that is why I sold mine, bought the Sony DVR, and am cancelling my DirecTV and going OTA only :)

Plus you need to consider $5 per month for each additional receiver and the programming package at $32 + per month.
...directv sucks and so is cabletv...when the cablecard is copy protection enabled!



...i figure i'd go ota-hdtv and avoid all troubles...and scanning what my neighbours are watching vod :)

That won't work because USB is asymmetric: there is one host (computer) and one or more slaves. The HDD500 is a host; so the best I can do is plug in a slave peripheral and hope that the firmware in the box recognizes it. Then I have to figure out what the heck it wants out of the peripheral, and how I can use that to shim myself into pwning the box. <evil laugh>Muahahahaha!</evil laugh>

Andrew

i'm chicken-little to plug my external usb drives to hdd250 unit!

wonder what'd happen?

i'm chicken-little to plug my external usb drives to hdd250 unit!

wonder what'd happen?

If you take your USB hard drive and put it in, the USB drive spins up, and the light goes on. That's all.

There is nothing like an HDD3 listing on the [menu] => [screen format] =>1234
HDD list.

-Kevin

BTW: My drive was a bootable NTFS partition, with a Dos Bootable emergency partition.

I picked up an HDD250 today from Best Buy. Last one at my store, but another local store (Mira Loma) had 7 left. Paid $500. I have been reading this thread since these boxes came out and I think I have adjusted my expectations properly. I don't expect it to be a TiVo, or even very good. All I want is essentially a second tuner (I already have an 80 hour TiVo) for other programs and the ability to do simple timeshifting of HD. That said, I am not going to open it up until tommorow because of that event TiVo has planned.
ok...you got me in trouble, i.e., trouble I've been looking for...

My local Best Buy has never had the sony's...at least never when I checked, maybe every month or 2...but I'd never talked to any of the sales people about it, because it's almost impossible to get one's attention...

But, after seeing your post, I went there again, and kept following the same guy around (for a quarter of an hour) until he was free...then we walked around until he could find a free terminal to check on availability of the 250, and he found that there were exactly 2 units available in the entire SF bay area, one at a nearby store...15 miles up I-80. So I asked him to call and confirm it was available, which he did, and they set it aside for me, I got in my car and jumped into the (by then) rush hour traffic, and GOT the danged thing (finally!)

Spent 2 hours rearranging the cables and inputs among my Samsung 165, LG 3410a (plus the VCR/DVD combo), and now I finally have a complete HD system - can record 2 programs while watching a third, all OTA, with a total hard-drive capacity of 44 HD hours! All the Sony has to do now is get the TV Guide listings, which the 3410a is able to find, so I think the Sony ought to too.

...of course, if tweeter.com comes through now with a 500 for $249, then what do I do?...not likely

so during the night, got time, got listings, in business!

If you take your USB hard drive and put it in, the USB drive spins up, and the light goes on. That's all.

There is nothing like an HDD3 listing on the [menu] => [screen format] =>1234
HDD list.

-Kevin

BTW: My drive was a bootable NTFS partition, with a Dos Bootable emergency partition.


I wish it were that easy! Has anybody figured out what Menu => Format => 5678 does? It seems to make the unit temporarily unresponsive to the remote, though the power button works.

Andrew

So it turns out that I have an RTL8150 USB Ethernet nic. :)

My Windows driver say this device is a Billionton USBKR100 USB 10/100 LAN Adapter.

I think I've had this for about 5-6 years. It definitely is USB 1.1
(bought at Fry's hidden in the junk box in my closet)

I guess I'll try seeing if it works on the HDD-500

Does anyone have any pointers with trying to get this to work?

Thanks,
-Kevin

Plug it in & reboot (I suggest the <Exit> & <TV Guide> button combo). To really figure it out, you need to plug the ethernet end into a hub with another machine running tcpdump for maximum packet grabage. I suspect that you'll see either DHCP, BOOTP, or RARP requests. Then, set up the service it wants, and tweak it until it is happy. Check Menu => Format => 1234 => Network to see what it thinks is going on. Then figure out what you can do with this information.

Andrew

What was your original firmware version, and what is it now? .13?

They just shipped mine today, supposed to arrive on Friday...I have missed it a lot!

I started at .06 and now have .13.

I started at .06 and now have .13.

Marc, did you lose stuff that you had recorded on the hard drive? Also, how long was the total time that you were without your unit?

thanks

Hi folks-

My 500 just made it back from Sony yesterday, having been updated to latest firmware and apparently having had the "electrical adjustment" made (they BETTER have done the adjustment!).
Did you ask them specifically to fix the cable card issue? I heard they won't unless you ask them specifically.

I received my HDD500 last night and set it up.

Unfortunately, I had to buy it of eBay for twice as much as the Tweeter/Sound Advice special was, but as it turned out, I was a day late and a dollar short for that deal. I had called on Feb 9 and salesmen from two different stores told me that someone had bought 80 units just the day before and that they were all sold out with more commits than they had units. I digress……..

While waiting for the unit to arrive, I read about ½ of this thread or so, and had pretty much assumed the TV Guide wasn’t going to work right, or at least not without an OTA Antenna. I watched TV on it last night, and was worried that my ‘host channel’ was not showing up in the service menu. Then I checked the PBS station and looked at the VBI from the other service menu and it was streaming and identified as ‘PASS’. Went to bed around 12am and woke up and the guide was there! So, so far so good with the guide. I’ll have to get home and play with it more tonight in the way of manipulating channels.

I have it hooked up with cable only, no cable card, no OTA antenna, via component and optical.

Some observations/questions:

My firmware version is xxxxx.05, the build date is May 2005. Is this good or bad?

I have it set in NATIVE mode, as I feel my Panasonic plasma would probably do a better job of scaling than the Sony. While the HD channels look great, I personally think the digital channels and analog channels do not look as good as they did on my LG LST-4210. The digital channels seem slightly more pixilated, or ‘digital’ looking, while the analog cable channels look more fuzzy. Has anyone else noticed this? Anything I can do about it?

The QAM channels – do you guys just map these channels to the respective TV Guide channels so they have listing information? I’m assuming that since there is only one NBC that you just map the QAM HD channel to that, and just forgo having the analog NBC in the Listings. Not that you would want to record analog….

Other than the slight PQ difference I have noticed so far, it has been great. Also, the channels change slowly, but they did on my LG LST-4210 as well, probably attributable to the NATIVE setting. And of course the TV Guide is slow, but hey, it’s ‘free’.

I guess only time will tell about the TV Guide on this box.

I'm losing my TVGOS data ("no listing" at 30 minute increments) again. Don't know if it's a problem on the provider's end or a hardware/software problem on my end. I'm running OTA only. Anyone else had this problem as well? Anyone?...Anyone?...Beuller?...Beuller?

Wolfie

Can anyone here tell me about the sensitivity of this tuner for weak signals? I'm thinking of replacing my Zenith HDR230 for it's annoyances (can't record and "catchup" at the same time, can't record a program while watching a recorded program no 30-second skip, deletion of recorded material to make room without notice or options to save specific recordings, etc.) but it won't do me much good to replace it if I lose the relatively weak channels that I tend to record a lot.

Are most of the people having issues using OTA or cable?

Seems to me that OTA gives the fewest problems. However, only real showstopper is for those who live in an area where they can get the clock set.

I can't compare against your HDR230 but I find the tuner in my HDD250 to be less sensitive to weak signals. My comparision is to the tuner in my Sony KDF-50WE655 TV. It can pickup signals without drop outs from towers 60 miles away using a Zenith Silver Sensor. The HDD250 and my Rat Shack Accurian tuner can't get them without drop outs using the same setup.

Alan

Can anyone here tell me about the sensitivity of this tuner for weak signals? I'm thinking of replacing my Zenith HDR230 for it's annoyances (can't record and "catchup" at the same time, can't record a program while watching a recorded program no 30-second skip, deletion of recorded material to make room without notice or options to save specific recordings, etc.) but it won't do me much good to replace it if I lose the relatively weak channels that I tend to record a lot.

I received my HDD500 last night and set it up.

Unfortunately, I had to buy it of eBay for twice as much as the Tweeter/Sound Advice special was, but as it turned out, I was a day late and a dollar short for that deal. I had called on Feb 9 and salesmen from two different stores told me that someone had bought 80 units just the day before and that they were all sold out with more commits than they had units. I digress……..

While waiting for the unit to arrive, I read about ½ of this thread or so, and had pretty much assumed the TV Guide wasn’t going to work right, or at least not without an OTA Antenna. I watched TV on it last night, and was worried that my ‘host channel’ was not showing up in the service menu. Then I checked the PBS station and looked at the VBI from the other service menu and it was streaming and identified as ‘PASS’. Went to bed around 12am and woke up and the guide was there! So, so far so good with the guide. I’ll have to get home and play with it more tonight in the way of manipulating channels.

I have it hooked up with cable only, no cable card, no OTA antenna, via component and optical.

Some observations/questions:

My firmware version is xxxxx.05, the build date is May 2005. Is this good or bad?

I have it set in NATIVE mode, as I feel my Panasonic plasma would probably do a better job of scaling than the Sony. While the HD channels look great, I personally think the digital channels and analog channels do not look as good as they did on my LG LST-4210. The digital channels seem slightly more pixilated, or ‘digital’ looking, while the analog cable channels look more fuzzy. Has anyone else noticed this? Anything I can do about it?

The QAM channels – do you guys just map these channels to the respective TV Guide channels so they have listing information? I’m assuming that since there is only one NBC that you just map the QAM HD channel to that, and just forgo having the analog NBC in the Listings. Not that you would want to record analog….

Other than the slight PQ difference I have noticed so far, it has been great. Also, the channels change slowly, but they did on my LG LST-4210 as well, probably attributable to the NATIVE setting. And of course the TV Guide is slow, but hey, it’s ‘free’.

I guess only time will tell about the TV Guide on this box.

.13 is the latest firmware. Some say it helps in terms of getting future OTA signals during the conversion to all digital but it seems to be speculation at this point.

I tried the native mode but found that the picture changing was too slow. But I didn't notice any PQ problems beyond the usual problems with analog channels.

Yes, the mapping process you describe is correct for QAM channels.

I'm supposed to get my ebay Hdd500 today, am excited and somewhat concerned. If I can just record HD OTA manually I will be happy. Don't care as much about cable or the program guide functions, so hopefully I will not be disappointed. Reading the details on this forum is hard to understand a lot because I have never used one or seen one in use.

I don't think my Tweeter order is gonna pan out, would love to have 1 of these on both my TVs.

I'm sure Sony and others will come out with improved (and cheaper) machines soon, there seems to be a demand for 'do it on your own machine' HD recording.

Are most of the people having issues using OTA or cable?

It depends... Most issues are related to receiving the TV Guide. You can have problems if you are OTA if you can't get a stong enough signal on the TV channel that is broadcasting the TV Guide. Problems can be due to the wrong type of antenna, antenna not oriented in the correct direction, etc.

Most cable TV Guide issues are related to specific cable companies not carrying the analog channel that broadcasts the TV Guide. Seems that cable card installation complicates matters further.

I'm supposed to get my ebay Hdd500 today, am excited and somewhat concerned. If I can just record HD OTA manually I will be happy. Don't care as much about cable or the program guide functions, so hopefully I will not be disappointed. Reading the details on this forum is hard to understand a lot because I have never used one or seen one in use.

If you don't record using the TVGOS, then all your recordings will be listed as "Unknown" and you won't be able to easily choose what recording to watch. It won't let you rename a file and you'll be stuck with everything under the "Unknown" directory. So the TVGOS is very useful and that's why everyone on this forum complains about the quirkyness of the guide.

Wolfie

Was up the Chicago area on Tuesday, so decided to stop in at the Tweeters across from Oakbrook Mall. They're moving from one end of an L-shaped complex to the other, so inventory was a mess. But I asked if they were still selling the DHG-HDD500s and the salesguy said no, they were emptied out quite a while ago. He said he picked one up himself 'cause it was such a great deal. I asked why they were so severely discounting the 500 and not the 250, and he said Sony gave Tweeter an exclusive deal on the 500 which was discontinued. I then asked if he had heard anything from Sony on a model upgrade, and he said no.

You can have problems if you are OTA if you can't get a stong enough signal on the TV channel that is broadcasting the TV Guide.

Is there a master list of stations that broadcast this? The official web site is mum on the topic.

Wolfie, you'd think there would be a lot of pressure to improve the TVGOS system since it is used in so many products now, esp TVs, DVD recorders and maybe VHS? not to mention the Sony hdtv recorders. I assume any help from the Cablecos would be slow or non-existent so you will use their boxes.

Mine downloaded guide data overnight, but there are still several missing stations. It doesn't have anything for most of the substations and several of the main PBS stations don't have any listings at all. Should I expect more guide data for the missing stations over time, or is this it?

Is there a master list of stations that broadcast this? The official web site is mum on the topic.

No master list that I am aware of. There are a few stations listed at the FAQ site at: http://pvr.hidyman.com/ < this site is not all that reliable and some forum members can't access it at all.

Mine downloaded guide data overnight, but there are still several missing stations. It doesn't have anything for most of the substations and several of the main PBS stations don't have any listings at all. Should I expect more guide data for the missing stations over time, or is this it?

I would not expect stations that don't appear in the initial list to appear later unless TVGOS decides to add them at a future date. I also though at first that maybe the list did not have all of the stations and more would show up later, but that was not the case.

Is there a master list of stations that broadcast this? The official web site is mum on the topic.

You can go to this site: http://tvgos.theabsolutenuts.com/ and it has a list of known TVGOS stations. It is nowhere near complete, however, as it has been populated by people who have determined it from their own setups. But, it's better than the TVGOS apparently top-secret (and nowhere to be found) "master" list.......... :rolleyes:

Missed recording again!! I verified on Tuesday night that I had Criminal Minds and CSI-NY in the recording schedule for wednesday (3/1/06). I checked at 9:20 PM CST and the DHG-HDD250 was not recording CSI-NY. I turned on and checked if Criminal Minds was recorded and it was not either. I went to the schedule and neither of them were there (I had set them for regular recording). Poof. Gone.

I am in Kansas City. Is there anybody else here in KC that can schedule similar programs as me to see if their box is behaving the same way. May be we can figure out if this is random or if all things are equal, is it repeatable.

Anyone else in the western burbs of Chicago have TVGOS issues? It has not updated the guide for 2 days now and the VBI test comes back as failed.

When I click on the hidyman link, I get "Server Not Found" message. That site seemed to be valid for a short time after its initial posting. However, the FAQ can be downloaded as a pdf file, which was submitted by drm2295 in message #3370.
maybe this fact (FAQ) could be placed in the first post of the thread (with an explanation of what it is...)!

Here is a question: Will the cable card 2.0 devices be at all compliant with current cable card slots for the Sony? I believe that I read that the answer is no but it would seem sensible for them to make the new cable cards compliant with older cable card technology (sort of like HD DVD players being able to play regular DVDs). As far as what I've always heard - no.

maybe this fact (FAQ) could be placed in the first post of the thread (with an explanation of what it is...)!

Does anyone read this thread, or do they just post now...? :rolleyes:

Anyone else in the western burbs of Chicago have TVGOS issues? It has not updated the guide for 2 days now and the VBI test comes back as failed.

Which channel? PBS? Go to the menu diagnostic screen while tuned to the host channel and see if it's analog or if it has changed to QAM. Recent posts in other forums indicate that some Chicagoland customers are being changed over to ADS without warning. Those folks also report that analog PBS has been inserted as channel 94 for TVGOS downloads.

Otherwise, if your original host is still analog, there may be a problem at your headend with passing the TVGOS data, since my PBS downloads are OK.

Does anyone read this thread, or do they just post now...? :rolleyes:

Indeed.

Mine downloaded guide data overnight, but there are still several missing stations. It doesn't have anything for most of the substations and several of the main PBS stations don't have any listings at all. Should I expect more guide data for the missing stations over time, or is this it?

28-2, 50-2 and 58-1 carry the same programming as analog 28, 50 and 58 so you can remap the analog listing to those. I did find a separate listing for 28-2 so that I could keep the analog 28 listing (TVGOS host). There is a listing for KCETHD but it is (or was) mapped to 48-1 in error. Change it to 28-1 and you're in business there. There is no listing for KOCEHD (50-1) ANYWHERE. Not Zap2it, not TitanTV, not the KOCE or PBS websites, so we're all out of luck there.

That covers the major PBS listings. There is nothing on 28-3 or 50-3 at this point. 58-2 seems to repeat just a few public affairs programs such as Tavis Smiley which are available on the other channels. 58-3 and 4 are educational programming for the Los Angeles City School District. I don't know about the San Bernardino PBS station which you may be able to get in Claremont (I don't get it here), you may be able to remap the analog listing there as well.

Got my 500 today, it's a Tweeter. Former owner set it up cause the clock came on right away, but it is 2:20 off. I hooked up OTA antennae and hdmi cable to my Sony 34XBR960. I can not get any screen on the TV. Do I need to wait for the TVGOS system to reset itself. I was able once to get the front panel to change when I hit 'Format' but now it won't change as I hit format.
Is there anything I could do seeing as this machine had been set up before in another zip code, probably for cable tv, again I get nothing on my TV. May try different input, like RCA cords. no difference with composite inputs.

Got my 500 today, it's a Tweeter. Former owner set it up cause the clock came on right away, but it is 2:20 off. I hooked up OTA antennae and hdmi cable to my Sony 34XBR960. I can not get any screen on the TV. Do I need to wait for the TVGOS system to reset itself. I was able once to get the front panel to change when I hit 'Format' but now it won't change as I hit format.
Is there anything I could do seeing as this machine had been set up before in another zip code, probably for cable tv, again I get nothing on my TV. May try different input, like RCA cords.

TVGOS isn't needed to get a picture.

Press the format button, and wait for a good 5-10 seconds before you push it again. Keep going til you get a picture.

28-2, 50-2 and 58-1 carry the same programming as analog 28, 50 and 58 so you can remap the analog listing to those. I did find a separate listing for 28-2 so that I could keep the analog 28 listing (TVGOS host). There is a listing for KCETHD but it is (or was) mapped to 48-1 in error. Change it to 28-1 and you're in business there. There is no listing for KOCEHD (50-1) ANYWHERE. Not Zap2it, not TitanTV, not the KOCE or PBS websites, so we're all out of luck there.


Thanks! KCET was actually totally unmapped, and was marked as a cable station (WAY down there with Speed Channel, even though I don't have cable). That said, what is that square box that sometimes appears in the upper left corner of the screen? I searched this thread and the manual and couldn't find an explaination.

I saw yesterday that my TiVo has updated its listings to add UHD to my Charter Cable lineup... I am REALLY hoping that TVGOS will do the same in the near future. This is where you see the benefit of the paid guide vs TVGOS.

Marc, did you lose stuff that you had recorded on the hard drive? Also, how long was the total time that you were without your unit?

thanks

No loss of previously recorded stuff.

Shipped on Wednesday 2/15, via UPS ground. Arrived on Monday 2/20 I think (maybe Tuesday), shipped back to me on Friday 2/24, delivered to me Tuesday 2/28. So, just shy of two weeks total door to door time.

Marc

Did you ask them specifically to fix the cable card issue? I heard they won't unless you ask them specifically.

Yes, that was the reason for sending it in. They made a reference to "electrical adjustment" on the invoice. So I hope they actually performed it.

Marc

Which channel? PBS? Go to the menu diagnostic screen while tuned to the host channel and see if it's analog or if it has changed to QAM. Recent posts in other forums indicate that some Chicagoland customers are being changed over to ADS without warning. Those folks also report that analog PBS has been inserted as channel 94 for TVGOS downloads.

Otherwise, if your original host is still analog, there may be a problem at your headend with passing the TVGOS data, since my PBS downloads are OK.

I have been switched over to ADS and my analog PBS is now channel 94 as you predicted. I guess others will find out soon that the change has taken place when they don't get guide data.

Thanks, I was able to get a screen view thru the SD format mode. I set up OTA, zip, etc and turned it off. Clock still says 11:15 but it is 8:50 here, but I'm leaving it off for as long as I can to see if it updates.

I have been switched over to ADS and my analog PBS is now channel 94 as you predicted. I guess others will find out soon that the change has taken place when they don't get guide data.

The good news is that Comcast apparently was able to remotely reprovision your card as digital with no action required by you. The bad news is that the Sony did not find channel 94 on its own over the last couple of days. I wonder if you have do a guide reset or if tuning to 94 and shutting down for the night will help.

The next thing to watch for is the card firmware upgrade from 4.05 to 4.21. The Comcast guy I spoke with thought they could do that remotely also, but was not absolutely sure. Have you checked the FW version?

The good news is that Comcast apparently was able to remotely reprovision your card as digital with no action required by you. The bad news is that the Sony did not find channel 94 on its own over the last couple of days. I wonder if you have do a guide reset or if tuning to 94 and shutting down for the night will help.

The next thing to watch for is the card firmware upgrade from 4.05 to 4.21. The Comcast guy I spoke with thought they could do that remotely also, but was not absolutely sure. Have you checked the FW version?

I already did the guide reset because I didn't think it would find 94 on its own. Just checked firmware and I'm sorry to report it's still at 4.05. I hope to get 4.21 soon to see if that fixes my SciFi channel recording failed problems.

Missed recording again!! I verified on Tuesday night that I had Criminal Minds and CSI-NY in the recording schedule for wednesday (3/1/06).

I set up Criminal Minds for weekly recording on Sunday afternoon, and it recorded fine. (I don't watch CSI-NY.) FWIW, I have weekly recordings that disappear pretty regularly, but I check and re-enter things just once a week every Sunday afternoon, and I've yet to miss a recording. Maybe I'm just lucky. Firmware 1.2.05.

I set up Criminal Minds for weekly recording on Sunday afternoon, and it recorded fine. (I don't watch CSI-NY.) FWIW, I have weekly recordings that disappear pretty regularly, but I check and re-enter things just once a week every Sunday afternoon, and I've yet to miss a recording. Maybe I'm just lucky. Firmware 1.2.05.

Had my HDD500 for about a month now and have not missed a recording yet (and I've typically recorded an average of 2 hours a night. I also have FW 1.2.05.

Thanks! KCET was actually totally unmapped, and was marked as a cable station (WAY down there with Speed Channel, even though I don't have cable). That said, what is that square box that sometimes appears in the upper left corner of the screen? I searched this thread and the manual and couldn't find an explaination.

Offhand, I don't believe I've ever seen anything like that. Do you mean when you're actually watching a program?

Offhand, I don't believe I've ever seen anything like that. Do you mean when you're actually watching a program?

Yeah. It only shows up when I press the exit button. Goes away when I press play, or menu or anything else. I took some crappy cameraphone pics to give you an idea of what I mean.

Pic 1 (http://www.terminal34.net/photo1.jpg) Pic 2 (http://www.terminal34.net/photo2.jpg)

If you don't record using the TVGOS, then all your recordings will be listed as "Unknown" and you won't be able to easily choose what recording to watch. It won't let you rename a file and you'll be stuck with everything under the "Unknown" directory. So the TVGOS is very useful and that's why everyone on this forum complains about the quirkyness of the guide.

Wolfie
What did you do to identify recordings when you recorded programs on cassette tape? Recordings are so much easier to find on this recorder, even if it names them "Unknown"
If you set up the recorded program list so that each recording is shown individually, you will be able to identify them by channel, date and time. Also, you can always hilight an item and press select to preview it. If your recorder is in the group mode, all "unknown" programs can be listed by hilighting unknown program and selecting it.

I have both a 250 and 500 model, and yet to get guide coverage for a full week on either recorder, so I have been using manual mode for the days that have blank program schedule.

I was successful at manual recording some OTA HD segments. Overnight my clock adjusted to now exactly one hour too fast, no guide data, some categories under search showed up but no real data. Does this DVR have a date stamp. the dates it is giving are way off. Jan 04. where do I set the date? Yes I am reading the manual ;) .

I was successful at manual recording some OTA HD segments. Overnight my clock adjusted to now exactly one hour too fast, no guide data, some categories under search showed up but no real data. Does this DVR have a date stamp. the dates it is giving are way off. Jan 04. where do I set the date? Yes I am reading the manual ;) .

Try this. Go to your host station, press menu, screen mode(on the remote), 9012, select TV Guide G* test. This should set your clock within minutes. Not sure if it helps with the wrong date.

Try this. Go to your host station, press menu, screen mode(on the remote), 9012, select TV Guide G* test. This should set your clock within minutes. Not sure if it helps with the wrong date.

You could try that, but in my experience, it doesn't work quickly. I suspect that it only works when your host channel has already been established. When I tried it, I didn't have my host channel yet.

If you set up the recorded program list so that each recording is shown individually, you will be able to identify them by channel, date and time. Also, you can always hilight an item and press select to preview it.

Hey Ray1938. I don't know exactly how to do this. Any more specific info would be greatly appreciated. It would be so much easier if the machine would let the user rename exery recording (of course, if this were the case, then we wouldn't need the TVGOS).

Wolfie

Wolfie, you'd think there would be a lot of pressure to improve the TVGOS system since it is used in so many products now, esp TVs, DVD recorders and maybe VHS? not to mention the Sony hdtv recorders. I assume any help from the Cablecos would be slow or non-existent so you will use their boxes.

Hey gigaguy. It's probably me, but I've only seen the TV Guide system used on this device. Have you seen other applications where it is being used?

Wolfie

I don't know exactly how to do this. Any more specific info would be greatly appreciated.

Wolfie

In other words manually record each show, do not group them together. If you like Lost then Boston legal don't manually record for 2 hours, do two sessions of one hour each. When it says unknown it will also show day date and time which pretty much tells you what show it is.

You could try that, but in my experience, it doesn't work quickly. I suspect that it only works when your host channel has already been established. When I tried it, I didn't have my host channel yet.

Yes, I am sure you to have your host channel established. I have tried it a few times after power failures or unplugging the unit and I do get the time back within 2 minutes.

Hey gigaguy. It's probably me, but I've only seen the TV Guide system used on this device. Have you seen other applications where it is being used?

Wolfie

It's used on a number of televisions as well (and maybe other DVRs?) I have an earlier version on my RCA TV. There is a thread dedicated to TVGOS issues in the "Rear Projection Units" section of the "Display Devices" area.

Had my HDD500 for about a month now and have not missed a recording yet (and I've typically recorded an average of 2 hours a night. I also have FW 1.2.05.


Well two people that don't have problems have 1.2.05 firmware. May be I should downgrade!! I have 1.2.13 :(

Well two people that don't have problems have 1.2.05 firmware. May be I should downgrade!! I have 1.2.13 :(

I haven't had any problems of this sort at all (in the month I have had it) with 1.2.13.

Yeah. It only shows up when I press the exit button. Goes away when I press play, or menu or any

Now that I see it I do have a vague recollection of seeing something like this. But, no, I don't have any idea what it means. I'll check it out today and report back if I come up with anything.

Just got my cancellation notice from Tweeter on my HDD500 :(

We wanted to personally apologize for the cancellation of your recent
order for a Sony DHGHDD500 High-Definition Digital Video Recorder.
Unfortunately, due to a system error, we took more orders for this
product than we had the capability to fulfill.


I ordered pretty late, so maybe some of you that jumped on it right away may still get it. Lucky @$!%^& :)

I'm still enjoying my 250 that I got from Best Buy, other than a couple odd lockups, with no problems for the last 5 months.

Just got an email that Tweeter cancelled my order as well.

Just got a cancellation for a tweeeter order placed on 2/18. Email text below:

We wanted to personally apologize for the cancellation of your recent
order for a Sony DHGHDD500 High-Definition Digital Video Recorder.
Unfortunately, due to a system error, we took more orders for this
product than we had the capability to fulfill. Please accept our
apologies in this matter.

As a customer service gesture, we would like to offer you 10% off your
next purchase with our online store. You can redeem your 10% off
discount by contacting our Customer Service center at 1-866-690-2370 and
placing an order through a phone representative. We will be happy to
help you place an order for any product on our site, No Exceptions!

Again, please accept our apologies for any inconvenience and we look
forward to serving your electronics needs in the future.

Sincerely,

Customer Service

I've only seen the TV Guide system used on this device. Have you seen other applications where it is being used?

Do a search over all the forums here, for the word "TVGOS" and skim through the threads that turn up. I see references to TVs and DVRs from Toshiba, Pioneer, Panasonic, Philips, etc.

Just got my cancellation notice from Tweeter on my HDD500 :(



I ordered pretty late, so maybe some of you that jumped on it right away may still get it. Lucky @$!%^& :)

I'm still enjoying my 250 that I got from Best Buy, other than a couple odd lockups, with no problems for the last 5 months.

Ditto. I checked Tweeters website. It still HAS the order. It has not been cancelled yet.

Just got a cancellation for a tweeeter order placed on 2/18. Email text below:

We wanted to personally apologize for the cancellation of your recent
order for a Sony DHGHDD500 High-Definition Digital Video Recorder.
Unfortunately, due to a system error, we took more orders for this
product than we had the capability to fulfill. Please accept our
apologies in this matter.

As a customer service gesture, we would like to offer you 10% off your
next purchase with our online store. You can redeem your 10% off
discount by contacting our Customer Service center at 1-866-690-2370 and
placing an order through a phone representative. We will be happy to
help you place an order for any product on our site, No Exceptions!

Again, please accept our apologies for any inconvenience and we look
forward to serving your electronics needs in the future.

Sincerely,

Customer Service

Same here...

Ditto. I checked Tweeters website. It still HAS the order. It has not been cancelled yet.

Just for your information. I got an email saying that my order has been cacelled. But their website still shows my order! You may want to temper your hopes accordingly :-)

Baskaran

Just for your information. I got an email saying that my order has been cacelled. But their website still shows my order! You may want to temper your hopes accordingly :-)

Baskaran
I got an email too but the website still shows the order. I wonder what this means though? Is there still a chance we might get one?

Missed recording again!! I verified on Tuesday night that I had Criminal Minds and CSI-NY in the recording schedule for wednesday (3/1/06). I checked at 9:20 PM CST and the DHG-HDD250 was not recording CSI-NY. I turned on and checked if Criminal Minds was recorded and it was not either. I went to the schedule and neither of them were there (I had set them for regular recording). Poof. Gone.

I am in Kansas City. Is there anybody else here in KC that can schedule similar programs as me to see if their box is behaving the same way. May be we can figure out if this is random or if all things are equal, is it repeatable.

Try changing the recordings to weekly instead of regular. You should only use regular for shows that are on daily. Use weekly for once a week shows.

I have not had a missed show yet. Using weekly for all of my recordings except one show that is on each week day.

I got an email too but the website still shows the order. I wonder what this means though? Is there still a chance we might get one?

They probably have to cancel each order out of their system one at a time. Probably sent out the emails before cancelling the orders so they don't get a ton of phone calls: 'Hey Tweeter, why is my order cancelled?'

Just got an email that Tweeter cancelled my order as well.

I got an e-mail from them today at 11:41 AM canceling my order.

At 11:55 AM I got a second e-mail saying that the order is still valid. I called Tweeter and the person that I talked to checked with the order department and said that the first e-mail was sent out due to a "computer glitch" and assured me that my order was still valid. Tweeter still doesn't know when they will be able to ship this item. Given what has taken place I do not feel all "warm and fuzzy" that this item will ever be shipped by Tweeter. They sure don't seem to have their act together.

I placed my order on 2/18...and got the cancellation notice as well. I suspect that the orders that are visible on the website will disappear soon.

I am definitely not holding my breath...

I haven't had any problems of this sort at all (in the month I have had it) with 1.2.13.

I was having the dropped scheduled recording problem in a big way, so I sent my unit in. (Took two weeks roundtrip, and it came back with a cleaned HD). They upgraded me to .13, and all was well for two weeks, then it started dropping recordings - NCIS, CSI Miami, w/o a Trace...

Called up the tech yesterday, and we did a TV guide reset - Sony *believes* that this is a problem when gemstar data gets corrupted during the download. We'll see if the TV guide reset does the trick. BTW, I'm in the Boston area and I only use OTA. I've never had any issues getting my guide data.

I was having the dropped scheduled recording problem in a big way, so I sent my unit in. (Took two weeks roundtrip, and it came back with a cleaned HD). They upgraded me to .13, and all was well for two weeks, then it started dropping recordings - NCIS, CSI Miami, w/o a Trace...

Called up the tech yesterday, and we did a TV guide reset - Sony *believes* that this is a problem when gemstar data gets corrupted during the download. We'll see if the TV guide reset does the trick. BTW, I'm in the Boston area and I only use OTA. I've never had any issues getting my guide data.

It is interesting that those are all CBS shows.

Just got my cancellation notice from Tweeter on my HDD500 :(



I ordered pretty late, so maybe some of you that jumped on it right away may still get it. Lucky @$!%^& :)

I'm still enjoying my 250 that I got from Best Buy, other than a couple odd lockups, with no problems for the last 5 months.
same here, happily ever after 9/2005 ;)

I have a DHG-HDD250 with Cable only input and a Motorola cable card which has an occasional occurance of freezing the video on pause but then will not go back to live video again until the channel is changed. The sound resumes normally but the video remains as it was when the pause was originally pushed. Has anyony else had this happen and what are your operating conditions? (OTA only, cable only, cable with cable card only or both).

Hey Ray1938. I don't know exactly how to do this. Any more specific info would be greatly appreciated. It would be so much easier if the machine would let the user rename exery recording (of course, if this were the case, then we wouldn't need the TVGOS).

Wolfie

By this, I assume you mean how to get the list of recorded shows. As I recall, the recorder is initially set to group recordings by show name. Look in your owners manual for the answer. I'm away from home now so I can't give you the specific page. If you still need more help, please post another message.

With regard to renaming shows, it's too bad Sony didn't include that feature, or at least name recordings by channel, date and time instead of unknown. However, that feature wouldn't be a substitute for the guide, which provides many nice features. For those of us who have not used TIVO, it's easy to get spoiled with the TVGOS. It definitely makes it easier to set recordings, and provides useful program information such as identifying new ones.

Last month I set up a new DHG-HDD500 for my aunt. She's fed up with its quirks and is probably going to return it.

She has analog cable right now but she plans on buying a large-screen plasma later this year. Since she doesn't want to subscribe to digital cable or HD right away, she was interested in the Sony because of its digital tuner. She thought she might be able to watch the unencrypted digital simulcasts of the analog channels and the unencrypted HD ones. However, the digital channels are all in the frequency range XXX.XXXX. Since the TVGOS channel editor won't accept a 4-digit number after the period, she can't map the channels to their easier to remember numbers. This means that she would have to key in an 8-digit number every time she wants to watch one of these channels and also remember which 8-digit number corresponds to which station since there are no channel logos assigned to these numbers. Ugh!

Another thing she doesn't like is the slow channel changing and slow reaction to remote commands. I thought the slow channel changing might be SOP for digital tuners but this happens with the analog channels too. Everything else is slow too. You push the TV Guide button and there is a noticeable lag before it appears on screen. Scrolling through menus is slow. You keep getting the feeling that maybe your button push did not take and wonder if you should press it again.

And TVGOS issues are a subject for another message in itself! It took her 3 weeks to get listings and she still has not had a complete week's worth of listings.

Hey gigaguy. It's probably me, but I've only seen the TV Guide system used on this device. Have you seen other applications where it is being used?

Wolfie

Not only is it on other equipment but they all use the same 753... access code. By the way, I found an easy way to remember those strange series of numbers: the numbers form a X pattern plus a vertical line up the middle of the X on the keypadnumbers. The series starts with 7, which is the bottom left. The third number, 3, is at the upper right , the fourth number, 1, is at the upper left, and 9 is at the lower right. Then move one key to the left and enter the three middle numbers in an upward pattern. .

...while the analog cable channels look more fuzzy. Has anyone else noticed this?

My aunt replaced a second VCR with one of these. The PQ from the VCR was better than the PQ from the Sony connected to analog cable.

Other than the slight PQ difference I have noticed so far, it has been great. Also, the channels change slowly, but they did on my LG LST-4210 as well, probably attributable to the NATIVE setting.

I don't think the slow channel changing is a result of the NATIVE setting. My aunt is set to SD OUT and it takes about 4-5 seconds to switch analog channels.

My Tweeter order shows as Cancelled on 03 / 03 / 06 due to missing or invalid order information

It is interesting that those are all CBS shows.

Dan Rather is working for TVG and getting his revenge?

My Tweeter order shows as Cancelled on 03 / 03 / 06 due to missing or invalid order information

So was mine and there was nothing wrong with the order on my end :eek:

My Tweeter order shows as Cancelled on 03 / 03 / 06 due to missing or invalid order information
When did you order yours?

I wonder why they can't give us the 250's for 249?

I was just at Frys Electronics and they're still 999.00 there. I don't understand why one chain store has them on clearance but others don't. I guess it wasn't a Sony deal then, just a Tweeter thing. :(

Did anyone get an email confirming their order, and if so, what date did you order it on? Thanks.

I placed my order on 2/18...and got the cancellation notice as well. I suspect that the orders that are visible on the website will disappear soon.

I am definitely not holding my breath...

As expected, my order has been cancelled on the web site too, now. I also got a second email saying that the item has been removed from my order.

The email said that they took more orders than they could fill, but the web site order status shows that it was cancelled because of incomplete order info. I think this is just a system choice when cancelling an order...

As expected, my order has been cancelled on the web site too, now. I also got a second email saying that the item has been removed from my order.

The email said that they took more orders than they could fill, but the web site order status shows that it was cancelled because of incomplete order info. I think this is just a system choice when cancelling an order...
Makes me wonder if anyone got one off the website. They should give us the 250's for 249 then if they can't fulfil the orders. They seem to have plenty of those left.

My Tweeter order shows as Cancelled on 03 / 03 / 06 due to missing or invalid order information

After getting assurance from a Tweeter supervisor at 11:55 AM (ET) today that my order was still valid (I even got an e-mail to confirm that) at 2:55 PM I got another e-mail from them saying that the order was canceled. This time when I called the CSR said that a lot of orders for the Sony DHGHDD500 were canceled and mine was one on them. I asked to speak to a supervisor and after being on hold almost 20 minutes I did get to speak to a nasty one named Justin who just made a lot of excuses. I am going to give Tweeter's headquarters a call, (800) 893-3837, and try to find out why they took all our orders,assured us (or at least me) that our units were only backordered (as recently as this morning) and then canceled them completely. They SHOULD have better inventory tracking than that and while I don't think that we can accuse them of fraud, it sure isn't a very honest way of doing business.

They aren't even offering a good deal on the HDD250 units for customers that got their order canceled. According to the CSR they have plenty in stock (at $599.99).

However, the digital channels are all in the frequency range XXX.XXXX. Since the TVGOS channel editor won't accept a 4-digit number after the period, she can't map the channels to their easier to remember numbers.
I have never heard of 4-digit subchannel numbers being used before. Technically speaking, the subchannel (a.k.a. minor channel) numbers are 10-bit values, which can range from 0 to 1023. ATSC document A/65B (http://www.atsc.org/standards/a_65b.pdf) states: "Minor channel numbers for cable, on the other hand, have no restrictions on use: they can range from 0 to 999 for any type of service." It is unclear whether or not the 4-digit subchannel numbers from 1000 to 1023 are valid for cable.

After getting assurance from a Tweeter supervisor at 11:55 AM (ET) today that my order was still valid (I even got an e-mail to confirm that) at 2:55 PM I got another e-mail from them saying that the order was canceled. This time when I called the CSR said that a lot of orders for the Sony DHGHDD500 were canceled and mine was one on them. I asked to speak to a supervisor and after being on hold almost 20 minutes I did get to speak to a nasty one named Justin who just made a lot of excuses. I am going to give Tweeter's headquarters a call, (800) 893-3837, and try to find out why they took all our orders,assured us (or at least me) that our units were only backordered (as recently as this morning) and then canceled them completely. They SHOULD have better inventory tracking than that and while I don't think that we can accuse them of fraud, it sure isn't a very honest way of doing business.

They aren't even offering a good deal on the HDD250 units for customers that got their order canceled. According to the CSR they have plenty in stock (at $599.99).

Sounds like my experience with Tweeter on 2/22, see post #3820 in this forum.

They aren't even offering a good deal on the HDD250 units for customers that got their order canceled. According to the CSR they have plenty in stock (at $599.99).
I suppose you could use the "10% off discount" that they mentioned in the email, which would bring it down to $539.99.

Sounds like my experience with Tweeter on 2/22, see post #3820 in this forum.


They canceled mine too. Curiously, the order status says "Canceled due to incomplete or wrong order information" or something like that. I called and talked with a CSR and he said that their inventory management sw was screwed up and they took more orders than what they expected from Sony and they will not be getting anymore!! He also offered 10% off. Oh well. Glad I already have a 250.

I got my cancellation from tweeter.com, too, so I'm still with my interim strategy: Taking s-video and l/r audio out of a Motorola hi-def receiver to a Toshiba hard disk-DVD recorder set on a high bitrate. Actually it works quite well, except that (1) It's "better-than-DVD-but-not-hi-def" in quality and (2) the IR blaster on the Tosh won't switch the channel on the Motorola receiver, so you have to leave the right channel set for timed recordings.

With refurbs, my interim solution cost $350. And it's clunky. But I'm thinking the industry can beat this solution and make a lot of money, too, at the $350 price point. I'd pay well over that for something that worked.

Still waiting,

willie

I have never heard of 4-digit subchannel numbers being used before. Technically speaking, the subchannel (a.k.a. minor channel) numbers are 10-bit values, which can range from 0 to 1023. ATSC document A/65B (http://www.atsc.org/standards/a_65b.pdf) states: "Minor channel numbers for cable, on the other hand, have no restrictions on use: they can range from 0 to 999 for any type of service." It is unclear whether or not the 4-digit subchannel numbers from 1000 to 1023 are valid for cable.

I can't speak to whether the 4-digit subchannel numbers are valid or not, but that is what RCN Cable in Chicago is using. There are a few other posts complaining about this issue.

Technically speaking, the subchannel (a.k.a. minor channel) numbers are 10-bit values, which can range from 0 to 1023.

Her subchannel numbers go higher than 1023. She has, for example, 92.4602 and 123.4204.

I just got my Sony DHG-HDD250 back from the Sony service center in Mt Pleasant, PA today. They shipped it back to me in a box barely larger than the unit itself. The front bezel is cracked, the front display window is glued on below the display and there are bits and pieces rattling around inside.

http://home.comcast.net/~twinbrook46636/sonysucks.jpg

Before I sent this unit in for repair it was in perfect cosmetic and operational condition aside from a problem I was having with my new CableCARD. Now look at it. Naturally this would happen on a Friday so I have to wait until Monday to hear back from them.

One thing of interest for you folks is the iLink icon on the display.

I just got my Sony DHG-HDD250 back from the Sony service center in Mt Pleasant, PA today. They shipped it back to me in a box barely larger than the unit itself. The front bezel is cracked, the front display window is glued on below the display and there are bits and pieces rattling around inside.

SNIP

Before I sent this unit in for repair it was in perfect cosmetic and operational condition aside from a problem I was having with my new CableCARD. Now look at it. Naturally this would happen on a Friday so I have to wait until Monday to hear back from them.

One thing of interest for you folks is the iLink icon on the display.

Ouch.

Did they ship it back in the same box you sent it in? I got mine back today too, and it was in the original box that I sent it in (which was the original box). They even wrapped it in brown kraft paper to "disguise" it from prying eyes in the shipping chain.

I am sorry to see that yours came back in that condition. Did the package look like it was damaged?

My 500 clock is correct now and I got 2-3 days of listings. Thanks for the help, so many questions left. Trying to delete all the channels I don't want, I only want the HD ones. what a learning curve. seems to ouput well to my Panny DVD recorder too but trying to see which output mode is best.

I had a Tweeter order too, Tweeter canceled it today. I think they should do the 250 for $250 too :p

Ouch.

Did they ship it back in the same box you sent it in? I got mine back today too, and it was in the original box that I sent it in (which was the original box). They even wrapped it in brown kraft paper to "disguise" it from prying eyes in the shipping chain.

I am sorry to see that yours came back in that condition. Did the package look like it was damaged?

No, I shipped it to them in a large box with a lot of protection. The box they shipped it back to me in was much, much smaller. The box measured 20x6x17 and it was bulging out on the sides. It appears to have some damage at the bottom though I doubt anything shipped in a box this small would have survived as there is not enough to protect it from shock during transit. I can only imagine what shape the hard drive and other internal components are in. Here I was worrrying that the technichian might scratch the case with a screwdriver.

No, I shipped it to them in a large box with a lot of protection. The box they shipped it back to me in was much, much smaller. The box measured 20x6x17 and it was bulging out on the sides. It appears to have some damage at the bottom though I doubt anything shipped in a box this small would have survived as there is not enough to protect it from shock during transit. I can only imagine what shape the hard drive and other internal components are in. Here I was worrrying that the technichian might scratch the case with a screwdriver.

In the picture, it looks like there is a piece hanging down from underneath (toward the left side of the picture). Is this true? (Just wondering).

In the picture, it looks like there is a piece hanging down from underneath (toward the left side of the picture). Is this true? (Just wondering).

Yes, the front of the unit is cracked and part of the bezel is hanging down. Not much is holding the front on now actually.

I just noticed that my TVGOS listings are showing new logos tonight. I've had the unit turned off the past couple days. I got a DHG-HDD500 from Tweeter so I have a backup. INHD, Hallmark, CSPAN2, MTV2, DIY, Oxygen and about 20 to 30 others that were all generic titles before now they have their own logos. Many of the premium movie channel logos have been updated as well. No new channels that I can see but at least there are signs of life so there is hope.

This thing is shweet and working like a charm. Mine is the 1.12.6 version.
What I've always wanted - liberation form cableco boxes and HD recording. May try cablecard but I know that may not be as pain free. I'm OTA antenna only but in one view all the digital and premium lineup listings and logos are showing up, but of course, not with any signal.

I did the autotune and 6.1 and 6.2 are missing. I am getting the KOIN programing on 40.3 and 40.4 but these do not correlate to 6.1 and 6.2 which are 40.1 and 40.2 respectively.

My TV's tuner is still receiving 6.1 and 6.2 fine so it seems to be an issue with the Sony's software or tuner.

I would not care except that I cannot use the TV Guide to record Channel 6-HD because it does not recognize or list 40.3 and 40.4. If I manually enter 6.1 or 6.2 or 40.1 or 40.2, the screen says "no signal". Oh, one more thing, Channel 6 analog is showing its signature as "NET 6" instead of KOIN.

I talked to an engineer at KOIN and he said that it was probably an equipment issue like with the early Samsung DVRs. He also said that they don't even broadcast on 40.3 or 40.4 which makes the whole thing really strange.

I talked to Sony support for an hour (got bumped up the chain 5 times) and they could not come up with a solution or a work around. They suggested I return the unit to Best Buy. I did, and the second unit has the same issues.

Has anyone else had a similar problem? Any suggestions?

When are people going to get it (I suppose that assumes they even attempt the find their answer before posting)? The channel number like 6.1 or 6.2 are not FCC channel assignments like VHF or UHF channels were. The channel are broadcast on a frequecy that you can find on the FCC site. The TV station broadcast that fake channel number 6 so people familer with their low def analog channel can find the digital channel.

In your case the KOIN station equipment is malfunctioning that is placing this information in the stream. The fact that you are seeing "Net 6" is a good indication that the networks information is being sent unaltered over the air when it should have been replaced with the local station information. When the station fixes their issue you will have to rescan the channels to get the information corrected. If it is OTA channel you can do the scan for new OTA channel option instead of the full scan. Your TV did the scan when the channel information was correct so it has no issue.

You can always go in the TVGuide channel list setup and replace 6.1 with 40.3 and 6.2 with 40.4. Or find any spare channel at the bottom of the list for the same netowrk and edit its channel number.

I did the autotune and 6.1 and 6.2 are missing. I am getting the KOIN programing on 40.3 and 40.4 but these do not correlate to 6.1 and 6.2 which are 40.1 and 40.2 respectively.

My TV's tuner is still receiving 6.1 and 6.2 fine so it seems to be an issue with the Sony's software or tuner.

I would not care except that I cannot use the TV Guide to record Channel 6-HD because it does not recognize or list 40.3 and 40.4. If I manually enter 6.1 or 6.2 or 40.1 or 40.2, the screen says "no signal". Oh, one more thing, Channel 6 analog is showing its signature as "NET 6" instead of KOIN.

I talked to an engineer at KOIN and he said that it was probably an equipment issue like with the early Samsung DVRs. He also said that they don't even broadcast on 40.3 or 40.4 which makes the whole thing really strange.

I talked to Sony support for an hour (got bumped up the chain 5 times) and they could not come up with a solution or a work around. They suggested I return the unit to Best Buy. I did, and the second unit has the same issues.

Has anyone else had a similar problem? Any suggestions?

So it seems like this unit was at some point designed with 1394/Firewire support.I have read most of the now 140 pages but can't remember this being discussed before.If 1394 support was considered there may be a trace on the motherboard of it and this would be the mother of upgrades in my opinion.Cablecard and 1394 would be a sweet combination only to be found elsewhere on the elusive $2000 Mitsubishi HD DVR.This would be a much more versatile hack than the hard drive upgrade some forum members are working on.Has anyone seen ANY reference to 1394 anywhere in some of the service menues?

I just got my Sony DHG-HDD250 back from the Sony service center in Mt Pleasant, PA today. They shipped it back to me in a box barely larger than the unit itself. The front bezel is cracked, the front display window is glued on below the display and there are bits and pieces rattling around inside.



I just got my 500 back from PA on friday as well. I sent it in it's original box with original cardboard insulation and received it back in it original box with bubble wrap inside. Looks like it has been handled very well.

I did the autotune and 6.1 and 6.2 are missing. I am getting the KOIN programing on 40.3 and 40.4 but these do not correlate to 6.1 and 6.2 which are 40.1 and 40.2 respectively.

My TV's tuner is still receiving 6.1 and 6.2 fine so it seems to be an issue with the Sony's software or tuner.

I would not care except that I cannot use the TV Guide to record Channel 6-HD because it does not recognize or list 40.3 and 40.4. If I manually enter 6.1 or 6.2 or 40.1 or 40.2, the screen says "no signal". Oh, one more thing, Channel 6 analog is showing its signature as "NET 6" instead of KOIN.

I talked to an engineer at KOIN and he said that it was probably an equipment issue like with the early Samsung DVRs. He also said that they don't even broadcast on 40.3 or 40.4 which makes the whole thing really strange.

I talked to Sony support for an hour (got bumped up the chain 5 times) and they could not come up with a solution or a work around. They suggested I return the unit to Best Buy. I did, and the second unit has the same issues.

Has anyone else had a similar problem? Any suggestions?


Did you just hook up your unit? Are you using cable or over the air antenna?

The Crutchfield website is selling the units from their outlet shops. I got the last in the box unit last night for $625.

The guy who took my order said they had five or six out of the box display ("scratch and dent") units for $594. Those units are listed on the Crutchfield webpage as well.

So it seems like this unit was at some point designed with 1394/Firewire support.I have read most of the now 140 pages but can't remember this being discussed before.If 1394 support was considered there may be a trace on the motherboard of it and this would be the mother of upgrades in my opinion.Cablecard and 1394 would be a sweet combination only to be found elsewhere on the elusive $2000 Mitsubishi HD DVR.This would be a much more versatile hack than the hard drive upgrade some forum members are working on.Has anyone seen ANY reference to 1394 anywhere in some of the service menues?

http://home.comcast.net/~twinbrook46636/sonysucks.jpg

http://www.caneb.com/Article/UploadFiles/200501/20050110093256983.jpg

That could very well be the case. In addition to the iLink symbol in the display you can also see an open space to the right of the IR sensor. This is where the Memory Stick slot would have been. They obviously had grand plans for this at one point and I think it would have sold better at the original list prices if they had kept them.

Here is the press release for the original DHG-HDD100 and DHG-HDD200 models:


High-Definition Digital Video Recorders


For the 10 million existing DTV owners who want access to digital cable high definition content, Sony introduces a new line of HD digital video receiver/recorders. The new recorders, the DHG-HDD100 and the DHG-HDD200, provide access to encrypted high-definition and standard-definition digital cable services when paired with a CableCARD. They also provide access to legacy analog cable services, as well as non-subscription services such as high definition digital terrestrial and analog broadcasts.


The DHG-HDD200 digital video recorder can record and store up to 250 hours of standard definition programming or at least 25 hours of maximum bit rate high-definition content on its internal hard drive. The DHG-HDD100 will record up to 120 hours of SD programming and at least 12 hours of HD content.



The DHG-HDD100 and DHG-HDD200 will also include these features:


HDMI digital video output with backwards compatibility to DVI monitors.

Integrated electronic program guide (EPG) for convenient on-screen display of variety of programming.

Component video output for connection to many high-definition TVs.

Several standard-definition analog outputs for connection to legacy recording equipment or analog TVs.

Multiple display formats and flexible aspect ratio settings for outstanding reproduction of all broadcast formats on a wide variety of DTVs.

Dolby® Digital 5.1 channel audio decoding with digital optical audio output.

USB and data ports for connecting accessory devices.

Memory Stick™ media slot for convenient JPEG and MPEG1 file playback. It can also display customized slide show with MP3 file background music.

A five device universal remote control.


The DHG-HDD100 and the DHG-HDD200 digital video receiver/recorders will be available this fall for about $700, and $800, respectively.


I'm curious as to what kind of accessories they originally planned for these units.

In your case the KOIN station equipment is malfunctioning that is placing this information in the stream. The fact that you are seeing "Net 6" is a good indication that the networks information is being sent unaltered over the air when it should have been replaced with the local station information. When the station fixes their issue you will have to rescan the channels to get the information corrected. If it is OTA channel you can do the scan for new OTA channel option instead of the full scan. Your TV did the scan when the channel information was correct so it has no issue.

Note that (on my unit, at least) the Auto-add will NOT look for new or changed subchannels on a main channel that it has already found. I have had to do a full Autoscan to get a new or changed subchannel where I already have some subchannel info. The good news is that you don't lose your channel enable/disable or TVGOS information when you do this.

I just got my 500 back from PA on friday as well. I sent it in it's original box with original cardboard insulation and received it back in it original box with bubble wrap inside. Looks like it has been handled very well.

I had the same experience a month ago. Same box with lots of bubble wrap. Apparently this one unit was repacked by somebody who didn't know (or didn't care) what they were doing. Too bad TWinbrook46636 has to suffer for somebody's incompetence

Everything has been working just fine for the last few months. Yesterday morning I noticed my clock was wrong. I tuned to my host channel and did the VBI test and that set it back. Later that day I noticed the clock again was wrong. Did the same thing to reset it. This morning it was only showing --:--. I checked my listings and they were all missing for today and for days 7 and 8.

I’m guessing that the TVGOS updates are crashing the unit. I tried to do a reset by unplugging the unit. While watching a DVD I noticed the front panel showing the “Welcome…” and then no clock again.

There have been posts earlier in this thread about the unit crashing and about people suddenly loosing the guide, but I don’t remember anyone presenting it with the fact that they kept loosing the clock.

I also don’t remember if anyone was able to resolve this or if they ended up needed to get their unit shipped to Sony for an upgrade.

I also noticed that I no longer can tune NBC HD since this started happening.

I’m guessing there may be something wrong with the TVGOS feed that crashes the unit.

Anyone else in the Seattle area having similar issues?

Anyone have some suggestions short of calling Sony and shipping them the unit for an upgrade which may make the unit less sensitive to a TVGOS issues?

JP

I also noticed that I no longer can tune NBC HD since this started happening.

Anyone have some suggestions short of calling Sony and shipping them the unit for an upgrade which may make the unit less sensitive to a TVGOS issues?The NBC DTV issue is due to channel 5.1 being off the air last night.

You could try the 9012 menu -> Format Hard Drive. I believe this will copy all the application software from the backup partition to the main partition. I don't know if that will result in you losing your setups or recordings.

Note that (on my unit, at least) the Auto-add will NOT look for new or changed subchannels on a main channel that it has already found. I have had to do a full Autoscan to get a new or changed subchannel where I already have some subchannel info. The good news is that you don't lose your channel enable/disable or TVGOS information when you do this.
ah...that's useful info...I got a 250 from BB this week, and everything I've tried so far (all OTA) is working well EXCEPT it didn't pick up the local PBS station's digital subchannels, except for those that were actually broadcasting the evening I got it - ie. the HD channel and one subchannel. The next day I did an auto-add to get the subchannels that broadcast during the day, but it didn't pick them up then either!

So I guess I should just do a full autoscan, with no fear of screwing up my settings or TVGOS data?

Interesting, these were 599.00 yesterday, now they're 499.00, but they're not available online anymore. I wonder if they'll be putting these down to 249 soon too?

http://www.tweeter.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2017120

Here is the press release for the original DHG-HDD100 and DHG-HDD200 models:

I'm curious as to what kind of accessories they originally planned for these units.
do you know when this press release came out? I've never seen it before.

I wish my new 250 DID have firewire, like my LG 3410a...very handy for archiving the rare thing I want to keep for viewing again! (The 3410 also has a function for editing a recorded program, so you can archive something that no longer has commercials, etc...)

(PS: sorry to see what happened to your unit.)

I’m guessing that the TVGOS updates are crashing the unit. I tried to do a reset by unplugging the unit. While watching a DVD I noticed the front panel showing the “Welcome…” and then no clock again.

I also don’t remember if anyone was able to resolve this or if they ended up needed to get their unit shipped to Sony for an upgrade.


Once a TVGOS download crashes the guide, the solution generally is to do a guide reset via the 9012 menu. This of course will require reorganizing your guide channel order, etc.

You also have to hope that TVGOS has solved the problem in your area, if that's what it was.

Try this. Go to your host station, press menu, screen mode(on the remote), 9012, select TV Guide G* test. This should set your clock within minutes. Not sure if it helps with the wrong date.

How can I find out which local OTA station is the host for Gemstar / TVGOS? I live near Madison, Wisconsin.

do you know when this press release came out? I've never seen it before.

I wish my new 250 DID have firewire, like my LG 3410a...very handy for archiving the rare thing I want to keep for viewing again! (The 3410 also has a function for editing a recorded program, so you can archive something that no longer has commercials, etc...)

(PS: sorry to see what happened to your unit.)

Thanks. We'll see what Sony has to say on Monday. The press release for the original models was issued (http://news.sel.sony.com/pressrelease/4439) in early 2004. I found this article from HDTV Magazine on the issue...


On Sony's press release of February 04, the company announced the future introduction (by fall 04) of two new Cable HD-STBs with DVR capabilities, featuring ATSC/NTSC/QAM CableCARD tuners implementing Sony Passage integrated decryption technology. The boxes were said to be suited with HDMI/HDCP, Gemstar integrated EPG, component output, flexible AR settings, DD 5.1 w/optical audio out, USB data ports, and memory stick for JPEG and MPEG1, as follows:

DHG-HDD100 $700, TTM fall 04, 120GB HDD, 120 hours SD, 12 hours HD
DHG-HDD200 $800, TTM fall 04, 250GB HDD, 200 hours SD, 25 hours HD

However, later, in August 04, Sony issued a different press release announcing the future introduction of other models, as follows:

DHG-HDD250 $800, TTM fall 04, 250GB HDD, 20 hours of HD recording
DHG-HDD500 $1000, TTM fall 04, 500GB HDD (two 250GB HDDs), 60 hours of HD

Although both units above (250 and 500) have similar tuning and connectivity features as the models previously announced in February (100 and 200), the new units were announced with different model numbers, prices, HDD capacity, and recording time.

Sony had not referred to the first models on the second press release of August to clarify if this new pair is a replacement or an addition to those; apparently, Sony has decided to replace the two original models (100 and 200) even before they were expected to appear in fall 04.

It is important to note that these HD-STBs have a connectivity limitation: they lack IEEE1394 Firewire ™ input/outputs. This means that a tuned/stored HD content would not be able to be output to a D-VHS recorder for HD tape archival, nor it could be part of digital networking of compressed HD video with other devices or displays.

Additionally, such limitation does not comply with a specification requiring 1394 digital connectivity on Cable HD-STBs established in the plug-and-play agreement made by the Cable and Consumer Electronics industry, and approved by the FCC. If you are interested in more details, this subject was covered on my article "HDTV Integrated Tuners and You" that appeared on the second issue of this magazine.

ah...that's useful info...I got a 250 from BB this week, and everything I've tried so far (all OTA) is working well EXCEPT it didn't pick up the local PBS station's digital subchannels, except for those that were actually broadcasting the evening I got it - ie. the HD channel and one subchannel. The next day I did an auto-add to get the subchannels that broadcast during the day, but it didn't pick them up then either!

So I guess I should just do a full autoscan, with no fear of screwing up my settings or TVGOS data?

Yes, the only possible problem occurs when there is a station or subchannel that you had before that is off for some reason when you do the new autoscan. It, of course, will not be picked up since the Autoscan shows what's there and doesn't show what's not there at the time of the scan.

Therefore it's worthwhile to check that you have everything after the autoscan. The good news is that, although you won't be able to watch or record the missing channel/subchannel, you can do another Autoscan later and all your settings will come back once the missing channel/subchannel is restored.

Incidentally, it's worthwhile to do the Autoscan regularly. I've found that bad things happen if there is a new subchannel on an existing channel that is not shown in the Sony (not TVGOS) lineup.

I'm new to this forum, so I can't say whether or not any of my questions has been asked or answered before, so I apologize tif I'm dredging up past posts. I bought a a Sony DHG-HDD 250 as a Christmas present to myself, and I've been happy with it for the last two months. However, I can't get the TVGOS guide to accept editing of the digital channels to 4 decimal places so I can assign the channel information to them. Does anyone know of a workaround? And does anyone know if plugging an usb ethernet connector on the back allow the hard drive to be seen on a network so that the video files can be copied onto a pc or mac?

Regards

How can I find out which local OTA station is the host for Gemstar / TVGOS? I live near Madison, Wisconsin.

I've followed the recommendation of Opinionated (entering the numbers 753159852 at the designated point), and the field to the right of "Host Chan" is blank. The field to the right of "VBI Chan" is 0-21-1.

I can't get the TVGOS guide to accept editing of the digital channels to 4 decimal places so I can assign the channel information to them. Does anyone know of a workaround?

Nope. Latest known firmware doesn't support it. See this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6948061&&#post6948061).

FYI - I had the 161-6 modification done and have the latest Sony firmware (1.2.13) and the cablecard in my 500 is still unable to receive the 4.21 firmware update. I believe the problem is Sony's and not Comcast.

FYI - I had the 161-6 modification done and have the latest Sony firmware (1.2.13) and the cablecard in my 500 is still unable to receive the 4.21 firmware update. I believe the problem is Sony's and not Comcast.

Just curious, where do you live? I have the 500 with a cablecard and Comcast and I live in Ocean County New Jersey. I sent my 500 back in this week (2nd time) for the 161-6 problem, but I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever work correctly. I haven't had any TVGOS listings since October and the clock wouldn't set so I couldn't even use it like an HD VCR. I was hoping this latest fix would work, but since it didn't work for you, I'm sure it will come back as worthless as it was before.

Also, could you record from any premium channels? I had Comcast come out to help me with that but they said there's nothing they can do and that I should contact Sony. Sadly, Sony told me to call them. And round and round we go.....

:(

FYI - I had the 161-6 modification done and have the latest Sony firmware (1.2.13) and the cablecard in my 500 is still unable to receive the 4.21 firmware update. I believe the problem is Sony's and not Comcast.

But you already have 4.21 as noted in your post here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7079607#post7079607

Did you switch cards? And did 4.21 really solve the "not permitted" recording problem?

But you already have 4.21 as noted in your post here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7079607#post7079607

Did you switch cards? And did 4.21 really solve the "not permitted" recording problem?

Yes, I have two boxes :) The one with CC 4.21 records perfectly, over 20+ premium channel shows. I was lucky to get a CC with 4.21 pre-installed. My other box has a card 4.05 which I have been trying to get upgraded and sending the box in 161-6 was my last test; I will now try to exchange my CC for one with 4.21 since I have little hope of it upgrading.

Just curious, where do you live? I have the 500 with a cablecard and Comcast and I live in Ocean County New Jersey. I sent my 500 back in this week (2nd time) for the 161-6 problem, but I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever work correctly. I haven't had any TVGOS listings since October and the clock wouldn't set so I couldn't even use it like an HD VCR. I was hoping this latest fix would work, but since it didn't work for you, I'm sure it will come back as worthless as it was before.

Also, could you record from any premium channels? I had Comcast come out to help me with that but they said there's nothing they can do and that I should contact Sony. Sadly, Sony told me to call them. And round and round we go.....

:(

Not getting guide data with a CC probably has to do with whether there is an analog host channel. Your card might be provisioned as an ADS card so that even the analog channels get sent digitally. You need the analog stations since TVGOS software doesn't work on digital channels.

About recording with CC. You need 4.21 firmware if you have a moto card. I don't think the Sony firmware has anything to do with missed CC recordings.

When are people going to get it (I suppose that assumes they even attempt the find their answer before posting)? The channel number like 6.1 or 6.2 are not FCC channel assignments like VHF or UHF channels were. The channel are broadcast on a frequecy that you can find on the FCC site. The TV station broadcast that fake channel number 6 so people familer with their low def analog channel can find the digital channel.

In your case the KOIN station equipment is malfunctioning that is placing this information in the stream. The fact that you are seeing "Net 6" is a good indication that the networks information is being sent unaltered over the air when it should have been replaced with the local station information. When the station fixes their issue you will have to rescan the channels to get the information corrected. If it is OTA channel you can do the scan for new OTA channel option instead of the full scan. Your TV did the scan when the channel information was correct so it has no issue.

You can always go in the TVGuide channel list setup and replace 6.1 with 40.3 and 6.2 with 40.4. Or find any spare channel at the bottom of the list for the same network and edit its channel number.

I did 5 or 6 searches (using different terms) on this thread and the PDX OTA thread. After reading about 80 posts I gave up.

I know that the broadcast frequencies for KOIN digital are UHF 40.1 (HD)and 40.2 (SD). The problem is that the tuner is tuning to 40.3 and 40.4 which do not correspond to the TV Guide encoding so there is no programing for them.

Channel 6.1 is showing up in the TV Guide but shows "no listing" in every time slot.

Before I posted my question I tried changing the "tuning number" for the TV Guide listing for Channel 6 analog which is showing the correct program info. No matter what sequence I tried I could not get it to change to 40.3. If I punch in 40 then dot, no dot takes and when I punch 3 the tuning channel changes to 3 I tried every trick I could think of to force it and nothing I tried worked.

Did you just hook up your unit? Are you using cable or over the air antenna?

I only have OTA reception. I don't have cable service. I hooked up the first unit about a week ago and the second one 3 days ago. The TV Guide has started showing listings on the second unit today.

Note that (on my unit, at least) the Auto-add will NOT look for new or changed subchannels on a main channel that it has already found. I have had to do a full Autoscan to get a new or changed subchannel where I already have some subchannel info. The good news is that you don't lose your channel enable/disable or TVGOS information when you do this.

I tried another (5th one so far) autocsan tonight. No change. : (

I did 5 or 6 searches (using different terms) on this thread and the PDX OTA thread. After reading about 80 posts I gave up.

I know that the broadcast frequencies for KOIN digital are UHF 40.1 (HD)and 40.2 (SD). The problem is that the tuner is tuning to 40.3 and 40.4 which do not correspond to the TV Guide encoding so there is no programing for them.

Channel 6.1 is showing up in the TV Guide but shows "no listing" in every time slot.

Before I posted my question I tried changing the "tuning number" for the TV Guide listing for Channel 6 analog which is showing the correct program info. No matter what sequence I tried I could not get it to change to 40.3. If I punch in 40 then dot, no dot takes and when I punch 3 the tuning channel changes to 3 I tried every trick I could think of to force it and nothing I tried worked.
hmmm...where are you located? it sounds like maybe the wrong data is being broadcast by somebody (e.g., in the PSIP data from the station with subchannels) OR there's a flaw in interpreting the PSIP data where there are subchannels...do you get other stations with subchannels correctly???

(just speculating...)

Please describe the steps you took to change the channel number in the TV guide? I have changed TV Guide channels many of times on two different units with different firmwares and have read posts of numerous others that have changed channel numbers.

.05 and .06 firmwares (only firmware available on shipping units) allow channel editing.


Before I posted my question I tried changing the "tuning number" for the TV Guide listing for Channel 6 analog which is showing the correct program info. No matter what sequence I tried I could not get it to change to 40.3. If I punch in 40 then dot, no dot takes and when I punch 3 the tuning channel changes to 3 I tried every trick I could think of to force it and nothing I tried worked.

I have noticed that if you pause too long before punching in the period it doesn't "take", which would explain what's happening to you...

hmmm...where are you located? it sounds like maybe the wrong data is being broadcast by somebody (e.g., in the PSIP data from the station with subchannels) OR there's a flaw in interpreting the PSIP data where there are subchannels...do you get other stations with subchannels correctly???

(just speculating...)

I'm in Portland, OR. Everything else is working correctly. All the other digital channels are showing up correctly in the autoscan and in the TV Guide except that there is no TV Guide for 10.2 SD which is OPB "Create". All of the analog channels are showing up correctly as well.

What is PSIP?

Oddly enough, after trying for some unreasonable time to change the tune channel of KOIN analog in the TV Guide from 6 to 40.3 which is the mystery channel 6 HD (S/B 6.1 but it isn't showing up that way) I mistakenly clicked the center scroll keys and then when I tried to change 6 to 40.3 it worked. Go figure. Before that mistake, I couldn't get the "dot" to work.

I have noticed that if you pause too long before punching in the period it doesn't "take", which would explain what's happening to you...

I'm not sure that the problem wasn't more mysterious. For some reason after I made some mistakes punching keys the "dot" started working. I then played with a few channels and it worked for all of them. Very frustrating....

I'll see how everything is when I get home from work tomorrow evening. Hopefully the TV Guide wil continue to load. I found a post where it quit loading after a channel that was retuned by another member.

Please describe the steps you took to change the channel number in the TV guide? I have changed TV Guide channels many of times on two different units with different firmwares and have read posts of numerous others that have changed channel numbers.

.05 and .06 firmwares (only firmware available on shipping units) allow channel editing.

I went to the TV Guide. Clicked set-up in the top tool bar. Scrolled down to change channel display. Clicked. Went to the side bar window on the left. Scrolled to the tune box. Punched in 40 then dot. 40 took but the dot (hyphen) did not. Punched 3 and the tune box changed from 40 to 3. I tried 40 then enter then dot then 3 with the same result. I also tried 40 then dot then enter then 3 with the same result. I tried turning everything off and starting over without any success. Finally after much frustration I fumbled and pushed a key in the center scroll pad by accident and lo and behold the next time I tried it worked.

I need some advise since Comcast moved me over to ADS in the Chicago region. I have checked all the settings and everything seems correct, however, I am not getting any guide data. Channel 94 is now the only analog channel and my system has it selected as the host and VBI in the 753 menu. The channel passes the VBI test in the 9012 menu. After the first night it found all the channels but I did not have guide data. I went into the channel editor and had to turn channel 94 on. I let it go another night and I still do not have guide data. Any advise would be appreciated as I do not understand why I would not be getting guide data.

I need some advise since Comcast moved me over to ADS in the Chicago region. I have checked all the settings and everything seems correct, however, I am not getting any guide data. Channel 94 is now the only analog channel and my system has it selected as the host and VBI in the 753 menu. The channel passes the VBI test in the 9012 menu. After the first night it found all the channels but I did not have guide data. I went into the channel editor and had to turn channel 94 on. I let it go another night and I still do not have guide data. Any advise would be appreciated as I do not understand why I would not be getting guide data.

It seems that downloads should work. Make sure 94 is "on" in both the guide and the channel +/- list (just in case). I would try a power reset, if you haven't already done so. Hit the TV Guide and Exit buttons on the front panel simultaneously. (This is the same as unplugging for a few seconds.)

If that doesn't do it, I'd have to suspect a problem at the Comcast headend. The ADS setup may somehow be different with respect to PBS data.

An extreme measure would be to remove and reinsert the CableCARD. I was told by Comcast that this is no longer necessary after a reprovisioning of the card, but I have no way to verify that at this time. I needed to do this several months ago, but I can't remember if the unit was on, in standby, or unplugged during the reseating (probably standby). This is EXTREME because you would have to reorganize all of your guide channels afterward.

I would hope that the simple front panel power reset can solve the problem.

I have one last question. Is there any way to make the TV Guide automatically order itself in the numerical order of the channels??? It takes me about 2-3 hours to do it manually. Additionally, when reordering, I noticed there is an option Auto-Hide. Does anyone know what this does? It seems to have no functionality on my unit.

Thanks for all your help.

Eric

Eric, "auto-hide" hides channels for which guide data is (temporarily?) unavailable. I don't think there's any way to automatically sort the channels. (Defaulting to ascending order would seem like a given for this sort of product, but it doesn't even do that...)

For the person in Phoenix with Cox cable who was trying to get a cable card, were you ever able to get one?

And for the person who had ??/?? in their scheduler, (and had to re-schedule their recording) I had the same ??/?? this past week with Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy because they weren't on this week because of the Academy Awards, however, I just checked and they are scheduled for next week. As of yet, I have not missed a recording. I guess I must be one of the lucky ones with good TVGOS info. I still can't get guide info for PBS-HD though.

Looks like the 250's (http://www.tweeter.com/searchHandler/index.jsp?keywords=Sony+DHGHDD250&x=39&y=10) are gone as well from Tweeter.com. I don't think we'll ever see these things this low again, unless Frys clears them out as well. I really wanted get a 2nd one.

Is there any way to adjust pq output from the hdd250 at the unit? I've tried running mine to a 37" lcd display as well as a 42" Sony rp and I get very dark images and have to boost the brightness to full to make it viewable.....(the rp not quite to full).

I've been looking for pq adjustments like my dvd player but can't find anything like that. If it doesn't get any better than this Tweeter in Austin may have another open-box special for sale.

My TV Guide is practically useless too.....nothing but some OTA programming after nearly two weeks.

I was able to get a 250 from tweeter.com for $499 - 10% by talking to a CSR two days ago. I see it's not on their website anymore.

Eric, "auto-hide" hides channels for which guide data is (temporarily?) unavailable. I don't think there's any way to automatically sort the channels. (Defaulting to ascending order would seem like a given for this sort of product, but it doesn't even do that...)

Yeah, that's an aggravating "feature" of the TV Guide. It wouldn't be so bad if you could go a year or two without having to reset it. (Ha!) There was some speculation a while back that stations pay for having their logos near the top of the guide. I don't know that they would really be willing to do that. If they do, it's REALLY stupid!

Yeah, that's an aggravating "feature" of the TV Guide. It wouldn't be so bad if you could go a year or two without having to reset it. (Ha!) There was some speculation a while back that stations pay for having their logos near the top of the guide. I don't know that they would really be willing to do that. If they do, it's REALLY stupid!

I don't remember see this speculation in this thread, but I did speculate about that myself. I suspect it is the only logical reason NOT to provide a means of sorting channels by channel number.

Is there any way to adjust pq output from the hdd250 at the unit? I've tried running mine to a 37" lcd display as well as a 42" Sony rp and I get very dark images and have to boost the brightness to full to make it viewable.....(the rp not quite to full).

I've been looking for pq adjustments like my dvd player but can't find anything like that. If it doesn't get any better than this Tweeter in Austin may have another open-box special for sale.

My TV Guide is practically useless too.....nothing but some OTA programming after nearly two weeks.

Not sure if this is what you are seeing, but mine is connected via HDMI>DVI to a Sony plasma and I immediately noticed that the DVR's output looked sort of washed out or foggy as if the black levels were way off. All other equipment I've hooked up via component or DVI has used certain picture settings on the TV as adjusted using AVIA and looked great. Only the Sony DVR needs a completely different picture setting to get a pleasing HD picture.

I don't remember see this speculation in this thread, but I did speculate about that myself. I suspect it is the only logical reason NOT to provide a means of sorting channels by channel number.

...other than idiocy as so aptly noted in your sig! :D

I do wonder about those TVGOS folks.

So, my 250 has stopped receiving guide data for two days straight. I looked around the thread and thought it might be because I turned the host channel off, so I turned it back on before I went to bed last night and waited. Still nothing. At this point, if it doesn't start recieving listings very soon, it is going back.

So, my 250 has stopped receiving guide data for two days straight. I looked around the thread and thought it might be because I turned the host channel off, so I turned it back on before I went to bed last night and waited. Still nothing. At this point, if it doesn't start recieving listings very soon, it is going back.
you might want to check on the avs thread having to do with your local broadcast HDTV to see whether other people having devices using the TV Guide have been having problems, which would mean that it's the local host station, not your device...it happens!

Not sure if this is what you are seeing, but mine is connected via HDMI>DVI to a Sony plasma and I immediately noticed that the DVR's output looked sort of washed out or foggy as if the black levels were way off. All other equipment I've hooked up via component or DVI has used certain picture settings on the TV as adjusted using AVIA and looked great. Only the Sony DVR needs a completely different picture setting to get a pleasing HD picture.
I just got a 250 Wednesday and was very pleased with PQ using HDMI to my Sony CRT...I HAVE found that different devices have slightly different PQ, although one of them does a particularly bad job using digital cable (a dark cast), so I make a point of using component with it, and it does fine...

you might want to check on the avs thread having to do with your local broadcast HDTV to see whether other people having devices using the TV Guide have been having problems, which would mean that it's the local host station, not your device...it happens!

It certainly happens - way more than it should - but in this case (LA area) my listings have been solid for a week (including yesterday and today). I do have the host channel disabled in both the Sony and the TVGOS lineup, by the way.

I am trying to get your permission to take the info off from your FAQ page and create another FAQ page? I will gladly credit you for creating the original one...

The reason I ask is that I am looking for a little side project to work on, and I just got a web host to host my site. There have been a lot of issues with the pvr.hidyman.com site, and I want to create a more reliable one...

Thanks in advance.

Jeff

Yes, the only possible problem occurs when there is a station or subchannel that you had before that is off for some reason when you do the new autoscan. It, of course, will not be picked up since the Autoscan shows what's there and doesn't show what's not there at the time of the scan.

Therefore it's worthwhile to check that you have everything after the autoscan. The good news is that, although you won't be able to watch or record the missing channel/subchannel, you can do another Autoscan later and all your settings will come back once the missing channel/subchannel is restored.

Incidentally, it's worthwhile to do the Autoscan regularly. I've found that bad things happen if there is a new subchannel on an existing channel that is not shown in the Sony (not TVGOS) lineup.
I meant to ask for clarification since at least half the channels picked up by my 250 are turned off, mostly because they are the analog stations, which I don't watch except for PBS. (I turn them off ALSO because of the apparent contortions that the unit goes through when you surf forward through the channels and it switches between analog and digital stations.)

If I do an autoscan, I assume that there isn't any change to the ones I have turned off, but hope I don't LOSE them...i.e., I can later turn them back on if I want...is that right?

I meant to ask for clarification since at least half the channels picked up by my 250 are turned off, mostly because they are the analog stations, which I don't watch except for PBS. (I turn them off ALSO because of the apparent contortions that the unit goes through when you surf forward through the channels and it switches between analog and digital stations.)

If I do an autoscan, I assume that there isn't any change to the ones I have turned off, but hope I don't LOSE them...i.e., I can later turn them back on if I want...is that right?

Yes, that's correct. Autoscan erases your whole Sony lineup (but NOT your settings) and starts over again. It picks up everything thats on the air at the time the scan is done. It doesn't use your settings one way or the other for this. Once it has the new lineup, it then applies your old settings to whatever it has picked up.

Note that there is no change to the TVGOS lineup or listings. That is completely separate.

We pretty much use our Dish Network HD DVRs for everyday use...the speed, EPG features, NBR, and ease of use give it a high wife acceptance factor. I use the HDD500 to catch a variety of OTA HD events. It has done a very good job: the TVGOS is always up-to-date and all the timers have fired....just as long as the broadcasts are at their schedule time.

Anyway, I needed a quick tip but I just figured out the problem. I was trying to record something that was 20 minutes in the recording buffer...I would replay the segment, but when I hit the record button nothing happened. I could only schedule events in the future. I played with the remote for a few minutes before figuring out the "-->" took you to recording options...and from there is was still cumbersome.

Again, I really like this unit (it does its job)...however, the next release needs to have additional tuners, a faster GUI, more flexible/intuitive recording options, and more user friendly features. I still can't believe it didn't start recording when I hit the record button.

Anyway, I needed a quick tip but I just figured out the problem. I was trying to record something that was 20 minutes in the recording buffer...I would replay the segment, but when I hit the record button nothing happened. I could only schedule events in the future. I played with the remote for a few minutes before figuring out the "-->" took you to recording options...and from there is was still cumbersome.

I have found that the best way to record something that is already in progress is to go the guide and, once there, press the record button. This will record the program, including the contents of the buffer. This eliminates the need to set times in the recording options.

For the person in Phoenix with Cox cable who was trying to get a cable card, were you ever able to get one?



No card yet. Tech rep claimed that they were in the process of testing it.

Yeah, that's an aggravating "feature" of the TV Guide. It wouldn't be so bad if you could go a year or two without having to reset it. (Ha!) There was some speculation a while back that stations pay for having their logos near the top of the guide. I don't know that they would really be willing to do that. If they do, it's REALLY stupid!

A reviewer for Digital TV & Sound back in the Fall 2005 issue claimed it was based on the "popularity" of the stations. I do not know if that is an other way of saying "who paid the most" or what. Any way I am not sure how much that reviewer knows, they did not seem to realize there was even a way to change the order.

I should mention that I have not had to reset mine since I figured how to do it, but I am only OTA.

These units got a mention in the latest issue of PC Magazine (March 21, 2006). Although it came in the form of a letter from an owner, Don Davis, pointing out that they fail to mention this unit when they talk about TIVO and other DVRs. Mr Davis may have been little to high in his praise, but it shows there are satisfied users out there! Don, are lurking out there in this forum?

With the ridiculous new leasing option from DirecTV, I am now looking at this unit.

I see that I can buy it from Best Buy online for $1000, but there are new in box units on EBay for about $500.

You guys have it... can you bottom-line it for me? Is it worth it?

With the ridiculous new leasing option from DirecTV, I am now looking at this unit.

I see that I can buy it from Best Buy online for $1000, but there are new in box units on EBay for about $500.

You guys have it... can you bottom-line it for me? Is it worth it?

It doesn't work for satellite...just OTA and cable. But I just got a 250 from BB for $500 for OTA use, and it seems to be a fine unit...

avnstf, thanks!

Is there a way to possibly "mod" it and put in a second hard drive or connect an external unit to it?

So, my 250 has stopped receiving guide data for two days straight. I looked around the thread and thought it might be because I turned the host channel off, so I turned it back on before I went to bed last night and waited. Still nothing. At this point, if it doesn't start recieving listings very soon, it is going back.

If you enjoy viewing recorded HDTV, and the recorder has the correct time, I suggest you keep the unit and just record manually. In time, the guide may show up without you having to do anything. Manual recordings have a few benefits: a scheduled recording won't be dropped, you won't have to spend hours re-sorting the guide.

My 500 receives guide data on OTA Channel 28, and my 250 receives it on Comcast channel 3. Both have been getting sporatic guide data for several weeks. I know it isn't the fault of the guide channel since others in the Los Angeles area are getting all the data.

My 500 is only two weeks old and I've had my 250 since mid June. I did a factory reset on the 500, and a guide reset on the 250. I am now going to take the advise I gave above.

With the ridiculous new leasing option from DirecTV, I am now looking at this unit.

I see that I can buy it from Best Buy online for $1000, but there are new in box units on EBay for about $500.

You guys have it... can you bottom-line it for me? Is it worth it?Went through three units. No.

With the ridiculous new leasing option from DirecTV, I am now looking at this unit.

I see that I can buy it from Best Buy online for $1000, but there are new in box units on EBay for about $500.

You guys have it... can you bottom-line it for me? Is it worth it?

I just use mine for OTA and for me it is well worth either the $250 I paid or the $500 ebay price.

FYI. An observation I made between 1.2.09 & 1.2.13 firmwares. I use either a HDMI to DVI adaptor or HDMI to DVI cable to connect both of my units to the same DVI switch. With .13 I noticed I have more problems getting my picture to sync with with NATIVE format. With .09 I don't recall having any issues using NATIVE. As a test I should probably use an adaptor or the converter cable on both units to rule out either as the cause. My display is HDCP compliant.

So far I have seen no benefits of 1.2.13 over 1.2.09.

With the ridiculous new leasing option from DirecTV, I am now looking at this unit.

I see that I can buy it from Best Buy online for $1000, but there are new in box units on EBay for about $500.

You guys have it... can you bottom-line it for me? Is it worth it?


If you like to tinker, this unit is for you. True, it does have it's quirks as mentioned in several recent posts. It has a nice feature set and the picture quality is excellent. It is easy to use once you have it set to your needs and know all the shortcuts. The problems are mostly tied to the TVGOS and the reliability/availability of the VBI data making it to your unit from the host channel. This IS a free service, and, I guess you get what you pay for.

If you have a Tweeter's affiliate nearby, you may want to (physically) check there to see if they have one of the $249.99 500's available though not likely at this late date, but you never know....

As far as mods are concerned, there are several on this forum who are looking into hacking this unit. Stay tuned!...

I have a 250 that I bought for 500, and a 500 I bought for 250... there's got to be a joke in there somewhere...

I see that I can buy it from Best Buy online for $1000, but there are new in box units on EBay for about $500.

You guys have it... can you bottom-line it for me? Is it worth it?

I recently got in on the Tweeters deal. In summary, the answer is "probably yes".

Pluses are great PQ, huge storage and great transport control. Being able to FF @90x is wonderful for long shows like the olympics. PQ is about like the MyHD card and better than the 6412.

The TVGOS is a little weak compared to the competition, but usable.

I would say if you can get the guide data reliably, go for it. Ebay runs $420-500.

If you enjoy viewing recorded HDTV, and the recorder has the correct time, I suggest you keep the unit and just record manually. In time, the guide may show up without you having to do anything. Manual recordings have a few benefits: a scheduled recording won't be dropped, you won't have to spend hours re-sorting the guide.

My 500 receives guide data on OTA Channel 28, and my 250 receives it on Comcast channel 3. Both have been getting sporatic guide data for several weeks. I know it isn't the fault of the guide channel since others in the Los Angeles area are getting all the data.

My 500 is only two weeks old and I've had my 250 since mid June. I did a factory reset on the 500, and a guide reset on the 250. I am now going to take the advise I gave above.

I'm trying to do a hard reboot by unplugging the unit and replugging it in later, but that doesn't seem to be working. If you have done this, how long have you waited to replug the unit in? The same question goes out to anyone that has done this recently. I'm getting some weird TVGOS data that has not happened before.

Wolfie

I say yes! big time. for me I just wanted to do HD recording without using (or renting) a cable box. The Program guide is an added freebie. I love this machine!
HD looks fab on my Sony 34XBR960 tube. I'm only over-the-air right now but may try cable next, and then maybe Cablecard.
I got the 500 for cheap on ebay (40% orig retail) . I'm looking for another one.

I'm trying to do a hard reboot by unplugging the unit and replugging it in later, but that doesn't seem to be working. If you have done this, how long have you waited to replug the unit in? The same question goes out to anyone that has done this recently. I'm getting some weird TVGOS data that has not happened before.

Wolfie


You need to unplug for only 10 seconds. Alternatively, just push the front panel TV Guide and Exit buttons simultaneously.

This can get rid of certain odd glitches, but is different than doing a factory reset or a guide reset in the 9012 menu.

Thanx Phil. I guess I need to read the manual more. ;)

Wolfie

Not getting guide data with a CC probably has to do with whether there is an analog host channel. Your card might be provisioned as an ADS card so that even the analog channels get sent digitally. You need the analog stations since TVGOS software doesn't work on digital channels.

About recording with CC. You need 4.21 firmware if you have a moto card. I don't think the Sony firmware has anything to do with missed CC recordings.
I have a Motorola CC with version 4.05 and I have never had any trouble recording anything, including all premium channels (HBO, Cinemax, Starz, etc.) Mine is configured wide open with no copyright protection.

A couple of (definitely) stupid questions to follow up my initial, "Is it worht it" post....

What's the problem with getting guide data? Has it been determined why some can and some are having trouble? How does it acquire it? Phone line, Internet, air?

How does it work with cable? CableCard or can you just use the cable line?

This functions as a "Set Top Box" also, right? Meaning, if I have an HD-Ready set with no built-in tuner, this will allow me to pick up the OTA broadcasts?

Only one tuner, right? You can't record two shows at once, but you can record one while watching another?

I really appreciate your indulgences.

Yes, it's basically an HD tuner box, can receive HD over the air with an antenna or HD over cable. One tuner, record only one program at a time, can watch previously recorded items while recording a new program. Can not watch a different live channel than what is recording. not sure if there is a single reason why the problems withe guide listings, probably more how the quide is sent than the machine, only my opionion.