Looks like I was late to the party on this one too... does anyone know where I can pick up the DHG-HDD500 for at or near the Tweeter blowout price? I checked with all the Tweeter stores here in Maryland, and all inventory has been spoken for (some have been paid for but not picked up... weird?!?) May have to check the PA and/or DE / se Jersey stores... or even VA.... if you know something and can pass it along, thanks!LOL...same story here. Tweeter in Texas has been sold out of the 500's for over a month, but the last time I checked, their inventory shows something like 17 units committed but not out the door yet. The salesman told me that some of those units still showing up in inventory may be displays, or non-working units, units missing parts like remotes, etc. Don't know who to believe on this....:rolleyes:

Not wanting to miss out altogether, I bellied up and bought two 250's at $499 a copy.... :( One came from Tweeter, and one from BB. Tweeter said they had only twenty 250's in Texas when I bought a month ago, and weren't getting any more.

Waiting around for a 500 at $249 will be a long wait I fear, and $500 for a 250 may turn out to be a bargain when there are no more to be had. ;)

You should have the listings for your local HD stations in the guide. Something like WSB-DT or -HD. If not you can always assign your digital numbers to any of the local listings that match the station. My girlfriend has Comcast basic, and it gave her the digital listing in her guide. All I did was to assign the right digital channel number to them and turn them on in the guide. Also, to make it easier to find only the digital stations quickly, I set up a new favorites folder just for the digital channels.
As far as I know, the cable companies must carry all local programming, both analog and digital, so you should not have a problem getting them. I noticed on the Comcast cable packages, it tells you that they carry the local digital stations in the basic rate, but you may need a STB, CC, or other equipment to receive it. I do not believe that they are allowed to block or scramble any of the local programming, be it digital or analog. I think this is an FCC ruling.

Thanks. I get the local channels as well as a handful of others.

Got it Monday the 13th and very happy so far. Great picture not only on HD but SD too using CC. DVDs fantastic and even VHS tapes which stunned me. I was watching movie last weekend (Crash) and when nearly over reached in my pocket for car keys -thought I was at a theater. I don' expect ten years from unit because once SAD arrives I'm jumping so my worries of burn-in will be extinquished forever!

how long do you have this tv Hitachi 42HDS52? i'm thinking about buying this and really don't know if it can last for years 10+. How is it working out for you? thanks.

Correction: SED!

My HDD500 has stopped receiving tv guide updates for some reason. Was working fine for several months, then I get the no guide data, that I made a change or something and wait 24 hours for an update. But nothing. I did the tvguide reset and the box reset. Then entered my zip again. But so far no data. I looked where it shows the host channel which should of said 8 for my area, but it was blank. Wonder if its something that the station did. Will call them up and see. No cablecard just OTA channels.

My HDD500 has stopped receiving tv guide updates for some reason. Was working fine for several months, then I get the no guide data, that I made a change or something and wait 24 hours for an update. But nothing. I did the tvguide reset and the box reset. Then entered my zip again. But so far no data. I looked where it shows the host channel which should of said 8 for my area, but it was blank. Wonder if its something that the station did. Will call them up and see. No cablecard just OTA channels.
Had the same tihing happen but with cable. Said guide was rebuilding, took about a week to ten days before it was working right. Could be the station or reception. Call and let us know what they say.

I called but, one of those things where you leave a message. I think it is set that way permanent. Hopefully they understood my message and will call me back. Reception is great where I am at. I have an outdoor antenna. Live up on a hill and have direct line of sight to the mountain where it is at (13 miles away). and great picture on the analog channel.

Thanks for the feedback I will be patient and see if it comes back in a few days, or maybe sooner if a technician got my message.

Larry, how'd you find the service center location? Does that show up when you do a service request online, or how did you arrange for your service? I went to the website but all it said was that service was available at a "factory service center"....didn't give a location, I guess because I didn't complete the service request process. Do you know if these centers are located around the country, or just the one in PA?

Also, my warranty doesn't mention firmware updates, just repairs. I suppose if a firmware update is considered a "repair" covered under the warranty, then I need to do this within the first 90 days to avoid labor charge, right?

Did Sony ship back to you prepaid? Did they return it in the original packaging? (I sent a notebook to HP for repair in original packaging, and got it back in a flimsy box with no padding at all...:( )

I went to the website and filled out the request. The address comes up on the website. The only service center is in Pa. The warranty covers the "161-6 cable card problem" and when they have your unit they will do all the other updates. Be sure to ask for and report the "161-6 cable card problem" repair. They don't question that.

I sent it to the service center "double boxed" (that's how I received it from the eBay seller) and the service center returned it to me in the single shipping box the unit comes in from the store. No damage. No charge (prepaid).

I sent it to the service center "double boxed" (that's how I received it from the eBay seller) and the service center returned it to me in the single shipping box the unit comes in from the store. No damage. No charge (prepaid).

I sent mine in double boxed as well but they shipped it back in a very small box and the unit was not surprisingly destroyed in transit. They replaced it with a new one. They told me they do not typically re-use the customer's packaging unless it was shipped in the original box.

Combo DVD Rec/VCR units exist:
Samsung DVD-VR320 DVD Recorder/VCR
JVC DR-MV5S DVD Recorder/VCR
Toshiba D-VR4 DVD Recorder/VCR
Panasonic DMR-ES40VS DVD Recorder/VCR
Sony RDR-VX515 DVD Recorder/VCR

I'm pretty certain that some of the units have S-Video In. But as the OP asked,
I don't think any have Component Video In.

Dan (Woj...)



Sorry - I was thinking of DVD recorders with a VCR and a hard drive.

For those of you who have experienced the missing recordings problem, where scheduled recordings are sporadically dropped, Sony is finally acknowledging that a problem exists and they claim to have new firmware that fixes it.

When I called Sony about this problem about six months ago, they claimed that they hadn't seen the problem before and that I'd have to send my unit in for service. After another member of this forum sent his unit in for the same problem, it was returned with the 1.2.13 firmware, and he didn't see the problem for months after it came back. I tried to get an answer from Sony regarding whether or not firmware 1.2.13 fixed the problem, but they never got back to me. At that time, nobody on this forum that had 1.2.13 had reported having the missing recordings problem, so I sent my unit in for service hoping that 1.2.13 actually fixed the problem. Days after I sent it in, I received reports from other forum members stating that they had experienced the problem with 1.2.13, and somebody else mentioned that 1.2.13 only addressed DVI issues.

Anyhow, my unit was returned at the end of February and it just missed a recording last night. After waiting on hold for over an hour this morning, I talked to a tech who right away acknowledged that the missing recordings problem was a known issue that is fixed with new firmware. Since my unit had been serviced less than a month ago, I asked when the firmware was released and what the version number was. He couldn't provide an answer to either question, but was very confident that the issue is fixed. They are sending a UPS shipping label for me to send the unit back for the new firmware.

I'll let you guys know what firmware version my unit comes back with. Another member of this forum recently went through the same exercise and sent his unit back to Sony with 1.2.13, and it was returned with 1.2.13. So I'm still not completely confident that Sony has truly addressed the issue, but perhaps there are different build dates for 1.2.13, or Sony is referring to different firmware? The description of service from the first time I sent the unit in said "VERIFY G* PATCH 8.06.30". I'm guessing that 8.06.30 refers to the TVGOS firmware - maybe the missing recordings problem involves a TVGOS firmware patch that can't be applied via normal TVGOS updates and Sony has to apply it? Who knows, we'll see what happens...

I never received the UPS shipping label from Sony to return my unit, they were supposed to email it to me. When I called to figure-out what was wrong, after various transfers, I was finally connected to a receptionist at the Mt Pleasant, PA service center since they would have to resend the email - regular Sony support couldn't resend it. Since I had doubts about Sony really having a fix for the missing recordings problem and having a new release of the firmware, I asked if I could talk to one of the techs who actually works on the units. When I explained what I was told about the missing recordings fix and new firmware, the Mt Pleasant tech said that he wasn't aware of a fix for the missing recordings problem and that 1.2.13 was the latest version. This confirms that the regular Sony techs do not know what they are talking about and are spreading false information. The Mt Pleasant tech said that the missing recordings problem isn't a Sony issue, but a TVGOS issue, which is what I kind of figured all along. I'm glad that I talked to the Mt Pleasant tech before I wasted my time sending the unit back again.

Lets band together and get INHD2 listed in TVGOS :rolleyes:

Thats the only real disappointment I have with my HDD250.. Otherwise I got what was advertised and I'm happy.

I'm in SE CT, using Comcast "Expanded Basic", no digital at all. I've in the process of seting up my HDD500. When I ran the channel scan, it found 77 analog channels, and 12 digital channels, only three of which seem to be HD - CPTV, WVIT (NBC), and WTNH (ABC). I found no Fox or CBS HD stations. I was then asked which of the two available Comcast cable options I had. I replied (in error) to the "digital" choice. I then powered down the box and waited overnight. I have "No listing" on all the channels two days later. To be frank, I had powered-on the box a few times during that period, not knowing that it should have been left alone for the entire time.

I'd like to "reset" the unit to it's out-of-the-box condition so I might begin the entire process over again - hoping that a re-scan of the channels might add those I seem to have missed. Can someone tell me how to, a; re-scan the channels, and b; how to reset the system to its factory settings, ie; no channels, no clock, no anything?

Thanks.

JLOB

I'm in SE CT, using Comcast "Expanded Basic", no digital at all. I've in the process of seting up my HDD500. When I ran the channel scan, it found 77 analog channels, and 12 digital channels, only three of which seem to be HD - CPTV, WVIT (NBC), and WTNH (ABC). I found no Fox or CBS HD stations. I was then asked which of the two available Comcast cable options I had. I replied (in error) to the "digital" choice. I then powered down the box and waited overnight. I have "No listing" on all the channels two days later. To be frank, I had powered-on the box a few times during that period, not knowing that it should have been left alone for the entire time.

I'd like to "reset" the unit to it's out-of-the-box condition so I might begin the entire process over again - hoping that a re-scan of the channels might add those I seem to have missed. Can someone tell me how to, a; re-scan the channels, and b; how to reset the system to its factory settings, ie; no channels, no clock, no anything?

Thanks.



JLOB


TVGuide does requires an Antenna. I always have an antenna connected and always have about 7 day listings in advance.

I think you would need a Cable Card to get all subscribed channels.

TVGuide does requires an Antenna.

No, it does not.

Ok guys...

I was getting full listings for my area for about 3 months, then about a month ago it was all gone. I got the message that I had changed my settings and needed to wait 24 hours. I've waited, tried the reset, waited, waited some more and nothing. This has been going on for about 3 week now. The funny thing is that the other day I was on the computer,which is hooked up to the tv, and I heard the sony HDD click off and power down. It immediately started back up with the wrong time on the front. This was during the afternoon so it isn't the auto shut down at night thing. Do you think that the list is not populating because every so often it shuts itself down and loses information? Would this be a hardware problem? Im still in the year warranty, so if anyone else has had this problem and had luck sending it back, I'd sure like to hear about it.

Thanks.

I'd like to "reset" the unit to it's out-of-the-box condition so I might begin the entire process over again - hoping that a re-scan of the channels might add those I seem to have missed. Can someone tell me how to, a; re-scan the channels, and b; how to reset the system to its factory settings, ie; no channels, no clock, no anything?

Thanks.

JLOB

On the remote press "Menu", then "Screen Mode", then enter 9012

The menu will change to a "Service Menu".

Go to "Reset User Configuration".

Press Select button on your remote.

I've have two 500's for about six weeks(OTA, comcast basic, component connected, .06 & .13 firmware). So far I've had few of the many problems discussed here. In the last 8-10 days I got the message that I had changed my settings and needed to wait 24 hours two or three times on my .13 machine. I noticed this in the early afternoon but by evening I had all 8 days of the guide each time. I don't think I lost the clock on any of these occasions.

This hasn't been a real problem for me but I'm puzzled as to why the guide repopulated so quickly. BTW I'm very happy with these machines. I hope they work with Verizon FIOS which isn't available here yet.

Ok guys...

I was getting full listings for my area for about 3 months, then about a month ago it was all gone. I got the message that I had changed my settings and needed to wait 24 hours. I've waited, tried the reset, waited, waited some more and nothing. This has been going on for about 3 week now. The funny thing is that the other day I was on the computer,which is hooked up to the tv, and I heard the sony HDD click off and power down. It immediately started back up with the wrong time on the front. This was during the afternoon so it isn't the auto shut down at night thing. Do you think that the list is not populating because every so often it shuts itself down and loses information? Would this be a hardware problem? Im still in the year warranty, so if anyone else has had this problem and had luck sending it back, I'd sure like to hear about it.

Thanks.
Hi, I had this same issue last week. What finally helped me was to get into the VBI test within menu 9012. You have to tune your DVR to the host channel first, then see how many packets are bad or fixed. I use a very directional indoor antenna, it is a chanllege to get it to a position good for viewing the 4 channels I liked. It turned out the best position for these 4 are bad for the host channel. Once I fixed my antenna, I got the time back in an hour or so and the TV guide in 8-10 hours. Hope this helps.

On the remote press "Menu", then "Screen Mode", then enter 9012

The menu will change to a "Service Menu".

Go to "Reset User Configuration".

Press Select button on your remote.


Just what I needed. Thanks.

JLOB

I'm in SE CT, using Comcast "Expanded Basic", no digital at all. I've in the process of seting up my HDD500. When I ran the channel scan, it found 77 analog channels, and 12 digital channels, only three of which seem to be HD - CPTV, WVIT (NBC), and WTNH (ABC). I found no Fox or CBS HD stations. I was then asked which of the two available Comcast cable options I had. I replied (in error) to the "digital" choice. I then powered down the box and waited overnight. I have "No listing" on all the channels two days later. To be frank, I had powered-on the box a few times during that period, not knowing that it should have been left alone for the entire time.

I'd like to "reset" the unit to it's out-of-the-box condition so I might begin the entire process over again - hoping that a re-scan of the channels might add those I seem to have missed. Can someone tell me how to, a; re-scan the channels, and b; how to reset the system to its factory settings, ie; no channels, no clock, no anything?

Thanks.

JLOB

Don't rush to reset the unit. If the clock is not set, the unit probably is not receiving guide data. Tune to your local PBS station, and perform a TV guide test via the 9012 menu to verify that. Choosing Digital in the setup only adds those channels to the guide list - I made that same selection and don't subscribe to digital.
Adding an antenna and pointing it in the correct direction may be your best option. Go to the antenna web site to determine what kind of antenna you need, and where to point it. If you aren't getting all the network stations on comcast it's because they aren't on cable. The antenna may not only get your the guide, but also many HD channels not on cable.
If the clock gets set and you don't get guide data, go to setup and enter another zip
number.

PS: HDTV channels are digital, and if you don't make that your cable choice, those listings won't appear in the guide.

JLOB - the QAM tuner will pick up the channels, but you need to assign the numbers in the guide set up area to get listings to populate. I described what I did here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7365973&&#post7365973

Also, check in the local "HDTV forum" and find the thread for your location. You can ask on that thread what channels Comcast broadcasts as unencrypted QAM tunable channels.

Find your thread here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241


Found the Forum and that will, no doubt, help. I'm not sure I know how to assign numbers in the guide setup area to get the list to populate. Is there a tutorial on that subject somewhere?

Thanks.

JLOB

I did a reset on my machine after many weeks of furstration. After the machine had reset, I turned it off. On the next start up I got a message that the "hard drive had recovered from a serious error" anybody get that message before? Now when trying to use the machine, the remote wont control anything. This is really getting out of hand. HELP!!!

I did a reset on my machine after many weeks of furstration. After the machine had reset, I turned it off. On the next start up I got a message that the "hard drive had recovered from a serious error" anybody get that message before? Now when trying to use the machine, the remote wont control anything. This is really getting out of hand. HELP!!!

I believe that's a standard message after reset. With regard to the remote, make sure that the red light goes on when you depress any button on the remote, and that the switch at the top of the remote is in the correct position. If dim or no light, replace batteries. If you get the red light and switch position is correct, another possibility is that there is a mismatch between the remote unit codes. Refer to your owner's manual.

This has probably been addressed before. Can I record HD into the HDD500 from "other" source, such as:

1. From an HD camera?
2. From the computer?
3. From another HDD500?
4. From a Blu-Ray DVD?

I suppose maybe there is a "cheap" way to create a digital RF feed and assign it so say digital RF channel "3" or something like that?

Any ideas?

There is no way to get material into these units except through the RF inputs. People have occasionally asked in other forums around here about ATSC and QAM modulators, and gotten the response that such things exist (broadcasters use them, after all), but they're much too expensive for home use. You're probably talking about the $10K+ range.

Can I record HD into the HDD500 from "other" source?

Imagine storing DVD movies (converted to transport streams from discs that you own) on this DVR, with the titles incorporated into the Recordings list and the DVD's chapter stops converted to equivalent chapter marks on the DVR.

On an HDD500 upgraded to 1 TB (two 500 GB drives), you could store up to 200 movies for easy access by your family. If this is to happen on the DHG models, it will have to be done by hobbyists, and they'll be forced to violate the DMCA to implement a perfectly legit application. Maybe Sony will incorporate ideas like this for the next-generation product. They could totally lock down the streams to ensure they never leave the DVR once imported.

Last night, I thought of a TVGOS feature request: how about extending the set of recurring recording types (W:weekly, R:regularly) to include WN:weekly, only if NEW, RN: regularly, only if NEW. The guide already provides the New! flag, so this should be easy to implement.

There is no way to get material into these units except through the RF inputs. People have occasionally asked in other forums around here about ATSC and QAM modulators, and gotten the response that such things exist (broadcasters use them, after all), but they're much too expensive for home use. You're probably talking about the $10K+ range.

I was hoping for like $10

It would be nice to have the SXRD demo and the Mit's 1080p demo loops in the unit.

I was hoping for like $10

It would be nice to have the SXRD demo and the Mit's 1080p demo loops in the unit.

Do any of the current 1080 sets have an RF "Out" that could pass the 1080 to the HDD500 ?

Ok guys...

I was getting full listings for my area for about 3 months, then about a month ago it was all gone. I got the message that I had changed my settings and needed to wait 24 hours. I've waited, tried the reset, waited, waited some more and nothing. This has been going on for about 3 week now. The funny thing is that the other day I was on the computer,which is hooked up to the tv, and I heard the sony HDD click off and power down. It immediately started back up with the wrong time on the front. This was during the afternoon so it isn't the auto shut down at night thing. Do you think that the list is not populating because every so often it shuts itself down and loses information? Would this be a hardware problem? Im still in the year warranty, so if anyone else has had this problem and had luck sending it back, I'd sure like to hear about it.

Thanks.

This sounds a lot like the issue I was having. See previous post from me on this thread in the last 3 weeks.

The TVGOS updates were crashing my unit every time it tried to update. I would loose the clock and then get it back as the clock was able to set itself.

I poked at my local PBS station for them to verify nothing was wrong with the feed. They replied to me saying everything was fine. The next day I had my listings back.

In the mean time I was able to do manual recordings by leaving the unit on to prevent it from trying to download the guide that would result in the crach and loosing the clock screwing up my manual recording.

So look to see if your unit crashes at regular intervals at the xx:55 time. I think mine was crashing several times a day if it was left turned off. 6:55 am or 7:55 am was one of the intervals.

JP

Looks like this (top of page - HDMI to HDMI 3 foot cable, male to male)
http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/DVI-hdmi_cables.html
is the cable I'll need to connect the output from the HDD500 to the TV. Any reason at all to get the more expensive "high end" cable? I've read more than once here that paying extra for HDMI cables is pointless since any decent cable should send 1's and 0's. Did I just answer my own question?

edit -> nevermind, I see that a HDMI cable is included with the unit

Just installed the hdd500 about two weeks ago. A couple of minor glitches at first, then guide began to fill, actually got complete. Then the news slots had their info replaced with ??? ??? in the listing. The next day, day 8 showed "no listings". The next day, days 7 and 8 showed no listing. Today, days 6, 7, and 8 showed no listings this morning. Turned the DVR on this afternoon, and all listings for all days were gone, replaced with this message "Updated information will be available within 24 hours. The guide is rebuilding your channel list based on your setup change." I've made no setup changes since I originally installed the dvr. Is the guide just having problems? Anyone else have this? I'm working my way through this thread from the beginning but still have 3mb of postings to get through.

Is Sony still making the DHG-HDD 500? I cannot find it in their website.

Best Buy had a sale on for the Sony DHG-HDD 500 for $499.00. The guy told me that the Sony was discontinued! I thought that is was 9 months ago when they first advertised. What is gone on? Will Sony have a followon?

Should I buy one now? I am very afraid on this. I thought it was a real technoligical box.

Mike:

I was shocked that I could not find it in Sony's website. Somebody just told me about the product, and I wanted to check it out from Sony's website to ensure it is not discontinued. Sure enough, I could not find it. If somebody have idea what is going on, could you please post it. Thanks.

Mike:

Btw, Is that BestBuy price nationwide or local thing?

Best Buy had a sale on for the Sony DHG-HDD 500 for $499.00. The guy told me that the Sony was discontinued! I thought that is was 9 months ago when they first advertised. What is gone on? Will Sony have a followon?

Should I buy one now? I am very afraid on this. I thought it was a real technoligical box.

Is that price from a specific store? Online they still list it for $999. I've been looking the past couple days and the best I can find is ~$640. Too bad I/we missed the boat on the $250 deal last month.

It is true that it is discontinued. I don't know the reason.....maybe not selling, maybe too many complaints from people having trouble with the TV Guide EPG. That doesn't really concern me. I'm sure there's enough info here in this thread to get it going if I run into any problems. Like I've mentioned above, my biggest sticking point is the total lack of ability to archive HD. But I either rent the cable DVR for the next 3-6 months until the new Tivos come out, with no ability to record OTA or I get this one and live without archiving for now. I may not want to get a new Tivo when they first come out anyway, so I think I'll be happy with the HDD500 for the next 12 months or so.

I don't know if is the national one or local one. They have four Best Buy here and all of them have its on sale.

You ought to go down to Beat Buy and see if on sale.

The TV Guide EPG, is it like the Replay/TIVO? What functions does the Replay/TIVO have that the TV Guide does not?

Mike:

That is good price, I called two of my local Best Buy and the DHG-HDD 250 sells for $499.

I am sorry. The Sony DHG-HDD 250 sell for $499, not the DHG-HDD 500. Sorry.

Mike:

That is good price, I called two of my local Best Buy and the DHG-HDD 250 sells for $499.
yes, I bought the 250 for that price a month ago from BB and was glad to get it - was getting to be afraid I wouldn't be able to get one at all. We've never used more that half the 250's hard drive so far, because we also have an LG 3410a purchased a year ago, and split the load between them, in many cases because of programs being at the same time...

There's been a lot of talk about Sony not making them any more; certainly LG stopped making the earlier 3410a. Sony is claiming they will make a 2-tuner TIVO unit, and maybe that's the direction they will go, because so many people seem to have trouble getting the TV Guide listing consistently. We occasionally miss a day of listings on the LG because the unit is left on overnight, but this has never happened with the Sony, because it sets an auto off time, and we've never scheduled a recording for after 1 AM, so the unit has always gotten the next set of listings...all this is OTA for us, no cable.

Like I've mentioned above, my biggest sticking point is the total lack of ability to archive HD. But I either rent the cable DVR for the next 3-6 months until the new Tivos come out, with no ability to record OTA or I get this one and live without archiving for now. I may not want to get a new Tivo when they first come out anyway, so I think I'll be happy with the HDD500 for the next 12 months or so.

Do you think you will be able to archive with a consumer or leased tivo ? I doubt it.

I frequently lose all audio when watching my DHG-HDD500 via HDMI. Typically this happens if I fast forward through commercials or pause. When this happens, no matter which input I choose on my TV, the silent DHG video is shown across all inputs. Only way to get things back to normal is to power cycle the TV.

My DHG is connected to my Sanyo HT-30744 via HDMI. I'm guessing that it's the price of being an early adopter and somehow the HDMI spec is not entirely sync'd up between the two units. Anything unexpected causes them to lose contact.

For now, I've switched to component video and analog audio outputs from the DHG to the TV. Picture isn't quite as perfect, but at least it works!

Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.

Do you think you will be able to archive with a consumer or leased tivo ? I doubt it.

Supposedly the TW box they lease here has firewire outputs so it should work. But I can only get CBS and FOX in HD over the air here so a cable only DVR would be frustratingly limited. Have decided to buy the Sony 500, just searching around for a better price at this point. Right now I can't bring myself to pay $660 when I know people got them for $250 just a few weeks ago. Ebay's a rip off right now too with imbeciles jacking the prices up higher than what the thing goes for online.

Yes the DHG-HDD250/500 is discontinued. I asked Sony directly and it is gone, also asked about a successor, they will disclose nothing until there is a public announcement.

To me it is kind of obvious that since most people get some sort of cable or satellite service and these companies will almost give away the DVRs to sell you content that Sony was going to lose their shirt on this one.

OTA people like me with the income and inclination to buy this thing are kind of rare. Also, if I hadn't picked it up for $249 from Tweeter I wouldn't have bought it.

Tweeter is run by incompetent business people, I take advantage of it. I have bought a number of things from them at below their cost in the past few years because they never clear out their dead inventory over the internet. I go over to their store near by from work about once every few weeks if there is something they have that I want and then just wait.

I bought my Pioneer Elite VSX-56txi from them at $688 (about $200 below their cost) because it was just sitting in inventory and no one had bothered to try to move the thing or even set up the IEEE-1394 connection to show what it can do. I just patiently waited until they had marked it down enough times. Same thing happened with the DVR, they had them sitting on a shelf not hooked up and had no idea what its capabilities were nor how to demo it (the Boston store couldn't demo it really in fairness, they have no cable service or satellite service available nor will they since the whole block is office and commercial space and they cannot get OTA broadcasts at that store and the office towers block satellite broadcasts).

I suspect that Tweeter is not the only store with a demo and product knowledge problem. Really don't know why any manufacturers deal with these chain bricks and mortar retailers any more since they really offer no meaningful service.

Just installed the hdd500 about two weeks ago. A couple of minor glitches at first, then guide began to fill, actually got complete. Then the news slots had their info replaced with ??? ??? in the listing. The next day, day 8 showed "no listings". The next day, days 7 and 8 showed no listing. Today, days 6, 7, and 8 showed no listings this morning. Turned the DVR on this afternoon, and all listings for all days were gone, replaced with this message "Updated information will be available within 24 hours. The guide is rebuilding your channel list based on your setup change." I've made no setup changes since I originally installed the dvr. Is the guide just having problems? Anyone else have this? I'm working my way through this thread from the beginning but still have 3mb of postings to get through.

I've had that happen several times, and others on this tread have also encountered it. It's most likely caused by a TV guide glitch. You can get the same message by changing your zip.

I am sorry. The Sony DHG-HDD 250 sell for $499, not the DHG-HDD 500. Sorry.

FWIW--I know the a/v dept. manager at the local Best Buy. He showed me the computer screen where his BB's store's cost for the HDD 250 is $524.99. He said the $499 price was from corporate. Supposedly at least in this region the units sat in BB's warehouse for a long time.

This store has no new HDD 250s. He did sell me a complete openbox that was back from service for $350 but I think he did that only because I buy a lot from his store.

I guess my point is if you can get an HDD 250 for anything less than $500 you are getting a decent deal.

Just installed the hdd500 about two weeks ago. A couple of minor glitches at first, then guide began to fill, actually got complete. Then the news slots had their info replaced with ??? ??? in the listing. The next day, day 8 showed "no listings". The next day, days 7 and 8 showed no listing. Today, days 6, 7, and 8 showed no listings this morning. Turned the DVR on this afternoon, and all listings for all days were gone, replaced with this message "Updated information will be available within 24 hours. The guide is rebuilding your channel list based on your setup change." I've made no setup changes since I originally installed the dvr. Is the guide just having problems? Anyone else have this? I'm working my way through this thread from the beginning but still have 3mb of postings to get through.

I had this happen to my hdd500 and Toshiba tv. After two weeks of trying to determine what was happening, my cable engineer spoke to my host pbs engineer. Looks like the gemstar hardware was not working at the pbs host station. Of course they were not aware there was a problem until they received a complaint. It amazes me that nobody in my area complained over the two week period. There was no estimated time given for replacing the defective hardware so I am just in a holding pattern for now.

Sony discontinued the units last September (+/-). You can find pockets of them in inventory, mostly the 250 model at this point. Many companies still have them in stock, but they are not shown in their computers - so do not believe what they tell you on the phone - they do not know! They also have no idea what the units are! Many stores classify them as DVD players. There are other companies too that will show 4 to 12 in stock; but when they go check they discover they have all been stolen - 99% by employees! In the process of tracking these things down I have discovered which stores have zero protection against employee theft.

Yes the previous Tweeter miracle giveaway, would have been nice.....I missed it.

I have had mine about 6 days....now I am watching too much TV.....it works great so far, and I have put it through its paces.

My only real compliant, these things make a good deal of noise, much louder than the fan on a typical DLP RPTV.....make about the same noise as most computers..........however, no one else I know seems to have that problem. Our house is normally super quite, and you can often hear a pin drop on the carpet, it's that quite here...........anyway I love the unit.

It is possible that maybe some of the blu-ray recorders could have both tuners and hard disk(s) in them...I do not know....if so they may be the only possible replacement for this type of machine?

Overall, these machines are excellent, and the cable, satellite, and movie companies hate them with a passion.

If you find one out there either the 250 or 500, you should buy it......you will like it.

I second the issue on noise. I have our 500 in the bedroom, the fan and hard drive noise is incessant, probably because of the second hard drive versus the 250. The design is kind of stupid from that standpoint, it should park the hard drive and turn off the fan when it isn't in use or downloading the TV Guide. If it is like a computer it would take less than a minute to spin back up to speed.

My guess is the next ones you see will include a writeable blue ray capability, but that will be well over $2k to start. As it is I can't imagine that Sony made a dime (even over the marginal cost) on the units they sold.

Is there another device similar to the DHG-HDD250 that's available?

No substitutes at the moment unless you go with a cable company or satellite service provider's box. LG dropped theirs (3410) as well.

No profitable market for them I guess. Tivo is rumored to be coming out with an HDTV version.

I went to the website and filled out the request. The address comes up on the website. The only service center is in Pa. The warranty covers the "161-6 cable card problem" and when they have your unit they will do all the other updates. Be sure to ask for and report the "161-6 cable card problem" repair. They don't question that.

I sent it to the service center "double boxed" (that's how I received it from the eBay seller) and the service center returned it to me in the single shipping box the unit comes in from the store. No damage. No charge (prepaid).I have two 250's with firmware .05 and .06 respectively. I purchased one about 5 weeks ago and the other 3 weeks ago. I don't use the cable card but I might in the future.

Would it be wise to get these updated while still under the 90-day parts and labor warranty, or wait until I see the problem?

Is there any other reason I might want to update the firmware, other than the cable card issue? Both are working great right now (fingers crossed).

Also, I bought a five year extended warranty from Tweeter on the first unit and a four year warranty on the second (BB didn't offer a five-year one). I'm wondering if these warranties cover software updates.....

You haven't been following the news on Tweeter. Their credit rating has dropped, there was a hostile takeover attempt, lost money for the last 3+ years. Monster says they cut off Tweeter, Tweeter says they switched brands, who do you believe? I believe the numbers:

Annual Income Statement (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=TWTR&annual)

I didn't buy a warranty from them because I don't think they will be around much longer. Check into who takes it over if they go under.

This last quarter they did eek out a slight profit though (one quarter doesn't mean much but it is something)

Quarterly Income Statement (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=TWTR)

and they were upgraded by some analysts (still don't trust them as far as I can throw them)

I didn't buy a warranty from them because I don't think they will be around much longer. Check into who takes it over if they go under.As long as I still have a warranty that's all I care about....can't tell what's going to happen 4 or 5 years from now. BB may not be around, either.

If I followed this rationale I wouldn't have bought anything at Sears or Radio Shack for years, and I'd be looking to get out from under my GM vehicles. ;)

Most shows I record on my DHG are broadcast weekly, i.e. at the same time on the same day every week. Is the preferred way to set this up to use the "Regularly" or "Weekly" recording method?

Is there any advantage/disadvantage one over the other?

Thanks.


[Edit, thanks Wolfie]

Just installed the hdd500 about two weeks ago. A couple of minor glitches at first, then guide began to fill, actually got complete. Then the news slots had their info replaced with ??? ??? in the listing. The next day, day 8 showed "no listings". The next day, days 7 and 8 showed no listing. Today, days 6, 7, and 8 showed no listings this morning. Turned the DVR on this afternoon, and all listings for all days were gone, replaced with this message "Updated information will be available within 24 hours. The guide is rebuilding your channel list based on your setup change." I've made no setup changes since I originally installed the dvr. Is the guide just having problems? Anyone else have this? I'm working my way through this thread from the beginning but still have 3mb of postings to get through.

Emailed local PBS station - no reply yet. Tried 753159852, right arrow to identify host. Got Host ID 0:0, Host channel blank, VBI channel 00-10. I was tuned to analog channel 10, the local PBS channel. I'm in Portland Oregon area, use rooftop antenna and OTA only, no cable or satellite. Trying the exit/TVGuide reset next. Any other suggestions?

Emailed local PBS station - no reply yet. Tried 753159852, right arrow to identify host. Got Host ID 0:0, Host channel blank, VBI channel 00-10. I was tuned to analog channel 10, the local PBS channel. I'm in Portland Oregon area, use rooftop antenna and OTA only, no cable or satellite. Trying the exit/TVGuide reset next. Any other suggestions?

Tried the exit/Guide reset. Screen showed Sony. box showed Welcome. Then box scanned channels 02 to o6, then turned off, time disappeared. I turned box back on, time reappeared, recordings and schedule were as before, channel changes functioned normally, but no listings. Guess I wait to this evening, see if the afternoon Guide transmission takes.

Most shows I record on my DHG are broadcast weekly, i.e. at the same time on the same day every week. Is the preferred way to set this up to use the "Recurring" or "Weekly" recording method?

Is there any advantage/disadvantage one over the other?

Thanks.

It's called "regularly".

Wolfie

You haven't been following the news on Tweeter. Their credit rating has dropped, there was a hostile takeover attempt, lost money for the last 3+ years. Monster says they cut off Tweeter, Tweeter says they switched brands, who do you believe? I believe the numbers:

Annual Income Statement (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=TWTR&annual)

I didn't buy a warranty from them because I don't think they will be around much longer. Check into who takes it over if they go under.

This last quarter they did eek out a slight profit though (one quarter doesn't mean much but it is something)

Quarterly Income Statement (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=TWTR)

and they were upgraded by some analysts (still don't trust them as far as I can throw them)

What has this got to do with this forum?

Wolfie

Tried the exit/Guide reset. Screen showed Sony. box showed Welcome. Then box scanned channels 02 to 06 ...

At this stage of startup, those numbers are not TV channels but rather steps in the unit's boot process...

I run into another problem with the DHG-HDD500....it records more TV then I will ever be able to watch

Holy Cow... I have an original HD500 and I have loved it for a long time now. :-)

It has become so used, that my electronics, non-caring wife wants to use it instead of the 3 freakin' SDTV ReplayTV units she has at her disposal.

That said, I am back here now to check out the thread and it has grown by about 150 pages since I last visited.

Anyway, I am looking to buy one or two HDD250s and our local Tweeter has said it has 4 units, but they are open box units...

That doesn't bother me in the least bit, but, what should I know about these HD-DVRs which has happened during the last year and a half?

As for problems... mine has worked with TWC Cablecard flawlessley, except for my reception of channels I didn't pay for, until last week when it rebooted and seemed to pickup new channel icons and info without losing any of my recordings or channel order... thank God! :-)

Anyway, how much should I pay for Tweeter's HDD-250s in open box but supposedly unused condition? Thanks for your help!

What has this got to do with this forum?

Wolfie

Just to be careful buying extended warranties from companies that might go belly up (like Tweeter). Make sure that the warranty is backed by more than the retailer you bought it from so you don't get left holding the bag.

For example here is Tweeter's:

Tweeter Warranty (http://www.tweeter.com/helpdesk/index.jsp?display=warranty&subdisplay=extendedWar)

They have an underwriter for the warranties and a service provider (Aon), which hopefully means that they are backing up Tweeter's warranty service (so they take on the responsibility if Tweeter goes into bankruptcy and the underwriter pays the bills for it). This protects the money you paid for a warranty from the creditors (like Monster) .

Who knows what they are like to deal with if Tweeter goes under.

I had a company I bought an expensive warranty from go under so I always check into this before I buy a warranty now.

Maybe Tweeter will get stronger, I just wouldn't count on it. Love my $249 DHG-HDD500 from them though.

I just got one for 350.00 for a open box.

Just to be careful buying extended warranties from companies that might go belly up What is the standard Sony warranty on the HDD250s?

Okay.... can an HDD-500 and a couple of HDD-250s all operate via remote control in the same rack??? If so, how do you do it? Is this unit limited to remote control like my RePlayTV units in that only two units can operate in the same rack on at the same time due to their remotes... 1 ON and 1 OFF.?

There is a previous post on it, you can reset the remote codes for one of them (choices are 50 and 51) through the setup menus.

The usual crap nowadays: I think it is 90 days parts and labor, 1 year for parts (not the main expense). I'm rolling the dice on mine.

The usual crap nowadays: I think it is 90 days parts and labor, 1 year for parts (not the main expense). I'm rolling the dice on mine.
I got a 4-year service agreement from BB for my 250...cost about 80 bucks, but I think it's worth it...

Okay.... can an HDD-500 and a couple of HDD-250s all operate via remote control in the same rack??? If so, how do you do it? Is this unit limited to remote control like my RePlayTV units in that only two units can operate in the same rack on at the same time due to their remotes... 1 ON and 1 OFF.?I have two 250's operating in the same rack, one set at code 50 and the other at code 51....since those are the only two codes available I don't know how you'd make a third unit work.

As for me, I don't have any more inputs anyway.

BTW, I saw four HDD250's at BB the other day....one was open box and it was marked $450.

Thanks guys... I am calling BB as I type....

I got a 4-year service agreement from BB for my 250...cost about 80 bucks, but I think it's worth it...Amen....for twenty bucks a year why chance it? It'd be different if there weren't all those moving parts rolling around in there 24/7. I'd say the probability of something going wrong over four years is near 100%.

I'd be glad to say I was wrong in 2010, but I don't think I'll have to....

Could anyone direct me to chassis parts for the HDD250?
I need to get a new body housing and faceplate.
Thanks in advance.

Emailed local PBS station - no reply yet. Tried 753159852, right arrow to identify host. Got Host ID 0:0, Host channel blank, VBI channel 00-10. I was tuned to analog channel 10, the local PBS channel. I'm in Portland Oregon area, use rooftop antenna and OTA only, no cable or satellite. Trying the exit/TVGuide reset next. Any other suggestions?


I'm in the PDX area--it's not just you, there is no VBI data from PBS all weekend. Hopefully they are just upgrading the Gemstar equipment. I will give it a few more days, then complain to Gemstar.

LarryM

Ok, got the unit (EBay purchase) late yesterday. Plug it in, set it up, and it populates TV Guide over night. It is new; but is a May 2005 build and the SW is 1.2.05 Is that version going to cause me problems?

I have it set up to record four shows in a row tonight, so will see how that goes.

The tuner set up about 20 analogue and 25 DT stations for a total of 55 stations....about half of those I delete, only kept 2 of the analogue and about 18 of the DT's

Questions: Are these units supposed to be so loud?

You can hear it running over Good Morning America this morning. You can hear it over the fan in a DLP set. We can hear it over the AC/Heater running in the house. And this is 12-15 feet from the recorder you can hear it. I also have very old Sony Tape player and a Sony DVD player..........don't hear those at all.

When you put your hand on it, you can feel it running.....if you hold it for a couple of minutes.....it sort of pulse-es, like a very slow heart beat?

Is this noise normal?


No, not normal. It's defective. I had a 250 for 3 weeks that was quite, but I exchanged it because of the audio drop-outs. The 2nd unit was very noisy and the case vibrated... kept it for 1 day. The 3rd unit was quiet so I kept it, and still have it. I since learned that the audio dropouts are related to the optical connection.

-T

Hi Folks-

I live in the Indianapolis area, and for the first time, we will be observing Daylight Saving Time this year. We haven't done this before.

I notice that my guide info for next Sunday, after the time change, is all off by an hour. My Scheduled Recordings, for example West Wing at 8 pm, show ??? and the guide listings show everthing an hour off (so, West Wing shows to be on at 7 pm).

A. Is this normal?
B. Should I be worried?
C. If I make a new scheduled recording today (just did!), for Huff on SHO-HD at "9 pm" but this will REALLY be 10 pm come next Sunday, will it work OK?

Clearly I need to check on things next Sunday. But, what expectation should I have? The inability to set the time manually or even specify a time zone is distressing me. It would be nice tobe able to explicitly state that we observe DST, particularly considering that this is the first time our area has done it and I'm not sure if automated things will be fully aware of it.

Any feedback appreciated!

Marc

I have two 250's operating in the same rack, one set at code 50 and the other at code 51....since those are the only two codes available I don't know how you'd make a third unit work.


You can use the same remote for any number of units by just manually turning power on to one unit at a time and leaving the others in standby. I have two and use the 50/51 code but my switch to single remote - one less remote to deal with. Also two remotes are harder to deal with since they are identical.

You can use the same remote for any number of units by just manually turning power on to one unit at a time and leaving the others in standby. I have two and use the 50/51 code but my switch to single remote - one less remote to deal with. Also two remotes are harder to deal with since they are identical.One remote would really interest me....how can I do that?

One remote would really interest me....how can I do that?

As I explained above, just turn on only one recorder at a time, manually, and it will be the only one to respond to commands. You can never use the power on button since all recorders will respond.

Hi Folks-

I live in the Indianapolis area, and for the first time, we will be observing Daylight Saving Time this year. We haven't done this before.

I notice that my guide info for next Sunday, after the time change, is all off by an hour. My Scheduled Recordings, for example West Wing at 8 pm, show ??? and the guide listings show everthing an hour off (so, West Wing shows to be on at 7 pm).

A. Is this normal?
B. Should I be worried?
C. If I make a new scheduled recording today (just did!), for Huff on SHO-HD at "9 pm" but this will REALLY be 10 pm come next Sunday, will it work OK?

Clearly I need to check on things next Sunday. But, what expectation should I have? The inability to set the time manually or even specify a time zone is distressing me. It would be nice tobe able to explicitly state that we observe DST, particularly considering that this is the first time our area has done it and I'm not sure if automated things will be fully aware of it.

Any feedback appreciated!

Marc

In Los Angeles, daylight savings time switch is a normal event. Sunday morning the clock will move forward 1 hour at 1am standard time to become 2am daylight savings time, otherwise everything is the same - programs occur at the same numerical time. However, as I recall, it was late in the day before the recorder time changed back to standard time. If you are home, I suggest you monitor things and take appropriate action if the recorder clock is still on standard time, or if program time changes in your area.

Unfortunately, I will be out of town when the time changes, so I have to depend on the tv station to update the recorder clock. To help that along, I set my recorder to record for a few minutes on Sunday morning, on the station that sets the time, which is not PBS. I am assuming that the recorder will acquire the time more quickly that way since it has done so twice when i do a warm reboot.

In Los Angeles, daylight savings time switch is a normal event. Sunday morning the clock will move forward 1 hour at 1am standard time to become 2am daylight savings time, otherwise everything is the same - programs occur at the same numerical time. However, as I recall, it was late in the day before the recorder time changed back to standard time. If you are home, I suggest you monitor things and take appropriate action if the recorder clock is still on standard time, or if program time changes in your area.

Unfortunately, I will be out of town when the time changes, so I have to depend on the tv station to update the recorder clock. To help that along, I set my recorder to record for a few minutes on Sunday morning, on the station that sets the time, which is not PBS. I am assuming that the recorder will acquire the time more quickly that way since it has done so twice when i do a warm reboot.

What's kind of freaking me out is that the guide listing are "wrong." I figure the recorder, if off, checks the time channel often enough to get up to speed reasonably quickly, but I'm not sure I understand why the listings are wrong. I would have thought that the 1 am to 2 am time slot would show empty ("No Listing") and that the subsequent listings would be at their correct times.

Instead, not only does the recorder need to reset its knowledge of "what time is it?" but it needs to bump 8 days worth of programs out by an hour... Or will it have wrong information for several days while it gradually repopulates with fresh data ?

It should be interesting!

Marc

No, not normal. It's defective. I had a 250 for 3 weeks that was quite, but I exchanged it because of the audio drop-outs. The 2nd unit was very noisy and the case vibrated... kept it for 1 day. The 3rd unit was quiet so I kept it, and still have it. I since learned that the audio dropouts are related to the optical connection.

-T

I had the opportunity the other day to see a HDD250 running SXRD demo hooked up to an SXRD at CC. The store had so much noise in it, you really could not hear two people shouting at each other 2 feet away....

I did hold the HDD250 for about 2 min....it had a mild vibration. I have since moved my HDD500 down to a cardboard box sitting on the floor, and the reduced about 40% of the sound and now the vibration feels just like the one in the store. I just accept the fact these things make a lot of noise.

I plan on doing the upgrades within the month, and may have them address the noise and vibration issue as well.

As strange as this sounds, it may also be getting quieter the longer it runs, this morning I barely hear it two feet away....but that could be my ears hahahaa.....I do think that now it is fully warmed up, it is quieter....sometimes the temp will go to 105 but most of the time it stays 102.

I have run into another defect with TV Guide....I have schedule recordings for the next 8 days, about 25 programs...no problem there and they all seem to be working fine............but I realize I failed to mark a program to record last Friday.........the stupid machine will not let me go back in time....go figure! :eek:

The trick to controlling two units with one remote is to use the power toggle command, not the discrete on and off commands.

You do lose the ability to include the TV input switch in a macro.

One remote would really interest me....how can I do that?
As I explained above, just turn on only one recorder at a time, manually, and it will be the only one to respond to commands. You can never use the power on button since all recorders will respond.
Or you could get a universal remote, such as a Harmony, and use the 2 remote codes, 50 on one, 51 on the other, and switch back and forth that way, thats what I do and it works good.

The trick to controlling two units with one remote is to use the power toggle command, not the discrete on and off commands.

You do lose the ability to include the TV input switch in a macro.
How do you do this?

Amen....for twenty bucks a year why chance it? It'd be different if there weren't all those moving parts rolling around in there 24/7. I'd say the probability of something going wrong over four years is near 100%.

I'd be glad to say I was wrong in 2010, but I don't think I'll have to....

But in a couple of years, a new technology will emerge that will render these devices archaeic. It's called Blu-ray recorder.

Wolfie

But in a couple of years, a new technology will emerge that will render these devices archaeic. It's called Blu-ray recorder.

Wolfie

Not really. But it would be nice, though.

I doubt the copyrights management will allow you to build a collection of BluRay movies off of cable TV. So functionally, you might not be any better off with BluRay than you are with a HDD250/500.

Not really. But it would be nice, though.

I doubt the copyrights management will allow you to build a collection of BluRay movies off of cable TV. So functionally, you might not be any better off with BluRay than you are with a HDD250/500.
might happen, just like current dvr with hard-drive & dvdwr from tivo or humax; but from Sony with blu-ray will perharps cost 2K.

might happen, just like current dvr with hard-drive & dvdwr from tivo or humax; but from Sony with blu-ray will perharps cost 2K.

What's another thousand to an early adopter, anyway? :cool:

Wolfie

I can get a returned 500 for $600 from a retailer, is it worth it? I love my current 500, works flawlessly, it's a great machine, I paid $400 for it tho. I'd rather pay $400 or less, but I know they are ahard to find.

I can get a returned 500 for $600 from a retailer, is it worth it? I love my current 500, works flawlessly, it's a great machine, I paid $400 for it tho. I'd rather pay $400 or less, but I know they are ahard to find.gigaguy, do you really need the 500gb's.....BB in Round Rock had a 250 for $450 when I was there on Saturday.

Just installed the hdd500 about two weeks ago. A couple of minor glitches at first, then guide began to fill, actually got complete. Then the news slots had their info replaced with ??? ??? in the listing. The next day, day 8 showed "no listings". The next day, days 7 and 8 showed no listing. Today, days 6, 7, and 8 showed no listings this morning. Turned the DVR on this afternoon, and all listings for all days were gone, replaced with this message "Updated information will be available within 24 hours. The guide is rebuilding your channel list based on your setup change." I've made no setup changes since I originally installed the dvr. Is the guide just having problems? Anyone else have this? I'm working my way through this thread from the beginning but still have 3mb of postings to get through.

Finally an example of exactly how the Sony is designed to work. After 3 days of not receiving and guide data the Sony is supposed to look for a new guide channel. When you get the "Updated information will be available within 24 hours" message, that means the Sony is looking for a new guide channel.

There are plenty of other posts on troubleshooting this...

Most shows I record on my DHG are broadcast weekly, i.e. at the same time on the same day every week. Is the preferred way to set this up to use the "Regularly" or "Weekly" recording method?

Is there any advantage/disadvantage one over the other?

Thanks.


[Edit, thanks Wolfie]

In this example, setting the show as regularly or weekly will record the show. But in the past it seemed that there have been more instances of the missed recording problem using the regularly setting...

I believe you should be using weekly in this instance.

Regularly should be used for shows that are on each day, or each weekday at the same time on the same channel.

What's kind of freaking me out is that the guide listing are "wrong." I figure the recorder, if off, checks the time channel often enough to get up to speed reasonably quickly, but I'm not sure I understand why the listings are wrong. I would have thought that the 1 am to 2 am time slot would show empty ("No Listing") and that the subsequent listings would be at their correct times.

Instead, not only does the recorder need to reset its knowledge of "what time is it?" but it needs to bump 8 days worth of programs out by an hour... Or will it have wrong information for several days while it gradually repopulates with fresh data ?

It should be interesting!

Marc

The only explaination to this is that the guide data works with the time offset. It seems that the time on the Sony uses GMT time then makes the adjustment to local time with the offset from GMT time. So if the guide is using the same process, on Sunday morning the guide times will correct automatically....

I also would recommend that you fire it up on Sunday before your shows are set to record to see what's going on. I will be...

Marc,

Something is wrong with the listings in your city (you did say this was the first year your state was following daylight savings time). I live in MN and we always have Daylight savings time. When I go to Sun morning the listings show 1:00AM 1:30AM 3:00AM. It skips 2:00AM and 2:30AM. I bet you are going to have issues. TVGuide should catch it eventually and the recorder will replace listing day by day if the new download is different then what is in the stored guide listings.

BTW- My next Monday listing have shows at the normal time like : Prison Break 7PM, 24 8PM which is their standard CST air time.

What's kind of freaking me out is that the guide listing are "wrong." I figure the recorder, if off, checks the time channel often enough to get up to speed reasonably quickly, but I'm not sure I understand why the listings are wrong. I would have thought that the 1 am to 2 am time slot would show empty ("No Listing") and that the subsequent listings would be at their correct times.

Instead, not only does the recorder need to reset its knowledge of "what time is it?" but it needs to bump 8 days worth of programs out by an hour... Or will it have wrong information for several days while it gradually repopulates with fresh data ?

It should be interesting!

Marc

But in a couple of years, a new technology will emerge that will render these devices archaeic. It's called Blu-ray recorder.

Wolfie


Why do people say dumb stuff like this. I have a STD def HDD/DVD recorder and I virually never copy the recording to DVD. Keep in mind that affordable rewritable Bluray (BD-RE ) might be a long way off. For time shifting TV nothing compares to a HDD PVR.

Here is info from last year about BD-RE media and recorder cost:

Panasonic also offers the Panasonic DMR-E700BD Blu-ray recorder. Priced at approximatelly $2,600, it is able to record up to 4.5 hours of HD video (24Mbits/sec) on double layer BD-RE media ($70).

I don't think $70 media for 4.5 hours is worth it to me.

Why do people say dumb stuff like this. I have a STD def HDD/DVD recorder and I virually never copy the recording to DVD. Keep in mind that affordable rewritable Bluray (BD-RE ) might be a long way off. For time shifting TV nothing compares to a HDD PVR.

Here is info from last year about BD-RE media and recorder cost:

Panasonic also offers the Panasonic DMR-E700BD Blu-ray recorder. Priced at approximatelly $2,600, it is able to record up to 4.5 hours of HD video (24Mbits/sec) on double layer BD-RE media ($70).

I don't think $70 media for 4.5 hours is worth it to me.

I SAID in a couple of years the Blu-ray recorder will make the HD DVR archaeic. By then, the recording media will be at a tolerable level, pricewise. You're looking at levels from LAST YEAR.

Wolfie

In this example, setting the show as regularly or weekly will record the show. But in the past it seemed that there have been more instances of the missed recording problem using the regularly setting...

I believe you should be using weekly in this instance.

Regularly should be used for shows that are on each day, or each weekday at the same time on the same channel.

Weekly records shows that are on only once a week. If you're recording stuff that is shown daily, like Dr. Phil, then regularly is the correct setting. They shoulda called regularly "daily", but they didn't.

Wolfie

I SAID in a couple of years the Blu-ray recorder will make the HD DVR archaeic. By then, the recording media will be at a tolerable level, pricewise. You're looking at levels from LAST YEAR."Archaeic"? As in "archaic", meaning antiquated, no longer applicable? Why? Even 8-layer blu-ray, if it ever comes available, can't match a HDD for capacity, speed and convenience.

Stick a blu-ray recorder in there with the HDD and you have something, but it's still a HDD DVR.

Blu-ray or not I have no fear that my HDD DVR's will be rendered archaic for many years. I'll probably be archaic before that happens. ;)

But in a couple of years, a new technology will emerge that will render these devices archaeic. It's called Blu-ray recorder.
Wolfie
Nope...it'll take longer to make any sense dollarwise, and in any case a good digital high-def hard-drive recorder will be a lot more convenient for time shifting, which is what they're used for!!! Why would I want to record 24 or CSI or Veronica Mars on any kind of removable media??? No more tapes OR DVDs for that stuff!!

My Sony 250 should be good for many years (the first 4 of which are backed up by BB), and my LG 3410a should, too, also backed up by a warranty that goes until 2010!

For me Blu-ray is pie in the blue sky....I'd pay maybe 300 for such a recorder, and only when most of my friends have them, and IF the disc itself costs a few bucks...so that the rare thing I want to archive or give to my friends works that way with blue ray - not gonna happen soon

...until then, I'll probably just get the next generation DVD recorder for the occasional archiving - not in HD, but in good DVD qualilty - for handing off to friends. (Then I'll ebay my JVC 30K digital VHS recorder, which I presently use for the rare archive event, and for which - by the way - the medium NOW costs under 10 bucks for 2 high-def hours.)

Cheers - Tony

PS I've also noticed that so far the only programming I've wanted to archive since I've had my system - now 3 years - is from PBS - a good ballet, the grateful dead movie, and a couple of nature programs. The only exception has been some of the figure skating from the Olympics--and fortunately, we recorded that on the LG, which allows the recorded program to be edited! (Wish the Sony did that, too!)

Hi Folks-

I live in the Indianapolis area, and for the first time, we will be observing Daylight Saving Time this year. We haven't done this before.

I notice that my guide info for next Sunday, after the time change, is all off by an hour. My Scheduled Recordings, for example West Wing at 8 pm, show ??? and the guide listings show everthing an hour off (so, West Wing shows to be on at 7 pm).
Marc
I suspect your problem has to do with the fact that you've been in a standard time only zone, and TVGOS hasn't yet caught up with that fact!!! (7 PM standard time = 8 PM daylight savings!!!

I SAID in a couple of years the Blu-ray recorder will make the HD DVR archaeic. By then, the recording media will be at a tolerable level, pricewise. You're looking at levels from LAST YEAR.

Wolfie

Let's not forget that some of us not only use the 500 for recording HD but also for the tuner. I expect my HD ready tv to survive 20 years and that makes the 500 a bargain just for the tuner.

I've been out of the loop on this technology since just a few months after I bought my HDD500... which I love, BTW.

Has something happened which makes these units valuable in the meantime? Have they been discontinued due to Hollywoods bitching about the forward skip or due to the units capability to record HD movies off HD channels?

Why were they discontinued?

Should I quickly buy an open box unit from BB or Tweet, or are better units coming out which I should wait for???

Thanks for your help and advice!!!

Jack

Good questions.

I would say that since we don't know if a replacement is coming out, it would be hard to say if buying one (provided you can even find one) makes financial sense.

They were discontinued months ago, probably because they are not as user friendly as most would expect for a $1000 machine. For the price I paid it is extremely user friendly. Since I had no cable box before, now I have tv lisitngs with show descriptions, a great search function, and excellent HD recording. Good luck finding one now, they are few and far between, at least the 500 is.

I'm in the PDX area--it's not just you, there is no VBI data from PBS all weekend. Hopefully they are just upgrading the Gemstar equipment. I will give it a few more days, then complain to Gemstar.

LarryM

I'm in the Portland area too. I had the same error message the other day. The listing was there again yesterday, but the signal for my Comcast cable 10.1 OPB-HD is gone. I'm not sure why.

i did not lose 24 from my recording schedule... my listings show prison break
@ 8:00 and 24 at 9:00. perhaps us both losing Boston Legal earlier in the
week was a national tvgos problem, you losing 24 now is a local problem???

interesting issue! finding the cause is proving quite difficult. i find myself
checking the schedule every time i turn the tv on :-(

The Sony Dropped Boston Legal again from tonights schedule. Good thing I caught it before the show was on.

Anyone else have Boston Legal dropped tonight? That is twice for Boston Legal for me. I wonder what is special about this shows that the TVGOS drops it? (Maybe TVGOS doesn't like Captin Kirk the lawyer???)

to anyone here who has become more than disenchanted with their Sony DHG-HDD500....

I'm interested in relieving you of your suffering... please contact me at jhirsche1<at>yahoo.com , or just PM me here if you'd like to sell me your working unit (hoping to get near the tweeter price, used or therwise...) Thanks! - Jacob

Ok, so i've read through this thread and still don't really know a definitive answer.

Will these units work with a cable card with the .05 or .06 firmware, or is a definite firmware upgrade required from Sony for .13 firmware which fixes the 161-6 problem and thus allows you to use a cable card?

Is it just a roll of the dice on whether the cable card works on your unit or not? I've seen varying posts on cable cards working/not working with factory firmware.

I'm in Jacksonville, FL using Comcast if that helps any.

Thanks...

Will these units work with a cable card with the .05 or .06 firmware, or is a definite firmware upgrade required from Sony for .13 firmware which fixes the 161-6 problem and thus allows you to use a cable card?

Is it just a roll of the dice on whether the cable card works on your unit or not? I've seen varying posts on cable cards working/not working with factory firmware.


The firmware has little, if anything, to do with the 161-6 problem. It requires a hardware mod to fix it.

I believe that the problem is with certain cards only. You'll have to search this thread for 161-6 to get more information.

update on TVGOS in Colorado Springs. The PBS guy called me back and said the new gemstar equipment they had wasn't passing the VBI data through and they were going to put back the old one on Thursday. So they might be doing this in other cities.

update on TVGOS in Colorado Springs. The PBS guy called me back and said the new gemstar equipment they had wasn't passing the VBI data through and they were going to put back the old one on Thursday. So they might be doing this in other cities.

Ugh I have had my HDD500 for one week, and it has been working perfect (other than loud).....are you saying my TVGuide may die soon?

Is it just a roll of the dice on whether the cable card works on your unit or not?

AFAIK, this problem only happens with SA cards, not Moto.

update on TVGOS in Colorado Springs. The PBS guy called me back and said the new gemstar equipment they had wasn't passing the VBI data through and they were going to put back the old one on Thursday. So they might be doing this in other cities.

Thanks for looking into this. All I can say is I sure did pick the wrong time to reset my hdd500. Been without a clock for almost 2 weeks now. I can't wait to start recording in HD once again! :rolleyes:

The Sony Dropped Boston Legal again from tonights schedule. Good thing I caught it before the show was on.

Anyone else have Boston Legal dropped tonight? That is twice for Boston Legal for me. I wonder what is special about this shows that the TVGOS drops it? (Maybe TVGOS doesn't like Captin Kirk the lawyer???)

yes, boston legal disappeared from my schedule too... this morning i noticed
greys anatomy was gone :-(

i guess the next question should be... did anyone not lose bl from their
schedule???

yes, boston legal disappeared from my schedule too... this morning i noticed
greys anatomy was gone :-(

Same thing in Albuquerque. Both BL & Grey's dropped from my recording schedule yesterday, both are set on 'w'. First glitch that I've had in quite some time.

It will only cost you a few dollars to swap out the RG59 cable with RG6, do it. Once you add a splitter your signal will be 1/2 as strong so you will be more likely to have problems with the lower quality cable. If you are close to the TV transmission towers you most likely won't have a signal problem, but if you are further away, you may need to add a pre-amp to boost your signal.

In my opinion, if your unit is functioning properly, there is no reason to send it for a firmware upgrade.

If you use a good splitter, you will not experience large signal degradation, all other things remaining equal. Poorly made splitters have large losses (measured in decibels) from the input to the output. The loss will usually be printed directly on the splitter.

I have seen Monster Cable splitters (which are not cheap) with 7dB loss. I use Spaun splitters, which have <1dB loss. I believe Blonder Tongue has low-loss splitters as well.

Most folks don't want to spend the extra money for low-loss splitters, so you can just use a pre-amp to compensate. I am a confessed videophile and perfectionist :D , so I use a pre-amp and low-loss splitters in my setup. The Sony measures 95% signal quality, but my antenna is also pointed EXACTLY at the transmitters using a compass. I'm not sure of the accuracy of the Sony's "meter", however.

Anyway, I have bored you all enough.

Mark

LOL...same story here. Tweeter in Texas has been sold out of the 500's for over a month, but the last time I checked, their inventory shows something like 17 units committed but not out the door yet. The salesman told me that some of those units still showing up in inventory may be displays, or non-working units, units missing parts like remotes, etc. Don't know who to believe on this....:rolleyes:

Not wanting to miss out altogether, I bellied up and bought two 250's at $499 a copy.... :( One came from Tweeter, and one from BB. Tweeter said they had only twenty 250's in Texas when I bought a month ago, and weren't getting any more.

Waiting around for a 500 at $249 will be a long wait I fear, and $500 for a 250 may turn out to be a bargain when there are no more to be had. ;)

GW, I worked at Tweeter in Chicago for five months recently, and can report to you that all the above may be true. The sales folks don't get very much information on stock levels of products, and it is not uncommon for a hot-selling item to be over-committed.

Anyone can put 20% down on a product at a Tweeter store and keep it there to wait and see if the price drops or until they can afford to pay it off. It is a great policy which is very liberal, and probably little-known. The sales associates will try to get you to take it out the door, as they don't get paid the commission until it goes out the door.

Mark

I have had exactly the same problem multiple times, what a PITA! These occurred when I used record "regularly" - so now I'm trying "weekly". I even started anticipating this problem, and sure enough, this week I checked a few hours before "Prison Break" and the show had been dropped. So I selected "record regularly" before the show. Then I went seven days ahead and looked at the next scheduled show - and it was NOT marked for recording! I think I have also lost either "Las Vegas" or "Supernatural" once too. My tin foil hat theory is that it is a plot by feminists to keep room available for recordings of "Gilmore Girls".

This is a weird problem because other series like "Surface" and "Invasion" which are not scheduled but I have set for "record regularly" still show up in the record listings. I tried to change one from "record regularly" (the icon showed "regularly" but in the menu it popped up as "single") and after some grinding and thinking, it was suddenly replaced with "Deal or No Deal". So obviously, I deleted it. That rules out a theory that the "Prison Break" & "Boston Legal" are being dropped because the Sony thinks the shows are cancelled. I have firmware 1.2.06 and I am using OTA.

I'm open to new suggestions.

Andrew

I have had exactly the same problem multiple times, what a PITA! These occurred when I used record "regularly" - so now I'm trying "weekly". I even started anticipating this problem, and sure enough, this week I checked a few hours before "Prison Break" and the show had been dropped. So I selected "record regularly" before the show. Then I went seven days ahead and looked at the next scheduled show - and it was NOT marked for recording! I think I have also lost either "Las Vegas" or "Supernatural" once too. My tin foil hat theory is that it is a plot by feminists to keep room available for recordings of "Gilmore Girls".

This is a weird problem because other series like "Surface" and "Invasion" which are not scheduled but I have set for "record regularly" still show up in the record listings. I tried to change one from "record regularly" (the icon showed "regularly" but in the menu it popped up as "single") and after some grinding and thinking, it was suddenly replaced with "Deal or No Deal". So obviously, I deleted it. That rules out a theory that the "Prison Break" & "Boston Legal" are being dropped because the Sony thinks the shows are cancelled. I have firmware 1.2.06 and I am using OTA.

I'm open to new suggestions.

Andrew
I set all my weekly shows to record weekly. If a show is a repeat, then I set it off for that week. I have had shows dropped as well. In the last 4 weeks, 24 would not be there come Monday. This happen twice. Then Cold Case would be gone come Sunday. This happen twice so far. I am keeping a log as to when shows are dropped and what may have occurred before hand as well as what station the unit was tune to.
My conclusions thus far point me more and more toward a TVGOS system problem, either a glitch( bad packets) or human error (programming). Or it could be caused by a person like a hacker. Perhaps someone in the TVGOS system is getting paid to sabotage it, so we all have to beholden to the cable companies and their TVIOs. I do not know of any way to check the data coming in via a log so as to determine the exact problem. Also, it seems impossible to complain to Gemstar, as their web site does not give out any contact information.

I have had exactly the same problem multiple times, what a PITA! These occurred when I used record "regularly" - so now I'm trying "weekly". <snip> I'm open to new suggestions.Having read this entire thread from the beginning, and seen the myriad complaints, I have formed an opinion that there is something squirelly in the use of "regular" and "weekly" modes. AFAIK, virtually every recording dropped from the schedule has been in R or W mode. Based on that nebulous conclusion, I never use the R or W, always schedule each show separately (a pita), and have not had any dropped recordings. Does anyone have an occurance of having a show dropped from the schedule when using "once" mode?

Over the past few months, I have been plugging away at reading through ALL the posts on this thread, and I finally finished! Do I get a prize?

Anyway, I am in in the southwestern suburbs of Chicago, and am using OTA only. My house is 24.5 miles from the transmitters, according to Antennaweb.org. I have a 60-mile Channel Master 3679 UHF/VHF/FM outdoor antenna mounted in my second-story attic (above the garage). The antenna has a 50-mile VHF/FM range, and a 60-mile UHF range. Since you theoretically lose 50% of signal strength when placing antennas in the attic, you double the size of the antenna normally required.

I was fortunate enough to have a gable roof (with vinyl siding) facing the general direction of where my antenna needed to be "pointed" at the transmitters. According to my research, aluminum siding and the "aluminum foil" strips in some asphalt roof shingles can create reception problems with RF signals. So I think I was lucky to have mostly avoided both of those possible issues. Further, Chicago is fairly flat, but I kind of live in a higher area, which may also help my reception situation. Lastly, I have power lines near my house (at a similar altitude), and they are between me and the transmitters. For excruciating detail of my cabling setup, read on.

Antenna to head end cabling setup: I have an 18" length of high quality Canare RG-6 cable (terminated with true 75-ohm Canare F connectors) from the antenna connection to the pre-amp. Next, there is an approximately 50-foot run of "builders grade" RG-6 cable from the pre-amp to its power supply at the "head end" in the basement. This cable was installed in 2004 when the house was built--and it ran through an exterior wall--so there was no way I was replacing it. I did terminate this cable run with the (excellent) Canare 75-ohm F connectors. From the pre-amp, I have another short length of the Canare cable going into the antenna input of a Spaun satellite/antenna multiswitch. This switch combines multiple satellite LNB signals as well as antenna signals and sends them down one cable to as many as six locations in the house.

Head end to equipment cabling setup: I have about a 60-foot run of the Canare RG-6 cable from the Spaun multiswitch to the wall plate in the family room. I have a 12" length of the Canare cable from the wall plate to a Spaun diplexer, which separates the antenna and satellite signals which were combined in the multiswitch. The diplexer is a 1x2 switch, with one output for sat signals, and one for antenna signals. Since I have two antenna sources (Sony DVR and Samsung HD tuner), I use Spaun splitter (after the diplexer) to create two antenna feeds. So, from the diplexer, I have a 2-foot run of the Canare cable to the splitter. Finally, I have another 2-foot run of the Canare cable from the splitter to the Sony DVR.

As you can see, I have alot of splices in my cabling setup, but still have 95% signal quality as measured by the Sony DVR: The Samsung HD Tuner has a bar graph signal meter. I bought the pre-amp with the antenna, assuming I would need it. I tried the setup with the preamp power supply disconnected, but the signal quality was insufficient. Despite all the splices in the cabling setup, I have very good signal quality, which I mostly attribute the Spaun products, which have less than 1dB of loss through them. I don't think my cable runs are long enough to say the Canare cable makes a difference, but who knows. I have alot of that Canare cable, so I use it whenever I run cable.

Now to make this relevant to this thread: My HDD-500 has the .05 firmware, and I have never lost any TVGOS data, even though some posters living in the western Chicago suburbs have. The unit has never dropped any recordings, either. I have never run the VBI test, as I have been spending all my spare time reading this thread! :D However, I plan to do the test, as I am curious to see what the results are.

I wanted to post all this jibberish to support a post which opined that some of the problems people experience MAY be due to antenna setup. I know that my antenna setup is optimized with good (low-loss) cable, diplexers, and splitters. I know that my antenna is the correct size for my installation and it is PERFECTLY aimed with a compass according to antennaweb guidelines. I even tighten my F connectors with a wrench to minimize the chance of stray RF getting in there. I also use F terminators on unused wall plates in the house. Yes, I know I'm a nutcase and this is all overkill, but the fact remains that I have experienced no problems with my HDD-500, except for the "Flashing" on 720p sources posted some time back.

Now that I have posted this opinion, I will probably start having problems. If so, I will be back here with "my tail between my legs", so to speak. :o Perhaps I am just lucky, but maybe there is a pattern here.

Mark

Ok...I havn't been able to get the guide data for four weeks now. I've done the VBI test and found that the local channel 36KHIN here in southwest Iowa is in fact sending a good signal. However doing the 753159852 test, shows the host channel to be blank. There is nothing there. I have called up the PBS station and they just sent me to gemstar which wouldn't talk to me because I am a "consumer" and not a "manufacturer". Any ideas about what to do. I've tried resetting the system and that doesn't do anything either. Thanks.

AFAIK, this problem only happens with SA cards, not Moto.

I have a SA card and have never had a problem since June of 2005.

Having read this entire thread from the beginning, and seen the myriad complaints, I have formed an opinion that there is something squirelly in the use of "regular" and "weekly" modes. AFAIK, virtually every recording dropped from the schedule has been in R or W mode. Based on that nebulous conclusion, I never use the R or W, always schedule each show separately (a pita), and have not had any dropped recordings. Does anyone have an occurance of having a show dropped from the schedule when using "once" mode?

I, too, record using exclusively the "once" mode and have never had a dropped show. I figure that with the other TVGOS issues the chances that assuming that the system will figure out if a show gets moved in it's timeslot is risky at best. With all of the Olympic and NCAA coverage in the last 6 weeks or so, there has been a lot of movement of shows during the week.

All you fellow Chicagoans - I know I've been bragging that I've had no problems at all with the unit, but TVGOS has been giving me fits recently. I keep doing soft resets and trying different zipcodes, but after about two days my guide drops the data for WLS-DT and SD, WYCC, WWME, The PAX's and UPN. Is anyone else having a similar issue? Also, I tried using the search to come up with the hard reset method (9028?), but haven't had any luck. Can someone repost it? And can I do this without losing my recordings? Thanks, all.

I use Spaun splitters, which have <1dB loss.

<1db? What's the model number?

<1db? What's the model number?

It's called the Vaporware 6100.

Even if it's a specialty, assymetric splitter (where the 2nd output port would have like 20 dB of loss) i doubt you'll only see <1 dB.

If it's a standard, symmetric two-way splitter, the best theoretical loss you could have is 3 dB (splitting the power in half). A splitter doesn't add anything. The best 4-way splitter yields 6 dB or more of loss (again halving the power).

Mike

<1db? What's the model number?

No such splitter exits. Here is a pdf of spaun splitters and the 2way is the expected 3.5dB loss.

http://assets.twacomm.com/assets/pdf/29548.pdf

Same thing in Albuquerque. Both BL & Grey's dropped from my recording schedule yesterday, both are set on 'w'. First glitch that I've had in quite some time.

Portland OR, OTA. My guide disappeared over the weekend, started coming back Monday. I have BL scheduled regularly, it recorded 3-28 and shows next scheduled 4-4. I seem to lose NBC news more than anything else.

Ok...I havn't been able to get the guide data for four weeks now. I've done the VBI test and found that the local channel 36KHIN here in southwest Iowa is in fact sending a good signal. However doing the 753159852 test, shows the host channel to be blank. There is nothing there. I have called up the PBS station and they just sent me to gemstar which wouldn't talk to me because I am a "consumer" and not a "manufacturer". Any ideas about what to do. I've tried resetting the system and that doesn't do anything either. Thanks.

I was without guide data for 3 weeks. You can look back and see some of my posts. Today I started receiving guide data again. I don't have definitive proof, but I was told that the Gemstar hardware needed to be replaced. Of course, I don't have a clue what that hardware is. My local PBS was supposed to call me and tell me when it is working.
When you get the black screen that says your guide is rebuilding within 24 hours, you can be sure that you are not getting guide data. It is usually not a problem with your dvr. In my area people just don't know much about the TV Guide in the Sony or other TVs.
My advice is to continue to contact your PBS station and/or you local cable co. if you are a subscriber with them.

No such splitter exits. Here is a pdf of spaun splitters and the 2way is the expected 3.5dB loss.

http://assets.twacomm.com/assets/pdf/29548.pdf
I think that's right....the 3 db isn't a loss - it's what you get when you divide the input signal into 2 parts. period

Mark,

Congratulations for reading through the whole thread! You will receive a prize via fed express (I think it's a free $50 Target card as long as you agreet to join this forum as a permenant member).

I too have not had any problems with the .05 software. I was going to send my unit in to get a software update among other things but since the unit has worked so well I didn't want to mess with a good thing.

No such splitter exits. Here is a pdf of spaun splitters and the 2way is the expected 3.5dB loss.

http://assets.twacomm.com/assets/pdf/29548.pdf

OK, now that I know you guys are not sleeping :) Seriously, I made a mistake...my Spaun satellite multiswitch has 0dB "tap loss" and a <6dB "noise figure", whatever that means. The SEW 120F diplexers I use have 1.5dB through loss. I apologize for the misinformation.

I guess I had that 0dB in the back of my mind. I bought all this stuff last year, so was going on memory. I knew you all would keep me honest ;) So, basically another reason for using a pre-amp with an antenna. As I stated, this setup worked much better with the pre-amp.

Mark

I think that's right....the 3 db isn't a loss - it's what you get when you divide the input signal into 2 parts. period

While most two-way splitters may have the same insertion loss of 3.5dB printed on them, that does not mean it is a true indicator of their performance. In this day and age with Chinese manufacturers making all manner of counterfeit products, let the buyer beware.

Theoretically, they could make a two-way splitter, print a 3.5dB loss on it, and mass-produce it. All while never having tested the actual performance. And guess what? Cable companies would buy them by the thousands, because they don't care about signal quality...only on the bottom line.

On the other side of the coin, with digital cable and terrestrial signals, perhaps it doesn't matter so much any longer. Keep in mind this is just my opinion.

Mark

OK. I'm getting concerned. Either I STILL don't know how to set this unit up, or it has a problem. I'm in SE Connecticut, Comcast "Expanded Basic", no cable card, and no external antenna. My original scan produced 12 digital channels and 71 analog channels. Three of the channels are HD, but that's out of 10 that Comcast provides to my area. Not sure if the others are scrambled and require a cable card. The clock is perfect, but after 10 days I have no listings! I DID change the zip code once, but still no joy. I see comments here about VBI testing, but I'm not sure what that is. I DID see a VBI test of sorts in one of the screens the other day, and it indicated that VBI data was OK, or something. (I no longer remember how to get back to that screen. Help, anyone?)

I'm ALSO am not certain about my "Host Channel", or even what that means. I assume that it's the PBS channel from which the TVGOS data is transmitted.

Anyone like to take a crack at pointing me in a more positive direction?

Thanks.

JLOB

Portland OR, OTA. My guide disappeared over the weekend, started coming back Monday. I have BL scheduled regularly, it recorded 3-28 and shows next scheduled 4-4. I seem to lose NBC news more than anything else.

when did you put bl into your record schedule? before or after you lost
your listings???

So, basically another reason for using a pre-amp with an antenna. As I stated, this setup worked much better with the pre-amp.
Mark

Using pre-amps always has the potential to add different issues then the issue it is used to solve. The most common issue with a pre-amps is that it overloads when there are near by TV or FM stations. When a Pre-Amp overloads all the signals it amplifies will become distorted. In the case of near by FM stations using a pre-amp with an FM trap can be very useful. If you use a preamp to receive distant stations but also have near by stations you have to buy a more expensive preamps that wont overload easily with high input signal levels.

Also note that preamps that cover low band VHF to UHF are susceptible to overload when near by EMI sources are present, like my neighbor mowing his lawn with his old rider :( To solve this issue get an antenna that only receives UHF and a UHF only preamp (the Channel Master 4228 will still do a good enough job at high band VHF for when the HDTV stations move to the VHF band after the non-HDTV stations are shut down).

Moral of the story is don't use a preamp if you can get by with out it.

to anyone here who has become more than disenchanted with their Sony DHG-HDD500....

I'm interested in relieving you of your suffering... please contact me at jhirsche1<at>yahoo.com , or just PM me here if you'd like to sell me your working unit (hoping to get near the tweeter price, used or therwise...) Thanks! - Jacob

I bought one last week at three times the Tweeter price and have received but have not opened carton. I ordered for one reason only ----- to restore ability to timer record DVDs unattended thus with TV off. I can't do this with CC card on HD-TV and won't use a Comcast STB because standard definition broadcasts PQ inferior than with CC and confirmed by Comcast tech who installed CC. Thus, after reading in excess of 160 pages of reported problems I may never use since I don't want the hassle. I also have a non HD TV with STB allowing DVD timer recordings so may merely surrender to no timer recordings on CC HD-TV and record on other analog TV. If so, I'll get rid of Sony DHG-HDD-500.

Slannes

Using pre-amps always has the potential to add different issues then the issue it is used to solve. Most issues with pre-amps is that they overload when there are near by TV or FM stations. In the case of near by FM stations using a pre-amp with an FM trap can be very useful. If you use a preamp to receive distant stations but also have near by stations you have to be really expensive preamps that wont overload with high input signals.

Also note that preamps that cover low band VHF to UHF are susceptible to overload when near by EMI sources are present, like my neighbor mowing his law with his old rider :( To solve this issue get an antenna that only receives UHF and a UHF only preamp (the Channel Master 4228 will still do a good enough job at high band VHF for when the HDTV stations move to the VHF band after the non-HDTV stations are shut down).

Moral of the story is don't use a preamp if you can get by with out it.

We have one station (CBS) here in Chicago currently on low-band VHF, hence my need for a combination antenna. CBS is definitely my "problem" channel, and I was worried about getting it at all because of the power lines near my house. I get the channel, but there are common pixelizations and audio dropouts. However, I don't really watch any shows on there, so I cannot comment more specifically. I also never tried optimizing my setup, as the other channels come in just fine, and I was happy to get it at all. I should point out that I have an eleven-month old child, so the perfectionist in me has to take a back seat at times :eek:

I use the Channel Master 7778 pre-amp, if memory serves me correctly. The Spaun sat multi-switch also has a gain adjustment which seemed to have a negative effect on signal quality. Again, this is all fuzzy, as I did it last year. I am going to permanently mount my satellite dish this spring and probably will do some further testing/optimizing. I will have more time, as the wife and baby will be travelling for six weeks. I welcome any suggestions of things to try, or if any fellow Chicagoans would like to help...

Mark

We have one station (CBS) here in Chicago currently on low-band VHF, hence my need for a combination antenna. CBS is definitely my "problem" channel, and I was worried about getting it at all because of the power lines near my house.
Mark

Is that CBS channel a HiDef channel? I am sure I read that the HDTV format ATSC standard (VSB 8) doesn't work very well at low frequency VHF. I thought all the low frequency VHF was going away after the full migration to HDTV.

Is the channel WBBM? Found Here: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?state=&call=&arn=&city=Chicago&chan=0.0&chan2=69&serv=&facid=&list=0&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=

They show a digital at 60Mhz and a 198Mhz. Which one are you receiving?

OK. I'm getting concerned. Either I STILL don't know how to set this unit up, or it has a problem. I'm in SE Connecticut, Comcast "Expanded Basic", no cable card, and no external antenna. My original scan produced 12 digital channels and 71 analog channels. Three of the channels are HD, but that's out of 10 that Comcast provides to my area. Not sure if the others are scrambled and require a cable card. The clock is perfect, but after 10 days I have no listings! I DID change the zip code once, but still no joy. I see comments here about VBI testing, but I'm not sure what that is. I DID see a VBI test of sorts in one of the screens the other day, and it indicated that VBI data was OK, or something. (I no longer remember how to get back to that screen. Help, anyone?)

I'm ALSO am not certain about my "Host Channel", or even what that means. I assume that it's the PBS channel from which the TVGOS data is transmitted.

Anyone like to take a crack at pointing me in a more positive direction?

Thanks.

JLOB

Go to this web site for answers to most of your questions.



http://pvr.hidyman.com/

Is that CBS channel a HiDef channel? I am sure I read that the HDTV format ATSC standard (VSB 8) doesn't work very well at low frequency VHF. I thought all the low frequency VHF was going away after the full migration to HDTV.

Is the channel WBBM? Found Here: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?state=&call=&arn=&city=Chicago&chan=0.0&chan2=69&serv=&facid=&list=0&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=

They show a digital at 60Mhz and a 198Mhz. Which one are you receiving?

Yes, that is the channel. Before moving back here, I had read about problems with low-band VHF, and WBBM was notoriously difficult to receive. I believe I am getting the 60Mhz channel, as it is listed as channel 2.1

Mark

Does anyone have an occurance of having a show dropped from the schedule when using "once" mode?

Yes. I was having problems with some Regularly recordings not being recorded. While trying to figure out what was going on, I would hit record to record whatever was currently playing and the red dot would appear for a brief time but then disappear. A system reset fixed the problem.

Yes, that is the channel. Before moving back here, I had read about problems with low-band VHF, and WBBM was notoriously difficult to receive. I believe I am getting the 60Mhz channel, as it is listed as channel 2.1

MarkAs far as I know, WBBM-DT is and has always been channel 3 digital. They are supposedly moving to hi-VHF after the shutoff and increasing power, so they should be a heck of a lot more receivable. I'm in Crystal Lake, so I'm fortunate enough that I can pull in CBS Rockford (WIFR-DT). Well, at least usually, later at night when Letterman is on, which is all I really watch on there anyway.

Go to this web site for answers to most of your questions.



http://pvr.hidyman.com/


Server not found

Firefox can't find the server at www.pvr.hidyman.com.


What gives?

JLOB

Server not found

Firefox can't find the server at www.pvr.hidyman.com.


What gives?

JLOBFirefox has a problem with some servers....that's why I switched back to IE6, at least temporarily... :eek:

The link is good.

I bought one last week at three times the Tweeter price and have received but have not opened carton. I ordered for one reason only ----- to restore ability to timer record DVDs unattended thus with TV off. I can't do this with CC card on HD-TV and won't use a Comcast STB because standard definition broadcasts PQ inferior than with CC and confirmed by Comcast tech who installed CC. Thus, after reading in excess of 160 pages of reported problems I may never use since I don't want the hassle. I also have a non HD TV with STB allowing DVD timer recordings so may merely surrender to no timer recordings on CC HD-TV and record on other analog TV. If so, I'll get rid of Sony DHG-HDD-500.

Slannes

I don't understand why you would use an HD recorder to record to DVD. With regard to reported problems, most all relate to the guide, which isn't needed to do timed recording. Probably about half my recordings are done manually because of missing guide data. Recorded programs are easy to find, and play exactly like the original broadcast, except I can jump past commericals with a four or more clicks of a button.

I bought one last week at three times the Tweeter price and have received but have not opened carton. I ordered for one reason only ----- to restore ability to timer record DVDs unattended thus with TV off. I can't do this with CC card on HD-TV and won't use a Comcast STB because standard definition broadcasts PQ inferior than with CC and confirmed by Comcast tech who installed CC. Thus, after reading in excess of 160 pages of reported problems I may never use since I don't want the hassle. I also have a non HD TV with STB allowing DVD timer recordings so may merely surrender to no timer recordings on CC HD-TV and record on other analog TV. If so, I'll get rid of Sony DHG-HDD-500.
Slannes

hmmm...I'm curious about why you do this, too...though I may PARTLY understand, because I'm trying to identify a DVD recorder that I can use for archiving the 1 of 20 or 1 of 100 HD recorded programs that I want to keep...do you or others have any recommendations for this?

I presently have a way or archiving from TWO of my devices, i.e., to a JVC digital-VHS recorder, but this means keeping tapes and, from the Sony 250 (which I have), you can't tranfer to this in HD anyway...but I'd give up some of the quality to get the convenience of having archiving to good DVD quality, which plays back well on my upconverting TV and which I could also give to friends when I wanted. So I would want to use the S-video ouputs from my HD devices to connect to the DVD recorder, which means I would want an S-video connection on the front for convenience...

Does anyone know why Gemstar does not account for time overruns with their guide? Even my Sunday delivered local paper tv guide shows when the next show will actually start (typically showing the show after Lost starting at say 10:01). Gemstar should be getting the same network info they are, if not more detailed.

FWIW, BB in Austin has dropped the price on remaining 250's from $499 to $449....I got a nice refund today through a price match on the two units I own. :D

Ironically, I saw a 500 there and the price is still $999....go figure. :rolleyes:

If I do get a 2nd one, I'd pay up to $300 for a 250 and $400 for a 500. otherwise I'm enjoying my 500 and am in no rush. I can wait as I think there will be many more bargains on these judging how many I see sitting in the stores at $1000 gathering dust.

Firefox has a problem with some servers....that's why I switched back to IE6, at least temporarily... :eek:

The link is good.

Doesn't work in my version of IE6. The link is not good right now at 3:47 PST.

Doesn't work in my version of IE6. The link is not good right now at 3:47 PST.

Try this one: http://pvr.hidyman.com/
Just worked for me on Firefox. Note difference from previous address - no www prefix

Try this one: http://pvr.hidyman.com/
Just worked for me on Firefox. Note difference from previous address - no www prefixYes, that's the one I was referring to....didn't notice the change in prefix.

hmmm...I'm curious about why you do this, too...though I may PARTLY understand, because I'm trying to identify a DVD recorder that I can use for archiving the 1 of 20 or 1 of 100 HD recorded programs that I want to keep...do you or others have any recommendations for this?

I presently have a way or archiving from TWO of my devices, i.e., to a JVC digital-VHS recorder, but this means keeping tapes and, from the Sony 250 (which I have), you can't tranfer to this in HD anyway...but I'd give up some of the quality to get the convenience of having archiving to good DVD quality, which plays back well on my upconverting TV and which I could also give to friends when I wanted. So I would want to use the S-video ouputs from my HD devices to connect to the DVD recorder, which means I would want an S-video connection on the front for convenience...

Concept was to bypass hard drive and timer record to DVD recorder for permanent DVDs by using DHG-HDD-500 to record while CC equipped thus non STB TV "off" for example in the middle of the night. I can't do this solely with CC. TV must be on to record to DVD/VHS recorder. An expensive proposition but I had no option due to CC PQ superior to Comcast STB.

Stephen

Concept was to bypass hard drive and timer record to DVD recorder for permanent DVDs by using DHG-HDD-500 to record while CC equipped thus non STB TV "off" for example in the middle of the night. I can't do this solely with CC. TV must be on to record to DVD/VHS recorder. An expensive proposition but I had no option due to CC PQ superior to Comcast STB.

Stephen

I don't care about HD recording to DVDs which can't be done anyway--------I want TCM analog movies. :) Stephen

As long as we're talking about splitters, what's the difference between the following two hookups regarding the coax (cable from wall) connection?

Coax split via VCR passthru

> Coax from wall to VCR ant in
> Coax from VCR ant out to Sony DHG-HDD500 cable in

Coax split via splitter

> Coax from wall to 2-way splitter
> Coax from splitter to VCR ant in
> Coax from splitter to Sony DHG-HDD500 cable in

Any difference in signal strength, PQ, etc. with analog cable?

As long as we're talking about splitters, what's the difference between the following two hookups regarding the coax (cable from wall) connection?

Coax split via VCR passthru

> Coax from wall to VCR ant in
> Coax from VCR ant out to Sony DHG-HDD500 cable in

Coax split via splitter

> Coax from wall to 2-way splitter
> Coax from splitter to VCR ant in
> Coax from splitter to Sony DHG-HDD500 cable in

Any difference in signal strength, PQ, etc. with analog cable?

My guess is that your first configuration would provide a better signal to both units but it is not a logical choice since when you play a tape, the Sony will only receive the taped program. With the second configuration, you can view a taped program while recording a program on the Sony.

I don't care about HD recording to DVDs which can't be done anyway--------I want TCM analog movies. :) Stephen

You can record 400 hours of analog programs on the Sony and not have to deal with DVDs, or if you fill up the drive, you can transfer programs to the DVD recorder - just play the program and turn on the DVD recorder.

I don't care about HD recording to DVDs which can't be done anyway--------I want TCM analog movies. :) Stephen It sure is a great channel, isn't it? I just recorded the two Harryhausen movies they had on tonight.
I've recorded a few movies off of there lately. It's about the best looking SD channel on E*, plus no commercial breaks. We'll see how long this lasts before they start with the copyguard. Anyway, I think you should definitely keep and use the Sony. Most of the people posting here are the ones having problems. But there are many people, including myself, who are totally satisfied with it. The guide problems I was just having seem to have cleared up, now that I used my local zipcode again. I was just basically experimenting and trying to get it to do things that it wasn't meant to do.

You can record 400 hours of analog programs on the Sony and not have to deal with DVDs, or if you fill up the drive, you can transfer programs to the DVD recorder - just play the program and turn on the DVD recorder.

After seeing Analog compared to HD, I refuse to watch/record any non-HD material. Life is just too short to settle for crap. But that is me.

-T

Go to this web site for answers to most of your questions.



http://pvr.hidyman.com/


I can't get to it from either Firefox OR IE.

JLOB

I haven't seen any other messages with the error I get when trying to insert an Adelphia/Scientific Atlanta cable card into my HDD500. 161-one.

It comes up five seconds after the card is inserted and keeps popping up every five seconds, making it impossible to even try navigating the menus to investigate further. Fairly talented cable techs have no clue. So far, they've tried four cards -- the last being factory-fresh.

A long session with elevated Sony tech support ended with them admitting they had no idea either. A promised return call never came.

Any hints?

I haven't seen any other messages with the error I get when trying to insert an Adelphia/Scientific Atlanta cable card into my HDD500. 161-one.

It comes up five seconds after the card is inserted and keeps popping up every five seconds, making it impossible to even try navigating the menus to investigate further. Fairly talented cable techs have no clue. So far, they've tried four cards -- the last being factory-fresh.

A long session with elevated Sony tech support ended with them admitting they had no idea either. A promised return call never came.

Any hints?

You need to do a search on this thread (I know it's really long). There are numerous discussions on the 161-1 message. I believe there is a hardware fix required where you have to send your machine in to a Sony repair center. I don't use CC so I haven't seen this myself.

Edit: Spiff pointed out that the common error is 161-6....guess I should have done the search myself!

You need to do a search on this thread (I know it's really long). There are numerous discussions on the 161-1 message. I believe there is a hardware fix required where you have to send your machine in to a Sony repair center. I don't use CC so I haven't seen this myself.

Isn't the error mentioned elsewhere a slightly different number? I thought it was 161-6...

And on another note, I will be posting a (hopefully) more reliable version of the pvr.hidyman.com FAQ on my web site this weekend. I asked for hidymans permission to do this, but he seems to have disappeared. I will credit him, and if he complains, I will take it off my site.

I will post a link after it is up and running.

Thanks.

I can't get to it from either Firefox OR IE.

JLOB

It seems to be up and down all the time. I just got to it using Firefox.

It seems to be up and down all the time. I just got to it using Firefox.

Once I have it up on my site I will ask the moderators to add it the the title or the first post in the thread. I asked for this before, but they didn't do it because it was too unreliable. I can't get to it right now, but I saved off the HTML at home the other day in preparation for hosting the info.

Thanks

I've got a strange problem with my 500. I tried using menu 9012 and managed to get the unit in a state where it won't put up any menus, like some variable got set to disable all user input except change channel. I was wondering if the "Wipe Unit" basically set the box back to factory settings. Sony tech help wants me to send it in which I'd rather not do unless I have to.

Mike

make sure your remote is set at DVR instead of TV.

I can't get to it from either Firefox OR IE.

JLOB
Try these:
PDF version (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=52073)
Text version (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=53116)

this is interesting...

Uniden's HDD and DVD Media Recorder
After having a look at their TV's, here is a media recorder with a 250GB HDD abd a DVD-R DL burner. It comes with an HDMI port and a digital TV tuner. The GUI is Full HD compatible, so you can even browse the menus in 1080!

this is interesting...

Uniden's HDD and DVD Media Recorder
After having a look at their TV's, here is a media recorder with a 250GB HDD abd a DVD-R DL burner. It comes with an HDMI port and a digital TV tuner. The GUI is Full HD compatible, so you can even browse the menus in 1080!
Do you happen to have a link with info on it? Thanks.

Do you happen to have a link with info on it? Thanks.
i think it's only available in Japan

http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/index.php

Do you happen to have a link with info on it? Thanks.
can anyone translate???

http://www.uniden.co.jp/TOP/PR/DHENEWPRODUCT/UPD-42J&UDR-250J.html

make sure your remote is set at DVR instead of TV.
Got it. That was one of the first things I checked. I tried reboot from front panel and power plug with no luck. Also tried to re-access the 9012 menu but seems like only a few buttons on the remote now work - no luck there either. I even reset the remote just in case. Thanks for the hint though.

Mike

I have the HDD500 for OTA, love it.

My dad is thinking about getting one in Dallas and he uses the Comcast DVR (Motorola) with his premium service. He has an very old Mit's with only ONE HD input. He like the fact that the HDD 500 pulls in OTA HD.

Is there a way to hook the Comcast STB DVR up to the Sony, and have it feed the Mit's ONE input?

I've got a strange problem with my 500. I tried using menu 9012 and managed to get the unit in a state where it won't put up any menus, like some variable got set to disable all user input except change channel. I was wondering if the "Wipe Unit" basically set the box back to factory settings. Sony tech help wants me to send it in which I'd rather not do unless I have to.

Mike

You might have somehow set the format "SD out". SD Out causes all on screen menus to appear only on the SD outputs (not on component or HDMI). Push the format button on the remote, wait about 5-10 seconds until it changes. Keep doing this until you see that one of the other formats is selected. See if that helps.

i think it's only available in Japan

http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/index.php

I notice that it is labeled as a Toshiba. Are they the same company?

If I do get a 2nd one, I'd pay up to $300 for a 250 and $400 for a 500. otherwise I'm enjoying my 500 and am in no rush. I can wait as I think there will be many more bargains on these judging how many I see sitting in the stores at $1000 gathering dust.

Not quite at the prices you are looking for....

Crutchfield has a couple of units available again. Free shipping, free shipping on returns.

DHG-HDD500 'Scratch and Dent' $594.99
DHG-HDD250 'Outlet' $449.99
DHG-HDD250 'Scratch and Dent' $424.99

I've seen plenty of 161-six. I want to know what 161-one is before I part with my precious HDTV recorder for even an evening. (Pathetic, ain't I?)

I, for one, am grateful that you are working on a FAQ update. I'll pass on what I know -- as soon as I learn anything useful.

I have the HDD500 for OTA, love it.

My dad is thinking about getting one in Dallas and he uses the Comcast DVR (Motorola) with his premium service. He has an very old Mit's with only ONE HD input. He like the fact that the HDD 500 pulls in OTA HD.

Is there a way to hook the Comcast STB DVR up to the Sony, and have it feed the Mit's ONE input?

Only way to use both is to connect them to the tv through a selector switch, assuming the signal is component input. You can get a manual switch for about $20. Remote control switches are also available but are much more expensive - $125 to $250? I have Comcast DVR and two Sonys and use two manual switches, one for video and one for optical audio.

Try these:
PDF version (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=52073)
Text version (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=53116)


Thanks. I apprciate the consideration. That should answer some of my queries.

JLOB

when did you put bl into your record schedule? before or after you lost
your listings???

It was scheduled before I lost my listings. It was still scheduled when the listings began to repopulate. Perhaps it had something to do with the way the listings came back. Days 1-4 and 8 came back the first day. After that it seems to have reverted to day 1 and day 8 updates each day.

can anyone translate???

http://www.uniden.co.jp/TOP/PR/DHENEWPRODUCT/UPD-42J&UDR-250J.html

Try using Google/Language Tools/Translate web page.

can anyone translate???

http://www.uniden.co.jp/TOP/PR/DHENEWPRODUCT/UPD-42J&UDR-250J.html

From http://babelfish.altavista.com/:

NEWS RELEASE


2006 March 30th

Hi-vision correspondence 42 V type plasma monitor + digital hi-vision recorder set
It corresponds to the needs of the AV fan and the foam/home theater
Actualizing the combination of the high "the essence of AV is pursued" ended model


Trade name Start of sale Estimate value Color
Hi-vision correspondence
42 V type plasma monitors +
Digital hi-vision recorder set 2006 June 1st
Reservation acceptance start: May 1st 349,800 Yen
(Including tax shipping charge included)

The combination commodity which is actualized with the cooperation plan of the pioneer corporation

It is the commodity where this commodity was born by the cooperation plan of pioneer corporation which always pursues the highest efficiency of beauty in the AV home appliance, and ユニデン which answers beginning market needs with customer point of view, combines the digital hi-vision recorder of the high picture quality plasma monitor and terrestrial digital/BS digital /110 degree CS digital/terrestrial analog tuner loading.
Due to this commodity, ' you look at hi-vision image in the customer, it videotapes, the combination which it plays back and ' can enjoy from all directions was actualized.

DVR and the high picture quality which correspond to the various image sources with the plasma monitor which specializes in reappearance of image, pursuing the essence of AV.
With ユニデン, although "in the home appliance = one person one room of everyone 1 unit" is proposed to the customer with the liquid crystal television, in order that the high end which seeks the highest picture quality colorful function you answer needs we planned this commodity.
According to our company investigation, as for expectation of the user for the plasma monitor in it is found that it is "high picture quality". Then, as for the plasma monitor in "picture quality pursuit" specialization, of that it offers with the digital hi-vision recorder of all terrestrial digital /BS digital /110 degree CS digital/terrestrial analog tuner loading with the conception of customer basis only of ユニデン, as for the colorful function due to the interface which is easy to know, you thought. You can say that this commodity had progressive and advanced technology the plasma monitor and digital recording playback, in the whichever and therefore cooperation plan of the pioneer corporation which knows the essence of the enjoyment of AV very made actualize.
With the original this commodity, ユニデン thinks the thing which can propose the life style which has the ideal foam/home theater in the customer.


Hi-vision correspondence 42 V type plasma monitor + Digital hi-vision recorder
UPD-42J UDR-250J

Could anyone direct me to chassis parts for the HDD250?
I need to get a new body housing and faceplate.
Thanks in advance.

Try Fox International. You may need to speak to the research department first.
http://estore.fox-international.com/contact.asp

Click below for answers to guide problems, and to see how many products have the on screen guide. One thing I learned from this site is that there is a TV guide furnished device built into each of these products.

Just click on the Sony HDD250/500 link for Q&A.

http://www.vgi.com/support

I notice that it is labeled as a Toshiba. Are they the same company? Not as far as I've ever known. I've got a couple of Uniden radio scanners and I've never been aware of any connection to Toshiba. Probably some kind of partnership, where they're sold under the Toshiba name, seeing that Uniden has never been known for manufacturing that sort of thing before, but Toshiba's reputation has been more synonomous with it. Just my guess, anyway. Knowing Uniden, it's probably of better quality that most of Toshiba's recent output, so I'd expect it to be pretty good. Tosh's CRT's are made by Funai now, so that tells you something about the recent quality of those items, anyway.

Not quite at the prices you are looking for....

Crutchfield has a couple of units available again. Free shipping, free shipping on returns.

DHG-HDD500 'Scratch and Dent' $594.99
DHG-HDD250 'Outlet' $449.99
DHG-HDD250 'Scratch and Dent' $424.99Those are really not bad prices at all. Crutchfield is an extremely reputable company, and I, personally think they're worth that extra bit. They will give you no hassle whatsoever and will make it very easy for you to return the item if not completely satisfied. I've never had anything less than total satisfaction with them.

From the article, the Uniden HD-DVR seems to be coupled with a 42" plasma and something else for about 3000$.

Only way to use both is to connect them to the tv through a selector switch, assuming the signal is component input. You can get a manual switch for about $20. Remote control switches are also available but are much more expensive - $125 to $250? I have Comcast DVR and two Sonys and use two manual switches, one for video and one for optical audio.

Yes, that is what I am thinking. I have to keep this real simple for my dad, and a component quality AB switch I think may be the way to go......Thanks.

Hi folks-

Just an update. Earlier this week I posted some concerns about listings being off by an hour starting Sunday after the time change.

I checked this morning, and saw that the listings are correct at this time. Scheduled recordings are also showing up properly.

Now the only question is: will the time change automatically at the appointed time, or reasonably close to it, or will I have to intervene?

Only time will tell!

Marc

OK...

It is done (for now)...

Here is a new link for a (hopefully) more reliable version of the FAQ page for this Sony.

www.spiffspace.com/sonydvr.html

It is a work in progress of course, and if anyone has any comments or suggestions, please use the contact page.

Special thanks to Hidyman for creating the original version.

Yes, that is what I am thinking. I have to keep this real simple for my dad, and a component quality AB switch I think may be the way to go......Thanks.

I haven't seen AB switch for component video. Look for a switch that is rated for that signal type. Switches designed for video plus stereo audio probably won't work. Look for a Phillips brand switch at Walmart.

I preordered the Sony DHG-HDD500 from the Sony store: they assured me it would ship on May 21

spiffSPACE.com Sony HDD250/500 FAQ (http://www.spiffspace.com/sonydvr.html)
Hi - it was some time ago that I urged that the first post in this thread have a link to hidyman's document, and of course I wasn't the only one. I'm glad that this has now happened, largely through the efforts of spiff72.

Can I also suggest that the link be preceded by a sentence that says something to the effect that..."here's a link to a description of the operation of the Sony 250 and 500, including discussion of TVGOS operation." Maybe whatever sentence is chosen should even be in caps so the novice can't miss it!

I haven't seen AB switch for component video. Look for a switch that is rated for that signal type. Switches designed for video plus stereo audio probably won't work. Look for a Phillips brand switch at Walmart.
Radio Shack has some too. (http://www.radioshack.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2032200&cp=2032057.2032187.2032188)

My girlfriend mentioned our electric bill was about $10 higher than normal this past month and it got me thinking about anything new I've added to the house that might cause this.

Sure enough, it seems to be the DHG. The manual says the 500 consumes 58 watts. Running all day, every day, that works out to just under $9 a month at the $0.21 KWH rate in my area.

As far as single devices go, I think only my refrigerator is more costly!

wow - I had wondered about that, but hadn't checked the manual...the 250's 45 watts....both are worse than the new dishwasher I just installed.

I'm glad my other HD recorder, an LG 3410a, actually turns OFF. (Of course, it takes several seconds to spin up, and another 10 sec to have what's on the hard drive available.)

I can't get to it from either Firefox OR IE.

JLOB


Sony DGH-HDD250/500 Resource Guide

Just went there again and pasted the title of the web page. Strange some can't get into this web page.

Hi folks-

Just an update. Earlier this week I posted some concerns about listings being off by an hour starting Sunday after the time change.

I checked this morning, and saw that the listings are correct at this time. Scheduled recordings are also showing up properly.

Now the only question is: will the time change automatically at the appointed time, or reasonably close to it, or will I have to intervene?

Only time will tell!

Marc

I believe the time updates several times per day. I would think you will have the updated time sometime Sunday morning.

My girlfriend mentioned our electric bill was about $10 higher than normal this past month and it got me thinking about anything new I've added to the house that might cause this.

Sure enough, it seems to be the DHG. The manual says the 500 consumes 58 watts. Running all day, every day, that works out to just under $9 a month at the $0.21 KWH rate in my area.

As far as single devices go, I think only my refrigerator is more costly!Wow! 21 cents per kwh? I'm paying about 9.5 cents and I thought that was high!

The manual says the 500 has a power "requirement" of 58 watts. That's probably more than it actually consumes, particularly in standby mode. I would think the power requirement covers full operating conditions with some headroom. Nonetheless, significant when you consider it's 24/7....probably 6 bucks a month or so for my two 250's. :(

It seems Sony designed them so the PG info loads onto the HD during standby and that's why it never shuts down. I wonder how the LG unit accomplishes this when it shuts off?

After thinking about this I'm glad I didn't get the 500's....I never use all the capacity anyway.

Wow! 21 cents per kwh? I'm paying about 9.5 cents and I thought that was high!

The manual says the 500 has a power "requirement" of 58 watts. That's probably more than it actually consumes, particularly in standby mode. I would think the power requirement covers full operating conditions with some headroom.

21 cents per KWh?!? :eek: I think in this case the power requirement of 58 watts is probably accurate since the hard drive(s) never spin down. Close to a 60 watt lightbulb. It's pretty scary when a refridgerator takes up less power. It makes me think about how inefficient regular incandescent light bulbs are. About 90 percent of the energy going into them is given off as heat with light making up the remaining 10 percent. Pretty sad. Anyway, the Sony probably uses 58 watts while on and maybe 45 watts otherwise.

I've had my unit installed for a little better than a week now. Yesterday morning I finally found partial program data for days 1, 2 and 8. I had/have listings, but no descriptions - just title and the rating icons. Today I just have yeterdays data, but for days 1 and 7. Apparently nothing more was loaded overnight.

I'm willing to try anything to get this to work properly. Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks.

JLOB

Hi folks-

I've been posting with some musings about what would happen with regards to the DST change, particularly since my area (Indianapolis) is doing this for the first time in 30 years this year.

Anyway, everything worked flawlessly. I went in this morning and the time was correct (sprung forward) and the recording schedule and guide all seem OK and properly linked up.

On the other hand, my cableco-provided SA8300 DVR is all screwed up. The time change and listings are OK, but the scheduled recordings are all off by an hour. I wound up deleting all of them and redoing them.

Marc

Do the rented Tivo-like boxes run all the time also? If so, that would probably make the rent-free Sony still a bargain to operate.

Do the rented Tivo-like boxes run all the time also? If so, that would probably make the rent-free Sony still a bargain to operate.

My Comcast Motorola DVR runs continuously. Couldn't find any power consumption information.

Probably nothing. The guide data CREEPs in, coming in blocks reported to be

2:21 - 5:21am
7:06 - 10:06am
10:16 - 1:16pm
1:46 - 4:46pm

The FAQ explains the leapfrog delivery you see. Any "on" time in a block voids the download.

I feel your pain. Twice in the past couple weeks I have had to reset everything as we tried to get a cable card to work in my unit.

The manual says the 500 has a power "requirement" of 58 watts. That's probably more than it actually consumes, particularly in standby mode. I would think the power requirement covers full operating conditions with some headroom.
According to my power meter, the HDD500 consumes 35 watts while turned on, and 34 watts while turned off (standby). By comparison, I have a dual-drive Tivo that consumes 31 watts while turned on.

Comcast Chicago has just switched me over to ADS. They have included the analog duplicate of the local PBS channel for TVGOS data. They did foul up my card provisioning, but quickly fixed it with a remote hit. (I had lost my premium channels.)

I wonder how soon the Sony will find the new data channel, that is if it will lose guide data for several days or if it will find the single new channel tonight. If it's going to take 3 days (as someone has reported) before it gives up on the old data channel, maybe I should just reset the guide now.

Comcast Chicago has just switched me over to ADS. They have included the analog duplicate of the local PBS channel for TVGOS data. They did foul up my card provisioning, but quickly fixed it with a remote hit. (I had lost my premium channels.)

I wonder how soon the Sony will find the new data channel, that is if it will lose guide data for several days or if it will find the single new channel tonight. If it's going to take 3 days (as someone has reported) before it gives up on the old data channel, maybe I should just reset the guide now.

They switched me over about a month ago so all you should have to do is change channel 11 over to channel 94 in your guide. Then reboot the unit and it will set channel 94 as the host. I had a lot of practice doing this during my 3 weeks that I lost guide data. I hope your guide data comes back sooner than mine did. I finally had to have my card replaced in order to receive guide data. I had one of the old red cards and the tech said they had some problems with those. The new card is purple, however it still only has firmware version 4.05.

[QUOTE=wrc15963]They switched me over about a month ago so all you should have to do is change channel 11 over to channel 94 in your guide. Then reboot the unit and it will set channel 94 as the host. I had a lot of practice doing this during my 3 weeks that I lost guide data. I hope your guide data comes back sooner than mine did. I finally had to have my card replaced in order to receive guide data. I had one of the old red cards and the tech said they had some problems with those. The new card is purple, however it still only has firmware version 4.05.[/QUOTE

After all the fiddling with this thing, I can't remember if the front panel reboot wipes out the whole guide and guide channel arrangement. I'd hate to have to redo the whole thing.

I noticed that my time had fallen about a minute behind since the ADS switch. When I went into the guide setup and remapped PBS from 11 to 94, the correct time appeared almost immediately.

Maybe I'll wait and see what happens overnight. If I don't get new data, I'll have to reset it tomorrow.

These things are so cool....just played back "The Ring" movie....while the machine was recording other shows. The ole VHS tape don't do that....

After all the fiddling with this thing, I can't remember if the front panel reboot wipes out the whole guide and guide channel arrangement. I'd hate to have to redo the whole thing.

I noticed that my time had fallen about a minute behind since the ADS switch. When I went into the guide setup and remapped PBS from 11 to 94, the correct time appeared almost immediately.

Maybe I'll wait and see what happens overnight. If I don't get new data, I'll have to reset it tomorrow.

The front panel reset isn't SUPPOSED to reset the guide, but the one time that I did this, it DID actually reset the guide. I am not sure why, as others have said that this isn't supposed to do happen.

Sony DGH-HDD250/500 Resource Guide

Just went there again and pasted the title of the web page. Strange some can't get into this web page.

Done.

After all the fiddling with this thing, I can't remember if the front panel reboot wipes out the whole guide and guide channel arrangement. I'd hate to have to redo the whole thing.

I noticed that my time had fallen about a minute behind since the ADS switch. When I went into the guide setup and remapped PBS from 11 to 94, the correct time appeared almost immediately.

Maybe I'll wait and see what happens overnight. If I don't get new data, I'll have to reset it tomorrow.

The front panel reboot will not have any effect on your guide data. Once it locks on to the new host your guide will still be there. If you do it now you will know tomorrow if you are going to have problems if it doesn't get guide data overnight.

Sony is claiming they will make a 2-tuner TIVO unit, and maybe that's the direction they will go, because so many people seem to have trouble getting the TV Guide listing consistently.

Where did you hear this? I thought Sony got out of the Tivo business a couple years back.

Thanks guys. I'll take care of it tonight. I probably have one of the early cards. Hope I don't have trouble with it.

These things are so cool....just played back "The Ring" movie....while the machine was recording other shows. The ole VHS tape don't do that....Welcome to what TiVo's been doing for years... :cool:

Where did you hear this? I thought Sony got out of the Tivo business a couple years back.
oops...remembered it wrong :o

it's Tivo that has been claiming it would do this....there's a thread on this from around January of this year....

My guess is that your first configuration would provide a better signal to both units

Well, that's interesting, but I'm curious as to why. When you pass the coax through the VCR, isn't that the same as using a splitter?

but it is not a logical choice since when you play a tape, the Sony will only receive the taped program. With the second configuration, you can view a taped program while recording a program on the Sony.

Why would playing a tape on the VCR prevent recording a program on the Sony when the coax is split by passing it through the VCR? Both have access to the cable coax, and apart from that, there are no other connections between the VCR and the Sony and each machine has separate AV cables to the TV.

Any chance a Sony MBD-XBR950 might be a way of archiving content off the Sony DHG-HDD250/DHG-HDD500 units? These "media receivers" were included with some Sony Plasma displays a few years back. They seem to convert all inputs into Firewire for output though I can't be sure. Anyone familiar with these?

Welcome to what TiVo's been doing for years... :cool:

I didn't know TiVO had OTA HD tuner built-in? Oh well live and learn.

I was just wondering if I created a contact page specifically for submitting TVGOS host station info, would you guys/gals use it? Hidyman had one on his site, but I didn't implement it in my efforts to get it up and running quickly.

I was thinking the fields would be:
Name
Email address
ZIP code
City
State
Cable system (if applicable)
Channel callsign
Channel Number (OTA)
Channel Number (Cable)

Would it help to grow the current list that is on the site?

www.spiffspace.com/sonddvr.html

Thanks,
Jeff

I was just wondering if I created a contact page specifically for submitting TVGOS host station info, would you guys/gals use it? Hidyman had one on his site, but I didn't implement it in my efforts to get it up and running quickly.

I was thinking the fields would be:
Name
Email address
ZIP code
City
State
Cable system (if applicable)
Channel callsign
Channel Number (OTA)
Channel Number (Cable)

Would it help to grow the current list that is on the site?

www.spiffspace.com/sonddvr.html

Thanks,
Jeff


John O'Boyle
john.l.oboyle@comcast.net
06378
Stonington
CT
Comcast
WEDH (CPTV)
24 (OTA)
16 (Cable)

I was thinking the fields would be:
Name
Email address
ZIP code
City
State
Cable system (if applicable)
Channel callsign
Channel Number (OTA)
Channel Number (Cable)

Would it help to grow the current list that is on the site?

www.spiffspace.com/sonddvr.html

Thanks,
Jeff
I think I already sent you my local info from the link on your FAQ site (which is great!). Not sure if I had all of the fields. If not, just PM me and I'll forward that info.

These things are so cool....just played back "The Ring" movie....while the machine was recording other shows. The ole VHS tape don't do that....

Ahhh...your one of us now ;)

Wolfie

Here's a new one: As noted above, my switch to ADS included a host channel change from 11 to 94. So I remapped the channel to 94 in the guide channel setup, then did a front panel reset, tuned to 94 and shut off the unit.

Note that the reset did not delete the previous host channel in the 753 menu data screen.

This morning I had new guide data through next Monday. OK!! The kicker: The host channel in the 753 screen IS STILL CABLE CHANNEL 11, which is the digital version and no longer exists in the guide setup.

?!?!?

Channel 11 of course fails the VBI test, while 94 passes.

Maybe the Sony is doing something internally with the remapping? It doesn't make sense, but I DO have guide data (so far).

I found out something new also. You can only put a max of 20 marks on a program. I tried placing marks on all breaks on The Super Bowl for all the good commercials but the machine wouldn't allow it.

Wolfie

Here's a new one: As noted above, my switch to ADS included a host channel change from 11 to 94. So I remapped the channel to 94 in the guide channel setup, then did a front panel reset, tuned to 94 and shut off the unit.

Note that the reset did not delete the previous host channel in the 753 menu data screen.

This morning I had new guide data through next Monday. OK!! The kicker: The host channel in the 753 screen IS STILL CABLE CHANNEL 11, which is the digital version and no longer exists in the guide setup.

?!?!?

Channel 11 of course fails the VBI test, while 94 passes.

Maybe the Sony is doing something internally with the remapping? It doesn't make sense, but I DO have guide data (so far).


Worst case the unit will search for a new host channel after 3 days of consecutive failures on the current host channel. If you schedule all of your shows as "W" or "R" then you won't miss any shows (assuming it can locate channel 94).

I've had my new HDD500 hooked up since Friday evening. I don't get my cablecard for another few days so I currently only receive a few HD channels (4 OTA and a few open QAM). I let the unit autodetect channels during the initial setup and then I went into the TV GUIDE -> SETUP and manually turned "OFF" the ones that I either don't get or come in poorly (e.g. OTA from other cities). This works great at first as my listings are streamlined to only the channels I actually receive. But then when I turn the device off for a few hours and come back, it keeps adding channels back into my guide. Is there any way to make it stop doing this? Is it just a side effect of having an incomplete week of data and maybe it will stop misbehaving after 7-8 days have elapsed? Or will it function better after I get my cablecard? I love the unit so far but this is an annoying problem. Obviously I would like to only have channels listed in my guide that I would consider watching or recording.

Worst case the unit will search for a new host channel after 3 days of consecutive failures on the current host channel. If you schedule all of your shows as "W" or "R" then you won't miss any shows (assuming it can locate channel 94).

The thing is I DID get guide data for today --- even with the wrong channel shown as host.

I've had my new HDD500 hooked up since Friday evening. I don't get my cablecard for another few days so I currently only receive a few HD channels (4 OTA and a few open QAM). I let the unit autodetect channels during the initial setup and then I went into the TV GUIDE -> SETUP and manually turned "OFF" the ones that I either don't get or come in poorly (e.g. OTA from other cities). This works great at first as my listings are streamlined to only the channels I actually receive. But then when I turn the device off for a few hours and come back, it keeps adding channels back into my guide. Is there any way to make it stop doing this? Is it just a side effect of having an incomplete week of data and maybe it will stop misbehaving after 7-8 days have elapsed? Or will it function better after I get my cablecard? I love the unit so far but this is an annoying problem. Obviously I would like to only have channels listed in my guide that I would consider watching or recording.

Don't worry about it now. The CableCARD will take over and give you a whole new set of channels. See if the problem behavior goes away after that.

I let the unit autodetect channels during the initial setup and then I went into the TV GUIDE -> SETUP and manually turned "OFF" the ones that I either don't get or come in poorly (e.g. OTA from other cities). This works great at first as my listings are streamlined to only the channels I actually receive. But then when I turn the device off for a few hours and come back, it keeps adding channels back into my guide. Is there any way to make it stop doing this?

Make sure you also turn them off in the SONY menu as well. Thats what I do and they don't come back.

Hi folks-

I've been posting with some musings about what would happen with regards to the DST change, particularly since my area (Indianapolis) is doing this for the first time in 30 years this year.

Anyway, everything worked flawlessly. I went in this morning and the time was correct (sprung forward) and the recording schedule and guide all seem OK and properly linked up.

On the other hand, my cableco-provided SA8300 DVR is all screwed up. The time change and listings are OK, but the scheduled recordings are all off by an hour. I wound up deleting all of them and redoing them.

Marc

Both of my units switched over flawlessly. In fact one unit was recording a show from midnight to 4am (3 hour show) and the other unit was set to record a show at 3am - 4:30am and they both recorded perfectly. The time must have switched exactly when daylight savings time started.

Well, that's interesting, but I'm curious as to why. When you pass the coax through the VCR, isn't that the same as using a splitter?


No, I don't believe passing the signal through the VCR is the same thing as passing it through a splitter since the VCR is a powered device. Only way to know for sure is to look at the VCR schematic. You can prove this by runing a signal level test using the system menu but it's not worth doing because the VCR option is just a bad choice.

Why would playing a tape on the VCR prevent recording a program on the Sony when the coax is split by passing it through the VCR? Both have access to the cable coax, and apart from that, there are no other connections between the VCR and the Sony and each machine has separate AV cables to the TV.

No that's not true: the Sony will only see that taped program while the VCR is playing a tape, since in my experience, the VCR coax output always provides the taped program instead of the signal applied to the coax input.

Got up Saturday Morning and turned on my HDD500, everything was kosher. Went out and did some yard work, came back in later and turned on the HDD500 to watch some BBall pregame stuff. No signal or weak signal indications on all of my HD channels (I only use OTA). Analog channels still came in (I'm using a Silver Sensor clone, so analog isn't pretty).

So I thought either an earthquake had hit Mt. Wilson and all the transmitters were down (would have felt that, I think) or the ATSC tuner had taken a dump. I'm really bummed at this point. Unplugged, replugged - no joy. :( So I'm thinking it's RMA to Sony time (I would have tried a complete reset first, but wasn't looking forward to going through all the channel editing stuff). On a whim, I went into the main menu and to +/- Channels and did a new channel rescan, and voila, all the digital channels were back (the channel rescan did not indicate picking up any digital channels by the way). And picked up a couple of new analog channels as well. This behavior may have been documented before, but I haven't read it here.

I didn't know TiVO had OTA HD tuner built-in? Oh well live and learn.
If you'd looked closely at the post I responded to, you would have seen he mentioned nothing about receiving HD content - only viewing one recording while recording another program. TiVo's been doing that for seven years.

I don't believe passing the signal through the VCR is the same thing as passing it through a splitter since the VCR is a powered device.

Does that imply that the signal is being amplified before it's split? If so, then I can see why this might provide a better signal.

the Sony will only see that taped program while the VCR is playing a tape, since in my experience, the VCR coax output always provides the taped program instead of the signal applied to the coax input.

I should test this but the Sony's at my aunt's house so it will take awhile. However, she IS able to watch a taped program and at the same time a live channel in the PIP window and switch between them. There's no coax connection to the TV so wouldn't this mean that the VCR is passing the cable signal via the coax output and the taped program via the AV cables?

I should test this but the Sony's at my aunt's house so it will take awhile. However, she IS able to watch a taped program and at the same time a live channel in the PIP window and switch between them. There's no coax connection to the TV so wouldn't this mean that the VCR is passing the cable signal via the coax output and the taped program via the AV cables?

To my knowledge, AV cables only carry a single signal (try saying that 3x fast). There must be a second connection to the TV.

JLOB, not sure if anyone answered you, but getting days 1,2,8 is normal, hopefully all will keep loading. also my 500 handled the time change perfectly.

Anyone in Austin TX try a TimeWarner Cablecard? I'm trying to decide if I need to send mine into Sony for the CC fix before the 3 mo labor warranty is up, in case I ever want to go CC, plus they charge $30 here to put the ...card in for you!

I just purchased two dhghdd500 units. Both have the .05 software version. I am only using a cablecard with one. I had a few problems in the past with the cablecard going out and it seemed to be fixed by taking the card out and reinserting it. ( I would have to wait until the next morning to get the program guide back, but the full weeks worth comes back). Tonight it happened again and I got the 161-6 error message. i know I am going to have to send my unit off now for the software upgrade, however I am going to get a cablecard for the other unit. Should I send that one out for the upgrade too??? Do all software .05 version units have this problem with cablecards?

Does anyone happen to know if any of the local Sony authorized service centers can do the upgrade or do they all have to be sent away. Since it is new, does Sony send a box for the unit and pay the postage? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Eric

I just purchased two dhghdd500 units. Both have the .05 software version. I am only using a cablecard with one. I had a few problems in the past with the cablecard going out and it seemed to be fixed by taking the card out and reinserting it. ( I would have to wait until the next morning to get the program guide back, but the full weeks worth comes back). Tonight it happened again and I got the 161-6 error message. i know I am going to have to send my unit off now for the software upgrade, however I am going to get a cablecard for the other unit. Should I send that one out for the upgrade too??? Do all software .05 version units have this problem with cablecards?

Does anyone happen to know if any of the local Sony authorized service centers can do the upgrade or do they all have to be sent away. Since it is new, does Sony send a box for the unit and pay the postage? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Eric

I have software .05 on my 500 and I use a cablecard and since June 2005 I have never had a problem with the card nor have I ever seen a 161-6 error message.

I just purchased two dhghdd500 units. Both have the .05 software version. I am only using a cablecard with one. I had a few problems in the past with the cablecard going out and it seemed to be fixed by taking the card out and reinserting it. ( I would have to wait until the next morning to get the program guide back, but the full weeks worth comes back). Tonight it happened again and I got the 161-6 error message. i know I am going to have to send my unit off now for the software upgrade, however I am going to get a cablecard for the other unit. Should I send that one out for the upgrade too??? Do all software .05 version units have this problem with cablecards?

Does anyone happen to know if any of the local Sony authorized service centers can do the upgrade or do they all have to be sent away. Since it is new, does Sony send a box for the unit and pay the postage? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Eric

Nope you are responsible for the box and shipping to them.

I sent mine in the original box via FedEx ground for about $10 insured.

What brand of cablecard do you have in that unit with the 161-6 error? Is it motorola or Scientific Atlanta? If it is Sci-Atl, I would send both of them in. I would probably send both in regardless, actually.

I just purchased two dhghdd500 units. Both have the .05 software version. I am only using a cablecard with one. I had a few problems in the past with the cablecard going out and it seemed to be fixed by taking the card out and reinserting it. ( I would have to wait until the next morning to get the program guide back, but the full weeks worth comes back). Tonight it happened again and I got the 161-6 error message. i know I am going to have to send my unit off now for the software upgrade, however I am going to get a cablecard for the other unit. Should I send that one out for the upgrade too??? Do all software .05 version units have this problem with cablecards?

Does anyone happen to know if any of the local Sony authorized service centers can do the upgrade or do they all have to be sent away. Since it is new, does Sony send a box for the unit and pay the postage? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Eric

I was told by Sony tech support that the unit contains diagnostic circuit that stores information such as the 161-6 error, and that they won't put in that fix unless that error is encountered by the unit. So I suggest you don't send in a unit that hasn't displayed that error. You can get a return form on the Sony web site, and they have an arrangement with UPS for discount, but you have to pack and ship at your cost, and they pay for return shipping.

OK folks - I just got the new TVGOS host channel feedback form finished on my FAQ site.

If some of you could just go in and look at the chart of host channels, find your local host, and let me know which network afffiliate they are, i would appreciate it! I am hoping that if all of you could just see if you can identify one station, we could get it filled out. (I just added that Network column tonight, so it is basically empty).

While you are looking, please submit your stations if yours isn't listed!

The link is at the bottom of the list of channels, or here is a direct link:

www.spiffspace.com/contacttvgos.php

THANKS everyone!

I was told by Sony tech support that the unit contains diagnostic circuit that stores information such as the 161-6 error, and that they won't put in that fix unless that error is encountered by the unit. So I suggest you don't send in a unit that hasn't displayed that error. You can get a return form on the Sony web site, and they have an arrangement with UPS for discount, but you have to pack and ship at your cost, and they pay for return shipping.

They performed the mod on my device, and I just told them in the web form that I had the error occur once (it was actually never, but since I was sending it in for firmware and other issues, I wanted that update too). I never spoke to anyone - I used the form on their site to get the return info and event number.

Maybe I am an exception...

YMMV, as usual.

To my knowledge, AV cables only carry a single signal (try saying that 3x fast). There must be a second connection to the TV.

I agree, an AV cable carries only one channel so there must be a coax connection to the TV for pip. Sounds like luster needs to take a closer look at the setup. No double that a VCR coax output furnishes a better signal that you get from a passive splitter, but that advange disappears if you want to view a tape and simultaneously want to record a program on the Sony.

I just purchased two dhghdd500 units. Both have the .05 software version. I am only using a cablecard with one. I had a few problems in the past with the cablecard going out and it seemed to be fixed by taking the card out and reinserting it. ( I would have to wait until the next morning to get the program guide back, but the full weeks worth comes back). Tonight it happened again and I got the 161-6 error message. i know I am going to have to send my unit off now for the software upgrade, however I am going to get a cablecard for the other unit. Should I send that one out for the upgrade too??? Do all software .05 version units have this problem with cablecards?

Does anyone happen to know if any of the local Sony authorized service centers can do the upgrade or do they all have to be sent away. Since it is new, does Sony send a box for the unit and pay the postage? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Eric

Repairs are apparently done only at Mt. Pleasant, PA. Units that were originally sent to other service centers were just shipped on to PA.

The 161-6 problem has a hardware fix and is not related to any particular firmware version. It apparently happens with only one type of cablecard (maybe SA but I'm not sure about that). They only put in the fix if you specify that problem although the tech agreed to do it for me when I said I was going to use a cablecard in the future.

As others have said the best way is to go to the web site and log a problem. It will give you shipping instructions although you have to pay for packing and shipping. Sony pays for shipping it back.