I have an HDD250 and an HDD500. Both have cable cards and have been working fine. But now my HDD500 has a problem. And it might be related to a recent power failure, but I'm not sure.

The unit seems to be working normally in most ways, but every time I tune in a channel, it will show that channel, but after about 5 seconds it tunes by itself to channel 1023. This is, of course, a black screen since it's not a real channel here.

I've tried unplugging the unit and plugging it back in, but still the same problem. I've removed the cable card and did the same thing, but it still tunes itself to channel 1023.

I did a search here for "1023" and found one person with the exact same problem. But I can't find how it got resolved. The HDD250 continues to work fine.

Any ideas?

Well, that's what I tried several weeks ago, and I never did get a clock to show up. It worked once in the middle of the day, and when I tried again to do it at midnight, the clock just never appeared again. I'll give it a shot again tonight and see if I have any luck. Thanks for the suggestion!

You still won't see the time on the front panel (it will continue to show --:-- unless you receive the TVGOS signal), but internally the unit will be reset to 12:00am 1/1/04.

What I don't know is how well it will keep time (i.e. after a few days, how much will it have fallen out of sync with the real time?) Also, you may miss a recording or two that you set manually when the TVGOS signal eventually comes back on since your "fake" 2004 date will get overridden with the real 2006 one. Probably will want to keep a close eye on it.

Has anyone found a ZIPCode or other magic trick to get both WETA digital and WMPT digital guide information?

I have my HDD-500 set to a MD ZIPCode. The channel list includes WETA Create, Family, and World, but without channel numbers. If I put the appropriate numbers in, I still get no program info. If I put in a DC ZIP will WMPT listings go away?

You still won't see the time on the front panel (it will continue to show --:-- unless you receive the TVGOS signal), but internally the unit will be reset to 12:00am 1/1/04.

What I don't know is how well it will keep time (i.e. after a few days, how much will it have fallen out of sync with the real time?) Also, you may miss a recording or two that you set manually when the TVGOS signal eventually comes back on since your "fake" 2004 date will get overridden with the real 2006 one. Probably will want to keep a close eye on it.

The clock keeps perfect time without update but clock sync is a potential problem when recordings are scheduled. Nothing will be recorded if the sync occurs any time before the start of recording. This problem can be avoided by turning the unit on before recordings are scheduled. After recordings are completed the unit must be returned to standby to enable clock update.

Please describe your setup, including the signal source - cable, OTA or both. If you only have cable, you must choose the digital option to get the HD listings. If you use only OTA, you can edit the channel number, and replace the analog with the HD equivalent. For example, in Los Angeles, ABC is channel 7 and ABC HD is channel 7.1..

I have both OTA and cable and have selected digital cable and the I just found out that the listing does contain the digital stations close to the end but they are all set to OFF with no channel number listed. I tried to set it to on but without a channel number it won't let me.
Maybe I'll try sommerville and see what that does.

I just set up my HDD250 yesterday and had it connected through a DVDO VP30 and it seems like it has a HDCP problem, cannot figure out which is causing it but when I have it connected through the VP30, the picture comes on for a few seconds, then the picture goes black(like curtains closing in front of the picture) basically saying that your device is not HDCP compliant. But when I connect directly to the monitor, there is no problems. The VP30 is SUPPOSIVELY HDCP compliant and the monitor is too, anyone have a guess? I bet both will point fingers at each other in solving this but will give DVDO a call first since the HDD250 works fine by itself.

.

I have both OTA and cable and have selected digital cable and the I just found out that the listing does contain the digital stations close to the end but they are all set to OFF with no channel number listed. I tried to set it to on but without a channel number it won't let me.
Maybe I'll try sommerville and see what that does.
You can assign a channel number to those stations that do not have a channel number listed. Read back thru this thread or read the first post for a link to see how to do it.

Recently aquired an HDD500 and it has been working great. The TVGuide is fully populated, albeit I had to tweak. Recording look great, I even piped one of the RCA/S-Video outs to my master bedroom and bought a $40 Phillips universal remote with IR to RF extension capabilities so I can watch in the bedroom!

I have the infamous "Updated information will be available within 24 hours" message.

Rather then resetting, I am just waiting. I am getting 0 VBI packets on my OTA or cable PBS station, and the host channel is blank. I emailed the engineering department at the station to see if they could check into it.

How responsive have the engineers been at these host stations for those of you who have contacted them about this sort of thing? I hope they resolve it soon.

EDIT: I am assuming that the station hasn't been sending data for several days. Is this true of the TVGOS system? If the host channel stops sending data, will the device keep going until all of the future listings are exhausted (7 days)? If so, I wish that it would give some kind of warning that the station has been lost. This might give us a bit more leadtime to try to get our host channels working on the issue.

ThanksThis happened to me last month. The engineer I spoke to at the Richmond VA area PBS station knew nothing about TVGOS. However, after researching the problem he returned my call the next day. Apparently, their TVGOS data was being supplied to them along with other PBS programming from their central office. Everything else was working fine, but they had no monitoring procedures in place with regards to TVGOS (there must be something like 2 of us using it in my area).

Anyway, the engineer was very helpful once he learned about TVGOS and even added a procedures to check that it was being supplied via fiber.

This happened to me last month. The engineer I spoke to at the Richmond VA area PBS station knew nothing about TVGOS. However, after researching the problem he returned my call the next day. Apparently, their TVGOS data was being supplied to them along with other PBS programming from their central office. Everything else was working fine, but they had no monitoring procedures in place with regards to TVGOS (there must be something like 2 of us using it in my area).

Anyway, the engineer was very helpful once he learned about TVGOS and even added a procedures to check that it was being supplied via fiber.

Thanks for the response. I might try calling them instead of emailing to see if I can get them to check on it.

You still won't see the time on the front panel (it will continue to show --:-- unless you receive the TVGOS signal), but internally the unit will be reset to 12:00am 1/1/04.

What I don't know is how well it will keep time (i.e. after a few days, how much will it have fallen out of sync with the real time?) Also, you may miss a recording or two that you set manually when the TVGOS signal eventually comes back on since your "fake" 2004 date will get overridden with the real 2006 one. Probably will want to keep a close eye on it.

Wouldn't you know it that my clock finally came back up last night at about 11:00pm. So, I never got around to doing the reset. But, at least I know for future use the internal clock can work with manual recordings as long as I adjust the recording dates! Thanks!

You can assign a channel number to those stations that do not have a channel number listed. Read back thru this thread or read the first post for a link to see how to do it.This is explained on page 69 of the manual under "Change channel display" (although not in great detail - whatever the channel number is for that station that came up when you initially scanned for channels, THAT is the number you need to program in after you've turned the channel to "on" in the listings).

I have the infamous "Updated information will be available within 24 hours" message.

Rather then resetting, I am just waiting. I am getting 0 VBI packets on my OTA or cable PBS station, and the host channel is blank. I emailed the engineering department at the station to see if they could check into it.

How responsive have the engineers been at these host stations for those of you who have contacted them about this sort of thing? I hope they resolve it soon.

EDIT: I am assuming that the station hasn't been sending data for several days. Is this true of the TVGOS system? If the host channel stops sending data, will the device keep going until all of the future listings are exhausted (7 days)? If so, I wish that it would give some kind of warning that the station has been lost. This might give us a bit more leadtime to try to get our host channels working on the issue.

ThanksAt the risk of beating a dead horse...it's worth $12.95/month (Series 3 TiVo) to me to avoid all of these headaches. Now, go ahead and let me have it... :p

At the risk of beating a dead horse...it's worth $12.95/month (Series 3 TiVo) to me to avoid all of these headaches. Now, go ahead and let me have it... :p

Let's face it - we love this stuff!

I don't mind tinkering with these things now and then as long as overall they meet my needs. For the Tweeter price and the invaluable information I've gotten on this board, it has been well worth it. Can't beat the storage space on the HDD500!

Have you actually gotten a Series 3 TiVO? Didn't think they were out yet...

I called the PBS station here, and asked for engineering. The receptionist told me that they are all in Vegas for a conference, so she sent me to the control room.

I explained that I wasn't getting the Gemstar TVGOS guide data anymore (and they didn't appear to be sending ANY VBI packets anymore - no closed captioning either). He was aware of the system, but didn't know much about it. He said that he would go and check on the equipment to see if it was functioning properly. This was around 1:30 pm EDT.

I just got home and ran the G* Factory test on what should be my host channel, and it is receiving data again (closed captions are back too).

So now I am torn - should I reset it and let it find the host again, or should I give it another day and see if it recovers from the "Updated information will be available within 24 hours" message if I let it try again overnight.

Has anyone seen the device recover when it is showing this message in the guide?

I don't want to reset all of my channel listings again if they are retained after one of these episodes!

Thanks,
Jeff

I called the PBS station here, and asked for engineering. The receptionist told me that they are all in Vegas for a conference, so she sent me to the control room.

I explained that I wasn't getting the Gemstar TVGOS guide data anymore (and they didn't appear to be sending ANY VBI packets anymore - no closed captioning either). He was aware of the system, but didn't know much about it. He said that he would go and check on the equipment to see if it was functioning properly. This was around 1:30 pm EDT.

I just got home and ran the G* Factory test on what should be my host channel, and it is receiving data again (closed captions are back too).

So now I am torn - should I reset it and let it find the host again, or should I give it another day and see if it recovers from the "Updated information will be available within 24 hours" message if I let it try again overnight.

Has anyone seen the device recover when it is showing this message in the guide?

I don't want to reset all of my channel listings again if they are retained after one of these episodes!

Thanks,
Jeff

It should recover on its own. After guide signal is missing for several days, the unit will start to search for guide station. I've got two units, and several days ago I set one up for cable only, and other for OTA only. After the change, both units showed the 24 hour message. Yesterday the OTA unit got the guide back but cable unit still showed the 24 hour message. Yet to check status today.

.

I have both OTA and cable and have selected digital cable and the I just found out that the listing does contain the digital stations close to the end but they are all set to OFF with no channel number listed. I tried to set it to on but without a channel number it won't let me.
Maybe I'll try sommerville and see what that does.

Use the channel up button to locate the HD channels and their associated channel numbers. After you edit these numbers into the listing, I suggest you reorder the listing to your preference.

At the risk of beating a dead horse...it's worth $12.95/month (Series 3 TiVo) to me to avoid all of these headaches. Now, go ahead and let me have it... :p

Give it a rest. We are sick and tired of hearing you bad mouth the Sony players and
mouth on incessantly about your Tivo series 3! There's a separate community forum for that. Stay there with our blessings. You take up space needlessly on this forum!

I've had an HDD500 since February. I'm using it for OTA only with a Silver Sensor indoor antenna. I've had very good reception on all stations except 13.1, wiht signal strength between 77 and 83 most of the time. Untill about three weeks ago. Now, reception is not good, with the strength meter constantly fluctuating between 5% and as high as 100%, but mostly below 55%. I haven't changed a thing as far as components or antenna location. What are the chances of the ATSC tuner failing and could this be the problem? I've ordered a CM4221 to give that a try, but I don't understand why the signal could have been good and steady for such a long period of time and all of a sudden go bouncing all over the place :(

Give it a rest. We are sick and tired of hearing you bad mouth the Sony players and
mouth on incessantly about your Tivo series 3! There's a separate community forum for that. Stay there with our blessings. You take up space needlessly on this forum!

Thank you so very much for clearly saying what many of us have for so long felt!

I've had an HDD500 since February. I'm using it for OTA only with a Silver Sensor indoor antenna. I've had very good reception on all stations except 13.1, wiht signal strength between 77 and 83 most of the time. Untill about three weeks ago. Now, reception is not good, with the strength meter constantly fluctuating between 5% and as high as 100%, but mostly below 55%. I haven't changed a thing as far as components or antenna location. What are the chances of the ATSC tuner failing and could this be the problem? I've ordered a CM4221 to give that a try, but I don't understand why the signal could have been good and steady for such a long period of time and all of a sudden go bouncing all over the place :(

Are you in an area with a lot of trees, which drop their leaves in the winter, and then develop new leaves in the spring?

Never did get around to calling that 800 number but the signal is back up now in the Rochester area.

I believe it was down for ~6 days in all which isn't too bad compared to some instances other people have reported here. I read this as a positive - Gemstar is improving their response time to problems. Maybe the biggest positive is that it appears they detected this outage on their own.

Are you in an area with a lot of trees, which drop their leaves in the winter, and then develop new leaves in the spring?
Not really, I'm on a hillside facing due west, the transmitters are on Mt. Wilson about 35 miles away looking northwest, about a 47degree angle from due west. There's a reservoir below me. There are some homes in the line of site on the other side of the reservoir, about 3/4 of a mile a way. It's pretty open and I'm elevated. We've had a lot rain lately, but the signal doesn't improve even when it clears up. The follage up here is pretty consistant year round, mostly conifers and palms. The deciduous trees are leaving up, but they are below me and were greening before the problems started.

I received the CM4221 today and plugged it in in place of the SS, I haven't been able to take it out doors and elevate it yet, but there was no improvement, exactly the same behavior. It's the vacalating of the signal strength meter that baffels me, before it would lock on to a signal and stay pretty steady, even if the signal was too low to produce a picture.

Give it a rest. We are sick and tired of hearing you bad mouth the Sony players and
mouth on incessantly about your Tivo series 3! There's a separate community forum for that. Stay there with our blessings. You take up space needlessly on this forum!My, my....get up on the wrong side of the bed, did we? :D I can just feel the love here...

In my location I can receive PBS from two transmitters. I'm having a problem where most of the time my HDD500 is selecting the weaker of the two as the host channel. I think this is contributing to problems with my guide.

I would love to be able to manually set the host channel to the stronger station, but that doesn't seem possible. Are inline filters available that I could attach between my antenna and my HDD500 that would filter out only Channel 7?

In my location I can receive PBS from two transmitters. I'm having a problem where most of the time my HDD500 is selecting the weaker of the two as the host channel. I think this is contributing to problems with my guide.

I would love to be able to manually set the host channel to the stronger station, but that doesn't seem possible. Are inline filters available that I could attach between my antenna and my HDD500 that would filter out only Channel 7?

I'm only guessing but have you tried fiddling with your zip code (changing it to one where the other channel would be the preferred one) and/or manually removing the channel you don't want to be the host from the channel list (preferences -> +/- channels).

Can anyone recommend a DVD recorder to pair with the HDD? Ideally I'd like to avoid spending a ton of $ since a SD DVD burner is most likely just a stop-gap for the next year or so. But it would also be nice to have one with the ability to edit out commercials before burning onto DVD (not a must but it would be a nice feature to have). Also preferably one with component inputs, or at least s-video, to maximize the video quality. Would definitely need to be able to receive and burn wide aspect ratio when it downconverts HD to DVD-quality.

Have looked a little bit in the DVD recorder section and jotted down some possible models a couple weeks ago. Will look some more again but figured I would ask here also since most likely other HDD owners would be looking for the same things in a burner.

I'm only guessing but have you tried fiddling with your zip code (changing it to one where the other channel would be the preferred one) and/or manually removing the channel you don't want to be the host from the channel list (preferences -> +/- channels).
When I first got the HDD500, I set it to a non-local zip-code that matched the area of the PBS channel I receive best. I never got any guide data. When I changed it to my local zip, the guide started filling in so I've used my local zip ever since. I also removed the unwanted PBS channel from my channel list, but the HDD500 still selects it as the host channel. On two occasions the box first used Channel 7 (the weak one) and I noticed in one of the hidden screens it received too many errors and automatically switched to the preferred Channel 28. Unfortunately, it's been staying with Channel 7 for about a week even after about 4 TV Guide resets.

Typically I'll wait overnight for the guide to start filling in and do a reset if there is no guide. I'll try giving it more time and see what happens, but a filter would make things easier or at least help me troubleshoot. I found this thing (http://www.blondertongue.com/TV-Channel-Blocker) that would probably work to filter out only Channel 7, but it's over-kill for my needs and too expensive.

... but a filter would make things easier or at least help me troubleshoot. I found "this thing" that would probably work to filter out only Channel 7, but it's over-kill for my needs and too expensive.How about 'this thing': http://www.tinlee.com/NotchTraps.htm?

How about 'this thing': http://www.tinlee.com/NotchTraps.htm? Those guys sure look like they would either have what I'm looking for, or could build it. I wish they showed prices. I fired off an email asking for more info. Thanks for the link.

How about this (go to the bottom)...

http://www.warrenelectronics.com/Antennas/joiners.htm

If I read this right, you can get them to block or pass a specific channel...

I would give them a call and explain your situation.

Hmmm... That might do the trick. The price is right. I'll give them a call on Monday. Thanks for the head-up. I found a professional tunable model, but the price ranged from $112-$250. No thanks.

Hmmm... That might do the trick. The price is right. I'll give them a call on Monday. Thanks for the head-up. I found a professional tunable model, but the price ranged from $112-$250. No thanks.

Are you sure that channel 28 is broadcasting the guide? If their equipment is down, the recorder would seek a new source, channel 7. You might call channel 28 to verify that it is sending the guide. You can easily block channel 7 by passing the antenna signal through a VHF/ UHF splitter and connect the UHF output to the recorder. If there are VHF channels you wish to record, you can remove the splitter and put it back at night. While the recorder is in standby, it will automatically search for a new guide channel. After it locks on to channel 28, you can discard the splitter.

Hmmm... That might do the trick. The price is right. I'll give them a call on Monday. Thanks for the head-up. I found a professional tunable model, but the price ranged from $112-$250. No thanks.

I would strongly suggest calling them. I understand the reason for them (antenna combiners), but it isn't clear how you get them to BLOCK a channel rather than pass it. I am guessing here, but I suspect that they have two inputs - one which would pass all but the channel it is specifically designed to filter out, and the other input would pass only that specific channel. The resultant addition of these would then be combined on the output which runs to your equipment.

To get the blocking functionality, you would just connect your antenna to the input that blocks the unwanted channel.

I guess it makes sense to me after all!

I would strongly suggest calling them. I understand the reason for them (antenna combiners), but it isn't clear how you get them to BLOCK a channel rather than pass it. I am guessing here, but I suspect that they have two inputs - one which would pass all but the channel it is specifically designed to filter out, and the other input would pass only that specific channel. The resultant addition of these would then be combined on the output which runs to your equipment.

To get the blocking functionality, you would just connect your antenna to the input that blocks the unwanted channel.

I guess it makes sense to me after all!I wish I knew these things existed a couple years ago when I was dealing with the exact situation these things are designed for (a second antenna for one additional channel). I resorted to a remote control A/B switch to switch between antennas, which was a pain.

I'll give them (Warren Electronic) a call before I order to confirm these filters will work with a single antenna input, but it's not a big financial loss if they don't.

I got a repsponse from the company cosmicvoid suggested, but they only asked additional questions. I'm still waiting for a price quote.

If the filter thing ends up not working, I'll add a short-range VHF antenna to my current UHF-only antenna just to pull in Channel 7. That way the HDD500 would have a strong signal with either potential host channel.

Are you sure that channel 28 is broadcasting the guide? If their equipment is down, the recorder would seek a new source, channel 7. You might call channel 28 to verify that it is sending the guide. You can easily block channel 7 by passing the antenna signal through a VHF/ UHF splitter and connect the UHF output to the recorder. If there are VHF channels you wish to record, you can remove the splitter and put it back at night. While the recorder is in standby, it will automatically search for a new guide channel. After it locks on to channel 28, you can discard the splitter.Channel 28 was definitely broadcasting the guide data for a while, but maybe they're having a problem. If so, it's likely Channel 7 is also having a problem since both channels are essentially the same signal. (I think they call them transponders.)

That's a great idea about the VHU/UHF splitter. I should even have one of those tucked away somewhere. I'll give it a try tonight. Thanks for the tip!

Using the VHF/UHF splitter worked for what I was trying to accomplish. When viewing Ch. 7 with the splitter installed, it was very snowy while Ch. 28 looked good. I reset the TV Guide and after 10 hours powered off, it no longer is using Channel 7 as the host channel. Unfortunately, it also isn't using Ch. 28; the Host Channel is blank. Also, it never set the clock, which it usually did within a few minutes after a reset. The G* Test screen shows only good VBI packets coming in from Ch. 28.

I think my options now are to contact my local PBS station to see if the problem is on their end, like Ray1938 suggested, and/or see if I can pick up an el-cheapo VHF antenna from my local Radio Shack to give Ch. 7 a signal boost.

Thanks to everyone that offered great suggestions.

I have Grey's Anatomy and Desparate Housewives scheduled to record weekly. However, the schedule doesn't indicate that tomorrow's episodes are going to be recorded. The only thing I noticed is that both of tomorrow's episodes include the episode title along with the show title in the listings, for example: "Grey's Anatomy: Under Pressure" instead of just "Grey's Anatomy". I rescheduled both shows and now they show up in the scheduled recordings, but with the episode titles...

Anybody else experience this? If TVGOS uses the combined show and episode title as the identifier to schedule regular and weekly recordings, recordings may not work properly in the future. I'm hoping that this is a fluke.

My, my....get up on the wrong side of the bed, did we? :D I can just feel the love here...
Dude!

You're wasting my time and everybody else's. I got better things to do than read posts about TIVO, which should be on the TIVO posts. If push comes to shove, I'll complain to the moderators to have you removed!

I have Grey's Anatomy and Desparate Housewives scheduled to record weekly. However, the schedule doesn't indicate that tomorrow's episodes are going to be recorded. The only thing I noticed is that both of tomorrow's episodes include the episode title along with the show title in the listings, for example: "Grey's Anatomy: Under Pressure" instead of just "Grey's Anatomy". I rescheduled both shows and now they show up in the scheduled recordings, but with the episode titles...

Anybody else experience this? If TVGOS uses the combined show and episode title as the identifier to schedule regular and weekly recordings, recordings may not work properly in the future. I'm hoping that this is a fluke.
Well not sure if I had the same issue you did, but I have both GA and DH scheduled to record weekly. They weren't on last week so all I got was ??/?? in the schedule list for this week. I noticed that I did have both shows with extra time added to it. When I went in to edit DH to start and stop on time and then selected "schedule recording" the ??/?? went away for that show, however, when I did the same for GA it came up scheduled to record Boston Legal. I have the same issue for Lost this week, as it wasn't on this past week. So, I had to reschedule GA and Lost.

I'm thinking that when you have a show scheduled weekly, have time added to the show and then its not on for a week or 2, it won't pick it up again, you have to reschedule it. But than again, who knows.

I'm having some signal issues with my 250. Initially I had the dvr setup with a standard cable signal using an hdmi connection to my TV. Within the last month I upgraded and had a cablecard (moto 4.05) installed. For the first week or so everything was great. Then I began to periodically lose all HD cable channels (tnt, espn, inhd, etc.) only. I would call comcast, they would send out a test signal and everything would be fine. Then several days later it would happen again... and then again... Now I regularly lose not only all HD cable network signals, but all regular cable network broadcasts as well. However I still receive local network broadcasts and local HD broadcasts through the card.

Eventually comcast suggested that I was receiving signal loss from the dvr to my tv and that the cable card needed to be installed directly into the TV to receive an uninterrupted signal. This is unhelpful because a) my TV doesn't have a cablecard slot and b) it would render the dvr useless. They also (again unhelpfully) suggested that I might split the cable signal before going into the box and have one coax going to the dvr and one to the tv (which would also render the dvr useless).

Signal loss seems to make sense, but why do I still recieve local channels through the card?

I've tried 2 hdmi cables, and now I'm on my second set of component cables. Initially when I made the switch to component cables, the signal was better than ever with no assistance from Comcast boosting the signal, then suddenly I started to experience even greater loss than before. Now the picture lags behind the audio on local broadcasts, however HD local is fine. Also, for lack of any better ideas, I've rebooted and reinserted the cablecard, but to no avail.

Any idea what is going on here? And if it is signal loss from the dvr, is there anything I can do about it? Or am I just being a moron and overlooking something simple here?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, according to the system menu signal strength is at 88% and is 'good'.

Dude!

You're wasting my time and everybody else's. I got better things to do than read posts about TIVO, which should be on the TIVO posts. If push comes to shove, I'll complain to the moderators to have you removed!Ooooh.....now I'm worried. I'm sure your total of two posts really gives a lot of experience in these forums.

kbrooks012,

It COULD be a signal issue, in which case Comcast should come out and check your lines and equipment.

But it sounds more like a Comcast programming issue to me. I've had something similar twice in the last month, and I KNOW my signal is more than strong enough. The first time was when they switched me to ADS. I lost cable HD premiums like HBO and ESPN, along with the audio on some lower channels like all the ESPN's. A quick call and a hit to my card corrected the issue immediately. I have Moto v. 4.05 also.

This happened again last night with the exact same result.

Are you on ADS? That is, are your basic channels QAM? (You can check in the menu diagnostics screen.) The problem never occurred when I was still on analog.

BTW, there is nothing wrong wth splitting your incoming line. Mine is split FOUR ways: TV, Sony DVR, Comcast 6412, and old LG DVR. A Comcast tech supervisor said my signal is more than enough to handle my setup. In fact, I had a distibution amplifier on the main line, which he tld me I could remove and to just use a good 4-way splitter.

I have Grey's Anatomy and Desparate Housewives scheduled to record weekly. However, the schedule doesn't indicate that tomorrow's episodes are going to be recorded. The only thing I noticed is that both of tomorrow's episodes include the episode title along with the show title in the listings, for example: "Grey's Anatomy: Under Pressure" instead of just "Grey's Anatomy". I rescheduled both shows and now they show up in the scheduled recordings, but with the episode titles...

Anybody else experience this? If TVGOS uses the combined show and episode title as the identifier to schedule regular and weekly recordings, recordings may not work properly in the future. I'm hoping that this is a fluke.

GA is a "recap episode" with a different program name. This apparently tricks TVGOS. If I wanted to record it, I also would have to treat it as a totally different program.

Not sure about DH this week.

GA is a "recap episode" with a different program name. This apparently tricks TVGOS. If I wanted to record it, I also would have to treat it as a totally different program.

Not sure about DH this week.

Thanks PhillyC, that was it! Both GA and DH are recap episodes according to TitanTV.

kbrooks012,

It COULD be a signal issue, in which case Comcast should come out and check your lines and equipment.

But it sounds more like a Comcast programming issue to me. I've had something similar twice in the last month, and I KNOW my signal is more than strong enough. The first time was when they switched me to ADS. I lost cable HD premiums like HBO and ESPN, along with the audio on some lower channels like all the ESPN's. A quick call and a hit to my card corrected the issue immediately. I have Moto v. 4.05 also.

This happened again last night with the exact same result.

Are you on ADS? That is, are your basic channels QAM? (You can check in the menu diagnostics screen.) The problem never occurred when I was still on analog.

BTW, there is nothing wrong wth splitting your incoming line. Mine is split FOUR ways: TV, Sony DVR, Comcast 6412, and old LG DVR. A Comcast tech supervisor said my signal is more than enough to handle my setup. In fact, I had a distibution amplifier on the main line, which he tld me I could remove and to just use a good 4-way splitter.


Yes my basic channels are 256-QAM, and I also never experienced any issues while on analog. I know that if I call Comcast the issue will be resolved temporarily, but having to call them every couple of days is getting to be annoying.

My signal actually is split coming into the house and also amplified on the main line (going to a regular tv, wireless modem, and an hd set). One of our televisions (non hd) has a regular comcast cable box and the signal is always fine. The issue is only with my HD set and the sony box (since the digital upgrade). The phone support at comcast was suggesting that I split the signal once more before I connect to the dvr. I don't see how this would be useful, since the signal I want to watch would be through the component cables from the sony and not the cable-in on the tv. Am I missing something on this issue?

Also, when the cablecard was installed, the comcast tech fixed the line coming into the house as it had been losing signal strength.

So maybe you're right about the programming issue. If that's the case, is there any hope of it being resolved?

Thanks for replying.

Yes my basic channels are 256-QAM, and I also never experienced any issues while on analog. I know that if I call Comcast the issue will be resolved temporarily, but having to call them every couple of days is getting to be annoying.

My signal actually is split coming into the house and also amplified on the main line (going to a regular tv, wireless modem, and an hd set). One of our televisions (non hd) has a regular comcast cable box and the signal is always fine. The issue is only with my HD set and the sony box (since the digital upgrade). The phone support at comcast was suggesting that I split the signal once more before I connect to the dvr. I don't see how this would be useful, since the signal I want to watch would be through the component cables from the sony and not the cable-in on the tv. Am I missing something on this issue?

Also, when the cablecard was installed, the comcast tech fixed the line coming into the house as it had been losing signal strength.

So maybe you're right about the programming issue. If that's the case, is there any hope of it being resolved?

Thanks for replying.
Remove your amplifier and use only passive splitters. Amplifiers can VERY OFTEN cause signal problems, especially with digital content.

Ooooh.....now I'm worried. I'm sure your total of two posts really gives a lot of experience in these forums.
Who are you to say something like that?

If you're 1,000 + posts are like this one, then how does that make you of more merit than him?

Keep your posts on topic and polite!

So maybe you're right about the programming issue. If that's the case, is there any hope of it being resolved?

Thanks for replying.

I haven't looked into this, since it happened for only the second time yesterday. Every few days would be really annoying.

Where are you located? Have you experienced the intermittent "not permitted by service provider" failed premium channel recording problem?

I do have some contact with a local tech supervisor when necessary. I've been intending to ask him for a status update on Moto firmware 4.21, so I'll also ask about our card channel loss issue, and will post here if I get any good info.

Does anybody know if a code exists that will allow me to use my Sony TV (the 960) as a remote for my Sony DVR?

It has four "Aux" switches that can be programmed to operate other devices. I use one for a Sony DVD, another for a Panasonic VCR, and would like to use a third to operate my DHG-HDD500.

Thanks in advance,

Jack

I haven't looked into this, since it happened for only the second time yesterday. Every few days would be really annoying.

Where are you located? Have you experienced the intermittent "not permitted by service provider" failed premium channel recording problem?

I do have some contact with a local tech supervisor when necessary. I've been intending to ask him for a status update on Moto firmware 4.21, so I'll also ask about our card channel loss issue, and will post here if I get any good info.

I'm located south of Boston, MA and have access to both Providence, RI and Boston, MA content.

I've removed the amplifier and called comcast to have them reset the signal. So far it's holding up, but I probably won't know for a few days if this has any lasting positive effects.

I have not experienced any failed premium channel recording issue because I don't subscribe to any premium channels (no HBO, STARZ, etc.). But all the HD content I've recorded has been successful.

Thanks for looking into the firmware issue. Please post any information you come across.

My, my....get up on the wrong side of the bed, did we? :D I can just feel the love here...

How about you feel the love over at the TiVo Community Forums (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/index.php?) instead?

I posted earlier about a strange problem I had with my HDD500. I think I found the cause of the problem and I'm posting again so that if anyone else sees this, they can hopefully do a seach and find this solution.

Specifically, every time I would tune in a channel, I could view that channel for about five seconds, but then the DVR would automatically go to channel 1023, which is just a blank screen. If I tried a timed recording, it would also go to channel 1023.

I also have an HDD250, and my big clue came the following day when my HDD250 started doing the exact same thing. So that basically told me the problem was not with the DVRs, but probably had something to do with TVGOS because I could see no other way both DVRs could fail in the same strange way.

I removed the cable cards from both units, and this had the result of clearing out my TVGOS channel lineup/schedules. I then went to the TVGOS setup screen and reselected my channel lineup, then allowed the DVRs to update the schedules. By the next day, I got some program schedules and both DVRs started working fine again.

I did have a short power outtage before all this happened, and I thought that may have been the cause. Maybe it affected my PBS station's TVGOS equipment? But now I don't think that is the case. I think TVGOS had some kind of software update, and that is what screwed up my DVRs. I notice my channel lineup is now a bit different than before. Some channels, like CBS HDTV, HBOHD, and SHOWHD are no longer enabled as they were in the past. Once I manually swiched them back on (and put everything back in order), all was working fine again.

I saw some posts from last November from people who had similar problems, but I never found a solution reported. So now I just want to let anyone with a similar issue know that all is fine with your DVR, and the problem will either go away on its own if you wait a few days, or you can do what I did to maybe speed up the solution.

My HDD250 turned off my cable-supplied HD locals overnight, as well as Showtime HD and HBO HD. They were all at the very bottom of the list.

I just put these channels back in the guide, and I think there may be some new channel logos again (stuff like Thriller Max looks different to me, but this may be old news). There also appeard to be new channels in the list (there are a total of about 410 channels in the editor now, and I think it was 397 or so before). I should check to see if they added UHD...

I just recovered recently from a loss of guide data (I think the station had equipment problems). This seems like it happened to others here, and maybe mine was delayed by the fact that I haven't been getting guide data in a while.

Thanks

Has anybody run into the case of both the guide and recordings screens showing expanded info for the focus channel or recording? IIRC, you should be able to toggle the expansion with the 'info' button. (do I remember that right). It's really annoying.

The info button still works in other modes. And a soft reset didn't change anything.

Has anybody run into the case of both the guide and recordings screens showing expanded info for the focus channel or recording? IIRC, you should be able to toggle the expansion with the 'info' button. (do I remember that right). It's really annoying.

The info button still works in other modes. And a soft reset didn't change anything.Both of my 250's toggle with the "info" button between one line with channel info only, an expanded field with program description, and a larger expanded field with the same data as the smaller field. I've not figured out the purpose of the large field....:confused: Maybe future additional info?

Default seems to be wherever it was set last.

Yeah, that's how mine used to be.

Is there a "hard reset" that doesn't delete recorded shows I can try?

Has anybody run into the case of both the guide and recordings screens showing expanded info for the focus channel or recording? IIRC, you should be able to toggle the expansion with the 'info' button. (do I remember that right). It's really annoying.

The info button still works in other modes. And a soft reset didn't change anything.

This can be changed in the Setup menu. To get there, press "REC LIST" button, move the cursor to the left two times to "Setup" and push "Select". Next move the cursor down to "Change default options" and push "Select". Push "Select" again on "General defaults" and you will be in the menu to make changes in how the info box is displayed.

This can be changed in the Setup menu. To get there, press "REC LIST" button, move the cursor to the left two times to "Setup" and push "Select". Next move the cursor down to "Change default options" and push "Select". Push "Select" again on "General defaults" and you will be in the menu to make changes in how the info box is displayed.Thanks! ;)

I recently got 2 HDD250's and they seem to be working as designed and await for the cable company to install cable cards on Tuesday. One question, how do you eliminate all the extra channels in the "guide"? I removed them in the options but they seem to still show up in the guide.

Thanks

Thanks! ;)

Me too. Wonder how I changed that in the first place since I had never seen that menu. A macro gone wild I imagine.

I recently got 2 HDD250's and they seem to be working as designed and await for the cable company to install cable cards on Tuesday. One question, how do you eliminate all the extra channels in the "guide"? I removed them in the options but they seem to still show up in the guide.

Thanks For cryin' out loud - does this have to be explained over and over again every other page on this thread?

I just wanted to report that a "soft" reset (pressing the two buttons on the front of the DVR) solved two problems I had experienced: The first problem was that I had lost the ability to re-order my channels in TVGOS. The soft reset was a fix which had been previously reported here (thanks!). The second problem was the unit always switched itself from the 1080i to the Auto HDMI format when switching between sources using my HDMI switcher. IIRC, there had been speculation that this issue was due to HDCP encryption. My switcher is HDCP compliant, by the way.

Mark

Go to setup and channel setup and turn them off. They will then not appear in your listings.

I recently got 2 HDD250's and they seem to be working as designed and await for the cable company to install cable cards on Tuesday. One question, how do you eliminate all the extra channels in the "guide"? I removed them in the options but they seem to still show up in the guide.

Thanks

Go to setup and channel setup and turn them off. They will then not appear in your listings.

More specifically, go to the Guide, then pick the Setup button on the top menu bar, and then Change channel display. This is where they are updated.

Just thought I would mention this for anyone who depends on OTA broadcasts only. I live in Southwest Iowa just over the border from NE and only get OTA signals. I have a Sony HD DVR recorder that depends on a TVGOS signal to get data and time information to schedule recordings. The signal was dropped about 3 months ago for no apparent reason. I followed up with a gentleman from PBS, who contacted gemstar, the parent provider, and they reset their equipment at the broadcast point. About two weeks ago my unit started to update with scheduling content. I throw this out because actually taking the time to speak with the chief engineers actually work when problems are encountered. Thanks PBS for doing a great job.

will tvguide work correctly with nbc-10-min extended timeslot?

http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/04/24/dvr-users-nbc-extending-shows-by-10-minutes/

I haven't looked into this, since it happened for only the second time yesterday. Every few days would be really annoying.

My Motorola cable card 4.05 behaved this way twice. My HDD 250 lost all digital channels, even the basic cable ones. I could get the analog channels only. I thought the cable card was at fault because the status showed something like "unknown" instead of subscribed. I figured it was not decoding the signals. So, I called my cable engineer (local cable company, not Comcast or other national co.) and he worked with me on the phone for 1 hr. He reset it from their end multiple times, but that didn't work. Finally, he had me remove the cable card and power the DVR off which did reset it, but I had to reorder my TVGOS listings. The next time it happened a week or so later, I just did the soft reset from the front panel and it restored all my digital channels. That was several months ago, and it has not happened again. I have noticed sometimes that the cable card status screen at times shows "unknown" instead of "subscribed", but since everything works fine, I ignore it.

FYI: My HDD locked up completely last night while I was toggling between FF and Play on a time slipped TV program, and I had to soft reset it. The clock came back within seconds, and no TVGOS was lost or rearranged.

FYI: My HDD locked up completely last night while I was toggling between FF and Play on a time slipped TV program, and I had to soft reset it. The clock came back within seconds, and no TVGOS was lost or rearranged.

Interestingly, this also happened to me early yesterday evening. I didn't do anything for a couple of minutes to see if it would correct itself. Finally, the Sony reset itself (like a soft reset). My TVGOS also retained all previous settings.

For cryin' out loud - does this have to be explained over and over again every other page on this thread?

Thanks for being an a$$, I did figure it out by myself.

I just bought a Sony DHG-hdd500

I am going to use it for ota only.

After reading some of the post here I am a little worried about being able to download the guide.

When you guys talk about renting a cable card, are you doing this to get a better tv guide. Sorry for the ignorance just not sure what the 1.75 a month cable card is doing for you.

Hopefully it gets you a guide from the cable company if my ota guide does not download.

I just bought a Sony DHG-hdd500

I am going to use it for ota only.

After reading some of the post here I am a little worried about being able to download the guide.

When you guys talk about renting a cable card, are you doing this to get a better tv guide. Sorry for the ignorance just not sure what the 1.75 a month cable card is doing for you.

Hopefully it gets you a guide from the cable company if my ota guide does not download.
The cable card allows you to get all cable channels from your cable company. Digital channels and premium channels are encrypted by the cable company and you need the cable card to unlock access to these channels to use with the Sony DVR. It has nothing to do with the guide.

I just got a oepn boxed dhg-hdd250 off of ebay for $320 with shipping. It was suppose to include just the unit and the remote. The description said that it powred on and the demonstration runs in a loop but they didn't get any response from any buttons. I figured that maybe the unit was set to output an hd resolution and they just hooked it up to a tv with composite so no menu appears when they press any buttons and thats why they believe they couldn't get any response from any button. Because the unit was running demonstration, its probably a display model for stores, there shouldn't be many problems, so I took a gamble and bidded a maximum of $350 and ended up winning.

I just bought my own ac power cord and hdmi cable (from monoprice of course. :D ) and the unit arrived today. I was right, the unit works fine, however they didn't include the remote. Judging from the pictures the remote they were suppose to include probably isn't the right one for the dhg-hdd250.

However, I think found on Sony Direct Accessories the remote for the unit. So is the remote model number for the unit the REMOTE COMMANDER RM-Y823?

However, I think found on Sony Direct Accessories the remote for the unit. So is the remote model number for the unit the REMOTE COMMANDER RM-Y823?

The number on the front of my remote is RM-Y823 so I would assume you have the correct remote.

Still a little confused

So in some cases its only 2 bucks a month to unlock locals? Would this cable card also give me the benefit of my cable companies program guide with this unit?

The number on the front of my remote is RM-Y823 so I would assume you have the correct remote.
Ok thanks a lot , I just ordered it right now.

Was the procedure to reset the unit to factory defaults > menu > screen mode> 9012 and select restore factory defaults?

I just remembered I bought a harmony 688 remote a year ago from ebay and never really used it. I just set it up to control the Sony dhg-hdd250 and all the controls work except the number pad for some reason so I can't restore factory defaults? Anyone else have this problem?

Still a little confused

So in some cases its only 2 bucks a month to unlock locals? Would this cable card also give me the benefit of my cable companies program guide with this unit?
The cable card is to allow access to ENCRYPTED DIGITAL channels, or premium digital channels provided by your local cable company, IF YOU SUBSCRIBE to these channels. If you want to receive the ENCRYPTED/PREMIUM DIGITAL channels that you subscribe to from your local cable company, AND you do not want to lease their box, you must lease a cable card from them, which is cheaper than leasing their STB. IT WILL NOT give you ANY benefit beyond unlocking these channels for use through an external source (CableCard enabled TV, DVR, etc.). It WILL NOT give you any additonal guide information. All guide information is provided free from the TVGOS (TV Guide On Screen) service through a freely braodcasted local channel, usually PBS, which you can receive either with basic, analog cable (without a cablecard) or an OTA antenna hookup.

Unless you subscribe to digital premium channels from your cable company, which are usually the channels above 100, any NON-local HD channels (HD Net, Discovery HD, TNT HD, etc.), or any of the premium services such as HBO, Showtime, Cinnemax, or Starz, the cable card will do nothing for you. The one exception to this is if your local cable company supports digital/analog simulcast with the digital content encrypted, and you would like to receive the digital rather than analog cable channels.

Could someone do me a favor please and check the CBS-HD listings on Thursday and Friday nights for CSI and Ghost Whipser? For Thursday nights CBS-HD channel I have listed Friends in place of CSI, and for Friday nights CBS-HD I have listed Grand Ole Opry in place of Ghost Whisper. However, the analog channels list the correct shows for both shows both nights. Something is messed up here.

Also, I have time added to certain shows, and when they're not on for a week and then come back on the guide, my unit doesn't pick them up again. I think it has to do with the fact that time was added to each show. I don't have this problem with other shows that I don't have time added to. Anyone else having this issue?

Thanks.

Thanks for being an a$$, I did figure it out by myself.

He wasn't. In the time it took for you to write that question, you could have done a simple search through the thread or searched the manual. It really isn't that difficult.

OK My simple mind has got it now.

Thanks again...

Oh boy wait till I need help getting tvgos to work : )

Thanks for being an a$$, I did figure it out by myself.

He's not being an a$$, he's just tired of people using this forum for gathering information. :rolleyes:

Wolfie

Well, I do search, but could not find out that info, oh well....

But the good news (so far), the Cox tech came by today and installed a Motorola CC and it worked like a charm,(he literally was here less then 30 minutes to activate 2 cards) except that now I need to wait 24 hrs again for guide info :)

So far, a very happy HDD250(2 of them) owner.

Still a little confused

So in some cases its only 2 bucks a month to unlock locals? Would this cable card also give me the benefit of my cable companies program guide with this unit?

Think of the cablecard as an alternative to a cable set top box. Traditionally, you can get a limited cable lineup just by plugging the co-ax into a cable ready TV but to get the more extensive packages with encrypted content, you needed the box. The cablecard has the advantage of elliminating the need for the box. Your cablecard supported TV (or in this case DVR) can tune the channels itself. That's especially useful with a DVR because if you have a set top box, there needs to be a cable or IR interface for the DVR to change channels on the box (my parents unfortunately have to do this for the Tivo I bought them for xmas). With the Sony HDD, I'm not even sure it's possible to use it with a STB unless you just used it as a glorified VCR. Anyway, since you really would only purchase an expensive HDD if you want to record HD, if you want cable then you're pretty much going to want the cablecard since all the HD channels except locals are more than likely going to be encrypted (and therefore can't be received w/o the card or a STB) and you can get the locals OTA for free (w/ a decent antenna).

Still a little confused

So in some cases its only 2 bucks a month to unlock locals? Would this cable card also give me the benefit of my cable companies program guide with this unit?

From my experience, you do not have to have a cable card to receive and watch your local HD stations. On my unit, they show up in the upper range of numbers, such as 98.10 or 108.10 or 102.3, etc.. When you do a scan of your cable system, it will/should pick up what is digital and what is analog. The digital stations may not show up in the guide with the correct channel, so you will have to read the manual and set up the channels and guide per the book.
Also, as I understand it, the cable companies have to transmit the local HD stations unencrypted.

TVGOS works great w/ my DHG-HDD500... and I love it. Awesome Electronics!!
Especially when I found out I'm getting HD plumbed into the house.

I do have one issue... I can only get FOX HD on channel 0.0

It's very odd. I have no problem tuning to 0.0, but the CHANNEL LISTING won't let me enter 0.0 as the channel for FOX... and therefore I can't set up a recording for FOX HD.

Is there a Firmware upgrade that might fix this??
Any other suggestions??

My ZIP CODE is set to 44202 (Aurora, OH)

Thanks in advance,

Les

From my experience, you do not have to have a cable card to receive and watch your local HD stations. On my unit, they show up in the upper range of numbers, such as 98.10 or 108.10 or 102.3, etc.. When you do a scan of your cable system, it will/should pick up what is digital and what is analog. The digital stations may not show up in the guide with the correct channel, so you will have to read the manual and set up the channels and guide per the book.
Also, as I understand it, the cable companies have to transmit the local HD stations unencrypted. Most do. Try it without the card first. At least without the card you will get the analog equivilents and be assured of getting the TVGOS data. You usually got the Music Choice channels for free too, but Comcast (at least) seems to be cutting that out now, and charging an extra $1.99 for them (I knew it would be too good to last). You should also get a few other miscellaneous digital channels other than the locals with Limited Basic.

Move and renumber a channel. I have OTA and Basic Digital, no CC, and I'm trying to move digital listing 307 (UPN) that is currently set to OFF and has no channel information to listing 15. I select the channel, set it to ON, set the tune to 85.5 and set listing to 15 and then leave the menu. The TV now tunes to 85.5 and I get UPN in the top left corner and the channel is in slot 15. When I leave the edit channel it promptly goes back to 307 and will not show up in the listings. Did I miss a step somewhere?

Ok thanks a lot , I just ordered it right now.

Was the procedure to reset the unit to factory defaults > menu > screen mode> 9012 and select restore factory defaults?

I just remembered I bought a harmony 688 remote a year ago from ebay and never really used it. I just set it up to control the Sony dhg-hdd250 and all the controls work except the number pad for some reason so I can't restore factory defaults? Anyone else have this problem?

That's very strange. Most of the Harmony codes at their website work fine with the hdd250/500, including the number pad.

There are two sets of codes per button, though, allowing you to have two DVRs and two seperate remotes. Sony calls them 50 (the default set) and 51. The harmony site only has the default codes.

The official Sony remote does not have a previous channel button. You can get that function from the Harmony web site, but they call it some other name which slips my mind right now.

The DHG-HDD500 has no last channel option on the remote. I have a Harmony 800 and it has a Prev Channel button. Is it possible to program the Previous Channel button to work?
I talked to the reps at Harmony ans they didn't think it could be programmed if the original remote did not have that function.

I have a NIB HDD250 available to me at the BB clearance price. I have been trying to absorb as much of this forum as possible, but have not been able to read all 179 pages. As of right now, my biggest concern is that this unit will become a doorstop when the analog stations go away. Number two is that Tivo is coming out with Series 3 in a few months (this fall, or so I am told) which will have an MSRP of $499.99. Since Tivo does not rely on TVGOS, there would be no issue with obsolescence when analog goes away. I will only be getting OTA HD right now, which is fine, I just want to be able to record Lost and a few other shows in HD.

So is it worth $472.49 (price with tax) for this item for just a couple of years? I am undecided...I know enough about the problems with TVGOS, and I can live with those, since I have no cable service and only about 17 channels (including all sub-channels) come in with my current hi-def tuner. I can always buy it and return it within 30 days if I am unhappy with how it functions...

All opinions are welcome...

Also, now that some of these units are coming out of warranty, has anyone opened one up and tried to add a second hard drive, or mirror their current drive to a larger one?

Thanks,

Darren

I have a NIB HDD250 available to me at the BB clearance price. I have been trying to absorb as much of this forum as possible, but have not been able to read all 179 pages. As of right now, my biggest concern is that this unit will become a doorstop when the analog stations go away. Number two is that Tivo is coming out with Series 3 in a few months (this fall, or so I am told) which will have an MSRP of $499.99. Since Tivo does not rely on TVGOS, there would be no issue with obsolescence when analog goes away. I will only be getting OTA HD right now, which is fine, I just want to be able to record Lost and a few other shows in HD.

So is it worth $472.49 (price with tax) for this item for just a couple of years? I am undecided...I know enough about the problems with TVGOS, and I can live with those, since I have no cable service and only about 17 channels (including all sub-channels) come in with my current hi-def tuner. I can always buy it and return it within 30 days if I am unhappy with how it functions...

All opinions are welcome...

Also, now that some of these units are coming out of warranty, has anyone opened one up and tried to add a second hard drive, or mirror their current drive to a larger one?

Thanks,

Darren

Darren, I am strictly OTA & my 8-month old HDD250 works great. I paid more than your quoted price & have no regrets, even if I'll only have TVGOS for a few more years. I did have to do a factory reset and HD reformat after having some problems initially, but since then everything works as advertised. The quality of the recordings is superb. It takes a week for the TVGOS to populate, but that is the nature of the beast. As long as you have a decent OTA signal, you should have the info without interruption. Some folks don't like the TVGOS format, in comparison to the competition. For me, I've never had the competition so TVGOS is just fine IMHO, once you learn a few of the tricks (which are revealed if you read the instruction manual!!)

As far as losing TVGOS when analog is gone, I think you will find much discussion about that in this thread, and nobody knows for sure what will happen. Some have suggested a software fix will be forthcoming from Sony, others think that TVGOS signal will switch to digital, etc. My crystal ball is fuzzy on that one. Even if there is no more TVGOS, you can still set to record manually.

You will find that others have attempted to add a second hard drive, all without success. There is a post with a link to pictures of the inside of the unit further back in this thread if you want to see the inside.

I think you will find that the unit works very well for what it was designed to do. You can't watch one broadcast while recording another (only one tuner), but you can watch a recorded show while recording a broadcast. Personally, I've yet to fill up more than 50 percent of the hard drive.

We sometimes use the unit for "time shifting," when just watching and not recording. Just turn it on to the channel you want to watch a couple of minutes before the show starts, don't even need to turn on the TV, and come back 15-20 minutes later. Then start the program, skip all of the commercials and finish watching about the time the program is scheduled to end!

Be aware, though, if you use this to record your favorite shows (for viewing on your own schedule later), you could soon be "lost" without it!

Charlie

That's very strange. Most of the Harmony codes at their website work fine with the hdd250/500, including the number pad.

There are two sets of codes per button, though, allowing you to have two DVRs and two seperate remotes. Sony calls them 50 (the default set) and 51. The harmony site only has the default codes.

The official Sony remote does not have a previous channel button. You can get that function from the Harmony web site, but they call it some other name which slips my mind right now.

Never mind it does work now. For some reason the hidden system menus doesn't show up in 720p through hdmi even when I input the correct buttons but it shows up on 1080i and Auto HDMI for some strange reason. I resetted everything but to factory defaults yesterday night and this morning it already had the data. I'm am missing some stations including my two digital HD PBS stations in the guide though but I can live with that.

The response does seem kind of sluggish on the Harmony Remote but I ordered a replacement Sony remote and hopely it would come before the end of the week. Overall, I think I got a pretty good deal for a most likely demo unit dhg-hdd500 for $320 and buying an ac cord for $6, hdmi cable for $6 and the replacement remote for $40.

The DHG-HDD500 has no last channel option on the remote. I have a Harmony 800 and it has a Prev Channel button. Is it possible to program the Previous Channel button to work?
I talked to the reps at Harmony ans they didn't think it could be programmed if the original remote did not have that function.

As I mentioned in my post before yours, the Prev Channel function is in the Harmony database. But it's not named Prev Channel. I just checked, and they named it "Shortcut".

The response does seem kind of sluggish on the Harmony Remote but I ordered a replacement Sony remote and hopely it would come before the end of the week. Overall, I think I got a pretty good deal for a most likely demo unit dhg-hdd500 for $320 and buying an ac cord for $6, hdmi cable for $6 and the replacement remote for $40.

You can get rid of the sluggish Harmony response by changing the delay with the Harmony set up web site. I don't recall what delay to use, but I think it's half the default (maybe 150ms instead of 300ms). You should be able to do a search for "Harmony" in this thread and find a post which gives the best delay to use.

I was in BB tonight in Rockaway,NJ . There are 2 open box with missing items at $449. This price was marked on 4/5 and before that it was $499. I asked about a lower price and was only often 10% additional. Still too much.

I have been tracking the prices of the 250s and the 500s on Ebay. One seller posted something interesting. He claims that his Sony is warrantied from the in-service date, not the sale date, and that you register the box online, and get a full warranty from that date. This smells fishy to me, as warranties generally run from purchase dates. Otherwise, people would wait to register the product until it broke. Well I think I just answered my own question...

Darren

I have been tracking the prices of the 250s and the 500s on Ebay. One seller posted something interesting. He claims that his Sony is warrantied from the in-service date, not the sale date, and that you register the box online, and get a full warranty from that date. This smells fishy to me, as warranties generally run from purchase dates. Otherwise, people would wait to register the product until it broke. Well I think I just answered my own question...

DarrenYup....and the same for extended warranties. They take effect on the date of sale of the equipment, not the date the warranty is purchased.

Well, I do search, but could not find out that info, oh well....

But the good news (so far), the Cox tech came by today and installed a Motorola CC and it worked like a charm,(he literally was here less then 30 minutes to activate 2 cards) except that now I need to wait 24 hrs again for guide info :)

So far, a very happy HDD250(2 of them) owner.
So someone was able to get a CC from Cox?

Was the person in Phoenix able to get one from Cox here?

Thanks.

Move and renumber a channel. I have OTA and Basic Digital, no CC, and I'm trying to move digital listing 307 (UPN) that is currently set to OFF and has no channel information to listing 15. I select the channel, set it to ON, set the tune to 85.5 and set listing to 15 and then leave the menu. The TV now tunes to 85.5 and I get UPN in the top left corner and the channel is in slot 15. When I leave the edit channel it promptly goes back to 307 and will not show up in the listings. Did I miss a step somewhere?

I experienced a similar issue a few days ago with my new HDD500 and I was going bersek. I eventually tried a Warm Reboot (Press <EXIT> and <TV GUIDE> buttons on the front of the unit simultaneously) and then all the channel edits I made earlier showed up updated in the listings and I didn't loose any data/recording/schedule. :)
I guess it's a sneaky bug? :confused:

He's not being an a$$, he's just tired of people using this forum for gathering information. :rolleyes:




And the TRUE purpose of this forum would be???

Has anyone else experienced missing information for just some channels ? Last night I noticed I no longer have any guide info for HBO HD, it use to work just fine. I didn't notice any other channels missing guide info. I can tune to HBO HD just fine so it doesn't appear to a cablecard issue. I am using comcast with a moto 4.21 cablecard.

And the TRUE purpose of this forum would be???

Ya got me there, bro. :p

Wolfie

I've had my HDD500 about 3 months now and all is working fine....except twice now it has frozen, including the clock. The first time hitting the power button on the remote or on the unit did nothing, I had to unplug the power cord and replug the unit and had the clock back in about a minute. Today the clock freezes, but I can turn the unit on, just not from the remote. The TVGOS was displayed as usual, however the front display shows nothing but the stuck clock. I unplugged the power cord and replug and then the clock appears again shortly and all is good again. Any ideas why this is happening?

bsather, how's the wiring in you place? You might have a power issue. I run mine with a power conditioner and have no problems.

Wolfie

As I mentioned in my post before yours, the Prev Channel function is in the Harmony database. But it's not named Prev Channel. I just checked, and they named it "Shortcut".

I have a Universal Remote MX-700, and am wondering if there is any way for me to get this "Shortcut" from Harmony into my remote? The remote can "Learn" the command if anyone wants to mail their Harmony remote to me ;) I would really like to have that function.

Mark

bsather, how's the wiring in you place? You might have a power issue. I run mine with a power conditioner and have no problems.

Wolfie

Wiring is good, as I never had a problem in 4 yrs. I have the HDD500 and Sony SXRD connected to a PureAV Home Theater Battery Backup with AVR. Do I need a conditioner as well?

And the TRUE purpose of this forum would be??? Hey, I wasn't trying to be an "a**", but that posters' question was a fairly simple one which IS explained pretty well in the manual if you'd just look a little for it, and literally WAS asked two pages before, and probably just a couple of pages again before that. It's probably the most asked question on this thread. Maybe I was being a bit touchy, but when I'm trying to catch up on this thread, the constant redundancy can get annoying and tiresome at times. If that makes me an a** then so be it. I am willing to and I do help people all the time when I'm able to around here. Besides, what's the manual for in the first place?

I have a Universal Remote MX-700, and am wondering if there is any way for me to get this "Shortcut" from Harmony into my remote? The remote can "Learn" the command if anyone wants to mail their Harmony remote to me ;) I would really like to have that function.

Mark
You can get the .mxf file from remotecentral. PrevCh is labeled 'jump' on the 2nd page. File I use is 'Dans' in case there are choices.

So someone was able to get a CC from Cox?

Was the person in Phoenix able to get one from Cox here?

Thanks.


Are they denying you from getting a CC? My friend got one over 9 months ago (when the activation fee was $50, now it is $30). It is in the price list, so it should be available.

Jim

I have Brighthouse (Orlando) and use the Sony without any cable box. It finds and tunes the digital cable channels but there is no guide data for them; leaving me something like 84.9 for the scifi channel (74 analogue).

It also lists the Brighthouse HD channels on the guide but won't tune them. It also lists but won't tune the Premium channels but I can hide them as I don't pay for them anyway.

I do not have nor do I intend to get the cable tuner card for the back of the unit.
Any suggestions for fixing this?

Thanks,
-TrueHeart

I've been on the phone a lot with Sony on this. Right now, Sony believes this is an issue with the Gemstar data. I'm not so sure. I live in the Boston area and I'm OTA only, and my system pretty much drops a scheduled recording every day.

If you're having the same problem, here's a test I'm trying. Don't turn your system off for a few days (you'll have to disable auto off functionality) and see if the problem goes away. If so, then it probably is a Gemstar data. If you keep on dropping recordings, it's more likely a Sony issue. Yes, you won't have listings for a few days, but since I'm dropping so many, I find I have to reset them daily anyway.

Thanks for your help.

Hey, I wasn't trying to be an "a**", but that posters' question was a fairly simple one which IS explained pretty well in the manual if you'd just look a little for it, and literally WAS asked two pages before, and probably just a couple of pages again before that. It's probably the most asked question on this thread. Maybe I was being a bit touchy, but when I'm trying to catch up on this thread, the constant redundancy can get annoying and tiresome at times. If that makes me an a** then so be it. I am willing to and I do help people all the time when I'm able to around here. Besides, what's the manual for in the first place?

By my experiences, this is the WORST manual ever written and I'm sure most everyone who has commented on this forum will agree.

Wolfie

Wiring is good, as I never had a problem in 4 yrs. I have the HDD500 and Sony SXRD connected to a PureAV Home Theater Battery Backup with AVR. Do I need a conditioner as well?

Wouldn't hurt. Run-of-the-mill battery back-ups by themselves do absolutely nothing to the power monitoring. You can get a Monster Cable LC for <$200 that will secure all your electronic stabilization.

Wolfie

Wouldn't hurt. Run-of-the-mill battery back-ups by themselves do absolutely nothing to the power monitoring. You can get a Monster Cable LC for <$200 that will secure all your electronic stabilization.

Wolfie

I plug all my stuff directly into the wall, and have never had a problem (3 years of OTA, with 4 different types of HD recorders, all still operating fine...)

I have a Universal Remote MX-700, and am wondering if there is any way for me to get this "Shortcut" from Harmony into my remote? The remote can "Learn" the command if anyone wants to mail their Harmony remote to me ;) I would really like to have that function.

Mark
Don't know if this will help at all or not - I'm not familiar with your remote. But with the OFA remotes, here are the codes used to remap buttons. I have one of the OFA remotes that's under $20, and I use it for the HDD500, my Replay, TV, DVD, stereo receiver, and VCR. I don't think I've looked at the SOny remote in quite a while. (I can't say for sure that I've used it the lastchannel though. I haven't watched any live channels with it. I've only watched records shows.)

PROGRAMMING EXTENDED FUNCTIONS: (key setup)

1. Tap the DEVICE key
2. Hold down SET until the red light blinks twice - release
3. Press 9-9-4
4. Tap the SET for one blink and release
5. Enter the 3 digit advanced function code (see below)
6. Tap the DESIRED key...the red light should blink twice

Cable Converters -- <CABLE Group>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1006 400 * 512 Home 732 Replay 540 Scroll 4 Up

237 Advance 400 Interactive 639 Reserved 670 Scroll 5 Dow

382 Antenna 498 List 687 Screen Mode 291 Scroll 5 Up

675 Back 306 Low Battery 543 Scroll 1 Dow 492 Slow

672 Delimiter 497 Mail 546 Scroll 1 Up 382 TV/Cable

381 Favorite 477 Next 545 Scroll 2 Dow 515 Viewer

560 Format 510 Option 286 Scroll 2 Up 689 Zoom

412 Forward 621 Power Off 285 Scroll 3 Down

255 Full TV On 369 Power On 288 Scroll 3 Up

400 Go To 737 Previous 418 Scroll 4 Down




CABLE CONVERTER. Uses with:

CABLE CONVERTER..........Cable Boxes.......CABLE 1506

CABLE CONVERTER..........Cable Boxes.......CABLE 1606

VCR......................VCRs................VCR 1822

652 ENTER...........# 398 0...............0

274 1...............1 526 2...............2

528 3...............3 268 4...............4

531 5...............5 271 6...............6

273 7...............7 525 8...............8

658 9...............9 495 TV/VIDEO........Bypass

334 CHANNEL DOWN /.Channel Down 334 PAGE DOWN.......Channel Down

594 CHANNEL UP /.Channel Up 594 PAGE UP.........Channel Up

432 DISPLAY.........Display 652 ENTER...........Done

572 DOWN............Down 652 ENTER...........Enter

252 EXIT............Exit 723 FAST FORWARD....Fast Forward

252 EXIT............Full TV 641 GUIDE...........Guide

432 DISPLAY.........Info 495 TV/VIDEO........Input

387 LAST............Last Channel 575 LEFT............Left

690 MENU............Menu 339 MUTE............Mute

577 SELECT..........OK 334 PAGE DOWN.......Page Down

334 CHANNEL DOWN /.Page Down 594 CHANNEL UP /.Page Up

594 PAGE UP.........Page Up 718 PAUSE...........Pause

720 PLAY............Play 591 POWER...........Power

463 RECORD..........Record 460 REWIND..........Rewind

323 RIGHT...........Right 387 LAST............Shortcut

466 STOP............Stop 320 UP..............Up

588 VOLUME DOWN.....Volume Down 336 VOLUME UP.......Volume Up

Could someone do me a favor please and check the CBS-HD listings on Thursday and Friday nights for CSI and Ghost Whipser? For Thursday nights CBS-HD channel I have listed Friends in place of CSI, and for Friday nights CBS-HD I have listed Grand Ole Opry in place of Ghost Whisper. However, the analog channels list the correct shows for both shows both nights. Something is messed up here.

Also, I have time added to certain shows, and when they're not on for a week and then come back on the guide, my unit doesn't pick them up again. I think it has to do with the fact that time was added to each show. I don't have this problem with other shows that I don't have time added to. Anyone else having this issue?

Thanks.

Yes, my TVGOS is showing this too. Clearly a TVGOS problem. Hopefully correct as we get closer

I've been on the phone a lot with Sony on this. Right now, Sony believes this is an issue with the Gemstar data. I'm not so sure. I live in the Boston area and I'm OTA only, and my system pretty much drops a scheduled recording every day.

If you're having the same problem, here's a test I'm trying. Don't turn your system off for a few days (you'll have to disable auto off functionality) and see if the problem goes away. If so, then it probably is a Gemstar data. If you keep on dropping recordings, it's more likely a Sony issue. Yes, you won't have listings for a few days, but since I'm dropping so many, I find I have to reset them daily anyway.

Thanks for your help.


I haven't been in this forum for a while, but have recently had a rash of almost daily dropped recordings (need to check my schedule daily). In fact, I've seen a scheduled recording disappear immediately after I add a new recording (well, readd one of the dropped ones). I'll give the above suggestion a try, but doubt it will help.

I experienced a similar issue a few days ago with my new HDD500 and I was going bersek. I eventually tried a Warm Reboot (Press <EXIT> and <TV GUIDE> buttons on the front of the unit simultaneously) and then all the channel edits I made earlier showed up updated in the listings and I didn't loose any data/recording/schedule. :)
I guess it's a sneaky bug? :confused:

That did it! Thanks very much!

/Peter

Yes, my TVGOS is showing this too. Clearly a TVGOS problem. Hopefully correct as we get closer
Probably the schedule was changed some days ago. CSI is now OK, and Ghost W should show up correctly tomorrow.

It's really a design flaw the way they update. Makes scheduling more than a day in advance a gamble. What happens if you (today) schedule GOOpera? Will it still record that time period?

I've been on the phone a lot with Sony on this. Right now, Sony believes this is an issue with the Gemstar data. I'm not so sure. I live in the Boston area and I'm OTA only, and my system pretty much drops a scheduled recording every day.

If you're having the same problem, here's a test I'm trying. Don't turn your system off for a few days (you'll have to disable auto off functionality) and see if the problem goes away. If so, then it probably is a Gemstar data. If you keep on dropping recordings, it's more likely a Sony issue. Yes, you won't have listings for a few days, but since I'm dropping so many, I find I have to reset them daily anyway.

Thanks for your help.

Sony told me the same thing about the dropped recordings being an issue with Gemstar data. Of course that was after a different tech said that they had a fix specifically for the issue in updated firmware, which ended up being false. I basically have no faith in Sony and I don't believe anything that they say about these DVRs.

I'd offer to help you test your theory, but the problem is very sporadic, and I've gone up to a month without dropped recordings, then I'll drop a few in one week. So if I go without Gemstar data for a few days without a problem, it doesn't necessarily mean anything.

If you've given up on Sony fixing this issue like I have, you can try the work-around that I've been using. Manual recordings have never failed for me, it's the TVGOS recordings that have a problem. First I removed ALL of my scheduled recordings. Then I setup manual recordings for the shows I watch. Then I setup recordings for the shows I watch via TVGOS, which causes a conflict for the corresponding manual recording. This way, when one of the sporadic missed recordings occurs, the manual recording backup works since there is no longer a conflict. When I see the untitled recording later on, I realize that the bug has presented itself, and I can reschedule the recording via TVGOS again. At least I actually have the show recorded through the backup manual recording using this approach. It's better than having all my shows recorded manually without titles/ descriptions and it's better than having to check the schedule every day to see if a show was dropped.

I have a Universal Remote MX-700, and am wondering if there is any way for me to get this "Shortcut" from Harmony into my remote? The remote can "Learn" the command if anyone wants to mail their Harmony remote to me ;) I would really like to have that function.

Mark

If you 'fully convert' to the DVR way, you won't need the previous channel button... or the channel up/down... or the number buttons.

Just schedule every show you watch, and select and play them when you want. The only thing you really need to use is the advance and rewind buttons to skip the commercials :)

Yes, my TVGOS is showing this too. Clearly a TVGOS problem. Hopefully correct as we get closer

CSI came back in the listings after the update Wednesday morning. Friends dissapeared. Did not check Ghost Whisperer.

If you've given up on Sony fixing this issue like I have, you can try the work-around that I've been using. Manual recordings have never failed for me, it's the TVGOS recordings that have a problem. First I removed ALL of my scheduled recordings. Then I setup manual recordings for the shows I watch. Then I setup recordings for the shows I watch via TVGOS, which causes a conflict for the corresponding manual recording. This way, when one of the sporadic missed recordings occurs, the manual recording backup works since there is no longer a conflict. When I see the untitled recording later on, I realize that the bug has presented itself, and I can reschedule the recording via TVGOS again. At least I actually have the show recorded through the backup manual recording using this approach. It's better than having all my shows recorded manually without titles/ descriptions and it's better than having to check the schedule every day to see if a show was dropped.

This is an excellent work around.. only issue is the time involved setting up all recordings twice and maintaining them as the shows change days/times. Thanks for the idea.

I have been losing some shows off the scheduled lists recently also... Caught it before there was a problem. Missed a couple of shows several weeks ago...

So someone was able to get a CC from Cox?

Was the person in Phoenix able to get one from Cox here?

Thanks.

Not yet. I sent a complaint to the FCC and received a reply today. Agreement between government and cable companies to install cable cards addresses only TVs, and no mention of other equipment.
Do you have Cox and cable card?

Are they denying you from getting a CC? My friend got one over 9 months ago (when the activation fee was $50, now it is $30). It is in the price list, so it should be available.

Jim
Is your friend in Phoenix though? It seems that only Cox customers here are having a problem getting one.

Probably the schedule was changed some days ago. CSI is now OK, and Ghost W should show up correctly tomorrow.

It's really a design flaw the way they update. Makes scheduling more than a day in advance a gamble. What happens if you (today) schedule GOOpera? Will it still record that time period?

Yes, my TVGOS is showing this too. Clearly a TVGOS problem. Hopefully correct as we get closer

CSI came back in the listings after the update Wednesday morning. Friends disappeared. Did not check Ghost Whisperer.
Thanks for all the replies! :D


Not yet. I sent a complaint to the FCC and received a reply today. Agreement between government and cable companies to install cable cards addresses only TVs, and no mention of other equipment.
Do you have Cox and cable card?
No, not yet. I was thinking about getting a CC so I could get the cable HD channels, but from what you told me I guess I can’t.

Is your friend in Phoenix though? It seems that only Cox customers here are having a problem getting one.

Nope, local friend to me.


When I called cox to get my HDD250 activated with a cablecard, she definitely was confused and called her supervisor and told me " as long as it has a cablecard slot" they will install it. IMO, call them and tell them that you have a sony TV and you want a CC installed. Most of the time, they send a contractor that is an independent contractor that works for cox, he does not care what you have, he just wants to get paid for the job. My .02.

Jim

Nope, local friend to me.


When I called cox to get my HDD250 activated with a cablecard, she definitely was confused and called her supervisor and told me " as long as it has a cablecard slot" they will install it. IMO, call them and tell them that you have a sony TV and you want a CC installed. Most of the time, they send a contractor that is an independent contractor that works for cox, he does not care what you have, he just wants to get paid for the job. My .02.

Jim

You are absolutely right. I live in Northern Virginia and have Cox and have had a cablecard in my unit since July 2005. At first they said they couldn't do it. So I just called another day and said i needed a second cablecard in a "second" TV . When the technician came over, I just showed him where the equipment was and he installed and activated it in 10 minutes. Now, in April 2006 at least in the Washiington DC area , Cox acknowleges and agrees to install cablecards in other equipment besides TVs. With Cox, it seems to change from area to area. I believe from reading in this forum that presently others in Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Northern Virginia and other locales haven't had many problems, but others like in Phoenix are having a rough time with Cox. It's really strange.

By my experiences, this is the WORST manual ever written and I'm sure most everyone who has commented on this forum will agree.

WolfieAfter tackling the manual for my Panasonic E85H DVD/DVR (which I still haven't fully figured out in 2 years), the Sony DVR's is a piece of cake. I admit it's far from perfect, but unlike the Panny's, it seems like whoever translated it at least has a decent grasp of the English language.

After tackling the manual for my Panasonic E85H DVD/DVR (which I still haven't fully figured out in 2 years), the Sony DVR's is a piece of cake. I admit it's far from perfect, but unlike the Panny's, it seems like whoever translated it at least has a decent grasp of the English language.
Boy you're not kidding. I just got my new HDD500 up and working with OTA, with the TVGOS and all...awesome.

I've had the E85H for quite some time. It's definately done the job, but you're 100% right about the manual...those things where you read one sentence like 25 times, and it just doesn't quite tell you actually how to do something. What's up with the time slip button and that screen within screen thing it brings up anyway? The manual on that is clear as mud, and I've just never used it.

Tom

This is an excellent work around.. only issue is the time involved setting up all recordings twice and maintaining them as the shows change days/times. Thanks for the idea.

I have been losing some shows off the scheduled lists recently also... Caught it before there was a problem. Missed a couple of shows several weeks ago...
Thanks for the idea. I'll give it a try.

As an FYI, I did the test, and the unit continued to drop scheduled recordings. I'm now thinking there may be some bad sectors on the HD...

Thanks for the idea. I'll give it a try.

As an FYI, I did the test, and the unit continued to drop scheduled recordings. I'm now thinking there may be some bad sectors on the HD...

Has anyone noticed any pattern on the number of scheduled shows before this problem occurs? I was happy for many months, with no problems, with 4 or 5 shows being recorded. It has only been the past few weeks, when I went up to 7 shows where the problem occurred.

I started to try the suggested test, but I lost a scheduled recording just while watching! I had checked the list before and after a program, and it changed during that period! Not a Gemstar problem. I think I'll try the workaround (of course, with summer rerun season coming, my list will clear out in just a few weeks, anyway).

Has anyone else experienced missing information for just some channels ? Last night I noticed I no longer have any guide info for HBO HD, it use to work just fine. I didn't notice any other channels missing guide info. I can tune to HBO HD just fine so it doesn't appear to a cablecard issue. I am using comcast with a moto 4.21 cablecard.

For what it's worth, I added HBO to my cable lineup and TVGOS picked up all the standard HBO channels but has yet to do anything with the HD channel. Unfortunately I can't force it either since it won't let me enter in a 4-digit channel number.

Does anyone know if there's currently a Sony firmware, Gemstar update, or other fix that addresses this 4-digit channel issue? Is there any sort of workaround other than just recording manually? The strange thing is that some channels let me enter in a 4-digit value. I've remapped all my local network channels to the 4-digit HD channels on TW cable. But others, like TNT and HBO-HD, won't let me enter in 4 digits. Looked around at earlier posts on the subject and saw some conflicting info.

I'll probably send my unit in at some point for the 161-6 issue that popped up again earlier this week a few times, but ideally I'd get them to fix both problems at once. Recording manually obviously works OK for now but it's definitely not ideal since with my growing list of unlabeled entries under the "unknown" category, I have to hunt and peck a bit to find what I'm looking for and it's easy to forget what I recorded several days ago. Probably going to have to start keeping a list offline with date/time/title info.

You can get the .mxf file from remotecentral. PrevCh is labeled 'jump' on the 2nd page. File I use is 'Dans' in case there are choices.

I assume this is for the "50" remote code, and not for the "51". I am using both codes, as I have two 500's in the same room.

Thanks for the info.

Mark

If you 'fully convert' to the DVR way, you won't need the previous channel button... or the channel up/down... or the number buttons.

Just schedule every show you watch, and select and play them when you want. The only thing you really need to use is the advance and rewind buttons to skip the commercials :)

Good point! What was I thinking?!? :)

Don't know if this will help at all or not - I'm not familiar with your remote. But with the OFA remotes, here are the codes used to remap buttons. I have one of the OFA remotes that's under $20, and I use it for the HDD500, my Replay, TV, DVD, stereo receiver, and VCR. I don't think I've looked at the SOny remote in quite a while. (I can't say for sure that I've used it the lastchannel though. I haven't watched any live channels with it. I've only watched records shows.)

Ray, the MX-700 I have is software-programmable, which is different from the OFA, but thanks for the response!

If I decide to get Dish or Direct tv later on will the DHG-hdd500 work with either these sat. providers?

If I decide to get Dish or Direct tv later on will the DHG-hdd500 work with either these sat. providers?
Nope. It only works with cable and OTA, no sat.

If I decide to get Dish or Direct tv later on will the DHG-hdd500 work with either these sat. providers?

Just get D* or E* RCVR/DVR when you switch.

Wolfie

CSI came back in the listings after the update Wednesday morning. Friends dissapeared. Did not check Ghost Whisperer.
In Chicago, the listing finally changed to reflect the true programming. The Gran Ole Opry dropped and was replaced by the Ghost Wisperer.

Nope. It only works with cable and OTA, no sat.

It should work with Verizon's fios since I believe they will be supporting motorola cablecards.

It should work with Verizon's fios since I believe they will be supporting motorola cablecards.

Although who knows how long it will take G* to properly map the channels to allow guide information to be provided...

Does anyone have these units in the Jacksonville area with a cablecard from comcast? I have two. One has the correct time, the other doesn't even find the time. Neither have recognized a host station so there has been no TVGOS downloads. The unit with the correct time in the am gives me the option of which cable system to pick but the options are nothing but my old choices from back in West Palm. I have put in the new zip codes and have tried several in the Jax area. None seem to work. Does anyone have any clues? Does anyone have one working? If so, at least I will know that the TVGOS server is not down.

Eric

No, not yet. I was thinking about getting a CC so I could get the cable HD channels, but from what you told me I guess I can’t.


When I spoke to tech at Cox cable he claimed that they were testing the unit. He also said something about not demand yet to put card in DVR. Give them a call. Perhaps you will be successful. If they refused, you can also give the franchising agency a call. I plan to call Cox and if necessary the agency while I am in Phoenix next month.

You are absolutely right. I live in Northern Virginia and have Cox and have had a cablecard in my unit since July 2005. At first they said they couldn't do it. So I just called another day and said i needed a second cablecard in a "second" TV . When the technician came over, I just showed him where the equipment was and he installed and activated it in 10 minutes. Now, in April 2006 at least in the Washiington DC area , Cox acknowleges and agrees to install cablecards in other equipment besides TVs. With Cox, it seems to change from area to area. I believe from reading in this forum that presently others in Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Northern Virginia and other locales haven't had many problems, but others like in Phoenix are having a rough time with Cox. It's really strange.

What all is involved during the CableCARD installation? Do you have to show the tech the CableCARD setup menu on the unit if they are not familiar with it or is it all automatic once the put the card in the slot?

What all is involved during the CableCARD installation? Do you have to show the tech the CableCARD setup menu on the unit if they are not familiar with it or is it all automatic once the put the card in the slot?

If I remember right, I had to show him the cablecard menu. I don't think it pops up automatically.

Does anyone have these units in the Jacksonville area with a cablecard from comcast? I have two. One has the correct time, the other doesn't even find the time. Neither have recognized a host station so there has been no TVGOS downloads. The unit with the correct time in the am gives me the option of which cable system to pick but the options are nothing but my old choices from back in West Palm. I have put in the new zip codes and have tried several in the Jax area. None seem to work. Does anyone have any clues? Does anyone have one working? If so, at least I will know that the TVGOS server is not down.

Eric

I'm in Jacksonville, FL.

I've got 2 HDD500s, both work fine with the TV Guide, no cablecards in either.

The first one I bought brand new and it has worked fine since day one, except for the occasional dropped recording, or it turning off my HD channels from my TV Guide and moving them to the bottom of the list.

The second one I bought used from California. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the unit to work, even when changing the zip code. Guide data just wouldn't update (after changing the zip, I had the message "Wait 24 hours, blah, blah, blah), and the clock showed the wrong time. After a couple of days of no guide data and with the wrong time, I ended up having to restore it to factory defaults using the directions outlined in section 1.2.9 of this guide (good stuff):
http://www.spiffspace.com/sonydvr.html
It's worked fine since.

Let me know if this works for you and how your cable cards end up working for you. I'm seriously thinking of subscribing to the card so I can get some premium HD channels.

What all is involved during the CableCARD installation? Do you have to show the tech the CableCARD setup menu on the unit if they are not familiar with it or is it all automatic once the put the card in the slot?

It really is a very simple process. The tecnician inserts the card. A menu pops up on
your TV's input where the Sony Dvr is connected. The tecnician gathers the host
information that the menu provides him. He relays it via telephone to Operations, and Operations activates the encrypted programming you are subscribed to.
The tecnician waits until your new programs are available (about 3-5minutes)and in my case charges $19.99 for the "installation" and leaves. the Sony DVR automatically
tunes in all the new channels from the cablecard and in 24 hours you are asked to choose a new channel lineup from your provider. Thereafter the guide populates.

What all is involved during the CableCARD installation? Do you have to show the tech the CableCARD setup menu on the unit if they are not familiar with it or is it all automatic once the put the card in the slot?

As others say, the card menu screen SHOULD pop up automatically. But sometimes it does not. Part of the problem is that you may have to wait about two minutes for it to happen, which is a LONG time.

Got a 250 today, already have a 500 that is working perfectly. The 250 can not find a host channel. I am using only cable on the 250, my 500 has cable and antenna. host is PBS.
On the cable-only 250 it shows the PBS channel as a 'VBI channel' in the 753.. menu and receives packets in the 9012 menu, about 60 a min., but 'Host channel' is blank. Is it possible it needs OTA signal, that cable alone is not good enough? A clock does appear but its from 12:00. thanks. the 250 is firmware 1.2.5, the 500 is 1.2.6

Got a 250 today, already have a 500 that is working perfectly. The 250 can not find a host channel. I am using only cable on the 250, my 500 has cable and antenna. host is PBS.
On the cable-only 250 it shows the PBS channel as a 'VBI channel' in the 753.. menu and receives packets in the 9012 menu, about 60 a min., but 'Host channel' is blank. Is it possible it needs OTA signal, that cable alone is not good enough? A clock does appear but its from 12:00. thanks. the 250 is firmware 1.2.5, the 500 is 1.2.6

I suggest you add an antenna. When I first got my 250 in June, it got the guide from cable but a while ago it switched to antenna, and I tried to force it back to cable by removing the antenna input but it wouldn't swich back even though the cable furnished PBS channel passed the guide test.

If I decide to get Dish or Direct tv later on will the DHG-hdd500 work with either these sat. providers?
A couple of people have reported that when hooking the satellite tuner to the cable input, and running a cable scan, that the tuner will be picked up on channel 3. I can get all the satellite channels and guide info OTA. So if you turn on all your satellite channels in the guide and enter number 3 as their channel number, you may be able to use the TVGOS to program on that end. But you'd still have to program the satellite tuner separately.

A couple of people have reported that when hooking the satellite tuner to the cable input, and running a cable scan, that the tuner will be picked up on channel 3. I can get all the satellite channels and guide info OTA. So if you turn on all your satellite channels in the guide and enter number 3 as their channel number, you may be able to use the TVGOS to program on that end. But you'd still have to program the satellite tuner separately.
can you get any watchable channels from directv?

A feature suggestion for a future firmware version or a future product if anyone at Sony is following this thread: Don't automatically turn off the DVR at the scheduled "auto off" time if the user is in the middle of playing back a recorded program. You can reasonably assume that the user A) wants to keep watching, since they actively elected to watch this program, and B) will not care what channel the DVR is tuned to while watching a recorded program (so feel free to change it in order to download guide data). If the recorded program ends during a guide download and the user changes the channel before turning the unit off, then it's OK to silently abort the TVGOS download. After all, there are additional opportunities to download the guide data each day.

Can you replae the hard Disks in these units with a larger one? or two larger ones?

couple of questions:

1. I have software version 1.2.09, do I need and update and why?

2. I just found out the local Cox has cable cards, I guess I need the cable card fix before installing the card?

250 problem continued. I added an antenna and set up for OTA. THe OTA PBS channel is getting lots of VBI data, on the 753..menu, it says
"VBI channel" is my OTA PBS channel,
but "Host Channel" is still blank?
THis was an open box, maybe it is defective?

250 problem continued. I added an antenna and set up for OTA. THe OTA PBS channel is getting lots of VBI data, on the 753..menu, it says
"VBI channel" is my OTA PBS channel,
but "Host Channel" is still blank?
THis was an open box, maybe it is defective?

Have you done the G* Factory Test while tuned to your host channel?

See section 1.2.16 of the FAQ at www.spiffspace.com/sonydvr.html

The VBI channel shown in the 753... menu is the channel that you were currently tuned to when you went into the 753... menu.

I think I've done all these things. I have another machine, a 500, and the host is PBS. On the 250, the PBS channel receives about 150/minute on the VBI screen, but no host channel shows up. it does show up on my 500.
On the 250 the guide says 'No data available' for this screen.

I think I've done all these things. I have another machine, a 500, and the host is PBS. On the 250, the PBS channel receives about 150/minute on the VBI screen, but no host channel shows up. it does show up on my 500.
On the 250 the guide says 'No data available' for this screen.

Have you tried the 9012 service menu -> TV Guide -> "Reset to Factory Defaults"? This resets the system, and forces you to set up TVGOS from scratch.

Since i've been having fluctuations in signal strength with my HDD250s & Comcast Cable, I just did install all RG6 Cables & Compression fittings, and signal strengths greatly improved. And if anyone's interested in upgrading to RG6, this is a great website for cables & tools http://www.techtoolsupply.com

Yes I did the reset to factory defaults earlier today and only hooked up OTA, not cable, to see if that will help utilize the OTA PBS as the host. no clock yet since I did this. Just checked on it after many hours off, no clock and now it will not even turn on, no buttons will do anything on the front either, had to unplug it to get it running.
9012 menu shows plenty of VBI data coming in on PBS.
753.menu still shows no 'Host Channel' but 'VBI Host' shows the PBS number.
sometimes it has shown something like fffffffd.
signal strength shows 88% on the PBS HD channel.

I'm taking it back tomorrow. It was an open box, but new ones are only a little bit more.

Yes I did the reset to factory defaults earlier today and only hooked up OTA, not cable, to see if that will help utilize the OTA PBS as the host. no clock yet since I did this. Just checked on it after many hours off, no clock and now it will not even turn on, no buttons will do anything on the front either, had to unplug it to get it running.
9012 menu shows plenty of VBI data coming in on PBS.
753.menu still shows no 'Host Channel' but 'VBI Host' shows the PBS number.
sometimes it has shown something like fffffffd.
signal strength shows 88% on the PBS HD channel.

I'm taking it back tomorrow. It was an open box, but new ones are only a little bit more.


gigaguy,

You have PM.

Alan

Frys Electronics in Los Angeles is selling the 250 for $799, and the 500 for $999!

I received my DHG-hdd500 yesterday and love it. I picked up all my ota tv guide channels.

Just one question. When I hit the advance button it only seems to advance 2 seconds. I cannot figure out how to program it to advance for the different time periods it claims it can do.

tia

I received my DHG-hdd500 yesterday and love it. I picked up all my ota tv guide channels.

Just one question. When I hit the advance button it only seems to advance 2 seconds. I cannot figure out how to program it to advance for the different time periods it claims it can do.

tia

You need to go into menu, then preferences...see page 37 of your manual

page 37 didnt have any ifo that helped but settings preferences did the job thanks

Has anyone who has not been able to get a host channel from the cable company tried using an in line cable strength booster and had it work? I know motorola makes a powered one that is supposed to increase the strenght of the signal. Thanks.

Eric

Frys Electronics in Los Angeles is selling the 250 for $799, and the 500 for $999!
Yes same here, and both Best Buy (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7276048&type=product&id=1117178795519) and Circuit City (http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Sony-Digital-Video-Recorder-DHG-HDD500-/sem/rpsm/oid/136240/catOid/-12883/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do) still have them for full price too.

page 37 didnt have any ifo that helped but settings preferences did the job thanks


Sure it does! You just need the current version of the documentation. The one that was produced with the unit has been superceded at least twice. Download the latest edition from.....

http://esupport.sony.com/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=DHGHDD500


JLOB

can you get any watchable channels from directv? Not sure about D*, but I've got the E* 322 SD tuner hooked up to the cable input. E* recently added a software upgrade (via satellite) for a menu setting to enable an outside recording device. I ran a cable scan and it picked it up on channel 3. I receive all my OTA AND satellite info OTA from my analog host channel. So I reset the TVGOS for OTA and digital cable, and it populated (although I had to turn on some of the channels that were missing myself). I changed all the satellite channel numbers to "3", and now all I have to do to record a satellite channel (SD only, of course) is highlight the programs in the grid just as I would with any other OTA station. But I still have to set the programs up separately on the tuner. This can be done (with E*, anyway) just by either highlighting the shows or using the "enable out" option, both of which require leaving the tuner on. Or by using the "out to VCR" option, which can turn the tuner on & off, but requires manual time setting. Not perfect, but better than renting or using a separate DVR just for the SD satellite channels (which I really don't record from nearly as much as the OTA ones anyway). Then I've also got the Sony running into a separate DVD/DVR for editing and archiving.

Hello All,

New to this thread. Happened to find a 500 yesterday (last one they had). Everything seems to be working ok except the clock. I plugged in, went through the setup about 4pm yesterday, then turned it off until earlier this afternoon. Program guide seems to have downloaded ok, but my clock is 2 hours and 5 minutes behind. I tried the VBI test as mentioned in the Hidyman FAQs, got good packets, and the tests passed, but still no accurate clock. I'm in Dallas and get data from channel 8.

Any suggestions or advice?

Thanks
Michael

Anyone purchase an extended warranty for their DVR? Does anyone know if sony is offering one directly or only third party extended warranties?

Thanks

Michael, I'd give it a little more time. I usually get the correct clock before I get any listings, but I'd give it a minimum of 3-4 days. Have you done the 753128852 menu to see if the host channel is identified?

I'm in Fort Worth and your data will come from KERA, analog 13, at Cedar Hill. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until the box finds 13. Mine took about four hours. Do a new setup and put in an adjacent zip code. Rockwall, Rowlett or something that will start the search process again. It will find it, but it may take some time. If I may suggest, put it on a UPS to protect the box and settings. Once setup, it works extremely well.

Michael, I'd give it a little more time. I usually get the correct clock before I get any listings, but I'd give it a minimum of 3-4 days. Have you done the 753128852 menu to see if the host channel is identified?

I'm in Fort Worth and your data will come from KERA, analog 13, at Cedar Hill. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until the box finds 13. Mine took about four hours. Do a new setup and put in an adjacent zip code. Rockwall, Rowlett or something that will start the search process again. It will find it, but it may take some time. If I may suggest, put it on a UPS to protect the box and settings. Once setup, it works extremely well.

Thanks gigaguy and mdowns,

On my initial channel search, all channels came in ok (only took about 5 minutes). All the channel 13 data came in first, by the way. I seem to have a couple of days of program guide, so I assume it's finding the data ok. On the 753128852 menu, it came up as channels 8 and 11. Nothing about 13.

I'll give it another few days and let you know if I have any luck.

Thanks,
Michael

Try this timesaver code instead of waiting to find the right channel:

Leave your VBI station on,
Setup - System settings - 963214785
Leave this screen up for 5 to 10 minutes, then power off

This is especially helpful after a power glitch, as it has reset my clock almost immediately, and saves those long hours of the Sony trying to find the VBI channel if you already know it.

Cheers,

LarryM

Has anyone else experienced missing information for just some channels ? Last night I noticed I no longer have any guide info for HBO HD, it use to work just fine. I didn't notice any other channels missing guide info. I can tune to HBO HD just fine so it doesn't appear to a cablecard issue. I am using comcast with a moto 4.21 cablecard.

Still no HBO HD guide data. I did a user reset last night and the box rebooted and when it came back up I still had the same guide data ? Isn't the user reset suppose to wipe out the guide data ? I did have to go through the setup process again, should I have picked a different zip code ?

Gemstar-TV Guide Signs Digital Guide Plus+(R) Agreement with Panasonic for European Market
Wednesday April 19, 9:00 am ET

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 19, 2006--Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMST - News), a leading media, entertainment and technology company has signed an agreement with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC - News), best known by its Panasonic brand name. Under this agreement, Panasonic will extend its current licensing relationship with Gemstar-TV Guide for a new digital Interactive Program Guide (IPG) in Europe known as GUIDE Plus+®, and will incorporate this digital version in certain products, including recorders and large-size digital televisions.

ADVERTISEMENT
"As we continue to expand our IPG business worldwide, we are pleased to build upon our relationship with Panasonic by developing products and services that help simplify and enhance the consumer's television and entertainment viewing experience," said Lydie Levy, chief operating officer, worldwide for Gemstar-TV Guide's Consumer Electronics Licensing Group. "This deal provides for the launch of the new digital version of GUIDE Plus+ in Panasonic's European television and recorder products and as such, represents a significant milestone in the roll-out of our European IPG product."

This agreement extends a long-standing relationship between Gemstar-TV Guide and Panasonic on the development and deployment of Gemstar IPGs worldwide, and provides for the two companies to work together to promote the adoption and usage of the Gemstar-TV Guide IPG in Europe. Additionally, the agreement allows Panasonic temporary deployment rights for non-Gemstar-TV Guide IPGs in certain consumer electronic products until the digital version of the Gemstar IPG is available.

Gemstar-TV Guide's IPG is built directly into consumer electronics products, offering consumers the industry's most advanced program guide, with no additional subscription fee or phone connection required. Gemstar-TV Guide's patented technology delivers continually updated program listings to users, and the IPG works by simply plugging in the television or recording device and activating the guide through an easy set-up process.

The front panel reset normally does not wipe your guide data.

For me, missing guide data for some channels has meant there was a major glitch and that I eventually had to do a guide reset in the 9012 menu to start the guide from scratch. If you have already done this, I would next suspect that your local host station has a problem.

Does your 8th day of data fill in OK for most channels?

I guess the key word here is "digital". Nevertheless, I find parts of this amusing.


...offering consumers the industry's most advanced program guide...
?!?!?


...and the IPG works by simply plugging in the television or recording device and activating the guide through an easy set-up process.
We all know how "simple" it is. Just buy, plug in, and never worry again! :rolleyes:

The front panel reset normally does not wipe your guide data.

For me, missing guide data for some channels has meant there was a major glitch and that I eventually had to do a guide reset in the 9012 menu to start the guide from scratch. If you have already done this, I would next suspect that your local host station has a problem.

Does your 8th day of data fill in OK for most channels?

I guess I wasn't clear, I did a user reset or reset user configuration from 9012 menu. So it sounds like I should of started from scratch instead of retaining the guide data I had previously. I will see if I have data 8 days out when I get home, thanks for the suggestion.

We all know how "simple" it is. Just buy, plug in, and never worry again!

I own two DHGs and fortunately for me it really was that simple. I am using an off the air antenna and Charter cable. My program guide comes from WFUM (PBS) in Flint MI. I use the zip 48867. In addition to the analog channels from Charter I get seven QAM stations along with all the music channels. I do some arranging of the channels but it other than that I am a pretty happy customer.

The big questions are what happens when there is no more analog? And when will that happen? I have watched on CSPAN where they are pushing real hard to get everyone on digital so they can use the analog bands for homeland security.

I guess the key word here is "digital".
Yes I agree.
http://www.europe.guideplus.com/

Also, from way back in Jan in CES Samsung PR:
HDD-DVD Recorder
The latest Samsung DVR to hit the market, the DVD-HR731 boasts both DVD-RW/-R Recording and a 160GB hard disk drive which allows consumers to store multiple programs and easily record stored programs to DVD. Consumers will never miss their favorite show with EPG TV Guide Plus, an easy to use, electronic version of TV Guide that gives consumers a single interface for management of all TV viewing, scheduling and recording. The interface allows simple navigation through the myriad of available TV channels, independent of source, whether it’s FTA broadcast, Digital Terrestrial, Satellite, or Cable. A 55mm slim unit, the DVD-HR731 has the added convenience of front DV Input. Music and photo lovers will have a ball mixing JPEG and MP3 files stored on the built-in HDD to create a customized, synchronized Music Slide Show.

The DVD-HR731 is slated for June 2006 for $499 MAP.

For what it's worth, I added HBO to my cable lineup and TVGOS picked up all the standard HBO channels but has yet to do anything with the HD channel. Unfortunately I can't force it either since it won't let me enter in a 4-digit channel number.

Does anyone know if there's currently a Sony firmware, Gemstar update, or other fix that addresses this 4-digit channel issue? Is there any sort of workaround other than just recording manually? The strange thing is that some channels let me enter in a 4-digit value. I've remapped all my local network channels to the 4-digit HD channels on TW cable. But others, like TNT and HBO-HD, won't let me enter in 4 digits. Looked around at earlier posts on the subject and saw some conflicting info. Recording manually obviously works OK for now but it's definitely not ideal since with my growing list of unlabeled entries under the "unknown" category, I have to hunt and peck a bit to find what I'm looking for and it's easy to forget what I recorded several days ago. Probably going to have to start keeping a list offline with date/time/title info.

So, does anyone know if there's a fix/workaround out there for this problem of not being able to assign 4-digit values to some (most) channels in the guide? Need to send it off in the next 6 weeks or so before my warranty expires.

Also, any trick I can do to coax the unit to "finding" the HBO-HD channel? It might be off in my guide because I added the HBO lineup after the guide was already setup for the other channels. It did find the standard HBO channels though. Unfortunately, if I turn it on I have to assign a channel and I would have to assign the "wrong" channel since I can't put in '1060'. In that case I imagine I would start getting guide data for it but my channel assignment would be permanently wrong. As it stands I think I need the unit to "find" it on its own so that it assigns the 4-digit channel itself (like it did for HDNET and HDNET-movies). Worst case I guess I can reset the unit / pull the cablecard, but I'd like to avoid losing my now fully populated guide if at all possible. I may just keep it as-is for now until I bit ethe bullet and send it in for the 161-6 fix.

btw, just as an FYI -> I've found that after losing channels due to the 161-6 issue, I get them back after a front panel (guide/exit) reset. I was previously pulling out and reinserting the cablecard as suggested in some old posts, which works also but then you lose your guide. The front panel reset only temporarily lost my clock.

Try this timesaver code instead of waiting to find the right channel:

Leave your VBI station on,
Setup - System settings - 963214785
Leave this screen up for 5 to 10 minutes, then power off

This is especially helpful after a power glitch, as it has reset my clock almost immediately, and saves those long hours of the Sony trying to find the VBI channel if you already know it.

Cheers,

LarryM

That is a new code to me...

What are you saying that this code does?

Also, from way back in Jan in CES Samsung PR:
HDD-DVD Recorder
The latest Samsung DVR to hit the market, the DVD-HR731 boasts both DVD-RW/-R Recording and a 160GB hard disk drive which allows consumers to store multiple programs and easily record stored programs to DVD. Consumers will never miss their favorite show with EPG TV Guide Plus, an easy to use, electronic version of TV Guide that gives consumers a single interface for management of all TV viewing, scheduling and recording. The interface allows simple navigation through the myriad of available TV channels, independent of source, whether it’s FTA broadcast, Digital Terrestrial, Satellite, or Cable. A 55mm slim unit, the DVD-HR731 has the added convenience of front DV Input. Music and photo lovers will have a ball mixing JPEG and MP3 files stored on the built-in HDD to create a customized, synchronized Music Slide Show.

The DVD-HR731 is slated for June 2006 for $499 MAP.

HD? This don't sound like no steenking HDDVR!

Wolfie

I had prevously reported that a "soft" reset fixed the following issue: The DVR would automatically switch back to auto HDMI (from 1080i) when switching between HDMI sources using an HDCP compliant HDMI switcher.

Before performing the soft reset, I always assumed the issue was due to the "handshake" having been broken and this was completely normal. Note: I performed the soft reset to fix another problem.

Interestingly, I switched out my display this weekend from a CRT RPTV with an HDCP compliant DVI input to a Plasma with HDMI. Now, the DVR is automatically switching back to auto HDMI again.

I wonder if the fact that the unit was unplugged for around 11 hours could have "undone" the soft reset? I will try performing the soft reset again and report back. I'd be curious to know what HDMI signals (format setting) others are using with a plasma.

Mark

Ah ha! I have the same 1023 problem, hopefully I can get things set up right. Thing is, I'm not sure how to activate the channels. I looked through the entire list, and the ones I thought might be the proper selections were in amongst a whole slew of similar listings, and they weren't exactly what the was on the display. I'm not sure if this last was because the callsign was too long, or what. For example, WXII-DT was switched off in Guide, verses WXIID shows on the display.

So, does it matter? If I set WXII-DT to be channel 520, where it's supposed to be, should I see the listings, based on your experience? Is the WXII-DT == WXIID just a naming convention on the box?

I'm going to try this when I get home, so you don't absolutely HAVE to answer. :p Thanks for the help. It's amazing how much better just knowing somebody else has the same problems can make you feel. AVSforum rocks!


EDIT: Hehe. Didn't realize the post I was referencing was from so far back in the thread. You guys must be wondering what I'm talking about. Well, I may sound like an idiot, but that's nothing new and my comments still stand!

HD? This don't sound like no steenking HDDVR!

WolfieSo, by "digital terrestrial" I'm assuming that means an internal ATSC tuner of sorts?

I seem to have a very good hd picture but recently discovered my premium channels' signal strength was 77% and quality was 'below normal'. Question - if i am able to increase signal quality\strength, will that also give me an even better HD picture? Right now my picture seems very good. Thanks.

I seem to have a very good hd picture but recently discovered my premium channels' signal strength was 77% and quality was 'below normal'. Question - if i am able to increase signal quality\strength, will that also give me an even better HD picture? Right now my picture seems very good. Thanks.

No. Digital broadcasts are "all or nothing", so the picture doesn't degrade as signal decreases. You eventually reach a point as the singal strength decreases where the picture will lose lock and will pixellate.

I seem to have a very good hd picture but recently discovered my premium channels' signal strength was 77% and quality was 'below normal'. Question - if i am able to increase signal quality\strength, will that also give me an even better HD picture? Right now my picture seems very good. Thanks.

ALL of my digital channels show in the 77% range but I have a great picture (especially in HD).

Any of the time saver methods of setting the clock only work if the unit has stored valid Timezone information (which it gets from the host channel using your inputted zipcode.) So this method or the 9012 menu trick only work if the unit is unplug and the guide info is still valid.

It does not work after you do the Guide+ reset from the 9012 menu. It will set the internal clock to the GMT time but not display on the front panel until the timezone if figured out. It would have been nice if SONY would have a way to set your timezone manually (and the clock).

Try this timesaver code instead of waiting to find the right channel:

Leave your VBI station on,
Setup - System settings - 963214785
Leave this screen up for 5 to 10 minutes, then power off

This is especially helpful after a power glitch, as it has reset my clock almost immediately, and saves those long hours of the Sony trying to find the VBI channel if you already know it.

Cheers,

LarryM

That is a new code to me...

What are you saying that this code does?

It forces the unit to search VBI for the guide on the channel you have designated. (Different from the 9012 clock set.)

I've been dealing with this in my own, but some of you have wwaaayyy more experiences in LD reception than I and can give me a "take it to the bank" opinion.
In Fort Worth, I get Dallas PBS KERA analog as my host station. I have never had problem one from their transmission to the reception on my 250. It's always been there and been there perfect.
I have a little place in Waco 73 miles Southwest of Cedar Hill. I have a CM4228 at 25' and can get analog 8, 11, 13 watchable and all DFW digitals at 72% or better. My problem stems from the VBI signal on 13 can be erratic. Some times packets are good. Some are evenly split good and bad, while some are fixed. I'm asking if you think a CM 7777 "could" make the difference in data downloads? I realize if the signal drags the ground somewhere along the path it may not be salvagable.

Hi folks-

Last week was a rough one for my 500, and now it's all screwed up. Any advice appreciated:

Middle of the night Wednesday: power goes out for 2 hours.
Sometime After 11 pm on Thursday: inline preamplifier for the signal suffers an outage (got unplugged) and the thing had essentially no signal until Sunday after noon.

Sunday afternoon I noticed that it couldn't tune channels; I investigated and found and corrected the preamp problem. Checked the listings; they were OK but missing the last several days. Shut unit off. Sunday night, it recorded a show as programmed.

Monday evening: I turned it on and it said "no signal." I thought maybe the preamp was messed up again (it has a funky power cord), but investigation showed that any channel I tuned to, it immediately tunes to channel 1023 (blank) right afterward. I did a reboot next.

Additionally, my guide is all messed up and many channels (SHO-HD, SHO-W-HD, HBO-HD, HBO-W-HD in particular, as well as many local HDs) are not in the guide. I eventually find them via setup down in the turned-off bottom of the listings. I turned them on again, but still any channel I tune to, I get 1 second of it, then it goes to1023.

Pressed Guide-Exit one more time. It reboots and now will stay on the channels I tell it to, but many channels still missing from the guide.

Any ideas what gives? I'll see if it's back in sorts tonight.

Marc

Marc_G, this sounds like a job for SonyMan! ;)

Wolfie

Consistent with Samsung's CES press release about their new DVR they have just signed with Gemstar's "Guide Plus+":

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060502/20060502005437.html?.v=1

Hopefully this new "Guide Plus+" is digital, free and with HD too:

http://www.rca.com/documents/design3_final.htm

If I select record regularly for America's testkitchen, will it record that show regardless of channel or do I have to go in and select record for each of the PBS channels that I have?

Thanks

/Peter

So, by "digital terrestrial" I'm assuming that means an internal ATSC tuner of sorts?From Wikipedia: "Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV or DTT) is an implementation of digital technology to provide a greater number of channels (SDTV) and/or better quality of picture (EDTV, HDTV) and sound (AC3, Dolby Digital) through a conventional antenna (or aerial) instead of a satellite dish or cable connection. The technology used is ATSC in North America, ISDB-T in Japan, and DVB-T in Europe and Australia; the rest of the world remaining mostly undecided. ISDB-T is very similar to DVB-T and can share front-end receiver and demodulator components."

Try this timesaver code instead of waiting to find the right channel:

Leave your VBI station on,
Setup - System settings - 963214785
Leave this screen up for 5 to 10 minutes, then power off

This is especially helpful after a power glitch, as it has reset my clock almost immediately, and saves those long hours of the Sony trying to find the VBI channel if you already know it.

Cheers,

LarryM
It forces the unit to search VBI for the guide on the channel you have designated. (Different from the 9012 clock set.)
I'm still not clear what this does. Are you saying this will set the host channel on the DVR to the channel you are viewing when you punch in the code?

I find it odd that this code has never been mentioned until yesterday.

I've been dealing with this in my own, but some of you have wwaaayyy more experiences in LD reception than I and can give me a "take it to the bank" opinion.
In Fort Worth, I get Dallas PBS KERA analog as my host station. I have never had problem one from their transmission to the reception on my 250. It's always been there and been there perfect.
I have a little place in Waco 73 miles Southwest of Cedar Hill. I have a CM4228 at 25' and can get analog 8, 11, 13 watchable and all DFW digitals at 72% or better. My problem stems from the VBI signal on 13 can be erratic. Some times packets are good. Some are evenly split good and bad, while some are fixed. I'm asking if you think a CM 7777 "could" make the difference in data downloads? I realize if the signal drags the ground somewhere along the path it may not be salvagable.
The 7777 is supposed to be one of the best preamps out there so adding one shouldn't hurt, but unless you have signal loss due to a very long cable (>100'), and/or you are splitting the cable, the preamp will likely make no difference.

I'm still not clear what this does. Are you saying this will set the host channel on the DVR to the channel you are viewing when you punch in the code?

I find it odd that this code has never been mentioned until yesterday.

Yes, it will set the host channel EVENTUALLY...it is just a faster way than the 24-hour scan and search. This is a code I got from Kwan at Gemstar when I was having severe guide problems. Sorry for not posting it earlier, but I don't have time to do anything but lurk :-)

YNOS,

Thanks for the input. My cable length is 40 to 50'. My less that solid VBI is causing inconsistent guide. If I knew how to contact Gemstar I'd lobby for getting a local station here in Central Texas to send the guide. Until that happens, it's long distance downloads. I didn't know if the consensus thought a preamp would work in this application or not. Thanks. MD

YNOS,

Thanks for the input. My cable length is 40 to 50'. My less that solid VBI is causing inconsistent guide. If I knew how to contact Gemstar I'd lobby for getting a local station here in Central Texas to send the guide. Until that happens, it's long distance downloads. I didn't know if the consensus thought a preamp would work in this application or not. Thanks. MD
I just realized all the channels you meantioned are VHF, but your CM 4228 is UHF-only. You'd probably have better luck with a VHF-only or VHF/UHF antenna. This site is helpful for selecting an antenna: http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html

Channel 13 is my only VHF concern. Everything else is UHF. As I said earlier, all the digital signals are good and strong at this distance. Only my host channel is questionable.

Seems that I remember reading somewhere in my past that curvature of the earth begins to come into play at 75 miles-ish.

Channel 13 is my only VHF concern. Everything else is UHF. As I said earlier, all the digital signals are good and strong at this distance. Only my host channel is questionable.

Seems that I remember reading somewhere in my past that curvature of the earth begins to come into play at 75 miles-ish.

I think what YNOS is saying is that your antenna is not designed for UHF reception, and thus, channel 13 probably still won't come in much (if any) better if you only add a 7777 preamp.

You mentioned that analog 13 is "watchable" but you aren't getting reliable VBI packets. Does "watchable" mean that you have a picture, but is is snowy?

I doubt that the curvature of the earth is what you need to be concerned with in this case when it comes to the VHF/UHF differences - you need bigger elements on the antenna to get the VHF channels because of their longer wavelengths. The CM antenna you just isn't designed to pull in VHF channels but it may provide some gain on the higher number channels because of their shorter wavelengths (shorter compared to the really low channels like 2, 3, etc).

A little snowy but not too bad. I'm not a PBS guy so my only interest in 13 is in the guide. When researching the 4228, numerous references to high end VHF, 11-13, reception was part of the decision to go with this antenna. Oh it works, it's just not solid when receiving the guide. I get "No Listing" sprinkled through out the listings and would like to beef up the signal to get a more reliable guide.

A little snowy but not too bad. I'm not a PBS guy so my only interest in 13 is in the guide. When researching the 4228, numerous references to high end VHF, 11-13, reception was part of the decision to go with this antenna. Oh it works, it's just not solid when receiving the guide. I get "No Listing" sprinkled through out the listings and would like to beef up the signal to get a more reliable guide.
According to the Web site I posted earlier, the 4228 has just over 4 dB gain for Channel 13, which is good for a UHF antenna, but the best VHF antenna can pull in Channel 13 with 10 dB gain. Of course, that's a lot of extra trouble, expense and weight just to pull in one channel.

That's kinda what I thought. If a preamp would work, OK. I'd hate to drop $70 bucks with unreasonable expectations.

I don't think the neighborhood would appreciate more hardware on the roof and I've seen a few sites stating I'd have quite a bit of loss by moving the antenna inside beneath the asphalt shingle roof.

That's kinda what I thought. If a preamp would work, OK. I'd hate to drop $70 bucks with unreasonable expectations.

I don't think the neighborhood would appreciate more hardware on the roof and I've seen a few sites stating I'd have quite a bit of loss by moving the antenna inside beneath the asphalt shingle roof.

The neighborhood may not appreciate it, but they have no say in the matter!

Oh it works, it's just not solidSo then for your purposes, on channel 13, it really doesn't work. I know you can get single channel antennas and combiners for situations like this (I have one in my attic to get a Tacoma station). That way, the extra hardware would be much smaller that a full VHF rig.

That's kinda what I thought. If a preamp would work, OK. I'd hate to drop $70 bucks with unreasonable expectations.

I don't think the neighborhood would appreciate more hardware on the roof and I've seen a few sites stating I'd have quite a bit of loss by moving the antenna inside beneath the asphalt shingle roof.

Try calling the station. I remember channel 11 in San Jose used to either sell or give away single channel antennas to people because they were 180 degrees away from where everyone had their antennas pointed (Sutro Tower, in San Francisco). It would be fairly small and mount on the same mast.

I did contact the local PBS Engineer, several times, at Baylor University and he's been too busy to even update the clock software. No operating insertion clock. He's a one man store and also does IT for the membership drives. First things, first...

Here in Central Texas, I have access to three PBS stations but seems that only KERA in Dallas has the TVGOS working. I know it's a PBS pass-thru, but without the Gemstar equipment, getting a raw TVGOS signal doesn't mean much without a clock and what ever they do for zip code verification. That eliminates two of the three stations for me.

I'll look into a Ch 13, 213 Mhz antenna.

If the 3 months labor portion of my warranty expires on the 8th does that mean I need to have the unit delivered to Sony service by the 8th or simply have a work order created by that date. They state the work order expires within 30 days but it makes no mention of this. Anyone know? Thanks.

If the 3 months labor portion of my warranty expires on the 8th does that mean I need to have the unit delivered to Sony service by the 8th or simply have a work order created by that date. They state the work order expires within 30 days but it makes no mention of this. Anyone know? Thanks.

I think you just need to have a work order created by that date. My 250 has been to Sony twice (and is going back for a third). When I sent it in the first time, it was right before the labor portion of the warranty expired. Each work order has a 90 day guarantee. So I have still not had to pay any labor charges since they have not resolved my problem that began while still under warranty.

Hope that helps some.

I finally have a fully functioning 250 after the 3rd cablecard install. First two never received all subscribed channels. Typical erroneous programing/initialization by cable provider.

My only problem now is some poor reception on some channels. Specifically 31 and 260. These are analog channels. By-passing the 250 and viewing cable 31 via my TV's tuner there is no problem. Do the 250/500's have poor analog tuners or has anyone else encountered similar reception problems?

I like this unit, but here's a question. With changing times and blue-ray, tivo-3 coming why not just rent a dvr from your local cable company? 10 bucks a month for a couple years is way less than you can purchase this unit for. And see what happens in a couple years? Maybe someone can enlighten me.

Prices on these vary widely, esp since Sony blew them out at a 1/4 msrp at a retailer. I got my 500 for $399 and my 250 for $300. I hate using the cableco boxes and remotes, and they charge a lot more than $10 a month for the HD PVR box and digital services tacked on.

The Sony picture looks excellent, and has better playback options, 90x ff, the operating interface is better. I love mine, they work great for my needs. and no cableco fees.
Blue-ray recording will be heavily regulated with lots of controls over what you can record, if at all, and expensive.
For my needs right now the Sony HDD machines are great. esp for recording HD.

I am having lots of trouble with my guide lately, and it appears that it is my local PBS station's equipment problems. I have had them reboot their "machine" 3 times in the last 2 weeks because it seems to stop sending out VBI packets.

I have asked them to look into the equipment a little deeper to see if they can repair or replace it. It had worked perfectly starting in November, but these problems just started in the last couple of weeks.

Has anyone out there had success doing this? I have an email contact at the station that takes care of getting the system running again (temporarily), but it is ridiculous to have to do this every 2-3 days.

Thanks

Try this timesaver code instead of waiting to find the right channel:

Leave your VBI station on,
Setup - System settings - 963214785
Leave this screen up for 5 to 10 minutes, then power off

This is especially helpful after a power glitch, as it has reset my clock almost immediately, and saves those long hours of the Sony trying to find the VBI channel if you already know it.

Cheers,

LarryM
-------------------------------
Edit: I wrote the information below before realizing the 963... code should only be used during initial setup or after a reset; when the Host Chan is blank and there is no guide. Also, like other's pointed out, the VBI Chan discussed below is simply the channel the unit is currently tuned to. Post #5505 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7600588&&#post7600588) is a followup to this post.
-------------------------------

I experimented with this code last night since I was hoping to switch my host channel. Here's what I found...

I first used the 753159852 code to check which channels the box was using. I had Host Chan 0:0-7 and VBI Chan 0:9-1.

I tuned my box to Channel 28, which is the channel I prefer the box uses as a host channel.

Note: I discovered you have to lock the preview display in the guide before you access the Setup screen, otherwise the box will change to another channel when you scroll up in the guide to select Setup.

With the box tuned to 28 and the preview display locked, I did the Setup - Change System Settings - 963214785 step. Once the code was entered, the "Info" message directly below "Change System Settings" went away so I knew the code did something.

After 5 minutes, the guide automatically closed and I powered off the unit. I powered the unit back on and the 753159852 code revealed I had Host Chan 0:0-7 and VBI Chan 0:0-28.

The procedure successfully changed my VBI Chan, but my host channel remained the same.

I don't know what the VBI Chan is used for so I figured I should set it back to 9.1. I followed the same steps as above, but this time I didn't wait the 5 minutes for the guide to close before shutting off the box. This was probably a mistake since I checked my channels again and the VBI Chan was now Ffffffff, or something like that, my Host Chan was blank and the guide listings said I should have listings within 24 hours. Oops.

I followed the correct procedure and changed my VBI Chan to 28 and powered the unit off for the night. I checked it this morning and still no guide listings. The host channel was still blank, but the box switched the VBI Chan back to 9.1. Weird.

Conclusion
This new code can be used to set your VBI Channel after a reset, but it should be used with caution. There's no point in using the routine to change your VBI Channel since the box will likely change it back anyway.

There may be no benefit to messing with the VBI Channel anyway; the Host Chan is the channel the box uses to fill the guide.

I experimented with this code last night since I was hoping to switch my host channel. Here's what I found...

I first used the 753159852 code to check which channels the box was using. I had Host Chan 0:0-7 and VBI Chan 0:9-1.

I tuned my box to 28.1, which is the channel I prefer the box uses as a host channel.

Note: I discovered you have to lock the preview display in the guide before you access the Setup screen, otherwise the box will change to another channel when you scroll up in the guide to select Setup.

With the box tuned to 28.1 and the preview display locked, I did the Setup - Change System Settings - 963214785 step. Once the code was entered, the "Info" message directly below "Change System Settings" went away so I knew the code did something.

After 5 minutes, the guide automatically closed and I powered off the unit. I powered the unit back on and the 753159852 code revealed I had Host Chan 0:0-7 and VBI Chan 0:28-1.

The procedure successfully changed my VBI Chan, but my host channel remained the same.

I don't know what the VBI Chan is used for so I figured I should set it back to 9.1. I followed the same steps as above, but this time I didn't wait the 5 minutes for the guide to close before shutting off the box. This was probably a mistake since I checked my channels again and the VBI Chan was now Ffffffff, or something like that, my Host Chan was blank and the guide listings said I should have listings within 24 hours. Oops.

I followed the correct procedure and changed my VBI Chan to 28.1 and powered the unit off for the night. I checked it this morning and still no guide listings. The host channel was still blank, but the box switched the VBI Chan back to 9.1. Weird.

Conclusion
This new code can be used to set your VBI Channel after a reset, but it should be used with caution. There's no point in using the routine to change your VBI Channel since the box will likely change it back anyway.

There may be no benefit to messing with the VBI Channel anyway; the Host Chan is the channel the box uses to fill the guide.


I am a little confused by your post.

What do you mean by channel 28.1? This sounds like a digital channel number to me.

If this is correct, you can't use this as a host channel, as the host MUST be analog.

My understanding is that the VBI channel was the channel that you were tuned to when you went into the menu (or possibly the last channel that it looked for VBI data on). When it says something like ffffffff, I don't know what this means - it looks like a default hex value of some kind, though.

I thought the Host channel and VBI channel would be the same. I'm pretty sure they are on mine (OTA PBS). I guess I don't know what the host channel does, I thought it was where all the VBI data is sent from. but since they are listed as 2 items they must be able to differ. ??

Also, I'm thinking the Guide data works only with antenna and OTA input. Is that true? Seems like when I hooked mine up for cable only at first I didn't get data, but when I hooked an antenna I did. Maybe cable just takes a lot longer to get good data here??

I am a little confused by your post.

What do you mean by channel 28.1? This sounds like a digital channel number to me.

If this is correct, you can't use this as a host channel, as the host MUST be analog.

My understanding is that the VBI channel was the channel that you were tuned to when you went into the menu (or possibly the last channel that it looked for VBI data on). When it says something like ffffffff, I don't know what this means - it looks like a default hex value of some kind, though.Thanks for catching my "28.1" error. I was actually tuning the box to analog Channel 28, not 28.1. I have edited my original post to reflect this.

I thought the Host channel and VBI channel would be the same. I'm pretty sure they are on mine (OTA PBS). I guess I don't know what the host channel does, I thought it was where all the VBI data is sent from. but since they are listed as 2 items they must be able to differ. ??

Also, I'm thinking the Guide data works only with antenna and OTA input. Is that true? Seems like when I hooked mine up for cable only at first I didn't get data, but when I hooked an antenna I did. Maybe cable just takes a lot longer to get good data here??The way I understand it is the Host Chan is the channel the box uses to receive the VBI packets that are used to build the guide. The VBI Chan is a mystery to me since my box always selects 9.1 for it, which is digital and when I view the TV Guide test screen with 9.1 tuned, no VBI packets come in, yet the box can still build the guide with 9.1 as the VBI Chan.

My brother borrowed my box to try it out and it received guide data from PBS using only a Cable TV connection (no antenna).

edited quote...

Conclusion
This new code can be used to set your VBI Channel after a reset, but it should be used with caution. There's no point in using the routine to change your VBI Channel since the box will likely change it back anyway.

There may be no benefit to messing with the VBI Channel anyway; the Host Chan is the channel the box uses to fill the guide.

All you would need to do is change the zip code, no reset needed. If you have to wipe your channel data completely, use "99999" for the zip, power off and wait 15 minutes, then re-enter your correct one.

Your host channel should be blank before you do the 963214789.

I have a quick question for you guys, so I don't have to read through 183 pages. I have an opportunity (and spousal approval) to pick up an open box 250 from BB, but they weren't able to find the remote. Does anyone know how well it may work with a cheap universal remote, and can all the controls for setting up recordings be done from the front panel? I haven't decided if I'm going to get it yet, and hopefully I can knock a few more bucks off the price because of the missing remote.

Thanks

Chris,


The many good points of the HDD500 do outweigh the oddities. This DVR is far better than the LG DVR (if you don't need firewire or RGB). The Sony has so far performed without errors or failures.

According to the above post (#339 from June, 2005), it would seem the DVR outputs digital component (YCbCr) vice RGB video signals from the HDMI output. Does anyone know for sure? I don't recall this ever having been discussed, and it might vary depending on the output format selected.

I have a Pioneer Elite DV-59 avi DVD player set to output RGB over HDMI, and I am sharing the HDMI input on my plasma display via an HDMI switcher. Since I am sharing the HDMI input, I cannot have separate settings for the DVR and the DVD Player. Naturally, the DVD player takes precedence and I will optimize the settings on the plasma for its RGB output. However, I would still like to know what the DVR is doing with the HDMI output.

Thanks for any input.

Mark

I have a quick question for you guys, so I don't have to read through 183 pages. I have an opportunity (and spousal approval) to pick up an open box 250 from BB, but they weren't able to find the remote. Does anyone know how well it may work with a cheap universal remote, and can all the controls for setting up recordings be done from the front panel? I haven't decided if I'm going to get it yet, and hopefully I can knock a few more bucks off the price because of the missing remote.

ThanksIf you refer to Post #5329 and #5332 on P.178 of this thread, you can apparently order the RM-Y823 remote from Sony or program a Logitech Harmony remote to control the unit. I'm not sure if you can setup a recording from the front panel.

I have a quick question for you guys, so I don't have to read through 183 pages. I have an opportunity (and spousal approval) to pick up an open box 250 from BB, but they weren't able to find the remote. Does anyone know how well it may work with a cheap universal remote, and can all the controls for setting up recordings be done from the front panel? I haven't decided if I'm going to get it yet, and hopefully I can knock a few more bucks off the price because of the missing remote.

Thanks
I was in a kind of similar situation as you. I got a open box 250 off ebay with no remote. You might be able to do some of the major inputs with the front panel but it is too much of a hassle. You would have to go through a few menus instead of pressing a single button on a remote for some commands. And commands like pause , stop, rewind and fastforward must be done through the remote.

I ordered one from Sony Direct Accesories but they haven't shipped it in 5 business days yet so I'm guessing they may not have it in stock like it said. But I ordered one from this site : http://www.dvdremotecontrols.com/Mfrs/Sony/SonyDSS/RM-Y823.htm
I ordered it on Sunday and it shipped monday. It should be here today or tomorrow. You should hurry if your interested since thier is only 2 left in stock. I'm using a Harmony 688 to control the device for now. It works good but I have to scroll through the commands to access a lot of controls so I prefer the original.

Find a cheap One for All UR 6131 at CC, BB, Target, Walmart, etc... Then read-up at http://www.hifi-remote.com/ofa/ for advanced codes (specifically the Sony Code page). You can have all of the HDD250 functions as well as a mixture of your tv and other component codes to your specific layout.

The UR 6131 is laid out for a DVR and is very nice in the hand and logical to use with high WAF.

I thought the Host channel and VBI channel would be the same. I'm pretty sure they are on mine (OTA PBS). I guess I don't know what the host channel does, I thought it was where all the VBI data is sent from. but since they are listed as 2 items they must be able to differ. ??

Also, I'm thinking the Guide data works only with antenna and OTA input. Is that true? Seems like when I hooked mine up for cable only at first I didn't get data, but when I hooked an antenna I did. Maybe cable just takes a lot longer to get good data here??
The host channel is what you receive the guide info from. The VBI channel is the channel that you are currently tuned to - nothing less and nothing more. Also, even though I do not have cable, I can receive ALL of it's channels' guide info over my OTA host station.

Thanks for the responses guys, they knocked another $50 off the price, so I went ahead and picked it up. I have a universal remote from RatShack that I will try first, and go from there.

I like this unit, but here's a question. With changing times and blue-ray, tivo-3 coming why not just rent a dvr from your local cable company? 10 bucks a month for a couple years is way less than you can purchase this unit for. And see what happens in a couple years? Maybe someone can enlighten me.

I agree with you that in many cases it is much easier to rent a box from the cable company vs spending $1000 on a 500... but when the price was $249 at Tweeter the break even point is less than 2 years vs renting from the cable co which makes it more attractive.

Plus, OTA only folks like me don't have a cable company to rent a box from... no cable.

Prices on these vary widely, esp since Sony blew them out at a 1/4 msrp at a retailer. I got my 500 for $399 and my 250 for $300. I hate using the cableco boxes and remotes, and they charge a lot more than $10 a month for the HD PVR box and digital services tacked on.
Not true, for me at least. Renting an HD DVR from the cable company is $15/box per month. A CableCard runs about $5, so figure that, at least around here, you're paying an extra $10/month for the cable company STB, but with a smaller HDD capacity (unless you have an 8300HD with SATA) and also without the huge upfront costs associated with the Sony or LG model DVR's (the only upfront cost of the cable company DVR being any install fee, $0-$30, that your cable company charges).

It's all preference, if you want to pay a bit more but "own" your box and have complete control over it, the LG or SONY is the way to go, but if you just want to have minimal pricing and ALL the features and functions offered, go with the cable company DVR.

Prices on these vary widely, esp since Sony blew them out at a 1/4 msrp at a retailer. I got my 500 for $399 and my 250 for $300. I hate using the cableco boxes and remotes, and they charge a lot more than $10 a month for the HD PVR box and digital services tacked on.

The Sony picture looks excellent, and has better playback options, 90x ff, the operating interface is better. I love mine, they work great for my needs. and no cableco fees.
Blue-ray recording will be heavily regulated with lots of controls over what you can record, if at all, and expensive.
For my needs right now the Sony HDD machines are great. esp for recording HD.
Well the reason I brought this question up, was because I'd like one but getting one at a good price is not there. In my area you can get the 500 for 650.00. Not a bad price but what I'm thinking is to hold out till the Panasonic dmr ex-500 comes out. You'll be able to save hd material but down-rez to dvd to save to disc. Now if you wait awhile for these new type dvr's with a cable box you may come out ahead. And theres something always around the corner and to shell out 650.00 is a good chunk of change.

I'm not familiar with that Panny, but I can copy 16:9 material directly from my Sony HDD to my Panny DVD recorder, looks great.

Here, the cableco charges just under $30 for the HD DVR, which requires their digital service. so in 10 months it would equal the rental fees. but I've never liked cable boxes and their remotes so I'd pay even more to be able to own my own.

I'm not familiar with that Panny, but I can copy 16:9 material directly from my Sony HDD to my Panny DVD recorder, looks great.

Also here, the cableco charges to upgrade service from basic, charges a box rental, ,charges for digital tier that comes with the box, and if you get the HD PVR it is even more.
The correct model is DMR ex-550 and I have a pansonic e-80 now and I really like it, but this new one should be nice. Theres always something new to get, thats the problem with this hobby.

I've checked getting a dvr from the cable co and its a extra 9.95 a month more.

I just called TimeWarner and they quoted me $27 + taxes a month to do this upgrade. I'd have to pay for digital tier, upgrade from my 'Basic Standard' and some other fees to get the 8300 HD PVR service. I'm just glad to be free of them, the Sony PVRs are nice.
As far as DVD recorders, they've gone as far as they can go, they only record SD which is not so great once you go HD. I've had a Panny E80 for 3 years, don't use it much anymore.

I like this unit, but here's a question. With changing times and blue-ray, tivo-3 coming why not just rent a dvr from your local cable company? 10 bucks a month for a couple years is way less than you can purchase this unit for. And see what happens in a couple years? Maybe someone can enlighten me.I don't subscribe to digital cable or satellite, and don't intend to....I get all my HD content OTA. Can't do that with a cable company dvr, AFAIK.

My two HDD250's are busy almost every night recording my wife's favorite programs so she can watch them at her leisure.

I just called TimeWarner and they quoted me $27 + taxes a month to do this upgrade. I'd have to pay for digital tier, upgrade from my 'Basic Standard' and some other fees to get the 8300 HD PVR service. I'm just glad to be free of them, the Sony PVRs are nice.
As far as DVD recorders, they've gone as far as they can go, they only record SD which is not so great once you go HD. I've had a Panny E80 for 3 years, don't use it much anymore.
I already have the hd package so its just 9.95 for the pvr for me.
Now, on the Panasonic dmr ex-550 it will save hd material to the hard drive (just like your Sony's), but if you want to save it to disc it down rez to dvd probably to 480P. Have to read more about it. I'd have to read what rez they copy at (e-80's) but you gain the saving the HD to the hard drive like your Sony's. Well worth the upgrade and in your situation you could eliminate one box and accomplish what your doing now. I'm just trying to fiqure out how to save HD material. Best of all worlds would be if you could copy to dvd in full HD rez.

The correct model is DMR ex-550 and I have a pansonic e-80 now and I really like it, but this new one should be nice. Theres always something new to get, thats the problem with this hobby.

I have both cable recorder and Sony 250 and 500. Cable recorder is nice because it costs only $15 per month. Comcast used to require subscription to digital tier for $67 per month and was the reason I bought the 250 last June. Immediately after I purchased it, Comcast eliminated the digital requirement so I decided to rent that box. Cable recorder is nice because it can record two programs, but it can store only 15 hours of HD, and no instant advance.
I enjoy watching recorded HD, and sometimes record 4 shows simultaneously. Only problem I have is with the guide, so most of my recordings are set manually. Since HDTV is digital, I can't imagine a newer model offering anything better except for TIVO, which requires a monthly fee. :mad:

I just called TimeWarner and they quoted me $27 + taxes a month to do this upgrade. I'd have to pay for digital tier, upgrade from my 'Basic Standard' and some other fees to get the 8300 HD PVR service. I'm just glad to be free of them, the Sony PVRs are nice.
As far as DVD recorders, they've gone as far as they can go, they only record SD which is not so great once you go HD. I've had a Panny E80 for 3 years, don't use it much anymore.
So the reason it's so expensive for you is because the quoted price also includes the digital package, which is only a requirement with certain cable companies in certain markets. I don't know what our cable provider's (Adelphia) policy is because we subscribe to all basic, expanded, and digital cable channels, as well as HBO (1 of the premium multi-channel services), and all HD channels available. Because we already subscribe to these channels, using a CableCard (which we would have to do to receive the digital, premium (HBO), and subscription HD channels with a stand alone DVR like the Sony), the difference in price for us is only $10. With the cable company boxes, like the 2 Moxi's we have, you can also receive content ONLY available throgh a leased unit, such as VOD, PPV, and Premium VOD.

However, i can see how much more convenient a stand alone unit such as the DHG-HDD250/500 would be if you only subscribe to basic analog/clear QAM (digital) channels.

Tried to play back a recording, the DVR crashed, it tried to reboot itself repeatedly, but is down for the count.

Brought it back to be shipped out under warranty (1 week left on the 90 day manufacturers warranty). My gambling days are over, I decided to avail myself of an extended warranty (5 years, $99).

If this thing makes it to 5 years without more failures I will be very surprised. 2 hard drives, a fan, solenoid operated switching, the fan and the drives never shut down, makes continuous noise, runs hot.

I love it when it works (just wish it had a second tuner) but Sony did the right thing by pulling the plug, they would lose money big time on every unit sold. I hope they decide to put firmware updates on the internet and activate the USB port for upgrades (and whatever else it can be used for).

Until they put some sort of passive cooling into its product replacement (if there is one, probably once blu-ray recorders are common) and put in heat sinks, more vents and design the airflow to cool it, then put in the necessary firmware to go into standby mode and come back to life on demand, they are going to have lots of failures.

I will be glad when it is back and up and running, but I anticipate more problems in the future.

No one responded to me about extended warranties, so I called Sony to see if they would offer an extended warranty so that I would not have to purchase from Bestbuy. They did offer me a warranty for a similar price as BB, but it is direct from Sony, and I hate BB. They basically give you a call tag for shipping back to them and told me typical return time is ~48-72 hours. My 4 year warranty cost me $59 from Sony BTW.

Jim

Do any of the inexpensive Sony universal remotes support the DHG-HDD250?

I went with Tweeter's own warranty. The store is 5 minutes from my house and I just dropped it off, no shipping, no paperwork.

Now that they have had 2 somewhat profitable quarters in a row I thought it was worth taking a chance (AFTER 3 STRIGHT YEARS OF LOSSES).

More service a little more money and the extra year make it worthwhile (I figure they will eventually end up having to replace it with a newer model or store credit when it dies and is beyond repair and Sony cannot replace it with the same model)

No one responded to me about extended warranties, so I called Sony to see if they would offer an extended warranty so that I would not have to purchase from Bestbuy. They did offer me a warranty for a similar price as BB, but it is direct from Sony, and I hate BB. They basically give you a call tag for shipping back to them and told me typical return time is ~48-72 hours. My 4 year warranty cost me $59 from Sony BTW.

Jim


Can you please provide the information about the ext. warranty? What number did you call what did you ask for etc.

Thx.

Your host channel should be blank before you do the 963214789.
I experimented with the 963... code again last night, only this time I did it when the Host Chan was blank and I had no guide data.

I mentioned this before, but my problem is I receive PBS from two translators: Channel 7 with a weak signal and Channel 28 with a strong signal. My unit would always find Channel 7 first and select it as the Host Chan, which I think was contributing to my guide problems.

I performed the following steps last night and successfully got the unit to use Channel 28 as the Host Chan (finally) and am getting guide data.

Note: These steps must be performed during an initial setup, or after a reset, when the Host Chan is blank and there is no guide.

1) I tuned the unit to Channel 28. (My local PBS station)

2) Navigated to TV Guide > Setup > Change System Settings, and entered 963214785. (The "Info" message directly below "Change System Settings" should disappear.)

3) The screen automatically closes after 5 minutes. Fifteen minutes after that, I shut off the unit.

The following morning the 753159852 code revealed Host Chan 0:0-28, the guide was filled in for that day, and there was much rejoicing.

I wonder if this newly-revealed code is FAQ-worthy. It was certainly useful for me, and I'm sure I'll be using again in the future given my history of guide problems.

No one responded to me about extended warranties, so I called Sony to see if they would offer an extended warranty so that I would not have to purchase from Bestbuy. They did offer me a warranty for a similar price as BB, but it is direct from Sony, and I hate BB. They basically give you a call tag for shipping back to them and told me typical return time is ~48-72 hours. My 4 year warranty cost me $59 from Sony BTW.

Jim

I never thought a warranty for this but it may be worthwhile. I guess you purchased over the phone? Do you have to provide them with a faxed receipt, serial #, etc?