From the recent postings, seems like units sold for well over $250 until around Feb 06, when Tweeters sold off their inventory for $250. At that time, someone on this thread reported that information, and as a result, many of us were able to take advantage of that great deal.

Since Tweeters was only one of many suppliers, that deal probably didn't lower the average price by very much. Also, we assume that many of these Tweeter sale units ended up on Ebay, and sold for much more than $250.
It was said that Sony was using Tweeters to dump the units but that doesn't make any sense to me since no other store offered that deal. More likely it was Tweeters who took a big loss on that deal since they sold them at 25 percent of list - the only one to do that.

Ray

It was said that Sony was using Tweeters to dump the units but that doesn't make any sense to me since no other store offered that deal. More likely it was Tweeters who took a big loss on that deal since they sold them at 25 percent of list - the only one to do that.

I agree with that as my local Fry's still has (as of last week) one HDD-250 ($569) and HDD-500 ($???) for sale. These are both new in the box units. They have been at this price since February 2007 when they went on "clearance" (red tag) there.

I offered to buy both for $569, but no dice :)

Generally, all the downloads appear to be working correctly agian. My box is still set to get the data via PBS.

This last Monday AM PBS was off the air again (1AM to 5AM), and I wanted to see if it bombed..........but was out of town for the day. This morning when I checked all is 100% perfect. So I do not know for sure, if will still have a "one" day a week problem in Houston not, since the box was "off" for about 30 hours; meaning it corrected any problem it had; if it had a problem? LOL

I wish I had ten of the things at $250. The good ole days! LOL Where is Tweeter's when you need them.

I wish I had ten of the things at $250. The good ole days! LOL Where is Tweeter's when you need them.

Ummmmm. They're in Chapter 11 now aren't they? :p Maybe because they took such a loss on these Sony's!

Ummmmm. They're in Chapter 11 now aren't they? :p Maybe because they took such a loss on these Sony's!

I guess the $250 deal didnt work out to well for them :D

Ummmmm. They're in Chapter 11 now aren't they? :p Maybe because they took such a loss on these Sony's!

The Chapter 11 might have been the reason why they had a firesale on the units. Trying to liquidate something that just wasn't selling in order to free up some money to save themselves (which didn't work).

The Chapter 11 might have been the reason why they had a firesale on the units. Trying to liquidate something that just wasn't selling in order to free up some money to save themselves (which didn't work).

Maybe, but I think they filed within the last month or two - well after the fire sale.

Maybe, but I think they filed within the last month or two - well after the fire sale.
So does this mean that they'll be clearing more items now? :D

The Tweeter deal was set up by Sony to clear out the units long ago.

Specialty electronic stores are not viable IMO due to all the competition, online sales, cheaper good quality brands. etc etc. Even Best Buy is downsizing stores...flat panels do not take up as much room as tube TVs, to store, display, or ship.

BB is also gonna start carrying Apple PCs, like my tiny Mac Mini I use (am using) on my HDTV flat panel, (the Mini may become my next HD DVR with the upgrades Apple announced today, if and when TVGOS stops.)

sorry--off topic, but the Mac OS is great on a widescreen TV, slideshows with music, even cruddy youtube is fun on a big screen. I never use my PC anymore.

Small is in, except for flat panels and Tweeter.

The Tweeter deal was set up by Sony to clear out the units long ago.



How did you find out about this arrangement, and are you certain that it's true? Seems to me if Sony wanted to clear out their inventory, they would make the same deal with all outlets, not just one. Also, pricing the 500 unit for $250 makes no sense to me, unless I assume it's a management error.

Ray

Good question, but that's what I read when the Tweeter deal was going on.
Sony did sell these in the Sony Outlets well after the Tweeter sale for more than $250. I think the 250 was like $299 and the 500 was $389. I bought a few then.

I thought the Tweeter deal was unusual, but it makes sense that if Sony wanted to ditch these that they'd want to keep it on the downlow, for all the people that paid $1000 for them.

I think Sony did it because of the perceived non-user-friendly aspect of these machines (compared to plug-n-play cable boxes), they had lots of returns and unhappy cistomers who paid $1000, and the upcoming TVGOS/analog problem both helped Sony decide to ditch them on the side, so to speak, to try to avoid angering customers who did buy them at Circut City or BeastBuy for msrp. At those prices and the low # of people with high-def TVs at the time, not many sold, and many of those were returned.

I received an email from Hollywood Video with a promo offer for their MovieBeam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MovieBeam) product. According to Wikipedia, the MovieBeam movies are broadcast to the receivers using the VBI line 21 data of the NTSC broadcasts from the local PBS affiliates. This might be why some people have been losing their guide data, or have had their host channels change on them. It also seems short sighted for the MovieBeam product to get it's data this way, since it will be obsolete when the NTSC broadcasts are turned off. There is mention of an ethernet and USB port on the MovieBeam receivers, but they are inactive.

I'll bet that when people found that they couldn't receive the expanded digitals without the cablecard, that caused a lot of returns.

And of the the ones that did try using a cablecard, many had incompatability issues, and they didn't want to bother with getting the unit updated, or didn't want to keep paying for service calls to the cable company, or whatever hassle was involved.

And then, there were probably many who couldn't get the guide info from their provider.

And the kicker was the price they paid for it, like you said.

I received an email from Hollywood Video with a promo offer for their MovieBeam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MovieBeam) product. According to Wikipedia, the MovieBeam movies are broadcast to the receivers using the VBI line 21 data of the NTSC broadcasts from the local PBS affiliates. This might be why some people have been losing their guide data, or have had their host channels change on them. It also seems short sighted for the MovieBeam product to get it's data this way, since it will be obsolete when the NTSC broadcasts are turned off. There is mention of an ethernet and USB port on the MovieBeam receivers, but they are inactive.

Wow. I didn't realize such a service even existed. I wonder what the data rate is over the VBI stream. I never thought of it as a high-bandwidth data stream, but 10 full length movies a week is more than I would have expected possible over this data connection.

It does seem very short-sighted, though.

I'll bet that when people found that they couldn't receive the expanded digitals without the cablecard, that caused a lot of returns.

And of the the ones that did try using a cablecard, many had incompatability issues, and they didn't want to bother with getting the unit updated, or didn't want to keep paying for service calls to the cable company, or whatever hassle was involved.



There were lots of postings about cable card incompatibility and need to return unit for upgrade but I recently had a card installed in the unit I purchased from Tweeters, and it's working fine. So seems to me that the problem was faulty cable cards.

Ray

From the recent postings, seems like units sold for well over $250 until around Feb 06,

Indeed. As I recall, the list price was $999 for the 500 and either $699 or $799 for the 250. Sony pulled the units from their retail Web site around Thanksgiving 2005. As I noted, it was just a couple of weeks after I bought my 250 from Best Buy.

i have been enjoying 3 250units. should i sell them for profits???

There were lots of postings about cable card incompatibility and need to return unit for upgrade but I recently had a card installed in the unit I purchased from Tweeters, and it's working fine. So seems to me that the problem was faulty cable cards.

Ray

Which cablecard [Manufacturer and version] did you get?

...I thought the Tweeter deal was unusual, but it makes sense that if Sony wanted to ditch these that they'd want to keep it on the downlow, for all the people that paid $1000 for them.

I think Sony did it ...


When I went to purchase one of the $250 deals at Tweeters the Sony rep happened to be in the store at that time. She said she couldn't even get that deal herself from Sony. She made it sound as though it was a Tweeter's decision, not a Sony decision. But then, I'm not sure I care who thought up the deal. It was a good buy for me, even with some of the bugs that people experience occasionally.

i have been enjoying 3 250units. should i sell them for profits???Only you can answer that.

I wouldn't use the upcoming OTA analog cutoff as a reason myself, though. I have faith that these units will still be fully functional, although we may have to spend a little money to keep them that way.

Which cablecard [Manufacturer and version] did you get?

Motorola Version 04.21. By the way, I think tech had a second card with him as backup. Also, he told me that bidirectional cards would be available this month and seemed to think it would work in my recorder.

Ray

Motorola Version 04.21. By the way, I think tech had a second card with him as backup. Also, he told me that bidirectional cards would be available this month and seemed to think it would work in my recorder.

Ray

Thanks.

Can anyone else confirm that this CC works in an unmodified unit and doesn't cause the 161-6 error?

Any opinions on whether the newer, even bidirectional cards, are more or less likley to cause 161-x errors?

My first unit is over two years old and I recently tried a feature that I want to share with you: at least some analog programs can be viewed in near HD quality, in wide screen. In particular, programs on Lifetime cable. I have a Toshiba 4x3 format TV. In 480i format, the picture is full screen and analog quality. Until recently, when I selected 1080i format, it substantially shrunk the picture but greatly improved image quality, but not any more. Now the picture is wide screen, with black bars above and below - just like HDTV. Apparently the signal is broadcast in widescreen since more image shows in 1080i. I took a still picture in both 480 and 1080, to convince myself the 1080 picture wasn't just being stretched.

I prefer to view HDTV but lately I've been watching analog tv on cable since many of the new programs are there.

Ray

Thanks.

Can anyone else confirm that this CC works in an unmodified unit and doesn't cause the 161-6 error?

Any opinions on whether the newer, even bidirectional cards, are more or less likley to cause 161-x errors?


I believe that the161-6 error may occur no matter what version of the cable card you are using. It represents a problem which requires an "electrical modification" to correct. It has been generally theorized that the card may sometimes draw too much power and the adjustment remedies the supply issue. Some units never give the error even without modification, and some units give the error no matter what version of card they use. The fix for this requires a service trip for the unit.

My unit would do this thing once every week or two until I sent it in for the adjustment. I'm using a sci atlanta card, btw..

Marc

Thanks.

Can anyone else confirm that this CC works in an unmodified unit and doesn't cause the 161-6 error?

Any opinions on whether the newer, even bidirectional cards, are more or less likley to cause 161-x errors?

I have that card from Verizon in 2 units, one modified and the other not, both work fine. Not sure when Biderectional will be out

Thanks.

Can anyone else confirm that this CC works in an unmodified unit and doesn't cause the 161-6 error?

Any opinions on whether the newer, even bidirectional cards, are more or less likley to cause 161-x errors?

I didn't think Cablecard 2.0 (bidirectional cards) would work with these units - or at least they won't work bi-directionally. I didn't think the 1.0 and 2.0 standards were compatible with each other.

I didn't think Cablecard 2.0 (bidirectional cards) would work with these units - or at least they won't work bi-directionally. I didn't think the 1.0 and 2.0 standards were compatible with each other.

You are 100 percent correct.

SOME devices with cablecard 1.0 could be upgraded to support cablecard 2.0 (not sure about our Sony units) but I haven't seen (in writing) any vendors that have said that they are going to do that.

Well, I'm not Gigaguy, but I have a Panasonic DVD Recorder hooked up to mine.

First off, are you sure you are getting a signal out of your Sony DVR via SVideo or Composite? Second, are you sure you told the Panasonic DVD Recorder to use whichever input you plugged in?

My advice is to hook the SVideo and/or composite output from the Sony DVR to your TV to confirm that it is outputting a good picture. Next, hook the Sony output SVideo and composite to the Panasonic DVD Recorder inputs (I use L1), tune the DVD Recorder to that input (i.e. L1), and confirm that the DVD Recorder is getting the signal and sending it on to the TV via the Panasonic DVD Recorder's outputs.

--snip--

It doesn't matter on my system what resolution I set the Sony DVR to since SVideo and Composite are always 480i. I actually seem to get pretty good recordings out of my Sony DVR.

Good Luck.

I've been searching and searching this thread along with the manual and this message is close to my problem.

I have the Sony DVR connected to the TV via HDMI and have recently also connected it to a Panny DVD recorder via svideo. No matter what I try I can't get video to the Panny recorder. The Panny IS getting audio from the Sony. I've tried all the display format modes, and I've quadruple checked the inputs and settings on the Panny.

Do I need to physically unplug the HDMI cable from the Sony for it to output video via the Svideo jack? If I switch the TV input back to the Sony I see the Sony is still outputting video via HDMI. The manual only states you can't do HDMI and component at the same time.

It's really hard to reach the back of my equipment on my rack, that's why I'm posting instead of simply trying it :p

Thanks!

I've been searching and searching this thread along with the manual and this message is close to my problem.

I have the Sony DVR connected to the TV via HDMI and have recently also connected it to a Panny DVD recorder via svideo. No matter what I try I can't get video to the Panny recorder. The Panny IS getting audio from the Sony. I've tried all the display format modes, and I've quadruple checked the inputs and settings on the Panny.

Do I need to physically unplug the HDMI cable from the Sony for it to output video via the Svideo jack? If I switch the TV input back to the Sony I see the Sony is still outputting video via HDMI. The manual only states you can't do HDMI and component at the same time.

It's really hard to reach the back of my equipment on my rack, that's why I'm posting instead of simply trying it :p

Thanks!

Yes, plugging into the HDMI port on the back of the Sony immediately disables the remaining outputs. I am not certain of this, but I think physically connecting just the cable to the port will disable the other outputs (in other words, the HDMI cable could be disconnected on the other end, and the same thing happens).

Yes, plugging into the HDMI port on the back of the Sony immediately disables the remaining outputs. I am not certain of this, but I think physically connecting just the cable to the port will disable the other outputs (in other words, the HDMI cable could be disconnected on the other end, and the same thing happens).

Yeah, I tried disconnecting the end from the HDMI switch box (easier access!) that goes to the TV and had the same result. So I contorted and crawled and disconnected the cable from the Sony box itself and it worked. Got video now to the DVD recorder.

I posted the same message in the LG LST3410A forum since I'm trying to do the same thing with that box.

Darn. It would be cool to have discreet outputs for remote control macros. I guess I'll have to contort and crawl every time I want to burn a DVD.

Thanks for your help spiff!

If you don't mind switching to component output, then you have video on the svideo at the same time. I have mine setup this way to dump recordings to dvd for friends that don't have dvr's and miss an episode of something. I personally can't see any difference between hdmi and component on my 61in sony.

If you don't mind switching to component output, then you have video on the svideo at the same time. I have mine setup this way to dump recordings to dvd for friends that don't have dvr's and miss an episode of something. I personally can't see any difference between hdmi and component on my 61in sony.

Oh!! Well I have all my component jacks filled, but this might be worth some shuffling around. Yes, I've had mine on both component and hdmi and haven't seen much difference on my 61in Sammy DLP. Thanks for the tip!!

Yeah, I tried disconnecting the end from the HDMI switch box (easier access!) that goes to the TV and had the same result. So I contorted and crawled and disconnected the cable from the Sony box itself and it worked. Got video now to the DVD recorder.

I posted the same message in the LG LST3410A forum since I'm trying to do the same thing with that box.

Darn. It would be cool to have discreet outputs for remote control macros. I guess I'll have to contort and crawl every time I want to burn a DVD.

Thanks for your help spiff!

That's odd - I have a Sony RDR GX300 DVD recorder taking s-video out of a dhg hdd250 with no issues. The hd dvr is connected to my tv via HDMI - I can monitor the output of the hd dvr to line 3 of the dvd recorder by split screeening the dvr and the dvd recorder. The quaility is excellent in HQ mode when recording to dvd. Must be a quirk of the pansonic dvd recorder....

You are 100 percent correct.

SOME devices with cablecard 1.0 could be upgraded to support cablecard 2.0 (not sure about our Sony units) but I haven't seen (in writing) any vendors that have said that they are going to do that.Lost me here. I thought I remembered from a bit ago (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11003768&&#post11003768) when the new SA8300HDC came out that CableCard purportedly always supported bi-directional functionality, but to use it, the receiving device must have a transmitter. And most do not, notably only that Samsung LCD TV.

And that the new CableCard Multi-Stream cards should be backwards compatible with older equipment, emulating the older card. But again, to use multiple streams, the receiving device must meet the 2.0 (nee M-Card) standards.

Took the time to look it up. (http://www.opencable.com/primer/cablecard_primer.html) Propaganda? probably, but they write/document the standard...

Not to say any of their standards are...

Or that any of the first three truck rolls and 10 CableCards worked on my TV...


v/r,
C-F

Yes, plugging into the HDMI port on the back of the Sony immediately disables the remaining outputs. I am not certain of this, but I think physically connecting just the cable to the port will disable the other outputs (in other words, the HDMI cable could be disconnected on the other end, and the same thing happens).

My experience would indicate that this is not true. I have my Sony DVR connected to my TV via HDMI AND to my Panasonic DVR/DVD recorder via S-Video. This works just fine. I also have the Panasonic DVR/DVD recorder connected to my TV via component and HDMI. I use the picture-in-picture feature on my TV to view both the Sony (HDMI) and Panasonic "views" of the Sony program that I'm copying to the Panasonic. My experience is that the Sony S-Video outputs are always active, and are independent of anything on the HDMI connector.

My experience would indicate that this is not true. I have my Sony DVR connected to my TV via HDMI AND to my Panasonic DVR/DVD recorder via S-Video. This works just fine. I also have the Panasonic DVR/DVD recorder connected to my TV via component and HDMI. I use the picture-in-picture feature on my TV to view both the Sony (HDMI) and Panasonic "views" of the Sony program that I'm copying to the Panasonic. My experience is that the Sony S-Video outputs are always active, and are independent of anything on the HDMI connector.

Hmmmm. Maybe my memory is failing here (I don't use the HDMI output on mine). I will have to check on this again. Perhaps I am confused, and the output that is disabled is the COMPONENT video out when HDMI is connected. (This actually makes more sense now that I think about it.)

My experience would indicate that this is not true. I have my Sony DVR connected to my TV via HDMI AND to my Panasonic DVR/DVD recorder via S-Video. This works just fine. I also have the Panasonic DVR/DVD recorder connected to my TV via component and HDMI. I use the picture-in-picture feature on my TV to view both the Sony (HDMI) and Panasonic "views" of the Sony program that I'm copying to the Panasonic. My experience is that the Sony S-Video outputs are always active, and are independent of anything on the HDMI connector.

Jay and myoda are absolutely correct! I tried it again this evening thanks to your posts and sure enough works just fine with both the HDMI and svideo simultanously. I must have had a loose connection before that I fixed with this messing around. Excellent!

And yes Spiff, it says in the manual that component is disabled when using HDMI. That's where I started my research of the problem.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Jay and myoda are absolutely correct! I tried it again this evening thanks to your posts and sure enough works just fine with both the HDMI and svideo simultanously. I must have had a loose connection before that I fixed with this messing around. Excellent!

And yes Spiff, it says in the manual that component is disabled when using HDMI. That's where I started my research of the problem.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Cool - now I don't have to go upstairs and crawl around checking my cables!

I was thinking about buying one of these to replace my VCR. I don't have a problem paying for cable, but I absolutely refuse to pay a monthly service fee to record the two (yes, TWO) shows I watch every week, when I can set them to be recorded in 30 seconds or less on my VCR.

I don't even pay for HD cable, because I only watch about 4 hours of TV a week and I feel it would be a waste of money. (I purchased a HDTV mainly to watch upscaled DVDs, Blu-Ray, and to play PS3 and Xbox 360 on.) If I purchased one of these HDD250's, and ALL I wanted to do was record 4 hours of SD programming a week from regular cable, would it suffice? Or is there a better device out there which could handle my meager (4 hours of SD recording with no service fees) needs? My PC is not anywhere near my HDTV or I'd consider a PC-based option.

Thanks for any helpful suggestions.

Thanks for any helpful suggestions.See my response in the other thread you asked about this in.

See my response in the other thread you asked about this in.
Post a link here, we want to see what you said too. :D

...

I don't even pay for HD cable, because I only watch about 4 hours of TV a week and I feel it would be a waste of money. ...
Thanks for any helpful suggestions.

As a side note, you should get basic HD via cable for no extra cost. Maybe you are referring to the HD movie channels. Never mind :)

The 250 will work very well at recording SD or HD. The main advanatage of these units is their high-def recording capability, but if you don't mind the cost, buying used, and possible obsolesence when analog signal goes away in 18 months, it'll work fine.
but why not just use a VCR since it's just 4 hours?
or a DVD recorder with a hard drive?
or a DVD recorder and rewriteable DVDs.

I was thinking about buying one of these to replace my VCR. I don't have a problem paying for cable, but I absolutely refuse to pay a monthly service fee to record the two (yes, TWO) shows I watch every week, when I can set them to be recorded in 30 seconds or less on my VCR.

I don't even pay for HD cable, because I only watch about 4 hours of TV a week and I feel it would be a waste of money. (I purchased a HDTV mainly to watch upscaled DVDs, Blu-Ray, and to play PS3 and Xbox 360 on.) If I purchased one of these HDD250's, and ALL I wanted to do was record 4 hours of SD programming a week from regular cable, would it suffice? Or is there a better device out there which could handle my meager (4 hours of SD recording with no service fees) needs? My PC is not anywhere near my HDTV or I'd consider a PC-based option.

Thanks for any helpful suggestions.

You mean you pay for cable!! I watch all shows OTA-HD. I use my HDD250 connected to a small outdoor antenna and I get about 8 HD channels OTA. Great quality.

If you want to use a PC based solution, you can. Just get a HD tuner for your PC. Record stuff on your PC and then stream it to your XBox360 to your HDTV. Voila. I don't have a PC or an xbox360 so I don't do that, but many people are using Xbox360 as a media center extender for stream HD stuff. SD should be piece of cake.

Soon, in addition to my HDD250, I will have an iMac with a eyeTV Hybrid tuner. I will have it near my TV and use the DVI to HDMI cable to extend the imacs screen to my TV. And then use eyeTV to watch recorded/live OTA-HD shows on my TV. Then I might sell the HDD250. Not sure yet.

I was thinking about buying one of these to replace my VCR. I don't have a problem paying for cable, but I absolutely refuse to pay a monthly service fee to record the two (yes, TWO) shows I watch every week, when I can set them to be recorded in 30 seconds or less on my VCR.

If I purchased one of these HDD250's, and ALL I wanted to do was record 4 hours of SD programming a week from regular cable, would it suffice?

You might get hooked on other TV shows - Like I did. Before I had my HDD250 I recorded a few show but I now record shows that I did not watch prior to being about to record in HD. Before I got the HDD250 I did not watch:

CSI:Miami
CSI:New York
Smallvile
Supernatural
Desparate Housewives
Jericho

You might get hooked on other TV shows - Like I did. Before I had my HDD250 I recorded a few show but I now record shows that I did not watch prior to being about to record in HD. Before I got the HDD250 I did not watch:

CSI:Miami
CSI:New York
Smallvile
Supernatural
Desparate Housewives
Jericho

Agreed - I watch some shows just because they are in HD (or at least I would give them a chance). I watched those CSI's for a while, but got burned out on them (especially CSI - Miami - I can't believe David Caruso is still on TV - UGH).

Post a link here, we want to see what you said too. :DI just basically suggested the same things as Gigaguy did, like:

Get a DVD recorder, or a VCR/DVD recorder that uses DVD-RAM's,

Get a DVD recorder w/HDD, like the new Philips or the Panny EH75VS, if he could still find one,

Or look for a Sony DVR at Fry's or get one used.

Won't recird
Have had my hdd500 for over a year. up to now, perfect performance. have sympathized with all the glitches i see posted but now it's my turn. suddenly, the unit won't record. tried a warm boot from the front panel, tried a cold boot disconnecting power from the unit. no luck. diagnostics show disk 1 us 98% free, disk 2 is 46% free. tried to reset the advance time from 90 minutes to 30 minutes, message says not enough disk space. sony repair quotes $150 flat rate repair. not too bad but would like to avoid the time and money if possible. tried searching for others with this problem, but found nothing. suggestions for fix? for search terms?
Thanks
Mike P

Is that normal to see such big differences in drive use, 98 free vs 46% free?
Mine are usually very close in usage. Not sure if that is a problem, never seen readings like that on either of my 500s. Seems like it is not seeing one of the drives correctly?
I'm just guessing.

1. any update about this?
Originally Posted by HoustonPerson
Generally, the official and unofficial statement from Sony is: These units will not work with the TV Guide CBS On-Screen digital service. Sony has not made an official statement as of yet, if the unit can be sent back to Sony for upgrade (I think that is unlikely) or if a trade-in allowance (upgrade path) for a replacement product will be offered. Un-officially a new digital dual tuner product is in the works for USA (they have products like that in AU; but with a different guide service). The "hinting" I have received from Sony is that we may know these answers before the end of this year.

2. what is the procedure to get the firmware update?

3. anyone have experience using the dhg with a charter cable card?

thanks

Is that normal to see such big differences in drive use, 98 free vs 46% free?
Mine are usually very close in usage. Not sure if that is a problem, never seen readings like that on either of my 500s. Seems like it is not seeing one of the drives correctly?
I'm just guessing.

While trying to fix the problem, I deleted all the shows that had been recorded. Prior to the deletes, both disks were about half full. Deleting didn't help. Some of the shows that had been recorded were over a year old, wonder if that confused the software.

Is there a reset to take the whole system back to original status, ie no guide data, no channel data, no preferences?

Is there a reset to take the whole system back to original status, ie no guide data, no channel data, no preferences?

Answered my own question. Used the 9012 service menu to select "restore factory defaults". Running now.

Won't recird
Have had my hdd500 for over a year. up to now, perfect performance. have sympathized with all the glitches i see posted but now it's my turn. suddenly, the unit won't record. tried a warm boot from the front panel, tried a cold boot disconnecting power from the unit. no luck. diagnostics show disk 1 us 98% free, disk 2 is 46% free. tried to reset the advance time from 90 minutes to 30 minutes, message says not enough disk space. sony repair quotes $150 flat rate repair. not too bad but would like to avoid the time and money if possible. tried searching for others with this problem, but found nothing. suggestions for fix? for search terms?
Thanks
Mike P

Embarassing but finally answered my own question. Restoring factory defaults with 9012 service menu brought both drives to 99.9% clear. System will pause and resume so when Guide repopulates should be able to do normal recording function again. This forum is a great resource.

anyone has found a service manual yet? seems like sony doesn't have one.

1. any update about this?
Originally Posted by HoustonPerson
Generally, the official and unofficial statement from Sony is: These units will not work with the TV Guide CBS On-Screen digital service. Sony has not made an official statement as of yet, if the unit can be sent back to Sony for upgrade (I think that is unlikely) or if a trade-in allowance (upgrade path) for a replacement product will be offered. Un-officially a new digital dual tuner product is in the works for USA (they have products like that in AU; but with a different guide service). The "hinting" I have received from Sony is that we may know these answers before the end of this year.



thanks

Sony is suppose to send me an email if something falls from the heavens on this. First they would have to bring in a replacement product to the US. I would assume it would be based on the new CBS digital (assuming the national roll out becomes complete - I do not think that has been done yet?). It would be nice if the ole time "date" "channel" and "time" could be selected as a back up for the guide service. There have been a few rumors our ver 8 Guide software may work with the CBS digital download; but I do not think that is correct? Sony tells me "no" it will not.

So as far as I know, the current units we have are dead Feb 2009.

btw, that email I am referring to above, would be in the form of some sort of mass marketing to all owners of DHG-HDDxxx (assuming you are in their files). AFAIK it is many months away (if ever, it is not certain)

anyone has found a service manual yet? seems like sony doesn't have one.


Is this the manual you looking for?


http://www.docs.sony.com/release/DHGHDD250-500rev2.pdf

That's the normal user manual... what would be nice to have is the service manual, containing various repair procedures, block diagrams, schematics, etc. But since these are serviced only at one site, the service manual doesn't seem to be available through the usual channels. It would probably take an act of social engineering for end users like us to get our hands on a copy.

That's the normal user manual... what would be nice to have is the service manual, containing various repair procedures, block diagrams, schematics, etc. But since these are serviced only at one site, the service manual doesn't seem to be available through the usual channels. It would probably take an act of social engineering for end users like us to get our hands on a copy.

Exactly!

It would probably take an act of social engineering for end users like us to get our hands on a copy.
Early on in my DHG's life (something like June of 2005) I was able to get in contact with one of the engineers that worked on the DHG product in San Diego. He conected me with one of the engineers who work at the Sony repair facility (I think it was in Pittsburgh or whereever it is that these get repaired). That engineer made it pretty clear that was no official channel and no amount of begging could get me a service manual. If anyone ever gets one they will have to be very well connected at Sony.

My guess is that Sony was very paranoid about these units being used for pirating (probably thanks to pressure from Sony Pictures) so the mandate was put out to lock them up good.

I would be surprised to see a follow-up product from Sony in the future but it would be nice to have a couple of options for us OTAers.

-phil

I just basically suggested the same things as Gigaguy did, like:

Get a DVD recorder, or a VCR/DVD recorder that uses DVD-RAM's,

Get a DVD recorder w/HDD, like the new Philips or the Panny EH75VS, if he could still find one,

Or look for a Sony DVR at Fry's or get one used.

If he's only recording SD programming, your first suggestion (with DVD-RAMs) will give as good quality as anything and for the lowest price...

Not dead yet. Hitachi is still making Flat Panesl with TVGOS in Fall 2007:

The V701 Series
50-inch Plasma V-Series P50V701 - $3999 - August
Features: On top of the other features, this has something Hitachi developed called "Reel60". When you put movie content, filmed at 24 frames per second onto TV, which runs at 30 frames per second, you can get a weird, jerky picture. Previously, TVs used something called 3:2 pulldown, which would repeat certain frames. Now, with powerful video processors, TVs can do more. Reel60 interpolates between frames, creating 60 distinct frames out of a film's original 24, for smoother action. (While this particular process is unique to Hitachi, many other TV makers, including Sony, Philips and Mitsubishi, are promoting their own solutions to the problem.) The V701 is also CableCard compatible, with TV Guide On-Screen.

A few days ago, I few minutes before it started, I set my 500 unit (with cable card) to record a Lifetime movie with the guide menu. About six minutes after the movie started, i noticed that the record indicator was off. I immediately started the recording and then looked at my scheduled recordings. My scheduled recordings were gone - probably had about ten of them, including ones that were manually set, ie, set without the guide. No way to know if the two events were related.
I've never experienced either of these things before.

Ray

Ray1938
Is there a way to delete "all" the schedule recordings at one time (by mistake)?
Did the Manual schedule overlap the Guide scheduled recordings? (should have only been some "!" to show that)?
Assuming the Guide Listings are still 100% there?
Some odd software/hardware issue?

I assume it did not record the "Lifetime" because the schedule list was not there? So in that sense the two issues are related. In other words the schedule lists was "gone" before it was time to record "Lifetime"

A strange thing happened to me for the first time last night. After recording for 3 minutes of an hour, cable-only program, my 250 unit stopped recording and shut off. After turning it back on, I realized it had lost the time, so I turned it back off, and the time returned within a few minutes; however, the TV Guide had also been changed, with local analog broadcast stations having been turned "on" on the TV Guide, and replaced those local cable stations on the TV Guide...sometimes with the wrong channel number. Digital or cable-only stations were not changed. After turning the broadcast stations "off" on the TV Guide, things seemed normal again. Could this be a PBS download problem or a Sony failure problem?

The 250 will work very well at recording SD or HD. The main advanatage of these units is their high-def recording capability, but if you don't mind the cost, buying used, and possible obsolesence when analog signal goes away in 18 months, it'll work fine.
but why not just use a VCR since it's just 4 hours?
or a DVD recorder with a hard drive?
or a DVD recorder and rewriteable DVDs.

I too only watch 4 shows a week tops. I just got a 32" Sony XBR4 HDTV and get all the channels I need via OTA RCA antenna. Works perfectly for me. The only thing is I'd like to record the shows I miss.

I don't really care much for the full HD to be recorded. I bought the tv to mainly watch movies in HD format, not tv shows. So all I care about is a method to record these shows in decent quality, widescreen (if they are widescreen), and from an ota antenna.

I really don't care for the TVGOS functionality. All I want is something that will work like the good old VCR: record from NBC every monday from 8 to 9.

Also, I don't care for archiving the shows or keeping copies. Just watch
and then tape over! (Well, it would be nice if the DVD can hold up to
8 hours, in case all four shows have a special extended episode that one
week!!! :) but it's not too much of a problem. I can stick in another DVD.)

I also don't want to use a pc for that.

With the DHG-HDD I'm worried about the clock issue once analog channels are gone. So I don't think I'll get this one!! I like the alternative of using a DVD recorder. (Although any other suggestions are also welcome.)

Now come my questions:

1. Are there any basic not too expensive ones (i.e. less than $200)? I guess recording to a HDD would be the best but recording onto a rewritable DVD is OK too (as long as I can erase shows I've already watched by using the recorder and not by taking the DVD to my computer!!!)

2. How do they connect to the TV? It doesn't look like the TV has any type of video outs. (I have composite, component, dvi, s-vide, and hdmi but my understanding is that these are all inputs.) So does it require a cable subscription??!!! Beats the purpose if it does. And if it has its own tuner, then how well do these tuners work? My tv's tuner is wonderful! and I know I can split the coax cable and send it to the tv and to the recorder, if necessary. But will the recorder pick up the signal just as good?

3. Any other suggestions to solve my problem are welcome!!!

Sorry for the long thread and for the maybe naive questions. I've spent a week now sleeping 4-5 hours a day and wasting my nights reading up on
the web trying to find a solution. Then I decided you guys might ease my
suffering!!!! :)


Thanks for any help (and for all the posts you've already written here!!).

FRA

fra,

check out this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=880824&page=1

timmer

I don't really care much for the full HD to be recorded.

I like the alternative of using a DVD recorder.Then what you want is a basic DVD recorder, and one that'll use DVD-RAM'S is best.

Also, one with digital ATSC/QAM and analog NTSC tuners, which you can split your antenna to to record from (the other lead going directly to your TV, so you can at least watch "live" in HD).

You can only record and watch on DVD recorders in SD, but most now will at least upscale to 720p, 1080i or 1080p over HDMI to your display.

You need to head on over to the "DVD Recorders" subforum here, if you need or want any more information on them.

Just make sure that the unit does DVD-RAM (for the DVD-like "chase play" feature), and has ATSC/QAM/NTSC tuners - all three would be best for your situation. There may be a low-power analog channel that you can't get digitally, and the QAM could possibly come in handy in the future.

(note: just don't expect the 6 or 8-hr. modes to look all that great - especially on an HDTV. 6-hr. mode on a DVD recorder is usually noticably a lot worse than 6-hr. mode on a VCR, because being digital, you can experience some pretty unacceptable artifacts. If the show has any fast movements, it will be especially bad. The 4-hour mode will still usually give you a good picture. And, as soon as a DVD fills up with programming, you'll have to remember to either erase it right away or change it in the machine to another blank one. You can also use DVD-RW's for this, as they are cheaper than DVD-RAM's, but you can usually record over on DVD-RAM's many times more than you can on DVD-RW's. DVD-RAM's are what you'd use for chase play, though.)

Then what you want is a basic DVD recorder, and one that'll use DVD-RAM'S is best.

Also, one with digital ATSC/QAM and analog NTSC tuners, which you can split your antenna to to record from (the other lead going directly to your TV, so you can at least watch "live" in HD).

You can only record and watch on DVD recorders in SD, but most now will at least upscale to 720p, 1080i or 1080p over HDMI to your display.

You need to head on over to the "DVD Recorders" subforum here, if you need or want any more information on them.


Hey thanks!! That's what my research showed me I should do. Just wanted to make sure I'm getting things right! Now the question is "what DVDs like that are out there"? I'll check the other forum for that. Thanks a bunch!!!

I assume it did not record the "Lifetime" because the schedule list was not there? So in that sense the two issues are related. In other words the schedule lists was "gone" before it was time to record "Lifetime"

I have no way of knowing if the schedule list was gone before i set the Lifetime recording. It was just a matter of minutes before the recording was to start. After I discovered the empty schedule, I scheduled new recordings, and so far they are still there. When I discovered that the program was not being recorded, I clicked record with the program highlighted and got the recording less the six minutes at the start of the show.
Ray

Then what you want is a basic DVD recorder, and one that'll use DVD-RAM'S is best.


OK.. Just to check that route out.. Can anyone point out a good website for building a pc dvr? I decided maybe it IS worthwhile to try and get recordings in HD! But I'd like it to be small, so that I put it in my TV stand! :)

Thanks guys!
FRA

Embarassing but finally answered my own question. Restoring factory defaults with 9012 service menu brought both drives to 99.9% clear. System will pause and resume so when Guide repopulates should be able to do normal recording function again. This forum is a great resource.


So is your unit working normally again?

Maybe by the end of next year?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070823-sony-announces-high-definition-dvr-for-the-playstation-3-in-europe.html

Maybe by the end of next year?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070823-sony-announces-high-definition-dvr-for-the-playstation-3-in-europe.html

Blah...until it says ATSC/QAM tuner, I'm not getting my hopes up. Anyway, that would be replacing 1 device with 2 (PS3/external tuner), replacing the hard drive to the PS3 to increase its size (80GB, come on!) and then controlling it with a game pad (universal remote won't work....no IR port)....I'll pass.

One thing the PS3 has is Wifi. It would be able to get program guide info over the internet. I imagine next generation DVR's will have Wifi or ethernet also.

Digeo® Announces Plans to Enter Retail Market (http://www.digeo.com/press_pressrelease.aspx?id=4)

Somewhat old news, but may be of interest.

But will it do OTA? Their current units are cable-only, right?

But will it do OTA? Their current units are cable-only, right?

Assuming you're talking about the Digeo:

The current units are sold by cable companies, but you have a good point. They may not do OTA and don't say so on the web site. Details are a bit lacking.

So is your unit working normally again?

You bet. Had a few glitches until the guide had repopulated, but now back to normal operation.

The second time I turned the unit on after going back to factory defaults, I got a message telling me a hard disk error had been corrected.

Assuming you're talking about the Digeo:

The current units are sold by cable companies, but you have a good point. They may not do OTA and don't say so on the web site. Details are a bit lacking.
The cable companies don't sell any of their DVRs...they rent them to you; at least that is true of Charter cable. You can buy them, mostly from Canada on ebay, but the cable companies will not support them by allowing you to download the necessary firmware and programing guide information that allows them to work. Plus, beginning last month, every new cable box legally purchased either by an individual or cable company must use a cable card, and currently, that is only TiVo.

Also, only TiVo has OTA; however, sometime this fall, Diego will begin offering two retail versions of the Moxi DVR that cable has offered to rent in the past...one for cable and one for OTA, but neither can handle both, like the Sony or TiVo. Both Moxi retail versions are likely to require some sort of subscription since they have a unique program guide... although it doesn't appear to be much different than the free one that is downloaded on computers with a Windows Media Center.

Our Sony DVR may become a real collectors item...if we can keep it working after Feb 09.

I've never been able to find it either, does it even exist? I haven't heard of anybody getting it to work, on the second device, I'm running the Harmony 880.

On the harmony 880 pick "shortcut" for your "prev" button. This will give you previous channel.

I have a HDD 250 and a HDD 500 for about a year now. I had no problem with them at all until this week. When we returned from a week long vacation, both units were locked up. The clocks are correct. But they do not turn on when I push the power button.

When I disconnected the power cord and plugged them in after a while. Both seem to be normal after the clock is reset and listing showed up next day. But now I have to unplug both unit almost every day. Is there something I can do myself to fix this problem? I do have extended warranty for both unit. But I am not sure if I can reproduce the problem when I take the units in. They seem to be normal right after reconnect power.

Thanks a lot for your help,

Jane

I have a HDD 250 and a HDD 500 for about a year now. I had no problem with them at all until this week. When we returned from a week long vacation, both units were locked up. The clocks are correct. But they do not turn on when I push the power button.

When I disconnected the power cord and plugged them in after a while. Both seem to be normal after the clock is reset and listing showed up next day. But now I have to unplug both unit almost every day. Is there something I can do myself to fix this problem? I do have extended warranty for both unit. But I am not sure if I can reproduce the problem when I take the units in. They seem to be normal right after reconnect power. I have unplugged from power twice in the last week to reset.

Thanks a lot for your help,

Jane

My 250 unit has recently started locking up for no apparent reason. Sometimes it will not turn on or off with the power buttons on remote or face plate. This morning I started to record The Today Show and once the unit started to record it would not cut off using the remote power button.

One of my 500s started doing this stuff too a month ago. I struggled thru doing resets (Hold TVGOS and EXIT button on face of unit) for about 2 or 3 days and finally it cleared up. I don't think I ever had to unplug.

On mine I'm guessing there was some changes or updates in TVGOs or programming and something was disturbing the unit. Luckily after a few days it settled down and works like it should. Only 1 of my 500s was effected too.

So I'd try to be patient and see if it clears up on it's own, by doing a reset, esp since both of yours were effected at the same time, I think it's TVGOS.

One thing the PS3 has is Wifi. It would be able to get program guide info over the internet. I imagine next generation DVR's will have Wifi or ethernet also.

The PlayTV PS3 DVB-T add-on for DVB regions (Europe, Aus/NZ) will be using the OTA EPG broadcast as part of the DVB standard - not an internet EPG.

The UK OTA EPG is 7 days, and covers all the channels on the platform (and is duplicated across all the multiplexes - so you don't have to be tuned to a specific channel or mux to get full listings for that channel). It also incorporates metadate for series linked recordings, and is updated dynamically by some broadcasters, so units start recording when the show actually starts to broadcast, not on a clock start. (Good for when live programmes over run)

The Wifi / Ethernet angle for PVRs is more likely to be used for a back channel for interactive TV applications, and to allow for VOD and IPTV via non-broadcast distribution.

You bet. Had a few glitches until the guide had repopulated, but now back to normal operation.

The second time I turned the unit on after going back to factory defaults, I got a message telling me a hard disk error had been corrected.

Does restoring factory defaults leave the Demo mode recording intact ?

On the harmony 880 pick "shortcut" for your "prev" button. This will give you previous channel.

I've been trying to figure this out for a year...THANKS!!!!

My 250 unit has recently started locking up for no apparent reason. Sometimes it will not turn on or off with the power buttons on remote or face plate. This morning I started to record The Today Show and once the unit started to record it would not cut off using the remote power button.

Had the same issue - Sony repaired my 250, but this is what happened after I got it back...

Cc: 'pittcsc@am.sony.com'
Subject: DHG HDD250 stil rebooting after repair w/o#WC430613

Hi:
I am still having a problem with my Sony DHG HDD 250 – Bill asked if I had tried to repro the issue when he called this morning, and I had not. So, after he called, here’s what I did:

11:29 – set timer to record the 12:00 news on WPXI
11:30 – Started watching the last half hour of the Tonight Show
12:00 – timer did not fire
12:02 - tonight show was ending – at end of Tonight Show event, did not get menu option to exit to TV, etc, just a frozen screen
Loss of functionality from remote and front panel – did not unplug the unit this time
12:02 – unit rebooted – SONY on screen, Welcome appeared on front panel
12:04 – counter on front panel counted up to 6
12:04:30 – unit powered off with - - - - on front panel – no clock
12:06 – recording of 12:00 news started
12:07 – turned on unit to check for functionality of remote to see if I could access guide – no control, could not power off.

Sent it back to Sony, they could not repro the issue, replaced it with a refurb. (I'm pretty lucky, turnaround time was just a couple of days due to my close proximity to the Sony Tech Center) Next time it happens, make sure you document the problem. My original unit had a build date of June 2005. I now have it plugged in to a UPS with automatic voltage reglulation. One of the best investments for a device with a hard disk, especially in Western PA, land of sparodic power outages... Sony support is very good, just wish the labor warranty was 1 year instead of 90 days.

The UK OTA EPG is 7 days, and covers all the channels on the platform (and is duplicated across all the multiplexes - so you don't have to be tuned to a specific channel or mux to get full listings for that channel). It also incorporates metadate for series linked recordings, and is updated dynamically by some broadcasters, so units start recording when the show actually starts to broadcast, not on a clock start. (Good for when live programmes over run)

That is the coolest thing I've heard today. You UKers have all the coolest stuff.

My 250 unit has recently started locking up for no apparent reason. Sometimes it will not turn on or off with the power buttons on remote or face plate. This morning I started to record The Today Show and once the unit started to record it would not cut off using the remote power button.

Same here! Happened twice. I thought it was something my wife was doing. :) I would come home and the unit would be locked up. Neither the remote or console power buttons worked. The two button reset did work.

Same here! Happened twice. I thought it was something my wife was doing. :) I would come home and the unit would be locked up. Neither the remote or console power buttons worked. The two button reset did work.

Locked up again yesterday. I tried the two button reset like gigaguy suggested. Unit reset but did not have correct time. The time was about 1 hour and 5 minutes off. Have not checked today yet.

I struggled thru doing resets (Hold TVGOS and EXIT button on face of unit) for about 2 or 3 days and finally it cleared up.
Did your finger get tired after day 2?
Sorry, I couldn't resist...:p

Here's a problem I can't seem to find in this forum: My HDD250 seems to "short circuit" my monitor, causing it to shutdown. At first, with the 6 blinking lights (Panasonic TH50PHD6UY) indicated fan failure. So, I replaced both of them on the plasma. Now, it's still doing the same thing. So, I switched the HDMI input from the HDD250 to my DVD player, and no shutdown. I'm now using the HDD250 with component outs, and it seemed to work until last night, when it shut down again. I ran my DVD player via component AND HDMI outputs for HOURS without crashing my monitor. Any ideas, folks?

I just got an email from Tivo touting their new DVR. It records HD (only 20Hours), dual tuners and it works with OTA and cable. They needed a less expensive alternative to their Series3 machine.

Only 170Gig drive and not THX certified. Price $299.99, if you sign up for 4 years you can get service for 6.65/month. I think I'm going to do it. Getting tired of losing my guide and thaere is that whole 2009 thing.

So OTA or cablecard only.Or both. Or OTA + analog cable.

the monthly fee is the killer in my mind :)

I record two shows a week, at $15.95 a month that comes out to $1 per show I want to record

the monthly fee is the killer in my mind :)

I record two shows a week, at $15.95 a month that comes out to $1 per show I want to recordOr $8.30/mo (ignoring tvm) if you prepay $300 for three years. Or $6.95/mo if you have an old lifetime unit in the closet.

I just think of it as a $850 box with six years of service ($250 + $300 + $300).

Does restoring factory defaults leave the Demo mode recording intact ?

No idea, have never seen demo mode. Tell me how to get there and I'll give it a try. Be patient, I only log on to the forum a couple times a week.

Sony and their DVR. A couple of thoughts before the 2009switch off. One, will there be a box that will convert the digital TVGOS to analog for the Sony? So far no one knows. Secondly, sony and I think others wil definately enter the consumer DVR market (just lIke they had in the past) once it becomes clear what the landscape (digitally speaking) looks like. Once they are convinced that TVGOS transmits digitally, I would bet that they will re-enter the consumer DVR market. Too big of a market and easy pick'ins versus the cable co DVr.

Just my 2 cents.

HDAddiction

Locked up again yesterday. I tried the two button reset like gigaguy suggested. Unit reset but did not have correct time. The time was about 1 hour and 5 minutes off. Have not checked today yet.


Time was still off yesterday after 24 hours. So I did the two button reset again. The correct time came in within a couple hours.

Well, I am late to the Sony DVR party. I was in a local Circuit City and found two of these units on their open box tables for $109 each. Each only came with the power cable - no remote, AV cables or manual.

Over the last week, I have been looking into the Tivo HD (not S3 - The reason I am considering the Tivo is below). That is what took me to Circuit City. So when I found the Sony boxes, I had no idea about what they were but figured I could buy them, try them out and then decide how to proceed.

I found the manual online but other than that haven't been able to find too much other info than some old reviews.

I currently have Comcast cable. Ironically enough, just last month I cancelled the two HD-DVRs that we were leasing from them as I couldn't justify the cost and the requirement to have the digital package which had alot of channels I never used. So I changed to the Family Tier which gives us most of the channels we watch at a reduced rate but can't get the HD-DVRs. I replaced one of the HD-DVRs with one of their HD recievers but am really missing the DVR. Unfortunately, I am too far away for OTA reception, so cable is my only option for HD.

Some questions I have (and hopefully I don't offend anyone but haven't had time to read all the pages in this thread).

If I get a CableCard from Comcast, does the Guide populate from Comcast or still from TVGuide?

If I don't get a CableCard, I assume that the QAM channels will not show in the Guide since they are not published but I should be able to still get to them and view them. Is that correct?

Is there a website that any would recommend with more info on these boxes?

Thanks in advance.

Well, I am late to the Sony DVR party. I was in a local Circuit City and found two of these units on their open box tables for $109 each. Each only came with the power cable - no remote, AV cables or manual.

Over the last week, I have been looking into the Tivo HD (not S3 - The reason I am considering the Tivo is below). That is what took me to Circuit City. So when I found the Sony boxes, I had no idea about what they were but figured I could buy them, try them out and then decide how to proceed.

I found the manual online but other than that haven't been able to find too much other info than some old reviews.

I currently have Comcast cable. Ironically enough, just last month I cancelled the two HD-DVRs that we were leasing from them as I couldn't justify the cost and the requirement to have the digital package which had alot of channels I never used. So I changed to the Family Tier which gives us most of the channels we watch at a reduced rate but can't get the HD-DVRs. I replaced one of the HD-DVRs with one of their HD recievers but am really missing the DVR. Unfortunately, I am too far away for OTA reception, so cable is my only option for HD.

Some questions I have (and hopefully I don't offend anyone but haven't had time to read all the pages in this thread).

If I get a CableCard from Comcast, does the Guide populate from Comcast or still from TVGuide?

If I don't get a CableCard, I assume that the QAM channels will not show in the Guide since they are not published but I should be able to still get to them and view them. Is that correct?

Is there a website that any would recommend with more info on these boxes?

Thanks in advance.

Check the link in my signature:

That price is a steal. Remotes are $40-50 on e-bay, or just get a harmony, the codes are in their database.

We have Harmony 720s and since my posting, have updated the remote. Works just fine except when I hit the 'All power off' button, the Sony box stays on. Will have to do some more playing with the remote or assign 'Power Off' to one of the soft buttons.

Any one else see this behavior?


TVGuide only. It can be flaky, but many have found it to be more than acceptable (including me).

Good to know.


Your guide will have the info the the digital version of the channel. Its wonky, but you can assign the clear QAM channel to the guide info. It won't be the normal # e.g. CBS is 87.2 for me.

I haven't looked at the FAQ, but I assume assigning a clear QAM isn't too difficult?


The FAQ. Spiff posted.

Yep, look forward to some good reading later today! Thanks Spiff!


I'll take the other box if you only want one. ;)

:) - We have another HDTV with a ReplayTV connected to it, so I am tempted to either add the Sony box there or swap out the RTV.

We have Harmony 720s and since my posting, have updated the remote. Works just fine except when I hit the 'All power off' button, the Sony box stays on. Will have to do some more playing with the remote or assign 'Power Off' to one of the soft buttons.

I've got one of my HDD250's programmed into a Harmony 550 and one into a Harmony 880. I just use the default power commands when I set up the activity and have had no problem. I wish I could remember the Harmony name for the previous channel command so you could manually add it to the previous button on your remote. What is nice is that this command doesn't exist on the original remote but works fine through my Harmonies :)

I haven't looked at the FAQ, but I assume assigning a clear QAM isn't too difficult?
Very simple procedure.

To all you owners that have problems with guide data, I found out today when I call Sony that Gemstar signed an agreement to have CBS broadcast thier guide. I checked my local CBS channel and it was there. But, I then checked my other DVR and that same channel on it did not have any VBI info, weird, but it might be the firmware since the one that could see the guide had the .13 version and not the older one.

Sony and their DVR. A couple of thoughts before the 2009switch off. One, will there be a box that will convert the digital TVGOS to analog for the Sony? So far no one knows.

Just my 2 cents.

HDAddiction

I have spoken with 2 different engineers at TVGOS and have confirmed that they (the engineers) are currently working on a solution for the guide on the Sony, and other TVGOS devices, to work with the new TVGOS digital signal.
If you don't believe me, call their support line yourself. Just leave a message and they will call you back and answer all your questions.

fox

I have spoken with 2 different engineers at TVGOS and have confirmed that they (the engineers) are currently working on a solution for the guide on the Sony, and other TVGOS devices, to work with the new TVGOS digital signal.
If you don't believe me, call their support line yourself. Just leave a message and they will call you back and answer all your questions.

fox
Good to hear. Did they say how it would work, a software upgrade, or some sort of external device?

Thanks

One of my 500s started doing this stuff too a month ago. I struggled thru doing resets (Hold TVGOS and EXIT button on face of unit) for about 2 or 3 days and finally it cleared up. I don't think I ever had to unplug.

On mine I'm guessing there was some changes or updates in TVGOs or programming and something was disturbing the unit. Luckily after a few days it settled down and works like it should. Only 1 of my 500s was effected too.

So I'd try to be patient and see if it clears up on it's own, by doing a reset, esp since both of yours were effected at the same time, I think it's TVGOS.

I would like to get a hold of one these, but I can't help but wonder if people are trying to dump them on E-bay when they come down with problems.

I got mine off ebay used about a year ago and have had no problems. If you can get OETA analog channel 11 you should have no problems with the guide. I assume that probably channel 13 also sends the guide data since they are the same station statewide. I think most peoples problems are caused by bad or inconsistent guide data.

I've never had any problem with mine, neither - except for once, because of something I finally figured out I was doing wrong in the setup.

In fact, I've got four recorders and one display with TVGOS, and I've never had a problem with any of them.

Remember, you're naturally gonna see people posting here more often than not because they're the ones having problems.

You're not normally gonna hear as much from the thousands for whom TVGOS works perfectly well.

One of my boxes came from eBay and it has been fine but YMMV...

I too am in Tulsa and get consistent guide data via OETA OTA. I don't know if it helps that Guidestar/TV Guide is here or not. I would suggest using an antenna for OTA guide reception even if you get most programming from Cox. Also, I have good success with cablecards from Cox.

Duh, I was just over there working on a claim the other day and it never occurred to me that Gemstar / TV Guide was here in town. It's hard to miss that 2 story high dish out front and the other 10 and 12 footers on the roof.

I have a Sony DHG HDD500 video recorder that I have been receiving the Guide on the OTA KCTS 9 analog signal. I stopped receiving the guide about the middle of August and was wondering if it is still being transmitted. Their website lists services Starsight and Guide + from GemStar. It says that they do transmit Starsight but not Guide + data. Is anyone in Seattle getting the Guide from KCTS OTA. The folks there have not been much help with the answers.

I left a message on the Seattle OTA forum also.

Thanks.

My 250 keeps dropping TWC. Of course it's my wifes favorite channel and I'm hearing about it. The banner shows up but no audio or video. I power cord reset fixes it but my wife is starting to get on me about a more permanent solution. Is this a sign of a smart card problem? The problem goes back to my original install months ago.

Is anyone in Seattle getting the Guide from KCTS OTA.yes, I get my guide from KCTS 9, and haven't noticed any problem on any of 3 DHG machines.

9/12/2007

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The Federal Communications Commission assault on the cable industry continued Tuesday as the agency approved three measures which will add to the red tape cable companies must comply with......

..........The FCC told cable operators they must air both broadcasters' digital and analog signals after the television industry moves to transmitting using a digital signal from February 2009.

Is it normal that the TVGOS channel listing does not follow the actual channel listing? In other words, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to how the channels appear in the Listing relevant to their actual channel number. Is that what the channel editor is for? Would have thought that real channel 3, for example, would show as channel 3 in the listing.

9/12/2007

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The Federal Communications Commission assault on the cable industry continued Tuesday as the agency approved three measures which will add to the red tape cable companies must comply with......

..........The FCC told cable operators they must air both broadcasters' digital and analog signals after the television industry moves to transmitting using a digital signal from February 2009.

This does not make any sense. Once the broadcaster moves to digital, does the cable company do a digital to analog conversion. How can they carry the analog signal if there isn't one.

Also, I would rather the cable company give out free set top boxes and get rid of the bandwidth hogging analog cable.

The FCC told cable operators they must air both broadcasters' digital and analog signals after the television industry moves to transmitting using a digital signal from February 2009.I haven't read about that, but I'm guessing it's just about providing the limited basic, lifeline channels.

If so, then it would almost be a formality, since most companies have implied that they intended to do that anyway. Maybe it was meant for the few that haven't stated that they would so far.

Comcast in the city of Chicago has done that. If it were about anything more than that, they'd have to start retransmitting the channels again.

The cable companies pretty much need that bandwith from the extended basic analogs for future growth, so I doubt if the FCC will not allow them that.

I have a Sony DHG HDD500 video recorder that I have been receiving the Guide on the OTA KCTS 9 analog signal. I stopped receiving the guide about the middle of August and was wondering if it is still being transmitted. Their website lists services Starsight and Guide + from GemStar. It says that they do transmit Starsight but not Guide + data. Is anyone in Seattle getting the Guide from KCTS OTA. The folks there have not been much help with the answers.

I left a message on the Seattle OTA forum also.

Thanks.

I still get guide info OTA for my DHG HDD500 in the Seattle area. I assume that it's from KCTS, but have not checked the source. As I understand it, either CBS or NBC (I've forgotten which) will take over transmitting the guide data. Perhaps they do that now. In any case, I've done nothing and still get the guide data.

As I understand it, either CBS or NBC (I've forgotten which) will take over transmitting the guide data. Perhaps they do that now.It's CBS. As far as I know, it hasn't started yet.

I have a digital TV hooked up to my outdoor UHF antenna. I get all the local digital channels. I hook the same feed directly into one of my 250s or my 500, I get very little and no ABC/Fox/ABC/CBS.

Do these tuners just suck? I want the OTA and this might be the straw the makes me ditch these units and cave and use the Cox HD STBs.

you have to remember that these units are relatively old (circa 2004?). Most TV's didn't have ATSC tuners in them at that time. Yes, they take a little stronger signal than the newer tuners in TV's. How long is your cable run? How many times is the signal from the same antenna split? What distance are you from the tower? Those kinds of answers would be helpful.

1. who do i call / what is the process to upgrade my firmware to accommodate a cable card?

2. has anyone used charter's cable card with the DHG HDD 250?

1. who do i call / what is the process to upgrade my firmware to accommodate a cable card?

2. has anyone used charter's cable card with the DHG HDD 250?

You don't need to update the firmware. I just had the cable guy plug it in and it worked.

Some of the units give an error code when a CableCard is plugged in. Those units need a hardware modification from Sony.

What is the amount of hard disk space used for various recording modes?

Can't find it it the manual, and my keyword searches in this thread have turned up nothing.

I have a digital TV hooked up to my outdoor UHF antenna. I get all the local digital channels. I hook the same feed directly into one of my 250s or my 500, I get very little and no ABC/Fox/ABC/CBS.

Do these tuners just suck?


Apparently they do suck.
I've got a TV and a 250 connected to a single antenna. the TV picks EVERYTHING perfectly. The Sony picks up SOME of the channels. If I move the antenna, the Sony picks up other channels, but loses the ones I had before. It's really annoying. I finally found a position that only loses channels I don't ever watch. But I'm sure that when the trees start growing in the spring, I'll lose more channels. It really is a bad tuner. I wonder if the Tivo HD is better. I just don't want to pay monthly fees.

What is the amount of hard disk space used for various recording modes?

Can't find it it the manual, and my keyword searches in this thread have turned up nothing.

For the HDD500 you get approx 60 hours of HD recording or 300 hours of SD recording. I don't think there is a specific amount of disk space used per hour, as it varies with the specific content (like a jpeg does with a fixed image).

I used to have a problem while watching a program while it was being recorded (chasing playback), where when the program recording time stopped, the playback stopped too, and dumped me into live TV. When this happens, and I restart the playback, it starts at the beginning of the recording again, instead of where it dumped me out.

Recently, I have used this feature successfully, where it didn't dump me out, but yesterday, it happened again. Is this just a random bug or is there some kind of pattern to when it will/won't work? The last case I remember it working was a manual recording on an analog channel (not in the guide), and the case yesterday where it failed was a recording from the guide on a digital channel. Anyone else figure this out?

I have a digital TV hooked up to my outdoor UHF antenna. I get all the local digital channels. I hook the same feed directly into one of my 250s or my 500, I get very little and no ABC/Fox/ABC/CBS.

Do these tuners just suck? I want the OTA and this might be the straw the makes me ditch these units and cave and use the Cox HD STBs.

This may sound like a silly question, but do you have your antenna plugged in to the proper input? And did you tell the Sony to AutoScan or Auto Add from antenna? I'm using a Terk HDTVI indoor non amplified antenna, and I get 13 digital channels here in the Pittsburgh area. I think the Sony has a better, more sensitive tuner than the tuner on my Mitsubusihi tv, better color reproduction also. Let me know how you do with the scan...:confused:

This may sound like a silly question, but do you have your antenna plugged in to the proper input? And did you tell the Sony to AutoScan or Auto Add from antenna?


Yes, proper input. Yes scanned all channels. It finds all of them.
but the signal level on some channels is around 75% and the digital "noise" makes the channel unwatchable.
My Toshiba TV (2006) claims 85% signal for these channels.

Believe me when I say I've tried everything. Different antennas, amplifiers, differing the antenna height, location... you name it. Nothing made the oblem go away; although moving the antenna it changes which channels get bad reception.

I finally connected 2 antennas in parallel which is not supposed to work, but that helped just a bit. Still can't get 2 channels no matter what.

I'm 35 miles from signal source and I do have a tree 100 yards away between me and source. BUT, the Toshiba TV has absolutely no problem.

My cable run is about 20', quad shield cable in a home run, no splitters. Using a UHF yagi from Solid Signal with a great preamp. Ran the auto scan, doing all the right things.

samhouston -

Have you tried without the amplifier? Too strong of a signal can be just as much of a problem as too weak of a signal. Especially if you have some multipath conditions that you are amplifying. Give it a try without the amp and see if that makes any difference.

Does this device have a recording timer option? On my Panasonic DVR I can set up a timer to record a show and I can set it to record weekly or regularly - so it repeats. Maybe this will be useful if the TV Guide goes away in 2009.

novelus -

Yes, but its a little more complicated than that. The sony has no way to set the clock other than receiving the time signal OTA or by the cable input. No manual clock/date setting. So if there's no way to get the clock signal in after the analog broadcasts go away, you would have to always apply a date/time offset to any recordings you tried to schedule (once your Sony lost it's correct time by power failure). Also, recorded programs would not carry the program name, etc. They would all be listed as 'Unknown' on the hard drive.

Hopefully, it will never come to this . . .

novelus -

Yes, but its a little more complicated than that. The sony has no way to set the clock other than receiving the time signal OTA or by the cable input. No manual clock/date setting. So if there's no way to get the clock signal in after the analog broadcasts go away, you would have to always apply a date/time offset to any recordings you tried to schedule (once your Sony lost it's correct time by power failure). Also, recorded programs would not carry the program name, etc. They would all be listed as 'Unknown' on the hard drive.

Hopefully, it will never come to this . . .In lieu of a proper solution coming from Sony/Gemstar, I would hope that Sony would provide a firmware update that allowed:

1. Manual Clock Set
2. User Editiable program information

With those two features, I would be in DHG heaven. Heck, I'd even settle for just getting #1.

Let's hope that there's some substance in that previous post about a potential solution.

In lieu of a proper solution coming from Sony/Gemstar, I would hope that Sony would provide a firmware update that allowed:

1. Manual Clock Set
2. User Editiable program information

With those two features, I would be in DHG heaven. Heck, I'd even settle for just getting #1.

Let's hope that there's some substance in that previous post about a potential solution.

I think if you follow Sony's Consumer Electronics
business reputation - you will see their business
model is NOT TO PROVIDE UPGRADES - but make
you buy a NEW PRODUCT.

The thumb screw in the center of my remote no longer works. I can use the ring around it but I perfer the thumb screw. I can't find a screw on the entire remote. I want to open it up and see if it's fixable. Has anyone been able to open their remote?

The thumb screw in the center of my remote no longer works. I can use the ring around it but I perfer the thumb screw. I can't find a screw on the entire remote. I want to open it up and see if it's fixable. Has anyone been able to open their remote?
If there isn't a screw inside of the battery cover, then it might just "snap" together, so you'll have to pry it apart maybe.

The thumb screw in the center of my remote no longer works. I can use the ring around it but I perfer the thumb screw. I can't find a screw on the entire remote. I want to open it up and see if it's fixable. Has anyone been able to open their remote?

If you've never tried to open a snap fit remote enclosure, its a treat. The only way I've been able to do it without destroying it is to put the remote in a vise with the seam just above the jaws and slowly compress the case till you can see the latches (you usually want the hook side in the vise) then you can stick in small screwdriver on each latch to release it, working your way down one side of the case. Then you should be able to hinge it up to release the other side. I think a new remote is about 40 bucks.

good luck

If there isn't a screw inside of the battery cover, then it might just "snap" together, so you'll have to pry it apart maybe.


Make sure all the screws are out first! usually there is one in the batt compartment. Get an old credit card or similar card. It kind of messes up the corner of the card you use, so don't use your good Platinum credit card.

Gently twist the remote and slide the card into the crack where it opens slightly when you twist. This almost takes three hands to do, get a friend or spouse if necessary. Once you get the card into the crack, work it around the remote. You should hear a 'pop' at each of the plastic catches as the come apart. When you get to the last one it should open right up.

Good luck.

I would hope that Sony would provide a firmware update that allowed:

1. Manual Clock Set
2. User Editable program information

With those two features, I would be in DHG heaven. Heck, I'd even settle for just getting #1.

#1 COULD be implemented by Sony, but as others have said, they don't have much of a track record for supporting discontinued products. More likely, people will use the trick of piping in an RF-modulated analog signal to the Sony that happens to have the clock in the VBI. (A while back, someone on this thread was testing that, using a VCR I think...)

Are we 100% certain the DHG can't set its clock from digital channels? The way to test would be to unplug the DVR, wait a while, then plug it in, turn it on and tune to a digital channel. If the clock eventually gets set, then it couldn't have received it from an analog channel (since the analog and digital tuners can't both be active at once).

#2 is not for Sony to implement - it's part of the Gemstar firmware (for which the Sony is just a host environment).

Are we 100% certain the DHG can't set its clock from digital channels? The way to test would be to unplug the DVR, wait a while, then plug it in, turn it on and tune to a digital channel. If the clock eventually gets set, then it couldn't have received it from an analog channel (since the analog and digital tuners can't both be active at once).


Only problem with that is that the Sony will not pull in any data (clock, guide, etc) while the tuner is on....it must be in the standby state. So if you tuned it to a digital channel, it would never set the clock (until you powered it off)

Only problem with that is that the Sony will not pull in any data (clock, guide, etc) while the tuner is on....it must be in the standby state. So if you tuned it to a digital channel, it would never set the clock (until you powered it off)


Actually the clock will set itself during the G* test in the 9012 menu - it is technically "on" during this test. Maybe you could try running the test while tuned to a digital channel and see if it sets itself...

I think if you follow Sony's Consumer Electronics
business reputation - you will see their business
model is NOT TO PROVIDE UPGRADES - but make
you buy a NEW PRODUCT.

This may be true, however, Gemstar is developing a "solution" to enable the Sony and other analog guide products to work with the new digital signal. Like I said in a previous post, call Gemstar yourself.

Yes, proper input. Yes scanned all channels. It finds all of them.
but the signal level on some channels is around 75% and the digital "noise" makes the channel unwatchable.
My Toshiba TV (2006) claims 85% signal for these channels.
I do have a tree 100 yards away between me and source. BUT, the Toshiba TV has absolutely no problem.And therein lies the problem. 75% signal strength is PLENTY for the DHGs. But the tree, now that's another story. Trees, via refraction and reflection, cause multipath, whereby your antenna receives the same signal un-delayed, and delayed by various amounts. On an analog set, all this caused was a ghosting/fringing effect. But digital needs the bits - not all of them, but a great deal of them, not twice but once. Early ATSC tuners were almost totally unable to deal with multipath. The next generation, like the DHG, have tuner-chips designed to choose the strongest signal (regardless of whether it's the direct or reflected signal), use it and reject the rest - BUT they only could do this if the various signals were relatively constant. Multipath from buildings was no longer a problem, but tree leaves move in the breeze and the multipath varies (on analog TV, the ghost images come and go or change in displacement from each other). Newer ATSC tuners have been slowly chipping away at this problem, now that they realize there even IS a problem.

Where I live, we have a station that is only about 15 miles away but (for no good technical reason, only because of the greedy FCC) comes in at only about 65%. On calm days, especially rainy calm days, it is completely watchable. Let the breeze blow and it degrades rapidly to where it's a "no signal" more often than not. I live in a development called Suburban Greens - I think you get the picture (well, technically you don't "get the picture", do you? :) )

Solutions? Cut the tree down; move your antenna; or raise your antenna to look over the tree or hopefully overcome the multipath with a stronger LOS signal.

IMHO, multipath is the most underestimated problem for terrestrial digital reception in the burbs.

This may be true, however, Gemstar is developing a "solution" to enable the Sony and other analog guide products to work with the new digital signal. Like I said in a previous post, call Gemstar yourself.

I would be curious to find out what that solution is. My 9 month old 65 in Mits in addition to my dhg hdd 250 both have a non upgradable analog guide system. We do have a box at the tv station that is already transmitting guide data using one of our digital channels - but currently, as far as I know, there aren't any televisions capable of rendering a guide on screen using the digital data provided by this new box. Will take a look at this digital tvgos box tomorrow and get back to you on that.

WS65711 - I will, great comment! I've been in the opposite thought mode. I'm on a ground floor of a multistory condo and directions to all the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN) are through my building. So my yagi is pointing into my building. I have two high-rise condo across the street too. I got the biggest yagi I could find and fit to punch through the building. I'll try your suggestion and then try pointing the yagi around to see if that's a solution. I need a test mount stand to do that. I really want to apply my Sony's to the HD-OTA job.

Frank70 - Then if I can pick up any reflected signals from the high-rise across the street, maybe my problem is solved. All the channels I want are going from the same LOS. Clearly I need to experiment further.

This may be true, however, Gemstar is developing a "solution" to enable the Sony and other analog guide products to work with the new digital signal. Like I said in a previous post, call Gemstar yourself.

I'm a FAN of Gemstar - I certainly hope they develop a fix.

My statement was - DON'T EXPECT anything from SONY!

I saw in one of the cable card menus there's a reference to the boxes IP address. Since there isn't an ethernet port what's that all about? Can you plug a device into the USB port to get connected to a network? Is there a benefit to that?

I used to have a problem while watching a program while it was being recorded (chasing playback), where when the program recording time stopped, the playback stopped too, and dumped me into live TV. When this happens, and I restart the playback, it starts at the beginning of the recording again, instead of where it dumped me out.


I *think* I have narrowed it down to a specific situation:

I tune-in to a program that is being recorded. But rather than go to the playback menu to start from the beginning, I rewind (or hit PREVious). This puts me in some sort of PVR Parallel Universe where the laws of playback are suspended.

I most often do this during the evening news. I have developed a habit of pressing the wheel every so often to lay down a marker to be used for approximating where I was dumped. It's a Hansel & Gretel thing.

I saw in one of the cable card menus there's a reference to the boxes IP address. Since there isn't an ethernet port what's that all about? Can you plug a device into the USB port to get connected to a network? Is there a benefit to that?

Well, you are on the cable company network via your incoming coax cable. The cablecard spec calls for two-way functionality, so the menu is there although our devices don't use it.

I got mine off ebay used about a year ago and have had no problems. If you can get OETA analog channel 11 you should have no problems with the guide. I assume that probably channel 13 also sends the guide data since they are the same station statewide. I think most peoples problems are caused by bad or inconsistent guide data.

Do you use a cable card with yours?

We do have a box at the tv station that is already transmitting guide data using one of our digital channels - but currently, as far as I know, there aren't any televisions capable of rendering a guide on screen using the digital data provided by this new box.I don't know about any televisions, but the Panasonic EH55V and EH75V HDD/DVD recorders, with their 9th gen. guide can receive the TVGOS data digitally.

I notice that there are two sets of Red, Yellow, and White (sorry, I don't know what they are called) leads out of the device. One of them goes to the television, and the other to a VCR or a video capture card, perhaps? I am wondering if it is possible to send a signal from this device to a capture card in order to archive it on a DVD disk?

http://www.spiffspace.com/pictures/hdd250_back_large.jpg

I notice that there are two sets of Red, Yellow, and White (sorry, I don't know what they are called) leads out of the device. One of them goes to the television, and the other to a VCR or a video capture card, perhaps? I am wondering if it is possible to send a signal from this device to a capture card in order to archive it on a DVD disk?Absolutely! I do it all the time. I actually use the S-Video out (instead of the composite/yellow) to an ADS Instant DVD 2.0 (USBAV-702) and it works great - you can capture, edit, then create Anamorphic wide-screen DVD's of HD shows. Not as good as the original HD playback, but damn good quality nonetheless.

Do you use a cable card with yours?

No I am OTA only with the Sony. I just bought a Dish 722 to replace my 522 for cable channels.

All:

I have two HDD units, and as an OTA HDTV person, love them to death. I never had a tivo but now understand the mania.

Bought them a year ago, based on this forum-found them at the Sony Outlet store in Woodbury, NY. Knowing they were at best a "beta" effort, I bought the service plan for two years, until the alleged 2009 shutoff.

The first two units I bought would "lock up", meaning that left alone, not recording or playing, would just ignore all front panel buttons, and the remote buttons. The first unit failed in three days, the second took two weeks. A reset pulling the plug would work for a few days...then freeze up again.

Eventually I ended up with two units which were stable. Both worked hard last season recording anything I might want to watch. With my crazy hours, it was nice to be able to pick and choose (and Zap !!).

Recently one of the units went down again. Frozen buttons, no response, and kept freezing in a day or so when reset.

The unit has been sent back to Sony (after 45 minutes of phone trees and customer "assistance" by nice people who didn't know too much).

Otherwise, I don't have much trouble with the TVGOS here in NYC.

Any ideas ? This is NOT a freeze while using the unit, and the clock would run normally while ignoring any commands.

This happens to me when the unit gets close to full (over 90%, either drive). I deleted a bunch of stuff and it stopped freezing. Maybe disk fragmentation?

Has anyone with one of these DVR's & Comcast service ordered Pay-Per-View by calling in to Comcast to order the event, and then tune to a specific channel to view the event?

I have been using Comcast's Motorola DVR while my HDD-250 has been collecting dust.

samhouston -

Have you tried without the amplifier? Too strong of a signal can be just as much of a problem as too weak of a signal. Especially if you have some multipath conditions that you are amplifying. Give it a try without the amp and see if that makes any difference.
Nope, it made it worse. I get nothing both on my Sony DVRs and my TV even with a home run. I'll try swinging the yagi around but I need a new bracket for that experiment. If that doesn't work, I'll try a bigger yagi (glup).

i have a DHG HDD250 with just OTA.

i want cable with a cable card. previous posts conflict on whether or not i need a firmware update. one post says everyone needs an update, but just recently a guy says i don't . i don't want to pay for a cable visit only to find out it doesn't work .

1. is there a way to check if my firmware will
support a charter cable card?

2. do i call charter or sony? what number do i call at sony?

i did have some stuff on it, but deleted a lot. I tried never to get the "disk full" warning, but I was at 60%.

Comcast - Southeastern Connecticut. - HDD250, HDD500.

Has anyone noticed the loss of guide data, as of Saturday, September 22? both of my systems are missing all guide data for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I'm leaving for three weeks vacation beginning tomorrow, and was trying to make sure that some of the newer shows were scheduled properly.

If anyone has any clue as to what I might do to make the guide data reappear, I'd appreciate the advice. This is kind of time constrained since I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks for any help, anybody can offer.

John O'Boyle

You don't need to update the firmware. I just had the cable guy plug it in and it worked.

Some of the units give an error code when a CableCard is plugged in. Those units need a hardware modification from Sony.

Not true in all cases. My unit gave an error code with the first Cable Card. The tech came back a few hours with another card and it worked fine.

Not true in all cases. My unit gave an error code with the first Cable Card. The tech came back a few hours with another card and it worked fine.
From the FAQ:
1.3.1 What is error 161-X (where "X" is a numeric value)?

Note: Some of this info has been gathered from other places on the web - some of them regarding the Tivo Series 3 DVR. Their application to the Sony DVR is uncertain.

161-1: This seems to be a hardware problem with the CC. Typically, a new cablecard will resolve this issue.

161-2: This seems to be a hardware problem with the CC. Typically, a new cablecard will resolve this issue.

161-4: This error can usually be ignored. I haven't seen it in reference to the Sony DVR, but I have seen reference to it in the Tivo support site. This error shows up most often when initially installing the card in the device.

161-6: This seems to be a hardware problem with the Sony DVR and a CC. The only fix at this time is to send the DVR back to Sony for a electrical modification and firmware update.

Comcast - Southeastern Connecticut. - HDD250, HDD500.

Has anyone noticed the loss of guide data, as of Saturday, September 22? both of my systems are missing all guide data for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I'm leaving for three weeks vacation beginning tomorrow, and was trying to make sure that some of the newer shows were scheduled properly.

If anyone has any clue as to what I might do to make the guide data reappear, I'd appreciate the advice. This is kind of time constrained since I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks for any help, anybody can offer.

John O'Boyle


Lately I have to reboot both my sonys when I notice "No Listings" across the board 8 days out.

After rebooting (hold down "exit" and "tv guide" buttons together on the front of the box for a few seconds) power off the unit overnight and the guide should show listings 8 days out. It should then repopulate normally and should keep you going for at least a couple of weeks or longer.

Before the firmware update that brought us the ads, I didn't have to reboot my sonys for over a year. Since the ads, I'm rebooting both units every couple of weeks or so.

The guide is free so I guess you get what you pay for...

No I am OTA only with the Sony. I just bought a Dish 722 to replace my 522 for cable channels.
sorry for OT, but are you able to use HDMI on the 722?

sorry for OT, but are you able to use HDMI on the 722?

I haven't had a problem yet on my Sony 61in. It is connected by hdmi and then component to my other hdtv's.

Comcast recently changed it's cable clear qam hd channels to a readout six spaces, e.g. CBS hd is 75.2202, FOX 79.2304 etc.
If I enter them via remote they display the hd channel.

Has anyone been able to enter a 6 space channel number into the tvguide channel edit?

I'm only able to get the guide to accept 5 spaces. I even tried without the decimal, then it accepts only 4 spaces.
joe

Comcast recently changed it's cable clear qam hd channels to a readout six spaces, e.g. CBS hd is 75.2202, FOX 79.2304 etc.
If I enter them via remote they display the hd channel.

Has anyone been able to enter a 6 space channel number into the tvguide channel edit?

I'm only able to get the guide to accept 5 spaces. I even tried without the decimal, then it accepts only 4 spaces.
joe

Unfortunately, I don't think this is possible with these Sonys. Other people have had similar trouble with channel numbers higher than 1024 (if I recall correctly).

Comcast recently changed it's cable clear qam hd channels to a readout six spaces, e.g. CBS hd is 75.2202, FOX 79.2304 etc.
If I enter them via remote they display the hd channel.

Has anyone been able to enter a 6 space channel number into the tvguide channel edit?

I'm only able to get the guide to accept 5 spaces. I even tried without the decimal, then it accepts only 4 spaces.
joe

Holy Smoke! I'm dumbfounded. Are they trying to kill us off? What part of the country are you in?

Holy Smoke! I'm dumbfounded. Are they trying to kill us off? What part of the country are you in?

I'm with you, here in New England [NH] and for the past
three weeks - Comcast has been doing something to the
Cable Cards installed in my DVRs [5]. The Cable Cards
have been losing Authority - so to speak. I have needed
to call Comcast to send a refresh signal to turn the cable
cards back on. This is getting to be a real PAIN IN THE
REAR.

I think they are trying to make life DIFFICULT for those
who don't PAY for a Comcast DVR.

He also posted in the Pittsburgh thread, so looks like he is there. Really hope this is isolated (and they undo this nonsense in PA).

Yep, that's me, from Pittsburgh. I've been running through different record scenarios and the one that will work for these long serial numbers. Enter the channel numbers in...75.2204 it will display that network, then it will appear in the +/- CH EDIT in the menu section, then you can hit record and it will display day, time, channel , once, weekly etc. It will record whatever you enter but on the recorded program list it only offer those channel digits ,time and day.
Which is complicated it you record several different programs as I do, because then you have to remember which programs are on those channels and times. Certainly not ideal, but the picture quality is significantly better on a larger screen than my comcast 6412 boxes are. But talk about taking the ease of use right from under you.
If Comcast cable cards weren't such a pain on their installations for the TIVO SERIES 3, I'd get one of those, but with the sdv issue up in the air still I'll stick it out with my sony, and ahemm...the 6412 boxes.
joe

I notice one of my machine always displays the TV Guide in wide screen. My other two units display in 4:3. I can't find a difference in either the Preferences or the TV Guide settings. I'd love to have all three units display the Guide in 16:9. What's the secret? What am I missing? Somehow one unit displays in WS and I do not know how to duplicate that setting for the other two units. Help!

The format button at top of remote sets thje menu size..
If you have it set at auto HDMi you can't change screen aspect tho. I use 720p or 1080i.

much obliged...

And therein lies the problem. 75% signal strength is PLENTY for the DHGs. But the tree, now that's another story. Trees, via refraction and reflection, cause multipath, whereby your antenna receives the same signal un-delayed, and delayed by various amounts.
Where I live, we have a station that is only about 15 miles away but (for no good technical reason, only because of the greedy FCC) comes in at only about 65%. On calm days, especially rainy calm days, it is completely watchable. Let the breeze blow and it degrades rapidly to where it's a "no signal" more often than not. I live in a development called Suburban Greens - I think you get the picture (well, technically you don't "get the picture", do you? :) )

Solutions? Cut the tree down; move your antenna; or raise your antenna to look over the tree or hopefully overcome the multipath with a stronger LOS signal.

.

I've already resigned myself to not getting a couple of channels till the fall.:(

I've already resigned myself to not getting a couple of channels till the fall.:(Quite by surprise, my neighbor cut down the four 5-story tall white pines. I can now actually get a better signal by aiming my antenna off into the ether where the trees used to be (even though it's a good 20 degrees away from the transmitter direction, it's wide open to the sky) instead of directly toward the transmitting antennas (which are still blocked by deciduous trees in the neighborhood.) When I get a chance I'll try switching back to my old antenna (still at the opposite end of my attic) which had become increasingly useless as those pines grew, even for analog reception. It now enjoys a pretty direct shot toward the transmitters through the new hole.

Hi all -

For anyone that has formatted the drive, did it actually take a long time like you would think a low-level format would? The few posts I've seen were like my experience: it took no more than a minute and ended with a "hard disk error successfully recovered" message.

My HDD-250 has been stuttering off and on lately, so I wasn't that surprised when it froze up completely, turned off and gave a INF 000FF80 error. When I turned it back on, the HD was disabled and it had turned into a tuner only.

I went into the 9012 menu and reformatted the drive as noted above. It would be nice to have some idea what it actually did, but at least it worked after that. For the hell of it, I went ahead and restored to system defaults too. At the end of this I got an INF 10000000 error message (if that is indeed an error, since I have no idea what it means). For now, the box seems to work fine; we'll see if the guide data and clock restore normally.

On the 1234 -> Main menu, that same 10000000 code is listed as System Error. The FAQ seems to say that this is normally just 0?

On the 1234 -> HDD menu, has anyone posted their version of this screen? I'm very curious if it differs for people like me that have had disk errors. I would also like to know what Value vs. Raw Value means!

Anyone know where the menu is that will let you know if it's going to crap out right in the middle of Lost?!

Who can I contact so that MTVHD (acually MHD) can be added to my channel list? Why have they added 450 channels I have never heard of but can't add a channel I have been getting for 6 months?

I have similar question, except that in my case MHD shows up in the listings, but does not match the MHD content at all - just a bunch of different movie listings show up, rather than music shows. Naturally, the listings on the regular cable box are dead on, so complaining to cable company would be a dead end.

Nope, it made it worse. I get nothing both on my Sony DVRs and my TV even with a home run. I'll try swinging the yagi around but I need a new bracket for that experiment. If that doesn't work, I'll try a bigger yagi (glup).

Well, I don't need a bigger Yagi. I made new pointable/rotatable mount for my existing Yagi. My Sharp LCD had great signal stregth (85-100% per it's meter) while the same feed yields me an analog channel or two on my Sony DHGs. None of my tuners get a signal is I take the preamp out of the path from my Yagi, telling me I'm not over loading the tuner. The other thing I'm changing in the experiment is the tuner (Sony DHG versus Sharp LCD). So, the Sony DHG tuner isn't the greatest.

Interestingly, when I add my gain-adjustable 4x Channel Master amplified splitter, even my Sharp most of the channels. Gotta check the range, it says it's FM/VHF/UHF. That's a second unrelated problem (I think). I might very well be over driving the tuner with this box (minimum amplification is 10dB).

Anyway, looks like I'll be sticking with Cox Digital until a better OTA DVR comes around. I could get a better Yagi (I have room) but for a extra 1db of gain I doubt it's worth it. I'm tired of wasting my Saturday afternoons.:(

My OTA here in Florida is very good. I get some channels with nothing except the simple antenna that came with my ATI HD card. I put a Channel Master 4 bow-tie antenna outside and I get all of the major networks, and 10 others. The ATSC channels are far easier to get than the analog on the same stations. I can't imagine why yoou are having so much trouble receiving the digital channels. Joe

I think trying to see through 4 story condo has a lot to do with it.

Hi this is sort of an bizarre problem and I was wandering if this was a common problem or what.

I have the 250 model and have the cable card for HD.
If I block record or record a time frame in the schedule. It records and when I go later to play it back I only get audio. This is only on an HD station, I can get picture through analog block time recording.

But heres the thing that was odd. When I manually set up a time and channel to record it played back fine with picture and audio on analog and HD.....

Im not sure if there is an update I need for playback or what but please somebody help.

the harmony command for previous channel is "shortcut." someone posted this a few weeks ago.

I've got one of my HDD250's programmed into a Harmony 550 and one into a Harmony 880. I just use the default power commands when I set up the activity and have had no problem. I wish I could remember the Harmony name for the previous channel command so you could manually add it to the previous button on your remote. What is nice is that this command doesn't exist on the original remote but works fine through my Harmonies :)

Has anyone figured out the secret of why *Advanced* Closed Captions work on some recorded shows and not on others? The manual says . . .

"The HD DVR CC setting must be selected before starting a recording. It is not possible to change the CC setting after a recording has started."

. . . but I know that not to be the case. I rarely set Advanced CC on before a recording. Usually the advanced captions are available during playback of a contemporary show. Sometimes they are not. (Ugly Betty this week, for example)

Just to be absolutely clear -- I am not talking about VBI closed captions but EIA-708 captioning.

I have tried to look over as many posts as I could looking for a response to this question without luck so far.

I have been using my 250 for a year now OTA - no problems.
We just got basic cable service as well and after a new scan, none of the cable channels show up in the guide (I'm with Comcast in Minneapolis)
I do notice that if I manually scan through channels most of them show up in the 104.46 kinda format but not in the channel listing. Is there a way to include these higher up channels in the normal guide?
I don't have a cable card - thanks.

We just got basic cable service as well and after a new scan, none of the cable channels show up in the guide (I'm with Comcast in Minneapolis)
I do notice that if I manually scan through channels most of them show up in the 104.46 kinda format but not in the channel listing. Is there a way to include these higher up channels in the normal guide?
I don't have a cable card - thanks.Go into the channel editor under "change channel display" in the menu, find the channels, enter the correct channel numbers (the ones they are mapping to, such as the "104.46" you mentioned), and turn them to "on".

Then see if the info starts filling in in the next day or so. Make sure all the PBS stations are on, because the host channel (for the guide info) is usually a PBS station (though not necessarily always).

If that doesn't work, you can try resetting the TVGOS, or the unit in general, first. In fact, you may want to even try that before trying the above (if you haven't done it already).

Usually with TVGOS. just re-entering a zipcode of "00000" and leaving it that way for awhile will be enough to reset the system, but I don't recall if this works with the Sony's or not (I've got 5 units with TVGOS - and I haven't had to reset my Sony for over a year). You might have to do a "soft reset" first, which involves holding down the "exit" and "guide" buttons simultaneously on the front of the unit.

I have been going thru the 10,000 plus posts on these units but I did not seem to locate one on this subject. On my 250 I can't seen to get the channel lineup to stay. Like most of the owners I spend a good amount of time putting in the channel lineup and when I get out of the set up and go to guide nothing stays where you put them. Has anyone any ideas or had and over come this problem? Other than this and a couple of little prombems I have had my unit for almost 2 years with no problems and I am hoping there is some sort of fix when anolog is done away with since I and probable all owners have become dependant on this machine. Thanks for any help in advance.
rlh149

I have been going thru the 10,000 plus posts on these units but I did not seem to locate one on this subject. On my 250 I can't seen to get the channel lineup to stay. Like most of the owners I spend a good amount of time putting in the channel lineup and when I get out of the set up and go to guide nothing stays where you put them. Has anyone any ideas or had and over come this problem? Other than this and a couple of little prombems I have had my unit for almost 2 years with no problems and I am hoping there is some sort of fix when anolog is done away with since I and probable all owners have become dependant on this machine. Thanks for any help in advance.
rlh149
This happened to me also. You need to do a "soft" reset. Press and hold the exit and tv guide keys at the same time (I think those are the 2) on the front of the unit, let the unit reset and reboot. This should solve your problem. You will not lose any recordings.

Thanks!

EDIT: Exit and TV Guide keys at the same time are correct.

Hi Rammitinski,

I know this sounds odd, but wait a day or so and retry the channel scan. You may find things are put right. I've done this many times to fix the oddities you describe. I also have comcast basic in Mpls.

FYI - If you're temped to try a cable card, don't bother. The cards comcast has now don't work with our Sony's in Mpls.


Good luck

Hello everyone...first post here.

Two questions on my HHD500 unit:

(1) Anyone have insight into the INF codes at startup?

Was watching a program and all of a sudden the unit rebooted to an INF 0000080 error. I tried warm rebooting the device, but kept getting the same error. Then I decided to pull the power and upon reboot received an INF 11FFFF80 error. Ran through rebooting it a bunch of times, then decided to do some more tinkering.

I ran through the Clear NVM procedure, but it didn't seem to work as others have stated - it went right back to the Welcome display.

I then tried the Wipe Unit procedure and the same thing happened - the unit went right back to the Welcome display.

I'm following the procedure on Spiffspace.com.


(2) Has anyone had one of these units repaired OUT of warranty? If it comes down to having to repair the unit, what can I expect to spend? Or is it a flat fee from Sony?

ratpatrol
Thanks, did the soft reboot and everything worked fine
rlh149

Maybe someone can help me out here. My HDD250 is stuck in some kind of infinite reset loop.

Every time I turn on the power, the unit displays "SD OUT", then tunes to a channel for about 3 seconds, freezes and then reboots. I get a display that says "Welcome..." and counts up to 06. After a couple of minutes, the clock resets to the current time. When I hit power again, the same process starts over.

Does anyone know what would cause this or any possible way to get it out of this loop?

Maybe someone can help me out here. My HDD250 is stuck in some kind of infinite reset loop.

Every time I turn on the power, the unit displays "SD OUT", then tunes to a channel for about 3 seconds, freezes and then reboots. I get a display that says "Welcome..." and counts up to 06. After a couple of minutes, the clock resets to the current time. When I hit power again, the same process starts over.

Does anyone know what would cause this or any possible way to get it out of this loop?

Just to clarify ... when you power on/off the unit, you're using the power button on the remote/front panel, right?

Whatever you do, don't turn off the power to the unit, as in a Surge Protector.

I'm pretty sure you're doing it right, but I just wanted to clarify.

Just to clarify ... when you power on/off the unit, you're using the power button on the remote/front panel, right?

Whatever you do, don't turn off the power to the unit, as in a Surge Protector.

I'm pretty sure you're doing it right, but I just wanted to clarify.

Yes, I have tried using the power button on the remote, and the power button on the front panel, I am not switching off power at the source.

Yes, I have tried using the power button on the remote, and the power button on the front panel, I am not switching off power at the source.

Have you tried a re-boot? Either a warm or cold reboot may help.

Perhaps the buttons on the front panel are "stuck".

I originally had a problem with playback of recorded material "stuttering". A warm re-boot didn't fix it. I had to do a cold re-boot and it worked (thanks to the Sony phone tech).

ft

izzihd and Rammitinski

Thank-you! Worked a charm.

FYI - If you're temped to try a cable card, don't bother. The cards comcast has now don't work with our Sony's in Mpls.


Good luck

I'm on Comcast in BOSTON - with (5) SONY DVRs
--- all with Cable Cards. The old ones work but the
new two-way ones work even better - even though
the SONY does not know what to do with a Two-Way :p

The reason I say the Two-Way works better is because
it is MORE RELIABLE. Less Strange things that happen
every once in awhile.

Hello everyone...first post here.

Two questions on my HHD500 unit:

(2) Has anyone had one of these units repaired OUT of warranty? If it comes down to having to repair the unit, what can I expect to spend? Or is it a flat fee from Sony?

Will start at a fixed fee of about $150, which you have to pay up front when making the service call to get a workorder number. This includes their return shipment, so it may be a bit higher depending on where you live. If the fix needs more labor and replacing hardware, that will cost more, but in that case they should call for your approval to do the added work.

Have you tried a re-boot? Either a warm or cold reboot may help.

Perhaps the buttons on the front panel are "stuck".

I originally had a problem with playback of recorded material "stuttering". A warm re-boot didn't fix it. I had to do a cold re-boot and it worked (thanks to the Sony phone tech).

ft
I think I have tried a "Warm reboot" if that involves holding down two buttons on the front simultaneously for a few seconds until the player says "Welcome...". Unfortunately, that didn't get me out of the loop. How exactly do I perform a "Cold reboot"?

drhankz,

Interesting that you have success with cable cards. Are you using motorola (which I understand work fine) or Scientific Atlanta (which at least here in Minneapolis) are disasters waiting to happen>

Thanks.

I'm on Comcast in BOSTON - with (5) SONY DVRs
--- all with Cable Cards. The old ones work but the
new two-way ones work even better - even though
the SONY does not know what to do with a Two-Way :p

The reason I say the Two-Way works better is because
it is MORE RELIABLE. Less Strange things that happen
every once in awhile.
All CableCARD modules have two-way capability.

I think you mean that the older ones only have single-stream capability, and the new ones have added multi-stream capability (but the Sony DVR can do neither two-way nor multi-stream), right?

drhankz,

Interesting that you have success with cable cards. Are you using motorola (which I understand work fine) or Scientific Atlanta (which at least here in Minneapolis) are disasters waiting to happen>

Thanks.

Yes all my Cable Cards are Motorola.

The GREEN Ones are 1-Way.

The new RED ones are 2-Way

All CableCARD modules have two-way capability.

I think you mean that the older ones only have single-stream capability, and the new ones have added multi-stream capability (but the Sony DVR can do neither two-way nor multi-stream), right?

WRONG - ALL Cable Cards before July of this
year are 1-Way.

The two-way capability you are talking about is
for NETWORK OPERATIONS CENTER ONLY.

My definition of two-way means the End-User
can use the reverse channel for VOD, etc.

Yes - you are right the SONY DVR does not know
HOW to utilize either feature - but the new cards
DO CHANGE the MENUS in the DVR - so it it trying
to do something.

The NEW TIVO's can utilize the Cards for VOD, etc.

I think I have tried a "Warm reboot" if that involves holding down two buttons on the front simultaneously for a few seconds until the player says "Welcome...". Unfortunately, that didn't get me out of the loop. How exactly do I perform a "Cold reboot"?

Cold Reboot is unplugging it, waiting about 30 seconds for the HDD to spin down, then replugging.

ft

For any New People here - CHECK OUT THIS SITE (http://www.spiffspace.com/sonydvr.html) for helpful Info

WRONG - ALL Cable Cards before July of this year are 1-Way.

The two-way capability you are talking about is for NETWORK OPERATIONS CENTER ONLY.

My definition of two-way means the End-User can use the reverse channel for VOD, etc.

Yes - you are right the SONY DVR does not know HOW to utilize either feature - but the new cards DO CHANGE the MENUS in the DVR - so it it trying to do something.

The NEW TIVO's can utilize the Cards for VOD, etc.I thought there was a Samsung TV (HLR5067C) certified for 2-way operation in 2005?

v/r,
C-F

I thought there was a Samsung TV (HLR5067C) certified for 2-way operation in 2005?

v/r,
C-F

I never said anything about OTHER TV Boxes - only
that the SONY DVR does not know what to do with
it and ONLY the NEW TIVO is the ONLY DVR I know
of that can work with the new 2-Way Cards.

I'm clueless about TVs. I don't own any TVs :D

Well, even my DVR has begun to exhibit problems.

I was unable to get any of my digital channels to work (other than the ones that are unencrypted). I thought I would try rebooting the DVR, and it didn't help. This caused my clock to initially be blank, but then it grabbed the time, but was about 40 minutes slow. I tried running the TV Guide G* factory test while tuned to my normal host channel. This failed the VBI test, and didn't set the correct time.

I suspect that this is a cablecard issue (but I hate calling Charter, since they won't have a clue what a cablecard is - let alone how to send a "hit" to it). They will probably send a tech who will be just about as clueless. Ugh.

I might try emailing the local host channel and have them check their G* equipment to see if the VBI failure is caused on their end. I really suspect that Charter is the source of the problem, though.

Well, even my DVR has begun to exhibit problems.

I was unable to get any of my digital channels to work (other than the ones that are unencrypted). I thought I would try rebooting the DVR, and it didn't help. This caused my clock to initially be blank, but then it grabbed the time, but was about 40 minutes slow. I tried running the TV Guide G* factory test while tuned to my normal host channel. This failed the VBI test, and didn't set the correct time.

I suspect that this is a cablecard issue (but I hate calling Charter, since they won't have a clue what a cablecard is - let alone how to send a "hit" to it). They will probably send a tech who will be just about as clueless. Ugh.

I might try emailing the local host channel and have them check their G* equipment to see if the VBI failure is caused on their end. I really suspect that Charter is the source of the problem, though.

Mr. Wizard.

This is all about Cable Labs. They started to
send out new encryption algorithms starting
around Labor Day - for me. The first three
weeks of September where terrible here in
the Comcast New England Area. Even some of
Comcast's OWN BOXES where rejecting the
Cable Labs upgrade.

I moved my problems so high up the Comcast
tech support chain - I got my own dedicated
tech with direct phone number. That is how I
started to get two-way cards installed. The area
Manager had to APPROVE installation of the two-way
cards that have only been out --- here --- since
August. In a two week span - I had Comcast techs
here 7 days out of 10 business days.

At one point - They even had me contact SONY
tech support to tell them - BY LAW - as a certified
CableCard Licensee - that they must update the
FW in the DVR to be compatible with the new
Cable Labs encryption algorithms. Sony gave me
an OPEN case number. SO FAR NOTHING from
Sony.

But once Cable Labs had all the Cable Cards in
the region updated - all the CableCards settled
down and they have all worked now for 2+ weeks.

While the upgrades were going on - I could not go
48 hours without the CableCard loosing the Encryption
Keys.

Crap - guess I will be calling Charter. I did check some of the other cablecards in my house (one in a Sony TV), and it is working fine. The CC's in my Tivo were busy recording network programming, so I chould check to see if they were getting the premium channels correctly.

Crap - guess I will be calling Charter. I did check some of the other cablecards in my house (one in a Sony TV), and it is working fine. The CC's in my Tivo were busy recording network programming, so I chould check to see if they were getting the premium channels correctly.

In all honesty - you have to live through
the upgrade for however long it takes in
your area.

Some of your cards might accept the upgrade
and others will either DROP the KEYS or QUIT
all together.

I have 5 SONY DVRs with 5 CableCards. All 5
were hiccuping to the upgrade and eventually
2 out of 5 locked up and DIED from the upgrade.
That is how I ended up with 2 new RED CableCards.

I also had one COMCAST Cable Box REJECT the
upgrade and LOCK UP. It was a FUN FUN FUN
two weeks.

If I was not an EE - familiar with all this network
junk - I would have been washed under the carpet
instead of getting the right answer that Cable Labs
was busy doing all the upgrades and it was beyond
Comcast's Control. All they could do was truck rolls
to replace the boxes and cards that were LOCKING UP.

I called the support line (800-386-7380) and asked about my Sony receiving the new digital guide signal as it is up and running here in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is being transmitted from KPIX (CBS). The engineer looked up the Sony from a list and said that the Sony could receive the new guide, but only with a software "patch" of which they have right now and ready to go. He said that the Sony was new enough to get it. Older analog units will require a external "box". He said they are trying to get manufactures
to sign for the "patch" for the newer models so they can get the new guide. So I called Sony and they said they no nothing about a software "patch" and that I was S O L when analog shuts off (what do they know). Maybe to early yet. The guy at Sony even suggested that I update it myself...huh? How am I going to do that? I asked the TVGOS engineer why they could not send it with the guide data and he said they could, but would not be permanent. When the unit is rebooted, it would loose the "patch":( Sounds like an external "box" for the Sony unless someone gets a copy of the software "patch" from TVGOS and figures out how to upgrade. Come on guys I know one of you can do it right?:D

Fox

I called the support line (800-386-7380) and asked about my Sony receiving the new digital guide signal as it is up and running here in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is being transmitted from KPIX (CBS). The engineer looked up the Sony from a list and said that the Sony could receive the new guide, but only with a software "patch" of which they have right now and ready to go. He said that the Sony was new enough to get it. Older analog units will require a external "box". He said they are trying to get manufactures
to sign for the "patch" for the newer models so they can get the new guide. So I called Sony and they said they no nothing about a software "patch" and that I was S O L when analog shuts off (what do they know). Maybe to early yet. The guy at Sony even suggested that I update it myself...huh? How am I going to do that? I asked the TVGOS engineer why they could not send it with the guide data and he said they could, but would not be permanent. When the unit is rebooted, it would loose the "patch":( Sounds like an external "box" for the Sony unless someone gets a copy of the software "patch" from TVGOS and figures out how to upgrade. Come on guys I know one of you can do it right?:D

Fox

Doing software updates on the SONY DVR is trivial.
I have done all 5 of mine. BUT THE SOFTWARE has
to come from SONY.

I think you need to push the issue HIGHER up the
SONY Ladder. The average Sony Phone Tech knows
nothing. I had to go two levels up in the supervisor
chain to get anyone who knew something.

Doing software updates on the SONY DVR is trivial.
I have done all 5 of mine. BUT THE SOFTWARE has
to come from SONY.

I think you need to push the issue HIGHER up the
SONY Ladder. The average Sony Phone Tech knows
nothing. I had to go two levels up in the supervisor
chain to get anyone who knew something.

May I ask how you upgraded your software?

Thanks
Fox

May I ask how you upgraded your software?

Thanks
Fox

The Software is loaded on a USB Thumb drive.

You plug it into the USB port and the BOX does
the rest.

Very Simple and Painless - but the Software has
to come from Sony so that the BOX recognizes it.

The Software is loaded on a USB Thumb drive.

You plug it into the USB port and the BOX does
the rest.

Very Simple and Painless - but the Software has
to come from Sony so that the BOX recognizes it.

Thanks for your reply....
But if TVGOS has the patch for this software version why can't I obtain a copy from them and plug it into the USB for the upgrade? It is TVGOS who is responsible to keep the guide working right? Is Sony going to support software update for a discontinued product?

Fox

I think the latest version of the sony software is posted somewhere in the middle of this thread.

WRONG - ALL Cable Cards before July of this year are 1-Way.
That contradicts the CableCARD Primer (http://www.opencable.com/primer/cablecard_primer.html) written by CableLabs, which states:

"From the very early specifications and draft standards, the CableCARD module has been a two-way device. That is, it included the functionality to enable two-way communication on the cable plant. This two-way communication is necessary for a variety of advanced cable services including video on demand (VOD), switched digital video (SDV), interactive services and applications."

"... CableCARD modules always were designed to support two-way functionality, including the original CableCARD 1.0 interface specifications."

That contradicts the CableCARD Primer (http://www.opencable.com/primer/cablecard_primer.html) written by CableLabs, which states:

"From the very early specifications and draft standards, the CableCARD module has been a two-way device. That is, it included the functionality to enable two-way communication on the cable plant. This two-way communication is necessary for a variety of advanced cable services including video on demand (VOD), switched digital video (SDV), interactive services and applications."

"... CableCARD modules always were designed to support two-way functionality, including the original CableCARD 1.0 interface specifications."

You are right and the CableCard Primers is right. It allows
2-way communications with the Cable Plant. The NOC
[Network Operations Center] can address my CableCards
in my BOXES and they will talk back to report whatever it
is that the NOC has asked. Just because there is two-way
communications between the NOC and the CableCard - does
not mean it is a TWO-way Card. I know that is confusing.

Think of it this way - You are the end-user - what you get
is channels sent to you - that is one-way. When you interact
with the MSO servers - like requesting VOD - stop, play
or OK of extra charges - that is a two-way communications
between you and the MSO servers for APPLICATIONS. That
class of two way communications is way different that the
NOC asking your CableCard to send back its status. That
is called network management and the other with you in
the loop is call VALUE ADDED SERVICES.

Since end users can NEVER EVER access any of the Network
Management data - previous cards were one-way - pushing
channels to your TV.

The one-way or two-way I was referring to is the END-USER
communications for value added services and interactively.

I think the latest version of the sony software is posted somewhere in the middle of this thread.

YES - it is here - SOMEWHERE - Rather Hard to find in this HUGE thread :eek:

Thanks for your reply....
But if TVGOS has the patch for this software version why can't I obtain a copy from them and plug it into the USB for the upgrade? It is TVGOS who is responsible to keep the guide working right? Is Sony going to support software update for a discontinued product?

Fox

SONY's track record for supporting software updates
even for CURRENTLY shipping products is the WORST
in the industry. Their approach is to SELL you a new
model with the new feature.

The PS3 is the only product I have seen SONY provide
great FW updates for.

SONY's track record for supporting software updates
even for CURRENTLY shipping products is the WORST
in the industry. Their approach is to SELL you a new
model with the new feature.

The PS3 is the only product I have seen SONY provide
great FW updates for.
Ok so how and where did you get the updated software then? How can the rest of us get it?

Thanks

Ok so how and where did you get the updated software then? How can the rest of us get it?

Thanks

ON THIS FORUM SOMEWHERE???????????

Ok so how and where did you get the updated software then? How can the rest of us get it?

Thanks

The LATEST DVR SOFTWARE update is available HERE (http://www.atego.ods.org/Login)

You must LOGIN as an ANONYMOUS user using your e-mail address.

The last released version is 1.2.13.

Check your version before doing any upgrade.

> MENU

> Preferences

> System

> System Menu

You are right and the CableCard Primers is right. I believe you have a narrow interpretation of those quotes. If the device had a signal return path for the network management piece, why in the world would the cable company or CableCards limit it to only ping/pong when they could sell PPV to those devices? I believe the Primer is closer to the truth in that the capability and functionality was present from the beginning, but the device producers did not have a consistent language to talk to every cable head-end, and therefore did not try to build the 2-way functionality...

The point about the 2005 two way certification for the TV was that I believe it was using the 1.0 specifications and card, and not the 2.0 multi-stream version...

Does not change anything in relation to the devices manufactured with only one-way in the design.

v/r,
C-F

The one-way or two-way I was referring to is the END-USER communications for value added services and interactively.
The Primer mentions this example: "When a CableCARD 1.0 module is used with a two-way receiver (e.g., Samsung HLR5067C) that card supports all the necessary two-way functionality for VOD, SDV, and other interactive services."

In other words, you can use any CableCARD module, even as early as 1.0, and it supports all two-way communications that your host device might offer, such as VOD and SDV.

Thanks for the link to the latest firmware. Anyone know what's new in it or "better" about it?

Downloading the FW from my Web server http://www.rx8web.com/smilies/bouncy.gif

Thanks for the link to the latest firmware. Anyone know what's new in it or "better" about it?

As I recall, its only purpose was to correct TV compatibility problems so that is the only reason to install it.
My two DVRs have version 05 and 06, and have been performing perfectly, except for the occasional loss of scheduled program so I see no reason to upgrade.

Ray

Hello everyone...first post here.

Two questions on my HHD500 unit:

(1) Anyone have insight into the INF codes at startup?

Was watching a program and all of a sudden the unit rebooted to an INF 0000080 error. I tried warm rebooting the device, but kept getting the same error. Then I decided to pull the power and upon reboot received an INF 11FFFF80 error. Ran through rebooting it a bunch of times, then decided to do some more tinkering.

I ran through the Clear NVM procedure, but it didn't seem to work as others have stated - it went right back to the Welcome display.

I then tried the Wipe Unit procedure and the same thing happened - the unit went right back to the Welcome display.

I'm following the procedure on Spiffspace.com.



Anyone have any suggestions?

Would running the firmware update help?

Will start at a fixed fee of about $150, which you have to pay up front when making the service call to get a workorder number. This includes their return shipment, so it may be a bit higher depending on where you live. If the fix needs more labor and replacing hardware, that will cost more, but in that case they should call for your approval to do the added work.

Ouch....Thanks.

I hope I can find a way to fix this myself.

...nevermind....

The firmware update doesn't launch for me since the unit doesn't get past the errors I've noted.

I'm tempted to yank the drives and see if they are working....has anyone done this? Basically, check the drives in a PC/linux box and/or replace them if they're bad. I would assume the drives are the first things to go south.

What brand/type are the drives?

The LATEST DVR SOFTWARE update is available HERE (http://www.atego.ods.org/Login)

You must LOGIN as an ANONYMOUS user using your e-mail address.

The last released version is 1.2.13.

Check your version before doing any upgrade.

> MENU

> Preferences

> System

> System Menu

Software is for the 500... will it work for the 250?

thanks
Fox

Software is for the 500... will it work for the 250?

thanks
Fox

Does this upgrade also fix the 161-6 error and the problem with the unit not letting you watch a previously recorded program while one is recording. Wife is killing me right now since she can not watch Desperate Housewives since I have set the unit to record some programs tonight. Tried pulling the plug and it did not work.:eek: I am desperate.:confused:

My DVR problems have resolved. I cold rebooted it last night before bed, and emailed my host channel. They rebooted the G* box for me, and when I got home from work, the time was correct, and the VBI test was passing for my typical host channel.

I then called Charter, and they sent a hit to my equipment (presumably all of it), and my channels came back as I watched the blank screen. It did take a bit of explanation regarding the cablecard vs. cablebox differences, but the hit worked.

Back up and running :)

Software is for the 500... will it work for the 250?

thanks
Fox

YES - all OS's are the same.

I called the support line (800-386-7380) and asked about my Sony receiving the new digital guide signal as it is up and running here in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is being transmitted from KPIX (CBS). The engineer looked up the Sony from a list and said that the Sony could receive the new guide, but only with a software "patch" of which they have right now and ready to go. He said that the Sony was new enough to get it. ... I asked the TVGOS engineer why they could not send it with the guide data and he said they could, but would not be permanent. When the unit is rebooted, it would loose the "patch" ...Hmm, I wonder if that has any connection with the list of TVGOS codes in post #8075
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9227191#post9227191,
in particular the "352747283 Save To Flash Memory" code?

YES - all OS's are the same.

should i label the usb drive as SONYHDD250 instead?

Something happened to my HDD500 while recording Bones last night off FOX 9 OTA in the Twin Cities... 14 minutes into the show, recording stopped and the DVR removed ALL recordings from the schedule - one-time, regular, weekly on any channel... all gone. It then sat idle, still tuned to channel 9. Shows already recorded were OK, and it didn't lose any guide data. There were no power problems or anything like that...

should i label the usb drive as SONYHDD250 instead?

NO NEED TO.

Searched through the thread for my freezing problem but only found the "All Reset" as a possible answer. Any clue as to why the system will not let you watch a previously recorded program while another is being recorded? I had my system off line for a few months and this just does not make sense. I used to be able to do this. Does the 9012 "All Reset" fix this problem for good and should I update to the newest firmware level? I am currently at .06. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Coo1enuf:
Updating the firmware will not affect your problem. I believe the problem may be due to the TVG software not being 'in sync' with the downloaded data. If your machine was offline for a few months, maybe you missed the most recent update. You should try doing the 3 step guide reset that was mentioned in this thread earlier this spring, the only reference I can find offhand is this:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10273275#post10273275
or search for "three step" in posts from "HoustonPerson".

Coo1enuf:
Updating the firmware will not affect your problem..

I AGREE - Updating will not solve your freezing problem.

I doubt it will HURT.

Freezing is the sign of a more serious problem. Especially
if the Freeze is occurring during power-up. I had to send
one of my units back to Sony to have that problem fixed.

I AGREE - Updating will not solve your freezing problem.

I doubt it will HURT.

Freezing is the sign of a more serious problem. Especially
if the Freeze is occurring during power-up. I had to send
one of my units back to Sony to have that problem fixed.

It only "freezes" when it starts to record something. Other then that it is fine. I seem to remember this happened back in the April timeframe right before I took it off line. Thought it was weird at the time but did not bother with it since I was taking everything down and would worry about it when I got everything set back ujp. We were doing some updates to the house and I had to take down all the audio/video gear and did not get back to it till now.