Indigita AVHD IEEE 1394 Hard Disc Drive [Text View]

Kipp K.

11-13-05, 01:01 PM

a few key points from the literature that make me think the public won''t easily get them, unless a major mfg offers the in their branded product line:

A fully customized FireWire DVR solution for OEMs
Private labeling and individually optimized software

The AVHD Powered by Indigita is a custom digital PVR/DVR solution for consumer electronics (CE) and set-top box (STB) original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

You're absolutely right, it makes it sound like they are just for OEM, but a fellow poster on the Mits forum, states that he has bought a couple of them, and has also given me the contact name and number, I plan on contacting the person tomorrow and get the specifics.

Kipp

CKNA

11-13-05, 10:01 PM

Hello,

New to this forum, I did a search on the above but was not able to find much on it. I know my Mitsubishi dealer uses one to show the 1080p demo loop on his new TV's. He received this from Mitsubishi. I was able to borrow one and it worked great on my set. I have a copy of the manual and pictures of it inside and out if anyone is interested.

Indigita AVHD IEEE 1394 hard disc drive (http://www.indigita.com/products/customsolutions/avhd.html)

I was hoping someone else might have one and could tell how well it works for recording?

thanks,

Kipp

This thing looks similar to Toshiba Symbio AVHDD. Toshiba states that it only works with their TV's but it is not true. It works with most firewire equiped TV's that have AV control.

Kipp K.

11-13-05, 11:21 PM

This thing looks similar to Toshiba Symbio AVHDD. Toshiba states that it only works with their TV's but it is not true. It works with most firewire equiped TV's that have AV control.

Do you have one?? If you are not using it on a Toshiba, what are you using it on?

thanks,

Kipp

Techtom

11-14-05, 03:03 AM

Hello,

New to this forum, I did a search on the above but was not able to find much on it. I know my Mitsubishi dealer uses one to show the 1080p demo loop on his new TV's. He received this from Mitsubishi. I was able to borrow one and it worked great on my set. I have a copy of the manual and pictures of it inside and out if anyone is interested.

Indigita AVHD IEEE 1394 hard disc drive (http://www.indigita.com/products/customsolutions/avhd.html)

I was hoping someone else might have one and could tell how well it works for recording?

thanks,

Kipp

The RCA DVR10 is the same thing... Find one on ebay.

Techtom

bdfox18doe

11-14-05, 03:08 PM

Kipp K.

11-14-05, 03:59 PM

Tom,
Just got an RCA DVR10, but it's a demo unit..I'll have to see if it has "special" firmware that only let's it play and not record..also want to see what my XP pc "sees" when I connect it up. :confused:

Also interested in what kipp finds..

I did get a hold of Chris at Indigita, he was able to give me some more info as well as an email address, so I can ask some more questions.

Prices are as follows:

250 Gb 499.00
160 GB 399.00

It cannot hook up to a computer apparently. Although I know that the ones the Mits dealers are getting come with the content already on the hardrive, (they had to get it on there somehow)

It does support 4 streams of video, so you can be recording one thing, watching something else on one TV, and then another, etc.

I have scanned a copy of the manual, and have screenshots of the unit, inside and out.

Well that is all I have for now....

Kipp

locomo

11-14-05, 04:21 PM

The RCA DVR10 is the same thing... Find one on ebay.

Techtom

What's the difference between that and a RCA DVR2160?
I just received one fairly cheap, but I can't get it to record
off a firewire equipped Scientific Atlantic 3250hd.

Kipp K.

11-14-05, 05:41 PM

Tom,
Just got an RCA DVR10, but it's a demo unit..I'll have to see if it has "special" firmware that only let's it play and not record..also want to see what my XP pc "sees" when I connect it up. :confused:

I can get a Indigita for fairly cheap, its one of the Mits dealerships units with only a 40 Gb hardrive, but if I can't hook it up to my computer, then I really don't have anyway to put 1080p source on it...this is what I would like to do and then feed it into my 1080p mits TV. I was also wondering if I put a larger hard drive in it, if it would reformat the drive correctly and still work.

Kipp

bdfox18doe

11-14-05, 07:13 PM

I have teh same questions..need to play with the DVR10 the next day or so..

videobruce

11-15-05, 08:34 AM

This thing looks similar to Toshiba Symbio AVHDD. Maybe this might be why.........

I was going to start another thread on this, but I will continue what was started. I have come across some interesting info on this.
First a list of the supported sets,
2nd, specs on this base unit'
3rd, intro on these;

videobruce

11-15-05, 08:36 AM

What this looks like. Notice the lack on make and model on the front. Also notice "DVR 10" on the rear panel;

videobruce

11-15-05, 08:38 AM

For the meat and potatoes. Unfortunately, the pic of the 'important part' doesn't show the chipset. I will see if I can get a better pic. Not a whole lot there w/o the HDD;

videobruce

11-15-05, 08:43 AM

The few posts are pages from the users manual.
Generic 1394 connection info. If you have a device that used 1394, you rpobably have seen this before;

videobruce

11-15-05, 08:45 AM

Status LED's & troubleshooting;

videobruce

11-15-05, 08:46 AM

The next attachments seem to be addressed for the Mits sets with Net Command, but could apply for the other manufactures as well;

videobruce

11-15-05, 08:47 AM

more transport functions;

Yaamon

11-15-05, 09:26 AM

If the Toshiba Symbio can be used with other tv then that unit to me sounds like a better deal. 160G Hard drive for $250.00.

http://www.bizrate.com/marketplace/search/search__cat_id--11540000,nwylf--,prod_id--269646578.html

jumpinjoe

11-15-05, 09:35 AM

Bruce,

Thanks for posting the link on th Toshiba forum. This device looks cool and I have seen the 1080p content at my local AV shop playing on the Mits.

So I guess it is true that 1080p can be played on most new DLP's but the question is how do you get it on there? There has to be a way if it got on their in the first place.

I wonder if it's on the actual HD or maybe could it be in the firmware???

Regarding the Toshiba product; will this also play 1080p content?

I'll contact them to find out.

bdfox18doe

11-15-05, 09:47 AM

Brue, how do you easily get the cover off..what model hard drive do you have in there..??

videobruce

11-15-05, 09:49 AM

Those prices that Kipp received are way out of line. Give me a bare chassis and I will supply the drive.
What we need is someone with that device to open it up and take a pic of the chipset to see who makes it.

I don't have this. It appears just screws on the rear panel.

bdfox18doe

11-15-05, 09:57 AM

Took all the screws out, the cover didn't want to slide off easily..I'll be glad to do
that if I can get the cover off..

videobruce

11-15-05, 10:05 AM

Try lifting up from the rear.
Next, locate prybar.......... :D

bdfox18doe

11-15-05, 05:23 PM

Well.. the DVR10 and my Mits 62725 just don't get along..some of the pre-recorded material on the drive would play, but it wouldn't record due to having a conflict with recorded material..so I deleted all on the drive, but it still shows that
it has 6 hours and 35 minutes stored. if I schedule a record, it will go into record for about 30 seconds and then drop out.

Off to play more now..

bdfox18doe

11-15-05, 05:58 PM

Now the mits won't even see the dvr10..me thinks the mits needs a powercycle..

If were a consumer who had spent his own money, rather than an engineer who was seeing how well this works, I'd be highly annoyed about now..

bdfox18doe

11-15-05, 06:18 PM

Cover had adhesive putty sticking cover to hard drive mount..this one is internally different from the pictures..drive is maxtor diamondmax16.. 80 gb ata133..

large chip has heatsink glued on..u3 is agere fw802a

Bmr4life

11-15-05, 07:29 PM

Thats a lot. Glad I got one of these (http://www.beachaudio.com/product_info.php?cPath=1856_1892&products_id=64658) when they were $126 shipped on Nov 8th.

Two questions:
Anyone know how to hook up a Dvr2160 so I can send the recorded shows to my computer?

Also, how do I install a larger HDD into a Dvr2160?

thanks

bdfox18doe

11-15-05, 07:33 PM

Perhaps there was a reason they were $126..notice the price now..

what tv are you using and how well do it work?

jumpinjoe

11-15-05, 08:57 PM

Bmr4life

11-15-05, 09:30 PM

TV is an RCA HD50LPW42. It recognizes it under the IEEE 1394 connection menu. Haven't tried it yet cause I just got back in town today. The deal was posted here. (http://www.**************/forums/messageview.php?catid=24&threadid=539888&highlight_key=y&keyword1=rca)
They ran out of stock in a few hours and the price jumped once the place got more in stock. I think it is only guaranteed to work with RCA HDTVs.

videobruce

11-15-05, 10:40 PM

Perhaps there was a reason they were $126..notice the price now..
what tv are you using and how well do it work? You sure this wasn't that older smaller HDD model that RCA sold?

videobruce

11-15-05, 10:56 PM

I received a e-mail probably similar to what Kipp K. received today;The units are available in 160GB and 250GB capacities and can be purchased via our online order form. Although Indigita mainly sells directly to Original Equipment Manufacturers, we are developing a retail based website to answer general questions an end-user may have. This should be operational by the end of the month. He also said;The AVHD drives are specially formatted to maintain the 5C content protection and are not user installable or replaceable. Sounds as some retail/Hollywood scam to me. Someone else needs to chime in here on that one. "Not user replaceable" Yea, right. And there are really weapons of mass destruction out there. :mad:

Kipp K.

11-15-05, 11:27 PM

"Not user replaceable" Yea, right. And there are really weapons of mass destruction out there. :mad:

Well I know you can replace the hardrive without a problem, I just don't know if it will automatically reformat it for your or if there is a special partition on those drives that has some certain information on it. I am thinking if you could "image" the original hardrive and put that information on your replacement hardrive, you would have it made....does this make sense to anyone else???

Kipp

videobruce

11-16-05, 12:01 AM

Formatting is one thing, imaging is another.
I'll have to ask the question in some of the computer forums I visit.

tmitchmd

11-16-05, 12:46 AM

Re: AVHD

Does not appear to be nearly as useful as say the LG LST-3410a which does all of the above with any TV, has user swapable automatic reformatting hard drives, and is compatible with 169time recording from satellite as well as harddrive transfer to an Apple computer.

jgibo1

11-16-05, 08:07 AM

bdfox18doe

11-16-05, 09:30 AM

Only tried QAM's at this point..will try OTA tonite..

UMD_Terp

11-16-05, 11:05 PM

Sounds interesting... I own a Mitsubishi 52725 DLP and would be interested in a firewire based HD DVR... I have a Mits. HD2000U DVCR that works only when recording material from the ATSC tuner fromt he TV. The QAM tuner does not work with the DVCR because of the way the cable company multiplxes several digital channels on one channel. The Mitsubishi TV sends out the entire channel stream rather than the tuned subchannel over the link causing the DVCR to choke as that exceeds the supported bandwidth.

From the specs on this particular DVR, it seems it may very well work with the QAM tuner the way it is... I bet the RCA DVR10 does not demux the full channel stream thus resulting in a failed recording.

Kipp K.

11-16-05, 11:21 PM

Formatting is one thing, imaging is another.

You're right, I was just thinking out loud, if you can swap drives will it reformat...If it won't reformat, can you just make an image of the original drive and perhaps get the information on it that is needed to be recognized by the unit onto another hardrive.

Kipp

videobruce

11-18-05, 12:43 PM

I won't quote the whole e-mail, but he are the interesting parts of one I received from Indigial;The AVHD drives are specially formatted to maintain the 5C content protection and are not user installable or replaceable. The AVHD is designed specifically for today's new Digital Cable Ready HDTV's. Unlike the 3410, the AVHD incorporates 5C encryption and is able to record authorized copy protected programming from DCR TV's. Although the LG product has a built-in tuner, it was designed in 2003 and its tuner/decoder is already out of date. It also acts as the controlling agent for the incoming video, using the HDTV as nothing more than a monitor. I believe it even converts the signal to analog before output to the TV. If you have a "HD Ready" TV, this may work great. If you just spent the money on a new DCR HDTV with a top-of-the-line HD decoder and built-in TV Guide, then it is not even an option. Notice the "specially formatted" part. :rolleyes: Also notice "not even a option".

Others have mentioned trying accessing the HDD with Lynux and trying a TiVo hack.

stu_1080p

12-03-05, 10:01 PM

Did anyone figure out about the 1080p source material on this device? I just bought a new Toshiba 62hm195 and just for kicks I would love to see the "1080p" display icon on my screen. Since this set can't do 1080p over HDMI maybe Firewire is its only hope. Thanks for any input!

gdub72

12-05-05, 03:19 PM

I bought a DVR2160 super cheap (<$100 shipped) the week before Thanksgiving from a place called HDToystore. I hooked it up to my Toshiba 52HM95 and it works ok. I'm having issues with a couple of things, but I really feel it's the TV.

Here's what I've sent to Toshiba Customer Support about the issue (Don't tell them it's not a Toshiba Symbio AVHD or they probably won't help you):

If I pause live TV (local HD broadcast from Ant1 input) and resume playback, I have audio. However, if I try to fast forward through commercials (or between plays) I loose all audio during normal speed playback. Once I get back to live tv (not time shifting via the AVHD), the audio returns until the next time I pause and repeat the scenerio.

My other issue with the digital recording has to do with timer recordings. If I schedule a recording(either manually or via the TV Guide), the only way to stop it is to modify the record event to end one minute later. For example, if it is 6:45 and currently recording a 6:00-7:00 program, the only way to cancel the recording is to go into the program and manually set the end time for 6:46 and wait. Very annoying!
Equally annoying is the fact that when it is recording, I can't use any other inputs on the TV. I can't record off the antenna input and watch a DVD on the HDMI input. Is there something I'm missing here?

My only other question is, I don't seem to be able to pass audio from the HDMI input to the optical output. When I watch a DVD from my Toshiba SD-V593 via the HDMI input on the TV, I have audio on the TV, but it doesn't seem to pass the audio out the optical output on the TV to my receiver. TV sound (from the tuner) is output from the optical output to the receiver and sounds great. Is there a setting I'm missing to pass the digital audio from the HDMI input to the optical out?

Their reply was, feel free to contact technical support at 1-800 blah blah blah...

Anyway, I thought I'd post it all to see if anyone here had any ideas. I'll hook it up to my PC tonight to see if I can see anything on the drive or figure out what format the drive is using.

Nathan_R

12-05-05, 04:00 PM

Thanks for the tip on HDToystore. I ordered a 2160, as well.

Bxz

12-05-05, 04:52 PM

Will u be able to get the content out of the box to ur pc HD? other wise u have to delete some when it's full if i understand correctly?

thx
Bxz

Thanks for the tip on HDToystore. I ordered a 2160, as well.

stu_1080p

12-05-05, 06:10 PM

Why are those RCA DVR2160 so cheap??? I just ordered one and noticed that the MSRP is $549.00. Sweet deal!

jumpinjoe

12-06-05, 09:30 AM

Gdub72 - You need a digital coax cable going from your DVD player to your receiver. Keep the DVD to Toshiba HDMI and keep the toslink from Toshiba to AVR.

This will give you 5.1 on DVD's and Cable stations outputting in 5.1

videobruce

12-06-05, 10:13 AM

Anyone venture to get one of these for either the Sammy, Mits or Toshiba sets?

UMD_Terp

12-06-05, 12:02 PM

yeah... does anyone with a Mitsubishi set have any one of these products... I personally am interested in anyone who can record from cablecard/QAM tuner to one of these...

CKNA

12-06-05, 07:15 PM

Anyone venture to get one of these for either the Sammy, Mits or Toshiba sets?

These are normal AVHDD. They should work with any firewire TV that supports AVC. I have Toshiba Symbio, (Toshiba says it is only for Toshiba TV's but they just do not want calls from people with other TV's that mau not work correctly) and it works perfectly with my Sharp LCD and Samsung DLP. On Samsung though TV Guide sucks as it has no option to record to firwire devices so no timer recording. No problem on Sharp however.

Diode1

12-06-05, 07:24 PM

What about with the Samsung SIR-T165?
The t165 sammy user guide does say support for AVHDD

CKNA

12-06-05, 07:39 PM

What about with the Samsung SIR-T165?
The t165 sammy user guide does say support for AVHDD

I do not know. You have to try it.

videobruce

12-06-05, 11:18 PM

CKNA; is there any problem recording analog channels or QAM channels that are 'in the clear' (no CC)?

sneals2000

12-07-05, 07:04 AM

These devices sound similar to the IOData RecPot on sale in Japan. These are being used by Panasonic in the UK to demo their HD Ready plasmas, along with a Japanese set-top box to provide MPEG2 decoding duties. The RecPot seems to be an iLink hard-drive that emulates a D-VHS VCR (and in the case of Panasonic is shipped to dealers with a Panasonic branded 1080/60i HD demo loop recorded on it)

http://www.iodata.jp/prod/multimedia/hd-rec/2005/hvr-hdf/index.htm

Is the product page - sadly I'm only one term in to my japanese course...

videobruce

12-07-05, 08:31 AM

One term further than I.

For kicks and giggles, I tried to contact all 3 of the numbers on their site, The one for Texas isn't a distribrutor anymore and the other two don't serve my area. Guess NJ is too far away. :rolleyes: Two of the three companies reported problems getting ahold of them. :confused:

I did manage to get another cellular number for California that I will try.

Nathan_R

12-07-05, 09:07 AM

yeah... does anyone with a Mitsubishi set have any one of these products... I personally am interested in anyone who can record from cablecard/QAM tuner to one of these...

I have a Mits 52628 DLP. I'll report my findings when my 2160 arrives, but I anticipate no problems with recognizing the device. Timers, on the other hand, may be a problem.

Edit to reflect I meant the RCA 2160.

UMD_Terp

12-07-05, 09:11 AM

I have a Mits 52628 DLP. I'll report my findings when my AVHDD arrives, but I anticipate no problems with recognizing the device. Timers, on the other hand, may be a problem.

thanks! What I am specifically interested in is when the cableco muxes a few channels on to one stream. A DVHS device can't handle that much bandwidth..

cartyfamily

12-07-05, 10:02 AM

Has anybody tried this on a Sharp LCD? Specifically any of the newer 5U/7U units?

Kipp K.

12-07-05, 10:26 AM

This might help:

English version (http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000983063022/)

These devices sound similar to the IOData RecPot on sale in Japan. These are being used by Panasonic in the UK to demo their HD Ready plasmas, along with a Japanese set-top box to provide MPEG2 decoding duties. The RecPot seems to be an iLink hard-drive that emulates a D-VHS VCR (and in the case of Panasonic is shipped to dealers with a Panasonic branded 1080/60i HD demo loop recorded on it)

http://www.iodata.jp/prod/multimedia/hd-rec/2005/hvr-hdf/index.htm

Is the product page - sadly I'm only one term in to my japanese course...

videobruce

12-08-05, 07:17 AM

There is all kind of 'stuff' available in Japan that never even makes it here. :(

Nathan_R

12-08-05, 10:15 AM

My 2160 arrived yesterday. It's actually funny-- it was shipped from four blocks away from my house.

I don't have a cablecard in my Mits 52628 DLP, but Comcast is sending some QAM HD stations in the clear (local network affiliates). I successfully recorded one of the CSIs in HD and some Simpsons reruns on our WB affiliate.

The DVR2160 worked flawlessly and had no problems recognizing the individual HD stations among the dozens of cable "subchannels" in the stream. I'm not used to cable terminolgy yet, so please forgive the "subchannel" term. What I mean is that among 82 subchannels on channel 102, it recognized CBS-HD on say channel 102-43. I hope I'm making sense.

videobruce

12-08-05, 10:30 AM

I thought this was a Indigita thread............ :eek:

Do you have any 'digital' channels other than OTA locals? BTW, your terminology is correct. Channel 102 subchannel 43 would be correct. Your cable company would renumber it to something else.

Who did you get it from? I think you are one of the few sucess stories that I have seen.

Nathan_R

12-08-05, 11:47 AM

Comcast completed its digital simulcast recently, and I have my whole lineup (except premium channels) in the clear.

To be clear, I have no OTA antenna connected. The feed is coming directly from Comcast. My OTA feed for CBS is 46-1, but the cable company pipes it out on 102-45 or something like that.

The 2160 came from HD Toystore company mentioned earlier in the thread.

I'll work on ghosting the rca image onto a larger drive this weekend.

Diode1

12-08-05, 03:10 PM

I thought this was a Indigita thread............ :eek:
It is, That is who made the RCA unit.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6683313#post6683313
powered by this chip Powered by Indigita http://www.indigita.com/products/asic/ind60c32.html
yep I had to open up the box for a look inside.
The drive is a maxtor Diamond max 16 ata/133
Maxtor called it QuickView

The only differences I see is RCA supplied a nice little cooling fan & RCA place some nice side caps on the unit, the case it self has a very heavy brushed look.
The U.S patent number 6,151,443 also matches that of the pictures supplied in a earlier post.
RCA placed the U.S patent number information on the bottom of the drive.

Diode1

12-08-05, 03:12 PM

My 2160 arrived yesterday. It's actually funny-- it was shipped from four blocks away from my house.
HDToy store just used a distributor that has about 30 locations around the country

Diode1

12-08-05, 03:51 PM

I'll work on ghosting the rca image onto a larger drive this weekend.
Please let me know how that goes, I maybe interested in getting a image of the drive.
I can send you dvd +R media for it, I do not have ghost.
On an XP machine, the RCA DVR2160 shows up as:
RCA / dev/sbp0 IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device under disk drives

The drive within xp computer management shows that there is a unrecognized partition the size is 1020Mb Unallocated.

Btw: the Samsung SIR-T165 does not recognize the DVR at all :(

edit:
Has anyone found XP drivers for this unit or for the NAS option?

stu_1080p

12-08-05, 07:09 PM

I got my RCA 2160 in. I am still confused on how to record. It seems very shoddy on my Toshiba 62hm195. How can I record from my Bright House Cable on my SA8300HD? My 8300HD is connected via HDMI. The RCA 2160 seems to only allow me to record from "ANT 1" and "Video 1". I even tried recording from my DVD player hooked to my "Colorstream 1" but it didnt work. Any insight?

Diode1

12-08-05, 07:33 PM

It will only record from digital TV SD or HDTV
Programmable recording is dependent on the capabilities of the HDTV or STB that sends the A/V digital stream
http://tv.rca.com/en-US/ModelDetail.html?PC=Components&MN=DVR2160

Bxz

12-08-05, 08:10 PM

I got it today and it works with my Sharp D5U, tried recording some SD in the afternoon and it works great, now i guess i need to figure out about the TVGOS and try a scheduled recording.

Yes, if someone can find a driver for PC, that'll be great, when i connected it to XP, it detects a AV/C Disc Recorder, but that's it, no driver found, i tried the DVHS driver, seems not working either.

Diode1

12-08-05, 09:37 PM

when i connected it to XP, it detects a AV/C Disc Recorder, but that's it, no driver found, i tried the DVHS driver, seems not working either.
XP also should show it as a
SBP2 IEEE 1394 Devices

CKNA

12-08-05, 11:02 PM

It is, That is who made the RCA unit.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6683313#post6683313
powered by this chip Powered by Indigita http://www.indigita.com/products/asic/ind60c32.html
yep I had to open up the box for a look inside.
The drive is a maxtor Diamond max 16 ata/133
Maxtor called it QuickView

The only differences I see is RCA supplied a nice little cooling fan & RCA place some nice side caps on the unit, the case it self has a very heavy brushed look.
The U.S patent number 6,151,443 also matches that of the pictures supplied in a earlier post.
RCA placed the U.S patent number information on the bottom of the drive.

My Toshiba Symbio has the same Indigita chip and Maxtor drive inside. I guess it is made by Indigita also. Patent number is also the same.

jakebryant

12-08-05, 11:47 PM

Please let me know how that goes, I maybe interested in getting a image of the drive.
I can send you dvd +R media for it, I do not have ghost.
On an XP machine, the RCA DVR2160 shows up as:
RCA / dev/sbp0 IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device under disk drives

The drive within xp computer management shows that there is a unrecognized partition the size is 1020Mb Unallocated.

edit:
Has anyone found XP drivers for this unit or for the NAS option?

Not sure if this helps, but I thought I would share an excerpt from the DVR2160 manual (specs on pg 17):

Hard Disk Drive (HDD) contains two partitions: 1 GB for use with computers with asynchronous data, and the rest of the drive for digital A/V with isochronous data.

I'm suppose this is what you see under xp, and the rest of the drive is the M6 cipher / DTCP (5C) encrypted part. Gives hope that firmware is installed/updated on the 1GB partition viewable by pc.

videobruce

12-09-05, 07:31 AM

It will only record from digital TV SD or HDTV This won't record an analog NTSC channel??

Diode1

12-09-05, 07:32 AM

This won't record an analog NTSC channel??
NO analog,

videobruce

12-09-05, 07:39 AM

Diode1

12-09-05, 07:43 AM

With digital cable it should be able to record most channels.
With ota, most channels should have the digital counterpart coming online at some point in the near future as mandated by the FCC.
What is it that you need to record?
Keep in mind this unit is built on 2003 tech.
Semi useless.............as bad as saying it won't record mono stations.
What, Hollywood is worried about copying analog material and selling copies on every street corner?

These manufactures are something else. No wonder it didn't sell.

videobruce

12-09-05, 07:47 AM

Keep in mind this unit is built on 2003 tech. When even more channels were NTSC.
It's years before analog will disappear. I don't know if those OTA analog cutoff dates include cable. My guess is no, but haven't read one way or the other.
This is just as bad as the JVC deck with no QAM tuner.

Doksoul

12-09-05, 10:06 AM

Has anyone gotten this function to work with their TVguide? TVguide says it will work...but it doesn't work on my Samsung 5067W Aug 05 firmware. I can only set up TVguide to use a regular DVR. Until TVguide and Samsung get they're act together, my RCA can only be used for live tv, pause, fast forward, rev. I did record live tv and went back and forth a number of times, paused , and then fast forwarded to live tv. Everything stayed in sync and I didn't loose sound when I returned to normal play speed. Records wonderfully, great picture and sound. Maybe TVGuide with prompting by Samsung and others can get there firmware to work correctly.

Diode1

12-09-05, 10:59 AM

jakebryant

12-09-05, 11:29 AM

After playing with this unit, trying everything to get my Samsung sir-t165 to see it.
I decided to dload the demo of FireBus DTV Recorder, The t165 recognized firebus in both configurations of D-VHS - AVDISC which leads me to believe that firebus mimics a D-VHS even when the driver is set to AVDISC. I followed up with a call to Samsung to verify my findings. Even though they advertised the t165 as D-VHS & AV-HDD & ect compatible they only enabled it to recognize a device that reports it as being a D-VHS,
So now, I need firmware of sorts for this Indigita that would report it as being a D-VHS.
Maybe a hack of sorts if Indigita is unwilling to help?
Anyone have any idea’s

Seeing the unit is half the battle. My Samsung HL-R4667W sees it - can even do basic transport functions - however, there is no scheduling interface on the AVHDD, instead it relies on one built into the TV. Samsung's TVGOS does not support recording to a firewire device (uses g-link infrared commands to set channel/record). So, in addition, looks like I'll be waiting for Samsung to release firmware with an updated TVGOS before I'll be able to see full functionality out of my AVHDD.

I've got an e-mail into Indigita support, will update if I get anywhere.

JTAnderson

12-09-05, 11:41 AM

Semi useless.............as bad as saying it won't record mono stations.
What, Hollywood is worried about copying analog material and selling copies on every street corner?

These manufactures are something else. No wonder it didn't sell.
Let's see. So you would like to pay for an MPEG2 encoder in your TV on the off chance you might want to attach one of these devices and record analog channels?

Diode1

12-09-05, 01:23 PM

I was able to pull the 1GB image from the partition with R-Studio NTFS ver. 2.0 build 121000
I have no idea what the format actually is, R-Studio supports several.
R-Studio could not read any of the files themselves.
If someone has a spare drive and would like me to send this 1 GB file, pm me an ftp upload site. I have no way to say if this file is restorable on a bare drive & have the DVR recognize it after words. "IE upgrade drive size" I do not have a TV / Display that supports this DVR device.

videobruce

12-09-05, 01:31 PM

Yes.

At a manufacturing level that might be, what, $10?

sneals2000

12-09-05, 01:52 PM

Let's see. So you would like to pay for an MPEG2 encoder in your TV on the off chance you might want to attach one of these devices and record analog channels?

Though these days SD MPEG2 encoders are not THAT expensive - with sub £100 DVD Recorders employing them. (If the encoder was on the recorder rather than the TV it would presumably complicate things though - so I see your argument about including it in the TV)

JTAnderson

12-09-05, 02:23 PM

Yes.

At a manufacturing level that might be, what, $10?
I doubt there are too many manufacturers, with the sense god gave a stick, who would add a $10 part to a TV to provide a feature that approximately 0% of their customers would use.

CKNA

12-09-05, 05:35 PM

This won't record an analog NTSC channel??

It will not record analog as it is only for recoding streams. It will record analog if you digitize it and feed it as transport stream.

CKNA

12-09-05, 05:37 PM

Semi useless.............as bad as saying it won't record mono stations.
What, Hollywood is worried about copying analog material and selling copies on every street corner?

These manufactures are something else. No wonder it didn't sell.

It has nothing to do with Hollywood. These drives are just bit buckets and they exactly do what they were designed to do.

CKNA

12-09-05, 05:41 PM

CKNA

12-09-05, 05:45 PM

Yes.

At a manufacturing level that might be, what, $10?

Not as easy as just adding Mpeg2 encoder. Besides compressing you need to turn into transport stream. This complicates things.

jakebryant

12-09-05, 06:51 PM

Samsung TV Guide is incomplete. There is no option to set recording to firewire device. It works no problem with Sharp TV's with TV Guide.

Does the Sharp's version of TVGOS do the scheduling via firewire, or is that done by a part of the Sharp menu GUI?

I believe in the RCA Scenium TV's, it is done through the TV's menu gui - part of which is a setting that designates a 'default recording device' (you can select firewire).

However, if there is a version of TVGOS (and not a TV's seperate menu gui) that allows you to select 'record to firewire', then there is hope for us Samsung folks that Samsung will upgrade to this version via new firmware.

CKNA

12-09-05, 11:17 PM

Does the Sharp's version of TVGOS do the scheduling via firewire, or is that done by a part of the Sharp menu GUI?

I believe in the RCA Scenium TV's, it is done through the TV's menu gui - part of which is a setting that designates a 'default recording device' (you can select firewire).

However, if there is a version of TVGOS (and not a TV's seperate menu gui) that allows you to select 'record to firewire', then there is hope for us Samsung folks that Samsung will upgrade to this version via new firmware.

TVGOS in Sharp gives a choice to set recording to Ilink device. It will record to whatever device is selected in firewire menu. If DVHS is selected then it records to DVHS. If AVHDD is selected then it records to AVHDD.

videobruce

12-10-05, 08:30 AM

Not as easy as just adding Mpeg2 encoder. Besides compressing you need to turn into transport stream. This complicates things. Ok, $20.

Point is, why have a device that can only do half a job? It will be years before analog is gone (if ever completely). There is very lettile 'digital' material there now compared with analog.

Poor management decision again. :mad:

sneals2000

12-10-05, 09:40 AM

Ok, $20.

Point is, why have a device that can only do half a job? It will be years before analog is gone (if ever completely). There is very lettile 'digital' material there now compared with analog.

Poor management decision again. :mad:

I guess the issue is complicated by that fact that in many countries, digital transmissions are only available to the consumer to record in analogue form.

So even though digital satellite, cable and OTA are widespread, and analogue limited to OTA terrestrial in many regions, the output of cable and satellite boxes is still analogue in many areas.

The only way of recording these digitally is to use proprietary DVR/PVR devices.

(The US is lucky to have mandated Firewire support and CableCard. Many areas don't and are far more limited in recording options. It will be interesting to see if and how HD-DVD and BluRay recorders are interfaced / integrated in these regions.)

Bxz

12-10-05, 09:42 AM

CKNA,

where do u setup this TVguide recording device, i mean in TV guide setup it only has VCR setup, i can see this HDD fine if i click "iLink".

thx

TVGOS in Sharp gives a choice to set recording to Ilink device. It will record to whatever device is selected in firewire menu. If DVHS is selected then it records to DVHS. If AVHDD is selected then it records to AVHDD.

CKNA

12-10-05, 05:18 PM

Ok, $20.

Point is, why have a device that can only do half a job? It will be years before analog is gone (if ever completely). There is very lettile 'digital' material there now compared with analog.

Poor management decision again. :mad:

Analog will be gone sooner than you think. While cable has no hard cut off date, they will start shutting off analog very quickly next year. Analog is waste of bandwith. In space of one analog channel they can put 2, 3 HD channels in Mpeg2 or even more using Mpeg4.

Diode1

12-10-05, 05:32 PM

Analog will be gone sooner than you think. While cable has no hard cut off date, they will start shutting off analog very quickly next year. Analog is waste of bandwith.

Agreed, the 9/11 report & commission has stated this week they need some of that bandwidth for first responder communications. You will see the FCC start moving this conversion faster.

videobruce

12-11-05, 08:46 AM

Analog will be gone sooner than you think. What, two or three years from now?While cable has no hard cut off date, they will start shutting off analog very quickly next year. and how do you know that? It's a lower level tier that many can only afford (depending on how the cable operator prices their services). I wouldn't be too sure about that. More than you think don't really care about digital anything and can't/won't bother with digital channels. Cable needs all the subs they can get.

Bxz

12-11-05, 05:31 PM

Well, i just love this RCA 2160 on my Sharp, although the shapr desn't have the RCA menu for live TV pause, FF, FW, but i just press the record botton if i want the program to be live paused, then i can do just a TiVO does, play that's just be recorded, FF, FW, it just works like what RCA HDTV is supposed to work with this DVR, anyway, i have 3 2160 stacked together, guess that 480G should be enough for a while :-)

Diode1

12-12-05, 09:09 AM

i have 3 2160 stacked together, guess that 480G should be enough for a while :-)
So your Sharp can see & record to all three?
Does the sharp let you pick the RCA DVR to be receorded on.
Please refresh me, what Sharp model?
edit: DU5?

cajun4x4

12-12-05, 09:33 AM

Are these DVR2160 units from HDtoystore in fact the real thing? I saw that Indigita has started selling there units on there website for about $399.

Diode1

12-12-05, 10:16 AM

Are these DVR2160 units from HDtoystore in fact the real thing? I saw that Indigita has started selling there units on there website for about $399.
What do you mean real thing? Are they the Indigita product?
Yes,
Are they 100% identical? No

Other than the DVR case itself, the RCA is nicer imo, the cooling fan also helps on the RCA model.
I am sure the software may be very similar if not identical other than the product id code.
Remember, the controller chip has features that can be enabled or not within.
Did all the clone brands enable these within the unit? I really do not think we will ever find this privileged information.

cajun4x4

12-12-05, 10:42 AM

What I meant to say was if it was in fact the real RCA DVR2160 unit that other dealers are selling for $400? I ordered one this morning and wanted to know if I was getting the actual RCA unit.

Diode1

12-12-05, 11:03 AM

Yes its the real thing.
I would also say that I bet not many are selling at them high prices and or they do not even have any.
Even ebay lastnight one new sold for under $100 shipped. One also sold for $140+

cajun4x4

12-12-05, 11:11 AM

Interesting...I may have to buy another then. I heard these units work quite well with Mitsubishi DLP and LCD units. Thanks for the quick reply and assurance.

Bxz

12-12-05, 03:52 PM

Yes, sharp recognize all of them in chain, u just pick which one u wanna use, yes mine is 37D5U, i was talking with Mike from sharp to see if sharp will ever make a nicer firmware to include some new menus to command this thing. But anyway, i'm fine with it even now.

I suggest everyone who has firewire port HDTV get one when it's still available for that price.

So your Sharp can see & record to all three?
Does the sharp let you pick the RCA DVR to be receorded on.
Please refresh me, what Sharp model?
edit: DU5?

olt1892

12-12-05, 06:08 PM

Yes, sharp recognize all of them in chain, u just pick which one u wanna use, yes mine is 37D5U, i was talking with Mike from sharp to see if sharp will ever make a nicer firmware to include some new menus to command this thing. But anyway, i'm fine with it even now.

I suggest everyone who has firewire port HDTV get one when it's still available for that price.

Hi Bxz,

A couple of questions:

Are you able to watch a different TV program, while the AVHDD is recording?

Can you leave the TV in the "standby" mode while the AVHDD is doing a timer recording?

Thanks.

Tony

cajun4x4

12-12-05, 08:25 PM

How long has it taken hdtoystore to ship the dvr2160? Thanks

mark

Diode1

12-12-05, 09:10 PM

Mark
HDToy store just uses a distributor that has about 30 locations around the country.
You will see it within just two-three days.

cajun4x4

12-13-05, 06:36 AM

Looks like I will get it next day here in Houston. Has anyone found a way to get content off of the drive and onto a IP network yet?

Bxz

12-13-05, 09:52 AM

U have to watch the same program in order to record, it doesn't have its own tuner, since the recording command is sent from the TV, i think the TV has to be on.

Hi Bxz,

A couple of questions:

Are you able to watch a different TV program, while the AVHDD is recording?

Can you leave the TV in the "standby" mode while the AVHDD is doing a timer recording?

Thanks.

Tony

olt1892

12-13-05, 12:19 PM

U have to watch the same program in order to record, it doesn't have its own tuner, since the recording command is sent from the TV, i think the TV has to be on.

I see. Thank you.

Nathan_R

12-14-05, 10:41 AM

I received a replacement Motorola 6412III this morning, and started playing around with different firewire options. For what it's worth, I successfully recorded MAX-HD from the Moto 6412 to the RCA 2160 via my Mits 52628. So, in effect, I just doubled my disc-based HD recording capacity. I'm going to add my JVC 5u to the chain and see if I can dump from the RCA to it.

Airblair

12-14-05, 01:02 PM

U have to watch the same program in order to record, it doesn't have its own tuner, since the recording command is sent from the TV, i think the TV has to be on.

It doesn't only have to be plugged in, it has to be turned on? And you can't watch other sources while it records? Wow, if that's the same for all manufacturers (hello Mits!), that's a dealbreaker and a really stupid decision.

On the other hand:

I received a replacement Motorola 6412III this morning, and started playing around with different firewire options. For what it's worth, I successfully recorded MAX-HD from the Moto 6412 to the RCA 2160 via my Mits 52628. So, in effect, I just doubled my disc-based HD recording capacity. I'm going to add my JVC 5u to the chain and see if I can dump from the RCA to it.

:eek:

If I had cable, maybe this wouldn't be such a bad device to have . . .

cajun4x4

12-14-05, 01:35 PM

You do not have to have the TV on to record. The TV does have to be on the source that is to be recorded though.

Mark

Bxz

12-15-05, 08:34 PM

Unless u use the TV guide do scheduled recording, then u don't have to turn on the TV. I tried and it works very nice, assume u have setup ur TVGOS on ur HDTV. :)

I see. Thank you.

Dallas_Native

12-15-05, 10:47 PM

I bought the 2160 to go with my new Mits 52628. I also purchased my 2160 from HD Toystore. With my Mitsubishi 52628 I can set it up recordings in a variety of ways. Same time every day, same time every week, etc. Not quite the same as the season pass that TIVO has but clearly functional. The new Mitsubishi tv's with Netcommand 5 enable you to watch any input while it is recording. You can also watch a previously recorded program while recording. I don't think last year's models could to that.

I have used the TV guide service to set up recordings as well as the Netcommand 5 native feature. It works exactly as expected. I just record HD OTA content. I have an upgraded DirecTivo for non-HD programs and complement this with the 2160 for HD OTA recording.

I am considering buying at least one more 2160 to get more capacity. The price is hard to beat. BTW, when you set up the recording, you tell it which 1394 device you want to use. Pretty simple. Since the 1394 devices can be daisy chained, I wonder what the max number of 2160's might be?

Regarding getting the content onto a PC, I plan to try using my Mac powerbook with a large USB hard drive as a DVHS to archive data from the 2160. Then I can attach the hard drive to my pc and see if VLC or BeyondTV 4 can play the files. Should work I think. I did try attaching my PB to the tv and it was recognized as a DVHS. I recorded a short program to my PB internal hard drive and could play it back through the tv. Since the PB is only passing the transport stream from the hard drive to the tv, it doesn't require much processing power. However, my powerbook cannot play the file back on its screen. With VLC it tries but has excessive jumpiness etc. Not at all viewable.

If I had an old firewire equipped mac, I would build my own 2160 clone and have unlimited drive capacity. Since the mac is only running the Virtual DVHS program which passes data streams to/from the drive, it doesn't have to be very powerful. Too close to Christmas to buy anything else right now but I can't resist checking prices of the mac Cubes on eBay. I think that would make a cool looking addition to my media devices.

So many fun things to try and not nearly enough time.

Mike

videobruce

12-16-05, 11:47 AM

It doesn't only have to be plugged in, it has to be turned on? And you can't watch other sources while it records? Wow, if that's the same for all manufacturers (hello Mits!), that's a dealbreaker and a really stupid decision. The Mits 1080p has TWO ATSC/QAM tuners. One big plus with this model. Too bad there were more minuses............ :mad:

This will (should) work with the Samsungs' and Toshibas' also.

cajun4x4

12-16-05, 12:48 PM

And that is what sucks about buying these damn TV's. Had I known that the newer models had the dual tuner capabilities I would have opted for the 52628.

videobruce

12-16-05, 12:56 PM

Planned obsolescence.

Nice to have two digital tuners, too bad they couldn't get the analog to display or sound properly. :mad:

jumpinjoe

12-16-05, 03:53 PM

I don't mean to hijack the thread but can someone offer an explanation.

I have a Toshiba 72HM195 with the Symbio attached. I believe the Symbio will not allow me to record one show while watching another.

Well today I did a manual record on a HD program. Tried to change input and naturally it would not let me. Tried to tune to CNN (39) and it would not let me. So then I used the "channel up" button on the remote and sure enough I could change channels but only on a limited basis with no ability to tune to another HD channel.

I made it all the way to CNN and then tried to change the channel with the #'s on the remote and again it would not let me. I went back and reviewed the recording and it recorded the entire HD program from start to finish despite the fact that I changed channels.

So even though the Symbio is not suppose to let me change channels I was able to. But why only a limited # of channels?

Thanks for any input you can offer.

videobruce

12-16-05, 04:10 PM

The Toshiba has two ATSC/QAM tuners?

Bxz

12-16-05, 05:24 PM

kcgr

12-16-05, 05:56 PM

Has anyone with a Hitachi integrated set (with firewire of course) tried these? I have a DVHS unit and it works well with zero issues, if that is a point of reference.

I have a 51S700 BTW.

videobruce

12-16-05, 07:48 PM

i don't know why they don't even put a power switch on this thing. I believe they are meant to be left on all the time. They apparently haven't read my sig. :mad:

jumpinjoe

12-16-05, 09:20 PM

The Toshiba has two ATSC/QAM tuners?

Right now I am recording HBO HD on the Symbio and I turned the channel using the "channel up" and "channel down" buttons on the Toshiba remote.

When I do the I get a message in the upper right corner of the screen that says : "Tuner Hold: On"

But once again, I can only tune to maybe 20 stations while recording and I can't tune a HD station.

What is really intersting is that I just stopped recording on HD and went to a SD program to record. When I do this I can tune to any channel using the #'s on the remote except for HD staions (those I have to use the channel up or down to get to) and I can watch HD while recording the SD on the Symbio. :)

But in order to stop the Symbio from recording you have to go back to the original station and hit the record button to get it to stop.

I did not think you could do this with the TV or the Symbio. I'm psyched!

jumpinjoe

12-16-05, 09:29 PM

Well, my sharp sometimes will not be able to see the RCA, u have to power cycle the RCA in order to be found, anyone experienced the same? i don't know why they don't even put a power switch on this thing.

It's always running so it can record everything you watch in order to make use of the "pause live TV function" but why it does not turn off when the TV turns off beat me. Maybe because it would take too long to "cycle up" and it may not catch the first few minutes of the program you are watching???

videobruce

12-17-05, 09:39 AM

But once again, I can only tune to maybe 20 stations while recording and I can't tune a HD station. Two tuners; one NTSC, the other ATSC/QAM.

jumpinjoe

12-17-05, 11:13 PM

Two tuners; one NTSC, the other ATSC/QAM.

Thanks for clarifying. I did some research (on the forum) to understand how it works. You are correct. I can record one format (digital or analog) and watch the other becuase of dual tuners but I can't record and watch both formats.

/Joe

videobruce

12-18-05, 11:15 AM

Then that Toshiba is a carbon copy of the Mits 1080 DLP. Two ATSC/QAM tuners, 1394 out for a PVR with the recording control ability and the grossly high power comsumption on or off!

memnoch

12-19-05, 12:54 PM

i just bought a DVR2160 myself and i would like to know how to get the replay & skip functions to work from the remote from a Mitsubishi set (WS-55613)? what codes or buttons to press? thanks.

UMD_Terp

12-28-05, 12:13 PM

kcgr

12-28-05, 07:45 PM

To followup on my earlier post re: success with hitachi integrated sets *S700's and the 2160, I found one guy on fatwallet that claims the TV won't see the DVR.

I can't see why. Is it possible that only the older hitachi's support dvhs and not avhdd's? Is the communication protocol different?

MitsuHelp

12-29-05, 08:23 AM

HDToystore has these for $100 or so so I am thinking of just getting one to go along with my Mits. 52725 to see if I can record from its internal QAM tuner successfully. It's good to see people with newer 1080p sets have had good luck with these, but I haven't heard of anyone with the previous 720p DLPs getting the 2160 to work. I am wondering if the QAM tuner/firewire output on the older sets and the newer ones is the same or not.

UMD.... if you remember, I am the one with the Mits that can not record to my DVHS due to the QAM passing all subchannels to the DVHS. The manual for the DVR2160 says that it can only record one subchannel and to use the Ch+ Ch- to tune to the correct subchannel to record.....COULD THIS BE my replacement for my DVHS recording through QAM on the Mits???? Someone...anyone.... have you used this feature ..... and possibility on a Mits????
Dang..... I'm excited!!!!!

MitsuHelp

12-29-05, 08:36 AM

Nathan_R

12-29-05, 09:22 AM

Yes.

UMD_Terp

12-29-05, 09:58 AM

The thing here is that Nathan_R has a newer Mits. set... the tuner may actually demux the subchannel before sending it out of the firewire port thus making everything work fine. I am still wondering whether there are differences between the newer tuners and the tuners in the 525/725 sets.

On the Netcommand recording menu, can you specify the subchannel as well on the 1080p Mits sets?

MitsuHelp

12-29-05, 10:26 AM

UMD.... from the questions that I have asked...

It looks like you can tell the 2160 which subchannel you want to record. So by my thinking, since my Mits sends all subchannels (which is my DVHS recording problem), if I have the 2160, I can specify which subchannel I want to record and my problem will be solved...

My understanding, all subchannels from Mits QAM > firewire to 2160 > 2160 select the subchannel I want directly on the 2160....bingo I can record!

Hope that is right!

UMD_Terp

12-29-05, 11:12 AM

That is what I am hoping as well... it's a $99 experiment, but if it works, then great... plus, you can hook the DVCR up in the firewire chain and then send the recorded programs to the DVCR to archive on tape... :D

MitsuHelp

12-29-05, 12:04 PM

I'm about to do the $99 experiment....but as I'm on the phone with RCA/Thompson.....about to hit the $pend button!!!!1

MitsuHelp

12-29-05, 12:22 PM

CKNA

12-29-05, 01:50 PM

CHA-CHING.....just ordered! RCA/Thompson was not too much help but they said that you control which subchannel you record on the DVR itself. Hope they are right! Will let you know what happens! gotta go set up the tent in the front yard and wait for delivery!

They are wrong. These drives are bit buckets. The drive records whatever it gets from the tuner. If you tuner does not demux channels then you will get the whole stream.

scoombs

12-29-05, 02:29 PM

MitsuHelp

12-29-05, 05:04 PM

CKNA

12-29-05, 05:32 PM

CKNA... I hope you are wrong! I have a Mits & 2000u and I can't record because all of the subchannels are fed to the the DVHS and the Mits blows up (reboots). I would not care in the least if you are right about the DVR2160 if it does record all of the subchannels...just as long as it can and the Mits does not explode as usual!

BTW....one Mits repair place decieded they did not want to work on my warranty repair on this issue of the Mits rebooting. They said that Mitsubishi does not pay them for all of the work & they have to purchase parts to try to repair and the second shop is saying that Mitsubishi is not working with them in as far a telling them what to do to fix the problem! They said that it should be a software fix but Mitsubishi is not returning calls. Been there!

I can tell you that I am right as far as AVC control of these drives. I have Toshiba AVHDD as well as DVR2160 and they both work the way I explained. These drives are controlled by TV. There is nothing that can be selected on these units.

As far as recording a whole stream, it should work. The problem is that you will waste space as QAM256 channels has data rate of 39Mbps. You will be able to store about 8 hours plus there might not be a way to select subchannels.

Let us know how it goes, when you get it.

MitsuHelp

12-29-05, 05:58 PM

CKNA....will do! As I said, I would be very happy if I could record cable (QAM) from the Mits without having to pay for a STB since Mitusbishi does not allow you to record the channel you want...forcing you to record all subchannels!

UMD_Terp

12-29-05, 09:43 PM

They are wrong. These drives are bit buckets. The drive records whatever it gets from the tuner. If you tuner does not demux channels then you will get the whole stream.

Under the specs for the indigita drive, the following is a bullet item:

PID filtering for demultiplexing transport streams

Am I wrong to assume that this is the desired functionality?? .. or is the indigita drive actually configured to use this option whereas the 2160 is not?

Plus, even if you are able to record all subchannels in the DVR and play them back... I know for a fact that the Mits. TV will give you the ability to select a single subchannel to view out of the whole stream. I was in fact once able to record a digital weather channel using my HD2000 DVCR from the QAM tuner. I got that channel as well as all the digital music stations that happened to be on the same stream. I was able to select between all of them upon playback from the DVCR on the TV's GUIDE menu.

MitsuHelp

12-30-05, 06:54 AM

Under the specs for the indigita drive, the following is a bullet item:

PID filtering for demultiplexing transport streams

Am I wrong to assume that this is the desired functionality?? .. or is the indigita drive actually configured to use this option whereas the 2160 is not?

Plus, even if you are able to record all subchannels in the DVR and play them back... I know for a fact that the Mits. TV will give you the ability to select a single subchannel to view out of the whole stream. I was in fact once able to record a digital weather channel using my HD2000 DVCR from the QAM tuner. I got that channel as well as all the digital music stations that happened to be on the same stream. I was able to select between all of them upon playback from the DVCR on the TV's GUIDE menu.

you said you were once able to record the weather channel from QAM....can't you do that anymore? Which Mits do you have?

On the DVR2160....HDTOYSTORE is great! I ordered it yesterday about 1pm EST and it will be delivered today! MAN, I hope this is going to be a good day!

UMD_Terp

12-30-05, 08:50 AM

you said you were once able to record the weather channel from QAM....can't you do that anymore? Which Mits do you have?

On the DVR2160....HDTOYSTORE is great! I ordered it yesterday about 1pm EST and it will be delivered today! MAN, I hope this is going to be a good day!

I was able to do it because my cable co muxed the weather channel and all the digital music channels on one stream. That all combined was less than the DVCR maximum bandwidth. That is why I was able to do it. I can't anymore, because they shifted around the channels again and put more stuff on that one stream. I have a 52725 and a HD2000U DVCR...

Looking forward to hear how it works for you. If it is a success, I will go ahead and get the 2160 as well. Thanks!

kcgr

12-30-05, 10:26 AM

I reskimmed earlier posts and there was a note about these being for DCR ready sets. For those that had no success hooking straight to the TV, is your set DCR ready? I guess a similar question would go to those with older nonDCR sets ... did it work?

My hitachi predated cablecard by 1 year so my firewire is OTA programs only.

mejensen

12-30-05, 06:43 PM

Has any body had any luck with the 2160 and a 45" Sharp? I have the LC45GX6U, and all I get is a no iLink device detected message. Power cycling has not helped.

kcgr

12-30-05, 08:24 PM

according to your manual p60:

i. LINK devices that can be connected to this TV.
Only D-VHS decks can be connected to this System.

Now, this get's me back to one of my questions: are there 2 different communication protocols over firewire (dvhs and avhdd)?

My manual for my hitachi 51S700 just references devices with "digital interface capability"

I'm thinking it should work, but then again ......

I may just have to jump in the deep end and check it out.

bdfox18doe

12-30-05, 08:34 PM

kcgr

12-30-05, 09:14 PM

bdfox18doe: quickly take it to someone that has the same hitachi model as I do (*S700) and see if it works :D

I should e-mail cajun4x4 earlier in the thread and ask him to bring his over to test, as he's also in Houston :p

kcgr

12-30-05, 09:40 PM

to those who bought from hdtoystore, has anyone tried to return an item? I can't find any info on them at all regarding merchant ratings etc. (except for some ebay feedback).

I don't expect a problem ordering an item just returning it if it doesn't work out.

thanks

CKNA

12-30-05, 09:49 PM

CKNA

12-30-05, 09:51 PM

Has any body had any luck with the 2160 and a 45" Sharp? I have the LC45GX6U, and all I get is a no iLink device detected message. Power cycling has not helped.

It works fine with my Sharp. Try another cable. It could also be that either TV or the drive is defective. Do you have any other firewire devices that work?.

UMD_Terp

12-30-05, 11:04 PM

My Mits 62725 will NOT record to this drive from cable..box recoreds for about 2 seconds then quits. Recording OTA works just fine.. :(

Interesting... I doubt the problem is with the actual control from the TV. I bet it may be because you are getting multiple subchannels over the link rather than a single channel. I wonder if the drive is expecting only one demuxed channel and then applying the 5c decoding. If so, it will trip up if it is getting more than one subchannel as may be the case since the set is not demuxing the subchannel and sending out the whole stream.

MitsuHelp said he would get his drive today and he also has an older Mits. DLP... I wonder how he is doing with it...

scoombs

12-31-05, 08:21 AM

Speaking of $99 experiments ($0.00 to experiment actually, $99 if you activate)...this seems like a great solution with potentially unlimited capacity. The only presumption is you have a PC available with firewire.

http://vividlogic.com/products/dtvr_download_now.html

Well, good thing the experiment was free. The Firebus application installed without a glitch, but that was the only thing that went well. After install and reboot, I attached to my TV but nothing was detected on the bus. It turns out that the Firebus service, which is set to Automatic, was failing to start, so doing a manual start solved it, and the TV detected it properly as an AVDisk. The app would be ideal, if there were just a work-around to the following:

- BSOD every time the Content Manager app is launched
- PC locking up hard every time you kick off a recording to the Firebus AVDisk
- Inability to record to my TV's integrated AVDisk with the Firebus attached, resulting in an "inoperable" message for the integrated unit
- Inability to now delete the resultant zero-byte file on the integrated AVDisk, even after getting it addressable again by removing the PC from the bus, and cycling the TV.

MitsuHelp

12-31-05, 08:51 AM

Interesting... I doubt the problem is with the actual control from the TV. I bet it may be because you are getting multiple subchannels over the link rather than a single channel. I wonder if the drive is expecting only one demuxed channel and then applying the 5c decoding. If so, it will trip up if it is getting more than one subchannel as may be the case since the set is not demuxing the subchannel and sending out the whole stream.

MitsuHelp said he would get his drive today and he also has an older Mits. DLP... I wonder how he is doing with it...

NOT WELL….Mitsubishi is a real disappointment!

Got the DVR2160, records great from STB…just like my DVHS. Tried to record direct cable through QAM tuner….BAM…Mits reboots. Obviously the 2160 is just like the DVHS, it does not want all of the additional subchannels. The manual for the 2160 does state that you can only record the “subchannel” that you are watching. The manual also says to CH+ CH- to choose the subchannel that you want to record. From my understanding, this subchannel selecting was through the 2160 as confirmed by the RCA\Thompson people during my phone call several days ago. Reality…the CH+ CH- means to channel up and down in the recording menu on the Mits to select the subchannel that you want to record.
THUS BEING THE PROBLEM WITH MY MITSUBISHI….. you CAN NOT select a subchannel to record….you must record all subchannels that are under the major channel. In order to record all of the subchannels, you would need a device that permits such large data rate. How asinine! Who would want to record 5, 10, 20 channels at one time? I just want to record what I want to watch later! If these recording devices could handle the high data rate, I could purchase cases of DVHS tapes to record one show or install a NAS for the DVR to record one show! This is aggravating! I have been fighting this for over a year….and I hate having to rent a cable box to record something…..too bad the QAM tuner in the Mits is not as good as the one in my SA3250 (STB)!

Sorry to go on about this but I just don’t understand. The SA STB obviously does not push out all of the subchannels. When you watch a TV show through the QAM “integrated tuner” on the Mits, you do not see 5 different shows at one time…..why do I have to find a recording device that will record 5 different shows at one time when I only want to record one?

UMD…is your Mits the WD-52725? I downloaded the manual and in the recording menu it shows the channel to record and it shows the ‘major channel – subchannel’ whereas my menu will only show the major channel. I was thinking that the newer Mits that show the ‘major channel – subchannel’ would allow you to record only the subchannel that you wanted….not every subchannel under the major channel.

Looks like bdfox18doe is in the same boat. According to his manual, like yours UMD, the recording menu shows a subchannel to record (unlike my menu). I would have thought that your newer Mits would work since it looks like the recording menu is showing that it would only be passing the ONE subchannel…..guess this is another misleading advertisement from Mitsubishi!

I wonder if there is an external HDTV tuner with QAM that works in this scenario…only passing the subchannel that you want?

UMD_Terp

12-31-05, 10:30 AM

I have the Mits. 52725 and it behaves the same as yours. All channels go out the firewire port regardless of what the menus say. This has been proven... even if you record OTA, you will see the other subchannels that are there like the weather simulcasts and such that some stations put out.

Maybe I'll try and call Mitsubishi again as I do still have a case # pending with them about this issue... if nothing, I'll see what they have to say.

Also, what page in the manual are you referring to?

MitsuHelp

12-31-05, 03:54 PM

I believe page 55 (record list screen) & page 56 where it shows the recording menu....both show a 'major channel and the subchannel' (from what it looks like from the downloaded pdf and zoomed in....doesn't your record menu show a subchannel?)

Yes....call Mitsubishi... I did again last night. My case has been pending for over a year now and I now have a second repair place working on it (first gave up since Mitsubishi does not pay for all of their time and the repair place has to buy the parts upfront and they say that Mitsubishi is no help!)

UMD_Terp

12-31-05, 08:21 PM

I see what you are talking about... it is definitely there in the manual.

My case has also been pending for a year now. I will call and see what they say and keep you informed.

mejensen

12-31-05, 10:07 PM

It works fine with my Sharp. Try another cable. It could also be that either TV or the drive is defective. Do you have any other firewire devices that work?.

I am using a 4 pin to 6 pin firewire cable. The Sharp has a 4 pin connector. I don't have any other firewire devices to try. What Sharp do you have, and how recent is it?

MitsuHelp

01-02-06, 08:38 AM

UMD_Terp

01-02-06, 10:13 AM

I forgot to mention one thing. This DVR does work with my Mits great but it works just like my 2000u. The one thing that I can not get it to do (yet) is the timeshifting. In the manual you should be able to get to a menu page to set up timeshifting. I am unable to get to it. Anyone have any ideas?

Mitsubishi customer relation is closed today... I called them, but got the recording...

Anyhow, are you trying to time-shift OTA broadcasts?

MitsuHelp

01-03-06, 07:21 AM

gtjr92

01-04-06, 01:57 PM

scoombs

01-04-06, 03:33 PM

Can I just plug in any Firewire Hard Drive to my mits wd52525 and it will act like a dvr? I have read this elsewhere, but have not confirmed it. I don't want to be out a couple hundred bucks if this is not true.
Thanks

I can tell you absolutely positively that when I plugged my couple hundred buck firewire drive into my wd73927, the tv ignored it very thoroughly. On the other hand, when I plugged my $99 firewire DVR2160 drive in, it worked like a charm.

ctdish

01-04-06, 03:59 PM

kcgr

01-04-06, 07:43 PM

Mine arrived today: my hitachi integrated set doesn't even see it :mad:

I've rebooted and changed plugs around without success.

I'll check if Hitachi has a firmware update, otherwise this is a no go for me.

Anyone in Houston want it at my cost if I have no luck with Hitachi?

gtjr92

01-04-06, 08:16 PM

where is everyone finding this RCA DVR2160 for $99? The best i found was $129.

I have a mits 52525 with cable card. I just plug this into to the TV and the tv will manage it?

Thanks

Nevermind I just ordered mine from Beach audio for $500 NOT got it from hdstore. $99

MitsuHelp

01-05-06, 09:56 AM

I got a DVR2160 today and connected it to my Mits 55613. It found it right away and I can record and playback. It did cause a TV reboot on the first try recording. The DVR was quite cold at the time and I had a reception glitch a few seconds into the recording. No cable here; the recording was from over the air. Two subsequent recordings went OK from the same channel. John

I have the Mits 55513 which I think is basically the same as your Mits. My Mits reboots when ever I record OTA or cable through the QAM and the channel I want to record has several other subchannls. Seems from what others have stated is that the Mits pass all of the subchannels for the major channel that you are watching….not just the channel you want to record. We have confirmed this since you can record to a DVHS and upon playback, you can go through the guide on the DVHS and see and even switch to the other subchannels. UMD_Terp and myself have had trouble cases with Mitsubishi (for OVER a YEAR in my case) trying to get this resolved. In my case I have to use a STB to record channels that have multiple subchannels.

If you don’t mind….try to confirm the rebooting for me. Try a channel that has only a few subchannels then one that has about 4 subchannels and see if the one with 4 causes the reboot. It could be that the total of the subchannels have a greater data rate than what the recorder will allow….The good thing about the 2160 is that it only records the channel that you want to record therefore saving HD space but you can only record the channels that have limited subchannels.

GTJR92…..got my 2160 from hdtoystore.com for $99….try them…they are great! Ordered it on Thursday at about 2pm and got it the next day!

gtjr92

01-05-06, 09:59 AM

Thanks for the info I ordered mine from HDstore earlier. I will try what you asked once i get mine.
I have time warner cable so they could make a difference as to how they use sub channels.

MitsuHelp

01-05-06, 10:04 AM

Thanks for the info I ordered mine from HDstore earlier. I will try what you asked once i get mine.
I have time warner cable so they could make a difference as to how they use sub channels.

Got TWC also....they squeeze every little bit into a channel as they can....let us know!

kcgr

01-05-06, 06:49 PM

some more info on my Hitachi...

I called Hitachi to ask about a firmware upgrade, as I have version 1.05 for firewire control. They are up to 1.26, so maybe this upgrade will get the set to see the DVR. Hopefully they'll get the MMC upgrade/flash card to me soon.

gtjr92

01-06-06, 06:40 PM

Diode1
On an XP machine, the RCA DVR2160 shows up as:
RCA / dev/sbp0 IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device under disk drives
So can you hook it up to your pc and pull Video files off it?
Thanks

Bxz

01-06-06, 06:46 PM

No, u can't, what u see on XP is only1G size, which is some kinda header info of the disk.

So can you hook it up to your pc and pull Video files off it?
Thanks

gtjr92

01-07-06, 08:29 AM

If I had 2 rca 2160's could i daisy chain them would i then be able to record 2 shows at once? Or is it already possible to record 2 shows at once with just one 2160?
I just ordered mine and should get it monday so If it works i may get another one.

ctdish

01-07-06, 10:57 AM

i just bought a DVR2160 myself and i would like to know how to get the replay & skip functions to work from the remote from a Mitsubishi set (WS-55613)? what codes or buttons to press? thanks.

My Mits will induce a skip (might be 30 seconds) by hitting the channel up or down button when the DVR is playing. Good for getting through commercials fast. John

canondave

01-08-06, 12:50 PM

From my call to Mitsubishi.... I should be hearing from a higher level person to complain to. Been searching several things on the net and trying to get names & emails for when I finally blow my top!

DVR2160....
According to the manual, if you check the third level of the DTV Link setup:
“Select the third level if you want to continuously record (buffer) digital programs and autotune the TV to the DTVLink component by pressing most transport buttons. When the DVR is turned on, it begins recording digital channels. The continuous recording creates a temporary “live-TV” buffer by continuously recording a digital channel.”

Notes from the second selection:
“Pressing RECORD while you watch a digital program tunes the DTVLink device and begins recording. This lets you watch the program you’re recording and use Instant Replay, Jump Ahead, and time-shifting while still recording the program.”

I have not gone back to the setup of the Mits to see if I can change anything there that may allow the Mits to view the device as a different type of device (AVHDD)….as opposed to a DVR or visa versa…..

Just got mine. :) HDtoys $111.99 and was delivered next-day by UPS.

I just hooked-up the RCA DVR2160 to my Mit WS-65511. My netcommand is v2.0 and I have no menu to change sub-channels or change from the default recorder settings (opt#1). Luckily only FOX has a sub-channel (Tube) and it will record both just fine. I can program recordings up to 7 days out, weekly or daily. I work nights so it is just in time for the playoffs.

I called Mits and they are sending a netcommand update for me. It should be here Mon or Tues. Don't know what improvements it will have if any, will find out. Just happy they had an upgrade for my 65511.

I can use the DVR2160 as a HD-VCR but can only pause and skip (forward and backward) while it is recording a program. On my 65511 I can watch any video input while it is recording a digital program (Dish508, VCR, Dish6000, DVD, X-Box). If I switch to analog input (cable) it stops recording.

I'm happy with it and the picture is great. I'm looking forward to my netcommand update to see if I can activate the buffer (opt#3) so I can watch and pause live HD.

__________________________
Mit. WS-65511 Intergrated
ChannelMaster with Wingard preamp, 20Ft mast
Dish 6000
Dish 508
Kenwood VR-409 w/ JBL Studio 5.1 setup
Sony DVD
X-Box
RCA DVR2160 w/Firewire
Florence, CO

hourglass

01-08-06, 03:05 PM

MitsuHelp- It looks like you have a SA 3250HD STB, MIts HD2000U DVCR, and Mits 55513 HDTV.

I have/(had) a similar setup- SA 3250HD/Mits HD1100U/Mits 65869, but I could never get the 3250HD to put a picture on the 65869 via firewire as long as the DVCR was also in the chain. It would output a picture to the HDTV if the DVCR was disconnected, AND, I could manually record firewire out of the 3250HD if I ONLY connected the 3250HD and DVCR. My fix was to dump the 3250HD. (I put it on another TV).

Based on the posts here (thanks to all) I've ordered a DVR2160 from hdtoystore today. I realize that you bought one hoping that you could turn in your 3250HD, but due to the multiple subchannel issue, that isn't the case. I'm just hoping I can bring the SA 3250HD (SARA) back into my main system by substituting the DVR2160 for my Mits 1100U DVCR.

While I'm waiting for the UPS truck, I hoping you could answer a few questions for me:

1. Do you currently have your SA 3250 connected via firewire to your 55513 along with the DVCR and the DVR2160?

2. Before you had the DVR2160, did you use the 55513 to control firewire recording (e.g. timer) from the 3250HD to the DVCR?

3. Can you now use the 55513 to do timer recording between the 3250HD and the DVR2160?

4. Is there anyway to record from the 3250HD to the DVR2160 WITHOUT the 55513 in the loop? (I could do manual recording this way with my DVCR, but it has a manual record button on it. I don't see any buttons on the DVR2160.)

I'll report back my "luck" with the the DVR2160 next week!

--hourglass

canondave

01-08-06, 07:47 PM

My Mits will induce a skip (might be 30 seconds) by hitting the channel up or down button when the DVR is playing. Good for getting through commercials fast. John

HEY, That works great! Thanks :D

MitsuHelp

01-09-06, 07:09 AM

[QUOTE=hourglass]MitsuHelp- It looks like you have a SA 3250HD STB, MIts HD2000U DVCR, and Mits 55513 HDTV.

While I'm waiting for the UPS truck, I hoping you could answer a few questions for me:

1. Do you currently have your SA 3250 connected via firewire to your 55513 along with the DVCR and the DVR2160?

YES...

2. Before you had the DVR2160, did you use the 55513 to control firewire recording (e.g. timer) from the 3250HD to the DVCR?

YES... on the 3250, I would schedule the recording, then I would schedule the recording on the Mits as well. You don't have to do the programming on the 3250 but this way if I forgot and changed the channel, the 3250 would change back at recording time.

3. Can you now use the 55513 to do timer recording between the 3250HD and the DVR2160?

YES... the same way as above. I hit record on the Mits remote and set the recording through the Mits.

4. Is there anyway to record from the 3250HD to the DVR2160 WITHOUT the 55513 in the loop? (I could do manual recording this way with my DVCR, but it has a manual record button on it. I don't see any buttons on the DVR2160.)

Don't think so?.... The only way that I have been able to record is via the netcommand.

As far as your working with the 3 all connected...3250, Mits & the DVHS...that's odd. Does your Mits see the 3250 when you connect it and you define it in the netcommand? The netcommand device that is created when the 3250 is first connected to the Mits I lable it 3250FW. If I want to see the FW connection from the 3250 via FW, I just change to the device 3250FW.....it takes a few seconds for the picture to start but I can view through the FW.

You will like the 2160...it's great! Let us know how it works! Hay... is that a UPS truck I hear?

gtjr92

01-09-06, 08:56 PM

I got my 2160 today, It records OTA just fine, like a couple others I cannot get it to record cable HD channels. IT records for a couple seconds then nothing. Does anyone know if there is a way to override the Mits menu and instead allow me to use the RCA menu that is built in to the DVR.
That gives me the option to choose what subchannel i want, the Mits menu does not. I have the Mits wd52525 with latest firmware 4.05.
Thanks

gtjr92

01-09-06, 09:25 PM

Anyone know if the 2160 has an IR that can pick up a signal from a remote? If so maybe there is a remote out there that will allow us to control the DVR that way instead of with the TV's menu we can use the RCA menu. Amazon lists this item as coming with a remote, I can't find anywhere else that says this device has a remote.

ctdish

01-09-06, 10:32 PM

No remote comes with it. I doubt that it can even receive a signal from a remote. The menues are made by the controlling device (TV). John

jgibo1

01-10-06, 08:21 AM

MitsuHelp

01-10-06, 09:50 AM

No luck with digital cable. I had decided to just use it as a backup for my moto box incase the cable goes out during the day so I don't miss my soap opera Days of our Lives :)

The 2160 will only record one subchannel...the problem is the Mitsubishi Tuner passes all subchannels as discussed in previous posts......call Mitsubishi and complain like the rest of us are doing!

gtjr92

01-10-06, 10:02 AM

I am working on it. What number is everyone calling? I called this one
866-252-4333 (Mon - Fri 9am-10pm EST. Sat 9am-5pm. Sunday 1-5pm) this morning. I have a trouble ticket in. They wanted to try to help me over the phone (good luck) I am not at my tv right now. I am going to call again when I get home. I spoke to a Susan. I think it could help if we all called the same support number. Even better if we all talk to the same person then they will really know it is a big issue! Then again if that person is a prick it could hurt too. anyway.. I have called the 939 or whatever the long distance # in california is in the past, but not on this issue.
I also sent a detailed message to mdeaservice@mdea.com that is not their technical support email, but I asked susan if I could send an email somewhere to better explain my problem she said they didn't have one!! So I emailed the service email address and asked them to forward it.
I hope they can get this issue resolved as well as being able to configure timeshifting!!

JTAnderson

01-10-06, 01:04 PM

Is there a difference between the way last years Mitsubishi TVs (xxx25 models) and this years (xxx27 and xxx28 models) handle AV Disc? I've seen what I perceive to be conflicting information on this. It seems clear that last years models send the entire transport stream (i.e. all sub-channels) to the AV Disc. I've seen at least one post that indicates this years models allow, or more likely require, you to select a particular sub-channel to record.

Can someone verify or contradict this?

scoombs

01-10-06, 01:17 PM

MitsuHelp

01-10-06, 01:42 PM

I have a Mits 73927, and I can record to the 2160 just fine. I go into the recording menu of the TV, select my source channel, select my target AV Disc, date & time, and that is it.

But are you recording from direct cable through your QAM "integrated tuner" on the Mits a channel with multiple subchannels? If you are recording OTA, try a PBS station, they usually have about 4 subchannels.

JTAnderson

01-10-06, 02:21 PM

I have a Mits 73927, and I can record to the 2160 just fine. I go into the recording menu of the TV, select my source channel, select my target AV Disc, date & time, and that is it.
For the record, this does not at all answer my question.

scoombs

01-10-06, 02:46 PM

For the record, this does not at all answer my question.

Well, I can't answer as to the comparison of this year's model to last, as I don't have last years model. But if you say last years model does not work with the 2160, and I indicate this year's model does work, then you can make an inference that the models behave differently.

I am feeding no OTA into my Mits. I feed QAM cable into both "integrated tuners", and see no way to select a certain sub-channel. On cable-1 with CableCard, the channels are discretely separated in accordance with the Comcast channel line-up. On cable-2 with naked cable input, the channels are identical to cable-1, except I do not have the channels over 100. Instead, the TV has inserted the in-the-clear QAM channels into the existing analog lineup...so, I have PBS on 26, ABC on 27, and it inserts a 26.1 between them which is the digital PBS equivalent.

gtjr92

01-10-06, 02:51 PM

Ok so I talked to mits first line support of course he really didn't know anything. He tried to get me to delete my netcommand setup and reconfigure it I refused.
He said that could be the problem, I said how it records fine from OTA, and went on to explain more. He told me to call RCA I told him they told me to call you. long story short he elevated it to ther senior support. They are supposed to call me.
I saw on here that a few of you were supposed to get higher level support call backs. Did they ever call you back, and what did they try to tell you? This way i can be prepared for some possible generic statements from them.
If you remember who did you talk too?
I'll post who I talked too when they call me then we will have some sort of contact.
Thanks

gtjr92

01-10-06, 02:55 PM

Scoombs
I have PBS on 26, ABC on 27, and it inserts a 26.1 between them which is the digital PBS equivalent.
What if you try to record channel 26? When you go to watch it does it only show you what was on channel 26, or does it record 26.1 and other PBS stations?
When i try to record one PBS channel it instead records all 5.

gtjr92

01-11-06, 06:45 AM

Yesterday I used my 2160 to record an OTA HD Channel, I wanted to test to see if I could turn off the TV and it continue to record. Sure enough it did worked perfectly in that regard. I did this, because I wanted to record Boston Legal last night. I am an early bird, So I don't stay up late enough to see it.
I set up the timer ( I had tested this before with the TV on it worked just fine)
confirmed the recording, and also confirmed that the time on my tv was correct.
Got up today checked the recording and noticed several things, for one it recorded 4 or 5 channels, which is to be expected given my 52525 and the noted issues with it. That i can deal with for now. Here is the odd part, for one my recording said it was for 7 and 1/2 hours! When i played one of the files recorded in that time span the first minute was jay leno
Hence 2 of my first problems
1 Leno is on at 11:30 I set it for 9:58-11:02
2. Leno is on NBC I set it to record ABC No doubt in my mind i set it this way especially since on the recording itself it say channel 9-1 which is my ABC channel in Cincinnati ,
3 While watching the first minute of leno and scratching my head, suddenly there is david letterman He is on CBS! So a couple of minutes of dave go on and then i see that the simpsons are on and the simpsons are on from 11-12 on Channel 19! I didn't have time to see the rest of my recording nor verify if it really did record for 7 hours, or if something else is wrong
4. This is all one recording, not the seperate subchannel recordings, I didn't have time to check all those other sub channels recordings over.

I am wondering if the fact that my tv was off when the recording was going on if maybe that affected all of this somehow.
any other ideas
Thanks

UMD_Terp

01-11-06, 09:22 AM

I am supposed to hear from someone sometime this week regarding the recording issue... nothing yet tho...

MitsuHelp

01-11-06, 09:29 AM

I am supposed to hear from someone sometime this week regarding the recording issue... nothing yet tho...

Hope you get a better response!

I called 12/30 and was told an upper level manager would call by Thursday.....Called last night 1/10 for the same manager that told me someone would call....guess what he nor any other manager was available. I was told someone would call me back by tonight and that the person was going to escalate the call as well to the home office. I did mention to the guy that if he looked at the history, I have been calling for over a year and obviously I was not going to give up!

I'm holding my breath!

canondave

01-11-06, 10:41 AM

MitsuHelp

01-11-06, 04:57 PM

I us my 2160 to record with my TV off just fine. I work nights and sleep during the afternoon. I programed my 2160 to record all the play-off games this past weekend, TV was off and it worked fine with my old 65511.

Glad to hear that some people are having success with the 2160..... are you recording OTA or cable direct?

I am trying to find out what TVs can record via the integrated QAM tuner without having the subchannel issue.

hourglass

01-11-06, 06:46 PM

My RCA DVR2160 arrived today (Wed)!!!! I ordered from HDtoystore on Sunday, so 3 days delivery. My TV is a Mits 65869- the first model with Netcommand (no learning mode), and has an integrated tuner. I upgraded the Netcommand software last year. When I press MENU 0170 on the TV remote, it displays NetCommand Software: V19 001.4 I think this is the latest version for the V19 sets. (Canondave- Can you confirm?)

For initial tryout, I left out the SA3250HD (see my earlier post) My main setup currently has an SA8000HD w/o firewire), but I have an attic OTA ant and get good signals from Philadelphia. I powered up the DVR2160, waited a minute and then connected a firewire cable to it. The firewire lineup was Mits65869 HDTV----Mits 1100U DVCR----DVR2160. NetCommand recognized the DVR2120 and assigned it as AVDISC.

First Test- Record OTA to DVR2160 under NetCommand control- Result:OK (KYW3DT "Dr Phil")- Nice to see that the resulting "guide" of recordings listed "Dr Phil" in addition to the date/time, but you only see the "Dr Phil" tag when you select it to play.

Second Test- Transfer DVHS recording of "Medium" (the 3D glasses episode) to the DVR2120 under NetCommand control. Result:OK, Note- The NBC station that I recorded the show to DVHS from (WCAU-DT) mutiplexes a weather channel. The DVHS tape recorded both, AND both transfered to the DVR2160.

First Problem- When getting ready for the Second Test, I originally got a NetCommand error message when trying to set the input device to the DVCR, but after powercycling the HDTV (left the DVCR and DVR 2160 powered), both were rediscovered, and all was well.

Will do more testing soon. MitsuHelp- Yes when I had the 3250HD (SARA) firewire connected, NetCommand discovered it OK and named it "Tuner". But when I selected Tuner, the screen was black even though the 3250HD was set to a digital channel. Some old posts said this was called the video muting problem and was due to SA not handling the provisions for Emergency Broadcast System correctly. (I think it has to do with the fact that if they drop the BIG ONE, whille your watching Cable TV via firewire, the STB has to get you to switch over to the analog input so the FEDS can tell you to duck & cover, but I could be wrong

--hourglass

MitsuHelp

01-11-06, 06:58 PM

--hourglass

With my 3250 I can view the direct FW output...wierd issue with the SARA & 1100U!

Have you tried recording with the cable direct into your Mits to the 2160 via the integrated tuner?

canondave

01-11-06, 09:19 PM

Glad to hear that some people are having success with the 2160..... are you recording OTA or cable direct?

I am trying to find out what TVs can record via the integrated QAM tuner without having the subchannel issue.

OTA only, My cable system (Bresnan) in "small-town" Colorado has -0- HiDef channels :(

canondave

01-11-06, 09:29 PM

gtjr92

01-12-06, 04:10 PM

Not sure what the heck was going on with my 2160 the other day when it recorded several other channels for 7 hours even though at set it for one, but it seems to be fine for recording OTA channels now. I set it ot tape lost with no problems!

Mits called me back yesterday a second level guy i guess named Brian, he left a message and said they would let me know when a software update is available to correct this. We'll see. I was told that last year when I had problems with Cable Cards and they did fix it within a month or two.
Of course the Cable Card issue is bigger than the DVR issue.
I am not as optimistic about that :mad:

hourglass

01-12-06, 04:40 PM

... I think she did say it would be 1.4

What did it update on your set from the original netcommand that came on your set?

I went from NetCommand V19 1.02 to V19 1.04 (I'm not sure if there ever was a 1.03 from Mits) The only thing the upgrade did that I saw was add a few more devices that NetCommand could run via the IR blasters. The list was/is still very limited for the V19 version of NetCommand. I envy folks with newer Mits sets which can LEARN just about any devices' remote. 9But I do love my 65869's PQ!)

--hourglass

hourglass

01-12-06, 05:08 PM

--hourglass

With my 3250 I can view the direct FW output...wierd issue with the SARA & 1100U!

Have you tried recording with the cable direct into your Mits to the 2160 via the integrated tuner?

Its on my list for the weekend, but last month I connected the raw Comcast feed into the DTV ANT jack and did a scan. I found that in my area, Comcast had digital "twins" of all the non-premium analog channels, but they were arranged mostly as subchannels, so given the Mits lack of demux for recording, I 'm not hopeful.

BTW, I'm thinking Comcast does it that way just to keep us renting STB's/cards. I thought it strange that they would use bandwith to pipe the same channels as both analog and digital. Perhaps they're getting ready to kill the analog channels and force everyone with (analog) cable-ready sets (like the four I have upstairs) to rent extra STB's. That would cause a quite a stir, but they'll probably SAY its necessary in order to add some more HD channels.

I'll update my DVR2160 findings Saturday. So far I've recorded and playback OTA just fine. Love that CH UP/DN feature to skip 30 secs! Did somebody say the FF/REW has multiple speeds? It seems to, but do you hold the button down longer or press it more than once? The 30 sec skip and smoother FF/REW make playback from the DVR2160 better than from my DVCR.

--hourglass

Update- The FF/REW speeds are 3x, 15x and 60x by tapping the button (see Mits3.jpg in Post #19 (VideoBruce) of this thread. --hourglass

MitsuHelp

01-13-06, 07:47 AM

--hourglass

I had forgotten about this great post from videobruce....wish I was home to try it! I think I have tried and did not see a difference in ff/rw speed....

lots of good info!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=602499&page=2&pp=30

check out Indigita AVHD Mits 3.jpg

If this does work it would be great....can't wait to try again

canondave

01-13-06, 08:48 AM

Not sure what the heck was going on with my 2160 the other day when it recorded several other channels for 7 hours even though at set it for one, but it seems to be fine for recording OTA channels now. I set it ot tape lost with no problems!

I've had to reboot my 65511 and the 2160 several times to get them on the same sheet of music. Both working smooth together now.
:D

canondave

01-13-06, 08:59 AM

Love that CH UP/DN feature to skip 30 secs! Did somebody say the FF/REW has multiple speeds? It seems to, but do you hold the button down longer or press it more than once? The 30 sec skip and smoother FF/REW make playback from the DVR2160 better than from my DVCR.

--hourglass

Mine is more like a 45 sec skip. When I watched the games last weekend I would "skip" ahead after a play and the next play was just over. 5 sec play and 40 sec clock = 45 seconds.

I tap the FF/REW to increase the speeds.

Anybody know any other tricks?

MitsuHelp

01-13-06, 09:07 AM

Has anyone gotten anywhere with replacing the hard drive in the 2160? Some people where looking into it but I have not heard anything since. Eventually the day will come when it dies….or someone may want a larger drive.

Shaner1

01-13-06, 02:35 PM

Is anyone using the RCA DVR2160 with a Toshiba DLP model? I seen one guy is by searching the thread but he seemed to be having trouble with it and never responded back to say if he figured it out or not.

This seems the be very similar to the Symbio but much less expensive. I'd like to buy one but would also like to hear if other HM, HMX model Toshiba users are having problems or not.

Thanks guys.

MitsuHelp

01-13-06, 04:45 PM

Sorry if this has been discussed but if it has…. I missed it…

The manual shows how to time-shift but I could not get to the menu in the manual.

Today I had some time to play with the FF/RW speeds and decided to try time-shifting…..IT WORKS!

For anyone that has not figured it out….
Start a recording the way you would normally
Change to the viewing of the device that is your 2160
Pause, commercial skip, rewind or whatever

It’s great! :p

hourglass

01-13-06, 05:56 PM

In the guide of recorded programs there are "recorded date" and "recorded time" fields. Since my Mits 65869 HDTV only knows the time, the recorded dates are wrong. It looks like first power up of the DVR 2120 was set as 1/1/01, and its adding one day every day from there. I guess if I wait until 1/1/2007 and do a powercycle I could get the month and day right, but does anyone know a better way?

--hourglass

kwg

01-13-06, 08:28 PM

kwg

01-13-06, 08:54 PM

Here's a trick I found with a DVR2160 & Mitsu WS-55513.

To watch a particular sub-channel in a recording:
Set Ant-DTV to the desired sub-channel.
Switch to the DVR2160.
View the recording.

If there's another way to set the sub-channel of a recording, please let
me know. The entire transport stream is recorded since there is no way to
specify the sub-channel in the "Record To Setup".

ctdish

01-13-06, 09:53 PM

Start the recording playing back. Hit guid. You will see the channel and the subchannels select the desired one using the up/down button. Hit enter. john

hourglass

01-14-06, 08:13 AM

hourglass,

Try this:

Tune to Analog PBS then see page 48 of your manual- "Clock Menu".
"Manually" set a bogus time and day. (optional)
Then choose "Auto" and the date/time info should be automatically picked up
after a few seconds.
Switch back to digital.
To verify the date, press record then stop. Now check the recorded program info.

What to do when the analog channel goes away? Dunno....

Thanks KWG it worked! Weird that even though the Mits never displays the date when you press its remote's INFO button, it does get passed to the DVR2160!

Now the date of the recordings on my DVR2160 are correct. Prior to your post, I had always set the time manually because there's one non-obvious step in getting AUTO to work: You have to LEAVE the Clock menu but stay tuned to the PBS channel for a minute. Before, I always just stared at the damn Clock menu waiting for the time to change to the correct time. When nothing happened I would switch to Manual and type in the time... DAH! If I had waited long enough, the Clock Menu goes away by itself and would have AUTOSET the time/date! Thanks again. --hourglass

Shaner1

01-14-06, 10:35 AM

CKNA

01-14-06, 10:51 AM

Anyone?

It is exactly the same as Symbio. You can use it.

Shaner1

01-14-06, 11:00 AM

It is exactly the same as Symbio. You can use it.

It sure did read that way based on RCA's site and these forums.

Thanks man, I'm placing my order now. :)

gtjr92

01-14-06, 02:21 PM

Today I had some time to play with the FF/RW speeds and decided to try time-shifting…..IT WORKS!

For anyone that has not figured it out….
Start a recording the way you would normally
Change to the viewing of the device that is your 2160
Pause, commercial skip, rewind or whatever

It’s great! :p

Tried this with my 2160 and WD52525 did not work, the only thing i could do was pause the recording, but it did just that paused the recording no time shifting :( :mad:

JamesMH

01-14-06, 02:53 PM

Got this RCA DVR2160 from hdtoystore also, it works with my Hitachi 42HDT52.

The interface on the Hitachi to control RW/FW/Pause is terrible though. I got it to mostly watch the great PBS shows though.

kcgr

01-14-06, 04:41 PM

JamesMH: what is your firewire firmware version on your plasma? I'm still waiting for hitachi to send me an upgrade to get my 2160 working on my 51S700. I'm at 1.05 and supposedly the latest is 1.26 for my set.

If your menus are the same as mine, the info should be in the "upgrades" spot on your menus. There are 2 firmwares for my TV - one for the 1394 functions and another for the remainder of the TV.

I suspect that they use the same firmwares for 1394 - no reason for them to be different.

thanks
Kevin

JamesMH

01-14-06, 11:14 PM

The 42HDT52's firmware is version: V0110.0001, not sure if this is the latest version for this tv or not, had it for several months.

It works ok, it powers the DVR on/off when needed, lets you watch a recorded programme when recording another. The Hitachi user interface to control the DVR is terrible and clunky. The picture quality however is great, the same as the original signal of course. For $100 its nice!

MitsuHelp

01-15-06, 06:11 AM

Tried this with my 2160 and WD52525 did not work, the only thing i could do was pause the recording, but it did just that paused the recording no time shifting :( :mad:

Pause but can't FF/RW???? Did you try the channel Up/Down while recording?

hourglass

01-15-06, 01:39 PM

Here's my DVR2160 to Mits65869 HDTV weekend update:

OTA recordings work great. Netcommand (V19 1.04) does OTA timer recordings fine. On OTA channels that carry subchannels, these also get recorded to the DVR2160, e.g. recording ABC's Lost in HD on channel 6.01 (WPVI-HD out of Philadelphia), also recorded 6.02 WPVI-SD (news), and 6.03 WPVI-WX (weather). All three played back fine. (BTW, Good thing I had the DVR2160 and OTA, because Comcast went dark during the broadcast which aborted my SA 8000HD's redundant recording of Lost.) I also copied an OTA recording residing on my Mits 1100U DVCR to the DVR2160 under NetCommand control. (Could be useful to grab portions of recordings off multple DVHS tapes and then have them instantly available via the DVR.)

Next, I replaced the attic antenna feed to the Mits' ANT-DTV connector with a raw Comcast cable feed, and set the Mits' "Memorize Channels" option to Cable-Normal. I interrupted the scan for channels after about a minute, because I had done this last month, and already knew what was where.

For the first test, I switched the Mits' input to ANT-DTV, and set the channel to 89. The Mits immediately identified the 6 subchannels on 89. These are the digital "twins" of Comcast's analog lineup- History Ch(89.22), A&E(89.24), CMT(89.25), TWC(89.26), and CourtTV(89.27). See my earlier post about "twins."

Since the DVR2160 had simultaneously recorded a OTA HD program with multiple subchannels (6.01,02,03), I thought maybe six SD subchannels would work. (On this system some channels have as many as TWELVE subchannels!) I started the recording to the DVR2160, and everything went normal but... after about 15 seconds the record light on the DVR2160 went out. I cancelled the recording and switched Mits input over to the

DVR2160. The recording was there and had all 6 subchannels. They all played back but were "blocky", and abou 15 seconds long. While that was a disappointment, it really wasn't a surprise, but what happened next sure was. I switched the Mits'input back to ANT-DTV, and set the channel to 92. I knew from last month that there was only ONE channel here- 92.29, which was the digital twin of the analog Discovery Channel. I pressed the record button on the remote, set the recording device to the DVR2160, and pressed record again to start the recording. After 15 seconds..., you guessed it, the DVR2160 aborted the recording again!

Hmmm... does this could mean that even if the Mits have could picked a single subchannel to record, it still might not be able to record Comcast's raw feed using the Mits' 65869 intergal digital tuner?

--hourglass

kcgr

01-15-06, 02:35 PM

Shaner1

01-17-06, 05:52 PM

My RCA DVR2160 came today from HDtoys... They shipped it out yesterday, can't beat that!

I have a Toshiba 52HMX94 DLP TV. It seems to work exactly the way it's described to work. I didn't think it would record from my lower cable channels which I thought were all analog but they must convert them to digital. Sorry if this is well known info, I didn't know. :)
The tivo like function works great, I was able to set recordings through TV Guide on screen and record on the fly.

The only thing I couldn't get it to do was change the channel while recording. I even tried the channel up and down button. I'm going to play around to see if I can get it to do so as I thought I read that some of you could watch other channels if you used the channel up and down buttons to navigate.

Great product though, I'm fired up to be able to record Lost while I'm at bowling. Not to mention just recording shows that I would miss if we were out. :)

gtjr92

01-18-06, 01:22 PM

Pause but can't FF/RW???? Did you try the channel Up/Down while recording?
Yes I did, I can't change channels while recording. Matter of fact I can't change devices when recording, so i can't change to the DVR while recording it stays on whatever source i am recording. When i pause it actually stops recording, the red light on the dvr goes off. This is Mits fault for not really making these 2 devices fully compatible. :(

ctdish

01-18-06, 02:13 PM

gtjr92

01-19-06, 06:14 AM

This is not the way my Mits 65613 works. I can select any input to watch while recording, including the DVR. When this is selected I can select any program recorded, or the one that is presently being recorded. When playing back a DVR recording the channel up/down buttons on the remote become skip forward/back controllers. John

That's Mits for ya. Wasn't your TV a 2004 or 03 model? Here i have a 2005 model and they have worse support for 2160. I can' see how it would be hard for them to update the firmware for my tv since they have it working on other tv's.
What version of netcommand do you have?

ctdish

01-19-06, 11:01 AM

How do you tell what version of Netcommand is in the TV? John

gtjr92

01-19-06, 11:04 AM

How do you tell what version of Netcommand is in the TV? John

On my tv I go to tv menu setup it says version 4.05 for me. It may be in your manual too, of course that would be the default version.

ctdish

01-19-06, 11:45 AM

kcgr

01-19-06, 07:21 PM

thanks for the reply .... I'll post an update when I get my firmware (waiting ...waiting)
:(

updated firmware and still the Hitachi won't see it. Off to Hit. customer support.

:(

JamesMH

01-19-06, 07:46 PM

updated firmware and still the Hitachi won't see it. Off to Hit. customer support.

:(

Thats bad. :(
I know my tv will see this DVR, but it will not see my Canon video camera, even though it should.

kcgr

01-19-06, 07:56 PM

updated firmware and still the Hitachi won't see it. Off to Hit. customer support.

:(

no luck from them. They say that I'm basically out of luck. I'll check to see if I happen to have a dead RCA firewire connection by testing it on another newer set somewhere.

bummer.

Good thing is my mom is getting a new Toshiba that supposedly works with this. So at least I won't be stuck with a brick.

kcgr

01-19-06, 08:21 PM

Thats bad. :(
I know my tv will see this DVR, but it will not see my Canon video camera, even though it should.

it shouldn't see camcorders - although it is firewire, camcorders (don't know about HD ones) use a different communication protocol.

I checked to see if the DVR's firewire was dead, but XP sees it. Unfortunately Hitachi says "there's nothing we can do, it is probably incompatible."

I told them to me, firewire is firewire, the software is the difference. Maybe I should try another approach, as I kept going in circles with the rep..

gtjr92

01-21-06, 12:24 PM

I didn't see a Netcommand version number when I tried that.
I downloaded your manual and it looks like the skip forward/back functions can be done by hitting the adjust button on the remote. This actually makes more sense than the way my TV works. See charts on page 82.
I start a recording like the description of peer to peer recording on page 52 in your manual and then I can watch any input and the recording keeps going. My manual's description of peer to peer recording seems to be the same as yours. John

Are you sure you have the wd525 manual? It states on page 54 that you the device must stay on the sorce while it is recording. It states that it will stil record if turned off, otherwise it must stay on the sorce. If i hit my device button everything is grayed out. It really doesn't make sense that I can't use my DVD or Ps2 while recording. That's how mits did it.

ctdish

01-21-06, 01:21 PM

gtjr92

01-22-06, 04:29 PM

This is where I got the manual:
http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/common/getfile.asp?uuid={5393E8F7-E640-4411-8DB2-B944FAE948D1}
The peer to peer page is page 56 sorry. I would guess that the inability to change channels reference is for analog recordings. The second paragaph on page 56 talks about allowing selecting another device device. My manual has very similar words. John

Yeah I have the manual, and it does say that, I didn't see it before, but it doesn't work that way. I tried using the connect button, and it works exactly the same as when I hit the record button, it wants you to set up a recording. I cannot change the device when recording to my 2160.
Has anyone with the 2005 model mits dlp had success changing a device (especially the 2160) when recording to firewire? Just an fyi the 2005 DLP models are
WD-52327
WD-52525
WD-52725
WD-52825
WD-62327
WD-62525
WD-62725
WD-62825

Shaner1

01-23-06, 05:53 AM

After a few days with the RCA DVR-2160 I have a few questions for you guys.

I scheduled the DVR to record Desperate Housewives last night, when it went to start the recording it said that it couldn't record copy protected material. The recording wouldn't start, then when I hit the record button on the remote it went ahead and recorded it.

Why wouldn't it record it as I had scheduled through the guide but it would record when I hit the record button? If the show was copy protected I wouldn't be able to record it at all I assume but I was able to. ????

Here is my other question.

How do you stop a recording? I hit the stop button, it stops for a second then starts right back up. Do I have to stop the recording through TV Guide somehow? This happens on scheduled recordings and shows that I just hit the record button for.

Thanks.