I know that wabjxo, but it doesn't help if you haven't set the Start point yet.

What I'm doing now is when I think I'm nearing the end, I keep setting a new Start point every few seconds so I don't get caught by surprise. But that's still an unnecessary procedure required by faulty design.

I know that wabjxo, but it doesn't help if you haven't set the Start point yet.

What I'm doing now is when I think I'm nearing the end, I keep setting a new Start point every few seconds so I don't get caught by surprise. But that's still an unnecessary procedure required by faulty design.
There is no faulty design!

After you select a START point, run FF to the end and let it stop by itself, where it will automatically select the end as the STOP point...you don't have to press OK or anything. In fact, if you press OK here, it will start another Preview cause it auto-started one by itself. (Also, pressing CHAP or FF now might run the title back to the beginning, with no option to STOP the cut and select DELETE.)

When I make end-cuts, after selecting the START point (fade to black or whatever), then FF to the end, the DELETE option persists in the menu through whatever pic is showing on screen, waiting for me to select Delete and press OK...maybe you're pressing FF or CHAP when it gets to the end and auto-sets a STOP point? Just let it run to the end and the menu automatically selects the Preview button and starts a Preview. Just select Delete at that point...arrow down and press OK.

I just can't see how that can be a problem unless you're paying too much attention to what's playing on screen. If you can just ignore that, select Delete and press OK, the end-cut will be perfect...assuming you've begun with setting a START point.

Interesting stuff. But I'm not too sure how it applies to the Polaroid 2001G (this thread).

Perhaps it's a tangent? :cool:

I was gonna pick one up on ebay (2001g) but didn't see component input listed and one feedback asking for the serial number, so did the unit change midstream? Should I just get the newer model?

Interesting stuff. But I'm not too sure how it applies to the Polaroid 2001G (this thread).

Perhaps it's a tangent? :cool:
wabjxo and amesdp were just trying to help out Davenlr! He had a sore brain from trying to chose between the editing qualities of the Polaroid and the Philips ... It's actually a very good question, but seems to be kinda tricky to answer!

I was gonna pick one up on ebay (2001g) but didn't see component input listed and one feedback asking for the serial number, so did the unit change midstream? Should I just get the newer model?

The 2001G has component inputs (all of them do) and is a 2006 model - no longer sold by Walmart. It is the model discussed in this thread. There are some differences between production dates. For example a "B" model does not offer A/V passthrough when powered down (standby).

The Polaroid 01601A is the newer 2007 model and does not have component inputs. I've had the 2001G for about a year now and think it is great. I returned the 01601A after about a week - not ready for prime time in my opinion. Polaroid 01601A thread here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=839036&highlight=01601A

wabjxo and amesdp were just trying to help out Davenlr! He had a sore brain from trying to chose between the editing qualities of the Polaroid and the Philips ... It's actually a very good question, but seems to be kinda tricky to answer!

Which Polaroid? Unfortunately a lot of good info on the Philips is going to get lost in this thread.

Are there any DVD Recorders with HDMI IN and OUT with pass-through when off? I don't care that it doesn't record HD, just want a good set-up for a SA 8300HD box. It appears the Polaroid "A" version through component is about the next best choice.

Nextoo: Thanks. Could you run down in its simplest form, how easy it is with the 2006g to take a two hour show from hdd, edit out commercial breaks, chop off the end of the recording after the show stops, insert chapter marks at each edit, and burn to disc? Does it reencode, or burn directly from the captured file? How close to the frame you chose is the actual edit? Thanks.

The Phillips being 1080p and having a usb port to plug in media is a real plus, but its editing sound like a pain. Still trying to decide. Found several 2006g's for sale from used to refurb, so its basically between those two now.

Davenlr - I would not consider the 2001g the best choice for editing commercials. Editing is not its strong suit. But to specifically answer your questions yes you can edit out commercials on content recorded to the HDD. Chapter marks are automatically created at these edit points. It burns from the HDD in high speed and does not reencode. It does not offer frame accurate editing.

When recording directly to a dvd you can edit on the disc by "hiding" commercials. You can also set chapter marks on the dvd along with a few other editing options.

Because it has component inputs I use it to record movies from a high def source (480i from HD cable box). A very rare feature. Especially with a hard drive. This along with being a very good multitasking DVR are its strengths in my opinion.

I do not edit commercials so my editing requirements are very limited. . All I do is edit the beginning and end of these recorded movies. For this type of editing the 2001G is very very easy.

Ok thanks. Right now I am using a computer with mpeg2 capture, but when I edit out the commercials, frame accurate, and go to save, for some reason the software tries to reencode the entire thing. If I use tmpgenc, to cut out the commercials, it does a good job but the sync is off by up to a second at he end of a two hour movie/show. I believe the original capture file is not totally compliant and is missing the frames that keep things in sync, so you have to use the encoder manufacturers overpriced software. It sounds like most of these hdd dvd recorders put editing as a secondary thought from the comments I'm reading. Given the price of a refurb 2001g, however, it would probably be a useful addition just to get the 480i component input which should do much better than svideo...
Edit... Have a 2001g on the way from an ebay dealer for just over $100... wish me luck :)

I finally swapped the 80GB HDD with an WD250GB. The Model number of the new HDD is: WD2500JBRTL

It really is a simple task and just as I've read in this thread, it was basically an easy plug-to-plug replacement. I simply removed the cover, and then only 8 screws to remove the old drive and install the new.

I reinstalled it, reattached wires, powered it on, and it rebooted recognizing the new drive without any problems. I am very happy with the upgrade.

Thanks to nextoo and others who took the lead on the 2001g and provided us with intuitive "how to" instructions.

Got the 2001g today, hooked it up using component in/out. PQ in HQ mode is fantastic. Took me forever to figure out how to select the YUV input. went nuts in menus until I finally found the "source" button on the unit itself. Doing a OTR for 60 mins as a test, then Ill try to copy it to a DVD-RW. Didn't see anything in the manual that tells me if/how I can add chapter marks to the file before burning. Is that possible?
So far tho, so good. Manual is pretty cryptic.

Help please... I copied a one hour concert from hdd to dvd-rw. Went into edit mode and added 10 chapters. Book said hit edit button to exit and save chapters but there is no edit button so I hit dvd and it showed up, chapters were there. Went to finalize, said it was done. Put the dvd in another player and it starts playing but there are no chapters... Where is the edit button to save your edits and exit editing mode, and why did finalize wipe out the edits???

Use the stop button to save your edits.

Got the 2001g today, hooked it up using component in/out. PQ in HQ mode is fantastic. Took me forever to figure out how to select the YUV input. went nuts in menus until I finally found the "source" button on the unit itself. ....

On the remote, the button at upper right just under the power button, that is the same as "Source." On most remotes, that button is labelled "Input." In some earlier versions, I think this button is labelled "Display."

What series unit do you have, that is, what's the first digit of the serial number?

Thanks. Its labeled display on my remote, which doesn't work worth a damn, so I ran in and programmed my harmony remote which works 100 percent.

Have to pull it out of the rack to check the serial number, will do that in a couple days when my hdmi cables come in.

Is there a way to create a chapter marker on the fly when recording directly to a dvd-rw??

Thanks. Its labeled display on my remote, which doesn't work worth a damn, so I ran in and programmed my harmony remote which works 100 percent.

Have to pull it out of the rack to check the serial number, will do that in a couple days when my hdmi cables come in.

Is there a way to create a chapter marker on the fly when recording directly to a dvd-rw??
Sorry I can't help with the last question regarding chapter marker. Maybe someone else more familiar with that will respond to you.

As for the remote, there is a fix for that addressed early in this thread. If you can't find it via a search, let me know and I'll see if I can pin point a particular page that addresses the problem. It's the LED on the remote.

In the event you need a copy of the users manual, checkout this site for a download:
http://www.polaroid.com/global/detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441764403&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302032643&bmUID=1186348092726&bmLocale=en_US

The following is on Page 78 of this thread, i.e., reference the problem with the Remote's LED.

For remote info check these posts:

First post about replacing the LED (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8245524&&#post8245524)

A post on how to pop it apart (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8298295&&#post8298295)

A little more detailed post on how to perform the mod (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9107741&&#post9107741)

To purchase a new remote from Polaroid click here (this link is less picky on browser settings!) (https://secure.scsoem.com/OrderEntry/accmenu.htm)

Thanks. This thing is awesome. I ff through a whole nights music videos on the dvr, when I find one I want I switch to polols hdd and get the buffer to the first frame hit record and at the end stop. Get about 17 or 18 videos, and dump em to a dvd. Sure beats using the computer and a capture card. Mine works with dvd-rw ok too.

Only problem I've run into is when I master the -rw and test it, when I go to use nero copy dvd, it comes up with either the disc is copy protected or tells me the source dvd is larger than the space available on the blank. Copy Disc from ulead movie studio works fine tho. Plays in my Toshiba fine.

Sure glad you guys talked me into the polo. The component inputs are excellent. SD channels actually look better at 480p from the polo to the monitor than the direct 480i to the monitor via hdmi.

I'm up to page 70 of this thread (on a PDA no less) so I'm back to reading...

Do you know if item 3 below is applicable to the 8300 SARA software? I have a Panny E80H recorder and spent all day Saturday trying to get rid of the letterboxed signal on S-video (no luck).

Sounds like I need to find a used Polaroid! I do not recall a secondary setting when the STB is set to "Fixed" that gave me the different resolution options on my remote. If the "hidden" set-up can be set just ONCE to 480i, 480p, & 1080i, and remote used to change to 480i for recording, that would be a huge timesaver!

Why isn't there any "new" recorderes with Component in/out? Be nice to see one with HDMI in/out, even if it only allowed 480i recording!


That's what I'm using -- though thru Everest (a local cable provider in Kansas City). I never had this box thru TW so I'm not sure if software makes operations different.

There are 3 steps to make changing resolutions on an 8300 easier.

1) Set resolutions you'd like to choose from. Pressing two keys during start-up gets you to a menu for this selection. (I don't remember the keys -- but I got it from my provider). You only need to do this once. My other settop box didn't require this "boot" config..... So, this step might not be necessary!

2) Pressing the setup button (during normal operation) toggles between two menus. One has settings for CC, Video, audio, etc... This menu includes an option for pass-thru vs. fixed. Choose fixed. Picking fixed activates another option on the second settings menu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3) The other settings menu will now display WHICH resolution you want to force the output to. <1080i, 720p, 480pWide, 480iWide, 480p, or 480i>. These setting CAN be accessed thru the remote.

To program a macro, you simply need to transmit the "settings" button IR code. Then send the correct combination of up/down arrows and the select button. This could easily be entered into any remote that will accept macros via a learning function. I'm using a Sony RM-AV3000 (which now has a couple of successors).

(Side note: I've never heard of a settop box that can output HD and 480 signals at the same time. The Polaroid isn't the problem, it's the settop box. O.K. the Polaroid's the problem cause it can't record HD!!!!!!! :D )

Do you know if item 3 below is applicable to the 8300 SARA software? I have a Panny E80H recorder and spent all day Saturday trying to get rid of the letterboxed signal on S-video (no luck).

Sounds like I need to find a used Polaroid! I do not recall a secondary setting when the STB is set to "Fixed" that gave me the different resolution options on my remote. If the "hidden" set-up can be set just ONCE to 480i, 480p, & 1080i, and remote used to change to 480i for recording, that would be a huge timesaver!

Why isn't there any "new" recorderes with Component in/out? Be nice to see one with HDMI in/out, even if it only allowed 480i recording!

The procedure in this post has been reported to work with SARA. Not with Passport:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9571703&&#post9571703

Thanks! I think I was not going through the hard reboot routine. So with the Polaroid and 8300 SARA you do need to go through the intial set-up into SD mode anytime you want to record? Or is that just for S-video? Seems it wouldn't be necessary through component.

It is not necessry with the Polaroid or other DVD recorders with component inputs. This is providing you can set your STB to output 480i via component. Which should not be a problem.

I'm going to buy one of these off Ebay "FACTORY RENEWED BY POLAROID"... think this means the firmware is upgraded? I want to be sure I get a pass-through version (NOT "B"), what do I ask for to make sure I get the right date code?

Ask the seller what the first letter in the serial number is. If its "B" then its the non-passthru version unless the factory firmware was upgraded and that fixed it.

Hmm, I just scheduled a program while in Pause Live TV on my Philips 3575!? I also went to a recorded title on the HDD and played it!? The only thing I couldn't do is dub a DVD while in Pause Live TV!?

If you start LiveTV you are still live. Now pause the picture with LiveTV, restart at the pause point to continue watching and try to do anything else, including scheduling. You cannot do it unless you push stop, to return to live, which sort of defeats the purpose of not having to go back to live but staying where you paused it.

You can do this on the Polaroid. Also, if you press record on the Polo, you can also go back and forth but not on the Phillips unless you go to title and watch from there. But then you cannot schedule, But you can schedule when in record! The polo does not have that problem. The Polo has a much better timeshift/pause livetv function than does the Phillips. I have both.

Thanks! I think I was not going through the hard reboot routine. So with the Polaroid and 8300 SARA you do need to go through the intial set-up into SD mode anytime you want to record? Or is that just for S-video? Seems it wouldn't be necessary through component.

I'm on Everest in Kansas City. I believe they load the SARA system to their 8300's. But, I don't think it matters (as a former TW customer).

With either passport/SARA, I believe the 8300 is capable of switching output resolutions. When I had passport, I think the option was found using the settings button on the 8300's remote. With SARA, I had to press two keys on the front of the 8300 to enter setup during a cold boot. A menu allows the user to select multiple output resolutions (the default is 1080i). Once you tell the box you'd like to choose from multiple resolutions and exit setup, you are able to access those resolutions thru the remotes settings button.

You don't need to return to the setup (via booting) ever again.

Finally, I would expect the output resolutions to apply to the component outputs (and/or HDMI). S-Video and composite outputs should always output 480i -- regardless of the component output selected. But, it sounds like some devices (other than the 8300) can toggle the letterboxing on/off. This isn't surprising since DVD material is available in WS via its native 480 format. I don't recall seeing this feature on the 8300 though (SARA or Passport).

gp

I'm going to buy one of these off Ebay "FACTORY RENEWED BY POLAROID"... think this means the firmware is upgraded? I want to be sure I get a pass-through version (NOT "B"), what do I ask for to make sure I get the right date code?

Serial number is the only thing you can reasonably expect to get from an eBay seller. "FACTORY RENEWED BY POLAROID" could me POLAROID renewed their effort to sell those units by wholesaling them to an eBay reseller! :rolleyes:

The question regarding firmware upgrade is a great one. It's one I didn't want to risk it though. And, eBay sellers aren't going to know either!!!!! (Heck, one seller said they couldn't get the serial number because it was in a warehouse)!

Still, I've bought two more 2001's on ebay. The ability to record from component and write to HDD makes it a rare solution for recording WS material, saving, editing, and throwing it to DVD as permanent storage. In my glee, I've grabbed a slightly used "F" unit @ $80 and a new "H" unit at $100 during the past two months. From what I've found the refurbs are "B" and "D" units. The "B" units might not passthru component when off and have crappy remotes. The "D" units will have the poor remotes as well. I simply found the higher serial numbers to be better units.....

I placed a review on eBay outlining those issues with the 2001G. If several others do the same, and send emails to (refurb) sellers with B/D units, you might get them to lower pricing after they realize they're selling white elephants!!!! :rolleyes: ;)

OTOH, the replacement as sold by WalMart ain't no prize either!

gp

Please tell me that there is a way around the ridiculously short title length limit!

Please tell me that there is a way around the ridiculously short title length limit!

Polaroid goes on the premise that eight is enough. (Actually 12 if you use rename in the HD menu.)

Please tell me that there is a way around the ridiculously short title length limit!

Sure! Lrn 2 abbr -- lyk cel txt'rs do. ;)

Polaroid goes on the premise that eight is enough. (Actually 12 if you use rename in the HD menu.)

What's funny is 12-char titles will spill outside the title name box when you transfer it onto DVD! :eek: :( :mad:

Oh yeah. Use a 3x5 index card and write the titles down. Number them and put the numbers as your titles. Insert the card in your jewel case!

Sorry. That's all I got. :D

I HAD 18 recordings on my external HDD. Turned it on today and it shows 18 recordings but the titles are blank. When I try to play a title it says 'This title is empty'. Did I loose everything?

Maybe, maybe not. Try checking the IDE cable on the external drive. Also try to recycle the power. Unplug the Polaroid and turn off the external drive. Leave them off for a few minutes. Power up the HDD and then plug in the Polaroid and power it on.

Something similiar to this can happen if you try to swap a HDD if the Polaroid is powered on. The Polaroid should be powered off when swapping a HDD.

Thanks Nextoo but I tried those things. I have another hard drive that works fine. I did not change hard drives while powered on. Seems hopeless. I don't understand why it shows 18 titles and 120 hours left on my hard drive

Try a reset back to factory defaults, and then unplug and replug.

I'm not sure how you do a reset on the Polaroid, but someone else here must know.

Whenever my Panny E85H and Sony RDR-HX900 would occasionally do something similar, the method above usually fixed it.

You reset to factory defaults from setup/preferences (which is the third one from the bottom that looks like a TV with a remote).

Bump, good thread to have visible. Some of us still have them.

You reset to factory defaults from setup/preferences (which is the third one from the bottom that looks like a TV with a remote).

How do you reset without having to go through the visual reset menu. It seems I've made some kind of selection last night for output which isn't showing up on any method for connecting to my TV. Therefore I can't see the screen, and can't use the setup menu.

How do you reset without having to go through the visual reset menu. It seems I've made some kind of selection last night for output which isn't showing up on any method for connecting to my TV. Therefore I can't see the screen, and can't use the setup menu.

1. Make sure the video cable ends are securely connected, one end to your Polaroid recorder and the other end to your TV (Video 1). I've had problems with these inadvertently becoming disconnected as I move the machine even slightly, and this will definitely cause the No Picture condition.

2. If that's not the problem, make sure the signal is directed to Video 1 (use your TV remote for this, i.e., the TV/Video button.

3. If neither of these solve the problem, use the Polaroid remote and press the Input button just under the Power button. Press slowly repeatedly waiting a little while each time as the machine cycles through the various inputs until hopefully the picture appears.

Also reference Trouble Shooting Guide in the manual, page 45, under the Symptom column, 3rd listed symptom, i.e., No Picture. Please note, the possible causes and the suggested remedies.

How do you reset without having to go through the visual reset menu. It seems I've made some kind of selection last night for output which isn't showing up on any method for connecting to my TV. Therefore I can't see the screen, and can't use the setup menu.

Try the standard unplug, wait for an hour and plug back in.

Also, somewhere back in this thread I seem to remember a remote reset. I think it was to press and hold the power button. That also works on the box to shut down when hung up.

Have you cycled through the inputs slowly?

My first 2000G's fan stared acting up recently and was very loud. I read on a computer FAQ about fans and how to fix a noisy fan so tried it. It is simple and we shall see if it works over time.

1. Remove the fan from the case
2. Gently peel the back label a bit more than half way to reveal the fan bearings.
3. Lubricate the bearings with (in order of preference) either light weight bearing lubricant (I used spray lithium) lubricant, or silicon, or Teflon, or machine oil.
4. Clean off the excess.
5. If the label re-sticks, you are fine. If not, cut off enough to still cover the hole and use an address label to re-stick the label and cover the hole.
6. Replace the fan.

The difference was amazing. Now I have to get very close to the unit to even hear the fan, it is so quite.

I've had a little used 2000G for about a year and half, and a few months ago moved it to a temporary apt I have where I live when away on assignment. Lately it started acting very strange with sluggish or no response using the remote or freezing altogether - where only a hard reset would restart it.

Last night after recording a couple shows I heard a distinct pop(no smoke or fried electronics smell), but on the surface it was still operating. However when I went to shut it down later, I kept getting a message to the affect of it archiving something and even when pressing the 'yes' button to stop it would not stop and would not shut down. I finally turned it off by holding the power button down on the remote - or so I thought. Well, the display went off, so naturally, I thought it was off. Not so fast....

I had since switched over to my cable STB so did not notice any noise or anything else strange. Like I said, with the display off I thought it was powered down.

A couple hours later before going to bed, I bent down to remove a DVD from another upscaling DVD player and noticed that something was still running on the inside of the Polaroid. Now normally the Polaroid operates without a lot of heat being generated, or at least it has in the past, but upon closer examination I felt the top of the unit and the entire top of the unit was very, very warm, almost hot to the touch of my hand. Something was clearly wrong. I quickly reached around to the back and unplugged it and could finally hear the fan and HD power down. I left it to cool until morning.

After work today I intend to open it up and check out the inside to see if anything obvious looks damaged, burned, or otherwise out of the ordinary. In retrospect, it might have still been trying to 'archive' something - what I do not know, since earlier in the evening I had deleted everything off of the HD.

If my worst fears are realized, the 2000G might have breathed its last breath last night and is now ready to become a bunch of spare parts - if any are salvageable. It was so hot over the HD area, I'm not even sure the new 250GB HD I had earlier upgraded to is still functional.

Does all of this sound like it may be a goner? Comments?

Edit... I guess it's off to Best Buy tonight.. ;)

Well after opening my 2001G tonight I found nothing out of the ordinary. The fan is still a little noisy, but other then that it seemed ok. I put the cover back on a hooked it back up. It's still acting up and the remote is almost totally unresponsive - even when pointed directly at it. When I try to power it down the front light and the display goes out. Nothing! But you can hear the fan still going. Is it doing something here that I'm not familiar with? I was finally able to power it back up and then shut it down. I think it's dying... :(

By the way my 2001G is still going strong after almost a year. It has to win the best "innovation" award for 2006. Even if some/most of it was unintentional. Hardware hackable. Easy HDD swaps. Multiple options for DVD drive replacement. High Definition pass through via component in/out when powered off. Component inputs for full widescreen recording from a high def source (480i). Great component to s-video converter for full widescreen recording for DVD recorders without component inputs - Toshiba in my case. Great filter for copy once/copy never flag removal from in my case a cable source (some challenge the word "filter" but I can record PPV with a Toshiba now). Other CP advantages - although some report this as spotty. What did I miss? Oh, the mono tuner for those of us who don't use tuners. :) Not the greatest for editing and the FF limitations. Other than that it is a great movie jukebox and multitasking DVR.

I bought a new (not refurbished) 2001G at Walmart about 4-5 months ago to make 480i WS recordings from high def sources. Also, about that time I started several other time consuming long term projects and to date I've made at most a half dozen such DVDs and haven't even turned the unit on in months. Rather than just have it sitting there, I thought someone here might be interested in purchasing it. It has no issues and works as advertised here. PM me if you would like to work out a deal.

P.S. Please forgive if I broke an AVS forum rule.

No more love for the 2001G? ;):D

My first 2000G's fan stared acting up recently and was very loud. I read on a computer FAQ about fans and how to fix a noisy fan so tried it. It is simple and we shall see if it works over time.

1. Remove the fan from the case
2. Gently peel the back label a bit more than half way to reveal the fan bearings.
3. Lubricate the bearings with (in order of preference) either light weight bearing lubricant (I used spray lithium) lubricant, or silicon, or Teflon, or machine oil.
4. Clean off the excess.
5. If the label re-sticks, you are fine. If not, cut off enough to still cover the hole and use an address label to re-stick the label and cover the hole.
6. Replace the fan.

The difference was amazing. Now I have to get very close to the unit to even hear the fan, it is so quite.
Thanks beekeeper!
My "B" unit just hums along, but my "K" unit fan is getting worse.
Can you remove the label without actually removing the fan?

Thanks beekeeper!
My "B" unit just hums along, but my "K" unit fan is getting worse.
Can you remove the label without actually removing the fan?

I would have to look again, but it is easy to remove it. The hardest part is to open the box.

I have two gs and the newest one started very loud (my guess is it was a Wally's world return) but now is fairly quiet. The other was a bit noisy but after a year got loud. Easy to fix and very quiet.

The lubrication is the key, because a cheap oil will not work over time. It needs to be a bearing lubricant.

No more love for the 2001G? ;):D

I think there is love out there with those who bought a "stable" one. I bought three just for the things that nextoo mentioned. Gave one to my son, one for the front room and one in my computer room for vhs transfer and some cable burns. The one in the computer room allows for recording a season of shows without the problem of cluttering my living room unit's HD menu.

Got a call from my son a couple of days ago. The video from his unit was distorted- no horizontal or vertical lock. But the recordings were fine. He could get a semi stable picture with four sections of the HD menu on the screen, so could select teh programs, and, from memory, burn the recordings to disk and view them on his computer.

What was the problem...... (jeopardy theme...). His 18 month old daughter had found the remote and somehow shifted the video out to progressive. Shifted it back to interlaced and all was fine. It was obvious that if the unit could record properly but the video was distorted, then the tuner was fine but the output was screwed up. Took a bit to figure that out, however. Once we could see the video menu ( all four pieces) the progressive setting was obvious. It was nice to be able to help him out of what looked like a failed unit. It, as well as my other two, keep chuckin' along.

It has the best time shift feature of all I have seen since it allows so many things to go on while you time shift. Polaroid made a big mistake in not just adding a digital tuner to this unit instead of trying to go all new. They had a real keeper. Bought a Phillips for the digital tuner and their product support is outstanding. Polaroid's is nonexistent.

As has been noted, this thread is obviously dying. I assume it's due to all the the issues being covered and many have moved on to the newer Polaroid.

I have a question:
I don't want to lose some specifics that were in this thread. Does anyone know how long the thread will stay around before it disappears?
Also, is there an easy way to save all of the messages onto my computer?

Thanks - Grant


Top of page- thread tools- download this thread

I am a new owner of a refurb series B unit from UBid (recently they
were selling for $90 and free shipping). This thread has a wealth of
information, and I would like to download it.

In "Thread Tools" at the top of the page, I see only three choices:

1) Show printable
2) Email this thread
3) Unsubscribe

Has download been disabled recently? If not, please can you tell me
how to enable it? If it has been disabled, can someone who has downloaded
the thread email it to me?

Thanks!
-jjsc

Thanks all.

I am at a loss. Composite does work, but whoopee :cool: . (No disrespect intended beekeeper, except maybe toward Polaroid)

The remote will control the camera, but the recording stops at the copy protect warning.

I am using Sony miniDV tapes and am wondering if the onboard cassette IC chip is the culprit or the Elura 65. I have altered camera setups all with the same result. I experience no problems using the Elura with any computer capture software or, dare I say, the ILO that got replaced with the Pol.

Lemme know which tape brands ya'll use, please.

Joatmon

Joatmon, did you figure this one out yet?

I just bought a new (refurb) series B, and ran into this while
burning my first DVD.

I am using a Sony Digital8 camera (not miniDV). The funny thing
is that it captured the first 43 minutes and then complained
about copy protection for the remaining part of the tape (this is
just a home video, nothing out of the ordinary).

This leads me to believe that the polaroid might be getting
confused if it gets some error/noise/glitch in the signal on firewire.
Also, it is possible that the real error is something else, but
the software is outputting an incorrect error code.

I was usiing YESDVD in this try, I will try again in two more ways:
1) DV to HDD
2) DV to DVD+R (w/o YESDVD)

If someone has figured out how to disable macrovision on this machine,
it might help too. Anyone?

Also, I think the suggestion someone had about getting a DVD+RW
and burning all projects on it in the polaroid, and then copying over
onto other (non RW) media later, is very good. It can save some disks.

Thanks!
-jjsc

EDIT:

Found this in FAQ on Polaroid web site:

http://polaroid.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/polaroid.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3895&p_created=1183127913&p_sid=5ewLxMNi&p_accessibility=0&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD0 1JnBfcHJvZHM9MjI4LDUxNCw1MTUmcF9jYXRzPTAmcF9wdj0zLjUxNSZwX2N 2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX25sJnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=&p_topview=1

It says:

Home Movie Recording - Copy Protect Error
Question
When I attempt to record a movie from my camcorder to the DRM-2001G using the front panel Digital Video (DV) input connection, the recording begins but very quickly pauses. The status message on the DVD recorder screen says that recording has been paused and next to it, in parentheses, it says "Copy Protect." From that point, it will not allow me to continue recording. I checked to make sure my movie tapes were not write-protected. These are all home videos. What's wrong?
Answer
The error message appears because the video file format of the recording from the camcorder is incompatible with the Polaroid Digital Video Recorder. You should be able to record your movies by using the front or rear "Composite" video connection between the camcorder and the digital video recorder.

You might not be missing much by not being able to use Firewire on your Sony.

When I tried it with my Panasonic miniDV camcorder and a "K" series 2001g, I do not have any copy protect errors, but the picture has poor contrast. The composite has slightly lower resolution, but overall a better picture. And the Firewire input screens out the date imprint from the picture, that could be a good thing for those who don't want the date/time stamp in their video, but I happen to like it for reminding me when that recording occurred.

I might have run into a recording limitation lately.

At first my 2001g quit recording without notice or error message, it just wouldn't record on schedule or timeshift. My 250GB (upgraded) drive had about 10% space left. I thought maybe it needed the free space for some design reason. I was able to record again after deleting some files.

Today it quit recording again, but I noticed the file count at 254. It occurred to me that's close to the jump (256) in quantity in the hexidicimal system used in digital data. After testing with small recordings, so that I know file size is not a factor, it does appear that the Polaroid DRM-2001g has a file number limit of 254, at least in my "K" series unit.

Anybody got any ideas about the best place to buy one of the DRM-2001G's right now? Only thing I've been able to find is refurbs and I would really like the ability to pass through HD content via component inputs/outputs. Anybody got a good source for buying a unit that will definately allow this?

Thanks,

Ryan

Anyone running their Polaroid 2100G on a Slingbox?

The Sling website for supported devices doesn't list the 2100G specifically but does have some of Polaroid's DVDP's listed.

.....
In "Thread Tools" at the top of the page, I see only three choices:

1) Show printable
2) Email this thread
3) Unsubscribe

Has download been disabled recently? If not, please can you tell me
how to enable it? If it has been disabled, can someone who has downloaded
the thread email it to me?

Thanks!
-jjsc

I would like to update my download, but only see the same choices. Does anyone know how to do this now?

Grant

I would like to update my download, but only see the same choices. Does anyone know how to do this now?
Grant
The "Download this thread" option is now back on the thread tools.

Grant

After carefully reading over 1000+ posts here on AVS about this recorder, I decided to bite the bullet and get one to play with. I ordered mine on ubid.com.

It arrived last week and seems to be a B model.....no component pass through
when turned off. And, it has the typical loud fan and a poor remote led. I'm sure I can replace the fan and remote led. And, for my purposes, I probably can live with no component pass through. But, the component input and\or output on the Polaroid seem defective. I get lots of noise like interference on my Panasonic 50" plasma when feeding the Polaroid with a component signal from my H20 DTV set top box. The pic is filled with lines and is unusable. But, if I go from the H20 directly to the Panny with a component signal, the picture is perfect...so the cables don't seem to be the issue.

Does anyone have any suggestions or other tests I should make before sending it back under warranty? Nextoo??

After carefully reading over 1000+ posts here on AVS about this recorder, I decided to bite the bullet and get one to play with. I ordered mine on ubid.com. But, the component input and\or output on the Polaroid seem defective. I get lots of noise like interference on my Panasonic 50" plasma when feeding the Polaroid with a component signal from my H20 DTV set top box. The pic is filled with lines and is unusable. But, if I go from the H20 directly to the Panny with a component signal, the picture is perfect...so the cables don't seem to be the issue.

Does anyone have any suggestions or other tests I should make before sending it back under warranty? Nextoo??

Hello jostar welcome to the polo club.

You need to set the output of the H20 to 480i. You can't send higher res signals that the H20 will output, like 720p & 1080i. I have two of the Polariods running with my direct tv H20 and HR20. That is likely the problem you are seeing.

Thanks, I'll try that later today or tomorrow and let you know. Other than the
pass through issue, and other correctable issues with a B model, is there any other reason not to keep the B?

I seem to have problems with the dvds i make on my polaroid. When I replay them, I can't do a fast fast forward or rewind. If I try to, it goes right to the end of the program. I've tried recording with and without chapters. And I've tried +r, +rw and -r so far & that doesn't seem to make a difference. It's worse when I try to play them in other dvd players, but it also happens when I play them back in the Polaroid. We usually end up watching off the hard drive, but my intent was to be able to watch them in another room in the house.

Does anybody know what I'm doing wrong?

z3scott.....if I change the H20 output to 480I as you suggest, will that also effect the signal going to my panny via HDMI?

z3scott.....if I change the H20 output to 480I as you suggest, will that also effect the signal going to my panny via HDMI?

Yes unfortunately it does. You'll have to see how much it will effect the pic on the Panny (and how it handles upscaling the 480i if it can take 480i my Sharp doesn't over HDMI). I use the HR20 saved recordings and dump them over to the Polaroid when my wife isn't using that system. Then I swap the drive out and put it in the other Polo that's hooked up to H20 and my home theater setup for editing and burning dvd's. I'm planning on picking up another HR20 to to replace the H20.

You have a couple options.
1) you can use the component in only part time when you definitely want something recorded

2) you can also feed the S vid to the Polo for use all the time and let the H20 run "native" or at a preselected higher res if you like You can still have the component in to the polaroid and select it and drop the H20 res when and if you desire

I feel the component gives the best results but the S vid works too. You'll have to play with it and see what you like. Depends on what your usage requirements are. Archiving content? Using it to pause "live" tv? Maybe a little of both?

As for the question on drawbacks regarding the 'B' I think your assessment of things is correct. IIRC the 'B' actually might have the most lax copy protection. :)

I seem to have problems with the dvds i make on my polaroid. When I replay them, I can't do a fast fast forward or rewind. If I try to, it goes right to the end of the program. I've tried recording with and without chapters. And I've tried +r, +rw and -r so far & that doesn't seem to make a difference. It's worse when I try to play them in other dvd players, but it also happens when I play them back in the Polaroid. We usually end up watching off the hard drive, but my intent was to be able to watch them in another room in the house.

Does anybody know what I'm doing wrong?
It happens on the 2100G? Other players it is a known issue. I think you can get them to go 2x usually but any faster and they'll zip to the end. Some players handle the disks the Polo makes better than others I think. My Oppo 971H does. There is some discussion buried in the thread about it.

z3scott, thanks. I'm home now and have changed the resolution out on my 2, H20's by
uncheking all resolutions except 480i in: settings\tv type\resolutions on the H20's. I
have looked at the results on the Panny using HDMI direct from the H20 and component
out from the other H20 to my Vizio 37 LCD. With both H20's tuned to Ch 267HD, the results look the same to me on both sets....no diffenece when all the resolutions are checked. The Polo is not in the loop with these tests. Did I do this correctly? So with the Polo in the loop with component in and out, the results should look the same??

My end goal is for my wife to be able to record sporting events, prime time shows, etc.
I will then try to edit them and burn DVD's so she can watch them at a later date. So, the recording part has to be as simple and easy as possible.....switching inputs, etc might be too complicated.

Has anyone found a way to copy recorded files from the Polo to a PC without frist burning a DVD?

z3scott, thanks. I'm home now and have changed the resolution out on my 2, H20's by
uncheking all resolutions except 480i in: settings\tv type\resolutions on the H20's. I
have looked at the results on the Panny using HDMI direct from the H20 and component
out from the other H20 to my Vizio 37 LCD. With both H20's tuned to Ch 267HD, the results look the same to me on both sets....no diffenece when all the resolutions are checked. The Polo is not in the loop with these tests. Did I do this correctly? So with the Polo in the loop with component in and out, the results should look the same??

My end goal is for my wife to be able to record sporting events, prime time shows, etc.
I will then try to edit them and burn DVD's so she can watch them at a later date. So, the recording part has to be as simple and easy as possible.....switching inputs, etc might be too complicated.

Has anyone found a way to copy recorded files from the Polo to a PC without frist burning a DVD?

You will have to try it with the Polaroid in the loop receiving 480i from the H20 compared to HDMI output at 1080i or 720p on the same tv. See if it introduces any objectional change in pq for you versus your tests directly connecting hdmi or component at 480i. You are adding additional circuitry with the potential for noise and color shifting but just test it and see how it looks for you and your wife.

No one has reported being able to manipulate the files yet on a pc in the thread. I know some have tried.

You can look at the threads about adding external hard drives to the unit but I also don't know whether you can edit anything from the Hard drive of it.
It would need to be in a format your OS can see and I'm not sure it does that.
I havent used mine in months since I tried the European FW from the Packard Bell units available over there. I do have a nice Pal tuner now and it thinks it has Scart inputs now. It still can tune manually and takes in most of the inputs fine though:cool:

I seem to have problems with the dvds i make on my polaroid. When I replay them, I can't do a fast fast forward or rewind. If I try to, it goes right to the end of the program. I've tried recording with and without chapters. And I've tried +r, +rw and -r so far & that doesn't seem to make a difference. It's worse when I try to play them in other dvd players, but it also happens when I play them back in the Polaroid. We usually end up watching off the hard drive, but my intent was to be able to watch them in another room in the house.

Does anybody know what I'm doing wrong?
You are doing nothing wrong. This is a limitation of the Polo.
I've never been able to FF more the 2x on another player with a Polo DVD, but I have never had the problem with the Polo itself. I regularly FF up to 32X on the Polo on a burned DVD.

Because of this FF issue, I now use the segment option to remove all commercials before I burn the DVD. That way I do not have to FF as much. Once you get used to segmenting, you can do it pretty quick. Segmenting also allows you to record in better quality as most movies come in at under 2 hours if you remove the commercials.

I've posted before that if you play them on a PC (I travel a lot and play them on my laptop) that Cyberlink PowerDVD will handle all FF options ok.

Glad to see the forum come to life!!

Grant

Thanks, I'll try that later today or tomorrow and let you know. Other than the
pass through issue, and other correctable issues with a B model, is there any other reason not to keep the B?
I've had my "B" model for over a year and have only seen the limitations you noted. I can live with them. (I also have a "K" unit hooked up elsewhere.)
For the price, this has been a great machine!

Grant

You are doing nothing wrong. This is a limitation of the Polo.
I've never been able to FF more the 2x on another player with a Polo DVD, but I have never had the problem with the Polo itself. I regularly FF up to 32X on the Polo on a burned DVD.

Because of this FF issue, I now use the segment option to remove all commercials before I burn the DVD. That way I do not have to FF as much. Once you get used to segmenting, you can do it pretty quick. Segmenting also allows you to record in better quality as most movies come in at under 2 hours if you remove the commercials.

I've posted before that if you play them on a PC (I travel a lot and play them on my laptop) that Cyberlink PowerDVD will handle all FF options ok.

Glad to see the forum come to life!!

Grant

Thanks for the reply. I thought maybe a different media, but I guess not. I try to record off of On Demand when I can, then no commercials. Well, less commercials. But I do still have the problem on playback on the Polaroid. When I finish putting a show on a DVD, I like to play it to the end to make sure it all was there before I delete it from the hard drive.

I had stopped recording with chapters, thinking that would help, but it hasn't. I think I'll turn that option back on. On other machines, if you hit next, it might skip right over a chapter or two!

I'll have to try that PowerDVD b/c they really freeze up on my laptop - unwatchable!

I still wouldn't give up my Polo though! :D

I have a Polo- ONLY reason to buy one is the component inputs(and if you have a settop box that it is compatible with it at 480i WS)- with its LSI chip it does give a very good record quality- Do not buy one for playback, dv functionality, etc. They can still be bought on Ebay refurbed by Polo from $110-150. My personal take is that the Polo refurbs are light years better than the originals. The burned dvds(taiyo yuden only ) have played back well on 3 different dvd players except that , yes, FF is slow.

It also has, IMO, very good chase play for live shows, since it multi-tasks nicely. You can change channels, schedule, and watch recorded programs while recording live.

I use it for SD time shift for watch-once-shows, like sports and weather. It would have been nice if the follow-up digital version was actually an upgrade rather than a new machine. the digital one has loads of problems.

I have to agree that the Polo has some nice features for view-once programming. But for doing that I would rather watch 1080i high definition content. Right now I'm using a SA8300HD with external eSATA hard drive. Being able to archive to DVD is my concern.

Does anybody know if swapping out the burner solves the Polo FF - RW skip issue?

It doesn't look like it would be hard to clip that little connector and solder on a proper 4 pin molex jack and I know some of you guys are running burners with external power.

Later, Conrad

I have had some time now to play with my Polo B series. Yes, it must be on to have component pass thru, and yes, the fan is noisy and the remote problem does exist. I can fix those 2 problems as discussed in this forum and I can live with the B model pass thru limitations.

This may sound like a dumb question, but when I record to the hard drive, all
the record info remains displayed on my screen. I have not found a way to
turn that message off and to be able to see the full screen while I am recording.

What button on the remote do I push to clear the screen?

What button on the remote do I push to clear the screen?
Bottom of remote; display button will cycle through info :)

I have to agree that the Polo has some nice features for view-once programming. But for doing that I would rather watch 1080i high definition content. Right now I'm using a SA8300HD with external eSATA hard drive. Being able to archive to DVD is my concern.

Does anybody know if swapping out the burner solves the Polo FF - RW skip issue?

It doesn't look like it would be hard to clip that little connector and solder on a proper 4 pin molex jack and I know some of you guys are running burners with external power.

Later, Conrad
Hi Conradt,

It's not a problem of the burner, it's a problem of the firmware that controls the burner. I think the problem comes from the fact they are using a variation of the DVD_VR format which is a non-complaint format used by several DVD Recorders. If I recall correctly I think the reason for using the VR format is that it allows things to be added to the disc later. The problem is that it's a non-compliant format so some (most) older DVD players have some issues with DVD_VR format discs, but most will play them - just fast forward and rewind seem to get funky.

To compound the issues, the Polaroid seems to be using a variant of the DVD_VR format because there are some utilities out there that will fix a VR format disc and make it a complaint format. Unfortunately these utilities don't seem to work on the Polaroid created discs. I even corresponded with the author of one of the programs and he looked at a Polaroid disc but didn't immeadiately see the problem and unfortunately was honest and said it wasn't worth his time to fix this bug for just the Polaroid players (and I don't blame him, how many of us really have "spare" time?!).

This bug has been a big disappointment to me - we use our Polaroid a lot for time shifting but when there's something we want to archive I have to hook the polaroid up to another recorder and make a disc from there.

If this bug wasn't present this would be the bargain of the century to me . . . check out what a HTPC would run ya to build!!!

As far as play back quality issues from Polaroid discs - you must use good media, but that's true of any recorder. Beyond that, the Polaroids are burning the discs slower than they are rated for and slower burning doesn't mean a better burn. Also, since these burners are in the polaroid and the drive's firmware can't be easily updated as time goes on we'll probably be feeding it media that the drive doesn't have a write strategy for so it'll use a generic write strategy that probably wont give an optimal burn. What to do? Well, I don't burn much on my unit because of the VR bug, but if I do I usually take that disc over to my PC and make a backup of it with my PC as I know it's drive is a much better burner and will a higher quality and hopefully longer lasting disc.

I really wish someone would figure a way around that darn VR bug!

slr_65,

Thanks for the reply and explanation. Those are pretty much my experiences as well. I've picked up Ulead DVD Movie Factory that someone else reported using to edit the disks on computer. If it works with DVD-RWs from the Polo then I may experiment some more. If not I'll just use the passthru feature and leave the advanced editing and burning to a Toshiba SX32.

Later, Conrad.

Hi Conradt,

It's not a problem of the burner, it's a problem of the firmware that controls the burner. I think the problem comes from the fact they are using a variation of the DVD_VR format which is a non-complaint format used by several DVD Recorders. If I recall correctly I think the reason for using the VR format is that it allows things to be added to the disc later. The problem is that it's a non-compliant format so some (most) older DVD players have some issues with DVD_VR format discs, but most will play them - just fast forward and rewind seem to get funky.

To compound the issues, the Polaroid seems to be using a variant of the DVD_VR format because there are some utilities out there that will fix a VR format disc and make it a complaint format. Unfortunately these utilities don't seem to work on the Polaroid created discs. I even corresponded with the author of one of the programs and he looked at a Polaroid disc but didn't immeadiately see the problem and unfortunately was honest and said it wasn't worth his time to fix this bug for just the Polaroid players (and I don't blame him, how many of us really have "spare" time?!).

This bug has been a big disappointment to me - we use our Polaroid a lot for time shifting but when there's something we want to archive I have to hook the polaroid up to another recorder and make a disc from there.

If this bug wasn't present this would be the bargain of the century to me . . . check out what a HTPC would run ya to build!!!

As far as play back quality issues from Polaroid discs - you must use good media, but that's true of any recorder. Beyond that, the Polaroids are burning the discs slower than they are rated for and slower burning doesn't mean a better burn. Also, since these burners are in the polaroid and the drive's firmware can't be easily updated as time goes on we'll probably be feeding it media that the drive doesn't have a write strategy for so it'll use a generic write strategy that probably wont give an optimal burn. What to do? Well, I don't burn much on my unit because of the VR bug, but if I do I usually take that disc over to my PC and make a backup of it with my PC as I know it's drive is a much better burner and will a higher quality and hopefully longer lasting disc.

I really wish someone would figure a way around that darn VR bug!

Yes you are right. It seems to be pretty common with machines like the Polaroid. Couple of things. The format is +VR and yes because you can edit on the optical disc as one of the features of +VR it can hose up the finalized video_ts file as a result.

It's been about a year since we last discussed this but if I remember correctly I was able to convert the +VR disc to a Video Mode disc.

Try this:

1. Copy the disc to your PC using DVD Decrypter in ISO mode.

2. Open the ISO using DVD Shrink. Set Shrink to no compression (100%). Run Shrink. The result will be a Video Mode DVD. The video_ts folder is rewritten as a result of running it through Shrink in the Video Mode format. For example there will no longer be a Video_RM folder - which is a byproduct of the +VR format.

This may be tougher if you have done a lot of on disc editing but if you did all of your editing on the HDD and then burned the disc it should work fine. But like i said it has been a while.

Both DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink are free tools which can be found online.

Thanks Nextoo.

I remember about 9 months ago being able to make exact copies of -R polo recordings with Shrink, Decryptor or CloneDVD which of course had the same VR bug.

Just a few weeks ago I pulled the Polo off my spare parts pile and put it back together using the tips and tricks you guys posted here. Now I've got it all fixed up. 160GB hdd, remote led fix, replaced the fan with a Silenx (14dbA). Quiet as a mouse. This FF, RW bug is the last hurdle.

I want to use a -RW to transfer the polo recordings to computer or SX32-SX54 and do the editing there. By-pass that last dub thru svhs out. Which I know you've heard before.

Last night using a +RW then rip to Decryptor ISO and writing back to disc with cloneDVD got me an unreadable disc. I probably screwed up by witing it back to an RW.

OK...I've got days off. One more try using Decryptor and Shrink. This time I'll do the final write to -R or +R.

Maybe I won't have to learn IFOedit or DVD Movie Factory 6....yet.

Thanks for dropping in.
Conrad

Thanks Nextoo.

I remember about 9 months ago being able to make exact copies of -R polo recordings with Shrink, Decryptor or CloneDVD which of course had the same VR bug.

Just a few weeks ago I pulled the Polo off my spare parts pile and put it back together using the tips and tricks you guys posted here. Now I've got it all fixed up. 160GB hdd, remote led fix, replaced the fan with a Silenx (14dbA). Quiet as a mouse. This FF, RW bug is the last hurdle.

I want to use a -RW to transfer the polo recordings to computer or SX32-SX54 and do the editing there. By-pass that last dub thru svhs out. Which I know you've heard before.

Last night using a +RW then rip to Decryptor ISO and writing back to disc with cloneDVD got me an unreadable disc. I probably screwed up by witing it back to an RW.

OK...I've got days off. One more try using Decryptor and Shrink. This time I'll do the final write to -R or +R.

Maybe I won't have to learn IFOedit or DVD Movie Factory 6....yet.

Thanks for dropping in.
Conrad


This is simple stuff. Just record to DVD+RW, copy/drag everything to a folder on the PC's HD using explorer, no need to rip or anything to get the files to the HD. I've even used a combination of "xcopy" and "at" command lines to set and forget using two DVD drives. Then author a DVD using whatever authoring program you like. I use TMPGenc DVD Author 3. Let it compile and then burn using Nero or whatever. Burn to good DVD-R media for maximum compatibility.

An optional intermediate step is to use DVD Shrink to transcode down to a single layer size disc if you need to, before burning. TMPGenc DVD Author 3 can also transcode but you will get more control over what to compress with DVD Shrink.

I've done some fairly complex things using the above apps and Photoshop, TMPGenc Plus for muxing/demuxing and mpg conversion and even Flash CS3 for creating animated menus using flash.

Don't bother with DVD-RW for transfer or anything else. Stick to DVD+RW. For simple unedited archiving burn to DVD-R, which you will have to finalize. Somewhat off-topic, DVD+RW should last for a very long time if the surface is kept fairly uncompromised. I have discs that are about two years old and have been rerecorded ~20 times.

Also, off-topic, I don't know if it has been covered here: If you cannot erase a disc that has been recorded to with another machine or in a PC burner, just attempt to record to optical output. You'll get the "Wrong Format" error but then the "erase disc" option will be available in setup.

I recently purchased one from Ubid.
It was a "K" series unit, with the fan being silent.
Unfortunately, the unit died within 30 mins, before I could hook it up to my TV.
Polaroid will exchange it.

Before it died, I had plugged in the FireWire to my PC, which detected the DRM-2001G as a "LSI Logic Device" and installed 2 Devices -
1. 61883 Class Bus Device
2. AVC Device
These are visible only if you enable the "Show Hidden Devices" option under Device Manager.
Not sure what can be controlled by the PC though.

As reported by some others, the main circuit board is LSI Logic PVR1000
Also noticed the USB Header.
Searching the web, I found a Schematic for a KXD-PVR1000, which looks a lot like the board in this DRM-2001G - xoro.co.ua/files/HVR5500.pdf (Please add http to the link, as I cannot post a URL)
This schematic seems to be for the XORO HVR5500, which comes with a 160GB HDD.
According to USB Schematic on Page 7, the PinOuts are -
1 - USB_PC0
2 - USB_OC0
3 - GND
4 - USB_D0+
5 - USB_D0-
6 - GND
7 - VCC (+)

Hopefully, someone can try using this info to check if USB is useable.


The OS seems to be "VxWorks BSP ver 1.2" from www.windriver.com/vxworks/

Please help me choose a good product for editing DVD's that I've created with my Polo 2001g. I need a product to easily eliminate commercials and other extraneous stuff from various video I've recorded such as movies and other cable TV shows.

I've already purchased AnyDVD and CloneDVD to get started with the cleanup and copying. Now, I need a good product for the editing and production of improved DVD.

Please advise.

It's easier to edit commercials right on the 2001g. On the PC I use DVDShrink.

Well the wifes Toshiba D-KR4 DVD Recorder Crashed after 1 year of use. So I am now the owner of a Polaroid 2001G. Soon to arrive from UBID. I want you all to know the wealth of information provided by all your posts on this board directly influenced my purchase decision. Thanks!

Just picked up a "K" unit off EBay for like 80 bucks.

No remote.

Of course Ive been on this thread since start so the question I had was.....

What parts of the unit CANT be accessed with a Universal Remote?
I kinda know which ones can be used but was wondering--- are there any crucial ones.....(ie....Title, timer etc) that cant be used with a Universal?

thnx.

I replaced the fan in my "K" unit today. It had been bad on startup for about a year, but now was sounding really sick all of the time.
Replacing it was a piece of cake, so if you have a similar problem, don't hesitate to do it.

Grant

Just picked up a "K" unit off EBay for like 80 bucks.

No remote.

Of course Ive been on this thread since start so the question I had was.....

What parts of the unit CANT be accessed with a Universal Remote?
I kinda know which ones can be used but was wondering--- are there any crucial ones.....(ie....Title, timer etc) that cant be used with a Universal?

thnx.

I think you will need a Polo remote to do anything other than turn it off or on. I never saw that any codes were available to program a universal. You need to have a learning remote which requires the original. You may want to find someone with a Polo remote who lives nearby that you can borrow for a couple of hours.
I use the Sony VL-600 for a learning remote which works well.


Grant

I replaced the fan in my "K" unit today. It had been bad on startup for about a year, but now was sounding really sick all of the time.
Replacing it was a piece of cake, so if you have a similar problem, don't hesitate to do it.

Grant

Where can you get a fan for this unit and what type is it?
Mine makes a lot of noise at startup.

I recently purchased one from Ubid.
Searching the web, I found a Schematic for a KXD-PVR1000, which looks a lot like the board in this DRM-2001G - xoro.co.ua/files/HVR5500.pdf (Please add http to the link, as I cannot post a URL)
This schematic seems to be for the XORO HVR5500, which comes with a 160GB HDD.
According to USB Schematic on Page 7, the PinOuts are -
1 - USB_PC0
2 - USB_OC0
3 - GND
4 - USB_D0+
5 - USB_D0-
6 - GND
7 - VCC (+)

Hopefully, someone can try using this info to check if USB is useable.


The OS seems to be "VxWorks BSP ver 1.2" from www.windriver.com/vxworks/

I think you connect your PC with the DVR serial port which located at the back of the DVR.right??

The serial port is just used to upgrade the DVB-T module firmware,but it not used to test if the USB works right.

I have not see your post ealier,Could you explain it to me again,and maybe I have some good idear or some test way to lead you slove this problem.

Where can you get a fan for this unit and what type is it?
Mine makes a lot of noise at startup.

I wanted to make sure that I got it right, so I took the top off the Polo and then took the unit into an electronics store. The one I went to was just a local industrial supply. I don't know if Radio Shack or some other chain might carry them.
There were several options available for fans. I believe it is a 12v fan, but by taking the whole thing in I could make sure I got the right one. I selected one that would fit but that was thicker than the original (more air flow).
The bracket for the fan on the K makes it very easy to replace. You can take the 2 screws out to take the bracket right out and then take the 2 screws out of the fan to remove it.
I then just spliced the wires and reinstalled making sure the flow was in the right direction.
Grant

I bought one from eBay and worked well with the HDD on recording but as soon as I switched to DVD recording, it locked up within 5 minutes. The casing was really hot. I opened it and found the small fan inside was just recirculating hot air inside the casing. Rather buying another fan and the trouble to go to Radio Shack (nearest is 16 miles away), I drilled holes on the back casing and faced the fan with flow outward.

The Polo DVD recording is working satisfactory, except now its very noisy and will accumulate a lot dust in the long run.

I think you connect your PC with the DVR serial port which located at the back of the DVR.right??

The serial port is just used to upgrade the DVB-T module firmware,but it not used to test if the USB works right.

I have not see your post ealier,Could you explain it to me again,and maybe I have some good idear or some test way to lead you slove this problem.

My 2001G has no serial port at the back. The one Exfer refers is the USB connection socket on the MB. If its a USB2 socket, I will be interested to put a cable plug into this socket and leads the cable out of the casing for a USB HDD connection. If its just for flash drive, JPEG pictures, MP3 and WMA files, I am not interested at all.

The link to the Polo website for the pdf manual is dead. Polo had removed it. Anyother place to download it?

Hi Guys,

I've been playing around with my new (refurbished) Polo (K model) for a few weeks.

I saw mixed posts about doing time shift after a timer recording started.
That is: lets say i schedule a recording for 9, and i arrive at 9:15, i want to start seeing from the beginning. This will not work.
Time shift seems to work only when i use OTR.
One workaround is to stop the recording, make sure time shift is on (usually it turns off after timed recording for some reason), watch the recorded 15 min. and then go back to the buffered time shift to see the rest.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

The link to the Polo website for the pdf manual is dead. Polo had removed it. Anyother place to download it?
I think it is still online:
polaroid.com/media/com/text/products/petters/drm-2001g_v1_m56577569830533687.pdf

Your link works, thanks.

Hi Guys,

I've been playing around with my new (refurbished) Polo (K model) for a few weeks.

I saw mixed posts about doing time shift after a timer recording started.
That is: lets say i schedule a recording for 9, and i arrive at 9:15, i want to start seeing from the beginning. This will not work.
Time shift seems to work only when i use OTR.
One workaround is to stop the recording, make sure time shift is on (usually it turns off after timed recording for some reason), watch the recorded 15 min. and then go back to the buffered time shift to see the rest.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

You described just what I do with the Polo. I schedule record the Fox NFL pre-game show on the Polo (one hour) and CBS (five hours to include the game) on Phillips 3575. When I get home, I stop the Fox recording, turn timeshift back on and watch the Fox show to its recorded end and shift to time shift to watch the rest of the hour. Then I put the Fox game on PIP to watch it live and shift to the Phillips to watch it from the HD.

I record CBS on my Phillips because I am an AFL fan and it does allow me to watch scheduled recordings while recording (unlike the Polo). I usually catch up with the live broadcast on CBS about half time, by zipping through commercials.

As you noted, the only way to do it on the Polo is OTR, which I use often. Plus, the Polo is a great multitasking unit compared to the Phillips, so you get good and bad.

58 units available on ubid.com for next 4 days. (http://www.ubid.com/Polaroid_DRM-2001G_DVD_Recorder%2fw_80_GB_Hard_Drive_*FREE_SHIPPING*/a11225935-rsearchone.html)

Buy-it-now at $99.99 w/free shipping.
Last bid at $51.00 w/93 bids so far.
Refurbished.
90-day warranty.

You described just what I do with the Polo. I schedule record the Fox NFL pre-game show on the Polo (one hour) and CBS (five hours to include the game) on Phillips 3575. When I get home, I stop the Fox recording, turn timeshift back on and watch the Fox show to its recorded end and shift to time shift to watch the rest of the hour. Then I put the Fox game on PIP to watch it live and shift to the Phillips to watch it from the HD.

I record CBS on my Phillips because I am an AFL fan and it does allow me to watch scheduled recordings while recording (unlike the Polo). I usually catch up with the live broadcast on CBS about half time, by zipping through commercials.

As you noted, the only way to do it on the Polo is OTR, which I use often. Plus, the Polo is a great multitasking unit compared to the Phillips, so you get good and bad.

Thanks. that's how i'll handle it.

another thing - does everyone have a pretty loud noise at start up (for the first 20 sec +/-)?
sounds like the optical drive searching for a disc.

I think you connect your PC with the DVR serial port which located at the back of the DVR.right??

The serial port is just used to upgrade the DVB-T module firmware,but it not used to test if the USB works right.

I have not see your post ealier,Could you explain it to me again,and maybe I have some good idear or some test way to lead you slove this problem.

Hi,
I do not have any serial port on the unit.
I was referring to the USB connector on the main PCB inside the unit.

Thanks

Thanks. that's how i'll handle it.

another thing - does everyone have a pretty loud noise at start up (for the first 20 sec +/-)?
sounds like the optical drive searching for a disc.

This is a common problem with the "K" unit fan. See my note a few posts above about replacing the fan.

Grant

Just purchased a unit before Xmas and got a "K" unit. Worked OK but get interference on quite a few cable channels. Happens only when Polo is on; when you turn it off picture is clear again. Interference looks like tiny diagonal lines. Not horrible, but annoying. Prerecorded disks are nice and clean.

Called customer service and they told me to send it in for replacement. Got a "B" replacement that does the same thing.

Any recommendations?

Geno

Tried Sony and Memorex 4x DVD+RW, both did not record beyond 5 minutes, is a DVD recorder problem or I have to use DVD+R media only? What are the recommended media for this DVD recorder, thanks.

My first 2000G's fan stared acting up recently and was very loud. I read on a computer FAQ about fans and how to fix a noisy fan so tried it. It is simple and we shall see if it works over time.

1. Remove the fan from the case
2. Gently peel the back label a bit more than half way to reveal the fan bearings.
3. Lubricate the bearings with (in order of preference) either light weight bearing lubricant (I used spray lithium) lubricant, or silicon, or Teflon, or machine oil.
4. Clean off the excess.
5. If the label re-sticks, you are fine. If not, cut off enough to still cover the hole and use an address label to re-stick the label and cover the hole.
6. Replace the fan.

The difference was amazing. Now I have to get very close to the unit to even hear the fan, it is so quite.

I wanted to make sure that I got it right, so I took the top off the Polo and then took the unit into an electronics store. The one I went to was just a local industrial supply. I don't know if Radio Shack or some other chain might carry them.
There were several options available for fans. I believe it is a 12v fan, but by taking the whole thing in I could make sure I got the right one. I selected one that would fit but that was thicker than the original (more air flow).
The bracket for the fan on the K makes it very easy to replace. You can take the 2 screws out to take the bracket right out and then take the 2 screws out of the fan to remove it.
I then just spliced the wires and reinstalled making sure the flow was in the right direction.
Grant

I have a K Series Polo with bad fan startup noise, so i first wanted to try and lubricate the fan bearings (like beekeeper suggested), so I took the case off, but apparently the brushless DC fan i have has sealed bearings, so i couldn't reach the bearings even after peeling the sticker.
Now i have to decide if i want to exchange and maybe get another refurb unit that might have other issues that mine doesn't, or just go ahead and replace the fan... not sure which fan will work the best... hmmm, hard choices :)

You have peeled off the fan sticker, please let us know the outcome as I had drilled holes on the casing to provide better cooling for the DVD writer, but apparently, the writer still locked up after 5 minutes of DVD+RW recording.

You have peeled off the fan sticker, please let us know the outcome as I had drilled holes on the casing to provide better cooling for the DVD writer, but apparently, the writer still locked up after 5 minutes of DVD+RW recording.

Actually, i peeled the sticker to find the bearings in order to lubricate, but mine had a plastic seal on.

I think Drilling holes is a bit risky. Designing airflow cooling is a bit tricky and I presume they wanted the air to stay inside the case, then go to the cpu hdd and burner and only then escape from the bottom.
I do think replacing with a higher quality fan is a better choice IMO.
EDIT: I have just ordered the high end SilenX Ixtrema Pro 40x10mm 14dBA Fan. SLR_65 said that it was quiet but it also died on him after a while.

Both Sony & Memorex 4x DVD+RW are now working OK after erased on my laptop and put them back in the Polo writer. Both are working and can record to the end (LP mode). Strange, problly I was not familiar with this Polo operation and touched the stop button. The problem is there is no display on the front Polo panel tell what it was doing.

Another problem, the recorded episodes on the HDD and the DVD appeared to be very wash out, any clues why?

I answer my own question here. I did not adjust properly the TV input from the Polo recorder output thats why it was so washed out, now its acceptable after adjustment.

I answer my own question here. I did not adjust properly the TV input from the Polo recorder output thats why it was so washed out, now its acceptable after adjustment.

what do you mean adjust properly the TV input?
Thanks!

Sorry its not clear. The TV has many input settings, 3 HDMIs, 2 RCA, 1 component inputs. All individually set, i.e. color, tint, brightness, ... etc.

While dubbing contents from HDD to DVD, how can I watch the contents during dubbing? I cannot even see the status of dubbing!

While dubbing contents from HDD to DVD, how can I watch the contents during dubbing? I cannot even see the status of dubbing!

There is an icon on the upper left center of the screen that may be visible in whole or in part, depending on the TV over scan setup. It is fully visible on my LCD display but I could only see the bottom on my CRT when watching TV and dubbing.

When dubbing starts, if you switch back to the HD display, you will see it. There is no status display, only that it is happening. Give it about 18 minutes.

Thanks beekeeper. So if I select HDD during dubbing from HDD to DVD, I will see Dubbing icon appear on Plasma TV? I will try it in the evening.

I assume that 18 minutes is for 16X DVD+R dubbing, will it be different if I use 4x DVD+RW?

When dubbing starts, the component outputs the TV signal to my Plasma TV as I normally cycle the input signal from the rear composite when I switch on the Polo. When I switch it off, and then switch it on, it automatically switch to channel 7, it cannot remember any other last inputs.

I doubt if it matters if it is 16 or 4x. Anything I use takes about 18 minutes.

You should see the icon with a plasma as long as the input is from the polo and the screen aspect is normal, not zoom. If you switch from the polo input, obviously you will not see the icon. Plus, you will not see the time shift icon on the bottom right, which is always there when you have the polo input.

Easy to test, just push the hd button on and you should be in the hd menu if the input is correct.

The polo does shift from the hd menu to its tuner when dubbing starts.

I have made my Polo Hard Drive external and easily removable by Nextoo's method I know thi has been asked before, but, has anyone been able to read the files under Windows, Linux or any other OS so that they can be easily copied from the Polo Hard Drive to a PC's Hard Drive?

Hi Guys,

I've been playing around with my new (refurbished) Polo (K model) for a few weeks.

I saw mixed posts about doing time shift after a timer recording started.
That is: lets say i schedule a recording for 9, and i arrive at 9:15, i want to start seeing from the beginning. This will not work.
Time shift seems to work only when i use OTR.
One workaround is to stop the recording, make sure time shift is on (usually it turns off after timed recording for some reason), watch the recorded 15 min. and then go back to the buffered time shift to see the rest.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

I only recently read your note about the timeshift problem. I kept thinking about the problem and decided to offer a suggestion. I'm not sure I fully grasp the scope of your problem but maybe this suggestion is pertinent.

Have you tried using setup to turn timeshift ON as the default? You may setup timeshift using the ON option as a default and that way it will record all the time.

I occasionally use this feature to work with timer recordings, otherwise I only turn the timeshift ON while recording OTR.

The hard drive stays active all the time when the timeshift is ON. That's why I only turn it ON when I really need it.

Beekeeper: Apparently the subject forum had a system problem and did not recover your last post which I had downloaded and replied to (which also was lost). I decided to post your last entry and provide my reply. Here goes your entry:

"His problem is that he returns home when the program is recording. You can do what he said (stop and timeshift the rest) or wait and watch something else on the HD. If you are recording a scheduled program, timeshift is off.

What you describe is to leave the set on the entire time you are gone so it will be in timeshift when you get home. Can be done but a waste of electrons.

Most other recorders allow you to go to the HD while recording a scheduled show and watch it from the beginning while recording. The Polo does not. But the Polo allows so many other things to go on concurrently that I miss those features when watching on my Phillips. Good and bad in both."

Here's my edited reply regarding your comment on leaving the Polo on all the time:

1. Thanks for your comment. I wouldn't advise leaving the machine on all the time. Leave it in standby status as opposed to ON.

2. Check me on this:
a. Setup timer recording with timeshift ON via default, turn machine off (in standby status).
b. The timer will turn the machine ON as required for recording, with timeshift ON.
c. Machine will be turned OFF when timer recording is complete, and timeshift will likewise be OFF at this point (in standby status).

Yesterday, I ran a CD/DVD Speed disc quality test on a Taiyo Yuden -R (TYG02) from my 2001G a few months ago. My Toshiba XS54 plays the DVD okay, but doesn't ff/rew, skip or count properly. I thought someone else might be interested in a TY disc quality test from the Polo.

Compubooth- Thanks. I wondered where the post went.

B- is not quite correct. Time shift will be on but not usable while the scheduled recording is taking place. You are locked into real time if you come in during the recording. After the recording ends, if you do not interrupt it, the machine will shut down, even if you are watching a HD saved program. Another interesting fact.

If I come home during a scheduled recording and I do not intend to save the program, I stop the recording (press stop), restart time shift (it also stops), then go to the saved recording (press hd), watch it until it ends, then shift back to live, chapter back to the beginning of time shift and watch the rest.

That procedure is a small pain, since other machines will allow watching while recording but they have poor time shift. So you have a great time shift but lousy scheduled features. With the polo time shift you can save the buffer, change channels, check the schedule setup, and a whole bunch of other things that other recorders are incapable of. So it has a bunch of nice features.

One other thing. When you start the Polo when recording do not stop recording by answering the advisory window that comes up asking if you want to stop. If you do, the machine will shut down. Instead, wait until the window disappears, then press stop (usually at a commercial). and re-start time shift. I cannot emphasize the latter too much since there have been many times where I forgot to re-start it and lost some of the program.

Beekeeper:

Thanks for the followup and your learned advice. I stand corrected. Thanks again for this and all your comments and advice.

Anyone have a "B" serial # unit? I bought it a few months ago refurb off ebay with the polo 90 day warranty- so far it has been great. The fan can be heard but I do not think it is overly loud.

Anyone have a "B" serial # unit? I bought it a few months ago refurb off ebay with the polo 90 day warranty- so far it has been great. The fan can be heard but I do not think it is overly loud.
I've had a "B" since August 2006. No problems. Fan a bit noisy as everyone's was.
I've had to replace the fan on my "K" unit as it obviously was failing.

I have a 2001G "B" model and a DRA-0160A and the fan on the DRA-0160A is louder than the fan on my 2001G. The DRA-0160A seems to have more software bugs too (more lockups, very unstable cable QAM tuner). But for what I paid for both of these units I think that they are worth the trouble (and the bugs).

By the way, when I called Polaroid and asked about software updates on both of these units they said that there aren't any. When I asked if there were any planned the person told me "no" but he did say that Polaroid will have a new model DVD recorder this spring. He did not have any details on it.

This is my first post here but I've been reading since before I got my Polo. I bought a used one (no warranty) a month ago and a few days ago it suddenly went stone cold dead while I was viewing a DVD. I took it apart and repaired the power supply and while it was apart I looked at the IR sensor. It was mounted with its face at a 45 degree angle to the front panel and was being held that way by a rubber cushion that was simply too thick. So I took the cushion out and trimmed it down with a razor blade, and bent the IR sensor leads so that it properly faces outwards. The remote works from 20 ft away now, but the box still takes a long time to respond to some functions (just like my Dish network box). Also while I had the box open I connected a spare PC disk drive in place of the stock one. When I powered up the box again the front panel just said HELLO and the video said PLEASE WAIT for about 4-5 minutes. I could hear the new hard drive being reformatted so I waited it out. After the reformatting was done everything started to work normally again.
BTW the fan is very easy to replace. It's a standard 12v DC item.

This is my first post here but I've been reading since before I got my Polo. I bought a used one (no warranty) a month ago and a few days ago it suddenly went stone cold dead while I was viewing a DVD. I took it apart and repaired the power supply and while it was apart I looked at the IR sensor. It was mounted with its face at a 45 degree angle to the front panel and was being held that way by a rubber cushion that was simply too thick. So I took the cushion out and trimmed it down with a razor blade, and bent the IR sensor leads so that it properly faces outwards. The remote works from 20 ft away now, but the box still takes a long time to respond to some functions (just like my Dish network box). Also while I had the box open I connected a spare PC disk drive in place of the stock one. When I powered up the box again the front panel just said HELLO and the video said PLEASE WAIT for about 4-5 minutes. I could hear the new hard drive being reformatted so I waited it out. After the reformatting was done everything started to work normally again.
BTW the fan is very easy to replace. It's a standard 12v DC item.

What did you find wrong with the power supply?

I forgot to mentiuon that I have the 01601 but my neighbor said the IR sensor in his 2001 had the same problem (just mounted crooked). As for the power supply, one of the capacitors failed open and I replaced it. For folks without expertise in switching power supplies you can usually identify bad caps just by looking for a slightly convex top endcap (they should be flat or slightly concave). BTW something else I discovered on the front side of the front panel board is a watch battery that powers the clock/display/control microprocessor so unlike the Philips units the clock should maintain time during long power outages.

Thanks

Hello to all here! I finally found an informative and well documented thread on this nice DVR! I am new to this thread, and to AVS Forums also.

I got my DVR a few weeks ago at WalMart, as it was marked as a clearance item with a price of $84, down form $263 (brand new item with all manuals and accessories included). I live in Puerto Rico, where electronics prices are more or less the same as in USA, with some notable exceptions in some retail chain stores, so I decided that for the price it was a steal, especially now that HDD DVRs are not that common.

I have been reading this thread since yesterday, and I have a few questions off the top of my mind, but I will read the downloaded thread first... I guess most of my questions ARE answered in 84 pages!! :D

One question I would like to ask is this: my unit is an "F" one, and I have not seen much so far concerning its reliability, quirks, etc. compared to "B", "K", or others.

Thanks for such an informative thread!

Anybody who's interested in the Polaroid DRA-0160A, 160gb HDD with digital tuner, Micro Center has them on sale for $149.99. Not sure the normal price but a DVDR w/hdd under $150 caught my attention. I believe Micro Center is nation wide. They've got one B&M store in my town, and looks like there scattered across the US. Personally from what I've read I wouldn't buy one unless it's from a B&M store, sure makes exchanges easier.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0279087
For those of you who don't know, this unit does not have component inputs like the 2001 and has a separate antenna input for DTV and Analog inputs.

Hmmm... it's too quiet here! I just wanted to mention that my "F" DVR allows video and audio signal pass through when it's off... and the ability to record again is awesome!!

Thanks to all of you - and Nextoo in particular - who have provided me with the inspiration to upgrade and "externalize" the hard drives of my two "B" units. (as purchased refurbished from Ebay) The prospect of doing so was daunting, but made less so by the thorough, well-thought-out DIY instructions provided by Nextoo.

Bottom Line: Both of my B units are performing admirably and w/o problem, with externalized HD's which are housed within the external enclosures mentioned elsewhere in this thread. In addition to the stock 80GB HDs, I'm using 320GB Seagate HDs (http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5321968;jsessionid=0On5yQM6fekCSJbDW781uw**.node1?site=sr:SE ARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG)

I've also successfully externalized the DVD burner on one of the two 2001Gs, and here again I've found it to perform admirably and w/o hiccup. (Samsung brand)

Having used these units for a couple of months now, I've put them through their paces and have generally been extremely pleased. Fan noise is a bit of a frustration, but largely remedied by the fact that the units are enclosed behind glass with my other gear.

Also did the remote LED mod with the blue Radio Shack LED. An easy fix, as described by others.

Thought I'd offer these words of encouragement for any of you who, like myself, may have at first been hesitant to dive in and do these mods. While the prospect may at first seem daunting, the actual task proved fairly straightforward and inconsequential.

Oh, I also meant to mention that I'm easily and seamlessly able to swap HD's between my two units - given the external setup and interchangeable "hot swap" trays. (One more nod of the head to Nextoo, Dartman, et al for providing me the inspiration to pull this all together.);)

I was hesitant at first to get a Polaroid brand DVR, as I really did not see much relation between said brand and a high quality video product, at least not as much as other brands do. But, I see modding is a great way to go with this DVR, and that most people here report rather favorable results and experiences with it.

I still have much to test and learn, and this forum will surely prove invaluable! :D

One question I would like to ask is this: my unit is an "F" one, and I have not seen much so far concerning its reliability, quirks, etc. compared to "B", "K", or others.

Thanks for such an informative thread!

I currently own and use an F-series 2001g and I'm completely satisfied with it. This unit seems extremely reliable. I've not experienced what I perceive as any abnormalities, that is, problems not common to the 2001g in general. As to any quirks it may have, in my experience for a year now, again I must emphasize, I have not noticed any that are different than those "common" to the 2001g.

I tried several 2001g units before I decided to keep the F-series. Most of the units I tried were K-series with loud fan noise upon startup (when switched "ON" as opposed to simply switched to the Standby status). In a couple cases, the K-series unit also caused interference to several channels on my 10+ year old Toshiba TV; I use cable service.

I use the remote that came with another 2001g that I "acquired" while using one of the K-series units (I exchanged the F-series remote for this one because the one I was using worked okay). This remote communicates reasonably well across the room about 15 ft to the unit. The quirk is, you have to make sure it's aimed directly at the box more or less in a straight line.

The remote I use most for all TV related viewing is the Sony Remote Commander, Model RM-VL600. I recommend this programmable, learning remote especially for use with the 2001g. This remote works exceptionably well with this Polo.

I did discover along the way the units I tried had a fan either manufactured by T&T or a fan manufactured by ZP. The fan currently operational in my unit is a little loud at startup but settles down in a minute or so. I'm not an engineer but I think the intent of this unit is for the fan to function this way. The quirk is, some of them are very loud and get louder as you use them. The fan in my F-series unit is as follows: ZP XINRUILIAN Brushless DC fan, model: RDL 4010S DC12V, 0.06A ID# 8921HY.

I trust you will have good experiences as I've had in using your unit.

Thanks for the feedback!

Recently purchased a Polaroid DRA-010601A direct from polaroid.com. Aside from a few quirks the unit seems to work fine except from a very annoying 120 hz. background buzz when using the analog tuner input (my main mode of operation). Buzz is present whether connected to analog cable or using an over-the-air antenna. The digital tuner works fine.

Had Polaroid send me a replacement unit but it had the same problem. BTW both units were labeled as being manufactured in April, 2007.

Anyone else had a problem of this type?

Suggest you check the following separate AVS forum on your unit: DRA-01601A: DVD Recorder with 160GB Hard Drive Info

Thanks for the input - will do.

Hello Everyone! It's been awhile since I've seen any activity in this forum. I hope you are still checking the forum frequently. In any case, I need some help. Request any advice you may have regarding the following.

Tonight a friend wanted me to view some images on a couple CD's which I was told were in .jpg format. I tried to read the images on my HP PC with Vista OS but both CD's appeared not to have any files on them.

I decided to see if the Polo 2001g might read them. I put one in the unit and was able to view the images. I tried the 2nd CD but I developed a serious problem which has my Polo locked up.

The unit appeared to be loading the CD but never was successful. In fact after a little while, the machine locked up and this is the condition at present.

1. The remote control functions will not work. I can't power the machine off, I can't eject the CD, I can't change from the source, that is the machine is locked on the input channel 54 of the tuner and I can't change to another channel, I can't change to another source, i.e., DVD, HDD, DV, Input, nothing works.

2. I tried shutting down the electrical power but when powered up again, the unit remains locked up. I can't eject the CD, I can't get the controls on the front of the unit to function, and the remote control functions will not work. I repeated the power off action several times but the unit is still locked up.

3. I currently have the power off and plan to try a cold boot in a little while since the previous attempts to resolve with a warm boot were not successful.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to what to do. At least, I need to somehow retrieve the CD from the DVD player by an ejection. I'm hoping someone may have a suggestion as to how to get the unit to eject the CD, and then maybe that will allow the controls to function.

Help!

Well I solved my own problem so I guess we can chalk this one up as experience. In any case, informational.

After the cold boot, the functions on the unit worked as well as those on the remote control. I was able to eject the CD and everything seems normal again.

I have to say, I thought I was dead in the water with the Polo's operating system, but apparently the unit simply was not able to successfully load and read the CD. The unit was locked-up trying to complete the action, maybe a loop or something.

Another argument for using the cold boot approach when all else seems to fail. I've used this approach with the PC and other computers during the past 40+ years, so what can I say, it works for me!!! :)

Wow! That's pretty strange!

I'm not near my unit right now so I can't look, but usually drives have a small hole where you can insert a paper clip, etc. to manually eject a CD.

If you'd lift the lid you could disconnect the power from just the drive and then maybe try to boot and see what it does?

If by cold boot you mean disconnect the power, wait and then plug it back in, that is the usual method of recovery from most frozen units. It is also the general final word of advice when in difficulty. BTDT way too often. It is nice with the polo since it keeps the scheduled programs but some recorders lose the schedule so it is a pain.

With the exception of one problem, I have had good luck with my Polariod DRA-01601A recorder. I use it primarily for recording my wife's PBS shows in the early hours so that she can watch them at her leisure.

The problem I have had sporatically is waking up in the morning with the DVR locked up with "At0:00:00" displayed. If I turn on the TV, it shows the initial frame (I assume) of the program frozen on the screen. I have to unplug the DVR to unfreeze it. This was happening once every 2-3 days with regular daily programming.

I had an RMA all set up and then I saw something about turning off the daylight savings helping and tried it. The problem went away for a month. My disk filled up so I cleaned out a bunch of programs and I changed the schedule for a few programs. Now the problem is back on a daily basis. I have reviewed the schedules being careful to make sure I correct the channel for each as I go through them (due to the problem with the channel being changed to whatever is current).

It appears to me that the DVR is capable of running without freezing. I believe that there is some combination in the setup/recording schedule which is causing my problem due to an anomaly in the firmware.

Has anyone seen something similar or have something they recommend that I try? As I said, despite all the criticism this player has received, I still think it is a great deal for the price.

Wow! That's pretty strange!

I'm not near my unit right now so I can't look, but usually drives have a small hole where you can insert a paper clip, etc. to manually eject a CD.

If you'd lift the lid you could disconnect the power from just the drive and then maybe try to boot and see what it does?

I just checked and I don't see any small hole in the front of the drive like there is on a computer drive. Does anyone know if there is another "manual" eject option on the 2001? It would be really nice to know this before a problem occurs.

I just checked and I don't see any small hole in the front of the drive like there is on a computer drive. Does anyone know if there is another "manual" eject option on the 2001? It would be really nice to know this before a problem occurs.
Someone with a Panny EZ series DVDR said there was an eject "button" on the bottom of his unit, which no one else had realized until he mentioned finding it???

The DRM-2001G doesn't have any type of manual eject hole/button/mechanism anywhere on the front or bottom of the case. I haven't pulled a burner and looked at the front panel, but I think there was a post (maybe early in this thread?) that it's a standard burner. So, there's likely an eject hole if you open the case and at least partially remove the burner.

I've got a problem I was wondering if anyone could possibly help me out with. I've had one of these for like 2 years and it has worked perfectly until this morning. I turned it on today and the sound no longer works. I checked all the cables and even tryed different ones. I have it hooked up with the red and white rca's for the audio out to my little cd player for sound. That no longer worked so I took it downstairs to see if the optical audio out worked on my audio receiver downstairs. It works sort of. If I hook up dish network to the svideo in the back and then plug in the antenna, it plays the sound from both. Like if i'm watching satellite, you hear the sound from satellite and from whatever channel the antenna is on. Or if i'm watching one of my local channels from the antenna, I hear that audio and the satellite audio at the same time. I was just wondering if anyone knew anything about this. I'm guessing something shorted out and I just have to get a new one.

This is follow-up to my entries on 5/8/08 regarding the problem with a CD that 2001g could not read.

I'm still dealing with the data on 2 CD's I acquired from a friend who can't help (novice PC user). My HP PC with Vista will not read these CD's however I've used other PCs with Win98 and XP respectively and they read fine. So I copied them with the Win98 PC using Nero and the copied CD's work fine on the Vista PC and the Polo 2001g.

The files on the original CD's are .jpg files so I'm still confused as to why the Vista system will not read them. I did see something referencing Quickbooks on the CD that the 2001g could not read. Maybe these files were somehow produced via Quickbooks (which I have never used and don't have a copy of that program).

Thanks for everyone's comments regarding my entries on 5/08/08.

Note: when I referred to a cold boot previously, I meant disconnecting power on the Polo 2001g and waiting for about an hour for all the components to cool down.

I've got a problem I was wondering if anyone could possibly help me out with. I've had one of these for like 2 years and it has worked perfectly until this morning. I turned it on today and the sound no longer works. I checked all the cables and even tryed different ones. I have it hooked up with the red and white rca's for the audio out to my little cd player for sound. That no longer worked so I took it downstairs to see if the optical audio out worked on my audio receiver downstairs. It works sort of. If I hook up dish network to the svideo in the back and then plug in the antenna, it plays the sound from both. Like if i'm watching satellite, you hear the sound from satellite and from whatever channel the antenna is on. Or if i'm watching one of my local channels from the antenna, I hear that audio and the satellite audio at the same time. I was just wondering if anyone knew anything about this. I'm guessing something shorted out and I just have to get a new one.

It is difficult to see what you have hooked up to what. If your TV has discrete inputs, like composit, component, whatever, try feeding the polo to the TV on one of those inputs and see if you get sound. If you only have one input to the TV, only feed the polo to it.

It sounds like the polo is now working and you are feeding two audio inputs (sat box and polo) to the TV which is using both.

Did you try and go back to your original set-up and see if the polo is now working? I have had static on my audio feeds from the polo twice, but both times a simple off-on cleared it. You may have fixed the problem with the disconnect.

I unplugged it and left if for a couple hours and plugged it back in and it still has problems. Using the rca's for audio output it gets no sound at all. If I use the digital optical audio, there is sound but I have to turn up my receiver to almost full blast to hear it. Then when I have my dish network hooked up to the svideo in the back of the polaroid, I get the sound from dish network, plus the sound from the antenna of the polaroid. Then if I plug in something to the front av jacks on the polo, the sound from that joins in w/ everything else. Something is definitely wrong with it. No matter what I have the polaroid tuned to, you hear the audio from everything that is plugged into it. I think I'll just try to find a cheap one somewhere.

day2z

what is yur model no of the samsung dvd burner is it a currently available model of the shelf at stores like newegg. i need to send one overseas but need it to be truly plug & play. what about the power cable adapter. does the audio connection fit or is an adapter needed.

i am sorry i am posting for the first time so bear with me, please.
i need to do either an external or preferably internal dvd burner swap with minimal effort since i am a newbie at all this . i am looking for currently available dvd burners available off the shelf that would work with the polaroid 2001g. i am looking for truly plug & play . no flashing or firmware upgrades etc.
also where do i get the mini to 5.25 power cable. also day2z what is the model no of your samsung dvd drive, that yu successfully used. is it a current model ? where could i buy it
& finally would the liteons ,philips, samsung, available at newegg for $ 23 work or do i need some special specs. i need to do a swap on my machine locally & after confirming success, send the drive overseas for the defective unit.

Here's one for all of you electronic wizards.....

Is it possible to remove the analog tuner in this set and replace it with a DIGITAL Tuner?

Thx in advance...

Here's one for all of you electronic wizards.....

Is it possible to remove the analog tuner in this set and replace it with a DIGITAL Tuner?

Thx in advance...

Anything is possible.

Worth the time and investment is quite another question.

My guess is that when you are done, if you have both the electronic and software programming ability to do it, you will have spent more than if you bought a recorder with an ATSC tuner and wasted several weeks of your life.

Plus, you will still only record 480i.

Buy a converter box.

Anything is possible.

Worth the time and investment is quite another question.

My guess is that when you are done, if you have both the electronic and software programming ability to do it, you will have spent more than if you bought a recorder with an ATSC tuner and wasted several weeks of your life.

Plus, you will still only record 480i.

Buy a converter box.

Already did that....the problem is when you record, you have to make sure the converter box is on the channel you want to record. Thats why I asked the question. But you are right about the "time and effort". In this forum ya never know what people might try. :)

Wait for the DTVPal CECB ATSC tuner that's coming out in a few weeks. It's supposed to have an event timer.

Also, if your recorder uses an IR blaster there are at least 3 known, currently available CECB tuners that can possibly be controlled by it (if your unit has the codes).

(Update: Seems the DTVPal/TR-40CRA's timers are very unreliable. The Zinwell CECB tuner's event timer is supposed to work better.)

day2z

what is yur model no of the samsung dvd burner is it a currently available model of the shelf at stores like newegg. i need to send one overseas but need it to be truly plug & play. what about the power cable adapter. does the audio connection fit or is an adapter needed.
dvstara -

The model of the Samsung drive I "externalized" with my Polaroid is the SH-S202J. It can be found currently on Newegg, which is where I purchased it. The drive has worked reliably well as a mate to the 2001G, with the aforementioned benefits of reducing "wear and tear" on the 2001G. As to the question of power and audio, I used a power adapter from one of the "USB2 to IDE" adapter kits mentioned elsewhere in this thread, and was able to simply plug the drive directly into the IDE cable within the 2001G. No adapter was necessary for connection of audio. If questions linger, feel free to ask.

- Day2z

After 2 years, I just learned something new about segmenting on the Polo.
If you are segmenting a long program with many segments, suddenly they all will disappear on you.
I thought it would only handle so many and gave up.
Then I decided to split a program I had almost segmented to the end and behold, all of the segments were still there!
So don't give up if your segment marks disappear, just split the program.
Incidentally, after doing this, I was still able to put both of the split parts of the program on one DVD since I eliminated the commercials by segmenting.

Grant

Play/copy protection on LionsGate? Ok, my Polo 2001G has played everything, Everything! I've thrown at it. Except current LionsGate Dvd's. Bank Job & Across the Universe won't play the movie. You can see everything, including menu, until you choose 'Play Movie' then it transitions to what you think would be the start of the feature and it locks, black screen. I've googled and it seems to be some issue with 'copy protection', what some others think but no firm concensus. Any ideas? Anybody else seen this? I'm using Component out and, say again, it's played everything until now. And it still plays other releases by other Co's. Thx!

TomBudC: I had this problem with Will Smith movie, In Pursuit of Happyness with same conditions as you describe. This same movie ran fine on a Sony DVD player in another room (bedroom). I think I had this same problem with another movie I rented too but I don't recall the title. I'll be interested to see if others have encountered this problem, and ideally maybe someone knows more about the problem, likely a copyright limitation of some sort.

Thanks for your entry.

I recently got another 2001g and the fan runs 24/7 even when it is turned off. I've replaced the fan and it still does it. Does anyone know if this can be fixed? My other polaroid doesn't do this.

I would check the wiring to the fan on your other Polo and compare it to the new one. It may have been modded by a prior owner who "replaced" the old fan because of the known fan noise issues with the Polo.

Hi,

If I buy Polaroid DRM-2001G from US and want to use it in India - PAL system - is it enough I put the packard bell european firmware (as mentioned else where in this thread). I basically want the TV Tuner to work in PAL mode.

Thanks in advance, Any ideas would be helpful as I want to buy it only if it is usable in India.

Thanks,
ganb

I would think as long as the ac voltage and plug are the same then it should work, mine thinks it's in France now, I haven't used it in a year because of that.

I've been using this Polaroid recorder for many months now and noticed that there's no comparison between the quality on my Panasonic recorder and this.

In short, it's got a LOT of problems.

The audio is pretty bad. Using mp2 audio, it ends up being quite tinny and compressed, much more so than the ac3 384kbps audio from

The video...LOTS of jaggies. I primarily got this unit for its ability to record from the component input but it looks like it's for nothing. I have the panasonic hooked up with a Pioneer cable box that outputs 16x9 using s-video and it looks light years better.

If you want me to post comparisons, i'd be happy to. I'm just seriously disappointed. I'm not sure if these issues have been brought up elsewhere on this thread because it's so huge. Apologies if they have and I'd be happy to read up if someone found a way around them.

Otherwise, is there a newer machine that will do what I need it to do or do I have to stick with this thing?

Otherwise, is there a newer machine that will do what I need it to do or do I have to stick with this thing?Philips 3576H (best price: $250.00, Sam's Club) or Magnavox H2160 (available thru www.walmart.com, $240.00).

There are threads here in this subforum for both, if you want more information.

Philips 3576H (best price: $250.00, Sam's Club) or Magnavox H2160 (available thru www.walmart.com, $240.00).

There are threads here in this subforum for both, if you want more information.

How so? please explain further.

I'm not sure what you wanted it to do, because I didn't search back in the thread (just on this page, and I didn't see anything), but I just mentioned those as the two other US HDD models currently available.

I'm not sure what you wanted it to do, because I didn't search back in the thread (just on this page, and I didn't see anything), but I just mentioned those as the two other US HDD models currently available.

The deal-breaker is the 16x9 recording capabilities. I can live without a HDD if I have to.

The deal-breaker is the 16x9 recording capabilities. I can live without a HDD if I have to.
If you're asking whether the 3575/3576/2160 can record WS, see this help file. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12371974&postcount=62)

What is your Pioneer cable box model number... I'm trying to add to my list of boxes that will and won't output WS over analog?

Hi,

I bought Polaroid DRM-2001G (refurb one) in US. This is for use in India and hence I need PAL Tuner.

What is the best firmware upgrade to get the PAL Tuner functionality? Could somebody give me the link to the relevant firmware/s (European / UK? / French firmware). I heard mention of Packard Bell in the previous posts.

Any help is very much appreciated as I need to upgrade the firmware asap before sending it to India. Also will it still continue showing up on NTSC TV (I do not need NTSC Tuner) if the above firmware is applied, so that I can test to see if unit functions fine after applying new firmware.

The US polaroid website gives a firmware with a UK suffix. Will that firmware have PAL Tuner ?

Thanks in advance,
ganb

I also have tried another burner in since then and it recognized it and would open the door and try to record but would error out after recording started and quit responding. I think it uses 2.4 speed and some custom commands or firmware so anther burner may never work, or possibly the new drive just can't do 2.4 speed so it crashed after a bit. Was hoping to add DL and RAM capabilities the other drive had.
The unit was back to normal when the old drive was reconnected. Even if it had worked making it fit as a loader would have been possibly very hard to do but figured it was worth trying.

Hello Dartman,

1st time on this forum... extremely impressed with the wealth of knowledge in this place. One question though; have you had any luck upgrading the Polaroid burner after your last 2 attempts? As I understand it now, it will only take an IDE burner that has a speed of 2.5X.. Thanks

I gave up on this unit after trying the French Firmware for a Packard Bell just like it. Now it thinks it's a PAL tuner. I believe there is a list somewhere in the thread of burners that did work, the ones I had handy didn't.

Hi Guys.

Simple question, I hope.

Are all 2001G Polaroids the same as far as Component Ins during their production run? I currently use a Tosh XS32 and would like to compare the Tosh S-Vid input/output to the Polo Component In/Out.

Thanks,
Paul

First try,first share.
If you are Mac users,try Best Mac DVD Creator Software (http://www.macdvdcreator.com), you will enjoy the convenience and high-speed.
Best DVD Ripper Software (http://www.topsevenreviews.com) is an another wonderful software when you need rip DVD.
Have a try you will like it.

ganb i have sent 2 units to india
they need to b connected to a set top box tata-sky they work fine.

Try this site out http://www.techcrazy.net, they're one of the cheapest and have some nice deals on refurbished DVD recorders.

i need to replace a burner overseas to replace a stock burner in a region free modded polaroid
i have an external setup in the USA, with independent power to burner & ide cable connected to motherboard. the polo is NOT region free but has a 250gig HDD. I HV NOT AS YET TRIED REGION CODED DISCS

i hv mated the polo with the following burners from recommended list

1.LG-hsa- 10a (refurb)(playback no probs, burn to RW+ ok BURN TO R+ OR R- FAILED. do not know whether it was a bad burner ? burner sent back.

2.samsung sh182S(tsh 852D) i think it is the 182sh-d model
works well with R+ & RW+ except NO R- burn capability, no prob with playback of burned discs.

3. Samsung S202 burns all formats except 1 R + dvd did not play on another dvd plyr but another did. no prob in playback of burned discs.
4. i aim to try a recommended Sony also.

i hv a few questions for the panel after going through extensively the thread on burner replacement & HDD upgrade.

1. will the region free mod create compatiblity issues with the above burners
Evidence of others in this thread seems to indicate otherwise, plus a region set dvd/burner player should mate well with an all region accepting regionfree polaroid?

2. do i need to mod my USA based Polo to region free to continue experiments on replacement burners as above. If i do find compatibility issues would it be possible to reconvert the Polo back to region 1 using the region free hack but in the last step putting in a 1 instead of 0.

3. do i need to set the region on a new drive to 5(india) just to check compatibility, even if no region encoded dvd will b played on this burner.

4. can others add any more current burners to above list as replacements?

thanking you all for yur replies in advance.

Well, I had another hang up yesterday. It occured when I finalized a DVD. It just never showed the final icon when it was done. I waited 10 minutes (usually worked for any previous hang-ups), then pressed the power button for several seconds (usually worked before), then had to unplug the power cord.
When I powered back up, everything was normal and the recorded DVD was ok - played normally.
I hope this is not the beginning of the end.
This has been a great machine.
Grant

dvstara

My polo has been rock solid and is still going strong. I'm using the sony burner with the Samsung and Orig. as backups. I don't know much about Pal playback, I don't own any disc. HD and Burner hooked up externally. All working as advertised.

Magic

is yur polo region free modded
does yur sony do all types of media

I don't burn disc any more because I've got over 2TB of storage available to me. I've only use up 3 250 gig hd's so far. Mine is region free, but I have nothing to test it with. Last time I burned disc, it was +R. I wish I could be of more help. Storage is so cheap now, why bother with disc. I've got external storage coming out of the kazoo now. XBOX 360 120g, laptop 250g, archos player 30g, Seagate external drive 250g, WD passport 320g, Main Comp. 1TB, anyway you get the idea. LOL

Magic

I don't burn disc any more because I've got over 2TB of storage available to me. I've only use up 3 250 gig hd's so far. Mine is region free, but I have nothing to test it with. Last time I burned disc, it was +R. I wish I could be of more help. Storage is so cheap now, why bother with disc. I've got external storage coming out of the kazoo now. XBOX 360 120g, laptop 250g, archos player 30g, Seagate external drive 250g, WD passport 320g, Main Comp. 1TB, anyway you get the idea. LOL

Magic

Do all of these drives work with the Polo?
I seem to remember way back in the discussion that the max anyone got to work was 250 gig.

No, I still use the 250g ide drives for the polo. Just referring to reduced use of CD and DVD recordable media.

Magic

what i mean does the region free modding on polo cause a compatibility problem on the sony affecting its burning ability, due to firmware instructions from modded polo

Was anyone able to get a hard drive bigger than 250 gig to work in the Polo?
Grant

There is one of these machines in perfect working shape with little use for sale in the AVS classifieds (mine). Just an FYI

I just purchased a factory sealed refurb on Ebay for $79.95 shipped with a 90 day warranty. The seller has seven left at the time of this post. I purchased this after reading of the hackability of this recorder. Looking foward to playing with it

Muskrat

Was anyone able to get a hard drive bigger than 250 gig to work in the Polo?
Grant

I used 320GB 500GB and 750GB and they worked fine. My caution would be to make sure the power supply can handle the power requirements of the larger drive. If the power requirements are greater than the OEM 80GB drive then there could be problems. In my case the hard drives were set up as external drives using an independent power source so there was not a problem.

Received my refurb 2001g on Dec. 11. Unit looks new except for a couple of minor scratches on the top cover. It was factory sealed and came with a custom programmed Phillips remote. All functions work fine and it even was able to finalize discs I had recorded on a Phillips DRD 3390 that died. Fan noise is minimal. Mine is a "F" model according to the serial number. Today I installed a 250 GB WD Caviar HD in place of the factory 80GB one. It booted up, made some noise, then said I have 274 hours recording time. Super! I am loving this already. For those of you who have this unit or the new Polaroid, and need a remote PM me. I have files to convert an inexpensive Atlas cable remote to fully function with the Polaroids. These remotes can be found on Ebay for as little as $8 shipped.

Muskrat

How did you make it region free? I have several UK region 2 DVDs I would like to be able to play in this unit. My 3390 I made region free by using the original remote, but I don't have the original remote for this unit. Any help would be appreciated

Muskrat

In response to Grantsoo's question regarding HD size...

Like Nextoo, I've used "externalized" (separate power source) 250GB WD's with great success, and have also paired my 2001G's (I have two of them...) with 320GB Seagate Barracuras with very positive results. As noted previously, the ability to swap out hard drives with such ease essentially translates into "unlimited" storage, irrespective of the limitations of any individual drive you may choose to use.

FWIW, Polaroid has just filed for bankruptcy;
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10127289-39.html

Here is a present for all the Polaroid fans here. These are files to convert inexpensive cable remotes found on Ebay and elsewhere, to work with the Polaroid recorders. All Polaroid functions are supported. The files are for the following remotes:

Atlas-models 1054,1055, and 1056

Comcast -model 1067 (with the 5 PIP buttons at the bottom)

All remotes are JP 1.2/3, except the Atlas 1054, which is JP1

Also included is the original codes for the 2001g and the 1601a for programming other remotes. If you do not know what these files are for, google (JP1 Remote). You will need Remote Master,(freeware), to use these files. You can get RM at hifi-remote.com. Thanks to the coders at hifi-remote for the original Polaroid codes.

Muskrat

hxxp://rapidshare.com/files/177895223/polaroid.rar

FWIW, Polaroid has just filed for bankruptcy;
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-10127289-39.html

Ouch, somehow I missed the whole Petters visits federal prison (http://www.startribune.com/projects/30350074.html?elr=KArksi8D3PE7_8yc+D3aiUo8D3PE7_eyc+D3aiUeyc +D3aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU) thing.

Ouch, somehow I missed the whole Petters visits federal prison (http://www.startribune.com/projects/30350074.html?elr=KArksi8D3PE7_8yc+D3aiUo8D3PE7_eyc+D3aiUeyc +D3aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU) thing.

Oh ya, it's the talk of my town:D
BTW does the 2001 accept 480p(progressive) component inputs or must it be 480i (interlaced)? TIA

480i only, I think. Except that models with pass through when off will pass apparently anything on the component input to the component output. And speaking of pass through...

When my F model is off there's a high pitched whine or hiss on the audio. It's present even if there's nothing connected to the audio inputs. I'd hoped pass through a DTV converter box, but the whine kind of detracts from the experience. Any ideas what the problem might be?

480i only, I think. Except that models with pass through when off will pass apparently anything on the component input to the component output.

Thanks, I was thinking so but wasn't sure. Dang that DTVPal DVR. First the take away the S-video out and then the limit the component output to 480p! Guess they really don't want anybody offloading anything in a decent quality:mad:

Has anyone had success with the automatic setting for the clock on the Polo? I read a few posts early that caused me not to trust it, however it drifts quite a bit and it's a pain to have to adjust it all the time.
Grant

I was wondering if anyone has been able to replace the DVD burner in a Polaroid DRM-2001G using the black plastic carriage that the original is housed in. I'd like to keep a new burner inside the case.

Question:

After 4 years, my old sharp dvd recorder died in which I am now finally using the Polaroid DVD recorder.

I am using timer recordings and have the annoying icon at the right bottom of the screen. It looks like I can get rid of it unless I get rid of the timer programs.

Question here is:

If I should have timer programs on, will the icon burn in onto my plasma tv? (I have weekly timer icons set and do watch alot of recorded material on this player)

Question:

After 4 years, my old sharp dvd recorder died in which I am now finally using the Polaroid DVD recorder.

I am using timer recordings and have the annoying icon at the right bottom of the screen. It looks like I can get rid of it unless I get rid of the timer programs.

Question here is:

If I should have timer programs on, will the icon burn in onto my plasma tv? (I have weekly timer icons set and do watch alot of recorded material on this player)

I dunno, but that icon does suck! What's really annoying is that this player was sold under other brands and in other parts of the world and there was upgrade firmware available for them and one of them removed this icon! Unfortunately Polaroid didn't pay for the upgrades (once they have our money they don't care to support the product!) and the upgrades are all for European recorders so we can't use them (it converts our units to PAL units!).

Thanks for all the fan advice. I lessened the noise simply by loosening the bracket screws.

I recently bought a new Samsung DVD player and it gives me fits with discs recorded on the Polo.
I always lived with the fact you couldn't FF more than 2X on any player other than the Polo, but on the Samsung I have very erratic FF and RW options. I haven't figured out what happens other than I end up and the end of the program or the beginning of the program a lot.
Has anyone else noticed this?
Grant

I recently bought a new Samsung DVD player and it gives me fits with discs recorded on the Polo.

Grant

It might be the media that you are using. It might help to try a different brand. Personally, I like the Verbatim brand (8x or 16x) and it plays well on every brand of DVD player that I have tried it on.

You may also want to try different type media. If you're using + media and the Polo supports - media I'd try that also. + discs that I've recorded on my Pannys have odd search speeds, whereas - discs search just fine.

You may also want to try different type media. If you're using + media and the Polo supports - media I'd try that also. + discs that I've recorded on my Pannys have odd search speeds, whereas - discs search just fine.

Thanks! Great idea to try. I always use + media just because it finalizes faster. I'll give the - stuff a try.

Grant

This is my first post here but I've been reading since before I got my Polo. I bought a used one (no warranty) a month ago and a few days ago it suddenly went stone cold dead while I was viewing a DVD. I took it apart and repaired the power supply and while it was apart I looked at the IR sensor. It was mounted with its face at a 45 degree angle to the front panel and was being held that way by a rubber cushion that was simply too thick. So I took the cushion out and trimmed it down with a razor blade, and bent the IR sensor leads so that it properly faces outwards. The remote works from 20 ft away now, but the box still takes a long time to respond to some functions (just like my Dish network box). Also while I had the box open I connected a spare PC disk drive in place of the stock one. When I powered up the box again the front panel just said HELLO and the video said PLEASE WAIT for about 4-5 minutes. I could hear the new hard drive being reformatted so I waited it out. After the reformatting was done everything started to work normally again.
BTW the fan is very easy to replace. It's a standard 12v DC item.

This is the closest I've found after searching--I have a 2001G B model & the hard drive has been making awful noises & grinding down real slow & picking up some-up & down. I shut it down & assume the HDD is bad & now need to replace it. My experience in this area has been with Tivos & imaging the drives. Do I understand from the above that I can just stick another drive in & the Polo will do it all? Does it have to be an 80 gig or can it be bigger?
Also if someone could post the thread about setting up an external drive, I'd be most appreciative.
I love my 2001G, even with the few flaws!

Thanks,
Bubba

You just get a bigger drive that doesn't draw much more power then the stock IDE drive and plunk it in. I had a Western Digital 250 from a Woot refurb deal that was the exact same series, just bigger, it worked fine for over a year till I got tired of the unit and bought a philips 3573.
You can also replace the IR remote output LED with the high output one from Radio Shack and the machine will respond as fast as other normal player/recorders after that.
I think the biggest drive anybody has tried internally is 500 gig and some work and some don't, probably because of the extra power draw but if you search this thread it should all be here and more.
Good luck with it.

Thanks, Dartman. After pulling the lid, the fan seems to be to culprit, but I'm putting a 200 gig drive in anyway & then I'll address the fan issue. It seems mine is an F instead of B. The fan is just mounted at an angle & blows onto the PS, not through a vent on the bottom. It seems to choke down when I put the lid on.

Thanks, Dartman. After pulling the lid, the fan seems to be to culprit, but I'm putting a 200 gig drive in anyway & then I'll address the fan issue. It seems mine is an F instead of B. The fan is just mounted at an angle & blows onto the PS, not through a vent on the bottom. It seems to choke down when I put the lid on.

I think you are on the right track with the fan. It is acting exactly like mine did. It was easy to replace. Also, due to a recommendation in an earlier post, since I only use mine to record programs/movies and not as my main tuner, I turned off the continuous recording feature so that the hard drive only works when I am recording something. As well, I only record direct to the hard drive and then burn a DVD, rather than recording direct to DVD. This means the DVD burner only works for 20 minutes for a 2 hour movie rather than for the whole 2 hours.

Grant

I think you are on the right track with the fan. It is acting exactly like mine did. It was easy to replace. Also, due to a recommendation in an earlier post, since I only use mine to record programs/movies and not as my main tuner, I turned off the continuous recording feature so that the hard drive only works when I am recording something. As well, I only record direct to the hard drive and then burn a DVD, rather than recording direct to DVD. This means the DVD burner only works for 20 minutes for a 2 hour movie rather than for the whole 2 hours.

Grant

I'm going to replace the fan today. Also going to do the external HDD & burner mod. I also only record to HDD then burn. The Tivo DTV unit is my primary recorder & have several Replays & Tivos, a Neureos OSD, FTAs, etc. Oh, & NO life.:D

Bubba

I'm going to replace the fan today. Also going to do the external HDD & burner mod. I also only record to HDD then burn. The Tivo DTV unit is my primary recorder & have several Replays & Tivos, a Neureos OSD, FTAs, etc. Oh, & NO life.:D

Bubba

Make sure with the external HDD you understand that the IDE pin assignments are reversed. I included this info in the external Polaroid 2001G HDD thread.

It has been a long time since I posted in the external 2001G HDD thread. As a result my memory is a bit fuzzy. But make sure you search the thread and pay attention to the fact that your IDE cable must be consistent with what was posted.

Make sure with the external HDD you understand that the IDE pin assignments are reversed. I included this info in the external Polaroid 2001G HDD thread.

It has been a long time since I posted in the external 2001G HDD thread. As a result my memory is a bit fuzzy. But make sure you search the thread and pay attention to the fact that your IDE cable must be consistent with what was posted.

Yeah, that reversed cable was the first thing I noticed when I popped the cover. I found an external cd-rom drive case with ps & put a splitter on the power lead & ran one out the back to power my HDD hot swap rack. This will do till I find a case like you used--getting scarce nowadays.
I sure appreciate all the work you did on this project. Made it a lot easier on me.:)
I'm still searching for the thread on replacing the IR on the remote.

Bubba

I wasn't able to look through all the posts, so sorry if this was answered.

Is the following possible? - I am interested in make simply popping out the hard drive and transferring the recorded video files directly onto my PC for editing. I tried to take it out and put it into an XP system but it saw the data as unallocated and I could do nothing with it. Any ideas?

I wasn't able to look through all the posts, so sorry if this was answered.

Is the following possible? - I am interested in make simply popping out the hard drive and transferring the recorded video files directly onto my PC for editing. I tried to take it out and put it into an XP system but it saw the data as unallocated and I could do nothing with it. Any ideas?

Not gonna happen. DVDR uses different file system. You'll have to burn to DVD & copy to PC.

Bubba

What about in linux? Could the files be read there?

Not sure if the Polo is similar to Panasonic, but here's a thread talking about getting info off a Panasonic HDD. It sounds rather complicated IMO.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1010518&highlight=panasonic

I just got one of these and discovered something about DivX compatibility. I tried to play some old Joliet format discs that played fine on my panasonic, but they weren't recognized at all on this player. Then I burned a new disc in UDF format and they played fine.

I was also able to quiet the fan a bit. If you remove the sticker on the fan to expose the axle, you can add a drop of sewing machine or 3-In-1 oil. Then add a strip of foam (I used some weather stripping I had lying around) between the fan mounting bracket and the case. Still not silent by any means, but quieter.

Good to see this is still alive. I have 2, and recently started getting audio lag behind the video whenever I record to HDD. Haven't tested recording to DVD-disc, a waste IMO. Anyway, searching this 91pg thread I haven't found much hits on audio lag, video or audio syn. Any ideas? Sometimes on recording there is none, other recordings are 1/4-to 1/2 second audio lag after the lips move. Recording from Dish as source, different channels don't seem to affect it. Happens randomly. What do y'all think?
thanks!
TBud

TomBudC,
I have two also, but have not noticed the lip synch problem you describe. I mentioned to my wife the other day while she was watching broadcast 'live', well, at least live to us, that it seemed there was a slight delay between visual and audio. It may not be your machine, in other words. Unless a television set can induce such delay, which I doubt.
My personal opinion is that there will be more glitches as we near the cutover date for digital. They do not want to put any maintenance dollars into their analog stuff, and are somewhat unfamiliar with the digital. If you poke around here, you'll find that a LOT of broadcast stations pay no attention to the time signal they are broadcasting, but that will also likely change for the better in June. They have dual responsibility, and dual systems to run until they switch. They can stop the analog any time they want, from what I read, but most continue broadcasting analog, and digital.
If you insist that it is your machine, the only thing I could think of was to delete everything on the HDD, and then you should have no delay due to fragmentation of the drive.
tom

Good to see this is still alive. I have 2, and recently started getting audio lag behind the video whenever I record to HDD. ... What do y'all think?
thanks!
TBud
Just curious, have you worked the machines hard? I have 2 as well and probably have about 500 total hours of recording between the 2 of them. I would consider 250 hours of recording for each to be pretty light. The reason I ask is that if is a wear/tear thing, how many more hours can I expect before having trouble.
Thanks
Grant

tmwalsh - I'm recording from Dish, component-in. I love the 480i at HQ. Nothing to do with the tuner (this has a tuner? :-) Never had it hooked up to antenna, don't need to) Months ago I had no issues, just recently noticed the delay/lip sync lag.
grantsoo - We do occasional recording, just Paladia or other concerts from Dish. All DVD's are watched on this unit since I've removed my Kenwood DV-5900 w/Faroujda out of the rack. Entre was nice back in the day, no time to mess with it anymore. The picture from dvd-progressive is most watchable, except for the occasional sony or lions gate disc that won't play; annoying!

All-in-all I have to say they both have been good, but I'm presently spec'ing a board, vidcard and sff case for a mythbuntu box or something like it. Gonna chunk dishnet and go local & internet & Netflix. That should take care of all of our viewing.

tmwalsh - I'm recording from Dish, component-in. I love the 480i at HQ. Nothing to do with the tuner (this has a tuner? :-) Never had it hooked up to antenna, don't need to) Months ago I had no issues, just recently noticed the delay/lip sync lag.
grantsoo - We do occasional recording, just Paladia or other concerts from Dish. All DVD's are watched on this unit since I've removed my Kenwood DV-5900 w/Faroujda out of the rack. Entre was nice back in the day, no time to mess with it anymore. The picture from dvd-progressive is most watchable, except for the occasional sony or lions gate disc that won't play; annoying!

All-in-all I have to say they both have been good, but I'm presently spec'ing a board, vidcard and sff case for a mythbuntu box or something like it. Gonna chunk dishnet and go local & internet & Netflix. That should take care of all of our viewing.

That's what I've done. Only local channels, inet, and Roku/Netflix. Check out the Roku box, it's sweet and a deal at $99. Works beautifully for streaming Netflix titles.

I have 2, and recently started getting audio lag behind the video whenever I record to HDD. Recording from Dish as source, different channels don't seem to affect it. Happens randomly. What do y'all think?

I have never heard of lipsync issues happening on a hard drive recording, and rarely with DVD-R: occasionally people run into audio issues when ripping such recordings to the PC but it never appears on the recorder. The most likely cause for your lipsync issues is with Dish and/or their channel feeds. I've never had this problem in 15 years with cable, yet suddenly I'm seeing (hearing?) bad lipsync on quite a few stations at random times (of course, most often on things I want to record, Murphys Law). Its really annoying and noticeable, about all you can do is complain to the office of the specific channel (if it isn't them, they'll bug your cable service or Dish to fix it if they get enough complaints).

In the last week or so, I'm also getting random lipsync issues on some of my local broadcast channels picked up via Zenith and Channel Master ATSC boxes. When I compare these against the cable feed, the cable feed does not have the issue at the same time. I didn't see any problems at all until early February, they went away in early April but began again this month, so my guess is lipsync gets lost as they ramp up for the final ATSC changeover. With any luck this problem will diminish in June, although cable and Dish will probably still have sporadic symptoms.

In the last week or so, I'm also getting random lipsync issues on some of my local broadcast channels picked up via Zenith and Channel Master ATSC boxes. When I compare these against the cable feed, the cable feed does not have the issue at the same time. I didn't see any problems at all until early February, they went away in early April but began again this month, so my guess is lipsync gets lost as they ramp up for the final ATSC changeover. With any luck this problem will diminish in June, although cable and Dish will probably still have sporadic symptoms.

Power the tuners off, wait perhaps thirty seconds and power the tuners back on.

bron - Roku was looked at hard, but no dvr abilities. Durn!
Citibear - We don't see it when the program material is playing on the Dish. And when we record 'live' when program material is playing, it's not noticeable, only at playback from hdd. As you've mentioned, only started around early April for us. I recorded james brown end of March, no problems. Taylor Swift and Def Leppard Crossroads is one of the best shows I've seen, very very nicely done. But my da*! polo skews the audio sync on all 3 recordings I've made. Then it did it on GreenDay, now that's ain't right.
DigaDo - Oh, how I wish I had a dollar for everytime Dish told me to unplug for 5 minutes, then plug back in to 'reboot'! Issue is more compounded because I'm using the VIP211, which isn't a dvr, just HD, to output 480i to the Polo. Again, these recordings are very, very nice to re-watch. But the crappy everyday DVR, HD612, still has unfinished code bugs and I'm tired of paying for it all.
I've a MSI-Intel board, Dual-core 2.5ghz, Nvidia 9300, 500gb sata and enuff spare cases & Antec pwrsupply to build my MythBuntu. don't want to go too far OT but I'll pop over to the HTPC and update when I can, if the end result passes the Commanders inspection. How I wish I could use any production HD DVR but alas, they're just corporations trying to make money and the other 99% will put up with inferior crap while gladly handing over $1000 /more per year just to watch the boob tube.

DigaDo - Oh, how I wish I had a dollar for everytime Dish told me to unplug for 5 minutes, then plug back in to 'reboot'! Issue is more compounded because I'm using the VIP211

I was responding to an audio sync problem with a Zenith CECB. In the rare instances this problem has been observed with one of my Zeniths the brief shutdown has corrected the problem.

The Zenith DTT-900 I had was especially offensive as far as that problem. I also saw it on my friend's DTT-900 when I was over at his house (I was the one who recommended that box to him). Brief shutdowns never stopped it for long. None of my other CECB's ever did it to that excess.

I tried to point it out in the CECB forum, and pretty much got ran off for daring to say something even remotely negative or critical about the perfect, flawless, best-tuners-ever-made LG's.

(Hmmm - now that I think of it, it reminds me of trying to point out commonly reported flaws with certain current, US HDD/DVD recorders here.)

The Zenith DTT-900 I had was especially offensive as far as that problem. I also saw it on my friend's DTT-900 when I was over at his house (I was the one who recommended that box to him). Brief shutdowns never stopped it for long. None of my other CECB's ever did it to that excess.

I tried to point it out in the CECB forum, and pretty much got ran off for daring to say something even remotely negative or critical about the perfect, flawless, best-tuners-ever-made LG's.

(Hmmm - now that I think of it, it reminds me of trying to point out commonly reported flaws with certain current, US HDD/DVD recorders here.)

I've pointed out a few flaws with early DTT900 models but so did many others. But once those problems were taken care of I've started to regard the DTT901 as the "perfect, flawless, best-tuners-ever-made LGs."

I also own a Zinwell ZAT-970A (of 0829 vintage). I set it up and it checked out OK so I put it back in it's box. That's where it still may be found until needed.

The first Magnavox 2160 HDD/DVD recorder I purchased had a non-functional DVD Drive. After coming to the realization that this machine had to be returned to a local WalMart store for a credit back to my credit card it was still painful to part with the 2160. (I had owned my 3575 for around nine months by that time.) The next day I ordered another 2160. The second 2160 just happens to be perfect, flawless, best . . . ever made Funai.

I wasn't really referring to you, personally. It's just that because of the exceptional quality of their older HD tuners, some have developed a sort of snobbiness about their tuners in general. They don't realize that something like the LG CECB's aren't made up to those standards. If it has the LG name, and it's a tuner, then it automatically must be top quality and flawless. And like with the Maggie/Philips here, any sort of critcism is not tolerated (or at least just ignored, until it dies out), no matter how many report an issue.

I actually voted the Zenith the #1 best all-around CECB in the "Best CECB" sticky thread, but I'm also willing to say that the box isn't as perfectly-made as some of their old, HD tuners were. I don't imagine those were as cheaply made. It's just that a lot of LG fanboys take that as blasphemous.

As far as the Maggie/Philips thing, I'm mainly referring to that "dropping of QAM channels" problem that's so often reported. I've even experienced it myself (I seem to remember reading about it with the Polaroid's here, too. I don't know for sure if they're Funai's or not).

It's just that I'm not as willing as a lot of people these days to accept erratic quality control and general bugginess. A lot of people seem to have the attitude of "Well, they're basically computers, and you have to accept a certain amount of bugginess and erratic behavior". I contend that all of the stuff I bought a few years ago, such as my Sony DVR (with a digital tuner), and even the computer I'm now using, along with everything else I own that was made before the last couple or so years (my newer TiVoHD, too) never "bugs out" out on me like a lot of the newer stuff does.

Well put, Rammitinski.

It does none of us any good to be obstinate one way or the other: treating people who report problems with popular items like pariahs doesn't mean those problems don't exist, likewise consistently knocking a product because you have nothing better to do and just hate the company isn't terribly productive. Sometimes we need to take a breath and a step back.

And you are right that there's no reason at all for any non-computer dedicated device to be crawling with bugs. One has to wonder just how colossally miscalculated this whole ATSC development has been, going back years: I mean, if mfrs are still utterly incapable of marketing a reliable ATSC tuner/timer system at consumer-acceptable prices three years after they were asked to do it, something is terribly wrong. Its beyond ridiculous that the Zenith DTT901 is virtually the only bug-free idiot-proof CECB and the Magnavox H2160 (QAM issues aside) is the only DVD recorder with a multi-event ATSC tuner-timer that doesn't consistently short out the entire unit when it functions unattended. Either ATSC itself is an engineering fiasco and totally unworkable, or decent ATSC hardware just cannot be sold at the giveaway prices consumers want. If the typical CECB price point was $79 instead of $59, we might have been better off.

Either ATSC itself is an engineering fiasco and totally unworkable, or decent ATSC hardware just cannot be sold at the giveaway prices consumers want. But what I want to know is, why does ATSC using timers work perfectly in my standalone Sony DVR (and the LG 3410a and forerunner Zenith DVR, according to everything I've ever read)? It's not like it can't be done, because it has been in the past.

But what I want to know is, why does ATSC using timers work perfectly in my standalone Sony DVR (and the LG 3410a and forerunner Zenith DVR, according to everything I've ever read)? It's not like it can't be done, because it has been in the past.

Several times I've mentioned that technology is not my field but I am an end-user of technology products.

Most of my DVD recorders are Panasonics. I even assumed the pro-Panasonic screen name of "DigaDo" at the AVS and CD Freaks Forums. Panasonic produced some outstanding "workhorse" products in 2005 and 2006. Most of my 2005 and 2006 ES series Panasonics are in semi-retirement after very heavy use.

Panasonic was not ready to implement digital tuning in the 2007 models but that didn't stop them from rushing into production. The 2007 EZ models with "Accutune" digital tuners used obsolete software with known bugs and design flaws launched from a mediocre CPU. (Panasonic dropped the "Accutune" name but continued to use the same tuner for 2008 model-year production.) Another poster mentioned that Panasonic had not developed a suitable operating system CPU that would support their hastily designed digital tuner. The way I see it Panasonic's design criteria called for digital and analog channels to be tuned in a single sequence, an ill-conceived design criteria. The redeployment of the earlier software had even more serious problems for schedule timers that caused EZ series machines to randomly freeze-up in a variety of circumstances. Panasonic surely observed these problems during preproduction and devised a simple "fix," a "RESET" button behind the front panel door! All five of my EZ series Panasonics have had their share of a random freeze-ups. Timer scheduling requires use of a variety of workarounds to maintain functionality. How can a manufacturer continue to sell EZ series machines that are still (basically) pre-production prototypes? One of my DMR-EZ17 models has always had a problem maintaining it's hold on digital channels, whether set up cable-ready or OTA. That machine has been removed from service.

Funai had a more practical approach by placing digital and analog tuning in separate tuning sequences. Four of my five digital tuner Funai recorders work well. My buggy Sylvania ZV450SL8 combo recorder has the same digital tuner as the other four (Philips 3575/3576 and Magnavox 2080/2160 models) but the Sylvania ZV450 has a CPU from somebody else. Guess who? (For the answer see the attached photo.) My Sylvania ZV450 cannot maintain it's hold on cable-ready digital sub-channels below the channel 73 range. Two other of my Funai recorders (Philips 3576 and Magnavox 2080 models) are also set up cable-ready but have no such problem.

That's enough rambling for the moment . . .

Funny the buggy Sylvania should have a Panasonic CPU, the buggy Panasonics have the LSI/Magnum CPU instead of the better(IMO) Panasonic chip.....I think another poster, Dr1394 said has more to do with the software that drives the CPU more than the CPU itself, at least I think that's what he was getting at in one of his posts.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16194332#post16194332

Hey, I absolutely enjoy reading your posts all. Very informative (I find myself searching for 'Funai'!) Anyways, I unplugged/rebooted all the equipment, Polo's and Dish, and will try recording again and post back. Man, what next if things turni out the way I hope they won't? Of course, the Polo doesn't have an ATSC tuner and the Magnavox's from wallyworld don't have component in to record from Dish, so I guess this is my last stand huh? Better get busy putting that Mythbox together.
Thx and again, very interesting.

In my post with the photo of the Sylvania CBA I misnamed the photo. The model name should read SYL ZV450SL8 instead of SYL ZV450MW8.

I am having trouble getting the discs to eject. The icon pops up that the disc is ejecting, but then it does nothing. If I press eject again, it starts to load the disc.

Sometimes, when I press eject the second time, the tray opens momentarily then closes, but this rarely happens.

Can someone tell me how/why this is happening? I cant put any new discs in the player. I've tried resetting the factory defaults and that does nothing.

I am having trouble getting the discs to eject. The icon pops up that the disc is ejecting, but then it does nothing. If I press eject again, it starts to load the disc.

Sometimes, when I press eject the second time, the tray opens momentarily then closes, but this rarely happens.

Can someone tell me how/why this is happening? I cant put any new discs in the player. I've tried resetting the factory defaults and that does nothing.
I had many problems at first with the machine hanging up or not doing what I wanted including not ejecting discs. In my case I discovered a few things:
1. There are times that the processor slows right down for no apparent reason and can be very slow to respond. In this case I shut it off and start it again and in most cases that worked.
2. There were times I figured out I was too trigger happy with the remote (especially the original) and would press again and again and cause it to hang up. In this case I either just waited it out (sometimes up to 10 minutes) or unplugged and let it rest for a minute before starting it again.
I don't know if this will help your problem, but it may be worth a try.
Grant

I had many problems at first with the machine hanging up or not doing what I wanted including not ejecting discs. In my case I discovered a few things:
1. There are times that the processor slows right down for no apparent reason and can be very slow to respond. In this case I shut it off and start it again and in most cases that worked.
2. There were times I figured out I was too trigger happy with the remote (especially the original) and would press again and again and cause it to hang up. In this case I either just waited it out (sometimes up to 10 minutes) or unplugged and let it rest for a minute before starting it again.
I don't know if this will help your problem, but it may be worth a try.
Grant

Thanks for the feedback. I've tried both, and tons of combinations of powering down, restarting, unplugging, etc.

So I just ripped the drive out and I am going to try and replace it with one that has a manual emergency eject button.

Well, after 3 years my machine will not turn on anymore. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I love this machine because I could change the region code to watch DVD's from Europe. I don't know what machine to buy now. I need a recorder and a machine I can change the region code on. If anyone has any suggestions, I am open for all of them.

Thanks

As long as you've got your remote you could order this $79 (http://www.wegotbetterdeals.com/polaroid-drm2001g-80gb-progressive-scan-dvd-recorder-hdd-recorder-with-guardian-p-1346.html) 2001 from WeGotBetterDeals.com. Since it doesn't have the original remote it's not the best deal for everyone but maybe you?

KennJerri 2742: If you have any sort of electronic skills, you can unplug the unit, remove the screws, tilt the rear of the lid up and disengage it from the front edge of the Polo.
Take a look at the left side contents. There will be a single board that has the power cord attached. Inspect the electrolytic capacitors for having bulged tops or leaks onto the surface of the board. The board is the power supply that converts 120VAC (in US) to 12vdc and 5vdc to run the HDD, DVD and chips that make the unit work. If it has bad caps, it can sometimes be revived by replacing them with new caps of equivalent capacitance and voltage. You have to know how to run a soldering iron.
Who knows? You might find a burnt component. If you do, you could possibly replace it, and have a working machine. I think their cooling system was inferior, as the fan has a hard time drawing cooling air in from the right side and expelling it out the left after passing over the power supply. If the fan had been mounted externally blowing in, or the inlets on the right side made larger, I think it would have run a lot cooler.
There are a lot of el-cheapo DVD players that have region code hacks flitting around the internet. I have a Coby, a CyberHome and an Apex 600 that are all region code hackable. The Apex even has a site on Google groups for "One for All" software that allows adding a hdd for MP3 playback, juke box and other modifications.
If you are just playing back, I would get one of the cheapy models.
tom

Since I cannot get my machine to come on, does anyone know how I can open the DVD tray and get my DVD out?

I'm sorry I can't help. You are likely going to have to take the cover off the machine at least.

What really surprises me is that this thread has been going on since 5-8-06, and it's now August of 09.

What really surprises me is that this thread has been going on since 5-8-06, and it's now August of 09.

No kidding. I've been getting post emails from this thread and the Toshiba DVDR thread. I haven't turned those machines on in over a year now. I still have 2 Polo's still in the boxes. Whatever made me buy 3 of them....

Do you know what series the ones you have in the boxes are?

Grant

Do you know what series the ones you have in the boxes are?

Grant

The one here is DRM-2001G, I'm not sure what the other ones are as they are at my other home but I'm almost sure they are identical.

Does anyone still burn DVDs with their Polo (or remember how)? I can use some advice.

I'm trying to offload the titles on the HDD to DVD. There are currently 70 titles total. I wanted to put 56 related titles on a single disc. These are short, averaging about 40 seconds each, so filling the disc is not the main concern.

I've discovered a couple numerical limitations but burns fail for mysterious reasons, creating a mountain of coasters. The discs are TDK DVD-R and one HP +R just for yuks.

First limitation: only 49 titles can be selected at once for dubbing ("Dubbing titles are too many") on the HDD title screen.

Second limitation: only 31 titles (at best) will actually record to the DVD. This seems to be a limitation with the r00t menu the Polo creates on the DVD.

Limitations aside, failures have usually been in two varieties.

First failure: burn starts off looking okay, the animated dub icon is displayed for a while but not as long as expected for a long list. The DVD button brings up a r00t menu with only the first title and Empty space. When attempting to record more titles the dub icon flashes and nothing is added. Attempts to Rename the disc do not take. However, Finalize does succeed.

Second failure: the dub icon appears only briefly then flashes quickly on subsequent burn attempts. Pressing the DVD button displays the Bad Finger icon. The disc doesn't have a visible burned area but has been contaminated--no longer blank according to my computer.

Do these symptoms sound familiar--bad drive, bad media, bad firmware, bad operator?