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The Official AVS Dish DTVPal DVR Topic! - Page 341

post #10201 of 16891
8/20/10 at 11:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by keyboard21 View Post

There are people who can give you exact numbers. I can give you approx and a idea what is going on.

Any Station has a total of 19.6? Megs of bandwith they can stream for that channel. Including subs. So they cut the pie up. HD uses the most so they give 10 plus megs to that. If you have more then one HD channel like ABC with living well HD. You lose quality and that is why most Subs are SD.

Thanks, That's what I wanted to know.
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post #10202 of 16891
8/20/10 at 3:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by joekoler View Post

Thanks for the answer about the HDMI connection. When I first got the PAL I didn't have an HD TV so I forgot about the output choice for that. Everything looks good now.
One related question. Why when the local channels that have more than one channel(3.1,3.2 or 43.1,43.2 ) are the secondary channels never in HD? Is it that they can't braodcast more than one channel on their frequency in HD or they just don't want to?

I have a related question. I have several channels that broadcast HD (x.1) and SD on one of the secondary channels. I have had several CECBs and and using a Pal+ to front end my old Panasonic just in case I want to record three things at once. I have yet to see a CECB that could not decode HD and output NTSC 480i. Why do they waste bandwidth with redundant SD? Are there TVs that can't decode HD and throw away the extra bits?
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post #10203 of 16891
8/20/10 at 4:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WillN937 View Post

I have a related question. I have several channels that broadcast HD (x.1) and SD on one of the secondary channels. I have had several CECBs and and using a Pal+ to front end my old Panasonic just in case I want to record three things at once. I have yet to see a CECB that could not decode HD and output NTSC 480i. Why do they waste bandwidth with redundant SD? Are there TVs that can't decode HD and throw away the extra bits?

With a redundant SD channel you can control what the picture looks like on an SD screen (I.e. letterbox or not). Otherwise you are relying on the user to select the correct cropping format on the HD feed. Example is Fox football. All SD feeds are letterbox now.

Other than that I can't think of any reason. There are none of those types of channels in the two TV station areas I can pick up.
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post #10204 of 16891
8/20/10 at 7:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sivartk View Post

With a redundant SD channel you can control what the picture looks like on an SD screen (I.e. letterbox or not). Otherwise you are relying on the user to select the correct cropping format on the HD feed. Example is Fox football. All SD feeds are letterbox now.

Other than that I can't think of any reason. There are none of those types of channels in the two TV station areas I can pick up.

I have a PBS station in my area that broadcasts in HD on channel x.1 and broadcasts the exact same programming in SD on channel x.2. I find this to be useful to me in one respect.

I have one of my DTVPal DVRs hooked up to a 27-inch SD TV so I don't need to record the HD stream coming from the PBS station because I can't watch it in HD on that SD TV. To save disk space on my DVR I record all programs from that PBS station tuned to their SD sub-channel x.2. I've found that a 1-hour HD program that would take one hour of disk space if recorded from the HD channel will only take about 7-8 minutes of that same one hour of disk space if recorded from the SD channel. Of course YMMV on the HD/SD ratios depending on the actual HD and SD streams being broadcast on any given channel in your area.
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post #10205 of 16891
8/20/10 at 7:55pm
>I have read that by pushing the Sys info button then a hard rebot can fix door stops
>Also make sure the DVR button is the active one in the remote, and not Aux or VCR etc.

Since I had changed the batteries in the remote, the DVR button was no longer the active one, so now I do have access to the menu button and the sys info button.

Unfortunately I still can't resume using my machine.

It does NOT reboot on its own. Nor is the problem that it does not load program info.

What does happen is after it loads the program info (after a hard or soft reboot) it will start to play live tv, or a recorded program (if I choose it) for only a few to several seconds, and then it freezes for seconds to minutes.

It will only respond to the remote when it is actually playing.

Not only am I using the F208 firmware, I attempted to reload it off a jump drive & it told me that that update was already loaded.

I also went to the diagnostic part of the menu & choose hdd -- it said no error.

The sys info button (followed by a hard reboot) seemed to have no effect for this problem.

Any other recomendations ? Format or replace the hdd ?

Thanks.
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post #10206 of 16891
8/20/10 at 8:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sf_raven View Post


Any other recomendations ? Format or replace the hdd ?

Thanks.

There was someone else who was able to get their unit to run without the hard drive. Your next step, unless someone comes up with a better idea, may be to pull the hard drive and see if the tuners work without it.
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post #10207 of 16891
8/20/10 at 8:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sf_raven View Post

>I have read that by pushing the Sys info button then a hard rebot can fix door stops
>Also make sure the DVR button is the active one in the remote, and not Aux or VCR etc.

Since I had changed the batteries in the remote, the DVR button was no longer the active one, so now I do have access to the menu button and the sys info button.

Unfortunately I still can't resume using my machine.

It does NOT reboot on its own. Nor is the problem that it does not load program info.

What does happen is after it loads the program info (after a hard or soft reboot) it will start to play live tv, or a recorded program (if I choose it) for only a few to several seconds, and then it freezes for seconds to minutes.

It will only respond to the remote when it is actually playing.

Not only am I using the F208 firmware, I attempted to reload it off a jump drive & it told me that that update was already loaded.

I also went to the diagnostic part of the menu & choose hdd -- it said no error.

The sys info button (followed by a hard reboot) seemed to have no effect for this problem.

Any other recomendations ? Format or replace the hdd ?

Thanks.


Not only am I using the F208 firmware, I attempted to reload it off a jump drive & it told me that that update was already loaded.


not sure I understand your meaning. Not sure if this means you did the following.

Load the software from the internet. First page of this thread also. Put on thumb drive. Disconnect antenna. Put in thumb drive in USB port. Plug back in and turn on. Did you do this?

I know I read somewhere on this thread that the SYS button gave the user access to the other menus. Where they did a factory reset and hard reboot.


I am sure there are people here who know more then me and maybe can help more.

Since no one responded I am trying to tell you what I read. Trying to help you


Edit: Is the smart card still in machine. I mean it did not fall out of come loose right? It i sin all the way? Just a thought. Maybe you had a cat that thought it was a toy?
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post #10208 of 16891
8/20/10 at 9:22pm
Discard the card. It's for future dish invasion. Forget it.
Just for your thoughts, I did remove a chip [eg embedded card] from DTVpal [not DVR] and it working OK.
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post #10209 of 16891
8/20/10 at 9:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by P Smith View Post

Discard the card. It's for future dish invasion. Forget it.
Just for your thoughts, I did remove a chip [eg embedded card] from DTVpal [not DVR] and it working OK.

I read it still had to be in. Use or no Use
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post #10210 of 16891
8/20/10 at 10:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by keyboard21 View Post

I read it still had to be in. Use or no Use

Absolutely not! I have 3 Pal DVRs. The cards were removed before they were turned on the first time. They work just fine.
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post #10211 of 16891
8/21/10 at 12:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by keyboard21 View Post

I read it still had to be in. Use or no Use

Someone fooled you.
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post #10212 of 16891
8/21/10 at 2:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by P Smith View Post

Just for your thoughts, I did remove a chip [eg embedded card] from DTVpal [not DVR] and it working OK.

Explain please? Are you saying the non-DVR has something akin to a SIM card inside it? I've never heard of that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by keyboard21 View Post

I read it still had to be in. Use or no Use

Nah, it would probably have been used to hold subscription data for some internet service or other, such as perhaps your Netflix login info or more likely Dish was toying with the idea of selling streamed stations. Whatever it was going to be it never will now, the card does absolutely nothing but make the PAL look like it's sticking its tongue out at you.
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post #10213 of 16891
8/21/10 at 5:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sf_raven View Post

>Any other recomendations ? Format or replace the hdd ?

I've got a few suggestions:

1a. How do you have the DTVPAL connected to your TV? If by HDMI cable, try (at least temporarily) connecting via one of the other connector types. Due to the copy protection measures required to be implemented with HDMI, it can sometimes play havoc with a legitimate connection.

1b. Related to the above, an alternate exercise is to switch your TV to a different input or channel then switch back to the HDMI input and see if this solves the problem, even temporarily. If so, then HDMI incompatibilities are likely the root cause.

2. Your description of freezing picture and non-responsiveness to the remote also could be explained by weak signal strength at the antenna input. Check to be sure that the antenna you are using is tightly connected to the proper coax input on the DTVPAL (there are two coax connectors, only one of which is for the antenna). Also be sure that the antenna you are using is oriented correctly and is of the proper type for reception of digital TV in your area (most stations broadcast using UHF). Lastly, if your antenna includes a booster, be sure that it is properly powered and connected.
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post #10214 of 16891
8/21/10 at 8:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by djsteve1 View Post

I've got a few suggestions:

1a. How do you have the DTVPAL connected to your TV? If by HDMI cable, try (at least temporarily) connecting via one of the other connector types. Due to the copy protection measures required to be implemented with HDMI, it can sometimes play havoc with a legitimate connection.

....

Also if you have a Samsung TV with Anynet+ turned on it sends a bunch of stuff over HDMI looking for a device that understands it. I have a Samsung TV and just bought a "home theater in a box". When I turn the BluRay player on it turns on the TV and switchs the TV from the DTVPal DVR input port to the HDMI port that the BluRay is connected to. I expect other brands do the same thing. I don't know that that presents a problem or not but HDMI is not just a video connection.
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post #10215 of 16891
8/21/10 at 9:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dbsc View Post

Explain please? Are you saying the non-DVR has something akin to a SIM card inside it? I've never heard of that.

Find my posts with pictures then.
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post #10216 of 16891
8/22/10 at 4:27pm
(1) Is there an easy way to Reset the ZIP code with out doing a factory default? What is the procedure? I can not find it in the online manual.



(2) Another question. I was not able to see the screens. But my aunt (called me) must of pushed something that made the Audio and video go away. Just a blank screen with channel info. She called up all nervous. The green box light was on. Just no picture or audio

Does anyone have a clue what she could of pushed on the remote to make this happen?

I had her do a factory default procedure and the TV is back.

I am asking so we know what to Not to do. For the future.

(3) Also what is the procedure to disable updates? I had her do a restore and now I am sure it will come up and I can not find any of this info in the manual. AAAARRRR


Thanks
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post #10217 of 16891
8/22/10 at 4:46pm
Back on Sunday, August 15, my DTVPAL DVR kept hanging up. Nothing short of a reboot would clear it. While hung, the station that I was currently viewing was fine, but I had no control via the DVR remote. I could not increase volume, change channels, browse, etc.

After having this happen 7 or 8 times in less than an hour, I disabled TVGOS. The hangs stopped happening. I had to leave for a week on the road for work. When I came back, I re-enabled TVGOS. So far so good. This happened one other time. My TVGOS is supported on CBS6 Albany, NY. Anyone else have this happen to them???
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post #10218 of 16891
8/22/10 at 6:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hunter56 View Post

Back on Sunday, August 15, my DTVPAL DVR kept hanging up. Nothing short of a reboot would clear it. While hung, the station that I was currently viewing was fine, but I had no control via the DVR remote. I could not increase volume, change channels, browse, etc.

After having this happen 7 or 8 times in less than an hour, I disabled TVGOS. The hangs stopped happening. I had to leave for a week on the road for work. When I came back, I re-enabled TVGOS. So far so good. This happened one other time. My TVGOS is supported on CBS6 Albany, NY. Anyone else have this happen to them???

Yeah, mine would hang last week, too (Twin Cities area). It seemed to only happen when I used the "browse" feature to look at the TVG while watching something. If I pressed the "guide" button directly, it would be fine. The only solution to the thing ignoring all other inputs was to hold the power button on the remote and wait for a reboot. Now it seems to be fine. I suspect there was some bad or buggy TVGOS data that was doing it, since that problem comes and goes.
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post #10219 of 16891
8/23/10 at 5:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hunter56 View Post

Back on Sunday, August 15, my DTVPAL DVR kept hanging up. Nothing short of a reboot would clear it. While hung, the station that I was currently viewing was fine, but I had no control via the DVR remote. I could not increase volume, change channels, browse, etc.

After having this happen 7 or 8 times in less than an hour, I disabled TVGOS. The hangs stopped happening. I had to leave for a week on the road for work. When I came back, I re-enabled TVGOS. So far so good. This happened one other time. My TVGOS is supported on CBS6 Albany, NY. Anyone else have this happen to them???

Yes it happens to me exactly as yuo describe. Maybe once every couple of months. Sometimes 3-4 times with maybe 30 minutes to an hour interval between them. However in my case it lasts only about 2-5 minutes with a update/donwload taking place that clears it up. It can be annoying. Not sure why it happens or if it can be stopped but it seems like it is TVGOS related. I'm thinking it is communication happening between the TVGOS provider and the PALDVR. But that's just a guess.
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post #10220 of 16891
8/23/10 at 7:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by keyboard21 View Post


(2) Another question. I was not able to see the screens. But my aunt (called me) must of pushed something that made the Audio and video go away. Just a blank screen with channel info. She called up all nervous. The green box light was on. Just no picture or audio

Does anyone have a clue what she could of pushed on the remote to make this happen?

I had her do a factory default procedure and the TV is back.

I am asking so we know what to Not to do. For the future.


Thanks

I don't know how her DVR is connected to her TV, but if she is using HDMI, component or composite, she might have pushed the Analog Pass-Through button. If you push that button, it will display a countdown timer on the screen you are watching, then it goes black with no sound or audio like you were describing. Pushing the button again should return the DVR to normal.
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post #10221 of 16891
8/23/10 at 7:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LenL View Post

Yes it happens to me exactly as yuo describe. Maybe once every couple of months. Sometimes 3-4 times with maybe 30 minutes to an hour interval between them. However in my case it lasts only about 2-5 minutes with a update/donwload taking place that clears it up. It can be annoying. Not sure why it happens or if it can be stopped but it seems like it is TVGOS related. I'm thinking it is communication happening between the TVGOS provider and the PALDVR. But that's just a guess.

Thats interesting. I'm in north central NJ and like you I get TVGOS from WCBS, and haven't experienced that problem at all. Does it only happen to you when you scroll thru the guide for a specific channel while you are watching it? I never view the guide that way so maybe thats why it's never froze on me.
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post #10222 of 16891
8/23/10 at 7:42am
Last week my PAL created a channel 000-00. Your couldn't tune to it but it did have a TVGOS listing. I think it was FOX. I went back to factory settings and started over...
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post #10223 of 16891
8/23/10 at 7:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by WillN937 View Post

I have a related question. I have several channels that broadcast HD (x.1) and SD on one of the secondary channels. I have had several CECBs and and using a Pal+ to front end my old Panasonic just in case I want to record three things at once. I have yet to see a CECB that could not decode HD and output NTSC 480i. Why do they waste bandwidth with redundant SD? Are there TVs that can't decode HD and throw away the extra bits?

I also live where a PBS station has HD on x.1 and SD x.2. I have an SD DVR and record from basic digital cable. I've noticed that the cable company seems to use the SD signal from the station and convert it to SD digital cable. I don't know how this will help the station.
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post #10224 of 16891
8/23/10 at 10:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by OneFore9 View Post

I don't know how her DVR is connected to her TV, but if she is using HDMI, component or composite, she might have pushed the Analog Pass-Through button. If you push that button, it will display a countdown timer on the screen you are watching, then it goes black with no sound or audio like you were describing. Pushing the button again should return the DVR to normal.

I tried that with the same result.

Anyway can someone PLEASE help me with the procedures I asked for. I know someone can just look it up on their DVR. Anyone kind enough to do this pls




(1) Is there an easy way to Reset the ZIP code with out doing a factory default? What is the procedure? I can not find it in the online manual.






(3) Also what is the procedure to disable updates? I had her do a restore and now I am sure it will come up and I can not find any of this info in the manual. AAAARRRR
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post #10225 of 16891
8/23/10 at 11:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete-N2 View Post

Last week my PAL created a channel 000-00. Your couldn't tune to it but it did have a TVGOS listing. I think it was FOX. I went back to factory settings and started over...

For future reference, all you need to do is delete the phantom channel from your channel list.
You don't need to reset to factory defaults.
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post #10226 of 16891
8/23/10 at 11:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by keyboard21 View Post

I tried that with the same result.

Anyway can someone PLEASE help me with the procedures I asked for. I know someone can just look it up on their DVR. Anyone kind enough to do this pls




(1) Is there an easy way to Reset the ZIP code with out doing a factory default? What is the procedure? I can not find it in the online manual.






(3) Also what is the procedure to disable updates? I had her do a restore and now I am sure it will come up and I can not find any of this info in the manual. AAAARRRR

# 1 - Menu, Setup, System Setup, Installation, Zip Code Setup.
# 3 - Menu, Setup, Updates.
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post #10227 of 16891
8/23/10 at 11:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuck44 View Post

For future reference, all you need to do is delete the phantom channel from your channel list.
You don't need to reset to factory defaults.

I tried to delete it and the PAL indicated that is was deleting it -- but it was still there. I tried several times. Also if you tried to "up arrow" from your lowest channel to your highest channel you were returned to the lowest channel. I don't think they programmed for a "000" in the channel number
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post #10228 of 16891
8/23/10 at 12:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuck44 View Post

# 1 - Menu, Setup, System Setup, Installation, Zip Code Setup.
# 3 - Menu, Setup, Updates.

Thank you sir. Now I can help my aunt over the phone and not drive 3 hours round trip.

I do not understand why these instructions are not in the Manual or on the first page of this thread?

You would think it is important to have the instructions to the menu functions.

I spent an hour or more looking for these. Thanks so much
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post #10229 of 16891
8/23/10 at 1:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dvdchance View Post

Thats interesting. I'm in north central NJ and like you I get TVGOS from WCBS, and haven't experienced that problem at all. Does it only happen to you when you scroll thru the guide for a specific channel while you are watching it? I never view the guide that way so maybe thats why it's never froze on me.

It has happened to me when I first turn on the PalDvr and also while watching a program live or even a recording. The redlight comes on and then it asks me to wait while it does an update. Sometimes thats it and other times it can happen within 30 minutes again.

I think it happened about 10-12 times over the course of a year. Perhaps unlike some of the other folks, it has just been a 2-3 minute outage for me. I just wait and I get control back. I can go back to the recording. When it happens when I am watching live TV I get annoyed a little as I lose a few minutes of a show.

Since we are in the same market it may be some other factor. I have 2 PalDVRs and they both do it. Also my orientation to the transmitters is different than yours. CBS I am now getting at around 90-95% signal strength.
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post #10230 of 16891
8/23/10 at 2:21pm
Do both of you have F208 installed?
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