The Official AVS Dish DTVPal DVR Topic! - Page 386

I'm used many HDD models not listed in the FAQ; I would say - any SATA drive should works.

Any with capacities over 1TB?

Any SATA drive? Perfect, just what I wanted to hear! Thanks.

About capacities over 1TB, I think I read upthread somewhere that the Pal can only address 1TB.

mike

We know 1 TB works - I'm not sure if anyone has tried larger. I would stick to drives that present as a single spindle/ single LUN.

See P Smith's earlier post in this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=8898

Nope, tested by many before me (and I did my 1.5 TB attempt).

I've been doing updates at 4:23 PM for 6 days now. Clock is perfect during
primetime all/each evening so far. This is contingent on setting an accurate time during the initial setup. You can revisit the initial setup without losing
your recordings on the CM-7000PAL. You might have to redo your timers.

As far as redirecting my questions to CM-7000PAL threads, I understand
that idea. However, you guys have a lot more experience with the unit,
and I felt I had a better chance of getting an answer on this thread.
Look at it from my point of view. After all, it's basically an identical
machine, just with slightly better firmware apparently.

Thanks for the great info on the Austin time issue, everyone!

Well, since we have been made aware that this is a dead thread, you might as well post here. Nobody will see your messages though since it is a dead thread .

Mark

The thread is dead.



Long live the thread.

I think that I shall never see a thread as dead as thee.

Countdown to off topic police... 3, 2, 1

It will be a slow death. We are keeping it alive especially from this newbie who just got DTVPal DVR. Haha!

Question about my own manual timer schedule. Is there a way to enter the titles instead of the ones from OTA's TV Guide? I always start recording five minutes before the time and after the time so I won't miss any seconds and since TV stations don't use the same times as others. DTVPal DVR uses the name/title before the hour.

But Sire, the thread lives!

(Does spit take) The thread lives??!!

So you've got like so in the guide:

[Show 1] [Show 2] [Show 3]

and when you set a recording for Show 2 it shows the name of Show 1 in the list when it starts, right? That's normal behavior. As the recording progresses the name and info (if any) will change in the recordings list.

If that's not happening then I don't know what to suggest other than setting the "DVR default options" not to have a buffer at the start. Note that doing that may clip the beginning minute or two off shows since sometimes shows start early, and if you get any clock skew it'll just get worse.

Yes. So, there's no way to manually set the name before/during/after the recording?

Monty Python quotes?

You can change the title name during or after the recording starts but not before.

Thanks. I must had missed it when I checked last night. Is it under the recordings list with delete and other options?

Yes. Select it in the My Recordings list (highlight it then press the OK button) and Edit Name
is one of the choices that comes up on the right side of the screen.
It only works after the recording has started, not before.

OK, I will check again. Thanks.

I agree. The DTVPal is pretty close to the ideal OTA source component, and I don't know if I would be able to tolerate watching television anymore without mine.

The operation of the Pal is essentially perfect since the release of F208, except for one thing...

If anyone involved in the development of the Pal/firmware updates is listening, or reading this thread, there is one thing left to fix: The necessity to do a factory reset to force the Pal to resume searching for TVGOS info after a lapse of few days is really annoying!

My local TVGOS provider (WHIO Channel 7.1 Dayton Ohio) has apparently not been providing TVGOS info for about a month now. (Anyone have any info?)

The only way I can find out if the TVGOS is "back up" is to do a factory reset every 4-5 days!?!

That is my only criticism of this box, and my only heartfelt "wish" for inclusion in any future firmware updates!

Ken

I just wanted to post my thoughts concerning these three DVRs, as I purchased the CM-7000PAL at the end of December.

As a long-time user of three, since May 2005, of the Sony DHG-HDD series of DVRs, my 500 bit the dust in the middle of December. I sent it to Sony in hopes of getting it repaired, but the main board had failed, and the part is no longer available, well at least not inexpensively. That hurt, because for me at least, these devices are great products.

I had bought my parents the DTVPal DVR in May 2009 to go along with their new HDTV. This was the only available option as they, and I, are OTA only. Well, 387 pages later, yes there are issues. I was reading this thread from the get-go, so I knew there were going to be some problems.

My parents have experienced every strange occurrence that has been posted on this thread: time drift, DST issues, timers disappearing, missed recordings, shows that seem to be recording but don't show up in My Recordings, Spanish audio, reboot loops, you name it, they've gone through it. Obviously, I was hesitant to even consider this product for myself, even after the F208 update.

When my Sony died, I went to Fry's and picked up the CM-7000PAL, and crossed my fingers. I had a 1TB Seagate drive from the list on Page 1 that I had bought for my parents, but they did not want installed at the time. So, I installed it in the CM-7000PAL. So far, everything's good, which means it probably just exploded.

Here are some of my thoughts and questions so far, mostly wishing it worked like the Sony:

- Why doesn't the Guide display the episode "Title?" I can remember this far better than the description in trying to identify repeats. Plus, I could look the title up online to find out more info for an episode.

- Why doesn't it buffer the station it is tuned to when I'm playing a recorded program? I use this all the time with the Sony. It's a bummer that it only starts buffering when you hit stop from the recorded program.

- If there is a power hit, does it lose the programmed Timers? Every time there is a power hit at my parents home, the DTVPal DVR will selectively delete some of its Timers, which is huge hassle for my Mom. Strangely, it only deletes the Timers for the shows that my Mom really wants to see. I think it may have become "aware."

- It would be nice if it would let you pad the timers by more than five seconds. This is a must for any sports, or programs that are on after a sporting event. I'm talking about you, CBS.

- It is annoying that even though you can sort My Recordings by Title Group, it is totally random. It should order it by Date, or at least give you an option, when using the Group settings.

- A chapter mark button, where you can insert a marker in a recorded program would be great. The Sony has this and was nice to use if you wanted to immediately go back to a specific point in a program.

- The GUI leaves a lot to be desired, but I do like the dark gray color scheme of the CM-7000PAL versus the DTVPal DVR. I guess I got used to the way the Sony guide looks.

- Does the HDMI connection carry 5.1 audio? I hooked it up this way to my receiver and it would only carry stereo audio. I tried changing the Dolby Digital and PCM settings, but it would still only produce stereo audio. I used an optical cable and was able to get 5.1 audio to work this way. I haven't had an issue before with HDMI 5.1 audio.

- I left Updates turned on and have not had a single reboot. I do not have ethernet hooked up to it. Maybe the CM-7000PAL's firmware is little smarter in this area. I'm on F400.

- Concerning picture quality, I can say that channels that broadcast in 720p that get upconverted to 1080i by the CM-7000PAL are a little soft. Not bad, but just a tiny bit. A native output setting would be great, but I can change it if I want to be picky.

- Also, on picture quality, at least over HDMI compared to my other devices, the image appears to have a slightly brighter gamma setting and is skewed slightly towards a yellow tint. Nothing crazy, but it's there. I know every device will be a little different, so I'll just need to make a custom preset on the TV for this device.

- This device is very quiet. I always considered the Sony to be fairly quiet; I could only hear the fan. Both the DTVPal DVR and CM-7000PAL are quieter than the Sony. My parents have theirs out in the open, and I can't hear it five feet away, fan or drive. Mine is in an enclosed cabinet with vented shelves and a semi-open back. It's the only heat generating device on that side and varies from cool to luke warm to the touch. I can hear the fan a little, but far less than the Sony, probably due to cabinet resonance.

I've only used it for five days, but so far, so good. My guide is fully populated. The handful of recordings I have done have all worked. My clock is accurate and in sync with the Sony (I'm in the DFW area). It's just going to take some getting used to. Granted, I haven't really given it a good workout since we are in repeats for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully it's one of the "good ones."

Sorry for this to be so long-winded, but I thought it might be helpful to new users or us "old dogs" looking for replacements. Thanks to everyone who has posted here as your thoughts and input have been extremely helpful.

When I first had my DTVPAL DVR a year ago, it would disrupt my viewing when it would start downloading the tv guide randomly many times during the day. Someone suggested to unplug it from my surge protector and plug it directly into the wall outlet. Strange, but the problem stopped. However, this week, all of a sudden, the problem is re-occurring. Several times a day, the DTVPAL goes into downloading the tv guide and I can't resume watching the TV or the recorded program until it finishes. Can anyone tell me what is going on or how to fix this problem again???
Thanks... Gary

I sent Chuck an email on the third but I have not heard back from him. I also have a DTVPal+ as a frontend to my old analog recorder. It is not getting TVGOS either so I guess nothing is being sent.

You may want to contact WHIO just so they don't think I am the only one using TVGOS. Chuck has always responded in the past so I assume he is on Christmas vacation.

Chuck.Eastman@whiotv.com

When that dialog comes up that says downloading program guide or whatever it is actually doing a PSIP scan after a reboot. This is not normal but sometimes bad TVGOS or time or something will cause the DVR to reboot. Sometimes a reset to factory defaults and then reenter all your stuff will fix it but no way to be sure.

Also make sure there's no interuption in the power supply (loose cord, etc).

I don't see any evidence supporting the opinion - would you explain details ?

He used to reply when I'd email him, but not the past two times. Don't count on it. I doubt he was on vacation considering the studio move.

(Ref - Channel Master has slightly better software)

Evidence - It doesn't say "Dish".


beyond that....

Since you give your location as Dallas I suspect that this is happening only for timers on CBS 11. At least that is how it worked for me. I believe this to be a consequence of CBS 11 broadcasting two signals, both VHF and UHF.

Mine has recently stopped doing this after I played around with the add channel menu and added the second CBS 11 RF channel (it appeared as channel 71) and then deleted it. I cannot recall exactly what I did or even if it really was the cause but I haven't had to recreate my timers for quite a while.

I just checked and my DVR is set to use the RF 11 signal.

I know what I did wrong. I didn't highlight my recording to do that. I got confused. Heh. I was doing edit without highlighting a recording.

More newbie questions related to it: Is there a way to group recordings? How about editing/deleting the recording description (not the titles/names)? I didn't see these options anywhere.