The Official AVS Dish DTVPal DVR Topic! - Page 428

I don't have a link to how Digital TVGOS works. It works very much like analog TVGOS but is delivered as a separate PID in the ATSC signal, instead of in the VBI as was done with analog. Much of the information about how TVGOS works was derived from the diagnostic screens that are in most TVGOS devices. Since Echostar didn't provide any TVGOS diagnostic screens, it is virtually impossible to figure out how any of this works by looking at the DTVPal. Most of what I have learned about TVGOS came from people who had already figured it out before I even became interested in learning about it. At that point analog TVGOS had been around for several years. The log that was posted the other day, made no sense to DTVPal owners, which is what J-D-H pretty much figured out. So its "on topic" value is questionable. If the log was made so that it only showed the timestamps and the offset, then it might be useful to someone here. Although it would be much more useful if it was actual data from WUSA.

The term MDI was coined by another AVS member in the Sony thread (sort of as a joke but the term stuck). It is useless information for people in this thread (thus it is way off topic). It is a technique that I came up with to help the Sony DHG "build a grid" (something that DTVPal owners don't have to worry about). MDI stands for "mabuttra data interrupter". It is nothing but an RF switch to allow turning on and off the antenna signal going into the DHG. The reason for doing this can be found (with some digging) in the Sony thread, but has nothing to do with any TVGOS device except the Sony DHG.

Now we return back to the regular DTVPal thread.

Mark

For my defense: actually, it was a pitch to obtain TVGOS stream info for ppl in areas with time issues. As an example of source info for start troubleshooting Pal DVR ...

(Having had several of my posts deleted because I apparently strayed off topic, many of these posts need to be in a TVGOS thread. )


Now back to this thread topic: the DTVPal DVR... anyone ever have problems with HDMI audio from the Pal to a Sony LCD HD TV not making the HDMI audio connection or handshake when you first turn it on? The Sony will display what audio and video mode it is in when selecting different sources. Should say "Dolby Digital|16:9|1080i HD", but in the no audio condition it just displays "16:9|1080i HD", no Dolby Digital. I can't seem to find a pattern to this problem. Tried turning on TV first, then Pal, no audio, or turn on Pal first then TV still no audio. Not so with my Dish Vip722, it gets audio 100% of the time. My "fix" is to toggle through the inputs of the TV and back to the DTVPal, and I will have audio from that point on until next day and usually same problem.

Did you try swapping your HDMI Cables? I have a Sony TV and I have never seem that problem with the PAL. I have however, had that problem several times with my JVC SD DVD-R. I power the DVD-R down then up and the problem goes away.

TVGOS is slightly off topic but then so many PAL issues seem to be related to the guide functions (or lack thereof). Which reminds me -- has the incorrect clock problem in Austin area been solved now that you have a new guide provider?

You might see about setting the PAL audio to PCM only.

I'm a soon to be owner of the CM7000-PAL and I was hoping someone here could point me to a post, or summary of what settings and or configurations I should do after I set up the box. The thread is up to 429 pages, and maybe I'll read it all someday, but I'd like to know a summary of what I need to do to start. The first post is great, and I read all of it, it answered many questions so I'm looking for what nuggets are buried in these other 400+ pages.

thanks.

If you read post 1 - you did more than alot of new owners.

I'd suggest learning how to use the search function, and if you still can't find something, then post a question.

Good idea. I swapped the cables at the backs of the Pal and 722, we shall see if the problem stays with that TV input and particular HDMI cable, moves with the swapped receivers, or just goes away. This morning both Pal and 722 came up perfectly with audio enabled.

I have a DTVPal DVR & love it. No real issues to speak of, either. Now I'm considering buying a laptop to connect to my HDTV, and watching video from Hulu and other free sites.

Can anyone point me to a forum that discusses this? I looked at the various topics, but I'm not sure which one is suited to my question. I am 100% new to trying this, so I need to know what type of network system to set up, what the videos look like on the TV (are they HD? true fullscreen?) Even what type of laptop to buy, although I'm pretty sure I just want 4GB of Ram and an HDMI connection. But there may be more things to consider.

Thanks for any help you can give me! - Katie

[It is going totally off-topic, but any current model of notebook what using latest CPU/chipset would be good for your goal.]

I was wondering if there would be any harm in running a USB powered cooling fan using the USB port on the DVR. Here's the link to what I am looking for: http://www.coolerguys.com/840556088417.html

I wasn't sure if this would stress the power supply since it would be running all of the time, or if it would cause other system issues.

I have not had any problems with my unit. It's in a cabinet with ventilated shelves and a ventilated/semi-open back panel. It does not get very hot in there, but occasionally the air will feel a little warmer than usual when I open the cabinet door. The only other device in this space is a Blu-ray player. Each device is on its own shelf.

Since the fan in the DVR does not push air out of the back of the unit, I thought this external fan might help to draw the warm air out of the cabinet.

Any thoughts?

I would say it is pretty straight forward. Just answer all the questions in setup.

1. Turn updates off since there have not been any for a long time
2. Enable TVGOS.
3. I suggest you select small fonts for the guide display but it depends on the resolution of your TV.
4. It may take a few hours before you acquire TVGOS and get the local listings for the next week.

I appreciate the advice on settings and what I should do when I get the box set-up.

When I see threads that go on for hundreds of pages it makes me think that there must be a lot of let down to generate that much activity. People often do not turn to the web--and forums, to rave, but rather, complain. So 400+ pages made me nervous that this product is a let down. So I was hoping to see what good has come out of all this content. The first post summarizes the strengths and weaknesses really well. So what is all the posting about???

Earlier versions had a lot of issues due to bugs, but later firmwares fixed most of them. There are STILL some bugs, but minor ones like time shiftings due to time changes, TVGOS, etc.

Just go for it. It's mostly stable. Just be sure you have the latest firmware for your new toy!

.....and make sure that you have plenty of room around the DVR for air flow. You may want to consider placing large self-stick rubber feet under the four corners to raise the unit as much as possible off of the shelf to aid air flow. Heat has been the biggest killer of this system after update F208.

Donald1800

If anyone is interested I have a used DTVPal which I've lightly used for the last 18 months or so. Comes with manual and the remote. PM me if you are interested before I put it up on the 'Bay

Did F208 change its fan RPM and sensors, or something?

No. He meant since the F208 update, not after it.

Ah thanks.

The CM-7000pal comes preloaded with the latest and greatest firmware. Like phildaant says, most of these forum pages were generated by the early model Dish version. I have a F208 late model Dish version, and it's given me mostly trouble free service. A few glitchy bugs, but nothing major.

Thanks, I know it's totally off-topic, but can you point me to which forum group here might discuss laptop/TV options?

[Really, we should finish it - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forum...ysprune=&f=26]

If I'm not premature in noting that the "clock skew" aspect of this thread seems to have wound down, I (for one at least) am curious....

Did anyone ever figure out (or at least make a decent educated guess on) what specifically happened in the first place to cause these troubles? And for that matter, did anyone ever figure out whether the root cause was the same in the various cities impacted?

Looks like there is finally another OTA DVR. Got this in an email from Solid Signal.

http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp...&sku=&more=yes

Would be interested in seeing some reviews.

EDIT: There already is a rhread.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1340591

Thanks for the info! Hopefully there will be a thread for this soon, so we can see what people think about it. I hope the price stays that low, as I hopefully won't need to buy another DVR for a long time.

Based on TSReader datalogs and months of detailed technical correspondence with the local CBS broadcaster as well as ROVI, we have a pretty detailed understanding of what caused the clock skew issue in Austin. Bottom line the ROVI encoder was installed at a local broadcaster whose infrastructure proved to be incompatible with certain assumptions made by the designers of the ROVI encoder. Only two solutions were logistically feasible:

1) Modify the infrastructure at the local CBS broadcaster to eliminate the incompatibilities.

2) Move the ROVI encoder to a different broadcaster whose infrastructure is not incompatible with it.

Fortunately for the beleaguered Austin DTVPal users, option 2 was implemented a couple of months ago. We have hard data from TSReader showing that the TVGOS datastream from the new broadcaster (ABC affiliate) has perfect timestamps all the time.

There are some interesting theories floating around regarding the root cause of the D.C. area time skew, but with no timestamp data and no detailed technical explanation of what's going on from either WUSA or ROVI, you really don't know.

I thought it moved to the PBS affiliate...

PBS in Austin doesn't have enough bandwidth available to do TVGOS. ABC is doing a terrific job with it!!!!

720P....

Did it move to PBS for a time?