The Official AVS Dish DTVPal DVR Topic! - Page 59

I set up my second batch DVR last night with the above parameters and have not had a problem yet. I recorded a show, watched and paused another show while it was recording and then watched the show while it was still finishing recording. It is far from a comprehensive test and I am not a big TV watcher, so it will not get much use other than recording a few kids shows to use as incentive to do their chores in a timely manner and the few sporting events that are still available OTA.

My software version is F201TALD-N

Factory Reset was another suggestion, but I will not try that unless I run into problems.

I successfully set timers for different times of day on the same station with one big block of "No Information Available" in the guide at all.

I get PSIP guide data only. My PBS stations show the digital frequency assigned (43) instead of the normal channel numbers (17), so I don't get any data for them. It gave the normal channel numbers on my DISH DTVPal CECB, and I had guide data with that. Does anyone know if there is a workaround for this? I would hope that it would resolve itself when the transition takes place.

On the positive side, one of the Canadian stations I get from Toronto has 5 days worth of data and my CBS affiliate has 48 hours. I e-mailed my local CBS station management on Friday after hearing from engineering that they do not have TVGOS data (even though rabbitears said they did until it was updated 1/7/09). Engineering replied quickly, but I have not heard from station management yet.

Interesting about the signal QUALITY being what the meter shows, not strength. Perhaps I'm overloaded on the PBS feed. I would think 50' of RG6 and the 7db drop from the 4 splitter would kill any chance of overload, but maybe not. The odd thing is I'm not in a real strong area, I can only get 3 stations with an indoor antenna. I have an attenuator somewhere around here, I'll have to dig it up and give it a try.

I just looked up the new station allocation on antennaweb.org, as of 2/17/2009 PBS is moving from Channel 32 to their displayed channel of 13 (their current analog channel). CBS is also moving from their digital channel back to the analog channel *Maybe* we will see TVGOS come online at the same time. I think I'll wait for less than 30 days to see how everything looks once the transition is complete provided Obama doesn't delay the switchover.

Some stations that I'm gettign signals in the mid/lower 90's currently require a "red" antenna, after 2/17/2009 they will require a yellow antenna. I currently have an RCA ANT3020 which I think is rated as "red" by the CEA. I assume that they are currently operating at low power and will increase as of 2/17, I just hope it doesn't create any problems.

Other than my PBS issue my DTVpal DVR has been working perfectly, not reboots and original firmware.

When I used analog OTA TVGOS out of Philly with my E-85 DVD recorder, I got full 8-day listings for analog channels 3,6,10,12,17,29,35,48,57,61. It was very dependable since 2005. I'm sure digital TVGOS is still very much a work in progress. So, with the digital TVGOS out of Philly, what main channels are you getting full data for (I'm only interested in the xx.1 channels, I don't do subs). TIA

My unit arrived yesterday. It loaded TVGOS guide information overnight so in the morning the TV Guide logo was there in the upper right hand corner of the guide. I just got the unit and haven't had much time to play with it but this morning I noticed that for WHYY 12.1, 12.2, and 12.3 there were only a few hours of guide data but other stations went out at least 2-3 days. From what people have said it takes a day or two for all the guide data to load.

I've noticed on my Sony Bravia TV which has TVGOS also that certain stations or subchannels are not listed. For example for WCAU it lists 10.1 and 10.2 but not USports on 10.3. Also 36.1, 51.1, 65.1, and 65.2 are not listed at all. Kelson, to answer your question, from memory it lists 3.1, 6.1, 10.1, 12.1, 17.1, 23.1, 29.1, 35.1, 44.1, 48.1, 57.1, and 61.1 (I'm omitting the subchannels).

Last night it wouldn't let me set up a timer recording for Monday-Friday on 12.1. This morning after the TVGOS loaded it let me set up several Monday-Friday recordings. It let me set up separate M-F recordings for News Hour and Nightly Business Report for WHYY (PBS) even though guide data was not there for those shows.

I recorded Leno and Letterman simultaneously last night (that has to be a popular pick for dual-tuner use). Worked fine. With the timer issue apparently solved I'm a happy camper at least so far based on a few hours use.

FYI!
On the FAQ #40 "What is the latest firmware / software version?"

Needs to be changed as they now have the update on the website, is talked about in #42!

The latest is F202. Looks correct to me.

Thanks for the info. When I used analog TVGOS, the first night it would download days 1,2,3 & 8. Then each night afterwards it added the next day inside to fill in the blanks and the new day 8. After about 4 days I had the complete listing for 8 days. I don't know how digital TVGOS works as far as how much data it sends out each day, but it would not be unprecedented if it took several days for the whole list to fill in.

Since I am getting my OTA out of Philly, I'll be real interested in reading your experiences with TVGOS and whether or not your second-batch unit has the problems.

I have seen this also. But only on one specific channel. My NBC station just added RTN as a sub and that is the only recorded stuff I see this behavior on, and it is on every program I have recorded from RTN.

I updated my software to version F202 yesterday morning. Now I no longer have the "TV Guide" icon displayed on the screen when I go to the guide screen. It was always there before the upgrade. Did the upgrade do something that caused it to disappear. I am not sure if I am still getting the Tvguide data or PSIP guide data. Anyone else have this issue when they did the upgrade?

Give it some time - your TV GUide Icon should come back. Until it does you will be using PSIP data.

bfdtv - Thanks for taking the time to make that post. It answered every question I had about the unit - many that never would have been addressed by the manufacturer. I think I'm gonna get one.

FYI - the Microtune MT2131 tuner is the same one used on the DTVPal Plus (which I own), as opposed to the DTVPal.

I am from Buffalo, NY also. The local PBS station must be screwing around with their system because it was 17 for the longest time with guide data. It reverted to 43 just a few days ago with no guide data. I'm sure it will return.

Well, the man in brown just delivered my unit

I have read most of this thread. Is the current wisdom still to disable updates / not plug into the network, and use only analog video outputs?

I looked at a site that has Buffalo/Ontario digital channel information, and it said that PBS will be keeping channel 43 after the transition takes place. Perhaps it is in preparation for that. I'll try to contact their engineering to see what's going on.

Congratulations!

Not sure what the consensus is on the settings, but my updates are disabled, I have no network connection, and I use the HDMI output. Everything works just fine.

Yes to the first two...

My setup is the same,
Also running the original firmware!

Working just fine!

Ditto.

More importantly, signal measurement on different units is not directly comparable.

One unit may measure quality, another may measure strength. One unit's 90 may be another's 75.

Does DTVPAL allows returns for this unit? If not, then what about Solid Signal? They seem to have a decent 30 day return policy. Any comments would be helpful. Also, it is about $259 from DTVPAL but about $290 at SS. So at SS it is $30 more but if they do allow returns, then this could be well worth it.

Duplicate post, I posted in the wrong forum first.

Got mine today so some observations.

Setup as simple as possible - no update, no zip, no card, no web.

HDMI to receiver to panny 700u. Coax to panny as well (from DVR.)

It rebooted during setup lol.

The pass-through doesn't work at all for me - lost all but the strongest stations.

PQ is fine clarity wise, but is noticeably more orange than through the set (I'm using a splitter on main antenna so I can view through both.) Haven't played with reciever settings yet so maybe something there.

No TVG yet.

Didn't gain either of the fringe stations I was hoping to get, but didn't lose any either. So far signal seems same as panny.

Measured signal strength through DVR and panny is weird - some stations are lower on one and some higher.

Menu/software is horrible. Pet peeve for me is extra clicking anywhere. It probably adds 30% more clicks because it defaults to the logically wrong item when moving though a menu (like cancel instead of done.) I mostly use weekly programming so manually setting up timers is normal for me, but ran into a stupid bug (?) when I messed one up. Meant to set for 9-10 but did 8-10 instead. It listed the show at 8 ... okay, edit to the right 9-10 and it still shows the 8 show ... okay, delete and redo and it still shows the 8 show. Maybe it will clear itself once it records it once, but after deleting and recreating, it's baffling that it would still show the title for an 8 o'clock show when you're recording from 9 o'clock.

This is my first dual tuner device so I haven't played yet with the live TV tricks, but looking forward to it.

You won't see TVGOS until you enter your zip....so that is quite expected. It also make take up to 24 hours to populate with TVGOS data.

I saw a few references to people changing form a zip to no zip and keeping TVGOS, so I'm trying it from the getgo to see if it might work. I'll give it a few days. Also my local CBS affiliate doesn't have it, but a fringe station I can get reliably does, so I want my head clear if I try a zip - best bet I suppose would be the local zip for that station, as if I lived there in other words.

More observations. I tried pass through on the receiver for HDMI resolution (Reon chipped) but made no difference in tint. I've noticed the same tint difference when playing around with DVDs, comparing component to HDMI trying to figure the best way to upscale them, so I guess it's an HDMI thing with the receiver. I may get motivated to go component all the say, but not sure I care enough yet.

PQ is fine except for the tint - black levels seem identical, which is a relief because the Philips SD recorder I'd been using had horribly dark blacks (really - my calibrator was freaked when he saw it and it's my second unit for that problem.)

I already ran into the two recording/no channel change thing, so it's weird to me that they don't have a simple coax HD pass-through. The splitter works fine though, but ma and pa might not have a high bandwidth splitter laying around, or think about it ahead of time.

Got the unit yesterday, took it out of the box and ran with it as is, loaded it up with recordings and the thing reboots and divided up the recordings like many of you have seen.

So much for the second batch being any better.

I disabled the automatic updates tonight so will see what happens with that.

I really want this thing to work, I want to dump comcrap in a bad way.

If that does not work we will do the factory reset, format the HD and start over.

I'm sure this was coverd someware but the reboots only seem to happen while recording, is that correct?


FW 201
tvgos data
comp video out

Jay

update, I changed the automatic updates while I was typing the first part of this post and after about 5min, the dam thing went to a black screen and wont come back on. At this point it is junk!

No, I have had several reboots while just watching live TV while no recordings were being made.
......

If it won't respond to any of the buttons on your remote, then you have experienced a freeze as well as a reboot described above. Your only option is to pull the power plug for about 15 sec.

So, I received my DVR earlier today. Question: Am I the only one who smells some sort of funny odor coming from the unit whenever it's turned on? I don't smell the odor when it's turned off, only when it's turned on. Also, the unit was unable to pick up OTA channels I was receiving when I just had the antenna connect to my HDTV. Any suggestions?

Well, hooked it up tonite. The receiver seems much more sensitive than the Zenith box I was using ( It is not a cable issue as I am feeding the dvr from the antenna pass-thru on the zenith which then is split prior to going in to the dvr)

One weird thing, I can not get it to sync on 720P via HDMI. My HDMI path is

DVR -> Yamaha RX-V663 -> Sanyo Z5

I use the same path from a netflix box and have no trouble doing 720P.

Anyway, the DVR works fine at 1080i, and the image is then scaled in the Z5. Still looks rather good.

I just received mine yesterday, F201, and had one hang up, happened overnight, I had one thing to record tonightshow, that was OK, but when I saw it this morning the red and green lite was on and could not be recovered except for unplug. I have now disabled updates.
Where is the reboot, power cycle counters that people have talked about located in the menu?

Another question, how do you turn off automatic updates?