The Official AVS Dish DTVPal DVR Topic! - Page 16

Thanks for the suggestion. After two "lockup" occurences in less than 30 minutes, I checked that the update time was still 1 AM, which it was. I subsequently disabled TVGOS and will see if the lockups continue.

Since you are viewing Baltimore stations - that makes sense. Other people with multiple DMAs may just have to pick their "primary DMA" and input a zipcode from there. Most of us with only 1 DMA don't have that issue .

All you did was disable when the DVR will check for updates for firmware, Not for TVGOS. You can still manually initiate updates.

The Help info for the Updates option says its for the program guide. Its not in the manual, but it is in the help info for that option.

Actually, I think you can record two programs and watch a previously-recorded program at the same time (the hard disk can read and write at the same time). I have my antenna connected to the DVR with coax and then to the HDTV with a single HDMI cable. I think I was watching a live program (using the HDTV tuner) at the same time I was testing recording two programs at the same time. So the DVR does pass through the OTA signal, at least on the HDMI output.

I don't have HDMI or S-VHS on my HDTV. It does have aux 1-2 and i have my portable DVD player hooked to 1. I also have a sound bar which only does analog plug ins but has 3, TV/DVD/aux settings. Since the DVD is hooked to the TV and I'm using the headphones jack on the TV to pass the sound along to the sound bar wondering if it's better to just hook the pals audio to the TV and let all the sound pass through the TV to the soundbar.

If coaxial cable can carry the HD single from a antenna to the TV then why can't it or composite or component also from external devices?

Here's what I find..

- The dtvpal dvr doesn't appear to use a conventional partition table. I used a previously partitioned drive in my dtvpal dvr unit. After recording a few things on it, I plugged the drive back on a linux box. The old partition table was still there.
- It doesn't appear to take a 400GB drive. It's strange that the unit took a 160GB, a 250GB and 500GB. But not 400GB??

Anyway, as a next step. I just spent a few hours and zeroed-out my 500GB drive. Now I can find try to find out exactly what's being written by the device.

How many component inputs does your HDTV have? What is the brand/model# of your set? I'm guessing it's an older HDTV since no HDMI, most older HD sets have at least 2 component inputs.

The coax can only carry an HD signal as an RF frequency, the DTVpal DVR doesn't have an HD modulator in it since ALL HDTV's have at least one HD input.

That worked but for some reason it won't let me pad the 1 hour recording to end at 8:01PM. Tells me that there is a conflict.

Perhaps when you add any padding it applies it to all three shows, causing the two 30-minute shows to conflict?

You can split your incoming coax! One to the dvr and one to the TV. That way you can record two on the dvr and watch a previously recorded program on the dvr or switch inputs on the tv to the split antenna feed and watch a live program on the tv.

I can't hear a thing even when it is recording. It also runs fairly cool compared to the VIP 722.

My unit got the program guide FOUR TIMES between about 6:02 AM and 6:20 AM this morning. I was recording two HD programs at the time and both of them were broken into 5 pieces. Each time it got the program guide, it seemed to do so successfully. Methinks this unit has its struggles related to the program guide.

Anyway, it doesn't sound like this is the same type of behavior you are seeing, since I would not describe it as a "Lockup", but it sure seems like something that needs fixing.

If someone has a program like WinHex that can dump the Master Boot Record on the DVR drive that should tell how it is formatted if it conforms to the normal convention.

When the drives fail can you run the builtin diagnostic on the DVR and does it provide any useful information?

I can's hear mine at all. It's even quiter than my Philips DVDR3575H/37, and it's very quiet.

A raw look into the disk reveals things like "Die Miserable Dishplayer! Die!", "DaveSystemDisk" and several filenames like "record_event_index_header", "record_event_index.bak", "Strm0001.log", "Strm0000.ifo", "trmFFFFFFFE.evt", etc. I also saw things that resemble raw .ts streams.

A google search brought up discussions from Bell Expressvu and Dishnetwork users way back in 2004. So it appears the dtvpal uses same DVR EFS as other satellite dvr units. If that is the case, utilities like PVRdSE may work. I, however, have no previous experience with any of it. I personally have no interest in extensively hacking the unit or extracting recordings from the drive. I'm more interested in 'blessing' a 1TB drive to put into the device. That's just me.

(If it's okay with bfdtv and Ken, let's continue this on a separate thread)

Lock the channels or make a favorites list.

From the user guide:
If some channels are missing when you are using the Program Guide or Browse Banner,
you may have locked the DTVPal DVR to hide (adult) channels,
or you may have applied a Favorites List other than All Channels.

Unlock the DTVPal DVR (see Locks on page 20), or choose a different Favorites List to show the channels you are missing in the guide.
(see Customizing the Guide and Channel Lists on page 23)

Beeper

NBC rebroadcasts the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies tonight. It should be an excellent test case for recording with our new DVRs!

I never noticed any sound coming from the unit, nor from the Dish 625 (dual sat tuner).

I put my ear up to both units and I could a faint sound, the DTVPal DVR is a little quieter than the 625. The DTVPal DVR was recording on one tuner and was tuned to the other. Both outputs of the 625 were also on, but it wasn't recording anything.

The rest of my A/V system was off, so if it was on it's unlikely I would here anything coming from either of the DVRs.

I finally got my antenna moved from the living room up to the attic, though I don't have it's position optimized yet, nor did I hook up the antenna amplifier I got for it.

I initially pointed it approximately north and was able to pick up 3 more Harrisburg stations (NBC-8, Fox-43, and CW-15 - but still not CBS-21 and ABC-27 that are VHF 4 and 10). I was able to barely pick up PBS-33 before and now it's much stronger. The Baltimore stations were weaker and I could no longer get CW-40 (and still couldn't get MyN-24).

Anyway, here's interesting part. Looking at the guide, I had full 7 day data for PBS-33 and Fox-43, both Harrisburg stations. Could that have been coming from PSIP data or from TVGOS data from Baltimore's CBS-13?

Tried to set-up my dvr.
During initial setup, it cannot find any channels.
I live 20 miles from Chicago.
My Sharp Aquous TV has strength in the 70s to 90s for all channels.
I get around 30 Digital channels on my TVs.
Tried a different coax from DVR to wall socket.
Tried a different antenna ( I have one in the attic and one on the roof).
I cannot get off the set-up screen.
I tried the analog pass thru button and no analog channels went to the tv.
While I am on the setup screen, the power button on the DVR will not turn off the box. The instructions say to turn off DVR and then unplug. I had to unplug to turn off. The green light on the DVR would blink when I pressed the power button so I know it is receiving the command.
I call Dish and they could not help.
It is strange that I cannot even get one channel.
Any ideas out there????

Kyboman,

If you are able to get Analog from that same wall socket to your TV, then the Digital signal should also be there. If this is the case, then you may be the first of us that will need to test the return defective unit process. all I can say is good luck

It's only 1 year old, emerson 19" sold at walmart last black friday. It does HD fine using the antenna but no other way.
component video cable connection
NOTE:
1) UNIT ACCEPTS 480I/480P/SIMPLIFIED 1080I VIDEO SINGLE
2) SIMPLIFIED 1080I VIDEO SINGLE DIFFERS TO ORIGiNAL 1080I BECAUSE IT'S DISPLAYED AFTER CONVERTED INTO 480P
Emerson
19" WXGA+ LCD Display
Resolution WXGA (1440 x 900)
3D Digital Comb Filter
Built-in ATSC/NTSC Tuner (HD Quality Output)

Can someone identify the part numbers of the two IC's near the SATA connector? I see the two ATSC tuners, but don't see if those two are the demods or not. No one has identified the demodulators as I don't see any demods on the first post description...

Please advise if anyone has theirs open.

Thx.

When I see "component video input" - I'm thinking 3 RCA jacks color coded Red Green blue (commonly refered to as Y Pb Pr). I don't know what to make of that "Simplified component" video cable comment - is that a single Yellow RCA jack ? Fortunately, The DTVPAL DVR CAN be set to output 16:9 SDTV on the composite video.

For those interested.
I did some signal strength readings on it with my Trilithic Model Two.

The DVR puts out an analog signal of 5.0dBmV on channel 3

I scanned signal strength on local analog channels before and after pressing the analog pass thru button.

2 before DVR 14.0dBmV---------->2 after DVR 15.7dBmV
4 before DVR 13.9dBmV---------->4 after DVR 16.8dBmV
5 before DVR 13.4dBmV---------->5 after DVR 17.5dBmV
9 before DVR 23.7dBmV---------->9 after DVR 27.6dBmV
11 before DVR 19.7dBmV---------->11 after DVR 24.3dBmV
17 before DVR 11.4dBmV---------->17 after DVR 13.6dBmV
23 before DVR 15.6dBmV---------->23 after DVR 19.6dBmV
29 before DVR 13.7dBmV---------->29 after DVR 16.0dBmV
45 before DVR 2.5dBmV---------->45 after DVR 5.9dBmV


Power level readings on local Digital channels also went up after pressing the analog pass thru button.

14 before DVR -8.4dBmV---------->14 after DVR -4.9dBmV
16 before DVR -0.1dBmV---------->16 after DVR 1.8dBmV
22 before DVR 12.6dBmV---------->22 after DVR 15.6dBmV
32 before DVR 3.3dBmV---------->32 after DVR 6.8dBmV
34 before DVR 3.5dBmV---------->34 after DVR 6.8dBmV
35 before DVR 1.7dBmV---------->35 after DVR 4.8dBmV
44 before DVR -9.7dBmV---------->44 after DVR -7.3dBmV
50 before DVR -7.0dBmV---------->50 after DVR -3.6dBmV

Those of you that were worried about signal loss thru the unit appear to be in good shape (skip the splitter and use the pass thru)

Regarding this being my first post........I have been watching this forum for at least 6 months, and pre orderd the unit at 6am the first day.

I know that this info may not be usefull to all of you but I figured I would put my 2 cents in.

By the Way I flipped my smart card over (have not used it yet) before powering up the unit for the first time, and I also have not done any firmware updates.

No Pesky lockups for me yet.

I did get a warning that a show was not recorded because of an error in signal.....But I watched it and it was fine.


Keep up the good work!!! all of you, and someone please get the external USB storage option working..

S

Couple of obvious things to check.

1. Connect the cable you have going to the DVR to the TV to make sure you are getting a signal to the end of the cable, reconnect and then do another scan. When you click analog pass-through you should see all the digital channels on your TV. The fact that you don't seems to be a key piece of data.
2. Make sure you are connected to the input, not the output.

With a 19" screen it's not going to matter much how it's hooked up. Larger screens tend to suffer more from low resolution inputs. If you have the space/desire look into a Used rear projection TV. They aren't the "in thing" anymore and you probably can pick one up for close to what you paid for the 19". I bought my Mitsubishi WS65513 65" HDTV for $100 last April, all it needed was the DM caps replaced ($20 worth of parts).

I first thought I had a bad cable.
I disconnected the coax from the VCR that was working and installed the coax on the DVR. No channels.
I then took the coax that was supplied with the unit and used it.
Still no channels.
I tried connnecting the antenna to the TV output of the box just in case they assembled the box wrong. Still no channels.
I am not sure the analog bypass was working since it appears that none of the buttons except the select and arrows and info buttons appear to work.
I cannot even get the power button to work.
I am going to try again tomorrow.
I told the dish guy that I would call back on Monday during working hours for some better technical help.
Then comes the long drawn out process of return, repair, refurb or whatever.
All I know is that the Mrs. wants to record her new shows when analog goes away in February.