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Can't get into TV Guide setup anymore with my Panasonic DMR-EH75V

post #1 of 26
7/28/09 at 12:32pm
Thread Starter 
I'm trying to set up my DMR-EH75V to control channel changes on my DirecTV HD receiver via the IR blaster, hooked up to Input 3. I go into the setup options and as soon as I select "TV Guide settings", my screen just goes black. If I press the function button again, it will go back to input 3 and display the signal from the receiver.

I had this working just fine for the past few months. Just last week, I had temporarily connected it to a cable TV outlet (via coax input) and performed a channel scan (of which it only found 2 since I only have cable coming into my house for high speed internet), hoping it would pick up a software update that I read would be pushed out sometime after May 16th (don't know if it actually got an update or not). Now I want to set it up to work with my DirecTV receiver again.

Has anyone experienced this and know how to get back into the TV Guide settings? Some additional info...

I've tried resetting the default settings via the setup menu, and also forced a complete factory default reset by holding the channel up and down buttons. No dice... still can't get in. I believe it thinks the setup is complete already because the Source (RF IN) Antenna/Cable is grayed out. But that never prevented me from getting into the setup before.
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post #2 of 26
7/28/09 at 2:00pm
I'm sure this probably has nothing to do with your setup but I did see with my Cable company, at the end of July they were moving the TV Guide channel elsewhere. Maybe yours was moved recently.

You said you tried default and reset. How about completely unplugging the Panasonic and starting out like it was newly connected. Hook it up, rescan your channels or however your setup was when everything worked. Just a thought.

Hopefully, there are more knowledgeable answers coming here.
Good luck.
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post #3 of 26
7/28/09 at 2:34pm
When you did the CH up CH down reset did the clock revert to 12:00? If not you might not have held the buttons in long enough. Note to reset the unit it needs to be powered ON. I don't believe CH up CH down works when the unit is off, I know it doesn't work with the new EZ series and I think the ES series are similar.
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post #4 of 26
7/29/09 at 8:00am
Thread Starter 
Yes, the clock reverted to a blinking 12:00 when I did the Ch UP / Ch DOWN reset. I also tried leaving the unit unplugged over night, hoping it would lose all settings and prompt me for the initial setup. But all it asks me is to select the language and aspect ratio of my TV.

I'd bet that whatever channel cable has TV Guide on now isn't one of the ones the unit found. I don't subscribe to cable anymore except for internet, so the only thing it picked up is a very fuzzy CBS and a Connecticut channel.

I did read somewhere else in this forum that TV Guide is disabled if you do a channel scan... don't know if that really makes sense but, it was after performing the channel scan that I got locked out of the TV Guide settings. I would think that you should be able to get back in to set it up again. I'd be shocked to discover that I'm locked out of the TV Guide settings FOREVER, but that's how it looks to me right now.
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post #5 of 26
7/29/09 at 10:16am
I went to Google and typed in
Panasonic DVD Recorder no "TV Guide"
and got lots of hits on the problem. I had tried putting in your model number but found got more responses just asking for a Panasonic DVD Recorder. The first link seemed good..I think you will be interested in checking out:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/f106/panaso...roblem-235248/

I was going to suggest trying Panasonic Tech Support but what I saw on Google seemed to make sense.

Hope this helps.
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post #6 of 26
7/29/09 at 11:53am
Also I checked reviews on Amazon for your model and saw mentions of Direct TV. Worked for some, not for others. But I did see a few new items: must wait 24 hours with the unit in standby mode to get the TV Guide listings...took this person 3 tries. Also said the IR blaster has to be hooked up and in front of the cable box. (saw this more than once). Another said they reset the unit, adjusted the settings, and turned off the unit for 24 consecutive hours.

Your answer may be somewhere in here. That's all I found. Amazon has 88 reviews on your model.

There is a discussion on this page about the TVGOS.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1154796
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post #7 of 26
7/29/09 at 6:09pm
Thread Starter 
Microlady, thanks so much for all the links. I read both threads entirely and the amazon reviews as well. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything which addresses this issue. I only found people having problems downloading the TV Guide listings, which I already know won't work for me (new DirecTV HD receivers don't pass TVGOS info). All I want to do is get it to change the channel on the receiver via IR blaster for manual recordings, something which used to work just fine. But now I can't even get into the TV Guide setup screen to enter my zip code, receiver model, etc. The screen just goes blank.

I did read somewhere that TV Guide is disabled once you do a channel scan, but I would expect that you'd still be able to set it up again if you want. At this point, I might be looking through the service manual to see where the battery is that holds information when it's unplugged so I can get this machine back to its factory state. Not sure if that's possible, but I don't know what else to try at this point.
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post #8 of 26
7/29/09 at 9:03pm
^^I'm not sure-I have the earlier model E85 and don't have the manual handy, but I thought to reset these, you press and hold down the power button and the ch up/down buttons until it powered off. Then turn back on to reset Guide and everything else...
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post #9 of 26
8/2/09 at 10:03am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Westly-C View Post

^^I'm not sure-I have the earlier model E85 and don't have the manual handy, but I thought to reset these, you press and hold down the power button and the ch up/down buttons until it powered off. Then turn back on to reset Guide and everything else...

There were two "resets" of sorts that I tried... Holding down the power button was to go into a recovery mode, I think it was if there was a problem with a disc in the drawer. And the CH UP / CH DOWN which I guess would be considered a factory reset. I went ahead and tried your suggestion as well, just in case that would do the trick... no luck Well, it was worth a try!

At this point I'm wondering if I should check the service manual to see if the battery can be removed temporarily to make the unit forget EVERYTHING that it had in memory. I'm really getting desperate now, huh?
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post #10 of 26
8/2/09 at 10:14am
I believe the battery backup is soldered into place, at least on the DVDRs I've seen. The CH up CH down reset is about as good as I've seen for resetting things.
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post #11 of 26
8/2/09 at 1:00pm
When I checked your manual, the pages that seemed helpful were:
17, 68, 79, 82...does talk about factory reset.

Also, I had read on a site on Google that someone's IR blaster wasn't working and had to be replaced. Don't know if that is your problem.

I also found a forum for Direct TV subscribers who had questions about recording, etc. Don't know if that would be of help.

Sorry, I couldn't find out something for you. Hope you figure it out.
Might try Panasonic tech support of even Direct TV tech support since Direct TV is what has changed in your setup, I think.
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post #12 of 26
8/5/09 at 9:27am
Thread Starter 
Jjeff, that's what I was afraid of

Microlady, thanks so much for all your additional research!
I guess the next thing I'll try is to find a new ir blaster. Directv won't be able to help because the issue is with my recorder. I actually had it working with directv previously but temporarily changed the setup... I just can't change it back now. What a coincidence it would be if the ir blaster went bad in the 1 week timespan where I changed the setup and tried changing it back, but at this point I'll give just about anything a try.
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post #13 of 26
8/5/09 at 12:15pm
Amazon.com: Stick-on IR Emitter by Smarthome (8170S) - $6.99
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post #14 of 26
8/5/09 at 12:42pm
You are very welcome. I hope you find an answer.

Being that it is the recorder..maybe the very last resort is try and talk to Panasonic tech support. Maybe they have an idea that hasn't been tried.

...any port in a storm.....

Wish I could think of more to research.
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post #15 of 26
8/5/09 at 1:24pm
I love it when the shipping is almost the cost of the product
I guess if you look at it as a total cost of $12 it's probably not bad, I could use one for my used EH-50 that didn't come with one but I don't know that I'll use it either. If I could snag one locally for $12 I'd sure snatch it up though.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...seller=&colid=
Looks like for a buck more you could get one with a conformation LED. That might be nice to know your recorder is indeed putting out a signal.
http://www.amazon.com/Channel-Vision.../ref=pd_cp_e_3
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post #16 of 26
8/5/09 at 1:39pm
I really hate to say this, but the IR emitter that came with your EH75 does not have a tip/sleeve connector, but a tip/ring1/ring2/sleeve connector. Why? I have absolutely no idea at all! The actual part number from Panasonic is available here for only slightly more than the Amazon.com one. You will notice in the photo that the connector has the t/r1/r2/s configuration. If you look closely at the picture of the IR blaster in the EH75 manual, page 13, it shows the t/r1/r2/s configuration as well.

I don't know if that implies that the t/s configuration emitter won't work, but for $7.95 vs $6.99, less than a dollar, is it really worth the gamble not gettng the actual Panasonic part?



You
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post #17 of 26
8/5/09 at 1:47pm
If it was easier to get to the back of my EH-55 I'd look at the plug, I thought it was only a tip sleeve but I could be wrong. I'd think the EH-55 would be similar to the EH-75v but my EH-50 is the previous years model so it could be different.
I do know that the EA-18 uses a similar IR blaster as the EH-55, I tried a friends before I ordered a replacement for mine since my EH-55 didn't come with one. I ordered mine direct from Panasonic but it did cost closer to $20 shipped and it looked identical to Luke's link, but again I can't remember exactly what the plug looked like.
I agree for the $1 diff I'd take the OEM route on Luke's link.
BTW the part number at PartsStore.com is the identical part number listed in the EH-75v manual and as was said if you look very closely at the picture it indeed looks to be tip ring ring sleeve.
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post #18 of 26
8/5/09 at 1:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Church AV Guy View Post

I don't know if that implies that the t/s configuration emitter won't work, but for $7.95 vs $6.99, less than a dollar...

Just for the sake of accuracy - $4.00 more, after shipping.
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post #19 of 26
8/5/09 at 2:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rammitinski View Post

Just for the sake of accuracy - $4.00 more, after shipping.

I stand corrected. I always forget about shipping for some reason. That less than a dollar line was for the part, not to have it delivered.

Why they need a four conductor plug for an LED is beyond me. Really! There is no need for anything beyond signal and return. I suspect the tip/sleeve configuration is all that is needed, but just to be ornery, Panasonic might just have used r1 and r2 as the conductors. When I first saw the IR blaster that came with my EH55, my first thought was, why the screwy connector?

For the record, the EH68 does not have any IR blaster.
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post #20 of 26
8/5/09 at 3:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjeff View Post

If it was easier to get to the back of my EH-55 I'd look at the plug, I thought it was only a tip sleeve but I could be wrong. I'd think the EH-55 would be similar to the EH-75v

Well I made my way through the maze of wires to the back of my EH-55 and indeed it's only a tip sleeve (mono) plug.
I looked at the EA-18 manual and it lists a different part number than what's called for to use with the EH-55/75v(although the small picture shows a tip/ring/ring sleeve).
The 55/75v lists part#K2ZZ04C00001 while
the EA-18 calls for ##K2ZZ02C00008
Note the 6th character is a 4 for the EH-55/75v and it's a 2 for the EA-18. I believe that character says how many conductors each IR blaster has.
Apparently(from the fact that I'm using a 2 conductor blaster in a device designed for 4 conductors) either blaster works just fine, I've been using my 2 conductor blaster for over a year with no problems.
When I ordered the blaster for my EH-55 from Panasonic I knew nothing of this and just told them I had a EH-55 and they shipped me the 2 conductor blaster, maybe it's replaced the 4 conductor blaster from Panasonic.
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post #21 of 26
8/5/09 at 4:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Church AV Guy View Post

I stand corrected. I always forget about shipping for some reason. That less than a dollar line was for the part, not to have it delivered.

Of course, even for $4.00 more, I'd still recommend the original blaster (I was just being a pain ).

I've never had any problem switching between my Panny and my Sony blasters with each other's units, though.
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post #22 of 26
8/6/09 at 11:37am
Yes, the clock reverted to a blinking 12:00 when I did the Ch UP / Ch DOWN reset. I also tried leaving the unit unplugged over night, hoping it would lose all settings and prompt me for the initial setup. But all it asks me is to select the language and aspect ratio of my TV.

See Page 23 of your manual "Setting up the TV Guide On Screen"...it says AFTER you do what it says: press DVD Power, Select Language, Select Aspect, then the TV Guide Setup begins..where you can enter zip code, etc. Worth a try. Above sounded like when it asked for language and aspect, you did not re-enter language, press Enter; re-enter aspect, press Enter..and see if next comes up is the TV Guide Setup so you can change things back to what worked. I think it is supposed to show you what it was set for previously.

Also read elsewhere that if you put different channels when the TV Guide is set up, it can cause major problems (not defined). Maybe your channel scan did confuse the setup.

Another thing I read is that the TVGOS can be gotten from OTA.
Maybe as a last resort, connect a rabbit ears to your recorder and let it get the TVGOS from the antenna and once it has the right channels again, go into setup and change to your Direct TV as your input signal...something along those lines may work..or not.

Just more suggestions.
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post #23 of 26
8/6/09 at 1:57pm
Since the EH-75 has only a analog tuner the OTA digital signals will do no good. It may be possible to incorporate a DTVPal CECB to do the conversion but IMO it's way more bother than it's worth.
Reports I've read say the Pal needs to be rebooted frequently and only provides partial listings. IMO if you don't have access to analog cables TVGOS your best bet is just manual events with no TVGOS.
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post #24 of 26
8/6/09 at 4:49pm
Didn't realize the EH-75 only has the analog tuner. Read that TVGOS gets its info from analog. Since Mispat said he got a new Direct TV HD receiver, I thought maybe he was using a digital tuner since he said that TVGOS will not work with an HD receiver. If EH-75 has an analog tuner then he definitely should be able to get the TVGOS back, but where that leaves the Direct TV HD receiver and using the IR blaster to change channels...I have no idea.
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post #25 of 26
8/6/09 at 6:48pm
Select analog broadcasters (e.g. PBS stations) carried the TVGOS information during the vertical interval of the analog broadcast signal. Such analog broadcasts no longer exist in the USA and the digital version of TVGOS may not be carried by the same TV stations as in the analog days. So if you have a NTSC (analog) only recorder it will no longer be able to get the TVGOS unless connected to a cable provider that has the processing to receive and decode the digital TVGOS information and then to insert it into their converted-to-analog distribution. I have no idea which, or if any, cable companies are actually doing this.
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post #26 of 26
8/6/09 at 8:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron Jones View Post

Select analog broadcasters (e.g. PBS stations) carried the TVGOS information during the vertical interval of the analog broadcast signal. Such analog broadcasts no longer exist in the USA and the digital version of TVGOS may not be carried by the same TV stations as in the analog days. So if you have a NTSC (analog) only recorder it will no longer be able to get the TVGOS unless connected to a cable provider that has the processing to receive and decode the digital TVGOS information and then to insert it into their converted-to-analog distribution. I have no idea which, or if any, cable companies are actually doing this.

My local cable system(Comcast) is providing analog TVGOS over my local analog CBS channel. How long they'll provide the analog channels is to be determined.....
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