Channel Master CM-7000PAL HD DVR - AKA Dish DTVPal - Page 12

In addition to the antenna coax to DVR and HDMI cable from DVR to TV you described, I also have a coax from my CM-7000PAL to the antenna input on my TV. That way I can watch TV, using the TV's tuner, when the DVR is off. And, I can record two other channels while I watch a third channel using the TV's tuner.

Whenever the DVR is "off" (no green light displayed) the signal from the antenna is passed through to the TV. When the DVR is "on" (green light) the HDMI goes active and the antenna pass-through stops. Note that the DVR can be recording one or two channels even when it is "off" (no green light). It is always running 24/7 unless you unplug it.

AJ

I tried the Terk antenna and it didn't work well at all for me, I replaced it with a Philips Silver Sensor and had much better luck, it's been a fantastic antenna for me. I get excellent reception with 7000PAL, the tuners maintain excellent signal and picture quality. I highly recommend it.

Wow, thx for pointing this out. But how is it that that you can get reception and watch OTA channels by just using your tv''s tuner? Do you have an HDTV as well and does it bypass the DVR and that's how this works if I'm understanding you correctly?

AJ didn't mention HD, so maybe it isn't an HDTV, but it must be a TV with an ATSC tuner.

I have the same setup with my DTVPal DVR.  If the DVR is in standby or if it is set to passthrough, and you have the DVR's RF output connected with a coax cable to the TV's antenna input, then the television's own tuner can be set to any receivable channel and you can watch it while the DVR records two other channels.

My TV is a Samsung HDTV LCD and I can use it's digital tuner to get all of the local OTA sub-channels (about 25), or I can tune them using the DVR with identical 1080i or 720P signals, either way. The coax from my antenna in the attic plugs into the back of the CM-7000PAL. Another coax goes from the output on the DVR to the antenna input on the TV. Also, there is a HDMI cable between the two.

I can change the menu input on the TV to "Antenna" and tune the digital sub-channels which are passed through the DVR when it is off. When I turn on the DVR the pass-through stops and the TV gets no signal through the coax. So, I switch the TV's input (using the remote) to "DVR" and the TV receives the signal from the HDMI cable.

This is only advantageous if I want to watch TV without turning on the DVR, or for those rare times I record two channels simultaneously while watching a third channel using the TV's tuner.

AJ

Thanks again. Although my samsung plasma's remote doesn't have a dvr input, i think switching it to the same HDMI input that's connected to the 7000 might work for me. Looks like i'll have to tinker with it to figure it out for sure.

Just wanted to chime in on this thread. I've been a Dish network customer for years (used to have a Dish Player 7100, the webtv unit). For the last couple years I'd been using a ViP 722 DVR.

With the cost of so many different services rising, my family and I had decided to cut the Sat cord.

The CM-7000PAL was the best choice for our needs in terms of a DVR for OTA. The bonus is that the remote is the same in form/function so my spouse didn't need to relearn much.

Currently we have the CM-7000PAL --------> Onkyo SR-508TX ------> Vizio HDTV and have had no trouble with HDMI or any of the CM-7000PAL functions.

Between that and a Roku 2 XS with Neflix, we've not regretted the decision.

One question though, does anyone know what possible software development may be going on regarding the CM-7000PAL? With the Dish/Tivo settlement, I'm wondering if we'll see any developments?

I'm with you, HighTest. I cut the cord over six months ago and don't think I could have done it without the CM-7000PAL. I work an irregular schedule so time shifting is essential. I also have two Roku boxes, a PS3 and a Logitech Revue with Google TV for streaming. There is no shortage of things to watch and it sure is cheaper than cable.

I wouldn't count on the CM700PAL/DTVPal ever getting another update. Right now they're both running the exact same firmware except the CM7000PAL (from my understanding) has different colors and branding. We've got the same bugs you do and it's unlikely to ever change unless some third party risks the ire of Dish and hacks the firmware.

If someone were to do that I certainly wouldn't be the one to turn them in either!

I haven't followed this thread in a while, but any positive changes with TVGOS data not showing on certain channels even though it is available? Substituted with useless PSIP data instead.

Not in my experience. I only get TVGOS data for 2 out of 23 channels, PSIP for the rest. I usually bring up titantv.com to see the daily schedule, I wish there was a way to integrate with the DVR.

Thanks.
Anyone else see any changes over the past year or so? AFAIC, this is the major issue with this DVR.

Have you tried a factory reset?

Is this an issue with some DVRs, or with the local station which transmits TVGOS (as I understand, either CBS or PBS)? One of the Charlotte PBS stations (WTVI) outputs TVGOS and I consistently get full week's listings on my CM-7000PAL for about 80% of the sub-channels. This includes all of the major networks, two PBS, Antenna TV, MeTV and others. ThisTV and a few other sub-channels only have PSIP listings for 12 hours, or so.

I've assumed that I'm getting all the TVGOS which WTVI transmits and that the omissions were on the station's side.

AJ

I know for a fact that the data is available for all the OTA services since I have three Sony DVR's that rely of TVGOS data. This DVR seems to pick and choose which channels are shown with TVGOS data and which are shown with just limited (many times very limited) PSIP data.

Too bad you can't turn off PSIP data completely for all channels forcing TVGOS data to prevail.

The local 'host' channel just relays the data, they don't edit or limit anything. It's either all there or nothing. Rovi is very 'tight' with this data stream. They don't tell anyone anything. Period, including the station engineer other than how to hook up the equipment and some basic troubleshooting.

Has anyone had experience with using a Logitech Harmony remote with the CM-7000PAL? I am in the process of doing that. Usually with the Harmony, once you select a manufacturer and model, everything is set.

However I am having to use the CM-7000PAL's remote to select codes. Some of them I don't know. For example the Harmony software asks for the up arrow. Is it the channel up or the page up? Also where is the recover button?

Correct. Of the 11 OTA channels that my Sony has TVGOS listings for, only 4 of those channels have TVGOS listings on the DTVPal. I've even played games with mine, by deleting all the channels that get TVGOS data, to see if the other channels would then start getting data, but to no avail. The DTVPal somehow determines in advance what channels it is going to have listings for. After a year of owning this, I have always only had 4 channels that have TVGOS listings.

Mark

Just set it up as a Dish DTVPal or a Dish satellite DVR, the codes are the same.

I set-up mine using the following info:
Company: Channel Master
Model: CM-7000PAL

If I remember correctly, the up arrow is the Channel up, and the Recover button is the (R) button below and to the left of the stop button.

Dan.

Thank you for your suggestions on the remote, its now working correctly. Still do not know why I have to thorough the process of learning IR commands. Came upon another problem. Most of the local TV stations are located at an antenna farm that is about 5 miles away as the em wave flies. However the local CBS station WTSP is not. See attached image.

I get zero signal strength for WTSP. I am using an inside rabbit ear type antenna. I spent about an hour trying to adjust antenna position, antenna angle etc. I even connected the antenna to my TV and had the same results. The rabbit ears are located about 9' above floor level. I would like to get the CBS station for the TVGOS data.

Would using a higher gain antenna inside be worth the effort? Due to HOA restrictions, I cannot mount an external antenna. Any suggestions would help.

I am trying the same thing. Great minds work alike.

What I tried was to limit the available received channels by using a indoor 'wire' antenna that would include the 'host' channel and two others. I then went ahead and manually added three more distant stations all of which did not receive the data.

The 1st try I let it scan to find one channel, disconnecting the RF input for the rest of the scan. I added the 'host' channel and a couple of others that did not have Rovi data, but the TV Guide logo never appeared in the Guide as it always had in the past.

The 2nd try was with a short 'wire' antenna out the back of the DVR that added by itself the host channel (only 7 miles away) and two others. I again added a few more as before. The TV Guide logo did appear after a few hours, but no difference as you found.

So that tells me it isn't a number of stations limitation, but what you said about it determining what gets data and what doesn't. Problem is half the available stations in my market (most, but not all Canadian) including the FOX affiliate don't get full listings. Of course the Sony's real Guide gets them all.

Really puts this on the list of a deal breaker except for $150 It was a 'buy'.

1. Yes you can:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=194

2. Why would anyone want to live in a prison where someone else tells you what you can't do on your property that almost any one else can??

The FCC links are no good anymore. Try this instead:

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/over-air-r...n-devices-rule

Yesterday evening the wife and I were watching channel 28 through the CM-7000. We were experiencing frequent dropouts of sound and pixelization of the picture. I checked signal strength with the on screen overlay, and it was in the mid to upper 80's. Is this sufficient or do I need to get more signal strength?

Signal strength sounds fine - it sounds like you were experiancing a multipath issue.

I just went with Walmart with extended warranty. Amazon was playing games with the price again, after Walmart was out of stock for a few hours.

I only buy extended warranties if I anticipate a problem. You know, like "oops" and anti-theft protection for a laptop in a dorm room. I am lucky with electronics, but I'd be very unhappy if this thing died in a couple years. I haven't heard how good the Walmart plan is about actually paying out, so I'm taking it on blind faith. Square Trade warranties are total warranty time while Walmart's wording is "additional" years. And $29 for an additional 3 years protection sounded good.

Is there a way on this recorder to continuously record? I got one recently for the 'rents and they are used to a playing that you can just hit record and it won't stop until you say to. This one appears to want to stop after the show that's playing no matter what.

That would only be if you were "one-touch" setting the recordings, directly through the guide's program blocks.

You can do what you want to do by manually setting the timer for the length of time you want to record (just go to "Timers" in the menu). Of course, you can't record any longer than the free space you have on the HDD will let you, no matter what. I don't know what the top time is that you can actually set the timer up to - someone else here should be able to answer that (I don't know for how long you mean "continually", but it should be able to be set for more than just a couple or so hours).

I have had the CM7000pal since it was new (I pre-ordered it) and my build number is 32.

However, it crashed. I took the HD out and plugged it into my Ubuntu Linux PC and the disk utility recognizes the drive, but it is unpartitioned.

I need to reformat or replace the drive. Does anyone know where I can download the OS

The symptoms on the machine were both the green and red light on continuously and "no signal" to the TV.

The unit formats new drives when they are installed. I would assume if you did a full erase with the manufactures utility or possibly a low level format, the unit will treat that drive as new.

Maybe someone else can chime in here.