Mitsubishi HD-HM2000U & Firewire - Page 2

That's the expected status. It'll work, provided that the DVHS VCR is tuned to the correct input (D-1, or D-2, or D-3, etc) and the 5c flag isn't set to Copy-Once or Copy-Never. (PC's and the Mits DVHS VCRs can't record Copy-Once material) active=no just means that it wasn't in use at that moment.


There's any number of mistakes that could have occurred here...You need to monitor the output of the firewire in realtime, to make sure that the DVHS is getting anything at all. Have one firewire cable going from the cable box to the DVHS VCR, and another firewire cable going from the DVHS VCR to the T165. Connect the T165 to your TV (tune the T165 to view the DVHS). This will let you know if a signal is reaching the DVHS.




I've used the Mits 1100u quite a few times with my Motorola DCH3416. I can't recall if I've tried to use my Mits 2000u with my cable box, but I'd be really surprised if it didn't also work flawlessly (I'll try to run a test in the next day or so). The Mits DVHS VCR's are not 5c compliant, so you can only record material which is flagged Copy-Freely. The JVC DVHS VCR's are 5c compliant and let you record anything flagged Copy-Freely or Copy-Once.

No control of the mits through the moto. Use the mits remote control.

No except maybe ESPN, though it likely will be Copy Freely.

Yes, and my Mac Pro, and PC.

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying.


I doubt it, but you should check. You can type a code into the DCH3416 remote and have it display a bunch of stats about the current channel (Signal strength, 5c flag, etc). I'll have to look up how to do it and get back to you.


I control the Mitsubishi DVHS using its remote, and the DCH3416 using the Motorola remote. It's just like using an old-school VCR: Have the DCH3416 playing the channel or DVR'd show that you want to record, make sure the Mitsubishi DVHS is tuned to the appropriate input (D-1, D-2, D-3, D-4, etc), and press "Rec" on the Mitsubishi DVHS.

I asked my cat a bunch of astrophysics questions today. All he said was "meow, meow, meow, purr, meow"


I wouldn't bother trying to call in advance...I've never had luck with that. Just disconnect your current cable box and take it to any of the Comcast locations. If it's anything like here in Cali, there will be a machine in the front which dispenses tickets. Take your ticket (it has a number on it, such as B47) and pay attention to the "Now Serving" display...it'll let you know when you're up and which customer service window to go to.

It's actually a very painless process. I don't think I've ever had to wait for more than 45 minutes and I've always spent less than 5 minutes with the customer service rep (I've done this kind of a lot...I once exchanged 3 different DCH3416 within 2 days...I thought there was a physical defect with the box, but it turned out to be a firmware bug that impacted *all* DCH3416's...it's a long story).

I have a Samsung SIR-T165 and a couple of DVHS decks (which I am inclined to get rid of because I never use them anymore). You are correct that the T165 is not that great of a tuner. Its one of the earlier STB tuners available on the market. It doesn't handle any interference well at all. But it is one of the few devices that record/playback to/from DVHS decks. I also have a TV w/cablecard and firewire output/input that worked well until TWC decided to go to SDV and the TV Guide service stopped working. A shame.

Would have thought that firewire blu-ray recorders would have been here by now, but apparently everyone is happy with DVRs (until the HD crashes).

My understanding is that the 3200 isn't a DVR. Other than that, it should be nearly identical to the 3416. If you want a 3416, take the 3200 back to a different Comcast office and get there when they open. Keep pestering them and eventually they'll make sure you get one just to get you out of their hair.

Is it really a DCX3200? I hope you meant DCH3200. It appears that all DCX boxes have completely broken firewire.
*The easiest way to tell whether the firewire will work is to look at the rear panel and count the number of firewire (IEEE 1394) ports. Cable boxes with 2 firewire ports will work, but cable boxes with only 1 firewire port will fail. Motorola has thus far not been able to code working firewire firmware for the 1-port cable boxes.

If your cable box has only 1 firewire IEEE1394 port, you will need to return it and get a unit with 2 ports. The DCT6412, DCT6416, DCH3412, and DCH3416 all have 2 firewire ports and will work. My understanding is that the DCH3200 also has 2 firewire ports and will also work (I have no first-hand experience with the DCH3200).

No company is looking forward to getting sued out of existence by the Hollywood cartel. And some electronics companies are owned by parent companies that also own media companies and won't be designing such a device.

If Hollywood didn't put such pressure on companies (and if the licensing for Blu-ray were more reasonable), we'd see such devices on the market.

Well I thought it would at least recognize it...my understanding is that it should recognize the DCX but, as soon as you try recording, the DCX will freak out and start Fast-Forwarding the video and going all stuttery. But I've never used a DCX box myself; I'm just going on stuff I've read here.

*Update: That was the DCX3400 DVR cable box I was thinking of...of course there's no way for the 3200 to fast forward, as it isn't a DVR.

I don't think they'll give you a DVR box unless you subscribe to the DVR service.
Yes, the DCH3416 is a DVR box. The non-DVR version is the DCH3200.

I have no hands-on experience with the DCH3200, but there are others here who record via firewire using the DCH3200.

Cool, so they're willing to get you a DCH3416, despite the fact that you aren't going to subscribe to the DVR service?

I just finished testing my Mitsubishi HS-HD2000U with my Motorola DCH3416. It worked, but it was initially a bit picky. In order to get it to recognize the DCH3416, I had to power off the cable box and power-cycle the Mits DVHS. But once I did that, I was able to use the Mits DVHS remote control to tune to the d-1 input. I recorded my local PBS HD channel for about half an hour and then played it back, using the MPEG2 decoder in my JVC HM-DH30000U DVHS VCR (I used the Mits DVHS to actually play the tape back, but it has no MPEG2 decoder, so I had to use another Firewire cable to hook it to my JVC DVHS VCR). My JVC DVHS VCR was connected to my TV via Component video. I didn't bother with sound, as I only have 1 Toslink optical cable and was unwilling to disconnect it from my Hauppauge HD-PVR. I tuned my JVC DVHS VCR to what it calls the I-5 input (the Mits DVHS VCR) and it showed what I had recorded from PBS HD.

So when you hook this up, be patient. It may be a little fussy at first. Put your cable box into Standby before hooking the firewire cable to your Mits DVHS VCR. And power-cycle (don't just put it into Standby, remove the power cord) your Mits DVHS VCR if you're having trouble getting it to show the d-# input. One thing I did not need to do was power-cycle my DCH3416 (thankfully, as doing that would lose the TV Guide data).

*One thing that pleasantly surprised me was that I could not get my DCH3416 to reboot, even when I intentionally plugged and unplugged the firewire cable without first putting the DCH3416 into standby. I had heard that, like PC's, plugging or unplugging DVHS VCR's cause the cable box to crash (ever since the A28 update). This appears to be false. I even checked my firmware version and software version and nothing has changed in quite a few months.

This discovery makes me wonder if a Mac computer would cause the cable box to reboot. I kind of doubt that it would...I'm now thinking that whatever change went into the A28 update is irritated by something specific in the Windows driver. I still mostly blame the A28 update for it, b/c those Windows drivers haven't changed in several years and they worked trouble-free until the A28 update hit.

Both the brand new Panny PV-HD1000 and the Mits HS-HD1100U arrived today, so tonight I get to play with these 2 new toys.

Cool! Please let us know what you think (Particularly your thoughts on the Panny, as I've never used it).

Me neither. The panny showed up last sat on fleabay for 150 bucks NIB, and I jumped on it immediately. Made in japan 4/1999 and sat in a box for 11 years. They list Japanese Engineering on the top tag.

Tonight I ordered a Dune Duo. http://store.duneplayer.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=13
to supplement my Dune Base 3.0 for the other room.

Just picked up a Mitsu HS-HD2000U on ebay and is en-route. My primary use is going to be using it as a really nice VHS/SVHS playback deck for DVD transfers (this unit has an excellent built-in TBC/DNR system), but its coming with 50 tapes worth of HD video. Problem is I don't have any Firewire enabled TVs around here. Has anyone tried this deck with Windows 7 x64 to see if the built in drivers work with this VCR? I know the cable boxes aren't working, but I can't find any info about DVHS VCRs.

Also if you want to record the Super Bowl, just get a $50 ATSC USB stick and use your computer.... alot less hassle and its a modern tuner. ATSC receivers improved ALOT since the Samsung SIR-T165 came out.

Good get!


I hadn't heard of that...I was checking out the specs and it sounds really cool! It sounds a lot like a TViX, but it looks much nicer/sturdy.

I have had no luck at this, but I've spent maybe 15 minutes screwing around with it. I'll have another crack at it, but I don't expect it to work.
I actually have been unable to even get 32-bit Windows to recognize my Mits 2000U (though no problems with my Mits 1100U)...The plug-and-play wouldn't even notice when I plugged it in. But, again, I wasn't really trying (it was unrelated to what I was testing at the time).


This may not be a bad idea, assuming the recording is bit-for-bit identical to the broadcast, is unencrypted, and also assuming that it's able to pull in the signal reliably. I've never tried any of those devices, so I can't speak to their quality.