Sony DHG-HDD250/500: Official Thread - Page 350

should i label the usb drive as SONYHDD250 instead?

Something happened to my HDD500 while recording Bones last night off FOX 9 OTA in the Twin Cities... 14 minutes into the show, recording stopped and the DVR removed ALL recordings from the schedule - one-time, regular, weekly on any channel... all gone. It then sat idle, still tuned to channel 9. Shows already recorded were OK, and it didn't lose any guide data. There were no power problems or anything like that...

NO NEED TO.

Searched through the thread for my freezing problem but only found the "All Reset" as a possible answer. Any clue as to why the system will not let you watch a previously recorded program while another is being recorded? I had my system off line for a few months and this just does not make sense. I used to be able to do this. Does the 9012 "All Reset" fix this problem for good and should I update to the newest firmware level? I am currently at .06. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Coo1enuf:
Updating the firmware will not affect your problem. I believe the problem may be due to the TVG software not being 'in sync' with the downloaded data. If your machine was offline for a few months, maybe you missed the most recent update. You should try doing the 3 step guide reset that was mentioned in this thread earlier this spring, the only reference I can find offhand is this:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5#post10273275
or search for "three step" in posts from "HoustonPerson".

I AGREE - Updating will not solve your freezing problem.

I doubt it will HURT.

Freezing is the sign of a more serious problem. Especially
if the Freeze is occurring during power-up. I had to send
one of my units back to Sony to have that problem fixed.

It only "freezes" when it starts to record something. Other then that it is fine. I seem to remember this happened back in the April timeframe right before I took it off line. Thought it was weird at the time but did not bother with it since I was taking everything down and would worry about it when I got everything set back ujp. We were doing some updates to the house and I had to take down all the audio/video gear and did not get back to it till now.

After some research and talking with guide engineers, it is clear that the Sony can receive the digital guide with software 8.01.65. This is not version 9 as some have speculated, but version 8 with an upgrade. We all know that we currently have 8.01.42. TVGOS has this software for our units to work. How can we get a copy and make it work if Sony will not do it for us???
Does'nt hurt to ask.
Thanks

Fox

AGAIN - that sounds serious.

Could be a drive problem - I'm not sure.

You can reformat the drive. Have you tried that?

The new version you mention is TVGOS, which should be capable of an upgrade with the nightly guide updates. The question is, will the Sony hardware separately require a firmware update from Sony?

Can your contact clarify?

Thats what it will take. They sold a "DIGITAL" DVR. It doe'snt work with the new digital stream. Class action suit that either demands a refund of what you paid or a software patch to fix the dvr.

A class action lawsuit will be what it takes to get Sony's attention.

HDAddiction

Everything works fine. The only time it "freezes" is when it is recording. What I mean by "freezes" is that it will take no input from the remote or buttons on the unit.

Do you know how to force the "rescan" referenced above as the second step in getting the guide to resync. I can not find it anywhere in the menus or searching this forum. I must be missing something. I understand steps 1 and 3.

Phil,

Version 8 (which is TVGOS software) needs a software patch to work (8.01.65). I asked about a nightly download and the engineer at TVGOS said "they could send it over air but would be lost when the Sony is rebooted". Sony has to be the one to distribute the software. TVGOS is offering up the software and as of now Sony is not taking. To bad because the new digital guide is up and running here.

Fox

So, that must be the situation now, too. Every time the DHG is rebooted, the original Sony distributed version loads, and we depend on the overnight download to recapture a copy of the current version, right?

OK, so who at Sony do we all need to bombard with e-mails? I would love to be able to continue using my DHG-HDD250 after the 2/09 cutoff. I suspect that many DHG owners here love their DVRs and want to do the same.

I would "hope" Sony would do an update that users can do themselves with a USB drive or pay to send it in and have them do it for you if you do not know how. Since the guide is already fixed this should be "simple" but you never know. I am also wondering if we could send lots of emails to the FCC and make the cable and dish companies send the signal on one of those stupid shopping channels or something. PBS stations could be mandated but since they no longer have the 700MHz spectrum this is a problem. Since the problem has been "fixed" now it is just inconvienent if you happen to loose power for some reason.

Everything you need to know can be found here

I have honestly never heard of the BUTTON Freeze Problem.

That's the key. You just need to do now what we did then.

Has anyone had Sony fix their unit for a hardware problem? What was the problem? How much did it cost? Weighing my options here. I know it's $150 for them to just take a look at it, but what was the overall cost and what did they fix? Thanks....

I had SONY fix one of my DVRs - I was lucky - it was
under warranty.

Their Turn-Around was super quick. More than Likely
they will fix it for the $150.

Yea, I just took a look @ ebay and the 500 is selling for $500-$600 used. Sounds like it would be worthwhile to get it fixed and flashed by Sony for $150.

Fox,

Have you tried to get your DHG unit to find the ATSC host station?

-phil

And you get a NEW Warranty from SONY

How do you do this?

Thanks

SEE Post 10543

I'm not sure about that. What's lost in a factory reset is any upgrade made to the Sony's firmware (e.g., to .13) and your personal settings. I ran into this situation myself recently. I had done the f/w upgrade myself from .06 to .13 awhile back. Then I recently did a factory reset and the f/w reverted to the original .06, so I had to again do the upgrade via USB flash drive. However, the reset did not seem to affect the latest version of the TVGOS f/w (08.01.44) on my machine (I say "seem" because I didn't check until the next day).

If all that's been said previously about TVGOS 08.01.65 is true, then we could speculate that events might occur as follows: service providers (OTA & cable) make the new digital TVGOS available on their systems nationwide; TVGOS sends the upgrade to 08.01.65 over a current analog VBI feed; the new f/w searches for and finds the digital TVGOS data and we're up, running, and happy. Hopefully, we also get a clock signal from a digital channel, otherwise all of this is moot.

The kicker comes after Feb '09. If, for any reason, the Sony (and any other device using TVGOS ver 8) loses the f/w upgrade, there may no longer be any way to get the upgrade resent over an analog channel. A potential solution would be to make this upgrade do-able via the USB port, too. That would mean that Gemstar would have to make the file available as a download, and Sony would have to commit to a f/w patch that enables an upgrade to the TVGOS f/w via the USB port (maybe it already does and we just don't know it).

Like I said, pure speculation on my part.

If worse comes to worse and Sony refuses to implement the new firmware, can't we just buy a converter box like the other owners of older TVGOS units to retain functionality?

Quick question for someone who knows, please.....I have a Sony 250 with a cablecard from Brighthouse here in Orlando, FL that has worked fine for over a year. In the past month or so, I've noticed that some of my premium channels are missing. They appear in the guide, however, when selected, the screen is black. Brighthouse says that the card is defective and needs replacing. When I let them do this, will I lose all of my guide data and settings?

Looks like this is going to be the case. Echostar is one of the companys that is going to sell a digital to analog converter box that supports digital vbi (SETC 127).

Fox

I had the same problem with Comcast Seattle using a Motorola card (firmware 4.05). Turned out to be a problem with Comcast not sending out the proper signals to "pair" the CC and the host.

Call Brighthouse and have then "hit" the card again.