Sony DHG-HDD250/500: Official Thread - Page 496

Strange that I am unable to do that with OTA 2.1 or the cable version of CBS-HD. As noted earlier, I got today's listings ONLY overnight with unit off. It was on all day today with the G*Test running and got nothing.

I think I'm going to have to take a chance on a soft reset in case some odd glitch is causing my loss of G*Test download ability.

No matter what I do in NJ I still have a blank host channel and thus, no channel lineup. I tried digital WCBS on Comcast cable for several days but no host channel. I connected my 500 to an outside antenna that receives digital KYW(CBS Philadelphia) last night. I get over 60 packets a minute but after 20 hours with the 500 off still no host channel
Appears that both NY and Philly are not providing the necessary data.

Thursday my DHG-HDD500 lost the time of day and recorded the wrong programs. Checking 753 today, Friday, I find that 08.06.44 is gone and replaced by: 00.00.00 I had no power interuptions and did no manual resets.

I'm in a digital only situation and had been using manual timers for my programs, since I cannot get a lineup.

I'm repeating the G*-and-leave-on procedure to get the software update, like I did last week. After that, I should be able to get the correct time again.

If this thing is going to reset itself once a week because of the missing analog host, that will not be acceptable.

Note: I use a UHF OTA antenna. This gets me all my digital channels, but I cannot get VBI off of a very noisy analog OTA CBS station (5). Cable has VBI on both 5.1 (CBS) and 2.1 (FOX). Last time, I got my software update off of the cable 5.1. This time I am trying to get it from cable 2.1.

Just checked again, still getting guide data. I've got TZV 92 here. Host channel is still blank.

Thanks again for your help.

[quote=fox200] Today I got a second call and email from george at TVGOS. All good news and answers the question for the S.F. market (see email copy). TVGOS will work with any TVGOS product as long as it has an atsc tuner and slicer. Bottom line is it will work with the Sony.They just have not turned it on yet in S.F. Here's what was sent regarding KPIX.

Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support
center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.

We will assume your issue has been resolved if we do not hear from you
within 48 hours.

Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Response (George Piandes) - 03/19/2009 01:03 PM
Hello Collier,

As per our phone conversation, KPIX (CBS) has our new digital equipment installed, but we are still awaiting corporate CBS to allow us to turn on the SCTE 127 data. I am attaching a word document for collecting diagnostics. If you would like to follow the instructions to collect the diags and fill out the doc. and send it back, we would be interested to see what data your guide is seeing.
Thank you.

QUOTE]
Any update on this ?? Perhaps the word doc could be posted and everyone could fill out and send back ?? If anyone has been following my saga the last few days, I now have Ads but still no ch listings or guide data.

Todd

re: One works while another doesn't...

I think you might find some things by comparing;

• Your area, is your host station transmitting valid TVGOS data of the version you need? i.e. someone in your area with a DHG that is NOT having problems
• Number of channels turned on in the TVGOS channel editor (diags Section Memory-Channels, cut to minimum needed)
• Available memory in your unit (diags Section Memory)
• Sony firmware version

I've got to say it's sometimes quite amusing reading this thread concerning TVGOS issues.
I liken it to someone trying to break a light bulb 50 yards away by throwing a rock at it.

The light bulb is in a house of mirrors.
The house of mirrors is dark.
The light bulb turns on for one second every minute, most of the time.
The light bulb moves randomly while it's turned off.

Some people here are trying to map out the house of mirrors and use night vision.

Tune to OTA channel 29.1 (CBS digital before mapdown to 5.1) and run G*test. It should paas first 3 tests and go for 10-15 minutes with about 1000 VBI increments.
If not your UHF signal (not CBS 5) is too weak.
What firmware does the sony have (not TV guide) under MENU> {Preferences} {System} {System Menu} ??
Mine is 1.2.06

Todd

If you do the G* Factory Reset TWICE in a row, it will set the patch level back to 0.

I have three 500's in Chicago on OTA only. I have not messed around with trying to force digital hosts, but have been skimming the thread all along. I don't even know how to view the host channel. I say this so you know my experience level.

I noticed on Monday night that there were no listings for Wednesday or subsequent days on any of the three units. I performed a soft reset on two of the units Wednesday evening, since there were no listings on any of the three. I had no listings on Thursday. Today, I have listings for Friday, Saturday, Tuesday, and Friday (Days 1,2,5,7).

If memory serves, that might be indicative of a "normal" download schedule, with the remainder of the days filling in tonight.

I don't know if this helps or not, but there it is.

Mark

If you're going to do that you will lose the sw 44 version.
I wouldn't do it if you have the clock with correct time, ads, and a grid.
If they shut down again you will be SOL for a lot longer.

If you do it be sure you're getting good VBI for 0-2 first. Turn if off and leave it for at least 12 hours.

For me, once I establish time, ads, and grid with some listings, running the G*test and leaving it on, set to 2-1, has always filled in all listings over night.
I usually lose day 8 about every 2 to 3 days and regain it with this process.

[quote=todd95008;16089532]
Todd,
Just have to be patient. Your guide will work just fine with the Sony. George at TVGOS was not sure why CBS Corp has not turned on SCTE 127 data.
He did speculate testing.
I filled out the document about the stats in the 753 menu and emailed it back to him. Don't want to give out the document and email here.

Except that the cable will be deleting the analogue portion in time........plus they are to be carrying the digital TV Guide - so far of course "every" market is different.

Column 1 [DLID] (like 6) is the type of data in the download (Listings, Ads, etc.)
Column 2 [StID] is the Host Station ID that hosts the download.
Column 3 [Start] is the download start time in UTC time.
Column 4 [Dur] is the duration of the download in minutes.
Column 5 [Qual] appears to be a Quality indicator?
Column 6 [Type] (like 1) is the type of data in the download (Listings, Ads, etc.)
Column 7 [Ver] appears to be Version?
Column 8 [Flags] appears to be Flags?

Your device will attempt to download any DLID type it needs, but it only needs one successful download of that type until it determines it needs that type again, which is usually daily. (Anyone seen DLID's besides 27, 70, 81 & 97 ?). There are one or more StID's in your DLID Schedule that can be used. Once the system gets the type of download it needs, it no longer looks at the rest of the schedule for that type until it needs it again.

Appears things are changing with digital and the new firmware (house of mirrors and blinking light bulb).

With analog, you could look at the following diags screens and deduce the following;

Reset Info-Statistics
- Next Wakeup - wakeup and think about downloading
VBI Data-VBI Info
- DLTimer - next scheduled download time
- LastDLStart - Last time it attempted a download
- LastDLEnd - Last successful download ended
VBI Data-VBIDL
- Column LstSuStrt - Last successful download start time

DISCLAIMER: This is personal knowledge based on years of research as to why the friggin' device didn't work as advertised.

It sounds like there are mixed results of users being able to get a channel grid after a reset when only digital host stations are available. Has anyone experimented with obtaining a channel grid using a VHS recording of a analog channel passing VBI?

And to make things more confusing, I should point out that all the Download Schedule pictures that videobruce, and HoustonPerson posted only show the analog download schedules. Here are the first 2 screens of my Download Schedule screen. Notice the digital schedule is 24 lines long, as opposed to 11 lines for the analog schedules. There is 1 digital schedule, and 5 analog schedules on my DHG. I believe you are both trying to get digital downloads, so you would need the digital schedule. I don't know where in this process a digital schedule would appear, but it might need to show up before you get any further. It might appear simultaneously with a channel lineup. ImTheOne, or bwall23 might be able to explain when the digital schedule should show up. Sorry, I know this just totally confuses the issue more.

Mark

From http://laurenstephens.net/uploads/3d927cc0e5.pdf

"VBI data stream
The VBI data stream carries SCTE 127 data, also known as VBI in MPEG. This provides a mechanism for the carriage of Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) data or legacy data services. All encoded VBI fields are contained in a single stream, so there is only one SCTE 127 stream per MPEG program. If a broadcaster or MVPD chooses to encode, for example, Nielsen AMOL or North American Broadcast Teletext Specification (NABTS) data into the stream, the encoding device will add these services to a single SCTE 127 stream. Cable operator video encoders have the capability to remove an SCTE 127 stream. Video encoders must be enabled to generate an SCTE 127 data stream."

Yes. Someone posted a long way back that this was done successfully.

FWIW, I have 2 analog StID's and 1 Digital.
Here's my schedule from Sacramento, CA. (UTC is UTC time for start of download and column 'D/A' is my marking for Digital/Analog host channels)

I'm not sure there are mixed results (just bad results). Has anyone (digital only) in the past week, or two been able to recover from a reset that wiped out your channel lineup? I know the last time I reset mine, it got stuck waiting on the channel lineup.


Good question, I know people have talked about doing that, but I'm not sure anyone actually has.

Mark

Using VHS recordings of the TVGOS download segments; I've recovered from a complete factory reset in a few hours. My test concluded once the Sony was updated with TVGOS ver 8.05.4, had a new lineup and was receiving listings again. I'm certain this is an option for the short term at least. Who knows how long though the VHS tape being static and just about everything else being dynamic.

Some people here are trying to be proactive and determine how to recover from a complete reset in a digital-only environment and if possible, do it with the Sony itself without the aid of other equipment or media. ImTheOne is leading this effort.

I don't have access to a digital TVGOS host signal so I can only sit on the sidelines and wait for ImTheOne's conclusions which should be any minute now

Emperical evidence points to the shorter duration of the same type download as being from digital, vs. longer duration of the same type download being from analog. I have not seen anyone providing proof of how to determine the StID belonging to a digital vs. analog station. Just evidence that I've seen posted and based on my station ID's and my host stations I know of during my devices previous download times. If one could monitor the output of their device to see what station it tuned to for downloads, that should be proof enough.

I've been having that problem where the unit freezes otherwise while it's recording, and soft resets haven't seemed to fix it (Chicago market). Does anybody know of a dependable fix short of wiping out all the recordings?

Also, since Macrovision is the new owner of TVGOS, and they're all about working for the content providers to make things difficult for us, I'm wondering if maybe they're inserting something in there now so that we can't skip commercials anymore. Just how many people out there are having this problem right now, anyway?

All I know is that this is bugging the living heck outta me, and I'm going to have to go TiVo for sure if I can't remedy it.

Other than that obvious innuendo, if you've already tried the outlying area zipcode fix, you should check if you're running low on memory in your device. You may also want to compare your reset codes (diags Reset Info) and memory available and channels turned on/auto with others who own the same device in your area. You can also try (if you're on cable) to split your cable to your two inputs and setup/channel scan the second cable input as OTA and try again.

Not the least important would be to see if anyone else in your area with a DHG is getting the correct version TVGOS data supplied for their DHG (and from which station/OTA/cable, etc).

I speak from experience, as others w/v9 TVGOS and my device (v8, but digital ready) have also been having some problems (even though I have a grid and am able to keep forcing 7.5 days of listings most of the time).

The resets are either intentional from Macrovision, or not. If not, they could be related to memory overflow/leakage.

I'm not having any other problems right now, guide-related or otherwise - just the freezing of all buttons and features while the unit's recording. I know a few others have mentioned the problem, too, and I believe at least one other has in the same market.

Other than that one issue in that situation, everythings working fine. Didn't have guide listings 'till yesterday like most everyone else, but they're back now, again like most everyone else's, along with it set on the analog CBS host channel now (which I already know is the same situation for everyone else here in this market with v8). I haven't done another soft reset since this latest TVGOS "screw-around", so I guess I'll try that again first.

I'm not going to do anything that constitutes "forcing", so that's out. Just wanted to know if anything else permanently worked for anyone other than the soft reset. I'm just waiting for someone from my area to chime in here, so I could compare any other last detail with them.

Also, not sure exactly what you mean by "memory", but I only have about 20 or so OTA stations turned on, and my two drives are less than 50% full. (I don't recall right now if I have the analog host channel turned on, but I suppose I could do that, too - not that it ever made any difference before.)

With an analog host channel, you only get entries for ID 70, 81, and 27 with durations of 180, 50, and 60 respectively. With a digital host or when downloading from a digital VBI channel, you get the analog entries as stated before and you also get ID 70, 81, 27, and 97 with durations of 30, 20, 20, and 60 respectively. Looking in the download schedule, station IDs assocatied with the longer duration messages are analog stations and stations associated with the shorter duration messages are digital. You can compare the last download time to the download schedule to determine if the download came from an analog or a digital channel.

Are you just doing a soft reset or are you also rescanning your channels and re-entering your setup information? In the past, this behavior has been associated with changes to the channel lineup no longer matching up to the scanned channels (someone else's explanation). I experienced this on both of my recorders some time ago and it is what brought me back to this forum in search of a solution. Soft resets alone will correct the freeze-up if this is the cause of your problem, but they will not correct the underlying cause and your recorder will freeze up again. Doing all three things in sequence corrected the problems I was experiencing. I don't know if the cause of your problems is the same as mine, but it won't hurt your recorder to try this and it may possibly help. You'll have to go really far back in the thread to find the source of this. It will be before I joined this thread.

No - just the front panel reset - and the listings come back as they were.

I'll try that then. Thanks.

In Houston we have had 3 DTV transitions so far, affecting TV Guide Downloads. We have at least 2 more to go; but 3 to 6 more into next October (if the FCC gets their way). Each of those has changed the entire DL routines (as well as analogue to digital).

My unit would lock up somewhat easily (skip commercials, pause go to kitchen, wait on wife, replay), while the unit was recording another show. This was a result of the pre-transition prep in January (for Feb 17th change). The ONLY solution was full factory reset - and that cured the lock ups 100% until March 9th, when our analogue downloads stopped and Macrovision attempted to begin the digital transitions. The lock ups returned with monster teeth this time. We wanted to watch all the remaining shows in the box (about 25). So I had to deleted all the "scheduled recordings" so we could watch the "recordings already in the box". And at least that solved the problem so we could watch the shows.

Ok, so now we had completed watching most of the recorded shows........and we begin the attemp of digital DLs. Sorry no can do - lock ups are back.

So to fix it and have another clean sweep, full factory reset again. And of course now there is no grid and no listings. The listings are in fact being received by the box, but they are 100% rejected because there is a failure in channel mapping.

Sony tells me they are indeed working on the problem..........they thought they had until June 12 th...........they thought most cable providers would be able to continue with analogue match conversions (some can some can't).

The ONLY real fix will come from Sony. Call and get your name on their list.

On StID's please explain to me, I do not understand. There is no analogue TV Guide source here. The four screens we have of DL's come 100% from the local CBS digital station OTA. Are you saying they digital station is sending analogue stuff for legacy boxes like the Sony?

As of this morning, still nothing with the 3rd (cable only) DHG. And there were also still no listings on the Mits. The Mits still indicated 1:12-0 in the Host ID field (should be cable ch-12 analog PBS). I fired up one of my working DHG's an ran the G*test on cable ch-12, and found that it was not passing VBI data. I then ran the G*test on OTA ch-12 and found the VBI data to be just fine. I went back to the Mits and enabled ch-12 analog OTA, since I had removed it from the ch-up/down list when I first got the TV. I'm now waiting to see if the Mits picks up program listings later today. I don't understand though why the Mits (which runs TVGOS V-9.1.56) would not have automatically gone to CBS 4.1 OTA for listings. That channel had been enabled since day one, and I have previously gotten listings from 4.1 on my DHG's using the G*test/leave-on trick. This doesn't make me feel too warm and fuzzy about the Mits...................

I wish I knew how to run the 9012 command on the Mits. Anyone?