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Sony DHG-HDD250/500: Official Thread - Page 54

post #1591 of 28625
12/4/05 at 9:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by spiff72 View Post

Is there any trick to re-ordering the channels? Do you just have to methodically go through and assign the channel order to each channel? If I spend an hour doing this, could I lose the changes in the future in the event of a power loss? (I am considering plugging a UPS in behind the TV to back up this unit, my Tivo, and the TV (just long enough to shut it off properly - letting the fans cool the lamp down).

Thanks!

I've only lost the channel ordering when the TVGOS changes, not when the power goes out. Of course, during the "great TVGOS debacle" of a few weeks ago, I waited a few days, after the first resetting, before taking the time to reorder the channels.
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post #1592 of 28625
12/4/05 at 10:23am
I think I figured out why my TVguide is not filling out. After I reset it, and I get two days and the 8the day. Then I go through the guide and take out all the stations that I don't use and all the "analog" OTA stations. And what I have read from previous post, it is broadcasted in analog.

Anyone know which station in St louis, for sure?

thanks.

HDaddiction
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post #1593 of 28625
12/4/05 at 1:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hdaddiction View Post

Anyone know which station in St louis, for sure?

You can find out which station your unit is expecting to get the guide data from, by looking at the TV Guide diagnostic menu. Search this thread for the string "753159852" and you'll turn up postings about how to get to that menu, and where the "host channel" information is located in it.
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post #1594 of 28625
12/4/05 at 4:31pm
It's likely to be on PBS, FOX or PAX/i... so don't go removing those. :-)
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post #1595 of 28625
12/4/05 at 4:39pm
CBS and ABC can also be host channels in certain areas.
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post #1596 of 28625
12/4/05 at 5:20pm
There's been a lot of FUD in this thread about these units becoming doorstops when analog television broadcasts cease, but I'm not so sure that's the case. In the TVGOS factory test, the stats screen seems to indicate that the existing firmware is prepared to receive packets from three sources: VBI (vertical blank interrupt of an analog broadcast), plus "ATSC:PAT" and "ATSC:PMT". Sure seems like the second two might correspond to packets delivered as part of a digital transmission. If anyone manages to reach a technical person at GemStar, please try to confirm that this indeed indicates that the firmware is capable of receiving the guide data digitally.
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post #1597 of 28625
12/4/05 at 5:50pm
Regarding tvguide in the St Louis market, it appears to be channel 9 pbs. That was one channel I was deleting, hence the inability to get the guide. Live and Learn.

Hdaddiction
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post #1598 of 28625
12/4/05 at 6:19pm
Although I do not own one of these units (yet?), I have posted about TVGOS issues on my Samsung HDTV. Please confirm when you say you delete the TVGOS channel that you mean from the Sony DHG-HDD channel list not from the TVGOS listing. My experience with the Samsung TV is that I can delete the ANALOG channel from the TVGOS listing and everything is fine. If I delete that one channel from the Samsung channel list, I start to lose listings.

It is kind of annoying when flipping channels, we have to always flip through that one station (which does not come in good and is a duplicate of the digital channel). I do not understand why these manufacturers cannot come up with a way to figure out which channel contains the TVGOS information and pass it to the TVGOS chip/program without having to have it in their channel list.

I might have missed a page or two, did somebody say Sony was discontinuing these units without announcing a replacement?
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post #1599 of 28625
12/4/05 at 6:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CH MN View Post

Although I do not own one of these units (yet?), I have posted about TVGOS issues on my Samsung HDTV. Please confirm when you say you delete the TVGOS channel that you mean from the Sony DHG-HDD channel list not from the TVGOS listing. My experience with the Samsung TV is that I can delete the ANALOG channel from the TVGOS listing and everything is fine. If I delete that one channel from the Samsung channel list, I start to lose listings.

It is kind of annoying when flipping channels, we have to always flip through that one station (which does not come in good and is a duplicate of the digital channel). I do not understand why these manufacturers cannot come up with a way to figure out which channel contains the TVGOS information and pass it to the TVGOS chip/program without having to have it in their channel list.

I might have missed a page or two, did somebody say Sony was discontinuing these units without announcing a replacement?

See...this is the exact reason I'm dumping the Sony and patiently awaiting the TiVo SA dual tuner HD in 2006; it's program guide and user interface is light years ahead of TVGOS and Sony's interface.
...and, yes, Sony IS dumping the unit with no replacement announced -- another reason the Sony goes back.

I'm sure folks who have the Sony but have never used a TiVo may not understand my position. But for the past two weeks plus I've been using the Sony and the TiVo, and, the more I compare, the more dissatisfied I get with the Sony. Just too clunky...and now that it's been discontinued so soon after it was unveiled, I just don't see any reason to stick with it.
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post #1600 of 28625
12/5/05 at 7:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Fontana View Post

Received the new WD 250GB HD from the Circuit City Black Friday sale. I will try upgrading my HDD250 in the next day or two and follow up with the results.

Mark,

Did you get a chance to install the 2nd drive?

Alan
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post #1601 of 28625
12/5/05 at 9:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Fontana View Post

There's been a lot of FUD in this thread about these units becoming doorstops when analog television broadcasts cease, but I'm not so sure that's the case. In the TVGOS factory test, the stats screen seems to indicate that the existing firmware is prepared to receive packets from three sources: VBI (vertical blank interrupt of an analog broadcast), plus "ATSC:PAT" and "ATSC:PMT". Sure seems like the second two might correspond to packets delivered as part of a digital transmission. If anyone manages to reach a technical person at GemStar, please try to confirm that this indeed indicates that the firmware is capable of receiving the guide data digitally.

Could you expand on "the TVGOS factory test" and "the stats screen"? Are these associated with the Sony DVR? If so, I am very surprised that nobody at Sony tech support with whom I spoke acknowledged, when asked directly, that the Sony DVRs could extract TVGOS data from any source other than analog TV.
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post #1602 of 28625
12/5/05 at 9:47am
Is the hard drive allways on, even after power off? Is there anyway to turn it off besides pulling the plug?

Doesn't having the HD on 24x7 increase the chances of HD failure? Does TIVO do this?
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post #1603 of 28625
12/5/05 at 9:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mmccking View Post

Is the hard drive allways on, even after power off? Is there anyway to turn it off besides pulling the plug?

Doesn't having the HD on 24x7 increase the chances of HD failure? Does TIVO do this?

Yes, the hard drive(s) are always on, short of pulling the plug. Theoretically, it could reduce hard drive life, but, these days, hard drives last a LONG time. And, yes, TiVo hard drives run constantly (again, short of pulling the plug).
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post #1604 of 28625
12/5/05 at 10:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mmccking View Post

Is the hard drive allways on, even after power off? Is there anyway to turn it off besides pulling the plug?

Doesn't having the HD on 24x7 increase the chances of HD failure? Does TIVO do this?

Yep - TiVo cannot be turned off, so the drive is recording 24/7/365.
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post #1605 of 28625
12/5/05 at 10:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by spiff72 View Post

Yep - TiVo cannot be turned off, so the drive is recording 24/7/365.

The hard drive in the Motorola dual tuner DVR, which I rent from Comcast, also runs continuously.
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post #1606 of 28625
12/5/05 at 2:44pm
This thing appears to be history...Crutchfield is now offering the 250 for $499 new and the 500 for $699 new. Can you say "clearance"? And Best Buy now lists the 250 as sold out. Curiously, they still have the 500 at full retail price.
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post #1607 of 28625
12/5/05 at 2:56pm
I'm in the market for a hdtv set top box/tuner. I understand the Sony DHG has a nice combined OTA and Cable tuner set up. I was wondering if the tuner functions independently of the TVGOS ie even if you lost all your TVGOS data, can you still punch in channel numbers and have the tuners work properly for simply watching TV ? Also once you've dialed in a channel can you hit record and "manually" record the program as long as you're there when it starts ? If I see one of these things real cheap it may be a useful item to me.
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post #1608 of 28625
12/5/05 at 3:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nameless33 View Post

I'm in the market for a hdtv set top box/tuner. I understand the Sony DHG has a nice combined OTA and Cable tuner set up. I was wondering if the tuner functions independently of the TVGOS ie even if you lost all your TVGOS data, can you still punch in channel numbers and have the tuners work properly for simply watching TV ? Also once you've dialed in a channel can you hit record and "manually" record the program as long as you're there when it starts ? If I see one of these things real cheap it may be a useful item to me.

You can tune to any channel just fine without TVGOS. However, I doubt you would be able to record at all without TVGOS to control the end time (or beginning time) since TVGOS sets the clock on these units. I have not attempted to record without any TVGOS data, though.
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post #1609 of 28625
12/5/05 at 3:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nameless33 View Post

I'm in the market for a hdtv set top box/tuner. I understand the Sony DHG has a nice combined OTA and Cable tuner set up. I was wondering if the tuner functions independently of the TVGOS ie even if you lost all your TVGOS data, can you still punch in channel numbers and have the tuners work properly for simply watching TV ? Also once you've dialed in a channel can you hit record and "manually" record the program as long as you're there when it starts ? If I see one of these things real cheap it may be a useful item to me.

It looks to me like the manual recording would still work even if the time is wrong and there is no guide. You could also connect a dvd recorder to it. The outputs for the dvd recorder can be scheduled. If you can make sure it's on the right channel, the dvd recorder can record at the precise time. These dvd recordings of hd shows look very good.

If you mostly need a tuner, Circuit City had the LG set top box / upconverting DVD player for $200 this past weekend. It was $400 a while back.
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post #1610 of 28625
12/5/05 at 3:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kbgl View Post

It looks to me like the manual recording would still work even if the time is wrong and there is no guide. You could also connect a dvd recorder to it. The outputs for the dvd recorder can be scheduled. If you can make sure it's on the right channel, the dvd recorder can record at the precise time. These dvd recordings of hd shows look very good.

If you mostly need a tuner, Circuit City had the LG set top box / upconverting DVD player for $200 this past weekend. It was $400 a while back.

If there is no TVGOS data at all, the time would not be merely "wrong" it would be non-existent (the display will show --:--).
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post #1611 of 28625
12/5/05 at 4:31pm
Although the outside display shows --:--, internally the clock starts running at 12:00 AM from the moment you plug it in.
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post #1612 of 28625
12/5/05 at 5:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kbgl View Post

It looks to me like the manual recording would still work even if the time is wrong and there is no guide. You could also connect a dvd recorder to it. The outputs for the dvd recorder can be scheduled. If you can make sure it's on the right channel, the dvd recorder can record at the precise time. These dvd recordings of hd shows look very good.

If you mostly need a tuner, Circuit City had the LG set top box / upconverting DVD player for $200 this past weekend. It was $400 a while back.

The last thing I tried before returning the unit was a manual record with no guide. No luck, It needs the guide to basically do anything. There is no "limp along" mode. Without the guide it's doorstop and will not even do basic VCR functions.
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post #1613 of 28625
12/5/05 at 5:14pm
I take that back. It will pause live TV, if that's worth 500 dollars.
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post #1614 of 28625
12/5/05 at 5:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hdaddiction View Post

entegirty..\\
"I've got the Sony DHG ->HDMI-> Yamaha AV Reciever ->HDMI-> Sony TV"

why don't you run the hdmi out to tv, and the optical to the yamaha...thats what I do..and no problems.

..

Are you saying this is the work around to the audio bug? One of the main reasons I bought the unit is for HDMI w/ my HDMI reciever.
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post #1615 of 28625
12/5/05 at 5:34pm
Actually it will record without the guide, i have done it...what it does need is the clock.

My god, what bashing though....If you don't like a product return it....What doomsday.

A couple of points though, it can get the time and guide from either OTA anaolog or Digital or Cable, it does not need to OTA.

Some one said this thing appears to be history...gimme a break, what customer electrictronics is not history?....who has a xbox?....are you throwing that out?

Fact is NO ONE knows what Sony discontinued it, maybe they have a dual tuner OTA HD recorder, or maybe they have a "triple" turner OTA HD. Or maybe they are combining it into a TV like LG.

Some guys wanna go for the vapor ware TIVO....go for it...its a free country...

Anyone read TIVO's financials lately? Last year they lost $75 Mil on Sales of $172 MIl...
Yeah, last quarter they only lost $449000 on $39Mil

Here's my bet, my cable company just doubled the moxi rental, so this unit will pay back in 24 months...If I salvage it I get $50 bucks for the cables, and $50 bucks for the hard drive and it will still function as an OTA HD tuner at the least.
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post #1616 of 28625
12/5/05 at 5:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bierboy View Post

This thing appears to be history...Crutchfield is now offering the 250 for $499 new and the 500 for $699 new. Can you say "clearance"? And Best Buy now lists the 250 as sold out. Curiously, they still have the 500 at full retail price.

Good time to buy one before they are no longer available. Seems like this product was released prematurely, before all the bugs were worked out. On the otherhand, I am very happy to own one - in spite of the bugs.

The Sony may not be perfect but it's far superior to any VCR, and in some ways better than TIVO. I initially ordered mine last December and finally received it in mid June. I couldn't wait to get it and spent lots of time on the web searching for information about its availability.
I've experienced some of the problems mentioned in this form, including failure to record Commander and Chief, and am willing to accept those flaws. I'm not concerned about losing TV Guide since they are probably under contract with Sony to provide that service.
On the other hand, I understand TIVO recorders become paperweights without their guide, and since the TIVO company has yet to make a profit, who is to say that TIVO won't go out of business.

With the Sony OTA feature, I record Veronica Mars in HD, which is not carried by Comcast. Also, if the cable goes out, I still have access to the network programs.
Initally, signal strength was too low to view that station until I replaced my old dual VHF/UHF antenna with the Radioshack $25 UHF antenna.

Another feature I enjoy is the ability to fast forward instantly. The dual tuner Motorola HD recorder doesn't have that feature, and I predict that it won't be included on future recorders because of pressure from advertisers.

One of the complaints about the Sony is the lack of dual tuner. That is easily solved by getting a second unit.
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post #1617 of 28625
12/5/05 at 6:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Entegrity View Post

Are you saying this is the work around to the audio bug? One of the main reasons I bought the unit is for HDMI w/ my HDMI reciever.

I actually choose NOT to use HDMI, because my TV (a Mits WD-62525 DLP) has an HDMI input that looks detailed, but very washed out. I have tried to correct it by making video adjustment, but I haven't gotten it to look right. Component video looks much better.

However, my understanding is that the HDMI output only carries Dolby Digital 2.0. The HDMI interface doesn't allow for 5.1 channel audio. I am sure someone will correct this if I am wrong, so fire away! I'm not saying that using the optical out will fix the audio problems, but I haven't had any audio dropouts for my setup.
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post #1618 of 28625
12/5/05 at 6:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray1938 View Post

Good time to buy one before they are no longer available. Seems like this product was released prematurely, before all the bugs were worked out. On the otherhand, I am very happy to own one - in spite of the bugs.

The Sony may not be perfect but it's far superior to any VCR, and in some ways better than TIVO. I initially ordered mine last December and finally received it in mid June. I couldn't wait to get it and spent lots of time on the web searching for information about its availability.
I've experienced some of the problems mentioned in this form, including failure to record Commander and Chief, and am willing to accept those flaws. I'm not concerned about losing TV Guide since they are probably under contract with Sony to provide that service.
On the other hand, I understand TIVO recorders become paperweights without their guide, and since the TIVO company has yet to make a profit, who is to say that TIVO won't go out of business.

With the Sony OTA feature, I record Veronica Mars in HD, which is not carried by Comcast. Also, if the cable goes out, I still have access to the network programs.
Initally, signal strength was too low to view that station until I replaced my old dual VHF/UHF antenna with the Radioshack $25 UHF antenna.

Another feature I enjoy is the ability to fast forward instantly. The dual tuner Motorola HD recorder doesn't have that feature, and I predict that it won't be included on future recorders because of pressure from advertisers.

One of the complaints about the Sony is the lack of dual tuner. That is easily solved by getting a second unit.

I have to agree 100%. I've only had mine for about 1 week and I love it completely. I previously had only a VCR, so compared to that this is heaven. I don't have cable or a dish, so all I wanted to pay for was an OTA HD tuner/DVR. My kids have already gotten spoiled by sleeping in and watching their cartoons that came on earlier, skipping all the commercials, and getting it all in static free, ghost free pictures.


John
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post #1619 of 28625
12/5/05 at 6:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray1938 View Post

Good time to buy one before they are no longer available. Seems like this product was released prematurely, before all the bugs were worked out. On the otherhand, I am very happy to own one - in spite of the bugs.

The Sony may not be perfect but it's far superior to any VCR, and in some ways better than TIVO. I initially ordered mine last December and finally received it in mid June. I couldn't wait to get it and spent lots of time on the web searching for information about its availability.
I've experienced some of the problems mentioned in this form, including failure to record Commander and Chief, and am willing to accept those flaws. I'm not concerned about losing TV Guide since they are probably under contract with Sony to provide that service.
On the other hand, I understand TIVO recorders become paperweights without their guide, and since the TIVO company has yet to make a profit, who is to say that TIVO won't go out of business.

With the Sony OTA feature, I record Veronica Mars in HD, which is not carried by Comcast. Also, if the cable goes out, I still have access to the network programs.
Initally, signal strength was too low to view that station until I replaced my old dual VHF/UHF antenna with the Radioshack $25 UHF antenna.

Another feature I enjoy is the ability to fast forward instantly. The dual tuner Motorola HD recorder doesn't have that feature, and I predict that it won't be included on future recorders because of pressure from advertisers.

One of the complaints about the Sony is the lack of dual tuner. That is easily solved by getting a second unit.

Yeah...for another $500 or $700...no thanks. I WILL wait for TiVo. Every feature mentioned by you and hdaddiction is available NOW on TiVo SA SD units and I'm sure will be even more so on the SA dual tuner HD unit coming in '06. And even in the remote chance the TiVo doesn't materialize, I can either get this unit back (at a MUCH lower price) or get the Sony "dual' or "triple" tuner unit hdaddiction referred to. Any way you cut it, I'm ahead. My Sony is packed and going back tomorrow. Sayonara...
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post #1620 of 28625
12/5/05 at 7:06pm
You can always wait for the next, better thing in electronics. And wait. And wait. Because there will always be something better around the corner.

But not me. I bought a Sony plasma in December of 2002, before having a cableco that had HD. I struggled with early OTA tuners and indoor antennas and D-VHS decks. Then I got on the condo association committee that would prod everyone into going with Comcast. I struggled with the LG HD DVR. Now I have the Sony DVR along with the Comcast 6412.

Sure, I could have waited for everything in the HD world to be perfect before spending a buck. I'd still be waiting.

Instead, I've been enjoying HDTV for three wonderful years. With the two current boxes, I have three HD tuners. The DVR's can store a combined total of over 80 hours of HD programming. (And just in time for the White Sox championship season.) It's HD heaven.

I'm glad I didn't wait.
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