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Sony DHG-HDD250/500: Official Thread - Page 675

post #20221 of 28651
2/22/10 at 10:25am
TVG1 & TVG2 have apparently been around since 2003, and TVG3 since 2007. Anyone wanna try to email one of these guys?
http://www.smpte-ra.org/mpegreg/mpegreg.html
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

post #20222 of 28651
2/22/10 at 11:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeKustra View Post

Simple: don't do anything until you lose something you want. How long will it take you to get that CC anyhow? Be prepared to rescan the channels if you find things missing. For me, digital cable channels don't show up on the Sony unless you add the card. That's why I keep a small grid, but make large use of the "favorites" functions. All my recording is manual (and digital).

My cable company is also moving to all digital. They said that last year. They sent me a DTA last year. Still waiting. I'm patient.

Big question: what version Sony firmware are you using? Thanks

Hi Joe- Thanks for the information. I have the latest firmware sent to me by sony. It took a while to get my TVGOs but it is now working fine. Sorry for the dumb questions but I love my Sony and want to use it to its fullest potential- YET I don't want to turn it into a brick! That is why I wanted to know what 'the 'experts' would do in my place. sooooo...what would you do?

Would I lose my OTA digital if I use the card?
Would I get the new cable digital channels in TVGOS?
From what I understand you to say, I would get the up-shifted channels on the sony but would not be aboe to program them to record-only manually record.

Thanks!
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post #20223 of 28651
2/22/10 at 11:30am
Yep, I had entered the ATSC Slicer several times yesterday – it always showed no data. Change to 11-2 and got data coming in.

Today both 11-1 and 11-2 have data coming in – tons for 11-1

Thanks WS for the chart link. Sort of get the impression TVG3 has become dormant. Maybe Rovi would use for their yet to be released Program Guide System next year?

Mark perhaps someone has a TS Reader to borrow in Wichita or your friend at KWCH may be able to get the stations PID Usage lists? Anyway, don’t rock the boat, because it works there!

The general consensus is probably correct: The Sony DVR only requires the TVG1 portion.
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post #20224 of 28651
2/22/10 at 7:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hate2sleep View Post

Hi Joe- Thanks for the information. I have the latest firmware sent to me by sony. It took a while to get my TVGOs but it is now working fine. Sorry for the dumb questions but I love my Sony and want to use it to its fullest potential- YET I don't want to turn it into a brick! That is why I wanted to know what 'the 'experts' would do in my place. sooooo...what would you do?

Would I lose my OTA digital if I use the card?
Would I get the new cable digital channels in TVGOS?
From what I understand you to say, I would get the up-shifted channels on the sony but would not be aboe to program them to record-only manually record.

Thanks!

You should not lose your OTA if you add their card.
Will you get the new cable digital channels "with the Guide" - maybe if all works as it should. Does you local cable feed have a web site? If so, check out the channel numbers there.

If the cable card works you should have channels that are flagged as "Ant" and those flagged as "Cable". Those are Sony labels, not from the Guide which should show you the OTA as xx.x or xx-x, and the cable as xxx. Remember, I don't use a card, so this is just an educated guess. You can search this thread for "cable card" and read those posts. That should reduce your effort to understand this box. A lot is going to depend on your host channel data, which is possibly a mystery to you now. [no offense intended]

Sony firmware version: on the remote, hit MENU, then SCREEN MODE, then 9,0,1,2. Now, GO DOWN to TV Guide. Go right once. What's the Build Version? HIT EXIT after you see it. DO NOT HIT SELECT!!!!!

You can learn a lot by reading about the unit from SpiffSpace. See post #1. And I don't think you can do anything to make it a "brick" except throwing it out the window. You can, of course, make it a real PITA to use if the clock goes away due to losing your host feed. I have VHS tapes as a backup to let me set the clock and get a grid. And I have three 250 units. Have you calculated what it's going to cost for you to rent the card, and get digital HD service?
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post #20225 of 28651
2/23/10 at 5:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mabuttra View Post

.......... It does show those PIDs as 0x111 in those cities, where as the ATSC slicer screen on mine shows the PID for TVG1 to be 0x113. Anyone else's report this PID? .... .... ....

I'm not sure what all of this PID stuff is, but since you asked I took a peek at one of my units last night. The unit I looked at currently has no HostChan displayed, and has 7 days of listings (day 8 was missing on all 3 of my units last night).

LastASetEnd: N/A (probably the result of a reset to clear a CableCard related lockup)
VBI State: 0x05
HostSUFlags: 0xe6800000
Skipped TVG1: 93976
Skipped TVG2: 141
TVG1 PID: 0x844
TVG2 PID: 0x845

One of my other units shows:
TVG1 PID: 0x111
TVG2 PID: 0x112
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post #20226 of 28651
2/23/10 at 5:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by WS65711 View Post

I'm not sure what all of this PID stuff is, but since you asked I took a peek at one of my units last night. The unit I looked at currently has no Nostchan displayed, and has 7 days of listings (day 8 was missing on all 3 of my units last night).

LastASetEnd: N/A (probably the result of a reset to clear a CableCard related lockup)
VBI State: 0x05
HostSUFlags: 0xe6800000
Skipped TVG1: 93976
Skipped TVG2: 141
TVG1 PID: 0x844
TVG2 PID: 0x845

One of my other units shows:
TVG1 PID: 0x111
TVG2 PID: 0x112

Thanks for that. Do you know if both of the units were tuned to the same channel?

Mark
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post #20227 of 28651
2/23/10 at 6:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mabuttra View Post

Do you know if both of the units were tuned to the same channel?

I believe that both units were tuned to my CBS host channel (704) via CableCard.

P.S.: I see that you quoted my post while I was in the process of editing "NostChan" to "HostChan".
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post #20228 of 28651
2/23/10 at 7:41am
WS65711

Is that report on two Sony DVR's? or is one on the Mit's TV?


and/or is the PID of 0x111 and 0x112 coming from a TVGOS antenna source? and the PID of 0x844 and 0x845 coming from a cable source?
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post #20229 of 28651
2/23/10 at 8:03am
These values came from two of my Sony HDD500's. Remember from the picture I posted a few days ago, the Mits TV shows "None" as the values for TVG1-PID and TVG2-PID, and "Disabled" for TVG3-PID.

My three HDD500's are all connected to Cable (CableCard) as well as OTA antenna. I don't know where the PID values are coming from.


Update: 2/23/10 @ 7:50pm --- Both of the units I checked last night now indicate "None" as the value for both TVG1 PID and TVG2 PID.
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post #20230 of 28651
2/23/10 at 12:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeKustra View Post

You should not lose your OTA if you add their card.
Will you get the new cable digital channels "with the Guide" - maybe if all works as it should. Does you local cable feed have a web site? If so, check out the channel numbers there.

If the cable card works you should have channels that are flagged as "Ant" and those flagged as "Cable". Those are Sony labels, not from the Guide which should show you the OTA as xx.x or xx-x, and the cable as xxx. Remember, I don't use a card, so this is just an educated guess. You can search this thread for "cable card" and read those posts. That should reduce your effort to understand this box. A lot is going to depend on your host channel data, which is possibly a mystery to you now. [no offense intended]

Sony firmware version: on the remote, hit MENU, then SCREEN MODE, then 9,0,1,2. Now, GO DOWN to TV Guide. Go right once. What's the Build Version? HIT EXIT after you see it. DO NOT HIT SELECT!!!!!

You can learn a lot by reading about the unit from SpiffSpace. See post #1. And I don't think you can do anything to make it a "brick" except throwing it out the window. You can, of course, make it a real PITA to use if the clock goes away due to losing your host feed. I have VHS tapes as a backup to let me set the clock and get a grid. And I have three 250 units. Have you calculated what it's going to cost for you to rent the card, and get digital HD service?

thanks again Joe- I currently get the digital OTA channels as well as the cable channels. The cable channels are listed on the TVGOs grid but when COMCAST shifts ch14-70 to digital I doubt they will show up. I show the digital OTA channels AND I can tune into the 'digital-simulcast' of the main network channels that come in around 53.6 or so.

COMCAST told me that there is no charge for the cable card but there is a $29 service charge. They also said I would have to take the unit in to 'register' it with them and make sure it would work. I may just wait until they make the change as you suggest. If anyone else has experienced this shuffle to DIGITAL CHANNELS, I would love to hear how it worked out for you and what you did with it.
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post #20231 of 28651
2/23/10 at 2:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hate2sleep View Post

thanks again Joe- I currently get the digital OTA channels as well as the cable channels. The cable channels are listed on the TVGOs grid but when COMCAST shifts ch14-70 to digital I doubt they will show up. I show the digital OTA channels AND I can tune into the 'digital-simulcast' of the main network channels that come in around 53.6 or so.

COMCAST told me that there is no charge for the cable card but there is a $29 service charge. They also said I would have to take the unit in to 'register' it with them and make sure it would work. I may just wait until they make the change as you suggest. If anyone else has experienced this shuffle to DIGITAL CHANNELS, I would love to hear how it worked out for you and what you did with it.

Smart move. I still would like to know what firmware version you are running. It's nice your TV doesn't have a cable card too. Taking that in to get registered wouldn't be so good. Perhaps you could check the firmware version before they take your unit, since they might perform a "factory restore" which will probably erase the Sony update.

Oh yeah, what is your host channel now? It's sort of important.
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post #20232 of 28651
2/23/10 at 4:35pm
I have parts of my guide back and my clock is right. It must have happened some time this afternoon, because I didn't leave home until 11:00 am and my clock was wrong.
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post #20233 of 28651
2/23/10 at 5:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hate2sleep View Post

thanks again Joe- I currently get the digital OTA channels as well as the cable channels. The cable channels are listed on the TVGOs grid but when COMCAST shifts ch14-70 to digital I doubt they will show up. I show the digital OTA channels AND I can tune into the 'digital-simulcast' of the main network channels that come in around 53.6 or so.

If anyone else has experienced this shuffle to DIGITAL CHANNELS, I would love to hear how it worked out for you and what you did with it.

I'm feeling chatty at the moment. My cable feed (secv.com) once upon a time sent 70 analog channels. They then added ABC,NBC,CBS,Fox,PBS and CW in clear QAM. All basic cable stuff, like USA & TNT were scrambled. On one clear sunny day they did a massive shuffle and gave up the scramble. This was before the DTV event. They still wanted me to buy a box for my TV and didn't want to activate a card for my Sony (that would be way beyond their technical ability). I found that the digital basic cable channels (SD) were on the Sony DVR with the same channel number as my Sony TV (USA is 27.6206). They even offered me a free 90 day trial of their converter box so that I could see how great it was to get movies on-demand. Yet they let me watch though a box that had only an RF 480i ouput. Not the greatest marketing move, but I gained an additional cable line since it was "policy". My fiber stops about a mile away. About this time, another feed (secable.com) supplied all the basic cable channels to nearby towns unscrambled and in HD.

As you, I should still receive the first 21 or so 'local' channels in analog for a while. My supplier offers a $9.99 feed of those channels. Check my location: it's a poor area in the middle of nowhere. I think there are over 10 cable companies within 50 miles. Seriously. I'm very lucky, since my TVGOS host channel is C-SPAN on channel 15. No OTA problems there. After many rescans of channels I know that my grid and listings display the analog channels. What 'would' be my digital OTA channels are shown on the Sony TV Guide grid, but as disabled. Even those (digital) that are not disabled are scrambled. There are over 400 entries and I activate only about 40 in the listings. I see what it would look like IF I had a cable card, but I don't. I believe that your TV Guide shows you what it thinks would be your channels if you had a card and/or a really super antenna. I keep track of the 70 or so digital channel numbers with a high-tech piece of paper. Channels do change, like when they added VS and the baseball channels last summer. They just moved one ABC channel and have added RTV on a time share with the Philly ABC feed late at night. One unlucky thing for me is my 'local' CBS channel, 40 miles away, does not carry TVGOS. My closest CBS TVGOS channel is 50 miles SW and I still haven't been able to receive it OTA. But I'm not going to give up. I don't like having just one source if I can have two. I still can not update to the latest Sony firmware because it blocks recording of my digital channels. On March 8 I expect to record 11 programs, 6 in HD. I shudder to think what that would cost using cable company supplied equipment. I'll be at work.

So you see, to get the most from the Sony DHG-HDD250 you have to work at it. Like any worthwhile relationship I guess. Keep us posted on how that testing goes by Comcast.
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post #20234 of 28651
2/24/10 at 4:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by WS65711 View Post

These values came from two of my Sony HDD500's. Remember from the picture I posted a few days ago, the Mits TV shows "None" as the values for TVG1-PID and TVG2-PID, and "Disabled" for TVG3-PID.

My three HDD500's are all connected to Cable (CableCard) as well as OTA antenna. I don't know where the PID values are coming from.


Update: 2/23/10 @ 7:50pm --- Both of the units I checked last night now indicate "None" as the value for both TVG1 PID and TVG2 PID.


Remember "none" is normal if you are not tuned to the digital host for TVGOS. First "tune" to the TVGOS host (which ever it is for OTA and/or cable), then enter the screen. You may have to enter and exit the screen a couple of times to make data on that screen to show up.
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post #20235 of 28651
2/24/10 at 5:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonPerson View Post

Remember "none" is normal if you are not tuned to the digital host for TVGOS. First "tune" to the TVGOS host (which ever it is for OTA and/or cable), then enter the screen. You may have to enter and exit the screen a couple of times to make data on that screen to show up.


Neither of these two DVR's currently has a HostChan displayed. I was tuned to CBS (CableCard 704) which is one of my two potential host channels. This is the same channel that I was tuned to the day before, when the previous TVGx PID values were noted.

Do we know what PID is in relation to TVGOS? In my line of work, PID is "proportional–integral–derivative".
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post #20236 of 28651
2/24/10 at 5:14am
The THIRD VBIState cycle occurred within this NumSearch 3
And
HostSUFlag has only one dog leg to go (dog leg is highly evolved technical term applicable only to the DHG-HDD)
And
All ads have been cleared out
And
Day 8 is 100% No Listings
And
Late today the next NumSearch will begin


Will ads and listings return?
Will HostChannel set?
Will both of the above occur within NumSearch 3?

If all three are true, I win the Lottery!
LL
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post #20237 of 28651
2/24/10 at 5:26am
No ads or day 8 listings. Packets are down to 50/minute. Still getting updates to clock but not as often. I saw the packets drop yesterday afternoon. Ads were 3 days old yesterday so this was no shock.
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post #20238 of 28651
2/24/10 at 5:29am
I was missing day 8 listings on Monday evening, but yesterday evening I had a full 8 days of complete listings.
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post #20239 of 28651
2/24/10 at 5:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeKustra View Post

No ads or day 8 listings. Packets are down to 50/minute. Still getting updates to clock but not as often. I saw the packets drop yesterday afternoon. Ads were 3 days old yesterday so this was no shock.

Now you got that song stuck in my head.
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post #20240 of 28651
2/24/10 at 6:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by WS65711 View Post


Neither of these two DVR's currently has a HostChan displayed. I was tuned to CBS (CableCard 704) which is one of my two potential host channels. This is the same channel that I was tuned to the day before, when the previous TVGx PID values were noted.

Do we know what PID is in relation to TVGOS? In my line of work, PID is "proportional-integral-derivative".

PID is an ATSC term. It stands for packet ID. Basically each stream of data (video, audio, data, etc.) in the ATSC signal is tagged with a unique PID, so that the receiving device knows where to send the data to for processing. Read this for more information.

Mark
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post #20241 of 28651
2/24/10 at 6:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheRatPatrol View Post

Now you got that song stuck in my head.

I could state the "ch" meant channels. I didn't. It's like waves on a beach. They roll across the country at different times. Possibly this is another Olympics adjustment.
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post #20242 of 28651
2/24/10 at 10:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mabuttra View Post

PID is an ATSC term. It stands for packet ID. Basically each stream of data (video, audio, data, etc.) in the ATSC signal is tagged with a unique PID, so that the receiving device knows where to send the data to for processing. Read this for more information.

After reading more about these PIDs, I realize now that there is only one stream of TVG1 data in the ATSC signal. Up until now I thought the TVGOS data was somehow embedded in the video data stream, but it isn't. In other words tuning to a different sub-channel does not result in the DVR receiving a different TVGOS stream. Changing to a different sub-channel just causes the tuner to select a different audio, and video stream. I should have known this, since I have always been able to tune to RF channel 19, and, although it has "No Signal", the ATSC slicer screen still shows activity.

On another subject...
Here is an interesting ROVI document I ran across. It describes how to test TVGOS devices for energy star compliancy. The test device was a TV. What is interesting is, if I am reading it right, when the TVGOS device is in "build grid" mode (referred to as EPG Setup State mode), it actually consumes more power, than when it has a grid (referred to as EPG Steady state mode). The Sony may not behave this way, since I don't believe it is energy star compliant, but I could be wrong.

Mark
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post #20243 of 28651
2/24/10 at 11:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mabuttra View Post

After reading more about these PIDs, I realize now that there is only one stream of TVG1 data in the ATSC signal. Up until now I thought the TVGOS data was somehow embedded in the video data stream, but it isn't. In other words tuning to a different sub-channel does not result in the DVR receiving a different TVGOS stream. Changing to a different sub-channel just causes the tuner to select a different audio, and video stream. I should have known this, since I have always been able to tune to RF channel 19, and, although it has "No Signal", the ATSC slicer screen still shows activity.

On another subject...
Here is an interesting ROVI document I ran across. It describes how to test TVGOS devices for energy star compliancy. The test device was a TV. What is interesting is, if I am reading it right, when the TVGOS device is in "build grid" mode (referred to as EPG Setup State mode), it actually consumes more power, than when it has a grid (referred to as EPG Steady state mode). The Sony may not behave this way, since I don't believe it is energy star compliant, but I could be wrong.

Mark


Part 1
Explains why ATSC Slicer reports data coming in while on 11-2. But still does not explain while at the same time 11-1 will not show data coming in, even when accessing the ATSC Slicer Screen several times (exit and re-enter) in a row. Since RF 11 is RF 11 (regardless of ?-1 ?-2 etc) it is still the same RF 11; also explains why I can see 11-0 11-1 and 11-2 for the Clock Set Channel - they are the same.


part II
Do original firmware version .09 and above come with extra wiring for cable card (more power). and that is why .05 "originals" have difficultly making a Grid?


Very nice find - thanks for posting.
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post #20244 of 28651
2/24/10 at 12:13pm
FYI, KMOV in St. Louis turned the TVGOS data feed back on yesterday afternoon and I've confirmed that one of my two Sony DVR's has program listings again. Following is the update from the KMOV broadcast engineer from Wednesday, 2/4 at 11:20 CST:

************************
We put the TV Guide encoder back on line yesterday afternoon. We are currently watching to make sure it does not cause problems.
************************
I may have some work to do on my second Sony DVR because I reset the TVGOS, which wiped out the TV listing grid, before I knew there was a problem with the KMOV TVGOS feed. I have the new version of firmware now, so I'm hopeful that it will start working on its own now that KMOV has turned the TVGOS data back on.

Lance
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post #20245 of 28651
2/24/10 at 12:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HoustonPerson View Post

Part 1
Explains why ATSC Slicer reports data coming in while on 11-2. But still does not explain while at the same time 11-1 will not show data coming in, even when accessing the ATSC Slicer Screen several times (exit and re-enter) in a row. Since RF 11 is RF 11 (regardless of ?-1 ?-2 etc) it is still the same RF 11; also explains why I can see 11-0 11-1 and 11-2 for the Clock Set Channel - they are the same.

I have seen that it is pretty easy to trip up the DVR, so it isn't reporting ATSC slicer data that is really there. The only way, that I know of, to guarantee that the ATSC slicer will show data, is to run the G* Test before going to the ATSC slicer screen (as others have reported that they have to do).

Mark
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post #20246 of 28651
2/24/10 at 12:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by St. Louis Area View Post

FYI, KMOV in St. Louis turned the TVGOS data feed back on yesterday afternoon and I've confirmed that one of my two Sony DVR's has program listings again. Following is the update from the KMOV broadcast engineer from Wednesday, 2/4 at 11:20 CST:

************************
We put the TV Guide encoder back on line yesterday afternoon. We are currently watching to make sure it does not cause problems.
************************

That is great news.

Quote:


I may have some work to do on my second Sony DVR because I reset the TVGOS, which wiped out the TV listing grid, before I knew there was a problem with the KMOV TVGOS feed. I have the new version of firmware now, so I'm hopeful that it will start working on its own now that KMOV has turned the TVGOS data back on.

It should come back on its own, but it may take a few days.

Mark
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post #20247 of 28651
2/24/10 at 2:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mabuttra View Post

I have seen that it is pretty easy to trip up the DVR, so it isn't reporting ATSC slicer data that is really there. The only way, that I know of, to guarantee that the ATSC slicer will show data, is to run the G* Test before going to the ATSC slicer screen (as others have reported that they have to do).

Mark

I just check a while ago. Both 11-1 and 11-2 show ATSC data coming (the same data), every time they are viewed now. Yesterday only 11-2 did.

All the screens can at times be flakey


Still zero ads and zero listings for day 8. The next NumSearch is not too far away it should re-boot and catch fire this time LOL

There realy was a ton of info in the link you posted today. Sort of give me the following impression. A legacy 0x110 is still there but in digital form for devices like Artec to turn into analogue etc. But I get the impression that both DataPipe 1 and 2 (TVG1 and TVG2), are required for a digital TVGOS device. Since it is not mentioned that would imply TVG3 is not used at all in any device, at least not at this time.
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post #20248 of 28651
2/24/10 at 7:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeKustra View Post

I'm feeling chatty at the moment. My cable feed (secv.com) once upon a time sent 70 analog channels. They then added ABC,NBC,CBS,Fox,PBS and CW in clear QAM. All basic cable stuff, like USA & TNT were scrambled. On one clear sunny day they did a massive shuffle and gave up the scramble. This was before the DTV event. They still wanted me to buy a box for my TV and didn't want to activate a card for my Sony (that would be way beyond their technical ability). I found that the digital basic cable channels (SD) were on the Sony DVR with the same channel number as my Sony TV (USA is 27.6206). They even offered me a free 90 day trial of their converter box so that I could see how great it was to get movies on-demand. Yet they let me watch though a box that had only an RF 480i ouput. Not the greatest marketing move, but I gained an additional cable line since it was "policy". My fiber stops about a mile away. About this time, another feed (secable.com) supplied all the basic cable channels to nearby towns unscrambled and in HD.

As you, I should still receive the first 21 or so 'local' channels in analog for a while. My supplier offers a $9.99 feed of those channels. Check my location: it's a poor area in the middle of nowhere. I think there are over 10 cable companies within 50 miles. Seriously. I'm very lucky, since my TVGOS host channel is C-SPAN on channel 15. No OTA problems there. After many rescans of channels I know that my grid and listings display the analog channels. What 'would' be my digital OTA channels are shown on the Sony TV Guide grid, but as disabled. Even those (digital) that are not disabled are scrambled. There are over 400 entries and I activate only about 40 in the listings. I see what it would look like IF I had a cable card, but I don't. I believe that your TV Guide shows you what it thinks would be your channels if you had a card and/or a really super antenna. I keep track of the 70 or so digital channel numbers with a high-tech piece of paper. Channels do change, like when they added VS and the baseball channels last summer. They just moved one ABC channel and have added RTV on a time share with the Philly ABC feed late at night. One unlucky thing for me is my 'local' CBS channel, 40 miles away, does not carry TVGOS. My closest CBS TVGOS channel is 50 miles SW and I still haven't been able to receive it OTA. But I'm not going to give up. I don't like having just one source if I can have two. I still can not update to the latest Sony firmware because it blocks recording of my digital channels. On March 8 I expect to record 11 programs, 6 in HD. I shudder to think what that would cost using cable company supplied equipment. I'll be at work.

So you see, to get the most from the Sony DHG-HDD250 you have to work at it. Like any worthwhile relationship I guess. Keep us posted on how that testing goes by Comcast.

Joe- Sorry for the delay in replying- been pretty busy with PC issues and fixing stuff the wife breaks! Anyway, I'm pretty much stupid about most of the stuff that is discussed here. I did manage to flash the firmware that was offered on the sony website but it didn't do anything to get back my grid when the analog channels went away. Sony was nice enough to sned me a thumb drive with what appeared to be the same build to try.... THE SONY DIDNT RECOGNIZED THE DRIVE !! I had to transfer it to my 512mb drive to flash it! HA! Anyway it took about a week or so for listings to appear but I have a full grid now.

I did the 9-0-1-2 shortcut and it reported the build is 01 ??? I thought the firmware was something like 1.2.21? When I go to SYSTEM tab it show the software is 1.2.21.

I am really not sure of my host channel NUMBER... I do know that the local PBS channel is continuing to supply it on digital OTA but they have 4 subchannels. Comcast is not sending on cable.

If I understand what you are saying- you can get the channels without a cable box and without a card? I guess I will just wait and see what I end up with. In the mean time I will visit COMCAST and try to talk to someone in the know.

Thanks again! Wish I had studied electronics in college instead of BUDWEISER!
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post #20249 of 28651
2/25/10 at 5:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by hate2sleep View Post

.............. If I understand what you are saying- you can get the channels without a cable box and without a card? I guess I will just wait and see what I end up with. In the mean time I will visit COMCAST and try to talk to someone in the know.

Comcast will tell you that you can't get any HD channels without their box. That is what they are trained to say. In reality, you will probably be able to get at least your local HD broadcast channels, and possibly some other HD channels as well. I had been getting about 24 HD channels via QAM until this past September, including all of my HD locals plus many others including History Channel, Discovery, ESPN, HDnet, Starz, etc. But then my provider (Charter) began to encrypt all but the locals. My understanding is that this has been occurring all over the country, by most cable providers. So now I have 4 CableCards (three in HDD500's and one in a TV). The one in the TV has worked fine, but the cards have caused some issues with the DVR's that I am still learning to live with.
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post #20250 of 28651
2/25/10 at 5:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by hate2sleep View Post

Joe- Sorry for the delay in replying- been pretty busy with PC issues and fixing stuff the wife breaks! Anyway, I'm pretty much stupid about most of the stuff that is discussed here. I did manage to flash the firmware that was offered on the sony website but it didn't do anything to get back my grid when the analog channels went away. Sony was nice enough to sned me a thumb drive with what appeared to be the same build to try.... THE SONY DIDNT RECOGNIZED THE DRIVE !! I had to transfer it to my 512mb drive to flash it! HA! Anyway it took about a week or so for listings to appear but I have a full grid now.

I did the 9-0-1-2 shortcut and it reported the build is 01 ??? I thought the firmware was something like 1.2.21? When I go to SYSTEM tab it show the software is 1.2.21.

I am really not sure of my host channel NUMBER... I do know that the local PBS channel is continuing to supply it on digital OTA but they have 4 subchannels. Comcast is not sending on cable.

If I understand what you are saying- you can get the channels without a cable box and without a card? I guess I will just wait and see what I end up with. In the mean time I will visit COMCAST and try to talk to someone in the know.

Thanks again! Wish I had studied electronics in college instead of BUDWEISER!

Having 1.2.21 means you have the latest firmware. That means you can rebuild your grid when your host channel is digital. For a condensed yet comprehensive supply of information, visit:

http://www.spiffspace.com/forum/index.php

You need a cable card to allow you to select a digital cable program on your TV Guide and watch or record it. I can't do that. All my recording is manual, like with a VCR. Your problems have little to do with electronics. You can find your host channel with the 753159852 display. Best of luck finding someone at Comcast "in the know". If you find the need, tell them it's like a Tivo.

On your remote, have you done: Menu - Preferences - CH +/- List - Edit CH +/- List? Use the remote Channel Down (page) to go up the list. I'd bet there are channel numbers there that you don't see on your TV Guide grid. Some of those are your current digital cable channels. Have fun.
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