Sony DHG-HDD250/500: Official Thread - Page 919

I thought it was written tongue-in-cheek. A satire of sorts. I mean he couldn't have been serious, right?

Hi, this may be a futile, but here goes: is there a summary somewhere in this thread of what can be done under different circumstances with respect to recording? A long time ago, I was familiar with most of the possibilities, but I'm not any more. And reading 100 or 200 posts that aren't on point could be avoided if there were such a summary.

This has been a moderately low-level issue for me because, in addition to having 2 units that DID get TVGOS listing, I've had a Tivo that - with its 2 - tuners has been the mainstay for recording in my household, particular since I upgraded that to a Tivo premier - taking advantage of a special offer last August.

But now my LG recorder doesn't get TVGOS, but it DOES allow me to set the time, so I can easily set recording manually when I need a third recording at the same time, AND I can relabel such a recording with a name of my choosing, to avoid confusion.

As you all know, neither of these is the case for the Sony...the critical issue being the wrong time...which in my case went off some time in the last couple of weeks, due - I think - to a power outage. (The date is still correct.)

I guess the question is whether I can do some kind of reset, e.g., the kind that resets it to 12:00, to reestablish a useful time...would this enable timer recordings/

Anyway...is there a summary of possibilities? Thanks - Tony

Start with the posts from izzy900. They have the most insight into workarounds. In fact, just read those in Jan or Feb.

Here is the link to izzy's post about setting the clock.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/537711/sony-dhg-hdd250-500-official-thread/26310#post_22835797

am I right to assume izzy's process will not lose recordings or channel setup, etc?

thanks - Tony

^^
You shouldn't lose any recordings, but other than that.. you know what they say about "assume" . . .

Probably, no one has made a summary of possibilities yet because a few people are still trying new approaches, and it hasn't all settled down. But I will say that if you want to retain the correct day of the week and time, you must use one of the reset codes that change the date to Thursday 01/01/04 (or 01/01/90). The methods to adjust the clock without a guide reset can only pause the clock, so you will just move it backward.

Personally, I have had good luck with the 147412356 (warm reset) code. Rather than stay up until midnight, I use the code at 10 PM Wednesday, so the clock is 2 hours ahead. Then I adjust the time the next day by pulling the power plug.

I always pull the plug twice: First to see what exact time it will reboot to, then I pull the plug again and wait until my calculated time to plug it back in and set the right time. In my case, it takes about 2:20 minutes to boot-up to target time +1:00. (because the displayed guide time advances in less than a minute, I aim for the +1)

Whatever technique you chose, I suggest that you practice setting the clock back to an earlier hour a few times before trying a warm reset on Wednesday night.

- Kerry

DST (no TVGOS data since 2/21) observation:
Now says Standard in Clocks2 - whoopee
No change in:
Offset - still -18000
Next date - Still says 3/10/13
Time - still about 2.5 hours slow - it moved

Channel scan recovered two black screen HD channels. Yawn.
Edited by JoeKustra - 3/10/13 at 6:45am

No DST change here. Time was 4 min slow .... now 1 hr 4 min slow. .21 s/w

Update : Actually, the guide clock did move 1 hr ahead for DST - the front panel clock is still 1 hr behind. Odd thing : if I enter a manual recording to start at 02:00 pm ... the 02 will change to 03 (so 03:00 pm). This does not happen with the end time, just the start time. Strange. It's like it accepts my entry as "front panel time" ... then corrects it to "guide time".

P.S. - Wife not impressed with our ever-growing list of "Unknown" recordings. Having a hard time figuring out what recording is what (haven't watched TV much last week...so there's a huge backlog). She's looking forward to me getting the new HTPC up & running next week.
Edited by cxgy - 3/10/13 at 6:49am

Date and Time Change is correct on Dallas Sony Box (so far).

However, without any additional "TimeZonePkts' the next time change is Not set up correctly, in fact since it still shows a March 10, 2013 date it could off the rails very soon?

I think the box will need to capture both "clocksets" and "timezonepkts" in order to maintain correct date and time. Manual record works fine for me with those; but without them it would be too much work.

HostSUFlag is 0xc68 on NumSearch 7

When my TiVo got here I went to stage 4.5 because I still had a clock on the Sony. Now that the Clock is going to die I have hit the Big 5

I guess that's the bottom line. Is the effort worth the results? I can understand how it must feel if the HDG is the only HD DVR one has, or if playing with it kills boredom. There are other HD recorders with their own challenges and slim (if any) factory support.

There are only two moving parts: the HDD and the fan. If the HDD dies then I would dump the box. If the fan can no longer be cleaned and a replacement is too loud, the heat will shorten the life of the components and again I would dump the box. I have replaced three fans and cleaned one.

As with most things, it's a money issue. I would love to buy a newer Blu-ray but my existing unit still works. Same for my TV. Actually same for this XP computer. I have already replaced the fan on it also. Life used to be simpler.

There was a point when I thought it wasn't going to be worth the effort for me, but now I have enough stability that the DHG is easier to use than it was in some past years (when I had no clockset/listings). Not needing to reset weekly, and the absence of the pink error makes all the difference. Also, I live alone, so I am the only person who needs to know what all those "Unknown" programs are.


I would probably do the same.

- Kerry

My DHG clock also corrected for DST overnight. My DHG lost TVGOS on 2/6/2013 (more than a month ago). I had set the zip code to 00000 on 2/14/2013. I also have a Panasonic DMR-E95H analog DVR that used V7 TVGOS. Both my DHG, and my DMR lost TVGOS on the same day, and neither unit were reset after they lost data (both clocks were still correct yesterday). However, the DMR-E95H did not correct for DST. I reset the DMR this morning, which disables TVGOS, and then allows you to set the clock manually (imagine that). So it is running again with the correct time and date.

Mark

Well Daylight time went smoothly in L.A. (where the inserter is still in place). Not only does the DHG have the correct DST on both the front panel and the guide screens, the Clocks1 screen shows it is now on Daylight and the next transition date is 11/3/13.

Envy

I don't understand how some have a front panel clock that is correct. I always thought to have a correct clock you had to be locked onto a host channel and with guide data gone so is my host therefore I have no clock.

If only Sony would have given us a firmware fix to set the clock manually this way if the system reboots or are forced to do a reset we can go into the menu and set the clock back. That is really my only issue at this point. Since reverting back to firmware .13 setting up manual recording works better.

It is possible to have a different clock set channel than host channel if you have two different sources of TVGOS data. Having lost a host means three days without data. Your clock will survive until a power cycle or reset of some type.

So then everyone will eventually lose their front panel clock?

No, it just meant the host channel field was blank. The units continued to get data which is how they eventually reset that field. Listings and everything else continued to be received.

As for the front panel clock, I always considered that a useless feature anyway. As long as the units had correct UTC date/time and had received a time zone packet to establish offset, the internal clock kept going. The intermittent clock sets adjusted for drift. So if there have been NO resets that affect time, the guide clock will continue. Once the inserter is gone, the clock will start to drift since there will be no more clock sets.

JOY!! I woke up this morning and the trusty DHG is the only correct clock in the house. It self-adjusted to DLS all by itself. Woohoo!! Go you little DHG - go!!

I'm having a hard time trying to comprehend what all the complaining is about regarding 'Unkown'.

With the correct clock and all the data the DHG natively gives us, I have no trouble telling what unknown show is what.

Luckily DHG *does* give you more info than just 'unknown'.

How hard is it to remember that "Air, Channel 5, Wed, 8pm" means "The Middle", and "Channel 7, Thurs, 9pm" means "The Office", that "Channel 4, Sunday, 9AM" means "CBS Sunday Morning", and "Ch2, 9pm, Sunday" means "Downton Abbey". Etc.

How hard is it to remember that every "Channel 7, weekday, 6pm" means my local news followed by national news (this is an another big improvement, for me, over TVGOS, since these used to be TWO separate titles for me to have to punch up, each individually, and then two different titles to individually delete, night after every night, versus now getting to FF both programs is one quick easy 9x speed review.

More than "just unkown", and also giving you the day, and the channel, and the start time, our DHG *even* tells us how long the recording is. "Oh, 11pm Sat Ch7 for 2 hours, that's my local 11pm news followed by Saturday Night Live". Again I get to FF through both at once.

Had I known about manual recordings before I simply used the 'so-called superior" TVGOS usage model I was spoon fed, I would have used it beforehand as a feature improvement. As it was, with TVGOS I had to constantly play GAMES with recording one-hour before ABC "Modern Family" AND one-hour later - hoping against hope - to catch "The Middle" before and "Subugatory" after - that TVGOS always dropped on me anyway week after week, versus other weeks having "Middle" under its own title instead. Some weeks TVGOS missed "Modern" as well, which completely sunk my whole TVGOS-workaround scheme. It stunk.

I don't get all the recent "day + channel + start time + recording length data is not enough for me to deduce the show title" complaining?

When you turn the TV on at 9pm on Thursday, you really have no idea what show you turned the TV on for? Really?

"The nightly news is on at 6pm." or "It's 9pm Sunday, so it must be time for Downton Abbey"... is really too hard?

Fine, so let's say we've become such a spoon-fed population that we can't even remember basic TV show times like our parents did.

#1: You can write down the few weekly shows you record on a piece of paper. It only changes twice per year. "Wed, 8pm, Ch 5: Middle, Neighbor, Modern" Etc. How hard is that?

Not easy enough?

If mentally remembering our 12 shows is too much hassle over the course of a season AND if you can't "spoon feed yourself" via writing down a dozen lines in a notebook, twice a year, is still too much work...

#2: You pull up the ZapIt TV Guide on your laptop or smart phone in that very moment. How hard is that?

YMMV, but I frequently found the TVGOS interface clunky and bothersome and often a huge PITA.

Not only am I not missing a thing, but I like my DHG much better for it. (SONY - just give us the clock!)

Another unexpected life-without-TVGOS-is-better discovery... How often did this happen to you under the 'wonderful' Rovi TVGOS:

You turn on the TV, scan the channels, stop on a show that looked interesting, and say "Yeah, let's record that for next week and give it a try? Honey, what's show was that? I dunno either. Let's look in our 'easy' TVGOS. Ooopps. It's 9:00pm, TVGOS doesn't show the listing for what was JUST on 30 seconds ago! Argh! Sigh. OK. Honey, do the math for me, how many hours from now takes us to a week ahead from now but 30 minutes ago? Yeah, like that's easy and intuitive. So you hit the right arrow 400 times (2 half-hour show listings x 24 hours in day x 7 days in a week) stepping through all the 'just-so-useful' don't care TVGOS listings to finally get to a week from today... just so you can get a show title, just so (under TVGOS usage model) you can hit the red record button for 'easy' recording. Yeah - 400 TVGOS keystrokes (or doing the math for hours IF - IF - you are one of the 1% of advanced users that know the hidden secret undocumented typing "196" into a non-existing dialog box so you'd have no idea about it and then furthermore secretly hitting the right arrow) - yeah - that's easy. But after all that work in 'easy' TVGOS, what do you find when you finally get there a week ahead? A big stinking "SORRY!! There is no listing yet here for a channel week ahead!. For some shows, yes there is a show listed, but the channel and show you want now, there is no show listed yet - SORRY! Argh!! So then with 'easy' TVGOS - you are forced to do what? You put a yellow stickie on the TV!! Like I did for years. "OK, in several days from now, we all have to remember what showtime and channel this was, and right arrow over multiple days from now, just to record a show you MIGHT be interested in, hoping that by now - the show MIGHT finally be there in the listing. What a PITA TVGOS was.

Instead, the beauty now without TVGOS, is that I can bring up manual recording, simply add 7 to today's date (curent channel already pre-filled for me), and in 2 or 3 keystokes - it's done!! In under 10 seconds!!

400 remote click on the remote with TVGOS versus 10 seconds and 3 keystrokes without TVGOS - AND no more yellow stickies on the TV - this is BIG IMPROVEMENT in my book.

The more time I spend without TVGOS, the more I like the DHG WITHOUT IT.

Hope I get a TimeZonePkt within 6 months. Since the "Listings" have gone away; it seems I have had only "one" TimeZonePkt.

Only time will tell.

FWIW - I have not changed my ZIP code yet to 00000, nor touched any of the pre-shutoff working settings, since the listings stopped.

I have not seen any of the freezes or delays I might have feared from the DHG always trying to locate good TVGOS packets.

So I figured if it's not broke yet, don't try to fix it. I feared I would set myself down a path of messing up a working system.

It's been working for me so far. I was tempted to enter 00000 as zip code or do a preview reset before DSL switch - but so far I'm glad i didn't mess up a good and working setup.

After seeing this post I'm thoroughly convinced that he is serious . . .

How big is the UPS you are using?

When the day comes when you think the remote seems to be slowing down, start to worry. You are fortunate that nothing will happen until 11/3.

While there might a hint of satire here and there, OF COURSE I'm serious.

And just for you - I'll say it's been all "smooth sailing!' so far.

It honestly has - I'm not going to lie just for your pleasure and say it hasn't.

Hey, this is just one user's opinion, and who is to say that my 'Santa Maria" won't eventually fall off the square Earth (like everyone is saying) once I lose power, but so far ... it's been all smooth sailing ahead.

And I will be one happy DHG owner (not missing TVGOS at all) and a forever loyal Sony 'who-did-right-by-me' customer if they keep my little trooper DHG alive and going strong (with a "manual set your clock" fix).

Teleskier do you work for Sony? Lol

For me the gripe is not the unknown recordings its the dang clock. Right now it's 1-12-2004 12:07

So my internal clock is 2 days ahead and 2 hrs and 23 mins behind this makes my head hurt trying to remember to calculate all this to catch my favorite show.

I think I didn't state that right. With an analog feed and .13 firmware the host channel field in the 753... screen is correct. Pull the rf or lose data and that display field will blank after three days. No affect to listings or clock unless you pull power or do a reset. I lasted three weeks before the DHG locked up. I also lost the display of two channels. After a rescan the channels came back. Without data the front panel clock stays at --:-- until power on (white button or remote). I could live without it also.

The easiest way to ease the pain is to:
note the time
pull the plug
tomorrow apply power when noted time is reached
You will then be 1 day ahead and only a few minutes off in time.

Of course your viewing habits are a factor.
Edited by JoeKustra - 3/10/13 at 12:22pm

Funny, I thought someone might think that.

No, I'm just a guy who really loves my DHG. I don't want to see it die.

I do hear you, and agree with you. Without a clock I think the DHG becomes more of a pain. Which is why I am lobbying Sony to do right by us, it's so far loyal customers. (Not the ones who are whining about something Sony has no control over).

When I hear all the whiny belly-aching about one TINY piece of function like not having TVGOS-provided show titles - throwing our great little DHG hardware under the bus - well, I feel it's not fair and defend my DHG.

It IS usable - VERY usable - without Rovi.

Clearly, I never held the torch so strongly for Rovi's TVGOS as some here have been doing. Do they work for Rovi? LOL.

I like my DHG!!!

All it needs is a little more sustaining love from Sony to give us a manual clock fix. And I will remain one happy Sony customer across the board of all their products.

I remember when companies do right by me. And remember when others don't - yes - I'm looking right at you Tivo.

The spoon-fed whiny types can go ahead to Tivo.

All I need is a clock fix to be one happy Sony camper forever. They will have done right by me as a customer. ARE YOU LISTENING SONY?