Sony DHG-HDD250/500: Official Thread - Page 4

ozeyeo-
Are you getting the guide info via OTA or cable?
If cable, what company?
Thanks

Well, I'm coming on 36 hours with still only the channels #s and still no guide data. Tried rebooting, going through the setup again, nada. On my system, with about 150+ channels, it would surely take far longer than 20 minutes to rearrange those channels in a coherent order. I'm still getting the frequent down-rezzing when switching inputs. For me, this looks more and more like a loser and the PQ is the same as the SA 8300 which costs nothing.

All of a sudden, that ugly cable system guide of the 8300 doesn't look so ugly anymore.

Mine pulled down a day's worth of guide data the first night. Second night yielded no new data, however.

I must say that the guide blows chunks. I'm only using it for OTA, I've cut the listing down to the 8 channels I would ever watch. Reorder was a pain, and I had to change the channel numbers on two stations - the guide data is for our cable system even though I told it I was only using it for OTA. At least it's possible to change the channel numbers, I guess. There is no guide data for my local PBS-HD subchannel (HD is on .2, guide data only comes for .1)

The scroll through the guide is painfully slow. It only shows 1.5 hours at a time? I can't for the life of me figure out how to make it jump ahead a day without scrolling through to it. Can't find it in the manual anyplace. Anybody else found a way? I find it sad that my Dish guide is so much more user-friendly.

The only redeeming qualities I can find right now are that it has 500GB of drive space and I can watch a recorded show while recording something else, which I couldn't do with my previous OTA recording solution.

Oh, and if it can't find guide info for a show you have set to record, it just shows up as "unknown" and won't title the recording with PSIP data. Even the HDR-230 would title the show with PSIP data. Does the LG 3410 fall back to PSIP titling?

If Tivo ever makes it out with their standalone HD recorder I just may have to take the plunge. Outrageous guide fees be damned.

Man, don't say THAT.
It will prompt an "I told you so from Rogo".

And one of my missions in life is to surpass Rogo's post record which is what?....over 21K now?

You can jump forward or backward by keying in the number of hours, then right-arrow to jump forward or left-arrow to jump backwards.

So to jump ahead a day, just do 2, 4, . Anything more than about 3 days and I need a calculator to figure out how many hours.

I guess they figured it was so intuitive that they didn't need to document it.

It wasn't tongue in cheek, actually.

I'm not one for schadenfreude so I'm not reveling in your troubles with the unit -- or anyone elses.

Those who've read the threads here know I believed this box was never going to ship. I was clearly mistaken as it has.

But perhaps it never should've. I mean it's still a one-tuner DVR when cable and satellite get that two is another world. And if the one thing it had going for is was that it was going to be a superb piece by Sony, the early returns on that are, well, not good.

I never got the idea here and with the year that has passed, it seems like an even less good concept. But that said, I hope all the bugs get squashed because clearly some of you want to make this product work for you.

Here is another thread that deals with TVGOS issues...
threadid=510125 (sorry, but they won't let me include a link).

I just happened to notice this post by another NJ guy with Comcast. Maybe Comcast has a problem...

hmmm, maybe it's time to start looking at the LG box.

Bye bye Sony!

Well, it's not just a Comacast problem IF it's a problem tied to the cable company. I've got Cablevision and I've now gone 2 days without any program information at all. Zippo. My only progress since first plugging this dog in is that it eventually did get the time (I beat Mark Rubin on that one) and I got a guide of sorts. It's clear this is going nowhere from this point on.

It's also clear that although the guide 'looks' pretty, in terms of functionality, it aint pretty at all. For a $1,000 cable/OTA tuner with the Sony name on it, this thing should sing......the only problem is it apparently doesn't know the words to the song.

GBrock-

If the Sony guide is the same as the 3410a guide you will need to include the "right" analog station in your guide. The guide from OTA seems to be attached to analog stations. Without it the guide stops loading.


Is anyone getting anywhere with the guide using the cablecard?

Is anyone getting anywhere with the guide on cable without the card?

I've got a PBS OTA analog channel but no PBS OTA digital channel. I still have no guide data.

I'll be putting it back in the box a bit later. I'm done with this, it's just not worth it.

I'll give that a try - thanks!

Guide via OTA. After changing to another Zip code, first 24 hours, downloaded approx 16 hours worth of guide. This morning, after 48 hours, now have approx 3 and bit days worth of guide. Appears to be working as it is supposed to be.

As for editing my channels, as I only use it for OTA channels, and get my other channels by Satellite, I only included the major local channels in my edit, and therefore could organize them very quickly into the order I wanted

PBS - OTA Guide Carrier.

I did read somewhere that the PBS station carries the OTA Guide data, and as well as using a different zip code to where I live, I also ensured that the local PBS, both analogue and digital, were turned on for the channels received. You don't necessarily need to have them on in your program guide, but just turned on as stations received. So far, doing all of the above has worked for me. Give it a try.

I had a full guide within 3 days of plugging in the cable (without a CableCARD at first). I have Comcast in the Chicagoland area. They came out and installed the CableCARD and after the technician phoned in to have it activated the channel guide changed almost immediately to reflect channels that I couldn't access without the CableCARD.

Initially, my HD channels were mapped funny too without the CableCARD installed but once that was installed everything came together. I didn't have to remap any channels. I did take about 45 minutes and go through and disable channels that I don't care about or that I don't subscribe to. I also changed the channel order in the guide so that all my favorites are on the first page of the channel guide (so I don't have to worry about the lengthy procedure of marking and pulling up favorites)

I've had one minor problem with the time on the box slowing down by 15 minutes but it corrected itself overnight and hasn't happened since.

Otherwise, this thing has been completely plug-n-play for me. I guess after reading some other comments here I should consider myself lucky but, for me, this thing came out of the box performing like a $1000 machine should. So far I am very pleased.

Just ordered mine from www.onecall.com it is supposed to be here on Wednesday!!!

Either you're lucky or Mark and I are very unlucky. Between the two of us we've got 2 different cable companies but the same results.

I've now had mine for about 3 days. I set up without a CableCARD initially because a tech needed to come out to do the install. I had analog and digital OTA listings after about 18 or so hours. OTA digital reception is generally easy as I am only 5 miles from the towers and PQ is excellent. I was thinking I might like side-strech mode more, but its unintentionally comical in appearance.

Once the CableCARD was installed, it has been another story. Been 36 hours, No Listings. Also, I can't receive any channels in our HBO and Cinemax block. This may well be a signal problem, as I can sometimes get 3 or 4 frames before it blacks out or freeze frames, but my Showtime block is normally the weak one and its fine. Go figure. ;-) My line is already amplified, so I am not sure what to say...machine diagnostics show Normal digital cable reception on those channels.

I really *want* to like this machine. It does (almost) everything I want for a one box, spouse-friendly solution--but without a Guide its useless; I'll follow up once things progress a bit more.

If no one objects, I'd like to extend this guide issue to those of us who have satellite reception.

I'm assuming that this model, similar to the HX900, will not control my sat. receiver. So, I was wondering if anyone knows whether or not my Hughes remote will control the Sony for recording functions? Currently, my remote will control most of the functions of my JVC SVHS vcr.

Thanks.

Whose your cable co. ?

CableOne. In particular, their Sioux City Iowa office. But the folks doing the phone support for the onsite tech was in Phoenix. The card itseld is a Motorola card.

Sony was unable to cancel my order and I received my DHG-HDD250 yesterday. So I hooked it up to check it out and see if it is worth keeping. (I will be keeping either the DHG-HDD250 or the DirectTV HD DVR) Followed the instructions to set up and turned off the DVR as instructed to get my guide data 'within 24 hours'.

This morning the DVR had the correct time but no guide data or channel listings. Turned off the unit after checking. Tonight at midnight, still no guide data or channel listings. Turned it off again. We will see what happens in the morning.

I have the DVR connected to OTA antenna's only. I am combining the signals of two UHF antennas onto one wire (which is OK with digital TV and HDTV signals but not a good idea with analog signals). I hope I am able to receive the guide data with this setup...

First impressions:

* Unit seems well constructed
* All the cables I needed (with the exeption of the digital optical to hook to receiver) were included
* Setup was simple
* OTA digital tuner seems equal to the built in tuner in my Sanyo TV
* Picture quality is very good if not excellent (need more time to evaluate)
* I recorded one show manually since I don't have any guide data or channel listings yet. I could not tell the difference between the recorded show and a live show. Looks good. I am using the HDMI cable and audio via TV speakers for now.
* Need to figure out the best way to skip the commercials. The 30 second advance and commercial skip capabilities of my ReplayTV seem to be easier than the Sony DVR
* TV Guide capabilities look good per the manual and the 'demo' at the TVGuide website... If I get guide data and the channel listings soon, I will post more impressions.

Update: Before going to bed last night I decided to give it one more try by changing the zip code again. This morning there is guide data, but of course it's all wrong and thinks it's on the Time Warner system (maybe that's a system the TV Guide likes?). So I put back my correct zip code and of course my guide data is gone now.

It's now telling me I'll have the guide data within 24 hours. Yeah, where did I hear that before.

So at this point, I'm about 99% leaning toward returning it regardless of what happens. My thinking here is that this thing, based on my experience and others, is very very unreliable. I don't want to be in a position where a few days from now my guide data mysteriously appears and I'm happy for a few weeks only to have it disappear AFTER I can no longer return it.

I just have very little confidence in the unit and my down rez switching issue continues. This makes the unit a real pain to use even if the guide data is functioning.

For a thousand dollar cable box, this thing needs to be far far more reliable.

What do you guys mean by this?

Does this unit downrez the HDTV (we paid to see AND OTA?) if we connect it to our HDTVs via component video??? Do these Sony units only pass HDTV(1080i/720p) via HDMI outputs?

No Merc, in my case there is a problem with the 'handshake' between the Sony box, my Gefen HDMI switcher and my plasma. I have four HDMI components hooked up via the Gefen HDMI switcher and only the Sony DVR exhibits this frequent down-rezzing where shows that should be displayed in HD are down-rezzed to 480i. When this happens it necessitates me pushing the resolution button on the Sony about 4 or 5 times to get back to 1080i.

So something is not quite right with the communication between the Sony box and the switcher/plasma. In other words, this is not the way it's supposed to be.

The other comment refers to the fact that the Sony box does not output both HDMI and component video simultaneously. If you hook up HDMI, you'll get no output via component video.

Thanks for the info Ken.

I guess the primary concern/buying factor for me then is how good the online guide is in my area?

The TWC HD DVR is only $7 a month, but the guide sucks.

Those of us with Tivo/Replay units know how important a good, easy to use guide really is...

One more question...

I have digital OTA stations which have station numbers like 13.0, 13.1, 13.2. Will the unit have problems displaying the "point zero" stations correctly?

When I made my previous post, I had OTA listings but none for Cable. After a night of sitting off, I now have no listings. I did make an interesting discovery. Somehow, my OTA PBS station was removed from my Guide. I'm not 100% sure what happened there (I may have done something stupid when playing with the guide), but I added it back in and am letting the unit sit off again.

I am now more sure my earlier problem with the HBO block is a signal problem. I de-amped the system, and now my Showtime block behaves the same way. I'm going to have someone come out to look at this.