DirecTV H20 (non-DVR) Official Thread - Page 201

Hatboro?

Doug

Got the update last night (West Palm Beach). I have to say the guide is pretty bright. I have a CRT RPTV and am a little concerned about burn in now.

I looked through the setup menus and couldn't find anything...

Are there options for less bright themes?

Relax. Burn in only occurs when something is left on in place for hours at a time. Unless you are in the habit of leaving your guide up all night, you have nothing to worry about. If it is really that bright to you, you probably have your TV brightness up way too high to start with.

Hi Jeff,

with all due respect, my RPTV is calibrated, so I doubt it's the brightness setting. I have been fully aware of burn in issues and participated in several letter writing campaigns that actually had some effect (PBSORG changed their bug from bright white to translucent based on our letters/emails). I do not leave anything static on my screen for very long for this reason. However, my wife has no concept of this and loves to hang out in the guide while she's deciding what to watch. Even though she is scrolling through, there are several areas of the guide that are very bright and static (especially compared to the previous firmware version).

A friend with the same (also calibrated) tv had burn in, so I know it can happen if something is left long enough (they liked to watch a station with a particularly bright station bug). Remember, the issue is cumulative, so it's not how long at one sitting you leave the guide up, it's the cumulative time it's up. With my wife, that's a lot.

Of course I'll have a good excuse to get a new TV if she overdoes it enough But, I haven't yet seen a new set that looks better than mine and most are far worse when the scenes are dark. So, I'd like to keep this one as long as possible.

I was just hoping there was an option for a softer (dimmer) theme, that's all.

All I can say is, I have had DirecTV for 10 years now, and my current HD CRT RPTV for 6. I have only slight burn-in along the 4:3 edges because I favor black bars when watching 4:3 programming. I have yet to see any sign of burn in beyond that. I'd say, based on my experience, that that is far more likely to be an issue than any normal use of the guide (unless, of course, you are a fan of stretch-o-vision)

I've had mine since 1999, no burn in. I do not mind the stretch for broadcast programming, so the side burn-in is no issue for me anyway. My friend had a TW56F80 which burned in pretty bad from the side bars so I've seen that first hand. I think the Toshiba sets do the best type of stretch and I've yet to have someone notice until I point it out anyway (though some from these forums would certainly notice right away).

I stay away from static bright images as much as possible. The new guide is pretty bright and concerns me. In particular, the color dots for the remote options seem intense. Personally, I wouldn't care if I was the only user as I'm in and out of the guide in a few seconds usually. But, I'm not the only user

Since there seems to be nothing to do about it, time will tell if it will be a problem or not.

Those that have the brightness and contrast maxed (default settings coming out of the box for a lot of sets, unfortunately), will suffer image burn quickly and easily. Properly calibrated sets, not so much. If you have had yours since 1999, I'd certainly be inclined to think you are well calibrated. Truthfully, I have not noticed that the guide has gotten significantly brighter, myself.

On the receiver, not the remote, Turn on and watch a live tv show. Press and hold the guide button. When the filter screen appears, push and let go of the active button.
Let go of the guide button. Push the guide button again. Exit out of the guide.
When you push the guide button again, you will have the one-click guide.

Isn't it easier to go into the setup menu and under display/ guide and pick "grid " for one press guide? It's been there or a while.

Douglassville, PA (35 min W of KoP)

I've had the 0x404A upgrade since 2/5 and today my H20 reset itself twice. I didn't experience this with the previous version so I hope this is not a predictor if things to come. Other than this, I cannot fault the upgrade, faster and precise, I even like the brighter GUI. I hope the resets were a fluke.

What is the story. Min locks up every time I turn it on. I have to unplug from power and repower.

Clues?

Roger. I grew up in Warminster, PA and then moved to Hatboro, PA when I was about 8 years old. I have since moved closed to Philadelphia.

Doug

Since this is a non recorder, I'd try going into the setup menu and do a reset "everything" to see if that will clear out a glitch for you.
Next would be to unplug the power over night. These are the two things that will clear out the receiver as much as you can.
The software will stay so you won't need to re-download it.

Quick question that I'm hoping someone knows the answer to.

I have an HR20-700 in my family room, which I've had for about 6 months. I'm getting my basement set up for a 1080p front projection system, and am upgrading my old SD receiver to either the H20 or H21 (whichever D* ends up sending me, I guess), which I'll connect myself. I decided to go with the non-DVR for the basement, since it'll be primarily used for live sports or BD/HD-DVD.

I got to thinking about the e-SATA port on my HR20-700. I know it's active, and people have had success hooking up external drives. I looked at the manual online for the H20/H21, and I see that it, too, has an e-SATA port. My question is, has anyone tried recording shows onto the e-SATA hooked to an HR20, and then moving the external drive to the H20/H21 and playing the recordings? Is it possible at this time??? It'd be nice to be able to do, if I have to record an HD movie to watch later.

Thanks!

Neither my H20 nor H21s have eSATA ports. Both have USB ports. The H21 has an Ethernet port that is not active.

Dana

See page 6

http://www.directv.com/learn/pdf/Sys...web_manual.pdf

Sorry, thought you said HR21. No reason for a disk on the H21 (it doesn't record anything). Don't know if it's supposed to do media sharing with a PC so I don't know about the ethernet. If it supports media sharing, it should be active.

http://www.directv.com/learn/pdf/Sys...web_manual.pdf

I just installed and HR21 and was wondering when viewing an HD channel,is there is any setting on it that will give you the proper HD picture (16:9) using the HDMI to an HD TV and and letterbox picture for a 4:3 TV that is hooked up to the Composite (yellow, red, white)? I use a modulator to feed the signal to my other TV's. So I have the HDMI to my HDTV and then the Composite is used to go to all my other TV's that happen to be SD. The problem is that sometimes I want to watch the HD channel on the HD Set, but at the same time it may be watched on one of the SD sets. The picture gets squeezed. If I change the settings on the HR21 to 4:3 and then choose letterbox, it looks perfect on the SD, but the HDTV has the letterbox. There is no zoom feature. It seems as though the Composite outputs should default to letterbox because nobody would ever use those outputs to a 16:9 HDTV.

Thanks for any help

You are not getting HD from a composite connection, therefore, you are only feeding your TV 480i from that output. So, if the box is told you have a 16:9 aspect ratio, the composite output gets squeezed. No way around this that I know of.

My H20 used to be able to output component and HDMI at the same time. It seems as it no longer works.

Anyone else confirm? Did they change something in the firmware?

Argh!

Hi all, my H20-100 downloaded the new software 0x404a last week sometime, now I have a new problem. I no longer have Dolby Digital output form my h20, I know this because I have a Harmon/Kardon reciver that displays the incomming audio. The Dolby Digital is checked in the menu/settings, I even thought my over priced Monster HDMI cable was bad, swaped it to the bluray, set to bitstream and Dolby Digital appears, so I know my cable is good. Called Directv, did all there resets and tests and all they said is HUH!! They did say they would foward my request to lala land and a download may follow, any thoughts?

If you really have an HR20-100 (R=DVR), you might get better results on that thread. This is the H20 (non-DVR) thread.

Dana

I stand corrected it is a H20-100, sorry

Are you confident that the source you are using as a test on your H20 is providing DD? Just selecting it in the menu doesn't deliver it unless the program you are watching is transmitting DD. Also, not all DD is 5.1.

If so, then you might try forcing a download of the software again. That has been known to work on computers.

To force a download, restart the receiver and at the "Hello" screen press 0 2 4 6 8.

Another option is to disconnect your receiver from the AC power source for several minutes. Even overnight. This procedure has been reported here as "What to do when nothing else works."

Hope one of the above is successful.

Dana

Most of the HD channels (74,76,79 for sure) displayed DD on the reciver, then stoped right after the new update, also I have a OTA hooked up to the H20, and when DD singals are recived they displayed DD, again nothing has changed on my end, all this started right after the new update, Thanks

Well after talking to Directv many times with no answer, I went and got a TOSLINK cable plug it in, changed the settings in th avr and got my DD back! So..... changed HDMI cable again and still no DD through HDMI, must be that my H20 lost the abilty to output DD through HDMI with last software, or maby it broke arround the same time. Any thoughts would help--- Thanks

When you tried the BR player on the HDMI cable, was it still connected to the same input on your receiver (SAT input)?

I also got the update last week sometime and when I read this post, fired up my stuff and went to channel 76 where the Bizmark documentery was playing. DD on my receiver (Denon AVR3808CI)

H20-600; don't know if the 100 reacted differently to the update or not...

Yes I had the player hooked up to the same spot, then I tried the other hdmi ports and my other hdmi cables, every way I could think of!! I am definitely sure my problem is being caused by the H20, all my stuff seems to be good!

For tufamc:
I did some test with my H20 and my AV receiver using HDMI
Normal channel are in Stereo
HD channel are either in DD (Discovery HD and some other) or PL II (tested with VH1 HD).
I do have the version 404a of the firmware so all is working with my H20.
So either your HDMI output on the H20 has a problem or may be you changed some settings on your AV receiver ?
My receiver is an Onkyo TX-SR605 and sound format detection is set to auto.

Rodolphe

for R_Willis
I tested my H20. HDMI and Component output (as well as s-video) are all active at the same time on mine with the 'latest' firmware (404A).
So may be you need to do a big reset or force a re-download of the firmware.
Rodolphe