Samsung DTB-H260F ATSC tuner - Page 119

I was able to successfully replace the bad capacitor. Spent ~32 cents on the new cap and 7 bucks for the soldering iron kit at radio shack. SUCCESS!

I'm not sure what the problem is. On my H260F the channel list stays on until I turn it off. When I turn it on I have to wait several seconds for each channel in the guide. I've had my H260F for two years.

Congrats on getting your H260F working again. I hope mine doesn't go out. I have never soldered anything in my life. Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the reply Jedi Master. I guess I'll have to get out my can opener and see if there is a battery involved in storing the downloaded channels. It's pretty annoying having to do a channel search every 45 minutes.

The behavior you describe may be normal. Is your box forgetting all channels scanned or is the EPG just empty when you go look at it? With my 260F (that I never turn off) the EPG is always empty when I initially pull up that menu, it takes a few minutes for the screen to populate with info. While all the channels are there, there's just no programming info. It pulls that in on the fly and there just doesn't seem to be a lot of storage room.

Now if your box is forgetting all channels and you have to do a complete scan for channels every so often, that might indicate a problem. But if the EPG is empty when you pull up that menu and it takes the box some time to pull in the data, that is normal, at least that's how it works here.

WhiteWhiskers - I think you are correct that the box doesn't have alot of memory. Everything you describe occurs with my box as well. It's just the way it is. I did manage to make it run out of memory once by pulling up the guide, scrolling ahead chronologically as far is it would go, then scrolling through all of the channels... a message came up and said it was out of memory. So, not even enough memory to support a fully populated guide.

WhiteWiskers, thanks for the input. When this problem occurs, and that is often, I bring up the EPG and it gives the channel number and program info for the channel I am currently on. All other spaces are blank. If I keep the EPG on screen, the channels and program info pop in one at a time taking several seconds each. So if I want to "see what's on" I have to wait, and wait, and wait until all 30+ channels repopulate the EPG.

The Olevia TV that I have the 260 hooked up to has a built in tuner. But I don't like the program guide as much, and it picks up only about half as many channels. But the EPG holds all the downloaded info until another scan is done. Even if that is weeks later.

If this problem is due to a lack of memory I sure wish you could just pop in a 2GB DIMM....

Thanks for the feedback gentleman. It is appreciated.

What you are describing is normal behavior for the Samsung box. Yes, it would be great if the thing would pull in the entire EPG for every channel scanned. Alas this is not the case....

As luck would have it, my H260F failed when I needed it most-- with Cablevision pulling Fox transmissions in NY, no other way for me to see the NLCS or the WS.

Same symptoms; stopped powering up; blue light flicks for a moment; then nothing. The thing was working great for 3 years and it dies on me hours before Game 6.

The cap next to the heatsink looks swollen.

How difficult is it to replace these? I am none to good with a soldering iron. What are the "idiot's guide" steps to the replacement process?

Figured it out, disconnected the board and pulled it out of the chasis. Replacement caps on order. Great thread here and on the BadCaps site; thanks.

Samsung will send you a refund. I got $110 back when i called warranty repair and they said they no longer sell tuners.

did you have to validate your purchase date? send the unit back?

What number did you contact?

1. Unplug it, wrap up the cord, put it in a box.
2. Take it to someone with soldering experience.

Don't take offense to the suggestion. If I were you I wouldn't use my only 260 as practice material.

They may give you your money back but you'd be out your box. Guess you could purchase another brand box, but if you really liked your 260 you might want to try fixing first. Guess if the repair didn't work you could always put the old cap back in and try getting your money back. As long as you don't totally hack the repair they may never know you tried fixing it. More than likely they just recycle the boxes anyway, not worth their time fixing them.

Success. Even I can do this. I've done some soldering before and this was not difficult. The hardest part was finding my soldering iron. The cap next to the heatsink was the culprit. 65 cents is all it took (although I probably have a lifetime of spare caps just in case others start to blow). Thanks a ton to the contributors to this thread. I've got the World Series back. As stated on the BadCaps.com, "this thread is money".

soldering was easy enough. Looks like you had it well in hand! FYI, if you call in Samsung, they will issue you a check. No proof of purchase was necessary for me - but they did already have me on record for another product.

And by the way, I bought my tuner on ebay 2-3 years ago so....it wouldn't hurt to try to call in samsung.

Anyone able to remote control this with their receiver's remote?? I've got a pioneer 9040 receiver but none of the ir codes work??

Dead thread??

Sounds like some of the boxes are starting to suffer premature capacitor failure, I'd guess the rest are being used but people aren't having issues with them. For a short while the 260 was the HD box to have. Best Buy even stocked them for a year or so which is where I got mine.

Mines been going 24/7 for years now. I use the Harmony remote and Logitech has the codes on their web site for it.

scott s.
.

So, if it is no longer THE box to have, and especially if it dies, what is the latest and greatest box to get?

Mine is not having power problems but has so many odd behaviours they are too numerous to mention.

Many boxes have been discontinued but the best thread to look would be this one. I believe the Centronics ZAT502 HD seems to be the most popular HD box now.

Thanks for the tip. I ordered a Centronics. My Samsung misbehaves altogether too badly and too frequently. I tried to replace it with a EPVision PHD but I received a defective unit and returned it for a refund. I hope I have better luck this time.

My H260F is two years and two months old and it still works perfectly. I use it every day and its my only source of HD. I stayed up late Thursday night watching Free Willy on PBS with it. I turn it off when I'm not using it.

Works fine on my Yamaha AVR remote. I used the learn function not the code entry function.

Agh.. my pioneer doesn't have this function to learn. Dam it!!

I thought I read in here at some point that the H260f's IR remote was basically the same as another Samsung remote. DVR? TV? Can't remember.
The model # on the H260f is MF-59-002918 (8 might be a B, my eyes are not what they used to be), maybe try some google searches for that remote #, see if you find a product match.
Might find TV or DVR or whatever that is the same (or close enough) to find a Samsung code in your Pioneer's remote codes guide.

Thanks
Tried searching that number but didn't find an answer. I did search the thread and someone mentioned the code was the same as a sat receiver, but tried those codes and it's still not working... I guess I'm stuck buying the harmony

Called the Samsung number yesterday and they are sending my a check.

SWEEEET!!!

-Brian

Please explain. You called which number and why are they sending you a check?