Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575 - Page 357

Originally Posted by Westly-C


This thing has a twisted sense of humor. I unplugged the 2160 for 20 mins, then removed the cable from it. Powered up and launched a ch scan. Then, I did the 'hanging on a thread' manuever, sticking the cable barely into the RF jack and performed another scan...When it finished, The missing NBC station.1 was back. I set a brief timer recording, and it moved to .1 with picture and sound. Stopping recording after a few mins, and surf onwards thru the QAM chs. Got all the way to the last when it dawned on me-I don't think I saw the CBS.1 digital. I direct dial the CBS station.1 and am redirected to it's sub ch.2 .
Deleting the analog ch, shutting off a few mins and powering back on didn't enable it, neither did deleting then re-adding it in the Manual Ch Preset menu.

It appears that signal strength may play havoc with the tuners on these...Or gremlins. I'll try another rescan tomorrow, I'm a bit tired having spent a couple of hours wrestling with this thing.

Originally Posted by wajo

There IS hope here!

I'd attach a 2- or 3-way splitter on the incoming coax as a test to attenuate the signal slightly (with coax securely in place as normal) and THEN do another auto-scan... you might have some too-strong digital stations, like several other have experienced.

If that helps, there are very cheap attenuators available in diff. -dB sizes.

Originally Posted by DoctorM

It sounds like you have both a Maggie and a DVR from your cable provider. You may want to run analog cables from your cable box, through a CGMS remover to your Maggie and record on the Maggie DURING the broadcast. (That's assuming they are even using CGMS at all. It sounds like you're trying to record it to the cable DVR and then dub it to a Maggy.)

Once it is on your Maggie, the CP is stripped and you can feel free to burn a disc. The down side of course is that it isn't really a digital copy anymore since you've passed it over analog cables.

Originally Posted by hollandboy

Currently I have component connections from the DVR to the Mag.

Originally Posted by hollandboy

... Currently I have component connections from the DVR to the Mag.

Originally Posted by DoctorM

Then why would people have issues with content they record to HDD but can't burn to DVD? Is that from CCI?

Originally Posted by DigaDo

We would all like to have component inputs on the Magnavox but we are limited to S-Video and composite line inputs. The other option is the RF input for use with the internal tuner.

Originally Posted by wajo

Not impossible. See Section 9.a here.

Originally Posted by DigaDo

I've had frequent extended editing and high-speed dubbing sessions, often of several hours duration.

In one session I edited (with front-cuts, end-cuts, mid-cuts, title divides) around fifty titles, followed by high-speed dubbing to DVDs. There was no overheating.

Of course all my recorders are out in the open with good air circulation and supplemental cooling fans for these warm summer days. I also have spacers between all the recorders when set up in stacks.

Here is a recent photo of the main stack in my home office. The recorders are, from the top, a Panasonic DMR-EZ17, a DMR-EZ28, a DMR-EH50, a Philips 3576 and a Magnavox 2160. The rounded shape appearing above the Dynex TV is a 10" cooling fan that circulates air around the TV, the left side of the recorder stack and the Dell computer and to the front of that Dell's LCD monitor; another cooling fan is an unseen 6" clip-on attached at the front edge of the table where it circulates air to the front of the recorder stack, the CopyPal duplicator and the Dell computer; another unseen cooling fan is behind the Dell computer aimed across the area behind the recorder stack, another unseen 12" cooling fan is aimed across a second Dell computer and a 25" Magnavox CRT TV just to the right of the Dell computer seen in the photo, another unseen clip-on fan is mounted on a bookshelf where it circulates air around the LCD monitors for both Dell computers. Right now it's 98° at our house in the cool and rainy Pacific Northwest.

It's now been a little more than two months since you mentioned "overheating" in the "Dubbing Questions..." thread. Is your equipment out in the open and have you set up supplemental cooling fans now that the warm summer days are upon us?

Originally Posted by wajo

It also doesn't do toast.

Originally Posted by wajo

It also doesn't do toast.

Originally Posted by gopack26

Okay, so I'm watching some preseason football tonight on fox and I can't see the scoreboad in the upper left portion of the screen. It's cut basically in half. My tv doesn't solve the issue when trying to format it, so is the unit?

I have an antenna hooked up through the unit and that's running as a hdmi.

Is this an aspect ratio problem?

Originally Posted by wajo

Did you try all the HDMI formats and see if any diff... some HDTVs don't like some of the formats.

Is your Video > TV Aspect set on 16:9 Wide (assuming you've got a 16:9 TV... would have been nice to know).

Originally Posted by DoctorM

Oh, regarding drive upgrades...
With Funai support on the forums, has anyone asked if the faster DVD burner replacements can be installed on older models?

I have a 3576 and would love to put a faster recorder into it... assuming it would work.
Do the 513's use 8x or is the new drive faster?

Originally Posted by wajo

234 and I had traded over 120 PMs before he joined us here, all related to the Wish List items, basically me explaining things that he might not quite understand and making new recommendations. I was constantly updating the list, amplifying comments and adding items as we conversed... that's why it's so "beefy" today.

Since 234 joined our conversation, I thought I might be adding NEW items to the existing list. That's why I put an "end of original list" notation on the bottom of the list. However, 234 is directly addressing each person's comment, most/many of which are already covered in the list.

That is EXCELLENT and more than I expected. I had directed him to TheMoxiGuy, a Moxi rep., who also comments in their thread but he does it "sparingly," answering MANY comments in a single post... a lot of time and work for him to collect all the Quotes in a single post with his answer to each... just getting a ton of Quotes in a single response is not especially "easy"!

I'll leave it up to 234 to tell us if (1) the current Q&A method is working for him (someone questions, he answers), or (2) he would prefer a formal list of everything we discuss (which might not add any value to what we're doing now?)... whatever satisifes him is what we should do.

Originally Posted by Westly-C

And, now, the conclusion....
After the drama (back on Wed) of losing certain digital QAM channels after a rescan (due to Comcrap dropping a couple of digitals, moving them to scrambled status), the local CBS.1 returned mysteriously on it's own to the 2160. I had it off most of Thursday, and after doing another scan, everything in the clear was back where it was supposed to be. There may be an answer as to why...
After doing the 'hanging on a thread' trick, I didn't screw the cable all the way back into the RF jack. Didn't do it on purpose, it's just that after multiple tries with no results, I may not have been paying close attention when I was moving things back into place..
I wish the solution was uniform...I'd like to be able to definitively tell others with tuner issues that there's one clear 'fix' for it, and not get their hopes up going through a procedure that may not work for them.

Now I just have to write myself a note NOT to do any more rescans, no matter what Comcrap pulls...

Will he remember writing the note?
Will Comcrap pull more sneaky stunts?
Will Lance ask Erica for his 100pk of Verbatim AZO -Rs back?

Tune in again to..As the HDD Turns.

Originally Posted by wajo

I think people can get their hopes up, not only because the Hang-by-a-Thread test has helped many others, but also because I believe you proved it's worth again in your system.

I wrote in that test description that it might be a good idea to do a rescan with the coax "hanging" to make sure the tuner sees an attenuated signal and can "lock" in better than if the signal's too strong and "splattering" in the tuner.

It sounds like you might need one of the attenuators (couple of bucks ea.), just not sure how much attentuation is "perfect" for you. Most people buy 3 of them in diff. -dB reduction levels and just try combos, but you can also attach one or more spltters in line and get an idea... just add up the -dB reduction marked on the splitter ports you use, then get a real RF attentuator equal to that -dB reduction.

Originally Posted by SteelTownGuy

About a week ago, I noticed one of the locals wasn't tuning in on QAM with my H2160. Thinking that my cable company must just be reshuffling the assignments, I did a full analog+digital rescan. Not only did it not find the missing ABC channel, I lost all the others which had been tuning in fine before the rescan.

Now I'm afraid to touch my other H2160 in the bedroom. It has lost NBC, CBS and ABC, but still tunes QAM channels for Fox and PBS's 3 channels.

What's up?

Originally Posted by 234

Dear DoctorM,
I cannot provide any advice regarding unit modification.

Originally Posted by Chuck44

I have a DVDR3575 and I would very much like a firmware update to allow it to auto set the time from digital channel.

Originally Posted by 234

Dear Chuck44 and DoctorM,

Regarding PHILIPS DVDR3575H and DVDR3576H time alignment, I got an answer from engineer.
Unfortunately, it is impossible.

Reason;
The function is contains in Tuner module and controled by Main PCB backend firmware.
These Philips models were designed based on previous model (analog model).
Later models such as H2160 were designed new (based on ATSC tuner).
New ATSC tuner module contains ATSC time signal setting.
So, it is not possible to transfer H2160 function program to 3575/6.
Sorry but please understand it.

Originally Posted by wajo

....It sounds like you might need one of the attenuators (couple of bucks ea.), just not sure how much attentuation is "perfect" for you. Most people buy 3 of them in diff. -dB reduction levels and just try combos, but you can also attach one or more spltters in line and get an idea... just add up the -dB reduction marked on the splitter ports you use, then get a real RF attentuator equal to that -dB reduction.