Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575 - Page 358

Time Warner.

Okay, I tried unscrewing the cable to the back of the 2160 and letting it hang by a thread. When doing this, the analog channels get fuzzy (but don't go out completely) which I believe is the desired effect. I tried entering the QAM channel numbers manually -- where they should be mapped -- and they did not return. I figure I should AT LEAST be able to get 66.1 (Fox) since it is still available on the other 2160 upstairs, but, sadly, I did not.

I do have a TV with digital tuner (downstairs only). Since hang-by-a-thread failed to help the missing digital channels, including Fox, on both the 2160 and the TV w/ digital tuner, I screwed the cable back in to the 2160 all the way and I'm running another full channel scan on both the DVDR and the HDTV...

Update: The 2160's channel scan got interrupted by a regularly scheduled recording (I forgot I had one coming up). On the plus side, the HDTV is currently showing 69 analog channels found and 10 digital (so far). I'll update again when the TV's finished.

Update2: The HDTV finished with 69 analog and 12 digital channels found. NBC (12.1), CBS (35.1) and Fox (66.1) have not moved channel assignments. ABC did move from 104.1 to 114.1. I'll have to wait another 1.25 hours for my scheduled recordings to finish up to see if I can get the 2160 to relock on these channels. I would REALLY REALLY like to get them back before football season. Those games record so much better in digital (widescreen).

Update3: Success! I simply rescanned with the 2160, and all digital channels are back again. They are all in the same locations as the HDTV (ABC moving to 114.1). I can't say, for sure, that I really did anything special. I did make sure to tighten the cable input to the 2160 with a wrench this time. Hopefully, I won't encounter this again anytime soon.

The media recording speed is normally controlled by the units firmware (FW). While many DVD±R-RW drives are capable of recording at 12x and 16x, faster recording speeds tend to present problems, which may result in errors, making the disk unreadable (or what are often referred to as "coasters").

While 8x may seem slow, the amount of data transferred would be equivalent to a CD burner writing at 72x. (CD media is currently limited to a max 52x)


From the MDR513H user manual information, the "burn speed" of the 513H is the same as the H2160/H2160A.


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Looks to me like you've covered all the ideas that might be easily doable. Really hoping they add HD support and cable card, then maybe I could dump my box I've been forced to use and actually record some stuff directly and more things, rather then just the local channels with my HDTV card.

What I wrote was [/i]Encrypted channels are "scrambled" so that a regular QAM tuner cannot tune them.[i]

Since "Display" is the end product of a "Tuner", a tuner which cannot display the contents of a channel cannot tune that channel.

- My STB tuners can display an encrypted QAM channel.
- My Funai tuners cannot display an encrypted channel.

There are several levels of functionality in a tuner, and although the ability to decrypt the contents is at a higher level than the low-level frequency lock, it has to exist to be a tuner. An analog tuner which cannot display the contents of a digital channel is in the same boat as a clear QAM tuner, it simply fails at a lower level of functionality.

No such luck, just went to check my wife's machine and she has a half-dozen 'Doctors' broadcast by KTVU Oakland CA from December 2009 which have the No Copy icon. It's just luck that those are still around, because we were away last December and she is still catching up. I've seen it on other programs (not the Doctors) since then, but they have been deleted.

Yes.

If Comcast is not the worst offender it is certainly right up the top. You cannot even report that the PSIPs are corrupted, there is no such category on the trouble sheet, and good luck on finding a support person who has any concept of what a PSIP is. It's a case of "our network shows no problems, therefore there isn't one".

What's the point of transferring to digital when the onscreen display is far worse than the analog?

Comcast squeezed up to 12 Expanded channels into a single analog band, so imagine the amount of compression that was applied. When a show was expanded onscreen with Zoom you could see the pixelation.

Have no idea what it is like now, because I switched to Direct TV as soon as Privacy Mode encryption was implemented. I do know Comcast returned the now-encrypted channels to their old frequencies in the 31-70 bands. Comcast could have left everything in Clear QAM because that band of channels is protected by the frequency trap but that would have taken away the excuse that encryption was done to prevent non-Expander subscribers from viewing those channels.

PSIPs are re-generated, programs are compressed, the list of manipulations goes on and on.

That's the way I've been operating. Output from the TiVos (on satellite) are transferred by S-Video to the Funais. It keeps the TiVos clear, which is necessary because of the method used to schedule a recording. If titles are tagged with 'Keep Until I Delete" the sum of all scheduled recordings is added to the content currently recorded and if that exceeds recording capacity then titles forward in time are not scheduled. Unlike the Funais, there is no way to find out how much recording capacity remains.


It cannot be USB, that is considered a removable media, be it a stick or a hard drive.

However, you can buy eATA toasters which you can drop naked 3.5" and 2.5" drives into. Check out Search for the info needed. Funai 'could' add an eSATA connector to the back panel, just like the latest generation TiVos (which unfortunately require vendor-specific devices). Two issues here are that it would add cost, one SATA port for in-the-box and one for outside. It would also raise the specter of how recordings are divided between the two. If concatenated (the easiest solution) then one drive failure would take out ALL the titles.

To do it yourself involves cutting an opening in the chassis. As someone pointed out earlier, Funai could make friends by prepunching or perforating a cable exit. Using the SATA port to go external would make it easier for a DIYer willing to open the box. One disk drive, one failure point, one media removable point, so disk management is under control of the customer.

Your theory is valid, and you do not need the stabilizer if the cable box output is solely analog. My stabilizer http://checkhere22.com/stabilizer/ is in place all the time behind the destination Funai and I see no degradation in signal quality over S-Video. I have done DTA-DVR transfers and did not need the stabilizer, but other STBs may be different and include CGMS in the analog output.


Right again, if you record via S-Video from one Funai to the other, you can burn DVDs on the other.

Replacing the HHD on my Mag 2160
i have had the cover off and removed the mounting screws..
but i am very scared of that ribbon data cable.. i used a bit of force and its still not wanting to disconnect.. is there a latch or some sorta locking mech.. that is holding into the Circut board connector... i have all the procedures ready to go but removing that data cable is just very scarry.. any suggestions..

help..

Dear Joe,

I got an answer.

It is PSIP.

I don't think they have direct latches but the cables is pretty thin and if you yank it too hard or tweak it too much it could get damaged then your SOL.
Pretty sure I carefully pulled up the tape then gently pulled and rocked the connectors out. Then I put everything in loosely and plugged it all back in without shorting anything out to see if it would work or try to work. Once I knew it was good I mounted everything in it's original spots and plugged all the cables in for sure. Some of the style of direct plug in cables have clips or latch type things you pull or unsnap or whatever to get the cable loose so just double check it and go easy and you should be fine.
It has to fit pretty tight or the things are going to slowly work loose or just fall out and they'll be fixing non broken units just becuase something came loose.

My only hard drive swap was with a PATA hard drive. This swap did not require disconnecting or disturbing the ribbon cable--other than lifting the ribbon cable up off the hard drive. This hard drive swap involved disconnecting/reconnecting the power connector and the PATA adapter printed circuit board from the hard drive itself. I didn't closely examine the ribbon cable connector at the time. The photos seem to show that the ribbon cable connector is of the locking type where the black portion of the connector is the flip-up lock.

ok im a bit confused.. by this thread

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=4134

it shows you do not need to even remove those thin little data cable ribbons just the adapter that they connect to..

is this right.. i was under the assumption that you would need to remove the data cable.. and but its such a wispy kinda connection that im wondering if im getting this all wrong..

am i making any sense?

any how im sure i will be able to figure it out and really appreciate you alls help on this...

will take another dive after some more research..

edit: yea after doing a bit more digging i think your on the right track on this and it must have been my mistake... glad i dont need to fool with those silly ribbons....
thanks DigaDo.. thats great help..

see, it IS harder than it sounds I am about to swap my drive, too (as soon as I can back up some stuff, hopefully over labor day weekend)... so any basic advice is most welcome. As for this:

To do it yourself involves cutting an opening in the chassis. As someone pointed out earlier, Funai could make friends by prepunching or perforating a cable exit. Using the SATA port to go external would make it easier for a DIYer willing to open the box. One disk drive, one failure point, one media removable point, so disk management is under control of the customer.

That was me, and yes, wouldn't that be nice? Open the chassis, disconnect the esata cable from the existing drive (presumably we could leave it in place for later reconnection, thus not losing all the recorded titles?) and then simply pull the esata cable out of the chassis hole so it could connect to an external drive or a toaster for bare drives that could be swapped. MUCH easier.

ok so i get my name on the Pioneers list.. all systems go and such..
sucess in hard drive up grade.. its just about as easy as replacing a hard drive in a desktop.. not a thing to worry about.. no fiddly ribbon cable just the connector to the hard drive its self..

this is cool!

THANKS FOR ALL THE GOOD HELP FOLKS!

Thank you. Now I need to find a channel with good PSIP data on my cable feed. Since I get results only two times per day, it may take some time. Maybe with next version 513 could check every minute when powered off?

Good point Sydyen, but then maybe any 'quick disconnect' would do. Intent being that it eliminates dubbing to DVD, which more and more channels seem to be preventing you from doing (had some PBS programs now prevent dubbing to DVD also), and simplifies the storage of recordings. This would only work if one could transfer programs/movies from a DVR (HDD recorder) to another HDD, as some people (me) would still want to timeshift record to the DVR, then determine if any of them are good enough to transfer to the HDD. For now that seems to be oK,

Recording to a BD capable HDD that has at least 500GB capacity would be terrific. Also would make it easier to manufacture for Funai (no DVD drives, laser etc.), and generate additional revenues if they made the HDD configuration specific to the unit.

Yes, the ribbon cables are connected by clips. You just stick a finger nail at the point where the cable is inserted, gently pull up on the plastic clip, and it opens. If you do remove the cable, just make sure you put the cable back in correctly and then push the clip back down until it locks.

You only need to remove the cable from the clips if you are somewhat clumsy like me and don't want to take the chance of causing damage. The adapter and power cable connecting to the hard drive are all you really have to remove and then reattach to the new drive.

The "carefully remove tape" everyone refers to is the double-sided tape holding the ribbon cable to the top of the hard drive. Sometimes it comes off easily, sometimes you have to pull pretty hard (hence my clumsy like me comment above).

I appear to be the only one asking for it, so if you decide to leave it off, it makes no difference to me:

My suggestion for a manual chapter mark button on the remote that could add chapters during recording or record-pause.

It goes beyond.

All I was asking for was a software program that we could run on a PC to copy from an HDD removed from the unit to a new HDD to replace that original HDD, not FW and a port. That would be nice, but I would think much more expensive.

An alternative would be to document how recordings are stored on the disc so that someone here could write such a software program.

Bruce

ok i think i may be able to at least throw up a thread on how i went about the Hard Drive up grade.. its pretty much what every one else did and i forgot photos but might be fun just to give my perspective and ideas.. but once you do it its like dang.. whats the fuss. its no different then replacing a desktop HDD.

bit of an update..

day one still running superb.. and i agree with the picture quality improvements.. and its great fun to record every show i want in HQ..

thanks for the really great resource and all the very well thought infromation on these little HDD recorders.. im aready addicted to them..

good job Wajo!