Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575 - Page 617

Brent,

I still think a lot of the ones that were sold, were bought by people looking to make a quick buck (by reselling them on ebay). It hasn't helped the situation that there is a constant count down of remaining units on forums. So the stock got depleted much faster than it should have.

Saying that, I asked Walmart, a few weeks ago, if they were getting more 515's in . They said no. Then a week later more appeared. Go figure....

I think we'll all just have to wait and see what happens.

FWIW that's how I've always connected my DVDRs and DVR.
I never use the RF Out on any of my recorders.

It sure helped walmart.

this my be redundant somewhere, but the channel presets can get quite confused in these machines, especially when cablecos start maping their channels in wierd ways.

for me, Cox Cable maps all of their clear qam stuff in on several adjacent RF channels. here's where my channels are mapped, and an example of what happens -

RF Ch 100 = 5.2, 9.1, 12.1, 12.2, 15.2
RF Ch 101 = 101.1, 32.1, 5.1, 6.1
RF Ch 102 = 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 13.1, 13.2
RF Ch 103 = 8.1, 8.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3
RF Ch 104 = 6.2, 13.3, 14.1, 15.1, 33.2

there are other clear QAMs provided, but they are directly mapped.

After an auto-channel preset, if I just surf up and down, channel 5.2 appears first in sequence, followed by 5.1 ( channel up ops ). Also, channel 15.2 appears first in sequence, followed by 15.1 ( channel up ops ).

also, if i attempt a direct entry for channel 5.1, channel 5.2 comes up.
i cannot direct enter 5.1 and find it anywhere.

channel 5.1 is the Fox channel, and i do lots of recording there. a timed record utilizing 5.1 as the channel yields an hours worth of channel 5.2 ( fox's secondary weather channel )...

various attempts at manual manipulation ( rf channel deletes and adds ), would not work. indeed, the machine would not let me delete some channels manually. i had to make several attempts at deleting various channels in sequence, in order to get the machine to allow me to delete other channels.

eg, i could not delete rf channel 100, without first deleting something else, like dtv channel 9.1... very wierd... logically, the way that RF channels and DTV channels are associated is what confuses things.

i was finally able to delete the ' contents ' o RF channel 100, which correct the inability to directly enter 5.1, as well as the ' reverse sequence ' anomoly, but of course, i lose that which i deleted as a consequence.

finally, some of the COX mapping includes a single DTV channel that is a secondary channel, eg, RF channel 73 only has DTV channel 73.9 active.

the result of this is that an auto scan yields correct results, but a manual ' add ' will add everything, including 73.9, resulting in the tuner landing on inactive channels.

COX in my area seems to activate literally EVERY channel with a carrier and some information, be it scrambled, or idle, of with viewable material. the Mag and Philipsmachines do handle this scenario reasonably well, however, my Mits LT-46xxx TV does NOT. An auto scan produces a bazillion memorized channels that are not viewable, forcing me to manually delete them after the auto scan.

Sorry to ramble on, here, but wanted to give some examples of the confusion that the various tuners ( and their associated scan techniques ) can encounter. There seems to be no hard and fast standard for this stuff, and it can be a crap shoot with some products.

rgds,
ron g
=====

Well this seems totally contrary to what we've been hearing the last few weeks.

just my 2 cents worth... either you have a bad interface cable that you are using when you put the mag in between, or your mag has a busted amp/pass-thru port... in the latter case, you need to get your mag replaced... try using a simple bulkhead ( double female barrel connector ) instead of the mag, to connect your 2 cables together, to see if the extra piece of cable is bad.... that much loss indicates you've got something bad with that extra piece of cable or, worst case, the mag box is not passing signal properly. if it is not the cable, it MIGHT be that the ( powered ) pass-thru in the mag is NOT somehow being powered, and you are experiencing ' unpowered leak-thru ' with the mag connection. using the bulkhead test will identify if it's the extra cable or the mag, itself...

rgds,
ron g...

My 513 upgrade from 726H1E to 727V1E went smooth, used DVD-R.

Was: E2S00UD/HD6A269726H1E
Now: E2S02UD/HD6A269727V1E

My 513 super FW upgrade finally worked on my new (delivered last week) 6/11 build 513 from Walmart.

I tried this last week by downloading the FW zip file as per instructions to my Vista PC, unzipped using the Vista unzipper and did a "send to" my DVD/CD burner drive and closed the burn session as per instructions. I tried both CD-r and DVD-R. The process would almost complete but gave me an error screen every time. I gave up after trying this several times. Like hitting myself in the head with a hammer, it felt good when I stopped.

Today, I tried again, but this time I downloaded the zip file to an old XP PC from the late 90s I have sitting around, unzipped with an old free copy of WinZip and copied it to a 8 year old blank CD-r I found in a drawer using an ancient Roxio data media writer program on the PC. Worked like a charm first time. Go figure...

I went from (skip123):

Model: E2S00UD
BE: HD6A269726HIE

to:

Model: E2S02UD
BE: HD6A269727VIE

I have no idea if there is anything to learn from this other than to keep trying different methods if you first do not succeed. A problem will probably be traced back to getting the file set up and copied to the CD/DVD properly. I thought I had done it exactly right and needed to try something else, I just don't know what I did differently that made the difference...

Thanks Wajo!

Vista? Isn't that a virus? [joke]

Vista? Isn't that a virus? [joke]

More like a nightmare.
--------------------------------
RXheaven,

Antenna plugged in directly in TV (as if Mag didn't even existed) : FOX came in at 52%
Antenna plugged in the Mag : FOX doesn't come in at all, in either tuners, both at 0%.

In the second line what do you mean by either tuner. DO you mean the tuner in the Mag and also the tuner in the TV?

If the antenna is only plugged into the Mag and you are not using pass thru via coax than the tv should have 0% unless of course you have a splitter connected and one side of the splitter goes to the Mag and the other side goes to the tv and the Mag is being displayed on the tv via HDMI.

Maybe that fancy bidirectional HDMI is turning off your Mag But if that was the case you should not be able to view the Mags signal strength on the tv.

SOme small options,. Make sure the darn center lead of the coax did not get bent sideways on you. Test both sides of the splitter. Sometimes one side will go bad.

It is just hard to believe you go two mags both with bad tuners.

@wajo : I haven't tried that yet because that would mean an extra splitter for the other 2 TVs as well... but that would most likely solve the problem on MY set. The other 2 TVs would lose some channels in all likelihood.

@DanB :Yes, that's what I meant. Once I use the Mag's internal splitter, FOX falls to 0%, whether I'm tuning it directly from my TV with Mag unit turned off (which previously had 52% reception on that same channel when the antenna went directly in) OR trying to tune it through the Mag's tuner which is linked to the TV through HDMI.

Since you've also mentioned something about HDMI, just to give one more attempt at greater clarity, here are the connexions when reception fails:

Main RF input goes in the coax "IN" plug of the Mag. Coax cable (not push on type, regular screw in type) from Mag's "OUT" to TV's "IN" = basically using the Mag as a splitter.

When reception is good:
Main RF input goes in the TV's "IN" = no other devices in the mix.

Separate post for a completely different topic:

I just turned on the Mag to program a timer recording, and it popped a "NEW FIRMWARE HAS BEEN RELEASE - PRESS OK TO UPDATE OR EXIT TO CANCEL".

I'm confused, as previously stated, I have 726H right now...

I'm just kind of stumbling back through the DVD recorder section. I'm not using my recorders as much as I used to, partially because of the digital conversion and all that. But a friend (who is trying to stay as much OTA as possible) asked about DVRs so I was curious what the state of the market is and I'm a bit freaked.

I'm wondering about this "last batch" of 515's that wajo posted about on 1/12; is that the batch that now appears to be gone from Walmart? Or is this another batch that will be coming from China to appear sometime in the near future? I am thinking I'd like to buy (at least?) one ATSC-capable HDD-DVD recorder, and I'm really close to pulling the trigger on a 513 but I'd love to get a 515. The 513 prices (from where they are in stock) are a bit high for my liking but I'm afraid it'll only get worse.

I'm still mad I never bought the last Panasonic DVD/VHS/HDD recorder back when Circuit City was clearancing them out at $400 so I don't want to regret not getting a unit...

Basically, anyone have any idea if there are more 515's in the pipeline? It seems like everyone is entirely confused; although I am sure if I were to buy a 513 tonight it would guarantee a huge shipment of 515's would be available from Walmart in the morning.

Did you leave a firmware disc in the tray?

Then do it! Take one for the team, and when the new shipment of 515s come in, return that 513 sucker.

Nope.

I could agree to the update and see what new FW is then installed but, well AFAIK 726H is not available to download anywhere. So, if there are bugs with the update, my only recourse would be to revert to 72A or the super FW 727V... which is fine I guess.

What I am wondering here is: did anyone who recently got a 513 with 726H FW get that same FW update message lately?


Well, the connexion is in HDMI. All the menus/other channels show up just fine.
So, I'm a bit at a loss for explaining it other than my very strong assumption that the Mag's amplifier is boosting the noise I receive for this deep fringe channel, creating the reverse effect of what was intended.

Some of us who have both 515s and older models prefer the older remote. That's why last week when there was still a choice and I ordered another, I chose a 513. Another reason one might prefer the 513 is the extraordinary long backup time of the 515. Any time a need to major reset arises, a very very long wait is required of a 515, but only a few minutes of a 513. The V upgrade gives the 513 all other 515 features than remote, 56% bigger HD size and long backup time. IOW, you may or may not prefer the 513 to the 515 even given a choice.

Hi, Matt,

There are few reason of remote control failure.
1) IR Receiving part broken
2) The location of receiving part shifted from proper position
3) Receiving part suffers lighting effect
4) Receiving part suffers other set electrical noize
5) Front lens just in front of receiving part suffers many scratch
6) Front lens just in front of receiving part is dirt

In case of 1), (2) or (5), Did you drop the unit on floor recently?
There is no way to solve, except send the unit to repair center.

In case of 3) or 4), Did you relocate the unit recently?
Could you attempt to relocate the unit for testing?

In case of 6), you can solve to wipe the lenz

234

Lately, before I acquired the Mags, I tried boosting my OTA reception by installing an amp, and it had the same effect, I lost WFFF and most of the US channels actually. But this amp was like +27db or something crazy like that, I figured the reason it made me lose so many (deep fringe) channels was due to its design to boost the "clean" signal close to the antenna (much like a pre-amp), not boost "noisy" signal down the line. I guess, I assumed the Mag's very low power amp wouldn't have such ill effects, but it now looks like it does but only for that ONE channel, which I remind you was the weakest one (so, the noisiest) of my lineup. Putting an extra splitter would probably be enough to lose it anyway, so the Mag's splitter isn't any different. I thought the fact the Mag would boost the signal "before" it splits it would save me, but again it looks like it's not the case, it probably splits it BEFORE it boosts it...

Something dear to our hearts:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentr...rtner=yahootix

I can't see any way your recorder would be able to receive a message from Funai.

Is it hooked into a cable box and could the cable company be offering an update for their cable box's firmware?

hi matt...

ok, i have a little experience with this kind of remote nonsense, so here's some input...

first, to confirm your remote is transmitting properly, a simple test can be done if you happen to have a digital camera or digital camcorder... the sensors in most of these cameras can see the infrared output of a typical remote. if you point the remote at the camera and watch thru the LCD display, you'll see the thing light up and pulsate...

try comparing its output brightness with that of a known good working remote. if they look roughly the same, the remote itself is probably good.

second, shut down all of your other home entertainment equipment that is located nearby, and then try some remote testing with just your unit that's giving you trouble. if there is any improvement in range, it would indicate that one of your other devices is interfering somehow.

third, if you are using one of those ' net-command ' like features in your equipment, whereby one system uses a plug-in infrared emitter to control other devices, that system may be interfering with your unit that's having trouble.

fourth, any other items nearby that might utilize infrared light, such as motion sensors and the like, may be causing unintended interference. just like radio signals, infrared communications can be subject to infrared interfering devices.

in my experience, i own a mitsubishi LT-46249 television that happens to generate some wicked interference when it's first powered up. i traced the trouble to the backlight in the TV. either the backlight itself, or it's power supply, starts up noisy when it's cold. when this happens, the tv can't even see its own remote for up to 10 minutes, after which the noise dies down and the remote then works. the interference that happens affects several of my devices in various ways. some of my peripheral devices work fine, while others might work intermittently. still others refuse to function at all, even with their respective remotes 1 inch away from the IR receiver.

while i'm not really sure if i'm dealing with IR interference, or actual EMI getting into the IR receiver electronics, i do know that the backlight system from the television is the cause. the tv i have has a feature in it that allows one to shut the backlight off manually. if i shut the backlight off during the period of trouble, the interference disappears and all works peachy. as soon as i restore the backlight, the trouble comes back. also, the interference reduces in intensity as i reduce the backlight level.

so try to be wary of this kind of interference. it may just be that your particular unit having the trouble might be more susceptible to such interference.

rgds,

ron g

hi matt...

one more thing, here. your 2160 COULD have a defective IR detector. this has happened to me with different equipment, and i was able to cure the issue by replacing the IR detector in the unit itself. defective things can range from simple sensitivity issues, to a detector that is ( incorrectly ) not designed to receive IR light at the correct wavelength. if you're handy with a soldering iron, this might be a relatively simple and/or cheap fix, as IR detectors are not very expensive. radio shack used to carry one or 2 of these gadgets many years ago, but they might not as of now.

rgds,
ron g

Checked walmart.com this morning for 515's.Showed in stock,updated using 1000 in cart,showed only 1.I snagged it.Price was unchanged.

Was that the 515 or the 513?