Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575 - Page 652

FYI- I returned the new Mvox 513 (ordered fromWalMart online a couple of weeks ago) today at one of the Longview, Texas stores. It was unopened- although FedEx came fairly close! This should make a good super-low-mileage "refurb" for some lucky buyer down the line somewhere.

Meanwhile, ye olde 2160A is chugging along very well on the 727V update, with a near-new 515 refurb back in its box waiting to take over at the first sign of trouble.

Thanks, The link worked. Not sure why the item did not come up when I searched the site for Magnavox.

Any clue as to why the 515 is out of stock? Some thoughts. These are only thoughts. I don't have a clue if they are valid.

1. Funai only makes batches and it is not time for the next batch of 515s.
2. Floods in Thailand have made sourcing the 500GB drives difficult or expensive.
3. Walmart is so price sensitive they only want to stock the cheapest model.

From a business perspective I don't see the reason to produce two models so close together in price and performance. It would make sense to eliminate one model to reduce the cost of inventory for parts and finished products. With HDD storage being so much less expensive than it was a few years ago it would seem to make business sense to only manufacture the 515 and keep the cost down on it by selling more units instead of splitting sales between two models.

dspman and Wajo-

You got me.

I've got to go to Wal-Mart tomorrow. I'm getting one if they have it at ours.

As I have noted previously,we have not seen any 515's new or refurbed listed on this forum with a build date later than Sept. 2011.I think production on them has stopped.Just my opinion from this info. and if I were you I would get a 515 now(if you can find one) instead of being disappointed later.

I wish Funai would sell the rights for the 515 to another company sort of like the original Beetles were built and sold in South America.

When I was looking for a Universal remote for my upstairs tv I stumbled on some high end remote that claimed it work many of the same devices independently in different rooms. Not sure how it does that unless it is a radio remote that sends a radio signal to a rcvr that then converts to a IR signal with a extender taped over the IR input port on each similar device.

What's even funnier, is that they list it as "288.88 DOWN from 299) but... OOS!
What a circus...

I'm so glad I got both my 513s at the "original" 198$.

That's the spirit. Think of them as an elephant with the brain of a flea. Now add a 50% annual turnover rate. This raises your odds better than even. You just have to reach the right person at the right time.

Wajo
[9. REMOTE OPS
Operating from a Remote Location... Includes instructions for Philips and Magnavox (all Mags the same)
Slingbox Manual
Slingbox Info
Google List of Sellers
$49.99 Wireless Whole-House Video Sender/Receiver
NEW $59.99 Wireless Whole-House Video Sender/Receiver Pro
Auskck's Recommendation on $49.99 Unit (5-yrs of Use)]

Well the one I saw I thought cost at least as much as a Walmart 513.

This one you pointed me to seems better price. Does it indeed work two 515's simultaneously? Is Auskck still recommending it?

Auskck fell ill. His last postings were in October 2009. See this post and those following it:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2#post17335512

That's a shame.

Well that is sad about Auskck. But thanks for pointing me to the posts.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this problem but I have searched the Magnavox H2160MW9, 515, 513, etc. thread and have been unable to find any other posts or links that describe my problem.

I have an H2160MW9 that's slightly less than 3 years old. I have suddenly lost all audio on input in the box. All other functions on the box, including video in and out all continue to work normally. I can play older programs from the hard drive or DVD's and get the audio OK but any programs recorded after this morning only have video but no audio. Also, any programs which I view real time now have only video but no audio as well. The problem occurs whether the program input is via the RF input or via the audio cables.

I have also proven that the problem is within the unit itself and not with the program sources (by swapping out input sources such as cable boxes, etc.) and have verified that the unit is properly receiving both audio and video input from the program source.

I first noticed the problem when programs which had been recorded up until last evening had normal audio but ones recorded this morning through the present no longer have audio. I can find no settings in the device that would seem to lead to or cause this problem and I have tried unplugging the unit for an extended time to reset it, to no avail.

Nothing has worked so far and it seems to me that there is a problem in the audio circuit within the unit itself. I don't know if this is repairable or not but given the fact that the box is not that old, I am somewhat disturbed that it may no longer be useable except for playing back DVDs.

Has anyone else here experienced this problem with this box or otherwise have any information on it? If there is anything I can do about this short of replacing the unit, I would love to know about it. Thanks.

Okay-

You say it's your audio inputs that aren't working?

What's your source?

Cable box? Satellite box? Could the audio on the box have somehow had its volume lowered?

What happens if you try to record off the 2160's tuner?

Have you tried unplugging the recorder, letting it sit for an hour or two, and then plugging it back in and rebooting it?

This may be old news to most if not all of you, but I just made (for me) an amazing discovery.

Up until recently I only had a 4x3 TV, and left my 515 set to "4x3 letterbox".

The 515 refurb, however, is hooked up to a small widescreen TV. I've got the refurb set to "4x3 letterbox" as well, because any DVDs burned on the machine could still be played into the older TV.

The other night I recorded a great musical show off our PBS station (on the refurb), and while using the "zoom" feature on the widescreen TV crops out the letterbox bars, the picture quality does go down.

The show was going to air again Wednesday night, so I decided to record it with the recorder temporarily set for "16x9 widescreen", using the onboard tuner. (Figured I'd get a copy in true widescreen for later use.)

Once the show had aired, I restored the refurb unit to its "4x3 letterbox" setting.

When I went to view the show, however, I found the thing had apparently recorded with black bars in letterbox format.

Oddly enough, the station was at that very moment running the show again, so I decided to set the recorder once more for widescreen. Not to record, mind you. The show was half over, but just to see if the station was coming in letterboxed for some reason.

Nope. The station was coming in thru the tuner in true widescreen. Odd.

I then checked out the recording I'd made earlier.

Ummm....it was now playing out in true widescreen, no letterboxing, no black bars.

I switched the recorder back to "4x3 letterbox" and found the recording was now playing out with black bars added, in letterbox format.

I'd thought up to now that if you recorded off the tuner, the recording was in whatever format the recorder is set for.

Seems that may be true only if you record in 4x3. (Maybe not, tho'. I'll have to check it out later.)

It's pretty clear, tho', that if you have the recorder set for 16x9 widescreen, tuner recordings become "flexible", and will later play out in whatever format you currently have the recorder set for.

I don't know if this was true of the earlier models, but it's interesting.

I'll have to play a bit to make sure on this, but it does seem that any DVD you burn off a widescreen recording will stay in widescreen, and will not cooperate with the recorder's aspect ratio setting.

I'd burned a DVD off a widescreen recording made on my first 515, and then dubbed that DVD back to the hard drive of the 515 refurb. It plays back only in widescreen, and even in the "letterbox" setting, no letterboxing occurs in playback.

Summary-
While this may not be news to you, I've found that shows coming in off the tuner are not the only things affected by the recorder's aspect ratio setting. A hard drive recording made in widescreen (off the tuner) will come out letterboxed if that's the machine's current setting, and the same recording will come out in true widescreen if that is the machine's current setting.

I don't know yet what'd happen if you set the machine for letterbox, recorded a widescreen show to the hard drive, and then reset the recorder for 16x9 for playback.

Maybe that's next.

It is. Read this section of Wajo's help.

Gastrof, that's all *very* interesting to me. I've been using a 2160A for over 2 yrs now, always on a 4:3 CRT TV, connected to analog cable, and have never messed with the screen format settings. But now, as a warranty replacement for a 27" CRT bought new in April '09(yes, there were a very few available then!) we're about to get a 32" 16:9 flat panel- probably will be a Panasonic TC-L32C3. Would get something a little bigger but it's gotta fit Mom's cabinet. I would really like it if I could set things up so my 80+ y.o. Mom could see her beloved old musicals on the full screen or near-full screen instead of the doggone letterbox. Right now she's watching a used 27" CRT I picked up for $20, great picture & she's happy with it. But if I can get full 16:9 screen image instead of letterbox on the new TV, that might convince her it's a good thing after all!

This seems to be the key part-
"You should set this DVDR for 16:9 Wide in the Video > TV Aspect menu to make sure most of your recordings will play well on all TV types."

Problem is, I never had a widescreen TV hooked up to the recorder, until I got the 515 refurb. (The widescreen TV came along after nearly all my equipment, including all my recorders, was lost.)

It's worth noting here, tho', that if you do leave the recorder set at "16x9" when using a 4x3 display, to get any recordings to play back looking right on the 4x3 screen, you'll have to change the recorder over to one of the 4x3 settings. (A bit of a pain, since there's no button on the remote to do it. You have to go into the menus.)

Also, any live TV watching done thru the recorder's tuner will be distorted on the 4x3 screen while the recorder is set for 16x9.

Also, isn't it true that any DVDs you record off a tuner recording made in widescreen will stay widescreen? You won't be able to play them normally on a 4x3 display at all? (No anamorphic element to the recording?)

Will a widescreen recording go to DVD as letterbox if you set the recorder to "4x3 letterbox" before burning the disc?

Example1:
2160V set for 16:9 progressive on, TV is 4:3, live content is 480i SD digital, TV is 720p, component cables. Same picture when content is 720p or 1080i.

I see no distortion. I do miss the left & right sides. TV has no controls for aspect ratio.

Blu-ray movies (2012 for example) will be letterbox since the content is 2.40:1 and nothing will give you a "full" screen without distortion.

Example2:
515H set for 16:9 progressive on, TV is 16:9 1080p, live content is 1080i 16:9 HD digital. HDMI cables though a AVR set to passthrough anything it gets.

Screen has no letterbox. TV is set to not mess with signal (Sony: EX700 full pixel). Channel displays barn doors with in-house studio content since they have not gone HD yet.

Sony TV has a button on remote that shows you how a "wide", "zoom", "full" will affect the conversion.

Thanks for your response. The source is a cable box. I have connected the output from the cable box to other recorders and the audio was fine on all of the other recorders that I connected the cable box (source) to, indicating both that the signal leaving the cable box (and going to the 2160) had both audio and video and that the cable connecting it was operating properly as well.

Furthermore, I tried connecting the 2160 to other cable boxes which were operating normally and known to be producing both adequate audio and video and the problem with the 2160 remained. That would indicate to me that the cause of the problem is within the 2160 and not because of a cable box with the volume either too low or not present at all.

Also, I am only able to record video from the 2160 tuner and not audio....and that is precisely the problem. Any signal now coming out of the 2160 tuner has only video but no audio regardless of whether it goes on to be recorded by the device or is being watched real time. On the other hand, programs on the HD which had been recorded prior to the problem first appearing yesterday (or on DVDs recorded previously as well) DO produce audio when being played back even now.

That is what is particularly puzzling about the problem. That indicates to me that the 2160 is still capable of producing audio from pre-existing recordings but not from newly recorded ones (or during real time viewing).

I haven't tried unplugging the 2160 for a full hour or two and rebooting it as you suggested but I HAVE tried unplugging it for several minutes and rebooting it with no change to the problem. I will try leaving it for an hour or two longer as you suggested.

Also, I have never done a FW update for the 2160 so I suppose I could try upgrading the FW and seeing if that fixes the problem. I am not optimistic
that will solve the problem however. Since the 2160 had been working properly for over two years now, I am not clear why it should now need a FW update in order to continue doing so.

For those that have upgraded the 515 from 726 to 727 FW. What differences have you found in the FW? I have one 515 with 726 and the other with 727 and I haven't found any differences yet.

Only the issue may be with the skip function and I can't swear to that. It may have been that way with 726. See previous page. It seems to affect only weekly schedules, not daily.

In other words, don't update unless you suffer from new cow syndrome like I do.

So I talked to a magnavox customer rep today. She is doing a quick exchange on a defective 515 I bought from J&R two weeks ago. I asked in the conversation if the units were discontinued, she said yes, but the engineers were working on the replacement model for the 515 now. It would be a New HDD/BD/DVD Recorder with some new features like dual layer recording. I asked how she knew so much; she said she wanted to keep up with what's going on in her company. I asked if it would be released soon. She said no , the proposed released date is Black Friday this year; she said they would probably use customer suggestions on product specs or needs as they have on previous models. Hope everything she said is good info. Great info on this web site.
Thanks wajo , keep up the good work.

Today's not April 1st, is it?

What I'm talking about is this-

Recorder set to 16x9, but the TV is a 4x3 screen, standard def. Gets the output from the recorder thru composite.

The recorder isn't letterboxing anything, and is getting, recording, and outputting JUST the widescreen picture.

That widescreen picture, getting to the TV, is the full content of the widescreen picture. The sides aren't cut off. Instead the entire content of the widescreen picture is being squeezed into the 4x3 display, resulting in everyone looking tall and thin.

I don't see how you'd be getting a 4x3 version of the widescreen picture, correct aspect ratio, but with the sides missing. The recorder, set on 16x9, should be feeding the whole widescreen picture to your TV. There's no way you're not getting a squeezed widescreen picture.

I'm doing it right now with our local NBC affiliate, and I'm getting the Tonight Show with the full content of the 16x9 broadcast on my 4x3 screen...so everything is squeezed left and right. None of the widescreen picture is missing, but it's being forced into a 4x3 screen, so everything's squeezed, so everyone looks tall and thin.

If I recorded this show and then reset the recorder to letterbox, the widescreen recording would be letterboxed and appear with black bars (and no squeezing or "distortion") on the 4x3 screen.

Things recorded in letterbox, however, won't go widescreen when the recorder is reset to widescreen. (I've tried recording in all three formats, and then tried playing back the three recordings in all three formats.)

As said originally, if you leave the recorder set on "widescreen", widescreen broadcasts get passed on to a 4x3 TV squeezed/distorted.

You can later view widescreen recordings in letterboxed format, if you reset the recorder to letterbox, but you'd then have to reset it back to widescreen to make recordings be widescreen and usable by either type of TV later on.

To have to keep changing the video settings on the recorder is too "messy" and also leaves open the chance of forgetting and being stuck with a letterboxed recording when you were expecting a widescreen one.

The guy whose post you're talking about last posted on these forums in September of 2009. You got it. Two and a half years ago.

Wow!
I need to call there to get such good news since I have never heard of it here.

Seems odd that Magnavox would be replacing a recorder sold by J&R only two weeks ago.

Wouldn't you have to go thru the seller first, namely J&R, rather than go to Magnavox directly?