Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575 - Page 691

Well, accoring to J&R this morning, BOTH the 513 and 515 are listed as in stock! It may be your last chance, so get 'em while they're hot!

George, I was joking. Go to the bottom of the page and do a "Search This Thread" for /F7. It crashes everytime for me, but it might be my configuration.

Apple?

I'm thinking starts with F and rhymes with Hunai?

Yup, I got the "Error" then tried it without the "/" just F7.

George

Can anyone help me on how to utilize my 5.1 home theater system for sound with my Mag 515H?

Needing a DVR to record and watch four local OTA channels - don't care about anything else. Trying to decide between a Magnavox MDR515H/F7or a CM-7400. Any recommendations?

Your link is not specific. I have my 515H set for DD and it feeds a Yamaha AVR. I enable all the DSP since the output from HDD stored content is only 2.0 but can be processed. Only a DVD can send 5.1. It's the same audio with HDMI or the digital coax. The audio level is a little higher than other devices, but you may find it normal. I don't playback anything but recorded TV content. You should try PCM to see if it sounds better to you.

+1. I always use my HTIB with my TV no matter what I'm watching So with my 513 I'm not getting use out of the full system, but it still sounds okay.

Check post #1 on both threads. Then compare & contrast.

I have a HTIB which only has 1 HDMI output and 1 digital optical audio input. If I hook up my TV through those 2 inputs/outputs, then I suppose my 515H hooked up via HDMI to my TV will play through the HTIB? I don't see another option, but I'm completely new to this.

It would depend on the TV, but my Sony sends up to DD5.1 out the optical output. I have CEC and ARC disabled on all devices. It should work.

Ok, I guess I'll have to wait because I had to order the cables online and can't try it out yet. Hopefully, it will work.

I just found out that I can not record some HBO programs onto my 2160A.

I normally copy movies from my HBO programs onto my Direct TV DVR and then watch it later. One time I wanted to copy the HBO movie from my DVR onto the 2160A and a message appeared stating that

Your TV does not support this program's content protection, replacing the TV's HDMI cable with component cables will allow you to view the program.

Does anyone know any way to get around this aside from changing HDMI cable to component cable which I don't really want to do due to the quality of the video.

My guess is that the timer recording channels are set is by looking at the timer schedule channel entry in two parts. If channel 5.3 is in the timer record menu, the recorder reads it as the third subchannel on the physical channel first registered to virtual channel 5. The problem is you have two different physical channels with subchannels on virtual channel 5. KSTP is on physical channel 35 with virtual channels 5.1 and 45.5. KSTC is on physical channel 45 with virtual channels 5.3, 5.4, and 5.45. Since the auto channel preset starts at physical channel 2 and scans up from there, it would have found KSTP on physical channel 35 first. It thinks all 5.x channels are on physical channel 35. We know that physical channel 35 only has two subchannels. When you try to record 5.3 with a timer recording, it looks for the third subchannel on physical channel 35. Since there isn't one, the timer recording is a black screen. It looks like the same thing is happening there. You get channels 2.1, 2.2, and 2.4 on physical channel 34 but 2.3 is on physical channel 23. Auto channel preset finds physical channel 23 first so timer recordings for virtual channel 2.1 will point to the first subchannel on physical channel 23. The first subchannel carried on physical channel 23 is virtual channel 2.3.

It's probably not important, but the 2160A doesn't have a component input. But you should try the composite to see if it looks acceptable. When your content is digital it usually looks ok. You will then see if you get letterbox also.

wajo should put your post up front since this is the fourth time the KSTP/KSTC question has been asked/answered. Someone should buy these stations and donate their transmitters to charity.

I'm just saying what I think is happening with George's timer recordings. If it was answered before, I missed it.

Does anyone know how to get the aspect ratio correct with this 515H? On my hdtv, if I set it to 16:9, the 4:3 programs are stretched, but if I have it set to "set by program", 16:9 content is stretched.

You could probably just unplug the HDMI cable at the DVR box before transferring your programs to the 2160A, then reconnect it when you are finished.

If disconnecting and reconnecting the HDMI cable is inconvenient, give component video a try. Many HD set top boxes will output HD up to 1080i over the Red/Green/Blue component video outputs. You probably wouldn't notice any loss in video quality.

Try setting the HDMI mode to 480.

No offence intended. Great explanation. I just remembered that wierd combination from earlier posts. I'm glad I don't live there.

If I set the HDMI mode to 480 with the TV setting at 16:9, will 4:3 programs look normal with the pillar boxes, and 16:9 look normal as well? Sorry to keep asking, but I don't have HDMI connections yet, just composite until I get the HDMI cables in the mail. I just wanted to know if it's possible to get both aspect ratios to play correctly without having to see either one stretched.

I just got the new HDTV, so it's all new to me.

Hey... We voted to have our channel line-up like that. We figured this would help dissuade all those Canadian "Snow Birds" from wanting to come down here to Minnesota because we have such wonderful winters (and further south is too much of a climate change) Ya You Betcha Sure!!.

George

Sounds like it works great for people like you who don't mind 4:3 content stretched , but I do not like to see it like that and I watch both kinds of programming regularly, so constantly switching settings would really be a pain. Is there no solution? I can't be the only one who wants to watch content the way it's supposed to be shown.

Everything showed the proper aspect ratio on my old 4:3 TV without me having to keep changing settings.

If I may offer some help. I set my 2160A/515H at 16:9 (1080p) since my TV is 16:9. The TV is set to show what comes in if it's HD. If it's SD (I have digital cable) then it it will make the 4:3 into 16:9 and my remote has a button to change or override this. If you get your content OTA, all should be happy. Content stored then played by the Mag will come out (HDMI) in letterbox. This is explained in Post #1 and its links. Letterbox is not bad on a 16:9 television. It can be confusing since the raw rf signal will be a nice 16:9 (full pixel on my TV), but a playback of the same content can be letterbox or made wide by the TV.

Not all stations have gone HD yet, so their studio output may be 4:3 (barn doors) since it's really a content issue. Same problem with some commercials.

No, you can't have everything perfect until the world is 100% HD. Someday. Be glad you don't have cable.