Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575 - Page 698

You are probably right. I wish they would support HD/DD5.1, but I can almost understand their marketing. Well, good luck Funai. Keep the price down and you can sell enough on walmart.com to make money.

A new tuner would be a great help. A better way to get time would help. But I degress.

If Funai wants sales to stop declining, new units need to be able to play Bluray (in full 1080 out via HDMI) so that remote control confusion, and competition for entertainment center shelf space & TV input availability aren't issues for prospective buyers. Does Funai not yet understand Joe Average doesn't want more than one slot to choose from to put a disc in? How can a Bluray disc not be playable in a new machine that can play every other kind of 5" or smaller disc? Even if Funai still doesn't get it, WalMart ought to by now.

I just wish someone in marketing would wake up and smell the roses, A consumer can not bump up sales if the units are not on store shelves to buy. This is not pointed at just DVD recorders but a lot of products in general - the products just are not out there.

And what choice does Funai have if Walmart does not buy them in quantities - who else do they sell them to in Brick and Mortar land?

I am pretty sure Best Buy will not carry them. Maybe Sears.

I really think a large part of the DVD recorder market is folks who like to actually touch the product.

Drives that play both Blu-Ray's and DVD's, but only record to DVD have been available and used in many PC's for a number of years. One of these drives would satisfy the "wants" like mrmazda's (and others), while not upsetting the MPAA. (Funai, being one the largest Blu-Ray manufacturers, should be able to accomplish this at minimal additional cost.)

But as Wajo stated earlier, if there is a "future" model, hopefully it will incorporate more features and improvements per the "Wish" lists.

Right now, let's hope there's a boat on its way from China, with several "containers" full of new model MDR's.




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Being a Baby Boomer and having grown up with touching products on shelves and not necessarily quality products, as I do remember "Made in Japan". One would think..... seeing as we were such a huge group that there would still be enough of us wanting things on shelves that due to our large numbers one would see things we want on shelves.

But I guess we are dying out too quickly

It is online purchase or nothing.

I do keep my fading eyes open when in Walmart or other Brick and Mortar stores and have seen folks looking for devices to record tv shows on that are not VCR's. Is it really their faults that there is nothing to choose from but maybe a combined DVD/VCR, a DVD player, or a Blue Ray Player?

I do realize that there have been some horrific DVD record issues(Machines and Discs) over the years, which have not helped the reputation of DVD recorders vs the VCR which was more reliable at recording and working in another unit but not as clear a picture in most cases.

I also realize we all went thru the dragged out NTSC to ATSC conversion and are still dealing with "Heaven forbid don't let them make copies in HD" Sony stuff but geeze there were years when nothing was out there for us to buy other then VCR's long after VCR's were ancient like us Babyboomers

My Directv DVR has an s-video output and the recordings on the Maggie look pretty good. However, my Directv receiver only has a composite (yellow) output connected to my other Maggie and I get a lot of dot crawl. I tried connecting the component outputs of the Directv receiver (downressed to SD) into an old Philips DVDR (that has component inputs but a so so video encoder) and output the Philips s-video output to the Maggie's svideo input. The recording is pretty good but it's a bit of a hassle.





ReplyQuote Multi

That is so true. Even after purchasing a flat-screen TV, we could only watch shows in real time on it. Sitting beside it, I had a small old analog TV with VCR hooked up to time shift our favorite shows. I did NOT want to rent a DVR, and searched several years for a solution. Was thrilled to discover the 513 and bought it determined to figure out the simple stuff, no matter how long it took. For a gal with no electronics training (hubby in same boat), we are finally able to watch recorded shows on our flat-screen TV. It’s great that new Maggies will be forthcoming. They may not fulfill everyone’s wish list, but it’s certainly better than the VCR/analog TV setup we had! Thank you Magnavox

I like my 515 as much as the next guy, but I am surprised so many people here apparently use it as their main viewing machine for time-shifting. I've always had a DVR for this. I recently bought a used Tivo with a lifetime sub. For an extra $300, the Tivo is way more versatile that a maggie. I have HD, a guide, and a bunch of goodies as well as a ton of storage options.

I love the 515 for making DVDs and for being able to move programming around the house, but as a main "DVR", nope.

Thanks for changing the thread title. But you could make it easy by just calling it the Magnavox SD DVD Recorder thread.

I'm sure this will make somebody unhappy, but it seems there is no light at the end of this tunnel. Over the last two years there have been several HD recorders that have tried to make a dent in this market. Some are gone, some are still trying, but the Magnavox line is the most stable, easy to use, and best supported DVR product. I have the V2160A and 515H. Yet both are way behind the fundamental internals used by newer products.

If I went to a Walmart and wanted to test a TV, they would not hand me a remote with a TV/DTV button. They would not show me an SD television. Even the cheapest product would be HD. Yes, it would be cheap and lack features that would make me happy but it would still be better than that 27" analog CRT I have at home that just died.

Funai, you can do better. We are on this thread because DVD Recorders don't have HD as a spec. The HDTV Recorder thread is where the newer products live, however shortly. It's where we belong. I don't want an EPG and can live with a manual clock. There are many wish list items that could make this one great product. Being able to hold hundreds of titles is not one of them. I could do that with a DVD burner. Funai, we asked for more products and you came through. But this well is running dry. People pay twice as much for an HD recorder even if it only works 50% of the time.

Rant over. I'll hide now.

SUBTITLE: Those who PAY THE BILL Choose the Options...
The omission of VIEW SINGLE POST is what killed AVS Forums for me... (Besides it being hard on the old eyeballs - this HUGE Reply box is 'Thin' Black on 'Bright' White - I can plainly see *ALL* of my 'Floaters' in *BOTH* eyes! )

It's nice to be able to print a HARDCOPY of *ONE* POST to place in a 3-ring binder for easy, future reference. But, alas, those days are gone...
| Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show) |
BTW, nowadays when I CLICK on 'Color', I get an *IMMEDIATE* Blue - no palette, no choices, just blue. Sort of like jjeff with the smilies; you have to 'memorize' the options and enter them MANUALLY. That's called

SUBTITLE: Cell / Battery Capacity (in AH) vs Charging Rate (in mA)

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I don't follow your logic here.

I spent SEVERAL MONTHS reading archived threads and creating a FAQ over at CandlePower Forums: TTA's Picks for Best Answers to Rechargeable Battery Questions

AFAIK, you can easily charge a LARGER capacity cell / battery with a lower Charge Rate charger - it will only take longer. But, charging a SMALLER capacity cell / battery with a higher Charge Rate charger will probably overheat / damage the cell / battery.

Read a few of the [Theory] LINKs and see what conclusion you come to...

SUBTITLE: Creating a Repository for Information...
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I've created SEVERAL Yahoo Groups expressly for grouping data as I saw fit:
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1. YG: RCA SelectaVision CED Player Maint.
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2. YG: Poopli Non-Updating Deadbeats

SUBTITLE: WMC 'Newbie'...
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How?

Also, how do I get the HDHR3-US "No Data Available" fields populated in WMC? I haven't figured that out yet...

SUBTITLE: Sharing Files...
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Over a decade ago, before I bought my first ReplayTV and found out about Poopli, I belonged to a small group that shared shows via FTP Servers. I don't know if you can share .WTV or .DVR-MS files, but I'm certain that .TS files will play anywhere.

Anybody else have an FTP Server setup?

I agree, what makes it worse is it seems like the smiles I like to use the most now require a extra step by clicking MORE When I questioned the powers that be if we would get MORE smiles(like another forum I frequent, VH which has 10s and 10s of not only stationary smiles but also animated ones(I think they call them GIFs??)) I was told nope WYSIWYG

I agree although I do have some real world experience to add.
When the battery went out on one of my 1000w UPSs instead of replacing the internal battery with a over inflated OEM battery(before I discovered the wonders of Amazon for UPS batteries ) I purchased a Optima sealed gel cell type of deep cell battery. It wasn't much more $ than the OEM battery and would provide more than 10x the capacity, of course it was more than twice the size of my UPS so I needed to run extra heavy duty cable to the outside of the UPS and the UPS would actually sit on top of the battery.
Long story short when I got the battery it was almost discharged, upon hoking it up to the UPS it immediately gave me a battery failure warning and shut off(I tried this several times) Finally I decided to use my automotive charger to charge up the battery, then when I hooked it up the UPS everything was fine. I've even had a few short(1hr) power failures and after power was returned the UPS charged the battery back up to full.
I guess what I'm trying to say is while a larger battery may work fine, if it ever becomes mostly discharged you may need to jumpstart it with a automotive type of battery charger

rant on With the exception of my last smile(literally a smile) every smile I used required a EXTRA keystroke......progress eh rant off
PS, did we lose the ability to TITLE posts? more progress?......anyway titling a thread like this as OFF TOPIC was nice use of that previous extra that apparently seems to have been lost...sure you can kind of make due(like you did) but why when we use to have that feature did they take it away.......oh and we have also lost the ability to give a reason for editing a post, not that we will have that option much longer anyway.....
Edited by jjeff - 6/22/12 at 6:50pm

SUBTITLE: Replying to an Apparently DELETED Post... [June 22, 2012 @ 8:57PM]
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Just because someone doesn't ANNOUNCE a project that they're working on doesn't mean they didn't actually attempt it and give up...

I *REALLY* wanted to get *ALL* of your great Magnavox DVDR info into a three-ring binder but, as was mentioned, all the LINKs to separate posts make it a LOT of work. And now, with VIEW SINGLE POST gone, Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

This pal is right, but not all have full access to Cable Cards (thx to the Cable Cos), or even like (can?) to pay for cable, or even for a good HTPC. So is OTA + the Maggy, or nothing. Of course, without Funai's help is OTA + nothing.

NICE!

i've read much of the info here (it's GREAT - THANK YOU!!), but i haven't seen anything about the DVD menu following dubbing and finalizing. it may be that i've missed it, and if so, please just point me in the right direction.

okay, i'm new to all this, and scrambling to learn it all. i've burned, like TWO whole DVDs on my (quite old) computer, and when i did, i noticed i was given an option about how the Menu would behave. now that i've seen one of the DVDs i made using my Mag515 played on another player, i noticed that when one title was finished, the next title AUTOMATICALLY begins playing. i'm quite sure that one of the options for the computer-based burn was to either have that happen, or to have the DVD Menu displayed again.

so i'm wondering if that option is available for the 515? it would be very helpful for the people who use some of the DVDs i burn. (mostly for a class i'm in, where we only watch one title per class.)

i have a couple other questions too, but i'll wait until i finish reading, word-for-word, all the postings out here. i likely won't have as many then, lol.

again, THANK YOU for taking the time to both run some of the tests that've been done, and post all this great information!

In a DVD Recorder, I've only seen that feature available in a Toshiba RD-XSxx series, e.g., my RD-XS35. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but you just don't have that option on any Magnavox. I've often wanted to the the same thing you want to, and for the same reasons, but I think your best option at this point is to re-author on a computer with a program that allows this. I often use Corel DVD MovieFactory, but there are others.

As to "how?", multiple ways. For titles transferred from my TiVo, the transfer program shows file size and bitrate of the recording. Once the file is on my PC (from either TiVo or HD Homerun) file size is evident from Windows Explorer and there are any number of programs that will show bitrate -- MediaInfo is one of the most useful and while I'm editing, Video ReDo will show file/streams information that includes bitrates. If you have Win-7, when you select a video file (i.e. .m2ts) the information pane at the bottom of Win Explorer shows bitrate and of course the Properties dialog will show bitrate.

As to the other question, I don't use WMC. I use NextPVR and subscribe to a guide service for $25/yr. Ask Dartman, he uses WMC with the HDHR Prime.
Edited by Kelson - 6/23/12 at 11:25am

Naturally we'll each buy twelve. Then several of the new ones.

Why didn't they wait until all the old ones were gone before giving out the info on the new ones?

I mean, not to discourage people from buying the old ones (that could be shooting ourselves in the foot), but who'll buy an older model when the "good" ones are only a few months away?

Just wanted to update you all and let you know with the HDMI cable hook-up on the 515H and my LG TV set as "set by program" aspect ratio, the aspect ratio is great on 4:3 and 16:9 content now. I'm happy.

Just cleaned up my set-up. Burned off all the recordings from my old DVR (by either watching them or sending them to the 515) and removed it and its external drive. My new Tivo is the main man now.

I am now going to open an E-Bay store to sell all my extra cabling. It's amazing how many audio and video cables I removed from the set up by simplifying some things.

Still hanging on to my old Panny DVD recorder. One thing I like about it is the F-record- allowing you to fill the disk at a quality level that will use all the remaining space. It is the one feature that prevents me retiring it. Wish the Mag had that.

Great History Writeup!
I have to say that I am so thankful that they did continue with the progress of these units.
My life would not be the same without my 515's & 513. I enjoy them so much!
I hope they do continue on with the progress of these units.
Brent

SUBTITLE: a 'Gotcha' Regarding Lead-Acid and Gel-Cells!!!
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You brought up a good point that I had forgotten about - my FAQ over at CandlePower Forums is mainly about NiCD and NiMH, with maybe a teeny bit about L-Ion, Lead Acid and Gel-Cell.

A completely, or NEARLY completely, discharged Lead Acid or Gel-Cell presents as a DIRECT SHORT to an unsuspecting charger. I see my ~40+ year old Sears 10A Lead Acid charger PEG when I try to charge a battery in winter on its last legs. But, as you also mention, as the voltage builds, the current demands decrease and the UPS circuitry can then handle it.

Thanks for pointing that out. [ThumbsUp]

Practically all the newer "Smart" automotive battery chargers on the shelf today will not charge a severely depleted battery. Smart chargers need to see a voltage higher than than minimum designed threshold before they will begin to charge. If you can bring the battery above minimum voltage requirement by other means, you can then allow the smart charger to finish the charge process. Luckily, I have kept a few old style "dumb" chargers that will replenish a battery that has been completely discharged. One of those chargers happens to be a ~40 year old Sears 10A model. I guess they built those to stand the test of time.
OT I know, but just because your smart charger refuses to charge a battery, does not mean the battery is bad. That being said, it is never a good idea to completely discharge a lead acid battery. It does shorten the life of the battery, but that is better left to discuss in a battery forum.
Edited by morc258 - 6/24/12 at 9:28am