Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575 - Page 100

And they are still bringing crazy high prices. I've bid on some of them but I want a bargain and have been unsuccessful.

Walmart still has H2160
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...ct_id=10104532

I already have the 2160, one here in use now and one at FedEx waiting to be delivered to my local WalMart on Monday. I've also got a WalMart with the 3576 in stock at $298. I just want to steal a 3576 from Sam's auctions.

I don't think that's going to happen.

All, Per this entry cut an order at 10:17 Sat. Site to Store for my dear mom in law!! I was convinced she needed this some months ago and jumped on it. She's no tech dweeb but will do it just fine.

The DV-HD feature is, I think, the most valuable but she now sends tapes of Flyers games to her son in California. Now she'll be up at the 21st century.

Now do I order one for me to supplement my -75?

While the HD swapping is going on, is it obvious that a DL DVD writer wouldn't work in the -75/76/mag? If it's hardcoded to think the max capacity is a typical DVD-R (RW) then I could see it. But... If the machine looks at the drive and gets it's max capacity from there... Haven't thought much about it but if a special driver is not needed (and needs to be available to the OS), perhaps?

HSD issue: Not a big one but once in a while when I stack up titles (typically 3x) to burn one or more titles do not appear on the listing (1. First 2. Second 3. Third). The "First" text or some times the "Second" text is not there. I can delete the title, it burns fine, just doesn't show up in the listing.

I'm also agonizing over when/if my cable co TWC will provide me free digital channels the way broadcast is fixin' to do. I suppose they want the $$. I don't want a Cable Box. I really don't want to drag into the whole box thing.

Thanks all, Mike.

I too just completed an order for the H2160. Get'em while the web site is stable and processing orders

It has been over 2 hours and it is still listed as available.
3 possibilities come to mind.

1. It will show Out of Stock any moment now.
2. They fixed the cycling problem.
3. There was nothing wrong with the website. Some entity was buying them out whenever they became available.

We owe a Thanks and shout out to the person who took the time to call Walmart and make them aware of the problem. In my Pollyanna way I choose to believe they got the message, fixed the problem and enabled us to enjoy this hunk of Tech.

And of course thanks to Wajo (we always do that, right?)
Thanks all. M.

That would appear to be Gastrof

Has anyone noticed aspect ratio issues when playing DivX on the 3576?
So far the ones I've tried appear taller/thinner than when played on a PC.

My display is 4x3 and I tried messing around with video/tv aspect ratio setting but it seems to have no effect on DivX playback.

Is there any way to tweak playback or is DivX functionality just generally useless if you hate messed up AR?
Does the unit, regardless of set up, set the AR based on 16x9 displays?

Finally got approval from the CFO, wajo?

Do you have an AVR in the mix as well?

Oh poop.

I'm one of those guys that just always has to know what all of the different inputs and outputs do and how to use them. I'm a big wire / adapter packrat, too. I guess it's people like me that keep monoprice in business.

Hey, speaking of, take a look at the diagram on the back of my cablebox. Anyone know what those two 1394 ports could possibly be used for? Scientific Atlanta's website says this:

Dual IEEE 1394 Digital Outputs with Digital Transmission Content Protection
Provide a 400-Mbps interconnection to digital display devices (HDTV’s)

Huh? If they have CP why the heck would you hook them up to your HDTV? There are USB/IEEE 1394 firewire adapters if you see where I'm going with this.

UPDATE: I found a thread that answers ^^ this ^^ question.

Uh...no...I was kind of hoping no one would bring that up.

I'm using a cheapo Sony HTIB DAVHDX267W. I know! I know! Call me more of a videophile than an audiophile. It doesn't even have a separately-powered subwoofer.

Of course, I realize that leaves me with almost zero flexibility on transferring and converting all of my signals going around every which place. The big thing is, it only has 1 L/R audio input. My TV has 1 L/R audio output, so I have to bring all audio into the TV and output to the HTIB. I can't use digital / optical audio cables at all without a real AVR. The sound from the HTIB's HDMI output sounds pretty good to me on DVD playback, though.

I just don't have the dough for a really good AVR and probably won't for awhile. I've got my first kid coming soon and I'm already learning how expensive they are...especially with the economy in the crapper, I just don't know how safe my job is now.

I easily convinced the Mrs. that a Maggie at $240 was a solid investment, mainly because buying miniDV tapes for the camcorder was going to get too expensive. I like $0.35 DVD copies better. This device is going to work beautifully for us in that regard.

You ought to try buying a older Receiver used maybe from somebody updating to the latest and greatest one.
I'd bet Craigs List and some of the forums like right here have some great deals on older top end or midfi ones that would work very well for you as long as you don't need HDMI or true HD support etc...
I have a Onkyo 777b I bought probably close to 10 years ago that does DTS and Dolby digital, has several optical and coaxial audio ins, full analog 5.1 in and outs so you can do DVD-AUDIO and SACD or add better exernal amps if desired, has a sub out etc.
It outputs 105 watts a channel, sounds great, has continued to work without any issues all these years, and it has very good headroom, will go has high as about 200 watts a side into 4 ohms, can drive difficult loads too.
There are other very nice units from mid and high end company's that do very similar stuff, bet you could get a nice one for 200 or even way less. I paid 750 for mine which was a smokin deal then, now I'd be lucky to get 200 for it.
Another option is to watch the deals sites like slick deals and fat wallet, every so often a big box store will blow out last years model for pennies on the dollar. If your one of the lucky ones to get there before the employees and mass shoppers find out you get a deal.

Agreed, Lots of deals out there, example Refurb for 250 normal 600.

I can tell you all of the DivX video I tried from my 3576 to my Samsung widescreen were also stretched one way or the other (sorry can't remember which way) so now I just convert DivX stuff first.

Convert to what? DVD?
This is my first DVD player that has DivX functionality. Is this a common problem?

I hear you guys (Dartman / auskck). An AVR upgrade just isn't in the immediate future, but I know I should be keeping an eye out for any closeouts. I get no raise this year (company-wide salary freeze). Second time I've been through one of those in the last 10 years. I guess I should be happy I have a job.

In making do with what I have, I'm wondering how I should hook things up when the Maggie arrives. The TV has 2 HDMI inputs (both in use ATM). I also have 2 Component Inputs (one is used by a PS2 -- yes PS2 -- which has a few games that are 1080i). I also have an unused digital optical audio output which would be nice if I had a decent AVR.

Does anyone think I'd be crazy to hook up the Maggie to my TV via component? I'd have to buy a decent set of cables (the old ones I used in my cable box tests were definitely crap). I'm assuming the "regular" non-premium grade from monoprice are decent (is that a bad assumption when going to a 50" HDTV?). I could unplug the HDMI connection from my HTIB, but I think I'll continue to use its DVD player primarly for playback -- saving the wear and tear on the laser of the Maggie for burning only.

I figured it wouldn't be too big of a deal if I didn't use the HDMI connection on the Magnavox since it is SD, anyway. Maybe I'll swap cables around when I get it and see how the picture looks from the HDMI 1080P upscale to see what I'm missing.

Absolutely not a bad assumption. But the premium ones are still pretty darned comparitively cheap.

The non-premium cables should be fine, though.

Yes I have, many times. I eventually found a new, in the box 3576 from Ebay and just got the UPS delivery notification for Jan 29th. Thanks for the input.

SteelTownGuy you can get a HDMI switcher like the one Monoprice sells for pretty cheap. I use it and have had no serious problems with mine though for some it doesn't work on all their gear. I have used component cables just fine with this machine though I think it only outputs 480i max through them, like it really matter anyways.
I finally got some cheap HDMI cables and hooked it up that way, then I got even more HDMI gear so I bought the Monoprice switch and more cables. I run the Philips into 1 HDMI input on the TV by itself, the other has all the other gear into the switch first so I can have up to 4 more things hooked up.
I use all my optical and coaxial inputs for the audio into the old receiver, with y splitters on the coaxial ones so I can run two devices per plug (One at a time).
The TV gets audio from the HDMI of the Philips, my HDTV tuner I input to the TV with the RCA cables/component and a coaxial digital into the receiver, then the other stuff uses the rest of the digital inputs. It works pretty well, having a Logitech 880 remote helps a lot, push one button and all the proper things happen, by the way, it does have the codes for at least the 3575 on their website if you use one of them.

The 160GB Maggie is showing as "in stock" at Wal-Mart's website right now. I hit refresh twice. Still there.

Steeltownguy, I can address the HDMI connectoin conundrum. When I first got my 2160 to add to my existing 3575, I was faced with the problem of having only 1 HDMI input on my Panny 32" HDTV, so based on wajo's repeated and worthwhile recommendations to check out Monoprice, I bought a very good powered HDMI switcher from them (with remote) for only $30 and it has worked out extremely well in reducing the number of cables. I'm retired from the military so I always check the PX prices first but an amp'd HDMI switcher there was $99 The one at Monoprice is so popular that they've put a limit of one per customer.

Remember that component connections require a total of 5 cables for analog audio or at least 4 if using optical (or coaxial) digital audio connections. I would recommend staying with HDMI whenever possible.

I'm an audiophile foremost, so the lossless digital audio is another great bennie of HDMI. Unfortunately, I don't have an AVR either and our DVD-Audio capable 800W Panny HTIB has no HDMI output so I'm using the component cables for that one.

So now I'm using 2 inputs (of four available) and have 2 extra for expansion!

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

EDIT: Looks like I jumped the gun and replied to SteelTownGuy without reading rest of page. I see Dartman already replied. Sorry for the redundancy (except for the link).

Thanks. Yeah, it's not so much the price of the non-premium components that I was going for. I bought this monster cable for my PS2 (less than $11 shipped) and when I went to hook it up, I learned that the thick grips on the ends of the "premium" cables such as these actually don't fit very well at all on the inputs of my HDTV. The holes for input are so close together that the thick grips come in contact with one another. I managed to get the Y/Cr/Cb fully engaged, but due to lack of space the L/R audio cables can't be fully inserted. I know it sounds weird, but surely someone else has run into this problem before?

So, ever since then, I'd just rather stick with "regular" cables with plenty of room as long as they perform well.

stump69 wrote:

...I bought a very good powered HDMI switcher from them (with remote) for only $30 and it has worked out extremely well in reducing the number of cables.

...The one at Monoprice is so popular that they've put a limit of one per customer.

Remember that component connections require a total of 5 cables...

Yeah, I saw that 4x1 HDMI powered switcher. If I start to get a lot of stuff with HDMI, I'm definitely going to have to buy one of those. I could even get the 2x1 unpowered one to suit my current needs.

These are pretty good "cheap" alternatives for those of us on HTIB rather than an ideal AVR with HDMI inputs. By the way, I'm with you on the "less is more" approach to cables. 5 component vs. 1 HDMI -- I'll take my 1 thin little cable anyday. Although, my cats would argue otherwise (they prefer to run around and play behind the media center when there are MORE cables in the way). Yeah, I need to invest in some cable ties.

I'll have to think this one over for a bit. I really don't see myself buying too much more stuff for the media center for awhile. Maybe in a couple more years I'll get a Blu Ray player...maybe.

Dartman wrote:

I have used component cables just fine with this machine though I think it only outputs 480i max through them, like it really matter anyways.

Didn't wajo, or maybe somebody else, say its usually better to let your HDTV upconvert a signal to its native resolution (1080P in my case)? I kinda wondered about that. If I use the HDMI cable from my Maggie to the HDTV and let the Maggie upconvert to 1080P is it possible that I'm going to get a worse signal than sending component video (at 480i as Dartman says)?

I just ordered one.

By the way, you guys are evil. Last week I was having problems with my VCR and wanted look up information on possibly getting a plain DVD recorder or VCR/DVD combo machine. Now I find myself ordering this machine from Walmart for $240 + tax. Just evil.....