Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575 - Page 171

[quote=DigaDo;16529126]Dswensen,

I'm across the river in Portland with my 3576, 2080 and a Sylvania ZV450SL8 connected directly to the Comcast coax. The same tuner is found in these recorders as reported and pictured in several posts, the most recent of which is found here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5#post16429995

The 3576 and 2080 continue to receive the same clear QAM channels as reported by bmoody33:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2#post16217342

The only change I've noticed (to date) is that MoviePlex (105.3) is now scrambled.

Soon after its initial setup the ZV450 lost the clear QAM channels below the 73 range; more recently it lost all the clear QAM channels in the 73-118 range. New channel scans were of little value. The ZV450 is now set up OTA where it receives the ATSC and remaining NTSC channels.

RESPONSE:

Thanks DigaDo. I will check (again) tonight to see if things have changed with Comcast. I continue to be frustrated as I can get several of the high-def channels, including PBS (OPB), but none of the major network channels come through high def, even when manually tuned. In other words, I can't tune 2.3, 6.1, 8.1, 12.1 here in Vancouver. Can't tell whether it's my equipment or Comcast. The hiu-def network channels come through beautifully on my Samsung plasma - just not on my 3576

Rejoice with me, gang,mI fixed it. Since I got it as an "open box" unit from a non-Walmart source, I figured, warranty, shmaranty. With Wajo's drawings helping I unplugged everything and waiting a good 15 minutes. Then I gingerly removed the seal, opened the box, and unscrewed the drive unit from the base. I couldn't see anything apparently wrong, but when I turned the drive upside down, a very thin ribbon cable disconnected from the main circuit board. I at first thought I tore it, but then noticed that it looked like it could be inserted into a connector under the board - and it did. Pushed it in firmly, screwed the drive back in and closed up the box, and now it works! Thanks for your help in giving me confidence to have a go at it.

Rick

The bmoody33 link in the earlier post turns out to be an updated Comcast Portland list showing sub-channels in the sixties. I don't get those sub-channels, perhaps because I've never installed and "activated" the Comcast DTAs. I want to hold onto the clear QAM sub-channels in the 73-118 range as long as they are still present. Comcast DTAs and STBs downgrade us to recording analog signals once those boxes are required/activated. I'm still getting the original analog channels in the sixties range. Those sixties channels are also found in the 73-118 range, a number of which are beautiful digital feeds in that 73-118 range. Perhaps those clear QAM sub-channels will disappear once the dust settles in the Comcast game-plan.

My 3576 and 2080 are still receiving clear QAM sub-channels according to the original bmoody33 channel list.

I'm attaching a scan of my most recent Comcast clear QAM channel list. Notice that some sub-channels are out of sequence, some of the analog-version channel assignments are shown at the right and some channels/networks appear to be on the same sub-channel (e.g., KATU/CNBC and BET/History) because my reformatting of the list stripped-off the final zero for some sub-channels (e.g., 73.1/73.10 and 104.1/104.10). (Perhaps the list would have been better to include in a PM, but PMs do not allow attachments so the list is posted here.)

How many Thursdays have passed since I last reported on this? Well a couple anyway. As you may recall...

Again last Thursday my 1:55am to 3:05am recording went awry, starting at 2:30 am and ending characteristically at 3:05. Third time now since start of the year. No signs the TOD clock was awry.

This time opening the TIMER menu showed the nefarious "E40" code adjacent to the weekly (every Thursday) program. This suggests an overlap or timer set after start time(?). Don't think those are my circumstance.

I tried to program a recording from 1am to 2am and the OVERLAPPING PROGRAMS whine appeared, so perhaps the program is good. I'll just delete and reset the TIMER event.

BTW, I did the 11:57 clock setting test against both local PBS and FOX and both set the clock. Then I disabled (set to off) the AUTO CLOCK feature. I will try it several times again to gain confidence and probably settle on FOX since the PBS one messed me up before. If I check it a couple of times I may get the confidence to leave AUTO enabled.

BTW2, 500GB IDE HDD purring along, zero stress about running out of space. Even getting sloppy about cleaning up.

Some of my TCM captures are coming out to an annoying 2:18, well over the SP threshold. Paring out the chatter only gains me a couple of minutes, not enough. Anyone develop a workaround? Or do you all know the scenes that a TCM movie could do without? Alas, not me.

All this "bad tuner" talk worries me. I don't know what mix of channels my local (TWC) cable has available, anyway I don't have another digi tuner to compare with. Maybe that's a good application for a Digital Converter? As you all know I'm uncertain what the cable co will do "for" me when b'cast goes digital.

Mike

No luck. I find that I can now get most of the "cable-only" channels through the digital tuner (like History, TLC, HGTV, etc.) but only if I manually tune them. Autoscan (air and cable) doens't pick them up - even those that have an XX.1 channel number. I can even get the networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) but NOT IN WIDESCREEN HI-DEF. They used to be there, now they're gone. I suspect Comcast crap (like wanting to sell you HDTV rather than let you tune it for "free"). I can only hope that someone here has a solution (if it's my equipment), or that Comcast brings them back after the June 12 switcheroo. (oh look, a flying pig!)

Well I'm in the same area as Digabo so I get the same channels he does and my 3575 and my LG4200a still get all the digital channels plus a bunch of extras they added at the first of the year when they decided to go all digital and soon kill the analog ones. The 4200 gets all the locals in HD and 5.1 sound if thats how how they are putting it out. We are waiting to see whether they just scramble everything above channel 30 or are just trying to scare everybody into at least getting a crap basic cable box.
I wont hookup that tiny POS they gave me for free, or the converters, till I see what happens, and if they loose all the channels I can do now easily without their boxes I'll probably cancel the TV part.
If your on portland's Comcast as well then you should be getting these channels in at least WS, and even HD if you have a capable tuner for the locals, if your not somethings going on with your setup or gear.
But who knows how long they keep any of this working, we'll just have to wait and see.

Where the ribbon cable is attached there is a pressure clip.

hello all -

i'd like to mention another tuner issue with my 3576 units. this could be associated with my cable service, but i don't think so...

i have 3 3576's connected to COX cable, las vegas, nv... i also have a mits LT-46246 connected to COX as well ( main tv )...

during channel scans, i find that several channels scanned turn up with ' different ' virtual channel assignments... the 3576's DO grab all of the channels, as does the mits tv... however, the 3576's display virtual channels that are not the same, eg, mits will display 75.10 for a given channel, while that same channel will display 75.13 or some other sub-channel on the 3576's... all 3 3576's appear to be consistent with this anomoly, and frankly, i can't confirm ' which ' display is the ' correct ' virtual assignment.

while i've always onsidere the mits to be ' correct ' , there HAVE been issues with the mits tuner ( unrelated to this ), so i cannot comfortably say that the mits is displaying the correct virtual channel...

here in las vegas, COX has continually fiddled around with where they insert various digital channel assignments during the past few months...

an unusual note is that when COX has fiddled with their assignments for, say, the local PBS channel, which has a couple of secondary channels, the mits seems to track these fiddlings while retaining the original subchannel assignment until i perform a re-scan... the 3576's on the other hand, MUST be rescanned in order to recover and re-engage the fiddled channel assignments... also, the 3576's will sometimes ' order ' the scanned subchannels in a different sequence... eg, after re-scan, the 3576's might display the second subchannel ( eg, 10.2 ) BEFORE the primary channel ( eg, 10.1 ) ... i chaulk this up to either the sloppy tuner in the 3576's or to something that COX is doing in terms of subchannel assignment...

just notes here, no real conclusions...

regards,
rg

BTW, I did the 11:57 clock setting test against both local PBS and FOX and both set the clock. Then I disabled (set to off) the AUTO CLOCK feature. I will try it several times again to gain confidence and probably settle on FOX since the PBS one messed me up before. If I check it a couple of times I may get the confidence to leave AUTO enabled.

I am having a similar problem with the time changing. On about three different occasions, the clock was completely off (same day but several hours off).

How do I perform the above clock setting test?

Is the channel it uses analogue or digital. I found my machine was set to 43 but not 43.1 which is Fox digital in my area.

I have noticed the same thing on my neighbors Sony TV and 2160, also on Cox in Kansas. Most of the channels are the same but a few sub channels are different.

Wajo has explained that the hybrid tuners used in the Philips/Magnavox do some "remapping" of clear QAM channels due to being limited to using two digits after the "." i.e., 106.10 for TVLand. My clear QAM tuner Dynex TV has sub-channels out to four digits after the "." The Dynex is currently tuned to sub-channel 102.2031, a local access sub-channel. My Philips 3576 remaps that local-access sub-channel to 102.14.

In the Comcast clear QAM channel list (attached to an earlier post) some channels/networks appear to be on the same sub-channel (e.g., KATU/CNBC and BET/History) because my reformatting of that list stripped-off the final zero for some sub-channels (e.g., 73.1/73.10 and 104.1/104.10).

I don't think the more than two digit sub channels is what's going on here unless the TV is stripping the extra digits from the display. Both the TV and 2160 are showing only one sub channel digit.

It happens here on the 115 channel. The 2160 has NBC on 115.1, ABC on 115.2 and the ABC stations weather channel on 115.3. The Sony TV has NBC on 115.1, skips .2, ABC on 115.3 and local weather on 115.4.

I think the Funai recorders just play by their own rules as to channel numbers as mine has channels in completely different spots then my LG4200 does though most of the time the channels are similar but not exactly the same. I think the LG can go out at least 3 sub digits, maybe 4 and it sounds like Funai's only do 2 so that probably has a lot to do with it right there. Mine will tend to track the extra channels when added as long as it's a sub to one main all ready programed in, other then that most of the time it's rescan time.

so far, mu mits 46246 has gone out to 5 digit sub-channels... the mits has a bug in that it will magically turn newly discovered channels on AFTER one has gone thru the mits channel editor ( not TVG editor ) to set up channels...

i suspect that this is a secondary bug in the firmware, based on the fact that this tv is cable-card enabled ( i have no cable-card installed though )...

the goofey channels that always get turned on are associated with COX's on-demand stuff, where someone with the service is looking at menus or making selections... it seems that this process ( from cox ) randomly turns up clear QAM channels with these higher sub-channel assignments temporarily, and then takes them back down after some subscriber has made his/her selection...

i have a daily routine where i have to go into the mits editor and turn several ' discovered ' channels back off... major nuisance for me, but not enough to make me waste any more time with mits or cox on the issue...

in the past i HAVE advised mits of this, since it's the mits that's randomly responding to stuff, but mits has never come up with any response on this issue...

I went to the "DVD & Blu-ray Players" section of walmart.com today and discovered the Maggie is listed at the top of the page under "Top Sellers" along with 2 DVD players, 3 portable DVD players, and 1 Blu-ray player.

I just thought people might find that interesting since we always wonder how well they sell outside of this group. More people might discover it while it stays there as a highlighted item.

Greetings and salutations!

I am new to this forum, having come upon it during my search for reliable consumer feedback on the bewildering selection of DTV converter boxes. It was thanks to the exhaustive reviews found here that I was able to make a semi-informed choice of which box(es) to acquire.

The next problem I tackled was how to continue being able to watch one channel while recording another on my VCR. The dual converter box solution quickly convinced me that I would have very little signal left from my rabbit ears after traveling through seven lengths of coaxial wire, a splitter and an A/B switch.

Which led me to the excellent discourse by wajo on the virtues of a digital HDD DVD recorder over the single-disc DVDR (very amusing reading I might add). So out I went and bought me a Magnavox H2160MW9 A. Now my television, which is still in very good condition, is one of the older design which has only a single Ant/Cable coaxial port at the back. Thanks to some further reading I learned that it may be possible to use my VCR in place of an RF Modulator, a nice solution since it will leave me all set up to dub some of my archived VCR collection onto an editable digital medium.

I've gathered some directions on how to set up such a connection, but one detail has got me stumped: I'm not certain how to factor in my converter box into the equation. Right now my connection is as follows: Antenna coaxial to "IN" port on converter box; converter box RF to UHF/VHF "in" on VCR; VCR "out" to ANT/CABLE port at back of TV. The VCR is supplied with RCA video and audio ports as is the converter box.

From what I have read here about Funai customer support, I am loathe to turn to that quarter for assistance, especially since the H2160 manual states that using an RF modulator may degrade picture quality. Is there some kind soul here who might be willing to provide a schematic for a technical dummy who is unsure how to hook up these four components? The instructions I am referring to (also posted by wajo) are clear enough; I just haven't a clue how to fit the converter box into the configuration.

Any help would be deeply appreciated, and I would add as well my thanks for the wealth of useful information I have already gleaned from my explorations in this forum.

Trist

Hello Wajo,

Thank you for your very prompt reply.

I believe I need the converter box for the television, not the 2160. If I want to watch a program on a channel other than what the Magnavox is tuned to I need to switch to another source. I'm assuming that the "Source" button on the Magnavox's remote performs the same function as the "Input Select" button on my VCR's remote that allows me to switch from what the VCR (or DVDR) is receiving to what the TV is receiving. My VCR cannot serve as tuner because it too is analog, not digital. I'm only using the VCR in my configuration because it supplies the RCA ports that my TV is lacking and therefore in theory can serve as the RF Modulator. Am I understanding this correctly?

So I'm still wondering therefore where to fit in the converter box connection.

Trist

I would put the Magnavox first on the RF coax from your RF source (OTA/Cable), and then put the converter box second, with the RF coax output from the Magnavox connected to the RF coax input on the converter box. The RCA output from the Magnavox can then go to the RCA input on the VCR. The RF coax output from the converter box can go to the RF input on the VCR (or you could use the RCA output from the converter box to a second RCA input on the VCR if it has two RCA inputs). The RF coax output from the VCR would then connect to the TV. The VCR source/input select would then allow you to switch between the Magnavox and the converter box.

I think this will allow you to use the Magnavox and converter box as independent tuners, since the Magnavox RF coax output is a pure pass-thru, regardless of what the Magnavox is tuned to (or whether it is on or off).

Although what richardav wrote should indeed work my only concern is with the RF output from the converter box to the RF input on the VCR. It seems both audio and visual quality suffers using RF versus RCA cables; I believe stereo audio is not supported over RF. So if your VCR supports multiple RCA inputs I would definitely go that route versus using RF from converter to VCR.


_Lazza

I have found the cause of my 2160 locking up. The adapter board that connects to the back of the hard drive is burnt . Not good! Of course, the issues didn't come up until after the 90 day labor/parts warranty. All the voltages and grounds are rock solid so I can only surmise that the solderability was not very good.

Getting a replacement is not going well. I've contacted both Funai Parts and a local repair shop. The local repair shop is having problems getting parts from Funai so this isn't going well!

There might be a Philips replacement but not sure if I have the correct part number. Seeing that the 3575/6 is identical I'm hoping that somene here may have a Service Manual that may have the part number. If so please let me know.

That circuit board is described as "ATA CBA" part number 1VSA17030 for the Magnavox 2160.

Here are photos of both sides of that circuit board found on my Magnavox 2080:

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I can't help but wonder...depending on how much the repair will cost, wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity to upgrade to a SATA HDD setup?

Try Phlips parts 3576 looks the same
ATA CBA
996510012449
You may have better luck with philips

We have had a Sony KD-34XBR960 since 11/04. It has a Cable Card slot, but we have never used it because so many digital channels were available without a card. My wife has a serious archiving hobby and has been using the Sony and a Panasonic E85 as well as a TivoHD – E80 and a Comcast cable box-E80 to record to disk. She has complained over the years as the recording options have decreased, and things came to a head the last few weeks when WLIW, MSNBC, and TCM went digital only. We have a Philips 3575 that we used to replace the E-80 connected to the Tivo was being repaired. I didn’t have any problem setting up the 3575 with the Tivo. I was using line in and not using its tuner. I have lurked on this thread for a long time and have a recollection that it was said that a TV with a Cable Card and a video out capability can function as a cable box. The Sony has an RCA video out and after some hassle Comcast was able to get a Cable Card to work in it. Today I replaced the E-85 with the 3575 but I cannot set it up because I can’t see the Initial Setup menu. I manually scrolled through the channels with the 3575 before the Sony and the reverse with no luck. I recall that when I set up the 3575 there was no trouble finding the set up menu. I am not a gearhead and am probably missing something. I would appreciate any help. Thanks.
Don G.

i wish this had a digital video input. even with most channels being digital this records and makes things analog video. s-video/composet are both analog. i wish i could record to the dvd recorder digitally