Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575 - Page 174

Thanks for the explanation, guys. I've never used the DVD-RWs, hence my ignorance. BTW, both my 3575 and 2160 'remember' where they left off on all HDD titles as long as I just press STOP once before going to another.

On my units, a single press of the STOP button (Resume ON) remembers the title being played and the position in the title. Another press of the STOP button causes it to forget the last title played (I think it reverts to the last title on the HDD) but it still remembers the resume position on that title, as you point out. I had thought the second press of the STOP button was erasing the resume position on that title, but actually it doesn't. Thanks for pointing this out.

That is the correct behavior.

1) Response to Todd14420 (#5213 post)

Your right Todd14420, the Walmart.com warehouse is now out, and that was the only source for the H2160MW9 that I found that actually had them in stock.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...ct_id=10104532

Amazon is still out and they were selling theirs (when they had them) for $279.
http://www.amazon.com/Magnavox-HDD-a...4079651&sr=8-4
Someone on Amazon has 1 used Magnavox H2080MW8 - that they’re willing to part with for $449.99 (plus S&H)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001HVBV8Q/...l_53jurowveg_e

I hope that this isn’t it already?
None of the local Walmarts around here even have a shelf tag for the product anymore. So if Funai doesn’t find another major distributor or, lord willing, come out with a newer, “better” model, then this boat may have left the dock, and this thread will be for existing owners of these HD recorders, rather than new ones.

2) azbuckeyeracer wrote:

Sorry about that azbuckeyeracer, and my apologizes to both Wajo and Auskck and anyone else who was offended by my comments.
My least intention was to hijack Wajo’s wonderful thread, or divert it off topic.
Like yourself, I came to this thread to learn as much as I can about these HD recorders and share my personal experience with them.
I suppose I shouldn’t have made that original SATA heat/energy statement in the original post. It was just a minor comment at that time, but it lead to a greater discourse. And I know that I can get a little windy on a subject and that can be distracting.

I am very much like yourself on this thing. I got into converting an old VHS tape collection to DVD’s (those that would let me) and then to using the DVD recorder for whatever interested me off the air. Then my unit died and I had a heck of a time finding a replacement, which led me to HD DVD recorders.
The H2160MW9 was the only one I could find and now it may be drying up fast. Looks like I/we got into this thing at the tail end of something that was very good. And now my greatest concern on this subject is to find ways to make the unit that I have, and the one that I hope is still coming, to last as long as I can, which led to the comment that heat can be a killer of hard drives… so there you have it.

I promise that unless someone else brings it up that I won’t again comment on it.


3) Reply to SteelTownGuy


Sounds very reasonable to me as well.

Hopefully, to lay this issue to rest...
We are agreed, ambient temps are definitely a key variable, as in most instances electronic components rely on ambient temps for cooling (generally speaking cooler ambient temp, cooler unit). Of course too cold is also not good (I like your mentioning NASA and the Goldilocks “not too hot and not too cold, but just right” analogy.)
You are correct, electronics, like an automobile engine, prefer a certain optimum operating temperature range for maximum efficiency and longevity, and should be warmed up before “hitting the throttle.” (but even the old air-cooled VW engines could overheat and warp if the outside air temp was too high).

If hard drives are too cold they likewise can become unreliable. But because they do generate so much heat and, as in a computer, are just one of many components that do so, they usually warm themselves up quite quickly.

I have never personally encountered a situation or anyone (outside of sensitive electronics in an arctic/subarctic type environment, where the ambient temp and ventilation needed to be adequate before turning anything on to avoid condensation and cold shock), who had a real problem with hard drive instability because of them being too cold, though I can see how it can happen.
In southern climes people need to keep the indoor ambient temps down to help cool both themselves and their electronics. That is an additional energy expense factor.
In far northern and extreme southern climes it costs energy to warm up the ambient opreating room temperature as well.

My own rule of thumb, having been in both desert and arctic/sub arctic environments, is to set 100F/38C as an UPPER LIMIT (ambient temperature) for operating any computer driven components that rely on ambient temperatures for cooling. DO NOT RUN unless the ambient temperature is below this destructive threshold.
Likewise it would be wise not to turn such electronic devices on if the ambient temp is close to freezing (0C/32F).
My next goal being to keep the components as close to their elusive “ideal” operating temperatures as is possible, to gain both maximum efficiency and longevity.

4) Auskck wrote:

And I see that unit even has a tuner, just no HD to go along with it.
The burner may be the same (I’ll have to try to locate a more comprehensive spec sheet)?
The media type is not quite as broad as the H2160 (no Kodak Picture or JPEG photo playback specifically mentioned), but that may have been an omission error.
When the warranty is up on my existing H2160, if these guys are still around, it may behoove me to get one and try it out for compatibility.
I guess I should probably get one of these sooner if the H2160 availability has already dried out.
The Walmart.com store was the only place I could find them and now they’re out-of-stock, for who knows how long?....

Regarding hard drives ESATA sounds like the even better option...
Place a SATA HD in an external ESATA shell and connect to the H2160.
How have you rigged the H2160 for connection?
Do you just leave the case open or have you found a way to connect through the back?
I know that eSata is much faster but I already have a few Seagate Free Agents USB 2 external HDs (500-750GB-1TB), do you know if the H2160 will accept a USB 2 conversion?
USB 2 is fast enough to watch video on, I stored several movies (among other things) to be viewed on a laptop during my last deployment on one of these external HDs and had no problems at all with it.
I’m kind’a anxious to open up my H2160 and get a look inside, but I don’t want to be premature, just in case I have a legitimate problem (that they can actually fix) while under warranty.

Anyway, thanks Auskck for these ideas and suggestions.
When I have more time I’ll try to find and read all your posts on the subject since I feel confident that is the route I’ll be heading.

It seems like it is taking quite a while to come up with a fix for the Magnavox 2160A DVD problems, if it can be done by firmware. Assuming they have a solid bootstrap in the units, there should not be a lot of risk in posting Beta update firmware if they had something that seemed to work.

The possiblity that occurs to me is that Funai has not been able to come up with a solution or doesn't even have anyone available to create one, and Walmart is not going to send out more units when they know there is a problem. With there liberal return policy, Walmart would probaly get fed up with this situation very quickly. Walmart may have stock, but may have decided to return it to Funai, so that the ball will be in Funai's court.

If Funai can't fix it, they may just drop the line and dump the units on the secondary market.

Of course, this is just wild speculation on my part.

Your speculation may be correct. IMO funai does not have in house programming so the update would come from a software contractor.

Has anyone else noticed the following problem?

The last couple of weeks I would walk by the unit and it would sound like it was running, even though nothing was programmed or recording or playing. If I pushed the power switch to "on" and then back to "standby" it would shut off. The next day, or even later the same day it would sound like it was running again. Then finally a couple of days ago, the clock showed a crazy time and year 2043.

Since the switch to digital is only a few days away and I would lose the auto time set feature anyway, I set the clock to manual and entered the correct time. Since then I have not had the problem with the unit turning itself on anymore. However the clock keeps lousy time. Gains almost a minute every day.

My theory is that the unit would turn on to autoset the time at noon and midnight, and not being able to find a signal just kept trying until it shut the unit off again.

Any other ideas?

My clock seems to get messed up every now and then also.

I just wanted to update my adventures in the "500 club". I changed the HDD in my refurb 3575 a few weeks ago to a Seagate ST3500830ACE. Newegg had a great price so I decided to keep it PATA.
I've put about 50 hours on it so far and it's working flawlessly. One interesting thing, the picture is markedly sharper. I was always disappointed in the sharpness of the 3575 so it was a pleasant surprise. If anyone can tell me why there is such a difference, let me know.

I did but the Cool Drives PATA/SATA adapter that Auskck recommended so I will definitely get a 2.5" SATA HDD to play around with in the very near future. I don't trust the long term "strain" on the power supply with the larger PATA drives.

I had that happen to me when the local PBS station dumped the clock set signal. The thing must have picked up a rogue signal and set the clock by that. I had to turn the auto-set off on all my units. The clocks are a little different on each of my three recorders with none of them being real accurate so I reset the clocks manually weekly.

It's about time.
Congratulations 3X+ the recording capacity. If you want to go ESATA let me know, you will need a few cable bits under $15.
No power problems no heat problems. I have a good personal contact with the supplier.
see :
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2#post16351312

My 3575/3576 are set to manual clock, no problems at all only time I have to reset the clock is when I format a new drive.

FYI: Possible burner replacment for the 3575/3576 is the Philips DVDR3506 seen here.

Product Features and Technical Details
Product Features

* DVD±R/RW, DVD-Video, CD-R/RW, CD, SVCD, MP3 and WMA playback
* Dual media capability records DVD±R/RW
* 1080i HDMI with high-definition video up-conversion
* Progressive scan component video for optimized image quality
* i.LINK digital input for perfect digital camcorder copies

Technical Details

* Brand Name: Philips
* Model: DVDR3506/37
* DVD Type: DVD recorder with TV tuner
* Parental Lock: Y
* audio_output_mode: Stereo
* Form Factor: Tabletop
* dvd_media_load_type: Tray
* Width: 16.5 inches
* Depth: 9.7 inches
* Height: 2.3 inches
* Weight: 5.3 pounds


http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...on=refurbished

FYI: Update on new PC new video card installed, download Windows 7. Runs like a charm no problems with drivers or hardware. 3575 attached via the OnAir GT again no problems with hardware or software.

FYI: Good deal on top brand smaller TV latest model
Panasonic VIERA 32" 16:9 8ms 720p LCD HDTV TC-L32X1
Save additional $20 w/ promo code EMCLTLS34, ends 6/11
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...L0A-_-89187107

I may have to bite the bullet on this one.
Unlike Funai, Panasonic has rock solid support.
Update: I bit the bullet

I actually bought one of these off E-Bay (new) back in 2007 but then discovered the 3575 at Walmart and sold the 3506 to a co-worker (unused) for the $80 I had paid for it since it didn't have a hard drive, and put the money toward the purchase of the 3575.

Perhaps I should have held onto it for parts.

Always good to hear updates from our 500 club pioneers! Good thing you bought that drive when you did -- Newegg no longer sells it. I guess that's not surprising since it is PATA. That is very weird that your video output from the 3575 now looks sharper than with the OEM drive...not that you're complaining, I'm sure.


I do the same thing as Tom (Autoclock: OFF). It is unfortunate that my area does not broadcast a time signal because setting the clocks manually once a week is a bit of a chore. My H2160MW9 (and H2160MW9 A) gain approximately 3 seconds per day or 20 seconds per week. To counteract this, I set my time 10 seconds behind real time. At the middle of the week, shows record perfectly on the hour.


Cool. Let us know how you like the picture quality.

Someday, one of my CRT's will fry a circuit board and I'll make an upgrade like this for the bedroom.

Great deal on a super HDTV. It has a very good ATSC tuner. We actually have a Viera TX32LX60, albeit a couple of years older and it was twice the price then. It fits just right in our smaller apartment living room, and has a great picture. It also perfectly matches the Panny HTIB (both in silver).

Pretty hard to beat Panny quality and support superb. I have last year 42" 1080P plasma great product.

Hey wajo Happy 175

For what it's worth, the PDF version of the Philips 3506 User's Manual has this date/time stamp on the title page:

2007/12/28 10:52:38

There are two PDF versions of the similar Philips 3505 User's Manual with these date/time stamps on the title page:

2007/01/15 11:19:23 ("Type 1")
2008/06/02 14:49:20 ("Type 2")

Worse case if you can't swap out the burner, run the 3506 inline, record and edit on the HDD then burn on the 3506.(real time only)

I just bought a Magnavox H2160MW9A. Looked in 14 stores, only Wal-Mart had it.

Page 44 of the owner's manual says "This unit cannot record images as aspect ratio 16:9. The 16:9 images will be recorded at 4:3." That's fine with me, as long as I can display the playback as 4:3. But the playback on my new Sony Bravia KDL-32L5000 gets "stretched" to fill the 16:9 screen. So...how do I play back in 4:3?

I have fiddled with "wide mode" settings on the Bravia to no avail. I don't see this addressed in the H2160MW9A's user manual. Any help? (Apologies in advance if this has been addressed before.)

Thanks, wajo. Whew...a lot here to digest!