Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575 - Page 233

lzsj123 wrote:

> That led to the discovery that 4.1 virtual is 108.1 real, and so on.
> Just cant find the real channel for 9.1 (yet).

If 9.1 is at 108.xx you will never be able to tune it, because 108 real is virtualizing to 4 because the PSIP is set incorrectly by the cableco or is corrupted i.e. Instead of just the sub-channels virtualizing, the major channel is virtualizing all 128.xx sub-channels to 4.xx subchannels. When this happens you lose all the real 108 sub-channels. When 4.** is not a valid channel, it defaults to 4.1.

FWIW, this is not an uncommon event, and Comcast does not consider it to be a network problem.

Comcast's STBs don't use PSIPs, they use the virtual map in memory, so PSIPs are a total no-care for them. I wish you better luck than I've ever had trying to get any kind of sensible response from them, the repeated recommendation is rescan because everything works with our STBs. I have not yet met a tech who has the slightest clue about what a PSIP is.

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wajo, excellent work! Perhaps you should tell Funai of this workaround so they can tell their customers about it! At least now folks need not think twice about buying a 2160a!


_Lazza

Thanks for the info.

I ordered a 2160 from WalMart a few days ago, and while waiting for it to arrive I've been reading this (long) thread. I'm glad this fix was found before the unit arrived. Thanks to wajo for having such a great insight (and spending the time).

That definitely works for me when you're there to select channel and manually hit record, but not sure if it works when setting the timer. I'll check it out. I think I did that and it reverted to blank, but ... want to double check before saying it didn't work. If it does, that would be very convenient.

Thanks!

*Two fixes in one day ....

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>
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eSATA externals are thin on the ground, and the performance is more than adequate for video recording. Just don't rely on the rebate to help justify the purchase (in the reviews at newegg half the buyers mention that the rebate never arrives).

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[quote=wajo;17342632]No, the 2160A FW bug doesn't allow ANY op in the Disc Edit menu, which inlcudes RW initial formatting and post-rec Erasing, to complete if any timer rec programs are set.

Congratulations, job well done.

So are you saying that selecting L3 disables the auto record feature? I so I'd say you've found another feature for the people that complain about not being able to disable the auto record feature
Personally I'd like the autorec but I've read a few posts by people wishing they could disable that feature, maybe they can now?

How do we add the title "Bug Killer Extraordinaire" to Wajo's membership?

Ditto on the 3575. I can't get WUSA-HD on either QAM or OTA. Nor can I get WJLA-HD either way. From reading the other forums, it appears that those two stations were assigned on the VHF band and therefore do not have the strength to transmit far enough even to reach Silver Spring which is >20 miles from the WUSA studio on Wisconsin Avenue. FOX's WTTG is located on the same street just a few blocks away but it comes in very clearly, as does NBC's affiliate WRC channel 4.

At this point, we can WATCH WUSA-HD and WJLA-HD on the Panny HDTV (via Comcrap coax but without an STB) on either the old channel 29/27, or in full HD at 9.1/7,1, but can't record either of them. Good thing I have the 2160 to record the old analog channel, else I'd be missing the Ghost Whisperer, etc.

I've not yet installed the DTAs Comcrap provided. Too busy on the job boards.

I'm in the city and I thought when WUSA switched, I'd lose it cause I have a UHF only (supposedly) antenna, but OTA at either 9-1 or 9-34 depending on the device -- sorry can't recall which is whcih and I'm away from the tv) are really strong, and on the raw cc coax to tuner, 117-3 is the main HD station, followed by 9 weather at 117-2 .On STB it's 212 for the 'HD" feed - but OTA is best.

Do you have a VHF + UHF antenna? I'm still using a UHF channel master and it's gorgeous OTA, which, of course doesn't really solve the recording matter... but (so far) coax is better than STB in terms of image quality.

Hope the job hunt is going well, Stump! Hang in there!!!

Tested some DVD+RW (4x) Verbatim discs and I could not get them to record.... I have not used these discs before so it may be user error. I'm guessing maybe it's connected to The Bug. I put in the blank -- it formatted (I thought) -- at least it didn't "fail' visibly.... but I got a cannot record message. Then I erased it .... tried again , thinking maybe I needed to clean it off. I got an E21 error. I think that means the disc is not formatted.... I didnt realize you need to L3 JUST to record to RW? I tried the disc in my mac and it's burning fine - the only other thing I could think of is that the 2160A can't read 4x DVD+RW ???? or burner on the refurb is wonky? Or I broke something?

So I popped in another DVD (not RW)_disc and got a "cannot record to this disc" message. Then I put in a disc with recordings on it and got "cannot record to this disc message! That was kind of freaky .... so I shut down and started from scratch -- now I'm using a DVD+R blank and it seems to be recording fine from HDD to DVD+R okay Phew!

As I said, I hadnt used these before so user error is a distinct possibility. When this disc finishes, I'll try the formatting test for an hour (future scheduled timer recording). I do have a timer recording set, so I'm hoping THAT's why the RW disc got screwy.

I did the 'hang by a thread' procedure several months back which resulted in nada, zip, zero. Just snow as if it weren't connected at al. I also put it through an admittedly-too-high -10 dB attenuator (dumb) with equivalent results.

THat must be it - I 'thought" I still had it on L3 since last night, but I'll bet it got switched with all the clicking. But I didn't realize the RW needs 'formatting' first. When I read that it was automatic, I thought the formatting thing didnt' apply.

I see you updated the notes since the last time I looked



Note 2: To auto-format a new RW or Erase a used one with timer rec programs set in the 2160A (only), first select L3 (DV) input as the Source. Format is automatic on a new RW. For Erase or Finalize (-RW only), press only the Setup button and select Disc Edit > Erase... don't press any other buttons while on L3.


I was under the mistaken impression that you format AFTER you record, not before, so the bug wouldn't apply -- Didn't realize that the auto prep for RW is also "formatting' Looks like your 'fix' is even more valuable!


what really creeped me out , though ... when I put in a DIFFERENT (partially burned DVD+R disc, it said 'cannot record to this disc, too.... and when I put a finalized DVD+R, it also said 'cannot record to this disc. Yeah, I know ... but why is it telling me that? It was as though the error remained in memory and needed to be flushed by unplugging. Is that possible?

Anyway, seems ok now. I was thinking I might have killed it

Subject: Omit Sub-Channels on 2160A

I'm obviously missing something obvious on tuning. I cannot get rid of subchannels I don't want in the channel line-up. How do you get rid of them? All I can do is get rid of the entire group like 29.1, 29.2, 29.3, 29.4; but I only want 29.1.

Not yet -- but I'm just finishing finalizing a DVD+R that had a timer recording set for an hour and 2 minutes from the start time. It went black a few times (the "finalizing" bar at the bottom disappeared) but it chugged along and it finalized. So, just over an hour for the timer setting is OK for finalizing.

Will try a DVD+RW now....

OK -- tray open, change to DV (L3 ) , insert disc and close ... it says RW and is now auto "formatting" ... so far so good. Hmm... that was fast. Less than a minute I'd say...


Now screen is all black. I assume that's cause nothing is recorded on it so you dont see the disc menu ( I remembr reading that!). A little confusing, but ... it says -2:00:00 on the screen of the 2160A so it seems fine. CONFIRMED ANd then I am recording direct to disc vs dubbing now. when I want to delete stuff, do I need to go back to DV to 'edit" or has the 'formatting' taken care of that?

I know I don't need to format it at the end, so that's good. I can go between two 2160a machines without "making compatible", right?
Not sure if I can use it in computer though. We shall see....

answering my own question -- EDIT ... DELETE seems to be working without switching back to DV (L3). Empty title now = 2:00 again. Cool.

Thanks, artwire. I'm not certain about the antenna. I'm using the mast antenna that came with my Pinnacle HDPro Stick tuner for the PC, running through an RS amp. Channels 4, 5, 20, 26, 50, 66 and their subs all come in clear as the proverbial bell but no sign of 7 or 9.

The PC wound up with a twin-mast Maggie HDTV antenna from Wally-world which works fine there.

You're also missing 22 (MPT) and 32 (WHUT) ? Doubt you could get 30.1 (MHZ) in Virginia since I can't always get it here. Might be worth trying (swapping temporarily) the other antenna, just to see if it brings more stations in. At least that way you can rule that out as a source of the problem.

By the way, I was wrong - 9 is 9.32 not 9.34 on the 2160a tuner. (1080i) as well as 117.3 and WJLA is 7. 31 and 118.1 - I know montg. cty is different, but figured I should correct it for 'the record'

Everything else I have now is either computer -based (MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-85J or panasonic DVD recorders with a different video format, so I think I'm ok. On the other hand, if there are no trade offs in terms of performance, maybe "making compatible" makes more sense for future-proofing? Is it slower to make compatible?

I'll do an 'under an hour' timer test as soon as the recording that's cooking now is finished. NO LUCK - formatting is grayed out and not an option under an hour.

I just got a 2160A from WalMart, and I have been playing with it today, just recording to HDD. I haven't tried burning a DVD with it (yet). It is connected to my tv with an HDMI cable. I've found that when I play back something I have recorded to the hard drive, sometimes the sound is garbled. I can correct this by pressing the HDMI button on the remote, after which the sound is fine, even if I cycle through all the possible HDMI choices and stop at what it was originally. Has anyone else experienced this?