Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575 - Page 320

Have you tried Wajo's tips in this "Search using Info"?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=9434

Devoted threads certainly have advantages when one needs to find something fast, however, I sure learned a lot about the 2160's just reading through the thousands of posts and hundreds of pages in just this one great thread.

We all owe Wajo and many others a BIG thank you.

How about a hard drive that's 50% larger than a 2TB?
(Several manufacturers will be releasing 3TB drives this October.)

Ain't science great!!!

Think positive. At least you can name the titles. I don't have that feature on my Sony.

Just wondering, are all J&R refurbs a 2160A guarantee or you might get a none A version... just wondering since they are refurbs that they might send an older in one of the batches.

Now I have a few questions:
1. It is an A model magnavox and I would like to know if you recommend I
update the firmware? Has anyone NOT been successful?

2. I plan to burn DVDs of home movies from my HI8 camcorder using S vid.
Should I edit going onto the hard drive or from the HD to disk? Can I
add music while making the transfer?

3. Does everything I watch using this receiver get saved to the hard drive?
I see the record starts automatically while watching and I can pause and
replay. Does that mean if I watch a show and shut it down, can come
back later to watch it again or do I need to tell it to save it before
shutting it off?

4. I know I can not record in High Def but it looks to me that if I watch over
the air HD it looks better if I use my HD TV tuner passing the signal
through instead of the magnovox tuner connected through HDMI in.
Is there some degredation of picture while watching live HD with this
unit?

5. Does it record/playback or send via HDMI 5.1 sound from live OTA?

I know the answers are probably somewhere here and If you could direct me that would be appreciated also.
Thanks for the wealth of info here and on Amazon,
Lex
My set up is a 46 Samsung 1080 LCD using OTA antenna with Channel Master Titan booster and a Samsung Z310 5.1 audio receiver / DVD

Recommend you start at the following link where there is much info already posted by wajo.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1054933

Quick answers for your 3,4, and 5:

3. You need to save. The buffer is gone when you power off.

4. You'll watch the SD, if using the Mag 2160 tuner. The OTA coax pass through is still the same signal (a little stronger, actually), so the HD TV tuner works the same as if you connect the OTA coax directly to it.

5. No. The recorded program will be in DD 2.0, if the program was DD 5.1. Same for using the tuner (I think). The only time you'll get DD 5.1 is playing a DVD which has title in DD 5.1.

Viewing a live 5.1 HD program still comes out as 2ch. Watching a commercial DVD with 5.1 will come out the coax as 5.1 as you stated. This is on component. HDMI might be different.

Got mine from J&R last Wednesday and it was an "A" with 18 hours of 'on' time and 0 hours of DVD & CD. The appearance of the unit is pristine. I thank everone on this extremely informative forum for their contributions (especially Wajo -- words escape me). I am standing on the shoulders of giants!

Jim

Luck of the draw. Mine came early this week and....


HDD power on was a little longer that I'd have liked (235 hrs! the longest yet...), but then again, I know that will soon get much higher

There was one recording on the hard drive (17 minutes of CBS morning show, and it seemed to flutter, so I wonder if they were having antenna issues), DVD RW time :19, DVD-RD 2:25, CD time 0:0:0 - it doesn't look as though they did more than watch a movie and try burning a dvd. Probably hit the finalize bug?

So far, so good on refurb #3. Trying to figure out if the slightly soft content I'm seeing on the tv through the 2160A is due to the programming itself (I think the quality of our PBS so called HD signal poops out during the day, and evening programs are sent in higher quality, so I will wait til tonight to tweak settings (as I know the show I'm test recording now is an older broadcast on PBS and may not have been HD to start). Progressive setting seems good for it, I;m outputting to component cause I'm running out of HDMI slots on the tv.

Question -- can I do a triple passthrough of RF without degrading? Cable coax to 2160 to another 2160 to another, or will that totally degrade? They wouldn't all be on at the same time... I was thinking it mgiht be good to hook it up just in case, but I'm mostly planning to use this for dubbing once I swap the hard drive. I could also do antenna input, instead, if the triple whammy is too much for it or if it would reduce the quality of the ones prior. Any thoughts? I think I remember someone (maybe Digado? ) doing a three-way passthrough.


Mine says 3/29/2010 on the bottom of the unit, but I think that's the refurb sticker date, not the manufacturing date. Oh, just found it -- JULY 2009. Firmware is the same as usual for the 2009 models.

It was in great shape, booklet and remote looked fine (WITH batteries, even) The remote has a sticker that says 11-05-2008 but I;m pretty sure that was repackaged, as it's in soft plastic and the video cable is better (heftier) than the one I got with the new unit.

The J&R units are not all so close to brand new, barely used.

Checked HDD hours: 1270, DVD WR: 83:09, and DVD RD: 206:13

That number of HDD hours would be near 22 weeks of being turned on 8 hours a day, or 6 weeks of being on 24 hours a day.

The unit was like brand new in appearance, and the remote was in a remote-sized plastic wrap with new batteries included.
FWIW
tom

that's the longest I've heard about, but again, these are optimized for continual use so not really an issue. I bought this last one to swap out the drive, but had been thinking that maybe I should swap out an HDD of an older unit. Then... I checked the AR that everyone has been talking about.... it's a JULY unit and it is not behaving the way my prior MAY 2009 units did... this one requires a channel change or a source change before the AR loop begins. Maybe that tells us something? Firmware is identical to my prior units, though. Weird.

I've got 4 (3 Mag 1 Phil) daisy-chained. Works well here and I've been known to have all 4 recording while I watch program 5.

I saw more signal degradation by using a splitter between the cable feed and the TV / DVDR's.

As the 2160's RF antenna IN>OUT is passthrough (with slight amplification), you should have minimum signal loss in a triple passthrough setup. Signal loss would be much greater using a passive (unamplified) type 'splitter', as the RF signal in those devices is divided by the number of outputs the 'splitter' provides. For example, a two-way splitter would have roughly 50% of the incoming RF signal strength at each output. A four-way 'splitter would have only 25% at each output.

With any RF cable installation, greatest signal lose is effected by cable type used, cable length (shorter is better) and the number of connectors and/or splitters (fewer is better) inserted between antenna and receiver.

You can check the RF signal strength each 2160 is receiving, by tuning various channels and pressing the DISPLAY button on your remote. A new window with signal strength bargraph (green) and numerical readout can be seen in upper left of that window.

this is great, thanks, guys. I am trying it now, but can't "SEE" how it looks since I've run out of tv inputs for the moment. Probably should have mentioned that the cable is already split for cable /internet and tv (and that is split for STB and maggie #1) All seem to be doing OK.

I only have a standard video port left over on the tv, so now I'm considering whether it might be better to use that for casual viewing of already recorded content on the maggie), or if I should try a 2160 HDD --> 2160 HDD (using L1 svideo+audio) connection, which would allow me to view the already recorded material on Maggie 2, and it would only require one tv input from Maggie 3 (currently component).

Maggie one is connected to cable box and also coax for QAM. It goes to tv by HDMI. Cable box also goes directly to TV by HDMI (for hi def viewing). Maggie # two (disconnected from the tv at the moment) has an almost full drive of back tv shows that I wanted to watch and maybe extract little excerpts for posterity .... rather than disc edit and save to dvd I was thinking that HD to HD might be easier since I could (presumably) edit on the fly as I'm watching, by simply pausing /recording, then burn the final excerpts to dvd. Downside might be loss of quality, perhaps?

Anyway, I will experiment. I have an HDMI input on the tv from a Panny DVD/VCR recorder that is not used much -- I suppose that could be given over to the 2160 instead, since DVD is just standard res anyway. Maybe DVD into Maggie#3 auxilliary input via svideo +audio would be just as good (unless copy protection kicks in? That's one reason I decided to use component cables on this maggie). All this will have to remain theoretical til I get another svideo cable. At the moment I have one HDMI and one new component cable handy, so I will play with those in the mean time.

Long and convoluted way of asking (sorry!) if HD to HD dubbing/viewing works okay using a single output for both maggies to tv? And where the heck should I plug in the roku?

PS Didn't know about the signal check -- thanks. I am getting 92 - 94 on the first one, 90 on the second one. 4 bars. Seems ok, no ? Variation may be due to different cable quality, too.

Have you considered buying a HDMI switch? Amazon has a 3-Port model HERE for under $15 (including remote control).


If you getting 90+ signal strength readings, your in great shape. I've got a couple of PBS channels (transmitter's 75-100 miles away) that only give a reading of 24-26 (1-2 bars). They only occassionally freeze or dropout for a second or two.

I had considered it awhile back, but assumed it needed a power outlet (I'm running out of those, too!) and thought it might be a pain to switch back and forth, but this one doesn't and it seems to switch automatically when you turn on the device. Great idea, thanks, waldwolf.

Wajo,

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...7&postcount=45

Re number 4, my TWC cable do carry all local HD programs in DD 5.1 if those channels broadcast DD 5.1.

There are passive HDMI switches that don't need a power connection; unfortunately, you can't use a remote with them since they're a mechanical switch. I have one and it works fine. Try Parts Express.

Ok, running into a little problem trying to go HDD --> HDD using either S-video or composite. I get the audio but not the video. I turned off Progressive on the receiving end, since I remember seeing something about not being able to use svideo and component at the same time if progressive is on... and the receiving maggie is connected to TV via component cables. But with or without progressive enabled, I get no video to the aux inputs (tried both L1 and L2). Getting video using L2 input from a vcr, but not from a maggie. Now I'm wondering if I misunderstood and progressive has to be turned off on the SOURCE maggie (which is not connected to the tv at all) , or on the destination maggie when using aux input. I cant really see the settings, but I know the destination maggie is set to progressive off. Any other reasons why VIDEO might not be coming through ? (checked the cables, etc) Figured I'd ask before undoing the whole set up.

I combed the recording info, but didn't see HD -> HD as one of the set up options. Maybe I missed it? Or maybe it can't be done? (I refuse to accept that as a possibility ) Do you need to physically unplug the component cables in order for L1 or L2 to accept a signal? That cant be so, since I have been doing it with a cable box. So I'm pretty sure my mistake is that the source maggie's settings must need to be retweaked now that I'm using it to feed the other maggie.

Any ideas as to what I should try next?

My Philips 3576 has a similar problem. This 3576 is my "dual input" recorder connected to an antenna for reception and recording with the internal ATSC tuner and a Comcast Motorola DCT700 SD converter box connected to the L1 composite inputs at the rear. With this arrangement the 3576 works well for timer programmed recordings from both signal sources. (This 3576 has a nearly non-functional clear QAM tuner. That's why its set up set up this way.)

The 3576 composite output is to a HD LCD TV through a switch box, shared with other recorders in my home office. This arrangement functions well enough.

I've attempted to dub to the 3576 hard drive from a Magnavox ZV450MW8 combo recorder connected to the L2 composite input at the front. All I get is audio, no video.

Then I attempted to access the menu for the L2 input in order to check the settings but that wasn't possible.

Following that I disconnected the 3576 composite cables from the STB and patched the ZV450 composite output to those same cables with the result that I was able to dub the ZV450 audio and video to the 3576 hard drive through the L1 composite inputs at the rear.

I suspect that the L2 composite video input circuit is non-functional, or is it?

perfect, that did the trick. I thought, since it wasn't connecting the machine to the tv by component (or anything else, for that matter) there was no need to switch the settings, but they kept the video from outputting anyway, even though I wasn't actually USING the progressive. So, I replugged in the component in order to disconnect the progressive, and that worked.

Thanks Wajo, as always you had the answer!

Very similar setup here: My 3575 is first in line feeding the original 2160 and the Polaroid DRA-01601A is the last in line - because it has NO digital pass-through. The analog and digital tuners have separate inputs, but only the analog has an RF output.

The Polo is the only one that can currently record WMPT-22, the PBS station for Maryland, from the raw cable feed, after Comcast snagged it away last year.