One POSITIVE effect of our DVDR digital tuner's scanning in and deleting the main and sub channels in one "fell swoop" is that, anytime your cableco or OTA station adds another channel to a main group, the subchannel gets auto-tuned and surfable with the CH +/- button.

I had been getting CBS-HD and NBC-HD as subchannels in a group, and FOX-HD in a different group, but no ABC-HD anywhere.

Our cableco switched hands recently and last night we noticed we now have ABC-HD in the same digital channel group as CBS and NBC... no action on our part.

Depends on your cableco/station and whether they add new channels to an existing group or make them separate main channels, which I'm sure you'd have to scan for.

CrazyCanuck just posted a link to his external HDD project, with some interesting and possibly applicable pics here.

Click on pic 1 to open a slideshow of larger pics.

Altho this applies to a Mot DCT-3080 SD PVR, some or all of the pics might be helpful to our DVDR external-drive afficionados?

Today was hard drive upgrade day for my Magnavox 2080 of July 2007 manufacture. I pulled the 2080 from service last night. This morning I installed the new Seagate 160GB ST3160215ACE hard drive that arrived earlier in the week. The Seagate is set to cable select, just like the original WD drive. The physical installation went well, see the first four photos.

Wajo's sticky thread provides good advice. Dartman also posted good advice following his hard drive upgrade with a 3575:

https://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2#post15587312

I had some difficulty accessing the V SKIP utility. Dartman responded to my PM with advice that it may take more than a few attempts to get into V SKIP. That's true. The remote had to be close and pointed straight at the 2080 in order for me to get in, see that screen in the fifth photo. Soon after I pressed ENTER, the 2080 powered off and nothing seemed to be happening. After perhaps fifteen minutes of what seemed to be inactivity I powered the 2080 up and found that the Seagate HDD had been formatted. I made a test recording on the new hard drive, edited it, and then deleted it. I will now set up the 2080 in its regular location in another room.

All seems well, now with the following HDD recording durations:

33h 11m at HQ
66h 22m at SP
82h 57m at SPP
99h 33m at LP
132h 44m at EP
199h 06m at SLP

Thank you Wajo, Auskck and Dartman!

Now that's great news... thanks for doing the upgrade with a Seagate family drive and verifying the info we have so far!

When will your swappable-HDD external-enclosure be done!!!

Congratulations on your new H2160.

Yep, good news, we swapped some PM's getting this going but it mainly was just getting it to accept the codes, once it did that he was home free.

I just got the other machine back from service finally today. The dvd drive tray was stuck and wouldn't open so I had to pull the burner and cycle the gears till it freed itself up, and of course once I screwed it all back together it jammed again So I tried spinning the gears I could see back and forth till I got it going again and it opens and closes for now.
It now does read a dvd again and the service report said they did a firmware update, which I would have done if I could get it to read a DVD...I guess maybe it can do the update from the USB port or he figured it out somehow.
Wajo did tell me to try a update but I couldn't get it to read a disk and don't really have any USB drives to try, he might have been right
It does seem to look like he did something with the burner as it had some sort of sticker half peeled off like a note to himself as to what this unit was doing on the top plate.
I doubt the tuner is fixed as far as QAM goes but if it at least burns again I guess I can use it in here as a third backup for analog cable stuff.
They received it the 17th of Feb, and shipped it out the 17th of this month so if anybody sends one in be prepared to be without it for a month or longer.
The sheet did say many problems can be resolved with consumer controls and setting and mainly said he tested the unit and returned it to factory specs and a phone number for him if it still has issues, never mentioned the FW upgrade on the small sheet.

DigaDo 4134:
I looked at the pics, and noted the caps on the IDE controller board were (from my old eyes view) just like a set mentioned on badcaps.net:

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2538

There were 16 caps that looked just like on your board in the post, controlling a CDrom. It was reading slowly, and with lots of errors/retrys. He removed the surface mount capacitors, and replaced them with new regular style. His machine now apparently runs a lot better.
Just mentioned this as you might want to take a look at the caps and inspect them for bulging or leaking before putting your machine back in the stack...
tom

Tom,

Thanks for the head's up. Yesterday afternoon the 2080 was back in service, recording several hours in the evening.

I've attached a closer view of the board.

For those interested in the DVD Drive I've attached indicia photos and a wider view showing the DVD Drive. In the fourth photo may be observed minor corrosion on the guide wheel retaining clip.

I purchased this "factory refurbished" 2080 in December 2008 from an internet seller in Markham Ontario. The 2080 came complete with all manuals, papers, accessories and was in its original packaging bearing the correct serial number. While my 2080 appears as new, I know nothing of the history.

It's the exact same boards as the 3575/76 and drive. IF it has the headers for all the extra missing goodies like HDMI it may work if you add the connectors that are missing.
It looks kinda like some of the 30 year old reel to reel decks I picked up last summer for a project, corrosion from sitting a long time unused in a basement or someplace with high humidity. They all work fine too, but some of the screws and things holding the heads and other things look like that or worse.

Well I looked at the pics again and looks like they cut down the main board and removed all the HDMI circuitry so not going to happen, some of the caps and layout are different, but your uses a shorter version then my 3575.

Here are three more photos from the hard drive upgrade project:

Kool pix, Digado. Thanks!

You might want to update the table in that post.

WILL send WS via Composite/S-Video	WON'T send WS via Composite/S-Video
SA8300HD* w/SARA SW (send "stretched")	SA3250HD w/Nav SW & SA8300HD* w/Nav or PP SW
DirecTV HR20/HR21/HR22 (settable aspects)	DirecTV HR10
Sony SAT-HD300	All Motorolas
Dish VIP622/722 (TV1 out, set for WS)	Dish VIP211
TivoHD/TiVo Series3

*When HDMI output is active on HDC box, other output sources are inactive?

I've just done a quick check of internet sellers of the Seagate 250GB ST3250820ACE and the 320GB ST3320820ACE hard drives listed in Wajo's table.

I've found that these hard drives are out of stock. One seller lists both as "discontinued."

If you want these Seagate hard drives you should purchase them if you find them.

Powermax.com has 10 or more of the original 160GB IDE HDDs for $58.73 here... no adapter needed!

FYI:Hang off on buying IDE HDDs for a couple of days till I get a chance to do the SATA/Adapter install. Should be arriving tomorrow.

Can anyone help me with the following:

-My 2160 loses all settings from time to time. Upon turning it on I am asked to do a channel scan. All channels are lost and must be rescanned (well actually I assume but have not tried to exit the channel setup request). The video input setting is reset to composite (I use s-video) and the timer recording list is lost. I assume the unit is using a channel to sync the clock as I hear it spin up every midnight, that might also be reset and I had originally set it to manual before purchasing an antenna. The clock remains accurate. Any ideas what might be causing the loss of setup?

-Is there a way to display remaining time on the front panel display when playing a DVD or CD?

-Is there a way to jump to the very beginning or end of the auto-record buffer?

-Is there a way to stop cycling through the line inputs with the channel buttons/ I find this is of little value as the remote already has a dedicated source button which does this.

-Is there a way to prevent the DTV program info from being recoded to the auto-record buffer (other than not pushing the Display button)?

-Finally, is there a way to use the DTV channel program name to automatically title a timer recording?

Possibilities:
1. It's on a switched power circuit, like plugged into a power stirp with on/off switch (but then it wouldn't "spin up" for a time check at midnight)... or there's some other way it's losing power, which would reset all the things you mentioned?
2. OSD Language is not set to English?
3. Unit is not connected to antenna as shown in sketch 1a here?

EDIT: WAIT A MINUTE...Why this: "The video input setting is reset to composite (I use s-video)... you use S-Video for WHAT. If you're using an antenna, S-Video shouldn't be involved for "Video INPUT" Maybe you mean S-Video to the TV? Something not right here!


Only counts down when doing an Overwrite, not for normal ops.


AFAIK, the fastest way to move is with the PREV and NEXT (chapter) buttons.


Use the SOURCE button, top row, 2nd from right.


Don't think so... DISPLAY menu gets recorded if activated.


Sorry, no.

Hmmm... I was cleaning out the HDD of my 2080 so I could sell it on fleabay. I think my plans just changed!

See #4146 before you buy

Why would he have to do that... he's looking at getting the original IDE drive from Powermax.com... no adapter needed!?

For the same price he can have 500GB drive a 160gb is not the original drive.
$60 for 160gb drive or $80 for 500gb drive and adapter, do the math.
I will answer the SATA question tomorrow if it arrives as scheduled.

Thanks wajo.

I was wondering about the power, I have a surge protector and power strip in series feeding the 2160. I just checked it but it's also feeding my Tivo which has been working flawlessly for years. My amplified antenna is also fed from the strip. I tried turning the antenna off and it made little difference, the signal got weaker and I got a little pixelation but nothing else. I was thinking if the 2160 could not find any channels it might go into setup mode again.

I see the OSD language selection you refer to in the initial setup in the quick guide. I usually only see the second step onwards... but perhaps I am hitting OK on the remote before I see that screen. Anyway I have selected the OSD language through the setup menu and will see what happens.

As for my s-video input, my setup is as follows:

Antenna >> 2160 >> s-video out >> receiver (DVD in) >> s-video monitor out >> TV... plus

Satellite >> DirecTivo >> s-video out >> receiver (TV/SAT in) >> s-video (VCR1 out) >> 2160.

This allows me to use one s-video monitor out to my TV from the receiver. It also allows me to record any device feeding an s-video input to my receiver. By selecting the Tivo as the recording source on my receiver, I can be watching TV or a DVD from the 2160 while recording from L1 at the same time.

Even if the adapter works, you won't have the answer to "long-term" successful ops for a "long time"... the IDE drives are fading fast, so a decision has to be made NOW on a sure thing!

First, make sure you DON'T have Progressive Scan ON... if ON, there's no ouptut from the S-Video or Composite outputs on the 2160.

Then, try the S-Video out from the 2160 directly to the TV.

What prompts you to think the longevity will be degraded using a SATA drive. I don't follow your logic on this one.

A question for the dvdr mavens:

Is there a way to get jacket art ( a .jpg in the /jacket_p subdirectory on the dvd) to be written when making a dvd on a dvd recorder. It would be of great help when using these disc in a jukebox.

I agree, the SATA drive itself should last just as long as the IDE drive, however keep one thing in mind. There is no such thing as a truly "free-ride" and that IDE-SATA adapter is also going to consume power, which will add to the load on the power supply, thus you'll be pulling more power than you would if you used the IDE drive with the same power specifications. This extra load on the power supply could indeed hurt the longevity of the unit, but should not affect the drive's lifespan.

Have you bothered to look a the adapter on the manufactures web site?
This is not a room heater your adding.

wajo, my configuration is working perfectly... just that you asked what I was doing with the s-video input.

As of this morning the unit has not lost settings again. Keeping my fingers crossed.

It doesn't matter. There have already been discussions in this thread about the power supplies being pretty much at it's limit in terms of output with the stock drives, and how the larger drives pull more current and thus more power. Add to this, the extra draw of the adapter, which is probably fairly small, but still an additional load, and you could affect the stock power supply, if the previous discussions are indeed accurate.

I was only offering a caution, not claiming that anything would burst into flame, or immediately fail.