Any solutions for TV guide download failure in Panasonic units?

I have a new EH50 unit and the programming fails to download every day...even though all my settings are correct. I live in Staten Island and have Time Warner digital cable. I have even tried different zip codes for Manhattan and other Time Warner locations but to no avail. Has anyone experienced this?

 

Ignoring the location-specific information for the moment, I'll give you the most common reasons why programing doesn't load.

1. You do not leave the system *OFF* during the critical program-load periods. Panasonic reccommends 24 hours, although I have found that turning it off *before* midnight and leaving it off until *after* 9 a.m. will usually work in my area.

(However, once programing is loaded and a day is lost due to leaving it on during scheduled loading, I have never been able to regaint "lost" programming until either those days are past or I reset the machine and wait again.)

I have also noticed that it takes *two* cycles to do this correctly. The first loads *some* information, but you then have to cose your local provider before continuing. It looks to me like you have managed this stage.

2. You have a recording scheduled durind download time. The Panny Administration Program *must* have COMPLETE control over your tuner or it can't tune to the PBS station it downloads the information from. *DO NOT* schedule recordings during the donload times mentined in 1).

Of course, this takes away about a third of the usefulness of the recorder, pretty much eliminating all of the overnight movies and repeats. I use my ReplayTV units for overnight recordings.

3. You are trying to get information from a satellite dish. Sorry! Panny's (or, more accurately, Guide+/Gemstar units) do *NOT* get programming from satellite providers. You need TiVo or ReplayTV for that.

However, from your post, I see you are getting it from cable, and this one doesn't apply to you.

----

You left out some critical informatin:

Do you get your local channel listings corrctly--just without programming? I would guess that you do.

Are you getting *any* programming information? Partial information generally means one of two things:

1. You are not leaving the machine off long enough during the proper times or;

2. You have too many channels in your area and either your provider is not sending all of the information, or your unit's programming memory (not the hard disk) gets full and stops loading.

I minimize the latter by deleting all (non-PBS) stations that I have no intention of watching. I've cut mine from 100 stations to about 35 and program-load has improved radically.

Also, since you live in an area with multiple PBS stations, you might check with Time-Warner to find out which one sends out the Guide+ data and at which times. I have found that moving *all* PBS stations to the top of the schedule improves program load, because the unit seeks the data in the order that programs are listed.

I have also found that with multiple PBS stations, you get *lousy* programing results if the wrong station is first--so a little experimentation over the next few days/weeks could greatly improve your progrmming loading.

Hope this helps!

bob

 

Thanks for the detailed response. Some answers are - I left the unit off two nights in a row...turned it off around 11 PM and didn't turn it back on again until around 8 PM the following night. When I came home the IR blaster was still switching channels on my cable box. When I turn the unit on, it actually says "the programming download has FAILED. Check to see that your cables have hooked up properly." There are no channels listed at all - no programming either. I'm still changing my channels using my cable remote, directly to my cable box. I'm setting up my recordings by programming my digital cable box, and then using the manual schedule settings on the Panasonic to record on channel 0 or IN3 where the input is located. Both of those seem to work but this is the same silly way I did it with my old ILO unit that cost about 2/3 of what this one did. My local digital cable system has channel numbers that go all the way from zero to over one thousand so perhaps you are right about there being too many. Should I use manual channel setup? I haven't done that yet.

 

I don't have a cable box, so I have to limit my response to what I remember from other conversations. I do remember one fellow who set up an antenna on the VHS port and his cable box on a video port, downloaded the schedule from the VHS port, and programmed his IR blaster to shif the channel numbers up to what his cable company used.

Without shifting, the Panny is virtually worthless above about 128.

You might be able to shift everything but the PBS channel that downloads over to Video In, and use Guide+ to schedule the recordings and the cable timer to select them. Mickey mouse, but doable (and just a tad better than timer recording, as you'll at least have the title and time displayed correctly).

bob

Afterthought: Also not only does the Panny have to be OFF and NOT RECORDING, but the cable box has to be on and not being controlled by the other remote. The Panny has to control it as well.

 

DebraCo, if you have TW Digital Cable, why don't you just get the DVR with built-in recorder from them? I think they charge a few bucks more per month, but it is alot easier to record.

 

"DebraCo, if you have TW Digital Cable, why don't you just get the DVR with built-in recorder from them? I think they charge a few bucks more per month, but it is alot easier to record. "

Because I think equipment rental is one of the biggest scams in life. I bought the thing primarily to archive a huge family VHS tape collection to DVD - the TV recording is sort of an afterthought, so if it doesn't work so fabulously, I'm not too upset. Besides, I can still use it like a VCR - setting it manually to record the few shows that I record.

 

By the way, I have tried to "set the channels manually," but anything undeneath "TV Guide Settings" in the menu is grayed out and cannot be selected at all. I even re-set the unit to its factory default but no luck fixing that problem.

 

DebraCo said: [/quote]By the way, I have tried to "set the channels manually," but anything undeneath "TV Guide Settings" in the menu is grayed out and cannot be selected at all. I even re-set the unit to its factory default but no luck fixing that problem.[/quote]

You are using the wrong setup menu (Panny is *very* misleading about this).

On the Remote:

1. Hit either the "Prog/Check" or "TV Guide" button.

2. [Important for all Guide+ functions to minimize lockups] Wait a couple of seconds for the Guide to stabilize.

3. Either Up-Arrow or hit the "Sub Menu" button to get into the menu bar above the listings.

4. Left-Arrow over to the "Setup" menu (You can Right-Arrow, but left is shorter).

5. Down-Arrow twice to get to the "Change Channel Display" (middle) selection.

6. Read the directions.

7. Hit <ENTER> to open the Channel Setup screen.

8. Read the directions.

9. Use Up/Down arrow to move up and down a channel at a time;
Use Channel Up/Down to move a page at a time;
The "Info" button Shows/Hides the directions (which are different when you are at the top level than when you are on a channel);

10. When you are on a station (and the call sign is the key here), you can change the channel associated with it by having the cursor on the RIGHT and typing in a new channel number. You turn that channel on/off using the green <CHAPTER> button.

[One note on channels vs stations: The Guide+ programs using CALL SIGNS and switches to the Channel Number to record. If CBS is 2 and NBC is 4 and you tell it CBS is 4, when you schedule a CBS show to record, it will actually record NBC (i.e. the channel *YOU* told it CBS was on).]

The key to reprogramming channels is, (if you want to use Guide+) you *MUST* choose a station that exists in your area; Set the Channelnumber to *where* it is on your system; and turn it ON.

The more channels you have on, the longer it takes to load programming information, and the better chance yo have to 1) miss some channels completely or 2) limit the information available for the channels you do have.

Finally, if you cannot find the station call signs (on or off) that correspond to your area, try changing the System Settings (Right above Channel Settings) to "My informatin is right, but my lineup is wrong. This will erase some of your existing settings (but not schedules), but will give you most of the channels avalable from *any* provider in your area--although most of them will be off and you will not be able to get many of them.

bob

 

This is where everything ends. When I press <ENTER> at this point, nothing happens. That's right, absolutely nothing (tried several times). I think it's because not a single channel has downloaded in the TVGuide Setup and there is absolutely nothing for the unit to go on, no data at all. I think it's a lost cause. But thanks for trying!

 

deb, just bought this unit 2 days ago and very confusing at first with the quide. On pg 29 you'll see that once you go in and edit or change the channel numbers you must then click on "Tv Guide" nothing else, wait a few seconds till it regathers the new info and away u go. you might want to try doing this to just a few channels first to be sure u ain't wasting all your time. After that, if you'd like go back in to re-edit if you'd like to move the channels up or down. If so, when done, don't forget to hit 'tv guide' again

 

Just to share my experiences with the TV guide setup. From day 1, I was trying to set up my TV guide on my Panasonic DMR E95H and was having problems. Kept losing it and having to re-set it. Of course Panasonic tech support (after waiting hours on the phone) always kind of blamed me. They said to download some upgrade and install it but was unable to do so. I asked them to send it to me but they said to download it in spite of what I said about no tbeing able to dl it.

After not even 3 mos. of use, the recorder was flashing a U99 code and almost non-functioning. Called Panasonic and the tech said hard Drive is out - take it to service center! Being a Friday, I could not so had the weekend to play with it. It was strange. After leaving it alone for a few hours, I was able to dub my programs to DVD-RAMS for later use. For the most part I could not record but then every once in a while when I hit the record button, iut would record. took it in to repair ont he Monday.

After 2 1/2 weeks got it back - they changed the "PC board" and fixed whatever issue it was with the TV Guide. I have had it back for a month and 1/2 now and it seems to be doing great. have not lost my TV guide once since getting it back.....even last night when it went into the SELF check mode. (Prior to the repair, everytime it did a self check, I lost the TV Guide).

So maybe you should take it in for service while it is still under warranty........

 

Regarding Panasonic DVD Recorders (E50H, E85H, E95H, etc) and U99 error code that occurs when Recorder is IN STANDBY and is OK once you power up the unit, but comes back in a day, a week, etc:

Reading through other threads regarding the U99 error, it seems that SOMETHING changed with TV Guide Onscreen in August-September (many locations and cable carriers). I suggest we all try to call Panasonic (800-211-7262) and TV Guide Onscreen (800-386-7380) to try to resolve this. My E85 had NO problems since November 2004 until late Aug-early September when U99 started appearing. Other threads seem to have this error (intermittent U99, not the "non-functional lock-up U99) narrowed down to the TV Guide Onscreen.

 

Hi,
I had the same problem with my E500HS. I got it in May and it was working fine until Sep 3 or 4. After that I was getting U99 which I suspected were related to TV Guide. Since then I try to reset it to factory defaults but I still was getting U99. Few days ago I reset it again and formatted the harddrive. Since then I didn't get U99 yet even I left it off overnight but TV guide still showing as "no listing" on every channel. I check the channels and they look like channel lineup downloaded fine. I have Comcast digital cable service with Motorola DC2000 cablebox.

Andrew
Methuen, MA

 

Hi,

Thanks for all of the information, everyone.

Andrew, you are not alone. I'm having the same u99/TVGOS "no listing" error on my E500HS (no cable box, Charter in Madison, WI). It started about ten days ago.

Another thread on this site reports that Panasonic knows about the problem, but who knows if/when they'll come up with a solution. I guess I'll be using the manual timer for now, but I suspect that means rousing the machine from U99 every afternoon.

Philip,
Madison, WI

 

Hi, Philip
After formatting my drive and doing (|<</<< + Time slip + OPEN/CLOSE) which reset my unit to factory configuration I don't get any more U99 ( I had it in standby for more 30 hours with out U99 but still no TV Guide ) which is little improvement since it allow me to program recording manually.

Andrew

 

Hi, Andrew.
I'll try this after I burn off the stuff on the drive. Unfortunately, I failed to enable high-speed dubbing right out of the box (got distracted by the wait 24 hours for TVGOS on start-up), so it will be a couple of days. Glad to hear this "fix" got rid of the U99.

BTW: Are you getting the ads for the TV Guide screen? Unsurprisingly, while I don't have any listings, it is successfully pulling down the ads.

Also, I'm not yet having problems with manually set timer recordings. Did you have problems other than having to "wake" the machine up from U99?

Thanks,

Philip

 

I am plagued with U99 and no programming, too. Started getting this in the last week of September. Did the firmware update with no avail. I can't see the point of reformatting the drive. The U99 only occurs during those times that the TV Guide does a programming update. It really does seem to be related to TV Guide. Alas, nothing is free. It was too good to be true that the TV Guide programming without subscription fee would last. I suspect that we will see something like that yet from them.

 

First, I agree that reformatting and resetting to factory specs is needed only if the U99 keeps your machine from "waking" to execute timer-records, which I am assuming it does but have not personally confirmed. My near-term work schedule makes this a non-issue, but long-term it will cause me problems. For what it's worth, with the machine already on, the manual timer record did fine with three different programs this evening.

Second, I agree TVGOS isn't free, but I don't think we should back off of the expectations we were presented with when we bought the machines. I never expected something for nothing. Rather, TVGOS comes with costs in terms of commercials on the interface and moreover moved Panasonic off of their old timer record scheme. Indeed, my big problem with this particular error/bug is that without TVGOS the new product line is inferior to my DMR-E80H, which allowed me to program titles as I entered them, record programs back to back without dropping 30 seconds, and has been rock solid for two years now (knock on wood). I suspect bwcathe is right in thinking that we'll see a push toward subscription, but Gemstar/TV Guide and Panasonic induced a class of consumers to buy a product based on fairly clear promises of services, and I believe they should make good on it.

 

As I never got TV guide to work in the first place, this isn't an issue for me. But I did notice in my Time Warner Cable bill that they have recently discontinued their entire TV guide channel (the scrolling listings channel for people who still have analog cable) and this leads me to believe that there will never be any TV guide programming available for me with my Panasonic unit to find, even if it was working properly.

I've been doing manual recording since I got the thing, and it's been fine.

 

bns70,
I couldn't agree with your sentiments more!! Gemstar has all these disclaimers that say to the effect, we aren't responsible for errors in our data, .... and to refer to the hardware manufacturer. It almost sounds like they are saying, we made it, but once it's off the shelves, it's yours, ... well, if it's ours, set up a website like wikipedia, and let us go in there and edit the data that is sent to the units (broadcast), ..... maybe then we'd get some good data. I'm guessing the data format is a closely guarded secret, just like the VCR plus codes.

RX7 Fan (E85H owner, love the hardware, hate the service)