[bold]shaolin00[/bold]: It's shown on the first page of TVGOS diagnostics (messages tab, enter to show the ID, then enter 753159852). The channels are listed in hexadecimal. To convert them, Google "hexadecimal" and "conversion" for an application to do this. Now 12 days without a U99, but as an aside to [bold]RX7Fan[/bold], my RCA Guide+ did lose all listings and ads on Monday, but the Panny was fine. I'll have to ask my friend if he had any problems with his newer Guide+ recently. I didn't mean to spark a debate about Panasonic/Gemstar's handling of the situation. I was just playing devil's advocate. I agree that besides Cheryl, action on this issue has been deplorable, if it's even acknowledged at all. Neither company has tried to find out HOW many people this affects (ignorance is bliss) but I think they're starting to get the picture after a MONTH.
Well the last two days have been busy getting U99's. When I got home Tuesday at 1:00pm and had to reset due to U99. After doing the start up as normal I thought that the unit was taking longer to turn on. The unit turned itself off after the self check and the flashing blue lines (that run left to right) at the bottom of the display were moving and the clock was showing. I hit the power button and everything came on OK so Iturned the unit off. Got back in around 4:30 and the U99 was back. The unit did the same thing. After going through the self check the unit turned off and only the bottom row of dashes were moving along the display with the clock showing (this is normal). " _ _ _ _ _ _ 4:40 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ " I did not turn the unit on and left it doing whatever it was doing and it continued until I finally wanted to record a show at 7:00 pm. I just hit the power button and it started up. Not getting the full TVGOS. Some days show no listing others just show the name of the show.
I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, and I DO hope the problem is fixed in OKC, but I almost wish I was still having the problem. That way, when they do the nation wide roll out, I'd have a better feeling that the problem has been fixed for me once and for all. As it is, I have not had a U99 in over two weeks with no action on my part (or anubody else apparently). I can't see how the listing information would changes significantly, but I CAN see how the ads would change significantly. I just hope there isn't a multiple cause problem here... As for corporate behavior: It's all driven by the quarterly earning statements. Period. Unless you can convince a company (or a division within that company) that their quarterly earing statement will be affected, they won't budge. Rare is the company that looks beyond the current quarter. I think this is starting to change a little, but just so.
of late i have not been resetting the machine after u99 as in the past with ch up/ch dn/power cord. i have just been powering up when i see the u99. it takes a few times of powering up while it is in constant reboot mode (just kind of sits there) but after about 2 or 3 power up button presses it comes back to normal. i have not noticed any difference in u99 occurrances between doing this or resetting. i do preserve all the listings and schedules by doing it this way. who knows?
[bold]sfstan[/bold] See my post way back on pg 17 at "11. October 2005 @ 18:21". Didn't get much reaction from the board. Absolutely agree with you. [bold]beckman[/bold] Not sure what you mean by the "format tactic", but I have not received a U99 in San Antonio since I disabled the TVGuide download using the "Auto Channel Scan" operation over a month ago. So, as long as you've upgraded the E85H firmware to the Jan 2005 release and follow VideoBob's warnings about leaving a DVD in the unit, I can state with at least 99% certainty that you will not encounter a U99. And you'll be able to successfully record programs manually to your heart's content without worrying about losing anything (presuming you've got battery backup). Some posters have reported problems with the "Auto Channel Scan" menu item being "grayed out" (i.e. disabled) if they have responded to the unit that it is hooked up to a cable box. [bold]Sparc21[/bold] It may be that Gemstar paid Panasonic and not the other way around. It is probably Gemstar who reaps (or has planned to reap) ad revenue.
VulcanUSA-> Who are you connected to? I'm in San Antonio, w. Time Warner Cable, no cable box. I haven't had a U99 in 17 days, get channel listings o.k. too AND I usually have a DVD-ROM in the player. When I was getting them, it was for two days every week Fri-Sat. It's just wierd how the problem comes and goes in different areas of the country.
TForce1, Same config as you (i.e. Time Warner, no cable box). Until VideoBob's warning, I too usually left a DVD-RAM in the unit and never received a U99. VB seems to be pretty knowledgeable on the subject, so I'll follow his advice since it's essentially painless. I also think not having the TV Guide is pretty painless, but I might change my mind if I had over a hundred channels from which to choose.
Hi vulcanusa, I'm sorry but on this thing I'm right. It was Panasonic to paid Gemstar for License to TVGOS. You can read this in Gemstar financial release which is required by law for all publicly traded companes. http://ir.gemstartvguide.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=111956&p=irol-newsArticle&t=Regular&id=612545& Sparc21
Hi vulcanusa, I'm sorry but on this thing I'm right. It was Panasonic to paid Gemstar for License to TVGOS. You can read this in Gemstar financial release which is required by law for all publicly traded companes. http://ir.gemstartvguide.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=111956&p=irol-newsArticle&t=Regular&id=612545& Sparc21
Another U99 today. OK, so how to I disable the TVGuide? I tinkered for a minute trying to, but to no avail. As for leaving a DVD in the unit...yeah, I noticed that myself and make sure not to leave anything in there overnight.
I got an email from Cheryl who said that I should start getting listings, however I needed to do a factory reset instead of the chup/down thing. What is a factory reset? supposedly it is supposed to clear out the memory.
and the factory reset is? it will not clear out what is on the hard drive? right? is that a nationwide roll-out she was saying would happen?
beckman, See post "22. September 2005 @ 10:41" on page 7 regarding how to disable the TV Guide download. Also check out post "29. September 2005 @ 16:56" on page 8. And post "2. October 2005 @ 16:45" on page 9. I believe the instructions for performing the Auto Channel Scan are around pg. 43 or pg 46 in the manual.
I followed the instructions on pages 7, 8 and 9, but the buttons are greyed out and when I click them nothing happens. I unplugged the unit but that didn't work. Should I reformat the HDD? I'd have to back up my saved programs first, so it would be a pain. Any other ideas?
beckman, If you don't have a cable box, then I know from prior experience over a month ago when I was playing around with the TV Guide download that you can re-enable the Auto Channel Scan by entering and then exiting "service mode". To find out how to enter and exit "service mode", see: http://www.dxcc.com/dmr-e85h.htm You [bold]may[/bold] also get the Auto Channel Scan menu item to enable by a factory reset, but I don't believe I tried that. A couple of posters, e.g. BudinMA, have a cable box and have not been able to enable the Auto Channel Scan menu item. Those people are always susceptible to the U99 causing their DVR to fail to record a program. Yikes! I made a private suggestion to BudinMA that he may or may not have implemented depending upon how he uses his cable box. The suggestion depends upon whether all channels entering the cable box input pass through to the output. I expect the non-premium channels to pass through fine. The premium channels will be garbage. Right? You decode a premium channel by tuning the cable box to that channel. The box decodes the channel and outputs it to channel 2 or 3, right? If you tune the box to a non-premium channel, yep, it'll be output to channel 2 or 3 as well, but it should also pass through the box on its normal channel. Now, if you have a cable box, I presume you only have it because you actually watch premium channels. How many of them? If you primarily watch a particular premium channel, or more importantly, if you only primarily record from non-premium channels and, say, 1 premium channel, then you may initialize your DVR by telling it you have cable, but [bold]NOT[/bold] a cable box. Remove the IR blaster. Now the Auto Channel Scan menu item should be enabled. You won't be able to set up several different premium channels to record. However, if you leave the cable box set to the premium channel you typically record from when you're not watching TV, you'll be able to set up manual timer recordings for a set of non-premium channels and that one premium channel. Of course, you'll have to tell your DVR when you set up a manual timer recording event for the premium channel that you want to record channel 2 or 3 in order to capture the decoded signal from the cable box (i.e. not the actual premium channel number). If I'm wrong, I'm sure another forum member will correct me.
I just got back from several days away and still no U99 here in OKC. Whatever they did, it seems to have worked here. I'm just curious why they picked OKC to roll out the fix. Not that I'm complaining... I'm very grateful to have this machine working again. I'm sure the rest of you would be too.
