I haven't had a U99 for over a month now but I am noticing that lots of my programmed recordings aren't being recorded and these weren't at "odd" times. Last week I had my recorder set to record Survivor at 8PM on Thursday and I left the recorder on so I wouldn't miss recording it if the U99 came back and it didn't record it. I hoped it was just a one time fluke but it happened again last night. It didn't record Survivor at 8PM or Primetime at 10PM. I had them set to record regularly so I think I will change it to weekly and see if that helps. Looks like there are still some bugs left. Oh well it is better than the U99 anyway.
I had an email conversation with Cheryl this morning. She says they are ramping up to test the non-recording issues. You might want to send her any info you have to make sure they test what's broken.
Just wanted to report that I restarted the TVGuide service on my DVR this past weekend and have seen listings and no U99's. Astound Cable in Walnut Creek seems to be working fine. To reiterate what we are all probably feeling, it's frustrating that neither Panasonic or Gemstar thoroughly tested their TVGuide upgrade before hand and even more frustrating that it took two months to resolve to simply go back to the way they sent the info out before the errors started occuring. Just in case anyone from Panasonic or Gemstar tech support is taking a look at this, please keep in mind that a significant portion of your customer base does have a good idea of when problems are related to something other than hardware and it would be nice if you all listened a bit more the first time you hear such a complaint rather than waiting for hundreds of them to collect.
Since my 3 week trip away from home (end of Sept - middle of Oct) when I got 4 days of programs recorded instead of the 21 I was supposed to get, I have had intermitent U-99 problems. I think for the past 2 weeks, I have not seen that on my display but I have had on/off problems when dubbing. One night I just stopped trying after about 4 DVDs were ruined! No apparent reason. The past week was great with no dubbing problems. Although TV Guide seems to be downloaded, I am not using it and just manually setting the recorder. I am now on a 2 1/2 week trip away and am anxiously awaiting my return home! Will all the recordings be there or will I end up with another 4 days out of 18???????????? Quite frustrating to know that I CANNOT depend on this E95. Sure hope it proves me wrong on this trip. (live in Hawaii)
More on the non-recording issue...I tried manually setting the time for the Late Show/David Letterman and the recording failed. Earlier this week I stayed up past my bedtime and stood in front of the E85 at 11:35PM (the start time for LS/DL)...exactly NOTHING. When I hit the power button to turn the unit on, the recording started immediately. For the last 3 nights I left the unit powered on and the show recorded normally. When I get up in the AM I power the Panny off so I receive the TVGOS updates later in the day. It's annoying, but it does seem to solve the problem...for me, at least.
I had this same problem on the EH50, where the timer didn't turn on the unit and record some shows, either by selecting the show via TVGOS or the manual method. Recording would start if I turned on the unit while it was supposed to be recording. After numerous calls to Panasonic, I finally got someone to send me a firmware update CD. Getting this upgraded firmware through Panasonic was ridiculous – I’d receive a different answer each time I called after numerous calls. The firmware update CD has a file dated 8/24/2005. The EH50 hasn’t failed to record one show after over four weeks. The TVGOS menus froze up completely once, requiring a power cycle of the unit, which may or may not be related to this update. I responded to a customer satisfaction e-mail from Panasonic recently, asking why this new EH50 firmware isn’t on their web site, but of course haven’t received anything back. http://groups.google.com/group/rec....a?lnk=st&q=garyp+eh50&rnum=1#3f15765fcb6292ea
I guess I have an uncommon problem.After trying all the fixes (factory reset, new firmware, etc) I now get no U99's, but also cannot get a schedule download. Timed recordings work fine, but one reason I bought my 85 was to utilize the ease of sceduled recording. Now it just says 'No listing" despite havin reset evrything, and getting the message to turn the machine off for 24 hours. Pretty frustrating... Chicago area, 60302,no cable. Jeff
[bold]garyp2[/bold] Thank you for the firmware upgrade suggestion. I actually flashed mine a month or so ago based on the recommendation of forum members here. I've done several resets since that time and perhaps my firmware reverted to the factory version??? I can certainly try flashing again.
A miracle or coincidence? One minute after posting my previous message about getting no listings, THEY APPEARED! Amazing! Jeff
dukebruno - I don't suspect that reflashing the same firmware again is going to help until Panasonic provides newer firmware that addresses the timer bug. I received what is presumably newer firmware from them and am hoping that they found and corrected an error in the timer and scheduling logic. For whatever reason, most of their customer services reps were either unaware of or unwilling to offer this firmware to me earlier. I even had one rep tell me later that the firmware CD they sent me was not for the EH50, yet the CD is clearly marked DMR-EH50 FIRMWARE UPGRADE. I don't know for certain how to tell the version of firmware that's on the system. A diagnostic screen getting into the TVGOS tells some things, but I'm certain if it's firmware version numbers.
RE: Mossler I had that problem (no record, but program definitely set up) before the "u99" fix. The interesting thing is that it ONLY ever happened for Survivor. Never had that problem with any of the sports, Lost, Invasion, Amazing Race, or other shows I record.
Anyone know if there was any increase in glitches on TV Guide's end this weekend? I have a Sony hard drive recorder, but have been watching this thread due to the similarity of problems (although mine aren't as severe). After having no problems since September, the stored infomation for TV Guide info and for programs scheduled to record were all wiped out again this morning. Cheryl had me email her screens from the diagnostic screens, but I got in contact with her at a time when it was working fine. I took a new set of pictures of the screens after this happened and will send to her in the hopes it will give some information as to what the problem is.
[bold]psujmatt [/bold] that was my experience as well...Late Show on CBS would not record. One night I tried Tonight Show on NBC and it recorded fine.
Hmm strange... I was starting to wonder if it was a problem with Survivor but on that same night it missed recording Primetime on ABC also. Of course Primetime came on an hour after Survivor so maybe it messed them both up? It has been working fine since last Thursday though. Maybe it just doesn't like Thursdays. I've changed it to record weekly instead of regularly. I hope that helps since I will be visiting relatives for Thanksgiving next Thursday through Saturday. I hope it works while I'm gone. I Wish I could depend on it. I may get out the old vcr at least I can count on it to record what I ask it to.
I have another question to ask about the Panasonic DVR however it doesn't cover the U99 problem but there are a lot of readers to this forum. Does anyone know if there is a difference between "high speed recording" and regular recording when dubbing to a disc. Granted the speed is much quicker, but I wanted to know if there was a quality difference. I have noticed that when I dub a DVD that has both high speed and regular recordings, when I look at the disc I can see where the regular recording is on the disc. Although i haven't noticed any difference in quality.
Bud Nope, ... The high, and normal speeds are just in how fast it transfers raw data from the hard drive to the DVD, some will say that slower is better, ... not true, it is just raw data, and it is checked for accuracy by the DVR, (it makes sure it puts down what it was supposed to) The reason some will only transfer at slower speed (educated guess here) is in the way it writes it to the hard drive orgionally. My latest update, no problems here on my DVR, everything is working pretty much as usual, ... I have noticed the problems with the "odd start times", but, I've been adjusting the start/stop times to compensate (ER on thursday nights is a big one, .. it starts 2 minuts before the hour, you miss a little of it. Side note, .. I just picked up a DVR from the cable company (Cox) ... it's a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD ...High Def DVR , ..... SWEET!!!!! does a great job on HD picture recording, and .. to beat all, it has a SATA port on the back, ... you can "upgrade" the thing by plugging in your own SATA drive, ... only thing I want is a Blue Ray drive in the thing, and I'd be happy!! .. yeah, I know, gonna be a while for that one.
Thanks RX7. I too got a DVR from my cable company. One of the great things about this one is that I can record one program and watch another at the same time. I don't have it on the same TV with my E85 though, although I do have a Panasonic DVD attached to it just in case someone I've recorded I want to keep or share. Had I gotten one of these I probably would not have bought the E85, although you can't do any editing on the DVRs.
Bud, Yeah, my sentiments exactly, ... I do have them both on the same tv, ... if I find something good on the Cable DVR, I can copy it to the Panny, ... the Cable DVR is digital, and of course the Panny is analog, so ... a better quality copy, ... then I can edit on the panny, .... I've been planning on just using the cable DVR for HD, and the panny for analog, .. not sure now, I might transfer the stuff I want to keep from the Cable to the Panny, and then dub it. almost a filtering process. sheesh, gonna have to get a program to know who the players are though. Come on, chant with me, "We want our Blue Ray now" "We want our Blue Ray now"
