Was just wondering if anyone of you recieved a notice in the mail from Panasonic that your recorder's warrantee was about to expire and an offer to extend it? I did, and coincidentally it was only a day or two after the TVG started acting up again. Me think there is some underhanded nonsense going on here, but can't prove it.
Although my TVGOS is working now, I have a slight problem: not all the channels I can get appear in the channel lineup. This means that if I wish to record from a channel that does not appear, I must use the old, much less convenient timer recording setup, which the TVGOS is meant to replace. Is there a way to add channels to the lineup by specifying their number, or somesuch trick? Thanks,
Sorry, we're out of luck when it comes to adding missing channels. You can actually map different channels to channels in your lineup that you don't use, but you won't get any schedules for them. You're right, you have to use timer recording for the channels that aren't in the TVGOS lineup.
[bold] I hope someone has an idea for me: [/bold] My cable company (Comcast) has made the switch to an all-digital lineup. That means that the local channels with the TVGOS host signal no longer carry it. My DVR just keeps cycling through channels 2 - 99 trying to find a host. However, as is the common practice, Comcast appears to have created a mirror channel for Maryland Public TV up in the 90's that I beleive should be analog and acting as my TVGOS host. Based on the fact that I have reset EVERYTHING and my DVR still doesn't detect a host on that channel, I'm thinking Comcast did something wrong or devious. Now for my real problem - [bold] How do I get in touch with anyone at the cable company who can understand my question, let alone address it intelligently and at least acknowledge it as an issue? [/bold]
Skatter21, If you know the actual channel number of this mirror channel, try moving it to the top of your channel listing. This should make it start the scan with that channel.
Unfortunately, I no longer have a lineup. I did a hard reset as part of my troubleshooting and now, because of the problem I described, the machine can't find a host channel to provide a lineup. By the way, Cheryl Roblee has responded to my latest email and understands the problem. She may be able to work with Comcast; we'll wait and see.
[bold]dksmall:[/bold] It might have to do with Daylight Saving Time; in October a few days before DST ended, I also had guide problems and had to reset! Seems like a new bug in the TVGOS; it did NOT have a problem dealing with DST BEFORE all the U99 crap last September. I did a hard reset yesterday and this morning have channel listings but NO guide data yet. It also seems that my host channel and VBI channels are DIFFERENT than what they used to be (is the problem because Comcast changed the host/VBI channels?!), so I've enabled those and we'll see.
I forgot to mention when I wasn't getting guide data, my host channel had been reset to 0. After the reset I notice it was 10, when it use to be 15. Now that I have full guide data again I'll have to see what the host channel ended up being.
Ever since the problem with U99 months ago, I just decided to manually set all my timed recordings. This initially worked out better as in the past month I have rarely had any TV guide listings. But now I am having other problems. Whenever I go out, the machine is NOT recording the channels it is set to record. I just checked my recordings for last night and the times I set got recorded but it was totally DIFFERENT channels! I have talked to my cable company and we preset the channel that the TV is supposed to be on when I turn on the TV, but that does not hold either and when I turn on the TV, it is never on the channel that we set it for. Can't figure out if the problem is with the cable company or the DVD recorder and whoever I talk to will say it is the fault of the other. any suggestions? At this rate, I have to leave the TV on whenever I go out (since I always record the same channel right now). Seems like I won't be able to get it to switch channels right now either.......??????
Ever since the problem with U99 months ago, I just decided to manually set all my timed recordings. This initially worked out better as in the past month I have rarely had any TV guide listings. But now I am having other problems. Whenever I go out, the machine is NOT recording the channels it is set to record. I just checked my recordings for last night and the times I set got recorded but it was totally DIFFERENT channels! I have talked to my cable company and we preset the channel that the TV is supposed to be on when I turn on the TV, but that does not hold either and when I turn on the TV, it is never on the channel that we set it for. Can't figure out if the problem is with the cable company or the DVD recorder and whoever I talk to will say it is the fault of the other. any suggestions? At this rate, I have to leave the TV on whenever I go out (since I always record the same channel right now). Seems like I won't be able to get it to switch channels right now either.......??????
soju, I'm a little confused what the TV has to do with your problem. Isn't your DVR bridging the link between your incoming cable and the TV? If so, the TV is really irrelevant since it is downstream in the signal path from the DVR. It sounds like you manually set up timer programs, but continue to permit the TV Guide listings to download. I disable the TV Guide download entirely. Never had a problem recording the wrong channel and have not had a U99 since mid-August. That's where I'd start, disabling the TV Guide download to the DVR.
Cheryl saved the day again. Apparently Comcast provided an alternate PBS channel in the 90's range to act as a host channel. Unfortunately, the channel they provided is supposed to cover both the Baltimore and the Washington, DC markets, but TVGOS only recognizes the channel for one of those and I'm in the other (of course). Cheryl was able to recommend a zip code I could enter that would "see" the analog channel to get lineups (it found 3 of them). Then all I had to do was remap the PBS channel to point to the one in the 90's. I also moved that channel to the top of my lineup for good measure.
Skatter21...You are the man!!! I have never been able to get Cheryl to return any of my calls or emails, let alone give me any recommendations! In fact no one has contacted me ever about what the problem is or how to correct it. Good job to you to get some help.
Well vulcanusa, the problem was so simple it is almost stupid. The IR Blaster which is supposed to sit in front of the cable box to get those signals between the cable box and the DVD recorder had gotten pushed under the cable box so no signals were being sent!! Put it back where it belongs and all is fine. Panasonic tech support was hilarious telling me all these crazy things that I had to do now...even that I had to manually change the channel on my cable box everytime I recorded a different channel!!! Anyway, I am back to being a happy recorder. BTW, the TV guide does not seem to interfere with the manual timer recordings. They come and disappear with the good and bad weather!!! Thanks for the reply!
Dear Katchoo, My brother spoke with Carol - she suggested some things that might help - changing both KCET channel entries to 97 - changing both KCET channel entries to 6 - the second suggested fix worked - apparently because Adelphia passes the KCET signal completely intact including video, audio, and VBI captioning and TVGOS data - so that I get the KCET OTA (over the air) channel 28 signal through "classic" analog cable channel 6. We will wait over weekend to see if fix is stable but if their working theory is correct the fix should be stable. My understanding is Carol was prompt, very patient, and went way out of her way to be helpful in diagnosing and repairing this problem. We should find some way to commend her for her kindness and efforts on behalf of customers who otherwise deal with manufacturers who are quite frankly clueless about diagnosis and repair of TVGOS problems. Alex
engram1... Boy, it sounds like I am the only one with the bad luck in dealing with customer service. But frankly over the last year I have sent over 20 emails, called Panasonic and both the TVGOS and Adelphia at least 12 times and left messages each time. Not a single returned phone call or email. I read these messages religiously in hopes of finding a solution but nothing suggested has ever worked. I wasn't able to follow your suggestion, I don't know what the KCET thing is or how to set it. If you can help, I would appreciate it.
The fix of setting the TVGOS host station (KCET - the local PBS affiliate) entry - automatically set to Channel 6 and Channel 97 - both to Channel 6 - appears to be stable after one week testing. This is on a Panasonic DMR-E85 with firmware from Panasonic site.
katchoo On TVGOS diagnostic 753159852 Screen 1 my Host Channel is 6 yet on Screen 7 my download channel is 96. On TVGOS lineup both Channel 6 and Channel 96 are identified as KCET. KCET is my local PBS station and TVGOS tends to use the local PBS station as their download host. Cheryl's advice (because my host and DL chanels were different) was that if you have digital cable you should go into channel setup and change both KCET entries to the channel in the 90's. Then I would try a reset (653214741) and turn your receiver off for 24 hours. I take it, like me, you receive a channel lineup, channel logos, and promos. You might look at Screen 2 to see if you have a lot of Type A and Type B data with few Acor/AErrs/BCorr/BErrs. You might also look at Screen 1 to see Next DL date & time (these are in UTC which is also known as GMT [London] time - look at top of screen for the current UTC time). Finally look at Screen 7 for LastDLStart and LastDLEnd - if DLEnd is before DLStart the last DL probably failed. Also make note of the LastDLChan. BUT . . . don't keep interrupting the initial download by turning your receiver on and looking for the data . . . because if you keep interrupting the DL you get no data.
I would love to find out what is the correct channel to get TVGOS information in NYC, using Time Warner Digital cable service. Some channels do not appear on my channel lineup, so perhaps there is a better channel than the one my E85 is using now (channel 51). Any help will be appreciated.
My DMR-E85H was manufactured in April 2004, but I've only had it just over a year now (i.e. no more warrenty) and I got the U99 error. I have gotten the U99 before, but I just reset the unit by holding the power button for 10 seconds and then reset the TV guide feature and the unit eventually returned to normal. Now the unit goes through "Please Wait" "Self Check" then appears to come on with the time remaining "R56:00" and then jumps to TV Guide with no data available. Then the dreaded U99 appears and nothing works except powering off and the special press these three buttons on the front panel that I have seen in these forums. I only learned from these forums that there are Firmware upgrades (sure would be nice if Panasonic mentioned this in the manual). I tried using the Firmware from Roger's Snafu web site, by forcing open the DVD drive (using 3 button combos) putting in the CD-R and toggling the the power. I get the "Bye" message but then the system doesn't restart. Turning it on again myself didn't help. Roger didn't think you could upgrade the firmware except by exchange Hard drives, but some in this form thought forcing the drive open would work. Has anyone had success with this? I notice on Panasonic's web site they reference a DMR-E85HP firmware (4/12/05), is this different the the DMR-E85H? I also notice some reference to DMR-85HS. Are these all the same units and the firmware is all the same? --- Edit -- Last night I went at it again trying the skip-reverse, time slip, and open/close buttons. Hold for 20 seconds, Power Cycle, and Up/Down Channel. I never got the L1 12:00 flashing factory reset people described. But it did open the DVD drive to enable me to put the new firmware in. I don't know what did it in the end, but after only 10 minutes of doing the same thing over and over, it finally Uploaded the new firmware and cleared out the U99. Moral of the story: The button combinations on the front of the machine give inconsistent results. If it doesn't work for you, keep trying!
