I've looked at this thread, but haven't seen the problem I am facing. My E85 is stuck in perpetual "Please Wait" mode. I've unplugged it for 20 minutes, but nothing seems to work. I've tried some of the suggestions here, but no luck. Any advice?
Bob, VideoBob wrote (when asked about 'PVR'): The seller deemed my E85 dead ("bad circuit board" which may simply have been a catch-all for "not worth trying to diagnose) so I now have a credit, since they did honor the extended warranty. In researching what to do for a replacement, it really does appear that people these days are either going with the gear from the cable company (and living with no edit nor dub-to-DVD), or going the build-your-own PVR route. Long story short, I've learned a few things about PVR since your reply. In fact, other than needing some (lots!) more HD space, I found that already own everything I need: spare Mac, Formac AV converter, and a variety of software. But there's still a lot to learn. My questions are very off-topic for this thread -- Is there another thread on this site that you participate in that fields questions about PVRs? ... and, in particular, Mac-based PVRing?? (TitanTV, Formac Studio TVR, iMovie, Quicktime, et al) ~ Keri
ever since day light savings time back in april, our E85H machine hasn't had the TV Guide listings NOR the correct time. we have tried everything we can think of to fix it, but have come up empty. we unplugged the stupid thing for 30 seconds and tried to fix it, but it's still not working. can anyone suggest anything else? should we try putting it back to factory settings? we're just afraid we're going to lose all our recordings...thanks!
You won't lose anything you've recorded unless you yank the hard drive. Go ahead a do a factory restore and see if you start getting guide data, I have to do this a few times each year as well.
Good News/Bad News Bad news: In the deep dark last night, I became a member of the U99 club. Good News: I applied the firmware update for my e85h. Everything seems to be okay. I'm busy getting all the recordings off the hdd. Just in case!
I had my first U99 in several months yesterday. It happened hours after I had cut commercials out of a movie for my son. I haven't duped it to DVD yet. I probably should have reset the machine right after the Shorten action, but I was lazy.
Question for all you regulars.... I went away on vacation last week and when I came back, my unit had stopped downloading TVG programming, probably some time around 8/25 or 8/26. I've tried resetting it to no avail. Does anyone know whether the folks at TV Guide have done another software upgrade that might be wreaking havoc for us? I seem to have to notify my cable company (Insight) when this happens so they can do whatever they need to do on their end so those of us with Panasonic units can download the programming guide again. Thanks for any advice or feedback.
The new Fall season is right around the corner. Recall Fall 2005? You can place some good bets on what could be happening (or about to happen). Ad revenue pressures, changes in data formats, etc., etc. Lots of opportunity for things flowing between multiple parties (and pieces of gear) to fall out of sync. For the Panny units this seems to manifest as the catch-all 'U99' (i.e., not necessarily the same as last year's U99). Basketball has its "March Madness" -- TV lineup provisioning has its "Fall Frenzy". And we all have our 'fun'.
tomandtsh moaned: It's been a month since I've looked at this list, so I imagine that you've fixed this by now--or sent the unit back. If you still have the problem a FACTORY RESET should fix it. If not, I'm afraid you may be SOL. What follows is an e-mail I got from Panasonic support a year or so ago: bob Please follow the instructions listed below. 1. Hold down the channel up and channel down keys together, you MUST hold these keys down until the clock starts flashing (not until unit says BYE) keep them depressed until clock is flashing 1200am. 2. Pull power cord on unit (15 -20 seconds) and re-connect. 3. At this point the front of the recorder will show PLEASE WAIT (with no hash marks going back and forth) wait until this goes off completely. The front of the unit normally will be all black (no lights) this sometimes takes a while. 4. Power the unit on, you may get one of two things, 1 (Please Wait with the flashing hash marks for a while) or just have front of unit display GUIDE along with ch1, on the face. 5. The very beginning TV Guide set up screen on your TV, this is the picture of a TV set with welcome to TV Guide set up. This means the recorder is completely reset to factory, if you have the TV Guide screen asking if settings are correct, you have not completely reset and must try again. To obtain additional troubleshooting assistance for your product, please contact our Panasonic Customer Call Center at (800) 211-PANA. The hours of operation are Mon. - Fri. 9A.M to 9PM and Sat. - Sun. 10A.M to 7PM Eastern Standard Time. A representative will be available to assist you. Please have your case number, which is listed at the top portion of your email, available at the time of the call. Thank You, Panasonic Consumer Support
keriah Asked: Keri, I haven't been working on it lately due to family health reasons, but you might try: http://forums.afterdawn.com/forum_view.cfm/108 or http://www.pvrs.net/ The latter looks like a newer, small forum with potential. bob
howie14w: I cut commercials daily, with no problems. However, whenever I use the EDIT menu's DIVIDE TITLE option, I can guarantee a failure -- usually starting with loss of program downloads and "phantom recordings." bob
kheyer: I've had a lot of problems on both pannys in two different locatons lately that can be traced directly back to changes in download. It's that time of year. Make sure that you check regularly to see what your download and VBI channels are(*) and DO NOT delete them from your line-up, even if you do not watch them. bob (*) To check your download channels, times, etc: 1. Bring the TV Guide On Screen up on your TV 2. Press the 'up arrow' once to get to the top menu and then scroll to the right until you get to the "Messages" tab 3. Press Enter (SELECT) on the remote 4. Enter 753159852 To exit the debug screens, just press the TV Guide button. It will also exit automatically if you do nothing for a few minutes.
I also got my first TVGuide U99 yesterday (Sep 1-2006), after enabling TVGuide a few months ago. That debug screen is not valid for E85s ?
Bob, Thanks for these links. And for anyone else interested in this topic, I located this Mac-specific forum on the Afterdawn site: http://forums.afterdawn.com/forum_view.cfm/56 That forum begins with a comprehensive Guide/tutorial. ~ Keri
i probably should not say anything, but here goes (not a jinx i hope). i have not had a bit of a problem for months and months. no u99s. full programming guide. i am on comcast digital in sf. my e85 is not hooked up to my cable box. i have my tivo hooked up to the box. i shorten recorded shows daily. write dvds daily. i copy a lot of my recorded shows and movies from my tivo to the e85 hard drive and take it from there. i do on ocassion record directly to the e85 through direct input from the cable without problems. wish i could tell you why all's been well.
E85H: Sure it is. Using the on-screen guide in either Listings or Schedule mode, either hit the up arrow or push the Sub-Menu button to access the Menu Bar. Hit the Left Arrow once or twice to get to the Messages Menu and then hit <ENTER> exactly ONCE. That should show your unit ID number. Now, before you hit anything else, punch in the code 753159852 (Notice that it makes 3/4 of a Cross of St. George). The Debug screen should show up without hitting anything else. If you mis-key *ANY* key after you hit <ENTER> you have to move from Messages and back again, then hit <ENTER> and go again. There is no correction mode. You exit with the <RETURN> button. bob
To E85H: You are missing a number. You published: 75319852 The number you need to key in is: 753159852 You're missing the 5 in the middle. Robert
Ah, shoot they must have changed their GuidePlus software recently as I see it has a new data screen. Like you can see if a program is a repeat or not. This is affectioning Pioneers & Panasonics. What happens is you get a guideplus screen just fine; but it won't record your programs you selected to record. Maybe there is phone number to call but they are just going to suggest you send in your machine. Which wont do anything since its their software. But it corrected for me by unpluggin it from wall for a minute or so.
