I seem to have lost listings recently. After today, no listings. First noticed this last Sat. I called up Time Warner (San Antonio, TX) and the rep seemed to know what I was talking about. He indicated that the data was sent on the TV Guide channel (98) here which makes sense and that they are still sending it out. Has anyone else suddenly had problems with the listing not being populated in the last week?
I lost downloads weeks ago with no success. I've gone through the setup process so many times I can do it in my sleep. I e-mailed Time Warner and they said there should be no problem. They said: I do know that there have been upgrades going on and they are changing everything from analog to digital programming. Maybe that is the culprit. I have noticed that if you watch TV from your cable box and also have it on in another room with no box, there is about a 5 second delay in the signal between the 2 TVs, so there has been some change.
I too called TWC San Antonio and I actually got a very helpful rep. It seems TWC-SA is being hit with a lot of calls on this issue and it seems the calls are from the RCA TV Guide group who is also having this problem. She advised me to use the publice access channel (#10) because this is where they were telling the RCA group to pick up their download of the guide from. I tried this on Thursday and I still got the "failed" error msg. I'm going to try the following in quotes from an earlier message in this group from this time last year. "With the Guide up, scroll to messages, press enter. With the remote type in 753159852, you won’t see these numbers as you enter them. This brings up the diagnostic screens (there are 30 of them - but mostly unintelligible to me) However, on page 1 you can see a listing for the host channel which is where the machine is going to switch to look for listings. The number starts with 0x28... but you're only interested in the last 2 digits. Those are listed in hexadecimal format - that means numbers 0-9, then letters A-F so A=10, B=11, etc. Start with the next-to-last digit, take the value and multiply it by 16 then add to it the value of the last digit (ex. 3C would be 3 x 16 = 48 plus C which is 12, so 3C is channel 60) The other things I usually look at on this screen are the date/time values about 2/3 down the left side - the Next D/L TIme is when the box is going to go check for listings (assuming it is in standby mode). If all the date/time values say N/A, I know something bad has happened. (Times are in a universal format (UTC), so they won't match your real time - it's easiest to look at the time in the upper left corner and compare the listed times to that). Hope this helps a little." John - San Antonio
Thanks John. I will snoop and see if I can figure that out. Meanwhile, if you get your listings back, please let me know and I'll do the same. When you say public access #10, you mean public television (it's on 10). The public access station has been unused for anything (whatever channel it was) for some time now (I think).
TForce1 - You are correct. I meant cable channel 10 (public tv) not the public access channel which is in the 20's. I just finished coming up with my HEX code and it was a 1E which equals to 30. So I just did a reset and set my channel to 30 and will monitor it to see if anything comes up today.
JOHE313 Wrote: Thanks for putting the above info in your message! I left a message on this thread a couple of days ago asking about that very thing. I do have one question though. After entering the numbers above do you hit the "Enter" key or some other key to bring up the Diagnostic Screens? Thanks Again!
the diagonistic info show after keying the last number. No need to hit enter or any other key. A day later setting my channel to channel 30 didn't work either. I'm besides myself and I doubt if TWC-SA will be of any help since they didn't think they had a problem even though their Reps are being hit with calls from the TV Guide online folks. I need to decide if I'm going TIVO or should I buy a TV card for my pc and stream the recored shows to my TV through a media player.
I remember bugging TWC about a problem with channel 45 where only the left channel audio was being sent through. It took 2 weeks until I got a hold of the right person, but it was fixed the same day that he acknowledged the problem. Maybe that's their M.O.: deny everything until we have a fix! Holdiy repeats are coming for all my favorite shows. I'll give them a little more time (and a few more phone calls) before I buy addtional hardware. I'm sure not giving them any money for a DVR!
I think I've found another interesting U99 issue. I put a DVD-R (not recorded in the E85) in to watch and got the dreaded U99. Could not eject the disc. Powering down didn't help - so I opened the unit up - removed the DVD (pulled the drive cover) put another hard drive in - and cleared the U99, re-installed the old hard drive - and the unit was OK. Updated the firmware - went just fine. All looked OK - put the unit back. Set a few timed events. Then I put the DVD back in - "U99". Pulled it out - had to manually remove the DVD. Powered back up - all OK. No problem playing DVD's made by the unit or commercially made ones. I checked another DVD made by the other DVD (a Lite-On) and sure, enough - U99. I thought about the whole situation - and realized that the Lite-On only records in "VR" mode. Perhaps "VR" mode DVD's (both -R and +R) cause the E85 unit to choke? Anyone else with similar problems?
I burned a disk on friday and had to instert it twice. Lost TV Guide on Screen. Watched a movie on Saturday and "taped" saturday night late. When I got up on Sunday Morning, found that "u99" error. Couldn't get ride of U99. Turned it off, unplugged it, and turned it back on several hours later and still have u99. What could be wrong with my player? I've NEVER had this happen before. Has anyone else? Do you think it will fix itself?
RockStar, I'd start by following all of VideoBob's suggestions. You also always have the option of disabling TV Guide/Ad download.
Well, you can search for posts by VideoBob. For example, on page 50 of this thread there is the suggestion of resetting the unit by powering it on and then pressing the chan up and chan down buttons on the unit simultaneously for 15-20 seconds until it completely shuts down. Then unplug the unit for 30 seconds. Have you already attempted procedures like that?
Here is a DMR-E85 Factory Reset key combination from dxcc.com. I had to do this recently, after a power outtage left my DMR-E85 performing every function very slowly. This Factory Reset should not clear out the recordings on your hard drive; but, it will remove your TV Guide listings, and recording schedule. But, I am really posting here to let users know that the Factory Reset also resets your custom setup data, including the preference for High Speed Recording. (IMHO, the reason to have the DMR-E85.) I had forgotten that High Speed Recording is not the default. Unfortunately, I recorded four nights of shows before finding this out, when I tried to burn a disc. (Now, it's back on, and all is well.) If you would like a less-severe reset, I have found that if I hold the power button while the unit is off, it will force the E85 to reset, but I will not lose listings, recording schedule, or preferences. -Jeff
vulcanusa- Yes I did try that suggestion. I started back at page 1 and have been reading. I have read about people doing firmware updates, when their system is in U99. However I have not seen instructions how to get the dvd tray open. Does anyone know how?
Try these commands: To toggle the disk eject from "LOCK" to "UNLOCK": With the unit ON, press and hold "Power" and "Stop" for 5 seconds. To eject a disk if the unit won't operate (U99, etc.): With the unit OFF, press and hold "Power", "Stop" and "Channel Up" for 5 seconds. These are from The Great DMR-E85H Snafu. By Roger W. Amidon The above link will also give instructions on how to check your firmware version and how to update it if needed. Good luck!
I've had my DMR-E85H for about a year and I've just had my first U99. Believe it or not, this one was CAUSED by VideoBob’s soft reset procedure. (That is, hold power button until timer icon goes off, unplug for 30+ seconds.) (I apologize for the length of this post. I’m including all this detail in case it helps someone else out or helps the Panny Brain Trust crack another piece of the “pan Vinci Code”.) IT STARTED OUT AS A ROUTINE “SOFT RESET” I’ve gotten in the habit of checking the host channel almost daily, as I have concluded that having ABC (9) as my host channel is a bad thing. (More on that later.) Yesterday (Friday) I found that it had switched from PBS (6) to ABC (9). (In case is matters, the last thing that I recorded prior to finding that the host channel had changed was on UPN.) So, I decided to do a soft reset to try to get my host channel back to PBS. I noticed that ABC (9) was at the top of the channel list, so I went to the channel setup screen and did some rearranging prior to the soft reset. I made a number of changes to my channel lineup, including: • Moved PBS (6) to the top • Turned off a duplicate PBS (6) entry. I could find no difference between the two PBS entries. I’m pretty sure I didn’t have two in the past and after the reset and related drama, the duplicate (turned off) entry has vanished from the list. • Moved ABC (9), the current host channel, below all of the other network stations. • I disabled several stations down the list that I was not interested in. • Moved FOX (11) up the list, above ABC (9). I had been waaaayyy down the list. FOX (11) is a local network station here. This was the last thing I did before the soft reset and left the tuner on 11. I then turned the DMR off, possibly with the remote, I then held the front panel power button until the timer icon went out. I didn’t know to wait until the hard drive turned off before pressing the front panel button and may have done so while the hard drive was still running; if so, it’s possible that this may have caused my U99, I just don’t know. I suppose it’s also possible to go directly from unit on to timer icon off by a single, sustained press of the button. In any case, I have since noticed that the second button press causes the hard drive to spin up again, then power down before the time icon goes off. Next, I unplugged the power for 30 seconds. So far, so good. GASP, U99! WHY ME, OF ALL PEOPLE!? Then my problems began. I pressed the power button and immediately noticed that something was different. What I normally see is the following: 1. When the unit is plugged in, the “HDD” indicator and correct time are displayed. 2. After pressing the power button the first time, “PLEASE WAIT” with marching slash marks are displayed for several seconds. 3. Next, the time is displayed and the marching slashes continue. 4. Hard drive activity is heard for about 30 seconds, ending with the “wheeew” sound of the drive shutting down. 5. The time display and marching slashes will continue indefinitely. Another power button press is required to wake the machine up. That’s what I normally see. This time, however, the machine went through a self test cycle, then came up briefly with ch 11 displayed. Within a few seconds the TVGO guide screen displayed and very shortly thereafter the dreaded U99 error appeared on the unit’s front panel. The first time through, all of the TV guide information read “no listing”. The unit would not respond to the remote. I thought, wonderful (not). I went through the soft reset again and got pretty much the same results, only this time the TV guide information was populated. I tried again several times and kept getting U99 each time. Once I was able to hit power on the remote after the guide screen displayed. The unit said “BYE”, went into self test, then U99. I was finally able to get it to power down before the guide screen displayed. This time, no U99. So I left it alone for about an hour. I don’t remember if I powered it up again or went through a soft reset again. But I was finally able to get it to come up without U99. I then set the channel to PBS (6) and did a soft reset. Things seemed to be back to normal; that was certainly the end of the U99s. (Knock on wood.) However, when I went to 753159825 screen 1, I found that the host channel was still set to 0x9. Since I was trying to get my host channel off of ABC 9 in the first place, I was less than thrilled. I thought, well maybe it will find PBS tonight. No such luck, this morning it was still stuck on ABC. STRANGE HAPPENINGS ON THE POLAR EXPRESS In the process of recovering in the aftermath of the U99, I happened to be looking at shows that were set to record that evening (Friday) and just happened to notice that the movie “Polar Express”, starting at 7 PM on ABC (9) had “Cancel Rec” as the green button function. Odd, says I, I didn’t ask to record that. On further investigation, I noted that there was no round red record icon on the listing line, as there would be if the show had been selected from TVGO, and that “Polar Express” did not appear on the schedule. I think what happened is that until recently, I had been recording the encore of "Grey's Anatomy" at this time. I used the green “Cancel Rec” command to cancel the show. My schedule now had only one grayed out Grey’s where there had been two. (One from the original showing on Thrusday and the Friday encore). I then went through the schedule and removed every show that was grayed out, that is, not scheduled to record. (This included Thursday shows that were not blue because the ABC host download had failed to get next Thursday.) WHY I FIRED ABC As preface, I began to suspect that something was wrong with ABC as my host channel as much as a year ago. Since yesterday’s U99, I’ve gone back and read the thread from about page 42 (which is about where you last heard from me). In reading 9 months worth of posts I have noticed a consistent problem with shows on ABC getting lost. In particular, “Lost” gets lost more often than any other show (at least that’s what I concluded). In many cases of lost “Lost”, ABC was the host channel (in the rest, ABC may have been, the post didn’t say). Some time last spring my TV guide information stopped filling. (This is about the time that others reported similar problems; somewhere in the Feburary to March timeframe.) I don’t remember the details, but I think I was seeing N/A in the next download time on the 753159825 screen. A soft reset (or few) got TVGO filling again. It took me a couple of weeks to realize that I wasn’t recording shows on PBS. I finally figured out that PBS, on channel 6 here, had been moved to 94; there is nothing on 94 but static. I went through the “my channel lineup is incorrect” screen and selected the only one (of three) options that was right; it was the only one that listed my PBS station, KUAT, as available in the area. (No idea why the other two showed KUAT unavailable; anyone in my ZIP code can get it over the air.) Back fat, dump and happy thinking I had fixed the PBS problem. Another week or two later, I realize PBS is still on 94. I tried the lineup incorrect biz again and finally realized it just wasn’t going to set PBS to the correct station (6). So I did it manually. (Somewhere in here is probably where I wound up with two PBS entries, as mentioned above.) From the time the problem began, I had terrible trouble with prime time shows getting missed. Apparently, the ABC guide download was starting just before prime time. As reported by others, turning on the machine resulted in it immediately starting recording. I lost part or all of the premiers of most of the new shows this fall that way. Power-cycling the machine in the afternoon, as we had taken to doing, did not help. So I began power cycling at 6:55, assuming I’m home. I had already switched the shows that were getting lost, like “Lost”, to fixed time recording (that is, I was not using TVGO to set downloads), but this didn’t help. I finally tracked down the fact that the ABC guide downloads were the culprit and managed to soft reset myself to a point where PBS was once again the host station. I’ve been checking the 753159825 screen several times a week and had been on PBS until Thursday night. Trying to fix that is how I joined “the U99 club”. RECOMMENDATION: IF you are having problems with TVGO not filling or with Lost shows AND ABC is your host channel THEN you should fire ABC too. ABC, YOU ARE SOOO OUTA’ HERE -- EASIER SAID THAN DONE As I said, I fired ABC as my host channel. However, ABC just doesn’t want to quit. A soft reset hand gotten rid of it in the past, but now it seems to have dug in good. Friday’s soft resets failed to remove ABC as host, even though I had my preferred host station, PBS 6, at the top of the list and ABC below the other network stations. This morning (Saturday) I find ABC still on the job and gaping holes left open in my guide. (This morning’s download should have populated Sunday but it didn’t.) Now I’m determined that ABC is goin’ down. I disabled ABC in the channel lineup and turned the machine off. That was about two hours ago. I’m happy to report that when I checked the 753159825 screen just now, both Host ID and Host Ch read 0x0. So at least ABC is gone. But what will take its place? PBS seems to be in begging mode right now, so maybe they won’t update my TVGO unless I send in a generous donation? BACKGROUND ON PANNYS THAT WON’T WAKE UP Based on my own experience and that of others that have posted in the last year or so, the likely culprit for a DMR failing to record a show is a host download that is in process when the record time arrives. I have to disagree with VideoBob’s post on page 49: "To download programs, the units must be in STAND-BY mode and *NO RECORDINGS SCHEDULED* during that period." I humbly submit that the "no recording scheduled" does not apply. I wish it did and would interrupt a download. It does not appear to. I’m sure that if a timer show starts just before a download, the download will be missed. The machine will sleep through even hard scheduled events. It seems that regardless what is programmed, once a download starts it won't do anything until download finishes. If the download hangs for some reason, the unit is hung until next manual power up. Now, why in the world can’t Panasonic fix this? It’s gotta be fairly easy to either a) periodically check for record events during download and abort, or, b) skip download if next record event is within some time window. I guess that means no downloads if a recording is scheduled within the next 3 hours (per VidoeBob's information). SOME OTHER OBSERVATIONS AND QUESTIONS What is function of VBI channel? VBI channel seems to always be the channel that the tuner is set to when the 753159825 screen is entered. (At least that’s my observation, based on limited testing.) Does it serve any other function, as far as anyone knows? Is there any way to find out what host channels are available? I have an impression that since this spring, there seem to be more frequent TVGO updates? Anybody else notice that? Any time I check the 753159825 screen there is always a download coming up within a few hours. With downloads taking up to 3 hours, this tends to put my Panny in a coma. Why does ABC have TVGO update period during prime time??? I though they happened late night, early morning. But no! I've never had a problem with back to back recordings failing to get the second show. I probably do 10 a week. Suggestion related to power-down and unplug: When the unit is turned off, I can hear hard drive working for 10-30 seconds, I then hear it power down (makes a “wheeew” sound). I suggest waiting until hard drive activity has ceased before doing a soft reset (by holding power button down until timer mode exits). Congratulations, you’ve reached the end of my post. Go to the fridge and get yourself a treat! Cal DMR-E85H, Cox Cable, no box, Tucson, AZ 8571X
Cal, You say that you changed your "host channel" to download the programming. How did you change in? I can find no documentation in the manual for this. I can see that my unit is trying to download from the wrong channel and that might be the problem Thanks for you help. Jim in Ohio
Hey, I haven't had my listing updated in about a week now (shows no listings and no ads). Anyone else having this now? I wanted to see if it was widespread, local or even just my system. BTW, I'm connected to Comcast in Mountain View, CA.
