TForce1, I disable TV Guide download. I use the Auto Channel Scan. After the Auto Channel Scan, the DVR attempts to set its clock. A couple of times I've seen it search quite awhile and not find the clock signal its searching for. So, I simply set the clock manually and not worry about it. If your DVR seems to be working fine otherwise, I'd suggest simply setting the clock manually.
I was just trying to see if TWC SA was sending out the clock still, at least to my house. Just trying out various things. I know my old, old VCR would set it's own clock back in the day from the cable line.
I have had my DMR-E85 for just under two years. It has been the worst investment of my life, and so frustrating. It has been in and out of the shop for the past two years. All for the same issue. It will not consistantly record for me. Every night I go to watch the programs, I never no if they recorded or not. Another posting called it Phantom recording. Basically the System says it is recording, but nothing writes to the hard drive. I know the issue is related to the TV guide, but cannot seem to over come it. Last week I reprogrammed the guide again, this time I enter Canada, Post code, and said no to Cable and all other questions. Once this was done I had the machine do an auto search for channels. The guide as expected shows no data available. Yet Out of my last 7 recordings 3 did not record. I am sick of this, and I am sick of Panasonic's responses to the issue.I get a different response everytime I talk to them, they always claim to know nothing about the issue, and tell me I have to take the machine in for servicing. Servicing of course can not fix the issue. So I again talk to Panasonic who will then say ya we know the issue is TVguide, but that's not our fault they are a seperate company. As if to say it is my fault that Panasonic put the TV guide system on this machine. What panasonic needs to do is flash the firmware, removing all reference to the TV guide, and put a new method to set up manual recordings, and the system will be ok. But they seem to not care one bit for those of us who purchased this piece of junk. This machine cost me $750 with tax, I expect it to work, or at the very least for them to fix the issue. Because I bought the system on my Visa I got an extra years warranty, which runs out in a few weeks. So I have taken the machine back into the shop. I know they cannot fix the issue, all I want them to do is put it in writting, and then Visa will let me buy a new machine. Which will be anything but a Panasonic!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Everybody, I have been following this thread for quite some time. I have been experiencing the same problems with the TVGOS on my Panny DMR-E85H. I sent an email to Time Warner Cable asking what channel the TVGOS data is carried on their cable service. My email response from them was that a techinical support person would call me. After 2 weeks with no response, I sent them another email complaining about no response. I included a copy of the first eamil from me, which included the reason for my question (trying to use the On Screen TV Guide on my Panny Dvr). This time I asked them to let me know what channel carried the Guide+ data. Here is their Response: Can this be correct? I thought the cable provider had no control over that data being sent? Or, did I use the wrong term (GUIDE+)? Could the have mistaken what I was asking for as the "VCR+" data? Thanks for any clarification on this! George
Well the time warner guy I talked to said that "we don't support anything other than tivo and our own DVR". However, he also said that they send through any signals they get from the stations, so that it should be there if they (the channel it's on) is sending it. Sigh. I am going to pursue this. Panasonic has not returned two e-mails, so I will start calling them Monday. I will send this issue along to the Texas state attorneys office if I have to. I don't remember seeing anywhere that TVG or Panasonic reserved the right to discontinue this service at any time...
blueowl, If you perform an Auto Channel Scan, TV Guide download is disabled. This is exactly how you disable TV Guide download. You should have received a warning when you selected Auto Channel Scan stating that TV Guide download would be disabled from that point forward (unless you disconnect power or reset the machine). I predict you'll be much happier with TV Guide download disabled. Many of the problems stated on this thread disappear. You never have to worry again about turning off the machine to catch a download, or what your "host" channel is - or any of that crap. If you're watching a program you've recorded and you don't finish it before going off to do something else for awhile, a poster several pages back recommended hitting the Stop button twice. If you hit it once, you'll notice that the word "Play" continually flashes on the DVR's front panel. The DVR has bookmarked where you stopped watching so you can hit Play to immediately return to that point. If you hit Stop again, "Play" stops flashing. The poster said he believed this solved a problem where he was either getting a phantom recording indication or where a program he'd set up to record did not fire. I can't say I've ever experienced his problem, but now I hit Stop twice if I stop watching a pre-recorded program and won't get back to it before a timed recording event is going to take place. This is the first time I've seen anyone describe a DVR as an "investment" ;-)
Something new. Last night I heard it come on twice for about 12 minutes each time and hard the hard drive going. Still no listings though. It apparently saw something it was looking for (or thought it was looking for). So it seems some sort of signal that it recognizes is getting through to it, if not usable.
Are you sure you just didn't hear the fans spin for awhile? I don't believe the hard drive is used to store guide data on.
Not sure. I assumed it was not just the fan, because there were non-periodic little tic tic sound similar to a drive head seeking, but I don't know for sure.
vulcanusa Thanks for the input, I know the TV Guide is disabled now, yet the issue continues to happen. So far 3 phantom recordings since I turned it off about 1 week ago. As for the pressing stop twice, I can give that a try when it come's back from the shop. Although I have some doubts that would do much, since, normally I press stop once, and then power the unit off. The Power off should act as a second stop. but maybe it is not. I use the word investment very loosly. I usually don't care if I spend $30-70 on a DVD player, but at $750, I was hoping for some stability, and quality parts that would make the machine last a little longer. My first VCR cost $700, and lasted me over 10 years, but the back players I bought all cost around $100 or less, and I went through them every 1-2 years. My theory was buy in early, and get some quality. Thanks for correcting that Panasonic. For now the machine is in the shop. My true hope is that they are able to see the issue. If they can fix then great, if not then put it in writing, and my Visa company will let me buy a new machine. Worse of all I am now addicted to a PVR, suffering withdrawl symptoms the last few days. Hopefully a working unit comes home soon.
blueowl, From page 50: So, this could have been related to the problem you were experiencing, although I guess this wasn't phantom recording. Let's hope so.
vulcanusa Thanks for this posting. That could be my problem. I often stop a show, and then power the unit off from the HDD menu. I will have to experiment, and see what happens. If this is the case should be able to replicate. The poster does not mention phantom recordings, but if they are not home at the time you don't see that happen. You just come home to no show on the HDD.
Those of you in San Antonio, my TVGOS started coming back on Sunday evening. It had been sitting there with no listing for a month at least and then listings started to show. I just happened to go to the guide and they were there. I had started using the Video plus to record my shows. Of course over the weeks I've tried everything listed in the forum to get my guide back and nothing worked. I did setup my channel listing making my PBS channel the first one in the list (cable channel 10) weeks back and it's still that way today. I haven't tried to record from the guide yet but I plan to today to see what happens. Are any others from the TWC-SA area seeing anything different??
I know most of you are having problems with the TVGOS and I hope resetting the zip codes has helped some of you. BTW, I still use an antenna so I haven't had the problem with cable companies being selective about what they send to me. I am still having problems with my DVD tray. Still locked up tighter than a drum. All resets and other swithology to open the tray have failed. Has anybody else had a problem with their DVD tray locking up? If I'm bound for a repair shop, can anybody recommend one in the N OKC (Edmond) area that actually knows what it is doing? Thanks.
Have tried setting the Zip Code many times to no avail. Anyone living in the Columbus Ohio area that still has working downloading service from Time Warner Cable? I'm ready to give up. Jim in Ohio
Well, whatta ya know? Today I have listings, sort of. The channels are a bit screwed up, but clearly for my area since the ABC/CBS/NBC station callsigns are correct. But many channel numbers are wrong and there are a few channels I've never heard of, but they might be on the digital tier of service or something.
To all you guus out there with DMRE 85 --u99-- This fault cannot be cured with firmware/software updates . This is a problem with an unstable power supply--it first started in the DMRE55 models and as the 85 uses the same psu, the presence of the hard drive causes the problem to show up more often due to the increased current demand. I`ve been fixing these units for Panasonic for the past 2 years and its allways the psu chip and 4 diodes need replacing. The spare parts are only available to acreditted Digital service network agents here in the u.k. Hope this clears this matter up , any further info on other Panasonic DVD recorder problems mail me at ruthandgerry@tiscali.co.uk
