This is a known problem with the TVGO system. What's happening is that the machine is busy downloading TVGO data when the show starts and does not know to stop and record the show. See my post on page 68 for more details. Cal
Thanks. I remembered your post once I saw it, but it had completely slipped my mind. I guess once Feb 2009 rolls around I'll never have that problem again since I only use the guide for OTA signals.
I love this thread for giving me back my dvr...$550 paperweight or functional machine..hmmm. I am proof that anyone can do this..I am not an elctrical engineer though my father was...I am not a strong solderer though I have a neighbor who is ...but, I can follow directions. I read about 20 to 30 thread pages and determined based on my machines behaviour that my capacitors were bad..sure enough...they were toast...I ordered 35v,680uf,hitemp,radial capacitors and my friend put them into the card...i put her back together and she just obeys my every command...she doesn't tell me to wait or that she has to check on anything anymore...This thread is far more helpful than panasonic...Thank you for your help and your ultra specific discussions.
I wanted to stop and take a moment to thank you for your second post regarding my issues with the Panasonic E55. It was much more helpful than the first one. After reading your post, I immediately purchased both Taiyo Yuden media and some Verbatim discs over the internet. After a couple of weeks of use, I am surprised to see the Verbatim discs manufactured in Taiwan are working better and much more consistently than the premium Taiyo Yuden discs. The Taiyo Yuden discs do work too... They just produce a coaster about one out of every five recording attempts. So far, the Verbatim discs have been error free. Either way, I am absolutely NOT complaining... Your media suggestions have given me my unit back. After just recently suffering through replacing the capacitors my E85 Unit (a "suffering" made much easier by this posts on this thread)... I can happily report that both the E55 and the E85 are working fairly normally and much better than I could ever had expected just a month ago. Without this forum, I would have two very expensive door stoppers. Thanks again!
A quick question. I have Time Warner cable in Los Angeles. I have to use my Panasonic machines with the digital set top cable boxes supplied by the cable company. In both cases, these boxes require me to use each Panny's IR Blaster for recording programs on different channels. Only one machine (the E55) seems to record the wrong channel about 1/3rd of the time. I can see the channel changing as the machine begins the recording process-- only to see the channel switch again. For example, if I want to record Channel 59, the Panny commands the cable box to go to 59 (and it does) but then the box resets on Channel 5 (not 59). The same thing often happens when I attempt to record on Channel 11. The machine switches the digital box to Channel 11, then the box resets to Channel 1... Almost as if the Panny is not sending the command "fast" enough... and the digital cable box sees channel "11" as channel "1". Maybe I need a new cable box? Any other suggestions... or am I the only one experiencing such a problem? All input would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Hi all, My E-85 has started to act flaky, but I'm not sure if it is the capacitor problem. I don't think these symptoms have been described for it? Symptoms: Mostly, it seems like it does not want to power up properly, either by hitting the power button or a timed recording. If I hit the power button, most of the time it does the please wait, self check, an error has occurred, hit enter, then it powers off, comes on and is fine. At this point it works completely normally. Now sometimes it will come on right away, and sometimes it will power on to record a show. Does this sound like the capacitor problem? It seems to be getting the schedule updates still.
I saw this behavior on my machine when I swapped out hard disks. The replacement drive had a higher current requirement, which the E85 wasn't able to handle. I put back the original drive and all was well again. So I would say your hard drive may be failing or a more likely cause is the power supply is dying. You can try opening up the box and inspecting the capacitors under the hard drive. Just be aware that if you disconnect the hard drive you'll lose everything on the disk. Back up to DVD anything you want to keep. If you see any large caps that are swollen or leaking that may be the problem. I also saw on Ebay a few weeks ago somebody selling a voltage regulator they claimed was a frequent part failure. The $130 repair at Panasonic may be the best route if you don't want to mess with things inside. Also try a deep reset followed by unplugging. That's been known to fix many things.
Howie 14, the only thing I can guess re: your CSI problem is this. Sometimes the TV guide show's two episodes, both on Mon. Night at 8 p.m, but it means one is now, and one is next monday's show. Perhaps you clicked on the next Monday episode rather than the current one, though this would not explain your machine believing it was recording, when it wasn't. Perhaps it was still recording off PBS, knowing it would catch CSI the next monday. I am having troubles too. If I press the TV guide button on the remote, nothing happens, no refusal box, nothing. And when I press channel up or down, nothing happens. Any ideas? KK
Magnum, if it were me, I would probably switch the cable boxes. Move the one now on your 55 to the 85, and vice versa. Then see if the trouble has moved to the E85. If so, you know the drill. K
I had this happen to my E85 once when I flashed up new firmware. What you need to do is hard reset the machine followed by holding in the power button until the thing goes completely off. Then unplug for at least 5 minutes. When you plug back in and turn on you will get a please wait followed by an initial setup screen for the TVGuide. If you don't see this then do the reset again. It may take several attempts but you should be able to get it back to life.
I will give that a try furry. I notice that even the channel up, channel down buttons on the box have no effect. It plays the videos stored on the hard drive without any problem. So it is still useful as a recorder editor etc., but recording off the cable is highly important. PS.. I further notice that even the channel up selector button does nothing. And .. if I enter the numbers 11 or 12 or whatever to choose a channel, those numbers appear in a box on the screen, but the programs does not appear, it stays on channel 14 for now, but I am going to unplug it presently. K And Magnum, you're welcome.
I had a repairman take a look at it and they replaced some caps and diode(s) in the power supply area. It comes on every time now without trouble. Now as long as the TVG listings repopulate, I'll be back to normal!
UPDATE: A new (REFURBISHED) digital cable box from Time Warner seemed to do the trick. No more stutters or glitches when changing to two digit or three digit channels. (I just went ahead a got a "new" box because the TW Cable center is directly down the street and it only took 10 minutes to stand in line.) Thanks again, Kassel.
Hi, I have a panasonic DMR H85H DVD/HD recorder which I got about 4 years ago and it has worked fine until just about a month ago it fails to power on at all. I keep resetting it, unplugging it and it was occasionally coming on and i could watch shows and record shows etc. Now however, no matter what I do from the remote or from the actual unit it refuses to power on. Does anyone know how to fix this?
Margt, read back a few pages here and you will see how others worked it out. You may need to better describe what you see as the machine refuses to "power up". Does this mean you can see a clock or some kind of digital readout on the glass, but no action when you tell it to activate for recording etc? There are a lot of whiz kids in this blog who have figured out an awful lot. I did take one of their ideas when mine died for a few months. I think the best thing I found was the idea of stretching a power extension from inside an extra computer that I put on the table. Evidently, those power plugs in your computers that run into cd roms etc, will match up to your DMR E85's board. So if you can turn on the old computer after running the CDRom power wire into your dmr e85, and then turn both on, I bet you will find some action. But read these postings thoroughly, because there are special key codes to do that will help your machine to reset itself etc. If you run that cord out of an old computer, it probably will allow you to then enter the codes to force a reset or some such thing. I assume you read the owner's manual and tried their troubleshooting steps. That is to say, at least, that you did unplug it from the wall and then plug it back in a few min. later to see if it would reset itself?
Thanx for the info but i have no spare computer and would not know how to do all that. Yes I have the time on the screen which just flashes on and off when I try to power it on. It reaches the "Self check" process then stops, goes blank and returns to the standby screen with the current time on it again. It doesn't get past that. I have tried unplugging, resetting etc. nothing seems to work. Also when it's supposed to record a timer programmed recording it does the same thing, flashes the time on & off and does not power on to record anything. Very frustrating... I will keep searching for an answer or just get someone to service it hopefully they can fix it!
Hi all, I have another problem with my DMR E85H I'd love to get your input on. I've opened up my machine since the DVD mechanism was jammed (but worked fine besides that), and after that my machine is totally unresponsive - it boots up, does self-check, displays the remaining time but nothing more. It does not respond to buttons or the remote. Is there any trick to removing and putting back the "front piece" that includes all buttons and the display (note that the display works)? Is there any lock that's enabled after "messing" with the device? Could it be that I've busted something inside (sounds strange since it boots OK)? There is a piece of metal on the inside of the "front" I have not understood the purpose of, anyone who knows? Thanks, Niklas Niklas
How did you remedy the jammed DVD? I've had my 85 apart several times and did not need to remove the front panel to remove a DVD from the drive... I just undid the screws on the top of the drive, lifted the top panel and slid the disc out... One does have to be careful when re-assembling the DVD unit - - there is a small plastic slider in the top plate of the DVD drive that has to be positioned properly. Otherwise, the drive won't work correctly and the unit may behave like yours...
