Does the interference still occur when you wired the panny to the TV? My first guess would be that the number of flashes per second on the laptop screen is different than the flashes per second on the tv. Example, if you run a European vhs (PAL) on a US tv, you get those lines. Other example, if you take some video inside a computer lab, you will notice the screen rolling. Why> Because the camera is shooting at one flash speed, and the computer is running at a different speed. The recording on your panny came through the regular cable tv line, right? Does it play correctly on your tv?
Luvshisex, I would not panic. I would record another show on the panny and see if it plays correctly into your tv. My bet is something is wrong about the interface from your laptop to the panasonic. PS>>> My system is definitely up and running again, I can view off the hard drive, delete files etc. haven't dared to try to burn a fresh disk yet though. That can wait a long time.
Kassel, it doesn't really matter if the HDD power connector is plugged in or not for the test. Having the probes inserted before applying power is probably safer if you are worried about probe slipping and zapping something, but I don't think it is necessary. The connector is big and the pins are widely spaced. Most probes can be inserted from the back of the connector if it is still plugged into the drive and you have a solid device holding the connector (the HDD it is plugged into). Some find it easier to unplug the drive and insert the probes into the female sockets of the connector. Either way, you will get a good voltage check. If the capacitors are bad, the load or lack thereof won't make a difference. Of course, you can check it both ways if you are suspicious. As for the voltage rating of the capacitors, there is no limit as to how high you can go. Just don't go too low. For a 12v circuit, I wouldn't go any lower than 25 V. 35 V should be just fine. Higher voltage rated capacitors tend to be larger, which might not physically fit in the spot on the board or the leads might be too big to fit in the holes. An oversized capacitor might block some airflow too. Those are the only things to watch for. For power supply filter capacitors--which is what these are--bigger (capacitance and voltage rating) is better, just probably not necessary. Yankee10
As for the voltage rating of the capacitors, there is no limit as to how high you can go. Just don't go too low. For a 12v circuit, I wouldn't go any lower than 25 V. 35 V should be just fine. OK, thanks Yank. I will try that in a week or three. The system is operating now, but I do not trust the recording capability. Too many times inserting a blank disk has led to the self check baloney.
You seem to be missing something. When I connected my laptop to the Panny everything was fine. It was later that evening when I turned the Panny on again and tried to watch an OTA news broadcast that I realized I had problems. At that point, EVERY input to the Panny (OTA antenna on RF port, satellite receiver on component ports, laptop on S-Video port, even a digital camera on the composite video) is FUBAR with the symptoms I described. Problem is definitely somewhere in the input part of the Panny. Outputs are fine as I can play content that was previously recorded to its hard drive and it looks fine. At a guess, maybe there was some kind of power surge when I disconnected the laptop's s-video cable from the Panny or even a static electricty discharge. I haven't a clue. I'm still kind of stunned by the loss. While people routinely discuss capacitor failures, dead hard drives, dead dvd burners, etc., MY Panny had none of these problems in the four years or so I've owned it and the countless (who knows, maybe 1,000 or more?) dvds I've burned, the thousands of shows I've recorded, edited, split, etc.
OK Luvishex. Again, call me an optimist, but I bet your system is not down forever. If I understand correctly, you wanted to view something that was on your laptop on a tv. For some reason you wired that laptop to the panny rather than directly to the TV. Perhaps because you wanted to record onto your panny's hard drive to allow you to make disks at high speed later on. Now you see lines rolling through your video of any kind, since the bad interface. If it were me, I would probably hook some other instrument, perhaps a video camera or another dvd or vhs play, to the exact same inputs that you had connected to your laptop. Now I would record some of the video into the panny. My suspicion is the panny reset it's own flash speed to match up to some type of laptop, and now it does not want to work with anything else. I suspect that by reintroducing a product with the standard US flash rate, your panny may reset itself. Otherwise, some posters in this board have mentioned ways to reset the unit to the original factory specs. I don't want anyone to think I know anything more than your average Joe, but I just go by instinct and by what I learn from your posts. K
It's dead, Jim. My 85 is black. No power. Checked the cables, checked the outlet. It was working last night but today nada. Wife and kids have been ruled out as suspects. Which brings me to my question? What killed it? Bad Caps? I will find those messages that describe the replacement process and visually check them. Power Supply? Is there a power supply? Can it be replaced? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated ... it just can't be (notice I am at stage 1 - denial, anger will come soon enough ...). Colin
Ok, I forgot about the grief stage - bargaining ... can anyone recommend a replacement? It needs TVGuide (or onscreen program guide) and IR support for Digital Cable Terminal. Anyone ever try: Panasonic’s DMR-T6070? Panasonic's DMR-EH55? Tivo TDC649080 80 Hour Dual Tuner DVR ? Help ... (thanks) Colin
Geissler, open her up. There is a little glass tube fuse on the board. Before you do anything else, change that puppy. I got replacements at radio shack. Meanwhile, if that does not work, you may wish to put an old computer next to the machine, stretch one of those wires from behind one of the disk drives over to the hard drive on your panasonic, then turn on the old computer, see what if anything happens. You are now getting power from the old computer. If you get some kind of action, you can also try to turn on the panasonic at this time. I am betting the fuse went poop, so for less than a buck you are back in the real world. If mine died, I would buy another of the same model on ebay, used, since nothing since the e85h has come close to what this beauty can do, IMHO. K
Sounds like you are on the right track geissler. If you saw melted capacitors, you need their help anyway and if someone else can change them for you, all the better.
Luvishex, I guess it goes without saying that you tried to copy something using the front inputs behind that flipdown door? PS .. I did finally try to make dvds again. I got into that same Please wait, self check dog chasing his tail trap again, and the tv guide erased itself again. However, I did buy verbatim disks per a suggestion in here, with the same self check result. One clue, however, seems to be that if I put the dvd blank in, and then turn it off, later one when I turn it on, it will record onto the blank dvd without incident, and it will finalize. This tells me maybe there is a heat issue, a cold machine records fine. K
Yes, I have tried all inputs. They all show the same messed-up picture (same extreme interference pattern). Also, it looks completely different than the way a picture looks on a device that is accidentally set for PAL as opposed to NTSC so it is not a case of the recorder accidentally going into a different video mode. AND that kind of thing would affect the recorder's output, not its input. The recorder still outputs fine as evidenced by the fact that I can see the onscreen status (when I press the STATUS button on the remote one or two times) just fine and I can view DVDs and content that I recorded to its hard drive before things went screwy. Glad to hear you can successfully record onto discs after a fashion. Yes, sounds like a component is nearing end-of-life and is failing at a certain temperature. It won't fix the component, but I wonder if placing a small computer-type fan so it will blow into the recorder will extend your window of "recording ability." I would be wary of blowing dust/dirt into it but if you have a very clean environment or cut a piece of that cut-to-fit a/c filter material and place between the fan and the recorder's vents it may not be a problem.
Yeah, I made three disks yesterday, but followed my rule of putting in the blank at a time when I was leaving. When I return, I powered the system up and it loaded easily onto disks. I haven't pushed the envelope yet, am always dealing with a cool machine so far. I am going to try and make sure my firmware is update next week, and may still have those caps switched. I wonder how geissler's change worked.
TV Guide/Guide Plus+ After Feb. 2009 Some people have stated there won't be any TV Guide/Guide Plus+ for analog recorders after 2009. This is not correct. You'll continue to get it & you can check on this website to make sure: http://www.macrovision.com/dtv/10053.htm You can enter your zip code if you want to be more specific.
Well, I got my dead e85 repaired. It cost $85. The problem was two leaking capacitors. The tech also updated the firmware. I have plugged it in and my hard drive data is fine -- hopefully everything works for another 4 years. However, now I am having trouble downloading the TVGuide... Cheers, Colin
That's awful expensive to do a 10-minute soldiering job on $4 worth of capacitors. Which firmware did he load on it, the newest North American firmware or the Japanese(?) version that works so well?
I don't know which version of the firmware but everything is still in English ... You are about right, the invoice labels the parts at $5.00 but the labour (1.3 hrs) was $75 which included diagnosing the problem and testing the system. Now another issue has arisen ... since getting the system back the TVGOS won't download. I contacted the repair shop to see if they had a cause. They said their own technicians were saying their personal equipment stopped receiving the guide info. I contacted the cable co (Shaw in Edmonton) and they said the signal comes through CFRN (CTV affiliate) and they may be upgrading equipment and no longer supporting the signal. I contacted CRFN and the engineer there said as far as he knew everything was working (although I'm not sure we were talking about the same thing). He said when they have problems, they usually get alerted to them by Norpak (who I think supplies them with the equipment that adds the TVGOS data to the video signal). Anyway. So thanks to HandyGuy2 who posted the link to the Macrovision website, I did some more digging and found out that Macrovision bought Gemstar (and TVGOS) last December and have put up a website http://www.macrovision.com/products/ce_manufacturers/ipg_ce/tv_guide_on_screen.htm which includes the following: So I sent them an email asking if they knew who I could contact to find out if my TVGOS was ever going to work again. I'm not holding my breath. Here are some links I found interesting about TVGOS http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Teletext#Guide.2B http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Guide_On_Screen
The folks at that address are quite responsive - they helped me troubleshoot a problem with my TV Guide on screen... we had an on-going e-mail exchange and they frequently responded in less than an hour...
You are right Scan10, I recieved a response from Macrovision and they wrote: I called Shaw and Greg on the technical support desk confirmed that they are no longer carrying the TVGOS signal. He said he recieved a memo a couple days ago and the reason they stopped carrying the signal is because in the past it was a free service, but now Macrovision is charging a fee. Greg said Shaw made the decision to stop the service because they already provide a guide on Channel 5 and through digital cable. If you are effected by Shaw's decision, I encourage you to let Jim Shaw, Shaw's President and CEO know. I believe his email address is jim.shaw@sjrb.ca I know this message is off topic from the original U99 theme, but I think that it is something that may be of interest to many of you, particularly those in Western Canada.
