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Panasonic DMR-E85H error U99
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starrig
Junior Member
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6. July 2009 @ 13:42 |
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Originally posted by scott16:
I use the digital cable box Guide (It's just like the TVGuide)
and set my DMR-E85H to record manually (Line-In). (
even though the DMR-E85H does have a TVGuide built into it I never use it).
If you used the TV Guide and it worked (always a bit iffy), you'd never want to go back to manual recording. It's light-years better.
That said, the host channel is still missing in my Boston suburb. I just spoke to someone at Comcast, who's looking into it; no word yet through WBZ, the hosting station. (People are away on vacation, so answers are coming slowly.)
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BudinMA
Junior Member
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6. July 2009 @ 14:46 |
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I'm in Boston and I'm not having any problems getting the TV guide. Every once in awhile I have to repick the channel lineup but I'm still getting all the channels and listings and I have Comcast.
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drsparc
Newbie
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6. July 2009 @ 16:38 |
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I'm still not getting any TVGuide data here in northern California. It has been down for over a month. Due to a Comcast change, I am now required to go through a digital converter and use an IR-blaster to allow the DVR to change channels. But that seemed to work OK... even through the cable box I still got the TVGuide data. So I assumed something changed on the cable provider end.
I tried the system reset (hold up & down, etc) and now even my clock will auto set (I know... I can set it manually). I contacted Comcast Tech support several days ago and raised it to the supervisor who seemed to understand what it was that was not working. He said they would look into it, but I couldn't get a support case number to follow-up with it. So far, no changes.
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starrig
Junior Member
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6. July 2009 @ 18:05 |
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Originally posted by BudinMA:
I'm in Boston and I'm not having any problems getting the TV guide. Every once in awhile I have to repick the channel lineup but I'm still getting all the channels and listings and I have Comcast.
That gives me hope that it was just a glitch at my particular Comcast head-end, which is in Woburn. I think when the digital changeover occurred, a lot of stuff got switched around, and I'm hoping somebody just pressed the wrong button and made Ch. 97 go away by mistake.
I lost the History Channel at the same time, and I don't know if that's related.
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Kassel
Junior Member
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7. July 2009 @ 01:46 |
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Still no TV guide on Charter Cable in the mojave desert, three weeks now. Not sure if this hit everyone, or just my pana. I am going to call and rattle their cage tomorrow.
kingkassel@aol.com
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Kassel
Junior Member
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10. July 2009 @ 11:53 |
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Something has changed in the tv guide situation. Until yesterday, I had no listings in the grid with TV channel names, but now I have a black screen NO INFORMATION RECEIVED or something like that. So now I can't even just select a time slot from the grid and tell it to record the untitled programs. I suspect the TVGOS is being tampered with or ended.
kingkassel@aol.com
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handyguy2
Junior Member
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10. July 2009 @ 15:09 |
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Someone said to call engineering but I'm not sure just what engineering dept that is.
You can also use Titantv.com for listings, it's pretty nice, Tivo uses it.
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starrig
Junior Member
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10. July 2009 @ 17:01 |
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I just got my TVGuide back in the Boston suburb of Arlington. It was a technical snafu arising from the digital changeover. Here's what I did to get help. First I called the head engineer at the local host station, in my case the local CBS affiliate. (If you know what station your machine normally turns to when you've got it off, that's the host station.) I just called and asked for engineering. He was very helpful--knew all about the issue--and said it was working in Boston proper, but would contact the right people at Comcast to troubleshoot my issue. Well, it turned out those people were on vacation, so it was taking time.
I got impatient and clicked a link on the Comcast website that said "Email the vice president." It was under a paragraph about how committed the VP was to customer service. I got a phone call the next business day. It was someone in my area, who had never heard of TVGOS but was willing to listen, and willing to get the engineers on the case. (In my case, the host channel, 97, had simply gone away from my lineup. You couldn't turn to it, even manually.) Less than a week later, I got another call, asking for a clarification. The next day, it was all working again--and I was urged to call him again if I had further problems. (He also said they never would have realized there was a problem if I hadn't contacted them about it.)
So yes, the system is still running. Those of you not getting it might have to be persistent until you find the right person who can help.
I give Comcast and my host station high marks for attention to customer service on this one! (And it's not because I'm a big spender; I have about the lowest level of cable service you can get!)
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Kassel
Junior Member
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4. August 2009 @ 15:54 |
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Still NO TV listings in Calif. Desert. I am getting fed up. I don't really know who is the host channel here. I spoke with some desk type at the cable company a month ago, they acted like they could do nothing unless I am willing to put their little cable box into the chain. I would rather not. I want things as they were two months ago, period. So, I think you guys have told me the PBS affiliate is the normal host, so I called KCET in Los angeles. No response yet. I am going to follow the starrig advice and turn off the box, and turn it on again, to see if it tells me what is my host channel.
Also, someone here mentioned using titantv instead of TVGOS. Is there a way to make the panny receive the titantv listings directly via cable? Thanks. K
kingkassel@aol.com
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Kassel
Junior Member
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4. August 2009 @ 16:00 |
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Starrig, I turned my machine off while it was on two different channels. Each time, when I turned it back on, it was on the same channel it had been on when I turned it off. So this method did not tell me what is the host channel. Suggestions? K
kingkassel@aol.com
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starrig
Junior Member
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4. August 2009 @ 16:34 |
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Kassel -- Did you turn it off and leave it off for a good long time, such as overnight? You have to outthink the box, to some degree. Does it channel surf when it's off? (In other words, is it repeatedly changing the channel on the cable box, which I assume is between your cable input and the Panasonic?) If so, that means it's searching for the host channel. If it does that indefinitely, then it's not getting a host carrier. (You might need to do a reset, and make sure it's set for cable service.)
If you're not hooked into a cable box, then all of this will be a lot more difficult, for the simple reason that as soon as you turn the Pan on, it's going to switch back to the last station you were watching or recording. So what I do is turn on the TV and set it to a Video setting that bypasses the Pan, and that lets me see what channel the Pan is tuning to when no one's watching it. In my case, it's now the local CBS affiliate. (Changed from PBS earlier this year.)
You might just try calling the CBS station in your area and asking the engineers if they're the TVGOS host channel. You can also go to the TVGOS support page at Macrovision, and they will eventually respond to an email request for help. (At least they did for me, though by then my local people had already solved the problem.) They could tell you the station.
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Kassel
Junior Member
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4. August 2009 @ 16:53 |
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Thanks for the great response Starrig. If I don't get satisfaction within one or two days, I will try the macrovision TVGOS office.
Since turning it on or off did not change the channels, I instead set it to a channel, then turned it off, then unplugged the unit for 20 or 30 seconds. This one showed me that when I do plug it back in, it sets itself to channel 5 in LA. So, I sent an email to channel 5 in LA. Hopefully someone will respond.
I wonder why it is always us Pana users who are telling these station engineers about the problem. It seems some other systems must also be using TVGOS, not just pannys, right?
kingkassel@aol.com
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Kassel
Junior Member
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4. August 2009 @ 16:58 |
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Starrig, just in case KTLA calls about fulfilling its role as host channel, I think I should be able to point him to the tech in Boston area. What station hosts over there? Do you remember who you spoke with? I would just steer the KTLA guy to him if he doesn't know what I am talking about. K
kingkassel@aol.com
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starrig
Junior Member
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4. August 2009 @ 17:50 |
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If you reach an engineer at your station and he doesn't know anything about TVGOS (also called Gemstar), then you probably have the wrong station. If I were you, I'd forget the email and pick up the phone and call your station and ask for the engineering department. This is something they contract for--if they're the people, they'll know about it. If they're not, it's possible they'll know which station is.
Our host in the Boston area is WBZ, the CBS affiliate. I don't know that my contact there would appreciate my putting his name out as someone to call when people in other parts of the country are having trouble. :) But it was someone at my PBS station who first told me to try the CBS station.
There's really no substitute for finding someone to talk to. As was explained to me, Comcast isn't a monolithic organization; it has all these sections and regions and headers, and things get configured differently from one place to the next. In my case, I happened to be in one very small area that had something misconfigured. They would never have known if I hadn't called them. But first I had to find the engineer at the host station, who then knew the right person to pass the info on to.
As for your test, I'm not sure what you learned, if anything, by unplugging the unit and looking to see what station it tuned to when you plugged it back in. What you want to know is what station is it tuned to before you turn it on. That's where the cable box is your friend. Have you verified that it's set up for a cable box?
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handyguy2
Junior Member
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4. August 2009 @ 17:53 |
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TVGOS is a billion dollar company, so I'm sure the would like their product to work.
I'm testing some stuff with my machine at the moment.
This resets your machine.
Hold down channel up & down buttons on the front (Might be under a door) for 5 seconds or until your machine turns off.
Wait a minute for it to cycle. Turn on the machine.
Complete a NEW TVG setup on screen, it appears automatically.
Once you get to Watch TV, press enter. It should do auto clock setting too.
Get to FUNCTION menu, channels, auto channel scan (Should be available now). Rescan.
Check TVG settings & clock settings.
Wait for TVG to refill. So I'm waiting at this point. I'm in mid Calif.
Note: This keep programs you have on your HD but it'll clear any recording settings & it also cleared my TVG window of it's pretty blank recording boxes.
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starrig
Junior Member
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4. August 2009 @ 18:00 |
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Kassel, are you using a cable box and IR blaster? If so, then everything I've told you is good. If not, then not so much (about trying to determine the host station, I mean).
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Kassel
Junior Member
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4. August 2009 @ 18:01 |
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Starrig, perhaps you misunderstood. I do NOT have a cable box at all. Are you saying I should lie to the Pana setup and tell it I do have a box? I have never had a box with this one, and have had TVGOS for five or six years in a row.
kingkassel@aol.com
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Kassel
Junior Member
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4. August 2009 @ 18:02 |
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My system does not even have the blue boxes nowadays. On TV Guide, it is black with white letters saying something like There is No Information for this screen, make sure your cables are connected correctly.
kingkassel@aol.com
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starrig
Junior Member
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4. August 2009 @ 18:09 |
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Originally posted by Kassel:
Starrig, perhaps you misunderstood. I do NOT have a cable box at all. Are you saying I should lie to the Pana setup and tell it I do have a box? I have never had a box with this one, and have had TVGOS for five or six years in a row.
Ah--no. I'm saying that I don't know how, without a cable box, you can determine what channel the Pan looks for when it's turned off. I think there is a way to get it to tell you, in one of the setup screens, but I can't remember the procedure. Maybe someone else can help.
Sorry.
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starrig
Junior Member
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4. August 2009 @ 18:12 |
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Originally posted by Kassel:
My system does not even have the blue boxes nowadays. On TV Guide, it is black with white letters saying something like There is No Information for this screen, make sure your cables are connected correctly.
That, to me, suggests that there is a problem at the sending end.
You might just have to call every network station in your area and ask, "Are you the hosting station for TVGuide Onscreen--aka Gemstar?"
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Kassel
Junior Member
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4. August 2009 @ 22:13 |
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Yeah, I may have to contact every station. What a pain in the neck. However, I did send a note to macrovision, and if they respond, they must KNOW who is the host station. Thanks for your help. K
kingkassel@aol.com
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howie14w
Junior Member
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12. August 2009 @ 14:01 |
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For the last year or so, my Panny has been the proud possession of my wife. It's hooked up to a spare TV with OTA reception, now with a DTV converter in the mix, and we use it to record her soap each day and other shows she regularly watches off broadcast channels. I haven't worried about the TV Guide problems since the conversion made them moot, to my way of thinking.
Anyway, the Panny 85 has been error free for at least two years-no u99, no PLEASE WAIT-until last night.
My wife had let the HDD get full and several things had not recorded as a result. The unit was on showing channel 3 on the display without any accompanying HDD info. I opened up the navigator and madly deleted things she really didn't need anymore, opening up about 20 hours space, and turned off the unit. All appeared well.
This morning the unit face was blank and it would not power up. It literally appears dead. No display, no fan, no variance between plugged in and not plugged in. No power to the unit at all.
I looked things up here and on the internet, and the consensus still seems to be those danged oft-mentioned capacitors have failed. I will find out when I open the unit up.
My question is, does it seem logical that the capacitors are the culprit when I had no sign of impending failure? Most of the posts I read show that the unit went through the intermittent PLEASE WAIT problems before total darkness. Why didn't mine?
Or is it something else entirely?
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Scan10
Newbie
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12. August 2009 @ 14:43 |
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Well - there seem to be on-going problems with TVGOS on Comcast here in CT. I had an e-mail address that I was using to communicate with TVGOS - but my recent messages have gone unanswered. Just got back from vacation and I'm going to try a system re-set and see what happens.
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dksmall
Junior Member
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12. August 2009 @ 19:20 |
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howie14w,
The issues related to the capacitor failure is the 12 volt supply, which powers the drives. The displays, fans, etc. run off other supplies and should still work. When my caps went bad the front panel still iit up, I could hear the fans spin etc.
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handyguy2
Junior Member
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12. August 2009 @ 19:40 |
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After my little rescan experiment, I still don't have TVG in Calif. But I needed to rescan & found a few new channels that I thought it might pick up TVG from but it did not.
Panasonic has a $125 (?) set rate to fix, you could ask them howie14w.
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