This has turned out to be a real pain. Adelphia cable box attached and have tried downloading the tv guide over 24 hours, most channels work but some do not show up on the guide, they are not "new" additions to the lineup. Can they be added manually or is the system screwed up. This has been a real pain, I'm about ready to take it to the dumpster! Any help out there is appreciated.
xvxvxvx
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The E-85 guide system works perfectly. As a comparison suppose you put watered down gasoline into your brand new Nissan truck. Next thing you know the truck is running crappy. I suppose instead of blaming the fuel or the gas station you'd blame the Nissan truck.
In other words Adelphia must transmit the correct guide data in order for the E-85 to decode and display said data properly.
I just purchased the E-85 to go along with Comcast digital cable (and HD). Ive read all the gripes about the guide. My take is if it doesnt download I just manually program the thing. Can you tell me if Im thinking right on the hookup. here goes......
Scenario 1) component out of cable box into E-85. componenet out of E-85 to TV. Digital Audio to Denon Receiver (3805) from cable box AND from E-85. To record to HD I'll connect S-Video from Cable box to E85 (+LR audio cables)
Scenario 2) Component out of cable box to Receiver. Component out of E-85 to Receiver. Component out of Receiver to TV. (to me this adds a connection - therefore loss). Audio out of cable box and E-85 to Digital ins of Receiver. Again S-video and audio from Cable box to E-85 for when I want to record.
Scenario 3) Component out of Cable Box and also E-85 directly to TV (3 component ins). Digital audio to 2 inputs in receiver for Cable box and E-85. S-video and audio from cable box to E-85 to record.
Am I right? One better than the other? totally wrong? Setting this up next week. Thanks for any input here. You seem to have the most level head for this stuff. Thanks.
xvxvxvx
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1) Will not work, no component inputs on the E-85
2) I prefer this setup, your Denon is a fine receiver and will not degrade your video noticeably.
3) This will work fine as well, I just like the receiver setup so less buttons need to be pressed when changing inputs.
am I correct on the needing the S-Video and audio cables from the Cable box to E-85 for when I want to record? when Im just watching TV do I leave the E-85 off? Just wondering how it knows to default to the component cables and not the S-video.? Does the digital audio work all the time with digital cable even though its not in 5.1 format?? Thanks.
xvxvxvx
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1) Yes 2) On or off, no matter 3) Do not understand your question default from where? How? To what? From what? 4) Yes
I guess my question is if the E-85 is on, but Im not recording, will the signal go directly from the cable box to the receiver, or from the box to the E-85 then to the receiver? There is a connection both ways, thats my confusion. Thanks.
bhend4
xvxvxvx
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You are nearly good enough to confuse me. I take that back, you have confused me, your question still makes no sense unless you have connected your components in some manner other than choices 2 or 3 above.
I dont mean to confuse, I think Im close to knowing how to hook all up. (This Friday). Ok, I'll try again. Assume Scenario 2.
The cable box goes directly to the Receiver via components and fiber for audio.
The E85 also goes directly to the receiver via components and audio (fiber).
Then receiver to tv. (component also)
So far, piece of cake, no confusion. Now comes my question.
I believe I need to connect the cable box to the E-85 with S-Video and l/r audio cables to get a signal from the cable box to the E85 should I want to record. ????? If Im not recording, do I just leave the E-85 off, and bypass it?
Thanks, dont mean to keep pickin here. I'll figure it out one way or another this Friday. (Cabinets going in, Tv being installed, HD coming) should be nice, better be nice. Again, thanks. One last question, Do you own an E-85 recorder? I bought one despite a lot of negative reviews. Guess I'll see.
My E85 has worked fine for several months. Recently, it has lost the ability to get the TV Program Guide from the cable (TW in NYC). I have reset it to factory defaults, but now I cannot get the Clock Auto set (which is grayed out) or the Channel Editor to work at all. I have upgraded the firmware months ago-- before I did that the Program Guide never worked, but after that it had worked fine for months. What do I do? Thanks
fx
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Alex,
You are not alone, nearly all TW customers in NY are now experiencing this problem. It is a problem between TW and Gemstar, you are caught in the middle.
xvxvxvx
hmk77
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Have had problems with recording programs through TVGuide. Mostly no problems, but every once in a while, or past two Thursdays, it drops the programs scheduled. Twice it has started recording program after it was halfway finished. The Program Guide said everything was set before I left, and there was no power outage.
Like I said, doesn't happen a lot, but enough to cheese me off.
I have the Panasonic DMR E85H plug into my cable box Motorola from Comcast. But I can never get the TV guide to download. If I just plug directly into the cable wire directly; the TV guide always comes through. If I don't have the DMR plugged into the cable box, I don't get the higher channels. Any ideas how to get the TV Guide to get pushed through the cable box to the DMR?
Tell me if I'm understanding your problem and connections.
Cable from wall to E85 then to Motorola then to TV (TV guide works but higher cable stations don't come in).
Cable from wall to Motorola then to E85 then to TV (no TV guide in E85 but all cable stations work on Motorola). With this setup you must record on channel 3 (or 4) on the E85 and have the Motorola tuned to the station you want to record.
You don't say what connections are on your TV, but assuming that you have 1 composite input (set of 3 RCA connectors) here's how I would set it up.
First you need to buy a coax splitter. you connect the cable wire from the wall to the splitter. Connect the first output from the splitter to the Motorola and the second one to the E85. Next connect the Motorola coax output to the TVs cable input. Then you connect the E85 composite output (labelled output 1 (you can use output 2 if you want) (looks like 3 RCA cables)) to the TVs composite input.
You're all set. The E85 should have the TV guide and the Motorola should have all cable channels available. The trick is that to watch the E85 tou have to set the TV to Input 1 or Aux (depends on what your TV calls that input).
Here's the best part, if you hook the Motorola's composite output to the E85's composite input (either input 1 or input 3) you can record any cable channel from the Motorola box on the E85 by setting the E85 to line 1 or 3 (depends on which input you connected it to). Keep in mind that you must have the Motorola turned on and set to the station you want to record. This is veryuseful for recording the higher channels that the E85 doesn't receive. Hope this helps.
Anonymous
Posted on
I have had a Panasonic DMR-E85H since September 2004. It took awhile to get it working. I don't want to lose what I have in my current setup (ability to the the TVG listings from Comcast Cable). I don't have digital cable, and I don't currently have a digital cable box.
1. I am considering getting digital cable and a digital cable box (for HDTV). But then I think the Panasonic DMR-e85h will not work if the cable feed is through the box and not directly into the DMR-E85H. Correct?
2. If I get digital, can I split the cable signal so a. there is one signal to the Panasonic DMR-E85H b. sep. signal to the digital cable box and then to the HDTV?
3. Or does just the fact that the cable feed from comcast is digital (whether or not it goes through the cable box) mean that then I will lose the ability to get the TVG information?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and suggestions.
fx
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1. Correct 2. Yes (Unless Comcast is stripping the data first) Keep in mind that your recorder only has an analog tuner so it will not see any digital channel information, only analog.
I know what the problem is with the cable boxes and "TIVO" units is.....It's not ran through satellite, come on people get with reality cable can't compete even if they can come close now they are going to be raisning their prices by at least 40% this year alone possibly even 70%,if you need some Dish you can call me at 800-747-8927 and ask for Larry
thanks talk to you when you call Larry Snyder
Anonymous
Posted on
fx,
Thank you for your reply. I would like to followup.
I think you are saying that a direct connection of a digital signal (not through a digital cable box) will work so long as the digital stream on the digital cable contains BOTH digital and analog data.
Your insight is that the fundamental limitation of the Panasonic DMR-E85H is that it has an analog tuner, not digital.
fx
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"I think you are saying that a direct connection of a digital signal (not through a digital cable box) will work so long as the digital stream on the digital cable contains BOTH digital and analog data."
Essentially correct, Comcast is beginning to multicast it's analog signals with corresponding digital channels. They hope to free up some bandwidth someday by going all digital. There is a remote possibility that they choose to strip the Gemstar TV Guide PSIP data from the signal before it reaches the digital box. If they do this your E-85's internal guide would not work but since it is now working I suspect they are passing the guide data freely on the analog channels.
"Your insight is that the fundamental limitation of the Panasonic DMR-E85H is that it has an analog tuner, not digital.
Correct but keep in mind all DVD recorders contain only an analog internal tuner, not just the Panny's.
I just bought a DMR-E85H and am trying to get it set up. I installing it on an optimum online io digital hi def system with a Sony KLV-32M1 TV set at 1080i I have it set up with the rf 75 coax cable from the cable box to the DMR-E85H and the component video cables to the TV.
it seems to play through ok on the regular channels but the screen gets vertically squished on the hi def channels. I have tried both the 4:3 & 480i and 16:9 & 480i settings
Should I try setting up the cables differently or is the DMR-E85H incompatible with this set-up and maybe I should set it up on another tv (not hi def)?
fx
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Kenneth,
The E-85 asks what type of display you have in the initial setup. You should choose the 16:9 selection and either 480i or 480p (your preference). I choose to output 480i and allow my display to upscale to it's native resoultion. This also allows me to stretch or zoom incoming programs if I wish.
Do you not understand that your E-85 will not accept as an input nor output any digital channels? This includes naturallly any HD channels. I think you are a bit confused as to your actual problem here. You do not need another TV just understand the limitations of any DVD recorder.
In order to view HD you need to run either component cables or a DVI/HDMI cable directly from your cable box (STB) to a compatible input on your display. You may then need to set the output on your STB to properly output an HD signal.
I just installed a new Sony SXRD TV with my E-85. I cannot program the E-85 to record any station above 125. Is this a limitation of the E-85? I have digital/analog Cablevision cable.
In the comment above, I see the suggestion to set up the E-85 for native resolution. Does the E-85 handle native resolution up to 1080P?
fx
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One more time,
The E-85 is an analog device period, no exceptions. It will accept 480i ONLY, nothing else, not 480p, not 720p not 1080i and not 1080p. All stations numbered above 125 are digital stations, therefore they don't exist in DVR land not just your E-85(other than the ones supplied by your cable company).
How do I hook up my Direct TV DVR to my Comcast Box so that it will record the showes I choose???? I am a watcher not a builder so can it be done????Will it work????
I recently purchased a HD-TV with a built-in HD tuner. My problem is that the signal from the E-85 does not come though any longer on Channel 1.
My setup: --Comcast Cable (no digital box) --coax to VCR --coax to E-85 --coax to new HD-TV with built-in tuner.
The Comcast channels are coming through just fine. So, the analog signal is making it through the VCR, the E85 and then to the TV. But I cannot get the E-85 to appear. Channel 1 just says "no signal."
Having issues with the New Cablevision interactive HSN when doing timer recording.
I would set up timer recording, and the scrolling the channels do when recorder is off always stops on HSN. So when the timer activates and tries to change the channel it does on the DVD-R but not on the cable box.
So everytime I try to record lost and CSI I get hours and HOURS worth of Home Shopping Network. I could give a rats a** about buying Quacker factory products!
Has any one figured out a way to disable HSN, the parent control lock out will not tume out HSN.