hi everyone
i'm new to this site and not very good with technology so please forgive me if this is a stupid question
i received this pvr for christmas and am not completely sure on the technical points
here goes, what kind of cable do i need to connect this to my computer using the usb?
i know one end of the cable needs to be usb (to put in the computer) but the pvr plug does not look like a usb plug. so what should the other end of the cable be which connects to the pvr. what kind of cable do i ask for when i go into the store to buy one?
or did one come in the box? and i missed it (my box was also missing an instruction manual)
sorry if my question made no sense...

Welcome,

It needs to be a USB 2 Type A to Type B cable. The same as a printer cable, except it should be USB 2. They are very common and any shop that sells USB cables will have one. PS for reliability get the shortest one you can use. 1.5 to 2Mt is ideal - but no more than 5Mt (unless you have a powered extender).

Marketing ploy. Whats a USB 2 cable? How are they different a USB cable not packaged as "USB 2"?

See Post #402

Thanks R/Birdman.

I've tried adding this device (Homecast g2083) and it tries to set up me as the DSE G2083, or Homecast S8000, both of which which I've already tried. Looks like I'll have to wait until I have the remote.

Out of interest, can anyone explain how/when Harmony update their devices list?

I presume when they get one?/enough users adding a device that isn't already listed, and learning the codes into the Harmony database, the device evenutally becomes available to all users. If so, it seems strange that the functions I listed are not available under the DSE G2083, as you would expect that these would have definitely been learned when the users first set up the G2083....

Windows can detect the difference between a USB 2 cable and a USB 1.0/1.1 cable. Try connecting a USB 2 device into a USB 2 port on a Windows XP SP2 or Vista PC using a USB 1 cable.

A USB 2 certified cable has gold plated contacts, sheilding terminated to the coinnector comprising of 3 parts - alluminium foil, 28 gauge drain wire and '65%' braiding - and is no longer than 5Mt.

The difference is one is rated upto only 1.5Mbps signaling (at 3Mt max cable length) and the other is rated upto 480Mbps signaling (at 5Mt max cable length).

Beware of dodgy "USB 2" cables that are not certified and perform unreliably. They may be fine for printers and scanners etc, but can cause problems for transferring multi GB files.

thanks to everyone for the fast answers to my usb cable question
just a few more for those who want to answer and help me out
ok, now that i have the cable i need software right?
i've read through the forum about this and got confused with the technical language about speeds and versions etc.
so can someone please post a link to download the best software i need to install to transfer files from my pvr to computer? (i'm using windows xp if that is relevant)
thanks in advance

If you are capable of following the instructions to install the included driver and don't need the application to come in a full installer download this one (v1.02): http://homecast.co.kr/eng/service/download...um=26&cn=24




There is also one with a full installer that installs the application and driver but since they've updated it from v1.01 to v1.02 it's changed from a zip file to a rar file and changed from 'English and German' to German only.
http://www.homecast.de/lang/german/downloa..._Setups_102.rar

If the installer version trully does contain a 'German only' application you could install it anyway, and then replace the german exe with the English one from the zip file linked to above. This would at least save you having to install the USB driver. But if you are capable of unpackign zip and rar files, installing a German application, and replacing the exe file then you are probably capable of installing the USB driver yourself

Just from a sheer pragmatic view, I don't think you need a particularly retentive approach to the USB cable needs. The connection might claim to be USB2 but it runs at less than 2Mb/s with this machine. I regularly use whatever el-cheapo lead I have at hand (up to 2m long) and have no trouble whatsoever. Think you can leave the USB2-certified gold-plated triple-pike-twist cables for high speed applications -- it's the speed that matters, not how many GB you are transferring.

For the USB transfer, just use the previous German version which works very well and is easy to install. Thanks to a helpful forum member you might find it here.

Not sure what you're hoping to do when you transfer PVR files to your PC, but if the aim is to transfer them to DVDs I'd suggest you have a look back through this forum for information. As tech newbie you might find the process and software needed a bit messy (commercial $oftware helps a little), but nevertheless read up and have a go!

Quick update....

As mentioned earlier in this thread, upgraded to a Seagate ST3320620A drive from the standard 160GB Maxtor.

Under the latest version of firmware ( 2A ) , the 160GB drive appeared to work fine.

After upgrading to the Seagate, had quite a few very bad problems with locking up.

Have taken the firmware back to 0A which it originally shipped with. Since then haven't had a lockup at all.

The Maxtor specific firmware upgrade must "muck" something up with other drives and set something specific for the Maxtor drive.

Hope this assists someone .

Cheers.

Hi to all

I have just purchased a DS 6200PVR after reading through this thread. The one bought was on display having been returned from repair. You guessed it - the documentation that was still in the box indicated a "freezing up" problem which seems inherent in this model with the WD HDD. The "repair" had been done by Topfield and involved installing the new (2A) firmware!
Anyway, it seems to work fine at this stage. Just one thing, is it possible to have less than 1 hr recording time when setting to record from the 'edit timer' section? The default for recording time comes up as 1:00 and it only seems possible to toggle through the hours from 1-10 (not zero).
Cheers
Bull

All you need to do is edit the minutes first, then edit hours to zero.

Seems to be some conflicting advice on hard drives (not sure they ever originally came with 'Maxtor').

Is it possible to confirm the following:

# Only need the latest firmware if having issues with a WD drive

# If I am upgrading from original 160gb seagate to another drive I should stick with original firmware

# Most replacement drives will work ok (ide obviously) and does not neccessarily have to be a 'CE' type drive
(I'm thinking of putting in say a 400gb seagate or WD but happy to pay extra for the 'CE' edition if it is quieter/more
reliable etc

Oops, sorry meant WD drive. That's the trouble with posting without too much thought and too quickly

From my experience ( YMMV ), yes, it appears that the older firmware is MUCH more stable with the Seagate Drive ( non CE ) than the one specifically for the WD drive. Drive is now over the 200GB mark and still no issues.

In terms of noise, it's only at like 2am in the morning when nobody else is around and nothing else is turned on that I can hear some whirring from the drive, so not sure if the CE drives are really required.

The only time I see any "issues" is if say I'm watching a playback and a recording kicks in , then you get a slight stutter, but this isn't reflected in the recording on playback.

YMMV

I bought one of these yesterday for $199 including a 3 year warranty. Easy to use, Seagate drive with old firmware, quiet, does everthing I want it to do. I really like the "rewind live TV bit". Read the other limitations here, the only one which might bother me is the 10 timer limit, other than that it's perfect. I didn't need a $50 splitter, I just used a $5 RF splitter on my ariel outlet, two leads one in to my HD STB and one in to the PVR.

It is the Seagate drives that ARE CE.

Despite information to the contrary, CE drives are very different to standard PC drive builds. You could research it yourself, since you obviously have access to the www.
The important difference is not really noise, vac or heat but the way the drive is coded to deal with errors. All original, quality, AV equipment use CE drives, including the DS6200PVR (Seagate version) as built by Homecast. The fact that some shonky 3rd party fitted an inappropriate non CE drive (WD1600BB) and someone produced a firmware to compensate, excuses no one.
As I have said before, if you want to upgrade your drive, the best replacement is a CE drive and the only ones currently available to Joe public, with full user RA rights, is the WD AV series - such as WD5000AVJB.

techo, what about Seagate's SV35.2 harddrives? There are a few computer stores where these drives are available and they are marketed as "Engineered For Video Surveillance Recording". A local computer store stocks these Seagate SV35.2 500Gb drives for $195 at the moment, which is about 30% more expensive than the same sized "normal" hdd...

Homecast changed the HDD model when Seagate bought out WD and stopped supplying the original Seagate HDD.

Homecast updated the firmware when they learnt that there was a problem caused by their choice of HDD.

At no point has any 3rd party had anything to do with Homecast's choice of HDD or had any involvement in their firmware development.

I've been using the thing for two days now, I did spend quite a bit of money on a scart - component cable only to find the scart on the PVR seems not to work properly, which is a shame. However, it still records and plays back with reasonable PQ via component attachement.

A basic unit, does it well, I'm quite happy with it indeed.

It does not output component. It outputs RGB. You need an RGB/component converter rather than just a cable.

I recently bought a converter kit from Jaycar which required a little bit of soldering - Xmas holiday project. Haven't assembled it and don't need it now as my new Sony DVD recorder accepts RGB in via scart and I can output that to the TV via HDMI. This has noticably improved the picture quality over s-video which I was previously using.

Cheers

Scott

That all sounds Greek to me LMAO. It's got a scart plug on the back, and it came with a scart to scart cable, I just assumed a scart to component cable would work. Well, it does, sort of. It's either all black and white, or a hint of red. Either way, even though it's SD and output via composite, not component as I said before, D'oh! I think it was a good buy until a suitable DVDR with HDD comes along at a fair price.

You can get a converter that will change RGB to Component, there are links somewhere in the thread for them. I got mine from here: http://digitalhometech.com.au/cyu2100.htm I think it was on special though, for about $100. It's worth it if you are after quality and IMHO the combined price of $299 still means this PVR is a bargain for the features it has.

A $100??? That's 100 beer tokens too many to spend on summat that'll only mariginally improve, for me anyway, PQ IMO. It's proved itself already, several programs, and a couple over-lapping, on different channels, all recorded. Sweet! I'll get to watch American Dad and Family Guy tonight as I was dealing with my Telco to get the phone and ADSL working until 10pm last night.

It's running the old version of FW, and has the Seagate CE drive installed, is it worth uploading the 1040a FW?

PQ? what's that mean? For me, it made the world of difference compared to composite when viewing TV on a 37" HD LCD (not 1080p)



I haven't bothered, I've got the same drive, with 1.03.2a firmware, it works well for me, except occasionally the audio seems to drop out on ABC2 which coincidentally is the only station to transmit dolby digital and not PCM. I'm not game to update the firmware in case any of the other bugs appear (because I can't go back to the original as it can't be extracted apparently..)

PQ means Picture Quality.

I paid $140 for the Jaycar 'CSY120 RGB>YUV Converter' (same as the one from Hantrex that they sell online for around $100) and it was well worth it for the huge improvement in picture quality. And this was an improvement from YUV on a 5000 toppy. The improvement in PQ from S-Video on a 6200 would be massive.

The PQ improvement on a 52cm CRT TV is noticeable but minor (and still worth the $100), but the PQ improvement on a 82cm LCD or larger screen is huge. Having to spend the extra $140 on top on the price a toppy (3 years ago) pissed me off but in the end it was well worth it. If I had just bought a bargain priced 6200 I would not hesitate to buy the CSY120.

Firmware version 1.03.3A is available here:
http://www.pvr-tools.com/firmware/DS6200/[...02003-1033A.zip for Seagate HDDs only

<Hits head> that's so obvious!

cheers for that.

Any release notes as to what changes have been made ??

Cheers.

I'd be keen to find out whats in the later FW relase, 1040a. I have the code but no null modem cable yet. Also, it appears larger capacity Seagate CE drives, 750gb etc, are SATA. But there is a converter available to enable you to plug your SATA drive into an IDE controller.

Can anyone tell me if the unit outputs a true progressive scan picture over component? (i.e. not interlaced, and not forcibly de-interlaced) The s-video connection is astonishingly good on my 32" LCD, and the only real problem it suffers from is the interlaced picture (thus giving a reduced vertical resolution in motion scenes). (I guess you'd get a bit more horizontal resolution with RGB regardless, but the real issue is the interlacing).

I'm seriously considering one of the Hantrex converter boxes, but I'd like to know that there's really double the vertical resolution to be gained? This should be easily seen if you pause playback on a scene with a 45-degree angle line -- if the picture is an interlaced one, the resolution will appear to suddenly halve, and the line will become jaggy; resume playback and the line should appear smooth again. If the player's outputting a progressive signal over component, it will appear smooth even when paused. (I'd guess, though, that the source would have to be progressive content -- so best to check with a movie that's being broadcast, although many DTV shows are now progressive rather than interlaced ...)

Hope that's not too confusing!

Thanks to anyone who can help me with this one,

Cheers,
Owen

I have no idea. That version was before I even knew that the DS6200 existed. I'm sure that there was some bug in the previous version, which you should find mentioned near the start of this massive thread.



Good luck using SATA > IDE converter. People have tried that in toppys but it resulted in unreliability with recording glitches and lockups etc. Besides, I'm not even sure if the 6200 supports a HDD that large.



All SD is interlaced. The Hantrex convertor doesn't change this. I still see 45 degree lines as jagged lines if I pause playback.

I also have a 32inch LCD and while S-Video does look quite good it looks soft compared to RGB or component. I've never regretted buying my RGB>YUV convertor.

Thanks for the reply and information!

Actually, most SD content *isn't* interlaced -- you can tell this by looking at files from the PVR downloaded onto your computer. Some stuff is still interlaced, but most content that's good enough for me to transfer (including a lot of movies) is progressive. Pity the PVR can't handle this -- but I wonder if any PVR can output progressive SD content correctly? (Is the MPEG SD content flagged as interlaced/progressive?? Could be quite interesting ...)

If the PVR can't display progressive signals over component, I think I'll stick with S-Video. It may not be quite as good as component, but it's still astonishingly sharp on my set. I'm watching the tennis right now, and (with the exception of the interlaced artefacts) it looks simply awesome.

Probably answered in this thread but darned if I could find much about it...

Is it really necessary to format the HDD after putting on an upgrade?

I'm taking the big leap from 1032 to 1033 (have a seagate HDD, as far as I'm aware the later firmware updates only really apply to WD drives)

I would prefer not to lose all the programs we have saved but haven't gotten(?) around to watching yet. - All the 'really good ones' have been transferred to PC & burnt but most of the odd bits & pieces that I want to watch when I get a round tuit aren't really worth the effort of saving to PC.

Not sure why 1040 was released, but all releases since then were specifically for the WD freezing problems. In fact some people have said they noticed new bugs with the later firmware and the original seagate HDD.

It's only recommended to do a HDD format if upgrading to later firmware to cure the WD freezing. Just deleting all old recordings would achieve the same thing. Of course people could keep their old recordings and just accept that they will still freeze occasionally.

I thought I'd read that somewhere, which why I've been a bit wary of upgrading. For some reason however, occasionally the sound drops out on programs recorded from ABC - or for that matter just when watching Aunty. I think it's to do with ABC outputting Dolby Digital audio instead of PCM (ABC2 and all the other stations output PCM)


That's good to hear

Thanks for the info.

I have the model with the Seagate HD and don't really have any issues with it, so I didn't upgrade the Firmware.

A friend of mine bought the same model from Dick Smith for $89.00(customer return, and a bargain). It has a WD hard drive. A couple of days ago I upgraded the firmware to 1.04.2a to fix the PIP and stuttering problems. Worked like a charm.

Did not have to reset or format the hard drive.

any more info sounds good

Plenty of info on this topic you just need to go back and read it

To make it easy for you, read this entry by JTM


Downloads are available at Techo's Page


Thanks to techo and other contributors of the firmware information.

I've uploaded some basic screenshots of the upgrade program and a "How to" here


RadioBirdman

Wonderful work RadioBirdman. Would you like me to upload your screenshots and how to, to my page, as another accessible source? Please feel free to disallow this if you wish.
FYI The reason I maintain my page is that after many years of seeing much serviceable hardware going to the tip, creating unnecessary and toxic land fill, simply because someone has decided not to provide continuing support in the form of bios, firmware or drivers. Also when the internet was the internet there was a much freer exchange of knowledge, via terminal of course. Even in the early days of the www their were many good driver download sites eg www.driverguide.com etc, but now, alas, the vulchers have moved in and resurrecting anything, even a few years old, is usually uneconomical, and, IMO often due to pure greed.

OK by me, thanks.

I totally agree with your comments, it's always difficult and takes a lot of searching sometimes to find drivers for older hardware to work under XP, for example.

Your page is much appreciated by me, and I'm sure, many other DTV Forum members and guests.

Cheers.

I have v1.03.2a f/w on mine, and as it works well I don't see the need to upgrade, unless there were some additional features in the latter versions?

Which is what I'd recommend

I've upgraded through all the firmware available, still having the same problem with audio dropping out (only with ABC) and no noticeable benefit.

I'm almost thinking it might be the bose (home theatre) but the problem never happened when I had the TV hooked up via optical audio as opposed to the PVR, the home theatre still showed ABC as being Dolby Digital, but it never dropped out (although I not able to pause the TV to test it )

Are you sure its not the antenna Beej? ABC is usually the most vulnerable to impulse noise type interference.

Reasonably sure.. it only occasionally drops out when watching live TV, but drops out probably 75+% of the time when I pause TV, or am playing back shows previously recorded from ABC (and only ABC, not ABC2.)

I am positive is is to do with the Dolby Digital audio output as my Home Theatre shows whether the signal is PCM or Dolby Digital.

I am wondering if it might be the Home Theatre, a glitch with the way it processes Dolby Digital, but I never noticed it when I had the optical input going from the TV (has HD Tuner) to the Home Theatre - (The HT also showed Dolby Digital or PCM when connected via optical to the TV)

Are the dropouts always in the same place in recorded programs - ie: if you hear a dropout on a recorded program and then rewind is it always at the same point in the recording? might be an additional clue

No. Since upgrading, I've noticed it doesn't seem to dropout very often (if at all) watching live TV. It seems much better now on recorded programs. It is, if anything worse when I pause live TV (it drops out, but I can't get the sound back by rewinding or full forwarding).

If I'm watching recorded programs I can always get the sound back by rewinding or forwarding a bit, same as if I'm using chase-play. It's weird.

On a final note, it doesn't seem to make any difference whether I'm using optical or just RCA for the audio.. <scratches head>

Are you able to go back to using the audio from the TV?


Seems to me like your Home Theatre amp doesn't like the optical audio from the PVR.

That was my line of thinking, but it doesn't make any difference if I am using RCA!

I've just been testing, disconnected optical, plugged in RCA, set home theatre to _not_ use optical.

Exactly the same thing happens! AAAaaaargh!

To me this means that something is amiss in the way the PVR is processing the incoming signal. but to be honest, I am clutching at straws.

Getting exactly the same problem but with virtually all channels.

I get a 'glitch' about 2 seconds before the sound dies when watching live or recorded.

I reach for the remote rewind a moment and play and it is cured!

But it will happen again - look out for the 2sec glitch...

really bugging me now as the unit is great apart from this.

Original firmware, HK Receiver, connecting via optical.

Hi,
Although a newbie, I've been following this thread with the releases of the various versions of firmware being released etc but I haven't seen anyone say that new firmware has fixed the problem as quoted by Nick C below. I have a unit, original s/w, seagate drive, that does exactly this and am hoping someone has identified a s/w revision that cures it. Love the device except for this little trap...

QUOTE(Nick C @ May 9 2007, 09:04 AM)
Getting on great with this device, just one issue;

If I am watching an existing recording from the HD and a new recording starts, often the new recording messes up. Either is only 2 minutes long or misses the middle. The icons on the PVR software indicate that the unit is recording, but only from looking at the List menu can you see that the recording is only 2 minutes long and takes up 64 Mb....

If I leave the box alone or am using it as a STB, it works beautifully, two channels at once is bliss... The problem is only caused if I am watching an existing recording.

Any ideas?


I can make this problem - or at least something very similar - happen at will. It happens when you stop playing a recording, during which the PVR started recording something that required it to change the channel. Let me give you the sequence of steps:
1. Start by watching a channel live. (Say channel 2).
2. Set the PVR to record something in the not-too-distant future. (Say on channel 10). The key is that this has to be a channel OTHER than the one in step 1.
3. Start watching something you've previously recorded. Keep doing so until the PVR commences to record whatever you set in step 2.
4. Once the PVR has started the recording, stop the playback. You will find yourself watching the channel you were watching in step 1.
5. Stop the recording in progress (unless you want to let it proceed to completion).

The results vary depending on what channel you chose in step 2:
- If you chose channel 10, you will find the recording continues, but has changed to the channel in steps 1 & 4.
- If you chose channel 9, the recording will have stopped when you stopped the [unrelated] playback.
- If you chose channel 7, the recording will go into a weird lockup mode, with the short file length as per Nick's example.
- I've not tried with ABC (either channel) or SBS.

This to me sounds like a firmware bug. I doubt its the hard disk issue discussed a few times in this thread because (a) it's repeatable and ((IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif) if the channel in step 2 is the same as in step 1 the problem does not occur.

I have also done the above steps with a "step 0" being recording something on a 3rd channel for the duration of the experiment. (So for a period both channels were recording). In thise case, I got the same results as above.

I don't have the firmware version at hand. I bought the unit in May (ish) this year.

Does anyone else get the same results as me?

Hi Peeet,

I have the model with the Seagate Drive, original Firmware v1.03. I have not upgraded and mine works fine, however I have Time Shift turned off (page24, 4.7.1 of Manual).

If you want to record something while answering the telephone just press the Pause button and it will record what your watching (Page26, 5.2.1 of Manual)

Try turning it off and see if your problem goes away.