I have a Panasonic DMR-EH50 DVD recorder with 100 GB HD that locked up in error mode when I tried to divide a title on it back in January. It's not the 'U99' code I keep reading about, Just says "An error has occurred, please press enter". None of the reset procedures would work. Someone in another group said the HD is probably corrupted, so I took it out and got a computer to detect it, so it appears to be still OK. I need to get all the shows off of it before I attempt any reformat. (I think I only have about 25% of the drive filled) I have the TwinRip software which looks like I can copy the whole thing to my computer HD, and a good Hex editor program (Hackman Suite). Just wondering if any one has done this yet. I read a whole thread similar to this (on an older model DMR) on this forum, but it was 3 years old and I couldn't find any more posts anywhere on the net from the original poster. Wade
Just found out I can get all the data off of a Panasonic DMR HD! Using a free hex editor called HxD, I connected the drive to the computer using a IDE to USB adapter cable and then could access it with HxD. Even though a drive letter does NOT show up in the 'My Computer' window, the hex editor shows all attached physical drives when you click on the 'extras' tab and select 'open drive'. And it will display all data from the first byte to the very end of the 100th gigabyte on the drive. I found out all DVD video files begin with the hex code 000001BA and by doing a search, this string appears at the beginning of every 2KB block, starting at byte no. 23C8800 ( the next 4 bytes may be some kind of indexing, I need the play with that next ) So I just copied exactly 256 MB of hex data from this byte onward, pasting it over a small dummy file and saving it, Then all I had to do is name it as a .mpg file, and it plays fine in any media player. The only problem is that it is fragmented, little bits and pieces from different shows jumbled together. Out of the 20 or 22 minutes of video, I did get about 15 min from one show in one solid chunk. The video itself is obviously not encrypted in any way, just plain old mpeg format. Wade
Exactly the same error has occurred on my Panasonic DMR-EH60. I also have errors occuring on my other Panasonic machines DMR-EH50 and DMR-EH55. According to Panasonic, these errors are caused by Shaw Cable in Edmonton and Calgary Canada, which has been making changes to TVGOS (TV Guide On Screen) to make it work purely digitally. Until recently the TV listing were downloaded over channel 2 in Edmonton as data similar to closed captioning. Apparently, the new "digital compatible" TVGOS listings are causing memory overflows which are corrupting RAM. I've got problems on all 3 of my machines. Panasonic told me to be patient and the problems would disappear when TVGOS is working correctly. Shaw has been making changes since last May or June, so the fact that your error occured in January means it could have been caused by corrupted TVGOS listings from a cable company that started to make changes earlier. If only RAM were corrupted, the problem should clear up when TVGOS is working as it should. Panasonic says it will. However, I don't think the problem will clear up because it appears that the firmware in ROM, and not RAM that was corrupted. Here is how I found out about this. One of my machines (DMR-EH60) crashed when I was copying a DVD-RAM disk to the hard drive. It went into a state where it says "Error occurred, Press Enter". When I press enter, it reboots with the same message. Nothing would get the machine out of this loop. Panasonic told me I could reset the machine by pressing Power+Stop, which would reset the machine to the factory default setting and erase my hard drive. Since I didn't want to lose the data on my HDD, I sent it to a certified Panasonic repairman. He discovered that the firmware on the main circuit board has been modified. There is no fix other than replacing the circuit board, which costs about $350. He says Power+Stop doesn't work. So my concern is that Shaw Cable's messing around with TVGOS has damaged the firmware on all the Panasonic PVR's in the Edmonton and Calgary area. Similar damage is probably occuring in the US with other cable systems that use TVGOS. The damaged main boards that need replacing for a huge number of affected PVR's would probably cost millioins of dollars. Do we have a class action law suit? Panasonic also sent me firmware upgrades for my machines on CD. Would applying the upgrades completely replace the firmware and thereby fix the problems created by TVGOS? I just bought my 3rd Panasonic PVR a month ago. It is a DMR-EH55, and it too has problems. If the firmware has been changed, at least it will be fixed under warranty by Panasonic. Maybe Panasonic needs to sue Shaw and TVGOS. The new DMR-EH55 hasn't crashed yet in an unrecoverable loop. However, it shows evidence of firmware corruption. When I switch to the DVD drive, the red "DVD" logo blinks while it is reading, and then the blinking is supposed to stop. It never stops. Also, when I press the "Status" button, I'm supposed to get status info on screen and now I get nothing. I orginally thought TVGOS had overwritten RAM memory, and that caused the corruption. If so, the problem should clear up. But if the firmware in ROM has been corrupted, a new main board may be required. I had errors like these on both my EMR-EH50 and DMR-EH60 machines. It was the EH60 that went into the unrecoverable loop. Maybe if I had applied a firmware patch to restore the firmware before it when into that loop, it would now be OK. Does anyone know? I'm terrified my EMR-EH50 will do the same. I've reconfigured it to not use TVGOS. That should wipe out all the RAM used my TVGOS. However, if the firware was corrupted, it may still be vulnerable to going into an unrecoverable error loop. I'm planning up upgrade the firmware and test it thoroughly to make sure the corruption is gone. I won't use TVGOS until I'm sure the problems are solved. I'd love to hear from others who have discovered they are in this mess too. Bruce
I have the same 'loop error' problem. Always: boot up - boot down - boot up - an error has occured - boot down. And that repeats itself. Tried to do a reset with the buttons, nothing is working. Is there a way the make the thing work again? I'm willing to erase the HD, so a firmware restoration might help. If anyone has more info?
Hi Bruce, Our TV guide from our Panny has has gone AWOL too. This box had it's firmware blown up this spring ( and repaired) still under warranty. I think we are going to have to bitch loudly to Shaw as they appear to be the trouble makers here. If we say nothing they'll do nothing. Mark
Hey, I'm in Edmonton and use Shaw Digital Cable. I don't know if this is related but last week my DMR-E85H was dead. I took it in for repair e(Electronic Analyst) and had two bad capacitors replaced -- the e85 is notorious for bad caps. When it was fixed, I brought it home and got it setup -- except after 5 days (and every possible configuration of connecting to shaw cable)* I can't download the TVGuide. I contacted the repair shop, they said the have heard from a couple clients and their own techs that the guide is not downloading. I contacted Shaw, they said CFRN is changing equipment and may not be sending the guide. I called CFRN and the engineer there said there were no issues from their end (although I am not sure we were talking about the same thing). From what I read in this thread, some suspect it may be Shaw in Edmonton that is changing equipment and causing the problems (I thought the shaw support guy on the phone sounded confused ...) I find Shaw almost useless when it comes to TVGOS. I have contacted them in the past when I have had trouble (~April 2008 I upgraded to a newer all-digital cable terminal and couldn't get the guide, when I went back to the older terminal the guide came back). One support person actually told me because my equipment wasn't from Shaw they couldn't provide support for the missing signal coming from their end / through their equipment. I don't know what is going on and where the problem originates, so I sent a message to the owners of the TVGOS service -- Macrovision http://www.macrovision.com/products/ce_manufacturers/ipg_ce/tv_guide_on_screen.htm at Ce_customer_support@tvguide.com on Friday afternoon. I will wait to see if they reply. * I hooked up through the digital cable suing the coax only, RCA in L3 only and I bypassed the digital cable using the coax only -- but no guide ... then each time turned off the system and waited at least 12 hours -- usually the clock time downloads right away -- but got nada.
Hey Bruce, you don't have to worry about Shaw causing your panny any problems due to the TVGOS service ... Today, I confirmed with Shaw that they are no longer subscribing to the guide service provided by Macrovision. In an email I recieved from Macrovision when I asked if there were TVGOS problems in Edmonton, I recieved the following: Shaw's Technical Support agent, Greg, told me this afternoon that he had received a memo saying Shaw had discontinued the service because it used to be free, but a fee was to come into effect and Shaw felt that their 'channel 5' guide and the digital cable guide would be sufficient for subscribers. I will be sending an email to Jim Shaw, President and CEO and encourage anyone else affected by this decision to do the same. I believe his email address is jim.shaw@sjrb.ca
