Balky TV Remote....

[chachp]

Electronics and the forces that affect them...

 

<span style="font-family: 'American Typewriter', serif;">I know this isn’t related to the discussion but it reminds me of something that happened to me years ago.</span>

<span style="font-family: 'American Typewriter', serif;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: 'American Typewriter', serif;">I first started my career in IT back in the late 80s.  PCs hadn’t quite hit the desktop back then so we were using a lot of Green Screen monitors.</span>

<span style="font-family: 'American Typewriter', serif;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: 'American Typewriter', serif;">I was working the help desk and a lady called to say all the text on her monitor had shifted to the right and she couldn't read it all.  I had no idea what to do so I engaged the guy who did all the desk side visits.  He asked if I wanted to go along with him to see how they resolved this problem.  We got on the elevator and up we go to this lady’s desk.  He pulls out a can of Static Guard and sprays it around her monitor and the image shifted back to normal.</span>

<span style="font-family: 'American Typewriter', serif;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: 'American Typewriter', serif;">I expected some big technical lesson and I get a can of static guard.  I’ll never forget it.  You just never know what external forces affect our electronics.</span>

 

[paulg]

Never say never

Like many techies here, I’ve seen many crazy causes for product failure. The static spray fix is one of the strangest I’ve ever heard of.
I had one university where one ceiling-mounted projector had repeat lamp failure. I entered the room with a group of their engineers and staff and the projector was literally bouncing up and down about an inch. The HVAC fan / motor above it went off balance and was bouncing the projector.
I looked to the staffer with an eyebrow raised.
He replied.... Well... let’s look at some other rooms...

 

[sudsmaster]

Well, after having lived with the 50" Samsung flat panel (series 7), I'm liking it more.

 

Yes, the remote is on the small side. Yes, it lacks direct buttons for individual channels.

 

But on the plus side, the whole thing runs the DVD player and the TV both. When the TV is turned on, if the DVD is selected, it will turn that on as well. Not too shabby. In addition to the previously mentioned great picture quality, the Samsung (unlike the Vizio) can connect to the internet, allowing software upgrades and a ton of special free channels - none of which I've watched much yet but who knows). Learning how to control both the TV and the DVD takes a bit.

 

Oh, and I found the on/off button. It's on the underside of the panel. Had to pull off some stubborn plastic film to access it properly.  A mirror and flashlight helped for that.  I guess that single button can be used to access various menus, but it's probably only good for emergency uses.

 

The previous drawback of no composite inputs might be addressable by getting a separate composite-HDMI conversion dingle, which I guess I'd plug into HDMI-2 port. The only reason for that is to be able to view subtitles for DVD's I've recorded off the air. Haven't tried it yet but I think it will work.

 

One annoyance is that when trying to turn on/off subtitles one is thrust into an audio help screen that narrates every option. Not sure if I made a selection that turned that on, will have to fiddle some more to see if it can be turned off.

 

Oh, and the sound is OK, about the same as with the Vizio. I have an audio system I could plug it into if necessary, such as for surround sound, but haven't felt the need for that for a few years.

 

Anyway, it's a keeper. Still have to yank the Vizio off the wall and put the Samsung in its place. The Vizio was a chore getting up there, so have been putting that off. No rush on that.

 

 

 

 

[blackstone]

Quasar Remote....

Perhaps this one will work?

 

[sudsmaster]

No need to go that vintage.

 

Replacement modern remotes can be had for well under $20. I might pick one up just in case I lose the one that came with the TV.

 

 

[ultralux88]

There are a couple things... does the power button on the TV work? If the buttons on the TV work fine, the little board with the IR receiver can fall down and not be up in its window. Easiest fix. If it’s the capacitors, it’s probably the ones on the power supply board. A competent electronics guy can replace them. I’m having this problem with my 3D TV and need to get it done.

 

[lowefficiency]

>> The previous drawback of no composite inputs might be addressable by getting a
>> separate composite-HDMI conversion dingle, which I guess I'd plug into HDMI-2 port.

Don't do that - it would just be doubling down on old technology, and you'd have a mess of boxes, cabling, and another power adapter to deal with.

You'd be much happier if you spent that same money on a cheap Blu-ray player instead, which would still play your DVDs too. Even the 1080p output of an old used player would be a noticeable upgrade from the 480p of your DVD player, or you could splurge on a 4K player if you wanted to. Blu-ray players are dirt cheap on the used market now, because so many people have ditched them in favor of streaming sticks. (For example, my local Craigslist has several for $15.)

 

[sudsmaster]

The DVD player attached to the TV already is a Blu-ray player.

 

However my DVD recorders are not Blu-ray. Remember, I'm recording some shows, to standard DVD, mostly PBS, to replay later.

 

Also, I don't see a problem with a small composite to HDMI converter being plugged into the TV. It's a non-issue. I just haven't found one locally yet, but I know I can get one on-line for less than $20. The alternative is getting a large screen TV with composite inputs but that's not gonna happen.

 

 

[mattl]

I picked up a DVD/VHS recorder at GW that has an HDMI output.  $5.  It will record OTA to DVD as well.  I need to convert a bunch of VHS stuff to DVD butt have not done it yet.  JVC, fairly recent vintage I'd guess.

 

[sudsmaster]

OK, both my panasonic DVD recorders have HDMI outputs.

 

The whole reason I want a composite to HDMI converter is that the playback will only show closed captioning on shows that were recorded to DVD from broadcasts if the playback is sent to the TV via the composite output of the DVD player. If sent via the HDMI output, then the broadcast closed captioning is lost in transmission. The one part of this puzzle that is missing is the lack of component video inputs on the new flat panel Samsung.

 

Gonna have to test you guys on this.

 

 

[sudsmaster]

Had a new TV remote control fail yesterday.

This was for the 32" Westinghouse flat panel in my study/family room. It's probably the set I watch the most, and is the one connected to the DVD recorders etc. So very important to me.

Anyway, all of a sudden it stopped responding to the remote. It seemed stuck on showing only what was coming through on HDMI1, which I rarely use (mostly use HDMI2, don't ask why). Very annoying.

But... if I pulled the batteries on the WH remote, the TV would respond to the limited functionality of the TV portion of the remote for HDMI2 (Panasonic DVD recorder).

Tried new batteries in the WH remote. Same problem.

Finally opened it up. I remembered that I had corrected balky buttons on this remote with a carbon rich paint designed to fix balky remote buttons. But I had also found that the paint tended to flake off and could cause other problems inside the remote.

After a close inspection I found a tiny bit of black pain was resting on the equally tiny connection legs on an integrated circuit module inside the remote. Flicked that away with a fingernail, and for good measure gave the entire innards of the remote a good blast with a can of compressed air.

Lo and behold, WH TV remote restored to normal function.

If only all problems could be solved so easily.

LOL.

I suppose since this WH TV is so central to day-to-day ops, it's a good candidate for one of those universal remote upgrades. I'll think about it!

 

[ultralux88]

“ it would just be doubling down on old technology, and you'd have a mess of boxes, cabling, and another power adapter to deal with.”

You’d wind up with a setup more like I have, which requires a minimum of 3 remotes to do anything with it. I’ve got the HDMI ports, the component and composite connections all hooked up to enough things that I have to use switching boxes. I have hooked up (in order of most to least used): HDMI surround sound receiver with HDMI switch, to it, i have hooked up my Aple TV and my 3D Blu-Ray player as well as an Xbox 360 and a digital (RCA plug coax) audio from the TV and the RCA cables for the audio from yet another rats nest. Then I’ve got a DVD/(but I only use the)VCR and a Nintendo 64 and Game Cube with composite video, which connect to a switch box along with the component video from a Wii and an old Xbox. The switch box is a 6 in 2 out kinda thing, so I just used one output to the composite, and one for component. I’ll never remember which input and output do what, so that’s a ‘push the buttons til it finally happens’ kinda customers...

My TV has been in need of repair for a few months, but the gratuitous cable nest behind it has made me lazy. So whether or not you find this cautionary or inspirational, just be aware there is value in keeping the setup simple, as it can be frustrating playing the button guessing game, and the wire maze game.

 

[mattl]

One of the best purchses I made - on ebay- is a Harmony remote with Hub.  It can and does control everything.  I have a lot of stuff in my main AV system and the Harmony controls all of it.  Even the Firestick and the TiVo Stream 4K that use RF and Bluetooth.  These are pricey new, $250-300 but in the $50 range  for a 2 year old model, still fully functional.  the latest is about $125-150 on ebay.

 

[sudsmaster]

“ it would just be doubling down on old technology, and you'd have a mess of boxes, cabling, and another power adapter to deal with.”

Again, the whole reason for wanting to use component connections between the DVD player (which had both HDMI and component outputs) is to convey the closed captioning info from DVD's recorded from broadcasts from the player to the TV. This TV has no component inputs; a quick look today at the offerings at Costco indicate to nearly all the flat panel TV's there also lack component inputs; the exception might be Vizio brand units, which I am ruling out as an option at this point.

Anyway, ordered a $20 Component to HDMI. converter the other day, it should be here by the end of next week. Yes, it's another five volt power supply. Boo hoo. No, it won't be much in the way of additional cabling, since my current setup for the Vizio includes both HDMI and Component cabling, and it's not a "rats nest".

 

[sudsmaster]

Well, the component to HDMI converter arrived today. I hooked it up as DVD player component to HDMI2 input into the TV, but... Alas, the closed captioning from the broadcast original to disc did not come through as it did on the Visio which had separate component inputs. I'm at a bit of a loss at this point. Other possible maneuvers would be to get a component to coax (Antenna) converter, if available, and see if the closed captioning that came with the broadcast made its way to the Samsung TV. That would involve the hassle of putting in a Coax switch as well.

One improvement, however. With the original HDMI1 output from the DVD player, the broadcast to DVD discs play as squished video that requires customizing that input for a regular TV screen aspect. With the component to HDMI converter in the path, the TV displays the full "stretched" TV aspect from the broadcast to DVD copies. So the converter is not entirely without value. I have noticed that when I play a commercial DVD movie the resolution of the component to HDMI output from the player is slightly less than the resolution of the unfiltered HDMI direct from player to TV. A minor glitch is that both inputs show up as "Panasonic" on the Samsung menu; I just have to remember that the first one is the component to HDMI2 conversion, and the second one is the originally set up HDMI to HDMI1 input.

In other words... I have pretty much exhausted the connectivity capability of this current setup.

 

[sudsmaster]

More fun with AV stuff...

In my study/family room, I have a setup with two Panasonic DVD/VHS recorders with digital tuners. The older of the two actually is more functional. So it gets used more. Occasionally it will get to the end of recording four hours of broadcast video and then say the disk is no good. Frustrating. Higher quality blank DVD's reduce that, Verbatim with Azo dye seems to be the best. But this evening it crapped out in the middle of recording "Fearless" from the local PBS station. I'd never seen it and wanted to make sure I could watch it again.

The problem turned out to be more than a bad disc, though. It kept going into recover mode in endless loops and wouldn't stop. I googled the problem and tried the solutions there, but nothing worked.

Finally yanked it out of the cabinet and plopped it on the desk. Opened it up. Checked all the ribbon cables, re-seated them. Also got some compressed air and dusted it off. Still the endless rebooting. Next step was to pull the DVD drive. Couldn't see a whole lot wrong but there was way too much debris in there. Dust and grit and even a few hairs (guilty, but I could blame the cat). Dusted it all off - or as much as I could get at. Presto! It stopped the endless rebooting and allowed me to eject the effed up blank disc, finally.

It's back into the cabinet now and set to record the 2 am rebroadcast of the movie. Also set up the other DVD recorder to do same. One of them should work. If I'm lucky the disc fails also will be fewer and farther between.

 

[sudsmaster]

Update: The deep cleaning of the Panasonic DVD recorder seems to have done the trick. No more recording fails (knock on wood).

 

So I've given up looking for another one.

 

Aside:

 

I have two of the Panasonic DVD/VHS recorders. The first one is a DMR EZ-475V. I got that at Costco. The second one is a slightly later model, the DMR EZ-485V. The decks are nearly identical but some of the buttons are in different positions. But the MAIN difference, I've found, is that while the EZ-485 will record movies off a commercial broadcast station, it often will error out with a "copy protection" message. It does fine recording documentaries and movies from the local PBS station. The first one, the EZ-475, has no copy protect error messages at any time.

 

I surmise that the movie industry got to Panasonic when it was designing the 485 model and got it to block recording of copyrighted movies off the air. Bummer. It's kind of stupid because even with digital broadcasts the quality is nowhere near that of a commercial DVD, and the closed captions are sort of randomized. But there you have it.

 

The other difference I've noted is that the first 475 model tends to lose about five minutes a day on its internal clock. This means that if it's been sitting for a few days, I have to reset the internal clock on it or it will miss the start of programs. The later 485 machine keeps much better time, maybe losing a couple of minutes a day. I have NO idea why these damn things can't keep time. But I've got used to checking the internal time on each one before programming.

 

I only record off the air programming for my own use, so it's legal.

 

 

 

[mattl]

Just curious, do you keep the recordings or use re recordable disks?  There are any number of ways to record to a hard drive and get your CC.  I have a Silicon Dust Quad OTA tuner and it can record to a hard drive with a number of free or cheap programs.  Jellyfin is a free Media server with full OTA recording capabilities, Plex has a moderate cost option to record OTA, and Silicon Dust has a recording option for $35/y.  Hard drives are cheap.

 

[sudsmaster]

I've been recording direct to DVD-R discs. When I started all this back round 2004, hard drives were not exactly cheap. Around 2007 the Panasonic DVD recorder line started coming with digital tuner, which made the broadcast quality quite good and suitable for archiving.

 

[48bencix]

Only Hi Def recording media

It is interesting that the only recording media for High Definition TV was the D-VHS. Released in 1998 some units had a built in tuner. Others could connect to a tuner with firewire. DVD systems were released two years earlier but were not recordable and not High Definition. There are other ways to record Hi Definiton but none involve removable media. Pre recorded tapes were available. Blu Ray High Definition Disc system was not released until 2006. Amazing that they could fit the High Definition signal on to a VHS tape 8 years before that.