Hi,
I have just bought 2 ONN 160 gig pvr's and connected them to the dvd hard drive recorders I already had. I have connected the output of each dvd hard drive recorder to each socket on each ONN pvr so that I can use the AUX button on the ONN'S to feed the output of the dvd recorders though to the tv.

So what I have is:-

1x dvd hdd recorder tv scart ouput connected to 1x ONN vcr scart then, ONN tv scart output connected to tv input scart on the actual tv.

Then another set up exactly the same but connected to a second tv (of the same model) of it's input scart.

My problem is that on one of the setups, when watching the dvd hdd recorder through the ONN's aux input, it has a habbit of going blank after a while (varies from a few minutes to maybe an hour) but with sound. This happens continuously once it goes like this.
The other set up does not have this problem so I swapped the dvd hdd recorders over, expecting the problem to appear on the ONN with the problem but the problem went away on BOTH units.

I then swapped them back and the problem re-appeared ????

I have found that pressing the AUX button twice brings the picture back again, but I am very confused as to whether the ONN box is faulty or not. (by the way, this is not a scart switching problem, as I have manually removed pin 8 of the scart cable on both units).

Has anyone had this problem before ? It seems that the box won't work properly with one of the dvd hdd recorders and they are identical except that the dvd hdd recorder that causes the problem is multi region but I don't think this would make a difference.

Can anyone please help with this as I don't know whether to take the unit back for a refund / exchange. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Sincerely,
Soundssupreme.

Adding to my last post, I was wrong about it not happening when I swapped the dvd hdd recorders over (I just did not wait long enougg to see the problem again), so the problem IS only on one of the ONN units. Must be a fault unless there are any reports of this before ?

Sincerely,
Soundssupreme

I had a setup where I fed the output of a second T816 PVR through an Onn T816 and then through a DVD/HDD Recorder to the TV. I used the Aux button to enable a single Remote Control to control both PVR alternately. Occasionally the Onn would spontaneously change to the Aux mode.

I'm wondering why you chose to feed the DVD/HDD Recorder through the Onn rather than the other way round which would enable you to archive recordings on the Onn to the DVD/HDD?

Colin

Ok. In that case, did you swap the scart cables over too? I'm wondering if the problem could be a dodgy scart cable.

That's the way the book tels you two do it, My T816 archives that way round

Hi,


I have to because the pioneer dvd/hdd recorders I have unusually don't have pass through via button press, they only pass through once they are in standby, but the ONN's pass through via the aux button. The only other way is to use the "input source" button on the pioneer and if I use this, I can't record anything else on that.

I can in fact archive this way as well, as the pioneer's sockets are in's an out's and the input select can be used for this but for some reason, I cannot see the stream when archiving even though it does actually go onto the pioneer hdd ??


I checked the cables and did not swap the cables over, but I have now found that in fact the problem has appeared on the first one I had, that did not appear to have the fault !!

This was driving me up the wall, then I tried something and this seems to have worked; I changed the output of the ONN's to CVBS instead of RGB and now the problem seems to have gone away. The colours are better too but the clarity is not. Maybe it will appear again but it has worked for a couple of days without either one going blank. I have also removed pin 8 from each cable as this was not needed anyway (it does not seem to affect the widescreen format selection at all in any case).

I will keep you informed if it stays o.k. and in a few days, I will revert them to RGB to see if it re-appears.

I have another problem which I think you maybe have all seen;

When using the ONN's they randomly flash what appears to be a black screen the comes from the left side of the screen (it's too quick to say for sure). Sometimes it happens just after using the volume control of the ONN's remote but sometimes when just watching. One does it more than the other one (I think), so I was wondering if anyone knows what it is ? I'm not really bothered about it and I have realised that it is not on recordings as a rewind to the same position varifies, but it is annoying.
Anyone any ideas ?

Thanks for a great forum; I learn a great deal from it.

I don't recall seeing anything that matches your description. Maybe this is a very brief occurrence of your original problem? The T816 units are prone to very brief freezing of the display and loss of sound but rather than going blank the display stays static during this period, hence the description "freezing".

Colin

Hi again,


I know the problem you are talking about as I have had this the odd time as well but that doesn't bother me at all. The problem is just a flash and is so quick that it's hard to tell what it is but it is annoying !!

Going back to my AUX problem, I put the output of the ONN's back to rgb last night beacuse it has been o.k. since I changed them to cvbs and today I got up to a blank aux screen again. It's a pity because the picture on cvbs is not as good at all as rgb.
Has anyone got a way round the problem ? Could it be some switching that the scart cable does that tells the tv when it is rgb or cvbs and I could remove a pin from the scart cable maybe ??
Other than this (and the odd missed recording), I am very happy with them.

Thanks.

Unfortunately not. Pin 16 is the one that indicates RGB or CVBS. Removing it would keep you on CVBS because the pin needs 1-3 volts on it to tell the output device that it is RGB. Why not put the ONN in standby when watching the DVD recorder, instead of pressing the AUX button? That might avoid the problem.

Do you only get the problem when a timed recording is due to start (that's about 15 minutes before the actual start time, for event based timers)?

I have my DVD/surround and PS3 hooked up to the passthrough socket on my Digihome and I have no problems using RGB. What I will say though is that when playing the PS3 or watching a DVD, I always know when a recording event is about to start because there is a momentary "glitch" in the display on the TV. It's just a visual glitch for me, and hardly noticable, but it could be that the signal on pin 16 (and maybe others) fluctuates at this point, giving this effect.

That said, on my parent's setup, I had to connect the PVR to the input socket on the DVD player, and the DVD player to the TV. If I did it the other way around (like mine), then the TV (Panasonic) wasn't too good at detecting the switching signal. For example, after switching the DVD player off, with the PVR still on, the PVR switched out of AUX as you would expect, but the TV went back to normal TV instead of the PVR output. Like I say, I had no such trouble on my TV.

Hi,

Thanks for the idea. I don't why I didn't think of it !!!

However, I did this as soon as I read your reply, and about a minutes after, it went blank again, but it hasn't done it since, so I am now very confused as to the reason for the problem.

I'll keep you informed.

It's still a great recorder, even with the problems, and maybe they will fix this and other glitches with a software upgrade.

Thanks again.

audio.fi

I have a Digihome PVR160 and an Evesham DTR250 connected to the 2 SCARTs on my TV, only one SCART being RGB. I control them both with the same Digihome remote, when I press Standby one of the PVRs switches off and the other comes on, and the TV picture switches from AV1 to AV2 and vice versa...

That's MOST of the time, however, very occasionally I do get a black screen, no sound, and I have to use the TV remote to go thru to the relevant AV signal.

I do not notice much difference, if any, in picture quality whether the PVRs are outputting RGB or CVBS.

I don't require a solution to the 'black screen', it's perfectly bearable, but I thought I'd contribute it as an additional scenario when the PVR's signal fails to come thru.

Re the FLASH - I get a white rectangular flash (wider at the top than the bottom, like a very very fat upside-down L-shape) on the left one-third or half of the screen, when switching ON either box. I'm certain I never got this before I got the Evesham, when I had the PVR160 connected up with other gadgets like a Digifusion PVR and/or a DVD/HDD recorder, but I did get it with my current 2 PVRs on my old Samsung 4:3 CRT just as I do now on my Daewoo 16:9 CRT.

parthena