DVR's & TV guide


Hi all, Has anyone else experienced problems with their DVR's and the Tv guide on screen? My DVR would download TV guide through the PBS station when the DVR was turned off at night, and was working fine for several months, it made recording show easier then ever. Then it started to show "No listings". Now it tells me the download failed, and I don't even get "No listings" anymore. Its the same problem with a small Tv we have in the guest room that has TV Guide plus built in. I emailed the cable company (Cox cable) and they replied with just unplug the cable box for a minute then plug it back in, which didn't work. Is there a work around for this problem, or have I bought a $400 manual recording device? Thanks for any help and info.
dbx
Bob, Your the man, I also have the same Sony model. Could you please give a little detail how the hook up goes? I'm currently running connection "A" from the owner's manual. (I think it's A, my manuals at home, I'm on my laptop)Cable comes from the wall to the cable box, then out to the TV. The cable box is connected to the DVR through audio cables and s-video. Plus I have the commander cable from the DVR to the cable box controlling that. Thank you.
Hello,

I tried using that set-up (configuration A) but was never able to get the commander cable to work.

Here's how I have things connected. The coax cable comes out of the wall into a Monster HTS-5000 surge protector. Then out of the Monster into a splitter (actually a zero-loss dc coupler I got from Comcast - Antronix CMCDT2106.)

One branch goes to the cable box; no additional coax output from the cable box. The other branch goes into the Sony cable input; coax output of the Sony into the TV. This branch is similar to configuration C in the manual.

This allows the On-Screen TV Guide to update every evening. As a test, I have been recording CSI: Miami every Monday night since early January and it hasn't missed one. I also haven't had to reset anything since last November when I first hooked it up this way.

For play back, I have component video out of the cable box into the TV, with digital coax into my Meridian processor for audio. I also am using component video out of the Sony into the TV with digital optical into the Meridian for audio.

The good news - it works. The bad news - lots of wires.

Feel free to contact me if you need some more info; my email is in my profile.

Bob R.
One more thing ... here's a link to the splitter I am using - digital directional coupler:

http://www.antronix.net/Products/category.php?page=droppassives&i=8

Although, any decent splitter should work.

Bob R.