Official Toshiba RS-TX Owners Club [Text View] - Page 8

sledhed

08-28-2008, 12:19 AM

sledhed,
I'm thinking that your TiVo is operating normally. Yes, some programs will make coasters, nobody really knows why. I did the whole Hogan's Heroes series, and made 3 or 4 coasters out of the 35 discs. It sucks that I had to transfer those 3 or 4 discs, which is so slow.

If you're still using the original hard drive, you may want to freshen it up. Now's a good time before the new fall TV season. Maybe do a Clear and Delete Everything, which theoretically would defragment the drive. Or re-image it in a PC. You could run some disc diagnostics at that time. Running 24/7 for 5 years, you may want to retire the drive and put in a new much bigger drive. You can still find IDE drives, but soon it'll be tough. Maybe you should drop the $75 - $100, and buy a few more years of enjoyment with the machine.

Chester, that is funny, that is the same series we are recording and having problems with. I don't think a single episode of the original Star Trek I have been recording has failed, neither has Stargate (both off of Dish local channel feeds). Hogans Heroes is off of TVLand, dish network. All standard def stuff.

Maybe the kickstart disk scan will address the issue, maybe not. If it doesn't, transfer to PC and burn there is an option I suppose, but that means buying software that will convert the .tivo's into standard mpeg for dvd... not sure if an OEM version of Roxio will do it, also not sure if I have one (that came with my dvd burner)...

Still it is more of a pain to do that even if I do have the software. Not sure my wife will do it since there are so many steps. If it burned DVDs just like on the Tivo unit, same menus and everything, that would be ideal, but it does not seem like it does that...

Chester_Lampwick

08-29-2008, 09:04 AM

Chester, that is funny, that is the same series we are recording and having problems with. I don't think a single episode of the original Star Trek I have been recording has failed, neither has Stargate (both off of Dish local channel feeds). Hogans Heroes is off of TVLand, dish network. All standard def stuff.

Maybe the kickstart disk scan will address the issue, maybe not. If it doesn't, transfer to PC and burn there is an option I suppose, but that means buying software that will convert the .tivo's into standard mpeg for dvd... not sure if an OEM version of Roxio will do it, also not sure if I have one (that came with my dvd burner)...

Still it is more of a pain to do that even if I do have the software. Not sure my wife will do it since there are so many steps. If it burned DVDs just like on the Tivo unit, same menus and everything, that would be ideal, but it does not seem like it does that...

I believe that I did it all with freeware. I used the free version of TiVo desktop to transfer the recording. I then used directshow dump to decrypt the file to a standard MPEG2. Then I used TyTool to author a DVD, which I made an approximation of Humax/Toshiba's main menu. I may have used Nero to burn the disc itself, but I'm sure I could have used some freeware there too.

It still really sucks compared to burning four 30 minute high quality episodes in 20 minutes on the Toshiba. It takes hours with the network transfer/PC author method....

ShinobiGarth

08-31-2008, 03:21 AM

Chester_Lampwick

08-31-2008, 01:45 PM

hey guys. im wanting to get a DVR with Basic TiVo service on it which i believe would be the Toshiba RS-TX20/60 and SD-H400, or Pioneer DVR-810H and DVR-57H.

what i need clarification on is if these do in fact have ATSC tuners in them or are they stuck with NTSC?? if no ATSC, can you hook up a digital converter box into them? thanks.

No ATSC tuner. In fact they have only one NTSC tuner. You can apparently hook an external ATSC tuner, but there would be no appreciable picture quality difference. You can search for threads about ATSC tuners.

I don't think you would want a SD-H400 as it's a DVD player not recorder. You may be able to get a lifetime subscribed Humax cheap. They seem to have outsold all the Toshiba and Pioneers by a wide margin, and with people going HD, they can sometimes be had for less than the $300 lifetime subscription cost.

ShinobiGarth

09-01-2008, 12:35 AM

i dont really need a DVD recorder on it, or DVD player for that matter. just TiVo.

herc9

09-04-2008, 12:03 PM

My dvd burner on my RS-Tx20 looks like it may be shot. It is having problems playing back and recording. I read some of the posts and it seems like most people are replacing them with the PIONEER DVR-112D. But newegg doesn't carry it anymore and other places are more expensive or less reliable.

Has anyone had any luck replacing the dvd drive with any other model or brand? Any help is appreciated.

thanks!!!

windracer

09-05-2008, 08:05 PM

Can anyone give me the step-by-step for this unit, since the indicator lights are not like the regular TiVo when going through the boot sequence?
Sledhed ... sorry it took me so long, but I finally lugged my TX20 out of the closet and hooked it up so I could confirm the kickstart bootup sequence for you.

It's basically just like the other boxes ... here's how I was able to force a mfscheck on my TX20 (I'm looking at the GSOD right now):

plug in, HDD (orange) and DVD (red and orange) go on
Welcome! Powering Up screen displayed
start holding Pause on the remote
after a minute or so, the HDD light will go out and the DVD light will go red (keep holding Pause!)
the screen will flash, HDD will go back to orange, DVD will go orange as well. this is the indicator that the kickstart panic has been received.
you can now let go of Pause and enter the kickstart code (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5126687#post5126687) (i.e., 54, 57, etc.). both lights will go out.
for a 57, it looks like the box will reboot again and then trigger the GSOD. for a 54, you'll get the "just a few minutes more" before the black HD test screen appears.

Hope this helps!

tdeshler

09-06-2008, 12:04 AM

TX-20 in endless boot cycle

Ok, here is a topic that has floated around a bit, but I haven't really seen a situation quite like mine. My TX-20 (Series 2) has been working fine for at least a year, but now it has decided to cycle through an endless loop of trying to boot up. I get the Welcome, powering up, then the lights cycle on and off, then I get the Almost there screen, then it starts over. This just started tonight after I bought a used Tivo remote. I was using an all-in-one universal remote before, which worked ok, but there were some features I couldn't access. I've tried to get into troubleshooting mode (57 or 54) by holding down the pause button, but nothing doing there. Any ideas of what to try next? Thanks.

windracer

09-06-2008, 09:49 AM

I've tried to get into troubleshooting mode (57 or 54) by holding down the pause button, but nothing doing there.
See my post right above yours for the steps on how to do a kickstart on the TX20. Try getting into 54 and running the various hard drive tests that are in that menu.

tdeshler

09-06-2008, 08:07 PM

Ok, I finally got it into test mode (54) and discovered some problems. I ran the S.M.A.R.T. tests and the results were:

initial state: pass
short test: fail 7
conveyance test: no start
extended test: no support
off-line scan: done

So is the hard drive toast? Is it repairable, or do I need to buy a new one? I'm comfortable replacing it, but from some reading I did in this forum, there are some instructions I'm not clear about, such as copy a mirror of the Tivo system, or something like that. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Tad

Chester_Lampwick

09-06-2008, 10:23 PM

Well, it's indicating a failing drive. You may get some more use out of it, but you'll need to pull the drive and reformat it. You're likely going to lose all your recordings, at this stage. It doesn't sound like the TiVo OS can repair itself.

You can get several more years and probably 500hrs capacity if you spend $75 on a new IDE hard drive and $20 on an Instant Cake CD from DVRUpgrade. Or for a little more money you can get pre-formatted drives from DVRUpgrade or 9thtee. Then all you need is a T-10 and T-15 Torx screwdriver.

sledhed

09-09-2008, 05:18 PM

Sledhed ... sorry it took me so long, but I finally lugged my TX20 out of the closet and hooked it up so I could confirm the kickstart bootup sequence for you.

It's basically just like the other boxes ... here's how I was able to force a mfscheck on my TX20 (I'm looking at the GSOD right now):

plug in, HDD (orange) and DVD (red and orange) go on
Welcome! Powering Up screen displayed
start holding Pause on the remote
after a minute or so, the HDD light will go out and the DVD light will go red (keep holding Pause!)
the screen will flash, HDD will go back to orange, DVD will go orange as well. this is the indicator that the kickstart panic has been received.
you can now let go of Pause and enter the kickstart code (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5126687#post5126687) (i.e., 54, 57, etc.). both lights will go out.
for a 57, it looks like the box will reboot again and then trigger the GSOD. for a 54, you'll get the "just a few minutes more" before the black HD test screen appears.

Hope this helps!

It does, thanks! Got it to work, got a GSOD last night, and is running normally today by all indications.

Why would you put your TX20 in a closet? I know they can be annoyingly slow... and are not hi-def... but we still use ours all the time (along with a couple Series 2 units that were basically free after rebate with 1 year service included). Seems a shame.

azitnay

09-09-2008, 07:27 PM

Why would you put your TX20 in a closet?

Jeremy's been bitten by the S3/THD bug, of course! :)

My RS-TX20's still connected as our living room DVD player, but if/when we go Blu-ray I imagine it'll meet the same fate as his.

Drew

windracer

09-09-2008, 07:54 PM

Why would you put your TX20 in a closet? I know they can be annoyingly slow... and are not hi-def...
Yeah, as Drew said ... I've got the S3 and an upconverting DVD player/recorder in the main home theater setup and then a THD in my office. I transferred the Lifetime off of my TX20 to my S3 when I originally purchased it, and after the year of "free" Lifetime post-transfer, I cancelled the service and let it revert to TiVo Basic.

I've considered cancelling the sub on my old S2 and moving it over the the TX20, but the TX20 is just so slow it gets annoying sometimes. I've been considering gifting it to my parents before the digital transition. :)

kjames184

09-12-2008, 06:10 PM

Hi all, been reading posts here for a while but this is first post. I have an rstx-20 that was acting funny (wasnt getting updated program info i forced the connection then got infothen when searching prog. info. screen would freeze). so i did a clear prog.& to do list then it got stuck in a loop saying almost there with red HDD light flashing. it did this for 24+ hrs even after an unplug restart! then i followed the kickstart guide got it to take a 57 code,got the green screen&followed inst. now it's stuck going from there to power up,welcome,almost there,back to green screen. I tried to kickstart again it's taking the 54 code(orange lights go out) but still in greenscreen endless loop tried unplugging again&same loop!!! any ideas? is the hard drive dead? by the way what is GSOD in the kickstart directions??? THANKS FOR ANY IDEAS

sledhed

09-16-2008, 05:28 PM

Kracko

09-16-2008, 07:28 PM

I had this problem and finally just bought a new hard disk from DVRUpgrade. It's working fine now. I highly recommend this since drives are so cheap.

frankw

09-18-2008, 06:38 PM

Hi everyone, My Toshiba RS-TX60 was on basic service for about a year before I decided to restore the service to premium. The problem is, that since restoring the premium service, it keeps freezing up every time I try to watch television. The software version is 8.3 and should be 9.3 --- I have spoken to customer support and I have been waiting over a week for Tivo to schedule me for the upgrade. Does anyone know whether this is a hardware or software issue?
Frankw

robomeister

09-19-2008, 09:37 AM

Sounds like a hard drive problem. When you go into the System Information screen, does it say "Pending Restart" anywhere? or when you go to the Phone & Networks page under Settings?

The TiVo should have automatically updated to 9.3 by now. The main reason I've seen where a TiVo won't update is as follows. The TiVo downloads the new update to a secondary boot partition on the hard drive and "pending restart" appears on the menus. Then at 2:00AM, if you don't restart the TiVo manually, the TiVo will try to do a restart and attempt to update the software. It does this by switching active boot partitions. But, if it fails, it will revert to the original boot partition. Usually it fails if the secondary boot partition has a problem with it, a bad sector or something that prevents a successful software upgrade.

You can force an upgrade with one of the kickstart codes. Unfortunately, issuing the kickstart code on the Toshiba is a bit tricky. You'll have to do some searching on kickstart and Toshiba for help on this.

Good luck,
robomeister

windracer

09-19-2008, 10:45 AM

Unfortunately, issuing the kickstart code on the Toshiba is a bit tricky. You'll have to do some searching on kickstart and Toshiba for help on this.
Luckily, I posted how to do this just a few posts above (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6655221#post6655221). ;)

frankw

09-21-2008, 06:09 PM

EvilMidniteBombr

09-22-2008, 08:33 AM

I'm not an expert by any stretch, but I am not sure that an IDE drive will work in the RS-TX. I could be very wrong, but you might want to verify before you buy.

windracer

09-22-2008, 01:36 PM

The TX20 definitely uses IDE drives, as do all the S2 boxes. Only the newer S3 boxes use SATA.

mrfixit454

09-23-2008, 12:16 AM

Thanks Windracer - the kickstart instructions worked perfectly (you have to type in the code when you get the two yellows - which only lasts 1-2 seconds), but it refuses to do code 54 - so, no screen after "just a few minutes more".
Code 57 gave me the reboot and then the GSOD.
I also tried a software update (51) and it just froze afterwards.

So Robomeister is probably right and I will have to order a new HDD - I saw a good price for the the Seagate SV35.2 750 GB IDE HDD. I'm thinking of using WinMFS to install so I don't need to open up my PC. It seems pretty straightforward with two IDE to USB chords - let me know if anyone has any tips.

Let us know how the WinMFS works out if you use it. BTW.. with all my boot problems and not loading program data (I think second boot partiiton was bad) I bought a higher capacity imaged drive from Weaknees and been running for about 6 months now no problems. My S2 Directvio has a 320 gig drive but its having problems after about a year. I just read about the WinMFS and Zipper and might want to try to copy my drive to another one.

I hear the WinMFS is pretty slick.

Fixit

EvilMidniteBombr

09-23-2008, 11:35 AM

The TX20 definitely uses IDE drives, as do all the S2 boxes. Only the newer S3 boxes use SATA.
Told ya I didn't know what I was talking about. Sorry for the misinformation. Nothing to see here. Carry on.

harrisgtz

09-24-2008, 10:19 AM

I'm not sure if I understand your problem. If you have the cable going into the cable box using coax, and then use the composite cables out of the TiVo to the tv, it should work fine. In order to change channels on the cable box, you have to use the IR blaster out of the TiVo to the cable box, in order to allow the TiVo to do the actual channel changes on the cable box.

If I connect the cable line directly into the Toshiba and then output to my TV, will the Toshiba act as a tuner and change the channels that I select for manual recording (without going through a cable box) ? (In other words will it act like a VCR for recording).

If not can I use a VCR to change the channels?

tunabeard

09-24-2008, 01:05 PM

sledhed

09-24-2008, 01:13 PM

I've been trying to burn programs to DVD and everytime just before the burn is finalized I keep getting a "Disc Failed" message, and then a message that says "program wasn't completed because of an internal error." All the programs that burned prior to the previous failures all play back fine.

I was thinking that it was a disc issue...I am burning to Verbatim DVD-R 8X and then tried burning to an Apple DVD-R and got the same problem. I've reset and restarted and it's still happening. Could it be as simple as a disc problem?

Try saving a different program than the one that is failing... maybe one that has burned successfully before. When I have that problem it seems to be a specific program causing the problem. Usually Hogan's Heroes. *L* Also to save yourself some coasters, start trying it to DVD-RW discs. Since they can be re-used...

I was having this happen, and many others in this thread too, seems to be unpredictable. When I transferred the offending program to my PC and ran VideoReDo on it, it had synch error(s)... other rograms did not...

mrfixit454

09-24-2008, 01:24 PM

Try saving a different program than the one that is failing... maybe one that has burned successfully before. When I have that problem it seems to be a specific program causing the problem. Usually Hogan's Heroes. *L* Also to save yourself some coasters, start trying it to DVD-RW discs. Since they can be re-used...

I was having this happen, and many others in this thread too, seems to be unpredictable. When I transferred the offending program to my PC and ran VideoReDo on it, it had synch error(s)... other rograms did not...

This has happened to me too.. for some reason the show will just not transer to DVD for whatever reason. Re-recording the show.. if possible has solved the problem. It get tricky when you are trying to save 4 shows to one disc and you don't know which one is causing the problem.

mrfixit454

09-24-2008, 01:33 PM

If I connect the cable line directly into the Toshiba and then output to my TV, will the Toshiba act as a tuner and change the channels that I select for manual recording (without going through a cable box) ? (In other words will it act like a VCR for recording).

If not can I use a VCR to change the channels?

It's my understanding that the Thoshiba tuner will change channels from your cable company as long as you set it up correctly w/ the guided detup. I use Satellite and when I tell it what provider and what SAT box I have, the Toshiba changes the channel on my SAT box. I beleive if you pass a coax signal to the Ant-in port, you can tune to channel 3 (or4) and pass a vcr or maybe even digital tuner in to it. I guess you could also use the front panel RCA jacks but when you do that, it does not allow use of any other feature (the tuner or DVD). I am not sure if the Tivo subscription is required though. It is for season passes and for some inputs to the Toshiba.

I have passed the singal from my livingroom Tivo (via coax) to the Antenna it and told the Toshiba to use it's tuner and transefer shows from a directv tivo to the Thoshiba. Granted the title is wrong on the info but the program ends up fine on the Toshiba.

THis unit is pretty versitile and I love it's many features.

tunabeard

09-24-2008, 02:13 PM

Try saving a different program than the one that is failing... maybe one that has burned successfully before. When I have that problem it seems to be a specific program causing the problem. Usually Hogan's Heroes. *L* Also to save yourself some coasters, start trying it to DVD-RW discs. Since they can be re-used...

I was having this happen, and many others in this thread too, seems to be unpredictable. When I transferred the offending program to my PC and ran VideoReDo on it, it had synch error(s)... other rograms did not...

Unfortunately, I totally delete the ones that burn with no problem. And I had tried the other option of trying to burn a different program and to no such avail it didn't work either. I haven't tried using -RW discs, I will give that a try. Thanks.

tunabeard

09-24-2008, 02:19 PM

\

I was having this happen, and many others in this thread too, seems to be unpredictable. When I transferred the offending program to my PC and ran VideoReDo on it, it had synch error(s)... other rograms did not...

I have a Titanium Powerbook, so I'm using TiVo Transfer and Toast Titanium for the time being, haven't had any synch errors just yet, but it's just not same as using the burner in the TX-20.

sledhed

09-24-2008, 02:47 PM

This has happened to me too.. for some reason the show will just not transer to DVD for whatever reason. Re-recording the show.. if possible has solved the problem. It get tricky when you are trying to save 4 shows to one disc and you don't know which one is causing the problem.

The 4 shows issue is one we encountered with the Hogan's Heroes that had the problem. Using a rewriteable helped us narrow down the offending show. Of course sometimes rerecording is not an option, so then the only option is to transfer to PC and then convert and burn to DVD there...

Unfortunately, I totally delete the ones that burn with no problem. And I had tried the other option of trying to burn a different program and to no such avail it didn't work either. I haven't tried using -RW discs, I will give that a try. Thanks.

Yep, rewriteables save lots of coasters... although on rare occasion I have had a rewriteable work when a DVD-R did not, and when it did I just went to my PC and basically made a copy onto a DVD-R or +R on my PC and called it good.

I have a Titanium Powerbook, so I'm using TiVo Transfer and Toast Titanium for the time being, haven't had any synch errors just yet, but it's just not same as using the burner in the TX-20.

I agree that the PC option is just not the same, if only TivoToGo or Toast had the option built-in to make a DVD exactly the same way the Toshiba does, that would be great. Wishes...

Hey, my first multi-quote and I got it right the first time... *L*

tunabeard

09-24-2008, 02:50 PM

The 4 shows issue is one we encountered with the Hogan's Heroes that had the problem. Using a rewriteable helped us narrow down the offending show. Of course sometimes rerecording is not an option, so then the only option is to transfer to PC and then convert and burn to DVD there...

Yep, rewriteables save lots of coasters... although on rare occasion I have had a rewriteable work when a DVD-R did not, and when it did I just went to my PC and basically made a copy onto a DVD-R or +R on my PC and called it good.

I agree that the PC option is just not the same, if only TivoToGo or Toast had the option built-in to make a DVD exactly the same way the Toshiba does, that would be great. Wishes...

I'm gonna try your suggestion with the -RW, do you have any recommendation or should I stick with using the Verbatims?

sledhed

09-24-2008, 02:57 PM

I'm gonna try your suggestion with the -RW, do you have any recommendation or should I stick with using the Verbatims?

I have been using Verbatim -R 16X from a 100 DVD cakebox with success for quite a while now. As for the rewriteables, I have used both Maxell and Imation, and I think the Imation was rated for higher speed than the Toshiba unit will write but they still worked fine too. I think I bought the Maxells at Wally Mart pretty cheap, with the nice DVD movie style cases, but I have not seen them there in that case lately. Good luck.

mrfixit454

09-24-2008, 05:43 PM

Seems like the 2 types of -R RW's I have tried only work for 1/2 the disk. i.e start pixelating and freezing after about an hour of play time. Don't recall the brand since I seldom use them.

Edit.. Maxell 1x(2x) and Imation 4x. Maybe I am using the wrong types

tunabeard

09-25-2008, 11:28 PM

I have been using Verbatim -R 16X from a 100 DVD cakebox with success for quite a while now. As for the rewriteables, I have used both Maxell and Imation, and I think the Imation was rated for higher speed than the Toshiba unit will write but they still worked fine too. I think I bought the Maxells at Wally Mart pretty cheak, with the nice DVD movie style cases, but I have not seen them there in that case lately. Good luck.

Thanks, I'll try it and will let you know what happens.

AgentS

10-01-2008, 07:52 PM

New question: I have tivo basic on my TX-20. My old hard drive went. New one is up and running. I was always able to group shows together in the Now Playing list on my old hard drive. I now hit the 'enter' button while I'm in Now Playing, but I get no extra options. Can I not group shows into folders because I have tivo basic? If that's the case, why was I able to before? Don't know if this could be why, but I did the "try tivo plus" on my old hard drive, but not this new one. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

windracer

10-01-2008, 08:23 PM

Yes, grouping recordings into folders is a TiVo Plus feature.

http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/customerservice/activateortransferservice/What_Is_the_Difference_between_TiVo_Basic_and_TiVo_Plus.html

Sounds like maybe you were still in the "trial" period of TiVo Plus and that's why you had those options before.

AgentS

10-01-2008, 08:53 PM

I definitely wasn't still in the trial period. I had those folders/groups for over 2 years. Do I lose my recordings if I do the guided setup again? I want to do that trial period again, but I don't have the option for it.

EvilMidniteBombr

10-01-2008, 10:00 PM

My TX20 on TiVo basic has shows grouped in folders. I used it on with TiVo Plus for a couple of years. Then I used the free trial for a couple of weeks. It's been on Basic for a few months now. I'm guessing when you replaced the hard drive you lost that little bit of code that still grouped shows in folders.

windracer

10-02-2008, 08:12 AM

Hmmm ... I guess I'll have to get my TX20 out of the closet and see if it still has the grouping option as well since it used to have TiVo Plus. Sounds like that particular flag doesn't get switched off when the unit reverts to Basic?

As for the trial, you're only supposed to be eligible for that once, but I've read about it popping up again.

gadgetguru

10-03-2008, 02:30 PM

I have a TX20 that I upgraded with a Seagate 400g IDE drive using MFS Tools by copying my old original drive to the 400 but when I put the 400 hard drive in, the TX20 sticks on "Powering Up" screen. I have tried the panic reboot proceedure described earlier in the thread by Sledhead and held down the Pause button for 4 minutes but nothing happened. Any ideas?

Also, I have tried to get the Winmfs program from http://www.mfslive.org/winmfs/ but when I try to register on the website, I never get the activation email. I have checked my spam box and the spam box on my email server and it is not there. I registered for this form after trying to register on the mfslive form and had no problem getting the activation email for this form. Any ideas or does anyone have the latest winmfs that they can send me or point me to a site where I can get it? I have tried searching the net for it but can only find places that charge to join or to download Winmfs.

Thanks!

Chester_Lampwick

10-03-2008, 03:05 PM

This is probably a really easy fix. You probably have to change a jumper on the hard drive after imaging it on your PC.

windracer

10-03-2008, 03:17 PM

I have tried the panic reboot proceedure described earlier in the thread by Sledhead and held down the Pause button for 4 minutes but nothing happened.
If you're trying to do a kickstart to get into the drive diagnostics, there's more to it than just holding down the Pause button on the remote. Check out my detailed instructions here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6655221#post6655221

gadgetguru

10-03-2008, 03:44 PM

This is probably a really easy fix. You probably have to change a jumper on the hard drive after imaging it on your PC.

I tried both the cable select and master positions of the jumper on the hard drive. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

gadgetguru

10-03-2008, 03:46 PM

If you're trying to do a kickstart to get into the drive diagnostics, there's more to it than just holding down the Pause button on the remote. Check out my detailed instructions here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6655221#post6655221

As indicated in my post, I followed the directions. The "Powering on" screen comes on almost immediately after plugging in the TX20. I pressed the pause button as soon as possible after the "Powering on" screen came on after plugging the TX20 back in. Any other suggestions? Thanks!

mrfixit454

10-03-2008, 05:00 PM

Where all indications that the copy went ok? Have you done drive diagnostics on the new drive?

gadgetguru

10-03-2008, 05:06 PM

Where all indications that the copy went ok? Have you done drive diagnostics on the new drive?

The copy process indicated that it completed properly, it did not report any errors. I have not done a diagnostic on the drive after the copy, I'm trying to find a copy of Winmfs to do that, or do it with the TX-20 panic mode, which has been unsuccessful. Thanks!

gadgetguru

10-06-2008, 02:09 PM

This is probably a really easy fix. You probably have to change a jumper on the hard drive after imaging it on your PC.

It was a misplaced jumper! (I'm blaming Seagate's drawing showing the jumper positions for this!) My bad! Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions!

patrickinstardom

10-06-2008, 02:37 PM

Hey,

Here's my story.

For a few years I've had a Toshiba TiVo RS-TX60; I still have it but after the DVD drive almost prevented me from getting a DVD out of there, I haven't used the DVD features just so I don't have that experience again. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some sort of damage because of the many attempts I made to get the DVD out. I eventually did get it out but I forget now how I did it. The Loading screen got stuck when the dvd was in there.

Okay, well after the DVD disaster, I never used the DVD drive again but I will comment on how useful it was and what issues I had.

It seemed like a heavenly idea; to be able to save shows to DVD rather than VHS tapes! My family got rid of most of the VHS recordable tapes eventually. Strangely enough, we never really saved many shows to DVD, though I was impressed at the speed of the TiVo with saving shows to DVD. You see, when we had VHS tapes we didn't have TiVos; so we never really utilized the DVD feature of the Toshiba device because we could save shows to the TiVo hard-drives (we have 2 TiVos; one is a TiVo Series2 Single Tuner unit), so DVDs weren't really necessary.

I saved some shows I wanted to keep to DVD and used the TiVo to watch DVDs (wow, two options, my DVD/VHS combo and my Toshiba TiVo DVD recorder ;) ).

Now, however, I don't watch DVDs for fear the TiVo will not open its door and the previous disaster I mentioned above might happen again!

I didn't like however the fact that if a show was 2 hours long, if I had chosen to record an extra minute or two to make sure the entire show would be recorded, that that would prevent me from recording to a DVD (I record shows usually at "High Quality" which is one step down from "Best Quality" and allows for 2 hours of programming). Unfortunately, 2 hours of "High Quality" for each DVD is two hours exactly; no extra minutes!

There should have been many more settings; among them the option to cut off a minute on one end or thirty seconds on both ends of the video so it could fit on the DVD. Also, TiVo recordings seemed to take up more space on a DVD than other media would if they were being saved to DVDs. On the one hand, I do think the native conversion TiVo did for their DVD-units was a good idea because it meant the format the programming was in was already ready for DVD pretty much and therefore the burning speed was much faster. However, the codecs used or something, perhaps copy-protection meant programs took up a ridiculous amount of space.

If only Toshiba had continued to make TiVo DVRs with DVD-recording (and Blu-Ray ;) ), they could have really improved the product with better future models, not to mention software updates for the DVD-capable DVRs that would enhance the burning experience.

Unfortunately, the DVD-recorders with TiVo seemed to disappear as fast as they came with Toshiba's newer models having DVR and DVD burning together but without TiVo.

Perhaps the market wasn't large enough - people didn't buy enough of the units? Or there was some pressure from studios? Or both, as well as other issues I haven't brought up.

But I think it's a shame these products were abandoned so early. Sure, people can (with mixed success it appears from what I've read on the forums) burn shows to DVD using their computer. But this requires a program to be transferred to a computer first which takes forever! However, the Toshiba TiVos and other companies who made similar devices made the process much simpler.

I did buy the Toshiba TiVo because it seemed to me based on reviews that this was the best device to buy. However, I'm not on any side anymore in terms of which is a better device (eg. Toshiba vs. Humax vs. Pioneer) because it has been several years since I bought it and like I've mentioned above, I can't use the DVD features anyway.

Now, I can hardly wait to buy another new device because the newer features such as Amazon Video On Demand and TiVo's Universal Swivel Search which includes that among everything else are so slow on my device. I realize that as new devices are made by TiVo, usually they have faster and better CPUs, and the slowness is so distracting!

Well, now I'm starting a topic that should be in a new thread. I just thought I'd share my experience with everyone else.

I still feel bittersweet of what "could have been" in regards to better TiVo/DVD-recording hardware and software updates as well as Blu-Ray support had companies continued to make the devices.

Oh well, maybe someone will see some potential and DVD/Blu-Ray burning capable TiVo devices will be made.
Who knows?

Best Regards,

~Patrick

fortt3

10-18-2008, 09:16 AM

I know this is a newbie question, but until last night I'd never used the "Record from Camcorder" feature.
I successfully recorded 20 minutes from a camcorder using front inputs S-video and component audio. When it was finished, I expected it to switch back to using the tuner for normal TiVo operation, but pressing the "watch live TV" button on the remote or the same function on TiVo menu, shows a blank screen with a "no signal" message. I have to do a Restart to get back using the tuner normally. Is doing a Restart the only way to switch back to the tuner?

windracer

10-18-2008, 09:37 AM

You shouldn't have to restart after recording from a camcorder. It's been a while since I've done this, but I'm pretty sure it should continue to display Live TV afterwards.

Are you using TiVo Basic, or Plus?

fortt3

10-18-2008, 11:51 AM

Using TiVo Plus.

The eaxct message is "Searching for signal on Line in. " Then refers to "Messages and Settings/Troubleshooting" for more. Which the closest to my situation says to reset the channel lineup.
So I tried resetting my channel lineup, and it did use tuner input for the screen that confirm my line up, but that forces the 20 minute "Get Program Info" session. Live TV was still getting it's signal from Front Input which I confirmed by playing the still-connected camcorder.

Skuits

11-11-2008, 02:02 AM

windracer

11-11-2008, 07:05 AM

Before re-imaging, have you tried just leaving it off for about 20 minutes? My TX-20 used to get stuck in the reboot loop and sometimes leaving it off (sometimes overnight) would "fix" the problem.

If you still want to re-image, I might be able to help you out. ;)

sledhed

11-11-2008, 11:08 AM

Hi all, I think my RS-TX20 has bit the dust. Got home from being out of town to find it "powering up" then to the welcome screen loop. Stays in the loop and doesn't do anything else :mad:

I was wondering if anyone had the Toshiba-Tivo image I could have use,buy...? I'd be able to copy the drive if I had the image.

Anyone know if I can copy the image from the drive with the Tivo in this shape?

Thanks,
Mark

First I would try some or all of the kickstart procedures detailed in this forum, a couple pages back. If you can get it running again, I would then copy the drive over to a new DB35 PATA / EIDE drive...

Skuits

11-11-2008, 12:59 PM

Hello, I did leave the unit unplugged overnight and tried again the next day. No dice, I couldn't get it to kickstart 54 either this time, or the last 6 times I tried. Just stuck in the loop with the newly added GSOD. Must be dead???

If I can get a working image I'll be in business.

Windracer I'd love to have a copy of an image if you have it :)

Thanks so much!!! :D

Mark

robomeister

11-11-2008, 02:27 PM

Also, with the DVD units, you have to make sure that there is no DVD in the drive when it restarts. I've had a couple of mine get "stuck" on the power up screen. When you remove the DVD from the drive, it started right up. But it sounds like you have gotten past the point where it tries to boot from the disc in the DVD drive.

Good luck,
robomeister

P.S. I could send you an image, but I'm on a trip now and away from my configuration machine.

DVDhurlock

11-16-2008, 09:50 PM

Hi all, I think my RS-TX20 has gotten the hickups right at the welcome screen loop. Stays in the loop and doesn't do anything else

I was wondering if anyone had the RS-TX20 Toshiba-Tivo image I could have use,buy...? I'd be able to copy the drive if I had the image.

I try to take it apart and later found out that this forum exist. So needless to say i feel pretty dumb right now and would appreciate it if I could get the image back to get my sci-fi back in gear.

DVDhurlock

11-16-2008, 10:08 PM

Pleeze help with RS-TX20. I had taken out the HDD and reformatted it before I realize what I had done. Need image file if you can. I have read most of your post and thought you to be very knowledgeable in the TIVO field. (I wasn't trying to suck up when I said that).

windracer

11-17-2008, 02:53 PM

Not sure if you're talking to me :rolleyes: but PM sent.

chefebe

11-24-2008, 11:04 AM

Just recently my Tivo stopped booting all the way. It says "Almost there" or something like that. I figure it must be time to upgrade the HD.

A couple Q's:
What is the HD type? Is it PATA or SATA?
Is there anything special about uprading the Toshiba that is different than standard Tivo Series 2? I've upgraded 3 Tivo's so far but that was a couple years ago.

Thanks for any tips or pointers to existing threads I missed.
Bob

windracer

11-24-2008, 11:52 AM

What is the HD type? Is it PATA or SATA?
PATA (regular IDE). Only the newer S3/THD boxes use SATA drives.
Is there anything special about uprading the Toshiba that is different than standard Tivo Series 2?
Nope! If it's been a while since you did an upgrade (i.e., you used a Linux boot disk and mfstools) you might want to check out WinMFS (http://www.mfslive.org/winmfs/).

azitnay

11-24-2008, 11:53 AM

It's PATA, and no different than other Series2 upgrades... But is there a chance there's a DVD stuck in the DVD drive? That has caused bootup issues for some people.

Drew

chefebe

11-29-2008, 01:54 PM

PATA (regular IDE). Only the newer S3/THD boxes use SATA drives.
Thanks. I'm planning 750GB or 1TB. From the hinsdale how-to I recall a comment about limited RAM and processor speed affecting navigation when when large drives got full. Anyone installed a big drive on these and lived to tell about it?

Nope! If it's been a while since you did an upgrade (i.e., you used a Linux boot disk and mfstools) you might want to check out WinMFS (http://www.mfslive.org/winmfs/).
Thanks for the pointer. I have a spare Linux box in a closet that was hoping to get a chance to prove its worth but this looks easier.

But is there a chance there's a DVD stuck in the DVD drive? That has caused bootup issues for some people.
Thanks -- I read this forum and tried the suggestions: turn off overnight and get DVD out. Although when I startup I can't get the DVD bay to open, I don't think this is the problem as I've not used the DVD player for awhile even when it was working.

Bob

azitnay

11-29-2008, 04:23 PM

Thanks -- I read this forum and tried the suggestions: turn off overnight and get DVD out. Although when I startup I can't get the DVD bay to open, I don't think this is the problem as I've not used the DVD player for awhile even when it was working.

If you crack the case and are thus able to get to the front of the DVD drive, you should also find a pinhole you can stick a paperclip or something similar into that will manually open the tray.

Drew

windracer

12-06-2008, 08:26 PM

It served me well the past few years, but it was time to part ways with my TX20. With three other operational (subscribed) TiVos in the house, the Toshiba has been sitting in a closet unused for the past few months. Rather than have it continue to gather dust, I decided to "donate" it to my parents as an early Christmas gift.

My mom was thrilled. It's going to replace/combine their old VCR (which they STILL use to record TV! :eek:) and DVD player with a single box. They're OTA only and don't really need the extra features of the Plus subscription so hopefully this box will serve them well for a while. Maybe it'll end up converting them to the TiVo Way(tm) so when they finally do go digital and HD, they'll purchase their own. I sold my old 140 box to my little sister a few years ago and she's hooked, so I'm slowly working on the rest of the family. :cool:

I'm sure I'll still be popping up in this thread from time to time, though, if you'll have me. ;)

tdeshler

12-07-2008, 12:24 PM

We have two functional RS-TX20 units and I just bought a third for my mom (used). Unfortunately, I got a bum unit. I had to replace the hard drive and the DVD player doesn't work (can't get it to open and close properly, even after taking it apart). So now I have two hard drives that aren't in full working order (I had to replace another one of mine last year). I'm looking to trade those two hard drive units for a working DVD unit. Does anybody have a broken unit they are parting out? I suspect the hard drives can be repaired, but I don't know how to do it. Thanks.

Tad

flopmister

12-07-2008, 07:22 PM

My Toshiba rs-tx20 was locked in an endless rebooting. Third time this has happened, hard drive replaced each time by toshiba at my expense. This time I ordered the Hard Drive myself (seagate st31602-15a). How do I download the tivo os for this drive? Help I am a novice.

chefebe

12-13-2008, 10:16 PM

My WD 500GB drive arrived today. I did the following:
- Downloaded TX20 backup image from another system (thx!)
- Downloaded winmfs.exe from www.mfslive.org (http://www.mfslive.org)
- Installed WD 500GB into WinXP SP2 system as slave drive (cable select)
- Ran winmfs.exe and selected the WD 500GB drive
- Selected File+Restore+Tivo Drive... option in menu.
- Selected backup image from 1st step. Clicked OK. Waited 30sec. Success. It asked if I wanted to increase the capacity (or something) and I said yes. All seems ready to go, almost too easy.

But...at http://mfslive.org/winmfs/ I read:
Restore Tivo Drive
Use this option to restore the image you created with backup. It will not restore mfstools backup file. As a matter of fact, backup format is totally different. You will get a "hardware failure" error if you restore the backed up image and install the drive to another TiVo.
(italics added).

Is that referring to exactly what I'm doing? If so then how would someone get a new drive working if their original wasn't working? I have not yet tried my new drive out in my Tivo (actually my Dad's Tivo 20miles away).

Thanks!
Bob

chefebe

12-15-2008, 07:27 AM

Answering my question above -- It works! I successfully upgraded to 500GB without any problems. Here's the rest of the story for those who follow.

(flopmister, read the previous post and this one. In abt 3hrs you can upgrade your box)

- I opened the Tivo (TX60) and removed the 160GB harddrive. Very easy with small torx bit.
- installed the WD 500GB in its place. Restarted box.
- Booting took 10mins, sitting at the "Almost there...just a few more minutes" screen. This is where the old drive hung so I thought I had failed and left the room, but when I returned it was done.
- Message: Error #51 existed which said I should call some number.
- Ran "Clear and Delete Everything" from the Settings menu. Took 65mins (!)
- Rebooted. 10mins.
- Ran Guided setup -- everything works fine. Shows "up to 609hrs"

Bob

bpyerac

12-19-2008, 09:43 AM

Dear fellow RS-TX users,
I know this may sound like a broken record after reading through prior posts, but would ANYONE be able to send me an image for RS-TX20? After 4 years of enjoying my tivo, the hard drive died. I carefully followed all of the great ideas you all posted and interesting tricks (kickstarting, unplugging) but nothing worked so I purchased an instantcake image. Unfortunately, the image I bought was for the wrong tivo system. I am new to computers and am trying to learn just enough to be able to fix my tivo and don't have the money right now to do a full upgrade. Would someone please send me a RS-TX20 image if they have one saved somewhere? The PVR site I bought instantcake from is giving me a hard time and I really do not want to give them more money when they are not being sympathetic to my mistake. I guess the correct image I need should end with a -565 ?

Thank you guys!
Brian

hankt

12-24-2008, 03:05 PM

I came across this site on the Internet. They have upgrade harddisks for the Toshiba TIVOs that are ready to go ... with all software installed ... just plug and play.

The price is pretty good .. not much more than buying a harddisk at the store.

I haven't used them. Maybe there is someone in the Community that has, but the service looks really good. I'm planning to upgrade ours next year. Planning to use these guys.

http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-upgrade.php

flopmister

12-24-2008, 09:24 PM

Where can i find the tx20 backup image?

hoobastodd

12-28-2008, 10:08 AM

Hey everyone,
Major issues with my unit and came across this page trying to find an answer as to what has happened. I have an rs-tx 20 dvd recorder and have never had a problem. About two weeks ago I came home and the picture was frozen. I unplugged the power cord and rebooted the unit. When it started booting back up, the picture was all frazzled. It was scrolling diagonally and blurry and unable to be clearly viewed what was on the screen. Even once it finished booting up(after I heard the tivo them when it's booting up), it was still not viewable. There was no color and the picture wasn't visible. I've trying changing the av cables and still no luck. I let it sit for a bit hoping it would fix itself. It recorded the programs that were scheduled to record that night, although I can't view them because the video is all messed up. Ultimately the unit continues to keep freezing and even when rebooted it does the same thing. I called toshiba and tivo support and they said they could fix it if I shipped it to them along with $140, which doesn't sound appealing consider I spent close to a grand when I bought the unit to get it all setup. Can someone help me?? :confused::( I've had this tivo for 4 years and never had any problems until now and don't want to have to resort to get a comcast dvr but don't know if I'm gonna have any choice. Thanks for any possible help anyone may provide...

newfie4ever

01-05-2009, 07:09 AM

azitnay

01-05-2009, 08:58 AM

First time poster here. Lot of good info here also. I have a Tx-20 and love it, altho it is quite big, but its great for the bedroom. Anyway if someone could tell me what the difference is between extreme and high quality on record is, that would be great. I want to record some stuff on to dvd but since I record everything on the highest setting it wont fit a 1 hour show on the dvd. Or am I doing something wrong?

The higher the quality a program is recorded in, the better it will look during playback... But of course, it also takes up more room, both on the TiVo's hard drive and on a DVD. I believe the various recording qualities allow for up to 1, 2, 4, and 6 hours to be saved to a single DVD, respectively. So, a 1-hour extreme quality recording should fit on a DVD, but a 1:01 recording (as some networks do nowadays) probably wouldn't.

Also I noticed that there is a standard dvd burner drive in the unit, at least it looks like it. Can this be replaced with a dual layer recorder? Was thinking it might work.

Actually, if memory serves I believe the drive itself is dual-layer, and accepts both + and - media... However, the TiVo software itself restricts to single-layer and - media. So, probably nothing you can do about that.

Drew

newfie4ever

01-05-2009, 10:13 AM

Thanks for the quick reply. I am going to try a few things out with the burning as I have never used it for that. Guess I will have to use high quality to record with if I wish to burn it on a dvd.

Ok I am burning a 1 hour ( 1hour exactly) show no problem right now. Is there anyway to stop the 1 hour 1 minute shows at 1 hour exactly so I can record those if I wish? I mean the last minute is just the credits anyway so you are not missing anything.

Thanks

azitnay

01-05-2009, 10:32 AM

Unfortunately, TiVo doesn't support negative padding, so there's no easy way to tell it to always record one minute less than the scheduled timeslot.

The most straightforward way would be to use a manual recording, but then you lose TiVo's smart functionality around only recording first-run episodes, etc.

Drew

newfie4ever

01-05-2009, 10:38 AM

Actually I have discovered that if I chose to record another program right after the 1 hour 1 minute show you can tell it to cut short the 1 hour 1 minute show by 1 minute. Seems to be the only way to do it. Then just delete the extra recording after.
I am going to try a DL disc next. Love this unit tho. Got a good deal on it I think. Paid $300 for it and its got Lifetime Plus subscription on it.
Good deal or not , my wife loves it so if she's happy, I'm happy. If she's not happy, I'm not happy with half my ****. LOL

Nope didn't like the DL disc. Got invalid or unsupported disc. Oh well maybe in the future there will be a update that will allow the DL to work.

mwizard@gmail.co

01-07-2009, 09:10 PM

I've done a search of the forums, and I haven't found the answer to this question.

I'm looking to change cable companies. I have a series2 with wishlist and season pass items all setup. If I go through guided setup to change from cable company 1 to cable company 2, will I lose all that setup information?

I would guess that all the channel numbers would change. At best, I would like to believe that all season pass stuff would just convert to the new tv channels. But I would like to know if I should be worried, and probably write down all my season pass information so that I might re-enter the information again after i rerun guided setup for the new cable company.

Should I be worried/paranoid?

azitnay

01-07-2009, 09:51 PM

TiVo is indeed supposed to convert your season passes to the new provider's channels... As to how well it works, I can't say I've ever experienced it firsthand.

Drew

mrfixit454

01-07-2009, 10:53 PM

I did not think these units had lifetime subscription.. only basic for free which does not have season passes and a guide past 3 days. Also limited use of some of the inputs.

azitnay

01-08-2009, 06:11 AM

That's what they have out of the box, but you can certainly pay for TiVo service just like any other unit.

Drew

mrfixit454

01-08-2009, 12:32 PM

Yes but when I tried to pay for lifetime, Tivo told me it was not available on that unit so I am month to month. Just curious how Newfie4ever got it if he truley did.

azitnay

01-08-2009, 12:40 PM

He may have purchased it from a private seller that had purchased lifetime years ago, back before TiVo started locking it down.

Drew

newfie4ever

01-08-2009, 03:24 PM

Yes I purchased it second hand and it had the Lifetime Plus already on it, which was nice. Thats why I thought a price of $300 was good for this unit.

mwizard@gmail.co

01-08-2009, 04:48 PM

Well here is my experience when changing from 1 cable company to another.

In Olathe Kansas, we had a choice of "cable box or not", first.

(somewhere in here it connected to TiVo to get the setup information needed to proceed. I don't know what it needed, nor do I recall 'exactly' where in this procedure it asked this question. But it was early on for sure.)

Update 1-11-2009 - The season pass didn't seem to update "all" programs, and I cannot determine why some did, and some did not. But even for those that did not, the recording did indeed use the right channel. I guess, in time, it will all sort out on its own.

Selecting cable box (I didn't use one prior to this), the system then asked which cable company...

Comcast/Surewest/AT&T Uverse/I don't know

After selecting the proper company, it asked me about my cable box.

It is a Scientific Atlanta box. It then asked how many digits it needed to change channels. 3 digits was the default, and I stuck with it.

There were a few tests as the system changed channels and then asked how well things went. In my case, everything was just fine.

Then it downloaded enough programming data to get it started.

It seems my old "todo" and "season pass" information was still there. And the old channel numbers were present.

I then went to look up programs by title, and looked for my upcoming movie. (I had a movie that was supposed to start recording in the next 30 minutes, handy it was!) And in this title search, it showed the movie name, the proper (new) channel, and that it was to record it shortly. So while the 'todo' list wasn't 100%, it was going to do the recording with the new information.

At the moment, it is downloading the rest of the guide information. And after a while, I'll go back into the system and check all these values again. I'll update this post with the final results.

But it looks like things are going quite well.

mrfixit454

01-09-2009, 06:01 PM

Yes I purchased it second hand and it had the Lifetime Plus already on it, which was nice. Thats why I thought a price of $300 was good for this unit.

Ah.. thanks for the clarification

nateman96

01-13-2009, 03:20 PM

I have a RS-TX20 and have been paying TIVO $12.95/month for TIVO service. I am thinking of cancelling the TIVO service, and using the free 3 day TIVO that comes with the RS-TX20. I also want to use the TIVO PC Desktop software to download Podcasts to my TIVO and would like to know if it will work with the free TIVO service. Also how about the other TIVO services like Photobucket, Amazon.com movies downloads etc will they work with the 3 day free TIVO service. Thanks

windracer

01-13-2009, 03:49 PM

Nope ... all of those extended network features are only available with the Plus service. If you go to TiVo Basic, all you'll get is the three days' worth of Guide data over the network. No TiVoToGo, network apps, etc.

EvilMidniteBombr

01-13-2009, 09:50 PM

I am running my rs-tx20 on basic right now and it is literally a glorified VCR with 3 days of guide data. You can record, FFW, RW, pause and manually schedule recurring recordings. That's about it.

bethanyb

01-14-2009, 05:42 PM

Hi! I have a toshiba rs tx-20 and I want to hook it to the internet instead of the phone line. Can anyone tell me what type of equipment I need?

azitnay

01-14-2009, 06:05 PM

Assuming you already have a broadband router in place, you'll need either:

1) a compatible wired USB ethernet adapter, and enough ethernet cable to connect to your router or another hub or switch

2) a compatible wireless USB ethernet adapter (assuming your broadband router has wireless capability)

So, the first thing you need to decide is whether to go wired or wireless. If you have an easy way to connect it to your wired network where it is, wired is the obvious choice. If not, wireless might make more sense.

TiVo maintains a list of compatible adapters:

http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/technicalsupport/networkingandphoneconnections/all_wired_and_wireless_adapters.html

TiVo sells their TiVo Wireless G USB Network Adapter directly, although you might find a cheaper price elsewhere.

Drew

Hatte

01-27-2009, 11:22 PM

Kracko

01-28-2009, 12:26 AM

To get the DVD out, straighten out a paper clip and stick it in the hole on the right side of the CD tray. You can see this hole when you look at the unit.

As to the booting problem, I solved it by simply buying a new hard drive from one of the sponsors here. It came with clear instructions on how to replace the drive. It was formatted with the Tivo software and even came with the proper tool for taking out the screws holding the cover on.

cdeckert219

01-28-2009, 12:30 AM

Quick question. My RS-TX60 stopped working yesterday, and when I try to boot it up again, it gets stuck in the initial "start up" mode... I have tried many of the suggestions in this forum, without success. Any additional suggestions? Also, I might have a DVD stuck in the DVD drive, how do I remove the DVD when the RS-TX60 is not working (which could be part of the issue) ? Thanks.

I had the stuck DVD problem with my Humax once and repeatedly pushed the "open tray" button on the unit (not remote) while it was first powering up and it opened. I snatched the disc out quickly before it closed again and the problem was solved. The paper clip works, too, though.

Hatte

01-28-2009, 01:36 AM

Thanks for the suggestions. Pushing repeatedly the "open tray" button did not work... Maybe I am being "thick" but I don't know what holes on the right side of the CD tray that you are referring to, I cannot find any holes, so I could not try the paper clip trick... Where exactly is the hole that you are referring to ? Regarding buying a new hard drive, I will probably end up buying one so any hard drive and vendor in particular that you would recommend? Thanks again.

windracer

01-28-2009, 07:51 AM

IIRC, on the TX20/60 units, the "eject" hole is actually inside the unit. You may need to gently pry open the flip-down door on the front and the look at the actual front of the DVD drive inside.

Hatte

01-28-2009, 10:14 AM

I did flip down the door on the front but there is no "eject" hole there on the unit... I even tried to force the actual DVR unit door to open, but I did not want to break it... Maybe I have a different DVR unit, the unit code is DVR 108JA?

windracer

01-28-2009, 10:17 AM

I don't have a TX20 anymore but I want to say the hole was not readily accessible, maybe slightly hidden behind more plastic? Worse case you can open the entire thing up and take out the drive.

Chester_Lampwick

01-28-2009, 04:43 PM

Well I hope I can help here. I hope this will be clear, this has worked for me. Rather than looking for the hole try this:

1 - with your fingernail pull down the tray cover
2 - locate the eject button on the DVD drive itself. It's about an inch from the right of the opening but slightly below. It's exactly the same spot as on a computer DVD drive. This button is on the DVD drive itself, and doesn't need to have commands passed from the TiVo to open.
3 - plug in the TiVo then press this button and the tray will open.

4 - if the above fails the paperclip hole is on the right side about the same location, but may be obscured with dust. You can do that trick with the power off, it's a mechanical thing. it will pop the tray out aout half an inch so you can grab it and pull it the rest of the way.

barbeedoll

01-29-2009, 09:45 AM

I just finished replacing the hard drive on my TiVo and have done it once before with another unit. I used this company and have been thrilled with them. The drive comes all set up with the TiVo software and it has very clear instructions so you can replace the drive yourself.

http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/

Barbeedoll

newfie4ever

02-01-2009, 04:52 AM

dizzydeane

02-01-2009, 06:33 AM

I had the same problem (hangs at welcome screen & stuck DVD). Another option to DIY is call Toshiba for instructions & pricing and send in your unit with a check for repair. Ask for the TiVo guy who will call you back for troubleshooting, since it maybe ezy to fix. It cost me $139.95 + 1 way shipping but worth it. Their repair is in Haverhill MA. Same size HD. I hope this helps.

azitnay

02-01-2009, 08:44 AM

I have a TX 20 system and love it. I bought my mother-in-law a new series 2 box and hooked her up. Now I notice that when I surf around on her system, its navigates considerably faster then mine. I know mine is older but is there anyway to speed this up or is that just the nature of it being an older system.

Thanks

It's not just the fact that it's older, but really the fact that it's a 5xx model. The older 1xx and 2xx models had beefier hardware, but TiVo scaled back the hardware on the 5xx models, in an effort to reduce production costs. The 6xx models (which is probably what you got your mother-in-law) have beefier hardware as well.

Drew

mwizard@gmail.co

02-02-2009, 07:11 PM

I just had a very strange problem over the last week.

On Saturday 1/31, I connected via phone (I normally do this) and it was successful in downloading updates. I noted monday morning that the system was still a week behind. Or in another way, the last sched info was dated 2/9. I updated again monday morning (2/2). Again my system says "success". But still the sched date info ends 2/9. I'm going through yet another attempt. Perhaps (with futility), this will work. I had rebooted the machine about 10 minutes before my latest connection attempt. So the reboot didn't seem to solve my problem.

Has anyone else ever had such a problem?

PS: My recent update completed succesfully too. My system information shows program info until feb 15th. A quick check of the to to list still shows program listings ending 2/9. I'll check it again tomorrow to see if it has managed to update properly.

PPS: The latest program information schedule update seems to have taken. So it would seem that I needed to restart the digital media server, and then to refresh the schedule information. I did note that it took about 1 sec per percentage point on the update up til 63%. But after that point, it hit a 7 fold decrease in throughput. This suggests that the last 1/3rd had some significant extra work to perform. I find it curious, but I have no idea what was really happening. But I am now back to normal.

-Mark

newfie4ever

02-03-2009, 03:51 PM

k6_user

02-05-2009, 04:17 PM

Hi, I’ve learned a lot of great info from this thread – thanks to all who have contributed. I have an RS-TX20 which has worked pretty well for several years now. I searched this thread for info on my problem – no success - so here goes:

I recently hooked up a DTV converter box to my tx20 – went thru the guided set-up and everything seems to be working well except the time it takes to change channels.
Now I know that the tx20 was no speed daemon at changing channels when viewing OTA programming directly thru it’s built in tuner, but with a DTV box it takes about 5 to 6 seconds to change a channel.
The best way to describe this: it seems like tivo first tries to change the channel of the internal tuner, and then approx. 4 seconds later it sends the new channel number to the DTV box. I’ve gone thru guided set-up at least 6 times using 2 different DTV boxes (Channel Master & Magnavox) 2 different IR blasters – all with the same results.

Here’s the sequence:
1 push channel-up or channel-down button
2 TV screen goes blank & the tivo channel banner appears with the NEW channel number in it
3 the CURRENT channel program re-appears for about 2 seconds.
4 The screen goes blank again & the DTV box’s channel banner appears with the NEW channel number in it (approx 4 to 5 seconds has lapsed now)
5 Finally, the new channel program appears (5 to 6 seconds total )

Note: in between step 3 and 4 the recording buffer is cleared and tivo starts to buffer what it “thinks” is the new channel program. However, when I rewind the buffer I can actually see about 2 seconds of the PREVIOUS channel program, and then see tivo send the new channel numbers 1-by-1 to the DTV box, and then the new channel program starts recording.

I called tivo tech support who walked me thru all the settings ( IR code, A B C, # of digits, enter button etc) with no improvement. When I asked to have this escalated to a higher tier of support, I got disconnected.

Sorry for the long post, but before I waste my time calling them back, I just wanted to check with this forum to see if this is the way it’s supposed to work (tech supt didn’t think so) or do I really have a problem.

So, anyone else (using a DTV box) having this problem?
Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

susandennis

02-09-2009, 05:43 PM

I have an old TX-20 on one TV that also has 2 Series 2 DT's. The TX-20 was so slow to do anything that I really only used it for playing DVD's. Finally, it got so slow that I had to reboot every time I wanted to watch a DVD so I finally got a new hard drive for it from WeaKnees. It took 10 minutes to install and now the thing is as zippy as either one of my Series 2 DT's! It's got a whole new life. $109. total. I shudda done it months ago.

trvltv

02-10-2009, 04:59 PM

I hope someone can answer a question for me. I would like to have a recorder that I can move from state to state. In the past I have just used a VCR. In the last few days because of the digital conversion I began thinking there must be a better way. I have found a toshiba rstx60 at a dealers but I know nothing about them. If I hook it up to a cable (no converter box) will it record for me? In other words can I select a program tomorrow and walk away and it will record a program for me. I see no tuner within the unit so I am at a loss. I would use the unit from Penna to South Carolina. Would appreciate any input. thank you in advance
trvltv
p.s. I am the newest member just joined today and I hope this works.

azitnay

02-10-2009, 05:13 PM

Yes, the RS-TX60 has an internal cable tuner, and can thus record cable without a box.

In order to get the unit to display the correct guide data, you'd have to rerun Guided Setup each time you move it.

Drew

trvltv

02-10-2009, 06:13 PM

thank you for the response. Is the program which you referred to that sets up the channels a disk included with the unit or is it software within the machine that I can run each time I set it up? thank you again.

EvilMidniteBombr

02-11-2009, 09:27 AM

It's software built into the TiVo interface. It should have an instruction booklet included with it that will show you how to get started.

wrongway228

02-16-2009, 04:14 PM

I'm try'n to hook up my Tivo thru my internet access to get updates...do i just get a USB to phone cord hookup and plug it into my phone jack...i have no land line phone...just high speed internet thru outhern bell.

1010101

02-16-2009, 06:59 PM

quick question; i'm about to buy a tx20 and i was wondering if i can watch tv through component out, or is it just the dvd player that uses it? the composite jacks on my receiver are all taken but i have a free component space left, so obviously i'd like to use that.

windracer

02-16-2009, 07:12 PM

quick question; i'm about to buy a tx20 and i was wondering if i can watch tv through component out, or is it just the dvd player that uses it?
All signals that come out of the TX-20 can use component, be it TV or DVD. So the answer is yes, you can watch live/recorded TV over component.

robomeister

02-16-2009, 07:43 PM

1010101

02-16-2009, 08:12 PM

All signals that come out of the TX-20 can use component, be it TV or DVD. So the answer is yes, you can watch live/recorded TV over component.

thank you very much!

newfie4ever

02-18-2009, 07:27 AM

Wrongway228,

You need a USB to Ethernet adapter in order to download updates via your internet connection. The adapter can either be wireless or wired.

Wired will be faster and more reliable, but you'll have to run a ethernet cable to the TiVo from your router.

Wireless can be a little difficult to setup, because you can only use WEP or WPA encryption. WPA will only work on the TiVo branded wireless adapter.

Hope that helps
robomeister

Not necessary true. I have a DWL-G820 dlink hooked to my TX20 and it works perfect. I have WEP enabled also. Maybe for the newer Tivos but it worked great on my old one.

Sorry misread your comment your said WPA not WEP

scottt

03-03-2009, 07:43 AM

Would ebay be the best place to sell an RS-TX20, or is there another site that is better suited to these units?

Thanks!

Scott

johnnycashish

03-03-2009, 01:59 PM

Hard Drive Replacement Questions:

Hello, All! I have the RS-TX20 and I want to upgrade the hard drive to something much bigger. I've added hard drives to my computer and I think I can do it but I've got a few questions. I apologize in advance if this has all been covered before -- I plucked through many of the 63 pages of comments and questions and didn't find "exactly" what I was looking for...

1) What kind(s) of hard drives are OK for our machines? Can I go to Newegg (I like them) and buy a hard drive or am I better off going to a "TiVo friendly" dealer for a specific type of drive/software?

2) My drive didn't crash; will I need a "virgin image"?

3) I have a lifetime subscription. I'm sure I'm cool but is there any risk to "wiping out" my subscription by making the swap?

4) What else do I need to know? Are there any step-by-step instructions for our machines that I can download somewhere (if I don't go with a drive specifically marketed to TiVo people)?

I really appreciate all of your assistance, folks!!

JC

azitnay

03-03-2009, 02:03 PM

Hard Drive Replacement Questions:
1) What kind(s) of hard drives are OK for our machines? Can I go to Newegg (I like them) and buy a hard drive or am I better off going to a "TiVo friendly" dealer for a specific type of drive/software?

You can use any EIDE drive (not SATA unless you want to use an adapter as well).

2) My drive didn't crash; will I need a "virgin image"?

No, you can copy the software from your old drive.

3) I have a lifetime subscription. I'm sure I'm cool but is there any risk to "wiping out" my subscription by making the swap?

No, the lifetime sub will be fine as it's tied to the unit's TSN which is baked into the unit's other hardware, not the drive, or the software, or anything like that.

4) What else do I need to know? Are there any step-by-step instructions for our machines that I can download somewhere (if I don't go with a drive specifically marketed to TiVo people)?

You can try these instructions:

http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/index.php

Drew

johnnycashish

03-03-2009, 03:16 PM

Drew, thanks for the VERY QUICK reply! I read through the upgrade instructions you suggested and the hard drive installation is simple enough but the "bootable disk" language is a bit confusing to me. Although I hate spending the "extra money," perhaps the plug-and-play drives at WeaKnees are what I should go with.

I'm not concerned about saving my old shows or anything like that but I have no idea whether or not I have a "fat partition" and I'm not sure I have any more open slots to connect the TiVo hard drive to my PC. And don't get me started on my lack of Linux command knowledge... Before I resign myself to buying a drive with the TiVo software preloaded, can you offer me any other suggestions? Thanks again!!

JC

azitnay

03-03-2009, 03:37 PM

I'm not sure what you're referring to in regards to "bootable disk"... Are you talking about the boot CD that you need to burn from the ISO available as a link within the instructions? You simply need to burn it to a CD, so that you can boot into Linux (embedded on the boot CD) to perform the upgrade.

You most likely don't have a FAT partition, but that shouldn't matter unless you want to make a backup (and as long as you keep the original TiVo hard drive, that can function almost as well as a backup).

Open IDE ports shouldn't be an issue as you can disconnect any additional IDE devices (aside from the CD drive you need to use to boot up with), such as hard drives, during the upgrade process. You essentially need three IDE ports... One for the CD drive, one for the old hard drive, and one for the new hard drive. Almost every computer that has IDE ports has four, so three isn't an issue.

However, a sticking point I hadn't considered until now (as I haven't upgraded a TiVo's hard drive in many years) is that almost all computers have switched to SATA. Given that they don't have IDE ports, it's impossible to upgrade an RS-TX20 on them without IDE-to-SATA converters. So, if you don't have a computer with IDE ports readily available, it might be worth spending a few extra bucks on a preloaded drive.

Lack of Linux command knowledge isn't too huge a concern, as all the steps are laid out pretty well in the instructions.

Drew

robomeister

03-03-2009, 08:56 PM

For the most up to date upgrade tools, check out www.mfslive.org. This site has many guides to help you upgrade your hard drive. You can even use a Windows XP with SP3 machine with the WinMFS program. I've used this site many times to upgrade my TiVos.

robomeister

mrfixit454

03-04-2009, 03:39 PM

And also I thought I saw where you could use the USB w/ adapters to backup/restore the drive.. it was just more costly?

robomeister

03-05-2009, 12:24 PM

You can use the USB to PATA/SATA connectors to backup and restore TiVo drives using both WinMFS and the MFSLive Boot CD v1.3 or later. I've done this numerous times. There is the added cost of the connector, and you only use them during the backup or restore procedure. Also, they are slower than directly connecting the hard drive to the PATA chain in your computer, so you'll spend some extra time waiting for it to finish.

Hope that helps,
robomeister

johnnycashish

03-05-2009, 03:27 PM

Thanks, Drew and everyone else, for the drive explanations!! I've learned a lot from you guys over the years.

newfie4ever

03-10-2009, 09:20 PM

It's not just the fact that it's older, but really the fact that it's a 5xx model. The older 1xx and 2xx models had beefier hardware, but TiVo scaled back the hardware on the 5xx models, in an effort to reduce production costs. The 6xx models (which is probably what you got your mother-in-law) have beefier hardware as well.

Drew

Do you think a newer drive might make it faster as it is the original drive in there and the drives are faster now then when this unit was built?

Thinking about attempting it myself and putting in a 500 gig drive. I do have over 18 years experience in computers, repairing and building them, so I should be ok.

azitnay

03-10-2009, 09:25 PM

Doubtful... It's really the other hardware that's less powerful than other TiVo models, not the drive.

Drew

windracer

03-11-2009, 08:05 AM

Yeah, I think the performance of my TX20 actually suffered when I upgraded the drive (more capacity = more recordings = larger database = slow performance).

justinike

03-11-2009, 03:50 PM

Has anyone had this problem? The phone line is live but the Tivo unit doesn't recognize it.

gcpm03

03-18-2009, 04:33 PM

just got the toshiba tx20 from a friend who upgraded to the series 3 tivo.
im currentlt using the phone connection for the guide updates
along with the tivo basic service which is limited.
anyway i ordered a netgear 111g usb adaptor, it's 802.11g/b ???
the tivo site says this will work but only with software 7.xx will this tivo update to sotware 7.xx or will i have to use a b only usb adaptor?
has anyone used a usb g wireless adaptor with this model?
let me know
thank you

azitnay

03-18-2009, 07:55 PM

Yes, these units are up to software version 9.3.2a now (possibly their last).

Drew

willieboy

03-19-2009, 12:10 PM

Hi, first time post. I have a RS-TX20. Had it for years. Every once in a while, I accidently select a channel that I don't have service. When I change back to a channel that I do have service the info banner at the top of the screen for the previous channel stays on. I used to restart the system and the info would go away. Now, even after restart, it will not go away! anyone else have this issue? How is it fixed?

gcpm03

03-19-2009, 07:43 PM

Yes, these units are up to software version 9.3.2a now (possibly their last).

Drew

hello im currently on 3.2.xx how do i update to a higher ver?
or is this something that will happen when i setpu the usb adaptor?
let me know

gcpm03

03-19-2009, 07:58 PM

well shoot!! apearently you cannot get any software updares unless you have a tivo plus account.... im using the basic service it has updated to ver 3.2.xx buy thats all. this sucks! i though that i would at least get the software updates?
is thee away to get the updates? other than subbing?
let me know

azitnay

03-19-2009, 08:49 PM

gcpm03

03-20-2009, 09:35 AM

Are you sure you have an RS-TX20? These units came out far later, and I think they may have started on 7.x.

I'm guessing you have a Series1 unit. If so, 3.2 is all you'll get.

What three digits does your TSN start with?

Drew

ok im on 9.3a sorry just chrcked it out. im hope that a netgear wg111 v2
802.11g adaptor will work with this unit?
is anyone else using a g adaptor?
let me know
thank you

gcpm03

03-22-2009, 08:58 PM

ok im on 9.3a sorry just chrcked it out. im hope that a netgear wg111 v2
802.11g adaptor will work with this unit?
is anyone else using a g adaptor?
let me know
thank you

565

gcpm03

03-24-2009, 04:03 PM

ok service number is 565
tried the nregear 111gv2 is a no go ?????
why??

azitnay

03-24-2009, 04:06 PM

According to:

http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/technicalsupport/networkingandphoneconnections/all_wired_and_wireless_adapters.html#TiVoSeries2andSeries2DT compatiblewirelessadapters

"NETGEAR WG111 ver.2" isn't compatible. Is this what you have?

Drew

gcpm03

03-30-2009, 09:43 AM

what is 25xtreme? where can i download it?
thank you

mk678

04-07-2009, 02:54 AM

Thanks for sharing .
I hope it will work for me.

gcpm03

04-23-2009, 07:13 PM

i want to upgrade my rx20 what is the quietest energy and largest hdd for the machine?

gcpm03

04-23-2009, 08:14 PM

also is there a hack that will give me a current total of gb's left on the hdd or time remaining?
thank you

nateman96

07-07-2009, 12:38 PM

I just added a TIVO HD DVR to my RS-TX20 and both of them have wireless network adapters that connect to my home network and Internet. I am currently paying $12.95/month for the RS-TX20 and $9.95 for the TIVO HD. If I cancel the subscription on the RS-TX20 will I be able transfer recorded shows from my TIVO HD to the RS-TX20 over the network? Thanks

azitnay

07-07-2009, 12:40 PM

No, MRV is a TiVo Plus feature.

Drew

susandennis

07-07-2009, 12:44 PM

Here is a nice chart of what you get with TiVo Basic

http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-dvd-faq.php

I just unhooked my Toshiba from TiVo service and can verify that the chart = personal experience. :)

My other TiVo's just act as if the Toshiba is dead to them.

newfie4ever

07-21-2009, 07:21 AM

Question for the RS-TX20 people out there.
I had a 42 " LCD tv in my bedroom and noticed that the picture quality is poor on SD signal through my RS-TX20 unit, even the recordings. I just purchased a new Plasma 42 " to replace it thinking the TV might be the problem. The picture has improved but not like I was expecting.
Here is my setup:
Starchoice HD 505 rx going to my Tivo using S-Video out and then to my tv.
If I take the signal striaght from the Starchoice rx it looks better. Any way to improve the quality of the signal / picture?
I even purchased a upscaler to change the signal from 480I to 720P which did not help much.

Thanks

windracer

07-21-2009, 07:41 AM

You could try using component (instead of S-Video) and then turn on progressive mode on the TX20 so you're sending 480P to your TV. Other than that, there's not much you'll be able to do since the TX20 is an SD device.

newfie4ever

07-21-2009, 08:43 AM

You know I never even thought of that as I was to disappointed in the quality of the signal. You would think that after over 24 years in the electronics world I would of tried that, LOL :)

Thanks

Just wish they had HD tivo for Starchoice, that would be a no brainer for sure.

sledhed

07-21-2009, 10:16 PM

This is why I have been leery of upgrading any of our TVs - we don't really watch enough to care about HD, and I was worried that the picture would look crappier than what we have now after spending $$$ on a new tv set... we have 1 RS-TX20 and 2 dual-tuners (for now) and two single-tuners (not all of these are active).

kelleyer

08-13-2009, 09:29 AM

My RS-TX20 has worked perfectly for years, but 2 days ago (08-11-09) sometime between 4am and 10am the sound seems to have stopped working.

There is no sound on shows recorded since that time, and there is no sound when I try to watch live TV through the TiVo.

The sound for shows recorded before this point play back just fine, all the TiVo pings and bloops can be heard perfectly, DVDs play back with no problem, and live TV sound is fine when I'm not going through the TiVo input.

My system is set up with a splitter and two digital cable boxes, one for the TiVo and one for the television (so I can record one show while watching another), and the audio is run through a tuner so the sound comes through my stereo speakers instead of from the television speakers. This setup has been in place for a long time, and none of the various settings have changed recently.

Things I have tried in order to get TiVo to once again record & play back sound:
1. TiVo reset (twice)
2. switching TiVo to a different cable box
3. checking all the audio & video connections to make sure they weren't loose
4. replacing all RCA cables between cable box / TiVo / TV
5. burning a DVD from a newly recorded (soundless) show to test whether it was recording but just not playing back sound. The DVD burn failed. It got through the "preparing dvd" step and then returned message saying that the show could not be saved to DVD because of "an internal error"

Alas, none of this has returned sound to my TiVo.

I'm guessing by now that the audio input on the RS-TX20 itself has died. Does that seem right? Has anyone else had this problem? Any other suggestions about what I might do to test and / or fix sound failure?

mrfixit454

08-13-2009, 01:23 PM

kelleyer

08-13-2009, 02:41 PM

Have you tried sending the audio from the tivo right to the TV instead of the stereo? I assume when you watch the split feed from the cable box to stereo that that signal has audio? Are you using RCA (Composite) cables from Tivo to the stereo? If so, have you tried the digital audio out from tivo to your stereo?

Because everything was working perfectly until Tues. morning, I haven't tried reconfiguring all the audio cables yet. The audio for both television and TiVo is connected to the stereo tuner through a port on the back of the TV, and the sound works fine for everything except shows recorded after approx. 4am Tuesday, and except for trying to watch TV through the Tivo (using the "Live TV" button). I didn't think about trying to reroute the TiVo audio using the digital audio out directly to the stereo. I'll give that a go. I only tried a couple of soft restarts. Now I'm hoping that maybe a full power down reboot might do the trick. I'll give that a go tonight.

EK

kelleyer

08-13-2009, 06:38 PM

Happy to report that shutting off the power and doing a full reboot (instead of the soft restart) seems to have fixed the problem of no sound through the TiVo.

EK

mrfixit454

08-25-2009, 12:11 AM

Times are tough and I have been thinking of cutting back on some expenses. Want to cancel tivo plus service on my TX20 and turn the SAT box off on directv. Has anyone tried these w/o the tivo service and tried an over the air digital converter box yet. The converter boxes I have are on the list that tivo suggests is compatible and I have the 9.3 software that is required. Just curious if it all works to everyone's liking. I am aware of the features I lose with Tivo basic and we can live with the VCR type recording for now.

Thanks
Fixit

windracer

08-25-2009, 05:34 PM

Has anyone tried these w/o the tivo service and tried an over the air digital converter box yet.
My parents are using my old TX20 with TiVo Basic and a converter box. I haven't heard any complaints from them about it.

Crazystars

09-24-2009, 02:58 PM

Great idea starting this thread Lujan. I would love to see the pictures that you post this weekend & hopefully you can give a review after more experience with the set over the next few days. I spent a over an hour reading the thread about the Sony, & it would be great if all owners of the Mitsubishi can chime in here & add their experiences.

I am personally in the market for a TV & have narrowed my choices down to the 65833 & the Sony 603000, but I have only seen the Sony in person. Did you have the opportunity to compare the Mitsu & the Sony before purchasing by chance, or was it not even a consideration b/c you were looking for over 70" in screen size? I can go for the 65" myself, but the 73" would be a little too large based on furniture & screen distance limitations of the room. 60" to 65" are perfect for me.

soundicus

10-01-2009, 07:38 PM

I'm a new member and I'm new to forums in general, so apologies in advance for any errors in protocol...

Anyway I've got 2 RS-TX20s that both freeze up during the initial start up. I'm wondering if this is known problem or if there's a quick fix. Any help is appreciated.

jza80

10-16-2009, 07:46 PM

Is it possible to stream Netflix on the TX-20, like I can do on my Series 3 unit?

My menus now offer Blockbuster downloads, etc., for extra cost so streaming is clearly possible but Netflix does not appear as an option. Any thoughts ?

Thanks!

azitnay

10-17-2009, 02:46 PM

No, Netflix needs MPEG-4 capability which the RS-TX20 doesn't have.

Drew

robomeister

10-20-2009, 09:38 AM

soundicus,

It sounds like you have a failing hard drive. Can you describe the "freezing up?" Do you get the "Almost there, please wait..." screen? or just "Welcome, powering up" screen? Look in the upgrade section of this forum for more help on installing a new hard drive.

Good luck,
robomeister

thorntons

10-31-2009, 04:31 PM

It's basically just like the other boxes ... here's how I was able to force a mfscheck on my TX20 (I'm looking at the GSOD right now):

plug in, HDD (orange) and DVD (red and orange) go on
Welcome! Powering Up screen displayed
start holding Pause on the remote
after a minute or so, the HDD light will go out and the DVD light will go red (keep holding Pause!)
the screen will flash, HDD will go back to orange, DVD will go orange as well. this is the indicator that the kickstart panic has been received.
you can now let go of Pause and enter the kickstart code (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5126687#post5126687) (i.e., 54, 57, etc.). both lights will go out.
for a 57, it looks like the box will reboot again and then trigger the GSOD. for a 54, you'll get the "just a few minutes more" before the black HD test screen appears.

Hope this helps!

Hi Windracer -

I apologize ahead of time - I realize this isn't the forum for the TiVo TCD540040 units but I can't seem to find an answer on other forums for the TCD540040. My TiVo (TCD540040) decided to die when it was 5 yrs. & 4 days old. :(

I've been reading through a ton of posts & yours seemed very helpful as I am stuck @ the Welcome! Powering Up...screen as well. I can't seem to get the Tivo to get past the Welcome! Powering Up...screen to be able to enter the kickstart codes. I've tried holding down the pause button on the remote as the Welcome! Powering Up...screen comes up, when after the Welcome! Powering Up...screen has appeared on the TV, when I hear a whirring noise in the Tivo before the Welcome! Powering Up...screen comes up...everything. Also held the pause button for over two minutes on many occasions & never see the left LED light on the TiVo bezel turn to amber then to red so I can enter the kickstart code. It's consistently green. I've removed my wireless adapter as I have read in some other posts. The TiVo is connected to my TV through a RF Converter box as my TV is 14 years old & don't have the composite A/V jacks on my TV (only a cable connection). I currently just have the composite A/V jacks, power cable, & cable connection hooked to the TiVo.

If I have to replace the drive & image it with a CD from InstantCake will my unit will still have the lifetime activation once it makes it's 1st call to TiVo to update itself I assume. I also assume the InstantCake CD deals with the Logical Bit addressing issue so you are able to use a drive larger than 137GB. I plan on getting a Terabyte drive if I need to replace the HD. Assuming the motherboard will accept it? :confused: I know dumb question - I've been sitting here too long trying to do this kickstart. :confused:

If anyone can offer any assistance please do. I've been struggling with the Welcome! Powering up... screen for 3 days now. :( :( :(

Thank you in advance. I really appreciate it.

windracer

10-31-2009, 05:56 PM

Also held the pause button for over two minutes on many occasions & never see the left LED light on the TiVo bezel turn to amber then to red so I can enter the kickstart code.
The left LED on your Series2 box will always be green. My instructions above are specific to the TX20 DVD model. On a Series2 when you hold down the pause button the left LED will stay green and eventually the right LED should turn orange and stay on. That's when you enter the kickstart code.

If I have to replace the drive & image it with a CD from InstantCake will my unit will still have the lifetime activation once it makes it's 1st call to TiVo to update itself I assume.
Yes, Lifetime service is tied to the motherboard, so no problem there.

I also assume the InstantCake CD deals with the Logical Bit addressing issue so you are able to use a drive larger than 137GB.
Yep.

I plan on getting a Terabyte drive if I need to replace the HD. Assuming the motherboard will accept it?
That's a good question, and I don't know for sure. Remember that the Series2 boxes use IDE (PATA) drives. I would think most terrabyte drives nowadays are SATA drives, which won't work.

azitnay

11-01-2009, 04:15 PM

WeaKnees sells 1TB kits for TCD540040's, so it's definitely doable... You can buy 1TB EIDE hard drives, but I believe they're considerablely more expensive than 1TB SATA hard drives nowadays. You could probably go with a SATA and a converter, though.

Drew

thorntons

11-05-2009, 12:41 PM

Regardless of not being able to get the kickstart to work I bought a new drive, ran instantcake on it & am back in business with my new hard drive. Ran into an issue when running instantcake where the cursor would just flash when at the screen "Just hit enter and we will begin baking your Instantcake" turns out instantcake doesn't recognize all USB ports. Go to DVR Upgrade forums & see thread subject "Keyboard doesn't work! I can't bake my TiVo image!" or my user name for full details (can't post a link). Thanks everyone. :up: :)

RevRick

11-06-2009, 05:21 PM

Quick questions: I haven't upgraded a Tivo for at least a couple of years, but I bought my son-in-law a new HD Tivo and am going to sell his old RS-TX20. I'm wanting to upgrade the hard drive, so I can sell it on eBay or Craigslist by giving the new owner confidence that the hard drive won't fail, etc. Also, the added recording time will enhance its saleability. Anyway, I used to use Hinsdale's guide, back in the day, but don't have access to a Windows computer with an OS earlier than XP. I'm also not even remotely good with Linux, so I had to be ultra careful following Hinsdale's guide. It also looks like InstantCake is much easier.

Can someone point me to the proper thread that will answer all of these questions or would you be so kind as to answer them here?

1) Is InstantCake the way to go, now?
2) It will work with a an XP machine, right?
3) The RS-TX20 will recognize a 500gb IDE drive, right?
4) Any precautions etc. I should take?

Thanks in advance.

Chester_Lampwick

11-06-2009, 06:02 PM

1) Is InstantCake the way to go, now?
2) It will work with a an XP machine, right?
3) The RS-TX20 will recognize a 500gb IDE drive, right?
4) Any precautions etc. I should take?

Thanks in advance.

1) InstantCake is one of the easier ways to go. Pre-configured drive is even easier, but more expensive. InstantCake is only $20 plus you can shop for a deal on a harddrive
2) From what I recall, you actually disconnect your OS hard drive. Boot from the CD which includes the image for your TiVo with the new blank drive connected.
3) 500GB IDE is fine. Some have used a SATA with an adapter
4) No. There are pretty clear instructions when you buy the InstantCake.

RevRick

11-06-2009, 06:09 PM

1) InstantCake is one of the easier ways to go. Pre-configured drive is even easier, but more expensive. InstantCake is only $20 plus you can shop for a deal on a harddrive
2) From what I recall, you actually disconnect your OS hard drive. Boot from the CD which includes the image for your TiVo with the new blank drive connected.
3) 500GB IDE is fine. Some have used a SATA with an adapter
4) No. There are pretty clear instructions when you buy the InstantCake.

THANKS!!!

windracer

11-06-2009, 06:20 PM

Since you have a working original drive for the TX20, you could also just use WinMFS to make an image and then restore/expand it onto the new drive. That would save you the $20 of buying InstantCake.

Chester_Lampwick

11-06-2009, 06:48 PM

Since you have a working original drive for the TX20, you could also just use WinMFS to make an image and then restore/expand it onto the new drive. That would save you the $20 of buying InstantCake.

Yes but wouldn't he need a Fat32 drive to mount? Plus he said he wanted an easy no linux command-line procedure

windracer

11-06-2009, 06:51 PM

WinMFS runs in Windows. No command-lines necessary. ;)

But yes, you need to connect your existing TiVo drive to your PC, via internal connection or external enclosure.

sledhed

11-12-2009, 02:31 PM

I know we kicked the TiVo software speed issue around on this forum for quite a while but it seemed to have gone away, or people got used to it. Our TX20 seemed to pick up enough speed after that version to be usable again.

Well, we are back to slow-as-molasses-in-January mode again, especially when it comes to pulling up the guide listings. It takes so long to put up the info before it will respond to any page-up or page-down commands that one wonders if it froze up! I have also noticed that the TV program playing in the background breaks up some, like the TiVo is having a hard time encoding / decoding and displaying the video while it is so busy being slow with the guide data... if you are recording when you do this, the video breakup and stutter in the background gets recorded to your program!

I noticed a similar video breakup problem with an old Series 2 single tuner 80 hour unit we have too, but the dual-tuner in the other room seems to work fine... I know they are supposed to have a bit more processing power.

Any ideas? Hard drive died and was replaced 6 months or so ago, with a 320GB DB35 drive from one of the common vendors. But the speed problem was not until fairly recently. Anyone else seeing this? We use it with standard def Dish Network, which has tons of channels in the guide data but we have it whittled down (in TiVo setup channels received) to only having the family package as available channels, along with a couple locals. And not even all of that package.

My wife and I are about to throw the remove through the old CRT screen...

aadegboyega

11-29-2009, 12:07 PM

azitnay

11-29-2009, 05:14 PM

WeaKnees has a page that describes the various kickstart options:

http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-kickstart-codes.php

Drew

sledhed

11-29-2009, 07:50 PM

I have a Loading info Error S03 every time my DVR attempt to download software updates on my toshiba DVR RS-TX60. I talk to a Tivo tech support person and he said either I have a hardware problem or I should look for the word kick start on Tivo community forum. What is a kick start? Also any info on how I can fix the problem. Thanks

It is a little trickier to trigger on the RS-TX Toshibas, I asked around and got more info on these forums that I ever thought, including people who dug their unit out of a closet and tried it all for me and detailed every step... here is one related thread:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6661742#post6661742

In fact, Windracer just a couple posts up was most helpful in that thread, but I recommend reading it before bugging him. ;)

windracer

11-29-2009, 07:57 PM

In fact, Windracer just a couple posts up was most helpful in that thread, but I recommend reading it before bugging him. ;)
:D

Unfortunately, I no longer own a TX20 (though my parents are still enjoying it). I still lurk here, though ...

aadegboyega, how is your Toshiba connecting to the TiVo Service? Phone line or network? If the kickstart 54 doesn't help, I guess you could try a "clear and delete everything" but that will wipe out, as it implies, everything: recordings, season passes, etc. etc. You'd have to set it all over from scratch.

sledhed

11-29-2009, 08:02 PM

:D

Unfortunately, I no longer own a TX20 (though my parents are still enjoying it). I still lurk here, though ...

aadegboyega, how is your Toshiba connecting to the TiVo Service? Phone line or network? If the kickstart 54 doesn't help, I guess you could try a "clear and delete everything" but that will wipe out, as it implies, everything: recordings, season passes, etc. etc. You'd have to set it all over from scratch.
Fortunately most everything you told me and my experiences getting it to work are documented here on the tivo community forums... just checking the I posted thread above, and possibly searching the forums a bit more, should get him all the info he needs.

Thanks again by the way, Windracer. My HDD eventually did die though, but has since been replaced by a 320GB (which even though it is a DB35 is a lot noisier, making the old entertainment center it is in hum...)

I suppose when I finally succumb to the sirens song of HD I may put the old TX20 to rest (or fleabay), but I do like TiVo and there is no TiVo HD alternative for those of us who live in the sticks and whose only HD alternatives are satellite...

EVV Richard

12-21-2009, 10:13 PM

Hello. I am a Toshiba RS-TX60 owner new to this Forum (purchased it in 2005; my 1st unit was defective; Toshiba replaced it immediately; my 2nd unit is great; I LOVE it; TiVo contacted ME FIRST about switching over the lifetime service--WOW!).

Problem--my DVD burner used to work just fine; now it burns about 80% of the DVD, then kicks out, giving me the "internal error" message [which means nothing, right?]. Weaknees.com says I probably need a need burner ($150 if I send it to them). Are they the best at this replacement, or who should do this? What kind of burner brand is best?

sledhed

12-22-2009, 12:38 PM

Hello. I am a Toshiba RS-TX60 owner new to this Forum (purchased it in 2005; my 1st unit was defective; Toshiba replaced it imediately; my 2nd unit is great; I LOVE it; TiVo contact ME FIRST about switching over the lifetime service--WOW!).

Problem--my DVD burner used to work just fine; now it burns about 80% of the DVD, then kicks out, giving me the "internal error" message [which means nothing, right?]. Weaknees.com says I probably need a need burner ($150 if I sent it to them). Are they the best at this replacement, or who should do this? What kind of burner brand is best?

There were a bunch of posts a while back on the "internal error" issue when burning DVDs. I used to get that error quite a bit too, but it seems to have subsided. Seemed to be more related to the specific program I was recording than the media, although some have reported media brand, quality and speed being related too. No-one that I heard of actually ended up with it being the DVD burner itself.

Try a couple things first. Search back for this issue and see what other people have tried. This includes changing media brands etc. My experience led me to it generally not being a media problem. I would record the same programs to DVD-RW rewritable and still get the same problem, but only with specific episodes. Then I tried transferring the suspect program to PC with Tivo desktop, then using a trial of videoredo to convert to mpeg format. Usually the program I had problems with ended up giving videoredo a hiccup, that there was some kind of internal error in the video file that it then corrected. I would then use nero or something to create a DVD of the problem program.

This is why they can't say it is the dvd burner for sure. Sometimes it is just a glitch in the encoding. Try the 2x or 4x rewriteables first.

If it does need a new burner, it would not be that hard to replace yourself, but I believe they have to be replaced with the exact same brand and model.

I personally would not invest a bunch of money in an older technology (standard def) unit like this. I did just replace the HDD in my TX20 though, the original finally died, but this tivo is really slow to bring up menus etc., even with a clean fresh install, which is tivo's fault for over-featuring the software for the older S2 units, IMHO. Still, we have to live with that slowness as long as we have the unit... that is my main beef with tivo...
Good luck...

mrfixit454

12-22-2009, 05:06 PM

Chester_Lampwick

12-22-2009, 05:07 PM

I personally would not invest a bunch of money in an older technology (standard def) unit like this. I did just replace the HDD in my TX20 though, the original finally died, but this tivo is really slow to bring up menus etc., even with a clean fresh install, which is tivo's fault for over-featuring the software for the older S2 units, IMHO. Still, we have to live with that slowness as long as we have the unit... that is my main beef with tivo...
Good luck...

If anybody has any of these old slow units that are lifetime subbed, and would to get rid of them, let me know...

sledhed

12-22-2009, 05:36 PM

Yes.. it seems to be the program for what ever reason.. take a look at the disk (the burned side). They tend to not start in the center of the disk when this happens. Just re-recording the program (if available) often solves the problem for me. See if you can save another program recorded a few weeks back and see if you are successful. Example.. I recoded the Nation Parks series.. 6 or so 2 hour episodes and one did not transfer to DVD. waiting for the re-run of it. Other shows still transfer to disc just fine.
This is why using a rewriteable helps once you find a problem - no additional coasters, you can always reuse the rewriteable dvd. Looking at the back does not seem to be a 100% predictable way of figuring out which program won't burn though. We tried to correlate the burn pattern with the program.

If all else fails, and you MUST have that program on dvd, use tivo desktop to transfer to PC, then change the format to mpeg (using videoredo or a free conversion program that I use I forget the name just now), and make a simplistic DVD using a dvd authoring program...

Rodney

12-22-2009, 05:55 PM

There were a bunch of posts a while back on the "internal error" issue when burning DVDs. I used to get that error quite a bit too, but it seems to have subsided. Seemed to be more related to the specific program I was recording than the media, although some have reported media brand, quality and speed being related too. No-one that I heard of actually ended up with it being the DVD burner itself.

I could have written the same paragraph. I was getting that error a lot a few months back, but inconsistently. Sometimes just one recording wouldn't work, changing media helped sometimes, not others.
Just recently I burned quite a few shows for my father, and they were all successful, no errors.
Sometimes it feels like voodoo. You did shake the chicken bones over the machine prior to your recording, didn't you?

I would definitely try burning other shows, and changing your media you are using before I would replace the drive.

Good luck!

tahoejoe

12-23-2009, 07:00 PM

I used to have the internal error problem, more with RW than R. I ended up putting in a standard Pioneer DVR-116DBK and haven't had any problem since. I do not believe that model is available any more but I know previous Pioneer models also work so it may be worth trying a subsequent model. See http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=384723

shwru980r

01-10-2010, 11:40 AM

I'm trying to hook up an RS-TX20 and SD-H400 with Directv. Both units work great with a Digital Converter box. When I try to run guided setup and select Directv, I don't get any audio or video from Directv. I've run guided setup on both units several times and can't get it to work. Also double checked the connections. Is Directv compatible with TIVO Basic?

sledhed

01-10-2010, 06:15 PM

shwru980r

01-10-2010, 06:26 PM

There is a chart on here somewhere saying what cable boxes and satellite receivers are compatible with Tivo series 2... ok, below is a link to the thread so you can do a little research there.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=128743

It seems like the compatibility thread is dealing with controling the box through the serial or IR ports. I can't even get a picture or sound to tell if I can control the box. It's like the input shuts down when I select Directv.

Dan04u

01-30-2010, 04:20 PM

I had one but lighting kind of ended its life :(

Birdman26

02-19-2010, 05:56 PM

Loved my TX20 before it died a year ago, just found this site today. Drive gave up, obviously, never got an image off of it. Anyone know where I might find one?

susandennis

02-19-2010, 06:01 PM

My drive died and I replaced it with one from Weaknees (http://www.weaknees.com/toshiba-tx20.php)

It was dirt simple to install and it's been happy ever since. I use it with no subscription (just the basic TiVo service it was born with) as a supplement to my other TiVo's.

sledhed

02-19-2010, 06:06 PM

Loved my TX20 before it died a year ago, just found this site today. Drive gave up, obviously, never got an image off of it. Anyone know where I might find one?
Love my TX20 too, except for the SLOW menus...

Even though I am very capable of reinstalling, I did not have time last summer, so I bought a replacement DB35 DVR-specific 320GB PATA/IDE drive for about $100 with TiVo software already installed. Yeah, I basically paid someone to install it for me, but I was up and running in no time.

I used DVR_DUDE on fleaBay for the lowest price and quickest turnaround for me. I am sure the other companies are competitive too.

If you do it yourself look around for the quietest drive. Even the DB35 hums more than the OEM drive did, and when I did it myself a couple years ago with a Seagate 500GB PATA desktop drive, it almost made the case buzz with vibration, I had to go back to the original drive as my whole entertainment center hummed.

Chester_Lampwick

02-19-2010, 06:19 PM

http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake.cfm

Birdman26

02-19-2010, 08:49 PM

sledhed

02-19-2010, 10:24 PM

Good Point sledhed, Mine got slow later as well. Not sure if the memory was to small to deal with the updated versions of the Software or beause the HD was full and starting to fail. Once you replaced the drive did it return to its original out of the box speed?

As for reinstalling, also capable myself and would rather do it myself, (pricipalities at stake and all / also big money, 10 to 15 bucks )

Bad news on the speed front - even with a new 320GB DB35 7200 RPM drive with more cache, it seemed to be as slow after the hdd failure as it was before... I also have an older single-tuner series 2 and it is slower than our newer dual-tuner series 2 as well. The dual-tuner seems to be fine. I guess they only tested their latest updates on the latest platforms, leaving the rest of us to watch as the schedules and menus slowly unfold... the processor and/or memory are slower apparently. If I knew what to do to boost the speed I would consider it. But I think anything would be a soldering job, and someone with more electronics smarts than me to figure out how to "overclock" it or replace the cpu or upgrade the ram...

Wonder what an SSD drive would do. If anything.

I think if you shopped around the drive price might save you up to $40. I figured it would take me at least a couple hours if not a half a day (I had already "cloned" my drive once successfully), and I was too busy at the time. And we missed our TiVo.

Birdman26

02-21-2010, 03:17 PM

Bad News is right, I figured that was probably the case. Low ended the original build and software got too big. Let you know if I get the same results. That is assuming all goes well.
Cheers,

tivoupgrade

02-22-2010, 10:59 AM

This issue is actually a little bit complicated, because it really has to do more with how you use your TiVo, than anything else.

Firstly, putting in a 'faster' hard drive (e.g. 7200 RPM) or one with a larger cache, will definitely not make a difference, because the bottlenecks in your units' performance lie elsewhere.

The issue has to do with memory in the TiVo unit, and the requirements to use it up when dealing with a growing database. It gets further complicated by the speed of feeding the memory (when more is required and the unit needs to 'swap') and also by cpu speed to a lesser degree.

One way to bring ANY TiVo to its knees is to schedule a LARGE number of season passes on it; that will create MANY dependencies to be cycled through whenever a new season pass is created, or even worse, a season pass is re-prioritized -- the minute you start doing that, the system begins checking, and re-ordering dependencies.

Another way to bring ANY TiVo to its knees is to have a HUGE Now Playing list. I once saw a customer unit (and SVR-2000) where the guy was manually recording commercials. He had about 1000 3-minute recordings on his unit and bringing up the Now Playing list took a VERY long time.

Now... keeping in mind that the design center for many of these older Series2 units was 40-80GB drives... imagine what happens when you put a 320GB drive in one? You are automatically going to end up with Now Playing lists that are much longer than intended, even with what TiVo would consider "normal" use.

This is why units with fresh new drives will initially run very fast (after guided setup is completed and the data is fully populated into the database) but will slow down over time.

Beyond that, there is another thing you can check if you are having sluggish performance. It is rare, but sometimes it is a bad IDE cable. If your unit has an older ATA/33 IDE cable, you'd be best to replace it with an ATA/66 cable. The reason for this is that the older ATA/33 cables only have one line used as a 'ground' for all the other data lines. Sometimes, interference caused by a 'noisy' power supply' can corrupt the data and slow a unit down as it tries to 'correct' bad data (which it can do as long as too much information is not lost). Using an ATA/66 cable gives each data line its own separate ground, and as a result, you will typically get cleaner data in 'noisier' environments. Newer computers use cables like this because the data needs to move much faster and in order to maintain performance, the signal must be relatively clean...

Probably more info than you needed or wanted to know, but hope it is useful.

Lou

mrfixit454

02-22-2010, 11:36 AM

Lou, outstanding summary of what is going on. Thanks for the details

Ramon

Birdman26

02-22-2010, 02:15 PM

Agreed,
Thanks for taking the time to explain what really is going on. Excellent post, very helpfull.
In hindsight, that is exactly what I experienced as my Season past list grew.

sledhed

02-22-2010, 11:08 PM

Lou,
Thanks also for the information. But... there is also some truth in the TiVo software "bloat" issue. When I got the new 320GB drive (db35 but with more cache and 7200 rpm), with a fresh clean install on it, it was still quite a bit slower than it was when we first got it. Even after it got all the guide data and finished updating or indexing it or whatever the terminology is. Noticeable lag bringing up the guide, paging up and down, this with no or few recordings on it and no season passes set up yet. We have never had that many season passes. And it was slow for quite a while (years) before it failed, with the 120GB drive not full. I remember the big stink (it is probably in this thread somewhere) when a certain update came out and EVERYONE was complaining what it did to the speed of these units... they subsequently improved it some but then the slow slide downhill as TiVo added more features to the S2 operating systems.

I can live with it. Sometimes I want to throw the remote through the TV but then I remind myself how annoying TV is without TiVo and calm down. It still is a big time saver - watch when we want to watch, fast-forward through stupid parts or commercials (or through those parts of the olympics you don't care for)... plus the 30-second skip trick... but the newer S2 dual-tuner in the other room (last generation S2DT) responds fairly quickly so it reminds you of how the TX20 used to be.

tivoupgrade

02-22-2010, 11:31 PM

mwizard@gmail.co

02-25-2010, 09:19 PM

This is why using a rewriteable helps once you find a problem - no additional coasters, you can always reuse the rewriteable dvd. Looking at the back does not seem to be a 100% predictable way of figuring out which program won't burn though. We tried to correlate the burn pattern with the program.

If all else fails, and you MUST have that program on dvd, use tivo desktop to transfer to PC, then change the format to mpeg (using videoredo or a free conversion program that I use I forget the name just now), and make a simplistic DVD using a dvd authoring program...

I have found that there is probably a signal in some shows. It is not always consistent. I've recorded a 2nd copy of a show, and found that it fails in the same place when saving it to dvd as well. The failures happen on assorted RW and R media. I had always wondered about what was really happening. I purchased a new VCR/DVD(R/RW) combo unit in the last year. I had many old (really old) VCR tapes (shows recorded over the cable TV system) I was coverting to DVD. And what do you know, on a handful of them died part of the way through the recording. Some during the show, and some during commercials. I found that if I fast forward a couple of minutes or so, I could pick up recording them to DVD again. So I'm of the opinion that on some occassions, for reasons I cannot fully fathom, there is a short temporary signal sent that interrupts DVD recording indicating that 'this cannot be recorded to DVD media'. If it were a long signal, I doubt that I would be able to fast forward a couple of minutes and pick up the rest of the recording. While this works for my old VCR tapes, I have not yet found a way around this for my TiVo recordings. I have ideas, but not enough time and money to try them out.

I suppose there could also be some other intermittent problems too, with bad DVD (R/RW) disks, or even a burner that is going bad. I believe I have had a few of the former, but my current/orginal burner is still going strong (knock on wood).

my 2cents.

Kasmiur

03-03-2010, 10:02 PM

New Owner here... hoping replacement HD gets it working. Looking forward to this wonderful device.

Nikolkis

03-24-2010, 02:26 PM

I have Toshiba RS-TX20! I am with you! I bought this unit in October 2005 and don’t want to leave it! TiVo works fine, I am able to record and view programs, but not able to burn DVD’s :(. It is only one problem of this gadget. But it not upset me, I am pleased.

tahoejoe

03-26-2010, 10:49 PM

Birdman26

04-09-2010, 07:08 AM

Anybody have experience using a new Sata drive with an adapter on this unit?

robomeister

04-09-2010, 11:32 AM

Birdman26,
I've been testing out some sata adapters in several different Series2 TiVos. I haven't had success yet, but there shouldn't be any reason why it shouldn't work. I think I just have incompatible adapters (trying to go cheap on eBay). When I get it to work, I'll post my success story here.

Robomeister

Birdman26

04-10-2010, 08:31 PM

Robomeister,
Working with a Zaffa adapter. Has tivo info on the label and is claimed to be the adapter sent by most upgrade sites when they ship a larger Sata replacemnt drive. I'll try loading it without the adapter and see if that will work. Waiting on a new sata cable.
Cheers

johnnycashish

09-30-2010, 04:56 PM

sledhed

09-30-2010, 05:05 PM

OK, so I am FINALLY in the market for an LCD HDTV. I realize there are HD TiVo units out there so I assume that means that by using my trusty RS-TX20 I will be losing a lot of picture quality (lo-def?). But it will still work, right? Also, I assume that the shows I record will have less quality than if I watched them live on HD but will my day-to-day viewing be hampered? I always watch TV a good 30 minutes after a show starts so I can FF through commercials. Well, does this mean that ALL of the TV I watch will not be in HD quality (even though I watch HD channels and subscribe to HD service through Comcast)? Any words of wisdom you can provide are appreciated!!

JC
Nothing coming out of the tx20 will be any higher def than 480p, so unless you upgrade the tivo or bypass it (and lose the benefit of jumping past commercials), that is what you are stuck with.

I am interested in what LCD TVs work best with standard def myself. We are still 100% standard def at my house because my only option is dish or directv and only the SD stuff works with the Toshiba as far as I know (or care), but would like to replace the old CRT TV eventually.

shwru980r

09-30-2010, 06:41 PM

The size of the screen makes a big difference. Also some HDTVs do a poor job of displaying HD content. They used to rate HD TVs for how well they display SD content, but I'm not sure if they do that anymore. You might need to take your Tivo to the store and test it out on the TVs you're interested in.

sledhed

09-30-2010, 07:34 PM

macgyver58

10-04-2010, 08:24 AM

sledhed

10-04-2010, 03:48 PM

My Toshiba series 2 has finally hit a wall. It will no longer boot up. Gets stuck on "just a few more minutes" I am thinking i need to replace the hard drive whcih is probably worht it since i have a lifetime contract. Any comments?

If you want to keep using it, yes, get an upgrade drive. I got one from a "reputable seller" on eBay, even though I could have installed it myself I did not have the time and I was missing too much TV so I bought one, plugged it in, went through setup again, and enjoyed my expanded 320GB drive...

If you do not want to keep it, sell it with the lifetime included it is still worth a bit (such as to me) ;-)

judge73

10-07-2010, 02:54 PM

Anyone have a problem burning saved programs to DVDs on their RS-TX20? Mine keeps giving me error messages halfway through the save process.

sledhed

10-07-2010, 03:02 PM

Anyone have a problem burning saved programs to DVDs on their RS-TX20? Mine keeps giving me error messages halfway through the save process.
There is tons of information on this problem in this thread. Search is your friend. :D

Had that problem myself, only on certain programs but it was a repeatable issue with those programs. Used TivoToGo and transferred to pc, changed to a standard mpeg format, and burned it there...

Some people reported problems with specific dvd brands, some have had dvd burners fail, some had hard drive failures imminent, could be a lot of things. I switched to DVD-RW for a while to save on coasters, since they are reuseable.

Good luck, and happy searching.

Chip718

10-10-2010, 12:06 PM

lafos

10-17-2010, 07:40 PM

I hope someone can really help me out. I am have a "hardware issue error #51" when I try to view recorded shows. The message told me to restart the DMS and if that didnt work to contact Toshiba. I tried restarting and it didnt work. I called Toshiba and they told me to unplug it for an hour, and if that dodnt workI should try reformating the HDD.

Is it possible to remone the HDD and extract some shows off of it? I have some recording from my video camera on i that I would hate to lose.

Thanks for any help

No, you can't extract any shows. If you have another drive of the same size or larger, you can try a utility called dd_rescue (I think) to try to make a copy of the drive as a way to salvage your shows. Search the upgrade forum for info on options and source of the utility.

pixel123

10-29-2010, 03:51 PM

I've been desperately searching for a way to recover my Toshiba_RS-TX20 Tivo. It currently stays stuck on the welcome screen. I was wondering if anyone has an image or back up file they would be willing to share.

Thank you in advance.

robomeister

10-30-2010, 02:41 PM

PM sent.

pixel123

10-31-2010, 12:49 PM

Thanks Robomeister. I can't seem to send or reply to any PM until I make my 5 posts.

ssr300

11-17-2010, 10:42 PM

We have an RS-TX20 with a Maxtor drive that has completely crashed. I would do the MFS copy thing, but there is nothing left to copy from. Does anyone know where I can find an image for it?

matthewak89

11-24-2010, 08:17 PM

Does anyone know where I could find an image for this model. I corrupted my hard drive.

Thank you :-)

unclepoo

12-04-2010, 06:45 AM

Sorry I wanted to post this as a new post within the "Official Toshiba RS-TX Owners club, but I'm not sure how to do anything but reply.

I have an RS TX60 with Lifetime Basic
Yes it is nice to have the save to DVD option. and I recently upgraded the hard drive as it was failing.

More important to me is No Monthly FEES :)

That said, I seen through the menu something about Downloading things from Amazon etc..
I'd like to do that, it says I have to hook up my computer to a network.
Well My Tivo is hooked up wirelessly through my Dlink DI-624 router. to the Internet
but not specifically hooked up to my computer.

Is there a way to stream movies, pictures music, etc... from a computer to an RS TX unit?

is there a way to do this without subscribing to plus with a monthly fee?
I have recently downloaded Tivo Desktop, but can't seem to figure out how to connect it on the tivo end.
And I can't find anything on an media access key in my tivo menu.

Please respond if you have successfully streamed from a computer to an RS unit.
Thanks in advance
unclepoo

mrfixit454

12-04-2010, 11:17 PM

I am pretty sure you can't do any of those things with basic. I think the amazons movies are downloads, not streaming, but there are no features with basic.. no USB, no Season pass,only 3 day guide, which some of these you probalby already know.

I don't think you can stream with a TX. That said, Tivo just sent me an offer for my unit since I am a "loyal customer". $299 for lifetime on my TX120 which was not available for lifetime 5 or so years ago when I bought it and not until recently. I bit and did it. Going to network it as soon and my Ethernet adapter comes in.

shwru980r

12-11-2010, 04:52 PM

I think it's risky to pay $299 for lifetime service on a 5 year old Tivo. You could have easily bought a used stand alone S2 with lifetime service for $150 or less.

mrfixit454

12-11-2010, 08:13 PM

Risky.. sure.....a risk I am willing to take. There are companies that can fix these. The unit you describe does not have the DVD burner. I like the simple interface without using tivo desktop and other software. Why Tivo has dropped this I don't know.... maybe HD. My 5 year old unit has been rock solid. I bought it refurbished then and besides a new hard drive after 4 years, there have been no issues. Not even rebooting issues like my Directv Tivo units.

I recently hooked the Toshiba and Humax together with a crossover cable. I have never seen or used the MRV before so I am testing it out in the bedroom. Once I mess with it for a while, I will throw them on the network, move one to the living room and check them out with Tivo desktop.

Fixit

shwru980r

12-12-2010, 01:10 AM

Chester_Lampwick

12-13-2010, 08:50 AM

Can you record shows to dvd that have been transferred from another Tivo? I think I read that you can't do that. You might want to test that out.

Nope, you can't burn transferred programs.

I agree with mrfixit454. These are uniquely great TiVos. I find being able to share by burning a DVD the ultimate in convenience. Kids DVDs for the car.

Wish the DRM lobby would loosen up so I could buy a HD unit with BlueRay burner. Till then, I'm keeping my SD TiVos and CRTs....

slyone

12-13-2010, 09:18 AM

mrfixit454

12-15-2010, 01:25 AM

I've got an rs-tx20 which still works good....I probably should do a hdd backup/replacement...shouldn't I ?
I remember doing 1 of my S3hd's when I 1st got it, Thanks to the folks around here!:up: The hdd a 20g Pata probably? Any preferences and/or limits....suggestions? Thanks!:)

If the drive is 4 years or so old.. yes. I have had success with SATA drives and the PATA (IDE) Backplane adapter in my HR10-250. I used the MFSLive Boot CD method. My Brother-in-law used the WIN MFS version. I used a Western Digital 1 Terabyte drive. Will be putting a similar 1T in my Humax DVD unit when I move it to the living room.

slyone

12-27-2010, 05:49 PM

what are the best choices when upgrading internal drive?

robos965

01-03-2011, 01:57 AM

I'm looking for a TOSHIBA RS-TX60 image, if anyone can help thanks in advance

unclepoo

03-25-2011, 04:39 PM

:)

I have classic cable feeding 4 TV's, Our cable company is slowly removing All Analog channels
They should be done providing any analog cable channels by the end of this year (2011)
We already have had to get miniboxes in order to get channels we already pay for.
For the price we pay for classic cable we could order Satellite (Dish or Direct) get a larger and better selection of channels,
and music, PLUS an Interactive TV guide. Digital cable with the minibox does not provide
an interactive guide, and your channels are limited to classic, if you want an interactive guide, and or
more channels, you are renting a new Cable box @ $15 a month.

We have 1 RS-TX60 and 2 RS-TX20 (s) which while hooked up to cable
do provide a 3 day interactive guide with no fee's and of course the abililty to record, and pause live tv, etc.
with Tivo Basic.

Does anyone have Dish Network, or Direct TV with the RS-TX20 or RS-TX60 ?
what are your experiences?
if you purchase the local channels through Dish or Direct does it show on the Dish or Direct guide?
does it show on the Tivo guide?

@ this point I am open to any suggestions, I also noticed for a 4 TV Set with Dish would take only 2 receivers
and I found out that they do have an TV2toIR converter, which means theoretically the multiple Tivo's would be able
to change the channels of either TV1 or TV2

Please anyone with experience with The RS-TX20 or RS-TX60 and Satellite (Dish or Direct)
please respond with your experiences and suggestions.
Thanks in advance

mrfixit454

03-26-2011, 09:39 PM

I have TX-120 and Directv. I use a Sony SAT-A55 wit the Tivo serial cable to change the channels (no IR) The guide that it uses for directTV or any other input source is "TV Guide" or Tivo guide as you call it. I have had no issues with the Toshiba and Directv.. going on about 5 years with this setup.

Fixit

shwru980r

03-28-2011, 02:16 PM

With satellite, you won't be able to change channels while the Tivo is recording unless you rent a second tuner. With cable you can get the free DTA boxes for channel surfing while the tivo uses the cable box.

unclepoo

03-28-2011, 03:50 PM

Thanks Mr. Fixit for your reply, I am glad to hear it's working well, I was actually leaning towards Dish, However I did look, and what Direct
offers on it's "Choice" package closely matches what we get from our classic cable package, plus of course many other channels plus music channels that we don't get from our classic cable package. Is it true that Direct no longer charges for locals? at this point my main problem with Direct is the $6 dollar rental of each reciever after the first one, this add's $18 to my monthly bill in addition to my package. I still think it's a better value
however at least if I have to go to a box whether with Dish or Direct, I get more channels, and an Interactive guide, For the same or more money I get fewer channels from cable, and no interactive guide on these miniboxes, I have to pay $15 a month extra per cable box if I want more channels, and or the interactive guide. as For DVR fee's I own multiple no fee Tivo Basic units.

unclepoo

03-28-2011, 04:01 PM

Thank you shwru980r, Yes, I know I can't change the channel while recording, or watch one while recording another, I do this infrequently, but I do it, and switching to satellite would not give me this option, unless I rent another box, however the bulk of my TV watching is through the single tuner tivo basic with no fee's, I can watch either live tv, or a recorded show, The DTA's are only temporarily free, they will charge for them a small fee, however for the price I am paying for classic cable I can get many more channels that I would like, plus an interactive guide whether hooked up to my Tivo or not providing I switch to either Dish or Direct, being that this is the case, I am betting that many who would have stayed away from Satellite TV will now consider it for the first time just as I am.

junkydave

04-10-2011, 12:23 PM

I have a unit and need tecnical support. The unit shut down and I will get start up screen but, after a minute or so I get blue/gray screen. I have disconnected everything, tried numerous restarts and have determined taht either the hard drive and/or power supply is bad. Can someone guide me in deteriming which one and are parts readally available? The lights on front stay lit, the fan runs, but, no other real signs of life except that the heatsinks do get warm. It had a dvd stuck in it and I removed the face and hit eject on drive and it spit out dvd so, it at least has power for that. I read alittle on the hard drives and the only number that pops up is Seagate DB35. Is this a suitable drive? Is there one better and are the upgarded versions available?

unclepoo

04-11-2011, 08:51 AM

[QUOTE=junkydave;8469121]Can someone guide me in deteriming which one and are parts readally available? The lights on front stay lit, the fan runs,

Dave, based on what you wrote, I am (Only Guessing) that it's the hard drive
as you have said, it had a DVD stuck in it, but pressing the eject released it.
you have a couple of options.
Weaknees has a troubleshooting part on their site that you can read your symptoms, and determine which is most likely
http://www.weaknees.com/repair.php

they also offer Flat-fee repair service for $149
http://www.weaknees.com/flat-fee-tivo-repair.php

now if it turns out that the problem is something other than the hard drive
this would be your best bet. If however it is the hard drive, you could get a better deal elsewhere on an upgrade kit with the software already loaded.

I gambled that it was my hard drive and I got a better deal on an upgrade kit
at DVRstore.com http://dvrstore.com/default.php (I am very happy with my upgrade from the 160gb to a 500gb hard drive, and I have had no problems.:)

now through weaknees and dvrstore.com you can purchase a drive to replace yours with the software already loaded on it, otherwise you have to have an image of the software and load it on the drive itself, now unless you already have an image you will have to get one, if your hard drive is damaged that rules out it as a source of the image as it's probably corrupted.

you don't necessarily need this exact drive, however if you want it yes just type in db35 at google, and click the shopping button, and you will see multiple places for you to purchase this drive.

now for your tivo software needed, there are two sources I know about
MFSlive http://www.mfslive.org/tivofaq.htm
or Instantcake http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake.cfm
in my case I decided on gambling on the hard drive being the problem, and instead of selecting a drive, and trying to use instantcake, I decided to buy a drive from DVRstore.com with the software already loaded on it, I am happy I did and I had no problems at all.

Good luck

unclepoo

04-11-2011, 09:24 AM

junkydave]I have a unit and need tecnical support. The unit shut down and I will get start up screen but, after a minute or so I get blue/gray screen.

Dave my first reply is correct with the exception of my guess on the hard drive (oops) :o
having went to the weaknees diagnosis link I posted, and using the info from your post on the blue/gray screen, it appears the most likely culprit is either a bad power supply, or a defect in a chip on the motherboard.

here's the diagnosis link
http://www.weaknees.com/repair.php

they will also help you with the diagnosis personally via email
http://www.weaknees.com/repair-contact.php
this is my recommendation, contact them with the above link for help with the diagnosis

power supplys could be had here
http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-power-supply.php

and flat fee repair here
http://www.weaknees.com/flat-fee-tivo-repair.php

Good luck:)

Dimitri

06-16-2011, 02:21 PM

Hi,
I have been looking at a Toshiba RS-TX60, is it possible to change out the old DVD-R drive to a Dual Format one?(one that does both +R and -R) You would think that since the software is being updated by them when you call in that they would update with support for newer tech. A bit leery of any Tivo stuff after what a DRT-400 did tho.

I had gotten a DRT-400 which did work till it phoned in(I did not know beforehand that these things took control over you instead of a normal thing you buy and YOU decide what you want it to do and not without being forced into it, pissed me off badly, made me NOT want to pay for something I am about being held hostage and forced to do(The Tivo Service) just to get something I bought back to the way it was working when I got it, does not seem right that something can force a change on my stuff) I used it just a couple of times(the DRT-400) and it was fully working(till it phoned in). Anyway, I am going to get rid of that, I had picked up an old ReplayTV Showstopper that did not work right for real cheap and got it working very easily with a larger drive(did not have to do any weird stuff I hear people having to do on Tivo), but it does not have a burner inside like the DRT-400, it is a pain to have to burn a dvd to another unit in real time. been looking at an RS-TX60 but it only supports DVD-r.
This all would have been so simple(and how I logically thought I should be able to do) if the dang Tivo just kept doing what it did when I got it.
Can't afford high dollar stuff and most of what I have I have got because It was cheap cuz it needed fixing... Need to sell off this ReplayTV(works perfectly now) if I am to get something else.
It is so simple in my head... But others seem to make it hard on me.

Or what other unit is there that is a HDD/DVD recorder with maybe the TV Guide service for free that can be gotten reasonably?
Thanks!

Dimitri

06-18-2011, 12:45 PM

Geez,
Everything just keeps going this way, It never fails I have perfect WRONG timing! Almost every single time there has been something I like, or decided I want, finally said "thats the one!" or "thats the way", or had gone to work at a job that was fine how it was, next month or the next day someone decides to change it.... how can everything almost always go so perfectly wrong? It is friggin ironic! I have been tired of getting the rug pulled out from under me for way too long now, been doing this to me for decades.

NOW they are going to stop the Replay Guide Service! That is what I was worried about Tivo doing the minute I get one, So I decided on the Replay, So again the evil demon that likes to screw people said hey look, he decided on that, well we gotta screw that up for him now.

I think I just need to make everything myself(I wish I had the resouces) and have it have NOTHING to do with anybody elses ANYTHING and only then will nobody have the control to change what I thought was just fine. But probably the minute I was able to do that somebody would find some way to screw up my situation... Communists would take over or Aliens(Ha?) would come and...

But anyway, I don't have my own big company and $$$ to do so, so...

I want a unit that does not use Tivo or Replay or whatever, one that just uses the good old free TV Guide online. But I am almost sure that if I get one of those that TV Guide will cease to exist or something with my dang friggin, annoying, aggrivating, depressing, outside influences will not let hardly anything go right, BAD LUCK! A meteor will hit the headquarters and they will give it up or somebody will buy em out just to shut it down or something. Things just keep on reaffirming yet again and again. I don't know why I do anything at all anymore, cuz it will just go nowhere cuz someone else is going to screw it up for me... Fricken Frack and every cuss word and I just want to throw all these units out the door.

Tired and fed up with it all and at a loss...

I think this already IS Hell, we gotta be good enuff Here that our spirits, our electrical soul charge will not be attracted to this place when we die and we can leave(break free) and join the others.

Good luck to all good, and hope you make it.

:0)

unclepoo

06-20-2011, 09:20 AM

is it possible to change out the old DVD-R drive to a Dual Format one?
Hi Dimitri, I doubt it, it's probably set up in the software to only allow for the DVD-R
and if this is the case, then certainly when it phoned home for guide information it would most likely reset it, if any changes were made to it. If you already have such a drive it shouldn't hurt the unit to test it, so you could just pull the unit if it didn't. My RS TX 60 burns quickly with the tivo menu and is very nice and luckily it does burn on the most compatible DVD-R format so you could throw the dvd-r into practically anything and it would play, however if you have a bunch of DVD+R blanks you are most likely out of luck.
If you already do have such a drive to test, please post the results as I am sure more will want to know

robomeister

06-20-2011, 11:05 AM

Dimitri,

The DVD writer in the Toshiba and Humax units are capable of writing to DVD-R and DVD+R media right out of the box. However, the software is not capable of doing that. This is TiVo's decision. It's their software, so they can do what they want.

Also, you can try putting in a DVD writer that can do Dual Layer, but again, the software will not recognize the Dual Layer media. So it won't burn to it either.

Sorry for the bad news, but that's the way it is until TiVo decides to change it. (Which is highly unlikely.)

robomeister

Dimitri

06-20-2011, 02:03 PM

Hiya Robo and Uncle,
Thanks for answering, thought I was going to get no reply.
Who is/are the idiot(s) at Tivo that is in control of the software? Geez, the thing COULD do stuff but they don't let it, like another nah nah nah nah, I got control and I am not going to let you do that even tho it could, HaHaHa....

I wish I could make my own company that does everything I need LOL. Make my own parts for my car how I want and other people would want, make my own DVRs n all, then I would not get hit by someone elses gotchas and control deals.

Thanks again, I feel like I have just been beaten, literally and figuratively, and thrown into a hole with no way out. (from the past Tivo and Replay experiences and all I am trying to seemingly simply do, that just seems to have no logical answer or way cuz of others stipulations or deciding to can(trash, cease, discontinue, change, etc) something just when I decide that is what I want) Tired of fighting a losing battle.

Don't worry, Be Happy...

Peace.