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

sledhed

08-28-2008, 01:19 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, 10:04 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, 04:21 AM

Chester_Lampwick

08-31-2008, 02:45 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, 01:35 AM

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

herc9

09-04-2008, 01:03 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, 09:05 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, 01:04 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, 10:49 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, 09:07 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, 11:23 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, 06:18 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, 08:27 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, 08:54 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, 07:10 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, 06:28 PM

Kracko

09-16-2008, 08:28 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, 07:38 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, 10:37 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, 11:45 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, 07:09 PM

EvilMidniteBombr

09-22-2008, 09:33 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, 02:36 PM

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

mrfixit454

09-23-2008, 01:16 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, 12:35 PM

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, 11:19 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, 02:05 PM

sledhed

09-24-2008, 02:13 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, 02:24 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, 02:33 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, 03:13 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, 03:19 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, 03:47 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, 03:50 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, 03:57 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, 06:43 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

09-26-2008, 12:28 AM

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, 08:52 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, 09:23 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, 09:53 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, 11:00 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, 09:12 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, 03:30 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, 04:05 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, 04:17 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, 04:44 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, 04:46 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, 06:00 PM

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

gadgetguru

10-03-2008, 06:06 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, 03:09 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, 03:37 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, 10:16 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, 10:37 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, 12:51 PM

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, 03:02 AM

windracer

11-11-2008, 08:05 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, 12:08 PM

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, 01:59 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, 03:27 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, 10:50 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, 11:08 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, 03:53 PM

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

chefebe

11-24-2008, 12:04 PM

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, 12:52 PM

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, 12:53 PM

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, 02:54 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, 05:23 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, 09:26 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, 01:24 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, 08:22 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, 11:16 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, 08:27 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, 10:43 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, 04:05 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, 10:24 PM

Where can i find the tx20 backup image?

hoobastodd

12-28-2008, 11:08 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, 08:09 AM

azitnay

01-05-2009, 09:58 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, 11:13 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, 11:32 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, 11:38 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, 10:10 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, 10:51 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, 11:53 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, 07:11 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, 01:32 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, 01:40 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, 04:24 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, 05:48 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, 07:01 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, 04:20 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, 04:49 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, 10:50 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, 06:42 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, 07:05 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

01-28-2009, 12:22 AM

Kracko

01-28-2009, 01:26 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, 01:30 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, 02:36 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, 08:51 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, 11:14 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, 11:17 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, 05:43 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, 10:45 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, 05:52 AM

dizzydeane

02-01-2009, 07:33 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, 09:44 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, 08:11 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, 04:51 PM

k6_user

02-05-2009, 05:17 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, 06:43 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, 05:59 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, 06:13 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, 07:13 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, 10:27 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, 05:14 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, 07:59 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, 08:12 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, 08:43 PM

1010101

02-16-2009, 09:12 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, 08:27 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, 08:43 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, 02:59 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, 03:03 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, 04:16 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, 04:37 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, 09:56 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, 04:39 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, 01:24 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, 04:27 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, 10:20 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, 10:25 PM

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

Drew

windracer

03-11-2009, 09:05 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, 04:50 PM

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

gcpm03

03-18-2009, 05:33 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, 08:55 PM

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

Drew

willieboy

03-19-2009, 01:10 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, 08:43 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, 08:58 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, 09:49 PM

gcpm03

03-20-2009, 10:35 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, 09:58 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, 05:03 PM

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

azitnay

03-24-2009, 05:06 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, 10:43 AM

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

mk678

04-07-2009, 03:54 AM

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

gcpm03

04-23-2009, 08:13 PM

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

gcpm03

04-23-2009, 09:14 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, 01:38 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, 01:40 PM

No, MRV is a TiVo Plus feature.

Drew

susandennis

07-07-2009, 01:44 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, 08:21 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, 08:41 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, 09:43 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, 11:16 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, 10:29 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, 02:23 PM

kelleyer

08-13-2009, 03:41 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, 07:38 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, 01:11 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, 06:34 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, 03:58 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, 08:38 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, 08:46 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, 03:46 PM

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

Drew

robomeister

10-20-2009, 10:38 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, 05:31 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, 06:56 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, 05:15 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, 01:41 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, 06:21 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, 07:02 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, 07:09 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, 07:20 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, 07:48 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, 07:51 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, 03:31 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...