Intermittent Recording My Panasonic DVR-EH75V sometimes records scheduled programs, and somethimes it quits after 5 seconds. The problem arises for both recordings set using the TV Guide and the cable box and recordings set manually to be taken straight from the cable. Sometimes, they work; sometimes not. I already have reset the machine to the factory settings and gone through the setup and also already have reformatted the hard drive. I upgraded the firmware a few years ago but can't figure out on the Panasonic site what the most current release is (or even if the patches are cumulative).

Jeff- Many thanks for your post. I'm not sure what you mean by changing the video format. Where do I find that? And why would it matter only some of the time? I have quadruple checked my settings. I am recording to the HD. Please advise how to check the firmware, also what is the most recent version and where to get it. NEW INFO: In the History on the Schedule, the programs that did not record show up with broken red balls on the right. Info says "Recording was stopped by the system. Reason: Error has occurred/stopped recording." The elapsed time is 00:00:05. I would appreciate any advice you can give me. David Jeff- Many thanks for your post. I'm not sure what you mean by changing the video format. Where do I find that? And why would it matter only some of the time? I have quadruple checked my settings. I am recording to the HD. Please advise how to check the firmware, also what is the most recent version and where to get it. NEW INFO: In the History on the Schedule, the programs that did not record show up with broken red balls on the right. Info says "Recording was stopped by the system. Reason: Error has occurred/stopped recording." The elapsed time is 00:00:05. I would appreciate any advice you can give me. David

I believe I have found the solution to my own problem of intermittent recording on the Panasonic DMR EH75V. It’s a long story, but the ending is that I low level reformatted and then checked the hard drive (a Samsung 80 GB model SV0802N), and now all seems to be running fine. The solution exceeds the message length allowed by FixYa, so i am breaking it into sevel parts.



The Machine:



Is a dream. It has a hard drive with room for over 30 hours of programming at Standard Play (more at Long or Extended Play), as well as a DVD and a VHS drive. It can record to or play from any of the drives, and copying from any of them to any of them is a snap. (Great for transferring your old VHS recordings to a DVD.) Editing programs on the hard drive, including adding chapters for easy navigation, is quite simple. Copying a program of up to two hours from the hard drive to a DVD takes only minutes. (Longer programs take longer.) Programming the machine to record via the cable box or directly off the cable is quite easy (once you figure it out). The machine has all types of input and output jacks, including an HDMI out.



When my DMR started acting up, I tried to buy a new one, but it’s not made anymore. In fact, hard drive recorders are hard to find generally. (Maybe it’s because the drives themselves fail too often – read on.) And I certainly couldn’t find one with a DVD and VHS drive, too.



The Problem:



After years of faithful service, my Panasonic DMR EH75V became undependable. Sometimes, it would perform scheduled recordings just fine; sometimes not. There was no rhyme or reason to when it would work and when it wouldn’t. Whether the recording was scheduled using the TV Guide or manually, whether it was to record via the cable box or just directly off the cable, whether it was a one time or a weekly recording – nothing mattered. Sometimes the show would be recorded, sometimes not. For weekly recordings, sometimes one week would work and another one wouldn’t. When the DMR did not work, it would start just fine and then stop after 5 seconds. In the History on the Schedule, the programs that did not record would show up with broken red balls on the right. Info would say "Recording was stopped by the system. Reason: Error has occurred/stopped recording." The elapsed time would be 00:00:05.



The Caveats:



This solution worked for me. I do not know if it will work for you. Try it at your own risk. If it works for you, great. If not, please do not blame me. I can accept no responsibility if your machine does not work or is made worse by the attempt to fix it.



This procedure requires opening up the DMR, removing the hard drive and working on the hard drive. I assume it will void any warranty you may have. If so, please do not blame me.



This procedure probably will erase any programs you already have recorded on the hard drive. Be sure to copy to DVDs any programs you want to keep. If you lose any programs, please do not blame me. I believe I have found the solution to my own problem of intermittent recording on the Panasonic DMR EH75V. It’s a long story, but the ending is that I low level reformatted and then checked the hard drive (a Samsung 80 GB model SV0802N), and now all seems to be running fine. The solution exceeds the message length allowed by FixYa, so i am breaking it into sevel parts.

The Machine:

Is a dream. It has a hard drive with room for over 30 hours of programming at Standard Play (more at Long or Extended Play), as well as a DVD and a VHS drive. It can record to or play from any of the drives, and copying from any of them to any of them is a snap. (Great for transferring your old VHS recordings to a DVD.) Editing programs on the hard drive, including adding chapters for easy navigation, is quite simple. Copying a program of up to two hours from the hard drive to a DVD takes only minutes. (Longer programs take longer.) Programming the machine to record via the cable box or directly off the cable is quite easy (once you figure it out). The machine has all types of input and output jacks, including an HDMI out.

When my DMR started acting up, I tried to buy a new one, but it’s not made anymore. In fact, hard drive recorders are hard to find generally. (Maybe it’s because the drives themselves fail too often – read on.) And I certainly couldn’t find one with a DVD and VHS drive, too.

The Problem:

After years of faithful service, my Panasonic DMR EH75V became undependable. Sometimes, it would perform scheduled recordings just fine; sometimes not. There was no rhyme or reason to when it would work and when it wouldn’t. Whether the recording was scheduled using the TV Guide or manually, whether it was to record via the cable box or just directly off the cable, whether it was a one time or a weekly recording – nothing mattered. Sometimes the show would be recorded, sometimes not. For weekly recordings, sometimes one week would work and another one wouldn’t. When the DMR did not work, it would start just fine and then stop after 5 seconds. In the History on the Schedule, the programs that did not record would show up with broken red balls on the right. Info would say "Recording was stopped by the system. Reason: Error has occurred/stopped recording." The elapsed time would be 00:00:05.

The Caveats:

This solution worked for me. I do not know if it will work for you. Try it at your own risk. If it works for you, great. If not, please do not blame me. I can accept no responsibility if your machine does not work or is made worse by the attempt to fix it.

This procedure requires opening up the DMR, removing the hard drive and working on the hard drive. I assume it will void any warranty you may have. If so, please do not blame me.

This procedure probably will erase any programs you already have recorded on the hard drive. Be sure to copy to DVDs any programs you want to keep. If you lose any programs, please do not blame me.

This is Part 2. Prior Efforts:

I called Panasonic about a billion times. They are clueless. They had me run the format function on the hard drive (copy whatever you care about first, go to Functions, Other Functions, Disk Management and Format). No go. They had me restore the setup to the factory settings (hold the channel up and channel down buttons together for 10 seconds). No go. They had me download and install the latest firmware. A story in itself, since there are various versions of the firmware on the website, and Panasonic can?t seem to figure out which one is the most current full install. Suffice it to say no go. They had me hold the Power button down for 10 seconds (to unfreeze the system, even though it was not frozen). No go. I arranged for them to have a senior technician call me. Never happened. I thought about sending the machine to them, but based upon others? comments on the web, and since the problem was intermittent, I figured Panasonic would just tell me that the DMR was fine and working properly. Did I mention that Panasonic was clueless?

The Solution:

I figured there must be bad spots on the hard drive, so I low level reformatted it using a computer and ran chkdsk. After about 3 weeks of hard use, the DMR seems to be working fine.

How to Do It:

You will need a Phillips head screwdriver and a computer that has a parallel (IDE) connector for the second hard drive. You also will need a small bowl to hold the screws you remove and the jumper you may need to remove from the hard drive. You may need a utility for formatting a drive larger than 32GB in FAT32.

Copy any programs you don?t want to lose.

Remember you will probably be voiding your warranty.

Remember you may be destroying your machine.

Make a diagram for all of your wires and then disconnect all of them. Especially the external power cord.

Remove the cover by taking out 4 screws from the sides and 3 from the edges of the back. Put all the screws in the bowl so you don?t lose them.

Unplug the power cord (white plug) and parallel connector (long rectangular plug) from the hard drive.

Remove the housing for the hard drive by taking out 4 inside screws and 2 screws from the back. Note that you probably will not be able to put one of the inside screws back ? no worries. Put all the screws in the bowl ?.

Remove the hard drive from the housing by taking out 4 screws. Put all the screws ?.

Look at the jumper and the diagram on the hard drive for the jumper settings. The jumper probably is set for CS or Cable Select. Reset the jumper to Slave. (Depending on your drive, setting it to Slave may mean removing the jumper entirely. If so, put it ?.)

With the external power cord to your computer unplugged, open the computer and connect the hard drive to a spare parallel connector in your computer and a spare internal power cord.

Reconnect the external power cord to your computer and boot it up.

If you?re lucky, your computer will ?see? the drive as a FAT32 drive. If so, you can skip the formatting steps if you want to and go right to fixing the drive. (Skipping formatting may save your programs, but you already backed them up, right?) I was not so lucky. So I had to format the drive. This is Part 2. Prior Efforts: I called Panasonic about a billion times. They are clueless. They had me run the format function on the hard drive (copy whatever you care about first, go to Functions, Other Functions, Disk Management and Format). No go. They had me restore the setup to the factory settings (hold the channel up and channel down buttons together for 10 seconds). No go. They had me download and install the latest firmware. A story in itself, since there are various versions of the firmware on the website, and Panasonic can?t seem to figure out which one is the most current full install. Suffice it to say no go. They had me hold the Power button down for 10 seconds (to unfreeze the system, even though it was not frozen). No go. I arranged for them to have a senior technician call me. Never happened. I thought about sending the machine to them, but based upon others? comments on the web, and since the problem was intermittent, I figured Panasonic would just tell me that the DMR was fine and working properly. Did I mention that Panasonic was clueless? The Solution: I figured there must be bad spots on the hard drive, so I low level reformatted it using a computer and ran chkdsk. After about 3 weeks of hard use, the DMR seems to be working fine. How to Do It: You will need a Phillips head screwdriver and a computer that has a parallel (IDE) connector for the second hard drive. You also will need a small bowl to hold the screws you remove and the jumper you may need to remove from the hard drive. You may need a utility for formatting a drive larger than 32GB in FAT32. Copy any programs you don?t want to lose. Remember you will probably be voiding your warranty. Remember you may be destroying your machine. Make a diagram for all of your wires and then disconnect all of them. Especially the external power cord. Remove the cover by taking out 4 screws from the sides and 3 from the edges of the back. Put all the screws in the bowl so you don?t lose them. Unplug the power cord (white plug) and parallel connector (long rectangular plug) from the hard drive. Remove the housing for the hard drive by taking out 4 inside screws and 2 screws from the back. Note that you probably will not be able to put one of the inside screws back ? no worries. Put all the screws in the bowl ?. Remove the hard drive from the housing by taking out 4 screws. Put all the screws ?. Look at the jumper and the diagram on the hard drive for the jumper settings. The jumper probably is set for CS or Cable Select. Reset the jumper to Slave. (Depending on your drive, setting it to Slave may mean removing the jumper entirely. If so, put it ?.) With the external power cord to your computer unplugged, open the computer and connect the hard drive to a spare parallel connector in your computer and a spare internal power cord. Reconnect the external power cord to your computer and boot it up. If you?re lucky, your computer will ?see? the drive as a FAT32 drive. If so, you can skip the formatting steps if you want to and go right to fixing the drive. (Skipping formatting may save your programs, but you already backed them up, right?) I was not so lucky. So I had to format the drive.