DVR-530H-S - Devastating news!

BrianF

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Following a discussion with Pioneer UK yesterday (when they told me the failure of the DVR to output a widescreen picture was due to the way Sky is broadcast), I discovered that, when I adjust the Sony TV in an attempt to get a full picture in playback mode, none of the five settings (14:9, 4:3, zoom, wide or smart) give a true 16:9 picture. Automatic format detection gives a true 16:9 picture when viewing the satellite broadcasts direct from the Digibox.
Another aggravating feature is that the DVR also holds the format flag down, making it necessary to turn the DVR to stand-by before you can return to automatic format detection when switching back to direct satellite reception.
Pioneer UK say it is impossible to change this situation.
While Pioneer may claim that Sky uses a non-standard broadcasting technique, I can't see why they can't handle that signal in the same way that the TV manufacturers do.
Has anyone else encountered these problems or are they unique to this make/model? :thumbsdow
 
'Wide' setting should be a direct equivalent of 16:9. It certainly is in every TV set I've ever come across, including my daughter's Sony CRT TV.

Regards

Mark
 
I have a DVR-530H and have never had any problems with screen aspect switching. I have a Panasonic PF10 television.
 
Following advice in another thread, it seems that only the TV scart on the Digibox carries the format flag. I swapped the two Scarts and all is working correctly. Strange that Pioneer UK were prepared to let me think their box was inadequate.
 
BrianF said:
Following advice in another thread, it seems that only the TV scart on the Digibox carries the format flag. I swapped the two Scarts and all is working correctly. Strange that Pioneer UK were prepared to let me think their box was inadequate.
I could never get this to work with Sky and the Pioneer 520. They told me it does not support Pin 8 switching used by Sky and the 530 is no different. I am using the TV SCART. It works fine with a Freeview box, which uses Line 23 aspect switching.

If you record a programme that has mixed aspects (e.g. 16:9 on Sky One with 4:3 adverts) are you sure the TV switches aspects automatically when played back from the Pioneer?
 
MikeMcr said:
I could never get this to work with Sky and the Pioneer 520. They told me it does not support Pin 8 switching used by Sky and the 530 is no different. I am using the TV SCART. It works fine with a Freeview box, which uses Line 23 aspect switching.

If you record a programme that has mixed aspects (e.g. 16:9 on Sky One with 4:3 adverts) are you sure the TV switches aspects automatically when played back from the Pioneer?

I'm not yet into mixed aspect record as I'm interfering with family viewing by 'playing around' with my new toy. However, another tip given to me was to make sure the TV/DVD switch is set to 'TV mode'. This seems to enable screen format detection both via the DVR and direct to the TV.
I had the same story from Pioneer UK but it seems they were wrong.
 
Earlier I stated that I have no problems with aspect switching. On reflection I can amplify this a bit.

I mainly record from freeview and have no problems at all, recordings are played in the correct ratio. However when I record from Sky+, transfering recordings from the Sky HDD, the widescreen switching signal is not maintained resulting in a squashed 4:3 picture and the need for manual switching to 16:9 on the TV.

When the recorder is in standby all programs from all sources are correctly displayed.

This seems to confirm what has been said that the 530 cannot detect the switching signal from a Sky box, but can pass it through to the TV ok.
 
Phantom Phixer said:
Earlier I stated that I have no problems with aspect switching. On reflection I can amplify this a bit.

I mainly record from freeview and have no problems at all, recordings are played in the correct ratio. However when I record from Sky+, transfering recordings from the Sky HDD, the widescreen switching signal is not maintained resulting in a squashed 4:3 picture and the need for manual switching to 16:9 on the TV.

When the recorder is in standby all programs from all sources are correctly displayed.

This seems to confirm what has been said that the 530 cannot detect the switching signal from a Sky box, but can pass it through to the TV ok.

Following your advice, the wide-screen auto detection is now working fine chez-moi. The Guide Plus+ download is still unresolved and I cannot get the clock to auto set to UK time on the Digibox RF output although it happily sets to Dutch1 time. Presumably these two issues are related.
 
Phantom Phixer said:
This seems to confirm what has been said that the 530 cannot detect the switching signal from a Sky box, but can pass it through to the TV ok.
Yes, it passes through fine but when turned on or recording it gets ignored. This is very disappointing and Pioneer clearly have no intention to fix it.
 
MikeMcr said:
Yes, it passes through fine but when turned on or recording it gets ignored. This is very disappointing and Pioneer clearly have no intention to fix it.

Not sure if I am understanding you guys correctly but, since I swapped the Scart connections on the Digibox, I can now record a 16:9 broadcast and it plays back in 16:9.
 
BrianF said:
Not sure if I am understanding you guys correctly but, since I swapped the Scart connections on the Digibox, I can now record a 16:9 broadcast and it plays back in 16:9.
If the Sky box was already outputing 16:9 when you turned the recorder on, it will work. However, if the programme changes aspect at any point while recording, it won't. This could happen if a timed recording switches on during 4:3 adverts and then the 16:9 programme starts; it will get recorded in 4:3. Unlike when connected to Freeview, which works as expected.
 
MikeMcr said:
If the Sky box was already outputing 16:9 when you turned the recorder on, it will work. However, if the programme changes aspect at any point while recording, it won't. This could happen if a timed recording switches on during 4:3 adverts and then the 16:9 programme starts; it will get recorded in 4:3. Unlike when connected to Freeview, which works as expected.

Ah! I see! As a newbie, I am still encountering strange behaviour of the 530 and had already noted that the format switching is rather bizarre. If you start from 'off' and switch on the satellite box last in the sequence then the 530 and the TV pick up the format flag but it can get horrendously confusing at times.
 
BrianF said:
Following your advice, the wide-screen auto detection is now working fine chez-moi. The Guide Plus+ download is still unresolved and I cannot get the clock to auto set to UK time on the Digibox RF output although it happily sets to Dutch1 time. Presumably these two issues are related.

My 530 did not change the time today. I had it set to AUTO using BBC1. After manually changing the time I went back to auto and set it again and the time jumped forward an hour. On checking BBC teletext I found they were still on summer time, this was at 9 am GMT. ITV and Channel 4 were showing the correct time so I attempted an auto set using ITV, this also went back to BST. I tried again using Channel 4 and this worked correctly.
 
Phantom Phixer said:
My 530 did not change the time today. I had it set to AUTO using BBC1. After manually changing the time I went back to auto and set it again and the time jumped forward an hour. On checking BBC teletext I found they were still on summer time, this was at 9 am GMT. ITV and Channel 4 were showing the correct time so I attempted an auto set using ITV, this also went back to BST. I tried again using Channel 4 and this worked correctly.
Ceefax is displaying the banner "Technical fault affecting timestamp" so any device which uses Ceefax (most Panasonic devices in our house) will have the wrong time.
 
First, make sure the 530 is in DVD mode. Press TV/DVD on the handset so you get DVD. The TV setting is to allow the TV to send a signal to the 530 for Direct Record, and uses the bidirectional scart facility, which is incompatible with RGB, so you get composite default and for some reason the 16:9 format switching disappears.
Assuming you are using RGB to the TV, you will notice a change in picture quality between the TV and DVD settings.

Then try these settings on your Sony TV:
Under Features:
. Auto format: Normal
. Format Correction: Off
Under Setup:
. AV Presets: All AutoFormats Off

Now choose any 4:3 transmission (the TV tuner will do) and set the screen format you like for 4:3 transmissions.

Wide is 16:9 and the 4:3 picture stretches uniformly to fill the width. No height is lost

Zoom expands vertically and horizontally to 16:9, so you get substantial top and bottom loss of picture.

4:3 gives wide side bars and no to or bottom loss

14:9 expands vertically and horizontally to 14:9, so you get narrow side bars and some (minimal) top and bottom loss of picture.

Smart is non-uniform stretch to fill screen width - more at the sides than in the cente.

I prefer 14:9 as many 4:3 programs are now in 14:9 format anyway (black bars top and bottom) and with the remainder you lose very little top and bottom and make better use of the 16:9 display but maintain correct proportions..

Now you should get 16:9 switching automatically and revert to your chioce above for 4:3 transmissions. However, you will always have a problem with Sky as they only use Pin 8 for format switching. There is a device wich will insert the line 23 switching into the signal from a Pin 8 only source, but it is quite expensive - see http://www.amcro.co.uk/wss208.htm.

Sometimes the TV can get 'confused'. In this case select an analogue channel then switch back to your AV source. An easy way to do this is to assign unused TV channel numbers on the remote to your AV sources, then just press that channel on the TV remote to reselect it.
 
Regarding the GMT time switching, I called the BBC and here is a 'technical fault' in some areas which has stopped the time change.
Check analogue ceefax to see if it's happened yet where you are.
 
eddyad said:
Then try these settings on your Sony TV:
Under Features:
. Auto format: Normal
. Format Correction: Off
Under Setup:
. AV Presets: All AutoFormats Off
Thanks for the suggestions.
Your Sony seems to have different options to mine. My Auto Format is just on/off and there is no mention of Format Correction. Under AV Presets, you just enter which source label is displayed. In any case, my formatting problem now seems to be resolved.
 
in case there is some confusion about the SKY box - the 'plus' box gives the signal, but the 'manual' for the plain digibox states clearly that a widescreen signal is NOT given out!!!
 

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