JVC HM-DH30000 & HDVR-100-2
User Manual
This document is intended for use with HDVR
firmware version 1.5.
Initial Preparation
Please Read through the entire document
before using the HDVR-100-2 to record or playback HDTV material.
In this document the term
“STB” refers to the RCA DTC100 Set Top Box that has the Sixteen Nine Time HDVR-100-2
IEEE-1394 FireWire[1]
adapter installed, and version 1.5 or higher firmware in that FireWire board.
Single Deck Recording
The HDVR-100-2 will only allow Over The Air
(OTA) HDTV recording. In order to record Satellite HDTV, you must have an Advantage
VX-1 device in the FireWire daisy chain.
1. Connect the STB’s
FireWire jack to the FireWire jack on the JVC deck using a 4 pin to 4 pin FireWire
cable. Make no other connection to second FireWire port on either the JVC or
DTC as shown below:
Either of the two FireWire ports on STB
or JVC may be used.
2. Tune the STB
to a Digital Television station (DTV) that is received from the “Antenna A IN”
or “Antenna B IN” terminal. This may be either from a cable television signal,
a local antenna, or a DTV modulator. A satellite based signal or an analog
television transmission should not be selected.
Although a cable television system may be digital, only those signals
that appear as an 8VSB ATSC RF signal qualify as a DTV signal for this purpose.
3. Use the
Channel Up / Down control on the JVC deck to select the I-Link input for the STB.
For example, I-1 should be displayed on the JVC front panel. The “I” is the
letter “I”
as in Indiana,
and the number “1” may be some other number, but the number should be present. That
is, the display should not be I- with no number after the dash; the
number must be present to indicate that the connected FireWire device was
properly sensed.
4. The Power
On-Off green lamp on the STB front panel will flash on and off at the rate of 2
times per second when the STB is outputting the DTV signal to the JVC deck.
This indicates that the JVC deck is receiving the DTV signal from the STB. If
the lamp isn’t flashing, recording will not occur correctly. In this case, check connections and channels
selection on both the DTC and JVC.
5. It is
recommended that a DVHS tape be used. If an SVHS tape is used instead, and
after the tape is inserted, press the DVHS button on the JVC panel so that the
DVHS indicator is lit.
6. After the tape
is inserted and the DVHS indicator is lit, check that the front panel displays
HS or AUT. If needed, press the HS/STD button to advance the indication to HS
or AUT. Some deck models will alternately display HS and AUT, and some will
display HS continuously.
7. If you’re
recording at the start of the tape, press rewind first and let the tape rewind
to the beginning. If you need to position the tape before recording, you’ll
need to consider the tape playback monitoring instructions below.
8. Recording can
now be initiated by pressing the Record button, or proceed to the timer
recording section below.
Please Note:
No matter how many programs (also called sub-channels) are contained within
a DTV channel, the JVC will record all of the sub-channels in a channel. The
particular channel to be played back is selected at playback time.
It
does not matter whether the STB’s front panel HD indicator lamp is on or
off. The entire DTV signal in its full resolution
is always recorded. That is, the signal recorded is the exact DTV signal being
received. An HDTV transmission will be recorded in true HDTV regardless of
whether the HD indicator is lit on the STB front panel.
Single Deck Timer Recording
The
channel recorded, start and stop times are all selected using the timers
feature of the STB menu. Do not use the JVC timer features for DTV recording.
The JVC deck is controlled by the same FireWire connection
that conveys the DTV signal from STB. Do
not use the wired Infrared transmitter feature of the STB.
1.
Prepare the STB and JVC for recording as explained above.
2.
Ensure that the time of day and date are set correctly in
the STB. This is done automatically if a satellite dish and subscription are
provided. If a dish is connected and the satellite signal isn’t correctly
subscribed, the time of day may be incorrect due to time zone differences.
3.
Check that the VCR type in the “Set the VCR Type” control is
set to type 000. This is the default for
the STB.
4.
Set the timers in the STB to the channels and times
desired. One, some, or all of the STB’s
timers may be used and programmed, as needed.
It is necessary to monitor the video output from the STB in order to
view the timer setup on-screen menu.
5.
If timers are set such that the stop time of one timer is
close to the start time of another timer, either (A) The start and stop times
should be set to exactly the same time, or (B) A gap of at least four minutes
between the stop time of one timer and the start time of the next timer should
be programmed.
6.
The start time should be set at least one minute prior to
the start of the desired program.
7.
The DTV program signal should be “on the air” at the start
time, or recording may not be initiated at the start time.
8.
After the timer is programmed and the STB and JVC deck are
in proper communication, they may be turned off, or left on, as they will be
automatically turned on if not already on when the timer recording process
automatically starts at the programmed start time.
9.
The JVC deck will normally and automatically turn on
approximately 15 seconds after the STB automatically turns on. The JVC deck
will enter the Recording mode within 15 seconds after it turns on.
10. There may be
one or more momentary losses of signal on the STB outputs at the moment timer
recording starts or stops. This is normal.
11. We suggest performing
a test timer recording, setting the timer to run for a few minutes in just a
few minutes into the future to ensure that the correct setup it achieved. Play
back the test recording to verify it was actually done.
12. Make a check
list for timer recording so that all of the necessary settings are done each
time.
13. When the
automatic recording controlled by the timer is actually taking place, the STB
will switch the HD monitor display off so that the composite and S-video outputs
are active. This is normal. The STB does this since it does not “know” you are
making a digital recording. The STB’s design considers that all timer recordings
are done using the low definition composite and S-video outputs. Even though
the switch to non-HD output mode occurs, it does not interfere with the digital
television signal being sent by the Sixteen Nine Time adapter over the FireWire.
That signal is always digital and always the highest definition available from
the broadcaster.
Monitoring the Signal
Both
the JVC deck and the STB have outputs that permit connection of video and audio
devices for watching and listening to the program material. These outputs have
the flexibility to present signals from various sources in several formats. The
differences introduced with the HDVR recording adapter are discussed below.
STB Outputs
The
STB outputs work exactly like an STB without the recording adapter except when an ATSC tape is being played on
a connected deck. When this playback
is sensed and the STB is tuned to an active OTA DTV channel, the tape playback
will appear on the STB’s outputs.
The STB must be tuned to an active OTA DTV for the playback
through the STB to properly function. It doesn’t matter if the signal tuned to
is HD or SD.
When the STB is to be used for tape playback, it is
suggested that the STB menu function called “Acquire Off Air Guides” be disabled.
The
STB on-screen menus are only available on the STB’s outputs, and include such
information as channel tuning, and timer programming. On-screen menus from the JVC deck do not
appear on the STB outputs. Only the tape playback signal sent via the FireWire
from the JVC deck appears on the STB.
D-TheaterTM tapes and tapes that have foreign
content, such as Japanese BS tapes, do not appear on the STB’s outputs.
When
multiple channels (sub-channels) are present, either during a broadcast, or
when playing it back from tape, the STB’s usual tuning features allow selection
of the particular sub-channel that is displayed.
JVC Outputs
The
JVC deck outputs operate in exactly the same manner as described in the JVC
Manual, except that when the STB is selected for input on the JVC’s FireWire
input and if the STB is tuned to an OTA DTV channel, and the JVC is not in the
tape playback mode, the JVC’s outputs will then present the decoded DTV picture
and sound that the DTC is sending via the FireWire. Note that this signal is
displayed on the JVC at any time when it is not in the playback mode. Thus, the
JVC functions as a Component-Video HDTV converter and can be used to view DTV
on component video displays. In this way, even though the I-link is a digital FireWire
input, when it is selected the signal immediately appears on the deck’s
outputs, in an operational fashion similar to what we’ve come to expect from
composite and tuner input selections.
Note that after switching channels on the DTC from a non-OTA
/ DTV channel and back, it may take up to 10 seconds for the JVC deck to
recognize the DTV signal and present the signal at the Deck’s outputs.
Although
the OTA H/DTV signal from the STB is presented on the JVC deck’s outputs, the
on-screen display information from STB does not appear on the JVC deck’s
outputs.
When
recording an HDTV signal with multiple sub-channels, all of the sub-channels
are recorded. However, during tape playback, the channel up / down button will
select a particular sub-channel for display on the JVC’s outputs.
Note
that the JVC deck outputs and the STB outputs may be slightly time shifted with
respect to each other.
Make sure that you select the audio and video outputs from either
the STB or JVC; do not mix outputs (i.e., audio from JVC, video from STB) as
they will be out of synchronization.
Recording and Timer Recording with Multiple JVC Decks Connected
It
is possible to connect several JVC decks to the FireWire daisy chain using the
multiple ports, as illustrated below:
Note
that the DTV signal from the STB will be simultaneously sent to each deck that
has selected the STB as its input source. Each deck can display and record the
signal in parallel with the other connected decks.
However,
during timer control, the STB will issue recording commands to only one of the
connected JVC decks via the FireWire connection. The deck that will be controlled
by the STB for recording will be the deck that has only one of its FireWire
ports used. In the example above, Deck 2 has only one of its FireWire ports
used, so it will be selected for timer recording by the STB.
If there is more than one JVC deck with only one of its FireWire
ports used, it is unpredictable which of the decks will be selected for timer
recording control.
Make sure the deck to be recorded to is turned off while it
has the STB selected as the FireWire input. If the STB is turned off or looses
signal while the JVC deck is turned on, the JVC deck will attempt to find
another I-link FireWire source and in doing so will select one of the other JVC
decks as its FireWire input. This will
result in the wrong source being selected by the recording deck.
Since
the STB outputs its FireWire signal to all connected JVC decks, it is possible
to use external timer control devices to record many TV programs on many
channels with multiple decks. We have
tested this with three decks, although we believe that as many as six decks
should also work. The external control
in this case would be a programmable remote control. There are many brands and models of these
available. The minimum configuration would be one such as the One For All model
URC 8780 that provides up to 10 timed macros up to 7 days in advance. This one
is mentioned since it is very economical, though more sophisticated units are
applicable. Programming them is beyond the scope of these instructions. It is also possible to use one STB with HDVR
for each JVC deck, and through the STB’s built in timer, avoid the need for an
external remote control.
Assignment of Input Numbers
The
JVC deck automatically assigns a unique I-number for each FireWire device that
is connected to the daisy chain. It does this by reading an electronic serial
number, assigning a unique number to a device the first time it senses it, and
then recalling that serial number and always associating the I-number
with that serial number. Unfortunately in systems with multiple decks, this can
lead to some confusion as to the identity of a particular unit. For example,
the STB may be I-2 on one JVC deck, and I-3 on another deck. For those
people that would find it more desirable to have the each FireWire device
referred to as the same number on each machine, JVC does provide for a method
to edit the I-numbers. Please refer to the JVC instruction manual for this
procedure. To determine the number that currently
corresponds to the STB on each particular deck, use the JVC deck channel
up/down and make a note of all the I-numbers the deck senses. Then unplug the STB, and note which of the I-numbers
no longer appears when using the channel up/down button on the deck.
Deck to Deck Dubbing
Deck
to Deck H/DTV dubbing with the HDRV / STB operates in the same manner as usual
deck to deck dubbing. To avoid contention between decks and the STB outputting
a DTV signal simultaneously, it is suggested that during dubbing the STB not be
selected as the FireWire source by any connected deck. Using this procedure, the
STB will display the playback signal of any connected deck when that signal is
detected.
Minimizing Playback Issues
Occasionally
the playback signal presented by the STB or JVC deck will have glitches,
distortions, loss of audio, loss of audio / video synchronization, or picture
break up and pixel blocking. This is sometimes due to data errors in the tape
playback signal. When it appears that the audio and / or video are not
automatically corrected, the user may need to force the equipment to return to
a known state of operation through such means as pressing the HD button,
waiting, and then pressing it again, or pressing stop on the deck and then play,
or by powering down the deck through its front panel switch, or by unplugging
and re-plugging the FireWire connector at either end, or by removing AC power
for a minimum of ten seconds from the STB and then reapplying power. This is an
unusual occurrence. When these types of errors occur often, it may be due to
bad tape media, or equipment that may need servicing.
Connecting Other Devices
It
is recommended that a Panasonic TU-DST50 or 51 series STB not be connected into
the daisy chain FireWire connection while the JVC deck is in that chain. Other Sixteen Nine Time equipped STB devices
may be connected in the FireWire daisy chain.
If other connected Sixteen Nine Time STBs also have version 1.5
firmware, they may be selected using the input select feature of the JVC deck.
To avoid contention, it is suggest that only one Sixteen
Nine Time device be selected as the source at any one moment by all JVC
decks.
When
an ATSC compatible DTV data stream is present on the FireWire, whether from a
deck output or from another Sixteen Nine Time equipped STB, other Sixteen Nine Time
equipped STB(s) sharing the FireWire connection will present the decoded DTV
signal on its outputs. For example, if a STB and a UM STB, both equipped with
the HDVR are simultaneously connected to a JVC deck, the STB can display the
data stream output by either its own DTV turner, or the JVC deck, or from the
UM depending on the input selection and playback mode of the JVC deck.
Compatibility
Sixteen
Nine Time does not guarantee compatibility with any product. However, we strive to make our product
compatible with other devices when practical.