Who has purchased the Pioneer 531?

[TBoneit]

I've got mine hooked up to Analog cable from Cablevision. I am pretty sure that if I were to hook it after a cable box I wouldn't get TV Guide data, But it is hooked up to a splitter that feeds it and a Tivo, no cable box.

Why not call Rogers Cable and ask if they pass on the TV Guide data. Even if I were using a cable box it would be on a splitter befor ethe box to get the guide data and the cable box would be hooked up to one of the line in connections.

Cheers

[Yvon]

I've got the 510, 420 and now the 531. Here are some observations.

......The bad:
*The EPG is annoying if you do not have cable......

First, are you familiar with the name roentgen? I suspect that you are one who uses this as a professional.
Second, what is EPG? Nobody explains it on this thread, as if everybody knows.

Thanks,
Yvon

[gshelley61]

Electronic Program Guide

[sapiendut]

Why not call Rogers Cable and ask if they pass on the TV Guide data.
Cheers

Tried calling them but quite unfortunately they are bunch of clueless individuals. In fact, from 4 calls, I received 4 different answers such as:

1. "No, you have to subscribe TV Guide and it will be delivered to your mailbox"

2. "Yes, it will pass thru the signal"

3. "No, it will not pass thru the signal"

4. "What is TV Guide?"

[gshelley61]

It should work in Canada just fine. When you go through the TV Guide EPG initial setup, it asks you if you are in the USA or in Canada, and then asks for your zip or postal code. I don't think Pioneer would sell them in Canada if the major cable companies prevented people from using the feature by not passing through the signal, because they would wind up with boatloads of returns and very dissatisfied consumers.

[sapiendut]

I'll have my fingers, toes and eyes crossed.

[TBoneit]

The one annoyance with the TV Guide that I have is the way when I turn on the unit it sits there now that I have used it for a while and says "wait", I suspect checking if Defrag is needed? Then comes on and several seconds later pops up the TV Guide whether or not I wanted it or was on a line input or tuner. Then I can press the TVG button and banish it. Other than that and that it is slow..... I like the tv guide now that I have gotten used to it. I used it yesterday to schedule a bunch of recordings of the music specials from my 3 local PBS stations now that they are running fund raising again.

Plus th TVG feature took a couple of days to populate into a usable state... Day one it displayed logos and such for my channels and day two it started to display guide data. I'm thinking it is a low bandwidth trickle feed?

Cheers.

[TBoneit]

I'll have my fingers, toes and eyes crossed.

Or buy where you can return it after giving it a week to see if it works for you. For example if you have something like walmart near you with a liberal return policy. I'd ask about return policy if that feature doesn't work. It can be turned off but then manual recording needs to be done and that'd be a pain.... Look it up elsewhere then schedule..

FWIW that is why I bought at Walmart (US$337 + tax) and why I paid US$319 + tax for my JVC VCR at B & H Photo I could drive over, pick it up and if need be return it in person

Good Luck

[sapiendut]

Once TV Guide have been downloaded, is it possible for me to program, say:

Ch 31, Mon-Fri, 10pm-11pm
Ch 16, Every Wed, 9pm-10pm

so I don't have to program what I want to record every single week (sometimes I'm out of town for more than 3 weeks and I want to record the shows for the next 3 weeks).

[sapiendut]

It can be turned off but then manual recording needs to be done and that'd be a pain.... Look it up elsewhere then schedule..

Good Luck

You mean by manually entering, say:

daily - ch 31 - 10pm-11pm - XP+ mode ?

[TBoneit]

Well using the TV Guide, I have never used manual, I can set frequency of recording as Once, Regularly or Weekly. I'm guessing here that regularly is once a week and weekly is either M-F or 7 days a week, not real sure as I have never used that feature. My guess based on using Tivo and Dishnetwork DVRs is that these settings will stay in effect until canceled. At worst if you needed say tuesday thru saturday you could set 5 individual once a week timers as a work around. or Alternatively monday to friday and a once a week saturday timer for example.

Plus you can select start = Start on time or Start early or late, End = On time, Early or late, Record to HDD or DVD, and qualitysettings. This means that you could set some timers to HDD and others to DVD - R or DVD - RW. The start early end late could be handy for overnight recordings where they don't seem to start and end on time.. Or primetime where they seem to start early a lot. This seems to a OTA networks thing as the Non OTA channels seem to start and end on time.

Hope this helps?

Good Luck

[FulciLives]

Anyone want to throw up a short clip ... even if it is only like 5 or 10 seconds long ... something actually recorded on the Pioneer 531/33 ... would be nice.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[TBoneit]

I'd be glad to post one. Can you suggest somewhere to park a short clip, I have nowhere right now. Also what quality setings, source etc.

Cheers

[Seeker47]

Once TV Guide have been downloaded, is it possible for me to program, say:

Ch 31, Mon-Fri, 10pm-11pm
Ch 16, Every Wed, 9pm-10pm

so I don't have to program what I want to record every single week (sometimes I'm out of town for more than 3 weeks and I want to record the shows for the next 3 weeks).

The last thing you mentioned might be a special exception, but otherwise the discussion of this feature here has made it sound not worth bothering with. I'm not even sure how that would work with digital cable. With my present setup, their box is mediating everything. The cable provider (which gets generally poor marks overall, anyway) has its own program listings service. But, all too often, you are likely to find screen after screen of "To Be Announced." The service you are talking about sounds like it must come from outside of the specific provider. In that case, I'm not sure it can be obtained with their cable box in the way, vs. straight off the wire.

Given some decent schedule info from somewhere -- the newspaper or online if necessary -- there is a multiple Timer (channel change) function available in the cable box. It is only slightly more trouble to set that timer, plus the one in the DVR.

[sapiendut]

No, I don't have digital cable, just regular analog cable with RF feed.

[ann coates]

Anyone know what chip is used in the Pioneer 531? I find the PQ quite a bit better than the Pio 520.

[sapiendut]

almost a week now, and I still have that EPG display on and no program loaded to my DVR at all.

[vtecmw]

I bought a 531 from Wal-Mart over the weekend. I presently have a Pioneer DVR-225. The ability to record the average movie at 720x480 is what attracted me to the new Pioneer model.

So far, some of the differences have been welcome. I actually don't mind some of the changes to the interface. Other parts of the interface are somewhat cumbersome. The timer recording interface is AWFUL. I like the time recording interface on my 225 much better.

One of the things I do with my 225 is record in DVD-VR mode and rip the recording to my hard drive using Pegasys TMPGEnc 3.0 Express and my Plextor PX-712A DVD burner. Depending on the video, I will then re-encode using Xvid.

In my experience with the 531, I have tried recording to the HDD, editing the beginning and end of the clip and doing the high-speed copy to DVD. If I try to rip using TMPGEnc after doing this, mid-way through the rip I get a message saying "Cannot read the DVD title". I'm not sure if this is a result of editing the clip, a result of the high-speed copy or the media I'm using Fuji DVD-RW (2x)

I have been able to successfully rip when recording directly to DVD. But, I'm not completely confident that I will be able to perform the same functions with this unit that I'm able to do with my 225. I'll keep playing with it to see what I can do. If no luck, then I'm going to return it.

Has anyone else experienced this? Or, can anyone recommend a different approach for successfully accomplishing the rip to PC?

[TBoneit]

Try ripping with DVD Decrypter or dvd fab decrypter. When I had a Cyberhome even though the disks played in other players they could only be ripped to the hard drive with DVD Decrypter to work with TMPGEnc products. IOW I could open each VOB with for example VideoReDo and save as Mpeg or I could copy the entire disk but to bring it in to reauthor with TMPGEnc DVD Author or DVDShrink I had to use DVD Decrypter first. I was Using +RW since that is what the Cyberhome supported. I've since Upgraded to the Pioneer 531 and what a step up.

I find that setting the timers with the TV Guide interface is easy. A Little slow moving around in the guide using the arrow keys but using the shortcut keys is pretty fast. IE 24 fwd or rev. Page up or down in the guide etc.

Good Luck, Let us hear if ripping first works for you. I've found that the TMPGEnc dvd import is a little lacking on non-professionally authored disks.

Cheers

[vtecmw]

Sorry, I wasn't clear about something. I typically record in DVD-VR mode, so that I can edit the video before ripping. I have never been succesful ripping a DVD-VR disc outside of TMPGEnc. But, recording in DVD-Video mode would be a good option for accomplishing I want using the tools you mentioned.

Question, is it always necessary to create a menu when recording into DVD-Video mode? Or, can I skip this function and just create a playable DVD-Video without menus?

Thanks.

[TBoneit]

Well I use the video mode when capturing and edit then burn... Of course for most of my needs GOP accurate editing is fine. I could choose Frame accurate editing but then the burn is much slower as I suspect it has to re-encode the file because it isn't cut at GOPs. To be Honest using the 531 I've just about quit re-authoring in the computer, with the Thumbnail function and making the title it's good enough for me and I know that burning to a -R finalized I can always rip and re-author id needed.

In answer to your question I Believe that you have to have a menu to finalize, whether or not your computer would see a unfinalized -R I can not say. Why not just make -RW in video mode if you are going to manipulate them in the computer? Then they aren't in VR format.

Good Luck

[vtecmw]

Thanks a lot for the info. I was hoping to learn something new by posting the questions. You've definitely given me a different perspective on ripping and editing.

Of course for most of my needs GOP accurate editing is fine. I could choose Frame accurate editing but then the burn is much slower as I suspect it has to re-encode the file because it isn't cut at GOPs.

Are you recording to HDD first, following it with GOP editing and then burning to DVD-Video?

Again, thanks for all of your help.

[TBoneit]

Exactly as you surmized, I capture to HDD, edit, set title, set thumbnail, Create chapters, then go to copy and during the setup to burn set disc title, Combine titles if needed, choose finalize, choose menu template, burn. Test, Delete.

Note: if you don't choose finalize when it is done burning it'll ask if you want to finalize and you can preview how the different menus will look.

Hint: when you are entering the captures title if you set your text breaks at the last e above the title you are entering that is where the second line in the menus starts so that

it will look like

Summer Wine
Barry's Nose

Dead Like Me
First Episode

C.S.I.
08-19-2005

Blazing Saddles
Special Edition

in the menu with three episodes invidually set as above. And the menu will use the thumbnail you set during the edits.

By breaking my text at the last e, I avoid titles that look like

This title is too lo
ng and looks Bad

But I have to say that this recorder has made me lazy and made my life easier. Now I only use the computer if I need to do some fancy filtering and/or motion menus.

Good Luck
Roger

[LCSHG]

Question

Does any Pioneer have a 2 1/2 hr recording mode?
What does VBR [variable bit rate] do? Does it allow recording to the HDD, edit, and than copy to the DVD in a Just Fit mode?

[donpedro]

Pioneer has MN modes... try to lookup manual to see more. It like FX mode in Panasonic with predefined times. New models have better resolutions then old models.

[LCSHG]

What is MN mode or FX?

I do not have a pioneer or Panasonic and no manuals or access to them.
The pioneer site has spec. on ther units and they mention a prededefined recording time, 1hr, 2hr, 4hr, 6hr, and on some a VBR, [variable bit rate]. Whatever that is
I have a ilo DVDRHD04. It has predefined times [1hr HQ, - 2hr SP, - 3hr LP, - 4hr EP, - 6hr SLP ]. If I record to the HDD in, say, SP I have to be sure that the finished recording will fit on a a D1 DVD and it has to be in SP. If it will not fit at the SP mode, [program is 2hr 5min] I have to go to the 3hr mode. at a lower bit rate. It has been indicated that the Pioneer can copy an unedited or edited program from the HDD [recorded in any mode] to the DVD as a just fit. ---- IS THIS VBR.

[sapiendut]

No, it's not. The recorder simply re-encodes the program material to fit the DVD using CBR.

However, Pioneer comes with 32 preset CBRs so one of them will be close to perfect for your application. It would be better if it has VBR, though.

[LCSHG]

[sapiendut]

I think your saying that the Pioneer has 32 presets, using CBR [constant bit rate] as oposed to some 5 recording modes in my ilo, [no encoding] but would be better with VBR [variable bit rate].
Along with the 32 presets and the re-encoding to almost fit the disk seems to be the factor. much as using a PC with Shrimk.
I looked at the specs. at the Pioneer site. For the models with HDD they show most with VBR. Can I assume that most models ot the pioneer will re-encode the recording

[sapiendut]

From reading the manual for the 531, 533 and 633, none of them seem to use VBR.

You can choose one of the 32 MN CBRs or XP/SP/LP/etc with the addition of XP+ (at 14 MBPS, exculsively for HDD recording only).

If you record to HDD, you can then transfer the file as-is at high speed, or you can re-encode them (to a smaller file, of course) in real-time to DVD-R/RW.

I hope I don't confuse anybody further with my ramblings.

[donpedro]

What is MN mode or FX?

I do not have a pioneer or Panasonic and no manuals or access to them.

There is an post here at the top called: "Sticky: DVD Recorders (desktop) Manual - links" which has links to pages where you should be able locate manual.