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  1. Hi All,

    I recently purchased a Pioneer 633H and I can't figure out a way to turn off the TV Guide EPG. I've had this recorder for a couple weeks, while it performs well, I hate the way the EPG is constantly downloading data, moreso than not, this is causing the harddrive to be noisy, almost like a chirping sound. I'm somewhat concerned about how the harddrive is going to hold up in the long run. I'd like to program my recordings manually without using the TV guide interface, I have analog cable with an RF connection to the recorder. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks
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  2. I hope this will help
    "When prompted in the initial setup, in the "setup navigator" it will ask whether you want to set the "auto channel setting" for use with 1) antenna , 2) cable , or 3) do not set .

    Just simply select DO NOT SET and you should be able to effectively ignore all of those TV Guide or related problems with your setup."
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  3. Originally Posted by MJA
    Just simply select DO NOT SET and you should be able to effectively ignore all of those TV Guide or related problems with your setup."

    One question.

    By pushing DO NOT SET are you still able to set a recording manually? Can you still set the Pioneer to record channel 15 on cable at 7pm and turn itself off at 9pm? Or is all manually set recording disabled?
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  4. By pushing DO NOT SET are you still able to set a recording manually? Can you still set the Pioneer to record channel 15 on cable at 7pm and turn itself off at 9pm? Or is all manually set recording disabled?

    I haven't been able to figure out how to do it, manual recording is done through the TV Guide interface. A lot of people have had problems with this issue on the new Pioneer models:

    http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=562233
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  5. Press Home Menu on the remote. Highlight and select Timer Recording. The TV Guide recording schedule page will appear. Press Menu (not Home Menu) on the remote. The Schedule Options menu will appear on the left side of the page. Highlight and select New Manual Recording. Enter the date, start and end times, the tuner channel if using the RF in (or line input number if recording from an external source), HDD or DVD, recording quality, and frequency (once, weekly, daily, or off). Then scroll back up, highlight and select Schedule Recording. Your scheduled manual recording will now be listed. You can list multiple manual recording selections this way.

    If you tell the TV Guide system that your unit is not hooked up to cable service, the manual recording scheduler still works, but only for external (line in) sources.
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  6. Originally Posted by bbanderic
    Hi All,

    I recently purchased a Pioneer 633H and I can't figure out a way to turn off the TV Guide EPG. I've had this recorder for a couple weeks, while it performs well, I hate the way the EPG is constantly downloading data, moreso than not, this is causing the harddrive to be noisy, almost like a chirping sound. I'm somewhat concerned about how the harddrive is going to hold up in the long run. I'd like to program my recordings manually without using the TV guide interface, I have analog cable with an RF connection to the recorder. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks
    I wouldn't worry too much about the hard drive. We have computers at work that have been on 24/7 for over five years. They are all running just fine. Once my 531's EPG loaded up, after a few days the downloading sequences became less frequent. It is a really quiet unit overall.

    I think if you choose "Do Not Set" during the initial setup, you can still access the TV Guide manual recording schedule area without any problems. I would think that part of the system would still work, even if the EPG listing part of the system is not set up.
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  7. Originally Posted by gshelley61

    I think if you choose "Do Not Set" during the initial setup, you can still access the TV Guide manual recording schedule area without any problems. I would think that part of the system would still work, even if the EPG listing part of the system is not set up.
    I'm just trying to be clear about this because it's a little confusing. If I run my analog cable thru the RF in back of the 533 and use the "DO NOT SET", I should have no problems. Does the EPG work only with digital cable or will it work with analog to?
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  8. It works with analog cable just fine. I've got mine hooked up directly to the cable (no cable box). It picks up all the analog cable channels that aren't scrambled (about 80 of them in our area).

    You can also use the Pioneer in conjuction with a cable box.

    If you press the Timer Rec button on the remote (lower right), it takes you straight to the manual recording scheduler without having to go through the EPG at all.

    The EPG can be set to not come on automatically when you turn the machine on (which some find annoying). In the TV Guide Setup page, select Change Default Options. Under General Defaults, you can disable the Auto-Guide On feature. This prevents the TVGOS from automatically popping up when you turn on the unit.

    One other tip... be sure that your mailing address zip code is the same as the cable system area you are served by (they are not always the same). For example, I live in an area served by a Post Office in the next county because I am right on the border and closer to that Post Office. My cable system (or "zone") originates from the county I actually live in, and delivers a slightly different channel line up than the system where the Post Office is located. So, to get the right cable channel line up, I had to enter the zip code of another town in our cable service area instead of my own.
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  9. Check out this link to set up the 531/533/633 to do manual timer recordings through all inputs including the RF connection without having to download the TV guide. It works!

    http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=566167
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  10. Member ann coates's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by gshelley61
    Once my 531's EPG loaded up, after a few days the downloading sequences became less frequent.
    When you say it became less frequent does it still make that seeking noise for a few hours each day? Mine (after a few days) still makes that noise pretty much constantly. I'm considering the above method to do away with it altogether. It's a real shame that Pioneer didn't include a way to turn off the guide altogether.
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  11. I don't know what the big deal is. The EPG downloads some data and make a little noise writing to the hard drive. It seems to occur at least several times per day. I can't hear it over my computer fans, so it is a non-issue for me.

    The unit is excellent. A definite improvement over their previous models in all the areas it really counts (for me). The EPG works just fine on our cable system, and is free. It can be set not to come on when the machine is powered up, or it can be bypassed completely.
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  12. Member ann coates's Avatar
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    Well, unfortunately, I can hear mine because it's in a quiet room. A room I spend a good deal of time in and it's distracting for me. Mine was seeking all the time, not just a few times a day. I agree it's an excellent machine, but since they felt the need to include what is a useless feature for myself personally, I wish they would have at least given users the option to turn the darn thing off.
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    I have tried several set-ups on my 531 (similar unit with 80 Gig hard drive and no firewire). Most of what I record is satellite, and the EPG is of no use for that. Some of what I record is antenna (local stations), but I do so rarely, and I know when something is on (or often, I just want to record to see how some interview on Letterman ends, etc.).

    If you set the EPG with no antenna and no cable (do not set), you cannot record off of RF (as gshelley implies in another post). If you set up with antenna, you have to get the EPG and it will reset any channels you have set manually.

    If you tell it you have antenna, but are in Canadian postal code A0A0A0 it will bypass setting the EPG temporarily, but it still tries to load. However, leaving the unit turned on all of the time seems to prevent this. Also setting a manual timer (every day for one minute or something) seems to work for some people (again, with the Canadian mythical postal code set of A0A0A0).

    An Off option for the EPG would be a very nice feature on the next model!!!!
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  14. Originally Posted by gshelley61
    I don't know what the big deal is. The EPG downloads some data and make a little noise writing to the hard drive. It seems to occur at least several times per day. I can't hear it over my computer fans, so it is a non-issue for me.

    The unit is excellent. A definite improvement over their previous models in all the areas it really counts (for me). The EPG works just fine on our cable system, and is free. It can be set not to come on when the machine is powered up, or it can be bypassed completely.
    gshelly61, you're a great asset to this forum, without a doubt, but I have to disagree with you on one point. The VERY noisy hard drives on many of these new pioneer recorders (when downloading EPG data) is a big deal, and very annoying. It makes you wonder how these units are going to hold up in the long run. There are many other HDD recorders, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, with the same TVGOS and there are absolutely no reports of noisy hard drives or the big "EPG" display showing 90% of the time. Considering this fact, and that many people are complaining about this in various forums, I just don't think that this issue should be minimized or considered to be "normal". Having said that, I am keeping this recorder because I was able to disable the EPG using the method above (AVS forum link). I no longer have the constant noisy hard drive or the big "EPG" display. I agree, EPG aside, for the important things like recording quality and the ability to adjust the picture settings, the Pioneer shines!
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  15. If the EPG is already downloaded, is there any way for me to reset EPG but WITHOUT losing my manual-recording time tables?

    I personally find the noise (after the EPG is working) to be extremely annoying. Especially because I can hear it from 10 ft away while the TV is playing at the regular volume level I use, WITH the AC going right outside my bedroom wall. It's really really really really (did I mention: "really"?) annoying.
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    I also was not thrilled with the EPG feature as I am on solar panels and wanted the recorder to just STAY OFF when turned off. This is what I did to get the EPG to stay off. NOTE: I am not sure if either item is related to the other but this is what worked: Re-enter your TV-Guide info and when it comes to your Zipcode enter all Zero's. Then, pick a program that you would like to record weekly and set it up on the timed recordings for weekly and see if your unit will sleep as it should. Pioneer should have made a better way to disable the TV-Guide. I bought it to record. Not to play games with TV-Guide. They also did a bad job of implimenting a way to change the clock. If you have EPG not working, the auto clock won't work and the manual clock setting is grayed out! So you have to go back in and re-do initial settings in the main menu and set the clock there. But this means you have to first let it re-scan your TV channels. Brother! Why can't this be easier? But... I have to say that this is my fifth DVD Recorder in a month and it is a keeper. [I returnef the others] The GoVideo, Samsung, Philips and JVC recorders had all sorts of problems and this Pioneer gives me what I needed and wanted plus some headaches I did not want. -Glenn
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  17. Originally Posted by bbanderic
    Originally Posted by gshelley61
    I don't know what the big deal is. The EPG downloads some data and make a little noise writing to the hard drive. It seems to occur at least several times per day. I can't hear it over my computer fans, so it is a non-issue for me.

    The unit is excellent. A definite improvement over their previous models in all the areas it really counts (for me). The EPG works just fine on our cable system, and is free. It can be set not to come on when the machine is powered up, or it can be bypassed completely.
    gshelly61, you're a great asset to this forum, without a doubt, but I have to disagree with you on one point. The VERY noisy hard drives on many of these new pioneer recorders (when downloading EPG data) is a big deal, and very annoying. It makes you wonder how these units are going to hold up in the long run. There are many other HDD recorders, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, with the same TVGOS and there are absolutely no reports of noisy hard drives or the big "EPG" display showing 90% of the time. Considering this fact, and that many people are complaining about this in various forums, I just don't think that this issue should be minimized or considered to be "normal". Having said that, I am keeping this recorder because I was able to disable the EPG using the method above (AVS forum link). I no longer have the constant noisy hard drive or the big "EPG" display. I agree, EPG aside, for the important things like recording quality and the ability to adjust the picture settings, the Pioneer shines!
    Well, I just received a Pioneer DVR-533H (in addition to the 531 I already have). I decided to get one with the DV input. Anyway, now I know why some complain about the EPG noise... this one is significantly louder than my 531. My 531 and 533 both have the same 80GB Seagate U Series 9, 5400 rpm hard drives (model ST380012ACE) in them. The one in the 533 is noisier for some reason. It is enough of a difference to make the 533 a bit more annoying in terms of EPG noise, for sure.

    As far as I know, Pioneer uses more than one brand of hard drive in these things. Funny that my two have the same hard drives, but one is noticeably louder than the other.

    Oh, well... still a very nice machine!
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  18. Member Leoslocks's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by bbanderic
    Check out this link to set up the 531/533/633 to do manual timer recordings through all inputs including the RF connection without having to download the TV guide. It works!

    http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=566167
    Thanks, I stumble on the little things like "Resetting" the DVDR. This got rid of the EPG racket on a 633H. Still it is easier than setting the recording on a VCR. Most of the sports shows I want to record (Memphis State Basketball) that are on cable usually start out of sequence or run over (The better Games).
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  19. Member Seeker47's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by JAB285
    Does the EPG work only with digital cable or will it work with analog too?
    I'm not sure I've ever even seen the EPG that has been so much talked about in the forums here, concerning the Pioneer (and possibly other) DVRs. My digital cable comes in through a programmable cable box, with coax going from it into the 520. The only schedule listings I see are those of the local cable provider. While the cable box itself takes a good while to load up the schedule info when you first turn it on -- or after a power failure, say -- the Pioneer itself does no schedule-related seeking, no prolonged pausing while updating anything. The HDD activity is on the low side, and not noisy at all. The biggest problem with the schedule listings are that they only seem to look 3 days ahead at best, sometimes only half a day for many channels. They are very, very big on "To Be Announced." And that is probably just a reflection of this cable provider being not very good at what they do. Or caring little about their customers.

    There is an alternative hookup I could do: S-video out the back of the digital cable box, into a different input of the 520. I'm curious to see if this will yield a noticeably better looking picture. I think the manual indicates that this hookup can turn the DVR on and change channels, for recording purposes. Big deal. The cable box still has to have it's timer set also to change channels at the right time.

    I'm about to hook up another 520 at another location, where one of the signal feeds is analog cable, no box. So maybe I will finally get to see the annoying, obtrusive EPG you've all been referring to.
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  20. Originally Posted by Seeker47
    I'm about to hook up another 520 at another location, where one of the signal feeds is analog cable, no box. So maybe I will finally get to see the annoying, obtrusive EPG you've all been referring to.
    The 520 doesn't have the EPG. You'll never see it with that unit.
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  21. this topic came back from dead.lol
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  22. Member Seeker47's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by DeepOne
    The 520 doesn't have the EPG. You'll never see it with that unit.
    So much the better ! That further validates the earlier buying decisions. (Thought I had seen EPG mentioned in the 520 promo stuff, though . . . . ) Now I really fail to see what's at a a disadvantage, vs. the 633: the DL burning capability of the 633 isn't very useful, since it's only the seldom-seen -R variety, which aren't the better quality Verbatims, and aren't being discounted to a realistic price level. There is the HDD size, but that can be changed on the 520.
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  23. Member Leoslocks's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by MJA
    this topic came back from dead.lol
    The problem will be around for quite a while. I hope for a firmware revision to fix it but it appears that Pioneer wants to do any firmware fixes inhouse(Authorized seervice centers).

    They put a Search Button here for this reason.
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    I followed the instructions given on AVS forum to get rid of the EPG. It worked like a charm no searching disc drive off when the DVD is off. The smile on my face faded today 30 hours later the guide is back the drive runs continuously. I have absolutely no need for the guide as I am using satellite and to spin a drive for 7000 hours a year seems crazy. I hope they come up with a firmware fix for this. But has anyone followed the directions on the AVS forum and really got that thing to go away forever?
    May be I am missing something!!!
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  25. I now have the 533 model, same as 633, smaller HD. I followed the instructions on the AVS forum as well, after 3 months still no sign of the EPG and no chatter! Still working great for me.

    NOTE: You need to keep at least one manual timer setting scheduled at all times for this to work properly. Maybe this is why the AVS (Eureka) method is not working for you?

    If you didn't have a manual timer setting scheduled, go through the TV Guide setup again (if you've already done it as instructed, you can do it again quickly by selecting all the defaults). Then, use the TIMER REC button on the remote to schedule a manual timer recording, you should do this BEFORE you power off the unit. Set something to record weekly so it won't go away. After you've done that, the unit should be silent (with no EPG display) when you power it off.
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    bbanderic:
    I have done what you suggest and the EPG has gone away, I hope forever. Pioneer are definitely not sympathetic when you call them, in fact I would say they are arrogant and couldn’t care less that I might return the unit. Do you know of anything out there that is equivalent that does not use the guide and allows total manual control of the record functions. The Sony looks like it might but is a bit pricey.
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    anyone know how to reset / set the time .
    The time is wrong & in initial set up it says NOT ALLOWED at this time,,,when i try to change / set the time ?
    HELP !
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    Digging up a thread that has been dead for over 9 years and not confirming that you have a Pioneer DVR 633H is not a good way to go about getting help.

    Assuming that you have a Pioneer DVR 633H, according to the manual, it isn't possible to set the time manually if it has not succeeded in downloading the EPG. You can't download the EPG because number one, you are in Canada and number two, the analog TVGOS system that provided it is long defunct. Try to reset your box and disable the EPG. Use the second hack listed at https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/pioneer-dvr-633h/5838 If that doesn't work and orsetto, the resident Pioneer DVR expert here, doesn't show up with a better solution, you have a nice doorstop.

    FWIW in addition to being 10 years old now, the Pioneer DVR 633H is something of a white elephant. According to orsetto, it is overly dependent on the now defunct analog TVGOS system, nearly impossible to repair, and quirky even if you manage to disable the EPG.
    Last edited by usually_quiet; 3rd Jan 2015 at 14:49.
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    Thank you very much all i needed was the RESET info & everything fell into place i bought 2nd hand & all previous info was wrong .
    Its all good now Thank you appreciated
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    Originally Posted by wft View Post
    Thank you very much all i needed was the RESET info & everything fell into place i bought 2nd hand & all previous info was wrong .
    Its all good now Thank you appreciated
    good you are getting life out of this. I have an old one and wish they made something as good as this today
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