Letter to Panasonic

I have enclosed a copy of the receipt for this unit. I bought a Panasonic DMR-E80H in 2003, and I was so happy with it I decided to buy a second one. However, that unit was defective out of the box. So, when I returned the unit, I decided to exchange it for a DMR-E85H (Best Buy had just gotten them in.) I was very happy with the unit for a few months. However, one day I was doing a "Divide" on a title and it froze up, displaying a "U99" error. I called Panasonic Tech Support, and I was told it was a defective hard drive. I really needed to record some programs that night, so I went and bought a 120 GB. (Western Digital 7200 rpm) drive and replaced the drive myself. I am a computer engineer and fully familiar with the electronics involved. When I powered up the unit, it wanted to format the new drive. After that, it worked just fine. I then took the "defective" drive (which had over 50 hours of Video that I had not transferred to DVD ROM yet) and put it into a PC (as a second drive). I ran a hard drive diagnostic on it, and the drive passed all tests. There was nothing wrong with the drive! About a month later, while doing a "Divide", it froze again, displaying a "U99" error -- using the new Hard Drive! I then put the original drive back into the unit. After it formatted, everything worked fine again - for a few more months. (I have saved that Western Digital drive - I am hoping I can somehow recover some of the video on it. I have been told that others with this problem have been able to do this. I haven't tried to recover the data yet, but some day I hope to do so…) A few weeks later, it happened again. (That's three times.) I have been trying to determine if there is a pattern as to when it fails, but I have nothing definitive yet. I put another new drive in the unit. This time it was a 160 GB (the store didn't have a 120 GB). It formatted as if it was a 120 GB and worked just fine for a while. Then it happened yet again…"U99"! At one point, I thought it might be the speed in which I go through the menus while doing the divide. So, I tried to pause for 3 seconds between each menu selection. I decided to use the original drive again this time. Well, it happened again!

The point of this discussion is that I am SURE there is nothing electrically wrong with the drive. The unit is well ventilated, and the "Overheat Error" indicator has never triggered. I believe the REAL problem is bad software (firmware) in the controller card. One clue is that on my DMR-E80H, when I do a divide, it takes about 5 seconds to perform the operation. However, on the DMR-E85H it takes over 11 seconds! Twice as long! It makes no sense, as the operation is exactly the same. The program is simply splitting a single file into two files. I believe there is an error in the firmware code that causes incorrect data to be written to the file directory area on the hard drive (buffer overflow or stack overflow, etc.). When the unit finishes the divide, it must re-assemble the file list (because there is now an additional entry as a result of the divide). As it does this, it reads garbage data in the sector where the file entry should be. The software then assumes that the hard drive is bad, displays the "U99" error and gives up. Now, I suppose this could be aggravated by bad hardware in the controller - perhaps a race condition or timing glitch. Just remember that I have never seen any problems during recording or erasing or even doing a "Shorten" edit. This has ONLY happened doing a "Divide". Four times on three different hard drives! Also, recognize that I also own a DMR-E80H (that unit is in my living room - the DMR-E85H is in my Den) and I have done thousands of "Divide" operations on the DMR-E80H and it has NEVER failed. (It's also twice as fast…)

I have been on the phone with over 6 technicians at Panasonic and I have talked to two local "Panasonic Authorized Service Centers" and I have never gotten a satisfactory response. I most cases, the standard answer is "Defective Hard Drive", which I know is not the case. My hope is that someone (perhaps in Japan) has a REAL fix for this. My biggest fear is that you will "Fix" the unit, send it back, and a month later, while doing a "Divide", it will freeze up with a "U99" error. You have no idea what it feels like, knowing that you have just lost 50 hours of video that you took the time and effort to record. Frankly, if I were in charge of developing the software for this unit, I would have a "Data Recovery" mechanism built in to the unit. In my world, DATA is sacred, and every effort should be made to preserve the integrity of DATA. Perhaps the firmware should do read-back verify on all file directory operations. By the way, I have been involved with large software and hardware projects - I would be glad to offer my suggestions to the designers of these machines. I have always been impressed with Matsushita, and have bought hundreds of Panasonic products over the years. However, my experience with this unit has been disappointing to say the least…

Please repair this unit and then call me and let me know what you have found. I would also be interested to see if a "Divide" operation still takes 11-12 seconds after you have repaired it. Right now, every time I do a "Divide", my heart races and I break out in a cold sweat. Please be SURE you have repaired it. Thanks!

Roger W. Amidon

PS - have you seen the DMR-500 yet? How long does that unit take to do a "Divide"? I have been thinking of getting one of those units if I could be sure it doesn't have the same problem…

So Now What?

OK, so here's what happened next. On the "AfterDawn" DVD Forum, one of the participants noted that there was a mention of the "U99" error on Panasonic's Japanese web site. I had remembered seeing that when I had done a Google on the "U99", but I had skipped over it (unfortunately, I can't read Japanese). Looking again, I noticed that Google could translate the page. Boy, was I surprised what I read there! First, they were not only acknowledging error "U99", they were advising their customers to avoid doing the "divide" function until they upgraded the firmware in their unit! They also were telling their customers that there were three ways to accomplish the upgrade. First, you could fill out a form on the web site, and they would mail you the CD. Or, you could call a toll-free number and they would send you the CD. Or (get this!) you could download the upgrade file and burn your own CD-R with the file. (I was tempted to, but I was afraid all the menus would be in Japanese). When I read this, and saw the difference in how this problem was handled between the American Panasonic and the Japanese Panasonic! It made me really mad (and a bit sad). I called one of the tech support people in the Elgin, Illinois Panasonic repair center and I told him what I had learned. At first he put me on hold for a while to discuss this with others at his location. He then told me that yes, there was a problem with the "Divide" function, and there was, indeed, a CD that would upgrade the unit's firmware and fix the problem. However, it was for internal use only. They don't send them to "customers". After all that I had been through, I told him he MUST send one of the upgrade CDs to me. (At this point, I was seriously contemplating legal action.) After some more "hold" time, he said he would have one of their technicians make a copy of their disk and send it to me. However, before he agreed to send me the disk, he mentioned that if a unit comes in with a "U99" error, you can't do the upgrade. Since my unit (at that point) was in that condition, what good would the CD do? I told them I could handle it. I then found out the way they repair a "U99" errored unit is to first install a new controller board assembly. That's the only way they can re-format the hard drive in the unit. At that point, they can put in the upgrade disk. In other words, with the error "U99" showing, there is NO WAY to upgrade the firmware with the CD. I told him all he had to do was swap out the hard drive to a spare drive - any drive really - and power up the unit. It will format the spare drive. Then put the original back. It will format the original and now you can do the upgrade. He was silent for a moment and then said "gosh, never thought of that...". Can you imagine how many controller cards they have replaced? And there was nothing at all wrong with them... Good Grief!

The Upgrade CD

This is a standard "DATA" CD-R. (I use Nero's "make a data CD".) The CD just contains the one file. I assume the unit observes the filename's extension and then validates that it is an upgrade file. I think it also compares the CD version with the currently installed version and does not do the upgrade if the one on the CD is the same or an older version. You simply put the disk in the unit and it will take it from there. It doesn't take long. It opens the DVD drive at one point. I just took the CD out and closed the drive. After a while, the unit shuts off. You then power the unit up again and you're good to go! It would make sense to check your current version first and make note of it. Also, if your unit was manufactured after August 2004, it's probably OK. If your version is earlier than 0970DL (see below), probably best to upgrade.

Neat Things

I have also discovered a number of special things you can do using special key presses. These have not been documented in any of the user manuals. As an aside, one time I was trying to manually set the clock. There is an automatic clock setting mechanism, but it's never correct. Even if it is, if the program you are recording starts 1 second early, it looks like it started at "8:59 pm" instead of "9:00 pm". The way I set the clock is 30 seconds before the top of the minute (At exactly 30 seconds after 9:00, my clock goes to 9:01). This way, you will have a ±30-second window at the top of the hour to get the time-stamp correct. At any rate, I was trying to set the clock manually, but that function was "grayed out". I tried the "Reinitialize Settings", but that didn't help. I tried to change the TV-Guide settings, but that didn't help either. I tried to switch between cable and TV, but that didn't help (and somehow even that became grayed out). I called Panasonic Tech Support. I was told that my system RAM had gotten corrupted and I had to send the unit in for service! This made no sense to me. I asked her if there wasn't a way to clear the RAM back to some starting point. I was told there wasn't, and please send the unit in for service. Well, as it turns out, there IS a way to do that! (See Commands) Another time, I (somehow?) managed to make the DVD Drive tray "Lock". If I tried to eject a DVD, it would display "LOCK" and refuse to open. At least this time, when I called tech support, I was told what to do - but it really should have been in the manual.

Commands

To toggle the disk eject from "LOCK" to "UNLOCK": With the unit ON, press and hold "Power" and "Stop" for 5 seconds.

To eject a disk if the unit won't operate (U99, etc.): With the unit OFF, press and hold "Power", "Stop" and "Channel Up" for 5 seconds.

To initialize ALL parameters to factory defaults: With the unit OFF, press "Skip Rev" ( |<< ) and "Time Slip" and "Open/Close" for 5 seconds.

To enter "Service Mode": With power off, press "Stop" and "Time Slip" and "Open/Close" for 5 seconds. "SERVICEMODE 00" is displayed.

What follows are the more useful commands you can perform. You use the remote to key in a 2 number value. You can usually return back to the "Service Mode" by entering "00". If you get stuck, hold the power key for 10-12 seconds or until the unit shuts off. Try to avoid unplugging the unit while in service mode. In fact, because losing power while writing to either the hard disk or a DVD-R or DVD-RAM can lose everything, I use a small "UPS" (Battery backed-up Power Source) to power my units. This way, if the AC Mains go out, I don't damage anything…

Oh, and DO NOT experiment with any number combinations that aren't documented here. If you do, you may wish you hadn't…

00 = Return to Service mode start.

02 = Display Firmware Versions. The display will show the following for 3 seconds each:

      1. DVD Region Code (should be Region 1 for USA)

      2. Main Firmware Version (0950DL, or something like that)

      3. Timer firmware Version (0110DC, or something like that)

      4. DVD Drive firmware version (J125, or something like that)

      5. ROM checksum (I think) - It should be all zeroes.

The ROM checksum will remain. You can get back to Service Mode with 00.

41 = The number of hours the laser in the DVD drive has been active.

51 = All display segments are turned on. Use 00 to exit.

61 = Date the unit was manufactured. YYYYMMDD

To exit Service Mode, hold the power key for 10-12 seconds until the unit shuts off.

Final Thoughts

I have looked at other units similar to this one. So far, I haven't found any that come close to the power and flexibility of this one. There are some things I would have done differently. The "Playlist" is not as easy to use as the same feature on the DMR-E80H -- I wish they had kept that as it was in the older unit. I also wish the finalized menu were more flexible. I usually have 2 titles per DVD, so to have 8 slots is dumb. I think you should be able to select the number of titles per page of the disk menu. You should be able to choose 1 or 2 or 4 or 8 per screen. That would make the thumbnails easier to see as well. And the name of the titles would look better. As it is now, I sometimes have to split a word to get the full title in. It looks ugly. I also think it would be neat to be able to switch the display between the "time from the beginning of the track" to the "Actual time it was recorded". Maybe they can do this on the next model…

I have been testing the "fixed" upgrade (on 3 machines) for the past 10 days, and it has not failed once since the upgrade. And I have been dividing like a bunny... I am now beginning to think the problem may have been an interrupt that was happening during a small critical "window" in the firmware code that does the divide, causing data corruption. I really do believe they have fixed that problem. However, I also believe there is still a bug in the firmware's "divide" function code. Every operation (erase, shorten, etc.) takes only 5 seconds to perform. Even on a DVD-RAM the "divide" takes 5 seconds. ONLY on the hard drive does the "divide" take 11-12 seconds. This makes no sense. The operation is identical. You would think it should take LONGER on the DVD-RAM, since that drive is not nearly as fast as the hard drive. Why does it take 12 seconds? The HAS to be an error in the firmware. In fact, that error may have given the timing problem a chance to screw things up. They have put a Band-Aid on the "U99" error, but Panasonic has not fixed the REAL problem. Maybe they can do this on the next model too…

Roger W. Amidon