RDR HXD 790 machine and remote frozen/unresponsive after “Replay” or “Advance” title on HDD.

[liketv]

Hi, while watching a title from the HDD (not a dvd disc), I wanted to go back to replay the previous minute. It stuck at saying “Replay 0m05s” on my TV screen; the remote and the machine are unresponsive.  The title carried on playing until the end; the display on the front of the RDR HXD says “…… :58:79”(the title was just under an hour).

This also happened a few days ago, when forwarding a title – “advance”. After it finished playing the title, “Advance 1m 30s” remained showing on my TV screen, and “……:59:59” remained showing on the RDR HXD display. After a couple of hours I resorted to holding the power button until it turned off, then turned off at the socket, waited a minute, then turned it on again. The Sony went into “Repairing the HDD” mode, and all was well for a few days.

Please can you suggest anything else – I’m worried that I’ll lose the titles on the HDD?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[rooobb]

It seems your reccorder encountered an error on the HDD. This could be just temporary (maybe there was a power loss while recording) or a sign of HDD degradation (keep in mind that expected lifespan of HDD is about 10 years... so we are there) https://www.quora.com/If-hard-drives-only-last-a-few-years-why-does-my-10-y-o-old-computer-still-wor...

In case you have something you really care about, it is time to dubbing it to a DVD (so you have some years more, it will fail eventually in any case 😞 )

[liketv]

Hi Roob, Thanks for your reply.

I was watching a title that I’d already recorded onto the HDD, so it wasn’t actually recording when the problem arose, and I’m sure that there was no problem with the power.

Please will you advise on the safest way possible for me to at least get to a point i.e. get the machine/remote to respond, so I can attempt to dub. Should I do a full factory reset? I have recently moved, and haven’t got a manual to hand – some of my belongings are still in storage.

I do realise that I’m on borrowed time with this – and my other Sony RDR HXD machines (870, 890, 970, 995), which have other problems too. I have difficulty dubbing to DVD discs; lots of dubbing issues and wasted discs “Cannot complete dub”. I presume this is a laser problem, and the nearest authorised repairer is many miles too far away from me – I don’t drive. Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything available to buy which does the same job as these machines – perhaps you can also advise on this?!  Thanks.

[rooobb · Accepted solution]

The user manual is available on the support site https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/home-video-dvd-players-recorders/rdr-hxd790 , but there are very few option for your problem..

You may try an optimization of the HDD or, in the end, a Formatting (but you'll loose your content anyway).

There is also the possibility to change your hard drive, if you are familiar with electronics and you have a specific service remote that is needed to enter the service menu and reconfigure the hew HDD.

Regarding a new machine unfortunately in Europe there is no more a wide choice. I own an RDRHXD870 my self and it is still fantastic but the actual trend is to use the embedded PVR-like features of smart tvs (far from the features of these lovely machine). The only options I knew are some Panasonic devices (remember that the RDR-HXD series were in the end Pioneer rebranded by Sony) https://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer/home-entertainment/hdd.html

[liketv]

Hi Rooob,

Thanks for this info, I downloaded the manual.

The machine wouldn’t perform a normal factory reset i.e. holding down the stop button and pressing the standby/on button.

The only way it would turn off was by holding down the standby/on button by itself. It performed a HDD repair again. I just hope I can get the most important recordings off before it happens again! I’ll need to do this before attempting to Optimise. If I manage to get that far, I’ll then try a Format.

Thanks again.

[Mooly01]

If the machine won't perform a factory reset then I would suggest disconnecting all leads apart from mains power, then power the machine on, wait at least 1 minute and then try the reset again. A reset will not delete any titles from the HDD.

If the HDD has seen lots of use then its pretty certain that the files are very fragmented and one or more 'Optimise' sessions could help a lot in that situation, however for this to be effective you must have plenty of free space available on the drive. The user available 'Format' option is probably greyed out and unavailable and to format the HDD in this case requires the service remote control which has extra functions.

The service remote also allows the HDD to be swapped (for up to a 1Tb drive) and requires just a couple of key presses to format the new drive. 

I have had lots of issues with top brand (Philips and TDK) DVD-RW's that have been proven to be faulty discs. The TDK's became mottled in appearance after only a couple of years and the Philips would jump and stutter. The issue was 100% repeatable in different machines proving the discs at fault.

I've found 'Verbatim' brand DVD-RW to be faultless and these are available if you look hard enough.

At this age it is possible  the laser may need a good clean (I would always advise manually, not using a cleaner disc which just smears and brushes contamination around) and it is possible to do this as long as a couple of important points are observed.  

Also make sure you are running the most up to date firmware for each applicable model. 

[liketv]

Hi Mooly01, Thanks for your info.

It’s a bit of a “catch 22” situation; as you say, I need to optimise, but have difficulty dubbing to discs. The only DVD’s that I found to be almost totally reliable were discontinued a while ago. I have tried numerous other brands, including some Verbatim. I have –R, +R, –RW, +RW. Some work on some machines but not others, so need the variety, but still end up with lots of failures.

Sometimes, I have to dub 1 title at a time, as often the machine(s) won’t dub multiple titles. This is still preferable to not being able to dub at all, as often happens.

I remember attempting to Optimise one of the oldest machines after having issues with it (it’s in storage at the moment). I’m not sure, but I think I managed to dub off until it was approx. 25% full. It seemed to be going through the Optimise process for several hours, but in the end a message appeared saying that it could not complete it, or words to that effect.

I was in error when I posted my problem the other day – this particular one is an 890 not a 790. However, I do have a 790, 870, 970, and 995 too, in storage at present, with problems I’d like to sort out when I can retrieve them!

Please will you tell me:

(a) What % space is necessary to Optimise? Or do I just need to do it several times in succession?

(b) How to clean the laser? I have been using cleaner discs, as I don’t know how else to do it.

(c) Are you able to give further details of the DVD discs that you found to be faultless?

(d) How do I find out which firmware version I should have for the different machines? (I have version 1.24 on the 890.)

((e) More info re: obtaining the service remote and obtaining and fitting a new hard drive.

I know I’m asking a lot, and really appreciate your help. Thanks in advance!

[rooobb]

I can help with few answers...

in this old posts

 https://community.sony.it/t5/home-cinema-projectors-players/rdr-hxd995-incompatble-disc-error-with-n...

https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/home-cinema-projectors-players/replacing-hard-drive-on-rdr-hxd970/td...

you could find the service manual for RDR HXD machine in which you could find hint on how to change the HDD. there should be also the code of the service remote but I succeed in configuring it on an universal Logitech Harmony remote without buying an actual one.

for the actual firmware version you may refer to the machine support Sony site, in any case it should be 1.24 for HXDx90 machines and 1.70 for HXDx70 ones.

During the optimization the machine itself should warn you if it has not enough disk space to do it

[Mooly01]

I would estimate that you're going to need around 25 to 30% or more free space to be able to optimise, an operation which essentially means files are copied and replaced in a more formal order on the drive, just like a PC with a traditional HDD when you run a defragment routine.

On the 870 series, cleaning the laser involves removing the top cover (easy but beware there are live voltages on the power supply board which is located near the left hand side of the machine), and then powering the machine on and opening the drawer. Make sure there is no media on the tray. From here you need to unclip the decorative trim on the front of the drawer (easy if a little tricky because the drawer will automatically close if you press it in) and so the trick is to keep applying outward force to the drawer while uncliping the trim.

Then close the drawer.

While it seems 'obvious' to open the drawer and then just pull the mains plug out before removing the trim, the machine can in extreme circumstances refuse to then operate normally... various warnings as to the scenarios are given in the service manual... and so it is safer to just unclip the trim while the drawer is open but fully powered up. The trim releases very easily and slides up and off the front of the drawer.

When the drawer is finally closed you can then disconnect the mains.

Next you release the front panel trim which is just held via plastic clips and a couple of screws (and the front feet as I recall). The whole front trim then wiggles off... just be careful not to bash or catch the fluorescent display tube which has a glass pip sealing the vacuum and is fragile.

From there you have access to the top cover over the DVD mechanism and this is accessed by removing the four screws on top and I think one at the rear. Very carefully lift the top cover off and the laser will be exposed allowing the lens to be cleaned with a softly teased out cotton bud lightly moistened with fluid (25% isopropol alcholol and 75% water plus one drop of washing up liquid makes a good cleaning fluid (making about 20ml of fluid). Gently clean the lens and look at it under bright torch light. It should look clear and sparkly.

You can use a dry bud to gently polish it. Use only pure cotton buds and only apply very light pressure.

Replacing everything is just the reverse of dismantling.

Make sure the drawer trim is correctly fitted so that it is flush and at 90 degrees to the drawer.

The relevant pages on the Sony support area of this site give details of how to check the firmware version installed. It looks like 1.24 is the latest for the 890.

Firmware

The recordable DVD's I've had zero trouble with are all Verbatim obtained from CPC

https://cpc.farnell.com/verbatim/43639/dvd-rw-4x-spindle-x25-silver-top/dp/CS16754?st=matt 

For the 870 series recorders fitting a new HDD is very easy. Disconnect from the mains (remove any DVD first), take the top off and undo the four screws securing the drive carrier to the chassis. Carefully unplug the drive from the two flying leads and unscrew the actual HDD from its carrier. Fit the new drive in reverse order, power on and you will get an error message on the front saying the HDD is faulty (E01). You turn the machine off with the front panel button and then press in turn on the service remote ESC followed by P RUN. The machine will now format the drive which takes around 10 minutes from memory. When its finished the display changes to 'B Complete'. Power the machine off at the front panel and then back on and you should then be good to go.

Although 'any' 3.5" SATA drive might seem suitable, in practice some work better than others in that they are optimised for exactly this kind of application which isn't demanding in terms of speed and so on but is demanding in terms of constant uninterrupted data flow. I found the Seagate 'Video 3.5' range to be excellent although those now seem discontinued.

These are quoted as a replacement but I haven't tried them:

https://cpc.farnell.com/seagate/st1000vx005/drive-skyhawk-3-5-surveillance/dp/CS30421?rpsku=rel2%3AS... 

I got my service remote from Amazon (for the HXD870) and it was very cheap. Can only see these now:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Calvas-J-6090-203-J6090203A-RDR-HX650-RDR-HX750/dp/B07P8VTYVM/ref=sr_1_1?ke... 

Ebay has quite a few. The part number of the Sony original was J-6090-203-A which should bring a few various examples up. 

[liketv]

Hi Mooly01 and rooobb,

Thanks so much for this very detailed and very helpful info, and your time.

I’m so grateful, and will endeavour to do all you suggest as soon as I can.

(P.S. I don’t get why these were discontinued; surely there’s still a market for them for another decade or so, albeit smaller than ten years ago?)