Procedure for forcing a digital host channel

[intowin]

new firmware,
forced channel 6.1 cbs, turned off overnight for 4 days.  No grid
gtest vbi failed on channel 6.1. three times
host channel is blank.
vbi channel is 06-1

Others are getting tvgos listings in orlando, so I should be able to as well. Do I need to force channel 26 the rf end of cbs?

Any ideas How I can get up and running?

[TopHighFi]

Try doing a full reset and follow Frank's original procedure.
After reading all the yin & yang I'm going to stay away from the update for now.
By following Frank's procedure that I used a couple of months ago, I'm still getting full schedules via digital CBS.
He did note, and a I truly believe, a key factor, tune to your CBS digital station before shutting down at night.
Another key note, if your zipcode market is extremely close to a primary city, use a zip code that is 25-30 miles away so your DVR doesn't get overloaded with guide-listings.
It's rare, but sometimes i.e. once a month, my clock goes out  and all I have to do is the G*TEST, sometimes having to press 2 or 3 to get the VBI packets to sync and then the clock comes back, but again, very very very rare. 

[dvrgirl]

Spiff72,
Thank you SO MUCH for creating this site. I am clueless  about my Sony DHG and am learning a ton on here. I just recently moved towns around Philly and switched from using a Comcast cable card to Verizon FIOS. I receive the channels and the correct time on my DHG, but no TV Guide. It's been 2 weeks and the screen still says it is rebuilding the channel list based on my recent setup change. I followed your instructions on running a G* Factory Test and the results were: VBI, Serial and IR Tests failed; under VBI packet statistics, there were 0 under the VBI Good, Fixed and Bad columns; and 1 Good under ATSC: PAT and ATSC: PMT. This is a foreign language to me so I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question but: Based on those results, does that mean I should not continue with trying to force the digital host channel?

Thanks again!
Lisa J   

[mabuttra]

Spiff72,
Thank you SO MUCH for creating this site. I am clueless  about my Sony DHG and am learning a ton on here. I just recently moved towns around Philly and switched from using a Comcast cable card to Verizon FIOS. I receive the channels and the correct time on my DHG, but no TV Guide. It's been 2 weeks and the screen still says it is rebuilding the channel list based on my recent setup change. I followed your instructions on running a G* Factory Test and the results were: VBI, Serial and IR Tests failed; under VBI packet statistics, there were 0 under the VBI Good, Fixed and Bad columns; and 1 Good under ATSC: PAT and ATSC: PMT. This is a foreign language to me so I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question but: Based on those results, does that mean I should not continue with trying to force the digital host channel?

Thanks again!
Lisa J   

Lisa,

What channel is carrying the TVGOS data? Is it an analog channel, or a digital channel? Have you updated the firmware in the Sony to 1.2.21? If not, and the VBI Test is failing, it indicates that there isn't data on the channel you are running it on. You must be tuned to a channel that is carrying the TVGOS data in order for the VBI Test to pass. However, if you are running the 1.2.21 firmware, it will only pass the VBI Test on an analog channel, and not a digital channel (It's confusing, I know).

Since your clock is correct, the DVR has found TVGOS data somewhere. There really isn't any reason to do the "force host" procedure. That procedure is left over from the days before digital when people were receiving both digital and analog data. They could (in theory) force the host to the digital channel, and get data from the digital channel rather than the analog channel (which the Sony prefers). The fact that your clock is correct proves that the Sony has found the data, but unfortunately in the digital environment, it can take from a day up to a month to get the grid back.

Mark