Bad spots in HD DVR recordings

[samijubal]

I keep getting bad spots in DVR recordings on my 722K. Sometimes there's an audio hum followed by the audio/video cutting out for a second or two and sometimes the A/V just cuts out without the buzz. It happens on multiple channels. There's nothing blocking the dish.

Does anyone else see this happening? It looks like a transmission problem to me. I don't want to swap receivers and have the problem still be there.

[Laddyboy]

Have you touched base with one of the DIRT members here or called tech support? I'd guess it's a hardware problem if it's happening on multiple channels. Are these all local channels? Have you tried a different cable from the receiver to the TV? That's the first thing I would try. If you're using HDMI, try using component (regular RCA composite cables will work) and see if the problem persists. Or try HDMI if currently using component. If that doesn't solve the issue, it's likely something wrong with the 722k. Are there any video problems or just sound problems?

[steve4810]

Maybe a DIRT member can tell us how VIP receivers handle disk errors.

My VIP612 came back from a 7500 road trip and a movie on it was very nearly unwatchable for the stuttering freezing and jumping. The show came from an EHD so I can't know whether it got damaged when received by my 722K, or when transferred the EHD, or transferred to the 612. But in the end is was muy messed up.

[samijubal]

It's audio/video both. I see it in DVD recordings made from the DVR. If I go back and play straight from the DVR the same bad spots that are in the DVDs are on the DVR recording.

I've called support, they think it's the HDD which I don't think it is. I'm on my fourth 722K now. If no one else is having the problem then I guess I'll have to swap receivers again.

[kmkohler]

In the last few weeks, I've started seeing what sounds like the same problem on my 722 (not k). I really noticed it when I was watching a recording of an NBA game (Thunder@Blazers). Several times I got a few seconds of loud buzzing and a glitch in the video. Pretty annoying when it happens in the middle of the action! It seems pretty unlikely to me that we'd both start having the same problem at around the same time. I suspect a software problem. If it was a problem with the feed, everyone would see it.

[Jim5506]

Sounds like signalus interruptus to me.

Possible flakey lnb, or dish slightly out of line.

What are your signal strengths?

[dan188]

I've had this happen when I've had signal issues during a recording due to weather

[KKlare]

I've had 2 recordings with presumed bad spots on EHD. I wanted to move them to a different HDD but they cannot be moved back to the main HDD as they stop before the end with an error. One spot is after the movie but with no ability to truncate (edit) a recording I cannot cut it before the bad spot. Both happen to be on the same drive. I'm not ready to give up a 1TB just to be (possibly) sure that it won't happen again. I presume that if they are never moved, the bad spot will stay there--I just need a new recording.

We used to use washtub (multi-platter 15") 300MB drives (MB not GB) to store computer data--good for up to a year, about 1988. Software allowed bad-spotting. There was reported one without a bad spot and the manufacturer wanted it back to find out what they did right, LOL.

I haven't copied out all the 10TB or so that I have, so I'll probably never know how many are bad but I would rather store more recordings than back them up with duplicates or RAID them.

-Ken

[Jim5506]

Have you tried running Spin-Rite from Gibson Research on that 1TB drive, it deep reads and can often recover weak or lost data.

Runs on linux off a CD or even floppy drive or flash drive.

[samijubal]

I thought it just started recently but I watched a movie from July last night and it had the same problems.

The recordings don't have HDD errors. I can move them from the receiver to an external drive and back. It's the sat signal that's the problem.