EVERYTHING gone on 6 PVR's

[*mad_professor*]

So I had been part of the beta testing group for MRV. I was using my home network and all was working great.

When it ended, I was so spoiled I had to order. I called in and my intention was to just use my home network and pass on the $99 setup fee.

Well after talking to CS and also complaining about my old TIVO PVR units not working well and not being able to see all the HD channels, she said if I paid the $99, not only would they network them with their preferred DECA adapters, they would replace all my old TIVO units with new PVR's for free. I went for it because if not, I would have had to pay for shipping on the new DVR's anyway and run one more network line to the back bedroom. To me, it was a steal so I went for it.

So, Thursday, they showed up and installed. Now I have 2 HR20-100, 1 HR22-100, and 3 R22 units. They are all networked together and can share programs throughout my home. I was fat, dumb, and happy. I have more tuners and recording time than I would ever use.

So this morning I wake up and started watching the news. My daughter comes out and I told her that with the new receiver in her room, she could see all the other PVR's in the house and watch it in her room. She told me that she couldn't see anything when she hit list. I went with her to her room so I could give her a quick training. She was right, when we hit list, there was nothing. At first I thought there was something wrong with the network. I checked every PVR in the house. All the recorded shows were gone. Every hard drive was wiped clean! Not only that, my series manager on every PVR was also blank. Not only did I lose all my recordings, now I have to go through the painful task of setting up all my favorite shows again.

I called tech support and he was completely amazed. He said they had never heard of that happening but that the MRV was also new so anything is possible. I explained to him that I had been using the Beta for some time and now that I have to pay for the MRV, it deletes everything, everywhere.

Anyway, they asked a million questions about the config, software versions, and hardware version. They kept me on the phone for almost 40 minutes while they checked on their system, asked other tech support reps if anyone else had called with my issue. They said they were writing up my case to escalate it to the engineering team.

I am really not sure what to make of all this. I post this to see if anyone else has had this problem and if not, should others start to experience it; maybe we can keep a thread going to try to isolate the issue.

My first thought was a software upgrade gone bad but all my units are running 0x3a8 and they were updated on Thursday by the tech when he was installing the DECA modules and other PVR’s. According to my receivers, no other upgrades have been applied since then.
:rant:

 

[DJ Rob]

I saw this kind of thing when running a beta version of MRV where all recordings were gone. Turning off MRV and then back on usually fixed what recordings that were supposed to be listed. Not sure about the series manager being blank. Reboots also may help.

 

[*mad_professor*]

Reset was the first thing I tried..........no luck.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[jdspencer]

That really sucks.

And strange that ALL DVRs lost everything.

Let's hope that it doesn't happen again.

 

[wildbill129]

very strange......

 

[Lsol]

If you were using CE software and they reset the DVR's to the NR then it would do exactly what you describe.

 

[*mad_professor*]

No, I wasn't using CE software.

 

[cfb]

I thought in your original post you mentioned that you'd been using "the beta software for some time".

If you had them come out and install the DECA software, they probably reset your receivers and forced a download of the National Release code.

If so, any recordings or series links you made with "the beta software" (also known as the "CE" software) would have been removed since the NR doesnt recognize those items on disk.

 

[JAG72]

I thought in your original post you mentioned that you'd been using "the beta software for some time".

Don't forget that MRV has been available in the NR for some time. You only had to opt into the beta on the NR.

 

[cfb]

Yes, but the most recent CE's also made changes to the structure of storing recordings and series links on disk, and the NR out just prior to that wouldnt recognize any of them if you reverted to the NR from the CE.

A lot of people got bitten by this that adopted the DECA stuff early. The installer reverted them to the NR and that wiped all their recordings, or at least the ability to see them. Some folks said when they went back to the CE on the next friday night, their recordings came back.

This may be something completely different. Seems odd that its coincidental with getting the newest NR downloaded on his box by the installers. Maybe it was some weird old NR to CE to new NR combination of effect that made it unable to see his recordings.

Otherwise, its too weird to have happened the same way on ALL six dvrs at the same time. That pretty much rules out anything that might have been a single box defect and they're all different platforms that dont even take the same image loads.

So had to be something in software that was procedural and done all at the same time. Only thing I see here that fits that was the installer putting the NR on all the boxes at the time of the DECA install, that the OP had previously run CE software, and the knowledge that the recent CE software had conditions that would lose all your recordings if you reverted from the CE to an NR.

 

[wildbill129]

cfb is right. When I had my DECA install the other day, they dumped the CE I had on my two boxes and reloaded the NR. I don't store a lot of recordings, I watch everything pretty quick so I didn't lose much. Anything recorded since I put on the CE was lost, but I knew that would happen.

 

[cfb]

I hadnt the chance to check until now, but 0x3a8 (that the OP is running) is the "old" NR that doesnt support any recordings/SL's made in CE's since that version.

0x3df is the latest NR, but it hasnt been pushed to everyone yet.

So he must have had a post 3a8 CE loaded on his boxes, got downgraded when the directv guys forced a software update, and the version available for his boxes that was authorized for them was the old NR, not the new one.

Had he gotten the install a week or two or three from now, he'd have probably gotten 3df and not had a problem.

So lessons learned are:

- Read the CE release notes and if they say that you may lose recordings, heed the warning. There really wasnt much in the newer CE's to warranty taking that risk, IMO.

- If you've been tinkering with the recent CE's and you have directv come out to do a DECA install, dont let them do a s/w reload on you.

- If you think this is going to be some sort of issue, wait until 3df is the national release for everyone, which might be a few more weeks.

 

[TigerpounceTN]

None of this speculation explains why the original poster would say that no CE software was used. If true, then it was something else.

 

[cfb]

None of this speculation explains why the original poster would say that no CE software was used. If true, then it was something else.

Right off the first line of the OP:

"So I had been part of the beta testing group for MRV. I was using my home network and all was working great. "

So it sounds like CE software was at least a little bit involved, yes?

In any case, its well known that the CE software when rolled back removed any recordings or series links made after the most recent s/w was sent out, its been established that the OP has the "old' NR software prior to the most current, and that the fault was concurrent with the installation of the DECA gear and a forced download to the most recent NR, which isnt exactly the most recent.

All that having been said, what is your alternation explanation that gives the OP something to work with?

My read of this is we have an early adopter who by schedule of adoption, misreading of the ridiculously thin "release notes" which I've often complained of, and directv service tech intervention caused a deletion of the customers data.

AS explained above.

Does the OP have any input to this?

 

[carlosvic]

We had the same issue on one of our receivers when we had the Whole Home Networking installed last week. We were also part of the beta program.

We lost all of the shows recorded on the receiver as well as the series manager. Fortunatley for me (not so much the wife) the receiver was primarily used to record her daytime soaps. After a few days I noticed the programs listed in the series manager were back. The shows that had been recorded never came back.

We have three other DVR's in the home and none of them were affected.

 

[wildbill129]

Right off the first line of the OP:

"So I had been part of the beta testing group for MRV. I was using my home network and all was working great. "

So it sounds like CE software was at least a little bit involved, yes?

In any case, its well known that the CE software when rolled back removed any recordings or series links made after the most recent s/w was sent out, its been established that the OP has the "old' NR software prior to the most current, and that the fault was concurrent with the installation of the DECA gear and a forced download to the most recent NR, which isnt exactly the most recent.

All that having been said, what is your alternation explanation that gives the OP something to work with?

My read of this is we have an early adopter who by schedule of adoption, misreading of the ridiculously thin "release notes" which I've often complained of, and directv service tech intervention caused a deletion of the customers data.

AS explained above.

Does the OP have any input to this?

I agree with your assessment that going from CE to NR will cause a loss of recordings, but the OP didn't mention CE, and MRV Beta has been in the NR release for several months now....

 

[cfb]

Hmm, the first line in the piece you quoted contains a quote from the OP that he was 'part of the beta testing group for mrv', so I'm presuming some CE software may have been involved at some point. Its the only explanation I can think of given the timing of the loss and the breadth of effect. I've seen a handful of similar situations, and every one of them involved someone on a recent CE that was rolled back to the old NR by the crew doing their DECA install.

But anyone with a better thesis on how six dvrs would all simultaneous lose all their programming and series links, lets hear it. Because if there's a bug in the current NR software on current platforms that can cause a whole household loss of everything, I'm now out of my 2 year contract and will be immediately buying a different product.

I guess the really good news is the OP hasnt come back to offer any additional comments.

 

[wildbill129]

Hmm, the first line in the piece you quoted contains a quote from the OP that he was 'part of the beta testing group for mrv', so I'm presuming some CE software may have been involved at some point. Its the only explanation I can think of given the timing of the loss and the breadth of effect. I've seen a handful of similar situations, and every one of them involved someone on a recent CE that was rolled back to the old NR by the crew doing their DECA install.

But anyone with a better thesis on how six dvrs would all simultaneous lose all their programming and series links, lets hear it. Because if there's a bug in the current NR software on current platforms that can cause a whole household loss of everything, I'm now out of my 2 year contract and will be immediately buying a different product.

I guess the really good news is the OP hasnt come back to offer any additional comments.

Your theory is the only plausible explanation. Unless the OP comes back here I guess we will never know!

 

[cfb]

The other plausible explanation is that the directv installers clicked "reset everything" on all of his boxes!