Any quick fix for Hopper 3 hard drive?

[Electrojim]

Getting more than my share of stalling, break-up and pixelization on Hopper 3 recordings. Pretty sure it's in the recorder, not off-air, because if I play back the bad part it always messes up in the same spot, but not with exactly the same artifacts. Is there any "maintenance" that can be done, like chkdsk in Windows 10, or should I just bite the weenie and call Dish. What's their policy? Chances are if someone comes out it won't fail.

 

[HipKat]

Typically, that occurs from low signal, not Hard Drive issues. It's possible it could be the Drive, but a bad LNBF or water infiltration in the cabling, but off-peaked Dish is the first place to look

 

[DishSubLA]

Actually, break-ups, atifacts happening in the same spot IS more of a confirmation that it is the SIGNAL. If you are getting the break-ups or problems at different points after replaying, then that is a sure sign of the HDD as that is likely a problem with the READ of the HDD regardless of how well the data was WRITTEN, and if there is a problem with the HDD you WILL get READ problems, guaranteed. My vote for your problem as you have described is more along the lines of what HipKat has suggested.

The HDD is probably writing properly, but the signal is getting botched somewhere along the chain from OTA or Sat origin digital stream to the HDD. Your HDD and error correction are likley trying to READ the corrupted signal/digital stream that was laid down (written) on the HDD as best it can, and these various attempts can result in sometimes different artifacts, but in the same spot because with video/audio, it has to be sent to the output on the fly, as opposed to, say, a Word or Spreadsheet File that the computer can take its sweet time correcting the data for output several seconds or even minutes later.

 

[Electrojim]

Guys, I think you're right. My wife's been watching the Olympics, and reports quick image breakups 'live,' at about the same frequency as on the recorded versions she was watching previously. We get most local channels off: Satellite 129, Spotbeam 4, with a Signal Strength of 57, regardless of which tuner is used. Is that 57 typical, or a bit low? Thanks for the tips!

 

[KAB]

Guys, I think you're right. My wife's been watching the Olympics, and reports quick image breakups 'live,' at about the same frequency as on the recorded versions she was watching previously. We get most local channels off: Satellite 129, Spotbeam 4, with a Signal Strength of 57, regardless of which tuner is used. Is that 57 typical, or a bit low? Thanks for the tips!

57 is actually great. So I'd say it's not the signal. Maybe the LNB or cabling like Hipkat suggested.

 

[Electrojim]

Okay, thanks, KAB. Sounds like I'm going to have to knuckle under and get a $ervice call. It really doesn't happen all that often outside the Olympics coverage... (I'm stalling).

 

[BUD_n_Sons]

I wonder if progressive fragmentation affects replays? I don't well remember when I swapped out the internal drive and formatted it, but recent recordings seem more prone to video freezes and audio dropouts. I'll try emptying & reformatting the internal to see.