Been having problems

[Jimbo]

Been having problems with my HR20-700 with recordings freezing during playback, normally just small second or so glitches .....
It doesn't happen when watching the show "Live", just recordings.

To make it more interesting, I have 2 other friends in the area that are having the same problems, same models as well.

btw, it's OTA on all three, not D* feed channels.

This has been happening for at least 2-3 months now, the SAT channels don't do it.

I had D* swap a HR20-700 earlier and that didn't solve the problem (I didn't think it would, but thats what they wanted to do).

The shows show fine when watching live, so it's not the network.

I am having trouble isolating this because it's happening on different units around town.

I am using a EHD, Seagate 1.5tb, the other two are using the HD one in the box.

Any thoughts guy's ?

Jimbo

 

[Jimbo]

Nobody ?????

 

[raoul5788]

Mine froze last night for the first time. I think you jinxed me, Jimbo! A rbr did the trick.

 

[Jimbo]

Mine froze last night for the first time. I think you jinxed me, Jimbo! A rbr did the trick.

I do resets every week with the CE and it doesn't help.

Fwiw, Mine is the only one on a CE, the rest are under normal D* software.

 

[yorktown]

I was going to say the DVR is going bad but you said - It doesn't happen when watching the show "Live", just recordings and I had D* swap a HR20-700 earlier and that didn't solve the problem (I didn't think it would, but thats what they wanted to do).

I was gonna say it's you local broadcaster's problem but you said - The shows show fine when watching live, so it's not the network.

You seem to have counter answers for what I'd say I think the problem is so I didn't bother to reply.

Since it's happening to you and your friends around town and you claim it's not doing on any satellite channels it's probably a problem with your local broadcasters or the networks even if you're convinced it's not.

I get little 2 second glitches here and there when I'm watching nationwide broadcast channels(ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX).

 

[Jimbo]

I was going to say the DVR is going bad but you said - It doesn't happen when watching the show "Live", just recordings and I had D* swap a HR20-700 earlier and that didn't solve the problem (I didn't think it would, but thats what they wanted to do).

I was gonna say it's you local broadcaster's problem but you said - The shows show fine when watching live, so it's not the network.

You seem to have counter answers for what I'd say I think the problem is so I didn't bother to reply.

Since it's happening to you and your friends around town and you claim it's not doing on any satellite channels it's probably a problem with your local broadcasters or the networks even if you're convinced it's not.

I get little 2 second glitches here and there when I'm watching nationwide broadcast channels(ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX).

Because I've went thru everything I can think of is exactly why I am asking you guy's , give me any ideas you may have.
If it was happening at just my location it would be one thing, but seeing others are also having issues, I'm baffled.

I can contact the local engineers about the OTA local signal, but I'm not sure how the signal would be the problem if it shows fine watching "Live" tv.

 

[Jimbo]

Here's hoping someday a CE fixes this problem ...................................

 

[jcrandall]

I'm baffled on that one, no idea

 

[Jimbo]

I'm baffled on that one, no idea

It happens on most all recordings, usually only in the beginning of the recordings, first 10 minutes or so, then us OK, but in the last few recordings it got worse and continued thru a larger portion of the recording.

I'll probably have to call them and go thru everything again .... if they send me another recvr that doesn't fix the problem, they will be spinning thier wheels again, seeing it's happening on more than just mine.

I can't imagine all of them being bad, also don't think it's bad LNB's (just now getting cold up here, in the last week or so) as my LIVE recordings are not effected.

 

[yorktown]

I can't imagine all of them being bad, also don't think it's bad LNB's (just now getting cold up here, in the last week or so) as my LIVE recordings are not effected.

Since earlier in this thread you said - btw, it's OTA on all three, not D* feed channels. it's got nothing to do with the LNBs or the dish, dish wiring, multiswitch.

 

[wildbill129]

What kind of OTA setup do you have? Do you have a pre-amp?

 

[Jimbo]

What kind of OTA setup do you have? Do you have a pre-amp?

Yes I do have a preamp on mine and one of my friends so as well, not sure about the third one though.

I don't remember the which antenna I'm using, but it's a Winegard Pre Amp that I am using, A 8700 I think it was.
Ran RG-6 from the antenna to the pre and then to the TV end of things and into the rcvr.

 

[wildbill129]

Are all your OTA feeds broadcast from the same transmitter location? I am wondering if there have been some changes up there. Maybe they have increased power, or more than likely, decreased it? If there was an increase, your pre-amp could cause over amplification. I would head over to AVS Forum and go to the OTA section for your location. I've found that site very helpful for OTA issues.

 

[FED-UP-INSTALLER]

throw a mini fan across the receiver and see what happens I'm thinking theres a temperature issue

 

[Jimbo]

throw a mini fan across the receiver and see what happens I'm thinking theres a temperature issue

3 different situations, Mine is in an entertainment center with plenty of open air thru the back.
One friends is in an Open environment and they other is in a Entertainment center as well, also a larger area inside.

Why would heat not effect the sat channels ?

 

[Jimbo]

Are all your OTA feeds broadcast from the same transmitter location? I am wondering if there have been some changes up there. Maybe they have increased power, or more than likely, decreased it? If there was an increase, your pre-amp could cause over amplification. I would head over to AVS Forum and go to the OTA section for your location. I've found that site very helpful for OTA issues.

I will look into the OTA section you mentioned.
Thanks

 

[cfb]

I'll take a blind stab at it. I know the local stations in my area lowered the transmission power when they went to the digital transmitters and plan to move their antennas and boost the signal. Some are also switching from uhf to vhf or vice versa. Honestly I havent paid that much attention to it since I've got a mountain between me and the broadcast towers and I get nothing.

The other thing is that when you're watching live tv and not back in the buffer, the directv ota tuner hands off directly to the output...it doesnt go to the disk and then get read back.

Otherwise if its a recording or from the buffer, its written to the disk and played back from the disk.

So maybe theres some marginal signal issue or they changed the antenna location and now you're on a hairy edge signal wise. When its live and unbuffered, its good enough to not have any stopples. When its disk buffered, its not always good enough and you get them.

Only other thing I've seen before is mass disk drive/signal flakiness when we get deep into the winter season and the furnaces get used a lot, people start getting trouble from units in cabinets sitting in front of or over a furnace duct, or humidity levels start dropping and the dry air makes for static discharge problems inside the home or static buildup on the dish or antenna that isnt properly bled off due to improper grounding.

 

[harshness]

Sounds remarkably like some sort of processing overhead problem caused by LIL guide information. I doubt that everyone's hard drive is going at once.

If it weren't happening to others, it would look like a failing hard drive.

 

[Jimbo]

Are all your OTA feeds broadcast from the same transmitter location? I am wondering if there have been some changes up there. Maybe they have increased power, or more than likely, decreased it? If there was an increase, your pre-amp could cause over amplification. I would head over to AVS Forum and go to the OTA section for your location. I've found that site very helpful for OTA issues.

I got a reply back from one of the local engineer's that I know, he said that they have not changed thier power at all, they would like to increase it and have the equipment necessary but the FCC won't let them.
They keep petitioning .....

 

[mccoyrj]

I've been having the same exact problem with my HR20-700, and for about three weeks or so. Up until tonight it has been OTA recordings. Tonight however, I watched a D* recording from Monday and started getting split second sound drops, but not the freezes like I get on the OTA channels. I did a quick rewind each time, replayed the sound drop segment again and the problem was gone. This happened several times during the recording. I thought I'd come here first before calling D*. Has anyone found a solution to this since Jimbo's last post or 12-07, or determined what may be the problem?