# HR21-200 won't let me watch my recorded shows!



## kopykat (Oct 5, 2007)

last night I tried to watch something I recorded last week and I got nothing but a black screen and the progress bar wouldn't move. I went back and tried to watch something that I'd already watched and had the same problem. also related to this problem is that I can't rewind live tv. it freezes and the only way out of it is to change channels.
obviously it does me no good to call DTV tech support until I'm home this evening but is the hard drive fried or is there a reset button that might help me save my recordings?


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

I'm confused. The H23-600 is not a DVR, it's an HD Receiver. So is this H23 part of a Whole Home DVR network setup? Certainly the first thing to try is resetting both the DVR and the Receiver.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

If there is really a problem with the recordings, they wont be saved...but I would go to menu-settings-reset-restart receiver when you get home today to see if that fixes it. But it does sound like you have an issue, perhaps the dvr service just got unauthorized since you also report no rewind capability for live tv.


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## kopykat (Oct 5, 2007)

litzdog911 said:


> I'm confused. The H23-600 is not a DVR, it's an HD Receiver. So is this H23 part of a Whole Home DVR network setup? Certainly the first thing to try is resetting both the DVR and the Receiver.


my bad, I chose the wrong one from my equipment list. it's a HR21-200 and no, I don't have Whole Home DVR, it's a stand alone.


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## kopykat (Oct 5, 2007)

CCarncross said:


> If there is really a problem with the recordings, they wont be saved...but I would go to menu-settings-reset-restart receiver when you get home today to see if that fixes it. But it does sound like you have an issue, perhaps the dvr service just got unauthorized since you also report no rewind capability for live tv.


don't think that's it as the DVR on the other tv is working just fine.


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## azarby (Dec 15, 2006)

kopykat said:


> last night I tried to watch something I recorded last week and I got nothing but a black screen and the progress bar wouldn't move. I went back and tried to watch something that I'd already watched and had the same problem. also related to this problem is that I can't rewind live tv. it freezes and the only way out of it is to change channels.
> obviously it does me no good to call DTV tech support until I'm home this evening but is the hard drive fried or is there a reset button that might help me save my recordings?


Do a menu reastart and try it again.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

kopykat said:


> don't think that's it as the DVR on the other tv is working just fine.


DVR service, although you pay on your overall account, still needs to be authorized for every DVR in the house on Directv's end...if the menu-restart doesnt fix it, I would try the service re-authorization...info and test menu will also show you if the dvr service is on the box as well...something like sat1, sat2, record, etc...


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## kopykat (Oct 5, 2007)

hitting the reset button on the front did the trick. all my programs were still there. 
not sure if it's related but I had to go on DTV's website and "reauthorize" some things on my account.
thanks everybody for the help!


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

kopykat said:


> hitting the reset button on the front did the trick. all my programs were still there.
> not sure if it's related but I had to go on DTV's website and "reauthorize" some things on my account.
> thanks everybody for the help!


Glad it worked. Did you try the menu restart option first or go right to the red button reset? Always use the menu restart unless the box is not responding to remote commands, its safer for your recordings.


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## kopykat (Oct 5, 2007)

CCarncross said:


> Glad it worked. Did you try the menu restart option first or go right to the red button reset? Always use the menu restart unless the box is not responding to remote commands, its safer for your recordings.


I did try the menu restart but couldn't get it to make a difference. all my recordings are still intact.


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## Church AV Guy (Jul 9, 2007)

CCarncross said:


> Glad it worked. Did you try the menu restart option first or go right to the red button reset? Always use the menu restart unless the box is not responding to remote commands, its safer for your recordings.


Is there any documentated evidence that the menu reset is safer for your recordings than an RBR?

Whenever I feel I "need" to reset the DVR, I pull the plug! I have never lost a recording doing this.


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

Church AV Guy said:


> Is there any documentated evidence that the menu reset is safer for your recordings than an RBR?
> 
> Whenever I feel I "need" to reset the DVR, I pull the plug! I have never lost a recording doing this.


I doubt that there is, but there sure is a lot of superstition about it. Most of that is related to the expected behavior on PCs, which DVRs are not.

If you discount PC behavior, it comes down to what the box is doing at the time you request a reboot. A menu restart likely warns the OS that it is time to restart and for it to take a break with its background r/w tasks.

A RBR is basically the hardware not warning the OS and r/w is interrupted rudely. But, since nearly everything is journaled these days, the DVR very likely picks right up where it left off once rebooted, so no blood, no foul. It may even invoke journaling at that instant, but not likely (although the menu reboot is more likely to).

Pulling the plug is not really a request for reboot, just a loss of power (although a reboot is implied at power up). So again, routines are rudely interrupted but again can easily pick up where they left off. In this and RBR there may be an orphaned DB record or two created, but typically that's not a big deal. The difference here is that a loss of power during a write can mean the HDD actuator runs off track as it is spewing that last gasp of data. That is typically not a problem, unless it inadvertently writes over part of the database catalog, meaning that may corrupt the ability to find a particular recording. If it writes over a critical part of the OS, it may actually want to reformat the HDD on bootup. Just not very likely.

So there is a reason for the menu restart (which is also nice since you don't have to leave your Barcalounger to do it), and there is a reason for RBR (in case the OS is so hosed that it can't accept a menu restart). And there is a reason for pulling the plug on occasion. It's just that there is a tiny risk when you do, so I think it wise not to chance fate.


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