# Possible Early Warning Signs



## Rovingbar (Jan 25, 2005)

A little over a month ago I started getting 'bad' OTA recordings Described in this thread.

This last week I've had frequent freezes while watching OTA recordings. I've learned that sometimes I can press skip foreward and resume watching.

Friday I was watching Numb3rs delayed about 20 min when the show froze. Fortunately I skipped past the problem spot. After the second freeze, I decided to put the 921 in standby and hope for the best. Watching it last night I heard distinct HD clicking every 5 seconds when the image froze. It was not the rapid HD clicking I've heard when a HD was failing on me, but it might be an early warning.

I tentatively did an HD check, and it said the HD was fine. The system performed only the short HD check.

Also, our HD has had only 2-5 hrs of HD recording time lately because of busy work schedules. I've been purging it this weekend.


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## Allen Noland (Apr 23, 2002)

If you have the same problem when recording HD or SD from the satellite then I would say it is the hard drive.


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## Rovingbar (Jan 25, 2005)

Have not noticed it on any sat. programming. I am thinking it could be an issue with highly fragmented HD programming because the HD has been so full. I've watched about 10 hrs of HD and 10 hrs of SD programming. Still have 14 more hours to go next weekend before clearing the backlog. Argh...


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## Allen Noland (Apr 23, 2002)

I think the DVR defrags itself. My 921 has been down to 2 -5 hours for weeks and I haven't seen any hang ups. Your might be having the "Remote Control Lockup" problem or maybe your having signal problems. Have you tried tweaking your OTA signal?


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## Rovingbar (Jan 25, 2005)

I don't think the lockup is related to the remote. My recordings genuinely have a bad spot. I noticed them first during commercials when I was skipping past the spot. Frequently, a recording will simply freeze in the middle of a scene. I find that sometimes I can 'un-freeze' the image by skipping foreward when the picture freezes. Very odd behavior. 

BTW: I have 100 to 110 signal strength... what can I do to 'tweak' the OTA signal? 

Thanks,
Jeff


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## Rovingbar (Jan 25, 2005)

Allen Noland said:


> If you have the same problem when recording HD or SD from the satellite then I would say it is the hard drive.


Well, I just came across a problem in a SAT SD recording. Over the last week, I've cleared about 20 hrs of SD material from our 921. This was the first instance of a skip-freeze-reboot. I went back through the recording and was able to FF past the bad spot.

Jeff


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## David_Levin (Apr 22, 2002)

Rovingbar said:


> I don't think the lockup is related to the remote. My recordings genuinely have a bad spot. I noticed them first during commercials when I was skipping past the spot. Frequently, a recording will simply freeze in the middle of a scene. I find that sometimes I can 'un-freeze' the image by skipping foreward when the picture freezes. Very odd behavior.


I saw this exact problem last night during an episode of Threshold (the last ever?) recorded from the Sat CBS-East feed.

Was also able to fast forward over the problem area. Backing up and replaying left it again frozen on the screen.

I really doubt it's the hard drive. More likely some kind of glitch in the feed (which the 921 REALLY should be able to work through on its own).

There have been other reports of 921 sensitivity to feed problems. Sometimes we see incorrect program lengths. Sometimes it 30-sec skip not being able to jump over a specific section of recording.


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## Rovingbar (Jan 25, 2005)

I think you are right to suspect a glitch in the feed. The clicking hard drive made me think of hardware issues.

Related to signal glitches, I noticed two spots of audio dropouts during Desperate Housewives last night. I was watching OTA HD. Later, my wife started watching it in the other room so I took the opportunity to see if the audio dropouts showed up in SAT SD locals version. Sure enough, at the exact same spots there were video dropouts, and slightly shorter audio dropout. So the problem must have originated with either the local broadcast or the network feed. Very interesting.


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