# R-15 - picture pixellation - a dying hard drive?



## cigar95 (May 23, 2008)

I'm using an R-15 that was installed last January - not sure how to tell which particular version it is.

Anyway, in the last couple days, I've begun seeing something that I figure can't be good. Every now and again, the picture will be distorted with square blocks on part of the picture - each block big enough that about 30-50 of them would go all the way across the screen. 

This lasts about a second, at which point we skip a short piece of the movie - maybe 4-5 seconds. (I know the movie well, so I know how much I missed.)

Does this sound like the beginning of a hard drive dying? If so, is this something that DTV will charge me to replace? (I did not sign up for any special warranty coverages when I first joined.)

I'm guessing that the unit was not brand new when I got it. Sounds like anything I want to keep, it might be a good idea to begin downloading it, to be safe.

Thanks for any input here. Browsing the forums, as a newcomer this looks to be a pretty sophisticated (and sometimes a bit justifiably cynical) crowd.

Nicholas


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

This could be signal related. How are your signal readings on the various satellites & transponders?


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## cigar95 (May 23, 2008)

litzdog911 said:


> This could be signal related. How are your signal readings on the various satellites & transponders?


I'm not at home at the moment to check, but I presume it isn't signal-related because I've played the same recording(s) previously *without* the pixellation issue.

That being the case, do you still recommend I check the signal levels?


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

cigar95 said:


> I'm not at home at the moment to check, but I presume it isn't signal-related because I've played the same recording(s) previously *without* the pixellation issue.
> 
> That being the case, do you still recommend I check the signal levels?


Let me get this straight ...
After you see the pixelation, if you rewind and replay that segment of the recording, then you _do not _see the pixelation? That's probably a hard drive problem.


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## cigar95 (May 23, 2008)

litzdog911 said:


> Let me get this straight ...
> After you see the pixelation, if you rewind and replay that segment of the recording, then you _do not _see the pixelation? That's probably a hard drive problem.


Not quite - when the recording was new, it played fine. (Two of them, actually.) But now, the pixellation problem occurs consistently at the same spots in the recordings. (Hence, I'm thinking some sectors on the hard drive are bad.)

It has happened on two recordings so far - a movie I recorded about five weeks ago, and an episode of Lost that's about ten days old now. In each case, when the effect occurs, lasting a second or two, the picture returns, having skipped about 5-6 seconds of content. At this point, the timing seems to have been thrown off, as the fast forward/rewind buttons can't be used to skip ahead and back by 15 minutes like they usually can.

Any guesses what sort of charges am I looking at to replace the unit if the hard drive is gone bad? (It was installed in January, but it was probably not new at the time.)

Thanks for your input.


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

Have any recent recordings have the pixelation problem? Have you ever seen it on Live TV?

I'm still not convinced it's a hard drive problem.


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## cigar95 (May 23, 2008)

litzdog911 said:


> Have any recent recordings have the pixelation problem? Have you ever seen it on Live TV?
> 
> I'm still not convinced it's a hard drive problem.


I hope you're right.

The most recent recording I can recall it happening was made on 5/14. (And my recording of Silver Streak, where it happened at least twice, was made on 4/19.) But I haven't been watching all that much TV lately. I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Don't recall it happening on live TV, but I don't watch all that much when I'm not at least watching the buffer a few minutes behind.


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## cigar95 (May 23, 2008)

OK, now that I have seen this happen a couple more times, I can add a bit of info.

The first time that a spot goes bad on playback, I begin to see the pixellation, which doesn't take place over the entire screen, and at the same time, I begin to hear the *audio* of whatever the tuner happens to be picking up at the moment. After a short time, this disappears and playback returns to normal.

When I rewind and play the segment again, I get just the beginning of the pixellation and bad audio (which has somehow been recorded onto the disk), and then the recording jumps ahead to the normal part. If it were a tape, it would be as if we had kept the beginning of a bad patch of tape, and then snipped out the rest of it, resulting in a skip ahead in the timing.

This no longer sounds like it's just the disk itself having a problem - it sounds like a controller is malfunctioning.

Whatever I want to keep, sounds like I ought to get it off now.


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## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

cigar95 said:


> The first time that a spot goes bad on playback, I begin to see the pixellation, which doesn't take place over the entire screen, and at the same time, I begin to hear the *audio* of whatever the tuner happens to be picking up at the moment. After a short time, this disappears and playback returns to normal.
> 
> When I rewind and play the segment again, I get just the beginning of the pixellation and bad audio (which has somehow been recorded onto the disk), and then the recording jumps ahead to the normal part. If it were a tape, it would be as if we had kept the beginning of a bad patch of tape, and then snipped out the rest of it, resulting in a skip ahead in the timing.
> 
> ...


This is a tough one!! From my experiences with the R15, when a hard drive problem develops, the show (and the DVR) freezes up when the bad spot on the disk is reached. This can be duplicated. You can jump to the end of the show and slowly rewind to just after the freeze and watch the entire show, but if you try to view the spot with the problem the DVR locks up.

I've never seen a HDD problem *cause* pixelation before, but I discover something new every day about the DirecTV DVR's!! What's surprising is that a show that earlier played fine now doesn't.

I'd suggest two things (and maybe three):

1. Download all of your favorite shows to DVR-R's or videotape.

2. REFORMAT your DVR's hard drive. (Detailed instructions available elsewhere on this messaging system) This not only cleans up the disk and resets the file structures, it also REWRITES the software (operating system) to the disk from NVRAM. Sometimes, the software recorded on the HDD becomes corrupted and this fixes it.

3. If the problem persists (or gets worse) it's time for a call to DirecTV for a replacement unit.

Good luck!!


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## cigar95 (May 23, 2008)

Thanks for your input here.


ThomasM said:


> I've never seen a HDD problem *cause* pixelation before, but I discover something new every day about the DirecTV DVR's!! What's surprising is that a show that earlier played fine now doesn't.


I think that the corruption is taking place *as* the playback is occurring - I say this because the stray audio that gets recorded onto the disk appears to be that which was being received at the time I was watching the bad spot. Also, because during playback *after* the first time it goes bad, the behavior is different - as if "the damage is done, here's what's left".



> I'd suggest two things (and maybe three):
> 
> 1. Download all of your favorite shows to DVR-R's or videotape.
> 
> 2. REFORMAT your DVR's hard drive. (Detailed instructions available elsewhere on this messaging system) This not only cleans up the disk and resets the file structures, it also REWRITES the software (operating system) to the disk from NVRAM. Sometimes, the software recorded on the HDD becomes corrupted and this fixes it.


Can you advise where on the site to look for reformatting instructions? This sounds like a big step, and if I screw it up, I'm really in a bind.



> 3. If the problem persists (or gets worse) it's time for a call to DirecTV for a replacement unit.


If it gets to this point, do I get charged for a new unit? Current one was installed in late January.

thanks again,

Nicholas


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## zuf (May 25, 2007)

Since "The Reformattor" hasn't been along yet, I'll offer the link. The instructions on how to reformat are here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=85716

Just remember that this will erase *everything* from your R15: recorded shows, custom favorite lists, to do list, etc.

And if you do end up replacing your R15, you won't have to pay for a new one (since the one you have is leased). You will have to pay about $20 for shipping, though, unless you have the protection plan in which case shipping is also free.


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

zuf said:


> Since "The Reformattor" hasn't been along yet, I'll offer the link. The instructions on how to reformat are here:
> 
> http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=85716
> 
> ...


What? I missed a chance of saying"Reformat"!? Dang!.Thanks zuf!.Guess this R22-100 is taking up too much of my time!.:sure:


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## cigar95 (May 23, 2008)

Thanks for the tip. That thread references a lot of stuff that as a newcomer, relatively speaking, I haven't learned. For instance, how can I tell what software version I currently have? And how does one do a "forced download" and install of the most recent SW?

Looking at all that stuff, it seems like there are a couple options still to try before I go the route to the full "quasi-reformat".

If it matters - my unit is a (leased) R15-100, built in 10/07. And my unit is most of the time *not* connected to the phone line - I plug it in overnight about once a week to let it make contact. (Original installer said that would be fine.)

Last night and today, I've watched two movies without the pixellation problem kicking in. But I have no illusion that it may have gone away. With intermittent problems, one can never tell.


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## zuf (May 25, 2007)

The easiest way to see what software you are currently running is to just press and hold the Info button on the remote for a few seconds. For reference, it looks like the current software spooling for the R15-100 is version 0x120E (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=129264).

The current software will automatically be pushed to your receiver by DIRECTV. Forcing the software download is really only useful when installing a new, just received receiver. If you do end up replacing this receiver, you'll probably want to download the latest software as you are setting up the replacement. If you don't, it will download automatically within the first couple of days. The Reformattor (aka Jhon69) will tell you there is an advantage to downloading the most current software and then doing the reformat procedure so the "original" software and the "current" software are the same. (I've not been able to test this theory myself, though, as I have too many programs on the drive that would get lost if I reformatted). That is also the basic premise behind the link I posted before.

The other reason to force a software download is if you choose to participate in the Cutting Edge process, which is a great way to test pre-release versions of the software and provide feedback to DIRECTV of any issues you find. If you are interested in this process, check out the CE forum here on DBSTalk. In my opinion, though, it would be wise to stabilize your receiver first (work out the pixellation problem) before venturing into the CE downloads.

And the phone line will make no difference in terms of software downloads nor your pixellation issue. One of my two R15-500s runs all the time with no phone line attached. The phone line is really only needed to order pay-per-view via the remote.


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## cigar95 (May 23, 2008)

I have now tried step 1 - simple, but probably a longshot to solve the problem - first, a red-button reset, followed by leaving the unit unplugged overnight. I'm also keeping the disk at least 30% free.

We'll see what happens. I'd rather not lose my some of my recordings if I can avoid a reformat. (Others are no big deal - if I lose all nine episodes of the "Sarah Connor Chronicles", no sweat. But I'd prefer to have "Lost" handy over the summer and fall.)

FYI - I do indeed have 0x120E, downloaded last Wednesday. (And now I wonder what other hidden menus are out there to play with!)


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## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

Jhon69 said:


> What? I missed a chance of saying"Reformat"!? Dang!.Thanks zuf!.Guess this R22-100 is taking up too much of my time!.:sure:


ROTFL!!!


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## cigar95 (May 23, 2008)

Just to update, since I started the thread last month.

After a RBR and leaving the machine unplugged for one night, my pixellation problem seems to have disappeared. I will occasionally get a second or two of mild pixellation, but I think that's in the incoming signal, rather than my recording on disk getting munched.

So for now at least, I don't get the joy of doing a reformat. (If I can hang on until I convert over to high-def next year, I'll be satisfied.)


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