# Earl -- Anything Definitive with Tivo Bug?



## perilous (Sep 4, 2006)

Read lots of threads here, on TCF and AVS, but have not seen anything definitive on this Tivo bug affecting SP's, reboots, etc. Did I miss something? If so -- what is going on? Any fixes in sight?

Never had problem with my HR10-250 until recently when I got 6.3b early Fri. morning. Sat. evening my box was "frozen", unplugged to reboot and then discovered it did not record the Rangers/Bruins NHL game on NBCHD!  Then discovered the 6.3b version of the software and said "oh oh -- now I see what everyone is complaining about on the forums".

Because 24 and Rome season premiers were coming up Sun. night, I double and triple checked SP's, ToDoLIst, etc. and everything appeared fine. Luckily I babysat the shows because BOTH shows STOPPED RECORDING midstream -- 24 at about 1:35 in and Rome about :16 in!! Was able to take advantage of dual buffers (NOT available on HR20!!) and manually record the rest of the shows including buffers!!! Wonder how many have not discovered their truncated recordings yet????

WTF is going on? ANY insights would be greatly appreciated....THANKS!!!!


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

On Friday... DirecTV announced that that TiVo/DirecTV had identified the issue.

The "fix" will be with a new software download for the DTiVo series, how ever no definitive time frames on when it will be in place.

During that time, DirecTV will be making some temporary adjustments while TiVo works on the software update.


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

That's a bit disingenuous given what I understand the issue to be.

Is it not true that they changed the guide data format (probably in an attempt to fix the R15 and/or HR20) and that the TiVo units were barfing on the now noncompliant data? So the temporary fix is to go back to what's worked for six years until TiVo can code to the new spec?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

walters said:


> That's a bit disingenuous given what I understand the issue to be.
> 
> Is it not true that they changed the guide data format (probably in an attempt to fix the R15 and/or HR20) and that the TiVo units were barfing on the now noncompliant data? So the temporary fix is to go back to what's worked for six years until TiVo can code to the new spec?


Not entirely true.
Yes... pieces of the guide data where updated, however they where not specifically made for the R15/HR20. However, they where within the specifications of the guide data stream.

And the TiVo code was not handling the changes.

No other system, including all the NON-DVR receivers (of any age), nor the UTV, nor the R15/HR20... had issues with the data changes.

So yes... they now have to scale back the enhanced data in the guide data, while waiting for software updates for the TiVo software.


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## steve13 (Sep 5, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Not entirely true.
> Yes... pieces of the guide data where updated, however they where not specifically made for the R15/HR20. However, they where within the specifications of the guide data stream.
> 
> And the TiVo code was not handling the changes.
> ...


So, there isn't a software push coming for the TiVo machines? If they are updating the guide data, I guess a reboot of our DVR should force it to lose all of the "bad" data and download the data without the enhanced info that caused the problem? And from then on, the Season Pass shows should record as they should.

Also, there is an article from tvpredictions.com talking about this fix, but it doesn't really provide any information:
http://www.tvpredictions.com/tivotonight011507.htm


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## skinnyJM (Nov 19, 2005)

Earl,
What are the chances of getting TiVo to throw in updated channel logos while they're at it?
(For their loyal TiVo junkies)


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

skinnyJM said:


> Earl,
> What are the chances of getting TiVo to throw in updated channel logos while they're at it?
> (For their loyal TiVo junkies)


Slim to None.


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## skinnyJM (Nov 19, 2005)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Slim to None.


That's NOT good.
I guess the "relationship" has become much colder than previously thought (publicly). 
I, personally, hope Liberty does something to correct it. I understand the desire for a common GUI, but let's pay the ones who know how to program the basic functions of the DVR/PVR. Not to mention the brand name associated with TiVo.
I know you have no control over it and probably feel the same way  , but you have better contacts than me.


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## perilous (Sep 4, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> On Friday... DirecTV announced that that TiVo/DirecTV had identified the issue.
> 
> The "fix" will be with a new software download for the DTiVo series, how ever no definitive time frames on when it will be in place.
> 
> During that time, DirecTV will be making some temporary adjustments while TiVo works on the software update.


Earl...sincerely thanks for info -- are there any suggestions for workarounds in the interim? Suggestions in various threads are all over the map!!!

Also, when will we know when D*TV has made its interim fixes prior to software downloads? How do we know when to redo SP's and/or reboot to get rid of corrupted data, etc., etc., etc. The lack of specific, definitive info from D*TV is somewhat maddening/frustrating to say the least!!!!


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

Maybe it's not official info, but a guy who wrote to me sent me some interesting links. The last one, which arrived Friday, had this link. If you read the last 10-15 posts, it indicates the problem is solved. Our two R10s are working fine, but never seemed to be affected.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4769497#post4769497


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

perilous said:


> Earl...sincerely thanks for info -- are there any suggestions for workarounds in the interim? Suggestions in various threads are all over the map!!!
> 
> Also, when will we know when D*TV has made its interim fixes prior to software downloads? How do we know when to redo SP's and/or reboot to get rid of corrupted data, etc., etc., etc. The lack of specific, definitive info from D*TV is somewhat maddening/frustrating to say the least!!!!


You shouldn't have to do anything.... Possible just do a simple restart at best to be proactive.


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## tonyd79 (Jul 24, 2006)

Earl, any word on what the new data is/was/will be? The guide data that TiVo uses now is pretty extensive. And I see less information on the HR20 than I do on my HR10 for the same program.


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## perilous (Sep 4, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> You shouldn't have to do anything.... Possible just do a simple restart at best to be proactive.


Earl...I'm confused...the link in the post before your post indicates continuing problems???? Should we rely on SP's yet or just do manual recordings of our favorite shows??? Is someone at D*TV actually tracking these "fixes" for actual results? Or are we left to complain in these forums ad nauseum??


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

perilous said:


> Earl...I'm confused...the link in the post before your post indicates continuing problems???? Should we rely on SP's yet or just do manual recordings of our favorite shows??? Is someone at D*TV actually tracking these "fixes" for actual results? Or are we left to complain in these forums ad nauseum??


There are people tracking the results of the temporary fixes... by a variety of means... monitoring the forums, their own call centers, and feedback from TiVo, Inc.

You should be able to rely on your SP's to do their job.

I would recommend a pro-active reboot, to force the unit to re-examine it's sp's and clear out any filled cache areas... but it shouldn't be necessary.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

tonyd79 said:


> Earl, any word on what the new data is/was/will be? The guide data that TiVo uses now is pretty extensive. And I see less information on the HR20 than I do on my HR10 for the same program.


The same information is available to the HR20... that system (and the R15), just simply doesn't have a screen to display that info yet.


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## perilous (Sep 4, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> There are people tracking the results of the temporary fixes... by a variety of means... monitoring the forums, their own call centers, and feedback from TiVo, Inc.
> 
> You should be able to rely on your SP's to do their job.
> 
> I would recommend a pro-active reboot, to force the unit to re-examine it's sp's and clear out any filled cache areas... but it shouldn't be necessary.


Thanks Earl....


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

I had 2 HR10's go bad with SPs again yesterday (they had been fine for a week or so). A forced phone call resolved the problem after about an hour.

Will the fix involve a new software download, or will I continue to need to do forced phone calls till a future date?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Eventually there will be a new download.

However... there isn't a remote HINT of when such a software version will be available.


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Thanks - Da Bears looked awfully good yesterday! Good luck!


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## mrb (Sep 14, 2006)

wilbur_the_goose said:


> Thanks - Da Bears looked awfully good yesterday! Good luck!


Go Bears!


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## JohnDG (Aug 16, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> On Friday... DirecTV announced that that TiVo/DirecTV had identified the issue.
> 
> The "fix" will be with a new software download for the DTiVo series, how ever no definitive time frames on when it will be in place.
> 
> During that time, DirecTV will be making some temporary adjustments while TiVo works on the software update.


There are new reports of this problem reappearing over on TivoCommunity.

Did DTV reinstate the new program guide data?

jdg


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

John,
I've been forcing calls every day and I've been OK thusfar.


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Oops - spoke too soon. The problem is now requiring a manual reboot every couple of days. It's back the way it was.

If this happened where I worked, somebody would've been fired by now. Where's the responsibility for irking the Clients?


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

I haven't had the reboot problem with any of mine (SD or HD) for 3-4 weeks. Whenever they turned off the change they made to the SAT stream.

Is your unit hacked so you could take a look at the log files?


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Nope - not hacked...

It's not rebooting itself - I'm forcing a reboot because I'm getting the "someone modified the season pass" thing again. 

Everything is fine about an hour after the reboot.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Have you tried a reset to clear Program Information and To Do list? It could be some bad data got into your guide/TDL/SPs and it needs a clear to reload the guide data and recreate the TDL.


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Wolf - once I reboot, things are fine - for a while.

It's actually the exact same behavior we saw a few weeks ago. My guess is that DirecTV is tweaking the guide data again.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

I'm not seeing any of that. I don't frequent TCF, is there talk over there of renewed problems?


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Yep.

We have 2 HR10-250's and both are now re-experiencing the "someone modified the season pass" bug.


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