# Did last SW update cause audio freezes?



## JerryElbow (Jun 14, 2007)

I'm noticing for the last several weeks that I'm getting a LOT of audio freezes. That is, the sound will drop out, the picture will likely freeze for a second and I might get a "waterfall" effect of pixels going haywire before the picture resumes. The sound usually resumes but sometimes doesn't unless I rewind and start playing again or pause and play. I never used to get this with any frequency but now I get it several times in just about every show I record and watch (I watch very little live). This does not seem limited to any particular channel, though I watch HD pretty exclusively.

The DVR is an HR20-700 with a Seagate Free Agent Pro 750 Gb drive. Could it be the DVR going south, something happening to the external drive or a side-effect of the last software upgrade? It seems like I noticed this starting to happen after I got a notice about a SW upgrade (possibly the dual live buffer upgrade). 

Any ideas or comparable experiences, anyone?


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

JerryElbow said:


> I'm noticing for the last several weeks that I'm getting a LOT of audio freezes. That is, the sound will drop out, the picture will likely freeze for a second and I might get a "waterfall" effect of pixels going haywire before the picture resumes. The sound usually resumes but sometimes doesn't unless I rewind and start playing again or pause and play. I never used to get this with any frequency but now I get it several times in just about every show I record and watch (I watch very little live). This does not seem limited to any particular channel, though I watch HD pretty exclusively.
> 
> The DVR is an HR20-700 with a Seagate Free Agent Pro 750 Gb drive. Could it be the DVR going south, something happening to the external drive or a side-effect of the last software upgrade? It seems like I noticed this starting to happen after I got a notice about a SW upgrade (possibly the dual live buffer upgrade).
> 
> Any ideas or comparable experiences, anyone?


Yup. Comparable experiences on all my 20-700s and haven't noticed any on my 21-700s. Annoying, when you consider that it wasn't happening at all on the 20-700s before the NR, and I rarely got briips on them and I'm getting them now. I doubt that your HDD is at fault, I'd blame the NR itself.

Rich


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## John in Georgia (Sep 24, 2006)

Exactly the same situation on my HR20-700s.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

Waitaminute! Are you saying that the brrips on your HR20's started after the recent NR software update? :eek2: :eek2: You do realize that is completely not possible and that you must be hallucinating ....................... :lol:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=2238050#post2238050



rich584 said:


> Yup. Comparable experiences on all my 20-700s and haven't noticed any on my 21-700s. Annoying, when you consider that it wasn't happening at all on the 20-700s before the NR, and I rarely got briips on them and I'm getting them now. I doubt that your HDD is at fault, I'd blame the NR itself.
> 
> Rich





John in Georgia said:


> Exactly the same situation on my HR20-700s.





JerryElbow said:


> I'm noticing for the last several weeks that I'm getting a LOT of audio freezes. That is, the sound will drop out, the picture will likely freeze for a second and I might get a "waterfall" effect of pixels going haywire before the picture resumes. The sound usually resumes but sometimes doesn't unless I rewind and start playing again or pause and play. I never used to get this with any frequency but now I get it several times in just about every show I record and watch (I watch very little live). This does not seem limited to any particular channel, though I watch HD pretty exclusively.
> 
> The DVR is an HR20-700 with a Seagate Free Agent Pro 750 Gb drive. Could it be the DVR going south, something happening to the external drive or a side-effect of the last software upgrade?* It seems like I noticed this starting to happen after I got a notice about a SW upgrade (possibly the dual live buffer upgrade). *
> Any ideas or comparable experiences, anyone?


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## finaldiet (Jun 13, 2006)

I've been having a lot of freeze-ups as well. Both HR 20's are having them. Also GUI is slow.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

TBlazer07 said:


> Waitaminute! Are you saying that the brrips on your HR20's started after the recent NR software update? :eek2: :eek2: You do realize that is completely not possible and that you must be hallucinating ....................... :lol:
> http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=2238050#post2238050


Read my post again. "Rarely" means I did/do get some briips, just not as many as the 21-700s. The audio drop outs and the momentary freezeups have nothing to do with briips. They are happening only on my 20-700s and they weren't occurring before the last NR. I have six active 20-700s and they all act the same way.

I've dropped out of the briip controversy because I don't want to argue over something I consider to be a minor annoyance. Whatever the reason for the briips, they are more noticeable on my 21-700s, than my 20-700s. Aside from that, I don't care why.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

finaldiet said:


> I've been having a lot of freeze-ups as well. Both HR 20's are having them. Also GUI is slow.


I'm waiting for someone to say that the NR didn't cause this to happen. I don't see how that's possible. All my 20-700s played almost perfectly, no freezeups, no audio drop outs, then the NR hit and and the freezeups and audio drop outs began immediately. Can't possibly be anything but the NR.

Rich


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## TimoHT (Oct 6, 2008)

add me to the list. problem is just as described in the original post. NEVER had this before the September s/w release. VERY frustrating, especially when combined with the "lost recording time" many of us have experienced since the s/w release. Even more frustrating since as far as I know, to date, DirecTV is silent on the issue (in denial? ???? ).


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## uscboy (Sep 5, 2006)

Same here - heaven forbid I have anything buffered or try to use Double Play 
because that poor hard drive gets one hell of a workout.... grind, grind, grind, 
grind.... then the video/audio freezes and pauses... grind, grind... comes 
back and starts playing again. 

Very annoying. Whatever they're trying to run, the HR20's don't have the 
horsepower like the HR21s do, I have no problems on my HR21.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

TimoHT said:


> add me to the list. problem is just as described in the original post. NEVER had this before the September s/w release. VERY frustrating, especially when combined with the "lost recording time" many of us have experienced since the s/w release. Even more frustrating since as far as I know, to date, DirecTV is silent on the issue (in denial? ???? ).


No, someone will come to the defense of the NR. And they can argue their point until they are blue in the face. I'll just keep repeating the same thing over and over. If it didn't happen before the NR, why is it happening now? I know there is nothing wrong from my dish to the HR feeds and I really don't want to hear that I'm wrong this time. I was extremely leery of what the new NR was going to do us and, so far, since the NR, I've lost a $460 eSATA and have the same problems on my 20-700s as the rest of you do.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

uscboy said:


> Same here - heaven forbid I have anything buffered or try to use Double Play
> because that poor hard drive gets one hell of a workout.... grind, grind, grind,
> grind.... then the video/audio freezes and pauses... grind, grind... comes
> back and starts playing again.
> ...


I think that in some way the NR was more focused on the 21s rather than the 20-700s. Many more problems with the 21s historically. Even tho I don't have speed problems with my 21s, I have no doubt that others do. Whatever the fault is, and I still doubt it is always the HRs, the speed issue still exists.

Rich


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I can't say for sure, but I'd be more likely to think that the upswing in audio issues is coincidental with the national release rollout, not because of the NR.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Stuart Sweet said:


> I can't say for sure, but I'd be more likely to think that the upswing in audio issues is coincidental with the national release rollout, not because of the NR.


I shut off my TV with a 20-700 on it at eleven pm on the night before the NR arrived just four hours and twenty six minutes later.

Before noon, I started watching a movie that had been recorded after the NR that morning. Freezeups and audio dropouts persisted thru the move. Very hard to watch. Ended up deleting the movie.

Then I started watching a movie from a couple weeks before the NR. Fine, all the way thru. So, I became convinced it was a broadcast problem with the first movie.

Then I thought about my 2TB eSATA. Turn that on and it starts freezing up about every ten minutes. Had to shut the power switch off and turn it on again to clear up that freezeup. Switched to a different movie recorded on a different channel and the same thing happened.

I have four 20-700s in that room and I turned them all on and started playing with them. Recorded shows on each one. Gave them each about 45 minutes to record, walked the dogs, did some things and went back and started the recorded shows on each one. The 20-700 with the 2TB did the same thing. Impossible to watch. Tried old recordings and the same thing happened. The other three, were exhibiting freezeups that I could clear by hitting the "back" button and there were audio dropouts. Pretty severe. Now I'm thinking something happened to some component on or after that dish.

Before I start tearing things apart, I go into the bedroom and try the 20-700 that's on the other dish. Same thing. OK, sure isn't anything from the dishes down. Has to be the HRs. Five of the 20-700s, cause the 21-700s aren't having any issues.

So, I rooted around in *VeryOldSchool's* posts. I remember most of his posts that interested me and I found a pattern that suggested pulling the plug for a long period would clear up a lot of problems. Pulled the five 20-700's plugs and left them unplugged for 12 hours at midnight. Plugged them in at noon the next day. The 20-700 with the very expensive eSATA that we had watched the previous evening without a problem, still had the long annoying freezeups. Internal drive didn't exhibit the extreme problems that the external drive did and I dumped it.

The other four: I recorded a one hour show on each of them and watched a show that I had recorded before the NR without any issues. After the HRs stopped recording, I played the whole show on each one and the length and intensity of the freezeups and audio drop outs decreased dramatically on each one. Now, it's just a minor annoyance, but still an annoyance nonetheless. At least they are watchable. And all the recordings that were made before the NR are playable without the issues at all. I don't think that can be explained by a coincidence. I replaced the eSATA with another one and all the recordings on that one have been made after the NR and the issues are always there. The 20-700 I just activated the other day is doing the same thing. Six HRs doing the same thing.

The other people on this thread have reported the same issues and I've received several emails from folks having the same problems.

I, too, can't say for sure, but I'd be more likely to think that the issue is the result of the NR. Based on just the comments on this thread, I don't think coincidence has anything to do with it. If you recall, I posted about this NR a while ago and stated that I dreaded it, or words to that effect.

In my case, I can't imagine how it could be a coincidence. I have two dishes, one with four 20-700s and the other with two 20-700s and three 21-700s and a 21-200. In other words, my HRs are pretty evenly spread out over two dishes with two separate and distinct cable runs and two separate and distinct 6x16 Zinwell Multi-switches.

I don't think this problem defies logic.

Rich


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## csgo (Oct 15, 2006)

The audio dropouts and video blackouts on Fox today during the football game were terrible. At first I blamed Fox, then I switched to OTA. I then discovered it was a DirecTV problem. 

It's not a software update issue because I had the same game on two different receivers (HR20 and H22) and both were having the problem. None of the problems on OTA.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

csgo said:


> The audio dropouts and video blackouts on Fox today during the football game were terrible. At first I blamed Fox, then I switched to OTA. I then discovered it was a DirecTV problem.
> 
> It's not a software update issue because I had the same game on two different receivers (HR20 and H22) and both were having the problem. None of the problems on OTA.


The H22 didn't get an update recently?

Rich


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## Barry in Conyers (Jan 14, 2008)

Stuart Sweet said:


> I can't say for sure, but I'd be more likely to think that the upswing in audio issues is coincidental with the national release rollout, not because of the NR.


Wow! Didn't see that coming.


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## TimoHT (Oct 6, 2008)

Stuart Sweet said:


> I can't say for sure, but I'd be more likely to think that the upswing in audio issues is coincidental with the national release rollout, not because of the NR.


I'm fairly new to the DBStask DirecTV forums (Although I've been a DirecTV subscriber for more than 10 years and an electrical engineer for more than 30 years).

But, wow,,,, I've experienced many problems since the latest s/w release and have read countless similar posts. To me, anyone suggesting "coincidence" rather than an issue with the latest s/w release is severely risking credibility...


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## SWORDFISH (Apr 16, 2007)

Stuart Sweet said:


> I can't say for sure, but I'd be more likely to think that the upswing in audio issues is coincidental with the national release rollout, not because of the NR.


1. A new NR is downloaded.

2. Several people with HR20-700 boxes begin complaining of audio issues that started occurring following the download.

3. Many other people (myself included) with the *same box*, report that they have the *same issue*, and that it *started after they received the new NR*.

Serious question Stuart........

After considering the above facts, what causes you to conclude that the audio issues are a coincidence ?

SF


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

rich584 said:


> I shut off my TV with a 20-700 on it at eleven pm on the night before the NR arrived just four hours and twenty six minutes later.
> 
> Before noon, I started watching a movie that had been recorded after the NR that morning. Freezeups and audio dropouts persisted thru the move. Very hard to watch. Ended up deleting the movie.
> 
> ...


Rich,

Yes, but did you check on any UFO appearances in your area? You very well know the problem couldn't be caused by the NR...that's just not a possibility. We have experienced some audio dropouts lately on our HR20-700s.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Ken S said:


> Rich,
> 
> Yes, but did you check on any UFO appearances in your area? You very well know the problem couldn't be caused by the NR...that's just not a possibility. We have experienced some audio dropouts lately on our HR20-700s.


Nothing abnormal has happened. Other than six 20-700s acting very weirdly. That said, I have no intention of vilifying Stuart on the open forum. Took me almost an hour to write my reply to him and I think that's enough.

Somebody had to say something in defense of the NR, I wish it had been someone else.

Rich


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## gilviv (Sep 18, 2007)

Freeze-ups and audio drop-outs IMO have become more prominent since the last NR. My wife, who basically "just" watches TV and is not into all the tech stuff (the in and outs of D* and its hardware), commented to me the other day regarding a show we were watching...."what's with all the sound missing and why does the picture get screwed up?"......I have to say that at first I thought it was just coincidence as well, maybe weather related or as some suggested,..... Aliens, but lately the freeze-ups and audio drop-outs as well as a much slower GUI have become almost a constant. Never noticed freeze-ups and audio drop-outs before like they occur now! Saturday I was at a friends house watching a college football game(yes, it was on D*) that was interrupted by freeze-ups and audio drop-outs almost every 20 minutes; my friend mentioned he had been seeing this problem for a few weeks now, I checked his HR20/100 and it had received the NR at the end of Sept. about the time when issues started. Again, this is a person who basically "watches" DirecTv, and is not into the whys of it.....he is going to "call D* today to come out and fix it" as he is on the Protection Plan. 

Its like the "BRRRIIIPPP" thing, it happens, we talk about it, some blaim gets shoveled around to different entities, but all in all, it still happens. And we LIVE with it until the next problem.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

gilviv said:


> Freeze-ups and audio drop-outs IMO have become more prominent since the last NR. My wife, who basically "just" watches TV and is not into all the tech stuff (the in and outs of D* and its hardware), commented to me the other day regarding a show we were watching...."what's with all the sound missing and why does the picture get screwed up?"......I have to say that at first I thought it was just coincidence as well, maybe weather related or as some suggested,..... Aliens, but lately the freeze-ups and audio drop-outs as well as a much slower GUI have become almost a constant. Never noticed freeze-ups and audio drop-outs before like they occur now! Saturday I was at a friends house watching a college football game(yes, it was on D*) that was interrupted by freeze-ups and audio drop-outs almost every 20 minutes; my friend mentioned he had been seeing this problem for a few weeks now, I checked his HR20/100 and it had received the NR at the end of Sept. about the time when issues started. Again, this is a person who basically "watches" DirecTv, and is not into the whys of it.....he is going to "call D* today to come out and fix it" as he is on the Protection Plan.
> 
> Its like the "BRRRIIIPPP" thing, it happens, we talk about it, some blaim gets shoveled around to different entities, but all in all, it still happens. And we LIVE with it until the next problem.


How could D* possibly send someone out to fix his problem? Well, maybe you have technicians where you live, but all we have are installers and, for the most part, they have difficulty with that. But what could a tech guy do? Besides give him a replacement for the HR. A 21 would probably work, I don't see those problems on my 21s, just the 20-700s.

Rich


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## labatt79 (Jan 16, 2008)

I had this issue over six months ago and even over a year ago. Hadn't had anymore problems since then until this weekend. It was mostly my ABC HD local, but some on the CBS HD local. HR20-700


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## gilviv (Sep 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> How could D* possibly send someone out to fix his problem? Well, maybe you have technicians where you live, but all we have are installers and, for the most part, they have difficulty with that. But what could a tech guy do? Besides give him a replacement for the HR. A 21 would probably work, I don't see those problems on my 21s, just the 20-700s.
> 
> Rich


My point exactly! 
I told my friend that they(D*) are not going to do much, but when he calls them and they see he has the PP, they'll role a truck out there and waste everyones time.


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## Flyrx7 (Dec 26, 2007)

HR20-100 w/FAP 750, WA state. 

Pixelation, audio drop outs and audio freezes (have to slip back to get audio back). 

It's getting so bad now. While watching football, any or all three symptoms happen a minimum of once a minute and up to 15 times a minute. 

I did notice this while on a CE, prior to the latest NR, as well, but not as bad as it is now. 

MNF is nearly unwatchable right now! Fox football on Sunday sucked as well. I'll be calling D* as soon as I get a minute.

(edit) sometimes the audio and pixelation will not repeat when I slip back, sometimes it remains the same. 

Frank


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## JerryElbow (Jun 14, 2007)

Well, I don't know whether to be happy or sad that it's not just me that is experiencing the problems I described in the original post. Sad that so many of us are having the problems since the September release, glad that maybe the fact that so many of us are will get DirecTV's attention and they'll hopefully fix it sooner rather than later.


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## bigwad (Oct 19, 2006)

I thought at first it was just one of my 20-700's. Then was watching Bones the other night, drop outs were occurring. Not that frequently, but annoying. Went upstairs and checked the 20-700 there, which had the same Bones recorded. Dropouts occurred at the same time on both units and were identical in length of freezing and audio dropouts. It seems most are occurring on my local HD channels. Haven't noticed it as much on the other channels.


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## HDbruce (Jul 1, 2007)

I have a 20-100. Since the new software arrived in mid-September I haven't had a clean OTA recording. Random audio losses often followed by a brief video breakup. Anywhere from 1 to 5+ in an hour show. Recordings on satellite-only channels are always flawless. The unit was perfect before this release. Something in this release affected the OTA encoding capabilities of the unit (all the cycles briefly being using by some other new task for about 3 seconds?).


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## kenva (Dec 29, 2006)

I noticed something interesting this weekend. I have been getting the audio dropouts ever since the this newest release. This weekend I attached an external eSata drive that had used before with the HR20, but not recently. With the external drive I didn't have any dropouts at all. When I switched back to the internal drive the dropouts quickly returned. I'm not sure what this means though. Does this new software version put a greater strain on the disk drive and my external was just better at keeping up? Is my internal drive going bad? I don't think so all the records are good. Even when there is a dropout on the internal disk I can skip back a few seconds and the recording is fine.


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## TimoHT (Oct 6, 2008)

HDbruce said:


> I have a 20-100. Since the new software arrived in mid-September I haven't had a clean OTA recording. Random audio losses often followed by a brief video breakup. Anywhere from 1 to 5+ in an hour show. Recordings on satellite-only channels are always flawless. The unit was perfect before this release. Something in this release affected the OTA encoding capabilities of the unit (all the cycles briefly being using by some other new task for about 3 seconds?).


hmmm. experiencing these issues only on OTA recording is an interesting observation. Like so many others, I have also had the dropouts since the latest s/w release. I had not correlated it to only OTA recordings, but that is possible since we do watch a lot of OTA stuff.

I believe that OTA HD digital signals are less compressed than those from the D*TV satellite. That would imply they require more disk access/bandwidth. Perhaps something in the new s/w puts a demand on the disk or other, related system resource that causes issues only with the higher density OTA HD material.

.... hmmmmm...

EDIT: Another thought - do the dropouts occur on all OTA stations? Or just Fox and ABC? Fox and ABC transmit HD as 720P and the other networks transmit 1080i. A prior post mentioned a problem with "Bones." That is Fox. We have issues with many recordings, but I know we have them with Good Morning America which is ABC.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

My problems seem to be subsiding somewhat. Perhaps D* threw a patch out and, at least partially, fixed it.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

labatt79 said:


> I had this issue over six months ago and even over a year ago. Hadn't had anymore problems since then until this weekend. It was mostly my ABC HD local, but some on the CBS HD local. HR20-700


Have you tried leaving the 20-700 unplugged for about twelve hours? Seemed to help me a bit.

Rich


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## HDbruce (Jul 1, 2007)

The problem is occurring on CBS, NBC and Fox. We're not watching anything on ABC or PBS these days so I don't know about them. I've debugged it enough to know that it happens even when only one show is being recorded and even when the unit is "off" and otherwise not in use. I have not yet tried to rewind through the bad section to see if repeats (in the reception/encoding process) or not (in the decoding process).

In terns of CPU load. I understand that the tuning and decoding of the OTA signals is all done in software and is more CPU intensive than decoding the satellite signals. If true, that could explain why another process using some CPU resources slows things down enough to cause the momentary OTA breakups but not affect satellite recordings. It's marginal, sometimes only the audio goes, but if it's a long one, then the video goes too.


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## Rhythmx (Aug 25, 2006)

Watched CSI Miami and CSI tonight that was recorded off the Antenna. Same thing with my HR-20. Audio freezes and picture freezes every so often. If I rewound for a minute or so, it seemed to fix the problem. Hopefully Directv will fix this. Not a huge deal, but annoying.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

(My bolding on your post) That is exactly what has happened to me. Mine started well before the September release because I was running the CE software which eventually led up to that release. I have it on HR20-700's and -100's.

You will also notice if you watch a LIVE REAL-TIME OTA show it will be fine but as soon as you PAUSE (go into the buffer) the show it glitches. In live "real-time" it's fine.

Here is a youtube of one of the glitches. It is "looped" which is why it repeats itself. Note the horizonal line of "breakup" and the accompanying audio glitch. Sometimes it is worse but usually it's as shown. It happens varying times during a show:






It has been reported a number of times but evidently not many people use OTA anymore or just switch to SAT so there aren't as many complaints. 
I have swapped receivers, antennas, cables, spliiter and tried with and without esata and have even gone as far as replacing the drive internally to cover all bases and eliminate bad hardware. Eventually just threw in the hat and gave up. I doubt it will ever be addressed.



HDbruce said:


> I have a 20-100. *Since the new software arrived in mid-September I haven't had a clean OTA recording.* Random audio losses often followed by a brief video breakup. Anywhere from 1 to 5+ in an hour show. *Recordings on satellite-only channels are always flawless.* The unit was perfect before this release. Something in this release affected the OTA encoding capabilities of the unit (all the cycles briefly being using by some other new task for about 3 seconds?).


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## Volman (Jul 13, 2007)

Both of my DVRs started to pixelate and have dropouts concurrent with the NR.It's nonsense to suggest that it's a coincidence and not the NR.We HAVE been through this before!

My HR20-700(stock) and my HR20-100 witha Seagate 1TB Extreme eSata are doing the same thing.


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## bigwad (Oct 19, 2006)

I just received an answer to an email I sent D*. My question about the Autocorrect on 1x FF was forwarded to someone. My question about the freeze ups was given the following: Reset receiver, if doesn't fix, call tech support. I know from this forum that neither will take care of the problem. At least that's what I gather.

Should I call the tech support when I get home, or will it be a big waste of time?


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## erichb64 (Jan 2, 2007)

Add me to the list as well. I also seem to notice during the "audio silence" that the hard drive is grinding away. Does the increase in the dvr noise (hard drive defrag, or other issue) coincide with anyones else's loss of sound and freezing picture?


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## mridan (Nov 15, 2006)

csgo said:


> The audio dropouts and video blackouts on Fox today during the football game were terrible. At first I blamed Fox, then I switched to OTA. I then discovered it was a DirecTV problem.
> 
> It's not a software update issue because I had the same game on two different receivers (HR20 and H22) and both were having the problem. None of the problems on OTA.


I thought the video blackouts had to be a problem with the network,looks like I'll have to watch the OTA channels and not D*.This last NR is terrible,I think I'm going to get the Tivo DVR when it's avalible(and no I'm not a Tivo fan boy).


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

bigwad said:


> I just received an answer to an email I sent D*. My question about the Autocorrect on 1x FF was forwarded to someone. My question about the freeze ups was given the following: Reset receiver, if doesn't fix, call tech support. I know from this forum that neither will take care of the problem. At least that's what I gather.
> 
> Should I call the tech support when I get home, or will it be a big waste of time?


Try unplugging the HRs for about twelve hours. Calling tech support (an oxymoron?) is futile.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

erichb64 said:


> Add me to the list as well. I also seem to notice during the "audio silence" that the hard drive is grinding away. Does the increase in the dvr noise (hard drive defrag, or other issue) coincide with anyones else's loss of sound and freezing picture?


I haven't noticed it, so far.

Rich


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## Podkayne (Nov 1, 2007)

HR20-100 here. We've had problems including lots of BRRRRRRIP, video freezes, waterfalling pixels to recovery, etc. The most recent episodes of Bones and House were almost unwatchable.

I've not had to reboot this receiver for months; probably the last time was the auto-reboot after the last NR.

I sure do hope things smooth out with this - it's been a superb receiver with external 2TB array for over a year now.


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## vtfan99 (Apr 12, 2006)

HR20-700. Same thing. Video freeze, audio drop...a few seconds later and everything is ok...but its a few seconds later in the program. Never had a single issue with my box since I got it in 2007. Now this....seems awfully coincidental NOT to be caused by the NR.


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## jason williams (Jan 24, 2007)

I too have noticed this problem since NR. Does dish or cable experience stuff like this. Maybe if D* starts losing a few customers they will fix stuff like this or not release anything that is not tested or I don't really need.


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## jeffstra (Jun 23, 2006)

I'm glad that I'm not the only one. However, I have one question, what the heck is an NR? New Release?


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## TimoHT (Oct 6, 2008)

jeffstra said:


> I'm glad that I'm not the only one. However, I have one question, what the heck is an NR? New Release?


National Release


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## finaldiet (Jun 13, 2006)

I am still getting freeze-ups and now some pixelation also. Shows on recordings also. Never had any problems with my HR20's before. Has to be the last NR.


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

TimoHT said:


> ...I believe that OTA HD digital signals are less compressed than those from the D*TV satellite. That would imply they require more disk access/bandwidth. Perhaps something in the new s/w puts a demand on the disk or other, related system resource that causes issues only with the higher density OTA HD material...


OTA signals originate at anywhere from 9-17 Mb/s,typically around 14-15. The current practice for satellite HD is usually to encode each MPEG-4 channel to 9 Mb, which gives good quality and allows 4 channels to fit into a typical transponder slot. So yes, the bit rates are usually somewhat higher for OTA signals.

But even if there were significant differences, the HDDs used have tons of overhead. A typical drive recording 2 streams and playing back 1 would need a sustained throughput of only 27 Mb/s for MPEG-4, up to double that for OTA HD, yet HDDs easily can sustain 80 Mb/s. I concur that the busier the DVR is the more tendency there is for it to pause and glitch, but I sincerely doubt that it is a HDD throughput issue, which means something else is at work here.



TimoHT said:


> ...Another thought - do the dropouts occur on all OTA stations? Or just Fox and ABC? Fox and ABC transmit HD as 720P and the other networks transmit 1080i. A prior post mentioned a problem with "Bones." That is Fox...


The raw data rate of 720p is about 7/8ths the data rate for 1080i, so if there were a difficulty arising from this it would affect the 1080i channels more than the 720p channels. But as it is, the compressed SMPTE310 data rate, the data rate seen by receiving equipment, is arbitrarily chosen and has no relation to the raw data rate. Some OTA stations transmit higher or lower than other using a rate of their choosing, and whether the source material is 720 or 1080 is typically not a factor in them choosing that rate. It is just as common to have a 1080i station encode at 10 Mb/s or a 720p station encode at 17.5 Mb/s, or _vice versa_, so any conspiracy theory aimed that direction is probably nothing more than that.

The process of recording/playing back OTA channels should not be that materially different from recording/PB of DVB channels. Each process is identical except for the source tuner type, and from the point of CPU cycles it would seem that one would not be extensively more greedy for those cycles than the other. Decoding is done by hardware that is designed to handle a 1.5 GB reconstituted data rate feeding HDMI out or DAC/component out, so no possible bottleneck there either, regardless of 720 or 1080 format. That said, OTA and DVB are still different processes handled slightly differently. Bugs or limitations can arise in one process and not the other.

*********************************************************

There may be bottlenecks in processing within these DVRs that are at a very high level technically and therefore very hard to predict or fix. One of the issues with digital is that different platforms may exhibit unpredicted behavior due to small changes in design. All of the DVRs are theoretically designed to the same standards, generally speaking, but we users have been able to discern problems with one model that does not appear with another, and problems that only affect a subset of a particular model.

That makes the practice of dumbing things down to the point where problems begin and then backing off a little bit a questionable way of designing and producing products. For a product to be reliable in this sort of business, it needs to be built with serious amounts of overhead, and significant testing procedures. The software engineering needs to be extensive, not just intended to satisfy a bare minimum performance level. My best guess is that this is not happening, and like everything else, is economically driven.

IOW, a few problems with a few boxes is something that the unlucky user with a problem might find intolerable, but until it affects a lot of customers it is easily tolerable by a giant DBS provider. The fact that they feel they can ship something and fix it later with up revs is a serious fault in approach to delivering quality products, and DTV is as guilty as anyone else in that regard. This would be forgivable if they would _just eventually fix the problems._ Problem is, they often don't.


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## Meatwad (Sep 21, 2007)

I'm glad it's just not me!!!

The football game last weekend on Fox in Denver was unwatchable due to audio glitches, etc. I switched my TV over to OTA and it was fine. Most of what we record from Fox is unwatchable with the audio and video stuttering. I have an HR20 and an HR21 and they both seem to be affected by this crap.

Hopefully this gets fixed quickly!


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

Meatwad said:


> I'm glad it's just not me!!!
> 
> The football game last weekend on Fox in Denver was unwatchable due to audio glitches, etc. I switched my TV over to OTA and it was fine. Most of what we record from Fox is unwatchable with the audio and video stuttering. I have an HR20 and an HR21 and they both seem to be affected by this crap.
> 
> Hopefully this gets fixed quickly!


Well, as you can see this the exact opposite problem to what many have posted, even if the end result might seem to make it similar. Precisely identifying the issue is paramount, and this sounds very much like a local reception issue (a local reception issue either for DTV or for the end user), and not the issue that this thread is actually about. IOW, "this crap" may be a local issue for one, and "different crap" may be at the root of problems that manifest similarly for others.

So as important as it is to keep this thread current so _that DTV wakes up and finally smells the propane,_ it is also important to not confuse the issue with similar yet different problems. I understand that it is difficult for lay persons to be able to make the distinction, which is after all DTV's job, but we should try very hard to be as accurate as possible so they don't just throw their hands up in disgust and decide that everyone is complaining about everything. If one is not sure, just present as many details as possible. Meatwad (a very well-thought-out name, obviously) was able to provide enough clues here, for instance, to distinguish his issue from the real issue being reported on here, even if that was purely by accident.


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## TimoHT (Oct 6, 2008)

Meatwad said:


> I'm glad it's just not me!!!
> 
> The football game last weekend on Fox in Denver was unwatchable due to audio glitches, etc. I switched my TV over to OTA and it was fine. Most of what we record from Fox is unwatchable with the audio and video stuttering. I have an HR20 and an HR21 and they both seem to be affected by this crap.
> 
> Hopefully this gets fixed quickly!


By "switching your TV over to OTA" do you mean: 1) Switching from using the DirecTV DVR's tuner to using the TV's tuner or 2) Changing the DirecTV DVR's tuner from a satellite station to an OTA station?

If #2, your experience would seem different from what some have posted (as noted in a post from TomCat). However, if #1, you would be providing additional evidence of issues with the DirecTV DVR consistent with what others have posted.


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## TimoHT (Oct 6, 2008)

TomCat said:


> IOW, a few problems with a few boxes is something that the unlucky user with a problem might find intolerable, but until it affects a lot of customers it is easily tolerable by a giant DBS provider. The fact that they feel they can ship something and fix it later with up revs is a serious fault in approach to delivering quality products, and DTV is as guilty as anyone else in that regard. This would be forgivable if they would _just eventually fix the problems._ Problem is, they often don't.


TomCat, WOW, thanks for providing the technical background and analysis. I was trying to pose some potential root causes for the issues many of us are seeing after reading many, many posts. Sounds like it is likely not as simple as "bandwidth", but, "IF" the issues are more prevelant on OTA material, the issues may still be related to the different OTA and satellite code.

Regarding "... a few problems with a few boxes...". From reading threads on the DBStalk and DirecTV forums, it sure sounds like its more than "a few boxes." And... while only a "few problems...", at least one of them is almost catastrophic. That is the "Lost Recording Space" issue that has resulted in lost recordings for many of us.

In any case, Thanks Much for the analysis and thought.

--- Tim


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## Meatwad (Sep 21, 2007)

TomCat said:


> Well, as you can see this the exact opposite problem to what many have posted, even if the end result might seem to make it similar. Precisely identifying the issue is paramount, and this sounds very much like a local reception issue (a local reception issue either for DTV or for the end user), and not the issue that this thread is actually about. IOW, "this crap" may be a local issue for one, and "different crap" may be at the root of problems that manifest similarly for others.


Sorry for confusing the issue. I simply saw plenty of comments in this thread from others complaining about stuttering and freezing, which is what I wrote about too. My picture will stutter and freeze and turn into a pixelated mess, and I'll also get the audio buzz, or stutter as well.

Basically the latest software release is borked, and DirecTV needs to fix it.


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## Meatwad (Sep 21, 2007)

TimoHT said:


> By "switching your TV over to OTA" do you mean: 1) Switching from using the DirecTV DVR's tuner to using the TV's tuner or 2) Changing the DirecTV DVR's tuner from a satellite station to an OTA station?
> 
> If #2, your experience would seem different from what some have posted (as noted in a post from TomCat). However, if #1, you would be providing additional evidence of issues with the DirecTV DVR consistent with what others have posted.


Sorry for any confusion. I switched to the OTA input on my TV and the reception was fine on the same Fox channel. I do not have OTA tuning available or configured on my DirecTV HD-DVR.


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## TimoHT (Oct 6, 2008)

TomCat said:


> Well, as you can see this the exact opposite problem to what many have posted, even if the end result might seem to make it similar.


TomCat.. Please see Meatwad's clarifying post. He had problems with the DirecTV Satellite channel and no problems when directly tuning OTA on his TV. So, his experience is supportive having a DirecTV issue - but not supportive of it being unique to OTA via the DirecTV DVR's tuner. That is not inconsistent with other experience. Many are seeing issues with OTA or Satellite via the DirecTV DVR - some think the issue might be more frequent with OTA. But, it occurs with any DirecTV DVR tuned station.


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## TimoHT (Oct 6, 2008)

Meatwad said:


> Sorry for any confusion. I switched to the OTA input on my TV and the reception was fine on the same Fox channel. I do not have OTA tuning available or configured on my DirecTV HD-DVR.


Thanks. That does localize the issue to the DirecTV DVR (or at least the DirecTV supplied signal) since you did not have issues when using your TV to directly receive the OTA FOX station.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

TimoHT said:


> Thanks. That does localize the issue to the DirecTV DVR (or at least the DirecTV supplied signal) since you did not have issues when using your TV to directly receive the OTA FOX station.


It's not your HRs. The NR caused this to happen. Again, try unplugging the HRs for about twelve hours. Mine went from unwatchable to minor annoyances after doing that.

Rich


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## Volman (Jul 13, 2007)

rich584 said:


> It's not your HRs. The NR caused this to happen. Again, try unplugging the HRs for about twelve hours. Mine went from unwatchable to minor annoyances after doing that.
> 
> Rich


Hey,Rich
What does 12 hours unplugged do that a few hours (or minutes won't do)?
Fred


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## jtalden (May 6, 2009)

I have the same audio/video glitches starting on or about the NR date. I have an HR20-700 which worked well until this date - no problems for 2-3 yr. It is frequent on the OTA recorded channels. I also noted that if the section is played back and it is short (1-2 words long) sometimes it plays okay without the glitch! So, sometimes the glitch is in the recording and sometimes it is not. All the longer ones I checked have been in the recording. I will have to pay more attention to if it occurs on the satellite channels.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Volman said:


> Hey,Rich
> What does 12 hours unplugged do that a few hours (or minutes won't do)?
> Fred


I don't know. I didn't make it up tho. I read a lot of posts and decided to give it a try and it helped quite a bit. I tried everything I knew, and nothing helped, so I sought information from those people that I trust, by reading their posts (actually, mostly *VOS's* posts). After reading all the posts that I thought were relevant, I decided to give the 12 hour reboot a try. And it worked. The dropouts decreased in severity and numbers. I went from many dropouts to a couple a program. I can live with that.

Perhaps unplugging for 24 hours would have cleared things up completely, I didn't do it, so I don't know. I do know that simply rebooting did nothing, unplugging for several minutes did nothing.

Why? Wish I had an answer for that. I'd share it.

For those folks who lost programs and hate to hear that others have not for years, I'm one who hasn't lost a program for quite a while, perhaps a couple years, don't remember the last time. But, if nobody posts positively, everyone reading the negative posts will get the impression that all the HRs are not functioning correctly. That's not true.

What is truth, as I see it, is that the last NR screwed up my HR20-700s royally. It's better now than it was right after the NR, and the only thing I've done that's kinda radical is unplug all six of them for 12 hours. I know it's not my dish, I have two and the 20-700s are divided between them 4 to 2 and all six have the same problems. I know the problem has to be the NR, five were functioning perfectly before the NR and I added one after the NR that promptly exhibited the same issues when it downloaded the new NR.

Rich


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

Unplugging for several hours allows all capacitors to drain any stored-up energy... Thus removing _all _power from the unit (more than just unplugging)... and allowing some things to be "reset".


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Greg Alsobrook said:


> Unplugging for several hours allows all capacitors to drain any stored-up energy... Thus removing _all _power from the unit (more than just unplugging)... and allowing some things to be "reset".


I know that. I just figured most people who have been on the forum for a while knew it too and decided not to include it in that post. I tried to make it general and readable without being technical.

I've never worked with tiny capacitors, only large ones and have absolutely no idea how long it takes to drain the capacitors used in the HRs. The large ones will hold a charge for quite a while.

Was draining the capacitors all that happened in those 12 hours? I have no idea, just know that it worked.

Rich


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## Volman (Jul 13, 2007)

Is there not a quick,safe way to drain all the capacitors?Seems like I had read that there is.

Fred


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Volman said:


> Is there not a quick,safe way to drain all the capacitors?Seems like I had read that there is.
> 
> Fred


I know how to "drain" large capacitors, but I'd think you'd have to open the box up and remove the capacitors themselves from the board and short them out individually on the HRs. Too much like work and frowned upon by D*.

Rich


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## radamo (Nov 13, 2003)

Add me to the list... Since the last software update I have been getting rampant hard drive thrashing, audio and video freeze ups on 3 different HR20-700's. Hope they are doing something about it soon. 
RA


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## radamo (Nov 13, 2003)

rich584 said:


> I don't know. I didn't make it up tho. I read a lot of posts and decided to give it a try and it helped quite a bit. I tried everything I knew, and nothing helped, so I sought information from those people that I trust, by reading their posts (actually, mostly *VOS's* posts). After reading all the posts that I thought were relevant, I decided to give the 12 hour reboot a try. And it worked. The dropouts decreased in severity and numbers. I went from many dropouts to a couple a program. I can live with that.
> 
> Perhaps unplugging for 24 hours would have cleared things up completely, I didn't do it, so I don't know. I do know that simply rebooting did nothing, unplugging for several minutes did nothing.
> 
> ...


I bet if you leave it unplugged completely you don't get any freeze ups.


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## dc_soccerdude (Dec 26, 2006)

Add another HR20-700 to the list of audio and picture freeze ups that just started about a month ago and guess what? When I looked here I checked my receiver and thats when the last NR was loaded. When I first got this receiver it was when they first came out and it was horrible about freezing and having new problems when a NR would come out. As a result I actually went back to my HR10-250 for awhile until they got the issues worked out. Since then no problems what so ever until 3-4 weeks ago. As it keeps getting worse I finally decided to come back and check the forums to see if anyone else was having problems so here we are. 

Guess I will try the old 12 hour thing tonight.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

radamo said:


> I bet if you leave it unplugged completely you don't get any freeze ups.


I think somebody said that already. :lol:

Rich


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## Volman (Jul 13, 2007)

Probably a CSR from Directv......


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Volman said:


> Probably a CSR from Directv......


I'd imagine that this is not a happy time for the CSRs. They must be besieged by angry subs.

Rich


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## Jish (Jul 27, 2007)

radamo said:


> Add me to the list... Since the last software update I have been getting rampant hard drive thrashing, audio and video freeze ups on 3 different HR20-700's. Hope they are doing something about it soon.
> RA


Me too - same freeze ups/audio dropouts/pixellating


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## pablo (Oct 11, 2007)

Me as well, as I posted in the other hard drive thread, thinking my drive may be going bad, but now I'm relieved that it's not that. Hopefully DirecTV will fix their software soon.

This definitely started when the Dualplay thing or whatever was added.


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## Volman (Jul 13, 2007)

rich584 said:


> I'd imagine that this is not a happy time for the CSRs. They must be besieged by angry subs.
> 
> Rich


I would hope that they are!It's a tough job having to read the little "scripts"A) Are you sure it's plugged in to a working receptical? (B) Try a RBR (3) Try a RBR (4)Try a RBR (5)Try a RBR,etc.

Why can't DTV leave well enough alone?


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## gsel1966 (Oct 20, 2006)

Have had several programs that were nearly unwatchable because of the BRRRPP. As well the internal drive is 'grinding' away like never before. This ALL started with the latest NR. I've had this box since the HR20 was rolled out by D (pre-OTA) and with the exception of some of the early challenges it has been near Bullet Proof. Having been a support analyst for sytems Hardware and software for a number of years, I vote for software issue...


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Volman said:


> Why can't DTV leave well enough alone?


If only they would. So many times one of us has posed this simple question, you'd think they'd listen.

Rich


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## Colby (Dec 8, 2008)

I actually have made two different calls to TSRs about this problem, not knowing that this was an NR issue. I have an HR22-100 that is experiencing the issue but my R22-100 in my spare bedroom I haven't noticed it (but we rarely use it too).


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Colby said:


> I actually have made two different calls to TSRs about this problem, not knowing that this was an NR issue. I have an HR22-100 that is experiencing the issue but my R22-100 in my spare bedroom I haven't noticed it (but we rarely use it too).


I haven't seen it on my four 21s either. The effects seem to be pretty much limited to the 20 series. Try unplugging your 20 for an extended period of time? I unplugged mine for about twelve hours and the issues have subsided to the point where they are only a minor annoyances.

But the briipps I'm getting on the 21s since the NR, wow! Sharp and loud. Always got more briipps on the 21s than the 20s, but they were never like these.

Rich


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

rich584 said:


> ...I've never worked with tiny capacitors, only large ones and have absolutely no idea how long it takes to drain the capacitors used in the HRs. The large ones will hold a charge for quite a while.
> 
> Was draining the capacitors all that happened in those 12 hours? I have no idea, just know that it worked...


The old time constant formula from _Electronics 101_ says that capacitors in circuit drain by a inverse rate factor of how much resistance there is across the leads (from the circuit itself) which is a voltage that usually drains down pretty fast. I think the idea for a long power down is to drain the significantly-larger caps in the power supply, which otherwise still can provide smaller versions of their normal DC voltage to the circuit, possibly enough to prevent a true powerdown/reset.

And it is definitely something worth trying, as it does sometimes work. Windows computers are notorious for this--when a simple reboot doesn't work I always pull the plug on those until the network light on the NIC goes out at least. Anything more than 30 seconds may not really do much, but it still can't hurt. It also allows the circuit to cool which rules out (or helps to identify) heat-related issues.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

gsel1966 said:


> Have had several programs that were nearly unwatchable because of the BRRRPP. As well the internal drive is 'grinding' away like never before. This ALL started with the latest NR. I've had this box since the HR20 was rolled out by D (pre-OTA) and with the exception of some of the early challenges it has been near Bullet Proof. Having been a support analyst for sytems Hardware and software for a number of years, I vote for software issue...


Definitely. I think. My six 20-700s have settled down and I'm just getting the occasional dropout or strange pixellation. I'm watching the playoff game on my Fox local channel right now and have had it on for awhile both live and recorded and have not seen anything happen.

You might want to try pulling the power cord for as long as you can. I pulled the plug on five of mine around midnight and plugged them back in at noon and there was a noticeable difference almost immediately on rebooting.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

TomCat said:


> The old time constant formula from _Electronics 101_ says that capacitors in circuit drain by a inverse rate factor of how much resistance there is across the leads (from the circuit itself) which is a voltage that usually drains down pretty fast. I think the idea for a long power down is to drain the caps in the power supply, which otherwise still can provide smaller versions of their normal DC voltage to the circuit, possibly enough to prevent a true powerdown/reset.


I used to discharge large (about the size of a hardcover book or smaller) capacitors with my Wiggy. Whole lot of resistance. Lots of our electricians used to just short them out with a screwdriver. That was a long time before the OSHA Hot Work Rules kicked in. :lol:



> And it is definitely something worth trying, as it does sometimes work. Windows computers are notorious for this--when a simple reboot doesn't work I always pull the plug on those until the network light on the NIC goes out at least.


I had a large, expensive Sony TV do that a couple years ago. Went completely dead. I gave it away to a contractor, just to get rid of it, and he called me and told me his wife asked him why a big TV had been sitting in the garage. They tried plugging it in and it worked perfectly and has been working for several years. I'm watching the playoffs right now. If I remember I'll send you a PM about a "possessed" toaster that I had.

Rich


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## Colby (Dec 8, 2008)

rich584 said:


> I haven't seen it on my four 21s either. The effects seem to be pretty much limited to the 20 series. Try unplugging your 20 for an extended period of time? I unplugged mine for about twelve hours and the issues have subsided to the point where they are only a minor annoyances.
> 
> But the briipps I'm getting on the 21s since the NR, wow! Sharp and loud. Always got more briipps on the 21s than the 20s, but they were never like these.
> 
> Rich


I'll try the unplug method tonight and report back out tomorrow or Sunday.


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## Yoda-DBSguy (Nov 4, 2006)

I'm experiencing the same issues here on my HR20-700. A considerable amount of audio issues/drops since the last update.


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## radamo (Nov 13, 2003)

rich584 said:


> If only they would. So many times one of us has posed this simple question, you'd think they'd listen.
> 
> Rich


I am going to call them tomorrow. This really is insane. Every show is nearly unwatchable.
RA


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## Volman (Jul 13, 2007)

Colby said:


> I'll try the unplug method tonight and report back out tomorrow or Sunday.


After an all-night (12+ hour) unplug,mine still has dropouts and pixelization.It's not the total mess I had on Fox a couple of days ago,but more like the issues we had a few years ago that went on interminably.

Shame on Directv!This is the one consistent thing they do.........mess up our DVRs when things are OK.I just wonder how long it will take them to ADMIT their mistake this go-around(oh.....that's 2 things they do consistently).


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

That's not possible because the brrrips aren't local hardware related or software related. :icon_lol:


rich584 said:


> But the briipps I'm getting on the 21s since the NR, wow! Sharp and loud. Always got more briipps on the 21s than the 20s, but they were never like these.
> 
> Rich


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## jerseyreef (Jun 9, 2007)

I've been having similar problems with my HR21/100, which I posted here

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=2250472#post2250472

I ran the HD diagnostics this morning and all past until I tested SMART Long. I reach 53% when error code 77 came up. Does anybody know what this means? Should I reformat the drive?

Thanks,

JerseyReef - Mike


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

TBlazer07 said:


> That's not possible because the brrrips aren't local hardware related or software related. :icon_lol:


Well, it is possible for a local hardware issue to cause a brrrriiip...it's just not the same ones that VOS describes in the thread dedicated to them.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

You mean all brrrips are not created equal? One is a Brrrrrip and the other is a Bripp ..... yea, that must be it. 

When my grandson sleeps over and watches TV here and hears the TV brrrrrrrip (or Bripp) one off it always cracks him up. He says it sounds like the TV is, errr, passing gas. 



Ken S said:


> Well, it is possible for a local hardware issue to cause a brrrriiip...it's just not the same ones that VOS describes in the thread dedicated to them.


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## mndwalsh (Nov 16, 2005)

rich584 said:


> Have you tried leaving the 20-700 unplugged for about twelve hours? Seemed to help me a bit.
> 
> Rich


I actually did this HR21/700 due to very slow responding to remote commands and some other issues. I unplugged it from 10pm Thursday until about 6pm on Friday and it made a huge differance, every time I hit a 3 digit it responed to every one. Maybe I will just start doing this every month.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

mndwalsh said:


> I actually did this HR21/700 due to very slow responding to remote commands and some other issues. I unplugged it from 10pm Thursday until about 6pm on Friday and it made a huge differance, every time I hit a 3 digit it responed to every one. Maybe I will just start doing this every month.


Can't hurt. And it really made a difference in my 20-700s' performance. Glad it worked for you.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

TBlazer07 said:


> You mean all brrrips are not created equal? One is a Brrrrrip and the other is a Bripp ..... yea, that must be it.
> 
> When my grandson sleeps over and watches TV here and hears the TV brrrrrrrip (or Bripp) one off it always cracks him up. He says it sounds like the TV is, errr, passing gas.


When I started watching the first Yankees game the other day, I actually thought my plasma was gonna explode. It was that loud. The next day, nothing. Yesterday nothing. Same channel. How to explain this? I sure dunno.

Rich


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

Strange ..... not a single audio issue on either game for me (of course I fell asleep just as the Yankees got up in the 13th). There was one just at the end of a commercial that was in SD. I assume we're both watching the same channel (FOX 5 NY)? How can that be? Maybe my HR20-100 is different then your -700? That can't be because it isn't a hardware issue, it's the station. We should have the same gas, no? I'm confused.



rich584 said:


> When I started watching the first Yankees game the other day, I actually thought my plasma was gonna explode. It was that loud. The next day, nothing. Yesterday nothing. Same channel. How to explain this? I sure dunno.
> 
> Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

TBlazer07 said:


> Strange ..... not a single audio issue on either game for me (of course I fell asleep just as the Yankees got up in the 13th). There was one just at the end of a commercial that was in SD. I assume we're both watching the same channel (FOX 5 NY)? How can that be? Maybe my HR20-100 is different then your -700? That can't be because it isn't a hardware issue, it's the station. We should have the same gas, no? I'm confused.


The second game was the one I was referring to. That's the one that went into extra innings. I heard or saw nothing.

The first game had no audio dropouts that I caught and only one video dropout, but it had many BRIIPPS, much louder and more violent than the briipps that we are used to.

Don't tell me you didn't get the BRIIPS in the first game? Since it cleared up the next night and during the football games yesterday, it does seem as if the station would be the logical choice.

The 20-100s and the 20-700s are different to an extent. You can see that just by looking at the "First Looks". They show the interior of each HR. The 21-700 looks like a computer (a rather bare computer, but still...) and the 100 looks like a TiVo.

Tell me about the first Yankees playoff game.

Rich


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

First game was clean for me and the 2nd and tonights 3rd game was clean (other then the loss). I could have missed something during a P break or an argument with my wife but for all intents an purposes it was fine. I get very few brips on local channels - but I do get a "lot" on FX, USA and the other national HD channels I watch. Since I watch the locals much more often then the nationals that tells me the nationals are a lot worse then the locals because I watch less of them and but hear more brips.

All I can say (and have said before) is that I never had ANY AT ALL on any channel up until this summer when the CE testing started that ended up as the last NR. Yea, I know, that must be my wife's and my imagination.



rich584 said:


> The second game was the one I was referring to. That's the one that went into extra innings. I heard or saw nothing.
> 
> The first game had no audio dropouts that I caught and only one video dropout, but it had many BRIIPPS, much louder and more violent than the briipps that we are used to.
> 
> ...


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## BMEP (Dec 3, 2009)

I want to join the "my HR20 went to crap" club... well, really I don't but D* forced me to 

HR20-700, 1-1/2 years old, added a Seagate DB35 750G drive the day I bought it (my HR20 is owned, not leased). No problems until the last two NRs - LOTS worse with 0x368.

Went back to my original 320GB DB35 drive, problem seems a lot better but not completely gone. I deleted the partition table on the 320GB when I put it in and now there's almost nothing recorded... wondering if that's a factor.

The problem is absolutely the worst with Fox on OTA tuner. Definitely worse if recording 2 shows at once. The last episode of Fringe on my 750GB drive was completely unwatchable.

I still feel like this could be a disk I/O bottleneck, but possibly a CPU cycle starvation issue. Mostly I don't care, I just want it fixed. It's amazing that I haven't thrown this thing through the window yet.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

TBlazer07 said:


> First game was clean for me and the 2nd and tonights 3rd game was clean (other then the loss). I could have missed something during a P break or an argument with my wife but for all intents an purposes it was fine. I get very few brips on local channels - but I do get a "lot" on FX, USA and the other national HD channels I watch. Since I watch the locals much more often then the nationals that tells me the nationals are a lot worse then the locals because I watch less of them and but hear more brips.
> 
> All I can say (and have said before) is that I never had ANY AT ALL on any channel up until this summer when the CE testing started that ended up as the last NR. Yea, I know, that must be my wife's and my imagination.


Huh. You should be using Fox 5 out of NYC, right? I had plenty of BRIIPPs on that first game, nothing the rest of the WS. I watched all the games the next day on recordings. Not getting many on any channels for the last few weeks.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

BMEP said:


> I want to join the "my HR20 went to crap" club... well, really I don't but D* forced me to
> 
> HR20-700, 1-1/2 years old, added a Seagate DB35 750G drive the day I bought it (my HR20 is owned, not leased). No problems until the last two NRs - LOTS worse with 0x368.
> 
> ...


During the WS, the NYC Fox station got everything cleared up, but I saw plenty of posts from all over the country about issues during the WS. Seems like the Fox affiliates have some work to do.



> I still feel like this could be a disk I/O bottleneck, but possibly a CPU cycle starvation issue. Mostly I don't care, I just want it fixed. It's amazing that I haven't thrown this thing through the window yet.


That's how I feel, just fix the problems, who cares about why they occur, fix them. But we gotta have patience. Don't want to make things even worse.

Rich


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