HD-PVR - odd constant interferences when recording

[RRD]

I have a little problem with my recordings. Sometimes, for no reason, the video (preview, and recordings) will have interferences like in this picture (please give a look at them before replying) :

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/4...vrflicker2.jpg (video interferences)
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/2433/hvpvrnormal.jpg (no interferences - for comparison purposes)

It may seem unnoticeable there but it's constantly flickering and really annoying.
Any suggestions to get rid of it?
Thanks in advance.


( • It doesn't come from cables, I have a 2nd HD-PVR waiting to be RMA'd and I have the same problem using the USB cable from it.
• I use component cables, Windows Vista 32bit, Quad Core Q8200, 4GB RAM, Nvidia 9500 GT, ArcSoft TME to capture ; using GBPVR, SageTV or GraphEdit, it's the same…
• I'm using the latest HD-PVR and Nvidia drivers.
• There's no interference at all on the TV )

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by RRD

I have a little problem with my recordings. Sometimes, for no reason, the video (preview, and recordings) will have interferences like in this picture (please give a look at them before replying) :

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/4...vrflicker2.jpg (video interferences)
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/2433/hvpvrnormal.jpg (no interferences - for comparison purposes)

It may seem unnoticeable there but it's constantly flickering and really annoying.
Any suggestions to get rid of it?
Thanks in advance.


( • It doesn't come from cables, I have a 2nd HD-PVR waiting to be RMA'd and I have the same problem using the USB cable from it.
• I use component cables, Windows Vista 32bit, Quad Core Q8200, 4GB RAM, Nvidia 9500 GT, ArcSoft TME to capture ; using GBPVR, SageTV or GraphEdit, it's the same…
• I'm using the latest HD-PVR and Nvidia drivers.
• There's no interference at all on the TV )

I don't see the difference between the two JPG's.

Is the flicker like a Haze or cloud which comes and goes over the video? Something like sunlight hitting the screen from the side?

My Nvidia card gets that with certain version drivers, pretty unwatchable.

[reggie14]

I can certainly see the difference. Look at the times.

Are you recording off a Wii? If so, is it set to output at 480p instead of 480i? Does this happen when you record off an STB? Have you tried a different component cable?

[RRD]

@jerryt : It's noticeable on the "lines", look at the nicknames/times/flags. Particularly on vertical "lines".

@reggie14 : Yes, I'm using the HD-PVR to record Wii footage. The component cable is an official Nintendo one, and the thing is that there's no problem at all on the TV, so I guess it's not faulty.
I can't test with STB now.
The Wii output is set to 480p (“HDTV / EDTV (480p)” setting).

Thank you for your help.

[RRD]

Up.

Even if you don't have the solution to this problem, have you ever heard of other people having the same issue? I couldn't find any thread about this on the Internet.

[jerryt]

Try different deinterlace setting in video card settings; Weave, Bob, auto, etc.

Try later or earlier video card drivers. See if the video decoder has different deinterlace settings.

[RRD]

It has probably nothing to do with deinterlacing.
The video source is not interlaced. And on the 1st picture as you can see there isn't any problem.
50 % of time it would give a perfect image, 50 % of time it would record with horrible little flicker.

[RRD]

I received a brand new unit today.

testing it with the Wii... 30 mins without any problem... and then, these lines appeared again, like on my old PVR >__>

I do not know if it is relevant but sometimes I see the exact same thing happening on my computer screen - I mean, not on the preview screen, everywhere (on vertical lines, whatever it is : text, picture, …) , even though it's less noticeable. Could it be something that has to do with my electrical fixtures?

Again, there's no problem at all on my T.V. …

[autoboy]

It is an interlacing issue. Please post the resolutions of your Wii output, Video card output, TV type and native resoltution, Receiver output, video card deinterlacing settings, etc.

[RRD]

It is clearly not an interlaced issue, sometimes I can record during hours without having any problem (see pictures in the 1st post). Wii is 480p, HD PVR records 480p @60fps correctly. I just don't understand why I get these interferences (see pictures, again) half the time.

[RRD]

Up (unsolved problem).

[Evil_Attorney]

Resurrecting an old thread here. RRD, were you ever able to figure out what the cause of your wavy, vertical interference was? I seem to be getting that on both my HDPVRs now and it is especially noticeable on 720p recordings and less noticeable on 1080i recordings.

I suspect this could be a grounding issue, but unfortunately I have Directv and can't add on a ground loop isolator without blocking my satellite signal.

[Evil_Attorney]

Just so everyone else knows, the wavy line issue on the HD-PVR apparently means your unit is going bad. I've had both of mine for many years and bought them around the same time. After systematically eliminating all possible sources of grounding issues, I gave up and ordered two new HD-PVR 1212 models. The new models did not have this wavy distortion problem. So the issue was not caused by grounding and was likely some component in the HD-PVR that was slowly dying.

[MattHelm]

Did you try adding cooling to them? Just wondering.

[Evil_Attorney]

I had popped the covers completely off of them and that was enough to keep them from getting hot. When I first purchased my old models, I think they were getting hot. That seemed to show up as random pixelation and the units hanging/freezing/crashing.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by Evil_Attorney

Just so everyone else knows, the wavy line issue on the HD-PVR apparently means your unit is going bad. I've had both of mine for many years and bought them around the same time. After systematically eliminating all possible sources of grounding issues, I gave up and ordered two new HD-PVR 1212 models. The new models did not have this wavy distortion problem. So the issue was not caused by grounding and was likely some component in the HD-PVR that was slowly dying.

I saw wavy lines in my recordings for one of my HD-PVRs just prior to that units power supply crapping out. That unit had been acting funny for a while, randomly dropping out of the system as an unrecognized USB device and then popping back in.
When rebooting it (power off/power on) I noticed that the blue power LED was bright until the self test recording light came on and then it dimmed. Sometimes it would come back after the self test, and sometimes not.
A check showed that the output of the PS was fluctuating a lot.

When it did record just about the time the PS died I would often see those wavy lines in the recordings.

A new PS and all was well again. The unit is still working about a year later.

[Evil_Attorney]

Interesting. I replaced the power supply on my old units several months ago, so the power supply wasn't the issue for me. But it sounds like maybe some of the capacitors on the HD-PVR board itself might be dying.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by Evil_Attorney

Interesting. I replaced the power supply on my old units several months ago, so the power supply wasn't the issue for me. But it sounds like maybe some of the capacitors on the HD-PVR board itself might be dying.

Just to be sure I would check the PS, electronics are weird like that. You can buy two of them at the same time and one lasts years, while the other one craps out after 5 days.

I would also swap cables for known good ones to make sure that one of your cables aren't going bad, or have a bad connection.
Over the years I've seen cables cause problems like that. Either the cable itself is going bad, there is a loose fit where it plugs into the device (i.e. the RCA connector doesn't fit snugly and loses good connection), or possibly some interference from a nearby electrical source.
On that nearby electrical source I had an issue when I set up my Home Theater. I ran speaker wires down into the basement, across the basement to the back of the room for my rear speakers. Every time the circulator pump for my hot water base board heat would kick in the relay for it would induce a LOUD POP into my rear speakers. I had the speaker wire running along a beam near a junction box connected wires going from the boiler to the circulator motor. After I moved the speaker wires a couple feet away from that junction box the induced POP was gone.
Just an example of how an electrical source, be it 120v or an AV signal can cause problems in a touching or nearby wire. Especially if they aren't insulated well, like standard speaker wire.

[jorton]

I had the similar thing happen a couple months ago, where I would see odd levels of color brightness and what looked like interlacing as posted above. Turned out a Dlink power supply (the one from Ebay) went bad after about 6 months and the HDPVR started acting up. Swapped in a new PS and all good. It got progressively worse until I noticed it in the recordings from that one unit. Previously I had an HDPVR that wouldn't stay connected as a source and it was also the PS. Hopefully these bad power supplies aren't causing damage to the HDPVR itself.

J