Is this what is referred to as signal dropout?

[ericscottf]

Hi all

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on my HD-PVR recordings, i'll sometimes have blips in the video/audio where i get a 1-2 second black screen or a 1/2 second mpeg-boxy frozen screen.
Jumping back over the recording just shows it again, as does viewing it on my PC.
The recordings clearly have bad spots (they're fine everywhere else).
There are no red chunks in the recording timeline
I think my HD-PVRs are getting bad data or making bad data.
Is this behavior (no red chunks) referred to as a dropout, or is that only for when there are red chunks?
What's more, how do i go about diagnosing this problem?
It could be an issue with my HD PVR, it could be the cable box choking, it could be my cable company being a jerk for a moment.
For now, i'm going to see if it happens to files from one pvr more often than the other...

Any idea what to look at/where to look first would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Eric

[Spectrum]

I had these problems so bad (3+ times/hr) I rma'd my HDPVR because of it. New one has been pretty stable for ~3-4 weeks. Now it looks like it is starting to happen again. Nothing has changed on my end, no new HW or SW installed since changing out the HDPVR.

Darcilicous and I have speculated in prior threads that it could be due to the HDPVR itself or something that the cable box is spitting out. Could be macroblocking or anything; I have threatened in the past to watch some live TV through the HDPVR's passthrough while the HDPVR is recording and put the HDPVR up front and center so I can see when the blue lights go off than come back on. I've definitely seen that happen a few times and it always corresponds to one of these dropouts. Of course I got lazy and just RMA'd the thing instead and haven't had need to do it on the new one as of yet. If it keeps it up I may.

As for calling it dropouts, that's how I've been referring to them and I haven't had a knock on the door about it yet.....

[darcilicious]

In fact, I had two such dropouts last week (one on Tues, and then on Weds, not quite 24 hours apart).

They don't show up in the SageTV timeline -- I'm just missing a second or two of audio and video. However, SageTV did generate two "halt detected" messages (one for each event) but the HDPVR didn't completely lock up.

I'm also beginning to think that my STB (QIP6200) is more sensitive to heat than the HDPVR

I can't put my finger on any single thing that might be responsible for the overall improvement I'm seeing these days with the HDPVR but I will say that with v6 it was extremely rare that a "halt detected" event WASN'T a prelude to the HDPVR completely locking up whereas now, I still see various "halt detected" messages but SageTV is able continue recording (minus the signal dropout).

[Spectrum]

Originally Posted by darcilicious

In fact, I had two such dropouts last week (one on Tues, and then on Weds, not quite 24 hours apart).

They don't show up in the SageTV timeline -- I'm just missing a second or two of audio and video. However, SageTV did generate two "halt detected" messages (one for each event) but the HDPVR didn't completely lock up.

Weird, I've never had a dropout and a halt detected at the same time. I've always had one or the other!

Originally Posted by darcilicious

I'm also beginning to think that my STB (QIP6200) is more sensitive to heat than the HDPVR

That requires testing with a fan AND with a heat gun right?