afmartyn Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 I have had this PVR for a few years and have been quite happy with it but on the weekend when I started recording the V8s on Ch 7 in Melbourne some strange things seemed to happen like: - When playing back recording in chase-play or normal playback it would get dropouts of video and audio and even doing a bit of loop back. Could do nothing to fix the problem and recording stayed corrupted. - When I deleted the reording the PVR showed a way to high % free figure like 85%. - When I played other unrelated recordings it would immediately revert back to live TV. Found I could fix the problem and get PVR back to normal by turining mains power off and then back on. As I can't remember ever taping something on Ch 7 before I thought it might be something to do with the particular program on Ch 7. Anyway on Tue it started more erractic behaviour on Ch 2 like starting a recording and then saying the disk was full and now I have got to the stage that it even refuses to go into PVR mode. Even more weird was the fact that the HDD would still keep spinning even after the PVR was put into standby mode. No matter what I do I could not get into the PVR mode to even erase the whole disk. I have taken the HDD and connected it up to my computer and saved all the reordings to my computer and deleted them off the PVR HDD using the DigeniousDisk program. The STB functions still work fine but still can't get any PVR functions to work. Is there anything else I can try or am I doomed to loosing my recorded programs and buying a new PVR?
jokiin Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 Would suggest reloading the firmware, format and rescan your channels and then see how it goes from there.
techo Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 And if jok11n's suggestion in not sufficient then you could try replacing the HDD.
Neon Kitten Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 I have had this PVR for a few years and have been quite happy with it but on the weekend when I started recording the V8s on Ch 7 in Melbourne some strange things seemed to happen like:- When playing back recording in chase-play or normal playback it would get dropouts of video and audio and even doing a bit of loop back. Could do nothing to fix the problem and recording stayed corrupted. As I can't remember ever taping something on Ch 7 before I thought it might be something to do with the particular program on Ch 7. This doesn't explain your subsequent problems, but Seven did something REALLY troublesome for the Digenius boxes for the V8s broadcast. I recorded Treasure Hunters before it, and when they switched off their HD channel and upped the bitrate on SD (to around 8Mbit/sec, apparently, a VERY high bitrate) the resultant recording started breaking up exactly how you described, to the point of being completely unwatchable - audio would repeat while the picture skipped ahead, etc etc etc. This has happened on Seven a few times now, with the cause - the network changing the mux while you're recording - always the root cause.
afmartyn Posted March 8, 2007 Author Posted March 8, 2007 Got home tonight and plugged it back in to see what would happen. Well first time the PVR function worked and I was able to record and replay a few test programs. Turned it on and off a few times and the old problems appeared and I could not access the PVR functions and the HDD kept going even in standby mode. Next I reloaded the firmware with no problems but still the same problems persisted. Did a few more power off power on cycles, sometimes nothing worked, most times tuner worked, and rarely PVR worked. Don't think I wiull waste my time on a new HDD as woruld have to got through the process of loading the modified firmware (I guess it is still floating around somewhere?) and no guarantee it will fix problem. Wife and kids went down to DSE today and salesman said buy a topfield it will alst 10 years without any problems. Do I buy a topfield or go to ebay or strathfield and buy another cheapy for 1/2 the price? Not sure yet but my wife said spend what you want so the kids stop hassling me and ask if I have taped "chalk zone". By the way she also went to HN and they said they are not called PVRs but DVRs and tried to sell her an analogue DVD recorder! God help the average consumer.
boric Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 Got home tonight and plugged it back in to see what would happen. Well first time the PVR function worked and I was able to record and replay a few test programs. Turned it on and off a few times and the old problems appeared and I could not access the PVR functions and the HDD kept going even in standby mode.Next I reloaded the firmware with no problems but still the same problems persisted. Did a few more power off power on cycles, sometimes nothing worked, most times tuner worked, and rarely PVR worked. Don't think I wiull waste my time on a new HDD as woruld have to got through the process of loading the modified firmware (I guess it is still floating around somewhere?) and no guarantee it will fix problem. Does sound like it might be the harddrive, but it could also be power supply or other things. Check Techo's posts - his website in his sig has the modded firmware. Wife and kids went down to DSE today and salesman said buy a topfield it will alst 10 years without any problems. Do I buy a topfield or go to ebay or strathfield and buy another cheapy for 1/2 the price? A topfield may or may not last 10 years, there is just as much chance something will fail in a new/different machine. I see no reason to believe my topfield is any less prone to failure than my wintal. If you're considering buying from DSE, then you could buy a new harddrive plug it into your digicrystal and try it - if it works, great, if not return it under DSE's return policy.
Dr. Zachary Smith Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 I bet it is the hard drive. From memory, these things have a WD HDD. You could pick up a new 80 gig WD HDD for not many bucks and repair the thing yourself. Why not give it a go?
afmartyn Posted March 8, 2007 Author Posted March 8, 2007 I bet it is the hard drive. From memory, these things have a WD HDD. You could pick up a new 80 gig WD HDD for not many bucks and repair the thing yourself. Why not give it a go? Not so sure on whether it is the HDD given that occasionally I can record and play things and the fact that I have been bale to hook the drive up to my computer and save all the recorded files to my computer. Also like the idea of buying a twin tuner with a larger HDD and this is a good excuse and I can look at fixing the digicrystal later. Now just need to figure out which one to buy and what price I want to pay!
Guest drag1 Posted April 9, 2007 Posted April 9, 2007 And if jok11n's suggestion in not sufficient then you could try replacing the HDD. Hello Techo, Will format the hard drive help to overcome the problem? Is it just by erasing everything on the drive ? Does it need to be defragged like the hard drive in the PCs? If so how ? I am a newie, please excuse me if the questions sound silly as I also have afmartyn's problem when I record footie from Channel 7. Cheers, `
techo Posted April 9, 2007 Posted April 9, 2007 Hello Techo,Will format the hard drive help to overcome the problem? Is it just by erasing everything on the drive ? Does it need to be defragged like the hard drive in the PCs? If so how ? I am a newie, please excuse me if the questions sound silly as I also have afmartyn's problem when I record footie from Channel 7. Cheers, ` I suggest you follow jok11n proceedure above if you have issues with other channels too. However if just the 7 mux then refer to neon kittens post above and all the related threads.
cooperssparklingale Posted April 12, 2007 Posted April 12, 2007 Yeah, I had a similar problem with my Wintal X-10 a few months back, except for the dropout problem. Would look at the recording list, and the % was all screwed up. Sometimes would read 0% available, even though there was definetly space on the drive. When playing ANY recording on the recording list, you would select it, then press play - and go straight to 'LIVE' mode. So effectively it would not be able to play anything. The only way to rectify it, would be to power down/up, which would let you play again, but only for a limited time, the HDD would conue to spin forever after that, even when in standby mode. I tried swapping HDD, firmware, and factory defaults. None of which worked. All I can put it down to, is I did have a small centre speaker resting on top of the PVR (covering the front half of the unit), which was on top of the TV. Came home one day, and the unit was running really hot, and spinning. PVR cooked (I assume). Needless to say I won't do that again. PVR still works OK as a STB though, so it's not completely useless!!
Dude! Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 Believe it or not, I have the exact same problem as cooperssparkling on my Wintal X10: the free space % screwed up, unable to play recordings and go straight to live mode. Yesterday I powercycled the unit and it failed to power up! I tried a few times and eventually it was up again but the reception was messed up (except ch 7). Then I did a few standby/on cycle and manage to get all channels up (except ABC this time). Now the PVR button doesn't work at all so I assume my HDD is FUBAR? Looks like I'm going to buy another one soon, any recommendations? Thanks in advance!
boric Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 Believe it or not, I have the exact same problem as cooperssparkling on my Wintal X10: the free space % screwed up, unable to play recordings and go straight to live mode. Yesterday I powercycled the unit and it failed to power up! I tried a few times and eventually it was up again but the reception was messed up (except ch 7). Then I did a few standby/on cycle and manage to get all channels up (except ABC this time). Now the PVR button doesn't work at all so I assume my HDD is FUBAR?Looks like I'm going to buy another one soon, any recommendations? Thanks in advance! The wintal x10 had a 3 year warranty so you should be able to get it replaced.
bresmith Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 Exactly the same thing happened to my sister's digicrystal pvr9000 the other week. I feel kinda bad because l recommended getting it as mine has been running perfectly for a couple of years. This was her second one after the previous one died and now she can't find the receipt to get this one replaced from strathfield. I was hoping to fix it myself but it seems everything l was going to try has been tried by everyone else so i'm not expecting much luck. If anyone does come up with a fix please let us know.
Dude! Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 The wintal x10 had a 3 year warranty so you should be able to get it replaced. Unfortunately I bought it off eBay and didn't get a receipt.
boric Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 This was her second one after the previous one died and now she can't find the receipt to get this one replaced from strathfield. Has she got a credit card/ bank account statement that shows the purchase? Sometimes that can be enough - with the date, time and purchase amount the store should be able to track down the purchase and confirm it was a digicrystal 9000. I did this once for a $70 kettle where I'd lost the receipt.
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