Mediastar Not Recording

[afmartyn]

Had this unit for a month and has recorded heaps of shows without an issue. Today it has stopped recording for some reason and instant replay no longer works. Get the red dot in screen idicating it is recording but it does not show up on record list. Drive is about 75% full and can still play other recorded programs. Have tried the usual stuff like unplug from wall and do factory reset but to no avail. Any suggestions? If I copy all files to my PC and format HDD can I just copy files back and retain my recordings?

[afmartyn]

Have now also noted that while indicating it is recording it is chewing up disk space but does not show up as a recorded file.

Juts tried to connect via USB for first time but it keeps up coming up with unrecognised device. Am I doing something wrong?

[Refidim]

Press menu. Can you access tab 6 ? if so

- turn off the instant replay

- turn on Autodelete

- Turn the box off at the rocker switch in the rear panel.

if still no go.

- Press menu go to tab 6 and reformat the drive.

If no go call MS help line number shown inside the front panel drop door.

Always make sure Autodelete is switched on.

[afmartyn]

Press menu. Can you access tab 6 ? if so

- turn off the instant replay

- turn on Autodelete

- Turn the box off at the rocker switch in the rear panel.

if still no go.

- Press menu go to tab 6 and reformat the drive.

If no go call MS help line number shown inside the front panel drop door.

Always make sure Autodelete is switched on.

No success. Do not want to format as would loose about 90 of the kids shows and mayhem would result and can't tranfer via USB as my PC won't recognise device for some reason. Getting pissed of with this technology as this my second PVR. Just want something that works reliably. This is part of the reason why digital tv has a low uptake. An analog tuner and a VCR works with much more reliability.

Have e-mailed mediastar with symptoms.

[afmartyn]

I ended up fixing problem as follows:

- Removed HDDfrom unit and connected up directly to PC in place of my DVD drive.

- Copied PVR files to my PC hard drive.

- Noted that for recent record that did not show up there was only the small .AVF file and not the large .AVR file.

- Put HDD back in PVR did a format.

- Put HDD back in PC and copied files back to HDD without the ones that had only .AVF files.

- Put HDD drive back in PVR.

Everything now works and I still have my old recordings. Still it wasted about half my day and I could only do it becuase I am a bit tech savy. What would my mother do? This is something that is unacceptable for something you buy from a major retailor.

On another point my software is listed as MDS-106d-2067L as I don't see this listed on tempory1s page do I need to update it?

[temporary1]

On another point my software is listed as MDS-106d-2067L as I don't see this listed on tempory1s page do I need to update it?

Glad you got it sorted (even if it was convoluted). I've only had to go to that extreme once, and that was distinctly my fault when I was hacking it , anyway.... 2067? have never heard someone report that firmware, 2057 was the original in australia.

Need to update? Rarely do you *need* to, but I would think that MS would have suggested an update. The HDD becomming corrupted when full and locking up was a known bug in the old firmwares. 2084 is ok, but still has a few bugs you need to be aware of and careful with, but is mostly OK. 206a was good also (with its other bugs...). The catch is you may not be able to go back to 2067 as 'we' dont have a copy. Ask OPAC for the firmware, you should get it promptly from them.

[afmartyn]

Yes the software version was a bit of a mystery to me as I had never seen it mentioned in this forum before. Anyway I was quite suprised when I e-mailed OPAC on a Saturday and got 2 responses including one at 5pm. They e-mailed me the Beta 1.4 software but after doing some reading am not convinced that I want to load it as unit is running fine again though. The only issues I get is an occasional drop out of sound and corrupted recording where is seems to skip a few seconds or so.

[Refidim]

They e-mailed me the Beta 1.4 software but after doing some reading am not convinced that I want to load it as unit is running fine again though. The only issues I get is an occasional drop out of sound and corrupted recording where is seems to skip a few seconds or so.

I would think that the adverts skip function and that the Program name is now showing instead of Channel name in the timer schedule, makes the upgrade worthwhile.

[temporary1]

..but after doing some reading am not convinced that I want to load it as unit is running fine again though....

To be clear, there probably is some benefit to updating to at least 206a (beta 1.3), as this may help with _some_ short drop outs, and HDD coruption issues... Longer drop outs are probably due to file deletion, either intentional or autodeleted-with any firmware.

Beta 1.4 (2084) has the small-ish issues that timer clashes may not be detected, and that file cutting has become a pain. The new schedules list is a great feature if you have a lot of schedules. The ad skip 'feature' (as i have said before) is a step back in my opinion, but some seem to love it... (i just put up with it, for now, I hope),

All the firmwares have their bugs, its just which ones do you want to live with? (those 2 being the least evil in my opinion)

But as they say, "If it still works fine..." ... then you havent tinkered with it enough