Tivo Problem, HD problem?

[futureechos]

Recently my Tivo has started having problems on playback and on live viewing.


It looks like loss of data on the Mpeg stream, i.e. it pixelates, gets very blocky and repeats the same few seconds of video, with corruption, sound mismatches and then after 2-3 repetitions it carries on, lip sync'd and is fine.

Happens on 2 out of 5 recordings on average?

Original UK Tivo HD, cachecard and 512mb ram, network card etc.

I'm guessing HD is wearing out and has bad blocks, I a unix sysadmin more than happy to hack at the command line so hoping I might be able to fsck the disk or map out bad blocks? Can I do this? is it worth it?

Thanks in advance.
Futureechos.

[blindlemon]

There is a hack/script somewhere that lets you zero-fill specific blocks which might force your drive to reallocate them.

However, with the price of storage these days it's hardly worth the effort IMHO, especially as you'll probably be fighting a losing battle anyway.

As you are comfortable with low level stuff, if you act now you should be able to transfer all your settings, hacks and recordings to a new drive using MFSTools in about 3-4 hours. Have a look at Steve Conrad's guide (http://steveconrad.co.uk/tivo/upgrade3.html) to get you started :)

[futureechos]

There is a hack/script somewhere that lets you zero-fill specific blocks which might force your drive to reallocate them.

However, with the price of storage these days it's hardly worth the effort IMHO, especially as you'll probably be fighting a losing battle anyway.

As you are comfortable with low level stuff, if you act now you should be able to transfer all your settings, hacks and recordings to a new drive using MFSTools in about 3-4 hours. Have a look at Steve Conrad's guide (http://steveconrad.co.uk/tivo/upgrade3.html) to get you started :)


Will do - thanks.

Futureechos

[Pete77]

The 400GB Samsung HD LD drive from www.komplett.co.uk has a 3 year warranty and is very quiet and only costs £60 delivered from www.komplett.co.uk

Although blindlemon would probably prefer to sell you one of his rather expensive but even quieter and cooler Samsung HA250JC 250 GB drives if you visit www.tivoheaven.co.uk ;)

[TCM2007]

The 400GB Samsung HD LD drive from www.komplett.co.uk has a 3 year warranty and is very quiet and only costs £60 delivered from www.komplett.co.uk

Although blindlemon would probably prefer to sell you one of his rather expensive but even quieter and cooler Samsung HA250JC 250 GB drives if you visit www.tivoheaven.co.uk ;)


You got that programmed into a function key to save typing? ;)

[Pete77]

You got that programmed into a function key to save typing? ;)

And neither komplett or tivoheaven are even paying me any commission. :( :o

[blindlemon]

Although blindlemon would probably prefer to sell you one of his rather expensive but even quieter and cooler Samsung HA250JC 250 GB drivesAs I sell the HA250JC and the HD400LD for the same price configured, even though the HA250JC is more expensive, I'm actually subsidising the cost of the HA250JC ;)

Must be because I love it soooooo much :p:D

<insert space here for Pete to respond telling everybody that I make far too much profit on these drives and they can get them much cheaper if they shop around and DIY following something like Steve Conrad's excellent DIY Upgrade guide (www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo/upgrade3.html)>

Yes, I know. But some people actually prefer to pay somebody else to do the faffing around for them....

[Pete77]

<insert space here for Pete to respond telling everybody that I make far too much profit on these drives and they can get them much cheaper if they shop around and DIY following something like Steve Conrad's excellent DIY Upgrade guide (www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo/upgrade3.html)>

Yes, I know. But some people actually prefer to pay somebody else to do the faffing around for them....

Shopping around will do no good with the Samsung HA250JC as they are not a current product line in the normal UK supply chain.

You must be prepared to go directly and only to www.ultratec.co.uk and pay over £80 for one, compared to around £40 for the equivalent 7200rpm current model Samsung 250 GB drive.

I see it says on their website that they cut the price on this drive. From £70.00 to £69.99 :( :down:

I have a feeling that they are also one of those emporiums who add not only shipping but also VAT at the checkout stage though. Taking us to £87 delivered or something insane like that. Unless £69.99 does include VAT and there is only shipping on top???