Is my Tivo dying :(

[WebAgents]

Hi,

Recently I had problems with my viewing - main reason was sky box faulty - but Tivo also caused a single instance of video stutter whilst recording. Changed channel and tivo behaved.

Sky box changed and tivo rebooted but sometimes when I have searched for something to record and selected the programme name (say, from browse by channel) it can take upto 30-45 seconds for the info page to appear.

Also, not long after replacing sky box for a brand new unti the sky box went on standby (4pm) and since then the dongle that is in RF2 for changing channels and issuing 'backup' and 'sky' commands does not change channels. It still lights up but does nothing. Tivo will change channels if I replace the dongle with the IR wand.

Any ideas???

[blindlemon]

I was not aware the the SkyEye dongles sent the Sky key or TiVo commands! AFAIK the SkyEye simply issues "backup" commands every 30 seconds or so, but will hold off if it sees remote (IR) activity in the room via its own sensor. I have a SkyEye but I also need to use the IR wands.

The 45 second delays *could* be a sign of impending drive failure, or they could just be down to a sluggish database and a full drive. What size drive do you have and do you have a cachecard with RAM for instance?

[WebAgents]

Thanks for the reply.

I have 2x200gb hdd's (seagate I *think*) upgrade performed a few years ago. Also cachecard + ram again, a few years ago now. NO mods/hacks added in over a year. Not even changed my logos in over a year :down:


The skyeye does send the backup command and now I check http://www.skyeye.force9.co.uk/skyeyea.htm it seems it uses the wand to send the sky command to take it out of standby. My wand has been connected but not situated in front of sky box so I must have been fortunate with IR bounce.

I've re-inserted wand in to tivo but sods law says that my sky will go into standby and not wake up until the following evening when we realise :rolleyes:

[blindlemon]

The skyeye does send the backup command and now I check http://www.skyeye.force9.co.uk/skyeyea.htm it seems it uses the wand to send the sky command to take it out of standby. My bad. There have been lots of variants of the SkyEye, some of which are no longer listed. The one I have is such and only sends the backup to remove DOGs - it does not relay IR commands into the RF2 socket at all, but it does have the little round sensor to stop it sending the backup if it sees an IR command. I taped the spare IR wand from the TiVo to this to ensure it only reacts to IR commands from the TiVo attached to the Sky box. I remember now I chose that because the ones that use the RF2 socket don't wake the TiVo from standby in RGB mode. I'm not sure if the one you have was available when I bought mine.

Anyway, you can now prevent the sky box from going into standby via a menu option AFAIK :up:

[WebAgents]

IIRC you can remove red dots via menu on sky box (Not sure - never looked) but I've never heard of sky boxes having an 'out-of-standby' option...

Time to play with the sky remote methinks...

I'll see how my drives pan out - then it may be time for a hooch ;)

Thanks

[blindlemon]

IIRC you can remove red dots via menu on sky box (Not sure - never looked) but I've never heard of sky boxes having an 'out-of-standby' option...There have been a few new menu options lately and I think the 'no standby' one was added recently... If there is now a 'no red dot' one too then I can dispense with my SkyEye altogether :)

[WebAgents]

The reason I bought the skyeye was for channel changes mainly as they are 100% reliable that way. The out of standby function is important as the we can lose quite a few recordings if the box sits there in standby all day :rolleyes:

I'll have a look at the sky ooptions and if I can diable red-dot and resurrect out of standby I'll see if the IR wand proves more reliable now with a new sky box...

If the skyeye was about a tenner I'd just buy another one but they are very expensive so I'll investigate the actual benefits :up: