Remote issue on DRT800

[miketx]

Recently the remote control of my DRT800 has gotten sporatic/random. Both my Harmony remote and my original Tivo remote have the same problem, so it's definitely the Tivo unit itself. I don't think it's the IR transceiver, but it's a possibility. It really seems like the Tivo gets too busy to "listen" to the remote, because the problem happens mostly when a program is being recorded. I keep pushing buttons and finally a command will be received and work.

Anyone experience this? I opened my Tivo up, dusted it out (including the front cover), but no change.

Mike

[CuriousMark]

The level of work your DVR is doing is probably not related to whether or not the record light is on or not. It is always recording live TV, even when the light is out, so the load is the same. If your DVR is downloading video podcasts, MRVing shows to of from another DVR, burning a DVD or if the unit just called home and is indexing the guide, then I could see it being a little more sluggish than usual. In all such cases, it should speed back up when the activity, whatever it is, is over. If it stays sluggish 24/7 especially many hours after the last service connection with no network activity going on, then I would start to suspect the hard drive. Hard drive failures should cause other symptoms you didn't mention such as pixelation or audio squeaks in recorded programs. I would keep an eye out for those and if you start seeing that, look into getting the hard drive replaced.

[miketx]

I haven't seen any pixelation or audio squeaks, and I'm familiar with them (I'm on my second HD....first one lasted about 1.5 years and started pixelizing the video). I'm still having the problem.....I can have control one minute, then the Tivo completely ignores commands (the orange "receiving" LED won't even light)......then it will suddenly respond. It's very sporatic. I wish something would give me more indication of a HD problem (video/audio), but that's not happening. I hate to toss another HD in, only to find it's not the problem. I'm mainly curious if anyone else with a Humax has ever seen this behavior and what they did. If it continues, I may just have to replace it (hate to .....I have lifetime sub on it).

[miketx]

More information: I figured out that I can control the menu with the joystick on the front panel when the remote connection is not working......I can jump/scroll around the menus with ease and speed. This leads me to believe that the infrared sensor is having problems, but I've never heard of one having issues (I've got devices that are 25 years old with the infrared still working).

Guess I'm still waiting to see if anyone else has had this problem. Maybe I need to cross-post onto the standard Humax units.

[CuriousMark]

I have not seen this with my DRT800, but I will keep my eyes peeled. I know you are convinced it is not the remotes, but have you changed batteries just to be sure?

[miketx]

Yeah, it's not the remotes. I've swapped batteries a few times and reprogramed my Harmony a few times. The Tivo peanut remote works the same as the Harmony....identical behavior. All other devices on the Harmony work absolutely perfect.

[miketx]

I have another question: anyone had any luck getting a DRT800 to go into kickstart mode? I've been trying and trying via instructions posted on the forum and I can never get in......Tivo just keeps on booting up. I followed instructions to press the PAUSE button while booting up, until the right red LED lights up, then press 5,7 or 5,8 (I want to test the HD/file integrity), but nothing ever happens.......the red LED eventually goes off and the two orange LEDs light up and booting continues. I've tried this 10+ times, pressing PAUSE before the unit even turns on, after it turns on, holding it down all the way through booting, etc.......and nothing ever changes.

[miketx]

Posting an update: I finally located (by luck) a whole thread on this EXACT issue (remote issues on DRT800). I wish I had found the thread earlier, but it's nice to see my problem is extremely well known and appears to be a HW issue with the IR receiver. I've ordered the IR part and will see if this helps the issue.

Here's the thread: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=272392

[miketx]

Further update: New IR part (TSOP1156) received and installed. Tivo is responding correctly to all my remotes.....yea!!!! I updated the thread in Help Center with instructions.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7490389#post7490389