TiVo HD and Download Issues (partial)

[devilboy836]

So I recently purchased a TiVo HD and I am having issues downloading shows to my PC.

I've looked at some threads and I don't think they are related - but I can't believe I'm the only one having this issue....

Essentially it appears as if every now and again, my TiVo experiences some form of digital breakup. I don't know what it's related to, but I can live with it. In checking my signal strength, I can see that most chanels are 87% and up - so I'm not 100% sure what happens (I have yet to see the breakup while I have the signal strength meter up).

Anywho, so I am trying to download said programs and they appear to stop at the exact point of breakup. No I can download around 20 to 40 minutes of a program until a "breakup" hits and the recording stops.

Any ideas or suggestions?

For the record, here is my setup:
PC:
Vista Ultimate 64
4 GB Ram
Pentium D

TiVo HD:
Version 11.0d-01-2-652
Digital Cable, SA MCard
WD MyDVR Expander 500GB

[dlfl]

Could you please post your location and cable company?

By "digital breakup", do you mean the picture breaks up, for example in a blocky fashion? (This is called pixelation or macro-blocking.)

Next time this happens go immediately to DVR Diagnostics and get the following info for the tuner you were watching:

RS Uncorrected Error count -- and is it steady or increasing? Ideally this should be zero or a few hundred and should not be increasing as you watch it.

Time Since Last Tune. If this is very small it indicates the tuner had to re-tune at the break up point.

[devilboy836]

Sure, thanks for the quick reply.

It is in a blocky fasion - I didn't realize that was the same as maro-blocking.

I currently have Cablevision in the Morris County region (NJ).

I have the TiVo on Live TV now and I'll post as soon as it happens.

[devilboy836]

Well this can't be good...

RS Uncorrected is still at 0.
Tune state was at 550 seconds nearly 10 minutes in.

This was about 10 seconds after the breakup. Also, the signal strength is around 87 or so.


I do want to point out that I am watching a show Live as it was recording. Should I check watching a show without recording?

[devilboy836]

Okay, so I tried disconnecting my external hard drive, thinking that might be the issue, but to no avail. I am recording a show and watching it Live, and sure enough the screen breaks up. But it was after 50 minutes or so, so it's not always at a specific time.

There is no indication of a signal issue based on what I pulled from the DVR diagnostics.

So to me this warrants a call to TiVo, but I was curious if anyone has any advice to make the call go smoothly. Since I can't replicate the issue on command and without looking at diagnostics it sure looks like a signal issue, I'm afraid TiVo will just push it off to my cable company.

So anyone have an idea how I can make this call to TiVo productive?

[JimPa]

I'm a little confused here. You start off by saying that you're having problem downloading programs to your PC. Then you say that you have the blocking from the TIVO. Is the downloading regular cable tv programming or are you trying to download movies from Netflix or other content providers?

If its cable TV, in all likelihood its the cable signal strength and not the TIVO. Problem is that often times the cable company will say that its the TIVO and not their lines. If you also have a cable company cablebox still in your system, are you experiencing the same breakup with it?

[steve614]

I think the macro-blocking or pixillation is due to the cable co. signal and is also the reason the OPs transfers to PC are failing.

[devilboy836]

I apologize for the confusion.

Let me try to clarify - I have the pixelation when I record on my TiVo. When I attempt to download a show from my TiVo to my PC, it stops at the time the pixelation starts. Ergo, I cannot download a complete show on to my PC from my TiVo - a very frustrating problem since that's one of the big things I use my TiVo for.

Now I was thinking this was a TiVo issue, but you are correct, my father is getting the exact same issue on his TiVo and he's a few towns over, still using the same Cablevision service.

I have a feeling it has something to do with the multistream cards Cablevision is distributing.


Slightly off this topic, does anyone have an alternative means to download an HD program from my TiVo that will ignore whatever signal issue is stopping my TiVoToGo transfers?

[steve614]

Yeah, that has been an issue ever since I've had a Tivo. When there is a bad spot in the video, the file will not transfer to PC completely.
Luckily, my OTA reception is pretty good as I don't run into this problem very often.
Cable is a lot worse since they likely overcompress the video.
The only work around I have found involves owning more than one Tivo and using MRV.

[devilboy836]

Hmm... which is going to be tough in that I only have one HD TiVo here...

Any way to network two TiVo's over the internet?