corrupt / lost recordings with 622

[underchuckle]

Hey everyone - Have had Dish for about a month and a half, and no problems until the past 2 weeks, when DVR recordings of certain channels are corrupted due to supposed signal loss (HBO HD, Comedy Central). This is even though these channels are fine when viewed live. The unit is a 622, software version 405.

I have cycled the power on the unit, and that doesn't seem to help. Right now I'm testing whether time of day matters (the corrupt/lost recordings are always at night), although I fail to see how that could have much effect.

Has anyone else had similar problems? Anything that I should be sure to check out before calling Dish?

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Well I would check your signal strength first. MENU then type 6 1 1 .See whats what first.

 

[dslate69]

Hey everyone - Have had Dish for about a month and a half, and no problems until the past 2 weeks, when DVR recordings of certain channels are corrupted due to supposed signal loss (HBO HD, Comedy Central). This is even though these channels are fine when viewed live. The unit is a 622, software version 405.

I have cycled the power on the unit, and that doesn't seem to help. Right now I'm testing whether time of day matters (the corrupt/lost recordings are always at night), although I fail to see how that could have much effect.

Has anyone else had similar problems? Anything that I should be sure to check out before calling Dish?

I would start deleting recordings. Start with the ones of course that are unwatchable. What you may have is a corrupt recording that is taking up space that the 622 thinks is free. Mind you this is just a guess.
This may be a good time to add an external HD and archive all recordings to clear off the 622. If you are still having problems an RMA doesn't look so bad since you won't lose your recordings.

 

[underchuckle]

OK I've been running some quick tests -

Signal strength looks fine before recording, then when I start recording, I start to see the pixelation/signal break-up. The unit apparently can't check the signal while it's recording, so I stop the recording and immediately check the signal - it's in the red, and the channel is unwatchable. Then a few minutes later, signal is strong again. Can the act of recording affect the signal?!? This happens for recurring and one-time recordings, so that doesn't seem to be a factor.

Also, if I'm reading the Point Dish screen correctly, it looks like Comedy Central and HBO HD are on the same transponder #13? I assume this is just coincidence....

For what it's worth, there are other recordings, such as my recurring timer for Arrested Development on HDNet, which still record, and playback, flawlessly. So if I'm still getting some good recordings, I'm not sure that deleting stored shows would help. Unless these DVRs reserve space/layers/sectors on the drive for recurring shows to cut down on fragmentation, and the drive space reserved for HBO and CC is corrupt.

 

[dslate69]

Sounds like signal strength, but a soft-reset sometimes does wonders. (hold down power on front of receiver until it resets)

 

[underchuckle]

Signal strength (when not recording) is 85-90 for both HBO and Comedy Central - not great, but OK. When recording - can't check actual number, but it's definitely NOT a strong signal. A few minutes after I stop recording, back up to 85-90.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Did you check strength on both your tuners? 1 tuner may have a bad connection.

 

[underchuckle]

Good call Hemi, thanks - Tuner 2 for both channels drops from 90 into the 55-60 range, and has intermittent 'lock' on the sats.

I'll check the physical coax connection now, but could any other factors contribute to a weaker signal on one tuner?

UPDATE: the cable connections seem fine, so I'm guessing it's internal to the receiver...have the tuners in the 622 been known to just go bad after a few weeks in operation? Calling Dish now, to see what they have to say.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Yea if you don't see any connection problems you may want to call E*. I think its free fix anyway. Could be your seperator if you have one,LNB problem ,Receiver problem. Like I said let them fix it,after all your paying for it.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Let me know what it was !

 

[underchuckle]

Thanks Hemi, I'll let you know - unfortunately I wasn't able to finish troubleshooting last night, b/c my wife wanted me to stop messing around with it so she could watch TV.

BUT last night's recordings on the 'problem' channels' look better (still not perfect, but definitely watchable), so I'm assuming it's a connection problem related to the separator or the short strand of coax from the separator to Sat2 - I must have improved the connection slightly when re-seating the cables yesterday. Tonight I'll swap the cables for Sat1 and Sat2 to confirm this, then probably hunt around for a new strand of coax.