Possible Solution
Hi, I am having the problem mentioned in this article.
http://www.tvpredictions.com/askswanni122106.htm
For those who don't want to link, basically some recorded shows will not play back--I just get a message asking if I want to delete it when I try and play the show from the list. This is happening more frequently. I have reset my box a few times.
Anyhow, this seems to be a bug, but I am wondering if anyone else has this problem and what they have done to fix it? What has diretv done? Is the only fix a new box??? I'm going to call Directv and see what they have to say, but I thought I would throw it out there for the rest of you.
-Rob
I've had this same problem, with OTA HD channels and channels off the satellite. Basically, the DVR recorded nothing. The problem is that whatever tuner the DVR used to record your program did not have a signal. You need to run a system test. Make sure you have a signal on both satellite tuners, and both antenna tuners.
The past 2 weeks I tried to record '24,' and both times I tried to play the show, and got the above problem, asking me if I want to delete the programs without being able to play them. Couldn't figure out what the problem was, seeing I turned my DVR on, turned to Fox, and I could see the channel.
Yesterday, I spent 45 min. on the phone with DirecTV trying to figure out the problem, and they were no help. So I decided to check the signal on my antenna, to make sure there were no problems. I did a system test, and found that on Antenna Tuner 1, I had no signal, while I had a 96 on Antenna Tuner 2. This was ridicilious, seeing there was only one input for an antenna. So I unplugged the antenna. Turned off the unit. Plugged the antenna back in, and re-did my antenna set up, did a system test, and both antenna tuners had a 96 signal, and i was able to record '24.'
For program not recording from a satellite signal, check your signal strength on BOTH tuners. I have had problems where one tuner would have odds, and the other would have evens, Or that one had strong odds, and weak evens, etc. Unlike TiVo, where the machine would switch tuners if what you wanted to record wasn't strong enough on one of the tuners, the DirecTV DVR does not. If it decides to record from Tuner 1, and there is no program, it will record black for whatever amount of time. When you try to play back, there is nothing there, so the machine asks you if you want to delete.
So you need to make sure you have strong numbers on Tuner 1 and 2 for Trosponders 1 and 2, or you may have record problems.
I can't remember what I did to get the Satellite Tuners to read the signals properly, but I would imagine that you need to disconnect the satellite coax cables, turn the machine off, reattach, then turn it back on.
Yes, major pain in the ass process, but that's all I know that solves this problem. Hope this helps.
--B-dawg