Recording Issue - DVR Programs from some channels won't play after a couple of days, just get black

[kfhomedreaming]

I tried to see if there was already a thread for this problem or not, but I couldn't find one, sorry if it is a duplicate.

I have the original hopper w/o sling from mid 2012. The main problem is that on certain channels programs that are recorded are recorded fine and I can watch them for a day or so and then after that if I go to watch the program the only thing that shows up is a black screen with the info at the top then after a few seconds the playback is finished ending menus shows up (delete, dvr, live tv) but if you try to start over or rewind it is just a black screen. If I transfer the program to an external hard before it turns to a black screen then it will stay watchable forever, but if I leave it on the hopper it goes to the black screen then it is gone. I had this problem since I switched to Dish over a year and a half ago but it only happened with HBO and Cinemax. It did it with both hoppers I have had (one replaced for a different reason). When I first noticed it I tried talking with Dish to see about getting it fixed (I don't remember what they said but nothing helpful) I didn't worry about it too much since it was just HBO and Cinemax.
Now the problem is getting worse, I just noticed that now - USA Network, SYFY, and The Movie Channel (maybe others) - have all started to do the same thing. All the recordings from the last three months (earlier ones are ok for now) have done the same thing. All the other channels I watch have had no problems so far, but USA and SYFY I have watched a lot over the 1 1/2 years and have had no problems until now. It doesn't seem to be a hard drive issue since it only affects these channels and I have had no other recording issues. I don't know what to do other that immediately transfer programs to a EHD for the affected channels (maybe start for all channels soon?) which I have been doing all along for HBO. Obviously over the past 1 1/2 years the Hopper has been reset multiple times (many more since last update but that's another issue). I don't know if the last update had anything to do with expanding the problem channels (caused plenty of other problems) since I haven't been watching the programs from the channels recently, so I don't know if the new channels' problems started in October (when the 1st programs are messed up) or if they started later and just messed up some previous programs.
Thank you in advance for any information.

 

[lucky86]

I can't remember if tmc has hdcp enabled but maybe try hooking up component cables nd remove the hdmi and see if that makes any difference. Hbo, Max, USA, and syfi all enforce hdcp so maybe that's a common link in this. Worth a shot to see if that makes a difference.

 

[kfhomedreaming]

I can't remember if tmc has hdcp enabled but maybe try hooking up component cables nd remove the hdmi and see if that makes any difference. Hbo, Max, USA, and syfi all enforce hdcp so maybe that's a common link in this. Worth a shot to see if that makes a difference.

Thanks for the suggestion, I gave it a try, unfortunately no luck. I'm sure it is probably caused by the hdcp, but I don't think it is supposed to do this. It is like the file gets corrupted. When you try to play the files it looks the same as it does / did? when you transferred files from the EHD to the Hopper (learned the hard way) and they were made unplayable. I've tried to figure out a pattern or if something gets done to make the files that way but no luck so far (it seems like I spend more time figuring out ways around issues (this and others) then actually watching shows). At least I can transfer the shows to an EHD (as long as I can figure out what shows I need to do that for and do it before they get messed up). Sometimes it does show an error code sometimes it doesn't. It isn't showing an error code right now on the unplayable shows (USA, SYFY) , but it has in the past with the HBO channels, its been a while but I think the error codes were 00 and 04 (I don't currently have HBO so I can't try with them).