visionsat iv200 recording issues

[Anole]

last thoughts

Well , since the complaints are mostly record-related, I have the following suggestion:
- when changing firmware , do a full factory reset!
- change the hard drive and thumb drive you are using.
- reformat the hard drive with the Visionsat.
- turn off power with the rocker switch, THEN plug in a hard drive! (otherwise it won't be properly recognized)
- it's gotta be something specific to the OPs unit or configuration, because none of the rest of us see it.
- are you connecting the USB hard drive to your computer and reading/writing or doing ANYthing else with it?? (this caused me some grief)

 

[avg1joe]

Anole, thank you for some solid suggestions. If I discover that this is user error and can figure out how not to screw it up then I will be sheepishly thrilled.

- when changing firmware , do a full factory reset!

I think that's what I'm doing but can you give me the step by step on this in case I'm missing something.

- reformat the hard drive with the Visionsat.

I've tried this a number of times.

- turn off power with the rocker switch, THEN plug in a hard drive! (otherwise it won't be properly recognized)

I wasn't aware of that and it could explain some things.

- are you connecting the USB hard drive to your computer and reading/writing or doing ANYthing else with it?? (this caused me some grief)

I have hooked the usb to my computer once and copied/moved files from it. Aren't you supposed to be able to do this? Heck I've asked about how to make dvds, of shows I recorded, in this forum.

Unfortunately I don't have access to any other drives.

 

[Anole]

... can you give me the step by step on this in case I'm missing something.

For Factory Reset:
press Menu button
use left/right keys to navigate to Installation
use up/down keys to navigate to System Recovery
press OK key
highlighted is: System Restore Factory Default
press OK key
(whatever comes after that, I can't say, because that's as far as I went.

I assume you don't have any trouble loading new firmware through the USB port with a thumb-drive.
(power down the box on the rear, plug in the drive, turn on rear power, wait a minute, turn on the front power, wait a minute, a firmware-load menu should automatically appear on the screen).

I have hooked the usb to my computer once and copied/moved files from it.
Aren't you supposed to be able to do this?
Heck I've asked about how to make dvds, of shows I recorded, in this forum.

You can read the drive, but do NOT edit, delete, or otherwise modify anything with your computer.
I think that's what got me into a world of hurt.

Now, I plug the FTA USB drive into my computer, tell my editor a file there is the source, edit it, then write to another drive on my system.
I only use the FTA box to delete files from the USB drive.

And, I make DVDs all the time.
My editing is with VideoReDo. (the new version can author DVDs, now)
I still use DVD Labs Pro to do most of my disc authoring and design.

Unfortunately I don't have access to any other drives.

Well, that'll make it kinda hard to determine if it's drive-related.

 

[avg1joe]

(power down the box on the rear, plug in the drive, turn on rear power, wait a minute, turn on the front power, wait a minute, a firmware-load menu should automatically appear on the screen).

The one thing I was missing was using the toggle switch in the back. I don't think the instructions that came with the box mention updating firmware. I found a pdf written by someone online that doesn't mention anything about turning the box off with the master switch before plugging in the usb. So I was using the front power button then inserting the thumb drive.

if you're dealing with a midnite recording, I would just set it for 11:59PM instead.

I deleted the midnite record time and turned the box off with the toggle. Everything has been working fine since I did this a few days ago.

I think Anole and Iceberg have identified possible causes for my problem. Thank You.

Here's a new, but related question. If I save a channel list to the thumb drive and then update firmware versions, can I reload the channel list? I've tried this in the past but wasn't sure it was a good idea. I'm guessing the answer has to do with if the list fdu # is the same between firmwares.

 

[Anole]

The one thing I was missing was using the toggle switch in the back. I don't think the instructions that came with the box mention updating firmware. I found a pdf written by someone online that doesn't mention anything about turning the box off with the master switch before plugging in the usb. So I was using the front power button then inserting the thumb drive.

I may have been unnecessarily anal in my reply.
IF you get the receiver to auto detect the new firmware on the thumbdrive by cycling only the front panel power, I am sure that is fine.
It may be possible to load the firmware from the menu as well.
It should be.
I was just recounting the procedure I follow, which seems to work.

The rear power switch appears to be -required- to get the receiver to detect a new hard drive and use it properly.
And even if that becomes no longer necessary, it's still safer to err on the side of caution.

Inconsistent operation has resulted whenever I've been casual (sloppy).
Power cycling and master reset to factory configuration has been my key to sanity.