TiVo losing audio on one tuner.

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PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#92779 5-Nov-2011 20:04

I have a problem with my Tivo losing audio on TV1 on one tuner only. All the other channels continue to work OK.
This fault occurs when recordings accumulate on the hard drive. If I go to my list of deleted programmes and PERMANENTLY delete them, then the fault clears. The fault begins to occur as broken audio then quite quickly becomes complete loss of audio when the Drive still has only a small percentage of its capacity in use. I have about 1.2TB of record space.
I can't think of any reason why this could happen on only one of the tuners and affect only TV!.

aaron11

203 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#541761 6-Nov-2011 19:40

Same as both of my tivos I had thats why I got rid of it and got sky
BUT i kept one for my bedroom that was given to me free

All you can do is change the channel or buy a freeview recorder :p

Skolink

1081 posts

Uber Geek

#542424 8-Nov-2011 10:41

We get this problem occasionally, but I don't think it is related to how full the HDD is. I think it is more to do with the flakey tuners. They are daisy-chained, so one tuner gets a slightly better signal than the other. What are your signal levels for each tuner? Set both to TV One (TVNZ mux), and have a look at the diagnostics menu.

PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#542454 8-Nov-2011 11:37

Thanks for the thought, but I don't see it.

The fault only occurs on TV1, never on TV2 or TVNZ7 which I also record from the same mux.

The indicated signal level and quality on this mux is marginally better than either mediaworks or Kordia which are also free of the problem.

Just for the hell of it I'd swap the order that the signal passes through the tuners if there was any way I could identify which tuner number was in use at any one setting. All I know is that I can toggle between them by pressing the "live TV" button.

Finally, I know that permanently deleting all deleted files cures the problem. I just get sick of having to do that weekly and it defeats my installation of an extra TB of record space.

Skolink

1081 posts

Uber Geek

#542460 8-Nov-2011 11:44

PimpMyMagic: Finally, I know that permanently deleting all deleted files cures the problem. I just get sick of having to do that weekly and it defeats my installation of an extra TB of record space.

Sounds like you have analysed it fairly thoroughly. Have you replaced the original drive, or just added an official external expansion drive?

PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#542465 8-Nov-2011 11:48

Yes. I replaced the original drive. (Duped it then added an extra 1TB partition.
This is then treated by the OS the same as an external drive.

PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#546859 18-Nov-2011 12:46

I reset the system to original factory setup ( I think it does a reformat of the HDD in the process, as all data is also lost).
This didn't fix my problem so I replaced the HDD.

Seems to be working now - so far!

Skolink

1081 posts

Uber Geek

#546886 18-Nov-2011 13:53

PimpMyMagic: I reset the system to original factory setup ( I think it does a reformat of the HDD in the process, as all data is also lost).
This didn't fix my problem so I replaced the HDD.

Seems to be working now - so far!

I don't quite understand - you replaced the HDD for a second time, which is what fixed the problem (so far)?

I've clarified with my wife about when we get this problem. Apparently it only seems to be when two shows being recorded overlap (same channel recorded on both tuners). The whole of the second show has no audio, but the end of the first show is fine and does not loose ausio when the second show starts. She only tends to get overlapping shows on TV2, but I suspect it would happen on other stations too (esp those also on TVNZ mux). She thinks it is not dependant on how full the HDD is.

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PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#546925 18-Nov-2011 14:57

What you describe is pretty much what was happening to me, except it seemed to be related to just one tuner.
Sometimes it would happen that a recording that was going OK would go faulty as an overlapping (same channel) recording started up. This second recording would be fine throughout (so I could watch the end of the previous program on the head of this recording).
Then, when I again got an overlap back to the same channel for the next program's recording it would be faulty throughout.
Initially, the fault was just mute recordings, but as time progressed this became severely broken up sound and vision on these recordings.
How do you know how full your drive is, as deleting recordings only moves them to the trash folder and doesn't delete them from the HD. TiVo will only do this when it requires more record space, so after a time your drive runs in nearly-full mode all the time.
You can go the deleted files folder and individually empty recordings from the trash. Doing this seemed to cure the problem for me for a time. Maybe because of the way TiVo splits all recordings between partitions, this causes a lot of fragmentation after deletions which aggravates the problem.
Have you upgraded or replaced your HDD? I wondered if this may have somehow been behind my problem.
When I said I replaced the drive, I actually only put the original one back in.

PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#548273 22-Nov-2011 10:03

So far, still no sign of the fault occurring.

I just get "not enough drive space" messages all the time - a consequence of having season passes for daily programmes as available space is calculated on the basis of all future booked recordings to the extent of the EPG.

Skolink

1081 posts

Uber Geek

#548289 22-Nov-2011 10:21

PimpMyMagic: So far, still no sign of the fault occurring.

I just get "not enough drive space" messages all the time - a consequence of having season passes for daily programmes as available space is calculated on the basis of all future booked recordings to the extent of the EPG.

Arrg not another bug. I haven't heard of that one before! Glad the loss of audio is not occurring at the moment though.

NZRobin

161 posts

Master Geek

#548628 22-Nov-2011 19:54

I have also had a similar problem including the breakup or freeze of channel one but I'd put it down to reception problems. The Tivo tuners apparently need a good strong signal so I moved my aerial to a different location to try and 'see around' the buildings that may have been degrading the strength of the signal reaching my aerial. I'm also going to replace the very old coax and old splitter for a new sky quality cable. I may even replace my aerial with a new one http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/triple-folding-structure-aerial-freeview-p-594.html

At least then I'll know I've done pretty much all I can on that part of my set up.

Having said that it's an infrequent problem and certainly doesn't change my high opinion of the Tivo.

PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#553913 5-Dec-2011 10:28

Skolink:
PimpMyMagic: So far, still no sign of the fault occurring.

I just get "not enough drive space" messages all the time - a consequence of having season passes for daily programmes as available space is calculated on the basis of all future booked recordings to the extent of the EPG.

Arrg not another bug. I haven't heard of that one before! Glad the loss of audio is not occurring at the moment though.

It's been about a fortnight now and I still haven't seen the audio loss fault occur since I swapped out the hard drive.
I might have to buy myself another drive though as I'm frustrated with the lack of storage in my present one.