Recording Pixellation!

R

rexmundo

Member
My Satellite Setup
1m Dish with Motor.
DM600PVR
Gemini 430

Using Wireless bridge and
PopCornHour A-100
My Location
UK
Hi guys

I wonder if any of you have this problem.
I got a 120GB disk in the DM600. I have it set up to record whole films in just
1 file rather than split up into 1GB chunks.

The problem I have is that, initially I was recording fine, for a couple of months without any problems. But lately, an increasing number of recordings end up getting recorded with a LOT of artefacts. Half a screen full of artefacts every few seconds. It cant be the reception because I always watch it on telly live and its flawless. Only when recorded I have this problem.

thanks for your help.
 
I have pixelization problems with my 7000S, but this is mainly due to having the old version with blue panel which had a low power power supply and also the HDD is 3.5" which requires more power than your 2.5" laptop HDD.
So I guess that your problem is that your HDD is not optimal or perhaps needs reformatting.
Which model (make) and part number is it?
The trouble with reformatting is that you will loose all the recordings on it, unless you have already backed them up by copying them to a PC HDD.
If you have another similar HDD, install it instead, format it and see if this have a smooth picture.
What is not clear to me is why do you see a smooth picture on your TV while recording and only during playback you get the artefacts.
This might indicate a problem with your cables or TV rather than your 600pvr.
Try to test with better high quality cables and make sure you don't have any video splitters between the STB and the TV.
I can always tell if there is pixelization during recording.
Another question, does this happen with all channels or only on certain channels and from which satellite.
 
Thanks for your reply.

Sorry.. mislead u. I dont ever remember watching and recording at the same time. What I meant is, that I never watched live telly and had pixellations.
I have never recorded and watched at the same time.

It happens with any channel and I have no splitters between telly and DM600, just a normal scart cable.

The plan was to record on the DM600, on a NAS mounted disk and then watch it on another room through the popcorn but the way dm records is not compatible with popcorn, so its now pointless so I never got the NAS, so the disk gets full. ;(

I'll ftp everything to my PC, (through DOS cause for some reasons smartFTP cant read the looong filenames the DM saves with) and reformat the disk and see if it makes a difference.

Aside question... there are some hard drives that are touted as beeing specificaly for PVR applications, i.e. faster, quiter and requiring less power. Maplin sells them. Anyone ever tried them?

cheers!
 
rexmundo said:
Thanks for your reply.

I'll ftp everything to my PC, (through DOS cause for some reasons smartFTP cant read the looong filenames the DM saves with) and reformat the disk and see if it makes a difference.

Aside question... there are some hard drives that are touted as beeing specificaly for PVR applications, i.e. faster, quiter and requiring less power. Maplin sells them. Anyone ever tried them?

cheers!
Click to expand...

Try FileZilla FTP application instead of DOS.
Remember that it will take a very long time to copy from HDD to PC.
So copy in stages, try to copy one file at the begining and time how long it will take, otherwise you will think that there is something wrong with the process.
You didn't give the make and model number of the HDD.
If the formatting helps, then you don't need to spend more money on another HDD.
 
hi,

I used smartFTP and if failed because it was not using mget to get the file. It would try to get the specific filename and it would fail because of the characters in the file name. I'll try filezilla later and see if its any better. I resorted to DOS cause its the only one that worked but its hard to manage it. (I am a unix/linux man so i am used to CLI). I get about 3MBytes per second, which is not great but its over a wireless bridge so I cant really complain that much.

The hard drive is a Samsung 120GB, model HM121HC.
I was not aware the HDD model could affect recording performance!

Thanks!
 
I asked about the HDD model in order to insure that it is well known mfg. Also the model number can tell me the speed of the HDD, whether 5400rpm or 7200rpm.
Try to play a file that you know that it doesn't play well, after copying it to your PC and see if it behaves the same or without pixel.
Please report back after the format.
 
The underlying FTP protocol is the same for DOS, telnet, FileZilla, Internet Explorer- it should all transfer at the same speed as the protocol is the same (ftp); but ease of use will differ.

Are the recorded channels FTA or encrypted channels?
 
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