Deftones

It does this about once every 3 or 4 months. Basically, it will record a show but it is all pixelated and choppy. The sound is fine, but the video is unwatchable. To fix it, I unplug the Tivo for about 2 or 3 hours and it is fine yet again. Well, it happened again tonight. One of the best nights of TV and it won't be able to watch The Simpsons or Greg the Bunny.

Eternia

This has happened to me before. I always assumed it was my Dish Network's receiver's fault. I just hit the off button on the surge protector, then flip it back on. Everything boots back up and is fine. It has happened to me about three times since I got the Tivo. I think I've had it for a year maybe? Not sure.

Deftones

Happened to me about 5 times in the 1.5 years I've owned it. I need to make a habit of just unplugging the thing off once a month and hopefully not have to worry about it.

Static Cling

Def,

If you want me to send you a copy of Greg the Bunny, let me know... mine recorded it okay.

Deftones

thank you. i'm gonna try to see if my unplugging plan works. usually it doesn't, so I may just have to miss it. I really appreciate the offer. I'll probably just wait until they replay it.

Static Cling

Okey dokey... I'll hang onto it for a few days (I haven't watched it all the way through). Just let me know.

Deftones

well it's official. they are both nothing more than random dancing pixels on my screen w/ audio.

das Monkey

People forget that a PVR is nothing but a computer. They vary the orientation of the device and get mad when it breaks (you don't vary the orientation of a hard drive). Not that that applies here, but it's something I hear a lot.

Anyway, over time, even linux will become sluggish if you don't reboot periodically. Since the machine is trying to keep pace with the video, if you leave it on for months at a time, sooner or later, the software won't be able to keep up with the signal. Like changing the oil in your car or rebooting your personal computer, it's sensible to unplug your TiVo every month or so and give it a fresh reboot.

I usually reboot when I find that my menus are slightly sluggish. I have a DirecTiVo and expect it to decode two DirecTV signals while playing a third all day long. That's a lot of work for one processor and one hard drive. It's a machine like anything else and requires proper maintenance for long term usage.

das

mikehunt

I'll look into it tomorrow if I have some free time during training (just got hired for sony tech support)
if I find some useful info on this problem I'll post it tomorrow night

dek

Alright! mikehunt has the discount! hook it up

mikehunt

no discount
just angry customers on the phone
I keep telling the people I'm training with that sony should give us one of each product we will be handling for free, so we can become familiar with them in order to better help the customers

mikehunt

didn't really find anything in my early searching
training is starting so I'll post later

vaporware

So if i call Sony tech support and ask for mikehunt will they hang up on me?

renaldow

My TiVo did the same thing last night! On Sunday it records about 5-7 programs, but luckily it only screwed up on 1, The Lewis Lectures on Cartoon Network.

Pac-Rat

BTW, I get the same problem with pixels from time to time. Last time I called Tivo they just blamed Dish, and told me to unplug the Tivo and wait.

mikehunt

best I could come up with is unplugging it and waiting a while
used a bunch of different search phrases in the troubleshooting stuff

movielib

It happened to me once in the 2 years I've owned it, about 6 months in. Since it's never happened again, I stopped worrying about it.

Glad to know there's a fix and/or prevention though. Thanks fellow TiVoers.