PVR501 Audio Drop

[odubman]

I've seen a few other threads discussing audio issues on the PVR501, but wasn't sure they were related to my situation. My 501 will occasionally drop the audio, mostly during the playback of a program that has been "paused" (not a live feed). It's like a small skip in the recording (sometimes the video is affected, sometimes not). It also happens occasionally, but not as often, when watching a PVR recorded event. No issues during a live broadcast. Was wondering if anyone else has this problem, if it is normal, or is there a problem with the receiver / hard drive?

Thanks.

[MarkInSA]

My 501 will occasionally drop the audio, mostly during the playback of a program that has been "paused" (not a live feed). It's like a small skip in the recording (sometimes the video is affected, sometimes not). It also happens occasionally, but not as often, when watching a PVR recorded event. No issues during a live broadcast.


I have the EXACT same problem! and would love to get it fixed. I have tried to reinitialize the hard drive from the memory dump screen but I cant get that to work. I have noticed that the hard drive clicks when the audio drops out.

Thanks for any help

[Slordak]

This may just have to be something you live with, i.e. a few glitches every now and then. Once the HD takes a little bit of trauma or develops a few "bad sectors", you may see this every so often. If you can get the unit replaced, this will of course eliminate the problem for the time being, but it may come back. Not sure it's really worth if it's just once in a while.

Personally, I think this is a symptom of having a device where the receiver writes to the HD continuously while it's on (i.e. every moment it is on, it is recording the current channel to the drive). The unit probably performs more HD writes in a day than a normal computer performs in a week.

[MarkInSA]

This may just have to be something you live with, i.e. a few glitches every now and then.

Mine does it constantly (at least once every 5 min) I was thinking it was because the hard drive was close to full for a long time. I tried dumping all the stuff off but that didn't help. I was thinking some kind of defrag or reformatting would help.

I tried this procedure but it did not clear my PVR list:

Menu-6-3 - This will put you into the diagnostic screen.
Info-Right arrow (browse)-Left arrow (theme) - This will put you
into the memory dump screen. Note - there is a timeout. You have to hit
the three keys "INFO, RIGHT, LEFT" in succession rather quickly. You should get
the "help" screen briefly after INFO, but it should be replaced by the memory
dump screen as soon as RIGHT and LEFT are completed.
Stop (i.e. press the STOP button) - This will flag the system to
re-initialize your drive on reset.
Reset the system by removing the smart card, and reinserting
it. Please leave the smart card removed for several seconds. Wait at least
until the system information screen appears.
When the card is reinserted, then your system will reset and
your drive will be re-initialized. You should be able to verify this because
your PTV list will be empty."

[phillipsfamily]

I'm not sure this will help, but here's a little trick that I've used quite often when the sound/video synchronization went bad, or when I'd get a blank screen. I haven't had to do this very much since the software became more stable.

The trick is to go to any live channel and hit the record button. OK the default selection at the prompt. Wait a few seconds and hit the stop button. Quite often the audio/video problem will go away after this. I'm not sure what this does, but it appears to reset things without having to do an actual system reset.

[BuckeyeChris]

FYI, I have similar problems with my 522. I just sent an email to E tech support and got back this swift response (see below). [sigh] :( ...Life is too short to have to call tech support when you can just write them. I was really hoping that they would tell me that this is a known issue, and to just hang in there skippy :grin: for the time being until our crack software developers fix it.

Has anyone called yet? Should I bother. I would rather get my teeth cleaned than have to call someone for technical support.


-----Original Message-----
From: xxxx[mailto:xxx]
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 3:43 PM
To: Tech
Subject: Technical Support, xxxxxxxxxx

Dear Mr. xxxx,

Thank you for your email correspondence. Please call 1-800-333-3474, and ask to be transferred to the Advanced Technical Team as this trouble shooting is best done over the phone rather than via email. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you.

Sincerely,

Tom H.

Technical Support

Dish Network

********** Original Message **********



Full Name: xxxx

Account Number: 8255-

Question: My subscriber ID is xxxxx. When pausing video using

the PVR of the 522, the video sometimes changes from color to black and

white, or it turns to a magenta or cyan color. Also, sometimes the audio

drops out; I completely loose audio. This happens to me from time to time,

even after the latest software upgrade to L165. I find I have to stop the

video, back completely out of the menu and then play it again, or if I use

the instant replay button, it usually corrects itself. Can you please

research this problem and advise? Thank you.

xxxxxxx xxxxx

[cc77]

I have a 522 with the same exact problems (and a few others) as the last poster. From other things I've read on the Internet, these are common problems with this model. There have no doubt been thousands of similar complaints to E* so for them to send you a canned BS response is just lame. And I hate to break it to you, but a software update isn't going to fix it. Here's why; all 522s are running the same exact software, but some 522s have these problems and some don't. That says to me this is a hardware issue. If I had to guess, I'd say quality control problems with their "imported parts." Mine is going back. Since 522 is a lease, I'd suggest you do the same and hope the refurb they send you doesn't have the same problems. If it does, just keep sending them back 'till you get a good one. Knowing this company, it might take you a while. :rolleyes:

Good luck.