Bug Report L180: Stuck in Error 312 dialog

[Cheezmo]

Here is the scenario...

Left 921 viewing live SAT HD channel.

2 timers were set to go off, both on SAT HD channels.

I switched to the 921 on my system and there was just a black screen there.

I pressed guide and the two shows I wanted to record were visible with red dots on them.

I went to the DVR screen and only one of them was listed (with the red dot next to it showing it was recording).

I then tried to tune to a satellite HD channel.

I got Error 312 "Your request can only be carried out in live mode. Stop recording and switch to live mode now?". "Cancel" brings me right back to error 312. "No" brings me right back to error 312. Guide and DVR do nothing. I was stuck.

I then tried "Menu -> DVR list" and got to that screen. I picked and old show to watch and ended up at...

"Background Recordings"
Satellite In 1 and Satellite In 2 are in use. Which of these would you like to view?

<check> Ch: 0 -
< > Ch 9423 - PT 109

The info banner in the background indicates 9421 DSCHD so it appears to be trying to tune to that, even thogh I told it to play a recorded show.

While I was typing this the screen cleared and a banner indicated it was on some huge channel number (48991 or something) and the show description was "f@" Then the screen went to a 4:3 with gray bars black screen.

That is what I get now when I try to play a recorded show.


Then I tried to tune to an OTA channel and it tells me Warning 822, the off-air tuner is being used for recording."

I guess you still have to turn it off if you want timers to fire correctly?
I guess I'll wait until the one show that is apparently recording correctly finishes and see if it recovers from this state. What a @##@$%@#$ mess.

[Cheezmo]

A little more on the "brain damaged" state it is in.

I powered it off, and powered it back on and it came up live on an OTA HD channel. It claimes the title of the show is "Unknown Record" and the channel is 77-0 UKN.

(I think our local channel 33 has a PSIP bug that causes some receivers to map it to 77, but I haven't seen 77 on this one until now and it doesn't show up in the channel guide list.

Also, when a dialog comes up saying I can't tune somewhere because a tuner is in use, if I turn off the 921, it turns back on with both outputs disabled. If I push the output button on the front of the unit it turns on SD and then HD, but since I'm in another room I first thought it just wasn't turning back on.

[Cheezmo]

Or so I thought. Now it appears to be on, but with no output on SD or HD and pushing the Output button does nothing. Can't even turn it off. Power and record lights are on.

I'll wait until the movie is over and see if I can get things back to normal without rebooting (I promise, I'll really wait this time). I'm not in the mood to wrestle with it any more.

[SimpleSimon]

A little more on the "brain damaged" state it is in.

I powered it off, and powered it back on and it came up live on an OTA HD channel. It claimes the title of the show is "Unknown Record" and the channel is 77-0 UKN.

(I think our local channel 33 has a PSIP bug that causes some receivers to map it to 77, but I haven't seen 77 on this one until now and it doesn't show up in the channel guide list.

Also, when a dialog comes up saying I can't tune somewhere because a tuner is in use, if I turn off the 921, it turns back on with both outputs disabled. If I push the output button on the front of the unit it turns on SD and then HD, but since I'm in another room I first thought it just wasn't turning back on.
The 77 UKN banner is the "I've lost track of what channel I'm on" indicator. ;) It's not limited to OTA situations.

Seems like it's just not a good idea to leave it tuned to OTA when powering down.

[Cheezmo]

Seems like it is not a good idea to use it at all.

[Mark Lamutt]

Here is the scenario...

Left 921 viewing live SAT HD channel.

2 timers were set to go off, both on SAT HD channels.

I switched to the 921 on my system and there was just a black screen there.


Steve,

I followed the rest of what you were saying, but not the beginning. Not sure what you mean when you say you switched the 921 on your system, if you already had it viewing a live sat HD signal.

[Cheezmo]

I just mean that I was watching a different input on the TV, while the Dish had been left on Live. When I went back to the Dish input on the TV, it was displaying a black screen. I wasn't watching to see what happened when it went black. I imagine it initially displayed the message about needing a tuner, asking me if it was OK to switch, but I wasn't there to see it.

[Cheezmo]

I finally had to reboot, by holding down the power button for 5 seconds. It came up on an OTA channel and everything looks fine, although only one of the two shows recorded (PT109).

I'm setting up a test case right now. I'm setting up timers for shows that start at 4:30 and 4:35 (CT) and I'll be watching a different sat channel live to see what happens.

[Mark Lamutt]

Ah, I understand now.

[Cheezmo]

Well, I duplicated what I thought was the scenario, and it worked OK. Both timers fired.

But, the following time sequence seems like a bug.

Timer 1 was set for 4:30
Timer 2 was set for 4:35

At 4:29, timer 1 fired.

I was watching another channel an at 4:35 it put up a dialog asking me what I wanted it to do. Then at 4:35:45, it actually switched over and started recording.

Why didn't it warn me BEFORE the timer was supposed to start recording so it could actually start the recording on time. As it is now, the fact that I left it on a live channel means the first 45 seconds of the recording gets missed.

(I'm going to try again with 2 sat tuners, and leaving it live on a local OTA channel).

[Mark Lamutt]

Were you watching the clock on another dish receiver? Just asking to make sure your time was synced with Dish receiver time.

[Cheezmo]

I was watching the clock on my Mac and on one of those clocks that sync's to a military radio signal of some sort. I just checked and those clocks are within 5 seconds of the 921's clock.

[Cheezmo]

OK, I think that did it.

Set two SAT HD timers, one for 5:00 and one for 5:05.

Tuned to OTA HD channel at 4:50.

Timer clock started flashing at 4:54.

Got message about needing tuner at 5:04 (good, it didn't wait until 5:05 this time!).

Screen went black at 5:04:30.

Press of "Display" button shows banner with 77-0 and "Unknown Record".

Check of PVR screen at 5:06 shows only one of the shows is recording.

So, it is still not safe to leave your 921 displaying live OTA HD. If you have simultaneous HD timers, only one of them will work.

I'm available to beta test (I've done so for ReplayTV for years), they apparently need more.

[Cheezmo]

In case anyone is wondering. I've discovered how to free up the "occupied" tuner. Go to the channel guide and select the channel it "thinks" it is recording. It will indicate it is recording it in the channel guide and info banner (but if you try to rewind, it will only be able to rewind to where you just tuned to it). At that point if you press "Stop". You will be able to use the OTA tuner again.

[Cheezmo]

I just tried a slightly different scenario...

SAT HD timer from 6->6:30
OTA HD timer from 6:05 -> 6:20

Left it viewing the HD channel that the first timer fired on (accidentally, I meant to be on a different SAT tuner).

1st SAT timer started fine.
HD timer warning came up at 6:05 (once again, it would miss the beginning).
After 30 seconds, the screen went blank and I got this dialog:

"Attention 011
This Program has been blacked out in your area."

Audio for the HD channel I had been watching continued in the background.

I went to the guide and back and the HD channel is playing fine. The OTA timer did not fire.

[Mark Lamutt]

Thanks for the great info, Steve. You are going through a very similar exercise to what I went through last week, and are seeing just about exactly the same results. I'm sending your report word for word to Eldon.

[Cheezmo]

I don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but I watched the recording of PT 109 that took place during the first incident today and it was riddled with little glitches.

Every couple of minutes there is an audio dropout and about 1/3 of the scree breaks up into macroblocking.

[SimpleSimon]

I don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but I watched the recording of PT 109 that took place during the first incident today and it was riddled with little glitches.

Every couple of minutes there is an audio dropout and about 1/3 of the scree breaks up into macroblocking.
Just for the record, that's a classic sign of a satellite feed dropout.

The audio drops out about 2-3 seconds because the pixellation, right?

[Cheezmo]

That was on HDNET Movies, my signal strength for its transponder is 95-96. that should be good enought, right?

[SimpleSimon]

That was on HDNET Movies, my signal strength for its transponder is 95-96. that should be good enought, right?
Yes, plenty good enough - but we're talking about dropouts, which can be caused by lots of different things. This time of year, the sun is a problem during the day for short periods. Weather (at either end of the satlink), even a bird landing on the LNBF, or an aircraft blocking the signal (or a person - I had to do a ground pole install next to the door to the yard - I know that's not gonna be good, but it was the only option available).

[Cheezmo]

I understand all that but none of those would occur with the regularity that I saw on that recording (and only on that recording).

There was a little drizzle in the air that day and rain took out HDNet for me later in the day, but it was more serious breakups (and random), not a pattern of very short breakups every 2-3 minutes.

Anyway, since I wasn't watching live when it recorded I can't really say what might have been going on.