"Thank You" to the mpeg4 beta-testers

[Ed Campbell]

My HR20 has been pretty stable through the vagaries of the first few updates. Now, it's damned near rock-solid. The few hiccups remaining are barely noticeable.

Like everyone, I await OTA -- especially since that's all I actually need for locals.

I just wanted to thank all the folks working their way through the mpeg4 bugs for getting things fixed before I get to use that portion of my HR20. :lol:

I guess I should especially thank the code-writers laboring in that vineyard -- since they have to differentiate between genuine problems they can solve in the D* software -- and the results of garbage delivered by less-than-competent locals.

[f300v10]

Not all of us using MPEG4 are having issues. Most of my recordings are MPEG4 and have worked just fine. No black screen recordings, no missed recordings and no lock-ups in 2 1/2 weeks. I think many of the issues are HDMI related, and perhaps how many series links a user has. I only have around 12, there is only so much time I have to watch TV.

[Marcia_Brady]

My HR20 is thus far working flawlessly. It recorded Lost, and Biggest Loser without incident last night (among many other shows, but those were the most important) and I think I'm going to like this machine!

We're currently putting it through the paces and, although I'm not crazy about the GUI I can certainly live with it. :thumbs up:

[Rob55]

Same here, just about completely stable, even with HDMI.:D

[Howie]

My HR20 is thus far working flawlessly. It recorded Lost, and Biggest Loser without incident last night (among many other shows, but those were the most important) and I think I'm going to like this machine!

We're currently putting it through the paces and, although I'm not crazy about the GUI I can certainly live with it. :thumbs up:

I liked mine too, last week. Now with the FF forward problem they've created I hate it.

[NFLnut]

Well, I'm certainly glad that the three of you have had no problems, while the rest of us are having MAJOR problems with pixelation, freezing, lockups, being unable to FF/REW, etc! :mad:

[jimbo713]

I've seen no pixelation when fast forwarding. My unit is very stable. The only problem here is with our NBC WOAI-TV's signal. It's very flat HD with frequent audio echoing and, at least during last night's TONIGHT show, a ton of pixelation. All using HDMI. But, we love the HR20.

[Marty B]

I've seen no pixelation when fast forwarding. My unit is very stable. The only problem here is with our NBC WOAI-TV's signal. It's very flat HD with frequent audio echoing and, at least during last night's TONIGHT show, a ton of pixelation. All using HDMI. But, we love the HR20.

When you guys say "pixelation", are you refering to compression artifacts?

[Rob55]

Are we talking about the "usual" compression artifacts we all get as a result DTV trying to cram too many channels down their limited bandwidth or something specific to MPEG-4 locals?

[Vinny]

I too would like to thank all of us for taking the time to post our concerns. I think without our voices being heard, there would be many more unhappy people. Also, let's not forget Earl. He has been a rock through all of this and a great mediator between us and D*.

We aren't out of the woods yet; but I think we're pretty damn good for only a month into the HR20.

[billt1111]

Not all of us using MPEG4 are having issues. Most of my recordings are MPEG4 and have worked just fine. No black screen recordings, no missed recordings and no lock-ups in 2 1/2 weeks. I think many of the issues are HDMI related, and perhaps how many series links a user has. I only have around 12, there is only so much time I have to watch TV.


Ditto. Great job. I have a few pixels out of place, only on MPEG2, when I FF or RW but otherwise everything works flawlessly. I think the majority of HR20 owners have few problems and feel no reason or motivation to log on here and post good news.

And the price was awesome too.

[NFLnut]

No. We ALL know of the compression pixelation and artifacts from D* over the years. The pixelation WE are referring to with tis latest update is where the whole screen pixelates. I was watching a program last night where the picture was freezing, stuttering, the audio was dropping out, the frame loop, and the entire screen was pixellating into a complete blue or green screen. Or the moving object, like a moving person in a scene would completely pixellate! THAT'S the pixellation we are referring to! Where the entire recording isn't even watchable!

[jimbo713]

Good description, NFLnut, on my WOAI (NBC) TONIGHT SHOW experience last night. Governor AH-NOLD was on - and even though his voice and sentences were not distorted or choppy, the picuture sure was. Turned it off. And, btw, the other local MPEG-4 channels are great. Stunning!:)

[Marty B]

Pixalation:
An effect which occurs when a bitmapped image is enlarged so that the individual pixels are obvious to the eye.

Compression Artifact:
A compression artifact (or artefact) is the result of an aggressive data compression scheme applied to an image, audio, or video that discards some data which is determined by an algorithm to be of lesser importance to the overall content but which is nonetheless discernible and objectionable to the user. Artifacts in time-dependent data such as audio or video are often a result of the latent error in lossy data compression.

[jimbo713]

Thanks for the definitions. And the spelling lesson: "Pixalation":grin:

[Marty B]

Thanks for the definitions. And the spelling lesson: "Pixalation":grin:

I kant take credit for the speling. I thought you were right. I just cut and paste from Wikipidia. :D

[snewo]

I'm with alot of the other posters in here. Things are working just fine for me. FF my MPEG4 works fine (Lost on Wednesday)....looks fine too. The only things I'm waiting for are OTA and MPEG4 stuttering fix when they finally swap out the equipment in Philly.



Snewo

[jkc120]

I'm with alot of the other posters in here. Things are working just fine for me. FF my MPEG4 works fine (Lost on Wednesday)....looks fine too.

That's odd. I thought the FFWD bug affected everyone. Are you sure you're on 0xDC?

[tigerpaw78]

I see my system got OXDC yesterday afternoon. Last night is when I couldn't FF recorded shows (seemed to just get stuck in a loop). I thought it was a conspiracy with the advertisers. Glad it's just a software glitch. Please tell me they can fix it fast, as this pretty much defeats the whole purpose of a dvr for me. Saving 20 minutes per hour of viewing network shows (of course it might be closer to 30 minutes for golf tournaments). Thankfully, I still have my SD Tivo to watch things.

[dharrismco]

I too would like to thank all of us for taking the time to post our concerns. I think without our voices being heard, there would be many more unhappy people.

I agree. I think there are a lot of people from the developers through to the end users have had a rough few weeks, but it seems to be getting better in a lot of ways... I know it sometimes may seem like 2 steps forward and 1 step backwards (for some people it may feel like just 1 or more steps backwards), but ultimately we all want the issues resolved... and that is what D* is trying for. I doubt they are happy with the issues that exists either.

Also, let's not forget Earl. He has been a rock through all of this and a great mediator between us and D*.

I whole heartedly second that! In addition to being a rock through this whole.. umm.. adventure, he has also put up with a lot of heat... So for all your help through all of this Earl, Thank you!

[fdeitz]

That's odd. I thought the FFWD bug affected everyone. Are you sure you're on 0xDC?

I got the 0xDC update Wednesday morning and since then I haven't had any problems with FFWD either. It made me wonder why I'm not having any problems with it when I watched Lost on the local HD channel and FFWD worked fine through the commercials.

[Chris Blount]

I've seen no pixelation when fast forwarding. My unit is very stable. The only problem here is with our NBC WOAI-TV's signal. It's very flat HD with frequent audio echoing and, at least during last night's TONIGHT show, a ton of pixelation. All using HDMI. But, we love the HR20.I agree. WOAI's MPEG 4 signal is absolutely horrible.

[Schyler]

I can add my two cents here.

I'm quickly finding that most of my problems with the HR20 are actually MPEG4 problems.

Now that I have recorded and watched programs on MPEG4-HD, MPEG2-HD and MPEG2-SD channels, I can say that the transport controls work flawlessly on MPEG2, both high and standard definition. FF, REW, PAUSE, whatever.

MPEG4 transport, however, is very glitchy on my unit. I can play, stop, pause and instant replay, but I can't FF or REW. Oddly, though, I can 30 second skip.

Sometimes I can get FF or REW for a short time, but then it will hang up on a specific spot. It's like it has trouble getting past certain i-frames.

I don't quite understand why FF doesn't work right (at any of the three speeds) but 30s skip does. I've been getting around in MPEG4 recordings with a combination of jump-to-tick and 30s skip.

[Chris Blount]

I can add my two cents here.

I'm quickly finding that most of my problems with the HR20 are actually MPEG4 problems.

Now that I have recorded and watched programs on MPEG4-HD, MPEG2-HD and MPEG2-SD channels, I can say that the transport controls work flawlessly on MPEG2, both high and standard definition. FF, REW, PAUSE, whatever.

MPEG4 transport, however, is very glitchy on my unit. I can play, stop, pause and instant replay, but I can't FF or REW. Oddly, though, I can 30 second skip.

Sometimes I can get FF or REW for a short time, but then it will hang up on a specific spot. It's like it has trouble getting past certain i-frames.

I don't quite understand why FF doesn't work right (at any of the three speeds) but 30s skip does. I've been getting around in MPEG4 recordings with a combination of jump-to-tick and 30s skip.

I agree. Most of my problems are with MPEG 4. The good thing is that it appears the "blank recording" glitch is gone but only time will tell on that one.