What are we calling this problem?

[wbmccarty]

What are we calling the following problem:


You enter the program via Play on the My Playlist menu.
The beginning of the program is an all-black screen.
FF doesn't seem to do anything--the time marker doesn't advance.
Skip to End plays the program and you can RW to the beginning and view all, or essentially all, the content.


DTV has promised to call me back--sometime in the next 72 hours--in response to my service call last night and I'd like to be able to refer to the problem in a way that matches previous problem reports. I'm pretty sure I've seen it go by on the forum.

Last night's instance of the fault occurred shortly after an RBR. This leads me to suspect that the problem is in the recorded data rather than in the playback code.

Cheers,

[qwerty]

I don't think there's a consensus. I've heard it called "stuck" and "black screen".

[wbmccarty]

Good enough! That's consistent with my own recollections.

Thanks,

[rlambert7]

I wonder if all of the "black screen" incidents stem from the same root cause, or multiple causes??? I've gotten black screens on occasion, but I don't think I've ever got it right at the very beginning.

Usually, I get the BS somewhere in the middle of a show. Most of the time I can FF over it, and back up. Sometimes I can even back to a point before the BS occured, resume playback, and it's as if the BS was never there in the first place. OTOH, somestimes I can FF over it, and back up, but there still remains a small black hole in the recording. (If I back up farther, and resume play, I run into the BS again, and then have to FF over it again).

I think on one occasion FFing would not budge the time marker in the status bar. In that case I "advanced" to the end, and backed up, and was able to view most of the rest of the show. There was an occasion, though, where I advanced to the end, and backed up, but it was black all the way back to point where the BS first occured.

A few nights ago I had a really odd BS. I was playing back a show called "Prehistoric Americans" from NGC. Somewhat more than halfway thru (maybe 3/4) I got a BS. I FF'd a bit, and got back to the show. But, the really weird thing was that it started to repeat a portion of the show I had already seen, and when "the hour was up", I could tell that where it eneded could not have been the true end of the show. Fortunately, it was televised again, and I recorded it. I FF'd up to roughly where the problem occured on the previous one, but I had no problem viewing the show all the way to the end (of the hour), and there were ads for other shows at the end even after the main show ended.

So, is the problem with the recording or the playback? UGH. Maybe it's BOTH. Double UGH.

[wbmccarty]

So, is the problem with the recording or the playback? UGH. Maybe it's BOTH. Double UGH.
I suspect you're right. My own hypothesis is that the code contains defects in its use of memory management library functions. The faults that occur as a result can affect just about any operation.

For my most recent problem to relate to playback, we'd have to explain why the problem affects only the one recording. Since other instances of the same program play okay, I think that the best conclusion, a la Occam's razor, is that the problem is associated with the recording itself. But, the best conclusion isn't always the right conclusion. :D

Cheers,

[JimV]

I concur with the above statements. Ive gotten the black screen issue immediately at the beginning of programs recorded on m r15-500.

Also believe its some kind of decoding problem because as with others, you can in fact watch the show through some magic NES style cheat code. Up, down, left right, left, right, left, left, up, down, red button, red button, down. Then it works.

[Bobman]

I think that the best conclusion, a la Occam's razor, is that the problem is associated with the recording itself.


The next time it happens, finish watching the show and when you get time play it again and see if it gets stuck at the same place or anywhere else. This should be able to tell you something.

I will try it too if this happens to me.

[wbmccarty]

The next time it happens, finish watching the show and when you get time play it again and see if it gets stuck at the same place or anywhere else. .
The problem is reproducible and occurs right at the start of playback.

BTW, nothing from DTV yet....

Cheers,

[Pink Fairy]

Well, according to D* it TECHNICALLY is not a known issue.

But if you just look here at the other people who have the same problem, it is obvious otherwise.

[rlambert7]

[QUOTE=okietekkie;879138]Well, according to D* it TECHNICALLY is not a known issue...[QUOTE]

Yikes! Let's just hope that the reason they are saying it is not known is because they want to limit phone time with their CSRs about it. If it's truely not known to DTV, they can't even begin to plan a fix for it. :(

[Pink Fairy]

That just means the CSR's don't know that it is a known issue. D* may very well be aware of the issue, but them knowing and the CSR's knowing seem to be a delayed time...which sucks.

[wbmccarty]

From my experience, it seems that an unknown problem would cause more, rather than less, time on the phone with a 1st-level CSR. YMMV. The CSR with whom I dealt most recently reviewed a list of known bugs, some of which were annotated "do not exchange [R-15 unit on account of this problem]". Because my problem did not match any known problem on the list, she had to scan the entire list. The call would have been considerably briefer, I believe, if the problem had been on the list.

BTW, still nothing from DTV....

Cheers,

Cheers,

[boiker]

I had that problem with Scrubs last night.

My Playlist > Select Scrubs > select Play

Black screen, audio working fine. I could listen to the entire episode.

Told my wife to FF to the end, then rewind.

We enjoyed the show with our "hack"

Perhaps I'll call D* to let them know I want to help them make the R15 better. I am not complaining..but beta testing.

[wbmccarty]

I will call to complain as soon as I recover from today's surgery. I did not receive the promised return call within the 72-hour window. Essentially, DTV has wasted 30 minutes of my time and done absolutely nothing. This experience is consistent with my previous encounters. If any forum member wonders why many problems known here are unknown as far as DTV is concerned, I think the explanation is obvious. DTV is not diligent in obtaining problem reports, following up on customer complaints, etc. The lack of integrity implicit in not acknowledging problems and the lack of diligence and competence in handling trouble calls upset me far more than the fact that R-15 reliability, as I experience it, is poor.

Cheers,