.....I am not sure if this the case or pure coincidence and the machine itself is faulty..

Anyway, The new drive I have is the: Western Digital WD10EADS Caviar Green 1tb

I upgraded to a 1 TB hard drive over 3 weeks ago.

The first 2 weeks were absolutely fantastic and when I installed the disk I tested it recording 2 HD recordings at the same time and by playing back one of the recording channels at the same time. It was working perfectly well - with no issues at all. Really pleased.

I had replaced it by simply taking out the old and put the new in its place. No problem there I would have thought.

However, in the last 10 days or so there has been intermittent freezing and breaking up of the image, but only during playback of recordings. Live image is absolutely perfect.

Reviewing the faulty recordings it appears that the problem was there while the initial recordings were going on - as I can rewind and still get the same breakup pattern at the same point each time.

It seems to be getting worse and really can be a pain, badly breaking up the image several times in an hour long program.

I am pretty sure it must be related to the hard drive, I have treble checked all connections - they are all fine - signal strength hovers around 85%-90% for all channels on both lnbs - mostly 90%.

Mind you on playback, there is a message about "scrambled channel or channel unavailable" - which I never got before the upgrade - the image used to simply freeze and break up with no message. The message is clearly trying to be helpful but surely wrong?

The problem has only occurred since upgrading the hard drive and in all the time prior to the upgrade I had zero image break up problems.

I have decided to send back the drive to amazon tomorrow - as I I still have 2 or 3 days before the expiry of the month or so to send it back. phew..

I am puzzled though, is it really the drive and some kind of buffering before writing problem? Surely it is up to the job? The drive gets excellent reviews - should I ask for a replacement same drive because the other might be faulty - of go for a different one??

I like the look of the Samsung - SpinPoint HD103UJ as it seems quite popular on the SKY forums. Good replacement choice?.... or should I get a replacement for the original assuming it is faulty?

I'm certainly puzzled about this. If the drive is faulty why isn't everything going wrong?

Patrick

Patrick,

This looks like a reception problem only when the original recordings were made, hence the no signal available message.

Are recordings OK now that the weather is getting better, and you have checked all connections? Can you pause, and then playback Live TV OK?

Rgds.


Les.

Hello Les, I haven't had a chance to record much today. I have been trying to copy off saved recordings to usb!

Although - I have just managed to pause the image on BBC2(rugby) and went to check the signal strength. I am not sure if this is as it should be? but the left hand signal strength is 0 , a big zero! The right hand one is 90%. Is that what you wanted me to do?

BTW this is a good thing to have come out of the upgrade if I can get the individual strength of each lnb.

Follow up... just changed channel and went back to BBC2 again 4 minutes after the first test and done the some thing and it is now 90% on the left and 95% on the right..

Question is....was it a software glitch? or/and and pure luck that I caught it at the precise moment the when the first reading for the left LNB was 0? or....is there a dodgy connection at the lnb on the satellite dish? Maybe the wind has dislodged something a couple of weeks ago. However, IF the first reading was correct - surely the live picture would break up too?

Patrick

Patrick,that does look like an intermittent cable/connection problem.

I've just paused a Live prog and, although I can't get into Diagnostics as my box is recording something, I can see the Tuner displays by pressing Info, and they are different, so not just showing the 1 tuner repeated. (I'm not sure if you can get into Diagnostics when you just pause Live TV).

So, if you're seeing 0, it's not just because you are Pausing, there is a problem.

Intermittent's are the worst to track down.

Rgds.


Les..

Thank you for the help Les.. I agree you with on the basis of that 0 level signal showing, it looks like a cable issue or similar..but the image wasn't affected at all. There was no break up of the image occurring. Which seems very odd to me, any possible scenarios as to why that might be happening?

In any event I think I will leave it on live tv this evening with the signal level display showing!

Patrick

Unless your second tuner was being used to show the good picture whilst the other one was at 0?

Maybe try an instant recording of 1 programme, then Live Pause a channel on a different transponder group?

Or try taking each cable out in turn and leave for a while to see if you can pin down which is at fault. Don't forget it could be anywhere in the chain, dish alignment (recent gales), each of the LNBs, connectors, cables, internal HDR wiring if you have upgraded you may have dislodged some wires that need reseating.

Rgds.


Les.

Patrick,

My recordings have finished, so I went back and repeated my Live Pause test. You can get at Diagnostics if just Live Pausing (unlike Recording), and the 2 tuners do show different results, so my comments re the 0 you saw were correct.

(although my comment on Info, were of course incorrect, that's showing S&Q for that 1 tuner )

Rgds.

Les.

Very good things to try there Les, I'll print your list of things to do off - and check them all before sending the drive back - that is if your suggestions don't work.

I do feel it must be connected to the upgrade in someway though. Having said that, bet it's one of the lnbs from the dish!


Patrick

Fingers crossed that lucky 0 I saw was correct too! Haven't seen it again since.. I'm watching, waiting and hoping, eyes peeled!


Patrick

Very strange issue - I have been testing the box all evening and have noticed that the signal has stayed completely stable. I have managed to recreate the problem time after time at will though, which is excellent for diagnostic purposes!

If I go to BBC HD and perform the following:

1) Start recording the programme playing then wait a 5 minutes
2) Pause the recording for a couple of minutes
3) Start it playing again
The result is that within 5 minutes the playback starts stuttering, freezing and breaking up and sometimes even rebooting.

When I watch it live there is never a problem and the signal is perfect..

Surely this issue must be related to the disk drive?

Unless someone else thinks differently?

Tomorrow I am going to replace the disk drive with the original and will know for sure...

Patrick

Patrick,

According to the Western Digital Website (wbc.com) the WD AV-GP series of drives are specifically designed for "PVR/DVR, IPTV boxes and media server(s) " The 1TB version is WD10EVDS.

The WD10EADS appears to be targetted at "desktop PCs and external storage devices".
My recommendation would be to return the WD10EADS, and replace it with the WD10EVDS.
(Even if the harddisk is not the problem, this should still give you better longterm reliability.)

Hillel.

This drive is not a drive that is designed for use in consumer electronics, a PVR for example!

All PC hard drives have additional error checking functions which cause things to slow down.
I would send the drive back and get a drive designed specifically for use in consumer electronics devices, examples of these would be Seagate Pipeline HD and Seagate DB35 Series™ hard drives, These are designed specifically for use in digital video recording equipment.

Although I am unaware of any drives that Samsung produce specifically for this type of use the Samsung drives are known to be a good choice for PVR use and are fitted by many PVR manufacturers Topfield for example use Samsung in some of their Freeview PVR products!

Hi Patrick,

Yes, what you now describe definitely looks like the HDD, but it doesn't explain your earlier "No Signal ............" messages, or 0 Signal Strength on one of the tuners.

Rgds.


Les.

You are not the only one puzzled Les!!

Anyway, I have just tested it this morning on the old original drive and it works perfectly again no problems. I tested it at least 5 times to try and repeat the problem. I can't do it.

So.... I have now packed up the diskdrive and am sending it back. It must be faulty or something. I won't risk a replacement of the same type so I have just placed an order for the PVR version WD10EVDS as suggested by Hillel.

Hope all will be fine now - I think that the message and signal strength reading earlier referred to was a probably bit misleading in the end.. and was a blip in the software.. hopefully :

Thank you all for your help on this - and it was your suggestions Les on how to test it that worked to isolate the problem.

Patrick

That's the drive I installed. No problems with it so far. Great drive.

The drive is not faulty its just the wrong type!

Anyone tried the 1.5Tb version as above?

Think I just answered my own question - see thread here:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...ight=WD15EVDS+

I'd aslo try putting it in an external caddy.

I put a WD 1TB drive in my HDR internally and the PSU burnt out within 2 months.

Maybe a coincidence, but there is a slightly higher current draw to the uprated drives and the psu could be very marginal in size.

To be safe I recommend the external SATA modification with the caddy and fan left in situ but empty - that way you get better than usual cooling, much lower emmissions and thus temperature in the box also due to no HD heat and less draw and thus heat from the psu, and much lower that designed current draw (as the hd is powered by the external caddy not the HDR) meaning that if anything, your HDR should be more reliable and live longer than a standard one.

Just to mention that I installed internally a Western Digital WD10EVVS (also a PVR specific 1TB hard drive) in Feb 2009 - and the whole kit is continuing to work fine.

Yep, my new one continues to work perfectly ok too.
It goes to show you definitely have to buy the right one for pvrs.. doh.

BTW it ended up being a WD10EVVS.


Patrick

Not so true, you need to check the specifications as a few so called desktop drives are fine as well. Iv'e had a £50 1TB drive fitted fro over 6 months and its running fine.