No Space 1999 is 1 hour and 15 minutes long and it is 2 episode back to back so it is 160 minutes as I made a manual recording when it first started to air so that I would not have the interruption in between and it was an unknown event at that time. Comes on Saturday and Sunday nights. It has been set up that way since the beginning of September and has gone off with out a hitch and did Sunday night as well as I checked earlier on Saturday and the red box was around all 2 and a half hours. I check everyday to see what is scheduled. So it has to be either the HDD, DVR+, or the 135r. Has anyone tried the check disk through the DVR+? Thanks Greasemonkey.

I don't know about the DVR+ check disk function (although I doubt it is more than a compatibility check), but you can dismount the HDD and connect it to your PC and (in theory) check it there.

Just be aware, however, Windows will not recognize the disk format, since it is a Unix/Linux Ext file system. Download the Ext2Fsd utility to mount the drive on your Windows PC.

You'll need a 3rd party HDD diagnostic utility, since I would imagine the Windows built-in chkdsk assumes either FAT, FAT32, or NTFS file systems (and might even destroy your file contents in an attempt to "repair" them).

You could also download @pachinko 's DVR+ Lister for Channel Master DVR+, copy the file to your PC, and see if it will play there.

I have a quick question. Sorry, I dont mean to be lazy, but reading thru a thread of 16,000 messages is.....[I did read thru a thread of 1500 messages for my Stream+ so I am not lazy.]

Bottom line. I got my DVR+ out of mothballs. Hadnt been used in 18 months and wanted to make sure it still works. I had read a new firmware (final?) was available. So checked my existing. It is 132R. Is there any reason to go ahead and upgrade (or downgrade) firmware? I know sometimes upgrading firmware means you are losing services. I guess its my plan to ebay it...or sell locally. I put it away after a move (18 months ago) and finally ran across the box. In the mean time i have purchased (STUPID ME) a Stream+. Although I am far from happy with my new purchase, I cant see holding onto both.

So I am requesting suggestions as to whether I should upgrade to 135R before ebaying it. Have been testing all day and seems to be in good working order. I even ended up purchasing one of the new style of remotes (new) when I couldnt locate my original (old style).

Suggestions regarding firmware and REASON please would be appreciated.

John in 68502

BTW. While I cant claim to be an original JP-1 er.....I wanted to say THANKS to all the designers and powers behind that group. I suspect the DAVE I noticed in the Stream+ thread was the original DAVE that did TONS of work on the JP1. THANKS DAVE...and of course Rob who made it available thru his website. Hadnt thought of JP1 for a while until I went to put the batteries in my new DVR+ remote. THANKS DAVE!!!!

GUess I should look to get a NEVO remote and cable just to get caught up a bit. I think my other cable dates back to Parallel port?? Or am I having bad flashbacks. Link on the newest JP1 able NEVO and cable if anyone has it handy. Yes, I am now feeling lazy.

So few have given so much. And there are LOTS like me....we TAKE with a smile, but occasionally a word of thanks.

Dave, I know you read all. TAKE A BOW!

Since the HDD is dependent on the DVR+ for what is written to it and how, I'd say that if a problem exists it is with the DVR+. I agree with @RTPVid that the best way to find out is to download DVR+ Lister and see what is on the HDD.

If you get your Guide data via PSIP there is no hard reason to upgrade with the exception of the Red Light Bug being fixed in 134R (I think). I'm still on 132R and have no problems with it other than the occasional red light going dark on me during recordings. But if you get your Guide data via the Internet, you now have to be on 135R for it to work. If you are definitely going to put it on eBay you should probably go ahead and upgrade the FW. If you don't, there is a chance that the buyer will clap back on you if it doesn't work right out of the box. The Red Light Bug being fixed is also a good reason to upgrade if you are selling it.

Since you're planning to sell it, upgrading to 135R is recommended for several reasons:

1. 134R was strictly a bug-fix release, so there's no reason not to install it. No DVR+ features were removed or "monkeyed with" as happened with some earlier releases.
2. But as of a few weeks ago, the Internet guide no longer works with 134R. The guide data server has been changed, and 135R uses the new guide data server.
3. The new owner will likely connect the DVR+ to the Internet and be prompted to update it anyway. Since it can often take some time and frustration to update over the Internet, you may as well save them the trouble.

AFAIK the Sling app no longer works in any DVR firmware that included it (132R, 134R, or 135R), and the Internet guide only works in 135R. But if your experience is different, please let us know!

If you were going to keep the DVR+, there might be reasons to downgrade (provided you didn't want/need the Internet guide).

Much appreciated. If I dont find a buyer, I might hold onto it. Can I ask what the reason is to downgrade??

When I plugged it in, seemed to be functioning normally. When I checked something (dont recall) it requested permission to upgrade to 135R. It tried (over hardwired connection) but was not successful. THought I would do it with USB drive since I found the firmware posted. But decided I best ask the experts lest I end up with something LESSER than what I started with.

Think I noticed it was pulling Guide data from Rovi (unsuccessfully) and the Channel Master Servers (think that went OK), but I did not check how long out the GUIDE data was listed. THought I might try to upgrade it over hardwired connection late tongight before using the USB option.

Also did a recording (internal) and some other basic checks etc. Now I am kinda wondering why I wasted the $$ on the Stream+. Guess I just like gadgets. [Stream+ seems to "half done." although it has potential.]

Mr Brandt, I seem to remember your name from the JP1 groups as well. Please dont let me overlook all your endless contributions.

THanks again.

If you don't use any Internet DVR+ functions aside from Vudu (i.e., extended guide, CMTV, Pandora, or YouTube) and don't have a new "enhanced" remote or a 4K TV, you may prefer firmware version 108R. It does a better job of keeping the PSIP guides updated than more recent versions.

Also, versions 114R and older have a one-click toggle of the closed captions, via the CC button on the old "flat" remote, which many users prefer. Newer firmware versions bring up the same menu when CC is pressed as when Audio is pressed. (On the new remote, those functions were combined into one button, so older firmware provides no advantage when using the new remote.)

Channel Master Sale, now through Cyber Monday (Nov. 26):

• Stream+ $99.99
• Amplify antenna preamp $69
• SMARTenna+ $49.99
• CM-7004 tuner/converter box $34.99
• LTE Filter $9.99
• FLATenna $4.99

Thanks, greatly appreciated to all and and early Happy Holidays.

I'm a new DVR+ user, and so far, mostly good. Are very short audio dropouts common with OTA? This happens fairly often while the picture is fine. I also get longer and much more annoying audio dropouts on one channel in particular where the picture is fine. In the first case, if I replay the clip the dropout is still there. In the latter case, if I skip back and play the same clip again, the sound is fine. I'm using a new 2TB portable HD, so I'll switch it out to see if that's the problem. Any comments on audio dropout issues are appreciated.

@Culpepper , this of course would depend upon your TV and AVR (mine are listed in my sig below).

Sometimes if I turn off my AVR, the TV speaker has no audio dropouts and then re-establishing AVR results in perfect audio, some sort of 'handshake' issue I would guess.

It could also be from a signal issue and the above won't solve it but re-configuring antenna might.
Art

I suspect that may be a different Mr. Brandt. (It's a more common name than I used to think.) I'm a total newbie at JP1 stuff

Audio dropouts are not common in OTA broadcasts. However, some HDDs have been reported to cause audio dropouts. (If it's the HDD you'd hear the dropouts during playback or time-shifting.)

The post quoted below has been edited to highlight audio dropout issues; click through to view the full post:

Thanks for that info. I'm using a new Seagate STEA2000400 2TB. I'll switch to another drive for testing. When I'm watching "live TV" on the DVR+, am I actually watching the hard drive recording?

I think the answer is no; reason being that to "stress" my PNY thumb drive on the DVR+, I recorded one high bit-rate channel while time-shifting another. When I did that, I only experienced audio dropouts when I was a few seconds "behind;" not when I was "caught up" (i.e., live). So I think when I was live, the DVR+ was writing both channels to the drive, but not reading from it. When I backed up, it had to start reading from the drive as well, and I started getting some audio dropouts.

Thanks, that's interesting. I hooked up a very old no-name 250GB desktop hard drive, and so far, no audio dropouts. When you refer to a "high bit-rate" channel, how to you determine the bit rate? I would be interested in that info.

I'm on 134R now and trying to update to 135R. Tried via the CM WiFi adapter - fails. Tried with no WiFi adapter and configuring to use Ethernet - fails. Remove WiFi adapter, plug in a clean 8GB FAT32 flash drive with just the 135R .str on it, and all the DVR+ does is prompt to check if the new USB device could be used for recording things. Confirming (fails due to it not being large enough)/cancelling has no effect - the DVR+ never prompts it found the .str and it wants to begin updating.


Also factory reset the DVR+ and still won't update through either 3 methods. Just trying to get rid of the damn prompt and random attempts to update itself, inevitably leading to it failing and taking 5 minutes to boot back up.


Any ideas on my dilemma?

It's not perfect, but I'd start by looking up my local OTA market at https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php. It will list all the channels in your market, and you can click on any channel to expand it and get more details. Lots of good info there, including measured bit rates. I don't know what's going wrong with updating via Internet, but I suppose the router could be blocking access to the update site at tr50.dishaccess.tv. Try accessing that site with a Web browser; if it's working you should see a very bare-bones Web page reading "you are not supposed to be here." If you get some kind of block page from your router (for example, mine reads "Web site blocked by NETGEAR firewall" if I go to that page), you'll have to reconfigure your router to allow access.

It sounds like your flash drive isn't actually forrmatted as FAT32. Make sure it's a "simple" flash drive (when you plug it into a PC there should be just one drive letter assigned, and no software should launch automatically) and make sure it's not formatted in exFAT, NTFS, or ext2/3/4. (It's only 8GB so that seems unlikely, but it never hurts to double-check.)

That URL works just fine with the message you described from a computer, so not that. The USB was an old ESXi boot drive from my home lab, reformatted as FAT32, so I'm sure that's it.


Not sure what's going on with this DVR+, my upstairs one updated just fine months ago.

I have had my DVR+ for a few years and it has mostly just worked, but now I'm encountering a problem I haven't been able to figure out. I tried to search through this thread for possibilities, but didn't find anything.

I have it hooked up to my TV via HDMI, and found it in a crashed state today, which happens every now and then, but when I rebooted it, this time it came up without audio. The TVs audio works fine, it's not muted, all the audio settings in the DVR+ are fine, and I switched them around just to see if it would do anything. Basically, it's as if someone did the HDMI equivalent of cutting the audio cable running from the DVR+ to the TV.

I've done a cold boot, including unplugging the DVR+ for a while, but no joy. I swapped out the HDMI cable, no joy. I have yet to do a factory reset, for obvious reasons I want to eliminate all the other possibilities before doing this.

Has anyone encountered this before? If so, what was the ultimate remedy?

I haven't had to do this with the DVR+, but on some other devices you have to unplug and plug the HDMI cable in using a specific sequence; I think you have to unplug at the TV first, then the box, with some sequence of what's to be powered off and when. Maybe someone here knows if that applies with the DVR+.

I would try other outputs - analog L/R , TOSLINK

Just curious. You said that you found your DVR+ in a "crashed state". What is such a state? Since you said that it happens every so often, I would suggest, in the future, doing a cold reboot every month. That is, unplug the DVR+ power, wait a minute or so, then plug it back in. For me, that's avoided a lot of weird behavior.

Anyways, here's some thoughts on your current problem.

If your TV has more than one HDMI port, try a different port.

Some time ago, I had a similar situation. The solution was to unplug the power cord from the TV for a minute or so. A variation would be to unplug the HDMI cable from the TV, then the power cord.

There's two settings in the DVR that caught my eye, that you can try playing with:

1. Menu button on the remote
Settings
TV & Audio Setup
Digital Audio Sound
HDMI Setting - Mine is set to Stereo Only

2. Menu button on the remote Settings
Languages
Primary Audio - Mine is set to English

What JHBrandt stated!


Beyond that, were you using the "Maintenance Reset" procedure to perform the update, or just plugged the flash drive in while the DVR+ was turned on? If the latter, try a "Maintenance Reset" procedure, using the FAT32 flash drive as follows:


1. If removing a USB EHD to use its port for a flash drive, use the menu system to properly disconnect the EHD.

2. Put the DVR+ into Standby mode while not recording (dim blue light).

3. Disconnect the power cord.

4. Plug the flash drive containing the DVR+ update file into the DVR+ (either USB port). It MUST be formatted FAT32, and the desired update file MUST be the only update file in the root directory (or the latest update file it finds will install).

5. Hold down the power button on the front panel of the DVR+ while reconnecting the power cord.

6. The front panel LED light will flash blue and red. Wait until the LED goes dark, then immediately release the power button.

7. Wait for the DVR+ logo to appear on the TV, then press and hold the front panel button of 2 seconds. The procedures in steps 6 & 7 are critical. If not done just right, the DVR+ will begin a normal boot instead. If that happens, unplug the power and try again.

8. It may take a short while for the update process to begin. BE PATIENT! The DVR+ will see the Update on the flash drive and begin installing it. Follow its instructions.

9. When the update is complete, unplug the flash drive, and reconnect whatever was unplugged before the update (if anything).

Yes, and you're not going to like it. A few months ago lightning struck the antenna and fried lots of devices attached to the TV system. Some TV ports, HDMI Switch, the power supply of the device whose name shall not be spoken here, etc, as well as the audio on the DVR+, even though most devices were connected to a UPS, and the antenna and coax were grounded. Everything else on the DVR+ works fine, but no audio, not even using an HDMI cable from another device which works perfectly. Hopefully that's not what happened to yours.

Just to chronicle this in case someone runs into the same problem.

After an apparently routine crash of my DVR+, on reboot, everything worked except the audio. This was fixed by a factory reset. A warm boot, cold boot, switching HDMI cables, HDMI ports on the TV, and fiddling with the audio settings was not effective. Just one more thing that can go wrong, I guess, and perhaps one more thing that would be less likely to occur with a periodic cold reboot.

Thank you to the people who took the time to provide thoughtful suggestions. I really do appreciate it. My life would have been a little easier if one of them had worked :-/

Before you give up on your DVR+ you might try reverting the firmware to an earlier version, or updating the firmware to a newer version. If the problem is not hardware related this might fix it.

Well it happened again. Same time same day, it recorded 5 minutes of space 1999 and in history it say 160 minutes.

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Not sure what the problem is, but it's interesting that the length of the recording is 5 minutes. The minimum recording length for a manual recording is 5 minutes, so that may or may not have some connection to the length of recordings you are getting. I would go in and select "Edit" for your Space 1999 manual recording length and verify that the start/stop times are correct. If they are, your best bet would be to delete the recording and recreate it. There might be something corrupt in that particular recording setup. The other thing I would try would be to create a Series recording for both episodes from the Guide and see if that makes a difference. You'll have the couple of seconds of gap between them, but at this point you would still come out better than having only 5 minutes of the first episode.