[Worried of Indy]

I am going to be away from home for several weeks. I would like to leave a whole string of recordings set up, but my Replay 5060 locks up about every two days. What do you guys think about using a time switch to pull the plug on my Replay each morning, thereby ensuring a reboot? Am I risking trashing my operating system by cutting the power so often? Does it make any difference whether I leave the unit turned on or turned off?

Thanks,

 

[leesweet]

It's been done. It's not a wonderful idea for the disk... What does 'on' mean? If you are not watching TV, it should be 'off' (no blue light).


Are you using modem or broadband? You might want to just unplug the modem line, if you are, and that's where it's locking up.


Is the current guide enough for you for 'several' weeks? Several means '3' to me, so...

 

[Worried of Indy]

I'm using the modem at the moment, but I could easily switch to broadband if the concensus is it's more reliable. What do peole think. I just get the feeling it's going to crash anyway.

Plan to be away for a month or more

 

[icecow]

Here's something to ask yourself or someone.


If the power goes out on the replay then goes on again, will the replay boot up and stay ON (that is with the blue light showing?) because if it does turn on and your replay crashes after it runs out of buffer space then you might want to spend more time figuring out if the dial up modem is the problem. If unpluggin the modem makes the replay stable it's obviously the beter choice.


..er or seeing if a net conection is more stable.


2 free cents for ya


cow

 

[indy_dude]

I am in Indy also I have found the broadband to be much better than the modem, also if you miss some shows you could ask people to record them just in case while your gone and then send them to you via IVS (should be up soon hopefully again)


I love my replay for the IVS. Sometimes I didn't even know about something but I see something someone requested and say hmm that would be interesting to watch.


Switch to broadband would be a good moveq3

 

[MethodMachine]

I switched to broadband because I was tired of nightly lock-ups when connecting via modem. Since then, it works like a champ. This is definitely a better option than hooking your RTVs power plug up to a timer to do a "hard reboot".

 

[leesweet]

I can't think why someone with broadband would use the modem... broadband is, of course, faster, and it happens to be more reliable. Also, you get the IVS and inhouse streaming features. Multi-machine use is one of the best features, especially now with all the shows on at the same time you want to record to see if you care about them!

 

[Creech]

Broadband is the way to go. You will have none of the bugs associated with dialup. It'll take you just a few minutes to switch the settings on your machine and a few minutes to string an ethernet cable from your router to the ReplayTV. Try it for a few days before you head out on vaca. I think you'll find the lockups go away and that your system is much more stable.

 

[Runny]

I have my Replay hooked up to broadband so I don't get the modem-related lockups. However, it does lock up about once a week, which has already caused it to miss a recording. We only turn the unit off if we remember to, but it's not something we do religiously. I believe that all of the lockups we've experienced have happened when the unit was on. Is it safe to assume that, in general, lockups are less likely to occur when the unit is off? Are many "unexplained" lockups attributed to running out of buffer? I'm going on vacation for a week and want to make sure not to miss any of my scheduled recordings.


Thanks


Runny

 

[leesweet]

Runny, what do you mean 'only turn it off if you remember to'? Is this a 5000? Do you mean the blue light is on? It's best to only have it 'on' (buffering video) when watching TV. When 'on' it's continually writing/reading from the disk and that's not the best thing. There's also a bug where 13 hours (and change) of buffer will lock it up. (It's not a disk space issue, although filling that isn't good, either!)


Try having it on only when watching TV, and see how it goes.

 

[Runny]

Quote:

Originally posted by leesweet Runny, what do you mean 'only turn it off if you remember to'? Is this a 5000? Do you mean the blue light is on? It's best to only have it 'on' (buffering video) when watching TV. When 'on' it's continually writing/reading from the disk and that's not the best thing. There's also a bug where 13 hours (and change) of buffer will lock it up. (It's not a disk space issue, although filling that isn't good, either!) Try having it on only when watching TV, and see how it goes.

Oh yeah, sorry that wasn't clear. Yes, this is a 5000 and my understanding of "off" is that the blue light is not on, which means there is no buffering happening and in addition to lengthening the life of my hard drive I would be less likely to experience (what had seemed to me to be) random lockups. I hadn't heard of the 13 hour buffer thing, so I'll definitely be conscious of that in the future. I'll try to turn it off whenever I'm not watching it as you suggested. It comes back on so quickly anyway that there's no reason not to turn it off when we're away.


Thanks,


Runny

 

[leesweet]

Deifnitely... I treat them like the associated TV. Turn both on at the same time, both off at the same time. I've had one lockup with four units in several months, but I don't buffer 13 hours either!


Have a good vacation!

 

[melduforx]

Lee,


I agree 100% with what you said. Turn it on when you use it, turn it off when you're done.