[Robert Simandl]

I've recently been having a new problem pop up with my 4160.


After I'm done watching a recorded show and try to go back to live TV, all I get is a blank, black screen. I'll try to pick a channel from the channel guide, but when I select a channel, all I get is black. If I hit the display button while in this state, no channel number appears and the description says simply "no information available." Changing channels, whether by punching in a channel number directly or by using the channel guide, does nothing. Still black. Cycling through the input button doesn't help either. Only difference is with the input button, all three inputs give the BLUE screen with the "no video signal detected" message. Only thing that gets me some actual channels back is the holding-in-the-power-button reboot.


Any ideas on how to fix this? Thanks!

 

[worldofaaron]

Out of curiosity, how full is your hd? My unit (5160) gets pretty unstable when I run it up above 95-97% full. Normally I see stuttering, but very rarely I'll see the same problem you're describing.

 

[Robert Simandl]

Hi Aaron,


It's barely over half full at the moment. 23 hours or so recorded at high quality (out of 43 hours available).


Here's another interesting tidbit. When the 4160 is RECORDING a live show, I can watch it fine and dandy. But the minute recording stops, back to black.


I verified this during 24 tonight. Nothing but black til 7:59 and 57 seconds central time. Suddenly up comes the picture and 24 starts recording. The minute 24 ended, so did my picture. Nothing but black again.

 

[rm -rf *.*]

Out of curiosity, what happens when you use the BYPASS mode? Does the RTV behave as it should, which is to permit you to change/access RF Channels or any given input without buffering the signal to disk?


All I can think of is to "clear channel gude" from the 243-Zones menu. After the RTV reboots you can force a netconnect from the 243-zones menu to re-download the gude data.

 

[Robert Simandl]

Hmmm, interesting idea. What happens when I hit the bypass button is exactly the opposite effect. Suddenly I can watch live TV to my heart's content, but when I try to watch a recorded show, nothing but black.


I've also just noticed all the Shania Twain pictures I've loaded into the Replay as my screen saver have disappeared, and it's gone back to the little R that's floats around the screen.


I think it might be the time to do a 777-zones reset?

 

[rm -rf *.*]

It's possible that the BYPASS mode is actually working correctly, as I don't recall offhand if you are even supposed to be able to use the Replay Guide when in BYPASS mode, since it does just that, a complete and total bypass of the encode/decode to disk - the live TV should be "unbuffered" (no pausing, instant replays, rewinding, etc... ) in other words, all the RTV-4k turns into a cable box with a built-in TV guide.


When not in bypass mode and you get the black screen when trying to tune to a channel, what is the status of the TV/DVR LED on the front pannel? The TV/DVR LED is the one on your far right when looking at the front of the ReplayTV (farthest LED from the power button). Also, what happens when you press the TV/DVR button on the remote?


In a way, it sort of sounds as if the unit has somehow gotten it's tuner modes all discombobulated...


Have you tried unplugging the little sucker and disconnecting all of the wiring for 15-20 minutes, then powering it back up with only the TV connected (connect the rest of the wiring after the unit has fully completed the boot sequence)?


RE: factory reset - Would blasting-off and nuking it from orbit fix the problem your experiencing? I dunno. It might, since it's not a failed tuner as it records fine & BYPASS works fine, it's almost as if the unit has locked itself into the wrong tuner operation mode somehow. I would definately try playing around with the TV/DVR tuner mode-switch in both normal and bypass modes (might even try it when playing back a recorded show just fror grins...) before resorting to a reset. Since it is a 4k, if you haven't already done it, setting up DVArchive and offloading all of your saved shows is a breeze - I'd do that first, then, take it out back and shoot it.

 

[worldofaaron]

I'll bow out gracefully and show my ignorance...I have no idea what your problem is!

 

[rm -rf *.*]

Aaron-


I'd hardly describe your position as ignorant in any way - in fact, your suggestion regarding the hard drive capacity is extremely valid, in my limited experience of owning an RTV-2004, two RTV-4040's and two RTV-5040's (I no longer have the 4k's) every single one of them has gone completely ape when the disk was at or near capacity - I'm pretty sure that it's an across the board problem too.


Your suggestion/question should have hit the nail right on the head, as the 4k was actually the worst one when the disk filled up - it wouldn't display anything when you would tune to "live" TV, no error messages, just a black screen - overall behavior almost identical to what Robert described.


In my opinion, two of the coolest features that were added to the ReplayTV box in the 4k line was the tuner switch and the bypass mode (I liked these much more than IVS), for me, their singular operation/combinations (along with the VGA port) provided a ton of new "stupid home theatre tricks" - but, you had to discover them yourself, and this meant that periodically you might find yourself having about as much control of your RTV as the Doctor did of his TARDIS (if your not a fan of the series - that means: for the most part, none whatso-freaking-ever - it went randomly anywhere EXCEPT where it was programmed to go). As I see it, a serious problem with them was the fact that their documentation is, at best, piss-poor bordering on completely pathetic.


This lack of documentation along with the high number of 4k owners that I've had conversations with that really have no idea what the those two buttons on the remote do makes wonder just how high the number of owners who have never used or even thought about using these features really is. Robert - nothing against you whatsoever with the previous statement - I fault ReplayTV 100% for causing the situation by following brilliant engineering of a complex feature with incipid documentation.


For what it's worth, I miss these features on the 5k's (I might have been the only owner to ever use them...), but considering the afformentioned, it' s not hard to see why they aren't there anymore.


Insightful suggestion - yes. Ignorance - no. Incipid documentation-YES, YES, YES

 

[Robert Simandl]

No offense taken.


Considering I watch the Replay using the S-video output, I *still* haven't really figured out why the bypass button would be used.... if I want to watch something other than what the Replay is recording, I switch the TV to a different input.


And the fact that it's gone all kattywompus this week is another puzzle. I can watch live TV without recording only when in BYPASS mode, but then recordings give me the black screen. In DVR mode, only recordings work, live TV not being recorded is black. I've owned this thing since SonicBlue first introduced it, and never even looked at the bypass button til now.


I've also noticed half my recordings suddenly won't play, nothing but black. I've now deleted them. And my screen saver pictures have disappeared... it's back to the floating "R" again.


I'm now down to seven hours worth of shows on it. I'm going to offload them and do a 777-zones, and see what happens from there.


Thanks for the input!

 

[rm -rf *.*]

Quote:

Originally posted by Robert Simandl I'm now down to seven hours worth of shows on it. I'm going to offload them and do a 777-zones, and see what happens from there.

I think that it's 382-zones on 4k's.


I hope that will take care of the problem for you - please let us know the results.

 

[Robert Simandl]

You're right, it was 382-zones.


I did that and was quite alarmed to get the message "Factory reset FAILED. Press SELECT to reboot and try again."


I hit select and it rebooted. Took forever to come back up, but I got the original quick setup screen. Went through it and it (so far) seems to be working fine now despite the ominous error message above.


I guess the real test will be when/after I record something. I'll do that this weekend and report back.


Thanks!

 

[Robert Simandl]

Well, it's been three days with my factory-defaulted 4160 and not a single problem. Everything once again works like brand new.


Thanks Mr. Ack-Oop-Thippit and WorldofAaron for the input,

 

[rm -rf *.*]

Robert, 'welcome and glad to hear that your 4160's behaving again.


Cheers!