Pixelating, unwatchable recordings

DigiKlutz

New Member
Programmes recorded on my HDR-FOX T2 have become unwatchable due to severe pixelating and picture breakup. The symptoms are similar to a poor signal but the picture is perfectly OK when viewed through both my other Humax, a PVR-9300T, and directly through the TV tuner. Recordings made on the older PVR-9300T are fine.

I have performed a manual retune on the HDR-FOX T2 but it's made no difference. Any ideas as to how I might fix this? Would a reformat be likely to help? (Not tried yet because the wife still has some older, OK recordings to watch!)
 
Programmes recorded on my HDR-FOX T2 have become unwatchable due to severe pixelating and picture breakup.
Is it only recent recordings that suffer breakup? Do older recordings play OK? If you go Menu button> Settings> System>Signal detection what is the signal strength and quality reported by the Humax A) when watching BBC1 and b) when watching ITV1. Then press the right arrow (to the right of the OK button) what is the list of channel numbers? What transmitter are you using or if you don't know then the first part of your post code?
 
Yes, rule out reception problems before moving on to the hardware diagnosis.

When you get pixelation or other picture defects, bring up the information plate ("i-plate") by pressing the i button on the handset. At the lower right of the i-plate there are two meters for signal strength (upper, orange) and quality (lower, green). What do they show? Strength could go down as low as three or four bars without it being a problem, but if it's high at ten bars the signal could be overloading the input. Quality needs to be ten bars.

However, the i-plate isn't the best way to assess signal quality. For a better determination go to Menu >> Settings >> System >> Signal Detection, then cursor right and choose your multiplex channels one by one. For each multiplex, monitor the live strength and quality readings and see if they bounce around or are steady, if steady what their readings are.

Note that the HDMI interface to the TV can radiate interfering signals that obliterate the TV aerial signal. To check whether this is the cause, start a programme recording and then after a few minutes turn the 'Fox to standby. A few minutes later again turn it back on. Run the recording and see whether the problems are recorded, and whether they are still recorded in standby. The results of this will tell us a great deal.

Presuming no signal problems can be found, the hard drive remains a suspect. Live programmes, even if not being recorded, are still dumped to the time shift buffer on disk, and if that particular partition (it is separate from normal recordings) runs into trouble the continual write retries overload the system and can result in picture faults.
 
Is it only recent recordings that suffer breakup? Do older recordings play OK? If you go Menu button> Settings> System>Signal detection what is the signal strength and quality reported by the Humax A) when watching BBC1 and b) when watching ITV1. Then press the right arrow (to the right of the OK button) what is the list of channel numbers? What transmitter are you using or if you don't know then the first part of your post code?

Martin: it's the more recent recordings that are bad. A while ago, it was confined to 'Drama' and 'Dave' but now affects BBC1 and ITV and others. Re. the signal strength, see reply to Black Hole below. I'm on the Sudbury Anglia transmitter.

Yes, rule out reception problems before moving on to the hardware diagnosis.

When you get pixelation or other picture defects, bring up the information plate ("i-plate") by pressing the i button on the handset. At the lower right of the i-plate there are two meters for signal strength (upper, orange) and quality (lower, green). What do they show? Strength could go down as low as three or four bars without it being a problem, but if it's high at ten bars the signal could be overloading the input. Quality needs to be ten bars.
I've tried this. All I see at bottom right is one 'hyphen' of green, then a box with '576i' and two overlapping little circles.

However, the i-plate isn't the best way to assess signal quality. For a better determination go to Menu >> Settings >> System >> Signal Detection, then cursor right and choose your multiplex channels one by one. For each multiplex, monitor the live strength and quality readings and see if they bounce around or are steady, if steady what their readings are.
Yup, done this too. My channels are 44 (76%), 41 (75%), 58 (53%), 60 (47%) and 56 (67%) values are Signal strength, all were 100% 'Quality'. I'm guessing that the channels with the lower Signal percentages are the worst offenders?

Note that the HDMI interface to the TV can radiate interfering signals that obliterate the TV aerial signal. To check whether this is the cause, start a programme recording and then after a few minutes turn the 'Fox to standby. A few minutes later again turn it back on. Run the recording and see whether the problems are recorded, and whether they are still recorded in standby. The results of this will tell us a great deal.
Haven't tried this yet - She Who Must Be Obeyed wants to watch the Olympics!

Presuming no signal problems can be found, the hard drive remains a suspect. Live programmes, even if not being recorded, are still dumped to the time shift buffer on disk, and if that particular partition (it is separate from normal recordings) runs into trouble the continual write retries overload the system and can result in picture faults.
I was assuming that it's not a signal problem because everything is fine through the older PVR-9300T Humax and live through the TV itself.

SWMBO doesn't tolerate unsatisfactory TV kit so I've been instructed to 'just get another one, sharpish' (yes, it's the Olympics imperative!) so a new box is on order. Once that's installed, I'll reformat the HDD on this one and see if that helps. If so, it can be a second backup.

Thanks for your time in responding.
 
I was assuming that it's not a signal problem because everything is fine through the older PVR-9300T Humax and live through the TV itself.
That's an assumption that cannot be substantiated without further investigation. You would, at the very least, need to swap cables around.

Your report of one bar on the i-plate sounds very strange, and needs looking into. HDMI interference is starting to look like a front runner, because when you go to signal detection there is no live video (other than the menu screen).

When you do, don't simply reformat the disk - try repair first.

(PS: SWMBO must think money grows on trees. Is an hour of missed Olympics worth that much? Why can't she watch it live while you have a play via the network??)
 
That's an assumption that cannot be substantiated without further investigation. You would, at the very least, need to swap cables around.
Good point - hadn't thought of that.

Your report of one bar on the i-plate sounds very strange, and needs looking into. HDMI interference is starting to look like a front runner, because when you go to signal detection there is no live video (other than the menu screen).
To be honest, I'm not at all sure what this is supposed to look like. A screen-shot/picture would be helpful, if such a thing is easily to hand.

When you do, don't simply reformat the disk - try repair first. (PS: SWMBO must think money grows on trees. Is an hour of missed Olympics worth that much? Why can't she watch it live while you have a play via the network??)
I agree but it's her money!
 
Oh well, I suppose the "fix little problems by buying a new one" keeps the likes of Humax in business.

Your wish:

image.jpeg

Just as I described it - bottom right of i-plate. This shows 6 bars strength and 10 bars quality (roughly 60% and 100% respectively).
 
Yup, done this too. My channels are 44 (76%), 41 (75%), 58 (53%), 60 (47%) and 56 (67%) values are Signal strength, all were 100% 'Quality'. I'm guessing that the channels with the lower Signal percentages are the worst offenders?
47% signal strength should be more than adequate. We worked without problem for some time with less than 30% signal strength. I agree with Black Hole that you want to eliminate the possibility of interference from HDMI or network cables before considering anything else.
 
........ you want to eliminate the possibility of interference from HDMI or network cables before considering anything else.
As you can tell, I'm a novice at this. Everything had been working fine until a short while ago. Is the HDMI interference possibility something that can emerge slowly, perhaps as a process of degradation over time, or would it require some kind of external change?
 
......................
View attachment 2453
Just as I described it - bottom right of i-plate. This shows 6 bars strength and 10 bars quality (roughly 60% and 100% respectively).
Thanks for the picture. Mine doesn't look that at all. I have the horizontal hyphen to the left of the '576i' but there is no double row of vertical bars at all. But I've got the info via the other method you described, so not to worry.
 
As you can tell, I'm a novice at this. Everything had been working fine until a short while ago. Is the HDMI interference possibility something that can emerge slowly, perhaps as a process of degradation over time, or would it require some kind of external change?
Have you recently changed form using 1080i setting to using the 1080P setting? Using the humax remote's VFORMAT button try switching HDMI format.
 
Thanks for the picture. Mine doesn't look that at all. I have the horizontal hyphen to the left of the '576i' but there is no double row of vertical bars at all. But I've got the info via the other method you described, so not to worry.
Not to worry? If yours doesn't look like the photo (with allowance for different programme icons, according to the current settings etc), you can't be using the kit we think you are.

Any chance of a screen shot?
 
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