# Messed up recordings on Bolt



## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

So I recently picked up a Bolt and put a 3TB Toshiba drive in it and after the fight with Comcast to get the CableCard to work, it was up and running. But for the last week or so the recordings are all screwed up. For example, last night it recorded Street Outlaws on Discovery Channel. The show kept pausing, breaking up pausing and so on. Live it was fine. It also recorded on my old Premier. I ended having to watch it from that Tivo. My signal shows 90+ so it's not bad signal, maybe it's too "hot" for this bolt and it's flaking out? The old Tivo recorded here just fine and so did this one for a week or so.

I did notice that my box has software version 27.7.1.RC2 on it. Maybe that's the culprit? All I know is that it's getting frustrating. It also seems to happen on random channels. Some record perfectly fine, like Black Sails did the other night, but last night everything was junk.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

imrf said:


> So I recently picked up a Bolt and put a 3TB Toshiba drive in it and after the fight with Comcast to get the CableCard to work, it was up and running. But for the last week or so the recordings are all screwed up. For example, last night it recorded Street Outlaws on Discovery Channel. The show kept pausing, breaking up pausing and so on. Live it was fine. It also recorded on my old Premier. I ended having to watch it from that Tivo. My signal shows 90+ so it's not bad signal, maybe it's too "hot" for this bolt and it's flaking out? The old Tivo recorded here just fine and so did this one for a week or so.
> 
> I did notice that my box has software version 27.7.1.RC2 on it. Maybe that's the culprit? All I know is that it's getting frustrating. It also seems to happen on random channels. Some record perfectly fine, like Black Sails did the other night, but last night everything was junk.


Assuming it's not a Bolt+, add some attenuation (like a splitter). 90+ is not as good as 90% with a 36dB SNR. No reason to blame the drive or cable card. Yet.


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

JoeKustra said:


> Assuming it's not a Bolt+, add some attenuation (like a splitter). 90+ is not as good as 90% with a 36dB SNR. No reason to blame the drive or cable card. Yet.


Just a regular Bolt. And oddly enough it's on the 7db leg of a 3 way already! I need to get rid of it as 1 of the 3 legs isn't being used, and that will just raise the signal more. I'll have to see if I still have any attenuation pads. I used to work for Comcast and had a ton of them, but I think I got rid of them all. It's in the 90 range, I just don't remember off the top of my head. The signal is strong where I'm at. Thanks for the reply and suggestion.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

imrf said:


> Just a regular Bolt. And oddly enough it's on the 7db leg of a 3 way already! I need to get rid of it as 1 of the 3 legs isn't being used, and that will just raise the signal more. I'll have to see if I still have any attenuation pads. I used to work for Comcast and had a ton of them, but I think I got rid of them all. It's in the 90 range, I just don't remember off the top of my head. The signal is strong where I'm at. Thanks for the reply and suggestion.


Good move. Also, your Bolt, like my Roamio, does not count RS Corrected errors. It does count RS Uncorrected.


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

JoeKustra said:


> Good move. Also, your Bolt, like my Roamio, does not count RS Corrected errors. It does count RS Uncorrected.


So I looked at my box info tonight. Signal Strength is 92%, SNR is 37dBn RS Uncorrected is 0 and RS corrected is 0 as well.

From what I've seen in a few threads here, my SNR is a bit too high for the box and needs to be padded down.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

imrf said:


> So I looked at my box info tonight. Signal Strength is 92%, SNR is 37dBn RS Uncorrected is 0 and RS corrected is 0 as well.
> 
> From what I've seen in a few threads here, my SNR is a bit too high for the box and needs to be padded down.


If you get your signal to 90% the SNR will drop to 36dB. Drop it to 87% and SNR will drop to 35dB.


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

JoeKustra said:


> If you get your signal to 90% the SNR will drop to 36dB. Drop it to 87% and SNR will drop to 35dB.


Ok, Thank you. What's the optimal SNR for these Bolts? I have a 6db, 8db and 12db attenuation pad on their way so it'll come down for sure. Do you think it would resolve the issue I'm seeing with recordings? And why is it just recordings having this issue? I watch these channels live and don't have any issues at all.


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## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

Generally, the Bolt never shows a signal strength over 72% due to the AGC circuit, so that may be the indication that your box is bad.

It never hurts to change the cables as part of the troubleshooting - they do occasionally go bad, and even just removing/reattaching them can clear up a bad connection sometimes. Since you do have another TiVo that is working fine, the best test would simply be to swap them for a while without making any other changes.


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

V7Goose said:


> Generally, the Bolt never shows a signal strength over 72% due to the AGC circuit, so that may be the indication that your box is bad.
> 
> It never hurts to change the cables as part of the troubleshooting - they do occasionally go bad, and even just removing/reattaching them can clear up a bad connection sometimes. Since you do have another TiVo that is working fine, the best test would simply be to swap them for a while without making any other changes.


The old Tivo box was in the place the Bolt was a month ago and worked fine. The Bolt was recording fine when it was first put into service and was so for the year prior for the previous owner. That is what is the most baffling part.

But, as I replied to in a different thread, this all seemed to start with my Bolt received the 27.7.1 update....


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## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

imrf said:


> The old Tivo box was in the place the Bolt was a month ago and worked fine. The Bolt was recording fine when it was first put into service and was so for the year prior for the previous owner. That is what is the most baffling part.
> 
> But, as I replied to in a different thread, this all seemed to start with my Bolt received the 27.7.1 update....


What worked a month ago (or even a few days ago) is almost totally meaningless until you actually rule out other external factors. If you swap the boxes NOW, and the problem follows the Bolt, then you can be positive that the problem is not caused by some external factor. It is a simple test; why would you not want to do it? Effective troubleshooting requires specific tests to eliminate possibilities, not guessing.


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

V7Goose said:


> What worked a month ago (or even a few days ago) is almost totally meaningless until you actually rule out other external factors.


Swapping around isn't something I plan on doing, too much of a hassle. Wiring isn't going to go bad just sitting for a month, especially since it was working fine with the Bolt for a month already. I'll wait for the attenuation pads to come in and drop the signal down first as it seems to hot for the Bolts.


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## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

OK, my bad; I made the stupid assumption from your OP that you were actually interested in figuring out what was wrong. I'll back off. Sorry.


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

V7Goose said:


> OK, my bad; I made the stupid assumption from your OP that you were actually interested in figuring out what was wrong. I'll back off. Sorry.


Being condescending isn't helping. I guess you must not have read more than the original post as you would have seen that I'm not a general schmuck that doesn't know anything. I worked for a cable company for over 10 years. I know how to make my own coax lines and have all the tools to make coax lines with compression fittings. I know how to troubleshoot wiring issues, and this isn't an internal wiring issue. But yeah, cool, thanks for stopping by.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

V7Goose said:


> Generally, the Bolt never shows a signal strength over 72% due to the AGC circuit, so that may be the indication that your box is bad.


That true for OTA Bolt or basic/OTA Roamio. Since post 1 indicated Comcast, I assumed the OP is on cable.


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

JoeKustra said:


> That true for OTA Bolt or basic/OTA Roamio. Since post 1 indicated Comcast, I assumed the OP is on cable.


That is correct. I have Comcast.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

imrf said:


> That is correct. I have Comcast.


I know. I have no idea why recordings are having a problem since the hard drive is used for watching real time TV. Hit the Pause button and the box will keep buffering up to 30 minutes. When you release Pause, you will be watching a recording. Since you mention it, that would be a good test. I should say that the buffer area is static. When you start with a blank drive you will see 3 hours of space used. That's two hours of buffering plus some slack. You can buffer over thirty minutes, but that's bit rate dependent.

Try this. Watch a program for at least thirty minutes. Then hit the red Record button. Answer that you want to record this program. When it's over, watch the playback for errors.


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

JoeKustra said:


> I know. I have no idea why recordings are having a problem since the hard drive is used for watching real time TV. Hit the Pause button and the box will keep buffering up to 30 minutes. When you release Pause, you will be watching a recording. Since you mention it, that would be a good test. I should say that the buffer area is static. When you start with a blank drive you will see 3 hours of space used. That's two hours of buffering plus some slack. You can buffer over thirty minutes, but that's bit rate dependent.
> 
> Try this. Watch a program for at least thirty minutes. Then hit the red Record button. Answer that you want to record this program. When it's over, watch the playback for errors.


Ok, I'll try to give that a test tonight on one of the channels that I commonly record from.


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

JoeKustra said:


> If you get your signal to 90% the SNR will drop to 36dB. Drop it to 87% and SNR will drop to 35dB.


Well I got my attenuation pads today and tried the 6db one and it didn't do much so I put the 12db one on and Gold Rush was all messed up. So right now I have the 12gb and 6db stacked and it's down to 85% and 34db for the SNR. I'll try to record something else again tonight on Discovery and see what happens. I think a wipe and redo of the TIvo might be in order. This is getting frustrating.


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## delgadobb (Mar 6, 2004)

imrf said:


> Being condescending isn't helping. I guess you must not have read more than the original post as you would have seen that I'm not a general schmuck that doesn't know anything. I worked for a cable company for over 10 years. I know how to make my own coax lines and have all the tools to make coax lines with compression fittings. I know how to troubleshoot wiring issues, and this isn't an internal wiring issue. But yeah, cool, thanks for stopping by.


Perhaps the sarcasm isn't helping, but is this response?

As a 3rd party, I see both sides of that situation. Could he have handled it differently? Sure. That said, here's a basic synopsis: 
1) You asked for help 
2) V7Goose took the time to formulate a logical, sensible response based on his experience 
3) You thumbed your nose at his response - isn't that at least a LITTLE disrespectful of him taking the time & energy to respond? I may not always agree with what others have to say on TCF; that said, I am greatly appreciative that so many sharp minds are willing to offer help & support - that's some of what makes this place great.

Troubleshooting 101 is all about eliminating variables to narrow down the potential problem. Swapping boxes would be a straightforward way to move towards that end.

I used to manage large computer networks for years. The biggest source of problems? Cables. More often than not, network troubleshooting would lead to a cable that all of a sudden had developed a fault. More so than networking problems at the desktop or other pieces of equipment. Switches & routers gave us far fewer headaches than cables.

Good luck with your situation, regardless.


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

So I did another experiment today. Watched a Dirty Jobs episode on Discovery HD and recorded it at the same time. The Live was perfect with no glitches at all. Later watched the recording and it was fine until the first commercial break, hit the 30 second skip a few times to skip commercials and it started to burn through them fast, then the last one glitches and pixelated, then from there on the actual show was screwed up. Skipping, pixelating, pausing, audio dropping out.

Earlier in the day I called Tivo and she had me force connect to Tivo twice then re-run the guided setup, said it would fix it, of course it didn't. I"m wondering if at this point I should have the Tivo wipe itself out and start from scratch again. It would be nice to be able to revert back to a previous OS to see if that would solve things...


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## compnurd (Oct 6, 2011)

If you have the old drive still put it back in and see if it stops. If it does you may have a bad hd


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

compnurd said:


> If you have the old drive still put it back in and see if it stops. If it does you may have a bad hd


 I have it and I could, though drive swapping in the Bolts sucks.

I did just watch a recording from 2/25 that played flawless. I would think if the drive has issues that wouldn't play well either. I just don't want to believe this 3TB Toshiba is bad. lol


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Didn't you test the hard drive before installing it?


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

aaronwt said:


> Didn't you test the hard drive before installing it?


Yep, it was fine and recorded without issues for a month.


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

compnurd said:


> If you have the old drive still put it back in and see if it stops. If it does you may have a bad hd


Well, I sucked it up and yep, drive is bad.

Turns out the issue with mine is the Toshiba 3TB drive in it. Put the factory one back in and no issues at all.

Also I found a tidbit of info. Toshiba does not replace defective drives any more. They will only provide a cash card for the price of the drive, 4 to 6 weeks after sending it back. Looks like we need to find a different drive that'll work with these Bolts as the warranty procedure is ridiculous


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

imrf said:


> Well, I sucked it up and yep, drive is bad.
> 
> Turns out the issue with mine is the Toshiba 3TB drive in it. Put the factory one back in and no issues at all.
> 
> Also I found a tidbit of info. Toshiba does not replace defective drives any more. They will only provide a cash card for the price of the drive, 4 to 6 weeks after sending it back. Looks like we need to find a different drive that'll work with these Bolts as the warranty procedure is ridiculous


 WOw!! That is surprising that they don't replace the drives. Although I guess if you can at least get full reimbursement of the cost of the drive it's not too bad of a deal. But 4 to 6 weeks for a cash card?!?! Replacement drives from Seagate or Western Digital have taken less than half that time to arrive to me in the past.(including the time of shipping the defective drive to them)


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

imrf said:


> Well, I sucked it up and yep, drive is bad.
> 
> Turns out the issue with mine is the Toshiba 3TB drive in it. Put the factory one back in and no issues at all


Did you try running the manufacturer's tests on it too?

Scott


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

HerronScott said:


> Did you try running the manufacturer's tests on it too?
> 
> Scott


Toshiba does not have any. I used the HGST tool that many suggest and it failed the extended SMART read tests.

But in all reality, I don't need to test it. The proof is 3 other drives worked fine for playing back recordings, while this one did not. I used the factory one and a random WD Black 750GB drive laying around and a 500GB WD blue 2.5" drive.


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

aaronwt said:


> WOw!! That is surprising that they don't replace the drives. Although I guess if you can at least get full reimbursement of the cost of the drive it's not too bad of a deal. But 4 to 6 weeks for a cash card?!?! Replacement drives from Seagate or Western Digital have taken less than half that time to arrive to me in the past.(including the time of shipping the defective drive to them)


I totally agree. I'm not going to wait 4 or more weeks for a cash card. I'll push buttons with the company I bought it from and get it replaced. For WD and Seagate, I usually get replacement drives cross shipped to me.

I've never had any issues with the handful of Toshiba drives in the past, but this will be my last. The no replacement, cash card only policy is stupid and I will not go through it.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

imrf said:


> Toshiba does not have any. I used the HGST tool that many suggest and it failed the extended SMART read tests.


If it failed the SMART tests, then it had already flagged issues.

Scott


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## imrf (Apr 18, 2014)

HerronScott said:


> If it failed the SMART tests, then it had already flagged issues.
> 
> Scott


Right. After a month or so it developed issues and the test confirmed it.


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