# hr10-250 problems (mpeg of my problem included)



## good.deals (Jan 28, 2006)

Hi there everyone. I'm having some problems with my HD DVR.

Sometimes my picture and sound cut-out mid program. The picture actually cuts out sporadically (maybe 3 times an hour) and there is a "hiccup" or stumble in the sound about 5 times an hour. It seems to happen more on the HD channels.

It is not MY equipment as I just got this unit 2 weeks ago and it has been doing it since I purchased it.

I have two other standard boxes in my home and I do not have this sort of problem.

It DOES happen when I rewind and replay.

The unit does not feel hot so I dont think its overheating.

crappy hard drive by a chance?

I do have a video of the problem so you get a better idea of what the problem looks like. Pay close attention to the sound hiccups. The screeching noise at the end of the video is just me pushing the stop button on the camera.

5 meg mpeg: 
http://www.camping.arvixe.com/good-deals/hr10-250.MPG


----------



## MwM (Feb 8, 2006)

Are you using HDMI? I'm having a similiar problem and Panasonic's service folks are telling me it is an issue with the HDMI port on the receiver. DirecTV sent me a new receiver, but the problem presists. Has anyone else heard of problems with the HDMI port on the HR10250?


----------



## good.deals (Jan 28, 2006)

Exactly! That must be it. I'm using the HDMI port. I have a panasonic PT-60 LC14. What model do you have?

This makes sense because when the video cuts out, the audio goes dead and the receiver switches it off temporarily until the video comes back.

I'll hook up my component cables and let you know tomorrow how it works.

If that was the problem I am going to call panasonic and see what they say... My TV is still under warranty as its only 6 months old.

-Nathan


----------



## good.deals (Jan 28, 2006)

If you have an lc14 or similar model it must be the TV. I have not heard of any hdmi problems on the hr10-250 so it must be panasonic.

Too bad it takes 30 minutes to get ahold of anyone when you call panasonic.

-Nathan


----------



## kjohnson913 (Feb 8, 2006)

I have the same problems...screen goes blank, sometimes viewing live TV and sometimes viewing recorded programs. At first I turned off the Dolby Digital and that seemed to help a lot. When the interuptions happen over and over, I reset the Tivo and that helps for a while.

I'm starting to buy into the HDMI potential cause. Since I started reading this and other boards, I am reminded that my TV is acting odd in other ways also that point to a Video I/O issue. Sometimes my screen goes blank for a long time and sometimes the TV seems to turn off and has to be reset. All of these issues are since my "upgrade" to the HD unit. I have a Sony Grand Wega and I thought the lamps were going bad, but now that I read all these posts, I wonder if the issue is the HDMI. It is still better than regular TV, but sure is annoying sometimes. I'm going to try going back to component video cables and see if that helps.

Does anyone know of a way to upgrade the unit with more memory or something? The slow menu is really starting to drive me crazy and not only the menu but the amount of time to request a recording and/or season pass is just obscene sometimes...as much as 4 minutes.


----------



## good.deals (Jan 28, 2006)

kjohnson913 said:


> Does anyone know of a way to upgrade the unit with more memory or something? The slow menu is really starting to drive me crazy and not only the menu but the amount of time to request a recording and/or season pass is just obscene sometimes...as much as 4 minutes.


The menu problems are supposed to be fixed with the hr20-250 ($45 trade-in with dtv)

I am also aggrivated by that.

I just hooked up my component cables and havent had any problems (for the past 45 minutes)

I think I had an audio hiccup earlier but I'm not sure... either way... my problems must have been hdmi whether it be my tv or my hr10.

I'll keep you posted as to whether the video problems totally subsided and how my audio is doing.

-Nathan


----------



## kjohnson913 (Feb 8, 2006)

Switched to component video cables and the problem has not reappeared, although talked to DirecTV today, they say they fixed the HDMI problem in their last software update anyway. I still replaced the cable since I was using the crappy cable that came with the Tivo anyway.

They also told me that their new system, the HR 20-250 is scheduled to be out in April. Should be a free upgrade including a 5 LNB dish with free install. Seemed to be unclear about who will get for free, but the rep I spoke with said basically if you *****, you'll get it free. Also, local HD channels for my area (Sac, CA) will be avail at the same time...hence the 2 extra LNBs needed. This will be awesome since I live in the mountains and can't get OTA chaneels. I do get the west coast feeds for major networks, but I am sick of watching the news in LA. 

DirecTV mentioned that they are having issues getting the new dishes to point properly so I won't be surprised if the date slips. No mention that the menu speed would be improved with the new system. They also said that they added TNT HD today, channel 75, although last I looked, I still couldn't get it.


----------



## good.deals (Jan 28, 2006)

kjohnson913 said:


> Switched to component video cables and the problem has not reappeared, although talked to DirecTV today, they say they fixed the HDMI problem in their last software update anyway. I still replaced the cable since I was using the crappy cable that came with the Tivo anyway.
> 
> They also told me that their new system, the HR 20-250 is scheduled to be out in April. Should be a free upgrade including a 5 LNB dish with free install. Seemed to be unclear about who will get for free, but the rep I spoke with said basically if you *****, you'll get it free. Also, local HD channels for my area (Sac, CA) will be avail at the same time...hence the 2 extra LNBs needed. This will be awesome since I live in the mountains and can't get OTA chaneels. I do get the west coast feeds for major networks, but I am sick of watching the news in LA.


I switched to component this morning but I'm still getting the same problems, although at only happens half as much. Iguess I'm okay with it for now as it really doesnt interrupt my viewing pleasure too much.

They'll hear it from me if they try to charge me to upgrade.. I just spent $400 for my hr10 and I expect flawless service.

I'm thinking of going OTA for my locals (even though I get them from dtv) but I'll wait to see what the mpeg4 compression does to the picture quality.


----------



## Wirelezz (Jan 27, 2006)

OK, same damn problem - HDMI connected to a Panasonic TH-42PHD8UK (42" Plasma). I have a different take on this. I just activated my HR10-250 about 10 days ago. I purchased it from Newegg and initially hooked it up to my existing dual channel single LNB dish while waiting for my Phase III dish to arrive. I live in the mountains of Colorado and have west coast HD waivers and I was able to receive CBS HD CH 81 with the existing single LNB dish (CH 81 is currently broadcasting from the 101 satellite). For the last week I have recorded and viewed several HD broadcasts from CH81 with absolutely no problems, that is until now. Yesterday my new triple LNB Phase III dish arrived and after installing/aligning it with a resulting signal strength in the mid 90's on all three Sats I'm thinking great, everything is OK fine. So last night as a test I recorded back to back episodes of "Survivor", "CSI", and "Without a Trace" (all on CH81).

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT!! Every 10 min like clockwork for a total of 5 times on each one of these shows the picture totally blacked out for approximately 1-2 seconds, and the audio blanked out also. As I already mentioned the video is routed to my Panny Plasma via the HDMI cable and the audio is fed to my AV receiver from the optical audio output connection on the HR10 for surround sound. If I fast forward or reverse through the blacked out section of the recording the progress timeline bar at the bottom of the screen disappears as well. This to me surely indicates a total interruption of the video & audio feed from the HR10.

Maybe this is just coincidental, but I did not have this problem until I installed the Phase III dish. I'm wondering if this is somehow related to the built in multiswitch? I also noticed an immediate slowdown in the program guide and other menu functions on the HR10 after hooking up to the Phase III dish. I called D* tech support and got the usual canned responses (no help at all). What a drag this is going to be watching the Winter Olympics in HiDef with this annoyance occurring every 10 minutes!  :down:


----------



## kjohnson913 (Feb 8, 2006)

last night on CBS, Survivor, CSI and Without a Trace. The problems didn't happen on ER....so maybe you are on to something. I also have the triple LNB dish with strong sat signal(90+) and get my networks via the West Coast feeds. Last night was pretty bad, much worse than normal.

Everytime the screen went blank, I noticed my AV receiver (NAD T773) switching from Dolby Digital to Dolby PL, so it's not just a video problem and clearly, now that I have switched to component video, it is not an HDMI problem either.

I am going to switch out the D* HR10-250 receiver with a new one from D*, but I don't think this will eliminate the problem.


----------



## Wirelezz (Jan 27, 2006)

Update: Last night's Olympic's opening ceremonies on CH83 NBCW - while much better than Thursday night's terrible reception, I'm still seeing the periodic "black out" phenomena. I called D* tech support @ 866-678-6664 (direct line, no menu's to navigate through) and was very surprised to hear that they haven't heard any reports on this problem (it would be helpful if other's experiencing this would call to complain so D* could log this).

This "blackout" problem is also being discussed at the PVR forum: 
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=283209



kjohnson913 said:


> Everytime the screen went blank, I noticed my AV receiver (NAD T773) switching from Dolby Digital to Dolby PL, so it's not just a video problem and clearly, now that I have switched to component video, it is not an HDMI problem either.
> 
> I am going to switch out the D* HR10-250 receiver with a new one from D*, but I don't think this will eliminate the problem.


I see the same thing with my AV receiver (Rotel RSX-965), switches from Dolby Digital to Pro Logic and back every time the screen blacks out. At this point I don't think this is an HDMI problem either...


----------



## kjohnson913 (Feb 8, 2006)

I saw the same problems on the Olympics. Tonight too. But not on my other HD receiver...never a problem with blackouts. Doesn't that rule out the network feed or my multiswitch on the dish?

I have complained to DirecTV several times. They are sending a tech tomorrow, but I can't see him/her resolving anything without a new receiver and for whatever reason the local company says they aren't allowed to bring such an expensive receiver...I have to get it directly from D*.

My biggest fear is that the problem is a design problem not specific to my receiver since so many are complaining.


----------



## MwM (Feb 8, 2006)

Wirelezz said:


> Update:..........was very surprised to hear that they haven't heard any reports on this problem (it would be helpful if other's experiencing this would call to complain so D* could log this).
> 
> That is interesting seeing as last Wednesday I was told by D* that they were aware of the issue and, "Just need a couple more days" to resolve it. Olympics last (Sat.) night were terrible in HD here because of the problem.


----------



## ebonovic (Jul 24, 2001)

good.deals said:


> The menu problems are supposed to be fixed with the hr20-250 ($45 trade-in with dtv)
> 
> I am also aggrivated by that.
> 
> ...


The HR20 is not available yet... and it is not a TiVo either...


----------



## Guindalf (Jun 13, 2001)

MwM said:


> Wirelezz said:
> 
> 
> > Update:..........was very surprised to hear that they haven't heard any reports on this problem (it would be helpful if other's experiencing this would call to complain so D* could log this).
> ...


----------



## LlamaLarry (Apr 30, 2003)

Guindalf said:


> Last night was not necessarily an HDMI problem. My wife was watching the Olympics in SD (we don't have HD locals here - no OTA) and came in to me complaining of the picture blacking out and being virtually unwatchable. I think it was the satellite link from NBC. The commercials were virtually perfect in contrast.


I had this same problem last night and blamed it on the weather (HD OTA here), but glad to see that it was likely the NBC feed.


----------



## poopsie (Dec 28, 2003)

I had the same problems as everyone else with my samsung 50 inch DLP. The bulb went out so I took it back and got a Mitsu 52 inch and the problem has not happened since. It is with the TV, just certain brands do it though. My buddy has a Sony DLP and doesn't have any problems. He brought his over and we tried it on my Samsung, and it did the same thing.


----------



## Wirelezz (Jan 27, 2006)

Guindalf said:


> Wirelezz said:
> 
> 
> > Update:..........was very surprised to hear that they haven't heard any reports on this problem (it would be helpful if other's experiencing this would call to complain so D* could log this).
> ...


----------



## kjohnson913 (Feb 8, 2006)

an HDMI problem. I eliminated that early on by switching back to component video cables. So far the Olympics broadcast has been riddled with these blackouts. It would be interesting to know if the blackouts are happening in different households with the HR 10 at the same exact place. Anyone want to anal and do D*'s work for them and analyze this?

Does anyone know? I have a SOny HD receiver (non-dvr) on another TV. I never get these blackouts on it. Is there a difference in the way it handles the video feed besides the obvious recording? Does it use MPEG2 also or does it not compress since it doesn't record?


----------



## ydtrack (Feb 14, 2006)

I have been having the same problems with the HR10-250 connected to a Sony E50A10 via HDMI. 

I called DirecTV and they are sending me a new receiver so we will see what happens.


----------



## kjohnson913 (Feb 8, 2006)

have resolved the problems with the blackouts. On Sunday, a tech from D* came and replaced the triple LNB/multiswitch on my Phase III dish and the connectors to each of the lines. Since then, I have only seen a couple of very minor glitches, but nothing compared to what I had been seeing.

I am curious if anyone alse that has been experiencing periodic 1 - 5 sec blackouts on the Network feeds has seen an improvement in the past few days.


----------



## cat1v (Feb 16, 2006)

I have a 10-250 connected to Panny 50PHDuk with the optional HDMI module and the first 10-250 D* sent had a bad HDMI output, no audio or video. D* replaced with refurbished 10-250, say they have no new ones, HDMI works fine with this receiver.


----------



## fredandbetty (Feb 27, 2006)

kjohnson913 said:


> last night on CBS, Survivor, CSI and Without a Trace. The problems didn't happen on ER....so maybe you are on to something. I also have the triple LNB dish with strong sat signal(90+) and get my networks via the West Coast feeds. Last night was pretty bad, much worse than normal.
> 
> Everytime the screen went blank, I noticed my AV receiver (NAD T773) switching from Dolby Digital to Dolby PL, so it's not just a video problem and clearly, now that I have switched to component video, it is not an HDMI problem either.
> 
> I am going to switch out the D* HR10-250 receiver with a new one from D*, but I don't think this will eliminate the problem.


so now its becoming more and more apparent in our hughes tivo receiver in what seems to be only on cbs stations, i am going to start with a cache clearing and if that doesn't work- GASP_ i need to get all of my '24' and 'Grey's Anatomy' episodes off of here and maybe to dvd....have a video card but haven't pulled the case out to see what i need to hook up to get them off there... oh heck, i know the answer's here, and i will look for it...

but the dang skipping is getting to be a real pain!!! Grrr!!!


----------

