# Pixelation on recorded programs



## ctphoto (Mar 10, 2016)

During playback of recorded programs- I get one or two incidents where the screen pixelizes for a few seconds. No other issues. Happens on all recorded programs. This is a two week old Bolt.


----------



## aspexil (Oct 16, 2015)

Are you OTA or cable? 

We are OTA only and in bad weather can get pixelation. Though we don't get it on every recording on every channel because it only affects the weaker channels.


----------



## ctphoto (Mar 10, 2016)

aspexil said:


> Are you OTA or cable?
> 
> We are OTA only and in bad weather can get pixelation. Though we don't get it on every recording on every channel because it only affects the weaker channels.


Cable


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Perhaps you can find someone on the forum with the same cable feed. That would allow you to compare the bad data. I think the HDD on my Roamio is bad, with only playback being affected. Usually the blocking errors happen a few minutes into a program. Of course, we have different drives. I also have stopped permanently deleting programs, forcing the box to use new locations on the drive. This has really helped while I wait for the chance to swap drives.

Sadly, the only way to verify the issue is your cable feed is to watch the program you are recording. Then play it back and see if an error can be seen. I would suggest CBS or NBC since they have the highest bit rate. A program, like sports, would have a great deal of background noise so you might hear an audio dropout too.

Good luck.


----------



## ctphoto (Mar 10, 2016)

JoeKustra said:


> Perhaps you can find someone on the forum with the same cable feed. That would allow you to compare the bad data. I think the HDD on my Roamio is bad, with only playback being affected. Usually the blocking errors happen a few minutes into a program. Of course, we have different drives. I also have stopped permanently deleting programs, forcing the box to use new locations on the drive. This has really helped while I wait for the chance to swap drives.
> 
> Sadly, the only way to verify the issue is your cable feed is to watch the program you are recording. Then play it back and see if an error can be seen. I would suggest CBS or NBC since they have the highest bit rate.
> 
> Good luck.


I will try that, good idea. Now if it is the HDD stuttering, should I be doing something about it?


----------



## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Does it repeat if you back over the same scenes? If so, its in the recording itself, if not, you have a different issue.


----------



## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

ctphoto said:


> I will try that, good idea. Now if it is the HDD stuttering, should I be doing something about it?


Hell yes. First, check the error counters in TiVo box Diagnostics. They might be working on a Bolt, they don't work on a basic Roamio. If you have errors, call your cable feed. If the RS Corrected/Uncorrected are zero, that means you need to see if the content is coming in bad, or it is playing back bad.

It's my theory that the real time buffers used for each tuner (about 3 hours of HDD space) are static and never move. So even if you are watching a program while recording same, it's not the same logic or disk location.


----------

