[GiGaBlue QUAD] [NOT QUAD+] recording problem

[Ojustaboo]

Box was working fine on 24 (although I could only select 1080i, didn't' have the option for 1080p, but 1080p worked fine in the previous version)

have recorded tons in the past couple of weeks, all fine.


Had trouble initially flashing 26, tried 25 same thing, it would flash but not reboot.

Read this thread http://www.world-of-satellite.com/showthread.php?40050-Apollo-025-Reflash-Stuck-with-red-light

Reflashed 24, then deleted backups in case they were causing a problem (meant to delete them first, wasn't going to try to use them), same thing happened.

Downloaded and flashed new bootloader as per that thread, then flashed 26 and it worked fine.

Exactly the same settings set as before (took jpegs of them all first) with the exception of me now being able to correctly set 1080p

Recorded British Bakeoff from BBCHD, on playing back, it plays for a while, could be 10 mins, then get pixleated screen, or it pauses for anything from 5 to 20 secs. then it might be fine for another 3 mins, then the same, things happen. It makes watching it virtually unwatchable.

Any ideas please?

EDIT: Just recorded about 5 mins of Indiana Jones from BBC 3 HD, same things happening.

EDIT1: Just rebooted the box and played a bit of the bakeoff that paused and pixleated before and it's playing fine, so it's not a bad recording

Thanks

 

[Ojustaboo]

Just tried recording a further 5 mins, 30 seconds after starting playback, the box rebooted.

Will enable crashlogs and see what info I can gather

 

[judge]

Will enable crashlogs and see what info I can gather

crashlogs are enabled by default, no harm in enabling debuglogs though.
Have a look in /home/root/logs/ & upload one here.

 

[Ojustaboo]

Hmm, it didn't create one,(I enabled debug logs though) box just rebooted again by its self as I'm typing, will see if it does this time.

Yep, it's created a debug log but no crash log, attached

I noticed when it first happened I didn't have swap enabled, so I enabled it. I then copied across messages and messages0 (now attached)

However, since it's started rebooting, I haven't had a pause or pixleated, just reboots hence cant get latest messages.

 

[Ojustaboo]

I've been playing.

Took HD out of quad and tried to mount it under linux Partition magic but it refused.

Found the following

http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/

which from win8 let me access it fine and back up all my stuff in the movies section to my PC

Went back into linux and formatted the drive to ext4

Put it all back together again (checked all cables, tuner seated properly) and reflashed

Have run a few tests, recorded BBCHD for 15 mins, played it back and zero problems

Got nothing planned to record today, will find out over the weekend if it is fixed or not.

 

[Joe_90]

I've had similar issues over the past week on my Quad Plus. Had tested the upgraded 024 image (with OE2.3 before it was released as 025), then 025 with new bootloader and now 026. Somewhere during the week I started getting exactly what you have described - the playback of a recorded programme will pause, pixellate, then continue after 2/3 seconds. I suspected signal problems at first as I'm getting very odd SNR readings, but when I play back the recording in the same section it will usually play perfectly, so no signal glitch during recording apparently. It's not a disk issue as I would be getting retries of bad sectors. To me it looks exactly like marginal signal strength/quality, except I have absolutely no issues with live TV viewing. I wonder if it's a driver issue as they have been updated recently. I did report this as feedback on the testing of the OE2.3 based image 024, but I didn't see anyone else reporting a problem so I assumed it was local to me. I have debug logs turned on but they are not being retained as I usually put my box into deep standby and on re-boot the logs get a date of 1/1/70 and are deleted on the next boot by the housekeeping which doesn't allow log retention more than 30 days old (but that's another issue!).
The odd SNR I referred to above occurs on the BBCs/ITVs/CH4s which are on the Astra E sat. I see SNR readings of 1% or 2% or in some cases fluctuating between 2% and 80%, so I don't know whats going on. My SKY fixed dish is slightly favouring the 28.5 position so the transponders on Eutelsat come in at a steady 80% SNR, so I probably need to nudge the dish a bit west, but the tuner behaviour is odd. I suspect it's some oddity in E2 reading the SNR as I have a similar issue with SNR readings on my Miraclebox which is on my motorised dish - the SNR will fluctuate wildly at some point and then if I move the dish a fraction of a degree I will get 100% SNR. Most peculiar - never saw that before with my previous sat receivers - they would gradually lose signal strength and quality as you moved the dish across the focus on a sat.


edit - I just played back a recording which was "glitching" at intervals last night as we were watching it. Played perfectly just now, not a single interruption. These problems are all with free-to-air recordings. I do have CCcam 2.3.0 installed from the feeds, but I only use a card in the machine once or twice a week to record music programmes from SKY Arts. 99% of my viewing/recording is FTA stuff.

 

[billy2222]

You both have described what is happening with my TM Nano when upgrading to Apollo,the recordings are badly pixelated and freezing but when rewound back to the pixalated part it will be fine,had to go back to Helios where they work perfectly.
Might be worth me reformatting my internal hard drive after upgrading to Apollo?

 

[Joe_90]

You both have described what is happening with my TM Nano when upgrading to Apollo,the recordings are badly pixelated and freezing but when rewound back to the pixalated part it will be fine,had to go back to Helios where they work perfectly.
Might be worth me reformatting my internal hard drive after upgrading to Apollo?

I saw your post in another thread, but thought it might be down to TM drivers, so I didn't reply. If it were me I wouldn't be re-formatting my hard drive unless there was serious reasons to do so. The problem is not really indicative of a drive issue unless you can replicate the problem at the same point in the recording. To me, it's like an MPEG decoding issue, where the hardware is not properly constructing the video image from the data. Maybe an ffmpeg library issue or some proprietary driver interface problem?

 

[Ojustaboo]

I reformatted out of frustration to make sure I had a completely clean start, as I thought it was just me that was having the problem on the quad.

I did notice very very occasionally on 024, the odd flash of pixelisation on recordings but we had some really bad rain recently and I put it down to that, there weren't any pauses so I never thought to rewind and see if it played fine.

I have a motorised dish but while set up using long/lat, uuals, I'm only currently using Freesat UK and have no cards in it at all.

 

[Ojustaboo]

Had receiver on all day watching both live TV and various MKV files I copied across from PC, 100% fine.

Recorded Eggheads tonight, tried to play it and the box rebooted, no crash logs.

Tried again and it played for about 30 seconds then box rebooted.

When it reboots, everything goes blank, led, display, looks like power is pulled, then goes through normal bootup.

Going back to 24 for now.

 

[Joe_90]

I recorded a movie on Wednesday night and other stuff yesterday. All played back fine. I'm stumped as to the reason for the playback issues - seems to be random. Let us know if reverting to 024 results in stability!

 

[Ojustaboo]

Very weird, box was 100% fine until I upgraded from 24 to 26.

Gone back to 24, started a recording to test, watched live TV while it was recording and 2 mins later, box rebooted.

Only thing I've got different is the bootloader that I changed to get 26 to install properly.

Edit: gone back to Helios 15, still reboots with no warning while doing a recording.

I've only tried HD recordings, later I'll have a go with SD (not that it could make any difference?)

I know crap happens, I just find it hard to believe it all worked 100% fine before I updated to 26, and as soon as it updated, I have a hw prob?

 

[Joe_90]

I've never had an issue either until 025. I am not experiencing any issues at the moment but I think I will try to eliminate any dish issues over the next day or so as I'm getting some weird SNR values.

 

[Ojustaboo]

hmm, getting stranger. Watching an MKV I copied over from PC and it's rebooted (wasn't recording anything).

Was watching them all day with zero problem until I tried recording eggheads at 6pm?????

Live TV if I'm not recording is 100% fine at the moment which leads me to suspect a HD problem?

Still not creating crashlogs when it reboots either

 

[Joe_90]

Are your temperature readings ok when you display box info? I'll see if I can find out if there were driver changes, but this shouldn't affect you if you have reverted to an older build.

 

[Ojustaboo]

hmm, doesn't show them under Helios, might reflash to 26 and look there

 

[Ojustaboo]

It's my temp that's the problem. Gone back to Apollo 26

With nothing recording, it's at a steady 89C (is that too high, seems it to me) I've checked again after 10 mins and it's still 89C

If I record something over a period of a few mins, it gradually creeps up to 100 and reboots (well I see it get as far as 99C)

After a reboot it's at 92C and if I don't record anything after 10 mins it's dropped back down to 89

So is it the box at fault, is 89 way too high? Or is the HD causing it to get too hot?

When I took the HD out to reformat it under linux, the inside was totally clean, no dust

Oh, it's in an open display cabinet with nothing near it, air to all sides

 

[Ojustaboo]

pic of my box in it's surroundings

 

[Joe_90]

You have a similar setup to mine in that the boxes are on separate glass shelves, so your environment looks good. To my mind, 90C is too hot for a device that is idling. If you reach temperatures of 100C usually processors will switch themselves off to protect themselves from thermal overload - that is in the PC world. I believe I have seen pheonix reporting very high temperatures on his Quad also. I have never got my Quad+ over a reported 46C with all four tuners actively recording to an internal 2.5" HDD. The case is only moderately warm over the tuner area and directly above the HDD.

 

[Ojustaboo]

Right, I've removed the hd completely from the quad and connected it via esata

When I first turned the quad on it was around 57C but was gradually rising and soon hit 80 (and rising)

I recorded 2 channels while watching a 3rd, just managed to get a screenshot before it rebooted.



That's ruled out heat from the HD, so there must be a problem with the box.

Totally clean inside, no holes blocked etc. There doesn't look like there''s any user serviceable parts (not like a PC where I can re thermal paste the heatsink on the CPU)