TiVo Community Forums Archives - Stopple causes revisited (recap)

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Stopple causes revisited (recap)
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Posted by: ncsercs

I know this had been discussed to death, but..........

What was determined as to the cause of "stopples"?

Hard drives?

Type of unit?

Stand alone units only?

Combo units only?

Very curious..........

Posted by: Want1394

The direct "cause" is failure to keep a steady flow of compressed bits to the decoder. The reasons behind that are numerous, but the most common is the playout software not able to get data off the disk in a timely manner, usually due to drive errors and retry or even recalibration taking place in the disk drive. Sometimes either the drive itself or Tivo software successfully maps out bad blocks on the drive and the problem disappears. Sometimes it also happens when Tivo is very busy doing other things that have the disk busy and the problem goes away when Tivo finishes cataloging or whatever. Sometimes the drive is failing and it just gets worse. Happens on all units.

Posted by: TiVoZ

Want1394,

i have an unhacked Phillips that just started showing this behavior. i have read many of the various posts on "choppy video", "stutter", and "dropouts".

i will likely see this problem with recorded shows and live tv, right? i haven't noticed the problem with live tv, because i don't watch alot of live tv.

Tivo support has asked me to verify whether it happens with live tv also. then check cable connections...shouldn't be an issue as the box hasn't moved in months. they also recommended clearing all settings. but i suspect that none of this will change things if it's a bad drive.

is it possible this is software related at all?

Posted by: Want1394

Well, there isn't really any difference in watching live TV or recorded material, since "live" is recorded and played back out of a 30min. buffer. Sometimes a big reset of the unit does help since it may release or allow Tivo software to work around bad blocks or bad file pointers (if they exist). It can't hurt and if it helps at all, you win big time.

Always check connections, reboot, whatever. Things happen to computer systems just sitting there running. (Not logical, of course, but try it anyway.)

Good luck - it may heal itself.

Posted by: rdefino

I have a DSR6000 upgraded with a 60gig and an 80gig. I started to get the stoppages and shutters. I replaced both drive through maxtors warranty and loaded a fresh imaged and still get the stoppages and shutters. What give?

Thanks

Posted by: TiVoZ

Want1394,

thanks so much for the tips. i was sure the Tivo support advice (on the difference between live tv and recorded) was wrong. i verified last night that live tv was showing the same stopples.

i'll try the big reset this weekend and cross my fingers and hope tivo can heal thyself.