Audio dropouts and artifacts when watching recorded programs

[Kurgan]

Is anyone else having problems with PVR playback on the 6416? My PVR has almost become useless because of audio dropouts and digital video artifacts. Latest example would be "Pirate Master" last night - 30 minutes into the recording the audio would cut in and out and digital video artifacts where everywhere. If I fast forward then rewind to the same stop in the program the audio/video problems will be gone for a few minutes before they return.

I called shaw and they say it could be a firmware problem and they have no current fix. They linked me to this article.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_...ideo_artifacts

"Problem: When watching a recorded program, there are audio dropouts or digital video artifacts
Description: When watching a recorded or buffered program, every couple of minutes the audio will go dead for a moment, or a streak of pixels will blur across some part of the screen. Viewing live TV seems to be ok.
Cause: Firmware may have been upgraded to version 16.20. Check your firmware version.
Remedies: Perform a DVR Authorization and Factory Full Reset to re-download and install the firmware and software."

Shaw reset my DCT but it didn't seem to fix the problem. Does anyone here have a work around?

[57]

Have you checked your signal strength and S/N Ratio? See the diagnostics link in the following, along with other recommendations/tips there.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=21274

See also: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=63278

Since you can REW/FF to the same spot and the issue goes away, I'd suspect a firmware issue, or perhaps something that an occasional cold reboot can resolve.

[Kurgan]

Thanks for the links. I went to VOIP through Shaw and tech installed a signal amplifier on my cable line so I don't think that is a problem but I will check the S/N ratio when I get home from work. What kind of reading is acceptable?

Also for a cold reboot I just disconnect the power from the back of the DCT for a few seconds - right?

Thanks again for the advice.

[57]

The acceptable readings are listed in the diagnostics link.

Yes, just unplug the unit for a few seconds until the HDD spins down completely. Then plug it back in. Most people do this before they go to bed because these units need to repopulate the IPG.