Is this in my wiring?

[rodenture]

My Tivo has been working great for three years then suddenly the other night it rebooted in the middle of a program. It has done this twice in the last week. Now it is pixelating randomly. I have checked the Hard drive by rewinding and the pixelation is always in the same spot. I swapped sat inputs on the back and the pixelation changes with the swap. (From tuner 1 to tuner 2) Bad wiring?

[WK-Michael]

Sure sounds like it - or a bad dish or multiswitch port.

[rodenture]

Okay here's a new development and some additional info:

Model: DirecTv Tivo Philips DSR704

After posting last night I went through the guided setup again and set it for a single tuner. After doing that the pixelation would occur with either cable from the satelite hooked up. I do not have a multiswitch as this is my only reciever. I tried rebooting the unit but the problem remains. Tested the signal strength and most transponders are over 75-80. Any ideas?

[WK-Michael]

So then it sounds like a bad SAT 1 input, and the earlier test just wasn't clearly showing which SAT signal was which.

You might go back to two, and track (carefully) what happens on each input.

[rodenture]

I've tried both cables from the dish (one at a time) on both SAT inputs (1 & 2) and the pixelation and freezing happens no matter what. Bad HDD? Both tuners bad? I'm lost.

[WK-Michael]

If you rewind, and it's identical, then it's likely tuners (both can go at once). If you rewind and it changes a bit, then it's likely the drive.

[rodenture]

Thanks for all your help so far Michael. So if the pixelation/audio problems are always in the same spot it's the tuners correct? Can I purchase one of the Directv Tivo units without a hard drive from Weakness and just transfer my drives over?

[WK-Michael]

That's right.

Bare units are here:

http://www.weaknees.com/directv-tivo.php

Also, see this:

http://www.tivopedia.com/error-51-hardware-error.php

[rodenture]

Ok, this just gets stranger. Now that a few days have gone by I've noticed that the receiver works fine between 9 am and 11 pm. The pixelation/blacking out/freezing/no audio issues only seem to occur after 11 pm. I've tested all the signal strength and am getting 99 percent on transponder 26 which is supposed to be dead. Also I keep getting messages from directv that my dvr service is not active...my mailbox has several screens of them. I called dtv and they resent the signal, but...

I've got a new receiver on the way (Thank you Weaknees!) but now I'm not sure this will fix the problem...any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

[WK-Michael]

That all really does sound like it's in the unit; I'm pretty sure a new unit will fix it.