Hughes HDVR2 Upgraded TiVo - Still having problems

[erushurerx]

Michael,

A couple of questions for you. I got my Humax today. Thanks!! I have it hooked up to my old RCA. I have the cable we talked about hooked up to the low speed data port through the serial port on the Humax. I assume that is correct (vs the IR port). First, I am not getting a picture. Do I need to have DirecTV do something with it? My connections seem fine. The access card is in the old RCA, but it is not picking up the satellite signal. I haven't changed anything with the dish. Any hints you can offer? Do I need to activate through TiVo or DirecTV (since I already have TiVo service through DirecTV)?

Second, it looks like the old RCA just has one satellite input, so won't that limit my abilities to maximize my TiVo watching to one tuner? Does the other "dummy" box you sell have two tuners?

Third, in the spirit of bad luck, something blew in my other machine this morning and it won't boot up (there was a nice warm electrical smell coming from it and it froze). After I tried to reboot, I couldn't even get a gray reboot screen. I figured it was the power supply, so I swapped out my old power supply and it won't even boot with that (I know the old power supply was at least able to power up). So, I figure it is a motherboard problem. Any other ideas before I just shoot this horse?

Thanks,

Ryan

[WK-Michael]

You may need to (re-)activate the RCA box. If you take the TiVo out of the picture, does it display channels on your TV?

Without a combo DirecTV/TiVo, you can't record from two channels at once.

For the other box, carefully check all of those internal connections. If you still get nothing, then it's probably not worth fixing.

[erushurerx]

Michael,

Perfect!!! I got the hardware, got a new HDVR2 box to replace the fried one, and got my Humax. One other question for you, now. I was able to reactivate the HDVR2. The Humax, though, still shows the TiVo service as not being activated. The guy I spoke with at DirecTV says that it needs an access card to work (the dummy box has one and I get a picture fine, I just am on a "trial countdown for TiVo service). Do I need to get TiVo service through TiVo themselves for this unit, or do I need to talk to someone else at DirecTV? What is the best way to activate the Humax with DirecTV (keeping in mind that I have two Tivo's, one HDVR2 and the Humax)?

Thanks for all of your help!!

Ryan

[WK-Michael]

Yes - the Humax box needs to get service from TiVo - not DirecTV. That Humax has nothing to do with DirecTV essentially. DirecTV is really totally ignorant of that box.

[erushurerx]

Michael,

I got the Humax working beautifully (woohoo)!!! Thank you so much. My upgrade drive that I had purchased about a month ago for an older box (the one that I think had the tuner problem, not the one that got fried), I decided to put into the new empty HDVR2 I ordered last week...just so I could start at square one and have an essentially brand new machine. Now that I have that up and running, I am getting pixelation still on that brand new machine with the upgrade hard drive. Is it possible that the upgrade hard drive had something wrong with it? If so, can I send it in for a replacement under warranty?

Any other thoughts? I have replaced the LNB switch on the satellite line as well as the LNB on the satellite as well. I am getting no pixellation thus far on the Humax.

I appreciate any more advice you can give me.

[erushurerx]

Michael,

I got the Humax working beautifully (woohoo)!!! Thank you so much. My upgrade drive that I had purchased about a month ago for an older box (the one that I think had the tuner problem, not the one that got fried), I decided to put into the new empty HDVR2 I ordered last week...just so I could start at square one and have an essentially brand new machine. Now that I have that up and running, I am getting pixelation still on that brand new machine with the upgrade hard drive. Is it possible that the upgrade hard drive had something wrong with it? If so, can I send it in for a replacement under warranty?

Any other thoughts? I have replaced the LNB switch on the satellite line as well as the LNB on the satellite as well. I am getting no pixellation thus far on the Humax.

I appreciate any more advice you can give me.

Follow-up. After searching more in the forums, I investigated more into the pixelation and it seems that the pixelation is a result of a "searching for signal on Sat 2" issue. The signal on Sat 1 is fine. I switched the cables on the back to see if the signal degradation switched as well, but the searching for signal remains on Sat 2. Looking at the signal strength, what I am seeing is good signal strength on sat 1 and "hit and miss" on sat 2. It will be in the 90's on most then go away, then return. Sat 1 is constant. Keep in mind, this is a new box that I purchased from you, not one of my old ones. Does that change any of your recommendations?

Thanks!!

[WK-Michael]

If it's a new unit from us, email us and assuming it's under warranty, we'll deal with it.

[email protected]

[erushurerx]

Michael,

Before I do that, I have one more question for you. Because I am getting a constant signal on satellite 1 and hit and miss on satellite 2, I did a little test last night. Since my Humax can only accept signal from one line (hooked up to an old RCA basic receiver), when I was setting it up with DirecTV I couldn't get it to work at one point. I figured maybe it was bad, so I tried one of my other ones. The other one worked, so I held with the assumption that the other RCA unit was bad (my guess now is that I connected the different one to the other satellite line). That being said, I know that both access cards on them are activated at this point. So last night I got to thinking that if Satellite 2 on the Hughes is having trouble, I wondered if the other satellite line that I did not have anything connected to in my other room (where the Humax is) would be showing the same problem. If so, I could hook up that old RCA unit to (that I assumed was bad) and see what happens. Well, I cannot get a signal on that line with the old Directv RCA box either. I don't bet a pixellated picture on it, I just get black screen with a searching for satellite message that intermittently appears. I have a hunch that the problem might lie on the line, rather than the boxes.

So, could that mean that one of the cables from my lnb switch to the lnb on my satellite is bad? I have already replaced the lnb switch and the lnb, but I could replace those again. I could also play with the alignment more. I wouldn't expect that I would get perfect picture on one satellite and intermittent on the other if the alignment was bad, though.

What is your opinion? If that cabling is worth trying, I would rather do that first than send the unit back to you and have you replace it when there is really no need for you to go through the extra work.

Thanks!!

[WK-Michael]

What type of dish and what type of multiswitch are you using?

If those are right, then any lead from the multiswitch should be the same as any other.

[erushurerx]

It is a DirecTV round dish with one LNB, but the LNB has two cables connected to it. The switch is a Trunkline 35-DTV34MS 3 input 4 output digital multiswitch 40-2150Mhz.

Also, when I do the setup, I put in that it is a round dish...I assume that is the option I should put. Do all LNBs have two cable connections? Should I be selecting the oval option with 2 LNBs because of the two cable connections?

Thanks for all of your help.

[WK-Jeff]

A true single-LNB dish has only one line out. If you have two lines coming out of the dish, then you have a dual-LNB dish. When going through setup, you'd choose dual-LNB round dish.

You'll want to be sure that the two outs from your dish go into the proper inputs of the switch. You should not use the input for the off-air antenna.

[Rob M]

I have the exact same problem as erushurerx.
I own a Hughes HDVR2 with an upgrade drive I purchased quite some time ago from Weaknees. It has intermittent signal with light to heavy pixelation on Sat2 and a steady, good signal on Sat1.

I also have verified that it is localized to the Sat2 tuner on my HDVR2, and not the satellite line itself. I ran both the lines myself from the dish and they both have excellent signal throughput.

I'm trying to use the analog out to see if that works as I had been using S-Video. The picture isn't nearly as good, but in the past 15-20 mins I haven't seen any pixelation.

So, I suppose my question is: what causes this issue, if known, and am I going to need to replace/repair my HDVR2?

[WK-Jeff]

The SAT2 tuner is near the S-video connector; and in old units with chips that are going, the s-video interferes and causes pixellation. I wouldn't necessary spend money to get it repaired if the composite cable works.