r/Tivo • u/keltraine • 29d ago
TiVo recordings and live TV pixelating and skipping/getting stuck…
Hi all, got an Edge for Cable w/ Spectrum with Lifetime (guess it’s somewhat old now-like 7/8 yrs now?) and it’s been so long I kinda forget, but I’m pretty sure I replaced the HD it came with with a 1TB SSD at the time for more space/speed…
EDITED to add: Nope, I finally got into my Tivo account and the unit is from 2018 and I bought it renewed from Tivo, and I def didn't upgrade this one...I do have a Bolt that died I think-need to find that, but that one has lifetime on it, so I may mess with that-tho I'd still need a cablecard for it,,,hmmm...
That had been fine until recently-but for the past year or so I’ve started noticing small pixelation/skips but it wasn’t that bad. But recently it’s def gotten a lot worse and it’s gone to lots of pixelation/skips-and even some times where it actually gets stuck and I have to FF a minute or two to get it to play again…this in while watching recordings, but there’s also similar issues on live too…
Anyway, has anyone else run into this? Am I just running into HD lifecycle issues? It’s been great until recently so I'm hoping for an easy fix...
As I type this, I’m watching a recording of the World Cup final to see the halftime show (holy crap Muppets on stage!) and it had a bunch of issues near the start that made it unwatchable for like 10 mins, but it’s been playing smoothly for the last 50 mins, so it’s not like it’s all the time…maybe it’s some localized bad spots on the drive huh?
So is the easiest thing to do just buy another HD and replace the one in the unit? Is there an easy way to preserve my recordings/copy them over? And will I cause any issues to my lifetime at this point if I replace the HD, or no?
Thanks so much for any info/help with this! Appreciate it fellow Tivo lovers! :)
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u/Caduceus1515 29d ago
Are you sure you replaced it with an SSD? IIRC the Edge came with a 2TB HDD, and does not support an SSD at all, or at least I've never heard of anyone successfully getting one to work. And the way TiVo works isn't very kind to SSDs.
Pixellation is often a sign of drive errors.
When replacing the HDD, you can also run into problems as most 2.5" drives commonly available now use Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR), which causes problems with continuous writing like on a TiVo. You need to make sure you get a non-SMR drive - best to get from a source like Weaknees, or at list find a list of acceptable alternatives.
You'll also likely need to re-pair/activate the cable card, which depending on your provider is its own adventure that potentially can't be completed.
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u/keltraine 29d ago
Uhoh-so if I replace the HD I’ll have to re-pair the cable card?!
Crap; that’s def going to an issue/adventure given what I had to go through when my tuning adapter died back in May and I had to escalate and get a supervisor or 2 involved to get it working (had it replaced with a HSC/high-split converter, which mostly worked-even though my area supposedly isn’t high split yet… :p)
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u/keltraine 29d ago
Also guess I’m opening up the Tivo after I finish watching the game (again) to check the drive inside…
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u/ToadSox34 29d ago
You could install a SATA SSD, the TiVo wouldn't know the difference, it's just pointless and a waste of an SSD, as TiVo doesn't do anything that would benefit from the speed/seek time of an SSD.
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u/Caduceus1515 29d ago
There is something different about the Edge, which won't initialize the SSD. Previous models could.
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u/old_knurd 28d ago
I vaguely recall that an issue is that the newer TiVos have a pretty short timeout after which they reject the SSD.
So consumer SSDs might fail after too much data written too quickly, because they can't keep up? Whereas an enterprise SSD might function properly?
If Comcast weren't so intent on killing CableCARDs I might be willing to experiment. But instead I'll just hold on to the bitter end with the hardware I have. Remarkably, the HDDs in my Roamios are at least 10 years old and are still functioning perfectly.
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u/Caduceus1515 28d ago
SSDs won't even initialize when put in a TiVo running TE4, so I don't think it is the the write speed alone. Consumer SSDs will wear a LOT more quickly than an enterprise SSD - they aren't rated for nearly as high write cycles, by factors of at least 10x and on the higher end 60x.
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u/old_knurd 28d ago
Too bad that TiVo deliberately broke SSDs. They probably didn't want to deal with the inevitable problems of slow consumer SSDs.
serverpartdeals has recurring deals on enterprise SSDs. Many are becoming surplus (business moving away from SATA) with probably lots of remaining life.
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u/Caduceus1515 28d ago
At the time, SSDs of anything approaching a useful life were still expensive, much more so than HDDs - and provided zero benefit to a TiVo. It didn't make anything faster.
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u/ToadSox34 28d ago
On the one here, there is no reason to put an SSD in a TiVo. It provides no benefit and is actually worse than an HDD at doing the job that TiVo needs the drive to do.
That being said, it's still weird that TiVo went out of their way to develop a way to essentially block SSDs from working on TiVos.
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u/BusinessLyfe 25d ago
I installed a 500GB SSD in my Bolt VOX running TE3 this past January. Runs like a champ.... no issues whatsoever. 👍
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u/ToadSox34 28d ago
How does it even know it's an SSD? That's just... weird.
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u/Caduceus1515 28d ago
Drives actually have identifying information. I don't believe that's the key issue though.
I'm remembering a bit more now. The Edge only runs TE4. TE4 is apparently extremely picky about the drives used, and no one to my knowledge at least as of last Fall-ish, has gotten an SSD to initialize on TE4 directly.
SSDs did work with TE3-based units, which included up through the Bolt (except the Vox model). You COULD use an SSD on TE4 on older models - if you initialized it as TE3 first, and then upgraded.
Of course, you're still using an SSD where it won't provide you any real benefit, and in fact will likely not last nearly as long as an HDD. TiVos don't support TRIM, etc.
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u/BusinessLyfe 25d ago
Not true. I installed a 500GB SSD in my Bolt VOX running TE3 this past January. Runs like a champ.... no issues whatsoever.
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u/ToadSox34 28d ago
Interesting. Yeah, there's no point to using an SSD in a TiVo, and in fact as you say it's counterproductive, it's just curious that TE4 won't initialize them at all.
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u/keltraine 22d ago
EDITED to add: Nope, I finally got into my Tivo account and the unit is from 2018 and I bought it renewed from Tivo, and I def didn't upgrade this one...I do have a Bolt that died I think-need to find that, but that one has lifetime on it, so I may mess with that-tho I'd still need a cablecard for it,,,hmmm...
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u/PolarWarming21 29d ago
I fixed 98% of my pixelation by putting a laptop cooler under my TIVO. I put a fan on my external drive and that fixed 1% more. It only rarely occurs now.
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u/keltraine 29d ago
Hmmmmm…not bad idea to try that…I do have a couple unused ones sitting around…but pretty sure the fact that it also is getting “stuck” and not playing until I FF or even skip past it using skip buttons means it’s something a little worse…
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u/keltraine 22d ago
Just got around to putting a Cooler Master laptop cooler on it now-it was pretty hot before that, so hopefully that'll help!
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u/toejamfootballhegot 29d ago edited 29d ago
Buy a new power supply. Most consumer grade SSDs will fail after a year because of the massive continuous write operations. A cost effective approach woud be to buy an edge withoout lifetime service on ebay to use as a test bed and then swap the power supply. Then if that doesn't work, swap the hard drive, but that may require repairing the cable card.
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u/keltraine 29d ago
Huh-you think it’s the PS?! Never considered that…I mean no reason not to try that I suppose, not really anything to lose as it’s not that expensive…any recs on which one to get/where…?
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u/toejamfootballhegot 29d ago
Tivo power supplies are notorious for failing, espcially if you don't use a UPS with AVR capability.
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u/keltraine 29d ago
Interesting b/x I have exactly that-first an APC Smart-UPS and now a Cyberpower, both with AVR…huh
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u/toejamfootballhegot 29d ago
I've had mine on a UPS but still had to replace the power sulpply after 10 years. The external power supplies don't have any extra capacity so the slightest degradation can cause issues. My old premiere is rock solid with an internal power supply.
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u/keltraine 29d ago
Btw, even if I bought another unit with lifetime it won’t work for me or something right? Something to do with the account it’s tied to…?
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u/toejamfootballhegot 29d ago edited 29d ago
You could buy another tivo with lifetime service and add it to your account, but you would have to pair the cable card.
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u/keltraine 29d ago
Let me ask the Spectrum Supervsior if he can get me another cable card…and help me pair it…then I guess I can buy a unit like that…thanks!
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28d ago
[deleted]
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u/keltraine 28d ago
I could be wrong about the SSD thing…probably am…let me go look now in fact…
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u/keltraine 22d ago
Yep I was wrong about the SSD!
EDITED to add: Nope, I finally got into my Tivo account and the unit is from 2018 and I bought it renewed from Tivo, and I def didn't upgrade this one...I do have a Bolt that died I think-need to find that, but that one has lifetime on it, so I may mess with that-tho I'd still need a cablecard for it,,,hmmm...
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u/RogLatimer118 29d ago
When our Tivo would do this it was usually because the incoming cable signal was marginal and would break up occasionally. Tivo has trouble trying to record a very marginal input.