Back in December reports of problems with DirecTiVos began to appear explaining that the PVRs were being erratic in their ability to record shows. The PVRs would often fail to record shows altogether and mysteriously delete some recorded programs.
DirecTV then said that it had fixed the problem but DirecTiVo users still continued to have the same problems. Now DirecTV spokesperson Robert Mercer told TVPredictions.com yesterday that "a reboot will clean it up and the unit will start recording again."
So the age old trick of "turning it off and on" should hopefully put your DirecTiVo back on track.
One of the big topics at this year's CES is 'digital connections', ie. accessing media on different platforms and moving it around without the need for complex systems, setups or hard work.
As things move on, year-on-year, a big aspect of the digital home will not only be moving digital media around the home, but using your PC (or similar device) to control various other devices around your home.
But is it currently possible to set up a system on a wireless home network so that you can view your photos, videos and listen to your music from anywhere in the house -- on a budget of less than $1000, using components bought from high street stores?
Unfortunately, the answer is mostly no. Maybe $10,000 would be more like it.
However, with an 802.11n router, a few cheap upgrades to the various wireless devices around the house, and $500 worth of network storage -- and hook it all up to your current setup (presuming you have more than one PC) and you could be well on your way to a makeshift home entertainment system.
Unfortunately, this NY Times-based article doesn't really give any solutions as such -- more suggestions -- but I'd like PVR Wire's readers to give us an example of the setup you have at home (along with the rough costs) to give people an alternative to the expensive products being released this week in Las Vegas.
List your devices, model numbers, cost -- and how you went about setting things up in the comments section.
If you were lucky enough to receive a PVR-related product for Christmas, but you're finding difficulty figuring out how to use it, then here's some handy numbers and websites for you to try out before losing your marbles.
Sky+: The customer service number at Sky can vary in the waiting times, from as low as five minutes, to up to an hour. However, they tend to be quiet helpful and knowledgeable -- and if you're not getting satisfaction, insist on a engineer coming out to visit. But make sure you do have a fault, or you could end up being charged if you've done something stupid like taken the batteries out of your remote. Customer service ebsite: www.sky.com. Phone: 08705 800 800 for Sky+ support or 8702 43 5000 for other technical enquiries.
Telewest TVDrive: most people who have a Telewest/NTL product also have the telephone as part of the deal. If so, just dial 150 from your phone and follow the instructions to find the service helpdesk that you need. If you don't have the phone, try the FAQ section first or phone 0845 142 0000.
If you picked up a Humax PVR, try out their website first: www.humaxdigital.com/uk or phone 0208 744 5510. You can also email them on: sales-info@humax-digital.co.uk
If you received a Topfield PVR, try their website: www.topfield.co.uk/ or visit their forum, which has a small community of people ready to help out with any problems.
Most importantly, don't lose the plot if you're starting to get frustrated by a problem you can't resolve. I usually find that obsessing over it is often the best way to lose the affections of your closest family members -- while a simple process of taking a break and then methodically working your way through the issue usually brings about the best results.
If you're really, really stuck - just email us using the contact link here on the site (or comment on this entry) and we'll do our very best to help out or point you in the right direction.
Whatever you do, enjoy your holiday period and your PVR gift.
NVIDIA's DualTV MCE TV tuner looks like a nice alternative to Hauppauge's WinTV-PVR-500MCE. But NVIDIA's drivers only let you install one card. So what do you do if you want to install 4 DualTV MCE's to create an 8-tuner PVR? Well, if you're Snapstream Media, you ask NVIDIA to pretty please let you test out some prerelease drivers.
That's exactly what the folks at Snapstream have done, with a set of DualTV MCE pre-release drivers (version 5.9.5.23) available for BeyondTV users. These drivers may not work if you want to install multiple cards for a SageTV, or Windows Media Center system.
Apparently John Batelle isn't the only person out there who hates his Comcast PVR. Dennis Rockstroh at the San Jose Mercury News wrote a column about problems with Comcast PVRs, and apparently got a flood of letters from readers with similar problems.
Here's a few of the highlights
A number of readers complain that the controls are slow to respond
One reader says his box freezes when you try to flip channels
Another says her Comcast box gets stuck on fast forward or rewind. By the time she gets it to stop, she's often moved forward 10 minutes when she had just meant to skip past the commercials.
And my favorite... One reader says she'll push a button and when nothing happens, she'll push a couple of other buttons. After a moment, the PVR tries to implement all the commands.
Do we have any Comcast PVR users out there? Any suggestions for solving these problems? Or are the only solutions throwing out your Comcast PVR or waiting for Comcast to add TiVo software to its boxes?
If you're one of the many subscribers to NTL Telewest's TVDrive service, you might notice a few changes, since they recently updated the software running the popular PVR.
Most of the changes in the recent code-drop are bug fixes, but some enhancements are also apparent in the update, including a widescreen output option for archiving and stretching for 4:3 pictures.
It should also be easier to operate HD mode and a new audio option forces the box to output in Dolby Digital 5.1.
A few bugs still exist, and will probably be handled in the next update.
I had a look online a couple of days ago to find some articles on TiVo repair.
I expected to find quite a lot but to my surprise there was not many at all. I guess this is a good indication that TiVo PVRs are very reliable.
However, if you have been having any problems with your TiVo then you might want to take a look at this little troubleshooting guide from weaknees.
This is a neat comprehensive list of the most common problems and hardware failures you can have with your TiVo PVR; it lists the possible causes of the problem and the solution (if any).
Be aware that opening your TiVo voids your warranty.
Our friends at Engadget have a handy how-to this week Will O'Brien lost his DirecTiVo to a power outage last week, and undertook the task of restoring the system to a fresh hard drive. Lucky for us, he took a lot of pictures along the way.
Basically, the tutorial explains how to get a copy of the TiVo software for your unit, open the box without burning yourself or disabling your TiVo, and install the software onto a hard drive using your host desktop computer.
This is not for the faint of heart, or for anyone who's TiVo is still under warranty, because if you try this yourself, it won't be by the time you're done.
One of the handiest things about the tutorial is that O'Brien talks you through the Linux commands in such a way that someone who's never had any experience with the OS, or with any command line utilities should find it easy to restore a TiVo system. That's assuming you're comfortable opening your desktop, disconnecting your hard drive and attaching your IDE cable to a different drive.
You may not have noticed, but BSkyB issued an EPG and software update for V1 boxes over the past week or so, largely due to issues surrounding upgraded boxes.
For example, if you're one of those enterprising souls who upgraded thier hard drive beyong 40 GB, the recent software updates probably caused your box to stall in standby mode. However, the forced upgrade should have cleared the issue.
If you're experiencing standby lock on your box, just perform the following trick to set it right:
Power off your Sky+ box and remove the power cable from the back of the unit.
Hold down the BACKUP button on the front of the box and reconnect the power cable to the back of the unit.
After about 15-20 seconds, all of the LEDs on the front panel should light up, at which point you should release the BACKUP button and you should see some text on the screen reading "Updating System Software. Do not disconnect from mains supply or satellite dish."
After about 10 minutes, the box will reset itself with the new software installed.
I'm not sure if this is news or not, but I've certainly never seen this one before.
The Chicago Tribune's Alex L. Goldfayn has posted an article which really amounts to a free advert for Lou Jacob's Chicago-based DVRupgrade Inc.
According to the item, Jacob has been upgrading TiVos for the popular TiVo digital video recorders for six years and currently has offers ranging from $129 for an 80 GB drive (70 hours of video) to $1,000 for two 500 GB drives (150 hours of HD content).
DVRupgrade can do the work for you for an extra $50 to $100, but if you browse about on the Internet, you're bound to find plenty of places that will do it either cheaper, or who will provide step-by-step instructions on how to do it yourself.
In fact, if you know of any such places, post them here and we'll give them some airtime.
I've only had my new Thomson Sky+ box for two weeks, and I've already had to perform a cold reset three different times in order to restore my channel list.
I originally thought the loss of channels was potentially a problem with the box itself (Thomsons are known to be a bit on the flaky side), but I gave BSkyB technical a call and they helped me sort it out.
So, if you find that you've lost most of your channels and can only access one or two, here's how to get them back:
Press the SERVICES button on your Sky+ remote, then press 4 (System Setup), then press 0,1 and SELECT. This takes you to the hidden installer's menu.
Next, select number 6 (new installation), and press SELECT 3 times until the screen reads "astra channelscan".
When the screen informs you that the channel line up is complete, press BACKUP then the Sky button and you should be back in business.
You should have had a day and a half so far to find a dual-tuner TiVo at major electronics retailers and directly from
TiVo and Amazon.com. Have you had any problems finding a Series 2 DT unit? We'd like to hear about it if you have. Let
us know in the comments section if your local Best Buy or Circuit City was already out of them (or never got them) when
you went to buy. I managed to find the 80-hour dual-tuner unit on Amazon.
It's also available on TiVo's web site, albeit
with a $30 "upgrade fee." Also let us know in the comments section if you had any problems ordering the DT
from either online store.
We seem to have missed this one, but it's worth noting that BeyondTV 4.2 was released last week.
Some of the new features
include the ability to record on any channel (allowing you to schedule a show to be recorded on any channel that it airs
on), faster and more reliable guide updates, enhanced support for the Firefly Mini and the ability to expand the padding
option to allow for ten minutes extra on a recording.
ETTIX Solutions, a company which
specializes in web-based applications, has released a product called I-Net Video Center, also a web-based platform,
which allows users to convert videos for their video-capable iPod and Sony PSP.
With I-Net Video Center, you
simply upload files in various video formats (such as .AVI or .MPEG). and the application converts them to the required
format, and when the conversion is finished, you just download the files for viewing.
There's also a
streaming version of the software, to allow users to view video content on any Internet-connected PC. You can upload
and stream AVI, Mpeg1, MPeg2, MPeg4, DivX files and Quicktime MOV, FLV, ASF, WMV7files. I-Net Center automatically
converts the uploaded files to Flash Video Streaming format.
There are currently no indications on costs at
the official website.
Back in December reports of problems with DirecTiVos began to appear explaining that the PVRs were being erratic in their ability to record shows. The PVRs would often fail to record shows altogether and mysteriously delete some recorded programs. 
If you were lucky enough to receive a PVR-related product for Christmas, but you're finding difficulty figuring out how to use it, then here's some handy numbers and websites for you to try out before losing your marbles.
Our friends at 
You may not have noticed, but BSkyB issued an EPG and software update for V1 boxes over the past week or so, largely due to issues surrounding upgraded boxes.
I've only had my new Thomson Sky+ box for two weeks, and I've already had to perform a cold reset three different times in order to restore my channel list. 
You should have had a day and a half so far to find a dual-tuner TiVo at major electronics retailers and directly from
TiVo and Amazon.com. Have you had any problems finding a Series 2 DT unit? We'd like to hear about it if you have. Let
us know in the comments section if your local Best Buy or Circuit City was already out of them (or never got them) when
you went to buy. I managed to find the 80-hour dual-tuner unit on 
