DVR Box Location near TV?

[Luigi]

Has anyone else been told by Verizon Tech Support that there is an interference problem if a 72xx series DVR box is placed near the TV and there is currently no fix???

[retiredme]

There have been a number of reported incidents here at the Verizon forums regarding this issue, but also reported elsewhere with different TV combinations and entertainment providers. It happens infrequently, but it does happen. Samsung is mentioned as one of the usual suspects, but is not alone in this. IR interference emitted from the TV is the assumed culprit as it might jam the remote signal. I personally experienced this with two different Samsung model 850's before swapping for a Sony (no issues). The Samsung had a very thin glass bezel, sat upon a glass table, and the DVR was directly below enabling direct interference. Placing thick project board beneath the TV like a shelf liner corrected this problem. Others have rigged a shade  for the IR receptor on the DVR that seems to work. It is annoying if it does happen, but is correctable. Search this forum for historical perspective and the solutions some have developed. Also avsforum.com and highdefforum.com are additional resources. Thank you.

[Luigi]

Retiredme,

Thanks for your reply.  I'm new to this forum and while I did review all the thread titles, looking for related information, I didn't do a full search; I'll try that.  In the mean time, and just to add a data point to the knowledge base of forum participants, I'll provide my configuration and issues; I don't believe my problem is IR interference.

The display is a Pioneer Elite plasma monitor (PRO-FHD1 - no tuners or audio components).  The 7216 plays through a Pioneer Elite A/V receiver (VSX94-TXH).  All connections are through HDMI 1.3a.  The DVR and A/V receiver sit on two different wooden shelves with an 8" thick wall between them and the plasma screen.  There is no line-of-sight between the DVR and the A/V and the screen nor are there any IR reflective surfaces facing the screen or DVR.  If there is IR interference it would have to be from the screen interferring with the signal being emitted from the remote control.  This doesn't appear to be the case as the problem isn't dependent upon the location of the remote, in relation to the screen or DVR, when the problem occurs.  A 6416 previously in this location did not have the same issues.

The problems/issues are intermittent.  When they happen they happen as follows; in all cases the DVR front panel LED indicates a remote signal is being received:

• there will be no response to a 'pause' command
• when watching a recorded program there will be no response to a 'stop' command
• when pushing the 'skip forward' button (set for 30 seconds) when watching a recorded program, the program will skip forward about 1 to 3 seconds then return to the original point.

There is another issue that seems unrelated to this problem and seems to be common to all the Motorola boxes (6416 and 7216) -- command processing is slllloooow.  After each press of the 'skip forward' button I must wait a second or so before I can repeat the command.  This makes skipping through 3 minutes of commercials a real pain.  Neighbors that have DirecTV or Dish boxes don't seem to have the problem (I know they're different technologies and protocols, I would just have thought that Motorola could have dealt with this processor/software deficiency when they went from 6416 to 7216.

Also, and perhpas as an aside, over the last week or so I have been experiencing the 'program not available' issue.  When I spoke with tech support two nights ago they told me they were pushing a "big" update down the pipe (during prime time???) and this may have been the cause.  I don't know if that was the case or not but I'm still on 1.6.0.

I hope this information is useful to others.

[retiredme]

Luigi - I think you may have several issues as described. The 7216 does seem to be a bit touchy when it comes to receiving remote commands. This is a very vexxing problem for many, myself included - way sloooow, with multiple button pushes to effect the desired change.  I do not know if the upcoming software 1.6.2 will remedy this, but some report good success with a third party remote such as Harmony. This might be the extent of the problem, and not IR interference. I still might not rule out IR - as an experiment, see if you get more interference problems when the TV is first powered up, say the first 5 minutes or so. This is when Tv's draw more electric power (hence more IR) until warmed up. On the last issue, did you mean the message "Currently Unavailable" that sometimes appears on screen when you tune a channel? That is a separate issue and widely reported. Search for that message and HDMI handshake tags for a good history and remedies. If that doesn't work for you, respond back and I will give you a short synopsis.  Thank you.

[Jim785]

Hey Luigi,

To answer your question about the big push, updates are typically pushed down in the middle of the night when most customers are asleep (I say most because Im awake in the middle of the night since I work the night shift and keep on the schedule when Im not at work). This is typically when the majority of the customers are not watching tv.. Hope this helps clear up any anxiety of when the next release of the software is pushed down..

[Luigi]

Thanks Jim285.  Actually, I'm not experiencing any anxiety over major upgrades being pushed in my service area.  On the contrary, I'm happy to let the 2 VHOs on the east coast do the "beta" testing of Release 1.6.2; I'm in California and I'm still on Release 1.6.0.  My comment about the push being in prime time was because that's what the tech rep told me may have been causing the problems I was experiencing.  I assumed that the comment wasn't accurate and was more the result of the tech center not knowing where a caller is actually located and she was thinking about the push of 1.6.2 going on on the east coast.  For my own purposes, I ignored her comment.

As I noted, I don't think my problem is IR interference, I think the problem is the 7216 boxes themselves.  I've used different remotes (all Phillips RC1445501 and 302 remotes) and I didn't have the same problems (except for the generally slow speed of command execution) with 6416 boxes in the same location with the same A/V equipment and plasma screen.

I just wish Verizon/Motorola would fix the problems, they're VERY annoying!  FYI, tech support checked with Billing and Orders and said there are no 6416 available any more.

BTW, I too am a 'night person,' I rarely go to bed before 3 AM Pacific Time.  Sometimes it's an advantage, like not having to compete with hundreds of callers trying to call for tech support.  Sometimes it's a disadvantage when calling for tech support because so few people call between 1 and 5 AM that there aren't many people staffing the call center.  Two weeks I was on hold for over 50 minutes starting at 1 AM Pacific time waiting for a Verizon tech rep.  I finally hung up.