My Humax Forum » Freeview HD » Aura UHD

Picture pixellation while watching in pause mode

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    Martin Liddle

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    Geoff Thompson - 1 hour ago  » 
    So last night we were watching The Serpent on BBC 1 HD which started at 9pm and at the same time recording ITV HD.

    I am sorry but I am still not clear; are you actually playing the recording or just watching the live TV via the Humax? Generally in the situations you describe it is better, on Humax kit, to be playing the recording.

    | Mon 1 Feb 2021 17:33:37 #11 |
  2. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    I have just watched a recording of Dancing On Ice from ITV-HD Sunday Box was recording Channel 4-HD while viewing the recording. Some picture break up noticed at times (not on paused content just on normal playback). May be 25% of the frame pixelated for a second or so.

    | Mon 1 Feb 2021 17:35:00 #12 |
  3. davidrew

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    grahamlthompson - 15 mins ago  » 
    I have just watched a recording of Dancing On Ice from ITV-HD Sunday Box was recording Channel 4-HD while viewing the recording. Some picture break up noticed at times (not on paused content just on normal playback). May be 25% of the frame pixelated for a second or so.

    Interesting, I also see the same on some recordings but it is not channel specific, just a momentary pause, a picture and sound break-up, then it carries on. Seen it on all four main HD channels but never when watching live.

    The last one was on a Channel-5HD recording, so I noted the time index and went back after the program had finished, before deleting it, to see if it was a playback glitch or actually in the recording, checked it three times and it was exactly the same so I guess it was in the recording.

    My signal strength is regulated by an attenuator (between 50-80%) but quality is 100%, I never saw this issue on the 5000T and it was set-up the same.

    I've also had the odd recording with the Recording Failed logo next to it and it usually says because no or bad signal but 90% of the time there is no visible issue or it has a similar pixilation/sound glitch.

    | Mon 1 Feb 2021 18:08:24 #13 |
  4. Manclad

    Manclad

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    Hi. I'm new to the forum having only acquired the Aura to replace an old YouView T1000.
    I'm very pleased with the Aura, but I'm experiencing the same issue as what is being described in this thread.... that is momentary pixelation (less that a second) and/or momentary freeze of audio and video (again for less than a second), but only on Time Shift Recording (i.e I'm watching live t.v. that I've paused for a few minutes while I make a cuppa then go back and press play).
    So if anyone else has witnessed this symptom, is there any obvious fix for it?

    | Thu 11 Mar 2021 9:47:34 #14 |
  5. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    I might be jumping the gun here. This morning I noted that the HDMI out socket on the aura is located next to the RF sockets.

    I curved the hdmi cable away from the rf cabling to form a loop, Curved it back over the rf cabling as far away as possible from the rf connectors.

    HDMI cabling radiates RF in the energy band and the frequency varies with the current hdmi output.

    So far not seen any picture breakup at all and this usually starts as it starts to get dark and effect live TV and recording output. Not noticed any on paused content but having an oled if going to pause for a significant period I turn the screen off on the TV.

    The TV has voice control the command screen off turns off the screen in 5 seconds. pressing 1 turns it on.

    | Thu 11 Mar 2021 18:32:42 #15 |
  6. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    grahamlthompson - 16 hours ago  » 
    I might be jumping the gun here. This morning I noted that the HDMI out socket on the aura is located next to the RF sockets.
    I curved the hdmi cable away from the rf cabling to form a loop, Curved it back over the rf cabling as far away as possible from the rf connectors.
    HDMI cabling radiates RF in the energy band and the frequency varies with the current hdmi output.
    So far not seen any picture breakup at all and this usually starts as it starts to get dark and effect live TV and recording output. Not noticed any on paused content but having an oled if going to pause for a significant period I turn the screen off on the TV.
    The TV has voice control the command screen off turns off the screen in 5 seconds. pressing 1 turns it on.

    Update no pixellation up to box shutdown yesterday evening.

    | Fri 12 Mar 2021 11:12:32 #16 |
  7. Manclad

    Manclad

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    I was watching Bloodlines last night on BBC1HD on live tv and had to pause it for a minute, so when I came back and pressed play I was the watching it on delayed recording. Sure as anything within a few seconds it was once again giving bursts of pixelation every few minutes.
    This morning, I'm watching ITV1HD, and have purposely paused the live TV and hit play again so I'm watching it on delay.... and not one single error.
    Someone in the thread had commented this problem only occurs in the evenings... any thoughts on this observation that the problem is related to evenings?

    | Mon 15 Mar 2021 10:22:45 #17 |
  8. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    Manclad - 46 mins ago  » 
    I was watching Bloodlines last night on BBC1HD on live tv and had to pause it for a minute, so when I came back and pressed play I was the watching it on delayed recording. Sure as anything within a few seconds it was once again giving bursts of pixelation every few minutes.
    This morning, I'm watching ITV1HD, and have purposely paused the live TV and hit play again so I'm watching it on delay.... and not one single error.
    Someone in the thread had commented this problem only occurs in the evenings... any thoughts on this observation that the problem is related to evenings?

    I had some pixelation on Live TV yesterday evening. Not sure why you pause the live TV. I can't see this having any effect. When you see it the problem is already in the timeshift buffer. This is a direct bit for bit for bit copy of the live stream sent to the unit mpeg decoders. If you rewind the buffer during pause you should be able to locate the flawed stream data.

    As it sometimes only happens once or twice in a single programme not surprised you don't see it anymore. Nothing to do with pausing the content. Just a coincidence I reckon.

    | Mon 15 Mar 2021 11:15:00 #18 |
  9. Manclad

    Manclad

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    grahamlthompson - 25 mins ago  » 

    Manclad - 46 mins ago  » 
    I was watching Bloodlines last night on BBC1HD on live tv and had to pause it for a minute, so when I came back and pressed play I was the watching it on delayed recording. Sure as anything within a few seconds it was once again giving bursts of pixelation every few minutes.
    This morning, I'm watching ITV1HD, and have purposely paused the live TV and hit play again so I'm watching it on delay.... and not one single error.
    Someone in the thread had commented this problem only occurs in the evenings... any thoughts on this observation that the problem is related to evenings?

    I had some pixelation on Live TV yesterday evening. Not sure why you pause the live TV. I can't see this having any effect. When you see it the problem is already in the timeshift buffer. This is a direct bit for bit for bit copy of the live stream sent to the unit mpeg decoders. If you rewind the buffer during pause you should be able to locate the flawed stream data.
    As it sometimes only happens once or twice in a single programme not surprised you don't see it anymore. Nothing to do with pausing the content. Just a coincidence I reckon.

    Hi. I pause the live TV simply to go put the kettle on, go for a pee, or whatever. So when I come back I hit play and I carry on watching from where I left off. But obviously, from this point, I'm watching the program time shifted, and sure as heck, I start seeing the incidents of brief pixelation.

    Just FYI...I'm trying to ensure I'm using the correct terminology when I'm trying to describe this issue I'm seeing. So, for example, hitting the pause button, then hitting play button (same button) is what I call Time Shift Recording even though its not a purposely made recording, and I realise I'm just using the buffering ability of the box. Also, watching live TV on the Aura is (seemingly) using the "Live TV" app to watch live TV!!! To me i just am watching digital TV, but with the Aura box... one is using an app. Slightly confusing.

    | Mon 15 Mar 2021 11:50:55 #19 |
  10. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    Manclad - 10 mins ago  » 

    grahamlthompson - 25 mins ago  » 

    Manclad - 46 mins ago  » 
    I was watching Bloodlines last night on BBC1HD on live tv and had to pause it for a minute, so when I came back and pressed play I was the watching it on delayed recording. Sure as anything within a few seconds it was once again giving bursts of pixelation every few minutes.
    This morning, I'm watching ITV1HD, and have purposely paused the live TV and hit play again so I'm watching it on delay.... and not one single error.
    Someone in the thread had commented this problem only occurs in the evenings... any thoughts on this observation that the problem is related to evenings?

    I had some pixelation on Live TV yesterday evening. Not sure why you pause the live TV. I can't see this having any effect. When you see it the problem is already in the timeshift buffer. This is a direct bit for bit for bit copy of the live stream sent to the unit mpeg decoders. If you rewind the buffer during pause you should be able to locate the flawed stream data.
    As it sometimes only happens once or twice in a single programme not surprised you don't see it anymore. Nothing to do with pausing the content. Just a coincidence I reckon.

    Hi. I pause the live TV simply to go put the kettle on, go for a pee, or whatever. So when I come back I hit play and I carry on watching from where I left off. But obviously, from this point, I'm watching the program time shifted, and sure as heck, I start seeing the incidents of brief pixelation.
    Just FYI...I'm trying to ensure I'm using the correct terminology when I'm trying to describe this issue I'm seeing. So, for example, hitting the pause button, then hitting play button (same button) is what I call Time Shift Recording even though its not a purposely made recording, and I realise I'm just using the buffering ability of the box. Also, watching live TV on the Aura is (seemingly) using the "Live TV" app to watch live TV!!! To me i just am watching digital TV, but with the Aura box... one is using an app. Slightly confusing.

    I will try and explain a bit more.

    Firstly Live TV is a seperate android app.

    Secondly the tuner extracts a stream of digital data (zeros and ones) from the multiplex you are using related to the TV channel you are using.

    A Multiplex uses a single UHF (analogue) carrier just like analogue TV. That is why there is no such thing as a digital aerial. The difference is in the way the carrier is modulated to carry video and audio data. Digital TV uses digital rather than analogue data.

    The tuner subtracts a copy of the analogue carrier producing a series of zeros and ones for the channel you are watching (it can actually do this for 2 channels at the same time (hence you can record two channels from the same multiplex using only a single tuner).

    The output is stream of zeros and ones. That's exactly what a hard disk is designed to record.

    The signal has a degree of error correction built in. If the issue affecting the decoding exceeds the error correction capability the on screen image and any recording produces frame break up.

    All the time the box is on the stream is copied to any recording you may have in progress if you are recording. It is also buffered to a seperate file on the hard disk.

    This allow two functions. One creating a complete recording of the current programme (automatically if you were tuned to it when the programme started.

    The pointers to the part of the buffer where the current programme started are reset automatically to point at this location. If you press the instant recording button the content of the buffer to the point where you pressed the record button is instantly converted into a regular recording which will continue adding to the content until the programme is completed.

    Two allows you to pause and rewind to any point within the current buffer.

    If you see a corrupted frame on screen by the time you press the pause button it will already be in the buffer file (and also in any recording in progress on the same channel which you may or may not be watching. Of course if not watching you will only find out when you watch the recording.

    It is thought that the aura tuners are very sensitive which in one way is good because they should be able to hang on to a weak signal.

    The downside is if the signal level is too high it can clip the peaks off the analogue carrier to a point where the digital error correction fails.

    It's easy to reduce the signal level using a cheap plug in attenuator.

    Post what the signal diagnostics say the channel you having issues with say.

    Rather than watch the programme live if you are recording it. Especially on channels with ads start watching the recording 15 mins or so after it has started (chasing playback). You can then skip the ads using the programmeable skip keys.

    You can also safely pause and release as many times as you want this way.

    If you try and pause live TV close to the programme end you may lose the end. Remember the buffer resets when a new programme starts.

    | Mon 15 Mar 2021 12:25:22 #20 |

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