Suppress the "unable to record" dialog?

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LrngToFly

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Suppress the "unable to record" dialog?

#1

Post by LrngToFly » Sat Jul 08, 2017 4:25 pm

Hello-

I have a Win7 based Ceton InfinitTV 6 (Ethernet) + 4 Ceton Echo system. I recently switched from Comcast to Fios. I'm now getting regular "unable to record" messages on TV shows. Each darn Echo has to click on an OK or "Recorded TV" box a bunch of times etc. and it's annoying. The vast majority of the failed recordings are kids TV shows (reruns) and so it's not a big deal. I've tried changing my splitter (only two things are attached to the Fios coax - one Fios set top box and the InfiniTV and the InfinitTV is a three foot cable (which I've also switched out) from the FIOS ONT.)

So I don't really care to troubleshoot why the InfiniTV isn't recording.

Does anyone know if there's some secret registry key or something to stop the darn "unable to record" message from coming up? Having to click these on my WMC computer + 4 different Echos is awful- and not passing the "wife acceptance test"!

Thanks!

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Crash2009

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#2

Post by Crash2009 » Tue Jul 11, 2017 2:28 am

Might be easier to make the tuner work.

Suppressing an error pop-up requires a hex editing specialist, firstly the file has to be forceably removed from windows, then once he finds the cells to edit, you have to open the file with a hex editor. After you get the file edited, you have to inject it back into your O/S and properly register it.

Hex edits may cause other problems.

What is wrong with the tuner?

LrngToFly

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#3

Post by LrngToFly » Tue Jul 11, 2017 10:38 am

Yeah, I have no idea. I got this error 1-2 times per month with Comcast, not a big deal. After I switched over to Fios a couple of months ago, I get it on multiple recordings per day. Mostly on one channel (SD Nick Tunes channel.) Lots of shows from that channel record fine. Oddly, I mostly got this error with Comcast on the SD Nick Tunes channel too. Neither service provides that channel in HD. There are just three things between the Fios ONT unit and my Ceton InfiniTV 6 Ethernet - two coax cables and a 2 way splitter (other split goes to a single Fios set top box.) I've switched out both cables and the splitter and it didn't help. Both coax cables are 3 feet long- the equipment is in my basement.

I'm planning to switch to an OTT TV service relatively soon. My kids watch a lot of shows on the Nickelodeon channels- which is Viacom. Right now DirectTV Now is the only service which offers Viacom, but they don't have a Cloud DVR service. Also, I have a Apple TV, Fire TV, Roku and my family greatly prefers the Apple TV. I'm hoping Apple will offer a cheaper 1080p Apple TV this fall. So as soon as the stars align- either DirectTV Now offers a Cloud DVR or one of the other services begins to carry Viacom, and Apple offers a ~$75 1080p AppleTV (I'll need to buy 4 more) I'm going OTT. I'm within antenna distance of my locals, I just ordered a HDHomeRun Connect for the OTA channels.

So I was hoping there would be an easy way to suppress the error message before I retire my WMC system. It sure has saved me a ton of money on Comcast set top box rental fees since 2011 (5 TVs in my house)- plus I've had "whole house DVR" all that time!

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DavidinCT

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#4

Post by DavidinCT » Thu Jul 20, 2017 1:44 pm

The messages come up when no signal was detected or there was an error with the tuner. Media Center will got through all tuners to try to record the show when it does not see a signal on a tuner. The message will show up for EACH tuner that it tried to access with out luck, so If your using a Infinty 6 tuner and only that tuner (no others) you should see this message 6 times (like that happenss to me time to time).

If you find a HEX edit to disable this message, it will cause other problems not to show messages.

So, with out mofiying Windows system files, there is no way to suppress this message.
-Dave
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Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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Crash2009

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#5

Post by Crash2009 » Thu Jul 20, 2017 2:52 pm

I just reread the post he's got and eth 6.

Probably you should be redirected over to the eth 6 troubleshooting post.

Could be overheating also could be your network

Wild guess..... your eth is plugged into a router instead of a switch, or your htpc and tuner are plugged into different switches or routers.

Don't use the router as a switch plug both units into the same switch not the same router

Roginator

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#6

Post by Roginator » Thu Jul 20, 2017 9:17 pm

Not sure if this is related, but I recently added a 2-tuner HDHomerun Connect for OTA broadcasts to my 3-tuner HDHomerun Prime.

If I tried to record some local channels on cable, it would first say "can't record" then would eventually record the show. Trying to watch the show live was impossible. Turns out Media Center was trying to use the OTA signal instead of the cable signal.

Go into TASKS: SETTINGS: TV: GUIDE: EDIT CHANNELS: and click on the channel that is causing problems. Now click on EDIT SOURCES and carefully examine the sources where Media Center plans to look for that channel. As you go through the list, look towards the bottom and see what channel number each tuner is trying to use. Deselect any that shouldn't be there.

I had some weird ones where I had no idea how Media Center came up with some channels. Mostly it was Media Center trying to use an OTA channel with no signal instread of the requested cable channel.

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#7

Post by adam1991 » Thu Jul 20, 2017 9:23 pm

A few weeks ago I had a couple of power burps in the house. I was at work at the time, but my wife informed me.

When I got home, I discovered that the burps had caused my network switch to shut off--no lights. ????? A simple power cycle brought it back up.

But in the meantime, WMC had tried to record several shows--and had cycled through all six HD Homerun tuners for each show, and of course failed. Man, what a pain that was to dismiss that huge bunch of warnings.

foxwood

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#8

Post by foxwood » Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:24 pm

I wonder if you can edit the SD Nick Tunes station to only use one of the 6 tuners, so that you'd only get one error message? I can't remember what the process is for dealing with conflicts when a specific tuner isn't available, but if the Nick shows are mainly recorded at times when other things aren't being recorded, it might be a worthwhile tradeoff.

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Crash2009

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#9

Post by Crash2009 » Sat Jul 29, 2017 7:32 am

foxwood wrote:I wonder if you can edit the SD Nick Tunes station to only use one of the 6 tuners, so that you'd only get one error message? I can't remember what the process is for dealing with conflicts when a specific tuner isn't available, but if the Nick shows are mainly recorded at times when other things aren't being recorded, it might be a worthwhile tradeoff.

This is how Graznok stopped volume popup, over my head to figure out what to edit. My five-year-old showed me how to hex edit.

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/thread ... st-1204976

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DavidinCT

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#10

Post by DavidinCT » Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:14 am

Crash2009 wrote:
foxwood wrote:I wonder if you can edit the SD Nick Tunes station to only use one of the 6 tuners, so that you'd only get one error message? I can't remember what the process is for dealing with conflicts when a specific tuner isn't available, but if the Nick shows are mainly recorded at times when other things aren't being recorded, it might be a worthwhile tradeoff.

This is how Graznok stopped volume popup, over my head to figure out what to edit. My five-year-old showed me how to hex edit.

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/thread ... st-1204976
Yea, that worked like a dream. I have WIndows 7 so tweaked removing the messages (like volume and res too hight when running 4K), my project of putting WMC 10 on 8.1 for RDP, etc is on hold !

I still would avoid doing what the OP is asking for...as it will cause other issues. The volume popup is a known issue from Microsoft (BUGGED BY ME BEOFORE RTM) with a combo of hardware, that I have never figured out (that according to Microsoft) but, they were unwilling to fix it...
-Dave
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Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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