DVR won't record

Korona165

When I turn on my DVR from being off all night I get a message saying starting up from energy saving mode. I turned that off so why am I still seeing that. When it's in energy saving mode it must no record being it misses shows to record. It does not start to record till it's out of energy saving mode.

I got the Spectrum Guide the box is Spectrum 201. Of topic but they should of put a cooling fan it the box. I had to get a laptop cooling pad to put the box on top of it to stop it from over heating.

Satch

Hello @Korona165

Welcome to our forum!

I will start by saying make sure that your box environment is well ventilated! The new World Boxes Spectrum 100's and 200 series lack an interior cool fan. (A huge drawback.) Your placement of them, if you do top-shelf style, with nothing on the top and a good 4-6 inches of space ventilation on all sides. (A small fan on top of the box, or in the enclosed area, or a cooling pad should be OK). Don't block air vents! There should not be a door on your cabinet configuration. If your cabinet has a door, make sure that top and bottom of the cabinet have 4-6 inches of space for airflow. Can you provide a picture of your box's environment? We can look at that and make suggestions to see if its installation is OK. Have you had issues with past World Boxes over-heating?

The box should still record in energy saving mode and even when turned off. Energy saving mode turns the box off so that to save energy but that should not affect recording. If you have Power Save mode turned on, and you watch a channel for more than 4 hours without changing it, you will get a message saying saying "To continue watching this channel press (the corresponding key.) that it says on the screen. If energy saving mode/power save mode is off as done by the user, it should stay off.

We would recommend a review and consideration of the following:

1.) A provided screenshot of your boxes environment where it sits. (Check ventilation recommendations above.)

2.) A service call for a tech visit to arrange for a signal and drop line test. If your signals or lines are poor, your equipment will not work properly. Your box is not recording properly so it could be signals, aging wiring, plus the possibility of over-heating. You should get a tech visit.

3.) A new box to correct the over-heating problem. Replacing the box has helped some customers with over-heating issues. But your ventilation space is critical and needs to be checked. Please have your tech check your box's ventilation.

Satch

Korona165

Its not over heating anymore. But it did the same thing this AM did not record because it was in energy saving mode. When I turned the box on it said something like waking up from energy saving mode. Then it stated to record. I have that mode turned off . So overnight not being in use for a long time if I turn the box off right the night before it should not enter that mode and if it dose it still should record. So why is this happening? It's my first world box I had a old Samsung before this one.

Satch

Sup @Korona165?

Thanks for the update! I assume that you are powering off the box with a remote button that says system "System Power" or "All Power." and that you don't have any special power outlet considerations relating to your CATV box or equipment. "All Power" or "System Power" would turn off the box for the night. But there still should be power going to the box even when turned off to get system updates, and to record things scheduled to record.

A Spectrum World Box not recording because it is in Power Saver Mode or turned off for the night is not normal. As stated, Power Saving Mode is programmed into the box to save server bandwidth when turned on so that the box will turn off after four hours of being on the same channel. Turning off power save mode should only stop the message from appearing. It should not be affecting scheduled recordings in any way.

1.) I would suggest powering off everything. TV, cable box, everything, and unplugging your cable box for at least five minutes. After five minutes have elapsed, plug your cable box back in and wait for it to reboot. (A cold reboot of your World Box.)

2.) When the reboot has concluded, turn on your TV and go to your settings and see that power save mode is turned off. If not, turn it off.

3.) With the box having been recently cold rebooted, set up a recording for a time that you know you will have the box and TV turned off.

4.) Turn off the box and TV for at least six to eight hours of typical overnight non-activity.

5.) When that six to eight hours have concluded, and you turn on your box and TV, check for that message and check for that recording you scheduled during overnight hours:

A.) If you don't see the message after several hours with the box and TV being off for scheduled recordings, and the message about power save mode does not return,the cold reboot of the box has solved the problem.

B.) If you do see the Power Save mode message or it comes back after the cold reboot of equipment, you will need a tech visit to check your signals/equipment and likely a box replacement.

My biggest concern is scheduled recordings not being recorded during the night when everything is turned off. Does this process happen every night after say six to eight hours of the TV and box being off? Or is it like every third night or so, or is it completely random?

Let us know, and follow the above steps. If they don't work, you will need a tech visit. For our reference what is the manufacturer of your World Box DVR? I would guess it's a 210 version. But is it a Humax, Technocolor/Cisco, or Arris.? They are the three companies that make World Boxes for Spectrum.

Satch

HT_Greenfield

Also just curious if you could browse around in the DVR and settings menus and see if you can find a DVR event history log and, if so, if there are any events in there that shed any light on any lost or failed scheduled recordings.

Korona165

I seemed to fix it there was a setting called Auto Power Down I just turned that off just to see what would happen. With that setting off and Energy Power mode off seemed to fix it recorded this AM

Korona165

I do have two things to say and ones a question. In the Spectrum Guide and DVR interface is there a way to select more then one program to delete in the DVR.2 if this Spectrum Guide the future to Spectrum then a user should be able to manage the DVR from the Spectrum TV App. So my feedback is to be able to use the App to manage my DVR. If you could pass this feedback along.

Satch

Greetings @Korona165,

Glad you found what could be a solution for this! I have a question for the community:

For those who have Spectrum Guide, can you provide the steps on how to disable "Auto Power Down" and turn off "Power Save Mode" for other customers who could be affected by losing recordings with this feature enabled,

Power Save Mode-Turns the box off after 4 hours of remaining on the same channel. But why is "Auto Power Down" there in the first place and what does it do to box functionality? It seems as though both of these settings should be off by default. If not, why haven't we had a ton of customers complaining that their shows are not recording when the box and TV are turned off running Spectrum Guide?

Satch

HT_Greenfield

Spectrum Guide menu, Settings & Support, Preferences, Digital Receiver:

•Auto Power Down, options = On or Off, automatically power down after four hours of inactivity

•Energy Saving, options = On or Off, save energy when powered down

Right or wrong, both also say DVR recordings will continue as scheduled.

Korona165

Menu then went down to the bottom to Settings & Support. Next I went to Preferences then went right to Digital Receiver then next you get Power Settings. I don't know why the settings have to be all of but they do I have no problems now. I did not use energy saving mode anyways but I would of liked to use the auto power down. Oh well I also don't know why it did not still record when you guys said it still should of. Did you get my App feedback?

Satch

Spectrum Guide menu, Settings & Support, Preferences, Digital Receiver:

•Auto Power Down, options = On or Off, automatically power down after four hours of inactivity

•Energy Saving, options = On or Off, save energy when powered down

Right or wrong, both also say DVR recordings will continue as scheduled.

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Thank you @HT_Greenfield for this list. I don't think that Energy Saver saves that much energy anyway. Years ago, we had one of my tech guys do an amperage reading with the box on and the box off. The differences were so minor that it was not even distinguishable on his meter. It might have even been the same.

So @Korona165 you had to turn both of these settings off to get your box to record when powered off? Boxes need to remain plugged in, because they have to get system updates. Never unplug your box if you go away on vacation! Some people leave for a month with an unplugged box, and they come home to a bricked box! (A surge protector will protect your equipment, but only if the switch is turned on.) The boxes periodically need to call the "Mother Ship" to get updates.

Satch

Korona165

Yes I had to turn both off to record a program. This is was the issue I turned of my box the night before say at 2:00AM did not turn it back on till the next day say 3:00PM. The issue was it never recorded my program at 2:00PM. Because the box entered energy saving mode and auto down. If the box is broken could not tell you. I found a work around

HT_Greenfield

All and all, it sounds like Energy Saving does impact scheduled recordings and Auto Power Down effects Energy Saving even when the stand-alone Energy Saving setting is off. Which may just be peculiar to the permutation of versions of code modules you having running on the receiver.

Satch

@HT_Greenfield,

I am more confused by Auto Power Down than by Energy Saver. The ODN guide that I run on my Cisco 9865 DVR has Power Save Mode which shuts the box off after six hours of inactivity from the user. (i.e being on the same channel for 6 hours.) For Spectrum Guide, Power Saving Mode is now called Energy Saver, shutting down after four hours of inactivity, not six.

@Korona165 found a work around for all of his/her recordings to record, that works with both Energy Saver and Auto Power Down turned off in Spectrum Guide. But what are advantages and disadvantages to Auto Power Down? If the box says, recordings should still record regardless of these settings, it sounds like @Korona165 recording issues may be unique.

Satch

HT_Greenfield

You wouldn't expect Auto Power Down alone to invoke Energy Saving and you wouldn't expect Energy Saving to impact scheduled recordings but it sounds like that's what happens and it may just be peculiar to one or another combination of hardware & firmware & software versions.

Satch

Agree @HT_Greenfield,

It shouldn't matter, and it might be unique to that market or firmware configuration. The important thing is that @Korona165 found a workaround solution.

Korona165

Yup sounds like two customer service tech reps.