BlueCurve PQ Suffers During Simultaneous Playback of Recorded TV?

[wiredpuppy]

I just recently acquired a newer TV and hooked it up to my existing XG1v4 BlueCurve TV player. My older TV I moved down to the basement and hooked it up to a newly acquired XiD portal player.

I've noticed that when another family member is downstairs watching recorded TV on the portal (recordings being stored on the XG1v4 PVR), the picture quality off of the XG1V4 while also watching recorded TV suffers from horrible stuttering/pixelation. I don't see this if no one is watching recorded TV downstairs off of the portal. I have also confirmed that the PQ issue isn't inherent in the recorded video itself, because if I go back and replay the sections where I noticed the issue it isn't there anymore. I'm guessing that there may be some contention for hardware resources on the XG1v4 while simultaneous playback of recorded TV is occurring (HDD access maybe?)

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there anything I can do to alleviate this issue? Note that it isn't a WiFi issue....both XiD and XG1v4 players are wired with coax, and they are the only 2 BlueCurve devices i have.

[mdk]

@wiredpuppy -- I'm guessing that there may be some contention for hardware resources on the XG1v4 while simultaneous playback of recorded TV is occurring (HDD access maybe?)

I agree. But, with a properly-performing HDD, you should not have a problem.

Can you logon to the web-interface of the XG1v4 BlueCurve? Is there any way to display the "health" of the HDD?

Shaw would not be happy if you violated the warranty, by opening-up the BlueCurve box, extracting the HDD, and attaching it as a "secondary" disk-drive on some computer, and then running some free software, such as SPECCY, to view the SMART status of the HDD? You won't be able to access the files stored on the HDD, but SPECCY will extract the SMART information.

[wiredpuppy]

I have had issues in the past that I suspected may be HDD-related, but they only surface rarely and I've been able to get along. For instance, there have been a couple of occasions where the PVR reports that the HDD is 100% full, and only a re-boot will let me go back in and delete what seems to be endless recordings of a single show. I always suspected that the HDD is not working entirely as it should. 

You're right though, I'd be loath to open it up void the warranty to self-diagnose the problem.

There's a web interface for the XG1v4? I wasn't aware of that. 

[rstra]

There is no web interface, unless he means the BlueCurve TV online. 

Your recording are on the cloud pvr, so it is likely not a hard drive issue. I wonder if it is  an issue with the basement cable line, possibly outside the moca network. Do you have another xid or is it just the two TVs?

[mdk]

@wiredpuppy -- when another family member is downstairs watching recorded TV on the portal (recordings being stored on the XG1v4 PVR). ... both XiD and XG1v4 players are wired with coax, and they are the only 2 BlueCurve devices I have.

@rstra -- Your recording are on the cloud pvr, so it is likely not a hard drive issue ... Do you have another xid or is it just the two TVs?

So, where are the recordings? On one of his two devices (namely the PVR) or in the cloud?

[wiredpuppy]

The XG1v4 is a PVR with an internal 500gb hard drive. All recordings are stored on the device, not in the cloud. Not sure why @rstra indicated they are on the cloud pvr as I stated in a prior post that this was not the case.

[wiredpuppy]

No, they are not on the cloud PVR....what would be the point of having an internal hard disk then? As for the moca network, it's my understanding that BlueCurve is no longer on an internal moca network. When the installer came initially to install the BlueCurve gateway a couple of years ago he removed all the moca hardware that was on the coax....it's all straight coax now.

[wiredpuppy · Accepted solution]

After discussing my issues with Shaw Tech support, they agreed to ship out a replacement XG1v4 player to me so I could swap it out with my current one. Hopefully that should fix all my issues.

[rstra]

@wiredpuppy 

All BlueCurve hardware records to the cloud, try it by accessing your recordings with the app.

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/tv-articles/equipment-info-bluecurve-tv-hardware/ta-p/6646#content-sectio...

The wired BlueCurve equipment uses moca.

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/tv-articles/equipment-info-bluecurve-tv-player-xid/ta-p/5064

The function of the portal is to connect Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) to the BlueCurve TV class of PVRs.

[mdk]

@wiredpuppy -- they are not on the cloud PVR....what would be the point of having an internal hard disk then?

Maybe, to make the "rewind" function work, while watching "live" TV?

From the web-page that @rstra cited:

Multiple Networked PVRs
Up to three BlueCurve TV boxes can be installed, for increased storage and tuners

Cloud PVR
Record content to the cloud and watch it anywhere, anytime with BlueCurve TV.

Cloud PVR features are only available customers in Calgary and select surrounding areas at this time.

That "increased storage" comes from the 500 GB disk-drive inside each TV box.

I have used "overstrike" on the final sentence that I quoted, because that statement no longer is accurate. Many areas in/near Vancouver and Victoria are now "cloud-ready".