Freezing Issues with Channels

You have the newest gateway there is and you have a 'newer' model DVR.

I almost hate asking this but I will.  Did you reboot your equipment in the proper sequence?

Unplug EVERYTHING

Reboot gateway first and allow all lights to come on.

Plug DVR in next.  Allow it to become functional

Plug each STB in separately allowing each to become functional before moving to the next.

Your DVR is obviously connected via Ethernet on a BGW320.  Was it on Ethernet before, or did you convert from coax?  If you converted to Ethernet, describe your Ethernet network (routers, switches, etc.).

@skeeterintexas 

I've seen this process listed out by you in other topics and have followed it to the tee. The only thing that you didn't mention, that I do, is to unplug the wireless access point as well. That's what is used for connecting the wireless STBs as I'm sure you know. So I would:

Unplug everything.

Reboot gateway and wait for all lights to come on. Then I check to see if I have internet access (both wired and WiFi) before proceeding.

Plug in DVR and wait for it to fully boot. Wait until the recordings section becomes accessible as well before proceeding.

Plug in the WAP and wait 5-7 mins before proceeding.

Then I plug in each wireless STB, one at a time, and wait for it to fully boot up (shows channels, can access recordings, etc.) before moving to the next STB.

I've done the above steps on 5 different occasions now to no avail. What I have noticed though is that the freezing/pixelation happens excessively whenever we've rewound a live channel. We are sometimes able to get rid of it by switching the channel or fast forwarding back to the live showing. It does, however, freezes/pixelates sometimes even without doing this. The freezing occurrence is by far less frequent in this case though. 

I do find it strange that in the past 8 or so years of using the Pace IPH8010 box, we have never had this issue. Could this be an Arris V2262 box issue?

Hey @JefferMC,

We had the BGW320-500 box before this one. So it was an Ethernet connection. But as mentioned, this freezing issue started when we switched from our Pace DVR to the Arris DVR. Switching gateways did not solve the issue.

As for our connection at home. Our gateway has the DVR plugged directly into it and the Uverse WAP plugged into it as well. We then have three wireless STBs that are connected to the network via the WAP.

Let me know if you guys need any additional info. My apologies for the long spiel.

Look....you can get faulty equipment.  The problem is figuring out what is faulty.

Are there issues with the STBs and the DVR equally?  Is it the DVR only?  Or more on the STBs and less on the DVR?

When watching live TV, you are watching a multicast stream coming in from the network, through the Gateway and to the receiver (via the WAP if wireless).  When you rewind live TV when watching on the DVR, the DVR reads the stream off the hard disk.  When you rewind live TV on any other receiver, the receiver is asking the DVR to provide the data in a unicast stream.  So... this leads to some additional questions:

1) Does the post-rewinding behavior happen on the DVR as well as the wireless receivers, or just one or the other?  Which?

2) Does the same behavior happen when watching recorded shows?  Does it matter if on the DVR or another receiver?

And just to be perfectly clear:

• the DVR is connected to the Gateway without an intervening Ethernet switch or router,
• the U-verse WAP is connected directly to the Gateway without an intervening Ethernet switch or router, and
• The WAP is located several feet away from the Gateway (preferably as far as the 1m cord will allow)

@skeeterintexas 

It appears to happen equally on both DVR and STBs alike, mostly whenever we've rewound the feed. Currently, I'm running a test where, since the start of the morning, we have not rewound the feed. It has been 2 hours now and we haven't seen any freezing/pixelating issue. The plan is to go ahead and rewind it when we hit 3 hrs without problems. FYI, that 2 hrs run is the longest we've ever gone, since getting the Arris, without a freezing issue.

@JefferMC 

The post-rewinding issue happens on both DVR and wireless STBs alike.

I like this second ask. What we've noticed that if we were rewinding on another channel during a recording, the recording will save that freezing issue within the file. So when you play that recording back, it will perpetually exhibit the issue at those timestamps. And you will see the issue whether you play it directly from the DVR or from another receiver. We try our best to ensure we are not rewinding during the times we record, but sometimes we forget and we will most likely generate the problem.

As for your last asks:

The DVR is connected directly to the gateway.

The WAP is connected directly to the gateway.

The WAP is quite a way away from the gateway. We have it another room basically. Maybe about 5-6 feet away.

I've been leaning towards the DVR box myself, but I would like to give that acid test a shot for further confirmation. Thanks for the suggestion there.

I would also like to report that I went ahead and rewound that live TV feed, that was ongoing for 3+ hrs, and in about a minute or so, nothing but constant freezes. Maybe 5 or 6 in the space of 25 seconds. Went ahead and fast forwarded it to the live stream, and it has been fine since. Do you think that definitively points to the DVR, or should I still perform your suggested acid test?

No, I think it's pretty clear that you've got a bad DVR.

Understood. I will go ahead and begin discussions with AT&T to get another box in. 

Many thanks for yours and Skeeter's help here.