F

New Member

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5 Messages

Saturday, August 8th, 2020 10:50 PM

Wireless receiver jumping to live TV

This channel has jumped to live TV to allow TV viewing or recording on the DVR receiver

 

The error above has been plaguing me for quite a while now. I understand it happens when the remote receiver cannot communicate with the DVR. AT&T "tech" support has been unable to help me. It occurs after I've replayed or paused live TV.

 

Is anyone out there had this error and figured out how to get rid of it?

 

ACE - Expert

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27.6K Messages

4 years ago

Have you rebooted the STB in question and/or the gateway?

ACE - Professor

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7.6K Messages

4 years ago

This is a bit of an ongoing hassle, at least it is with me. I'm not saying it's a cure-all, but here's what I've done. It seems to help.

 

1) Plug your AT&T equipment directly into the wall. Avoid power strips and surge protectors. I know this is unorthodox, but it seems like AT&T equipment needs a solid flow of electricity.

 

2) When you're not recording anything, press the red button on the back of your gateway for about 20 seconds or until the lights on the front go crazy. WARNING...if you changed your WiFi name password, you'll have to reset it. It'll show up as whatever it came to you as. You'll have to reset it back to "JoeWiFi" or whatever you want. If you use the same name/password, your devices will automatically reconnect.

 

Obviously, do not do this while recording. Your recordings and scheduled recordings will all be saved, but you'll get zero signal for TV or internet for maybe 20 minutes or so.

 

3) Make sure your wireless receivers are getting strong signals.

 

4) Do what it takes to change wireless channels if possible...maybe at least consider it if necessary.

 

5) When possible, record everything. I consistently have 80+ shows in my list of shows to be recorded. Right now, I have 98.

 

The thing I said earlier about resetting the gateway? You may want to do that a few times a year just to make sure the newest software is properly installed.

 

 

And why are you getting that message? There's a lot of equipment that needs to be in-synch with each other in order for it to work. Believe it or not, it has nothing to do with actually recording stuff.

 

Your one device gets out of synch with the other stuff, the whole system gets confused and it's like "Welp! I don't know what to do with the buffer. I'm going to jump ahead to live TV."

(edited)

New Member

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5 Messages

4 years ago

Forgot to mention... that there is another wireless receiver in the house that this problem does not occur on, so rebooting the gateway I don't believe will fix this. I have rebooted the involved receiver many, many times and it still happens. Have also rebooted the DVR and no luck.

Community Support

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230.7K Messages

4 years ago

We would be happy to help you with your U-verse DVR issue @frownsalot!

 

We have a website tool to help you troubleshoot this issue to see if it can be resolved, however there is a chance the unit needs to be replaced.

 

Refer to our Troubleshoot and Resolve tool, follow the path for TV > U-verse TV > DVR Support > Can't Pause Live TV.

 

This will help determine what needs to be done to resolve!

 

Jessika, AT&T Community Specialist

ACE - Professor

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7.6K Messages

4 years ago

Replacing equipment won't necessarily fix it. In addition, you'll lose all your saved shows if the error happens on your DVR.

 

This is an error that AT&T could (probably) easily fix, but they choose not to.

New Member

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5 Messages

4 years ago

ATTHelp: Even though "can't pause live TV" is not my issue, I followed your link and it didn't help as it ended up recommending factory resetting DVR and losing all recording. Not convinced yet that problem is with the DVR as the other wireless receiver in my house does not have this issue.

Also, I have tried calling your tech support line and was extremely disappointed and frustrated. First, after it was obvious that the level 1 person who answered call did not have any idea how to fix, I insisted on talking to a level 2 person.  This person also had never heard of this problem, had me try a few things (that didn't work) and promised me he would do further research and call me back.  *HE NEVER called me back*.

If you know someone who's knowledgeable enough to help me finally resolve this seemingly never ending problem, I'd be happy to connect with them.

NOTE: I can pause live TV and, at times for unknown reasons, the error doesn't occur right away. It seems to occur if I continue to watch same program with some time built up in the DVR buffer. That is why I say it isn't accurate to label the problem "can't pause live TV".

(edited)

ACE - Professor

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7.6K Messages

4 years ago

As I've said...this is a known issue. It's basically because the equipment in your house (DVR, WAP, RG, receivers) all need to communicate with each other. When these lines of communication break down, the error occurs.

 

Did you try a hard reset of your RG via the red button on the back?

Community Support

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230.7K Messages

4 years ago

Let's see if we can get this DVR issue resolved @frownsalot!

 

We understand that "cant pause live TV" is not the actual issue, it does relate and has the troubleshooting to help resolve this. However, it does include formatting the DVR and we can understand you would like to avoid that so here are a few other things you can try instead:

  1. Ensure you have the DVR plugged into the power outlet directly (not plugged into surge protector or power strip). They are known to cause issues with DVRs including jumping back to live TV.
  2. If you aren't using a power/surge protector, or plugging directly into the wall fails to work out, swap the equipment with another receiver to see if the issue follows the receiver or stays in the room. This will help determine if the issue is with the DVR itself or the connections in the room have an issue. 

Please let us know if this helps resolve the issue!

 

Jessika, AT&T Community Specialist

New Member

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5 Messages

4 years ago

OK, I have tried something that has been working for almost a week now and am "crossing my fingers" it will stay that way. I have moved the WAP closer to the receiver having the problem and also moved the receiver from on top of my TV to a much lower position (closer to WAP also).

If this fails, I will try what you're recommending but want to wait at least another week. I will keep you updated so please stay tuned.

ACE - Professor

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7.6K Messages

4 years ago

Yeah. Some people have suggested moving the WAP as far from the RG as possible.

 

In theory, the wireless STBs are great.

 

In practice? Not so much. If you can switch to a hard-wired receiver, you may want to consider it.

(edited)

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