Freezing & Pixilation During Playback

[Peak Bagger]

Sky Box: Thomson DSI8215WDR-89 (Installed April 2008)

9 months ago, I installed a new 1TB WD Caviar Green 32MB Cache HDD to my Sky box following the instructions on this site.

However, during playback the screen will semi-freeze and pixilate for a couple of seconds every few minutes.

This was particularly noticeable during the World Cup when watching recorded football matches. The symptoms were very strange and were different depending on whether the screen was displaying lots of movement or if it was mainly static.

For example; the screen would semi-freeze and pixilate for a few seconds and would then resume playback. Then, the more motion that there was on the screen, the same pixilated pattern as at the time it froze would be displayed over the current action.

The only way to prevent this annoyance continuing was to stop playback, return to the planner and resume playback from the last viewed position. All would be fine until the screen froze again and I would have to go through the same procedure.

This freezing/pixilation happens on all playback (films, TV series etc) but is more noticeable during sports action. These symptoms do not happen during normal viewing, only during recorded playback.

I did wonder if the cache was becoming full and causing the problem. Only by stopping playback would the cache be cleared and result in normal operation.

Or do I just need to replace the HDD altogether? If so, what is the recommended HDD to use? Can I use one larger than 1TB ?

Reading these forums, many problems seem to point to faulty PSU’s. Could this be a cause ?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks
PB

[simonmpoulton]

1tb is the limit for the thomson boxes, your problem is with the drive i'm afraid. These symptoms are common with the 1tb caviar green drives in the thomsons. Have a look at the Seagate Pipeline as a good replacement for it.
Your PSU is probably also failing so get it refurbed by Satcure if you havent already.

[jasonmark38]

I remember someone else on here advised against using "green" drives, this is probably the reason why, because they do not work properly. I agree the Seagate Pipeline are excellent drives, and as a plus in my experience they do not cause the fan to run constantly, which is an annoyance with many other drive upgrades.

[Peak Bagger]

Thank you for your advice. It looks like I will be ordering a Seagate Pipeline very soon. May as well upgrade the PSU while I've got the box in pieces.

Cheers

PB

[Kenedin]

Check the state of the capacitors on the PSU. Pics here. If you're upgrading through Satcure, order the RELKIT33JS ( for larger drives ). You could also get a Local Repairer to do the job for you. I did this, everything fine with the box nowadays.

[Old_nick]

Apart from the well-known PSU problems, the Thomson is a very nice box.