myPVR Troubleshooting

This guide provides details on how to troubleshoot any problems you have with myPVR. If you want to see additional sections please contact OpenMedia Support.

Changing channels on freeview is slow

This is an effect of the digital system in use by freeview. For satellite delivery they use two digital multiplexes, where each multiplex can hold up to 9 channels. If you change to a channel on another multiplex it can take several seconds to get a signal lock.

You might notice a similar delay when first selecting a freeview channel for Live TV. If after 5-10 seconds the channel still hasn’t loaded use the up/down keys on your remote to select another freeview channel. Should the problem persist then contact OpenMedia support.

Fastforward / Rewind pauses after only a few seconds

This is an issue with the main MythTV release and is being investigated. It appears that this problem is intermittent. Rather than using fastforward/rewinding try using the left/right buttons to skip through a program. We will advise once this bug has been fixed

Cannot rewind to the previous program when watching Live TV

This is known problem. When you are watching Live TV the myPVR software is always recording a copy of the program to the internal hard drive so that you can pause or rewind the show. It also utilises the EPG data to start a new recording based on the time a program is supposed to finish. Because programs tend to overrun this can result in the playback buffer for a show stretching across two files. At present MythTV cannot rewind into a previous file.

In order to avoid this problem you should program your shows via the EPG and watch them via Recorded TV, rather than use LiveTV.

System appears to freeze

There is a multi step process to try and recover from a potential system freeze. In most cases you should only need to follow steps 1 or 2.

  1. Press the power button on the remote control once. This should exit the normal myPVR gui and leave the welcome screen showing. Pressing OK on the remote will restart the main user interface.
  2. Pressing the power button a second time should force a full restart of the user interface. After a couple of seconds a login prompt should appear. This will auto login after 30 seconds, returning to the normal myPVR user interface.
    Please note that you are only restarting the user interface. An recording should continue in the background.
  3. Perform a safe system reboot. Pressing the power button on the front of your myPVR once should result in a controlled shut-down of the unit. Once the unit has powered off press the power button again to restart.
    Note that this will interrupt any recordings that are in progress.
  4. Emergency reboot – If you press and hold the power button the unit should perform an emergency shut-down. This should only be performed if none of the steps 1-3 above work. Allow the unit a minute and then power it back on.

If possible you should make a note of the action you were performing at the time of the freeze. If the problem re-occurs then let OpenMedia Support know as soon as possible.

Missing EPG Data for selected channels or days

Whilst OpenMedia doesn’t directly provide the EPG data, it is very important that myPVR has a reliable EPG data source. Typically the EPG will have between 4 and 8 days of guide data, but this can vary across the channels.

There are times where the EPG data sources might be incomplete. You can force an EPG refresh via the myPVR Support Menus. Otherwise it might be worth waiting 24 hours as there might be an external problem that is causing the problem.

Should the problems persist then send an email to OpenMedia support stating the days and channels affected and we will investigate.

Boot issues, or “Press CTRL-D to continue” messages

We have now produced an additional guide on Disk Troubleshooting. This guide covers how to recover your drive if it is having problems booting, and also how to diagnose if you have a potential hard drive failure.