Well, that was fun.

In my previous post, I mentioned that there were some problems with the Fire TV Stick connected to the Fire TV Recast DVR. Some of the problems are due to user error as this is my first experience with Amazon's user interface. Before this, we've only used older versions of the Kindle. One of the little annoyances, is deleting a recorded program, but having it remain in the recording series until you exit out of the recording series and re-enter. Another annoying thing, which is somewhat related, is that when you finish viewing an older recording, Fire TV wants to automatically begin playing the next program recorded in the series. I understand some folks want to binge watch their recordings to get 'caught up' with the series, but in my case, I want to delete the recording before moving on to the next. There are very few recordings that I want to keep, so I would rather be given an option, much like Netflix, to continue with the next program, or exit 'binge watching mode' so that I can delete the program before viewing the next in the series. This is especially true with Jeopardy!

Speaking of Jeopardy!, we suddenly were unable view our most recent recording. When we attempted to view the recording created less than 1 hour prior to our viewing, the screen displayed the title and the three dots in 'buffering' mode, fading in and out. I tried everything I could think of, like exiting and returning to the series, exiting 'DVR' menu item and returning to the 'DVR' menu item. I even unplugged the Recast and plugged it back in. Nothing worked. I did however, notice that when I fast-forwarded through the show, I could see video in the thumbnail, but when I stopped the 'buffering' display continued. I have the Amazon Fire TV app on my phone. I brought up the recording and was able to view it, but there was no sound. Subtitles were available, but that is a painful way to watch Jeopardy!

So the next day, I decided to contact Amazon support via chat. Below is a snippet of the chat.

I won't include the whole log, nor will I bore you with the details. Basically, for nearly 40 minutes I was passed around their support team (not sure how much of it is chatbot) until I finally got to chat with 'Melvin'. I assume that Melvin is part of the actual Recast support team, or maybe one of its developers. Basically he confirmed that I had done all of the things that he suggested to help fix the problem. The end result is that he would submit a problem ticket:

" 11:24 AM PST Melvin: Alright thank you for all that information. So what I'm going to do in this case, because the troubleshooting steps are basic and already followed, is to escalate this issue, so I'll create a ticket."

A problem ticket was created and he indicated that he would send an email when the technical people had a solution to the problem. I only received a follow-up email with the chat log.

The next day, I decided to check another program that we record on the same station as Jeopardy! and, lo and behold, I encountered the same problem. Interestingly, older recordings of the same program played just fine. Then I had a feeling of deja-vu. We had a similar problem a year before with our Dish TV Over The Air recording. My sister-in-law records Jeopardy! on her antiquated OTA DVR and mentioned that the station airing the program had changed something with their digital broadcast which affected her recording. She had to re-scan her channels in order to properly record the show. We had to do the same thing with our Dish OTA tuner.

I immediately went into the Recast controls and re-scanned the available channels. I then did a 'test' record on the problem channel and voila, the problem disappeared and we have not had a problem since.

Well, that was fun! (?)

So, if you are experiencing a problem recording programs on a specific channel with Recast, perhaps that station has done an equipment upgrade causing a 're-jiggering' of their signal and you need to have Recast re-scan the available channels in your area.

Oh, that Ring doorbell that I mentioned in the last post is still in the box. I read the instructions (I love printed instructions) and checked my existing doorbell wiring and I'm ready to install. I'll write about that in my next blog.

Until then, thanks for reading!

Phil