Troubleshooting: EyeTV Activates, Recording is not made, or Recording is incomplete

(This is a Troubleshooting article related to the parent article “I am having problems with missed or skipped recordings.” You may wish to view the parent article for more information.)

If EyeTV launches, but recordings are still not made, there could be a communications problem between EyeTV and the tuner hardware, a problem with the video source, or a problem writing the recording file. The result is that you may have no recordings, or empty recordings that are “0kb” in size. This is the same as a “0 seconds” recording

Check Live TV Window

Verify that your Live TV is still working. The Live TV window may display a status message such as “No Signal”, or “This Channel is currently not available”, or “The Device Could Not Be Initialized.” Click on the live TV window to receive further troubleshooting options.

In some cases, the tuner hardware may not be found at all, or may experience problems working directly after waking from sleep, or after your Mac has just been turned on. This can be indicative of a hardware problem with the tuner.

Reset EyeTV Hardware

If the tuner hardware cannot be found, try disconnecting and reconnecting the tuner hardware, or removing other USB devices and connecting the tuner hardware directly to a USB port on your Mac.

Reset PRAM

Try resetting the Mac’s PRAM:

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Press the power button to turn the computer on. You will hear the computer’s startup sound.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys and let the computer boot fully.

Check EyeTV Archive

Verify that the EyeTV Archive location is accessible and available for being written to when the recording is to take place.
Some drive enclosures maintain separate energy saver settings, and do not wake with the rest of your system for recordings. If you have recently moved your EyeTV Archive location, verify that the new location is readable and writable by your account and EyeTV by creating a short manual recording by opening a live TV window and creating a short recording.

If the Recording is incomplete, then there may have been a problem with the TV source itself, communication between the tuner hardware and your mac, or a problem writing the incoming recording.

Check Live TV Quality

Check your live TV source to make sure that the broadcast is of high quality and free from dropouts. If EyeTV detects no signal for several seconds, then the recording will be aborted. If a particular channel is susceptible to regular dropouts, you may need to use a different antenna, or contact your television service provider to improve the quality of this channel.

Check For Signal Dropouts

Observe EyeTV to see if regular extended viewing (30-60 minutes) causes signal dropouts. This could indicate a communications problem with the tuner hardware, or a hardware problem such as over-heating.

Check EyeTV Archive Location Availability

Check to see if the EyeTV Archive Location is becoming unavailable or occupied during your scheduled recording times. Some drive enclosures may enter a sleep mode independently of your Mac’s energy saver, which can interrupt recordings. Also, if backup software becomes active during a recording, this can result in recording problems as well.

Check Hard Drive Space

Check to see if the EyeTV Archive Location is full. If your hard drive is nearly full, EyeTV receives a warning that the disk is running out of space, and will halt any recordings in progress. If your EyeTV Archive Location is the same drive as your Startup Disk, then you may unexpectedly run out of hard drive space due to Mac OS X’s virtual memory system. Mac OS X’s virtual memory system can reserve up to a GB or more of disk space per active application, which reduces the amount you have available for recordings.