The error I am receiving can be found within the series recording History as follows:

"Your  Show was not recorded.  There was an unexpected failure. (Error code: 771)"

Here are the specific details in relative sequence:

- Error only occurs when two shows are recorded at the same time slow

- Error only occurs two "series" are being recorded, not one "series" and one manually selected show, even when at the same time

- When error occurs it shows the exclamation mark in the system tray and when going into VMC to resolve the conflict it states something to the effect that the a change in the guide has shown a conflict and resolved it, but still thinks it can only record one of the two shows.  This is even after the fact that I am able to go to live tv and watch a second show immediately without any problem (while it is recording the first show fine all the while).

- The is no crash log, the system does not actually crash. The error log is always within the recording "history" and always listed as error 771

- When attempting to resolve the conflict within VMC it says you can only select one of the two shows no matter what

- Even though it states you can only record one of the two shows you can always go in to either the guide or live tv and actually watch the show that failed to record WHILE it is recording the other show, which was successful

- No matter what you cannot manually record the failed show from live tv or the guide, even though you can watch it

- The only way to get the second (failed show) to record is to manually go into the "series" settings and cancel the series for good.  You may then go in and either re-add the series and it immediately begins recording or manually record it from the guide successfully

- The failed recording is always the one of the two shows that is lower on the series "priority" listing, always

- The bug occurs with SD or HD series being recorded

- What is odd and concistent is the fact that if you have one show recorded as a "series" and the other you manually record in advance via the guide both shows record without any issues.  However the minute the same two shows are both recorded series one of them fails.

Steps that have been futile in resolving this bug:

- Manually removing all duplicate channels, specifically the SD versions of shows that are in HD...such as ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX.  This way there are only HD, or SD versions and not two.

- Removing firewall & virus protection

- Did not installed October 14th KB955519

- Resetting up the TV settings from scratch

- Removing and resetting up the EPG

- Removing the entire recordings file and re-adding all series back one by one

- Some others who do not have two ATI tuners are also seeing this issue, so it cannot be ATI related.  Read the last two pages of this thread: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/7/307898/ShowThread.aspx#307898

Basic Settings & System:

- Windows Vista Premium 32 bit with SP1 (came already installed)

- Two ATI Digital Cable Tuners with 17.1 firmware installed successfully

- 4GB Ram

- No TV Pack installed

- Dell XPS 420

- NVIDIA 9800 GTX OC video card

There is also a related topic but covering other unrelated issues as well here:
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/7/307898/ShowThread.aspx#307898
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/269730.aspx
http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/308884/ShowThread.aspx#308884

I'm having an identical problem. Running SA 800 M-Cards in ATI Cable Card Tuner and a different video card (Radeon 3650) and 3 G ram but otherwise same system. Not running TV Pack 2008 and have removed the Oct 14 Vista MC Update. There are other reports scattered through out TGB with other than ATI CableCard Tuners which points to something with EPG and scheduling of series.

I'm having this same problem.  Tonight a recording failed, and it so happens they were both series.  I have the error 771 in the even viewer. 

I tried to record the failed show manually, but I got the "Only one show can be recorded at a time" message, even though I have two tuners.  I could watch the show live, however.

Then I canceled the series for the show that failed, and was then able to record it manually from the guide without it prompting me to stop the other show.

Are you running TV Pack 2008 or not? My theory is leaning on a bug related to changes made to the EPG with the release of TV Pack 2008 that's adverse to those of us running factory released systems.

JohnW248:

Are you running TV Pack 2008 or not? My theory is leaning on a bug related to changes made to the EPG with the release of TV Pack 2008 that's adverse to those of us running factory released systems.

I'm not running TV Pack 2008. I've been having this problem on and off since ~June 2007. I'm glad to see now that it is getting more exposure in these forums.

No one (so far) with the tv pack has reported this issue, so we can pretty well put that to bed.

Free Man:

No one (so far) with the tv pack has reported this issue, so we can pretty well put that to bed.

Well since no one with TV Pack 2008 has the problem, then it could be a bug that was "fixed" in the TV Pack update. I would hope if that is the case, that MS would roll out the fix for the rest of us.

I'd like to hear from any TV pack folks...anyone with the pack have this issue?

Also, for those of you following this thread, can you try scheduling two series as follows:

- First series starting on the hour, say 8 PM for example
- Second series on the half hour, but within the same hour as the first, say 8:30 PM for example

I am curious if being a half hour apart if the series recording and the EPG does not get confused and successfully records both shows.  I would like to get a few tests on this outside of myself.  Please advise of your results.

Not quite your test but still an error 771.

Recorded history HD "The Brain" from 6pm to 8pm.

Chuck scheduled to record 8pm to 9pm NBC HD, recording failed and automatically switched down to SD channel 4.

Also had CBS HD The Big Bang scheduled 8pm to 8:30pm and this recorded

Had to stop the SD recording, when to guide inside recorded tv and started Chuck and then manually hit the record button.

So still have failure without using series record, in this case starting recording on second tuner. This is the first failure, but the first time I had a lead-in recording running. Have the same situation coming up tomorrow night with NCIS 8 to 9 and then Mentalist and Fringe 9 to 10. I'll see what fails there.

My intent is to see if two shows can be recorded from a series that overlap, but do not start at the same time. In other words both not at 8 pm....so one starts at 8 pm and goes until 9 pm and the other starts at 8:30 pm and then goes to 9 pm (both from series recordings).

I think you have pretty much established what we already know to occur for sure - i.e, shows scheduled in a series that start at the exact same time, one fails with error 771.   Perhaps you could try this angle and see what it produces and I will do the same, this might narrow down exactly when it occurs.

Tuesday night update:

1. Extreme Trains History HD 439 recorded 7pm to 8pm [manual from guide]

2. NCIS CBS HD 402 recorded 8pm to 9pm [series schedule]

3. Fringe FOX HD 411 recording 9pm to 10pm [manual from guide]

4. Mentalist CBS HD 402 failed tuner error 771 9pm scheduled start [manual from guide]

5. Mentalist CBS SD 2 started 9pm

Then stopped CBS SD, went back to guide in Recorded TV, selected Metalist on CBS HD 402 and then hit record dot, program recording

NCIS was a secheduled series.

Eli Stone (series schedule) is scheduled to start at 10:02pm on ABC HD which will probably work ok. [scheduled series]

Once again still getting error 771 without two series scheduled at the same time but a recording lead in to two shows

As we report, don't forget to note which recordings were manual and which were series...This could be an important distinction that narrows some things down. 

I have currently disabled my SD versions of the big networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX).  This way there we have eliminated any issue of two of the same channels (even though one is SD & one is HD) and we can, perhaps, also rule some things out there too.

Well, I had two days of shows scheduled on Monday & Tuesday and was out of town so I went in and verified everything was fine before leaving.  Several shows went off find, some even at the same time, however still I had one show fail with error 771 and that one was a manual show that I had made a half hour into another show which was in a "series" recording.

Right now I get the 771 error about half the time there are two shows over the same time period *sigh*

I too am getting variable results. I've pretty much given up on scheduling series, but still get the 771 error at times. It's most common when a show is recording on tuner 2 same for 8 to 9 with another show on the same channel schedule for 9 to 10 and a second show scheduled for 9 to 10. The second show on another channel actually starts at 8:58 and seems to go off ok. The pick up recording is the one that will fail with the 771 error and switch to another source if available.

Since these aren't series, if I catch it I can stop the recording and then go into the guide which starts the show playing in live tv form and I can manually then activate the record button.

I can't seem to nail this to any particular channel combination or time or day combination, but it most often occurs when two shows in a row are recording off the same channel with a second show starting on another channel.

If they're slipped by 1/2 hour, I haven't had the problem recently. But then again in those instances the sources have been three different channels. I don't know if that means the lack of a channel change is the problem.

John