4.01 thru 4.05. How many chances does Dish need to fix what they broke?

[waltinvt]

This whole 622 fiasco is starting to bear a strong resemblance to what Dish did to owners of the 7xxx Dishplayers about 6 years ago.

For all of you that are relatively new to Dish, they have a history of screwing up their receivers with software downloads, not admitting it and then taking forever to get them stable again. In fact, sometimes they don't recover until after newer models have replaced many of them. Hmmm

To Dish's credit, they have usually (in my experience anyway) been fairly reasonable about replacing units for good customers but now that many of us are firmly entrenched DVR users, it raises a new problem which Dish seems un-willing to address and that's the issue of saved recordings. It's no longer just the inconvenience of swapping receivers, it's the loss of up to 200 hours of recordings, some of which may be irreplaceable.

First off, why can't Dish admit they have a problem with certain versions of 622s? Well, first they have to admit they have more than one don't they? Secondly, why can't they offer some kind of HDD recovery system so customers don't have to loose their recordings?

 

[gadgtfreek]

Being I came drom D* and the HR20, Im used to this behavior. That being said it is annoying when they cant just "fix it".

 

[kstuart]

I'd like to point out that - for those who us who don't have any digital signals in our area, and thus do not use the OTA HD tuner - 4.05 does not have any issues or bugs that I am aware of.

Secondly, why can't they offer some kind of HDD recovery system so customers don't have to loose their recordings?

They are indeed doing that this summer.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Problem is, since E* is dragging their feet on HD locals, we are forced into OTA so they need to fix it. OTA tuners have been out for awhile, this should not be a hard fix. Yet, they release "maintenance" software like 4.05 that accomplishes nothing.

 

[kstuart]

Problem is, since E* is dragging their feet on HD locals, we are forced into OTA so they need to fix it. OTA tuners have been out for awhile, this should not be a hard fix. Yet, they release "maintenance" software like 4.05 that accomplishes nothing.

E* is not dragging their feet on HD locals - they ordered two new satellites that will be launched by the end of the year.

Certainly E* ought to fix the OTA tuner ASAP, but I just wanted to point out that the rest of the product - which is most of it - works fine.

The OTA tuner is a convenience. One can instead record OTA HD locals on a separate OTA HD DVR. By having one in the same box as the SAT HD DVR, the same hard drive can have both type of events. And, if E* offers this, it should work properly.

But the OP is acting like the entire product doesn't work, which is simply false.

 

[tsduke]

E* is not dragging their feet on HD locals - they ordered two new satellites that will be launched by the end of the year.

Certainly E* ought to fix the OTA tuner ASAP, but I just wanted to point out that the rest of the product - which is most of it - works fine.

The OTA tuner is a convenience. One can instead record OTA HD locals on a separate OTA HD DVR. By having one in the same box as the SAT HD DVR, the same hard drive can have both type of events. And, if E* offers this, it should work properly.

But the OP is acting like the entire product doesn't work, which is simply false.

The OTA tuner in the 622 is not a convenience. It's a huge selling point of the product by E*.

 

[shanewalker]

I have 2 622s, both w/ the L4.05 software update. One has never had any 'burps' to its solid OTA reception. The other (slightly older production run, btw) had its OTA capabilities disappear last Thursday. I went through a couple of rounds of 'check switch', got some odd error pages (saying that the switch had a problem--odd and probably incorrect as my 2 other recievers were fine), but then suddenly, after the 3rd check switch test, everything came back. Anyone else have a weird 'check switch' mystery "fix" occur as well?

I have to say, I'm running into software updates that appear to break things of late all over the place. My Mac laptop, my XBox, my sat receiver...sometimes I just love technology.

 

[gadgtfreek]

The OTA tuner in the 622 is not a convenience. It's a huge selling point of the product by E*.

I agree, and E* and D* are draggin their feet. They are both behind the curve, Comcast has had HD locals in many larger cities for a couple of years.

 

[kstuart]

I think you don't understand what "dragging your feet" means.

If you have been taken prisoner, and two people each have hold of you, and are taking you away, then if - rather than walk - you oppose their actoin by letting your legs go limp, so they drag behind you, and make it more difficult for the kidnappers, then you are "dragging your feet".

So, the term implies that you really do not want to do the action that others want you to do.

In actuality, D* and E* and all the cable companies want to provide HD locals for everyone (and to be paid handsomely for doing so).

Both D* and E* are launching new satellites in order to do so. They have no capacity currently to add HD locals for 200 different markets.

 

[gadgtfreek]

They want to provide the locals sooooooo badly that they both are only a year or more behind Comcast. Locals in HD to them are low priority, face it.

 

[Van]

Locals in HD to them are low priority, face it.

Ok I'll bite, what do you base this on? That they are behind cable? I dont know alot about cable but obviously there is a significantly big diferenced between cable and satellite considering that D and E have a more limited amount of bandwith than cable does so it should be harder for DBS to provide high def channels for local markets plus pay 2 view channels than what cable does right?

All the local cable companies in the Atlanta area have headends in the city and send it out to the surrounding area and that hd content is localized to that area of the network but with DBS they have to find a way to cram all the content for all the dma's ( 300+ isnt it?) onto the satellites they have plus all of the pay 2 view content that people want as well. Space on a satellite is limited so to have more content such as hd locals they have to send up more satellites.

Building and sending up a satellite isnt cheap, for one of Sirius networks sats it was $260 million total to design build and launch and thats an audio satellite so no telling how much more it is for an audio / video capable satellite.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Secondly, why can't they offer some kind of HDD recovery system so customers don't have to loose their recordings?

They are indeed doing that this summer.

Don't hold your breath. It was also promised last year for an '06 release....

 

[Hall]

Ok I'll bite, what do you base this on?

Digital broadcasting (from the TV station side) and HD isn't exactly a new concept.... Dish has had HD receivers for many years but are just now getting satellites up in the sky to handle this add'l capacity. Maybe it's more accurate to say that "local in HD only recently became a priority".

 

[Hall]

4.01 thru 4.05. How many chances does Dish need to fix what they broke?

I still laugh every time another update to 4.01 is released when I think about the posts I made at DBSTalk and the ridicule (only from the admins and Mark Lamutt, ironically) I was given when I said marketing pushed this release out the door before it was ready. I even said if Dish pushes out releases quickly following 4.01 my point is proven. Well ?? How long did it take to go from 3.65 to 4.01 (3.66 doesn't count as it was DST-only) ?? Dish has pushed out 4.01, 4.03, 4.03, and finally 4.05 in 5-6 weeks !! Granted, not everyone rec'd all of the in-between releases, but they weren't secret beta releases either.

 

[8bitbytes]

They want to provide the locals sooooooo badly that they both are only a year or more behind Comcast. Locals in HD to them are low priority, face it.

"Locals" are just that, Local broadcast stations. Satellite has taken huge chunks of viewership AWAY from locals over the last 10 years. Locals have to rely on local advertising to keep them afloat. Even though the cable companies are not AS local as they used to be, there is a local office and local people in those offices with a vested interest in the success of those local channels.

Satellite has to come in and make deals that are profitable to the LOCAL area for rebroadcast of their channels. Satellite wants those channels as cheap as possible since they are not national channels and have to have dedicated bandwidth that takes away from national bandwidth.

It takes along time and a lot of negotiating to get those local channels on satellite, if ever. It's not like the local broadcast stations are begging Echostar to carry their content.

There is no foot dragging or lack of interest involved on the part of Dish Network. This process is expensive and exhausting just to get content for one particular area. Dish does it nonetheless because there are sufficient subscribers that this is important to.

Too many people are oblivious to the mountains of work that must be done to satisfy the "legal" and "financial" requirements of today's modern business world.

God help the small business that has to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley!

 

[Van]

I can count on one hand the shows I watch on local stations and of those I havent watched them in almost a year, Im more content with catching reruns of csi on one of the cable stations anymore and there hasnt been anything that has come along in several years that has been worth watching.

 

[waltinvt]

I'd like to point out that - for those who us who don't have any digital signals in our area, and thus do not use the OTA HD tuner - 4.05 does not have any issues or bugs that I am aware of.

Really? Well I have 4.05 and have had multiple cases of screeching, blank screen reboots since getting it. In fact I lost part of the season finale of "24" last night because of one. And that's a Dish provided Fox LiL btw - NOT OTA.

 

[waltinvt]

E* is not dragging their feet on HD locals - they ordered two new satellites that will be launched by the end of the year.

Well if DMAs that were announced in early 2006 to be up that year are still not up in 2007 and are now not expected to be up any earlier than sometime in 2008, what exactly would you call it?

Certainly E* ought to fix the OTA tuner ASAP, but I just wanted to point out that the rest of the product - which is most of it - works fine.

and what flavor Dish kool-aid is it you're drinking? . Seriously, maybe your's is ok but other threads here and elsewhere don't seem to agree with you.

The OTA tuner is a convenience. One can instead record OTA HD locals on a separate OTA HD DVR. By having one in the same box as the SAT HD DVR, the same hard drive can have both type of events. And, if E* offers this, it should work properly.

"Conveiience"??...and just how many HD DVRs do you think they'd sell without an OTA digital tuner? Would you have still paid the same?

But the OP is acting like the entire product doesn't work, which is simply false.

I don't believe I said that. I don't even think that. What I have said is that my 622 was rock solid before 4.01 at which time it developed multiple problems, the worst of which is the screaming banshee reboots. I'm up to 4.05 now and it's still not fixed.

I and others pay Dish a lot of money for programming and hardware and have every right to expect what we buy to work properly - at least how it worked when we bought it.

Since 4.01 I've gotten audio droop-outs; pixelization; audio-video stutter; and sparadic anomalies with the foward & reverse skip and messages about something called "LNB drift".

I suppose it's reasonable to initially have occasional problems with new features that are added via software but when Dish ruins things that WERE working fine prior to a download and 3 or 4 downloads later they still haven't fixed them, customers have every right to be angry.

 

[Voyager6]

In actuality, D* and E* and all the cable companies want to provide HD locals for everyone (and to be paid handsomely for doing so).

Both D* and E* are launching new satellites in order to do so. They have no capacity currently to add HD locals for 200 different markets.

Plenty of capacity available to add many DMA's if E* would use their EXISTING satellites at 61.5, 105, 118.7 & 121. I think the issue is carriage rights not capacity.

 

[SouthRider]

My 622 worked great for OTA BEFORE the wonderful software updates.

And to think that I thought I really wanted my HD channels in the right order in the EPG.......

Now most timers on ABC OTA are dropped (not skipped), and ABC misses about 1/3 of the audio signal entirely.

The 622's OTA tuner was NOT a "convenience", but a significant reason for my purchase. I wanted a satellite DVR receiver with the ability to record network TV, which I watch more than anything else.

The sad part is that's what I had before the "upgrade" of the software.

This has got to be EPG related, and I suspect that some DRM or DHCP content protection scheme may be a part of the problem.