501 Update 365?

[DJ Rob]

Don't take this update...

My mother in law has a 508 receiver that just updated to 365 and she lost all of her recordings. I went over there and it said the hard drive was full and had no space. But it also said there were no recordings on it even though she had 20 or so programs recorded on there before it updated. I unplugged it/rebooted it and it still had the same problem. Dish says they will gladly sell her a new receiver but said failures during software updates are not their problem.

 

[yooper.mi]

Don't take this update...

My mother in law has a 508 receiver that just updated to 365 and she lost all of her recordings. I went over there and it said the hard drive was full and had no space. But it also said there were no recordings on it even though she had 20 or so programs recorded on there before it updated. I unplugged it/rebooted it and it still had the same problem. Dish says they will gladly sell her a new receiver but said failures during software updates are not their problem.

Sign her up DHP plan at 5.99/month. They will send her another 508. I had to replace all three of mind like this, after lightening knock out the modems.

 

[Tampa8]

I can also confirm two of the problems listed. When pausing a live program, hitting the back button does go forward instead on the first hit, after that it works ok. This does not occur on recorded programs.

One of my three 508's did lose most recordings, the other two did not.

It can't be possible they tested this very well - they had to have seen at least some of these probems, in at least some of the receivers they tested as it does appear some things are being widely reported.

 

[navychop]

OH man, I've got to tell you this one, An echostar employee from Executive Communications offered me a new DVR with a 1 year waiver on the DVR fee for all my troubles. Don't know if thats one dvr to replace both my 508's I'm not sure, but the best part is, I was offered :clap a 510! :yikes can you freaking beleive it??

I don't know if I should call them back and laugh or what. What would you do?

The 510 is not grandfathered out of the DVR fee, IIRC. So after a year, you will start paying it. I certainly would not turn in two 508s for one 510.

My guess is we have about 3 years before all the non MPEG-4 receivers must go away as they transition. You might factor that into your decision.

 

[Frostwolf]

The 510 is not grandfathered out of the DVR fee, IIRC. So after a year, you will start paying it. I certainly would not turn in two 508s for one 510.

My guess is we have about 3 years before all the non MPEG-4 receivers must go away as they transition. You might factor that into your decision.

I actually felt like it was an insult to try and fix my problems that they had already admitted was software issue with a receiver that is identical except the monthly fee.

 

[cdoyle]

I really feel that Dish wants to destroy as many as these DVR FEE FREE receivers as they can. They keep releasing 'updates' that do more harm then good.

I really am starting to think they feel they need to get these units out of circulation, before MPEG-4.

They know if there are a bunch of these units still in circulation when they want to switch over. That these users are going to want to maintain their grandfathered fee free status. So if Dish can knock a few out here and there and get most of these owners to upgrade to something else before that time. Then they won't have to worry about there being too much of an outcry from 5xx and 721 owners, since most would have upgraded because their equipment stopped working.

Another reason why we'll never see NBR. They don't want to release anything useful to these units!!

 

[yooper.mi]

When my 508's cease to work, for whatever reason, I will close my acc't with E*.

 

[bacchus101]

My mock letter (vent) to our friends at Dish technical support to make me feel better:


Hello my Indian Brother,


You recently pushed update p3.65 to my Dish Network Reciever, a PVR 508.

This update has destroyed the practical use of this device. It now spontaneously reboots when I switch from recorded to live, recorded to recorded and live to recorded television......Yes, you are correct in assuming it reboots when I do just about anything.

I will say you fixed the audio skipping problem I was having with recorded programming. Well....maybe not fixed but because it is always F###### rebooting I can't seem to tell if the audio really is skipping anymore......so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on that one.

Would I be correct in guessing the "flash the ROM to zeros" patch is next?

As you can tell I am being somewhat facetious and I do apologize for the tone of this letter.

Maybe you should get the script kiddie interns away from the shinny "computers" in your technical department and have someone half competent fix this crap?

I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.

 

[yooper.mi]

Weather Channels Troubles NOW
Just went to local weather, temp 24*, on the computer local weather channel says 7 degrees. actual temp. is 4 degrees. So much for the weather channel from E*.

 

[AllieVi]

Since my 508's don't exhibit most of the problems mentioned by others, I suspect something else might be the culprit. Mine don't reboot and I haven't lost any recordings. The only thing I notice is unusual jumping when playing back and using the pause.

When I lost the distant networks last year, my model 4000 receiver started acting weird. I tried reboots, removed the card, turned it on/off and unplugged it. Nothing helped. I finally called DISH. The tech re-sent the update to my receiver and all the problems went away.

I'm not suggesting that the 365 release is perfect, but maybe the problems some have could be a result of an imperfect software download. Try having DISH re-send the software.

 

[Tampa8]

Weather Channels Troubles NOW
Just went to local weather, temp 24*, on the computer local weather channel says 7 degrees. actual temp. is 4 degrees. So much for the weather channel from E*.

Somehow I don't think that is related to the download and the temp and conditions being wrong has happened often for my area since forever.........

 

[bacchus101]

I am told there is a P3.66 that will fix the recording buffer issue. Not sure if it will fix anything else. It doesn't seem to be spooled yet to the birds.

I have not seen it anywhere online but that is what tech support relayed to me.

 

[TheKrell]

I find I must correct myself above, c. P2 of this thread. My 501 has indeed cut off the last minute of several recordings. It also recorded some shows correctly. I have yet to figure out exactly what I did to trigger the 1-minute-short ones. I did several "extend timer" commands to keep recording after the end of the program, as well as just letting it halt at the end. I no longer remember which was which.

 

[yooper.mi]

508 recorded 40 minutes of wife's soap. It said 59 minutes recorded but stopped at the end of 40 and jammed. My wife is not happy.

 

[navychop]

And if SHE's not happy, ........

 

[yooper.mi]

And if SHE's not happy, ........

You guessed it.

 

[kluken]

3.65 is junk. My 501 and my 508 both are buggy now after years of stable performance. FF and REW at anything other than 4x is jerky and choppy, is was smooth before. All programming that was stopped in progress and now you hit resume goes back to the beginning. All recordings show short one minute, this 1hr 30 min shows as 1 hr 29 min recorded. Some recordings are aborting in the middle and thus are not complete. Avoid this upgrade!!

 

[cj9788]

My 508 is not recording the proper times I set. For example I have it set to record Dora The Explorer for my 3 year old. It starts at 10:00 am. The timer is supposed to record 31 mins (start 1 min early) but it only records 29 mins. It does this only on programs that are set tor record mon-fri or once a week. Very weird. I hope they correct it soon.

 

[AllieVi]

My 508 is not recording the proper times I set. For example I have it set to record Dora The Explorer for my 3 year old. It starts at 10:00 am. The timer is supposed to record 31 mins (start 1 min early) but it only records 29 mins. It does this only on programs that are set tor record mon-fri or once a week. Very weird. I hope they correct it soon.

I've had the same problem.

I solved it by going to the timer menu. Adding a few minutes to the end time worked. Shouldn't have to jump through this hoop, of course, and didn't have the problem before 365.

 

[NpaulTodd]

I have the same problems as above ! dish put 3.63 back on it !