522 Comprehensive Bug List and Feature Wish List

[maximum]

Another bug my wife noticed. She set up a timer to record new episodes of a program. She went through the list and found an episode that was skipped because it wasn't new but she wanted to record anyway because she had not seen it yet. So she restored the event. The next day she noticed tha the program was skipped again. She restored it again. This went on for a few days until the day the program was supposed to air. She figured that it was re-skipping the event with each program guide update. So she restored it again that morning but it still got skipped.
I told her to call Dish and complained but after 30 min on hold she gave up.

 

[Witschey]

PVR DVR 522 and 625 BUG not yet documented in this list.

Mr. Mark Lammutt (who aparently has direct contact with Dish Engineers working on the 522 and 625) had these to say in response to a but report that prevented the 522 from working properly with the 44 hour program guide

THE BUG Description:

From Mark Lammutt: "There is a bug in the current 522/625 software that is keeping the timers from being defined after the 2-day guide is downloaded."

When will it be fixed:

According to Mark Lammutt: "This is a known issue and it is scheduled to be fixed in the next software release."

There is several threads where the BUG is explained in more detail. If any of you cares to know the details of it you can visit the following threads to get all the insights.

-Problems with the 9-Day EEPG only available from 110-TP29
-Dish Network 522 DVR Name Based Recording problems
-522 Name Based Recording Problems
- Warning: Dish PVR DVR 522 won't work without the EEPG (9 day guide)

 

[Witschey]

Wish List or Bug (not sure) - Dial Prefix should allow for # and * signs.

Another bug (or wish list item, depending on how you view it), that is not yet in this list is the fact that the current software doesn't allow for the pound sign and the star sign to be entered as part of the dial out prefix.

I view it more as a bug than a wish list item, because previous DVR/PVR models (501/508/510) DID allow for the # and * signs to be used in the dial out prefix. Newer, more expensive units, should improve on the old ones, but not cut back on the features and functionality.

Without being able to enter the * or # sign as part of the dial out prefix, some customers with special telecom systems are unable to successfully establish a phone connnection between their receivers and Echostar and will incurr the $5 extra receiver fee, plus they may not be able to benefit from Pay Per View and other services.

 

[Sapient]

Maybe I am confused, but I think I have a bug I did not have in the past. If I start watching a show after it has started, and later I decide to record the show beginning at the time I turned it on, I should rewind to earliest point I can I hit RECORD, right? When I do that now, it just starts recording the live signal and ignores everything I rewound.

EDIT: I think I may have been telling the 522 to record on the tuner I was not using, which would explain why this happened.

 

[Witschey]

Wish List - A way to assign menu key combinations to unused remote buttons

Either a new remote control sold as an 'accessory' or a way to change the existing remote control, so that one can assign menu combinations to keys on the remote control.

For example, I often times have to change the audio on movie channels from english to spanish to accomodate friends, relatives, etc. If I do this on a very frequent basis I don't see I have to press the "Menu 8 4" key combination every time I need to do that. I would instead like to see a assign the 'Menu 8 4' key combination to a button that i am not using on the remote control; for example to the VCR or AUX buttons.

Ofcourse I know there is provably people out there who DO use the VCR, and AUX buttons; so changing the functionality of those buttons should be an option, just like the option to keep them functioning as VCR or AUX.

Alternatively a new remote control sold as an accessory could have the buttons user1, user2, user3, user4 to allow for any menu key combination to be entered as programming for that button so that for example in my example shown above I could simply press user1 and go to the 'Alternate Audio' menu.

By the way, Direct TV has an alternate audio button on their remote control. I wish Dish also had one; but if there is not enough interested people out there on an alternate audio button; the problem could be solved by allowing us to change the function of unused buttons.

 

[Witschey]

Wish List - A way to select default "start early" and "end late".

I wish Dish Network would make it possible in a future software release for users to define the number of minutes that they want recordings to start (by default) early and end late.

At the present time that function is available throuh the options menu and Dish has selected for us 1 minute and 3 minutes. However I think the user (that is us!) should select how minutes early or late we want a recording to start; including the possibility to select that we DO NOT want to have the recording start early and end late. In that case it would be 0 minutes of start early and 0 minutes of ending late.

From an interface perspective this could be selected from the options menu by putting a check mark for 'use as default'...or they could put the option in the preferences menu on the main menu screen.

 

[Witschey]

Wish List - Caller ID to display also foreign phone numbers.

I wish Dish Network would enhance the functionality of the caller ID on the 522 to be able to display the caller ID information of non-USA phone numbers.

When a foreign call comes in, the 522 displays:

Unavailable
Out of Area

.....instead of displaying the caller ID information of that foreign incomming call.

My caller ID enabled phones on the other hand display the foreign phone number. So if regular caller ID phones are able to display the foreign phone number, why is dish substituting that information with the text:

Unavailable
Out of Area

 

[Witschey]

Wish List or Bug (not sure) - Program Guide Retrieval that's smart!

I am not sure if this is a bug on the current software of the 522 or a wish item. I personally view it as a bug, but Dish Network may view it differently.

When a person has a Dish 522 connected to satellite 110 and some other satellite, for example 119 (but this other satellite could be any other), the system tries to get the EEPG (9 Day Guide), because it knows that satellite 110 has that guide, and the EEPG is preferable to the 44 hour program guide that is available on ALL satellites. The EEPG is ONLY available at the moment on satellite 110.

If the receiver is unable to download the EEPG, because of any reason (there is quite a few reason why that would happen, such as for instance weak signal during a storm..or because one lives in the fringes of the coverage area of the satellite, or because of obstruction where one has the antenna connected), the 522 simply doesn't retrieve ANY guide!

My suggestion is that if the 522 is unable to retrieve the EEPG from satellite 110 after a certain amount of time (to be defined by Dish Networks) then the 522 should try to fetch the 44 hour program guide which is available on ALL the satellites connected to the system.

I find it a software design fault that Dish Network didn't put a conditional statement in their programming to allow for the 522 receiver to use an way to fetch the guide if it can't get the EEPG from the single source that is now available.

 

[Sapient]

If the 522 fails to get the 9 day guide, I do NOT want it to fetch the 2 day guide. Why? BEcause I don't want to trade the 8 days I have remaining with 2 days.

 

[Witschey]

If the 522 fails to get the 9 day guide, I do NOT want it to fetch the 2 day guide. Why? BEcause I don't want to trade the 8 days I have remaining with 2 days.

That is a very smart observation that I had not taken into account. I was looking at this from my own perspective which is that of starting with NO guide or with the 2 day guide.

However to take your issue into consideration the algorithm used for fetching the guide could be modified so that it takes into account the number of days remaining. Something like:

If can not retrieve 9 day guide after x number of attempts
then

If current guide loaded in receiver has more than 44 hours of information
Do Nothing

Else if current guide has less than 44 hours of information
Retrieve 44 hour guide

 

[Faw]

The problem with an Internet event scheduling service is how would you be notified of timer conflicts, confirmations or errors since the satellite stream is one way? It would be like you just send the command and hope it worked since there is no way for your receiver to easily respond. It could dial up a response but that would be impractical.

It's not impractical, if you have broadband you could have the DVR connect to a server like MSN messenger (just to give you something to compare with) and just send commands to your buddy the receiver. You woudn''t need to send anything through satellite. It seems VERY simple to me and I'm a programmer.

 

[Pepper]

Well, looks like L2.36 is on the way so as soon as I get it, I will be updating the lists again.

 

[maximum]

Looks like Tivo has the online programming feature. Like Faw suggested, you need broadband Internet service to fully implement it, but it works with dialup too.
https://www.tivo.com/1.2.9.asp

 

[Faw]

Looks like Tivo has the online programming feature. Like Faw suggested, you need broadband Internet service to fully implement it, but it works with dialup too.
https://www.tivo.com/1.2.9.asp

What makes me mad is that it is so easy to do it!! Even on old receivers. The 721 already has ethernet drivers installed, also a webserver. If Dish boxes were as open as tivos I could do it in a week. I could even add skins to the 721 interface if I wanted. I would do it for free. Stupid dish.

 

[jtravel]

I have recently noticed a playback problem that effects the Audio volume level. this only happens when I use the 30 sec skip ahead.
I get a loud audio pop sound and then the audio is returned at a lower volume level.
I can just up the volume manually at this point and keep watching or stop
stop the playback completely and restart it.
stopping and restarting the recorded program returns the volume to the level it was at befor the audio pop occured.

anyone else having this issue?

 

[Pepper]

Lists updated to reflect the changes I've noticed so far: caller id delete, dish home confirmation, possible fix of audio/video glitches

 

[Shadowtester]

How about a event history usage that will skip recording events that have been on the hard drive within the last 30 days like Tivo does for dish passes and recurring timers not just events currently on the hard drive look at the history for the last month.

 

[Witschey]

Your BUG list is incomplete. You are disregarding feedback from almost everybody!

Lists updated to reflect the changes I've noticed so far: caller id delete, dish home confirmation, possible fix of audio/video glitches

You claim to have updated yoru bug list, but your updates are completely biased. You are NOT including the bugs that have been recently reported on the thread you started at SatelliteGuys.US....eventhough YOU asked people to tell you if there was a bug missing.

I for once have reported SEVERAL bugs and Wish List items and NONE of those items made it to your list...eventhough you can TEST EVERY SINGLE one of them to prove that what I am saying is in fact true.

The issue with the receiver not working with the 44 hour program guide is something that EVEN Dish Networks recognizes as a bug; but you don't even care to put it on your list.

Look I can't force you to put anything on your list, because it is YOUR list on YOUR server and YOU are the one that decides what to put on it, but what I CAN do is tell everybody visiting this thread is that the list presented here is incompletely ON PURPOSE because the guy managing the list is limiting its content to what he thinks is important diregarding anything that he doesn't like EVEN when some of the bugs reported through the SatelliteGuy.US thead can be easily TESTED to make sure that they are TRUE bugs. In some of the posts I provided I even provided names of people from Dish Networks that have reconigzed there is a bug, but for this author that doesn't seem to be good enough even to include that bug in his list.

Examples of things that this guy is NOT including which can be VERY easily tested are the following:

Dial Prefix.

Calling Prefix doesn't allow for a pound sign or a star sign to be entered. This can be EASILY tested. Just go to the menu for dial prefix and try to enter a star sign or a pond sign. You will see it is not possible on the 522. On other receivers like the 508 it is possible. Try it on a 508...or ask somebody with a 508 to try it..you will see I am telling you a FACT.

Automatic scheduling of recurring events doesn't work with 44 hour program guide.

VERY easy to test. Disconnect satellite 110 from your atenna or switch and leave only satellite 119. Retrieve the guide (so that you only get 44 hour program guide). Setup a NBR or recurring event, and you will see that NO new recording events matching your NBR or recurring events are setup as new days are added to your program guide in the days or weeks to follow.

In fact regarding this issue. Mark L. (a trusted source in this bulletin board who seems to have direct contact with Dish software engineering team) has informed us that Dish DOES recognize it as a bug and that it will be fixed in teh next release. Who knows if that means the release that is currently being spooled (I haven't received it yet).

Charles SizeMore of Dish Networks replied to my bug report on the 522 not working properly with the 44 hour program guide, with the following statement:


"Paul,

Currently, this issue is under research and is high priority for our software team. However, I am unable to provide a resolution time frame for the issue as engineering has not yet determined that. I will remain diligent in obtaining that time frame for you and will forward as soon as this info is available. We appreciate your patience with this matter. "


So Dish considers it a HIGH priority issue, but you don't even put it on your bug list. This clearly shows to me that your list is BIASED towards whatever is important to YOU and is not representative of the BUGS that are out there, regardless of whether they have an effect on YOU personally.

So it is up to you, the reader, to take this list as what it is, and NOT to expect it to be a comprehensive bug list, because the author of this thead clearly doesn't want it to be that.

 

[Sapient]

You know, Witschey, you can make your own list. Wouldn't that be easier than crying that you can't give orders to other people?

I haven't read past the first paragrap[h of your posts in a long time, simply because the whining never stops, and the same thing gets said over and over again. Keeping your posts to your own comprehensive bug list thread would be nice from my perspective.

 

[Pepper]

Here's the thing. My receiver just got the new software this morning. Unfortunately my employer expects me not to sit at home playing with my DVR. So it will be at least later tonight or a couple more days before I can take everybody's comments, compare them to my list, and see whether or not any of them have or have not been addressed in the current release of software. All I have had time to do so far is note the few things I noticed this morning.

So, give me a bit of time on this, maybe I will get it all on the list before the next version comes out.