With the large number of threads here and elsewhere complaining about the various bugs and idiosyncracies of the 522, I thought it might be useful to try to compile them all into a single list.
To that end, I am starting this thread. I will list below what I think are the current outstanding bugs, followed by my wishlist for new features. I am sure I have forgotten or missed something somewhere, so please enlighten me.
I have created a webpage here: http://www.pepper.net/echostar/receiver/522/ that currently has exactly what I am posting here. I will periodically rearrange and update it based on the feedback in this thread and results of my other research. Each item on the lists will get its own page if necessary for more detailed analysis.
Why am I doing this? Several reasons: to vent the natural frustration that occurs when something doesn't work like it's supposed to; to get input from others that may be experiencing the same issues; and maybe most importantly, to maintain an organized list of what is most important to the 522 user community. It is possible that someone from Echostar may actually read this, and pass it on to the development team who can actually do something with it. My background is in software design and end-user support, and I can tell you from personal experience that logical analysis will get a much better response than uncontrolled rants. Anyway, here we go...
DVR 522 Bug List updated May 5, 2005 11:31pm
DVR playback, and occasionally "live": audio dropouts, some audio sync problems, "peep", occasional pixelization
Everyone probably agrees that this is the most critical bug and must be fixed as soon as possible even if it means other fixes and features are delayed. This *may* have improved over the past few releases but is definitely not *fixed* yet. Note: there is some discussion that this *may* be fixed in L236. Only time will tell.
Single Mode: If a timer starts up, audio is muted on the tuner being viewed until pause, skip, rewind, etc. is used.
Since L232, have noticed that occasionally the name of a recorded program is actually the name of the previous program. [I personally have not noticed this since L234, is it fixed?]
Search results: unsubscribed channels are included in the results. Needs at least the ability to cycle between favorites lists within the search results, so you only see the results you can actually use. Or the ability to lock out channels and have them not displayed (Thanks CygnusTM). [Someone please verify for me if this has been fixed yet, I keep forgetting to check it]
Single Mode: Sometimes using swap takes you to a black screen with the audio from the original tuner instead of what was being viewed on the other tuner. The only way to clear this situation is to change channels and press swap a few times. Since L232, have noticed that sometimes the "banner" shows the same info on both tuners even when they are on different channels.
(Fixed in L232) Switch Test: There is not enough room to show the results of a five-satellite DP21/DPP44 cascade. Only the first four inputs are visible, though the configuration does work properly.
Caller ID: Under certain circumstances (I don't know exactly why) caller ID quits working. Some numbers that are recognized by other caller id devices reported as "unavailable" or "out of area"
Guide: If a 30-minute timeslot contains more than one program, only the last one is visible.
Name Based Recording: Scheduled recordings occasionally skipped as "already recorded" when guide data is the same from week to week.
Phone System: no apparent way to insert # or * characters in the prefix.
Name Based Recording: doesn't work correctly with the 44-hour program guide; if you cannot get the EEPG from satellite 110 you will have problems with this. (Witschey)
System Info (Screen 1) the channel for TV2, if >99, displays as "10"
DVR 522 Wish List updated May 5, 2005 11:35pm
(things that can't properly be called bugs but it's arguable that they should work differently)
(Added in L231) Name-Based Recording
Single Mode: if two events are recording, there is only one record indicator lit on the front panel. In my opinion it should show one red light per recording in process.
(added in L231) Allow channel sort in descending order.
Allow channel sort alphabetically or by category.
Define a remote key sequence and a menu choice that will provide the same functionality as the front panel MODE button.
Define a front-panel sequence that would provide the same functionality as pressing POWER on the TV2 remote.
Move caller id history from its current stupid location (setup) to a more logical place such as the unused main menu 9 (note: main menu 9 is the 625's VOD item?).
(added in L236, my wife thanks the software team!) Make caller id history a selectable list so you have more deletion options than "entire list"
Main Menu options 3 (customer support) and 4 (dish home) seem just a bit redundant, one of them could be used for something more useful, i.e. caller id history.
The INFO display should show time remaining for the current show or recorded event.
Overall, but especially the Guide: Add an option for slightly smaller font size that would fit more information on the screen. (As of L236 it appears that the Guide is using a slightly smaller font size.)
Overall: How about some different color schemes as well (Thanks CygnusTM).
DVR Events: Move the column of buttons slightly to the right, use the freed space expand the box, allowing more space for the list of events.
DVR Recording: If multiple recordings are scheduled on the same channel, copy the last "four" (1 min early + 3 min late) minutes of what it just recorded, and tack that on the beginning of what it's recording now (which started 3 minutes late), thus resulting in two complete recordings but only one tuner used to do it. (thanks to jabels for this idea)
DVR Events: Add minimal file system support so that events could be moved into folders, and a folder could be protected. Example: Create a folder called "Stargate SG-1" to put all my episodes together and keep the kids from deleting them. (thanks to histry for this idea)
Enable the USB port to support a USB ethernet or wireless adapter and obtain an address and gateway from DHCP (connect to your home network!). Allow Dish Home, Pay per view reporting, and "Call Home to avoid additional outlet fee" features to attempt to use an existing broadband Internet connection to communicate with Echostar before tying up the phone line.(Sorry, I had to put one unobtainable feature on my list)
Enable the USB port to support Maxtor's QuickView Expander product line.
Put something on the dishnetwork.com website to support "remote" DVR programming from a web browser. This feature is not 522-specific but a lot of people were talking about it. This could conceivably be made available for ALL of the DVR models (and the non-DVR models as well, if you wanted to remotely tell it to change channels for some reason). It could either be a part of the USB/Ethernet stuff listed prior, or one-way from the web interface to commands sent to the receiver via satellite. (OK, now there are two things we will probably never see)
[Added in L236] Put a confirmation dialog before launching Dish Home in order to guard against accidental button press, dog stepping on remote, etc.
Name Based Recording: look at history as well as recorded events when determining what has already been recorded.
DVR Events: Should remember the last sort order instead of re-sorting to chronological order at every access.
DVR Events: everytime a timer is setup, the defaults are 1 minute before and 3 minutes after. There should be a way to modify the defaults or have it remember what the user changed it to.
To that end, I am starting this thread. I will list below what I think are the current outstanding bugs, followed by my wishlist for new features. I am sure I have forgotten or missed something somewhere, so please enlighten me.
I have created a webpage here: http://www.pepper.net/echostar/receiver/522/ that currently has exactly what I am posting here. I will periodically rearrange and update it based on the feedback in this thread and results of my other research. Each item on the lists will get its own page if necessary for more detailed analysis.
Why am I doing this? Several reasons: to vent the natural frustration that occurs when something doesn't work like it's supposed to; to get input from others that may be experiencing the same issues; and maybe most importantly, to maintain an organized list of what is most important to the 522 user community. It is possible that someone from Echostar may actually read this, and pass it on to the development team who can actually do something with it. My background is in software design and end-user support, and I can tell you from personal experience that logical analysis will get a much better response than uncontrolled rants. Anyway, here we go...
DVR 522 Bug List updated May 5, 2005 11:31pm
DVR playback, and occasionally "live": audio dropouts, some audio sync problems, "peep", occasional pixelizationEveryone probably agrees that this is the most critical bug and must be fixed as soon as possible even if it means other fixes and features are delayed. This *may* have improved over the past few releases but is definitely not *fixed* yet. Note: there is some discussion that this *may* be fixed in L236. Only time will tell.
Single Mode: If a timer starts up, audio is muted on the tuner being viewed until pause, skip, rewind, etc. is used. Since L232, have noticed that occasionally the name of a recorded program is actually the name of the previous program. [I personally have not noticed this since L234, is it fixed?] Search results: unsubscribed channels are included in the results. Needs at least the ability to cycle between favorites lists within the search results, so you only see the results you can actually use. Or the ability to lock out channels and have them not displayed (Thanks CygnusTM). [Someone please verify for me if this has been fixed yet, I keep forgetting to check it] Single Mode: Sometimes using swap takes you to a black screen with the audio from the original tuner instead of what was being viewed on the other tuner. The only way to clear this situation is to change channels and press swap a few times. Since L232, have noticed that sometimes the "banner" shows the same info on both tuners even when they are on different channels. (Fixed in L232) Switch Test: There is not enough room to show the results of a five-satellite DP21/DPP44 cascade. Only the first four inputs are visible, though the configuration does work properly. Caller ID: Under certain circumstances (I don't know exactly why) caller ID quits working. Some numbers that are recognized by other caller id devices reported as "unavailable" or "out of area" Guide: If a 30-minute timeslot contains more than one program, only the last one is visible. Name Based Recording: Scheduled recordings occasionally skipped as "already recorded" when guide data is the same from week to week. Phone System: no apparent way to insert # or * characters in the prefix. Name Based Recording: doesn't work correctly with the 44-hour program guide; if you cannot get the EEPG from satellite 110 you will have problems with this. (Witschey) System Info (Screen 1) the channel for TV2, if >99, displays as "10"DVR 522 Wish List updated May 5, 2005 11:35pm
(things that can't properly be called bugs but it's arguable that they should work differently)
(Added in L231) Name-Based Recording Single Mode: if two events are recording, there is only one record indicator lit on the front panel. In my opinion it should show one red light per recording in process. (added in L231) Allow channel sort in descending order. Allow channel sort alphabetically or by category. Define a remote key sequence and a menu choice that will provide the same functionality as the front panel MODE button. Define a front-panel sequence that would provide the same functionality as pressing POWER on the TV2 remote. Move caller id history from its current stupid location (setup) to a more logical place such as the unused main menu 9 (note: main menu 9 is the 625's VOD item?). (added in L236, my wife thanks the software team!) Make caller id history a selectable list so you have more deletion options than "entire list" Main Menu options 3 (customer support) and 4 (dish home) seem just a bit redundant, one of them could be used for something more useful, i.e. caller id history. The INFO display should show time remaining for the current show or recorded event. Overall, but especially the Guide: Add an option for slightly smaller font size that would fit more information on the screen. (As of L236 it appears that the Guide is using a slightly smaller font size.) Overall: How about some different color schemes as well (Thanks CygnusTM). DVR Events: Move the column of buttons slightly to the right, use the freed space expand the box, allowing more space for the list of events. DVR Recording: If multiple recordings are scheduled on the same channel, copy the last "four" (1 min early + 3 min late) minutes of what it just recorded, and tack that on the beginning of what it's recording now (which started 3 minutes late), thus resulting in two complete recordings but only one tuner used to do it. (thanks to jabels for this idea) DVR Events: Add minimal file system support so that events could be moved into folders, and a folder could be protected. Example: Create a folder called "Stargate SG-1" to put all my episodes together and keep the kids from deleting them. (thanks to histry for this idea) Enable the USB port to support a USB ethernet or wireless adapter and obtain an address and gateway from DHCP (connect to your home network!). Allow Dish Home, Pay per view reporting, and "Call Home to avoid additional outlet fee" features to attempt to use an existing broadband Internet connection to communicate with Echostar before tying up the phone line.(Sorry, I had to put one unobtainable feature on my list) Enable the USB port to support Maxtor's QuickView Expander product line. Put something on the dishnetwork.com website to support "remote" DVR programming from a web browser. This feature is not 522-specific but a lot of people were talking about it. This could conceivably be made available for ALL of the DVR models (and the non-DVR models as well, if you wanted to remotely tell it to change channels for some reason). It could either be a part of the USB/Ethernet stuff listed prior, or one-way from the web interface to commands sent to the receiver via satellite. (OK, now there are two things we will probably never see) [Added in L236] Put a confirmation dialog before launching Dish Home in order to guard against accidental button press, dog stepping on remote, etc. Name Based Recording: look at history as well as recorded events when determining what has already been recorded. DVR Events: Should remember the last sort order instead of re-sorting to chronological order at every access. DVR Events: everytime a timer is setup, the defaults are 1 minute before and 3 minutes after. There should be a way to modify the defaults or have it remember what the user changed it to.
