722K Screen Shots and Initial Setup Thoughts

[JDGJr]

I can't speak to the TV2 issues, as i'm locked into TV1 and IR signals. But, I seem to have found a fix for my problem (722k doesn't respond to remote for a long while after startup)...

I used electrical tape to create a barrier/ridge around the IR sensor area. I used 3/4" black tape, folded 1/3 of the width sticky side to sticky side, and used the other 1/3 to attach to the 722k. I did this in 4 pieces, one on each side of the sensor area. Since my 722k is located in a black compartment, behind a glass door, you can't see the tape.

It has been working since mid-week, and i can position the LCD panel at any angle I want, so i think this will be my final fix for the issue.

 

[girdnerg]

girdnerg, do you use an external hard drive? and if you do can you coordinate the freeze to "erasing a program on the external drive?" I found a 100% correlation between those two events and I have not had one frozen recording since I quit erasing the EHD while recording.

Yes I do have an EHD. At this time I can't say if it's the EHD or not. I don't remember deleting anything from it, but I do remember sending some programs to it. Might be along the same lines. It's definately worth a test or 2.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[TravelFan1]

TravelFan1,

For me, it's very sporatic. I can't figure out the pattern. Please let us know if you do.

I haven't been able to figure out a pattern yet. It may be related to some internet access that the receiver is performing - Before getting the 722k, due to a CSR mistake, I got a 612 and it froze up a few times while I was trying to access DishOnline programming - but I can't recall a situation that caused the 612 to reboot that was not related for me trying to acces DishOnline, whereas yesterday during the Roland garros final, receiver rebooted again.... thankfully,I didn't miss much.

Sad to read your other posting re wife's programming that you missed - I do know what you mean, being married myself....

 

[girdnerg]

girdnerg, do you use an external hard drive? and if you do can you coordinate the freeze to "erasing a program on the external drive?" I found a 100% correlation between those two events and I have not had one frozen recording since I quit erasing the EHD while recording.

Yes I do have an EHD. At this time I can't say if it's the EHD or not. I don't remember deleting anything from it, but I do remember sending some programs to it. Might be along the same lines. It's definately worth a test or 2.
Thanks for the heads up.

I started recording a program on TV2 last night and about 5 minutes later I deleted something from the EHD. I then started watching the recorded event from TV1 (FF to catch up with live TV). At first I thought this is fine and didn't think deleting from the EHD had had any effect.

Then a few minutes later, the picture froze but I could see that it was still recording. Tried stopping and restarting the program, but nothing seemed to get it past a certain point. The pic stayed frozen on TV2 until I stopped the recording and changed the channel.

So, langlin hit that one right on the head.
Deleting from the EHD causes recordings to freeze.

I'll see if transfering and/or just playing something from the EHD has the same effect next time I get a chance.

Thanks langlin.

 

[langlin]

Thanks for checking and confirming this bug. I have never had it freeze anything when viewing, just erasing.

Our viewing process is to record all new episodes of favorite shows and transfer them to the EHD (a 500 Gb WD) and all nighttime viewing is off the EHD while the 722k continues to record new shows. This works well for us because anytime we have the time to sit down and watch, we have a new, unwatched episode of a favorite show to watch. BUT here's what I discovered:

1. When you erase a recording from the EHD it freezes one or more of the digital streams in the 722k receiver.

2. By using the PIP you can view two of the streams and after the erasure on the EHD one or both will freeze. (doesn't matter if it is a satellite tuner or an OTA tuner)

3. If you are recording one of those streams the recording will also be of the frozen screen and no sound from the time you erased until the end of the recording time.

4. Any change will then unfreeze the stream, i.e channel change, power off and on, etc. It is not necessary to reboot so the work around is to NOT erase a show on the EHD while the 722k is recording.

I was able to reliably reproduce this on two 722k's and Dish engineers have taken the report. I no longer have a 622 or a 722 so I don't know if this only applies to a 722k with L6.51 or also applies to a 722 with L6.18, maybe someone else can verify that. I no longer lose shows but the bug is still there.

 

[girdnerg]

Last night I tried just watching off the EHD while recording something else. That didn't seem to effect the recording program since it finished successfully and played back fine.

Have you tested out what happens to recordings when you transfer to or from the EHD?

I'll try to test this out this weekend. I think it may have some effect as I was doing alot of transfering when I first noticed the problem.

 

[langlin]

Last night I tried just watching off the EHD while recording something else. That didn't seem to effect the recording program since it finished successfully and played back fine.

Have you tested out what happens to recordings when you transfer to or from the EHD?

I'll try to test this out this weekend. I think it may have some effect as I was doing alot of transfering when I first noticed the problem.

Transfering has never caused me a problem and I do a lot of it, only erasing causes the problem

 

[rdinkel]

Today, my leased 722k arrived. I cut a deal with Dish to send me one to replace a 722 that was starting to have hard drive issues. Was pleased to see that this no-cost upgrade (other than commitment) came with HDMI, component, and even composite cables--although I needed none of these since it was to replace an existing 722.

Install and set up went well; however, in the process I did find a bug in the Sling Dish Remote Access software. The 722 that I removed had been identified as my default DVR within Dish Remote Access. After installing and activating the new 722k, I went to Dish Remote Access to delete the old DVR and add the 722k. Here is where that Sling software hit a snag. Since the "default" DVR was no longer on the network, Sling could not find it---but it just kept looking forever. And while looking, it would not permit me to do anything else.

A call to Dish resulted in a good conversation with an Advanced Tech, by the name of Bob. We had a good discussion; I helped him draft a trouble ticket against the Sling software, etc. A couple hours later, Bob called me back to say that he had escalated the problem ticket to senior management and because of that they had been able to put engineering onto the problem. Although a software fix needs to be done to the Sling software, the engineers were able to manually edit my account to remove the old 722 and add my new 722k. It worked. Now all four of my VIP DVRs are online and accessible via Dish Remote Access. I was most impressed that Dish jumped on the issue so quickly--and then took the time to call be back.

Now back to the 722k itself. I did not get the OTA module, since I live in the mountains out of range/sight of any digital signals. My connection from the 722K to the Loewe Aconda 38" CRT HDTV is via component inputs, since the set is too old to have had HDMI. All that said, the 722k generates a noticeably better picture than the previous 722 (which had also been slightly better than the previous 622 and 211 before it). Nice that progress continues to be made.

I found no issues with the 722k, but am being careful not to delete from the external hard drive while anything is being recorded--thanks to the heads-up on this thread.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Well I finally figured out the tv 2 uhf problems. I re read the manual on tv 2 remote control and moved my sat receiver to the top shelf on the right side of the a/v cabinet , where the 722 was before. BINGO! I can now control tv 2in my master bedroom. After 12 and a half years with DISH , I thought I knew it all about tv 2 uhf remote controls. I guess you can still learn something new by reading the directions from the manual.

 

[charlesrshell]

Well I finally figured out the tv 2 uhf problems. I re read the manual on tv 2 remote control and moved my sat receiver to the top shelf on the right side of the a/v cabinet , where the 722 was before. BINGO! I can now control tv 2in my master bedroom. After 12 and a half years with DISH , I thought I knew it all about tv 2 uhf remote controls. I guess you can still learn something new by reading the directions from the manual.

LOL, that is what I did too, re-read the manual. Instead of moving the receiver I added about two feet of coax cable to the UHF antenna to raise it higher and now the TV2 remote control works great to our master bedroom.

 

[girdnerg]

Well folks I have a new problem. Since the DTV switch, I can't set OTA timers correctly. If I set a timer for ALL or NEW shows on an OTA channel, the event will set and record, but nothing else. If I look at the guide for the same show next week, it's not set to record and doesn't even show in the list.

I searched on this problem and found many threads on the issue for the 622 and 722. Most pointed to software updates, but I couldn't find a solution.

Anyone have any idea on how to fix this?

Thanks,
Rob

 

[langlin]

L6.52 on 722k

I now have new software L6.52 but the freezing problem with EHD is still there, don't have any idea what it fixed?

 

[Paradox-SJ]

From reading through this thread one could draw the conclusion that the 722K is unstable and not ready for pimietime....

Or the issues discussed here should be taken with a grain of salt and the 722k is not more unstable than any other VIP DVR.

What should one beleive...

 

[Frank Jr.]

I've had my two 722k's for about a month now. They have a few issues that do get aggravating sometimes and I hope they get fixed with updates soon, but overall not a bad box. My biggest concern is with the eastern arc. Low signal strength. To fix that it will cost Dish big bucks. But that is another story..............

 

[charlesrshell]

I have had a 722k installed since 31 May and have had no real issues.

 

[MikeD-C05]

The 722k I've had for months now and it is as stable as my 722 was. I had some problems with the ota module when it was first installed because I didn't read the instructions and let the receiver download the basic software first. So I went back and reinstalled it and it works fine now. I had different signal strengths between one ota tuner and the next but guess what? Since the digital transition I am getting almost the same strength and they are stronger than before June 12th.

It can record 4 shows at one time- a big bonus for primetime conflicts. In fact I can use one 722k now instead of two 722 dvrs . My wife and I can use the same dvr with an external hard drive attached and she gets all her home decorating shows and I get to watch my network shows with no conflicts- Saved 7.00 extra receiver fee + the 5.98 dvr fee. I also had problems with the remote control on tv 2 . Guess what? I didn't read the instructions and put my new 722k on the lower shelf instead of the top like I had before. Once I did read the instructions and moved my 722k to the top shelf , No more control problems on tv 2. So in the end I have to say if I had read and followed the instructions that came with the ota module and the receiver itself, I would of had no problems . The 722k is a damn great receiver.:up

 

[Kirby Baker]

I just got my 722K recently, and have setup a custom group, I was wondering how the custom groups works with shows on the EHD drives? For example, I have created a group called "Movies" and was wondering if I had 10 movies on an EHD, and 10 more movies on another EHD, when each is hooked up at the appropriate time, will each of the drives' 10 movies show up in the Group?

 

[MikeD-C05]

The "my folders" option only works on the receiver itself , not the external hard drive. The external hard drive groups by shows itself .

 

[bookworm370]

I also noticed that the new remote seems to do a lot of double actions on a press - repeated numbers or movements.

any ideas?

I have also experienced this exact issue with a brand new VIP 722k just installed 3 days ago. Either the VIP722k doesn't have a software debounce on the IR receiver or the remote is sending out longer then normal IR codes.

About every 1 out of 3 presses (chan up/down, Page up/down, etc) results in the action being repeated twice skipping screens or pressing select twice going into the next screen.

Does anyone know if this is a reported bug to DN?

 

[cummingsje]

I have also experienced this exact issue with a brand new VIP 722k just installed 3 days ago. Either the VIP722k doesn't have a software debounce on the IR receiver or the remote is sending out longer then normal IR codes.

About every 1 out of 3 presses (chan up/down, Page up/down, etc) results in the action being repeated twice skipping screens or pressing select twice going into the next screen.

Does anyone know if this is a reported bug to DN?

Haven't but may now realizing others having the same issue. Gets a little annoying sometimes.