Any Chance Diamond 9000HD will get an update...

[SpiffWilkie]

...to fix t he 131p hackware?

Didn't think so

 

[Anole]

haha haha hahah ahahahhahahahahh! -

And isn't it a damned shame?
Rolling back the firmware really shouldn't be beyond the users.
Somebody knows what to flash, and where to flash it!

Great hardware.
Release the code to it, and maybe the users will fix this lost puppy, as has been done with some other discontinued receivers!

 

[Lak7]

I can't remember, what does the box "not" do with 131P, or is it you just want a clean box?

 

[SpiffWilkie]

My box will not properly perform the DVR features with 131p. It will lock up and require a hard reboot. Putting the factory firmware on fixes that, but breaks the audio as we all know.
Other than that, I have not seen any issues, really.

 

[B.J.]

I can't remember, what does the box "not" do with 131P, or is it you just want a clean box?

My receiver has the PVR issues with high bitrate video, but PVR works fine on stuff like PBS HD, and OTA HD, which is what I usually use it on. I've been told that the PVR worked OK with the factory firmware, but I can't verify that because my 9000 had 131p on it when I bought it from some guy in Ottawa who told me that it had original factory firmware.

My MAIN issue with the 131p is that I get periodic video freezes. They are very short freezes, and I've pretty much learned to ignore them, but they are constant. The period seems to vary with the bitrate of the video. Lower bitrate HD might freeze only every minute or two, but high bitrate video will freeze more frequently.
At one time, I thought I had found a way to stop the freezing, and another time, the freezing actually stopped for about a month or two, but it came back.
I emailed the Diamond people (when they still existed) and asked whether they could fix it (for a fee obviously), but got no reply. Now, the only hope is the hackers who caused the problem, however, it's possible that the cure might require more than just a firmware upgrade. Since one version firmware apparently does video and PVR properly, but no audio, and the 131p does audio properly, it seems like there should be some firmware solution, but perhaps not, or perhaps it's just that the only people capable of doing it aren't willing to do it for free, and the Diamond people aren't paying.
Yeah, I wish that whoever was doing the firmware for this thing would throw us a bone, because this is really a nice receiver otherwise.

 

[Lak7]

For me, the PRV did not work with High Bit Rate HD with the Factory Firm.

 

[SpiffWilkie]

I've only tried the PVR functions a couple of times. Once on BYUTV. It didn't work properly. Then I installed factory software and it worked great. I installed 131p again and I could play back the recordings. They even had audio, so it's obvious the factory software is still receiving/recording audio, it just can't output it after 131p has been installed.
I'll have to give the recording another go on PBS. My kids watch that in the afternoons. I'd be happy to get some of that stuff recorded.

 

[SpiffWilkie]

Well, I tried the PVR again tonight and it worked great on the PBSs.
That's good to know. Thanks.

 

[Corrado]

Things for my Diamond 9000 wish list:

1- put the on screen quality meter separate from within the setup menu.
2- selection to switch off the front panel blue lights.
3- enable the S2 controls, pilot on -off, FEC, etc from the remote.

 

[Lak7]

Things for my Diamond 9000 wish list:

Only if someone were listening.
Your 2 & 3, are available in the European Version of the Diamond.
However, those too are no longer in production.

 

[SpiffWilkie]

Re: my recording issues.

I think the reason I didn't have initial success was because of the fact that BYUTV has fifty thousand audio channels (well, maybe 12 or so). I'm guessing that's why the recording craps out (although it works with factory). Is there some super-obvious way to disable the other audio channels on that signal to allow me to record?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[i4tas]

you can delete the unwanted audio tracks in the channel editor. I have done this before for the Jones radio where one channel had 20+ tracks and the diamond choked when there were more than could fit on the screen, so i made many channels all with different audio tracks.

 

[SpiffWilkie]

Good call. I'll have to see if that solves the recording problem.

Thanks,
Steve

Edit: Awesome! Worked like a charm. Thanks again!

 

[B.J.]

Good call. I'll have to see if that solves the recording problem.

Thanks,
Steve

Edit: Awesome! Worked like a charm. Thanks again!

Wow, I would have bet against that working. I'm pretty sure that when recording, it only records the audio stream you're tuned to (but I might be wrong about that), but perhaps the extra audio channels are somehow confusing the receiver.
Seeing this result has me thinking that it might be worth going through some high bitrate channels that give me problems, and edit out the unused audio streams, and see what effect it has. Interesting.

 

[Lak7]

... I'm pretty sure that when recording, it only records the audio stream you're tuned to (but I might be wrong about that),...

I believe it records the actual Transport Stream.

 

[SpiffWilkie]

I believe it records the actual Transport Stream.

Yup. I noticed yesterday when I burned a dvd from the .trp files that it had multiple channels on it (It was from Wordgirl on PBS and had a second track for the visually impaired that described the action. Very cool).