Dish 942 L280 Software Bug Reports

[robert393]

My audio "drop-outs" are getting worse, and the caller ID is getting slower too (4-5 rings).

I loved this receiver until this crap started happening. I recorded HOPE & FAITH season premier last night and it recorded with NO AUDIO! REALLY pisses me off! When I pay $120 mt and they can't provide me with reliable audio........this sucks!

R

 

[Nicu]

One other problem I have noticed since 280 is that the Closed Captioning is messed up. It used to run perfectly but now it scrolls too fast, at the wrong time and misses parts of the main dialog.

This is a very important feature to me because I am nearly deaf. I can't understand what they say most of the time, may just as well be in Greek.

I noticed the same problem with Closed Captioning on my 942. CC was fine before the 280 upgrade.

Also, the picture via HDMI is screwed up - colors are washed out. Before the 280 upgrade the PQ via HDMI was excellent.

N

 

[robert393]

Maybe this thread should be updated to reflect the spooling of L281?
Anyway, here is a copy of the e-mail I sent to DISHNETWORK.COM Technical Dept., as well as a copy to ceo@dishnetwork.com.

Why is my Audio always messing up? My audio "drops", switches to other channels and in general is pretty screwed up. I can try to record a program and I may not have audio or it may record another channels audio. Sometimes I have NO audio.

I am a new customer and have spent a considerable amount of money. I have purchased every programming option available (HD, Voom, AEP). I researched DISH & DIRECT TV and thought I had made the right decision to go with DISH. I can't tell you how disappointed I have been with my decision. I love your programming and I love the versatility of the HD DVR, but I don't want to stay a customer if this is what I have to look forward to. I'm paying good money and not getting a good service.

I have called this problem into customer service, and I have REPEATEDLY had to reboot to get audio back up. But this solution does not address the problem. The problem being that I cannot record or watch a program and be assured of proper audio.

Please respond with a "fix".
Sincerely,
Robert
I encluded my last name, Account number, and DVR info also.

May I suggest everyone having these problems contact Dish & the CEO? Maybe we will get a positive response???????//
Robert

 

[SKrueger]

Since getting L281 I've been getting a lot of file errors. I receive the following error at least once a day when attempting to access certain recorded show.

"a problem was encountered when opening the files for this DVR event. Please note the Error Code 07"

A reboot temporarily solves the problem and allows access to the recorded program, but a permanent solution would be nice.

 

[riffjim4069]

While playing back a recording, sometime when I jump forward too quickly (30 seconds at a whack), the display will freeze. I will have to hit the FF button to recover or skip past where it was stuck.

 

[zmwp01]

While playing back a recording, sometime when I jump forward too quickly (30 seconds at a whack), the display will freeze. I will have to hit the FF button to recover or skip past where it was stuck.

I am definitely experiencing this along with frequent audio loss.
My 942 was fantastic before 2.80/2.81 loaded. Now it is almost worthless.
I don't understand something about all this.......if you make a change that
makes things worse then naturally restore what you had before until you
find the problem with the change. Why doesn't Dish do this?
Seems like common sense to me :shocked

 

[Larrykay]

Got a brand new 942 this morning. I am having the same problems as the rest of you. Called Dish and they suspect a Hard Drive failure. The receiver would'nt stay on long enough to check the software version. Worked fine for about 1 hour. Now its sitting by my front door acting as a door stop. Got my old 501 that I was using in the bedroom and hooked it up. Seems to have a better picture than the 942. Go figure

 

[swatson1]

Having digital audio problems with my 942. I am using single mode with PIP. Switching back and forth between PIP and main I lose audio, especially if one of the programs is a DVR (recorded) program.

I can't believe they put out a product with these kind of bugs. I wish I could be a beta tester. I could have told them of these issues in about 20 minutes.

I have a 721, 921 and now the 942 (plus a 508 and 501). I bought the 942 thinking it would be better than the 921, because it had so many bugs.

I also tried to add an analog OTA channel and it locked up on me.

 

[zmwp01]

2.80/2.81 trashes 942

It really is a crying shame that this 2.80/2.81 software was released without
sufficient debugging. My 942 was fantastic since I received it back in May.
My 942 is so screwed up now I've switched back to my HDTivo with D* so
I can have reliable viewing and recording again. I'll give E* till Thanksgiving
to reload a working software or both E* and the 942 are history.

 

[Stratojak]

Robert,

My 942 was installed yesterday, (friday 10/07). s/w version L281MAJD-N. Audio dropouts and static render the unit unuseable. In a ventilated area, it also runs extremely warm. I have sent an email to ceo@echostar.

 

[riffjim4069]

Dish Network, what are you doing to correct the problems noted with L2.80 and L2.81? The majority opinion is that the 942 was working pretty well prior to these software updates. The 942 went from hero to zero in less than 24 hours. To quote Gomer Pyle, "For shame, for shame, for shame."

 

[jetskier]

Robert,

My 942 was installed yesterday,
In a ventilated area, it also runs extremely warm. I

I had the same problem with the heat. The solution was to make 3/4" thick spacers to elevate the unit to improve airflow on the bottom where the fan is.

 

[gpflepsen]

I left for the weekend. Before leaving, I set up the timers to record:

1) TBS NU vs TT football, one time only
2) TBS Multicam coverage, manual ch 467(?) 3:00pm to 6:30 pm.
3) All Formula One ch 150
4) Dish Pass Family Guy
5) Desperate Housewives, Manual timer.

I return home to the 942 recording Desperate Housewives on tuner 1, and tuner 2 still recording Speed TV with 46 hours and counting... of what- Formula One???

Completely skipped the football timer...

This is the first screw-up of the 942 recording.

 

[bhodgins]

Recording three programs?

I haven't been able to figure this out ... sometimes I can record three programs (two Dish tuners and one OTA high-definition tuner). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The trick seems to be putting the 1st program on tuner 2, the 2nd on tuner 1, and then the 3rd on the OTA tuner. The Dish lets you do this, but if it's a reoccurring program, the following week, you will see the OTA program crossed out, unable to record due to priority. But with the 2.80 release, it seems less reliable and most often only two of them actually record. The OTA recording shows tuner 1 just like the tuner 1 recording. Usually, you'll see in the TV guide listing the OTA program recording and not the tuner 1 recording, but in actuality, the tuner 1 recording is what is recorded but the completed recording on the DVR shows the OTA program in the description. Very strange! I used to be able to do three recordings most of the time before 2.80. Any one else experience this? Any one know when the next version of the software is coming out? I too am having the audio, pixelation, and frozen skip problems. The captions don't work as well and the caller ID is very delayed as well.

Bill

 

[gpflepsen]

When I call up the PiP, it is always on ch 9945. It is always showing in the banner that it is recording. I cannot tune away from that channel without geting the "DO you wish to stop current recording?" message. I hit yes and go to a real channel. It is then stuck there with the REC notice in the banner. They are not being recorded, and the DVR menu doesn't recognize them as being recorded.

This seems to be related to the skip/freeze problem of the other tuner.

I wish I had the 942 as I bought it a vew months ago. It now seems to be about as problamatic as the old 921.

 

[SKrueger]

I haven't been able to figure this out ... sometimes I can record three programs (two Dish tuners and one OTA high-definition tuner). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't...Any one else experience this?...Bill

I'm having the exact same problem. Spent an hour the other night on the phone with Dish tech support basically just giving them information as they have no clue as to what's causing the problem either. I had previously tried several options to eliminate the problem including changing priorities and changing start times so the recordings didn't trigger at the same time. No success.

 

[David Dietzel]

My 942 has been perfect.

Untill this silly software update.

I now lose the digital audio occasionally when switching from live to DVR.

The only way to get it back is to unplug the 942 for a few seconds, then plug it back in and wait for it to re-acquire the sat signals, etc.

Not fun.

Maybe "Scott the Engineer" from the Howard Stern Show now works part-time at Dish.

 

[PeteSJCA]

I've had my 942 for a week now and have had the following problems:

"Program Guide" does not update over night, and the daily schedule and timer lists are blank, this has happened 4 out of the last 5 mornings... 2 programs were not recorded.

Going from the "interactive screen" (channel 100) to one of the six preview windows, system froze and the screen went black, i rebooted after 5 minutes, while rebooting system says I needed to perform a "check switch", but won't let me select either OK or cancel, only the Help button would work, had to reboot again and then no mention of switch problems...

I've contacted Dish and they weren't much help, I was told that since my last two receivers (921s) had multiple problems and have been returned, that there may be a grounding problem or a problem with my surge suppressor. Does this make sense to anyone?

Should i stay with Dish, or jump ship to DirecTV? is the DirecTV HD DVR any better?

I appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks, Pete

 

[MarkoC]

I have had my 942 for several months and have absolutely loved it - until now. At this point I can only get sound from the Optical output if I am watching something live. If I am watching a DVR event or I pause a live program and start watching it there will be no audio whatsoever from the optical output. If it isn't a live show I have to use the composite audio for sound. WTF? This is ridiculous!

 

[lakebum431]

Guys they are working hard to fix the problems right now. The potential public release went to the beta users on Thursday. Hopefully it will be out soon.