Dish Network 522 DVR Name Based Recording problems

[ryank808]

I have a Dish Network 522 DVR, and ever since the NBR software update I've never gotten any sort of recurring event timer to work correctly. (Software version: L232-GALD-N).

Once a make an All Episodes, New Episodes, Daily, Mon-Fri, Weekly, or a DISH pass timer it searches for events that match the criteria and makes the appropriate timers (which in my case would be whenever the show plays within about 44 hours of when I make the timer). But it doesn't seem to ever search for new occurances of the show after that first search when making the timer. So a "Monday-Friday" timer will work the first day, and the second day after I make it, but after that it doesn't do anything, so I have to delete it and re-make it all over again every day or two days. This is a serious "downgrade" for me, as the "dumb" timers in the previous version (pre-mid-December) worked fine for me, albeit as expected they would record whatever was in the time slot they were set for even if it wasn't the program I wanted.

Unfortunately, when I noticed the new features I deleted all my existing "dumb" timers for my favorite shows, thinking that the new timer system would be better.

Is anyone else having this problem, and is there a way to fix it or create "dumb" timers again that don't follow the NBR rules?

As a sidenote, I'm in Hawaii and I only have one dish looking at 119, while I have never been able to conculsively get a straight answer on this I assume that's why I can only get a 44-hour guide. I read the the EEPG guide for (Microsoft/WebTV) DishPlayers is only available off of sat. 110, is that the same for regular DISH receivers/DVRs too? (My 322 (which doesn't have DishPlayer in it's name) also only gets 44-hrs. too, instead of the 3 (?) days it should get.) Dish Network CSRs have been pretty clueless about this situation, one told me the problem was that I have to have at least 70% signal for the EPG to work properly (which I do!), another said that I should turn off my receivers at night using the button on the front (not on the remote) and leave them off all night to get the software to update and "it should be fixed" (it wasn't).

Thanks,
Ryan
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[Mr Tony]

moved to 522 forum

As a sidenote, I'm in Hawaii and I only have one dish looking at 119, while I have never been able to conculsively get a straight answer on this I assume that's why I can only get a 44-hour guide. I read the the EEPG guide for (Microsoft/WebTV) DishPlayers is only available off of sat. 110, is that the same for regular DISH receivers/DVRs too? (My 322 (which doesn't have DishPlayer in it's name) also only gets 44-hrs. too, instead of the 3 (?) days it should get.)

correct...the 44 hour guide is on all satellites. The EEPG (9 day guide) is on 110 only. If you can't see 110, then you'll only get the 44 hour guide

 

[wasii]

Me too...

I'm having the same problems (I thought it was just me).
It's intermittent though - sometimes they'll find matches from week to week, sometimes not. Is it somehow related to how the timers are created?

If I bring up an old timer that's not firing, and look at what it's supposed to record, it shows nothing scheduled. But if I delete the timer, and recreate it using the EXACT SAME CRITERIA, it finds the shows that it should.

Also - I've created some single event timers that never fired, even though they had the HIGHEST priority. I set a timer for a movie to record a few nights ago, gave it a priority of "1", and it never recorded. Not only did it never record, it never said anything in the schedule at all! Not that it was skipped, missed, recorded, anything!

I intentionally made sure that nothing else recorded before, during, or after that event because I didn't want a mysterious "conflict" to occur.

I checked all of the other recordings on that same date, thinking the 522 decided to randomly name the event something else (another wonderful feature that appeared with the NBR recording options!) and that wasn't the case either.

You know, if I had bought a device like this from an electronics store like "Best Buy", I would have returned it long ago and went with another brand name entirely. I keep hoping that they fix all these MAJOR bugs because I really enjoy Dish Network in general.

But I'm beggining to have some serious doubts.

It's not like these are small annoyances - the problems listed by ALL of the 522 users are MAJOR flaws - there should be a class action pending for all of us who "donate" our time to involuntarily beta test their machines

 

[ryank808]

I remember there was a class-action lawsuit for the original DishPlayer w/ WebTV, each claimant got $5.00 and 5 PPV movie coupons I think.

 

[ryank808]

I forgot about the "Manual Timer" mode. But unfortunately, even that doesn't work, even with manual timers the receiver still needs to refresh/remake the individual sub-timers that meet the criteria (in the case of manual timers, the time slot), and it doesn't do this. It just "searches for events" once when selecting "Create Timer", and never gets around to doing that ever again. It's like they broke my DVR. I'm so suprised that Dish would put out such shoddy software. I think it's probably due to the fact that I have a 44-hour guide. I'm like a second-class customer since I don't get 110, they don't even seem to take us into account---why did they even move the EEPG off of 119 in the first place?! (119 is their core satellite after all right?) .

Time to switch to Time Warner, or DirecTV maybe... Charlie will have to eat what he paid my installer as well as whatever it costs to ship back and put my receivers back into service in the household of the next victim... (my lifespan as a paying Dish customer would be 4 mos.).

 

[Witschey]

PVR 522 receiver won't work correctly without EEPG (9 day Guide)

I am able to confirm (after discussing and escalating the issue through the executive offices of Dish Network), that the problem all of you are experiencing is in fact due to the fact that you don't have satellite 110 connected.

As strange as it may sound (at least to somebody with common sense), Dish Network designed the current (April 25, 2005) software of the receiver to ONLY work properly if it is able to receive to receive the EEPG (9 day program guide). The EEPG is ONLY available at the moment on satellite 110 (which is a weaker satellite than 119), and ONLY on transponder 29 (which is one of the weakest transponders on satellite 110).

Transponder 29 on satellite 110 is SO weak that it will NOT be received with a normal dish in Alaska, Hawaii, the Caribean, Puerto Rico etc...and in fact some people in the continental USA (like me) who have trees/buildings near their Dish Network dish will be able to receive 119 without problems but 110 only in 'limited' mode. I for example can receive transponders 1 to 21 (the stronger ones on satellite 110), but NOT transponders 22 onwards. That means that I CANT receive transponder 29 which is the one with the program guide.

The new receivers (I can testify that it works like this on the 522) will ONLY get the 44 program guide when they are NOT connected to the 110 satellite. But if you are connected to the 110 satellite, but you can't get access to transponder 29 (like me), then the receiver will be unable to fetch the 9 day (EEPG) program guide and it will NOT work properly. The current software on the new PVR/DVR receivers (like the 522 in my case) is at the present time so 'dumb' that if they are connected to satellite 110 and 119, but they can't get the EEPG (9 day program guide), they WILL NOT fetch the 44 hour program guide instead.

Without the EEPG (9 day program guide), the recurring events/nbs (name based recording) will ONLY work initially (when the recurring event is first setup), but will NOT setup new recording events as new programming days are downloaded by the receiver. So in essense, a person who can't receive the EEPG will be able to ONLY setup recurring events that span 44 hours; and then that person will have to reprogram the receiver's recurring events to be able to record those shows again. The receiver WILL NOT setup new recording events as days go by...unless it has the EEPG (which is ONLY available on transponder 29 of satellite 110).

Please note that Echostar DOES NOT mention ANYWHERE on the manual that people who buy a 522 receiver need to have access to satellite 110; NOR do they mention that a VERY good signal to satellite 110 is needed (where transponder 29 gets a very strong signal). In fact the manual of the 522 shows MANY different ways of installing the 522 receiver, which include connecting it to other type of dishes that are NOT the 500 series dish. So in short, Echostar has failed to state the requirements for the good funtioning of this (and perhaps other) receiver(s).

A few days ago I spoke to 'Steven Murphy' (Technical Product Support Department of Dish Network). He told me that Dish Network DID NOT view the problems described here as important, because we were not 'statistically significant'. When I asked him what he meant by 'not being statistically significant he told me that we were a small group of customers who were facing this problems, and Echostar wasn't going to chance things for us.

I find 'Steven Murphy' (Technical Product Support Department), statement VERY rude and unprofessional.

First of all I don't know how Mr. 'Steven Murphy' (Technical Product Support Department), arrives at the conclusion that we are not 'statistically significant'. The amount of discussion on this topic on satellite bullentin boards on the internet is quite large (look at this bulletin board for instance); and people who take the time to document their problems on a satellite bulletin board on the internet are a small minotiry of the people affected by the issue. So the number of affected people is larger than that shown on discussion boards on the internet.

Second, even if the number of dish network customers affected were relatively small, compared to the total population of dish customers, I still don't believe that a customer oriented company like Dish Network would simply ignore the problem that were are facing and completely refuse to tackle the problem, simply because we are 'statistically insignificant'.

Third. Dish Networks DID NOT state in the manual OR on its website that having access to the 9 day EEPG was a requirement for the 522 receiver to work. They did not say that the 522 receiver required access to the 110 satellite for it to work, and they also DID NOT state that a 500 antenna was needed. Therefore, Dish Networks has a certain obligation to fix this problem since they did not state it as a requirement. I for once BOUGHT my 522 receiver (I didn't lease it); so I expect the problem to be fixed; otherwise I won't be able to benefit from my purchase and it will have been money wasted!

Fourth. In addition to those of us in the continental USA who are unable to receive transponder 29 of satellite 110 (and therefore can't receive the EEPG), there is all those people in Puerto Rico, Alaska, Hawaii, Caribean...who are ALSO unable to receive transponder 29 of satellite 110, even if they buy a large dish that allows them to get transponder 1 to 21 of satellite 110. I find it completely ridiculous that Echostar would put the EEPG on a satellite that is difficult to reach in some parts of the USA, when they have a satellite (119) that can be easily received everywhere. Even if satellite 119 was full and there was no more space for the EEPG on that satellite, Echostar could put the EEPG on a more powerful transponder on satellite 110 so that people could easily get the 9 day guide. However, instead of this, Echostar has chosen a weaker satellite and as weaker transponder to put a guide that is no longer an 'option' to have it, but a hard SOLID requirement of the new receivers (like the PVR 522) for them to work properly. Without he guide the receivers do not work properly; so Echostar has a customer service obligation to put the guide in a place that can be easily accessed by EVERYBODY no matter where in the USA we live; OR change the programming of the receivers so that the 9 day program guide is not a requirement but rather a 'nice to have' thing.

Since Dish Network consider those of us facing this problem as 'statistically insignificant', I would like to ask all of you affected to show Dish Network that they are underestimating the number of people affected by this issue.

Please write a complaint explaining them clearly that you are facing this same problem (you can cut and paste parts of this message if you want) to the following email addresses

ceo at echostar period com
dishquality at echostar period com

NOTE: The system won't allow me to write the addresses posted above in standard format, since I am new on this bulletin board. Please put the address in standard format before sending your complaint to echostar.

That way, Dish Networks will have more complaints about this issue (relative to others) and will come to realize that we are not so statistically insignifican't.

 

[Pepper]

So how much bandwidth does the EEPG use anyway, it should definitely be made available on all slots.

 

[Witschey]

Problem may be solved soon!

Mark Lamutt (markdl@dbstalk.com) Official DBSTalk 921/942 Internet Community Liaison posted TODAY something on one of my other treads, that could provide some hope that the issue will be solved.

Please note that I DO NOT know Mark Lamutt personally, so I can't say if what he is telling is comes from a reputable source. I guess that we will know if his sources are reliable if the issue is solved in the next software release, like he said.

Here is a quote of what he said at dbstalk.

"here's the real story about this, directly from the Dish engineers working on the 522:

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. This is a known issue and it is scheduled to be fixed in the next software release. For what it's worth, the 942 does not have this bug."

 

[Stargazer]

This is the advantage to all the recievers that have similar software not have the same exact software version (or at least not roll out at the same time). I know that they cannot have all the same software since there are differences in the hardware but some pieces of the software may still be similar.