Guys, I'm new here so i'm not as technically savvy as some of you.
I just got through telling DISH tech support that this was the worst piece of junk ever foisted on customers.
For my style of recording, I was perfectly happy with the old software. But my 508 had gotten flaky and they wanted to replace it. When we installed the replacement unit, it downloaded the P400 software.
Random gripes:
1. create a timer from the program guide and thee is no means of editing the time. If you need to stop it a few minutes early to avoid a conflict, you must delete that timer and create a manual.
2. I had created a manual timer for every Wed from 7p,-9:30p. then, from the program guide, I created individual timers for the shows starting at 7pm, 7:30pm, 8pm, 8:30pm, 9pm. I had already set the new option of default start early (2min) and record late (5min) so each one of these shows would overlap as well as overlapping with the manual timer. Yet there is no warning, no indication whatsoever, that there is a conflict. When I have consecutive shows that I want to record, I always create one long timer so that I control the start and end of each show. I was just testing to see what it would do.
3. There was a timer that I wanted to create for a movie that would have ended at 7pm, but I could not because I had another timer starting at 6:59pm. I created a manual timer that would end earlier at 6:58pm, but there is nothing that I can do to make that timer appear on tomorrow's list. Who knows if it will record? When looking back at the program guide at that time and channel, it shows no indication of a timer existing.
4. I liked the old option of sorting timers either by name or date. I haven't figured out how to do that, if it's still possible. The timers appear in the order created, unless you change the priority by moving the timer up or down in the list. Priorities are garbage!! I expect every timer I create to execute properly.
These are gripes that I came up with in just an hour after being confronted with P400. I'm sure I'll have more dislikes as I use it more.
NBR is of no value to me. I have select shows that I record every week and I have the movie channels grouped in Favorites. I scroll through them to find movies I want to record. And if there is a conflict, I want my old screen where I could edit or delete either of the conflicting timers.
I actually had to take the step of writing down the date, channel, start and end times on a legal pad to spot conflicts. This is ridiculous. Sorry about the rant, but my 508 is now almost useless.
Mike
