In case you didn't know, you can cancel your service with Dish RIGHT NOW. Since you have a 522 that "they suckered you into", you must be on DHA or it's predecessor lease plan... You have no committment to stay.
Reasons why you should NOT get a 522.
- Thread starter ChrisCoop
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jerrydss said:
Rubbish!!
You youngsters keep talking "beta tester" nonsense. You all know a beta test is solely for a computer product prior to commercial release. It is conducted after alpha test. The Dish 522 has been beta tested and released for commercial use. End of story.
Moreover all beta tests are comprised of discrete groups of corporate and volunteer public groups who have official reporting duties as to defects and technical recommendations. Exactly who has authorized Dish 522 consumers to "beta" test the unit and what formalized beta tests are authorized for this test?
I doubt very seriously if Dish actually uses any of the the essentially "nice to have wish list requests" and picky complaints made in this forum.
I don't work for Dish. Hell, I don't even have stock in Echo Star, but I know my 522 unit and the 522 units of three other friends in the Bay area have worked fine since installation. There have been cases of hard drive failures reported here, I am sure, due to defective hard drives, abuse such as dropping the unit or most probably due to heat stress...the number one killer of electronics failures.
Other than that, to my mind, the 522 is a cheap entry level beginners DVR which does its job. The monthly rental is so negligible that it has opened DVR/PVR versatility to hundreds of thousands of new subscribers. There are many receivers to chose from, and as others have pointed out, there is Direct TV, Zoom and others. However, telling prospective 522 owners that they are going to be beta testers and that the product is defective is pure rubbish.
I don't know in what capacity you are employed by Dish, and I know next to nothing about the product development of the 522 receiver, but I just did a quick google search on the 522, and found a link with photos of the 522 receiver for a April 16th-20th, 2002 DISH NETWORK TEAM SUMMIT 2002. at the Coronado Springs Disney Resort, Orlando Florida.
Even considering the 522 was not released commercially in 2002, prototypes were obviously built and functioning n 2002. So why do you characterize the 522 as being only a couple months old? It does not strike me as at all likely that a large corporation like Echo Star would stake its survivability on a defective product which it tested for two years.
Thank god there are old timers like Simple Simon who runs this place.
- When watching live TV or a recorded event, sometimes it loses the ability to rewind. Pressing the rewind button or the 10 second skip back button either does nothing or causes the video to play in slow motion.
- When watching live TV or a recoded event, sometimes it loses the audio after returning to play from a pause. You must then fast forward or rewind to get the audio to come back.
- Sometimes when navigating the menus, the color will fade out then disappear and leave a black and white picture both in the menus and when you return to the video.
- When viewing recorded events, sometimes the time in the status bar is replaced with a series of random numbers. It makes it impossible to tell where you are or how much time is left in the program.
- When returning to play after rewinding or using the 10 second skip back, there is often a loud static/beep/popping noise. It is very loud and annoying.
- Since the most recent software update, the unit keeps forgetting the names of the favorites lists. Even the lists that I've never customized ("List 3," "List 4," etc.) are just blank and continually need to be renamed.
- The unit will occasionally reboot on its own at random times for no apparent reason. Right in the middle of a program, the picture just cuts out, the unit reboots, and you have to go through the whole "acquiring signal" process.
- If you have a timer set for a show that's listed on one favorites list, but you are on (or were on the last time you were watching TV) a different favorites list, the timer will launch and record off of the closest (and WRONG!) channel. Example: "Favorites Adam" has channels 1-100. "Favorites Bill" has channels 101-200. You have a timer set to record a show on channel 80 (list "Favorites Adam"), but the last time you were at the TV before turning it off, you were watching channels from "Favorites Bill." The timer will launch, be "stuck" on list "Favorites Bill" and will record the entire length of your timer off of channel 101. Why channel 101? Simply because it's "closest" to the channel the timer was actually supposed to record (channel 80). Not being able to switch favorites lists on its own is one thing, but there is absolutely NO reason why it should deliberately record the wrong thing that just happens to be on the "closest channel."
- Occasionally the guide will be missing show information for no apparent reason. I can view the guide right now and everything will be as it should, come back in five minutes and the same channels I was just looking at will display "No Info Available." Requires a reboot and the whole "acquiring signal/downloading guide" nonsense. Takes TV away for about five minutes while I wait for that nonsense to pass.
- Sometimes a DVR event timer will apparently start as scheduled (the red record light comes on) but the unit doesn't actually record anything. When this happens you can even change channels while the record light is on and you won't even be prompted about needing to switch to live mode. Nothing will be recorded.
- Sometimes while watching live TV or recorded events, the picture and sound will start to skip and stutter and hiccup. Fast forwarding or rewinding seems to get everything synched up back to normal. When that doesn't work you have to actually turn the tuner off and then back on again to get smooth playback.
- Sometimes the banner info on a recorded event displays incorrect show information. The DVR event screen for the event shows the correct length, description, and title info, but when watching the program the banner and/or info screen is incorrect.
- When browsing the guide, and then pressing "info" for a program, after canceling the info window, the right side of the screen gets a black strip running the length of the screen that obviously should not be there.
- There are forced reboots every night if I want updated guide data. It's not like Dish releases software updates so often that it needs to check every night for updates. Why not once every week or two? Or every month? But disable nightly updates and you lose the ability to get daily updated guide data. The unit should get updated guide data on the fly, separate from checking for "important system updates," so it can update the guide without requiring a reboot every night. Sometimes I'm watching TV at 3:00 AM and get the prompt about system updates. Select "Yes" and I lose TV for five minutes. Select "No" and I miss out on new guide data. And for that matter, why can't it "check for updates" without a reboot? Like just check for the update, and if there is one; reboot. If there isn't one; update the guide (without rebooting) and leave me alone. I think they're just trying to force reboots on people because they know the reboot clears out the memory and "fixes" a lot of the problems these units have.
< Satisfied customer here... Only real issue is PQ, but the convenience of it all outweighs the issues.
ignition: RE: beta testing. Your model of what beta testing is, IS the standard model, and E* actually DOES do that. However, the system's not working, and many "fixes" are shipped without being tested by ANYONE - not even the development team. I've quoted examples of this in the 921 forums.
Only had mine for 4 or 5 days, no compaints yet. Its 10 times better than my cable was using vcrs.
My only problem was today during a heavy thunder storm, Loss signal. Im hoping this is not going to be a problem, Maybe its not alighned very good, The installers were a couple of meatballs and rushed out of here real fast.
I want to check the signal strenth, and tweek it if nessasary once I figure out how.
My only problem was today during a heavy thunder storm, Loss signal. Im hoping this is not going to be a problem, Maybe its not alighned very good, The installers were a couple of meatballs and rushed out of here real fast.
I want to check the signal strenth, and tweek it if nessasary once I figure out how.
Did I mention its $10.00 a month cheaper than cable, no commitment, I don't own the equipment. I get service through SBC.
Those who have been following this thread are probably aware that I was waiting for my third 522 to arrive from Dish. Well, it arrived and just as I had feared (or rather, suspected) it is a piece of garbage. I'm amazed to report that it is, by far, the worst of the three 522s I've sampled. It has as many problems as the first two, with a few more thrown in for good measure. So, I'm three for three with Dish and the 522. This has led me to believe that one of three things is happening in my interaction with this message board. Either I'm very, very unlucky in comparison to some other 522 owners here. They are very, very lucky in comparison to me. Or there are people who, for whatever silly reason, are posting that they experience no problems when in fact they do. I know that statement might be inflammatory, but I'm left with no real alternative. Oh, sure, there are other alternatives. Maybe I've got something against Dish and I have come here to lie and soil the 522's good name. Since I must concede that prospective 522 customers will entertain the notion that I'm not being honest, I will do my best to provide PROOF of the defects I've outlined in this thread. I only realized recently that I could attach images that would be hosted by SatelliteGuys.us to my posts. Had I known that fact when I started this thread, I would have added pictures to document my complaints right from the start. Right off the bat that would have silenced some of the naysayers, painted a much clearer picture of what I was talking about, and shown just how serious these "bugs" are. You know, I really hate to accuse anyone of being less than honest. It generally does nothing to advance the discussion, and besides that, it's just not good form. But I would love for someone to explain to me how it is that I got three brand new (not refurbished) defective 522s in a row, and all these other members are sailing along flawlessly on their first one. It just doesn't add up.
In addition to attaching pictures that document my grievances, I will also include links to movie files I shot that show some of the problems happening in real time. There are certain things a photo just can't show (like the 522 losing the ability to rewind a recorded movie). Unfortunately, SatelliteGuys.us does not have an option to attach a video file. Therefore, I have uploaded some of these clips to my own personal webspace from my ISP and I encourage all who are interested to download the movies and see for themselves. They are all under four megabytes in size and they require the FREE Apple QuickTime Player to view them. Even though they have the "AVI" extension, they will not play in Window's Media Player. It appears they only play in QuickTime. I would have liked to use a format that is accessible to more people, but this is the only format my camera shoots in, sorry. I have other clips I would like to share with the community, but I'm limited to 25 megabytes of webspace from my ISP. If there is enough interest, perhaps I could rotate the movies on my webspace and put up different clips on different days. Also, please be aware that I do not know what the demand will be for these clips or what the bandwidth limitations are from my ISP. Therefore, it is entirely possible that when you try to download a clip, you will be alerted that a bandwidth limit has been reached. If that happens, please try again later. The files will not be deleted, just blocked for a period until the server lets people in again.
I would also like to say that these few pictures and movie clips really just scratch the surface of the problems I've experienced with the 522s. Even if we include the other movie clips I've shot but have been unable to upload, there are still many other issues that I don't have "proof" of. For example, when a random reboot happens, there's really no time to try and take a picture of it. And I don't have the 522 connected to my computer, so when it starts exhibiting problems, I have to go get the camera, maybe a tripod, check the lighting, get the camera all set up, try to replicate the bug, and snap a picture. Contrary to how things may seem in this thread, I have a family, and a job, and a life, and a whole boatload of better things to do than document the problems with the 522. But I started all of this so I feel, at the very least, I should follow up on my earlier statements.
Again, the movie clips require the FREE Apple QuickTime Player to view:
NOTE: If you are interested in viewing the clips, please right-click and save them to your hard drive instead left-clicking over and over each time you may want to watch them. This will conserve bandwidth and help out everyone. Thanks!
In this clip, you will see how the 522 loses the ability to rewind. As I mentioned in my original post, pressing the rewind button or the 10 second skip back button either does nothing or causes the video to play in slow motion. When you watch the video, look at the rewind speed on the bottom of the screen in the status bar. Notice how the speed increment keeps going up (4, 15, 60, 300) but the video actually slows down and moves forward. Not a "minor" bug by any stretch of the imagination. Happens often enough that we dread viewing a recorded movie for fear of the bug rearing its ugly head. Also happens (though it seems not as often) while watching live TV and attempting to rewind. Also, please note the (EXTREMELY) incorrect length that's shown for the movie. I will follow up on this issue later with pictures.
In this clip, you will see how the 10 second skip back button stops working. For absolutely no discernible reason, it just stops doing what it's supposed to do. You can keep pressing the button, but the video keeps on playing like you're not even there. And the little skip back icon keeps popping up on the screen while the video rolls forward. It's as if the unit is taunting me.
In this clip, you will see another example (from a different movie) of losing the ability to rewind. I have several other similar clips from different movies. Just the fact that I've been able to post a couple of them from different movies, from the short period of time that I've had this most recent 522, should definitely send up a red flag and make clear that these "minor" bugs are not as "rare" as some would have you believe. And again, note the incorrect movie length in the status bar at the bottom of the screen. I'll follow up on that point with pictures later.
In this clip, you'll notice that the rewind function appears to be working correctly; the video moves backwards like it's supposed to. But look at the numbers in the middle of the status bar. Those numbers should tell you "where you are" in the video, but they have been replaced with a series of random numbers. As I mentioned in my original post, it makes it impossible to know how much movie you've watched, or how much movie is left. I'll follow up later with a few pictures, too.
In this clip, you'll notice the behavior is similar to the last clip, except this time we're moving forward. The fast forward appears to be working; the video moves forward. But again, the time display has been lost. Replaced with random, meaningless numbers that make it impossible to know "where you are" in the movie. How much have I watched? How much is left? No way to know.
In this clip, you can see that the record light on the front of the unit doesn't come on in certain situations. As I mentioned in my original post, when "Record Plus" is enabled (Menu - 8 - 6 - Enable) the record light on the front of the unit will NOT come on while recording if you select "Options - Stop Recording Manually". Now, some might not see this as that big of a deal, but in my opinion this is one of the MOST dangerous bugs the 522 has. Think about this: When you choose to "stop recording manually," one of the biggest, if not only, reminders you will have that you're recording is the record light on the front of the unit. Unlike the other timers you can set on the 522, this method of recording requires you to remember, on your own, to stop the recording. Without the record light, it is FAR too easy to forget that you're recording, turn off the 522 and TV, leave the room, and fill the hard drive with countless hours of unwanted recordings. Not only is this unnecessary wear and tear on the unit, but you have to remember that any unprotected recordings you've made previously will be "bumped" by the new recording that's filling up the hard drive and you will lose all of you old shows/movies. A potential disaster for someone who recorded something important but forgot to protect it.
Of the other movie clips I've shot, one of them, while not very visually compelling, is perhaps the most troubling (for me, at least). In my original post that started this thread, I reported that my 522 (then, my second one) did not exhibit a problem so many other users were reporting: Audio drop out on Dolby Digital recordings. Well, my new 522 does exhibit this problem. It will play fine for a while through my receiver, and then out of nowhere the audio just cuts out. It comes back on for a few seconds, and then cuts out again. It just keeps doing it over and over and it makes watching a movie, with the audio through my receiver, impossible. It made me kind of mad because it really drove home the fact that I traded a bad 522 for a terrible 522. First there was CSR roulette, and now it appears you can also play 522 roulette!
I have video clips of most of the other things I've complained about in this thread and, if the demand is there, would be happy to rotate them with the clips I've posted above. As I mentioned, my ISP webspace is limited to 25 megabytes so I'm unable to upload all the clips at once, sorry.
Now I'll post a few pictures that outline, in more detail, some of the problems I've already mentioned.
In this first set, first picture, notice that the time in the status bar lists the movie as a 3 hour and 45 minute recording. But if you look at the banner (the thing the top arrow is pointing to in the first picture) and if you look at the top arrows in the second and third pictures, you'll clearly see that it was a two hour movie and a two hour recording. So why is it showing "3 hours and 45 minutes"? Your guess is as good as mine. I can tell you this much though, it makes it much more difficult to quickly see how much movie I've already watched and it makes it impossible to see how much movie is left to go. It also brings up another interesting question: Is it simply showing an incorrect number in the status bar, or did this two hour recording somehow actually take up three hours and forty-five minutes of disk space?
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
In addition to attaching pictures that document my grievances, I will also include links to movie files I shot that show some of the problems happening in real time. There are certain things a photo just can't show (like the 522 losing the ability to rewind a recorded movie). Unfortunately, SatelliteGuys.us does not have an option to attach a video file. Therefore, I have uploaded some of these clips to my own personal webspace from my ISP and I encourage all who are interested to download the movies and see for themselves. They are all under four megabytes in size and they require the FREE Apple QuickTime Player to view them. Even though they have the "AVI" extension, they will not play in Window's Media Player. It appears they only play in QuickTime. I would have liked to use a format that is accessible to more people, but this is the only format my camera shoots in, sorry. I have other clips I would like to share with the community, but I'm limited to 25 megabytes of webspace from my ISP. If there is enough interest, perhaps I could rotate the movies on my webspace and put up different clips on different days. Also, please be aware that I do not know what the demand will be for these clips or what the bandwidth limitations are from my ISP. Therefore, it is entirely possible that when you try to download a clip, you will be alerted that a bandwidth limit has been reached. If that happens, please try again later. The files will not be deleted, just blocked for a period until the server lets people in again.
I would also like to say that these few pictures and movie clips really just scratch the surface of the problems I've experienced with the 522s. Even if we include the other movie clips I've shot but have been unable to upload, there are still many other issues that I don't have "proof" of. For example, when a random reboot happens, there's really no time to try and take a picture of it. And I don't have the 522 connected to my computer, so when it starts exhibiting problems, I have to go get the camera, maybe a tripod, check the lighting, get the camera all set up, try to replicate the bug, and snap a picture. Contrary to how things may seem in this thread, I have a family, and a job, and a life, and a whole boatload of better things to do than document the problems with the 522. But I started all of this so I feel, at the very least, I should follow up on my earlier statements.
Again, the movie clips require the FREE Apple QuickTime Player to view:
NOTE: If you are interested in viewing the clips, please right-click and save them to your hard drive instead left-clicking over and over each time you may want to watch them. This will conserve bandwidth and help out everyone. Thanks!
In this clip, you will see how the 522 loses the ability to rewind. As I mentioned in my original post, pressing the rewind button or the 10 second skip back button either does nothing or causes the video to play in slow motion. When you watch the video, look at the rewind speed on the bottom of the screen in the status bar. Notice how the speed increment keeps going up (4, 15, 60, 300) but the video actually slows down and moves forward. Not a "minor" bug by any stretch of the imagination. Happens often enough that we dread viewing a recorded movie for fear of the bug rearing its ugly head. Also happens (though it seems not as often) while watching live TV and attempting to rewind. Also, please note the (EXTREMELY) incorrect length that's shown for the movie. I will follow up on this issue later with pictures.
In this clip, you will see how the 10 second skip back button stops working. For absolutely no discernible reason, it just stops doing what it's supposed to do. You can keep pressing the button, but the video keeps on playing like you're not even there. And the little skip back icon keeps popping up on the screen while the video rolls forward. It's as if the unit is taunting me.
In this clip, you will see another example (from a different movie) of losing the ability to rewind. I have several other similar clips from different movies. Just the fact that I've been able to post a couple of them from different movies, from the short period of time that I've had this most recent 522, should definitely send up a red flag and make clear that these "minor" bugs are not as "rare" as some would have you believe. And again, note the incorrect movie length in the status bar at the bottom of the screen. I'll follow up on that point with pictures later.
In this clip, you'll notice that the rewind function appears to be working correctly; the video moves backwards like it's supposed to. But look at the numbers in the middle of the status bar. Those numbers should tell you "where you are" in the video, but they have been replaced with a series of random numbers. As I mentioned in my original post, it makes it impossible to know how much movie you've watched, or how much movie is left. I'll follow up later with a few pictures, too.
In this clip, you'll notice the behavior is similar to the last clip, except this time we're moving forward. The fast forward appears to be working; the video moves forward. But again, the time display has been lost. Replaced with random, meaningless numbers that make it impossible to know "where you are" in the movie. How much have I watched? How much is left? No way to know.
In this clip, you can see that the record light on the front of the unit doesn't come on in certain situations. As I mentioned in my original post, when "Record Plus" is enabled (Menu - 8 - 6 - Enable) the record light on the front of the unit will NOT come on while recording if you select "Options - Stop Recording Manually". Now, some might not see this as that big of a deal, but in my opinion this is one of the MOST dangerous bugs the 522 has. Think about this: When you choose to "stop recording manually," one of the biggest, if not only, reminders you will have that you're recording is the record light on the front of the unit. Unlike the other timers you can set on the 522, this method of recording requires you to remember, on your own, to stop the recording. Without the record light, it is FAR too easy to forget that you're recording, turn off the 522 and TV, leave the room, and fill the hard drive with countless hours of unwanted recordings. Not only is this unnecessary wear and tear on the unit, but you have to remember that any unprotected recordings you've made previously will be "bumped" by the new recording that's filling up the hard drive and you will lose all of you old shows/movies. A potential disaster for someone who recorded something important but forgot to protect it.
EDIT/UPDATE: Since this issue has been fixed (in the L201 update), I've removed the link to this video in order to make room for another clip.
Of the other movie clips I've shot, one of them, while not very visually compelling, is perhaps the most troubling (for me, at least). In my original post that started this thread, I reported that my 522 (then, my second one) did not exhibit a problem so many other users were reporting: Audio drop out on Dolby Digital recordings. Well, my new 522 does exhibit this problem. It will play fine for a while through my receiver, and then out of nowhere the audio just cuts out. It comes back on for a few seconds, and then cuts out again. It just keeps doing it over and over and it makes watching a movie, with the audio through my receiver, impossible. It made me kind of mad because it really drove home the fact that I traded a bad 522 for a terrible 522. First there was CSR roulette, and now it appears you can also play 522 roulette!
I have video clips of most of the other things I've complained about in this thread and, if the demand is there, would be happy to rotate them with the clips I've posted above. As I mentioned, my ISP webspace is limited to 25 megabytes so I'm unable to upload all the clips at once, sorry.
Now I'll post a few pictures that outline, in more detail, some of the problems I've already mentioned.
In this first set, first picture, notice that the time in the status bar lists the movie as a 3 hour and 45 minute recording. But if you look at the banner (the thing the top arrow is pointing to in the first picture) and if you look at the top arrows in the second and third pictures, you'll clearly see that it was a two hour movie and a two hour recording. So why is it showing "3 hours and 45 minutes"? Your guess is as good as mine. I can tell you this much though, it makes it much more difficult to quickly see how much movie I've already watched and it makes it impossible to see how much movie is left to go. It also brings up another interesting question: Is it simply showing an incorrect number in the status bar, or did this two hour recording somehow actually take up three hours and forty-five minutes of disk space?
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
Attachments
In this set of pictures, look at the two different time displays in the status bar. The one in the middle is supposed to tell you "where you are" in the recording (how much time has passed from the start of the recording). The one on the right is supposed to tell you how long the total length of the recording is. Again, both times have been replaced with random, meaningless numbers. Also, the long horizontal bar with the three dividers in it is supposed to have a little gold vertical bar that shows you, visually, exactly where you're at in the recording. But if you look closely, you'll see that the gold bar is pinned all the way to the right (next to 119...) and is not functional.
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
Attachments
In this example, the number on the far right that's supposed to display the total time of the recording is again replaced by the random numbers. But the time in the middle, that's supposed to tell you how much you've already watched, is stuck at zero and will remain that way for the entire recording. This can be seen in real time by viewing clip "0330 - No Rewind And Wrong Time" from my post above.
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
Attachments
This set is similar to the others, but now the 522 really starts to shake things up.
In the first picture, note all the zeros in the time elapsed section of the status bar. Then note the incorrect total length time (where the hell did it get 30 minutes from?). The second picture has the banner showing that the movie (if it was all recorded) is 1 hour and 55 minutes long. The third and fourth pictures (top arrow) accurately displays the total length of the recording (1 hour and 59 minutes) but why does it show "0:00" for the time remaining? As you can see from where it was paused, and from the numbers in the first two pictures, there is plenty of movie left.
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
In the first picture, note all the zeros in the time elapsed section of the status bar. Then note the incorrect total length time (where the hell did it get 30 minutes from?). The second picture has the banner showing that the movie (if it was all recorded) is 1 hour and 55 minutes long. The third and fourth pictures (top arrow) accurately displays the total length of the recording (1 hour and 59 minutes) but why does it show "0:00" for the time remaining? As you can see from where it was paused, and from the numbers in the first two pictures, there is plenty of movie left.
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
Attachments
The first three pictures display the random numbers in the time elapsed section. And again, 30 minutes in the total length section. Now if you look at the last two, you'll see that the total length is correct for the movie, but the time remaining is completely blank. Where did it go?
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
Attachments
In this series you can see the color fading in and out and leaving a black and white picture. I originally believed this to be something that only happened in the menus and in transition from the menus back to video. But I was mistaken, it also occurs while just watching the video, even if you haven't been in the menus for a long time. I've got to try to get some decent video of this phenomenon. It comes and goes so unpredictably that usually by the time I get the camera set up for video, the color has returned.
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
Click thumbnails to enlarge.
Attachments
And finally, I've saved the best for last. That's right friends, the piece de resistance, a big fat hard drive error. So not only do I get to beta test the 522 and document all of the problems I've experienced, I also get the special treat of hurrying in the next week to watch anything I may have recorded, or face having them erased for me. And can someone please explain why all DVR events have to be deleted when the hard drive is "cleaned." I assume when they say clean, they mean defragment. And even if there were bad sectors on the disk, why can't it just move the data? Why does it have to erase everything? Oh well, it's just par for the course with this piece of junk.
Click thumbnail to enlarge.
Click thumbnail to enlarge.
Attachments
I'll never understand why some people have trouble with their units and some don't. You would think that electronics made to the same specs would perform identically. This seems true with ALL Dish equipment.
There seems to be one common factor though with all the problems you've illustrated: they all (seem) to be recorded movies. I wonder if it has anything to do with copy protection ? I remember on some older VCR tapes with Macrovision where they would go from b&w to color.
I'm not making excuses for Dish; there should not be so many problems with ANY consumer product. I'm just trying to find a reason why some have more problems than others.
There seems to be one common factor though with all the problems you've illustrated: they all (seem) to be recorded movies. I wonder if it has anything to do with copy protection ? I remember on some older VCR tapes with Macrovision where they would go from b&w to color.
I'm not making excuses for Dish; there should not be so many problems with ANY consumer product. I'm just trying to find a reason why some have more problems than others.
Chris you are a better man than me because I don't think I would have had the patience to go through this three times. My 522 is starting to act up a little bit but nothing like the constant sh*t you go through. Good luck with that.
kwajr said:
Right. That's why I'm trying to find a reason that Chris is having more problems than most other people. I record mostly TV shows on my DVR, Chris seems to record more movies, so maybe more problems occur with movies because of copy protection.
With the exception of the hard drive cleaning 'feature', I have more or less experienced all of the problems that Chris is having. I having taken the time to see if it was TV shows or movies, but it really shouldn't matter.
Is the unit going to selectively screw things up? How does it feel about made for TV movies?
Is the unit going to selectively screw things up? How does it feel about made for TV movies?
Yes it could matter mrschwarz.
Maybe you haven't heard but it is MOVIES that Hollywood is worried about us copying and then disseminating over the internet. So movies are the most likely content to be copy-protected. Macrovision copy-protection on VCR movies, was known to cause problems with some vcr's and tv's so that they were unwatchable.I was postulating that if the problems existed mainly with movies that it might be copy-protection screwing things up.
Maybe you haven't heard but it is MOVIES that Hollywood is worried about us copying and then disseminating over the internet. So movies are the most likely content to be copy-protected. Macrovision copy-protection on VCR movies, was known to cause problems with some vcr's and tv's so that they were unwatchable.I was postulating that if the problems existed mainly with movies that it might be copy-protection screwing things up.
