Shows on EHD are erased after watching! Known problem?

[David_Levin]

Interesting that the 722k has the same problem. The 622/722 run the same software, but I thought the 722k was different (I don't have one). Is the 722k also on L625 ?

I played some more last night (with a 750 gig seagate in a generic box)....

Played back an event. Didn't let it run to the end (perhaps that triggers the deletion when the info screen comes up). While the External HDD event was playing I hit the PVR key twice and started playback an event from the internal drive. The external hdd program survived. I tried this multiple times.

I then went back to the external drive, started playback, and hit stop -> ok. Played back an internal event. Back to the external drive. Start Playback. Hit Stop. BLANK INFO SCREEN. EVENT WIPED AWAY.

It's possible that ending external playback with the PVR key and starting an int event avoids the bug (don't play to the end, don't leave your external event playback unattended, don't fall asleep, don't FF to the end of the event). Basically, don't let that (bogus) info screen pop up.

Sigh. Perhaps all the competent programmers are off working on the 922.

 

[long_time_DNC]

That's an interesting one, David... I'll find something I don't necessarily need (maybe one of my throwaway trailer programs) and give it a try and see if I get the same results.

 

[long_time_DNC]

Well David, that's a gold star for you! Best workaround yet!

As long as you never press stop to exit a program being viewed from the EHD, you're fine. Pressing DVR twice (while the program on the EHD is still running) and selecting a program from the IHD and viewing it for as long (or as little) as you want and then pressing live tv, it's fine.

I went back and forth between the EHD and IHD 10 times using only the DVR button and never lost the trailer program I was viewing repeatedly on my EHD. Only on the 11th time, when I pressed the stop button (as a test) on the trailer program did it come up with a blank description and get deleted.

So, that's my official new workaround! I can stop recording so many "Nothing But Trailer" programs now.

Kudos to you, David!

 

[David_Levin]

There might be other work-arounds too (that don't alow the EHD event info screen to come up).

I haven't tried these:
Someone mentioned using the channels buttons to jump to another channel.
What about the "Live TV" button ?

I'm not sure. Perhaps it's jumping to the internal drive (with the PVR key) that does the trick.

 

[dreddick]

While I have avoided using my EHD for anything other than backup since this problem has been reported I thought I would try the steps to see if I could get this to happen anyway with some programs that were expendable. I watched part of a program from the EHD, stopped it, started a second program and when I stopped that one the info was listed for the first program I had watched...I knew then from the posts here that I was probably about to lose the second program. Pressed Done and it seemed to sit there for a bit and when it came back the second program was indeed gone. Since I could easily reproduce this it gave me the opportunity to fire off an email to Dish. One of the addresses I had from the past was 'Tech at dishnetwork.com'...don't know if that is any better that using the dishquality address or not so I hit both.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

There might be other work-arounds too (that don't alow the EHD event info screen to come up).

I haven't tried these:
Someone mentioned using the channels buttons to jump to another channel.
What about the "Live TV" button ?

I'm not sure. Perhaps it's jumping to the internal drive (with the PVR key) that does the trick.

I thought the safest workaround was restoring the recording back to the internal drive to watch it and moving it back to the external one after. While it is a PITA to have to do so, it sounds foolproof until the issue is fixed...

 

[long_time_DNC]

There might be other work-arounds too (that don't alow the EHD event info screen to come up).

I haven't tried these:
Someone mentioned using the channels buttons to jump to another channel.
What about the "Live TV" button ?

I'm not sure. Perhaps it's jumping to the internal drive (with the PVR key) that does the trick.

The channel jump method never worked well for me, as the second program viewed would get deleted (which is why I started recording trailer programs to "feed" to the bug as the second program). Same with the Live TV button, the second program viewed on the same night got eaten.

Thus far, the only two methods that seem to work are feeding something to the bug as the second program viewed (same day) and the DVR button switch method you experimented with. Turning off the EHD (for those with power on/off switches on their EHDs) works too, but that's more brute force/last ditch...

 

[David_Levin]

I thought the safest workaround was restoring the recording back to the internal drive to watch it and moving it back to the external one after. While it is a PITA to have to do so, it sounds foolproof until the issue is fixed...

I think this is the safest (one could easily forget and hit "stop"), but as you mentioned, it's a PITA.

 

[KKlare]

... Turning off the EHD (for those with power on/off switches on their EHDs) works too, but that's more brute force/last ditch...

Pulled the USB yesterday and it then would not recognize the drive I had in. Sometimes, I think, it will have the directory for the drive that was in there even though you have changed the drive. Don't expect it to work correctly again until rebooted.

Will be checking the DVR-switch method again, when it might be safer to try a little later.
-Ken

 

[long_time_DNC]

As long as you don't let the program end on it's own or forget and press stop, the DVR-switch method works fine...you just have to think about what you're doing because the natural impulse is to press stop...

Of course, the optimal method is for Dish to just fix the bug!

 

[dreddick]

I heard back yesterday from dishquality concerning my report of the problem...

Thank you for expressing your concerns and interest in DISH Network. Customer input is an important tool in our efforts to continuously improve the quality of the DISH Network service.

I forwarded your email to the Software Department and this was the response they wanted me to forward to you.

I regret that you are having this problem. We have confirmed that this is an issue and are working on a fix. The only temporary workaround we know of is, after you watch a show off the external HDD, give the receiver a front panel reset. (If there is a red "Reset" button on the front panel, press that. If there isn't, then hold the front panel power button in for a count of 10 seconds, and release.)

We will push to get the fix out in a future software release as soon as we can do so with confidence that the fix will fix the problem without creating a new one. I do not have an ETA for the release. I am sorry for the inconvenience, and I thank you for your patience.

We appreciate the time DISH Network customers take to email their audio/video quality concerns. Thank you for your patience and for being a valued customer.

EchoStar Broadcasting Corporation
Quality Assurance Department

 

[Tony S]

They sent me the exact same thing a couple of weeks ago. For me, the solution that they give (resetting the box) does not work most of the time. If the show plays to the end, and the info in the guide does not match what you watched , it is too late...resetting does not help at that point.

 

[KKlare]

Remember all reports were it was on the second play that there was problem. Thus if you (not I) reset after each you would not have a second one.
-Ken

 

[long_time_DNC]

Here's what I received from them late yesterday. I guess we can figure the fix is coming sometime "soon" now...

I do apologize for the amount of time this is taking to get resolved. I asked for an update from our Software Engineering Team and was told that they are working on a fix for the problem. They do not yet have a date as to when they will release it. I did forward your email off to them. Again I do apologize. I know it is frustrating but please know that we are working on it.

EchoStar Broadcasting Corporation
Quality Assurance Department
dishquality@echostar.com

 

[Tony S]

Remember all reports were it was on the second play that there was problem. Thus if you (not I) reset after each you would not have a second one.
-Ken

OK, now I finally understand what Dish meant with their solution. Somehow, I never thought that they meant to reset after watching every single show. (I thought that it meant to reset after seeing the problem with the guide info). Reseting after watching every show is such a ridiculous solution that it never occurred to me that that was what they meant.

 

[multnomah]

Remember the problems some of us had last summer with L.621? There were three or four separate issues, I think. One of them involved deletes off the EHD. Someone would try to delete an entry (deliberately), and the whole EHD catalog would disappear, only to re-appear later without the deleted entry.

If my memory serves me, all those problems went away within 10 days, or maybe less, which proves to me that DISH programmers can move fast when they want to.

I agree with the previous poster who speculated that DISH is bogged down with fixing problems on the new 922. Assuming that that's the case, then getting their attention with emails like the one above is the only way this will get fixed.

 

[long_time_DNC]

OK, now I finally understand what Dish meant with their solution. Somehow, I never thought that they meant to reset after watching every single show. (I thought that it meant to reset after seeing the problem with the guide info). Reseting after watching every show is such a ridiculous solution that it never occurred to me that that was what they meant.

Yep, they mean after every program you watch from your EHD(s). It's an absurd suggestion for a work-around. It's like suggesting that after each phone call you make with or receive with your cell phone, you must turn it off, wait 10 minutes and then turn it back on before you can use it again.

The DVR button switch method works well though...it's just a hassle to have to make sure you remember to do it that way and not press stop instead...

 

[David_Levin]

The DVR button switch method works well though...it's just a hassle to have to make sure you remember to do it that way and not press stop instead...

Yea, so I still sometimes copy back to the IHD before playback. Guess I could un-program the Stop button on my harmony. Or, reprogram stop to be... DVR-DVR-Select-Select-Stop.

Yea, that makes sense. !sadroll

 

[long_time_DNC]

Yea, so I still sometimes copy back to the IHD before playback. Guess I could un-program the Stop button on my harmony. Or, reprogram stop to be... DVR-DVR-Select-Select-Stop.

Yea, that makes sense. !sadroll

I should probably restore to the IHD, but man, that irks me about as bad as the whole issue itself... I too should program a macro in my ProntoPro that does DVR-DVR-Select-Select-Stop-Cancel-Cancel...

 

[mike123abc]

So, anyone do any testing with 6.27 to see if they fixed it or made it worse?