There WAS a 721 upgrade last night

[Scott Greczkowski]

Well my contacts did say they would have a 721 software release before the end of the month.

Imagine my surprise last night when I got home and my software update screen said "Download Successfull"

I powered my 721 off and the new software installed flawlessly.

I quickly checked the forums to see if others were also getting the download too... Nope no one reporting anything.

I checked my email and saw a note from the beta team. This software was another beta, and not the official release. In talking with a few people it seems that the previous beta had a small bog in it with the new Check Dish Screen where it would not recognize certain switch configurations correctly. Last nights update fixes that problem. I do hear that if everything tests ok this release could be made public within the next two week.

(BTW I should mention that none of this info came from Dish Network, it came from another tester who said he talked to Dish about the update)

I have my fingers crossed!

Hang in there this update is worth the wait.

 

[makman]

Well my contacts did say they would have a 721 software release before the end of the month.

Imagine my surprise last night when I got home and my software update screen said "Download Successfull"

I powered my 721 off and the new software installed flawlessly.

I quickly checked the forums to see if others were also getting the download too... Nope no one reporting anything.

I checked my email and saw a note from the beta team. This software was another beta, and not the official release. In talking with a few people it seems that the previous beta had a small bog in it with the new Check Dish Screen where it would not recognize certain switch configurations correctly. Last nights update fixes that problem. I do hear that if everything tests ok this release could be made public within the next two week.

(BTW I should mention that none of this info came from Dish Network, it came from another tester who said he talked to Dish about the update)

I have my fingers crossed!

Hang in there this update is worth the wait.

I've got this bridge you should buy.

 

[Tom488]

At this rate, the 721 update is going to arrive just in time for me to replace it with a 921.

Of course, that's assuming Dish actually sticks to THAT date and gets it out on Nov. 1st.

Anyone care to lay odds on that?

8 months spent on ONE freakin' software upgrade... that's how long this has been... 8 ******* months.... for what amounts to one new feature (weather), and a whole lot of bug fixes.

At this point, why don't they just come out and say it: the 721 is no longer supported. Anyone who bought one can get a $50 gift certificate to be used towards another yet-to-be-unsupported Dish receiver.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Since the 721 and 921 software are the same it is good they are working hard getting all the bugs out.

I do believe this update when it comes us that most if not all 721 owners will like it.

 

[makman]

Since the 721 and 921 software are the same it is good they are working hard getting all the bugs out.

They may be working hard, but if it is taking them so long to do this, they are quite inept. But we knew this. Look at the software they gave us to date.

 

[baloo75]

Since the 721 and 921 software are the same it is good they are working hard getting all the bugs out.

They may be working hard, but if it is taking them so long to do this, they are quite inept. But we knew this. Look at the software they gave us to date.

Yep, this could possibly be the straw that broke the camels back for me. I believe I will be switching to D*. They have HD with a much smaller dish, their receivers are much nicer IMHO, at least bug and feature wise.

Come on Dish get your s$%^ together. You had all these grandiose plans for the 721 and NONE of them have come to fruition.

Scott, I am glad you like your beta version of the software, however I have been involved with lots of beta programs that never saw the light of day. I would be willing to bet after the upcoming 721 release comes out the 721 will NEVER see all the great features you are hearing about. See just because two devices share the same codebase doesn't mean it is a small investment to do everything on the 721 that will be available on the 921. There is a great deal of testing, support and development involved supporting both the 721 and 921, the 721 will be cut from future functionality after this one because it doesn't make financial sense to keep it going for Dish. That is my prediction and I have seen it happen many times before. I may be wrong but I wouldn't hold my breath. Remember Dish has NEVER come out publicly to talk about the 721 and potential features, we are only hearing this from unofficial sources (sorry Scott).

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Baloo, I see what your saying.

But in last weeks meetings I am sure the 721 has a future.

Thats all I can say about that for now.

 

[makman]

Baloo, I see what your saying.

But in last weeks meetings I am sure the 721 has a future.

Thats all I can say about that for now.

Scott,

You are always very cryptic! I understand about NDA's. However, when your "sources" keep giving you inside information that turns out to be false(how often have we heard "definite upgrade by XXX date"), our faith in your predictions understandably plummets.

Fool me once.....

No personal attack intended. It is your sources I doubt.

 

[Guest]

Baloo, I see what your saying.

But in last weeks meetings I am sure the 721 has a future.

Thats all I can say about that for now.

I am sorry Scott, but all this secrecy is getting old. It looks like the only one getting any software updates is you. Dish should hurry up and get this over with, especially if the same software in the 721 is going to be in the 921 come Nov 1st. :x

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I know I am cryptic sometimes and that is because I have to be.

Because of somethings I saw and was told I have very good faith in what I was told (and saw)

Sometimes I wish I could say more but I can't, but I can say I don't think 721 owners will be unhappy.

 

[baloo75]

I know I am cryptic sometimes and that is because I have to be.

Because of somethings I saw and was told I have very good faith in what I was told (and saw)

Sometimes I wish I could say more but I can't, but I can say I don't think 721 owners will be unhappy.

Scott, maybe us 721 owners will be happy SOMEDAY, but what has Dish done for me lately, they have given me plenty of updates on both of my secondary receivers (501 and 301) but my primary receiver is so buggy my wife the other night asked me while rebooting the 721 why did we buy this thing? When she says something like that I know there are real issues with the device.

I can sit here all day like others do and say "I can do this better if I was king" but it still doesn't help me with the problems I have had since day 1 with the 721 which I have had for 8 months now. One can only be so patient for these "new cool features" I just want a box that is stable then we can talk about all the cool new features.

Scott, congrats on this new site, it is very good and I think the people that contribute the most have already come over here from dbstalk, keep it up!

 

[Bill R]

I think a lot of the fustration from 721 owners is because the software releases have been so slow (I still see some of the same bugs that I saw when I got my 721 in January, 2003).

People bought the 721 because of its (promised) features and they expected to get stable, feature-rich software in a "reasonable" timeframe. So far, that hasn't happened and that is not Scott's fault. He may be guilty of over hyping things a bit but we really need to complain to DISH about not getting new 721 software.

I do hope Scott is right about the "future" of the 721 but a lot of people have already lost faith in DISH's "secret promises" (they often "leak" stuff but never follow through with those features).

DISH needs to use this month's tech forum (Monday, Oct. 13th, 9 PM ET, ch. 101) to discuss the 721's future. DirecTV is going to be getting VERY aggressive once Murdock takes over (especially on DVR pricing). DISH needs to do something to convince customers to stay. Being very honest with their 721 customers (a lot of whom are high end customers) is a good way to start. Tell us on the tech forum what the future is for our 721s. If you give us a date for a software release or feature, KEEP that date.

 

[Ken_F]

Well, I don't know what Dish has planned for the 721, but I do know one feature that would satisfy a number of customers:

Name-based recording.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Man those are three words that make the techs at Dish cringe.

I really wish I knew the full story of why they can't do that, I know its legal reasons.

I have been told by a few that in the lab they wrote name based stuff and have it working well. Now only if this legal crap was out of the way....

I want it too!

 

[120inna55]

Well my contacts did say they would have a 721 software release before the end of the month.

Imagine my surprise last night when I got home and my software update screen said "Download Successfull"

I powered my 721 off and the new software installed flawlessly.

I quickly checked the forums to see if others were also getting the download too... Nope no one reporting anything.

I checked my email and saw a note from the beta team. This software was another beta, and not the official release. In talking with a few people it seems that the previous beta had a small bog in it with the new Check Dish Screen where it would not recognize certain switch configurations correctly. Last nights update fixes that problem. I do hear that if everything tests ok this release could be made public within the next two week.

(BTW I should mention that none of this info came from Dish Network, it came from another tester who said he talked to Dish about the update)

I have my fingers crossed!

Hang in there this update is worth the wait.

Well, since no one else is gonna say it...

[yawn]yada, yada, yada....[/yawn]

 

[Bill R]

I really wish I knew the full story of why they can't do that (name based recording), I know its legal reasons.

Scott,

It is a combination of legal and financial reasons. Echostar could do it on their own (you mentioned that they do have it working in the lab) but they would still have to pay the licensing fees for the technology.

Software falls into a strange category. You can copyright it (ideas) and you can patent it (what it does and how it does it). Name based recording is both patented and copyrighted. My guess is that Echostar is not willing to pay the fees involved and THAT is the reason they don't have it on their DVRs.

 

[dmodemd]

It sounds to me they did a code freeze on the 721 code since it was being used as a basis for the 921. So they had one branch to fix new issues that had to be kept in sync with 921 development. So the 721 update and 921 code is being tested now in parallel and issues are fixed across both code branches. So it is probably not a coincidence the 721 update is coming out around the same time the 921 is. Now the good news is that with the 921 hitting the street there will be rapid code fixes, and some may be issues that also affect the 721 so there will be more frequent updates.
The 721 development line will be freed up a bit but on the bad side again, the code updates need to be cross checked with the 921 if they are truly continuing to use the 721 code set as some subset of the 921 software. So the 721 will have some common deployments with the 921.

As far as 721 having a future... can one presume the SBC partnership is going to yield its fruit in Internet connectivity for the 721??? hmmhmm? (for what its worth...)

Lee

 

[ken]

I am not as hot for name based recording as most of you are but it seems E* could go half way without all of the legal crap. They could add a autosearch to the search's history section. Just have the 721 do a search every night of the items listed in the history.

 

[aperry]

*sigh*

 

[JimW396]

SBC partnership?

demodemd - When you say "SBC partnership" in relation to internet connectivity, do you mean Starband Communications?
If you do, I thought that partnership was dead. If not, who is SBC? :?: