U332 new software release for the hopper 3

[wallacegromet]

I think they tell customers when they call in that they're escalating it but don't.... It gets the person off the phone though.

Yeah. It is hard not to feel this way. I asked the customer service rep if they could email me status updates (knowing they probably wouldn't, but doesn't hurt to ask) and be notified if they found a bug.
Basically the only way I can get a status update is to call them and hope someone will find my ticket and hope someone on their end documents the progress.
Since there is no accountability built-in to their ticketing system (SLA service level agreements forcing periodic updates and resolution), I am not confident that they will tell me if there is a bug or not. I suspect the problem will disappear at some point and I will be non-the-wiser. Or, the problem never is resolved

I don't want to beat-up the Dish customer reps. They were all very friendly and helpful to the extent of their authority. I suppose my criticism is related to their ticketing process and lack of a SLA to the customers.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Believe me on this one it has been escalated.

 

[ScottJD]

Thank you for your reply and advice. I am definitely going to take your advice and check the settings you discussed.

Just some background on DHCP (which maybe helpful to others):
DHCP typically isn't a problem due to some built-in behaviors. A device will make an attempt to renew it's lease about half way through it's assigned lease time (i.e. lease given is 4 hours - in two hours from when the lease is issued, the device will request start the renewal process - I think this is to prevent the behavior you discussed: dropping a lease in the middle of use). I did however, set my DHCP server to always give the same IP address to Hopper. The other thing I was concerned about is my use of OpenDNS and that they could be blocking content. So I have configured the DHCP lease on the Hopper to use google DNS servers, while leaving the other devices on OpenDNS. After my testing, I don't think OpenDNS was the cause because the Hopper behaved the same way with google DNS servers.

Again - I really appreciate your advice and help.

No problem. I ended up digging deep when mine was installed last week and Netflix gave me the UI-113 error and YouTube would either reset the box from a kernel panic sometimes. When youtube did work it always said loading and stats for nerds showed a slow caching. The thing that fixed Netflix and YouTube was turning off NAT acceleration.
But in the new software they changed the Netflix app probably trying to figure out why it works for some people and not others. Now it asks for the login locally when you launch the app and stores this in a config, then try's to connect to the Netflix network, so this give a different error now when I turn on NAT acceleration. I've mentioned this to Dish and received the "We will pass this to engineering" standard response so who knows if they are taking my findings seriously or not. Without commmad line access to the hoppers logs I can't say for sure what or why the acceleration causes this, I can only make educated guesses at this point.

I played a little more since replying to your post and was able to turn on jumbo packet and set the MTU on the inside with mine back to 9000 MTU. I did Spider-Man on demand on HBO as a test and it averaged 200Mbps, was done downloading in 5 minutes. So maybe Jumbo packets and MTU doesn't make a difference with my setup, but I thought I would mention it since I've seen it affect VPV connections in the past with the extra encryption header on the packet getting truncated. I don't know how each ondemand station is doing their own encryption or DRM method since they are so afraid of people stealing the movies or TV shows.

If you ISP is a buisness class then I wouldn't think they would throttle you. DNS would normally only affect the initial connection, once it's established it should be stable to the end of the download unless for some reason something cusses a reset. Then you would need to find out what is resetting and the cause. But this is hard to trouble shoot just seeing one side, darn I wish I had access to the logs on the Hopper.
Let me know how reviewing the settings works for you and what you find.

 

[300mag]

Have they stopped rolling out this update?

Sent from my H1611 using Tapatalk

 

[ScottJD]

Have they stopped rolling out this update?

Sent from my H1611 using Tapatalk

I was told not to expect it until the 13th, but received it in the 10th. So my guess is they expected everyone to have to have it by the 13th?
I did have the H3 reset and self reboot on me last night watching a DVR program, so not sure how stable it is. I hope this was a one time thing. I guess I'll find out more as I watch some more recording later.

 

[Hall]

They typically send updates in waves. The time in between varies so it's really hard for us to tell. I never rec'd it, but that doesn't mean anything either.

Thing is, one aspect of this release was to comply with a government regulation/law about 'accessibility'. Problem is, Dish included some other updates (possible HDCP changes, external HDD fixes, this VOD change, and so on).

 

[MikeD-C05]

I know nothing about writing software , but it always amazes me that when DISH tries to update their receivers with new software - to fix a problem , that it always breaks at least two other things that aren't even related to what they fixed. It's always like the old Paula Abdul song: Two steps forward one step back....

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Have they stopped rolling out this update?

Yup.

 

[ScottJD]

Well I guess I was told the 13th since I called about the external hard drive not working, this still concerns me. I wonder if the hopper go will work when I receive it? It was free for the holiday promotion, but I would think since it's USB based that it would be recognized as an external and drive because they don't allow external USB memory keys. But they also say SSD drives won't work, and I understand the hopper go is a flash memory based unit just like a memory key or SSD drive. It will be insteresting if everyone that joined with the freehoppergo promo gets it, amdmit doesn't work. I also have to wonder if this is the reason for the changes to how the USB handles external hard drives also. I understand the H2 never had a problem with external hard drives, then they rolled out the hopper go and now people are having issues.

It's common practice for software updates to include more then just one update for efficiency, I'm sure customers don't want restarts every night just for one change at a time. But it's also common practice for change control management and proper testing with roll back procedures in case something goes wrong with the update. Change control practice and approvals for each part of the code changed usually requires three levels of independent testing also. Seems dish needs better testing and approvals from maybe a select group of volunteers that are technically inclined before rolling to the rest of the systems. And I've heard roll back is not possible, so they are missing this part all together.
I know when I was working with one of the top three banks in the world we had very stringent change control processes, it made the job harder sometimes but I also understand why we had it in place. Somemit it was my processes that I wrote. But if you break debit card transactions or online banking then a lot of customers start to move to another bank. Maybe companies like dish and DirectTV feel they don't need to follow this since the customers are locked into a contract. I personally think the contract should have a customer SLA and should include a clause to let us out if they can't get the software to do what they promised or advertise based on the sales pitch. Just my opinion.
Scott

 

[Hall]

It's common practice for software updates to include more then just one update

In this case, Dish is required by law to incorporate certain, new features or functions to meet regulations by the end of the year. They should have focused on that (or implemented it a long time ago - in fact, the Carbon UI probably should have been built with it from day one !) vs "trying to kill multiple birds with one stone". What do they do now ? Un-roll the HDCP, VOD, external HDD fixes and push it again with only the accessibility options ? Try and fix some of those issues along with getting the accessibility changes ?

 

[navychop]

I know nothing about writing software , but it always amazes me that when DISH tries to update their receivers with new software - to fix a problem , that it always breaks at least two other things that aren't even related to what they fixed. It's always like the old Paula Abdul song: Two steps forward one step back....

It is clear they aren't doing regression testing, or aren't doing it very well. This is where you make sure something new doesn't break something that was working fine.

 

[jaymerkramer]

Hello folks! First time poster, so please be kind
I seem to be having trouble with Video On Demand. The general symptoms are - first VOD show downloads at >90Mbps, but stops when 2/3rds of the show is downloaded, then stalls.
The next VOD, attempts to download, but stalls immediately.
As I see it there are three possible problems:
1 - Network issue (I checked my network thoroughly - I'm a network engineer, so I feel the network is good)
2 - Problem with the Hopper - hardware or software
3 - Problem with the content delivery service in the cloud

Youtube and other apps that use the internet work very well. So the internet access is working outside VOD services.

Prior to the last upgrade, I downloaded the full season of "WestWorld" without any problems. I noticed the problem just recently (which maybe coincidental to the software update).

I have opened a support ticket with Dish, but they tell me it will have to be escalated to the engineering team. If it is a software bug, a fix wouldn't be available until the next software release.
I hope it isn't a bug, because I really enjoy VOD and would hate to be without it for a long period of time.

Has anyone had trouble with VOD since the software roll-out?

Same issue here after the update. Use VOD all the time and problem started after receiving the update. All VOD's fail to start downloading now. It is a not a ISP or network issue it's a dish issue.

 

[rogerpl]

I have Hopper with software version s622 just downloaded on 14th. I thought I would try VOD just to see. Normally no problems but 3/4 through download froze.

 

[Hall]

No doubt that many different receiver models share chunks of back-end code, so this is likely to impact lots of receivers. You (rogerpl ) have a Hopper 1 (the original) or a Hopper 2, so it goes beyond only Hopper 3s.

 

[Troch77]

Yup.

Good, Thank goodness.

 

[EvilEuro]

Yup.

Ah crap! I wanted it so I could finally access my external drives again.

Booooo!

 

[syphix]

Since the update to S332, when I first turn the TV and Hopper on in the morning, the green light shows on the Hopper, but my TV shows no signal on that HDMI input. Not even the screensaver. All other inputs work fine with their devices, and plugging the Hopper into a different HDMI fails too. So it's a failure of the HDMI port on the Hopper. Only resolution is to reboot the Hopper. Every morning.

Getting a bit annoying.

Sent from my XT1575 using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[handiman876]

Since the update to S332, when I first turn the TV and Hopper on in the morning, the green light shows on the Hopper, but my TV shows no signal on that HDMI input. Not even the screensaver. All other inputs work fine with their devices, and plugging the Hopper into a different HDMI fails too. So it's a failure of the HDMI port on the Hopper. Only resolution is to reboot the Hopper. Every morning.

Getting a bit annoying.

I posted about similar issues in another thread but wanted to add it here. Something about this update has created issues with my Hopper and HDMI as well. I can watch a good chunk of my channels when I turn my box on but a lot of them give me a HDCP error until I reset it. Unplugging the HDMI and plugging it back in does nothing. It also requires another reboot if I turn the Hopper and TV off and on again. I had not had this happen one time before the recent update. There is an issue with it.

 

[navychop]

GEE how I hope this is H3 only, and won't be visited upon us HWS folks once the "CUI" is foisted upon us!

 

[Troch77]

GEE how I hope this is H3 only, and won't be visited upon us HWS folks once the "CUI" is foisted upon us!

I believe you will be safe.
I've seen many similar bugs, But U221 didn't have these issues.
But who knows what the next one will bring.