Vip 612 Woes

[psaman]

Howdy from South Texas Folks,
I am new here and have been trying to get information on my problem. After 10+ years with Dish I decided to upgrade to HD last December to the Vip 612. Since I first got it, it intermittently, freezes video, audio and after 3-5 minutes, will re-boot itself. It may do it once or twice more , then be fine for weeks at a time. Then, it will start doing it all over again. It did it twice last night and just a while ago. It doesn't matter whether I am am watching live TV or the DVR. In searching thru this forum, it appears to be a common problem on many receivers. Current software version is L603. When I ran the counters, it shows average Hd temp as 105 F. That does not seem terribly high, the receiver is not in an enclosed cabinet, it is on a shelf and the room is air-conditioned. I hate to call Dish, since from what I read, if they replace it, the new one might do the same thing. Is this the price one has to pay for watching Dish in HD??

 

[Laddyboy]

The rest of us don't put up with it. Call and get a replacement receiver or upgrade to a 722 which would be what I would recommend. It's a much better receiver.

 

[psaman]

It may very well come to that, wife is getting put out....:rant:

 

[rdinkel]

I have two 612s. And neither of them have that problem. Swap it out.

 

[TheKrell]

I too have two 612's, and they rarely (less than once/month) do that.

 

[LED]

I just had a new vip 612 installed by Dish to replace an old 510 that they couldn't fix.
I don't get HD and I have had it freeze audio and video when I fast forward a recording. The freeze will last for 1-2 minuites then it will recover and go on.
I have done the power on reset several times and it still freezes at least once a night.
It's not a big deal, but it is annoying. I guess if it continues, I will have Dish send me a replacement.

 

[TheKrell]

I don't get HD and I have had it freeze audio and video when I fast forward a recording.

It's more than annoying, it's another defective unit! Most probably disk is going south.

So why do you have a 612 if you don't get HD?

 

[LED]

I had a DVR 510 that was OK for what we use TV for. The 510 has a nasty habit of deleting recordings when ever it wants to. Not PPV movies that get deleted after 24 hours, I mean anything I recorded. It always deletes the oldest recordings. Sometimes once a month sometimes every day.
Anyway, they don't have a replacement for the 510 and I have been with Dish for over 10 years, so they offered me a vip 612 or a 622 as a replacement.
Since I wanted to keep my 2- 30" Winegard dishes and I don't want HD, it took 4 service calls for Dish to finally send a Dish tech not an independent tech to install it correctly.
The 612 is a perfect receiver for us. With it's dual tuners and 200 hours of recording time, I will love it if it stops freezing.
It sounds like the freeze problem isn't that common, so I will eventually get it fixed with a new box.

 

[TheKrell]

Sounds like the 510 was doing what it was supposed to do when it's disk is full.

 

[LED]

This is way off the original topic of this thread.
The 510 would erase recordings whether it was 10% or 80% full. Believe me Dish tried to fix it.
Apparently this is a known problem with the 510. There are several threads on this forum about 510's erasing recordings.
Dish would not have offered me a 612 replacement with no HD if they thought they could fix the 510. They actually lowered my monthly bill slightly, apparently they were overcharging me a few dollars a month.
Since I own the 510, I still have it. I probably will take it apart unless anyone wants it.

Now, back to the 612 freeze problem. It has not failed the last 2 nights.
I will start a new thread if I find a solution.