# 501, 508, 510 Software Upgrade 2.21 - UPDATED WITH OFFICIAL "FIX" LIST



## WJMorales

Anyone have the 411 on this upgrade?


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## Mark Lamutt

Working on it...


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## WJMorales

You are the best Mark!

Thanks!


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## mattyro

how far off is name-based recording on these units?? specifically the 508./besides name based, will therwe be any otner 'tivo-ish' capabilities?


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## Mark Lamutt

Haven't heard anything since the tech chat in January, when they said "possibly something this summer"...


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## David_Levin

I wouldn't hold your breath. Without some kind of confirmation, the tech chat comment could have been an accidental slip.


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## freakmonkey

Well I just downloaded the upgrade and the only difference I can see is that the new trivia game is now available to play. Prior to download it was an option but would not let me select it. Is it possible the new software is just to facilitate this new game?


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## Mark Lamutt

Here's the official word about the changes to P221:



> There are no fixes; we just added the 5000/6000 channels."


There you have it...straight from the 501/508/510 software manager.


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## jrbdmb

mattyro said:


> how far off is name-based recording on these units?? specifically the 508./besides name based, will therwe be any otner 'tivo-ish' capabilities?


God help us if this ever comes out ... can you imagine how any releases it will take "Dish SW" to get this working correctly?


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## MrAkai

Any word on why (at least my) recievers took it at 1pm in the middle of the day?

Always a jolt to turn on the TV and see the lovely 40-column text display saying your reciever's memory is being reprogrammed.


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## Geronimo

Is it fair to call it an official fix list if tehre are no fixes?


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## Mark Lamutt

Well, it's now fixed so that it can tune the upcoming channels in the 5000 and 6000 range. How's that?


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## Geronimo

I was joking Mr. L. But I guess we all have bad days. Here is top hopin that yours gets better.


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## Mark Lamutt

Sorry there Chief. Maybe I should have used the big smilie there...or maybe you should have used a smilie in the first place... :shrug:

Anyway, my day's moving along just fine today. Here's hoping that yours is as well! :goodjob:


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## beasst37799

what channels are in the 5000-6000 range anyway?


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## kwajr

i think the name based sw will happen now that they have gemstar probaly intergrate it with that remember tivo sued them


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## Geronimo

I guess sometimes we assume that our body language etc comes across on the intrnet like it does in real life----but it does not.


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## Guest

Mark Lamutt said:


> Here's the official word about the changes to P221:
> 
> There you have it...straight from the 501/508/510 software manager.


From one of the guest gallery readers:

Mark, please thank the "501/508/510 software manager" for me for releasing (albeit small) fix list. So many 50x updates have been a bit of a mystery, and you spend hours tinkering to find out what was changed/fixed. We all know (or at least should) that software development of this kind is HARD, and there are always issues to resolve. So I'm not about to bash E* for having "issues" (I'm in the biz myself). But it's frustrating when updates download without any idea what's changing, and leads to the endless speculations to "what did E* fix or screw up this time". So having an "official" change/fix list great, and clearly defines an update. Lets hope that E* will make this a normal action in the future.


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## Guest

Mark Lamutt said:


> Well, it's now fixed so that it can tune the upcoming channels in the 5000 and 6000 range. How's that?


I don't know about anybody else, but I'm now having a lot of problems with the new P2.21 software on my 508... it was totally rock-solid reliable with the p2.20 software, but now, just this week, I'm having to do a 'smartcard' re-boot at least once every day.

When I go to the guide to record a show in the future, instead of going thru the normal 'create an event' dialog, the 508 gets confused and returns to the program already on with no event created. The same thing happens again when I re-try it, over and over. After a short time of this the screen goes black.

A 'smartcard' removal will re-set it for a while, but then it gets 'confused' all over again. I called DISH, and the tech suggested that I do a 10 second "power button" hold, and re-boot it that way. I haven't tried it yet, but how it that different? Any help would be greatly appreciated...

MikeB


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## amit5roy5

It is like your computer. Restarting it makes it better because it clears out the memory.


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## DJ Rob

I'm getting garbled data & characters in the guide (especially when I hit info) with this release.
I have rebooted and it is still having problems.
I hope they fix it soon


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## freakmonkey

I downloaded the new software on WED @ about 11:30am and my 508 has been working flawlessly. Everything is O'TAY


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## MrAkai

amit5roy5-

The reason you have to restart your computer is because of bad programming. Barring hardware problems or upgrades a computer should never require a reboot. Daily+ reboots are a Microsoft concept, not a computing concept.

As for the reason you have to restart your reciever, well that's pretty much the same thing, without the Microsoft part.


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## garypen

MrAkai - Well said!


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## Orcatek

hmmm - I haven't rebooted my machine in months (XP-Pro).


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## kwajr

MrAkai said:


> amit5roy5-
> 
> The reason you have to restart your computer is because of bad programming. Barring hardware problems or upgrades a computer should never require a reboot. Daily+ reboots are a Microsoft concept, not a computing concept.
> 
> As for the reason you have to restart your reciever, well that's pretty much the same thing, without the Microsoft part.


do you really think ms is that bad i mean come on think how many programs and diff combos of hardware are available and they have to build software that will run flawlessly on all combos plus the people factor like the one who think if they delete something it uninstallls it i in the industry and people are crazy like i was working with this one lady to get here printer working over the phone did every thing like 30 mins to realize that when she insatlled it she put the power cord aside like it wasnt needed i mean damn why do you think it came with it you have to plug it in


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## garypen

get that period key fixed dude its really hard to understand what you are saying all the words and sentences run into each other with no punctuation or capitalization it reminds me of an anime chat room for fourteen year old boys thats the way they type i wonder if they go to school maybe its a way to be cool i dont know i just hate reading posts that are typed that way thanks


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## DJ Rob

Orcatek said:


> hmmm - I haven't rebooted my machine in months (XP-Pro).


It's too bad the 508's arent running that!


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## kwajr

MikeB said:


> I don't know about anybody else, but I'm now having a lot of problems with the new P2.21 software on my 508... it was totally rock-solid reliable with the p2.20 software, but now, just this week, I'm having to do a 'smartcard' re-boot at least once every day.
> 
> When I go to the guide to record a show in the future, instead of going thru the normal 'create an event' dialog, the 508 gets confused and returns to the program already on with no event created. The same thing happens again when I re-try it, over and over. After a short time of this the screen goes black.
> 
> A 'smartcard' removal will re-set it for a while, but then it gets 'confused' all over again. I called DISH, and the tech suggested that I do a 10 second "power button" hold, and re-boot it that way. I haven't tried it yet, but how it that different? Any help would be greatly appreciated...
> 
> MikeB


and now i can actualaly schedule two timers at same time and it wiill not tell
me of the conflict it just doent record


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## kwajr

garypen said:


> get that period key fixed dude its really hard to understand what you are saying all the words and sentences run into each other with no punctuation or capitalization it reminds me of an anime chat room for fourteen year old boys thats the way they type i wonder if they go to school maybe its a way to be cool i dont know i just hate reading posts that are typed that way thanks


well you could respond and i aint wrighting letters email these should be informal


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## BobaBird

:sigh: Being informal doesn't require a complete disregard of the basics that should have been mastered in elementary school. Keep in mind that these threads are read by hundreds of people and they don't all have time to decipher what you are trying to say. Ironically, I found response #26 easier to read than #30.

Getting back on topic, thanks Mark for finding out the intended changes.


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## MikeHDTulsa

Mikeb, that problem with trying to set a timer has happened to me in the past and the only way I could fix it was by hitting info button first and then hit the record button. You might want to remove the remote UHF antenna on the back of the receiver and see if that helps.


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## MikeHDTulsa

I have a weekly timer for Crossing Jordan and it is set to fire at 9:00 and end at 10:00 but Crossing Jordan was not on and a two hour program came on instead and the timer fired a hour early to catch the whole two hour show. Is this something in the new software or was it just a fluke or has it always been there and I have just not seen it yet.


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## Mark Lamutt

I have never seen either of my 508s do that.


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## MikeHDTulsa

It might be that my 508 is sitting within two feet of my DTivo and maybe it is starting to pick up a few tricks.


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## Mark Lamutt

Wouldn't that be nice! I have a weekly timer set to record from 9-10 on Sunday nights on KTLA - last night KTLA showed a basketball game from 8-11 or so, and my weekly timer did not adjust itself to record from 8-10 or 8-11. It merrily recorded away from 9-10 just as it was set to.


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## Ron Barry

DJ Rob said:


> It's too bad the 508's arent running that!


Do you keep in on 24/7? If you do, that woudl be impressive because I have not been able to keep my Windows XP running that long.


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## Ron Barry

I have noticed something on the 508s. After a long period of running without a reboot, the 508 decides to stop recording scheduled timers. Possibly a slow memory leak? Hard to tell. Anyone else been experience this behavior?


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## MikeHDTulsa

I have had my 508 run for at least 3 months with about 10 timers a week and I never rebooted it and it would work just fine. I did have a problem one time when the receiver lost signal while it was recording because of heavy rain and it seemed to work fine afterwards but it would not fire the next timer so I ended up having to reboot it.


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## narnia777

I noticed tonight that my 508 didn't record the 2 hour block from the WB Denver superstation. Now I think I know why cause it was on for a few days, noticed I also lost all the guide info past 2 hour. Had to do a reset to get the guide repopulated. Glad I had my Directivo's season pass set on the local WB as a backup 

Jim


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## Ron Barry

MikeHDTulsa said:


> I have had my 508 run for at least 3 months with about 10 timers a week and I never rebooted it and it would work just fine. I did have a problem one time when the receiver lost signal while it was recording because of heavy rain and it seemed to work fine afterwards but it would not fire the next timer so I ended up having to reboot it.


I have two 508s and I have seen this on both of mine. Hmmm. I don't have a lot of timers per week. About 7 or 8. Strange. I will have to look further into this one.


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## DarrellP

MikeHDTulsa said:


> I have a weekly timer for Crossing Jordan and it is set to fire at 9:00 and end at 10:00 but Crossing Jordan was not on and a two hour program came on instead and the timer fired a hour early to catch the whole two hour show. Is this something in the new software or was it just a fluke or has it always been there and I have just not seen it yet.


It was a fluke, my 501 does this "once in awhile" but not always. It must depend on when the show is scheduled vs what the timer is. I've seen it adjust to pick up different shows but it doesn't always happen.


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## dreamer

Do any of you guys have the following problem with the 50X series DVRs ? I have it on my 501 from time to time.

If I go into the programming guide or DVR guide and begin to use the arros keys on the remote to scroll up/down/left/right that even if I only push the arrow button one time the scrolling continues for about 5-10 slots on the guide ? Sometimes I can't even get onto the specific button of the guide that I want to...Very frustrating. 

I have replaced batteries, reset my DVR, called Dish and all they say is "That is a known problem with the 501 DVRs. Is that true ?


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## DarrellP

Is there bright sunlight in the room with your DVR? Mine did the same thing intermittently and I discovered one day that the light was shining on the IR receive window and when I dropped the shades, the problem went away.


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## HTguy

dreamer said:


> Do any of you guys have the following problem with the 50X series DVRs ? I have it on my 501 from time to time.
> 
> If I go into the programming guide or DVR guide and begin to use the arros keys on the remote to scroll up/down/left/right that even if I only push the arrow button one time the scrolling continues for about 5-10 slots on the guide ? Sometimes I can't even get onto the specific button of the guide that I want to...Very frustrating.
> 
> I have replaced batteries, reset my DVR, called Dish and all they say is "That is a known problem with the 501 DVRs. Is that true ?


Yes, I have experienced the "runaway curser syndrome" several times, usually when in bed at night & relying on the UFH remote to transmit to the 501 in my living room.

What pretty well controlled it for me was replacing the UHF wand antenna on the back of the 501 with an old-fashioned bow-tie UHF antenna sitting on top of the cabinet it is in. It has still occured once or twice in the last year or so but before I changed the antenna it was a much more frequent problem.


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## Guest

dreamer said:


> Do any of you guys have the following problem with the 50X series DVRs ? I have it on my 501 from time to time.
> 
> If I go into the programming guide or DVR guide and begin to use the arros keys on the remote to scroll up/down/left/right that even if I only push the arrow button one time the scrolling continues for about 5-10 slots on the guide ? Sometimes I can't even get onto the specific button of the guide that I want to...Very frustrating.
> 
> I have replaced batteries, reset my DVR, called Dish and all they say is "That is a known problem with the 501 DVRs. Is that true ?


Yes it is a problem with the 508 it surfaces from time to time. When it gets real bad I remove my UHF ANT and the problem stops. I discovered this when I used an old IR remote when my silver one was MIA


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## digital223

MikeHDTulsa said:


> I have a weekly timer for Crossing Jordan and it is set to fire at 9:00 and end at 10:00 but Crossing Jordan was not on and a two hour program came on instead and the timer fired a hour early to catch the whole two hour show.
> 
> just a guess. is it possible a family member reset the clock for daylight saving time ?


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## JM Anthony

WeeJavaDude said:


> Do you keep in on 24/7? If you do, that woudl be impressive because I have not been able to keep my Windows XP running that long.


You're just biased!! I've got 2 PC's at home running 24/7 on XP and they haven't missed a heart beat. Must have good karma. Or maybe it's because I'm close enough to Remond to be wrapped in their aura. :lol:


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## MikeHDTulsa

Digital223, I am the only that sets timers on that 508 and the weekly timers set before and after that Crossing Jordan have worked perfectly.


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## Steveox

Can a 510 freeze live TV? do slow mo?


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## Mark Lamutt

Steveox - yes to both.


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## scooper

Yes.


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## Mike D-CO5

Yes , it is the same thing as a 501/508 dvr except the 510 has 100 hours , the 508 has 60 hours, and the 501 has only 35 hours. Oh yeah, you get to pay a dvr fee to use the 510 vs the no fee 501/508 dvrs.


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## freakmonkey

If you subscribe to AEP then there is no DVR fee on the 510 522 ect.


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## Mike D-CO5

freakmonkey said:


> If you subscribe to AEP then there is no DVR fee on the 510 522 ect.[/QUO
> 
> That's true, and I have and have had AEP for quite a few years now.


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## rrbhokies

Mike D-CO5 said:


> Yes , it is the same thing as a 501/508 dvr except the 510 has 100 hours , the 508 has 60 hours, and the 501 has only 35 hours. Oh yeah, you get to pay a dvr fee to use the 510 vs the no fee 501/508 dvrs.


I'm confused about why the 510 has a dvr fee and why E* website advertises the 510 as having "includes DISH Video-On-Demand Service", but it doesn't say that for the 501/508.

From what I can see, the 510 has the exact same software programming functionality. It uses the older software just like the 501/508. It's not like the 721/921/522 that uses the newer software that has more features and a more streamlined interface.

Therefore, I can't understand for the life of me why they advertise the 510 as being different than the 501/508 and why they charge $5/mo. when the only difference is a 120GB hard drive.

Can anyone shed any light?


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## DarrellP

Greed and Charlie thinks they are as good as TIVO. :lol:


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## garypen

rrbhokies said:


> Therefore, I can't understand for the life of me why they advertise the 510 as being different than the 501/508 and why they charge $5/mo. when the only difference is a 120GB hard drive.
> 
> Can anyone shed any light?


Maybe someone should ask that on the next Charlie chat. I would love to see Charlie and Mustache Guy fumferring around for an answer. The swirling fumes of bullsh*t would rise high into the rafters that night, my friend.


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## Mike D-CO5

The only difference from the 510 series of dvrs verses the 501/508 series is the dvr fee. Charlie decided that he wanted some of that dvr fee money that Directv and Stand alone Tivo had been charging. So poof ...here comes a 510 dvr with a bigger hard drive and guess what ? A nice 4.99 video on demand fee (greed fee), unless you sub to AEP . So who wins in the new pricing game? Charlie . He gets you if you don't sub to AEP and he makes money off you if you do sub to AEP. He's got you coming and going. The funniest thing is that Dish still is attracting new customers even with the video on demand fee. This summer on the last tech chat in March , they promised that all dish dvrs would be getting true name based recording features (like Tivo). Then I guess we will see the video on demand fees will finally have some worth. I just hope that they won't be adding the video on demand fees toward the older classes of dvrs like the 501/508/721 .:nono2:


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## rrbhokies

Mike D-CO5 said:


> This summer on the last tech chat in March , they promised that all dish dvrs would be getting true name based recording features (like Tivo).


I'm new to this board so I'm not sure I fully understand what "name based recording" means. Is this the same as the "Season Pass" feature in TIVO?


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## Mark Lamutt

Not quite - name based recording technically means that you set timers up by program name rather than by timeslot. So, you tell the box to record "Survivor", rather than telling it to record Thursday nights from 8-9, and it will record all instances of Survivor.

A Season Pass takes the functionality of name based recording one more step in that you tell it that you can tell it that you only want new episodes recorded. Dish may offer that functionality as well, but we don't know for sure yet.


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## dmodemd

I am afraid that with name based recording you will pick up all repeats of the broadcast during the week or for those programs now in syndication as well you pick up all them.

e.g. try doing a name-based recording of Friends, Frasier, or Seinfeld! eek. Luckily they are all gone now so not as much a problem, but many newer hot programs are broadcasting encore presentations during the week, especially the secondary networks.

I dont see this being very useful without Season Pass


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## kstuart

MikeHDTulsa said:


> I have a weekly timer for Crossing Jordan and it is set to fire at 9:00 and end at 10:00 but Crossing Jordan was not on and a two hour program came on instead and the timer fired a hour early to catch the whole two hour show. Is this something in the new software or was it just a fluke or has it always been there and I have just not seen it yet.


This feature is described in the *original* 501 manual, and has always been in the 501 software (and thus 508/510 as well).

It requires a number of conditions to be true, in order to work (I don't remember all the conditions).

Since the recording feature is not currently name-based, it is triggered by a change in the listing of the time slot.


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## garypen

Orcatek said:


> hmmm - I haven't rebooted my machine in months (XP-Pro).


You have to turn it on first.


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## kwajr

rrbhokies said:


> I'm confused about why the 510 has a dvr fee and why E* website advertises the 510 as having "includes DISH Video-On-Demand Service", but it doesn't say that for the 501/508.
> 
> From what I can see, the 510 has the exact same software programming functionality. It uses the older software just like the 501/508. It's not like the 721/921/522 that uses the newer software that has more features and a more streamlined interface.
> 
> Therefore, I can't understand for the life of me why they advertise the 510 as being different than the 501/508 and why they charge $5/mo. when the only difference is a 120GB hard drive.
> 
> Can anyone shed any light?


because there free


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## TomCat

rrbhokies said:


> I'm confused about why the 510 has a dvr fee and why E* website advertises the 510 as having "includes DISH Video-On-Demand Service", but it doesn't say that for the 501/508.
> 
> From what I can see, the 510 has the exact same software programming functionality. It uses the older software just like the 501/508. It's not like the 721/921/522...
> 
> Therefore, I can't understand for the life of me why they advertise the 510 as being different than the 501/508 ...


So apparently the spin doctors at E* are actually promoting the fact that it includes a service which doesn't really exist (and costs more). Either that or they are trying to state a disclaimer "this unit works just the same as the others but we will charge you for the privilege" in a way that actually sounds like it's a "feature" that people should want. Pretty nervy.


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## kwajr

well he actually said on a chat a couple back that it was for the extra storage but folks e* is not th eonly ones who use marketing


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## stonecold

actually many are getting name based recording mixed up with other features of tivo...

He is an example from a working dish name based recording (orginal dishplayer 7200)

Say the west wing. it knows that I want it to record west wing at 9 on wednessdays.

if on wednessday at 9 it is not on it will not record. or if it came on at 9:30 do to some delay that in the egp it will record from 9:30 to 10:30

People seem to get this confused with the tivo feature to hunt in the epg for that show and record everytime it comes on concluding no conflicts wit hthe timers.


Why we are on the note of Name based recordings. While the Dishplayer 7x00 series have had it since the start thanks to microsoft. I think that dishplayer owners deserver a pvr software upgrade I want to see a season pass like system. and other features to support the name based recording system on the units. we put up with the headaches this long time for dish to reward the loyal 7x00 users.


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## Geronimo

My 7200 works. Leave it the @3$% alone.


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## Guest

Mark,
On my DishDVR 510, I now get channels 6001-6099. Bravo! This covers all the Sirius music channels 1-99. Do you know if there are any plans to bring in the some or all of rest of the Sirius channels covering news, sports and entertainment?

Some of the ones I would love to hear are:
116 - BBC Mundo
125 - Air America Radio !!!
140 - ABC News and Talk
141 - Trucker Network
142 - Sirius Right
143 - Sirius Left
144 - Sirius Talk Central

It would be nice if you kept the same channel translation 
I.e. 6116, 6125, 6140, 6141, 6142. 6143. 6144...

kgrr


Konrad


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## Mark Lamutt

Reports are that none of the Sirius talk channels will be added to Dish.


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## Guest

Mark Lamutt said:


> Reports are that none of the Sirius talk channels will be added to Dish.


So I take it that Air America's web page http://www.airamericaradio.com/pub/globalDefault.htm saying "Coming soon to Dish Network" is just a wet dream?

It sure would be nice. 
kgrr


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## MattS

Part of reason the VOD fee is applied is because Dish is giving these receivers at a very low cost. The fee is something that will sorta re-coup the cost of ther receiver so that Dish can possibly break even on the 510.


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## Junko

This might be a stupid newbie question, but is shutting off the 510 each night the same thing as doing a 10 sec power reboot? I can see where maybe powering off just stops the HDD and doesn't clear RAM (since the power is still connected to the mainboard), so that's why I ask. Obviously PCs don't operate this way, but technically the 510 could if so designed. Maybe the 10 sec reboot is the only thing that really clears the memory? I shut off mine each night but never do a 10 sec reboot and I've recently started seeing some of these little "bugs" reported on this board, so I'm wondering if that has something to do with it.


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## Slordak

When you turn the unit "off", it just goes into standby mode. It's still technically powered on, and in some cases, it's actually doing something (e.g. downloading the EPG information to the hard disk). So you are correct that turning it off via the power button or remote is not the same as doing a full reboot.


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