# Dish 508 Software Update to P4.08?



## John_E (Feb 7, 2003)

Anyone have information/experience on this new release?

Thanks...
John in STL


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

I have no idea what P4.08 includes. Probably more useless features and no meaningful fixes for long standing bugs. Basically all that anyone can hope for is that they didn't break something, like has happened in the past. For the moment I'm going to reject it.


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## John_E (Feb 7, 2003)

Thanks for the reply. I'm rejecting it for now but would like to know what changes await those few of us left with the 508.


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

Haven't seen comments yet on P408.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Nobody wants to be the first. I guess DISH is going to need to make a case for users to update or they're not going to do it.


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

There was a time I looked forward to an update, not anymore. Too many releases that delete timers and protected events.


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## John_E (Feb 7, 2003)

I've been lucky as no timers/recordings have been deleted over the years that were the fault of the dvr or software. I have had a couple of recordings messed up due to bad guide information.

In addition, I just received my new smart card today. Oh joy! Now hopefully that install will go OK. I'll continue to hold on P408 for now.

Thanks again,
John in STL


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## ch3 (Dec 1, 2004)

I'm also waiting. Though I have a bug with P4.07, it seams like if I don't turn it on during the day (wake it from sleep mode), it won't record timer events scheduled that night. I look back in the schedule history and it only says that the event was "canceled", no other reason given. It seams as if it can't wake itself to record an event if it's asleep.

This was similar to a problem I had with a previous release, I think P3.63 - that release won't record either if you turned the receiver off (remote or front panel button), though it putting itself to sleep didn't cause this - only turning it off.

I don't know if P3.69 had this bug (what I had prior to forced P4.07), since I got in the habit of not turning off the receiver.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Has anyone allowed 4.08 that would be willing to comment on it?


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## John_E (Feb 7, 2003)

harsh - I broke down and let my 508 install P408 around 10 days ago. Did a hard boot and have been running mostly OK.

There were a couple of minor glitches the first 48 hours. One was "no sound" when I "started over" a program that had been and still was recording. I have not tried that again so can't say if it was a one-timer. The other glitch was going to Themes/Movies at which point no movies were populated. Tried it again and it worked OK and ever since.

Sorry I can't be of more help and I'm still keeping an eye on it's behavior.

John in STL


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## ch3 (Dec 1, 2004)

Keep us posted. I'm holding on to P407 for the moment. On bug I've noticed (for a while now), is that if I don't turn on the 508 during the day (from sleep mode, I never turn it off), it probably won't record any events that night. Looking at the schedule history the event says "canceled" with some obscure reason I don't remember (I've been remembering to turn it on each day).


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

If you turn off the screensaver, you won't have to remember to wake it up each day.


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## ch3 (Dec 1, 2004)

Blowgun said:


> If you turn off the screensaver, you won't have to remember to wake it up each day.


Yea, I knew about that. I've had it at the default (enabled) since I got it (5-6 years ago). When the buggy DOD (DUD?) releases started coming down (P363 I think was the first forced one on me from P304, which was a really reliable version), it was reported that disabling this caused all sorts of problems, so I left it alone. But in any case, I'll just disabled it and will see what happens.


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## ch3 (Dec 1, 2004)

ch3 said:


> Blowgun said:
> 
> 
> > If you turn off the screensaver, you won't have to remember to wake it up each day.
> ...


Well, after just 3 days having the screensaver (Inactivity Power Off) disabled, the receiver was completely hosed (menus still respond but it won't play live TV or a recorded event) - so I rebooted it, and appears to not have downloaded program guide updates because that's the first thing it did upon reboot. It took three reboots to get it working right and the program guide updated. Some of my recorded events were also messed up.

I re-enabled the Inactivity Power Off as it can go for a long time without needing a reboot - at least my 508 does seam to be happier with it enabled - I just need to turn it on once per day so that it will record at night. _(Lesson learned - leave it on.)_


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

Of course the guide won't download automatically, but then all you have to do is a manual guide update once in awhile (press 999+right in the guide). Also, rebooting the receiver periodically helps too.

Perhaps it has something to do with different revisions? When I had the screensaver enabled I had all sorts of problems with timers. Once the screensaver started the receiver wouldn't wake up to record a timer. So timers were skipped. That went completely away when the screensaver was disabled and has continued to worked flawless ever since.

I guess this is a YMMV, as does the receiver revision, type moment.


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## lokidan (Sep 24, 2008)

Does the P408 software upgrade fix the bug in the _Originally Aired:_ and _Episode:_ data on the summary box for each of the recorded events ?

After the P407 upgrade, the information box for each recorded event on our 510 displays this:

_*Originally Aired: In 2155*_ .............. _*Episode: 15871*_ .................

Since the P407 upgrade, I've read of this same problem on other threads here in DBSTalk for the 501/508/510 receivers.
Has anyone checked this ???

I've still not downloaded this P408 upgrade, and will probably hold-off unless/ until this bug is fixed...

This may seem like a small problem, but it's a little annoying for some older movies and events/ programs. 
Any information on this would be appreciated.


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## John_E (Feb 7, 2003)

lokidan - As stated above I have installed P408 and the episode data error still appears on some recordings. No rhyme or reason to it.

As to other issues I am experiencing more problems with P408 than before. I've read numerous posts through the years about people losing their recordings and such and have never had that happen here. Last night we discovered three recordings gone from the last several days and a couple of lockups during the past two weeks that required a hard boot.

In general I'm not happy with P408 and would suggest if your 5xx is working OK to leave it alone until they force it or release something more stable. LOL

We're currently not in a position to upgrade hardware and would prefer the dust is settled regarding the lawsuit and such before giving it serious consideration. It will eventually have to be done.

John in STL


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## ch3 (Dec 1, 2004)

I've learn that if you hit INFO on the My Recordings screen, you will get the correct Originally aired and Episode - so the correct information is stored in there. However, if the My Recordings has the wrong program title (like you started the recording early and/or late and it has the title for the previous or next instead), then you're out of luck.

It's a shame that such a simple bug didn't get fixed in P408. Wonder what they did _attempt_ to fix in P408? (I'm sticking with P407 as it mostly works other than having to turn it on during the day to record at night - *and* I'm not touching the screen saver option again, that just made things worst on my 508.)


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## John_E (Feb 7, 2003)

I am having more issues with recordings being erased, protected or not. As stated above I've never had this happen before P408. I don't know if it's the software or hardware and I've yet to determine when exactly the deletions are happening (overnight, when I manually delete, etc.) I'm going to try and establish a pattern.

To those of you who have dealt with this before, any advice on limiting this behavior?

I regret installing P408 although YMMV.

Dish 508, P408
No odd hard drive or fan noises
Screensaver Active
Usually 35 or more hours free
Have hard booted several times

Thanks,
John in STL


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## ch3 (Dec 1, 2004)

Sounds they brought back the bugs that existed in the first DOD P308 and P309 releases and possibly some of the early P40x NBR releases. Many users reported that their 50x would delete older recordings, whether or not they were protected. I fortunately avoided those releases. I assume you tried protecting all the recordings?


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## John_E (Feb 7, 2003)

ch3 - Yeah, I recall reading those old posts and wondering "what are they talking about?".

Now I know. We usually only protect one or two for a while and the rest are deleted immediately after watching. I'm sure one was protected last night (the oldest from several months ago) and it was deleted along with another more recent one. Random from what I can tell and I'm not really used to keeping my eye on how many there are or what they are - until now.

Thanks for the suggestion.

John in STL


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## Alsat (Jun 30, 2004)

I had a weird bug on my 508 last night. I was watching a channel and all of a sudden the screen froze. If I changed channels I would get the last second of the channel it froze on and then it would freeze again. I could turn the unit off and back on and all I could view was the last second of that channel (340). I could pull up recorded programs and watch them, but when exiting out of the recorded programs, I was back to that second of video it froze on. The guide worked, the menu worked, diagnostics all passed, but until I went to the unit and powered it off and rebooted with the power button held down for ~10 seconds, the only "live" program I could get was that one second of video. Sometimes it would show normally, other times it would run in slow motion.

I did not lose any recorded programs, though.


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## John_E (Feb 7, 2003)

Alsat - Just to confirm are you on P408? If you're on an earlier version has that ever happened before?

I called Dish Tech Support (for the first time) and asked them to report my problems with P408 to engineering, emphasizing this never happened until the update installed. She would not listen and refused to notify anyone until I went through some over the phone tests at her direction. Didn't have time so I may call back later this week to see what silly things they'll want to do.

Have been careful when I delete existing recordings by not deleting while another new one is recording and so far so good. Still trying to figure out a pattern - if there is one.

John in STL


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## Alsat (Jun 30, 2004)

John_E said:


> Alsat - Just to confirm are you on P408? If you're on an earlier version has that ever happened before?
> 
> John in STL


Yes, I am on P408. No, I have not seen this happen before.

Yes, I have had recordings disappear. At first I thought their might be a limit to the number of recordings, as it seemed to occur when I got to around 30 recordings and the ones that disappeared where the oldest, but the last couple of times they have been random, I have lost the third episodes of Generation Kill off of HBO and the third segment of a Masterpiece Theater program, while earlier and later recordings remained.

I have been keeping the number of recordings below ~25 now and have not lost any for a while.


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## ch3 (Dec 1, 2004)

I've seen this problem on P4.07 also. More often then I would like. Indicates that the unit needs rebooted. I suspect that this is what is happening that prevents it from recording in the evening. I would say that it or some other condition where it's just not working quite right is occurring once every week or two or three.

The last one I saw (within the last week) was that I started a recording and it starting playing fine. However, at the first commercial I couldn't skip - it wasn't responding to the remote at all (I made sure SAT was pushed because my remote has the habit of _forgetting_ that it is in SAT mode), in fact it wasn't responding to buttons on the front either (except for holding the power to reboot that is ). This was the first time I saw this particular freak out. Strange thing is, once it finished rebooting, it went back to playing what I started before it freaked out.


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## el shevi (Feb 22, 2009)

*gracias........*


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