# 622 is the biggest P.O.S



## poppin_fresh (Oct 14, 2006)

I am so sick of the 622. I already returned one because it locked up all the time. This one is better, but not by much, it only locks up once in a while. 

I just went to change the channel and ...................

I realize thats a lot to ask a receiver to do, so I guess I shouldn't get mad, but I AM! Insert sarcasm here <---------


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## grooves12 (Oct 27, 2005)

Do you have it installed in a tight enclosed space with little ventilation? Perhaps it is overheating.

It is abnormal for 622's to lock up based on the response on this forum... and I've had mine for a year and a half and have not had a single lockup.


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## Presence (Mar 14, 2004)

Overheat.


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## jarvantgroup (Mar 24, 2006)

poppin_fresh said:


> I am so sick of the 622. I already returned one because it locked up all the time. This one is better, but not by much, it only locks up once in a while.
> 
> I just went to change the channel and ...................
> 
> I realize thats a lot to ask a receiver to do, so I guess I shouldn't get mad, but I AM! Insert sarcasm here <---------


622's, 625's and 211's are notorious for freezing up when they become too hot.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Hey poppin_fresh... you didn't install your Vip 622 in the oven with you did you?


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

you know since this is not the support forum I think it's fair enough to say this: the box should be designed to keep itself cool enough to run in the type of installations you can expect. It's a piece of home theater equipment. They should expect it to be put in an enclosed cabinet with only the front panel open and even stacked in with other equipment. This idea about 2" of space all around is absurd. You shouldn't have to plan your home theater furniture around one piece of special-needs equipment. The thing has a fan in it that never runs unless it's rebooting.

So while giving the box better ventilation or even adding your own cooling with a laptop cooler or whatever might be a suitable workaround, the overheating problem is still a problem that E* needs to own up to.

At least it looks like the 622 is on par with the competition. There is no competing E* DVR so any change to a competitive product requires a major hassle and cost (pay early termination fees, endure a waiting list and hassle with installers, etc.). So where there is no competition, or no real legitimate choice, there is no real requirement for quality. The D* HD-DVR is not any better (worse) and a more complicated install, and except for Scientific Atlanta and maybe TiVo (big maybe), I have never heard of any reliable, quality DVR. I should note that I do work for the parent company of Scientific Atlanta.

If any of you really want quality product, you need to push for open standards and choice in the market. Until the set-top-box or DVR is uncoupled from the service provider, there will not be any inducement in the market for a high-quality DVR. Complaining to E* or some forum about the quality of their 622 is tilting at windmills for sure. You can either have a 622 or no DVR, or you can leave Dish and go somewhere else and get the same or maybe lesser quality product, or a much higher price, or both, but you will have to endure the pains of changing service providers. So it's kind of a lose-lose for the customer.


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## grooves12 (Oct 27, 2005)

Mr.72 said:


> you know since this is not the support forum I think it's fair enough to say this: the box should be designed to keep itself cool enough to run in the type of installations you can expect. It's a piece of home theater equipment. They should expect it to be put in an enclosed cabinet with only the front panel open and even stacked in with other equipment. This idea about 2" of space all around is absurd. You shouldn't have to plan your home theater furniture around one piece of special-needs equipment. The thing has a fan in it that never runs unless it's rebooting.
> 
> So while giving the box better ventilation or even adding your own cooling with a laptop cooler or whatever might be a suitable workaround, the overheating problem is still a problem that E* needs to own up to.
> 
> ...


Sure it can be done... the problem is that DVR's are COMPUTERS. They have hard drives which are constantly spinning and generate lots of heat, and a bunch of processors and specialized chips constantly processing things that generate lots of heat.

Anyone that has tried to build an HTPC will tell you it is a MAJOR pain to try to get something to run reliably AND quiet at the same time. (In fact it costs a ton of money to accomplish it usually.)

There are places you can make sacrifices...

get a much larger case and/or increase fan circulation

But both of these are objectionable to most users. They do not want a huge box in their living room, and if you increase circulation via fans you make more noise which is not conducive to a pleasant home theater experience.

EVERY DVR has this problem to deal with (or worse) and they are easily fixed. Just put the DVR on top of all of your components in an area where there is plenty of fresh air to circulate.


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

hmmm... every DVR eh? I had a S2 DirecTivo running for 6 years in the same spot in my home theater rack as my 622 with never a single issue.

And FWIW I have built many computers for recording studio use that are nearly dead-silent. It's not an impossible task and I never suggested it was. I simply suggested this is an issue that Dish needs to deal with if they want to have a quality product. I really don't think they care! I think they figure, if we tell people to put this thing in an open-air environment or you can expect it's going to crash all the time, well that's totally acceptable.


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## patmurphey (Dec 21, 2006)

Mr.72,

$$$$$$ and don't think they wouldn't be passed on to the consumer - after all E* is a business. IMHO the 622 is an excellent compromise of cost vs. features.

Pat


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

It's not cost vs. features ... we're talking about cost vs. stability for a box that crashes due to overheating in a whole category of typical user environment, if it is not either given special treatment with regard to ambient air supply, or addition of some third party auxiliary cooling device.

It would be much simpler to just put a thermal sensor in the box and turn on the internal fan when the internal temp exceeds X value known to be a threshold for stability problems. It's then a simple matter to document that the fan may cycle on and off periodically, and if it happens excessively then you might consider moving it to a more open environment.

However, I think stability has to be job #1. You don't compromise that for ambient noise or cost. There's a minimum cost to build the box and it begins with a stable product, IMHO.

Mine never crashes for heat, FWIW, as far as I know. But I do think it's rather dumb to not allow it to run the fan from time to time when the temps get too high.


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## kircher67 (Mar 26, 2007)

Well, I just upgraded to the ViP 622 a few weeks ago to get HD content. It's been pretty bullit proof so far. I am very happy with it. The only annoying part now is, my wife wants a 2nd HD TV, but I told her that this unit only supports SD on the 2nd TV. Other than that, I have noticed that it seems to lose Sat 129 periodically when she watches the Ulrta HD (Fashion) channel. But I don't think that is ViP 622 related. I think that's more of a sat signal strength issue.


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## dave1234 (Oct 9, 2005)

My 622 has been stable for 1 year now. No lock ups no problems.


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## mikeyinokc (Jan 11, 2006)

I've had a 622 for almost 8 months now. It was stable until about 3 weeks ago when it started locking up and needed to be reset to get it working again. It is setting on a shelf in the open with plenty of air circulation around it.

Are we sure the problem is 100% heat related?


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## bigthrust (Feb 21, 2007)

Ventilate that thing..... please!


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## tedb3rd (Feb 2, 2006)

DVRs are like women. In all the comments, just change DVR (or equivalent) to 'women' and you will see my point... especially the ones like, 'seemed to work fine for the first 8 months or so but now....'

(but not like my wife in case she ever sees this comment)


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## thefunks67 (Feb 4, 2007)

Just a data point on heat.

My wifes 625 sits on top of her TV and the fan spins up quite a bit to cool it. I walked into the bedroom 2 nights ago and asked "What the heck is that noise?" The 625 fan was spinning at full tilt. I realized there wasn't much room between the top of the TV and the bottom of the 625, maybe a 1/2". I grapped some soda bottle tops (pop bottle tops for you folk in the north) and set the receiver on four of them. The 625 has since not spun it's fan full tilt.

My 622 is in the "wild". Not in a cabinet and has full access to the ambient air in the living room on all 6 sides. Never once have I heard it spin the fans full tilt.

Neither unit has "locked up" in the 2 months I have had them.

If you want the mac daddy POS, grab yourself an R15 or and HR20 from D*.

-Funk


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## mikeyinokc (Jan 11, 2006)

bigthrust said:


> Ventilate that thing..... please!


If it is as I stated " It is setting on a shelf in the open with plenty of air circulation around it." How would you recommend ventilating it.


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

mikeyinokc said:


> If it is as I stated " It is setting on a shelf in the open with plenty of air circulation around it." How would you recommend ventilating it.


If that is the case you should be fine and ventilation is probably not the problem. Now if it's in the open on top of another very hot component, i.e. an AVR, you may want to add some spacers to raise it up a bit but you should be fine.

If you go into the Diagnostics screen and check the counters see what the average temp is, based on what I've read the majority of the members here see their 622 averaging anywhere from around 100 - 118 degrees.


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## socceteer (Apr 22, 2005)

mikeyinokc said:


> If it is as I stated " It is setting on a shelf in the open with plenty of air circulation around it." How would you recommend ventilating it.


I keep mine in a cabinet with multiple other devices including my PS3, (which gets very hot, 10 times worse than the 622) I put a laptop cooler fan under both and it helps from getting overly hot. I try to keep the door open while using them. They are very quiet and work fairly well.

My 622 has not froze the entire year.


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

I guess I should also explain my setup as well. I actually have 2 622's and for the past year I've had them in an enclosed cabinet, with the door always open on a glass shelf above my AVR. The 2 622's were stacked on top of each other, no extra spacing, when the AVR was running the glass shelf got pretty hot. To keep them cooler I've had 2 fans that are USB powered behind them blowing air over them to the front. When everything is running all my equipment is fairly hot, but the air temp. in the cabinet is not that high, maybe in the 70's to low 80's.

Just recently, like the last couple of days I've been tweaking things so I can close the door. I've installed an active thermal management system I got a sweet deal on in the back that sucks in cool air right at the top of my AVR, which I think will help my AVR because it doesn't have a glass shelf above it anymore that was trapping the heat it was putting out. Now 2 622's are on top of the AVR, with about an extra 1" of spacing for each component. On top of that I have a USB powered fan still in the cabinet to help circulate the air across the devices. I then have the back panel propped open at the top and the front door is not air tight, especially at the top so the hot air rises out of the cabinet.

When everything is in standby the temp of the cabinet, closed up, is about 78 - 80 degrees, everything is warm to the touch (when the cabinet used to be open the right side of the 622's were cold and the left side was still pretty warm).

When everything has been running for a few hours, AVR, both 622's recordings going etc ... it gets up to about 86 - 88 degrees in there, with the left side pretty darn hot (before with it open it was the same when everything was running).

I'll be monitoring my temp counters on the 622s now to see if they change at all. Based on what I've seen so far it would seem that the 622s are running at about the same temp as before, but the temp of the air in the cabinet is more even instead of the left of the cabinet being really hot and the right being cool. I think I'll actually be in better shape now because I have that active thermal system sucking in cool air from behind my entertainment system.


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## Ohioankev (Jan 19, 2006)

socceteer said:


> I keep mine in a cabinet with multiple other devices including my PS3, (which gets very hot, 10 times worse than the 622) I put a laptop cooler fan under both and it helps from getting overly hot. I try to keep the door open while using them. They are very quiet and work fairly well.
> 
> My 622 has not froze the entire year.


I don't have a 622, but i have a 625, the only time my reciever has really froze up was arfter the update that screwed up Video on Demand. Everytime I went to the PPV Purchase screen, sure enough i would have to reset my box.

So it's not always a hardware problem ..

There is a stand alone DVR called TiVo by the way. From what I seen service costs anywhere from $12.95/month to $16.95/month, i would much rather have a built in DISH dvr and pay only $5.98/month

Also they are making DVD Recorders with Harddrives now that sell anywhere from $200 - $500.. I have been looking at these for the last couple of months. (So far Panasonic/Sony seems to be the best brands on the market)


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## koralis (Aug 10, 2005)

tedb3rd said:


> DVRs are like women. In all the comments, just change DVR (or equivalent) to 'women' and you will see my point... especially the ones like, 'seemed to work fine for the first 8 months or so but now....'
> 
> (but not like my wife in case she ever sees this comment)


hmmm


> Ventilate that thing..... please!


 |
|
\/


> Ventilate that woman... please!


eww


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## ssmith10pn (Jul 6, 2005)

From the bottom of may rack to the top I have the following:
Scientific Atlanta 8300HD
Dish VIP622
Dish VIP 211
Denon AVR-3806
Denon DCM-380
Denon DVD-1930
Control4 Media Controller

All in a rack in a closet with an 8x8 Air intake at the bottom and an 8x8 exhaust up top. The closet gets well over 120° and my 622 has not ever froze.


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