# Hopper - S234/Joey S282 Software Experiences/Bugs



## 3HaloODST (Aug 9, 2010)

Just got this update! Things I've noticed so far :-

- MANUAL TIMERS!!!
- Slight UI updates
- When you highlight recording folders, it now indicates how many are unwatched
- When you highlight an event on the guide, if the title doesn't fit within the time block, it will now scroll so that you can read the entire title.
- (not tested yet) Probably can now record OTA channels that have no guide data, since there are now manual timers.
- Probably other things that I missed, kinda late and I mainly was looking for manual timers. I'll update this post later on.


----------



## sregener (Apr 17, 2012)

3HaloODST said:


> - MANUAL TIMERS!!!


Astonishing to me how some people bandy about words like "never." This feature can't exist because somebody on the Internet said "never" and we all know that if you read it on the Internet, it must be true. (And yes, the last sentence is self-referencing, so you cannot question it. Bwa-ha-ha.)


----------



## 3HaloODST (Aug 9, 2010)

sregener said:


> Astonishing to me how some people bandy about words like "never." This feature can't exist because somebody on the Internet said "never" and we all know that if you read it on the Internet, it must be true. (And yes, the last sentence is self-referencing, so you cannot question it. Bwa-ha-ha.)


I agree!


----------



## treecastle (Dec 5, 2005)

I too got the update last night to S234 on my Hopper and S282 on the Joeys


----------



## 3HaloODST (Aug 9, 2010)

Yeah last night Joey software was still at S278. Now at S282  .

Tried to change the title earlier, guess a mod needs to change it. 

The good news is, rumor has it that this software will be rolling out quicker than S230 did  .

Another great feature with S234, can now tune into the "Big Four" all at the same time using only one tuner! Don't even need PTAT enabled either!


----------



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

_Thread title fixed._

I was wondering why the Hopper got an update and not the Joey in the thread-starter post... was thinking there might be some mod work to fix the title eventually


----------



## 356B (Oct 11, 2008)

Approximately 60% of the EHD icons or artwork showed up after S234. Wonder where the rest are?


----------



## rgranberry (Mar 29, 2012)

Thanks for:
Nice button colors.
When watching PTAT, it now keeps track of show ends and % watched.
Closed Captions now work all the time. (Although, after 234 update, they wouldn’t work at all until did front panel reset; even power reset didn’t get them working.)
When using Daily Schedule, making changes no longer pops the list back to the beginning.
Dish Online seems to work a lot better. It reads info from hopper and sets timers fairly reliably. It still doesn’t read all the timers (only pulled up 20 of 26).

Continuing bug / annoyances:

When all three tuners are in use recording and you are watching a prerecorded program, when you are finished with the program you are watching and press Stop then Delete, you cannot delete that program, because the hopper will not switch the picture to one of the tuners that are recording; instead, the picture remains on the stopped program you were watching and therefore won't delete the program because it thinks it's still being used.

When watching a recorded program, selecting Pause, then Skip Fwd to advance a frame and then Play, causes sound to cut out for about 5 seconds and about the time the sound comes back the picture jumps ahead about 10 seconds. Can get around this by hitting Skip Back once before Play.

Skip Back does not go back one frame. (seems to be designed this way ??)

Would be nice if the Timer limit was greater than 96 so I can leave in timers for all 3 or 4 seasons of the broadcasting year and still set up one time timers for movies and sports.

The Skip Fwd problem that showed up with S213, where the picture does not keep up with rapid presses of Skip Fwd.


----------



## 356B (Oct 11, 2008)

Speaking of colored buttons, I'm showing six "services in use" with 5 active and 1 available when I push the red button? It use to be 3, is this a bug or something new? I have 2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys.


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

356B said:


> Speaking of colored buttons, I'm showing six "services in use" with 5 active and 1 available when I push the red button? It use to be 3, is this a bug or something new? I have 2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys.


If four of them are PTAT channels it is not a bug. 

One can now watch any of the PTAT channels while one of the PTAT channels is being watched or recorded, 24/7. So if someone using that Hopper (including via a Joey) is watching NBC then others using that hopper (including other Joeys) can watch other local networks without burning a second tuner.

I do not believe you can record off of two PTAT channels on one tuner outside of PTAT times (yet) but you can watch.


----------



## 356B (Oct 11, 2008)

James Long said:


> If four of them are PTAT channels it is not a bug.
> 
> One can now watch any of the PTAT channels while one of the PTAT channels is being watched or recorded, 24/7. So if someone using that Hopper (including via a Joey) is watching NBC then others using that hopper (including other Joeys) can watch other local networks without burning a second tuner.
> 
> I do not believe you can record off of two PTAT channels on one tuner outside of PTAT times (yet) but you can watch.


Thank you.


----------



## 3HaloODST (Aug 9, 2010)

I tested it the other day, you can indeed record two separate channels from the "PTAT" tuner. However the weird thing is that then you can only record using one more tuner. So you can still only record 3 things at once. However you could watch up to 7 channels at once if you had enough Joeys.


----------



## TheGrove (Jan 10, 2007)

Manual timers work nice! Thank you! I can now set an auto-tune timer for 2:45 am on the Weather Channel so the channel is up and buffered when I get out of the shower to get dressed for work.

Now if they would must make the PiP work better! Coming from a combination 722/622 world the PiP controls need help. First, it doesn't remember your settings. If I change the PiP to be side-by-side after the Hopper goes to sleep it resets back to upper right corner. Second, if you bring up the PiP the only way to turn it off is to bring the menu back on and select the close option. With the 622/722 you could bring the PiP up with the button and shut it off by clicking the same button.


----------



## RASCAL01 (Aug 2, 2006)

rgranberry said:


> Thanks for:
> Nice button colors.
> When watching PTAT, it now keeps track of show ends and % watched.
> Closed Captions now work all the time. (Although, after 234 update, they wouldn't work at all until did front panel reset; even power reset didn't get them working.)
> ...


I have the same issue...to delete just leave the DVR function and pick a tuner then go back into DVR and now you can delete the show.


----------



## fwampler (Dec 2, 2005)

Just got the update last night (12/17/12). In addition to what has already been mentioned, the sports finder page (blue button from live) changed a little with an addition or two and the sports finder itself has a much improved interface and selection button/method. Haven't used update much yet but will edit/add features as I find them if they are not already mentioned elsewhere.


----------



## nickz (Sep 3, 2012)

I noticed my favorites list sticks now on the Hopper instead of reverting to "My Channels" every night. (Has always stuck on the Joey.)


----------



## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

This is the first time I've had a missed recording(s) with the Hopper.  It was on S230 when I checked on Monday but has been upgraded to 234 sometime since. Last night it missed 4 recordings it was scheduled for: PTAT, Late Night w/ Jimmy Fallon and 2 instances of "Justified". There were no other Timers scheduled and in all instances of the missed timers the daily schedule shows: "Completed by User: Living Room 1" but under that it says "Timer Started:" with the proper start time, then "Recording Started: N/A", "Timer Stopped:" with the correct end time and finally "Recording Stopped: N/A". It gets weirder in that the series timer for Justified should have recorded the three back-to-back episodes starting at 2:00, 3:00 and 4:00 AM. It missed the first and last one but actually recorded the middle one and that is reflected in the recording start and stop times. If this continues I'm going to be really unhappy. In all the years I've had DVRs with Dish I don't think I've ever missed a recording that wasn't due to operator error, signal loss.


----------



## Ray [email protected] Network (Dec 28, 2010)

I experienced this only once months ago with my Hopper. Have you unplugged the Hopper from the electrical outlet for 10 seconds to have the receiver reboot? If this continues, please PM me your receiver number so I can submit a trouble report to our engineering team. Please let me know. Thanks.



bobukcat said:


> This is the first time I've had a missed recording(s) with the Hopper.  It was on S230 when I checked on Monday but has been upgraded to 234 sometime since. Last night it missed 4 recordings it was scheduled for: PTAT, Late Night w/ Jimmy Fallon and 2 instances of "Justified". There were no other Timers scheduled and in all instances of the missed timers the daily schedule shows: "Completed by User: Living Room 1" but under that it says "Timer Started:" with the proper start time, then "Recording Started: N/A", "Timer Stopped:" with the correct end time and finally "Recording Stopped: N/A". It gets weirder in that the series timer for Justified should have recorded the three back-to-back episodes starting at 2:00, 3:00 and 4:00 AM. It missed the first and last one but actually recorded the middle one and that is reflected in the recording start and stop times. If this continues I'm going to be really unhappy. In all the years I've had DVRs with Dish I don't think I've ever missed a recording that wasn't due to operator error, signal loss.


----------



## Ramer84015 (Sep 24, 2006)

I received the update to S234 on the Hopper and S282 on my 1 Joey last Monday. Since then, on my Joey, when I try to watch one of the PTAT channels while it's recording during prime time, the Joey will freeze, then resume, then freeze etc. The only work around I've been able to do is to watch what's already been recorded a minute of so after being live. This isn't happening on the Hopper, just the Joey. It's happened for the last 2 nights, but it's fine during the day. Did I get a bad update to the Joey and can it be fixed?


----------



## thomasjk (Jan 10, 2006)

Did you power cycle the Joey?


----------



## Ramer84015 (Sep 24, 2006)

thomasjk said:


> Did you power cycle the Joey?


I left that out of my post. Yes, I unplugged it for about 30 seconds the following day, and it still did the same thing last night.


----------



## sregener (Apr 17, 2012)

I'm having trouble clearing the message that my remote is set to control a different device. This in spite of being able to do things like bring up a list of programs and select one and start it for playback. Sometimes the message just sticks there and won't go away. Repeatedly pressing the SAT button on the remote (which lights up with pressing) frequently doesn't clear this message. I replaced the batteries with fresh ones and the problem persists.

Anyone else seeing this?


----------



## j_t (Sep 3, 2008)

I got S234 on my Hopper a few days ago and I have noticed that when I skip forward or backward multiple times while watching a recorded program that the sound goes away for 5-7 seconds. If I fast forward it does not. I don't have this issue with my Joeys (s282). It doesn't happen with Autohop either. It didn't do this before the update. 

I gotten use to skip forwarding past the commercials and now I'm missing the first 5-7 seconds of the program after the commercial break.


----------



## Ray [email protected] Network (Dec 28, 2010)

Please PM your receiver number to me so I can submit a trouble report to our engineering team since you stated this didn't occur until the latest software update. Please let me know. Thanks.



Ramer84015 said:


> I received the update to S234 on the Hopper and S282 on my 1 Joey last Monday. Since then, on my Joey, when I try to watch one of the PTAT channels while it's recording during prime time, the Joey will freeze, then resume, then freeze etc. The only work around I've been able to do is to watch what's already been recorded a minute of so after being live. This isn't happening on the Hopper, just the Joey. It's happened for the last 2 nights, but it's fine during the day. Did I get a bad update to the Joey and can it be fixed?


----------



## Ray [email protected] Network (Dec 28, 2010)

I sometimes see the message remain for a few seconds after I press the SAT button but it does disappear. Have you checked your antenna to ensure it is upright and hand tight? Have you unplugged the Hopper from the electrical outlet for 10 seconds to have it reboot? Please let me know. Thanks.



sregener said:


> I'm having trouble clearing the message that my remote is set to control a different device. This in spite of being able to do things like bring up a list of programs and select one and start it for playback. Sometimes the message just sticks there and won't go away. Repeatedly pressing the SAT button on the remote (which lights up with pressing) frequently doesn't clear this message. I replaced the batteries with fresh ones and the problem persists.
> 
> Anyone else seeing this?


----------



## Ray [email protected] Network (Dec 28, 2010)

Since this didn't occur prior to the oftware update, please PM me your receiver number so I can submit a trouble report to our engineers. Thanks.



j_t said:


> I got S234 on my Hopper a few days ago and I have noticed that when I skip forward or backward multiple times while watching a recorded program that the sound goes away for 5-7 seconds. If I fast forward it does not. I don't have this issue with my Joeys (s282). It doesn't happen with Autohop either. It didn't do this before the update.
> 
> I gotten use to skip forwarding past the commercials and now I'm missing the first 5-7 seconds of the program after the commercial break.


----------



## Ramer84015 (Sep 24, 2006)

Ray [email protected] Network said:


> Please PM your receiver number to me so I can submit a trouble report to our engineering team since you stated this didn't occur until the latest software update. Please let me know. Thanks.


Thank you Ray, PM sent.


----------



## j_t (Sep 3, 2008)

Thanks Ray, PM sent.



> Since this didn't occur prior to the oftware update, please PM me your receiver number so I can submit a trouble report to our engineers. Thanks.
> 
> Quote:
> Originally Posted by j_t View Post
> ...


----------



## Stutz342 (Sep 29, 2004)

This may not exactly be a bug, but it's an unexpected aspect of a feature that's bothered me all along. I really hoped this would be "fixed" but it isn't yet.

When using timers to auto-save PTAT shows, the folder assignments on those timers are not heeded. That can't be right! This really hurts the folder functionality in my scenario.

Please, can somebody get this on a to-do list somewhere?


----------



## sregener (Apr 17, 2012)

My 30-second skip button turned into a 17-second skip button some time since last Sunday. This is a very frustrating development. I could live with 15-second skip, even though it would mean double the button presses, but 17 seconds is a very annoying timeframe.

Dish, if you're going to change this, you should give us the option to define the skip duration in settings, rather than changing it on us with no notice, and giving us no way to fix it. No doubt, this is somehow related to settlements with the networks over the Hopper, but I'd rather have a 30-second skip than AutoHop.

AutoHop, by the way, is getting much less useful. It now plays the first 5-7 seconds of the first commercial and the last 5 of the last commercial when "automatically skipping" the commercials.


----------



## Cardini (Aug 14, 2002)

Sorry to hear yours has changed. Mine has not and I'm on the latest release. I just checked my skip forward and back. Still at 30 sec forward and 10 sec back. 
Also I find that the transition on autohop is set just fine to ensure that no portion of the show is missed.


----------



## sregener (Apr 17, 2012)

Well, my 30-second skip button is back to working as 30-second skip. I wonder if it was a glitch or if it was what I was watching: OTA in catchup mode (still recording.) I tend to watch football in catchup mode, because just skipping commercials and halftime saves me an hour out of my day. But I don't like to let the game get "stale" - too easy to hear the results.


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

OTA might be the problem ... DISH skipping forward a certain amount of bytes and getting it wrong because of the higher bandwidth of the OTA signals vs via satellite signals. In progress may have been making it harder to calculate the amount of data to skip.

The skips are based on calculated bandwidth ... and it appears that the calculation was wrong.


----------



## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

We might dig into that with some bit analysis of these auto-hop marks ... It would e interesting to see how the feature works from data standpoint.


----------



## sregener (Apr 17, 2012)

James Long said:


> The skips are based on calculated bandwidth ... and it appears that the calculation was wrong.


The week prior, I did the exact same thing, and the skips were dead on 30-seconds. OTA, playing catchup.

My weekly test is coming up on Sunday. I'll post my findings.


----------



## bookwalk (May 10, 2005)

The past few days (have had my Hopper since Nov 9) all of a sudden, after a few hours of usage, any DVR recordings I start to play or if I pause any live tv and then start to reply or resume, the resulting play is full of skips, jerky, loss of sound, recorded content--really unwatchable. So all I can do is watch live TV. 

Also, when I do a reset, after the normal Startup, it reports that it recognized the "network", it ends with a gray box with Attention 015--acquiring satellite signal--click on "details" and then I see Sat --yesterday it was 129, today it shows 119 and transponder 21 5 out of 5 and it just sticks here indefinitely. I can get rid of the box by clicking on Guide or DVR. I can then view DVR or paused live tv replays, but only for a short while and then it goes back to skipping, stuttering, etc and so no DVR.

Called CSR and they said to have a DISH technician--scheduled that and he called and we agreed he couldn't see much else he could do except replace the Hopper--HORRIBLE--I am then forced to buy a $99 EHD to try to preserve my recordings to transfer to the next Hopper. We have 2 Hoppers and this is not happening to the 2nd Hopper, so eliminates the DISH. 

Also switched the Node inputs (Host) for both Hoppers. Makes no difference, so if this is the Hopper gone bad after only 2 months, I AM NOT HAPPY!

Also this Hopper has the OTA Usb dongle and broadband ethernet.

Any ideas?


----------



## 3HaloODST (Aug 9, 2010)

I just noticed that they changed the "Acquiring satellite signal" screen. Not sure if S230 or S234 changed it, but now it just says "Acquiring satellite signal. Select "Details" for more information" or something like that. You can click "Details" to see the "old" screen that tells you the sat/TP.


----------



## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

That was S2.30 at the very least.


----------



## fmcomputer (Oct 14, 2006)

Hopper : Whenever I pause a program, then resume the program I get pixilation until the program is live


----------



## sregener (Apr 17, 2012)

My weekly test of the 30-second skip while playing catchup on an OTA program concluded yesterday successfully. All skips were the proper 30 seconds in length. Must have been a strange glitch.


----------



## bookwalk (May 10, 2005)

bookwalk said:


> _The past few days (have had my Hopper since Nov 9) all of a sudden, after a few hours of usage, any DVR recordings I start to play or if I pause any live tv and then start to reply or resume, the resulting play is full of skips, jerky, loss of sound, recorded content--really unwatchable. So all I can do is watch live TV.
> 
> Also, when I do a reset, after the normal Startup, it reports that it recognized the "network", it ends with a gray box with Attention 015--acquiring satellite signal--click on "details" and then I see Sat --yesterday it was 129, today it shows 119 and transponder 21 5 out of 5 and it just sticks here indefinitely. I can get rid of the box by clicking on Guide or DVR. I can then view DVR or paused live tv replays, but only for a short while and then it goes back to skipping, stuttering, etc and so no DVR.
> 
> ...


In another forum or topic thread, I read that someone with a similar problem pulled the power for a longer period of time than 10 secs, so I did that yesterday--for about 20 minutes. So far, today, have played back all DVR recordings and resumed paused live tv WITHOUT ANY SKIPS or stuttering or stopping.

HOWEVER, the 2nd Hopper we have has some new issues:

It has been randomly "rebooting" to a "Acquiring Satellite Signal" and Error 004 and you cannot get to live tv--you can get the Guide, but clicking on a program does not allow you to see Live TV OR any DVR recordings.

We did a "Check Switch" from this 2nd Hopper and here's the message from Settings/Diagnostics/System Status: "LNB Drift Detetcted Ox12, Oxa1, 119 (e-14).

We will schedule DISH technician appointment to take a look at this problem--either DISH LNB or software or both. I do not get this message or problem on Hooper 1--only on 2nd Hopper in Kitchen????

Again, why so many opinions on how long to unplug from power--I tried 3 times to unplug only for 10 secs, but it was the last unplug for 20 minutes that has, so far, corrected the DVR or resume from pause of live tv jumpy playback and hopefully saved my Hopper from being replaced!

Hooray for these forums--I tried the DISH forum, this and one other forum and hope one of your "DISH" employees can comment on this????


----------



## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Very bad value I would say "e-14" ie -14 MHz to compensate, and it's for main 119W.


----------



## bookwalk (May 10, 2005)

What should the technician do to correct this problem? What might have caused it--after being installed and working ok for 2 months?


----------



## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I would try different H at that other location where you've seen the drift value; then proceed to changing LNBF.


----------



## JP41051 (Jan 1, 2013)

1) Hopper shows it is using 2 tuners in use even if only 1 is in use (and the DVR isn't recording and the Joeys are all disconnected). Only way to get control of the spurious tuner is to guess your best from a Joey, but as soon as the Joey is powered off it flips back. This affects the internal and OTA tuners and seems to be related to turning on PIP by default.

2) Bluetooth device is paired and connected but menu doesn't show it as connected.

3) Guide lag if a Joey is using OTA tuner. This occurs if the connection between the hopper is over COAX, but does not occur if connection is over ethernet.


----------



## bookwalk (May 10, 2005)

P Smith said:


> I would try different H at that other location where you've seen the drift value; then proceed to changing LNBF.


Does the tech have a way to electronically test the LNBF at the Dish because, after the looonnnng depowering--pulling plug for 20 minutes, the 2nd Hopper that had the LNB drift error message now does not show that message and not having any issues with this Hopper?????

What can cause this drift? Technician will come anyway, but now no error messages Acquiring Satellite.

Wonder if all this is temperature dependent? We are starting to have pretty cold temps up here--at night down to -5F, but during date up to about 9 F, but today, 21 F and no problems.


----------



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

JP41051 said:


> 1) Hopper shows it is using 2 tuners in use even if only 1 is in use (and the DVR isn't recording and the Joeys are all disconnected). Only way to get control of the spurious tuner is to guess your best from a Joey, but as soon as the Joey is powered off it flips back. This affects the internal and OTA tuners and seems to be related to turning on PIP by default.


I'm not sure what the "bug" is here... PiP does require the use of two tuners... and there's nothing wrong with two tuners being "in use" like that. It doesn't prevent any timers from firing nor should it prevent any Joey from joining in.


----------



## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

bookwalk said:


> Does the tech have a way to electronically test the LNBF at the Dish because, after the looonnnng depowering--pulling plug for 20 minutes, the 2nd Hopper that had the LNB drift error message now does not show that message and not having any issues with this Hopper?????
> 
> What can cause this drift? Technician will come anyway, but now no error messages Acquiring Satellite.
> 
> Wonder if all this is temperature dependent? We are starting to have pretty cold temps up here--at night down to -5F, but during date up to about 9 F, but today, 21 F and no problems.


Bad material of a components inside of LNBF could be more prone to temperature's changes or humidity. Or it went something wrong in a RAM of that H, that would explain no more drift value after cold reboot.


----------



## bookwalk (May 10, 2005)

P Smith said:


> Bad material of a components inside of LNBF could be more prone to temperature's changes or humidity. Or it went something wrong in a RAM of that H, that would explain no more drift value after cold reboot.


Since then, this send Hopper has "lost signal" and then rebooted itself and regained access to signal.

But, if there is something wrong in RAM, how would a cold reboot "fix" that problem?


----------



## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

easy, as it's current value of some module's variable: "A_drift_compensation_LNB1"


----------



## renpar61 (Aug 5, 2006)

As reported by someone else before, resuming play after pause or skip back results in stuttering and pixelation, making the show unwatchable. It happened the first time on an OTA channel and I didn't pay too much attention thinking it might have been weak signal from the antenna. 
I am sure this started with the last software update.
I use this feature a lot, especially watching sports. Now I have to be careful not to pause anything because I would lose the content until I resume to Live TV, very annoying.
I tried the button reset, and also unplug the receiver for 1/2 hour. Problem still there.
On the other hand I don't have any problem on recorded shows as someone else does.


----------



## BonefishPaul (May 10, 2007)

Stutz342 said:


> This may not exactly be a bug, but it's an unexpected aspect of a feature that's bothered me all along. I really hoped this would be "fixed" but it isn't yet.
> 
> When using timers to auto-save PTAT shows, the folder assignments on those timers are not heeded. That can't be right! This really hurts the folder functionality in my scenario.
> 
> Please, can somebody get this on a to-do list somewhere?


This bugs the heck out of me, too! What's the point of creating folders if any PTAT program ignores where I want to have the program saved?? Dish, are you working to resolve this issue?


----------



## doverton (Apr 29, 2004)

Ray [email protected] Network said:


> Since this didn't occur prior to the oftware update, please PM me your receiver number so I can submit a trouble report to our engineers. Thanks.


Did anything further happen with this? Its been a couple of weeks, hoped that I would find someone who "fixed" it. I have the exact same issue, the Hopper does a 5 second delay, the Joey, its happy as before.

5 Seconds.. doesn't sound like much, but it sure does drive me nuts.


----------



## DishTim (Feb 6, 2006)

renpar61 said:


> As reported by someone else before, resuming play after pause or skip back results in stuttering and pixelation, making the show unwatchable. It happened the first time on an OTA channel and I didn't pay too much attention thinking it might have been weak signal from the antenna.
> I am sure this started with the last software update.
> I use this feature a lot, especially watching sports. Now I have to be careful not to pause anything because I would lose the content until I resume to Live TV, very annoying.
> I tried the button reset, and also unplug the receiver for 1/2 hour. Problem still there.
> On the other hand I don't have any problem on recorded shows as someone else does.


I'm having the same problem.....when I resume after pause there is a lot of stuttering and pixelation. When I go back to live the problem goes away. Any ideas?


----------



## bookwalk (May 10, 2005)

DishTim--Call DISH and insist they note this as a problem with the last software update. Try leaving the receiver unplugged for more than 1/2 hour. I also had to have the dual node replaced and the LNB. I also think the problem is reinforced by the hot receiver--so my husband bought 4 x 2" plastic pipe fittings to use as "feet" for both our hoppers--to raise at least 1-2" off the base and have plenty of air circulating on top and bottom.

Again, pull the plug for at least 1/2 hour if not more and cool the receiver off. Try a Check switch under PointDish and don't schedule any recordings after 1 am for a week or so, so it can "recover" reboot and "fix" itself.
I also have a USB OTA dongle and ethernet. I now have an external hard drive where I have backed up (transferred) most of the important recorded movies, in case the Hopper crashes for good and needs to be replaced, but I think it's a software problem, along with the heat.

I have not noticed the problem since, but I notice issues when rebooting and not getting guide updates--tonight I had to call as my Guide is not updated and I don't show the most recent Pay Perview VOD's.

Also, I deleted all recordings made since the issue first appeared, in case of a corrupted recording -- they said it could be "corrupting" the hard drive and causing the skips--so the recordings made the day you first saw the issue and all afterward should be deleted.


----------



## rgranberry (Mar 29, 2012)

Just had my first experience with the problem everyone has been talking about. One of the channels removed itself from my list and couldn't put it back in, no matter the number of channels I tried adding at one time. Only thing I haven't tried is resets and power cycling. Come on Dish, how hard is writing a bugless program to keep track of a list of numbers?


----------



## some guy (Oct 27, 2012)

rgranberry;3165099 said:


> Just had my first experience with the problem everyone has been talking about. One of the channels removed itself from my list and couldn't put it back in, no matter the number of channels I tried adding at one time. Only thing I haven't tried is resets and power cycling. Come on Dish, how hard is writing a bugless program to keep track of a list of numbers?


Try adding the dropped channel to a new fav list and you should be able to add the other channels from the list as well.


----------



## fwampler (Dec 2, 2005)

I found that the channel list holds only so many entries. After that it allows you to select more but it will not add them and gives you no feedback. I removed a less used channel and added the one I wanted (ESPN). Hope this helps.


----------



## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I have deep feeling [as SW/HW guy] the issue with Fav. lists is so obvious, and I don't get why they can't fix the bug; perhaps that imperative fever of switching SW team focus to new product, now it XiP913 [H2] ? Before 922 been abandoned in favor of XiP813 [H2k] ...


----------



## BonefishPaul (May 10, 2007)

I have recently noticed that whenever I jump to one of the live PTAT channels, the picture quality suffers from bad pixelation and stutters quite a bit. I can solve this by skipping back 10 seconds, but if I skip forward to "Live" TV, the picture degrades back to stuttering with bad pixelation. I have also noticed that my Skip Forward function has been inconsistent. It sometimes skips ahead 30 seconds, sometimes 10 seconds, other times 5 seconds. What gives?? I did not experience any of these anomalies prior to the SW upgrade. Not very happy at the moment


----------



## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

most likely it's a result long stance of attempt to avoid using TiVo [best] technique to manage trick play - use look-up tables to I-Frames; 
since dish lost the case, they make dreaded solution and using awful method of handling trick modes

but you can't avoid jumping on a rocks across a creek and do not become wet


----------



## Ramer84015 (Sep 24, 2006)

BonefishPaul said:


> I have recently noticed that whenever I jump to one of the live PTAT channels, the picture quality suffers from bad pixelation and stutters quite a bit. I can solve this by skipping back 10 seconds, but if I skip forward to "Live" TV, the picture degrades back to stuttering with bad pixelation. I have also noticed that my Skip Forward function has been inconsistent. It sometimes skips ahead 30 seconds, sometimes 10 seconds, other times 5 seconds. What gives?? I did not experience any of these anomalies prior to the SW upgrade. Not very happy at the moment


Is this happening on the Hopper or the Joey? I too had this problem on the Joey after the update. I finally found the solution. I "was" selecting the PTAT channel by pressing the red button, then selecting the channel, causing the pixelation you mentioned. That was what I was doing prior to the last update. I've found, that on the Joey, if I just press the channel number or select it from the guide, it's still live, but no pixelation.


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Ramer84015 said:


> Is this happening on the Hopper or the Joey? I too had this problem on the Joey after the update. I finally found the solution. I "was" selecting the PTAT channel by pressing the red button, then selecting the channel, causing the pixelation you mentioned. That was what I was doing prior to the last update. I've found, that on the Joey, if I just press the channel number or select it from the guide, it's still live, but no pixelation.


Does doing it that way burn an extra tuner?


----------



## Ramer84015 (Sep 24, 2006)

James Long said:


> Does doing it that way burn an extra tuner?


Happily, no. I've checked with the red button and if a tuner was available before, it's still available. The Hopper can be on the PTAT tuner and the Joey as well. Before the upgrade, I used to use the red button to select the PTAT channel I wanted to watch on the Joey, but I would have the freezing/pixelation after the s/w update unless I either paused the Joey for a bit or watched it off the Hopper DVR. I've discovered that if I do forget and select the PTAT channel from the red button, I just press the channel number (2,4,5, or 13) for my area, the Joey will change to that channel (still on the same tuner) but the pixilation is gone. The DIRT team took my receiver info when I first reported the problem, so I'm hoping it's fixed in the next s/w release, but until then, this seems to work.


----------



## BonefishPaul (May 10, 2007)

Ramer84015 said:


> Is this happening on the Hopper or the Joey? I too had this problem on the Joey after the update. I finally found the solution. I "was" selecting the PTAT channel by pressing the red button, then selecting the channel, causing the pixelation you mentioned. That was what I was doing prior to the last update. I've found, that on the Joey, if I just press the channel number or select it from the guide, it's still live, but no pixelation.


Thanks, Ramer84015. I have been selecting the PTAT channels by using the red button. I am already past PTAT tonight, but will try your suggestion tomorrow.


----------



## BonefishPaul (May 10, 2007)

Wanted to report back that I, too, experience no pixelation or stuttering when I press the channel number or select from the guide. Still get it when I press the red function key and then choose the channel.


----------



## oldengineer (May 25, 2008)

I also experience stuttering on my Joeys if I use the red button to select a PTAT channel during PTAT recording hours. If I select the channel normally everything works OK.


----------



## kirko (Jan 27, 2013)

The only thing weird that happened to me was 5 minutes after I had the joey hooked up and went on guide, it made a weird buzzing noise for about 2 minutes?...Is that normal?


----------



## some guy (Oct 27, 2012)

No thats not normal


----------



## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

kirko said:


> The only thing weird that happened to me was 5 minutes after I had the joey hooked up and went on guide, it made a weird buzzing noise for about 2 minutes?...Is that normal?


call CSR, complain and replace it, it's broken


----------



## BonefishPaul (May 10, 2007)

BonefishPaul said:


> Thanks, Ramer84015. I have been selecting the PTAT channels by using the red button. I am already past PTAT tonight, but will try your suggestion tomorrow.


Just an update, I have no pixelation when I type the PTAT channel into my remote. Pixelation does still occur if I use the red function button to select the PTAT channel.


----------



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

BonefishPaul said:


> Just an update, I have no pixelation when I type the PTAT channel into my remote. Pixelation does still occur if I use the red function button to select the PTAT channel.


That sounds like perhaps the difference between watching the LiL as a live channel vs watching a recording-in-progress.

My best guess is that when you directly tune to a LiL, you get a non-buffered feed... but when you select from the red-button screen, you are probably watching the buffered recording-in-progress feed.

I'm not sure why both wouldn't work equally well... but that would seem to me to be where the glitch is... with watching the recording-in-progress.


----------



## Poco Askew (Sep 25, 2007)

I searched for this issue but didn't see it.
Frequently when I skip forward at the beginning of a recorded program, the jump forward ends up as 25% of the recording, rather than 30 seconds. If I stop and start the program over, it will then skip correctly in 30 sec. jumps. This started recently (perhaps a week, or less), although we've only had a Hopper for about a month.
Anyone else see this?


----------



## Stutz342 (Sep 29, 2004)

Poco Askew said:


> ...Frequently when I skip forward at the beginning of a recorded program, the jump forward ends up as 25% of the recording, rather than 30 seconds....


I have seen that as well. It's always the first use of skip on playback of a recording after having finished watching some other recording. I don't know what combination of circumstances makes it happen, but I watch a variety of PTAT and non-PTAT, auto-hop and non-autohop recordings, and it happens to me probably 1 in 10 times.


----------



## Poco Askew (Sep 25, 2007)

Stutz342 said:


> I have seen that as well. It's always the first use of skip on playback of a recording after having finished watching some other recording. I don't know what combination of circumstances makes it happen, but I watch a variety of PTAT and non-PTAT, auto-hop and non-autohop recordings, and it happens to me probably 1 in 10 times.


I haven't figured out what combo makes it happen either. But it started just recently for me (about a week) and is happening almost constantly now - maybe 75% of the time. You are correct that it is only the first time I jump forward at the beginning. After stopping and restarting, it has never happened. It is also jumping me all the way to 50% through the program in many cases. A real PITA.


----------

