# PVR501/508/510 - P4.09 Software Experiences/Bugs Discuss



## P Smith

Code:


PID=0869h
 DownloadID: 8NSD
 Upgrading FW:
 P409:'P100'-'P408'
 New FW: 'P409'
 List of BootStraps and BuildConfigs and SN:
 '1.../2...' & 'DC../DF..': {PVR501} R0024885274-R0038131579

First batch.


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## Alsat

Just a comment - the program guide seems to scroll much slower than it did before.


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## Blowgun

Alsat said:


> Just a comment - the program guide seems to scroll much slower than it did before.


It would be great if they finally got around to fixing the Info screen for all none live "aired" and "episode" information and have it report the correct description on back to back recordings of the same show, and use a correct font to take care of the self imposed limited and poorly utilized space.

Per my previous posts outlining 30+ issues with P408, one can only hope that some of them, hopefully they're not all trivial ones, have been addressed. My confidence that this update fixes all known bugs I know about, let alone the ones I don't, is low.

Perhaps P409 will address the poor update to timers with new guide download bug. The one where you have to re-save the "Frequency" of the timer so it will find in the guide a previously scheduled event and record it. Or, be able to turn off the receiver knowing that the next timer that powers it on to record, will record and not just power it on. Or, that the guide doesn't say "Info Not Available" and the receiver has to be power cycled or the dozen other bugs that are just as annoying.

I hope Justin was listening.


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## interd0g

I am holding off this until I hear some good news.
Do they publish the spec for these updates? - it would be nice to know the benefits / risks.


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## P Smith

They're stop providing the information a while ago.


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## interd0g

Not much transparency around these days.


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## P Smith

Perhaps most of those changes related to TiVo lawsuit.


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## Blowgun

While I understand why the changes for the TiVo lawsuit needed to be made, but weren't those changes made a long time ago and as a result caused many of the significant bugs we have now?

Not that the firmware was bug free before, but it sure worked a whole lot better. Shoot I can remember when you would fast-forward (same for rewind) an event and when you pressed the pause button it would immediately pause. Not like it is now were the same action has the receiver continuing to fast-forward for a short while longer. It's like the fast-forward is at the end of a flimsy stick and you don't know how much it's going to wiggle. And then once paused, when you press the frame *back* button once, it actually goes *forward* several frames. You have to keep pressing the frame back button just to get it back to where you originally paused before it actually goes frames back. Didn't do that before.

Has anyone upgraded? Can you please let the rest of us know what changes you see?

Has the GUI been changed at all?

Air dates and episode info for non-live, is that fixed?

How about when you navigate several days ahead in the EPG to locate an Event that is set to record. After selecting the entry to go into the Daily Schedule, does pressing the "Today" button now take you to the current date?

Is the lock icon functional and shows the protected bit, while at the same time isn't vertically cut in half?

How about when watching or recording a channel not in the current favorites list and press the right button. Does it now show the correct information?

How about the progression gauge and the on-screen fast-forward or rewind icon. Do they always appear?

How about the occasional issue where you pause playback and try to frame back and the receiver gets stuck and only the play button works. Has that been fixed?

Or, how about when you edit a timer. Does it show "Edited" instead of "Deleted" in Daily Schedule?

Here's an annoying one. Have they fixed it so that after you modify a timer no matter what it always returns you back to the correct timer? How about going back to the Daily Schedule, does it place you where you entered or does it send you back several days earlier?

Here's another annoying one. Have they fixed the memory leak that can often occur when you have a lot of timers and those timers have lots of occurrences? The issue shows itself from anything from bits of gibberish in the correct description, to the last 1½ days in the Daily Schedule displaying the wrong description from some other past recorded show or a description from an entirely different future timer.

As I mentioned before, there are some 30+ bugs in P408 that I know about, probably more that I don't. Some are obvious and some are not.

I hope this nearly two years in the making firmware isn't all about TiVo. I hope it actually addresses many of the significant existing bugs.


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## P Smith

Seems to me the line of FW is supporting by some freelancer who is getting $10 per fix.
Priority of the device's support wend to the bottom shelf long time ago, perhaps they was ready to give up it.

I think you'll get better attention if you'll email to [email protected] with an URL of your post.


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## SayWhat?

So, if I'm seeing P408 in the System Info, this must be what's trying to download but nobody knows what it includes?


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## Blowgun

One thing is for certain, this thread continues to drive the point between Dish's firmware and the lack of trust.


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## Jhon69

Last I have heard is that Dish network is starting to upgrade the receivers that cannot do 8PSK.


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## P Smith

And continue spend money for FW upgrades ... Contradicting with facts.


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## Blowgun

Ah, the $10 a fix money. Well, one can only hope that it's money well spent. After all, Dish has certainly had enough time to collect and in turn pay the programmer.


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## SayWhat?

Jhon69 said:


> Last I have heard is that Dish network is starting to upgrade the receivers *that cannot do 8PSK*.


And that is?


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## Jhon69

SayWhat? said:


> And that is?


Here's a thread about it but that was back in 2005?.So that makes me wonder if Dish will replace those MPEG2 SD receivers that are not 8PSK capable or just go to MPEG4 changeouts?.Guess time will tell.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=48091&highlight=Dish+network+receivers+8PSK+capable?


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## Blowgun

So, has anyone taken the plunge?


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## P Smith

No time to check the changes, if there any what affecting user's usability.


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## Driver_1

Blowgun said:


> While I understand why the changes for the TiVo lawsuit needed to be made, but weren't those changes made a long time ago and as a result caused many of the significant bugs we have now?
> 
> Not that the firmware was bug free before, but it sure worked a whole lot better. Shoot I can remember when you would fast-forward (same for rewind) an event and when you pressed the pause button it would immediately pause. Not like it is now were the same action has the receiver continuing to fast-forward for a short while longer. It's like the fast-forward is at the end of a flimsy stick and you don't know how much it's going to wiggle. And then once paused, when you press the frame *back* button once, it actually goes *forward* several frames. You have to keep pressing the frame back button just to get it back to where you originally paused before it actually goes frames back. Didn't do that before.
> 
> Has anyone upgraded? Can you please let the rest of us know what changes you see?
> 
> Has the GUI been changed at all?
> 
> Air dates and episode info for non-live, is that fixed?
> 
> How about when you navigate several days ahead in the EPG to locate an Event that is set to record. After selecting the entry to go into the Daily Schedule, does pressing the "Today" button now take you to the current date?
> 
> Is the lock icon functional and shows the protected bit, while at the same time isn't vertically cut in half?
> 
> How about when watching or recording a channel not in the current favorites list and press the right button. Does it now show the correct information?
> 
> How about the progression gauge and the on-screen fast-forward or rewind icon. Do they always appear?
> 
> How about the occasional issue where you pause playback and try to frame back and the receiver gets stuck and only the play button works. Has that been fixed?
> 
> Or, how about when you edit a timer. Does it show "Edited" instead of "Deleted" in Daily Schedule?
> 
> Here's an annoying one. Have they fixed it so that after you modify a timer no matter what it always returns you back to the correct timer? How about going back to the Daily Schedule, does it place you where you entered or does it send you back several days earlier?
> 
> Here's another annoying one. Have they fixed the memory leak that can often occur when you have a lot of timers and those timers have lots of occurrences? The issue shows itself from anything from bits of gibberish in the correct description, to the last 1½ days in the Daily Schedule displaying the wrong description from some other past recorded show or a description from an entirely different future timer.
> 
> As I mentioned before, there are some 30+ bugs in P408 that I know about, probably more that I don't. Some are obvious and some are not.
> 
> I hope this nearly two years in the making firmware isn't all about TiVo. I hope it actually addresses many of the significant existing bugs.


I'm with ya' on this one... I thought my remote needed butter (thinkin' it was toast).

My biggest headache comes from 'System Integrity Check', only when I have 2 vids recording.  Bug tho'? Don't know; don't care...

And to think I just solved the heat-related re-boots too 

(625)


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## P Smith

Driver_1 said:


> I'm with ya' on this one... I thought my remote needed butter (thinkin' it was toast).
> 
> My biggest headache comes from 'System Integrity Check', only when I have 2 vids recording.  Bug tho'? Don't know; don't care...
> 
> And to think I just solved the heat-related re-boots too
> 
> (*625*)


So, you're an owner of 625 model.


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## VDP07

Noticed this morning that all of the timers on our 508 were gone. Also, not sure how long it's been like this, but now, 1 push of the DVR button (used to be 2) brings up "My Recordings".


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## Blowgun

VDP07 said:


> Noticed this morning that all of the timers on our 508 were gone.


While I *didn't* upgrade the firmware, on the 6th of September I too experienced the loss of all timers.

It started when I went into "Manage" to set "Protect" on two unprotected recorded events. As soon as I entered the "Manage" screen, the hard drive parked and the screen went black. Lovely.

After the *Five Levels of Wait*, the receiver resumed normally with live TV.

I then went back into "Manage" and set the protection bit on the two events. From there I when back to live TV, then into the EPG and proceeded to set a once only timer. After setting the necessary options, I selected "Create" and a message popped up on the screen. The message said that there were no more available slots and that I would have to delete an old timer before creating a new timer. What? I had no where near that many timers.

Canceled the creation of the once only timer and went into the "Timers List" and it showed that there were now 64 timers. I could see all of *MY* original timers, but the rest were garbage timers. Anything from blank show titles, events that were zero minutes long, to strange looking characters. I proceed to delete the first garbage timer and as soon as I clicked "Yes" to the confirmation, the hard drive parked. Oh great, not again.

Waited for the *Five Levels of Wait* and again the receiver resumed normally with live TV.

On the way back to the "Timers List" to delete another garbage timer, I passed by the "Daily Schedule" and there were *no* upcoming events. I knew right there and confirmed in the "Timers List", all the timers were gone.



VDP07 said:


> Also, not sure how long it's been like this, but now, 1 push of the DVR button (used to be 2) brings up "My Recordings".


Apparently that must be something new for P409, because P408 still requires the user to push the DVR button twice to get past the nonsense of "DISH On Demand". It only took DISH four years to come to their senses.


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## interd0g

Seems not many people have taken a chance on 4.09.
I'm reluctant because right now my 510 is working OK which is not an everyday thing.
I look forward to someone else trying it for me!


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## Blowgun

interd0g said:


> Seems not many people have taken a chance on 4.09.


Perhaps that's because the history of the past several releases of the 5xx firmware doesn't inspire confidence. Currently there is no reason to believe that after two years of neglect that suddenly P4.09 is the exception. One of the things I'm concerned about is if most of the "improvements" are cosmetic changes that ultimately bog the receiver down further and do nothing to address the majority of the more irritating bugs in P4.08. If that's the case, what's the point of updating.

Though, I would love to be proven wrong.


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## interd0g

Right. When I said my 510/ L4.08 is working OK, that was a slight exaggeration. It crashes out periodically , usually going into a reset by itself.
I have always had this problem and they replaced the rx one time.


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## interd0g

Still no ringing endorsements for 4.09?
Will they ever give up prompting to download this update?


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## P Smith

There is a catch, the provider adding new meta data ( see desc 0x8C, 0xA3 in Uplink reports), so without FW updates any DVR/receiver would not work properly.


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## interd0g

Thanks for the info. I am going off to find out exactly what that means!


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## P Smith

I should add to my last post - soon.


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## shadough

I still have p407. Is that a bad thing? My 510 has been rock solid over the years. I've been fortunate. Allthough last night, it refused to record anything until I rebooted it.


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## P Smith

If you satisfied with it and no missing features/channels you could keep it


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## John_E

No ringing endorsement meant here, however, I installed it on a PVR508 a while back and have noticed fewer hiccups than with previous versions. Considering the age of my equipment I'm happy with the improvement. YMMV!


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## Blowgun

If you wouldn't mind elaborating on "fewer hiccups". In post #8 above I listed a few of the problems with P508. Which, if any, of those are better?


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## John_E

Blowgun. I'll try to answer what I know but don't really play with it that much. I just set timers and hope they record.

Has the GUI been changed at all? Not that I see.

Air dates and episode info for non-live, is that fixed? Dates are still wrong most of the time - I can't tell you exactly where.

How about when you navigate several days ahead in the EPG to locate an Event that is set to record. After selecting the entry to go into the Daily Schedule, does pressing the "Today" button now take you to the current date? Don't know.

Is the lock icon functional and shows the protected bit, while at the same time isn't vertically cut in half? Don't know what that is.

How about when watching or recording a channel not in the current favorites list and press the right button. Does it now show the correct information? I'm not sure.

How about the progression gauge and the on-screen fast-forward or rewind icon. Do they always appear? I think so, but they always did for me.

How about the occasional issue where you pause playback and try to frame back and the receiver gets stuck and only the play button works. Has that been fixed? I had many problems before this release with pausing, playback, etc. Seems to be better now.

Or, how about when you edit a timer. Does it show "Edited" instead of "Deleted" in Daily Schedule? I've never seen that.

Here's an annoying one. Have they fixed it so that after you modify a timer no matter what it always returns you back to the correct timer? How about going back to the Daily Schedule, does it place you where you entered or does it send you back several days earlier? Frankly, I don't remember what happens after modifying a timer other than locking up. That used to happen with older versions. I've only done it twice with $409 and it did not lock up. Victory for me!

Here's another annoying one. Have they fixed the memory leak that can often occur when you have a lot of timers and those timers have lots of occurrences? The issue shows itself from anything from bits of gibberish in the correct description, to the last 1½ days in the Daily Schedule displaying the wrong description from some other past recorded show or a description from an entirely different future timer. Never seen that.

I wish I could be of more help but I'm not nearly as savy as you guys, do not pay that close of attention to details and only want it to work. I feel its behaving better now than before with less errors, especially when it use to lock up and have to be rebooted once a week or more.

Maybe someone else can be more specific.


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## Blowgun

I appreciate you taking the time to answer what you could.

Thanks.


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## interd0g

To add to the experiences, I have not downloaded, but last couple of days big chunks of my recorded items disappeared. About 70%.
It is still inviting me to upgrade, and , frankly, it is making me feel churlish and ungrateful
to refuse.
Is there anything which makes older recordings disappear?


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## SayWhat?

I bit the bullet and took it. Can't tell if I lost any recordings or parts of any. They all appear to be there, but I can't swear they're intact.

I was hoping it just might possibly help out with some of the glitches I was having. Don't know yet if it did.


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## Blowgun

Any insight you can offer regarding the questions in post #8 would be most appreciated.


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## STDog

SayWhat? said:


> I bit the bullet and took it. Can't tell if I lost any recordings or parts of any. They all appear to be there, but I can't swear they're intact.


Let it "upgrade" in early Feb.
I lost all recordings and all timers. And it's dumped the recordings & timers twice since then.

It has been OK for the last 2 weeks though.

No noticeable changes in operation/function though.


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## Blowgun

From a user's perspective, it would seem that the P4.09 upgrade is horrible. That, it doesn't fix any of the tremendous amount of problems in P4.08 and worse, creates new ones. Very disappointing for something that was two years in the making.

From a DISH perspective, if the problems finally get you to upgrade your receiver, well, lets just say it helps DISH tremendously.


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