# 921 - L2.70 Software Release Notes and Discussion



## Jason Nipp

Software Version L2.70 for DP921:


low-level system changes
fix for 4x FF trick modes acting like skip ahead
Blacked-out event pop-up message changes (text and navigation)


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## David_Levin

Thanks Jason. I guess "low-level system changes" could mean about anything.

Hopefully the last one is the pop up banner when a timer fires.

No timer or aspect improvments mentioned, but I suppose #1 leaves it open


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## jergenf

Why did the version number jump so high?
Did it really undergo 51 changes during beta testing?

*Update:* 
Never mind just found out from Mark that it was only 4 revisions since.
Still does explain why the revision is so high.


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## BobMurdoch

.... nor if there were 4 changes, why did they only change three little things only, when so many other issues are screaming for attention......

Did the overscan aspect ratio bug get fixed (where ESPN/CNN etc. banners get chopped )? Someone mentioned that they look better, but I haven't heard any official mention of it yet (does that count as low level?.... actually, what DOES count as low level changes?)


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## Skates

Bob - I'm one of the "unofficial" people who sees a big improvement on overscan.

As mentioned in the other thread, my crawls for all the news channels and ESPN were basically cut in half (meaning that if I made no adjustments from default, the top half was visible but the bottom half was not).

Now, all crawls are 100% visible. 

Also, my 921 has been a republican for a few revisions (the screen leaned to the right)  . Now it is properly centered.

Just my observations...


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## Ron Barry

jergenf said:


> Why did the version number jump so high?
> Did it really undergo 51 changes during beta testing?
> 
> *Update:*
> Never mind just found out from Mark that it was only 4 revisions since.
> Still does explain why the revision is so high.


Dish does not overlap version numbers across receivers. That is reason for the big jump. The 811 had a similar big jump on their last realease.


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## mwgiii

Thanks Jason.


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## Jason Nipp

David_Levin said:


> Thanks Jason. I guess "low-level system changes" could mean about anything.


 I know, I will inquire if any more info is available, but I am not as in with the 921 group as Mark or Allen, so maybe they would be better to ask what this means.


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## joebird

My trick play operation is now messed up. I was trying a frame advance during the football game. I used to be able to pause, then hit the 'forward skip' arrow to advance one frame. This mostly worked before. Now, each time I hit the button, it seems to be advancing 4 frames (my guess).

I was not aware of a problem where 4x FF mode acted like skip ahead, but now the single-frame advance trick play operation is more like 4x frame advance.

My box is also now very sluggish, even after a soft reset.


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## ebaltz

Yep I noticed the same problem, step forward 1 frame no longer works, it seems like all the trick play functions are kind of buggy now. Never had any issues with my 510 or 501, but the 921 used to work, but now it is all screwed up.


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## boylehome

I created a daily timer to Auto-Tune and have discovered that it still prevents the 921 from doing the daily auto-reboot.

"BTW what are the, "low-level system changes"?


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## mwgiii

:soapbox::soapbox::soapbox:

How in the HE** did they mess up the frame advance?

It was bad enough that they haven't fixed the one second jump (when you are paused and then hit frame advance the video jumps about a second forward), but they broke one of the cool things that worked.


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## Mike123abc

It looks like the frame advance is now like the frame reverse. It looks like it jumps to the next I-Frame which is every 1/2 second or so. One could understand it jumping I-Frame to I-Frame in reverse since it would actually take a bit of effort to get frame by frame working in reverse, but it should be easy in the forward direction, and it used to work.

Also, after it downloaded, none of my timers fired. I did a reboot on it by pressing the power button 10 seconds, and after that the timers started to fire again.


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## Bradtothebone

joebird said:


> My trick play operation is now messed up. I was trying a frame advance during the football game. I used to be able to pause, then hit the 'forward skip' arrow to advance one frame. This mostly worked before. Now, each time I hit the button, it seems to be advancing 4 frames (my guess).
> 
> I was not aware of a problem where 4x FF mode acted like skip ahead, but now the single-frame advance trick play operation is more like 4x frame advance.
> 
> My box is also now very sluggish, even after a soft reset.


I'm seeing the same thing on the "forward skip" AND "backward skip" after a pause. I also had a total freezeup during the viewing of an "old" recording last night. I pressed the skip buttons to try to unlock it, and it sent me back to the beginning of the show. After I fast-forwarded past the lockup point, it played fine.

Brad


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## Mark Lamutt

I don't know exactly what "low level system changes" means in this instance, but usually it indicates a system level change affecting security, a driver change, a possibly a system level guide data change.


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## mwgiii

Thanks Mark.


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## ebaltz

Mark Lamutt said:


> I don't know exactly what "low level system changes" means in this instance, but usually it indicates a system level change affecting security, a driver change, a possibly a system level guide data change.


Looks like whatever it means it translates to screwed up trick play.


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## klaatu

Right now, the only option I have is wait for the 921 to mess up, freeze up or fail - then I am forced to load whatever version E* wants to punish me with.

After many updates to this *dissappointing beast*, I would like the same option I have on my 5xx series. That's NOT TO ACCEPT a DOWNLOAD of a NEW VERSION!


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## Jim Kosinsky

Well, for me so far this has been a good update. Overscan has been fixed, AR issues have yet to re-appear and so far, no crashes. We'll see if its still misfiring timers over the wknd where many of my recordings have recently launched on the wrong date/channel.

E* fixing the compression rates on the HD channels is a big issue for me now (HD Theater is very poor compared to what it used to be), but that of course is an issue for another thread


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## Geoff Goodfellow

if the


Jason Nipp said:


> Software Version L2.70 for DP921:
> 
> 
> low-level system changes


where suppose to do anything to help the Freezing picture, pixelation and audio dropouts, they did not.

(i'm recording an HD and SD at the same time while watching the HD i'm recording and getting the Freezing picture, pixelation and audio dropouts)


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## boylehome

Mark Lamutt said:


> I don't know exactly what "low level system changes" means in this instance, but usually it indicates a system level change affecting security, a driver change, a possibly a system level guide data change.


Both of my 921's take about 10 seconds for audio/video to work after the any type of reboot, so the delay is a good indicator that the auto reboot actually occurred.

Mark, thanks for some insight about the low-level system change definition. Do you know if this was the, "second release fix" for the ZSR problem?


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## James_Bruce

I have something new on my 921 (the one that is working) If two programs are recording and I go to switch to another program and don't realize I am recording two things, it tells me that the program is blacked out in my area, not the usual both tuners are in use, please stop one message.. 
I stop one program from the dvr and it switches fine.


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## Eppsk

I now have a horizontal line of distortion about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the screen that has reappeared after being fixed about 3 updates ago. I also have the trick play problem and one of my local HD channels now has pixelation and audio dropouts that I've never had before. As for the positive, overscan is better and I have programming info for all the local subchannels that had been lost with the last update.


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## Damiang

I am pleased to report that 270 has greatly improved my overscan issues where 4:3 material side bars are equal on both sides. One Guide data channel was fixed 004-01. Thanks to those that were instrumental to getting the above re-implemented.

Now all I have remaining to be fixed is the below guide data...

Station - Call Letters - Guide Data received...

002-01 wgrz No (Please can we fix this one, dish I beg you please fix this one; I had it before so I know you can do it ) :lol: 
004-01 wivb YES (fixed)
007-01 wkbw Yes
023-01 wnlo Yes
029-01 wutv Yes
049-01 wnyo No 
043-1 wned No
043-2 wned Yes


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## BobMurdoch

It missed my NFL Prime Time timer last night on ESPN HD. I noticed the record light wasn't on at about 7:40. Tried to manually record and it wouldn't let me. Sigh. Hard Reboot. 7 Minute wait (Did they make it LONGER???????). Plus, now after the reboot, we get the silver coin logo, then the downloading data screen, and then....... a black screen for ANOTHER 3 minutes. Did it crash? Is it still downloading? Wait, the menu button works, and I can get to a few menus, but no picture and I can't change channels. THENthe picture shows up. Still no timer fire. So I delete the old timer. And make a new one. Hey the red light comes on! (polite applause).

HOW'S THAT MPEG4 TRANSITION COMIN, CHARLIE?

We've now passed the original Dishplayer on the frustration scale. Bravo.


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## David_Levin

Eppsk said:


> I now have a horizontal line of distortion about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the screen that has reappeared after being fixed about 3 updates ago.


Have you messed with the screen position?
If so, try resetting it.


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## Dithermaster

David_Levin said:


> Have you messed with the screen position?
> If so, try resetting it.


I agree. I used to have the line doubled 1/3 the way up before this update, and has "raised" the screen 5 increments (a suggestion from someone here that fixed the problem and didn't make the screen blurry). After this latest software, I thought the problem came back, but when I reset the screen position, it fixed.

///[email protected]


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## nostromo777

Where is the adjustment for screen position? I have not seen it...


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## BobMurdoch

It's on the 2nd Preferences menu page (click on MORE after you see the page that has KEYBOARD on it)


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## nostromo777

thanks! Always cool to learn something new.


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## BobMurdoch

It used to just shift the menu, but then someone caught that they modified to shift the screen position (I still can't stretch thinks exactly like I can do with my computer monitor, but at least I was able to see the tickers again).

They've since played with the overscan to make it a little less bothersome. I'm sure that they are still off, just not as badly as before.


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## nostromo777

> I now have a horizontal line of distortion about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the screen that has reappeared after being fixed about 3 updates ago..


I have same problem. I only notice it on the SD outputs.


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## glytle

Bradtothebone said:


> I'm seeing the same thing on the "forward skip" AND "backward skip" after a pause. I also had a total freezeup during the viewing of an "old" recording last night. I pressed the skip buttons to try to unlock it, and it sent me back to the beginning of the show. After I fast-forwarded past the lockup point, it played fine.
> 
> Brad


I get the same problem (freeze and reboot), but only on OTA recordings. They are fine as long as I don't try to use the skip functions more than 4 or 5 minutes into the playback. These OTA recordings also show more than 1500 minutes remaining when paused.


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## pncb

Mark Lamutt said:


> I don't know exactly what "low level system changes" means in this instance, but usually it indicates a system level change affecting security, a driver change, a possibly a system level guide data change.


In the software development world when you go from a version of code as Dish did - from 219 to 270 this jump in numbering indicates a major software release. Which btw Dish has screwed up again. Format freezing daily, box locking up when erasing, on & on.

When are those knuckleheads going to realize that if they make code changes on the sat it's going to effect the receivers, especially the bug ridden 921.


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## Ron Barry

pcnb,

The large jump is a result in the fact that Dish does not overlay version between receivers. The 811 also had a big jump with their last version. Not sure why this do this, but that is the way it works. 

As to your comment about Version numbering in the software world, well it is very arbritary and depends on the product. Marketing even gets involved at times. Large jumps in minor versioning don't necessary equate to major code changes.


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## 921Blues

Eppsk said:


> I now have a horizontal line of distortion about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the screen that has reappeared after being fixed about 3 updates ago.


I also have this problem. Resetting the screen position does seem to eliminate the problem, but as soon as I adjust it again, the defect comes back - which obviously limits the usefulness of the screen shift option. The problem only occurs in 1080i output mode. I'm using the component outputs out of the 921, into a Yamaha AV receiver, then in to my Toshiba DLP. Has this been declared a bug?

921blues


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## Allen Noland

What happens if you output 720p. That is most DLP's native resolution. Is the distortion still there? Can you seen the distortion through composit or s-video output too? Is it still there if you bypass the Yamaha?



921Blues said:


> I also have this problem. Resetting the screen position does seem to eliminate the problem, but as soon as I adjust it again, the defect comes back - which obviously limits the usefulness of the screen shift option. The problem only occurs in 1080i output mode. I'm using the component outputs out of the 921, into a Yamaha AV receiver, then in to my Toshiba DLP. Has this been declared a bug?
> 
> 921blues


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## ebaltz

Are we any closer to a new release?


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## BobMurdoch

Seriously, this is one of the worst versions since the early grey screen of death days...


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## Bradtothebone

It's gotten to the point that I can't trust the 921 to do the most BASIC of DVR functions - record a manually programmed channel at a manually programmed time. This is absolutely pathetic.

Brad


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## Jim Kosinsky

Agreed. Many (not all) timer recordings are firing off 24hrs early, or on the wrong channel. This was never a problem before. Ugh.


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## gregmisc

I had same problem as BobMurdoch and others noted here (except overscan/distortion).

I totally agree with Bradtothebone. My 921 is getting worse, not better with each download. L270 has created the most problems for me.

Freezing picture, pixelation and audio dropouts have gotten even worse.

I did not have a problem where 4x FF mode acted like skip ahead, but now the single-frame advance trick play operation is more like 4x frame advance. I never know where it will jump.

After it downloaded, none of my timers fired. I did a hard reboot and lost some timers but not all.

Very sluggish sometimes. I hit DVR button, selected recording, selected “Start Over” and nothing happened. Started to write this note and the recording finally started after about 25-30 seconds.

L270HEED-N


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## dishbacker

Jim Kosinsky said:


> Agreed. Many (not all) timer recordings are firing off 24hrs early, or on the wrong channel. This was never a problem before. Ugh.


In living through the 921 for about 16 months, I've learned to do a few things to make it the most stable:

1) ALWAYS power it off at night when I go to bed. And for that matter, ALWAYS make sure it is not tuned to an HD channel or OTA channel when I turn it off at night.

2) Anytime I get a 24 hr early timer (just got one 4 days ago) I immediately give the box a power button reboot (hold the power button down for about 10 sec and let go).

3) Anytime I get the sluggish DVR responses (very rare) after I get done watching what I wanted to watch, I do a reboot.

When in doubt, reboot... Its a pain, it takes entirely too long, but it helps the box stay as stable as possible.

I spend entirely too much time on the phone with my father helping him fix his 921. I have no idea what people who don't use these message boards or someone else to call does with their 921s. I can't believe they are calling the tech support every couple of days.


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## Rodney

I wonder what my reaction would be if I had purchased a $1000.00 DVD player that periodically scrambled the audio and video signals and had to be unplugged to temporarily correct the problem. Would I accept numerous excuses that they are working on the problem and it should be corrected with the next firmware update. When the next update is released and the problem persisted, not to mentioned that it now automatically turns itself off after 30 minutes of play, would I wait patiently as I hear the same song and dance that I have heard so many times before? Probably not. Would you?

What is it that keeps us hanging on after all the promised fixes, and introduction of new issues, that we have endured this long? L2.70 is yet another missed opportunity. I wonder if the update that is currently being beta tested will relieve me of the need to reboot to correct the aspect ratio issue that happens at least three or four times per week. I guess we were all victims of pre-release hype for a receiver that appeared to have such promise.


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## guruka

FWIW, for me L270 is an improvement and my 921 is working fine. All timers fire on schedule, even on evenings when I have many sequential and overlapping timers. I haven't missed recording a single show. <knock on wood>

.....G


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## jp9

Two issues:

1. My 921 started hanging a few weeks ago. I have had it for over a year, through all the other versions, and never had this happen. Now I have had it happen two weeks in a row. The symptom is that it says it can't lock to the satellite channel. One time it was working the night before but lagging response to the remote. A power cord reboot fixed it the first time, but the second time I tried doing a 'check switch'. Whatever you do, don't do that. 
2. The check switch came back with two red 'x' marks and would run 34 steps. I tried every trick I could find on the board; swapping in1 and in2, removing power from all receivers to 'reset' the switch, etc. No success. The only thing that worked was connecting a different switch output, doing a reboot with it connected, then swapping that over to the other input ( DP quad into DP34 switch then to receiver) and doing another reboot. It appears that 'check switch' doesn't do the whole task, that only happens on a reboot for this circumstance. When working 'check switch' only had 3 steps.

Hopefully this helps someone else and saves them 2 hours of futile rebooting or check switch.


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## richardlazar

My experience with the 270 software update has not been good.

1: I now have many more audio dropouts. These occur on both OTA HD channels as well as DISH channels. The drop outs last a second or two and then go back to normal. I don't think I have had a single recording since this upgrade that did not have dropouts

2: Often I don't have guide data beyond an hour or two. I get 'no information available' for both OTA and sat channels. I wait, and the next day I have data again. Any shortcut to force a download of data?

3: Remote lockups. Either a long delay, or many functions stop working. A reboot is needed.

4: Stuck aspect ratio. I didn't see this in months prior to 270, now I get it several times a week. Twice after a power off reboot, the aspect was stuck in a different mode, but still stuck. The worst aspect is a 16X9 window inside a 4X3 window on my wide screen. I think the whole sceen size is about 1/3 of the whole screen.

5: Multiple rebooots needed. Often I power down to fix either the remote issue or the aspect ratio, only to have another issue that forces another power down reboot. 

6: No ZSR's. but several missed timers. Most of the missed timer have been when I was recording something else. Once I woke up to a screen asking me what I wanted to do, use main to record or cancel. I thought there was a timeout and default for this prompt?

It seems things were getting better prior to this release. This really seems like a step backwards. One plus is that searches for shows in the search screen seem faster. 

:nono: What are my options and what is the future of the 921? :nono2: 


Richard
Boot Version 150B
Flash Version F053
Card Revision DNAPSP103 Rev302
SW Version L270HEED-N


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## robkunz

This past weekend I saw a big increase in problems. All of my timers have fired 24 hours early starting on Sunday. Also, on several occasions I have experience very sluggish DVR performance. For example, appearing to lock up only to wait 30 seconds to several minutes for it to "catch up." Very weird and frustrating!

I've had L270 since it was released a month or so ago but that switch was fairly uneventful until this past Sunday.


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## Larry Caldwell

Allen Noland said:


> What happens if you output 720p. That is most DLP's native resolution. Is the distortion still there? Can you seen the distortion through composit or s-video output too? Is it still there if you bypass the Yamaha?


720p is the native resolution of my projector, and would be the ideal setting, but 720p is virtually a recipe for the 921 stuck aspect ratio bug. I find that I do the least rebooting if I leave the output set at 1080i for everything, and never change it. It also does the best job of displaying SD programming with my setup.
It sends the component video directly to the projector with no conversion.

I have seen the horizontal line distortion when using the S-Video output on SD programming, converting that to component in my Onkyo receiver, and letting the projector convert it to 720p. I just don't do that any more.

I'm not sure that is strictly a 921 bug. It seems to be how the 921 signal gets processed by the display hardware, and that can vary a lot. My Panasonic projector has more display options than the 921. It took me weeks to discover the best settings for both pieces of equipment to get them to work together.


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## 921Blues

Allen Noland said:


> What happens if you output 720p. That is most DLP's native resolution. Is the distortion still there? Can you seen the distortion through composit or s-video output too? Is it still there if you bypass the Yamaha?


Sorry Allen - been away for a bit. I do not see this distortion on any resolution other than 1080i. 720p, 480i/p all seem to be fine. I have not tried s-vid, composite, or by-passing the Yamaha. Frankly, I'm not willing to yank my system apart and try all these things because they were fine before L270. In addition, simply resetting the screen position makes it go away - until I readjust the position. If it were an interlacing/translation artifact, then I see no reason why sliding the screen up or down would make a difference. It's pretty clear to me that this is just another Dish screw up.

I'm sorry, but I'm nearing the end of my patience too. We've had release after release, and my viewing experience is essentially worse now then it was when I bought this crappy box in March. My HD doesn't look nearly as good (tons more pixelation), and I have more new 'feetures' now

Sorry...I'm reporting the problem, but I'm not willing to help diagnose anymore. I already wasted my money on this darn thing...I'm not willing to waste my time too. I might reconsider if Dish were willing to guarantee me something in return - like a reasonable price or free upgrade to a new mpeg4 DVR. I just don't think that will happen.

921blues


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## SimpleSimon

dishbacker said:


> ... ALWAYS make sure it is not tuned to an HD channel or OTA channel when I turn it off at night.


*Excellent advice!*


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## Allen Noland

Continue in this thread: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=47563.


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