# L218 is now spooling (Formally L218???)



## ayalbaram (Aug 4, 2003)

Just saw this in the tech portal anyone know anything about this??


7/27/2005: 2025 Software Version L218 for 921 
Effective Thursday, July 28th, Engineering plans to release software version L218 for the 921 receiver. This is to correct Off Air Antenna Channel issues. 

At this time L218 will be valid software version for the 921. Customers may need to download L218 to replace L216.


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## Allen Noland (Apr 23, 2002)

Yep. 921 lights should start flashing this afternoon.


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## socceteer (Apr 22, 2005)

Allen Noland said:


> Yep. 921 lights should start flashing this afternoon.


Will this also fix the reception problems with OTA, I have seen several post where people are complaning that their reception has decreased since L216. I am now stating to experience that problem.


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## bbomar (Oct 18, 2004)

socceteer said:


> Will this also fix the reception problems with OTA, I have seen several post where people are complaning that their reception has decreased since L216. I am now stating to experience that problem.


It's hard to say this time of year, with atmospheric conditions what they are in the middle of the summer, whether it is L216 or signal propogation that is the problem. I have seen more dropouts since L216 but I also remember in the the past, many summer days with very poor analog reception due to skip from long distances, temperature inversions, etc. I'll bet L216 only fixes the ability to add OTA channels, given the speed with which it is being rushed out.


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## Guest (Jul 28, 2005)

Allen Noland said:


> Yep. 921 lights should start flashing this afternoon.


Waiting... patiently...
:nono:


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## ayalbaram (Aug 4, 2003)

The last 2 releases have accomplished absoloutly zero in fact they've even managed to brake the video scaler. Can't flip from sd to hd w/o a reboot. they should roll back a few revisions and start over at fixing the bugs they were trying to fix.


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## phongluu (Mar 8, 2005)

Anyone got L218 in their receiver yet?

Any luck with 921 software releast note to know what they are trying this time?

It has been missing since L215!

Thanks,
P.L


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## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

I don't think that L218 will spool today. 

I love it when I'm wrong about these things!!!! its downloading!


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## lapplegate (Jan 17, 2003)

I have a green light flashing. Had it in standby. The blue HD light came on and then the green started to flash.


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## Rotryrkt (Dec 11, 2004)

Mine just started at 5:45 CDT.  Duck and cover!!!!!


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## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

Well, mine just finished blinking.


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## langlin (Apr 8, 2005)

I hava a sucessful download, am going to reboot now


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## lapplegate (Jan 17, 2003)

Downloaded and installed. Had guide data missing for three OTA channels. Still have the same thing 218 did nothing to help. Now I have to go see what it broke.


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## Allen Noland (Apr 23, 2002)

lapplegate said:


> Downloaded and installed. Had guide data missing for three OTA channels. Still have the same thing 218 did nothing to help. Now I have to go see what it broke.


Did you Delete all and re-scan?


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## Cyclone (Jul 1, 2002)

Are we supposed to do that? I have L218 and I can't say that I see any difference.


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## DaveSwartz (Jan 25, 2003)

I am not a Locals subscriber (although I now have the temporary fix subscription for one month). When I bought my 921 I believed I would have integrated guide info just as I did with my old dish 5000 and like I finally had with the L215 load. I am not at all clear what Dish is planning for the permanent "fix". I had originally assumed that "fix" meant return the guide to work as it did with L215 (that is, no Locals subscription required to get the guide for OTA locals). 

Mark, is there a stated Dish position on whether 921/942 users are to ultimately have an integrated guide? I have a hard time sifting through postings that are often based on personal belief rather than actual policy.

I get a perfect OTA picture on all of my locals via an inexpensive antenna. I knew that the SD dish locals would not look as good but I am very suprised, now that I can see them, to see how bad the dish local picture is for the Miami area stations. I'm certainly not interested in paying for locals that I will never use.


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## wcswett (Jan 7, 2003)

My 921 is blinking now. Should be L218, I guess.

I just installed my OTA antenna for kicks this week as I'm 90 miles from the nearest digital OTA station. It's a huge 110 inch monster, which sprawls over my eight DBS/Ku band antennas. I added a 30 db powered amplifier the following day. Surpriusingly it picks up my "local" UPN station with about 95% reliability and my Fox affiliate with about 80% reliability. My 2,400 foot mountain altitude in an otherwise mostly flat state can't hurt, but I'm wondering what power levels ABC, NBC, CBS and WB in Atlanta are using that I can't get any of them in digital at all.

Anyway, I'll be interested to see if my new found OTA capability improves at all.

--- WCS


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## Rodney (Aug 22, 2003)

I am aware this is off subject.

Dave, 

Is your 921 a DEED or HEED?


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## dishbacker (Jun 15, 2004)

Yea, well, ummm.... never truly know the answer until you ask: Will we get any release notes for 218? I figure since we didn't get any for 215 or 216, maybe third time's a charm?


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## lapplegate (Jan 17, 2003)

Allen Noland said:


> Did you Delete all and re-scan?


Allen,
Yes I did remove and rescan. I got into timer firing time, so I didn't keep trying other things such as check switch, set to defaults or manual add.

I seem to remember prior instances where the data would populate after the nightly guide download. I have to admit, I do not have much hope that I will get full guide data back. I have seen many of these so called fixes that have been so called failures.

Thank you for the reply and I will play with it some more tommorow.
Larry


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## langlin (Apr 8, 2005)

langlin said:


> I hava a sucessful download, am going to reboot now


have now rebooted, loaded, deleted, rescanned, check switch, and I have exactly what I had with L216, some guide data, some guide data missing.


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## Rotryrkt (Dec 11, 2004)

So, who's going to be first to have their "temporary fix" locals turned off to see if the OTA digitals lost with 216 are now back with 218. Unless they shut them off, how do we know? If there is someone who did not partake of the "fix", are your lost channels back with 218????


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## tnsprin (Mar 16, 2003)

ayalbaram said:


> Just saw this in the tech portal anyone know anything about this??
> 
> 7/27/2005: 2025 Software Version L218 for 921
> Effective Thursday, July 28th, Engineering plans to release software version L218 for the 921 receiver. This is to correct Off Air Antenna Channel issues.
> ...


So any hints on what is l217-l218? We don't have the release notes, but at least had some idea what what was in l215 and l216.


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## wcswett (Jan 7, 2003)

Hmmm... now this is interesting... My 921 has been flashing for more than two hours without completing the software update. I turned it on and checked the update info. It appears to have been downloading the first two "segments" of 30 over and over again for 2 hours and 23 minutes. I rebooted it and hopefully it will take the update correctly now. Yeesh!

--- WCS


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## AnubisPrime (Mar 13, 2005)

Just checked. I'm part of the L218 club as well!


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## DaveSwartz (Jan 25, 2003)

Rodney said:


> I am aware this is off subject.
> 
> Dave,
> 
> Is your 921 a DEED or HEED?


Rodney,

Just realized I had it wrong in my signiture after rechecking my status screen.

My 921 is at L218HEED-N


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## TonyB (Jul 5, 2004)

Got up this morning, having deliberately left the receiver on overnight to prevent getting the 218 upgrade/downgrade (depending on whats fixed and whats now broke). I checked and it shows 218. Guess the overnight auto reboot is still working, even if you leave the receiver on! I now have L218HECD-N. I'll do some checking and report back.

Note: I am currently getting the 1 month "free" locals fix. Has anyone tried turning off their locals yet as a test - Mark, what specific beta testing was done and how was it done for this version to ensure that the program guide displays correctly (sorry, I mean - as E* intends) in 218?


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## lapplegate (Jan 17, 2003)

AnubisPrime said:


> Just checked. I'm part of the L218 club as well!


I hope you don't take this as a GOOD thing


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## AnubisPrime (Mar 13, 2005)

One can only hope. That's all that there is!


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## mignognarl (Sep 23, 2004)

After receiving the download of L218HECD-N, I went ahead and had E* turn off my locals and everything seem to be ok. Yes, my guide data is gone for the OTA channels, however I seem to be getting better signal strength and now able to pull in the local CBS channel better.

_______________________

Model ish 921
SW Version :L218-HEED-N
Boot Version : 120B
Flash Version: F052


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## Rodsman (Jan 29, 2005)

I really hope this next "upgrade" is a bit more gentle


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

DaveSwartz - the Dish policy is that you must subscribe to your dish locals package to receive guide data for your OTA digital channels.

TonyB - hours of specific, targetted OTA channel testing with many, many changes to my account over a period of 2 days to make sure the OTA digital channels would be available and tunable without being subbed to the locals package. It was a 38-step test that was gone through multiple times for different conditions. And, I can't be more specific than that.

What was done in L218: The only thing fixed is the OTA problem introduced in L216, which caused users who do not subscribe to their dish locals package to not be able to scan or tune to any of their digital OTA channels.


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## lapplegate (Jan 17, 2003)

Mark Lamutt said:


> What was done in L218: The only thing fixed is the OTA problem introduced in L216, which caused users who do not subscribe to their dish locals package to not be able to scan or tune to any of their digital OTA channels.


Would this explain why those of us that had, and still have, missing guide data saw no help with 218?


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Yup.


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## garyhesq (Nov 5, 2004)

Mark Lamutt said:


> DaveSwartz - the Dish policy is that you must subscribe to your dish locals package to receive guide data for your OTA digital channels.


The Lord giveth then the Lord taketh away


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

Mark Lamutt said:


> DaveSwartz - the Dish policy is that you must subscribe to your dish locals package to receive guide data for your OTA digital channels.


How long do we have to keep the temporary fix before they charge us? I checked my account on line and it appears that there was a charge on the account ($5.11). I presume that this was a pro-rated partial-month charge for the LIL's.

As for 218, my 921 took the download last night. The picture on all channels appears to be improved on the SD S-video output that I use. The OTA tuner appears to be a little bit quicker to tune-in signals too.

If only the guide data was included for non-lil subs. My sig says it all!


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## socceteer (Apr 22, 2005)

Michael P said:


> How long do we have to keep the temporary fix before they charge us? I checked my account on line and it appears that there was a charge on the account ($5.11). I presume that this was a pro-rated partial-month charge for the LIL's.
> 
> As for 218, my 921 took the download last night. The picture on all channels appears to be improved on the SD S-video output that I use. The OTA tuner appears to be a little bit quicker to tune-in signals too.
> 
> If only the guide data was included for non-lil subs. My sig says it all!


I downloaded L218 last night and I agree what ever they fixed on the OTA it is getting better reception on all channels. I also noticed better response time when switching to OTA. I guess what ever they did in L216 to prevent OTA users affected overall reception. It looks like L218 fixed most of that

Some of my timers did get screwed up I am not sure if there is a relationship


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## invaliduser88 (Apr 23, 2002)

Mark Lamutt said:


> DaveSwartz - the Dish policy is that you must subscribe to your dish locals package to receive guide data for your OTA digital channels.


Charlie's milking us for everything he can...:nono2:


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## phongluu (Mar 8, 2005)

My reciver download L218 yesterday and um-ba-la.... all the xxx-01 channels is back.

However, something is wrong with the remote and the way it receives signal from it. It's extremely slow and so much lag time now. I have never had this issue prior this update. 

Mark, I have searched and seen that there has been something going on with UHF remote, but mine is using IR and for more detail, I'm using Harmony remote for my system, and the response time is unacceptable now. Could you help me, please?

Thanks,
P.L


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## kermit24 (Jun 22, 2005)

So what does L218 do? Does it *only* fix this OTA channel problem that I have been hearing about?


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## lionsrule (Nov 25, 2003)

Please help,

Upon coming home from work this afternoon, my 921 would not power on. The front display had NO lights on. I unplugged the unit and plugged it back in. The familiar "HD Circle" came on. The red,blue and orange lights then began to blink rapidly, one at a time. I then got a screen on my tv that looked like a dos screen informing me of various errors.

I called dishnetwork and talked to an advanced tech. He told me it sounded like my hard drive was fried. He said I'd have to wait for someone to call me and run through a list of checks before anyone could authorize a replacement.

What is happening??


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## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

lionsrule said:


> Please help,
> 
> Upon coming home from work this afternoon, my 921 would not power on. The front display had NO lights on. I unplugged the unit and plugged it back in. The familiar "HD Circle" came on. The red,blue and orange lights then began to blink rapidly, one at a time. I then got a screen on my tv that looked like a dos screen informing me of various errors.
> 
> ...


I have had the same thing happen here is my post: http://67.19.74.172/showthread.php?t=44448
Good luck. The people who will call you are very good at what they do.

PS - I don't think it is L218 that killed your 921.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

PL - reboot is what I'd suggest. I'm running my 921 with a philips pronto. I occasionally see remote lag with IR, but not very often.


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## ayalbaram (Aug 4, 2003)

I'm having some remote issues since 218 as well with my pronto it stopps responding to all commands other then the menu button reboot seems to fix it but its happened 3 times in the past day. It also won't respond to the uhf dish remote at the same time.


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## bytre (Sep 10, 2003)

looks like I've got 218 as well I wasn't having EPG problems though, so its probably not too exceptional for me.

My OTA reception continues to be inconsistent, though. 125 signal strength on one channel, 70/53/0 on another one, despite them being broadcast from the same location.


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

It wouldn't install my update until I killed the power at the power strip and rebooted.

I have a daily auto-tune timer set for 5:30 (Ever since I got ripped by the wife for the kids turning on the TV at 6:30 AM, and they saw two people "going at it". It was SHO-W, which still has Skinemax type movies on at that hour on the west coast).

This seems to keep downloads from installing, for those that are interested in doing that.....


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## jergenf (Mar 31, 2005)

TonyB said:


> Got up this morning, having deliberately left the receiver on overnight to prevent getting the 218 upgrade/downgrade (depending on whats fixed and whats now broke). I checked and it shows 218. Guess the overnight auto reboot is still working, even if you leave the receiver on! I now have L218HECD-N. I'll do some checking and report back.
> 
> Note: I am currently getting the 1 month "free" locals fix. Has anyone tried turning off their locals yet as a test - Mark, what specific beta testing was done and how was it done for this version to ensure that the program guide displays correctly (sorry, I mean - as E* intends) in 218?


I leave my unit on 24 hours day and still have L216. Menu 6-7 indicated the download was completed successfully last Thursday but I won't reboot until I have to. Maybe you lost power over night?

What should happen is non-sub will loose the guide information but still have all their digital OTA channels show up in the guide. L216 took that away that why you have free month subscription. I suggest keeping your locals until the last day.

Attention non-subs (who either cancelled or never got subscrbed): Are you getting any guide data in the high portion of the guide (All-Chan) in red? Were you in L215?


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## styxfix (Aug 7, 2002)

jergenf said:


> I leave my unit on 24 hours day and still have L216. Menu 6-7 indicated the download was completed successfully last Thursday but I won't reboot until I have to. Maybe you lost power over night?
> 
> What should happen is non-sub will loose the guide information but still have all their digital OTA channels show up in the guide. L216 took that away that why you have free month subscription. I suggest keeping your locals until the last day.


I also leave my unit on 24 hours a day. In fact, I'm still on L215 and I'm in no hurry to downaload anymore software since I don't sub to my locals (only distant locals) and like getting local guide info. I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to hold out and I'll have turn off or reboot my receiver. I'll probably have to reboot when I change my switch to a DPP44 later this week.



jergenf said:


> Attention non-subs (who either cancelled or never got subscrbed): Are you getting any guide data in the high portion of the guide (All-Chan) in red? Were you in L215?


Yes in 215, I'm getting local guide data in both the red local channels and my digital OTA channels.


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