# ViP612 L6.00 Software Experiences/Bugs Discussion



## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

L6.00 is now in the wild. Please use this thread for documenting your experiences and/or bugs found.


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## fredp (Jun 2, 2007)

Ron, better correct the headline.. Dish Network / DirecTV - VIP-612.....

Last time I looked they hadn't merged yet!


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## krock918316 (Mar 5, 2007)

Agreed. Thought DirecTV was getting the VIP612.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

You can only wish Krock..  Sorry guys.. Thats what happens when you cut and past and are at work preparing for a production push yourself.  Thanks for the heads up and it has been corrected.


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## krock918316 (Mar 5, 2007)

Ron Barry said:


> You can only wish Krock..  Sorry guys.. Thats what happens when you cut and past and are at work preparing for a production push yourself.  Thanks for the heads up and it has been corrected.


I've never seen an E* receiver at work.....I'm going down to my brother's this weekend. He has the HD model that can work 2 TV's at once. I'm interested to see how it compares to my HR20 & HR21.

I'll try to stop back by and let you know what I think from my brief encounter with a E* receiver.


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## krock918316 (Mar 5, 2007)

In fact, I was on the phone with him last night when E* had the outage due to the storm in Cheyenne. After a quick check here, I was able to tell him what the problem was.

He now has DBSTalk.com bookmarked. He was pulling his hair out wondering why some of his channels were not coming in.


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## MGoBlue (Jul 20, 2008)

How do you guys like your 612's? I'm getting Dish (Turbo HD Gold) with a 612 installed on Saturday morning, can't wait!

Can it set manual recordings? Like if I wanted to cap the Big Ten network from 12-9PM straight?


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## sangu72 (Jul 26, 2006)

this hasn't been released to all 612's, right? I just did an update and haven't got it yet.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

MGoBlue said:


> How do you guys like your 612's? I'm getting Dish (Turbo HD Gold) with a 612 installed on Saturday morning, can't wait!
> 
> Can it set manual recordings? Like if I wanted to cap the Big Ten network from 12-9PM straight?


Yes it can do that... It has the Manual Timer, Daily, Weekly timers and the Named Based Recording.

For a single room (bedroom) the 612 is a nice box but I do prefer the 722 for the Home theater/family room because of the PIP support and the larger drive. Both are excellent boxes in my opinion.


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## reddice (Feb 18, 2003)

I got it yesterday. Don't notice anything different.


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## Polardog (Mar 5, 2008)

I'm now running L6.00.

The VIP612 is perfect for my 1 TV home. I've no interest in PIP. Theres plenty of space on the hard drive for both SD and HD recordings.

I've had a love/hate relationship with my 612.
Didn't like the 612 when it was first installed in Feb '08. Too many glitches.
I'm happy to say I love the damn thing now. Each software update has improved performance.
I'd say it's a good box, an excellent DVR and very user friendly.


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## mattydork (Aug 22, 2003)

i love my 612 and did get the new software yesterday. They also manage to get the info button issue fixed this time around too so i can now set my remote back to UHF instead of IR.


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## reddice (Feb 18, 2003)

I am glad the info button is working now but the weird part is when I had 4.77 the info button would not do anything when I first got the 612 installed. After I changed the remote code from 1 to 9 it worked and this is with 4.77.


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## Deke Rivers (Jan 8, 2007)

Ive yet to receive it


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Polardog said:


> I'm now running L6.00.
> 
> The VIP612 is perfect for my 1 TV home. I've no interest in PIP. Theres plenty of space on the hard drive for both SD and HD recordings.
> 
> ...


This is the comment I've been waiting for. My 722 is great, but I don't use TV2 and have 3 EHD's. So to replace my two 508's, a 612 seemed like a logical choice as soon as I was sure most of the bugs were worked out. Thank's for saying that!


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## Dualtriamp (Jan 22, 2004)

I have a customer that has 2 612’s that are hooked up via HDMI through Denon receivers to 1080p Pioneer Elite flat panels. The dish receivers are outputting 1080p to the TV’s. That would be great except the 1080p picture they are sending out is the 720p picture in the upper left hand corner and then a black field to the right and on the bottom to fill the entire 1080p field it is sending. I went to the customer’s house and reset the resolution to 1080i then back to 720p and it was fine. So I figured that when the download happened it forced the receiver to 1080p output. Well I just got another call from the same customer and it has reverted again. What do we need to do the fix this?

P.S. They worked fine till 2 days ago.


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## douga (Feb 4, 2006)

Not sure if this is the appropriate place to mention this, but it looks like there's something newer than 600 -- if I recall correctly, it's 601.


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## mattydork (Aug 22, 2003)

i have L601 also... don't notice any difference yet although I Am Legend finally showed up.


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## dishlover2 (Aug 24, 2008)

fredp said:


> Ron, better correct the headline.. Dish Network / DirecTV - VIP-612.....
> 
> Last time I looked they hadn't merged yet!


I heard it was called off


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## dishlover2 (Aug 24, 2008)

i love my 612 vip


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## TheFoxMan (Aug 25, 2008)

My 612, installed 8/6/08 with L6.00 or L6.01 S/W (currently L601), had problems with OTA signal level since day one. All channels have lower level than what I get by connecting directly to the HDTV. One channel that has good signal on the TV is not detected by the 612, and another with very good signal (100) continues to drop out when connected to the 612 (level drifts from 0 to 70+). My OTA HD antenna is located in the attic and feeds three rooms: my ViP722 is rock solid, and HDTV's in two other rooms get good-excellent signal levels, but the 612 doesn't do well at all.

PS. I got a replacement 612 on 8/20/08, and it exhibits the same problem with OTA signal levels/dropouts.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

mattydork said:


> i have L601 also... don't notice any difference yet although I Am Legend finally showed up.


So L6.01 is in the wild. Must have missed it. I will create a thread for hit later today. Thanks for the heads up guys.


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## Billgolfer20 (Aug 20, 2008)

TheFoxMan said:


> My 612, installed 8/6/08 with L6.00 or L6.01 S/W (currently L601), had problems with OTA signal level since day one. All channels have lower level than what I get by connecting directly to the HDTV. One channel that has good signal on the TV is not detected by the 612, and another with very good signal (100) continues to drop out when connected to the 612 (level drifts from 0 to 70+). My OTA HD antenna is located in the attic and feeds three rooms: my ViP722 is rock solid, and HDTV's in two other rooms get good-excellent signal levels, but the 612 doesn't do well at all.
> 
> PS. I got a replacement 612 on 8/20/08, and it exhibits the same problem with OTA signal levels/dropouts.


Has your problem been resolved yet? I have a similar problem with a new 612 just installed. I can get excellent HDTV if I hook my OTA antenna up directly to my HDTV. But if I hook the OTA antenna up to the 612, I have the same level drift, from 0 to 80+ problem - but this occurs on only one of the HD channels. I have a second 612. When I get time (probably not for two weeks) I will try swapping them. The software on the 612 is V6.01


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## MileHi (Oct 19, 2003)

TheFoxMan said:


> My 612, installed 8/6/08 with L6.00 or L6.01 S/W (currently L601), had problems with OTA signal level since day one. All channels have lower level than what I get by connecting directly to the HDTV. One channel that has good signal on the TV is not detected by the 612, and another with very good signal (100) continues to drop out when connected to the 612 (level drifts from 0 to 70+). My OTA HD antenna is located in the attic and feeds three rooms: my ViP722 is rock solid, and HDTV's in two other rooms get good-excellent signal levels, but the 612 doesn't do well at all.
> 
> PS. I got a replacement 612 on 8/20/08, and it exhibits the same problem with OTA signal levels/dropouts.


I have the same issues with my 612. My replacement unit was received about the same day as yours. The OTA issue is a problem, but now the IR sensor has gone belly up. I've tried multiple remotes (on the CORRECT IR channel) and the all don't get through. I reset the remotes to my 622's IR channel and work great... And of course, they're sending me a new remote! :sure: I've already proved that the remote's not the problem... Oh well, maybe after I get the new remote and show that it doesn't work, they'll just send me a 622 or a 722.


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## Rotryrkt (Dec 11, 2004)

I just installed a new 612 and have experienced the OTA dropouts as well. I am having periodic lockups, BSODs, and slow-no response to remote commands. After replacing the HDMI cable and rebooting, check switch, and yet another front panel reset, things seem a little better tonight. 

I have a 622 on my primary TV and it has been rock solid lately. 612 is on a new Samsung DLP 1080p in the Family room. OTA signal levels are definitely lower on the 612. Hopefully just growing pains. The 622 had similar problems when I first hooked it up, but it has outgrown all the early glitches. Hopefully, the next SW upgrade will be more stable.


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## raygil2 (Sep 12, 2008)

In feb. i got hd an d snt me a 612 frist thing it did was when i went to guide it started scrowing on its own an wouldnt stop . did that for about 20 mim. called d an next day they put another 612 in had same prouble with it an . called d an they replaced my second 612 with a 722 for no charge . have had no proublems since i got the 722. was told 612 is a new model in feb. an had a lot proublems then it was rushed out too soon an didnt have time to fix all the bugs then in feb.


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## TheFoxMan (Aug 25, 2008)

Billgolfer20 said:


> Has your problem been resolved yet? I have a similar problem with a new 612 just installed. I can get excellent HDTV if I hook my OTA antenna up directly to my HDTV. But if I hook the OTA antenna up to the 612, I have the same level drift, from 0 to 80+ problem - but this occurs on only one of the HD channels. I have a second 612. When I get time (probably not for two weeks) I will try swapping them. The software on the 612 is V6.01


No solution yet for the 612, so Dish agreed to replace it with a 622, which is fine with me because I think (hope?) it will perform like my 722. The swap was handled like an upgrade, so I needed to pay the $50 difference. I may call back and pimp them a bit to see if they'll reverse the charge, but I'm just happy to have a receiver that plays nice... except for a previously noted 622/722 problem of the OTA tuner occasionally going brain-dead when changing channels using the browser rather than entering the channel number -- happened once on my 722 and 622 this week. I can live with that until the bug is fixed, but the 612 problems were far too annoying to tolerate.


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## reddice (Feb 18, 2003)

Here in NYC the OTA reception is pathetic at best. When I tried hooking up my 612 to the OTA antenna if it just got a little pixlated I got a annoying error screen. Also when I would put it back on a satellite channel it would go to aquaring signal and just stay there until I rebooted the receiver. I since hooked up the OTA antenna to the TV. Reception is better through the TV.


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## TheFoxMan (Aug 25, 2008)

reddice said:


> Here in NYC the OTA reception is pathetic at best. When I tried hooking up my 612 to the OTA antenna if it just got a little pixlated I got a annoying error screen. Also when I would put it back on a satellite channel it would go to aquaring signal and just stay there until I rebooted the receiver. I since hooked up the OTA antenna to the TV. Reception is better through the TV.


Since replacing my 612 with a 622, life on OTA channels has been good, so you might consider doing the same.

Update (9/26/08): Dish is crediting the $50 charge (difference between 612 & 622) since the upgrade was to fix a deficiency in the 612.


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## alacazam (Oct 8, 2004)

I am back with Dish after a two year leave. I had (2) 612's installed both have L-601 software. BOTH units have problems freezing periodically and do the same thing when I try to Fast Forward with the DVR. I've also noticed that playback with the DVR will jump forward quite a bit also. Other than those problems which I hope Dish is working on I like the units fine.


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## frankv (Dec 5, 2008)

Has this been fixed by a software upgrade?


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

See ViP612 L6.02 Software Experiences/Bugs Discussion. My experiences having both a ViP722 and a ViP612 (L6.02) is that the ViP612 does freeze more frequently, but not very often. Most people seem satisfied with their ViP612's, but all these boxes are computers and do have their glitches.


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

On Monday I went from being the owner of a crippled Dishplayer 7200 hooked up to a Dish500 and 61.5 dish to having a pair of 612s hooked up to an 'Eastern Arc' dish.

One 612 had problems out of the box so the installer replaced it imediately. So far, I've had no real problems. Certainly nothing that couldn't be explained by "fat finger mistakes" on a remote I've yet to get really familiar with.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Welcome to the club djlong...  Hopefully you will find the boxes useful and enjoy the world of HD with them.


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## Rotryrkt (Dec 11, 2004)

frankv said:


> Has this been fixed by a software upgrade?


_*NO!*_ Mine still locks up all the time. I am not a happy camper. _*
*_


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

Ok. first problem. Was watching the latest episode of "The Universe" recorded from HistoryHD earlier this week. Video froze (as if it were a still-frame) and audio kept going. I hit 'skip back' a few times and the audio went back but video didn't pick up. Tried FF & REW to get the picture "unstck" but all that accomplished was seizing up the audio. Eventually needed a reboot.

Hope this doesn't become a habit. Hoping it was just a transient glitch.


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## Rotryrkt (Dec 11, 2004)

Hope this doesn't become a habit. Hoping it was just a transient glitch.[/quote]

Sorry to say this is exactly what mine has been doing lately at least 3 times a day during heavy weekend use. This happens whether watching OTA, live satellite or recorded programming. I have been patiently waiting for a fix, but I will demand a 722 if no fix comes along shortly. My 622 on the same system is flawless. There is no excuse for this in my opinion.


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

Well, I went a heavy-use weekend with no glitches here. Keeping my fingers crossed.


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## mcjunk (Oct 25, 2005)

My 612 works fine until I use the DVR, mainly when watching live ball games. When I'm not in real time, I tend to get stutters in the video and audio (synchronized). I don't know if the problem is limited to HD or all content. I never experience any problems in real time, other than insignificant small blips when I'm quickly scrolling through the program guide. 

I had Dish send me another receiver when I thought I had a bad component output, but I figured out the problem before the receiver arrived and it's still unopened in the box. I'm wondering if I should go to the trouble of hooking up the new reciever or if I'd just experience the same problems.

btw, my problem with the component output is that I couldn't get it to work with my non-hdtv, no matter how I set the TV and receiver. When I connected it to the HDTV in the kitchen, it worked fine (at the time, my main living room TV was an SD Sony Wega). When I got my new HDTV, I moved the Wega to the bedroom and tried to hook it to the component output of my SD receiver. I had the same problem as with the 612 (wavy split screen picture). I ran from the receiver component output to a DVD recorder component input, and then from the DVD-R S-video output to the TV and it works fine. When the Wega was in the LR, I used to have a DVD player connected using the component inputs, so I know the Wega component inputs work. When I explained my situation to the Dish "tech", they didn't have an answer so they sent me the new receiver. Anyone know what my problem might be (have been)?


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