# ASK DBSTalk: Next Software Version (L188 version)? (MERGED)



## Florindi (Feb 17, 2004)

Just starting the thread to get things rolling! Any hints Mark?


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Not yet...


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## Eagles (Dec 31, 2003)

Mark Lamutt said:


> Not yet...


How about this. Are "YOU" currently running L187?


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Tricky Tricky Tricky... :lol:

I'll say something about this when I can.


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## Redster (Jan 14, 2004)

How bout putting flash and boot version in your sig Mark ..


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## chuckbernard (Aug 3, 2004)

Didn't they say, on the last tech forum, that it should come in the middle of this month? Or, am I recalling incorrectly?


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## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

chuckbernard said:


> Didn't they say, on the last tech forum, that it should come in the middle of this month? Or, am I recalling incorrectly?


They did, your 100% correct! It seems that what they say and what they do are two different things. At least they aren't talking out of both sides of their mouths, yet.


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## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

It's well past the middle of August 2004. I would like to see some the OTA issues resolved.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

What's her name on the Tech Talk was clueless about when the release were going to come out. If experience is any indicator, we're 2 weeks out for L188, and mid-October for L189 - but that's just my guess.


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## Mike123abc (Jul 19, 2002)

I would suspect that when she said August she meant September and misspoke. A 30 day release cycle for bug fixes is more realistic.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

That would be reasonable, except that IIRC, she ALSO said that L189 (not mentioned by number) would be mid-September.


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## Mike123abc (Jul 19, 2002)

She could have confused the alpha dates with the release dates. It is likely that they have a goal to test the releases 30 days before public release. They released the software right around the chat. She was probably thinking the next release (188) would come out a week later, but to testing not public and the next release (189) mid-September. The public of course would not see them until a month later or so.

I know I am just making excuses, but it would have been shocking to have a major release, a week go by then another major release, then a month go by for the next major release. The sudden thrusting of the camera in her face probably caused a mental lapse and all the dates got jumbled.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

That sounds reasonable. Wish Mark could tell us when he gets new beta releases.


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## Rodney (Aug 22, 2003)

It wasn't that long ago when just the speculation, that a new software update for the 921 was expected, would have generated a ton of forum responses laden with speculation, rumors and heightened enthusiasm.

WHAT HAPPENED?


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## Eagles (Dec 31, 2003)

Rodney said:


> It wasn't that long ago when just the speculation, that a new software update for the 921 was expected, would have generated a ton of forum responses laden with speculation, rumors and heightened enthusiasm.
> 
> WHAT HAPPENED?


I think what happened is that the 921 has become a pretty stable unit. I say this based on my own experience. I know there are still some issues out there, but I think they have become less and less. I've had the 921 since 12/30/03. Actually this is my third replacement unit. I remember the early days of multiple bugs, crashes and reboots on a daily basis. This was wide spread, and made the unit difficult to operate and enjoy. I really can't remember the last time my unit crashed since L187, and it's not as if I don't use the unit to it's capacity. Most of the functionality issues which still exist, 
in my opinion, are relatively minor, and can be overcome with workarounds. I think people are spending more time enjoying the 921 as opposed to submitting bug reports and posts in this forum. I think the upcoming software will basically be feature as opposed to functionality based. Getting back to your original question, I think users tend to get more upset with the lack of functionality vs. a lack of promised future features. As a side note on the 921 OTA reception sensitivity. I live in a fringe reception area and I had to go above and beyond to get a consistent lock on my local digitals. Before I raised my antenna to 55' from 35' my signal was inconsistent. I thought the 921 had an inferior OTA tuner compared to some of the OTA only set top boxes. I was able to get a Samsung SIRT-351 for a side by side comparison. The 351 is supposed to be one of the better units as far as reception ability goes. They both performed equally. I was pleasantly surprised. When I did the side by side test, one of the channels (DT# 39) would lock then pixelate back and forth with the 921. This was a great situation as the 921 was right on the verge of a solid lock. If indeed the 351 was more sensitive, it would lock solid. This did not happen. I experienced the same dropout with the 351.


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

The only major problem I see right now that I wish they would address is the red/blue/ green line that appears on sd programming while in the 720p/1080i output. This comes and goes but it is really annoying . I sometimes just keep the 921 in 480p to escape this problem unless I am watching a true hd station.


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## rbyers (Jan 15, 2004)

Mike D-CO5 said:


> The only major problem I see right now that I wish they would address is the red/blue/ green line that appears on sd programming while in the 720p/1080i output. This comes and goes but it is really annoying . I sometimes just keep the 921 in 480p to escape this problem unless I am watching a true hd station.


Is that a bug? I've never seen it. Where does it appear? I'll watch for it. Perhaps it only occurs on some units.


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

Yes it is a software bug that is well known by Dish and it has been documented on this board several times. It is very annoying since I bought a hd tv to watch hd in 1080i via dvi cable and I end up watching 480p over dvi instead.

I don't even sub to the hd pack anylonger since I can get Hbo hd and Showtime hd since I already have AEP. The other channels never really have anything on I watch except maybe tnt. So I stay in 480p on most of the lesser variety channels. The premium channels suffer less from this . I notice it mostly on my Houston locals from Dish .


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## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

Eagles said:


> I think what happened is that the 921 has become a pretty stable unit. I say this based on my own experience. I know there are still some issues out there, but I think they have become less and less. I've had the 921 since 12/30/03. Actually this is my third replacement unit. I remember the early days of multiple bugs, crashes and reboots on a daily basis. This was wide spread, and made the unit difficult to operate and enjoy. I really can't remember the last time my unit crashed since L187, and it's not as if I don't use the unit to it's capacity. Most of the functionality issues which still exist,
> in my opinion, are relatively minor, and can be overcome with workarounds. I think people are spending more time enjoying the 921 as opposed to submitting bug reports and posts in this forum. I think the upcoming software will basically be feature as opposed to functionality based. Getting back to your original question, I think users tend to get more upset with the lack of functionality vs. a lack of promised future features. As a side note on the 921 OTA reception sensitivity. I live in a fringe reception area and I had to go above and beyond to get a consistent lock on my local digitals. Before I raised my antenna to 55' from 35' my signal was inconsistent. I thought the 921 had an inferior OTA tuner compared to some of the OTA only set top boxes. I was able to get a Samsung SIRT-351 for a side by side comparison. The 351 is supposed to be one of the better units as far as reception ability goes. They both performed equally. I was pleasantly surprised. When I did the side by side test, one of the channels (DT# 39) would lock then pixelate back and forth with the 921. This was a great situation as the 921 was right on the verge of a solid lock. If indeed the 351 was more sensitive, it would lock solid. This did not happen. I experienced the same dropout with the 351.


I think that most of us are just getting tired of complaining and are just getting used to problems with the 921. Myself I'm not rehashing the same issues like; it still freezes, doesn't do the OTA without PSIP, and the recording problems with the OTA. There is still the problems with the video and lest we forget, the caller ID, and the inability to properly use the ADD DTV. So, what is so good about it?


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

I keep finding new bugs myself. Got one having to do with having 3 timers active for the same time. Haven't posted it yet - it's gonna take probably an hour to do right and upload the screen shots.


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## chuckbernard (Aug 3, 2004)

I find new bugs all the time and I'm just so tired of them that I don't even have the energy to report them. I just tell my wife things like: "Don't turn it off if you are tuned to one of the music stations, otherwise there will be no picture the next time you turn it on..." I can't stand the fact that I can't view other stations if I'm recording an OTA station. But, the worst of all is that I can't even view my local NBC station...


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## JOBY (Mar 27, 2004)

I have been satisfied with my 921. Its not perfect, I have noticed many but not all of the problems listed here, but it sure is a step up in simplicity from the old pany/dish 5000 combo. Its really nice to be able to digitaly record SD sat programing, and on my 65" toshoba. The scaled up SD looks verry good. Much better than SVHS taped from C-Band SD programing run through the TV's internal scaler which introduced artifacts.


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## David_Levin (Apr 22, 2002)

I expect that my 921 annoyances will reappear as the new TV season gets rolling (especially without the OTA quide data). Just haven't been recording as much over the summer.

The inability to add a hard drive (like TiVo) or off-load the internal HDD to DVHS (like cable) is approaching the top of my annoyance list.


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## Baxter (Mar 31, 2004)

During the last upgrade, The font on the Guide has become smaller, the previous larger font was much more user friendly. It would be nice to have Dish go back to the larger font on the guide


-----------------

DishDVR 921
Boot VER 120b
Flash VER F051
SW VER L187HECD-N


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

Welcome aboard, Baxter! :welcome:

I haven't noticed any change in font size, but there were a couple of reports from some time ago about odd guide displays. I don't know if this is the same thing you're seeing, but IIRC, they started right after a new version of the software downloaded and fixed themselves at the next one.


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## sleepy hollow (Aug 25, 2003)

I agree that this unit is really pretty good. I have only had one unit and it has been flawless since we got it in Feb 04, aside from the s/w bugs. 

But, I really have to say that the capabilities offered and planned to be offered are quite sophisticated from an embedded systems perspective for a mass-marketed consumer item.

I cannot think of too many software based, special purpose machines out there that are as extensively featured as the 921. Certainly, one can ding Dish on mismanaging expectations and overpromising, but that is not my point. Nor, is the Tivo comparison. Tivo may be less buggy, but the 921 has more capability from what I can see (or potential capability at least). 

bottom line is that no matter how you cut it, this is what it's like to be on the cutting edge - and you just have to decide whether the glass is half full or half empty. The cutting edge technology experience always has an element of excruciating disappointment. That is one reason it's called the "cutting" or "bleeding" edge. 

There is a lot to like about the 921, and it definitely is a very advanced TV experience, even though it may not be all it was promised.


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