# FROM DISH: Official List of L146 Fixes



## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Direct from Eldon, here is the official list of fixes included in L146:

1. Help screen crashes fixed 

2. Change PVR -> DVR in Timer icon->info screen 

3. Change copyright to 2004 in info screen 

4. Load new modem patch file. (This should fix caller ID issues) 

5. I2C FPGA modification to fix a lockup condition 

6. System stability fix - Crash when going in/out of menus is fixed 

7. Terrestrial blank screen on record fixed ( If you try and change channels to a digital terrestrial channel when a digital terrestrial timer recording is in progress you just get a black screen and no warning or info. Subsequently, it prevents changes to satellite channels until the digital terrestrial recording has finished.) 

8. Check for timers before installing download. 

9. Timers continue after reboot. 

10. Entering the local channels menu while a terrestrial recording is in progress aborted the recording without warning. This is fixed now. 

11. Multiple timers fixes - ( Multiple Timer Recording, Inconsistent Behaviour. If a sat timer is running and a "Stop at end of event" timer is set on main session DP921 will not allow you to tune away, giving error 312 "Your request can only be carried out in live mode". If a digital terrestrial timer is running and a "Stop at end of event" timer is run on main session, tuning away takes you to a black screen, with the two timers keeping their sessions.) 

12. DVI link broken popup & 810 pop up your monitor is not HDCP both work correctly now. 

13. SPDIF Output now turned off during standby. 

14. Incorrect grey bars in 1080i & 16x9 is fixed. 

15. Extend timer by 30 minutes. Set a timer from the guide. Red record icon appears in the guide. Edit timer to end a half hour early. Red record icon disappears from the guide. This is now fixed. 

16. Problem where the page up / page down does not set the HD or SD correctly after pressing the HD/SD button, it works some times but not all. This is for use in home theatre applications. Now fixed. 

17. Direct digit entry to 7000 range is fixed. 

18. 105 satellite code updated and also problems with it fading away is now fixed. 

19. POP up 005 after PPV purchase. Fixed.


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## Doody (Dec 17, 2003)

mark - it's great that they're fixing bugs. REALLY great!

any general feedback as to when they might get to evaluating feature requests?

i'm concerned that they're going to be squashing bugs for months on end before they can get to some of the features that have been requested (some of which are show-stoppers for me).

more to the point, i'm concerned that theyr'e NOT going to touch any features at this point and it's just a bug-fix process at this stage. given how late it is to market, this behavior absolutely would not surprise me, and it probably would be the rational thing to do, no less!

but it means i don't get one 

any "feel" from them?

doody.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

What specific features requests are you referring to?  Firewire? or something else?

Discrete ON/OFF and (mostly working) Discrete SD/HD were two of the first feature requests that were made. 

Obviously the priority has to be to get the 921 software to a state that it isn't crashing all the time, and is able to record the way it's supposed to. We'll see if L146 puts it into that state. If it does, then I suspect we'll start seeing some of the feature requests answered in addition to the bug fixes.


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## BobJ2004 (Feb 7, 2004)

I think the main feature that everyone wants is Guide Date in OTA Digital.

Many saw or read about two of the compeditors out there (one does DBS and one does OTA/QAM cable not to mention names).

In both models they have Guide Data over over the air Digital Locals.

For $1,000 I think we all expect at least the same guide data features that the other two have. Not having Guide data is like the old VCR days. It is a show stopper for me since I mostly only watch the Major networks and want to watch and record them in HD.


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## Mike123abc (Jul 19, 2002)

They have to get the box as solid as a rock before they add more features. They have to be sure that all the current bugs are in software, not hardware. The only hardware thing that sounds like it does not work yet is the dishwire. I would not be surprised that it was not a priority just to be sure it works before they get too many more boxes out of there.

For example what if the broken stretch modes turn out to be a hardware problem that cannot be fixed in software and they have to do another recall.... Better to get the problems fixed and diagnosed before adding new features. People are screaming for boxes... they have to be sure the boxes they ship are all fixable via software.


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## sleepy hollow (Aug 25, 2003)

Great to see progress. Got my download last night at about 8pm. 

(As an aside, it really is great to own a product that can be improved like this. As a customer I feel like I am being "taken care of" and that Dish is "thinking" of me. the lttle green light flashing is a thrill I cannot get from, say, my table saw or my car. Quite an interesting development in customer service if you ask me.)

Rebooted this morning and I see one OTA channel I was not getting previously. Hopefully that is a good sign to help my OTA antenna tuning this weekend. 

I have a question about audio, though. In SD mode I get 6 channel surround sound or some enhanced version on all channels. Bottom line is 6 speakers are on and contributing. With sat-provided HD I do not always get that. Most of the time I get only front speakers working. Is this due to the broadcast, the 921, or possibly my audio receiver? I am using the optical output on the 921. My receiver is the RCA home theater receiver Radio Shack sells. (Goes with the RCA HD monitor.)

Before suggesting this as an issue with the 921, I thought I'd check with you, Mark. 

I confess the Dolby formats have me confused in the first place, and how they map (or not) with HD is even further obscure to me. Have not had time to read up on it. 

Don't know about OTA since I have not had stations to play with yet.

thanks


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## dreamer (Jan 21, 2004)

I was wondering if the software download could be done through the satellite switch ? (Which I am hoping is a really stupid question since all you guys have switched in place and are receiving the newest download). I haven't connected my 921 up at all yet and when I do for the first time I want to make sure it gets this most current software download.

I hate to say this but a DN field technician told me that in order for a 921 to sucessfully receive its 1st software download the switch at the Dish had to be temporarily disconnected until the 921 received the sofware, and then the switch could be reinserted. 

Any truth to that guys ?

I know that not many "tech/installers" know a whole lot about the 921, its installation procedures or how the software works.


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## lex61564 (Feb 10, 2004)

So far I am really happy with the update, thank you DN., and Mark for all your posts, Really looking forward to some new features (enabled firewire and DVHS setups and OTA guides too, 
thanks again and really loving the 921!

Alex


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## David_Levin (Apr 22, 2002)

dreamer:
Downloads through the switch are no problem. The native install of the 921 knows how to do a switch check, after which it can get the download.

Many people switches are now built into the LNB - removing the switches is often not possible.

(the now ancient Dishplayer 7200 sometimes needed switches removed for the initial download - updates were no problem)


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## David_Levin (Apr 22, 2002)

Mark Lamutt said:


> Direct from Eldon, here is the official list of fixes included in L146:
> 
> 5. I2C FPGA modification to fix a lockup condition


They have FPGAs in this thing? - that's pretty cool. Should give them a lot of flexability. Wonder if they will switch to asics down the road.



> 12. DVI link broken popup & 810 pop up your monitor is not HDCP both work correctly now.


I did see a quick pop-up last night telling me where was a problem with my DVI cable & I should check the connections. It seemed to go away on it's own (I have a Gefen 4 to 1 DVI HDCP compliant switcher in the path)

Is the 921 doing anything with HDCP?


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

dreamer- I got the scoop on this volunteered to me by an E* engineer when at CES. Your installer is correct but much dated. The issue pertained to the first release of the 921's back in December, early January and was fixed on the L145 version in January. The problem centered around installers who woulld pre-install the 921 at the shop under one switch design and then install under another at the residence. The first 921's would not sense the difference and just lock up. E* had recommended to installers that if they preinstall the 921 at the shop, to not use a switch but rather connect a simple dual LNB with two cables to the 921 for pre-install. Since mid January, this advice is dated and L145 fixed the problem. As you have seen we are now at L146.


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## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

Mike123abc said:


> For example what if the broken stretch modes turn out to be a hardware problem that cannot be fixed in software and they have to do another recall.... Better to get the problems fixed and diagnosed before adding new features. People are screaming for boxes... they have to be sure the boxes they ship are all fixable via software.


If you read through the bug fixes, you will notice that there already was a bug in hardware that was fixed a 'lockup condition'. An FPGA is a "moldable/reconfigurable" chip. Pretty cool stuff huh! It doesn't mean that there won't be hardware problems they can't fix. Most likely there won't be an FPGA used in place of firewire. There are two reasons for that, first, FPGAs are really expensive, and second, firewire technology has been around for years, and the chips are mature. It is great that they appear to have one somewhere in the OTA tuner, something that isn't necessarily mature yet!


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## dreamer (Jan 21, 2004)

Thanks David / Don !


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

sleepy hollow said:


> ...
> I have a question about audio, though. In SD mode I get 6 channel surround sound or some enhanced version on all channels. Bottom line is 6 speakers are on and contributing. With sat-provided HD I do not always get that. Most of the time I get only front speakers working. Is this due to the broadcast, the 921, or possibly my audio receiver? I am using the optical output on the 921. My receiver is the RCA home theater receiver Radio Shack sells. (Goes with the RCA HD monitor.)
> 
> I confess the Dolby formats have me confused in the first place, and how they map (or not) with HD is even further obscure to me. Have not had time to read up on it.
> ...


I have the same or similar "symptoms" with my audio, but it's NOT a bug or problem with my gear. I don't think it's an HD/SD thing - the audio can be 5.1 or not in either mode. However, more HD content will have Dolby 5.1 than SD content, so that might be what you're catching.

My Sony STR-DE695 is quite intelligent and synths surround channels when it doesn't get them from the input - giving me surprisingly cool sound.

SD mode (in my experience) is mostly PCM 48 2-channel audio, and the receiver goes to work making all sorts of surround effects.

However, if it's receiving a Dolby 5.1 (shown on the Sony panel as 3/2.1) signal, it does NOT mess with the supplied surround - which might not have anything (or much) on them! If the audio guys that create the content don't put anything there,the speakers will seem "dead".

I have been disappointed with a lot of the Dolby 5.1 content because of this.

P.S. Mark, should/could this be split off into a new thread?


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Replying to the last few messages:

Bobj2004: Guide data for OTA channels is coming, just not immediately. I'm not at liberty to spell out the details about how they are going to do it yet, but it is coming - most likely in the late spring/early summer timeframe. The general methodology of it has been discussed by others, and isn't too far off the base.

sleepy hollow: normal satellite channels are broadcast in 2 channel stereo sound. Your receiver takes that 2 channel audio and converts it to dolby prologic or dolby prologic II, or whatever the receiver is set to and then sends the converted audio to your speakers. HD channels are broadcast in either dolby digital 2.0 sound (2 channels - left and right) or in dolby digital 5.1 sound. With the 2.0 broadcasts, your receiver is most likely just passing that straight through, so you are hearing audio only out of your front 2 speakers. You should be able to set your receiver to apply the prologic or prologic II processing to that stream as well (that's what I do with mine).

dreamer - the software download happens just fine now through the switches.


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## YourNameHere (Jan 23, 2004)

I am a happy camper! My 105 locals are now working! This is a big deal after all the trouble I have had with them.


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## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

YourNameHere said:


> I am a happy camper! My 105 locals are now working! This is a big deal after all the trouble I have had with them.


You didn't have to re-install your dish and switches on the roof!?? :hurah:

Too bad you can't get hold of that CSR to explain a few things to him. Personally, I think the "advanced" CSRs could learn a lot from us. The 921 CSRs should read through this message board, and they should have a 921 of their own to fight/play with.....


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## thevoice (Sep 24, 2002)

dreamer said:


> I hate to say this but a DN field technician told me that in order for a 921 to sucessfully receive its 1st software download the switch at the Dish had to be temporarily disconnected until the 921 received the sofware, and then the switch could be reinserted.
> 
> Any truth to that guys ?


Not correct, to my knowledge the 921 currently supports all released switches and doesn't have troubles downloading through them... I have heard that you want to be a standby though when downloading to make sure you get it quicker...


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## thevoice (Sep 24, 2002)

jsanders said:


> An FPGA is a "moldable/reconfigurable" chip. Pretty cool stuff huh! It doesn't mean that there won't be hardware problems they can't fix. Most likely there won't be an FPGA used in place of firewire. There are two reasons for that, first, FPGAs are really expensive, and second, firewire technology has been around for years, and the chips are mature. It is great that they appear to have one somewhere in the OTA tuner, something that isn't necessarily mature yet!


Que?


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## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

thevoice said:


> Que?


Are you asking about the FPGA, or something else??

I'm guessing the FPGA. It is a programmable gate array. That means you can program the gates to form various digital circuits. Digital circuits are what are found in most silicon chips, so, you can load an image into an FPGA to make it an FM Radio, or another image can change the same chip, the same piece of silicon into something else, say, an 8VSB tuner, or a GPS receiver. The chip can be changed on the fly.

It is like a piece of clay in a figurative sense.


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## AppliedAggression (Aug 16, 2003)

Here's a quick feature request. I'm not sure how the 921 Local OTA channels are right now, but I assume that they're 8 hour blocks. Why not, divide them into 30 min blocks. Even with no data, this would make it a lot easier to record programs. 

With 30 mins blocks, you would just have to know what time the show is on, and not have to make manual timers.


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## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

AppliedAggression said:


> Here's a quick feature request. I'm not sure how the 921 Local OTA channels are right now, but I assume that they're 8 hour blocks. Why not, divide them into 30 min blocks. Even with no data, this would make it a lot easier to record programs.
> 
> With 30 mins blocks, you would just have to know what time the show is on, and not have to make manual timers.


Good idea! We've requested it before as a stop gap until the guide data comes. Don't know if the suggestion ever made it to the developers though.....


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## djtowle (Feb 2, 2004)

Mark Lamutt said:


> What specific features requests are you referring to? Firewire? or something else?
> 
> •How about displaying local channel #s in the guide.
> ie channel 2 shows up as channel 2 rather then 8945 or whatever. (721 does this)
> ...


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## Raymond Simonian (Nov 22, 2002)

Received the L146 download, it is listed in the systems information. But the caller ID is not functioning.
I went to the AVS forum and read a thread that Don Landis had posted. My caller ID has apparently always been working. I went to the "staying in touch menu" and found "caller ID history". All my incoming calls were listed. I then went to "my preferences" and checked the "Caller ID Pop Up". Caller ID is now functioning.


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## dreamer (Jan 21, 2004)

OK...so I FINALLY plugged in my 921 (after finally getting my 2nd line ran and my 2nd dish cascaded into a 34 switch) and after getting a "receiver not authorized" message on screen I turned the unit off and now the green power light is blinking.

Does this mean that the newest software is in the process of being downloaded ? (I think on the sys info screen it said that it had SW v L052 or something like that...LOL)

Should I just let it do its thing until the green light stops blinking ?

Thanks !


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## bobl (Jan 17, 2004)

Yes. The blinking green light indicates a software download. Let it finish and then in about ten minutes it will have installed the software and rebooted at which time the blue HD light should be on. At this time you should be able to turn it on successfully.

Bob


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## Doody (Dec 17, 2003)

> Discrete SD/HD


i didn't parse that from the official list of fixes:



> 16. Problem where the page up / page down does not set the HD or SD correctly after pressing the HD/SD button, it works some times but not all. This is for use in home theatre applications. Now fixed.


so there is now a discrete IR code for HD and a discrete IR code for SD? no more cycling (unless you want to)?

that's stellar news! i can work with that in my system. i'd still like discrete 720p and 1080i mode selectors, but the rest of the family doesn't understand that stuff so i can suffer through it myself until they hopefully fix it.

doody!


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## dreamer (Jan 21, 2004)

Ok...L146 downloaded and installed just fine...Now onto the next steps.

1) Authorizing
2) Checking for blue line issue
3) Seeing what HD looks like on my TV
4) Deciding if I want to keep this unit during this "testing/ bug elimination process or just sell it and wait until all the bugs are worked out and live with my 501/508 for now.


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## dreamer (Jan 21, 2004)

Well unfortunately my 921 suffers from the blue line issue when viewing SD content through the component outputs.

I will be returning my unit to the seller and will wait out this "de-bugging" process until such time that the 921's are readily available and have been "re-worked" a bit more on the programming/manufacturing end before I buy one again.

My patience will pay off in the end.


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## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

dreamer said:


> Well unfortunately my 921 suffers from the blue line issue when viewing SD content through the component outputs.
> 
> I will be returning my unit to the seller and will wait out this "de-bugging" process until such time that the 921's are readily available and have been "re-worked" a bit more on the programming/manufacturing end before I buy one again.
> 
> My patience will pay off in the end.


Bummer about the blue light problem.

You need to excersize patience to wait for the 921, and you also need to excersize patience to use the 921. Either way, it should pay off!


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## Slordak (Dec 17, 2003)

I assume Dish has some sort of internal priority list for which bugs and issues they plan to address next (now that L146 is out). We obviously are't privy to this information, but I can only hope that they continue their diligent work to resolve issues and get software releases out in a timely fashion.

Is Dish still interested in receiving further feedback from us on any new minor bugs we spot, or do they have their hands full with existing issues? I would be happy to take my digital camera out and do some more detailed reports with screenshots, but I don't want this effort to go to waste if Dish already has their hands full with existing issues.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Absolutely they want the feedback. On everything that we see. 

Yes, there is a priority list for what gets fixed first, but everything that we see gets put on the list, and I know for a fact that Eldon is very appreciative of our efforts here. I receive an email from various people at Eldon about on a weekly basis to that effect.


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## sleepy hollow (Aug 25, 2003)

Mark Lamutt said:


> Replying to the last few messages:
> 
> Bobj2004: Guide data for OTA channels is coming, just not immediately. I'm not at liberty to spell out the details about how they are going to do it yet, but it is coming - most likely in the late spring/early summer timeframe. The general methodology of it has been discussed by others, and isn't too far off the base.
> 
> ...


Great. Makes perfect sense. That is exactly what is happening. Thanks for the tutorial.


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