# Bug Reports for L280 and beyond...



## Mark Lamutt

Resetting the thread now that L280 has spooled. Please either use this thread or create a "BUG REPORT L280" thread to post bug reports that you see.


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## softwiz

If I press the PIP button while in browse, the PIP window appears and the audio switches to the PIP window. If I remove the PIP window, the audio stays on the channel that was in the now closed PIP window. Pressing swap brings back the audio of the main channel. 

This is a MINOR issue

I have not reported it to Dish Support

Software Version: L280MAED-N
Boot Strap Version: 1110MAED


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## Jerry G

softwiz said:


> If I press the PIP button while in browse, the PIP window appears and the audio switches to the PIP window. If I remove the PIP window, the audio stays on the channel that was in the now closed PIP window. Pressing swap brings back the audio of the main channel.
> 
> This is a MINOR issue
> 
> I have not reported it to Dish Support
> 
> Software Version: L280MAED-N
> Boot Strap Version: 1110MAED


I've also experienced this. But in some cases, I haven't been easily able to get the correct sound for the channel being viewed, even after closing the PIP window.

It's even worse if you're watching a recorded event and bring up the PIP window. The recorded event freezes and stays frozen even if swapped. Even dismissing the PIP window doesn't help and the recorded event is frozen. Only completely backing out of the recorded event screens and then going back into the recorded event screen and resuming or restarting the recorded event will unfreeze it and bring back the sound. In a few cases, I've completely lost the sound and had to reboot to get it back.

A quick test suggests that the lost sound only affects the optical out. I think in one case, I switched the audio on my receiver to the analog L/R and got sound. Upon switching the receiver back to the optical input, the sound was back.

I think this is a major bug that needs to be addressed quickly. It didn't occur with the previous software and effectively makes it way too inconvenient to use the PIP window if I intent to do a swap.

The only good thing that occurred with this update is the ability to have DD with both tuners. But the PIP bug effectively prevents me from using the DD fix as I'll not longer be swapping channels until the new bugs are fixed. After dumping the 921, I'm praying this isn't a replay of the 921 issues where a new software update introduces more bugs than it fixes.

I did report this to Dish last night.


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## xsailor

I no longer am receiving channel program info on half of my OTA channels. I have rebooted (both soft (front power button) and hard (pulling the plug)) at least a half a dozen times. I have also unplugged the unit and left it that way for over an hour and then replugged it in. I have done the forced download (check switch) and have also deleted all OTA channels and rescanned them. The final result: no OTA guide info for LA channels 2,5,7 and 11 (all other OTA channel guide info is good). Everything worked just fine prior to the update ... (coincidence? I think not!)


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## bthom73

I've already had to power cycle my 942 three times today!

I'm in the habit of watching video delayed up to an hour since that's the limit on the buffer. 

I leave one of the two tuners on the Discovery Channel and then when I turn on the TV I back up to the beginning of whatever is currently showing and start watching. I fast-forward through the commercials and occasionally play with the skip-back and pause buttons to catch things I didn't completely see on the first pass.

Starting earlier today the receiver started freezing if I play with the skip-back and pause buttons which I'm assuming is the result of the L280 update. The only solution is to power cycle the receiver.

By the way, it would be really great if the buffer size was adjustable in the setup menu instead of permanently fixed at 1hr...but that's a separate request.

-Brian


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## sampatterson

Audio chirps happen sporadically when using channel up and down. Audio set to pcm&dolby run to Denon brand receivers.


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## Jon Spackman

how do you switch tuners when viewing TV?? On directivos you can press the live TV button. Do you have to use the pip and then swap buttons to do it? 

Side note. does anyone have the IR codes for pip and swap for address one or three??

Jon


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## Jeff McClellan

OTA Guide information missing on main channels that did have it before upgrade. Signal strength is high but more pixing on OTA.


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## lakebum431

I agree about the pixilation on OTA. My strengths all show higher, but 1 channel that was strong before is now almost unwatchable.


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## rockitman

Since I have received the new update, my 942 locks-up and then reboots on it's own whenever I change the aspect ratio while watching a show that has been recorded. Ex. If I want to watch a recorded SD show, and I have the aspect ratio previously set for 1080i and 16x9, I like to watch this without the borders all around my picture. So I change the aspect ratio to 480p and 4x3 #2. When I do this and hit the OK button, it locks up on me and then reboots. Which means if a person is watching something on TV2 in the other room, it disrupts their viewing too. I didn't have this problem before the update.  

Has anyone else had this problem?


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## lakebum431

Wow, looks like this update has some serious issues. Do they even bother to test these things?


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## DRJDAN

I sometimes loose sound. Seems to be when I switch form live tv to a recorded program. Have to turn off and back on from the remote and the sound is back.


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## asarhan

I had a problem with sound today. I was recording a DD 5.1 event on RAVE and I wanted to watch it from the start while it was recording. When I tried to play it from the start, there was no sound. I tried to FF through to see if sound would show up, but it didn't unless I was watching the event in live mode. If I skipped back, the sound was gone.


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## softwiz

While watching "The Truman Show" tonight on TNTHD, there were more than a few occasions where the screen would do some funky black out thing. Most of these had multi-colored lines and spots on the way to black. Most of these blackouts lasted no longer than .5 seconds.

L280 is full of bugs. Does Dish actually have a software testing methodolgy?


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## Jerry G

I'm seeing some occasional brief pixelation on the right side of the picture. Never saw this with the previous software. I think my previous 921 is haunting my current 942. I can't believe I traded one set of nightmares for another and spent $700 for the honor. Other than the Dolby Digital bug with the second tuner, I was really happy with the 942 prior to this update. I would have preferred the previous software over this current bug ridden disaster. Dish should be ashamed of themselves for releasing such garbage and I'm beating myself up for dumping the 921 to get the same kinds of untested buggy updates that I had with the 921.


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## softwiz

Jerry G said:


> I'm seeing some occasional brief pixelation on the right side of the picture. Never saw this with the previous software. I think my previous 921 is haunting my current 942. I can't believe I traded one set of nightmares for another and spent $700 for the honor. Other than the Dolby Digital bug with the second tuner, I was really happy with the 942 prior to this update. I would have preferred the previous software over this current bug ridden disaster. Dish should be ashamed of themselves for releasing such garbage and I'm beating myself up for dumping the 921 to get the same kinds of untested buggy updates that I had with the 921.


I see it too. L280 is a dud. I'm calling Dish tomorrow to lay into them. Their lack of testing is inexcusable.


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## Jerry G

softwiz said:


> I see it too. L280 is a dud. I'm calling Dish tomorrow to lay into them. Their lack of testing is inexcusable.


This software is such a disaster that if there is anyway they can spool the previous version, Dish should do it and thoroughly test the current software. I can't see living with this crap for the one or two months we'll have to wait to get the next fix which will only break more features that were working fine.


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## M492A

I have new problems with OTA guide data. I subscribe to locals. With L229, I had guide data for all but the local OTA UPN channel (I don't get a local UPN station off the satellite). With L280, two of those channels are now showing "Digital Service": WSYR 009-01 (ABC) broadcasting on 17, and WTVH 005-01 (CBS) broadcasting on 47. This is after multiple scans for only digital local channels, with and without having first deleted the existing list of OTA channels. Both channels have only the one subchannel and are from the Syracuse NY DMA; my sat locals are from Rochester NY. Again, the guide data for these channels was just fine with L229.

*UPDATE:* Sometime between 4:30pm and 8:15pm Sunday, guide data appeared for 009-01.

*UPDATE:* 009-01 guide data gone again on Monday morning.

On a different note, the subchannels on one of my digital channels are swapped. In the real world, 003-01 is WSTM (NBC) and 003-02 is WSTQ (UPN). The guide is correct, but in both cases the programming appears on the other channel. Notice in the attached picture that the guide is showing Trading Spaces on 003-01 but the preview window shows that I'm tuned to 003-02 to see it. Note also the NBC logo at the top right corner of the preview window.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the subchannels have different call signs, because WCNY's (024-01/02/03 on 25; PBS) subchannels' call signs are also WCNY and their programming coincides with the guide.

The remaining digital OTA channel I get - 068-01 (WSYT/FOX on 19) has the correct guide data.

*These problems pretty much nullify all OTA NBR functionality. I hope Dish will do an interim release soon (in the next week?) to fix this.*


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## M492A

softwiz said:


> While watching "The Truman Show" tonight on TNTHD, there were more than a few occasions where the screen would do some funky black out thing. Most of these had multi-colored lines and spots on the way to black. Most of these blackouts lasted no longer than .5 seconds.
> 
> L280 is full of bugs. Does Dish actually have a software testing methodolgy?


Ditto on the black-out thing. Happens quite frequently, on both HD satellite and digital OTA, on live and recorded shows.

This blanking can be duplicated by pressing the Cancel button while watching a show, and by pressing Select to exit an Info window.

In case this has anything to do with hardware, my 942 connects to my Sony plasma TV via the HDMI port.


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## Jeff McClellan

They did some good things in this upgrade, but boy, are they out weighed by the problems. The OTA is so sensitive, that if I crap, it pixes.


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## M492A

My 942 reboots if I try to scan OTA analogs and digitals from a "distant" DMA (Rochester, NY). May have something to do with signal strength, because when I do the same with the antenna pointed at Syracuse (from where I get stronger signals), it works fine.


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## M492A

It's better in L280 over L229, but still not perfect. For the most part, digital OTA and HD programming seems to be pretty close - it's a lot better than it was in L229. However, this morning, on Fox News Sunday on 068-01 (WSYT/19 from Syracuse, NY), the sound was about a half-second to a second ahead of the picture. I'll see how it is with the NFL game this afternoon. 

Maybe it's my imagination, but I thought I noticed SD sound being slightly out-of-sync now. I need to do some more watching to confirm.


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## LtMunst

The right side blocking is definately worse in this release on recordings. Now the blocking from right to left spreads across the screen during pan movements. Before they play around with adding USB functionality and all that kool stuff, Dish needs to fix the basic picture quality problems.


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## waltinvt

M492A said:


> My 942 reboots if I try to scan OTA analogs and digitals from a "distant" DMA (Rochester, NY). May have something to do with signal strength, because when I do the same with the antenna pointed at Syracuse (from where I get stronger signals), it works fine.


I think the addition of analog has further messed up OTA. It's gone from just being a comparetivley weak OTA receiver to one that now doesn't work correctly.

I can "add" an analog station from the add stations menu but as soon as I try to access it thru the epg, the unit goes into a reboot.

I've tried to scan with the "both" option and none of the digitals (that I've had right along with signals in the 90s) are picked up. In fact, none of the analog stations that I know for a fact are there are picked up either. It did pick up some other analog stations but these stations show NO signal strength and again, if I try to access them, it goes into re-boot.


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## boody

I also have been experiencing the weird black blocks on the right side of recorded programs. So far its the only problem I've encountered with L280, but I've hardly stress tested it.


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## Bichon

I want to echo the sentiments of Jeff M., Jerry G., Lakebum431, et al about OTA performance with L280. From my observations thus far, pixelation and dropouts seem much worse than they were with L229.

I suspect that since the engineers (and probably the beta testers too) are based in the Denver area, OTA performance is being optimized for reception issues prevalent in that locale; signal conditions in other geographic areas (with a plethora of topographies) are different. Software changes affecting OTA reception should be tested in a wide variety of locales before being placed in production.


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## zephyr

Bichon said:


> I want to echo the sentiments of Jeff M., Jerry G., Lakebum431, et al about OTA performance with L280. From my observations thus far, pixelation and dropouts seem much worse than they were with L229.
> 
> I suspect that since the engineers (and probably the beta testers too) are based in the Denver area, OTA performance is being optimized for reception issues prevalent in that locale; signal conditions in other geographic areas (with a plethora of topographies) are different. Software changes affecting OTA reception should be tested in a wide variety of locales before being placed in production.


To add another 2 cents, OTA is definitely worse after 280. I had held until I had a few days experience, to allow for atmospheric conditions.

Indicated signal strengths are the same. Breakups are more frequent. Ability to hold the weakest channel is worse.

Unfortunately the weakest channel is CBS, which has a fair amount of sports and drama programming HD OTA.

*Edit*: Even though this station is weakest, its signal strength is still 74. The signal quality is below normal, though.


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## boody

With L280 my 942is now acting like a single tuner receiver. It will only let me record one program at a time and I cannot watch another program while one is recording. If I attempt to view a recorded program while recording, there is no sound.

The lack of quality with this software release is truly horrible.


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## Mark Lamutt

I'm honestly sitting here stunned that you all are having so many problems with this software version. Literally...I've seen none of these problems with the exception of the blocking on the right side of the picture.


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## Jerry G

boody said:


> With L280 my 942is now acting like a single tuner receiver. It will only let me record one program at a time and I cannot watch another program while one is recording. If I attempt to view a recorded program while recording, there is no sound.
> 
> The lack of quality with this software release is truly horrible.


I just started a recording manually, ie hit record while viewing the current channel. Then switched to another channel and had no sound via the optical, but did have sound via the analog outputs. Only by numerous swaps could I get sound back for the channel that wasn't being recorded. Dish really screwed up the optical sound output with this software.


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## Jerry G

Mark Lamutt said:


> I'm honestly sitting here stunned that you all are having so many problems with this software version. Literally...I've seen none of these problems with the exception of the blocking on the right side of the picture.


Can I trade and get your 942? Obviously this update is a disaster for many of us. This is just what I hoped to avoid when I dumped my 921 and recently purchased the 942. I now realize what huge and costly mistake I made.

If Dish doesn't rectify this immediately (ie restore the previous software or fix all this within a few days--yea, I know, it's not possible), I give up on Dish and will be very tempted to switch to DirecTV within a week.


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## Jeff McClellan

If you are watching something on Dish in partial zoom, then go to a OTA-HD program that is the normal mode, switch back to the Dish channel and the banner says normal. Even though it is in partial zoom mode. I really hate to sound sour, but I had to take my preamp off, just to get a signal on some stations. Of course I lost others. The guide info is really messed up. I deleted and then added the channels back. No luck. This is the first time I wished they went backwards with an update. The pisser is, they had it so good with the last version. If it ain't broke, don't fix it guys!!!!!!!!


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## Jerry G

There's something I just realized. It appears that many have no problems with the new software. Mark is "stunned" that we're having these problems. The problems we're having are so obvious and easily demonstrated, that I don't think there is a problem with beta testers or Dish programmers not having tried the situations that bring out these problems. I think it's some 942s that just don't work with the new software and these problems can't be detected by the programmers. This means they will be very hard to fix and if they can be fixed, it will take a very long time.

So to rectify this problem, Dish needs to test a bunch of new 942s with this software and make sure the problems don't exist in these tested STBs. Then they should exchange our problematic 942s with ones that can handle the software.

Alternatively, Dish needs to enter our receiver numbers in their system and spool the old software to us until they can work this out. I just can't see living with this 280 garbage software for the next two months.


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## softwiz

Mark Lamutt said:


> I'm honestly sitting here stunned that you all are having so many problems with this software version. Literally...I've seen none of these problems with the exception of the blocking on the right side of the picture.


Mark,

You should seriously try to duplicate some of these problems. I'm quite sure you could.

They are real problems and the majority of us are seeing them and can reproduce them.


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## cmlaron

rockitman said:


> Since I have received the new update, my 942 locks-up and then reboots on it's own whenever I change the aspect ratio while watching a show that has been recorded. Ex. If I want to watch a recorded SD show, and I have the aspect ratio previously set for 1080i and 16x9, I like to watch this without the borders all around my picture. So I change the aspect ratio to 480p and 4x3 #2. When I do this and hit the OK button, it locks up on me and then reboots. Which means if a person is watching something on TV2 in the other room, it disrupts their viewing too. I didn't have this problem before the update.
> 
> Has anyone else had this problem?


I can verify this. I switch aspect ratios between HD and SD material because my monitor has a stretch function (theaterwide mode) that superior to the 942's (and most other set's and set-top boxes'), and if I attempt to do that while recording the box crashes. Very, very annoying. This is new and happening since the new software was spooled.

By the way, long-time lurker who came out of the shadows specifically because of this problem.


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## LtMunst

Mark Lamutt said:


> I'm honestly sitting here stunned that you all are having so many problems with this software version. Literally...I've seen none of these problems with the exception of the blocking on the right side of the picture.


Issues I've seen since 280:

1. Blocking has not improved (actually I think it's worse).
2. Receiver crashed when switching HDTV output resolution.
3. Receiver locked up when tuning to a blacked out sports program (1st time I tuned to one so can't say this is 280 issue)
4. Recording capacity did not refresh when deleting HD recordings. Had to soft reset to fix.

As far as OTA goes, I have not seen any problems with this release. All my channels are coming in the same as before.

Personally, if we could just get the Blocking problem fixed I would be happy. I can work around the other stuff but I expect my picture to be good.


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## MrC

My video is freezing upon playback of some recordings too. This used to happen when quickly jumping through the skip forward/pause/step buttons, and now it seems to happen pretty regularly.

I was trying to watch the beginning of a program that was being recorded. The video playback froze. Then, if I try to watch the show live, it works fine. Starting the recording over freezes playback. Back to live view also freezes that channel. I can switch channels, and live tv is fine. I stopped the recording, but no matter what I tried, video was frozen for that recording, and that recording only.

The software has some pretty serious bugs.


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## SteveinDanville

Mark Lamutt said:


> I'm honestly sitting here stunned that you all are having so many problems with this software version. Literally...I've seen none of these problems with the exception of the blocking on the right side of the picture.


Mark, I've been saying for over a month that L229 had right side picture blocking and break-up issues, which you said was a known issue. I talked to Dish last week and they said that they had not heard of this before. This was theoretically an Advanced Tech rep specializing in the 942, as I would not talk to anybody but one. Now I come back from a short vacation and see the new problem of audio loss OR the audio from one station connected to the video of another station, i.e. watching "60 Minutes" live, a timer fires for "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and all of a sudden I'm listening to Larry David's voice coming out of Mike Wallace. Only going to the PIP Swap back and forth with re-link the audio to the correct video. Switching stations many times gives you no audio at all. Guess what? I just got off the phone with a 942 specialist at Dish that had no idea what I was talking about with this new audio glitch. I'm telling you, this thing worked 1000 times better with the software I had in mid-June when it was installed. Each new software release downgrades the experience exponentially. I'M LOSING FUNCTIONALITY WITH EACH NEW DOWNLOAD!!! DISH, STOP DOWNLOADING YOUR BETA-WARE TO ME; IF YOU DON'T STOP, THIS THING WILL BE A $700 PAPERWEIGHT BEFORE YOU'RE DONE! I'M YELLING BECAUSE I CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS! Between the increasing problems (great, now I have both audio AND video issues) and the blank stare that I get from Dish over the phone, I feel like a fool. I spend over $1300/year on two receivers total, and this is what I get? Dish, stop worrying about letting me look at photos on my friggin' plasma screen and get me some video and audio that I can be proud of showing off.


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## Jerry G

SteveinDanville said:


> Mark, I've been saying for over a month that L229 had right side picture blocking and break-up issues, which you said was a known issue. I talked to Dish last week and they said that they had not heard of this before. This was theoretically an Advanced Tech rep specializing in the 942, as I would not talk to anybody but one. Now I come back from a short vacation and see the new problem of audio loss OR the audio from one station connected to the video of another station, i.e. watching "60 Minutes" live, a timer fires for "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and all of a sudden I'm listening to Larry David's voice coming out of Mike Wallace. Only going to the PIP Swap back and forth with re-link the audio to the correct video. Switching stations many times gives you no audio at all. Guess what? I just got off the phone with a 942 specialist at Dish that had no idea what I was talking about with this new audio glitch. I'm telling you, this thing worked 1000 times better with the software I had in mid-June when it was installed. Each new software release downgrades the experience exponentially. I'M LOSING FUNCTIONALITY WITH EACH NEW DOWNLOAD!!! DISH, STOP DOWNLOADING YOUR BETA-WARE TO ME; IF YOU DON'T STOP, THIS THING WILL BE A $700 PAPERWEIGHT BEFORE YOU'RE DONE! I'M YELLING BECAUSE I CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS! Between the increasing problems (great, now I have both audio AND video issues) and the blank stare that I get from Dish over the phone, I feel like a fool. I spend over $1300/year on two receivers total, and this is what I get? Dish, stop worrying about letting me look at photos on my friggin' plasma screen and get me some video and audio that I can be proud of showing off.


I'm quoting your entire post because it is so very well said and expresses my sentiments exactly! This is just what we went through with the 921 and made me dump it in favor of the 942. That's over a $1000 down the drain with the 921 and I'm beginning to feel I just wasted another $700 with the 942.

Dish needs to stop with the BS. The 942 is supposed to be an HD/SD DVR. I don't need it to display a photo from camera. I need it to function as it's supposed to. With L229, it functioned beautifully except for the Dolby Digital bug with the second tuner. Why couldn't Dish have just fixed that without adding all this other nonsense and creating havoc with the sound? Dish--stop with all the "extras". Dish has proven they can't do it successfully and only ends up destroying what could be a great product. I'm petrified that Dish will absolutely ruin the 942. I actually had the confidence that the 942 could be my primary STB, something I never felt with the 921. And now Dish is rather quickly destroying my confidence in the 942.

Dish needs to rectify this disastrous software very quickly, one way or the other. They need to actually start listening to their users. They need to test their software before releasing it. This is well below amateur hour. This is downright embarrassing. Dish cannot expect us to wait another two months for this disaster to be fixed. I don't care about Dish's glorious plans for the future. It's just not right or fair for Dish to treat their customers this way. It has to stop!


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## rickaren

After I re-scanned my Digital Locals (did not add the new option of analog with L-280) I am not experiencing any issues with audio optical out and playback? Has everyone given that a try, already?


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## zephyr

The audio is out of synch with the video on one station since L280.
Analog audio through TV speakers. HDMI video through DVI adapter.
WWMT 3.1 (broadcast 2) CBS - Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo Battle Creek MI market.
This is the weakest station I receive, but the only CBS outlet.
Problem started with L280.

This problem does not occur with another receiver hooked up through component video and analog sound.


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## rockitman

rockitman said:


> Since I have received the new update, my 942 locks-up and then reboots on it's own whenever I change the aspect ratio while watching a show that has been recorded. Ex. If I want to watch a recorded SD show, and I have the aspect ratio previously set for 1080i and 16x9, I like to watch this without the borders all around my picture. So I change the aspect ratio to 480p and 4x3 #2. When I do this and hit the OK button, it locks up on me and then reboots. Which means if a person is watching something on TV2 in the other room, it disrupts their viewing too. I didn't have this problem before the update.
> 
> Has anyone else had this problem?


Hey everyone,
I had reported on Saturday the above problem. However, yesterday I lost power for about three hours. I decided I would try and see if I was still having problem with changing the aspect ratios on SD and HD programs. Lo and behold, I couldn't get it to act up. Which leads me to this question: Has anyone who is having problems with the latest software upgrade, completely unplugged their 942's and then turned back on? It seemed to fix my problem, maybe it will fix yours too!!!!!


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## normang

Other than the age old problem where TV2 output is mushed in single mode, L280 is working well for me.. 

My only question is how to use the USB features without having to guess?


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## LtMunst

In Dual Mode, TV2 no longer goes into standby, either thru inactivity or with pressing the power button. I do not really care if it goes into standby or not, however, I hope this behavior does not impact the downloading of updates or guide data.


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## Bichon

LtMunst said:


> In Dual Mode, TV2 no longer goes into standby, either thru inactivity or with pressing the power button. I do not really care if it goes into standby or not, however, I hope this behavior does not impact the downloading of updates or guide data.


I've not seen that problem. I haven't tested the inactivity timer, but my TV2 goes into standby after pressing the power button on the TV2 remote.


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## Bichon

normang said:


> Other than the age old problem where TV2 output is mushed in single mode, L280 is working well for me..
> 
> My only question is how to use the USB features without having to guess?


Pressing the format "*" button unmushes the picture on TV2. Unfortunately, it also crops off the sides of a widescreen image.


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## LtMunst

Bichon said:


> Pressing the format "*" button unmushes the picture on TV2. Unfortunately, it also crops off the sides of a widescreen image.


It seems the RF ouput to TV2 is not converted to Letterbox for widescreen content as it is in Dual Mode. The 942 may not be capable of formatting a program 2 different ways at the same time off of 1 tuner.


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## Jeff McClellan

Mark, as I said earlier, there are some positives to this upgrade. Do they have the ability to go back now and single out one or two things to fix quickly, or do we have to wait for a complete upgrade that has the fixes and new things. Whenever a software vendor installs, upgrades or make changes on their software and the city's servers, they have to have a backout plan. Meaning they can isolate certain changes and back them out without having to completely revert back to the original version.


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## Tom-Tx

As for my experience, the software version just before L229 was the best! We need to start a petition to have Dish roll back the software!


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## Moridin

Tom-Tx said:


> As for my experience, the software version just before L229 was the best! We need to start a petition to have Dish roll back the software!


As I see it, the problem is that Dish never has a release devoted _solely_ to bug fixes. That is the only way stability will ever be reached.


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## alexbgr

I've had two new gremlins creep in along with the 280 upgrade. When the receiver loses signal (like from a thunderstorm) each time it comes back, it starts a new recording. The one hour SD show I recorded was split into 6 parts some less than a minute long. Another HDNET show indicated that there were errors in the recording and it could not be read. This is the first time I've had any problems with recordings. On the positive side, the guide data has returned to all my local HD main channels. One step forward.....


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## Jerry G

Moridin said:


> As I see it, the problem is that Dish never has a release devoted _solely_ to bug fixes. That is the only way stability will ever be reached.


Absolutely true. I just pointed that out in an email to Dish. I also demanded they send L229 to us until they work out the mess they made of L280.


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## Jeff McClellan

I just want it fixed.


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## Rob Glasser

Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents into the thread. I was out of town this weekend so didn't get to start using the new software until last night, but so far I am counting myself lucky. The only 2 issues I've expierenced to date, though I'm sure others will show up over time are:

1. When you switch between SD/HD channels the banner displays the mode of the previous type, not the one you just moved to. i.e. you in zoom on a SD and you switch to an HD channel it will say zoom even though it's really normal. If wait for the banner to go away and then bring up again it will give the correct info. Minor annoyance.

2. I was watching a recorded OTA-HD show last night when my recording for another OTA-HD channel kicked in, at that moment the Audio for that new show took over and I was watching the video of a recorded event and the audio of a live event. I switched to that new recording that had started and then went back to the old event and that fixed the probelm.

3. Pixelization/Picture Break-Up on recordings is actually worse. Like others I am now seeing it across the whole screen on occasion instead of just on the right side.

Thanks


----------



## Jerry G

JEFF M said:


> I just want it fixed.


I do too. But I can't help but believe a fix is many months away. Mark doesn't have these bugs. These obvious and easily reproducible bugs weren't seen by the programmers who I assume did at least a minimal amount of testing. I am not at all optimistic that these bugs can even be fixed without Dish starting from a fresh L229. Ergo, Dish needs to send us L229 and start from fresh from there.


----------



## Paradox-sj

All I can say is WOW did they mess up a good thing!


1. The sound just stops for no reason. Swaping may or may not fix this ultimately I have to reboot to get the sound back. This has only happend on SAT channels.

2. Using trick play the video frezes up completely but the sound stays. Pressing fast forward work to see what you were watching again but press play and video freeze again. A reboot is needed to fix this.

3. The pixelation is BEYOND bareable now


----------



## M492A

Moridin said:


> As I see it, the problem is that Dish never has a release devoted _solely_ to bug fixes. That is the only way stability will ever be reached.


I agree, and think all their next release should include is fixes to these issues. At this point, I really couldn't care less whether I can connect something to the USB port or see pictures from my digital camera on it.


----------



## LtMunst

I know of at least 1 potential customer lost due to this Video blocking problem. I had a friend over last night who is moving to my neighborhood. He was considering going to Dish instead of Comcast. Of course I wanted to show him the awesome capabilties of my 942. Wouldn't you know that is when the right side/whole screen blocking got extra bad. For some reason I tried to defend Dish by explaining it as a temporary software glitch. No dice. My friend is going to stick with Comcast in his new house. Had the receiver simply done its primary job of displaying a picture correctly, Dish would have had a new customer.

E*, this is costing you $$$$'s. Fix the picture!!!!


----------



## scottchez

Mine was working perfectly, since the upgrade it crashes about Twice a day and reboots.

For me it seems to be weak OTA signals causing it.

It also happened once while checking the signal strenght for the 129 sat had going to a channel that is on the 129 sat and then going to install and signal strenght so I could see the meter.

Even lost it during an NFL game (got some un happy poeple in the house now).


----------



## SteveinDanville

scottchez said:


> For me it seems to be weak OTA signals causing it.


I am not using OTA signals, only SAT signals, on a single user basis, so my audio and macroblocking/pixelezation issues are not related. I'm not getting anywhere with Customer Service. Phoned Executive Offices and after pleading my case, I was to be transferred to Advanced Tech, and promptly got disconnected. Return phone calls to my new Exec. contact go un-returned.......


----------



## Jeff McClellan

The 942 is a good unit. It has features we all have wanted. We all also have an investment in it. So saying we are dumping or whatever is not going to get it fixed. Dish has really only had a few days if not day, to hear what we are saying. I personally know they do care, from the top down. I think we all need to chill and give them a LITTLE time to swallow and digest this. I feel confident that it wont take long for some fixes to come through. You wouldn't stay in business long if that were the case.


----------



## Jeff McClellan

Sorry, just wanted my 100th post. Sad it had to be in this thread.....


----------



## LtMunst

JEFF M said:


> The 942 is a good unit. It has features we all have wanted. We all also have an investment in it. So saying we are dumping or whatever is not going to get it fixed. Dish has really only had a few days if not day, to hear what we are saying. I personally know they do care, from the top down. I think we all need to chill and give them a LITTLE time to swallow and digest this. I feel confident that it wont take long for some fixes to come through. You wouldn't stay in business long if that were the case.


The right side blocking has been around since at least 229. A basic picture issue like this should have been priority #1. They obviously did something with the video drivers since now it is definately worse. Dish should not have to wait for our feedback to tell them they just made the picture worse. Any reasonable testing prior to release would have raised that red flag.

Maybe Dish should consider outsourcing software engineering to Calcutta like they did with Customer Service. They may not have the best English, but I know they can write some good code over there. :grin:


----------



## SteveinDanville

LtMunst said:


> The right side blocking has been around since at least 229. A basic picture issue like this should have been priority #1.


Hallelujah! 229 is when my right side picture issue started, and that's been two months of me complaining to Dish about the picture, to absolutely no avail. I do not want to leave Dish (been with them since '97), but come on already, at some point isn't it about service? It's most disturbing to think that they're spending time and energy getting the USB port hot to accept the PocketDish, instead of getting us satisfactory video and audio. I wonder how people will like plugging in their new high dollar toy to get all video and no audio, or even better, the wrong audio streaming over the video? Nice product roll-out....


----------



## Jerry G

JEFF M said:


> The 942 is a good unit. It has features we all have wanted. We all also have an investment in it. So saying we are dumping or whatever is not going to get it fixed. Dish has really only had a few days if not day, to hear what we are saying. I personally know they do care, from the top down. I think we all need to chill and give them a LITTLE time to swallow and digest this. I feel confident that it wont take long for some fixes to come through.


With all due respect, I don't know how you can think these fixes will occur quickly. Dish has been working on this software for a long time. Yet very obvious and bad bugs were found by many of us very quickly. I think it's fantasy to think they will be quickly fixed. L280 needs a major rework. L229 must be sent back to us now!


----------



## SteveinDanville

Jerry G, are you the guy with the Fujitsu plasma?


----------



## Jerry G

SteveinDanville said:


> Jerry G, are you the guy with the Fujitsu plasma?


Yes. The 50" ....40 model.


----------



## LtMunst

I have a 50" Panny so it's not just a Fujitsu issue.


----------



## Jeff McClellan

I know Jerry, I am just trying to be nice. After getting home today and looking at the guide for my local FOX channel for this weekend to see what games are on, I see: Digital Service. This is for my main Fox, not a . something channel. Yeah, its the Panthers channel but the hell with them. This is very aggravating. This guide info for this channel worked fine before this upgrade.


----------



## SteveinDanville

Jerry G said:


> Yes. The 50" ....40 model.


Off topic, but I bought the 55" 40 series based on your review, plus the rebate. I would be much happier if I had more HD content from Dish, and if the sound actually matched the video (or was there at all!!!). Otherwise, the picture is pretty darn great...I LOVE the 8 video presets!


----------



## Jerry G

JEFF M said:


> I know Jerry, I am just trying to be nice. After getting home today and looking at the guide for my local FOX channel for this weekend to see what games are on, I see: Digital Service. This is for my main Fox, not a . something channel. Yeah, its the Panthers channel but the hell with them. This is very aggravating. This guide info for this channel worked fine before this upgrade. Mark, sorry, but after a few beers I have had it to. This is getting old. It reminds me of the old days with Dan Collins and the original Dishplayer. Has nothing changed. It was said then and I will say it now, 3 beta-testers just doesn't get it.


I understand. I tried to be nice for a long time with the 921. After 1 1/2 years I gave up and got the 942. Now it's happening all over again with the 942. I no longer have the capacity to be nice, tolerant, or patient when it comes to the way Dish is treating it's high end customers. It's simply inexcusable and grossly incompetent. Dish, Charlie, and the engineers deserve to be blasted and should be thoroughly embarrassed by the L280 fiasco.


----------



## Jerry G

SteveinDanville said:


> Off topic, but I bought the 55" 40 series based on your review, plus the rebate. I would be much happier if I had more HD content from Dish, and if the sound actually matched the video (or was there at all!!!). Otherwise, the picture is pretty darn great...I LOVE the 8 video presets!


I'm glad to hear your enjoying your Fujitsu. I continue to be amazed at it's picture quality and especially the black levels.

I too would love to have the sound from the 942 (when there is sound) match the actor's lips. Fortunately, it's not the fault of the Fujitsu, but from our one and only Charlie. The Fujitsu has such wonderful video processing that a well engineered DVD looks very good on it. With the way Dish is destroying the 942, a DVD may soon be the only way to watch a movie.


----------



## SteveinDanville

Jerry G said:


> I'm glad to hear your enjoying your Fujitsu. I continue to be amazed at it's picture quality and especially the black levels.
> 
> I too would love to have the sound from the 942 (when there is sound) match the actor's lips. Fortunately, it's not the fault of the Fujitsu, but from our one and only Charlie. The Fujitsu has such wonderful video processing that a well engineered DVD looks very good on it. With the way Dish is destroying the 942, a DVD may soon be the only way to watch a movie.


Amen, brother. I hear you. Netflix looks like it's going to be very busy with me over the next 3 months while the propellor-heads figure out what they screwed up in L280.


----------



## srrobinson2

Scenario: 5:30PM CST: While using TV2 remote, I tried to select the College Football game on ESPN2 at 6:30PM CST in order to setup a timer event. I could read the info about the game, but I could not select it to record. I had to create a manual timer for it.


----------



## Jeff McClellan

Guess ranting does have its gains. I can say that Echostar is aware and currently working hard to fix this SOON. What will help is to post your specific locations and channels that are missing guide info, along with what OTA channels that are pixing. Be specific to your location and all information. I agree, give them a chance.


----------



## LtMunst

JEFF M said:


> Guess ranting does have its gains. I can say that Echostar is aware and currently working hard to fix this SOON. What will help is to post your specific locations and channels that are missing guide info, along with what OTA channels that are pixing. Be specific to your location and all information. I agree, give them a chance.


Don't forget the right side blocking. This is NOT an OTA issue but a problem with SAT recordings.


----------



## Jeff McClellan

Geez, Rome wasn't built in a day. Fix the most current, then go back to start.


----------



## LtMunst

JEFF M said:


> Geez, Rome wasn't built in a day. Fix the most current, then go back to start.


Rome on HBO HD is why I want this fix.  Anyway, it got worse with this release so it is partially a 280 issue.


----------



## Jerry G

JEFF M said:


> I can say that Echostar is aware and currently working hard to fix this SOON.


In all seriousness, I must ask how will Dish know that they have fixed the sound bugs? The formal beta testers didn't find them. The engineers didn't find them. The customers found them. I can only believe that Dish will take a guess at some of the fixes and send the software to us to determine if anything was actually fixed.

I know I'm *****ing a lot, but please give me some latitude given that I went through the very same crap with the 921 and I had hoped Dish's method of botching software was behind me with the 942. Sadly, I was wrong.


----------



## bthom73

This video locking is driving me crazy :grrr: I try to remind myself not to touch the skip-forward, skip-back, and pause buttons but sometimes I forget and then...

More info - it happens independently on each tuner. If I lock up tuner #1, I can still use tuner #2 until I accidentally play with the remote and lock that one up too. A power cycle restores both tuners.

While a tuner is locked up, the skip-forward, skip-back, and pause buttons still work, sort of. It's more like a slide show though. Motion video/audio turns into a silent frozen image after no more than a few seconds of motion.


----------



## softwiz

Wow, I just went in to stop an OTA recording of Las Vegas so I can watch the game in HD. I went into My Recordings and pressed OK on Las Vegas and pressed Stop Rec and the dang thing just turned off. Yep turned off!

When I turned it back on, the PIP window was at the top left with a red border for about 2 seconds and then the main picture came back.

I lost sound so many times I can't even count. I have to press PIP swap to get the sound back. This seems to occur when you are switching between OTA and Dish channels...


----------



## Mark Lamutt

I have just finished sending out private messages to many of you who have posted in this thread. Please reply back via email to them. Jerry G - I emailed you directly, as you have PM turned off on your account.


----------



## Jerry G

Mark Lamutt said:


> I have just finished sending out private messages to many of you who have posted in this thread. Please reply back via email to them. Jerry G - I emailed you directly, as you have PM turned off on your account.


I just emailed you my contact numbers. Thanks.


----------



## rjenkins

Since L280, I've also experienced a LOT more pixelation/image breakups on OTA HD/HD Recordings.

Also, today when watching my recording of Two and a Half Men (off 002-01, SLC CBS), at a certain point in the recording, the 942 would crash and reboot. No error message, just a hard crash and the machine would reboot. This happened every single time I reached that point in the recording. After a couple of crashes/reboots, I was able to time a 30-second skip to go past the problem area and I was able to finish watching the show. I've never had a problem similar to this before.


----------



## bthom73

bthom73 said:


> This video locking is driving me crazy :grrr: I try to remind myself not to touch the skip-forward, skip-back, and pause buttons but sometimes I forget and then...
> 
> More info - it happens independently on each tuner. If I lock up tuner #1, I can still use tuner #2 until I accidentally play with the remote and lock that one up too. A power cycle restores both tuners.
> 
> While a tuner is locked up, the skip-forward, skip-back, and pause buttons still work, sort of. It's more like a slide show though. Motion video/audio turns into a silent frozen image after no more than a few seconds of motion.


Yet more info - The locking also occurs when watching recorded events. When a recorded event locks up, the locking also applies to the tuner that was being watched before the recorded event started, leaving only one tuner still usable.

Pressing the view tv button to go back to the watching the now locked tuner, then pressing the swap button to switch to remaining good tuner, and then pressing the DVR button to go back to watching the recorded event does restore motion video to the recorded event. That is until I accidentally play with the skip-forward, skip-back, or pause buttons. When it happens a second time, there's no good tuners left to use and the only choice is to power cycle the receiver.


----------



## zephyr

zephyr said:


> The audio is out of synch with the video on one station since L280.
> Analog audio through TV speakers. HDMI video through DVI adapter.
> WWMT 3.1 (broadcast 2) CBS - Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo Battle Creek MI market.
> This is the weakest station I receive, but the only CBS outlet.
> Problem started with L280.
> 
> This problem does not occur with another receiver hooked up through component video and analog sound.


Spent a bunch of time doing A/B comparisons last night. This reported "bug" appears to be the stations's fault. The sound was slightly more out of synch on the 942 than on another receiver, but both were out. Grrrr..... 

That is one of the issues with OTA: some stations are not fully supporting digital/HD.


----------



## jal

With L280, I'm still getting reboots. As I posted in another thread, it seems the reboots occur almost always when there is interaction with the box, such as changing channels, or a caller id pop up. Sure, this is annoying and should be fixed, but this box is still much better than the 921. 

In any event, can someone explain what the error counters mean in diagnostics, such as watchdogs and mini watchdogs. It might help us self diagnose our problems. Thanks.


----------



## scottchez

Before 280 I picked up a CBS station in an other market about 45 Miles away, every day for the last 4 months with no problems.

Now the station comes and goes with the meter going to Zero and then back to 59. Sometimes it still works fine, but about every so often it is lost.

I know the station is far away, any many probably do not get it from where I live, but it sure is strange that the day I got 280, I started having this problem.


----------



## bthom73

bthom73 said:


> Yet more info - The locking also occurs when watching recorded events. When a recorded event locks up, the locking also applies to the tuner that was being watched before the recorded event started, leaving only one tuner still usable.
> 
> Pressing the view tv button to go back to the watching the now locked tuner, then pressing the swap button to switch to remaining good tuner, and then pressing the DVR button to go back to watching the recorded event does restore motion video to the recorded event. That is until I accidentally play with the skip-forward, skip-back, or pause buttons. When it happens a second time, there's no good tuners left to use and the only choice is to power cycle the receiver.


Even more info - the locked tuner is still usable for recording. The initial state was that tuner #2 was locked up/frozen but tuner #1 was still usable. I then recorded an event on tuner #2 while watching a live event on tuner #1. Note, I didn't first power cycle the receiver to restore tuner #2. After both events were over I checked to see if the recorded event was watchable. The answer depended on what tuner was used to watch the event. I know that sounds odd but what I mean is which tuner was showing on the screen when the DVR button was pressed. If I switched to tuner #1 and then pressed the DVR button to watch the recorded event, the recording was fine. If I switched to tuner #2 (which was still frozen) using the swap button, then pressed the DVR button to watch the recorded event, the recording was frozen. It's interesting to see that watching a recorded event still appears to be related to the two tuners even though it doesn't require receiving an external signal.


----------



## vahighland

Mark Lamutt said:


> I have just finished sending out private messages to many of you who have posted in this thread. Please reply back via email to them. Jerry G - I emailed you directly, as you have PM turned off on your account.


Mark, I'm running into many of the problems described in this thread. Do you and Dish have enough information to track down these problems or do you need more? If not, feel free to contact me. I'm concerned because from your earlier post, it sounds like you aren't running into many of these problems. I want to make sure that you knew, and Dish knows, that these problems are real.


----------



## jetskier

Paradox-sj said:


> All I can say is WOW did they mess up a good thing!
> 
> 1. The sound just stops for no reason. Swaping may or may not fix this ultimately I have to reboot to get the sound back. This has only happened on SAT channels.
> 
> 2. Using trick play the video frezes up completely but the sound stays. Pressing fast forward work to see what you were watching again but press play and video freeze again. A reboot is needed to fix this.
> 
> 3. The pixelation is BEYOND bareable now


I have experienced both number 1 and 2 above.

The sound swapping required only a discrete off and back on with the remote. No reboot with the power key. It happened when I switched from a Sat local to a digital local. I had video, but the sound was off. I use the digital out feed to my receiver for what it's worth.

I had the video freak out on Friday night where it would play the audio, but the video would be in still frame. The box worked with menus, ff, rew, stop, but no streaming video in either case, just still frames. A reboot was required with the power key to get it back to "normal".

I didn't see IR on TV2 either....  Maybe in the next update.


----------



## Mark Lamutt

I received an update from one of the engineering VP types this morning...someone that you'd recognize if I told you who it was...and you all very definitely have his attention. Hence why I asked for contact info for so many of you. I'd like to thank all of you that have responded as quickly as you have.


----------



## MrC

Mark - thanks! You are a most outstanding ombudsman.


----------



## sixbears

My problem is.....

All of my digital OTA stations that I can receive are outside of my DMA. I cannot receive any OTA digital stations in my DMA due to hills between myself and the transmitters. I am located right on the DMA boundry lines however my zip code puts me in the DMA that I cannot recieve any OTA digital stations. Worse yet, I goto work in the non-DMA city. So when Dish offers me LiL's for my DMA, I ask them why would I want to know traffic reports and local news for a city I don't work in? 

Even if I was to subscribe to LiL's would I get any guide information for the OTA digital stations I receive outside of my DMA? 

I however receive OTA digital program listings for these stations out of my DMA on my 811.

TALK ABOUT A BIG STEP BACKWARDS.


----------



## Mark Lamutt

sixbears said:


> Even if I was to subscribe to LiL's would I get any guide information for the OTA digital stations I receive outside of my DMA?
> 
> I however receive OTA digital program listings for these stations out of my DMA on my 811.
> 
> TALK ABOUT A BIG STEP BACKWARDS.


Yes you would get at least some of your out-of-DMA guide data if you subbed to your DMA local package. It's a business decision that we all have to live with.


----------



## stuart628

We don't have to live with it. We can make a lot of noise. 

Tell Dan I said hi.


----------



## Jerry G

Mark Lamutt said:


> I received an update from one of the engineering VP types this morning...someone that you'd recognize if I told you who it was...and you all very definitely have his attention. Hence why I asked for contact info for so many of you. I'd like to thank all of you that have responded as quickly as you have.


Thanks for your involvement in this. I have received the call and described the various issues I've experienced.


----------



## Jeff McClellan

Mark Lamutt said:


> Yes you would get at least some of your out-of-DMA guide data if you subbed to your DMA local package. It's a business decision that we all have to live with.


Sorry Mark, you wont get any guide info for locals over the air outside your market. At least I don't from Greensboro NC and Spartenburg SC. But then again, I am not even getting all of Charlotte either, so you could be right.


----------



## Bichon

I have a DVR timer set to record all New episodes of "The King of Queens". I came home last night to find that it hadn't recorded.

In drilling down on the timer, I can see that it is messed up for next week too. Look at the graphic: it thinks the show is two minutes long?

EDIT: Nevermind, timer for next week looks fine.


----------



## larryw33

I am curious to hear from others out there that are STILL not recieving ANY ota epg like me on their 942. I have been subd to the locals for about two years now and my 942 still has no ota epg! L281 hasn't brought any changes on this issue for me. 

My DMA is Shreveport, LA. Please get this going in my area Dish! They did finally get it going for my 921 right before I unsubscribed it in place of the 942. 

A new digital channel went up in this area - UPN KPXJ 21 (Rf 21). The first channel 021-01- HD has no audio or video but great signal strength. The second channel 021-02-DT works fine. What's interesting is my unsubd 921 gets both of these fine and my Motorola tuner does too along with a full 9hr epg so this makes me wonder about the 942 incorrectly interpreting psip for this channel.

Also noticed the caller ID function is a lot slower than before.


----------



## LtMunst

larryw33 said:


> I am curious to hear from others out there that are STILL not recieving ANY ota epg like me on their 942. I have been subd to the locals for about two years now and my 942 still has no ota epg! L281 hasn't brought any changes on this issue for me.
> 
> My DMA is Shreveport, LA. Please get this going in my area Dish! They did finally get it going for my 921 right before I unsubscribed it in place of the 942.
> 
> A new digital channel went up in this area - UPN KPXJ 21 (Rf 21). The first channel 021-01- HD has no audio or video but great signal strength. The second channel 021-02-DT works fine. What's interesting is my unsubd 921 gets both of these fine and my Motorola tuner does too along with a full 9hr epg so this makes me wonder about the 942 incorrectly interpreting psip for this channel.
> 
> Also noticed the caller ID function is a lot slower than before.


I have noticed the caller ID delay also. It seems to take about 3 rings on average now.


----------



## MichaelGS

I spoke with E* support about my problems with the 942. I described the following.....

1) audio stutter or complete loss of DD5.1 signal during recording playback.

2) unexpected audio swap while watching recorded material. Audio would swap from recorded signal to currently tuned input signal.

3) Increase of visual artifacts and video jitter.

4) picture freeze when watching recorded material and stepping forward with right arrow button.

They didn't seem to be concerned and I was told that they had "only one or two calls" about this.

Give me back L229!


----------



## jbach

Wow. I've been out this week, and assuming I'd come back to several recordings. But they were on local HD. I am on the fringe and was quite happy with the 942 OTA HD> I'm not going to be a happy camper if OTA reception is degraded and I didn't get those shows. Maybe DISH will fix it before I get back. Right.


----------



## Tom-Tx

Bichon said:


> I have a DVR timer set to record all New episodes of "The King of Queens". I came home last night to find that it hadn't recorded.
> 
> In drilling down on the timer, I can see that it is messed up for next week too. Look at the graphic: it thinks the show is two minutes long?


It looks like 32 minutes to me. 08:00 to 08:32. Of course I'm not wearing my reading glasses and my eyeballs need calibration.....


----------



## SteveinDanville

Tom-Tx said:


> It looks like 32 minutes to me. 08:00 to 08:32. Of course I'm not wearing my reading glasses and my eyeballs need calibration.....


Yep, that's 32 minutes alright...


----------



## Bichon

Tom-Tx said:


> It looks like 32 minutes to me. 08:00 to 08:32. Of course I'm not wearing my reading glasses and my eyeballs need calibration.....


I don't just have egg on my face, I have a whole omelet. 

Still don't know why it didn't record this week, but I guess it looks okay for next week.


----------



## Rob Glasser

larryw33 said:


> Also noticed the caller ID function is a lot slower than before.


I have noticed the same. Before it would pop up after maybe 2 rings, now it's more like 4 or 5. Very annoying. I don't get it but I swear on every Receiver I've owned with CallerID functionality, going back to the 5000 back in 98, every friggin time there is a software upgrade it changes how CallerID works. One update it's great, the next it's broken, then it's fixed, then it's slow. I don't get it. I wish they'd quit messing with it and work on real problems. I've noticed this with my 5000, my 501, my 721, my 921 and now my 942. 921 was the worse, it rarely worked if ever.


----------



## johnstred

I got my 942 back in May and have shrugged off most of the bug complains in this forum as I have been very lucky not to experience any. Well, the kharma has caught up with me. With L280/1, I now experience many of the symptoms that I am reading about here, including the freeze during forward skip and most recently a 07 error that doesn't allow me to watch a recorded program at all. If I try, it freezes the entire unit and needs a soft reboot. I lost three programs already due to this. Any thoughts?


----------



## gilber

Although the problems I'm experiencing have been reported already in this thread, I just wanted to add my voice so it's clear that these are not isolated incidents, but apparently signals of real problems introduced in this release. My 942 is on the L281 release, but I'm still experiencing some of these today:

- Crash and reboot when changing the aspect ratio while recording. Interesting, I started to experience this last night, when I think I was on L281, didn't experience for the few days since I got L280.
- Unit freezes up sometimes when using pause or the quick replay functions. A hard reset solves this, but it's not convenient. Again, noticed it with L281.
- Been noticing more macroblocking in satellite signals than usual... don't have any hard evidence that this is a receiver problem, but it curiously started around the time L280 came down, and since some of you have complained about this it makes me suspicious.

Hope they get these fixed as soon as possible. I was so happy they had finally solved my issues with the guide for OTA stations, just in time for the new TV season.

G.


----------



## Rob Glasser

johnstred said:


> I got my 942 back in May and have shrugged off most of the bug complains in this forum as I have been very lucky not to experience any. Well, the kharma has caught up with me. With L280/1, I now experience many of the symptoms that I am reading about here, including the freeze during forward skip and most recently a 07 error that doesn't allow me to watch a recorded program at all. If I try, it freezes the entire unit and needs a soft reboot. I lost three programs already due to this. Any thoughts?


Do a front panel reboot of your 942, hopefully that will clear up your 07 error recordings so they are watchable again. If that doesn't work try a power cord reboot. So far I've always been able to restore my error 07 or error 03 recordings.


----------



## Paradox-sj

I did a switch check and you know what...it couldnt EVER complete the sat 1-5 check....I waited 3 hours and it never went through....


I had to reboot.

This is sad!


----------



## MrC

Have any of you noticed since the L280 release that you can no longer single step forward of backward with any accuracy? It used to be that you can reverse directions and within a couple of clicks, get to any frame. Now, it appears that no matter what I try, after changing directions with single step, I cannot get to a desired frame. For example, no matter how many frames backwards I go, as soon as I single step forward, it jumps to some point well past where I want to get. 

This has essentially killed the utilitiy of frame forward/reverse.


----------



## Jerry G

Paradox-sj said:


> I did a switch check and you know what...it couldnt EVER complete the sat 1-5 check....I waited 3 hours and it never went through....
> 
> I had to reboot.
> 
> This is sad!


Same thing happened to me. It kept on going back between 3 and 4 (of 5). Had to do a soft reboot.


----------



## lakebum431

This has been partially discussed earlier in the thread, but not in any detail. When trying to skip forward through commercials, if I hit the skip forward button several times very fast it will stop skipping and just continue to skip to the same spot. This does not occur every time, but it is often enough to be a pain in the butt. I never had this happen prior to the new update.


----------



## Avillant

lakebum431 said:


> This has been partially discussed earlier in the thread, but not in any detail. When trying to skip forward through commercials, if I hit the skip forward button several times very fast it will stop skipping and just continue to skip to the same spot. This does not occur every time, but it is often enough to be a pain in the butt. I never had this happen prior to the new update.


I have a similar problem. When skipping forward several times through a commercial, I sometimes jump right to the end of program screen with more time showing. Fortunately, if I press the back skip button it returns me back to the last screen I had selected. This problem seems to be associated with the program, because if it fails, it will continue to fail on the same program, but some programs work okay. Same problem on both of my 942s.

Tony


----------



## sixbears

JEFF M said:


> Sorry Mark, you wont get any guide info for locals over the air outside your market. At least I don't from Greensboro NC and Spartenburg SC. But then again, I am not even getting all of Charlotte either, so you could be right.


Ok the installer was out today to check over my installation of the 942. Since I have a superdish and a 61.5 dish for VOOM he decided I needed a DPP44 switch and installed one. Also I ordered my locals and lo-and-behold my OTA digital channels (outside my DMA)now have program guide information. And it is the correct guide information for the channels (I check to see what the guide displayed when the local news is broadcast.

I would hate to get LiL's just to have the ability to display OTA guide info but at least in my case the LiL's are all different channels than my OTA stations. I cannot receive any of my DMA locals OTA due to terrian problems.


----------



## SteveinDanville

A Dish engineer just emailed me asking specific questions about my audio and video issues. I sent off as much info as I could think of, with my fingers crossed.


----------



## The_Wizard

Well geez, I just recieved by 942. Is it possible to install and activate it without downloading L280 or L281?


----------



## Gutter

L280 or L281 did not solve the problem that came with L229 of LOCAL OTA digitals deleting the local satellite channels. If I delete the scanned in channels... the satellite locals come back. If I rescan them in they will dissappear and have no access. DISH called me and confirmed that they were aware of the problem. Seems weird. Has anybody else noticed this?


----------



## zephyr

Gutter said:


> L280 or L281 did not solve the problem that came with L229 of LOCAL OTA digitals deleting the local satellite channels. If I delete the scanned in channels... the satellite locals come back. If I rescan them in they will dissappear and have no access. DISH called me and confirmed that they were aware of the problem. Seems weird. Has anybody else noticed this?


I have not had this problem. I do have the Sat Locals set on 'disable' because now with analog enabled there would be the problem of multiple channels trying to use the same channel number (ie the sat local shows channel 3 at the same time the analog tuner gets channel 3). I do not know how the receiver would resolve that conflict.

Prior to 280, there was not a problem on my receiver with mapping sat locals next to digital OTA locals (ie sat 3 next to OTA 3.1). I just turned sat locals off then because the picture was so poor.


----------



## Elderberry

zephyr said:


> I have not had this problem. I do have the Sat Locals set on 'disable' because now with analog enabled there would be the problem of multiple channels trying to use the same channel number (ie the sat local shows channel 3 at the same time the analog tuner gets channel 3). I do not know how the receiver would resolve that conflict.


My receiver resolves the conflict by not showing the analog channels.

Mike


----------



## Jerry G

The_Wizard said:


> Well geez, I just recieved by 942. Is it possible to install and activate it without downloading L280 or L281?


No. The 942 will automatically download the latest software. Unfortunately, there is no option to ask permission for a download as there is with the 811. I wish there was that option. I'd have never taken 280 or 281 if the option existed.


----------



## gregleg

DRJDAN said:


> I sometimes loose sound. Seems to be when I switch form live tv to a recorded program. Have to turn off and back on from the remote and the sound is back.


I can add to this (maybe  ). Here's what I experienced tonight (with 281):

1. My 942 was turned on, tuned into Comedy Central (South Park). Timers running at the time were Good Eats from Food TV, and Invasion from my HD ABC OTA.

2. I went to the Events listing, and restarted Invasion. No sound from my audio receiver. Switched to the live South Park -- sound from my receiver.

3. Resumed Invasion playback. Turned up volume on my TV, and lo and behold, there IS sound. So, the problem was on the optical going to my audio receiver.

4. Went into System Setup / Dolby Digital, and switched the External Decoder from "Dolby Digital/PCM" to "PCM only", and lo, sound doth come from my audio rig. So the problem was specifically the DD from the OTA Invasion.

5. Switched to watching Invasion "live", and DD worked just fine, but if I tried backing up, I lost it. So, the problem is lack of sound in the "recorded" event (I actually saw the same behavior this weekend watching the Steelers game OTA HD, but didn't take the time to note the exact conditions, just that I had no audio on the recorded section, but it was fine "live".)

6. Watched Invasion in PCM, deleted it. By this point, The Daily Show on Comedy Central has started. Selected that recording, restarted it, and put the External Decoder back to "Dolby Digital/PCM". Sure enough, I have sound, because Comedy Central isn't DD...

7. Switched to HBOHD live (Rome is playing). DD to my audio rig is working just fine, both live and if I back it up. Load up another prerecorded event with DD (Bubba Ho-Tep from Monsters HD), and DD is fine there too.

So now the 942 IS working, without any kind of power cycle, but I definitely did NOT have DD trying to watch Invasion.

This is a pretty serious bug IMHO. It CAN be worked around (as demonstrated above), but definitely hurts the 942.

I've also noticed the same slow/nonexistant CallerID issue some people have noticed. And I agree with the other posters who comment that the digital camera functionality is useless. Let us hook up external hard drives to free up space, sure, but I don't give a crap about hooking up my camera -- I have a good HTPC for that already


----------



## Jerry G

gregleg said:


> 3. Resumed Invasion playback. Turned up volume on my TV, and lo and behold, there IS sound. So, the problem was on the optical going to my audio receiver.


My tests agree with your findings. When I haven't had sound via optical, I have had sound from the analog outputs. I've only done tests with HD channels, so the sound via optical has always been DD. I'll have to do some playing around with SD PCM channels to see if the problem is all optical sound or only optical DD sound, which is the situation you seem to have identified.


----------



## srrobinson2

I had a timer setup to record all new episodes of LOST on 009-01 (WTVC-HD). This timer has worked for the past two weeks, but it failed to fire last night  .

Everything was working fine with my timers under L229. With L281, I don't know if I can trust the timers, and I am still seeing "Digital Service" on some of my OTA channels (although 009-01 did have channel information indicating LOST came on at 8PM CST).


----------



## JR_Baas

Jerry G said:


> My tests agree with your findings. When I haven't had sound via optical, I have had sound from the analog outputs. I've only done tests with HD channels, so the sound via optical has always been DD. I'll have to do some playing around with SD PCM channels to see if the problem is all optical sound or only optical DD sound, which is the situation you seem to have identified.


I too can confirm this. I was watching a DD channel, then switched to a non DD channel. I did not have sound, and my receiver was indicating that it was receiving DD. All I had to do is turn off my receiver, then back on, and I had sound. It looks like the receiver was confused about the DD signal coming from the 942.


----------



## johnstred

More and more issues with 281.... many of you talk about sound problems, I had no video! Sound was fine, but just a black picture on live TV and on the few recordings that I could access (hard re-boot solved this issue). The bulk of my recordings now have the 07 error that doesn't go away even with re-boots, and OTA HD is now practically unwatchable - continuous lost signal and low levels (in the 90s prior to upgrade, now lucky if in the 70s). "Lost" last night was broken up into 12 three to five minute recorded segments, all pixelated to the level of "forget it". All I can say... wow - never had a single problem until 280.... and all this during premiere weeks on the networks!!!! Sorry, I know I am venting.....


----------



## Scott C. Edwards

Software version L281 MAED-N
Bootstrap 1110 MAED

For the past 36 hrs. my 942 has been constantly rebooting. It kept trying to download the program guide. Reading the L280 bug thread, I saw that a lot of people were having problems with the analog stations. It occurred to me that I had scanned in local analog stations just before the rebooting began to occur. I went back in and deleted all of the analog stations and viola! I have my box back.


----------



## Rob Glasser

I had the same problem last night. I was watching one show, it ended, and went and tried to start another one over that was still recording. No sound. Went to another analog/PCM channel, sound was fine. Went to another HD-OTA recording, had sound. Back to the recording show, still no sound. Went to live mode of this current recording. Had sound again, back up a few second, no sound. Put receiver into standby and back on, still no sound. 

Finally, after the recording finished I was able to get sound back by starting the recording over, then putting the receiver into standby, then resuming the recording. Really Really annoying. 

The audio issues in this release are unbearable.


----------



## Tom-Tx

Seriously, is there any way we can petition Dish to reload L229?


----------



## igleaner

After reading through this very long thread, I'm beginning to wonder why I ever switched from a 921 to a 942, at considerable expense. 

Now I know why the 921's are still getting such a high price on Ebay - people are fed up with the 942 and trying to get their old receivers back!

As long as we have the same software team working on the 942 as the 921, the 942 will eventually be doomed to act more and more like the 921 did. One step forward, but three steps backward. Fix on thing, but break three others. 

Isn't it time Dish got some better programmers to straighten this out? Their performance is killing Dish's reputation for providing reliable hardware.


----------



## Paradox-sj

Anyone notice the delay for the the guide overlay to appear when you push the Guide button? 

I actually get a black screen with the preview window up in the right hand corner for a few sec or so...it didnt do this before.


----------



## Jerry G

Paradox-sj said:


> Anyone notice the delay for the the guide overlay to appear when you push the Guide button?


I've noticed that all windows (guide, event list, etc) take longer to come up.


----------



## gilber

Paradox-sj said:


> I actually get a black screen with the preview window up in the right hand corner for a few sec or so...it didnt do this before.


I've noticed this as well.

Not as annoying as the crashes or the freeze ups, though.


----------



## Paradox-sj

igleaner said:


> After reading through this very long thread, I'm beginning to wonder why I ever switched from a 921 to a 942, at considerable expense.
> 
> Now I know why the 921's are still getting such a high price on Ebay - people are fed up with the 942 and trying to get their old receivers back!
> 
> As long as we have the same software team working on the 942 as the 921, the 942 will eventually be doomed to act more and more like the 921 did. One step forward, but three steps backward. Fix on thing, but break three others.
> 
> Isn't it time Dish got some better programmers to straighten this out? Their performance is killing Dish's reputation for providing reliable hardware.


First off I highly doubt ANYONE who toss out their 921 and got the 942 is trying to get thir 921 back. I know i'm not...

Secondly...The 942 has been a VERY stable and reliable machine. It was not until the L280 release that the crap hit the fan.

Thirdly...The development team for the 921 and 942 are indeed seperate.

I know what its like to have a bad release and the pain it can cause to the customer as I too work in softwr. DEV. IT HAPPENS to the best company's and it was bound to hapen to the 942. I am not making excuses for them as I too am experiencing these very issues. Just saying I understand...

NOW..something I dont understand is WHY they do not implement a role-back feature or option and the ablity to choose if you want the (a) new package or not.

Disaster recovery / high availablity isnt just for mission criticle application anylonger....


----------



## MrC

Paradox-sj said:


> NOW..something I dont understand is WHY they do not implement a role-back feature or option and the ablity to choose if you want the (a) new package or not.


There are very simple, practical explanations for this. Managing multiple releases is *very* hard, expensive, and a waste of resources. We in the software industry have given far too many choices, options, settings, preferences, etc. to users to manage. Stability and reliability happens best when all resources are focused on a single, stability-converging baseline. The economics are simply not there to support this exponentially increasing matrix of configurations.

When users can rollback to previous releases, there is also less incentive to resolve issues in the current release (fewer reports). This harms everyone involved, and creates a general malaise. Companies *need* to receive immediate and pronounced feedback of failures such as L280/281. If people can just ignore it, the message is diluted, and responsiveness is decreased.


----------



## Paradox-sj

MrC said:


> There are very simple, practical explanations for this. Managing multiple releases is *very* hard, expensive, and a waste of resources. We in the software industry have given far too many choices, options, settings, preferences, etc. to users to manage. Stability and reliability happens best when all resources are focused on a single, stability-converging baseline. The economics are simply not there to support this exponentially increasing matrix of configurations.
> 
> When users can rollback to previous releases, there is also less incentive to resolve issues in the current release (fewer reports). This harms everyone involved, and creates a general malaise. Companies *need* to receive immediate and pronounced feedback of failures such as L280/281. If people can just ignore it, the message is diluted, and responsiveness is decreased.


Yes its hard and expensive but by no means is it a wast of resources.That expence IMO is a necessary evil. Having a team that works on current code while the bulk of you DEV resorces are focused on the next big thing allows bugs to be addressed without impacting release scheduels.

Having the ability to role back to stable code is just common sence...even M$ figured that one out.

I am bias to this as I work on a sustaning team that does just this.


----------



## scottchez

More on the Caller ID has changed also. . . .

Before the 280 and 281 update, the Caller ID info would show right after the first ring.

Now its after the 2nd or 3rd ring.

Seems like the software code the loops waiting for the ring signal is not checking as often as before 280. Were they trying to same on CPU cycles?

Not a big deal, but if I dont answer it by after the 3rd ring the Voice mail kicks in.
I like to sit in my chair and if the calls for me then get up and answer it.
Now I have to get up before I know who it is to get to the phone in time and then see who is calling on the screen.


----------



## Jon Spackman

Ok, I have been very happy with the 942, still am. Here is what mine is doing:

When i power on the unit (since 280) no lights come on and it displays two wierd square of the show it should be playing with redish purple borders around them. If i leave it this way it stays with only those too squares until i change channels or hit guide and then exit the guide. I am using hdmi to dvi adapter and am turning on the 942 with discrete on code. If i turn off the unit and back on it works fine with the lights coming on and all.

I think it only does this wierd square pwoer up when it is recording.

I have not seen the optical problems other have experienced, and mine did record lost for me last night from OTA......

Iam seeing the huge delay in caller ID. Makes caller id worthless becuase be the time the number shows the machine has answered it for you.

Jon


----------



## asarhan

I did some testing with the sound on sat channels and found that tuner 2 was the one acting up the most. It didn't matter if it was a PCM or DD recording -- the sound was not there while trying to watch a show that was recording. Swapped to tuner 1, started recording a show, then started from beginning and the sound was fine.

An easy way to reproduce the sound with the wrong video issue is to start a recording on tuner 1, skip back a few times while recording, then swap to tuner 2. I always got the wrong sound doing this.

Other problems I've noticed since L280/L281:

- 9483 WCBS-DT (HD) has been breaking up a lot since the update. This channel used to be perfect before the update. I know this could be a source issue, but has anyone else noticed this?
- I got a blank recording yesterday on one of my locals. It recorded a full hour of a blank screen. I didn't try to reboot to see if came back.


----------



## MrC

Paradox-sj said:


> Yes its hard and expensive but by no means is it a wast of resources.That expence IMO is a necessary evil. Having a team that works on current code while the bulk of you DEV resorces are focused on the next big thing allows bugs to be addressed without impacting release scheduels.
> 
> Having the ability to role back to stable code is just common sence...even M$ figured that one out.
> 
> I am bias to this as I work on a sustaning team that does just this.


It is only possible *if* customers are willing to pay for it, and most simply are not. Sustaining engineering as a model *only works if customers are willing to foot the bill*, and in cheap, consumer appliances, they are not willing to foot such a bill.

Ask your manager, Director, of VP about your group's profit margin and contribution to the company's bottom line. Sustaining engineering teams are paid for, either directly or indirectly, by long term service and maintenance contracts.

If you are using M$ as a model of stability and reliability, our conversation ends here! Their rollback is a necessary evil designed to backout of a situation where customer's screw their own systems. When system updates are centrally managed, the dynamics change.

You don't change and rollback your toaster, oven, clock/radio, stereo system, cordless phones, car electronics (which are FAR more complicated than some might realize), or any other similar consumer device. Imagine the total chaos if Ford or Toyota allowed users to patch, download, upload, hack, etc. the control systems in their autos! All of these devices *just work*. Every device that allows user's to control their software/firmware are notoriously plagued with endless problems.


----------



## Jerry G

asarhan said:


> - 9483 WCBS-DT (HD) has been breaking up a lot since the update. This channel used to be perfect before the update. I know this could be a source issue, but has anyone else noticed this?


Which show did you have this problem with? I had recorded NCIS on Thursday evening via the East WCBS feed. When I played it back, it was a pixellated mess and unwatchable. I think I've seen other shows since without a problem from WCBS. I'm not sure if it was a source problem. I haven't seen any other reports of this on the AVS forum and I would have expected those reports if it was the source.


----------



## asarhan

Jerry G said:


> Which show did you have this problem with? I had recorded NCIS on Thursday evening via the East WCBS feed. When I played it back, it was a pixellated mess and unwatchable. I think I've seen other shows since without a problem from WCBS. I'm not sure if it was a source problem. I haven't seen any other reports of this on the AVS forum and I would have expected those reports if it was the source.


I noticed it on a recorded CSI:Miami from Monday, and 'How I met your mother' from Monday as well. The problem wasn't there when I recorded CSI:Miami from KCBS-DT OTA.

I see it on live SD programming as of today. I will check the CSI recording from tonight to see if the problem is still there. I just noticed a thread over on satguys where a couple of people were having the same problem.


----------



## M492A

robglasser said:


> I had the same problem last night. I was watching one show, it ended, and went and tried to start another one over that was still recording. No sound. Went to another analog/PCM channel, sound was fine. Went to another HD-OTA recording, had sound. Back to the recording show, still no sound. Went to live mode of this current recording. Had sound again, back up a few second, no sound. Put receiver into standby and back on, still no sound.
> 
> Finally, after the recording finished I was able to get sound back by starting the recording over, then putting the receiver into standby, then resuming the recording.


Likewise!


----------



## CABill

I don't think this is unique to 28x since I also lost a 9PM recording the previous Wed w/ 230, but I can recreate the problem (at least MY 942 does). I use Dual mode, Record Plus set to TV2 (so it only happens when I have 3 timers active). If I have timers set for TV1 and the ATSC tuner that fire when the unit is in Standby, I will lose all of one recording. The name and EPG info for that missing recording will appear in My Recordings window for the recording that "didn't disappear", but you wouldn't know it from the My Recordings list. Last night at 9PM, E-Ring on Sat local TV2, CSI NY on Sat local TV1, and Veronica Mars on digital local "TV1". Since the wife didn't get her Veronica Mars last week, I turned on the TV and 942 to make sure it wasn't happening again. It was. Only two of the 3 shows appeared in My Recordings. Hitting DVR again for Daily Schedule shows all three shows, but if I cursor up three times, two of the shows have a status of Rec but one is just blank in the Done, Rec, time column. The Info for that entry doesn't say Rec started like the other two - it just says Event started. At the end of the hour (each show was an hour), the Rec and blank items disappear from Daily schedule, leaving the two entries that now say Done. If I select the one titled Veronica Mars, I get CSI NY. Repeating a test at 12:30PM this afternoon of 3 half hour shows ("New episodes", but not sure it matters). Trying three manual times of 10 minute starting at 1:05 TV2, 1:07 TV1, and 1:09 ATSC, it would seem that if the unit is in Standby when either flavor of "TV1" timer triggers, it will stop the currently running "other flavor of TV1". The above manual timers are 10 minutes for TV2, 2 minutes for TV1 Sat (1:07-1:09) and 8 minutes for TV1 ATSC (1:09 start but it stops wend TV1 Sat would have stopped at 1:17).

While the timers are screwed up from coming out of standby, I'm unable to clear up the problem with Stop Rec / Delete timer since it gets into an endless loop of error 520 - "The timer you are attempting to delete has already started the recording process". 

My default is 0 minutes before and after (I still hope DISH will eventually quit rounding start/end times to 5 minute multiples) but if I start ONE of the "TV1" recordings x minutes early with the same start time, I get an x minute recording of either ATSC or TV1 and just a recording of the item that didn't start early.

This MIGHT explain the people that had CSI, Galactica, ... just disappear from the Recordings list. I'd sure like to see it fixed - the wife likes Veronica Mars. 

Appologies for the length and I hope this isn't a known issue but I didn't find it with search. 

Bill Henley


----------



## normang

I tried the multimedia feature.. I installed a 256mb USB stick and tried to copy the 20 or so pictures in jpg format from it to the HD to create the slide show. It seemed to start, then froze, and rebooted the receiver. When it came back up, I had an entry, tried to play it, displayed one picture and froze up, and rebooted again. I deleted the slide show successfully, and after that and have not tried it since.. 

I've noted that the docs someone posted somewhere said memory modules should be in fat32 format, I am not sure my memory module was in that format, though it was readable, listed all the pictures on the selection list, so either this feature is not stable, or my module despite being readable, was not in a format it liked.. 

I also used the rear USB port, not sure if that makes any difference to the rain in spain either??


----------



## jcm.oo

I am getting the boxes on the right side sometimes they appear to spread throughout out the screen when the camera is moving from right to left or left to right. This is happening on 2 receivers both with L281. Also one receiver got into a loop where it would just keep resetting itself, it happened when swapping pip mode. The second receiver did the same thing this morning, however, was not swapping or doing anything else, it just happened when I turned it on this morning. One the first recevier I was able to get it out of that loop by unplugging it and pulling out the sat. inputs, then went in to the menu and did the switch test, then it finally came on. But my receiver wont come back at all, this is a big pain because now I will miss some of qualifying for the race sunday. On some reboots it would run disk diags. too. Last night when I tried to pause and then skip frame by frame forward, I tried to play it back, the video would start and play for about a second and then stop the audio never stopped. I had to wait until the show stopped recording to play it back, it finally did play correctly. Also from switching back and forth from pip, one show being DD, and the other one being ProLogic, I lost sound and had to play with it to get it back, this has happened on both receivers as well. I just got these things a week ago and the entire week has been a nightmare!


----------



## UpOnTheMountain

CBS-HD East pixellation problem

Add me to the list of previously very happy campers, that now suffer from this nearly intolerable problem.

I'm getting a strong signal this am at (61.5 transp 2) 88-93, but have noted several recordings from CBSHD east as having severe pixallization at many spots throughout the shows.

Is this some kind of strange way to get us to want a 1000 ? ;-)

In general though ... seeing a lot of random problems on other stations as well. Not certain if it is 'heightened awareness' or not, but 'feels' like it all started with 280.

(sorry for the duplicate post, but felt it belonged here too!)


----------



## LtMunst

UpOnTheMountain said:


> CBS-HD East pixellation problem
> 
> Add me to the list of previously very happy campers, that now suffer from this nearly intolerable problem.
> 
> I'm getting a strong signal this am at (61.5 transp 2) 88-93, but have noted several recordings from CBSHD east as having severe pixallization at many spots throughout the shows.
> 
> Is this some kind of strange way to get us to want a 1000 ? ;-)
> 
> In general though ... seeing a lot of random problems on other stations as well. Not certain if it is 'heightened awareness' or not, but 'feels' like it all started with 280.
> 
> (sorry for the duplicate post, but felt it belonged here too!)


The pixellation and dropouts were very bad on E-CBS HD for Wednesday's CSI New York. When I rewound the recording, the pixelations were in the same spot so it is not a recorder issue. There is definately something wrong with the CBS HD feed. Luckily I can pull in CBS OTA very well so I can avoid this in the future.


----------



## zephyr

LtMunst said:


> The pixellation and dropouts were very bad on E-CBS HD for Wednesday's CSI New York. When I rewound the recording, the pixelations were in the same spot so it is not a recorder issue. There is definately something wrong with the CBS HD feed. Luckily I can pull in CBS OTA very well so I can avoid this in the future.


If anybody can tell me how to get CBS HD via satellite while living in a location where it comes in OTA I would appreciate knowing (yes, I've applied for a waiver and haven't heard yet, other than knowing others in this market have been told 'no'). If there is another thread/forum please refer me. Ironically, the main breakup/pixellation problem I have is with CBS HD OTA.


----------



## LtMunst

zephyr said:


> If anybody can tell me how to get CBS HD via satellite while living in a location where it comes in OTA I would appreciate knowing (yes, I've applied for a waiver and haven't heard yet, other than knowing others in this market have been told 'no'). If there is another thread/forum please refer me. Ironically, the main breakup/pixellation problem I have is with CBS HD OTA.


If you live in an O&O area exclusively, you can qualify for the SAT feed.


----------



## zephyr

LtMunst said:


> If you live in an O&O area exclusively, you can qualify for the SAT feed.


Got it. Thanks. Unfortunately, we do not.


----------



## Paradox-sj

Okay this one is going to be hard to believe...

I have updates turned off and my 942 is connected to a good phone line.

Last night whilst watching a DVR event from CBSHD east (which wasnt even watchable becos of breakups and dropouts mind you) the daily updates pop up window appeared asking if it could do its download. We canceled out of that and behind it was the nag screen telling me I will be charged 4.99 if dont connect my reciever to a phone line.

I paused the program and checke my setting and connection just to be sure....and it was as I left it. Updated turned off and my dial out was good.

The release is ignoring its own settings..

PLEASE WATCH YOUR BILL for the 4.99 charge as my 942 believes it is not connect to the phone line when it is.


----------



## rasheed

CABill said:


> Only two of the 3 shows appeared in My Recordings. Hitting DVR again for Daily Schedule shows all three shows, but if I cursor up three times, two of the shows have a status of Rec but one is just blank in the Done, Rec, time column. The Info for that entry doesn't say Rec started like the other two - it just says Event started. At the end of the hour (each show was an hour), the Rec and blank items disappear from Daily schedule, leaving the two entries that now say Done.





srrobinson2 said:


> I had a timer setup to record all new episodes of LOST on 009-01 (WTVC-HD). This timer has worked for the past two weeks, but it failed to fire last night  .
> 
> Everything was working fine with my timers under L229. With L281, I don't know if I can trust the timers, and I am still seeing "Digital Service" on some of my OTA channels (although 009-01 did have channel information indicating LOST came on at 8PM CST).


My problem here: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=454486&&#post454486

I have had the same problem. Having missing recordings, to me, is one of the worst type of errors that one can experience because there is often no way to get back those shows for a very long time (especially shows on local channels).

This is just really bad. I am using my TiVo with an 811 as a backup for shows I will get really upset about when the 942 doesn't record, but that still seems rather unacceptable to have such a reliability issue on recordings that should have recorded (no conflict or space or satellite feed issue).

Rasheed


----------



## ugafan

When watching a live program or recorded, when I change the channel the sound remains from the previous channel. Also, my PVR recordings are silent. But on both of these issues, if I do PIP, SWAP and then SWAP back, the sound is correct.

I have also noticed some pixelation on the right side of some programs.


----------



## CABill

rasheed said:


> My problem here: <URL deleted> showthread.php?p=454486&&#post454486
> 
> I have had the same problem. Having missing recordings, to me, is one of the worst type of errors that one can experience because there is often no way to get back those shows for a very long time (especially shows on local channels).
> 
> This is just really bad. I am using my TiVo with an 811 as a backup for shows I will get really upset about when the 942 doesn't record, but that still seems rather unacceptable to have such a reliability issue on recordings that should have recorded (no conflict or space or satellite feed issue).
> 
> Rasheed


What you describe in that thread (DT OTA TV1 and sat TV1 timers that overlap each other) is exactly what caused my missing recordings. AFAIK, just making sure TV1 is on and not in Standby avoids the problem. EVERY time I leave it in standby with overlapping "TV1 timers", one of them disappears (no skipped entry, ...). It MIGHT be that all my tests with TV1 on also involve remote use and that is what prevents the overlapping timers from failing, but it seems like it only fails when the timer triggers in Standby. TV2 timers don't seem to fail. It does mean you can't leave for a couple days and expect it to record if you have TV1 sat and TV1 OTA timers that overlap because it puts itself into standby. In Standby, either TV1 timer starting will cause an existing TV1 timer to stop, even though it is for a different tuner. When both TV1s start at the same time, one of them will disappear. At least for me with L2.30, L2.80, and L2.81 (the only versions I've ever had).

Humm, too much of a newbie to even quote your URL!


----------



## Bichon

I believe I experienced that bug on Thursday.

I had Apprentice scheduled on WNBC (satellite) from 8:59 to 10:03
I had ER scheduled on WCAU-DT (OTA) from 9:59 to 11:03

Daily schedule shows both shows "Done"

It recorded the Apprentice, but it is in two files, one is an hour, the other 4 minutes.
ER is missing.

Sound familiar, anyone?


----------



## bjb236

Hate to add to this post with no new information, but I want to confirm that I'm also experiencing:

1. Frequent sound drop outs - have to reboot the unit or change to original channel before sound loss to get sound back
2. Macro blocking all over
3. Audio chips when changing stations
4. Aspect ratio displayed when first changing channels not always correct

I've been lucky so far not to have experienced many of the other bugs, but these particular problems are definitely widespread.


----------



## BobaBird

I finally got this thread condensed onto the EKB's 921 Software History page. Wow! what a lot of red!

If you people didn't have so much trouble with your 942s I'd have more time to enjoy my 921! ::ducks for cover::


----------



## The_Wizard

I have another question then. I would like to see how well local OTA channels come in. Currently I am using model 6000 and locals are about 40 miles away with good reception (signal strengths from 80-99). I can return the receiver if it is not "activated". Can I view OTA channels BEFORE I activate the receiver?


----------



## Jon Spackman

yes you can. you can scan locals and add them prior to authorizing the 942. i tried the locals before i called to turn mine on. At least it worked when l229 was current.....

Jon


----------



## NTIMID8

Just a note,

The latest firmware for the 942 and 625s fixed an issue with some wireless providers and caller ID. Now I can tell its my wife calling and I shouldnt ignore it. Previously all verizon wireless users would come up as "unavailable", now the irds show the #s!

Phil


----------



## Paradox-sj

Steps to reproduce 

Bring up Main Menue and select 6 (System Setup) then 9 (Local Channels)
Select Add Locals
Select Yes for Digital 

Under the Add Digital channel Screen

Select a Transmit number you DONT get and leave it there for 2min 45 sec.
(It will kick you out of the screen in 3min so watch the time)
Then select a second Transmit number you dont get and leave it there 2min 45 sec

At some point during the second or in one case the third 2min 45 sec wait the box rebooted.

I was able to reproduce this everytime. Give it a try :sure:


----------



## Mike Johnson

When viewing an OTA channel and switching to "Partial Zoom", green lines will appear on the screen.

I started a thread with a pic on this issue here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=46720


----------



## mrplow

ugafan said:


> When watching a live program or recorded, when I change the channel the sound remains from the previous channel. Also, my PVR recordings are silent. But on both of these issues, if I do PIP, SWAP and then SWAP back, the sound is correct.
> 
> I have 2 Tv's hooked up to my 942(single mode), I only lose audio on the tv that is using the Digital audio out. I can here the audio on the other tv, that is hooked up using the left-right out. I never use the PIP, But that tip works great.


----------



## Paradox-sj

Paradox-sj said:


> Steps to reproduce
> 
> Bring up Main Menue and select 6 (System Setup) then 9 (Local Channels)
> Select Add Locals
> Select Yes for Digital
> 
> Under the Add Digital channel Screen
> 
> Select a Transmit number you DONT get and leave it there for 2min 45 sec.
> (It will kick you out of the screen in 3min so watch the time)
> Then select a second Transmit number you dont get and leave it there 2min 45 sec
> 
> At some point during the second or in one case the third 2min 45 sec wait the box rebooted.
> 
> I was able to reproduce this everytime. Give it a try :sure:


Anyone else able to reproduce this?


----------



## softwiz

The Aspect Ratio that is displayed is shown wrong in some cases. If I'm in Normal mode on a dish HD channel and switch to a SD dish channel is says I'm still in Normal mode instead of Stretch. I'm know it's in Stretch because I can press the Aspect button and it will go to Partial Zoom on the first press. And if I press enter after changing the channel it will then say Stretch instead of Normal like it did when I first changed the channel.

The same goes if I go from a SD channel that's in stretch back to an HD channel. The receiver correctly remembers the Normal mode for the HD signal but it says Stretch when the channel is first changed. Pressing Enter after the channel has been changed now says Normal. The first press of the Aspect button will take you to Stretch which means it was correctly in Normal when it originally changed channels.

This worked correctly in L229


----------



## Rob Glasser

Ok, things seem to be getting worse. I left town for about 5 days and when I got back out of 20 events I had set to record 2 were mysteriously missing. Both were re-occuring "New" timers. One for Conan O'Brien and the other for Prison Break. There is nothing in the history showing it being done or skipped, it's very strange and frankly disturbing. I'm just thankful I "backup" record everything to my 721 as well just in case this happens, but it prevents me from watching the shows in HD.

The Conan show for Thursday (really early Friday, worked fine), but the one for Friday (really early Saturday) was not there. As for Prison Break, same situation, no information what so ever, it's like the receiver didn't even think the show was on, however I know it was because it was recorded fine on my 721.

Something else to note, before I left Thursday morning I went over my schedule for while I was gone with a fine tooth comb and I know both missed shows were scheduled to be recorded that morning.

Having wierd audio issues or error codes you can work around with reboots is one thing, but having the receiver just act like shows were not even on and not record them is a whole new level. To be honest at this point the 942 isn't a whole lot better than the 921. 

I sure hope Dish comes out with a new release and fixes these issues soon. Here is the list of items I'm now expierencing.
1. Missed recordings
2. Delayed Caller ID information
3. Pixelization of recordings on the right side of the screen
4. Incorrect screen mode info when switching between SD and HD channels
5. Audio Issues - Completely lose audio on a recording
6. Audio Issues - New recording starts and it's audio replaces that of the show your already watching


----------



## Paradox-sj

Paradox-sj said:


> Steps to reproduce
> 
> Bring up Main Menue and select 6 (System Setup) then 9 (Local Channels)
> Select Add Locals
> Select Yes for Digital
> 
> Under the Add Digital channel Screen
> 
> Select a Transmit number you DONT get and leave it there for 2min 45 sec.
> (It will kick you out of the screen in 3min so watch the time)
> Then select a second Transmit number you dont get and leave it there 2min 45 sec
> 
> At some point during the second or in one case the third 2min 45 sec wait the box rebooted.
> 
> I was able to reproduce this everytime. Give it a try :sure:


Would someone please try this so I we can know if it is just me or not?

THX


----------



## NTIMID8

Missing Recording,

L281

history shows it was recorded but it does NOT show up in recordings. I did have a previous recording save with same name (Fender stratocaster) but was not complete. I scheduled this recording to get it all this time. But it is AWOL :nono2: 
Might be a bug with trying to record same names material.

Phil


----------



## vahighland

robglasser said:


> I sure hope Dish comes out with a new release and fixes these issues soon. Here is the list of items I'm now experiencing.
> 1. Missed recordings
> 2. Delayed Caller ID information
> 3. Pixelization of recordings on the right side of the screen
> 4. Incorrect screen mode info when switching between SD and HD channels
> 5. Audio Issues - Completely lose audio on a recording
> 6. Audio Issues - New recording starts and it's audio replaces that of the show your already watching


7. Audio/Video Lip Sync Problems
8. Occasionally receive Check Switch popups
9. Weaker OTA reception and more pixilation


----------



## fritz1

The 942 was the best receiver when I first got it about a month ago, 

many issues now for one example if I press record to record a show i am watching then after a few minutes I change channels to watch something else while the other is recording there is no audio on the new channel, the only way to get audio is to press swap and go back to the one that was recording, stop recording and then swap or swap again, some times the recording channel does not show the red dot indicating that it is recording
and hitting stop does not stop the recording you have to go in the menu and delete from the schedule and then you get the message to confirm the stop recording.


----------



## jcm.oo

I know I've already posted but I have found some more things:

1. Pixelization of live and recorded shows. A LOT
2. Receiver shuts off when swapping turners, sometimes.
3. Receiver shuts off when changing tv aspect ratio, sometimes.
4. Receiver shuts off when playing back some shows, not all the time, but enough to cause it to be a problem.
5. I lose audio sometimes when switching from a DD to a pro logic channel.
6. It has gotten stuck in a loop of restarting it self, took 45 minutes to get it out of this loop both times. A simple reset and unplug does not correct this. This has happened twice on one receiver and once on another.
7. When trying to skip frame by frame forward or backward, when you try to continue to watch the show it will begin to play back but after a second or so it stops and all you get is audio. Changing the channels and swapping turners does not fix this, you have to reset.
8. Receiver just shuts off when ever it feels like it, its worse than Windows ME.

10/7- added:
9. Audio sync problem
10. There is a delay in the status of the aspect, its says normal switching from hd to sd, and stretch when switching from sd to hd. even though that is not the mode it is in.

10/9- added:
11. Sometimes during playback of a recorded event when skipping commercials, it jumps to the end of the show. Happens a lot and on two receivers.



If I could send back both of these receivers get my money back and cancel the account even though I signed the 18 month thing, I would. The restarting thing in the middle of a show that you are trying to watch is a real pain. I have found myself trying to be careful not to do anything with it, afraid that the $600 receiver that I bought might crash again. Its sad that I am afraid to press pause, thinking that if I do I will loose my show.


----------



## vahighland

jcm.oo said:


> If I could send back both of these receivers get my money back and cancel the account even though I signed the 18 month thing, I would. The restarting thing in the middle of a show that you are trying to watch is a real pain. I have found myself trying to be careful not to do anything with it, afraid that the $600 receiver that I bought might crash again. Its sad that I am afraid to press pause, thinking that if I do I will loose my show.


I hear you! I'm counting down the days until my Dish contract ends (May 12, 2006).


----------



## Greg Haynes

> 7. When trying to skip frame by frame forward or backward, when you try to continue to watch the show it will begin to play back but after a second or so it stops and all you get is audio. Changing the channels and swapping turners does not fix this, you have to reset.


This is now becoming a common thing for me  Especially when I watch my favorite show LOST and I missed something and want to go back to see it frame by frame then resume playback. I get a frozen video and just audio. No matter what I do I have to do a reset to get it fixed.

Very discouraged customer :nono:


----------



## NTIMID8

3 time loser trying to record HDnet with timers. I ahve done them 3 different way and struck out each time. 2 of 3 times is said it sucessfully recorded etc but not to be found! the other time The "Men in Black" seemed to have erased all existance.

Does anyone have a work around? Tried recording it 3 ways, I have 1 more shot sunday at 6am!

Phil


----------



## Rob Glasser

New Audio + Other problems last night.

So, last night, I'm watching an OTA HD show live, I decide to start watching a recorded OTA HD show from a couple weeks back. I start it up, no audio. So I try stopping and restarting, no luck. I power off the receiver and back on, Try and start the recording, and get an Error Code 7. At this point I know that I will have to do a soft reset to fix the recording so I start one. Reciever comes back up fine, live TV is working, I start the recorded show again, audio good, everything is great. At the end of the show I notice that my recording light isn't on even though a recording should have kicked in about 5 minutes earlier. I exit out of the recorded show and I see the receiver is stuck on an Acquiring Sat. 0 of 5 screen. I haven't seen this happen in ages. Receiver is completely hung, not moving. Have to iniate another soft reset. After that the recording starts up, albeit late, and continues on it's way.

Then, later in the evening I'm watching another recorded OTA HD show from a couple weeks back. About half way through it I am skipping forward through commercials, go a little too far forward, skip back a couple of times, then forward again and it goes instantly to the end of the recording, even though at the time I was only 32 minutes into a 63 minute recording. I start it over, fast forward to the same spot, and start watching. A few seconds later it pops up the end of recording screen, with the Playback Over dialaog over the window, but the show is still playing. No matter what I do I can't get the screen to go away without exiting the recording. Finally I power off and on the receiver, restart the recording and all is well. 

Things sure are getting flakey here.


----------



## rasheed

This is probably a bug that had already been there prior to this release, but I need to reinstate it.

I did a one-time for a show off Sony (Dish 148 SD channel), and the show title was changed close to the last minute with no future listing of the same show title.

The show disappeared off the DVR schedule completely with no record in history that it did not record. I actually still wanted to record the identical time-slot even with the name change.

All around, the way the 942 handled the recording (or not recording) was really bad. I don't have time to remember what I wanted to record outside the system.

I am trying to be realistic as I have owned a TiVo for five years and went through various phases as TiVo worked to create a really stable version of the software. I understand Dish is trying to do the same thing for the 942, but the fact of missing recordings, timers not firing, etc are really critical elements of the system that are just not working properly.

Rasheed


----------



## tweaver999

Since L281, things are begining to remind me of the 921..... A few minor problems but very reliable..... Since L281..... going to hell.... audio sync problems ( maybe be fixed), CBSHD problem( maybe fixed now ).... but the worst now...

Over night ALL my timers had been lost..... I had like 30...so early morning recordings did NOT
Last few days I have had to reboot(soft) to keep phone ID working, and keep getting various errors such as guide data missing...

WHAT IS GOING ON....


I did a hard power cord reboot and the timers came back.... however check switch shows good connection for 61.5 but no signal.. now we are having bad weather here in Denver so maybe that is it... however, Dish is clear( I did it twice )...


----------



## dave1234

My just installed 942 will experience video freeze under the following condition:

1) Pause live TV for a few minutes
2) Push play
3) Push fast forward a couple of times to 15x or so.
4) When pause catches up to live TV the video freezes, audio is OK
5) Only way to recover is a power cycle on the 942


----------



## gregleg

Got another annoying one tonight.

Watching Monday Night Football. My HD OTA ABC isn't the most stable signal for me, so I'm watching the game OTA and recording the SD satellite. If I lose the OTA signal, I switch to satellite, watch the game that way for a bit, then go back to OTA.

After a few OTA dropouts, though, when I go to the satellite I have a black screen. On EVERY satellite channel. All OTA HD channels are fine. I had to do a full hard reset to get the picture back on the satellite channels.

Single tuner mode, component output.


----------



## normang

I don't see any of the issues here, not sure why, perhaps its because I'm not going out of my way to find ways to see if I can break it.. I record my shows, watch them, skip commercials and delete and move on... Seems like some people just try and find different ways to do something, just to see if they can break it, and succeeding.. I'm not missing timers, shows, it just seems to work....


----------



## spaceopera

Normang,
I am glad you are are not having problems with your receiver but the fact is that using some basic functions on the 942 just don't work right. There all listed above. I have spent a lot of money and am not locked into 1 year contract with dish. If I had know that I was going to have all of these problems I would have never bought. Bleeding edge is one thing but being Q&A testers for dish is not. Oh and wait if you record too many shows and you get low on space you get to experince the feature of dish not having a defrag solution and though you will have available space you will not be able to recording anything. They are saying that they might have a fix next qtr.

not a very happy 942 user.


----------



## normang

spaceopera - If I get low on disk space, I watch and delete shows and free up space. WHile I can understand that if you record slews of shows and don't have time to watch them all, you might wind up having an issue. However since I don't let my storage go low, its yet another issue I don't think I'll encounter.. Its one thing to be on the bleeding edge perhaps, its another to find ways to always cross over and get wounded on a routine basis.

I will not say the 942 is perfect, Its not. I also agree that a shipping product should have all its features working, and the code should be stable.. It should not take weeks or months between code updates that don't resolve replicatible issues noted here.

However, on the other side of the coin, OTA issues are a problem that Dish has some, but not complete control over. Some stations are not following the rules with their digital broadcasts, they may not be maintaining power levels at full all the time causing people to think that a code change caused a signal issue. And of course a slew of environmental issues that relate to how well one can receive OTA broadcasts in the first place. Things like your location, antenna height, antenna quality, cabling, and other variables that determine reception quality. My OTA is excellent. I only have one channel in the Twin Cities that I have issues with and its a WB station that is running low power.. its annoying to say the least, but I hope eventually they'll deliver the same signal I get from virtually every other station in my area which is 90+


----------



## Tom-Tx

The USB port does not recognize my Olympus Camedia C3030 cammera. When I connect and turn on the cammera, I get a "unsupported device" message.


----------



## NTIMID8

Popups about second remote.

Last few morning I have fired up the 942 and there was a popup message about pressing record to set second tuner remote.

Its in single user mode 

Anyone else?

Phil


----------



## Tom in TX

Tom-Tx said:


> The USB port does not recognize my Olympus Camedia C3030 cammera. When I connect and turn on the cammera, I get a "unsupported device" message.


Did you try the USB port in the back of the 942? My 942 recognizes my Olympus Camedia!
Tom in TX
(Not to be confused with Tom-Tx)


----------



## markmore

I am having sound issues. While I am recording an OTA channel, I can not hear another recording that was sourced from an OTA channel. I'm running an external antenna. I get video without sound. This will happen until the recording that is leveraging the OTA tuner finishes. Then everything works like I would expect.

This is a recent occurrence. I wasn't tracking the SW version until the other day, so I can't say for sure it is related to 281, but I have a strong feeling the timing is just about right.

Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Mark


----------



## markmore

One other issue that I failed to mention. We are having massive loses in the feeds from the OTA stations. We get missing audiio, missing video, pixelation and out of sync audio/video.

None of this used to happen. We've had great OTA reception and recording since the initial installation. Again, this has just been lately.


----------



## Tom-Tx

Tom in TX said:


> Did you try the USB port in the back of the 942? My 942 recognizes my Olympus Camedia!
> Tom in TX
> (Not to be confused with Tom-Tx)


You might have a newer version.
Same results, front or back port connection. Don't even go there :nono: 
Our similarities are starting to get interesting; choice of screen names, receivers, camera, ?...


----------



## Tom in TX

Tom-Tx said:


> Our similarities are starting to get interesting; choice of screen names, receivers, camera, ?...


Yes, but your a "lowly" mentor, and I'm a "Legend"! :lol: 
Tom in TX


----------



## waltinvt

Tom-Tx said:


> The USB port does not recognize my Olympus Camedia C3030 cammera. When I connect and turn on the cammera, I get a "unsupported device" message.


I get the same message for my Canon Power-Shot G-3. I get it using the rear USB port. Nothing happens using the front port.


----------



## srrobinson2

I had Smallville set to record last night using a manual timer for our local WB-HD channel (WFLI-53-1) because there is no guide data present for that channel. The event did not fire, and when I checked my timer list, it said "skipped by user 1." I never skipped that timer, and I don't know why it did not fire. I had one other timer set for Alias on a satellite local channel using TV2 at the same time, but that should not have affected things. Alias recorded fine incidentally.

BTW--is anyone working on these bugs? It seems to have gotten kind of quiet around here from a response standpoint....


----------



## markmore

I just spoke with tech support and the claim to have no record of anyone having problems with the OTA channels. I then listed the difficulties I've been having over the last few weeks. Playback look ups, out of sync a/v, missing audio, etc.. 

Their response was to eliminate the OTA channels and recover them manually. Having done that I am now waiting for things to record and then playback to see if that somehow magically solves my problem. I'm not sure if I'll be more or less comfortable if this does solve the problem.


----------



## harlock328

On my recordings, every 50-55 seconds I lose audio for about 1-2 second; connected via analog connection to the TV. Happens on OTA and Sat recordings. Pixelations, recordings that stop in them middle and say it's ended. I have 921 also and I was hoping the 942 is better. Guess not...ugh.


----------



## srrobinson2

harlock328 said:


> On my recordings, every 50-55 seconds I lose audio for about 1-2 second; connected via analog connection to the TV. Happens on OTA and Sat recordings. Pixelations, recordings that stop in them middle and say it's ended. I have 921 also and I was hoping the 942 is better. Guess not...ugh.


Until L280 and L281, it was much much better than the 921!! Now, it sux!


----------



## xsailor

xsailor said:


> I no longer am receiving channel program info on half of my OTA channels. I have rebooted (both soft (front power button) and hard (pulling the plug)) at least a half a dozen times. I have also unplugged the unit and left it that way for over an hour and then replugged it in. I have done the forced download (check switch) and have also deleted all OTA channels and rescanned them. The final result: no OTA guide info for LA channels 2,5,7 and 11 (all other OTA channel guide info is good). Everything worked just fine prior to the update ... (coincidence? I think not!)


Mark,
Has there been any (any at all) response from DISH concerning this problem? This "should be" an easy fix...I don't understand the delay. :grrr:


----------



## SteveinDanville

Well, on top of all my audio and right side pixelation/break-up problems, my doorstop, er, I mean 942 finally missed a recording set up off the guide. Came home late this afternoon to watch a recording of the Cal-Oregon St. game, and the timer did not fire. Looked in the timer listing, and there it was, big as life, but it did not fire. Go into the guide to the channel I'd selected for the recording, and there is no Record icon in the time slot. A friggin' VCR will record predictably; WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS THING????? I'm running out of patience. DISH, ARE YOU OUT THERE?


----------



## dave1234

Just got a phone call from a Dishnetwork tech. The issue I reported below will be fixed in the release after the next release(I.E. 2 releases from now). 

My just installed 942 will experience video freeze under the following condition:

1) Pause live TV for a few minutes
2) Push play
3) Push fast forward a couple of times to 15x or so.
4) When pause catches up to live TV the video freezes, audio is OK
5) Only way to recover is a power cycle on the 942


----------



## igleaner

The 942 used to work almost flawlessly. Through no fault of ours, Dish broke it and now wants all their customers to pay full price for using something defective they caused and can't fix.

How did it ever get to this that tens of thousands of 942 consumers willingly pay full price for a service which doesn't work as advertised? Don't we have any clout as a group? Have you tried calling them and offered partial payment for partial service? 

I can't believe any lawyers haven't jumped on this. No other business has ever gotten away with this level of service.


----------



## dave1234

Unfortunately Microsoft has gotten away with this level of service and see where it's got them.


----------



## fritz1

Called Dish today to let them know about audio problems, if I record something on the fly and watch it for a few minutes as it's recording, then go to another station, there is no audio and going back to the recording channel does not fix it also the red dot on the information bar disappears and if I hit the stop button to stop recording it does not respond, as if it is not recording

the only way to get the red dot back and the audio, is to hit swap, then stop recording
this only happens if I stay on the recording channel a couple of minutes, but if I start recording on the fly then immediately go to another channel every thing is ok,

another thing is when going to my recordings, and start a recorded program, then decide to delete it it used to ask and confirm that the program is being used and do you still want to delete? then hit yes it would delete, now however it will not delete unless you go back stop the playback, then search for that program again through the long list because it starts from the top again then delete it

the rep kept arguing that this is not a problem, that only a change and that it maybe easier for others, I could not see his logic, being easier by complicating the process from one step to multiple steps, he insisted that this is not a problem

also DD is not there on recorded shows. sorry for the long post


----------



## cebbigh

Got home from work 30 min after recording started for the Seahawks game (espn/hd). Tried to watch the already recorded material and no sound. Did not stop the recording but turned 942 on and off several times. Still no sound on the show that was in process of recording. Did not do reboot because I wanted to keep the recording intact. Gambled that the sound would be there after the recording was finished. Watched the remainder of the game "live". After the game was over and recording ceased the recording indeed had sound. I sure do hope Dish fixes this soon.


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## Rob Glasser

For those of you that are expierencing problems with OTA channels that you did not with the 921, do you have a Dish Pro Plus 44 switch in your installation? I can't confirm this for sure, but over the weekend I installed a Dish1000 and took my DPP44 switch out of my installation. Since then the one station that I was having problems keeping a lock on seems to have improved 100%. Prior to this week it was unwatchable. Over the weekend I watched it for a couple of hours without issue. I'm wondering if the powered DPP44 was maybe introducing some interference into the receiver that was causing problems. To my knowledge the station I was having problems with has not changed anything with their transmission.

When I had my 921 I had a Dish Pro 34, non-powered switch, and this channel was fairly stable, only loss signal during windy days. With the 942 I had a Dish Pro Plus 44 powered switch and could never watch the channel, even for a few minutes on a calm day without losing the channel. I take the switch out and now I'm back to where I was with the 921, only has issues with wind, but so far even that seems better now on the 942. 

I'd be curious if someone else could test this theory.


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## softwiz

I've had multiple occurrences where I've setup recordings, they record (because I see them recording), and once they are done, they are no where to be found.

I recorded Walker Texas Ranger, I saw it recording, I went back later to watch it and it was GONE!

This device started missing recordings in L280. This better be fixed soon!


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## gregleg

I had the reverse of missing recordings last night. My 942 suddenly decided that *every* show on Fox matched my "New episodes of The Simpsons" timer. Fortunately I caught it pretty quickly -- "Hmmm, why the heck is this thing recording the 10 o'clock news?"

I had to completely delete the Simpsons to clear the problem, though.


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## Rob Glasser

I was watching a copy of Lost that I recorded in HD via OTA last night. About 50 minutes into the episode the video and audio hung, the receiver sat there about 15 seconds and then reset itself. Afterwards I fast forwarded to the same spot, same results. Obvisouly the recording is corrupt. No one in the AVSForum forum for Seattle OTA has posted any issues with Lost so far, I'm assuming it's a receiver problem and not a signal problem.


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## cebbigh

robglasser said:


> I was watching a copy of Lost that I recorded in HD via OTA last night. About 50 minutes into the episode the video and audio hung, the receiver sat there about 15 seconds and then reset itself. Afterwards I fast forwarded to the same spot, same results. Obvisouly the recording is corrupt. No one in the AVSForum forum for Seattle OTA has posted any issues with Lost so far, I'm assuming it's a receiver problem and not a signal problem.


Pretty much the same thing happened to me and I agree that it wasn't an OTA issue. I actually had been watching LOST on time delay and managed to get the program material recorded intact. But about 50 minutes into viewing the program the video and audio hung and then the box turned itself off and rebooted all on its own. When it came back I found that somewhere along the line it managed to delete the timer for the following program on KOMO (Invasion?). I know that timer was set because I reviewed it earlier in the day. I never had these problems before L280. To say the least, it is VERY upsetting.


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## lakebum431

For some reason my 942 now thinks that my Survivor timer means that it should record CSI. When I noticed that it was recording tonight, I checked to see what it was recording and noticed that it was recording CSI. When I clicked on the program and checked the timer that it was currently recording it referenced the Survivor timer. Very strange. 

Additionally, I had a Simpsons problem as well as the poster above. Although my Simpsons timer is set to record "new" it is now recording all instances of Simpsons (not just ones that were produced during 2005 - this is a pretty big problem since the show airs 4 times per day). For the time being I am just removing the timer.


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## Rob Glasser

lakebum431 said:


> Additionally, I had a Simpsons problem as well as the poster above. Although my Simpsons timer is set to record "new" it is now recording all instances of Simpsons (not just ones that were produced during 2005 - this is a pretty big problem since the show airs 4 times per day). For the time being I am just removing the timer.


I have the same issue occasionally because my OTA information for the repeats will be a generic description about the Simpsons with no date data in it. By default I think "New" timers record episodes with no date info, just to be safe. B ecause the Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle have repeats on the same channel every night I've just changed those timers to weekly so I don't have to worry about it.


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## Tulsa1

My 942 was quite reliable and stable before 2.80/2.81 now it is good for
nothing more than gathering dust. I was forced to fall back on my HDTivo with D*
just so I could enjoy TV again. If DISH doesn't have this resolved by the holidays
I'm shutting this POS off. I have no comittment with them so why pay for both.
I am truely amazed that they have not tried to restore functional software back
to our 942s. It is a crying shame to have trashed a decent HD-DVR. :nono2:


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## srrobinson2

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Please fix our 942s!!!!!!!!! I'm so tired of missing shows and having audio drop out and sync problems. L229 was fine -- go back there and don't ever touch it again (unless you actually can work out all the remaining bugs without ever introducing more than you fix  ).

:nono2:


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## lakebum431

I know they are working on the fixes for the software, but I am also surprised that it is taking this long.


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## srrobinson2

I know they are supposed to be, but when will we see results???


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## JimD

I know it's already been said, but I'd sure like the ability to go back to a previous release. I was quite happy with my 942 before this latest one or two releases came along. I have L281 now, and the DVR features are busted bigtime. If I use pause and skip back/skip forward a few times, the picture freezes but the audio continues. Eventually both will stop. If I use the swap button to grab the other tuner's attention, I find it working OK. Swap back and the screwed up tuner still is screwed up.

Power cyclling seems to correct it.

Please, Dish gurus... please fix this code or let me have an older release again.


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## markmore

I want to throw in my 2 cents and reiterate both comments above from srrobinson2 and JimD. This problem with the new code and the OTA channels becoming unusable via PVR is getting to the point of turning the whole thing off. I'd like to know when Dish will start reimbursement of my account.

Not getting any happier.


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## bthom73

JimD said:


> I know it's already been said, but I'd sure like the ability to go back to a previous release. I was quite happy with my 942 before this latest one or two releases came along. I have L281 now, and the DVR features are busted bigtime. If I use pause and skip back/skip forward a few times, the picture freezes but the audio continues. Eventually both will stop. If I use the swap button to grab the other tuner's attention, I find it working OK. Swap back and the screwed up tuner still is screwed up.
> 
> Power cyclling seems to correct it.
> 
> Please, Dish gurus... please fix this code or let me have an older release again.


JimD, you're correct regarding the DVR features. Mine acts *exactly* the same and it's very frustrating... Is it just me or do commercial breaks seem to be getting longer these days? I'm seeing breaks averaging around four or five minutes on Discovery, TNT, and the History Channel. Without the DVR functions, I almost forget what I'm watching by the time the scheduled program comes back.

I've basically given up on watching those channels in live mode due to the long breaks. I make sure that when I turn off my TV, I leave the one or both of the tuners tuned to those channels. Later when I turn my TV back on, I back up to the beginning of the 1hr buffer and start watching to see what I caught. Sort of like fishing. It would be even better if the buffer were larger than an hour but anyway, without the DVR features working properly it makes the whole idea very difficult...

-Brian


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## elbyj

robglasser said:


> For those of you that are expierencing problems with OTA channels that you did not with the 921, do you have a Dish Pro Plus 44 switch in your installation? I can't confirm this for sure, but over the weekend I installed a Dish1000 and took my DPP44 switch out of my installation. Since then the one station that I was having problems keeping a lock on seems to have improved 100%. Prior to this week it was unwatchable. Over the weekend I watched it for a couple of hours without issue. I'm wondering if the powered DPP44 was maybe introducing some interference into the receiver that was causing problems. To my knowledge the station I was having problems with has not changed anything with their transmission.
> 
> When I had my 921 I had a Dish Pro 34, non-powered switch, and this channel was fairly stable, only loss signal during windy days. With the 942 I had a Dish Pro Plus 44 powered switch and could never watch the channel, even for a few minutes on a calm day without losing the channel. I take the switch out and now I'm back to where I was with the 921, only has issues with wind, but so far even that seems better now on the 942.
> 
> I'd be curious if someone else could test this theory.


Unable to confirm or deny your comments --- when I had our 1000 installed two weeks ago with the 942, the installer indicated I did not need a DPP44 since the 1000 had the new twin LNBs. I am glad about that since it would have cost me an additional $198 to buy the DPP 44. I have yet to experience any of the audio/video issues mentioned in this thead from either OTA or SAT broadcasts/recordings (knock on wood!!). As a matter of fact I am just about ready to discontinue the local channel package from DISH since I am now able to pick up all the same channels in HD via OTA. Resolved my last issue this weekend in putting up a second UHF antenna on the post to point to a local channel that is in the opposite direction of all the others.


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## Paradox-sj

elbyj said:


> Unable to confirm or deny your comments --- when I had our 1000 installed two weeks ago with the 942, the installer indicated I did not need a DPP44 since the 1000 had the new twin LNBs. I am glad about that since it would have cost me an additional $198 to buy the DPP 44. I have yet to experience any of the audio/video issues mentioned in this thead from either OTA or SAT broadcasts/recordings (knock on wood!!). As a matter of fact I am just about ready to discontinue the local channel package from DISH since I am now able to pick up all the same channels in HD via OTA. Resolved my last issue this weekend in putting up a second UHF antenna on the post to point to a local channel that is in the opposite direction of all the others.


You may not want to discontinue your local channle package from dish...You see the 942 uses that information to populate the digital OTA guide with program data. So if you ever want to use the NBR feature of the 942 on a digital OTA channel you will need the guide.

It's E* way of increaseing shareholder value. :sure:


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## Hoxxx

all of my OTA HR recordings have video drop outs. all of the sat recordings are okay. this is new the l280 update.


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## elbyj

Thanks much Paradox-sj! Didn't realize that little bit of information -- but it doesn't suprise me at all. I guess I can always keep them on the bill just in case the wind blows down my OTA!


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## MarkoC

cebbigh said:


> Got home from work 30 min after recording started for the Seahawks game (espn/hd). Tried to watch the already recorded material and no sound. Did not stop the recording but turned 942 on and off several times. Still no sound on the show that was in process of recording. Did not do reboot because I wanted to keep the recording intact. Gambled that the sound would be there after the recording was finished. Watched the remainder of the game "live". After the game was over and recording ceased the recording indeed had sound. I sure do hope Dish fixes this soon.


I have noticed this problem lately as well. However for some reason it is only a problem with the optical audio output. If you try the composite audio it seems to work fine. While this may be an emergency work around, composite audio is no substitute for DD. I hope this problem is fixed soon!


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## cebbigh

For what it's worth I called Dish and reported these problems to an advanced tech. Up to this point I felt it would be pointless. But maybe the more calls they get the more attentive they will be.


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## johnstred

Hoxxx said:


> all of my OTA HR recordings have video drop outs. all of the sat recordings are okay. this is new the l280 update.


The same thing here.... especially since L280 and on ABC in Dallas for OTA HD. That's why I often schedule a duplicate recording in SD on a satallite channel. At least you can do this now; however I do feel this is very silly to have to do. It's like ordering ataxi each time you need to go to work, just in case your car doesn't start. DISH should not put us into that sitiuation, so i hope they will fix this soon.


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## PeteSJCA

I've had my 942 for a week now and have had the following problems:

"Program Guide" does not update over night, and the daily schedule and timer lists are blank, this has happened 4 out of the last 5 mornings... 2 programs were not recorded.

Going from the "interactive screen" (channel 100) to one of the six preview windows, system froze and the screen went black, i rebooted after 5 minutes, while rebooting system says I needed to perform a "check switch", but won't let me select either OK or cancel, only the Help button would work, had to reboot again and then no mention of switch problems...

I've contacted Dish and they weren't much help, I was told that since my last two receivers (921s) had multiple problems and have been returned, that there may be a grounding problem or a problem with my surge suppressor. Does this make sense to anyone?

Should i stay with Dish, or jump ship to DirecTV? is the DirecTV HD DVR any better?

I appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks, Pete


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## Neil Derryberry

I've split a few posts in regard to 942 bashing.. that's not what this thread is for. The split posts can be found in the General Dish DVR forum.


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## cebbigh

Neil Derryberry said:


> I've split a few posts in regard to 942 bashing.. that's not what this thread is for. The split posts can be found in the General Dish DVR forum.


My post was in favor of sticking it out with the 942 despite the problems with L280/281 because with good software the 942 is "an excellent DVR." How is that interpreted as 942 bashing?

This was my post:

It is unfortunate that you got your 942 after the 280/281 software. The 942 is really an excellent DVR when it's working the way it is supposed to. Because I've seen it perform well I'm inclined to stick it out while Dish gets it's act together. (I can't comment on directv because I've never tried it.)


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## Ron Barry

Sorry Chuck.. I think your post might have got accidently caught in the move. Thanks for adding it back. I definitely would not put your post in that catagory. From what I can tell looks like a mistake was made. Apologize for the inconvience caused by the cut over.


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## cebbigh

Ron Barry said:


> Sorry Chuck.. I think your post might have got accidently caught in the move. Thanks for adding it back. I definitely would not put your post in that catagory. From what I can tell looks like a mistake was made. Apologize for the inconvience caused by the cut over.


Accepted and not a problem. Mistakes happen.


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## Neil Derryberry

OOps... my mistake! Sorry about that!


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## Gutter

Has anyone heard if DISH will be correcting the problem with Missing local Satellite channels when the same digital channel is scanned in? they told me almost 2 months ago that they were aware of the problem but 2.81 didn't correct that. I don't want to scan in all my OTA digital channels just to have the SAT locals appear and disappear randomly.


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## Mike Johnson

Gutter said:


> Has anyone heard if DISH will be correcting the problem with Missing local Satellite channels when the same digital channel is scanned in? they told me almost 2 months ago that they were aware of the problem but 2.81 didn't correct that. I don't want to scan in all my OTA digital channels just to have the SAT locals appear and disappear randomly.


Gutter, I've heard of that issue, but I haven't heard of when the fix might come. Sorry, I wish I knew more...


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## Gutter

Mike...thanks for that much anyway.


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## JM Anthony

I'm watching Ch. 5 in Seattle tonight OTA and I start to lose the signal (error message pops up) so I hit the channel up button to get to my satellite local channel and the 942 locks solid. Power button reboot wouldn't work. Had to do a full power down before I could get it to restore. Lost 10 min. of the West Wing in the process. Bummer!

John


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## cebbigh

JM Anthony said:


> I'm watching Ch. 5 in Seattle tonight OTA and I start to lose the signal (error message pops up) so I hit the channel up button to get to my satellite local channel and the 942 locks solid. Power button reboot wouldn't work. Had to do a full power down before I could get it to restore. Lost 10 min. of the West Wing in the process. Bummer!
> 
> John


I think this may have been a problem with the network feed or King. Last week Surface did the same thing. My signal/noise ratio was strong but no picture. Then when the picture returned it was SD. It wasn't the first time it happened with King in the past few weeks.


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## dave1234

Yes there was a problem with the network feed, but that shouldn't crash the box under any circumstance.


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## cebbigh

dave1234 said:


> Yes there was a problem with the network feed, but that shouldn't crash the box under any circumstance.


Can't disagree with that. Not on a nightly basis like it seems to be doing on mine. If there was just a simple way around it (like avoiding pressing the fast advance again before the first action completes) it wouldn't be so bad. But there are sooo many quirks with this software. October was a bad month, I sure hope November is better.


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## Rob Glasser

JM Anthony said:


> I'm watching Ch. 5 in Seattle tonight OTA and I start to lose the signal (error message pops up) so I hit the channel up button to get to my satellite local channel and the 942 locks solid. Power button reboot wouldn't work. Had to do a full power down before I could get it to restore. Lost 10 min. of the West Wing in the process. Bummer!
> 
> John


I recorded and watched West Wing via KING 5 OTA-HD this week without a single problem. No video or audio issues so I don't think it was their transmission. I did have some problems once, on a Wednesday about 2 weeks ago or so, but that was the only time I've noticed. Granted I only watch maybe 3 - 4 shows a week on NBC right now.

On another note I noticed that KOMO/ABC was having a heck of a time Sunday night during Desperate Housewives, SD picture, static audio. Thank god it was a re-run or my wife would have been PO'd.


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## JM Anthony

Originally Posted by JM Anthony
I'm watching Ch. 5 in Seattle tonight OTA and I start to lose the signal (error message pops up) so I hit the channel up button to get to my satellite local channel and the 942 locks solid. Power button reboot wouldn't work. Had to do a full power down before I could get it to restore. Lost 10 min. of the West Wing in the process. Bummer!

John



robglasser said:


> I recorded and watched West Wing via KING 5 OTA-HD this week without a single problem. No video or audio issues so I don't think it was their transmission. . . .


I don't think the problem was associated with their transmission. I think the lock up I experienced was the result of the combination of error message (due to loss of signal) and then pressing the channel up button.

John


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## johnstred

A new bug started to creep into my 942 (L281): selecting a recorded show, the TV displays a bright grey screen (similar to snow) and a sound that can best be described as fingernails against a blackboard. The unit also freezes at this point. I have to do a soft-reboot and then it works okay. This has only happened since L280, and is now happening with an ever increasing frequency. Any thoughts out there?


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## ewingr

I don't recall if I've seen this reported. But I had CSI set to record, and instead, it recorded Dirty Jobs on Discovery Channel. The title on the recording said CSI, but the recording was the Dirty Jobs.


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## Mike Johnson

ewingr said:


> I don't recall if I've seen this reported. But I had CSI set to record, and instead, it recorded Dirty Jobs on Discovery Channel. The title on the recording said CSI, but the recording was the Dirty Jobs.


Many are having trouble with this right now. A fix is in the works, we just don't know when we'll see it....


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## Paradox-sj

Is there any truth to the 'rumor' that the 921 development team took over for the 942 team whilst the 942 team moved on to work on the 962 mpeg4 device?


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## LtMunst

Paradox-sj said:


> Is there any truth to the 'rumor' that the 921 development team took over for the 942 team whilst the 942 team moved on to work on the 962 mpeg4 device?


Not likely. The 962 is probably just going to be an Mpeg4 942. It would be silly to duplicate the effort.


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## Ron Barry

Paradox-sj said:


> Is there any truth to the 'rumor' that the 921 development team took over for the 942 team whilst the 942 team moved on to work on the 962 mpeg4 device?


I have not heard anything remotely relating to this rumor. If this is floating around, I doubt it is true.


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## Jeff McClellan

Well that doesnt seem logical as that would leave no one for the 921. :grin:


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## waltinvt

I suppose it could explain the 942's decline in stability over the past few months. Seems like a lot of the problems started 2 or 3 software downloads ago.


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