UTV 3.7

[gowilk]

I heard this release is starting to come out ... neone got it yet???? ... what are the paramenters they're using to selectively release it????

This is probably the last release for UTV but sounds like some serious feature addition (buffer record, pip move, overrun options and some other stuff).

thanks for any help for my orphaned PVR

[Karl Foster]

From what I read at AVSForums, they are waiting for the release until all UTV owners receive new P4 cards. I don't know how many have or haven't received them. I received my cards quite some time ago, so I am also anxiously awaiting this upgrade. The feature I am most anxious to use is the buffer recording. If you have a keyboard, you can move the PIP by using CMD-M. I don't know whether or not this will be the final upgrade. I will be saddened when the service goes away whether it is in one year of five years down the road. My initial monetary investment wasn't much, and I believe I have definitely gotten my money's worth. It has been a superb piece of equipment, and never skips a beat.

[Kenster]

I received an update about a week or so ago. I didn't notice the version number. How are we supposed to know what, if any, enhancements were made with the upgrade? I haven't received any literature or noticed any messages.
I, too, love my UTV. I would hate to be out the money to buy a new PVR and service to go with it. Is the problem that Microsoft doesn't want to support it anymore or that D* doesn't want to deal with it? For such a good product, I'm surprised that someone else is not interested in picking it up.

[Ric]

Check in with AVSforums. It does appear that someone received an upgrade in early April and that it must be rolling out slowly. There are pictures and postings of the new features/enhancements there. I assume that DTV doesn't want every UTV'er calling with upgrade questions at once so they are doing this incrementally but I don't know how they decide who and when.

Go to your Settings menu from the Home screen and into System Info. There you can see what version you have. there is an Upgrade 'info' button that allows you to see when the last upgrade came and if you are scheduled for the new one yet.

[Karl Foster]

...there is also a "help" icon at the bottom of the home screen. It will have the new features and instructions on it when the new version is sent to your machine...

[raj2001]

I've been monitoring the threads over at AVS Forum (singular) and it does seem as though UTV 3.7 has been released. You can even see some screenshots at:

http://www.blindsquirrel.org/UTV/37

[Karl Foster]

This looks like a really good upgrade. Both of mine still say no upgrade scheduled - ugh! It seems that they have thought of almost everything now.

I just bought a third UTV unit for my daughter for her birthday and will be selling my two standard receivers. Now we'll be a total PVR family. I really like this product and hope it will be around and supported for a long time. I sure wish, though, that they'd lower the fee to $4.99 like they did for the Tivo's, but still, for what I paid for my initial investment ($39 each for the first two units) I won't balk too loudly.

[HarryD]

While 3.7 has been released, from what I read, everyone will get it by June. We'll see....

[Karl Foster]

I received my 3.7 upgrade on all of my UTV units last night. I haven't had a chance to play with it as I had to go to work this a.m. I'll play with it this evening and report further. Looks like a nice upgrade.

[Neil Derryberry]

FYI... see the buy,sell,trade forum... I'm getting out of mine.

[brent]

Microsoft has updated the UltimateTV web site with info on the Spring 2003 upgrade.

http://www.ultimatetv.com/spring2003upgrade.asp

[Kenster]

I went back and checked. I still have 3.5. I wonder what was going on a couple of weeks ago, around 6:00 in the morning, when a streamer came across the bottom of the screen saying that an update was in progress? It took about ten minutes.
The 3.7, as shown on the website, looks good. It also makes me feel better about Ultimate TV being around for a while if they are bothering to upgrade and inhance the product. I may just get another one to replace the upstairs receiver.

[gowilk]

Originally posted by brent
Microsoft has updated the UltimateTV web site with info on the Spring 2003 upgrade.

http://www.ultimatetv.com/spring2003upgrade.asp

This schedule appears accurate as i received the update on both my sony pvr's last nite, takes 10 minutes, don't matter if the unit is on or off (one was on, the other off). So essentially everyone west of Kansas with a p4 should have received the update and the rest of the country will get it next week. The update does seem to have improved the response from the remote just a little unless my imagination is running wild on me.

gla

[Karl Foster]

Now that I've had a few days to play with the new search features and buffer recording, I am very impressed with this upgrade. Some quick things I have noticed that I really like:

1. When a show is recorded from a "Series Record" or "Auto Record" ant it is watched and erased, the UTV now states that the same show with the same description will not be recorded again for approximately 30 days.

2. Caller ID. I've never had a receiver with caller ID, so to me this is a new feature. It rocks and is so convenient.

3. Ability to see search results alphabetically or chronologically.

4. Credits screen. Most shows have a Credits block that when you select it, it shows the cast of actors, director, writer, and original release or air date.

5. Ability to search channels that aren't in the guide. While this seems stupid, it allows you to easily search PPV stations, without adding them to the guide.

6. The ability to delete the history file. This is obvious :D

7. Movable PIP screen. While I don't use the PIP often, it will be good to keep it out of the bottom right - especially when watching sports.

8. Using the FF and skip keys on the remote to scroll 12hr and 3hr respectively through the guide.

Those are the main changes I have noticed and liked. I have also noticed that scrolling through the guide seems faster. All in all, I 'd give a big kudos to the MS team (those that are left) who have worked diligently to get these upgrades done.

[Kenster]

I woke up a couple of days ago to find my SAT off the air. I did a reboot and discovered that I had received the 3.7 upgrade during the night. I read over all the new features last night and it looks good, especially the movable PIP and being able to scroll through the guide in big chunks instead of an hour at a time. Setting up to record a show a day or two into the future will now be quicker than having to do a day and time search. UTV rocks!

[Kenster]

I forgot one of the best new features. You know how you can watch a show and wish you had recorded it? With the upgrade, you can now record the previous 30 minutes of a show you have just watched! It's like stepping back in time.

[Ric]

YEA - Finally received my update this morning. UTV is the best thing I have seen and really hope it stays supported by Dirctv for a couple more years at least. One thing, I did test the wireless jack with the caller ID and, yep, just like the warning states, it does mess up the line after one ring so don't do it.

It is easy to revert back by disabling caller ID and turning off the unit but you gotta try it even if they do tell you not to. They had to know that every one of us with wireless jacks would try it even if they said 'don't do it'. Will follow up with my thoughts as I play with the new features.

[HarryD]

Got mine on the 1st. Pretty sweet so far.

[Neil Derryberry]

my 2 utv's got upgraded on the 1st as well.

[yanai]

Has anyone experienced significant (ie. 50%) reduction in recording capacity. I'm still running with the original 40 GB drive, and I've seen my capacity drop from 30+ hours to 16 hours.

Both DirecTV and RCA instructed me to turn off the PVR (RCA), apparently so it can compress its disk. Also, was told by both to cycle the power once a month (as in, disconnect the power cord). We did both, and then recorded 16 hours: 98%. Unless ALIAS, 24, WEST WING, CSI, etc. have "special content" doubling storage needs, I'm thinking something major has happened.

This has only happened recently; I believe it coincides with the 3.7 upgrade.

[Karl Foster]

I haven't noticed a significant decrease in recording time - but mine are upgraded to larger drives, but in doing some research at www.avsforum.com there are people reporting the same problem, and I think the consensus has come down to Directv decreasing the compression of their programming, which causes a larger file size. Also, if you have any sporting events such as NBA games, etc on there, they take up an incredible amount of space. If any of the programs on your HDD are Dolby Digital, they also take up a lot of space. avsforum is down for maintenance right now, but you could check over there tomorrow for further light and knowledge.

[HarryD]

I have! I just checked mine last night and I have about 16 hours recorded and I'm at 86%! Something's changed!
I have no sports, and no DD movies recorded..

[Kenster]

I looked at mine last night. I have 19 hours recorded and it shows 56% which is very close to what it should be. I got the upgrade a couple of weeks ago. I don't see a problem but I don't record sports events or high definition stuff.

[lee120]

i have a utv and i get 27 and i got 87%

[Edmund]

I'm up to 26 hours and 88% full.

[nlsngrc]

Not sure if this is still an active thread but my general opinion of 3.7 is mixed.

The Caller ID option is not working, and hasn't been working since the Spring 2003 upgrade. I am hoping that when my telephone company comes in for a service call and checks the line for noise, that it will resolve the problem and I'll be able to enjoy this option.

I am also suspecting that the problem with Caller ID is also affecting the interactive and web alerts; I don't get them. Period Zilch. Nada. And when they do work, it's only on one channel, either GSN/309 or PAX/255 and only for about a half hour and only after I've powered off completely and re-started. I'm told TWC/362 is still quite interactive though while watching some of it's programming, I don't get any interactive or web offers.

BUFFER RECORDING - nice, but I haven't had a need to use it yet.

Improved Search Options - also nice, but to be quite honest, I don't find myself searching daily for any Kubrick or Scorscese films and alphabetical listings could be better ( I would have prefered editing my search, limiting to what I have on my listings, omitting PPV and the premium channels for example)

OVERTIME ALERTS - I'm also noticing that some live events are not showing the alert (WWE RAW on TNN for example which I record weekly runs about five minutes over sometimes ) so this option is not really workingfor me either.