Odd 501 Recording

[Mike8675309]

I stumped the boys in Advanced support with this one as well. I'm at version 196 of the software and have a recording that was recorded in english that is playing back in Spanish.

It's a long story how I got there, but after watching a DVD, I flipped back to the PVR that was still recording Reign of Fire on Stars 350 in DD 5.1. I rewound that show all the way back to the beginning. Started watching it on english with DD5.1 While watching it was still recording. I browsed to look into recording something else, when the receiver glitched, stopping the recording inexplicably. Then the browse was acting weird so I reset the receiver.

Then I try to watch the movie. The first minute is the Stars preview stuff, in english. Then the movie starts and the first thing I notice is the DD 5.1 logo and little splash but my Audio receiver doesn't flip to DD 5.1. I move to where we were in the movie when it died, and find that everyone is talking in spanish. WTF?

Regardless of what I did, or the tech on the phone had me try, the movie continues to play back in Spanish without the DD 5.1?

Weird. My guess is that multiple audio streams are sent down and are recorded. But somehow, for that movie, a flag got set to play it back in Spanish. They made a note but didn't report to engineering due to a new software revision coming down. But if it happens again (yeah, right) I'll call and they will write it up.

[Bob Haller]

Did you try something wierd? Try setting the language to spanish, perhaps its confused to which is which?

[Mike8675309]

Nope. I didn't do nothing other than the machine freaked" canceling the recording early, browse forward one time period was showing current time period regardless. I reset it, and the recording now only played back in Spanish. The Advanced Tech had me try changing the receiver settings to a different language, then back to english, but no joy.

Killed the recording. Then set a timer to pick it up on Stars West. But then I saw Stars West was not in DD 5.1. So I canceled that timer and found it back on Stars East in DD 5.1 and set it to record at 6:15 this morning.

Well, I'm getting ready for church and I check it out. WTF. No sound. I'm not getting any sound out the RF connection to my TV or the Optical connection to my receiver. I check other PVR recordings, no sound. So I cancel the recording, switch channels. No sound. Damn, should have signed up for that warranty program last month. I reset the machine, wait for it to pull the guide down, and it when it comes back up it has sound. I check the recording, it's in English DD 5.1 and I can hear it. So I quick finish recording the last 25 minutes.

This is the weirdest I've ever seen my 501 over the last 18 months. I guess there may be some issues with version 196 of the software?

[MikeW]

I've never seen the combination of "going to church" and WTF in the same post. Genuine!

[Mike8675309]

The machine flaked again last night while recording a PPV. About 2 hours into it the system said "Recording Ending" and then the screen glitched and it froze up solid. Had to pull the plug to get it to wake up. After coming back alive, when trying to view the Recording we found the recording corrupted.

When starting the recording we see a portion of the last thing it was recording when it froze, then the screen glitches bad, leaving us at the PVR screen, but with the last frame visible behind it. So I see a frame of the PPV, with the buttons for Start Over, View, Erase overlayed on top of it.

Maybe the HD is failing? While the odd foreign language problem wouldn't seem like it, with only 11 hours available on the receiver, I suppose these 2 hour recordings are running into the same spot on the HD, causing an issue.

I'll wait for the next software update they say is coming and see if it does any better. If not, it may be time to swap it out. I wish they would hurry up with the 522.

[DarrellP]

Mike, if you are not on the extended warranty, call right now and get signed up. You must wait 30 days before making a claim, so don't call Dish and tell them what's happening, just live with it for a month then call and start the trouble reporting process.

[Mike8675309]

Originally posted by DarrellP
Mike, if you are not on the extended warranty, call right now and get signed up.

Thanks. I was aware of the 30 day wait, so I signed right up. Though I believe you can sign up at time of failure for a flat fee that is typically much less than the cost of the repair.

I signed up via the customer service website this morning.