issue with 721

[Allamand]

I was wondering if this has happened to any one else. i was watching a show i had recorded on the HD and two timers fired to recored.

I ended up with a message popping up saying there wasn't enough HD space to record the shows.. Though I had over 54 hours left. I deleted a movie and a couple other shows but the message was still popping up after 58 hours of record time left.

Ended up doing a reboot, and then all came back up and the 721 started recording both shows fine!

This is the first big problem so far after having the 721 for 2 weeks. A few glitches here and there during play back, but nothing like this till now..

I sure hope this isn't the start of the many problems I've read about!

[Jacob S]

Some if not most probably do not use their pvr's heavily enough to experience some of the problems that others have. I know that there is an issue with having too many timers from what others have said but since you have most of the hard drive space left I doubt it would be that. This is a new problem I have not heard of before.

Try pressing the power button on the receiver for 6 seconds and rebooting it.

[BobMurdoch]

I had a problem where it wouldn't let me delete some event timers.

A hard power reboot cured the problem.

[Mike D-CO5]

I have posted this before as a remedy to the to many timer problem: Most of my shows are on network tv so I will record blocks of tv shows ex; "must see tv on thursday night on NBC. " I don't miss any of the ending of the shows when they run credits and I don't have to set all those timers with a 1 min early timer or 3 min late timer On Daytime tv the same all the ABC soaps in one timer.

It cuts down on the amount of timers so I can record more one time only Movie timers. The only thing is I can't know what is the next show is about till I actually get to that show on the recording. It has served me well this last year and I have not had any problem with the unit crashing . It's a work around that works for me.

[TomCat]

Remedy? Hardly.

Forget about the fact that the PVR guide will not list all of the program info for all of the shows. Many of us have a very different schedule for replaying shows as we do for recording them, especially if only some of them need to be watched chronologically. Being able to free yourself from the schedule shows are presented in is at the heart of what makes a PVR such a wonderful appliance in the first place. If you don't watch the entire block of shows then you can't delete any of them, which can raise storage space issues very quickly. Also, you can't set a timer for a block of programming from the grid, you must create a timer, which is more cumbersome and easier to misprogram. Recording programs individually is infinitely more convenient in a number of ways. I'm glad for those who this works for, but I can't imagine it being more than a kludge-y workaround for most of us.

[Mike D-CO5]

Well I have used this work around for close to a year and I don't see how it is any worse than having the receiver lock up when you reach the 65 timer limit. All you have to do is hit the first show to record then edit it and ajust the time to account for the block of recordings and viola you have the timer lcon on all the shows in that block. As far as series tv, I record blocks for Soaps , Monday night schedule of comedies on Cbs, the Thursday night comedies on Nbc. Of course there is going to be shows that I can't do this with . If I want to watch a few then stop and come back later I just continue from where I left off. Personally I don't need to free myself from network scheduling that bad . Does it really make a difference whether you watch "Friends" first vs say "Scrubs"? That's why you have a fast forward button and reverse button on the remote. You can watch in any order you want.

My point was that in order to record all the series tv and still have timers to record movies I had to work out something that works till they fix this timer limit problem in the next software download. I never said that I thought it was a remedy . It's just a work around that I suggest if you record tv like I do. The main reason I use this is to maimize the amount of shows that I can record with a limited amount of timers. That is why I sub to a Dish Guide magazine every month so I can pick out what I am going to record that month and so I will have the timers to do it with.

[gary s]

This is off the original topic of this thread but about recording blocks of shows. I have done this before but it's been a while. As I recall, when you record a block of shows, they are listed under one title on the main pvr recorded shows menu. But when you select that block it breaks it up into the separate shows with their own titles and you can select which show you want to watch either in or out of order. This is how I remember it working but I could be wrong.

[Jacob S]

I remember seeing something like this as well, where there were seperate files for each show that was broken down into seperate ones. I dont know how that works.

[Mike D-CO5]

The seperate folders sound like a good idea that Dish ought to do, but that is not what happens with my block recordings . I really don't know what is on the block for show info till I speed up the recording to the next show, then I can push info and find out what it is.

[Big Bob]

I have one such recording on my PVR right now. Was recorded about 6 months ago so I don't know how I set it up. Will post more later when I have access to my machine.

[jimcx]

I had the same problem. If you set a timer for a specific show, then expand the timer to include other shows, you will not see the other shows listed. If you set a timer for a block of time (not from the guide), then each show will be listed when you select the block. From the screen that displays each show, you can go to the start of any of the listed shows, and when the 'cursor' is put on the show title, the show's info displays. Of course you have to hit the info button to see what's really there since there's never enough room for more than the first couple of words...

[Mike D-CO5]

So your saying that if you set a manual timer that the "folders" will pop up with each show and you can hit info on each show and it will tell you what it is about? That is pretty cool , but they should be able to do the same for recording blocks for of time from the guide also. Maybe they should include this in the new software version.

[Jacob S]

What about if you use instant record instead of going to the timers menu to setup the timer? How about recording from the search menu? Would it be the same as a manual timer causing the shows to be listed in folders? I figure if you select a show from a screen then it would not show up in folders but if you selected the time yourself it would. I dont know what the instant record would be classified as though, manual or from a screen.

[TomCat]

Well I have used this work around for close to a year and I don't see how it is any worse than having the receiver lock up when you reach the 65 timer limit....

Does it really make a difference whether you watch "Friends" first vs say "Scrubs"? ...

I never said that I thought it was a remedy ...

"I have posted this before as a remedy to the to many timer problem..."

This is the exact quote I was responding to, and if that's not you saying you think of this as a remedy, then you may be completely beyond help. The term "remedy" is the word that spurred me into "wait just a minute" mode in the first place. Otherwise I have no opinion except that its not for me.

It only matters what you say if you can remember what you've said. Very reminiscent of "I did not have sex with that woman" and "That depends upon what your definition of is (or "remedy") is". :D

If this works for you, then vaya con Dios. Thanks for sharing. Really.

But many of us never reach the 65 timer limit. I watch WAY too much television, and I have never passed 15 timers on any of my PVR's, two of which probably record 30 or 40 programs between them weekly during sweeps. But then I set few REPEATING timers, preferring to set individual timers daily or so, which I find easy and more accurate. If you set all of your timers as repeating, then I can see how this might be helpful, and yes, I'll admit that it is a cool workaround. But hardly a remedy, and hardly without a number of costs, which was central to my original post.

Does it make a difference (Friends / Scrubs) ? To me, absolutely. I might be the oddball, but I only watch what I'm in the mood for, and I can easily be in a "Friends" mood but not a "Scrubs" mood even though I caught every ep of both this year. All season long I watched "BuffyTVS" the same night it was broadcast, but then in April I stopped, and the last 5 eps sit waiting on the hard drive. I'm just no longer in the mood. Some day in August I might burn through all of them at once. If I'm in the mood. To me, this freedom is what the Personal Video Recorder lifestyle is all about.

[Mike D-CO5]

You know Tom Cat, you got me I must have said remedy.

My main point is that untill Dish fixes the 65 limit on timers I offer to you and anyone else that it is work around that works for people who record a lot of tv. I do set more timers than you evidently . Right now I have 62 set in weekly and once only timers.

I just got the ON SAT mag for Dish and it breaks down the movies weekly so I am able to use my premium channels more than I did when I used the monthly Dish Magazine.

As for watching in any order you want, I say again thats what the fast forward and reverse button is for on your remote. Watch in any order you want . I record so many shows that I don't protect them anymore and if I don't get to them some of the oldest get recorded over . I ALWAYS have something to watch when I want to .


Maybe you should offer Ideas like I did instead of nitpicking other people's . What would you suggest as a remedy to the 65 timer limit?

[Jacob S]

I remember when it came out with only 10 timers (just like the 4700 have), and there sure was a lot of complaints then about that. I am sure it would be an easy fix for them and there should still be enough memory to add more timers.

Do those that upgrade the hard drives in their dishplayers have problems with a limited amount of timers or does the dishplayers have unlimited timers?

[Big D]

Mike D-CO5:

Off topic,

I am curious as to the ON SAT magazine you mentioned, I just canceled my sub to the Dish mag because is not doing the job for me, how is the ON SAT guide? Is it for Dish only or any satelite service? If it is weekly, is it like TV Guide? Where did you get it?

Thanks,

[Mike D-CO5]

Just started getting it last week. It breaks down the movies and specials ,sports, pay per views all by time zone and by company. It list the networks and superstations by the east and west nets. It claims to be the most accurate satellite guide available. I like it because it is more like a tv guide you might get out of your area newspapers. It also has the kind of articles you might get in Dish Magazine or TV guide. It also list the phone numbers and addresses for some of the stations on Dish :TV Land , Bravo, CNN,ESPN etc. They have a Dr. Dish column for sat questions and a Tv Crosswork section. It makes picking movies out for my 721 pvr much easier vs monthly guide from Dish. The guide has been right for every thing I recorded this week.

You can call 1-800 884-7077 For Directv
1-800-884-7077 For Dish Network
1-800-234-0021 For C-Band

Or you can Visit the website at www.onsat.com

You can subscribe for 52 weeks for $59.95 like I did or you can just try a free 4 week subscription over the website. It might be a little more costly than Dish for the year,( $3.99 a month for a total of $47.88 vs OnSat for a 52 week subscription of $ 59.95), but I like it much more than Dish. I always felt like I had to pick every movie I wanted to see for the month in one sitting. Now I can just pick what I want to record weekly and No Pressure to pick it all at one time. Over all I like it much more than Dish Guide.

[gary s]

Regarding Onsat magazine...
You can get four free samples of their guide by going to
http://www.onsat.com
They have phone #s for ordering if you scroll down on the left sidebar. Make sure you call the number for the company you are subscribed to (directv or dishnetwork). I would call them and let them know you would like to try their samples before ordering. I ordered mine on their online form (by clicking on subscribe on their website) and while I did not enter any credit card info they did send me a couple of invoices. However, I had no trouble cancelling after my first sample and the invoices stopped coming.
They have guides for C-band, directv, or dishnetwork. I cancelled mine after the first sample issue. It uses the same grid style as dish entertainment magazine and was not what I was hoping for. I was hoping it would be more like tv guide. It is a weekly guide and is about $12 more per year than dish ent. mag.

[Big D]

Thanks for the info, guys. I will be giving it a try as it sound great.