722 behaving badly

[mfabel]

I have had a 722 for a couple of years and have loved it. It has been very reliable - until this week. Twice this week, while recording 2 shows, I have tried to time shift and watch one of the shows time delayed while both shows are recording. After a few minutes, the show suddenly gets kicked to live TV. If I try to go back to where I was, it may work for a couple of minutes and then I get kicked back to live TV again. Eventually I either get a screen telling me it has lost the signal and is trying (unsuccessfully) to acquire the satellites, or the screen goes black, and eventually it reboots. Rebooting seems to fix the problem at least temporarily. This has happened both with OTA recordings and satellite recordings.

Any ideas on what might be happening? Could it be a signal strength issue? Or the beginnings of a hardware failure? I could call and try to get a replacement, but would I be charged for a new one? Should I sign up for the DHPP before I call?

[phrelin]

I have had a 722 for a couple of years and have loved it. It has been very reliable - until this week. Twice this week, while recording 2 shows, I have tried to time shift and watch one of the shows time delayed while both shows are recording. After a few minutes, the show suddenly gets kicked to live TV. If I try to go back to where I was, it may work for a couple of minutes and then I get kicked back to live TV again. Eventually I either get a screen telling me it has lost the signal and is trying (unsuccessfully) to acquire the satellites, or the screen goes black, and eventually it reboots. Rebooting seems to fix the problem at least temporarily. This has happened both with OTA recordings and satellite recordings.

Any ideas on what might be happening? Could it be a signal strength issue? Or the beginnings of a hardware failure? I could call and try to get a replacement, but would I be charged for a new one? Should I sign up for the DHPP before I call?Do you know if this is happening now that you have the new software (L6.25) which you likely would have received in the past few days?

[jkane]

On mine it seems to do stuff like that when there is less than about 15 hours of HD record time remaining. I suspect a bad spot on the hard disk or something like that. I clean up some old stuff, and it works great again until the kids crap builds up. They never seem to delete anything they watch. It's like they think it's a big black hole. BTW: One is an adult "kid" and the other will be 18 this fall. They never seem to learn. :mad:

[mfabel]

Do you know if this is happening now that you have the new software (L6.25) which you likely would have received in the past few days?

I just checked and I do have the 625 software, but I have no idea when I got the update.

[mfabel]

On mine it seems to do stuff like that when there is less than about 15 hours of HD record time remaining. I suspect a bad spot on the hard disk or something like that. I clean up some old stuff, and it works great again until the kids crap builds up. They never seem to delete anything they watch. It's like they think it's a big black hole. BTW: One is an adult "kid" and the other will be 18 this fall. They never seem to learn. :mad:
I have about 25 hrs left on the HD, which is pretty typical. I suppose I could record some extra stuff to get away from the part of the drive that is now being used to see if that helps. But if it is the HD, I should probably replace the box.

[phrelin]

If you have to replace the box, since you have OTA you might want to consider trying to work out a deal on a 722k even though you have to buy the two tuner OTA module. Once in a while it seems a TSR will do that.

[mfabel]

What will the 722k do for me - get me a second OTA tuner? Are they still sending out the old 722? I was hoping to hold off on a new box until the 922 comes out. If I work out a deal not for a 722k am I less likely to qualify for a deal on a 922?

[pghDave3017]

I experienced the same problem last night where I try to delay my dvr viewing of basketball to synch with the radio broadcast. The difference is almost always the DVR is about 5 seconds ahead of the XM broadcast. So I delay the DVR by 5 seconds and it's a wonderful experience.

Last night suddenly around half time my DVR refused to hold the 5 second delay and kept jumping to live TV. I have to admit I was too aggravated to carry out any near-scientific debugging but I think the problem was that I was watching as I recorded and something else started or stopped recording. That's when it went whackey. I went back to the recording and started over, then went live then delayed and it stayed fine the rest of the event.

Not enough money in the world would get me to spend time reporting this one to customer support! ;-)

[phrelin]

What will the 722k do for me - get me a second OTA tuner? Are they still sending out the old 722? I was hoping to hold off on a new box until the 922 comes out. If I work out a deal not for a 722k am I less likely to qualify for a deal on a 922?It will get you a second OTA tuner. And it appears that the 722k works with the new "soon" to be released Sling TV Everywhere™ Adapter which may end up being easier to get than a 922 (see Dish's web page (http://www.dishnetwork.com/tveverywhere/default.aspx)). But I was just throwing out a thought. I'm kinda jaded about ever getting a 922 and the 722k is just about through the typical Echostar/dish post-release beta testing which the first 922 users will have to go through.;)

[mfabel]

Well I put it off as long as I could, but I had finally had enough last night. I could not watch anything because all the tuners were recording something, and if I tried to start one of the recording shows form the beginning, I would have problems and then get kicked to live TV. Nothing worse than seeing who gets voted out of Survivor before you see what leads up to it.

Anyway, I called Dish and then had me read some status values to them. The agent put me on hold, came back and said they would send me a new box. I asked if I could get a 722k instead of a 722. Again she put me on hold, came back and said they were sending me a 722k. I threw her for a loop when I asked about the OTA module. She did not know anything about it and could not find anything about it. She said it would probably come in the same box with the receiver. I have my doubts, but I asked several times to ensure I was getting a 722 k and not a 722, so if it comes without the OTA module I'll just call back and order one.

Overall I am pretty happy with the service from Dish.

[DishTV]

.... I have my doubts, but I asked several times to ensure I was getting a 722 k and not a 722, so if it comes without the OTA module I'll just call back and order one.

;) Good luck with that order. OTA modules are out of stock at DishNetwork.

[bnborg]

;) Good luck with that order. OTA modules are out of stock at DishNetwork.

I see it's on Back Order at Dish Depot, also.