alipka
01-07-04, 11:04 PM
So, the first 24 hours of 921 ownership has produced a wealth of information. I thought I would summarize the various bugs and DISH's response to some of them:
1. OTA failure
I have confirmed the bug, reported here earlier, with OTA reception. If I try to tune a station that was found by the DTV scan but has a somewhat weak signal, it locks up the entire 8-VSB system, and no OTA stations can be successfully tuned. In addition, going back to the Add Local Channel screen result in a non-functioning screen. Deleting all the channels and trying another DTV scan freezes as well. A reboot allows one to try again, but it is hopeless at this point.
DISH has confirmed this. Apparently this bug was not present on the last beta version, but appeared in the release software. No ETA was provided for the fix.
2. PIP failure
PIP works only intermittently. In addition, if I pause one stream and swap, all hell breaks loose. The aspect ratio of the new main screen is random; I have been keeping SD stations on Gray Bars (component output, 1080i, 16x9), but upon PIP'ing, it becomes stretched - though it still says Gray Bars in the banner). Sometimes it reverts to Gray Bars, othertimes not. This has locked up the whole system and it has rebooted itself more than once.
Changing the size of the PIP window frequently causes lockups as well.
Sometimes PIP stops working altogether.
3. DTV failure
I set a timer and paused the channel I was watching. When the time came for the timer, it didn't record, even though pressing DTV showed the timer present.
I was able to record two streams at once later, one of them HD. I am concerned that having a pause at the onset of a timer may be a bug as above, however.
4. Aspect ratio/stretching failure
As mentioned above, the aspect ratio control has a mind of its own. Aside from the over-stretching many people have noted, going from guide to channel, or from menu to channel can change the stretch setting. Sometimes the unit gets into a mode where the banner reading doesn't match the actual picture setting.
5. OTA guide
As we feared, there is no guide information on the OTA stations other than the presence of the station. While this has been the case with the 6000, now that there is PVR capability it becomes more serious. The whole idea of selecting the program in the guide as a means to record it is negated by this absence.
Here's a workaround: if you get locals, find the SD station with the show you want and select it for recording in the guide. You can then edit the timer, once set, and change the channel to the OTA channel you want (assuming they fix the OTA's in the first place).
6. Favorites
I don't see any way to select which OTA stations you want to appear in the favorites list. On the 6000, the DTV stations you have added appear in the list of stations in the set up favorites screens; here, they don't. When I created a favorites list, they were all automatically added when I finished, but you may not want them all in your favorites list.
7. HD stations moving from 61.5 to 110
So HBOHD is not 9440 anymore, though the programming is still there. Again, though, the guide is behaving like the OTA stations, not listing the programs, and the new HBOHD station doesn't appear in the guide by default. This again means it is difficult to set a time for it.
You can add it by creating a favorites list (!) where it will appear.
8. HDNet/HDNetMovies failure
This may be peculiar to my system, but while I get Discovery HD and ESPNHD quite well, the HDNet stations are completely pixelated and unwatchable. This, despite the fact that the signal is actually higher on the transponder (7, I think) that HDNet/HDNMV are on compared with the DiscoveryHD/ESPNHD transponder.
I called DISH about this as well and they said I should bring the machine to the dealer, but it might be a software issue. Helpful.
Is anyone else having this problem?
Those are the bugs that come immediately to mind. Having dropped a cool grand like the rest of you, one wonders. Hopefully this unannounced beta period will end soon.
1. OTA failure
I have confirmed the bug, reported here earlier, with OTA reception. If I try to tune a station that was found by the DTV scan but has a somewhat weak signal, it locks up the entire 8-VSB system, and no OTA stations can be successfully tuned. In addition, going back to the Add Local Channel screen result in a non-functioning screen. Deleting all the channels and trying another DTV scan freezes as well. A reboot allows one to try again, but it is hopeless at this point.
DISH has confirmed this. Apparently this bug was not present on the last beta version, but appeared in the release software. No ETA was provided for the fix.
2. PIP failure
PIP works only intermittently. In addition, if I pause one stream and swap, all hell breaks loose. The aspect ratio of the new main screen is random; I have been keeping SD stations on Gray Bars (component output, 1080i, 16x9), but upon PIP'ing, it becomes stretched - though it still says Gray Bars in the banner). Sometimes it reverts to Gray Bars, othertimes not. This has locked up the whole system and it has rebooted itself more than once.
Changing the size of the PIP window frequently causes lockups as well.
Sometimes PIP stops working altogether.
3. DTV failure
I set a timer and paused the channel I was watching. When the time came for the timer, it didn't record, even though pressing DTV showed the timer present.
I was able to record two streams at once later, one of them HD. I am concerned that having a pause at the onset of a timer may be a bug as above, however.
4. Aspect ratio/stretching failure
As mentioned above, the aspect ratio control has a mind of its own. Aside from the over-stretching many people have noted, going from guide to channel, or from menu to channel can change the stretch setting. Sometimes the unit gets into a mode where the banner reading doesn't match the actual picture setting.
5. OTA guide
As we feared, there is no guide information on the OTA stations other than the presence of the station. While this has been the case with the 6000, now that there is PVR capability it becomes more serious. The whole idea of selecting the program in the guide as a means to record it is negated by this absence.
Here's a workaround: if you get locals, find the SD station with the show you want and select it for recording in the guide. You can then edit the timer, once set, and change the channel to the OTA channel you want (assuming they fix the OTA's in the first place).
6. Favorites
I don't see any way to select which OTA stations you want to appear in the favorites list. On the 6000, the DTV stations you have added appear in the list of stations in the set up favorites screens; here, they don't. When I created a favorites list, they were all automatically added when I finished, but you may not want them all in your favorites list.
7. HD stations moving from 61.5 to 110
So HBOHD is not 9440 anymore, though the programming is still there. Again, though, the guide is behaving like the OTA stations, not listing the programs, and the new HBOHD station doesn't appear in the guide by default. This again means it is difficult to set a time for it.
You can add it by creating a favorites list (!) where it will appear.
8. HDNet/HDNetMovies failure
This may be peculiar to my system, but while I get Discovery HD and ESPNHD quite well, the HDNet stations are completely pixelated and unwatchable. This, despite the fact that the signal is actually higher on the transponder (7, I think) that HDNet/HDNMV are on compared with the DiscoveryHD/ESPNHD transponder.
I called DISH about this as well and they said I should bring the machine to the dealer, but it might be a software issue. Helpful.
Is anyone else having this problem?
Those are the bugs that come immediately to mind. Having dropped a cool grand like the rest of you, one wonders. Hopefully this unannounced beta period will end soon.