L180 Bug: Remote operation very sluggish/unresponsive

[anderdea]

It’s very frustrating! :mad: I’ve had to reboot with L180 more than any other version I’ve had to endure. My biggest complaint with the new version, my remote is almost useless it’s so sluggish. It seems to be OK and work normally until I access an OTA digital, then I have to aim the remote at the 921 and MASH the keys. Last night I went to an OTA channel that I forgot to point my rotary antenna toward. Oh, Bad, Bad me. Everyone that has lived with a 921 knows that that’s a cardinal sin. Well you guessed it, the 921 locked up and the response for the remote was almost non existent. I performed a power button reset. Because I was on an OTA channel and even though I had repositioned the rotor it still wouldn’t boot properly. THE REMOTE, FORGET IT!! I finally pulled (no more like Yanked, frustration level showing here folks :nono2: ) the power chord and once it came back up, used my Proto IR remote which the 921 responed to very quickly (Limited functions for the 921 in it) and was able to get everything up and running in time to watch OTA, NBC, “West Wing”. Oh by the way, the 921 remote still isn’t working properly, very unresponsive unless I Mash the keys and no such thing as holding down the arrow key to scroll through the programs on the guide or setting up favorites. I am seriously thinking of demanding my money back for DN and going back to my bullet proof 6000. What makes this hard to do is I have been spoiled by the recoed function. We, the owners and Beta testers of the first generation 921's should bring a class action suite against E*.

What’s the freaking story regarding the RF remote???? Worked fine before L180.

Don

[David_Levin]

Have you tried the attenuator as described in the manual (page 34)? Does mashing the keys really make a difference - seems like all you're going to get is a broken remote? The 921 sure doesn't know that the remote's keys are being mashed.

Perhaps your remote is defective?

[Mark Lamutt]

Don, if you download my pronto file, you'll have all of the 921 commands for the pronto.

As for the remote, power button resets aren't going to solve that - you need to do the power plug reboot, but make sure that you're not tuned to a dead OTA channel when you do it. The remote problem is directly caused by hitting a weak/non-existent OTA channel - it either completely locks up the OTA tuner, or partially locks it up, and then other things start to fail which ends up causing the remote problems.

[BobMurdoch]

I don't look at any OTA channels yet, and my remote is still super responsive (even better than any other E* receiver I've had..... fastest guide scrolling EVER, either vertically or horizontally searching for shos a few hours out......), so it is either a remote problem, or a receiver problem when it is struggling to pull in a channel with an insufficient signal strength.....

[anderdea]

Have you tried the attenuator as described in the manual (page 34)? Does mashing the keys really make a difference - seems like all you're going to get is a broken remote? The 921 sure doesn't know that the remote's keys are being mashed.

Perhaps your remote is defective?

David
It isn't an attenuator issue. The remote worked fine prior to L180. See Mark's coments. It is definately related to the new SW and OTA on going issues. It probably is more the 921 than the remote and is making it look like a remote issue. If I push the buttons with a normal pressure, there isn't any responce at all. I have to apply more pressure (which equated to longer transmit times) to get the unit to respond. Although if I hold a button for a long time with normal pressure it doesn't work. When L180 first appeared, I had the problem. The next day, Sunday morning my daughter said it was operating fine and indeed it was. Then when I started viewing OTA channels, it started acting up again.

Don, if you download my pronto file, you'll have all of the 921 commands for the pronto.

As for the remote, power button resets aren't going to solve that - you need to do the power plug reboot, but make sure that you're not tuned to a dead OTA channel when you do it. The remote problem is directly caused by hitting a weak/non-existent OTA channel - it either completely locks up the OTA tuner, or partially locks it up, and then other things start to fail which ends up causing the remote problems.

Mark,
I recall doing the power plug thing but I had been able to get it to a sat channel before doing so. The remote was still sluggish. The bottom line is the remote has been woking fine (since January) and when L180 uploaded, I've had nothing but problems.

As far as the Pronto codes, I believe that you are not using remote channel 1 as I am and it would be a major Pronto rework which I am not willing to take the time on, especially considering all the lost hours suffering through the 921 problems. I use my old 6000 channel 1, IR codes and set up to sometimes control the 921. The only codes I miss are all the PVR key functioins.

Don

[lujan]

Don, if you download my pronto file, you'll have all of the 921 commands for the pronto.

As for the remote, power button resets aren't going to solve that - you need to do the power plug reboot, but make sure that you're not tuned to a dead OTA channel when you do it. The remote problem is directly caused by hitting a weak/non-existent OTA channel - it either completely locks up the OTA tuner, or partially locks it up, and then other things start to fail which ends up causing the remote problems.

When I rebooted my 921 last week after the 180 download, I may have been tuned to an OTA channel that I'm no longer able to receive. I have not been able to tune to the local NBC digital channel (KOB here in Albuquerque) since 180? I called the local station engineer to ask if they were working on their equipment and he indicated that it was fine. Does anyone know how I might be able to tune to this channel again? I responded in this thread because Mark indicated that you should not be tuned to a local dead OTA channel when you do the reboot. I'm almost positive that I was tuned to an OTA channel, I just don't know if it was dead at the time?

[anderdea]

When I rebooted my 921 last week after the 180 download, I may have been tuned to an OTA channel that I'm no longer able to receive. I have not been able to tune to the local NBC digital channel (KOB here in Albuquerque) since 180? I called the local station engineer to ask if they were working on their equipment and he indicated that it was fine. Does anyone know how I might be able to tune to this channel again? I responded in this thread because Mark indicated that you should not be tuned to a local dead OTA channel when you do the reboot. I'm almost positive that I was tuned to an OTA channel, I just don't know if it was dead at the time?

At the time mine started getting Funky I was trying to tune in FOX. I still had it but my antenna was pointed in the wrong direction. I haven't had a problem pulling in the OTA channels even with L180 as long as my outside UHF/VHF antenna is pointed correctly. NBC came on line for me about 3 weeks ago and is a strong signal. You should be able to go into the menu and get NBC to come back in by performing a manual DTV detection. Make sure you are pointed to the transmitter and have the correct Digital Channel number which will be different when it gets loaded into the 921.

Don

[anderdea]

Well, no matter what I do, I still only get minimal response from the UHF 921 remote. I talked to DN ATS and they are sending me a replacement remote. The ATS person was somewhat at a loss. She said that in previous software versions, there was a definite issue with remote response. Software version L180 was suppose to fix this problem. Well it worked just in reverse for me. My remote was fine until L180. Now it is close to useless. The 921 accepts IR codes with no problem from my old 6000 remote unit. I sure hope it is a remote control issue but my gut feeling says otherwise.

Don

[Slordak]

Defective remotes are not outside the realm of possibility. I certainly had one when I first got my 921 and had to have it replaced (although I have not replaced the actual main 921 unit, since I'm using the DVI output and haven't checked the component output for blue line issues). My issue with the remote was that it was eating batteries at an alarming rate. With light use, just sitting on a table (not being pressed continuously because it was stuck between the couch cushions or such!), the batteries died completely within 3-4 days. After this happened 3 times, I had the 921 remote replaced and the new one exhibits no such problems.

As far as the sluggish remote response... If you'll recall, some number of software versions back, we had a lot of problems with this. When the 921 started to really leak resources or buffers or whatever it was leaking (basically, when it was getting within a few hours of a gray screen crash), it started becoming very sluggish and generally hesitated. Some people found that an attenuator helped make the remote behave a bit better, but the bottom line was that the problem was with the 921, yes.

[anderdea]

Defective remotes are not outside the realm of possibility. I certainly had one when I first got my 921 and had to have it replaced (although I have not replaced the actual main 921 unit, since I'm using the DVI output and haven't checked the component output for blue line issues). My issue with the remote was that it was eating batteries at an alarming rate. With light use, just sitting on a table (not being pressed continuously because it was stuck between the couch cushions or such!), the batteries died completely within 3-4 days. After this happened 3 times, I had the 921 remote replaced and the new one exhibits no such problems.

As far as the sluggish remote response... If you'll recall, some number of software versions back, we had a lot of problems with this. When the 921 started to really leak resources or buffers or whatever it was leaking (basically, when it was getting within a few hours of a gray screen crash), it started becoming very sluggish and generally hesitated. Some people found that an attenuator helped make the remote behave a bit better, but the bottom line was that the problem was with the 921, yes.

Well, I received the replacement remote yesterday. With fingers crossed I tried it out. It was substantially better than my original one. At least I don't have to mash the keys anymore and can actually now use the PVR functions. It, however is still no where near as responsive as my original one was prior to L180. The program guide in any direction is still very glitchie. I tried the 10 db attenuator with both the old and replacement remote, no change. I now have a 6 ft coax hooked up to the antenna which I've placed away from the 921. This seems to work best but far from the operation prior to L180, with the antenna attached to the back of the unit with a 4" coax extension. The extension had been used to get it away from the other wiring in my AV cabinet.

Don