How about a 721 and/or 522 official bug forum?

[larrystotler]

The 921 official bug form is a good idea, but there are problems with all of E*'s receivers, including the DVRs. Is there any way we could work towards getting an forum to post JUST possible bugs with these receviers and to see if our problems is a currently known one or something new? Just a thought. Or maybe a thread, stickied, dedicated to each model receiver in a bug reporting forum, where frivolous posts would be deleted and general comment would be encouraged to go to the main forums.................just a thought,

[Mark Lamutt]

The reasons we haven't done it for the 721 or 522:

1. None of the staff own one of those receivers.
2. We don't currently have a direct relationship with the development teams of those receivers (although we could develop that relationship reasonably easy).
3. We don't have the time to run those forums in addition to the the 921 and 811 forums. We'd need to bring on at least 2 more staff members who do own those receivers to help out, and getting the right staff is not a fast or easy process.

Eventually, I'd like to be covering all receivers. It's a work in progress.

[Ron Barry]

The reasons we haven't done it for the 721 or 522:

1. None of the staff own one of those receivers.
2. We don't currently have a direct relationship with the development teams of those receivers (although we could develop that relationship reasonably easy).
3. We don't have the time to run those forums in addition to the the 921 and 811 forums. We'd need to bring on at least 2 more staff members who do own those receivers to help out, and getting the right staff is not a fast or easy process.

Eventually, I'd like to be covering all receivers. It's a work in progress.

I own a 721 ;) but i don't I don't use it much. Grandma is the main user of the 721 in our house. ;)

The other two points are valid.

[larrystotler]

I'm always willing to help, and if you need any, just HOLLAR......... :D Seriously tho, I would like to see some of our efforts used and appriciated by E* instead of just abused.............

[finniganps]

larry - I've owned and used the 721 for a year now (no expert) and have found that there are really only a few intermittent bugs on the 721 that persist. By "bugs" I mean things that E* says should work on this box but have issues for many users. They include:

1) Losing the guide for no apparent reason
2) The occasional misfiring of timers
3) Failure of the remote to be able to bring up the guide for no apparent reason

I wouldn't put the following in the (bug) category:

1) Lost recorded content (Seems to happen with several models including my 508, often a HD failure)
2) Issue with overlapping timers and how the receiver handles this (once you learn how it works you set it up accordingly)
3)NBR - not a bug, they just don't offer it on this box (bummer)

Anyway, I think that the 721 is pretty solid and am very happy with it. I'm sure that we could build a more robust list, but there would be different opinions as to what was a "bug" versus that's the way the box works or doesn't work. There are a lot more positive things about the 721 than negative IMO.

[astrotrf]

I'll have to admit that I've always been reasonably well-satisfied with my 721. Since the last software download, though, it has become somewhat less reliable about event recording, which is something that is very hard to tolerate.

Just last night, my recording of "Stargate SG-1" lasted just 32 seconds and then quit. Fortunately, I was at home watching March Madness and noted that the receiver was no longer recording, so I caught the second showing.

If you've been watching a show and then decide you'd like to record it, you can hit the "record" button. One of the options is "record entire program" if it's all in the buffer back to the beginning. This used to work correctly, but now it records forever and never shuts off. This is completely reproducible and never works correctly now.

And, of course, my pet peeve - frame-by-frame motion in "pause" mode has never, ever worked reliably or well.

Oddly, I've never seen the guide problems you mention ...

Terry

[Bob Haller]

My 721 has been pretty good lately and both 508s solid as well.

Of course this post will ruin it:(

[Bogey62]

The reasons we haven't done it for the 721 or 522:

1. None of the staff own one of those receivers.
2. We don't currently have a direct relationship with the development teams of those receivers (although we could develop that relationship reasonably easy).
3. We don't have the time to run those forums in addition to the the 921 and 811 forums. We'd need to bring on at least 2 more staff members who do own those receivers to help out, and getting the right staff is not a fast or easy process.

Eventually, I'd like to be covering all receivers. It's a work in progress.

Mark,

I purchased a 721 in August of 2002 and am currently on my 6th replacement unit! I have seen virtually every bug there is to see on the 721 and have spent numerous hours on the phone with "tech support" trying to fix the issues I have with this unit. I also have a long list of problems that need to be fixed with the 721 and have submitted it to E* several times to no avail. I would be happy to join the team here and help out with the seemingly ignored 721.

[Bob Haller]

Hey another posater with multipe 721 faiures, welcome to the club:(

I DID jinx my 721 I got a one minute record right after saying it was working well.

Actually my boixes have been pretty good lately.......

[Bogey62]

Hey another posater with multipe 721 faiures, welcome to the club:(

I DID jinx my 721 I got a one minute record right after saying it was working well.

Actually my boixes have been pretty good lately.......

My favorite people are the ones that have had only ONE 721 for a year or two and report ZERO problems.

I have serious doubts that all the major issues with the 721 will ever be fixed. E* has other priorities. What the heck, I only spent $550 for my 721/D500 setup 2.5 years ago, why should I expect actual fixes for this box? ;)

[larrystotler]

Unfortunately, those of us who got their "top of the line" receiver ended up with a really decent receiver that they don't seem to be interested in suppoting anymore. Now that they have modified the eldon UI and came up with a way to make the systems come right up without having to boot it they don't seem that interested in fixing them. The 522/942s must have some type of NVRAM that stores the systems last state so that you don't have to wait for it to boot. My understanding is that they are still using a linux filesystem for the recordings, so they must have figured out a way to do this. Funny thing is that while E* has reposted the 721's GNU/Linux files(which I have downloaded) that are required by the GPL, I haven't seen any mention of the 522, 921, or 92 files....................

[Bob Haller]

My 721 operators manual states clearly that a future software upgrade will shorten reboot time. It never happened. There isnt even abort guide download. Takes 4 to 5 minutes to come back up after even a minor power glitch so mine lives on UPS.

E has a long history of not playing well with others. Its probably a system security issue. The more that know how everything works the more that might profiteer off this info...:(

In any case my boxes are pretty good right now, and I have more pressing issues at the moment.

A good friend with 5 sons is dying of brain cancer, her youngest is 5 and terri the mom is just 40.

meanwhile I am trying to pay off our mortage, lost my biggest customer for my business, they are likely going out of business, had to get jen a new car, etc etc.
Tree needs removed for D conversion 1K not right now:(

Satellite tv is at best a minor distraction at this time....

[Jacob S]

I own both the 721 and 522. I have had the 721 since it first came out and got the 522 about a few months back.

[Ron Barry]

Unfortunately, those of us who got their "top of the line" receiver ended up with a really decent receiver that they don't seem to be interested in suppoting anymore. Now that they have modified the eldon UI and came up with a way to make the systems come right up without having to boot it they don't seem that interested in fixing them. The 522/942s must have some type of NVRAM that stores the systems last state so that you don't have to wait for it to boot. My understanding is that they are still using a linux filesystem for the recordings, so they must have figured out a way to do this. Funny thing is that while E* has reposted the 721's GNU/Linux files(which I have downloaded) that are required by the GPL, I haven't seen any mention of the 522, 921, or 92 files....................

921 source code has been released.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=39911&highlight=921+Source+Code

Well the parts that are required to be.

[larrystotler]

Thanks for the link. I'll grab it as well.

[musicmaker2020]

I love my 721 and yes... I have had mine for about a year. Got it during their promotion last year. It came with the 90 hour recording time. Other than the minor annoyances stated above, mine is sweet. It gets put through hell and back recording 2 programs at once on mulitple nights consistantly every week.

Once in a while I have a ghost timer that comes back from the dead to record a program out of nowhere. Thats my only annoyance I have to add from those stated in above posts.

[larrystotler]

One of the things that E* misses is that with Open Source, applications are developed much faster, and bugs are fixed much quicker. They should just GPL their whole system, let the community fix the problems and add new features, and then rethink their DVR charge. The price they are charging for a 522 is way to high anyway. 120GB drives have come down heavily in price, and I am sure that they got a big discount by buying a large quantity anyway. If we could use a DVB card like they have in europe, I would have MythTV running as a DVR over anything else.

[Presence]

My 721 operators manual states clearly that a future software upgrade will shorten reboot time. It never happened.

Screw that, how about the box the 721 comes in? All over it, it screams about "internet access." Seen that yet? :nono:

[larrystotler]

Yep. E* is a company that has made promises that it can't keep........them and about every other company out there.