942 - L2.82 Software Release Notes and Discussion

Mike Johnson · 11-10-05, 09:05 AM

Software Version: L2.82 for DVR 942:

Dolby Digital (SPDIF) output (Hopefully all SPDIF out issues have been resolved.)
CSA in Main Menu fix (Customer Service Application)
PocketDISH Transfer fix
Browse-2-PIP in Dual User Mode fix (PIP from browse in anything other than Single Mode is now ignored)
More video jitter fixes (The jitter fixed here was seen in Single User Mode on TV2 when mirrored.)
3 Timers from Standby fix
Legacy checkswitch (SW42)
Skip Back/Fwd may go live fix
Caller ID DDN Tag Handling
SysInfo screen timeout (TV2 would not fire timers if TV1 was in SysInfo screen)
Video Freeze after frame advance
Play from delay pause back to I-Frame (When resuming from Pause, the video would jump back to the previous I-Frame before playing again)
PocketDISH File display

Jeff McClellan · 11-10-05, 01:04 PM

Enjoy People!

xsailor · 11-10-05, 01:22 PM

In other words ... no fix for the L280 screw-ups (i.e. pixilation and loss of OTA Guide Data) !!!

LtMunst · 11-10-05, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xsailor

In other words ... no fix for the L280 screw-ups (i.e. pixelization and loss of OTA Guide Data) !!!

The pixellation is a pre-280 problem (229 at least). It is being worked on, but not for this release.

jsanders · 11-10-05, 01:50 PM

I don't care that it doesn't address all of the problems, ie. pixelation or whatnot. What is important is that E* is trying to address the outstanding issues with this receiver. We must look like a bunch of ungrateful customers for those E* developers that read this message board for feedback.

For those reading this board, that worked to bring L282, I say, "Thank you!". Thanks to the developers for trying to make the 942 user experience nicer. Thanks to the beta testers to that stopped the problematic releases from spooling, as you all are aware that we love to complain about stuff that you missed. Thanks for your hard work.

I hope this turns out to be a good release!

LtMunst · 11-10-05, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsanders

I don't care that it doesn't address all of the problems, ie. pixelation or whatnot. What is important is that E* is trying to address the outstanding issues with this receiver. We must look like a bunch of ungrateful customers for those E* developers that read this message board for feedback.

For those reading this board, that worked to bring L282, I say, "Thank you!". Thanks to the developers for trying to make the 942 user experience nicer. Thanks to the beta testers to that stopped the problematic releases from spooling, as you all are aware that we love to complain about stuff that you missed. Thanks for your hard work.

I hope this turns out to be a good release!

Agreed! Dish went thru 5 different Beta releases to bring us 282. There was a tremendous amount of effort put into this. Even after today's release, they are still actively working with the beta testers for improvements to the next one (ie pixellation).

M492A · 11-10-05, 02:53 PM

And what about the missing OTA guide data? No one seems to want to address this issue.

Sauron99 · 11-10-05, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Johnson

3 Timers from Standby fix
Skip Back/Fwd may go live fix

I am looking forward to these fixes. The 3 timer bug had plagued me because I had to babysit the 942 to ensure the timers fired which meant I could not take holiday vacations without missing shows. I still have about 15 recorded shows that say one title in my DVR guide and is actually another. You think you're watching LOST and instead it's Veronica Mars.

pjm877 · 11-10-05, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsanders

I don't care that it doesn't address all of the problems, ie. pixelation or whatnot. What is important is that E* is trying to address the outstanding issues with this receiver. We must look like a bunch of ungrateful customers for those E* developers that read this message board for feedback.

For those reading this board, that worked to bring L282, I say, "Thank you!". Thanks to the developers for trying to make the 942 user experience nicer. Thanks to the beta testers to that stopped the problematic releases from spooling, as you all are aware that we love to complain about stuff that you missed. Thanks for your hard work.

I hope this turns out to be a good release!

yea, me to, just more... here is a virtual drink on me..

Fixed or just better ... thanks for all the hard work.. as I work with building software I know how hard it can be to find and kill those bugs...

Fight the good Fight..

Thanks

srrobinson2 · 11-10-05, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M492A

And what about the missing OTA guide data? No one seems to want to address this issue.

Ditto!

Gary Murrell · 11-10-05, 04:18 PM

Update taken, things seemed to be improved, Thanks a bunch Dish, we appreciate this update very much, I have not been able to get the wrong audio to come up or the video freezes, the ff/rw and skip buttons seem to work great as does pip'ing and swaping, caller id and phone system work great

the only issue that remains is the video pixeliation across the screen, on that note it seems to be worse and a little more often on more channels after this update

but I know this will get fixed ASAP

Thanks again Dish

-Gary

Jeff McClellan · 11-10-05, 04:26 PM

The video pixeliation is being worked on. I really didn't think it got any worse but of course we will know as time goes on. I agree with you about the fixes. Dish worked hard, real hard on getting this out to you. There were alot of others who helped to and will remain nameless but we are all grateful to them to. They really did take a BIG step forward with this release.

xsailor · 11-10-05, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff McClellan

The video pixeliation is being worked on. I really didn't think it got any worse but of course we will know as time goes on. I agree with you about the fixes. Dish worked hard, real hard on getting this out to you. There were alot of others who helped to and will remain nameless but we are all grateful to them to. They really did take a BIG step forward with this release.

I noticed that you still did NOT say a word about the missing OTA Channel Guide info ... interesting!

Jeff McClellan · 11-10-05, 05:08 PM

Interesting? Not really. I cant speculate about something that hasn't been discussed with me. I know they are working on it, but since I don't have any new news, why post something. Now thats interesting! Welcome aboard my friend. If I hear anything, you will know.

DRATIFK · 11-10-05, 05:10 PM

I still have L2.81 when should I expect this new version. Last Night I missed LOST. Instead it taped "My Dear" whatever that is and labeled it LOST.

Really pissed off.

I also missed las Vegas.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

Jeff McClellan · 11-10-05, 05:16 PM

Go into the menu to Preferences, then to Updates. Set the clock to 3 minutes from the current time on your receiver and save. It should do it. If it doesn't go into System setup, installation, point dish, then choose check switch. If still not getting it, go out to dinner, Outbacks, and try this again in a few hours. Hope this helps.

If all of this doesn't work, call Dish. It should work. Take care and I like mine medium rare.

dave1234 · 11-10-05, 05:22 PM

Just got mine to update by powering it off and leaving it off.

elbyj · 11-10-05, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Johnson

Software Version: L2.82 for DVR 942:

Dolby Digital (SPDIF) output
CSA in Main Menu fix
PocketDISH Transfer fix
Browse-2-PIP in Dual User Mode fix
More video jitter fixes, The jitter fixed here was seen in Single User Mode on TV2 when mirrored.
3 Timers from Standby fix
Legacy checkswitch (SW42)
Skip Back/Fwd may go live fix
CallerId DDN Tag Handling
SysInfo screen timeout
Video Freeze after frame advance
Play from delay pause back to I-Frame

And when will we have someone explain to us non-techies what each of the above modifications are supposed to do and what should we be looking for after the update loads. A good way to help a lot of us would be to identify what exactly the problems were that resulted in the fixes.

Thanks much ----

scottchez · 11-10-05, 07:11 PM

When I had the HD Tivo, I had Guide data for ALL DTV and HDTV and all Sub channels, I confirm its still not fixed. There advertising handouts say there is guide data. This is miss leading (almost to the point of false advertising for some DMAs).

"And what about the missing OTA guide data? No one seems to want to address this issue. "

Moridin · 11-10-05, 07:30 PM

Two major points.

Point 1: What I've seen with 282 so far

The UI is much more responsive with 282...everything from caller id pop (which once again appears right at the beginning of the second ring, instead of after the end of the third ring) to bringing up the DVR Events list or the guide. With 281, that would take almost a full second between pressing the button on the remote to seeing something change on the screen. Also, rapid skip forward/backward combos no longer cause the playback to go live, or worse yet freeze the 942. That much at least is nice.

I'm cautiously optimistic concerning the timer fixes.

As for the pixellation, with 281 it was merely very annoying. So far in playing with 282, it's horrific. Watching Unwrapped on Food Network, rather than the right edge of the picture going all blocky and smeared, the entire screen went nuts. And no, it wasn't a transmission snafu. Every time I saw it, I jumped back 10 seconds, and it didn't happen during the playback, but later on it would happen at another point in the programming. Very, very nasty that.

Point 2: Attitudes towards bug fixes (delivered from a soap box)

I'm a software engineer. When I deliver software that breaks existing functionality and later fix the bug I introduced, I don't expect the customers of my company to then pat me on the back, or to berate others for complaining about the fact that I broke something and it took me longer than they would have liked to deliver a fix. Of course, while it happens occasionally, it is rare that serious bugs actually make it into the hands of my company's customers due to very extensive testing. If faulty software makes it into the hands of customers, it is my opinion that customers should be upset about it, especially if it touches areas of major functionality. When it comes to software, bugs are an ever-present fact of life. But the presence of major bugs is due to someone in the R&D/QA/SV chain not doing their what they're paid to do.

That being said, I am heartened to hear that 282 went through more betas than previous releases before going generally available, and that it remained a release dedicated purely to fixing bugs without succumbing to feature creep. That sounds like people are starting to do what they're paid to do, and I congratulate Echostar's development and testing teams for that.

scottchez · 11-10-05, 08:27 PM

Oh so this is just a bug fix release, I understand now.
When do they do Feature releases, like for OTA Guide data like they promised?

Gary Murrell · 11-10-05, 08:29 PM

The pixelization is much worse, that I will say

It now effects HDNet which NEVER showed the problem before, I beleive HDNet is a Constant Bitrate channel

this pixelization happens mostly on channels when lots of action happens or scenes move around (IE: when the bitrate goes up) this occur's on HBO and Showtime badly

-Gary

NTIMID8 · 11-10-05, 08:56 PM

On a good note, The lipsync with voom is as good as I have seen. It was horrible this evening so I forced the update and returned to the same show. Marked improvement.

Now, when watching something like a hockey game on fox sports or even nascar stuff on speed is BRUTAL. It is unwatchable in my eyes it breaks up so bad.

Did anyone notice the customer service menu is active again..works kinda flakey from a gui stand point when in 16x9. Its like its a 4x3 struggling on the overlay in a 16x9 format.

Phil

Moridin · 11-10-05, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottchez

Oh so this is just a bug fix release, I understand now.
When do they do Feature releases, like for OTA Guide data like they promised?

Now that's just being a touch asinine. I subscribe to the locals package for my area, and I have guide data for my OTA stations. The feature clearly is present, although some have reported bugs with OTA guide data.

While I may be mistaken, I'm comfortably certain that from the moment I started reading about the 942 over a year ago it was never promised that the 942 would be able to extract OTA guide data via PSIP. It was pretty clear (at least to me) from the get-go that--unlike the 811--OTA guide data would only be present if one subscribed to the locals package.

I've never seen any marketing literature on the 942. If such literature promises OTA guide data via PSIP on the 942, then shame on Echostar; otherwise, caveat emptor.

LtMunst · 11-11-05, 07:04 AM

To all who are experiencing the right side blocking/pixellation. You can work around this problem for now by switching your HDTV output to 480p. This always eliminates blocking for me. The blocking is mostly on SD programming so this will not impact PQ. Of course you have to switch back to 720p/1080i for full PQ on HD channels.

And yes, Dish is actively working on this issue.