Experienced a sudden reboot this evening....first time it's done that since the upgrade......I'll be monitoring it...

Why after more than a year still no external hard drive? Why still do not have ability to back up and record only the part of the program you want? Why does Shaw keep using Motorola? Why do I keep using Shaw ?(because I believed the wrong and misleading info they gave me). Been with them since the beginning when they were the only provider. Have 4 630s and pay over $120 per mo. Time to look for another provider?

Why after more than a year still no external hard drive? Why still do not have ability to back up and record only the part of the program you want? Why does Shaw keep using Motorola? Why do I keep using Shaw ?(because I believed the wrong and misleading info they gave me). Been with them since the beginning when they were the only provider. Have 4 630s and pay over $120 per mo. Time to look for another provider?

i dont know for the external hard drive and i don't like it either
the reason why they keep using Motorola i think it has something to do with their Digicypher II encryption which Shaw use

i'm with Shaw direct since 1999 and start thinking to leave as i'm not satisfied

Here is what I have observed with v6.22.
1. Guide navigation speed varies. It ranges from moderately slow to horrendously slow. Most of the time it is moderately slow. That may be why some people report slow guide navigation and others do not. I don't know why it varies but I suspect it may depend on the stored guide information.
2. Scheduling is still slow. It's nice that it's sent to the background so that it doesn't slow down other user operations but see point 3 for the negative impact.
3. Scheduling conflicts are not interactively flagged at the time of creation. The software simply disables conflicting recordings without notifying the user. A dialog should be presented at the time the conflicting recording is created so that corrections can be made.
4. Duplicate episodes are not recognized when a second timer on a second channel is created. That can result in duplicate recordings of some shows and missed recordings of others.
5. The recording dropout issue is not fixed. It merely takes a little longer to appear. I now need to reboot the 630 every 3 or 4 days instead of every 1 or 2 days in order to prevent corrupt recordings.

Scarybob.... does your Map Status say its "Loading..." in Options-4-7 ? As I mentioned in an earlier post (#176) I suspect this is why the guide is soo slow. It never "Completes" as it does after a reset. Soon as the Trip counter moves up to 1 then the Map Status is always "Loading..." probably using up precious memory.

I'm "smart recording all" episodes of Storage Wars and I have virtually none already on disk, and during this marathon that's on right now, it's skipping like 90% of them. Why?

GaryE...I posted about this awhile back and what CS told me was that it would eventullly correct itself. It Hasn't. What I have noticed is that everytime you get a hit the map status alternates between completed and loading. I have never experience any problems going through the guide even when the map is loading like this AM. The only difference I have noticed with the new firmware is that when you set up a recording off the guide it take longer then with the old softwear. I still have the old quad LNB hooked up to my 630 and I wonder if that might be a reason for not having problems scanning the guide.

I'll probably give them a call this week. My Map Status is ALWAYS "Loading..." when the Trip counter hits 1 or higher. It never changes to "Completed." If I do a front-panle reset then it starts "Loading..." but after about a minute it changes to "Completed." and stays "Completed" until the Trip counter changes to 1. Then it's constantly "Loading..."

6.22 "upgrade' seems to have solved the pixelization issue, but another major issue has risen. Almost every day when I go to turn on everything, the TIME is frozen at an early AM time. There is a frying sound coming from the 630. I've called upteen times and held the phone right over the machine so they can hear it. The only way to get it going is to pull the power and then put it back in again. I can also do a 'soft' reset too. I've just about had it with this. I can't trust it. I've got lots of "must watch' programming set to record and it's giving me ulcers just thinking about it.

The last time I called, she wanted me do do a major whatever that only preserved programs that I had recorded. That was a royal pain and it worked for 3 days. Today, I sat down to watch the stock car race and it had frozen @ 10:59 AM. I had turned it on at 9AM to program the recorder. I've got a call in right now and I've been given a time that they will call back at over an hour. This 'delay' due to 'high volume' is getting monotonous. It's become the norm.

If they replace this unit, it will be the FORTH one! Never for this problem before.

I'm not amused.

6.22 "upgrade' seems to have solved the pixelization issue, but another major issue has risen. Almost every day when I go to turn on everything, the TIME is frozen at an early AM time. There is a frying sound coming from the 630. I've called upteen times and held the phone right over the machine so they can hear it. The only way to get it going is to pull the power and then put it back in again. I can also do a 'soft' reset too. I've just about had it with this. I can't trust it. I've got lots of "must watch' programming set to record and it's giving me ulcers just thinking about it.

The last time I called, she wanted me do do a major whatever that only preserved programs that I had recorded. That was a royal pain and it worked for 3 days. Today, I sat down to watch the stock car race and it had frozen @ 10:59 AM. I had turned it on at 9AM to program the recorder. I've got a call in right now and I've been given a time that they will call back at over an hour. This 'delay' due to 'high volume' is getting monotonous. It's become the norm.

If they replace this unit, it will be the FORTH one! Never for this problem before.

I'm not amused.
Are you replacing the power brick every time you replace the unit? How many volts are coming out of the receptacle?

I replace it with each unit sent to me. Currently, the voltage in/out of the UPS that it's plugged into is 123V. The current output of the brick is 12.15 vdc. I forgot to mention that a service person is coming in the next day or so to check out the circuitry from the dish back to the PVR. The tech guy I was talking to when the called back said that it's a very real possibility that there's something wrong with the LNB and / or the cabling. We'll see.

Two more issues found.
1. PVR was unresponsive and had a black screen when turned on. It took a reset to correct it. Timer recordings also failed while the unit was "blacked out." No idea what caused it to completely lock up like this but it happened once or twice with the old firmware as well. It may be related to parental controls as the PVR was on a locked channel after the reset.
2. Connected the component outputs to a second TV. After about 5 minutes of live TV, it occasionally disables the picture and displays "TV is not HDCP compliant". Changing the channel gets rid of the message but why is it displayed? Component is obviously not HDCP compliant but it should still work reliably.

I too have been with Star Choice (SD) for years, and I own (2) 630's + (2) 530's, and I am also paying $120/mth and I was also thinking about switching to another satellite provider. What makes it very difficult is the amount of money I have invested in their equipment over these years. Obviously by a lot of comments I have been reading on this forum, dedicated customer service does not mean anything to SD. I too have been having the same problems as mentioned by others, and do not see a fix in the near future. I mean even SD has stopped commenting on this site. What does that tell you. They have given up and the only way I can see anything happen is a class lawsuit be filed against them as they obviously do not have the knowledge to operate a satellite company and sell equipment that is below standards. Their help desk just tries anything to satisfy you without actually solving the problem. This lastes Firmware update takes the cake, what a bunch of junk, my receivers were somewhat stable before they did this. When will they be correcting this update ? Will they be correcting this update ? I can not wait much longer.

Just to counter the above post...

I have always fround Shaw Direct's support to be second to none. I have had personal follow up phone calls- immediate replacements and no charge service calls for well over 10 years.

The interview with the Shaw coder, indicates that the failure/error rate of the new code is small. The tone here has to take into account the audience and involvemnet of DHC readers. We are probably far more critical and aware than the average consumer.

My 630's and 605's have had their hiccups. I am happy with their performance. Currently I am having the 'loading...' map issue on one of my receivers (605), but no major problems with the new firmware.

SD is doing some things right and some things wrong. But they are doing something!

You should have a receiver that is dependable. The current 630's (with the new firmware update), are NOT DEPENDABLE. You can not tell me that when you set a program to record you are safe in knowing that your program will be there (in its entirety) when you go to watch it. I understand that once in a while things happen (weather conditions, power outages, etc.). But not because of firmware updates. Get it right or don't send it :mad::mad:

Once you use a PVR that works properly, the shortcomings of the 630 become painfully obvious. Looks like some folks can accept a buggy receiver and don't realize how bad it is.

The interview with the Shaw coder, indicates that the failure/error rate of the new code is small. The tone here has to take into account the audience and involvemnet of DHC readers. We are probably far more critical and aware than the average consumer.
Failure rates are much nigher than the Shaw coder lets on. By comparison, Windows 7 is a massive and far more complex body of code that has virtually zero errors in everyday use. (Third party drivers and software sometimes cause problems but the SD PVR 630 does not have similar consumer installed additions.) I have Windows 7 HTPCs running multimedia software that are far more reliable than the Shaw PVR 630.

A regular piece of consumer equipment that is as unreliable as the SD PVR 630 would be laughed out of the marketplace as being a piece of junk. At the very least, it would be discontinued immediately or recalled. If they failed to do so, the company selling it would be subject to a class action lawsuit and consumers would receive compensation or replacement with an alternate piece of equipment that works reliably.

Unlike common practice in the retail electronics industry, Shaw Direct refused to refund my money within 30 days. In addition, they wanted me to pay $200 to cancel my subscription. The other alternative was to return $800 worth of equipment with absolutely no compensation. This is highway robbery. Shaw direct makes false claims for their equipment and then penalizes consumers when they realize the deceit. Consumers need protection from BDUs like Shaw.

As far as reliability goes, the SD PVR 630 is far less reliable than comparable Bell equipment. However, the Bell equipment had similar reliability issues for several years. I received compensation from Bell in the way of a large discount on a new PVR and large discounts on my TV subscription for several years.

You can not tell me that when you set a program to record you are safe in knowing that your program will be there (in its entirety) when you go to watch it
I can tell you that.
I have never had a missed recording or partial recording. I have complete confidence in my 630 that it will record what is asked of it. I have 25 or so recurring timers set so it does get used a lot.
I have never had tuner lock ups, pixelization or any of the other issues that others have had. I've had my 630 since they were released.
That's just my experience.

And that's basically my experience as well. I had a few missed recordings with v00.13, but not since then. I've never experienced the pixellization either, and I haven't had a lock up in months.

I have two 630s with about a dozen timers and neither can be trusted. I saw similar contradictions with Bell HD PVR equipment in the early days. Shaw has switched hard drive makes in new 630s twice now. That can make a big difference in reliability (as seen when Bell did the same thing.) It's unknown what other hardware changes have been made but I do know that past Shaw models have undergone drastic changes in internal hardware designs.

Rib and TJ77, you may have "magic" revisions of 630s that work well. Others have 630s with different hard drives and motherboard revisions that don't. It's not that unusual for such situations to exist in any product when suppliers and designs evolve. The situation with HD PVRs is even more complicated since a single firmware revision and update must work with all versions of hardware in the field. Other products may have firmware that is tailored to each hardware revision.