I have also just come back from returning my DSR530 for the same reasons that others have outlined.

We'll have a look at where SC is in September to determine whether we send our 2 205's back in order not to have to pay the $200 early disconnect fee.

Motorola should be ashamed - a pathetic offering. If your cell phone new releases were like this; you would be out of business in 12 to 18 months.

Rob,

A few questions please, Just wondering why if you had PVR's with other providers that were bug free, why did you switch to SC......which at the time didn't even have a DVR?

What provider were they and will you be going back to them? Did you sell your old equipment or old PVR? What did you pay for them originally?

Not trying to stir the pot, just curious as to why and how you switched.

Had Bell in the past 5800,5900 - sold.

Had Directv UltimateTV - paid service..not hacked. This ended and didn't go back to BELL based on the "coming soon" ad's for a HDDRV from *C.

Using my TIVO Series 2 right now with *C.....see tivocanada.com - Only issue with Tivo is PQ and sound (no 5.1) and of course no HD. But it blows everything else out of the water for user features. Of course it's require manual guide updates etc...but gives me 13 days in advance.

Cheers
Rob.

I have also just come back from returning my DSR530 for the same reasons that others have outlined.

We'll have a look at where SC is in September to determine whether we send our 2 205's back in order not to have to pay the $200 early disconnect fee.

Motorola should be ashamed - a pathetic offering. If your cell phone new releases were like this; you would be out of business in 12 to 18 months.

I have a Moto V600 GSM phone....it does sometimes "Lock up" .... :o

Haha, I take it that the 530 almost cost you your marriage rob1. ;)

I have had a PVR for 3 years too, and am still using it with no problems. The reason I went with *C? My current PVR is not high def. I was in the market for a high def receiver and was a bit disappointed in the $6.00 rate hike that Videotron applied to my cable bill since January 2005. As well, some of the channels with Videotron were not very good quality. I started investigating alternatives and came across this forum and read raving reports about how wonderful and wild the DSR530 was. I even questioned if it had any problems and was told no, it does not. I'm never one to buy something brand spanking new. I took a chance this time and it taught me a big lesson. Not to ever do it again. The thing that scares me and should most is that there are no guarantees that the problems will be fixed. On the plus side, when I switched to *C by buying the DSR530, I noticed an improvement in PQ on the same channels that looked horrible through Videotron. However, the 530 was a disappointment due to the over abundance of problems. Now I'm back to a SD receiver waiting to see if these problems will be rectified. If not, then I will have no other choice but to buy the Videotron HD 8300 unit. My new TV will be here in the fall, which is my deadline. I was hoping to have the receiver end of things finished and settled long before the fall. We'll see... :eek:

Hello,

With the DSR500 dropping to $199 (if you can find it) I was hoping to see the DSR530 price match up with the ExpressVu 9200 at $599. If you can believe some of the posts in the ExpressVu forum someone purchased one for $569 at A&B Sound.

It would be nice to get one before the start of the new TV season in Sep. does anyone think there will be a price drop before Sep.

Thanks.

Visions in Calgary has a published ad (this week) for the Bell 9220 @ $569. I suspect A & B was price matching

Just to let you DSR 530 users know that some of us are reading your comments with interest...though we haven't yet bought the unit, we haven't given up. Bell might have stolen the spotlight for now but we depend on user feedback of the postive kind. I also appreciate the move to clean up this forum. Thank you.

I was hoping to see the DSR530 price match up with the ExpressVu 9200 at $599.

....I'm waiting for a significant price drop and reports from users that the DSR530 is mostly bug free.

....Who knows, I may wait for a second generation HD PVR with a bigger hard drive.

can some please list what cables/adaptors are included with the DSR530.

Thanks

Hello,

With the DSR500 dropping to $199 (if you can find it) I was hoping to see the DSR530 price match up with the ExpressVu 9200 at $599.
FutureShop has dropped the price of the DVR530 to $599 for this weekend in Calgary, all part of the madness that arrises from Soundsarounds 12 hour Liquidation. Woo!

Does SC HD box have a built in ATSC tuner?

Does SC HD box have a built in ATSC tuner?

No - it the slots for 2 (as Voom had ordered them), but the Motorola 5XX firmware does not support ATSC

Thanks.

Where does the DSR530 stand these days in regards to the updates and operation posted in the past?:confused:

Depends on your frame of reference and how you use the unit.

Compared to it's initial rollout, it's miles ahead.
If you consider the pulled BC code as a preview of things in the pipe, then I'm excited about the upcoming release.

That said, the current A8 is usable with several cautions.

There seems to be 2 camps.
Those that have all sorts of problems and those that have few.
Which one you wil become, who knows?

It may depend on your installation, particular box, how you use it and and any preconceived expectations.

If you do choose to buy now, at least you'll be on the eve of a fairly significant code rollup.
If you run into a few problems, you likely won't have to suffer too long.

On the other hand, you may join the ranks of those that absolutley either love it death or can't live without a PVR.

It may also depend on what other choices are available to you.

Is cable an option in your area?
Did you swear never to go to Bell?
Are you an existing Starchoice customer?
Are you a power users?
etc, etc...

Where does the DSR530 stand these days in regards to the updates and operation posted in the past?:confused:Don't even think about buying a DSR530 until they do get it fixed once and for all. The only people who seem to be pleased with the DSR530 are die-hard Starchoice fans (for various reasons of their own). The fact is the machine konks out at random, meaning you need to reboot it fairly often. It's unreliable. Sometimes it misses recordings. I currently have the BC code and yes it is ahead of the A8 code but it is still full of bugs. On top of all of this, StarChoice customer service has been telling people for 8 months now that a new release is coming any day. The only thing is each time a new release comes out we are faced with nothing more than a major disappointment. If you know what's good for you, you won't believe any of the hype you hear over a new release. When StarChoice finally does get their act together (if they ever do), I'll be sure to post tons of comments on this forum regarding how well it works. Until then I'm going to be honest and tell people what the machine is really like. I'm in my mid 40s and can honestly say that this is the lousiest piece of electronic equipment that I have ever purchased in my entire life. Always remember that with StarChoice the phrase, "New Version" does not mean that they've nailed all of the bugs. There have been 4 releases so far and the last release was pulled. Only a handful of people even got the BC release. They claim it can randomly cause your DSR530 to completely fail and the only remedy for this is a new machine.

Recently I had not watched TV in a week as I was busy with other things. My DSR530 was busy recording my weekly HD shows. It recorded so much stuff that it ran out of hard disk space. All of the shows that come up on my LIST screen have a broken icon indicating that the show was not recorded. If you select any of them to play, the machine completely freezes. A reboot is in order. That's the latest bug I found. There are other things that will freeze the machine too, but that one is a new one to me.

It is so obvious that Motorola put little thought into the design of the software and on top of it all they put little thought into the testing. Sure it likely works if you only record one show, watch one show and delete it. But who in the heck does that?!?

Compared to it's initial rollout, it's miles ahead.
...is usable with several cautions.
Don't even think about buying a DSR530 ...
You decide!

Tell us how you really feel ;)

Sure it likely works if you only record one show, watch one show and delete it. But who in the heck does that?!?

Well actually, me! I see the PVR as a simple convenience for when there's something I really want to watch, but will not be available to watch it when it's aired. At most, I'll have two or maybe even three shows queued, and generally watch and erase them within 48 hours.

I used to be a TIVO-holic. With the S/A box I had from Rogers, I would set it up to record everything and anything I was even remotely interested in. I even went out and bought an external hard drive to hold even more recordings. Periodically, I would prioritize the recorded content and delete the older shows to make room for new shows. There was no way I could ever watch everything I recorded unless I took time off work, and didn't sleep for a week.

Switching to *C and the Motorola DVR530 cured me of this heinous addiction - cold turkey!

I have no special attachment to either *C or Moto. As a product developer, I understand the pressures on the design team to get a product to market even when it's not 100% debugged. If there's a means to update the product in the field ( and really, how many products are like that ? ) then sometimes the decision to ship prematurely is easier to make. Of course I would never advocate that position at work :rolleyes: . The real question is if Moto actually makes a commitment to continue to debug and refine the product.

From what I've seen here, the early adopters have reached a frustration level that the newer users have not yet experienced. I have not experienced these lock-ups or phantom recordings yet; so basically I'm happy with the 530. Ask me in a year or so.

Well actually, me! I see the PVR as a simple convenience for when there's something I really want to watch, but will not be available to watch it when it's aired. At most, I'll have two or maybe even three shows queued, and generally watch and erase them within 48 hours.

Thank you for your refreshing remarks. That is exactly how I would use this machine if I owned one. My Media Centre has about 165 GB available for SD video and I try to keep it clean. The only time I might hold unseen episodes is for the rerun season so I have something to watch.
Letting a machine fill up its hard drive is courting problems. Thanks Techluvr

Same here, I keep a 1/2 dozem HD movies for the off-season and only the current few nights shows that are generaly wiped the same night they are recorded, a few days at most and never more than a shade of 1/2 full.
I DO have a boat load of timers to record EVERYTHING, but I generally watch live and discard recordings after a good view.

Only a _____ would let his hard drive fill up to capacity and then have the audacity to complain about a bunch of broken recordings, which is what the majority of K270's and his previous moniker posts amount too.