The big issue with the 530 is that the 'fixes' have been so freaking slow coming. My unit is already out of warranty, so I'm going completely on faith at this point,..."

I hear you... I called last night regarding the frequent resets of my two 505's. A very nice agent helped me out, we did a factory reset, he said that seems to fix it some some customers...not sure but we will see...other theories were that something got screwed up with a recent ppv event..? :confused:

BUT... he also said that the 530 was their first priority, UNTIL the 505's got screwed...so I complained b/c I have a 530 too, so all my units are acting wierd right now. I didnt get a free month of programming like some...but I did get a handful of empty promises and ppv credits! Had to watch Big Mommas House 2 with my wife last night (aaah--in unison please :) )

So are BOTH of the techies working on the 505's or are they dividing their time with the two units? (insert sardonic tone here) ;) ?

So are BOTH of the techies working on the 505's or are they dividing their time with the two units? (insert sardonic tone here) ;) ?

I think Larry and Curly are still working on the 530 release. Mo has been reassigned to the 505 until the missing channels issue is resolved. :)

Because I believe this is the 530 thread. can anyone update me as to what they know about code updates to this point.

jhealey

Current code for most 530 users is A8, however, some of us have something called BC which did make some improvements. I have BC and I'm still having to reset the box because of freezes on an almost daily basis. If I turn off the live buffer then I can go days even a week or two before I have to reboot because of an issue.

A new code is expected to be released in mid-July and will feature some of these improvements accrording to a post on another forum...

- Far improved operational stability for channel tuning (far few lock-ups during channel change -- in fact, so far we have seen none from that cause)
- Far improved timer performance for DVR recording, and for PPV recordings (again, so far no failures)
- Far improved performance for playback of DVR recordings (again, so far no failures)
- New sorting criteria for recordings
- A way to jump to identified times of recordings (i.e. 1 hour in)

BC was stopped because it caused the machine to die at some point.
So the few folks that got lucky and got it (myself included) have a much more stable machine than with a8, altough the dead syndrome is always present.
I have to say that my machine does crash once awhile for no apparent reason, but there can be weeks between them.
I also had the timers not firing up issue for a couple days, and as it started it ended.
Only lasted a couple days. Dunno what happened.
I've heard that one of the reasons the receiver chokes is that sometimes there can be "junk" in the datastream and the receiver doesnt know what to do with it.
It makes sense to me, it's like buffer underruns in the pc world.


I was speaking with a rep at *c the other day on an unrelated note, and the 530 problems was brought up.
The guy told that they are now testing a new version and he says that it is working pretty good.
It has had it for a couple days and the machine has performed well.
He said that he does expect crashes to occur, but the new code looks very solid.
As for a general release the week of July 10th seems to be the target unless some major problem shows up during their testing.
I am keeping my fingers crossed and hopefully we will all have it in july. :)

My question seem to be difficult to answer, but why no represent of StarC just come in this forum and tell us everything he know about an update ? I don't want a simple rep but maybe a master. What we see is some people has information but it come time to time. This forum is the best I saw in the web so I imagine the Star C are listing or so ? If not that can we do to make it work?

Yes we're disapointed and I'm not used to stay in that position and wait. It look like everytime when we don't have news, someone have talk to an rep and bingo hoping come again the Star ???

so what.....a suivre..........

My question seem to be difficult to answer, but why no represent of StarC just come in this forum and tell us everything he know about an update ? I don't want a simple rep but maybe a master. What we see is some people has information but it come time to time.

That's a really good question. The short answer is that Starchoice don't allow employees to post in public forums. People can, and have, lost their jobs for such things. One guy over in the Shaw forum even lost his job for posting here something they'd be told to tell every customer that called the call centre.

I think it's a control and liability issue as much as anything for the company, though I agree it would be a great thing for an official company representative on the boards (though it might not be much fun for them....) And honestly, the few employees there with the answers people would need don't even like speaking to their co-workers, never mind the public!

There are employees who read and post on the boards, but for now the closest you'll get to an insider is ARR!!

My question seem to be difficult to answer, but why no represent of StarC just come in this forum and tell us everything he know about an update ? I don't want a simple rep but maybe a master.


I agree. It would be great to have an official StarChoice rep (especially a VP) join the forum from time to time to keep us advised of what they are doing to fix / inprove our 530's. It's been a year now since the receiver has been released and warranties are expiring. I'm sure many would like to know when the machine will work as advertised. I for one have had a few problems and don't regret buying it. If they were to ask me to return it I would refuse.

I am a member of another forum that was very active a few years ago with discussion of Motorola's 4DTV Satellite receiver. Most members of the forum were American's with the US receiver DSR920 but some were also owners of the StarChoice DSR921 receiver which was the same as the American one but was only good for Star Choice programming. Years ago we were fortunate enough to have Motorola employee's join in on the forum to discuss firmware updates. We even assigned a time on friday nights to have a live chat on the forum and sometimes the Motorola people would join us. At least we knew that the Motorola people were listening even though they could not do all we wanted. There was also someone who would arrange to interview Motorola people from time to time to discuss the future of their 4DTV product and we could listen to it live on Satellite or download the text of the discussion.

I have also been told that Star Choice continues to test new firmware and I trust that they will release something when they think it's good. I've been told by Star Choice people that they read this forum. Hopefully someday they will be so confident in their product that they have no problem joining public discussions about it.

Don't get your hopes up people!! I hate to have to be the one to remind you but history is indeed repeating itself here. Every single release so far came to us after messages all over the forums stating that the release was solid and all problems were fixed - no more reboots. StarChoice employees before have even said that they had the machine at home and experienced no problems with it. Yet when we finally get the firmware it's nothing but one disappointment after the other.

It's best not to get your hopes up until new firmware REALLY does come out. Don't hold your breath waiting. I was told September the last time I called. Many are saying July. Could be more disappointing news.

...It's best not to get your hopes up until new firmware REALLY does come out. ... Many are saying July. Could be more disappointing news. You are correct that things can and do change at the last minute.
That's certainly an excellent reason that *C doesn't participate officially.

While they may have a planned release date and get everyones hopes up, a fatal bug could easily pull the plug or cause delays.

Not so bad when it hasn't been anounced, but look what happened with the BC code. It was looking like a fair improvement until a few weeks later when units started going brain dead.

It does seem very likely that somehow the team gets your feedback.
We did see a fair bit of changes in BC over A8 and they strangely seemed to mirror many of the requests put forth on this forum.

There does seem to be a wiff that something is up and happening.
Is THIS the long awaited code that finally makes the box 'launchable'?
I dunno, but one can only surmise that with the long delay since the last code, and the apparent gun shyness of *C & Moto, this at least has to be a noteworthy improvement.

When senior officials emails to subscribers are being quoted with quite bold statements about just how good it is, they are either very confident this time or very foolish. I'm certain they didn't get to be senior by being foolish.

July is not too far off and it's sumertime, lets pop a cool one and see what develops.

So Kevin270, if this alledged new wonderful code should meet with your approval, what do you have planned for us all?

So Kevin270, if this alledged new wonderful code should meet with your approval, what do you have planned for us all?
He's gunna buy all of us "fence sitters" a *C PVR, right?

Although I agree with most of you who have hung on with the 530 for the year, I wouldn't trade it in and go back to VHS. It has made life easier and tv a notch more enjoyable with the convience of PVR Technology. On the other hand "Grass is always Greener on the other side theory" I do get depressed when I hear and read how wonderful "Tivo" is at what it can do and how it does live up to what it says it does. The theory that eveything is pretty much the same technology out there and really PVR machines should be the same with different style guides and logos but basic operations and options should be equal, the Starchoice PVR is a bit dissapointing and out of date with what we paid for.

Still have my fingers crossed and hanging in
jhealey

...Still have my fingers crossed and hanging in
jhealey

That's the spirit!

Good for you!

Oh ya, what's that other saying..."Good things come to those who wait"


P.S. Last comment added to stir up the pot with all the disenters around here.
It's been a might boring lately, Sumertime, box working so well, yoiu get the drift.

[quote=ARR]

P.S. Last comment added to stir up the pot with all the disenters around here.

You are such a s_ _t disturber....LOL...BBAS

The box hasn't worked well since it was released. Every day pretty well I have to reboot mine, sometimes more than just once per day. The BC code has more things wrong with it than just killing the machines. I have had the BC code and it is riddled with bugs. Maybe not as many as A8, but it is nowhere near what we heard through the grapevine it would be.

I have not used VHS since 2001. I have had a PVR since then. Upgrading to HD was a great idea, but upgrading to an HD PVR might have been a better idea if I did it through Rogers and not StarChoice.

If the machine starts to work properly I will be happy. Until then I'll remain honest and truthful about the DSR530. At this point in time, don't buy this machine if you know what's good for you. That's the only advice that I can give. It will take a week or so to ensure there are no big problems with the new release too. For whatever reason, the average Joe seems to find the DSR530 problems almost within an hour of the release of new firmware. Yet StarChoice takes months to test the release before dishing it out to the public. What's up with that? Are the people testing the machines actually plugging them into the electrical power outlet?

My question to you ARR is what are you going to do (after all of your empty promises) for me if the machine still doesn't work after a year and a half?

I wonder why you have to reboot so often? I reboot about once a month. Otherwise it works fine.

I had the BC code. Everything worked great. Dont recall anybugs aside from having to reboot it once a month or so.

Then my machine died from the BC bug. Got a replacement but am now stuck with A8 again, and reboot every week or so now.

On a positive note I contacted Starchoice and now have a lifetime warrenty on my 530 receiver.

Looking forward to the new code whenever it comes.

Could be worse, I could be a Bell Sub :)

I wonder why you have to reboot so often? I reboot about once a month. Otherwise it works fine.

With the BC code and Live Record ON, I have to reboot once a day. Maybe *C can give us a remote control button for this.

On a positive note I contacted Starchoice and now have a lifetime warrenty on my 530 receiver.

Lifetime warranty...are you serious. Is this till they discontinue the 530 or the lifetime of StarChoice....;-)

Lifetime warranty...are you serious. Is this till they discontinue the 530 or the lifetime of StarChoice....;-)

They have replaced my old receivers in the past (6 years old) with no issues, so I'll assume I am good. Took a lot of back and forth to get the offer.

Guess I will find out one day. Better then it running out last month though.