I'm happy too, cc code seem to be the one now. No problem yet and hope that we'll be happy this time.....thank Star for working for us,,,,,,

Jobel,,,,happy

I've been following this 530 saga for some time and all's I gotta say is some of you guys should be given a gold medal for patience and loyalty to SC!!

If it were me, and I had spent $800 on this piece of garbage (ok, the coding is garbage but whatever), I would be ragging *C and getting them to:
1. Trade the 530 for a 505
2. Make up the difference in retail price with free programming, however long that lasts.

Then the money I'm not spending on programming, I'd buy a Tivo and pay the monthly subscription.

You guys are saints, you really are. I would not put up with it. This is just tv afterall, and its not worth the aggravation and good money you spent.

Don't knock it if you haven't tried it - I've had a 530 since day one, and have put up with all the crap, but you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead you-know-whats before I'd give it up. Picture quality - excellent. Trick modes - tricky, but liveable. Customer service - unparalleled. Frustration - 8 outta 10, but I'd get another one in a heartbeat.

Don't knock it if you haven't tried it - I've had a 530 since day one, and have put up with all the crap, but you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead you-know-whats before I'd give it up. Picture quality - excellent. Trick modes - tricky, but liveable. Customer service - unparalleled. Frustration - 8 outta 10, but I'd get another one in a heartbeat.


I would have to agree. This thing is definately not perfect by a long shot but it still performs well enough for me that it changes the way we watch tv every night. We can watch 2 hour programs sometimes in just 1 hour by skipping commercials and stuff we don't want to see, thus enjoying more quality viewing and less garbage to have to sit through. I could never give it up and take a step backwards to watching commercials all night long and setting up timers on a vcr again.

Setting up timers on the vcr was always such a pain (proper times, finding a blank tape, etc.) that I usually did not bother recording many shows that I probably would have wanted to see. The 530 makes it so easy to record all shows of interest to me so I'll never miss anything.

Don't tell anybody, though - they'll ALL want one!

I guess it's all a matter of what you're used to. If I hadn't got a Windows Media Centre system or a (collecting dust) Tivo, I probably wouldn't find the flaws in the 530 as glaring as I do.

Man, I must dig that Tivo out again.....

hey cellar boy, buy that Tivo off of you! lol You can have your 530!

hey cellar boy, buy that Tivo off of you! lol You can have your 530!

You'd have to pry my Tivo out of my cold, dead hands!! :)

This will probably put the kiss of death on my machine, but I have not have any problems with it. I bought it in July and it came with the A8 code and was targeted with the CC code. The CC target disappeared and I never got it but the A8 has done everything the manual says it should. No problem with resume, or recording or time slip during a recording, or skip forward or back etc.

I was going to call *C about getting the CC code but since my machine is working fine, why fix what ain't broke.

My unit is not enclosed in any way but the room can get quite hot as we have no air. I thought I loved my Toshiba DVR /with hard drive, but this 530 is so much more convenient to use, no more programming two things and I love being able to watch real time while also recording, which I could not do with the Toshiba.

So hope I haven't jinxed myself.

After 10 front panel reboots in approximately 10 days, I called *Choice. The technician suggested I try a soft reboot and explained to me how to do it. Then he told me to monitor the situation.

Okay. So I did the soft reboot. But afterwards, the machine would not turn on. I had to do a front panel reboot. Is that normal?

I didn't call *Choice back. I figured I would "monitor" it. I was just curious as to what other's experience was.

Oh! And strangely, the technician did not ask who I was, ask for my account number and did not write down anything that I said. Do they think that if they don't record a complaint, that it doesn't exist? ;)

Oh! And strangely, the technician did not ask who I was, ask for my account number and did not write down anything that I said. Do they think that if they don't record a complaint, that it doesn't exist? ;)

Oh that's a big no-no! Hopefully the person pulled your number from the caller ID, used that to access your account and just forgot to ask you for your account details. Happens sometimes.

This will probably put the kiss of death on my machine, but I have not have any problems with it. I bought it in July and it came with the A8 code and was targeted with the CC code. The CC target disappeared and I never got it but the A8 has done everything the manual says it should. No problem with resume, or recording or time slip during a recording, or skip forward or back etc.

I was going to call *C about getting the CC code but since my machine is working fine, why fix what ain't broke.


I'm with you Orchid Girl! I was chomping at the bit for CC, but now I'm not so sure I want it. A8 has been berry berry good to us.
For the record, our 530 is not enclosed but rather wide open. We have air conditioning because I don't work so well if I get hot either!

I don't think we've seen this CC problem before...

I hit the list button and "poof" - no items could be found. This followed an evening of broken recordings.

Fortunately, a front panel reset brought back my list, but my recordings for the previous 24hrs were gone.

I had no major glitches in A8.

Aah, technology....

Since my last post when I said I was having problems and called SC, everything is fine! I have put it through the ringer and tried everything and so far so good! No reboots in weeks. I am now recording in HD, pausing live TV, watching HD and recording another HD - all problems with A8. My resume feature now works correctly and so on.

Hope this continues - but I am not too confident. We will see what happens as my Hard drive fills - that is where my problems started with A8

...We will see what happens as my Hard drive fills - that is where my problems started with A8

Patient: But Doctor, it hurts when I do this...
Doctor: Then don't do that!

Be advised that there is a known mis calculation in the disk approximations.
When you get to 10 SD 2 HD hours left, you're disk is FULL.

You WILL get broken recordings.

I've started to get the odd lock-up with CC, so I called tech help yesterday to register a complaint. I was told a couple of months ago that I would receive a warranty extension for 1 year after I receive a stable software download. I confirmed it yesterday, but the clock started running when I got CC. I guess I'll deal with it in the future, depending on what happens down the line. I have about 16 hours of HD available on my machine.

I've started to get the odd lock-up with CC...

That's how it started with me, life was good with CC, no lockups for the first two weeks.

Then I started getting the odd lockup until the last few nights it has been virtually unwatchable. I'll be watching a show, the screen will go black, and the display on the front of the machine just flashes ".". After several reboot attempts somtimes it would work again for a little while, sometimes it wouldn't. Anybody else experienced that?

I finally called Starchoice last night and the CSR walked me through a factory reset. Lost all my timers, but saved my recordings. It seemed pretty stable after the reset last night but I guess we'll see. The CSR told me that a factory reset was required to completely get rid of the old code (A8) and that I shouldn't have any problems in the future. I hope he's right becuase I'm getting pretty fed up with this piece of garbage.

The CSR told me that a factory reset was required to completely get rid of the old code (A8) and that I shouldn't have any problems in the future. I hope he's right becuase I'm getting pretty fed up with this piece of garbage.

Good luck Jay. I had a factory reset this morning as well. I then had to front panel reboot after the factory reset as the machine was frozen. I have since had to front panel reboot twice and it has only been three hours since the factory reset!

Does anyone know? Do they ever let you go back to the old code? A8 worked for me.

There is not a day that goes by when I don't have to reset my 530 since CC!

It appears to happen the most when I'm watching something previously recorded and trying to record someting new in the background - very frustrating!

The other frustrating issue is Caller ID - sometimes it works - sometimes it doesn't and when it does work it might as well be in another language.

On a side note - I was talking to a tech at SC the other night regarding a different matter and I asked him about the "Interactive" button on the remote - through the laughter I believe he said "about 2 years", however, he did mention that there should be a "new guide" for the 500 series around the end of the year ...

There is not a day that goes by when I don't have to reset my 530 since CC!

Well, I called *Choice again. They made me go through another Factory Reset. They want me to further monitor the situation. sigh. :(

Oh! But Mike, Jay and all of the rest of you should know that, according to the tech., everyone is incredibly happy with the new CC code! So there you go. It's just you. And Mike. And Jay. And me. And....