The three CSR's which I spoke to were unaware of the timer problem or at least claimed no knowledge of the problem. The last one I spoke to wanted to do a factory reset which I'm certain would fix the problem because that would blow away all of my timers. Is that right?

It would not be such a problem to start programing the timers from scratch if the IPG went out further than a few days.

Seems to me this happened at the last DST switchover.
Knowing that, modify the timers to ONCE and then redo them all next week.

While some might argue it's not rocket science, the amount of code required at the middleware level to examine a timer, check the next occurence, determine which side of DST it's on and then adjust it based on unknown guide data is NOT a trivial task.

In upcoming versions that will support searchable guide and other advanced features currently in the works, these issues will disappear.

Until then, we know the workaround answer.

And YES, a factory reset will clear any timers and the problem goes away until you re-create them as recurring if done before this Sunday.

Reminds me of the TIVO story, maybe folklore, the units 'learn' what you like to watch and try and record shows it thinks you'll like, so some unsuspecting sole accidently watched Will & Grace and the Tivo promptly filled his hard drive with Gay Porn!
That's freakin hilarious!

Thanks ARR...looks like all of us unsuspecting Starchoice faithful have a project to do on Sunday...although I plan on toughing it out until Sunday to see if I can avoid re-programming all of my timers.

What is the ideal number range to have displayed for the Trip count? My 530 is displaying 0 and has been for some time now. Can a low # have any effects on performance?

What is the ideal number range to have displayed for the Trip count? My 530 is displaying 0 and has been for some time now. Can a low # have any effects on performance?

The trip count has no effect on performance whatsoever. It is simply a counter of how many 'hits' the receiver has taken from the SAC. It'll reset to zero if the receiver is loses power and will slowly increase over time due to things like channel map updates, changes to your programming subscriptions, encryption key updates etc.

The only times the trip count is of any real concern to the customer is during the activation (or re-activation) or trouble shooting of a receiver (simply to confirm the unit was receiving required commands from the SAC). If the trip count NEVER increases then you'd know about pretty quickly as you'd loose all your programming the next time Starchoice switched the encryption keys on the programming!

this timer problem is crazy I woke up this morning and the timer that I had set to record CSI (many moons ago) was still going 5hrs and counting!!! then it gave me a conflict with grey's anatomy....pretty annoying

So if I were to buy a DSR530 from StarChoice what would it be new or a re-furb? BB or FS ?

Should ALL be new at all locations.
The refurbs can be expected under a warranty repair situation only unless otherwise stated.

Hence a 505a has a notation abouts it almost virgin past.

Ok, Woke up this morning and changed all the DST conflicts back from the temporary "Tune To" function back to "Record Function". No conflicts now but some of my programs were all wrong.

After cursing Starchoice for a another new bug I soon realized it wasn't them this time. All of Canada does not change to DST so I had to make a manual correction to a few shows.

REMEMBER to check your time shifted shows this week.:rolleyes:

I woke up this morning and noticed that I only had 3 hours of HD recording time left. When I went to bed last night, I had 17 hours left. After some searching around I noticed that MadTV, which records every week using the same timer, had started recording and did not stop. The machine was still recording from that channel at 7:30 AM. I manually stopped it. Another glitch.

I think we can all agree that the change from DST to Standard time caused some conflict with weekly timers. I suggest you reset your timers and get over it. :rolleyes:

I guess what you are saying is not only did the DST programming mess up the machine PRIOR to the time change, but it continues to mess up the machine even after the time change. I want to thank you for the advice on getting over it. I will admit though, the thousands of other things I'm involved in throughout the week don't give me even a fraction of the problem that seems to continually surface from the DSR530. So is this reset going to work better than the 2,894 and counting resets that my wife and I have already done?

...I suggest you reset your timers and get over it. :rolleyes:
Seems like the machine and the owner like to hang onto things forever!
Truly a match made in heaven, or maybe hell.
Cleary it was mean't to be.

No problems to report here after the DST change.
Full steam enjoyment ahead until next spring. Yippee!

My wife suggested that our cat should start working on the DSR530 problems. No doubt she'll have it fixed in no time.

Try cleaning the fur balls out of the machine and see if that helps things.

BTW, am I mistaken, didn't you say you worked in software development?
So is the CAT the senior programer around the shop there?

Kinda makes me wonder...

Had the same problem with timers last week , but since Saturday I reset all timers and the 530 is working perfectly.

Only problem I have been having is with recording on CBSE HD. The last two times I have recorded "Without A Trace" on Sunday, it has recorded the last half of Cold Case and the first half of W/O A Trace. The times are correct for the timer, so I am assuming that CBSE HD was running late both times.

Anyone else noticed this problem?

Yes. It is particularily bad on CBS East, but its caused because of Football (or any sporting event for that matter) which tends to run long. CBS likes to run everything else out of sync rather than interrupt the first program in progress and have everything else on schedule.

I always record off CTV or CBS W for that reason on Sundays.

Thanks for the info, will do as you suggest and will use CTV.

Try cleaning the fur balls out of the machine and see if that helps things.

BTW, am I mistaken, didn't you say you worked in software development?
So is the CAT the senior programer around the shop there?

Kinda makes me wonder...

Yes, I worked in software development from 1979 until 1997. Since then I have been in management. I can tell you one thing, I would not permit any sort of sloppy programs on our system. We have teams of analysts and programmers, and we have a 3rd team made up of 25 people who do nothing else except test. Maybe once a year a small bug will slide into production, and it is usually some really convoluted situation that makes it happen. There are major program changes each year to keep up with the current legislation and so forth. If a problem is found, the code is fixed immediately. For the most part this doesn't happen. The coding we do is of high quality, and it has to be because it affects millions of people. Maybe StarChoice isn't interested in the quality of the 530 programming because the 530 is only owned by a few thousand?

Well, finally I get one day with no DSR530 problems. I must mark it on my calendar since it is such a rare occurance.

Well that would explain your high standards, and that's a good thing to have.
Not to make any excuses, but would you be able to deliver the product with say, a couple of IPG programmers, a middleware guy and a few developers of the H/W and low level OS, backed up by a handfull of first line sanity testers and the an ad hoc group of field testers?

So putting things into that perspective, especially when compared to the massive TEAMS at the disposal of the like at DirecTV and Echostar, considering were the 530 is today, a little over a year since launch with CC code, I really have to congradulate the boys on their dedication and accomplishments.
One the other hand, I understand the reason that managment has held back and for that, I am saddend since knowing the potential and talents on the project team and the box to be a real superstar.

So if you are able to for a moment, see the situation from my perspective, you'll understand some of my postings.
I admit, not having paid for my unit like you did with your hard earned dollars, I have neglected to see it from your eys, but at the same token, you do seem to have more downtime then many of us.
With a little luck, maybe it will just cack itself to death and the replacement with a birth at a0/a4/a8 and a speedy flash to CC will bring you the happiness I and many others enjoy.