Okay, for 16 months I've been the person saying, "things aren't so bad, I only had to reset a few times." Well, now I am reseting almost daily and missing recordings, having broken recordings, and last week I had to do a hard reset as it would not record anything. The unit has also reset itself a few times?

So is this something with the code, as it seems others are suddenly having the same issues? Or is my unit about to crap out?

I would try getting a new LBNF and check to see what your signal strength is on the HD channels. My recordings use to be broke up too, but there are no more since I had a new LNBF and a new 530. Try the new LNBF first or get a tech come out and look at it or replace it before you get a new 530.

I guess I was not clear, by broken recordings I mean they were interrupted and did not complete. My picture quality still remains top quality.

Smurfy, it sounds like your 530 is starting a slow painful death. The exact thing happened to me and it will just get worse. Mine will not even turn on, it cycles through the blue lights, then shuts off. My replacement should be here any day now. Thankfully, I had a 505 that I stole from my theatre room to watch the hockey playoffs!

Exactly what I did not want to hear! Thanks Liquid, how long did this go on before yours died?

Smurfy, it sounds like your 530 is starting a slow painful death. The exact thing happened to me and it will just get worse. Mine will not even turn on, it cycles through the blue lights, then shuts off. My replacement should be here any day now. Thankfully, I had a 505 that I stole from my theatre room to watch the hockey playoffs!
This is exactly my story. I was on my second 530 and about two weeks ago it started dying...then things got worse and worse until Tuesday last week is totally died. Mine rarely powers on (blue LEDs cycle indefinitely) and if does turn on, I cannot press a single button before it freezes. The existing show on the channel that's up works fine but I can't do a darn thing. I requested a replacement last week am still waiting for it. Said it'd be a refurb, not a new one, I didn't quote the Jim C. thing or this message board. Stupid me.

Maybe I should just call and start the ball rolling, maybe I can get a replacement here before mine dies!:D

Mine had the odd reboot here and there for about a year, but the last week was brutal! I would not wait any longer, get C.S on the phone and get it replaced. If you don't have another box in the house your screwed for 10-14 days.

10-14 days? I wonder why so long. I remember getting a replacement 401 unit over night. Are they out of stock?

I had a factory reset done a few days ago. So far so good, but based on previous history from others here, I expect it to be short lived.

I just hate having to always put my hope in the next software release. But that's what keeping me hanging on.

Not sure why it takes that long, but that's what I was told and it's been 8 days today with no 530 in sight.

DVR530 has a 160Gb Hard Disk Drive. Main drive holds 106 hours of SD and about 25 hours of HD. There are other factors like Dolby Digital audio it can hold too. Other part of the drive is for the Live-On-Disk feature. 90min SDTV buffer which gets reset each time the channel is changed. No idea how long HDTV it can hold.

By my design, the HD & SD LOD buffers are 90 minutes.
This was to avoid any confusion about just how much buffer there is and is an excellent compromise between other buffers based on 120 and 250 Gb HD in competative units.

For example, on my 120 GB DCT, the buffer is ...who knows... depends on analog or digital or HD.

To compare the Bell 9200's 250 GB stores 180 SD and still 25 HD with 1 hour buffer.

I think the 90 minutes is more usuable and the HD, while rated for 25 in practice has proven to be closer to 29 on average and the SD closer to 130 hours.

I have done this limit test several times, but of course, you always want to be conservative in marketing materials.

The Dolby Audio is a non factor relative to the video. Totally trivial.

Sadly, I've never been able to record more than 11 hours of HD, as at around 9 or 10 hours of HD recorded, the machine ( my second) becomes completely unstable. Cleaning it down to 4 or 5 hours restores it.

Just a report of sorts. I had been experiencing odd behaviors with my 530. Freezing, funky F.F. and R.W...etc. Well she finally packed it in and I received my new unit today (free I might add - just asked and received)...I say new as the CSR couldn't find the S/N in the system and after asking a higher power found out that it wasn't a rebuild :p .
It has come with a code CE - I'm sure this should last until the next release - Dan

I wonder how much buffer there actually is. The straight rewind or jump won't go back past the 1.5 hours but I know that by using skip back I've gone back over 2 hours.

There was some s/w bugs a while ago that may still be lingering.
I don't see it as a big deal as long as it meets the design specs.

I've certainly tested boundaries and seen them work and then fail in the next version.
Just one of the hazards I suppose.

My new (refurbished) 530 arrived Tuesday April 17 (after dying painfully on April 9). Worked fine on setup, recorded Tuesday night and Wednesday night without incident. However, Thursday morning I discovered it locked up at 3:10 am.

Unplugged it and plugged it back in, worked fine. Recorded again Thursday night, watched live TV and recordings with no problems last night.

Woke up again this morning to find it locked up at 3:19 am.

Any idea what this is? Is it having trouble taking downloads - don't they usually happen around 3 am? It is not targeting the new version, it came with CC and the target version shows 00.

It's working good so far, but if it keeps locking up, I'm sure that will eventually be a problem.

Thanks for any advice....

Yes most of them comes with the CC version. Some comes with a CE version which is very little difference between the 2. Within the next month there will be a newer version with the new IPG guide and some more fixes, don't know the code yet.

The last two weeks I've been having a new problem with my 530. I've been getting the red light and the message "no satellite signal" usually when I turn it on, but occasionally while its been running. Sometimes after waiting awhile it will come back on for a few seconds and then go off again. I've discovered by unplugging the receiver for a minute or two and plugging it back in it works again. I have it plugged into a UPS and am wondering if that could be the problem.

I've always associated signal problems with cables and the dish outside, but why would unplugging it fix it if that's the case.

Anyone have any ideas? TIA!
aqualine

I'm NOT on a UPS and have had the same problem with mine the past several weeks as well as a very high degree of missed recording or some that started way late in the hour plus 1 that I didn't make all by itself and never stopped and filled the entire disk.

We did have some heavy snow and that seemed to really confuse it for a while.

I'm hoping the new code at least makes any minor remaining issues consistent and understandable.
This goofy behavior is driving me nuts.