July 18th: DSR530 Code CC Fixes, Features & Bugs

[Sirius Guy]

I think people like Kevin need to keep their $400 and not try the latest piece of hardware.
I remember my first VCR was $800 so for $400 net , I think most people can live with a few headaches and software glitches. It is worth the price just not to have to watch anymore commercials to me.
But obviously some have zero tolerance in this regard.

[ARR]

In hindsight, I agree, he should not be a user of this type of technology until it is quite idiot proof, which it currently isn't. (<- Negative remark about the unit again)

In the other thread, he remarks about his spouse pressing the keys too many times, well beat me with a stick!,
it's been well established that's that will most certainly kill the box,
how ridiculous can people be,
especially with the internet and this forum to guide them through certain pitfals.

His only valid remark IMHO is that is shouldn't do that and I agree, (<- Postive supporting remark) but some will never learn to adapt.

Thank goodness for Darwin.

[Kevin270]

I guess we are not all as brilliant as you ARR. Gee I weesh I had yer brains.

[satellite]

Kevin270 - I present you with the following challenge.

Using the Ask Jim link on www.starchoice.com, send off an articulate, polite letter indicating that after 5 months with the new CC code, you are still completely unsatisfied with your 530 and want a refund. Flat out. Outline the issues you are still having.

I would like to know what the response is.

[RaymondT]

Maybe we should all beg Jim to buy him out.

Why is it almost every forum has to have that one person...

[QualityIsJobOne]

Originally Posted by ;

I was looking at some big-screen TVs tonight at Best Buy here in Ottawa.... A sales person asked us if we needed anything. I mentioned that the DSR530 units were not on display, and asked him why they had none setup on demo.

BB & F.Shop are poor sources of info about StarChoice.

-Outdated info about StarChoice on their websites
-Staff's "deer in headlights" approach to questions about StarChoice
-Pro ExpressVu in-store displays

As an example, check out F.Shop's "HDTV Centre" listing of available HD channels http://www.futureshop.ca/marketing/h...gon=&langid=EN

StarChoice gets no credit for carrying Nat Geographic HD, Showcase HD, A&E HD & Discovery HD

[Lester]

I received a brand new 530. Installed it and still get the occasional dropouts on two or three channels that I have recorded. Have not noticed any on the live broadcast this time around. It is fairly obvious at this point that the problem is not the receiver. The wiring is new so that cannot be the problem either. Things are pointing towards the LNB although one would think that if that was the source of the problem I would get droputs on all channels. Wonder if there could be some external problem such as radio interference or some other such phenominon. As you can see I am grasping at straws. Anyone have any more ideas?
lester

[Yogibear]

Kevin720,

I feel a bit sorry for you that you bought a dsr530. You seem very unhappy with your unit(s), *C and the all situation.

I have to admit that i never use your problematic option FFWD/FRWD so i don't have any issue about it.

Since CC code, i use the time JUMP instead which is fantastic. It never failed on me and i can skip the commercials.

If renting was an option, i would have probably gone with it instead of buying the first dsr530 generation which is always risky (this is true for most products).

Anyways, i know the dsr530 is not a perfect machine but it is better than nothing. I did not want to wait any longer.

I kind made up my mind that this unit has probably a short life expectency (less than 5 years).

What *C should do is to include the DSR530 under their simple satellite plan like the 300* and 400* series.

Best wishes for 2007 to you and everyone.

[Kevin270]

Now you know they will not do that. If I won money back from StarChoice, everyone else would also expect the same thing from them. I've complained to them lots in the past. Not recently because I figured why bother. They don't do anything. I spoke with Jim Cummins who just passed me off to someone else. We've tried all sorts of things already, I have even written complaints stating that I only kept the machine because of the empty promises that StarChoice made that they would have a working version of their software. At that point, they start with "Our next release is going to fix every problem that you mentioned up." I've given up fighting with them. All I can do now is try my best to ensure others don't fall victim to this same bottomless pit.

[Kevin270]

Originally Posted by Yogibear

Anyways, i know the dsr530 is not a perfect machine but it is better than nothing. I did not want to wait any longer.

I have not used a VCR since 2000. I bought my first PVR back then, but it was not a high def PVR. It was one of the Rogers cable PVRs. The only problem I recall with that machine was with the timers - you could set it to record all episodes of a program (as it had record by name). Sometimes when setting it to record only the first program, it would record all programs for the same day. IE: It would record the first airing of Will & Grace, and 2 other episodes that were repeats of the first. I had dual recording, rewind worked, FF worked, jump keys worked. It was an amazing machine, but it was not high def and we just bought a high def TV in 2005. So part of the problem for us is that we switched to a machine that is severely handicapped when it comes to doing these basic things. Had the DSR530 been my very first PVR, I may not have noticed these problems. This is what I suspect is happening to most people who own the 530. They are not noticing anything is wrong because they never had a machine that worked properly in the first place. I did some research before buying the 530, but my mistake was getting feedback from the wrong people, and not doing a thorough investigation before buying. Big mistake!!

Anyhow, glad you are happy with it across the river from me in Gatineau.

You have a Happy New Year too.

[JoBel]

Since my last post here, it's been long since I'd said something about the 530. So after that long I can said that even if sometime I have to reset by pushing the front buttom 5s. I'm kind satisfaction of the new cc code. When I have to reset it it's because my son push to many buttom at the same time. From my side it's been rare that it's happen to me.

So, glad to read all your thread about it...one day The Star will give us a final result and a good one.....

[Tup]

Well my old 530 has been locking up more and more frequently. I thought perhaps the old recordings dating back to May of 2005 were causing some problem with the CC code. I deleted these and it's still locking up fairly frequently. I'm wondering if I'm headed for major failure. Should I call and get a factory reset and erase all recordings? Does anyone have a copy of that letter saying *C would warranty it for 1 year after the CC code intro in case I need it to get a new 530?

Maybe it's just a phase it's going through.

[ARR]

Certainly you'd want to watch or archive any shows.
Of course if a *c advised factory reset kills the box, then they are kinda on the hook for a replacement anyways.
Nothing better than having them do it and feeling a little guilty.

Enough reboots over a short time will likely finish it off, so best get that done before the grace period expires.

[Longmayirun]

Does anyone else have this problem with the 530? Anytime the power goes out which lately is almost daily with the wind storms we've been getting out here, I have a hell of a time getting the DVR to start up again. I have to do a soft reset sometimes up to 30 times just to get it going. The blue lights will flash continuously or they'll flash briefly and then stop. I keep doing a soft reset and I have to do it until I here a destinctive sound of the disc powering up. When that happens I know I've got it. When I first got the DVR, now over a year ago, if the power went out I would just have to reset it and everything was a go. Other that this issue, I've been as happy as possible with this model and I am reluctant to demand a replacement for fear that I'll get a real lemon. Comments?

[ARR]

Chances are a replacement is in your near future due to the number of resets.
It's quite likely it will soon die a horrible death.
So do keep up on your programs on the DVR list just in case.

DO NOT tell *C about all the power outages or you may have to pay for a replacement as that's a customer abuse, non-warrantable item when in fact, the machine is just plain not suited to handle this type of environment when it ought to be.

Generally the reports a of replacements have been very positive with new A0/A4/A8 warehouse units being shipping and taking CC in the first few days.

The problem IS:
When the power fails, any outstanding writes to the flash are incomplete.
This is because flash writes occur only every 5 minutes so as not to shorten the limited life span of flash memory.

Now don't get alarmed, the life span of flash in 'normal' use is well beyond the life of the unit and is many many years, but IF, bad coding were to write the hell out of it, we'll, you do the math, see my point.

Recent code has added a 'chkdsk' routine to the boot process and this is why it's slower to start up as it tries to recover from corrupted flash after a unexpected reboot/power failure.
In many cases, several chkdsks are required to fully recover and some never will.

Something I try and observe on the rare occasions that I need to do a reboot is, if the unit can be powered off from the remote/front panel, WAIT for the clock display to re-appear after several seconds.
This signifies that the write flush has been completed and the box is in a quiescent state.