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Pace Summit (DC758D) thread

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#1 · (Edited)
This thread is for discussion of the Pace Summit (DC758D).

Firmware Release Notes

User's Guide


FAQ:

1. How do I get into diagnostics?

To get to those diagnostics, press the power button, then press the select button within two seconds. To leave, press the power button.

2. How can I format the eSATA HDD?

While on the main diagnostics page (not the dashboard page), press

Repeat
MyDVR*
MyDVR*
MyDVR*
LIVE

*MyDVR may be LIST on your remote depending on your cable provider

this will bring up a screen where you can select the drive to format and subsequently format the drive. After a few seconds, the box will reboot. After reboot, the drive will be available for use (the format is a two phase process so the initial format GUI may appear to be very quick).

Be aware that formatting the drive can't be undone and you will lose all the content on the drive. Do not use this screen unless absolutely necessary.

3. What are the discrete Power On/Off codes?

* HEX 4A (0x4A) for Power On
* HEX 4B (0x4B) for Power Off


4. Why is TV Guide indicating that my disk is not full when its definitely not full?

This is a bug in the guide. Most of the time, the only way to resolve it is to reboot your box. Sometimes (but very rarely) if you delete a recording, it may recover and get out of the error state.

5. How do I get into Pace User Settings?

Press the Power Button on the remote and then Menu. This will allow you to change a variety of settings. Press the Power button to return to live TV.

6. What is the PowerMenu?

It is the same as Pace User Settings (older name for the same function).
 
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#212 ·
shaw pace DC758D

hey al i have the shaw pace DC758D , i power off and unplug power plug in the esata cable and power on the box , then it asks me to format the drive , i click yes and it sat here over night , formatting drive please wait.. its a 1 tb seagate hdd i read other instructuion on how to set it up in the service menue setttings ect , but i cant get it back to the sport where it asks to formate the drive so i can click no , then go do it in there. , any pointers ?:) much appreciated thank you
 
#213 ·
ok i poped the hdd on my computer wiped all partitons and formated it 1 partition , poped it back on the pvr it asked me to formate , i hit cancel then the pvr booted up ,

so then i
immediately press SELECT (within 1 second).
Press the LEFT arrow button to exit the Diagnostics Dashboard and go into the Main Diagnostics Menu.
Using the remote control, press REPLAY (the LEFT arrow next to the LIST button), then press LIST, LIST, LIST, LIVE. (These buttons are all located in the same row, half-way down the remote.)
Using the remote control, navigate down to "FULL FORMAT" and SELECT it.
The user will see a warning. They should navigate to PROCEED and SELECT it, and allow the set-top to reformat and reboot.

then i hit the "live button , it says no hard disks detected !

and if i hit yes to format when it 1st detects the hdd it just sits there overnight !
 
#214 ·
This happened to me too, if it's the same problem, I am embarrassed to admit, the first time I tried to format my Expander after it was detected. It wasn't immediately obvious to me, when being asked whether I wanted to format the drive, which option was highlighted, "yes" or "no". I selected "no" by mistake and couldn't figure out why the disk wasn't formatting. It's obvious to me now, and I don't see how I could have missed it the first time, but, somehow, I did.
 
#215 ·
Gentlemen,

I bought the Pace Summit in early November 2009. At the time, I also also bought the 1 TB PVR Expander (Shaw branded, made by Western Digital).

Both worked well together for about 6 weeks, without only minor glitches such as the Replay button sometimes going back only a a second or two instead of 15 seconds. Another glitch was rewinding slowly, getting to the spot I want to stop at, pressing play, and then it skips back another minute or two from that spot. Anyway...

On Boxing Day I got a shiny new Sony TV and watched TV constantly for the next couple of days. On December 28, when I pressed the List button, the was an error that said something like "PVR service unavailable, call Shaw".

I called Shaw and together we tried to reset the Pace box and the PVR expander, using the usual techniques of unplugging, etc.

Nothing helped. In fact, guide/menu screens started getting stuck just a minute or so after restarting the box and the box would subsequently reboot a few seconds later. This happened over and over again while I had the Shaw tech on the phone.

When I unhooked the PVR Expander (i.e. tuner-only mode), everything worked fine. No freezes, no spontaneously reboots.

Shaw said they would send someone out in a few days but it was driving me nuts and I had to figure it out.

After searching this forum, I figured that it wouldn't hurt to try to reformat the drive. I tried to reformat the drive using the replay-list-list-list-live procedure that has been mentioned numerous times. However, instead of getting the "are you sure you want to format" prompt, all I got was a screen that said something like: "23 HDD status. ACCESSING DATA....PLEASE WAIT". I waited for a long time (20 minutes?) but I never got the prompt. I verified that the eSATA cable was indeed plugged in. Even the dashboard screen said HDD status was OK.

At this point, with the sparse information I had to go on, I figured that my PVR Expander was dead. Therefore, I built my own PVR expander with the following parts:

1) Vantec eSATA enclosure NST-360SU-BK

2) Seagate hard drive ST31000528AS

It was easy to assemble and hook up. When I plugged in the Pace, it recognized the new drive and formatted it with no problems. The rig has been running for a day with no problems so far. I hate the blue light on the Vantec though. You need welding goggles to look at it.

Anyway, has anyone else been through a similar experience with the PVR Expander? Do you guys agree that the PVR Expander is probably dead?

PS - Here's another odd behaviour. When I press 199 on the Pace remote, the Pace incorrectly tunes to channel 195. However, when I use press 199 on my old Motorola remote, the Pace correctly tunes to 199. Conversely, when I press 199 on the Pace remote, my Motorola incorrectly tunes to 195. The Shaw got me to enter some setup codes into the Pace remote but nothing helps. They are going to bring me a new remote for the Pace.
 
#216 ·
If you have computer (PC or Mac) with eSata port, you can try to connect PVR Expander to computer and see if it can access it. If it can, reformat it on computer and then reconnect back to Pace box.

Sometimes data structure on disk can go wrong in ways that "confuse" host thinking that it can recover but it takes "forever" to do it (reason for ACCESSING DATA....PLEASE WAIT message). Reformating disk on computer should remove any doubt and Pace box should see disk as new and offer to reformat it itself.

It is mind boggling that such a stable platform as Linux (which is what Pace box is running on) has so many problems with disk access in Pace's implementation. If I had to venture a guess I'd say that attempt to try and protect recorded content has something to do with this. Either that, or some other self (or 3rd party) imposed limitation, because regular Linux certainly has no such issues with disk corruption.
 
#217 ·
Hi 753951 (nice nickname, BTW),

Yes, you're one step ahead of me. I would have tried hooking it up to my computer last night but it would have taken me a few extra minutes to install my new eSATA card. Will try it soon and post my results back here.

Are you sure that the box runs some form of Linux? I mean, is that just speculation or do you know for sure? If it runs Linux, it is indeed mind boggling that the data could become corrupted so quickly and easily. I've never had any file system corruption on any of the various Linux boxes I run, even when there is a power outage without a UPS. (mental note - I should probably hook up the HD box and the drive to a UPS..)

It would be interesting to find out for sure whether this is a hardware problem or a firmware problem. If it is a firmware problem I guess I'll keep encountering the problem until they fix it. On the other hand, it could very well turn out to be a hardware problem. I've never had much faith in Western Digital drives (relative to Seagate, anyway). We'll see what the Shaw tech says when he comes on January 6th.
 
#218 ·
Ha, 753951 is easy to remember if you look at numeric keypad. It's just one giant X. And don't bother using "giant +". I have patent on that one too. ;-)

lindend, who works for Pace, himself has mentioned that their boxes run varaint of Linux in this post http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=727190&postcount=34. File system is definitely one of extX variants used in Linux (could it be FreeBSD?).

Nowdays, WD and Seagate mainstream drives are neck to neck in performance, reliability and price. There's virtualy nothing between them. In fact, many would suggest that WD has slight edge.

While it's certainly posible that drive is faulty, other users, including me, had similar problems from time to time. Common denominator - PVR. In my opinion, Pace have some work to do in reliability area.
 
#220 ·
I purchased this unit and expander a couple of days ago. When I change channels (HD or SD), I hear the audio, but it takes about 4-5 seconds for the video to kick in. Is this normal? I have the unit hooked up to my TV via hdmi.

I just tried another hdmi cable and same thing.

I also tried the componant video cables, and it was a bit faster to kick in. Could be an hdmi issue with either the pace unit or my tv (Samsung HLR5064w)
 
#224 ·
Noticed the same phenomena -- HD to SD (or reverse) was accompanied by a three to five second delay in displaying any video. 1080i seemed to be a bit better, but not a tonne.

Strangely, the PACE Summit (758D) I have will output HD channels in 1080i even if this option is disabled in the box configuration menu. Same goes for 480i... have only 480P and 720P enabled but the other resolutions are used. I imagine that 480i is a must given that SD channels are, well, SD.
 
#225 ·
PVR Expander - How's it sound?

Hello, I'm Curtis, I am new here.

I'm in Victoria, and I just picked up the new Pace Summit, and I Love It! I had an existing WD 500GB MyBook, which I installed, and it seems to work fine.

But something I noticed, it has a bright light on the front, it doesn't go to sleep when I turn off the PVR, and it makes a load of noise. It's in my bedroom, and it's keeping me up at night.

As well, I found the video, when fast forwarding/rewinding commercials, to jump (as in what I saw on the screen was not the position of the fast-farwarded/rewound video).

So, I have two questions about the Shaw PVR Expander...
  1. How does it sound when the PVR is off? Does it make noise, does it go to sleep? Is it fairly quiet?
  2. Is it quick to react when FF or RWing?

If not, can you recommend any other cost-effective solutions?

Thanks,
Curtis
 
#226 ·
I have the WD Expander and I'm pretty sensitive to noise. I pretty well have to put the thing to my ear to hear it regardless of the PVR being off or on (I never turn the PVRs off and one is in my bedroom). Call it silent.

As far as performance... on a Motorola 3416 I can't tell the difference with the drive connected or not. Do a search here and you'll find that the Expander is a very different drive than data drives for PC use.
 
#227 ·
FF and RW can be pretty responsive but occassionally you may run into issues. I personally use the SKIP (30 seconds forward), REPLAY (just below skip and does 15 seconds back), PAGE + (5 minute forward) and PAGE - (5 minutes back) buttons the majority of the time.
 
#228 ·
Hey all.. So i read most every post in this thread and no one seems to be experiencing this issue that i'm having with my Pace Summit DC758D...

Randomly, when skipping pages in the guide using page up/page down, the box will loop my request over and over until i press the page up/down in the opposite direction. i have determined it to be the box, and not the remote, since i threw the remote in another room and the box kept paging down.

Is anyone else having this issue? It's a 2-day old box from Futureshop, so if this isn't a common issue, i'll have to go swap it.

Thanks!
-Kevin
 
#231 ·
Anyone set up their Harmony One remote to this box? the basic functions are working for me but the touch screen of the remote only displays 3 buttons labeled "A" "B" & "C". Is this right? I'm coming from a telus pvr and the touch screen of the remote displayed buttons like guide, pvr, ondemand. The touch screen was much more useful with the telus box.
 
#232 ·
You should be able to map any functions you like to anywhere you want on the touch screen. Sometimes they are pre-programmed, sometimes they are a couple of layers down in the "device" screen, sometimes they are not.

The guide button is already a "hard" button on the One. If you wish to discuss this topic further, I suggest you find a Harmony One thread in the Remotes section of this forum, as this is not the correct thread to discuss this topic.

Here's a useful post for those new to the forum:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=57741
 
#233 ·
Disk Full error message

I purchased a Pace DC758D with external terabyte expander in November from Shaw in Edmonton. The same problem, a "disk full" message, has occurred 4 times. I've gone through numerous support desk calls and a tech visit. A reset always gets rid of the immediate freeze but you can't count on the machine working consistently. On the last tech visit, the tech said that the "disk full" message was a known issue with the Pace units. The tech said there was nothing wrong with the unit so he didn't replace it.
When it happened again tonight, the tech on the support line said that the issue has been submitted to Pace and Shaw is waiting for an answer. I have another tech visit scheduled now for next week but Shaw refuses to guarantee the delivery of a new unit, so I could be easily getting another Pace with the same problem. I asked for a replacement of the expander unit too in case the problem is there.
The tech on the phone said that it would not be possible to exchange the Pace unit for a Motorola unit, although the expander would work with it.
The disk full message turns the PVR into a useless machine that prevents any TV watching until it is reset again. So far, I'm very unimpressed with the Pace unit. It's undependable and Shaw's answers for the problem so far are unsatisfactory.
Does anyone have any similar experiences or solutions?
 
#243 ·
I purchased a Pace DC758D with external terabyte expander in November from Shaw in Edmonton. The same problem, a "disk full" message, has occurred 4 times. I've gone through numerous support desk calls and a tech visit. A reset always gets rid of the immediate freeze but you can't count on the machine working consistently. On the last tech visit, the tech said that the "disk full" message was a known issue with the Pace units. The tech said there was nothing wrong with the unit so he didn't replace it.
When it happened again tonight, the tech on the support line said that the issue has been submitted to Pace and Shaw is waiting for an answer. I have another tech visit scheduled now for next week but Shaw refuses to guarantee the delivery of a new unit, so I could be easily getting another Pace with the same problem. I asked for a replacement of the expander unit too in case the problem is there.
The tech on the phone said that it would not be possible to exchange the Pace unit for a Motorola unit, although the expander would work with it.
The disk full message turns the PVR into a useless machine that prevents any TV watching until it is reset again. So far, I'm very unimpressed with the Pace unit. It's undependable and Shaw's answers for the problem so far are unsatisfactory.
Does anyone have any similar experiences or solutions?
This is a follow-up to my "disk full" error message post.
A Shaw tech came to install a new box. First new box - colour problems. Second new box - pixelization problems. The tech was surprised at these successive failures. He tried plugging the pvr directly into the wall electrical socket rather than the (brand new) powerbar I had bought. The pixelization problems disappeared.
Maybe a faulty power bar was the cause of all the problems. The outlet was working but maybe in an inconsistent fashion. Maybe the pvr's are very sensitive to quality of power.
Now my expander unit is displaying 7% full when there's only one hour recorded, but that'll be for another day.
 
#234 ·
fitzpeeved,

I've had problems with freeze ups (see back a couple of pages) but not the disk full error. I'm still waiting for a shaw tech to visit my home. As recommended by phone tech, I tried all of the usual things such as resetting the Pace,etc.

Eventually, I narrowed things down to the point where I felt pretty confident that problem was with the Western Digital PVR Expander and not the Pace box itself. Not wanting to wait until the tech visit, I built my own PVR Expander with the following parts:
1) Vantec eSATA enclosure NST-360SU-BK
2) Seagate hard drive ST31000528AS

Since plugging in the home-made expander, I've had no problems. I suspect when the tech arrives that he'll simply give my a new WD PVR Expander. I'll post more details then.

Hope that helps.
 
#235 ·
Box won't turn off after recording when it was on when the recording starts

One small glitch I have not seen reported elsewhere: If I am watching something while a recording is in progress and attempt to turn off the box I get a message that I can either keep the box on and complete the recording or turn it off and lose the recording. Fair enough. But if the box is then left on to finish the recording it never turns itself off after the recording is finished. I can see that there is a certin logic to this--say, when someone continues watching after the previous message came up. But it would be better to have three menu options rather than two: 1. keep the box on continuously and keep recording, 2. keep the box on until the recording is finished and then turn it off, and 3. turn off the box and stop the current recording (In short, adding the second option).
 
#237 ·
Pace Summit (DC758D) internal hard drive

inside the DC758D there is a spare sata connection as well as a molenx connection for hdd power , can we pop a hdd internally here ?

http://imagebin.ca/img/g4DqrAF.jpg

my external hdd works fine useing esta port on the back , but this would be less wireing nad maybe save soem power i would think it would shut off the hdd when not in use :)

ok power connector powers the hdd and i got it working it detects the hdd lets me playback all my recording ect all is good. if i unplug the external sata cable and use that port .

going to test the 2nd sata a port now so i can leave the external on there at the same time!

seccond port wont work for me , so i just left the external port unpluged and used that sata connection boom all working , not much room in here for full size hdd so gonna pickup a 2.5" laptop hdd pop it in and done, i rather this then external hdd less wires and saves me fillin up my power bar ect.
 
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