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DSR 500 Discussion

117K views 449 replies 110 participants last post by  net29091 
#1 ·
Due to the numerous threads on the DSR 500 and common issues to all interested in the DSR 500, we'll try to get all discussion going here.
 
G
#104 ·
The update will try every night for the 1st 7 days.

If the unit is off, it generally goes.

If your watching it, it won't.

After the 7th failed attempt, it will force itself to upgrade, even if you are watching a show.

The updates comes down somewhere between Midnight and 3 AM Pacific time I believe.

If you didn't get it the first night, try waiting for the 2nd night or you can power cycle it before you go to bed tonite and that may help it.



Good luck and enjoy some of the hidden improvements.
 
#105 ·
digitaldude said:
Good luck and enjoy some of the hidden improvements.
Now I really want the download!!..........If I have another reciever powered up on the same dish (Quad E) will that effect the download, or do I have to make sure that all receivers are on stand-by? (does each receiver power each port or are they somehow connected?)

Thanks for your patience, one day I will be able to answer some of these questions and give the regular contributers a break:p (and a chuckle)

Cheers
 
G
#108 ·
Easter Eggs maybe one day down the road.

No each receiver is independent.

The updates are specific to each model type.

No interaction.

The LNB is ALWAYS power as long as at least 1 receiver is plugged into the wall and sat cable.
 
#109 ·
GTK said:
got my new 78 code & i do notice one thing upfront.

I have my clock set to "enable" in the "clock on standby" section.

Before it would be about 10 minutes before the clock would come back after changing chanells or viewing the guide. Now since the 78 code the clock comes back after a minute......very nice.

Lets hope the lockups are a thing of the past now.
Got my 78 update last night. Confirming the clock comes back about 30 seconds after changing channels. Time will tell on the lockups.
Anyone know what bugs have been addressed with the new code?
It could be coincidence, but the PQ on the Weather Network Ch 398 seems somewhat improved. It was typically the worst on the system (very low vertical resolution).
 
#110 ·
carl033 said:
Got my 78 update last night. Confirming the clock comes back about 30 seconds after changing channels. Time will tell on the lockups.
Anyone know what bugs have been addressed with the new code?
It could be coincidence, but the PQ on the Weather Network Ch 398 seems somewhat improved. It was typically the worst on the system (very low vertical resolution).
Every now and then I hear people talking about machine lockups.

DigitalDude, have you experienced lockups with your DSR530?
 
G
#111 ·
Lockups were certainly common on the 500 until the most recent code this week.

The 530 code was branched from that over a year ago and is now many generations tighter and is so far beyond what the 500 is now that lockups are not part of the vocabularly.

Under extremely abusive operating conditions, it can be a bit finiky, but I don't recall any crashes for the past several months.

Later this year, the very stable code from the 530 will find it's way into the 500, and then 500 owners will finaly get things like caller ID, 12 hour clock and display dimming among the stability improvements.
 
#115 ·
Well, I guess I'm just going to have to wait for it to force the upgrade because it did not upgrade again last night. The thing is, I have the unit on at midnight through 2:30 - 3:00 AM here watching things. I'm not going to turn it off so it can update the software whenever.

I'll never unserstand the way software upgrades are done like this or even the IPG data. Many people must be watching TV during these hours (late night people like me, people who work shiftwork, etc.). Just because an update is set for midnight or 1:00 AM doesn't mean we are all tucked into our beds for the night.

There should be an option to change the time when the unit is to update IPG data and upgrade software according to viewer habits.
 
#116 ·
digitaldude said:
Lockups were certainly common on the 500 until the most recent code this week.

The 530 code was branched from that over a year ago and is now many generations tighter and is so far beyond what the 500 is now that lockups are not part of the vocabularly.

Under extremely abusive operating conditions, it can be a bit finiky, but I don't recall any crashes for the past several months.
That's interesting. I'm trying to figure out what an extremely abusive situation would be though. The machine is used for recording and playback. What sort of abusive action could make the machine lock-up, or act finicky?

It's good that the 530 code was designed with better testing in place so that users are not faced with a machine that was quite expensive, and does not work.
 
G
#117 ·
Abuse would be several hundred pause-play-pause in rapid succession, or many many rapid channel changes that the tuner won't catch up for a bit.

Not something you would see in typical operation, only in stress testing really.

So for all practical purposes, the unit is essentially free of any fatal bugs.
 
#118 ·
digitaldude said:
Abuse would be several hundred pause-play-pause in rapid succession, or many many rapid channel changes that the tuner won't catch up for a bit.

Not something you would see in typical operation, only in stress testing really.

So for all practical purposes, the unit is essentially free of any fatal bugs.
It appears as though the CPU in the machine is slow if it cannot handle instantaneous commands like that. The PVR I have now is somewhat like that too. It doesn't lock-up or crash, but it just ignores your commands if you send too many at once.

When I get my machine, I will be stress testing it to see if the machine is within my tolerence level of how it should "reasonably" work. I will check it out over the initial 9 or 10 days and if I find it really buggy or it's locking up every 5 minutes, I will then need to make a decision to keep it or send it back. I guess that's really all we can do.
 
G
#120 ·
If your going to compare the 530 against your current DVR, make it a fair comparison by ensuring it does HiDef. That alone makes it 4 times tougher.

By all means check it out.
I'd be surprised if hundreds of testers over the past several months thought it wasn't good enough to put the SC name on it.

Compared to competative units that came before it, their initial bug list was quite a monster.
For the 530, more like a few reminder notes on a napkin for the next release in a month or 2.
 
#124 ·
satellite said:
I just checked, I have .78 now too. The options menu seems way smoother to navigate through.
PQ is decidedly better on some channels. Also, that annoying freeze/studder video problem when viewing HD programming on the analog receiver ports is gone!

I did get one freeze-up when changing channels using the up-down button. But after a reset (a good idea when a new code is received), no further problems.
 
G
#125 ·
Reset

Probably not a bad idea.
If it seems to be acting a bit funny, get on the phone with SC and have them step you through a factory reset and then ask for a 'trip'

Sometime old settings need to get 'flushed' after new code comes out.
That often smartens things up a bit.
 
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