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DSR 530 Discussion

81K views 507 replies 109 participants last post by  henryk 
#1 ·
Anyone else notice this?

I recently upgraded my home theatre system including a new audio receiver. Previously, I used the Stereo output on my receiver and audio levels between channels were fine.

I am now using the DVR530's Digital Optical Audio output into my receiver and the volume levels between channels, both HD and SD, are wildly inconsistent. Depending on the channel, I have to raise or lower the volume by 25 or more decibles just so that I can hear it.

This didn't happen with the Stereo output but now happens with the Digital Optical output.
 
#27 ·
Lester said:
Since the A8 download the majority of my problems have gone. There are still some minor glitches but on the whole we are very happy with our system.

Been keepin up with the DSR 530 discussions.
Question to all...Is it fare to ask if the unit is worth buying, quality wise? I still wait on the side lines because of the cost. All the threads have been informative.
 
#28 ·
jbracing24 said:
Been keepin up with the DSR 530 discussions.
Question to all...Is it fare to ask if the unit is worth buying, quality wise? I still wait on the side lines because of the cost. .
This unit will be retailing for less than $500 in the Boxing week sales. This unit is a tired old dog - dead in the marketplace 3 weeks after launch due the incompetence of SC and Motorola management.

Motorola has units to move since they ordered the chipsets before Voom bit the dust and SC inherited 40,000 DSR505s (nee Voom 550s)

BTW SC: where are the ATSC tuners that were pulled from 550s?
 
#29 ·
As a 530 A8 user whose only complaint is that the remote still 'forgets' on occasion what the last channel was I'd have to say I'm pretty satisfied.

I am surprised that the A8 thread was locked, particularly since the A4 thread is still alive, unlike A4 itself.
 
#30 ·
My 530 is giving me a weird problem since the A8 update.

If I am watching one channel, then I go into the guide and select another channel, the channel bar number on the bottom of the screen will change to say it is the new channel, but the old channel will keep playing. Then if I hit channel up then channel down, I can watch the new channel I tried to select.

It does this about half the time.
 
#31 ·
jbracing24 said:
Been keepin up with the DSR 530 discussions.
Question to all...Is it fare to ask if the unit is worth buying, quality wise? I still wait on the side lines because of the cost. All the threads have been informative.

Save yourself the headaches....get a BELL 9200. Better unit, more features, more stable, TRUE dual recording, cheaper...etc....

You can read my experiences with the DSR530 ( two different units) a few months before I switched BACK to BELL in early July.

I have not used/seen the DSR530 since the new updates A4/A8 but keep tabs on the progess based on others who still have the unit.

I'll I can say is from "real world experience" my wife would never go back to the DSR530...she loves the 9200. She found more bugs with the 530 then *C technical support in the first two hours of use....and believe me she is not a techie. My wife has a marketing background.....and her comments on the 530 was it was released (to fast) BEFORE Bell's 9200 just to say they had the first HD PVR in Canada and the consumer was the test bed - well I think it bit them is the AS_.

Anyway....sorry for the ramble....but the pain I went through with the 530 still haunts me :rolleyes:

Cheers
 
#34 ·
I will be getting the 530 very soon, next week likely. With the initial problems with the 530 and the higher price I was very close to switching to Bell and the 9200 - almost certain. Things that made me stay with StarChoice

- new package pricing of both services really favours Starchoice based on my limited programming. clincher.

- MPeg4. 530 has it (or will have it), 9200 cannot upgrade to it. I initially dismissed this difference until I spent a few hours researching it.

- Dual mode on 9200 will not work in my situation so, for me, not a plus. So I would need a second receiver - there goes price advantage.

- I have used Starchoice CSR a couple of times and no complaints. I cannot comment on ExpressVu, but I can read the threads.

- I rarely loose signal in storms. My neighbours on Bell are more prone to this problem.

- The 530 has an s-video out which I can use in addition to the other ports.

- Starchoice has at least shown commitment to working out the bugs, although some wish it was quicker. I think that Bell shows the same commitment. Point is, the product(s) today will be improved so the advantages/stability of one over the other will likely (hopefully) become a non-issue. (other than dual-mode which will always favour the 9200)

- no contract. Minor point for me, but a point that does favour starchoice.

Rob1, I'm like you in that I have to have a machine that my wife will use without complaining and work the way SHE expects it to work. Getting WAF (wife approval factor) for this kind of unit has been some work. I feel the 530 is now stable enough to deliver - as the 9200 always has been. The difference is that I feel better going with Starchoice than Bell based on what I can see going forward.

Steve
 
#35 ·
Steve,

I look forward to your comments :)

Cheers
Rob.

PS.

Starchoice does have a 1 year contract...if yuou cancel within the first 12 months you either pay $200.00 early cancellation fee or return ALL of your recievers....including your DSR530. I got away without paying the cancellation fee after they reviewed my account.
 
#36 ·
rob1 said:
Your right - I'm not anymore...... :D

I'm just providing feedback based on my experience with the product....it that allowed?
According to Hugh's rules, I think it is allowed.

However, given that you only owned the machine for one month and have not experienced either the A4 or A8 update, I am not sure that your feedback is at all relevant to new customers.

Perhaps you should post this information elsewhere, say a Bell forum, to encourage future Bell customers to purchase their machine.

Anyways, we have gone through this debate before and it is rather tired.
 
#37 ·
Skip ahead FF and REW Problems

I need some help determining if I have a unique problem with FF/REW and skip forward or if it is common with the software. I am seeing some comments that this seems to work now with A8 but I am seeing the same problem as A4.

The way I see the problem is linked to specific channels. On “good” channels skip forward does not pixalate and fast speeds are aproximately 5x, 10x, 30x and 60x . On “bad” channels the is very bad pixilation on skip ahead and Fast speeds are only 1.1x 2x 3x and 10x

I would like to ask the couple of people that reported no problems to check some of the bad channels to see if they still have no problems. Any other feed back would be welcome.

Also if anyone can recognize the format difference between these channels it might clue in to the problem.

Bad channels, CBC 302,City 344, VR 346, Hist 506, Show 521, Bav 523, Spa 528

Good channels Showw 522, CBC 300, ctv 316, CBC 323, Dis 505, TBS 529, Ytv 542, Toon 544, Com 548, Spee 406, cityW 329
 
#38 ·
victorvdc said:
I need some help determining if I have a unique problem with FF/REW and skip forward or if it is common with the software. I am seeing some comments that this seems to work now with A8 but I am seeing the same problem as A4.

The way I see the problem is linked to specific channels. On “good” channels skip forward does not pixalate and fast speeds are aproximately 5x, 10x, 30x and 60x . On “bad” channels the is very bad pixilation on skip ahead and Fast speeds are only 1.1x 2x 3x and 10x
Victor, I have had this problem too. I was told that it is due to the compression of the program and varies from channel to channel.
 
#39 ·
I had that problem when I had the 530 as well.... I noticed the HD channels were fine. I was told back in June when I owned the 530 it would be fixed on future firmware revisions.

*c must write to the drive in a RAW compression format which would account for some channel being better then others.

I know you will hate me for this next comment...but the 9200 does not exhibit this problem on any channel.

Cheers
 
#40 ·
jbracing24 said:
Been keepin up with the DSR 530 discussions.
Question to all...Is it fare to ask if the unit is worth buying, quality wise? I still wait on the side lines because of the cost. All the threads have been informative.
Like everything else electronic, the price will always drop the day after you buy in.

The general consensus seems to be that the currect A8 is close enough that this should have really been the initial release version and avoided some of the early pain and suffering.

It fundamentally does what is it supposed to do, but still lacks a few features and needs a bit more polish.

My advice would be to wait until December and see if their is any pricing pressure for Christmas and by that time the next update that should put it over the top is supposed to be out.

But I don't think you'd go wrong if you bought in now either.
 
#41 · (Edited)
Go sell crazy somewhere else. If we wanted to buy expressvu we would not be in a starchoice forum.

Since A4 i have had very few issues with my 530, since the last update i've had even less.

We all agree star choice should have perfected the code and waited. They didnt and we bought it anyway (some, including me before we knew of the problems).

The last thing we need is some expressvu owner telling us to switch. SH%T happens and things get worked out. I've been with star choice since day one and have no experiences that would make me switch to a company that allowed there signal to be pirated by thousands and thousands of people well others paid for the service..

So once again, go sell crazy somewhere else..



rob1 said:
Save yourself the headaches....get a BELL 9200. Better unit, more features, more stable, TRUE dual recording, cheaper...etc....

You can read my experiences with the DSR530 ( two different units) a few months before I switched BACK to BELL in early July.

I have not used/seen the DSR530 since the new updates A4/A8 but keep tabs on the progess based on others who still have the unit.

I'll I can say is from "real world experience" my wife would never go back to the DSR530...she loves the 9200. She found more bugs with the 530 then *C technical support in the first two hours of use....and believe me she is not a techie. My wife has a marketing background.....and her comments on the 530 was it was released (to fast) BEFORE Bell's 9200 just to say they had the first HD PVR in Canada and the consumer was the test bed - well I think it bit them is the AS_.

Anyway....sorry for the ramble....but the pain I went through with the 530 still haunts me :rolleyes:

Cheers
 
#42 ·
ARR said:
My advice would be to wait until December and see if their is any pricing pressure for Christmas and by that time the next update that should put it over the top is supposed to be out.
Good advice ARR. I actually have not used my *C HD very much since setting up OTA-HD, which gives me everything except Sportsnet-HD and IF it ever happens TSN-HD. I use my PC as a PVR off *C but in SD. I would like the HD recording capability but NOT about to change to Bell. I would say a fair price for the 530 is about $500 plus their $99 installation (I don't have a problem with that).
I did have a problem with some of the forum complaints about fan noise, remote problems and playback issues. I got feedback from *C that the fan was fixed. Good to hear. The remote issues mimic those of my Sony media receiver. Just being patient with the remote often helps. Buying into any new product is pricey and courts issues. I'll continue watching these pages.
 
#43 ·
rob1 said:
Save yourself the headaches....get a BELL 9200. Better unit, more features, more stable, TRUE dual recording, cheaper...etc....

You can read my experiences with the DSR530 ( two different units) a few months before I switched BACK to BELL in early July.

I have not used/seen the DSR530 since the new updates A4/A8 but keep tabs on the progess based on others who still have the unit.

I'll I can say is from "real world experience" my wife would never go back to the DSR530...she loves the 9200. She found more bugs with the 530 then *C technical support in the first two hours of use....and believe me she is not a techie. My wife has a marketing background.....and her comments on the 530 was it was released (to fast) BEFORE Bell's 9200 just to say they had the first HD PVR in Canada and the consumer was the test bed - well I think it bit them is the AS_.

Anyway....sorry for the ramble....but the pain I went through with the 530 still haunts me :rolleyes:

Cheers
That was then.....(.98) This is now.....(A8)
This receiver works much better now and will improve with each update.
I'm enjoying mine!
 
#44 ·
Glad to hear you are all happy with the DSR530.

I was only providing feedback based on MY experience.

Just like when friends talk about cars they've owned....etc....

Some like Ford, some like GM..... you listen and take it all with a grain of salt until YOU experience it yourself....

And by the way....I am NOT selling anything.....

Cheers
 
#46 ·
Home Base download [may be rumer]

I was complaining to a *C teck yesterday about some bugs with the A8 download as I do on a regular occurrence lately. He noted my complaints and checked with his superviser and informed me that a new download was coming soon. He also checked his memo's and said that it was supposed to be out Oct 6. He also said that it was called {Home Base download} and was supposed to be the fix of all fixes for the DRS530. He said he had no code number for it yet. Here's hoping that it arrives on Oct 6 and does all that it's supposed to do. He also said that there is no new features in this download.

Wade
 
#48 ·
Confused Agent Maybe?

I think your agent may be confused.
I've heard the October version is for DSR505 only and the DSR530 version is in December and has all the goodies.

Oh boy, Oh boy, a Christmas present for all us loyal subs.
Can't wait.

The numbers seem to go up by 4 hex, so wouldn't the next DSR505 release be 18 or 1C and the DSR530 be AC or maybe B0??

Doesn't much matter, it's just some arbitrary number.
As long as they make more fixes than breaks, then their going in the right direction.
 
#49 ·
Don't know which unit the next download is for but we were definitely talking about the DSR530. They were discussing doing a total reboot on my DSR530 but then suggested that I should wait until Oct 6 for the next download as I had recordings that I didn't want to lose.

So here's hoping for next Thursday.

Wade
 
#50 ·
I have been in discussion with *C tech support about my problems with the 530 and this is what I was told:

1. The download in Oct is for the 505.
2. The fixes for the 530 are coming in Dec.
3. The Dec release will unify the 500, 505 and 530 into one software release.

My problems with the 530 are reaching a critical point as the unit is getting unuseable. I am getting a new unit to verify if there are not hardware problems as 'supposedly' the A4/A8 version of the firmware makes the 530 useable.

I will post the results of the new hardware as I have one of the first batch of units and there are supposedly people that are not suffering from the hang ups, corrupted recordings. missed recordings, unusable skip forward/backward etc. I have suspected from day 1 that I have had not only firmware issues but also a defective/malfunctioning piece of hardware as the problems have been getting progressively worse.
 
#51 ·
I called tech support last night about my machine too as I have had multiple lock-ups with it since the .A8 release. The CSR was honest, and he admitted that this problem has been reported by others a few times too. He also told me that the DSR530 was expecting a new release within the next few weeks which would fix all of the problems. I asked him for an exact date and he could not give me one, but said within 1 month.

I guess we will have to see what happens. We were definitely talking about the 530 in this conversation because I was explaining to him about the recording features. He asked me to check my version number and I told him that I was on .A8 and he said, "Yes, that is the latest version for the 530."
 
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