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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.
 
#103 ·
Not that I'm big on defending SC, but in all fairness, they don't manufacture the equipment. SC is a programming provider. The only difference here is that the equipment is more of a proprietary nature. However, I really don't see it being much different than trying to blame Future Shop for a computer you bought there that isn't working properly. For example, Cicero is a Future Shop product but it isn't the store that's responsible if your monitor is buggy except based on whatever policy they have for returns or warranty.
 
#104 ·
If FutureShop advertised a dishwasher that also scrubs your floors, and you get home with it and find out that it does not scrub your floors - FutureShop can indeed find themselves in big trouble. Many of us bought the DSR530 with dozens of promises from StarChoice that they would have it completely fixed with the .A4 software code. Then they said, No, the next one will fix everything. Along came .A8. Now they are saying, No, the next one will fix everything. The fact of the matter is they don't know when or even IF these machines will ever do what they were intended to do. Furthermore, if they were not so short sighted, they would have realized that in the long run machines made specifically for your company by one and only one company is very dangerous. The idea is that people are not going to invest $800+ into a machine (that only works on the *C system) and then leave. This is how they try to hook you. It's clearly backfiring. Yet they continue to proceed with this asinine way of doing business. I don’t think that Motorola pointed a gun to the *C president’s head forcing them to do business with them. StarChoice is making all of the decisions, and they are 100% to blame. They have not offered refunds either, and when I called them stating that I wanted out of my contract, I was told by a supervisor that this is not possible without paying them a hefty fee for leaving early, or sending them my $804 machine for no compensation. I could see their point if these machines were working fine and I was just being hard to get along with, but clearly these machines are not working fine.
 
#105 ·
Wow, this is long, and turned out to be kind of rant-like!

I'm sorry DKS (and others), and no offence to any of you, but I'm going to have to disagree with your analogies.
Here’s a better one:
In October of 2002, Telus Mobility released a new flip phone, the Samsung a540.
Much like Star Choice, Telus primarily uses proprietary phones created especially for them, which only work on their network. The a540 was one such phone.
It was anxiously anticipated in the forum community, and fairly well received as being a modern, good-looking flip phone (with blue backlighting, which was very “in” at the time.)
Right around the time of the release, a fairly major bug was discovered – whenever you tried to divide by a single digit with the calculator, the entire phone would freeze. The battery would have to be removed to reboot the phone.
While the phone was effectively sold by Telus and could only be used with Telus’s service, the ball was in Samsung’s court to fix the problem. There was nothing wrong with the network, so nothing Telus could do.
The problem was eventually solved in further firmware updates, but unlike satellite receivers, cell phones need to be physically connected to something to upgrade the firmware. This was often at a cost to the user.

I guess my point here is that problems with a unit working as advertised aren’t unique to Star Choice. Nor is the type of relationship Star Choice and Motorola have. There are plenty of cell phones that haven’t worked as advertised, haven’t worked well with the network, been of poor quality, etc, and quite frankly there has been no mass uproar or uprising from the people against the provider.

Sometimes the phone gets good after a few software revisions (the Nokia 6185 comes to mind), other times the phone is just recognized as crap and gradually phased out, shunned by the public. (Motorola v2267 and countless others). None of the cell providers have ever done anything more than in-warranty repair, if necessary. For known issues, nothing is done, as the replacement will do the exact same thing.

DKS, your 1998 Honda works with no problems because there has been over 100 years of automotive development behind that car. Do you think the first cars worked as well as yours does today?

Windows XP works great with no freezing for me too. Did Windows 98? Heck no. Windows 95? Even worse. Windows 3.1? HORRIBLY unstable. Windows 1.0 was released in 1985. Windows XP was released in 2001. It took 16 years to develop a stable product, and they’re still having to improve it. Service Pack 1 and 2, countless security patches and fixes.

No, the DVR530 doesn’t work as well as it’s supposed to. No one is denying that. Unfortunately, when it comes down to it, Star Choice provides a service – television signals – for which you pay them on a monthly basis. There are no issues with that service. The problem is with a product, developed by Motorola, which does not have stable software. It’s a problem which has been acknowledged and is supposed to be fixed. I don’t know what everyone wants Star Choice to do in the meantime – you’ll get the update, you’ll get a working product when it’s available. I don't think that Star Choice's response thus far has been outside of industry norms!
 
#106 ·
I don't agree with all that you are saying either satellite, and no offense of course. First of all, my 1999 Honda which I bought in '98 contains new computer gadgets that surely did not exist 100 years ago, nor was Honda invented 100 years ago. The first Ford was only invented in the 1920s as I recall reading somewhere. Regardless, the car is a machine that contains billions of parts - some of the parts are moving parts, and it will go strong for years and years and years without breaking down, and never fails to get me from point A to point B.

Your Samsung cell phone story is nice, but Telus sells dozens of other phones by dozens of other companies. Audiovox, Sony, etc. At least the customer has a choice with Telus and their cell phones. What choice do we have with StarChoice? Did Telus lie to you for months on end by saying the next firmware release would fix it up, only to find a host of more problems with your phone such as the case with the Motorola DSR530? It's to the point now where I don't even trust the next firmware release, and there is no way for me to switch to any other company. StarChoice has me completely locked into their nightmare of crap. That combined with the fact that I kept the machine and trusted them at their word when they said this would definitely be fixed with the next software release .A8, and it is still full of marbles. Some bugs??? Here's an updated list of the current DSR530 bugs that I have experienced:

1. During a power failure, the unit boots up leaving the timer settings deactivated.

2. You cannot be watching a show that is being recorded if you have a timer set immediately following the show that you are watching on the same channel. The 2nd timer will not record unless you stop viewing your current recording prior to the time of the next recording.

3. When hitting pause, and then hitting the REVERSE slow-motion key, the unit jumps ahead several seconds before going in reverse.

4. When hitting fast forward and then STOP, the unit will not stop fast forwarding. At this point the unit ignores all other remote control commands. A power reset is generally required meaning pull the plug from the wall or hold down on the front of the box power button for 4 seconds and losing your guide.

5. Whenever you exit from watching a pre-recorded show it takes you back to the DVR list without the TIME REMAINING for SD/HD.

6. When hitting the DVR List button it takes a considerable length of time for the unit to display the list. Sometimes it will take up to 9 seconds for the unit to respond to that command.

7. The RESUME feature does not commence at the same spot where you left off in a show. It will jump ahead 30 seconds to 5 minutes ahead forcing you to rewind the show until you get to where you REALLY left off.

8. The Skip-Forward button sometimes takes you back to the very start of the show. Pointers get screwed up and even the skip-back button does not work during this state.

9. Timer bug – MON-FRI does not work, it behaves like SUN-THU if your show starts before midnight, but ends after midnight.

10. Occasionally the bottom StarChoice bar will not disappear.

11. Occasionally at the end of watching a recorded show, the menu comes up to delete, but it is not displaying the show that you just watched. This makes it easy to accidentally erase something that you had not watched yet.

12. Last Channel sometimes will lock up the machine. It will not always go to the last channel that was watched.

13. Sometimes shows that were deleted are actually still present in the DVR list.

14. When watching a recorded show, if you hit the pause button, then the stop button, the screen will go to the DVR screen and then allow you to exit. You will find that your live TV is now frozen.

15. When some shows finish (seems to happen at random), the unit brings up the screen to delete the show, but the satellite indicator will turn red on the front of the 530 and the number display will be showing a “0” or flashing numbers. At this point the DELETE button does not delete the show.

16. Audio drops occasionally and the only remedy is to reboot the 530.

17. When going into slow-motion mode, the audio disappears when you go back to normal-speed mode.

18. Jump-Back/Jump-Forward often takes me back to the DVR list.

19. While watching a recorded program and pressing STOP, the program will often continue playing in the background which in turn messes up the RESUME when you want to watch the rest of your show.

20. If the DVR is recording a program, and you enter a new program with the RESUME feature, and then press REWIND to get to the place where you really stopped watching, the machine will lock itself on REWIND. None of the controls will work. A power reset is the only cure, in which case you lose your guide once again.

I know that others have experienced additional problems, but I am only writing about problems that I have personally experienced. In my opinion, $804 should not be buying this pant load of problems. I don't give a darn that Telis has 1 broken phone which locks up when you divide a number using its calculator. That does not resolve the problems with the 530, nor does it reduce the severity of the situation with this product and the fact that StarChoice keeps promising fixes for all of these items that never materialize. Deceiving your customer is not something that I am willing to overlook.
 
#107 ·
Aspect Ratio Switching

Got my DSR530 installed last week. Works well, no problems so far.

I've set the red button on the front of the unit to '0000' to allow TV aspect ratio control between HD and SD channels. This works as its supposed to but noticed that the image on screen gets all 'frazzled' like the set is going 'haywire' for about a second or so when switching between HD/SD channels.

Anybody else experiencing this? Is this potentially damaging to the TV over the long run?
 
#108 ·
Yes, my TV does this too. I get a bunch of striped lines going up and down the screen for a second. I doubt that it would hurt the TV. It just looks like it is hurting because it is displaying an erratic bunch of garbage. It's not much more than a video display.
 
#109 ·
This happens to me, too. I am pretty sure this is caused by the display. When you are on an SD channel, the signal (with the 530 set to 0000, which is native signal output) to your display is 480i. When you change to a HD channel, the signal to your display becomes 1080i. At first your display cannot decode the 1080i signal because it's expecting 480i so you see garbage (it's the same sort of garbage you see if you select the wrong resolution for your computer monitor). Your display then senses and detects the new signal format and switches to the 1080i decoding, the delay before this happens depends on your display.
 
#110 ·
I have not used the 0000 too much due to a constant problem that I have had with it. Once in a while, and I'm not sure what causes it, my entire screen goes black. It seems to happen if I press the GUIDE button to see what's coming up on the air, and then press EXIT to go back to the program. It sometimes (not always) goes back to a black screen. The audio is still there, but the screen is not. The only I have found to fix this is either switch to a live TV program, and then go back to the DVR List and select the same show to watch, or power off, power on and then select the show. The strange thing is that when I set the switch to 1080, this does not happen. However, when it is set to 1080, my TV does not know when the receiver is switching from HD to SD. So it is pain no matter which setting I choose. I'm sure that the 0000 setting should not be corrupting the video portion of a show.
 
#112 ·
I am betting the 0000 setting is not the problem, the 530 is not the problem. The problem is with your display. The clue is that, when you set the 530 to 1080 the problem goes away. The proof would be if the problem also goes away when you select any other settings on the 530. When you select any setting on the 530 (EXCEPT 0000) the output is converted and forced to the selected setting for all channels. That is, if you select 480 the HD channels are downconverted, if you select 1080 the SD channels are upconverted, the conversion happens inside the 530. Thus, when you set the 530 to anything BUT 0000 the signal your display receives never changes whether you watch SD, HD or the DVR.

When you select 0000 (native) the 530 performs no conversion. However each channel is received is how it is output to the display, which in the case of Starchoice is 480 for all SD and 1080 for all HD. So when you change channels from SD to HD your display has to have the ability to sense the change in signal and switch input decoding mode. Many displays are good at this, some are not good at all. If the display fails to detect the new signal it may display garbage or go blank (black) in a protection mode.

Further, the DVR will record in native format regardless of the output setting. Playback, however, will be also be converted to the selected output (480, 720, 1080) or output as recorded if native (0000) is selected on the 530. Herein lies the root of your problem. I suspect you are losing the video when your 530 is set to native (0000) and the program you are playing back is HD. When you call up the on-air guide the 530 switches from 1080 to 480. When you go back to the DVR the output switches back to 1080 but your display isn't adjusting. This is likely because the change in signal is not as abrupt or definitive as when changing channels. There isn't enough of a "break" in the signal to trigger your display to adjust. This explains why it doesn't happen to you when watching live TV, also why it doesn't happen when you set the 530 output to 1080 because the on-air guide, in that case, is converted to 1080 before output. The end proof would be to set the 530 to any other output (other than 0000) and see if the problem persists. Also check to see if you lose video when watching a program recorded in SD and calling up the on-air guide when in 0000 mode. If the problem is gone this would indicate that your display is happy in any mode (480, 720, 1080) and the loss of video is due to intermittant failure of the display to properly detect input change. I think....
 
#114 ·
Just my $.02

Folks;

Yes, I did receive a DVR530 gratis. Like I said in my original posting, I was blown away by their offer. Chalk it up to luck, getting the right Manager (I did speak to someone in the "save" department), or the stars lining up right, but me and my wife fully enjoy the free 530 daily (although with a few bugs ;) ). A also agree that DKS needs to get on with things, his point has been made infinitely clear.

Now; if someone could get a better price on Cogeco high-speed.........
 
#115 ·
Well, the black screen issue happens to me when the 530 has been acting up for a while.

Your vid. cuts out but the sound stays. Only seems to happen with live recordings (IE: you hit pause to deal with the kids for 15 minutes and then come back).

I think it is a bug in the 530 (mine seems to be anyways), as it is not always there. It only happens when the 530 is acting strange already (screen relsolution flickering too much, and time indexes getting lost) and it does not happen imediately.

It seems to be triggered by the skip ahead or FF function on my set. If I keep watching the live recording everything is fine. First set of comercails you want to skip through usually works okay, second set puts the audio out of sync of the video, and the thirds set usually ends up being no vid and audio only.

Never happens on a recorded program though.
 
#116 ·
digitaldude said:
... snip ...

W.R.T. your 500, Yes there are/were problems.
It was a difficult time for SC having to explain that the box was not broken and new software would fix many things.
It's really too bad you couldn't tolerate it any longer.
There is new software for the 500 arriving later this month that seems to make things a whole lot better.
But since it was not yet available for public release, what else could they really do for you.
Perhaps it was out of respect for your wishes that they said good-bye.

Maybe one day, you'll come back, if not, it was a pleasure having you here.
So what about the 530? You would think that *C would have learned its lesson about having boxes that have really crappy software and still pushing them to the public.

Glad they are getting the 500 stable after 1.5 years. So this is what I am expected to go through now with the 530? I should wait around nicely for a year and a half while they try to work out the bugs on their next beta project...

(Sorry to sound snippy, but it seems like defending *C beacuse they had issues in the past is not a good thing to do when we are just starting the process over again...)
 
#118 ·
satellite said:
No, the DVR530 doesn’t work as well as it’s supposed to. No one is denying that. Unfortunately, when it comes down to it, Star Choice provides a service – television signals – for which you pay them on a monthly basis. There are no issues with that service. The problem is with a product, developed by Motorola, which does not have stable software. It’s a problem which has been acknowledged and is supposed to be fixed. I don’t know what everyone wants Star Choice to do in the meantime – you’ll get the update, you’ll get a working product when it’s available. I don't think that Star Choice's response thus far has been outside of industry norms!
As far as the Cell phone thing goes. You are right there are many cell phones that do not work as advertised. I had one of those lousy sony phones along time ago on the telus network. It was not working any where near what it was advertised as.

The difference is Telus replaced the phone with another phone that actually worked correctly with out cost to me. I did not have to wait around for monts/years/??? to try and fix my phone.

Telus figured out that this model of phone was not working as it should be and rectified the problem with a statisfied customer.

Our relationship with *C should be the same. If they can' fix it now, they need to reftify the problem so we can actualy USE the signal they are selling us.


The thing about Micro$oft is that you simply purchase that product once. You do not have to pay them a monthly fee for a product that you can't use. Same thing with cars. You buy it once, if it is a lemmon well you can fix it, sell it, etc, but you only pay once for the product not monthly to ford/gm/etc to use the car.

When you have a product that is specifically designed to process a signal you are charging monthly for, you can't expect to get paid for the signal if the decoding of that signal is not possible with the equipment that you have supplied.
 
#119 ·
The ONgoing saga with the 530...

well, I finally got the attention of the Customer Resolution team. I guess sending a note stating why I believe they have set themselves up for a false advertising law suite actually does get noticed at *C.

Anyways, Christine calls and leaves a message at my house 3 days ago (I gave them my work number as everyone disapears at 3pm Mountain time there and here in BC we are still working). So I have been calling and leaving messages for her every day.

Today I get ahold of her and she says that her, her manager and the manager in charge of the 530 technical support all agree that the unit is functioning fine and that my unit is faulty. A8 solved ALL the problems she says and I need to replace my unit.

That is Fine. I point out to her that I have been down this road before and still have the exact same problems I had with other 530 machines. I told her I can replace my machine tonight (bought it at a retail store that has them in stock) and will activate the new unit tonight, but that I want assurances from *C that if the problems come back they will refund my entire cost of the 530 and every penny I have spent on service to them so I can go and find another provider.

Well, did she every back track.

Looks like she is going to get assurances from the manager of technical support that all the issues I have are actually solved and will get back to me right away.

I guess we will see where this goes...
 
#122 ·
My complaints have been voiced directly to StarChoice. Why would I go to Motorola? Yes, they made the machine, but under StarChoice's govern. Starchoice made the decision to go yet again with Motorola, and now I'm reading that *C had all sorts of problems with machines that were around before I even signed up with *C, such as the 500 model. One would think that they would get the hint and steer completely clear of Motorola. Who knows why they continue to go with them. If Motorola doesn't fix their machines for StarChoice, I'm sure they are not going to fix them for me. StarChoice is the company we should all be going after - not Motorola. But for the fact I regretfully decided to become a StarChoice customer, I would not have anything to do with Motorola.

Talk is cheap. It's easy to say, MOVE ON, but I go to my living room and I have the *C piece of Motorola crap that I blew almost a grand on which I have to keep due to the return policy of STARCHOICE - not MOTOROLA. Many of us are all left with a bucket full of empty promises from STARCHOICE - not MOTOROLA. If the management at StarChoice had enough brains, they would be going after Motorola instead of getting riled up with their customers for calling to complain which they have been lately. It is certainly not my fault that this machine has over 20 problems and does not work.

I forgot to mention the problem with the DVI/HDMI cable. I must add that one now to my list. I could live with 1 or 2 problems, but not when there are this many. Maybe some people are willing to pay their hard earned money for something that does not work. That is fine if you don't mind it, however please stop taking personal attacks on me because I do mind it. I have a right to complain about a machine that clearly does not work. If you want the complaining to stop (I am not the only one complaining), then you will have to wait until the machine is working properly. According to StarChoice that will be around Christmas time. I will recommend that you do not hold your breath waiting.
 
#123 ·
I tend to believe it is the 530 causing the problem, not my brand new display. The reason is because if I hit the GUIDE button, I see the full guide with the left-top-corner blackened where there is usually a preview display of whatever it is I'm watching. It seems strange if my TV cannot comprehend the display at all, that I would see nothing on the screen, not a black screen with the ability to display the Guide or the DVR LIST. The DVR List does not have the video preview screen, but the Guide does, and when the DVR messes up, even the small preview pane is blackened.

That's the only thing that throws a monkey wrench into the display theory.
 
#124 ·
cory said:
The thing about Micro$oft is that you simply purchase that product once. You do not have to pay them a monthly fee for a product that you can't use. Same thing with cars. You buy it once, if it is a lemmon well you can fix it, sell it, etc, but you only pay once for the product not monthly to ford/gm/etc to use the car.

When you have a product that is specifically designed to process a signal you are charging monthly for, you can't expect to get paid for the signal if the decoding of that signal is not possible with the equipment that you have supplied.
Seriously, this is not accurate. You have paid for a product, the receiver. You are paying monthly only for the programming.

If this is your only receiver, you can get their cheapo model for just over $50 bucks and enjoy all the programming. There's nothing wrong with the signal.
 
#126 ·
Didnt you return one and come back and buy a new machine at a latter date (I remeber all the DKS posts in the original threads, ie. you dont own one anymore so why keep posting)? Dont play the victim, you knew what you were buying the second time. Perhaps you should have returned it as well.

Love my 530. I get a glitch here and there, but It does record all of the shows I want and I can watch them afterwords. Thats all I expected and the a8 ugdate gave me that.

dks said:
My complaints have been voiced directly to StarChoice. Why would I go to Motorola? Yes, they made the machine, but under StarChoice's govern. Starchoice made the decision to go yet again with Motorola, and now I'm reading that *C had all sorts of problems with machines that were around before I even signed up with *C, such as the 500 model. One would think that they would get the hint and steer completely clear of Motorola. Who knows why they continue to go with them. If Motorola doesn't fix their machines for StarChoice, I'm sure they are not going to fix them for me. StarChoice is the company we should all be going after - not Motorola. But for the fact I regretfully decided to become a StarChoice customer, I would not have anything to do with Motorola.

Talk is cheap. It's easy to say, MOVE ON, but I go to my living room and I have the *C piece of Motorola crap that I blew almost a grand on which I have to keep due to the return policy of STARCHOICE - not MOTOROLA. Many of us are all left with a bucket full of empty promises from STARCHOICE - not MOTOROLA. If the management at StarChoice had enough brains, they would be going after Motorola instead of getting riled up with their customers for calling to complain which they have been lately. It is certainly not my fault that this machine has over 20 problems and does not work.

I forgot to mention the problem with the DVI/HDMI cable. I must add that one now to my list. I could live with 1 or 2 problems, but not when there are this many. Maybe some people are willing to pay their hard earned money for something that does not work. That is fine if you don't mind it, however please stop taking personal attacks on me because I do mind it. I have a right to complain about a machine that clearly does not work. If you want the complaining to stop (I am not the only one complaining), then you will have to wait until the machine is working properly. According to StarChoice that will be around Christmas time. I will recommend that you do not hold your breath waiting.
 
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