Pace Summit (DC758D) thread

[Favelle]

So using a 500GB Seagate in my Vantec Nextar docking station. Works great. Records, pauses live TV, etc etc. But do I have to use the docking station 24/7 and leave it on and connected? I disconnected it once and had to go through the silly procedure all over again! Is that normal?

[brucej]

Originally Posted by brucej

An update.

Followed the Shaw instructions and reformated the drive. It went as advertised. The disk reformated, the system reloaded and it is now functional.

One gotcha, I expected to lose my recorded programming but also lost the future recording info and need to re-enter it. Strange that it did not lose the channel favorites...

I have not had a chance to see if it fixed the failed recordings. I am not very hopeful...

Update #2

I reformatted the drive on Thursday morning and was unable to check the results until Saturday.

I recorded 13 programs during that time on the Pace and on my old 6416. All recorded correctly on the 6416.

On the Pace, 4 programs failed to record.

One recording appeared correct in the info page but when I went to play the recording the progress bar showed 41 minutes of a 2 hour show. The recording was able to play for the reduced time.

One recording appeared correct in the info page but when I went to play the recording, the progress bar showed 90 minutes with a title of "to be announced" and went immediately to the end of the recording.

Two recordings appeared correct in the info page and the progress bar but went immediately to the end of the recording.

I have forwarded this to Shaw but have not had a response yet on their suggested next steps.

[brucej]

I read earlier in the thread (sorry but can't find it now) that someone was able to swap their Pace unit for a 3416. Are these recording problems isolated to the Pace? Have they been seen on the Motorola units?

I am wondering whether to bail on the Pace and ask Shaw to provide a 3416 as a replacement?

Your comments ?

[Kritiker]

I had my third Pace Aspen (owned, not rented) swapped out for a Motorola 3416. I found the viewing experience (not the PVR experience though) with the Pace so much better I had the 3416 swapped out for my 4th Pace Aspen. Others disagree. There are days I regret having given up the Motorola but I'll give Pace possibly until Christmas. I also have a Summit which I bought to try and see if it performs any better thatn the Aspen. I suspect the Summit may go back to the store in a couple of weeks, if things don't improve. Note that your Summit probably came with the 1 TB external drive but the 3416 has only a 160 GB internal drive.

Nonetheless, it seems to be possible to have a Pace swapped out in favour of a Motorola.

BruceJ, before you return your Summit, would you please report the following information for each of your failed recordings:

Name of the program, channel, date and time recording was supposed to start and stop, circumstances surrounding the failure (was there an error message, does the time show up correctly, etc) and then go into the diagnostics, specifically 22 Content Listing and 82 HDD Drive Statistics (You can get to the 82 page from the diags main menu (not the dashboard), by pressing 8 then 2 (i.e. 82) and pressing enter).

From the 22 Content Listing can you give the file sizes for the programs,
MPEG File Size size1 {size2}
Trick File Size size3 {size4}

and from the 82 HDD Drive Statistics, in the last part of the listing, can you give the entries that occur around the time of the recording failures? These listings would look something like

Tue Nov 10 01:00:16 2009
: Unsol Sess: CRD_RECORD_TERMINATED
Tue Nov 10 01:00:16 2009
: Unsol Sys: CRD_SYSTEM_NORMAL

Please leave out any recordings that failed to record on channels to which you don't subscribe.
Can you also specify whether these recorded correctly or not on your mirroring Motorola?

Regrettably I cannot promise that doing this will help with your problem but it may help others, eventually????

[brucej]

Thanx Kritiker.

In my frustration, I deleted some of the problem recordings but I believe I left one that I can check. I also still have some of the programming on the 6416 so will report what I have.

The problem child is a Pace Summit with the external 1 TB drive. I too like the "viewing experience" but the lack of reliability is getting old quickly.

I have the Moto 6416 and a 3416 w/ the 1TB expander. Both seem to work well. I intended to replace the 6416 with the Pace as the 6416 does not seem to have enough horsepower (delays in command input, pixelization, etc) and is fairly old.

The latest from Shaw is that they want to send a tech out to take a look at the Pace.

And so it goes...

[Avalon105]

I just purchased this box today ONLY because I got a great deal on the programming from Shaw.
I wanted the 6200HD box but realized it doesn't have HDMI.

Why does this new box look/feel extremely cheap? The design is from the 70s?

I hope it performs relatively well as a HD.

[Kritiker]

There may be a fix for some of these issues coming in an upcoming firmware release.

Received info, elsewhere, from Linden (unofficially of Pace), namely:

I've done some more digging around for you. We do have a Pace specific bug in this area (this explains why some are seeing it more on Pace boxes). I thought the bug was fixed in your Shaw firmware build, but it won't be available until the next maintenance release. The symptoms you describe appear to match what was fixed in the bug but I can't say with 100% certainty that the issues are the same.

It may be a while, though, before we actually see this fix. I, for one, will be watching the Pace Summit (DC758D) Release Note thread with bated breath.

[brucej]

As a HD terminal STB it has worked fairly well for me. As a PVR, not so much.

My only gripe with the Pace is that when using the OSG in HD mode, it stetches the 4:3 guide/menu display to the full width of the screen. I have not found a way to adjust it. The Moto's display the OSG in 4:3 despite the display mode.

[Kritiker]

For me that's one of the Pace product line's pluses. After having become used to the way the Aspen/Summit displayed the OSG (16:9) I simply couldn't stand the Motorola's way (4:3) of doing it. Different strokes for different folks. Sorry, I don't know how to change it. I don't believe it can be changed, actually.

[brucej]

Originally Posted by Kritiker

There may be a fix for some of these issues coming in an upcoming firmware release.

Received info, elsewhere, from Linden (unofficially of Pace), namely:
It may be a while, though, before we actually see this fix. I, for one, will be watching the Pace Summit (DC758D) Release Note thread with bated breath.

Any idea of the frequency of their maintenance releases?

Shaw has scheduled a tech for Thursday. Based on what I have read and experienced. I believe that this is a S/W bug. If Shaw can get the Pace release soon and it works, I am probably wasting my time with the tech on Thursday. Just my $0.02

[Kritiker]

Regrettably, no, I have no idea when the next maintenance release might be rolled out and Linden has said in the past that he cannot comment on that. He is pretty good about updating the Release Notes threads when updates do occur so I have subscribed to both the Pace TDC776D (aka Aspen Embedded) Release Notes and the Pace Summit (DC758D) Release Notes threads with "instant" email notification. Perhaps someone else with "friends" inside Shaw might know?

[Avalon105]

Quick question:

Shaw is suppose to turn on my cable programming tomorrow. I have the Pace box set up via HDMI going through my receiver.

Even though I don't have the programming turned on yet, should I be able to get the settings screen etc on the Pace?

I set my receiver to the proper input. It's telling me no signal. I have a splitter at the wall. One coax going to my computer and one coax going to the Pace. The Pace box shows green with a 0(zero) showing.

Thanks!

[das75]

Have the 758 and using as a HD box only for now, but just amazed at all the PVR problems.

I got my Pace from BB, says Shaw on the box and using Shaw cable, can I expect the firmware updates automatically?

[Kritiker]

Avalon105, your box won't work, even "locally", until Shaw activates it and that cannot happen until you get the cable signal and the Shaw head end can "talk" to your box.

das75, firmware updates, when they come, are automatic. There is nothing that you need, or can, do about them.

[Avalon105]

Ok great. I was trying to see if I have it setup correctly going through my stereo receiver.

I will have to wait until tomorrow. I thought I could access menu's etc.

Cheers