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New Firmware Update 8.26 - See post 1.

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#1 ·
Thank you for taking the time to email us.

We are pushing out new software this week this update to version 8.26 will take place between Tuesday Oct 16th –Friday Oct 26th.

When it comes to the improvements we have made this will include enhancements to the VOD menu, multi audio selection and PVR630 external hard drive support. The update however will not be making the USB functional at this time.

This is the email I received about the new software update.


Edit by 57 - Improvement list link below:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=1455937#post1455937



A separate thread has been created to discuss the eHDD specifically:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=157367
 
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#64 ·
Strange happenings today

Today, while wife was watching a recorded program, unit did a reset. She was recording at the time and after the reset, she had a hard time skipping past the gap created in the recording. Later, my other 630 decided to freeze at 8:30 (wasn't using it at the time) A front panel reset did the trick.
Not complaining, just documenting problems.
 
#65 ·
Partial deleted recordings on DSR630 still an issue after 8.26?

I own 2 630 pvr units, and have them both upgraded to firmware 8.26
It seems that when you delete recordings, it still does not free up the space properly at times?... I had recorded a HD college football game last night which was 210min long. After watching the game, I brought up my pvr list on the 630 and it showed the HDD 25% full. After I deleted the game I brought up the pvr list but the unit still showed the HDD as 25% full. I turned off the unit a couple of times and still no change? I decided to do a reset by holding down the power button and when it came back up I brought up pvr list and it now showed 17% full?.... Just out of curiosity I checked out my other dsr630 and noticed that that the HDD was 12% full, so I did a soft reset by holding down power button and after reset the HDD went down to 10% full... I don't get it, I thought the 8.26 firmware eleminated this issue of deleted recording being removed off your HD correctly..... I don't understand why Shaw Direct continues to have some bad firmware for their already bad hardware. Very frustrating, and I to after many many years am considering a switch of providers. Anyone else still expering this problem, or is it just my 2 dsr630 units?
 
#66 ·
I've also got freezing issues with my 630. Over the last few weeks, randomly the time indicated on the front panel stops and the receiver is not responsive to the remote. This has happened about six times so far. A front panel reset brings it back to life but it tells me that I have too many protected recordings and I am unable to record or view any of my recordings. I also get a mail message from Shaw Direct telling me my HDD has too many protected recordings, or something to that effect. Unplugging the receiver and then plugging back in after about a minute brings it back to full functionality. HDD currently is at about 40%.

I also have a 605 receiver that has been functioning flawlessly for more than a year. Until this morning when I saw the front panel time stuck at 10:19. Front panel reset fixed that.
 
#68 ·
Got another broken recording with 900+hrs. Was watching Show X while Show Y was recording. Finished watching Show X and deleted it. Show Y was missing but there was a broken recording by the name of Show X (which should have been completely deleted.) That's really nice. None of the old bugs, like rampant dropouts on some recordings, are fixed but now we have a new bug that's even worse. This update is garbage.
 
#69 ·
I am having some wierd stuff happen since the update. I try recording a series and it records one episode then nothing else. I see other episodes with the recording circle and a small X in the bottom right.

Also when I check a recording on the PVR list and view upcoming episodes, I get a garbage list that sometimes includes the program along with other stuff and other times just the other stuff.
 
#70 ·
While it does appear that when I delete a recording it actually does delete, I sure am having way more spontaeous reboots and picture freezes or lost picture during playback of recordings than I ever use to. Now if it only would do the spontaneous reboot when the picture is froze/lost and save me the trouble of front panel resets. So ya defintely having more issues than I did before the update. These receivers are sooo 'advanced' Shaw Direct doesn't even understand them apparently.
 
#71 ·
Bad Recordings

I missed Amazing Race and Once Upon a Time over the past few days.

The recordings are listed on the PVR list, and don't show as broken, but when I tried to play the first, it wouldn't play at all, and the second one played to 20 minutes, and stopped, and there was no way to get past the trouble spot by skipping or restarting.

NOT happy with the new update, I did much better before this software came out.
 
#91 ·
The recordings are listed on the PVR list, and don't show as broken, but when I tried to play the first, it wouldn't play at all, and the second one played to 20 minutes, and stopped, and there was no way to get past the trouble spot by skipping or restarting.

NOT happy with the new update, I did much better before this software came out.
Had the same experience yesterday. Recorded the eastern final, the Pregame and the western final CFL games. First one worked, second failed after 90 seconds and could not get past the failure point, third showed the broken tape after trying to watch it. I suppose it was recording when I encountered the problem on the prior recording.

(Had done a power reboot last week. Had to do front panel twice. It kept saying No Satellite Signal but keying in a new channel got it past that.)
 
#72 ·
Ya it seems SD really stuffed this update. I have 2 630s. My main one was pretty much issue free until 8.26. Now beyond the bad recordings (800mins = delete the recording) and the spontaneous freezing and rebooting we now have another issue. I will go into the PVR list and a box comes up saying the list is empty. It's def not empty. So i do a front panel reset which doesn't solve the problem, still says recoding list is empty, and then i get a mail msg that states "HDD alert!!! Your HDD is full of protected recordings. Nothing else can be recorded until you delete and make some space." I only have b/w 40-50% full on the PVR, and maybe 2 protected recordings (of Curious George). As the user above posted, I have to unplug the unit for a couple minutes and then when it starts up again it works fine.

So sad that SD could have ruined a perfectly good PVR with really bad software. Hopefully the next update will address a lot of these issues and hopefully we don't have to wait until the end of Dec to get it (which is what i believe another poster stated).

I'm going to email SD support now and let them know of these issues. I suggest everyone do this as well.
 
#74 ·
Since the update I've had:

  • One broken recording
  • At least one scheduled recording that never happened (Apollo 18). After re-scheduling and successfully recording and watching it I can't say I blame the 630, it may have just been trying to spare me.
  • Several spontaneous reboots. The worst was last Sunday, when nearly every time I changed channels it rebooted. Sunday may have been somewhat weather related, the skies were still clearing after our Colorado low snowstorm. After a couple of front panel resets with no joy, I gave up for the day. Since Monday there have been no further problems.
  • I've also noted that the % of disk used often doesn't change after deleting a recording.

So far I am not impressed with this update.
 
#75 ·
It looks like the low signal instability issues are not fixed. Add that to the list of bugs not fixed since 6.22.

After re-scheduling and successfully recording and watching it I can't say I blame the 630, it may have just been trying to spare me.
LOL
 
#76 ·
ok so I rescheduled my recording events, not missed recordings seems to be ok (knock on wood).

However last night we had 3 events record but show up with the broken icon (one that looks like a vhs tape), makes about 9 or 10 of them now - Not to happy.

we did note that all 3 of the broken recordings were of shows we watched and taped at the exact same time....wonder if that has something to do with it.
 
#77 ·
The 630 has two tuners so a maximum of two shows can be recorded simultaneously. If three or more shows are scheduled at the same time, the ones with lower priority (on the timers list) will be skipped. The skipped shows will be indicated by a ! in the guide recording icon and the two highest priority shows should record normally. Use time shifted channels, when possible, to eliminate conflicts.
 
#81 ·
your correct - 3 different recordings at 3 different times.
However I did watch each show from the beginning while it was being recorded. Then I looked in the PVR list, there were the 3 shows each showing their complete time but with the broken icon.

I called SD yesterday to file my complaint and let them know my suspicions. They took down all the details, had me reboot the receiver and said "thanks" and that was about it.
 
#82 ·
While I agree that broken recordings are annoying and shouldn't happen, there is no need to torrent shows. Shaw Direct has most shows on VOD available a day or two after the original airing. Luckily I haven't had any broken recordings so far, but if I did, I would just watch it using VOD. At least it is free AND legal!
 
#83 ·
My broken recording seen to be related to watching while recording as well. Even watching a different show can be an issue. If a show is watched and deleted while a recording is taking place, it appears to create a broken link to the recording in progress. Haven't tested this thoroughly though.

As for Shaw's VOD, it's garbage like the rest of their offerings. Playback is totally locked down on broadcast station shows so you must sit through all the insipid promos and ads. You can't even skip back to watch something that was missed or restart a program that was interrupted part way through. It's pretty obvious that Shaw designed their VOD for broadcasters, not consumers.
 
#85 ·
Drama continues

Drama continues..... One 630 keeps locking up, front panel reset impossible, so have to unplug for a few minutes, then plug back in, only to have it lock up again a few hours later. Done this procedure 4 times now in two days.
The other receiver has broken recordings galore... wife not happy at ALL.

We really need a response from SD Support to help us out here.
 
#88 ·
Haven't called yet as I hate waiting on hold for 45 minutes or more. I'm not at my home address so replacing receivers is a bit of an issue. Also no toll free number from here so my cell phone charges get up there. I may e-mail them if there isn't a resolution in the next week or so.
I don't believe it's a hardware issue as the problems didn't start till after the latest software update. Could be wrong, but others postings seem to agree with my opinion.

Hope Shaw Support gets a response to us on this forum....
 
#87 ·
I was watching 2 PVRd shows (back to back) last night while 2 other shows were recording. I just want to note here that i watched and deleted 2 shows (after done watching) while the other 2 recorded and everything went fine. Both shows recorded properly. There was a bit of lag on the rcvr registering button clicks from the remote but that's about it.

Since 8.26 i've suffered from about 4 or so broken recordings as well.
 
#89 ·
Charlie and others having problems...

Why don't you do a factory reset? It's probably something that SD will have you do anyway when you finally get ahold of them. It's something I did right after receiving the 8.26 update to get any cobwebs out and I've had virtually no problems to date. Had a power reboot once but that is about it.

Factory resets can be done without talking to anyone at SD. (Options-4-9-8-8-6) You just need an online customer account or use the automated phone system for a rehit/refresh from a phone associated to your phone number.
 
#94 ·
Factory reset



After performing several front panel resets and unplugging the 630 units several times, the units seem to be behaving themselves for the past few days (touch wood).

I wasn't aware that one could do their own factory reset and re-activate the receivers simply by getting a hit, either via telephone or with my on-line account. I always thought that SD sent a particular unique signal to activate after a factory reset. Thanks for the tip. I'll try it next time.
 
#90 ·
More issues here. The replacement for the 630 that failed just after the update now has the same symptoms. It appears to be functional in every way except it won't turn on. The only difference is that there is no clock display. Others have reported similar symptoms but with the clock stuck at 8:00 or 9:00. The clock on this unit was set to turn off with the receiver, which may explain the lack of display.

Two more broken recordings here as well. I suspect it's due to watched programs being deleted while the 630 is recording. Can't confirm that though.

What a stellar company to deal with. Since this last update I've had two completely failed PVRs, another that is unreliable and I've been verbally abused by a CSR. Then there are the dozens of hours of lost recordings with no hint of compensation from Shaw. One CSR gave me a very comforting, "That's too bad" after I told her I had lost a lot of recordings. Like I said, a stellar company to deal with. Their award winning service is really something to experience. :rolleyes:
 
#95 ·
The big freeze...

A couple of weeks ago, just after the firmware upgrade, my 630 started to freeze up. After multiple front panel reboots it would be okay for a few days.

I did manage to perform a factory reset and then last week it decided it would take over an hour to reboot to an out-of-sync clock and remain frozen on a channel.

Up until the end of October, it was running flawlessly. Coincidence?

Who knows?

They're sending me a replacement.
 
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