[tlamm]

Good stuff. Been missing the BC code greatly since my receiver died.

Very much looking forward to this.

 

[tlamm]

my 4 cents worth,

Look at the bell forums. Lots more complaints then we have here. Perhaps you should have returned yours last year if it was such a problem?

Or call them up now and complain. I've had my receiver replaced twice now. If I was having all the problems you seem to have I would have had it replaced a few more times.

No point complaining here, call star choice and get them to send you a new receiver.

If the device worked properly all of the time, there would be no (or at least very little) activity in this forum. There are pages and pages from people all over Canada complaining about issues with the DSR530.

First I'd like to say that the issues with the DSR530 that I report do not have a hidden agenda against you whatsoever. The reported issues are just that, honest issues that I have been experiencing for a period of time that supercedes any of my wildest nightmares. If I only had a couple of people on staff to develop such a machine, I would first of all interview the ying-yang out of the potential candidates and follow up with reference checks to ensure I'm getting the right people to do the job. I would hire these people on a temporary basis, with the promise that it could lead to something more if their efforts proved to be decent. After 6 months of poor quality development, I would terminate their employment and re-hire.

I realize you have a vested interest, or maybe you -had- a vested interest in the company and perhaps took things that I said as a personal attack against you. The reason I'm saying this is because there have been a few personal attacks against me which I felt were totally unnecessary. Rarely do these things actually resolve the issue. It actually takes away from the real problem and starts pinning the blame on someone who is merely reporting the issues.

My solution to StarChoice has always been this:

1.) Put your need for a decent quality PVR out there so that all companies know about it. Sony, JVC, Panasonic, Toshiba, Pioneer, etc. These are brands we've all come to know and trust who have been in the market of producing DVD recorders, VCRs and other similar pieces of equipment.

2.) Once one of these companies jumps on the table to produce a "working" machine, negotiate the deadlines and the quality/reliability. Get it in writing that these companies will produce solid working machines for your company.

The problems with this might be:

1.) Starchoice may already have a contract signed with Motorola.

2.) Motorola may possess some sort of proprietary code to descramble the StarChoice signal. (If this is true, then this is another *C mistake.)

3.) These 3rd party companies may not feel that StarChoice is big enough to provide enough revenue for taking on such a task.

Really though, the best solution is to get ALL cable companies and satellite companies out of the business of providing machines to the general public. Look at the mess that this has caused! I keep reading that all PVRs have problems. Why is that? I'll tell you - lack of motivation to get the machine working 100%. Why is that? Since only one company is allowed to design the machine for a particular company, they've pretty much squashed the competition. Anyone knows that this is not smart business practice. Always remember that your competitor knows your weaknesses, and they will eventually zoom in on your weaknesses and pull your customers away. Once your customers are gone, you may not get them back ever again.

StarChoice could be making billions and billions of dollars profit if they broke away from this foolishness of having only one company provide all of their boxes. It obviously has never worked well, and has caused a sure loss of revenue/customers. The only reasons I'm (and many others like me) are still with *C is this:

- We just spent $800 on a machine in 2005.
- StarChoice has been promising fixes since day 1. Fixes have made things better, but the system is still unstable for many.
- There is not a lot of competition. That may change any day, but for now, nope.

Another idea is StarChoice could keep Motorola on board for doing the descrambling of their signals. After 10 years they finally managed to succeed in the descrambling portion of the code. However, external companies such as Sony could provide a PVR plug-in that would look after all recording and playback processes. The only thing that Motorola would do is provide the descrambling portion of the equipment. You could basically have PVRs by all sorts of manufacturers out there using some common standard of signal coming from the Motorola part. This would take the administrative backload away from StarChoice which has got to be bogging them down. They might even have the ability to reduce staff if the help desk doesn't need an extra 100 people just to support complaints with the equipment.

Ultimately I believe the planning (or lack of planning) is the culprit of all of this, and since management is responsible for planning I blame them mostly for this - not anyone on this site.

 

[tlamm]

My post may have come off wrong

I was one of the first to get the 530. I've lived through all the problems including the BC code killing my unit.

I dont mind people pointing out the problems, I actually find it pretty interesting. I dont actually use alot of the features others complain about (weekly times and the such), perhaps thats why my satisfaction level is pretty high.

If you do not want to try a replacement machine; why not fight for a refund on the one you have?

 

[tlamm]

I paid more then 600, pre-ordered

You would have been fine without the extended warrenty. Star choice replaced mine twice after the one year warrenty, last one was november 2006. I didnt even get charged shipping (I like haggling). last time was for a faulty component video input.

Personally i've only done 3 resets since CC. The BC code killed me once though.

 

[tlamm]

Sorry for the late reply. BUt Yes.. You just call starchoice.