This is not hack talk! Although somebody will probably delete it......
I had read that one nice thing about N2, yellow or internal card, encryption was that the DVR/PVR features could actually be controlled. I thought that this is what E* will eventually do, eventually charge everybody for DVR service, or they will turn it off, if you do not want that feature.
I noticed, when I received my ExpressVu DVR, A DEVICE MADE BY E*, before it was turned on by EV, the PVR/DVR features like rewind, pause, fast forward, did not work. They did after EV added the the receiver to my account.
I wonder if your problems could be with authorization issues which popped up with the new software.