33 Timer Limit, No OTA Module, 500GB

[badpenguin]

Upgraded from a VIP722 to a VIP922 today and have experienced several problems.

Was told by the DISH support people I could still use OTA on the VIP922. Asked the installer as he was hooking it up, he said no problem. I don't think he knew what I was talking about, because I asked him where my local OTA channels were, he said I need an OTA module. He told me I need to contact DISH to get one.

Started entering my timers. Hit timer 33 and the DVR won't let me enter any more, tells me 33 is the max. WTF? 33 timers? I had 76 on my VIP722, in my experience, upgrades are supposed to give you MORE functionality, not less. Had online chat with DISH tech support, they said a software update over the next 48 hours should fix it. Someone please tell me it is possible to have more than 33 timers with a VIP922.

The external hard drive, problem number 3. Won't let me transfer the existing recordings without formatting the drive for the new DVR, something about it being currently assigned to another DVR. Chat told me wait 48 hours.

Remote viewing appears to be working via the DISH app. But I am confused because if I go to the Menu -> Sling TV Everywhere "Tile", item "8 - Watch on your mobile device", says:

Mobile devices use SlingPlayer Mobile software to connect to your ViP 922 SlingLoaded DVR and show your favorite show. On DISH Remote Access main page, click on Go Mobile! button and follow the steps to receive your mobile key. You need this mobile key to download your free SlingPlayer Mobile. Write down this key and save it for future (you can always go back to the page later too).
...
Note: iPhone users need to go to iTunes Application Store to download iPhone SlingPlayer Mobile.

Ok, I can't find anywhere from the Go Mobile! button to get a key. Does anyone else have a clue about this?

And finally, my DVR is only showing 500GB. Isn't the VIP922 supposed to be 1TB?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The 500 GB limit is correct, while it has 1TB of space 500 GB is reserved for the OS and VOD.

I dont know about the timers limit I haven't hit that one.

Download DISH Remote Acccess, do not waste your money on the Slingplayer app besides with last night's Slingplayer update I dont think the 922 works with it anymore.

 

[skew]

the timer limit is 96 I hit it about 4 months ago it makes it tough when new shows come out

 

[badpenguin]

the timer limit is 96 I hit it about 4 months ago it makes it tough when new shows come out

Well, hopefully a 48 hour wait will magically fix that for me, I can't deal with a limit of 33 timers!

 

[sethwell]

Well, hopefully a 48 hour wait will magically fix that for me, I can't deal with a limit of 33 timers!

It takes about a day or two for it to update. Yes you will need a OTA tuner module from dish for it to work with your tv antenna. Order one from dishstore, there is a link towards the top of the page. You have me on the timers, mine currently has 71 in the list. I haven't hooked up the ext hdd yet so I can't comment on that.

 

[mike123abc]

Also of note it is a real 500GB for your DVR storage, 466 GB or so if they really split the drive in half (TB drive is 13% less since it is trillion bytes not really a terabyte and then formatting overhead). So, you can fit a lot more on your DVR than a 500 GB external drive.

 

[badpenguin]

The ViP 922 gives you plenty of room to record whatever you want on the 1 TB hard drive - the largest in the TV industry

That implies I have a full TB to record whatever I want, not 500GB, or 1/2 TB, whatever you want to call it. I already had a 750GB external drive on my vip722, so the upgrade in reality did not give me much more storage.

I have been thrilled by Dish, their service, and their equipment, until today. No OTA when I was told it would have it. Can only set 33 timers. The "protect" option will not turn off on the timers. No local HD channels, so no local HD whatsoever. No guide data past 10:30PM for most channels. The instructions on the DVR for setting up the mobile player for iphones is wrong and it took two hours of my time to figure that one out. The guide is too large for the screen, can't see icons on the left, including the icons that indicate which tuner is recording. It refuses to record two shows at the same time. Search is disabled. Can't access my external hard drive without erasing all of the existing content. I have been subscribed to the most expensive packages for years and the have the gall to ask me to spend $50 on an OTA module, after THEY told me it was already included, which is part of what convinced me to go with the upgrade. Knowing I would have had to spend $50 more I would have just gone with the sling adapter in lieu of the upgrade.

And all of this is apparently going to get fixed by powering the dvr in 15 second increments and magical fairies passing out mystical updates over the next 48 hours, I guess I am going to get custom firmware versions nobody else gets.

I came close to just ditching dish completely when they told me I had to pay for an OTA module. Thankfully I finally got a supervisor who offered it at no cost. I was wondering why they weren't pushing the 922 on customers, I think I know why now. It is nowhere near ready for prime time.

I'll give them their 48 hours, if this stuff isn't fixed by then, I just can't deal with this POS.

 

[DishSubLA]

If the 922 timers work like Dish's ViP's and Dish Pro DVR's, the wall you hit may NOT be the number of timers but the number of EVENTS generated by those timers. The key would be what the total number of events limit is. I think the ViP's have a limit of about 300+ EVENTS. When you set an All, New, or DishPass timer, the DVR puts every instance of that show in the events list memory, then SKIPS any of those events that are not necessary to record.

As one example, MTV will air multiple airings of the same episode of The Real World all week, especially near the start of the series. MTV will air that same episode and some subsequent episodes as many as 40 times that week. That is gonna suck up a good many EVENT slots in the memory even though the DVR will only record ONE of those showings out of the 40. Now add another timer for a series that airs multiple times in a week even with different episodes, and you can see how you will hit the EVENTS number wall very easily. Some folks will never hit this wall because they record mostly LIL and a few other shows that either never air more than once a week or only a few times a week. I hope that made sense, but all may fix itself after the 48 hours.

 

[n0qcu]

The event limit is 576 events.

 

[badpenguin]

If the 922 timers work like Dish's ViP's and Dish Pro DVR's, the wall you hit may NOT be the number of timers but the number of EVENTS generated by those timers. The key would be what the total number of events limit is. I think the ViP's have a limit of about 300+ EVENTS. When you set an All, New, or DishPass timer, the DVR puts every instance of that show in the events list memory, then SKIPS any of those events that are not necessary to record.

You might be onto something there. Since search wasn't working on the DVR yesterday, I created all of the timers via DISH Online Access, or whatever it is called, which will only let you create Dish Passes.

Some good news, my local HD channels showed up a couple of hours after chatting with a supervisor about it last night, and this morning search is working. So I am going to have to delete all of the timers I created and start over again and do them via the DVR, maybe that will clear up the issue. The only timers I won't be able to do that with is with shows that are out of season since they won't show up in the search. Then once the OTA module arrives, I will get to do it all over again, at least for the shows I schedule OTA.

 

[HTPC4Me]

I had the same issue with Sling that you have - it's the fact that the Sling firmware is separate from what comes on the receiver, and until your DVR downloads the software, Sling is unavailable. It took mine about 12 hours.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

As always I tell people not to expect the 922 to run correctly for 24 - 48 hours after its installed.

 

[badpenguin]

I had the same issue with Sling that you have - it's the fact that the Sling firmware is separate from what comes on the receiver, and until your DVR downloads the software, Sling is unavailable. It took mine about 12 hours.

Heck, sling is the only thing that was working pretty much right after the installer left...

 

[BearHuntr]

The event limit is 576 events.

And THIS is the biggest problem with all of the receivers!! I have hit this limit so many times and have had to "creatively" adjust timers to weekly or remove them when shows are out of season to just get things to work. I was so hoping that this would go away when I upgraded to the 922 from the 622 and was crushed when I ran into the same thing as the original poster. What makes this worse is that there is no indication of how many events are tied to each timer on screen like there was on the 622, you can only see this on the website. If only I could set a timer for every show I want to record and not have to "manage" it to get things to work.

Dish Network, please increase this limit!!!!

 

[badpenguin]

What makes this worse is that there is no indication of how many events are tied to each timer on screen like there was on the 622, you can only see this on the website. If only I could set a timer for every show I want to record and not have to "manage" it to get things to work.

Dish Network, please increase this limit!!!!

Well, I deleted all of the timers I set via Dish Remote Access, then recreated 35 timers via searching the programming guide. There appears to be no way to create timers manually or to create Dish Passes. So I won't know if my timers "run out" until new seasons of various shows start back up.

 

[sethwell]

Well, I deleted all of the timers I set via Dish Remote Access, then recreated 35 timers via searching the programming guide. There appears to be no way to create timers manually or to create Dish Passes. So I won't know if my timers "run out" until new seasons of various shows start back up.

to do a dish pass or manual timer you have to create them using Dish Remote Access. in the My DVR tab on the leftis a "add a recording" link right above where it shows the disk space. it will walk you through the steps to create them. however i have been meaning to post a question about manual timers on here. i have a couple set up to record a block of shows and everytime one is recorded, i watch it then go to delete it and it is locked as a protected timer. i go into the timers list and it shows it to have protection on, and i reset it to be unprotected. hit save and then next week, it is back. not a clue why? frustrating.

oh and also when setting a manual timer on mine through DRA, i have to manually go into the timer and reset it to record because each week it states that it is not the correct event or something.

 

[tempVAdish]

Wonder when they'll make it so you can create a manual timer from the receiver? Right now I think that's the only thing keeping me from wanting to upgrade my 622. Also, it will do IR remote now, right? I have a Harmony One that I really enjoy using...

I was trying to find the owners manual on Dish's website, but it's not there I wanted to read up on it some too as well as reading here...

 

[mike123abc]

It will work with an IR remote.

 

[DustoMan]

Wonder when they'll make it so you can create a manual timer from the receiver? Right now I think that's the only thing keeping me from wanting to upgrade my 622. Also, it will do IR remote now, right? I have a Harmony One that I really enjoy using...

I was trying to find the owners manual on Dish's website, but it's not there I wanted to read up on it some too as well as reading here...

You need to enable IR in the remote setup screen. It's off by default.

Also, it was asked in another thread yesterday or the day before about a manual for the 922. At the moment there's just the so-called "Help Guide" that really has some very basic troubleshooting info. The only real help is contained in the Help menu option on the receiver.

And this whole bumping into a timer/event limit is exactly the reason why I don't use the DISH Pass function. I hover around 55 timers and record new shows as they come onto the air. When they are on the "off-season", no issues here.

Oh also might be a good idea to back up your settings to your remote, I wish it was done automatically, but every so often it's a good idea to do that using the "Setup Wizard" menu option I think it's called.

 

[badpenguin]

to do a dish pass or manual timer you have to create them using Dish Remote Access. in the My DVR tab on the leftis a "add a recording" link right above where it shows the disk space. it will walk you through the steps to create them. however i have been meaning to post a question about manual timers on here. i have a couple set up to record a block of shows and everytime one is recorded, i watch it then go to delete it and it is locked as a protected timer. i go into the timers list and it shows it to have protection on, and i reset it to be unprotected. hit save and then next week, it is back. not a clue why?

Yes, I am aware of this fact. I originally set up all of my timers via DRA for this exact reason. I too ran into the "sticky protect" problem, every timer set via DRA, protect is set to On, and it won't turn off via the timer options on the 922. Well, you can go in and set it to Off, then you go back in and it is On again.

I now believe it was setting all of my timers up as Dish Passes via DRA that blew my (256?) timer quota. I got to setting timer 34 and the receiver refused to add any more. It sounds to me like it takes into account all of the event possibilities when calculating that quota. For example House might be showing on 5 different networks, which will end up with 10's to 100's of possibilities the timer has to account for. Then again, I had a large number of timers set as dish passes on my 722 and never ran into any limits.