Advice- Prepare for the breakdown

[TheForce]

3 days ago, I began to have trouble with anything that was accessing my hard drive on my VIP622. Pause the program and playback delayed and the image would breakup and/or skip sound. Record a program to play back later and the playback was very broken up. The breakups were repeated so it told me I had recorded it that way. However, if I switched to my external hard drive, a 1Tb with about 900Gb recorded, all were perfect.
Today I discovered an error message telling me my pause function was malfunctioning and to please unplug the receiver to reset. I did and everything seemed fine but a recording I made was terrible. Older recordings made months ago were fine. I decided to transfer those recordings I wanted to archive to the ext. HD as a precautionary measure. Just two transferred ( I believe) before the DVR error message popped up and now I have no access to any DVR function.

Decided to call Dish Network tech support and explained the problem and measures done so far and they agreed the 622 was bad. Immediately offered to swap it out, so I'm now awaiting a new receiver.


First of all I'd like to thank Dish Network CSR in tech support who was very responsive to my problem. I could not ask more of them in a response.

Second- I have often wondered how long the hard drive in the 622 would last. I had gone through 2 on my 921 before retiring it. A DVR seems to tax the hard drive far greater than a regular computer application. Consequently, for the past year, predicting this day would soon come, I made sure I transferred all my favorite programs and movies to an external hard drive rather than keep them on the internal. Now the day is here and I will not lose any of my favorites.
This should be a lesson to all, if you have a 2+year old DVR, make a habit of transferring all your favorites onto the USB drive.

Third- I was concerned about the concept of owning vs leasing the DVR. Today, I'm glad I lease it for the cost of AEP subscription. It's nice to get a new DVR or maybe a refurb and back in business at no out of pocket cost. I paid quite a price for the 921 and it became obsolete with just a small credit on the upgrade window when they did that.

Now I wait for a few days to see how the swap works out.

 

[dfergie]

Been there done that last year, and from 921 experience also had what I didn't care to lose on an external... a godsend

 

[old corps]

You should have kept the 921! I got mine after the reduction in price from $999.00 to $549.00. Now it makes a great doorstop!

Ed

 

[allargon]

My 625 lasted for years and years. I suspect my 622 will, too. Everything breaks eventually.

 

[vaylon]

My 722 did the same thing earlier this year.
They ended up sending me a new one.

There is really not much you can do except to try and backup your programs.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Exactly why I went with the RAID setup. Every evening, I transfer the previous days recordings over to the EHD, and watch them from there.

 

[TheForce]

You should have kept the 921! I got mine after the reduction in price from $999.00 to $549.00. Now it makes a great doorstop!

Ed

I still have it! But I don't have any doors to stop.

It's on the shelf waiting to be filler material for my trash can.

 

[tigerfan33]

Good advice.

My 622 has been going strong for 3 years. I had three 722ks in 9 months. It maybe me but I am thinking the 622 were and are a little more stable than the 722k.

 

[dfergie]

I pulled the Hard Drive from my 921 and filled it with Replay Mpegs...

 

[TheForce]

Update-

Today I received the replacement VIP-622.

The replacement system was well thought out with a nice instruction booklet.

However, I knew I was in trouble whan I powered it on and the first screen that showed up was an error message indicating that there were problems with the DVR function. What a friggin coincidence! The exact same warning I got with my original 622. I proceeded past this screen to the setup and all went well, then I called the activation number and went through the process with the CSR, an American from Phoenix. I told him about the warning but he assured me that the DVR was fine. Unfortunately, after attemps to reboot the new 622 ( obviously a refurb) was worse than my broken 622. Now he has to send me another (622) to replace the replacement 622.

I felt bad for the nice CSR who spoke highly of Dish's QC but much to his embarrassment, they failed him by sending out a defective replacement.

The second replacement should arrive by Friday, so we start all over again.


BTW- I asked several times to get a 722 but he said they are not permitted to make that request. Truth is, When Dish replaced my 921, I was told it was to be a 622 since they had so many from the churn of customers, but what arrived was a 722. So I do have one 722 as a second receiver on my account. I really want a 922 so I'm not going to push too hard for now.

That's it until Friday.

 

[ercjncpr]

A dvd recorder may be a bit more work to program, but your shows aren't stuck on some tv provider's hard drive

 

[rthomp03]

Update-

Today I received the replacement VIP-622.

The replacement system was well thought out with a nice instruction booklet.

However, I knew I was in trouble whan I powered it on and the first screen that showed up was an error message indicating that there were problems with the DVR function. What a friggin coincidence! The exact same warning I got with my original 622. I proceeded past this screen to the setup and all went well, then I called the activation number and went through the process with the CSR, an American from Phoenix. I told him about the warning but he assured me that the DVR was fine. Unfortunately, after attemps to reboot the new 622 ( obviously a refurb) was worse than my broken 622. Now he has to send me another (622) to replace the replacement 622.

I felt bad for the nice CSR who spoke highly of Dish's QC but much to his embarrassment, they failed him by sending out a defective replacement.

The second replacement should arrive by Friday, so we start all over again.


BTW- I asked several times to get a 722 but he said they are not permitted to make that request. Truth is, When Dish replaced my 921, I was told it was to be a 622 since they had so many from the churn of customers, but what arrived was a 722. So I do have one 722 as a second receiver on my account. I really want a 922 so I'm not going to push too hard for now.

That's it until Friday.

Too bad on the 722. One of my 622s crapped after the card swap last fall and lo and behold I got a 722 to replace it. I was one happy camper.

 

[TheForce]

A dvd recorder may be a bit more work to program, but your shows aren't stuck on some tv provider's hard drive

Not necessarily so...

A DVR has many more uses than just archiving programs. The DVD recorder can only archive programs and as you stated, it isn't an easy way to do it. In fact, side by side, the old VHS VCR's were easier to use than the present day DVD recorders.

Also, you need to get with the times, your perception is not quite correct on "stored on a "provider's hard drive" Even with the failure of my one 622, I kept all my important programs on my external hard drive I own. I have several now. I can plug that hard drive into any DVR in my home and have all my programs. True that the DVR is technically leased but I could as easily, just not economically, own the DVR and use the box as an off air unit to play my programs. This is how DVR's work. I also had a TIVO with external hard drives and used them for 2 years past my subscription expiration to DirecTV. It is now sold and the new owner has my stored programs to play, but the sat technology is obsolete since it doesn't do MP4. The new owner has the DVR and stored programs plus a local ATSC tuner.
I think you would be well served to consider a DVR to replace your old way of doing things.

 

[TheForce]

Update-

Received VIP 622 #3 from Spartanburg, SC this morning.

Got it connected and turned it on and I did NOT get the DVR failure screen this time but rather a note that there was no smart card. I checked and reinserted the card several times, and then it sensed the card was there. Not a good start!

After calling the CSR and to activate this fourth 622, all seemed to be doing fine. Then this CSR said I needed a new LNB. Explained the old one was fine but he insisted on setting up an appointment for one of their hacks to come in and replace my LNB. Explained about my reluctance after the last hack really screwed up my wiring and had to spend several hours fixing all the stuff he broke. Apologies, but the CSR insisted or else he would not activate the 622, so I agreed. Have an appointment for Monday.

After all seemed to go fine I left the 622 on and began to test the DVR functions and after 22 minutes of use the newest refurb rebooted on its own. Then it ran for 9 minutes and rebooted again, this time stating there was no smart card. I jiggled the smart card in and out and it finally sensed it and stayed on for about 30 seconds and rebooted again.

Called tech support and the young lady said I needed to plug it in to a different outlet. At this point I do admit becoming impatient. She suggested the power surge protector may be defective. sigh! Why can't these CSR's just admit that it is possible their refurb process is inadequate and they are sending out bad 622's. I asked to speak to a supervisor and she said she is instructed to send my call to advanced tech support.

After a 10 minute hold I get another tech on the phone who wants to run a series of tests on plugging the 622 into a wall outlet bypassing my battery backup surge protection equipment. OK, so I play the game and here we go. After about 20 reboots it got to the point that the VIP622 #3 would no longer sense the smart card except reboot 1 in 6 and he finally admitted I may have a defective 622 and apologized for the inconvenience.
So now I have an activated 622 I can't even watch, much less use the DVR. I begged him to at least reactivate one of the older 622's I have stacked up here waiting for return. He obliged and reactivated an earlier refurb that has no access to the hard drive at all. At least I can watch something for now.
Before closing, I asked him to check on the date for the lnb. Told him I really didn't like their insistence on fixing stuff that is working fine while the real problem awaits a 4th used 622 to be tested by me. So he rescheduled the Monday appointment to Wednesday to give the 622 #4 time to arrive.

 

[langlin]

Don, may I suggest calling and asking for "advanced technical support" and tell them what you've been through and I believe they will get you a 722 or a 722k at this point, you've been through enough. I worked for me and I even got the OTA module free. I just politely asked for them to get it done.

Leon

 

[TheForce]

langlin- That's who I was talking to. today. To be honest with you, I don't mind having the 622 that works. It will hold me over until the 922's become available and that is what I really want for the home theater room. I don't know what the upgrade will cost but if I have to upgrade, the 922 is what I really want. Thanks for your suggestion and if things don't improve next week. I'll consider a special call to them or CEO@ e-mail as well. I also have some insider friends at Echostar in Atlanta to call if I get desperate. Not sure what clout they would have at this point considering the separation.

 

[TheForce]

Update-

Yesterday I received VIP-622 #4 and ( knock on wood) this one seems to be doing fine. Got it installed yesterday and the CSR suggested we cancel the LNB change since her records indicated I already have the latest DPP LNB system. She had no idea why the other CSR was making an issue of the LNB. At any rate, we seem to be back in business and the replacement worked perfectly recording two HD channels while I was watching a third with no artifacts. Can't complain about that!

It's too bad the Spartanburg, SC refurb facility has such poor quality control they sent out so many 622's to me that were bad right out of the box. The shipping charges for 3 next day air plus the 3 I returned, would have been cheaper to just send me a 922 for free! Well, at least a 722K brand new.

 

[navychop]

DL- Just wanted to thank you in advance for field beta testing that ViP922 for me. Let me know when you've got most of the bugs worked out of it and I'll look into an upgrade. Maybe.

 

[TheForce]

Here we go again! Damn it!

I was watching VIP 622 #4 and it just quit. No lights nothing. Dead silent. Like a fuse blew.

So I call the tech support group who are responsible for getting another used 622 sent to me. The call went fine at first but the tech didn't seem to be listening. He'd ask a question I would answer it and a few minutes later he began to repeat the questions over again. After several go arounds like this, and hearing laughter in the background, I began to really get irritated. Especially when he said they were going to charge me $75 for shipping. So we got that straightened out and he acted like the shipping was coming out of his pocket. Who trains these techs these days. It keeps getting worse. Years ago when I would reach a tech support center I felt like I was talking to a real technician. My recent experiences seem like these guys were hamburger flippers yesterday and today, Dish Tech support. He did apologize for the other techs laughing in the background at least. When he did, the laughter suddenly stopped.


If Spartanburg SC would do their job properly maybe I would get a truly refurbished 622 rather than one that was just dusted off and sent back out guaranteed to fail in 1 hour to 2 months.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Maybe they are laughing at the amount of 622s you have had gone bad. I still have the original 622 that I bought when they first came out for my parents.