From Dish: Future 811 software updates

[Scott Greczkowski]

The following was posted this morning at DBSTalk

From Dish:

P285 - The primary update is to add QAM capability for the ATSC tuner. This would support installations in Multi Dwelling Units (MDU) applications such as apartments and hotels where they use DISH Network service converted to QAM. Obviously this does not apply to single family residential systems except that the software must support both modes of operation without adversely affecting the installed base. That is why this release is getting a lot of careful testing. The release is expected to go out by the middle of February. Most customers will see the an expanded capacity favorites list and a search feature for the EPG. There is also a part of Dolby compatibility improvements in this release which changes the way a validity bit is set in the SPDIF header.

P286 - Planned for mid March, this release will extend the program guide to approximately 3 days and support for an interactive feature called "triggers" will be added. Some improvements in MPEG decode performance and further work on open Dolby compatibility issues are also being attempted for this release.

The caution is that all software releases are subject to successful testing. Fixing problems encountered during test can affect the release date.

 

[peid]

More channels in favorites & 3 day guide? What else could somebody ask for?!?

This is great news but still a long ways out. It might be less channels in the favorites list and 1 day guide before it is all done!

 

[new_to_hdtv]

Most customers will see an expanded capacity favorites list and a search feature for the EPG.

Who will qualify as "Most" ?

 

[markdl]

Actually, we posted that information back on January 12th. And, Scott - if you're going to copy over the text of my posts, you could at least give credit for who posted it. That's what I do when I borrow the text of one of your posts.

 

[Jstanuthrdishguy]

Grow up

 

[Bobby]

Mark has a point, he is grown up. He's just asking for name recognition. He's the one that got the info.

 

[BFG]

Yeah this was posted a while ago. Personally, I'd keep the downloads turn off for this one guys, itsounds scary.

 

[peid]

I could be wrong here but you only gave credit to "The Dish 811 Team" not anybody specific as you are requesting from Scott. Furthermore, if you and Jason received it, why do you want sole credit over here?

He referenced your site (DBSTalk) "in general" just as you referenced (Dish 811 Team) "in general."

 

[GaryPen]

Actually, we posted that information back on January 12th. And, Scott - if you're going to copy over the text of my posts, you could at least give credit for who posted it. That's what I do when I borrow the text of one of your posts.

What part of "The following was posted this morning at DBSTalk" was confusing?

 

[WeeJavaDude]

I could be wrong here but you only gave credit to "The Dish 811 Team" not anybody specific as you are requesting from Scott. Furthermore, if you and Jason received it, why do you want sole credit over here?

He referenced your site (DBSTalk) "in general" just as you referenced (Dish 811 Team) "in general."

Actually I am suprised there is not a link back to the where this was orginally posted. If I was to cut an paste something of this nature, I would have giving the link back to the source. Same goes with the PSIP Announcement. I also would have credited the poster of the thread but at a minimum provide a link to the source.

As to the 811 team argument. I don't think Jason and Mark are looking for sole credit as to the content of the post. Credit goes to the 811 team for providing it. The point I believe Mark was making was to creding the poster for providing it.

 

[Carl B]

Check the DNA, we'll find the father!

Seriously though, P285 and P286 both sound scary w/o any focus on the still existent BSOD problem. Proposed new features are a ho-hum for me and probably don't affect or help a quarter of the 811 users. Since I'm always in the first download wave, I think I'll turn-off the auto download feature and wait to see what happens to the other "beta" testers.

 

[WeeJavaDude]

Check the DNA, we'll find the father!

Seriously though, P285 and P286 both sound scary w/o any focus on the still existent BSOD problem. Proposed new features are a ho-hum for me and probably don't affect or help a quarter of the 811 users. Since I'm always in the first download wave, I think I'll turn-off the auto download feature and wait to see what happens to the other "beta" testers.

What do you mean.. 285 has a fix in it for the BSOD related features and 286 is planned to address the third. If things are rather stable for you, turning off auto-download is not a bad idea.

 

[BFG]

Yes, but they are implementing new features, so odds are that something may break.

 

[mikew]

WeeJava...do you know if the improvements on the MPEG Decode will fix the occasional jerk in the picture? It is especially noticeable when reading scrolls on the bottom of the screen and during sporting events.

 

[WeeJavaDude]

WeeJava...do you know if the improvements on the MPEG Decode will fix the occasional jerk in the picture? It is especially noticeable when reading scrolls on the bottom of the screen and during sporting events.

No I don't, but given when the issue was reported and video provided by a devoted 811 user (Yourself perhaps?) I don't think they will have time to root cause it and get it in. But one can hope.

 

[dcarpa]

Yeah yeah enough of the who gets what credit crap - more importantly is the QAM thing I think. would this be compatible with the same QAM that cable guys use? I think there are 2 different QAM schemes - If it did work that way than it would be great for residential use (like myself). Then I could get the basic broadcost cable that uses QAM for their HD locals and keep dish for everything else and still be relatively cost efficient. Any chance the could allow the software for something like this - if it was than it could give dish a good competitive advantage so I believe the only QAM tuners are OTA only and not for DBS

 

[BFG]

No it's not the cable QAM technology.

 

[lsh1885]

How about a fix for the OTA signal getting stuck at 49 percent, which to me is a much larger issue. Are They aware of it. I know I have seen other postings on this problem.

 

[WeeJavaDude]

Yeah yeah enough of the who gets what credit crap - more importantly is the QAM thing I think. would this be compatible with the same QAM that cable guys use? I think there are 2 different QAM schemes - If it did work that way than it would be great for residential use (like myself). Then I could get the basic broadcost cable that uses QAM for their HD locals and keep dish for everything else and still be relatively cost efficient. Any chance the could allow the software for something like this - if it was than it could give dish a good competitive advantage so I believe the only QAM tuners are OTA only and not for DBS

My understanding is that residential (Open) QAM is planned for a future. Scott asked the same question. The response was that Open QAM is planned in an upcoming release. You should read this as Planned not Promised. If you are interested in more details to this response, I provided a link below.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=37504

 

[WeeJavaDude]

How about a fix for the OTA signal getting stuck at 49 percent, which to me is a much larger issue. Are They aware of it. I know I have seen other postings on this problem.

THis was a huge issue a while back and there has been lot of tweaks made to improve things. The 811 is more multi-path sensitive than other receivers. If you are still getting the 49% lock. My guess is you might have a multipathing issue or a bordering signal. I would also look at the PSIP issues posted. Is this something that has always been happening or did it just start?

I am not aware of any fixes coming down the both for OTA reception lock.