Well I've now joined the club on the Vip211 "Black Screen" issue. Called Dish after I found out about the additional HD channels I wasn't getting. Worked a deal out and last Monday (8/28/06) a semi-clueless installer (Joesph, who put the OTA antenna cable into the TV output jack) put in the 211.
1 day later the receiver started either freezing on an image or going black screen, in either case still w/audio. Did a full power cycle (pulled the plug) and it came back.
Over the next week it's happened once or twice a day. Each time the only solution is the power cycle (now holding the power button for 10 sec). I had a great Level2 support person and emailed her only to find out that she's now in "Retail Sales Analysis" but she had me email her the receiver data and was going to send it on to the engineers.
Hadn't heard anything so I called after it locked tonight. The CSR told me that there was "no known issue" with this receiver. I told him that I saw quite a bit of chat on this site about the "issue". He sent me to his supervisor who told me that "all the HD receivers have issues and that power cycling each time it happens is the only solution until the engineers get a fix" ETA UNKNOWN.
I went back to "Customer Retention" who told me at first it was an "Authorization and Smart Card Firmware" issue. After I mentioned this forum and what I had seen here he agreed to RA the receiver and send me another with the proviso that " I may have the same issue with the replacement receiver". I will chance it.
I'm sorry that I sent my 811 back. It occasionally had a problem but basically it worked and the extra HD channels are not worth the trouble.
Will let you know what happens.
1 day later the receiver started either freezing on an image or going black screen, in either case still w/audio. Did a full power cycle (pulled the plug) and it came back.
Over the next week it's happened once or twice a day. Each time the only solution is the power cycle (now holding the power button for 10 sec). I had a great Level2 support person and emailed her only to find out that she's now in "Retail Sales Analysis" but she had me email her the receiver data and was going to send it on to the engineers.
Hadn't heard anything so I called after it locked tonight. The CSR told me that there was "no known issue" with this receiver. I told him that I saw quite a bit of chat on this site about the "issue". He sent me to his supervisor who told me that "all the HD receivers have issues and that power cycling each time it happens is the only solution until the engineers get a fix" ETA UNKNOWN.
I went back to "Customer Retention" who told me at first it was an "Authorization and Smart Card Firmware" issue. After I mentioned this forum and what I had seen here he agreed to RA the receiver and send me another with the proviso that " I may have the same issue with the replacement receiver". I will chance it.
I'm sorry that I sent my 811 back. It occasionally had a problem but basically it worked and the extra HD channels are not worth the trouble.
Will let you know what happens.
