Let's fix the glitches before adding new features.

[RJS]

Update 211 gave us Auto hop. This is a neat feature but some of the problems many of us were having still aren't fixed. Dish should concentrate on fixing these glitches before adding more features to the Hopper.

Caller ID still doesn't work on my Hopper. Also, the favorites guide still doesn't stay and reverts back to "My Channels". On the other hand maybe other problems with PTAT were taken care of with this update. I don't use this feature so I don't know. If so, maybe Dish is taking one thing at a time and PTAT should be at the top of the list. For one thing, they still need to allow the timer to be set to end up to an hour later so shows aren't cut off when the networks allow them to run over. I said an hour because of CSI Miami which for some reason or other always ran way over and it wasn't just because of football games.

EHD troubles are another important issue.

Anyway we're still waiting for some things to be fixed and I hope it's sooner rather than later. Actually, updates are coming rather quickly and I hope this trend continues. If the problems are fixed the Hopper/Joey could be a very good outfit. Maybe even worthy of the awards it was recieving before it was formally introduced.

 

[patmurphey]

Let's see.

Your caller ID is either a malfunctioning box or a problem with the phone.

PTAT works extremely well for most and is necessary for the new ad skip.

"My Recordings" switch is the way it is designed, not a "bug" and not a big deal. I do agree that it should be the other way around.

Editing the extension of PTAT recordings might be nice, but the problem with Miami CSI is easy to deal with (caused by CBS regularly pushing programming back with late afternoon sports, not triggering Dish's sports extension), Just set an edited timer and, "huge nuissance", unskip it each week to use a non PTAT tuner. The coming partial Hopper integration will allow you to deal with it, without bothering with unskip, on the non PTAT Hopper.

The biggest EHD problem is fixed - when you try to play a recording when first accessing the drive it asks you to stand by while it initailizes the drive, then plays normally insted of returning an error message. (It previously would play the recording on the second try.)

I contend that it is aleady "worthy".

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Can I let you in on a secret... I was told (don't know if its 100% true as I don't have it confirmed) but AutoHop has been in the software for awhile now and that they just enabled the data stream needed to make AutoHop work on Thursday.

 

[RJS]

I was told by a Dish tech checking out my system (a rather complete check of my phone system ) that my phone is not at fault. It always worked fine with my 722 by the way. He did mention that it could be the Hopper itself.

A DIRT member recently said it was to be addressed in a future upgrade. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

You're right patmurphey, the guide thing is not a big deal but it should stay where you set it.

 

[GaryPen]

"My Recordings" switch is the way it is designed, not a "bug" and not a big deal. I do agree that it should be the other way around.

I don't think anybody complains about the DVR menu defaulting to My Recordings. The big complaint is the Guide defaulting to My Channels. And, for many, it is a big deal. Deal-breaker? No. But, a big, annoying deal, yes.

It's hard to imagine why Dish would design it that way, as it is so annoying to so many users. Ironically, the Joey does not do this. It stays on the last-used guide.

 

[RJS]

The defaulting to "My Channels" is what I was refering to. This is a big deal to a lot of folks.

Also, I called Dish and the CSR told me that the updates are done on a priority basis. Caller ID is on the list but isn't a high priority "fix" but will be addressed in a future update. I'm guessing the "My Channels" problem falls in that catagory as well. She said her supervisor told her that there are still quite a few little "glitches" that need to be taken care of and that the Hopper will be by far Dish's best DVR when these issues are fixed.

 

[patmurphey]

The last 3 days my Hopper has not gone back to "My Channels" with the guide update. 211?

 

[RJS]

I'll keep an eye on it, patmurphey. I hope your right.

 

[JPhil]

While the minor problems are, um... minor, and I would like to see them fixed, I really like the additional features being introduced so quickly.

That said, my major (minor) peeve is the lack of consistent thumbnails on the EHD. Either fix the images or give me a list view (or both).

 

[Red_dog]

On the caller I'd issue, when the tech trie to setup call Id, it would error, he said I had a bad phone line, and other were having problem, plus an update would be out.
I solve the problem by place a phone spliter on the hopper. I found this by accident, I was going a run my test on the line, and then the hopper said all is good.
My problem with caller id is that a portion of the name or number is cut off. I he they fix this soon.

 

[cac303]

It isn't an either/or proposition. There is a limit to how many programmers you can efficiently assign to code various task. It takes a woman 9 months to have a baby, if you assign two women to the task you don't get a baby in 4 1/2 months. They certainly should put priority on stability, but they should also hire enough programmers to work on new features in parallel.

 

[mike123abc]

Dish's history indicates that the box will have most of the bugs fixed and working as designed about a year after the next box comes out. The 922 should be nice and stable in about 6 more months...

Essentially once they have moved on to new hardware and stop adding features it will finally stabilize.

 

[navychop]

Heck, I'd say they ALREADY have most of the bugs out of the H/J.

 

[Mr!Phil]

I would like to know what genius designed PTAT so that only HD Locals qualify. We can put a man on the moon, we've mapped the genome, but we can't have PTAT since my locals are not HD? Seriously?

 

[navychop]

Simplicity in marketing. More, later, maybe.

 

[thxtech]

I think the ptat only for HD locals has more to do with the way HD locals are transmitted vs SD. The SD locals are encoded QPSK and the HD are 8PSK which is far more efficient. So recording an entire transponder in 8PSK is far less work in terms of bandwidth and processing than doing the same for SD. Also, I suspect there are limitations to how many simultaneous streams can be demuxed (decoded) at once from ptat. So it has to do with available bandwidth, compression and code complexity.

 

[dare2be]

I think the ptat only for HD locals has more to do with the way HD locals are transmitted vs SD. The SD locals are encoded QPSK and the HD are 8PSK which is far more efficient. So recording an entire transponder in 8PSK is far less work in terms of bandwidth and processing than doing the same for SD. Also, I suspect there are limitations to how many simultaneous streams can be demuxed (decoded) at once from ptat. So it has to do with available bandwidth, compression and code complexity.

That was my thinking as well. Also, code may have been written for demuxing MPEG4 streams and not MPEG2 streams, of which many of the SD locals on the WA are in MPEG2. Also, many SD locals aren't even on the same transponder as the HD ones, while a single transponder is another requirement for PTAT.