New 301 Software

[AppliedAggression]

Other new features in the 301 update is the timers screen. It is now like the 501 series. It'll actually show the name of the show and you can hit info on it. Of course not many ppl use timers on a 301 but this is still a welcomed feature as it was especially annoying not knowing which show would record at a given time on my DVR.

All 301s are now updated. Weeeeee

 

[ROLLTIDE]

All 301s are now updated. Weeeeee


Not all One of mine is still at 2.13

 

[AppliedAggression]

All 301s are now updated. Weeeeee


Not all One of mine is still at 2.13

The software has been sent out to all receivers. If yours has not received it yet, then you need to keep it off for a few hours.

 

[ROLLTIDE]

Mine was off all night last night and still didn't get it

 

[jdmart]

My 2.14 update finally downloaded to my 301-010 overnight. My 301's EPG is now as quick as my 508's.

 

[AppliedAggression]

The search and guide are sooo much faster on the 301 compared to the 508. Anyone know why this is?

 

[Neutron]

My 510 guide surfing is very slow compared to my 301.

 

[Guest]

Hi, the reason why the 301 guide is faster is because the guide is stored in RAM memory which has very fast access and transfer rates, and the guide on the 501, 508, and 510 is stored on the hard drive which has alot slower access and transfer rates. They probably do not have enough room in RAM memory on the 500 series receivers to put a nine day guide and still be able to run the main program with all the toys they have added such as search features and slow motion. Have fun with your improved 301 receivers.

 

[Neutron]

They could put 2 days of the guide in RAM and just keep updating from the hard drive couldn't they?

 

[Guest]

Neutron, thats a good suggestion.

 

[davhol]

They could put 2 days of the guide in RAM and just keep updating from the hard drive couldn't they?

This assumes there is enough free RAM to do this. Does anyone have insight on the 50x/510's RAM usage? I'm not sure that anybody outside of Echostar can answer this as E* keeps this kind of info "under wraps" to keep the competition from knowing insider details. I agree, this is a "good suggestion" but it may not be practical. I have to think that E* would have already done this on the 50x, if they could have implemented it, before implementing it in the 3xx series....

 

[Neutron]

But since the 50x/510 came out after the 301, I would think that they could have increased the RAM capacity since, like computers, memory prices have fallen. I wouldn't think it would take that much more RAM to do this.

 

[Guest]

But, 501 also has to control other stuff, such as IDE controller and hardrive itself, so, it prolly has a meg of IDE drivers & control codes

 

[Guest]

What did it take so long to fix the 301's?

 

[Guest]

Why did it take so long to fix the 301's?

 

[xgrep]

Why did it take so long to fix the 301's?

They probably have data on which customers buy which programming, and maybe people with more expensive receivers buy more programming and are more likely to get superdishes, HD, and other expensive stuff that the new software enables. I've got a 2800 and a 301, and I buy almost nothing (actually, just the $5 keep-alive fee, at the moment). They don't get much cheaper than me.

Now that I've finally got 2.14, I must say that improved program guide sure is nice! Eventually, I might even subscribe to something again .

x

 

[Guest]

How does it compare to the standard directv receivers?

 

[Stargazer]

Why dont they just have the first two days or so of EPG on the chip then days 3-9 on the hard drive. Actually if you save two days worth of data from having to be put on the hard drive on the chip you can add it back on as days 10 and 11 I would thin k and maybe even more than that as they compress the guide, maybe they could get two weeks on the DVR's.

 

[Guest]

the question is, do they even have guide for that long on the satellite itself? the longer the guide, the more bandwidth it takes. Not only it is a space issue on the receivers, its also a space issue on the satellites. Avg transponder lease is 1M/yr.

 

[James Long]

Avg transponder lease is 1M/yr.

Irrelevant when you own the satellite. They are not leasing transponders (except on 61.5º which is a long story and on 105º which isn't the issue here).

The "44 Hour Guide" that most receivers use is on every bird. The longer "9 Day Guide" is on 110º TP29 only for those receivers that need it. The question was why not use the "9 Day Guide" space for days 3-11 instead of duplicating the information in the "44 Hour Guide".

Looking at the old design of "44 Hour Guide" receivers such as the 301, they would grab the currently displayed 4hrs from the stream into RAM. If the user went ahead outside what was stored in RAM, it would grab another chunk of the stream and dump older hours. Exit the guide and re-enter and you would find yourself waiting for the current hours to re-download. The redesign that keeps the whole 44 hour guide in RAM means that memory cannot be used for something else - and if it IS needed for something else, the guide buffer is dumped and needs to be downloaded for the next use.

It appears that the 500 series relies on the HD to store all program information, using RAM to display the currently displayed chunk and the HD for the rest of the 9 days. Since the HD is faster than grabbing the chunk from the stream it is a trade off whether to keep any more of the guide in RAM than needed to display the guide. They can use that RAM for something else.

I have noticed that 9500 Dish Instant Weather doesn't work as well on my current 301 software version (P200). It seems to be hanging the receiver. Perhaps they dedicated a little TOO much memory to the cached 44 Hour Guide. (And perhaps that is why the rollout of Bloomberg's Interactive Channel is delayed on 301's.)

JL