The Dish Network User's Resource
The Dish Network User's Resource
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The DISHPlayer is software upgradeable, this is both a blessing and a curse. Several of the past upgrades lead to storms of complaints, but the current upgrades seem to be meeting with user approval. You can check to see if you are running the current SW by pressing Home->Settings-->Diagnostics-->Receiver Info.
Latest revision levels are Receiver SW 114 and WebTV Client build 5709. If your receiver behaves strangely just after taking these upgrades, perform all three resets:
After entering the Option 32768 reset, your DP should be much more stable, several users have noted a failure of old timers, so reset your timers. I've seen a couple of one minute recordings, but these may be related to a long-missed receiver SW bug. Option 32768 will not delete your PTV recordings, but several DP settings will be restored to the defaults.
DISHPlayers have become quite a bit less buggy with receiver software version v114. If your DISHPlayer hasn't received this upgrade, turn it off from the remote, and let it sit overnight. Examination of the receiver info screen under Settings->Diagnostics will show you if your DISHPlayer took the upgrade. Reported fixed are most if not all of the switch error bugs, and it seems that a number of lesser bugs have been made less frequent. Many DISHPlayer owners are still reporting a popping on the left channel. Echostar recently upgraded the product status to “stable”, although we're not quite sure what that means, it seems evident that Echostar has removed it from the critical list.
WebTV Client build 5709 fixes several bugs, but getting it installed on the DISHPlayer has proved tricky for a number of users. If your DP behaves strangely after taking this upgrade, you should perform a reset. Option 32768 will reset the WebTV side of the DISHPlayer, but a smart card or power down reset may also be required. Recent reports indicate that a long-overlooked bug in the Echostar receiver code may be responsible for the DISHPlayer's long term instability. Look for a new receiver version soon.
Although the current releases of DISHPlayer software have quieted many user complaints, there are still a few bugs which can distract from your viewing pleasure. The most serious of them is the one minute recording bug, in which one or several scheduled recordings are shown as one minute, and are not playable.
The first thing to try is to turn off the DISHPlayer and wait until the green light stops blinking, then turn it back on. You may find that your 1 minute recordings are listed on the DP PTV screen with odd dates and times, but are now playable. You may also find that the 1 minute recordings are now gone, if they are gone, nothing could have saved them anyway, they were not actually recorded.
Before you set up a timer event, check that your DP can manually record something. Tune to the channel you wish to set an event timer for, and push the record button on your remote (PTV remote only). If the screen goes black and stays that way, your DP may need a reset. Any recordings attempted when the DP is in this condition will be one minute recordings.
If you've experienced a one minute recording problem, or are unable to record manually, you should try a switch check before doing a full reset. Some users are reporting that this clears up the problem and does not require the tedious resetting of locks, channel map, and VCR setup.
Although I have not confirmed this with lengthy trials, it seems that the DISHPlayer is far less likely to exhibit the one minute recording bug if it is always showing a live channel. Leaving the DISHPlayer on any screen which does not have a TV picture seems to be a “trigger event” that can cause one minute recordings. To avoid problems, I've been leaving my DP set to the full screen channel where my first daily timer will record, but which channel you're on doesn't really seem to matter.
All indications are that a bug on the receiver side of the DISHPlayer is responsible for one minute recordings.
Spontaneous reboots are not new to build 5709, but they seem to be a little more frequent, but so far, no one has reported that their DP dumped all PTV recordings. They seem to occur most often when skipping ahead or back in a PTV program. I have experienced a few of these in the first few days after receiving the 5709 upgrade, but none since 11/20/01 or thereabouts.
If you're still having problems with spontaneous reboots, you might want to try a full reset.
If you haven't gotten the 5709 Upgrade, you are probably also having problems with the 7 day guide, since they both come in during the overnight download between 2 and 3 AM.
Check to see if you have a full seven days of guide by going to Home->TV Listings->By Day and Time and see if you see a calendar with 7 days highlighted. If you have a full seven day guide and no 5709 upgrade, play a game of Solitaire (Home->Games->Solitaire). It has been reported that this will unstick an upgrade that was downloaded and never installed.
If you don't have a seven day guide, you have missed one or more overnight downloads. This may be due to a scheduled event timer that overruled the nightly download, or it may be that your DISHPlayer has become confused about when to take the next download.
The last line on the bottom of the screen will tell you when the next scheduled download is. It should be overnight tonight. If not, perform a reset. After performing a reset, it may take a few hours before the correct time and date are indicated.
Recent reports indicate that the annoying “getting information” bug has been tracked down, and eliminated in WebTV client SW (Version 5468). (It came back in a later build).
Frequent black screens while watching live TV has been fixed in WebTV Client SW (Version 5473). The annoying pop up banners seem to be gone as well.
WebTV internet service is completely optional. It is not required for viewing Dish Network programming or for PTV which is also optional. However, if you get WebTV and PTV, you get $5 off your WebTV bill.
If you're a WebTV User wondering when the DISHPlayer will get the new WebTV 2.5 Upgrade, don't hold your breath. Echostar probably won't release it until WebTV fixes some of the problems. For more info see: http://www.net4tv.com/voice/story.cfm?storyid=2459
For info on why the DISHPlayer can't seem to connect to WebTV at 56K, see: http://net4tv.com/voice/Story.cfm?storyID=1957