TV 2 Output?

[bmelnick]

Hi all,

Sorry if this question has already been posed, but how do you connect TV 2 ... is it a coax out?

Thanks,
B.

 

[TuxCoder]

As seen on pages 19 and 20 of the user manual (http://www.dishnetwork.com/downloads/pdf/technology/522/Chapter2.pdf pages 3 and 4), there is coax RF out (UHF modulated, ch. 21-69) and RCA composite/sterero coax out.

 

[Charlie2]

Waiting for third 522. First failure is interesting, second one is boring.

1) TV2 would not output. Called tech support. He had me verify this by taking the RCA cable feeding TV1 and using it on TV2.

DISH sent a replacement.
--RCA cable out of TV2 to the TV set worked.
--RCA cable to a VCR then another RCA cable from VCR to the TV set did not work, but
--coax cable to the VCR then RCA cable from VCR to the TV set worked!

Crazy. Copy protection issue at level of RCA cable quality? Anyway, decided I would live with that. But no...

2) The second 522 was a bit noisy. I assumed it was a cooling fan, did not bother to look around. After three days of okay operation, I turn on the TV, get the drifting DISH logo, but nothing happens when I press Select. Ditto on TV2. I do a soft reset (hold down Power button 7 seconds). Error Code 0521: Serious problem with hard drive. I can watch live TV but no DVR functions.

Called tech support. They cannot do anything over the phone, they say. (Shouldn't we be able to try a drive reformat and download software again?)

Tech support guy admitted they send refurbished units out. We got to chatting. He mentioned he bought a 721 for his own home and all but said he wouldn't touch a 522. He dropped a hint or two, so later I went Googling and found this forum.

And I'm hoping the third 522 will just work, including Single mode.

Incidentally, when I agreed to return the first 522, I lost a few shows on the drive that I wished I could have kept. With all the replacements that seem to be sent, they should have a cable so you can move shows from the old 522 to the replacement as you swap.

Charlie

 

[TuxCoder]

Sorry to hear about your 522 misfortunes...
But welcome to SatelliteGuys.us!

Error Code 0521: Serious problem with hard drive.

They should have made 0522 be the 'Serious problem with hard drive' error number; they were so close. You know, irony.

Incidentally, when I agreed to return the first 522, I lost a few shows on the drive that I wished I could have kept. With all the replacements that seem to be sent, they should have a cable so you can move shows from the old 522 to the replacement as you swap.

I like that suggestion. Better yet, the modem in the 522 should just phone home when it f*cks up, and automagically place an order for its replacement. Still doesn't solve the offloading of precious DVR contents though...

 

[SimpleSimon]

...
--RCA cable out of TV2 to the TV set worked.
--RCA cable to a VCR then another RCA cable from VCR to the TV set did not work, but
--coax cable to the VCR then RCA cable from VCR to the TV set worked!

Crazy. Copy protection issue at level of RCA cable quality? Anyway, decided I would live with that. But no...

I suspect that the VCR was not passing the signal. Some VCRs have to be actively recording to do RCA in-to-out and or some/all other types of transfer, such as RCA to VHF out.

One thing for certain - it is NOT copy protection.

 

[holman]

Called tech support. They cannot do anything over the phone, they say. (Shouldn't we be able to try a drive reformat and download software again?)

If you reformat the drive then there is nothing on the hard drive to accept a software download. It can only update its existing software, not start from scratch.

Mike

 

[Charlie2]

(Shouldn't we be able to try a drive reformat and download software again?)

If you reformat the drive then there is nothing on the hard drive to accept a software download. It can only update its existing software, not start from scratch.

---

There must be a boot ROM too.

 

[TuxCoder]

There must be a boot ROM too.

Right, I agree the "firmware" (OS and accompanying software) have to be protected. It could be in a separate flash part (preferred), or could be on the same hard drive, just in a read-only partition. That way it can still function as a basic receiver when the error mentioned above occurs.