Just a simple poll for DTVPal DVR owners.
To get some idea of the number of returned DVR's.

I haven't had any of the problems many others have. No way I would let go of mine. Don't know how I ever managed without it!!

One from the second wave of shipments, still at the original F201 firmware, 1 odd hiccup that required manually cycling power, counters reporting less than 10 total power cycles and "No reset history" in 2+ months of operation. Whether I was just lucky (for a change) or regional non-hardware related problems are nonexistent here, I'll be keeping mine. :)

I had approximately 48 power cycles in the first couple weeks. Since then I connected the ethernet to the internet and disabled updates. Zero power cycles ever since. Will be purchasing a second unit soon.

Just a simple poll for DTVPal DVR owners.
To get some idea of the number of returned DVR's.

It works 100% of the time, why would I return it?

Returned, and now waiting almost one month for a replacement. I almost wish I had kept my defective unit.

I'm keeping mine, but don't infer I'm a happy owner. :mad:

I continue to have the unrealistic hope that F203 will arrive someday to fix all my problems and that either:

- TVGOS gets its act together in my area OR
- the stations in my area get their PSIP up to TVGOS's quality.

I figure I have a better chance of winning a lottery jackpot over any of these events happening.

i'm keeping mine, but don't infer i'm a happy owner. :mad:

I continue to have the unrealistic hope that f203 will arrive someday to fix all my problems and that either:

- tvgos gets its act together in my area or
- the stations in my area get their psip up to tvgos's quality.

I figure i have a better chance of winning a lottery jackpot over any of these events happening.

+1

I finally got HD locals on Dish, so I don't have to rely on it as much as I used to.

After dealing with their "customer service" for two months, I returned mine. They actually called me last Tuesday (3/24) and told me the replacement units were back ordered and expected the shipment of my unit to be early this week. They also told me they would call me when my new unit was sent. Time will tell...

There really should be at least one other poll option:
"I am not exactly satisfied with my unit because of numerous rebooting incidents, but I will not be sending it back because I have no faith in Dish sending me a replacement unit in a timely fashion".

....I would check that one.

+1

I finally got HD locals on Dish, so I don't have to rely on it as much as I used to.

After dealing with their "customer service" for two months, I returned mine. They actually called me last Tuesday (3/24) and told me the replacement units were back ordered and expected the shipment of my unit to be early this week. They also told me they would call me when my new unit was sent. Time will tell...

There really should be at least one other poll option:
"I am not exactly satisfied with my unit because of numerous rebooting incidents, but I will not be sending it back because I have no faith in Dish sending me a replacement unit in a timely fashion".

....I would check that one.

My intent was not to determine satisfaction with the DVR but rather to get some idea of just how many returned units Dish has seen and since they did no outside marketing and, I believe, most of those that purchased the product at least visits this forum...it seemed a reasonable place for the poll.

So far it looks like most are sitting tight and waiting.
But a 12.96% return rate (again, so far) really isn't that high.

I only get PSIP data and outside the recording problems that brings on, I'm happy. Over the 3 months or so I have had it I've had probably 10 or so reboots and 2-3 lockups.

I only get PSIP data and outside the recording problems that brings on, I'm happy. Over the 3 months or so I have had it I've had probably 10 or so reboots and 2-3 lockups.:( I sure wouldn't be. Especially if they happened while I was watching or recording something where it was important if I missed that gap. Or to have the SO b****ing their head off at me everytime it happened. That would be unacceptable to me. Especially for that amount of money.

:( I sure wouldn't be. Especially if they happened while I was watching or recording something where it was important if I missed that gap. Or to have the SO b****ing their head off at me everytime it happened. That would be unacceptable to me. Especially for that amount of money.

That is exactly why I returned mine to Solid Signal for a refund. Hopefully Dish can get it right. I have a Pansonic HD tuner D-VHS that can record HD.

My 'Pal' had a severe rebooting problem from day 1 (85 power cycles in the first week). I held on to it and tried all the usual and some unusual remedies. None helped. Ten days after contacting their tech chat the unit stabilized: it died. After trying to ressurect it, I fgave up and sent the POS back before the warranty expired. While getting the RMA number, I asked the rep what the estimated delivery time was, since they are out of stock. He "checked" for a minure or two, then told me it would be 5 to 10 working days before I'd receive a new unit. This past Tuesday, I got a call from Dish Service telling me that the units are on backorder and there's no estimated date for delivery.
This makes me suspect that there's a hardware design involved in the new units, too. If there weren't (and if Dish weren't just lying for practice) they'd have gotten an estimated delivery date from the manufacturer when they placed the order. I've always thought this was a problem with their power supply and the software was monitoring the power and rebooting when it detects a problem.

I got a call from them yesterday with no idea of when they would be in stock. The guy made it sound like any day, but I seriously doubt that. He also said that it was his "weekly call".

It has now been well over a month since the unit was pulled off the market -- a longer time period than that between the initial pre-orders in Nov and first shipments in Dec. So it is really hard to believe that the unit is simply "out of stock" and awaiting the next production run. If I had a unit that was malfunctioning and could convince myself that I could live with it, I would not be sending it back either, for fear that I would be stuck with nothing for an extended period of time while they held my money. I have little confidence that this product will return to the market.

It has now been well over a month since the unit was pulled off the market -- a longer time period than that between the initial pre-orders in Nov and first shipments in Dec. So it is really hard to believe that the unit is simply "out of stock" and awaiting the next production run. If I had a unit that was malfunctioning and could convince myself that I could live with it, I would not be sending it back either, for fear that I would be stuck with nothing for an extended period of time while they held my money. I have little confidence that this product will return to the market.

I really do hope you are wrong.
It seems a shame to me that Dish, evidently, does not see the potential for this in today's marketplace, both as a standalone DVR and as a devise for IPTV and VOD delivery.
It also seems a shame to me that Dish does not take a more "open" attitude in their method of dealing with the consumer and be up front on the status of the product and/or any updates. We all have our own horror stories in dealing with them as far as CS is concerned and it seems as if the same idiotic behavior extends to the retail sales department as well.
Regardless, I do want to thank all of you that have participated in my little poll. I have already formed my opinions as to what the results indicate and I must say, it doesn't look all that good. If Dish is only seeing a 12% or so return rate they probably do not see a cost effective way to continue support for the Pal. Especially since they did very little if anything by way of mass marketing the product so I doubt the current level of sales would supply the necessary capital.

Thanks again to all that took the time to add to the poll.

I really do hope you are wrong.
It seems a shame to me that Dish, evidently, does not see the potential for this in today's marketplace, both as a standalone DVR and as a devise for IPTV and VOD delivery.
It also seems a shame to me that Dish does not take a more "open" attitude in their method of dealing with the consumer and be up front on the status of the product and/or any updates. Well according to bfdtv's DTVPal DVR FAQ the shipments are supposed to resume come May. I'm not taking any bets nor holding my breath.

If that turns out to be true, I sure hope the people who returned their units and are still waiting for a replacement won't have any trouble getting their money back.

:( I sure wouldn't be. Especially if they happened while I was watching or recording something where it was important if I missed that gap. Or to have the SO b****ing their head off at me everytime it happened. That would be unacceptable to me. Especially for that amount of money.

I only said I'm happy because I'm probably averaging a reboot once every two weeks or so, and only once has it happened during a recording. This is much better than many of the stories I have heard on the forum. I agree, that even a single reboot is unacceptable, but I guess you could say I'm just happy I don't have one of the really bad units.

If there really will be a F203 update that fixes the reboot problem and allowing us to make a recording where you have no guide data then the under $300 price tag will be a excellent value in my opinion.

I started dealing with customer service a week after getting the unit; end of December. It took about 24 hours in call time to finally get a return authorization from an Executive Office CS supervisor. It was approval for getting a new one on March 9th. I've gotten a couple of calls saying there still backordered. Hopefully, they're actually awaiting a fix???? Nah!