Owen is one now, I have a new job (same company), I’m not working on mydeliverylist.com anymore lately … stuff keeps happening. I may return to the website sometime, but due to work, I don’t have easy access to my server anymore and I’m tired of spending time without returns. That was a project that really needs more time than I could regularly expend on it.

My Muse is pointing in a different direction for now. I’m programming up a genetic programming tool and am considering having another go at my masters project… except better. Hint, it involves spiking neural networks and polychronization.

Anyway, I don’t have much time for much of anything lately, so don’t expect much of anything soon.

Subtitle: A way to get $6 off your Dish bill every month

Erin and I have been having a hell of a time with Dish Network lately.  A couple of months ago, our Dish receiver started flaking out.  All sorts of shows would fail to record, old shows would start recording when only new ones should, shows would get caught in an endless loop as though skipping like a record.  We got the receiver replaced and found that the skipping problem improved, turns out that the hard-drive was going bad.  Unfortunately, some of the shows were still failing to record.

Whenever a show failed to record, it showed up in the schedule history as failed due to signal loss.  However, we found that while some shows would fail to record to tv2, we would simultaneously be able to watch tv1.  This got our interest piqued.  The technician came back to check the signal strength and replace various components several times.  We even had the receiver replaced again.  Over the next month or so, we added a cable directly from the satellite to the receiver through the back door…then a cable directly from the receiver to tv2 in an attempt to bypass any possible wiring problems in the house or electronic components.

Now, over time Erin and I had come to the conclusion that there was a specific sequence of events that could force the receiver to not record a show.  And based on this sequence, we’d come to the conclusion that it was most likely a software problem.  These are the arguments that Dish Network folks gave for the problem:

1) There are signal problems, need to replace something in the system – They replaced the LMBs, diplexers, mixers, etc…and eventually bypassed everything with cables through the house.  Not the problem

Me – It seems like a software issue

2) This must be a problem with the receiver – There was a problem with the original receiver which was fixed by replacing it.  The problem with the failed recordings was exhibited on replacement receivers 2 and 3.  The probability of this same exact problem being hardware and being present in 3 receivers is probably astronomical.  Keep in mind that both Dish Network customer service and the local satellite folks claimed that this problem is really weird and they haven’t heard of anything like it that isn’t fixed with component or receiver replacement.  (Yes, grounding can be a problem, but we fixed that last year when we went through Dish problems)

Me – I think it’s software…maybe a combination software/hardware issue

3) The power line driving the receiver must be dirty, or somehow non-standard – House power isn’t always pure and correct.  The only way I had to measure the power was with my multimeter.  Voltage and frequency were dead on.  I don’t know if there were some other strange harmonics or other noise, but given that we have a lot of other electronic equipment hooked into the electric grid that hasn’t fried, I don’t believe our power is that bad.  Additionally, we had our original receiver for about a year before it flaked out.  The 2 replacement receivers started with the problem immediately.

Me – I don’t see how it could be anything but software

4) It could be some weird signal reflection deal from the TV through the HDMI cable – We use component video.  Not the problem.

Ok, we’ve gone through a lot of troubleshooting here and have no way forward with Dish.  When we talk to customer service (level 1, lvl 1 supervisor, advanced tech support, account specialist, etc), they say that the only things they can do are to replace the receiver or request a tech visit.  I’ve been dealing with the local satellite company (Valley Satellite in Decatur AL) directly, they have been very competent and have worked well with us.  Greg, the owner, knows the VP of tech support at EchoStar (Dan) and says he’ll give him a call.  EchoStar develops receivers for Dish.  Dan gives me a call and tells me they are about to make a software update that probably fixes the problem and to hold tight…it should start rolling out that week.  That was a month ago.  The software version number (L627RJ2B-N) hasn’t changed since we first noticed this problem.  (note that I think L627 is the important part of the software version number).  So either Dan was blowing smoke up my ass, or he didn’t know what he was talking about.  Greg tells me that Valley Satellite will be supporting DirecTV soon…hmm…

The one thing that Dish has maintained is that no-one else is experiencing the problem that we have.  Here is the clincher, my in-laws have a Dish 722 receiver setup similar to ours.  We visited over the 4th of July, tested the system, and were able to recreate the same exact issue.  I am convinced that this problem is a software issue.  The problem started very abruptly a couple months ago and has been very repeatable on multiple systems.

So, if you want to get a discount on your Dish Network bill, or if you want to see if you have the same problem, try out the sequence below and see what happens.  If you get it to happen, you should be able to argue your way out of $6 or more from your monthly bill each month until it is fixed.  That is the monthly cost of the DVR service.  If you decide to call Dish Network, please reference a trouble ticket entered on July 4th by Jessica (Operator ID: LWZ) from Advanced Tech Support.  Supposedly if enough people call about the same problem, they might look into fixing it.

If you’ve made it this far, please post a comment if you are having the same problem.

Sequence for failed recording

1) We usually see the problem first thing in the morning.  The receiver usually does a software update check at 3 AM and resets, so you may want to do this before any recordings start…or reset the receiver before you begin if it doesn’t work otherwise.

2) Record 10+ minutes of a show.  We usually just use a half-hour show previously recorded.

3) Set up two 30 minute recordings back-to-back to TV 2.  The recordings don’t have to be on the same channel, just set to record on TV 2.  (e.g. 7:00 Curious George, 7:30 Sid the Science Kid)

4) Prior to the start of the first show, start watching the recorded show on TV 2 so that you are watching it through the start of the first recording. (e.g. start watching a 30 minute show at 6:50)

5) After the first recording has started, turn TV2 off. (including the dish transmission to TV 2.  Don’t just turn the TV off) (e.g. stop watching TV2 at 7:05)

6) Turn TV1 on to watch the previously recorded show prior to the ending of the first recording such that it will finish after recording 2 has begun. (i.e. start watching at 7:25)

If you follow the steps above, when TV 2 is supposed to be recording the second show, you can look in the DVR->Schedule menu, and you will see the recording is stopped for ‘Service Shutoff’.  When the recording “finishes” and you look back at the schedule, it will show that the recording was skipped due to signal loss.

After this point, nothing will record or play on TV 2 unless you go to the TV 2 DVR menu and start an old recording.  Once you start, then stop a recording, live TV will return and programs will record.  If you turn TV 2 back on and just leave it, nothing will be on the screen.  Eventually TV 1 claims to lose signal and it goes through the process of recapturing satellite signal and downloading guide data.  If you do fix TV 2 via the old recording, it will work fine for the rest of the day.

Please help me out here.  I just want to get the problem fixed.  My wife and I have been on the phone numerous times, hung up on, ignored, blown off, etc by Dish Network.  Their customer service representatives have scripts that do not cover any problem out of the ordinary.  I’m a freaking aerospace engineer who knows how to do troubleshooting and problem reporting.  If Dish would give me the system definition documents, schematics and software, I’d find the problem and fix it for them.  Unfortunately things do not work that way.  I’ve sent some of the tech support folks emails with the details, my wife and I have described the problem to a lot of tech support people many times.  Can anyone help?

We’re in Alabama! And it snowed! This being Owen’s first Christmas, we had to get him bundled up and outside for some pictures.

Owen chillin in the stroller

He had a lot of layers on…2 onesies, a sleeper, that massive warm outfit and 2 hats.

Last weekend after Thanksgiving, Doug and I dug a trench in between the house and the shop to lay some drain pipe.  The gutters have been just pooling water that was coming in under the house.  We solved the problem by laying drain pipe on top of the grass, but decided it’d be a better solution to bury the pipe.  Due to 3 crossing sprinkler lines and a crossing electrical conduit, we ended up having to lay the pipe down about 18 inches below the surface the entire way to the drain pit.  That was a huge effort with this Alabama clay.

Completed drain trench and pit.  It kind of looks like a mercury thermometer.

Laying the drain pipe

Owen was a big help outside

Filling in with some drain rock

We’re all done laying the trench!

While we were going to Lowes to pick up some rock, we made a couple of stops along the way.  One stop was to pick up some gasoline for the riding mower.  This is one stop that should have been made at the end of the trip, because when we got back in the car after Lowes, the fumes were a bit thick.  We had to drive home with the windows down.  We just about gassed Doug unconscious.

Erin’s surgery went well.  It’s been 2 weeks now, and she’ll be quite restricted for a while.  The doc told us he put in 2 (or 4…not 100% sure) calcium screws, a lot of stitches to tighten up the shoulder and heat shrunk some tendons in the back of the shoulder.  Her shoulder was way too flexible and had to be ratcheted back a bit.  In any  case, she’s got some major restrictions for quite a while.  She’ll probably be in a sling for another 3 or 4 weeks.  But now she’s healing.

Thanksgiving actually went ok, Erin was able to do a lot of the normal stuff in the kitchen and I pulled up the rest of it.  Owen looked really interested in the food, but unfortunately his first real Thanksgiving with turkey is going to have to wait another year.

Let’s face it, I cannot have a more surprising blog entry than the last one. Oh well, it’s all down-hill from here for about two months…(Several people have asked us if we are going to find out the sex of the baby. If you know Erin, the one who still snoops through Christmas presents, duh…yes…she can barely wait now.) Anyway, I’ve added a bunch of pictures to the Alabama 2008 folder… pumpkin carving, distributing sand on the lawn, a mobile platform for my router table, plants we’ve planted out back and a few other things.

We got the pile of sand from Robert, the guy who built our house.  We wanted to get the sand so that we could level out some of the ankle-turning divots in our lawn.  We’ve got the front yard done and may be able to do the back yard if Robert gets us more sand.  However, the back yard is so huge, we’d mainly concentrate on the area around the patio.

Erin and I built the router table platform over the weekend.  It went much faster having a nail gun and table saw.  The next shop project is going to be to build a porch seat.  I’m not sure when I’ll get around to that.

You also may notice Doug on the floor with a level.  We’ve noticed that our nice wooden floor has been separating all over the place along the seams.  The biggest crack runs from the front of the house to the back…and we’ve measured and found that the center beam is actually a little bit raised relative to the rest of the floor.  We’re going to get that fixed in the summer after the floor (hopefully) closes due to humidity and temperature changes.

Erin and I are going to miss the roast tomorrow.  Erin’s left shoulder had been getting more and more painful over the past couple of weeks, so she went to see an ortho doc.  This guy says that her joints are “flexy” which means he thinks her tendons and ligaments are not doing their jobs properly.  Now she’s doing physical therapy for a month to see if she can make some improvement. 

I decided that it would be a bit too much for her shoulder to go on a 9 hour car ride.  Let me know if anything interesting happens.

We had a wonderful day last week when we were able to open the windows.  It really reminded us of Washington weather…overcast, no sign of sun anywhere in the sky…  Erin and I are both a bit homesick for the northwest weather.

I mowed the lawn yesterday after an 11 day hiatus…the lawn was very tall. After using the side discharge, Erin and I ended up raking some areas. It felt like we were baling hay. Before mowing, the grass in some areas was higher than our ankles…by far.

Erin also found out that our gas line was leaking.  She was over near the gas meter and smelled some gas.  I got home and checked the pipes for leaks with some soapy water.  We got a utility guy out, but he was unable to get it fixed right away, it requires a replacement pipe…should be fixed in the morning.  If we blow up, you know what happened (the gas is off).

Frog…on the window above our back door…I don’t know how it got there or why it was there.

Erin and I encountered a lot of suicidal butterflies on our trip home.  I think that’d be an awesome song name… ‘Suicidal Butterflies’

Not that we’re getting the brunt of the depression, but it does feel like we are back in the great northwest.  The rain is a bit heavier and it’s been fairly constant since about 11:00 AM…it doesn’t appear to be stopping any time soon.

I made a new discovery in our back yard today, it turns out we have ants…that like to bite me. We think they might be fire ants because the definitely sting and get blistery. Fun stuff, I tell you what. Now I am sitting here with Erin with a baking soda/water paste on my foot. It helps, but I wish I didn’t have to know that. At least they only got one of my feet. I know what I’m going to be getting soon.

We also found a fox that was sniffing around on our back porch.  We got a couple of pictures that we’ll post soon.

All in all, it’s been an interesting day.