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Pace Summit (DC758D) thread

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#1 · (Edited)
This thread is for discussion of the Pace Summit (DC758D).

Firmware Release Notes

User's Guide


FAQ:

1. How do I get into diagnostics?

To get to those diagnostics, press the power button, then press the select button within two seconds. To leave, press the power button.

2. How can I format the eSATA HDD?

While on the main diagnostics page (not the dashboard page), press

Repeat
MyDVR*
MyDVR*
MyDVR*
LIVE

*MyDVR may be LIST on your remote depending on your cable provider

this will bring up a screen where you can select the drive to format and subsequently format the drive. After a few seconds, the box will reboot. After reboot, the drive will be available for use (the format is a two phase process so the initial format GUI may appear to be very quick).

Be aware that formatting the drive can't be undone and you will lose all the content on the drive. Do not use this screen unless absolutely necessary.

3. What are the discrete Power On/Off codes?

* HEX 4A (0x4A) for Power On
* HEX 4B (0x4B) for Power Off


4. Why is TV Guide indicating that my disk is not full when its definitely not full?

This is a bug in the guide. Most of the time, the only way to resolve it is to reboot your box. Sometimes (but very rarely) if you delete a recording, it may recover and get out of the error state.

5. How do I get into Pace User Settings?

Press the Power Button on the remote and then Menu. This will allow you to change a variety of settings. Press the Power button to return to live TV.

6. What is the PowerMenu?

It is the same as Pace User Settings (older name for the same function).
 
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#125 ·
Thanx Kritiker.

In my frustration, I deleted some of the problem recordings but I believe I left one that I can check. I also still have some of the programming on the 6416 so will report what I have.

The problem child is a Pace Summit with the external 1 TB drive. I too like the "viewing experience" but the lack of reliability is getting old quickly.

I have the Moto 6416 and a 3416 w/ the 1TB expander. Both seem to work well. I intended to replace the 6416 with the Pace as the 6416 does not seem to have enough horsepower (delays in command input, pixelization, etc) and is fairly old.

The latest from Shaw is that they want to send a tech out to take a look at the Pace.

And so it goes...
 
#127 ·
There may be a fix for some of these issues coming in an upcoming firmware release.

Received info, elsewhere, from Linden (unofficially of Pace), namely:
I've done some more digging around for you. We do have a Pace specific bug in this area (this explains why some are seeing it more on Pace boxes). I thought the bug was fixed in your Shaw firmware build, but it won't be available until the next maintenance release. The symptoms you describe appear to match what was fixed in the bug but I can't say with 100% certainty that the issues are the same.
It may be a while, though, before we actually see this fix. I, for one, will be watching the Pace Summit (DC758D) Release Note thread with bated breath.
 
#130 ·
There may be a fix for some of these issues coming in an upcoming firmware release.

Received info, elsewhere, from Linden (unofficially of Pace), namely:
It may be a while, though, before we actually see this fix. I, for one, will be watching the Pace Summit (DC758D) Release Note thread with bated breath.
Any idea of the frequency of their maintenance releases?

Shaw has scheduled a tech for Thursday. Based on what I have read and experienced. I believe that this is a S/W bug. If Shaw can get the Pace release soon and it works, I am probably wasting my time with the tech on Thursday. Just my $0.02
 
#128 ·
As a HD terminal STB it has worked fairly well for me. As a PVR, not so much.

My only gripe with the Pace is that when using the OSG in HD mode, it stetches the 4:3 guide/menu display to the full width of the screen. I have not found a way to adjust it. The Moto's display the OSG in 4:3 despite the display mode.
 
#129 ·
For me that's one of the Pace product line's pluses. After having become used to the way the Aspen/Summit displayed the OSG (16:9) I simply couldn't stand the Motorola's way (4:3) of doing it. Different strokes for different folks. Sorry, I don't know how to change it. I don't believe it can be changed, actually.
 
#131 ·
Regrettably, no, I have no idea when the next maintenance release might be rolled out and Linden has said in the past that he cannot comment on that. He is pretty good about updating the Release Notes threads when updates do occur so I have subscribed to both the Pace TDC776D (aka Aspen Embedded) Release Notes and the Pace Summit (DC758D) Release Notes threads with "instant" email notification. Perhaps someone else with "friends" inside Shaw might know?
 
#132 ·
No signal?

Quick question:

Shaw is suppose to turn on my cable programming tomorrow. I have the Pace box set up via HDMI going through my receiver.

Even though I don't have the programming turned on yet, should I be able to get the settings screen etc on the Pace?

I set my receiver to the proper input. It's telling me no signal. I have a splitter at the wall. One coax going to my computer and one coax going to the Pace. The Pace box shows green with a 0(zero) showing.

Thanks!
 
#134 ·
Avalon105, your box won't work, even "locally", until Shaw activates it and that cannot happen until you get the cable signal and the Shaw head end can "talk" to your box.

das75, firmware updates, when they come, are automatic. There is nothing that you need, or can, do about them.
 
#136 ·
is it normal that the hard drive keeps on spinning all the time

hi, as being asked by member previously , is it normal that the hard drive keeps on spinning all the time even in standby mode ? Also, can we set scheduled recordings base on fixed time every day i.e. not set up from program guide?

also want to share with every one that this box can work with esata encloser and docking station even with bare sata drive if using a esata to sata cable.

thanks
 
#141 ·
It helps if you follow instructions :)

Diag items 01 - 25 are displayed and I thought there was a second page ... Did not realize that it was hidden...

After getting into the 82 HDD Drive Statistics, I found two messages in the log:

"HDD Domain No longer Available"
"DVR Being Deactivated"

Both of these were on 12 Nov 2009 @ 14:31 which I presume is GMT and is about the time I reformated the drive. No further messages have been added since.

Last night I had another failed recording with the similar symptoms as described earlier.

This time it was NCIS. channel 206 again, tuesday @ 6pm for 60 minutes. TVG description is good, OSD shows 60 minutes with "To Be Announced" as the title. Cannot play the recording. Nothing in 24 Content or 82 HDD diags. Recorded fine on the 6416.

I am starting to wonder if there is a problem with channel 206 & the Pace? Kritiker, it will be interesting to see if you see the same behaviour. Thx.
 
#140 ·
brucej, I have set up a recording of CBS's "Sunday Morning" on channel 206, WCCOD at 08:00 - 09:30 this coming Sunday, on my Summit. I'll try to remember to set it up on the Aspen as well. We'll see if I can record it!

You are right, the Content Listing, at least on the Summit is 24, not 22.

And yes, as per lindend
firmware images also are different
for the new Pace PVRs versus the older ones.
 
#142 ·
It's funny that you mention NCIS last night. I noticed a screen pop up saying Drive 1 (PVR Expander) was not connected and then checked my list and it showed at 43 minutes past the hour that NCIS was split into 2 recordings and from that point on it was recording to the internal drive. It showed the total % used had jumped to 87% so I thought it was not reading the Expander. Stopped the recording and then unplugged the SATA to the Expander and plugged it back in and everything worked again and it now showed 2% full as it was again reading the recordings off the Expander. Not sure what happened as there were no power outages or anything it just randomly lost communication with the Expander.
 
#143 ·
I have noticed that the eSATA cable does not lock into place very well. Some of my early problems were due to connecting the Pace & Expander while the unit was slid out of my media stand. By the time I slid it back into place, the eSATA on the back of the Pace had worked itself loose. Reseated the cables and all was well...
 
#145 ·
Weird. My problem may be a local distribution issue or something with my Pace.

One other fact. I normally do not record two shows at the same time as I like to be able to watch live TV and wathc the recordings and zip through the commercials. But last night I had another recording in progress at the time of NCIS. It recorded properly.

Perhaps the Shaw tech coming out tomorrow will have some insight to share.
 
#146 ·
Hello all,
Purchase this unit 3 weeks ago, had minimal problems(a few recordings unplayable here and there) until yesterday.
The Unit seems to be frozen...i can see the program guide, but it says "this channel should be available shortly" and the message light on the front is blinking....called Shaw and they said that they aren't getting a signal, but i have a SD Motorola box in another room that gets everything just fine (minus HD channels).
Anyone else experience this and/or have a fix as I'd rather not wait for a technician to come by on Saturday.
 
#147 ·
So the Shaw tech came out today...

The replacement Pace box was defective. It could not seem to synch the channels. Tech only had one unit with him. Reprovisioned my original Pace and will be back tomorrow.

Weird stuff though. I can now see content listing info on the failed recordings. As others have noted, the MPEG and Trick file sizes read 0 {0} for both. The Content type was listed as "SD", and the Tuner Source was "Unknown". This is true for all the failed recording which show on the OSD as "to be announced". For those recordings that worked the fields were as you would expect. The tuner source was "2".

This is really beginning to sound like a bad interaction between the TVG and the tuner for these failed recordings. Almost like it is trying to tune to an unsed channel.
 
#150 ·
Second tech visit yesterday to replace the Pace ...

Tech said that Shaw has run out of replacement Pace boxes. Not a good sign. He provided a NEW Motorola 3416 instead. I suspected that I might get to this point eventually but this short circuited some of the process.

Will need a few days to confirm but so far so good. Everything seems to record properly.

Thanx everyone for your advise and suggestions. Will try the Pace again once it settles down a bit.
 
#148 ·
I finally got the bad recording to occur again, took quite awhile. Playing it showed the title as "to be announced". I checked the content listing but the program wasn't there so I wasn't able to check the mpeg or trick size. I looked in the HDD statistics and there was some corrupted text in a couple of the messages, no idea where that comes from.
 
#253 ·
Did you ever get this sorted out? I've had the same problem with a recording last week.
At first the recorded program was just titled "To Be Announced" and the finished recording length would vary between 2 and 8 minutes (when it should have been 30 min). When I turned off and unplugged the PVR and restarted, the PRV displayed the correct name of the show, correct length, but would not play.
It's only happened once so far (but I've only had the PVR for a week).
Please let me know if you managed to get your program back, and if so, how.
Thanks!
 
#149 ·
Same thing happened to me today, a recording at 7am was bad.

Checked the content listing in the diagnostics and the file is not listed there at all, playing it, it becomes to be announced and is unplayable.

I also checked the HDD status and now beside Fragmented/Max Files: I have a 1/17. Does that mean 1 of my files are fragmented?
 
#151 ·
Power Failure Behaviour

FWIW, for reference, here is a summary what happend to my Summit during a 5 second power failure at 05:21:29 (Central Time) on 18 November 2009. My Aspen is on a UPS but the Summit isn't.

Both tuners were recording (SportsCentre on TSNHD and TSN2D). Both programs appear in he list of recorded programs as 21 minute recordings. I do not know if the Summit recorded the balance of these programs when the power was restored because I inadvertently deleted a number of programs recorded after the power failure including any that might have been the continued SportsCentre recordings. I didn't spot the power failure until a day or two later. In all other respects the Summit behaved as if the power hadn't failed.

Attempting to play both programs first presents a screen showing 21 minutes and the error message "This recording was interrupted while in progress. Some of the program may have been lost.". Pressing the "Play" icon results in the program's starting from the beginning and being playable for the 2 minutes (not 21) that appear on the progress bar.

Going into 24 Content Listing provides
MPEG File Size size1 {size1}
Trick File Size 0 {size2}
for the one program and
MPEG File Size size3 {size3}
Trick File Size 0 {size4}
in the other. In both case the play time was 0:00:00.

As for the 82 HDD Drive Statistics, that gets interesting. This listing is now missing all the entries that formerly appeared at the beginning and just starts with the detailed messages for 8 November 2009. I must have exceeded some storage limit for this listing.

As for listings around the time of the failed recordings, there are none. The listing jumps from around 5 am on the 17th to around 11 am on the 18th November.
 
#154 ·
Shaw does broadcast HD in 1080i, & 720p, because I receive that but no 1080p. The leds on the front show which mode the signal is in. Check your box setup and make sure all modes are turned on. They can be switched off in case your TV cannot display them. I have found the BIG10HD channel football games are in 720p.
 
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