DStv Exploras - software updates

Brian_G

Brian_G

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(Last new thread from me for a while.)

My Explora 1 finally got updated from L:117 to L:119 this evening. It's months since our last updates.
Only thing noticed so far is what looks like better response and smoother recorded & buffered video in so-called "trick mode" (rew / ff etc.)

And again none of the (visible) important changes or fixes requested have been done, as is now expected...


To find the info - press the Help button, select General Info \ Info Central, the version is listed at the end of the second line. Exploras 1, 2A and 3A all have different version nos. from any other Explora model.
(Explora 3A is a cheap and poorer functional model, rather try look for a 2A.)
 
This new version also (finally) removes the holiday channel banners on the DMX audio channels.
 
We got L:121 on our Explora 1 early on Mon. morning. Wasn't even in a maintenance reboot schedule, they just did it.
Nothing changed or new noticed yet.

(The s/w was dated as ready for testing before the lockdown, so doesn't mean the developers are able to work now.)
 
L67 (Kronos3) On the 2A and L26 on the 3A loaded last night . It look like it solved the problem I experienced with the previous update.
 
I've had a still picture add pop up halfway through watching something on CatchUp when I paused. Never seen that before and only happened once so far. I was very confused when I walked back into the room. While the add (for a show on M-Net) was on-screen I had the choice of resuming play or returning to the paused picture.
 
Something new, or recent - go to Info Central, on any line press on the " i " button - we are now given quite a bit of quick further detail.

For instance, we can now see that officially "Kronos3" is actually the User Interface version. That suggests it's not a sub-version of the build release as some of us thought, but a separate parallel development.

EDIT: One of the most useful new features with this - we can see when the last reboot took place.
 
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Explora 1 got L:125 last night.

As is now usual, MC no longer have any respect for maintenance time and did our update very early morning, ignoring the fact that some of these noisy decoders are in people's bedrooms! :mad:
They have become a terrible company iro service with no respect for the customers who allow them to exist.

The parallel user interface (UI) update is called "LELANTOS2".
 
Brian_G said:
Explora 1 got L:125 last night.

As is now usual, MC no longer have any respect for maintenance time and did our update very early morning, ignoring the fact that some of these noisy decoders are in people's bedrooms! :mad:
They have become a terrible company iro service with no respect for the customers who allow them to exist.

The parallel user interface (UI) update is called "LELANTOS2".
Click to expand...
Yip and it even start uploading during a recording. Had an incomplete recording at 01:01 yesterday morning. No further repeats for that program so that is lost forever.
The 2A update is L71
 
Maybe someone can get the sleep and recording interruption concerns to their Broadcast Tech Division (BTD) via the f/t whatsapp group or something? I tried, my contact is working at home and cell is off with message service full.

@Luke7777 , re "legally", have to wonder how a judge would view a customer trying to deal with that loss, especially given MC's very regular service-destroying foul-ups.
For instance, ATM my Explora keeps going E16 on the one ch. for no reason. Buggers up such recordings as well.

EDIT: Not saying an illegal move is right though.
 
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This morning I've tried 3 times to setup an earlier maintenance reboot, seems to no longer work. So unless they've just got rid of those daily reboots which is highly unlikely, that's a new bug.
 
One noticable change is that the Catchup screen now has a banner showing all BoxOffice movies and the Movies page on CatchUp now has a BoxOffice sub-tag.
 
The update version for the 3A is L30.
I notice the last reboot was at 01:30 this morning so I presume that were when it loaded the new software version. Interesting that it skipped the scheduled 04:15 maintenance reboot.
 
Brian_G said:
This morning I've tried 3 times to setup an earlier maintenance reboot, seems to no longer work. So unless they've just got rid of those daily reboots which is highly unlikely, that's a new bug.
Click to expand...

Both my decoders failed to do the maintenance reboot last night. Is that a bug in the new software or have MC done away with this regular scheduled reboot.
 
Nemesys said:
Both my decoders failed to do the maintenance reboot last night. Is that a bug in the new software or have MC done away with this regular scheduled reboot.
Click to expand...
They would have had to redesign the whole variables resetting structure in their millions of lines of code, so can't see it being intentional.
And the manual time setting for it is still there, they surely would have removed it.

I'm now past 24 hrs. since the last (experimental) reboot listed (to see that info press i on the first line of Information Central), so definitely a bug IMO.
This could have dangerous reliability consequences, so I'm doing a manual reboot every morning now until we hear further.
 
I think this now applies to the sw on ALL DSTV decoders.
The levels of complexity in the code, mostly focussed on CA and service authentication, driven by a pathological belief that content protection is paramount is the reason for all this crap.

This picture applies to DSTV, as they managed to alienate just about all those involved in the sw development, and chased away the large band of customers who used to make useful inputs into their sw developments.


IMG-20200522-WA0000.jpg
 
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Brian_G said:
Maybe someone can get the sleep and recording interruption concerns to their Broadcast Tech Division (BTD) via the f/t whatsapp group or something? I tried, my contact is working at home and cell is off with message service full.

@Luke7777 , re "legally", have to wonder how a judge would view a customer trying to deal with that loss, especially given MC's very regular service-destroying foul-ups.
For instance, ATM my Explora keeps going E16 on the one ch. for no reason. Buggers up such recordings as well.

EDIT: Not saying an illegal move is right though.
Click to expand...
Illegal will always be illegal, no matter the reasons for it :) It's like jogging after 9 and buying smokes and booze on the black market :D
 
L127 loaded overnight on Explora 1. Maintenance reboots tested, are now working again.

(Parallel UI s/w also changed, now called Lelantos3.)
 
The new software on the 3A is Lelantos3 L32 and L73 on the 2A.
The 3A did do the maintenance reboot on the scheduled time. I did a manual reboot on the 2a at 04:10 and it is scheduled foe 03:15 so it is likely that it did the maintenance reboot at 03:15. I will check tomorrow morning.
 
Was given L130 last night on the Explora 1 (force-fed at wrong time again).
Additional UI update is called Prometheus.
 
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