MultiChoice sabotaged older PVRs ?

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waslap

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I have had a Pace PVR for a couple of years now and its been of terrible quality but bearable. Recently however (somewhere in the last 3 months or so I'd say) there was an OTA update which changed the boot screen from stating HD PVR something in darkish blue to a light blue boot screen that states Dstv only. Since then its been utterly horrendous to use the thing and its literally making me swear about 10 times an evening. Its reacting oddly to key presses on the remote and hangs up frequently requiring reboot or gets stuck on a channel. Most frequently it will seem as if I've pressed rewind when pressing exit from info and then its touch and go whether anything such as TV will fix it or hang it up. I want to know whether other users have had similar experiences. I want to throw a cat among the pigeons and ask whether it was possible that MultiChoice has deliberately sabotaged older PVRs with the OTA update in an attempt to get people to switch to the newer Explora ? Is there a way to prove this ? Is there a way to turn off OTA updates and/or revert ? Anyone working at MultiChoice that wants to pull a Snowden and expose the mafia ?
 
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Sometime after an update, some things go a bit wonky, try doing a flash erase ( search the Dstv forum) mine was 100% better after the erase, no , you don't loose and of your recordings,
 
I'm convinced they killed the old 990's. When I was there to swop mine after it flatlined. 'Software corruption'. This stupid new one doesn't have a channel number. Pos. I saw about 15 people walking with the same one which I presume also stopped working.
 
Arthur said:
An outrageous suggestion. Loopy, in fact. And possibly actionable at law.
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But plausible... Even if it was totally by accident. Their quality control on the pace software was horrendous.
 
Arthur said:
Possible. Maybe even probable, given their history of firmware quality, as you rightly say. But sabotage requires intention.
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Ok then, what I do know for sure: My Pace PVR has deteriorated to a frustrating piece of crap. What the real reason(s) is/are will probably forever remain a mystery be it ineptness, negligence or sabotage etc on their behalf. In any event, nobody in his/her right mind would condone any of the possibilities. Just what happens when there is no healthy competition: The monopoly can mess up just as they please.
 
It is a known trick that all Sat Providers do to force updates of older boxes without them having to foot the bill for a "swop-out"

They do things like "packet flooding" in the stream and this causes these older boxes to run at full load - makes the older boxes slow as hell and just as unstable.

OTA to shut them down is easy.
 
Mutichoice have done this for years to force people to upgrade.
I once bought an old PVR from someone, it worked fine, and then it got an OTA upgrade. It blew something.
It wasn't funny anymore when I amassed 10 units and they all failed on the same place, at more or less the same date.
 
waslap said:
I have had a Pace PVR for a couple of years now and its been of terrible quality but bearable. Recently however (somewhere in the last 3 months or so I'd say) there was an OTA update which changed the boot screen from stating HD PVR something in darkish blue to a light blue boot screen that states Dstv only. Since then its been utterly horrendous to use the thing and its literally making me swear about 10 times an evening. Its reacting oddly to key presses on the remote and hangs up frequently requiring reboot or gets stuck on a channel. Most frequently it will seem as if I've pressed rewind when pressing exit from info and then its touch and go whether anything such as TV will fix it or hang it up. I want to know whether other users have had similar experiences. I want to throw a cat among the pigeons and ask whether it was possible that MultiChoice has deliberately sabotaged older PVRs with the OTA update in an attempt to get people to switch to the newer Explora ? Is there a way to prove this ? Is there a way to turn off OTA updates and/or revert ? Anyone working at MultiChoice that wants to pull a Snowden and expose the mafia ?
Click to expand...

Happens some times the update doesn't install correctly
Try this depending which decoder you have:

Quantum Theory said:
To everyone experiencing this, try the factory reset procedure... Please note that this will change some of your XtraView and RF output settings to default. If you do not know how to change these back to your custom settings, please get your installer to assist.

Here is the procedures for the different models:

(please note that you have to press the buttons on the front panel of the decoder, until you are asked for a PIN)


Pace 4 Tuner:

Press TV guide on the decoder in & hold for 10 seconds
Release then press Exit
Release then press OK
Release & a green screen will appear asking for a pin code (1649)
Select Reset Factory Defaults from the list & confirm

UEC 4 Tuner:

Press TV guide on the decoder in & hold for 10 seconds
Release then press Shift
Release then press Exit
Release then press OK
Release & a green screen will appear asking for a pin code (1649)
Select Reset Factory Defaults from the list & confirm

Pace 2 Tuner:

Press the TV/Audio button in & hold for 10 seconds
Release then press the UHF button
Release then press the Pause/Play button.
Release & a green screen will appear asking for a pin code (1649)
Select Reset Factory Defaults from the list & confirm
Click to expand...
 
Smurfatefrog said:
1) Do a flash erase as suggested
2) DSTV don't really have any reason to do this, they don't make money off new decoder sales anyway
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Of course they make money off it, and they make more money off the extra features the newer decoders have such as the pvr access fee and box office movie rentals. And I'm sure they profit from repair costs as well.
 
Nduimiso said:
Of course they make money off it, and they make more money off the extra features the newer decoders have such as the pvr access fee and box office movie rentals. And I'm sure they profit from repair costs as well.
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Thats what he meant - they don't make much of the sales of decoders / repairs - they do make a killing on the subscription and extra services they offer
 
I am not at liberty to reveal what I know (I do not want people from the Altech group coming after me)
What I will say is that the decoder/STB business is a monopoly in SA, just like their tjomma Multichoice.
They coin it, they make more money than you and I will ever dream of having.
 
Koosi said:
I am not at liberty to reveal what I know (I do not want people from the Altech group coming after me)
What I will say is that the decoder/STB business is a monopoly in SA, just like their tjomma Multichoice.
They coin it, they make more money than you and I will ever dream of having.
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Not surprised, there is no choice when it comes to decoders so obviously those in charge are gonna coin it.
 
Nduimiso said:
Not surprised, there is no choice when it comes to decoders so obviously those in charge are gonna coin it.
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Indeedy :) I worked for a company who bid on the government's STB for the digital migration (the stuff Dina Pule cocked up). Let's just say that they bullied my boss into silence and made him go away.

Would have been cool to work on that. But I have been told my skin colour is wrong too.
 
Nduimiso said:
Of course they make money off it, and they make more money off the extra features the newer decoders have such as the pvr access fee and box office movie rentals. And I'm sure they profit from repair costs as well.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm still watching my HD football in SD via RCA cables because I refuse to pay R550 to have my decoder's HDMI port 'fixed' (i.e. swap the entire decoder out).

...and Makro was selling them R979 three weeks ago :mad:
 
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