And Now Something Really Bizarre Regarding 6.3

[thunter913]

So here is something bizarre. I have three HR10-250 boxes, each of which received the 6.3 upgrade message that DirecTV sent to the boxes on 9/27. I didn't delete the message on any of the boxes and wanted to keep them until I received the upgrade. So far none of my boxes have received the 6.3 upgrade.

I noticed tonight that the upgrade message has been deleted from each of the boxes. The only assumption I can make is that DirecTV deleted the message from the boxes.

This really ticks me off if I am correct that DirecTV has deleted the messages without my permission. I have never heard of messages having an expiration date, thus the only conclusion I can draw is that DirecTV deleted the message. The reason for the message deletion is a complete mystery to me.

Has anyone else seen this behavior?

[videojanitor]

I checked both of my machines, and the message is no longer there on either one. Both are still on 3.1 -- and they're gonna stay that way until I can pull out the drives and make backups.

[Mark Lopez]

Messages are gone on both of mine too.

[broken back]

Mine from 9/27 has also gone. Make me wonder if they are going to to 6.3 downloads? They have never gone in when I had phone off in past and erased no pone line connection. How dare they come in to my machine. LOL

[drew2k]

Over three years with DirecTV I have seen some messages stay forever, until I delete them, but I also have seen some messages that disappear on their own. I don't think this is anything new.

I think there is a built-in "shelf-life" date that DirecTV can attach to messages. We can't see the date, but when the date is reached, the message is automatically deleted.

I just checked and I still have two message from February 28, 2006 on my 2nd unit, telling me I need to activate my DVR service and that there are new dial-in numbers.

The question is why DirecTV would choose to set only some messages to expire?

[DVDKingdom]

TivoWeb Plus did show an expire date of 10/05/2006.

[TonyD79]

Maybe they assumed when they created the message that 10/4 would be the end date and the message made no sense after that.

Who knows. Who cares.

Now we can get upset that they are deleting their own messages without our permission. Geez.

[thunter913]

Thanks drew2k and DVDKingdom for the information. I wasn't aware that you could attach an expiration date to a message.

Not sure why DirecTV would want the upgrade message to expire so quickly.

[litzdog911]

Thanks drew2k and DVDKingdom for the information. I wasn't aware that you could attach an expiration date to a message.

Not sure why DirecTV would want the upgrade message to expire so quickly.

I'm also guessing they originally set that message to expire on Oct 5 expecting that units would be upgraded by Oct 4. Now we're hearing Oct 19.

[TyroneShoes]

It seems reasonable for them to have retrieved the message, in my view. Plans change. Finding out after the fact that 6.3 was flawed is certainly something that would, and did, change their plans. That makes the message now incorrect. It would be no different than if you sent your employees an email regarding a schedule for employee reviews, and then realized 5 minutes later that you had the dates wrong. The best course of action is to then retrieve the email.

Which begs the question, why not explain why the rollout timing had changed in a subsequent message? I think the obvious answer is to avoid the embarrasment and humiliation of admitting that they screwed the pooch. If you want to be irked about something, I think that (the pooch being royally screwed, that is) might qualify as a better reason than being ticked at them for deleting a now incorrect message.

[newsposter]

conpiracy confirmed :)

[TonyD79]

It seems reasonable for them to have retrieved the message, in my view. Plans change. Finding out after the fact that 6.3 was flawed is certainly something that would, and did, change their plans. That makes the message now incorrect. It would be no different than if you sent your employees an email regarding a schedule for employee reviews, and then realized 5 minutes later that you had the dates wrong. The best course of action is to then retrieve the email.

Which begs the question, why not explain why the rollout timing had changed in a subsequent message? I think the obvious answer is to avoid the embarrasment and humiliation of admitting that they screwed the pooch. If you want to be irked about something, I think that (the pooch being royally screwed, that is) might qualify as a better reason than being ticked at them for deleting a now incorrect message.

No, I think it just expired.

There was nothing in that message that was wrong. 6.3 (if it was actually mentioned) versus 6.3a would mean nothing for 99.9% of the user base. You can still say that 6.3a is "a" 6.3 release.

And no dates were mentioned. It just said "soon."

I don't think they pulled the message (not even sure they can) but it probably had a stale date that they felt coincided with the end of the rollout (because after the rollout was done, it would be wrong).

[roup1]

My 9/27 message is also MIA...

[Ein]

I wish they would also delete the "you have not made a phone call in XX days" messages after 24 hours.

[TyroneShoes]

No, I think it just expired.

There was nothing in that message that was wrong. 6.3 (if it was actually mentioned) versus 6.3a would mean nothing for 99.9% of the user base. You can still say that 6.3a is "a" 6.3 release.

And no dates were mentioned. It just said "soon."

I don't think they pulled the message (not even sure they can) but it probably had a stale date that they felt coincided with the end of the rollout (because after the rollout was done, it would be wrong).
I'm confused. Did it contain nothing wrong, as you state, or did it contain a stale date, as you also state? Or did it not mention a date, as you state, or did it contain a stale date? All of these theories seem contradictory.

It may have just expired, and it may have had a built-in expiration date. But apparently "make a call" nags do not, as one poster said he had 257 of those on his HR10.

We just don't know, and it really isn't important. All I know is that retrieving it sounds like a good move.

[alwayscool]

This is really wierd. I installed InstantCake and PTVnet on my brand new just out of the box HR10-250 last night (early this morning) and checked my SWSYSTEM directory and I have the 6.3 slice not the 6.3a slice like my other HR10-250 had. Or did my InstantCake CD have 6.3 on it and installed it? Go figure! is D* sending out the 6.3 instead of 6.3a now? Hmmmmmm... Anyway I don't like 6.3a anyways and I'm going to re-InstantCake that box back to 3.1.5f anyways.