I just bought a new XPS 420 also.  Got it with the dual DCT's.  No remote.  Called dell and they tried shipping me one.  Sent me another DCT with no remote.  I called them back today and must have been on the phone for 2 hours.  No one knew what was going on.  Finaly one of the customer servers guys said they would give me $100 in liue of the remote so I took that.  I have been eyeing one of the new sideshow remotes anyway.  It appears dell does not know what they are selling.  I also had to call customer support for help with the cable card activation.  They did not know anything about them.  I finaly talked to the right person at my cable company and they got it figured out.  It only took us about 2 hours to get them activated (which is better than what I was expecting after reading stuff online).

ScottC:

I just bought a new XPS 420 also.  Got it with the dual DCT's.  No remote.  Called dell and they tried shipping me one.  Sent me another DCT with no remote.  I called them back today and must have been on the phone for 2 hours.  No one knew what was going on.  Finaly one of the customer servers guys said they would give me $100 in liue of the remote so I took that.  I have been eyeing one of the new sideshow remotes anyway.  It appears dell does not know what they are selling.  I also had to call customer support for help with the cable card activation.  They did not know anything about them.  I finaly talked to the right person at my cable company and they got it figured out.  It only took us about 2 hours to get them activated (which is better than what I was expecting after reading stuff online).

 

I wouldn't mind that, I could always use a 3rd DCT, and an extra $100 for free :)  I'm suprised ordered it late late Thursday night, and it shipped today.  The DCT's however have not shipped yet.

I just pray the install doesn't become a nightmare.

 

The part number for the remote as a standalone product is: RemoteControl RMTMC [412-0722] 306. My belief is that the DCT is supposed to be sold with this part as a bundle, but some kind of mistake has happened and the tuner alone is shipping; I've passed the word.

Well guys its plain to see now why Dell are slipping as a whole. No point having a good product if you dont have the proper support service behind it. I am not in the states myself so cablecard is not an option for me...but its the mistakes like these that really hurt mediacenter....If microsoft got the lead out and opened it to system builders they might see a broader take up. How many people are going to have a sour taste in their mouths over this. Dell are making microsoft look bad in this case. I read on here that velocity micro do a superb job at customer service..but if normal system builders had access to cablecard, machines could be built to people's real needs. Not to what some board of directors who only see margins on the end of the page and completely forget about the customer experience think is acceptable.

Davieboy:

Well guys its plain to see now why Dell are slipping as a whole. No point having a good product if you dont have the proper support service behind it. I am not in the states myself so cablecard is not an option for me...but its the mistakes like these that really hurt mediacenter....If microsoft got the lead out and opened it to system builders they might see a broader take up. How many people are going to have a sour taste in their mouths over this. Dell are making microsoft look bad in this case. I read on here that velocity micro do a superb job at customer service..but if normal system builders had access to cablecard, machines could be built to people's real needs. Not to what some board of directors who only see margins on the end of the page and completely forget about the customer experience think is acceptable.

Ever realize how fast PC sales picked up once companies like HP, Dell, and Gateway got into PC sales and brought down the overall prices?  No matter what place you shop at you will find someone who had a bad experience.  When is the last time you had a great experience with a certain company, and on your own merit, started a post on an online forum screaming "Company X's service was GREAT!" ?  Bad experiences, bad news travels fast. 

These systems are still pretty new, and there are some bugs to work out. Personally I love it when Dell screws up on an order.  All that it means is that the problem will get fixed, and I'll get something in return for putting up with their mistakes.  I mean, just 6 weeks ago I received a 2GB MP3 Creative player for free because of an order of mine they mistakenly cancelled. 

-D

dravor:

Personally I love it when Dell screws up on an order.  All that it means is that the problem will get fixed, and I'll get something in return for putting up with their mistakes.  I mean, just 6 weeks ago I received a 2GB MP3 Creative player for free because of an order of mine they mistakenly cancelled. 

-D

At least Dell makes it up to you.  All I have received from Velocity Micro is apologies and broken promises.  I posted my experience at  resellerratings.com and we'll see where that takes me.

WScottCross:

dravor:

Personally I love it when Dell screws up on an order.  All that it means is that the problem will get fixed, and I'll get something in return for putting up with their mistakes.  I mean, just 6 weeks ago I received a 2GB MP3 Creative player for free because of an order of mine they mistakenly cancelled. 

-D

At least Dell makes it up to you.  All I have received from Velocity Micro is apologies and broken promises.  I posted my experience at  resellerratings.com and we'll see where that takes me.

Especially with VM being such a small company, you can go the BBB Better Business Bureu and file a complaint.  I've done this now against Best Buy when they didn't fix my tv correctlly, and Howard Johnson for a double charge on my hotel room, in each case the problem was corrected.

With Dell's customer support you just have to stand your ground.  In this case, with this order if I don't get my remote, I'll raise hell until they send it.

 

 

Just got my XPS 420, and still am waiting for the Tuners.  However, I must say I'm glad I opted for the ATI2600XT,as not being required to run both HDMI, and Audio to the tv is nice, I love the fact the the card supports video and audio over HDMI.  Being this system is setup in the family room, not the living room, it will stay like this until I finally go surround sound in the family room as well <Currently only living room has surround sound>

Xbox 360 is all setup in the living room awaiting it's feed, I'm just waiting on the tuners and the cards now.

-D

*EDIT*  Wait, I'm confused.  The video card only has DVI out,  So it's DVI out to HDMI converter, HDMI to the TV.  How the hell am I getting sound when DVI is video only, or is that a bad assumption on my part?

The ATI2600XT uses a custom connector, with some additinal pins for audio. The DVI to HDMI converter dongle picks these up and puts them on the expected pins for the TV.

AustinDeadhead:

The ATI2600XT uses a custom connector, with some additinal pins for audio. The DVI to HDMI converter dongle picks these up and puts them on the expected pins for the TV.

Very nice!  I wish my Nvidia 8800GS had this, it would make my life so much easier. I'm happy so far, hopefully DHL actually shows up with the tuners tomm, they were supposed to be here today :)

dravor:

AustinDeadhead:

The ATI2600XT uses a custom connector, with some additinal pins for audio. The DVI to HDMI converter dongle picks these up and puts them on the expected pins for the TV.

Very nice!  I wish my Nvidia 8800GS had this, it would make my life so much easier. I'm happy so far, hopefully DHL actually shows up with the tuners tomm, they were supposed to be here today :)

 

Received the Tuners, minus the remote.  Remote is now on it's way.  Both Tuners firmware upgraded to 1.16.

Now just awaiting the Cable Cards.

Has anyone been able to add more than two of these tuners?

*EDIT  Verizon will be coming by January 7th to install the Cable Cards.  In the meantime, can I run the Media Center setup for the tuners, connect them, and view the Clear QAM?

 

-D

Dravor,

Yes, you can run the ATI tuners without the cablecards, have at it! :) You can re-run the setup once you get your cablecards.

I also run 3 ATI DCT's, and would suggest using the manual registry hack (I tried the multiTuner app that someone wrote to add more than 2 tuners and it hosed me so bad I ended up deleteing the registry entries and starting all over.) Just be sure to back up your registry before you start...

Charles

Dravor,

Also, did you install all the patches that ATI recommends after the 1.16H update? mabrown outlines the updates in this thread...http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/228972.aspx

 

Charles

chasmetz:

Dravor,

Also, did you install all the patches that ATI recommends after the 1.16H update? mabrown outlines the updates in this thread...http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/228972.aspx

Charles

I was going to go ahead and install them all, saw they failed, then check my installed updates and they are all there.  I have Tuner 1 setup and working.  I do see some weird stuff on one SD channel, where it seems the colors on a newscasters shirt collar keeps changing on WGN.

I have fIOS so right now I can only get the SD channels since unencrypted QAM wise the local HD stations aren't where they should be from what I can tell.

*EDIT The driver I have for the ATI 2600xt is 8.402.0.0  should I stick with that or upgrade?

 

Noticed something odd this evening, had been watching clear QAM on the one Tuner setup so far.  I then watched the same channel/program from the 360 and my son watched a movie in media center <from disk based DVD>.  Went upstairs later, tried to turn live tv on, and got a Live TV Unavailable, file is in use.  Tried restarting Media Center to no avail, turned off the 360, restarted Media Center, same thing.  A reboot fixed the issue, and doing the same thing again,. starting the 360, stopping Media Center and reopening, and did not have any issues this time.

 

Weird.