Release 9.2 hitting some Series3 & HD boxes with eSATA!

Posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 by MegaZone

Hot on the heels of the 9.1 release, 9.2 has landed on some units. This is not the full release yet, it is the ‘testing the waters’ pre-release, as confirmed by TiVoPony. He also states this is a Series3/TiVo HD release only – Series2/2DT units will not see 9.2.

The new software messages directs users to http://www.tivo.com/expand – but that’s still just a placeholder page.

In addition to enabling eSATA support, 9.2 appears to enable progressive downloads for Amazon Unbox, and presumably TiVoCast content. That means you will be able to begin watching the program before the download is complete – similar to an in-house MRV transfer from another TiVo.

These pre-releases generally last a couple of weeks, then, barring any problems being found, the full release comes out for everyone.

I picked this up via ZatzNotFunny.

About MegaZone

MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
This entry was posted in TiVo. Bookmark the permalink.
  • Steve

    9.2 is the bug fix release for the horrible 9.1. Did I miss you reporting on the how bug filled the 9.1 release and the multiple problems many customers were having? Perhaps if some of these beta testers would actually _test_ and stop being giddy about being picked and stop drinking the kool-aid and stop being afraid to criticize and point out deficiencies then perhaps it could be released in a better state so the rest of us don’t have to suffer (this is a worse repeat of the 8.1 fiasco).

    Although Zatz didn’t “report” on the 9.1 bugs, at least he did mention it on the link you posted. Remember to go to TCF for _all_ the news, good and bad.

  • Tom

    I hadn’t noticed any problems w/ 9.1, but I don’t stress my S3 to find them either.

    I’d like to hear how the eSATA goes for the 9.2 beta testers, especially those that have been using an eSATA add-on thru the kickstart hack.

  • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ megazone

    Steve – I have 9.1 on my S3 and haven’t had any trouble. The only bug I can recall is that if you delete a program in the To Do List using ‘Clear’ from the list, it jumps back to the first page. But if you use ‘Clear’ from the episode description screen it doesn’t, so that was an easy work-around.

    Pretty much *every* release, someone has some issue. I know there have been people posting at TiVoCommunity.com about issues – but that’s not unusual, and I haven’t really been reading the forums for a few weeks because I’ve been busy and there are only so many hours in the day. 9.1 has been fine for me and I’d bet most users who have it.

    9.2 is not a bug fix release, it is a feature release – I’m sure it fixes some bugs too. That’s how software development works. When you’re working on new features you also fix what bugs you can along the way.

    And, unless you were in the beta, perhaps you shouldn’t slag the beta testers. Have you *ever* beta tested *anything*? I have, many times. It is not unusual for testers to find something but for the product to be released without a fix anyway due to other considerations – business agreements, etc. Or the bug may just be triaged as not being a show-stopper, something that can be fixed in the next feature release but is acceptable for now. So don’t presume to know what goes on in a beta unless you’re in the beta. Just because a bug makes it into a shipping product doesn’t necessarily mean the testers missed it, in my experience that’s actually usually not the case – bugs are reported but the testers don’t have say in when the product ships, that’s up to the vendor.

    As someone who has done beta testing in the past I can say that more than once I have *strongly* recommended *against* a product shipping due to issues only to see the product ship with the issues still unresolved. It is frustrating to the testers, and doubly so when some know-nothing adds salt to the wound by blaming the testers for it.

    Tom – Beta testers are under NDA, and so can’t even admit being in the beta let alone how it worked. But the early reports from people who have received the 9.2.J pre-release is that it doesn’t break eSATA drives previously connected using the hacks.

  • Steve

    Megazone,

    Did your Tivo contacts lay that one on you, that 9.2 is a feature release and not a bug fix? Thats a good one – seems like maybe your extensive knowledge of software isn’t as good as you elude to. I particularly like how you fanboys proclaim that since you don’t see a problem, it must not be real. Well, if you’d get out more, you’d see that even long time fanboys like yourself have indeed encountered these bugs as well. This sums it better than I can, and its from one of your own: . As far as your other comparisons, I’ll match my skill set against any code monkey any day.

    Look at it this way, the 9.1 release was either because management made the crap decision to go with it, the engineers can’t code for crap, the QA dept can’t test for crap, the beta testers can’t test for crap, or a combination of any or all the above – take your pick. So much for you being any better that all the other “product bloggers” out there.

  • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ megazone

    I know 100% that it was a feature release, I have my sources and there is no question at all. I also know that it fixes issues that were in 9.1. But that does not make it a ‘bug fix’ release. You can believe that or not, but I know what I know.

    Also, you seem to be reading what I write with more than a bit of a bias. I never said 9.1 had no issues or that no one had problems with it. I said *I* didn’t. *You* are the one who seems to read into that that I don’t think anyone has issues. Which is funny since I said that some one *always* has an issue with *every* release. I can point to bugs reported in every TiVo release since 2.0. So there being bugs in 9.1 is not remarkable. I bet there are bugs in 9.2 as well.

    As for your last statement – I think you have it surrounded. And your point is? *Any* bug in *any* product falls within your statement. It stems from development, QA, testing, or management – or a combination. Stop the presses! Of course it does – it *must* come from one or more of those, since there isn’t anywhere else it could come from. All software bugs come from development to start – anything from lack of skill to plain old human error. And sometimes they make it through QA – again, could be lack of skill, human error, or even management not giving QA enough time in the product development cycle to test everything properly. And then you have alpha and beta testing – and there are *many* variables there. Testers may just miss an issue. Or the issue may just not arise in testing – some bugs need specific triggers, or only show up after months of use, etc. Maybe the beta test is rushed. Or, sure, the testers could just slack off. Or maybe they find every last bug and report it – but then it is up to management to decide if a bug is a ‘show stopper’ that warrants holding the release. And, frankly, not all bugs are – so most products these days ship with *some* bugs. Most of the time it isn’t a big deal, but sometimes management makes the wrong call and a bug is more serious than they thought it would be.

    There are lots of factors that go into a product release and lots of pressures to get products out on the market to meet business commitments – and as long as humans are involved, there will be mistakes.

    So what’s new about any of that?

    Now, as for ‘getting out more’ – I have a job you know. Blogging is something I make time to do, but I’m Director of IT Operations for a company and my work has to get done first. Right now we’re down on staff due to someone leaving, so we’re short-handed *and* running a hiring campaign, which makes everything busier. And, since Murphy is a bastard, the past few weeks we’ve had several desktop PCs *and* servers suffer hardware failures. So it has been a scramble.

    And my best friend has been in and out of the hospital over the past couple of months suffering from a severe neurological problem which was only finally diagnosed a couple of weeks ago as ADEM. We were very concerned it might be MS, or worse. He stayed at my house a couple of weeks ago to see a doc in Boston, then I went up to Maine to help him out for a couple of days, and he’s staying with me again now. So I’m so very sorry if I haven’t made keeping on top of every last TiVo-related post my top priority. I guess I forgot that making sure I satisfy your expectations are more important than caring about my best friend or paying my bills, my apologies.

    And one last thing, you ‘elude’ someone who is looking for you, you ‘allude’ to something by implying it.

    EDIT: I tried emailing you directly to discuss this, but the email you used to comment is now invalid.