SL2 Serious recording issues, Boombox issues

fotomut

New Member
Dec 19, 2008
3
0
1
Washington, DC
Hey all. This is my first post but I have been looking around for weeks to see if anyone has covered these issues already.

I have been having problems with recording from the beginning. I have a Stiletto Boombox at home, a Directed Soloist at the office and a Stiletto Car Dock. And of course a Stiletto 2, the second one after exchanging the first with Sirius.

First issue is my SL2 going to sleep while in the Boombox. If I were to listen to something, live or recorded, and pause the unit it will go into sleep mode after several minutes. This does not happen in the car or at the office, where I am able to leave it on, and paused, for at least 30 hours (one time I forgot it at work). The setting for automatic shutoff is set to off, and obviously works properly in the car or the Soloist.

This definately sux but I had thought of a workaround, just dont leave the unit paused. It's annoying but I have been doing this. However, more and more the unit shuts off anyway. I record Howard from midnight-6am and 6am-noon everyday. Almost 25% of the time I will wake up and the unit is off. When I go to bed I make sure it is on and tuned to satellite, with the volume on the Boombox all the way down so i can sleep. When there is a problem, I usually have some portion of the first show recorded and nothing else. And I can't start recording again when I wake up without deleting the daily recording that I have setup. This unreliable behavior is nerve-wracking, to say the least.

Issue 2
I was living with this for months and then the channel changes happened and all hell broke loose. I understand the LOVE issues and the incompatibilities that (i hope) are being worked out. I think the music choices are not as good but that is all just annoyances that I can deal with. I am on satellite for Howard, good music and news is just a bonus. I try to listen to all of Howard Stern and I bought this damn Stiletto so I could record shows and listen later. Sometimes this is a week or more later. I have lost recordings in the past because of who-knows-what technical problems with this device. But I am at my last straw now because I spent all week recording the History of Howard Stern and I go to my device on the weekend to listen to the series and do household chores and there is only one thing in my library from channel 100. ALL OF MY STERN RECORDINGS ARE GONE! My library went fro 37% usage to 1%. I lost, overnight, almost all of my recordings. All that was left was a Stern recording and about an hour of the 6 hours of loved songs i had. The only songs left were on 03 Love, 12 Pulse, and 35 Chill. These are not even complete, but the most recent of the songs I had LOVED over the months.


I am sorry for the long post but I didn't realize how much I needed to get this out until I started writing. I also wanted to be complete with my symptoms. I don't know what is going on but when I called Sirius this weekend the first call was cut off (maybe my cell phone was to blame though). The second time I called, I explained my problems, which took 10 minutes, and finally he asked me for my account number and then said the system was down, I should call him back in 35 minutes. I was livid and went to bed, sad and alone :(

-A very unhappy listener
 

JYJr

Member
Nov 9, 2008
99
0
6
Alexandria, VA
I have a Stiletto, but I don't have a Boombox so I don't know if it is different from having the Stiletto in the home dock, but you can do scheduled recordings (when the unit is docked) with the Stiletto in sleep mode. (As long as it is in sleep mode and not in shut down mode.) The unit won't come on when the recording starts, but it will record. If you happen to turn the unit on while it is recording in sleep mode, it will continue to record until the scheduled recording is complete UNLESS you try to turn the unit off. (If you do, the recording will end without being saved.) Not sure if this helps you with issue #1 or not.
 

ClubSteeler

Member
Oct 16, 2008
416
11
18
Just FYI for you... I have a SL100. I was listening to a recording, and I paused it to make a 5 minute phone call. After the call, I hit play, and the unit had already gone into sleep mode. However, as soon as I pressed the power switch, it powered on and immediately resumed playing the recording from where I had paused it. I did NOT have it docked, just using headphones and battery.

This is probably simply a battery saving feature. And it behaves exactly like pausing, so I'm not sure why this would be upsetting to you.

That's also probably why it does not happen in the home dock, no need for battery conservation.

Let me ask you this, have you tried docking your SL2 in the boombox with the battery removed? I wonder if it will still go to sleep. Maybe the boombox doesn't directly provide power to the radio, but instead charges the battery and the battery is still providing the power???? I don't know, but it's worth a try.
 

fotomut

New Member
Dec 19, 2008
3
0
1
Washington, DC
I am going to have to try the docking-without-battery idea tonite. I am also going to attempt contact with the sirius technician from last night.

Thanks for your thoughts
 

JYJr

Member
Nov 9, 2008
99
0
6
Alexandria, VA
Forgot to add one thing - when I have my Stiletto in the home dock, I've NEVER had a problem with scheduled recordings happening correctly when my Stiletto is in sleep mode (except for a couple of times where the power went out at my place - that knocked it out of sleep mode). However, when my Stiletto power is on while it is in the dock, often scheduled recordings don't start - even if my Stiletto is on the channel I want to record. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Not sure why. So I usually just leave it in sleep mode.
 

fotomut

New Member
Dec 19, 2008
3
0
1
Washington, DC
Forgot to add one thing - when I have my Stiletto in the home dock, I've NEVER had a problem with scheduled recordings happening correctly when my Stiletto is in sleep mode (except for a couple of times where the power went out at my place - that knocked it out of sleep mode). However, when my Stiletto power is on while it is in the dock, often scheduled recordings don't start - even if my Stiletto is on the channel I want to record. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Not sure why. So I usually just leave it in sleep mode.

This is good to know. I hadn't paid much attention to whether the recording worked when it started in sleep mode because I always tried to make it stay awake. But my dock at home is the Stiletto 2 Boombox, not the home kit. I dont have trouble in any other dock. Does anyone with the Boombox have a problem too?
 

HCLogo

Member
Dec 28, 2008
212
10
18
GTA, Ontario, Canada
I used to be able to hit the "heart" button on my SL2 and it would save the song to memory, however now it only brings up the scheduled recording menu. Am I doing something wrong here? How do I get it to save the song instead?
 
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nafddur

Member
Oct 18, 2008
174
3
18
Since the days of those crappy S50's, I learned to never trust the sleep mode when doing programmed recordings. Therefore, I leave my S2 on 24/7 in the home dock (as I did with my previous SL100's). I record Stern daily and, except for a few days of sporadic lousy satellite reception, rarely have problems getting the entire show. On those few (luckily) bad reception days, I go back and usually can successfully catch a replay later in the day. Since I don't use a boombox, I can't help you with your problems recording in one of those, fotomut. Sorry.

I can help you with your disappearing recordings, however.

Like all others who try to save recorded shows for any length of time - i.e. a week or so - on their S2's, you are experiencing the well known memory corruption defect that randomly erases those shows without warning. Sad to say, this memory bug has existed since day 1 of the S2. I know many of us who have experienced this frustrating problem (that is, anyone who tries to keep recorded shows for any length of time) have reported this bug to Sirius to NO avail. I assume that since such a small number of the millions of us who went to Sirius for Stern are recording (and keeping) shows on their S2's AND reporting this glitch to Sirius, the problem is being ignored.

I also hope that this defect will be engineered out of the next generation of Stilettos - which I will be among the first to do a warranty exchange for using my Best Buy extended warranty.

In the meantime, I will continue to put Stern on cassette (sad to say) EVERY day so I can keep each show reliably for a week or so until my wife and I have both had a chance to hear the entire show.

And - oh yeah - a reset and erase or recovery won't fix this memory problem, so don't waste your time with those.
 

HCLogo

Member
Dec 28, 2008
212
10
18
GTA, Ontario, Canada
I used to be able to hit the "heart" button on my SL2 and it would save the song to memory, however now it only brings up the scheduled recording menu. Am I doing something wrong here? How do I get it to save the song instead?

Update: Apparently I can record from Faction, but not several other channels... Odd. Anyone else have the same prob?
 

rory535

New Member
Jan 5, 2009
1
0
1
Personally, I think this issue (memory corruption) that exists with a unit thats main function is to do recordings and that is not being addressed by Sirius, should speak volumes.

My SL100 is at death's door and I simply refuse to buy a new unit that has a known HUGE defect. Im getting an iPhone in 3 months time and then will use software on that, to stream Sirius and can listen at work as I dont need satellites or wi-fi...no need for recordings anymore.

http://chris.pirillo.com/2009/01/05/exclusive-sirius-and-xm-satellite-radio-on-your-iphone-ipod/
 
Last edited:

UncleScam

Member
Jan 8, 2009
233
7
18
Springfield
please note -

you don't have to "keep recordings around forever" to see the memory corruption issue. just using the unit normally for two weeks and you will see recordings disappear, regardless of how old they are.

once the corruption begins, it will continue until all of your recordings are erased.

i've even seen the unit erase a recording WHILE I WAS LISTENING TO IT.

please help us, sirius! update the freakin' device already!
 

nafddur

Member
Oct 18, 2008
174
3
18
Personally, I think this issue (memory corruption) that exists with a unit thats main function is to do recordings and that is not being addressed by Sirius, should speak volumes.

My SL100 is at death's door and I simply refuse to buy a new unit that has a known HUGE defect.

Just buy an extended (ie 4 year) warranty with an S2. That way, when the next, updated receiver comes out, you just do a warranty swap to get the new one.

Believe me, when the S2 replacement comes out - surely before the 3 years left on so many of our 4-year warranties expires - tons of S2's will be exchanged for the new (hopefully improved) receiver.