Re: DST change and home auto...

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Art Todesco" <actodesco@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9UYPh.5094$Kd3.3499@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> E. Lee Dickinson wrote:
> > "Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> > news:KqedncbWm6yy85LbnZ2dnUVZ_sKunZ2d@xxxxxxxxxx
> >> "AZ Woody" <reply@here> wrote in message
> >> news:45dfa892$0$25779$815e3792@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >>> I've not seen this addressed here, and I just wonder if anyone has
info
> >>> on how the change in the start of DST this year will effect various HA
> >>> systems.
> >>>
> >>> In general, will folks in the nutty 48 states that still do DST be
> >>> screwed for a few weeks or are fixes available?
> >>>
> >>> I live in one of the states that doesn't "do" DST.....
> >> I wish I did.  This morning I've awakened one hour early to find the
> >> master
> >> alarm (the ultra-smart and otherwise nice but time signal deaf,
Emerson)
> >> had
> >> jumped ahead one hour along with the Samsung DVDR and a few other
> >> "DST"-smart items.  I also noticed a few web sites like Zap2It were
> >> listing
> >> the wrong time as well.  Thank you, Congress!!!
> >
> > I wonder... This morning one of my PDAs gave me a "Updated for Daylight
> > Savings" notification. It had previously refused to let me set the
proper
> > time. Now it's right.
> Well, this morning, my old JVC VCR
> continued to work ok and set the correct
> time from the Network Time Code as it
> had been doing since the start of daylight
> savings time several weeks ago.
> However, my newer DVR, which was
> working ok after the switch to CDT, this
> morning switched to 1 hour later than
> the actual time.  On the actual start
> day of DST, the DVR time messed up,
> however, I believe that the local PBS
> station stopped sending time code for a
> day or 2.  I was able to get it working
> until today.  Unfortunately now the only
> way I've found to fix it is to set it for
> manual set time.  I hope the internal
> clock keeps time.  I know that many of these
> units have very poor internal clocks
> .... that's why they started using the
> network
> time code to set and keep the clock
> accurate.  BTW, I sent an email to
> Panasonic
> (the DVR mfg.) and asked "what they were
> doing about it" when the problems 1st
> happened and before it magically fixed
> itself (or PBS fixed it).    After a
> week, they
> answered saying they were backlogged and
> would reply in the future.  So far
> no reply.  They could provide a flash
> file for  the internal firmware, but I
> don't think
> they really care!
>
> BTW, the same goes for my Smarthome
> 1132CU controller.  They said they were
> "looking at it!"  I "fixed" it by
> setting a phony timezone for a city in
> the western part
> of Texas .... I am located in the
> central timezone (near Joliet, IL).   In
> the fall, it will
> need to be switched back.  Welcome back
> to the 1980s.

My guess is that it might need two more fixes.  One when DST used to end and
then again at the *new* end of DST.  As you pointed out, it's complicated by
whatever the PBS channel considers the right time.  The sites that were out
of synch the morning seem to have caught up.  Fortunately both my PC (and my
LaCrosse clock) seem to be set correctly - finally - thanks to David White
who translated Microsoft's incomprehensible instructions into concise,
simple English for human beings.

Now I have *five* clocks in my office.  And they each seem to have gone
their own way today.

One cheap RatShack with no DST brains, a DST-smart Emerson that can't 'hear'
the radio time signals but obeys the old DST settings, a PC that gets its
time from the Naval Observatory, a DVDR that gets its time information from
Comcast and PBS, and the LaCrosse clock that is DST smart AND hears the
radio time signal.  The dumb Ratshack clock turned out to be the device that
required the least tweaking.  That might be the ultimate lesson from all
this.  There's something to be said for simple!

--
Bobby G.