HR20 hardware/software problems, reliability

[machlis]

This is something that doesn't really have an answer, but maybe people feel like expressing opinions...

I don't work in the electronics industry but am close enough that I have a general sense of how hardware and software work, how they're designed and manufactured and tested, etc. I totally understand that the software in the HR20 is complicated, and the possibility of having lots of obscure bugs that are hard for the coders to track down and would take a while to fix. And then when they add new features, there will be new bugs introduced, so you can never really eliminate all of the bugs.

The thing I don't understand at all, is how in the world can the HR20 hardware be as unreliable as it seems to be from my skimming the threads on this site? (I have had an HR20 for ~3 months, I've had a few annoying glitches but so far nothing gave me the sense that my hardware is bad.) I've seen so many people post things like "this is my 4th HR20 and each one has had a different problem". To me that implies hardware, not software, problems with the boxes those people have had. I know that there are probably many HR20 users out there whose boxes work fine and so they never post anything on these boards. But if my impression of the number of HR20s with real hardware problems is at all accurate, it would have to make this box one of the worst pieces of consumer electronics I've ever heard of, in terms of percentage of units rolling out of the factory with bad hardware. And I can only imagine how frustrating it must be when you have to have your box swapped out, to lose all of your settings and all of your recorded shows.

Don't they test these things before they ship them? How can they be so bad? Or maybe these things that seem like bad hardware are actually caused by software bugs -- but that wouldn't make a lot of sense that right after being installed fresh different boxes would have different problems? Or maybe my impression of the percentage of bad units is skewed because there are so many people with 100% working boxes who don't post on these boards?

Just curious if other people have opinions on this... there's no right or wrong answer. (As an aside, personally I'm satisfied with my HR20 and don't regret having switched from our SD DirecTivo, which I was very happy with. The Tivo was probably a little better, but it wasn't HD, so it was worth it.)

[2000voltz]

no major problems on either my 100 or 700 other than caller id is unreilable on the 700. I have more problems with my tivo now that the phone line is unhooked to it than i do with the hr 20's. so many things to factor in. Install, location, care of eq, who did what to the box on the way to your house....

[veryoldschool]

1) HD is much more complicated than SD.
2) the manufacturing is done it Mexico and China
3) "testing" is far from complete
4) there are "refurbished" units being sent out as replacements that are more "recycled" than repaired.
5) not all of the installs are done as well as they could be.
6) not all of the CSRs are "up to speed" with the new equipment.
7) User habits vary. Some use features others don't.
8) Software needs to be robust enough to work with all of the variables in the hardware. Not every chip is identical on the same wafer.
9) You only hear the squeaking wheel.

Just some of my thoughts. YMMV

[Carl Spock]

The biggest problems are two:

1) This technology is being rolled out right before our eyes. New HD channels are coming on weekly right now. Untested systems are being used to broadcast and receive this. It isn't like making a DVD player with 10 years of history behind it. If you owned a first generation CD player, they ALL skipped. It's amazing this broadcast system and equipment work as well as they do considering it's like playing Truth or Dare and you're already down to your undershorts.

2) It's installed by people of widely differing abilities. I bet if we were able to chart it, more than half of the problems attributed to hardware are actually installation related. I'd be willing to bet $100 that 80% those folks with multiple hardware failures actually have installation problems. And those folks are the ones who often complain the most, understandably.

Actually, once a system gets up and running, it seems to work pretty flawlessly for most people. Do you notice how few "my system has worked for 6 months perfectly but now" threads there are? Most of the problems are initial ones. Get a system up and running and it generally stays working.

[dwlevy]

I work for a computer manufacturer, so I am familiar with what goes into making, QCing and distributing similar hardware to the HR2x.

My personal opinion is that the business model trumps all else and the result is that QC is lacking, both in the factory and in the "refurbishing" department. I think everyone at D* is trying their best to put out a quality product, but the demands by upper management to meet specific income goals probably outstrips the man power of their workforce. It's the burden of having to answer to stockholders.

[ATARI]

I think the solution to the HR20s problems is to install Vista :lol:

(see this thread (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=107722) for details)