How Many HR20's Do You Have & Do You or Don't You Have Problems???

[Michael D'Angelo]

Since there seems to be a new thread started every week and the person is wondering how good the HR20 really is because they only see post about problems and never really see good post I wanted to do a poll.

Since the HR21 is still so new and a little ways behind on software please only vote if you have an HR20.

Please vote for the number of HR20's you have and if you have problems or not over the last month.

Problems: Unit freezes, unresponsive remote, missed recordings, and etc.

Everyone please vote just so we can get as much data as possible from the members here.

I know the numbers may be a little different over all for all DirecTV customers that have an HR20 but just trying to get an idea.

Thanks,

[HDTVsportsfan]

I have had 2 HR20-700's (original) for over a year and a -100 and all three haven't given me any heartburn.
The two HR20's had a few hiccups for the fisrt couple of months, but nothing to get my blood pressure up.
I'm very happy w/ them.

[lflorack]

I have 2 HR20's.

One is an HR20-700 that I've had since April. No issues.
One is an HR20-100 that I just got two weeks ago. No issues.


I'm running the most recent CE version on both units and both are on hard-wired LAN connections.

[fwlogue]

I have three HR20 700's 1 since last August - September last year and bought two more this year. I have not had any real issues with them

[RobertE]

3 HR20-700s & 1 HR21-700. :)

The 20 in the Master Bedroom has a hard time with mpeg4 channels. Will get around to replace it eventually. Not that big of a deal, don't watch much in there anyway. May just shut it off and send it back.

[rlgold88]

I have 3
1 HR20-700 since Sept 2006
2 HR20-100 since augest 2007
I may have reset the 700 twice in that time frame due to power problems No problems with the 100's
As a note since buying an APC UPS for them no problems.
I have had more problems with the hr10-250's tivo units then the hr20's so far.

[dbmaven]

2 HR20-100s.
1 since April, the other for about a month.

No issue on either one, both in RF remote mode.

[smiddy]

As polls go, they never really exactly get every person, but it is the best possible answer given the answers available, right? I have 1 HR20-700, it has a problem with DHCP, static Ip work without issue, thus if I use that setting I'm happy, Mrs. Smiddy is happy, the whole house is happy. But if I want it to use DHCP with my network, it will hang when rebooted, and not connect to the internet. I suppsoe since this was a multiple choice poll I could have chosen yes and no, but I chose the worst of the two, yes.

[klickyklick]

Need to add Yes, had problems but not right now. :)
I have only had the HR20-100 for a month so not really a definite yes or no for me. Since I killed the gremlins I have not had a problem. My first box was DOA and the first two weeks with the second box were quite chaotic at times. Every sentence ended with I wish I still had my TiVo. I had a 3rd box which was a HR20-700 refurb but I returned it when the HR20-100 started working normal. I prefer the -100 over the -700. Fiber out, ext RF ANT, cooler temp and more quiet. The last three weeks have been OK. *knock* *knock*

[Tom Robertson]

I have a slew of HR2Xs, and from time to time I have had problems, particularly due to my efforts with CEs. Given that, I'd like to abstain rather than skew the data one way other another.

Cheers,
Tom

[barryb]

Please vote for the number of HR20's you have and if you have problems or not.




Can you kindly fix a vote for me? I forgot to check the "no problems" box.

[Tom Robertson]

Can you kindly fix a vote for me? I forgot to check the "no problems" box.

Happily done.

[Sully]

I have 2 HR20-100's. They both work fine with the exception of the poor RF remote performance.

[houskamp]

2 HR20-700's both have run fine from day one...

[dwlevy]

1st = HR20-100. Worked fine for 4 months then died.

2nd = HR20-100. Been working fine since I got it almost two months ago.

3rd = HR20-700 (Refurbished). Replacement for 1st. Died after one week.

4th = HR20-700 (Refurbished). Replacement for 3rd. Flaky since day one. Locks up occasionally, won't turn on if turned off without pulling the plug and RBR, both HDMI and component feed two TVs and component goes out all the time, haven't returned it because I need OTA and RF and I'm afraid of getting a -100 or HR21. Works pretty well since I stopped turning it off and stopped tuning to the XM music channels.

5th = HR20-100 (Refurbished). No problems so far (hooked it up about a week ago).

[Grydlok]

3 HR20.
I had 1 for 12 months no problems
1 I had for 7 months no issues.
1 I had for 3 months now with out any issues.
All brand new all work.

[bhelton71]

#1 HR20-700 August 2006 - no major issues since earlier this year (this time last year was not fun)
#2 HR20-700 July 2007 - no issues

Both using OTA - did have a problem on the second one that was my fault - I swapped out an HR10. Apparently the tuners in the HR20 don't like as much signal as the HR10 and I was getting dropouts, etc. So after I added attenuation - has worked fine. And media share went away two days for some reason - not able to reproduce it - some how the ip addresses went haywire and I had to soft reset. And earlier in the year I had to hard reset a couple of times - but I don't think since March at the latest. And thats pretty much it for this year.

I voted no problems because at this time - no problems.

[Dr. Booda]

#1 HR20-700 Refurb 11/06-4/07 Bad HDD.
#2 HR20-700 Refurb 4/07-current OK except for a few CE issues.
#3 HR20-700 Refurb 9/07-10/07 Bad tuner.
#4 HR20-100 Refurb 10/07-10/07 Bad tuner.
#5 HR21-700 New 10/07-current OK.

[Michael D'Angelo]

If anyone has more than 7 HR20's please post and I will ask a MOD to add more options to the poll.

I knew a few people had 5 or 6 but I was not sure if anyone had 7 or more so I stopped at 7 but now I see someone voted 7.

[Drew2k]

Great poll!

I think it may be difficult to interpret the results, though, based on the explanation of what constitutes a "problem". If someone had an HR20 for 12 months and missed exactly one recording, they should answer "Yes, I have problems"...

[Michael D'Angelo]

Great poll!

I think it may be difficult to interpret the results, though, based on the explanation of what constitutes a "problem". If someone had an HR20 for 12 months and missed exactly one recording, they should answer "Yes, I have problems"...

I should have said I am looking for problems over the last month or so. So if you have not had any of the problems in the last month vote you don't have problems.

[4DThinker]

Having Problems is a harder question to answer than just yes or no. It's kind of like when your doctor asks you to rate the pain you are having from one to ten. One person's 9 might be another person's 4. I would general answer "No Problems" to the poll as none of the minor flaws I've experienced with my HR20s have kept me from enjoying them. I realize though that anyone else with my same experience might feel obliged to answer "Had problems" as they were more annoyed by theirs than I was by mine. If you had added a category for "Any technical difficulties?" I would have answered yes.

[Drew2k]

I should have said I am looking for problems over the last month or so. So if you have not had any of the problems in the last month vote you don't have problems.Thanks, Mike. Maybe you should add this to the top of your opening post, so new poll-takers see it right away? You are absoutely right to only look at the last month, since the HR20 today is not the same as the HR20 last year or even last month ...

[Michael D'Angelo]

Thanks, Mike. Maybe you should add this to the top of your opening post, so new poll-takers see it right away? You are absoutely right to only look at the last month, since the HR20 today is not the same as the HR20 last year or even last month ...

Done

[leww37334]

I did have a problem once, but I forgot what it was. :D :D

[bonscott87]

HR20-700 first week available Sept 2006.
Never had any major problems and even during the "dark times" I didn't have many problems either. It missed a recording once maybe a year ago and that's it.

[jordunn]

The people that are saying no trouble on HR-20's, do you have them hooked to digital sound? I have had 3 HR-20's and all have audio delay when I change channels. The one HR-21 I have had, has no audio delays, but misses recordings. That's right 4 boxes in my 1st 3 weeks as a D* Customer. Man I miss my cable box!!

[Carl Spock]

How are you going to separate true mechanical failures from operator error?

I know every time a piece of machinery doesn't work the way I want it to, it's the machine's fault, never mine. ;)

Your intent is good, BMoreRavens, but this poll is as flawed as any other.

[bidger]

I have one HR20 and, as I note in my sig, I've found that unit to be more stable over the first 10 months of this year than the HR10.

[donshan]

I have two HR20-700s. Both preform well most of the time, but I have one different issue with each:

First HR20-700 worked flawlessly since install in June, 07 until Oct 31 when I suddenly started getting pixillation problems twice on MPEG-4 HD that is cured by a red button reset. I just posted a separate thread on this.

Second HR20-700 installed Oct 15 has OTA meters that max out at 77% on five local channels that read 95 to 100 on the first HR 20 (same antenna), and don't reliably measure anything . However OTA HD on the five local channels comes in fine, so this is only a meter malfunction issue.

Overall. both HR 20s are giving good results.

[Milominderbinder2]

If the results were public, we could correlate them...

3 with few problems.

They just don't do what the manual says.

- Craig

[Michael D'Angelo]

I know polls don't always show everything but they do help some.

So far:
140 members have voted
293 total HR20's between the 140 members
31 of them have had problems over the last month

So please keep voting because I know there is a lot more than 140 members here with HR20's.

Thanks

[Capmeister]

I have 2 HR20's... I have one on a CE (latest) and one on the production build. Both have some closed captioning garbling issues, and closed captioning placement issues (which have been around for a year now.)

[Drewcipher]

I have 4 700s, and they have mostly been fine. I tend to let things build up though, and we found a 2 missed recordings recently. There may be more, but I am not sure yet.

I also have problems with guide data and the software in general. I never thought I would miss DLB as much as I do. And the autorecord feature for sports is beyond useless. I don't know if the networks are playing games or D* guide data is the problem, but the box starts recording nearly every show after it starts. I can't start earlier, as there might be 2 shows in the previous time slot. One of the shows will have anywhere from 5 seconds to 1 minute of the next show at the end. It has gotten a little better in the last week, but it still isn't right, whoever's fault it might be.

[sNEIRBO]

I had another problem this morning. Went to watch Curb Your Enthusiasm from last night and got the old blank screen with "Do you want to delete" message on it. Required a re-boot in order to get it running right.

That has happened 3 times since DirecTV CRS walked me through the process of forcing a software download to "fix" the DVR last Tuesday (10/30/07). The software did "fix" the DVR since it was not functioning at all, but now seems to require a re-boot about every other day.

[carl6]

I have two HR20's. Unfortunately I had to vote Yes, I have problems. One of the two HR20's has a (one) defective (totally dead) OTA tuner (one works properly). I'm not actually using it, and it is not an issue with regard to my using that HR20, but the defect is in fact there and was discovered within the last month.

Carl

[say-what]

2 HR20-700's

One since Nov 2006 and one since March 2007

Neither have given me any problems aside from a few CE induced issues. The last missed recording I had came in the 1st week of January 2007 and I think it was my first and only missed/bad recording.

[Stuart Sweet]

To clarify, I would call it a problem if it happens running national release software and is failing to do what it is specified to do.

For example, a freeze or a missed recording is a problem, not having DLBs is not.

[ccr1958]

the only prob i was having with the one i have
hooked up was the hanging when networked...
but that has since been corrected with the past
2 CE's....

have another HR20-100 i got late last week but
have got it hooked up yet...

[Thaedron]

To clarify, I would call it a problem if it happens running national release software and is failing to do what it is specified to do.

For example, a freeze or a missed recording is a problem, not having DLBs is not.

BMore, great work, thanks for your efforts.

Though I would add that "problem" is a bit nebulous and open to interpretation. Technical issue (failed hardware, missed recording(s) or other observable behavior where unit is not working as designed) might be a better qualifier.

For me, I have 1 HR20, though looking to increase that along with the acquisition of another HDTV soon. I have not to my knowledge had any problems. Though there are a number of requests on the wishilist that I consider very important, some approaching the "bug" category.

[deltafowler]

In a recent poll, 22% of DirecTV HR20 owners indicated that they have problems with their receivers.

not good

[belunos]

1 HR20-100, had it for 2-3 months. Tuner died shortly after the last NR. Got a guy coming out on Sunday (!!), hopefully to replace it. Love the unit, though. Still having problems with some audio dropout and lip syncing, but I'm kinda hoping a new unit will fix those problems.

[Kansas Zephyr]

3 HR20s

All three scramble the OTA after any kind of reset (new firmware, soft reset, red button, power loss).

It's a weird bug. I'm in a market with two channel 3s and 8s (Wichita, KS...yes, you read correctly, two 3s and 8s within the same DMA)...the ones I get..are deselected...and the ones I don't get selected. If I simply re-check and uncheck the ones I want, it still doesn't work, forcing me to back through antenna initial setup.

Since, I have several series scheduled for those OTA channels, it's a real pain. If I miss an update, or a power glitch, I miss shows.

This was not an issue with my HR10-250. It never scrambled the OTA settings, unless I changed them.;)

The only other issues have the related to the guide data and missing beginning and endings of some shows.

I like the HR20s just fine. I just wish my OTA bug was killed.

Oh yeah...I did have one HR20 that the HDMI died on...and got a replacement HR20 from CSR. That box also had the "77% OTA signal" bug. Where every OTA signal was 77%, even though they ranged from 60% to 100% on the other HR20s.

[lwilli201]

I have 3 HR20-700's. I am not one that takes a caliper to every CE. I use them in a normal way. The exact time the skip goes does not make that much difference to me. They record when I want them to record. They play back every thing I record. I get great reception from national and LIL channels. That is good enough for me. :)

[Smuuth]

2 HR20-700s and so few problems, I consider them negligible.
Though it was not in the poll, I also have an HR21-700 and very few problems with it as well.

[twotufruff]

#1 Hr20-100 had since 9/06 no problems
#2 Hr20-700 4/07 remote freezing up sometimes

[andbye]

Have one HR10-250 and one HR20-700 connected to a Sony 60 inch DLP 1080P
Have one HR20-700 on a Toshiba 34 inch HD CRT. Have had few problems with the three except for lip synch and closed captioning on all three. A few RBRs.
Previously had an HR20-100 that failed. Non are refurbs/ Expect to soon have an HR21 also. Still prefer the TiVo software.

[tzphotos.com]

One HR20-100 With a Tuner 2 Problem.

I have had it over a month and most of the time I get the 771 message on Tuner 2. I have been putting off the dreaded call to Customer Service, because I am still using my HR10-250 to record the channels(The 70's) that don't work on the HR20.

I am off from work on Monday so I may make that long phone call. Uhgggg!

[finaldiet]

2 HR 20's with no problems!

[cypher]

2 HR20's, using CE with some bugs to be expected as testing new firmware. Issues are not enough to stop CE.

[rapjrhb]

1 HR20-700. Intermittant audio/video sync issues, 1 missed recording and "searching for authorized content" message on HD PPV.

[cartrivision]

Problems? That's kind of a loaded question. Since there is a long list of known bugs on the HR20s that is not being addressed and fixed at at any reasonable rate (if at all) while the development team seems more concerned with adding new features, I would say that there are lots of problems with everyone's HR20.

I for one would be all for calling a moratorium on new features until the known bugs start to get worked off at a reasonable rate. While things like VOD and media sharing are nice, let's face it, a small percentage of people can or will use those features, and the manpower spent developing new features like those would have been better spent addressing known bugs which affect everybody.

[Sirshagg]

My most notable issues:
My locals over sat broke up so much i switched to OTA (which is fine)
They sometimes don't record shows that they are supposed to

[gulfwarvet]

Mike,
i have a HR20-100 & HR20-700. the only minor issue i have is very poor remote response on both models. but over all i voted no issue's.

[LI-SVT]

HR20-700 since January. It has exhibited just about every malfunction reported here at DBSTalk. Can't say I would recommend it.

[Drew2k]

HR20-700 since January. It has exhibited just about every malfunction reported here at DBSTalk. Can't say I would recommend it.Just curious ... How many malfunctions has it exhibited today? In the last 7 days? Last month?

Do you find that over time the number of malfunctions on a weekly basis has decreased, increased, or remained the same since January?