HR21-700....Don't Understand the complaints

[moonpie23]

Maybe I am speaking too soon here but I have had the HR21-700 for a week now and I cannot tell you nice this machine has been. I have read a ton of compaints and was nervous about upgrading but boy am I glad I did.

On Demand was a cinch to set up, HD quality is great even with a component hook up. RF setup for remote works like a champ.

I do think the guide pages down too slow and changing channels by using the up and down key is slow but that may be resolved in the next few software upgrades.

I am very satisfied with this unit and also want to say how much this forum has helped research items as well...

[photostudent]

I don't know a lot about the software updates on these units but most of the bugs in my HR-21 have disappeared in the few weeks, (maybe at the expense of some speed). Maybe later production runs have had some hardware bug fixes as well. Count yourself lucky and enjoy!

[Michael D'Angelo]

Welcome to DBSTalk

I am glad you are enjoying your HR21.

You will always see more complaints than you will see good things. I completely agree with you. I got my first two HR20's in September 2006. Than I added another in May 2007 and now have an HR21-200 too. I think they are the best DVR's I have ever used.

[itzme]

I'm curious what your last dvr was. Just as a point of reference.

[lparsons21]

I just got my HR21-700 last Sunday and I'm with you. It ain't perfect, but it beats the heck out of the HR20-100 I had for the month before that (or should I say the 4 HR20-100's?).

I've only had one glitch, a black recording, one time, but other than that it has been flawless, if a bit on the slow side.

Color me happy! :D

[scottman]

I've just had my HR21-700 since December, and it has had an incredible amount of fixes and feature additions, On Demand being the biggie I think. Even the guide and display quality have changed appearance since I first got it. You came in at a good time. Enjoy your receiver!

[pilot305]

Will moonpie23, the reason you don't understand the complaints is because you are one of the lucky ones who got the receiver and/or dish installed correctly. I agree, the HR21-700 menus and guides are indeed easy to use. I think more people complain about the bugs, alignments, searching for satellite, etc..etc... that surround this receiver and not how you navigate through the device's screens.

see my thread http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=121951
My problem MAYBE the receiver (HR21-700) or the alignment, bbc, etc....etc...

Congrats moonpie23 on a successful setup!!

[dbronstein]

You will always see more complaints than you will see good things.

Also, the people who come to forums like this tend to be the power users who are going to find more problems because they are pushing the boxes a lot more. The average users who just watch TV generally don't post.

[Earl Bonovich]

Also, the people who come to forums like this tend to be the power users who are going to find more problems because they are pushing the boxes a lot more. The average users who just watch TV generally don't post.

Not so much anymore...

Over the last 6 months or so... we have seen a LOT more "average" users, then power users.

[MartyS]

Also, the people who come to forums like this tend to be the power users who are going to find more problems because they are pushing the boxes a lot more. The average users who just watch TV generally don't post.

And, the average users tend to NOT download CE's and will call DirecTV CSR's with all their issues and problems.

[Ken S]

moonpie,

I'm happy that your DVR is working up to your expectations. It's also nice that you're willing to share that information with others. What I don't understand is why while doing that you choose a thread title and suggest that others complaints are not well founded?

Others have had, and continue to have, problems with the entire HR2X series. There are pages of issues reported on both the NR and CE versions of the software. Those posts could potentially help DirecTV to fix issues and improve the unit. Those complaints may be one of the reasons that the unit you have now is operating as well as it is.

[scottman]

Keep in mind, he's had it for only a week. When I had mine for a week I was just amazed at the HD quality, being able to record anything, and the new channels I couldn't get before. After a few weeks, the magic faded so I moved on to networking it, CE's, etc.

I also read that he's using component cables, which aren't as problematic compared to hdmi (I think). I'm sure those who are using hdmi are probably the ones experiencing more of the audio issues (I think x 2).

Nonetheless, he's right. An average, above-average technical eye will really enjoy the HR21-700, compared to the NR last fall. But it still has room to improve for those "cutting edge" users. Someone has to keep Directv on their toes! :)

[JLester]

I have to echo your comments. I have been a DirecTivo user for almost seven years (Sony SAT-T60 followed by two R10s). We've had three HD sets for a couple of years, but were waiting until DTV launched more channels before upgrading. I was really worried after reading complaints of missed recordings, lockups, etc., but ordered an HR21 in January from a local installer. They installed the new dish and did all the setup themselves rather that having one of DTV's installers come out. I don't know if that may have helped or not. It has been pretty much rock solid for the last two months. I kept one R10 in my bedroom just in case, but will probably upgrade it later this year.

I am not saying that no one has problems, I have no doubt that they do. However, it is definitely not all of them.

Jason

[Orient Express]

I must say that my experience with 2 HR21-700s for the last year has been nothing short of anti-climatic. This as it should be. The boxes work day in and day out with out any problems.

Both units have performed just about flawlessly, and with the exception of the normal teething pains that one would expect with the transition to digital television, the entire experience so far has been very satisfying.

I have been involved with DVRs since the late 90s, and started with the Echostar/WebTV STB. I then moved on to the DTV/ UltimateTV STB (for the record, I was also part of the UltimateTV development team at Microsoft during that time). I have had the Tivo/DTV STBs before the HR21s.

All in all I would rate the HR21 almost as good as the UltimateTV STB for user experience, and just as good for performance and features as Tivo. Now, I know that many lament the lack of dual live buffers and PiP, but for me those features are not that important.

I think that DTV has done a good job continuing to update and improve the features and user experience with the HR21, even though many of the features like VOD, interactivity, remote scheduler and the Mix channels were things that we had running in prototype form over 10 years ago. It is good to see these things see the light of day.

Now, if DTV would improve the look and feel of the experience. That would be icing on the cake.

[ulbonado]

My biggest complaint about my HR21 is the sluggish performance. As you say, it is slow to page through lists, be it todo, playlist, guide, search results, or what have you. And what makes it worse is that when I hit a button on the remote and it doesn't respond immediately, sometimes it has queued that command and will do it a moment later, but other times it appears to have simply missed it. So I never know whether to just wait a moment longer or hit the button again. Very frustrating.

It's made worse by the fact that there is so much paging to do-- the playlist doesn't remember your spot when you enter it fresh each time the way Tivo did (although this can be alleviated somewhat by returning to it with the "back" button when possible) so you're always paging, paging. And keyword search results return 10s or 100s of dups, so you have to page endlessly, and slowly (with missed commands) through those.

I also get late recording starts sometimes (though not always), audio dropouts (occasionally, although the Red Sox-Dodgers game on ESPNHD yesterday was particularly painful-- dropouts about every minute or two throughout the whole 3 hour broadcast), and also occasionally undeletable shows. I hit delete over and over, and they just sit there. Playing them results in a blank grey screen, so maybe the data has actually been removed, but the directory entry remains and can't be cleared.

All that said, the basics are there, and if I had it to do over again, I would still get it, because DirecTV has the HD that my cable company didn't. But the HR21 itself, while basically functional, is buggy, and a big step backwards from my old Tivo. I used to think my Tivo was slow, until I got the HR21. Now I see I didn't know what slow really was....

I don't mean to be a hater, I enjoy the HD I get through the HR21, but facts is facts.

[tcusta00]

I've had a great experience with my HR21 since December but today was the first bad... the mysterious black screen recording. Thank god it didn't happen on Lost and it was "just" Family Guy.

[moonpie23]

My previous DVR was the Philips Tivo branded DVR and I loved it. It died and I went to the R15-100. Although it was a big learning curve coming from a Tivo branded unit I eventually learned to like it after many software upgrades. So I am comparing the HR21-700 to the Tivo branded dvr's and the R15-100 from Directv. Regretted moving past the Tivo while I had the R15-100 but with the HR21-700 I forgot all about the Tivo.

I do understand some people will have problems due to faulty equipment but the number of issues I was reading seemed far more numerous than faulty equipment.

That's why I am so surprised by how well mine is performing. Maybe I should do that more often, read about all the negatives on something before I purchase and then be pleasantly surprised when it works well....

Not starting anything...maybe the title wasn't worded as well as it could have been...just wanted to let everyone know I'm impressed with it and was curious how many others were and it seems like there may be as many good experiences than bad...

[davidpoe]

I really like the functionality of the HR21-700, and dispite the VOD problems, I am pretty satisfied. However, I now use the HR10-250 tivo unit upstairs, and would never want to switch if it wasn't for the mpeg4. Directv should give me a free upgrade so I don't have a superior (in functionality, duel tuners, etc) unit to compare the hr21 to. My wife said she will kill me if I switch.
Dave in NJ

[Mickstix]

I just wish they could figure out why HD channel 607 (SpeedTV) causes the hr21-700 to freeze up.. That's one of my most watched channels on the weekends, and when it's on 607 HD for more than a couple hours at a time, I can expect it to lockup at least 2x per day..

[rudeney]

My first DVR was a Sony SAT-W60 UTV which I bought it in 2001 when they were first offered. Within two years, I had added three more UTV’s to my home and upgraded all of them to 100 hours of capacity. Many UT’s experienced defective tuner chips, but I never had that problem. The only issues I experienced were the occasional late start or early stop of recordings, a few unscheduled reboots, a show appearing as recorded, but stopping after a few seconds of playback, and the occasional sluggish response when the disk was full.
I acquired my first HR20-700 as soon as they were offered in my area in September 2006. I now have three of them, an H20, plus two R15’s that I no longer use. All of those UTV annoyances I’ve also experienced with my HR20’s. In addition, I’ve also had lip sync issues as well as audio dropouts related to playback from the buffer, which are problems I never had with UTV. I’ve also had pixilation and “bit starving” issues on HD channels.
I guess being something of an early adopter of DVR technology, I have come to accept and live with the minor problems. I do continue to look forward to enhancements which address these bugs and add features. UTV went through several upgrades that added many useful and welcome features (CID, better maintenance of saved shows, faster performance, etc.), and now I see the HR2x units going through the same “growing pains”. So far, I’ve not had any issues worth serious complaint. Yes, it’s annoying when a recoding fails or there are dropouts and pixilation, or I have to reboot, but nothing’s perfect and besides that, “it’s just television”.