Remote works sporadically with HR20

[Scratch]

For the last week I have been having trouble with the remote to my HR20 unit. I was using the standard white remote that came with the unit. Suddenly a week ago occasionally only the mute button works. If I wait a few minutes everything will start working, but then eventually it happens again. It's really becoming a nuisance. I even bought a brand new remote from DirecTV, thinking that was the problem, but it wasn't. Anybody have any ideas what could have happened? By the way, I have changed the batteries and also reset the receiver, but the problem reappears.:(

[kfmcmahon]

I have had the same problem for about a week. Tried several Dtv remotes as well as my Harmony 880, which has worked with my HR20-100 for 2 years...no response to IR remotes. I tried several red button resets, menu resets (including resetting everything and losing my recorded material!), power resets, remote settings in the setup menu. I finally called DTV today and they went through all the above steps again (torture), all to no avail. They will send out a tech to fix/replace the box this week. I need the OTA so will probably get the HR21 and the AM21 as the techs don't carry the HR20's on the trucks anymore. Also, I have frequent audio "clipping" since this has occurred...Dtv rep on phone right now, I will post back when this gets resolved.

kevin

[LI-SVT]

HR20 working with the IR remote has been dicey lately. I think it is software related. If the remote wont work the other devices it is programmed for than it may be a bad remote. How is your remote set up? Does it control a DVD or VHS player for example.

[Scratch]

My remote only controls my receiver and tv. I just bought a brand new RC64 remote from DirecTV and it still won't work all the time. For some reason today it is worse than ever.:mad:

[jg!]

I noticed a problem last night with my remote and my HR-20. I have it set up as an RF remote. I think it is a software problem. I mostly noticed the problem being not responsive on the skip forward and back buttons.

[steve053]

When the HR-20 stops responding to the IR commands, have you tried using the buttons on the HR-20 (menu, guide, up/down, etc.)? I'm guessing that they work when the IR commands sent from a remote won't.

I had/have the exact same problem. My HR20-100 worked fine for over 9 months, then out of the blue intermittant IR problems. It took 3+ months of trial and error, but I "think" I have it working now.

My HR20-100 was placed on the top of a media cabinet under my plasma tv. I ended up moving the HR20 into the cabinet and hooking up the HotLink pro IR repeater to power the HR20. I initially had some trouble with the placement of the receiving eye as well as the repeater on HR20. So far I have eliminted the intermittant lock-ups, but have an occasional on/of glitch. I have been running this way for 1.5 months and it has been very stable.

I'm going to try the Xantech plasma proof IR repeater system to see if that will fix the entier problem.

I would also suggest subscribing to DirecTv's protection plan. After you sign up you have to wait 30 days until the actual protection kicks in, but I can say that you do receive better troubelshooting service in return. Before I had the plan they were going to send out a tech after spending 2 hours trying multiple remote codes. I declined the service call as the unit started working again and there was no AM21 to replace my OTA (which I use daily). After the protection plan kicked in the rep told me to do a "reset all" (which essentially wipes the hdd and resets the HR20 to factory conditions) and if that didn't work he would send a replacement unit (an HR20 -100 or -700). Since I had 25 hours of my daughter's recordings I needed to pull off I told him I'd get back to him when I had a chance to do the reset. In the interum my above "fix" is working so I never reset the dvr.

Best of luck!

When the HR20 works it's great, but it really bits when it's not working.

Steve

[Scratch]

Now the remote is working fine, but 15 minutes ago I had to use the buttons on the receiver to do anything. I have no doubt that eventually today it will act up again. Very annoying!

[rudeney]

Check to see if you have any compact fluorescent bulbs nearby. Those can cause interference with IR signaling. Also, I believe that somehow, either through component failure of software updates, the IR sensor on the HR2x units become “hyper sensitive”. I had been using a stick-on IR emitter on the HR20 in my living room for over a year, but a few months ago, that stopped working. I had to move the emitters several inches away from the HR20’s sensor to make it work.

[Scratch]

I don't have any compact fluorescent bulbs nearby. I noticed the last software update was May 13th. Could it take this long for a glitch to show up?

[bwaldron]

Check to see if you have any compact fluorescent bulbs nearby. Those can cause interference with IR signaling.

As can plasma TVs -- though if the OP had recently replaced TVs, it probably would have been mentioned.

[Scratch]

I've got a Sharp Aquos LCD TV that I've had for over a year now.

[mdavej]

I think the problem is the remote. I've found taking out the batteries for several seconds then reinstalling, sometimes 3 or 4 times will fix it. When mine acts up in RF mode, especially when entering numbers, the green LED doesn't flash immediately when you press the buttons, but after a delay, flashes multiple times. Almost as if it's in program mode and you've entered an invalid code. All is well after the battery trick. Then it's ok for several days, even weeks sometimes.

[BudShark]

I'm with you Scratch.

My HR20-700 started acting up 2-3 weeks ago. First it wouldn't accept power On, then it would take a few key presses to get items to work. Over the weekend, when I was doing a test, I couldn't get it to accept a command on restart. It took 15 times to get it to accept the command. I sat in front of it with the remote 5 inches away from the IR receiver.

This is with 2 stock 64 remotes and a universal Harmony One. It is definitely NOT the remote or anything near the unit. There's a 2nd HR20-100 sitting a shelf above it that works just fine. Its intermittant - some days its fine, some days its worse. But, the power on is a constant. I can never get the thing to wake up. Have to go hit the button on it.

Chris

[Indiana627]

My white remote started doing this same thing this weekend. I too though it was the year old batteries, but then it started working fine again. Do we know for sure what is going on yet?

[Trehutch]

I replaced my xantech receiver with a plasma/LCd proof Receiver about a week ago. Tested it and it was fine, as of the past weekend intermitten problems with the pronto 3000 remote. Especially with the down button and the select button. Even on the white remote same thing. I know it is getting the signal because you can see the red light register on the receiver, something is up. Also my second unit int he bedroom is a bit flaky as of late as well. Both units are HR20-100.

Wife is getting frustrated

:eek2: :confused:

[Edmund]

I've got a Sharp Aquos LCD TV that I've had for over a year now.

But did you change the settings on the tv, like turning on the backlighting? The backlighting on the Aquos has given many of owners problem wth their remotes.

[Scratch]

But did you change the settings on the tv, like turning on the backlighting? The backlighting on the Aquos has given many of owners problem wth their remotes.

I have the back lighting set on 5. It's been that way since I've had the tv.

[Camelot_One]

Same issue here, sometimes the HR20 just refuses to respond to the remote. I've tried testing, but there doesn't seem to be any formula to it. It generally only lasts 5 or 10 minutes at a time, so it's hard to tell if I've done something to fix the issue, or if it's just worked itself out again.

[Scratch]

That sounds exactly like the trouble I'm having. I thought about calling a CSR, but by the time I get through it would probably start working again. This is very frustrating.

[BudShark]

In my opinion it seems like its software due to number of people seeing it and the sporadic nature. I guess it could be related to the IR receiver, but it just seems strange. I'm assuming we have a mix of software versions on here (not everyone is on a recent CE... some are on National Releases right?)

Chris

[Scratch]

My last software update was May 13th to 0x22d.

[cody21]

Yep - ditto ... an intermittent problem that seems to have surfaced over the last 2 months... (0x22d?)

[Camelot_One]

My last software update was May 13th to 0x22d.

Same here. I haven't had time to do the CEs lately.

[Scratch]

This may be a stupid question, but is this problem just with the IR remotes? Should I upgrade to an RF remote or do you guys think this is a software problem that will eventually be resolved?

[Camelot_One]

It seems to be the receiver itself. I tried switching to RF mode for a few days, and still had the same issue.

[Scratch]

It seems to be the receiver itself. I tried switching to RF mode for a few days, and still had the same issue.

Thanks for the reply. I kind of figured it wouldn't work, but I thought I would throw it out there anyway.

[jg!]

I have mine setup as an RF remote and had the problems stated above.

[Scratch]

Does anybody know if this is just an HR20 problem or is it also a problem on the HR21?

[jwd45244]

Does anybody know if this is just an HR20 problem or is it also a problem on the HR21?

There are people reporting (me, included) issues where HR21 seems to ignore remote key-presses. A fix is coming the next NR should have the fix. I am running the CE version and have not had that problem in a while.

[ToolMan100]

Yeah, I have the HR21-700 and noticed again last night that the receiver was not talking nice to the remote and vice versa. I would hit fast forward and the receiver would freeze initially and then begin to move forward and pushing of the remote buttons did nothing. I did notice the "blue eye" on the front of the receiver was solid and I tried pushing buttons on the receiver itself and nothing happened. After about 30 seconds or so, functionality came back. Weird stuff.

[MalibuRacing]

I've been having this issue on my HR21-700 since I got it (about 3-4 months ago). I thought it was the remote at first, but I've tried 2 other "white" remotes and 2 harmony remotes, still the same. When it doesn't respond to the remote, I can walk up to the receiver and place the remote right in front of the IR window of the receiver and it will work.

It seems to only have this problem when the receiver has not been "used" for a long period of time (hours). It seems to take a few times to finally "wake up" and seems to work fine after that. Very aggravating.... :mad: