R15 First Week Review

[VaJim]

Greetings...Great Forum. I've only been here a few weeks and have learned alot. I've been with DTV for about 3 years. Just went through an upgrade on my 3 receivers (1 basic and 2 TIVOs). I now have 1 D11 and 2 R-15. All 3 are the 300's.

The install went fine for the most part for I did them myself. Basic receiver came in the mail and the 2 R15 were dropped off by the installer and told them I would do it. The only glitch was after after about an hour of playing with the 2 R-15's, I decide to check the record function. I then received the 'DVR service is NOT activated'. Had to spend another 45 minutes on the phone with DTV to get both to record. Also one of the R15 wouldn't get the XM music until the next day.

Software - Each R15 came with the ox102B and then downloaded ox103F, which is were I'm at now. I'm in SE Virginia.

Performance - I've been following the feedback from folks who are not happy with the R15. Then I read a note from soneone who reminded us of the initial problems TIVO and so forth. I tend to follow that lead. I'll just wait for the next couple of software updates and hope for the best. For now they are getting the job done. I'm not a big recorder of programs, but I really did like the way DTV brought back the Active Channels. We used to have the Active weather when I first signed up.

One thing I did notice as a plus for the R15, is that with my old TIVO (Samsung & Phillips) I could never get the remote to program my Walmart ILO TV. The R15 appears to have cracked the code.

Thanks!

[Earl Bonovich]

:welcome_s

Glad you found the forum, and thanks for the "first week review"

[cabanaboy1977]

Welcome to the forum. Looks like you probably won't have many issues with the R15 since you are a little user. If run into any issues let us know and we'll try to help. Again welcome.

[Phroz]

Well, I recently got an R15-300 as well. I guess it wouldn't hurt to put some of my thoughts here too. :p

Keep in mind this is my first DVR, and I have never had/used TIVO before.

Now when I first saw it, I basically thought, "where's the rest of it?". It's relatively small, only about 1" deeper than my D10-300. It seems I always get stuck with Mexican Philips receivers...

My frist impresions of the unit are pretty solid. The boot-up time is a little quicker than my D10, and oddly enough, the unit runs much, much cooler. It barely gets warm to the touch. I couldn't keep my hand on the D10 for more than a few seconds without fear of burning myself. Heat is a concern of mine because the unit is in an enclosed cabinet with my Onkyo receiever and DVD changer.

Now once I got into the settings, the receiver prompted me to download new software (103F; original was 102b), so I didn't play around with the oringal software version. Once the new software was loaded I went into the guide. Now browsing the guide is noticeably slower than the D10, but not terribly slow (possibly because the guide is for a longer time period so it's a lot larger...). I used a Hughes E11 for years, and I had to wait for that to download new guide data for every 6 hours I advance, so I like to keep things in perspective. It could be a lot worse. :p Aside from the guide itself, navigating the menus in general is much more responsive than the D10.

One thing about the D10 that bugged me is that it seemed underpowered. Leaving a channel and going to the guide or doing the reverse, going to a channel from the guide would cause a 2 second lag. You would just see a stillframe picture on the screen for 2 seconds and then the show would pickup later. Thankfully the R15 doesn't suffer from this. The R15 also brought back the mini-guide that I loved on my Hughes E11 and sorely missed on the D10. The R15 does still have some quirks though. The channel banner takes a second to update after changing the channel, and if you're just channel surfing, it can be mildly annoying. The mix channels and active features (weather etc.) are still a little laggy, thought not as much so as my D10.

Now onto the recording. I have about 10-15 SLs setup with about 45 items in the "to do list". The SLs are all set up as First Run only, and I haven't come across any issues there yet. The one major issue I do have is when pausing a show and then hitting play, the audio has a 2-second delay while the video starts instantly. That can be really annoying. When watching recorded programs, I use the 30-sec skip to get through commericals and then hit the jump-back button to play. This seems to work out perfectly for me.

Overall, I'm pleased with the unit. There are a few quirks, but that's to be expected.

[rlambert7]

...The one major issue I do have is when pausing a show and then hitting play, the audio has a 2-second delay while the video starts instantly. That can be really annoying. When watching recorded programs, I use the 30-sec skip to get through commericals and then hit the jump-back button to play. This seems to work out perfectly for me.

Overall, I'm pleased with the unit. There are a few quirks, but that's to be expected.

The latest version has pretty much fixed the audio delay when coming out of pause. Just "standby" (but don't hold your breath), you will eventually automatically get the new software. The quickest way to see if you have the new software is to press the "Menu" button. What had been the the "Find By" function will be "Search"

There used to be an audio delay when coming out of FF, too. That's much better in the new version of the software, too.

[cabanaboy1977]

The latest version has pretty much fixed the audio delay when coming out of pause.

Is there a better pausing during live TV with the new update? Now most of the time if I'm watching live TV I have to pause like 6 times before the pause will stick. It will pause for 2 or 3 seconds and then resume again.

[qwerty]

Is there a better pausing during live TV with the new update? Now most of the time if I'm watching live TV I have to pause like 6 times before the pause will stick. It will pause for 2 or 3 seconds and then resume again.

I've never had that problem. Maybe it's delay? You press pause, don't see anything, press it again then it registers both and pauses and unpauses at about the same time?

[cabanaboy1977]

I've never had that problem. Maybe it's delay? You press pause, don't see anything, press it again then it registers both and pauses and unpauses at about the same time?

It doesn't happen all the time but it pause right away and you see the || icon and then you see the play icon. Most of the time I'm hit pause and then get up and it's playing again so I hit pause again and then have to do it 5-6 times. This only happens during live recordings and I think only happens when your 100% "live" (aka not behind in the buffer).

[qwerty]

This only happens during live recordings and I think only happens when your 100% "live" (aka not behind in the buffer).

Hmm...I was going to say maybe the pause button on your remote is sticking until you said that.

[rlambert7]

Is there a better pausing during live TV with the new update? Now most of the time if I'm watching live TV I have to pause like 6 times before the pause will stick. It will pause for 2 or 3 seconds and then resume again.

<< I have to pause like 6 times before the pause will stick. >>

I think the government must be surreptitiously trying for force some sort of exercise program on us. :)

Seriously, though, I had that problem on older versions. I don't watch live TV that often, and even when I do, I rarely use pause on live TV. However, I will say I have done it a few times with 10c8, and it paused right away, and stuck (although, I will confess that I looked back over my shoulder a couple of times as I walked to the kitchen to see if it stayed stuck). I won't offer that as an adequate test, though

When I had the problem of the pause not "sticking", what I did was back up a bit, and then the pause seemed to "stick". WIERD.

[FlyingmWY]

I had the same pause problem, but has seemed to quit with 10c8. It sometimes would take like you said 6 times to get it to stick.

[stuart628]

well my dvr r15-300 missed one of my wifes recordings (shes not happy) it didnt miss it but only got 18 minutes of it for some reason.

[Bud33]

It doesn't happen all the time but it pause right away and you see the || icon and then you see the play icon. Most of the time I'm hit pause and then get up and it's playing again so I hit pause again and then have to do it 5-6 times. This only happens during live recordings and I think only happens when your 100% "live" (aka not behind in the buffer).

I reported this right after I got my first R-15 in Dec. I was told it was probably a bad remote, but the fact that in only happens with 100% live, disproves that.
I like to use it when I get a phone call or something in the middle of a live program:sure:

[mikewolf13]

It doesn't happen all the time but it pause right away and you see the || icon and then you see the play icon. Most of the time I'm hit pause and then get up and it's playing again so I hit pause again and then have to do it 5-6 times. This only happens during live recordings and I think only happens when your 100% "live" (aka not behind in the buffer).

When this happened to me I also did not have the abiltiy to rewind in the buffer.

resetting fixed this.

[cabanaboy1977]

When this happened to me I also did not have the abiltiy to rewind in the buffer.

resetting fixed this.

Rewinding and FF where working ok in the buffer. Althought I've never had any luck with the live buffer and the trick play working as nice as it does in MYVOD. I'll try to rewind a couple seconds or jumpback and seem to be where I was when I hit the button in the first place. I'm usally not using the live buffer but when I do I get ticked that it's so hard to get the functions to work. Mostly I'm using the jumpback or rewind to get the "what did he say".

[carl6]

I have had repeated problems trying to use the trick play functions while watching a live show that is also being recorded. They typically do not work, and what's more, doing that seems to mess other things up leading to a need to do a reset.

However, I have not had problems using the trick play functions on a live show that is not being recorded, or on a recorded show from MyVOD. The only time I seem to have problems is when I'm on a live show that also happens to be recording.

10C8 software. R15-500.

Carl

[qwerty]

I have had repeated problems trying to use the trick play functions while watching a live show that is also being recorded. They typically do not work, and what's more, doing that seems to mess other things up leading to a need to do a reset.

However, I have not had problems using the trick play functions on a live show that is not being recorded, or on a recorded show from MyVOD. The only time I seem to have problems is when I'm on a live show that also happens to be recording.

10C8 software. R15-500.

Carl

I've also noticed the trick play functions have gotten a little flaky under 10C8.

[tbone2004]

well my dvr r15-300 missed one of my wifes recordings (shes not happy) it didnt miss it but only got 18 minutes of it for some reason.

This is my biggest fear - my wife who is still clutching her VCR - will never let me live it down if that happens...maybe I will rig a VCR in a closet somewhere as my emergency backup. :lol:

[rlambert7]

well my dvr r15-300 missed one of my wifes recordings (shes not happy) it didnt miss it but only got 18 minutes of it for some reason.
This is my biggest fear - my wife who is still clutching her VCR - will never let me live it down if that happens...maybe I will rig a VCR in a closet somewhere as my emergency backup. :lol:

I actually did that. Well, not in a closet (but, not a bad idea if all you want to do is "get it on tape"), but in the other corner of our living room. When I first got DTV (my first experience with satellite TV and DVRs) back in Feb, I ordered an R15 and a standard receiver. My wife and I thought that there would be times when we each might want to be watching something different.

I did have some problems when we first got DTV with getting "The Young and the Restless" (my wife's 'soap') recorded, so set up an "autotune" on the standard receiver, and recorded TY&TR on a VCR. I did that faithfully up until just a couple of weeks ago. Long before that, though, TY&TR started recording quite reliably on the R15.

It turns out that it is quite rare, now, that my wife and I would want to be watching different shows on TV, so I called DTV and cancelled my standard receiver, and replaced it with the 'Protection Plan' (a $1 net increase in my bill).

There are actually things that only I want to watch, and only my wife wants to watch, but because the R15 can record two shows at the same time (and you can be watching an already record show at the same time as well), it is very easy to "schedule" our viewings of shows. Most of what we watch is something we have previously recorded.

Also, a nice thing happened a few months ago: TY&TR was added to the SOAP channel, so if something happens to the CBS broadcast (like news break-in), I can record it on the SOAP channel at 4 or 10pm (I've actually had to do that on two occasions, once when the R15 messed up, and once for a news breakin)