HR20 freeze every 10~12 hours and other 0x120 problems

[n3ntj]

I thought things were going well with 0x120, but after a few days, all sorts of weird things are happening with my HR20 with the 120 update.

For the first day (Tuesday), things looked good. Better OTA operation, trickplay was working well, etc.

Between Tuesday nite until tonite (Thursday), my HR20 freezes every 10~12 hours. No front panel or remote buttons do anything. My wife or I have to RBR all the time now. She is really PO'd that we paid $$ for this thing. She wants to send it back. Not a good situation in my household.. :lol:

Also, I've noticed with recent updates that I have to delete a program 2 or 3 times for it to be actually removed from my Playlist. Why is this?

Also, when I go to make a change to a Series Link (like change it from recording ALL episodes to only First Run), the unit does not remember my changes. I go back in immediately and it is still at my old settings. Sometimes, it says "Update All" and this works. Other times, I make changes and the HR20 won't save my changes. What is going on?

Can anyone else replicate these issues?

[oldschoolecw]

It sounds like you need a new unit.

[Crimson]

Yes, have it REPLACED.. it should not act that way. I've only had one lockup with my HR-20 in over 2 months, and that was with the 115 software I believe.. Don't wait for software to fix it, have them send you a new one.. it should not be doing that.

[skodises]

Also, I've noticed with recent updates that I have to delete a program 2 or 3 times for it to be actually removed from my Playlist. Why is this?

Also, when I go to make a change to a Series Link (like change it from recording ALL episodes to only First Run), the unit does not remember my changes. I go back in immediately and it is still at my old settings. Sometimes, it says "Update All" and this works. Other times, I make changes and the HR20 won't save my changes. What is going on?

Try giving it 5 minutes and rechecking. It takes a while for changes made in one set of menus to propagate through to being visible in another set of menus. It seems that it should be faster, but the programmers have pretty clearly tried to optimize real-time bhavior (what is the picture doing) at the expense of background/housekeeping processes (the program has been deleted, but the playlist hasn't yet updated to reflect it). Seriously, try just waiting one bathroom-stop-worth of time, and I'll bet that the housekeeping will have caught up with reality...

[phonious]

I had the freeze problem when I came home from work at 5:30, no buttons work on remote or front of box. I did a reset and everything was fine, went to the store came home just before 8:00 and the kids where watching nick. I looked down at 8:05 and the record light was not on, check to see if Earl was a rerun, but it was froze again.


I got the update a 4:26 this morning.

[vfr781rider]

Yes, have it REPLACED.. it should not act that way. I've only had one lockup with my HR-20 in over 2 months, and that was with the 115 software I believe.. Don't wait for software to fix it, have them send you a new one.. it should not be doing that.

I'm having more lockups with 120 than any prior release myself. 3 times in 5 nights.

Don't remember the details of the 1st one. Thought it was a fluke :)

Came home yesterday and powered up the unit. Had left it on DBS station. Black screen. Get banner when pressing buttons, but otherwise unresponsive. Noticed it was recording a show at the time due to finish in 5 minutes. Let it finish and power off/on to reboot. All OK. Show that was being recorded while it was otherwise locked was fine.

Last night I leave the unit powered on all night (a first for me). Was left on OTA station. Got home today and powered on the TV. Audio and video looked fine. No response to remote or buttons on front panel. RBR to reboot and back up and running.

HDMI, 3 LNB dish only, stereo audio only.

[bluesman40220]

As mentioned in two other posts--I had this problem too with my remote freezing. It is a serious problem and needs to be addressed quickly. At first, even a RBR did not help me. The only thing that fixed it was unplugging from the wall for a few minutes.

[Ken Massingale]

We had a remote lockup yesterday also. First one in 2 months.

[klwillis]

I have been able to get the HR20 to freeze by having native resolution mode off and going to a SD channel and forcing the HR20 to up-convert to 1080i.
Now it didn't freeze immediately when I did this but only after going through multiple functions in the HR20 and doing multiple searches. Also if you using home network you access files while searching and upconverting the channel your watching.

I think its ok if you are not to active with the HR20.
I would hate to see D* fix this by removing the ability to up-convert SD channels.
Maybe a warning.

D* please don't remove the ability to up-convert I rather the bug than not being able to up-convert.
Suggesting turn on Native Mode by default most users won't even know.
And it would lower the chances new users freeze the HR20.

You might want to just limit search while in that mode.
I would suspect that the up-conversion is taxing on the HR20 and I can understand why. But it makes SD channels look so much better.

If your HR20 is freezing every 12 hours try using Native Resolution mode.
I also noticed that up-converting does push the temps up higher than normal

Week 2 with th Black HR20
So far its ahead of the R15 when I got that a year ago.

[n3ntj]

These lockup problems I am having have gotten way worse with the 120 update, although the first day with 120 was fine. 120 just seems very unstable...worse than Raven in some aspects. They better fix this before SUNDAY or there will be a lot of Super Bowl (TM) viewers. Ouch!

[lguvenoz]

I have been able to get the HR20 to freeze by having native resolution mode off and going to a SD channel and forcing the HR20 to up-convert to 1080i.
Now it didn't freeze immediately when I did this but only after going through multiple functions in the HR20 and doing multiple searches. Also if you using home network you access files while searching and upconverting the channel your watching.

I think its ok if you are not to active with the HR20.
I would hate to see D* fix this by removing the ability to up-convert SD channels.
Maybe a warning.

D* please don't remove the ability to up-convert I rather the bug than not being able to up-convert.
Suggesting turn on Native Mode by default most users won't even know.
And it would lower the chances new users freeze the HR20.

You might want to just limit search while in that mode.
I would suspect that the up-conversion is taxing on the HR20 and I can understand why. But it makes SD channels look so much better.

If your HR20 is freezing every 12 hours try using Native Resolution mode.
I also noticed that up-converting does push the temps up higher than normal

Week 2 with th Black HR20
So far its ahead of the R15 when I got that a year ago.

I can vouch for the temperature difference as well. I've noticed a 5-7 degree differential in the temperature reading based upon whether native mode is off or on. Interesting thing that I never correlated until just now.... hmmmm....

[O2BRich]

These lockup problems I am having have gotten way worse with the 120 update, although the first day with 120 was fine. 120 just seems very unstable...worse than Raven in some aspects. They better fix this before SUNDAY or there will be a lot of Super Bowl (TM) viewers. Ouch!

Have you tried a reformat?
If you’re going to get a new one you might as well try it.
After my first forced update mine was locking up constantly and progressed to where it would lock up every 10 to 15 minutes. I did a reformat and fixed it immediately
I have had a few lockups since but that really seems normal with the HR20 right now.

Hope this helps

[LI-SVT]

Native mode can be a problem for some TVs. Mine, like many others, will not accept 480i via HDMI/DVI.

[katesguy]

having a lot of problems since 120 was sent down Wed morning. The first series recording of Regis and Kelly shows recording each morning but is BSOD when going to veiw it. Other recordings the rest of the day seem to be ok. Remote is now freezing up also. Did not happen on 10b. Local HD still very shakey especially on WBBMDT Channel 2. This, of course is where the BEARS are going to win on Sunday. Think I will record and watch at the same time in hopes of getting the whole game. My wife is pissed!!!

[flipper2006]

I can join this boat, I locked up 4 times yday in a 5 hour block on watching tv. They better resolve this in the next 24 hours.

[kellen34]

The HR20 is junk and D* knows it. I called them 2 nights ago and the guy in customer retention told me they released this receiver about a month too early. I'm thinking it was released about 6 months too early. It's a joke and has turned my opinion about D* 180 degrees. I've been with them for 10 years and always thought they were better than anyone else. They are terrible now.

[hasan]

The HR20 is junk and D* knows it. I called them 2 nights ago and the guy in customer retention told me they released this receiver about a month too early. I'm thinking it was released about 6 months too early. It's a joke and has turned my opinion about D* 180 degrees. I've been with them for 10 years and always thought they were better than anyone else. They are terrible now.

This is NOT the thread for this kind of post. This post belongs in the HR20 Q & A thread.

This is the Cutting Edge thread...if you don't want to participate in it without trashing D*, then go post where it might be appropriate...it isn't here. This thread is for discussing cutting edge issues, new releases, etc, it is NOT for slamming D*...you can get and give all of that you want in the other threads.

PLEASE, don't ruin this thread too, or there will be virtually none of us left willing to help other people. We came here to get away from this kind of stuff.

[kellen34]

This is NOT the thread for this kind of post. This post belongs in the HR20 Q & A thread.

This is the Cutting Edge thread...if you don't want to participate in it without trashing D*, then go post where it might be appropriate...it isn't here. This thread is for discussing cutting edge issues, new releases, etc, it is NOT for slamming D*...you can get and give all of that you want in the other threads.

PLEASE, don't ruin this thread too, or there will be virtually none of us left willing to help other people. We came here to get away from this kind of stuff.

You know what hasan? Does the truth hurt? I'm not trashing anyone, so take the pacifier out of your mouth. I'm only stating facts, facts that I was told by a directv representative less than 48 hours ago.

[hasan]

You know what hasan? Does the truth hurt? I'm not trashing anyone, so take the pacifier out of your mouth. I'm only stating facts, facts that I was told by a directv representative less than 48 hours ago.

I don't disagree with anything you are saying....just don't do it HERE. This forum was set up for a specific purpose....one of which is to "stick to our knitting", and bashing D* isn't part of the fabric. If we can't have a place to dispassionately and reasonably discuss HR 20 issues, then the whole place becomes a bitching sewer.

If you want to discuss D* issues, go ahead....just do it in the right place...and this ain't it, and personal insults ("pacifier" comment), have no place in any of these forums.

[kellen34]

I don't disagree with anything you are saying....just don't do it HERE. This forum was set up for a specific purpose....one of which is to "stick to our knitting", and bashing D* isn't part of the fabric. If we can't have a place to dispassionately and reasonably discuss HR 20 issues, then the whole place becomes a bitching sewer.

If you want to discuss D* issues, go ahead....just do it in the right place...and this ain't it, and personal insults ("pacifier" comment), have no place in any of these forums.

My apologies to you.

I had my first BSOD in two months last night. OTA channels seem to not be as good with this version. Just walking by the TV tips them into a pixelation frenzy now. Version 10B was rock solid for me. I almost wish there was a pull down menu that D* had to where we could choose the version that worked best for us, because clearly, some versions work better for others. I know that's not possible though, but would be nice.

[hasan]

My apologies to you.

I had my first BSOD in two months last night. OTA channels seem to not be as good with this version. Just walking by the TV tips them into a pixelation frenzy now. Version 10B was rock solid for me. I almost wish there was a pull down menu that D* had to where we could choose the version that worked best for us, because clearly, some versions work better for others. I know that's not possible though, but would be nice.

I agree...a boot sequence entry code would be TERRIFIC! What I mean by that is when forcing a download instead of using 02468, we could use 01357 or some other number to load a firmware set we like. Now....there is one really big problem with this....D* cannot support multiple firmwares...they can hardly (and poorly at the CSR level) support the current national release. If they are put in the position of trying to support two or three or four versions at the same time....it's a formula for disaster.

This multiple firmware would be fine as part of "Cutting Edge"....i.e., totally unsupported release candidates ...which is how the RC's are handled now. It is forbidden to call D* with any issue on a release candidate. So, they could theoreticaly (although it's still a scary thought, and would require some code tweaking) allow those of us testing release candidates to choose from among several options, and continue to test. It would be VERY important for us to test two versions the same way and report the results...which increases the burden on us, to be sure, and on them to try to make sense of what we are saying.

Keep in mind, the goal of the RCs is to TEST, not find one we like and sit on our hands. Part of the agreement of forcing downloads of RCs is to report on performance of the RC. We're VERY lucky they let us do this....we get to play (and benefit from improvements) and they get a lot of "data points" that help them develop the code.

Again, all my comments are related to the "Cutting Edge" aspects. I could go on for weeks about the other issues (including support) that have plagued others more than me.:D

[hasan]

My apologies to you.

I had my first BSOD in two months last night. OTA channels seem to not be as good with this version. Just walking by the TV tips them into a pixelation frenzy now. Version 10B was rock solid for me. I almost wish there was a pull down menu that D* had to where we could choose the version that worked best for us, because clearly, some versions work better for others. I know that's not possible though, but would be nice.

I've been watching OTA VERY carefully, and much to my dismay, I don't see any difference since they released OTA initially. I get the same stations. I get them at the same strength. I'm missing the same stations (well....they did add one...weather radar).

I measure my signal strength (actually it is a variant of BER (bit-error-rate) and not a measure of strength at all) at least twice a day every day. I'm an RF freak. I have experimented with gain, gain distribution, antennas, feedline lengths, impedance bumps, you name it. I spent 4 hours one afternoon manipulating all the variables. I was able to "finally" arrive at a set of conditions that gave me the best overall OTA sensitivity AND balance between the two tuners on the same channel. Now, when it comes to RF, I pretty much know what I'm doing and have test equipment for same. If it took me this much effort to get "reasonable" performance on OTA, just how is the "typical consumer" supposed to arrive at the same place?

There is MUCH work left to be done on OTA, to be sure!

At this point I don't have any pixellation problems on OTA, good DD 5.x performance and I receive ABC, CBS, PBS, NBC and FOX just dandy. With all the tweaking I did, I now have the HR20 performing (on the channels specified above), nearly as well as my Sammy HDTV tuner. Is the Sammy still better: yes, but they are MUCH closer than when I started. The tuner in the HR20 is VERY PICKY! It needs work.

[kellen34]

I've been watching OTA VERY carefully, and much to my dismay, I don't see any difference since they released OTA initially. I get the same stations. I get them at the same strength. I'm missing the same stations (well....they did add one...weather radar).

I measure my signal strength (actually it is a variant of BER (bit-error-rate) and not a measure of strength at all) at least twice a day every day. I'm an RF freak. I have experimented with gain, gain distribution, antennas, feedline lengths, impedance bumps, you name it. I spent 4 hours one afternoon manipulating all the variables. I was able to "finally" arrive at a set of conditions that gave me the best overall OTA sensitivity AND balance between the two tuners on the same channel. Now, when it comes to RF, I pretty much know what I'm doing and have test equipment for same. If it took me this much effort to get "reasonable" performance on OTA, just how is the "typical consumer" supposed to arrive at the same place?

There is MUCH work left to be done on OTA, to be sure!

At this point I don't have any pixellation problems on OTA, good DD 5.x performance and I receive ABC, CBS, PBS, NBC and FOX just dandy. With all the tweaking I did, I now have the HR20 performing (on the channels specified above), nearly as well as my Sammy HDTV tuner. Is the Sammy still better: yes, but they are MUCH closer than when I started. The tuner in the HR20 is VERY PICKY! It needs work.

Wow, I didn't know I was talking with such an expert on OTA. I wish you could do the same with mine. One question...I'm seriously thinking about buying an outdoor OTA and putting it on my roof. It seems to me like this might help. What do you think about this? If you think it's a good idea, what type of antenna can I buy that is good, and won't break the bank account. I'm thinking $150 at most for an antenna.

Thanks.

[Blitz7734]

What is amazing to me is the seemingly broad spectrum of responses that are coming from 120. I missed the Monday window to get 120 and 11f was fairly stable for me. When I read all the trouble that Ed was having with 120, so much so he reverted back to the then most recent national release, 11b I think, I was happy I missed the window. Then reading yesterday, while at work that 120 went national, I was scared to turn on the tv when I got home. All is well, I have the tearing and of course everyones favorite icon pinky, but no missed recordings and my audio dorop outs that where present in 11b are gone.

I have only been running 120 for 36 hrs now, I have seen statements about it becoming worse as time goes by, so heres hoping that I make it through the SB.

Cheers,

MJB

[hasan]

Wow, I didn't know I was talking with such an expert on OTA. I wish you could do the same with mine. One question...I'm seriously thinking about buying an outdoor OTA and putting it on my roof. It seems to me like this might help. What do you think about this? If you think it's a good idea, what type of antenna can I buy that is good, and won't break the bank account. I'm thinking $150 at most for an antenna.

Thanks.

An outdoor antenna will help in many ways, depending on how far you are from your transmitting complex(es). Even if you are relatively close and an indoor antenna "works", moving to a very moderate outside antenna will improve things dramatically, because it gets the antenna away from all the electronic "noise" that is generated by your TV, your Hi-Fi amp and other electronics in the house (including lights and dimmers, etc.)

Some key questions to help you in your quest:

1. Are all your stations in one direction (mine are on a single antenna farm, so I only have to point in one direction)

2. Are all your stations on UHF ....or do some of your stations transmit on VHF?

Let's find out:

Go to antennaweb.org and enter your zip code and tell it you are on a 2nd story (the predictions from this site tend to be pessimistic, so we lie to it)

It will then generate a table for you. Tell it you want to see only the digital stations, when the table comes out.

In the table it will show you all of the stations in your area that you are likely to receive and by color code, what kind of antenna you will need.

Once you have that info, if you post it (or send it to me in a PM), I'll help you select the best "value" (performance for the buck) antenna to put up in your location. Or...you can send me your zip code and I'll do the looking for ya.

If you get me the info, I'll help ya figure out your best bet.

BTW, as I was typing my last message to you, two new channels showed up in my OTA list for the HR20! I knew they had been working on the database, so I now see some more results of that work. Both of them have poor signals at the moment (not HR20 related)...as everyone in the area is complaining they can't see them reliably on their HDTVs...not HR20s. Fortunately, they are VERY minor stations...one is CW, which I hardly every watch (and whose signal has steadily gone down for all of us in the area over the last month).

Thank God, I get all the major networks and PBS!

I look forward to hearing from you.

[mjs31]

Dang...I have to agree. Now on my 3rd lock up and red button reset situation. I was one with very few issues since Sept until this release.

[kiwiquest]

I would have to say 120 has been the most stable release that they have sent out. Downloaded on Monday, and absolutely no problems since then.

[dallascontractor]

Wow, I didn't know I was talking with such an expert on OTA. I wish you could do the same with mine. One question...I'm seriously thinking about buying an outdoor OTA and putting it on my roof. It seems to me like this might help. What do you think about this? If you think it's a good idea, what type of antenna can I buy that is good, and won't break the bank account. I'm thinking $150 at most for an antenna.

Thanks.
Try here to see what you would need
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

[vfr781rider]

I'm having more lockups with 120 than any prior release myself. 3 times in 5 nights.




Since posting this, my 0x120 has been very stable, requiring no reboots. Only 2 nights, or the better part of 3 days, but still noteable. I know logic says it can be of no relavence, but the only thing different since my last reboot is that I did not reduce the brightness of the front panel LEDs. Just thought I'd throw it out there :)

[kellen34]

Hasan,

Sorry I didn't get back to you until now. Seems like all of my channels are UHF. Funny, my regular ABC is channel 9, and is VHF. Channel 9.1 is HD and is UHF. Kinda wierd I thought. Anyway, all HD channels are UHF and are 8 miles or less away. It says I need a small multi directional antenna. Don't know exactly what mine is, it's from Radio Shack. has two antennas on it and the round oval in the middle with a gain on it. It sits on top of my stereo, next to my TV, so I'm thinking there is a lot of interference.

If I mess around with anymore antennas, I think it's going to be an outdoor type. I want one that looks and performs good that is relatively small.

[gashog301]

Well updated to 120 by itself and had a couple lockups and now it wont get passed guide data, they are sending out a new box. This is the first time I have really had any issues. Overall im happy with the box.