DBSTalk Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

DirecTV will sell HR 44s to Solid Signal and Weaknees - but not me

19K views 262 replies 52 participants last post by  Stuart Sweet 
#1 ·
Short story - I'd like a Genie but I can't use an HR34 because my installation is on an inside wall so I can't get a hardwired internet connection to my rcvr. As it stands, I had to run the coaxes up through the floor to feed my HR 22. Yes, I know about the Cinema Bridge but that's not what I want. I'm the customer, I want an HR 44.

A few weeks ago, a CSR told me that right after Memorial Day, I could call in and specifically order an HR 44 and I could get one. I called today. A very nice CSR told me, no, there was no guarantee I'd get an HR 44. Place an order and I might get a 44 but it might be a 34. We chatted for a bit and he told me that thanks to my account status, there'd be no upcharge to go to a Genie but, again, no guarantees. Well, I said, I can wait until the 34s run out and then order a 44. He pointed out that it might be a while - they sent out 22s for a long time after the 24s became available and I know for a fact that's true. In fact, I got a replacement 22 two days before the Super Bowl this year. 34s will be coming back to DTV and getting refurbed and then shipped out for years. Then the CSR very politely pointed out that Solid Signal have the 44s in stock. I thanked him and hung up and an hour later I got an email from Weaknees; they have 44s, too. Ready to ship.

DirecTV will sell HR44s to Solid Signal and to Weaknees but not to me. I'm not sure what I'm going to do but I do know this sucks out loud.
 
See less See more
#227 ·
RunnerFL said:
Blaming DirecTV for a bad drive in a unit would be like blaming Chrylser for a tire blowing out on your Challenger.
Are you joking?

The hard drive is the Heart of a receiver.
That would be like an Engine going , not a Tire.
And yes I would blame Chrysler if my engine went out.

If they choose to outsource and put these hardrives in their receivers then they are fully responsible.
If they haven't changed Hardrives , then the design is at fault for the malfunctioning equipment.
Either way its 100% directvs responsibility .
 
#228 ·
damondlt said:
You ever read the forums?
There are lots of HR44 software issues threads.

It's not just HR34s in them threads.
Also don't take my post out of context, because I didn't say it was plagued by issues.

I said it "Still gets plagued by directv software issues".

If your going to debate me on it at least quote me on what was really stated instead of posting it in a way that would make it look like I'm saying the HR44 is has nothing but problems.
That's not what I said.
But the receiver is Far from flawless.
I took it as plagued by issues because of the way you worded it, if that's not what you meant, then ok...

But still the hr44 is an excellent machine. Mine has been as steady as my replaytv and my ultimate TV was, and those two DVRs where the best I ever had, by far. They where just rock solid always. I still wish directv would go to replaytvs design philioshipes, they where just so much better, but that doesn't mean that the hr44 is bad at all, no one is getting DVRs truly right as far as I am concerned.

And again, I don't see a plague of software issues from DIRECTV on the hr44 either. Yeah the start over was an issue the day it launched, but that was a system issue with all DVRs on all those particular channels.

I think I have seen less overall issues specific to hr44 than any other DVR directv has released , or at least it seems that way based on the boards issues being posted. Are there issues, sure, but its no worse than any other DVR out there that I have seen from the threads.

The issue IMHO is that it seems like you are implying they are more flawed than most, by really working to say they are not flawless due to directv software. I think that's where the communication and difference in opinions from what you say start with most people on this particular subject in this thread.
 
#229 ·
inkahauts said:
I took it as plagued by issues because of the way you worded it, if that's not what you meant, then ok...

But still the hr44 is an excellent machine. Mine has been as steady as my replaytv and my ultimate TV was, and those two DVRs where the best I ever had, by far. They where just rock solid always. I still wish directv would go to replaytvs design philioshipes, they where just so much better, but that doesn't mean that the hr44 is bad at all, no one is getting DVRs truly right as far as I am concerned.

And again, I don't see a plague of software issues from DIRECTV on the hr44 either. Yeah the start over was an issue the day it launched, but that was a system issue with all DVRs on all those particular channels.

I think I have seen less overall issues specific to hr44 than any other DVR directv has released , or at least it seems that way based on the boards issues being posted. Are there issues, sure, but its no worse than any other DVR out there that I have seen from the threads.

The issue IMHO is that it seems like you are implying they are more flawed than most, by really working to say they are not flawless due to directv software. I think that's where the communication and difference in opinions from what you say start with most people on this particular subject in this thread.
I'm concerned about the multiple complaints Hard drive failures I see at the 1 year mark.
And I don't over hype equipment, when its really not worth the Hype some put into it.
That sends a poor message into sending customers to lie ,pay, and sign premature commitments, in hopes they have this Bug less free Machine. When its NOT!
Is the Hr44 good, Yep

Is it Better than the 34, sure
Is it worth spending $200 upgrading from a 34 - 44, NO !
Most normal Directv customers don't care about the Hype or differences between the 2

Directv should stop putting out multiple premature versions of receivers, and Stick with one.
5 different versions of the 2 tuner HR'???? Com on now.

Even dish isn't that nuts
 
#230 ·
hasan said:
The HR44 may not be flawless, but mine, at least (-700) has been very, very good. Having used many HR models starting at the HR20-700 (an amazing DVR after a few software releases until even it became too processor/memory starved to keep up with all the latest bells and whistles), the 44 is not just better than all of them in terms of speed, reliability and annoying bugs, it is dramatically so!

I had a hard drive start to go bad on my HR20-700 after 5 years...does that make it "plagued", or does it deserve a gold star for 5 years of 24x7 operationi? Starting in 2007, I've had HR20-700, HR20-100, HR21-200, H21-200 and now the HR24-200 and HR44-700. In all these years, I've had exactly one hard drive go south. (and it didn't outright die, just started to show issues, I cloned it to a new drive and away we went ...it was external, btw).

I'll agree that the older HR2x series DVRs got to be really problematic in and of themselves as time wore on, but not specifically the hard drives. They became horridly slow, very inconsistent in their performance and utterly incapable of properly running cjrrent versions of the software well. They were getting bad enough that I was considering moving to a different provider. Much of the frustration with this equipmente was a result of very sporadic performance and near constant rationalization and outright denial from the user community. One couldn't get help because nothing would really help. It still amazes me that well established problems could so easily be swept under the rug with a "What! Me worry", Alfred E. Newman mentality. I know that has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way....and it should have.

Now that the 24 and 44 are well established, all I can say is that the 44 is really, really quick and has been, to this point quite reliable and consistent in its performance. The 24 isn't as fast, but still runs circles around the 3 DVR models that I replaced. (20-700, 20-100, 21-200).

The 44 isn't perfect, but it is so good that most typical users are unlikely to notice anything out of order. I can note a few things in the firmware that aren't right, but they don't ruin the user experience.

I don't see any reason the few remaining minor issues (compared to the overall performance of the box) won't get fixed in the long run. That was not the case with the HR20/21 series. There were major issues, they were legendary among those experiencing them and they never got fixed. They were both annoying and frustrating and ruined the user experience for me.

So, while there are plenty of things to complain about, the 44 doesn't strike me as one of them, and my 24s don't seem to be an issue either, just not as fast as the 44.
I like your Honest post.
But your signature states you are using an external Hard drive.
That can change the game.

And no one is complaining .

I'm just not giving in to the Over Hype its do or Die without the HR44.

My brother owns a communications company that installs Directv.
They had 7 Failed HR 44's in the month of June alone
5 Hard drive Failure, 2 Lightning
HR34 2 since January
They only installed 20 Genies since January.
 
#231 ·
damondlt said:
Are you joking?

The hard drive is the Heart of a receiver.
That would be like an Engine going , not a Tire.
And yes I would blame Chrysler if my engine went out.

If they choose to outsource and put these hardrives in their receivers then they are fully responsible.
If they haven't changed Hardrives , then the design is at fault for the malfunctioning equipment.
Either way its 100% directvs responsibility .
No, I'm not joking and no it wouldn't be like the engine. The engine would be the motherboard....

They don't outsource anything, they buy the finished product from them. When you buy a drive from Western Digital and it dies "before its time" is it your fault? NO! Then why would it be DirecTV's fault??
 
#232 ·
damondlt said:
I like your Honest post.
But your signature states you are using an external Hard drive.
That can change the game.

And no one is complaining .

I'm just not giving in to the Over Hype its do or Die without the HR44.

My brother owns a communications company that installs Directv.
They had 7 Failed HR 44's in the month of June alone
5 Hard drive Failure, 2 Lightning
HR34 2 since January
They only installed 20 Genies since January.
...and I bet you're thinking the lightning is DirecTV's fault too.
 
#233 ·
damondlt said:
My brother owns a communications company that installs Directv.
They had 7 Failed HR 44's in the month of June alone
5 Hard drive Failure, 2 Lightning
HR34 2 since January
They only installed 20 Genies since January.
That's a terrible failure rate for anything, but it's also statistically insignificant in the big picture.

Moreover, aside from lightening strikes -Yikes!- we don't know if user abuse was a factor, or anything else about the matter.
 
#234 ·
damondlt said:
I like your Honest post.
But your signature states you are using an external Hard drive.
That can change the game.

And no one is complaining .

I'm just not giving in to the Over Hype its do or Die without the HR44.

My brother owns a communications company that installs Directv.
They had 7 Failed HR 44's in the month of June alone
5 Hard drive Failure, 2 Lightning
HR34 2 since January
They only installed 20 Genies since January.
That is odd, as I know of a lot more than 7 people with Genies that have had zero issues with hr44's and a fair amount of issues with hr34's.... And the fact they have installed so few doesn't make them a good sample size at all IMHO for what is happening on a mass scale.
 
#235 ·
damondlt said:
I'm concerned about the multiple complaints Hard drive failures I see at the 1 year mark.
And I don't over hype equipment, when its really not worth the Hype some put into it.
That sends a poor message into sending customers to lie ,pay, and sign premature commitments, in hopes they have this Bug less free Machine. When its NOT!
Is the Hr44 good, Yep

Is it Better than the 34, sure
Is it worth spending $200 upgrading from a 34 - 44, NO !
Most normal Directv customers don't care about the Hype or differences between the 2

Directv should stop putting out multiple premature versions of receivers, and Stick with one.
5 different versions of the 2 tuner HR'???? Com on now.

Even dish isn't that nuts
Id say for a reup of commitment, and free upfront costs, the hr44 is absolutely worth it in an instant. No hesitation to do that. And if you are having issues with an hr34, its a big worth it no matter what, but then if you are having issues you should be getting it fixed and will more often than not end up with a hr44 anyway.

For the full price, not sure I can say its worth it either, depends on the person and their specific hr34 and if they are happy with it. If they aren't having issues, I'd not switch either I don't think.

And theres no doubt either is better than a hr2x or any kind imho.

As for different iterations well, there was really two genies, a first one as a test case and proof of concept, and then there's the hr44. Personally i wouldn't send the hr34s back out, but their accounting department will make them.

As for the hr2xs, really there was only two real different models, the hr24s and the rest. They where not significantly different in much of any way to the customer standpoint, just a slightly newer version of the last. Heck, most electronics companies release new tvs every year and the differences between one year and the next is close to nill most the time. This was no different. They didn't redesign them from the ground up for each hr20 to hr21 etc. just small tweaks for a variety of reasons.
 
#236 ·
HR34= Rushed out the door too fast with limited testing, Freeze up issues, although not on all of them
HR44= Learned from their previous mistakes and did full testing

And that's why they're starting to phase out HR34's because of issues, although some markets still carry them for replacements and upgrades (more like downgrades IMO)
 
#237 ·
um yeah that's not quite right.

And the hr34 was never produced like the hr44 was. 44 has multiple manufacturers. 34 was only one and a short run. 44 is a much much larger run. They've pretty well exhausted their new 34 and are just down to refurbs based on all the report's here and elsewhere. They won't phase them out till about five years from now as I believe all boxes should have a life span of about five years for refurbishment based on accounting practices. But not positive on the timeline.
 
#238 ·
Either way I rather not have that behemoth of a box in a space reduced area, compared to the HR44, Or at least that's how they make it out to be, I'm not sure I never had the HR34.
 
#239 ·
As technology and software in the future changes, If the HR44 becomes slow (hope not knock on wood)
We'll be crying for the HR54.
 
#240 ·
RunnerFL said:
No, I'm not joking and no it wouldn't be like the engine. The engine would be the motherboard....

They don't outsource anything, they buy the finished product from them. When you buy a drive from Western Digital and it dies "before its time" is it your fault? NO! Then why would it be DirecTV's fault??
Classic it's not Directv's Fault.
[emoji106]
Never is .
It's 100% Directv's Fault if the equipment your leasing from them fails.

You think your response would fly with 20 million customers?.

Just you and Laxguy.
 
#241 ·
inkahauts said:
Id say for a reup of commitment, and free upfront costs, the hr44 is absolutely worth it in an instant. No hesitation to do that. And if you are having issues with an hr34, its a big worth it no matter what, but then if you are having issues you should be getting it fixed and will more often than not end up with a hr44 anyway.

For the full price, not sure I can say its worth it either, depends on the person and their specific hr34 and if they are happy with it. If they aren't having issues, I'd not switch either I don't think.

And theres no doubt either is better than a hr2x or any kind imho.

As for different iterations well, there was really two genies, a first one as a test case and proof of concept, and then there's the hr44. Personally i wouldn't send the hr34s back out, but their accounting department will make them.

As for the hr2xs, really there was only two real different models, the hr24s and the rest. They where not significantly different in much of any way to the customer standpoint, just a slightly newer version of the last. Heck, most electronics companies release new tvs every year and the differences between one year and the next is close to nill most the time. This was no different. They didn't redesign them from the ground up for each hr20 to hr21 etc. just small tweaks for a variety of reasons.
Most tvs get improved year by year, not get worse.
HR20 is better than any 21,22,23, and even some 24s.
But I know it's not Directv fault.[emoji12]
 
#242 ·
You guys realize this thread is going out of control, because some of you couldn't handle the fact that I said the HR44 is not worth it IMO to pay $200 and sign a 24 month commitment to upgrade over the HR34.
Most normal people would never do this.

What are you really gaining?
It's not that much better!

Some of you guys did the same crap over the HR24, and guess what it's barely any better than the last 4 models of HRs.

Get over it!
 
#243 ·
acostapimps said:
HR34= Rushed out the door too fast with limited testing, Freeze up issues, although not on all of them
I can promise, as an early tester of the HR34, which started as the HMC30, it was not rushed, it was the longest early customer test program that I've ever have participated in.

Sent from my iPhone using DBSTalk
 
#244 ·
damondlt said:
Classic it's not Directv's Fault.
[emoji106]
Never is .
It's 100% Directv's Fault if the equipment your leasing from them fails.

You think your response would fly with 20 million customers?.

Just you and Laxguy.
It's their fault if it fails because of software issues, absolutely, but it is NOT their fault if a component they didn't build (a hard drive) fails. Again, if your WD drive fails is it your fault??
 
#245 ·
Well, as someone who will be a new DirecTV customer (actually, returning - I had DTV from 1995 until 2009, when I switched to Dish when we moved and DTV did not carry the local networks in HD and Dish did) - and someone who is pretty analytical (my wife would say leave off the "ytical" and just call me anal! LOL!) about my electronics, and as someone turning down an offer of an upgrade of Hopper/w Sling + Hopper + Joey from Dish to move to Directv, I do NOT want an older generation product for the core of our whole house system. I.e. I don't want to give up Dish (which I have been very happy with, overall, I just need ST to watch my out of market team and can't get it this year for the first time in the last 3 years without DTV) and be given a first gen receiver, especially as it is the core of my whole house system (3 TVs) when a second gen is better and out there.

So for me, the 34 is not a viable option - so I'm looking for strategies, short of paying $300 for the privilege of becoming a new DTV customer when they are bombarding me with calls and mail to "Come back to Directv!" to get a 44.

:)
 
#246 ·
fudpucker said:
Well, as someone who will be a new DirecTV customer (actually, returning - I had DTV from 1995 until 2009, when I switched to Dish when we moved and DTV did not carry the local networks in HD and Dish did) - and someone who is pretty analytical (my wife would say leave off the "ytical" and just call me anal! LOL!) about my electronics, and as someone turning down an offer of an upgrade of Hopper/w Sling + Hopper + Joey from Dish to move to Directv, I do NOT want an older generation product for the core of our whole house system. I.e. I don't want to give up Dish (which I have been very happy with, overall, I just need ST to watch my out of market team and can't get it this year for the first time in the last 3 years without DTV) and be given a first gen receiver, especially as it is the core of my whole house system (3 TVs) when a second gen is better and out there.

So for me, the 34 is not a viable option - so I'm looking for strategies, short of paying $300 for the privilege of becoming a new DTV customer when they are bombarding me with calls and mail to "Come back to Directv!" to get a 44.

:)
Just deny installation if it's not what you want. However, don't be upset if you keep denying and they eventually tell you forget it and quit rescheduling. You've read and posted enough about this... I'm seeing that your wife is right. !rolling
 
#247 ·
RAD said:
I can promise, as an early tester of the HR34, which started as the HMC30, it was not rushed, it was the longest early customer test program that I've ever have participated in.

Sent from my iPhone using DBSTalk
Well in one way maybe. It was originally released with the old UI. I thought it should have started with the HD UI that the other boxes had by that point.
 
#248 ·
damondlt said:
You guys realize this thread is going out of control, because some of you couldn't handle the fact that I said the HR44 is not worth it IMO to pay $200 and sign a 24 month commitment to upgrade over the HR34.
!
funny, back on another thread I felt the same way!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#249 ·
damondlt said:
You guys realize this thread is going out of control, because some of you couldn't handle the fact that I said the HR44 is not worth it IMO

<< Snipped bits out >>

Get over it!
Out of control? Perhaps, but the thread's incessant arguing is due mostly to one person. Ironically, it's he who says "Get over it!"
 
#250 ·
damondlt said:
My brother owns a communications company that installs Directv.
They had 7 Failed HR 44's in the month of June alone
5 Hard drive Failure, 2 Lightning
HR34 2 since January
They only installed 20 Genies since January.
You don't think that some of those "5 hard drive failures" may have also been due to lightning? I don't suppose your brother tracked when those failed and if it was after a storm had recently passed through the area?

As others said, you can't blame Directv if the hard drive fails because they don't make the hard drive, and there are only a handful of choices in the world where to buy your hard drives from. It is no more their fault if a drive fails than it is Dell or Apple's fault if a hard drive in a computer you buy from them fails.

Directv replaces it for free, so what's to complain about?
 
#251 ·
I'm joining this conversation way-late so I'll apologize if this has been covered already in one of the other pages.

I'm coming due for a contract renewal, and I plan on trying to renegotiate my equipment. I've been quite happy with my H25s - they are small and generally speedy. My HR34 has been OK, however the remote lag and the form factor leave much to be desired.

I was thinking about trying to swing an upgrade to the HR44. After reading through some of the pages, I realize "a genie is a genie" in DirecTV's eyes, so my question is this:
If I pay for the unit through Solid Signal or one of the other retailers (assuming I can get DirecTV to agree to cover it) and the unit dies within a couple months, am I going to get stuck with an HR34, or should I be able to expect an HR44 to replace the one that died? It was mentioned that the protection plan covers this sort of thing, but I'm not interested in adding another monthly charge for a trouble-free installation if it's not going to help "secure" certain equipment replacement policies.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top