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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.
 
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#202 ·
OK, keeping it simple, isn't the reason DirecTV keeps installing HR-34s and not allowing you to specify as simple as they still have a ton of HR-34s in inventory and have to do something with them? And I assume that a LOT of people, the ones who aren't so obsessive about their TV that they spend time reading forums about it (LOL!) the ones who just call the number they see on TV or get in the mail, would have no earthly idea whether they were getting a 34 or a 44 or anything else. They want a Genie cause it looked cool in the ad on TV.

Now you could also make an argument that, if that's true, there are enough people out there who would never ask for a specific model that they could accommodate the ones who do and still be able to unload 34s on the ones who don't.

I will be moving from DIsh to DTV as soon as we finish a couple more things in the den we're remodeling (waiting so the install will put one of the 3 receivers in there) - I had to choose between upgrading to a couple of Hoppers and a Joey and a Genie and two mini setups. If I am moving from Dish to DirecTV, from a Hopper opportunity to a Genie, I certainly don't want the slower Genie (the 34.) So I am looking for every angle to ensure a 44. Short of buying one.
 
#204 ·
fudpucker said:
Now you could also make an argument that, if that's true, there are enough people out there who would never ask for a specific model that they could accommodate the ones who do and still be able to unload 34s on the ones who don't.
I would say the ratio is 500 (or more) to 1. Out of of the installs and upgrades I have done so far this year, I've had only ONE customer (you know who you are) requesting an HR44, everybody else takes what ever I bring. I have a few times, had to replace 44 with 34, customers ask why the size different and I just tell them that is the new model,....
 
#206 ·
Laxguy said:
The speeds for most operations are almost identical. If you channel surf, you'll notice. Boot up time is way longer for the '34, but really, how many times does one reboot?
If you are comparing the speed between a 34 and a 44, I would disagree. The 44 is noticeably faster for most actions. I've got both and can certainly tell the difference. Channel surfing aside, I don't do that, I use the guide.
 
#207 ·
carl6 said:
If you are comparing the speed between a 34 and a 44, I would disagree. The 44 is noticeably faster for most actions. I've got both and can certainly tell the difference. Channel surfing aside, I don't do that, I use the guide.
It's not fast enough over the HR34 to make me pay $199 or sign a 24 month commitment.
That I can say for sure.

The Hr44 is nice and compact, but still gets plagued with directv software issues.
And holding the button down to scroll through the guide, is not a real speed test.

Speed is determined by me when I choose a channel and press enter it should come up in 1-2 seconds.
When I'm pressing menu selections it shouldn't stumble at a command.
I could easily get my sisters HR 44 to stumble .
It's better I'll give you that carl, but its not that much better.

When you set the standard that directv does, it's not hard to make something seem fast when every receiver from 2005-2013 is slow.

Use a Roamio, or X1 then tell me how fast the HR44 is.[emoji4]
 
#208 ·
carl6 said:
If you are comparing the speed between a 34 and a 44, I would disagree. The 44 is noticeably faster for most actions. I've got both and can certainly tell the difference. Channel surfing aside, I don't do that, I use the guide.
OK, won't argue that. I have both, but use the 34 for recording only for the last year. Memory often doesn't make for good comparisons.....
 
#209 ·
damondlt said:
It's not fast enough over the HR34 to make me pay $199 or sign a 24 month commitment.
That I can say for sure.

The Hr44 is nice and compact, but still gets plagued with directv software issues.
And holding the button down to scroll through the guide, is not a real speed test.

Speed is determined by me when I choose a channel and press enter it should come up in 1-2 seconds.
When I'm pressing menu selections it shouldn't stumble at a command.
I could easily get my sisters HR 44 to stumble .
It's better I'll give you that carl, but its not that much better.

When you set the standard that directv does, it's not hard to make something seem fast when every receiver from 2005-2013 is slow.

Use a Roamio, or X1 then tell me how fast the HR44 is.[emoji4]
Its not plagued by issues.

and what remote in what mode did you use? My hr44, the biggest thing i love about it is it always reacts to every command all the time and quickly. It doesn't have issues with remote speed like the old rc6x whatever remotes had issues with. The rc71 in rf is awesome.
 
#210 ·
inkahauts said:
Its not plagued by issues.

and what remote in what mode did you use? My hr44, the biggest thing i love about it is it always reacts to every command all the time and quickly. It doesn't have issues with remote speed like the old rc6x whatever remotes had issues with. The rc71 in rf is awesome.
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.
 
#211 ·
damondlt said:
....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.
You did say it was plagued by issues. Then, when you added the word "software" you merely specified a type of plague.
 
#212 ·
damondlt said:
The Hr44 is nice and compact, but still gets plagued with directv software issues.
.[emoji4]
Here is my post in case you guys couldn't find it.[emoji12]
 
#214 ·
#216 ·
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.
What receiver is?
 
#217 ·
RAD said:
What receiver is?
I'm not going to answer that, because , you can just look around here RAD and see the Multiple failing Hardrives on the HR44s.
The Multiple HR44's in the software threads with issues.

THEY ARE NOT FLAWLESS.
 
#218 ·
damondlt said:
I'm not going to answer that, because , you can just look around here RAD and see the Multiple failing Hardrives on the HR44s.
The Multiple HR44's in the software threads with issues.
THEY ARE NOT FLAWLESS.
Never said they were. Guess I'd ask which is better. You can look in Dish forums here and at other sites and see folks reporting multiple issues with their boxes. You can look at Tivocommunity and see folks reporting problems there. Nobody is flawless..
 
#219 ·
Your right , but back to the same point, The HR44 isn't that much better than the HR34.
I've not seen the amount of hard drive failures in the first year as being reported with the HR44s.

So, aside from a slight improvement in speed and size, I see no real reason to waste $200 on a lease upgrade over someone's current HR34s, and sign a 24 month commitment on top of that. Yeah no thanks.
 
#220 ·
I know lots of people with old TiVos that are still alive and kicking.
Dish, I've never gotten more than 3 years out of a VIP.
Hopper ? Who knows?
Directv HRs most time last a long time, they may not function with the speed and smoothness as many others, but they normally do last a long time.
So that makes me wonder what's making these HR44 drop Hardrives in a years time?
Shotty workmanship?
Cheap Hardrives?
 
#221 ·
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.
 
#222 ·
damondlt said:
I know lots of people with old TiVos that are still alive and kicking.Dish, I've never gotten more than 3 years out of a VIP. Hopper ? Who knows?Directv HRs most time last a long time, they may not function with the speed and smoothness as many others, but they normally do last a long time.So that makes me wonder what's making these HR44 drop Hardrives in a years time?Shotty workmanship?Cheap Hardrives?
Since I've had a HR44 since back during the early customer testing I've not had any hard drive problems with it. Can't say the same about HR34's, had three replaced due to hard drive failures. Since DIRECTV doesn't make hard drives maybe they just were unlucky and got a bad batch from the source. I also got a HR21 for early testing, I ended up giving it to my son and it's still going strong.
 
#223 ·
RAD said:
I also got a HR21 for early testing, I ended up giving it to my son and it's still going strong.
Wow, how can you do that to him... :rotfl:
 
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#225 ·
damondlt said:
I've not seen the amount of hard drive failures in the first year as being reported with the HR44s.
I'm not sure how you point a hard drive failure deciding if a unit is "flawless" or not. DirecTV has nothing to do with the manufacture of hard drives and, as it has been pointed out many times in this thread, they aren't all perfect. Drives can be bought "new" from the store that are already DOA, they can die in a week, in a month, in a year, in 5 years, etc. DirecTV has no control over when a drive may die. Hard drive life span should have nothing to do with rating how close to flawless a unit is, none of them are flawless, unless the drive and unit are made by the same people. In this case they aren't.

Blaming DirecTV for a bad drive in a unit would be like blaming Chrylser for a tire blowing out on your Challenger.
 
#226 ·
damondlt said:
So that makes me wonder what's making these HR44 drop Hardrives in a years time?
Shotty workmanship?
Cheap Hardrives?
Again, DirecTV has nothing to do with the workmanship of the drives. They also have no control over the price of the parts that go into the drives. They aren't using noname drives, they use Western Digital and Seagate and not the bottom line of either of those brands.
 
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