HD DVR receiver slow because of features

I would think it would be pretty much just like a computer. It really doesnt matter how many programs you have available to run, it only matters how many are running at one time.

Since Pandora, YouTube, etc, arent running until you tell them to, they would not have any effect on the speed.

Things you cannot turn off, like Scoreguide on sports channels, and background functions like indexing, scheduling, etc would have a slowing effect.

I suspect from using both the DirecTv boxes, and the Tivo Premier which has approx 1.6X the processor speed of the HR24, that the HD interface slows both boxes down (my Premier is slower than my HR34 when the HD interface is enabled). The difference is the Tivo allows you to use either HD or SD interface, and its SD interface flies. DirecTv has no such option.

 

If they had actually added more channels per screen, or time per channel, I would be a big fan, but like you say, since there is no added essential information, I just wish they would code the SD GUI using assembly language (instead of bloated high level languages) and get the speed up.

If its going to stay HD, the least they could do is follow Tivo's lead, and put more channels on the screen at once, and put the commercials off to the side, rather than taking up valuable channel line space.

 

go to channel 1

press red, red, blue, blue, yellow, green

you will see a message at the bottom left (kind of tough to see) if done correctly.

RAM is cleared, reset with the red reset button, some of your speed should be back.

Don't know for sure, but yes, I do believe part of the speed issue is all of the new feature updates (HDUI, apps...) so visiting these new features/using them leaves them running in the background. This will clear those things out and free up some processing space.

Have fun!

 

There is other drawback - RAM, memory use; if you'll load many programs into RAM, you'll have less memory for other tasks and will force use SWAP partition what residing on a drive (it's 100000 times slow then RAM). The box will have less RAM for system tasks like managing DBs (ie guide, timers, etc).
HD GUI shouldn't slowdown whole DVR, if it's truly using separate 2D/3D graphics engine of BCM chip (it has bunch of different separated parts, like PID filters, video decompesors, CPU, decipher, graphics, etc).

 

My DVRs were sluggish to key press response from the remote(s). I tried an experiment. I restarted my HR20-700's. Usually I try TV Apps/widgets (press right arrow key on remote) after restart but this time, I did not engage TV Apps. Both DVRs were responsive to remote key presses. This time I waited 2 weeks before engaging TV Apps. After engaging TV Apps, DVR's immediately became sluggish. Restarted DVR's and they became responsive again. Seems like TV Apps are a performance bottleneck.

 

Something that was mentioned pretty often during the early days of the HR-2X but doesn't seem to get much attention now days is power - I've found that a good UPS with a power conditioner really seems to help stability and performance of my HR-20. It performs better with the hd interface and clean power than it did with the sd interface and unfiltered power.

Someone will probably attribute this to other software updates, but when the battery on my UPS died, I noticed the return of aggravatingly slow performance in the guide and channel changing.

 

I've purchased one of these power cables for each of my receivers and have had no speed issues since. They're pretty amazing.

http://www.dedicatedaudio.com/inc/sdetail/125/24044

 

@jeffshoaf: it's not a stabilty issue. It's a drag on performance issue. FWIW, I have my HR20 plugged into a Tripp-Lite HT10DBS.

Try using TV Apps and report back.

 

I'm surprised Monster cable doesn't make this. They could mark it up a little and make quite a fortune.:hurah:

 

How do you know this? Is there a way to see what apps are running in the back ground?

 

And it is great that they are on sale now! Wowee! Save a whopping $505! :lol:

 

You can't see what apps might be running. But one that is running all the time is the media share DLNA crap. When I turn on my PS3, it shows 3 DLNA DirecTV servers running. Which is kinda weird 'cause I didn't know that the D* DLNA was servers, I always thought of them as clients.

So we know that at least one thing is running all the time that isn't needed until you want it. How much resources is this thing eating?

 

WHDVR service uses parts of the DLNA specification. that's how all of the DVR's as well as directv2pc knows what shows are stored on the DVR's...

 

Listening or broadcasting for media services is different than constantly running media server.

Just like the other thread this is nothing more than a witch hunt. If every receiver had the same slowness issues that some people report, same model and so forth, then it could be a valid speculation.

Given the fact that unless you work for DIRECTV and are working on the project you would never see the code and therefor never know what under the hood improvements are done that cause systems to speed up or slow down depending. So finding something that you may not use and want that to be the cause is not going to be beneficial to anyone including people just guessing.

 

Maybe someone can explain this. I did my own install and have had the same slow response on my boxes. I have 2 hr21-200's and 1 r22-100. I have multi room viewing installed with deca and green label splitters. When i used a 5swm lnb it was unbelievably slow!!! All boxes at times. 2 weeks ago just for the heck of it i switched my 5swm lnb with a 3 lnb and a swm 8. Now the 3lnb is a eagle aspen and the 5lnb is not. The system and channel changes are a lot faster. Maybe someone knows something about why.

 

I did not know that. Thanks for the info.

 

"Witch hunt"? Really? I'd like to know what you mean by this. Usually it means a politically-motivated co-option of an unrelated situation as a lame excuse to beat up on someone; mindless mob-mentality torches and pitchforks. So I think that hardly applies here, and is nothing more than inflammatory, and a ridiculously-incorrect characterization at best. And while I have not posted in this thread, I take offense at this for those who have.

This is a real issue, and it affects or has the potential to affect every subscriber and every STB model to some extent.

Just because no one here has inside info regarding the code does not mean that our "guess" is not a very good one. Its actually the logical conclusion. Dismissing a very good theory because there is no absolute proof of it is using birther logic, so now you have something in common with Donald Trump (other than bad hair) who says there is no proof that a particular Hawaiian birth certificate (a verified physical legal authorized document that we can see and touch) is the genuine article, and that other idiot on The View that says there is no proof that the earth is not flat.

Knowing what we think we know about crap-app slowdown theories may not be all that beneficial, but only because we have no control over the situation. Using that logic, we might as well just close up the entire forum. I think there actually is some benefit, and I am sure others agree. To us, it's important that they know that we know what they are up to and how that can negatively affect product performance. Especially seeing as how their direct biggest competitor had found a way to do all that DTV does without performance problems at competitive prices. Forums, along with social media (as much as I abhor it) have the power to keep those in power on their toes, at the very least. Google "Arab spring" if you are still unaware of this.

Whining and moaning unconstructively about forum members logically discussing a common problem, which, BTW, is a very common usage of the forum; just how beneficial is that? How constructive? I'd politely suggest reconsidering defending that position, and maybe, just please, finding a forum topic that you can make a positive contribution to, instead of posting here.

 

Well said, Tomcat.
And while we are speculating, can someone tell me if the software development team, and I use the word "team" loosely here, is working in the USA?
I remember reading a speculation that the software was developed overseas, and now that DTV has been releasing beta software upon us I wonder if the "team" even has access to a working satellite system so that they can weed out bugs that seem to affect a high percentage of users. As stated, it would be impossible to test every setup scenario, but these basic functionality problems are exhibiting on plain vanilla systems. I used to write software(many years ago) and the idea of turning in a project without running it on a computer first would not be acceptable at all and I would fail.