[HDfreddy]

Me like many others have spent good money on soemthing we were told would work and it is a mess. I have had to reboot, loose recordings, and have video audio sync issues damn near every day since we got the HR20 recorder.

Why is it so hard to have software that works.

High Definitions is awesome, but what a pain in the butt.

I am very disappointed and dont know what to do.

HDfreddy

 

[harsh]

I am very disappointed and dont know what to do.

Take a deep breath and read around to see what pitfalls you can avoid. There are some things that are known to cause problems and you should avoid those. The fixes probably aren't going to all show up at once.

The hope is that we'll all be able to ride out the storm until such time as the most pernicious of bugs is gone.

In the meantime, make sure that you let DirecTV know when you have a problem and be as specific as you can about the circumstances. Don't stop at "it is a known problem".

 

[btmoore]

Take a deep breath and read around to see what pitfalls you can avoid. There are some things that are known to cause problems and you should avoid those. The fixes probably aren't going to all show up at once.

The hope is that we'll all be able to ride out the storm until such time as the most pernicious of bugs is gone.

In the meantime, make sure that you let DirecTV know when you have a problem and be as specific as you can about the circumstances. Don't stop at "it is a known problem".

Yes ride the bug storm, I have been on the ride since Sep. WOOT! If you ignore the original version of the code there have been 13 release over 4 months which averages out to 3.25 release a month, if that doesn't say solid code what does. Yes, avoid the pitfalls, that pesky lockup or black death, it is highly recommend that you avoid the IKD and unwatchable bug. How you avoid them, well... humm.... let me think.... oh thats right, you can't, unless you just don't use the HR20. Take a swig from that half full glass, keep pushing that RBR and that perhaps the next release will have "additional stability fixes".

 

[Howie]

Yes ride the bug storm, I have been on the ride since Sep. WOOT! If you ignore the original version of the code there have been 13 release over 4 months which averages out to 3.25 release a month, if that doesn't say solid code what does. Yes, avoid the pitfalls, that pesky lockup or black death, it is highly recommend that you avoid the IKD and unwatchable bug. How you avoid them, well... humm.... let me think.... oh thats right, you can't, unless you just don't use the HR20. Take a swig from that half full glass, keep pushing that RBR and that perhaps the next release will have "additional stability fixes".

You continue to try to convince people that everyone has major problems with these boxes, and WOOT! That is simply not the case. Mine is one example of a relatively problem free box, and I'm of the opinion that I'm not alone in having one, by a long shot. Sorry that yours has been a bitter experience, but please do not try to speak for us all. Happy Holidays!

 

[Flores]

+1 to Howie.

I have only had ONE problem with mine (an ongoing PCM audio bug that ONLY affects old HD channels)

Everything else has worked as advertised.

 

[hdtvfan0001]

You continue to try to convince people that everyone has major problems with these boxes, and WOOT! That is simply not the case. Mine is one example of a relatively problem free box, and I'm of the opinion that I'm not alone in having one, by a long shot. Sorry that yours has been a bitter experience, but please do not try to speak for us all. Happy Holidays!

I'm with you.

I just spent watching 7+ hours worth of recordings today going back to 3 months ago, and as recent as this past Thursday (NFL Network HD game). I was also recording one show via the sceduler at the same time I was watching these. All played and recorded perfectly. Out of my 127 recordings to date on the HR20, not one failed recording or playing. Not one. This unit has performed at a fantastic level now here for over 3 months. I regularly use the trick plays, replay older recordings, and schedule new ones. I've never had to do a single reboot - not once. All updates downloaded unattended and without incident.

I don't question that some folks may have a problem, but to your point Howie, many of us plain don't. I'm glad to see more and more people taking the time to reinforce that many users are both happy and trouble-free. Up until about a month or so ago, most of the posts here were naysayers and critics (except Earl, of course) and a few others. It's good to see more taking the time to share the positive. Hopefully, those with issues can soon get whatever they need to get past thier current problems, and join us on the bright side of the HR20.

 

[HDTVsportsfan]

+2 to Howie.

It is getting rather old.

I've only had minor hiccups w/ my two. I've had the early versions since Sept.

It's just isn't that bad. The sky is not falling.

To the OP, I'm not being sarcastic. But if you are that frustrated right from the start, maybe you should consider other providers.

 

[Brantel]

Well,

There are about a bazillion combinations and series of events that could cause inconsistencies in an embedded device like this but most of us are using them in more or less the same fashion.

The facts are that there are hundreds of these out there running the same exact firmware and some have no problems, others have major problems and some even completely die like mine did.

One starts to question the quality of the hardware in this situation. If there are quality problems in the way these are built or designed, no firmware rev. will ever fix all the boxes.

It would be nice to know that the bad boxes are not being trashed when they get them back, but that some sort of failure analysis is going on with them. Earl?

Also, to get to the bottom of some of these bugs that D* claims they cannot reproduce, work out some sort of exchange program with people on here that have these bugs they can reproduce on their boxes. Get these back to the engineers so they can see it for themselves.

I for one would like to know why my box is hung on the 1 of 2 screen. If it happened to mine and others here, it will happen again to others if something is not done about it. It will not just go away.

I also read all the negatives on here before ordering but I was willing to take the risk. Mine died in three days! Does this mean I am calling it quits, not at all. I am just hoping that my second box happens to be one of the good ones.

 

[dpluta]

This thing is a complete and total train wreck. It would seem that there are FAR more people having problems than not. Think of all the people having problems that are not even on this board.

I'm glad that some folks have had problem-free boxes. I'm not one of them. The idea of complaining to D* is baloney. If you're like me, you are now tied to a two year comittment. They could care less about your problems if you are tied down to them. Where are you going to go? Dish? It'll cost you big time to bail out on your D* comittment.

D* foisted a defective product on us and is now *slowly* playing catch-up with software fixes. I paid for $300 for my box and the notion that I need to "wait it out," sounds just like "stay the course" in relation to Iraq. How about releasing a product that works? What a grand idea.

I have called D* and they wont give me anything. Free nothin. Credits on nothin. Get it? Nothin. I've been with them since '94 and this is the worst product and service from them that I have ever seen.

HDFreddy, I dont know what to tell you. I assume they got you on a two-year comittment as well. They got us by the nads and I dont see a way out. You'll just have to sit on this board like a puppy dog, waiting for Earl and company to throw us a software bone, hoping it will fix our problems.

 

[franco]

+ 3 to Howie...Mine records and plays back FLAWLESSLY and has for the last 3 months. I don't discount those with problems but perhaps the better question would be WHY??? Why am I and others not having problems when others are???

Riddle me this!!!!
Why!!

 

[Brantel]

I have called D* and they wont give me anything. Free nothin. Credits on nothin. Get it? Nothin. .

Based on the comments from others and my own experience in this regard, I find this hard to understand. Must be more to the story. They have been more than fair to me about this, they have even done things for me after the fact that I am locked into a 2 year commitment.

 

[bwaldron]

+ 3 to Howie...Mine records and plays back FLAWLESSLY and has for the last 3 months. I don't discount those with problems but perhaps the better question would be WHY??? Why am I and others not having problems when others are???

Riddle me this!!!!
Why!!

Luck. Usage pattern. Hardware QC.

Our unit has been fairly reliable, but the HR10 still does the main DVR work around here.

There's a lot that I like about the HR20, but there's no denying the issues that remain with it.

 

[hdtvfan0001]

This thing is a complete and total train wreck. It would seem that there are FAR more people having problems than not. Think of all the people having problems that are not even on this board.

Luck.

Think of all the people who don't want to or need to take the time to say everything is fine. They happen to be in the majority. The only train wreck is the premise of this thread. When things are fine for alot of people, its "luck", when they are not, its suddenly an epidemic. Get real.

 

[franco]

Luck. Usage pattern. Hardware QC.

Our unit has been fairly reliable, but the HR10 still does the main DVR work around here.

There's a lot that I like about the HR20, but there's no denying the issues that remain with it.

Cannot believe luck plays a role in it, there has to be some definable difference,,maybe in manufacturer or some hardware related thing since we are all running the same software code. I record 2-3 things PER DAY 7 days a week without one hiccup! Some series links, some not. Some HD, some SD. So I am still in search of the elusive question ....WHY!!!

 

[hdtvfan0001]

Cannot believe luck plays a role in it, there has to be some definable difference,,maybe in manufacturer or some hardware related thing since we are all running the same software code. I record 2-3 things PER DAY 7 days a week without one hiccup! Some series links, some not. Some HD, some SD. So I am still in search of the elusive question ....WHY!!!

It's a technical problem - theirs a loose nut on the controls.

 

[hasan]

This thing is a complete and total train wreck. It would seem that there are FAR more people having problems than not. Think of all the people having problems that are not even on this board.

I'm glad that some folks have had problem-free boxes. I'm not one of them. The idea of complaining to D* is baloney. If you're like me, you are now tied to a two year comittment. They could care less about your problems if you are tied down to them. Where are you going to go? Dish? It'll cost you big time to bail out on your D* comittment.

D* foisted a defective product on us and is now *slowly* playing catch-up with software fixes. I paid for $300 for my box and the notion that I need to "wait it out," sounds just like "stay the course" in relation to Iraq. How about releasing a product that works? What a grand idea.

I have called D* and they wont give me anything. Free nothin. Credits on nothin. Get it? Nothin. I've been with them since '94 and this is the worst product and service from them that I have ever seen.

HDFreddy, I dont know what to tell you. I assume they got you on a two-year comittment as well. They got us by the nads and I dont see a way out. You'll just have to sit on this board like a puppy dog, waiting for Earl and company to throw us a software bone, hoping it will fix our problems.

Just to put things into perspective:

This thing is a total train wreck FOR YOU. For me it has been terrific (but not perfect).

You said,

"It would seem that there are FAR more people having problems than not. Think of all the people having problems that are not even on this board."

I did a poll a few weeks ago asking whether or not people were satisfied with their HR20. There were 325 replies. Of those, 75% said they were at least satisfied or very satisfied. About 15% said they were less than satisfied or very dissatisfied. I don't agree at all that far more people are having problems than are not. You say, "Think of all....having problems..not on this board". It is equally justified (and just as misleading) to say, "Think of all the people NOT having problems who are not on this board." Pure speculation, pure conjecture.

The fact remains, a significant number of what appears to be a minority of users are are having some NASTY problems. The fact that they may be a minority, does not ameliorate or diminish D*'s responsilbility to get things fixed and deal fairly with their customers.

While there are limitations of how I collected the information, the trend (at that time) was clear: the vast majority of HR20 users on this forum were at least somewhat satisfied with its performance. (they still wanted it to get better).

There ARE REAL PROBLEMS. These are frequent and severe enough, that I would not recommend purchasing an HR20 to my friends. I told them to get H20s, they did and are happy.

If the HR20 has to work perfectly with no missed recordings, no blank screens, no need for resets....then this baby ain't for you....yet. (at least potentially for about 1 in 4 of "you") I would call this "not ready for prime time", but I wouldn't call it a train wreck, although I like the term.:hurah:

I have had only two missed recordings in 15 weeks. I've never had to do a reset. I have had no freezes/lockups, and I had one blank screen when playing a recording, but it didn't freeze the machine.

The casual consumer has (if the poll can be extrapolated) a one in four chance of being at least somewhat dissatisfied. Those are pretty scary odds for that target population, and certainly fits the "not ready for prime time" category in my opinion.

That said, I'm glad I got mine, use it all the time and have had very good fortune with it. It's a scary thought, however, that one has to even consider "good fortune" when using a box like this. That, in and of itself, might qualify as a 'train wreck', but I wouldn't go quite that far, due to the apparent distribution and frequency/severity of issues with the HR20. (from my poll)

I wish you, myself, and all the HR20 users "good fortune"...it looks like we may need it. (sooner or later). Try not to let it get to ya!

 

[jfolliard]

This thing is a complete and total train wreck. It would seem that there are FAR more people having problems than not. Think of all the people having problems that are not even on this board.

I'm glad that some folks have had problem-free boxes. I'm not one of them. The idea of complaining to D* is baloney. If you're like me, you are now tied to a two year comittment. They could care less about your problems if you are tied down to them. Where are you going to go? Dish? It'll cost you big time to bail out on your D* comittment.

D* foisted a defective product on us and is now *slowly* playing catch-up with software fixes. I paid for $300 for my box and the notion that I need to "wait it out," sounds just like "stay the course" in relation to Iraq. How about releasing a product that works? What a grand idea.

I have called D* and they wont give me anything. Free nothin. Credits on nothin. Get it? Nothin. I've been with them since '94 and this is the worst product and service from them that I have ever seen.

HDFreddy, I dont know what to tell you. I assume they got you on a two-year comittment as well. They got us by the nads and I dont see a way out. You'll just have to sit on this board like a puppy dog, waiting for Earl and company to throw us a software bone, hoping it will fix our problems.

Sorry that your hr20 is not working as expected - Mine has been perfect since the beginning - so not sure what to say other than I'm sure many hr20s are fine but others might not be.

I disagree that D* "foisted" a defective product on us - nobody twisted my arm. Not sure why they aren't working with you - My experiences are fine - I paid $100 for my HR20 on some kind of sale and have had great service with them during my 5 year relationship - of course, at times I have to be persistent in a nice way as understandably the first CSRs you get to are the lowest on the food chain.

If you truly want to quit D* don't worry about the 2 year commitment - you have a legitimate complaint and they will not spend the time and effort to go after you - make sure though that you are not on an automatic monthly payment plan!

 

[btmoore]

You continue to try to convince people that everyone has major problems with these boxes, and WOOT! That is simply not the case. Mine is one example of a relatively problem free box, and I'm of the opinion that I'm not alone in having one, by a long shot. Sorry that yours has been a bitter experience, but please do not try to speak for us all. Happy Holidays!

Where did I say that everyone has major problems? I challenge you to read my entire post history to and show were I ever said everyone has major problems or anything close to it. Riding out the storm until the bug have been fixed was harsh's word choice, I just used his paradigm.

I said:

There have been an average of 3.5 release a month, and pointed out that reflects badly on the question of stability.
I agreed that avoiding the pitfalls was a good thing, but I also pointed out that there is no way to avoid them the bugs are random.
Then I referred to the continued claim of "additional stability fixes" that are in every release note but in every release the same defects continue to exist. At times some have declined or even been apparently eliminated like the partial bug, but then we get new ones like the new black death. Sorry but I refuse to consider the RBR a fix, if I need to hit that button more than once or twice a year I think the box has major problems. Right now I am @ about once a week or two on RBRs, way too instable for me.

So don't put words in my mouth, I never said everyone is having major problems, don't hoist your insecurities upon me. I have no idea what the ratio is of people who have issues to those who don't but if you look at the last poll on the black death, it is running 68% to 31% in favor of those who have had the black death. http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=765260#post765260 I know according to the fan boys we must all be whiners.

 

[HDfreddy]

Just got off of the phone with Retention Group Customer Service. Very Nice lady who understood my frustruation and said that no current future update is schedule but they know there will be one. She thought more would be out after the first of the new year.

She offered me some discounts on my bill and gave me starz for 3 months. I treated this CS representative as I would want to be treated and she I feel went above and beyond what she had to do.

I have been with Direct TV for over 10 years now and even though I am currently frustruated with this particular box, I am also overall extremely pleased with them.

HDfreddy

 

[HarleyD]

About 15% said they were less than satisfied or very dissatisfied.

Some of the people here seem to view that like it is an incidental figure.

Let's put a little different perspective on that.

If there were a flu epidemic that killed 15% of all who contracted it, would that still be an incidental figure? Or would you be terrified of it and avoiding contact with it at all costs?

A dissatisfaction rate of 15% with your new "flagship product" should be wholly unacceptable to a company that hangs its' hat on leading the industry in customer satisfaction. Instead they are concerned that they are giving away too much compensation to the subscribers that are not getting what they have paid for and contracted to get.

They should be falling all over themselves to rectify this and curry favor with the afflicted subscribers with a dissatisfaction rate like that.

I am absolutely flabbergasted by the folks who seem to think that this is acceptable and even to be expected.