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Challenge to DIRECTV

22K views 160 replies 45 participants last post by  Stuart Sweet 
#1 ·
I have been with DirecTV for 14 years, and am now thinking of switching to FIOS/TIVO. The reasons are well known to everyone in this forum:

1) The new software performs so poorly that the entire experience is completely frustrating. Delays between pushing remote control buttons and the actions resulting from those presses can be 2->3->5 seconds.
2) 30-second skip no longer works reliably (through digital ad insertion)
3) The Guide no longer works reliably. I have large blank spots in the guide beyond 24 hours. Rebooting presents me with a different guide filled with holes.
4) Recording series no longer works reliably. I have to constantly monitor my "To Do List" each night before prime time to ensure that my scheduled recordings are correct.

I have no idea why these problems were created by DIRECTV, when they had perfectly good software six months ago, and quite frankly I'm past caring. They've had six months to fix it and they haven't. But I have a lot of shows recorded that I still need to watch, so my final decision to switch will be put off until June.

I realize than many of you think I should upgrade from my current HR21Pro to the latest HR34 for $400 + $50 installation (at least). I realize that many of you have gotten a friendly CSR to give you a discount. You must realize that this *never* happens to me--no one *ever* gives me a discount on anything, no matter what I say. So this upgrade route is $450 staring me in my face, and no guarantee that the software will work any better on the HR34.

Switching to FIOS/TIVO will also cost $400 for the new TIVO Premier Elite, plus another $80 for a second TIVO Premiere for the bedroom. The Premiere Elite has similar specs to the HR34, but with 4 tuners instead of 5. It can play programs across my gigabit wired ethernet network without a lot of crazy and expensive Connection Kit contraptions. [I realize many DIRECTV customers do not have wired gigabit ethernet, by why punish those of us who do?]. The FIOS/TIVO service is also slightly cheaper per month (when bundled with my existing internet/phone service) than is DIRECTV. The TIVO software is impeccably written, and performs brilliantly.

So, since I know people at DIRECTV read this board, I want to publicly issue them a CHALLENGE, if they want to keep me as a customer:

By June:
1) ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOUR SOFTWARE
2) ANNOUNCE A PLAN TO FIX IT, INCLUDING A TIMETABLE

They don't even have to fix the problem by June, just acknowledge the problem and present a plan to fix it. That action alone will restore much of the goodwill that has been lost over the last six months. After all, admitting one has a problem is the first step towards recovery.

I want to stay with DIRECTV, I really do. I like DIRECTV, and I have a lot invested in DIRECTV equipment. But I can't stay unless the problems are fixed. I don't want credits, discounts, promotions, or any premium channel free for 3 months. I JUST WANT THE SOFTWARE TO WORK.

Does anyone really believe I am out of line with this challenge?

--Ed.
 
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#2 ·
edpowell said:
Does anyone really believe I am out of line with this challenge?

--Ed.
I'm afraid you're out of line demanding a "timetable". All these DVRs are nothing more than little computers. There's no way someone writing and testing code can tell you when they'll be done.

And D* won't admit to a problem because Dish would beat them over the head with it and someone would wind up filing a lawsuit.
 
#4 ·
I was a vocal critic of the HR2x DVRs for quite a while. I'm currently using primarily HR24-500s and an HR20-700. I do a lot of recording (far more than I can actually watch) and haven't noticed any of the issues you described. I'm not implying that you're imagining things - just that I haven't had the same experience lately.

I would suggest maybe trying to get an HR24, but I know that might be money out of your pocket and would likely start a new 2 year commitment.

Others here will know better than I, but I bet if you can get your HR21 diagnosed as the problem then DirecTV might send you a luck-of-the-draw replacement with no new commitment.

It would at least be worth trying a different piece of hardware before switching services if you can do so without a new commitment.
 
#5 ·
edpowell said:
The TIVO software is impeccably written, and performs brilliantly.
Have you ever used a Tivo Elite? I can tell you, if you have the HD interface turned on, it is *NOT* fast, its actually slower than my HR34 for menu and guide functions, plus, it has been over a year and a half, and the UI is still not finished. Switches between HD and SD (with the associated time required for the TV to resync).

While I share your frustration with the apparent lack of speed promised by the HD GUI from DirecTv, the Tivo is not a cure, although it is pretty quick if you leave the HD menus turned off, but then you lose several functions.

One plus for the Tivo, you can copy the programs off it to your HTPC server if you want to.
 
#6 ·
cover said:
I would suggest maybe trying to get an HR24, but I know that might be money out of your pocket and would likely start a new 2 year commitment.
The OP appears to be a fan of owning the equipment outright so their only commitment is the dollar difference IF they manage to find a buyer for something most don't want to own.
 
#7 ·
Davenir, thanks for your review of the Tivo premiere software. I have extensive experience with the previous Tivo software, as practically everyone I know has it, and I've used it a lot. I have no personal experience with the new software, I am just reading reviews. I appreciate the comment.

Harsh, I don't really care about owning versus leasing. It's all about the large hard drive for me. I bought the HR21Pro at a time when it had the largest hard drive. I'd trade it for an HR24 in a moment if I thought the HR24 was going to perform better. SolidSignal lists the HR24 for $200, so I'm not sure whether that's the right approach over the HR34. I suppose I care about cost as much as anyone, but I'm not a person who wants to invest lots of time wheedling Directv into giving me a discount. I just want a box that works properly. I would hesitate to sell my owned HR21Pro on ebay--how could I inflict it on some poor unsuspecting n00b? There's no upside in hurting someone that way for a few measly dollars.

I appreciate the feedback, especially from those of you who have an HR34 that seems to work properly.
 
#9 ·
edpowell said:
Davenir, thanks for your review of the Tivo premiere software. I have extensive experience with the previous Tivo software, as practically everyone I know has it, and I've used it a lot. I have no personal experience with the new software, I am just reading reviews. I appreciate the comment.

Harsh, I don't really care about owning versus leasing. It's all about the large hard drive for me. I bought the HR21Pro at a time when it had the largest hard drive. I'd trade it for an HR24 in a moment if I thought the HR24 was going to perform better. SolidSignal lists the HR24 for $200, so I'm not sure whether that's the right approach over the HR34. I suppose I care about cost as much as anyone, but I'm not a person who wants to invest lots of time wheedling Directv into giving me a discount. I just want a box that works properly. I would hesitate to sell my owned HR21Pro on ebay--how could I inflict it on some poor unsuspecting n00b? There's no upside in hurting someone that way for a few measly dollars.

I appreciate the feedback, especially from those of you who have an HR34 that seems to work properly.
Right now I would still shy away for the HR34. Some aren't having problems and some are.
Since you're starting from a point of frustration, I'd wait until more of the HR34 is sorted out.

Now I haven't really had the problems you've been. I had a HR21-200 when they first came out and it was only slightly slower than my HR20s. The 20s lasted a good five years, but I've since moved on the the HR24-500s and just haven't had any problems with them either.

If you really want to try another round/chance with DirecTV, I'd get beyond the first level of customer service and see what they'll do for the HR24.
Between the two HR24-500s and a H25-500 with whole home, it really works well.
Changing channels takes all of about one second longer than my TV does off its antenna.
 
#10 ·
I see your delays as well Ed. I'm a 11 year subscriber, and like you, it's getting harder and harder. I see the remote delay on my HR20-700 and my HR24-100, and it's killer. When I turn a receiver on, I can not change channels, I just can't. I press 2-5 on the remote, it changed to channel 2, then channel 5, I try again, same thing. It seems worse at the top of an hour, or when a receiver is just turned on. I had this years ago before the HD upgrade, but it's much, much worse now. It wasn't always this way either, it seems real bad over the past couple months.

I'm not ready to throw down a gauntlet yet, but every day that goes by makes me more frustrated. Tonight was enough to get me to look here for any other experiences, and I'm glad I did.

I work in IT, so I hesitate to call them and say "My receiver's slow"... It's like people calling and saying their Internet is slow... It take a lot of digging to get to the root cause, but maybe I should at this point. Has anyone called this issue in and what have you gotten for any response?

I'm curious what you finally decide. I don't have the FIOS card to play in my area...

Thanks.
 
#11 ·
jkal25 said:
I see the remote delay on my HR20-700 and my HR24-100, and it's killer. When I turn a receiver on, I can not change channels, I just can't. I press 2-5 on the remote, it changed to channel 2, then channel 5, I try again, same thing. It seems worse at the top of an hour, or when a receiver is just turned on.

Thanks.
When the receiver is first turned on, I can see how there may be a delay. Do you turn your TV on at the same time too?
Within the first few mins [really seconds here], things need to settle down before I even think that they would be slow.
I normally leave mine on the channel I expect to watch in the morning before I turn it off.
 
#12 ·
I don't see DirecTV accepting your challenge... I'm sure they don't enjoy having DVRs that can't keep up with the user. They have apparently been this way on and off to some degree from day one. I know my HR22s sucked from day one 3 years ago....

They had their chance at a fresh start with the HR34 but sadly it looks like at least for some it suffers many of the same issues. If they didn't fix it with all new hardware on the HR34 I'm not sure they have the technical ability and/or the budget to ever fix it.

I'm guessing that management is ok with current performance level as long as the sub numbers keep growing. If, or should I say when, it hurts the bottom line you can bet your behind that the problems will be fixed! Until then they seem to have the attitude of why spend money to correct the issues when we'll have more than enough new subs to replace the people that give up and leave. It all comes down to the money.

I'm sure DirecTV management thanks their lucky stars that no one (well almost!) signs up without a 2 year commitment. Can you imagine what would happen if, like many cable systems, DirecTV subs could just call at any time and cancel their service? Talk about the bottom line taking a hit!

Keep adding things that marketing can use... Pandora etc... That will help add subs.
 
#16 ·
#17 ·
cover said:
I was a vocal critic of the HR2x DVRs for quite a while. I'm currently using primarily HR24-500s and an HR20-700. I do a lot of recording (far more than I can actually watch) and haven't noticed any of the issues you described. I'm not implying that you're imagining things - just that I haven't had the same experience lately...
I'm with you, my HR22 is performing better then ever. Not saying its perfect, but decent. And my HR34 is very fast, since the HD GUI release. I'm just hoping things don't change with future releases that are designed to fix the performance issue others are experiencing.
 
#18 ·
MysteryMan said:
Surely you jest. There will always be those who have something to complain about.
Although there are some, the number of threads on this site with frivolous complaints are few IMO. The vast majority of "complaining" threads are rooted in legitimate issues (some more severe than others). I see far more unabashed defending of D* in threads with legitimate complaints than I see people starting threads with frivolous complaints.
 
#19 ·
sigma1914 said:
I have a challenge - We go a week without multiple threads being started complaining about speed. ;)
I suggest that this be approached a different way:

How about DIRECTV solving the issue for those who have it? Suspending, marginalizing, ignoring or denying the problem isn't going to solve it. It may not have manifested for many (or it may have but they're soft-pedaling it) but for those who are beset, it is a very real and often debilitating problem.

I bet DIRECTV isn't going to deny the "Black Theme" movement for very long. Sometimes they just need a little help in prioritizing.
 
#20 ·
jkal25 said:
I see your delays as well Ed. I'm a 11 year subscriber, and like you, it's getting harder and harder. I see the remote delay on my HR20-700 and my HR24-100, and it's killer. When I turn a receiver on, I can not change channels, I just can't. I press 2-5 on the remote, it changed to channel 2, then channel 5, I try again, same thing. It seems worse at the top of an hour, or when a receiver is just turned on. I had this years ago before the HD upgrade, but it's much, much worse now. It wasn't always this way either, it seems real bad over the past couple months.

I'm not ready to throw down a gauntlet yet, but every day that goes by makes me more frustrated. Tonight was enough to get me to look here for any other experiences, and I'm glad I did.

I work in IT, so I hesitate to call them and say "My receiver's slow"... It's like people calling and saying their Internet is slow... It take a lot of digging to get to the root cause, but maybe I should at this point. Has anyone called this issue in and what have you gotten for any response?

I'm curious what you finally decide. I don't have the FIOS card to play in my area...

Thanks.
In another thread about "slowness" the other day I asked for patience and "clarity" when posting about "slowness". How you can tell what anyone's talking about when all you've got to go by is "My HR is slow" is beyond me.

Many folks have posted about calling and trying to get a new/used replacement, but they seem to be stonewalling until the issues with the new firmware are fixed.

Rich
 
#21 ·
Rich said:
In another thread about "slowness" the other day I asked for patience and "clarity" when posting about "slowness". How you can tell what anyone's talking about when all you've got to go by is "My HR is slow" is beyond me.

Many folks have posted about calling and trying to get a new/used replacement, but they seem to be stonewalling until the issues with the new firmware are fixed.

Rich
Rich, do you really think everyone reads all the posts? Besides that, it would be like me saying, anyone that posts the words "DVR is Slow" is referring to the guide and menu taking 5 seconds+ to pop up, hitting record in guide and taking 5 seconds+ for orange circle to appear and keying in command on remote takes 5 seconds+ for the DVR to respond. If you don't mean that, please don't use the words "My DVR is slow". How many people are going to see that one post, in one of 10 threads about slow DVR's and then actually care what I ask them to do?

What they probably do is see the title of the thread, have an issue that sounds similar and they post about their slow DVR. And someone like me that does read all the posts, already knows what issues they are probably referring too.
 
#22 ·
RACJ2 said:
I'm with you, my HR22 is performing better then ever. Not saying its perfect, but decent. And my HR34 is very fast, since the HD GUI release. I'm just hoping things don't change with future releases that are designed to fix the performance issue others are experiencing.
Yup, I'd be worried about that too. Lucky now, but...

Rich
 
#23 ·
RACJ2 said:
Rich, do you really think everyone reads all the posts? Besides that, it would be like me saying, anyone that posts the words "DVR is Slow" is referring to the guide and menu taking 5 seconds+ to pop up, hitting record in guide and taking 5 seconds+ for orange circle to appear and keying in command on remote takes 5 seconds+ for the DVR to respond. If you don't mean that, please don't use the words "My DVR is slow". How many people are going to see that one post, in one of 10 threads about slow DVR's and then actually care what I ask them to do?

What they probably do is see the title of the thread, have an issue that sounds similar and they post about their slow DVR. And someone like me that does read all the posts, already knows what issues they are probably referring too.
Just thought it was something that needed to be said. I've done a lot of troubleshooting in my life, with electrical equipment and with administration problems and I have a problem when someone is deeply concerned about an issue, but doesn't frame the details of the issue in a way that leads to a solution.

I know everyone isn't gonna read every post in every thread, but if some people do and write their complaints in such a way that they can be acted upon, perhaps other people will pick up on that.

Rich
 
#24 ·
veryoldschool said:
When the receiver is first turned on, I can see how there may be a delay. Do you turn your TV on at the same time too?
Within the first few mins [really seconds here], things need to settle down before I even think that they would be slow.
I normally leave mine on the channel I expect to watch in the morning before I turn it off.
With respect VOS (sincerely), don't you think it's unreasonable to expect users to leave a STB on the channel they expect to watch in the morning.

This hasn't been an issue for the past couple of weeks, but there was a time in recent memory (and on this NR) when one of my HR24-500's would often be unresponsive for up to 4 minutes after powering on and then work normally after that. During that time, it wasn't just a matter of not being able to change channels - audio and video would freeze too. It hasn't done that in the past couple of weeks, but I'm at a loss to explain what has changed.

I suspect there are two issues at play with the general slowness that people are seeing. First, DTV produced underpowered hardware (CPU, memory, or both) - probably in order to cut costs. Second, they hurriedly added in many features that are, in my opinion, of dubious value without optimizing the software code to be as efficient as possible.

I can understand DTV's business reasons, but pretending that the HR24 and the HR21,22,23 boxes are equivalents seems ridiculous at this point. I bet a lot of customers would willingly pay more for an HR24 if DTV could guarantee that's what they'd actually receive.
 
#25 ·
cover said:
With respect VOS (sincerely), don't you think it's unreasonable to expect users to leave a STB on the channel they expect to watch in the morning.
This was only how I use mine. I do this so if I wake up late, I can skip back in the buffer and catch anything I missed [on the morning news].

This wasn't to be some work-a-round, but might also be why I don't have remote problems because I'm not trying to change channels when I first turn on the receiver.
 
#26 ·
veryoldschool said:
This was only how I use mine. I do this so if I wake up late, I can skip back in the buffer and catch anything I missed [on the morning news].

This wasn't to be some work-a-round, but might also be why I don't have remote problems because I'm not trying to change channels when I first turn on the receiver.
Ah, I see. Thanks for clarifying that.
 
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