[t_h]

Our incidence of blank recordings has really ramped up in the last couple of weeks, and this time they arent viewable after a reboot like they were in the past.

Last week Eurkeka was a blank recording. When I re-recorded it, it said the show was an hour but I only had six minutes recorded.

The HR20 apparently hates Eureka.

In the meanwhile the other receiver recorded it fine, but sometimes it records dead blank recordings while the one that didnt get Eureka records it fine.

I hit upon a really, really, really lousy and annoying problem yesterday. I'm a humongous uber football fan, and put the hall of fame game on. When I went to watch it, nothing. History reports "This showing is over", which as I understand it means both tuners were busy.

I didnt get any warning when I scheduled the recording, but on looking at it thoroughly I see that two autorecord keyword wishlists recorded at that time. Hmm...those arent prescheduled in advance, so its entirely plausible that the recording was free and clear when I made it, but when the autorecord process came around a day or so in advance it apparently chose those autorecord shows over my explicit recording. The football game was in the "to-do" list the day before, but I didnt double check it just prior to the recording.

So basically I need to double up all the series links for shows I'd actually like to watch, not use autorecords, and probably watch anything important as a live tv show.

Whats frustrating is that both receivers will accurately and properly record 20 shows every single day and its only 2-4 per week that are getting hosed. Those are always the ones I want to watch. I get 90 episodes of kids shows perfectly, the news records just great, and shows I record as filler stuff seem to be immune.

I've checked my signal levels and they're fine. I got up and checked the dish mount and its solid as a rock. Checked the tightness of all the wires on the multiswitch. Nice and tight. Same switch and wiring our Directivos were on for a year with no problems.

We've had a few issues with blank recordings and stuff not recording before, but its become ridiculous since the 254 "upgrade".

Anyone that "never has problems" want to clue me in on the secret? The wife acceptance factor has dropped to minus 10,000. She hates these things. I'm not feeling that much better about them.

Barring coming up with a solution, I think I'm going to buy an HD tivo, see if I can get the cable company to get some cable cards in it, and if I dont experience a bunch of problems with that I'll eat the cancellation fee with directv and move along.

It really sticks in my craw that Directv talked me into buying these and getting rid of my directivos because their receiver would be a lot better, then I have to pay a fee to them when the product fails to perform.

 

[adamson]

If your looking for sympathy here you won't get it. Your only options are keeping your Directivos running and forget HD from Directv, Dish Network, Cable. Don't be brainwashed from the masses here at dbstalk.com either. I feel your pain and I for one never hated Directv so much in all these years.

 

[spartanstew]

Not going to point him to your thread upmichigan?

Thankfully, I've never hated any company in my life. I've been disappointed in some and there's been some I haven't given my business to, but I've never actually hated one.

The day I decide to keep doing business with a company I actually hate, might be the day I slit my wrists.

Anyone that "never has problems" want to clue me in on the secret? The wife acceptance factor has dropped to minus 10,000. She hates these things. I'm not feeling that much better about them.

I wish I could tell you the secret, but I have no idea what makes my units different than yours. I wish I did, for my wife has never been happier with a DVR (even after 7 years with tivo).

Barring coming up with a solution, I think I'm going to buy an HD tivo, see if I can get the cable company to get some cable cards in it, and if I dont experience a bunch of problems with that I'll eat the cancellation fee with directv and move along.

I don't blame you. You have to do what makes you happy.

 

[say-what]

You mention a multiswitch - what brand and model?

You need the WB68 or WB616 for the new HD channels.

Also, are there any diplexers in use, splitters anywhere on the lines, or barrel connectors? All are potential sources of problems.

How long are the cable runs from dish to switch and switch to receivers?

What are your signals for both tuners on each transponder for each sat (you can skip 99(s) and 103(s), they're spot beams)?

 

[evan_s]

Same switch and wiring our Directivos were on for a year with no problems.

What switch are you using? When they installed the hr20 they should have replaced the switch you where using with a WB68 or wb616. If you aren't using one of those 2 it could be the sources of your problem. While older switches may work sometimes they weren't designed for the higher and lower frequencies that the HR20's use with the Ka Sats and definitely can cause problems.

The same is true for the cables. What frequency are the cables rated to? For the new ka sats it needs to go up to at least 2150mhz for the signals in use and 3ghz is recommended.

Also can you provide a little more specifics about your setup. What dish(es) do you have. What switch is it. How many receivers total and which ones etc.

 

[JClore1950]

Our incidence of blank recordings has really ramped up in the last couple of weeks, and this time they arent viewable after a reboot like they were in the past.

Last week Eurkeka was a blank recording. When I re-recorded it, it said the show was an hour but I only had six minutes recorded.

The HR20 apparently hates Eureka.

In the meanwhile the other receiver recorded it fine, but sometimes it records dead blank recordings while the one that didnt get Eureka records it fine.

I hit upon a really, really, really lousy and annoying problem yesterday. I'm a humongous uber football fan, and put the hall of fame game on. When I went to watch it, nothing. History reports "This showing is over", which as I understand it means both tuners were busy.

I didnt get any warning when I scheduled the recording, but on looking at it thoroughly I see that two autorecord keyword wishlists recorded at that time. Hmm...those arent prescheduled in advance, so its entirely plausible that the recording was free and clear when I made it, but when the autorecord process came around a day or so in advance it apparently chose those autorecord shows over my explicit recording. The football game was in the "to-do" list the day before, but I didnt double check it just prior to the recording.

So basically I need to double up all the series links for shows I'd actually like to watch, not use autorecords, and probably watch anything important as a live tv show.

Whats frustrating is that both receivers will accurately and properly record 20 shows every single day and its only 2-4 per week that are getting hosed. Those are always the ones I want to watch. I get 90 episodes of kids shows perfectly, the news records just great, and shows I record as filler stuff seem to be immune.

I've checked my signal levels and they're fine. I got up and checked the dish mount and its solid as a rock. Checked the tightness of all the wires on the multiswitch. Nice and tight. Same switch and wiring our Directivos were on for a year with no problems.

We've had a few issues with blank recordings and stuff not recording before, but its become ridiculous since the 254 "upgrade".

Anyone that "never has problems" want to clue me in on the secret? The wife acceptance factor has dropped to minus 10,000. She hates these things. I'm not feeling that much better about them.

Barring coming up with a solution, I think I'm going to buy an HD tivo, see if I can get the cable company to get some cable cards in it, and if I dont experience a bunch of problems with that I'll eat the cancellation fee with directv and move along.

It really sticks in my craw that Directv talked me into buying these and getting rid of my directivos because their receiver would be a lot better, then I have to pay a fee to them when the product fails to perform.

I've never had a problem recording with my HR20-700 or my HR21-700.

 

[paulsown]

T_h, the secret that many here use to say that they "have no problems" is to decide that missed recordings and occasional lockups are not "problems", but just part of normal usage. If some were absolutely honest, they would tell you that they have in fact missed recordings and had to reset their units, even those that proclaim vociferously that their DVR is the best thing since sliced bread. It is all in how you look at things. These types could argue that the Corvair was the greatest car ever as long as you never crashed it. Of course, if you crashed it, it would be your fault for not being more careful. It is all in perspective.

Do what you have to do, you will not find help here, just blame, insult, and denial of any problems.

 

[Stuart Sweet]

OK, I would prefer that we try to help the original poster, but if he posted this thread for the purpose of letting us know how he feels, that's perfectly valid too.

Anyone who feels he is being blamed or insulted should click that little red and white triangle at the lower left of every post and let us know. We do not tolerate that and act on it when we find it.

 

[tcusta00]

T_h, the secret that many here use to say that they "have no problems" is to decide that missed recordings and occasional lockups are not "problems", but just part of normal usage. If some were absolutely honest, they would tell you that they have in fact missed recordings and had to reset their units, even those that proclaim vociferously that their DVR is the best thing since sliced bread. It is all in how you look at things. These types could argue that the Corvair was the greatest car ever as long as you never crashed it. Of course, if you crashed it, it would be your fault for not being more careful. It is all in perspective.

Do what you have to do, you will not find help here, just blame, insult, and denial of any problems.

You're saying that those of us without problems aren't being honest? Thanks for that. :nono2:

OP - In addition to finding both the good and bad here, you will also find a community ready to help you with your problems. Some people do indeed enjoy their DVRs with few or no problems and would like to help those that are having problems find the same experience.

 

[spartanstew]

You're saying that those of us without problems aren't being honest? Thanks for that. :nono2:

Yep, he's said it before too.

He's the type of personality that's only happy if everyone else is miserable too.

 

[Stuart Sweet]

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion here.

 

[paulsown]

Yep, he's said it before too.

He's the type of personality that's only happy if everyone else is miserable too.

umm...yeah.....insult......what a surprise.

Boy, you got me too a "T" , I am trying to make the world miserable one Directv forum at a time!!!!

Maybe I am just unhappy with Directv, maybe I would prefer honest and open discussion about problems that are OBVIOUSLY present, instead of attacks on those who are frustrated with people who smile and say "this is the greatest DVR ever, it must be your fault because mine works flawlessly". I have had some of those who proclaim that this DVR is wonderful admit that they have missed recordings and had to reset it, they just say that those things are not problems. That is not honest. Can the other two posters in this thread honestly say that they have never missed a recording? Or that they have never had to reset the DVR?

 

[spartanstew]

Perhaps Stuart, but stating that anyone who claims they haven't missed recordings is a liar is uncalled for.

 

[spartanstew]

umm...yeah.....insult......what a surprise.

Calling people liars is an insult.

Boy, you got me too a "T" , I am trying to make the world miserable one Directv forum at a time!!!!

Cool, I nailed it.

Maybe I am just unhappy with Directv, maybe I would prefer honest and open discussion about problems that are OBVIOUSLY present, instead of attacks on those who are frustrated with people who smile and say "this is the greatest DVR ever, it must be your fault because mine works flawlessly". I have had some of those who proclaim that this DVR is wonderful admit that they have missed recordings and had to reset it, they just say that those things are not problems. That is not honest. Can the other two posters in this thread honestly say that they have never missed a recording? Or that they have never had to reset the DVR?

I can't speak for the other two, but I can honestly say I don't remember a missed recording. It's possible I've missed one or two in the last year, but I don't remember it if it happened. I have had to reset once that I know of which was just last week when DOD wouldn't come out of pause after 15 straight hours of downloading. Don't know if it was a problem with the HR21 or my internet or what. That's it. All 3 of mine have been wonderful and I've never attacked someone that had an issue. Perhaps I've attacked those that just come on here to *****, but that's a bit different.

 

[Mike728]

Can the other two posters in this thread honestly say that they have never missed a recording? Or that they have never had to reset the DVR?

I'm not one of the other two, but neither my HR20 nor HR21 have ever missed a recording. I have had to reset the HR20 once, though. I can't count the number of times that I've had to reset my computers...

 

[Dirac]

The last time I missed recordings on nationally-released software (and not due to weather) was when my HR10 was upgraded to 6.3. That was about two years ago I think.

 

[t_h]

Thats a nice bunch of pointless shin kicking. I'm well aware of how peoples perceptions of their experienced problems can be highly variable, and how people use a box varies so much from person to person, across several different dishes and switches, and many versions of the box and software on it and then situational issues with the operating environment...its not hard to see why some people have 'no problems' and others do. Its also easy to see how the folks that do can get frustrated by being told that its all in their head or must simply be something broken that needs replacing.

The wire is a year old, was installed all new by a directv installer. Short run from the dish about 15' up on the side of the house, then a run into the room right behind the wall the dish is on, and down about 10' and into the room below where the dish is mounted. So maybe 2 20' runs.

The switch was installed a year ago with the directivo's as well, and when the installer came out to put up the slimline dish for HD and put in the two HR20's he said "oh, you already have the new switch so we dont have to change that".

I'd have to get a ladder out and climb up to look at it, but since the problem seems to be intermittent, infrequent, and occur on one receiver while the other concurrently records the show, I'm guessing its not a signal problem or a wire problem. Maybe an intermittent switch problem but its odd that I had no problems with blank recordings that werent fixed with a reboot until 254 showed up.

I'd posted my signal levels a few months back and a bunch of guys looked at them and said they were great. I've rechecked them and they seem fine. No obstructions, clear views all around and my house is on a hill with a strong downslope to the south, southeast and southwest so the next house's roof is about 25' below my ground level.

Spartanstew...I'm all for voting with my feet and wallet. What sucks is that I already paid for NFL sunday ticket (and then found out I had to pay another $100 to watch the games in HD when I already subscribe to all the HD channels and paid for the NFLST) and have a year and a half left on my "commitment". So financially I'd be looking at well over a thousand bucks to walk and get something else. And no assurance it'd be any better.

Hey, heres a dumb question. If I yank my old directivos and reactivate them and give them back the HR20's, does that cost me anything? Since I'm not getting the NFLST games in HD, I really dont give a hoot about HD. Thats why I wanted to go to the HD product in the first place, but the cost is stupid...$370 to watch a couple of games a week?!?

Anyone else have any ideas on things to check or ways they minimized or solved the problems? I unplugged all my network connections although that doesnt seem to have made any difference. I have the directv service plan so maybe I'll just have them make a service call but since I cant find anything obviously wrong that would just leave them replacing the receivers...and there would go all the shows we've recorded and havent watched yet...

As far as winding back around to what *I* think it is, I think theres some sort of software issue thats brought out in certain combinations of equipment and usage. I say that because I've been through a handful of releases and tried a few CE's way back when we first started out. Vastly different behavior and drastic changes to the problems I've experienced from one release to the next. For a good period of time we experienced no blank recordings, although the box failed to record things it should have. Then for a while we got all our shows but some were blank, but rebooting made them viewable. Now we have some failures to record and blank shows that dont come back. All on the same h/w and install.

What other conclusion could I reasonably draw? Phases of the moon?

 

[evan_s]

I'd still check the switch or try to get someone out under the PP to check it. A number of people have reported intermittent problems when using an older switch for HD. It works but not reliably.

Also what other receivers do you have besides the 2 hr20's you have mentioned? If you don't have any other receivers you shouldn't need a multiswitch at all.

You could reactivate your old Tivos and deactivate the hr20's and send them back and it shouldn't cost you anything. The commitment is only to keep the service not those specific boxes so you could live out your last 18 months back on the tivos.

 

[spartanstew]

Hey, heres a dumb question. If I yank my old directivos and reactivate them and give them back the HR20's, does that cost me anything? Since I'm not getting the NFLST games in HD, I really dont give a hoot about HD. Thats why I wanted to go to the HD product in the first place, but the cost is stupid...$370 to watch a couple of games a week?!?

I think you should be able to do that. Just call and re-activate your directivo's and then call and deactivate the HR20's. Of course, they'll want you to send the HR20's back, but as long as you remain a subscriber, I think you're fine. Did you have a new dish installed when you got the HR20's? Their might be a minimum time frame to keep HD when you have that done, but I don't think so.

 

[t_h]

Super, that'll just leave me with a pair of 1TB esata drives I have no use for. And no, I dont have that much porn laying around...

Yeah, they installed a new slimline dish. I had that tall oval 3lnb one from the original install a year ago.

So I see on my switch that I have four lines going in from the dish to the switch and six coming out. Two of those go to a bedroom we no longer have a receiver in. So I can take the four lines going into the switch and just barrel those to the two cable pairs to the two receivers I'm actually using? Does it matter which one goes to which?

It looks like the WB68. I have six inputs on the bottom with the right hand four connected to the dish and eight outputs on the top, with the right hand six in use.

I understood the old dish/lnb/switch setup fairly well but frankly havent read a thing about these new ones. Is there a switch integrated into the dish itself or does it have 4/5 LNB's?