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Has anyone actually purchased a "pushed" PPV?

1333 Views 15 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  paulman182
I'm just curious. It seems like the new software "push" of PPV movies has caused nothing but problems on the R15.

For me personally, I would not purchase a movie that was forced onto my DVR just out of principle.

I think it is high time that DTV step up to the plate and either disable this feature, or allow the user to disable it. I can't help but think that all of this extra workload being forced onto our hard drives is only going to accelerate their demise.
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I set my limit for anything you have to pay for at $0.00. Then I don't have to worry about any of the PPV channels or getting a charge I don't want.
RenHoek said:
I'm just curious. It seems like the new software "push" of PPV movies has caused nothing but problems on the R15.

For me personally, I would not purchase a movie that was forced onto my DVR just out of principle.

I think it is high time that DTV step up to the plate and either disable this feature, or allow the user to disable it. I can't help but think that all of this extra workload being forced onto our hard drives is only going to accelerate their demise.
The DVR is running all the time anyway, movies being written to the reserve area of the disk really should have no effect on your usage. My R15, out in the shop, doesn't have many recorded shows on it and last I checked there were a dozen movies loaded. All that recording is done during idle times.
davring said:
The DVR is running all the time anyway, movies being written to the reserve area of the disk really should have no effect on your usage. My R15, out in the shop, doesn't have many recorded shows on it and last I checked there were a dozen movies loaded. All that recording is done during idle times.
Yeah, but during those idle times, the hard drive normally has a chance to spin down and go into sleep mode. Not so if it spends half the night recording showcases and PPV movies that I'll never watch anyhow.
RenHoek said:
Yeah, but during those idle times, the hard drive normally has a chance to spin down and go into sleep mode. Not so if it spends half the night recording showcases and PPV movies that I'll never watch anyhow.
It never spins down, it is always running, receiving guide data, looking for shows that you have set to record, etc.
As noted, the HDD never spins down and is pretty much always doing something.

And to answer your first question .. you'd be surprised at the number of folks that actually purchase those movies.
davring said:
It never spins down, it is always running, receiving guide data, looking for shows that you have set to record, etc.
Not to mention that the DVR is constantly writing the "live buffer" 24/7.... even when the DVR is turned "off".
RenHoek said:
I'm just curious. It seems like the new software "push" of PPV movies has caused nothing but problems on the R15.

For me personally, I would not purchase a movie that was forced onto my DVR just out of principle.

I think it is high time that DTV step up to the plate and either disable this feature, or allow the user to disable it. I can't help but think that all of this extra workload being forced onto our hard drives is only going to accelerate their demise.
To answer your question: Yes, I purchased Jumper. That was the only one after I found out about the 24hr rental restriction from the greedy studios. No more PPV for me now.
I personally would prefer to not see PPV pushed, but something different and free. Movie of the month type stuff.
cartrivision said:
Not to mention that the DVR is constantly writing the "live buffer" 24/7.... even when the DVR is turned "off".
I don't buy this at all. If I go home and power on my DVR, I can't rewind the current channel past the point where I turned it on. If what you said is true, I should be able to turn it on at 5:15pm and rewind to the beginning of the show on the current channel.
RenHoek said:
I don't buy this at all. If I go home and power on my DVR, I can't rewind the current channel past the point where I turned it on. If what you said is true, I should be able to turn it on at 5:15pm and rewind to the beginning of the show on the current channel.
Which DVR do you have? My R15-500s and R22-100 have the live buffer even when the unit has been in standby. I can turn the box on and backup up to 90 minutes on the current channel.
To my knowledge all DirecTV branded DVR's have a live buffer when in standby.
davring said:
To my knowledge all DirecTV branded DVR's have a live buffer when in standby.
Yes, but MOVIES NOW can destroy that buffer and they also cause problems on the R15 series as it appears that they "encroach" on the HDD space that the user is supposed to have for their exclusive use.

Numerous reports indicate that customers with the R15 product have had shows deleted by MOVIES NOW even when the "disk space meter" shows space available and they haven't added any recordings. Others with R15's report messages indicating "disk full" when trying to add new recordings when there are lots of MOVIES NOW present even though the "disk space meter" shows space available. These problems have not shown up on the R22/HR21 series. This has been reported in the appropriate forums and hopefully DirecTV is making changes to the R15 software so MOVIES NOW are transparent to customers who do not wish to view them.

For now since I have 2 R15's and don't wish to encounter these problems, I "counter program" such that MOVIES NOW are blocked because my tuners are busy recording MY shows when the MOVIES NOW are sent out. Occasionally, they slip one in but I've been pretty successful so far!

MOVIES NOW are sent beginning on Tuesday night at 10PM CDT on channel 1013 which is a "hidden" channel. The next one begins at 4AM CDT and they run until shortly after Noon CDT. This schedule continues on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. They occasionally slip one in on Saturday at 10PM CDT but Sunday is usually MOVIES NOW free. If you want to block them, program recordings creatively such that there is never a 90 minute block of time during these intervals with any tuner available. You can always delete the shows you record to block MOVIES NOW without viewing them like I do.

Good luck!!
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RenHoek said:
I don't buy this at all. If I go home and power on my DVR, I can't rewind the current channel past the point where I turned it on. If what you said is true, I should be able to turn it on at 5:15pm and rewind to the beginning of the show on the current channel.
You sure can do that. If you can't, you have a very old version of the software and haven't gotten any updates as you should have. What is your DVR model number and software version?
I'm not watching many movies now (too busy,) but I appreciate the convenience of the "pushed" movies.
cartrivision said:
You sure can do that. If you can't, you have a very old version of the software and haven't gotten any updates as you should have. What is your DVR model number and software version?
I just went to check because I was sure I couldn't do that with my R15-300... but I could :lol:

I never realized this feature was added. I know I tried this about 2 years ago, found out I couldn't, and guess I never bothered to try again.

As far as the pushed movies, they are useless to me. I have Netflix so no need for PPV.
Phroz said:
As far as the pushed movies, they are useless to me. I have Netflix so no need for PPV.
I have Netflix too, but I also some times get the urge to see something NOW, not two days from now.
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