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I briefly mentioned this is another thread earlier, but the thread kind of died off, so I thought I'd start a new one just to discuss a little bit the problems people are experiencing on the HR20. Specifically, how usage compares between those who HAVE problems and those who DO NOT.
Before I get into it any further, let me post my disclaimer. I am not out to prove that the problems you are experiencing are your fault because you've used the box in an improper manner. I realize that there are problems with the machine and that the functions which you expect to work SHOULD in fact work, regardless of how your usage compares to others.
That being said, I found it interesting that several of the posts I've read from people who are NOT having problems showed usage similar to myself. My wife and I use the DVR basically so that we can watch shows with our 2 year old in the house. We use the pause function alot. We tape 10 or 12 shows and often times watch them as they are taping, or watch them the following evening so that we can pause, rewind, etc.
In the 5 weeks that I've had my box, I've never seen the available space drop under 70%. When we watch a show, we delete it. We don't have TONS of series links that we're trying to record each night. We also don't have MPEG4, which has been theorized adds to our stability.
However, I've seen posts from other people who ARE having problems and note that they have 30 or more series links and have never seen their available space drop below 20%.
I'm just curious in general, for those of you on either side - good experience or bad - how do you use the machine? Usage like mine which I'd probably categorize as "light" usage. We record 1 to 2 shows a night. We've got 4 or 5 kids shows set up that record in the middle of the day - though I have NO idea how accurately they're recording, as my 2 year old couldn't care less if it missed a recording and he has to watch the same Handy Manny over and over. Or are you more of a heavyweight, with multiple programs each night, and a bunch of football on Sunday. Or do you fall in the middle?
I've just found it interesting that many of the posts I've read it seems that those people with usage similar to myself are reporting fewer problems. Obviously with less use we simply give the machine fewer opportunities to screw up, but I'd be curious to explore if statistically we experience the same % of problems - i.e. a light user misses 1 out of 10 programs in one week while a heavy users misses 3 out of 30. Or, do those heavy users experience a higher percentage of problems?
Just for the sake of discussion - NOT to make any claims about your usage as the cause. And if you want to make those claims, please, just go post somewhere else, because that's just a silly argument. IF usage and problems have any correlation, then the logical suggestion would be "just use it less", and that's just a ridiculous argument, so lets not go there, please! Let's just discuss the possibilities and see if there's any merit to the thought at all.
Before I get into it any further, let me post my disclaimer. I am not out to prove that the problems you are experiencing are your fault because you've used the box in an improper manner. I realize that there are problems with the machine and that the functions which you expect to work SHOULD in fact work, regardless of how your usage compares to others.
That being said, I found it interesting that several of the posts I've read from people who are NOT having problems showed usage similar to myself. My wife and I use the DVR basically so that we can watch shows with our 2 year old in the house. We use the pause function alot. We tape 10 or 12 shows and often times watch them as they are taping, or watch them the following evening so that we can pause, rewind, etc.
In the 5 weeks that I've had my box, I've never seen the available space drop under 70%. When we watch a show, we delete it. We don't have TONS of series links that we're trying to record each night. We also don't have MPEG4, which has been theorized adds to our stability.
However, I've seen posts from other people who ARE having problems and note that they have 30 or more series links and have never seen their available space drop below 20%.
I'm just curious in general, for those of you on either side - good experience or bad - how do you use the machine? Usage like mine which I'd probably categorize as "light" usage. We record 1 to 2 shows a night. We've got 4 or 5 kids shows set up that record in the middle of the day - though I have NO idea how accurately they're recording, as my 2 year old couldn't care less if it missed a recording and he has to watch the same Handy Manny over and over. Or are you more of a heavyweight, with multiple programs each night, and a bunch of football on Sunday. Or do you fall in the middle?
I've just found it interesting that many of the posts I've read it seems that those people with usage similar to myself are reporting fewer problems. Obviously with less use we simply give the machine fewer opportunities to screw up, but I'd be curious to explore if statistically we experience the same % of problems - i.e. a light user misses 1 out of 10 programs in one week while a heavy users misses 3 out of 30. Or, do those heavy users experience a higher percentage of problems?
Just for the sake of discussion - NOT to make any claims about your usage as the cause. And if you want to make those claims, please, just go post somewhere else, because that's just a silly argument. IF usage and problems have any correlation, then the logical suggestion would be "just use it less", and that's just a ridiculous argument, so lets not go there, please! Let's just discuss the possibilities and see if there's any merit to the thought at all.
