[socal404]

I know we've discussed this in the past, and PLEASE don't tell me to search this elsewhere, because I know what's been said. I've never heard any reasonable answers to the question. My internal clock in my receiver is continually losing time. And for this reason my records start late. Today, I did a RBR, and the clock is again right on, and as such my records start when they are suppose to. It seems that everytime there's a new software download or I do a RBR the clock gets straightened out. What causes this, and can't Directv resolve this issue?

I would appreciate any reasonable response.

 

[HarryG]

I know we've discussed this in the past, and PLEASE don't tell me to search this elsewhere, because I know what's been said. I've never heard any reasonable answers to the question. My internal clock in my receiver is continually losing time. And for this reason my records start late. Today, I did a RBR, and the clock is again right on, and as such my records start when they are suppose to. It seems that everytime there's a new software download or I do a RBR the clock gets straightened out. What causes this, and can't Directv resolve this issue?

I would appreciate any reasonable response.

I share your frustration with the HR20-100 clock drift issue. This has been a documented issue for many from day one. I have previously posted the ongoing clock drift problem in the issues only sub forum, and on other DBS sites. For whatever reason, DirecTv has continued to ignore the problem of the clock bug issue for more than a year.

As I have documented previously, I can simultaneously record the same two programs (one from the HR20-100, and one from my cable TIVO HD). The TIVO HD always has a 10-15 second buffer before the start of the recorded program, the HR20-100 usually has missed the initial 2-10 seconds of the same recording.

I continue to hope for a software fix, but after more than a year of frustration, it does not seem to be a DirecTv priority.

 

[socal404]

I just received a call from Directv, after having sent an email question to them on their website. The CSR was very courteous, and seemed to truly want to find a solution to the problem. She claims that they have not received any other complaints to this problem. I told her that I've seen many others with this problem on this website. She told me that she knows of this site. She told me that she will send this issue to their engineering department. Let's hope they can find an answer. My suggestion is that anyone with this problem should email their complaint to Directv through their website. Let's see what happens.

 

[evan_s]

It does seem like a fix for this issue should be pretty simple. Obviously the time is initially pulled from the sat info on start up since a reboot cures the issue. I don't see why they couldn't setup a simple resync to occur nightly at midnight or 3 am or what ever.

 

[davring]

It does seem like a fix for this issue should be pretty simple. Obviously the time is initially pulled from the sat info on start up since a reboot cures the issue. I don't see why they couldn't setup a simple resync to occur nightly at midnight or 3 am or what ever.

I beleive they do re-sync, but I have no idea how often. If it was every 24 hours, it would probably clear up most of these troubles.

 

[jdspencer]

Yes, they do resync. It occurs when the unit reboots.

When I see that my HR20-100 is about 30s slow, I do a restart.

 

[bwclark]

New user since January, and have the HR20-100. And yes the clock is off by about 2 minutes per month.

So, I pull the plug and go thru the rebooting process that fixes it for another month. Very annoying issue.

I have a $15 wristwatch that picks up WWV in Denver each AM about 1AM and adjusts the time....would think the HR20 could have some resync nightly to set the time.

 

[jdspencer]

No need to pull the plug, just do a restart from the menu. When I see that my HR20-100 is 30s slow I do a restart.

Dang, I'm repeating myself.

 

[bpratt]

The problem doesn't just exist on the HR20s. Both of my HR21-700s lose a little over 60 seconds per month.

 

[t_h]

I'm going to take a stab at the reason why something so simple hasnt been fixed.

What does the code do if its in the middle of recording a show thats an hour long and suddenly the time resync-er kicks off and changes the time by 30 seconds? Does it continue recording for xx minutes or until the clock says the show is over?

I'm going to guess that there are a series of functions that depend on the clock being a true measure of elapsed time and a sudden bump forward or backward by a minute or two or five will hose those up.

But on reboot, nothing is running so you can get a fresh clock.

 

[Ryan]

okay...good. I thought I was going crazy. I'm having the same issue on my HR20-700.

 

[Ryan]

I'm going to take a stab at the reason why something so simple hasnt been fixed.

What does the code do if its in the middle of recording a show thats an hour long and suddenly the time resync-er kicks off and changes the time by 30 seconds? Does it continue recording for xx minutes or until the clock says the show is over?

I'm going to guess that there are a series of functions that depend on the clock being a true measure of elapsed time and a sudden bump forward or backward by a minute or two or five will hose those up.

But on reboot, nothing is running so you can get a fresh clock.

Well, people seem to be losing up to two minutes a month, or no more than four seconds per day. If the dang thing would sync daily, four seconds or less doesn't seem like a big deal for internal processes.

That said, a clock losing four seconds a day in such an advanced piece of technology is a sad state of affairs.

 

[Dragon22]

I read somewhere (probably in the TiVo Community) that TiVos resynchronize the internal clock every time they receive a time code from a satellite. I'm guessing that might be as often as every second. Of course, that does consume resources which the underpowered HR2x series can ill afford to spare.

 

[t_h]

The tivo's dont exactly have a butt kicking processor in them either...

The old non sat ones sync'd every time they made a phone call...every day to day and a half.

The tivo s/w may have just been written such that no time specific issues would have much of an effect, and their scheduling is done in advance.

The HR's seem to be geared to do a lot of stuff interactively and in real time, with last second changes accepted. Perhaps they assumed that the RTC would remain more or less on time and wrote portions of the code with that assumption in mind.

Of course, more accurate RTC's can be used, they just cost more.

Even if this IS more or less the reason why they dont do a daily time sync, it'd be nice if the dang thing could check the time and if its off by more than a couple of seconds, schedule an event where the clock could be corrected when nothing is going on that a clock correction would screw up.

 

[evan_s]

I'd have to say that most people aren't recording continuously all night long. It shouldn't be hard to find an inactive time to do a resync even every night.

 

[Bilbrey]

The clock drift is simply not acceptable. I design hardware products and know what I'm talking about. And in fact, I interviewed one of the system designers for HR20 and HR21 products, for a position where I work. And no, we did not hire him.

The minimum bar is pretty low here. I don't have any special knowledge of what is failing here, but I can't imagine shipping a product that basically fails at its primary goal, that is, to record the programs I want to watch.

I switched from TiVos to HR21 units, and for the most part, have been happy. But I was very disappointed in finding out the clock drifts.

If someone from DirecTV is reading these posts, then elevate the priority on fixing this. This is not just a bug, it is a failure of the product to do its primary function.

 

[Steve]

Don't have an HR20-100 so I can't comment, but I do use three HR20-700'a, an HR21-700 and an HR21-200.

I've been almost obsessively tracking HR20-700 vs. HR21-700 start times for months and this is what I've observed with my equipment (which is rebooted weekly because I download new CE's every Friday night):

• The HR20-700 start times have been nearly perfect since February of this year.
• The HR21-700 start times have been consistently 5-6 seconds behind the HR20's.
• The HR20 INFO bar clock has been a consistent 3-4 seconds behind "time.gov".
• The HR21 INFO bar clock loses about 1-2 seconds per day vs. "time.gov", but even when it's 30 seconds behind, recording starts are consistent at 5-6 seconds behind the HR20.

So while I can't speak for the HR20-100, based on my testing:

• there is no recording start issue with HR20-700's.
• there is a recording start issue with the HR21-700's.
• there is no relationship between reported INFO bar clock time and recording start times.

Just my experience. YMMV. /steve

 

[texasbrit]

I have been doing almost the same testing as Steve, for well over a year now, and agree with his results. And I DO have an HR20-100 and it behaves exactly the same as my HR20-700. My HR21 is a -200 and behaves just like Steve's HR21-700.

So to expand on Steve's post:

• The HR20-700 AND HR20-100 start times have been nearly perfect since February of this year.
• The HR21-700 (Steve's) and HR21-200 (mine) start times have been consistently 5-6 seconds behind the HR20's.
• The HR20 INFO bar clock (both models) has been a consistent 3-4 seconds behind "time.gov".
• The HR21 INFO bar clock loses about 1-2 seconds per day vs. "time.gov", but even when it's 30 seconds behind, recording starts are consistent at 5-6 seconds behind the HR20.

So my conclusion also is

• there is no recording start issue with the HR20-700 or the HR20-100
• there is a recording start issue with the HR21-700 and HR21-200.
• there is no relationship between reported INFO bar clock time and recording start times.

Just like Steve, this is only my experience.

I have however noticed a number of programs starting early. For example, my local news now starts immediately after the national news with no commercial "gap". Based on my atomic clock it is starting as much as 30 seconds early.

 

[Bilbrey]

I'll concede that it may not be 'clock drift', but something is causing all 5 of my HR21-700s to consistently record earlier and earlier. to the point where I'm about a minute and a half off...

I'm going to try the reset trick and see if that impacts my recordings.

This is the only issue at the moment that disappoints me with the HR21's... (I can live with the other issues, but when you miss the first 30 seconds or so of a show, it is frustrating)

 

[Steve]

I'll concede that it may not be 'clock drift', but something is causing all 5 of my HR21-700s to consistently record earlier and earlier. to the point where I'm about a minute and a half off...

I'm going to try the reset trick and see if that impacts my recordings.

This is the only issue at the moment that disappoints me with the HR21's... (I can live with the other issues, but when you miss the first 30 seconds or so of a show, it is frustrating)

What shows are starting late? Are we talking CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX? Or Comedy Central, Scifi, Chiller and other networks that have a known history of not always respecting their published GUIDE start times?

In other words, if by your first paragraph "recording earlier" observation you mean there is an unwanted show playing back before the show you really intended to record, then it's most likely not an HR21 issue. That network probably started the show you intended to record late.

/steve