[tonyoci]

Is the loss of guide data after a restart considered a bug

Sure seems like one to me, especially since it easily causes you to miss shows in your series-links etc.

 

[Jeremy W]

No, it's the way the unit is designed. And it shouldn't cause you to miss any shows, since the first ~6 hours of guide data are there instantly.

 

[btmoore]

Is the loss of guide data after a restart considered a bug

Sure seems like one to me, especially since it easily causes you to miss shows in your series-links etc.

I don't think they consider it a bug, but I do think they were very limited in their thinking not to use some kind of persistent storage for caching and retaining customer state data. Not keeping persistent guide data assumes that your HR20 will not be rebooted or restarted and the user is ok with waiting a long time for all the guide data to be rebuilt so they can use the search functions. Cache or state validation and management algorithms are not that complex it is a shame that they did not implement this, I think the DTiVo does cache their guide data so it is not unprecedented but I have not confirmed this. Addionaly they should of used persistent storage for data like your zip code in the interactive settings. I think they made an assumption that this box would be on all the time once it was turned on, but with all the code updates, the unstable nature of the HR20 and even if you just want to move the box, that assumption was not thought out completely.

 

[ouijal]

I don't think they consider it a bug, but I do think they were very limited in their thinking not to use some kind of persistent storage for caching and retaining customer state data. Not keeping persistent guide data assumes that your HR20 will not be rebooted or restarted and the user is ok with waiting a long time for all the guide data to be rebuilt so they can use the search functions. Cache or state validation and management algorithms are not that complex it is a shame that they did not implement this, I think the DTiVo does cache their guide data so it is not unprecedented but I have not confirmed this. Addionaly they should of used persistent storage for data like your zip code in the interactive settings. I think they made an assumption that this box would be on all the time once it was turned on, but with all the code updates, the unstable nature of the HR20 and even if you just want to move the box, that assumption was not thought out completely.

Perfectly put. I have asked these same sorts of questiosn in other threads only to eb accused of hijacking the thread with my negativity. So far I have not received 1 good answer as to why the box takes days to rebuild the guide data and loses all of its user settings when rebooted. Why is this infomation not stored on the HD so it can be quickly restored? D* seems to want to use the HD space for their own content to push on us but wont use it to store user and guide information? Doesnt make any sense to me.

 

[tonyoci]

Well glad to hear others feel the same. Even the most basic devices can retain data with the power off so I just don't get why this unit does not.

No, it's the way the unit is designed. And it shouldn't cause you to miss any shows, since the first ~6 hours of guide data are there instantly.

That is somewhat questionable. I missed two shows after the last auto reboot both were on in the evening 15 or so hours later and the guide data was not updated.

So while DTV may not consider it a bug it sure is a dumb design decision considering how simple it would be to either retain the data or update it more quickly.

 

[btmoore]

Perfectly put. I have asked these same sorts of questiosn in other threads only to eb accused of hijacking the thread with my negativity. So far I have not received 1 good answer as to why the box takes days to rebuild the guide data and loses all of its user settings when rebooted. Why is this infomation not stored on the HD so it can be quickly restored? D* seems to want to use the HD space for their own content to push on us but wont use it to store user and guide information? Doesnt make any sense to me.

You no good negative thread hijacker. Based on my usage to date this box has the feel of software engineer thinking not user centric design thinking. I agree with your thinking about space reservation for their content. The user centric way would be to make it an option, I think this is likely a marketing driven requirement so they could stage thing to sell you regardless if you want to be sold or not. It also feels like D*s marketing thinks they know more than their customers about what they want in a DVR. Personally I would like to maximize my space and I could care less about the showcase, I would like an option to turn it off. I think of it like an ad driven web site, if you want to put ad in it, make it free, if you are going to charge me take out the ads and marketing.

 

[paulman182]

" So far I have not received 1 good answer as to why the box takes days to rebuild the guide data and loses all of its user settings when rebooted. Why is this infomation not stored on the HD so it can be quickly restored?"

You probably won't receive a good answer to this question. I doubt that any of us end users know why this is so.

It was indeed a poor design decision.

 

[Jeremy W]

I think of it like an ad driven web site, if you want to put ad in it, make it free

They already heavily subsidised the box. And many people did get it for free. All things said and done, DirecTV actually paid me $20 for the HR20.

 

[Jeremy W]

You probably won't receive a good answer to this question. I doubt that any of us end users know why this is so.

I know exactly why it takes a long time to rebuild the guide data. DirecTV isn't constantly sending down all 14 days of guide data, so the receiver has to catch it whenever it gets sent down.

As to why it's not stored on the hard drive, that is something we'll probably never know.

 

[btmoore]

They already heavily subsidised the box. And many people did get it for free. All things said and done, DirecTV actually paid me $20 for the HR20.

I pay them every month, please don't go down that path, the subsidized comment is a red herring, it was not profitable they would not provide the box at all.

 

[Jeremy W]

I pay them every month, please don't go down that path, the subsidized comment is a red herring, it was not profitable they would not provide the box at all.

I never said they lost money on the box, just that it was subsidized. Should it be free? Absolutely, nobody will ever convince me otherwise. I'm just pointing out DirecTV's reasoning, not saying that I agree with it.