My 3rd HR20

1184 Views 10 Replies 7 Participants Last post by paulman182, Nov 1, 2006

the_bug_06

Discussion Starter · Oct 30, 2006

I'm waiting on my 3rd HR20 to arrive later this week, the first two where bad. The 2nd one was DOA and looked like it was "reconditioned" because it came in a different box and packaging. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed this one will be good. With all this trouble it is still alot easier than having to deal with the cable company I used to have (I'm sure its not hard to guess who that was). My picture reception was so bad when I had cable I could have gotten better reception with a pair of rabit ears. When I was finally able to get a tech out to check it he told me he was the "special troubleshooter", and he saw how bad the picture was and shook the coaxil cable and told me usually that helps. When that didn't do the trick he didn't have any other solutions and left and they never took care of the problem. I kid you not!

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Earl Bonovich

· #2 · Oct 30, 2006

How did you have the HR20 connected to the TV, as there should have been no "coax" between the HR20 and the TV.

The PQ... is going to be the same... as it is a digital signal.
You either get it, or you don't.

There are cases where there could be a bad converter or something.
What did the MENU's look like on the screen.

Also, what made you think the 2nd unit was DOA

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the_bug_06

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 30, 2006

Earl Bonovich said:
How did you have the HR20 connected to the TV, as there should have been no "coax" between the HR20 and the TV.

The PQ... is going to be the same... as it is a digital signal.
You either get it, or you don't.

There are cases where there could be a bad converter or something.
What did the MENU's look like on the screen.

Also, what made you think the 2nd unit was DOA

I connected the HR20 to the TV with an HDMI cable (no coax used), when the tech initially installed the unit it worked fine but the 5LNB dish was not up yet. At that time it was getting HD channels but not the locals (3lnb dish) Once they came back out and put the 5lnb dish up it would not get any hi def channels. They trouble shot for a couple hours and told me "it has to be a bad box".

The menus basically looked the same as my previous DVR.

The second box would not get past the first blue screen, no matter what I did it never got past the blue screen. I trouble shot for over an hour on the phone and finally they said they will send another.

I took my HD reciever from another tv and hooked it up the same way and it works fine (HD locals and the HD package).

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litzdog911

· #4 · Oct 31, 2006

You should try using the component video connection between your HR20 and TV. It's possible that your TV has the "incompatibility bug" with the HR20's HDMI interface.

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tstarn

· #5 · Oct 31, 2006

litzdog911 said:
You should try using the component video connection between your HR20 and TV. It's possible that your TV has the "incompatibility bug" with the HR20's HDMI interface.

Not bad advice. I started my component "experiment" yesterday, and so far, so good (I did have the remote button freeze thing happen briefly, but when I changed channels, functionality returned). Of course, based on my history, this won't continue, and I'd like to use HDMI if possible some day.

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Earl Bonovich

· #6 · Oct 31, 2006

the_bug_06 said:
I connected the HR20 to the TV with an HDMI cable (no coax used), when the tech initially installed the unit it worked fine but the 5LNB dish was not up yet. At that time it was getting HD channels but not the locals (3lnb dish) Once they came back out and put the 5lnb dish up it would not get any hi def channels. They trouble shot for a couple hours and told me "it has to be a bad box".

I am curious...
When they connected the 3LNB dish... did they re-do the SAT setup..
To now tell the HR20 that it was connected to a 5LNB, instead of a 3LNB ?

Where the B-Band converters connected?

As for the one you are working with now..
If the component doesn't work..

Try the hardware reset of the system.
While the unit is starting up (after a reset)..
HOLD DOWN ARROW AND RECORD on the front pannel until the system restarts again.

And also try to use a S-Video connection with the unit at 480i..
At least to see if you can get through the setup screens

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drakejb

· #7 · Oct 31, 2006

litzdog911 said:
You should try using the component video connection between your HR20 and TV. It's possible that your TV has the "incompatibility bug" with the HR20's HDMI interface.

I'm curious about this HDMI bug with the HR20. I had one installed two weeks ago and could not get a picture through the HDMI port. I successfully switched to component to get through the setup screens but then it locked up on one of the setup screens and would not budge. The tech support guy tried various reset/unplug/take the card out/put it in a paper bag/swing it over my head three times in a circle...finally gave up and ordered a new one. The new one's due to arrive this Friday.

I'm really hoping the new HR20 will work through HDMI with my Panny AE700 front projector. Sending it through component video with my setup does not work well - the PQ is fine but my setup makes it harder to switch my mutilple component sources than with HDMI.

Can someone point me to a description of this HDMI-HR20 bug? Thanks,

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the_bug_06

Discussion Starter · #8 · Oct 31, 2006

Earl Bonovich said:
I am curious...
When they connected the 3LNB dish... did they re-do the SAT setup..
To now tell the HR20 that it was connected to a 5LNB, instead of a 3LNB ?

Where the B-Band converters connected?

As for the one you are working with now..
If the component doesn't work..

Try the hardware reset of the system.
While the unit is starting up (after a reset)..
HOLD DOWN ARROW AND RECORD on the front pannel until the system restarts again.

And also try to use a S-Video connection with the unit at 480i..
At least to see if you can get through the setup screens

When they changed dishes we did re-do the SAT setup so it would see the 5LNB dish. Hopefully the B Band converters where connected, I seem to think the last tech that came tried his all to get it working. He also took the time to remove the old 3LNB dish which the other installer left up on the roof.

I did do the hardware reset a couple times with the last box. I'm thinking and hoping that my TV doesn't have the HDMI incompatibility issue with the HR20 because the very first box was connected through the HDMI port and I was getting the HD channels (Discovery HD, HD Net etc) except for the locals.

Hopefully things will work out with the third one later this week.

Thanks for all the tips!

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the_bug_06

Discussion Starter · #9 · Nov 1, 2006

the_bug_06 said:
I connected the HR20 to the TV with an HDMI cable (no coax used), when the tech initially installed the unit it worked fine but the 5LNB dish was not up yet. At that time it was getting HD channels but not the locals (3lnb dish) Once they came back out and put the 5lnb dish up it would not get any hi def channels. They trouble shot for a couple hours and told me "it has to be a bad box".

The menus basically looked the same as my previous DVR.

The second box would not get past the first blue screen, no matter what I did it never got past the blue screen. I trouble shot for over an hour on the phone and finally they said they will send another.

I took my HD reciever from another tv and hooked it up the same way and it works fine (HD locals and the HD package).

Got my third HR-20 today (another refurbished unit) and this one seems to be working fine. Got the HDMI connection working and getting all the HD channels.
Once I cleared all the previous owners settings everything worked fine. It would be nice to clear the previous owners porno PPV records but haven't figured out a way just yet.

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btmoore

· #10 · Nov 1, 2006

the_bug_06 said:
It would be nice to clear the previous owners porno PPV records but haven't figured out a way just yet.

Nice refurb job, sounds like they just repackaged a returned HR20.

If you are feeling prudish, it would be an interesting CSR conversation about how offended you are that you were shipped a HR20 with porno watching records on it, it might get you a brand new unit now or later once they have them back distribution.

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paulman182

· #11 · Nov 1, 2006

"Can someone point me to a description of this HDMI-HR20 bug? Thanks"

Hopefully you won't have the bug; not everyone does.

Not much to say about it other than sometimes the HR20 outputs no video, or flashing video, on the HDMI cable, and users switch to component.

Others who experience lock-ups and other glitches *seem* to have fewer problems of those types when they switch from HDMI to component.

It is a documented fact that some TVs are not working well with the HR20's HDMI. There is an official thread on this site to report this type of problem--you can probably find it as easy as I can.

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