[tstarn]

No, It's Dancing with the Stars. If she misses it I'm dead. :eek2:

Plus TV became "critical" when my son was born 4 1/2 years ago.

Just glad to see I'm not alone. Misery loves company, I guess. In my case, it's ER and Grey's Anatomy for my wife and daughter; football for me. It's funny to see both the HR-20's amber light and the R10's red light always working in unison, recording the same shows. It's like some sort of weird video parallel universe. The problem really arises when you get 30 minutes into a recorded show (like ER) on the HR-20, and the sound drops out or the picture breaks up (if it doesn't freeze at the start). Then, it's over to the R10.

This may sound nuts, but I just bought an extra R10 and an older Hughes Directv w/Tivo receiver ($50) from ebay so my wife has a good backup supply of Tivo replacements with D*. I don't have much faith in the HR-20 based on R15 forum problems a year after launch. We'll see.

 

[tstarn]

I'm getting crap from my wife daily on the HR20. I commonly hear "why do we need HD anyway?" or "why does it do that all the time?" (referring to it pixelating big time or the audio cutting out).

I can live with the pixelation occasionally, and I think this is a known problem and is being addressed by replacing the mpeg4 equipment on the directv side.

However, MY beef (and my wife has complained about this too) is the complete lockups of the HR20. At least 4-5 times now, we will be watching a show and the playback will just freeze. If I rewind or pause, I can delete the show, but if I let it play for a while or try to FFWD through it, the box locks up. It happens at the same time in the show each time. I've also had it lock up when I go to play a show from the MyVOD menu.

So, in the middle of recording one of our shows, it locks up and requires a reset which:

a) deletes the program guide data (they really need to make the guide data persistent or put it on NVM)

b) means I miss 10 minutes of the show it's recording since it takes FOREVER to boot up.

c) I'm sure it's not good for the unit to be forcefully resetting it all the time, at least not for the hard disk.

To me, these are fatal issues that need to be resolved ASAP. A DVR is, afterall, supposed to record without issue. I simply do not feel comfortable with the HR20 or trust it to record stuff properly. Thankfully I have my R10 in the bedroom recording duplicates of the shows in the (likely) event that the HR20 craps itself.

Agree completely.

But be careful complaining about the HR-20 on this forum, because I've done it many times so far (for exactly the reasons you outlined), and sooner or later, you'll be chastized for being a whiner who doesn't realize how good you have it because D* has given you this brilliant new piece of hardware.

 

[tstarn]

Now that isn't completely fair.

There are some people that have issues with other people here on the forum.
And some have ruffled the feathers of others here.

Out of all these threads, with people post complaints... and issues about it... and very few of those get "chastized". Probably the most chastizing is when someone writes... Mine has been working flawlessly... some comes back with.. "it will"

Earl, can clarify that last line? Unclear. And some people have taken offense with the mere act of complaining about their HR-20's performance and D*'s response to it so far. We disagree on that point.

 

[tstarn]

Well - I'm now known as the guy who threw his P.O.S. in the trash - then pulled it back out.

I have to admit a couple of things. Since OxD8 my unit has worked flawlessly.

In addition I have noticed the last week or so that all our local MPEG4 stations are now crystal damn clear - beautiful HD with NO macroblocking or low bitrate problems. Stunning PQ and finally what I've been waiting for. If this is a good example of the MPEG4 future then I can't wait.

Aside - now that the local MPEG4's look so damn good - I don't care about OTA.

GEEEEEE - suppose that might be part of D*'s plan?????

Could be. Glad it's working. I was in the same boat as of last night (no issues for 4-5 days), but alas, MNF locked up and the BSOD took over.

 

[tstarn]

Well, people can call me a whiner all the want, but the reality of the situation is, the HR20 has issues. I can understand this, and I'm being patient waiting for fixes. However, it gets difficult to be patient when my wife is complaining nightly about the new unit. :/

There are legitimate issues with the HR20, and I just hope D* is aware of them and fixing them. For those out there with the "freeze" at the start of the program complaining about that, I would HAPPILY live with that if it were the only problem. But a complete lockup of the box, coupled with the loss of the guide data and 10 minutes of the show(s) being recorded is just absurd.

I don't get freezing that can be unstuck. I get the black screen and 0:00 timer, with no show at all, even though it lists on MyVOD. So it's worthless as a recording. I too could live with a momentary freeze that can be unfrozen.

 

[tstarn]

Excuse me, but at what point did men need their wives input when it comes to home theater/pc/electronics issues? I don't care if you are a stay at home dad or head of GE, those are your domain and in such are not up for negotiation or discussion. Did I miss a meeting in the last few years or something? Reading from the MANual, page 16, rule 5, article 2 I will give you the appropriate canned response in this situation... "(add endearing nickname here), I'm workin' on it." NOTES: Keep the conversation brief and to the point to avoid straying into other areas that are considered the wife's domain. Once you enter that realm, your MAN powers will begin losing effect and the situation will spiral out of control resulting in either shopping, a visit to in-laws or worst case scenario removal of MAN privileges to spend more quality time with the family.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

PS: There will be an emergency meeting of the board on Super Bowl Sunday. We are looking for a host to provide a home as our wives have already said no. All intetrested parties please reply.

Funny stuff, but you aren't married to a lawyer. They win every argument, home theater or otherwise. On the other hand, you are right. It was a major mistake to even expose wives to Tivo.Because it worked so well, anything less than perfection is now cause for derision (or worse). And some of we HR-20 users have been getting plenty of derision (or worse) from our better halves for the past month.

 

[tstarn]

Go Broncos! That was a great game eh? I time shifted that with the HR20 and tortured the box throughout the game - no problems flawless perfomance. Can't imagine why?

LOL. Broncos-Eagles Super Bowl? That'd be my choice. But too early to tell. Funny, but it's really spooky when the HR-20 really works, huh? You keep expecting the worst.

 

[tstarn]

Sure...

There are people that open a thread, with a complaint about the box...
Some one later posts... Well mine has been working fine...

then someone (Be it the OP) or someone else, will come back with a "well it will"

So even those people that post they have NO issues, get chastized... just like the ones that post they DO have issues... it is an equal opportunity chastizing forum....

So long as you don't bring it down to the personal level.

Bottom line is... The forums are here to discuss the issues, state your opinions, but those that post (on either side of the fence) will have someone barking at them from the other side.... just the nature of the beast right now.

Got ya. Just wanted clarification. Nature of the beast makes sense.

 

[tstarn]

I took the easy way out and left the DirecTivo SD unit to my wife, she really doesn't care as much about picture quality as she does reliability. Typical female perspective for more things than just HD

I look at it as a chance to get my own PVR. She has filled the DirecTivo up to about 95% capacity with Dr. Phil, Oprah, and cooking shows. She won't delete the Dr. Phil episodes because she thinks the parenting advice will be handy as the kids get older. Whenever I try to set up a recording it says there is not enough space and I have to spend 10 minutes trying to find something to delete (Dr. Phil is off limits, although I have snuck a couple of deletes in there when my Battlestar Gallactica was threatened ).

So her plan is to store the Tivo up with old episodes for 5 to 10 years and be constantly having to make space for new recordings I got her a DVD-R to archive the stuff but the thought of making 100 hours of recordings real-time doesn't sound too fun and with two small children we really don't have the time for this undertaking. I had thought about hacking the Tivo so I could archive the recordings using the PC, but it would not help for already recorded shows.

Now, she can deal with the full hard drive herself and I can have a HR20 with complete control what is recorded on it.

Eventually, when the HR20 becomes stable, I'll replace her Tivo with another HR20. Believe or not, she actually prefers the HR20 to the Tivo, except for the lack of auto-correction when FF through commercials. When she gets her own HR20, I'll probaby set up a 750GB eSata for her and she can store a decade's worth of Dr. Phils on it if she wants. I just hope Dr. Phil and Oprah never go HD, the 750GB won't be enough then :nono2:

Doug

Exactly my plan, keep the HR-20 for myself (poker, sports, movies) and she can have the R10 all to herself. She loves that idea. Can't even understand this jones for HD. If you missed the piece I wrote about it, check this link out, http://www.tvpredictions.com/toms100606.htm

In fact, as you can see in an earlier post, I even went out and bought two more used D* SD Tivos (a Hughes and and R10) on ebay, so even if the current one breaks, she'll have two more backups.

 

[tstarn]

I forgot all about Prodigy, I had that too back in the day!

Nothing better than a VIC20 with a 300 baud modem (actually dial the phone and put the receiver on the modem) and Compuserve to play text based adventure games

Doug

My first PC was a Kaypro. Remember those 'portables?' They were akin to the first portable (non-box) cell phones (those bricks you talked into). Man, we're dinosaurs.

 

[tstarn]

My wife can't stand a show that's not in HD. When watching Sunday Ticket and if it's a game not in HD she immediately complains it's not in HD.

But as with joejhawk she is nuts about hockey and loves her football too as well as gets into all my "gadgets" and anything Sci Fi. Gotta be the reason I married her. :icon_da:

Notice I made the connection between football and HD. There is something to be said for it. Trust me, every woman I know who hates football is indifferent about HD. Weird.

 

[tstarn]

My wife enjoys basebal and football with me (am I lucky or what) and she
really likes even better on our 2 Panasonic plasma tvs...42" in bed room
and the 50" in living room...all the HD programs are great and the football
games are even better..by the way, my wife can tell you what the penalty
is going to when when a flag is thrown by the officiating crew most of the
time as she knows about holding, off sides, personal fouls....in baseball,
she knows a lot here too....is great to have a wife who enjoys tv as much
as I do, especially now in HD locals and other HD programming.....also, never
had any problems with my new HR20-700 with my HDMI hook ups for sound
and picture as hooked up to Pioneer VSX-74 Elite and Bose 1300 speakers system...fantastic sound to go with picture....

\

Personally, I like to watch football without my wife. We all need some alone time now and again.

But I understand how you feel...

 

[tstarn]

My wife can't stand a show that's not in HD. When watching Sunday Ticket and if it's a game not in HD she immediately complains it's not in HD.

But as with joejhawk she is nuts about hockey and loves her football too as well as gets into all my "gadgets" and anything Sci Fi. Gotta be the reason I married her. :icon_da:

When I got married, the only true tech gadget was the Walkman, so meeting gadget-oriented women was a tough one.:hurah: