[hankjr]

No, the box has very limited intelligence.

It appears that you can't order PPV off the web and record it on the HR-20. I have not heard of a successful attempt yet. You can order it off the web and watch it all day, but if you record it, it comes up with the black screen. If you leave it on the PPV channel all-night, in the morning it will ask you to buy it with the remote as it does any other time.

I've called Directv multiple times about this and I keep getting the same answer "never heard this before". They always ask me to re-format the drive but that doesn't work either.

The system is very "buggy". Doesn't work half the time as it is supposed to. Terrible customer service, they never seem to understand the problem.

I've never heard of software upgrades that require re-formatting the system each time. I had the Tivo from the beginning and never ONCE had to re-format the drive and lose all my season passes when new software came out.

It's terrible!

 

[Earl Bonovich]

Well most of your issues here, are more related with the CSR tier...

They where giving you a lot of "fixes" that are incorrect.

1) The Ordering off the web and not able to record it, IS a known issue with the unit. Regardless what ever the first line support says about it, the development team is aware of it.

2) A re-format would not assist with that, and is not necessary after any software update. A reformat is only suggested here (in the forum), after we simply have exhaused every other option, or if your system is chronically having issues with certain items.

And honestly.. you will get a similar CSR experience if you called regarding your TiVo based product too.

What ever the reason is, the CSR tiers, have limited information about the products. I do know they are working on improving that (with training classes, better information resources, ect), but it is going to take a long time to get all of those reps up to speed.

And depending on when you call.. most of the "seasoned" techs/reps, are probably out on holiday vacations.

As for your TiVo unit... glad you never had to reformat it, as there are several thousands that have had to...

 

[Stuart Sweet]

FWIW, when I've called customer service, I tell them if I'm having "serious issues" with my HR20 - mention it by name, and ask immediately to go to Advanced Tech Support. This has worked every time and gets past tier 1.

I've said it before, tier 1 tech support is the same everywhere. As an advanced user, and owner of any product, you're almost guaranteed to know more than they do. You just need to know the magic words to get past them.

 

[hankjr]

FWIW, when I've called customer service, I tell them if I'm having "serious issues" with my HR20 - mention it by name, and ask immediately to go to Advanced Tech Support. This has worked every time and gets past tier 1.

I've said it before, tier 1 tech support is the same everywhere. As an advanced user, and owner of any product, you're almost guaranteed to know more than they do. You just need to know the magic words to get past them.

I appreciate the responses. I have always gone to the higher tier of customer service. I almost never deal with first line CSRs. The responses I gave above are from the "experts" at Directv. As far as re-formatting, those are also from the "experts" at Directv. And it has worked previously to fix some issues. In fact, they are sending me a new unit because as they state (Advanced Technical) they "haven't heard of this problem before". I don't know how high you can go to get answers, I'm told this is the highest. If it weren't for this forum, I probably would have hung it up a long time ago.

As far as the Tivo re-format, I haven't heard of it ever and I know quite a few Directv employees and they tell me that it was never done for that unit. I'm not trying to say that the Tivo unit is better than the HR20. The HR20 has some features that ARE better than Tivos.

When I first recieved the HR20 and finally got used to it,I thought I would be real happy, but then I've received about 6 upgrades, two requiring a re-format from the Advanced Technical department at Directv, (I have about aprox. 35 rec. series that I need to input again). and multiple problems that can't seem to be answered like the one above.

I write Application software for a living, if we tried to release anything this buggy that required as many updates and still not be fixed, the customer would have dumped us long ago. And for those who say the Tivo unit in it's infancy was the same....they are incorrect. It had problems but never the extent of this one, not even close. People must have a short memory or choose to remember what they want.