Take R15 or keep DSR704?

[drone23]

Hey guys,

I am new to the forum, but I have been a long time TiVo user. I purchased a series 1 back when they first came out and used that until about 2 years ago when I upgraded to a DSR704 through a good deal from Directv. Now Directv is giving me a free R15. One of the units I will use, the other we are going to let my mother in law use in her room.

My question is, which should I keep for my use and why?

Thanks for the help!

-John

[mhn2]

If you like TiVo keep the DSR704. The R15 is DirecTV's new DVR - not a TiVo! :down:

[ping]

Trick question. You don't want it, but on the other hand, I wouldn't wish it on a mother-in-law. :D

[drone23]

You dont know my mother in law :D

[itsmeitsmeitsme]

Since you have had the TIvo before, you may find the r-15 different. And thats what it is.........its not a bad dvr, just different. I have both in my house.

[drone23]

Since you have had the TIvo before, you may find the r-15 different. And thats what it is.........its not a bad dvr, just different. I have both in my house.


Are there any down sides to the R15? I have heard that they have a lot of operational glitches (programs dony record, season passes dont record everything, etc)

[ping]

I got mine just to see what was going on. Just to experiment with. Just to have so I can say "no, I have one" when people accuse me of simply repeating other peoples' reports of problems. It's been a disappointment even given the low expectations. I had to completely reset it (losing all recordings) because it was locked up every time I wanted to use it.

But there's a better place to learn about it:
http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=106

[drone23]

Thank you for the link.

Is there some place on this board where I can read about why D* walked away from TiVo?

[ping]

Nobody knows for sure what happened (well, the ones who made the decision obviously know, but they're not talking). You'll find plenty of speculation, though. My personal pet theory is the whole "common UI" fiasco.

[goony]

Are there any down sides to the R15?It won't buffer both tuners like a DTivo will - that is a HUGE downside for some people.

[profbobo]

Are there any down sides to the R15?

The dual buffers issue was mentioned.

Another big one is the lack of a Wish List equivalent.

Do you subscribe to a Sports Package (NHL Center Ice) and use a Wish List to record a certain team? If so, the R15 is a piece of crap. I had to baby sit the stupid thing every day and manually tell it to record the games I wanted. That didn’t always work if I was gone for the weekend since DirecTV doesn’t always put what channels a game will be on that far in advance. Its Auto Record Find By feature is junk.

The auto jump back after you come out of Fast Forward doesn't exist.

It also won't record the same show on 2 different channels. Do you want to Season Pass Family Guy on FOX and TOON? Too bad. Pick one channel or the other for your Series Link (aka Season Pass) and do a Record by Time and Channel of the other.

I hated the limited information in the guide. Year, Original Air Date, etc. The R15 seemed really incomplete. Some menus seemed to have show desc and others didn't. You had no idea what episode of a show you were going to play.

The loss of the buffer when you go to watch a recorded show. That really bugged me.

These are a few things I hated about the R15. I have no idea if they've been fixed yet. The stupid thing has had about 8000 updates since I stopped using it.

FYI, I used the R15 for 2 months (Feb-Apr) and then went and found R10s on eBay.