More confirmation the HR20 sucks

[dscott72]

Q. Should I get a DIRECTV HD DVR? I've heard some bad things about it. -- Mark S.
Should you get one? No. Let me repeat that: No!

The satcaster's new high-def recorder (HR 20) has more bugs than a hot summer night in Mississippi. I first got one about six weeks ago and I've had to reboot the thing about 25 times; make six different phone calls to DIRECTV customer service; and get four software upgrades -- all in a vain attempt to fix various recording gaffes and picture issues. (And it's not just me; many of our HD Observers have complained about the same problems.)

The biggest problem that I have is that when you record a program, it will frequently not playback at all. Instead, when you hit "Play," you get a message asking if you want to delete the show. Since you can't watch the recording, there's only one answer to that question.

Finally, yesterday, after my sixth call to DIRECTV customer service, they sent me a replacement HD DVR, which I installed immediately. This morning, I checked to see how my test recording of Criminal Minds looked.

And how did it look? Like a blank screen. Once again, it wouldn't playback. But I did get that nice message asking me if I wanted to delete the show.

In other words, DIRECTV sent me a replacement that had the same problem as the first unit.

What does this tell me?

DIRECTV's HD DVR is not ready for primetime. The satcaster launched the device too early, probably due to pressure from customers and Wall Street. (Rival satcaster EchoStar and many cable operators have offered HD DVRs for years; DIRECTV has used a TiVo HD DVR in the past, but the two companies have ended their marketing agreement.)

Consequently, there is an untold number of DIRECTV HD DVR "lemons" out there. If you're lucky, you'll get a recorder that works. But if you're not, you'll get one that sucks like a lemon.

Until you hear otherwise from me, I can't recommend that you get a DIRECTV HD DVR. In addition, I am removing CNET's favorable review of the HR 20 from our HD Product Review page.

[MikeMar]

how you are removing cnet's review?

that said i'm getting one in about 2 weeks, hopefully it works

[ebonovic]

Funny... that wasn't the title of the article you took it from.


The article you quoted is from here:
Swanni to DirecTV: Fix Your HD DVR!
http://www.tvpredictions.com/askswanni122106.htm

And a few hour later, the other side of the story
Not All DirecTV HD DVRs Need Repairs
http://www.tvpredictions.com/radike122106.htm


And the conversation we had about it earlier today
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=73890

[jcricket]

Yes, it was quite the conversation. Again, this is a Tivo forum so they're a slant, but coming from the stable + working (if slow) HR10 to the HR20 still doesn't feel like a sideways trade or trade up.

Maybe it will eventually.

If not, buh-bye DirecTV.

[kbohip]

The HR20 may eventually be as good as a Tivo box as far as reliability goes but it's apparently still got a long way to go. I just hope Directv listens to the complaints coming from it's users and addresses those issues, otherwise I'll drop Directv like a hot potato and go to cable. I spent way too many wasted years with Dish and their buggy, featureless dvr's to go down that road again. I remember all the promises Charlie would make on his chat of features that were just around the corner. Those never came and the whole time I should have just gone with Directv which had a far more advanced, reliable dvr.

I REALLY hope I don't have to do go back to cable though. Comcast just took over in our area yesterday and I don't know the first thing about their HD-DVR's, but I know they can't be that good. I'd even venture to say that even the HR20 with all of it's problems is better than whatever they've got.

[dishrich]

I spent way too many wasted years with Dish and their buggy, featureless dvr's to go down that road again. I remember all the promises Charlie would make on his chat of features that were just around the corner. Those never came and the whole time I should have just gone with Directv which had a far more advanced, reliable dvr.

Careful, some of the E* cheerleaders that have been infiltrating the board lately will beat you up for saying such blasphemy :D :eek: (since evidently I am the ONLY one that feels this way...)

[tonyquan]

I REALLY hope I don't have to do go back to cable though. Comcast just took over in our area yesterday and I don't know the first thing about their HD-DVR's, but I know they can't be that good. I'd even venture to say that even the HR20 with all of it's problems is better than whatever they've got.

Well, for Comcast you'll have 2 options if you want to stay with TiVo:

--Buy Series 3 from TiVo (on the expensive side)
--Wait for Comcast and TiVo to finish development work on their PVR that runs TiVo software. This has only just begun very limited testing (probably with a tiny group of Comcast employees only) and Comcast and TiVo won't commit to any firmer date for this other than 2007. Price unknown but initial out of pocket will be cheaper than Series 3, since Comcast is providing the hardware.

[kturcotte]

I'm a devout Tivo nut, and have pretty much bashed the HR20 since it was released, but never really played with one until about a week ago. I've got one going now, ALONG with my HR10. The HR20 is not a bad receiver. Would I outright trade my HR10 for it? No, not at the moment. However, had I never used a Tivo at all, I'd probably find it to be a very good receiver. I was considering getting a Series 3 Tivo, somehow coming up with the $800. If I had the $800 in my hands right now, I'm not sure I'd get one. Honestly, if Directv can fix a few little annoyances, I think I could be very happy with the HR20. I'd still love to see an MPEG-4 HD DirecTivo, but it's not quite so much of a big deal now. There are even a few things about the HR20 I like MORE than the HR10.

[sjberra]

Q. Should I get a DIRECTV HD DVR? I've heard some bad things about it. -- Mark S.
Should you get one? No. Let me repeat that: No!

The satcaster's new high-def recorder (HR 20) has more bugs than a hot summer night in Mississippi. I first got one about six weeks ago and I've had to reboot the thing about 25 times; make six different phone calls to DIRECTV customer service; and get four software upgrades -- all in a vain attempt to fix various recording gaffes and picture issues. (And it's not just me; many of our HD Observers have complained about the same problems.)

The biggest problem that I have is that when you record a program, it will frequently not playback at all. Instead, when you hit "Play," you get a message asking if you want to delete the show. Since you can't watch the recording, there's only one answer to that question.

Finally, yesterday, after my sixth call to DIRECTV customer service, they sent me a replacement HD DVR, which I installed immediately. This morning, I checked to see how my test recording of Criminal Minds looked.

And how did it look? Like a blank screen. Once again, it wouldn't playback. But I did get that nice message asking me if I wanted to delete the show.

In other words, DIRECTV sent me a replacement that had the same problem as the first unit.

What does this tell me?

DIRECTV's HD DVR is not ready for primetime. The satcaster launched the device too early, probably due to pressure from customers and Wall Street. (Rival satcaster EchoStar and many cable operators have offered HD DVRs for years; DIRECTV has used a TiVo HD DVR in the past, but the two companies have ended their marketing agreement.)

Consequently, there is an untold number of DIRECTV HD DVR "lemons" out there. If you're lucky, you'll get a recorder that works. But if you're not, you'll get one that sucks like a lemon.

Until you hear otherwise from me, I can't recommend that you get a DIRECTV HD DVR. In addition, I am removing CNET's favorable review of the HR 20 from our HD Product Review page.

funny - that is my opinion of the latest HR10 that they sent me, still crashing, locking up, having audio drop outs, missing recordings, ending scheduled recordings early... Oh well, AT&T's service is supposed to be rolled out soon

[Sir_winealot]

The HR20 may eventually be as good as a Tivo box as far as reliability goes but it's apparently still got a long way to go. I just hope Directv listens to the complaints coming from it's users and addresses those issues, otherwise I'll drop Directv like a hot potato and go to cable.

What concerns me is their track record (see: R15). The HR20 was not really ready for release IMO, yet it was released anyway ...and many of us feel like we are beta testers.

If things aren't fixed by the time everything is moved to MPEG4, I too will (unfortunately) move to cable.

Fingers crossed. ;)

[dishrich]

Oh well, AT&T's service is supposed to be rolled out soon

Might NOT do you much good anyway...

http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/061219/22687_id.html?.v=1

[ebonovic]

Liberty just officially inked the deal today, to aquire DirecTV

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=127160&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=944688&highlight=

As for the AT&T stuff:
They just signed a $33 million dollar extension on their argreement with DirecTV
http://www.telecom.paper.nl/site/news_ta.asp?type=abstract&id=152647

And as for AT&T Buying DirecTV
http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/80396

Probably more people mis-interpreting the discussion (or leaks) about the $33 million dollar extension...

[unixadm]

Might NOT do you much good anyway...

http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/061219/22687_id.html?.v=1

The AT&T rumor is old, out of date news

News Corp. trades its controlling interest in DirecTV to Liberty Media (http://money.cnn.com/2006/12/22/news/companies/liberty.reut/index.htm?postversion=2006122209)

[dishrich]

The AT&T rumor is old, out of date news

12/19/06 sure doesn't seem out of date to ME, but ... :confused: :confused: ???

http://telecom.seekingalpha.com/article/22687

AT&T May Buy DirecTV, Says UBS

Posted on Dec 19th, 2006 with stocks: DTV, T

All that said, UBS analyst Aryeh Bourkoff is thinking ahead to AT&T’s next deal. In a report issued late yesterday, Bourkoff asserts that AT&T could back away from its Lightspeed IPTV project and switch its focus to a satellite strategy for delivering television programming to its customers. As Bourkoff notes, the company’s HomeZone service does exactly that, reselling satellite service from EchoStar (DISH). But he thinks AT&T may be better off owning one of the satellite TV companies outright - and he says the logical target is not EchoStar, but instead DirecTV (DTV).

[unixadm]

I was saying "old and out of date" because this morning, Liberty Media signed a deal with News Corp to take over DirecTV....AT&T is not going to be a part of it.


December 22 2006: 9:41 AM EST


NEW YORK (Reuters) -- News Corp. said Friday it has agreed to swap its controlling interest in DirecTV Group Inc., other assets and cash for Liberty Media's $11 billion stake in News Corp.

News Corp., (Charts) the Rupert Murdoch-controlled owner of the 20th Century Fox movie studios and MySpace.com, said it will exchange its 38.5 percent stake in the DirecTV (Charts), $550 million in cash, and three regional sports networks for Liberty Media's 16.3 percent stake in News Corp.

[dishrich]

And another one from 12/19/06...

Will AT&T Seek Satellite Help?
DECEMBER 19, 2006

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=113193&WT.svl=news2_4

While AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T - message board) has only 12 days left to launch its U-verse service in 13 new markets, Wall Street is hinting that the carrier may need some satellite TV partners to really bring video to the masses. (See AT&T U-verse Debuts and AT&T Set to Expand Its U-verse.)

"We believe the company's current Lightspeed network of 25 Mbit/s of bandwidth to provide voice, data, and video services will prove to be insufficient," writes UBS AG analyst Jon Hodulik in a note released Monday. "We continue to believe the current Lightspeed network is enough only for data, making a satellite deal more likely."

[kturcotte]

AT&T can't buy something that's not for sale. If News Corp and Liberty have already signed the agreement, I suppose it probably could be gotten out of, but it wouldn't be cheap. Rupert certainly wouldn't be the one to do it-He gets rid of his "Bird Turd" and gets more shares of News Corp.

[dishrich]

I was saying "old and out of date" because this morning, Liberty Media signed a deal with News Corp to take over DirecTV....AT&T is not going to be a part of it.

Well, I was only responding to the OP about "AT&T's service rolling out soon" - I'm assuming he was talking about the Lightspeed Service... ;)

And when you read the article, it does say something about AT&T "using" D* - I suppose they can utilize D* service, w/out actually buying D*.
Sorry, I was just copying the Yahoo headline, but I see now what you mean by "out of date", since as we all now know Liberty bought D*... :o

[sjberra]

Might NOT do you much good anyway...

http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/061219/22687_id.html?.v=1


this is what I was referencing

https://uverse1.att.com/launchAMSS.do

[dishrich]

this is what I was referencing

https://uverse1.att.com/launchAMSS.do

Correct, & the links I posted are talking about AT&T backing AWAY from u-verse & going to a satellite-based system, as it's turning out to be a little more expensive than AT&T thought... ;) ;)
We have AT&T, but we'll probably never see it anyway - they just now got around to rolling out DSL in MY neighborhood, at a whooping 1.5 MAX speed... :rolleyes: :eek: I definately will NOT be dumping my 10mg cable modem anytime soon. :p ;)

[feldon23]

I guess dscott knew that if he left the credit to Swanni, we wouldn't take the article seriously.

For once though, I think Swann is probably right on this issue. Even the most positive glowing reviews over on dbstalk.com don't make up for the countless, repeatable, documented problems people have had. And the biggest one, inability to play back a recording, seems to have made no headway despite numerous updates. You would think with the seriousness of this problem that DTV would have put a backdoor like pressing UP and DOWN simultaneously to display some debugging information which can subsequently be sent to DTV. I don't know if the show is failing to record, the recording is corrupted, or the playback code is not reading the flags properly.

I know, I know, this is not the forum to discuss the HR20. Just bought a 720p projector (Optoma HD70) last night -- love it so far. I'm on the fence about buying the HR20.

[Stanley Rohner]

I've had an HR20 for about 3 months now. I'm happy with it. It's had a few problems but not as horrible as everyone says it is. It was never so horrible I'd have wanted to return it. Some people tend to throw a fit, blow a gasket, and run to an internet forum to b*tch everytime a recording gets messed up somehow. Don't believe everything you read.

[Bonanzaair]

I've had an HR20 for about 3 months now. I'm happy with it. It's had a few problems but not as horrible as everyone says it is. It was never so horrible I'd have wanted to return it. Some people tend to throw a fit, blow a gasket, and run to an internet forum to b*tch everytime a recording gets messed up somehow. Don't believe everything you read.

Agreed.....but then you have an award winning user interface and a johnny come lately user interface that has been shoved down your throat you tend to think fondly of the good times. I say - don't let the door hit you on the way out Murdock and friends. Someday you won't be Windows 3.1 either.

Bonanza

[ShiningBengal]

AT&T can't buy something that's not for sale.

Everything's for sale...at a price. Besides that, ever hear of a hostile takeover? This is a public company you know. The board of DirecTV may have nothing to say about it.