Helping Relatives Set Up a HR21

[Phillip Chapman]

I’ve been using Tivo for more than five years and am helping some relatives get set up with DirecTV and the DirecTV's HD DVR, the HR21-700 I believe. (Hopefully I can get them to switch to the HD Tivo once it’s out in a year.) This is the their first DVR ever and I wanted to see if there was a friendly guide I could check out for the HR21 so that I have an idea of helping them get the most out of it before I sit down with them to train them on how to use it.

I’m proficient with computers and such, and just wanted to be as familiar as possible with the HD DVR interface and any “issues” before I help them with it. Any info or helpful sites to point us too would be most appreciated.

[JimSpence]

The helpful guys here might be able to help.
http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=112

You can find the manuals here.
http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPageNR.jsp?assetId=P4720038

[stevel]

There's a video under Showcases (a tab on the list of recordings screen, I think) that is an introduction to the DVR - it's worth watching.

[TyroneShoes]

That sounds potentially a bit nightmarish, although my 86-year-old mother had no issues adapting to a Scientific-Atlanta cable DVR from VHS (but then she also daily uses her nano iPod and wireless Broadband router, so I guess she's pretty hip). You could have knocked me over with a feather when she read about the then-new DVRs from Cox cable in the paper, and wanted to be first in line to have one, even though I'd been raving about Tivo for years to anyone who would listen. I guess the level of target motivation is all-important in the situation of bringing someone into this particular world.

I always considered myself pretty tech-savvy or hip as well, but my first encounter with a DVR in 1998 was such a complete paradigm shift that it took me about a week to really understand how truly revolutionary the digital recorder could be. Trick play, you get that concept in the first 5 minutes, but once I realized I didn't have to manage stacks of videotapes, I knew they were really onto something big.

[TonyD79]

I always considered myself pretty tech-savvy or hip as well, but my first encounter with a DVR in 1998 was such a complete paradigm shift that it took me about a week to really understand how truly revolutionary the digital recorder could be. Trick play, you get that concept in the first 5 minutes, but once I realized I didn't have to manage stacks of videotapes, I knew they were really onto something big.

LOL.

I got it right away but I remember explaining to friends how I could watch TV until the very last second I had to leave the house and just turn it off. No worries about what tape was in the VCR or if it was cued up so it would't overwrite something I hadn't watched. One of the smaller things that actually meant something to the everyday user.

[Jon J]

Starting with a Replay was a pretty good training ground for me. ;)

[TyroneShoes]

...I remember explaining to friends how I could watch TV until the very last second I had to leave the house and just turn it off. No worries about what tape was in the VCR or if it was cued up so it would't overwrite something I hadn't watched. One of the smaller things that actually meant something to the everyday user.These are the sorts of things that are what make DVRs convenient. I think one of the reasons that it took a while for all of these little important features to dawn on me is because then, and probably today as well, DVRs are sold improperly, even though then they were being sold by folks who did't have them themselves so they didn't know any better (which may be somewhat the case today).

DVRs are sold by featuring trick play. "Oh, check this out, I can pause live TV!" They sell the sizzle instead of the steak, but you can only really eat the steak, not the sizzle, so it takes a bit to realize that you really do have something of value. Things like a built-in database for recordings and program-based recording turn out to be the real things of value over the VCR paradigm, but try telling that to a potential customer and their eyes glaze over.

Reading back, does that make any sense at all? :eek: