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I don't like my HR20 - Update. Now I HATE it

58K views 575 replies 85 participants last post by  Adam1115 
#1 ·
Yes, I was an early adopter of TiVo, getting my first in 2000. And, of course, I mod this forum because of my love for TiVo. So, you'd think I'd be prejudiced, but my philosophy is if it works, it's fine. I like new stuff and change brands all the time.

I've had Direct TV for years, because in my area, Comcast sucks and is expensive and those are my choices. (Well, along with Dish - is that a valid choice? Not according to my brother-in-law.)

When I bought my HDTV, I had a choice...stay with Direct TV and switch to the HR20, or go with Comcast and stay with TiVo.

I chose the former.

I'm sorry TiVo.

The HR20 has been problematic. I don't believe I've watched one show that hasn't had some sort of noise or audio drop. It has had two failures that caused me to have to reboot, reacquire satellite data, reset up. It's missed recordings, something my trusty TiVo never did in 8 years.

I've had it a month.

I'm locked into a two-year contract now - all I can do is hope they fix the damn thing and are working on all the failures and problems.

I realize some people here haven't had these problems - or maybe they haven't had the long, flawless experience with TiVo that I have had so don't realize this isn't normal for DVR owners. Maybe they got a better box - maybe their DVR likes them better and won't break up on them. YMMV, but I don't care for the HR20 and I regret my decision.

Just thought you should know.

(I still have two dual tuner D*TiVos running strong and one I use now just as a backup for the HR20. At least I won't miss a show, even if I don't see it in HD.)
 
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#454 ·
TiVo has so many cool features that the HR20 doesn't that the $150 is EASILY justified.

Listening to my computer's \Users\Music collection over a TiVo
The HR2x has mediashare I use it all the time to watch video, listen to MP3s and view pictures from my PC.
 
#455 ·
Saturday night: The DirecTV installer finished installing my "free upgrade" HR21 (at 11:30 PM - the installation is a whole 'nother story).

Sunday night: I put in my season passes in (or whatever they're called in the HR21)

Monday afternoon: The HR21 froze up by 3 PM or so.

When I tried to watch Daily Show/Colbert around 9 on Monday, I couldn't get the unit to respond to the remote or button presses on the unit itself. I called DirecTV and did a reboot, which got the unit working, but confirmed that those recordings didn't occur. Not a big deal, since I got the next showing at 10, but ....

this is not an auspicious start to my relationship with the HR21, DirecTV.

On the other hand, as to the HR10-250 that they swapped out for the HR21 in my family room - I was able to get them to put it in the bedroom. So I still do have some TiVo - just not able to take advantage of the HD on it ... yet. (And who knows, maybe I can get them to swap it out again someday - maybe even for a TiVo!)
I had another freeze yesterday (Thursday) - so that's 5 days of use, 2 freezes. I discovered the freeze when I went to watch TV at 9:07 PM, so I missed the first 7 minutes of the Office, and didn't get Daily Show/Colbert (at least not from 8-9). I won't tell you how pissed I'd have been if I had missed Lost because of this issue.
 
#456 ·
I'm cautiously optimistic. (And, knocking wood furiously as I type this.)

My new box has not missed a recording. I'm not getting pixellation.

I have some artifacts during movement but I can live with that.
It had that one period of lock-up. Concerning, yes. I'm not willing to call it a problem yet. If it happens again, then I will complain again.
It does have an audio problem. Using the HDMI cable means no audio out. We had that problem with our first box and upgraded the firmware on our TV, which solved it. I don't know why it's happening again. It could be the TV or it could be the box. But, using component cables fixes it.

I haven't had these few problems since the original install.


I am supposed to send my old one back - I got the box. I really really don't want Direct TV to wipe the hard drive and give it to anybody else. I'm so tempted to scratch up the box or engrave "refurb" on it somewhere. But, I don't want to be charged. :(
 
#458 ·
... It does have an audio problem. Using the HDMI cable means no audio out. We had that problem with our first box and upgraded the firmware on our TV, which solved it. I don't know why it's happening again. It could be the TV or it could be the box. But, using component cables fixes it. ... :(
Most TVs will not accept Dolby Digital audio over an HDMI connection. The typical solution is to set the audio output option of the DVR to "PCM stereo" which is compatible with most TVs.
 
#459 ·
Most TVs will not accept Dolby Digital audio over an HDMI connection. The typical solution is to set the audio output option of the DVR to "PCM stereo" which is compatible with most TVs.
I don't think we have it set to Dolby but I will double-check. Thank you for the tip.

Geez, I hope this works out.

If anybody is thinking of switching over and gets through this thread - I would absolutely insist on a new box and not a refurb before agreeing to a new contract. It's outrageous that they have warehouses full of refurbs that haven't worked in other people's homes and just ship them around the country to other homes. I guess Direct TV is like the Catholic church of hardware. ;) You just know all they do is wipe the hard drive and ship 'em out. If everybody insisted on new ones, maybe they wouldn't do that.

I am a refurb buyer, by the way. The laptop I'm typing this from is a refurb and I've had lots of them. Most work fine but not all. The tech told me he'd tracked some of them and they'd been in "7 or 8 homes all over the country." After the box has more than one complaint you'd think they'd stop shipping them out.
 
#460 ·
If anybody is thinking of switching over and gets through this thread - I would absolutely insist on a new box and not a refurb before agreeing to a new contract. It's outrageous that they have warehouses full of refurbs that haven't worked in other people's homes and just ship them around the country to other homes.
I think it's a a stretch to claim that there is some big problems with refurbs. You make it sound like they just put returns in a box without any testing and ship them back out.

BTW, 2 of my 3 HR20s are refurbs and work perfectly. Of course I don't have a dish, wiring or TV issue either. ;)
 
#462 ·
Neither do I but thank you for the insightful comment once again.

I thought you said you were going to stay out of this thread?

And, in fact, I thought you were going to stay out of this forum? What changed your mind so quickly?
I believe i said that I would make a deal that if a certain other person who doesn't even have either unit or even DirecTV quit posting, so would I. :)

As for not having a dish, or wiring problem, quite a few others seem to agree that you may have some other issue. But for some reason, you don't seem to be jumping on them. Go figure.

But the bottom line is that you have no basis for claiming refurbs are any more unreliable than a new unit or insinuating that DirecTV is sending out units they know are bad. As a matter of fact, there have been several threads in the general forum about refurbs (not just DVRs) where most people seem to agree that a refurb probably is even more reliable than a new unit since it has most likely been tested more thoroughly than a new unit coming off an assembly line.
 
#463 ·
I think it's a a stretch to claim that there is some big problems with refurbs. You make it sound like they just put returns in a box without any testing and ship them back out...
Well, that may be true. How do we know they don't just sprinkle them with holy water? (Sorry, still grinning over that "Catholic church" reference)

I think it makes sense that DTV would want refurbs to be tested and fixed, but I think many times they set them up, do a couple of simultaneous recordings, run it through the diagnostics and shove it in the "good" pile. What more would you have them do, and just how much time and effort should they be expected to put into a refurb, realistically?

If it passes all of the perfunctory tests that new boxes coming off the assembly line pass, what else can they do? (And really, that puts both a new and a refurb in the same category as to how likely they each will continue to work).

I worked in a Zenith assembly line back in the day, and that same reality probably applies today.

BTW, Mark, keep posting. At least you make things, uh..."interesting". :D
 
#464 ·
I don't think we have it set to Dolby but I will double-check. Thank you for the tip.

Geez, I hope this works out.

If anybody is thinking of switching over and gets through this thread - I would absolutely insist on a new box and not a refurb before agreeing to a new contract. It's outrageous that they have warehouses full of refurbs that haven't worked in other people's homes and just ship them around the country to other homes. I guess Direct TV is like the Catholic church of hardware. ;) You just know all they do is wipe the hard drive and ship 'em out. If everybody insisted on new ones, maybe they wouldn't do that.

I am a refurb buyer, by the way. The laptop I'm typing this from is a refurb and I've had lots of them. Most work fine but not all. The tech told me he'd tracked some of them and they'd been in "7 or 8 homes all over the country." After the box has more than one complaint you'd think they'd stop shipping them out.
Personally I think that a lot of the refurbs are fine (I do not dispute that there are bad boxes out there in any way shape or form), I do think that for a long time it was very easy to just send out a replacement for any issue at all, and this further complicates it for people who have issues because now you have a pool that is diluted to the point that it is difficult to find pattern failures. It does suck because I personally like the box, but I sure can see where folks who have multiple failures and problems would sour on it very very quickly.
 
#465 ·
bananfish said:
Saturday night: The DirecTV installer finished installing my "free upgrade" HR21 (at 11:30 PM - the installation is a whole 'nother story).

Sunday night: I put in my season passes in (or whatever they're called in the HR21)

Monday afternoon: The HR21 froze up by 3 PM or so.

When I tried to watch Daily Show/Colbert around 9 on Monday, I couldn't get the unit to respond to the remote or button presses on the unit itself. I called DirecTV and did a reboot, which got the unit working, but confirmed that those recordings didn't occur. Not a big deal, since I got the next showing at 10, but ....

this is not an auspicious start to my relationship with the HR21, DirecTV.

On the other hand, as to the HR10-250 that they swapped out for the HR21 in my family room - I was able to get them to put it in the bedroom. So I still do have some TiVo - just not able to take advantage of the HD on it ... yet. (And who knows, maybe I can get them to swap it out again someday - maybe even for a TiVo!)

I had another freeze yesterday (Thursday) - so that's 5 days of use, 2 freezes. I discovered the freeze when I went to watch TV at 9:07 PM, so I missed the first 7 minutes of the Office, and didn't get Daily Show/Colbert (at least not from 8-9). I won't tell you how pissed I'd have been if I had missed Lost because of this issue.
Freeze number 3 on Saturday evening. I'm petrified of missing recordings this week - playoff basketball and hockey with my favorite teams, and finally original programming is back in gear after the writers strike.

I called DirecTV, and they told me "keep calling when it happens and eventually we can offer you a replacement." Great - and how do I know that one's gonna work?

Three or years with an HR10-250, and it never missed a recording (at least not without help from my stupidity, a network programming change or something else out of its control.)
 
#467 ·
..maybe it is the new software
I know some here think I'm only a DirecTV DVR supporter, but I'm not. I've always tried to stay objective when it comes to the HR10 and HR20 citing that they both have their pros/cons and issues. While I stand by my comments that I still think the HR2x overall is a better unit, I will give DirecTV a big :down: for releasing the latest update even though many of the CE testers were reporting a lot of problems especially with the last couple of versions. And yet they decided to release it anyway. While I personally have not experienced any of the bigger problems (yet) that this new NR is causing people, it did break my Media Share (the last 2 CEs broke it for me and a lot of people) that was working fine before. And I don't feel very confident that I won't be seeing some of the lockups and other problems too that appear to be on the rise with this release. OTOH, I do feel that they will fix things quickly if it turns out to be a widespread problem
 
#468 ·
i have to qualify..it froze up plus she said one show stopped at 56 (it's an hour show) and the bar showed it recorded 1:22. But no matter what you did it wouldnt FF thru past 56

and other show only got 8 minutes of the hour recorded.
 
#469 ·
I'd agree the latest software release is indeed buggy. While I personally haven't encountered the issues (yet) others have.

I think they released this quickly despite issues because of another bigger bug which they fixed. The latest CE cycle that started last weekend looks to be mostly a "bug fix" cycle it appears. Although the first signs of MRV are in it. :)
 
#470 ·
This week's recording of House had only a grey screen - this was from my local Fox station, which I know I get fine (I checked). I'm still new with my unit, so I'm not sure if I screwed something up - any explanation for a grey screen other than box error?
 
#471 ·
This week's recording of House had only a grey screen - this was from my local Fox station, which I know I get fine (I checked). I'm still new with my unit, so I'm not sure if I screwed something up - any explanation for a grey screen other than box error?
Try rebooting and see if the if recording is good. That happened to us a couple of times. The recording was bad even though we knew the station was good. Rebooting the DVR cleared it up.

tk
 
#472 ·
my wife said the hr20 also froze late night this weekend...2nd time in a month..maybe it is the new software
Rumor has it on DBSTalk that there were lots of lockups Saturday night, which could be a glitch in the sat signal.
 
#473 ·
Rumor has it on DBSTalk that there were lots of lockups Saturday night, which could be a glitch in the sat signal.
Actually what was happening was a continuous boot cycle, but it only seemed to affect the HR20-100's. Mine looped both Friday and Saturday nights, but my HR20-700 didnt and neither did my HR-21. It was wierd, but I believe that the actual number of boxes it did it to was under 20 out of the group downloading.
 
#474 ·
I know some here think I'm only a DirecTV DVR supporter, but I'm not. I've always tried to stay objective when it comes to the HR10 and HR20 citing that they both have their pros/cons and issues. While I stand by my comments that I still think the HR2x overall is a better unit, I will give DirecTV a big :down: for releasing the latest update even though many of the CE testers were reporting a lot of problems especially with the last couple of versions. And yet they decided to release it anyway. While I personally have not experienced any of the bigger problems (yet) that this new NR is causing people, it did break my Media Share (the last 2 CEs broke it for me and a lot of people) that was working fine before. And I don't feel very confident that I won't be seeing some of the lockups and other problems too that appear to be on the rise with this release. OTOH, I do feel that they will fix things quickly if it turns out to be a widespread problem
well, let's see, it's taken them a year and a half to fix things, so maybe your wish will come true in say, Oct '09;)
 
#475 ·
Actually what was happening was a continuous boot cycle, but it only seemed to affect the HR20-100's. Mine looped both Friday and Saturday nights, but my HR20-700 didnt and neither did my HR-21. It was wierd, but I believe that the actual number of boxes it did it to was under 20 out of the group downloading.
That was your experience. There are at least 4 threads accross forums, some 7 pages long, that refer to lockups, and no one in them seems to be posting about reboot loops. At least three people have reported both of their HR20's locked up at the exact same time, which by itself points to a systemic issue rather than incidental hardware issues. Every post regarding a system-wide problem is typically considered to represent another 50 who also had the problem yet just didn't post about it.

So something significant and widespread happened. Let's hope it was an isolated incident.
 
#476 ·
That was your experience. There are at least 4 threads accross forums, some 7 pages long, that refer to lockups, and no one in them seems to be posting about reboot loops. At least three people have reported both of their HR20's locked up at the exact same time, which by itself points to a systemic issue rather than incidental hardware issues. Every post regarding a system-wide problem is typically considered to represent another 50 who also had the problem yet just didn't post about it.

So something significant and widespread happened. Let's hope it was an isolated incident.
I am not dicountining wht you say, there are however several threads about the contant reboot loop, so I am not sure where you are looking. The entire Cutting Edge forum was talking about it, to the point of tracking dates of manufacture and to the point where the HR20 bashers were claiming that it was a widespread problem when there were approximately 20 users that were having the issue.
 
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