# Fast Forward issue with Genie



## bernieport (Oct 4, 2007)

So, I just got an HR-34 a couple weeks ago and am having a huge issue with Fast Forwarding. When I FF through commercials, I usually use the 3x FF. When the show appears, I hit play and on my old boxes it would hop back about 5 seconds and I would be right to when the show was starting back up. Now, with the HR34 and the client box upstairs, when I hit play after 3x FF it stops right where you hit play (at best......sometimes it seems it even skips forward a little further). This, to me, makes it virtually impossible to skip through commercials as I spend a bunch of time then rewinding to where I was. I am often 20 seconds into the show!

I had a tech come out today. He agreed it was a problem, and he replaced the box. Well, the new box does it too! The tech admitted he had little experience with the HR34 so he thought that "just may be the way it is supposed to be". I find it very problematic.

Anyone having this issue? And if so, does anyone else find it to be a problem?

Thanks for any help


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

It's been that way for a long time, and yes, it's very problematic. Although I don't have that issue on my C31's.


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## bernieport (Oct 4, 2007)

Thanks! I looked back and couldn't find the question asked elsewhere. 

Do you think this is something DirecTV will address in a software update? Again, I apologize if this has been discussed before.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

We're hoping.


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## bnwrx (Dec 29, 2007)

bernieport said:


> Thanks! I looked back and couldn't find the question asked elsewhere.
> 
> Do you think this is something DirecTV will address in a software update? Again, I apologize if this has been discussed before.


Others, as well as myself have posted about this several times in the past. With each new firmware edition we hope for a correction, but nothing yet....:nono2:


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## SteelDog (Feb 9, 2007)

Thank god I am not the only one. Same thing. The accuracy of this DVR is horrible when fast forwarding or rewinding. It's easily the worst one I have owned in that regard. Seems like it would easily be fixed.


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## Bajanjack (Oct 22, 2006)

SteelDog said:


> Thank god I am not the only one. Same thing. The accuracy of this DVR is horrible when fast forwarding or rewinding. It's easily the worst one I have owned in that regard. Seems like it would easily be fixed.


Yep, I've posted about this problem several times-you are not alone!!-the "jump back" is too short. For me it's even worse when I play a recorded program from another DVR on the HR34 using whole home.


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

bernieport said:


> This, to me, makes it virtually impossible to skip through commercials as I spend a bunch of time then rewinding to where I was. I am often 20 seconds into the show!


That is why I use the 30 Second Skip Button!!! 

It is much more accurate and maybe after skipping 4 times I may be a little ahead I then use the RW to get to the beginning of Live Action.


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## texasbrit (Aug 9, 2006)

For me this continues to be one of the most frustrating things with the HR34. It reminds me of when the feature first appeared on the HR20. One thing I noted - when you FF there is an intial delay before the FF actually starts. At first glance, it looks to me like the "overrun" is roughly equal to the initial delay.


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## Bajanjack (Oct 22, 2006)

Richierich said:


> That is why I use the 30 Second Skip Button!!!
> 
> It is much more accurate and maybe after skipping 4 times I may be a little ahead I then use the RW to get to the beginning of Live Action.


Gotcha, but that's not "more accurate" or quicker for me....ff "jump back" gets you close and needs only a few seconds more to be adequate


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

30 sec skip has always been fast and reliable for me as well...


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## bnwrx (Dec 29, 2007)

Of course 30SKIP works for me also, but why shouldn't FF work properly as it does in all the other HR's that I've had???


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## Hotelone (Feb 18, 2008)

Richierich said:


> That is why I use the 30 Second Skip Button!!!
> 
> It is much more accurate and maybe after skipping 4 times I may be a little ahead I then use the RW to get to the beginning of Live Action.


X 3!


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## jacksonm30354 (Mar 29, 2007)

30 Sec Skip works for me on the Genie itself, but on my C31 clients, it often skips to tick instead. Very frustrating. I've posted a couple times about the issue, but I guess I am the only one with the problem. It occurs using 30 sec skip via the remote or as I found last night, via the iPad app remote.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

I've never liked 30 second skip. I always end up 15 seconds ahead or behind (then have to use ff or rew anyway). If the ffX3 on the HR34 worked like on the other HR's, it would be perfect, as I can land exactly where I want to every time.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

spartanstew said:


> I've never liked 30 second skip. I always end up 15 seconds ahead or behind (then have to use ff or rew anyway).


I still have a recording of the old HDNet Test Pattern, that has a timer displayed in the image. I just checked my HR34 and the 30skip was within 1 or 2 seconds of where it should be, not 15 seconds. Wonder why your HR34 is that far off?


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

Fast Forward problems are not exclusive to the HR34. I have 3 HR24-500s that FFW works as expected and reliably when playing a local recording. All bets are off if you play a recording from one of the other boxes over MRV. The ‘Auto-Correct’ jumps back way to far – then if you try to FFW again to get to where you want to be it jumps back again.

It has been this way since the beginning of MRV. Apparently anyone that has DirecTV’s ear here doesn’t use FFW… I don’t expect it to be fixed any time soon if ever.


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

RAD said:


> I still have a recording of the old HDNet Test Pattern, that has a timer displayed in the image. I just checked my HR34 and the 30skip was within 1 or 2 seconds of where it should be, not 15 seconds. Wonder why your HR34 is that far off?


If there are 3 to 5 minutes of commercials in a given break, you have to hit the 30skip from 6 to 10 times to get from one end of the break to the other. If the HR34 is off by 1.5 seconds per skip, the final result would be off by 9-15 seconds.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

RAD said:


> I still have a recording of the old HDNet Test Pattern, that has a timer displayed in the image. I just checked my HR34 and the 30skip was within 1 or 2 seconds of where it should be, not 15 seconds. Wonder why your HR34 is that far off?


You misunderstood.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Bill Broderick said:


> If there are 3 to 5 minutes of commercials in a given break, you have to hit the 30skip from 6 to 10 times to get from one end of the break to the other. If the HR34 is off by 1.5 seconds per skip, the final result would be off by 9-15 seconds.


I do that all the time and haven't run into that problem. Again, using the old HDNet Test Pattern recording, timer showed 6:30, hit 30skip 8 times, playback resumed at 2:28. That's 2 seconds off, not the 9 - 15 that you're seeing.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

spartanstew said:


> You misunderstood.


Misunderstood what? You said you used 30skip and ended 15 seconds off of where you wanted to be, I said I haven't see that much of an error on my HR34.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

I didn't say the HR34 doesn't skip ahead 30 seconds each time.

Commercials breaks (at least on the shows I watch) are not consistent in length. If I hit it 4 times I haven't gone through all the commercials and have to ff a bit. If I hit if 5 times, I'm into the program and have to rewind it (these are examples, btw). So,

I always end up 15 seconds ahead or behind (then have to use ff or rew anyway)


hint: the 15 seconds is just an example too, it might be 5 seconds, it might be 25. Doesn't really matter, as when I'm into the program I don't know how far into the program I am and when I land on a commercial, I don't know how much of the commercial is left.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

spartanstew said:


> I didn't say the HR34 doesn't skip ahead 30 seconds each time.
> 
> Commercials breaks (at least on the shows I watch) are not consistent in length. If I hit it 4 times I haven't gone through all the commercials and have to ff a bit. If I hit if 5 times, I'm into the program and have to rewind it (these are examples, btw). So,
> 
> ...


OK, that clears it up. I've got most of the shows breaks down pat so I'm almost dead on with the skips.


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## Bajanjack (Oct 22, 2006)

spartanstew said:


> I didn't say the HR34 doesn't skip ahead 30 seconds each time.
> 
> Commercials breaks (at least on the shows I watch) are not consistent in length. If I hit it 4 times I haven't gone through all the commercials and have to ff a bit. If I hit if 5 times, I'm into the program and have to rewind it (these are examples, btw). So,
> 
> ...


Exactly, add to that an "old man" like me who doesn't have the reaction time of you young guys-that adds a second or so to each press of the button....the logical answer is to fix the "jump back" so it works properly when doing a ff


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

RAD said:


> OK, that clears it up. I've got most of the shows breaks down pat so I'm almost dead on with the skips.


I just timed one of the commercial breaks in Southland and it was 4:17. Now, that includes the time it took for me to reach over and get the timer, just like I'd have to reach over and get the remote. I probably would have started off with 4 skips. Would have still been on commercial. Another skip. Still commercial. Another skip. Still commercial. Another skip. Still commercial. Another skip. Still commercial. Another skip. Still commercial. Another skip, and I'd be about 15 seconds into my program.


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## rickclem (Feb 20, 2013)

jacksonm30354;3191712 said:


> 30 Sec Skip works for me on the Genie itself, but on my C31 clients, it often skips to tick instead. Very frustrating. I've posted a couple times about the issue, but I guess I am the only one with the problem. It occurs using 30 sec skip via the remote or as I found last night, via the iPad app remote.


Add me to the list of 30 sec skip to tic. I started using the X3. I like that if you go a little past that it backs up a tad when you press play.


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## adam1115 (Dec 16, 2003)

It's funny, because when 30 second skip didn't work for what, 8 months, people said "What are you doing that for? Don't you know it's unsupported?"

But we can't FF either. Hmm.


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## sbergstc (Jun 21, 2007)

Add me to the list... Had an HR34 installed a week ago and now when using FF the show appears paused on the screen so I am unable to even see how far the program has progressed. It's really a pain in the neck. But thanks to the posts in this thread I'm coping a little better using the 30 sec skip. It takes several jumps, like 6-7 but it works.
SBerg


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## Tom Servo (Mar 7, 2007)

jacksonm30354 said:


> 30 Sec Skip works for me on the Genie itself, but on my C31 clients, it often skips to tick instead. Very frustrating. I've posted a couple times about the issue, but I guess I am the only one with the problem. It occurs using 30 sec skip via the remote or as I found last night, via the iPad app remote.


Nope, you're not alone. I just got my Genie stuff installed yesterday and this morning was an, er, eye-opening experience with the C31.

Maybe it'll smooth out once everything is updated and rebooted, but I couldn't fast forward or 30-second skip ANYTHING on the C31 without it just going straight to the end.

I also cannot use the arrow keys to navigate menu lists without it hanging up, then jumping to the bottom followed by hundreds of "bonk" sounds. It seems to be interpreting a single keypress as either one or jillion presses at random_!_ :eek2:

The whole idea of having the C31 was for the rare times I'd want to watch something in another room, so it won't be seeing a ton of use. But it's disappointing knowing it doesn't even come close to working as well as one would expect.


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## Ned C (Mar 6, 2008)

Don't know why this is turning into such a problem. But a problem it is.
You would think the software issue could be copied from the previous builds and applied to the Genie.. YEAH, YEAH, I know it's being addressed.. But when?????


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