# R15 Is Junk!



## Dood (Mar 16, 2006)

Earl, glad you showed me this site. Looking around, it just proves my point that the R15 is a worthless piece of pooh.

I find it funny as hell there are so many posts saying the same thing.

DirecTv rushed the piece of pooh to market, and now they have no clue on how to fix their mistake.

Every software "fix" creates oter issues... Funny stuff!

Shill all you want, the R15 is junk.


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## nneptune (Mar 30, 2006)

Y'know...I can't really disagree.
I'm actually looking forward to the day when I return to E*...unless D* gets their act together.
With that said, I think this forum and the people on it are great. 
Everyone is extremely helpful here.


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

Dood said:


> Every software "fix" creates oter issues... Funny stuff!


I think I have seen you on TCF before. This release does fix a lot of things that were needed (more stability and less lockups, 5 minute warning now changes when it should, SL's are better, etc....) and the R-15 is really better overall in general. Some people here, myself included, just like to vent.

However, like you mentioned this update did seem to break some of the playback and control functions. Now instead of the recording problems, which have somewhat been fixed, there are now playback problems that were not there before this update.

As for you and Earl, I dont think this has to be spread across multiple message boards.


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## White_Horse (Jun 26, 2006)

Think about this...user's post because they have problems....do you really think users are going to post because they don't have problems? nope...they're not..because everything is working fine. Have I posted about my two R15's before? Nope...because both are working fine. They don't freeze or lock up, they don't miss recording anything. It does record some extra shows, but that only seems to be on the non-major networks, major networks it's getting first runs only. And in some cases I don't mind the repeat recordings because it's old shows from years ago... Anyways...are there some things I would like to see improved...definitely but am I happy with how it is working now? yes.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Bobman said:


> As for you and Earl, I dont think this has to be spread across multiple message boards.


 I did tell them to come over here if they wanted to talk about the R15...
So...

They can have their opinion... just like the next person..


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

White_Horse said:


> Think about this...user's post because they have problems....do you really think users are going to post because they don't have problems? nope...they're not..because everything is working fine. Have I posted about my two R15's before? Nope...because both are working fine. They don't freeze or lock up, they don't miss recording anything. It does record some extra shows, but that only seems to be on the non-major networks, major networks it's getting first runs only. And in some cases I don't mind the repeat recordings because it's old shows from years ago... Anyways...are there some things I would like to see improved...definitely but am I happy with how it is working now? yes.


I'm in agreement. I have two R15s and I really like them. They took some getting used to at first (coming from having a tivo dvr), but I really haven't had any real problems with either. There are things I would like to see improved or changed, but I get the sense that alot of the pings against the R15 come down to "it's not tivo." No, it's not. Granted, there are folks that have serious problems with them. I'm not one of them. Maybe I will be, but for now, I'm very happy with them. As for the repeats, maybe it's just me, but I think the unit is getting better on that front too. For example, when Psyche first came on, it recorded every episode for me. Now it correctly does first runs. It even figured out that one episode didn't get recorded (I was on vacation, and we lost power) and rescheduled that episode.

I do think they need to seriously address the limit issue, and I think D* needs to be better about their testing. I get the sense that their testing plans aren't adequate to shake out the bugs before release. I certainly don't expect them to flag everything, but some standard volume testing would bring out some of those that show up once a version is released.

Overall, though, I'm very happy. I've been a D* customer for over 4 years, and I've recommended their service to many people. I think you get a lot for your money, and the picture and sound quality is impressive.


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

Dood said:


> Earl, glad you showed me this site. Looking around, it just proves my point that the R15 is a worthless piece of pooh.
> 
> Shill all you want, the R15 is junk.


You have the right to your opinion, but you insult a mod and the rest of us take offense to it. You can't play nice then you don't need to play at all. Just because someone likes a a product doesn't make them a shill.


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## Dood (Mar 16, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> I did tell them to come over here if they wanted to talk about the R15...
> So...
> 
> They can have their opinion... just like the next person..


Earl,

Just so you know, this is not a personal attack on you. I am 100% sure you are a great person. I can tell that you have a passion, and I should not have questioned another mans passion.

My attack it on DirecTv and the junky R15. Sometimes large businesses get too greedy, and DirecTv got way too greedy when they decided to dump a proven winner in the TiVo based product and went with their own name plate.

What they did in this case was turn their back on all their customers, forcing upon them a product that is inferior in every way. Greed does this, not business sense.

I get so tired of hearing things like "A new update will fix this" or "They are working on that". If the product is not ready for the market, then don't put the dang thing out there, all it does is create angry customers. DirecTv now has a huge base of angry customers.

When I buy something, it better damn well work. Think about that statement, That says it all doesn't it? If I buy a new DVD player, I expect it to work correctly. If I buy a new wash machine, I expect it to work right. So why shouldn't I expect DirecTv to deliver the goods as well?

They have lied, and continue to lie to their customers. I have been told over and over that the "next update" will "fix that". Here's an idea, why not get it right the first time, and THEN release it.


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## White_Horse (Jun 26, 2006)

Apparently you don't buy much computer equipment or computer software....

A washing machine doesn't have any programming in it (I'm talking about software type programing here)...a washing machine is a motor moving a bunch of parts, some timers to tell it how long to do it's thing for, and some other switches to tell it pull all your water from the hot water line, the cold water line, or a mix of both.

The software in a DVD player is very simple...when a disc is inserted, start playing...when the fast forward button is pressed, start moving foward at X rate of speed, when the next chapter button is pressed, move to the next chapter. The logic involved in it is nowhere near as complicated as in a DVR.

A DVR is a totally different ballgame. There's tons of programming involved...a lot more factors and variables to take in.

What software company or piece of software out there in the world hasn't released updates? It's a way of life in the computer world...you expect software updates there....heck..sometimes updates come on a weekly basis even!

DVR's are much more like specialized computers than they DVD players or washing machines....

Now how they handle updates...that I do have some complaints about....



Dood said:


> When I buy something, it better damn well work. Think about that statement, That says it all doesn't it? If I buy a new DVD player, I expect it to work correctly. If I buy a new wash machine, I expect it to work right. So why shouldn't I expect DirecTv to deliver the goods as well?
> 
> They have lied, and continue to lie to their customers. I have been told over and over that the "next update" will "fix that". Here's an idea, why not get it right the first time, and THEN release it.


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

Dood said:


> My attack it on DirecTv and the junky R15. Sometimes large businesses get too greedy, and DirecTv got way too greedy when they decided to dump a proven winner in the TiVo based product and went with their own name plate.
> 
> What they did in this case was turn their back on all their customers, forcing upon them a product that is inferior in every way. Greed does this, not business sense.


I would disagree. If they believed Tivo was asking for to much, and that they could produce a competing product cheaper, they have a responsibility to their stock hoders to do so. You can call it greed if you want, but increasing the value of your stock _is_ business.

As to implenting that plan with the R15, well... :nono2:


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## mtchamp (Nov 24, 2005)

For me, DirecTV is dead technology after being a customer for 12 years. I left cable for new technology. The R15 is new technology? Not! DirecTV's own DVR's, SD or HD will never bring in new customers like the DirecTiVo's did, period.

I'm leaving DirecTV for TiVo with Comcast in one form or another in one week. They finally lost me to Comcast with the choice of a dual tuner SA TiVo and the upcoming Series3 TiVo and even Comcast's own TiVo offering might be interesting.

I'll be getting a great discounted price on cable service and because I switched from Verizon DSL to broadband cable, I got a good deal on that as well with double the speed.

Verizon FIOS is in some neighboring towns and will be available here soon enough and with competition between cable and phone companies, price of service is going to stay down.

Because the TiVo Series3 is coming out and TiVo with Comcast will have more TiVo features than DirecTV, DirecTV's just going to lose more customers like me as their contracts expire.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

mtchamp said:


> Verizon FIOS is in some neighboring towns and will be available here soon enough and with competition between cable and phone companies, price of service is going to stay down.
> 
> Because the TiVo Series3 is coming out and TiVo with Comcast will have more TiVo features than DirecTV, DirecTV's just going to lose more customers like me as their contracts expire.


The TiVo on Comcast is still not out... and who knows what that implementation is going to be like (aka what featurs is it going to have... or more like... what feature is it NOT going to have)

The TiVo Series 3 box is expected to be a semi-expensive box (above $500)
Then mix in you still have to deal with the Cable Companies to get the Cable Cards, that they reall don't want you to have... but the gov is forcing them to be available...

It is not going to be a walk in a park......

As for FIOS.... FIOS is going to be a great technology... but in a VAST number of areas... it is going to be a nich non-existant technology...
On best of estimates... I am looking at 5+ years till it is available by me... and I am in major suburb of Chicago (vs all those people that still RR in their address... some of those people don't even have CABLE at all yet)


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Dood said:


> Earl,
> 
> Just so you know, this is not a personal attack on you. I am 100% sure you are a great person. I can tell that you have a passion, and I should not have questioned another mans passion.


Passion... Addiction... same thing right? 

I know... not a problem.


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## Bud33 (Jan 26, 2006)

Dood said:


> Earl, glad you showed me this site. Looking around, it just proves my point that the R15 is a worthless piece of pooh.


He showed you this site last March and you are just now getting around to spewing your venom here?


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

mtchamp said:


> For me, DirecTV is dead technology after being a customer for 12 years. I left cable for new technology. The R15 is new technology? Not! DirecTV's own DVR's, SD or HD will never bring in new customers like the DirecTiVo's did, period.
> 
> I'm leaving DirecTV for TiVo with Comcast in one form or another in one week. They finally lost me to Comcast with the choice of a dual tuner SA TiVo and the upcoming Series3 TiVo and even Comcast's own TiVo offering might be interesting.
> 
> ...


I used to be a Comcast customer - I'd rather go back to rabbit ears that sign up with them again. Their pricing is insane (my last year I got 4 price increases within 12 months), and their customer service is about as bad as you can get. When we had the cable installer come out, he didn't have the equipment to do a basic install! We wante the cable fed up through a wall out of our crawlspace, and he didn't have the tools to fish the cable through. My wife and I did it ourselves - that's right, we paid to have a guy show up to leave us some coax, and to flip a switch on our poll.

I'm also currently a Verizon customer. I have FIOS for internet, and they're going to be supplying tv in this area by year's end - that's the plan, anyway. I agree that it has alot of potential. But it's going to be very slow in coming in some areas. Verizon has been laying fiber like crazy (look at their balance sheet - they took a big cost to lay the cable. And they've only hit a very small area with it so far. If it doesn't take (as in they can't sign enough people up) then it goes the way of Iridium. And I won't even consider switching my tv service from D* to FIOS unless Verizon improves its customer service. It leaves much to be desired.


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

Ok all I see no more use for this thread so I shall now close it.


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