# R15 Issues - Trending



## Greyshadow2007 (Aug 23, 2006)

I am currently trying to compile a list of known issues that have been recurring for R15 owners since the last round of updates in December/January. So far I have....

R15-100
-Double-press effect when using RF remote
-Random Do you want to keep/delete during some recordings
R15-300
-loopback during FF/SLIP
R15-500
-Reboot cycle while starting up (usually during the "Searching for Satellite Signal" message befre "Receiving Info"



thanks in advance


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

adbs2007 said:


> R15-100
> -Random Do you want to keep/delete during some recordings
> R15-300
> -loopback during FF/SLIP


I've had both these on my -500.

Also, one spontaneous reboot.


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## Xram (Nov 19, 2005)

adbs2007 said:


> R15-100
> -Double-press effect when using RF remote


I believe this problem is the remote itself (rc32rf) as this happens with my r15 and also hr20.


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## raott (Nov 23, 2005)

I've had two sponataneous reboots that I know of in about the past 4 weeks or so. 

No other issues. R15-100 model.


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## kocuba (Dec 29, 2006)

adbs2007 said:


> R15-300
> -loopback during FF/SLIP


I've had this problem with every recoding I watch on my R15-300.Usually I have to press play to stop the loop and restart the slip. Quite an annoyance though.

I've also had a couple of recordings go to black screen(ie all I can hear is some video but no picture). But this has not occured in a while and it was only on Amrican Idol, so no big loss to me. :lol:


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## TigersFanJJ (Feb 17, 2006)

My R15-500 froze a few minutes into playback of a show that was still recording (I was behind live time). I've read where others have also had this problem. When I did a red button reset, it then got stuck in the reboot cycle.

I've had my R15 for about a year and a half now and this is the first time I have had a major problem with it.


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## Greyshadow2007 (Aug 23, 2006)

Xram said:


> I believe this problem is the remote itself (rc32rf) as this happens with my r15 and also hr20.


The thing is, I have an R15-300 at home with the RC32RF and haven't had the problem... and most reports seem to suggest the issue is just with the -100 model. I hesitated to even bring this specific issue up, as RF is not yet officially reported, but some users' configurations make RF the best remote solution


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## Greyshadow2007 (Aug 23, 2006)

qwerty said:


> I've had both these on my -500.
> 
> Also, one spontaneous reboot.


Thanks, I've only heard about the -300s doing it... I'll add it to the list


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## subeluvr (Jan 14, 2007)

My initial install in 11/06 was one R15-100. almost immediately it began spontaneous, random reboots. Called tech support, reformatted HD, but no improvement. Replaced with an R15-300 and so far so good.

R15-100 had a very obvious fan that was distracting. The R15-300 fan is much quieter.

Seems that the most effective solution would be for DTV to abandon the multi hardware platforms of the R15 and settle on one platform from one company. Then it'd be much easier to troubleshoot problems and resolve them.

R15-500 by Hunan on the Pacific rim seems to have the most problems (maybe because there are more 500s out there) and since the factory is 20,000 miles away they don't seem to be able to (or care to) resolve them.

R15-300 by Phillips in Mexico seems more reliable. Maybe because they are so close that DTV can load the problem R15-300s on a truck and send them back to the factory.

R15-100 by RCA (Thomson) in Mexico seems to be the new receiver on the block and is strarting to get a rep for having problems. Again easy and cheap to load them on a truck and jam them down RCA's throat.

The worst thing is that replacement R15s usually have more problems than the R15 they are replacing. Seems that a refurb R15 simply gets a HD reformat and sometimes not even that. It's an incredible waste of DTV's time and money to keep diagnosing R15s over the phone and replace them with another R15 that has it's own problems.

It would be nice for DTV to stop trying to treat the R15's symptoms and get on to curing the R15's diseases.


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## epi (May 18, 2006)

adbs2007 said:


> I am currently trying to compile a list of known issues that have been recurring for R15 owners since the last round of updates in December/January. So far I have....
> 
> R15-100
> -Double-press effect when using RF remote
> ...


Would anyone be interested if I created a survey of dbstalk users to obtain their common problems? We could then look at the results to determine who has what problems?


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

subeluvr said:


> R15-500 by Hunan on the Pacific rim seems to have the most problems (maybe because there are more 500s out there) ...
> 
> R15-300 by Phillips in Mexico seems more reliable. ...
> 
> ...


I think the R15-500 is by far the most stable and reliable, however it can have overheating problems. That may have been fixed through one or more of the software upgrades though.

The R15-300 has been by far the worst as far as I am aware. They had a bunch come out of the factory with a bad hard drive (requring the reformat procedure to cure a lot of problems). The -300 also seems to have much poorer remote response than the -500.

I agree that the refurb/replacement process has it's problems. I shudder at the thought of getting a 'refurb" that has had nothing more than perhaps a reformat regardless of what it's actual problems may have been.

I fully agree that settling on a single platform to support is a great idea. The problem is they haven't been able to get any of the manufacturers to produce as many as they need. DirecTV should specify the hardware design and have various manufacturers all build to that same design. Then they only need one software version to support. I have no idea why the didn't take that approach.

I also agree, bandaids on top of bandaids won't fix anything. They need to get to the root cause, in this case the NDS platform it is built on which has never had a good track record anyplace it has been used (Europe).

Carl


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## subeluvr (Jan 14, 2007)

carl6 said:


> I think the R15-500 is by far the most stable and reliable, however it can have overheating problems. That may have been fixed through one or more of the software upgrades though.
> 
> The R15-300 has been by far the worst as far as I am aware. They had a bunch come out of the factory with a bad hard drive (requring the reformat procedure to cure a lot of problems). The -300 also seems to have much poorer remote response than the -500.


Apparently everyone's mileage varies on that statement. My R15-100 tanked but both my R15-300s are doing fine. They record when expected, screen saver works, and response to the remote is OK. Some people have problems with R15-500s and some don't. The jury is still out on the R15-100



carl6 said:


> I agree that the refurb/replacement process has it's problems. I shudder at the thought of getting a 'refurb" that has had nothing more than perhaps a reformat regardless of what it's actual problems may have been.


If the engineers can't find and fix the problems in any or all of the R15s expecting the refurb facilities to do anything productive with problem returned R15s is just dreaming unless the R15 flunks the "smoke test" and then the problem might be obvious.

Without extensive experience using these R15s the techs(?) at the refurb facilities really don't know what problems to look for and finding the (in)famous intermittent R15 problems on the bench is pretty much impossible so they format the HD (sometimes and sometimes leave recordings for the next customer), check the LEDs and the fan and into the box and on the shelf it goes.



carl6 said:


> I fully agree that settling on a single platform to support is a great idea. The problem is they haven't been able to get any of the manufacturers to produce as many as they need. DirecTV should specify the hardware design and have various manufacturers all build to that same design. Then they only need one software version to support. I have no idea why the didn't take that approach.


Hunan, Phillips and RCA (Thomson) eat companies the size of DTV for breakfast. To infer that these manufacturers can't produce the quantities of R15s that DTV needs is laughable. Now, maybe, it's a cash flow thing. Perhaps DTV doesn't want one huge payable to a single manufacturer. Maybe no single manufacturer will extend DTV that much credit.

Whatever the reason, DTV specing the design and having multiple suppliers is a smart thing *ONLY IF* all the manufacturers provide the exact same design. Multiple hardware and firmware platform R15s simply invites disaster and we are living that nightmare right now.



carl6 said:


> I also agree, bandaids on top of bandaids won't fix anything. They need to get to the root cause, in this case the NDS platform it is built on which has never had a good track record anyplace it has been used (Europe).


The amount of money and customer goodwill that DTV loses with projects (gone wrong) like the R15 is a study of how not to run a business. Some businesses continue to make money despite their best efforts not to.

If DTV's intention is to put all its DVR eggs in the HD20 (HiDef DVR) basket they are in for a big surprise. Statistics are showing that well over a hundred million people are not running to Best Buy and Circuit City to buy into HD and a reliable SD DVR is going to be necessary for DTV and Dish to continue servicing their customer base for quite a while.

Now, let's be fair, DTV isn't unique in it's design and implementation problems with the R15. Dish Network has had its share of DVR problems though the years and is every bit as slow to spool software upgrades (downgrades?) that fix problems and don't introduce new ones.

At least DTV doesn't bend us over by charging a DVR fee for each and every DVR in the house as Dish Network does.


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## Greyshadow2007 (Aug 23, 2006)

epi said:


> Would anyone be interested if I created a survey of dbstalk users to obtain their common problems? We could then look at the results to determine who has what problems?


I would be extremely interested in what results such a survey would provide. ... The problem that I've seen is that the issues seem to be almost random, and cannot even necessarily be confined to a given manufacturer for an issue (i.e. loopbacks on ff/slip occurring not just on the r15-300, but also the -100 and -500 as well)
Anything that could at least offer that possibility would be extremely welcome


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## rgraham541 (Aug 6, 2006)

lockup after coming out of an extended pause

R15-300


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## Greyshadow2007 (Aug 23, 2006)

rgraham541 said:


> lockup after coming out of an extended pause
> 
> R15-300


Has it happened more than once? I had the problem before, but not since the 106c update


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

My main issues:

R15-300:
- Looping on ffwd
- Caller ID taking phantom calls - this has been documented throughout the forum - every so often (couple times an hour) I'll get notified of a phone call coming through, but the phone doesn't ring. The date/time on these phantom calls is always the same 12/24 at somethign like 1:33 am (don't remember the exact time). I ended up just shutting off the notifications on that R15.

R15-500:
- Not sure if this affects mine or not - although I'm starting to think it does - the screen saver doesn't work. It doesn't kick on in some cases. This seemed to happen with the last s/w release.


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## LameLefty (Sep 29, 2006)

Okay, last night I set up the first of two R15-500s (both factory refurbs) that D* sent me over the weekend, one to give my son a DVR in his room, the other to replace a 5-1/2 year old DSR6000 Series 1 DTivo that's dying. Anyway, the setup and boot up process was . . . interesting. Having had an HR20 for about 5 months, I'm familiar with the UI - the first thing I did as download new software. Once I did that, the unit rebooted and shut down. I hit the power button to wake it up, whereupon it gave me "Searching for satellite signal ..." and eventually gave me the barker channels. I called D* to activate but while on hold, it suddenly popped up a message saying it needed to download new software (didn't I just do that five minutes ago???) so I let it do so. It was still in that process when D* picked me up off hold - I told them that, gave them the receiver info and then right as it was finishing up, the CSR said, "That should take care of you. Call back it it didn't take . . ." and pretty much hung up on me. Of course, the unit WASN'T authorized. I called them back, got stuck on hold forever and finally hung up and checked my equipment list on Directv.com, which showed that he hadn't added the receiver at all. So I called them a third time, got through to the most clueless-sounding guy I've ever talked to - he tried to add the unit to my account and when what he did didn't work, he said, "There's obviously a hardware problem - please hold while I transfer you to Technical Support." FINALLY I got someone who knew was able to help me, though it still took 40 minutes. She re-sent activations, which added my channels to the Guide but gave me a "Not subscribed" message on all of them. An RBR didn't help. Then she tried again, which gave me my locals and regular national channels but didn't activate the DVR service (and I have three others in the house already  ) or my HBO. Finally she had to go into their system, cancel all my programming and add it back to make it all "stick." What a mess. But at least it got all my channels working and the DVR service active on all my boxes again. 

Each reboot gave me the same results - the blue startup screen, then acquiring all the info, then shut down, requiring me to hit the power button to bring it back to life. That is NOT how my HR20 behaves. I'll be activating the second R15 in a day or two and I seriously hope it isn't another ordeal like yesterday.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

LameLefty said:


> Each reboot gave me the same results - the blue startup screen, then acquiring all the info, then shut down, requiring me to hit the power button to bring it back to life. That is NOT how my HR20 behaves. I'll be activating the second R15 in a day or two and I seriously hope it isn't another ordeal like yesterday.


I think my R15's have always worked that way. If you don't turn them back on, they will still go through the startup process. I agree, rather strange behavior.

There are separate DVR authorizations for the DVR Plus units than there is for DirecTivo units. Most CSR's now know the difference, but it is obvious some don't. When you have a mixed household, you need to make sure they understand that you need BOTH DVR authorizations on your account.

Carl


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## sports828 (Jul 26, 2006)

I have an R15-500 ,with the latest software release the screen saver sometimes kicks in and other times not. This is both on live and recorded shows.


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## zortapa (Nov 16, 2005)

R15-500: A couple weeks ago I recorded a movie. During playback, the KEEP/DELETE window pops up after 2 hours. The problem is that the movie is 2 hours and 45 minutes long. The only way I can get past the 2 hour point is to jump to the end of the recording and then rewind to the 2:01 point. We've played the movie several times and this window always pops up at exactly the same place.


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## LameLefty (Sep 29, 2006)

> There are separate DVR authorizations for the DVR Plus units than there is for DirecTivo units. Most CSR's now know the difference, but it is obvious some don't. When you have a mixed household, you need to make sure they understand that you need BOTH DVR authorizations on your account.


Yeah, I know. I've had an HR20 for about 5 months and didn't have this problem when they authorized it. Last night the Tech Support CSR told me that basically she had to remove every package and service from my account, send the deauthorization(s?) out over the stream, then rebuild it from scratch. My online bill report this morning is pretty impressively complicated, what with all the additions, deletions and re-additions! :lol:



> R15-500: A couple weeks ago I recorded a movie in which the KEEP/DELETE window pops up after 2 hours. The problem is that the movie is 2 hours and 45 minutes long. The only way I can get past the 2 hour point is to jump to the end of the recording and then rewind to the 2:01 point. We've played the movie several times and this window always pops up at exactly the same place.


I've never had that issue before, but the HR20 in general has had numerous people report something similar; this was especially commonplace several months (and numerous software releases) ago. I'm surprised the R15 is still encountering these kinds of problems.


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## zortapa (Nov 16, 2005)

LameLefty said:


> I've never had that issue before, but the HR20 in general has had numerous people report something similar; this was especially commonplace several months (and numerous software releases) ago. I'm surprised the R15 is still encountering these kinds of problems.


Back in mid-February (around the time that I recorded this movie) there were a half dozen or so posts to this forum about this problem on the R15. It kind of makes one wonder if this was triggered by something being sent in the feed rather than it being a machine problem....


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## zortapa (Nov 16, 2005)

Another R15 problem -- autorecord is identifying and scheduling programs on HD channels. But since the R15 cannot see/record HD channels, this effectively locks up a tuner while the program airs. Short of deleting the AR (for which some of you advocate very strongly) I have not found a way to delete these programs once they are in my TODO list.


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## Upstream (Jul 4, 2006)

Issues I have experienced with my R15-500 since the last software upgrade:

* When pressing replay button, video jumps back starts to play and then jumps forward.

* Sometime pressing replay button does nothing (I think this occurs when watching a recording shortly after the air time ends).

* When rewinding or fast-forwarding, video continues to rewind or fast-forward for a short time after Play button is pressed.

* Menus do not alway respond to remote control, or do not immediately respond.

* Sometimes channels seem to change randomly when a cruise-control button is played, clearing the buffer.

* There is an undocumented limit to the number of programs and series links which can be scheduled to record.

* Just completed programs are sometimes listed in MyPlaylist, but cannot be played. Instead you need to play them by rewinding the buffer.

* When changing channels, sometimes channel bannew will continue to show program title of previous channel. Sometimes the channel banner will change, but the video will continue to show the program on the previous channel.

* "Channels I get" shows all channels, not just the channels I get.

* Sometimes programs scheduled to record do not record completely, or do not record at all.

* It is not possible to create Series Links for programs with the same name on two different channels.

* When set for First Run, the DVR will sometimes also record repeats, or fail to record first runs.

* Autorecords will attempt to record programs on channels I do not recieve.


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## boiker (Feb 8, 2007)

R15-300
---------------
* Menus are slow to respond. Sometimes, VERY slow.
* Occasional audio drop outs.
* Channel Banner and channel displayed did not match occassionally.
*SLIP forward should be 30 second SKIP forward.
*weird looping with FF1 and 2

R15-100
---------------
* Menus are slow to respond. Sometimes, VERY slow.
* Missed recordings for series and one time events (at least 60% of my to do list as of the last week).
* All recorded (the whole hard drive) shows were deleted when selecting to delete one episode. [today]
*Lock-ups and auido/video drops
*weird looping with FF1 and 2
*SLIP forward should be 30 second SKIP forward.

I really dislike these DirecTV DVRs. I had E* prior to D* and that DVR was slow, but not as slow in responding as these are. Plus I never lost programs or had a recording fail. The R15's have been a disspointment.


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## White_Horse (Jun 26, 2006)

R15-500
-----------
-Screen saver does not work on recorded shows (have not tested on live tv
-If a show that was marked to be recorded is still in the live buffer, the recording will be lost upon report even if the recording was done. Example: Set to record channel 2 from 4:00-4:30. At 4:45, while still on channel 2 the machine reboots (whether forced because of a lockup, power outage, whatever reason, a reboot occurs). Upon restart the recording from 4:00-4:30 will be lost. If the channel was changed before reboot, the recording will still be there after reboot because the live buffer was cleared.
-Slow/poor remote response.
-Slow menu response, especially when pulling up the Guide or hitting List to pull up My Playlist.


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## shelby1214 (Feb 6, 2007)

R15-300
1. looping on ff
2. SLs just don't record. I set aside a time each week to manually set up all of my recordings otherwise it will not record anything. This is my main gripe with this machine and the main attraction (for me) with these DVRs is that it is supposed to record just like the TIVO units. I want to be able to set it and forget it. Unfortunatly, I have to babysit it on a weekly basis.


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## wohlfie (Dec 28, 2005)

sports828 said:


> I have an R15-500 ,with the latest software release the screen saver sometimes kicks in and other times not. This is both on live and recorded shows.


Ditto. Ever since the last upgrade the screensaver has been unreliable.


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## psweig (Feb 4, 2006)

wohlfie said:


> Ditto. Ever since the last upgrade the screensaver has been unreliable.


Me too; it does seem to work on the first pause out of standby. After that it's random.


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## hoboken (Jan 20, 2007)

R15-100, - caller ID will only display 1 call, & reboots itself about once per week, no problems on our R15-500, but we have decided not to record anything on it, because the caller id, etc. is working.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

- The R15 will at times miss the original airing of a show (even when conflicts are not present) and record a repeat airing later in the week. For example Battlestar Galactica airs the same show many times during the week. The first airing is Sunday but the R15 will skip that one and record one later in the week for no apparent reason (ie. nothing else scheduled to record on Sunday).

- Recording partial programs and never getting the rest of the program. Example:

```
Show A: 8:00-9:00  SL Pri: 1
Show B: 8:00-9:00  SL Pri: 3
Show C: 8:30-9:00  SL Pri: 2
```
Unit will start recording Show A and Show B at 8:00. At 8:30 it will stop recording Show B and start recording Show C. Giving you the first 30 minutes of Show B. Even if Show B airs again later in the week the unit will not record the remaining portion of the show. Earl has stated the HR20 handles this correctly bypassing Show B and completely recording it later.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

I also see that in the new CE coming out for the HR20 the guide data has been cached to the HD making a full 14 day guide available at boot time.


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## raott (Nov 23, 2005)

Wolffpack said:


> I also see that in the new CE coming out for the HR20 the guide data has been cached to the HD making a full 14 day guide available at boot time.


It would be nice if some of the progress made on the HR20 would find its way to the R15. I know there are two teams but I haven't seen much new in R15 updates in awhile.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

The current version (10FA on the -500) started rolling out the beginning of December. Before that the last update was August. So no, not much progress.


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## Greyshadow2007 (Aug 23, 2006)

i'm not 100% certain of this, but i think the only receiver that Directv manages the software for in-house is the HR20. If that were the case, it would explain why it gets more updates in a given time period.



Wolffpack said:


> The current version (10FA on the -500) started rolling out the beginning of December. Before that the last update was August. So no, not much progress.


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## epi (May 18, 2006)

adbs2007 said:


> I would be extremely interested in what results such a survey would provide. ... The problem that I've seen is that the issues seem to be almost random, and cannot even necessarily be confined to a given manufacturer for an issue (i.e. loopbacks on ff/slip occurring not just on the r15-300, but also the -100 and -500 as well)
> Anything that could at least offer that possibility would be extremely welcome


I love that you are taking interest in doing your job better. So I will put something together and post it here and in a different thread as well.


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## epi (May 18, 2006)

Based on the posts above, I quickly developed a simple survey. It should take you a few minutes to complete. Hopefully we can get some useful feedback for adbs2007 and to see which problems are truly broad-based issues or are hardware/software specific.

I tried to put the stuff that was top of mind but the answers are NOT comprehensive nor are the questions.

Go here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=278863177095

I will leave the survey up for a week. After the week, I will post the results and do some simple cross-tabs. Thanks for participating.


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## Greyshadow2007 (Aug 23, 2006)

epi said:


> Based on the posts above, I quickly developed a simple survey. It should take you a few minutes to complete. Hopefully we can get some useful feedback for adbs2007 and to see which problems are truly broad-based issues or are hardware/software specific.
> 
> I tried to put the stuff that was top of mind but the answers are NOT comprehensive nor are the questions.
> 
> ...


I just wanted to say thank you. I wouldn't have really known how to create a survey like you have. I look forward to seeing the results


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