# Slow remote response with my HR21-700's



## JoshFink (Dec 12, 2006)

Hello, hopefully someone has seen this before and can offer some advice.

I have 3 HR20-700 and two HR21-700. The HR20-700's work perfectly, I wish I could get more of them. The two HR21-700's however experience a lot of lag for some reason and I'm not sure why. I press a key on the remote (same remote for HR20 as HR21) and it takes a noticeable amount of time for the keypress to register.

Any ideas? They are both running the latest NR of the software. They all have esata drives attached. They all are networked with ethernet cables and not wireless.

Is it just the way the 21's are or could it be a setting?

Thanks for the help

Josh


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## nicemann (Jul 6, 2008)

My two HR21s are also extremely slow to commands the last two months. Not sure if it was an update in software or what, but it is getting really annoying. I don't have it networked or with another hard drive.


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## richiephx (Jan 19, 2006)

It's the receivers. While D* is making progress slowly, they are still a ways from matching performance with their competitor's. And, so no one accuses me of D* bashing, I am a D* subscriber speaking from experience


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## JoshFink (Dec 12, 2006)

What really stinks is that the HR20's work great....So strange they would make them worse as they go.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

This is a known issue and will be addressed in a future release.


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## JoshFink (Dec 12, 2006)

Stuart Sweet said:


> This is a known issue and will be addressed in a future release.


Thanks. I searched but couldn't find anything on it..

Josh


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## bpratt (Nov 24, 2005)

Stuart Sweet said:


> This is a known issue and will be addressed in a future release.


Both of my HR21-700 are on the current software release but both of mine are responding faster than any other version they have been on in the past year. Why would some HR21s have response problems while others work great?


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

It depends on other factors in the configuration. I'm not at liberty to disclose any more.


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## jgrade (Oct 1, 2006)

Seems to me you just opened up a big old can of worms! :sure:


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## nicemann (Jul 6, 2008)

Stuart Sweet said:


> It depends on other factors in the configuration. I'm not at liberty to disclose any more.


Do you know when the next update will come down by chance?


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## RoyGBiv (Jul 24, 2007)

My HR22 has been slow since I got it. For a couple of days after the last NR it was a lot better, and I thought it was fixed. Unfortunately, this past weekend it got much worse, and now it is easily as bad as it's ever been and possibly worse. It is particularly slow when watching OTA through the AM21. I don't get my locals from D*. I can press one of the "trick play" keys and wait several seconds before it responds. I end up pressing FF of 30 sec slip too many times and end up overshooting. Same thing in reverse. The only thing that seems to work normally is the 6 sec repeat. Even the menu items and guides change much more slowly than the HR20.

My HR20's are great with none of these issues!

SMK


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## bear263 (Dec 25, 2007)

When I turn my HR21 on, it takes about 2 minutes to respond to the remote. Drives me crazy when it's on a channel I don't want to watch. After the 2 minutes, it responds very sluggish.


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## sacalait (Aug 6, 2007)

I have had the same problem and discussed it here before. My HR20 responds immediately after power-up to the remote, but my HR-21 can take anywhere from 30 sec. to 10 minutes before it will respond to any remote functions. What's worse, is that in that time, it will occasionally respnond to one function then continue with it's lock up, so you're left with list, guide or menu frozen on the screen for some time. It will also do the same thing if it's been idle for an extended period of time if I forget to turn it off. Annoying.

But after it decides to work, it works fine from then on. I've had it for six months or so now, and have just given up. When I am ready to watch it, I will turn it on and walk away. Go to the bathroom, grab a beer, check email, play a quick game of Snood on the computer, just so I don't sit there pushing buttons like a mad man trying to get it to work.


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## JoshFink (Dec 12, 2006)

Instead of turning it off into "standby" why not just leave it on at night and just turn the tv off? We've always done that since a bug about a year and a half ago caused it when it was turned off to not record all the time. Works perfectly... Well perfectly slow but still works without the waiting.


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## sacalait (Aug 6, 2007)

JoshFink said:


> Instead of turning it off into "standby" why not just leave it on at night and just turn the tv off? We've always done that since a bug about a year and a half ago caused it when it was turned off to not record all the time. Works perfectly... Well perfectly slow but still works without the waiting.


I have done that as well. That is what my comment about inactivity was referring to. If I leave it on overnight or all day, when I come back to it, there is still a lag like it has gone to sleep and takes time for it to respond to the remote. Thanks for the suggestion though.


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## JoshFink (Dec 12, 2006)

Stuart Sweet said:


> It depends on other factors in the configuration. I'm not at liberty to disclose any more.


Since you opened this can of worms..  Anything more you can elaborate on. .I'm about to throw the HR21's out the window..


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## TogasPoon (May 23, 2007)

JoshFink said:


> Since you opened this can of worms..  Anything more you can elaborate on. .I'm about to throw the HR21's out the window..


I'd like to 2nd this, any word on when we can expect a fix?


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## t_h (Mar 7, 2008)

It would be kind of nice to know what configuration issues cause this, since I'm having it too and would gladly make a change to the configuration to resolve it, if possible.

Hide the problem, hide the cause and then try to get people to wait out a new release makes for rather poor customer experiences.


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## t_h (Mar 7, 2008)

I talked to Directv and they had me do something with the remote that they said might help.

It was to press mute and select at the same time until the light on the remote blinks twice, key in 963 and channel-down.

She said it would stop the remote from sending a model ID. She couldnt elaborate on what that meant or why it might help. She did say that it wouldnt cause a problem that we had more than one receiver in the house and were using RF.

Since the slowdowns are periodic, it'll take a while before I'll be able to say if it helped.


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## TogasPoon (May 23, 2007)

t_h said:


> I talked to Directv and they had me do something with the remote that they said might help.
> 
> It was to press mute and select at the same time until the light on the remote blinks twice, key in 963 and channel-down.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info, I'll try this tonight. For what it's worth, mine isn't periodic.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

I was playing around and noticed that WITHOUT the am21 units attached all 3 of my hr21-100 were noticeably faster.


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## JoshFink (Dec 12, 2006)

David MacLeod said:


> I was playing around and noticed that WITHOUT the am21 units attached all 3 of my hr21-100 were noticeably faster.


I wish I had the am21 units so I could blame it on that.

Josh


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## TogasPoon (May 23, 2007)

No am21 for me either. I do have an old TiVo networked through the HR21, maybe I'll disconnect that and see what happens.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

JoshFink said:


> Hello, hopefully someone has seen this before and can offer some advice.
> 
> I have 3 HR20-700 and two HR21-700. The HR20-700's work perfectly, I wish I could get more of them. The two HR21-700's however experience a lot of lag for some reason and I'm not sure why. I press a key on the remote (same remote for HR20 as HR21) and it takes a noticeable amount of time for the keypress to register.
> 
> ...


Gotta have patience and don't expect the 21s to react as quickly as the 20s. Been that way since the git go. They shouldn't be as slow as you describe, tho.

Rich


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## Crypter (Jun 21, 2007)

Well my HR22 is extremely slow and it seems like the more series links I add to it the worse it gets. I mean it is slow to respond to the remote. It is slow just browsing the guide and it is slow going through the menus. Sometime it can take 5+ seconds from the time I press guide till the guide shows up. 

I have already tried rebooting several times and that does not seem to work. So I hope they fix this soon.


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## t_h (Mar 7, 2008)

TogasPoon said:


> Thanks for the info, I'll try this tonight. For what it's worth, mine isn't periodic.


No problem, hope it helps. Mine definitely seems faster on the remote response, but it also deleted a whole bunch of recordings on its own sometime last night, so maybe thats why its faster.

Was at ~39% on a 1TB drive, now its 62%.


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## DarinC (Aug 31, 2004)

Stuart Sweet said:


> This is a known issue and will be addressed in a future release.


That's great to know... I was beginning to fear that there was an issue with my drive or something.


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## mrowl (Aug 30, 2007)

this is it for me. Its takes about 30 seconds to change channels now, reboot for 10 minutes, works well for a hour, then slows to a crawl. rinse, repeat.

I am on my 3rd HR21-700. 

Along with the issues of a random reboot every few days. I am out. Fios, and Tivo, here I come. The bundle offers is to good to pass up. Thanks DirecTV, I will try again maybe in a year if I hate Fios.


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## nathan909 (Feb 24, 2008)

I too am having this same problem, is there anything that can be done? 

Thanks


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## TogasPoon (May 23, 2007)

t_h said:


> I talked to Directv and they had me do something with the remote that they said might help.
> 
> It was to press mute and select at the same time until the light on the remote blinks twice, key in 963 and channel-down.
> 
> ...


I did this, I've only watched one show since doing it but the number keys were definitely faster. The guide seemed faster but the list was still a little slow, this may just be the difference between the HR20's and the 21.

Thanks again for the tip.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

nathan909 said:


> I too am having this same problem, is there anything that can be done?
> 
> Thanks


Follow t_h's suggestion.

"When someone has the chance to sit at the Master's feet and learn, only the fool stands." Direct quote from _The Book of Fred._

Rich


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## Jason Whiddon (Aug 17, 2006)

Crypter said:


> Well my HR22 is extremely slow and it seems like the more series links I add to it the worse it gets. I mean it is slow to respond to the remote. It is slow just browsing the guide and it is slow going through the menus. Sometime it can take 5+ seconds from the time I press guide till the guide shows up.
> 
> I have already tried rebooting several times and that does not seem to work. So I hope they fix this soon.


Im wondering the same thing on the number of series links and todo items. I prob have more links and todo items for a 2 week period than I have ever had, and my HR22 is slow. Last night it was the worst Id ever seen moving thru menus while recording two hd ota programs thru the am21.

Im contemplating killing the series links and going back to how I used to do it, and thats spending 15 minutes every sunday adding in ONE weeks worth of recordings with the one touch record. That will kill all series links and cut the to do list in half.

Maybe this is what is meant in this comment "It depends on other factors in the configuration. I'm not at liberty to disclose any more. "

I have to wonder if the more taxing you are on it, it cant keep up. Having a dvr that cant handle the amount of assignments you are allowed to give it is a major flaw, if thats the case.


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

Mine was real slow with the Guide and Delete Functions so I decided to download the "CE" Software a couple of weeks ago and lo and behold all my problems cleared up and I was FAST again.

I think that the GUIDE data gets corrupted or just the software itself but now I have my Speed back and I am thankful.


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## Jason Whiddon (Aug 17, 2006)

Im on the CE too. It always seems faster for a few days, but here we are at day 5 and it SUCKS. They really should quit adding crap like quick tune and fix the functionality issues first.


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## DarinC (Aug 31, 2004)

Has anyone also had problems with artifacting? Not as in macroblocking and noticeable compression artifacts, but very noticeable solid colored random blocks, particularly during transitions from black. I noticed a ton of them during the Lost premier, but now I'm also noticing them on another channel. This is OTA, so it's not a DirecTV transmission problem. They are recorded... I can rewind & they are still there.


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## Jason Whiddon (Aug 17, 2006)

Im seeing the blocks on OTA recordings with the AM21. Directv def has issues.


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## billsharpe (Jan 25, 2007)

Stuart Sweet said:


> It depends on other factors in the configuration. I'm not at liberty to disclose any more.


The Shadow knows, but he can't tell...


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## islesfan (Oct 18, 2006)

Wow, I've noticed that my HR21 responds slightly slower to the remote than the HR20 does, but it really hasn't been a issue. We're talking about maybe a second's lag.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

DarinC said:


> Has anyone also had problems with artifacting? Not as in macroblocking and noticeable compression artifacts, but very noticeable solid colored random blocks, particularly during transitions from black. I noticed a ton of them during the Lost premier, but now I'm also noticing them on another channel. This is OTA, so it's not a DirecTV transmission problem. They are recorded... I can rewind & they are still there.


:lol: Just read your post and have no idea what anything except OTA means. Makes feel pitifully dumb. :lol:

Rich


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## DarinC (Aug 31, 2004)

Well, I was going to take a picture, but it just didn't seem worth it. But suffice it to say, these just seem different than typical macroblocking... um, well, maybe next time I'll take a picture.


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## GolfProRM (Sep 4, 2008)

DarinC said:


> Well, I was going to take a picture, but it just didn't seem worth it. But suffice it to say, these just seem different than typical macroblocking... um, well, maybe next time I'll take a picture.


I usually see them on OTA recordings when I'm using the 30skip during commercials. When the show makes the transition from commercial to show, I see the artifacts you're talking about. Don't recall seeing them on live TV, but I don't watch much live TV, so they could be there.


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## DarinC (Aug 31, 2004)

For me, they are there live or recorded. But this is a relatively new issue, as is the super slow response. I'm just wondering if they are related. The response issue is as if it's just out of cpu cycles (when it does respond, sometimes the on screen graphics are also responding slowly and jittery), so I can't help but wonder if the artifacts aren't due to not being able to keep up with all the demands going on at one time.


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## GolfProRM (Sep 4, 2008)

Fortunately, I haven't run into anything abnormal as far as performance goes on my HR21-100 (knock on wood). It's obviously nowhere near as snappy as my H23, but that's to be expected. Don't run into much issue with remote response using my Harmony.


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## DarinC (Aug 31, 2004)

GolfProRM said:


> Fortunately, I haven't run into anything abnormal as far as performance goes on my HR21-100


I also have an HR21-100, and I'm not aware of any major issues on that one either (though I don't use that one that much). The one that has the problems is an HR21-200. But the -200 has an AM-21, is connected to my network, and has an esata drive. The -100 has none of those (beyond an upgraded internal drive). So as Stuart said, it may have something to do with configuration.


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## groove93 (Jun 10, 2008)

I replaced my remote with a Harmony 880 and haven't had a Slow Remote response time since the switch. That was 4 months ago.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

groove93 said:


> I replaced my remote with a Harmony 880 and haven't had a Slow Remote response time since the switch. That was 4 months ago.


I have an 880 and a 1000 and I press the button, watch light on unit blink, then 4 seconds later playlist scrolls.
guide is good, playlist is bad.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

richierich said:


> Rich, OTA is OVER THE AIR such as when you have an internal ATSC Tuner or you use the AM21 ATSC Tuner that can be purchased for $50 and hooked up via a USB Cable to your HR21/HR22/HR23 DVR.
> 
> I also have it via my HR10-250 HD TiVo unit so you just hook up your OTA cable to your unit and you get the feed from your local stations such as I do in Atlanta. Sometimes I get Rainfade with my Directv dish so I can switch over and watch the same channels via my HR10-250 because I have the OTA capability to watch the Over The Air feed free from downtown Atlanta.


read his post, he said OTA was only thing he understood in the post.


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## DarinC (Aug 31, 2004)

To add to David's post, I'm using a Harmony One, and still have the issue. And you can tell that even once it's received the command and (finally) starts acting on it, sometimes it's still stuttering a bit, as if it's just starved for cpu cycles. It's not the remote.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

richierich said:


> Rich, OTA is OVER THE AIR such as when you have an internal ATSC Tuner or you use the AM21 ATSC Tuner that can be purchased for $50 and hooked up via a USB Cable to your HR21/HR22/HR23 DVR.


I think you misread my post. I said OTA was the only thing I understood. The rest was gobblydegook to me. :lol:

Rich


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## bagreene (Oct 6, 2008)

Are others still seeing this issue? It seems to be getting worse for me. It can take anywhere from 1-5 seconds, and occasionally more, for a command to execute. If I hit "Play" or "Guide" or some other command that is usually one button press only, it is tolerable when it delays a few seconds. Scrolling through menus and the guide, however, is brutal. Delaying 3 or 4 seconds with each press of the button when scrolling is really hard to deal with. It can also cause a bad scenario, when you aren't sure if the device accepted the command and you press the button again, only to have it do that action twice.


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

bagreene said:


> Are others still seeing this issue? It seems to be getting worse for me. It can take anywhere from 1-5 seconds, and occasionally more, for a command to execute. If I hit "Play" or "Guide" or some other command that is usually one button press only, it is tolerable when it delays a few seconds. Scrolling through menus and the guide, however, is brutal. Delaying 3 or 4 seconds with each press of the button when scrolling is really hard to deal with. It can also cause a bad scenario, when you aren't sure if the device accepted the command and you press the button again, only to have it do that action twice.


Yes, I see it on the HR21-200 with AM21. The UI is very slow, period. I'm sure they (D*) know about it and are working on it. It's been discussed a lot.


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## MycroftHolmes (Dec 9, 2008)

bagreene said:


> Are others still seeing this issue?


For me this has significantly improved. I've been meaning to post about it but I wanted to wait a while until I was sure. I have a HR21-700 and I have very rarely had any performance problems since the last update.

That's one wish Item down. Now if they just sort and group all my searches by title (and maybe let me exclude channels I don't get) I just might stop pining for my lost DirecTiVo.


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## JoshFink (Dec 12, 2006)

I'm still have the issues with the HR21.... It's very frustrating and I honestly get very tired of using the unit at all.


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## luckydob (Oct 2, 2006)

It's still sluggish on the HR20-100's as well...always been a problem and probably always will be.


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## DrummerBoy523 (Jan 9, 2007)

HR21-200, networked and the remote response is awful!!


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## njmurvin (Oct 17, 2006)

I had terrible remote response on my HR20. In another post, it was suggested that it could be LCD interference. It turns out that was EXACTLY the problem. I swapped the HR20 remote (RC34) with one that provides RF (from one of my HR21s). I set up the receiver/remote for RF operation and the problem completely disappeared.

Apparently, the LCD displays emit IR light that jams the remote sensor on the receiver and interferes with the remote's operation. I turned off the display to prove this on mine. When it was unresponsive, I turned off the display and the remote suddenly came back to life (sound goes thru my audio system - so I could tell the remote was functioning). In my case, the LCD interference was reflecting off furniture/walls in the room - so it doesn't take much.

Try switching to RF if you can and see if that doesn't improve things for you.


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## t_h (Mar 7, 2008)

The HR's are very sensitive to other IR sources. I've got a bunch of IR stuff in our living room and the HR becomes slow or unresponsive to the remote if anything else is going. None of the other stuff seems to care. If my son is using his wireless IR keyboard, the HR wont respond to its remote at all.

Switching to RF seems to improve it, but I had some weird problems with RF remote response last year that seemed environmental. Box and remote upstairs responded well, box and remote downstairs seemed to drop button presses. When I switched them, the problem stayed with the location. The downstairs unit is close to my wireless router and a bunch of other consumer electronics, so maybe something is causing a little RF interference.


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## weathertom (Feb 9, 2009)

My HR21-700 is still ridiculously slow, has a software update from 2/11, and I haven't noticed any improvement in performance since I got the thing over a year ago, just consistently slow.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

t_h said:


> The HR's are very sensitive to other IR sources. I've got a bunch of IR stuff in our living room and the HR becomes slow or unresponsive to the remote if anything else is going. None of the other stuff seems to care. If my son is using his wireless IR keyboard, the HR wont respond to its remote at all.
> 
> Switching to RF seems to improve it, but I had some weird problems with RF remote response last year that seemed environmental. Box and remote upstairs responded well, box and remote downstairs seemed to drop button presses. When I switched them, the problem stayed with the location. The downstairs unit is close to my wireless router and a bunch of other consumer electronics, so maybe something is causing a little RF interference.


All my HR's remotes are in RF mode and aside from the wacky 21-700 in my hidey hole, I have no problems with slow remote responses. My 20-700s are quicker than my 21-700s, but not that much quicker.

On the other hand, my wacky 21-700 is in a room with so many electromagnetic fields, I never know what it is going to do. I have three sub-woofers and four other speakers on the sound system, the sound system A/V receiver, a DVD player, three telephones, a 42" Panny plasma, a computer with it's own sound system and sub-woofer and a laser printer. All those EM fields seem to have an effect on the remote even reaching the HR. There is also a washer and dryer, a furnace/A/C system, a refrigerator and some more doo-dads.

I should really return it for a replacement, but I gotta admit I get a kick out of it. The other day, I watched a Seinfeld episode that was the usual 30 minutes long and the progress bar said it was 30 minutes long, but it recorded over an hour of shows. Don't remember what followed Seinfeld, but I watched another 30 minute show and it started on another show and then ran out and asked to be deleted.

I downloaded some VOD shows on it the other day and that really slowed the remote response time down to a crawl. Normal, you say? Nope, I'm recording some more VOD in one of my family rooms on a 20-700 and the response time is normal.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

weathertom said:


> My HR21-700 is still ridiculously slow, has a software update from 2/11, and I haven't noticed any improvement in performance since I got the thing over a year ago, just consistently slow.


You're not using those crappy batteries that come with the remote are you? And, are you in RF mode?

Rich


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## calidelphia (Feb 17, 2007)

HR21-100 here that has been ridiculously sluggish with the UI and worse with IR response. I use a Harmony 880 so RF is not an option. Received the new Software yesterday and it seems to have gotten a lot better. This could be due to the unit resetting as a reset usually will help a little (at least for a couple hours). I haven't had a chance to test it today, but time will tell if the update helped.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

calidelphia said:


> HR21-100 here that has been ridiculously sluggish with the UI and worse with IR response. I use a Harmony 880 so RF is not an option. Received the new Software yesterday and it seems to have gotten a lot better. This could be due to the unit resetting as a reset usually will help a little (at least for a couple hours). I haven't had a chance to test it today, but time will tell if the update helped.


Seems like a lot of 20-700s on eBay these days.

Rich


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## JAYPB (May 8, 2002)

I have 3 HR21's, 1 HR20 and 1 HR22...and I'm using some in RF and some in IR remote mode. Sluggish, non-responsive....or the ever present hit the button to fast forward 3 times....nothing happens for 5 seconds and then all of sudden the remote will respond and fast forward 3 x speed...and then won't be responsive when I try to STOP the fast forwarding!

Same thing happens for reverse, pause or "info" as well as when I'm checking the one line guide and I can't advance/go back on the one line guide for 5-10 seconds...and then the remote catches up with my button pushes.

Maddening. And it's with all the users in the house on each box...not just one user or one box.

And that damn exit button....working when it wants to...or just plain dumping me out of the recorded program I'm watching instead of getting rid of the info bar...or the progress bar at the bottom.....


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## t_h (Mar 7, 2008)

Does it get better after your reboot, at least for a little while?

Using any e-satas with these or just the internal drive?


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## JoshFink (Dec 12, 2006)

I don't really get any benefit or if I do it's negligible from rebooting. Also, I have one HR21 with an esata and one without and they're both bad.


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## peano (Feb 1, 2004)

JAYPB said:


> I have 3 HR21's, 1 HR20 and 1 HR22...and I'm using some in RF and some in IR remote mode. Sluggish, non-responsive....or the ever present hit the button to fast forward 3 times....nothing happens for 5 seconds and then all of sudden the remote will respond and fast forward 3 x speed...and then won't be responsive when I try to STOP the fast forwarding!
> 
> Same thing happens for reverse, pause or "info" as well as when I'm checking the one line guide and I can't advance/go back on the one line guide for 5-10 seconds...and then the remote catches up with my button pushes.
> 
> ...


I have exactly the same problems with my HR21. I agree, its maddening!!!

This is the most basic of functions and Directv can't get even this right?

They better fix this or I am gone.


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## spunkyvision (Oct 12, 2006)

> I have exactly the same problems with my HR21. I agree, its maddening!!!


I was about to throw mine (HR21-700) out the window last night.
I was trying to tune to 601, I pushed 6 and nothing came up for 6-8 seconds then it would display the 6 and immediately tune to channel 6, then I push 601 and it would go to 60, then again, to 6 and finally I had to push guide and manually go to 601 with the channel down).

Prior to the national release I was on a ce version and it was great, then the national relase and it was slow, so I downloaded the last 2 CEs and they have been just as slow.

A reboot has NEVER cleared up this problem for me. 
I am really sick of it. I have 3 HR20-700s with all of them having less than 30% free of 1TB drives and they are quick and responsive.


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## calidelphia (Feb 17, 2007)

calidelphia said:


> HR21-100 here that has been ridiculously sluggish with the UI and worse with IR response. I use a Harmony 880 so RF is not an option. Received the new Software yesterday and it seems to have gotten a lot better. This could be due to the unit resetting as a reset usually will help a little (at least for a couple hours). I haven't had a chance to test it today, but time will tell if the update helped.


Well...

Issues have returned and the unit is just as bad as it was before.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

calidelphia said:


> Well...
> 
> Issues have returned and the unit is just as bad as it was before.


Be nice to find out what models of HRs are having these problems. Just a simple little clue like "21-700" or "20-700". Don't buy into the idea that all the HRs are created equally. If you have a 21 or 20-100 and are having problems, I can understand that. If you have a 21 or 20-700 and are having problems, that is a different story. I have three 20-700s that have no remote response issues, I have three 21-700s that are free of the issues except for my wacky 21-700 in my hidey hole and I blame that on the many magnetic fields in a small room. Last night I used my remote in my bedroom to operate the 21-700 here in my hidey hole and it worked perfectly. Electromagnetic fields obviously have an adverse effect on remotes in the RF mode.

Sometimes I can't even turn on or off my Panny plasma in this room. And this is the third Panny plasma that I have had the same problem with. Doesn't happen in any other room in the house.

Anyhow, please tell us the complete model number of the HR. Example "HR 21-100".

Again, don't buy into the idea that all HRs are created equally. That is not true.

Rich


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## the_dudeman (Jun 19, 2008)

Mine is an 21-100...I think, might be 21-700. How do you tell? 

But regardless of model it has been slow since day 1. I have changed back and forth between RF and IR and it doesn't matter, still slow. Sometimes it will be faster and other times even slower than the usual slowness. Like one person said, when scrolling menu it will stop and you don't know if you didn't actually hit the down button, but if you hit it again, now it scrolls twice.

Yeah it's horrible, but like I said since day 1 it has been like that so I've learned to live with it. I actually don't know why we put up with this stuff, but we do.

dudeman


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

Have you tried Rebooting the DVR Twice within 30 Minutes as this erases the Guide Data which may be corrupt and causing problems. It has worked for some people and worked for me when my HR21-700 was unbelievably slow. Just another thought.


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## Mark L (Oct 23, 2006)

JoshFink said:


> I'm still have the issues with the HR21.... It's very frustrating and I honestly get very tired of using the unit at all.





luckydob said:


> It's still sluggish on the HR20-100's as well...always been a problem and probably always will be.


Same with me!

My HR21-100 is driving me up the wall!

I have an HR20-700, an HR21-100, an HR21-700, and an HR22-100.............. yet the only one with the problem is the HR21-100 :nono2:

Getting really tired of this. If it's not one thing, it's another. I have an old Hughes SDDVR-120 in my master bathroom and I forgot how great that box was  It is extremely fast and responsive. Oh how I wish Hughes still made DirecTivo boxes 

I hope this new Tivo box is like the old ones. I will gladly, and I mean gladly pay $500-600 to "own" a box that works!


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## weathertom (Feb 9, 2009)

HR21-700 here, and has been consistently slow and unresponsive since day one. In many respects I've simply gotten used to it, but that still doesn't make it pleasant (or right). Has anyone gotten any actual feedback from DirecTV on this issue?


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## spunkyvision (Oct 12, 2006)

> Have you tried Rebooting the DVR Twice within 30 Minutes as this erases the Guide Data which may be corrupt and causing problems. It has worked for some people and worked for me when my HR21-700 was unbelievably slow. Just another thought


rbr x 2 do il need to let it boot all the way?
or through the menu then let it boot all the way and repeat?


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## njblackberry (Dec 29, 2007)

Two HR21-700s (bought the same day) and one HR20-700. No AM21s or eSata anywhere. One HR21-700 is much slower than the other two devices. Rebooted. Tried CEs, back to NR, back to CE. Replaced batteries. Replaced remote. No change.

It's just slow. Very slow.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

the_dudeman said:


> Mine is an 21-100...I think, might be 21-700. How do you tell?


Nameplate on the back.



> But regardless of model


It does matter which model you have. We see patterns on some of these models.



> it has been slow since day 1. I have changed back and forth between RF and IR and it doesn't matter, still slow. Sometimes it will be faster and other times even slower than the usual slowness. Like one person said, when scrolling menu it will stop and you don't know if you didn't actually hit the down button, but if you hit it again, now it scrolls twice.
> 
> Yeah it's horrible, but like I said since day 1 it has been like that so I've learned to live with it. I actually don't know why we put up with this stuff, but we do.
> 
> dudeman


But it is not normal. Normal is the thing working properly. Something is wrong.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

richierich said:


> Have you tried Rebooting the DVR Twice within 30 Minutes as this erases the Guide Data which may be corrupt and causing problems. It has worked for some people and worked for me when my HR21-700 was unbelievably slow. Just another thought.


You're sure you weren't at about 30% Available when you did that? That's how I cleared up my 2TB Cav so I could reach full capacity. Aside from that, I've never (well, infrequently) had that problem.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

logan2575 said:


> Same with me!
> 
> My HR21-100 is driving me up the wall!
> 
> ...


The 20-100s and the 21-100s were definitely not "created equally" compared to the 700s and 200s. Doesn't surprise me that your 100 is the only one you're having that problem with.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

njblackberry said:


> Two HR21-700s (bought the same day) and one HR20-700. No AM21s or eSata anywhere. One HR21-700 is much slower than the other two devices. Rebooted. Tried CEs, back to NR, back to CE. Replaced batteries. Replaced remote. No change.
> 
> It's just slow. Very slow.


Huh. I must have gotten lucky. The only thing that seems to adversely affect my one 21-700 is the many electromagnetic fields in one room. If I use the same remote in another room to operate that 21-700 it works just like all the others. Even my TV remote does funny things in that room and my A/V remote does too. Won't change the volume for a while when first turned on and then it works correctly after a bit. Can't use a cell phone in that room, or a cordless phone.

Rich


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

If I had a -100 Model I would all Directv and tell them it was not working and tell them to send me another unit such as the HR22-700 or HR23-700 and be done with it.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

richierich said:


> If I had a -100 Model I would all Directv and tell them it was not working and tell them to send me another unit such as the HR22-700 or HR23-700 and be done with it.


You can't do that. They send you...something as a replacement. Even if you try to buy one at damn near the full price, they won't guarantee the model. I've tried and tried. I'm getting to the point where it is simpler to just go out and buy a new one and deactivate the bad one. At least that way you have some idea of what you're getting. Know any other company that sells "new" equipment in that manner?

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

njblackberry said:


> Two HR21-700s (bought the same day) and one HR20-700. No AM21s or eSata anywhere. One HR21-700 is much slower than the other two devices. Rebooted. Tried CEs, back to NR, back to CE. Replaced batteries. Replaced remote. No change.
> 
> It's just slow. Very slow.


Huh. I trust you've moved a good HR into the room that the HR you're having problems with is and the good HR worked perfectly hooked up to the same cables?

Rich


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## njblackberry (Dec 29, 2007)

Yes. Switched them out and the problem follows the HR21...
Been slow since day one. Until we got the HR20 (which was added later) I didn't realize HOW sluggish it was


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## Mark L (Oct 23, 2006)

richierich said:


> If I had a -100 Model I would all Directv and tell them it was not working and tell them to send me another unit such as the HR22-700 or HR23-700 and be done with it.


Everytime I got a new box, I specifically requested a "700" model number. I get the same response every single time "Sir, we cannot guarantee which model you will get, it depends what we have in our warehouse" :nono2:

It's such a crock, cause they must be giving out the crappy 100 models and know they suck!

The only way I got my 2 "700" models (HR20-700 & HR21-700) was due to the installer coming over and I specifically asked for a 700 model. Of course all he had to do was give me the box, I don't need him to hook up the wire for me, it's simple! I always send them away, just tell them to give me the box. DirecTV needs to get over the whole "install" needed crap. It's a joke.

My biggest pet peeve is the user interface and it's speed. If it doesn't respond quick enough, it drives me nuts. I am like this with my computer as well. I absolutely hate when you double click an icon and it takes 3-5 seconds to respond................ that's major lag IMO. Same thing happens with my HR21-100.............. you hit "Guide" and it takes forever to respond.


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## the_dudeman (Jun 19, 2008)

rich584 said:


> Nameplate on the back.
> 
> It does matter which model you have. We see patterns on some of these models.
> 
> ...


Well, I'll look and identify exactly which model I have. But do we have solutions for this or are we just looking for patterns and recording the data?

I was told early on to set the HDTV settings to native off and go into the resolution tab and uncheck every box except 1080i, and now we have the 1080p box with the new update which I leave checked as well. Leaving native off and only having the 1080i box checked was supposed to speed up the channel switching which is does....a little.

But the menus have always been slow. It's like a slow computer, when you click something, you get the hour glass and then it responds. That's the way it acts. The lady next door to me has just the HD tuner and it's super quick. So I have a feeling all that's goin on inside these dvrs with the HDD and all is what makes them slow.

Personally, I think these boxes are junk. Maybe the new Tivo ones will be good.

dudeman


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## peano (Feb 1, 2004)

Mine is an HR21-700 and its slower than molasses in January.

The wife refuses to use it. If not for Speed HD.............


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## calidelphia (Feb 17, 2007)

rich584 said:


> Be nice to find out what models of HRs are having these problems. Just a simple little clue like "21-700" or "20-700". Don't buy into the idea that all the HRs are created equally. If you have a 21 or 20-100 and are having problems, I can understand that. If you have a 21 or 20-700 and are having problems, that is a different story. I have three 20-700s that have no remote response issues, I have three 21-700s that are free of the issues except for my wacky 21-700 in my hidey hole and I blame that on the many magnetic fields in a small room. Last night I used my remote in my bedroom to operate the 21-700 here in my hidey hole and it worked perfectly. Electromagnetic fields obviously have an adverse effect on remotes in the RF mode.
> 
> Sometimes I can't even turn on or off my Panny plasma in this room. And this is the third Panny plasma that I have had the same problem with. Doesn't happen in any other room in the house.
> 
> ...





> HR21-100 here that has been ridiculously sluggish with the UI and worse with IR response. I use a Harmony 880 so RF is not an option. Received the new Software yesterday and it seems to have gotten a lot better. This could be due to the unit resetting as a reset usually will help a little (at least for a couple hours). I haven't had a chance to test it today, but time will tell if the update helped.


Uhh... If you read my first post that I quoted in my second, you would see that I have an HR21-100. Or was that not aimed at me? I apologize if it wasn't.


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## dcowboy7 (May 23, 2008)

hr21-700

always been kinda slow but for the last month or so seems even slower....did some reboots but was no help.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

the_dudeman said:


> Well, I'll look and identify exactly which model I have. But do we have solutions for this or are we just looking for patterns and recording the data?


Sadly, there's not much we can do. But if enough people complain about their problems there is always the possibility that D* will do something about those problems.



> I was told early on to set the HDTV settings to native off and go into the resolution tab and uncheck every box except 1080i, and now we have the 1080p box with the new update which I leave checked as well. Leaving native off and only having the 1080i box checked was supposed to speed up the channel switching which is does....a little.


I have all eight of my HRs set to Native ON and each resolution box checked and I don't really have a problem with slow responses.



> But the menus have always been slow. It's like a slow computer, when you click something, you get the hour glass and then it responds. That's the way it acts. The lady next door to me has just the HD tuner and it's super quick. So I have a feeling all that's goin on inside these dvrs with the HDD and all is what makes them slow.


I don't have that problem on any of my HRs.



> Personally, I think these boxes are junk. Maybe the new Tivo ones will be good.
> 
> dudeman


If you have the HRs I think you do, you're correct in your assessment.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

peano said:


> Mine is an HR21-700 and its slower than molasses in January.
> 
> The wife refuses to use it. If not for Speed HD.............


That shouldn't happen. You might have a bad box.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

calidelphia said:


> Uhh... If you read my first post that I quoted in my second, you would see that I have an HR21-100. Or was that not aimed at me? I apologize if it wasn't.


Kinda aimed it at everybody on this thread. Hard to make sense of what we're reading if we don't know the whole model number.

I would think the 21-100 might be a tad better than the 20-100, but I wouldn't bet on it. I think they are, by far, the worst of the HRs.

A month or so ago, I got a great deal on a 1080p TV and bought it. After getting it home and putting it one of my family rooms, it dawned on me that I needed another HR. Couldn't find anything but an HR22-100 and with great trepidation, bought it. Works perfectly. Still can't believe it. Maybe I finally got lucky. Gonna put an eSATA on it soon, don't know what to expect.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dcowboy7 said:


> hr21-700
> 
> always been kinda slow but for the last month or so seems even slower....did some reboots but was no help.


How long have you had it? I have three of them and while they are a tad slower than my 20-700s, it is not that much of a difference. Be nice if someone really "geeked" up could tell us what might cause this.

The one 21-700 I have in my hidey-hole does slow up if everything in the room is on. I figured that with all the EM fields I have in my room that they were causing the slow remote response time. So the other day, I turned off the three sub-woofers I have in this room and the remote response returned to normal. All my remotes are in the RF mode.

Rich


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## prentp (Dec 18, 2008)

I have an HR23-700 that does the same thing. I've given up on use fast forward to skip comercials because I never know how long it will take the keys to respond.


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## Quav7Saip9a4 (Jul 30, 2008)

I've got a HR21-100 w/ 1TB disk and AM21. Using RF remote. System performs reasonably well until capacity gets down to 40% or so. Then things begin to slow down *significantly*. There is typically a 30 second (or longer) pause between pressing a button (list, guide, navigate in list or guide, delete shows (that can take 5-10 minutes)) and any response.

The light on the HR21 flashes when I press the button on the remote, so I know the signal transmission between the two is instantaneous. I then just wander off to the kitchen, poke around in the cabinets, and return about the time that the HR21 has responded. When the button on the remote flashes and the light doesn't wink on the HR21, I know it's busy doing something else and I'll just have to wait.

Resetting doesn't fix the problem.

A stock HR21 I have in another room has some slight delays (seconds), but those are tolerable when compared to the half-minute and up delays anytime you want to look at the channel guide or watch/delete recorded shows.

So is the take home lesson here that you have to stick to small disks (or large disks you only half-fill)? Is anyone using large capacity (1TB greater) and not having these problems?

Due to the current economic climate my wife has requested only one gift this year - replace the two HR21s with a TiVO. The HR21 has been a non-starter for her since we left the HR10. So far I've managed to hide all the FIOS and cable deals we've been getting in the mail from her, but one day she's going to get to the mail before I do ....


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Quav7Saip9a4 said:


> I've got a HR21-100 w/ 1TB disk and AM21. Using RF remote. System performs reasonably well until capacity gets down to 40% or so. Then things begin to slow down *significantly*. There is typically a 30 second (or longer) pause between pressing a button (list, guide, navigate in list or guide, delete shows (that can take 5-10 minutes)) and any response.
> 
> The light on the HR21 flashes when I press the button on the remote, so I know the signal transmission between the two is instantaneous. I then just wander off to the kitchen, poke around in the cabinets, and return about the time that the HR21 has responded. When the button on the remote flashes and the light doesn't wink on the HR21, I know it's busy doing something else and I'll just have to wait.
> 
> ...


So far, I have tested 750G eSATAs, 1TB eSATAs, 1.5 eSATAs and 2TB eSATAs and they ALL bog down when you get to about 30% Available on the meter. Usually a simple menu restart refreshes the HR and you should see the slowdown go away and the HR act as it did when first installed.

So what's different about yours? It's a 100. Mine are all 700s. I've had 100s and never got one to work with an eSATA, so you've done better than I have already. I'd be willing to bet that if you put that same eSATA on a 700 you would experience just what I have.

I do own one 22-100, but have no need for an external hard drive on that. And I'd be pretty leery about putting an eSATA on it.

Aside from the tests that I have done, there are no other "hard facts" on this post. I don't like the 100s, never will, but that's just my opinion. I was forced to buy the 22. Best advice I can give you is, if that other 21 you have is not a 100, try the eSATA on that and see what happens. The same thing will happen on every size hard drive you try based on my experience.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

prentp said:


> I have an HR23-700 that does the same thing. I've given up on use fast forward to skip comercials because I never know how long it will take the keys to respond.


And you don't have an eSATA on it?

Rich


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## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

Stuart Sweet said:


> This is a known issue and will be addressed in a future release.


So here we are almost three months later and the issue still has not been resolved. Remote button pushes are still sometimes delayed up to a second or more and sometimes completely ignored (beyond the flashing LED on the DVR confirming that the remote command was received). Is anyone even working on it? Why isn't fixing this problem of remote response that is far beyond unacceptably poor, and worse than any piece of consumer electronic equipment I have ever seen, not a top priority for the DVR development team at DirecTV?


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## mjbvideo (Jan 15, 2006)

Here Here! I sure am glad that the Directv software design engineers don't work on any flight critical software for our airplanes and spaceships. They would be dropping out of the sky with all the faulty software they are releasing. Honest to Pete, do they have a test department for these releases? How about software quality assurance personnel? My take is that they don't have adequate internal testing and corrective action methods. I think WE are the testers and SQA functions. I'm sure budget cuts have something to do with it. Anyway, can't wait for TIVO to start it's big comeback.
Sorry DTV, I had to vent.


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## clotter (Apr 12, 2008)

JAYPB said:


> I have 3 HR21's, 1 HR20 and 1 HR22...and I'm using some in RF and some in IR remote mode. Sluggish, non-responsive....or the ever present hit the button to fast forward 3 times....nothing happens for 5 seconds and then all of sudden the remote will respond and fast forward 3 x speed...and then won't be responsive when I try to STOP the fast forwarding!
> 
> Same thing happens for reverse, pause or "info" as well as when I'm checking the one line guide and I can't advance/go back on the one line guide for 5-10 seconds...and then the remote catches up with my button pushes.
> 
> ...


EXACTLY what I've been experiencing with my HR21-100. I absolutely hate the skipping of lines in the menu, like I'm hitting the scroll button twice but I'm not.

Is this at all related to using HDMI? I recently got a new receiver that finally allowed me to use HDMI and it was fine for a while but the last couple weeks it has really been unbearable. And that damn exit button! What the hell is it doing pretending to be the previous channel button!


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## calidelphia (Feb 17, 2007)

clotter said:


> EXACTLY what I've been experiencing with my HR21-100. I absolutely hate the skipping of lines in the menu, like I'm hitting the scroll button twice but I'm not.
> 
> Is this at all related to using HDMI? I recently got a new receiver that finally allowed me to use HDMI and it was fine for a while but the last couple weeks it has really been unbearable. And that damn exit button! What the hell is it doing pretending to be the previous channel button!


It's not an HDMI issue...

A couple of months ago I had a problem with my Pio Elite AVR via HDMI where I would lose audio coming out of trickplay(FF, Skip Back). Tried everything to no avail.

Anyways, I switched to component and have all the issues you are dealing with minus the audio drops. Hit FF 3 times and nothing, then boom, it would respond after I hit it 6 times and would get 3 sound effects(on a non 5.1 feed). Then Play doesn't work coming out of trickplay, then Exit does a double take and ruins a recorded game for me, etc., etc.

Apparently, DirecTV is working on the UI an IR issues with all units other than the 20's. We'll see what happens


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## midgetmgb (Aug 1, 2009)

New to the forum. Been searching the only problem that I have had with the DTV service. I wold think that they would have done something with this since it has been going on so long. There should be a frequency set aside just for the DVRs, or an IR filter already in the box. Anyway here is a post I posted elsewhere. maybe it will help out?

I have the same problem. My TV is a Sony 46" LCD. I went through several DVRs before they finally sent someone out to see what was going on. Plugged in the "New" DVR and it seemed to work fine. For about a month. Then back to it not working when I turned the TV on again. I gave up. Same thing. After a while it would simply start working. BUT! I found that if I put the remote right up against the sensor eye. (Blue power light) I could get the light to blink and the guide would come right up. ??????

But you would have to go through a few pushes first before it would catch. Example. Hit the guide button with the remote against the blue power on light. Hit select, hit guide, hit select. Do this a few times and walk farther away. Make sure it keeps blinking. Doing it just once only let it go back to not working...



I was told that there is some type of signal being sent out by the TV that interupts the signal to the remote. I can't figure that out.....

But why should we pay for a service to only have to mess around with the remote...

Oh and I also found that if I knew the channel that I wanted to watch when I first turned on the whole mess, that if I entered the channel right away before the TV loaded, the little blue light would blink and the channel would get entered. Then the remote would not work again. But at least the channel I wanted would be on. If you get what I mean. (Hit power, enter channel immediatley)

And turning off the TV would also let the remote work as well. That and it would work after about a half hour of warming up.......


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

midgetmgb said:


> New to the forum. Been searching the only problem that I have had with the DTV service. I wold think that they would have done something with this since it has been going on so long. There should be a frequency set aside just for the DVRs, or an IR filter already in the box. Anyway here is a post I posted elsewhere. maybe it will help out?
> 
> I have the same problem. My TV is a Sony 46" LCD. I went through several DVRs before they finally sent someone out to see what was going on. Plugged in the "New" DVR and it seemed to work fine. For about a month. Then back to it not working when I turned the TV on again. I gave up. Same thing. After a while it would simply start working. BUT! I found that if I put the remote right up against the sensor eye. (Blue power light) I could get the light to blink and the guide would come right up. ??????
> 
> ...


Are you using HDMI or component cables? Sony's are notorious for not accepting HDMI signals properly from HRs.

Rich


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## JoshFink (Dec 12, 2006)

Wow.. Still nothing new on this.. the HR21-700 is still absolutely horrible... 

I'm thinking maybe I'll call DirecTV and tell them that they're horrible and see if they'll send me new ones... Who knows?


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## njmurvin (Oct 17, 2006)

I haven't read thru the entire thread - so this may have already been suggested. I had horrible remote response until I switched to RF mode. Since then, it has been perfect. Turns out it was interference from my Philips LCD TV. 

My other TVs are CRT and DLP (and I have an IR extender on the DLP). So, those continue to work fine with IR.


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## jackal2001 (Jul 10, 2009)

Just saw this thread after noticing my HR21-700s are very slow especially when changing channels. If I hit the button to go to the previous channel that was playing it takes up to 15 seconds to go to the channel. When they were installed about 3 months ago they were fine, now they are really slow.


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## MarkEHansen (Sep 4, 2008)

jackal2001 said:


> Just saw this thread after noticing my HR21-700s are very slow especially when changing channels. If I hit the button to go to the previous channel that was playing it takes up to 15 seconds to go to the channel. When they were installed about 3 months ago they were fine, now they are really slow.


Try rebooting the receiver. This has worked for me (HD DVR HR23-700).

Regards,


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## Syzygy (Dec 5, 2005)

JoshFink said:


> Hello, hopefully someone has seen this before and can offer some advice.
> 
> I have 3 HR20-700 and two HR21-700. The HR20-700's work perfectly, I wish I could get more of them. The two HR21-700's however experience a lot of lag for some reason and I'm not sure why. I press a key on the remote (same remote for HR20 as HR21) and it takes a noticeable amount of time for the keypress to register.


IMO, you're lucky if your HR21's respond to every keypress. My HR21-200 responds only some of the time. (Maybe it's just not in the mood. )


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## Juppers (Oct 26, 2006)

Stuart Sweet said:


> This is a known issue and will be addressed in a future release.


That was from January of this year. How many more months and speed complaints will it take before DirecTV finally addresses this issue? It is by far the largest and most common complaint I have seen on the board.


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## jackal2001 (Jul 10, 2009)

I just tried forcing an update but it only shows 0312 as the only available update.
Supposedly the new one is available but I guess not, even if you force it.


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## VaJim (Jul 27, 2006)

One thing I've noticed....of the 2 HR-21-700s we have, the one that gets the most use is the slowest. The other one in the bedroom doesn't seem to be too bad. Both have 312. The one that is very slow does alot of recording. Just a thought.


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## magellanmtb (Nov 19, 2006)

t_h said:


> I talked to Directv and they had me do something with the remote that they said might help.
> 
> It was to press mute and select at the same time until the light on the remote blinks twice, key in 963 and channel-down.
> 
> ...


but I have the same huge lag time when using my pronto universal remote. The lag time when putting in the channels is frustrating. It's seems as if it just started happening in the last few weeks..


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## Maruuk (Dec 5, 2007)

+1--my 21-700 is a complete joke. Bang away at the buttons and wait a while for a response. The whole input system is garbage, slow as molasses and full of bugs. Tivo, you can't get here fast enough!


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## Syzygy (Dec 5, 2005)

magellanmtb said:


> [CSR suggestion: stop the remote from sending a model ID.] But I have the same huge lag time when using my Pronto universal remote. The lag time when putting in the channels is frustrating. It's seems as if it just started happening in the last few weeks..


Same here; the lags and missed commands are the same whether I use the supplied RC64R or my Harmony One.


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## RACJ2 (Aug 2, 2008)

VaJim said:


> One thing I've noticed....of the 2 HR-21-700s we have, the one that gets the most use is the slowest. The other one in the bedroom doesn't seem to be too bad. Both have 312. The one that is very slow does alot of recording. Just a thought.


If you read back through this thread, others have mentioned when the DVR is 60 to 70% full, it starts slowing down.


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## Syzygy (Dec 5, 2005)

Also, it probably slows down if you have a lot of SLs. And having a misaligned dish can slow the DVR waaaay down; I saw mine come to a complete halt back when I had very low signal strength. I now have numbers in the 90s; still, the HR21 is way too slow.)


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

RACJ2 said:


> If you read back through this thread, others have mentioned when the DVR is 60 to 70% full, it starts slowing down.


That's with an eSATA attached to an HR. They start to bog the HRs down at about 30% Available. Easy to fix with a restart from the menu.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Syzygy said:


> Also, it probably slows down if you have a lot of SLs. And having a misaligned dish can slow the DVR waaaay down; I saw mine come to a complete halt back when I had very low signal strength. I now have numbers in the 90s; still, the HR21 is way too slow.)


I don't see any difference in speed due to the number of SLs I have. Most of my HRs have/had over 40 SLs on them. Been cleaning them out for the new season and it hasn't made a bit of difference in speed. Now, your comment about dish alignment is probably spot on.

Rich


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## Syzygy (Dec 5, 2005)

I wonder if using a lot of complex and cumbersome Keyword Autorecords (to get around the 50-SL limit) might be slowing down my HR21? Currently I have 31 SLs, 17 of which are Keyword Autorecords representing 70 (!) series. This is an unusually high number because it's the start of a new season; last April I had 31 SLs, "only" 12 of which were Keyword Autorecords representing 49 series. The HR21 was very slow then too.

It's commonly thought that the very _reason _for the 50-SL limit is that more than 50 bogs down the user interface.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Syzygy said:


> I wonder if using a lot of complex and cumbersome Keyword Autorecords (to get around the 50-SL limit) might be slowing down my HR21? Currently I have 31 SLs, 17 of which are Keyword Autorecords representing 70 (!) series. This is an unusually high number because it's the start of a new season; last April I had 31 SLs, "only" 12 of which were Keyword Autorecords representing 49 series. The HR21 was very slow then too.


Good question. One of the reasons I have so many HRs is that I know I'm gonna need a lot of tuners and capacity. Just capacity isn't the answer if you record as we do. We usually watch any program without a complex story line soon after we record it. With programs with complex story lines, we record the whole season and watch it all at once. For instance, we're halfway thru _Harper's Island_ and I'd be totally lost if we had watched it as each episode was recorded. We do end up with a lot of new, crappy programs which take up a lot of space and we end up deleting them after a couple episodes.



> It's commonly thought that the very _reason _for the 50-SL limit is that more than 50 bogs down the user interface.


I know, and I disagree with that. Doesn't seem to have any impact on my HRs at all.

Rich


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

Ok - I did a little testing with my least used slow-as-hell HR22-100 0x034C. I know this is about the HR21 but I figured it fits into the current discussion...

I nuked it and reset everything - ran the setup again so everything was nice and clean.... Whatever it does when you first boot up makes it even slower than normal so I waited until the next day to play around...

With no recordings scheduled and nothing actively recording I played around with it. Not too slow... Not quick but about as fast as I have ever seen any HR2x box run. By 'played' around with it I mean I typed in channel numbers in the guide and without the guide... I scrolled up and down the guide and out into the future. I ran through some of the menus looking here and there... All-in-all I could live with the speed like this! I did have it jump forward to the live once while using RWD and FFD to go back and forth. That stinking problem must be here to stay!

I then started going out into the guide and adding Series recordings. At first the speed kept up but after maybe 25 or 30 it started to slow down a bit... Still much faster than my usual experiences with these things but it did seem to slow up a bit. Still pretty good response to the remote...

I then gave it another day and came back to it... Now that it has been doing some work it is getting back to the POS I'm used to. Much slower moving around the guide than before and the remote response headed back to the 60/40 mark on the first attempt to change the channel by entering the numbers.....

I added more series recordings... now with 44 series set to record. (Was shooting for 50 but it takes to damn long!) It took a while to get that many because going through the guide took longer. The longest delay is when I hit the Record button. Sometimes sits there for 5 or 6 seconds before it puts the 1st R in the guide Sometimes it would be almost immediate... Sometimes I inadvertently canceled the series I was trying to record because I didn't think it received my 2nd push of the R... It would then catch up and cancel the recording.

24 hours later it is back to the steaming pile of crap that I know and love. Navigating through the guide and menus is painfully slow. The remote response makes it hard to do anything.....

I then deleted all the series recordings... Without restarting the speed did seem to pick up a bit - still slow but a little better. The next day I restarted it. Things are much quicker now. Not quite to as quick (did I just say quick?) as the first day before I set anything to record but better.

The point of all this? I'm not sure. I guess the best I can come up with is that it works fairly quickly as long as you don't have it set up to do anything! In the case of my HR22-100 at least it does seem that the more series you have set to record the slower it goes. I suppose it could be that it is the actual recordings that slow it down but I only got to about 30% used max...

Happy troubleshooting!


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## Syzygy (Dec 5, 2005)

Great work, Mike, and thanks!

One thing I got from your results is that, after you've slowed down the UI by giving it lots of work to do, there's no way back (except by wiping the disk again). One would think that clearing out all the SLs would restore the original clean-system speed, but noooo.

Hypothesis: The database, having been filled with your data, remains in a messed-up state that wastes processor cycles even when the data is gone!

BTW, it's a well understood fact (I think) that the UI is slower when one tuner is tuned to a hi-def channel and even slower than that when both tuners are tuned to a hi-def channel. Best, I think, would be both tuners tuned to a nonexistent channel. I wonder if what the tuners were doing was affecting your test?


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Syzygy said:


> Great work, Mike, and thanks!
> 
> One thing I got from your results is that, after you've slowed down the UI by giving it lots of work to do, there's no way back (except by wiping the disk again). One would think that clearing out all the SLs would restore the original clean-system speed, but noooo.
> 
> ...


So, if all that is true about the SLs, how come I see no slow down at all whether I have 10 SLs or 45 SLs?

Rich


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

Rich - you can come to your own conclusions. Everyone knows that I don't have the answers.

You also don't have any of the other troubles that others do. You are just blessed I guess. Consider yourself lucky as most of us are not lucky enough to have DirecTV receivers that work as well as yours.

I did this trying to figure out why the HR22 I use most is the slowest of the 3. I suspect that the only difference is the HR22 I use the most is the one I use the most! My bet would be if I swapped the one I use the most for the fastest one it would become the slowest one.

Maybe you have a better explanation?


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

Syzygy said:


> Great work, Mike, and thanks!
> 
> One thing I got from your results is that, after you've slowed down the UI by giving it lots of work to do, there's no way back (except by wiping the disk again). One would think that clearing out all the SLs would restore the original clean-system speed, but noooo.
> 
> ...


Maybe you're right - maybe someone that doesn't mind their stuff being nuked and spending way too much time screwing around could try it on their box?

I didn't pay much attention to what the tuners were doing but at least the foreground tuner was on an HD channel cause that's all I use these days!

I'll check again tonight to see if there is any change in speed after another 24 hours of doing nothing.....


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## w3syt (Feb 17, 2006)

Admittedly the ESATA is about 70% full, but, I had an HR-20 bog down. Apparently I made it happy with a red reset. Never saw this before.


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

Just an update - played around a litte bit last night... The speed may have improved just a bit since I deleted all the SLs... It's still slower than before I created the SLs but it is faster than when I had the 44 SL set.

Did jump to the end again when I hit RWD and then the -->| button to to skip 30 seconds. This problem does seem to be much worse with the latest and greatest software...


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Mike Greer said:


> Rich - you can come to your own conclusions. Everyone knows that I don't have the answers.
> 
> You also don't have any of the other troubles that others do. You are just blessed I guess. Consider yourself lucky as most of us are not lucky enough to have DirecTV receivers that work as well as yours.
> 
> ...


Yes, I have a better explanation that you have chosen to ignore. Luck and I don't mesh. I worked for the stable system that I have. If I was lucky, I wouldn't have had all the problems I've had.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

w3syt said:


> Admittedly the ESATA is about 70% full, but, I had an HR-20 bog down. Apparently I made it happy with a red reset. Never saw this before.


As soon as you reach between 30% to 20% Available every eSATA that I have tried has bogged down the HR it was attached to. I'm not saying that every eSATA will cause this to happen, but it's happened so many times that I don't think it can be ignored.

The menu restart will refresh the HR. I've usually done that. Haven't used the red button for years now. Earl spoke and I listened.

Rich


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

rich584 said:


> Yes, I have a better explanation that you have chosen to ignore. Luck and I don't mesh. I worked for the stable system that I have. If I was lucky, I wouldn't have had all the problems I've had.
> 
> Rich


I guess I'm getting old - I don't remember your explanation other than there is something in my setup causing it because yours are not slow. If that's your explanation we can just move on and agree to disagree now - no need rehash all that again. I'll just remind you that I took one of my HRs to a neighbors and it behaved the same way... I'm also not alone here - there are boat loads of people with the same performance troubles.

I'm going to try for an HR20-700 (as you have suggested to others in other threads) to see if things are better there. If it means I get to keep Sunday Ticket but can get at least a little bit of a performance boost and maybe get rid of the jump-to-the-end trouble (Didn't you have this trouble?) maybe it will be worth it.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Mike Greer said:


> I guess I'm getting old - I don't remember your explanation other than there is something in my setup causing it because yours are not slow. If that's your explanation we can just move on and agree to disagree now - no need rehash all that again. I'll just remind you that I took one of my HRs to a neighbors and it behaved the same way... I'm also not alone here - there are boat loads of people with the same performance troubles.


If I recall correctly, you took your 22 to a neighbor who was having the same type of problem you were having. And you got the same result. Proved nothing.



> I'm going to try for an HR20-700 (as you have suggested to others in other threads) to see if things are better there. If it means I get to keep Sunday Ticket but can get at least a little bit of a performance boost and maybe get rid of the jump-to-the-end trouble (Didn't you have this trouble?) maybe it will be worth it.


None of my five 20-700s have ever had that random skip to the end problem unless I hit the wrong buttons (operator error). I did have it with a 22-100 and a 23. The 20-700s will work better with a weaker signal than the other models, so you might see a difference depending on how badly your system is screwed up. And I have little doubt that that is your basic problem.

Rich


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

Rich - Thanks for being such a great help. Now that I know my system is so screwed up all will be well. Maybe you could be a little more specific? 

DirecTV originally installed my setup using non-swm stuff. I wanted two tuners on one that I couldn't easily get another cable to so I change to SWM LNB. There was no change in the speed of my receivers so apparently the problem is with my cables? Maybe I need faster cables? Electrons slowing to a crawl inside my cables could be the problem? Alignment? All good levels....

The neighbor that I took my hr22 to didn't have the same issues. But apparently lots of people have bad installs including all the installs I have played with the HR receivers - a few best buys, couple of neighbors, other retailers... Oh let's not forget about all the people here that have said their boxes are sluggish - they have screwed up installs also.

Oh - and what about all the people that said the new version of software did/would speed them up? Are they delirious right along with me? How could they fix a problem (or attempt) that doesn't exist? 

Maybe you could make a trip out here - you could fix the installs at Best Buy, Costco, my setup, my neighbors setup and a few others while you're at it. You could also help me overcome my problem with using that remote... If you somehow overcame the skip-to-the-end problem you could teach me so I could also get past it.

By the way - I tried to duplicate the skip-to-then problem on one of my other HR22s. I spent maybe the last 15 minutes trying to make it incorrectly skip to then end and couldn't. I then went back to one I use the most and couldn't make it do it either. Maybe you should give your tongue-lashing to others and they can have a miracle cure of the skip-to-the-end problem that I seem to have just had! 

Again, thanks for being so helpful!


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## MarkEHansen (Sep 4, 2008)

Whew ... a lot of hostility here...


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## Syzygy (Dec 5, 2005)

MarkEHansen said:


> Whew ... a lot of hostility here...


Some posts require hostility. 


Tony Randall said:


> Some birds require crushing.


Note: "birds" was a phallic reference. Red had complained to Tony, "You crushed my bird!"


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

My apologies for being a little ‘hostile’. It just gets to me when a few (very few) here act like these things don’t have any problems and if you do have problems you are either a DirecTV basher, crazy or just stupid. The problems like jump-to-the-end, trouble with remote response and sluggishness are all over here…. I didn’t make up these problems just to annoy a few ‘fans’.

I’ll see if I can turn the hostility down a few notches – this is just TV after all!

Happy viewing!


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

MarkEHansen said:


> Whew ... a lot of hostility here...


Actually, I find him quite amusing or I wouldn't reply to his posts. I know how he's gonna reply and he does it every time. :lol:

Rich


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

rich584 said:


> Actually, I find him quite amusing or I wouldn't reply to his posts. I know how he's gonna reply and he does it every time. :lol:
> 
> Rich


Glad to help - seems like a strange form of entertainment but hey if it gets your motor running I guess it's all good!

I suppose this means you won't help all us poor naive people with our screwed up installations? Damn&#8230; I thought it was going to be an easy fix.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

I just checked to see if I got that wonderful new update, but so far no luck. But my HR21-700 really works fast these days. Here's the solution:
1. go to Family Pack
2. Don't have to many series links
3. Don't let the HD fill up too much

So far since I've done that, I've noticed a very noticeable quickness, although still slower than my Vip722k by far, and the skip-to-end-bug-that-must-be-a-feature doesn't show up much either...


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## dave92127 (Sep 13, 2009)

I have an HR21/700 and the worst slowness happens when tuning the NFL Season Ticket games. Switching between games takes up to 20 seconds! The game mix channel takes even longer to fully load. DirecTV must not give a damn about this because the problem has existed for so many customers for so long.


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

lparsons21 said:


> I just checked to see if I got that wonderful new update, but so far no luck. But my HR21-700 really works fast these days. Here's the solution:
> 1. go to Family Pack
> 2. Don't have to many series links
> 3. Don't let the HD fill up too much
> ...


Sounds about like my experience. Too bad it seems that you have to either not use them to their fullest extent or deal with the slow downs....


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

dave92127 said:


> I have an HR21/700 and the worst slowness happens when tuning the NFL Season Ticket games. Switching between games takes up to 20 seconds! The game mix channel takes even longer to fully load. DirecTV must not give a damn about this because the problem has existed for so many customers for so long.


Yep - I think most people see the slow downs.... And they have been there since day 1. Some people it doesn't bother. In some cases I think people are ok with this because they used to have something slower - like the motorola cable boxes. The HR series is fast compared to those. I think the most annoyed people are those that have been using Dish Network HD DVRs that leave the HRs in the dust.

For the Sunday Ticket people it doesn't matter how slow their receivers are - you can't go anywhere else. I just hope that Dish Network gets ST in 2014!

On the HR22 that I have been testing - it seems to have recovered most the 'speed' after a few days of not have many SLs... I have 85% free and only 11 SLs set and it is quicker.


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## gator1234 (Jul 21, 2007)

I noticed in the early posts on this thread back in Jan it was stated, "this is a known issue (By Directv) and will be addressed in the next update".

Seems to be taking a long time for that particular update to make it.


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## Syzygy (Dec 5, 2005)

Mike Greer said:


> On the HR22 that I have been testing -- it seems to have recovered most the 'speed' after a few days of not having many SLs... I have 85% free and only 11 SLs set and it is quicker.


Uh huh. As I think you said elsewhere, it's ironic that the only way to have a relatively fast HR2x is to avoid using its features.

I find it interesting that your HR22 is getting faster, gradually, after you removed some SLs. It's as if the database, finding that it has some empty spaces, is reorganizing itself for quicker access.


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## dcowboy7 (May 23, 2008)

gator1234 said:


> I noticed in the early posts on this thread back in Jan it was stated, "this is a known issue (By Directv) and will be addressed in the next update".
> 
> Seems to be taking a long time for that particular update to make it.


But some people who have gotten this update already say it isnt any faster....thats a kicker huh.


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## Syzygy (Dec 5, 2005)

dcowboy7 said:


> But some people who have gotten this update already say it isn't any faster....that's a kicker, huh.


I haven't gotten the update, but I've seen at least one post that said their box is faster with the update. Looks like a *poll* is in order. 

• A lot faster 
• A little faster 
• The same
• A little slower
• A lot slower (just for symmetry)


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