# Why Doesn't D* Tell Us What's Happening?



## Stanley Kritzik (Aug 4, 2005)

I see a lot of speculation on this, and other forums involving HD and DirecTV. Much of what I see are rumors, speculation, guesses, reports from Earl as a beta tester, etc. Maybe I'm spoiled by my many years of working with computers from IBM -- hardware and software -- but that vendor lets its customers know what's going on, where there are problems, what fixes are in the works, etc. These are announcements right from the developers. (Plus, I/we have access to reports -- unofficial -- from beta testers and other users,)

So why are the technical resources of D* off limits? Example, on the H10-700, since the upgrade went on in October, there are drop-outs in OTA audio on, for one, Fox channels. This forum is filled with questions, home-brew remedies, reports of truly clueless CSRs, etc. Why not have D* "officially" announce the nature of the problem and what, if anything, they plan to do about it, and if a fix is called for, by when. The same is true, for example, for the HR20's lack of OTA capability. Will it be fixed, and what is the ETA of the fix.

I've rarely had the experience, except with D*, of developers and technical support being "off limits" from their customers -- especially their leading edge customers. Just tell us what's happening, why, what fixes are planned, what defects will be left behind, etc. In short, start treating us like valued customers rather than village idiots. Whispering solutions and plans only to a favored few is the wrong way to go. A forum or newsletter would be a relativelt low-impact (timewise) way to go, and if D*'s CSR crew would read the same material, then more of them would be giving more correct answers and less mis-information.

Just wondering......

Stanley Kritzik


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

Whats happening is DirecTV is moving to MPEG4 for HD and the DirecTiVo HD models do not and can not support that. Their new HR20 DVR is the only DVR model that supports MPEG4.

By this time next year the HD DirecTiVos will only be good for SD and will not be able to receive any HD channels at all.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

Bobman said:


> Whats happening is DirecTV is moving to MPEG4 for HD and the DirecTiVo HD models do not and can not support that. Their new HR20 DVR is the only DVR model that supports MPEG4.
> 
> By this time next year the HD DirecTiVos will only be good for SD and will not be able to receive any HD channels at all.


How's that for an answer Stan?


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

Bobman said:


> Whats happening is DirecTV is moving to MPEG4 for HD and the DirecTiVo HD models do not and can not support that. Their new HR20 DVR is the only DVR model that supports MPEG4.
> 
> By this time next year the HD DirecTiVos will only be good for SD and will not be able to receive any HD channels at all.


They'll still be fine for OTA HD.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

I agree with the original OP, also coming from a technical IT area that used company sites to find and track bugs and fixes. Use the DirecTV forum to list all the know bugs with their hardware products so that we can at least see that D* is actually aware of a problem and is working on it. If you call D* with a problem basically all you do is waste your going over the problem, rebooting the STB which 9 times out of 10 is not an actual fix if it does anything at all. Then at that point the CSR will usually say that the problem has never been reported (which usually isn't true if you look at the internet forums) and they'll pass it on. 

Come on D*, the word is out, your new STB's have issuse, anyone looking at the internet or owns one knows about it, so let's just fest up and let your customers know that you know about it and what problems you are actually working on. 

Yes, Earl tries to keep us informed but for a company with millions of customers, having one non-employee on a private internet forum acting as a go between is not the way to run a support structure.


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## Clemsole (Sep 8, 2005)

You must remember that 90% of D* customers are not technicaly inclined and can't even read or understand the users manual. So added info would be just more confusing to them, the less knowen the better off they are.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Clemsole said:


> You must remember that 90% of D* customers are not technicaly inclined and can't even read or understand the users manual. So added info would be just more confusing to them, the less knowen the better off they are.


So if they're not technically inclined then they probably also wouldn't be looking on the D* forum on the internet for a list of problems.


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## Stanley Kritzik (Aug 4, 2005)

Bobman said:


> Whats happening is DirecTV is moving to MPEG4 for HD and the DirecTiVo HD models do not and can not support that. Their new HR20 DVR is the only DVR model that supports MPEG4.
> 
> By this time next year the HD DirecTiVos will only be good for SD and will not be able to receive any HD channels at all.


Thanks for the reply, but I have two issues, still.

One is that the signal in question is Fox OTA -- Ch 6-1 in Milwaukee. The Tivo is perfectly capable of continuing to receive OTA channels, but has this well-known issue, apparently, on non-satellite HD programming.

The second is, of course, the utter lack of response from DirecTV. They just are treating their customers -- their best ones -- poorly. Where (and when) is their talked-about media center? What about OTA for the HR20? What about the "crunch" so all the channels will fit on one wire -- timing, etc., please? What's the timetable for the additional HD channels that we hear about, but that aren-t supported by D* officially saying anything? And, of course, what is their timetable for fixing known problems -- caused by their upgrade in the first place, in the case of the Tivo?

Stan


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## Andrew_J_M (Feb 11, 2005)

Stanley Kritzik said:


> Thanks for the reply, but I have two issues, still.
> 
> One is that the signal in question is Fox OTA -- Ch 6-1 in Milwaukee. The Tivo is perfectly capable of continuing to receive OTA channels, but has this well-known issue, apparently, on non-satellite HD programming.
> 
> ...


Possibly the "talked-about media center" is one of the reasons D* are reluctant to release a lot of road-map information. I think Earl reported a couple of months ago that it is still in development, but obviously that is taking a lot longer than expected. Perhaps some of the people originally assigned to it have been moved to other projects. It is over 18 months since it was first announced and a prototype shown to the public. In the meantime we have had the MPEG4 roll-out, the release of the HR20 and satellite launches.

At least one person with possible inside contacts has reported that the HR20 OTA will be turned on before Dec 1. Most software companies try and hold back as long as possible before releasing General Availability dates officially, there are way too many variables that can affect the final roll-out. Unofficial, denyable leaks are often used to placate those who are impatient. Unfortunately, some of those people just won't take "it'll be released when it is ready" as an answer.

As for the bugs in both the latest HR10 software and the HR20, these are pointing at a possible lack of quality assurance and testing tied to an urgency to get something to the consumer.

Just my two cents.


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## Juppers (Oct 26, 2006)

Andrew_J_M said:


> As for the bugs in both the latest HR10 software and the HR20, these are pointing at a possible lack of quality assurance and testing tied to an urgency to get something to the consumer.
> 
> Just my two cents.


Where is that same urgency fixing some of these major issues?


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## Titon (Oct 19, 2006)

> Whats happening is DirecTV is moving to MPEG4 for HD and the DirecTiVo HD models do not and can not support that. Their new HR20 DVR is the only DVR model that supports MPEG4.
> 
> By this time next year the HD DirecTiVos will only be good for SD and will not be able to receive any HD channels at all


Just another typical big company f'ing there customers. By this time next year no matter how much HD is available through D* this customer will be completely gone.

I have been in retail for 18 years and listen to every aspect of my customer base. Change is good but it can also be a huge mistake and disaster. Looking at what this company is currently doing it's pushing the disaster area.


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## captain_video (Nov 22, 2005)

> By this time next year the HD DirecTiVos will only be good for SD and will not be able to receive any HD channels at all.


As indicated by an earlier post, HDTivos will still be able to receive and record OTA HD channels indefinitely. There is no word yet AFAIK when and if DTV will cease and desist transmitting the current HD channels in mpeg2. I would not expect it to happen within the next year and possibly longer, but that's just my opinion.

Current subscribers with HDTivos and HBO or Showtime should still be able to get the HD channels in their respective packages. DTV can't force anyone to switch to mpeg4 if they don't want to without the risk of alienating their customers any more than they already have. I would expect to see the current mpeg2 HD channels continue for quite some time. Any new HD channels will only be offered via the mpeg4 sats.


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