# Should I Switch?



## dlt4 (Oct 4, 2006)

I am currently using a two-year old Philips DSR704. I've been thinking of switching to the R15, but from what I've read here and in the DTV forums I'm not sure I should make the switch. I realize the forums are where you find trouble, but is the R15 more problematic than normal?

Thanks for any inputs.


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## Larry Daughtrey (Feb 14, 2006)

Yes!


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## irmolars (Mar 12, 2006)

Definitely Yes


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## dlt4 (Oct 4, 2006)

Thanks for the inputs. 

There are a couple of reasons I'm hesitating. I don't need the extra recording capacity, and I don't like the fact that the R15 won't let you switch back and forth between tuners and keep the buffer, which is a great feature when you're watching two ball games at once. And #3, I really like TiVo.

On the other hand, the DSR704 is over two years old and occasionally it pauses when I'm watching a recorded program. But you're starting to convince me!  

Thanks again.


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## mhayes70 (Mar 21, 2006)

I have 3 R15's and yes they do have problems. But, I do like them and I can put up with the problems I have. There are many other's out there that have more severe problems out there. 

If you are really wanting to upgrade maybe consider finding a R10, it is a Tivo based DVR and is much more stable. They are still out there and I have seen them here at our local Wal-Mart.


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

There you go, D*. What more do you need before you get off your corporate butts and fix this disaster? 

The people here are recommending STAY AWAY FROM THE R15!!!


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

dlt4 said:


> I've been thinking of switching to the R15


Go for it and get one free with the code in this forum. Its simple to get used to even though its different than the TiVo UI. I replaced my R-10 with and R-15 and its been just fine. Many have well working R-15's, its just the people with problems post more.


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

sheridan1952 said:


> What more do you need


No disrespect but you were advised way back to do a reformat and that should fix your problems as it fixed many others including myself. I know its a pain and you should not have to but it does work in most cases.

You made a choice to not do it for this long and any problems your still having without even trying the solution offered you brought on yourself if you ask me. I dont see how you can keep complaining when your the reason your problems still exist when you might have fixed them weeks ago.


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## Larry Daughtrey (Feb 14, 2006)

The Ford Pinto was a bomb waiting to happen with the gas tank design flaw. Not every owner was blown up. But just because YOU didnt get blown up , would you tell your friends "Go for it", that only the people that had their Pinto blow up are complaining!
Atleast wait till the product works as advertised before you encourage someone to purchase it.


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

Bobman said:


> No disrespect but you were advised way back to do a reformat and that should fix your problems as it fixed many others including myself. I know its a pain and you should not have to but it does work in most cases.
> 
> You made a choice to not do it for this long and any problems your still having without even trying the solution offered you brought on yourself if you ask me. I dont see how you can keep complaining when your the reason your problems still exist when you might have fixed them weeks ago.


I haven't done it yet because I refuse to lose what I have recorded. I have had to purchase a DVD recorder and I am almost done dumping the recordings down to DVD and I will be reformatting today.

Yes, this MIGHT fix the problems, but it is completely ridiculous that we should even have to go through this.


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## profbobo (Jan 22, 2006)

dlt4 said:


> ... the R15 won't let you switch back and forth between tuners and keep the buffer, which is a great feature when you're watching two ball games at once. And #3, I really like TiVo...


You've answered your own question.

AVOID THE R15!!!! KEEP YOUR TIVO!!!!

The R15 is a giant steamy pile when it comes to sports and watching multiple games at the same time.

There are no dual buffers. You'll miss it more than you think. I did. Do you subscirbe to any of the sports packages? If so, the sad excuse for Auto Record WishList doesn't work on the R15. It's crap.

I had a T-60 and DSR6000R. Space was starting to become an issue. Picked up 2 R15s and sold the TiVos on eBay. 2 months later I bought two TiVos off eBay and sold the R15s.

The wife and I have been much happier.

WAKE UP DIRECTV! Call up TiVo on the phone, say you're sorry, and you want them back. I'd probably sign a 2 year agreement just for that.


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## cdworkin (Jul 26, 2006)

sheridan1952 said:


> Yes, this MIGHT fix the problems, but it is completely ridiculous that we should even have to go through this.


Agreed. It is a digital video RECORDER. What good is having a RECORDER if it stops RECORDING your shows periodically and you have to delete all your old RECORDINGS to make it work again.

If you like Tivo stick with it. We had no issues with Tivo, it worked as advertised and as expected. I can't believe that a product like the R15 is put out there that is so defective.

CDM


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## mhayes70 (Mar 21, 2006)

Hey, Tivo has it issue's to! I had a tivo before and I went thru two units. I had hard drives go bad or tuners go out and I lost everything that I had on the hard drive also. Tivo is an older software therefore the bugs are worked out of it. You see several people here that complain about the R15 and I have been one of them but, it is a new unit and yes there are bugs in it. But, they are getting worked out. 

But, there are also alot of other people you don't hear from that have no problems with there R15's and they work great.


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## profbobo (Jan 22, 2006)

mhayes70 said:


> Hey, Tivo has it issue's to! I had a tivo before and I went thru two units. I had hard drives go bad or tuners go out and I lost everything that I had on the hard drive also.


What you just described are hardware related issues. Not software. The main gripes with the TiVo software that I've read is people don't like the interface or something goes wrong with the hardware.

IMHO, I hate the interface of the R15. To me, it's FUGLY, hard to read, unorganized, confusing, the buttons do different things on every menu, and the text is too small. It looks very Windows 3.1ish. And the things DirecTV named the features are stupid. The prioritizer, MyVOD, etc. It just sounds stupid. But, that's my opinion.

Anyway, I'll call that a wash. What interface you may like, I may not and vice versa.

So back to all this TiVo has problems too.

Right now, the TiVo software works 1000% times better than the R15 software. And the DirecTV version of TiVo is how many years old?

When I first got my T-60, the second tuner was not enabled. But it worked. When they delivered the update for the second tuner, I don't recall it breaking a bunch of stuff. My T-60 was a true DVR the day I walked out of BB.

The TiVo hardware may fail. But that software is heads and shoulders above the R15 software.

Sorry, I'm not busting your chops. You're sticking up for the R15 and I'm sticking up for TiVo. I'm just not buying into all this TiVo has issues too stuff. But that's me.

I see you like the Blues. Is your R15 going to record the games? Okay, maybe then I was busting your chops.  Hope you're having a great day.


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## mhayes70 (Mar 21, 2006)

That's no problem.  Everybody has there opinion. I have had the Tivo and I like it alot. But, I also like the R15. It took some getting use to. I also didn't like it at first.

As for the Blues, I will probably watch it live until I fall asleep since it is on late. But, I am going to record it also and see if the R15 does it correctly. I have read some recent issue's with it not recording the MLB playoff's. But, I think that is an issue with them change the guide.

Go Blues!!!! :jumpingja They have to be better than last year!


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## dlt4 (Oct 4, 2006)

After reading all the discussions I think I'll just keep the DSR704 for now. It's obvious that more people complain about the R15 than praise it. :nono: 
Thanks for all the feedback.


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## cybok0 (Jan 5, 2006)

dlt4 said:


> After reading all the discussions I think I'll just keep the DSR704 for now. It's obvious that more people complain about the R15 than praise it. :nono:
> Thanks for all the feedback.


get a R15 with the free code and have installed to another tv, but whatever you do *dont* get rid of your DTIVO keep that as your main one, that way you can get use to your R15 and decide for yourself if you want to upgrade to your main dvr.

I have 2 R15's and one DTIVO and those R15's will not replace my DTIVO as my main dvr for a very long time(probably when D* disables it ).


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## dlt4 (Oct 4, 2006)

cybok0 said:


> get a R15 with the free code and have installed to another tv, but whatever you do *dont* get rid of your DTIVO keep that as your main one, that way you can get use to your R15 and decide for yourself if you want to upgrade to your main dvr.
> 
> I had actually thought about doing that. There's been times when I missed something on the news on the bedroom tv while getting ready for work, and it would have been nice to rewind. I definitely won't be getting rid of the DSR704 for a while!


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

dlt4 said:


> I had actually thought about doing that. There's been times when I missed something on the news on the bedroom tv while getting ready for work, and it would have been nice to rewind. I definitely won't be getting rid of the DSR704 for a while!


If you already have a reciever from D* there you might as well. You'll get a free reciever, free install of the line and your bill won't go up. If you don't already have the receiver there it will be only 4.99 extra a month.


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## MercurialIN (Jul 17, 2006)

profbobo said:


> What you just described are hardware related issues. Not software. The main gripes with the TiVo software that I've read is people don't like the interface or something goes wrong with the hardware.
> 
> IMHO, I hate the interface of the R15. To me, it's FUGLY, hard to read, unorganized, confusing, the buttons do different things on every menu, and the text is too small. It looks very Windows 3.1ish. And the things DirecTV named the features are stupid. The prioritizer, MyVOD, etc. It just sounds stupid. But, that's my opinion.
> 
> ...


Boy do I agree with you about the interface. The first time the R 15 booted up I thought to myself, this has to be a joke right? The interface is so primitive looking. It looks the way the interface looked on the first D* receivers I had years ago. I truly thought they would have modernized them by now.

I also realize that is simply personal preference, to me the interface is ludicrous, others might not think so. If that's the case fine, no worries.

I simply think the R 15 was rushed to market way, too soon and it shows. It was obviously not a well thought out piece of equipment, if it was well thought out, then that scares the heck out of me.

Anyway, unless you are willing to put up with a lot of stress and I do mean a LOT of stress, I'd stay away from the R 15 until you start hearing more positives then negatives. And yes I DID do a reformat, the whole record, down arrow thing and it did NOT solve the R 15's issues, what it did was lose about twenty movies I'd saved. So that no matter what tech support might tell you it is NOT always the definitive fix, if it has worked for some, good for you. It has not worked for all R 15's. Period.

Good luck with your decision.

Go Colts!


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

Absolutely keep your Tivo. See about getting it fixed if it's giving you problems.

Why would anyone suggest switching from a DVR that works reliably to one that doesn't, just because it might work well someday?!? You think DTV is going to run out of them?

If the Tivo service is ever shut off, you'll have to switch. If the R15 is ever fixed, you might want to switch, but except for the fact that your Tivo is giving you some trouble there is NO reason to switch now.

If you can get the free R15 to use in ADDITION to your Tivo, then do so, and you'll see for yourself.


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## MercurialIN (Jul 17, 2006)

ApK said:


> Absolutely keep your Tivo. See about getting it fixed if it's giving you problems.
> 
> Why would anyone suggest switching from a DVR that works reliably to one that doesn't, just because it might work well someday?!? You think DTV is going to run out of them?
> 
> ...


Well said!


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## felickz (Jul 21, 2006)

Well since everybody's R15's are freezing (including mine) i would NEVER IN MY RIGHT MIND consider switching from tivo to d* BS


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

dlt4 said:


> I am currently using a two-year old Philips DSR704. I've been thinking of switching to the R15, but from what I've read here and in the DTV forums I'm not sure I should make the switch. I realize the forums are where you find trouble, but is the R15 more problematic than normal?
> 
> Thanks for any inputs.


If your DSR704 is still working, and if you depend on your DVR to record what you tell it to record, stick with the 704. Despite what the faithful say, the R15 isn't ready for prime time.

If you can get an R15 as a backup unit, then go for it. But keep your Tivo a#1.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Bobman said:


> Go for it and get one free with the code in this forum. Its simple to get used to even though its different than the TiVo UI. I replaced my R-10 with and R-15 and its been just fine. Many have well working R-15's, its just the people with problems post more.


So I assume at this point in time your R15's are working properly and your on the R15 bandwagon. No problems at this time, correct?


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

My two R15s have not had any significant problems since I got them a couple of months ago.

I have used the red button reset twice on each to fix Caller ID issues and a couple of cases of not responding to commands.

No failed recordings, and everything plays fine.


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## cbeckner80 (Apr 19, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> So I assume at this point in time your R15's are working properly and your on the R15 bandwagon. No problems at this time, correct?


I have two, one I got with my original install in May and one I got with the free code in July. I hope I'm not puttin a jinks on them, but I've had very little trouble except an occasional non-firstrun record, but even that seems to be doing better with the latest software download.


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## bnm81002 (Oct 2, 2004)

dlt4 said:


> I am currently using a two-year old Philips DSR704. I've been thinking of switching to the R15, but from what I've read here and in the DTV forums I'm not sure I should make the switch. I realize the forums are where you find trouble, but is the R15 more problematic than normal?
> 
> Thanks for any inputs.


I would keep the Philips 704 active and hack it with the "zipper" here's the site for hacking it, like others have said in here, keep the Philips as your main DVR for recording shows and the R15 as your backup,
http://www.mastersav.com/tivo_zipper.html


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## D-Bamatech (Jun 28, 2006)

Larry Daughtrey said:


> The Ford Pinto was a bomb waiting to happen with the gas tank design flaw. Not every owner was blown up. But just because YOU didnt get blown up , would you tell your friends "Go for it", that only the people that had their Pinto blow up are complaining!
> Atleast wait till the product works as advertised before you encourage someone to purchase it.


 WOW.. great analogy w/ wisdom and logic at the root! :eek2:


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## Jasen (Mar 21, 2006)

I dont have problems with my r-15


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

Jasen said:


> I dont have problems with my r-15


And we hope you never do. No one should have to put up with the BS some of us have.


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## Jasen (Mar 21, 2006)

if you all having problems with the R-15 tell directv insted of polloting this forum with your problems . I'm happy with mine . so tell them and stop b****ing about it and call directv with your problems


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## Larry Daughtrey (Feb 14, 2006)

Jasen, apparantly you havent been reading the posts. Most or atleast alot of the people complaining HAVE contacted DTV and have been mislead by them. Infact the last time I talked to a CSR he stated Hmm thats odd , I havent heard of any complaints about the R-15. Clearly BS.....

I assume "POLLOTING" means polluting. Are you seriously saying that anyone sharing a problem with their equipment is polluting this board and should not complain? If so, I think the name of this board should be changed from DBSTalk to Fans of R15, with instructions saying please do not post any complaints of your unit not functioning properly on this board.


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## raott (Nov 23, 2005)

Jasen said:


> if you all having problems with the R-15 tell directv insted of polloting this forum with your problems . I'm happy with mine . so tell them and stop b****ing about it and call directv with your problems


speaking of polluting this forum.


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## cybok0 (Jan 5, 2006)

Jasen said:


> I'm happy with mine .


just because *your* happy with your R15 doesn't mean everyone else is. everyone is aloud there opinion, they don't have to go along with your opinion to be on these boards.


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## cybok0 (Jan 5, 2006)

Larry Daughtrey said:


> I assume "POLLOTING" means polluting. .


I guess he never heard of spell check


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## cybok0 (Jan 5, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> So I assume at this point in time your R15's are working properly and your on the R15 bandwagon. No problems at this time, correct?


he'll probably flip flop back to the R10 in a few months.:lol:


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

Jasen said:


> if you all having problems with the R-15 tell directv insted of polloting this forum with your problems . I'm happy with mine . so tell them and stop b****ing about it and call directv with your problems


We HAVE complained to D*, several times.

If you're happy with your R15, great. Everyone here was too, until we started experiencing problems. Problems that none of us should have had to endure if D* had made a reliable box.

This forum isn't restricted to the D* fan club, it is for everyone to voice their opinions, concerns, gripes and yes, praise. People come here looking for answers and support that D* just isn't providing. In some cases, they are relieved (in some small way) to find out that they aren't the only one with issues.

Two months ago, I was in your camp. I had my R15 for several months with no problems. Then it went south. I refused to lose what I had recorded, so I bought a DVD recorder and dumped everything down before I did a full reset. So far, it's doing okay. If you find that acceptable, fine. Most of us don't.

If you don't want to read negative reports, don't come here. Start your own "D* is great and infallible" thread. Be sure and use a smiley icon wearing rose-colored glasses.


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

cybok0 said:


> I guess he never heard of spell check


Unfortunately, spell check wouldn't catch things like "aloud".


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## Jasen (Mar 21, 2006)

I dont have an r-10. I have an R-15 and a DVR-80 with tivo


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## mrb (Sep 14, 2006)

qwerty said:


> Unfortunately, spell check wouldn't catch things like "aloud".


Or "your" when it should be "you're", but I digress...

To the original poster (by now I've forgotten your name!)...seriously keep your TiVo. The R15 is a piece of crap. Rushed to market yes, but in the - what - 15 MONTHS (or more!) since...that's nearly 2,500 work hours of time to get it right. I think that's enough time. The D* DVR technology is pure crapulence. Stay with TiVo.


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