# Software Update: HR20 - 0xD8



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

New Software 10/04/2006 -0xD8
Manufacture 700 - 0xD8

---------------
Release Notes:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=66150

*PLEASE DON"T POST... DIDN'T GET IT, or GOT IT tracking posts in this thread, they will be deleted
*

*Previous Version Thread:*
Version 0xBE (9/1/2006): *Discussion Thread Issue Thread*
Version 0xCC (9/16/2006): *Discussion Thread Issue Thread*
Version 0xD1 (9/26/2006): *Discussion Thread*


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## jamieh1 (May 1, 2003)

Downloading now via 02468 manual download option.

Waiting to see whats going to happen!!!

OTA PLEASE! Be back in a few.


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## jamieh1 (May 1, 2003)

Down load complete - now Blue DIRECTV HDDVR SCREEN with 

Never seen this message,

Start up complete!
Preparing to accuire sat info, .....

now saying NOT MUCH LONGER...


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## jamieh1 (May 1, 2003)

Loading guide data ...


Well NO antenna with this update either!!!

COME ON DIRECTV!


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## bobojay (Jan 26, 2004)

Keep us posted.........


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## dervari (Dec 1, 2005)

Just hope this fixes the grey/black screen of death when starting playback...


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## DCSholtis (Aug 7, 2002)

Im downloading it now too


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## Vader14 (Sep 5, 2006)

"Downloading now via 02468 manual download option."

What's the 02468 download option?


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## g4jedi (Aug 21, 2006)

How does one do a manual software update?


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

g4jedi said:


> How does one do a manual software update?


Reboot the receiver. When you see the Welcome screen, press 02468 (in order, not at the same time) on the remote. It might take a few tries before you get it right, but when you do it will say New Software Found and begin downloading.


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## skierbri10 (Sep 18, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> Reboot the receiver. When you see the Welcome screen, press 02468 (in order, not at the same time) on the remote. It might take a few tries before you get it right, but when you do it will say New Software Found and begin downloading.


Which welcome screen?


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## tommyb (Aug 18, 2006)

Right after almost there!!!!!!!


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

tommyb said:


> Right after almost there!!!!!!!


No, the very first screen that comes up when you turn the receiver on.


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## tommyb (Aug 18, 2006)

Did mine right after almost there and it worked for me. Must have got lucky


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

I forced my receiver to get the update, and it got it. First thing I noticed was that they added a couple new "comfort message" to the boot process. One of them says "Startup complete! Preparing to acquire info from the satellite." or something very similar. The other one comes after that and I forget exactly what it says, but it's basically just "hold on." Then the guide data download is the same as it always has been.

I just played around with it for a few minutes. I noticed that the trick play features seem to be much more responsive than they were in the past, which is nice. But the pink background bug is still there. It will remain to be seen if my box will keep up it's record of flawless recording with this release.

I checked most of the bugs that occur on every receiver, like stretching all interactive channels, and not remembering where you are in the MyVOD list after exiting a recorded show. These are not fixed, and there does not appear to be any new features either. Hopefully this release does improve stability for those who are having problems.


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## ckyee (Sep 12, 2006)

Why do we need to do a manual download for the new software upgrade? Will they have it such that we'll get this automatically?


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## talbain (Sep 6, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> Reboot the receiver. When you see the Welcome screen, press 02468 (in order, not at the same time) on the remote. It might take a few tries before you get it right, but when you do it will say New Software Found and begin downloading.


or you could just go to sleep and it will be updated automatically by morning...


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## skierbri10 (Sep 18, 2006)

tommyb said:


> Did mine right after almost there and it worked for me. Must have got lucky


Doesn't work on mine at either screens.....Oh well I will wait a little while longer.


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## skierbri10 (Sep 18, 2006)

talbain said:


> or you could just go to sleep and it will be updated automatically by morning...


It is only 8:30pm where I am at.... :lol:


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

ckyee said:


> Why do we need to do a manual download for the new software upgrade? Will they have it such that we'll get this automatically?


They just haven't started sending out the signal to the receivers that they need to update. They'll probably start doing that within a few hours.


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## skierbri10 (Sep 18, 2006)

02468 doesn't work on mine....


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## employee3 (Aug 15, 2006)

It's 02468.



skierbri10 said:


> 02486 doesn't work on mine....


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## skierbri10 (Sep 18, 2006)

employee3 said:


> It's 02468.


oops mistype I was pushing 02468 on my remote.... :lol:


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## skierbri10 (Sep 18, 2006)

so.....Just got the automatic download notification...here we go......... :grin:


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## shaun-ohio (Aug 24, 2002)

got it this morning at 5:00 am eastern time here in ohio, dont know what it consists of


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## shaun-ohio (Aug 24, 2002)

yeah 2 new blue screens, startup complete, aquiring signal, not much longer, blue screen directv, hddvr+


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## skierbri10 (Sep 18, 2006)

Dangit, my locals over DTV still don't work....


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## shaun-ohio (Aug 24, 2002)

got Oxd8 software now, still no local ota access yet


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## Guitar Hero (Dec 13, 2005)

I'm in SoCal, and my download just started. 

I was watching a recorded show at the time (Batman Begins in HD). I hope it's still there when the download is finished.


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## dbdynsty25 (Sep 28, 2006)

Just got my new software...I don't notice anything different outside of the loading screens. If the pink FF bug is still there, I can't imagine they worked on anything cosmetic anyway. It's probably just stability stuff, which is what I'm looking for anyway.


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## dtvmiami (Sep 3, 2006)

Got it also.

I can't wait to try it out in the morning and see if it fixes the "Dancing with the Stars HD" program that my girl could not get to watch, due to freezing. Even though it alledgedly got recorded.

I have to say, that I am now of the school of thought that D* released the HR20 sooner than they wanted to due to all the media/customer pressure.

Dam bugs are so bad, I've actually started bidding on a HR10 on ebay. And, am going to put this baby back in its box, until I hear better news from the masses. I give it at least 4 or 5 more software upgrades from now b4 we see some nice results. Perhaps they can throw in dual buffers too, or am I asking too much?


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## skierbri10 (Sep 18, 2006)

Well, what I have noticed is that HBO, HBOHD, and HBOL are all off the air. This wasn't the case before the download....  :nono2:


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## skierbri10 (Sep 18, 2006)

skierbri10 said:


> Well, what I have noticed is that HBO, HBOHD, and HBOL are all off the air. This wasn't the case before the download....  :nono2:


Oops nevermind I guess that was planned..... :grin:


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## Fyr guy (Sep 26, 2006)

Well it has taken care of the grey snowey screen at startup and don't have to go cycling through resolutions on order to get a picture anymore... YAHOO!


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## Guitar Hero (Dec 13, 2005)

I never noticed the snowy startup screen before. I always turn on my receiver, then my HDTV set. 

So far I don't notice any difference. 

I hope one day they'll add an edit button for recorded material. Kind of like what my Zenith HDR-230 has. You can edit out commercials from your recordings or keep certain clips and edit out the rest to save on HDD space.


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## jamieh1 (May 1, 2003)

Earl,
Wheres the release notes???


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

jamielee said:


> Earl,
> Wheres the release notes???


Is he not allowed to sleep?


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## jamieh1 (May 1, 2003)

Nope! Sleep after the release notes are posted.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

jamielee said:


> Nope! Sleep after the release notes are posted.


LMAO


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

Earl's sources are definitely better than mine. And I don't have the balls to put what I hear -- up on any forum. Good for Earl.

I was told this update was sched for the 11th. They either moved it up -- or my guy was wrong. Personally, I hope they moved it forward.

He also told me OTA gets switched on -- well, let's just say "soon".

This update btw -- 3:18 AM MDT. I've sched a couple of programs to start recording within the next hour. Let's see if things are smooth. Everything's been working OK -- but, I'd rather check sooner than later.


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## EJB (Sep 15, 2006)

dtvmiami said:


> I can't wait to try it out in the morning and see if it fixes the "Dancing with the Stars HD" program that my girl could not get to watch, due to freezing. Even though it alledgedly got recorded.


Were you able to watch it? I got the update and went back to play one of th kid shows my son recorded. It freezes at the very beginning if you try to use the slip button. Same thing happened this morning after the latest software. I think Earl said the problem has to do with what is happening at the time of the recording, so it will only help with future recordings, not those that already have a flaw.

Let me know what happens with yours.

ejb


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

Well this is weird...
I had my new system installed yesterday & was testing DVR scenarios yesterday. Here' my scenario:

~2 shows recorded at the same time, I come in and want to stop one to watch tv. I get the pop-up on which show to stop. I stop show 2 and 1 continues. 
~Results: Show 1 played back fine, but show 2 (partial recording) was gone from my vod list. 

Sooooo, after todays software update Show 2 is back and playable. Weird, huh?


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## dharrismco (Aug 22, 2006)

sigma1914 said:


> Well this is weird...
> Sooooo, after todays software update Show 2 is back and playable. Weird, huh?


Sounds like maybe they fixed that! My wife and I haven't seen that issue, but I know a lot of people have.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

Mine showed it downloaded at 5:13 a.m. Following Ed Campbell's advice, I tried the HDMI/component cable trick (unhooked HDMI, rebooted with component, and put HDMI back on) as a way to combat the black screen of death on recorded shows (the ones stuck at 0:00). I recorded at least 15 shows yesterday, and only one (NYPD Blue on TNT-HD) stuck, but I was able to play it (something I could never do before) by pressing some of the FF, REV, play buttons. Of course, since I was doing it out of frustration, I can't remember the sequence.

Anyway, the recording was BEFORE the download, and I was able to unfreeze it.

As with everyone else suffering this issue, my hope is that at least the download fixes the recording reliability/access problem, which is my main concern (and the only real problem this box seems to have right now).


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

tstarn said:


> Mine showed it downloaded at 5:13 a.m. Following Ed Campbell's advice, I tried the HDMI/component cable trick (unhooked HDMI, rebooted with component, and put HDMI back on) as a way to combat the black screen of death on recorded shows (the ones stuck at 0:00). I recorded at least 15 shows yesterday, and only one (NYPD Blue on TNT-HD) stuck, but I was able to play it (something I could never do before) by pressing some of the FF, REV, play buttons. Of course, since I was doing it out of frustration, I can't remember the sequence.
> 
> Anyway, the recording was BEFORE the download, and I was able to unfreeze it.
> 
> As with everyone else suffering this issue, my hope is that at least the download fixes the recording reliability/access problem, which is my main concern (and the only real problem this box seems to have right now).


Since we don't know if it's a "record" or "playback" issue, I wouldn't necessarily expect it to fix recordings that were acting up under the old firmware. The real test will be how the recordings behave from this point forward (assuming you got the update).

I've only had one malfunction in the 11 days I've had the box, and that was a fail to record (even though it showed it did), after I had to resolve a recording conflict. Otherwise, the HR20 has been super. I'm not saying there are no other issues, I'm saying with what little I have done with the box, I have only experienced one significant problem, and that only one time.

Since I know the firmware is in a "fragile" state, I don't beat the snot out of the machine (I actually want it to work, as opposed to try to get it to fail), so I know I'm not creating a demanding environment for the firmware. In tis regard, I'm not doing much of a beta testing job as a baby sitting job. (and I'm not complaining...I knew this thing was "way early" in its development cycle and fully expect "issues". After all, that's why I'm on this forum, eh?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

You guys are crazy....

Funny part is, I went to bed about 15 minutes before one of you reported the update comming down.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

hasan said:


> Since we don't know if it's a "record" or "playback" issue, I wouldn't necessarily expect it to fix recordings that were acting up under the old firmware. The real test will be how the recordings behave from this point forward (assuming you got the update).
> 
> I've only had one malfunction in the 11 days I've had the box, and that was a fail to record (even though it showed it did), after I had to resolve a recording conflict. Otherwise, the HR20 has been super. I'm not saying there are no other issues, I'm saying with what little I have done with the box, I have only experienced one significant problem, and that only one time.
> 
> Since I know the firmware is in a "fragile" state, I don't beat the snot out of the machine (I actually want it to work, as opposed to try to get it to fail), so I know I'm not creating a demanding environment for the firmware. In tis regard, I'm not doing much of a beta testing job as a baby sitting job. (and I'm not complaining...I knew this thing was "way early" in its development cycle and fully expect "issues". After all, that's why I'm on this forum, eh?


I did get the upgrade overnight, and as you said, the box is super when it works. I've had about 20 percent of my recordings fail via the black screen/no play issue, but only since the last download (a week ago). It didn't happen the first week I owned it. And I didn't overload it with recordings either. Only yesterday, after the HDMI solution Ed Campbell proposed, did I really beat up on it in terms of workload. And it passed the test in that short time, with that one exception.

Again, only time will tell, but if they can get this box straighened out, it will be the best DVR out there from what I have seen it do, PQ, storage out of the box, etc.


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## Carbon (Sep 22, 2006)

What is:
SPDIF is muted when box is "off"/standby?


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

Carbon said:


> What is:
> SPDIF is muted when box is "off"/standby?


SPDIF is the toslink (the optic one with the red light) audio feed (from HR-20 to HT receiver or TV). Sounds like it means when the box is set to off or standby, the DD 5.1 sound is muted. Not sure what that matters, just guessing.


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## 911medic (Aug 28, 2006)

I think it means the box will no longer continue to output DD via the optical cable when you turn off the box. Mine has done this a few times.


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## ShapeGSX (Sep 17, 2006)

Color me impressed with the frequency of these updates. I ordered my HR20 a couple weeks ago. It is getting installed tomorrow. And there have already been 3 firmware updates for the box since I ordered it! That's amazing. They obviously understand that these issues need to be resolved quickly.


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## AllAroundPsycho (Sep 28, 2006)

I hope the part where the release notes say "General stability of the unit" means that my daily lockups are going to go away. I lose recordings when I'm gone for several days and the thing locks up.

Just in case it doesn't get fixed and I have a hardware problem, a tech is coming out next week with a new box. I would love to call D* and tell them it isn't necessary because the software update fixed it.


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## wrencht180 (Oct 3, 2006)

Don't worry they never show up with a box


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## WANDERER (Sep 27, 2006)

ShapeGSX said:


> Color me impressed with the frequency of these updates. I ordered my HR20 a couple weeks ago. It is getting installed tomorrow. And there have already been 3 firmware updates for the box since I ordered it! That's amazing. They obviously understand that these issues need to be resolved quickly.


No - its sad and pathetic that the box needs this much attention.


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## ShapeGSX (Sep 17, 2006)

Well, they could have delayed the hardware release by 2 months instead. Or they could just ignore the issues now.

But since the hardware is released, they are doing the right thing (which, unfortunately, is rare).


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

*Improvements*

Interactive content transitions with TV

Can someone translate this? Is this refering to the Interactive channels stretching to fill the entire screen on their own?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

funkeruski said:


> Antone know when the OTA tuner will be enabled?:lol:


No... as there is no set date.
They are trying to get them out in October... but still no set date.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

PoitNarf said:


> *Improvements*
> 
> Interactive content transitions with TV
> 
> Can someone translate this? Is this refering to the Interactive channels stretching to fill the entire screen on their own?


I asked the same question when I got the notes:
It was originally listed as iTV Transitions improved...

The reply I got:
The interactive applications (such as NFL SuperFan) had on screen transitions (come on and off the screen), that were not smooth or render completly. Those have been fixed.


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## billt1111 (Aug 16, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> I asked the same question when I got the notes:
> It was originally listed as iTV Transitions improved...
> 
> The reply I got:
> The interactive applications (such as NFL SuperFan) had on screen transitions (come on and off the screen), that were not smooth or render completly. Those have been fixed.


I was hoping it meant that it would keep the scores static on the interactive HD ST channels when I changed games, instead of making me have to re-request the scores each time I switched to another game.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> You guys are crazy....
> 
> Funny part is, I went to bed about 15 minutes before one of you reported the update comming down.


What should happen is D should do the release notes and give them to earl!!


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## Pragmatic Lemur (Sep 20, 2006)

I got an update at 2am this morning here in Orange County, CA. Except my update says Oxac. Did I get something else or am I just a noob?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

houskamp said:


> What should happen is D should do the release notes and give them to earl!!


That is what they do... I just re-format them and post them in the proper forums... and start all the other corresponding threads.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

WANDERER said:


> No - its sad and pathetic that the box needs this much attention.


No, it's awesome that they want to keep improving the product. I highly appreciate DirecTV actually being active here on this forum reading posts, checking out our problems and ideas and then quickly acting on them.

Kinda reminds me of when the HDNet sports guy started a thread on AVS one night when they were trying out some different cameras and graphics and wanted live interaction of what they were trying. We'd post an idea for a graphic location and he'd post that starting in the 2nd period he'd try the idea and see what we thought.

It's nice to actually interact with your customers and try to improve your product. Breath of fresh air in my book.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

Pragmatic Lemur said:


> I got an update at 2am this morning here in Orange County, CA. Except my update says Oxac. Did I get something else or am I just a noob?


I thought the same thing initially, but I believe that is under the "original version" line and not the most recent.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

Earl Bonovich said:


> I asked the same question when I got the notes:
> It was originally listed as iTV Transitions improved...
> 
> The reply I got:
> The interactive applications (such as NFL SuperFan) had on screen transitions (come on and off the screen), that were not smooth or render completly. Those have been fixed.


I look forward to testing this out this weekend. I've really hammered the box with these ST interactive features the past 2 Sunday's and have seen this issue so it will be interesting to see the improvements.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

Regarding the frequency of updates .. I do believe that at some point stability will be king. It currently seems that they are updating in an ad-hoc method. As long as a new update doesn't break anything then it is fine, but with more frequent updates, the likelyhood that something is broken increases. Lockups in the most recent release come to mind.

It's good that DirecTV wants to fix problems, but as this platform improves, I suspect that less frequent updates will be better.


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## gr8reb8 (Aug 21, 2006)

Since the HR20 has to re-learn all the channels off from the satellite after each reboot, what will happen if a show was in the middle of a recording session or was scheduled to record a few minutes before the reboot. The one time I rebooted, it took several hours before some of the channels were inserted so I could view them. Seems to me that once the HR20 has a full channel list, it should write a file to the hard disk. Then after a reboot, if the time-stamp is within a certain time frame (perhaps 1 day), then load the received channel list from the hard disk.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

gr8reb8 said:


> Since the HR20 has to re-learn all the channels off from the satellite after each reboot, what will happen if a show was in the middle of a recording session or was scheduled to record a few minutes before the reboot. The one time I rebooted, it took several hours before some of the channels were inserted so I could view them. Seems to me that once the HR20 has a full channel list, it should write a file to the hard disk. Then after a reboot, if the time-stamp is within a certain time frame (perhaps 1 day), then load the received channel list from the hard disk.


1) The unit should NOT reboot if you have a scheduled recording active, or with in a 30-60 minutes of when you want to do the update.

2) With this update, it will now prompt you if you are actively using the system, before an update will occur.

After a reboot, the next couple hours are loaded with in minutes into the guide data.


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> 1) The unit should NOT reboot if you have a scheduled recording active, or with in a 30-60 minutes of when you want to do the update.
> 
> 2) With this update, it will now prompt you if you are actively using the system, before an update will occur.
> 
> After a reboot, the next couple hours are loaded with in minutes into the guide data.


What if the unit is "off"; but recording. 

I set it to record The Early Show this morning at 7AM EST. I'm not sure when the update ocurred. If it was during that recording, is there any manual intervention necessary when I get home tonight?


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Two things with the Active stuff after the upgrade:

- If I select News Mix from the active screen I don't get the yellow box around Fox News that I can use to move to other windows. If I go to channel 102 directly I'll get it.

- On the news mix channel if I pull up the What's Hot appliction the tab for my time zone is showing eastern, not central, which is where I'm at. The time on the box/program guide is showing the correct time and the box timezone setting is set to auto and it nows it's central time.


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## gr8reb8 (Aug 21, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> 1) The unit should NOT reboot if you have a scheduled recording active, or with in a 30-60 minutes of when you want to do the update.
> 
> 2) With this update, it will now prompt you if you are actively using the system, before an update will occur.
> 
> After a reboot, the next couple hours are loaded with in minutes into the guide data.


I have only rebooted once (and that was to get Dolby Digital to start working). After that reboot, whenever I attempted to go to channel 70 (HBO_HD) or 79 (HDNET), the receiver would say "channel not available". There were quite a few standard definition channels that also had this message. Then after about 10 minutes, a bunch more (standard def channels) were available, and then after about two hours, channel 70 and 79 were there. Perhaps it was a fluke.

BTW, I also have the HR-10. And when I enable/disable Dolby Digital, the change takes effect without a reboot.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

gr8reb8 said:


> I have only rebooted once (and that was to get Dolby Digital to start working). After that reboot, whenever I attempted to go to channel 70 (HBO_HD) or 79 (HDNET), the receiver would say "channel not available". There were quite a few standard definition channels that also had this message. Then after about 10 minutes, a bunch more (standard def channels) were available, and then after about two hours, channel 70 and 79 were there. Perhaps it was a fluke.
> 
> BTW, I also have the HR-10. And when I enable/disable Dolby Digital, the change takes effect without a reboot.


You shouldn't have to reboot when you change the Sound Settings.
I toggle between the often, as sometimes (like on Law and Order) DD5.1 has just too low of a center channel volume.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Vinny said:


> What if the unit is "off"; but recording.
> 
> I set it to record The Early Show this morning at 7AM EST. I'm not sure when the update ocurred. If it was during that recording, is there any manual intervention necessary when I get home tonight?


It probably already did the update before your Early Show.
But if you are in an active recording, it should not reboot to install an update.

DirecTV CAN issue an update that will force the unit to reboot regardless what is going on.... they don't use that on any type of regular basis, and is only planned to be used when there is an emergency release .


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## rdowdy95 (Mar 13, 2006)

sigma1914 said:


> Well this is weird...
> I had my new system installed yesterday & was testing DVR scenarios yesterday. Here' my scenario:
> 
> ~2 shows recorded at the same time, I come in and want to stop one to watch tv. I get the pop-up on which show to stop. I stop show 2 and 1 continues.
> ...


The only reason it was in the myVOD today was because after you got the update it reboots the DVR. Therefore you are now able to see that show you partially recorded. Whenever you do a stop and keep on a currently recording program that program won't show up in the myVOD list untill you reboot the DVR. Pretty crappy huh? They need to fix this!


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

rdowdy95 said:


> The only reason it was in the myVOD today was because after you got the update it reboots the DVR. Therefore you are now able to see that show you partially recorded. Whenever you do a stop and keep on a currently recording program that program won't show up in the myVOD list untill you reboot the DVR. Pretty crappy huh? They need to fix this!


Have you tested it with the new version?


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## Sickler (Sep 6, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> You shouldn't have to reboot when you change the Sound Settings.
> I toggle between the often, as sometimes (like on Law and Order) DD5.1 has just too low of a center channel volume.


I had to do the same thing, but this was with the original release code in August. DD was Off by default. Turning it on did not do anything. After a reboot it worked. Haven't toggled between it since.


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> It probably already did the update before your Early Show.
> But if you are in an active recording, it should not reboot to install an update.
> 
> DirecTV CAN issue an update that will force the unit to reboot regardless what is going on.... they don't use that on any type of regular basis, and is only planned to be used when there is an emergency release .


So if it did the update before the recording; I'll be fine.

But what if it was recording when the update came through; do I need to do anything to load it?

Thanks in advance, Earl......you're great!


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Vinny said:


> So if it did the update before the recording; I'll be fine.
> 
> But what if it was recording when the update came through; do I need to do anything to load it?
> 
> Thanks in advance, Earl......you're great!


No, if it didn't come down before your recording started....
It "should" wait till the recording is finished and then it will try again.


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## mwhip (Aug 17, 2006)

I checked this morning before I left the house and got the download. Eventhough it was not in the release notes I hope they fixed the "unwatchable recording" issue. I had the issue 3 times last night with Friday Night Lights, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

mwhip said:


> I checked this morning before I left the house and got the download. Eventhough it was not in the release notes I hope they fixed the "unwatchable recording" issue. I had the issue 3 times last night with Friday Night Lights, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars.


It is in the release notes (See black screen).
It has been improved, but not resolved... they are still working on eliminating the root cause.


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## mwhip (Aug 17, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> It is in the release notes (See black screen).
> It has been improved, but not resolved... they are still working on eliminating the root cause.


I am just happy at how proactive D* is at getting these issues resolved. As long as they are working towards fixing it I am pleased.

Before the last update I was getting black screen a couple times a day after it was a couple times a week now if it is a couple times a month they are moving in the right direction.


----------



## thiscopy (Sep 12, 2006)

Frequent updates are great in my book.

That thing you are typing on gets updated every week and didn't work very well when you first got it, yet you spend more time with it than you do your family.:lol: 

I am guilty of this some times as well.


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

skierbri10 said:


> 02468 doesn't work on mine....


I couldn't get the 02468 at startup to work either.


----------



## talbain (Sep 6, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> You guys are crazy....
> 
> Funny part is, I went to bed about 15 minutes before one of you reported the update comming down.


not crazy, just a bunch of enthusiasts who happen to be in different time zones. what is sleep time for me is dinner time for the guy in hawaii. so at any given time, SOMEONE is awake and posting away


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

matto said:


> I couldn't get the 02468 at startup to work either.


Very first screen... when it says welcome

Hit 02468 one time.....


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Very first screen... when it says welcome
> 
> Hit 02468 one time.....


Wierd. Is there some confirmation after the code is received?


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

matto said:


> Wierd. Is there some confirmation after the code is received?


No, not immediately. You just have to wait. After the Almost there screen, it will go to the software download instead of the HDDVR logo.


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> No, not immediately. You just have to wait. After the Almost there screen, it will go to the software download instead of the HDDVR logo.


OK, I tried three or four reboots (from 0xD1) and couldn't make it work, even with the remote right in front of the DVR. Strange.


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## cawgijoe (Dec 22, 2005)

I'm getting an HR20 installed next week on the 10th of Oct. which will be hooked up via HDMI to DVI to a Sony 34XBR800 TV. It's replacing a H20 that I've had since Dec 2005. To say the least, I'm a bit nervous about making the change.

I just hope that the HDMI connection is not an issue.....keeping my fingers crossed.

My brother in law on the other hand has a brand new Sony 60A2000 SXRD set that was hooked up to a HR20 via component with no issues and then bought an HDMI cable through Monoprice and gets no picture at all.

I don't believe he has checked to see if the latest update has come through and whether this problem will be fixed.

Any ideas or does he just have to wait? Did this update address any HDMI connectivity issues?


----------



## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

cawgijoe said:


> Did this update address any HDMI connectivity issues?


You obviously didn't bother reading the release notes. The very first line says that HDMI was improved.


----------



## darrinps (Sep 13, 2006)

Well this morning I turn on my TV, HR20, and receiver...I see the TV indicate it has started, I hear the sound, but NO PICTURE!

I change from HDMI to component on my TV and the picture returned!

I then rebooted the DVR and then saw the new messages everyone is talking about.

Looks like the automatic download hosed up my HDMI until I rebooted. Everything seems to work fine now though.

BTW, it's only the second time I've had to reboot...first time was when I was fast forwarding through something I was recording at the time...locked up. Other than that, its been pretty smooth so far.


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

darrinps said:


> Well this morning I turn on my TV, HR20, and receiver...I see the TV indicate it has started, I hear the sound, but NO PICTURE!
> 
> I change from HDMI to component on my TV and the picture returned!
> 
> ...


Please post your TV/HDMI details over in the HDMI thread, so that it can be tracked that it did this on a startup.


----------



## ruesch37 (Sep 14, 2006)

darrinps said:


> Well this morning I turn on my TV, HR20, and receiver...I see the TV indicate it has started, I hear the sound, but NO PICTURE!
> 
> I change from HDMI to component on my TV and the picture returned!
> 
> ...


I have lost my HDMI as well with this update. Before I tried to reboot, I simply unplugged the HDMI cord and plugged it back in. Problem fixed!!


----------



## EJB (Sep 15, 2006)

Is anyone having the "Searching for Satellite" message since the update this morning? I had it several weeks ago, was able to reproduce it several times and had DirecTv swap out my dish (even happened while they were here doing the swap). Since then, it has been fine.

This morning (since the update), I have seen it several times. It usually happens when switching from the HD channels (72-79) to Fox News (360). Once I get the message, it won't go away unless I use channel up and/or channel down. If I key in a channel using the numbers, the message stays. As soon as I hit channel up or down, it goes away.

When it has happened, I have not found any channels that are missing by junping around using the key pad. Not sure if my dish is going bad (again) or if something is screwy in the latest update.

ejb


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## cawgijoe (Dec 22, 2005)

Jeremy W said:


> You obviously didn't bother reading the release notes. The very first line says that HDMI was improved.


Thank you. However, I guess I won't actually know if it works with my TV until the installer shows up.

I'll check with my brother in law tonight to see if he had any luck with his SXRD set.


----------



## billt1111 (Aug 16, 2006)

EJB said:


> Is anyone having the "Searching for Satellite" message since the update this morning? I had it several weeks ago, was able to reproduce it several times and had DirecTv swap out my dish (even happened while they were here doing the swap). Since then, it has been fine.
> 
> This morning (since the update), I have seen it several times. It usually happens when switching from the HD channels (72-79) to Fox News (360). Once I get the message, it won't go away unless I use channel up and/or channel down. If I key in a channel using the numbers, the message stays. As soon as I hit channel up or down, it goes away.
> 
> ...


There is another way to get the message to go away. Go to the antenna setup screen. View the transponder signal strengths for one of the satellites. When it is finished press done. Exit the setup menu. The message is gone. I have done that 3 times in 4 weeks to get rid of that message.


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

billt1111 said:


> There is another way to get the message to go away. Go to the antenna setup screen. View the transponder signal strengths for one of the satellites. When it is finished press done. Exit the setup menu. The message is gone. I have done that 3 times in 4 weeks to get rid of that message.


Does simply hitting "exit" not make the notification go away?


----------



## jamieh1 (May 1, 2003)

ever since the update, Ive had playbacks just freeze as if I hit pause. This has happened atleast 4 times today. I have to exit out a restart the playback.


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## billt1111 (Aug 16, 2006)

matto said:


> Does simply hitting "exit" not make the notification go away?


Not on my HR20. Nothing gets rid of it (that I know of) except the procedure I described or a red panic button reset.


----------



## billt1111 (Aug 16, 2006)

matto said:


> Does simply hitting "exit" not make the notification go away?


As far as I can tell the unit is not actually "searching for satellites". In the transponder signal strength screen they are all there. In my case they are all 80 to 100 in strength. Everything is working great, except for that big dialogue box in the middle of the screen.


----------



## EJB (Sep 15, 2006)

matto said:


> Does simply hitting "exit" not make the notification go away?


I have not tried that one, but will try it next time it pops up. What is weird is that keying in a channel using the numbers will not get rid of it. I went to channels 490-495 (the sat test channels) and the message stayed so I could not see if the signal was good. As soon as I hit channel up/down it went away and I could view channels 490-495.

Last time I had the problem, there were actually 4 channels I could not catch during the problem, so DirectTv swapped my dish to fix it. Not sure if the current message is a software bug or if I am really having a dish/multiswitch problem again.

ejb


----------



## EJB (Sep 15, 2006)

jamielee said:


> ever since the update, Ive had playbacks just freeze as if I hit pause. This has happened atleast 4 times today. I have to exit out a restart the playback.


Were these recorded before or after the update? From what I have seen, it won't fix freezes in stuff recorded before and according to "Earl's Release Note"  this latest update reduces the problem, but does not fix it (yet!).

ejb


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

EJB said:


> I have not tried that one, but will try it next time it pops up. What is weird is that keying in a channel using the numbers will not get rid of it. I went to channels 490-495 (the sat test channels) and the message stayed so I could not see if the signal was good. As soon as I hit channel up/down it went away and I could view channels 490-495.


they should at least put this notification in the lower area of the screen occupied by the 'mini guide'. a giant box for this sort of alert is just plain retarded.


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

jamielee said:


> ever since the update, Ive had playbacks just freeze as if I hit pause. This has happened atleast 4 times today. I have to exit out a restart the playback.


When where those recordings made?


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

yea a little red sat icon in in the corner would be fine


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## Rob55 (Sep 14, 2006)

Oddly enough, my playback freezes started with 0xD1. Almost reconnected the DirecTiVo last night. Then this morning, saw there was an update. Hope it helps (as the release notes would suggest).


----------



## mweldridge (Sep 14, 2006)

EJB said:


> Is anyone having the "Searching for Satellite" message since the update this morning? I had it several weeks ago, was able to reproduce it several times and had DirecTv swap out my dish (even happened while they were here doing the swap). Since then, it has been fine.
> 
> This morning (since the update), I have seen it several times. It usually happens when switching from the HD channels (72-79) to Fox News (360). Once I get the message, it won't go away unless I use channel up and/or channel down. If I key in a channel using the numbers, the message stays. As soon as I hit channel up or down, it goes away.
> 
> ...


I had the same issue with the HR20 in the living room this morning. It got the update last night and this morning it was stuck on "Searching...". After awhile it switched to a DirecTV seveen saver floating around the screen. I did a red button reset and the unit seems OK now. The HR20 in the bedroom got the update and had no issues after it did it's normal post update reset.


----------



## mweldridge (Sep 14, 2006)

cawgijoe said:


> Thank you. However, I guess I won't actually know if it works with my TV until the installer shows up.
> 
> I'll check with my brother in law tonight to see if he had any luck with his SXRD set.


My HR20 in the living room has veen hooked to a Sony 60" SXRD set using HDMI since I got the HR20 on Sept 10. Never had any HDMI picture issues.


----------



## cawgijoe (Dec 22, 2005)

mweldridge said:


> My HR20 in the living room has veen hooked to a Sony 60" SXRD set using HDMI since I got the HR20 on Sept 10. Never had any HDMI picture issues.


Which set is it? He has the new 60A2000 SXRD.


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## HolyBuckeye (Oct 4, 2006)

I went to bed last night at 1am and the HR20 was working perfectly. I woke up this morning and the screen was black. I reconnected my old HD receiver (without DVR) with the same cables and it worked fine. BUT I WANT THE DVR i paid for. What a pain. I reset everything, unplugged everything and still all i get with the HR20 is a black screen. It seems like many people got hit with this.

I have a Sony KV-34HS420, hooked up with Monster HDMI cable. I have had no issues with TV or HDMI in past. Please help me fix for tonight.

Thanks!!


----------



## rdowdy95 (Mar 13, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Have you tested it with the new version?


I will test it tonight I have to work till 9pm. I did get the update, but haven't tested it out yet. I will record some 2 minutes or 1 minute worth of partial programming, and let you know though. Have you heard anything Earl about the Stop and Keep stuff not showing up for partial recordings untill you reset the unit then it shows?


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

HolyBuckeye said:


> I have a Sony KV-34HS420, hooked up with Monster HDMI cable. I have had no issues with TV or HDMI in past. Please help me fix for tonight.
> Thanks!!


If you aren't using a fixed-pixel display, you are getting no benefit from using HDMI instead of component video. Especially on a 34" display. All you're doing is buying yourself a lot of headache.


----------



## HolyBuckeye (Oct 4, 2006)

matto said:


> If you aren't using a fixed-pixel display, you are getting no benefit from using HDMI instead of component video. Especially on a 34" display. All you're doing is buying yourself a lot of headache.


so are you saying the HDMI only has benefits when using an LCD or Plasma set?

And are you also saying if I use Component cables (which i have), then my issue will go away???


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## HolyBuckeye (Oct 4, 2006)

matto said:


> If you aren't using a fixed-pixel display, you are getting no benefit from using HDMI instead of component video. Especially on a 34" display. All you're doing is buying yourself a lot of headache.


i thought hdmi just gave you the one cable for best PQ and best SQ. No need for a plasma or LCD as my unit is custom built and it looks like a flat screen in the unit. the benefit isnt there, yet!


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

HolyBuckeye said:


> so are you saying the HDMI only has benefits when using an LCD or Plasma set?


Or DLP.



HolyBuckeye said:


> And are you also saying if I use Component cables (which i have), then my issue will go away???


This specific problem, yes.


----------



## rdowdy95 (Mar 13, 2006)

billt1111 said:


> As far as I can tell the unit is not actually "searching for satellites". In the transponder signal strength screen they are all there. In my case they are all 80 to 100 in strength. Everything is working great, except for that big dialogue box in the middle of the screen.


This would happen to me also. Only happened two times. I haven't used my TV since the update though. It would show the searching for sats screen for like a split second then disappear. So I was thinking an airplane flew in the way or something. Cause it didn't effect what I was watching or anything like that. I am just hoping LOST in HD comes out great tonight.


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## HolyBuckeye (Oct 4, 2006)

matto said:


> Or DLP.
> 
> This specific problem, yes.


i will try this right now and report back to you..... here's hoping!


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## kandyd (Sep 17, 2006)

cawgijoe said:


> Which set is it? He has the new 60A2000 SXRD.


I have that set, connected via HDMI, and have had no problems.


----------



## billt1111 (Aug 16, 2006)

rdowdy95 said:


> This would happen to me also. Only happened two times. I haven't used my TV since the update though. It would show the searching for sats screen for like a split second then disappear. So I was thinking an airplane flew in the way or something. Cause it didn't effect what I was watching or anything like that. I am just hoping LOST in HD comes out great tonight.


No that is a different problem. I still get a "searching for satellite" box once or twice a day for a second or two on a channel change. This is different in that it doesn't go away and you cannot get rid of it without resetting or going into setup to view transponder signal strengths. All three times I saw the latter problem it was when I was turning on the HR20 after many hours of standby.


----------



## mweldridge (Sep 14, 2006)

cawgijoe said:


> Which set is it? He has the new 60A2000 SXRD.


It's the R60XBR1


----------



## HolyBuckeye (Oct 4, 2006)

matto said:


> Or DLP.
> 
> This specific problem, yes.


Okay, this "specific problem" is fixed when i used component cables instead of hdmi cables. here are my issues:

1) maybe it is me, but i think the picture on my set even though it is a crt is better with the hdmi. are you 1,000% positive this isnt true? the picture is still great, but it doesnt seem as great- or maybe i am being too picky?

2) i called directv's tech experts and no one came up with this solution. how is that possible. they all knew i had hdmi cables. they said i needed a replacement hr20.

3) will i ever be able to use my hdmi input with the hr20 once the bugs get worked out?

4) is this fix a short term fix and soon the issue will pop back up?

thanks to everyone for this site as no one at directv has a clue!


----------



## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

HolyBuckeye said:


> maybe it is me, but i think the picture on my set even though it is a crt is better with the hdmi. are you 1,000% positive this isnt true? the picture is still great, but it doesnt seem as great- or maybe i am being too picky?


HDMI is superior, so it's definitely possible to see a better picture. It just has *more* of a benefit on fixed-pixel displays.


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

HolyBuckeye said:


> Okay, this "specific problem" is fixed when i used component cables instead of hdmi cables. here are my issues:
> 
> 1) maybe it is me, but i think the picture on my set even though it is a crt is better with the hdmi. are you 1,000% positive this isnt true? the picture is still great, but it doesnt seem as great- or maybe i am being too picky?


I am 100% positive that you arent getting better PQ on a 34" direct view crt via HDMI.



HolyBuckeye said:


> 2) i called directv's tech experts and no one came up with this solution. how is that possible. they all knew i had hdmi cables. they said i needed a replacement hr20.


they are just working off the lousy troubleshooting scripts given to them by D*.



HolyBuckeye said:


> 3) will i ever be able to use my hdmi input with the hr20 once the bugs get worked out?


once the bugs are worked out, sure. but I still have no idea why you'd bother.



HolyBuckeye said:


> 4) is this fix a short term fix and soon the issue will pop back up?


the problem is with HDMI handshaking, most probably HDCP negotiation and authentication. The only thing you're losing out on by using component video interconnects is the need to run seperate digital audio. There is no way for this issue to happen unless you're using the HDMI output.


----------



## HolyBuckeye (Oct 4, 2006)

matto said:


> I am 100% positive that you arent getting better PQ on a 34" direct view crt via HDMI.
> 
> they are just working off the lousy troubleshooting scripts given to them by D*.
> 
> ...


maybe directv should hire you as a consultant! i really appreciate it! do you agree with what Jeremy W says in the fact that HDMI is better for my set, just not as better as it would be for lcd, plasma?


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

HolyBuckeye said:


> maybe directv should hire you as a consultant! i really appreciate it! do you agree with what Jeremy W says in the fact that HDMI is better for my set, just not as better as it would be for lcd, plasma?


The only time you'd see an advantage is in a situation where hd-resolution component video output has been administratively prohibited (blu-ray and hd dvd have this capability, and I'm sure the HR20 does too).

The capability seems to be an effort by equipment manufacturers to appease content producers, and thus far there has not been content released that is actually restricted in this way. But the possibility is there.

Another scenario where you would prefer an HDMI connection is for devices like upscaling DVD players, or HD DVD/Blu-ray players playing conventional DVDs, where they only will upscale out the DVI or HDMI outputs.

In this specific case, the HR20 and your 34" CRT, you are netting no PQ benefit from HDMI.


----------



## LameLefty (Sep 29, 2006)

matto said:


> The only time you'd see an advantage is in a situation where hd-resolution component video output has been administratively prohibited (blu-ray and hd dvd have this capability, and I'm sure the HR20 does too).


The first time some HD content I've purchased (or "licensed" in modern marketing-speak  ) is "administratvely prohibited" from viewing on my component-only TV is the day I personally file suit in Federal court to get the MPAA declared a content-controlling monopoly worthy of disbanding and start raising hell with my Congresscritter. I don't expect to win but it would be nice to get a grass-roots movement started.


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

LameLefty said:


> The first time some HD content I've purchased (or "licensed" in modern marketing-speak  ) is "administratvely prohibited" from viewing on my component-only TV is the day I personally file suit in Federal court to get the MPAA declared a content-controlling monopoly worthy of disbanding and start raising hell with my Congresscritter. I don't expect to win but it would be nice to get a grass-roots movement started.


WORD


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## HolyBuckeye (Oct 4, 2006)

Are there any specific compenent cables you would get or are they all the same?


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

HolyBuckeye said:


> Are there any specific compenent cables you would get or are they all the same?


If you are going 12 feet or less, the cheapest ones you can find at Radio Shack will work great.


----------



## HolyBuckeye (Oct 4, 2006)

matto said:


> If you are going 12 feet or less, the cheapest ones you can find at Radio Shack will work great.


you seem to know your stuff. let me ask you this. with the hr20 and looking for best quality what set would you get:

42 inches or less. and do you like plasma or lcd? and why?

you da man!


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

you seem to know your stuff. let me ask you this. with the hr20 and looking for best quality what set would you get:
42 inches or less. and do you like plasma or lcd? and why?
[/QUOTE]

Bad question for me- I'm not excited about the picture quality from any of the fixed-pixel display technologies I've seen. I stick with CRTs, which everyone tells me are old-fashioned and junky these days. There are some decent sounding DLP units out now, but I am not excited about the contrast range, nor the spinning filter wheel which will undoubtedly break someday.



HolyBuckeye said:


> you da man!


nah, I just do a little video production and post, so I learn this stuff by accident


----------



## jamieh1 (May 1, 2003)

Ive tried 4 different HDMI cables, I put my HR20 on PIP with the to inputs side by side and the HDMI is a little lighter and not as sharp and colorful as my component cables.

Plus on my Samsung LCD, the 480i is not supported with HDMI, only 480p, 720p, 1080i

The pq on standard def channels is not as sharp on 480p, 720p, or 1080i.
So I prefer component.


----------



## jamieh1 (May 1, 2003)

Earl Bonovich said:


> When where those recordings made?


I had recordings from a few days ago and recordings from today and even LIVE TV from today.

Also if you could pass along for them to add codes for Westinghouse, they only have 1 code in the menu.
I had to do a code search so I could get my father in laws tv programmed.
Also the TV INPUT code brings up the menu, and then it want let you do anything.


----------



## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

EJB said:


> Is anyone having the "Searching for Satellite" message since the update this morning? I had it several weeks ago, was able to reproduce it several times and had DirecTv swap out my dish (even happened while they were here doing the swap). Since then, it has been fine.
> 
> This morning (since the update), I have seen it several times. It usually happens when switching from the HD channels (72-79) to Fox News (360). Once I get the message, it won't go away unless I use channel up and/or channel down. If I key in a channel using the numbers, the message stays. As soon as I hit channel up or down, it goes away.
> 
> ...


Might just be Fox News fouled your reception.


----------



## billt1111 (Aug 16, 2006)

matto said:


> Bad question for me- I'm not excited about the picture quality from any of the fixed-pixel display technologies I've seen. I stick with CRTs, which everyone tells me are old-fashioned and junky these days. There are some decent sounding DLP units out now, but I am not excited about the contrast range, nor the spinning filter wheel which will undoubtedly break someday.


???

The new panny plasma 42" HD displays have a 10,000 to 1 contrast ratio. The blacks are AWESOME, as is the PQ, and the 60,000 hour lifespan (20 years min). For lightweight displays that are super sharp, super quality, and super cheap, it is no contest.


----------



## WANDERER (Sep 27, 2006)

billt1111 said:


> ???
> 
> The new panny plasma 42" HD displays have a 10,000 to 1 contrast ratio. The blacks are AWESOME, as is the PQ, and the 60,000 hour lifespan (20 years min). For lightweight displays that are super sharp, super quality, and super cheap, it is no contest.


too damn small though!

I like em' BIG!


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

billt1111 said:


> ???
> 
> The new panny plasma 42" HD displays have a 10,000 to 1 contrast ratio. The blacks are AWESOME, as is the PQ, and the 60,000 hour lifespan (20 years min). For lightweight displays that are super sharp, super quality, and super cheap, it is no contest.


Hows the color gamut compared to a good CRT, though?


----------



## billt1111 (Aug 16, 2006)

WANDERER said:


> too damn small though!
> 
> I like em' BIG!


Perhaps. Even the panny 65" units are 5000:1. But the gentleman who was posing the question had a requirement of "42 inches or less".


----------



## billt1111 (Aug 16, 2006)

matto said:


> Hows the color gamut compared to a good CRT, though?


3,620 million colors on a 42" HD display with 10,000:1 contrast ratio for less than I bought my 32" sony trinitron flat screen 5 years ago. My panny plasma makes my sony flat screen CRT look foolish.


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

billt1111 said:


> 3,620 million colors on a 42" HD display with 10,000:1 contrast ratio for less than I bought my 32" sony trinitron flat screen 5 years ago. My panny plasma makes my sony flat screen CRT look foolish.


that sounds awesome, where did you pick it up for that price?


----------



## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

billt1111 said:


> ???
> 
> The new panny plasma 42" HD displays have a 10,000 to 1 contrast ratio. The blacks are AWESOME, as is the PQ, and the 60,000 hour lifespan (20 years min). For lightweight displays that are super sharp, super quality, and super cheap, it is no contest.


Link please?


----------



## billt1111 (Aug 16, 2006)

sigma1914 said:


> Link please?


My preference is the industrial models without tuners and speakers. YMMV

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webap...toreId=11201&catalogId=13051&catGroupId=14624

http://www.visualapex.com/plasma/plasma_details.asp?chPartNumber=TH-42PH9UK&MFR=Panasonic


----------



## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

Got home and checked on the HR20. Updated fine this morning and it recorded something in the meantime. No problems so far. Also I noticed since the last version (D1?) I have not had an issue with getting a signal back after signal loss due to storms.

I'll be putting it through it's paces the next couple days with hockey starting up and will watch a game "delayed" tomorrow so I'll see how that works.


----------



## HolyBuckeye (Oct 4, 2006)

bonscott87 said:


> Got home and checked on the HR20. Updated fine this morning and it recorded something in the meantime. No problems so far. Also I noticed since the last version (D1?) I have not had an issue with getting a signal back after signal loss due to storms.
> 
> I'll be putting it through it's paces the next couple days with hockey starting up and will watch a game "delayed" tomorrow so I'll see how that works.


LET'S GO BUFFALO!


----------



## HolyBuckeye (Oct 4, 2006)

matto said:


> you seem to know your stuff. let me ask you this. with the hr20 and looking for best quality what set would you get:
> 42 inches or less. and do you like plasma or lcd? and why?


Bad question for me- I'm not excited about the picture quality from any of the fixed-pixel display technologies I've seen. I stick with CRTs, which everyone tells me are old-fashioned and junky these days. There are some decent sounding DLP units out now, but I am not excited about the contrast range, nor the spinning filter wheel which will undoubtedly break someday.

nah, I just do a little video production and post, so I learn this stuff by accident [/QUOTE]

it is such the in thing to get flat, but if you can get a crt and it fits your home it looks just as good.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

:backtotop


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## HDNut (Aug 28, 2006)

On my Westinghouse 42W2, I used to get a pinkish screen when I switched from a PC desktop on DVI-1 or DVI-2 to the HR20 on the HDMI input. After this update, I no longer get that pinkish screen. I have been trying this all day and have not seen a single pinkish screen on HDMI.


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## lehts (Sep 22, 2006)

Okay I received the update this morning. A new behavior has appeared. Now during extended pauses I get the screensaving floating logo (like before) but it is flashing the paused frame every 45 seconds or so. No big deal but a little weird.


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

lehts said:


> Okay I received the update this morning. A new behavior has appeared. Now during extended pauses I get the screensaving floating logo (like before) but it is flashing the paused frame every 45 seconds or so. No big deal but a little weird.


I saw that same behavior with 0xD1.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

jamielee said:


> ever since the update, Ive had playbacks just freeze as if I hit pause. This has happened atleast 4 times today. I have to exit out a restart the playback.


I am experiencing a similar thing. I have experienced this when playing back 2 different recordings just an hour ago. Both recordings started ok, went about a minute in, and then it just paused itself. While the video is "paused" if I hit the play button the trickplay progress bar shows that I'm at the beginning of the recording even though I should be at least a minute into it. "Paused" video remained on the screen, the HR20 still responds to commands. I can use trickplay functions to get it to start playing again. One of the recordings occured on Sunday and another one just last night. Even when going to the end of the recording and then playing back from the beginning, it seems to pause in the same spot. I have not tested this with any recordings that occured since the latest update, but I'll try it later tonight if possible. I have not seen this behavior before with my HR20.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> HDMI is superior, so it's definitely possible to see a better picture. It just has *more* of a benefit on fixed-pixel displays.


Not trying to enter a flame war, just wanting to learn. Would the following scenarios not give a better PQ with HDMI on a 34" direct view set:
1. The DAC in the set is better than the one in the HR20
2. The component video cable is cheap and there are impedance mismatches in the cables or connectors
???

DACS being the same, my gut feeling would tell me that the longer the chain remains digital, without analog interconnects, the better the PQ should be. Wrong/Right?? Im still using component to my lcd, as Ive been waiting for the HDMI bugs to get squashed before even attempting hooking mine up that way.


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## cpbergie (Aug 21, 2006)

HDNut said:


> On my Westinghouse 42W2, I used to get a pinkish screen when I switched from a PC desktop on DVI-1 or DVI-2 to the HR20 on the HDMI input. After this update, I no longer get that pinkish screen. I have been trying this all day and have not seen a single pinkish screen on HDMI.


Are you having a "freeze up" problem when you leave the Westy off overnight? I had to switch to Component b/c HDMI was causing freeze ups on my HR20.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

PoitNarf said:


> I am experiencing a similar thing. I have experienced this when playing back 2 different recordings just an hour ago. Both recordings started ok, went about a minute in, and then it just paused itself. While the video is "paused" if I hit the play button the trickplay progress bar shows that I'm at the beginning of the recording even though I should be at least a minute into it. "Paused" video remained on the screen, the HR20 still responds to commands. I can use trickplay functions to get it to start playing again. One of the recordings occured on Sunday and another one just last night. Even when going to the end of the recording and then playing back from the beginning, it seems to pause in the same spot. I have not tested this with any recordings that occured since the latest update, but I'll try it later tonight if possible. I have not seen this behavior before with my HR20.


I had this happen to me as well tonight for the first time.
Recording from yesterday from an SD channel (Fox Sports Detroit).
It paused itself about a minute in.
I did what I had read and skipped to the first tick and then rewound back to the beginning and I was able to watch no problem.


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## lpctv (Aug 26, 2006)

Just wandering if a reboot is supposed to reset the resolution?
Reason I'm asking is that before I knew there had been an update, I turned the box on and I had a black screen on my TV. Then, I noticed that there was a message up on screen about the resolution not being supported (Samsung DLP via HDMI = no 480p). Once I set it back to 720p all seemed ok. But, I'm curious to know if reboot and resolution reset is the norm?
Does getting an update also reset any other custom setting made - such as recording prefs, etc.?


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

HolyBuckeye said:


> I have a Sony KV-34HS420, hooked up with Monster HDMI cable. I have had no issues with TV or HDMI in past. Please help me fix for tonight.
> 
> Thanks!!


HB -- this has worked for me -- no guarantees. Plug in your component cables > unplug the HDMI > do the red button reboot and let it run all the way back to normal > plug the HDMI back in.

Incidentally, Earl -- I'd left the HR20 alone, last night, w/both HDMI and component hooked up > figuring if we had an update and there was a problem I could perform the "component reboot", this morning -- but, everything's still working just fine. Recorded a few small bits, this morning -- have three shows recording, tonight.

So, maybe they've sorted the HDMI problem > just not showing up in completion for folks who still haven't done one [initial] bootup with component?


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## LameLefty (Sep 29, 2006)

Has anyone yet recorded something SINCE the update and gotten the BSOD (Black Screen of Death) witht that recording? My install is scheduled for Saturday afternoon and it will be very helpful to the WAF if I can promise reliable recordings (especially of HD locals here in the Nashville) with the latest software.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Davenlr said:


> Not trying to enter a flame war, just wanting to learn. Would the following scenarios not give a better PQ with HDMI on a 34" direct view set:
> 1. The DAC in the set is better than the one in the HR20
> 2. The component video cable is cheap and there are impedance mismatches in the cables or connectors
> ???
> ...


I don't see anything wrong with what you're saying.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Well, this is a first. 7pm tonight, Jericho starts recording on WCBS. I want to watch it while its recording, but was on the other tuner, so I tuned to it with the remote and watched it. Missed a few parts, so went to play the recording, and it wasnt there. Checked HISTORY, and it shows:
Jericho Today 7:00p Cancelled
Jericho Today 7:00p Deleted

Now, how can it be deleted? Surely tuning to it on the second tuner wont cancel or delete the recording on the To Do list I hope. If so, thats a terrible bug.

As a side note, prior to the recording, I noticed that the show DID show in ToDo as scheduled to record, but on the PROGRAM GUIDE, there was no R)) on the listing. The record light did come on at 7.

EDIT: Went back and checked ToDo and it showed next Wednesdays Jericho scheduled, but the Guide didnt show it with the R)). I hit RR in the guide, and it showed the R)). Went back to ToDo and it showed the show scheduled to record twice, once with 1 episode, the new one with No episodes. Not wanting to miss it, I deleted both season passes (I know, its not a Tivo, just cant remember what its called on this box), and went to the guide and hit RR again, this time it showed up in ToDo correctly. Prioritized it back to 2 (It had been 1), and will see what happens next Wednesday. All my other "passes" are showing up in the guide with the R)), so it must have been something in the way I created Jericho (I used search instead of the guide).


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## remlle (Aug 22, 2006)

well I dont know if this has been noticed or if its my imagination or not but Ive noticed that my fast forward and rewind are faster. and all around better.


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

Davenlr said:


> Not trying to enter a flame war, just wanting to learn. Would the following scenarios not give a better PQ with HDMI on a 34" direct view set:
> 1. The DAC in the set is better than the one in the HR20
> 2. The component video cable is cheap and there are impedance mismatches in the cables or connectors
> ???
> ...


And would the imperceptible difference be worth the headaches people here are having with HDMI?


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

matto said:


> And would the imperceptible difference be worth the headaches people here are having with HDMI?


If HDMI doesn't work right, then using component in the meantime isn't a problem. But for most people, HDMI works fine. If HDMI works, there's no reason not to use it.


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> If HDMI doesn't work right, then using component in the meantime isn't a problem. But for most people, HDMI works fine. If HDMI works, there's no reason not to use it.


There's an entire sticky thread just for HDMI problems. Not so fine imho


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

matto said:


> There's an entire sticky thread just for HDMI problems. Not so fine imho


I said *most people*. Obviously people are only going to post in the thread when they have a problem. My HDMI has been working perfectly since I connected it back when the HR20 was still on 0xCC. The only reason I didn't use it on 0xBE was because I had to order an HDMI cable.


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

LameLefty said:


> Has anyone yet recorded something SINCE the update and gotten the BSOD (Black Screen of Death) witht that recording?


Haven't gotten BSoD yet, but I did have a recording I scheduled not show up on the List.

I chose both the A's-Twins and Dodger-Mets games on ESPN-HD, but when I went to play the A's-Twins game, it wasn't in the List and in the History it showed up as Deleted. I live alone so that didn't happen.


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> I said *most people*. Obviously people are only going to post in the thread when they have a problem. My HDMI has been working perfectly since I connected it back when the HR20 was still on 0xCC. The only reason I didn't use it on 0xBE was because I had to order an HDMI cable.


I'm glad it's working for you; but you are not most people. No other single HR20 problem has its own sticky thread, and that speaks for itself.

If it works for you, that is fantastic. All I am suggesting is that if folks are having problems with their HDMI connection, and have either a small display and/or a non-fixed-pixel display, they are losing almost nothing in PQ by going component, and gaining a lot in reliability.

At the end of the day, all I'm trying to do is help people enjoy their new DVR without getting flipped out because their HDMI flakes (or takes 5 seconds to resync every time they change a channel). I have nothing to prove and no hidden evil anti-HDMI agenda.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

matto said:


> All I am suggesting is that if folks are having problems with their HDMI connection, and have either a small display and/or a non-fixed-pixel display, they are losing almost nothing in PQ by going component, and gaining a lot in reliability.


And I suggested the exact same thing in my post.


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> And I suggested the exact same thing in my post.


I am glad we are in agreement.


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## rcook349 (Aug 20, 2006)

I would rather not mess with the manual update, but how can I see what version update is on my system?

Thank,
Ron 

P.S. Go Bears


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## Monty23 (Sep 16, 2006)

Well here goes. Was recording HOUSE and LOST at same time. Was watching HOUSE live a couple minutes behind. Started pixelating and hanging up. Got searching for satellite 1&2 (771) message. Tried moving forward and back. Unit locked up. Hit the exit button. Went to live TV (LOST). Both recodings are gone. Do not show up in VOD list. Go to history, says both recordings DELETED!! Can't believe this thing. Thank goodness my HR10-250 is recording both programs RELIABLY for me right now!!    This is absolutely ridiculous.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

Ed Campbell said:


> HB -- this has worked for me -- no guarantees. Plug in your component cables > unplug the HDMI > do the red button reboot and let it run all the way back to normal > plug the HDMI back in.
> 
> Incidentally, Earl -- I'd left the HR20 alone, last night, w/both HDMI and component hooked up > figuring if we had an update and there was a problem I could perform the "component reboot", this morning -- but, everything's still working just fine. Recorded a few small bits, this morning -- have three shows recording, tonight.
> 
> So, maybe they've sorted the HDMI problem > just not showing up in completion for folks who still haven't done one [initial] bootup with component?


Ed, I did your process yesterday, before the latest update, and I recorded a ton of programs, and one did come up with the black frozen screen, but in this case, I managed to unstick it (something I couldn't do before). Other than that, no black screens on recordings. Also, I recorded a ton of shows today to put some pressure on the box, and this time, not a black screen in sight. Also, I didn't repeat the component steps this time, after this morning's download. Maybe things are straightened out here. Only time will tell.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

rcook349 said:


> I would rather not mess with the manual update, but how can I see what version update is on my system?
> 
> Thank,
> Ron
> ...


MENU/HELP and SETTINGS/SETUP/INFO and Test


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

LameLefty said:


> Has anyone yet recorded something SINCE the update and gotten the BSOD (Black Screen of Death) witht that recording? My install is scheduled for Saturday afternoon and it will be very helpful to the WAF if I can promise reliable recordings (especially of HD locals here in the Nashville) with the latest software.


So far, no BSODs here. Keeping fingers crossed, and recordings abundant to test the unit.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

matto said:


> No other single HR20 problem has its own sticky thread, and that speaks for


The reason why there is a specific HDMI thread... Is HDMI is a two part problem. The HR20 has to talk to the TV or AMP that is doing the other part of the HDMI connection.

The HDMI components on the HR20 are consistant accross each user... but the TV side of the components are different amongst makers and models even versions of a model.

The information that was gathered in that thread led directly to some of the improvements you are seeing in the last two releases.

We could start a thread on ever problem that the unit has.... but pretty much all of them are isolated to the HR20 itself.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> The reason why there is a specific HDMI thread... Is HDMI is a two part problem. The HR20 has to talk to the TV or AMP that is doing the other part of the HDMI connection.
> 
> The HDMI components on the HR20 are consistant accross each user... but the TV side of the components are different amongst makers and models even versions of a model.
> 
> ...


Nice to know that our contributions here are helping D* work out some of the kinks.


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## Scorch (Aug 4, 2006)

Every dang show I record freezes 10 seconds in and I have to go back to my VOD and start it again..........sometimes 3 times

has happened in every release I wish they would fix that


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## pgfitzgerald (Nov 29, 2005)

LameLefty said:


> Has anyone yet recorded something SINCE the update and gotten the BSOD (Black Screen of Death) witht that recording? My install is scheduled for Saturday afternoon and it will be very helpful to the WAF if I can promise reliable recordings (especially of HD locals here in the Nashville) with the latest software.


Yes, I have.

I received the update at 12:30am. I had a recording scheduled for 5:30am. When I attempted to play it, I got the black screen.

Paul


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## premio (Sep 26, 2006)

Interesting problem that I hadn't experienced on past versions.

When manually hitting channel down, not in the guide, I tuned to KCRA 3 HD, broadcasting a 4:3 side filled show at the time, the screen turned white with no audio. Hitting Channel up to go to the SD channel, the screen remained white but I could hear the audio. Hitting Menu did bring up the menu. Hitting channel up a bunch to HD channel brought the screen back. Direct Tuning, 3 on the remote, brought back the white screen, but the menu worked this time and the preview window showed the white box. I had to again to the a HD channel to bring back picture..

WEIRD! and if this thing ruins my LOST experience, I'm going to have a fit.

-n


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

premio said:


> Interesting problem that I hadn't experienced on past versions.
> 
> When manually hitting channel down, not in the guide, I tuned to KCRA 3 HD, broadcasting a 4:3 side filled show at the time, the screen turned white with no audio. Hitting Channel up to go to the SD channel, the screen remained white but I could hear the audio. Hitting Menu did bring up the menu. Hitting channel up a bunch to HD channel brought the screen back. Direct Tuning, 3 on the remote, brought back the white screen, but the menu worked this time and the preview window showed the white box. I had to again to the a HD channel to bring back picture..
> 
> ...


Do you have native resolution turned on?


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

well..... EVERY recording so far has froze 20 sec in have to hit 3x ff to continue.... so much for this release... second release was best here.... and still no ota


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

houskamp said:


> well..... EVERY recording so far has froze 20 sec in have to hit 3x ff to continue.... so much for this release... second release was best here.... and still no ota


Even on recordings that took place after this update? I didn't get a chance to test it with that tonight.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

yep had 2 today... update downloaded @ 5:17


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

houskamp said:


> yep had 2 today... update downloaded @ 5:17


It was a heavy recording night tonight....no problems so far.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

About 1/2 my recordings tonight are freezing about 15 seconds into them, hit skip back, ff x 3, play, they play ok. At least they arent unwatchable like they were before.


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## bobojay (Jan 26, 2004)

Had the freeze up issue on all recordings made today at some point in the program. Sometimes more than once on the same prog. I was able to hit FF for a second or 2 and they continued from there ok. Before if this happened, the box was locked up. So they helped on this issue.....


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## VinceV (Sep 19, 2006)

I am still experiencing the freezing at the start of a recording (first 15 seconds or so) that was introduced in 0xD1. This was with a show recorded and played back with 0xD8. FF gets you through it.


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

I called Support about the phantom deleted recording I mentioned earlier in the thread and she had me do a full reset, wiping out the hard drive and all settings and recordings.

I notice now when I schedule a recording there's a flash of a progress bar just before the recording is confirmed. I don't recall seeing that when I scheduled the recordings yesterday. Did I just miss it previously and was it there with the software update?


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

bidger said:


> I notice now when I schedule a recording there's a flash of a progress bar just before the recording is confirmed. I don't recall seeing that when I scheduled the recordings yesterday. Did I just miss it previously and was it there with the software update?


No, it's new.


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

First night since I setup my HR20 over a month ago and *no problems*! This release seems much improved so far.


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## btmoore (Aug 28, 2006)

I was away on business for 2 days come back to the new software and now I have picture and audio dropouts mid playback of recordings. The problem is so sever that is has caused my Philips plasma to go into some kind of protect mode twice where I have had to unplug the power the display to get it to come back on. I am using component and spdif I have experienced the problem on both MPEG4 and MPEG2 recording, first was a recording of the unit on my local CBS and the second was a Hogan’s Heroes on HDNET. 

In the prior release I would occasionally get a recording that would not play at all, but now I am having these random dropouts where I cant get control of the HR20,my screen goes black, I hear clicking from the display, and it is causing my display to act like it is trying to resync to what ever is happing on the component outputs. This situation is far far worse than prior software release. Does anyone have a contact @ D* I am actually concerned that this release might cause damage to my displays. 

This problem is so severe I am also going to post it as its own topic.

Regards,

Brian


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## EJB (Sep 15, 2006)

I recorded LOST last night and watched it when it was done. About 20 minutes into the show I got a freeze and a bright blue screen. Before this update, a freeze like this would be a still picture from the show, not the blue screen. I hit FF and it made it past that point. I maybe missed 10 seconds of the show.

Also had one audio drop out later in the show (I don't have a home theatre and am using component connections) that lasted maybe 3 seconds.

Also noticed some bad pixel block 2-3 times during the whole show.

ejb


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

I had 2 things scheduled for this past week (while I was out of town on business). One was before the update, another after. The DVR was off the 4 days I was gone (powered, but with the red power light on). EVERYTHING RECORDED AND PLAYED PERFECTLY on both recordings. I have been amazed how even with automated updates, the HR20 seems to not screw up scheduled programs for me, and also is very reliable in playback quality - one of the two programs was the ESPN Monday Night Football broadcast in HD - stellar.

Hopefully, some of the remaining hiccups are addressed this month (including a few isolated HDMI issues with certain manufacturers' sets and the OTA enabling), but I'd have to say the HR20 is one fine unit. It has exceeded my expectations, and provided alot of enjoyment/viewing that I would never have experienced without this device. I'm also very impressed by the rapid and dedicated updates in just 45 days on the mass market. I can remember my brother's Tivo took a year and 14 updates before it got anywhere near this stable.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

btmoore said:


> I was away on business for 2 days come back to the new software and now I have picture and audio dropouts mid playback of recordings. The problem is so sever that is has caused my Philips plasma to go into some kind of protect mode twice where I have had to unplug the power the display to get it to come back on.


If you're using HDMI - a reboot will oftern cure the "update hiccups". Once done, you shouldn't have any more such problems. I have both a DVI and HDMI setup with HR20's, and the DVI doesn't need the reboot on updates, whereas the HDMI does...not a big deal either way. Both HR20's work terrific.


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## pcates (Sep 20, 2006)

EJB said:


> I recorded LOST last night and watched it when it was done. About 20 minutes into the show I got a freeze and a bright blue screen. Before this update, a freeze like this would be a still picture from the show, not the blue screen. I hit FF and it made it past that point. I maybe missed 10 seconds of the show.
> 
> ejb


I got the blue screen about the same time while I was watching live. I am not sure this was the fault of the HR20. Did anyone else see it?


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## fpd917 (Aug 16, 2006)

Does anyone, more specific, EARL! Do you know when a software update for dual buffers might come down the pipe, since this update did not include this?


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## mntbikejack (Aug 29, 2006)

houskamp said:


> well..... EVERY recording so far has froze 20 sec in have to hit 3x ff to continue.... so much for this release... second release was best here.... and still no ota


Same thing happens here......


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## AllAroundPsycho (Sep 28, 2006)

The latest software release did not fix my daily lockups. It locked up again overnight without me doing anything. Here's my details, in case anyone has any ideas. I really think it's a hardware issue now. I have a tech coming out on Wednesday with a new box, just in case. I will, however, lose weekend recordings because I'll be out of town and it will lock up sometime on Friday. Oh, well.

HR20 was on all night and on a non-HD channel.
There were no recordings over night, so it had nothing to "do".
Hooked up via component and optical audio.
Turned on television this morning to find a black screen.
HR20 unresponsive to all remote signals.
Red-button-reboot brings it all back for another 20-24 hours.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

AllAroundPsycho said:


> The latest software release did not fix my daily lockups. It locked up again overnight without me doing anything. Here's my details, in case anyone has any ideas. I really think it's a hardware issue now. I have a tech coming out on Wednesday with a new box, just in case. I will, however, lose weekend recordings because I'll be out of town and it will lock up sometime on Friday. Oh, well.
> 
> HR20 was on all night and on a non-HD channel.
> There were no recordings over night, so it had nothing to "do".
> ...


Try a red button reboot, and see if all those things go away. I've noticed (since I have both connection types) that a reboot is needed for updates with HDMI, whereas my HDMI/DVI conversion connection does not need it to operate just fine.

Its alot easier than a new box, which may be unnecessary.


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## AllAroundPsycho (Sep 28, 2006)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Try a red button reboot, and see if all those things go away.


I'm doing red-button-reboots daily. It's now part of my morning routine to red-button-reboot the HR20 before going to work.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

AllAroundPsycho said:


> I'm doing red-button-reboots daily. It's now part of my morning routine to red-button-reboot the HR20 before going to work.


That plain sucks. :eek2:

It seems to be needed for updates with HDMI connection configurations (based on my limited one unit comparison with a DVI unit that doesn;t need it).


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> That plain sucks. :eek2:
> 
> It seems to be needed for updates with HDMI connection configurations (based on my limited one unit comparison with a DVI unit that doesn;t need it).


It's more complicated than that. I have had HDMI from day one, and have never experienced even the slightest video glitch, updates, turning on off, switching video inputs on the TV (OTA, DVD Recorder, S-Video, you name it).

So far, thank God, I'm one of the fortunate ones with no HDMI problems whatsoever, and only one other problem, one time (fail to record after resolving a recording conflict). I'm coming up on two weeks with the box. No HD Locals, so no potential MPEG-4 issues.


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## billt1111 (Aug 16, 2006)

hasan said:


> It's more complicated than that. I have had HDMI from day one, and have never experienced even the slightest video glitch, updates, turning on off, switching video inputs on the TV (OTA, DVD Recorder, S-Video, you name it).
> 
> So far, thank God, I'm one of the fortunate ones with no HDMI problems whatsoever, and only one other problem, one time (fail to record after resolving a recording conflict). I'm coming up on two weeks with the box. No HD Locals, so no potential MPEG-4 issues.


I have VERY few problems as well. A few minor quirks and an occasional surprise that I can always work around. I was actually looking for a reason to swap out my box but I cannot find one. There are probably a huge number of individuals with the same no-problem experience but we do not hear from them because good news is boring.


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## k2ue (Mar 8, 2004)

RF remote performance remains intermittently poor -- at times it simply doesn't respond at all, or delays and then responds to several keystrokes. Reminds me of coding for the IBMPC when too low an interupt priority was chosen -- the event is either lost or serviced late. At other times it is indistinguishable from IR control -- but IR never gets slow or misses keys.


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

k2ue said:


> RF remote performance remains intermittently poor -- at times it simply doesn't respond at all, or delays and then responds to several keystrokes. Reminds me of coding for the IBMPC when too low an interupt priority was chosen -- the event is either lost or serviced late. At other times it is indistinguishable from IR control -- but IR never gets slow or misses keys.


Excellent observation! I've been watching this unit closely for just short of two weeks, and some of the things I hear talked about definitely look like "timing" issues, busy processor issues, interrupt handling, etc. I'm sure they will get them worked out. It just seems like very familiar ground to me, so I'm not surprised or particularly concerned this early in the development cycle of the box.


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## jelia (Oct 1, 2006)

Well woke up seen new update tread checked my machine was readly updated :>
1. cant find what is new to this update can anyone sum it up please is it stability issues only.
2. found new error a in MyVod list a recorded show from last week suddenly show as 2/2 and the 2nd one is 2 mins copy of the start of that show(weird)
3. need to check if half of my recording still wont let me do R)) and only R which stays R even when in the adv setting shows series link on.
4. HDMI didnt work at start but simple solution for HD I have Svhs always connected as backup just go to that channel and chant TV Format cycle until 480i again and then HDMI works again then up the res again back to 1080i.

#comment: Component Vs HDMI - in DBS broadcast HDMI and component is the same more likely component will be better depends on your gear, HDMI will only benefit you for single wire or if you have True digital input such as HDTV or DVD
otherwise good scalar with filters will improve the analog signal when HDMI have clean pass trought and bad signal stays bad while component bad signals is fixed before you view it.


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## cawgijoe (Dec 22, 2005)

kandyd said:


> I have that set, connected via HDMI, and have had no problems.


Sony 60A2000

My brother in law received the latest download and says that the HDMI connection on his set does not work with the HR20. He is using Component.

What did you do.....or is there a sequence or trick to get it to work? Any help here is greatly appreciated.


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## 911medic (Aug 28, 2006)

jelia said:


> 1. cant find what is new to this update can anyone sum it up please is it stability issues only.


http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=66150


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## HDNut (Aug 28, 2006)

cpbergie said:


> Are you having a "freeze up" problem when you leave the Westy off overnight? I had to switch to Component b/c HDMI was causing freeze ups on my HR20.


I don't know what you mean by "freeze up", but I continue to have "power lockups" every morning after the Westy has been off all night. I think that is a Westy issue: not an HR20 issue. I get the power lockups even when the Westy is turned off at the end of the evening and another input (not the HDMI one) is selected at the time I turn off the Westy.


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## AllAroundPsycho (Sep 28, 2006)

HDNut said:


> I don't know what you mean by "freeze up", but I continue to have "power lockups" every morning after the Westy has been off all night.


Sorry if this is a noob question, but what is a "Westy"?


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

Westy is a Westinghouse.

I've been using HDMI since getting my HR20 a week ago. No problems on my Panasonic TC-32LX60, with HR20 resolution set to 720p and no MPEG4 here.

The update delayed till 7:30AM yesterday because I was recording. After that, caller ID worked only about half the time, but appears to be working 100% so far today. 

No problems with the approximately 4 movies I've recorded, and no problems at all watching live.


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## HDNut (Aug 28, 2006)

Davenlr said:


> Not trying to enter a flame war, just wanting to learn. Would the following scenarios not give a better PQ with HDMI on a 34" direct view set:
> 1. The DAC in the set is better than the one in the HR20
> 2. The component video cable is cheap and there are impedance mismatches in the cables or connectors
> ???
> ...


I agree with you and would like to add the following to the scenario of CRT direct-view HDTV sets: as far as I remember, most CRT direct-view sets I checked out did not accept a 720p YPbPr signal at their component-video inputs and scaled 720p signals up to 1080i. This also applied to the 720p signal from their own internal ATSC tuners. The scaling process is a digital process that required the analog YPbPr signals to be digitized before the scaling. Now, if the set used HDMI instead of analog YPbPr, then the video would have been in digital form to start with. It seems to me that by using HDMI the digital-to-analog process in the HR20 (or any other setop box) would not be required as well. So, with the elimination of DAC and ADC in the chain, a cleaner image might result.


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## HDNut (Aug 28, 2006)

AllAroundPsycho said:


> Sorry if this is a noob question, but what is a "Westy"?


Westy is a sort of nickname owners of Westinghouse LCD monitors and HDTV sets have given to their sets. I only used it because, apparently, I was posting a repply to a Westy owner.


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## Pragmatic Lemur (Sep 20, 2006)

HDNut said:


> Westy is a sort of nickname owners of Westinghouse LCD monitors and HDTV sets have given to their sets. I only used it because, apparently, I was posting a repply to a Westy owner.


The break it down further....most topics of discussion on Westy's is the LVM-42W2. All the other westinghouse models are ususally not as common since they don't have any of the Lock up/HDMI issues that the 42w2 has. And being such a hot topic on the avs forums and such, the 42w2 was given the nickname Westy to be quicker of course.

So most likely, when someone is using the term Westy, they are probably refferring to the Westinghouse LVM-42W2. Of course I am sure some people will use Westy to reffer to any Westinghouse TV, but I am certain the majority is talking about the 42 inch LCD.....that way you guys have a better idea of what TV they are referring to.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

and it's too hard to spell :lol:


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## 911medic (Aug 28, 2006)

HDNut said:


> I agree with you and would like to add the following to the scenario of CRT direct-view HDTV sets: as far as I remember, most CRT direct-view sets I checked out did not accept a 720p YPbPr signal at their component-video inputs and scaled 720p signals up to 1080i. This also applied to the 720p signal from their own internal ATSC tuners.


Would this scaling of 720p signals (via component inputs) up to 1080i be visible to the end user? How would one know this is happening? Just curious, as my CRT TV using YPbPr connections accepts 720p from the HR20 just fine. (I realize you said "*most* CRTs"), just wondering if it would manifest itself in some detectable way.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

Just an update:

I reported last night that I had 1 recording freeze up on me after about a minute of play but was able to play it after FFW skip and back.

Anyway, played 2 other recordings while another show was recording and did not encounter the problem again. It had heavy usage last night for me. It will again tonight.

I have also noticed the trick play functions (FFW and so forth) are much smoother and faster. It's to the point now I only have to hit replay once, maybe twice to get to the start of the program after a commercial break. All in less then 15 seconds. Very nice. My wife and I are getting used to it enough that when using the Tivo the auto jump back is starting to annoy us. Never thought I'd say that.

Other then that no problems and the box continues to be rock solid. I get my AT/9 dish and 6x8 switch installed this weekend (assuming the installer shows up) so we'll see if things remain good after that.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

AllAroundPsycho said:


> The latest software release did not fix my daily lockups. It locked up again overnight without me doing anything. Here's my details, in case anyone has any ideas. I really think it's a hardware issue now. I have a tech coming out on Wednesday with a new box, just in case. I will, however, lose weekend recordings because I'll be out of town and it will lock up sometime on Friday. Oh, well.
> 
> HR20 was on all night and on a non-HD channel.
> There were no recordings over night, so it had nothing to "do".
> ...


I had the same problem on my HDMI connected HR20 this morning with the exception that the video was playing as expected. I've found that Native=ON sometimes leaves you with a Black Screen, so the video being missing may not be the same problem as the unresponsive remote. Was the audio working?


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

Silly reminder --

Just as I was going to bed, last night, I remembered [looking back into the LR from the hall] that when you reboot this critter, the Blue Eye goes back to 100% bright. If -- as I do -- you have a dog who likes to sleep on a LR couch, please remember to turn the settings down to their lowest point! :glasses:


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## AllAroundPsycho (Sep 28, 2006)

brott said:


> I had the same problem on my HDMI connected HR20 this morning with the exception that the video was playing as expected. I've found that Native=ON sometimes leaves you with a Black Screen, so the video being missing may not be the same problem as the unresponsive remote. Was the audio working?


Nope. No video, no sound, no remote response, and plugged in via component. I also have Native set to off. It's a complete lockup.


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## cpbergie (Aug 21, 2006)

This morning was the first morning I didn't have the power lockup issue with my Westinghouse LVM-42w2 (Firmware V 1.00) using HDMI. (i also have component hooked up simultaniously). When I turned the TV on this morning, there was fuzz for about a second, and then everything looked good. Looks like this update fixed something.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

I had an unresponsive remote this morning immediately after I turned on the set. In the past, My Component connected system had locked up numerous times, but I've now gone a few days without a single lockup. 

My HDMI connected HR20 which has been pretty much rock solid with the exception of some poor video on Studio 60 from last Monday (I think it was an MPEG4 signal issue as no other recording has had this problem). However, when I turned on the TV this morning, (1) the input was selected for the HDMI HR20 connection, (2) I pressed the 'info' button on the HR20 remote to see what was playing and the blue info banner appeared. At this point, the remote became 100% unresponsive and the buttons on the front of the box became unresponsive as well. The 90-minute buffer was full because the station had been tuned in all night long.


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## 911medic (Aug 28, 2006)

Ed Campbell said:


> Silly reminder --
> 
> Just as I was going to bed, last night, I remembered [looking back into the LR from the hall] that when you reboot this critter, the Blue Eye goes back to 100% bright. If -- as I do -- you have a dog who likes to sleep on a LR couch, please remember to turn the settings down to their lowest point! :glasses:


Your dog complaining that it's too bright in there? LOL


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## AllAroundPsycho (Sep 28, 2006)

brott said:


> (2) I pressed the 'info' button on the HR20 remote to see what was playing and the blue info banner appeared. At this point, the remote became 100% unresponsive and the buttons on the front of the box became unresponsive as well. The 90-minute buffer was full because the station had been tuned in all night long.


I'm seeing this behavior, too. Either it's completely dead when I get to it, or I get one or two button presses before everything goes downhill and I end up with the completely dead symptoms.


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## Thinker3932 (Apr 12, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> New Software 10/04/2006 -0xD8
> Manufacture 700 - 0xD8
> 
> ---------------
> ...


What are "didn't get it" posts?


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## f300v10 (Feb 11, 2005)

Thinker3932 said:


> What are "didn't get it" posts?


Posts indicating that your HR20 did or did not upgrade to the latest firmware, in this case 0xD8.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

AllAroundPsycho said:


> Nope. No video, no sound, no remote response, and plugged in via component. I also have Native set to off. It's a complete lockup.


I was getting this on my component connected HR20 every morning up until a couple of days back. I'm hesitant to say it's fixed yet because the update rebooted the system yesterday. However, I was getting the problem daily. I removed the yellow video connection from the back of my HR20. I did have Red-Green-Blue component plus the red-white-yellow analog connected to the TV (no DD5.1 for me). I removed the yellow connection from the back of the HR20 and left everything else the same. Now I'm crossing my fingers that there are no lockups with that HR20. I was surprised to see the remote unresponsiveness this morning on my HDMI connected HR20.


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## AllAroundPsycho (Sep 28, 2006)

brott said:


> I was getting this on my component connected HR20 every morning up until a couple of days back. I'm hesitant to say it's fixed yet because the update rebooted the system yesterday. However, I was getting the problem daily. I removed the yellow video connection from the back of my HR20. I did have Red-Green-Blue component plus the red-white-yellow analog connected to the TV (no DD5.1 for me). I removed the yellow connection from the back of the HR20 and left everything else the same. Now I'm crossing my fingers that there are no lockups with that HR20. I was surprised to see the remote unresponsiveness this morning on my HDMI connected HR20.


I'd be curious to see if this worked. I do have the yellow-video connection hooked up to my HR20 in addition to the component. The yellow-video is running to a VCR.


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## btmoore (Aug 28, 2006)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> If you're using HDMI - a reboot will oftern cure the "update hiccups". Once done, you shouldn't have any more such problems. I have both a DVI and HDMI setup with HR20's, and the DVI doesn't need the reboot on updates, whereas the HDMI does...not a big deal either way. Both HR20's work terrific.


No HDMI, as I stated in my post I use componenet only.


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## spolaski (Sep 12, 2006)

k2ue said:


> RF remote performance remains intermittently poor -- at times it simply doesn't respond at all, or delays and then responds to several keystrokes. Reminds me of coding for the IBMPC when too low an interupt priority was chosen -- the event is either lost or serviced late. At other times it is indistinguishable from IR control -- but IR never gets slow or misses keys.


For what it's worth, I've been using RF for a couple of days now and found it to be _much_ better than IR (via an IR repeater inside the cabinet). I've noticed no delays or buffering like you've observed.

One possibility - could something be causing some RF interference and jamming your signal some?

Or it could just be that it seems like every owner has problems unique to their particular box.


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

AllAroundPsycho said:


> I'd be curious to see if this worked. I do have the yellow-video connection hooked up to my HR20 in addition to the component. The yellow-video is running to a VCR.


I have all my video and audio outputs in use from the HR20, and have had no problems whatever with HDMI.


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## premio (Sep 26, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Do you have native resolution turned on?


no. It takes too long to sync. All this was 1080i stretch.


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## k2ue (Mar 8, 2004)

spolaski said:


> For what it's worth, I've been using RF for a couple of days now and found it to be _much_ better than IR (via an IR repeater inside the cabinet). I've noticed no delays or buffering like you've observed.
> 
> One possibility - could something be causing some RF interference and jamming your signal some?
> 
> Or it could just be that it seems like every owner has problems unique to their particular box.


Since I'm an RFIC engineer that occurred to me, but I'm in a quiet suburban area well away from any transmitters of consequence -- and my house is cement block, with block interior walls between every two rooms or so. RF IR extenders won't work from one wing to the next due to the heavy structural attenuation. Also the bad periods usually occur just after a major event, such as power-on or fidling with recorded material.


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## gb33 (Sep 8, 2006)

Besides the obvious want of the OTA tuners, I have another major desire. GET RID OF THE SEARCHING FOR SIGNAL WHEN WATCHING A RECORDING! Why oh why does this pop up?! Okay, so it storms hard enough to knock out the signal, so many of us will just go to the "bank" and watch something we have recorded. Sure you can do that but you have to also watch the big blue box telling you that the unit is searching for te signal! STOP STOP STOP! Very annoying. 
So I stop the episode I was watching to turn channel off of GD program because it usually goes out first. And to my surprise, the picture and signal is fine. Please fix this. Oh and turn on the tuners.


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## k2ue (Mar 8, 2004)

gb33 said:


> Besides the obvious want of the OTA tuners, I have another major desire. GET RID OF THE SEARCHING FOR SIGNAL WHEN WATCHING A RECORDING! Why oh why does this pop up?! Okay, so it storms hard enough to knock out the signal, so many of us will just go to the "bank" and watch something we have recorded. Sure you can do that but you have to also watch the big blue box telling you that the unit is searching for te signal! STOP STOP STOP! Very annoying.
> So I stop the episode I was watching to turn channel off of GD program because it usually goes out first. And to my surprise, the picture and signal is fine. Please fix this. Oh and turn on the tuners.


Definitely another DUMB "feature" -- what you're watching is fine -- but we're going to annoy you with what you are probably aware of. We had the exact same experience: trying to watch recorded material because of driving rain taking out the live signal -- we KNOW it's out, why make it difficult to enjoy the recordings we socked away for such times. . .


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## jgrade (Oct 1, 2006)

Its probably been posted already, but wanted to comment on the troubles with the trick plays. I have the new version but am still having trouble getting out of 3x FF. The only way out so far is to hit the RW button and get back to 2x FF and then play works. Actually any 3x trick play does not exit with the play button.


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## jwines (Sep 19, 2006)

I've seen two problems with this release, first, several of my single shot recordings (single "R" instead of a series link) where canceled and didn't get put back into the To Do list, one was set to record at 12:00 PM (X-Play on G4) after the update and the second was at 7:00 PM (South Park on Comedy Central), luckily both programs repeat like Rabbis bread so getting these back wasn't a problem.

The second problem I had was with a older recording, so I can't say for sure if the update had anything to do with it, but I haven't seen this problem described yet. I tried to watch a recording of Boston Legal that was recorded on Tuesday (10/10) from ABCW - 87, while the sound was fine, the picture would freeze on a frame for about 30 seconds, then update (syncing with the Audio) for a second or two then freeze again. Stopping and starting the program hasn't fixed it so far. I am leery of rebooting since I don't want to risk loosing anymore items from the To Do list.

Also I'm still getting lots of Video glitches and dropouts along with Audio hiccups and drop outs as well. One of the Worst channels for this problem is the mpeg-4 version of KNBC, but I've seen problems on all the local channels (both mpeg-2 and mpeg-4 feeds). For the record, KNBC digital content seems to always have some sort of Video glitch no matter how I get it (OTA, mpeg-2 or 4) so some of the blame is not the fault of the DirecTV receiver.

The HR20 is connected to a Phillips Direct View HD Monitor via Component, and Audio is Optical to a Yamaha YSP-800. Currently Dolby Digital is turned off.


--Joshua.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Watching an MPEG4 local, I FFed to live, and the audio was dropping like crazy. I hit pause and then play and the problem went away. I still get random quick dropouts though.


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> Watching an MPEG4 local, I FFed to live, and the audio was dropping like crazy. I hit pause and then play and the problem went away. I still get random quick dropouts though.


This has been a problem for several versions. Workaround is to pause for a second, and then resume watching a few seconds behind live.


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## eric.starwars (Sep 17, 2006)

New article about the H20 and the latest software from this past week.

http://www.tvpredictions.com/tomstarner100406.htm


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

eric.starwars said:


> New article about the H20 and the latest software from this past week.
> 
> http://www.tvpredictions.com/tomstarner100406.htm


Old news actually...and there has been great debate over his opinions.... :nono2:


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## Twosted (Sep 18, 2006)

Had my first issue today. I got the Searching for satellite signal message. Never had it with previous software versions. May have had something to do with the rain we had today. I wasn't watching TV so I don't know if we ever lost the signal. Did a reset and the message went away.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Old news actually...and there has been great debate over his opinions.... :nono2:


Yeah, great debate. Right. I guess it's my "opinion" that my HR-20 has sucked until now (and I am still getting sound dropouts).

Listen HDTVfan (catchy moniker), my HR-20 doesn't work, it's not anywhere near ready for prime time, as is the case with many, many other people's HR-20s on this forum. It's not an opinion when people say their HR-20s don't work properly. Got it? It's a fact. The black screen of death, sound drop outs, cancelled recordings, searching for satellite signals and all the rest, they are not a matter of opinion. They have happened to people who are using the HR-20, in various combinations.

So to set the record straight, it's not an opinion that my HR-20 (and the HR-20s of many others that have posted on this site) does not work properly, reliably. At least not yet anyway. Just like it's not anyone's opinion if their HR-20s work to perfection. It's fact.

As for my opinions about Directv's motivations, dedication to customers, concern for these issues, etc., I have a right to those opinions, just as you have a right to disagree. But great debate? Those words might better be saved for something serious, like the war in Iraq, not some stupid DVR.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

hey listen...I made a mistake about starting that thread.... 

I was a little to sensitive to the lack of credit to DBSTalk.

Tom and everyone else out there has their right to their opinion about the HR20, DirecTV, and any other product out there. Period... end of discussion.
If you don't agree with it... Okay.. you can state that opinion as well.

Tom's article was actually one of the more articulate ones that I have seen in a while....

He's "observation", is no more valid then mine, yours, CNet's, Engaget, or anyones out there....


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

!Devil_lol


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## Spongeweed (Sep 15, 2006)

pseudo Ed McMahon voice insert here: you are correct sir!


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

Tom, I hope you are happy with you HR-20 some day (as do you, I'm sure). I agree with Earl that your article @ tvpredictions is well written. It has bothered me a bit some of the bitterness that has transpired in some of the commentaries here, though and I look forward to everyone getting along AND being happy with their HR-20.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

brott said:


> Tom, I hope you are happy with you HR-20 some day (as do you, I'm sure). I agree with Earl that your article @ tvpredictions is well written. It has bothered me a bit some of the bitterness that has transpired in some of the commentaries here, though and I look forward to everyone getting along AND being happy with their HR-20.


Ditto.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

brott said:


> Tom, I hope you are happy with you HR-20 some day (as do you, I'm sure). I agree with Earl that your article @ tvpredictions is well written. It has bothered me a bit some of the bitterness that has transpired in some of the commentaries here, though and I look forward to everyone getting along AND being happy with their HR-20.


Besides, it can be fun to debate. Bottom line, when these things work, they are gonna be great. But no reason not to hold D*'s feet to the fire a little, right. Squeaky wheel and all that.


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## lguvenoz (Aug 23, 2006)

After two weeks with our new HR20 I am finally seeing serious issues. Ever since the new update almost every single recording made has had playback glitches with freezing, randomly unfreezing, etc. This issue appears to be impacting all recordings whether from HD or SD stations and is truly frustrating. The bad thing from my end is that I've been okay with it up until now, and am left scratching my head wondering when it will finally work reliably again.

One additional note. Up until tonight I had been using HDMI with no issues. I tried switching over to component, doing a red-button reset of the box with little, if any, improvement


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

lguvenoz said:


> After two weeks with our new HR20 I am finally seeing serious issues. Ever since the new update almost every single recording made has had playback glitches with freezing, randomly unfreezing, etc. This issue appears to be impacting all recordings whether from HD or SD stations and is truly frustrating. The bad thing from my end is that I've been okay with it up until now, and am left scratching my head wondering when it will finally work reliably again.
> 
> One additional note. Up until tonight I had been using HDMI with no issues. I tried switching over to component, doing a red-button reset of the box with little, if any, improvement


Welcome to the club. Sorry to say.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Ok, new issue for me. I noticed that all my 30 minute recordings are completely absent of tick marks! Not only can I not see them in the progress bar, but I am unable to perform the skip to tick trickplay functions. The skip to start and end of the recordings still work; I also noticed that skip to end now goes to the very end instead a minute from the end. This is the weird part though, hour long recordings have tick marks in them. I tested this with at least 6 recordings on my HR20 to confirm, it definitely only happens with 30 minute recordings. This is the case both with older recordings and recordings taken today and yesterday after the latest update.

I noticed this when I tried to see if my HR20 would still freeze about a minute into the recordings, and this doesn't seem to be the case anymore BUT I only really tested the freezing issue with new recordings since the update.


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## skakusha (Sep 16, 2006)

All in all I have been very happy with the two HR20's but oddly enough I experienced more issues tonight then I have in over a month. The interesting thing is that one box had ZERO issues, but the other had several problems.

The HR20 that had some issues is connected via component to a 60 inch Sony SXRD. The following are issues that occurred:

1) Black screen of death experienced on MPEG-4 Local HD, Grey's Anatomy. My girlfriend was very upset, but since I recorded it on teh other HR20 and it played back fine on that machine I am not in hot water.  

2) After the BSOD, all DVR playback buttons worked fine except for time slip. For some reason it did not respond on any recording and I did get the pink box to the right as reported here before. All other buttons worked fine.

3) CC worked fine since I have had the box except for today. NO CC on channels that always had them.

4) PQ on this box was very bad today, but not on the other one. I also had audio stuttering.

Upon Red Button Reset the following occurred (Using same numbers for updates on above issues):

1) THE BSOD program was deleted

2) The slip is now working

3) CC returned to the programs recorded that did not have CC, even when watching them live.

4) PQ is back to normal on live television but still poor on programs recorded today. The resolution setting returned to default. I had to set TV Type and resolution. When it rebooted it went to 480i.

Hopefully all recording went well on the other box. I am going to go watch shows over there and report if anything occurred. I only lost one show on this box. Despite the issues, I was able to watch everything else recorded other then the above mentioned show.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> Ok, new issue for me. I noticed that all my 30 minute recordings are completely absent of tick marks! Not only can I not see them in the progress bar, but I am unable to perform the skip to tick trickplay functions. The skip to start and end of the recordings still work; I also noticed that skip to end now goes to the very end instead a minute from the end. This is the weird part though, hour long recordings have tick marks in them. I tested this with at least 6 recordings on my HR20 to confirm, it definitely only happens with 30 minute recordings. This is the case both with older recordings and recordings taken today and yesterday after the latest update.
> 
> I noticed this when I tried to see if my HR20 would still freeze about a minute into the recordings, and this doesn't seem to be the case anymore BUT I only really tested the freezing issue with new recordings since the update.


What's next? It's really amazing how many different issues are being reported with the HR-20. Seems like a crapshoot every time a new download comes down. In 6 mos., we'll all be saying, "Remember when the ....."

I'm holding my breath, because mine seems to be working. Ha! The second I typed that last sentence, my local ABS let out a weird buzz sound and froze momentarily. They should post a thread: Name the next weird HR-20 issue.


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## skakusha (Sep 16, 2006)

It sounds odd, but I miss the "C" updates. All the issues I had were minor with that software update. I still love my box though. I accept this as the price for being an early adopter.

On the bright side, the red button resets have allowed me to reminisce about the old days with Voom. Yes, the had the red button reset too. LOL!


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## Monty23 (Sep 16, 2006)

My HR20 seems to working better and more responsive now after the update. However, I've had major problems when recording two Mpeg4 programs at once including complete loss of recordings and full system lockups requiring the RED BUTTON. I don't seem to have these problems recording or watching non Mpeg4 shows.


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

I wouldn't necessarily blame the HR20 for weird problems associated with recording "local" HD. My experience with our "local" channels OTA is that they don't even remember to throw the switch for HD all the time -- along with numerous other screwups that fit the same level of understanding and competence.

These aren't national feeds direct to us. They're fed from the locals to D* to spotbeams -- as I understand it.


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## Christi (Oct 6, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Have you tested it with the new version?


Tonight I recorded Survivor at 8pm, along with The Daily Show at 8pm and The Office at 8:30pm. When I tried to start watching Survivor at 8:45, it started with the blank screen. I could not fast forward or do anything to get the show to watch. I decided to go to Live TV to try to rewind Survivor back to the beginning. I could not rewind or pause. When I went back to the List to try to play again, Survivor was no longer there. History says Survivor was a Partial recording, but I cannot find it. I tried a reboot and it did not reappear.

I also had a BSOD on a standard definition show recorded today. I was not able to fast forward on that one either. Both of these issues happened with the new update that loaded last night.


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## Monty23 (Sep 16, 2006)

Ed Campbell said:


> I wouldn't necessarily blame the HR20 for weird problems associated with recording "local" HD. My experience with our "local" channels OTA is that they don't even remember to throw the switch for HD all the time -- along with numerous other screwups that fit the same level of understanding and competence.
> 
> These aren't national feeds direct to us. They're fed from the locals to D* to spotbeams -- as I understand it.


I never have problems recording OTA HD programs with the HR10. But now because the OTA is not yet working on the HR20 I'm forced to record the major networks via satellite which are Mpeg4. This is where I think the HR20 is having problems with the odd lockups and problems. I'm hoping when OTA is enabled life will be better. The picture quality sure is with OTA.


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## gashog301 (Sep 14, 2006)

With the new update my mpeg4 channels look like crap,I see macro blocking and I dont know what you call it but when a scene changes quick it seems like the refresh rate is very slow. I get DC locals and have a 34xbr800 CRT. Overall I love the box and I know its new and there are issues,thats what we get for being early adopters.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

skakusha said:


> All in all I have been very happy with the two HR20's but oddly enough I experienced more issues tonight then I have in over a month. The interesting thing is that one box had ZERO issues, but the other had several problems.
> 
> The HR20 that had some issues is connected via component to a 60 inch Sony SXRD. The following are issues that occurred:
> 
> ...


Your experiences, as well as my 2 HR20's seem to reinforce a possible culprit here....HDMI. This many not be with all HDMI connections, but many of them.

It appears as though my HDMI connected unit requires a red button reset after any firmware updates, whereas the unit I have connected via an HMDI to DVI converter cable coupled with a toslink optical cable have had NO such problems (virtually NONE). I've also read component-connected units don't have many of the problems either.

Based on my situation and numerous other posts, I came to the following conclusions:

1) After a firmware upgrade, HDMI cabled units seem to have the vast majority of problems, and users often indicate that a red button reset cures the problem.

2) Those who do resets find that some content may be deleted - often the content that original froze up. This would appear to reinforce that there is some HR20 software protection against corrupt or defective recordings, which is reviewed and purged as defective upon reset.

3) Non-HDMI connectivity users seems to have a whole lot less problems overall.

Your post, my post, and many others seem to point to these conclusions - by the way, how are you connected?


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## lbostons (Jun 13, 2006)

> Originally Posted by *TSTARN*
> 
> What's next? It's really amazing how many different issues are being reported with the HR-20. Seems like a crapshoot every time a new download comes down. In 6 mos., we'll all be saying, "Remember when the ....."
> 
> ...


I whole-heartily agree with you on the remember when comment. I think most of us (including me) have a tendency to over-react but regardless I appreciate your optimism. I had Jericho not record the other night and I am unsure if it is b/c of the update or the severe weather we had but probably the latter.

Anyway, I have 2 HR20s and I really have not had too many issues and like the units. My wife sometimes asks questions that I unable to answer about the unit but they are few. My standard response is usually "this is a new unit and D* is just working the kinks out."


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## Hilbe (Oct 10, 2005)

lbostons said:


> I had Jericho not record the other night and I am unsure if it is b/c of the update or the severe weather we had but probably the latter.


I am also from the Columbus, OH area. I didn't have Jericho record either. The HR10 did record it though, so I just watched it there. I still can't figure out why Jericho didn't record. I changed channels to it while the storm was here and it was showing up no problem...


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

No Jericho here. No storm here. Did record on the Tivo.


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## redrover (Sep 26, 2006)

Has it been determined yet what the upgrade fixed, enhanced, removed etc etc???


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

redrover said:


> Has it been determined yet what the upgrade fixed, enhanced, removed etc etc???


Look at the first post in this thread. There's a link to the release notes for this latest update.


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Your experiences, as well as my 2 HR20's seem to reinforce a possible culprit here....HDMI. This many not be with all HDMI connections, but many of them...


This is why I advocate a "component reboot" if you're still having problems. I say, "if", because excepting the milder hiccups, all the other bothers using my HR20 have essentially gone away since the last update.

I starting using a "component reboot" because we couldn't even get an HR20 to install excepting with component only hooked-up. The installer and I started out switching over all the cables from my original HR10 hookup -- which didn't use component, only HDMI. Couldn't even get to the "Welcome" screen.

Unplugging HDMI and hooking up component walked it straight through.

After that, I realized this might be affecting D* updates and their built-in reboot. Some problems persisted -- until I rebooted, once again, after unplugging HDMI and leaving component in place. After the reboot was completed, I plugged the HDMI back in.

That was before the most recent update. That one proceeded with HDMI in place and came out OK. But, if problems develop, this will be my first line of attack.


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## jgrade (Oct 1, 2006)

Was watching My Name is Earl in HD as a partially recorded program (watching while recording) and saw many image issues. The biggest problems were dropouts and pixilation. The middle of the picture would loose data and show black bars and then the picture would pixilate for a few seconds then resotre to normal. Fist time I have seens this. 

Video is component as 1080i. FYI


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## skakusha (Sep 16, 2006)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Your post, my post, and many others seem to point to these conclusions - by the way, how are you connected?


Unfortunately, the box with the issues is connected via component, and toslink for 5.1.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

Ed Campbell said:


> This is why I advocate a "component reboot" if you're still having problems. I say, "if", because excepting the milder hiccups, all the other bothers using my HR20 have essentially gone away since the last update.
> 
> I starting using a "component reboot" because we couldn't even get an HR20 to install excepting with component only hooked-up. The installer and I started out switching over all the cables from my original HR10 hookup -- which didn't use component, only HDMI. Couldn't even get to the "Welcome" screen.
> 
> ...


Have to agree with Ed. I followed his advice, and so far, only one "black screen" problem. I still get the milder issues with MPEG-4 (sound and video dropouts, mainly), but he seems to have hit it with his component reboot.

Question Ed. Do you recommend a component reboot every time a new software downloads? I didn't do one on Wednesday, figuring until I have a problem recording I would leave it alone. Doubtful that the component reboot would fix those milder issues, right?


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## bobojay (Jan 26, 2004)

Everything I've recorded since the update has stalled within 2 mins. of the beginning during playback. It only does this the first time they are played back, after that they're ok. The fix is a quick RW, FF or stop. RW then play.
Otherwise all is ok. Much better than previous.......


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

bobojay said:


> Everything I've recorded since the update has stalled within 2 mins. of the beginning during playback. It only does this the first time they are played back, after that they're ok. The fix is a quick RW, FF or stop. RW then play.
> Otherwise all is ok. Much better than previous.......


Seems to be happening to many people, including me. If this happens to my Battlestar Galactica season premiere recording tonight there's gonna be hell to pay!


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> Seems to be happening to many people, including me. If this happens to my Battlestar Galactica season premiere recording tonight there's gonna be hell to pay!


Since the new updates; twice this week when turning on the TV and HR20; I've had a blank screen. No functions worked. Needed to red button reset and all is well. 

I don't understand why this has happened only in the morning. I shut everything down when I go to bed and in the morning, blank screen. No HDMI; I'm hooked via component video.


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## AllAroundPsycho (Sep 28, 2006)

Vinny said:


> Since the new updates; twice this week when turning on the TV and HR20; I've had a blank screen. No functions worked. Needed to red button reset and all is well.
> 
> I don't understand why this has happened only in the morning. I shut everything down when I go to bed and in the morning, blank screen. No HDMI; I'm hooked via component video.


I see this every morning, but I've had it since the day I got the HR20. I'm hooked up via component as well, no HDMI. Last night I removed a 8-device switcher from the mix to see if that helps at all. This morning I wasn't locked up, but I still did a red-button-reset anyway. I won't be home again until Sunday and I don't want to lose the "Battlestar" premiere tonight because it locks up at 8 AM instead of 5 AM. I'm taking no chances.


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## gcisko (Sep 27, 2006)

My updated system seemed fine. I was watching programs recorded before the
update. No problem everything was great. Then next thing I know I get a phone call during live programing, and cannot pause. I could record, but no slip or pause. So I had to hit the red reset button... Then things were fine again.


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## Howie (Aug 16, 2006)

OK, it's been 2 nights of heavy usage since D8 came down - recording 2 mgeg4 channels at once while watching a recording at the same time - and all is well, so far. No stuttering, pausing or lost recordings, no BSOD's (of which I had 4 or 5 on the previous SW release). I'm starting to feel more confidant and comfortable with this thing. I'm even getting to where I like the interface more than the HR10 I still have. It seems to me that D*TV is making a good effort at getting things fixed and that progress is being made. Now give us OTA, dual buffers and networking sometime soon and this box will be just fine. (Now it'll probably be frozen when I get home tonight).


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## stephensrob1 (Oct 6, 2006)

So, like everyone else I have been having minor glitches (thought nothing major)

With this newest update, ALL my recording both previous and since the upgrade are having issues. The most relevant is that when I start a recording it will freeze after a few seconds. Oddly enough it is not always in the same place. However, if I fast forward for 30 seconds or so, hit play then rewind to the beginning it plays fine. While this is not a huge issue, it started only after the update. Anybody else seeing this issue.

BTW- Samsumg 50' Plasma (newest model) plugged directly in HDMI


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

Vinny said:


> Since the new updates; twice this week when turning on the TV and HR20; I've had a blank screen. No functions worked. Needed to red button reset and all is well.
> 
> I don't understand why this has happened only in the morning. I shut everything down when I go to bed and in the morning, blank screen. No HDMI; I'm hooked via component video.


I had this problem as well, but it has gone away after I made one change. _Note: I only did this last Monday and there was a Software update on Wednesday morning, so my change may only be coincident with things starting to work and not the cause._

I had the Red-Blue-Green Component cable connected from my HR20 to the TV and I also had the Red-White-Yellow Analog cable connected from my HR20 to the TV. I removed the Yellow connector from the HR20 and since then I have had zero lockups. Prior to the disconnect, I was locked up every morning.


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## stephensrob1 (Oct 6, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> I am experiencing a similar thing. I have experienced this when playing back 2 different recordings just an hour ago. Both recordings started ok, went about a minute in, and then it just paused itself. While the video is "paused" if I hit the play button the trickplay progress bar shows that I'm at the beginning of the recording even though I should be at least a minute into it. "Paused" video remained on the screen, the HR20 still responds to commands. I can use trickplay functions to get it to start playing again. One of the recordings occured on Sunday and another one just last night. Even when going to the end of the recording and then playing back from the beginning, it seems to pause in the same spot. I have not tested this with any recordings that occured since the latest update, but I'll try it later tonight if possible. I have not seen this behavior before with my HR20.


just posted the same thing before I saw your post. I am having same issue with all recordings since the update. I have to start the recording and immediately fast forward for a few seconds and then rewind to the beginning to get it to play correctly. Its a bummer because all my glitches to this point have been really minimal.


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## AllAroundPsycho (Sep 28, 2006)

brott said:


> I had the Red-Blue-Green Component cable connected from my HR20 to the TV and I also had the Red-White-Yellow Analog cable connected from my HR20 to the TV. I removed the Yellow connector from the HR20 and since then I have had zero lockups. Prior to the disconnect, I was locked up every morning.


Where was the yellow cable going? To a VCR? An input select device? There could have been some "noise" on the line coming from whatever it was plugged into. I have an old VCR (now retired) that manages to ruin anything that goes into or out of it.

Working off of your post yesterday where you originally mentioned this, I re-wired everything coming out of my HR20 last night. It now goes straight to the TV, the audio receiver, and to the VCR. This morning was my first 24 hour period without a lockup (and I did have one after this week's update). Still did a red-button-reboot, though. I'm going to be gone all weekend. The HR20 performed well yesterday, but I still don't trust it to survive a whole weekend without a red-button-bounce.


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## HDNut (Aug 28, 2006)

911medic said:


> Would this scaling of 720p signals (via component inputs) up to 1080i be visible to the end user? How would one know this is happening? Just curious, as my CRT TV using YPbPr connections accepts 720p from the HR20 just fine. (I realize you said "*most* CRTs"), just wondering if it would manifest itself in some detectable way.


I am not sure this is the right place to discuss this issue further and am wondering whether the moderator would allow it. Since you are the only one who posted a reply to my post, perhaps we should continue the discussion by private email. However, if Ed posts his blessing, I will be glad to repply to your questions.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

AllAroundPsycho said:


> Where was the yellow cable going? To a VCR? An input select device? There could have been some "noise" on the line coming from whatever it was plugged into. I have an old VCR (now retired) that manages to ruin anything that goes into or out of it.
> 
> Working off of your post yesterday where you originally mentioned this, I re-wired everything coming out of my HR20 last night. It now goes straight to the TV, the audio receiver, and to the VCR. This morning was my first 24 hour period without a lockup (and I did have one after this week's update). Still did a red-button-reboot, though. I'm going to be gone all weekend. The HR20 performed well yesterday, but I still don't trust it to survive a whole weekend without a red-button-bounce.


The yellow cable was going directly into my TV set (Sharp Aquos LC-45GD4U). I disconnected it from the HR20 and it is still connected to the TV. I cannot think of a reason why this would make it work. I'm hesitant to plug it back in.

I Do have the other analog output from the HR20 plugged into a slingbox. That has not changed, so there is analog connectivity, just not analog the TV directly or indirectly.

By the way, what's a VCR? :lol:


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Last night, my HR20 experienced it's first meltdown. I was not home at the time, so I only got a second hand account from my non-technical family. They were watching an MPEG4 local channel, and they started getting pixelization. Changed the channel to an SD MPEG2 channel, and it was perfectly fine. Changed back to the local channel, and it said that the access card was expired, and then the unit completely locked up. Absolutely nothing worked, and it required a red button reset. After that, everything was back to normal.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

HDNut said:


> I am not sure this is the right place to discuss this issue further and am wondering whether the moderator would allow it. Since you are the only one who posted a reply to my post, perhaps we should continue the discussion by private email. However, if Ed posts his blessing, I will be glad to repply to your questions.


I'm sure this discussion has some relevance for folks here, perhaps another thread would suffice, just not this thread.


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## munangst (Sep 1, 2006)

Minor issue, but...Pull up the guide while you are watching a live TV program that is not being recorded. Press (R) once to start recording, and then a second time to set up a series link. Instead of setting up the series link, the second (R) press brings up the "cancel recording" dialog (with the "continue recording", "stop & keep", "stop & delete" options). It appears that for a live program (as opposed to a future program) the (R) button in the guide just toggles between record-single/no-record. IMHO this should toggle through record-single/record-series/no-record, the same way it does for a future program. To set up a series link for a program you're currently watching, you have to go to the "More info..." screen for the program, choose "Recording...", tab over to "Series Link" and then select "Record series".

I don't know if this started with 0xD8 or earlier, but I noticed it last night (with 0xD8).


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## AllAroundPsycho (Sep 28, 2006)

brott said:


> The yellow cable was going directly into my TV set (Sharp Aquos LC-45GD4U). I disconnected it from the HR20 and it is still connected to the TV. I cannot think of a reason why this would make it work. I'm hesitant to plug it back in.


I also disconnected my ethernet port in my rewiring. I know the port isn't enabled yet, but I had originally hooked the HR20 into the network anyway so I would only need to go into the cable jungle one-time. If my HR20 stays up over the weekend, I may plug it back in just to see what happens. I wouldn't think that that would make a difference either, but I'm done with logical thinking for the weekend.


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## munangst (Sep 1, 2006)

When setting up a new series link, the HR20 doesn't appear to warn you about conflicts with a pre-existing higher-priority series link. e.g., we have series links set up for SURVIVOR (Thu 8pm-9pm CBS) and THE OFFICE (Thu 8:30pm-9pm NBC). When adding a series link for UGLY BETTY (Thu 8pm-9pm ABC), this conflicts with the previously scheduled recordings, but there was no warning for this, it just added the series link as the last priority.

On the Tivo you would get a screen showing you the conflicts (with lists of which episodes would/wouldn't record and the conflicting recordings) and you would have the options to either "record as shown", "record ALL episodes" (which would move the series link to the highest priority), or "cancel series link".


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

brott said:


> I had this problem as well, but it has gone away after I made one change. _Note: I only did this last Monday and there was a Software update on Wednesday morning, so my change may only be coincident with things starting to work and not the cause._
> 
> I had the Red-Blue-Green Component cable connected from my HR20 to the TV and I also had the Red-White-Yellow Analog cable connected from my HR20 to the TV. I removed the Yellow connector from the HR20 and since then I have had zero lockups. Prior to the disconnect, I was locked up every morning.


Thanks.....but no analog cable hook up here.


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## jbellanca (Sep 1, 2006)

LameLefty said:


> The first time some HD content I've purchased (or "licensed" in modern marketing-speak  ) is "administratvely prohibited" from viewing on my component-only TV is the day I personally file suit in Federal court to get the MPAA declared a content-controlling monopoly worthy of disbanding and start raising hell with my Congresscritter. I don't expect to win but it would be nice to get a grass-roots movement started.


It's already happening. Look at up-converting DVD players - they won't scale up to 720 or 1080 over component, only HDMI.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

munangst said:


> When setting up a new series link, the HR20 doesn't appear to warn you about conflicts with a pre-existing higher-priority series link. e.g., we have series links set up for SURVIVOR (Thu 8pm-9pm CBS) and THE OFFICE (Thu 8:30pm-9pm NBC). When adding a series link for UGLY BETTY (Thu 8pm-9pm ABC), this conflicts with the previously scheduled recordings, but there was no warning for this, it just added the series link as the last priority.
> 
> On the Tivo you would get a screen showing you the conflicts (with lists of which episodes would/wouldn't record and the conflicting recordings) and you would have the options to either "record as shown", "record ALL episodes" (which would move the series link to the highest priority), or "cancel series link".


It should have, and normally does come up with a conflict dialog.

Is it possible that one of those shows where not airing on the date you where selecting the recordings from?


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## jbellanca (Sep 1, 2006)

OK, I found two issues last night...

(1) This has happened on earlier versions also and is really annoying. Recording The Office and watching it live, as it's recording. No trick play buttons work. Can't ff or rewind at all.

(2) Originally had Survivor and Smallville set to record via series links. Then a friend came over and watched to watch The Office. I knew Smallville was recording elsewhere, so I went to search, types in The Office, found tonight's episode, and selected record. It asked if I should cancel Program 1 (Smallville) or 2 (Survivor). I selected 1. Smallville cancelled recording, but The Office did NOT appear in the To Do list. I went to the guide and it just had the red X, I had to hit Record to make it record manually.


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## LameLefty (Sep 29, 2006)

jbellanca said:


> It's already happening. Look at up-converting DVD players - they won't scale up to 720 or 1080 over component, only HDMI.


Gee, really? My LG does it just fine to my Toshiba TV.


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## Rob55 (Sep 14, 2006)

LameLefty said:


> Gee, really? My LG does it just fine to my Toshiba TV.


Most don't though. Even the new Toshiba 2nd gen HD-DVD player, which will pass HD-DVD in 720P or 1080i, will not pass up-converted SD-DVD in 720P or 1080i except through HDMI.


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## redrover (Sep 26, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> Look at the first post in this thread. There's a link to the release notes for this latest update.


My apologies...

I overlooked that 1 lil tid bit of a link. for some reason I thought I didnt see it there.

Sorry!

Besides who really is a RTFM kinda guy?


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## davidrumm (Dec 2, 2005)

munangst said:


> Minor issue, but...Pull up the guide while you are watching a live TV program that is not being recorded. Press (R) once to start recording, and then a second time to set up a series link. Instead of setting up the series link, the second (R) press brings up the "cancel recording" dialog (with the "continue recording", "stop & keep", "stop & delete" options). It appears that for a live program (as opposed to a future program) the (R) button in the guide just toggles between record-single/no-record. IMHO this should toggle through record-single/record-series/no-record, the same way it does for a future program. To set up a series link for a program you're currently watching, you have to go to the "More info..." screen for the program, choose "Recording...", tab over to "Series Link" and then select "Record series".
> 
> I don't know if this started with 0xD8 or earlier, but I noticed it last night (with 0xD8).


This is the way that it is supposed to work. The 2 button press only works with future shows. This is the same as on the R15's.


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## farmermike (Oct 6, 2006)

How can I check to see if I've got the latest release?


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

farmermike said:


> How can I check to see if I've got the latest release?


I guarantee you've got it, but you can check by going to Menu > Help & Settings > Setup > Info & Test.

The version that your box is running is listed under Past Upgrade.


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## ColinWD (Jan 31, 2003)

Searched the thread but didn't find anything so here goes...

Got my HR20 installed this morning. HD channels worked fine. Got the upgrade and now no HD channels. Just have the 771 code, tried the red button reset and no luck. Called DTV and they resent the programming to the box and no go. They are gonna have Ironwood come back out but was wondering/hoping someone had a suggestion for a fix.

Thanks

Colin


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

ColinWD said:


> Searched the thread but didn't find anything so here goes...
> 
> Got my HR20 installed this morning. HD channels worked fine. Got the upgrade and now no HD channels. Just have the 771 code, tried the red button reset and no luck. Called DTV and they resent the programming to the box and no go. They are gonna have Ironwood come back out but was wondering/hoping someone had a suggestion for a fix.
> 
> ...


Try unplugging the unit and forcing a full reset...its worth a shot.....


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## ColinWD (Jan 31, 2003)

Gave it a try but still the same thing.

Appreciate the suggestion.

Thanks

Colin


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## flipper2006 (Oct 2, 2006)

skakusha said:


> It sounds odd, but I miss the "C" updates. All the issues I had were minor with that software update. I still love my box though. I accept this as the price for being an early adopter.
> 
> On the bright side, the red button resets have allowed me to reminisce about the old days with Voom. Yes, the had the red button reset too. LOL!


However, the D* guide comes back faster then Voom's. IT was like an hour if i remember correctly, but i was thinking about Voom's issue and these issues. Very simular.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

No problems with the prior two releases and caller ID, now with this release it stopped working.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

I've only had 0xD1 and 0xD8 .. CallerID does not work for me.


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

Well, this morning I experienced a black screen at power up and the reset is what fixed it. Then tonight (after all day being turned off) again, a black screeen and another reset. This is getting annoying. Wondering why all of a sudden I needed to reset 4 times in 3 days.

Please tell me that this is going to get fixed SOON.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Vinny said:


> Wondering why all of a sudden I needed to reset 4 times in 3 days.


Because the two software updates we've had since 0xCC have both been regressions.


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## lpctv (Aug 26, 2006)

Vinny said:


> Well, this morning I experienced a black screen at power up and the reset is what fixed it. Then tonight (after all day being turned off) again, a black screeen and another reset. This is getting annoying. Wondering why all of a sudden I needed to reset 4 times in 3 days.
> 
> Please tell me that this is going to get fixed SOON.


Add me to that list....got my first one tonight


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> Because the two software updates we've had since 0xCC have both been regressions.


I'm beginning to think you're right. I never had to do a reset until the last 2 software updates.


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## munangst (Sep 1, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> It should have, and normally does come up with a conflict dialog.
> 
> Is it possible that one of those shows where not airing on the date you where selecting the recordings from?


Hmm, I just tried this with a new series link (on another night) and it did show the conflict dialog. Last night when I saw the problem, there was no conflict (I had already resolved it by cancelling THE OFFICE when I started recording UGLY BETTY, and it was UGLY BETTY that I was trying to set up the series link for). Is it the case that you will only see the conflict warning if the conflict exists on the air date/time that you're selecting for the recording?


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## SLeppert (Sep 11, 2006)

I have been very happy with the 0xD8 release. We were about to huck the unit after the 0xD1 release crashed on us daily, but 0xD8 has been stable overall (no HDMI for me) and no resets with this release.

The only problem I have had is the pause that people are seeing at the beginning of certain shows that I can get out of by usng FFW or REW, notably, all of my Formula One recordings. But it's not everything on Speed channel, just Formula One (Practice, Qualy and the race). But I don't consider this a critical problem, just a nuisance.

Looking forward to OTA soon!!


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## ckyee (Sep 12, 2006)

Just curious - what are people meaning by "regression"?


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

ckyee said:


> Just curious - what are people meaning by "regression"?


Meaning that the latest software updates seem to have done more harm than good.


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## jaspers95 (Sep 23, 2006)

Has anyone experienced problems with FFWD and REW when playing back an MPEG-4 recording on the HR20? When I playback an MPEG-4 show, both from live buffer and from recording, the FFWD and REW video is extemely choppy and delayed in response time. There is a couple second delay until the video reacts to the FFWD and REW buttons. Also when in FFWD the video is not as smooth as my MPEG-2 recordings. Didn't notice this prior to the D8 software update. My guess is that it's been this way all along.


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## ktabel01 (Aug 19, 2006)

I'll second the regressions. Why add what is seemingly a little used feature (eSATA), when the nuts and bolts of this box are still causing trouble?


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

ktabel01 said:


> Why add what is seemingly a little used feature (eSATA), when the nuts and bolts of this box are still causing trouble?


In defense of the eSATA, I highly doubt it was that complex to add it the way they did. It's not even close to adding something like OTA.


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

ckyee said:


> Just curious - what are people meaning by "regression"?


a bug resolved in a previous release has reappeared in the current release.


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

I don't get any MPEG-4 channels at this time, but after doing the full reset the CSR recommended, my unit has recorded everything I've set with no black screens. I hope it stays that way.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Today was a red letter day. Everything recorded, everything played, trick play worked on everything, and the box didnt reboot. Hmmmm.


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

My HR20 also seems much more stable and reliable with this latest release. I did check Caller ID again and it still doesn't work (get the "You must subscribe ...." message). Of course, Caller ID works fine on my D11 Receiver connected to the same phone line as the HR20.


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## larcar (Sep 22, 2006)

I have been reading about the most current HR20 release here at the forum. I went to the setup info test screen to see if I have the latest release and for some reason it no longer shows what release I have, nor does it have the tab to run a system check? It used to be there and showed the release before the latest one.
If anyone has an answer for this I would appreciate it. I have not tried a red button reset yet.
Thanks


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

larcar said:


> I have been reading about the most current HR20 release here at the forum. I went to the setup info test screen to see if I have the latest release and for some reason it no longer shows what release I have, nor does it have the tab to run a system check? It used to be there and showed the release before the latest one.
> If anyone has an answer for this I would appreciate it. I have not tried a red button reset yet.
> Thanks


Menu > Help/Settings > Setup > Info & Test

When you hit <Select) with Info & Test sowing, the System Setup Screen will depopulate (all values will disappear), and take a few seconds to reappear with the latest values. Then just scroll down to see what you are interested in. (down about 3 lines will pop up the internal temp, btw). It should be (if typical) < 127, and our Past Upgrade should show Oxd8, Wed 10/4 at 4:18 a (for example, yours should show the same hex number, with a different time most likely.


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## larcar (Sep 22, 2006)

I just tried that and it worked and it shows the latest release.
There are alot of knowledgeable people here at the forum and I appreciate the help.
Thanks, nasan


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

SLeppert said:


> I have been very happy with the 0xD8 release. We were about to huck the unit after the 0xD1 release crashed on us daily, but 0xD8 has been stable overall (no HDMI for me) and no resets with this release.
> 
> The only problem I have had is the pause that people are seeing at the beginning of certain shows that I can get out of by usng FFW or REW, notably, all of my Formula One recordings. But it's not everything on Speed channel, just Formula One (Practice, Qualy and the race). But I don't consider this a critical problem, just a nuisance.
> 
> Looking forward to OTA soon!!


Didn't have a problem w/practice, Thursday night; but, same thing, this morning, from Friday night's recording. First reboot I've done since the update. STILL -- haven't done my component reboot -- leaving HDMI plugged in, so far.

Details for the record: Everything on > left it on CNN, as usual, so I might rewind back into the buffer and see if the world ended overnight! Rew about 5 minutes into buffer > watched about a minute > List to see if F1 Qualifying was there > it was and I hit Play > lockup > BSOD in the upper RH corner where the window still showing where CNN was.

Reboot > everything back up [I hate losing Guide data!] > MVOD OK, ToDo OK [incl. 7 international football matches, today, I really need to have onboard to wander through!] > hit List, everything OK, hit Play > watching Qualifying, now.


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## Andrew_J_M (Feb 11, 2005)

Ed Campbell said:


> Details for the record: Everything on > left it on CNN, as usual, so I might rewind back into the buffer and see if the world ended overnight! Rew about 5 minutes into buffer > watched about a minute > List to see if F1 Qualifying was there > it was and I hit Play > lockup > BSOD in the upper RH corner where the window still showing where CNN was.
> 
> Reboot > everything back up [I hate losing Guide data!] > MVOD OK, ToDo OK [incl. 7 international football matches, today, I really need to have onboard to wander through!] > hit List, everything OK, hit Play > watching Qualifying, now.


I had a similar problem with F1 on Speed. All the F1 shows apparently record but won't play back - BSod. Tried all the FFWD/RWD buttons but noy good. Tried red button rest but the shows disappeared from the List.
Luckily they all recorded OK on the HR10.

Must be something strange with the F1 shows.


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

It has to be Bernie's fault. Or the FIA. It always is.


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## 911medic (Aug 28, 2006)

What is truly amazing to me is the variety of "behaviors" (for lack of a better term) being exhibited by various boxes in response to the updates.

It's not like PC's where there's a wide variety of components made by multiple manufacturers, with different software installed and running. Everyone should have (nearly) identical hardware and software running, yet these updates fix problems for some, break problems for others, and people are having a wide range of issues (very minor to major).

I guess there are variable in what the box is connected to, but it shouldn't affect the HR20's behavior THAT much, other than connection (HDMI) issues, should it?

I guess I'm just thankful that mine works well other than a couple of minor annoyances at this point. Each update, while not fixing my "major issue" (HDMI problem), has only provided incremental improvements (smoother trickplay, etc.).


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## Huey (Oct 7, 2006)

New here, I have had the hr20 for about three weeks and have some of the minor issues, ie black screen on one recording, caller id not working at all, and other minor issues that I could live with. There is choppy audio on wdiv out of detroit, but I think that must be a station issue.

Since the last upgrade, I have had to reboot the unit twice within 24 hours. Went to turn it on yesterday, nothing. Last night, it was stuck on a channel, and would not respond at all to the remote of buttons on the unit itself. Hopefully, they fix soon.

BTW, maybe it is just my unit, but the "noise" from accessing the hard drive is very loud for this unit. I'm not sure if it is the same "chirping" that I keep reading about, but it is hard drive noise. I can hear it 12 feet away when there is a quite scene.
Rob


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## gr8reb8 (Aug 21, 2006)

My report:
Setup: Two HR20s. Both connected with Component cable. No Mpeg4 here yet.
First HR20 was installed last Saturday, it immediately downloaded D1 software. I have watched less than 30 minutes of live tv with no issues. On Tuesday I set it up to record about 15 different movies. Wednesday morning, it automatically downloaded and upgraded to D8. Wednesday evening I started to watch one of the movies and about 30 minutes into it I pressed pause. After about an hour (on pause) the HR20 locks up completely. Red button reset is only way to get it going again. I watched one of the other movies on Thursday and one on Friday with no issue.
Second HR20. It was installed on Monday, upgraded to D1 and on Wednesday upgraded to D8. I have done no recordings on this one yet. This morning it was on the HDNET channel but would not respond to any remote commands or buttons on the unit itself. So it got the red-button.


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## cw18306 (Sep 23, 2006)

caller id not working at all.

My caller ID is working as it should.


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## Phil T (Mar 25, 2002)

I have only had mine since Tuesday, but caller ID has worked fine.


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

911medic said:


> What is truly amazing to me is the variety of "behaviors" (for lack of a better term) being exhibited by various boxes in response to the updates.
> 
> It's not like PC's where there's a wide variety of components made by multiple manufacturers, with different software installed and running. Everyone should have (nearly) identical hardware and software running, yet these updates fix problems for some, break problems for others, and people are having a wide range of issues (very minor to major).
> 
> ...


Agreed. With this release it seems that the behavior differences are even more pronounced .... many folks reporting much improved reliability/stablity, and many others reporting problems like they've never had before.

I'm at a loss as to why there would so much variability. There are certainly some obvious things, like HDMI interface differences. But you would think that fundamental behaviors, like recording and playing back your programs, would be more consistent.


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

I agree. 

I had a black screen on startup 3 times this week....today fine.

I don't want to jinx myself; but my caller id worked from day 1.

I never had a major recording problem, except for once.

So, all in all, I guess I'm ok.....but I still don't get why everyone is having different problems since we are all running the same software.


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## f300v10 (Feb 11, 2005)

litzdog911 said:


> Agreed. With this release it seems that the behavior differences are even more pronounced .... many folks reporting much improved reliability/stablity, and many others reporting problems like they've never had before.
> 
> I'm at a loss as to why there would so much variability. There are certainly some obvious things, like HDMI interface differences. But you would think that fundamental behaviors, like recording and playing back your programs, would be more consistent.


I agree as well. I have had my HR20 for 2 weeks now. No lockups, no BSOD recordings, and only 1 missed recording out of 55. I only have 13 series links, but that is all I had on my HR10. The only real issue I had was the box stopped displaying MPEG4 content twice, both prior to the latest build. Since all of us are getting the same content from D*, and have the same exact software it is hard to understand why individual results vary so much.


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## jbellanca (Sep 1, 2006)

litzdog911 said:


> I'm at a loss as to why there would so much variability. There are certainly some obvious things, like HDMI interface differences. But you would think that fundamental behaviors, like recording and playing back your programs, would be more consistent.


This wouldn't apply to issues with Speed some people are having, but I could see variability happening with people recording off locals if they live in different cities. Could result in feeds form certain cities becoming more "disruptive" than others. Different source materials will mean different compressed streams. Could also be some totally bizarre thing like, too much radiation hitting a certain transponser on one satellite that only affects Denver, or whatever. Now, non-locals from 101/119, that's another story entirely.


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## Wildcat_1 (Oct 7, 2006)

I had my HR20 installed the other day and am also currently on 0xd8, any idea when the nex one is coming. These are all pushed via sat correct and not triggered by phone like some of the old DTIVO's were. In other words some of the DTIVO's were pushed via sat but triggered via phone.

Tks



jbellanca said:


> This wouldn't apply to issues with Speed some people are having, but I could see variability happening with people recording off locals if they live in different cities. Could result in feeds form certain cities becoming more "disruptive" than others. Different source materials will mean different compressed streams. Could also be some totally bizarre thing like, too much radiation hitting a certain transponser on one satellite that only affects Denver, or whatever. Now, non-locals from 101/119, that's another story entirely.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Wildcat_1 said:


> I had my HR20 installed the other day and am also currently on 0xd8, any idea when the nex one is coming. These are all pushed via sat correct and not triggered by phone like some of the old DTIVO's were. In other words some of the DTIVO's were pushed via sat but triggered via phone.
> 
> Tks


Correct, updates for the HR20 come from the satellites.


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## pattcap (Sep 24, 2006)

Improvements in the 0xD8

* Disk space bar updates dynamically when user deletes or changes the status of the recording to Keep.
* SPDIF is muted when box is "off"/standby
* Interactive content transitions with TV
* * Additional details in bootup splash screens*
* General stability of the unit.

Generally speaking D* is making progress. 
However, today, just now as a matter of fact,

I had about 30 min of Green Line for the Tenn Ga game on ESPNHD. Wife is a Ga fan so I thought I would pause and watch something from MY VOD until she settled down to watch the game. So, with the Georgia game paused I used the MENUE button to bring up the quick menue and selected a show in MYVOD.
When I hit Select, the screen went black. The machine was frozen and I had to hit the reset button.

The good news, I paused with 5 min to go in the 2nd quarter, and I came back in 4 min into the third Quarter.

As the machine was rebooting it dawned on me that I had seen the "Improvement" listed above. 
* * Additional details in bootup splash screens*
Now lets's think about this. Why is it that D* thought it necessary to make these changes?
Is is possible that despite only selling the machine for 6 weeks, that it is being reset so many times that they thought it would be nice to improve the start up sequence......
Wow! Thanks. I really appreciate that D* thinks it necessary to make the rebooting process more entertaining.

I have to confess, the fact D* thought that somehow this might help is flat out pathetic. 
Most of the problems I have run into are IMHO the result of trying to do things my Directivo managed to do with no problem. Most notably, tring to do things along the lines of Dual Buffer type action.

D* 
If I pause a program, I want the thing to stay paused, no matter where or what else I do. If I pause a LIVE program, and then watch a MyVOD program, with a 90min buffer, I should be able to come back to the thing right where it was paused. The end.

FIX IT

THE USER SHOULD BE ABLE TO SWITCH TUNERS AT THE PRESS OF A BUTTON.

But I know that you know that. I also know D* is thinking about adding this feature. The problem is the unit isn't anywhere near being stable enough to even consider adding this feature at this time.

I think I should get $100 in free programing for all the "programing" I have missed because I have had to reset the machine.

Keep working on it


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

pattcap said:


> I think I should get $100 in free programing for all the "programing" I have missed because I have had to reset the machine.


Give D* a call and I'm sure they can work something out for you along those lines.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

pattcap said:


> ....
> As the machine was rebooting it dawned on me that I had seen the "Improvement" listed above.
> * * Additional details in bootup splash screens*
> Now lets's think about this. Why is it that D* thought it necessary to make these changes?
> ...


Have you seen the changes in the splash screens?
If so, have you compared them to what was there before?

It is really simple why they took the time...
How many of you started your HR20 for the first time, and watched the blue screen... with the DTV+ logo on it.... circling light, and pulsating format lights... and wondered... "hmmm I think it is hung up"... after letting it go for a few minutes...

[raises hand]... I did... the first time I have started the units...

How many installers pulled a slow starting box... and used a different one... saying it was defective? before the learned to let it sit for at least 5+ minutes?

How many customers called in saying their system wasn't doing anything?

10 minutes by one developer to put some text on a graphic screen, and drop into the latest build code... could save a lot of headaches.. phone calls... and not-broken-boxes from be classified as such...

If anyone is intrested: The splash screens went from:

Logo, with no message for about 5 minutes then changing to Acquiring Sat information progress bar.

It now is:
Once the blue screen comes up:
"Startup Complete!"
"Preparing to acquire satellite information... this will take a few minutes"

Next Screen:
"Not much longer....."

Next Screen:
"Acquiring Satellite Information" with progress bar

Next Screen:
Processing scheduled recordings (this screen goes really fast some times)


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Wildcat_1 said:


> I had my HR20 installed the other day and am also currently on 0xd8, any idea when the nex one is coming. These are all pushed via sat correct and not triggered by phone like some of the old DTIVO's were. In other words some of the DTIVO's were pushed via sat but triggered via phone.
> 
> Tks


As PoitNarf said... they do download via the SAT.
But they are triggered by a message in the SAT stream as well... not a phone call like the TiVo.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> As PoitNarf said... they do download via the SAT.
> But they are triggered by a message in the SAT stream as well... not a phone call like the TiVo.


Got my name wrong yet again Earl. I figured with my post frequency here you'd get it right by now


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## pattcap (Sep 24, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> How many installers pulled a slow starting box... and used a different one... saying it was defective? before the learned to let it sit for at least 5+ minutes?
> 
> How many customers called in saying their system wasn't doing anything?
> 
> ...


Earl,
You missed the point.
I didn't say it was a bad idea. It is a good idea. 
The Point is people are having to restart the machine way too often.

I know it is being worked on.......

Any update on dual buffers ?

And, while I have your attention....
When they order the next batch of remote controls, Suggestion, Make the "Trick Play" buttons a color that offsets them from the backgroud and menue buttons. 
Also consider making them more "Different"
After 2-3 weeks I still have a tough time feeling the difference between the 30-slip button and the FFwd button. It might just be me, late at night when half away, I seem to miss more than I used to. 
Won't ever help me, but something to think about......


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

PoitNarf said:


> Got my name wrong yet again Earl. I figured with my post frequency here you'd get it right by now


No I didn't....



Spoiler



I love having the power to edit....



 I'll learn it... eventually... maybe... 
Or maybe I'll just change your login to match how I type it...


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

pattcap said:


> ...
> Any update on dual buffers ?
> 
> And, while I have your attention....
> ...


The latest update is that there is no update.
They are still trying to identify which method they want to use to implement it. 
And frankly they are more worried about getting the system more stable and perform, before adding any new features... The eSATA was something already in the code, and they just had to uncomment a few lines of code.

Cure the causes and reasons that users reboot...
Then the "issues" with guide data loads, long boot time, ect... can be put on the back burner for a while.. if not for ever


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Earl Bonovich said:


> And frankly they are more worried about getting the system more stable and perform, before adding any new features... Cure the causes and reasons that users reboot...


THANK YOU!


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## 911medic (Aug 28, 2006)

pattcap said:


> Now lets's think about this. Why is it that D* thought it necessary to make these changes?
> Is is possible that despite only selling the machine for 6 weeks, that it is being reset so many times that they thought it would be nice to improve the start up sequence......





pattcap said:


> Earl,
> You missed the point.
> 
> The Point is people are having to restart the machine way too often.


I think Earl's point was they added it not because of how often people are having to restart, but because on initial startups people were thinking the unit was bad because it just seemed to sit there and do nothing.

Your point about people having to reboot too often is certainly valid, but it's not why they made this change to the software.


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## joekun (Aug 18, 2006)

> It is really simple why they took the time...
> How many of you started your HR20 for the first time, and watched the blue screen... with the DTV+ logo on it.... circling light, and pulsating format lights... and wondered... "hmmm I think it is hung up"... after letting it go for a few minutes...


I have to raise my hand on this one too, but it's because neither of my displays support 480i over HDMI/DVI. This is still a problem, when there is an update my screen just goes black and says "no signal". I have no idea what's going on. It would be nice if they could update it so that it pays attention to your resolution settings when it reboots or does an update.


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

One to pass along to the code-writers sorting out the logic of ToDo:

Checking ahead ToDo for Monday night, I realized 1 of 3 programs I wanted to record was deleted -- most likely because of a conflict/priority: soccer @ 6PM, a murder mystery @ 7 PM, Enterprise @ 7 PM. Star Trek Enterprise was missing.

Now, that's OK with the priorities I established -- and the original series was set around the 7 PM showing. But, the first run shows again at 9 PM -- after the completion of the other 2 shows. Can this critter be organized with enough AI to reinsert the Season Pass when conditions match OK?


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## Monty23 (Sep 16, 2006)

Ed Campbell said:


> One to pass along to the code-writers sorting out the logic of ToDo:
> 
> Checking ahead ToDo for Monday night, I realized 1 of 3 programs I wanted to record was deleted -- most likely because of a conflict/priority: soccer @ 6PM, a murder mystery @ 7 PM, Enterprise @ 7 PM. Star Trek Enterprise was missing.
> 
> Now, that's OK with the priorities I established -- and the original series was set around the 7 PM showing. But, the first run shows again at 9 PM -- after the completion of the other 2 shows. Can this critter be organized with enough AI to reinsert the Season Pass when conditions match OK?


Now that would be a great feature TiVo never had...


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## alexcohen (Sep 27, 2006)

I have a question. If all the problems with the HR20 are caused by it's software, why don't we all have the same problems?


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

alexcohen said:


> I have a question. If all the problems with the HR20 are caused by it's software, why don't we all have the same problems?


Because there have to be a lot of branches in the code to handle conditional differences like HDMI, MPEG4, sequencing of commands, etc.

Every user interacts with the machine differently and many users have totally different hardware (HDMI interface on the TV). There is handshaking that has to go on with HDMI and each TV may handle it differently. Bugs in the HDMI can cause other problems to surface.

In my case HDMI has worked right from day one, through two upgrades and I have had VERY FEW issues...in fact only one, one time. But...I have no MPEG-4, I don't do a lot of squirreling around with the machine. I set it to record and watch later. I watch live, but virtually never rewind live tv. So, I'm not demanding much from the machine. Others who are constantly diddling are placing more and varying demands on the machine and more problems might show due to interactions, not to mention I don't have to deal with anything related to the MPEG-4 stuff.

Many users have a few problems in common. Many users have next to no problems. It all depends on how they use the HR20, what it is connected to, and the order and how often they may issue certain commands.


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

hasan -- wait till we get mpg4's!!


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## eric.starwars (Sep 17, 2006)

Not to jinx myself, But since last Wed update, My box has pretty much worked great. No freezes or miss recording or even bad sinc prob's.


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

Hadn't seen this problem before (in fact, my HR20 has been quite solid with the latest update) ....

Was watching "Saturday Night Live" on my NBC HD MPEG4 channel (KING5), and actually watching it live. Video & audio started breaking up with macro-blocking and heavy pixelation, as if the satellite signal was being block. This continued for a minute or so, then the picture froze and audio disappeared. Changed channel to my SD NBC station and all was fine. Changed channel to my CBS HD MPEG4 channel (KIRO7) and *saw the same video that was frozen on my NBC HD MPEG4 channel! * I only get CBS and NBC in MPEG4 HDTV, but remembered that Ch 96 was also an MPEG4 channel. Changed to Ch 96 and again saw the same frozen video screen from my NBC HD MPEG4 channel.

To rule out a signal/satellite problem, I then checked the signal levels and all satellites were fine, including the 99-deg satellite where I get my MPEG4 HDTV channels.

Reset the DVR and everything is fine again.

This is the first problem I've experienced with the latest software, and have recorded and watched many shows since then.


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## dbdynsty25 (Sep 28, 2006)

Well I had my first MISSED recording today. I scheduled the Hurricanes/Tarheels game to be recorded at 9am PST on the Gameplan package which I've got. I got up this morning and when I returned home, it didn't record at all. Nothing.

This is really frustrating. Why can't this device do the main thing it's designed for? I mean, this is the whole reason the thing was made, to record shows. It can't really do that reliably. I can understand if things like SATA drives, networking and other things that are new to DirecTV wouldn't work...but the fundamental design stuff doesn't work, and that is bothersome to me. You'd think that was the one thing they'd get to work without flaw...record, watch, delete, schedule. Oh well. Guess I gotta just live with it till they get those fundamental functionality working.

One of the major problems I am having is that the buttons on the remote or the buttons on the machine itself stop functioning sometimes. When it happens, the only way to get it back is to red reset it. That's just stupid. And it happens when I'm not even watching TV or doing anything crazy, it just stops working when I come back to use the TV. Just bizarre.


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## Scott R. Scherr (Aug 19, 2006)

1. On MPEG 4 channels, I get 1 - 2 split second partial picture breakups (pixelates) per show. Most of the picture remains fine and the audio does not drop out. It corrects itself very quickly and is barely noticeable. My signal readings are excellent. Still irritating. I am in Baltimore.

2. Synch issues happen a lot on MPEG4 channels and it can be corrected by rewind and fast forwarding.

3. No missed recordings in the 9 days.

4. Dolby digital and 1 tuner did not work at installation, but worked at reset and no problems since.

Scott


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

litzdog911 said:


> Hadn't seen this problem before (in fact, my HR20 has been quite solid with the latest update) ....
> 
> Was watching "Saturday Night Live" on my NBC HD MPEG4 channel (KING5), and actually watching it live. Video & audio started breaking up with macro-blocking and heavy pixelation, as if the satellite signal was being block. This continued for a minute or so, then the picture froze and audio disappeared. Changed channel to my SD NBC station and all was fine. Changed channel to my CBS HD MPEG4 channel (KIRO7) and *saw the same video that was frozen on my NBC HD MPEG4 channel! * I only get CBS and NBC in MPEG4 HDTV, but remembered that Ch 96 was also an MPEG4 channel. Changed to Ch 96 and again saw the same frozen video screen from my NBC HD MPEG4 channel.
> 
> ...


That same picture in memory is quite interesting. It suggests that something may have hung up in the decoding stream/memory for MPEG-4. Not knowing precisely how this works, it is still most interesting and seems to point at something unique to the MPEG-4 stream that caused the MPEG-4 section only of the HR20 to freeze. Hopefully this will help those working on the code.


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## F1Fan (Oct 8, 2006)

Hi Everyone,

I'm a new member, but been actively reading posts here everyday. Anyway, I'd like to share my experience with HR20 new software update.

I ordered my HR20 from D* and originally scheduled for installation on 10/10/06 but can't stay home on that day so I was rescheduled to 10/23/06  . I bought (leased?) my second HR20 from BB, and I thought I couldn't wait till 10/23. 

So I called D* yesterday and asked if HR20 will work with triple LNB that I currently have. Reps said it should and my second HR20 was activated. After all booting sequence, the unit displayed a message that it found new software update (00D8) and started downloading it. It failed to download it at least 6 times (overnight) and I can't watch TV downstairs. My current software on the unit I think is 00AC and sometimes I have audio lost whenever DiscoveryHD was in DolbyDigital, I had to manually change the audio to analog and change it back to DD and it will work. Is this a known problem with the old software?

Is this because I'm using the triple LNB instead of the new AT-9? I also noticed some transponder on SAT-1 input displaying 0 strength and I'm missing few channels (that's OK until 10/23 -when the installer come- as long as I'm getting DiscoveryHD and SpeedTV), I figured this is because the triple LNB, my old R10 (DTivo) never worked with this LNB with the same symptom.

All wizzards out there, please help me. I hope all of my problems are related to my LNB, can't exchange my unit since BB is sold out of it.

Thank You.


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## EJB (Sep 15, 2006)

Not sure if this is a bug or a feature. My son mentioned that this morning he attempted to record a commercial that came on right before a show because he wanted to show it to his brother. He pressed record, waited for the commercial to end (about 20 seconds), then pressed record again. It prompted him to "Stop and keep the recording". He selected that, but when he went back to the list of recorded programs, there was nothing there.

Is there a minimum amount of time that can be recorded before something shows up? I haven't attempted to repeat this feature, but will do so later today.

ejb


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

Just a note on manual recordings:

Got my new dish upgrade installed yesterday with the 6x8 switch so I could finally hook up the second tuner. Had to red reset the box to get the second tuner to work (first time I've had to reset since I got the box by the way). Worked great, second tuner working just fine.

BUT I had a manual record on channel 95 for the Red Wings game and it was missing from the To Do list. Other then that all the other recordings kicked in including some that could now record due to having 2 tuners vs. 1 (very nice).

As fate would have it, it was a good thing I had to set up the game to record again anyway as DirecTV moved it to channel 94 and I would have had hours of blank nothing if it kept recording 95!


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

Just keeping the code-watchers up-to-date.

As we've experienced before, last night's recording of the F1 race from Japan isn't accessible, this morning. I'm not rebooting -- already watching football from England! Maybe I will, tomorrow morning -- and I'll try the "component reboot", then. I get really frustrated over losing Guide data

Anyway, the race shows again, today, and I'll re-record to watch..

What was different about my experience, this time, was that I was still awake and viewing when the pre-race portion of the Race came on, last night. So, I was able to verify it was recording normally, I could switch forth-and-back between watching it live or recorded. 

So, it's things going boomp in the night!


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

F1Fan said:


> Hi Everyone,
> 
> Is this because I'm using the triple LNB instead of the new AT-9? I also noticed some transponder on SAT-1 input displaying 0 strength and I'm missing few channels Thank You.


The HR20 works fine with a 3 LNB dish (make sure its set to the 3 lnb dish, and not the 5 lnb dish in setup).

Missing transponders are normal on SAT-1, they are used for spot beams and other things. Make sure you dont have something blocking the signal causing drop outs (tree branch blowing past dish, bad connection, airplanes landing) and if thats not the problem, try swapping the satellite input cables and make sure the connectors are tight.


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## Andrew_J_M (Feb 11, 2005)

Ed Campbell said:


> Just keeping the code-watchers up-to-date.
> 
> As we've experienced before, last night's recording of the F1 race from Japan isn't accessible, this morning. I'm not rebooting -- already watching football from England! Maybe I will, tomorrow morning -- and I'll try the "component reboot", then. I get really frustrated over losing Guide data
> 
> ...


I had no issues with the race - recorded and played back fine. First time F1 has worked on my Hr20.


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## Frodtab (Sep 17, 2006)

dbdynsty25 said:


> Well I had my first MISSED recording today. I scheduled the Hurricanes/Tarheels game to be recorded at 9am PST on the Gameplan package which I've got. I got up this morning and when I returned home, it didn't record at all. Nothing.
> 
> This is really frustrating. Why can't this device do the main thing it's designed for? I mean, this is the whole reason the thing was made, to record shows. It can't really do that reliably. I can understand if things like SATA drives, networking and other things that are new to DirecTV wouldn't work...but the fundamental design stuff doesn't work, and that is bothersome to me. You'd think that was the one thing they'd get to work without flaw...record, watch, delete, schedule. Oh well. Guess I gotta just live with it till they get those fundamental functionality working.
> 
> One of the major problems I am having is that the buttons on the remote or the buttons on the machine itself stop functioning sometimes. When it happens, the only way to get it back is to red reset it. That's just stupid. And it happens when I'm not even watching TV or doing anything crazy, it just stops working when I come back to use the TV. Just bizarre.


I'm not sure how you set the recording for the Hurricanes games but I had the same problem. See my posting yesterday on the exact issue for me.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=66538


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

I still notice an audio delay between my TV speakers (via HDMI from HR20) and my AV receiver (via optical out from HR20) on channels broadcasting in DD. It is very minimal, probably only 10 or 20ms, but still noticeable. Channels with just a PCM audio stream are perfectly synced between the HDMI and optical outputs.


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## thekochs (Oct 7, 2006)

Anybody having crackling audio noise over digital audio ? I have HR20 and H20 and get this noise on local HD channels ONLY. I have SP-DIF TosLink and Component for video. I can toggle Dolby 5.1 ON/OFF and no change. The crackling is intermitant but very loud. This happens identically on both settops....brand new...have latest updates. I try the RCA analog audio no problem and also change to other channels like HBO HD and no audio problems. It appears some problem with the MPEG-4 audio decode over digital. 

Other threads with issue:

http://forums.directv.com/pe/action...read?rootPostID=10164384&returnExpertiseCode=

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=681101&posted=1#post681101


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## pattcap (Sep 24, 2006)

joekun said:


> I have to raise my hand on this one too, but it's because neither of my displays support 480i over HDMI/DVI. This is still a problem, when there is an update my screen just goes black and says "no signal". I have no idea what's going on. It would be nice if they could update it so that it pays attention to your resolution settings when it reboots or does an update.


I had this problem too.
To avoid it I removed 480i from the output options, so on restart it starts at the old res

I also have the x-video routed through my reciever so I can switch to that and see what is going on.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

I think it is likely that many problems are caused by three things:

1. Not total HDMI compatibility between HR20 and TV
2. Differences in MPEG4 signals from locals
3. Heat affecting the HR20

I have no HDMI problems with "Native" turned off, I get no MPEG 4, and I have a cooling fan on the HR20. I have only had to reset once.

And, of course, my fingers are crossed.


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

Andrew_J_M said:


> I had no issues with the race - recorded and played back fine. First time F1 has worked on my Hr20.


In terms of hardware, I think I have a pretty stable system, e.g., HR20, Samsung DLP -- but, you and I are 2 times zones apart. The immediately previous telecasts of F1 were an hour or hour-and-a-half long. Last night would have been much longer and, who knows, maybe some tidying up signals specific to time zone were coming down from the bird into the Mountain states towards the end of the race?

Today or tomorrow, I'm going to unplug HDMI and do a component reboot > re-plug HDMI > look for a recording [probably a long movie] that hits approximately the same timeframe as the race. See what happens. The 2 reboots since 0xD8 [1 by D* amd 1 by me] were both with HDMI in place.

------

OK, did a component reboot, tonight -- replugged HDMI -- told the critter to record a movie that starts a bit before midnight. Let's see if I get a non-playable recording.

------

Monday morning -- movie recorded, last night, was stable and playable. Cyprus v Eire recording and playable at same time, this morning. Rock on!


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## jheda (Sep 19, 2006)

i am getting hiccups on locals since the new download.........anyone else........pardon me if covered b4 away for buiss. from tues till just now and just seeing this new download, but watched Giants recorded with bad video hiccups


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## jheda (Sep 19, 2006)

also having to ff to get anything recorded started


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## S. DiThomas (Oct 8, 2006)

Ok. Lurking for a long time (that is for weeks since I purchased - I think not leased -- the HR-20 from BB. I did not renew any contract with DTV for same so that would make it a purchase right?)

System:
- In the LA - So. Cal market; 
-HR-20 connected via Component to Panasonic RPTV 1080i
-Set to Native Resolution (allow only 480p or 1080i selected), 
-0xd8 update (First try ok).
-Unit in a cabinet with USB fan from R-Shack Thermaltake unit. Pre fan 129f, post 124f operating temperature
Unit linked to surge center Monster Power 3600. 
-3 LNB disk, two lines (no add on - I forgot the name of the little filter devices);
so MPEG-2 feed only; and waiting for OTA to activate
- All fed from Spawn amplified multi switch for 12 DTV connections in home

Problems (and fixes) noted with new update:

1) on MPEG2 recorded signals, during first 10 minutes of some shows - I.E. CSI on CBS 81 signal glitches and dropouts for < 1 second with minor pixelation

2) While watching pre-recorded program the live buffer or pre-set recordings do not properly work. For example. Thursday I was watching NCIS from Monday MPEG-2 LA local off of recorded programs. Tuner was set for CBSW, started watching NCIS off disc. That recording ended 5 minutes into CSI set to record/to do on CBSW 81 in LA. I then tried to watch the CSI by rewinding the live TV feed (now 5 minutes into the program) back 5 minutes to the start hoping I could catch up with some commercial skips and be live again.

Unit would not allow rewind to the beginning of the recording of CSI. Watched the full show live, then returned to record list and was able to watch the program from the beginning?

What gives? NO live buffer while recording the same show? NO access to the prior material while live recording in a to-do but access if live buffer and not in to-do list?

3. Still get pink surround or no image of the FF icon on 2x FF or 3x FF when playing pre-recorded MPEG-2 shows from disk.

4. DD works great since prior update (fixed on MPEG-2 HD shows).

5. Unit runs too hot. Needs a built in cooling fan with exhaust out the back of the chassis (or another fan).

6. KNOCK WOOD - only 1 red button reset to date (right after original self-install).

I am glad that D* finally brought the box out but it sounds like MPEG-4 is not ready for prime time.  

Wish list:

1) OTA tuner;

2) Better signal strength - why is this box so unique in that it only gives 74-79% signal strength but my prior Samsung HD box SIR-TS 360 shows 89-100 on the three birds I can see?

3) Faster guide downloads after red-button reset;

4) Kill the Guide list 1 screen - I want a guide not a guide to the guide filter when i hit guide (make that two pushes not one);

5) Front panel light dimmer that actually dims - not 110%-105%-100%- 90%-0% brightness. How about 110%-90%-75%-50%-25% and off?

I don't even have a dog but if I slept on the couch in front of the HR-20 I would bark about it too...

6) The ability to hold out until against MPEG-4 until Spawn designs a 7x12+ multi switch/distribution amp for D* and OTA and D* gets the MPEG-4 recording right.

7) A remote with the channel change/volume buttons higher up (top 1/3) Like the Samsung SIR-TS 360 layout.

8) Sounds for menus and deletions;

9) Simpler methods to find programs to record and limit them to the "favorites" selections of channels to mirror the guide options if possible.

Other than that, I actually like the box and the menus. Props to the boys and girls at D*. In many ways it is much better and easier to use than the Gen 1 TIVO we have

Props to the designers for the one touch TV/Box on off option and the strong remote signal. The former is GOLD! (especially considering the Samsung Select TV, push power, Select Box push power - 6 key stroke method from their remote to do same.


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## eric.starwars (Sep 17, 2006)

eric.starwars said:


> Not to jinx myself, But since last Wed update, My box has pretty much worked great. No freezes or miss recording or even bad sinc prob's.


I spoke to soon. Now my caller ID is not working as of noon today.


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## Tim Sly (Aug 23, 2006)

jheda said:


> i am getting hiccups on locals since the new download.........anyone else........pardon me if covered b4 away for buiss. from tues till just now and just seeing this new download, but watched Giants recorded with bad video hiccups


I also got major hiccups video & audio during the end of the Vikings game today on HD local NBC. Picture would pixilate, audio got distorted like a robot sound or dropped out. After red button reset it helped but then reappeared during the Eagles/Cowboys game with freeze ups, no sound and 30 second slip freezes up.
There are some major problems going on. I am using HDMI for video.
Do you think it is a software issue instead of a hardware problem with the HR20? Hate to have to change the unit out already when it is a month old.


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## Tim Sly (Aug 23, 2006)

pattcap said:


> Improvements in the 0xD8
> 
> * Disk space bar updates dynamically when user deletes or changes the status of the recording to Keep.


Can you answer a stupid question...
What does the dark blue and light blue part of the disk status bar mean?


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## pattcap (Sep 24, 2006)

Tim Sly said:


> Can you answer a stupid question...
> What does the dark blue and light blue part of the disk status bar mean?


Used vs. unused portion of the Disk space. 
When it reads 100%, it should be blank. If it reads 1% it will be almost fully filled in...


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## axiom (Sep 24, 2006)

Two problems last night. One, while recording one show and watching another live, I had no trick play available at all on the live show. Hitting play would bring up the timeline, but rewind, replay, etc. wouldn't do anything.

Also, I had a hockey game scheduled to record overnight. This morning, no show in the list and history said "deleted" which was impossible since nobody touched the unit until I went to watch the game.


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## andbye (Aug 23, 2006)

I can cope with the audio drops; if they will fix the closed captioning. Or vice-versa. 

One or the other.

I can deal with the multiple button presses. if they will fix the slow guide reaction. Or vice versa.

One or the other.


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## Phil T (Mar 25, 2002)

jheda said:


> also having to ff to get anything recorded started


I noticed this one too.


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## munangst (Sep 1, 2006)

Tonight it seems like the honeymoon ended...for the first time we started getting picture freeze-ups and receiver freeze-ups. During the freeze-ups the receiver wouldn't respond to the remote and the power LED wasn't blinking to acknowledge the button-presses. However, if I let the receiver sit for a little while (30 sec or so) it would un-freeze and then process a bunch of the remote presses. Sometimes it would get stuck in a loop where it would play the same ~1 sec segment of video over and over again. Typically I could get out of the freeze by fast-forwarding a minute or two into the future to get past the "bad spot".

One notable thing is that for the first time tonight I let the HR20 get more than ~70% full. I wonder if it's related? The pauses seem an awful lot like ATA retries trying to salvage a bad sector on the drive -- in my experience (on computers) this can cause the host to freeze while the drive tries over and over again to fetch the data.

I wonder whether the HR20 does any proactive "scrubbing" for media defects on the hard drive -- possibly the reason why it didn't start to happen until I started recording into previously-undiscovered regions of the disk. I'm going to try to let it fill up the drive and see if that solves the problems. Hopefully that will let the drive find any bad spots and remap them so they don't get used again.

(BTW, it is normal for hard drives to have a small number of media errors -- typically <100 -- and the drive will automatically remap them when they occur. However, the drive won't notice the bad spot until it's read, since the disk doesn't usually do any verification on writes.)


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Interesting bug... At 7:55, I hit record in the guide to record Back to the Future on UHD. I then pulled up and watched a show from MyVOD for 30 minutes. After that was over, I hit list, and selected Back to The Future, and got the black screen. Went back to live, and had no trick play features, no rewind, pause, or anything. Play showed the timeline, claiming to be recording it. Selected -- on the list, and Delete Show. Still no trick play. hit record, showed to record again, still black screen. Finally stopped the recording, deleted the partial file, changed channels, changed back, and trick play worked again. Apparently the buffer wasnt buffering at all. It was obvious the machine THOUGHT it was buffering, but it wasnt. Deleting the 45 minutes of partial HD recording made no change whatsoever on the claimed space free on the drive.


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## jgcox00 (Aug 30, 2006)

Scott R. Scherr said:


> 1. On MPEG 4 channels, I get 1 - 2 split second partial picture breakups (pixelates) per show. Most of the picture remains fine and the audio does not drop out. It corrects itself very quickly and is barely noticeable. My signal readings are excellent. Still irritating. I am in Baltimore.
> 
> 2. Synch issues happen a lot on MPEG4 channels and it can be corrected by rewind and fast forwarding.
> 
> ...


I am having the same issue but seems to primarily to the ABC feed for Raleigh. Of course it always happens when my wife wants to watch!


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

axiom said:


> Also, I had a hockey game scheduled to record overnight. This morning, no show in the list and history said "deleted" which was impossible since nobody touched the unit until I went to watch the game.


I can't say that your experience would be the same as mine, but I've found that when I scheduled MLB playoff games with generic guide data, i.e.- "Teams to be announced", those recording were canceled when the guide was update with the teams that were playing. I don't know if that would apply to the NHL game you scheduled.


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## texasbrit (Aug 9, 2006)

Had HR20 three weeks. This is my first problem with 0xD8.
Playing back recorded HD program. At end of program, paused in the SD pillarbox "coming next week" section. Rewound for about 30 seconds. Pressed play. Remaining HD played OK, as soon as I got to the SD pillarbox section HR20 went into fast forward, speed 1 with some pixelation (and no sound). Tried this several times, same problem. Pressed exit. Went to play program again. HD played OK, then SD section played OK also. Could not repeat earlier problem.


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## Twosted (Sep 18, 2006)

Had my first issue today. Was recording a football game on one of my SD locals. I was changing back and forth between that game and a HD game on my ST. When I went to the game I was recording I was unable to rewind, pause, FF or anything. If I hit play the time line would come up but it was black from the beginning to about halfway and then was orange. When I went to my VOD list and tried starting it from the beginning, I just got a black screen and nothing else. Stopped it deleted it and didn't give it a second thought. I knew I should have reset it but I didn't. It was scheduled to record two programs later, when I got home, same thing. Couldn't rewind, pause, FF etc.. So I did a reset and now everything is fine.


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## Nukeranger (Oct 7, 2006)

Very interesting. My HR20-700s used to freeze up in the first minute of recording and repeat a scene part way through the recording. It also missed recordings. Talking to DirecTV, I had to reset the recorder and it downloaded OxD8 with the reset. This wiped out all recordings, the play list, and to do list. Over the weekend everything seemed better. I did watch a show "Dexter" in HD last night and the show freezed-up part way through. Did a little rewind for a minute and it played through.


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## mOOn (Oct 2, 2006)

Sony KDL-26S2010, HDMI Input, Dolby Digital ON

After several days of using the 0xD8 software, I am getting two problems:

1) Some shows freeze up. When I rewind, they may proceed a bit further and then freeze. If I fast forward a bit and then rewind, the show proceeds to the end with no problems.

2) Local HD Channels have glitches in the picture. No color areas, eyes that swipe a white line across the screen, shifts in the alignment of the picture, pasteling, pixelating. It is not constant, but often enough to be distracting.


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## skierbri10 (Sep 18, 2006)

*Searching For Authorized Programming....Error*
This is a new one that I haven't seen on here before. I got this Sunday night and I had to do a full reset to get rid of it. I am now having problems this week. I had been happily without problems. Today, however it failed to record my Football game on NFLST and everytime I goto watch something that has been recorded I get the dreaded freeze, FF, Play, FF issue. I luckily woke up at the halftime for my game so i got to see the end. Thankfully, the second half was the most exciting. Up to this point the previous 2-3 weeks I hadn't had even one problem (other than my locals not working.) So much for the increase in stability with the new software.


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

bidger said:


> I can't say that your experience would be the same as mine, but I've found that when I scheduled MLB playoff games with generic guide data, i.e.- "Teams to be announced", those recording were canceled when the guide was update with the teams that were playing. I don't know if that would apply to the NHL game you scheduled.


I was faced with a similar problem last evening when the Cards BB game was coming on. The guide still said yankees...so I set a manual recording and it worked. Curiously, it listed the manual recording as the Yankees, but it recorded properly anyway.

I've seen lots of reports that manual recoding didn't work...and I'm sure it is unreliable, but in this one case, it worked for me.


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## Crash Pilot (Oct 3, 2006)

I have had many problems with the H20 and now they are getting worse.
The box locks up when I ff and slip through commercials and have to do a reset.
I had some NFL games set to record over the weekend and came back to a frozen picture and none of my recordings were recorded. 
I worked with tech support 3 weeks ago and they said they will send me out a new H20 and now I find they are on back order!
I called tech support again after the latest barrage of problems (reset box at least once EVERY friggin day!) and told them I wanted to reformat the hard drive.
they walked me through the "reset everything" first because that is the "Proceedure". 
I did as told and then hit reset and was told to hold the down arrow and the record button after the screen goes black right after the "almost there" screen.
Nothing. Just goes through the boot up process. I tried holding the buttons for 15 seconds like was told, then tried for 30, then a minute, then .....
I guess I can not reformat the hard drive and have to wait for the backorder to lift.
I am not a happy camper. I have read this list inside and out and am sad to see that I am not alone. 
**** interesting note*****
DTV told me that the new H20 that they are sending me (on back order), has newer firmware and a different operating system. Does anyone believe this?


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## Rew452 (Aug 17, 2006)

I too have found this update to be more buggy than in the past.

I have lost playback controls FF, FR, pause etc on more than 5 occations while plaing back recordings or even while just pausing a live show. In all cases Red button reset solved the problem.

But I have to say I have use it more on this update than in the last 2 or so.

So far no lost or unplayable recordings. Just these types of lockups

Rew


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## F1Fan (Oct 8, 2006)

Davenlr said:


> The HR20 works fine with a 3 LNB dish (make sure its set to the 3 lnb dish, and not the 5 lnb dish in setup).
> 
> Missing transponders are normal on SAT-1, they are used for spot beams and other things. Make sure you dont have something blocking the signal causing drop outs (tree branch blowing past dish, bad connection, airplanes landing) and if thats not the problem, try swapping the satellite input cables and make sure the connectors are tight.


You're a genius!
Never had a problem with the 3 LNB before unless when noreaster decided to visit New England, so I know I have no problem with my LNB. Swapped SAT input and it downladed the 00D8 right after I turned it on. HR20 seems to perform so much better, no moe DD issues. Still missing few channels, but I'll wait for the installer.


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## F1Fan (Oct 8, 2006)

Ed Campbell said:


> Just keeping the code-watchers up-to-date.
> 
> As we've experienced before, last night's recording of the F1 race from Japan isn't accessible, this morning. I'm not rebooting -- already watching football from England! Maybe I will, tomorrow morning -- and I'll try the "component reboot", then. I get really frustrated over losing Guide data


I successfully recorded Japanese GP that night 10/08 @ 12.30am (original airing). What package do you have for soccer, Setanta or Sport Package?


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## jgrade (Oct 1, 2006)

Huge problems with this unit on Sunday. I was trying to watch the Bears and the Nextel series on CBS2 HD and NBC5 HD in Chicago. During the Bears game the picture froze just before a touchdown and then displayed and error “input signal lost”. The HR20 displayed the error, the TV still had signal. I tried to use the trick plays to correct the problem (seems to work for me most of the time), but this time it rewound and played correctly until the same spot from the buffer and again displayed the error message. So it recorded the error. The FF got me past the error but then the stretch would not work and I had pillars. A quick change of the channel and things popped back to normal.

NASCAR was a disaster. Besides the horrible picture with tons of pixilation the screen froze just about every time a commercial started. I can’t believe D gets away with calling this HD. For a while I switched to SD just to be able to see the picture without pixilation. Then the audio dropouts started. This has been a problem from the first day, so I am used to it, but whish this would get resolved. I recorded the last 30 muinites to watch later, but the image quality was worse (can’t understand that). So what is had was freezing, pixilation and audio dropouts for 3 hours; not a fun viewing experience. 

Watching recorded programs is a pain as well. EVERY show recorded will freeze at the 1 minute mark. Pressing FF gets me back to the beginning of the program and takes me past the 1 minute mark and the show palys normal. 

HR-20 video connected via component and audio via TOSlink directly to receiver.

I am double posting this in Software update and HDMI issues since I think both are revenant.


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## joejhawk (Oct 3, 2006)

jgcox00 said:


> I am having the same issue but seems to primarily to the ABC feed for Raleigh. Of course it always happens when my wife wants to watch!


We are having the same issue on the Orlando ABC affiliate. I was told by tech support that this issue is usually resolved in 72 hours but it has been a week and it is still an issue. The other recordings seem to be working fine, but ABC recordings or paused TV is unwatchable due to video skips and pixilating.


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## Rew452 (Aug 17, 2006)

I should add that on the sat signal level page it still reads 3 lnb for azm, elev, tilt; I started out with a 3 lnb and latter updated to a 5 lnb.

System info does correctly show 5 lnb. Seems to be a bug.

Rew


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## pyrettablaze (Sep 18, 2006)

Two recordings started black. Holding down the FF to get to the next tick did not fix the problem. Menu said it had the whole show. Hit "reset" and viola, the 2 programs were out of my list and gone ;-(


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## jbellanca (Sep 1, 2006)

Tim Sly said:


> Can you answer a stupid question...
> What does the dark blue and light blue part of the disk status bar mean?


Dark blue = Shows marked keep until I delete
Light blue = Used space on drive
White/Blank = Unused space on drive


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## axiom (Sep 24, 2006)

bidger said:


> I can't say that your experience would be the same as mine, but I've found that when I scheduled MLB playoff games with generic guide data, i.e.- "Teams to be announced", those recording were canceled when the guide was update with the teams that were playing. I don't know if that would apply to the NHL game you scheduled.


Mine was actually a replay of an earlier game, and I scheduled it in the search page. It had all the data when I scheduled it about 4 hours before it was to start.

It's definitely frustrating to lose recordings. Luckily I realized later I had the game recording on an SD DirecTivo with an old forgotten autorecord wishlist. I will probably be setting up some more redundant recordings until they fix the HR20.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

Had my second red button reset in two weeks this morning.

Unit would not do anthing after powering on. Two instances of this are really the only problems I've had.

The additional info screens at startup are much appreciated!


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## steff3 (Jun 12, 2006)

Just activated my second box last night. Had problems seeing all sats. Then could not pull locals. After calling D* and them sending all info again, rebooting all seemed fine. I am running audio as optical but DD is not comong through. I can hear something but it is muffeled and barley audibale. I noticed on the original start up of the box when it got to the point of the new software update, it was not seeing the sats and I had to restart. Don't know if that had something to do with it or not??????????


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## Crash Pilot (Oct 3, 2006)

just recieved my replacement HD 20 and will compare rev. numbers to see if I can tell the difference if any. Pretty fast turnaround on the backorder!  *** update*** only difference I can see is that the old box was built in Aug 06 and the new one was made this month. Wonder what has changed if anything.

I will post my assesment (problems solved or not) soon.


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## mirwin101 (Oct 9, 2006)

gashog301 said:


> With the new update my mpeg4 channels look like crap,I see macro blocking and I dont know what you call it but when a scene changes quick it seems like the refresh rate is very slow. I get DC locals and have a 34xbr800 CRT. Overall I love the box and I know its new and there are issues,thats what we get for being early adopters.


I have been having the exact same problem with the mpeg4 locals in Nashville since I got the softare update last Wednesday. The locals here looked great prior to Wednesday.


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## Radio Enginerd (Oct 5, 2006)

I had a problem watching The Office in HD on NBC (MPEG-4) this past week. Since I watched the first half of the show live, I FF through the first 8 minutes and, at the 8 minute mark (like clock work), my screen went black and my HR20 locked up and rebooted itself. After a reboot, I attempted the same function again with the same results. After 15 minutes (with reboots) and out of desperation to finish watching The Office, I FF 6 minutes, then played, then FF another 6 minutes, then played and continued those steps until I got to watch the show… I’m starting to think it would have been easy and less time consuming to just watch the show live with all the commercials. :lol: 

PLEASE tell me I'm not alone and that another software upgrade is due out soon.


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## lenwink (Jul 8, 2006)

eric.starwars said:


> I spoke to soon. Now my caller ID is not working as of noon today.


Got my HR20 installed at 8am yesterday, replacing H20. Caller ID works only by listing the caller under messages but does not display on screen as H20 did.


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## Radio Enginerd (Oct 5, 2006)

lenwink said:


> Got my HR20 installed at 8am yesterday, replacing H20. Caller ID works only by listing the caller under messages but does not display on screen as H20 did.


Had that problem as well. Rebooted and it went away...


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

Radio Enginerd said:


> Had that problem as well. Rebooted and it went away...


I know lots of people have had and are currently having CallerID problems. Mine worked from day 1 and I hesitate to say that, for I believe in the "HR20 Jinx". Personally, I think it might be an HR20 individual phone provider problem. I'm not versed in every phone company's caller ID interface; but I'm sure each has it's on protocols.


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## Rob55 (Sep 14, 2006)

Vinny said:


> I know lots of people have had and are currently having CallerID problems. Mine worked from day 1 and I hesitate to say that, for I believe in the "HR20 Jinx". Personally, I think it might be an HR20 individual phone provider problem. I'm not versed in every phone company's caller ID interface; but I'm sure each has it's on protocols.


Ditto, my caller ID worked from day 1 as well. Funny you should mention the "HR20 Jinx". No sooner did I get done posting that I never had to do a reset (last Tuesday), then ending having to do one that night and another the next night as well.


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## Rob55 (Sep 14, 2006)

Does this mean that my Caller ID will stop working?


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## JohnMav (Aug 24, 2006)

Well, my called id worked with the H20, but now doesn't with the HR20. Didn't change phone provider


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

Rob55 said:


> Does this mean that my Caller ID will stop working?


I surely hope you aren't affected by the Jinx. I think lots of people don't want to say anything good in fear of the dreaded JINX.:lol:


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## gcisko (Sep 27, 2006)

jgrade said:


> Huge problems with this unit on Sunday. I was trying to watch the Bears and the Nextel series on CBS2 HD and NBC5 HD in Chicago. During the Bears game the picture froze just before a touchdown and then displayed and error "input signal lost". The HR20 displayed the error, the TV still...


I think this was the CBS HD feed. The same thing happened to me. Then the screen format switched to 4:3 digital with the black sidebars. Then after some time it went back to HD 16:9 widescreen.

On the other hand I had issues with the Japanese F1 race. I recorded it on SpeedTV. I have my HR20 format set to 1080i crop to get the 4:3 as a full screen and live with the top and bottom chopped somewhat. During playback and FF or RW, I would see the picture go to 4:3 shape within the 16:9 screen. In other words, everything would look tall and thin... This would flip back and forth from normal to this tall/thin picture. If I started after a FF or RW with the normal aspect it would stay. But it was very irritating to have the aspect ratio change when slipping through comercials. I was using HDMI, but it also showed the same effect on componant input. So I do not think it was an HDMI issue. Other recordings played back fine.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

That was the CBS HD Feed.
At just about EXACTLY 1:00pm... just before Cedric scored his first touchdown.

The image abruptly stopped.... 
When they came back from commercial it was 4:3 (just like gcisko stated)


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## billt1111 (Aug 16, 2006)

JohnMav said:


> Well, my called id worked with the H20, but now doesn't with the HR20. Didn't change phone provider


Yep. There was a thread about this topic a week or so ago but it is definitely a little irritating. My caller ID did not work on my H20 from December of 2005 to July of 2006. A software update FINALLY fixed it. I replaced my H20 with an HR20 in August and voila, right back where I started with no caller ID. I actually have to get up off the couch to go see who is calling this time. :nono2: :eek2:

Can we just put the same fix in again. PLEEEEZ.


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## Rob55 (Sep 14, 2006)

Vinny said:


> I surely hope you aren't affected by the Jinx. I think lots of people don't want to say anything good in fear of the dreaded JINX.:lol:


The JINX got my HR-20 twice last week.:eek2: My HR-20 was problem free until that point.


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## Radio Enginerd (Oct 5, 2006)

Rob55 said:


> The JINX got my HR-20 twice last week.:eek2: My HR-20 was problem free until that point.


So does that mean the most recent software upgrade created more problems?


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## Rob55 (Sep 14, 2006)

Radio Enginerd said:


> So does that mean the most recent software upgrade created more problems?


Yep. My "freezing playback" problems started started with 0xD1 and improved with 0xD8. Otherwise (hope the JINX ain't listening), my HR-20 was ok 'till then.


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## Radio Enginerd (Oct 5, 2006)

Rob55 said:


> Yep. My "freezing playback" problems started started with 0xD1 and improved with 0xD8. Otherwise (hope the JINX ain't listening), my HR-20 was ok 'till then.


Well I'm guessing they're getting the message that things aren't going well, right? Earl, do you work for DTV?

I only ask being that I've been a DTV customer for about a week now and the experience has been a little "rough" to say the least.


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## Rob55 (Sep 14, 2006)

Radio Enginerd said:


> I only ask being that I've been a DTV customer for about a week now and the experience has been a little "rough" to say the least.


I've been a DTV customer for about 8 years now. I remember getting billed by DTV for part of my service and then by USSB for my HBOs (all you out there who've been with DTV that long will remember that one). Anyway, it's not so bad. They're much better then the alternative (Cablevison by me). Almost had to call the cops on the Cablevision sales guy when he kept coming back to my house (6 times) even though I emphatically told him I wasn't interested.


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## Radio Enginerd (Oct 5, 2006)

Rob55 said:


> I've been a DTV customer for about 8 years now. They're much better then the alternative.


I've heard this story from MANY DTV customers I know... See my story (post #2) at this thread to find out why I left Dish.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=66694


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## Rob55 (Sep 14, 2006)

Radio Enginerd said:


> See my story (post #2) at this thread to find out why I left Dish.


I consider myself lucky then. I never really had a problem with DTV. One time they forgot to de-activate an older receiver that I had replaced and I didn't pick up on it for almost 6 months (yeah, shame on me). When I called them to inquire why they didn't de-activate the old box as I had asked, they promptly de-activated it and gave me a free months service. Nothing earshaking I know, but 6 months @ $4.99 is only $29.94 and my service at the time was $75/month.


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

Rob55 said:


> I've been a DTV customer for about 8 years now. I remember getting billed by DTV for part of my service and then by USSB for my HBOs (all you out there who've been with DTV that long will remember that one).


I've been with them almost since day 1 and I surely remember USSB. I never had any trouble with D*; but have always bought my own equipment and had their installers install. This is the first time I ordered both equipment and installation from them. Also the first time (at least since the beginning) that I ordered a box that was the latest and greatest. I usually waited until the price came down or the bugs were virtually all gone.

I'm still not unhappy and would recommend D* to anyone.


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## Rob55 (Sep 14, 2006)

Vinny said:


> ]I'm still not unhappy and would recommend D* to anyone[/FONT].


Same here, I'd recommend them to anyone, and have in the past. All went with my recommendation except those who had trees in the way. Not that a chainsaw couldn't solve that problem


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## skierbri10 (Sep 18, 2006)

Still no Honolulu locals working......in case there are HR20 programmers reading this.


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## skierbri10 (Sep 18, 2006)

Rob55 said:


> Same here, I'd recommend them to anyone, and have in the past. All went with my recommendation except those who had trees in the way. Not that a chainsaw couldn't solve that problem


Me too, oldtimer here. I love DTV......


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

Hey, I had a 220 minute buffer. So much for that 90-minute limit .

Apparently, you can pause to infinity (disk full?), but you cannot rewind more than 90-minutes back. Try it, I'll bet you, too, can have a 220 minute buffer on your HR20.

Here's what I observed, but basically it says the same thing as what you just read if you don't care for the details.
---

Something definitely weird happened today. I connected to my SlingBox for work and noticed that the video stream had been paused. I don't recall pausing it, but let's just assume that it did get paused properly. The current time is 3:30pm and I hit the INFO button on the remote and it shows Sportscenter from 10:30am - 12:00pm. This is certainly more than 90 minutes back in time. I pressed LIST and there is nothing being recorded now. In fact, the most recent recording was Without a Trace last night. 

If I press the PLAY button, it seems to show that the meter is @ 12:00pm with nothing (black bar vs. filled in green bar) in the rears to 10:30am for the Sportscenter that I am presumably watching. I fast forwarded a little, but could not go back again, so I am definitely at the beginning of the buffer. As I am doing this, the program changes to Monday Night Kickoff which airs from 12:00pm - 2:00pm here on the West Coast. Pressing the play button AGAIN shows it limited at the end of the time period, but now the period is 2pm instead of 12pm.

It looks to me like the real buffer is closer to 3.5 hours rather than 90 minutes. However, none of the normal appearances work. It's as if the display elements are limited to 90 minutes, but the buffer is limited to 210 minutes. Has anyone else noticed this?

I tried something else and it is even more bizarre. I Fast forwarded 3x for about 10 minutes worth of recorded show and then tried to rewind (1x). It rewound about 3 or 4 seconds worth and then started playing again.

I pressed pause for about a minute after going forward for a while and it paused, picking up right where it left off. I can pause and let real time put be AFTER the end of the 90-minute buffer, but I cannot rewind to go AFTER the the end of the buffer.

I finally caught up to the buffer @ the 2:37pm mark on the screen meter. The actual time is 4:07pm so that sounds about right for 90 minutes. Once I got back into the buffer zone, I am able to rewind, etc. as expected. It begins to play once it hits the 90-minute mark. I'm going to pause it for a few minutes now to verify that it goes longer than the buffer again ... I started it back after a few minutes and it is playing fine even though I am outside the 90-minute buffer.

This was long message, but I wanted to document what I was doing while I was doing it and this seemed like the right place to do it.


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

F1Fan said:


> I successfully recorded Japanese GP that night 10/08 @ 12.30am (original airing). What package do you have for soccer, Setanta or Sport Package?


All of the above. The frustrating bit is watching stuff from SkyTV on Setanta -- when they relay the UK commercials for SkyHD coverage of the matches!

I actually have more football than I could conceivably watch. One of the reasons I love the bookmark facility in the HR20 is that I can take a match I've watched [or even one I've surfed for goals] and bookmark the goals and play them back for my wife when she gets home for supper.

I'm an SPL fan as well as EPL; so, this year's addition of the odd live match + the usual 2-day delay of each of the auld firm matches is welcome.


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## chicago_king (Oct 10, 2006)

I just got the HR20 last week and immediately received the update. I am finding as others are that most of my recordings freeze about 30 seconds into playback. If I fast forward thru that part it seems to play the rest. I switched from the HR10-250 so I am finding this highly annoying.

I am gathering that this is from the latest software update.

Any one get a response from DTV on a new update release date that may resolve this?

Thanks.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

chicago_king said:


> Any one get a response from DTV on a new update release date that may resolve this?


As a matter of fact...yes I have... and all I can say is... soon.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> As a matter of fact...yes I have... and all I can say is... soon.


I shall translate: Most likely in 72 hours or less. (not 100% guaranteed ofcourse)


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

I've been on the forum before, so this is nothing new to me. All I can say is the HR-20 remains an undependable piece of crap. When it works, great stuff. But let's be honest, the main function of this POS isn't caller ID or OTA (not yet) reception or any other stuff on these lists. The number one function of this thing is RECORDING SHOWS and ALLOWING YOU TO PLAY THEM BACK WHEN YOU WANT TO!

I thought the thing was working, as it had been flawless for 4-5 days, but it's back to its unreliable tricks. I was out today and set up the MNF game to record. Light was on, recording away. Yeah, right. For the umpteenth time when I tried to the game at 10 PM EDT, all I could see was the infamous black screen of death, the timer set at 0:00, end of story. Nothing could get rid of the BSOD. When I tuned to ESPN HD to watch (at the current point of the game, the end of the second half), none of the trick functions worked. I had to stop the recording, then tune in ESPN, and then I could return the functionality. But no first and second quarters.

Everyone who has been singing the praises of this box notwithstanding, if they don't get this issue straightened out soon for ALL subscribers (not just the ones who allegedly haven't had a single problem recording), the negative PR is going to start really flowing. And I will be the first one offering some first-hand examples of what a POS this machine has turned out to be. It's just not ready, and as much as I wanted to record HD w/MPEG-4, I would have rather they got it right.

It's unreliable, end of story. It's not about GUI or Caller ID, etc. It's about recording, and so far, the HR-20 has been an abject failure in my house (and other houses as well, as we can all read here on DBSTalk).

Wonder what the next software upgrade will bring? Is it #4 or #5. I lost count.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

tstarn said:


> Wonder what the next software upgrade will bring? Is it #4 or #5. I lost count.


This last one was the 4th release since the HR20 became available nationally.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> This last one was the 4th release since the HR20 became available nationally.


Did I sound po'd? Damn right! Needed to rant one more time. In psychology, they have this process called the variable schedule of reinforcement. It means, the reward is only given at random times, and not only can it lead to the best learning performance, it can also lead to the most frustration.

And therein lies the rub. The HR-20 has got many of us on a variable schedule of reinforcement, and the frustration is getting ridiculous.


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## tqbui (Oct 4, 2006)

I had some problems this last Sunday trying to do the fake dual-buffer trick, but was having some instability problems (froze up at least twice). I sat and waited while it was restarting (after pressing the magic red button) and it ran through the startup sequence twice.

Now, I had problems with my old Tivo unit in my entertainment system freezing due to overheating, so I had a dedicated house fan (yes, a big house fan) blowing on it. I decided to give that a go with the HR20 and after that, I didn't seem to have many problems. Perhaps people are experiencing overheating issues with the HR20? My temperatures before the resorting to turning on the fan were around 127 F and after are around 109.

What's the maximum temperature this unit will take before experiencing problems?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

127 is the normal operating temperature of the unit.

I don't know what the thermal shutdown level is


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## chicago_king (Oct 10, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> As a matter of fact...yes I have... and all I can say is... soon.


Thanks. So the issue I described is a software issue correct? I called DTV tech support and he didn't seem to know what was going on, and just suggested I go back to the store and swap the box. I am thinking its not worth the trouble disconnecting everything as I will probably see the same issue with the replacement. Is this a correct assumption?

Sorry if this was answered before. I am new to the forum.

Thanks in advance.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

chicago_king said:


> Thanks. So the issue I described is a software issue correct? I called DTV tech support and he didn't seem to know what was going on, and just suggested I go back to the store and swap the box. I am thinking its not worth the trouble disconnecting everything as I will probably see the same issue with the replacement. Is this a correct assumption?
> 
> Sorry if this was answered before. I am new to the forum.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


It is a software issue... don't bother returning and swaping it.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

chicago_king said:


> Thanks. So the issue I described is a software issue correct? I called DTV tech support and he didn't seem to know what was going on, and just suggested I go back to the store and swap the box. I am thinking its not worth the trouble disconnecting everything as I will probably see the same issue with the replacement. Is this a correct assumption?
> 
> Sorry if this was answered before. I am new to the forum.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


As Earl said, don't bother swapping it, because the chances of having the same problems are pretty decent.

D* tech support not knowing what is going on? Knock me over with a feather.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

tqbui said:


> I had some problems this last Sunday trying to do the fake dual-buffer trick, but was having some instability problems (froze up at least twice). I sat and waited while it was restarting (after pressing the magic red button) and it ran through the startup sequence twice.
> 
> Now, I had problems with my old Tivo unit in my entertainment system freezing due to overheating, so I had a dedicated house fan (yes, a big house fan) blowing on it. I decided to give that a go with the HR20 and after that, I didn't seem to have many problems. Perhaps people are experiencing overheating issues with the HR20? My temperatures before the resorting to turning on the fan were around 127 F and after are around 109.
> 
> What's the maximum temperature this unit will take before experiencing problems?


I am using a fan too (a USB notebook cooling pad) and mine is running at 109, but that's not the issue. Problems are happening intemittently to people whose machines are cool, hot and hotter.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Is it normal behavior when creating a series link, to only have one episode show up immediately in the ToDo list, and the rest appear later, or will they never appear? I created a series link, and the todo list showed Episodes (10) but only put the R)) on the first one. Just curious before it fails to record...

Had one Black screen today, 30 minute show, comedy central. Rest of em recorded ok.


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## Monty23 (Sep 16, 2006)

New problem happened tonight. Started watching a live TV program (5 pm local news). Ok for about ten minutes then froze up completly with a black and white pixelated picture. Unit was completly frozen and wouldn't respond to any buttons. Was not recording or doing anything at the time. Hooked up via component video and on a UPS backup power supply. Had to use the RED BUTTON again. Switched over to the HR10 and finished watching the news. Later the HR20 failed to record Prison Break at 7:00 PM. (The HR10 recorded it for me fine) HR20 also screwed up the Green Bay Packer football game on Sunday (and so did the Packers). They really need to get this thing sorted out (the HR20 AND the Packers). I'm done playing with this thing until another software update comes down.


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## Monty23 (Sep 16, 2006)

Had another problem watching (not recording) a live program. Was watching a local channel feed (Mpeg4). Picture and sound froze, screen started flashing something about a problem with the access card, then the 771 satellite signal and back and forth. Was finally able to get the guide up. Was able to switch to the same channel but the Mpeg2 feed and bingo everything was OK again.


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## drjenk (Sep 10, 2004)

tstarn said:


> And therein lies the rub. The HR-20 has got many of us on a variable schedule of reinforcement, and the frustration is getting ridiculous.


Man reading this forum makes me feel like I have made a large error in ordering an HR-20. I've been anxious for local HD since the beginning of fall tv season, since I can't get OTA. But I think now I should be careful for what I wish for, and wait a bit. I have 2 tivo units, one the SD unit and the other the H10-250, and not ONCE have I had a corrupted recording, nor have they needed a single reboot. You do not need to ever worry about a recording happening, it always does (unless I set it up wrong). This is basic functionality that is the baseline of expectation. If it cannot be done it should not be available right now. So obviously it was pushed out the door, schedule before quality.

Have all of you having problems called Directv about this? Even though it is safe to assume they know, if everyone who has problems called they might take notice. :nono2:


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## Monty23 (Sep 16, 2006)

drjenk said:


> Man reading this forum makes me feel like I have made a large error in ordering an HR-20. I've been anxious for local HD since the beginning of fall tv season, since I can't get OTA. But I think now I should be careful for what I wish for, and wait a bit. I have 2 tivo units, one the SD unit and the other the H10-250, and not ONCE have I had a corrupted recording, nor have they needed a single reboot. You do not need to ever worry about a recording happening, it always does (unless I set it up wrong). This is basic functionality that is the baseline of expectation. If it cannot be done it should not be available right now. So obviously it was pushed out the door, schedule before quality.
> 
> Have all of you having problems called Directv about this? Even though it is safe to assume they know, if everyone who has problems called they might take notice. :nono2:


I haven't called. Just assumed they are aware of all the problems and I don't think I have bad hardware.


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## 911medic (Aug 28, 2006)

tstarn said:


> Everyone who has been singing the praises of this box notwithstanding, if they don't get this issue straightened out soon for ALL subscribers (not just the ones who *allegedly* haven't had a single problem recording), the negative PR is going to start really flowing. And I will be the first one offering some first-hand examples of what a POS this machine has turned out to be.


Ahh, yes, we're all just part of the big D* PR machine. 
And you can (and already have, numerous times) offerred your first-hand examples of what a POS *your* machine has turned out to be, but mine has not.
Allegedly.


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## skierbri10 (Sep 18, 2006)

911medic said:


> Ahh, yes, we're all just part of the big D* PR machine.
> And you can (and already have, numerous times) offerred your first-hand examples of what a POS *your* machine has turned out to be, but mine has not.
> Allegedly.


I guess I am a liar.....


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

skierbri10 said:


> I guess I am a liar.....


In the words of Dana Carvey, "Isn't that special" that your HR-20 works. I don't really care, frankly. Mine (and many others if you bother to read) doesn't. And Earl himself has admitted there are serious software issues (and have been) with the HR-20. So continued good luck boys. We who are suffering from lousy reliability only wish we could say the same.

We're not talking 1-2 dozen isolated cases. My guess is the people with problems on this forum are just a small percentage of people with recording problems. The rest are just calling D* tech support and getting nowhere.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

911medic said:


> And you can (and already have, numerous times) offered your first-hand examples of what a POS *your* machine has turned out to be, but mine has not.


I can account for at least 14 HR20s in 3 states (and combined 300+ recorded prgrams) with virtually no problems *since day one *of install - the thing is, those people have no reasons to post. I keep them all in the loop. I have personally seen all their setups in operation (I travel a fair amount), and confirmed those myself. :lol:

The amazing part is that every time a network broadcast is shaky (on the transmission end), every time the local station's staff screw's up their use of their broadcast equipment, every time someone configures or connects their home HD equipment wrong - it's "a flaw" in the HR20, or so some have said. 

If I've learned anything in watching HD for over 5 years, its that you can have plenty of problems that originate at the broadcast end as much (if not more) than the receiving end. The last time the Superbowl was on CBS a few years back, the HD broadcast in this area was horrendous. For 6 months afterwards, everyone including my grandmother was being blamed, only to finally have the local station admit it was their duct-tape outdated equipment as the root cause. Its taken then 1 1/2 years to finally upgrade it. Thousands of local folks swore it was their own home equipment. Point is, there's too much rush to judgment here on some of the HR20 issues, without truly diagnosing the problem. One neighbor was cussing and swearing at his, and asked me to "look at it before it got sent back". I found his cable connections were all screwed up. Once I corrected that, he's had no problems since. 

Sure, there are some hiccups with the HR20, and a small group (small but loud) have defective hardware issues...but overall...the HR20 is a terrific unit and its only going to get better. For being in the market less than 60 days, its performed quite well for the vast majority of users.

In the meantime, Earl keeps us all up to date with the latest reliable information.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

tstarn said:


> I don't really care, frankly. Mine (and many others if you bother to read) doesn't.


Sorry you are having problems. Perhaps returning for an exchange would help.


> My guess is the people with problems on this forum are just a small percentage of people with recording problems.


Your guess is wrong. Based on field numbers, the number of people with problems is actually very small - mostly due to hardware related flaws (drives, connectors, cables, power supplies, etc.). People having no or nominal problems generally have no reason to post - only people with signnificant issues do. They also tend to be quite vocal about it. This distorts the scope and scale of the problems exponentially. Hopefully, the next firmware update cures your issues. If not, you may want to consider replacement.


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## 911medic (Aug 28, 2006)

tstarn said:


> In the words of Dana Carvey, "Isn't that special" that your HR-20 works. I don't really care, frankly. Mine (and many others if you bother to read) doesn't. And Earl himself has admitted there are serious software issues (and have been) with the HR-20. So continued good luck boys. We who are suffering from lousy reliability only wish we could say the same.
> 
> We're not talking 1-2 dozen isolated cases. My guess is the people with problems on this forum are just a small percentage of people with recording problems. The rest are just calling D* tech support and getting nowhere.


Yeah, we get it.
*Your* box is having major recording problems. So are others here. *You* think it's a POS and say as much with nearly every post you make on this board. Your position has been made perfectly clear. I'm sorry, it sucks for you. You go, girl, and start a grassroots campaign to get D* to fix your box! Write your congressperson! Call the Better Business Bureau! Go get 'em.

But when you basically call those of us who aren't having more than minor annoyance-type issues liars with your "allegedly" comments, you can STFU. You don't speak for me.

You think I'm defending D*? If anyone has reason to be pissed at D* it's me. When I subscribed a month ago (after 3+ flawless years with E*), I received a defective HR10 (one of the tuners wouldn't receive transponder 13 on the 101 satellite). I spent countless hours on the phone w/clueless CSRs, being transferred from one department to another. They sent me 2 refurb'd HR10s, both of which were defective. Finally, they sent me the HR20, and while mine has minor issues (wow, I'm SHOCKED, it's BRAND-FREAKING new), I am othewise extremely happy with it. The software updates will fix my issues with time. I'm not worried about it.

So when you refer to posters like me as apologists or state that we "allegedly" have not had recording issues, and all of your posts call the HR20 a POS (or have the equivalent tone), well, welcome to my "ignore" list, pal. Best of luck with your "alleged" issues.


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## Radio Enginerd (Oct 5, 2006)

911medic said:


> But when you basically call those of us who aren't having more than minor annoyance-type issues liars with your "allegedly" comments, you can STFU. You don't speak for me.


So I'm a relatively new user of DTV and the HR-20 after 3+ years with Dish Network and I can tell you the grass is not always greener...

Is the HR-20 perfect? Absolutely not! There are several known bugs... The key is to look at the big picture. Pretend tomorrow you could wake up and EVERY known issue on the HR-20 was resolved... Would you be satisfied? I'm guessing NO.

I'm not defending DTV, only comparing the situation to those folks who installed something called Windows XP 60 days after it was released.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Sorry you are having problems. Perhaps returning for an exchange would help.
> 
> Your guess is wrong. Based on field numbers, the number of people with problems is actually very small - mostly due to hardware related flaws (drives, connectors, cables, power supplies, etc.). People having no or nominal problems generally have no reason to post - only people with signnificant issues do. They also tend to be quite vocal about it. This distorts the scope and scale of the problems exponentially. Hopefully, the next firmware update cures your issues. If not, you may want to consider replacement.


Wow, 14 people in three states. Impressive. Are those your "field numbers?" If not, can you post the exact percentage of D* subscribers across the country who are having recording/freezing problems? I'm sure all of we crybabies would feel a lot better if we knew we are only a small minority having recording issues. Do you have some sort of inside tract/connections at D* where you can get your hands on those numbers. I would love to see them.

This isn't a problem with local HD (ESPN HD isn't a local) or hardware, it's a problem with software. You and I have had our differences, so I don't want to belabor this thing. But why else would D* keep sending down software updates if the HR-20 was working as expected. Give us all a break. There is an obvious basic problem affecting some percentage of users, else there wouldn't be people reporting all the cancelled shows, black screens of death, freezing problems, etc. Who knows what is causing the problem? Neither you nor I do, and least of all, does D* at this point. If they did, 99.9 percent of the HR-20s would be working as expected. While none of us know the true percentages, your 14 happy users notwithstanding, there is a problem. That's all any of us who aren't getting the 99.9 percent non-failure numbers you are getting want fixed. And that is no doubt why Earl, who does have direct contact with sources at D*, said just a few ticks earlier in this thread that the next imminent software update is supposed to fix this basic problem.

Why would they bother sending the 5th software release if there weren't any software (not hardware) issues? Not logical.

Nothing exponential damage-wise about the people reporting their problems here or anywhere else. I know you have strong opinions about GUI, usability, etc. I won't argue with you about them, because I agree. Anyone can make the transition from Tivo to HR-20. And believe me, I am ready to make that transition. But not until I can count on the HR-20 to record a show reliably. Getting another HR-20 is one option, and if they don't fix this one soon, I'll be on the phone with retention to get one. But my view on this is shared by not only several people on this thread/forum, but by D* itself. Why else would they be planning another stab at getting this recording issue fixed. You can't argue with that.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

Radio Enginerd said:


> So I'm a relatively new user of DTV and the HR-20 after 3+ years with Dish Network and I can tell you the grass is not always greener...
> 
> Is the HR-20 perfect? Absolutely not! There are several known bugs... The key is to look at the big picture. Pretend tomorrow you could wake up and EVERY known issue on the HR-20 was resolved... Would you be satisfied? I'm guessing NO.
> 
> I'm not defending DTV, only comparing the situation to those folks who installed something called Windows XP 60 days after it was released.


With all due respect, all I (and others) want is the ability to record and watch shows. I'd be thrilled to have that functionality. Is that too much to ask? It's not about several know bugs, it's about basic functionality. The rest I can live with.


----------



## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

911medic said:


> Yeah, we get it.
> *Your* box is having major recording problems. So are others here. *You* think it's a POS and say as much with nearly every post you make on this board. Your position has been made perfectly clear. I'm sorry, it sucks for you. You go, girl, and start a grassroots campaign to get D* to fix your box! Write your congressperson! Call the Better Business Bureau! Go get 'em.
> 
> But when you basically call those of us who aren't having more than minor annoyance-type issues liars with your "allegedly" comments, you can STFU. You don't speak for me.
> ...


Thanks. I wanted to be on your ignore list anyway. Works for me.


----------



## Radio Enginerd (Oct 5, 2006)

tstarn said:


> With all due respect, all I (and others) want is the ability to record and watch shows. I'd be thrilled to have that functionality. Is that too much to ask? It's not about several know bugs, it's about basic functionality. The rest I can live with.


Fair enough...

I'm surprised to hear you don't even have "basic functionality". I assume you've contacted retention. If you're having that many problems, I'm sure retention will offer you a HR10-250...


----------



## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

tstarn said:


> Did I sound po'd? Damn right! Needed to rant one more time. In psychology, they have this process called the variable schedule of reinforcement. It means, the reward is only given at random times, and not only can it lead to the best learning performance, it can also lead to the most frustration.
> 
> And therein lies the rub. The HR-20 has got many of us on a variable schedule of reinforcement, and the frustration is getting ridiculous.


Since we're going to play psychology: Actually, you have that a bit skewed. Variable schedules of reinforcement (a type of intermittant reinforcement) INCREASES frustration tolerance, not the other way around. It leads to persistence of the target behavior in the face of "missing" reinforcement. Continuous reinforcement, on the other hand, will result in the desired target behavior decreasing dramatically in the face of missing reward.

In higher order sentient creatures, however, most frustration is self-induced based on our own inability to manage our expectations realistically. We produce our own frustration...it doesn't invade like some sort of alien bug. You are completely in charge of how much frustration you experience. Own it. //Psycho-babble off//

The box is work in progress. It is a pity you (and others) didn't know that before you got it. I don't know how D* marketed this thing (what expectations they tried to create). For a number of people (proportionately it's hard to say how many), the box is NOT ready for prime time. It is not "mission critical" ready.

You seem to be faulting the updates...I praise them. At least they are working on the issues. I had a long standing bug in my Samsung T-360 HD receiver that was NEVER addressed and it made M-F recordings tedious at best. I think it had a total of 1 or 2 updates in its entire life. Not good.

Based on my own experience with "new models" of anything software/firmware based, I expected quite a few problems, and was prepared to wait out the development cycle (hoping there would be one). So far, I'm happy. I've had one problem, one time in a little over two weeks. I have had two updates and another is due soon. Each time there is an update, there is the potential for some things to get better, some to get worse or pop up a new problem.

With the HR20, perspective is in order, period. If they weren't actively working on the issues AND sending out updates, that would be truly unacceptable. To fault them for trying to fix things is a catch 22, unless you assume that it should have been perfect out of the box. When a recording is lost, it's a bummer, to be sure. But, no one died. No one is suffering (ever heard of Darfur).

These things are inconveniences of a new product early in its development cycle. That is all. Getting pissed accomplshes nothing. Next time, before you acquire something "really new", do your research before you get it.

At least D* is standing behind the units, sending new ones out, updating the code, reading/in touch with forums like these, etc. It could be a LOT worse. I'm prepared to be patient. I'm hoping that priority fixes go like this:

1. Missed recordings

2. General Stability

3. OTA

4. Fixing things that don't work quite right (but don't cause missed recordings or freezes), including MPEG-4/HD Local issues.

5. Dual Buffers

//Psycho-babbel on//

Needed to rant....I suggest you need to chill before you stroke out. You're only punishing yourself by letting yourself get so worked up over a box of electronics. Patience, persistence, hold D*'s feet to the fire if needed...but "ruining your day" over a silver box is self-defeating and senseless. Get a grip.

//Psyco-babble off//


----------



## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

hasan said:


> Since we're going to play psychology: Actually, you have that a bit skewed. Variable schedules of reinforcement (a type of intermittant reinforcement) INCREASES frustration tolerance, not the other way around. It leads to persistence of the target behavior in the face of "missing" reinforcement. Continuous reinforcement, on the other hand, will result in the desired target behavior decreasing dramatically in the face of missing reward.
> 
> In higher order sentient creatures, however, most frustration is self-induced based on our own inability to manage our expectations realistically. We produce our own frustration...it doesn't invade like some sort of alien bug. You are completely in charge of how much frustration you experience. Own it. //Psycho-babble off//
> 
> ...


Hasan, my man. I actually like getting a rise out of people (and it really works on these forums), and I'm far from stroking out. It's fun to vent, that's why they call it venting. So lighten up, I'm having a good time getting HDTVfan and all the rest of the HR-20 fanboys all riled up. Having said that, I still would like reliable recording, and it's on the top of my list too. In fact, it's my only list item.

And I stand corrected on variable skeds of reinforcement. I was actually thinking of that sleep deprivation experiment, the one where you keep waking people or animals up, and it makes them very frustrated. Replace sleep with reliable recording, and you get the idea. Every time you think it's gonna be okay, you get rudely awakened.

So don't worry bout me. I actually like seeing all those hostile responses from the HR-20 lovers. It's funny how people rise up to staunchly defend a somewhat defective (but hopefully fixable) product, and a mega corporation owned by one of the world's richest people.

Hey, I like D*'s services too, and I have been a subscriber since 1999. Never would go back to cable. But I have a right to complain when one major function doesn't work after 4 software downloads, no? I didn't originally personally attack anyone on this forum. I just stated my frustration with a box that wasn't working. All of a sudden, the personal hostility from others got intense. If my HR-20 delivered recordings on time and reliably, I would't even be here. It's hilarious how much people can defend a piece of gear, even if it's not working for some people.

And you don't have the MPEG-4 dish yet, right? Maybe that's the issue, maybe not. Myguess is it's something with software, but who knows? If D* had the answer, it would be here already.

So peace brother, no apoplexy here. I just love reading all the personally hostile posts. In fact, I get a kick out of them. Call it my own psychological research, of sorts.

On the other hand, I and others do have some basic concerns about D* ever getting the HR-20 right. When and if they do, this will all be a moot point.


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

tstarn said:


> Wow, 14 people in three states. Impressive. Are those your "field numbers?" If not, can you post the exact percentage of D* subscribers across the country who are having recording/freezing problems?


Those are just my direct contacts, my friend. The field numbers are separate, and an NDA prohibits publishing...but the number is very low (so far). 


Radio Enginerd said:


> I'm surprised to hear you don't even have "basic functionality". I assume you've contacted retention. If you're having that many problems, I'm sure retention will offer you a HR10-250...


LOL. :lol: 


tstarn said:


> Hasan, my man. I actually like getting a rise out of people (and it really works on these forums)...


Finally, the truth comes out. 

Now perhaps we can return to the thread topic....


----------



## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

hasan said:


> Since we're going to play psychology: Actually, you have that a bit skewed. Variable schedules of reinforcement (a type of intermittant reinforcement) INCREASES frustration tolerance, not the other way around. It leads to persistence of the target behavior in the face of "missing" reinforcement. Continuous reinforcement, on the other hand, will result in the desired target behavior decreasing dramatically in the face of missing reward.
> 
> In higher order sentient creatures, however, most frustration is self-induced based on our own inability to manage our expectations realistically. We produce our own frustration...it doesn't invade like some sort of alien bug. You are completely in charge of how much frustration you experience. Own it. //Psycho-babble off//
> 
> ...


Oh, that comment about Darfur was ridiculous. You have the market cornered on caring about genocide, do you? It's incompatible to be annoyed and irritated about a piece of gear that doesn't work and still care about world hunger, disease and war? That's just a silly issue to even bring into the discussion. We all know this isn't about saving the world from its horrors. Enough with the "nobody got cancer" line. We all know that.

I can say this about stuff that doesn't work. If you bought a new car and it sputtered down the road 10 percent of the time you drove it, and the dealer said, "Not to worry, we'll have it fixed sooner or later,. We're working on it." I'm sure you'd be good with that, right?

If you bought a new TV set and it only got a picture 90 percent of the time, you'd be cool, right?

If your home theater receiver only had sound 95 percent of the time, you'd be happy, right?

I know these are complex, sophisticated pieces of equipment, but so are many other products that work when sold to 99 percent of new owners. No one is happy and just sits patiently by waiting for fixes for other things they buy (or in this case, get for free because the seller is desperate to keep you as a customer), why should the HR-20 be any different? And someone posted yesterday that there have been 4 software updates in a little over a month. 1-2 or 4, you'd think getting the box to work on a basic level would have been among the earliest fixes.

Is that too much to ask?


----------



## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

tstarn said:


> So peace brother, no apoplexy here. I just love reading all the personally hostile posts. In fact, I get a kick out of them. Call it my own psychological research, of sorts.


So it's all psychological research? Now I understand. It's likely the tone of your comments more than the substance that is bothering these folks. Personally, I'd rather air on the rosy side than the unpleasant side, but that's just me. Your article @ tvpredictions was written in a much better tone than some of your comments here; and while you are welcome to do as you wish, I would prefer a more "user friendly" approach than you are currently demonstrating. That is just this one man's opinion.

Now, what the heck do you mean by apoplexy in this sentence? It's a word I had to look up.


----------



## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Those are just my direct contacts, my friend. The field numbers are separate, and an NDA prohibits publishing...but the number is very low (so far).
> 
> LOL. :lol:
> 
> ...


Oh, I thought the thread was about HR-20 software updates and how they have or haven't worked. I think that's what I was talking about. The latest update didn't deliver a reliable recording function. Is that on topic enough for you? Guess I was on the wrong thread to discuss how the latest update failed to make things better. Sorry.

The NDA doesn't publish those numbers? But you've seen them? Please, share them with us. Very low? Please define.


----------



## neotide (Aug 21, 2006)

If you guys want to flame each other that's fantastic. All I ask is that it's done via PM or create another forum for it as this thread is totally off topic.


----------



## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

tstarn said:


> And you don't have the MPEG-4 dish yet, right? Maybe that's the issue, maybe not. Myguess is it's something with software, but who knows? If D* had the answer, it would be here already.
> 
> So peace brother, no apoplexy here. I just love reading all the personally hostile posts. In fact, I get a kick out of them. Call it my own psychological research, of sorts.
> 
> On the other hand, I and others do have some basic concerns about D* ever getting the HR-20 right. When and if they do, this will all be a moot point.


Yes, I have the AT-9 dish, but NO MPEG-4/HD-Locals. It has been a pet theory of mine that the MPEG-4 stuff plays a major role in some of these problems. To be sure, if D* has an answer, it will appear in the updates. I'm kinda having fun with this thing, BUT, I bought it knowing some of its problems...and to say I bought it is a bit of an exaggeration...I paid 19.95 for the new dish, install and new receiver...so, I look at myself as a paid beta tester 

Based on the updates so far and the nature of some of the malfunctions, I remain quite optimistic.

Hang in there, the HR20 has great potential and it remains clear that they are working very hard on it.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

neotide said:


> If you guys want to flame each other that's fantastic. All I ask is that it's done via PM or create another forum for it as this thread is totally off topic.


I agree... please take it off line, or via PM...
I don't want to close this thread before I have too...

:backtotop


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

brott said:


> So it's all psychological research? Now I understand. It's likely the tone of your comments more than the substance that is bothering these folks. Personally, I'd rather air on the rosy side than the unpleasant side, but that's just me. Your article @ tvpredictions was written in a much better tone than some of your comments here; and while you are welcome to do as you wish, I would prefer a more "user friendly" approach than you are currently demonstrating. That is just this one man's opinion.
> 
> Now, what the heck do you mean by apoplexy in this sentence? It's a word I had to look up.


I just want this thing to work, and hope the messages are getting through to the people who count, because no one on these forums is going to deliver a working HR-20, no matter what is said in the back and forth about one problem or the next (freezing, BSOD, OTA, dual buffers, no Caller ID, etc.). Earl says that D* sees these posts, so I have to believe him. Catch my drift?

Believe me, I've also been in touch with the good folks at D*, and I know they are "working in it." Maybe a little prodding will help speed the process along. You never know.


----------



## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> I agree... please take it off line, or via PM...
> I don't want to close this thread before I have too...
> 
> :backtotop


Earl, with all respect, I didn't address anyone personally when I posted about my latest frustration with the latest software update. I just outlined the software download issue, as I supposed this thread was set up to do. I didn't say anything negative about anyone else specifically. All of a sudden, the swords were drawn. You're right, this is getting ridiculous.


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

tstarn said:


> Earl, with all respect, I didn't address anyone personally when I posted about my latest frustration with the latest software update. I just outlined the software download issue, as I supposed this thread was set up to do. I didn't say anything negative about anyone else specifically. All of a sudden, the swords were drawn. You're right, this is getting ridiculous.


I'm just nipping it in the bud.... that's all.


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

tstarn said:


> Hasan, my man. I actually like getting a rise out of people (and it really works on these forums)...
> 
> *All of a sudden, the swords were drawn*.


What a contradiction. 

Most of us would like to learn about the firmware releases. Thanks Earl.

:backtotop


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> What a contradiction.
> 
> Most of us would like to learn about the firmware releases. Thanks Earl.
> 
> :backtotop


Agree. And also learn whether they work (fix problems) or don't (don't fix problems, or even create new ones), and what experiences people who do have problems are going through.


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## forum junkie (Sep 9, 2004)

tstarn said:


> I am using a fan too (a USB notebook cooling pad) and mine is running at 109, but that's not the issue. Problems are happening intemittently to people whose machines are cool, hot and hotter.


Are you running this off of the USB port on the HR20 ?


----------



## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

*sigh*

Just when I was starting to feel confident in this unit, it stumbles.

I set it to record MNF last night and added 1 and 1/2 hours to the stop time. It confirmed. I went to watching something on the HR10. Around 8:30PM I notice that the record light isn't on on the HR20. Since I know it's on ch. 73, I hit the record button. The light come on, but nothing shows up in the List. 

Luckily the HR10 had ch. 73 on the other tuner, so I brought up the guide and started recording MNF. 

Even though the record light stayed on on the HR20, no recording ever showed up in the List. I set several recordings after the game last night and they did show up in the AM, but I'm just glad the HR10 is there for backup.

Remember D*, the objective is ~ 100% reliability. You can't better your predecessor there, only equal it.


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## Howie (Aug 16, 2006)

tstarn said:


> no one on these forums is going to deliver a working HR-20


Mine works since D8 came down. No errors whatsoever. But with last week's SW I had several BSOD's. I think each update is a crapshoot. It fixes some boxes and screws others up. I'm one of the lucky ones this week, but who knows what will happen with the next update?


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

forum junkie said:


> Are you running this off of the USB port on the HR20 ?


Yes, that will power it, front or back. At $20, hard to go wrong. It's a Targus and Walmart online has it.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

Howie said:


> Mine works since D8 came down. No errors whatsoever. But with last week's SW I had several BSOD's. I think each update is a crapshoot. It fixes some boxes and screws others up. I'm one of the lucky ones this week, but who knows what will happen with the next update?


Agree, crapshoot is the operative word.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

bidger said:


> *sigh*
> 
> Just when I was starting to feel confident in this unit, it stumbles.
> 
> ...


Even 99 percent would be welcomed at this point, but 100 percent desired.


----------



## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

1. Since the "component reboot" Sunday night -- no problems, nada, nuttin' honey.

2. I have to thank tstarn for reminding me about trolls and the Ignore List. Haven't used that function in years.


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## f300v10 (Feb 11, 2005)

Well I thought I had run into my first real HR20 recording issue in 2 1/2 weeks. I checked my to do list and both Smith and Kidnapped had future recordings that were marked as cancelled. I check the guide on the HR20 and neither show was shown in it's usual time slot. Check my R-10 Tivo and Smith was still there. So I figure the HR20 guide data got corrupted and so I re-started it. The guide still showed CSI and not Smith.

Well as it turns out CBS cancelled Smith, and NBC canned Kidnapped. So no HR20 issues, other than I am running out of things for it to record! The networks are so fast to pull the plug on new shows that it is hardly worth watching one.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

Ed Campbell said:


> 1. Since the "component reboot" Sunday night -- no problems, nada, nuttin' honey.
> 
> 2. I have to thank tstarn for reminding me about trolls and the Ignore List. Haven't used that function in years.


You're welcomed.


----------



## Dusty (Sep 21, 2006)

I got my HR20 about three weeks ago. I have not had any problem that is related to the HR20 itself. Last night, I experienced my first lock-up. I switched back to from live TV to continue an NFL game I haven't finished watching by going through myVoD. I picked the item from the list by press select. I tried to select PLAY, but everything is locked up. I ended up doing a red-button reset. Then the HR20 cycles itself at the end of the first reset. The second time works. It came back fine. I went into the same NFL game again. I can watch it without problem. This release is the only one in the three software releases that I experienced any problem.


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## praneeth (Sep 13, 2006)

I thought I was one of the lucky ones with no problems until this week. My wife had set up series links for 7th Heaven, Runaway and What about Brian.. all of which simply said "cancelled" on the to do list. I mirrored all my wife's series links on my old HR-10 yesterday (just so this doesn't happen again). I don't have the HR10 hooked up to a TV, so if the HR20 does miss any more I will just plug in the Tivo and watch the missed episodes on that I think.

As to why the recordings were missed, I think it has something to do with manual recordings that were setup where the HR20 did not warn me of the conflict. I did some random searching through the guide Saturday and set up a whole bunch of stuff to record (I assumed the HR-20 would tell me if there was a conflict). I think that's what caused the missed recordings. Hopefully will be fixed soon. I have the D8 update. There's nothing like looking at the recorded list and finding that something you really wanted (or even worse something your wife wanted) is not on there. My wife lives on 7th Heaven.... 

:nono: 

:nono2:

could it be that the fact that the series links say record a few minutes past the end of the episodes is causing a conflict that the HR20 is not seeing in advance?

hmm

I like the box though... PQ is very good  and yeah very very fast. And as long as I have the HR10 mirroring I shud be safe


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

There is definitely something screwy with the scheduler. It appears that updates to the schedule data are causing some (if not all) of the canceled shows. I'm sure that DirecTV is looking at this. 

If the schedule changes and the show is no longer there, it should show up as canceled. On the TiVo, it would show up as "someone in your household removed the program" (or such). It would be great if they could better determine the reason and say that it was removed because it is no longer in the schedule.

The DirecTV should try to re-schedule it in the event that it does become canceled. I don't know if this should be a trigger when the schedule updates are made available or a process that checks every 15-30 minutes for a properly scheduled show, but either way, it should be fixed. This one change (done properly) would solve a big chunk of the problems being observed.

I remember Richard Bullwinkle (The ORIGINAL TiVo Evangelist) saying that the Scheduling Algorithms were some of the most difficult parts of the TiVo codebase.


----------



## Radio Enginerd (Oct 5, 2006)

tstarn said:


> You're welcomed.


Could someone define "component reboot"?

Is this the same as rebooting from the menu?


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

Radio Enginerd said:


> Could someone define "component reboot"?
> 
> Is this the same as rebooting from the menu?


Reboot the unit without anything connected via HDMI.
Folks have had some success avoiding HDMI, as it seems to have a lot of incompatabilities with TVs/recievers/switches.


----------



## Radio Enginerd (Oct 5, 2006)

matto said:


> Reboot the unit without anything connected via HDMI.
> Folks have had some success avoiding HDMI, as it seems to have a lot of incompatabilities with TVs/recievers/switches.


Ahhh, thank you sir...


----------



## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

Radio Enginerd said:


> Could someone define "component reboot"?
> 
> Is this the same as rebooting from the menu?


No, it means unplugging the HDMI, then plugging in the component cable (to your TV or HT receiver, depending on if you are using switching or not). Then, you press the little red button for a reboot, the one next to the card behind the door. Then, once the HR-20 is up and running, you switch back to the HDMI cable. Theory is, it will cease any issues with HDMI cable. It worked for me until last night, when the HR-20 delivered the BSOD instead of MNF. That was my first problem since the component reboot after last week's software download. So it worked, sort of (I had been getting the BSOD on one out of every three recordings after the Sept. 27th download. So not sure if the Oct. 4 download or the component reboot lessened the problem.


----------



## patsrule316 (Sep 28, 2006)

praneeth said:


> I thought I was one of the lucky ones with no problems until this week. My wife had set up series links for 7th Heaven, Runaway and What about Brian.. all of which simply said "cancelled" on the to do list.


I don't know about 7th heaven or What about Brian, but I know why Runaway was canceled. They moved its timeslot, so it wasn't on. It will be airing on Sunday nights instead of Monday Nights, but not last Sunday, so you didn't miss an episode. Unfortunately, its ratings are really low, so it will probably be canceled soon anyways.


----------



## UenI (Sep 28, 2006)

thekochs said:


> Anybody having crackling audio noise over digital audio ? I have HR20 and H20 and get this noise on local HD channels ONLY. I have SP-DIF TosLink and Component for video. I can toggle Dolby 5.1 ON/OFF and no change. The crackling is intermitant but very loud. This happens identically on both settops....brand new...have latest updates. I try the RCA analog audio no problem and also change to other channels like HBO HD and no audio problems. It appears some problem with the MPEG-4 audio decode over digital.


I am having similar problems with digital audio, and the local HD (MPEG-4) channels. I receive this strange crackling, sort of high-pitched sound when I switch between these channels. As soon as the station locks in, the strange sound goes away. As reported here previously, at every commercial break (on MPEG-4) I also have the problem that DD surround sound center channel drops to L/R speakers only. If I change the sound setting to DD Off, I don't have this problem (but don't have digitial surround sound either!). These sound problems only occur on the local HD channels (not the national ones).

I have the same setup as you - SP-DIF TosLink and Component for video. These problems were exagerated in the most recent software update. They were minimal in the previous release. I did call D* about this twice. The first time, the CSR was very encouraging; she said it was a known issue that was being tracked and would be resolved 'shortly.' I called 2 weeks later (last week), and the CSR was baffled. He elevated it to tier 2; this CSR was baffled as well. He 'made a note of the problem,' and blew me off.


----------



## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

tstarn said:


> No, it means unplugging the HDMI, then plugging in the component cable (to your TV or HT receiver, depending on if you are using switching or not). Then, you press the little red button for a reboot, the one next to the card behind the door. Then, once the HR-20 is up and running, you switch back to the HDMI cable. Theory is, it will cease any issues with HDMI cable. It worked for me until last night, when the HR-20 delivered the BSOD instead of MNF. That was my first problem since the component reboot after last week's software download. So it worked, sort of (I had been getting the BSOD on one out of every three recordings after the Sept. 27th download. So not sure if the Oct. 4 download or the component reboot lessened the problem.


Just leave it connected via component and be done with the HDMI problems for good.


----------



## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

bonscott87 said:


> Just leave it connected via component and be done with the HDMI problems for good.


That works too.


----------



## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

tstarn said:


> That works too.


i got flamed for suggesting that a few weeks ago, because there could be a slight imperceptible loss in PQ (which you won't notice since you'd be staring at a black screen or snow with HDMI anyway)


----------



## gr8reb8 (Aug 21, 2006)

I have had lockups and freezes requiring a red button reboot several times and I have nothing connected to HDMI, and I have no local MPEG4 stations.


----------



## jgrade (Oct 1, 2006)

bonscott87 said:


> Just leave it connected via component and be done with the HDMI problems for good.


Except I use component and have the exact issues the HDMI people are reporting. Not a solution!:nono2:


----------



## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

jgrade said:


> Except I use component and have the exact issues the HDMI people are reporting. Not a solution!:nono2:


Solutions, I'm afraid, are very elusive when it comes to the software upgrade/HDMI ssues and the Hr-20. I just got off the phone with a very nice Level 2 tech at D* and he told me that I should do a reset via the Setup menu (not a reboot, but a reset) and if it doesn't work, they will send me a new HR-20. His only comment was that "there is a small percentage of bad machines out there." He didn't mention software downloads, HDMI, or other problems as the issue, etc. He just said "bad machines." That was his solution. I just did the reset and now I will load it up with recordings to see if I can again duplicate my problems (black screen when trying to watch recorded shows from My VOD).

Not much else I can do.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

Note that if you have any recordings that were bad already it may not help you. But keep track of things recorded from now on.

And I'd believe the CSR (did I just say that?) about a certain percentage of bad machines. Happens to pretty much any consumer product (Xbox 360, heck the the HR10). Just what each one has that is "bad" may be different. 

But even if only 1% are bad, if 10,000 HR20's are out there that's 1000 bad machines.


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## gr8reb8 (Aug 21, 2006)

bonscott87 said:


> Note that if you have any recordings that were bad already it may not help you. But keep track of things recorded from now on.
> 
> And I'd believe the CSR (did I just say that?) about a certain percentage of bad machines. Happens to pretty much any consumer product (Xbox 360, heck the the HR10). Just what each one has that is "bad" may be different.
> 
> But even if only 1% are bad, if 10,000 HR20's are out there that's 1000 bad machines.


eh. That would be 10%.....


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## Howie (Aug 16, 2006)

bonscott87 said:


> But even if only 1% are bad, if 10,000 HR20's are out there that's 1000 bad machines.


I believe that would be 100 bad machines. What was the old Gilda Radner line - "That's very different - Nevermind."


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## kokishin (Sep 30, 2006)

tstarn said:


> Yes, that will power it, front or back. At $20, hard to go wrong. It's a Targus and Walmart online has it.


I have been wondering if the HR20 might have a subtle hardware timing issue, along with the software which could be contributing to the instability. The temperature of the chips and other components inside the box can affect their timing. I realize that cooling the box is normally a good thing. However, if there is a timing issue, it might be exacerbated when the box temperature is reduced from the normal room temperature ambient. Also, you are using your USB port for powering your cooling solution. Perhaps there is some noise or power issue that is affecting your box via the USB port. As an experiment, would you unplug your cooling solution for a few days and report back on your issues?

A previous poster stated that he was also cooling his box with an external fan and his box was stable so my suggestion may not amount to much.


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

kokishin said:


> I have been wondering if the HR20 might have a subtle hardware timing issue, along with the software which could be contributing to the instability. The temperature of the chips and other components inside the box can affect their timing. I realize that cooling the box is normally a good thing. However, if there is a timing issue, it might be exacerbated when the box temperature is reduced from the normal room temperature ambient. Also, you are using your USB port for powering your cooling solution. Perhaps there is some noise or power issue that is affecting your box via the USB port. As an experiment, would you unplug your cooling solution for a few days and report back on your issues?
> 
> A previous poster stated that he was also cooling his box with an external fan and his box was stable so my suggestion may not amount to much.


I agree with you on timing issues, but don't think it's thermally related. The ideas for the cooling fans were largely from those of us who thought the HR20 ran a bit warmer than our "psychological" comfort allowed. I put a laptop cooling pad on top of the HR20, UPSIDE DOWN, so it would draw hot air out from the HR20 vent holes. This particular dual fan unit has an internal passageway that vents the hot air out the back of the fan module.

My temps started out at 127 and now hover around 105 +/- 2 degrees. That is a substantial reduction in heat, without being absurdly low. I have had two minor problems in just over two weeks, the most recent of which seems to have been introduced by the 0xd8 firmware.

I really don't think there is a thermal problem with the HR20...it's more of a long term life thing to keep heat build-up to a minimum. It would be hard to get this unit "too cool".

I ran a 5 inch high speed box fan on top for a few days and got the temp as low as 95. With a homebrew speed control set so I could barely hear the fan, it did a good job of cooling. I settled on the laptop coolpad because it was dead quiet and represented a reasonable compromise between maximum cooling and minimum noise.


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## kokishin (Sep 30, 2006)

hasan said:


> I agree with you on timing issues, but don't think it's thermally related. The ideas for the cooling fans were largely from those of us who thought the HR20 ran a bit warmer than our "psychological" comfort allowed. I put a laptop cooling pad on top of the HR20, UPSIDE DOWN, so it would draw hot air out from the HR20 vent holes. This particular dual fan unit has an internal passageway that vents the hot air out the back of the fan module.
> 
> My temps started out at 127 and now hover around 105 +/- 2 degrees. That is a substantial reduction in heat, without being absurdly low. I have had two minor problems in just over two weeks, the most recent of which seems to have been introduced by the 0xd8 firmware.
> 
> ...


Not trying to debug a thermal stress issue. Instead, I was wondering if there could be a subtle timing issue affected by temperature or possibly noise being introduced via the USB port from the cooling solution. Your probably right that my idea won't make a difference.


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## Tim Sly (Aug 23, 2006)

pattcap said:


> Used vs. unused portion of the Disk space.
> When it reads 100%, it should be blank. If it reads 1% it will be almost fully filled in...


No, what I mean is there are actually *three* colors in the status bar.
Is one for "keep" material and one for recorded but not kept material and the last one for empty disk space??


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Tim Sly said:


> No, what I mean is there are actually *three* colors in the status bar.
> Is one for "keep" material and one for recorded but not kept material and the last one for empty disk space??


Interesting, I haven't seen this.


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## steff3 (Jun 12, 2006)

praneeth said:


> I thought I was one of the lucky ones with no problems until this week. My wife had set up series links for 7th Heaven, Runaway and What about Brian.. all of which simply said "cancelled" on the to do list. My wife lives on 7th Heaven....


7th Heaven has moved to Sundays


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

" The temperature of the chips and other components inside the box can affect their timing. I realize that cooling the box is normally a good thing. However, if there is a timing issue, it might be exacerbated when the box temperature is reduced from the normal room temperature ambient. "

My HR20 is running 107 degrees with its exhaust fan, so its temp is not reduced below ambient. And it is powered by 120VAC from the wall.

I put the fan on it when I experienced a total lockup soon after I got it two weeks ago. Since then, even with the fan, there has been two more total lockups. 

You could be right about the overcooling. I am considering removing the fan and letting it go back to 127 degrees to see if it is happier. However, I'm very thankful that so far I am spared most of the issues some are having.


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## lpctv (Aug 26, 2006)

Tim Sly said:


> No, what I mean is there are actually *three* colors in the status bar.
> Is one for "keep" material and one for recorded but not kept material and the last one for empty disk space??





PoitNarf said:


> Interesting, I haven't seen this.


Someone else already posted about this elsewhere (sorry don't remember who).
But the end result is:

Light Blue = Recorded (delete when full)
Dark Blue = Recorded (keep)
Clear = Available space


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## kokishin (Sep 30, 2006)

paulman182 said:


> " The temperature of the chips and other components inside the box can affect their timing. I realize that cooling the box is normally a good thing. However, if there is a timing issue, it might be exacerbated when the box temperature is reduced from the normal room temperature ambient. "
> 
> My HR20 is running 107 degrees with its exhaust fan, so its temp is not reduced below ambient. And it is powered by 120VAC from the wall.
> 
> ...


Poor phrasing on my part re: "box temperature is reduced from the normal room temperature ambient. " What I was trying to convey is that reducing the ambient temperature around the box using a cooling solution reduces the internal temperature within the box which might have an affect on the chip timing.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

kokishin said:


> Poor phrasing on my part re: "box temperature is reduced from the normal room temperature ambient. " What I was trying to convey is that reducing the ambient temperature around the box using a cooling solution reduces the internal temperature within the box which might have an affect on the chip timing.


Thanks for the potential issue, but my main and only real problem, the Black Screen of Death when trying to access a recorded show, is happening to many others on the forum, and many of them aren't using a fan or the USB port. So that's probably not it.


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## EJB (Sep 15, 2006)

Just had to do a reset on my box for the first time since the last update. I continue to have the freeze in the first minute or so of nearly everything I record (HD and SD channels - Haven't checked with the kids to see if their stuff is doing the same thing). This latest problem had to do with changing the channels. I went to channel 72. Picture came in fine. Went to channel 73. Again, it came in fine. When I went to channel 74, the picture went blank. No picture and no sound. From them on, whenever I changed the channel to anything (locals, channel 72 and 73, etc.), it would take 15-45 seconds of waiting on that channel before I would get the picture/sound or the "Unlock Now" message. I did a red button reset and all seems fine now. 

ejb


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## Southbound (Sep 16, 2006)

Yesterday I had Series Links set up to record Heroes and Justice at 9:00pm EDT. I Watched Heroes as it recorded, however Justice when I tried to play it tonight was black screen. FF had no effect as the progress bar stays at 0:00. This is not the first occurance of black recordings, but this time I know the circumstances around this recording.

I have suspected it was dual recordings that caused the problems. Under previous versions would result in a reboot. This version it is possible to stop and go elsewhere. I'm on version d9 for almost a week now. Both channels were local mpeg4 HD. 

Prior to the 9:00 recording, I recorded Wife Swap off the non-hd local feed, and Deal or No Deal (also off the non-hd local). These recordings do not seem to have a problem. I watched Wife Swap. When it came time to record 9:00 shows I was prompted to allow a channel change or cancel recording. I clicked change and it went to heroes.

Hope this helps in isolating the mystery black screens recordings.


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## Southbound (Sep 16, 2006)

Sorry typo D8 is the version.


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## tstarn (Oct 1, 2006)

Southbound said:


> Yesterday I had Series Links set up to record Heroes and Justice at 9:00pm EDT. I Watched Heroes as it recorded, however Justice when I tried to play it tonight was black screen. FF had no effect as the progress bar stays at 0:00. This is not the first occurance of black recordings, but this time I know the circumstances around this recording.
> 
> I have suspected it was dual recordings that caused the problems. Under previous versions would result in a reboot. This version it is possible to stop and go elsewhere. I'm on version d9 for almost a week now. Both channels were local mpeg4 HD.
> 
> ...


I had MNF set to record at 8:30, and no other recording, and also got the same black screen, 0:00, no ability to "unstick" it, etc. And this has been an issue on my machines since the 9/27 update, though it has lessened after the 10/4 update. But I only had one program recording, scheduled off the guide on Sunday. Not a Series Link, just a simple scheduled recording. So not sure, but this seems to eliminate your dual recordings theory. I've had the black screen on other recordings with only one show on the To Do list.


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## EJB (Sep 15, 2006)

EJB said:


> Not sure if this is a bug or a feature. My son mentioned that this morning he attempted to record a commercial that came on right before a show because he wanted to show it to his brother. He pressed record, waited for the commercial to end (about 20 seconds), then pressed record again. It prompted him to "Stop and keep the recording". He selected that, but when he went back to the list of recorded programs, there was nothing there.
> 
> Is there a minimum amount of time that can be recorded before something shows up? I haven't attempted to repeat this feature, but will do so later today.


Quick follow-up to my own post back on page 15. The red button reset I did tonight suddenly made that 20 second clip show up in the List. It is visible and plays fine. Weird.

ejb


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

Radio Enginerd said:


> Could someone define "component reboot"?
> 
> Is this the same as rebooting from the menu?


Though I had a terrific installer, mine was the first HR20 he ever tried to install. Failing again and again to get past the Welcome Screen/black screen -- we thought the first box he tried was DOA. He came back with a 2nd box -- same experience.

While he went off to a couple other stops > arranging to stop by at the end of the day > I figured I'd unhook the HDMI cable [we'd just moved everything over from the HR10] and tried the install procedures with component in place. Everything went smooth as silk.

Since then, with a couple of exceptions -- I unplug the HDMI when I go to reboot, leave the component in place -- then, after the reboot, plug the HDMI back in.

Stayed stable until the last Update and I didn't then try the "component reboot" until I started having problems a few days after the Update. These all were red button reboots. Never have tried the menu reboot.

No problems since. HDMI in place. And color balance alone dictates HDMI over component with my Sammy. If we get an Update tonight, I'll give it a try as is for a spell; but, if it acts up -- back to the Component Reboot.

Hey, they shoved this critter out the door presuming new customers would be using component. I think they were wrong; but, it obviously was part of D*'s decision.


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

Ed Campbell said:


> ....
> Hey, they shoved this critter out the door presuming new customers would be using component. I think they were wrong; but, it obviously was part of D*'s decision.


I think they just underestimated the wide variety of HDMI interface incompatibilities.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

litzdog911 said:


> I think they just underestimated the wide variety of HDMI interface incompatibilities.


I also think that many HDTV manufacturers haven't followed HDMI completely to spec...


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## mikhu (Oct 10, 2006)

I searched this thread and all the others and I couldn't find anything about the software code I have. I got my HR20 installed tonight and did a software update. It says I'm now on OxDC. How does this relate to OxD8?


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

Mike Huss said:


> I searched this thread and all the others and I couldn't find anything about the software code I have. I got my HR20 installed tonight and did a software update. It says I'm now on OxDC. How does this relate to OxD8?


0xdc was the original, I believe. If you go into:

Menu > Settings & Help > Settings, highlight Info & System and hit select. The screen will update with the latest info. If you actually have gotten the update, it will show the original as 0xdc and the update will show 0xd8 and the day/time it did the update. Use up down to scroll through the results screen.


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## rhweimer (Sep 27, 2006)

hasan said:


> 0xdc was the original, I believe. If you go into:
> 
> Menu > Settings & Help > Settings, highlight Info & System and hit select. The screen will update with the latest info. If you actually have gotten the update, it will show the original as 0xdc and the update will show 0xd8 and the day/time it did the update. Use up down to scroll through the results screen.


DC is later than D8, maybe he has latest update.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

0xDC is the new update.

Thread is closed...


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