# Good bye DTV



## Sneezy (Dec 18, 2006)

I Just could not take the damn problems with the R15, and certainly was not about to spend $350 to go HD and try my luck there.

I'm back with TWC now. The PQ is fine, a lot better than it ever was before and nearly comparable with D.

I'm fighting with them over the cancellation fee and have to write a letter to them. I'm also filing a complaint with the NYS Attorney Generals office over the hardware. This has been the single worst experience with an electronic device I have ever had.

All but 1 problem have been defined as software bugs that are in the process of being fixed. As far as I'm concerned I have been a beta tester for D and will not put up with it anymore.


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## cccsdad (Oct 16, 2006)

Sneezy said:


> I Just could not take the damn problems with the R15, and certainly was not about to spend $350 to go HD and try my luck there.
> 
> I'm back with TWC now. The PQ is fine, a lot better than it ever was before and nearly comparable with D.
> 
> ...


Amen brother. This is crazy, how the hell could they release something they HAD TO KNOW wasn't ready? I'm about to go back to my cable, I can have HD-DVR for 72.00 per month without the honor and privilage of paying 300.00 for the box and 50.00 for the off air antenna.


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## Yo1 (Feb 1, 2007)

I know how you feel.I had nothing but problems with my D* stuff.I mean yea this is nice to have a forum on the problems they encounter but if they had their stuff together there wouldn't be a need for all these different threads for all these different problems.I finally said enough and switched over to time warner with a series 3 tivo and 2 cable cards about a month ago and I haven't looked back since.:lol: It's funny I went on the tivo lovers web site and they only talk about upcoming shows not all these crazy work-throughs to watch TV.Hahahahaha


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

Sneezy said:


> I'm back with TWC now. The PQ is fine, a lot better than it ever was before and nearly comparable with D.


I visited friends with TWC and a Samsung HDTV and, while HD channels looked great, the analog stations were really bad.


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

bidger said:


> I visited friends with TWC and a Samsung HDTV and, while HD channels looked great, the analog stations were really bad.


And DirecTV's SD look good ? If you want to see STELLAR SD quality get Verizon Fios TV. Never have I seen such a sweet SD picture.


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## jal (Mar 3, 2005)

I understand your frustration, but I found a different solution. I was able to replace my r15 with a TIVO r10, and have had no problems at all with the r10. In fact, it is the most reliable recorder I have ever owned.


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## Upstream (Jul 4, 2006)

Bobman, I am so envious. I can't wait for FIOS to be available in my town.


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

While this isn't a FiOS thread, I'll echo Bobman. DirecTV PQ was good... FiOS is much better. If they would just get their DVR to be more functional (improving search capability, e.g.) it would be pretty darn close to perfect. The SD is stunning and the HD is absolutely jaw-dropping.


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## Scarpad (May 22, 2006)

jpl said:


> While this isn't a FiOS thread, I'll echo Bobman. DirecTV PQ was good... FiOS is much better. If they would just get their DVR to be more functional (improving search capability, e.g.) it would be pretty darn close to perfect. The SD is stunning and the HD is absolutely jaw-dropping.


I wish I could get FIOS, I just said goodby to the rising costs of Comcast by signing up to a very basic DirectV Package thru Verizon, it's a 12 month committment and I hope at the end of that they'll get Fios into my area.


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

Bobman said:


> And DirecTV's SD look good ?


Compared to what I saw on TWC, yes.


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

bidger said:


> Compared to what I saw on TWC, yes.


I'll second this too. I always thought that DirecTV's PQ was much better than Comcast - even with the compression. Granted, the TVs I had with DirecTV weren't all that big - 19", 25", 27", and 32". It wasn't until I got that 32" HDTV that I started to really notice the artifacts for the compression. I think DirecTV does have really good PQ. And, in some ways, it got better over time. With every subsequent receiver, I saw the PQ improve - I went from a standard Hughes receiver, to a DirecTivo, to an R15. If they only didn't compress the channels so much...

That being said, FiOS is better. I was a little concerned when I made the switch. Yeah, FiOS doesn't compress their signals, but I was concerned about the equipment used. You can have the best signal in the world but if the h/w is crap the PQ will be crap. Turns out my fears were unfounded. I can really see the difference on my 27" SDTV. I never had HD under DirecTV, so I really can't make that comparison, and the SD I had with them on my HDTV was through the R15, which means that it went into my TV using S-Video. Which was good. But I really can't make accurate comparisons on THAT TV with FiOS because my FiOS receiver is HD, connects with HDMI, and transmits SD in 480p. It wouldn't be a fair comparison.

Still the SD with my R15 on my HDTV looked fuzzy and the colors looked a little unnatural. I thought it was the TV. No matter how I adjusted it, I couldn't get it right. I got concerned that my TV was faulty, so I hooked up an antenna to get HD OTA. I was floored by how clear the picture was. When I got FiOS hooked up, I did see a real difference in the SD on that TV (and the HD... holy cow! I watch sports I don't even like to catch the HD). To make an accurate comparison, though, I'd need to hook up an HR20 to that TV. Still, as Bobman said, on my SD TV, the difference is really amazing. The colors look more natural, and the picture is so much sharper.


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

I just got the R15-500 had it now for a month.Best DVR I've had.


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

Jhon69 said:


> I just got the R15-500 had it now for a month.Best DVR I've had.


My r15-500 was pretty rock-solid, too. Had some minor quirks with caller id when I first got it, but it never missed a recording, and never had any major issues. My r15-300 was pretty reliable, but it did miss a couple recordings (2, I think, over 7 - 8 months), the caller id had that phantom call issue, and that looping on ffwd made me want to use it for skeet-shooting practice. And when it lost power I would sometimes have difficulty getting it to boot up - it would cycle a couple times (start up, go dow, start up...), but after a couple tries it would work. And for a short time it was freezing up daily. I think it had to do with the PS/2 that I put on top of it - something about the vibrations from that machine that seemed to wig out the r15, I believe. Moved the PS/2 to the side and the lock-ups went away.

I liked the r15 alot - despite it's limitations. If fios would put some of the r15's functionality in their dvr, like I said, the service would be darn near perfect.


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## MrWolfinWV (Feb 3, 2007)

cccsdad said:


> This is crazy, how the hell could they release something they HAD TO KNOW wasn't ready?


Welcome to the world of technology. I have been in the I.T. industry for 15+ years and I have yet to see anything that was released FULLY FUNCTIONAL. There is not a single piece of hardware or software that works 100% reliably. Cisco? Forget about it. Microsoft? Forget about it. Linux? Get real. This whole world is a beta test and consumers are the willing testers. My ReplayTV had problems from time to time and my R15 has hiccupped a couple times. I expect this type of thing. Sometimes it happens when it doesn't matter. Sometimes these things happen when I'm trying to record or watch something I really want to see.

I'm not trying to toot my own horn (like anyone here knows me anyway), but I'm generally considered to be one of the best all-around I.T. engineers in my area. What separates a great I.T. person from an everyday tech is the ability to deal an cope with not only the problems that exist in virtually everything, but to also be able to handle and deal with the companies behind the hardware and software. To be honest, I don't know how the average person survives with this stuff.


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