# New User Interface makes my HR20 SLOW !



## mhyne (Nov 25, 2006)

Yesterday I got the new DirecTV user interface/menu.

However, the result has been that my HR20 is now so slow, it is almost unusable. Selecting list, or guide takes about 30-40 secs to appear and moving up or down channels/recordings in the guide/list will freeze for 20-40 secs.

I called DTV and their response is that this new SW should make it faster not slower. The only help they would offer is for me to do a full factory reset (erasing all my recordings) and see if the problem persists.

I dont really want to format my DVR (wife will be pissed). 

Is anyone else seeing this problem ? Any possible solutions ?


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

First 48 hours, it has to load and process all new guide data, and graphics. Give it two days, and then check the speed.


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## davring (Jan 13, 2007)

My HR20's came back to full speed in a day or so.


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## wb1205 (Aug 12, 2007)

I am 2 days in and my HR20 is almost unusable. Hit the guide button 10 seconds later the guide comes up and works ok, but hit menu and wait another 10-15 seconds for it to fully come up. I hope another 48hrs will fix the issue.


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## Bitgod (Sep 23, 2006)

Yeah, I had to laugh at the notice from DTV about the new guide after the boot up. Improved speed? O RLY? We'll see, but right now my DVR is useless. I gave up trying to navigate my program list because I got tired of a 1 minute delay. If it's not better by the end of the weekend, then this may give me the reason to start looking at other video sources.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

It is possible that you have another issue? My HR20 flies, and my HR22's are not far behind since the upgrade to the new GUI.


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## Jon J (Apr 22, 2002)

CCarncross said:


> It is possible that you have another issue? My HR20 flies, and my HR22's are not far behind since the upgrade to the new GUI.


My experience is the opposite. Both my HR20s are as slow or slower than ever when responding to normal commands. Same with my HR21 and HR22. There is a speed improvement in navigating the guide. But, that's all.


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## texasbrit (Aug 9, 2006)

The new guide will only speed up navigation in the guide. Speed in the rest of the system will be the same, since that code has not changed.


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## wb1205 (Aug 12, 2007)

I love to look of the GUI but if only the guide is sped up, then my code is shi.............zt. Been with dtv since 95 and never had my boxes be worthless. HR20 is about as fast as the the first panasonic HD receiver (10 years later I recall it being sloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwww). To be clear, I am a directv coolaid drinking customer, but this update has killed my boxes - no other system changes.


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## CenturyBreak (Feb 28, 2007)

It's been a lot more than 48 hours for me, and all functions with the new UI are farrrr sllllllooooowwwwweeeerrrrrrrr on my HR20.

Calling up the list takes between 6 and 10 seconds!!! Other functions are similarly slow.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I wonder if there is something wrong with the hard drive.


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## CenturyBreak (Feb 28, 2007)

That's possible, but I've never seen any other symptoms of hard drive problems... everything was snappy before the new UI.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

The new UI has more diagnostic stuff.


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## CenturyBreak (Feb 28, 2007)

Meaning?


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## Carl Spock (Sep 3, 2004)

My HR20 is great after the new HD GUI. I, too, would suspect a hard drive problem, more for the age of the DVR than anything else. A reboot stresses a hard drive. Frankly, a hard drive that's in the neighborhood of 4 years old could fail at any moment.


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## CenturyBreak (Feb 28, 2007)

In my case, the external hard drive isn't that old. The original external drive, a Free Agent Pro, was killed off by the firmware release that brought us DoublePlay. All the chugging'n'churning that started didn't play well with the lack of cooling in the FAP's design. 

Oddly, my HR23 is also slower with the new UI, but only slightly... and its hard drive is < 6 months old.


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## fullcourt81 (Sep 8, 2005)

The new GUI has slowed down my HR20, with a year old Western Digital external hard drive in a MX1.
Playlist is slow, To Do list is slow, Guide is slow. glad I don't watch live TV, because changing channels is slow, also.
I only have 7 series recordings. I am hoping to find a solution here. Have rebooted three times since update.
*Do you think that DirecTV even has an HR20 in their lab to see how slow it is?*


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

Many of us have them in our "labs" as well, and I can tell you that my HR20 flies with the new HDGUI. While not quite as fast, my HR22's are also much much quicker than they were with the old SDGUI.


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## Jon J (Apr 22, 2002)

CCarncross said:


> Many of us have them in our "labs" as well, and I can tell you that my HR20 flies with the new HDGUI. While not quite as fast, my HR22's are also much much quicker than they were with the old SDGUI.


You report your experience. We report ours. We differ. Okay?


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

Jon J said:


> You report your experience. We report ours. We differ. Okay?


And if "my experience" wasn't as good as others, I'd want mine "fixed" to be as good.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

Jon J said:


> You report your experience. We report ours. We differ. Okay?


The contention here is most of us should be having nearly the same experience using the same models and the same software. If you are not, then its time to start looking at other things in your setup that may be causing your issues. If everything is working properly, then there should be very little difference in performance. If you choose to solely blame the new GUI and not at least look for other reasons, that would be your loss.


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## nuspieds (Aug 9, 2008)

My external WD eSATA connected to my HR20-700 is a couple of years old and after the HD upgrade I have definitely seen a speed/response improvement that is now comparable to my HR24-500 with no hard drive issues.

The only slight degradation in performance (on both units) is whole home-related activities when _initially_ accessing a recording on the other unit.

For me, the HD UI has been great for my HR20.


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## Jon J (Apr 22, 2002)

CCarncross said:


> If you choose to solely blame the new GUI and not at least look for other reasons, that would be your loss.


You seem to be itching for a confrontation. No thanks.

I have not _blamed_ the new GUI for anything. I have simply reported the fact that to me other than navigating the guide itself, nothing else about the receiver's response has improved.


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## mtnagel (Sep 18, 2006)

My HR20 is ridiculously slow and I've had the guide for weeks. It was fine before but the last few days it's horrible. 7-10 for anything to happen. Love the look but hate the slowness 

So, I've had this thing for >5 years. Is there anyway to get directv to give me a new one without any other problems? Will that even help anything?


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

There's no guarantee of what you'd get. The only thing to do is get a leased HR24 from a reseller, for $200 and contract. DirecTV may be willing to provide a credit to offset that.

Either that, or wait until February and see of you can get a deal on a HR34. But that software is a bit rough around the edges.


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## mtnagel (Sep 18, 2006)

Thanks for the info. Guess I'll wait till my hard drive dies. The 8 sec delay after button presses is getting quite annoying though.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

mtnagel said:


> Thanks for the info. Guess I'll wait till my hard drive dies. The 8 sec delay after button presses is getting quite annoying though.


"You know", if mine were doing this, "I'd be calling" to get it fixed.

This is supposed to get to people that know it shouldn't be this way: Tech support: 1-800-676-3169


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## mtnagel (Sep 18, 2006)

"veryoldschool" said:


> "You know", if mine were doing this, "I'd be calling" to get it fixed.
> 
> This is supposed to get to people that know it shouldn't be this way: Tech support: 1-800-676-3169


Aren't they just going to tell me to do a reset and delete my recordings like they told some one above? I'm not willing to do that.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

mtnagel said:


> Aren't they just going to tell me to do a reset and delete my recordings like they told some one above? I'm not willing to do that.


"Well" they could tell me to delete my recordings, and "I'd tell them"... This isn't tech support.
"Restarting" a receiver is one thing, while swiping out the drive is another.
You're looking for someone that knows what they're doing, and not a first line CSR reading off their screen.
The more information you can give them, the more they "should be" able to help you.
While I haven't called that number, I have talked to some that know what they're doing and was given "that number" to get back to them.


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## fullcourt81 (Sep 8, 2005)

As I mentioned above, I have an external drive with lots of pages of recordings. I am pretty sure that it is a 1TB drive, and is usually 70% free.
The most telling delay is when I access the playlist with all these recordings.
Mostly old movies, I would gladly delete all of them to get rid of the delay.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

fullcourt81 said:


> As I mentioned above, I have an external drive with lots of pages of recordings. I am pretty sure that it is a 1TB drive, and is usually 70% free.
> The most telling delay is when I access the playlist with all these recordings.
> Mostly old movies, I would gladly delete all of them to get rid of the delay.


If it is the external, "couldn't you find out", by rebooting on the internal drive?


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## fullcourt81 (Sep 8, 2005)

veryoldschool said:


> If it is the external, "couldn't you find out", by rebooting on the internal drive?


Good idea, I might try that.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

How many of you that find the new HDGUI so slow are also setup for whole home? I'm trying to find a correlation between those of you having poor performance vs. those of us that are seeing very good performance.


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## mtnagel (Sep 18, 2006)

"CCarncross" said:


> How many of you that find the new HDGUI so slow are also setup for whole home? I'm trying to find a correlation between those of you having poor performance vs. those of us that are seeing very good performance.


Not using whole home. Single DVR here.


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## phxphotog (Jun 28, 2007)

Love the new GUI and it's significantly faster than the old one.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

So everyone that says their model(s) are slower or much slower, how many have whole home? How many don't? How many have at least run a simple HDD diagnostics tests through the DVR's menu system to verify that their HDD's are not giving any errors? How about signal strengths?


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## mtnagel (Sep 18, 2006)

"CCarncross" said:


> So everyone that says their model(s) are slower or much slower, how many have whole home? How many don't? How many have at least run a simple HDD diagnostics tests through the DVR's menu system to verify that their HDD's are not giving any errors? How about signal strengths?


No whole home as mentioned. I can run those tests but it seems pretty obvious that the change is the new guide. And can you explain what signal strength has to do with pulling up you list of recordings?


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## Dmtalon (Nov 9, 2007)

I'll put in my .02 My HR20 I would say *overall* is slower with the new GUI, also It screws up my 2nd TV that's running off composite out by plastering that "Non HD" message over the screen whenever you do anything with the menu.

That said, paging through the guide (once its up) is certainly faster. If that was their main/only goal, they fixed that, however the overall experience is not improved.


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## makaiguy (Sep 24, 2007)

mtnagel said:


> And can you explain what signal strength has to do with pulling up you list of recordings?


Maybe nothing. Or maybe if a signal is marginal, checking and rechecking for a signal lock takes priority over other activities. I don't think any of us really knows.

The reason for asking is to see IF there is some sort of common factor.


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## Bitgod (Sep 23, 2006)

So after 48 hours, the DVR finally had a useable speed, but I didn't get around to posting that. Glad I didn't, because now this POS is unusable. When I started watching things tonight, it would take 30 seconds from the time I stopped playback of a recorded until it would let me choose something.

Well right now I just ended the playback of the football game, glad I fast forwarded the 2nd half, I had a feeling I was wasting my time, and my menus never came back on the screen. I'll have to yank the external and compare vs the internal, but that still makes this DVR unusable to me. 
Bleep DTV, this 10 year customer is close to calling it quits.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

I think the difference is that before the UI would load and the receiver would still be working in the background to catch up. Now it seems that the processing is done first then the screen draw is done. This makes people think it's slower. Once you're in the process it should be faster ie guide scrolling. So overall it is faster but the perception isn't there because of how it handles the processes now.


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## kikkenit2 (Oct 26, 2006)

I have used 7 HR20 dvr's for years. Never known for speed, they are reliable and stable. This new software is clearly too fancy for the cpu and memory of these older models. It trys to do too many things and slows some functions down drastically. No network connections used. Big disappointment. My recordings still play, so I won't erase them early for free. We need "hd lite" for the gui in the older boxes.


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

kikkenit2 said:


> I have used 7 HR20 dvr's for years. Never known for speed, they are reliable and stable. This new software is clearly too fancy for the cpu and memory of these older models. It trys to do too many things and slows some functions down drastically.


So is is Time to Upgrade to a HR24?


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## kocuba (Dec 29, 2006)

2 HR20-700's. One of them since Sept. 07. Both have the new HD-GUI. Both slower then before the update to respond to button presses(List, mini-guide, numbers). Not using Whole Home. But both of them are hard-wired to my router(might consider taking them off to see if that helps). Have never had HDD issues, but also have not run any tests lateley(Will have to find that thread to refresh my memory on how to do it). Signal strengths have been great. All in the 90s. While for various reasons I am not going anywhere, this is really starting to get unacceptable.


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## Duffinator (Oct 25, 2006)

texasbrit said:


> The new guide will only speed up navigation in the guide. Speed in the rest of the system will be the same, since that code has not changed.


This pretty well sums up my experience. I have two HR20's networked. Right after the software download they were slower but are now about the same. The guide is faster and I really like the new look. I have been waiting to see if the new GUI was really going to speed up the response time but it hasn't. Looks like two new HR24's are coming up.


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

My HR22's and my HR24-500s are all overall slower with the new software in everything except maybe the HR22s scrolling through the guide. Even the guide is slower on the HR24s.... I also use whole-home. The HR24-500 I use the most is noticeably slower - even to the point I'm back to pushing the button twice and then it catch up and registering both button pushes. This is just great stuff after I spent $600 to get HR24s that I could use without having to wonder if it has noticed I pushed a button.

Maybe that new fancy Dish Network receiver is worth a look?


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## kikkenit2 (Oct 26, 2006)

Richierich said:


> So is is Time to Upgrade to a HR24?


If directv will give me 3 hr34's for free I may consider it. I need 14 tuners and still have 20 hard drives full of good stuff to watch. Slow but it works so i'll get by. Now if they would give me a shortcut to the "to do" list and free hd back i'm content. The HR24 isn't worth the upgrade hassle for me. I still appreciate the advice though.


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## cbosso (Jan 18, 2007)

I have an HR20 with an upgraded internal HD. I do not have whole home. I don't watch live TV so I don't have any experience with how fast the guide is. I am certain that the playlist is significantly slower since the upgrade. What took 2-3 seconds to come up is now 7-10 seconds. All other playlist navigation (deleting shows after watching them, expanding/collapsing folders) seems slower too. My HD is only about 30% full but my kids / wife will kill me if I delete their shows doing a hard reset.

I was really looking forward to a faster interface. So far, I have seen just the opposite. I do hope someone finds something that helps. 

PS - The new HDUI looks great!


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

kikkenit2 said:


> If directv will give me 3 hr34's for free I may consider it. I need 14 tuners and still have 20 hard drives full of good stuff to watch. Slow but it works so i'll get by. Now if they would give me a shortcut to the "to do" list and free hd back i'm content. The HR24 isn't worth the upgrade hassle for me. I still appreciate the advice though.


We would all like the Shortcut to The TODOLIST!!!

Hopefully one day we will get it! The HR24 is Great and I don't understand why you don't play the CSR Roulette Game and try to get a Better Deal!!!


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## kog (Jul 11, 2007)

My HR20 got the HDUI update about 6 days ago and have experienced similar slowdowns to what a lot of people have posted. It takes a lot longer to get into the the Guide or the Recordings List. Once I'm there, navigating through that content is much faster.

One difference with me is that I am getting a lot of playback issues if I use any of the trick plays (quick skip back or 30 second advance). Once I do a couple of those trick plays, the playback would stutter and audio would drop out frequently to the point that it's no longer watchable. This happens on both live TV and recorded material. Though it only really happens with HD content. Watching SD, I don't have this problem (or I don't notice it). Only way to fix it is to tune to another channel and tune back if watching live TV or stop the playback on recordings. If that doesn't fix it, I then have to restart the receiver (which takes about 10-12 minutes).

Because of the difference between HD and SD it sounds a lot like a disk issue. Has anyone had something similar happen to them? I am using an 1.5TB drive in an external Antec MX1 eSATA case. Could the size of the disk be affecting the speed also?


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## kikkenit2 (Oct 26, 2006)

Richierich said:


> We would all like the Shortcut to The TODOLIST!!!
> 
> Hopefully one day we will get it! The HR24 is Great and I don't understand why you don't play the CSR Roulette Game and try to get a Better Deal!!!


I am much more the extreme user than typical user but appreciate your help. I complained about "to do" in the when do we get thread and you shouted me down a little. I pondered that and decided that the access "to do" has gotten worse with this software. Therefore valid complaint, wrong thread. So I find the thread about the performance of the new software. It was already 50 pages long and hijacked by how do I force this download early posts. Waste of time. So where do I go and become effective? "TO DO" has gotten worse at the expense of options to do stuff besides watch tv and view recordings of such.

Directv is ignoring the base functions of the product. They are trying to add internet type features, but can't provide the internet feed! DUH Much less limitless instant on demand. Not happening here. Let's fake it? Maybe I'm missing something on the hr24. If it has 5 tuners there we go. Otherwise I easily access everything through my home theater receiver. Hdmi swithers are cheap also. Not only wouldn't directv upgrade me to hr34 boxes for free they had no price yet. (About 2 weeks ago.) I would rather tweak this software. My daughter has at&t. ESPNHD is on channel 1602. FOUR digit life baby! No thanks. Simplicity matters.


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## Mossberg (Feb 20, 2007)

I too, have experienced a slower HR20-700 after the HD GUI rolled out to me last month. I am networked, but do not have WHDVR. It seems to be hit or miss though. Some days, the navigation of the DVR is a respectable speed. Other days, it takes 30 seconds after a button push to register anything. This is frustrating!


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

OK, so I'm starting to see a little pattern here. I am going to trade a few PM's with a few people and see if we can get some of this to D*'s engineering and see if they can reproduce it.


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## kocuba (Dec 29, 2006)

CCarncross said:


> OK, so I'm starting to see a little pattern here. I am going to trade a few PM's with a few people and see if we can get some of this to D*'s engineering and see if they can reproduce it.


I'm willing to help troubleshoot, in the evenings, as needed.


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## wb1205 (Aug 12, 2007)

CCarncross said:


> So everyone that says their model(s) are slower or much slower, how many have whole home? How many don't? How many have at least run a simple HDD diagnostics tests through the DVR's menu system to verify that their HDD's are not giving any errors? How about signal strengths?


I have 3 DVR's (1- HR20 and 2 black ones after that HR21?) Whole home via ethernet. After a week the system is again usable - guide is certainly faster, but other screens lag. My mermory is now so distorted I can't say with certainty that non guide functions are slower, but it really feels like it. I only use the HR20, the family uses the other boxes and they didn't comment eitherway.


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## mbuser (Jul 6, 2006)

Only one complaint about the new UI, but it's a big one. Keyword search seems to have slowed down to the point that it never comes back with a match list. Anybody else experience this?


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## Duffinator (Oct 25, 2006)

Duffinator said:


> This pretty well sums up my experience. I have two HR20's networked. Right after the software download they were slower but are now about the same. The guide is faster and I really like the new look. I have been waiting to see if the new GUI was really going to speed up the response time but it hasn't. Looks like two new HR24's are coming up.


I spent quite a bit of time playing with the new interface last night and I've changed my mind, I now think everything about it is faster although not leaps and bounds faster.

Regarding a HR24 is it really that much faster than a HR20 relative to changing channels with the new software? One plus I can use is the 3D and one thing I'll miss is OTA although I don't use it.


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## Marcus Welby (Apr 8, 2007)

This is really disheartening. Mine installed on my HR20 last night and went from slow as molasses to fast as an SR-71. Seriously, the improvement was beyond extreme for me. So I came here expecting to read all the rave reviews. I'm sorry to hear that so many are still having problems.

I do have a brand new 1TB drive that's only about 40% full, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it. The only delay I get is about a 2 sec delay when pressing the guide button, but once it's up, it's like a Ferrari.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

Marcus Welby said:


> This is really disheartening. Mine installed on my HR20 last night and went from slow as molasses to fast as an SR-71. Seriously, the improvement was beyond extreme for me. So I came here expecting to read all the rave reviews. I'm sorry to hear that so many are still having problems.
> 
> I do have a brand new 1TB drive that's only about 40% full, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it. The only delay I get is about a 2 sec delay when pressing the guide button, but once it's up, it's like a Ferrari.


Very few people say it's slower and most people have the experience you are having.


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## sdf1984 (Jun 4, 2009)

I have a HR20, how can I prevent my box from getting the new upgrade?


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

sdf1984 said:


> I have a HR20, how can I prevent my box from getting the new upgrade?


Record with both tuners 24 hrs a day, and hit ignore every 30 minutes when it asks to interrupt your recording to download an upgrade.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

Davenlr said:


> Record with both tuners 24 hrs a day, and hit ignore every 30 minutes when it asks to interrupt your recording to download an upgrade.


Which pretty much means you can't....


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## JonW (Dec 21, 2006)

A lot of us are using multi-room viewing, and the resulting combined play list - simply put - is a resource pig. Slow and lagged remote control response is another ancient problem that hasn't gone away. Neither has slow channel changing. Menu navigation is also slower simply because it requires more steps.


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## AndyHi (Nov 24, 2007)

I have an HR21, its been over a week since the upgrade. The guide and running through lists is improved, but bringing up the list is much much slower now.

when I hit the end of a program and say yes to delete, its 42 seconds before the list appears (about half way in live TV starts playing and is not able to be paused - high chance of spoilers!).
Also, HD is new as of a month or so ago, list was only a couple seconds to bring up before the upgrade


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## leadout_kv (Nov 4, 2006)

Marcus Welby said:


> This is really disheartening. Mine installed on my HR20 last night and went from slow as molasses to fast as an SR-71. Seriously, the improvement was beyond extreme for me. So I came here expecting to read all the rave reviews. I'm sorry to hear that so many are still having problems.
> 
> I do have a brand new 1TB drive that's only about 40% full, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it. The only delay I get is about a 2 sec delay when pressing the guide button, but once it's up, it's like a Ferrari.


I have not received the new HDUI yet (have a HR20-700) but as I read through this thread I was trying to see if there was another (aside from whole home) common reason for the slowness.

I'm not sure if its been brought up yet BUT you mention you have a new 1TB hd. Do you know what speed your hd is? 5400 or 7200 rpm? I would guess its not 10,000 rpm. Maybe just maybe its the drive's performance (rpm speed) that is affecting others UI performance. I'm at work so I can't check my ext drive's speed.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

LubbersLine said:


> I have not received the new HDUI yet (have a HR20-700) but as I read through this thread I was trying to see if there was another (aside from whole home) common reason for the slowness.
> 
> I'm not sure if its been brought up yet BUT you mention you have a new 1TB hd. Do you know what speed your hd is? 5400 or 7200 rpm? I would guess its not 10,000 rpm. Maybe just maybe its the drive's performance (rpm speed) that is affecting others UI performance. I'm at work so I can't check my ext drive's speed.


Its not the drives....unless the drive is actually having a problem, faster drive speeds have almost no impact in this application. Many of us have experimented with 7200rpm drives in place of the original 5400's and even timed events it makes virtually no difference. Only creates more heat.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

JonW said:


> A lot of us are using multi-room viewing, and the resulting combined play list - simply put - is a resource pig. Slow and lagged remote control response is another ancient problem that hasn't gone away. Neither has slow channel changing. Menu navigation is also slower simply because it requires more steps.


Slower channel change speed is part of satellite tv, you can't channel surf like you could or can with cable, the current system works completely differently. Also channel change speed has changed considerably since the advent of HD. SLow and lagged remote response is almost non-existent in my setup since the HDGUI went in, so it is possible you have another issue that may be unrelated to the HDGUI.


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## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

I have been seeing the slow downs on both of my dvrs hr20-700/hr21-100. IR/RF mode hasn't changed things. But the last few days I noticed when it gets non responsive to remote(ie when the dvr doesn't blink), that if i switch the remote mode the other way(from ir to rf or vice versa) it starts working again for a little bit. Once the buttons work, the interface has been fairly fast since the hd gui. Just getting the button to work has been the most aggrevating thing. BTW I am using network and MRV. Any correlation about it using DECA boxes vs cat 5 networking? I'm willing to help test/try anything. I have run disk tests on both of dvrs, no problems were found.


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## tivoboy (Aug 16, 2006)

So, posted elsewhere then found this thread.

HR20-700 got the update on the 1/4/2012. It is definitely much slower. Everyone in the house has reported the same thing at different times. 

The ONLY thing I find faster, is scrolling UP and DOWN speed in the guide or the list.

Getting TO the guide from say watching tv, is SLOWER
Getting to the LIST from watching tv, is SLOWER

If I'm watching a show and get to the end and want to delete, waiting for the DELETE NOW to pop up is SLOWER

After hitting DELETE and getting back to LIST or GUIDE is WAAAAYY SLOWER, it takes about 10-15 seconds to get back to the LIST. Frack that.

Getting the guide to move further in the future, so to the right, is SLOWER

Selecting something to RECORD from the GUIDE, used to be pretty instantaneous, now it is SLOWER.

Responding to ANY button presses is SLOWER

I see a pattern here, the damb thing is SLOWER!


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

tivoboy said:


> So, posted elsewhere then found this thread.
> 
> H20-700 got the update on the 1/4/2012. It is definitely much slower. Everyone in the house has reported the same thing at different times.
> 
> ...


First off, what receiver do you actually have? NO H20's get the hd gui, as you say you have, so I am thinking you have an hr20.

Try clearing the nvram first, and then do a menu restart twice within 30 mins of each other. That will clear everything out and reload all your guide data. I have none of the issues you are having. So maybe clearing out your system will get rid of whatever bug ails your unit.

To clear your nvram do the following:

press red-red-blue-blue-yellow-green while tuned to channel 1


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

inkahauts said:


> First off, what receiver do you actually have? NO H20's get the hd gui, as you say you have, so I am thinking you have an hr20.


since there never was an H20-700, it's most likely an HR20-700


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## Sepen (Feb 11, 2011)

My bedroom HR20 updated about 5 days ago. Prior to the update I was ready to take the HR20 and place it under the rear wheels of my HD ford van and put it out of its misery. It was so freaking slow that it literally took up to two minutes just to change a channel.
After the update I am tickled to death, it is fast at everything! what a huge difference. Sorry to see people are having troubles with it.



Marcus Welby said:


> This is really disheartening. Mine installed on my HR20 last night and went from slow as molasses to fast as an SR-71. Seriously, the improvement was beyond extreme for me. So I came here expecting to read all the rave reviews. I'm sorry to hear that so many are still having problems.
> 
> I do have a brand new 1TB drive that's only about 40% full, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it. The only delay I get is about a 2 sec delay when pressing the guide button, but once it's up, it's like a Ferrari.


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## mtnagel (Sep 18, 2006)

And now mine has sped up again. Guide or list presses would consistently take 8 seconds last week and today they are down to 1-2 secs like they were with the previous software. Anyone know what's up with that?

HR20, no whole home, networked, software installed 12/15 but we went on vacation for two weeks starting 12/16 so it wasn't used then except to record a few things.


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## Podkayne (Nov 1, 2007)

HR20-100, external 2TB array in a cooled VanTec MX enclosure, both vintage August 2007, no Whole Home, networked via ethernet, and this HR20 has been brought to its knees by the new interface. I would gladly roll back the firmware if I knew how.

Access to Menu from TV, Access to Playlist, Access to Guide are all now noticeably slower: 8 to 15 seconds, whereas 2 seconds was more the norm for the previous firmware. Clearing the NVRAM and doing two menu dash-button resets in a half hour will fix the problem for the first day, but after the guide is fully loaded this DVR is slogged back down.

I'm an early adopter, DTV since Sept. 1994 (I have a five digit account number [6xxxx] remember the old USSB days??), and I haven't bothered them for anything, ever, in 17 years, but this one has me reaching for the phone....


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## mtnagel (Sep 18, 2006)

So is anyone else's still slow or have they all sped up? Mine seems to be slow only every once and awhile now. I did notice that my progress bar was different looking and sure enough I got an update a couple days ago. Haven't seen any other changes, but hopefully it will keep it speedy.


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## eileen22 (Mar 24, 2006)

"mtnagel" said:


> So is anyone else's still slow or have they all sped up? Mine seems to be slow only every once and awhile now. I did notice that my progress bar was different looking and sure enough I got an update a couple days ago. Haven't seen any other changes, but hopefully it will keep it speedy.


My HR20-700 is still slow, but not as slow as it was before the 0x59 update. In the few days leading up to this latest update, it had gotten much slower. It was taking 30-40 seconds to respond to the List or Menu button press, and also to delete recordings. Right after the first HD UI release, those tasks were slower than before the release, but were taking about 10 seconds. Prior to the first HD UI release, those tasks took 1-2 seconds. Is your experience similar?


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## eileen22 (Mar 24, 2006)

"eileen22" said:


> My HR20-700 is still slow, but not as slow as it was before the 0x59 update. In the few days leading up to this latest update, it had gotten much slower. It was taking 30-40 seconds to respond to the List or Menu button press, and also to delete recordings. Right after the first HD UI release, those tasks were slower than before the release, but were taking about 10 seconds. Prior to the first HD UI release, those tasks took 1-2 seconds. Is your experience similar?


I should add that with 0x59, the responses on my HR20-700 to those tasks is running at about 8 seconds. Better, but still much slower than before HD UI. And will it slow down over time like the previous release did? As someone else said on this board, are the HR20s just not powerful enough to handle the HD UI?


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## hhh222 (Sep 20, 2004)

Hmmmm...I just got on here to see if my painfully slow HR20 and HR21 was just me or if others were experiencing the same thing. I just went to see if there was any difference in the speed of one versus the other and, low and behold, they are now working as fast or faster than ever.


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## B Newt (Aug 12, 2007)

My HR20 is fast ONLY in the guide section. Everywhere else its slow. When I search around the VOD section its PAINFULLY slow.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

As the HDGUI matures in future releases, you will most likely see more speed. They will continue to make improvements.


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## Pluvious (Jun 12, 2007)

Yep.. my HR20-100 is painfully slow when accessing the LIST and deleting stuff. I LOVE the new look but the the functionality has seriously suffered. Yes I can scroll around the 'guide' super fast but all the actual functions are slower then before. 

I assumed my 2TB external drive has something to do with it.. lots to scan/read in that list. >shrug<


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## Podkayne (Nov 1, 2007)

Posts #79 and #81 on this thread are my experiences also. The update that removed the annoying black bar when using FF or RW did little to upgrade the speed of my HR20-100. I tried rebooting on the internal drive, was pleased to see some old stuff there I figured I might as well start watching, was disappointed that the molasses-slow response was still there.

I have significant patience with DirecTV, if 17+ years is worth anything, but this is the first time I've actually been pushed to considering alternatives. My Dad ditched his cable for DirecTV last summer, and whatever box they gave him runs like greased lightning and he got free Sunday Ticket this season also. (I seem to recall a few months of free premium channels that I don't watch much. But I digress...) I just want the darned DVR to do what I want it to do in a reasonable period of time!!



Pluvious said:


> Yep.. my HR20-100 is painfully slow when accessing the LIST and deleting stuff. I LOVE the new look but the the functionality has seriously suffered. Yes I can scroll around the 'guide' super fast but all the actual functions are slower then before.
> 
> I assumed my 2TB external drive has something to do with it.. lots to scan/read in that list. >shrug<


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## Pluvious (Jun 12, 2007)

I've also been a long time member of DirectV (15 years!) and along with the slow interface, the $80 a month is killing me. The only reason I haven't switched is due to the 2TB of data I've saved and the feature itself of being able to hook up an external drive to archive.
I'm kinda stuck with what I have.. hate to lose all my shows from over the years.


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## PlanetBill (May 8, 2006)

eileen22 said:


> My HR20-700 is still slow, but not as slow as it was before the 0x59 update. In the few days leading up to this latest update, it had gotten much slower. It was taking 30-40 seconds to respond to the List or Menu button press, and also to delete recordings. Right after the first HD UI release, those tasks were slower than before the release, but were taking about 10 seconds. Prior to the first HD UI release, those tasks took 1-2 seconds. Is your experience similar?


Yes, my HR20-700 is awful now. Been a while since I've been on this forum, but I had to know if I was alone or not. I am not.


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## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

Mine has better since the update, but it still has lapses. I have also moved mine from unsupported MRV setup to straight DECAs. Right now my 2 dvrs only see each other, ie no internet. I'm testing to see if that trend continues. I also noticed no matter what dvr I have in the living room it is slow. Not sure if that is causes by some of interference(in both ir and rf modes) or possibly the wire(but signal strength still shows good)????


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

kevinwmsn said:


> Mine has better since the update, but it still has lapses. I have also moved mine from unsupported MRV setup to straight DECAs. Right now my 2 dvrs only see each other, ie no internet. I'm testing to see if that trend continues. * I also noticed no matter what dvr I have in the living room it is slow.* Not sure if that is causes by some of interference(in both ir and rf modes) or possibly the wire(but signal strength still shows good)????


This might be due to the HDMI handshake.
You can check by changing to component. If it speeds up, then this should point to it being a handshake of the HDMI between the receiver and your TV.


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## rb5505 (Dec 23, 2004)

is anyone emailing or calling directv about their issue? i sent them the link of this thread and explained my issues. odds are better for a fix if you at least email them. just choose "contact us" under the "help" heading on their website, then choose email.


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## NoOTA (Apr 7, 2008)

Ours (HR21) is still pig-dog slow. Everybody HATES the new HDGUI because of it. "Oh it looks so nice, but take 10-15seconds for the playlist to come up" We want the old GUI back.

Here is my theory: Sorting a large playlist is REALLY, REALLY slow. The slowest thing is bringing up the playlist or deleteing a show where it has to go back to the playlist(and re-sorts). I have a 2TB drive about 60% free. And that is the key: I have 4times more shows in the playlist than the stock HDD had when it was full. This explains why some users are fast: number of shows in playlist. My inlaws have 2 shows in their playlist on their HR21 and it flies! And even a full stock HDD is sorted in 3-4 seconds.

I program embedded machines with limited CPU power. When a poor sort routine is used in a piece of code that is CPU starved, the sort get slower as more data is added to the sorted array. The GUI is cpu starved on the older boxes, as it is low priority. This is why the GUI gets slower while the guide data is getting chunked on after new software gets downloaded: the GUI is low priority.

To test this, I deleted as many shows as I could do with out and got to 77% free. Initial playlist display time dropped from 12-15 seconds to 6-8 seconds. HA! 1/2 the data to sort and the playlist is faster. I would guess it I deleted to about 90% free to match the 320gb internal HDD max recored capacity, the playlist would appear in 3-4 seconds and I wouldn't be so disappointed in the new GUI.

Solutions:
1. More CPU time allocated to GUI (not going to happen)
2. Faster CPU so more time for GUI (called A HR24 or HR34)
3. Keep less shows in playlist (but that is WHY I run a larger drive)
4. New sort routine that is more efficient
5. Don't sort everytime the playlist is brought up. Only when a new recording it started, do it in the background. Would still be slow when delete a show 

I know, larger drives aren't officially supported, bla, bla, bla. But the unit was WAY faster with the larger drive and the old GUI. I didn't ASK for the eye candy of the new drive and the unit is WAY less enjoyable. If I call and complain, do I get a HR24? Not a great solution as the recordings on the large drive are tied to the unit and won't play anymore.

It was NOT an upgrade for us. Honestly, they could keep the eye candy and make my system perform like it did before the new HDGUI was forced down my throat. This would be like Microsoft FORCING everybody to automatically upgrade to say Winodws 7, but doing on 6 year old hardware that really can't handle it. How would the user experience be there? And it is embarrassing when I'm at a friends who has the "other" satellite system and his is so, so ,SO much faster. 

NoOTA


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

What is Pig-Dog? 

Never heard that Expression!!! :lol:


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## NoOTA (Apr 7, 2008)

Slower than dog slow, as in "That thing is a dog", is Pig-dog slow!

Not a complement to be called pig-dog slow.


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

NoOTA said:


> Not a complement to be called pig-dog slow.


Obviously!!! :lol:


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## Duffinator (Oct 25, 2006)

I was noticing last night how quickly mine is now responding. I hope you guys get this resolved.


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## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

veryoldschool said:


> This might be due to the HDMI handshake.
> You can check by changing to component. If it speeds up, then this should point to it being a handshake of the HDMI between the receiver and your TV.


Right now mine is fast still with hdmi, have to find and route some component cables. But my issue is mainly with hitting buttons such as 30 sec skip/ number buttons to even show up, not the time to change channels. When it gets slow, I don't even see the blue light on left even blink.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

Most people never used the guides side by side on a receiver with about the same amount of shows recorded. The new UI is much faster overall because once you're in the List or Guide or Menu it has much faster response times to commands. In the old system you got the list pulled up right away but it would be slow to respond, scroll, and overall miss commands because it was processing the data. 

This is also the beginning of it's life and will only continue to get better. Since this is the second time they've built a UI they should have resolved limitations that were built into the old one and over time this will only get better. I would never want to go back to the old UI for every day use.


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## Church AV Guy (Jul 9, 2007)

> ...The new UI is much faster overall because once you're in the List or Guide or Menu it has much faster response times to commands. In the old system you got the list pulled up right away but it would be slow to respond, scroll, and overall miss commands because it was processing the data.


Your description of the old system is really almost what mine is doing now, with the latest software. It gets into the guide quickly, but then after a button press or two, it hangs, sometimes for up to thirty seconds (I timed it). When you are going through the guide, that seems like an eternity, especially if you cannot contol the PIG during all this! Another problem which is back is the tuning time-out issue, where you try to enter a channel number, like 505, and it takes so long to process the number entries, that it times out after the first two, then does the last one, and you end up on channel five rather than 505. That happens very frequently for me since the latest update. In my opinion, this is NOT a step forward at all!


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## hhh222 (Sep 20, 2004)

And now....they've slowed down again. 

May have to go with a THR22 even though it won't do the 30sec skip so far.


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## Stewpidity (Jan 26, 2008)

I have had to reset(red button) my HR21-200 twice this week as it just froze while scrolling through the guide, as i sit here for the last 15 minutes the guide is frozen no buttons on the remote will do anything.


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## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

I changed mine from hdmi to component connections, It was very slow this morning like it has been in the past. I guess I can rule out hdmi handshakes, being I'm not using HDMI right now. I know I could clear NVRAM/reboot, but I should haven't do that after so many hours.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

CCarncross said:


> As the HDGUI matures in future releases, you will most likely see more speed. They will continue to make improvements.


If history is an indicator, they will add some things to it, but speed won't be improved and maybe even worsened.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

"lparsons21" said:


> If history is an indicator, they will add some things to it, but speed won't be improved and maybe even worsened.


That's a revisionists theory. Speed has gone down and up and back and forth on several occasions, and lately, with the general speed of the guide increasing, I think their focus appears to be more in speeding things up than adding features right now. The only feature they have added in a long time has been pandora. The hd GUI is a speed increase for some parts more than it is anything else, the only thing they added with it was some suggestions, which really didn't change or add much in the way of new features with it, it just stylized everything differently.


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## sjord7 (Sep 2, 2007)

I have the HR-20, and mine is double pig-dog slow. Yes, the new HD guide and list are faster once you get in them, but getting to them, or out of them or any other button I press can take varying amounts of time. It might take 5 seconds, or 50 seconds. My wife and I laugh at how slow it is - she keeps telling me to do something, and I just sit there, telling her I pressed the button almost a minute ago - and nothing has happened. 

I too have been with DirecTV for many many years - but this is so ridiculous. I don't know of any other box I have hooked to my TV where when I press a button it takes it almost a minute to respond!

I want to go to the HR34 - for the more tuners and larger amount of space (and hopefully faster hardware), but it appears to be full of bugs, including it won't necessarily even record your shows for you!


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

"sjord7" said:


> I have the HR-20, and mine is double pig-dog slow. Yes, the new HD guide and list are faster once you get in them, but getting to them, or out of them or any other button I press can take varying amounts of time. It might take 5 seconds, or 50 seconds. My wife and I laugh at how slow it is - she keeps telling me to do something, and I just sit there, telling her I pressed the button almost a minute ago - and nothing has happened.
> 
> I too have been with DirecTV for many many years - but this is so ridiculous. I don't know of any other box I have hooked to my TV where when I press a button it takes it almost a minute to respond!
> 
> I want to go to the HR34 - for the more tuners and larger amount of space (and hopefully faster hardware), but it appears to be full of bugs, including it won't necessarily even record your shows for you!


What's weird is I don't have these problems. I fact, lately, my hr20 has picked up even more speed through the menus. I just don't get the inconsistency of the speed of the units. I have a feeling they are working on that, but I wonder if anything we have in our systems can impact it as well.


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## NoOTA (Apr 7, 2008)

sjord7 said:


> I have the HR-20, and mine is double pig-dog slow. Yes, the new HD guide and list are faster once you get in them, but getting to them, or out of them or any other button I press can take varying amounts of time. It might take 5 seconds, or 50 seconds. My wife and I laugh at how slow it is...
> 
> I too have been with DirecTV for many many years - but this is so ridiculous. I don't know of any other box I have hooked to my TV where when I press a button it takes it almost a minute to respond!


I feel your pain. Directv WHY ARE SOME BOXES SO SLOW????????? Load up an old HR20 or HR21 with their limited RAM and CPU speed an external drive with 100+ shows and test it yourselves. See how you like pressing the LIST button and waiting 10+ seconds for anything to happen. Once the family starts complaining, it is only a matter of time until I have to do something. Since I don't have the choice to go back to a GUI that WAS acceptably fast for us (thank you very much), I have to look at other options. I've been with them since the late 90's also, but this is may cause me to look into other options.

Sorry, but here is what is so FRUSTRATING. I never ASKED but my box to be slowed down. It just happened due to changes I can't control.

The family just wants the old LIST button speed back.... Wasn't "fast", but this is terrible.


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## eileen22 (Mar 24, 2006)

"NoOTA" said:


> I feel your pain. Directv WHY ARE SOME BOXES SO SLOW????????? Load up an old HR20 or HR21 with their limited RAM and CPU speed an external drive with 100+ shows and test it yourselves. See how you like pressing the LIST button and waiting 10+ seconds for anything to happen. Once the family starts complaining, it is only a matter of time until I have to do something. Since I don't have the choice to go back to a GUI that WAS acceptably fast for us (thank you very much), I have to look at other options. I've been with them since the late 90's also, but this is may cause me to look into other options.
> 
> Sorry, but here is what is so FRUSTRATING. I never ASKED but my box to be slowed down. It just happened due to changes I can't control.
> 
> The family just wants the old LIST button speed back.... Wasn't "fast", but this is terrible.


I have to agree with this. I've been a D* customer since 1999, have had DVRs since 2001, and this is definitely the slowest ours has ever been. Especially bad is the response time to an initial press of List or Guide if the box has been idle for awhile. We have a HR20-700 with an external 1TB drive, which runs at about 70% full most of the time. We are connected to the Internet, but don't have MRV, as this is currently our only HD DVR. Also don't have SWM yet. We have a bunch of SD DVRs in other locations. I'm interested to hear that not everyone with HR20s is experiencing the extreme slowness, and wonder if the setup or the amount of free disk space has anything to do with it. Should I try to delete some recordings to see if that helps? Has anyone else done this and seen improvement?


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

I fortunately am in the camp with inkahauts, my old original HR20, from 2006, has a 1.5T drive attached to it, well over 200 hours of programming on it, and it works great, very zippy. Perhaps you have a HDD going bad?


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## sjord7 (Sep 2, 2007)

I'm not sure my box has gotten slower since the upgrade. I haven't timed anything - but I do know I was getting those very slow responses before the firmware upgrade. I do not have an external drive on my HR 20. The responses seem all over the place, 5 seconds one time, and it's somewhat common to go up to maybe 50 seconds (without actually timing it). What's worse, that isn't the worst time - occasionally it goes up to several minutes before it responds (without ever pressing another button on the remote).

I guess it's possible it could be hard drive problems, one reason I'd suspect this, is several years ago, my original HR 20 died after the hard drive gave out. They sent me this box, and it made some bad hard drive noises for a couple years - I figured it was going to die any day. What's weird - I never hear those hard drive noises any more - at some point it quit doing that.

I really want to move to the HR34, but given the issues I see in that thread - I better wait a long time before getting one! That it doesn't even record the shows you setup is terrible!


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## gator5000e (Aug 29, 2006)

I would like to join the others that say their HR20-700s have slowed down considerably. I have had the upgrade for weeks now. I have performed numerous reboots. Pulling up anything like the guide or the info bar or the menu takes forever. 

Last night I tried to change channels, hit Guide, waited 20 seconds, hit Guide again and then again and finally it came up. I hit the down scroll button and it took a good 10 seconds before it moved. Once it moved it ran ok for a few button presses. I then landed on a channel I wanted to watch and hit Enter. I waited 20 seconds and nothing. Hit Enter again, and again and again and nothing. Finally I hit Exit and waited another 5 seconds before everything went away. Then I had to enter the channel number manually. 

It really is frustrating. Maybe it's time for a HR24. I just hate to pay for one given I spend so much with D* as it is now. Is the box broken? Probably not in their eyes. But does it work like it should? Absolutely not.


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

I suppose a hard drive or two could fail here and there but if the hard drives are the problem I have 3 bad ones!

I don't know what the trouble is but it all started with the HDGUI that was supposed to speed things up - things are not as slow as when I first got the update but still much slower than the old GUI that worked....


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## PlanetBill (May 8, 2006)

HR20-700, s t i l l v e r y s s s l l l o o o w w w


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## PlanetBill (May 8, 2006)

gator5000e said:


> I would like to join the others that say their
> It really is frustrating. Maybe it's time for a HR24. I just hate to pay for one given I spend so much with D* as it is now. Is the box broken? Probably not in their eyes. But does it work like it should? Absolutely not.


We should not have to pay for equipment that was not broken. They should offer us replacements (free) if future software continues this way.


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## Pluvious (Jun 12, 2007)

This problem is not going to go away but I will. I've been a DirectV customer for over 12 years and if this doesn't get addressed soon I'm jumping ship to Dish. This is an outrage that they think this will fly with us. Having to wait 15+ seconds for a button to actually work in this day and age is unacceptable. I would consider this BROKEN and if this was a "new" product at CES they would be laughed off the showroom floor. 

I read that the new DISH DVR is the state of the art now... hmmm.


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## NoOTA (Apr 7, 2008)

Pluvious said:



> .. Having to wait 15+ seconds for a button to actually work in this day and age is unacceptable. I would consider this BROKEN and if this was a "new" product at CES they would be* laughed off the showroom floor.* .


Agree. What is it doing? (I have a feeling it is sorting the PLAYLIST before showing it and that takes TIME with lots of recordings and a slow CPU. Notice when you delete, there is that same 8-10 second delay, because it is resorting the whole list! I feel the old GUI sorted a page at a time, which is why getting into the LIST was faster, but scrolling was slower. Overall, this new way is BAD!)

A couple comments -

-Once in the LIST, it is actually pretty fast to page up/down presses. Just don't delete anything, as that is SLOW.

-sjord7, That is not right and there is something wrong with your box. Mine is pretty consistent at the amount of time the LIST takes to appear at around 8-10 seconds.

-CCarncross - Mine is not a not a HDD problem. I was able to go back and forth between the old SD GUI and new HD GUI back in the fall, and the problem stayed with the HD GUI ONLY!. It is the GUI. I was not looking forward to the day I got stuck with this new GUI, but here we are.

-It IS related to the # of recordings for me. When I was at 60% free, the LIST took close to 15 seconds to appear. Deleted all we could (80% free) and got it down to 6-7 seconds. Now it is filling up again, and slowing down.

Is anyone listening to this? The 500meg competitors DVR are FAST.


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## msh (Feb 23, 2012)

I have an HR22 connected to a LaCie 2 TB hard drive via eSATA. It worked perfectly until DirectTV came out with its new menu software. At first it was just very slow. Then some movies brought up a screen saying they had not been completely recorded (even though I already had watched them.) I have tried rebooting the DVR and reconnecting the hard drive. It just seems to get slower and slower. Suggestions?
Michael


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## sdk009 (Jan 19, 2007)

I too find my HR20-100 to be painfully slow. It is virtually impossible to change channels using either the up-down key or inputting a channel number. Most of the time, the only way to change the channel is by bring up the guide and scrolling to the channel I want to watch. I'm pretty sure this isn't the way its supposed to be.


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## Podkayne (Nov 1, 2007)

Many posts on this thread reflect my current level of frustration with DirecTV, which has known only one higher peak (the dreaded club 771 issue). No need to repeat my setup and issues, they are still the same, and the same as many others complaining on this thread. I've been drinking DTV's Kool Aid since Sept. 21, 1994, so I'm entitled to satisfaction, here.

I now demand redress of this grievance. In much the same way that D* issued several iterations of access cards when they were trying to secure their signal, it's time for them to issue equipment to those of us whose leased equipment is so old as to be unable to keep up with their increasing demands on limited hardware.

I want another HD-DVR, I want it to cost me exactly $0, and I want it to perform satisfactorily. Failing that, I want my HDUI to be rolled back to the one that worked perfectly satisfactorily before they biddle-botched it with this new software!!

And I'm tired of waiting. I'm getting absolutely nowhere with over the phone CSR's who seem to want me to pay something to fix THEIR problem.


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## bossfan50 (Apr 28, 2007)

Podkayne said:


> Many posts on this thread reflect my current level of frustration with DirecTV, which has known only one higher peak (the dreaded club 771 issue). No need to repeat my setup and issues, they are still the same, and the same as many others complaining on this thread. I've been drinking DTV's Kool Aid since Sept. 21, 1994, so I'm entitled to satisfaction, here.
> 
> I now demand redress of this grievance. In much the same way that D* issued several iterations of access cards when they were trying to secure their signal, it's time for them to issue equipment to those of us whose leased equipment is so old as to be unable to keep up with their increasing demands on limited hardware.
> 
> ...


Ditto. My Hr20-100 is becoming unusable. 15 to 30 second button response times. The response time per button push is so slow that when I enter a 3 digit channel number it is frustratingly laughable when the channel changes before the third number is even processed by the receiver. Then sometimes the channel changes and then I am presented with a black screen for a minute or two until the picture appears.

Has anyone called retention to discuss this problem because as much as I hate to do it I may have to give FIOS a serious look.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

"bossfan50" said:


> Ditto. My Hr20-100 is becoming unusable. 15 to 30 second button response times. The response time per button push is so slow that when I enter a 3 digit channel number it is frustratingly laughable when the channel changes before the third number is even processed by the receiver. Then sometimes the channel changes and then I am presented with a black screen for a minute or two until the picture appears.
> 
> Has anyone called retention to discuss this problem because as much as I hate to do it I may have to give FIOS a serious look.


Do a menu reset of you unit, and the as soon as its back up again, do another menu reset. This will completely clear out all the guide data. It may fix some of your issues. It's worth a try.


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## bossfan50 (Apr 28, 2007)

inkahauts said:


> Do a menu reset of you unit, and the as soon as its back up again, do another menu reset. This will completely clear out all the guide data. It may fix some of your issues. It's worth a try.


I have seen this solution in other posts so I will give it a try. Is this a one time fix or would I need to do periodic reboots to flush things out?


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## Rtm (Oct 18, 2011)

They should take all of our pre HR24 dvrs and scratch the HD logo off of them and refurb or whatever they do and start using them only as SD only DVRs. They're more than capable for that but for HD they suck ass.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

If you have not done these things before.

Try this:
Go into Setup,
Settings,
HDTV and uncheck all but the 1080i resolution,
also
HDTV, Video and set Native to OFF

Also,
Setup,
Settings,
Display and set Scrolling to OFF.

Now press the red button to reset the receiver.

You might want to try this also.
Go to channel 1.
Once the page is operating including audio,
use the remote and press Red, Red, Blue, Blue, Yellow, Green in exactly that 
order.
This must be done quickly. Otherwise the yellow press will bring up a quick 
options menu. That will display a message about the NVRAM being cleared in 
the lower left.


----------



## Podkayne (Nov 1, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> If you have not done these things before.
> 
> Try this:
> Go into Setup,
> ...


Alas, I have done all of these things. I'm done with it. My HR 20-100 is the MAIN DVR in my house, and my wife wants to throw the remote at the TV she is so frustrated with this. The only way (other than Quick-Tune) to change channels is to press GUIDE, wait for 15 seconds or so, and tune to the station you want by scrolling up/down to it, and pressing SELECT. Absurd!! The DVR barely processes number key entries, and forget doing any kind of a Smart Search...I have to cancel and left-arrow out. I'm done booting this thing over and over. This was a fine, stable, and slightly slow DVR until DirecTV started fiddling with the UI. I've been the best customer DTV has ever had, never called or complained about anything, paid my bill on time for over 17 years, and I'm entitled to satisfaction of this issue.

DO YOU HEAR ME, DTV!? I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!! I WANT A DVR THAT WORKS! THIS HR 20-100 HAS NOT FUNCTIONED SINCE THE "UPGRADE" TO THE UI. TAKE THE UPGRADE BACK, OR TAKE THIS DVR BACK!!

Thanks, DBS Talkers, for the opportunity to rant. My DVR is still slower than dirt, but at least I feel better...


----------



## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

podkayne
From your description of the time it takes, I would think a phone call is definitely in order. I have been with them since 1996 and I certainly would call. So far I am lucky with my HR23. It is only taking 3 seconds for the Guide to come up. Having said that I am still running 0x57b and not the very latest 0x59e. Almost afraid for it to load.


----------



## vid53 (Jan 8, 2006)

I have 3 HR24-200 and they are driving me nuts also!! Besides being slow, Does anyone find when pushing fast forward multiple times to speed it up from 1-4 you have to hit it multiple times and sometime it jumps way ahead?


----------



## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

vid53 said:


> I have 3 HR24-200 and they are driving me nuts also!! Besides being slow, Does anyone find when pushing fast forward multiple times to speed it up from 1-4 you have to hit it multiple times and sometime it jumps way ahead?


If you press the button too quickly it might be interpreting it as you holding down the button.
Holding down the FF button is supposed to jump you to the next tick mark in the program. Those are usually 15 minutes apart.
Doing the same thing with the skip ahead button is supposed to jump you to the end of the program.
These also work going backwards.


----------



## sdk009 (Jan 19, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> If you have not done these things before.
> 
> Try this:
> Go into Setup,
> ...


Are we all expected to go through these series of "gimics" in order to have a satisfactorly working DVR?

Does anybody working for D* monitor these threads and realize there might be a problem? We are a very small sampling of subscribers and the vast majority of D*'s customers are not even aware of this fourm. They are probably having the same problem, but don't know that there is avenue to express it. .


----------



## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

sdk009 said:


> Are we all expected to go through these series of "gimics" in order to have a satisfactorly working DVR?
> 
> Does anybody working for D* monitor these threads and realize there might be a problem? We are a very small sampling of subscribers and the vast majority of D*'s customers are not even aware of this fourm. They are probably having the same problem, but don't know that there is avenue to express it. .


Yes, I am pretty sure they are well aware of this.

There are about four different things one can do that may or may not work wonders; should we have to do them when we experience slowdowns? Dunno.

Also, there are factors that may or may not apply to anyone's situation: Capacity of HDD used; Guide becoming corrupted; HDMI handshake issues; battery level; line of sight, signal strength; failing HDD.

I'm a fan of periodically flushing the Guide. To do so, you'd need to reset the receiver twice within 30 minutes. Best to used Menu reset, but Red Button Reset can also be used.

Best of luck!


----------



## Jon J (Apr 22, 2002)

Laxguy said:


> ...should we have to do them when we experience slowdowns? no.


 FYP


----------



## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

I know my living room DVR typically acts up during certain times of the time. The other strange thing is that I can switch boxes around and the problem stays with the room not the DVR. I know that sounds like signal issue but I can go to to signal strength #s in the DVR is still in 80s and 90s. Any thoughts?


----------



## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

kevinwmsn said:


> I know my living room DVR typically acts up during certain times of the time. The other strange thing is that I can switch boxes around and the problem stays with the room not the DVR. I know that sounds like signal issue but I can go to to signal strength #s in the DVR is still in 80s and 90s. Any thoughts?


Yes: wiring to the LR is faulty. I mean, that's a guess..... AFAIK, what I've assumed, is that signal strength is measured at the LNB- also a guess. So I hope others can chime in. If not, post in the VOS thread.

Good sleuthing work, though!


----------



## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

"jimmie57" said:


> If you have not done these things before.
> 
> Try this:
> Go into Setup,
> ...


I like everything you say, except do not press the red button on the receiver. You should do a menu reset, it's much better for the unit, and you should do it twice in a row, literally as soon as it comes backup after the first time, do it again, to completely flush all guide data. The menu reset is found towards the bottom of the options in the system setup screen. A simple reset receiver is all that's needed.


----------



## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

"sdk009" said:


> Are we all expected to go through these series of "gimics" in order to have a satisfactorly working DVR?
> 
> Does anybody working for D* monitor these threads and realize there might be a problem? We are a very small sampling of subscribers and the vast majority of D*'s customers are not even aware of this fourm. They are probably having the same problem, but don't know that there is avenue to express it. .


 It's also possible that it simply needs to be reset with a guide data flush and a nvram clear and it will be fine again for a very long time. Like I said, I am not seeing these issues, so it's clearly not the norm to have everyone's unit slow to a crawl, others are like me as well. I think the biggest thing everyone should try is a complete guide data flush.

I would not suggest that the vast majority of people are having these problems too. And if they are, DirecTV will get a ton of phone calls abut it. I will say that yes, DirecTV has been known to see major issues that are posted in this thread.


----------



## Pluvious (Jun 12, 2007)

Soooo .. when I select Reset, I get 3 options. I'm assuming the 1st one and not the others?

Restart Receiver
Reset Defaults
Reset Everything


----------



## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Pluvious said:


> Soooo .. when I select Reset, I get 3 options. I'm assuming the 1st one and not the others?
> 
> Restart Receiver
> Reset Defaults
> Reset Everything


Key-rect!

Definitely number one, Restart.


----------



## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

"Laxguy" said:


> Key-rect!
> 
> Definitely number one, Restart.


And then as soon as its back up, do it again, and then give it 24 hours at least (sometimes up to 48 hours) before you make any real judgements about speed.


----------



## Pluvious (Jun 12, 2007)

Cool. Thanks guys.. I'll give it a try. >fingers crossed<


----------



## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

LOL
Can't win for losing.
I was posting for people to reset using the software on the DirecTV forum and the guys over there told me not to do that because too many people were choosing the wrong reset and losing their recordings. They said to always use the red button.

I use the software reset personally just like you do on your PC, shut down and restart.
Maybe it would be clearer to people if they labeled it Shut Down / Restart on the first line.


----------



## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

"jimmie57" said:


> LOL
> Can't win for losing.
> I was posting for people to reset using the software on the DirecTV forum and the guys over there told me not to do that because too many people were choosing the wrong reset and losing their recordings. They said to always use the red button.
> 
> ...


Restart receiver does not at all sound like reset everything to me. Weird they would shave that problem with lots of people doing it.

Wonder what guys it was.....


----------



## NoOTA (Apr 7, 2008)

It is strange that some are fast, but do those of us that have slowdown an unresponsive older hardware pay less? No. We have old hardware because we have been with them longer. We probably are the power users who have larger drives and keep more and push our hardware more. We are also the go-to people for neighbors and parents who are less technical.

How can I recommend THIS to any of them when they might get a HR20-HR23 from Direct? The product IS really defective in its current form and like was said earlier would be laughed at if it were at a consumer show.

And I have tried the resets and the unit is actually SLOWER for the first 24 hours while it rebuilds, then comes back to the same 8-10 second LIST appearing problem.

Yes, it's a problem. Do they know WHY? Does Direct want to take some of these back and swap out new hardware(on THEIR dime), with *engineering* getting to look at the units that are slow?

THAT would help THEM solve the problem and those of us with old, slow hardware would get swapped and turn us back into great evangelizes again.

Just an Idea


----------



## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

"NoOTA" said:


> It is strange that some are fast, but do those of us that have slowdown an unresponsive older hardware pay less? No. We have old hardware because we have been with them longer. We probably are the power users who have larger drives and keep more and push our hardware more. We are also the go-to people for neighbors and parents who are less technical.
> 
> How can I recommend THIS to any of them when they might get a HR20-HR23 from Direct? The product IS really defective in its current form and like was said earlier would be laughed at if it were at a consumer show.
> 
> ...


Your making it sound like everyone with older hardware has these issues. I still have two of the hr20 I got in the first month they hit the market. They are not slow. I am sure that DirecTV has plenty of units of their own that they can work with to figure out why you might be having these issues.


----------



## Pluvious (Jun 12, 2007)

I gave it 48 hours and yes, the 10-15sec delay to get the list up and deleting a show you finished watching STILL is UNACCEPTABLE. If this isn't addressed soon I will be forced to leave DirectV. 

Unless the HR23 is for sure not effected by this bug. In that case, I'll be demanding a replacement model or else. 

I'm losing my patience with this.


----------



## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

"Pluvious" said:


> I gave it 48 hours and yes, the 10-15sec delay to get the list up and deleting a show you finished watching STILL is UNACCEPTABLE. If this isn't addressed soon I will be forced to leave DirectV.
> 
> Unless the HR23 is for sure not effected by this bug. In that case, I'll be demanding a replacement model or else.
> 
> I'm losing my patience with this.


That is ridiculous amount of time. You don't have an esata drive hooked up do you? It could that you have a drive that is starting to die.


----------



## NoOTA (Apr 7, 2008)

inkahauts said:


> Your making it sound like everyone with older hardware has these issues. I still have two of the hr20 I got in the first month they hit the market. They are not slow. I am sure that DirecTV has plenty of units of their own that they can work with to figure out why you might be having these issues.


WHY!!!!!!!!!!!! Why do I have to have the pig-dog-slow one while your is fast?

It's not the drive, as this slow speed came and went with loading the HD vs the old SD GUI, but the old GUI is no longer an option.

You can keep yours if it is fast. Do they want MY slow unit back?

Can't just complain, as all HR20-HR24s are considered the same for replacement, right. (I feel a HR24 would be faster). Also loose all the stored recording if get a new unit, as they are tied to the unit ID, not my account ID. If I'm going to loose all, I might as well look around for other options...

It's not like I was unhappy before, just now it is SO SLOW. And I CAN'T go back to what worked (old GUI)

Frustrating.


----------



## Pluvious (Jun 12, 2007)

inkahauts said:


> That is ridiculous amount of time. You don't have an esata drive hooked up do you? It could that you have a drive that is starting to die.


Yes, I have a 2TB ESATA drive hooked up with about 44% free. 
Someone in the thread tried that. They unhooked their external drive and used the built in one. Same problem. I suppose I could test this out myself, but I HIGHLY doubt there will be any change.

It's the new GUI and the way they process the list I think.


----------



## NoOTA (Apr 7, 2008)

Pluvious said:


> Yes, I have a 2TB ESATA drive hooked up with about 44% free.
> .
> .
> .
> It's the new GUI and the way they process the list I think.


I too have a 2tb Drive about 65-70% free. Stock FULL equals about 89% free on a 2TB drive, so we have many more recordings. I have the WD AV series drive and they were made for DVR usage. It was FINE on the SD GUI, so it is the GUI.

I Still think it is the sort routine. With more recordings, take LONG time to initially process to show LIST.

Going back to the old drive defeats the purpose of having a large drive for a large library.


----------



## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

If you unplug the esata drive, you have to wait more than 48 hours before you can again start to judge speed. Units have sporadic speed increases and decreases in my experience when populating all guide data.

The funny thing about this is, I don't think they changed a single thing when it comes to how they process the playlist when they changed the GUI. But who knows...


----------



## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

Both of mine have been slow since the HD upgrade. Tried all the tips for reset listed here.

Guess my options is to pay money to upgrade to the HR34 or also pay money to upgrade to Two Dish Hoppers to get 6 tuners. Either way I must pay.


----------



## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

"scottchez" said:


> Both of mine have been slow since the HD upgrade. Tried all the tips for reset listed here.
> 
> Guess my options is to pay money to upgrade to the HR34 or also pay money to upgrade to Two Dish Hoppers to get 6 tuners. Either way I must pay.


Or wait till the next update of firmware to see if they don't address your issues.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

If it was the new GUI, *EVERYONE* would have the same slowness, there are other factors here that need to be considered. The conclusions that some of you are coming to are just incorrect.


----------



## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

CCarncross said:


> If it was the new GUI, *EVERYONE* would have the same slowness, there are other factors here that need to be considered. The conclusions that some of you are coming to are just incorrect.


Agree
This poll certainly shows the DVRs are affected more than the standard HD receivers and that the HR20 is by far the most affected.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=201095&highlight=poll


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

CCarncross said:


> If it was the new GUI, *EVERYONE* would have the same slowness, there are other factors here that need to be considered. The conclusions that some of you are coming to are just incorrect.


I guess it is just a coincidence that the so many people just suddenly had their receivers slow down the day they got the update?

I think not.

I'll give them another month or two but I'm about done... One of my HR24-500s was so stinking slow last night I had to restart it just so I could use it.

Let's face it - the HDGUI that was supposed to speed things up has slowed a bunch down. I only hope that DirecTV is really working on fixing what they screwed up with update.


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Mike Greer said:


> I guess it is just a coincidence that the so many people just suddenly had their receivers slow down the day they got the update?
> 
> I think not.
> 
> ...


You didn't expect this to happen? I did. That said, none of my HRs have really slowed down that much. The one 20-700 I use (the rest are used as servers) is still just a tad slower than my 24-500s, which are a bit slower than they were before the new GUI hit.

You have to see the pattern here. Same thing happened with the DLBs that everyone just had to have. Took what? 6 or 7 months for that to get straightened out (seemed that long anyway)? Look at all the problems there were with MRV. Don't read that much about problems caused by the DLB introduction or the MRV introduction anymore.

D* goes so far with testing then releases the NRs upon the public and fixes what the major complaints are. Seems to be company policy. Six months from now, almost no complaints will be seen about problems caused by the new GUI.

Rich


----------



## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

Rich said:


> You didn't expect this to happen? I did. That said, none of my HRs have really slowed down that much. The one 20-700 I use (the rest are used as servers) is still just a tad slower than my 24-500s, which are a bit slower than they were before the new GUI hit.
> 
> You have to see the pattern here. Same thing happened with the DLBs that everyone just had to have. Took what? 6 or 7 months for that to get straightened out (seemed that long anyway)? Look at all the problems there were with MRV. Don't read that much about problems caused by the DLB introduction or the MRV introduction anymore.
> 
> ...


Rich - Sadly, I did expect this... Seems to happen whenever they attempt a major revision. What really irks me is that I pay plenty each month (plus the $600 just make my remote respond by getting the 3 HR24-500s) and I do expect the basics to work.

I figure in a few months if it is still a problem I may just dump it. Not just because of this but because of the overall value. It's to the point that the price is just too much when you combine the screwy receivers, price increases and that we watch the networks, Showtime and maybe 3 other channels....

The booby prize goes to those that are such believers in DirecTV that they somehow think the 'new code' is not what cause the slow downs. Do they really believe that those people that suddenly had trouble beginning the first day with the HDGUI update have failing hard drives, bad cables, or poltergeists?! They really don't right? Must just be the 'Defend DirecTV no matter what' attitude?


----------



## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

The irony is hilarious! The long awaited 'fix' for the sluggish receivers finally arrives and slowed a bunch of people down. Many of these people didn't even have enough of the sluggishness before the 'fix' to worry about. 

I really feel sorry for the people with the affected HR20s - sounds like they got hit with the slow-downs more than other receivers.


----------



## JonW (Dec 21, 2006)

I was concerned about performance the moment I found out they'd removed the SD overlay of the HD UI. It was a sure sign that the new s/w in fact did not improve the efficiency of the box, but had slowed it down to the point that they had to remove features in order to compensate.

The fact they keep piling on new features in to a box that may already be heavily burdened by large eSATA disks, recording two HD feeds at once, handling MRDVR feeds, and MRDVR play lists is not going to make things better.

Customers who don't ask much out of their DVR, however, should be relatively happy.

Memory/resource leaks are also very common in new builds and tends to bring systems to a grind over time.


----------



## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

JonW said:


> I was concerned about performance the moment I found out they'd removed the SD overlay of the HD UI. It was a sure sign that the new s/w in fact did not improve the efficiency of the box, but had slowed it down to the point that they had to remove features in order to compensate.


Good point.

Makes you wonder why they bothered with the HD GUI. They aren't using the additional resolution so why even bother? Maybe they have something planned for the future and this is the first step? God, I hope they fix it and leave it alone. Do we really need to go through this every year?


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Mike Greer said:


> Rich - Sadly, I did expect this... Seems to happen whenever they attempt a major revision. What really irks me is that I pay plenty each month (plus the $600 just make my remote respond by getting the 3 HR24-500s) and I do expect the basics to work.


You have every right to feel that way, so do I. But D* sure doesn't.



> I figure in a few months if it is still a problem I may just dump it. Not just because of this but because of the overall value. It's to the point that the price is just too much when you combine the screwy receivers, price increases and that we watch the networks, Showtime and maybe 3 other channels....


Where would you go? I've called every provider and told them what I wanted and nobody comes close to D*'s prices to replicate my system. Dish did have the decency to send me a voucher to cover some of those costs if I signed with them, but I'd still be out quite a bit of money and that's just to have the same setup I have now. Cables not the answer. I don't see a better provider at the moment.



> The booby prize goes to those that are such believers in DirecTV that they somehow think the 'new code' is not what cause the slow downs. Do they really believe that those people that suddenly had trouble beginning the first day with the HDGUI update have failing hard drives, bad cables, or poltergeists?! They really don't right? Must just be the 'Defend DirecTV no matter what' attitude?


I haven't read much of this thread since I'm really not having any major issues with my HRs, but I've heard all the stuff before and I expected that too. Of course it was the GUI. If you get an NR and the next day you've got problems, Occam's Razor must apply. In a few months we'll be having another major crisis and this will be forgotten.

Rich


----------



## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Rich, if I'm remembering your setup right, it would be difficult to switch to anything as you have so many units.

For Mike maybe the new hopper/joey from Dish will be a good option to consider because of his viewing habits and for a new customer it is one Hopper + 3 Joeys for no upfront cost. 

I've been reading a lot about the H/J from Dish, and I could easily see one Hopper + 1 Joey replacing my 3 HR24s because of my household viewing/recording patterns.

That said, even though my HR24-500s are running slower than they did when I got them because of the HDGUI, they aren't giving me any issues to really irritate me to the point of throwing a remote. And my MRV setup, though slow to start a recorded viewing, works flawlessly.


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

lparsons21 said:


> Rich, if I'm remembering your setup right, it would be difficult to switch to anything as you have so many units.


Right. I'd much rather have three HR2x-xxxs with 2TB drives than one 34. I do have five available ports tho. I just don't see how it would improve what I've got.



> For Mike maybe the new hopper/joey from Dish will be a good option to consider because of his viewing habits and for a new customer it is one Hopper + 3 Joeys for no upfront cost.
> 
> I've been reading a lot about the H/J from Dish, and I could easily see one Hopper + 1 Joey replacing my 3 HR24s because of my household viewing/recording patterns.


I'll have to take a look at them. Wouldn't do me any good, no YES channel, no Yanks, no Rich.



> That said, even though my HR24-500s are running slower than they did when I got them because of the HDGUI, they aren't giving me any issues to really irritate me to the point of throwing a remote. And my MRV setup, though slow to start a recorded viewing, works flawlessly.


What I see running slower is the Guide, Playlist and stuff like that. I don't see any difference when watching a show. It's when you get into what they've changed that you see the slowness caused by the GUI. It will get better, we just have to be patient.

Rich


----------



## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

Rich said:


> Where would you go? I've called every provider and told them what I wanted and nobody comes close to D*'s prices to replicate my system. Dish did have the decency to send me a voucher to cover some of those costs if I signed with them, but I'd still be out quite a bit of money and that's just to have the same setup I have now. Cables not the answer. I don't see a better provider at the moment.
> 
> Rich


I'd basically just give up Showtime and the few other pay channels we watch. I guess a couple of standalone Tivos for OTA plus Netflix and Hulu would cover most of what I do.

I do like MRV although it is much slower to respond since our 'upgrade' and FFWD's autocorrect constantly annoys me. I'd still miss that! But I'm good with the other Tivo things - I can adapt.

It's pretty sad that for the millions a month DirecTV charges for 'lease' fees they could/would have an engineering department that could avoid most of this stuff. Just not the way things are done these days - not just a DirecTV problem...

Here's hoping that they fix this stupidity sooner rather than later!


----------



## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Rich said:


> What I see running slower is the Guide, Playlist and stuff like that. I don't see any difference when watching a show. It's when you get into what they've changed that you see the slowness caused by the GUI. It will get better, we just have to be patient.
> 
> Rich


The Guide and other lists are slower now with 59E than they were with 57B, but still faster than they were prior to the HDGUI. Getting to the various lists is slower and starting the viewing of a recorded even is slower. In fact, virtually every time that I go to the 'list' of recorded events, the message about just a moment or some such always comes up. Same for exiting the recording to go back to the list.

And I'm glad you think it will get better, but based on previous 'updates' history over the years, I fully expect it to get slower. That seem to be just a given with D*'s programming efforts.


----------



## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

lparsons21 said:


> Rich, if I'm remembering your setup right, it would be difficult to switch to anything as you have so many units.
> 
> For Mike maybe the new hopper/joey from Dish will be a good option to consider because of his viewing habits and for a new customer it is one Hopper + 3 Joeys for no upfront cost.
> 
> ...


The Hopper/Joey setup may work (if they work!). I usually do Sunday Ticket but I'll not likely be willing to pay what they'll ask next season.

Maybe....


----------



## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

I got good news besides my rant/fustration I've been on for many months. I did some rearranging in my tv cabinet and double checking all wires to make sure they were all rg6 and they were but I saw I had several 3 foot rg 6 connectors combined by a barrel connector to make them a 6 foot footer to reach a higher part of the cabinet.

old setup

dish - 4 way green splitter 
-- (living room) - PI - 3 foot wire- barrel - 3 foot wire - deca unit - hr 20
--(bedroom) - deca unit hr 21.

new setup

dish - 4 way green splitter 
-- (living room) - PI - 3 foot wire - deca unit - hr 20
--(bedroom) - deca unit hr 21.

now I also moved my dvr lower in the cabinet with 3 feet clearance on the top compared to about 2 inches before in a smaller area in the upper part of wooden tv cabinet.

I'm not sure if it was removing the barrel connector and an additional wire or moving the dvr to a more open area(possible heat problem). It does still have a few sec no response/slow response every now and then from the remote but it is worlds better than minutes/hours better of no response. It is finally works decent now.


----------



## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

kevinwmsn said:


> I got good news besides my rant/fustration I've been on for many months. I did some rearranging in my tv cabinet and double checking all wires to make sure they were all rg6 and they were but I saw I had several 3 foot rg 6 connectors combined by a barrel connector to make them a 6 foot footer to reach a higher part of the cabinet.
> 
> old setup
> 
> ...


That's great news - if it stays.... My receivers will work pretty well for 3 or 4 days after a restart but then slow back down....


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Mike Greer said:


> I'd basically just give up Showtime and the few other pay channels we watch. I guess a couple of standalone Tivos for OTA plus Netflix and Hulu would cover most of what I do.


I tried to go all NetFlix last year and the wife nixed that idea. I could do what you suggest without problem, but I don't pay the bills.



> I do like MRV although it is much slower to respond since our 'upgrade' and FFWD's autocorrect constantly annoys me. I'd still miss that! But I'm good with the other Tivo things - I can adapt.


We'd really miss MRV, even my granddaughter made sure she could get all the MRV content when I finally broke down and put a TV and an HR in her room.



> It's pretty sad that for the millions a month DirecTV charges for 'lease' fees they could/would have an engineering department that could avoid most of this stuff. Just not the way things are done these days - not just a DirecTV problem...


Yeah, I've been having problems with my Sammy BD players, NetFlix and Cablevision's Internet service. Not much in the way of tech support, just people trying to baffle me with BS. Gets tiresome.



> Here's hoping that they fix this stupidity sooner rather than later!


I'm sure it'll be fixed. When is the question.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

kevinwmsn said:


> I got good news besides my rant/fustration I've been on for many months. I did some rearranging in my tv cabinet and double checking all wires to make sure they were all rg6 and they were but I saw I had several 3 foot rg 6 connectors combined by a barrel connector to make them a 6 foot footer to reach a higher part of the cabinet.
> 
> old setup
> 
> ...


You should be using the barrel connectors with the blue plastic on the ends.

Rich


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## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

It did have blue in it. But now its out of the loop.


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## fraaboak (Nov 16, 2010)

I finally got the new HDGUI and is mostly improved somewhat. I had issues with very slow response time on the remote. This improved somewhat. I have had the new HDGUI since mid December. I recently searched for new software on 2/26/12. My HDR 23/700 came up with new software found (Ox5b8) which I downloaded. Now my remote response is very fast and very stable. I have not seen any discussion on this new software. Any comments?


Directv since early 90's

HDR 23/700
32 Sony Bravia


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

fraaboak said:


> I finally got the new HDGUI and is mostly improved somewhat. I had issues with very slow response time on the remote. This improved somewhat. I have had the new HDGUI since mid December. I recently searched for new software on 2/26/12. My HDR 23/700 came up with new software found (Ox5b8) which I downloaded. Now my remote response is very fast and very stable. I have not seen any discussion on this new software. Any comments?
> 
> Directv since early 90's
> 
> ...


0x5b8 is a CE 'test' version not a national release. You must have updated it Friday or Saturday night and received the 'Cutting Edge' version.

Can't talk about it here...

But you can search for 'CE' sign up and post in that forum about it.


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## Mike Greer (Jan 20, 2004)

Rich said:


> I'm sure it'll be fixed. When is the question.
> 
> Rich


I figure the summer of 2022 we should be in pretty good shape.:lol:


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## Marcus Welby (Apr 8, 2007)

I was bragging about how fast my HR20 was after the upgrade on page 3 of this thread, but it has since slowed to a crawl again. 

Is it possible that all those "banner ads" in the guide and the "DVD box cover" pictures that appear when you select a program from the list contribute to the slowdown? I would think that they take up a good amount of memory. I wish there was a way to disable them. The banner ads are especially annoying when keying in 501 to get to the movie channels, as all the slots are filled with ads except for 501 at the bottom. But that's another topic.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Marcus Welby said:


> I was bragging about how fast my HR20 was after the upgrade on page 3 of this thread, but it has since slowed to a crawl again.
> 
> Is it possible that all those "banner ads" in the guide and the "DVD box cover" pictures that appear when you select a program from the list contribute to the slowdown? I would think that they take up a good amount of memory. I wish there was a way to disable them. The banner ads are especially annoying when keying in 501 to get to the movie channels, as all the slots are filled with ads except for 501 at the bottom. But that's another topic.


Yes, those might cause a bit of slowdown, but not to the extent of crawling. 
You might try to flush the Guide: Two menu resets within 30 minutes, best done when set will be off overnight, as entire Guide needs to be rebuilt. Menu-> Settings-> Reset.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Mike Greer said:


> I figure the summer of 2022 we should be in pretty good shape.:lol:


You might be, I'll probably be in a home for the confused and befuddled....:lol:

Rich


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## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

Mike Greer said:


> That's great news - if it stays.... My receivers will work pretty well for 3 or 4 days after a restart but then slow back down....


Mike,

I think you jinxed me, it took about 5 days for it start to act up some, always in the past it was way less than that to act up like a few hours. Oh well, time to think up another thing to try.


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## Podkayne (Nov 1, 2007)

My HR 20-100 is still double pig-dog slow . I thought it was my external drive so I disconnected it and went back to the stock internal. After 2 days, slogged back down to a crawl.

I think I'll upgrade to an HR 34 and Whole Home when the bugs get ironed out of the 34...I can keep this HR 20 on another TV and serve the recordings from it until they're gone, then decomission it.


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## Pluvious (Jun 12, 2007)

Came to see all the happy people posting how it was fixed with the latest update. No posts?>> odd. It seems to have been fixed in a big way now. The list is around 1 sec now and the delete is snappy fast too! YAY!!! What a difference 10 secs make.. ha.

The only bug now is the GUI is washed out until you start a show and then it goes back to the deep blacks and is fine after that. Odd bug, but no where as annoying as the slow response we had to endure the last month or so.


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## no kidding (Apr 29, 2012)

I have an HR20 and an HR22, each with a 2TB esata drive at about 20% free capacity. The software update early in 2012 made each dvr suddenly very slow. The HR20 took about 25 seconds to bring up the playlist. The HR22 took nearly a minute. 
I am happy to report that the HR20 updated to software version 0x5c8 on 4/25/2012 and it seem to be back to it's former glory taking two seconds to display the playlist. 
The HR22 has not yet updated and takes about 25 seconds to bring up the playlist (after I pruned the playlist to about 44% free). I called customer service yesterday to see if there was a way to force an update and I was told there was not and there was not a software release for the HR22 available since the 2/8/2012 0x59e version.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

They are correct in one way and wrong in another. It is possible to force a download, but it doesn't do any good if the software isnt in the stream and available to you. If a force worked, then it would happen on its own soon anyway.

The update that hit the HR20 has also been released for the HR22.


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## Jon J (Apr 22, 2002)

Just watched a recorded _Frontline_ and the HR20 froze when I chose to delete it. An RBR was the only solution.


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## Mike Bertelson (Jan 24, 2007)

Jon J said:


> Just watched a recorded _Frontline_ and the HR20 froze when I chose to delete it. An RBR was the only solution.


Did you send a Report and post the issue and Report number?

It's very important that this happens. Otherwise, DIRECTV doesn't know someone has a problem.

Mike


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## Podkayne (Nov 1, 2007)

How does one "send a report" when something like this happens?


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

Podkayne said:


> How does one "send a report" when something like this happens?


Menu-settings and help-misc options-report


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Do a keyword search for sendreport.


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## Podkayne (Nov 1, 2007)

Thank you both, will try to be more proactive instead of just kvetching when something weird happens, which really isn't all that often.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Podkayne said:


> Thank you both, will try to be more proactive instead of just kvetching when something weird happens, which really isn't all that often.


Exactly, being part of the solution, or at least trying to get a solution is always best. CCarncross's steps won't work, but mine should.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

dpeters11 said:


> Exactly, being part of the solution, or at least trying to get a solution is always best. CCarncross's steps won't work, but mine should.


Would you like to explain why my steps wont work? That is exactly where the send report option is at.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

"CCarncross" said:


> Would you like to explain why my steps wont work? That is exactly where the send report option is at.


He's not in the ce program and hasn't run the other keyword to be able to see that menu.


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## BigSey (Oct 18, 2006)

I'm one of the happy people. My HR20-700 was taking up to 10 seconds to pull up my playlist but it's now less than a second with the new update. It changes channels quickly, pulls up the info menu quickly and even brings up the guide quickly. 

I was ready to drop the thing out the window but I'd like to thank you, DirecTV, for making my DVR work the way it's supposed to.


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

NoOTA said:



> WHY!!!!!!!!!!!! Why do I have to have the pig-dog-slow one while your is fast?
> 
> It's not the drive, as this slow speed came and went with loading the HD vs the old SD GUI, but the old GUI is no longer an option.
> 
> ...


Well, I would Suggest buying an Owned HR24-500 and the Replace the Internal Hard Drive with a 2 TB WD20EADS and be done with it!!!

All 5 of my Owned HR24-500 are Fast because I have Replaced the Internal Hard Drive with a Faster 2 TB WD20EADS Drive and they all work Fast.

However, others with HR24-500s and other model HR24s are experience Sluggishness and the Only Difference is that I Replaced my Internal Drive with a Faster Drive with a Larger Cache Buffer Area.

If you can afford to lose your Recordings this is my Recommendation or buy an HR34 and Replace the Internal Hard Drive with a Faster Drive with a Larger Cache.


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

BigSey said:


> I'm one of the happy people. My HR20-700 was taking up to 10 seconds to pull up my playlist but it's now less than a second with the new update. It changes channels quickly, pulls up the info menu quickly and even brings up the guide quickly.
> 
> I was ready to drop the thing out the window but I'd like to thank you, DirecTV, for making my DVR work the way it's supposed to.


I'm pulling for ya! Keep in mind, previous dramatic improvements in reducing sluggishness were followed by a gradual (within a week to 10 days) return to molassis. Here's hoping the problems (specifically with the HR20-700) are really fixed. My long term favorite DVR (HR20-700) has been intermittently (more often than not, however) very sluggish for quite some time. (many months, but not years)


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## Podkayne (Nov 1, 2007)

I'm done kvetching!! 0x5c8 has restored my HR 20-100 to its former self!! I'm so pleased that I waited this one out. I was one of the first 70,000 customers to sign up with DTV in Sept. 1994 (if my 5 digit account number is any indication) and I didn't want to end that business relationship over a technical matter.

Thanks, both to DirecTV, and to the folks on this forum. The ability to freely vent and also to know that others were having the same problems was very helpful.


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## Sunner73 (Feb 29, 2012)

NoOTA said:


> .... Also loose all the stored recording if get a new unit, as they are tied to the unit ID, not my account ID. If I'm going to loose all, I might as well look around for other options...





Richierich said:


> Well, I would Suggest buying an Owned HR24-500 and the Replace the Internal Hard Drive with a 2 TB WD20EADS and be done with it!!!
> 
> All 5 of my Owned HR24-500 are Fast because I have Replaced the Internal Hard Drive with a Faster 2 TB WD20EADS Drive and they all work Fast.
> 
> However, others with HR24-500s and other model HR24s are experience Sluggishness and the Only Difference is that I Replaced my Internal Drive with a Faster Drive with a Larger Cache Buffer Area.


 I realize that replacing the drive gives the extra capacity and makes a response difference but how would that help keep "the recordings" when that drive or unit fails? It is my understanding that the an external drive (just like the internal drive) w/recordings gets "married" to the DVR that records it..... unless I'm misinformed.

Please forgive my ignorance as I have yet to receive my 1st HRxx.

I'm just so used to the old SD DTivos that I can copy the contents of the old drive to a new one then reinstall it or remarry it if necessary to another unit.


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## jal (Mar 3, 2005)

Its been a while since my last post. About 10 months ago, I switched from Directv to TWC so I could get some TIVO Premieres because I just couldn't stand the problems with my Directv DVRs. I recall back in late 2006, when I switched from the TIVO HR10-250 to the HR20, I was frustrated with the number of bugs. Well, now than 5 years later, from reading these posts, it seems that nothing much has really improved.

My experience with the Premieres has been excellent. It was difficult to get them paired with cable cards and sdv converters, but once I got over that hump they have been flawless. Whole home DVR included at no extra charge, lifetime service which will pay for itself in about another year, and the only charge is $2 per month for the cable card. 

With the Premieres/TWC, there's really nothing to complain about, so it gets boring. No more trying to figure out constant slowness bugs, no more calling Directv to be insulted, no more posts on these forums looking for help. I actually have time to watch TV and work now.


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## Jon J (Apr 22, 2002)

CCarncross said:


> Menu-settings and help-misc options-report


Sorry. Misc options-report doesn't show up as a choice.

Addendum: Keyword search on "sendreport" did produce the option.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Hmmm....

Since this thread was started back in January...I have to wonder if the discussion may have explored every nook and cranny on that subject. :shrug:


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