# No update for a while ????



## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

Would you believe, and this is only RUMOR that there will not be another release for the R-15 for a while.

It seems DirecTV is getting swamped now with calls about ordering the HR20 and problems with the HR20 that they don't want to put out another R-15 update and then be swamped with even more calls about problems.

Just like this forum, the R-15 has slowed and the HR20 one has picked up. Whenever there is a new update calls increase dramatically.

Again, this is NOT fact.


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

I believe it. I called about my constant freezes and gave up after about 20 minutes on hold.


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## skaeight (Jan 15, 2004)

Just curious where you heard this? Earl said something is in the pipeline, hopefully it will be released soon. Honestly, if they could fix the first run / repeat issue I'd be pretty happy. Right now, it's just acting as tuner for my office and a 3rd / backup dvr. It doesn't have to be perfect (for me at least). I'm not looking to replace my dtivos with these, but rather probably HR20s.

I however do not think they're good enough to start ignoring yet. It really does seem like the HR20 is going to be the only dvr d* produces within the next year or so.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

I can guarantee there will be another update...
And I know about when.... :raspberry

But unit it gets a little more confirmed and the code is in beta testing... all I can say is that there will be another update, and it should be before the holidays....

Now which holiday... I can't say... :blackeye:


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## mhayes70 (Mar 21, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> I can guarantee there will be another update...
> And I know about when.... :raspberry


:thats: That's pretty funny!!!! I hope they keep them comming. The R15 is getting better.


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

skaeight said:


> Just curious where you heard this?


I was talking with a DirecTV CSR and they said they are getting hit hard with calls for the HR20 and the R-15 is kinda in a hold pattern for a while so the calls about it slow and they can concentrate on the HR20 being its new.

My thoughts only next but maybe this explains why the HR20 right out of the box has more features (skip to tick, no TDL limit, etc...) and works better (SL logic improved, faster) than the R-15 after 10 months.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Now which holiday... I can't say... :blackeye:


Well it wasn't here in time for the International Talk like a Pirate Day


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> I can guarantee there will be another update...
> And I know about when.... :raspberry
> 
> But unit it gets a little more confirmed and the code is in beta testing... all I can say is that there will be another update, and it should be before the holidays....
> ...


I didn't know Leap Day was considered a holiday!


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## pentium101 (Nov 19, 2005)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Now which holiday... I can't say... :blackeye:


It's not that you can't say, but to play it safe you won't say. 

I wouldn't promise a time either and then later having to deal with being persecuted by the angry villagers if it didn't happen.


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## Lantian (Aug 26, 2006)

isn't hr20 HD DVR? if so why bother? not alot of people have hdtvs yet.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Lantian said:


> isn't hr20 HD DVR? if so why bother? not alot of people have hdtvs yet.


Even though the HR20 is an HD DVR.... It will perform fantastically as an SD-DVR as well.... with nearly 300+ hours of record time for SD...


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> with nearly 300+ hours of record time for SD...


300 hours ? In all the literature it only says up to 200 hours of SD.


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## prashp1 (Jul 31, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> I can guarantee there will be another update...
> And I know about when.... :raspberry
> 
> But unit it gets a little more confirmed and the code is in beta testing... all I can say is that there will be another update, and it should be before the holidays....
> ...


Will they enable the RF for the remote on this update? Thanks


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## d0ug (Mar 22, 2006)

At this point, i probably wont be buying into another DVR especially since i will be paying for a lease, until they can prove to me that they can make a stable DVR by fixing the R15.

If i were to purchase another DVR right now, it would be 2 standard directv receivers, and some kind of PC based DVR, MythTV, Windows Media Center, or something else PC based. Atleast that route updates are more frequent, and if you know what you are doing you can fix some problems yourself.


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## Lantian (Aug 26, 2006)

it can be used as an sd dvr? I WANT ONE NOW THEN


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## JacenSolo (May 18, 2006)

they need to at least undo the damage they did with this last freaking update....geez, no real problems until this last update.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

104B/10D3 unofficially hit the streets 08/14.

Earl assures us that there will be another update for the R15. Notice his words. "There will be another update". Not updates for the R15 will continue....but there will be another update.

Face it. The HR20 is the new DTV DVR. The R15 is the ugly step child of the HR20. The HR20 has increased limits and has many of the R15 problems fixed. Will we ever see those? I doubt it. While DTV doesn't admit the sky is blue we know it is. We also all know the R15 will be lucky to get one more update which may or may not fix problems.

Geez-oh-petes. Almost a year now and this unit *STILL* can't tell the difference between a first run and repeat. That's just plain sad.

I think it's time us R15 users out there make their voice know. Call DTV and tell them you want a Tivo since they still, after a year, cannot get the R15 to work as advertised. Go to the web sites of your local Attorney General's office and file a complaint. Look at the current current DTV DVR PLUS web page. It states:



DTV Web Site said:


> Skips reruns if you don't want them. Just choose to only record new episodes.


The R15 doesn't do that. It's just plain false advertising. I'm sending this to the AZ Attorney General's office in addition to the BBB.

The blind folks over on the HR20 side still preach everyone should trust DTV and wait for the updates to come.

[ ]After all, the HR20 is just a new DVR. DTV should be given a chance to get it right. Any new DVR should be expected to have a problem or two, it's only natural. But soon the updates to the HR20 will fix everything.[/ ]

To bad they've never bothered to look over here and see how DTV really handles a DVR that doesn't work. Oh well. Let them live in their little fantasy land as long as they can and as long as Earl keeps telling them everything will be better....soon.....(but I can't tell you how soon).


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## irmolars (Mar 12, 2006)

Everybody always compares it to how bad Windows was (is).
But at least Bill comes out with updates at least weekly.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Wolffpack said:


> Earl assures us that there will be another update for the R15. Notice his words. "There will be another update". Not updates for the R15 will continue....but there will be another update.
> 
> ....
> 
> Oh well. Let them live in their little fantasy land as long as they can and as long as Earl keeps telling them everything will be better....soon.....(but I can't tell you how soon).


Okay... they haven't abandonded the R15 unit.
It is TWO different teams that are independent on one another (HR20/R15).

Why has it been so long since the last update? I don't know.
There is another update scheduled.

It is going to be alright... really... it is...


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

irmolars said:


> Everybody always compares it to how bad Windows was (is).
> But at least Bill comes out with updates at least weekly.


Wasn't that partially because of a Legal settlement?


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

The majority of the updates that come out weekly for windows are security updates and nothing more.


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## d0ug (Mar 22, 2006)

Clint Lamor said:


> The majority of the updates that come out weekly for windows are security updates and nothing more.


Well that would make sense. Security is top priority on PCs.

the DVR world is different. DirectTV's DVRs don't even connect to Ethernet so there's no security to even worry about. DirecTV #1 priority should be making the DVR work as its supposed to. Seriously what the hell does the development team do 8 hours a day? Especially if thre are seperate dev teams for the R15 and HR20. That tells me that the teams are completely dedicated to working on only their assigned product. A single competent programmer could probably iron out most of the bugs in the R15 in a week or 2. Or at least find some way to not make it as bad or annoying. These guys on the development teams must be fresh out of college grads with no real programing experence.

I am almost scared to think of what the security risk would be of having an ethernet capable DVR from directv on a network, with the current track record of not getting things done right.


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## Kichigai (Mar 21, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> I can guarantee there will be another update...
> And I know about when.... :raspberry
> 
> But unit it gets a little more confirmed and the code is in beta testing... all I can say is that there will be another update, and it should be before the holidays....
> ...


Well, it looks like it is time to take Earl's pets and/or plants hostage again. Heck, it worked the last time. :lol:


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## irmolars (Mar 12, 2006)

Clint Lamor said:


> The majority of the updates that come out weekly for windows are security updates and nothing more.


Most of them are now.

But way back when if there was a software problem, update the next day.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

d0ug said:


> the DVR world is different. DirectTV's DVRs don't even connect to Ethernet so there's no security to even worry about.


Just so you know the HR20 will be able to do this, i just can't do it yet.


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

d0ug said:


> Well that would make sense. Security is top priority on PCs.
> 
> the DVR world is different. DirectTV's DVRs don't even connect to Ethernet so there's no security to even worry about. DirecTV #1 priority should be making the DVR work as its supposed to. Seriously what the hell does the development team do 8 hours a day? Especially if thre are seperate dev teams for the R15 and HR20. That tells me that the teams are completely dedicated to working on only their assigned product. A single competent programmer could probably iron out most of the bugs in the R15 in a week or 2. Or at least find some way to not make it as bad or annoying. These guys on the development teams must be fresh out of college grads with no real programing experence.
> 
> I am almost scared to think of what the security risk would be of having an ethernet capable DVR from directv on a network, with the current track record of not getting things done right.


I really wish I knew what they where doing  I'm wanting a new update just like everyone else. As for security on the box I honestly think that would be of little concern as nothing would really be open. I think security is probably pretty high on their list because of all the content type laws out there.


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

irmolars said:


> Most of them are now.
> 
> But way back when if there was a software problem, update the next day.


Sadly enough with most companies this isn't how it works anymore. Problem exists it sits and sits and sits and maybe gets fixed some day.


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## skaeight (Jan 15, 2004)

I really wish they'd push a new update out soon. I haven't got one since I got my R15. I want to see something that addresses first run/repeat logic.


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

d0ug said:


> . A single competent programmer could probably iron out most of the bugs in the R15 in a week or 2.


Maybe the problem all the programmers are married. :lol: Ha! I kill me!

Seriously though, speaking as a programmer, you should not presume to guess how easy or difficult it would be to fix a problem in a complex system that you have never seen. ("You think you know best, hot shot, get a prom reader and a decompiler and fix it your self!")

I AM willing to say that, regardless of how difficult it is or how much time it would take, it should have been done BEFORE releasing it to the public!


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

skaeight said:


> I really wish they'd push a new update out soon. I haven't got one since I got my R15. I want to see something that addresses first run/repeat logic.


Join the club of probably everyone who reads these threads. :lol:


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## d0ug (Mar 22, 2006)

ApK said:


> Maybe the problem all the programmers are married. :lol: Ha! I kill me!
> 
> Seriously though, speaking as a programmer, you should not presume to guess how easy or difficult it would be to fix a problem in a complex system that you have never seen. ("You think you know best, hot shot, get a prom reader and a decompiler and fix it your self!")
> 
> I AM willing to say that, regardless of how difficult it is or how much time it would take, it should have been done BEFORE releasing it to the public!


I don't claim to be a programmer at all. I've done some simple scripting, that's about all i have in programming experience.

However I do know that a good programmer, especially for an embedded type device like these DVRs should know the hardware inside out, and it seems to me like if these programmers had this kind of knowledge of the hardware, these problems would have been fixed months ago.

I have no idea what they are using to program these things, but my guess it its some kind of high level language, which probably completely insulates them from any of the low-level workings of these boxes, and if there is a way to do any kind of low-level programming they probably don't know how to do it, or understand the hardware enough to do it.

I am completely willing to accept that a product like this will have bugs when it is 1st released. But these bugs should have been taken care of within the 1st 3 months of the DVR's release.

At 1st i was positive the problems would eventually be ironed out. It seemed like they were releasing new firmware every couple weeks. Recently this has slowed, and it seems like we are getting nowhere with the bugs, and in my opinion this recent firmware seems worse then the last.

It's unfortunate that buggy firmwares are all over the place in consumer electronics. In these DVR's, PC hardware, consumer class networking gear, Routers, & Access Points, ect. These products have about a 1 year lifetime, after that your lucky to see any kind of updates, because now they have the latest and greatest version of whatever device out, which might not have those old bugs anymore, but probably have a whole new set of bugs that will never be ironed out.

My guess would be there are 2 problems causing this. Companies being cheap and only hiring fresh out of college programmers with no real world experience, or outsourcing the programming overseas to India. I've no problem with them using fresh out of college programmers, but at least have a couple experienced programmers on staff that can look though their code, and find these coding errors they keep making release after release, and reject the firmware if it doesn't fix the problems.


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