# Qualified success in taming the evil R-15



## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

I've tried all the usual fixes for my evil R-15. I've sent two units back to DTV. I've kept the SLs below 10. I've used the search functions as little as possible. I've avoided auto-record. Etc. All to no avail. But, I recently tried two new tweaks that seem to have brought success. I share them in hope that they will benefit other users.

They are:

1. Eliminate any SLs that fire multiple times daily. At one time, I had an SL for Law & Order. I seldom watched the show. But, it was good content for down days when I want to zone out. However, some networks seem to broadcast nothing but Law & Order. The related SL was firing as many as 20 times daily--maybe more.

2. Watch less TV and don't fool with the remote controls (trick play and so on) when watching TV.

In about two weeks during which I've followed these rules, I've noticed only one glitch: a failure to record _24_. Now, that's one serious glitch. But, I've reprogrammed the SL for the third time and it has now worked correctly twice in a row. The problem was that, although the SL was set up on local channel 11, it kept hoping to the East Coast feed, which isn't actually available. I don't know exactly what I've done differently in setting up the SL this time. But, I tried to come up with a new way of doing so and apparently succeeded.

At this point, the unit shows a decent response time, I've had no spontaneous reboots or black screens, trick play seems to work okay. In short, performance has been satisfactory. Frankly, based on past history, I don't think for one minute that these good results will continue. But, it's about time for me to be wrong!

To anyone else who's had serious problems without relief, I can recommend the following recipe, though YMMV:

1. Do a full reset/reformat that wipes the hard drive.
2. Set up your SLs, defining no more than 10 and defining no hot (highly active) SLs.
3. Do a RBR.
4. Cross your fingers, hope for the best, and stay away from the search function as much as possible. Consider doing an RBR after every search.
5. If problems persist, consider doing an RBR in the middle of each week so that the guide data is complete in time for peak viewing days.

Again, I make no promises and offer no warranty. But, this approach seems to be working for me. So far. Knock on my R-15.....


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

And when setting up your SL's, do so from the guide, not by doing autorecords from searching.

Carl


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

carl6 said:


> And when setting up your SL's, do so from the guide, not by doing autorecords from searching.


I agree, though I've never actually used autorecord at all. In my case, hot SLs seem to have been the main source of problems.

Cheers,


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## psweig (Feb 4, 2006)

Ah, yes, I have been following those rules for about 6 months and I have had *zero" problems. Except the stinky slip, and the 100 entry to-do list I might even like the R-15.


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

I think there are many factors to keeping the R-15 running well and my experience is different. I do have an occasional problem but not many.

I have 43 SL's, 3 AR's and my remote is almost in my hand every second skipping thru shows. In fact I don't think I have ever sat thru a complete show end to end. I do searches all the time, possibly every night but only title searches.

What I do to keep my R-15 running well is a weekly pull the plug, wait 30 seconds reset. I do this even if it does not need it. I do it every Wed so it has all the guide data back by the weekend.


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

I apologize if I was unclear. I don't mean to suggest that I've discovered _the_ way to avoid unsatisfactory reliability. I mean only that it seems to me that I've tried all the other formulas, including weekly resets, to no avail. In my case, it seems to have been necessary to avoid hot SLs. If anyone can achieve satisfactory performance even with hot SLs or without weekly resets, I'm all for leaving well enough alone.

My research goal is to determine the smallest possible set of prophylactic measures necessary to establishing and maintaining reasonably reliable operation. I think that confirmation of the association between hot SLs and poor reliability is an incremental contribution to the total body of R-15 knowledge. Therefore, I eagerly await word from the Nobel committee. 

Frankly, my suspicion is that, if you added a hot SL to your configuration, you'd find problems despite the weekly reset. Certainly, such was my own experience.

If someone who is enjoying relatively reliable performance would like to take the hot-SL taste test, I'd be very interested in the results. I suspect that anyone who did take the test would have to do a full reset with reformat in order to resume reliable operation. So, I can't in good conscience recommend that anyone do so. Nevertheless, I'll ask: "Volunteers?"

Cheers,


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

Out of my 46, I have a few SL's that record at least twice a day, 5 that I can think of without even checking. I am a big "court drama" person and record all the Judge Judy/Christinas Court type shows every day. I set the KAM to 2.

Are you sure your not confusing AR with a SL ? I can see an "autorecord keyword wishlist" trying to record from every channel get that amount of listings but not a single SL that only records from one channel.

In a sense, all your really doing and telling others to do is basically just not use the R-15 much except for the simpliest of things.


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

Bobman said:


> Out of my 46, I have a few SL's that record at least twice a day, 5 that I can think of without even checking. I am a big "court drama" person and record all the Judge Judy/Christinas Court type shows every day. I set the KAM to 2.


I don't know where the boundary between cold and hot SLs may be. Law & Order, which seems to have been my problem SL, may fire 10 or more times in a day. I suspect that the threshold is well above 2. Maybe 5, 10, 20?



Bobman said:


> Are you sure your not confusing AR with a SL ? I can see an "autorecord keyword wishlist" trying to record from every channel get that amount of listings but not a single SL that only records from one channel.


No confusion. I do agree that an autorecord (AR) might be hot. And, many members have shared their suspicions that use of ARs is correlated with stability problems. I suspect that a hot AR could lead to big trouble fast. How about an AR on the word _the_? 



Bobman said:


> In a sense, all your really doing and telling others to do is basically just not use the R-15 much except for the simpliest of things.


True enough [actually, I'm not suggesting anything so much as reporting potentially relevant personal experience, but I suppose the difference is slight]. But, I myself prefer a stable, reduced set of functionality to an unstable, large set of functionality. So, I think there's valule in working together to determine the factors, boundaries, and thresholds. YMMV, of course.

I would be very interested in knowing whether others find that living inside the boundaries and thresholds that I've identified work for them. So much R-15 behavior is idiosyncratic. My best guess, an untested and perhaps untestable hypothesis, is that an optimal set of reduced functions would be universal rather than idiosyncratic.

I've had more fun trying to solve the "R-15 puzzle," as I'll call it, than watching TV using the R-15. As a DVR, it's [insert expletive of choice here]. But, as a mind puzzle, it rates fairly high. Please don't share this opinion with DTV. They're apt to start charging those of us who have bad performance and reliability a premium price rather than offering discounts as an inducement not to switch providers [though I myself have never received any discount, compensation, or condolence from DTV].

Cheers,


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

I do agree that doing what you state should lessen peoples R-15 problems. I really do not think there is a way to 100% eliminate the R-15's problems unless you only use it as a receiver for the guide  .

I have found, and can do this time after time, that when you go over 46/47 SL's or AR combinations the R-15 starts to get slower and the TDL never fills. With so my SL's you think the TDL would always be maxed out, its really the opposite and it goes down.


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## rlambert7 (Feb 7, 2006)

Bobman said:


> ...I have found, and can do this time after time, that when you go over 46/47 SL's or AR combinations the R-15 starts to get slower and the TDL never fills. With so my SL's you think the TDL would always be maxed out, its really the opposite and it goes down.


Bobman, when your TDL list starts to decrease, do you find that some shows that you would expect to record do not record?


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

I have not noticed that but I am not baby sitting it like I used to. It seems to only have the complete list for a day or two and sometimes adds shows that very day. I will pay more attention but I do know all my top shows have been recording or I would have noticed.

Yesterday I did not see Columbo in the TDL for today but I just looked now and its there. I have an AR for Columbo on all channels. I also see shows from lower down in my Prioritizer listed.

I can say that if I drop a couple SL's, the TDL will fill to 99/100. Also if I increase the SL's to 50 the R-15 starts acting up, sometimes locksup and gets slower on almost everything.


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## bearymore (Sep 1, 2006)

wbmccarty said:


> I've tried all the usual fixes for my evil R-15. I've sent two units back to DTV. I've kept the SLs below 10. I've used the search functions as little as possible. I've avoided auto-record. Etc. All to no avail. But, I recently tried two new tweaks that seem to have brought success. I share them in hope that they will benefit other users.
> 
> They are:
> 
> ...


Don't these rules kind of negate the whole purpose of a DVR? No searches, few SLs, and forced submission to the gods of commercials.


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

bearymore said:


> Don't these rules kind of negate the whole purpose of a DVR? No searches, few SLs, and forced submission to the gods of commercials.


Yup, it seems to me that they do. YMMV. I certainly wouldn't characterize myself as even a minimally satisfied customer.

Cheers,


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