# My experience with Samsung RVU and HR34



## gadgetinspector (May 24, 2007)

Equipment: 
DirecTV HR34 (sw 0x79e)
DirecTV HR24 (sw 0x740)
Samsung UN46F8000BF TV (sw 1116)
DECABB1R0 Cinema Connection Kit
DECA2SR0 Broadband DECA Adapter Generation II

Up until we added the new TV, it was wired as:
HR34 was plugged into coax and ethernet to FIOS router
HR24 was only plugged into coax
(multi-room viewing was working great for sharing recorded programs)
DECABB1R0 was plugged into coax and ethernet to FIOS router

In December, we added the Samsung TV. Since the TV has a number of apps in it, and the remote is pretty good - I wanted to try adding it to the HR34 using RVU, instead of adding another set top box and messing with multiple remotes, or universal remotes. I called up DirecTV and they added the Samsung TV to the account, charged me the extra room fee, etc. It was added fairly easily with the PIN code process. The Samsung was first hooked up using Ethernet only, wired to the router.

TV boot time is about 7s, but then to get the DirecTV picture - the screen says "Connecting to RVU Server" and it's about 15seconds of additional waiting, which seems like a long time. Then the DirecTV UI shows up, and the UI speed is generally pretty snappy. However, it seems like there is a general lag in the picture rendering after selecting a channel, or recorded show. Also, the fast forward process is really messy when watching a recorded show.

So I said, maybe it would be better if I used coax based connectivity in the house? I ordered the DECA2SR0 and plugged it into coax, then ethernet from the adapter to the TV. It made things worse, not better. While watching recorded programs, the audio would drop frequently.

I then went and did some research and discovered that the HR34 doesn't need both an ethernet connection and the DECABB1R0 in the system. So I disconnected the ethernet from the HR34, and rebooted everything. The TV was still dropping audio from recorded programs via RVU. Next I tried disconnecting the DECABB1R0 from the system, and hooking back up the ethernet. Still using the DECA2SR0 for coax to the TV, split to ethernet right there. Still had audio problems.

I removed the DECA2SR0 from the TV, and went back to hardwired ethernet. No audio drops when watching recorded programs via RVU from the HR34 to the Samsung TV.

At least in my house/setup, it appears that running wired ethernet between an HR34 and a Samsung TV is better than using COAX and DECA devices. (It's going through a Cisco Gigabit ethernet switch)

My TV showed an upgrade from v1116 to v1117 this morning, and that appears to have improved the fast forward usage. Previously it was showing frames forward, then back, then more forward, then back. Now it seems to be showing frame forward - but it's still very choppy and not nearly as smooth as watching and fast forwarding on the HR34 or HR24 directly.

The only remaining disappointment is that the Samsung remote does not have a skip forward or jump back button. Only the standard fast forward/rewind buttons. I thought about using a DirecTV remote with the TV to get those buttons, but then I'd lose the Samsung-specific buttons for apps, Netflix, Amazon, etc. I may try a Logitech Harmony Touch remote and see if I can get all the buttons I need from both remotes.


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

Try an RC71 from eBay or Solid Signal for under $10. I believe the code is 54000 for Samsung RVU.

While you will lose the smart TV functions, it should be a better RVU experience for you.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

I also recommend getting the RC71 is you plan to continue with using the Samsung RVU client.

As for the ethernet vs. coax/DECA issue I say use whatever works best for you. I've tried both ways and I haven't noticed any difference between performance on either. Also like you my UN40ES6100's when using DVR functions (FW/RW/Skip FW/Skip back) the performance is horrible, skip back especially is bad plus you can't stack skip commands, need to wait for one to finish before doing the next one.

Curious, if you use the TVApps, select Weather, then a city and then select detail does the detailed forcast show as a full screen or does it shrink down to the PIG window? On my set any TVApp that would cause a full screen display has this issue. Samsung says it's a DIRECTV problem and DIRECTV says it's a Samsung problem.


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## NR4P (Jan 16, 2007)

I'm a bit confused. You list your equipment but not how its connected. But your former connection scheme is listed. A current drawing would be very helpful.

If you were able to connect the HR34 with ethernet to your router before, no need to change that.
The HR34 makes a great bridge to the HR24.
That would eliminate the CCK. I think because I am not clear what is connected to what.

In summary you want only 1 connection to your router. Not a CCK and a wired connection over ethernet as you indicated was the prior setup.


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## gadgetinspector (May 24, 2007)

Just to clarify new setup:
FIOS Router goes to,
CISCO gigabit switch
CAT5e wire to HR34
CAT5e wire to Samsung8000 TV

Dish to splitter
coax to HR34
coax to HR24
coax to power supply

Have removed the CCK, as HR34 is acting as bridge.

Got the Harmony Touch remote and am trying to configure it now. First problem is the software doesn't know about the RVU input... could be a late night trying to figure out how to make this work right. Sometimes the simple setup wizards of these products cause more problems than solving them...


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## gadgetinspector (May 24, 2007)

@RAD: When I go to change the city of the weather in TV apps, the screen shrinks down to the upper left, and I cannot really see what is inside it.

Harmony Touch updates:
1) They do not have pre-programmed codes for skip-ahead/skip-back in their library! Since the Samsung remote doesn't have it either, I have no way of programming the universal remote to do these commands.
2) The DVR button doesn't map to the list of recorded programs by default, but I was able to map it to the Samsung yellow/C button to jump to it
3) The menu button goes to the TV menu, not the DirecTV menu. Again, I was able to map it to the Samsung green/B button
4) The channel favorites were not working. It manually enters 202, which I can see in the DirecTV UI - but then it jumps to the DirecTV UI showing more info. It's like it's pressing select instead of enter or something. I figured it out after a while... you need to enter the channel digits and then press the blue/D button, which apparently is mapped as enter. Now the channel favorites work, and that's a nice feature of this remote.
5) There are direct access remote code virtual buttons for HDMI1/HDMI2/etc, but nothing for RVU. So the best I could come up with is to send HDMI1, Source, Right Arrow, Select as a way to make sure the TV goes into RVU mode. 

I just ordered a RC71 remote and when it arrives on Wednesday, I will try programming the skip ahead/back buttons into the Harmony Touch and see how that works. May turn out I like the RC71 remote better anyway?

One other data point, when watching pre-recorded programs, and fast forwarding, then hitting play - I lose the audio. The fix seems to be to hit pause, then play, and the audio comes back.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Thanks for the info.

Frankly, if I were you and had the coax run to the TV available I'd just see if I could get DIRECTV to give me a mini client and forget the Samsung client, it works MUCH better.


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## gadgetinspector (May 24, 2007)

Got the RC71 remote today, programmed it to the Samsung per code 54000, which was then helpful to program the Harmony Touch. The Logitech software doesn't know about the skip forward or skip back, so I had to program it by holding the DirectTV remote up to the Harmony remote to capture the IR codes. Weird thing was, I had to do that for the record button, too. I was able able to configure the Harmony remote so that a quick tap of <- or -> will do skip back/forward, but a long press will rewind/fast-forward. That is useful.

The RC71 remote is efficient, and I would probably keep using it - except it doesn't have the Samsung SmartTV button on it, or the ability to have the quick favorites on the LCD screen, which I really like. So I'm going to stick with the Harmony Touch remote for now.

That said... independent of what remote that is used, the RVU feature from the Samsung 8000 to the HR34 is borderline usable. Since the Fast Forward was not tracking well, I was hoping the 30 second skip ahead would work better. It doesn't. The skip back doesn't, either. It frequently loses audio, doesn't seem to skip to the right time increment and doesn't have the ability to buffer multiple key presses to jump ahead/back at multiple increments. The boot up message trying to connect to the RVU server is also a long wait.

I don't know if this is a deficiency of the current Samsung TV firmware or a fault of the HR34 firmware, or both.

I'm hesitant to buy a $80-$100 Genie client box if it's going to be having the same problem with fast forward/rewind streaming from the HR34 in the other room.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

gadgetinspector said:


> I don't know if this is a deficiency of the current Samsung TV firmware or a fault of the HR34 firmware, or both.
> 
> I'm hesitant to buy a $80-$100 Genie client box if it's going to be having the same problem with fast forward/rewind streaming from the HR34 in the other room.


Since DirecTV clients appear to be working fine, my money is on the TV firmware


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

The DIRECTV mini client DVR functions work just fine, MUCH better then the Samsung client.


Sent from my iPhone using DBSTalk


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