# Commercial "freezing" is back...



## carlsbad_bolt_fan (May 18, 2004)

Apologies if there is an earlier thread on this, but I haven't been able to find it. For the past two nights, one of my HR20's seems to freeze at the end of a commercial. When that happens, I can't access any of the recordings from my other HR20. I then have to go back to that frozen HR20, change channels and all is well. Tonight it happened on NFL Network, ch. 212.

Software version is 0xac8, which was downloaded a week ago. 

Thoughts?


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

First thing to try is to reset the receivers,. I do this after every software update, just like I do on my PC when it gets and update.

If that does not work try a search for CLEARMYBOX and let it run. It clears out all the graphics, etc. You don't lose settings or recordings.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

carlsbad_bolt_fan said:


> Apologies if there is an earlier thread on this, but I haven't been able to find it. For the past two nights, one of my HR20's seems to freeze at the end of a commercial. When that happens, I can't access any of the recordings from my other HR20. I then have to go back to that frozen HR20, change channels and all is well. Tonight it happened on NFL Network, ch. 212.
> 
> Software version is 0xac8, which was downloaded a week ago.
> 
> Thoughts?


If Jimmie's suggestion doesn't work, you might try getting an upgrade to a 24. Really can't expect the 20-700s to last forever.

Rich


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## carlsbad_bolt_fan (May 18, 2004)

Rich said:


> If Jimmie's suggestion doesn't work, you might try getting an upgrade to a 24. Really can't expect the 20-700s to last forever.
> 
> Rich


Thanks for the help.

Been meaning to upgrade, and want to. Just need to schedule a time to do it.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

I'd still try the CLEARMYBOX option before giving up on the 20-700. I haven't had one activated for quite a while, but I do like them.

Rich


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## texasbrit (Aug 9, 2006)

The Hr24 will suffer the same problem. It occurs at the end of some locally inserted commercials. I though DirecTV had solved this but apparently it's back!!


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## bflora (Nov 6, 2007)

texasbrit said:


> The Hr24 will suffer the same problem. It occurs at the end of some locally inserted commercials. I though DirecTV had solved this but apparently it's back!!


It sure is!!!


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## SpeedracerII (Jun 1, 2010)

Yes.... I've seen this too on my HR24s at the end of a MatressOne commercial. I happened for several days but has not happened today that I can remember. I thought it was a hardware problem until I realized it was freezing on the same commercial several times.


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## SpeedracerII (Jun 1, 2010)

I ran the CLEARMYBOX but this has returned. This time on a Sleepnumber commercial.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

SpeedracerII said:


> I ran the CLEARMYBOX but this has returned. This time on a Sleepnumber commercial.


Geeze, if it's just happening on commercials...is it only happening on one channel?

Rich


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## SpeedracerII (Jun 1, 2010)

Rich said:


> Geeze, if it's just happening on commercials...is it only happening on one channel?
> 
> Rich


Honestly I'm not sure. I haven't been noticing the channel but I'll try next time it happens, but it may be happening on the local Network channels. I guess that is the only place I'd be seeing local commercials. It has not happen today. I rebooted today and noticed the guide scrolls differently and I have new grayed out channels on the guide. But the software version shows 0xac8, 23 Aug.

Now that I realize it is not my HR24-200 I can deal with it until it is fixed.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

SpeedracerII said:


> Honestly I'm not sure. I haven't been noticing the channel but I'll try next time it happens, but it may be happening on the local Network channels. I guess that is the only place I'd be seeing local commercials. It has not happen today. I rebooted today and noticed the guide scrolls differently and I have new grayed out channels on the guide. But the software version shows 0xac8, 23 Aug.
> 
> _*Now that I realize it is not my HR24-200 I can deal with it until it is fixed.*_


Ah, so it is just the 20-700 that has the issue? As I said, you can't expect a 10 year old DVR to last forever. Might be the HDD, might not. The only way to tell is to either put a new internal HDD in it (assuming it's owned) or to put an external drive on it. Obviously, it should be easier to get the 20-700 swapped for a 24.

Rich


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## deano (Jan 16, 2007)

I have two HR20-700 units and they seem to be experiencing this issue since the update. Definitely occurs frequently on 245 (TNT) and 220 (NBCSN). Extremely frustrating as I refuse to believe both units are failing at the same time due to age.


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## west99999 (May 12, 2007)

There are a ton of reports of commercials freezing again and its on all models of DVRs from Hr20-Hr54.


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## SlimyPizza (Oct 14, 2006)

Saw this thread and wanted to share that my HR34 has noticeable freezing on commercials on more than one channel. Very annoying. If there is a firmware fix for this I hope it comes out soon or maybe its on the network end regarding how commercials are inserted. Makes me hate ads even more...


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

SlimyPizza said:


> Saw this thread and wanted to share that my HR34 has noticeable freezing on commercials on more than one channel. Very annoying. If there is a firmware fix for this I hope it comes out soon or maybe its on the network end regarding how commercials are inserted. Makes me hate ads even more...


Get it replaced ASAP!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## yesongs (Oct 4, 2006)

You'll all be "shocked", but when I called tech support they claimed no reported issues

Their suggested "fix" was trading my DVR's for Genie / slaves, which would be great, if there was an OTA solution

I have three HR20's that I won't give up, because of OTA capability - I live between Balt and DC, and Direct only gives Baltimore stations, even though Comcast and Fios offer DC as well as all subchannels

My HR20's seem to freeze most often on FoxNews and CNN interestingly enough

E


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Our HR20 does the same thing (we finally figured out inserted-ads are a _major_ source of issues - along with "app-loading" channels, etc).

Only "workaround" for now is recording from the low-def channel. (We've figured out that for us HD for "talking heads-type" programming isn't worth the trouble.)

That and avoid any live viewing of app-loading channels.


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## doctrsnoop (Nov 20, 2007)

lots of problems here. I watch ESPN a lot. Freezes a lot during commercials. Have to back up and then skip over the commercials. it's pretty annoying.


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## mrfatboy (Jan 21, 2007)

I came here looking for a solution for my new hr24-500 video freezing. As talked about above its always on commercials. Audio still works. I have to actually change channels to clear the problem.

I thought I got a bum new DVR. Going forward I will pay attention to what channels and commercials it freezes on. I usually see it once a day on the hr24. I did sse it happen once on my genie hr44.

Any news if Dtv will fix it?


Edit
In the last 12 hours since I wrote this post the freeze has happened 2 times. Once on CNN and once in HLN.


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## Bink (Aug 21, 2005)

yesongs said:


> You'll all be "shocked", but when I called tech support they claimed no reported issues
> 
> Their suggested "fix" was trading my DVR's for Genie / slaves, which would be great, if there was an OTA solution
> 
> ...


My HR20-100 and HR44 both get commercial freezes on FNC. Hitting Pause then Play clears it up.


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## rccoleman (Oct 10, 2007)

Sometimes this will happen when you get a corrupted local commercial on your DVR and it freaks out when it tries to play it. I recommend that you reboot the DVR, wait for it to start booting, and hit the red button to reset it again. That will cause it to dump any downloaded content, including guide data and any local commercial inserts, and it's helped on both my HR44 and HR24 in the past.


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## pappasbike (Sep 19, 2006)

I previously had DTV for about 17 years until last December. The last dvr I had was the HR 44 and the 34 previously. That commercial freeze was a bad bug that bit on specific commercials almost every time. I think one of them was a gambling ad for a web site maybe, it's been quite a while so I don't remember exactly.

I now have Fios which was the only service in the area we moved to, also in the Baltimore area. We have their latest Quantum dvr and ran into the same issue on certain commercials. You could just about predict when it would happen, a commercial would begin and then would be immediately replaced with another. If the freeze happened that's when it would be. There were many posts on Fios forums about it and I just mentioned that being a former DTV subscriber I was used to it. They eventually resolved it, I hope, I haven't run into this in several weeks. But every time one of those commercial switches occur it's not smooth and always has a momentary pause that makes me think it might freeze up.

Back when it was biting everyone on DTV a new software release eventually fixed it. By the time I dropped our service I hadn't seen that in over a year or so. It seems none of the dvrs are immune to this no matter what service you have. Hopefully another software release soon will fix it for you guys.


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## T.C. (Sep 21, 2017)

Interesting thread. I was doing a search using Google.... having the same issues as many of the posters in this thread.

I have a HR24/200 receiver... and also a HR44/200.

The HR24/200 is freezing (several times) on the ID Channel 285 when the Esurance commercial is running. Now, I can still click guide, menu, and change the channel and it will correct the issue. But, once I put it back on channel 285 and that commercial runs... it freezes. (The HR44/200 has only freezed once.)

Been a DirecTV subscriber on and off for the past 15 years. Never had an issue like this before. Truly bizarre.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Where are all you guys from? Is this a regional thing? I haven't seen any similar issues.

Rich


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

T.C. said:


> Interesting thread. I was doing a search using Google.... having the same issues as many of the posters in this thread.
> 
> I have a HR24/200 receiver... and also a HR44/200.
> 
> ...


Welcome to the Forum.
Go to Search and type in CLEARMYBOX and let it go to work. You might have a corrupt ad stored on your receiver. If so, this should get rid of it. This takes about as long as a simple reset but does much more. It does not delete recordings or change your settings, etc.


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## T.C. (Sep 21, 2017)

Rich said:


> Where are all you guys from? Is this a regional thing? I haven't seen any similar issues.
> 
> Rich


I live about 20 minutes outside of Detroit... in Michigan. Hopefully, it's just a minor receiver issue? I did notice that last firmware date was April 2017. My genie's firmware was Sept 2017 I believe?



jimmie57 said:


> Welcome to the Forum.
> Go to Search and type in CLEARMYBOX and let it go to work. You might have a corrupt ad stored on your receiver. If so, this should get rid of it. This takes about as long as a simple reset but does much more. It does not delete recordings or change your settings, etc.


Thank you for the post. I just used the "CLEARMYBOX" code. All the graphics in the upper left corner of the screen (for the channels) are erased.... and my hard drive with all of my shows are perfectly fine. Hopefully this will resolve the issue?

Moments ago I explained the situation to DirecTV Customer Support (Retention Center). They offered to swap out the HR24/200 and/or send out a tech to realign the dish if need be. Honestly, I hate techs lol and sometimes they say... "everything is alright" or "checks ok" lol I can't stand that.

I will update if CLEARMYBOX worked or not. Thanks again!


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

T.C. said:


> I live about 20 minutes outside of Detroit... in Michigan. Hopefully, it's just a minor receiver issue? I did notice that last firmware date was April 2017. My genie's firmware was Sept 2017 I believe?


Now if others with the same issue tell us where they're located...

Under the Avatar picture there is a place for your location, this comes in handy from time to time.

Rich


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## T.C. (Sep 21, 2017)

jimmie57 said:


> Welcome to the Forum.
> Go to Search and type in CLEARMYBOX and let it go to work. You might have a corrupt ad stored on your receiver. If so, this should get rid of it. This takes about as long as a simple reset but does much more. It does not delete recordings or change your settings, etc.


It worked like a charm! Thanks again!


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

T.C. said:


> It worked like a charm! Thanks again!


You'll probably have to run it again in the near future. The software's screwed up and...

Rich


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## T.C. (Sep 21, 2017)

Unfortunately, I'm back again. lol Just moments ago the HR24/200 was on a commercial (A&E Channel) It scrambled/pixelated.... froze for about 8/10 seconds... audio cut out... but it did get through the commercial. It's a bright sunny day here in my area... no clouds. Any other ideas??? I'm thinking about calling DirecTV and having them re-align the dish. Customer support said they'd do it for free.

But like I said??? Any other ideas??? Force a firmware upgrade??? I'd try anything... thanks.


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## T.C. (Sep 21, 2017)

After I unplugged the receiver... just for a typical reset... It froze again on another commercial within 10 minutes after the receiver was reset.


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## T.C. (Sep 21, 2017)

Just did that 02468 code on the remote to force software upgrade. The code worked and it did the software download. The only issue... it's the same software that was loaded. So, since April 2017... there hasn't been a new patch. So basically I installed the same software as before.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

There is nothing wrong with your equipment, and no firmware on your end will fix it. It’s the commercials on their end doing this. Call and complain although that won’t get you anywhere. You’d need to explain it’s the pushed commercials that are causing this. And doubtful anyone you can get to will really understand the issue.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

T.C. said:


> Just did that 02468 code on the remote to force software upgrade. The code worked and it did the software download. The only issue... it's the same software that was loaded. So, since April 2017... there hasn't been a new patch. So basically I installed the same software as before.


I gave up on downloading the software, never saw anything change, certainly never saw it fix anything.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

inkahauts said:


> There is nothing wrong with your equipment, and no firmware on your end will fix it. It's the commercials on their end doing this. Call and complain although that won't get you anywhere. You'd need to explain it's the pushed commercials that are causing this. *And doubtful anyone you can get to will really understand the issue.*


Sad, but true comment. And a comment you can make about many CSRs in many companies. They don't listen, just read their scripts. Who's to blame? Could it be the companies and not the CSRs? I think so. Proper training and a salary that makes folks happy and proud to do their jobs would help.

Rich


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Rich said:


> Sad, but true comment. And a comment you can make about many CSRs in many companies. They don't listen, just read their scripts. Who's to blame? Could it be the companies and not the CSRs? I think so. Proper training and a salary that makes folks happy and proud to do their jobs would help.
> 
> Rich


On the subject of CSRs. The one I talked to on the new number told me, after I complained about getting people in another country on the weekends and after hours, that they are lobbying the company to bring all that back in the states.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> On the subject of CSRs. The one I talked to on the new number told me, after I complained about getting people in another country on the weekends and after hours, that they are lobbying the company to bring all that back in the states.


Don't call, I'll do just about anything not to make a call. Didn't know they even had offshore call centers.

I had an issue with my Capital One card a couple months ago, could not understand the CSRs, nobody had English as a first language. Finally got someone I could understand. Told him the call centers are why I only rarely use the card and his answer to my complaint was quite simple: "Ask to speak to an American." Told him I thought the CSRs would find that offensive. Told me to do it anyway. Weeks later, I called got a CSR I couldn't understand, asked for an American, the CSR just said, "of course" and I got someone I could understand. If only all companies were like that...

Rich


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## WestDC (Feb 9, 2008)

Rich said:


> Don't call, I'll do just about anything not to make a call. Didn't know they even had offshore call centers.
> 
> I had an issue with my Capital One card a couple months ago, could not understand the CSRs, nobody had English as a first language. Finally got someone I could understand. Told him the call centers are why I only rarely use the card and his answer to my complaint was quite simple: "Ask to speak to an American." Told him I thought the CSRs would find that offensive. Told me to do it anyway. Weeks later, I called got a CSR I couldn't understand, asked for an American, the CSR just said, "of course" and I got someone I could understand. If only all companies were like that...
> 
> Rich


Perhaps they are - Maybe you just never asked that question before for the reason's you just stated?


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

WestDC said:


> Perhaps they are - Maybe you just never asked that question before for the reason's you just stated?


Yup, that's what I figured. My fault for not wanting to offend, who'd a thunk it?

Rich


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## T.C. (Sep 21, 2017)

I was just wondering if someone could tell me if these signal strengths are acceptable?

Signal Meter

Satellite 101: 97%
Satellite 99 (ca): 88%
Satellite 99 (cb): 95%
Satellite 103 (ca): 95%
Satellite 103 (cb): 95%


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

T.C. said:


> I was just wondering if someone could tell me if these signal strengths are acceptable?
> 
> Signal Meter
> 
> ...


Those are very good.


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## ejbvt (Aug 14, 2011)

I just experienced the little blip with the guide up. The audio cut out for a fraction of a section and the picture in the corner pixelated, but the guide itself did not. Not sure if that adds anything to this or not...

Edit: This is not where I intended this to be, I thought I was in the HR44 Freezing thread but that thread has gone off on a tangent. This isn't during any commercial, just random blips with pixelation every now and then on every channel.


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## T.C. (Sep 21, 2017)

jimmie57 said:


> Those are very good.


Thank you for the post. I'm still trying to narrow it down what the cause is? Is it the commercials? Is the HR24/200 going bad?

The only odd number that's fluctuating high and low is....

*Satellite 101

Transponder 18

It fluctuates as high as 72 but now it's as low as 60.*

I don't know what that transponder is used for?

It's the only number that moves frequently.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

T.C. said:


> Thank you for the post. I'm still trying to narrow it down what the cause is? Is it the commercials? Is the HR24/200 going bad?
> 
> The only odd number that's fluctuating high and low is....
> 
> ...


The 101 is for SD programming and Guide data.


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## texasbrit (Aug 9, 2006)

T.C. said:


> Thank you for the post. I'm still trying to narrow it down what the cause is? Is it the commercials? Is the HR24/200 going bad?
> 
> The only odd number that's fluctuating high and low is....
> 
> ...


It's the commercials, not your HR24. And the TP is one of those carrying spotbeams for locals so low or even zero is normal if it's not pointed at you..


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## T.C. (Sep 21, 2017)

jimmie57 said:


> The 101 is for SD programming and Guide data.


I appreciate the quick response. Thank you for the reassurance. 



texasbrit said:


> It's the commercials, not your HR24. And the TP is one of those carrying spotbeams for locals so low or even zero is normal if it's not pointed at you..


Thank you for the post. I guess I'm done troubleshooting now. I'll live with the commercial issues.

Oddly enough... after downloading the same firmware/software file for the HR24/200 it hasn't froze since then. Maybe it's just luck?


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## T.C. (Sep 21, 2017)

T.C. said:


> Just did that 02468 code on the remote to force software upgrade. The code worked and it did the software download. The only issue... it's the same software that was loaded. So, since April 2017... there hasn't been a new patch. So basically I installed the same software as before.


I'm replying to my initial post about a month ago. So, even though it downloaded the exact same file.... the issue was resolved for about a month. Earlier yesterday... it froze on the AMC channel during a commercial.

I did "CLEARBOX" yesterday.... and it only solved the problem for about 12 hours.

Going to try the 02468 code... seems like it lasts a little bit longer.


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## T.C. (Sep 21, 2017)

Just wondering why it only freezes on the HR24 and not the HR44?


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## T.C. (Sep 21, 2017)

Wow... can't believe I'm posting in this thread again!!! Went 2 years or so without commercial freezing!!! Was watching HLN Channel 204 and it started freezing on that channel (been doing this for about a week now.) Did clear my box... fixed it for about 9 hours... started doing it again. Also started freezing on TLC Channel 280 today. DirecTV sucks as always!!!


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## Bofurley (Oct 11, 2006)

Iam having the same problem, only it is not just commercials, it is on all channels, about a 10 - 15 second freeze!


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Bofurley said:


> Iam having the same problem, only it is not just commercials, it is on all channels, about a 10 - 15 second freeze!


You have to tell us what your setup is. What are you seeing that on?

Rich


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