# VOD = Very Often Disappointed



## clibertynh (Nov 28, 2006)

Well, I finally got VOD to work on my HR20-700. I purchased NetGear powerline Ethernet connectors and, after unsuccessfully fiddling with them and my Linksys router for a week trying to get connected to the Internet, decided to try a reboot of the DVR. It worked and I entered the world of VOD -- sort of...

My disappointments are many:

1. For some reason I thought that content would be "streamed." The fact that shows get downloaded and take up valuable space on my DVR is a bummer. And, yes, I understand that the concept is probably to "watch-and-delete", but I still am disappointed about the hassle of the whole download-to-disk procedure.
2. More importantly, I, like many people on this forum, wonder if download activity is going to catch the attention of my Internet service provider, slow down my network, lead to extra charges, etc. 
3. The VOD choices are very limited and mostly uninteresting. I just personally don't get excited about the prospect of watching some past episode of a show on Animal Planet or Court TV anytime I want. Now, if this season's episodes of "Lost" were available on demand, that would be another story...
4. When I did find something personally interesting, the VOD available wasn't the entire show! Case in point: I saw VOD episodes of "The Daily Show", but, looking closely, it was just the 5-minute interview portion of the show -- nothing else.
5. I have yet to actually download anything because I can't get it to work! Every time I add a program to the queue, I get an immediate and permanent "Download Paused" message.
6. And, as a final disappointment, my Ethernet connection to the DVR gets dropped on a regular (daily) basis requiring another painfully long HR20 reboot to fix it.

I guess I'm glad it's "free", because if I had paid for this, I'd be a lot more than disappointed...


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## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

1) It needs to download to the hard drive because some peoples download is not fast enough for it to stream. So it is set up to save to the hard drive so they can let it download and watch later.

2) This could be a problem and I guess we will find out. But even if it was streamed it would be the same problem.

3) Remember it is still in beta and a lot more will be added. There has already been a lot added since the beginning.

4) I have not found anything like this yet but everything I have watch has been movies so far.

5) If you are getting the download paused that is because you are not connected to the internet. When you run the network setup on the HR20 what do you get?


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## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

Is your powerline Ethernet connector connected to a surge protecter straight to an outlet? People have posted on this forum that when they are plugged in a surge protecter that had network problems. You'll want a fast internet connection to get DoD at decent speeds(3 Mbps or higher).


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## clibertynh (Nov 28, 2006)

Mike, after I reboot the DVR and run network setup to connect, I get the "Congratulations" message, and it appears to have picked up an IP address from the Linksys router. However, it still pauses for any download that I try.

And, after several hours, I can reliably count on the Internet connection to be lost.


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## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

clibertynh said:


> Mike, after I reboot the DVR and run network setup to connect, I get the "Congratulations" message, and it appears to have picked up an IP address from the Linksys router. However, it still pauses for any download that I try.
> 
> And, after several hours, I can reliably count on the Internet connection to be lost.


Press the info button for 3 seconds to bring up the info screen. Scroll down and see if it says connected to internet?


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## clibertynh (Nov 28, 2006)

I bypassed my surge protector and plugged the powerline connector directly into a wall outlet.


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## jtn (Oct 18, 2007)

clibertynh said:


> Well, I finally got VOD to work on my HR20-700. I purchased NetGear powerline Ethernet connectors and, after unsuccessfully fiddling with them and my Linksys router for a week trying to get connected to the Internet, decided to try a reboot of the DVR. It worked and I entered the world of VOD -- sort of...
> 
> My disappointments are many:
> 
> ...


With the proper router, and understanding, you should ignore any error messages. The HR20 will pick up where it leaves off if the modem hiccups. I have *never* lost a download via VOD DirecTV in comparison to Comcast despite error messages which I simply ignore. I don't see it as good as cable tv but it is not a disappointment. It works. Remember it's a BETA, still ironing out the bugs.


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## gcisko (Sep 27, 2006)

clibertynh said:


> Well, I finally got VOD to work on my HR20-700. I purchased NetGear powerline Ethernet connectors and, after unsuccessfully fiddling with them and my Linksys router for a week trying to get connected to the Internet, decided to try a reboot of the DVR. It worked and I entered the world of VOD -- sort of...


VOD works great for me. I have downloaded 4 shows so far and they have been great. I did "human weapon - kung fu" and several "dog fights". All have been great and a huge reduction in comercial content.

I am starting to think if you have a linksys wireless router, get a linksys game adapter. Not something else.


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## texasmoose (May 25, 2007)

VOD sucked on adelphia, comcast, twc and now it'll suck on D* to boot, pardon the pun, a real waste of time IMHO.................


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## Clemsole (Sep 8, 2005)

gcisko said:


> I am starting to think if you have a linksys wireless router, get a linksys game adapter. Not something else.


I also agree get the linksys game adapter "WGA54G". I installed mine by hooking it with a cable to my router, ran the software that came withe it and I assigned it an IP address 192.168.0.16 and then removed the network cable and moved it into the living room and pluged in the HR20-700 and the DOD has been working with out any problems.


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## cartester (Sep 26, 2007)

I tried the Netgear Powerline adapters and they didn't work. The software that comes with them showed that the quality of the connection was poor. So poor that they would completely lose connection completely every few seconds. This was only due to the particular power circuits in my house where the internet connection and the DVR are located. If they were located in more favorable locations the powerline adapters would probably work just fine.

I also went with the linksys WGA54G and a linksys wireless N router. The adapter works fine once you get it configured right. Some tips about that I learned from linksys customer service and elsewhere on the web:

Do not use the configuration CD. Rather log onto the web interface directly. To do this however, you must be connected with a wired connection. It cannot be accessed wirelessly. The computer you use to do this should be temporarily configured with a static IP address like 192.168.1.5.

If you ever need to use the reset button it must be held down continously for 30 seconds. Then unplug the device for 10 seconds.

The wireless G LED will not light until traffic is seen on the network. It can be off and you can still be connected.

For MACID filtering in the router you must specify the wireless MACID of the WGA54G which is the MACID printed on the unit plus 1 in hexadecimal arithmetic.

I configured it per linksys customer service to use the default static IP of 192.168.1.250, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, gateway 192.168.1.1

SSID: same as specified in router of course
Transmission: automatic
rate mode: mixed mode
authentication: open system
cloning mode: automatic
mode: infrastructure (see also hard switch on the unit)
channel: 11
security: only WEP mode is available, same key as in router of course

The setup screen will also show a list of available wireless networks it is receiving identified by SSID. You can select which one you want to connect to. I had eleven to choose from here at home. Select your own of course.

Sometimes when you change a configuration the device will then show connected other times disconnected. The best way to know if you really have a connection is to see if you can surf the web on the computer you are using to configure the adapter. 

Don't forget to change back the configuring computer to allow the router to assign the IP address if that is what you had.


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## jtn (Oct 18, 2007)

cartester said:


> I tried the Netgear Powerline adapters and they didn't work. The software that comes with them showed that the quality of the connection was poor. So poor that they would completely lose connection completely every few seconds. This was only due to the particular power circuits in my house where the internet connection and the DVR are located. If they were located in more favorable locations the powerline adapters would probably work just fine.
> 
> I also went with the linksys WGA54G and a linksys wireless N router. The adapter works fine once you get it configured right. Some tips about that I learned from linksys customer service and elsewhere on the web:
> 
> ...


One brand is not a fair indicator of performance. So I would do more research. Yes it would be nice to use what you already have, but if it's not compatible, then you must buy what is.

Listen I had to buy new router, and it works fantastic, read my profile. So I regret what you already have is not working out, but technology changes, and you have to be willing to change with it.


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## cartester (Sep 26, 2007)

jtn said:


> One brand is not a fair indicator of performance. So I would do more research. Yes it would be nice to use what you already have, but if it's not compatible, then you must buy what is.
> 
> Listen I had to buy new router, and it works fantastic, read my profile. So I regret what you already have is not working out, but technology changes, and you have to be willing to change with it.


Very good advice. In my case I had no existing equipment and hence no desire to use what I already had, since I had nothing.

My first try to connect the HR-20 to the internet was indeed with newly purchased Netgear powerline adapters and a newly purchased Netgear wireless N router. The router didn't have to be wireless but the box for the powerline adapters showed a wireless router. Being new to home networking I didn't know any better.

After verifying that the powerline adapters would have worked had my electric circuit configuration allowed it I realized the problem was my house wiring and returned them to the store. Being soured on the powerline approach I bought another identical Netgear wireless N router to configure as a wireless ethernet bridge to the HR-20. After some effort I got this to work beautifully, for about 5 hours. Then all of a sudden the connection was lost and nothing would get it back despite great efforts to do so. I eventually returned both Netgear routers in disgust. That's when I decided to try the linksys router and game adapter.


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## jtn (Oct 18, 2007)

cartester said:


> Very good advice. In my case I had no existing equipment and hence no desire to use what I already had, since I had nothing.
> 
> My first try to connect the HR-20 to the internet was indeed with newly purchased Netgear powerline adapters and a newly purchased Netgear wireless N router. The router didn't have to be wireless but the box for the powerline adapters showed a wireless router. Being new to home networking I didn't know any better.
> 
> After verifying that the powerline adapters would have worked had my electric circuit configuration allowed it I realized the problem was my house wiring and returned them to the store. Being soured on the powerline approach I bought another identical Netgear wireless N router to configure as a wireless ethernet bridge to the HR-20. After some effort I got this to work beautifully, for about 5 hours. Then all of a sudden the connection was lost and nothing would get it back despite great efforts to do so. I eventually returned both Netgear routers in disgust. That's when I decided to try the linksys router and game adapter.


The Linksys router should be fine, without an additional game adapter, unless you need it. The HR20 just needs to connect to the Internet to download programming for On Demand. Nothing fancy. Sorry you had to go through some trouble, but hopefully now it is working well for you.


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## cartester (Sep 26, 2007)

jtn said:


> The Linksys router should be fine, without an additional game adapter, unless you need it. The HR20 just needs to connect to the Internet to download programming for On Demand. Nothing fancy. Sorry you had to go through some trouble, but hopefully now it is working well for you.


Yes, it is. Thank you very much. I installed a linksys wired router (model BEFSR41) at my father's house so he could access VOD. That installation was cake. I used the installation CD and that could not have been smoother. I did access the web based interface afterwards to check the settings and the only change I made was to enable UPnP (universal plug and play) since I read that the HR-20 is a UPnP device. I'm not sure if this was necessary but that was a 10 minute installation.


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