# R15: Freezing / Crashing-> Software Versions (10A3,10AF, 1035, 103A) ONLY!



## Earl Bonovich

Again; Wolfpack is on his toes: He was the first to report that new software version.
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=53342

Latest Software Versions:
Humax: 500-10A3
Phillips: 300-1035
They are functionally identical

I am still working on obtaining a complete list what was addressed in this release:

For now, the old thread for 109f / 1031 will remain open to track issues for those with that version still. Once there is a general feeling that most users here have the newer version, it will be closed.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=52681

* RULES for this thread*

This is not a bashing thread. This thread is to track and have some conversation regarding the issues freezing or crashing the box... Large topics should have their own thread.

*BEFORE POSTING*
Verify that you have version 10A3 or 1035, if not... please post in the appropriate thread. (Create one if you can't find one)

With that said.... I will soon be closing the previous threads on "bugs", and start a new set... to reflect the software change version... this way we can keep a consitant handle on when bugs are fixed, or introduced. (I will do that tomorrow..)

Earl


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## techNoodle

I have 2 R15-300 with the 1035 software. One problem I have just experienced on both dvrs, at different times, is the user interface freezing when MyVOD is displayed. I cannot say the box is ignoring the remote commands as the power led blinks. Also, the video is still running in the small window with audio present.

After resetting everything looks fine, but I wonder if the problem will occur again when the guide fills back up in a couple of days.

My initial reaction is that 1035 went backwards, compared to 1031, and nothing appears to be fixed with Series Links.


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## MikeW

XM Pause does not work correctly. If you go back in the buffer and pause/play it works fine. If you are listening to live music, pause toggles to pause for less than a second, then contiunes to play.

If you play with rewind and pause long enough, it'll reboot. 

Here's what I did:

Paused live music...did not work
Rewound about 15 minutes then did pause/play a few times with good results
Skipped to live, then rewind x4

Rewind was going slow, then the box crashed.

It's happened twice today.


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## jimdoo

Got 10A3 today @4am - Took about 5 min to get the box to lock up. I was browsing the history and got to the bottom of the list and it still reflected the double arrows in the bottom right of the screen (weird-huh)- I hit the ch down once more and then it locked up. No remote response from any buttons incl power. I reset the unit and- Thankfully was unable to duplicate this lock up after a 2nd attemp at the same action.


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## Bobman

Mine locked up too, see the other thread. Locked up less than 10 minutes after I started using it also in the to do list and history.


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## Bobman

I just went in to the reset menu and choose the reset option that wipes clean some options and your to do list (not your SL's). Now I will just have to wait until I get home to see what happens.


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## Bud33

I have experienced my first lock up with the R-15
I bought the unit at Best Buy around Christmas 2005 and it has been working fine up thru last night.
The unit updated on 2/22/06 at around 2AM to 10A3 fm 109A
The only change was a reset of my favorites from Custom 1 to all channels. (Custom 1 was not changed.)
I spent the night watching recorded material and deleting it. (periodically switch to the Olympics) The unit shut down normally.
When I attempted to turn on the unit this morning, it would not come on. Absolutely nothing.
I pressed the red reset button. The record light flashed BLUE and then nothing. I pressed the power button on the receiver and it made the reset start up .(Search for sats, Welcome screen and then my local station.( all in less than 5 minutes))
Again the only change was the reset of the Favorites to all channels.


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## psweig

10A3 - My R15 locks up when I do a category sort and it comes up with over 2000 selections. Experimentily, I waited, instead of resetting and in 30 minutes it recovered. IMHO, the R15 has very little RAM and a very slow processor.


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## ISWIZ

psweig said:


> 10A3 - My R15 locks up when I do a category sort and it comes up with over 2000 selections. Experimentally, I waited, instead of resetting and in 30 minutes it recovered. IMHO, the R15 has very little RAM and a very slow processor.


I noticed that too. Somethings which appear as a lockup/unresponsive just take time to get done. Last night as an experiment, when that happened, I (from the remote) turned the box "off/standby", waited 30 seconds and when I started it back it was fine. I figured if it needed/preferred standby to process at night, why not try it when it appeared to freeze.
Not a "fix" by any means but it sure makes me think the processing is bogging down somewhere.


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## psweig

ISWIZ said:


> I noticed that too. Somethings which appear as a lockup/unresponsive just take time to get done. Last night as an experiment, when that happened, I (from the remote) turned the box "off/standby", waited 30 seconds and when I started it back it was fine. I figured if it needed/preferred standby to process at night, why not try it when it appeared to freeze.
> Not a "fix" by any means but it sure makes me think the processing is bogging down somewhere.


When I tried turning it off ( I NEVER turn off the HDVR2) it came back on frozen :nono2:


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## TimGoodwin

Yesterday I was having the same problems I was having pre software update. DVR functions were not working, could not watch a recorded show. I reset the box and all seems fine now hopefully.


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## Bud33

Bud33 said:


> I have experienced my first lock up with the R-15
> I bought the unit at Best Buy around Christmas 2005 and it has been working fine up thru last night.
> The unit updated on 2/22/06 at around 2AM to 10A3 fm 109A
> The only change was a reset of my favorites from Custom 1 to all channels. (Custom 1 was not changed.)
> I spent the night watching recorded material and deleting it. (periodically switch to the Olympics) The unit shut down normally.
> When I attempted to turn on the unit this morning, it would not come on. Absolutely nothing.
> I pressed the red reset button. The record light flashed BLUE and then nothing. I pressed the power button on the receiver and it made the reset start up .(Search for sats, Welcome screen and then my local station.( all in less than 5 minutes))
> Again the only change was the reset of the Favorites to all channels.


I've had the same problem AGAIN this morning... No turn etc etc etc.
The record flashed yellow this time ( which may have been the same last time) and the rest is the same...
I have two units (both updated 2/22) but the newer unit was unaffected. The only difference I can see is this unit has only one tuner connected...
I will try once more then the dreaded call to CS!!:nono2:


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## zortapa

Bud33 said:


> I have experienced my first lock up with the R-15
> I bought the unit at Best Buy around Christmas 2005 and it has been working fine up thru last night.
> The unit updated on 2/22/06 at around 2AM to 10A3 fm 109A
> *The only change was a reset of my favorites from Custom 1 to all channels. (Custom 1 was not changed.)*
> I spent the night watching recorded material and deleting it. (periodically switch to the Olympics) The unit shut down normally.
> When I attempted to turn on the unit this morning, it would not come on. Absolutely nothing.
> I pressed the red reset button. The record light flashed BLUE and then nothing. I pressed the power button on the receiver and it made the reset start up .(Search for sats, Welcome screen and then my local station.( all in less than 5 minutes))
> Again the only change was the reset of the Favorites to all channels.


Bud33, In Favorites on your unit, is CHANNELS I RECEIVE correct after the update? On mine, CHANNELS I RECEIVE is now the same as ALL CHANNELS, and I am wondering if 10A3 broke the CHANNELS I RECEIVE function.


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## DFDureiko

I had turned off (put in standby mode) overnight, to turn off the big blue eye....(I've now found out how to turn the blue light off)
unit would not turn back on in the morning.
unplugged, restarted, now of course the guide is re populating.
have last software upgrade from 2/22, 10A3


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## DFDureiko

I had turned off (put in standby mode) overnight, to turn off the big blue eye....(I've now found out how to turn the blue light off)
unit would not turn back on in the morning.
unplugged, restarted, now of course the guide is re populating.
have last software upgrade from 2/22, 10A3


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## carl6

zortapa said:


> Bud33, In Favorites on your unit, is CHANNELS I RECEIVE correct after the update? On mine, CHANNELS I RECEIVE is now the same as ALL CHANNELS, and I am wondering if 10A3 broke the CHANNELS I RECEIVE function.


No, 10A3 did not do that. That comes from the data stream and DirecTV has done that because there were too many problems with the data. Too many people could watch, but not record, one channel or another (which was because the data did not have that channel indicated as a "channel I receive". In order to fix that problem, they had to basically tell everyone that they received every channel.

That does NOT let you watch all of them, but it will allow the R15 to think it can record them.

Now, people are having problems doing an autorecord. The R15 is trying to record on a channel they do not subscribe to because it thinks it's okay because it is in the "channels I receive".

Carl


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## ISWIZ

Can you not customize the list, say to "Yours"?


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## Bud33

ISWIZ said:


> Can you not customize the list, say to "Yours"?


Yes! There are at least two custom lists that can be set as you like.
Click Menu > Settings > Favorites > Custom 1 or 2 > check the channels you want and then move back to the left and wait a moment. It should now be configured.

Now to change your guide, Click on menu > Favorites > All Channels, Custom 1 or custom 2 > Exit
That should do it..

With the new software upgrade, I have been having to reset each morning to get the unit to turn on, and then reselect the Custom 1. The settings for it have not been affected.


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## zortapa

Bud33 said:


> Yes! There are at least two custom lists that can be set as you like.
> Click Menu > Settings > Favorites > Custom 1 or 2 > check the channels you want and then move back to the left and wait a moment. It should now be configured.
> 
> Now to change your guide, Click on menu > Favorites > All Channels, Custom 1 or custom 2 > Exit
> That should do it..
> 
> With the new software upgrade, I have been having to reset each morning to get the unit to turn on, and then reselect the Custom 1. The settings for it have not been affected.


But this is a painful way to exclude the channels that we are already prevented from viewing.

And the problem with the customized list is the the update/reset DID revert back to ALL CHANNELS for those of us who had selected something else. So, while this is not solely the fault of 10A3, it is the fault of a defective reset process on the R15.


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## Bud33

My selected Custom Channels have not changed. Just resets from Custom 1 to All chennels.


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## mbrey

Earl, et. al.,

Got the 10a3 update when everybody else did a few days ago. With the Olympics and AI, my R15 has been working overtime. I've to only about 15 SL's, but with all the Olympics episodes the R15 recording capacity has beenn pretty consistenly at the 25% remaining mark or less. 

Also, as you know I have been consistently reporting NO caller ID issues. 

*sigh* No more.

This morning I had my first "freezing" incident. Black screen, MyVOD items would work, but could tune in no channels. Did a soft reset (from the Menu) everything appears to work fine. 

Then, while perusing the posts related to the new software and some complaints about Caller ID, I did my usual comparison with my hard-wired phone. I am sad to report that my caller ID stopped working at 21 calls. 

I will keep close track after the reset to see if any problems reccur. 

Mike


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## grifta67

Seems that I've been having more problems with this latest update.

Today I hit my first major problem. I ended up with the picture and audio shrunk to the top corner, but the rest of the screen completely black where the typical menus and whatnot should be.

I had been scrolling through my history to *try* and figure out why a program didn't tape last night. When I got about 25 lines down, it stopped scrolling. Exit eventually got me out of the menus, but then nothing else would respond. A few minutes later, I hit List, and it shrunk the video like normal, but the rest of the screen appeared black.

As for SL's, I'm quickly losing hope. It seems that with Lost, its completely backwards. After the update, it wanted to tape the pilot episode that aired last week. Definately not a first run episode. Now, thank goodness I was looking through the todo, because the box decided that it wasn't going to tape next week's Lost, which is in fact a new episode.


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## Guest

I have an R15-500 (Humax) with version 10A3 software. Last evening while watching a previously recorded program I pressed PAUSE and then performed a "search by title". A program in the TO DO list started recording while the search was in progress. The Blue Circle light indicated the DVR was in PAUSE but it would not respond to buttons pressed on the remote or from the front panel. I waited about 10 minutes before giving up and doing a "red button reset". After the restart it began recording the show it was allegedly recording before the reset but lost the first part of the show.

Another problem...
While in PRIORITIZER I highlighted a title, pressed the DASH key twice to delete it but nothing happened. Pressing the cursor buttons resulted in the "bonk" sound. I waited a few more minutes but the screen didn't change. I decided to try pressing the BACK key and the screen refreshed and the title I tried to delete was removed. I shouldn't have had to press the BACK key for the screen to refresh should I? 

Other nuisances have occurred but I'll postpone sharing them until I'm sure I can reproduce them. I'll be keeping my fingers, toes and everything else crossed hoping for more software patches soon to resolve these issues.

By the way, I mentioned to a Level 2 technician at D* about some of the issues mentioned on this forum and he had no record of some of them. So please help escalate research and resolution by reporting your problems to DIRECTV Technical Support. Just because they are mentioned on this forum doesn't mean that DIRECTV knows about them unless our trusty moderator Earl is sharing everything with his insider. Even if so, additional calls would help DIRECTV gauge the magnitude and urgency of some of the issues we are having with the R15.

That's my 2 cents. Thanks for reading and sharing.

TJ in Atlanta


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## Earl Bonovich

I can assure you, the Development team for the R15 knows of our issues and knows about our posts here.

Just because the Level 2 Tech doesn't have an updated memo on what is being worked on by the Dev team... doesn't mean they don't know about it.


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## samo

First lock-up after update. Turned TV on and black screen but sound OK. Not responding to any remote buttons. Red button reset fixed it but of course lost the guide.


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## Bobman

grifta67 said:


> I ended up with the picture and audio shrunk to the top corner, but the rest of the screen completely black where the typical menus and whatnot should be.


That happened to me with every update so far.


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## dfoxy

I have been lurking here for the last 3 weeks since I got my R15 - 500. After installing it upgraded to 109A, never received 109F, but it has upgraded to 10A3 now.

Since the upgrade last week the unit has locked up several times. I had not been experiencing this problem with 109A. 

I have managed to reproduce one of the lockup scenarios, hopefully DTV will read and feed to their SW department.

Step 1: Go to series link, prioritizer
Step 2: Go to SL that has no upcoming episodes
Step 3: When propmted to delete SL or not, hit not
Step 4: Reboot

There also seems to be a variation on Step 3. When I went back to reproduce, I tried to hit the 'exit' button on the remote, that caused the lockup as well.

When I tried to recreate again, on the screen that prompted me to delete the empty SL, I hit 'menu'. This took me to the menu successfully. However, within a couple menu navigations later the system locked up again.

The other lock ups I have experienced have related to FF-RW through commercials. I usually FF at x3, but occasionally I hit the button and go to x4. When I try to hit RR to slow to x3, sometime it works, sometimes it gets ignored, FF to end of show, and locks up. This does not at all seem to be reproducable 100% of the time. However, it seems to be 1 in 3 or 4. As I said, I haven't figured out an exact pattern to reproduce. Buy, hopefully this will point someone in the right direction.

Dave


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## zortapa

Bud33 said:


> My selected Custom Channels have not changed. Just resets from Custom 1 to All chennels.


Bud66, That is exactly the point. My autorecord was using the custom channels to determine the channels on which to record the various olympics programs. When the update reset this to use all channels, my autorecord decided to record programs on channels that _I DO NOT GET_. So, while this reset from custom channels to all channels may seem trivial to some of you, it totally mucked up the autorecord function which is intended to record across multiple channels.

The bottom line -- *updates BREAK autorecords, and DTV MUST fix this!*


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## Earl Bonovich

The "update" didn't break auto-record

The reboot of the unit, caused you to go back to ALL channels... not the contents of the update.

Same thing would happen if you lost power and the system rebooted.

What "could" be added and fixed, is that the unit remembers the preferences and resets those on a reboot/power up.

What also changed (about a week or so ago), is that the R15's stopped auto-detecting the channels you recieve. It didn't work 100% and thus it would not allow you to record on channels you did recieve in some cases.

*THAT* piece of code and logic, needs to be corrected. And from what I have been told.. Pieces of *THAT* particular puzzle fall outside the R15 development team.... but ultimately it still is DirecTV's responsibility to get all their ducks in a row.


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## Guest

I performed a "find by title" for ALL categories last evening while a recording was in progress. The search started and then the unit froze and wouldn't respond to remote or buttons on front panel. I did a red button reset and everything proceeded as usual up to the point the blue circle light turned on. At the point where I would normally get the "acquiring information from satellite" message I got a black screen instead. The unit would not respond to ANY buttons. I powered off the unit for 30 *minutes*, plugged it in, same problem. Three more attempts (I'm a patient & persistent kind of guy) yielded the same problem. D* Tier 2 Technical Support suspects hard drive died and is sending a replacement. At least she added the STARZ and ENCORE channels to my account for free for three months to help compensate for my troubles. Another day in the life of an R15.


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## Wolffpack

tmj30122 said:


> I performed a "find by title" for ALL categories last evening while a recording was in progress. The search started and then the unit froze and wouldn't respond to remote or buttons on front panel. I did a red button reset and everything proceeded as usual up to the point the blue circle light turned on. At the point where I would normally get the "acquiring information from satellite" message I got a black screen instead. The unit would not respond to ANY buttons. I powered off the unit for 30 *minutes*, plugged it in, same problem. Three more attempts (I'm a patient & persistent kind of guy) yielded the same problem. D* Tier 2 Technical Support suspects hard drive died and is sending a replacement. At least she added the STARZ and ENCORE channels to my account for free for three months to help compensate for my troubles. Another day in the life of an R15.


Have you tried hitting the POWER button on the front? I've had this happen twice. Hello message comes up then blank screen. Hit reset nothing. Press the POWER button and bingo. Everything normal.


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## ISWIZ

Agreed, going to standby seems to "fix" freezes quickly. Like it needs that extra processing power.


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## Guest

Wolffpack said:


> Have you tried hitting the POWER button on the front? I've had this happen twice. Hello message comes up then blank screen. Hit reset nothing. Press the POWER button and bingo. Everything normal.


Thanks for the suggestion! I did try the POWER button on the front but nothing happened. Even after unplugging the unit for 30 minutes and then powering up it would not restart properly. I could hear the hard drive spin up but the buttons wouldn't function (including POWER) and after a restart I got the initial blue "Hello..." and "Almost there..." screens followed by a black screen. I think this box did indeed die on me.

I exchanged the unit at Best Buy this afternoon. Then it took over 45 minutes on the phone with D* customer service and technical support to get it activated. Now I get to rebuild all my SL's (appx 30) but I think I'll wait until most of the guide data repopulates first. I'm using my standalone TiVo as a backup in the interim.

If you made it this far, thanks for letting me vent. I know the R15 has a lot of potential but I have a feeling our patience will be thoroughly tested first.


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## Wolffpack

I agree, give the guide time to get there, then work on rebuilding your SL's. Godd luck!!!


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## w3syt

I waited for updating to 10a3 before deciding that the R15 is just not going to do. The worst problems are fractured recordings as short as 5 minutes successfully recorded. It will record a show not even asked for. Some SLs (Dr Phil and Jim Lehrer News for example) must be entered individually day by day, the double click on record does not function for these shows. Most shows do take the double click OK.

Unfortunately I turned in my $100 refund already, but, I'll call tech support and see what they have to say. The R15 is a flop.


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## Igor

Directv seems to pushing updates quickly, we had 109F and than 10A3 separated by a week or so. Let's cross our fingers, something else with SL fix may be coming soon.


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## Wolffpack

Vitor said:


> Directv seems to pushing updates quickly, we had 109F and than 10A3 separated by a week or so. Let's cross our fingers, something else with SL fix may be coming soon.


And what did we get with 109F and 10A3? Only consensus I've seen is faster guides. Anything else fixed that we can verify?

Doesn't matter the number of releases, what matters is the quality of releases.


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## Wolffpack

w3syt said:


> I waited for updating to 10a3 before deciding that the R15 is just not going to do. The worst problems are fractured recordings as short as 5 minutes successfully recorded. It will record a show not even asked for. Some SLs (Dr Phil and Jim Lehrer News for example) must be entered individually day by day, the double click on record does not function for these shows. Most shows do take the double click OK.
> 
> Unfortunately I turned in my $100 refund already, but, I'll call tech support and see what they have to say. The R15 is a flop.


Maybe this points to guide data again. I know, weak, if DTV is sending out the guide they oughta be able to fix the fricking data.

But, I just added Dr. Phil, aired on local Channel PN3 as a SL with no problem. It has also appeared in my TODO list, no problem. Are you saying your version of Dr. Phil cannot be added as a SL? Is it on a local channel? Mine is and works fine.

w3sylt if you cannot create a SL for DR. Phil from your local station and I can, that's gotta be data from the guide.


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## Calebrot

Wolffpack said:


> And what did we get with 109F and 10A3? Only consensus I've seen is faster guides. Anything else fixed that we can verify?
> 
> Doesn't matter the number of releases, what matters is the quality of releases.


One thing that I noticed that is fixed is now if you change anything in the series link like change from default of keep 5 to keep all (99)., and First Run, Repeats,Both, they now all keep what you save. Remember when would first go to the screen it would be default except until you moved your cursor over and then it changed to your settings, well that's fixed, and as far as series links are concerned I haven't noticed many missing episodes, just an over abundance of repeat recordings. Can't really comment on either of those though because I have only had this up and running since Thursday when I restarted the whole process. We'll know better after a full week or two.


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## MrCuda74

R15 is worthless to me. I hardly ever even watch anything on it. I bought it to separate and hold more than just my HR10-250 could hold. So I could record certain non-HD shows on the R15 while keeping mainly HD stuff on the HR10. But after losing many first-runs and repeats being recorded causing shows to get deleted as I had it set at keep 5 I am back to recording everything on the HR10 and just have to be vigilant in watching things to not run out of space. I have been trying the R15 out a little more since the newest 10A3 release came out but it locks up twice as much as it used to. Don't know if anything else is fixed and working better as it won't stay running long enough to put it to the test. Someone at DirecTV ought to be put in jail for scamming everyone with such a piece of junk. It sure doesn't perform as advertised.


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## zortapa

Earl Bonovich said:


> The "update" didn't break auto-record
> 
> The reboot of the unit, caused you to go back to ALL channels... not the contents of the update.
> 
> Same thing would happen if you lost power and the system rebooted.
> 
> What "could" be added and fixed, is that the unit remembers the preferences and resets those on a reboot/power up.
> 
> What also changed (about a week or so ago), is that the R15's stopped auto-detecting the channels you recieve. It didn't work 100% and thus it would not allow you to record on channels you did recieve in some cases.
> 
> *THAT* piece of code and logic, needs to be corrected. And from what I have been told.. Pieces of *THAT* particular puzzle fall outside the R15 development team.... but ultimately it still is DirecTV's responsibility to get all their ducks in a row.


Earl, Thanks for beating me over the head about this one. I understand what you are saying here (and in other threads) about this issue. However, with all due respect, your statements are not entirely correct, or, at least they do not agree with my experience.

Specifically, I setup my Olympics autorecord on 2/11/06. My R15 froze on 2/17/06, 4 days before we got the 10A3 update. When it froze, it needed to be rebooted. After the (red button) reboot, my R15 was still using CUSTOM1 which I had previously defined to be the channels that I receive. In other words, I rebooted my R15 when it was still using 109A and the reboot had no ill effects on my autorecord. _It was only after the 10A3 update that my autorecord started to use channels that I do not receive._

Disclaimer: I certainly do not know as much as you do about this machine, and I have no idea why my experience differs from your understand of how this thing works or is suppsoed to work. All I can do is detail what actually happened and hope that the DTV programmers can sort it out.


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## Earl Bonovich

And that is a fair observation on your part...

It wasn't my intent to "beat" you over the head... not my style.

What I "think" has occured, is that two things happened at "virtually" the same time. 10A3 came down.... And they changed the authorization coding in the stream, to make the R15's think they get ALL channels.

It is hard to test now, since we are all on 10A3... but, I don't think the Custom channels have any affect on the AutoRecord logic. 

I only think the Custom channels effect the GUIDE listings.


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## zortapa

I guess that could be the cause, do you know exactly when the change to the authorization coding in the stream occurred? If this did not happen Monday evening/Tuesday morning, then I'm not sure that it was close enough to the start of my autorecord problems to be the culprit.

FWIW, after I learned about this stream change, I reset my default back again to CUSTOM 1 (which I had previously defined to be the channels that I receive). It seemed (but I am not 100% sure of this) that the autorecord started to use the correct channel set again. So, was the change to the stream a one-time change or is it continuous and ongoing?

It's too bad that I cannot continue testing this since the olympics are over. And the reason that I cannot be certain that the autorecord started to work again is because last Tuesday evening I had to make a substantial number of manual changes to what was being recorded on which channel, and I did not document those manual changes. Nevertheless, I think that all the Saturday and Sunday recordings were correctly scheduled by the autorecord.....


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## Earl Bonovich

I believe it changed on Sunday... at least parts of it did.
As we where able to start recording the Encore/Starz preview weekend on Sunday


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## masterwolfe

Lots of 'freezes' from the remote here, where NONE of the buttons (including power) have any effect, but the light flashes on the box showing it is working. Only thing which will cause it to work, is a reset from the box. Wasn't happening before the 'fix'  and when it is working, seems to be MUCH slower.


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## cabanaboy1977

masterwolfe said:


> Lots of 'freezes' from the remote here, where NONE of the buttons (including power) have any effect, but the light flashes on the box showing it is working. Only thing which will cause it to work, is a reset from the box. Wasn't happening before the 'fix'  and when it is working, seems to be MUCH slower.


I'm also having alot of freeze to. They didn't stop happening uptill after the 109F was in the stream and are still happening with the 10A3. It's getting annoying having to reboot them every or every other day. I only had to reboot them once each before 109F and 10A3. I was mostly happy untill these updates came out. Faster GUI is good but not if you have to reset it every day. Luckly I haven't had to reset it while is was recording anything but I know with the previous versions it wouldn't give you two partial's it would just delete the first half of what had recorded. I hope they fixed this I know the UTV would just split it into 2 recorded partials and I assume that Tivo does that too.


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## zortapa

Earl Bonovich said:


> I believe it changed on Sunday... at least parts of it did.
> As we where able to start recording the Encore/Starz preview weekend on Sunday


Earl,
Let me see if I understand this:
- Some folks were unable to view the Encore/Starz preview using their R15. This is presumably because they had defined their custom channels to be some function of "Channels I receive", i.e., some users had blocked the Encore/Starz channels on their R15s. 
- So, some users complained that they could not view the preview and D* decided to reset ALL R15s back to view all channels, and while they placated some users they also messed up other users.

Hummmmm....

1. It seems that D* had not thought about the potential clash between FAVORITES and free previews. Let's see if they get this resolved in time for the upcoming HBO/Cinemax preview in a couple weeks.

2. This is a classic example of why D* should not rollout fixes/updates before then are thoroughly tested. PLEASE, no more knee-jerk reactions!

3. I guess that I can buy your explanation with the given timeframe. Supposing that the stream change occurred on Sunday, my autorecords for Monday were probably already defined. Then 10A3 came, and I noticed problems with the autorecord. I then made the manual corrections to my recordings on Tueday evening. On Wed I changed favorites form ALL channels back to custom 1 (presumably after the stream had reverted back to normal), and this allowed my autorecord to correctly capture the last few days of the olympics.

Wow! What a mess! At least my mind is a little more at ease given that this all seems to be plausible.


----------



## Bobman

Could people that have lockups please state what they were doing when the lockup happened ? This way others can see if thats their problem too or so that people can try to duplictate it.


----------



## Wolffpack

Bobman said:


> Could people that have lockups please state what they were doing when the lockup happened ? This way others can see if thats their problem too or so that people can try to duplictate it.


Maybe also list the number of SLs and how many entries you have in MYVOD.


----------



## cabanaboy1977

Bobman said:


> Could people that have lockups please state what they were doing when the lockup happened ? This way others can see if thats their problem too or so that people can try to duplictate it.





Wolffpack said:


> Maybe also list the number of SLs and how many entries you have in MYVOD.
> 3 R15's
> 
> #1: 36 SL, usally between 60-70% free in MYVOD
> 
> #2: 34 SL, usally between 60-70% free in MYVOD
> 
> #3: ~20 SL, don't know much else as the roomate uses it
> 
> I only get lockups in the GUI. Doesn't seem to matter where I go in the GUI. I've had the same number of SL on number 1 and 2 and didn't have reset issues untill after 109F was released and I've had these since the start of Dec.


----------



## masterwolfe

This morning, for instance, I got up, turned on the TV and R15, and some soft porn was playing on Showtime. Not what I want to see first thing in the morning  so I went to the guide. :sure: Well...... I tried to go to the guide, but nothing happened. So I tried various other buttons, the yellow power light on the box blinks when I press a button, but that is ALL that happens. And yes, I waited several minutes more than once to see if it unfroze, to no avail.
As to the ?'s, I generally have 80% or better free space, have about 12 SL's, and at a guess about 10 entries in my VOD


----------



## Wolffpack

I've taken the last few days to load up 20 SLs with 92 items in the todo list. Running about 80% on MYVOD and I have not run into a freeze but I have run into slow response time that would be seen as a freeze.

I was watching a show that was being recorded but I was watching it live. Tried to jump back a few times and the picture froze. Not blank, as if I has pressed pause. Tried all combinations of buttons on the remote. Power light would blink as the unit was receiving the remote signals but no response. I left for lunch came back about 40 minutes later and the DTV logo was floating around the screen. Pressed PLAY and the show resumed from where it was hung.

I'm guessing maybe these are not real freeze issues but maybe multi-minute response time issues.


----------



## ISWIZ

Wolffpack said:


> I've taken the last few days to load up 20 SLs with 92 items in the todo list. Running about 80% on MYVOD and I have not run into a freeze but I have run into slow response time that would be seen as a freeze.
> 
> I was watching a show that was being recorded but I was watching it live. Tried to jump back a few times and the picture froze. Not blank, as if I has pressed pause. Tried all combinations of buttons on the remote. Power light would blink as the unit was receiving the remote signals but no response. I left for lunch came back about 40 minutes later and the DTV logo was floating around the screen. Pressed PLAY and the show resumed from where it was hung.
> 
> I'm guessing maybe these are not real freeze issues but maybe multi-minute response time issues.


The one thing I found that works on those is going into standby (power button on remote). If I did that and waited say 10 seconds and brought it back on, usually it was good to go again. It's like it has to flush it's buffers or something.


----------



## Wolffpack

ISWIZ said:


> The one thing I found that works on those is going into standby (power button on remote). If I did that and waited say 10 seconds and brought it back on, usually it was good to go again. It's like it has to flush it's buffers or something.


Stand by "PWR" did nothing other than the POWER light blinked. At lease in the 10 minutes or so I waited before I left for lunch.


----------



## masterwolfe

Wolffpack said:


> Stand by "PWR" did nothing other than the POWER light blinked. At lease in the 10 minutes or so I waited before I left for lunch.


Exactly, when mine freezes like that, PWR (either one) has no effect.


----------



## ISWIZ

:scratch: Bummer!


----------



## Wolffpack

masterwolfe said:


> Exactly, when mine freezes like that, PWR (either one) has no effect.


The two times today when this has happened it eventually came back. I just let it sit. I don't think it's hung (ie no solution other than reset) I think it's busy doing something else and cannot devote enough processor power to respond to the UI.

If so, multi-tasking needs some adjustment there. Never should a unit such as this "appear" hung to the user. If nothing else, spawn off sub-processes that handle whatever major task it needs to complete at a lower priority but return to the user right away.

Or, do as the Tivo does when you change priorities in your SPs. Come up with a message, "this may take a few minutes". At least the user knows not to reset/unplug the unit and muck up more things.


----------



## masterwolfe

Wolffpack said:


> The two times today when this has happened it eventually came back. I just let it sit. I don't think it's hung (ie no solution other than reset) I think it's busy doing something else and cannot devote enough processor power to respond to the UI.
> 
> If so, multi-tasking needs some adjustment there. Never should a unit such as this "appear" hung to the user. If nothing else, spawn off sub-processes that handle whatever major task it needs to complete at a lower priority but return to the user right away.
> 
> Or, do as the Tivo does when you change priorities in your SPs. Come up with a message, "this may take a few minutes". At least the user knows not to reset/unplug the unit and muck up more things.


And I actually have given it a few minutes, couldn't say how much, say long enough to go potty :grin: or get a drink, that sort of thing, so five, ten minutes, and no noticeable changes.


----------



## ISWIZ

Wolffpack said:


> Or, do as the Tivo does when you change priorities in your SPs. Come up with a message, "this may take a few minutes". At least the user knows not to reset/unplug the unit and muck up more things.


Oh please no! How about, "grab a beer we'll be right back"?:lol:


----------



## ISWIZ

Wolffpack said:


> Or, do as the Tivo does when you change priorities in your SPs. Come up with a message, "this may take a few minutes". At least the user knows not to reset/unplug the unit and muck up more things.


Oh please no! Besides, it's probably patented, how about, "grab a beer we'll be right back"?:lol:


----------



## Malibu13

Stats from a "low-end" user:

2 R15's

#1......20 SL......48 TDL......VOD=64%........1 FREEZE (Delay 1 minute), NO 
LOCKUPS REQUIRING RESET, OR LOST RECORDINGS SINCE 10A3, BUT 
STILL SEEING REPEATS, FF TO PLAY RESPONSE QUICKER, GUI SPEED 
EQUALLY THE SAME AS PRIOR TO 10A3.

#2......9 SL......24TDL......VOD=88%........NO FREEZES, LOCKUPS, OR LOST 
RECORDINGS SINCE 10A3, BUT STILL SEEING REPEATS, GUI FASTER 
(POST 10A3,) FF TO PLAY RESPONSE QUICKER.

Software upgrade went from 108f directly to 10A3 on both units.


----------



## Wolffpack

ISWIZ said:


> Oh please no! Besides, it's probably patented, how about, "grab a beer we'll be right back"?:lol:


I really do like that message better. Actually DTV could sell ad space.

"Grab an Ice Cold {XXXXX} while you wait for your R15 to respond." Then the unit just rotates through those that have paid the ad rates to be listed. Wow, that would work.


----------



## TimGoodwin

I've F-in had it with this piece of junk!! Back to the Direct Tivo!


----------



## ISWIZ

Wolffpack said:


> I really do like that message better. Actually DTV could sell ad space.
> 
> "Grab an Ice Cold {XXXXX} while you wait for your R15 to respond." Then the unit just rotates through those that have paid the ad rates to be listed. Wow, that would work.


I think that's a great idea, maybe they should hold a contest for users to submit "non-critical" programming ideas.

The winner could get a new R15


----------



## zortapa

Earl,
OK, I am now convinced. I've just found that 2 other autorecords that I have defined are still recording programs on channels that I do not get even though my favorites is set to custom 1 (which is a subset of the channels that I receive). So, I guess D* has totally neutered the autorecord functionality of the R15 by changing the stream content. I hereby withdraw my claim that 10A3 caused all my autorecord problems.


----------



## masterwolfe

I have American Idol set for a SL, and I had to manually tell it to record tonights show, happens often, before AND after the update.


----------



## Manchesters

Well, I did find out something the other night---when in the prioritizer, do not hit MENUE. It locked up tighter than a rusted bolt!

Also, I think I am having the S/L problem. When I go into the TODO list, certain programs are not listed, yet when I click on them in MENUE, it says that every episode will be recorded. And there is no "R" showing for that show in the grid. If I deleted the S/L and then re-enter it, it takes and then shows up in TODO and shows the "R" in the program guide.

And I still get those times where it stops responding to the remote. And another remote related issue is that when I fast forward and then go back to "PLAY", the blue light on the dial continues to whirl around and around and around.....until I put it on pause. Then when I start to PLAY again, the light continues to fade in and out as tho it were still on pause.:nono:


----------



## ISWIZ

masterwolfe said:


> I have American Idol set for a SL, and I had to manually tell it to record tonights show, happens often, before AND after the update.


Same with mine yet the DTivo finds them correctly.


----------



## MrCuda74

Well I thought I had everything mirrored on my DirecTivo but it turns out I had missed Stargate SG-1. I had 1 new episode to watch and went to watch it today and the R15 had recorded 5 reruns that were on Monday thereby wiping out the new one since I am set at keep 5. Maybe DirecTV could replace the R15 with with a DirectVCR and I could go back to VHS tapes. Much more reliable than the R15 and less work on my part to ensure things record correctly.


----------



## MrCuda74

Oh by the way...while in Best Buy today an older couple were looking at buying 2 R15's. I talked to them and they have never had satellite just cable. Needless to say after I told them about the piece of junk the R15 is they opted to stick with cable for now or at least look into Dish Network which I couldn't comment on. Up until the R15 I raved and raved about my DirecTivo's and several people I know bought themselves some on my recommendation. I know my recommendations against the R15 aren't going to hurt DirecTV but it sure makes me feel better.


----------



## ISWIZ

:icon_lame

Opps, that was supposed to be WELCOME, or was it



MrCuda74 said:


> Oh by the way...while in Best Buy today an older couple were looking at buying 2 R15's. I talked to them and they have never had satellite just cable. Needless to say after I told them about the piece of junk the R15 is they opted to stick with cable for now or at least look into Dish Network which I couldn't comment on. Up until the R15 I raved and raved about my DirecTivo's and several people I know bought themselves some on my recommendation. I know my recommendations against the R15 aren't going to hurt DirecTV but it sure makes me feel better.


----------



## zortapa

... and my mother and father called me last night to thank me once again for purchasing an R15 for them. They simply cannot believe how easy it is for them to record and watch shows that they would have missed in the past.

... and this is from a woman who still has not figured out how to use a VCR!


----------



## MrCuda74

Sorry but I've been a Tivo user since the 1st year they hit the shelves and have never had the kind of problems like I have and do with the R15. Not even close. I'm sure many people are happy and think the problems are normal if they have never used Tivo. I for one think we R15 users are all Alpha testing the product for DirecTV. It's not even good enough to call it Beta testing. I just think it is wrong to charge someone a monthly fee for something that doesn't do as advertised. If they would just fix the rerun issue and the not recording all SL episodes issue I could live with the rest of the problems.


----------



## Calebrot

Last night I was recording on both tuners. I was recording from 8:00-9:00 on CBS NCIS, and Deal or No Deal on NBC. Between 9:00 and 11:00, I was taping Amazing Race on CBS, and Scrubs (2 episodes) on NBC from 9-10, and Boston Legal on ABC from 10-11. There is a reason why I listed everything. I was actually watching CBS while it was taping. I rewound a few time to re-see something. When it got to the commercials I would fast-forward and everytime that I would be close to catching up, I would hit the Live TV button, well everytime I did that the DVR would change channels to the other channel being recorded and freeze frame on that channel. It didn't lock up because all I would have to do is change the Channel back to Channel 4 (CBS) and it would go right away. This happened multiple times, as I am a big fan of Replay so I do it often, but everytime I hit the Live TV button, it changed channels and the screen freezed. This is a major pain in the butt!


----------



## cabanaboy1977

Calebrot said:


> I hit the Live TV button


What button are you calling the Live TV button?


----------



## Calebrot

The button to the right of the stop button the one with "->|" on it, it takes you to live TV, when watching a show that is recorded or recording.


----------



## cabanaboy1977

Calebrot said:


> The button to the right of the stop button the one with "->|" on it, it takes you to live TV, when watching a show that is recorded or recording.


Ok, I know which button you are talking about. It jumps to a 1 min before the end of a recording if you watching a MYVOD show. I haven't used it during live, or semi-live TV so I didn't know it jumps to live instead of 1 min before.


----------



## davenap

I have the Humax: 500-10A3, I also have a couple of DirecTivo's. I sure hope they work out these bugs soon. Since my R15 was upgraded to 10A3 I have had two lockups while using the Find by item. A simple reset would fix it but since I have been accessing my R15 through my Slingbox I can't reset until I get home 8 hours later, of course, missing the shows that were supposed to be recorded. Frustrating...
I called DirecTv tech support and they gave me two solutions, 
1. replace the R15 (I don't think it's a hardware issue, it's a software issue) 
2. reformat the hard drive (goodbye to show's I haven't seen yet)

I decided to do neither and wait for the next software upgrade which they say should be between 3/14 and 3/21. I just need to stop searching for new shows I guess.


----------



## wohlfie

Got home last night to find my R15-500 messed up.

Turned it on, no picture/no sound. 
Wouldn't respond to remote or power button on unit.

Left it for a while, and eventually the power button on the unit worked and turned it off. Turned it back on a bit later....still no picture/sound....BUT menus, guide, MyVOD, etc all seemed to work - just no picture or sound output!

Eventually gave up and Red Button Reset.

Worst part - the stupid thing didn't record LOST. I had checked and it was both marked in the guide and was in the TDL on Tuesday night.

Of course there is no listing in 'History".

Really ticks me off as this is the second episode of LOST it has failed to record and 90% of the reason I got the dang thing was cause I knew I wouldn't be home Wednesday nights this winter/spring.


----------



## masterwolfe

I've noticed audio dropouts on recordings, no particular show, channel, or cause. Only a second or two, but annoying, nonetheless.


----------



## cobaltblue

I would like to know if anyone else is having a problem with My VOD populating when you access it. Lately it has not been coming up. I would usually then go into Quick Menu and Open All to access My VOD. Now, from time to time Quick Menu will not appear when accessed in My VOD. Any thoughts ???


----------



## Bobman

cobaltblue said:


> My VOD populating when you access it. Lately it has not been coming up.


That is one thing I get when my box appears to lock up. Next time it happens wait 5 minutes and see it its back. Sometimes it starts working again and sometimes I needed to reset.


----------



## Guest

masterwolfe said:


> I've noticed audio dropouts on recordings, no particular show, channel, or cause. Only a second or two, but annoying, nonetheless.


I've noticed this also and related most of them to times when I was doing a "find by" in the guide while the show that experienced the dropouts was being recorded. The "find by's" that take a long time to complete are especially prone to causing the audio/video dropouts.


----------



## Guest

cobaltblue said:


> I would like to know if anyone else is having a problem with My VOD populating when you access it. Lately it has not been coming up. I would usually then go into Quick Menu and Open All to access My VOD. Now, from time to time Quick Menu will not appear when accessed in My VOD. Any thoughts ???


I've experienced this problem numerous times. Sometimes I can alternate pressing the RED and GREEN buttons and MyVOD will eventually populate. Pressing the DOWN arrow sometimes results in MyVOD displaying one additional program each time it is pressed (weird!). It seems happen with greater frequency immediately after I have adjusted the priority of several programs in the Prioritizer. Can others confirm or deny this?


----------



## cj3234

I have the 10a3 update. and it worked fine for about 4 days . i went to delete a series link in prioritizer and it froze, i turned machine off,and it wouldnt turn back on so i had to reset.I tryed it again with another series and this time it wouldnt turn off,it was froze. I called dtv just to let them know, and the adv. tech told me this was one of the reasons for the upgrade. so this cant be good. then next morning i was searching for a program and it locked up on me, had to reset again. when i got home from work, i deleted a program and it went to live mode and wouldnt do nothing. no menu, no list wouldnt even turn off. had to reset called dtv again, guy told me to format the hard drive. i was also wandering if any one has had this prob.,I've had 5 boxes so far and every one of them will lose what its recording if you reset,and this is a program i have set to record or a sl i have set to record, it seams to not save to hard drive until time is over. tivo would save as it went, so even if it lost power you had whatever had been recorded.also if it doesnt work well when your watching a program that is recording.


----------



## cabanaboy1977

cj3234, My R15's do the same thing with the frozen screens, lockups in the GUI and sometimes the power button not working at all. It's upsetting that it doesn't save the show that it is recording as a partial recording like the UTV or Tivo would do so it's best like you said to wait to reset it untill you know it's not recording anymore. I wouldn't format it, it's not going to help.


----------



## cobaltblue

While accessing the Guide last night, my R-15 would not responed when I tried to do a Date & Time search from the Quick Menu. Screen darkened as if the Quick Menu would be coming up but froze right there. I unplugged the unit and the waited the usual 30 seconds and all was eventually well. Has anyone encountered this problem ???


----------



## cabanaboy1977

cobaltblue said:


> While accessing the Guide last night, my R-15 would not responed when I tried to do a Date & Time search from the Quick Menu. Screen darkened as if the Quick Menu would be coming up but froze right there. I unplugged the unit and the waited the usual 30 seconds and all was eventually well. Has anyone encountered this problem ???


Yes, this happens to me almost every other day since the 109f/10a3 updates. It's not always in the quick menu but it has happened there too.


----------



## ScottJ

Adding to the list of issues:

I don't know the cause but my R15-500 stopped responding to remote or front panel buttons. It kept playing the recorded program I was watching but would do nothing else.

I had done nothing other than FFWD and RRWND during the first 30 minutes of the show I was watching.


----------



## Calebrot

Last night I tried to pause Live TV and it would not pause. I was watching a two hour show on History channel and was about 45 minutes into it. I then pressed record and the light came on but the buffer of the first 45 minutes was erased and the show began recording from when I pressed record instead of converting the buffer into the recording like it used to do.


----------



## laceyd

ScottJ said:


> Adding to the list of issues:
> 
> I don't know the cause but my R15-500 stopped responding to remote or front panel buttons. It kept playing the recorded program I was watching but would do nothing else.
> 
> I had done nothing other than FFWD and RRWND during the first 30 minutes of the show I was watching.


I had the opposite happen to me; whilst watching live TV yesterday, it crashed; no picture no sound. I reset it and it seemed fine.

Then I started to watch a (3hr) show in MyVOD. It restarted at 2:40 as I had left it. I then backed up to watch the first 20 minutes. After about 5 minutes, the picture went black, no sound, just a ticking noise from the hard drive. So I turned it off, unplugged, waited for it to start up again. Backed it up to the point I had been watching, and then 5 minutes later same blackout. I had to unplug/reboot *4 times* in order to watch the first 20 minutes of this show again! All I had done was FFWD and RWND. All of this unplugging/rebooting can't be good for the hard drive can it? (Not to mention that last nights 'Boondocks' which was in the ToDo list wasn't recorded, and isn't in the History list).


----------



## ApK

tmj30122 said:


> I'm using my standalone TiVo as a backup in the interim.
> 
> If you made it this far, thanks for letting me vent. I know the R15 has a lot of potential but I have a feeling our patience will be thoroughly tested first.


I'm in the same position. We just got DTV with the r15 this weekend, and after a few hours, it became clear that we still need to keep our SA Tivo. Fortunately, muti-room DTV with DVR is still cheaper than what I was paying for cable, but, as much as I love Tivo, I was hoping this 2-tuner 100-hour job would work well enough to let me cancel the Tivo and save some more money.

I'm really hoping a stable software release is on the way....or maybe I need to hit ebay for a DTivo?


----------



## cabanaboy1977

Had a black screen last night on my R15 in the bedroom. My wife and I came up stairs and see turned on the TV only to get a black screen. We were able to view MYVOD but there was only black screens on all stations. Then the GUI froze on the guide. The only thing that fixed it was resetting it via the reset button. After that the picture came back fine.


----------



## ApK

cabanaboy1977 said:


> Had a black screen last night on my R15 in the bedroom. My wife and I came up stairs and see turned on the TV only to get a black screen. We were able to view MYVOD but there was only black screens on all stations. Then the GUI froze on the guide. The only thing that fixed it was resetting it via the reset button. After that the picture came back fine.


Had the same thing happen two nights ago, but just putting it in standby for a minute fixed it for me. I noticed that not only did recorded shows play, but the show that was recording at the time it went black DID record correctly, just couldn't see it (or any other channel) live. No significant problems (beyond known bugs) since then, but the SA Tivo is now hooked to a D11 as a backup. If the R15 wasn't free and if I didn't have a Tivo, I'd be pretty annoyed, but it was, I do, and I'm just so happy to to be rid of cable, I'm willing to wait a hopefully short while for stable software.


----------



## cabanaboy1977

ApK said:


> Had the same thing happen two nights ago, but just putting it in standby for a minute fixed it for me. I noticed that not only did recorded shows play, but the show that was recording at the time it went black DID record correctly, just couldn't see it (or any other channel) live. No significant problems (beyond know bugs) since then, but the SA Tivo is now hooked to a D11 as a backup. If the R15 wasn't free and if I didn't have a Tivo, I'd be pretty annoyed, but it was, I do, and I'm just so happy to to be rid of cable, I'm willing to wait a hopefully short while for stable software.


I did try the standby too but that didn't do anything. I've been waiting and my fuse is about gone. I really want the R15 to work but I'm getting more and more annoyed every day. If it was stable and recorded shows I'd be alot more patient about feature upgrades. It's been 3 months and they haven't seem to do anything execpt make the menu's move faster and fix little things. All of which is great but it doesn't help if it won't record shows or has to be rebooted everyday.


----------



## ApK

cabanaboy1977 said:


> I did try the standby too but that didn't do anything. I've been waiting and my fuse is about gone. I really want the R15 to work but I'm getting more and more annoyed every day. If it was stable and recorded shows I'd be alot more patient about feature upgrades. It's been 3 months and they haven't seem to do anything execpt make the menu's move faster and fix little things. All of which is great but it doesn't help if it won't record shows or has to be rebooted everyday.


I hear you. I'm a software developer myself, and while I totally understand that no non-trivial system is likely to be bug-free, to not have fundimental basic functionallity working reliably at release is just not right.

Nonetheless, some people seem to be experiencing fewer significant problems than others. We only got our unit on Friday, and got the update immediately on startup. I wonder if you might want to call DTV's retention number, and see if they'll send you a fresh, new box. Perhaps a new box, with no data on it before the last update, is more reliable than an older one that has been patched while in use?


----------



## cabanaboy1977

ApK said:


> I hear you. I'm a software developer myself, and while I totally understand that no non-trivial system is likely to be bug-free, to not have fundimental basic functionallity working reliably at release is just not right.
> 
> Nonetheless, some people seem to be experiencing fewer significant problems than others. We only got our unit on Friday, and got the update immediately on startup. I wonder if you might want to call DTV's retention number, and see if they'll send you a fresh, new box. Perhaps a new box, with no data on it before the last update, is more reliable than an older one that has been patched while in use?


I'm pretty sure that a new box won't do anything for me. I have 3 R15's and two of them are causing me the issues. They both have 36ish SL. It seems that the more SL you have the more issues you have. The other R15 that my roommate uses only has 15 or so links and he hasn't had any issues with it. I'd be more likely to get a new one if other people didn't have the same issues I'm having or It wasn't happening on both of my high use R15's.


----------



## Guest

:soapbox: WARNING!

My latest gripe: Last night I was modifying several programs in the Scheduler when the screen went black except for the live video in the top right corner. I tried pressing the BACK and EXIT buttons and even put it in "standby" for several minutes. I eventually resorted to the RED RESET button, which caused me to lose every trace of the recordings that were in process at the time. I since read someone's suggestion to wait for the recording to finish before resetting. Thanks for the tip!

I have to reset this thing AT LEAST once every 48 hours since I got it, usually after modifying several programs in the Scheduler. The GUI first becomes sluggish and then eventually non-responsive. I say "non-responsive" as opposed to frozen because sometimes the video and audio continue but it won't respond when I press buttons on the remote with the exception of the POWER button.

If DIRECTV can't fix some of the major problems soon, my R15 will be disconnected, retired to a closet and replaced by a TiVo-based DVR. The $100 rebate isn't sufficient compensation in my opinion for all the frustration and missed recordings.


----------



## Wolffpack

tmj30122 said:


> :soapbox: WARNING!
> 
> My latest gripe: Last night I was modifying several programs in the Scheduler when the screen went black except for the live video in the top right corner. I tried pressing the BACK and EXIT buttons and even put it in "standby" for several minutes. I eventually resorted to the RED RESET button, which caused me to lose every trace of the recordings that were in process at the time. I since read someone's suggestion to wait for the recording to finish before resetting. Thanks for the tip!
> 
> I have to reset this thing AT LEAST once every 48 hours since I got it, usually after modifying several programs in the Scheduler. The GUI first becomes sluggish and then eventually non-responsive. I say "non-responsive" as opposed to frozen because sometimes the video and audio continue but it won't respond when I press buttons on the remote with the exception of the POWER button.
> 
> If DIRECTV can't fix some of the major problems soon, my R15 will be disconnected, retired to a closet and replaced by a TiVo-based DVR. The $100 rebate isn't sufficient compensation in my opinion for all the frustration and missed recordings.


How many SLs do you have?


----------



## cj3234

Just Had It Freeze Up On A Search Again. I Let It Set For 30 Minutes.reset,i Called Dtv Againg.guy Tells Me This Is The First Call Hes Ever Got About It Locking Up In A Search By Title.i Told Him This Is The 4th R15 I've Had, And Every One Has Done It.so He Says He Needs To Send A Tech Out To Look And Make Sure I Don't Have Any Other Problems.i Said Whatever,i Never Had Any Problem At All With My Tivo.so There Sending A Tech Out To Tell Me My Sattalitte Is All Right. I Was Just Wandering If Every One Thats Posting On This Site Is Calling Dtv And Letting Them Know Of These Problems. Because I Call Every Time I Have A Prob. I Know It Gets Old After A While, But They'll Never Tack These Probs. Serious Untill Enough People Complain About Every Little Prob. You Have . Because Untill They Do Fix These Problems Your Not Getting Your Money Worth.we Souldn't Have To Worry About Missing Our Favortite Programs Because Dtv Want To Suck Money Out Of Us,and Not Deal With Tivo No More. They Souldn't Have Put A Product On The Market With All These Bug,and Dont Say Well Tivo Was The Same.the Difference Dtv Could Have Waited Untill 2007 When There Tivo Deal Is Up, And Then Put Out A Hell Of A Good Product.instead Of Making So Many Customers Pissed Off At Them. I Was A Big Time Dtv Backer. Talked It Up All The Time.now I Wouldn't Recamind Dtv To A Person I Hate. At The Bottom Of My List On Company's Right Below Apex.


----------



## Clint Lamor

cj3234 said:


> Just Had It Freeze Up On A Search Again. I Let It Set For 30 Minutes.reset,i Called Dtv Againg.guy Tells Me This Is The First Call Hes Ever Got About It Locking Up In A Search By Title.i Told Him This Is The 4th R15 I've Had, And Every One Has Done It.so He Says He Needs To Send A Tech Out To Look And Make Sure I Don't Have Any Other Problems.i Said Whatever,i Never Had Any Problem At All With My Tivo.so There Sending A Tech Out To Tell Me My Sattalitte Is All Right. I Was Just Wandering If Every One Thats Posting On This Site Is Calling Dtv And Letting Them Know Of These Problems. Because I Call Every Time I Have A Prob. I Know It Gets Old After A While, But They'll Never Tack These Probs. Serious Untill Enough People Complain About Every Little Prob. You Have . Because Untill They Do Fix These Problems Your Not Getting Your Money Worth.we Souldn't Have To Worry About Missing Our Favortite Programs Because Dtv Want To Suck Money Out Of Us,and Not Deal With Tivo No More. They Souldn't Have Put A Product On The Market With All These Bug,and Dont Say Well Tivo Was The Same.the Difference Dtv Could Have Waited Untill 2007 When There Tivo Deal Is Up, And Then Put Out A Hell Of A Good Product.instead Of Making So Many Customers Pissed Off At Them. I Was A Big Time Dtv Backer. Talked It Up All The Time.now I Wouldn't Recamind Dtv To A Person I Hate. At The Bottom Of My List On Company's Right Below Apex.


You expect the tech's on the phone to actually be very helpful? :lol:

The standard line seems to be I have never heard of that, then sometimes followed by let me ask around then nope we have nothing on file. All of this while most of us here know thats a total crock. I guess it works well for those people who don't search on the internet when they have issues. As has been stated MANY times though the majority of us here are in the minority of the people who call them.


----------



## Calebrot

cj3234 said:


> Just Had It Freeze Up On A Search Again. I Let It Set For 30 Minutes.reset,i Called Dtv Againg.guy Tells Me This Is The First Call Hes Ever Got About It Locking Up In A Search By Title.i Told Him This Is The 4th R15 I've Had, And Every One Has Done It.so He Says He Needs To Send A Tech Out To Look And Make Sure I Don't Have Any Other Problems.i Said Whatever,i Never Had Any Problem At All With My Tivo.so There Sending A Tech Out To Tell Me My Sattalitte Is All Right. I Was Just Wandering If Every One Thats Posting On This Site Is Calling Dtv And Letting Them Know Of These Problems. Because I Call Every Time I Have A Prob. I Know It Gets Old After A While, But They'll Never Tack These Probs. Serious Untill Enough People Complain About Every Little Prob. You Have . Because Untill They Do Fix These Problems Your Not Getting Your Money Worth.we Souldn't Have To Worry About Missing Our Favortite Programs Because Dtv Want To Suck Money Out Of Us,and Not Deal With Tivo No More. They Souldn't Have Put A Product On The Market With All These Bug,and Dont Say Well Tivo Was The Same.the Difference Dtv Could Have Waited Untill 2007 When There Tivo Deal Is Up, And Then Put Out A Hell Of A Good Product.instead Of Making So Many Customers Pissed Off At Them. I Was A Big Time Dtv Backer. Talked It Up All The Time.now I Wouldn't Recamind Dtv To A Person I Hate. At The Bottom Of My List On Company's Right Below Apex.


No I am finished calling DTV with the problems, they are completely clueless, I too was offered a technician to come to my house and "show me how to use it properly." I told them to stick it, if their field techs know the same amount as the phone techs, that would be a waste of time. The problems that we report here are reported to DirecTV via Earl and Donnie (Forum Mods) so I just decided I was not calling DTV anymore and just reporting problems here and they will get reported to DTV through the proper channels instead of to a clueless CSR. Just because you call and speak to a CSR doesn't mean they follow through with the paperwork of reporting the problem to the right source, I would imagine they don't report half of what they hear because they always first go to the "user doesn't know how to use it" route in their troubleshooting steps.


----------



## ISWIZ

Let's hope they do not use the same search engine to look for problem reports that they put in the R15 for Find By.:lol:


----------



## pjo1966

cj3234 said:


> Just Had It Freeze Up On A Search Again. I Let It Set For 30 Minutes.reset,i Called Dtv Againg.guy Tells Me This Is The First Call Hes Ever Got About It Locking Up In A Search By Title.i Told Him This Is The 4th R15 I've Had, And Every One Has Done It.so He Says He Needs To Send A Tech Out To Look And Make Sure I Don't Have Any Other Problems.i Said Whatever,i Never Had Any Problem At All With My Tivo.so There Sending A Tech Out To Tell Me My Sattalitte Is All Right. I Was Just Wandering If Every One Thats Posting On This Site Is Calling Dtv And Letting Them Know Of These Problems. Because I Call Every Time I Have A Prob. I Know It Gets Old After A While, But They'll Never Tack These Probs. Serious Untill Enough People Complain About Every Little Prob. You Have . Because Untill They Do Fix These Problems Your Not Getting Your Money Worth.we Souldn't Have To Worry About Missing Our Favortite Programs Because Dtv Want To Suck Money Out Of Us,and Not Deal With Tivo No More. They Souldn't Have Put A Product On The Market With All These Bug,and Dont Say Well Tivo Was The Same.the Difference Dtv Could Have Waited Untill 2007 When There Tivo Deal Is Up, And Then Put Out A Hell Of A Good Product.instead Of Making So Many Customers Pissed Off At Them. I Was A Big Time Dtv Backer. Talked It Up All The Time.now I Wouldn't Recamind Dtv To A Person I Hate. At The Bottom Of My List On Company's Right Below Apex.


ouch.


----------



## mjh456

Today, turned the TV on and got a black screen. No programs, but remote buttons seem to work otherwise. Did a soft reset and programs came back, but it did not record a program I had set for a few hours earlier. This seems to happen more often with 10A3 (at least for me) than it did before the update.


----------



## Guest

Wolffpack said:


> How many SLs do you have?


Wolff, I currently have 33 SLs, down from 42. I decided to drop several SLs in hopes that it might reduce the number of freezes I've been having. So far I've had good luck. I'm afraid to access the SCHEDULER for fear of it freezing and requiring another reset. I'm VERY close to saying to hell with it and having it taken off my account.

I believe I read where I can send the box back to DIRECTV in lieu of fulfilling the 2-year programming commitment or paying up to $300 cancellation penalty. That's beginning to look like an attractive option. I really want to like this box but it's becoming more difficult with each passing day.


----------



## Bobman

tmj30122 said:


> I'm afraid to access the SCHEDULER for fear of it freezing and requiring another reset.


99% of my lockups and problems come in the to do list, history and priortizer so unless I really need to go there I dont. I know this is not the way the box should work but it helps to keep me from getting frustrated. :hurah:

Just avoid the places for now until the next update.


----------



## masterwolfe

I went to watch a recorded show (Hot Pursuit from Court TV) last night, and it had no video............. sound seemed fine, I stopped the playback, regular TV was fine, other recorded shows were fine...... This is my second box, and when I got the new box Tuesday IIRC, early in the day, called DTV to activate it, and THEIR systems were down. Took me from about 11 am till almost EIGHT PM before I could activate my new box, and watch TV. I am having SERIOUS regrets about choosing DTV


----------



## Bud33

This morning, my family room R-15 turned on with a blank screen. The remote was functional and I was receiving banners but no picture.I waited about 5 minutes but it never changed. I used the red button reset, got the welcome screen, gathering data screen and then all is well. Recorded programs remain but 5 hours later, the guide is still refreshing.
This R-15 was purchased in December, and has crashed three times since the reception of 10A3. The other two failures were failure to start. Nothing worked till I reset.
My second unit was purchased in late Feb. and has never had a problem.
The only difference is that the one in the family room with failures, has two cable inputs and the other only has one.


----------



## Bobman

masterwolfe said:


> This is my second box,


Swapping boxes does not help. Chances are every problem you had with the old R-15 you will have with the new one. There is really nothing that can be done except wait for the next update. I had that same problem with DirecTv once and had to wait too.


----------



## masterwolfe

Bobman said:


> Swapping boxes does not help. Chances are every problem you had with the old R-15 you will have with the new one. There is really nothing that can be done except wait for the next update. I had that same problem with DirecTv once and had to wait too.


Well, so far I haven't had the 'no response from the remote control' issue with this one, note I said SO FAR :lol:

What makes me pissy about this all is, I had to talk my live in girlfriend into going with DTV because she had heard bad things about them. However, I had them in AZ a few years ago, and the service was great, so I talked her into it... :grin:


----------



## zortapa

Bud33 said:


> This morning, my family room R-15 turned on with a blank screen. The remote was functional and I was receiving banners but no picture.I waited about 5 minutes but it never changed. I used the red button reset, got the welcome screen, gathering data screen and then all is well. Recorded programs remain but 5 hours later, the guide is still refreshing.
> This R-15 was purchased in December, and has crashed three times since the reception of 10A3. The other two failures were failure to start. Nothing worked till I reset.
> My second unit was purchased in late Feb. and has never had a problem.
> The only difference is that the one in the family room with failures, has two cable inputs and the other only has one.


WOW! I woke up this morning to EXACTLY the same problem -- blank screen and no sound, but the banners were there. After jumping around for 3 or 4 minutes, checking TODO list, MyVOD, looking to see if it was updated overnight, it finally froze and I pulled the plug to reboot it.

For some reason I doubt that this is a coincidence. What did D* do overnight?????

Finally, re the guide refresh, it will take 24-48 hours after any reset/reboot to completely download the guide data.


----------



## cabanaboy1977

zortapa said:


> WOW! I woke up this morning to EXACTLY the same problem -- blank screen and no sound, but the banners were there. After jumping around for 3 or 4 minutes, checking TODO list, MyVOD, looking to see if it was updated overnight, it finally froze and I pulled the plug to reboot it.
> 
> For some reason I doubt that this is a coincidence. What did D* do overnight?????
> 
> Finally, re the guide refresh, it will take 24-48 hours after any reset/reboot to completely download the guide data.


I had this happen acouple of nights ago but it was only on one of my r15's. Think it's just another wonderful bug.


----------



## Rsudol

I had a problem where as i turned my tv and home theater rcvr on and the r15 was on a black screen and only had audio going, no display. i tired everything to get into it. I ended up having to unplug the unit to let it go thru a reboot.


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## flynlr

cabanaboy1977 said:


> I had this happen acouple of nights ago but it was only on one of my r15's. Think it's just another wonderful bug.


Ditto this has happened twice to mine in the last week... soft reset did the trick but 
Im pissed about having to reenter my zip for weather data every time and of course waiting for guide info


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## ApK

After a week with no serious problems, had the R15 lock up twice this weekend after going into standby. Would shut off, and then become unresponsive to the remote and the power button. One of the times it was recording and the rec light stayed lit. A red button reset brought it back both times, but it cost me an epsiode of Columbo.....


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## DFDureiko

I've had the R15 just over a month, experianced my first freezup sunday monring, while recording CBS Sunday morning and I was in the "list". thinking Sunday Morning was recording I waited till 10.30 to push the reset button.......no Sunday morning in the list.
and last night Desparate Housewives only recorded the FIRST 30 MINUTES.
other than the first run/repeat series link issues I had been problem free till then.
I'll call DTV,,,,,,even thought there is nothing they can do......simply to registar my complaint........
anyone have any idea when the next software update should be???
Dan


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## carl6

I had seen posts indicating the next software release is expected sometime later this month. Earl has said things to the effect of "very soon" in a couple of posts recently. But - until it shows up we really won't know for sure.

Carl


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## agfthird

Just had my first freezeafter a month of R-15. Was searching on title "Geronimo", got to the GE and unit paused. After 10 minutes, I couldn't power down, exit out, so I reset. Of course, lost the guide and it looked like my SLs were screwed up do to empty guide data. Sure hope they fix this. Makes me want to go back to my Samsung 4080 which is still hooked up. Other annoyance, needing to use the word "the" in searches for, "the Sopranos", The Shield", come on with this. Also could not find "The Closer" with search by title eventhough it was in guide for 10p last nite USA.


----------



## Rsudol

Last night i was catching up on some shows and while watching a live one thru playback, when the show finished recording even though i was about 20 minutes behind in watching it, it asked me all of a sudden if i wanted to delete, then i said no, and it took me to myvod and asked me again, I said no and then had to start all over again watching it in FF.


----------



## cabanaboy1977

Rsudol said:


> Last night i was catching up on some shows and while watching a live one thru playback, when the show finished recording even though i was about 20 minutes behind in watching it, it asked me all of a sudden if i wanted to delete, then i said no, and it took me to myvod and asked me again, I said no and then had to start all over again watching it in FF.


This is an issue with the jumpback button. If your watching a show semi live and that program finishes recording, the second you hit the jumpback button it will ask you that. The only work around is to bookmark the show, not use the jumpback, or pause and exit the recording and restart it in MYVOD. A couple of other people say this happens also with out the press of the jumpback button, but hopefully yours is the issue with the jumpback button.


----------



## Earl Bonovich

Update, 10AF and 103A has been released.

However, that software release was 100% related to Series Link issues.
Thus... any true coding issues that existed in 10A3 and 1035, would still exist in this version.

So instead of starting a new thread... we will continue with this one.


----------



## masterwolfe

Hmm a new issue, or perhaps I missed any previous mention of it. The lights around the arrow buttons on the box, the blue ones...... they seem to follow what the VOD is doing, correct? Well, mine seem to randomly just move if I am watching or recording a VOD. Still waking up, so let me see if I can put this into words. 

Seems they are supposed to move clockwise when you are fast forwarding, or playing, yes? and counter-clockwise when rewinding? And the speed of the movement is related to your ff or rew speed? Well.......... mine have started either sticking, by which I mean if I rewind, then go back to play, the lights continue to move CCW. But....... sometimes they seem to do something randomly on their own volition. In other words, I won't change what the R15 is doing (or supposed to be doing  .......) but the lights will do something else.
More of an annoyance than an issue, perhaps, but in a box less than a couple of weeks old, WTF??


----------



## wohlfie

masterwolfe said:


> Seems they are supposed to move clockwise when you are fast forwarding, or playing, yes? and counter-clockwise when rewinding? And the speed of the movement is related to your ff or rew speed? Well..........


From day one I haven't been able to figure out the lights.

Typically while 'playing" mine "zoom" in and out rather than rotate, IIRC. Then they start rotating with a FF or RW, but don't go back to "zooming" when playing....almost like its trying to indicate that you are ahead or behind of a "realtime" marker that was set when you started playing.....

I have often been baffled by what info the light ring is trying to get across to me....


----------



## cabanaboy1977

wohlfie said:


> From day one I haven't been able to figure out the lights.
> 
> Typically while 'playing" mine "zoom" in and out rather than rotate, IIRC. Then they start rotating with a FF or RW, but don't go back to "zooming" when playing....almost like its trying to indicate that you are ahead or behind of a "realtime" marker that was set when you started playing.....
> 
> I have often been baffled by what info the light ring is trying to get across to me....


I don't pay much attention to them, since the boxes are near the TV's, but I've seen other post in the past that they are not displaying correctly.


----------



## wohlfie

Watched Scrubs (first episode) - Everything fine

Watched Scrubs (second episode) - Would not "jumpback", but pause and play worked so I just lived with the commercials.

Switched to Boston Legal via the Grid Guide - got picture and sound for about 3 seconds then nothing. All menu/guide functions seemed to work. Just no picture and sound. Did a menu reset and it was fine.

R15-500 running 10A3.


----------



## masterwolfe

wohlfie said:


> From day one I haven't been able to figure out the lights.
> 
> Typically while 'playing" mine "zoom" in and out rather than rotate, IIRC. Then they start rotating with a FF or RW, but don't go back to "zooming" when playing....almost like its trying to indicate that you are ahead or behind of a "realtime" marker that was set when you started playing.....
> 
> I have often been baffled by what info the light ring is trying to get across to me....


The first box I had was pretty consistent, but this second one, wow..... makes me wanna go back to my younger wilder hallucinogen days! :lol:


----------



## TivoAddict

I have Direct tv R15
shows "original version" 0x1044
"past upgrade" 0x10A3 7/21/2012 ????
my box has been to the future and back?:whatdidid 


It worked for firs t week or so i guess?:whatdidid
Now, when i try to turn the TV off... sometimes it will turn it off, others not.
When wanting to turn TV back on, usually have to change the slider button on top to TV, to get it to turn on. SOMETIMES it will work as it should while still on Direct TV mode.

When recording series, it will say set to record ALL... even though i ALWAYS set to record ONLY first run... and it does NOT seem to always show the "R" when it is set to record. I am NOT certain if the R is not shown if it does really record?:whatdidid 

In addition to the ON/OFF not working on the remote.
The box will also just stop responding...	:crying_sa
It is NOT an issue with the remote, because if i walk up to the box and try to use the arrow keys they do not work either. The lights blink so it seems to "feel" the button being hit.. but NOTHING happens. (maybe it is just on break? :smoking:

Direct Tv told me to try RESETTING the box. (and yes this works... but usually it will just start working again too?)
They also told me that if it continues i should try doing a FULL RESET-- this WIPES everything--- would have to RESET FAVORITE CHANNELS, RE inPUT all scheduled recordings... AND ALL RECORDED PROGRAMS would be lost...	:eek2:

... my guess... this WILL get the box to work again for a short time, until i have recorded shows stored, favorite channels stored, and shows scheduled to record? :hair:
SO... i think what the Direct TV guy told me... is if little is stored/saved... the box will work? 
I told him it sounded like there was a problem with the processor, or perhaps not enought memory/ resources to do all the functions the box is supposed to do.
Tech told me this was NOT the case. That it was that I JUST SIMPLY DO NOT understand computers. :nono2:
He told me that resetting is comparable with REFORMATTING my computer, and will often resolve any issues. 

My response was if i had to delete all my previously recorded programs, and additionally was going to have to completely re-program faves & scheduled shows all the time, what is the use of having these functions? :girlscrea

He again told me i just did not understand computers... and this would not be the case? :bang

!danger: Spouse is FURIOUS, :flaiming
( it was ME who said lets switch to DIRECT TV) and wants to get rid of it and go back to DISH.
(As much as this box seems to be troublesome, i still think the service is better than DISH?):icon_dumm

ANYONE have any ideas, workarounds etc?	:scratch:
Appreciate any info!	:gott:


----------



## Earl Bonovich

First... Yikes... Emotioncon Overload..... 

You have the "latest" version, since the 10AF hasn't gone national yet.
The problems you are seeing with the power on your TV... that is remote related, and is common amongst alot of users....

You may want to check www.remotecentral.com for some ideas there.

This would be a first of the unit switching to ALL when you definently tell it to record first only. (This is different to it actually recording ALL, when you say first only. As the unit dose have issues with differentating between 1st run and repeat)

There is a bug in the system, that even if the R is on a program, it doesn't actually record... the current version 10AF that is just now going out specifically addresses that.

There are times the unit is busy... but it doesn't tell you it is busy... Thus it appears to freeze. You have seen that when it stops responding then comes back... nothing you can do about it.

DON'T reformat the system... won't help you one bit.. .I really wish the CSRs would take that "solution" out of their list of things to do.

The processor and memory is fine in the unit (has the highest of any DVR released yet)... there are just bugs in the system that DirecTV is still working to get out.

Being a "TiVo" lover, you may want to consider picking up a DTivo until some of the issues are resolved with the R15... at least tha twill keep peace between you and your wife.


----------



## TivoAddict

Earl Bonovich said:


> First... Yikes... Emotioncon Overload.....
> 
> You have the "latest" version, since the 10AF hasn't gone national yet.
> The problems you are seeing with the power on your TV... that is remote related, and is common amongst alot of users....
> 
> You may want to check www.remotecentral.com for some ideas there.
> 
> This would be a first of the unit switching to ALL when you definently tell it to record first only. (This is different to it actually recording ALL, when you say first only. As the unit dose have issues with differentating between 1st run and repeat)
> 
> There is a bug in the system, that even if the R is on a program, it doesn't actually record... the current version 10AF that is just now going out specifically addresses that.
> 
> There are times the unit is busy... but it doesn't tell you it is busy... Thus it appears to freeze. You have seen that when it stops responding then comes back... nothing you can do about it.
> 
> DON'T reformat the system... won't help you one bit.. .I really wish the CSRs would take that "solution" out of their list of things to do.
> 
> The processor and memory is fine in the unit (has the highest of any DVR released yet)... there are just bugs in the system that DirecTV is still working to get out.
> 
> Being a "TiVo" lover, you may want to consider picking up a DTivo until some of the issues are resolved with the R15... at least tha twill keep peace between you and your wife.


hehe 
i am "the wife":icon_lol:
and i have a TIVO... but "he" does not like the TIVO guide. He preferred the Dish Guide, and the R15 guide is more similar to that then the Tivo Guide is!
i have TRIED to convince him to try out either the DSR7000 ir the R10-- but he is stubborn and does not want to do this!:bonk1:

I actually really LIKE a LOT of the R15 features... but it just needs to be more reliable! :new_smili
I am going to take a look at remotecentral.com
BUT i do NOT think it is going to resolve many of the problems-- when issue occurs, buttons on BOX do not work either, so it does not appear to be the remote?
MAYBE i can find a resolution to the ON/OFF issue however!	:dance01:
As ALWAYS, thanks for your HELP!  :gott:
sorry i LIKE the lil cute icons!	:icon_band


----------



## qwerty

I got 10AF
SL had been erroneously recording "day 2" of "24" at 5:00 pm (MST) on Saturdays. I deleted the SL for "24", and recreated it from the guide (Mondays "day 5' eppisode). Checked the to do list and only Mondays episode was there. Checked a few minutes ago, and it's set to record the "day 2" episode at 5 pm again. 10AF doesn't seem to have fixed 24's SL.


----------



## carl6

Hmmm. I've been recording 24 as a SL with no problems. Have been since this season started, and hasn't missed an episode. Nor has it recorded anything extra. On two separate R15's.

Carl


----------



## Earl Bonovich

qwerty said:


> I got 10AF
> SL had been erroneously recording "day 2" of "24" at 5:00 pm (MST) on Saturdays. I deleted the SL for "24", and recreated it from the guide (Mondays "day 5' eppisode). Checked the to do list and only Mondays episode was there. Checked a few minutes ago, and it's set to record the "day 2" episode at 5 pm again. 10AF doesn't seem to have fixed 24's SL.


10AF wasn't targetting the issues with First Run's vs Repeats.

It was targetting items that it said it was going to record... and didn't.

What channel is that "repeat" on, as my local Fox affiliate doesn't have it listed as a repeat?


----------



## qwerty

Earl Bonovich said:


> 10AF wasn't targetting the issues with First Run's vs Repeats.
> 
> It was targetting items that it said it was going to record... and didn't.
> 
> What channel is that "repeat" on, as my local Fox affiliate doesn't have it listed as a repeat?


Ahhh...I thought it was to fix SL's recording everything when set to first run.

It's my local Fox. Channel 21 in Colorado Springs.


----------



## carl6

R15-500, 10AF software.

Black Screen of Death - no video output for live TV. Menus work, VOD recordings play. Everything is fine except no live video. Can change channels, pull up information on the program, etc. Just no live video (or audio). 

Problem observed Saturday 3/18 at about 7 pm pacific. Last use before this was Friday 3/17 in the evening. Everything worked fine when I turned it off.

Did a reset, and all appears okay.

Carl


----------



## jimdoo

Earl Bonovich said:


> 10AF wasn't targetting the issues with First Run's vs Repeats.
> 
> It was targetting items that it said it was going to record... and didn't.
> 
> What channel is that "repeat" on, as my local Fox affiliate doesn't have it listed as a repeat?


Previously you said

"R15: Series Link Issues (SetUp and Recording)-> Soft Versions (10AF, 103A) ONLY!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Humax: 500-10AF
Philips: 300-103A

Have been released
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=54777

This release specifically targeted Series Link

Two special rules for this thread:

1) If you are having an issue with a Series Link, please delete and re-add the series link. If the problem continues, then post. Hopefully this is the last time, this particular action will be needed.
2) Only post items related to the Series Link setup and recording. In this thread.


----------



## masterwolfe

TivoAddict said:


> hehe
> i am "the wife":icon_lol:
> and i have a TIVO... but "he" does not like the TIVO guide. He preferred the Dish Guide, and the R15 guide is more similar to that then the Tivo Guide is!
> i have TRIED to convince him to try out either the DSR7000 ir the R10-- but he is stubborn and does not want to do this!:bonk1:
> 
> I actually really LIKE a LOT of the R15 features... but it just needs to be more reliable! :new_smili
> I am going to take a look at remotecentral.com
> BUT i do NOT think it is going to resolve many of the problems-- when issue occurs, buttons on BOX do not work either, so it does not appear to be the remote?
> MAYBE i can find a resolution to the ON/OFF issue however!	:dance01:
> As ALWAYS, thanks for your HELP!  :gott:
> sorry i LIKE the lil cute icons!	:icon_band


My rant from this morning on the remote issue can be read HERE and no matter how long I wait when it has done this in the past, it won't come back. I like a lot of the features as well, but even the tech support person said in her own words "this box wasn't ready to be released" :eek2:

And :goofygrin at "the wife" and a :grin: at Earl :lol:


----------



## Earl Bonovich

Jimdo...

See the link that was refered to the one that you "quoted"

http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=546982&postcount=2

The release specifically targeted Series LInks (and recordings) that the unit said it would record, but in turn didn't.

It didn't target anything to do with improving the differences between first run and re-run.


----------



## jimdoo

Earl - Thanks- 
The river still Green ??


----------



## Earl Bonovich

jimdoo said:


> Earl - Thanks-
> The river still Green ??


What shade?

The standard nasty looking green
Or the bright cheery St. Pat's green.

They died it last week.... Already back to the normal nasty shade.


----------



## pcolag8r

carl6 said:


> R15-500, 10AF software.
> 
> Black Screen of Death - no video output for live TV. Menus work, VOD recordings play. Everything is fine except no live video. Can change channels, pull up information on the program, etc. Just no live video (or audio).
> 
> Problem observed Saturday 3/18 at about 7 pm pacific. Last use before this was Friday 3/17 in the evening. Everything worked fine when I turned it off.
> 
> Did a reset, and all appears okay.
> 
> Carl


I've had this problem twice with one of my R15s, and a reset was required to fix it both times. But, this occurred on the software version prior to 10A3 (109A ?). Therefore, it's most likely not specifically related to 10AF.


----------



## cj3234

TivoAddict said:


> I have Direct tv R15
> shows "original version" 0x1044
> "past upgrade" 0x10A3 7/21/2012 ????
> my box has been to the future and back?:whatdidid
> :confused
> 
> I two Have Problem with It freezing on a Find. they told me to reformat it ,i told him it wouldn't help,but he sounded and talked to me like i was an idiot. so i did it and guess what he's the idiot. because still freezes on a find. i also read in a thread were someone posted that if you let it set for 5 minutes it will work it self out,not true ive let them set all night before and nothing,still had to reset, so if it don't unfrezze after a few minutes it's not going to.Guy at dtv also told me i was in the very little minority,that only less than 5% of the r15 are doing all the stuff that we post about,and i told him i must really be special because this is my 5th box and every one has had these same problems. so there not going to help you addict ,DTV is just out to make money,not make a quality product. They could care less about you.thats the problem line,worst company i've ever had experience with.


----------



## skitzel

I got sick of staring at this message on my screen, "acquiring guide data". So I hit the reset on the unit.


----------



## carl6

rbjorensen said:


> I've had this problem twice with one of my R15s, and a reset was required to fix it both times. But, this occurred on the software version prior to 10A3 (109A ?). Therefore, it's most likely not specifically related to 10AF.


Agreed. However it is also not corrected in 10AF, so did want to post that whatever causes this problem, it does still occur.

Carl


----------



## LacyinTX

When I got home last night my R-15 was locked up. It wouldn't turn on with the remote or when I pressed the power button on the front panel. The TV responded to the remote, but the picture and sound were just static. I had to do a red button reset. When the R15 came back on it showed that no daytime shows had been recorded. But all my night time shows recorded just fine after the reset. 

The night before, it was working just fine. I turned it off like I always do. I wasn't messing with SL's or the prioritizer or anything that would make it think too much. I was just watching TV... went to bed.. and never thought about it again until I went home after work and it was locked up.

Thank goodness I have all the same Season Passes set on my Tivo. I use the R15 for "overflow" shows I won't watch for a while, or my Soap that I have several eps stored up to watch this weekend. 

Lacy

PS my software is the update that came down 02-22-06. All the versions sound the same to me... I just know I don't have the newest one yet. Too many A's and 3's in the version names.


----------



## Earl Bonovich

Lacy...

As a "saftey" net... Check the Soap Network...

I know at least NBC and ABC (I think) are replayed there each night... and in 5 hour blocks on the weekend.


----------



## cabanaboy1977

I had my one of My R15's lockup last night too. A reset and it was ok. Wonder if the update had anything to do with it? I didn't check my verison last night but since every has it now it could have been due to that.


----------



## LacyinTX

Mine didn't show the update when I checked it first thing this morning, but when I went home at lunch, it showed that the update came in at 3:22 am this morning. So my lockup was before the update came to me. Unless, the first try at the update locked it up and it was successful on a second try.

I'll let y'all know what happens...

Earl,

Thanks for the heads up on Soap Net. Unfortunately they don't carry CBS soaps. But no worries! The Tivo recorded it for me. I have the same SL/SPs on both boxes so I can compare how they perform. I do like that the R15 shows a little broken circle in the TDL if there is a conflict, where the Tivo makes you look in the History to see what won't record and why. (Why is it History if it hasn't happend yet?  )

Lacy


----------



## slappy

This has been my first really troublesome day with the R-15 since I got it back in November.

I received the 10AF update early this morning. I've lost track of the day, but at some point in the day (either immediately before I left for work, or right after I got home) I had a lockup and had to press the red button for a reboot.

The most frustrating incident was this evening though. I had American Idol set to record from 8-10, and Scrubs set to record at 9:00 and 9:30. Idol starting recording just fine. I watched A.I. till just before 9:00, then decided to pause it and let it build up time while I did some other things around the house.

At 9:30, I came back to my television, and unpaused the R-15. It proceeded to lock up and just give me a black screen. I tried everything, but ultimately I had to reboot again. When it finally came back up, the first hour and a half of American Idol were gone, and the first episode of Scrubs was gone too. The R-15 picked back up and recorded the rest of AI and the 9:30 Scrubs though.

At 10:01, I decided to check MyVOD list again, just to see if maybe it would decide to somehow recover the missing shows. Well, I went to playback the partial Idol recording, and the receiver locked up again! I had to do another reboot.

It's always more frustrating when it decides to mess up on shows that I really enjoy watching. I think I missed out on 3 or 4 Idol performances, and a new ep. of Scrubs. :-(

Aggravating, but I guess if those are my worst problems in life, I'm doing ok.


----------



## slappy

To append my last message... after the last reboot that I mentioned, I had walked away from my living room for awhile, and hadn't touched the R-15. 

At around 10:35, I went back in, and pressed the LIST button. The receiver froze up AGAIN!

I don't know what in the world is going on.


----------



## Earl Bonovich

Slappy...

Pull the power plug... let it sit for a minute or so... the let it start up again.


----------



## slappy

Earl, thanks for the info on what to try.

This morning, I gave that a go, and left it unplugged for a couple of minutes. After I plugged it back in, I let it go through its whole reboot process. After it was booted, and station was viewable, I hit LIST, and it locked up on me again.

I did one more red button reboot, and _*knock on wood*_ things were acting ok.

Very strange... I've just got my fingers crossed that it keeps its act together tonight for recording the new ep. of LOST.  (at least I've got iTunes as a backup for that though)


----------



## Earl Bonovich

Slappy...

I don't want to sound like a CSR... 

But... if it does lock up on you again.... the next recommendation would to do the full reset of the system (where it formats everything).... but you will lose everything on the system.

I hope you don't have to go that route... but that is the last thing to try.

If it continues to lockup after that point... you may possible have a bad hard drive..
Which right now is so hard to tell because of the software issues, the hardware failure issues are getting overlooked.

Sorry for all the problems you are having.


----------



## slappy

Earl Bonovich said:


> Slappy...
> 
> I don't want to sound like a CSR...
> 
> But... if it does lock up on you again.... the next recommendation would to do the full reset of the system (where it formats everything).... but you will lose everything on the system.
> 
> I hope you don't have to go that route... but that is the last thing to try.
> 
> If it continues to lockup after that point... you may possible have a bad hard drive..
> Which right now is so hard to tell because of the software issues, the hardware failure issues are getting overlooked.
> 
> Sorry for all the problems you are having.


That's ok... I appreciate the input on the matter. I'm not getting too riled over it, since I knew there could potentially be weird problems with a new system back when I spefically ordered an R-15 from Value Electronics.

I'm hoping it will work itself out with time... and that it's just some loopy software instead of a hardware issue.

Thanks again!


----------



## masterwolfe

Well, 10AF hasn't fixed the remote issue with my second box. The box was off, not recording, I went in, turned it on, watched tv a second, hit the info button to see what I was watching, and nothing happened. Waited a couple of minutes, to no avail. Hit a couple other buttons, the power light flashes, nothing happens. Had to hit the reset button on the box. My third box is here, but I haven't bothered to hook it up yet, as we have a couple of things on this one we want to watch first. Noticed earlier when I was watching tv, it seemed to be a bit unresponsive, rather a bit slower to respond, i.e. hit a button, takes a minute for anything to happen. 
So to reiterate my feelings, if I hook up the third box tomorrow, give it a day to load up and get comfortable in its new home  and it locks up after a day or two, I'm done. I'm sorry, but there ARE other options which don't include me paying to beta test hardware for someone


----------



## cj3234

I got 10af yesterday. deleted a sl and when i turned it off it wouldn't turn on. the machine locks up about every 2 to 3 day. about the time the guide gets full it goes hay wire. i think they need to increase the sl and to do list to fix this. because i have it at 40 sl and about 60 to 70% free . it doesn't seem to be made for a heavy user yet. i think they need to work on this.


----------



## cabanaboy1977

My R15 in my bedroom lockup after getting the update. Left it over night and it was still locked. I would power on/off but the GUI wasn't working at all. Reset and it looks ok, so far.


----------



## carl6

Had an R15 that had been on for several hours, working fine. Called D* to deactivate a D11 standard receiver. Sometime after it was deactivated, I pressed the guide button on the R15 and it did a reset. That was the first command of any type I gave the R15 after the D11 reset. R15-500, software 10AF.

Carl


----------



## Earl Bonovich

Carl...

So did it reboot? Or did it go back to an out of box state?


----------



## dminyard

I don't know if this has been covered but here is an issue I have had through the 3 R15 boxes I've been through so far.

When I call up the guide, then do a category sort:movies:{whatever genre}, I get a listing of the genre I am searching for, say for example, comedy. The guide finds several hundred comedy movies, which I begin to browse through, searching for movies to record.

After several minutes of paging through the guide, the system becomes sluggish. I exit the guide and go back to watching live tv, but then the sytem locks up. Can't change channels, call up the guide, list, anything. I have noticed this behavior consistently through all 3 systems I have had (2 300's and then one 500 which I currently have). It is still doing this even after the latest upgrade.

Seems to be choking on the guide. Any thoughts, or has anyone else noticed this?


----------



## psweig

Yes, and it's doubly annoying because the R15 is so much better (than sd-DVR40) at finding the shows. It's a shame it can't scroll what its found. I expect this to be fixed quickly because it jams up everything else you try to do.


----------



## ad301

psweig said:


> Yes, and it's doubly annoying because the R15 is so much better (than sd-DVR40) at finding the shows. It's a shame it can't scroll what its found. I expect this to be fixed quickly because it jams up everything else you try to do.


See: http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=550141&postcount=79

The second paragraph explains two ways to search on the tivo based units which you are apparently not aware of. Try hitting "TiVo>6>Themes>Science Fiction>right arrow>right arrow". You will see a list, starting at the current time, of every sci fi category show, and you can scroll through the whole 12 or 13 days of data if you wish. Or, you can easily jump to any particular day and time. Or, try hitting TiVo>4>Themes>Science Fiction>0>right arrow>right arrow>right arrow>right arrow. You will see an alphabetical list of every sci fi show which you can scroll through.


----------



## carl6

Earl Bonovich said:


> Carl...
> 
> So did it reboot? Or did it go back to an out of box state?


Regular restart - not a clear and delete. As if I had pressed the red button or selected restart through the menu.

Carl


----------



## qwerty

I've had the R15 for 2 and 1/2 months with no freezes...until 2 days ago. 4 times in the last 2 days! Screen goes black, no buttons work. Had to pull the plug several times to get it working again.


----------



## Wolffpack

qwerty said:


> I've had the R15 for 2 and 1/2 months with no freezes...until 2 days ago. 4 times in the last 2 days! Screen goes black, no buttons work. Had to pull the plug several times to get it working again.


Is this since the update? 10AF?


----------



## slappy

qwerty said:


> I've had the R15 for 2 and 1/2 months with no freezes...until 2 days ago. 4 times in the last 2 days! Screen goes black, no buttons work. Had to pull the plug several times to get it working again.


Glad to see I'm not alone... that's basically the same story with me.

I had more trouble after I received the latest update on Monday morning than I'd ever had since I got the box in November. Weird...


----------



## qwerty

Wolffpack said:


> Is this since the update? 10AF?


Yes. Does that make it a _down_date?


----------



## qwerty

qwerty said:


> Yes. Does that make it a _down_date?


POS just did it again. Had last two episodes of 24. Reached the end of the first, hit stop which dropped me back to MyVOD screen. Moved curser to the next episode, hit play and black screen of death. Then it powered down. No remote buttons worked, and the power button on the front of the unit did nothing. Took 15 minutes of pulling the plug and hitting the power button to get it to start up again.

Has anyone else noticed an increase in freezing up with 10AF?


----------



## Wolffpack

qwerty said:


> Yes. Does that make it a _down_date?


Seems to be with some. Not good.


----------



## slappy

qwerty said:


> POS just did it again. Had last two episodes of 24. Reached the end of the first, hit stop which dropped me back to MyVOD screen. Moved curser to the next episode, hit play and black screen of death. Then it powered down. No remote buttons worked, and the power button on the front of the unit did nothing. Took 15 minutes of pulling the plug and hitting the power button to get it to start up again.
> 
> Has anyone else noticed an increase in freezing up with 10AF?


As evidenced by my other posts, I'm definately experiencing big problems after the 10AF update. Up to that point, my R-15 had worked reasonably well. Since Monday (and the update) though, it's been VERY unreliable.

This morning has been another fun time of unplugging/rebooting constantly to try to get it back up and functioning properly.

Another strange thing I've noticed... when it's acting flaky, and I can manage to get into the MyVOD list, is that a lot of the times the Program Descriptions for my recorded shows are all messed up. For example, a few minutes ago, just prior to another freeze-up, I was looking at my list, and a previously recorded "Whose Line is it Anyway?" had a description for this Sunday's upcoming Family Guy episode. Strange. A lot of the entries are similarly wrong, like that one.

I hope the next software update comes sooner than later... this has been a really frustrating week for me in regards to my R-15.


----------



## Malibu13

slappy, sorry for your ongoing problems and frustrations. It most definitely appears you are one who is plagued with numerous probs after the latest update and i understand your frustration, but hang with us and hopefully things will start to look better. 

Now, i'm not suggesting that you do this, but seems a complete "clear and delete" (not from within the "reset" menu) but by following the steps as suggested earlier by Earl, may have a positive impact on it's reliability. Bear in mind, you will lose what content you now have on it. I do hope that yourself as well as others, find reliability "Soon".

Press the Red Reset Button on the front panel
-) During the reboot process, when the screen goes from BLUE to BLACK... HOLD DOWN ARROW and RECORD for 5 seconds.

This will start the equivilent to TiVo's Clear and Delete process.
It will clear out all settings and recordings, but the OS will remain as the OS that is currently installed on the unit.


----------



## slappy

Donnie Byrd said:


> slappy, sorry for your ongoing problems and frustrations. It most definitely appears you are one who is plagued with numerous probs after the latest update and i understand your frustration, but hang with us and hopefully things will start to look better.
> 
> Now, i'm not suggesting that you do this, but seems a complete "clear and delete" (not from within the "reset" menu) but by following the steps as suggested earlier by Earl, may have a positive impact on it's reliability. Bear in mind, you will lose what content you now have on it. I do hope that yourself as well as others, find reliability "Soon".
> 
> Press the Red Reset Button on the front panel
> -) During the reboot process, when the screen goes from BLUE to BLACK... HOLD DOWN ARROW and RECORD for 5 seconds.
> 
> This will start the equivilent to TiVo's Clear and Delete process.
> It will clear out all settings and recordings, but the OS will remain as the OS that is currently installed on the unit.


No problem... I appreciate the help and input that everybody on this board offers. If I can get caught up on a few shows that I have on my receiver, I may go ahead and try the bigger format procedure.

All in all, my problems with the R-15 can be summed up as: 
Frustrating... yes... life ending... far from it! :sure:


----------



## Malibu13

BTW, If i have not conveyed this to you yet..........

Welcome to DBSTalk. :welcome_s


----------



## slappy

Donnie Byrd said:


> BTW, If i have not conveyed this to you yet..........
> 
> Welcome to DBSTalk. :welcome_s


Thanks!


----------



## emayracing

Adding another voice to this topic - I got 10AF on 3/21 - lost BOTH of R15s because of it.

All of the sudden none of the DVR functions works - no record (when pressing the R), no rewind, no FF, none of that stuff.

It would change channels and regular stuff - but no DVR type features.

So, I call the CSR - who first has me plug/unplug - which I already did - but did it again to humor him.

That of course didn't work - still had TV, but no response to FF, REW, Pause, Record, etc.

So, we tried the red reset.

Nope.

Then we tried disconnecting the input cables and the plug.

Didn't work.

Then he had me type in some numbers during start up - which forced the upgrade to come down again - which it did.

NOW NEITHER ONE WORKS AT ALL!!

I have just a black screen on both of my R15s.

Since I have Comcast cable (for internet access) - this was the final straw. Goodbye DirectTV. Comcast was more than happy to send a guy out this coming monday to install their equipment in place of the DirectTV equipment.

What a shame - TiVo was so nice and these R15s are pieces of garbage.


----------



## Earl Bonovich

I can possible understand losing one... but both?

Black screens?

At what point does the screen go black? And did you try to do the RESET EVERYTHING, the full format of the system. ?

Ah well... good luck with Comcast... If you get the same DVR as my neighboor, be ready for another round of issues... Their Comcast DVR makes the R15 (and it's problems) look like the best thing since sliced bread... (My neighboor has been through no less then 6 DVRs since November)


----------



## mkmhr

techNoodle said:


> I have 2 R15-300 with the 1035 software. One problem I have just experienced on both dvrs, at different times, is the user interface freezing when MyVOD is displayed. I cannot say the box is ignoring the remote commands as the power led blinks. Also, the video is still running in the small window with audio present.
> 
> After resetting everything looks fine, but I wonder if the problem will occur again when the guide fills back up in a couple of days.
> 
> My initial reaction is that 1035 went backwards, compared to 1031, and nothing appears to be fixed with Series Links.


You should be able to tab over (green) then back (red) and the list should display, not requiring a reset. Hope that helps untill the issue is addressed. It has come to my attention that whilst from the VOD screen(which is blank) certain button commands will not respond, however, if you do_ this_ button sequence it has _most of the time shown as helpfull_. Keep in mind to try to give about _3 seconds_ between button commands, seems like that type of timing has been more efficient with _most_ experiences.


----------



## mkmhr

ad301 said:


> See: http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=550141&postcount=79
> 
> The second paragraph explains two ways to search on the tivo based units which you are apparently not aware of. Try hitting "TiVo>6>Themes>Science Fiction>right arrow>right arrow". You will see a list, starting at the current time, of every sci fi category show, and you can scroll through the whole 12 or 13 days of data if you wish. Or, you can easily jump to any particular day and time. Or, try hitting TiVo>4>Themes>Science Fiction>0>right arrow>right arrow>right arrow>right arrow. You will see an alphabetical list of every sci fi show which you can scroll through.


You were aware this is not a Tivo interface, correct as you were so corrective?


----------



## mkmhr

tmj30122 said:


> :soapbox: WARNING!
> 
> My latest gripe: Last night I was modifying several programs in the Scheduler when the screen went black except for the live video in the top right corner. I tried pressing the BACK and EXIT buttons and even put it in "standby" for several minutes. I eventually resorted to the RED RESET button, which caused me to lose every trace of the recordings that were in process at the time. I since read someone's suggestion to wait for the recording to finish before resetting. Thanks for the tip!
> 
> I have to reset this thing AT LEAST once every 48 hours since I got it, usually after modifying several programs in the Scheduler. The GUI first becomes sluggish and then eventually non-responsive. I say "non-responsive" as opposed to frozen because sometimes the video and audio continue but it won't respond when I press buttons on the remote with the exception of the POWER button.
> 
> If DIRECTV can't fix some of the major problems soon, my R15 will be disconnected, retired to a closet and replaced by a TiVo-based DVR. The $100 rebate isn't sufficient compensation in my opinion for all the frustration and missed recordings.


I happen to beleive that once D* rolls out what this and future, same user interface receivers are in the process of being made capable of performing, by D*, the comparison between Tivos and these DVR's will be forever silenced. For real.


----------



## ad301

mkmhr said:


> You were aware this is not a Tivo interface, correct as you were so corrective?


 I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to say, but I was replying to a post where a poster mentioned the sd-dvr40, a tivo based box, and I was trying to point out a technique he may not have been aware of.


----------



## dremingt

Earl Bonovich said:


> I can possible understand losing one... but both?
> 
> Black screens?
> 
> At what point does the screen go black? And did you try to do the RESET EVERYTHING, the full format of the system. ?
> 
> Ah well... good luck with Comcast... If you get the same DVR as my neighboor, be ready for another round of issues... Their Comcast DVR makes the R15 (and it's problems) look like the best thing since sliced bread... (My neighboor has been through no less then 6 DVRs since November)


I experienced something similar on my R15 (just one). The guide locked up on me (as it does periodically with the new version of the software)-- which is certainly inconvenient -- but nothing the "reset" button can't fix. At least, that's what I thought. Last time it happened though, the R15 didn't recover. That is, a click on the reset button starts the normal reboot sequence-- but shortly after the welcome screen (and just prior to locking into the satellite signal) -- the screen goes black and that's it.

I've tried pulling the plug, waiting, hitting the reset button again... everything I can think of, with no luck.

I called DirecTV and they're going to charge me to send a technician out to my house to look at. Which is very frustrating to me -- as it means I have to take a half day off of work... not to mention pay them for the call even though my device is just two weeks past the 90 day warranty. Ugh!!

--------

Anyway -- thanks for the great posts on this message forum. I definitely appreciate all the tips and support.


----------



## masterwolfe

Last night, the 8 pm Cops on Fox recorded 20 minutes of the half hour show...... nothing else was going on, I wasn't even watching TV at the time, but later in the evening, I went to watch it, and there were only 20 minutes. I had to reset the box again today because none of the recorded shows would play, when I hit play, the box changed channels...... I can't wait for Tuesday when Dish is going to be installed, and I can tell D-TV to take this box #3 and shove it. BTW I did take pics of a re-creation with box #2 of how box #3 was packed, but haven't pulled them off the camera yet. As I said before, ONE piece of bubble wrap, not even large enough to cover the receiver, the cord, and the remote control. I have lost all respect for DTV, and wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy.

FWIW, I was a subscriber in AZ to them a few years ago, and loved them. Then I moved to Dish for the first DVRs which came out, no other reason. So when I thought I had an opportunity to get the service in Huntsville, AL, I jumped at it, but had to cancel cause the apartment complex changed their rules per sat. dishes. Then I moved out here to the sticks, and convinced my gf that despite what she had heard about DTV, they were GREAT!! :eek2: So, this whole experience has me eating crow big time :sure: :nono2:


----------



## ISWIZ

OK, checked the R15, Sopranos not listed, though Priority 1, series set. OK, I go to settings, prioritizer, delete link --. Go into Guide and R)) the program. Went back to settings to check prioritizer. Nada, locked up tight. It was recording news, waited 25 minutes, still locked. Reset, we'll see what happens. 

After reboot, series is set. Still NRFPT.


----------



## emayracing

EXACTLY - that is exactly what happened with mine - both of them.

The CSR said to press the red reset button (which I've had to do numerous times already on both R15s - and it always worked).

This time it started the reboot - went to the welcome screen - went black - and THE END.

So, after that one didn't work, the CSR had me try the hard reboot on the other box - the disconnect the cables and unplug - then replug, reconnect cables, and press red button. Stupid me - I did that. And it also went black.

Both of the boxes are permantly stuck "on" (according to the blue button). DTV did say they would send out 2 new boxes - with a 5-7 delivery time. But when I called Comcast (on Sat) they said "We'll hook you up Monday before 5:00pm). I called DTV back and they still said "5-7 days" even after I said Comcast was going to steal their customer.

That's not good news about the Comcast DVRs being bad too. But, I gotta figure the economics - I have 2 non-working Directv DVRs (which have had non-stop problems since I got them) - AND I pay for Comcast Internet access. So, I might as well drop the DTV bill and just have a Cable bill. If their DVRs don't work either - oh well - I'd be in the same boat and would be saving a ton of money.

It's funny - I NEVER EVER thought I'd say I'd go back to cable, but since buying these R15s, I have reached the point of being afraid to turn on my TV.

My original Tivo (SAT-T60) - 5 years old now - works perfect (a little slow sometimes, but still works).



dremingt said:


> I experienced something similar on my R15 (just one). The guide locked up on me (as it does periodically with the new version of the software)-- which is certainly inconvenient -- but nothing the "reset" button can't fix. At least, that's what I thought. Last time it happened though, the R15 didn't recover. That is, a click on the reset button starts the normal reboot sequence-- but shortly after the welcome screen (and just prior to locking into the satellite signal) -- the screen goes black and that's it.
> 
> I've tried pulling the plug, waiting, hitting the reset button again... everything I can think of, with no luck.
> 
> I called DirecTV and they're going to charge me to send a technician out to my house to look at. Which is very frustrating to me -- as it means I have to take a half day off of work... not to mention pay them for the call even though my device is just two weeks past the 90 day warranty. Ugh!!
> 
> --------
> 
> Anyway -- thanks for the great posts on this message forum. I definitely appreciate all the tips and support.


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## cabanaboy1977

dremingt said:


> I experienced something similar on my R15 (just one). The guide locked up on me (as it does periodically with the new version of the software)-- which is certainly inconvenient -- but nothing the "reset" button can't fix. At least, that's what I thought. Last time it happened though, the R15 didn't recover. That is, a click on the reset button starts the normal reboot sequence-- but shortly after the welcome screen (and just prior to locking into the satellite signal) -- the screen goes black and that's it.
> 
> I've tried pulling the plug, waiting, hitting the reset button again... everything I can think of, with no luck.
> 
> I called DirecTV and they're going to charge me to send a technician out to my house to look at. Which is very frustrating to me -- as it means I have to take a half day off of work... not to mention pay them for the call even though my device is just two weeks past the 90 day warranty. Ugh!!
> 
> --------
> 
> Anyway -- thanks for the great posts on this message forum. I definitely appreciate all the tips and support.


I wouldn't waste your day off work and the money to have the tech sent out. Do you have the protection plan from D*? If so they shouldn't charge you for the tech or a replacement box. If you didn't get the protection plan call them up and get it put on your account and then have them send you new boxes.


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## masterwolfe

Wow, this box/software is horrible. It has gotten so I have to reset each and EVERY time I try to watch a recorded show. This last time, it kept rebooting itself after I hit reset, saw the "hello, welcome to dtv" screen 3 times


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## Calebrot

I was away from home for the weekend and when I got home I was happy to see that my ToDo list seemed pretty much intact but unfortunately I have found some things wrong in the ToDo list. Starting with all the shows after next Sunday all shows are an hour off. I know this is when Daylight Savings time comes into effect but the are scheduled for an hour earlier which doesn't make sense because the time goes forward. Whatever the reason I did a reset to see if things work themselves out. Another problem I had was last night I was watching Desperate Housewives and my partner had to go outside so I paused the show, the show paused for a second and then the channel changed to the last channel I was viewing before DH on History International. I then had to manually change the channel back to ABC and rewind back to the spot I was at. When I reached a commercial I fast forwarded to catch up to current time and the white line that corresponds to where you are in the orange bar was stuck at 9:00 and just stayed there and blinked on and off as the program fastforwarded. I could not see exactly where I was. Maybe the reset will work to correct this. I should also note that I was watching Desperate Housewives and also recording it. Most of the programs I have series links for I actually watch as they are recording. I just have them set up as series links just in case I wasn't home one night for some reason.


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## cabanaboy1977

Did you start watching it live? or did you start in from MYVOD?


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## Bobman

Earl Bonovich said:


> Their Comcast DVR makes the R15 (and it's problems) look like the best thing since sliced bread...


Yes, the Comcast Motorola 6412 is worse than the R-15. They have been trying to fix the problems with it for a year or so.


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## ApK

Bobman said:


> Yes, the Comcast Motorola 6412 is worse than the R-15. They have been trying to fix the problems with it for a year or so.


Yes...unlike the Comcast unit, the R15's initial problems have not included 'bursting into flames.'

OK, the two unit's my friend had didn't ACTUALLY burst into flames...they just smoked and smoldered.

But, man, talk about damning with faint praise.


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## masterwolfe

Bobman said:


> Yes, the Comcast Motorola 6412 is worse than the R-15. They have been trying to fix the problems with it for a year or so.


Well, I had it for a year or so before I moved here, and I disagree. Yes, it is very buggy, but IMHO the bugs aren't as extreme as they have been with the R15. I've had to reset this thing durned near every time I turn it on. If I had Comcast available where I am, I'd trade for the DCT6412 in a heartbeat. But that is just me.


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## cabanaboy1977

Bobman said:


> Yes, the Comcast Motorola 6412 is worse than the R-15. They have been trying to fix the problems with it for a year or so.


I feel bad now. I told my Grandma that she should get a DVR to go along with her HD 40" TV. She wastes too many tapes on stuff she is never going to watch again. What kinds of issues does it have? I'll feel really bad if it's just going to upset her.


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## ad301

Earl Bonovich said:


> Their Comcast DVR makes the R15 (and it's problems) look like the best thing since sliced bread...





Bobman said:


> Yes, the Comcast Motorola 6412 is worse than the R-15. They have been trying to fix the problems with it for a year or so.


Bobman and Earl, have either of you ever used one of those 6412s? I would think you'd like it, as it has most of the features on Bobman's "r15 likes" list. To say that it's worse than the r15 is, in my opinion, completely opposite to the truth.

For one thing, and this is important, the software WORKS. No, it's not perfect, nothing is. It's not real fancy, but it gets the job done. If you create a Series Recording, you can be 99% sure that it will be properly recorded. It will err on the side of safety, recording sometimes when it didn't need to. I've had one running for over a year, and had the previous model before that, and have had some issues with Dolby Digital (needs to occasionally reboot), and slow guide data repopulation after reboot, and occasional slowdown of menus. But right now I have 32 series recordings, and I can't remember when it last missed recording something it should have.

It also does HD, effortlessly, and with a MUCH better picture than the HD-Lite we're now getting through D*. It has dual live buffers that work, it has 120 GB of usable storage, it has live picture in guides, and single line guide, space indicator, real VOD, interactive features like karaoke, dating channel, etc....The only thing it doesn't have is a good search function. But that will be rectified within a few months when they make tivo software available for it.

The r15, if they ever can fix all the serious bugs afflicting it so that it actually works, would then be roughly equivalent to a SD 6412, with a slightly better search function. Given the r15's current state of development, it's no contest.


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## Earl Bonovich

I can't say exactly which model I used... but it was the Comcast DVR provided in the Chicago area.

I used it "personally" for about 30 minutes one day, and 30 minutes another day... when trying to help my neighboor troubleshoot the issues he had.

One of the biggest problems they had with the box.... it wouldn't turn on.
They almost had the Comcast installer on speed dial.....

But again, they could have been the unlucky person in the bunch, as some of the people here have the with the R15. 

But alas... each person is only allowed to make their own decision.... I can't say I am expert on the Comcast DVR....


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## Calebrot

cabanaboy1977 said:


> Did you start watching it live? or did you start in from MYVOD?


I didn't start it from MYVOD, I turned the channel to ABC manually. The taping light was already on but it was only like 5 seconds to the start of DH so there was no reason to rewind or anything. But I put it in pause and it paused for like three seconds and then the channel changed to the History channel, the one I was watching prior to 9pm.

Now this afternoon, I was watching while recording Y&R. I got a phone call and tried to pause and the unit would not pause. After the phone call, I tried to rewind and the program would not rewind. I had to change the channel and then go back to CBS and then it allowed me to rewind but again as previously indicated the white location marker was stuck at the beginning even though it was rewinding. It seems like every time they get close to fixing something they break something else. I never had any problems with rewind, fast forward, or pause until this update.


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## cabanaboy1977

Calebrot said:


> I didn't start it from MYVOD, I turned the channel to ABC manually. The taping light was already on but it was only like 5 seconds to the start of DH so there was no reason to rewind or anything. But I put it in pause and it paused for like three seconds and then the channel changed to the History channel, the one I was watching prior to 9pm.
> 
> Now this afternoon, I was watching while recording Y&R. I got a phone call and tried to pause and the unit would not pause. After the phone call, I tried to rewind and the program would not rewind. I had to change the channel and then go back to CBS and then it allowed me to rewind but again as previously indicated the white location marker was stuck at the beginning even though it was rewinding. It seems like every time they get close to fixing something they break something else. I never had any problems with rewind, fast forward, or pause until this update.


Weird, that is odd that it would change channels from a pause off live TV. It might be a bad box. The other thing you might want to try is asking them to send you a new remote (for the channel changing issue not for the rewinding issue) or replace the batteries. I doubt that's it but it's worth a try.


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## Bobman

masterwolfe said:


> Well, I had it for a year or so before I moved here, and I disagree.


Wow, we have another "wolf". I guess wolf is popular for some reason.

www.dvrchatter.com if anyone wants to see the problems with the 6412 for themselves. Read there and THEN come back. Make sure to look at the "Bugs and Workarounds" section. The twice daily lockups, blank non deletable mystery recordings, SP/SL's with duplicate numbers, etc.... My friend tested them for almost a year until he got so fed up he quit. Comcasts only fix was just like DirecTV's unplug it and/or swap it out. Its been almost a year since he quit and they are still no better.

The R-15 is bad too dont get me wrong. I find myself using my R-10 more and more all the time thats why I am not posting much here. Just waiting for the next update.


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## pcolag8r

Two issues I've started having since the 10AF release:

1) Intermittent Problem. Watching live TV, if I hit pause, it pauses for a second and restarts...will not stay paused. I have to rewind some and hit pause for it to stay paused. It is intermittent. I just tried it and it works. It may be only when something else is recording.

2) One-Time Event. I was watching a recorded show and hit pause. Came back 10 minutes later and the picture was still paused...no screensaver like normally. The unit was unresponsive except power on/off. Had to unplug to reset. Then, it was fine.


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## Calebrot

cabanaboy1977 said:


> Weird, that is odd that it would change channels from a pause off live TV. It might be a bad box. The other thing you might want to try is asking them to send you a new remote (for the channel changing issue not for the rewinding issue) or replace the batteries. I doubt that's it but it's worth a try.


Oh God, I hope it isn't the box, this is my third one. As far as the remotes go, I have three of them already since when you return a unit you don't return the remote, never thought about trying a different remote, the next time I run into the problem I'll try another remote. I'll have to check later on as my electric went out this morning for about four hours so the unit just went through a hard reset and I'll check what's up with it later as it gets time to rebuild the data. One thing that I noticed yesterday after doing a reset from the menu, the guide data was completely downloaded around 4 hours later, that was fast compared to the 24-48 hours it was in the past. The way I knew the data was downloaded was because I checked my ToDo list and it was completely populated to a full 14 days with no "Title Not Available"


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## techNoodle

cabanaboy1977 said:


> Weird, that is odd that it would change channels from a pause off live TV. It might be a bad box. The other thing you might want to try is asking them to send you a new remote (for the channel changing issue not for the rewinding issue) or replace the batteries. I doubt that's it but it's worth a try.


Note sure if this can help explain anything, but remember the R15 only has 1 live buffer.

For example, if you are recording + watching a program, this is the channel that is 'live'. If you record something on another channel at the same time, it is possible to switch to it and view it, even use trick play. However, for this other channel, you are actually viewing the recording. So when you advance to real time, the TV display will magically change to the first channel in the example here.

I hope they introduce dual live buffers soon as it could help with some strange things that others are reporting. Of course, the real question is when :sure:


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## masterwolfe

Bobman said:


> Wow, we have another "wolf". I guess wolf is popular for some reason.
> 
> www.dvrchatter.com if anyone wants to see the problems with the 6412 for themselves. Read there and THEN come back. Make sure to look at the "Bugs and Workarounds" section. The twice daily lockups, blank non deletable mystery recordings, SP/SL's with duplicate numbers, etc.... My friend tested them for almost a year until he got so fed up he quit. Comcasts only fix was just like DirecTV's unplug it and/or swap it out. Its been almost a year since he quit and they are still no better.
> 
> The R-15 is bad too dont get me wrong. I find myself using my R-10 more and more all the time thats why I am not posting much here. Just waiting for the next update.


As I said I had it also, for...... well a good year and half, rough guess, and I DID go through about 4 boxes. But IN MY EXPERIENCE, the R15 is far far FAR worse. Another good site for such things is Broadband Reports, they cover pretty much all the cable systems, both TV and internet, and assorted other topics. I found out about this site through a post there


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## mkmhr

ad301 said:


> I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to say, but I was replying to a post where a poster mentioned the sd-dvr40, a tivo based box, and I was trying to point out a technique he may not have been aware of.


My mistake, sorry 'bout that:nono:


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## ad301

No problem.


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## cabanaboy1977

My box in my living room locked up 2 times last night. First time it was in the todo list (was trying to resolve some conflicts) it locked up when I tried to select the a program to remove, it wouldn't let me select it, it was stuck. Waited 10 mins and nothing. Reset using the red button and tried to change acouple of settings on some of my SL's and it locked up again. This time it locked while trying to select the SL. Reset again via the red button and tried to go back in the SL to change settings again and was ok. Before it locked up both times I was only in the lists for 1-2 mins before it locked up.


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## ISWIZ

Powered mine up this morning to see how the Testing is going, Hit MyVOD, reboot.. OK, new all improved update. Nope, just being the R15, testing continues.:nono2:


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## Thorlin

My box just locked up continually for that last 24 hours. Always did it in the MyVOD while either watching a recorded show, or attempting to do so. It started when I turned on the machine hoping to watch Law & Order or Criminal Minds and learned it hadn't recorded them, nor was there anything in the history to indicate why they hadn't recorded. It was like it didn't know they were there, however the night before I looked at the to do list and it indicated they would record.

The response I got from tech support was to do a 3-4 hour reset. Essentially to format my machine. If that is what it takes to resolve issues with the hardware/software, someone didn't think through the design.


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## Mike770

Last night my R15 froze right in the middle of watching the Rangers-Islanders hockey game. The picture went out but the sound was still going. It wouldn't respond to anything. I had to use the red reset button.


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## Clint Lamor

ISWIZ said:


> Powered mine up this morning to see how the Testing is going, Hit MyVOD, reboot.. OK, new all improved update. Nope, just being the R15, testing continues.:nono2:


As far as I am aware and I am sure I will be corrected if i'm wrong. This last update was only to address shows not getting recorded. Nothing else. We know there is another update coming soon thats supposed to address a lot more. Hopefully it can help bring some stability to those whose boxes aren't stable.


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## ISWIZ

Yes, I was pretty sure of that but in almost 5 months never had a "spontaneous" reboot so I thought, "oh boy, new update". On the bright side, it does appear to be recording all the shows (except the SL for local news). That's progress.


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## TramTram

Last night I turned on my R15 and the screen was blank. I could access the guide and all my VOD and play them, but no live signal. It was attempting to record a show. I had to do a "red-buttom" reset and seemed to work fine then.


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## slappy

Just thought I'd post what's been happening with my R-15. I'm not saying this to complain, but just so the problems are made known.

My last couple of posts detail most of my problems... lockups, reboots, etc.

Yesterday, I got home from work and turned on my receiver. It seemed to be working fairly well, so I thought maybe the last series of reboots had helped. I was watching a previously recorded episode of Alias, when halfway though the show, the screen just turned black, hung for a few seconds, and then dropped back to live tv. I couldn't get anything to play from MyVOD after that point, and the box became sluggish in all of its actions.

I thought I'd just do the "unplug for awhile/reboot a couple times" procedure and it'd be working satisfactory again. This was not the case this time around. I tinkered with the box for probably an hour and a half, and could not get it to work properly. It would reboot and bring up live tv on that last channel it was tuned to, but I could do nothing from that point. Occasionaly I could get some menus to open up, but I couldn't do anything of substance.

I had to leave, but when I got back home late last night, and the box was still basically inoperable, I decided to try the big dog re-format... Down Arrow+Record during the reboot. The system was restored to its original state. Things seemed responsive, so I set a couple shows to record overnight and went to bed.

I woke up this morning, checked the R-15, and MyVOD was empty... nothing had recorded. I then checked the history, and it confirmed that of the four items I had set to record, none in fact recorded. At this point, I did another red button reset.

When it rebooted, I noticed the record button did light up, and the box did in fact start recording the last few minutes of a show on its to do list. I set a few things to record throughout the day today, to test and see how well the box is working now. I'll be back home around 8:00 tonight, so I'm hoping to see everything has recorded, and all is well now.

Strange, strange problems. The only bad part was that I was unable to DVR Lost last night. I went over to my parents house and watched it on their old Dish 508 DVR, which was well and good, but it didn't compensate for the extra minute or so that the episode ran, and the last couple minutes of the show got lopped off. 

I've got my fingers crossed that this next software update has a positive effect on things. Seems so weird to me that an update that primarily fixes SL reliabilty would have such a big effect on system stability on some boxes.


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## slappy

Quick update... my R-15 still seems to be doing ok after the last reboot this morning. It recorded everything that I had set to record for today. I hope it keeps it up.


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## Wolffpack

ISWIZ said:


> Powered mine up this morning to see how the Testing is going, Hit MyVOD, reboot.. OK, new all improved update. Nope, just being the R15, testing continues.:nono2:


Same happened to me this morning. No sound, video, guide, MyVOD...nothing. Except, the blue whirley gig light appeared to be working correctly when pressing pause, RR, FF and such. Reset button fixed it but with a longer than usual boot time. It was about 3 minutes between pressing RESET and seeing anything on the screen.


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## alorarosalyn

I have one R15, and I have had it lock up only once on me, and that was watching a program that had been recorded when a storm with tornado's in it was rolling through, so resetting it to get programming back was not that big of a deal.


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## ISWIZ

Wolffpack said:


> Same happened to me this morning. No sound, video, guide, MyVOD...nothing. Except, the blue whirley gig light appeared to be working correctly when pressing pause, RR, FF and such. Reset button fixed it but with a longer than usual boot time. It was about 3 minutes between pressing RESET and seeing anything on the screen.


Yep, that about describes it. Acted like it was updating, strange:eek2:


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## syphix

Here we go...the honeymoon's over.

My R15 locked up tonight (failed to respond to any remote presses) while recording both West Wing (NBC) & The Loop (FOX). I start recording West Wing on my TiVo in the living room, and then go red button reboot my R15. It restarts, and resumes recording The West Wing & The Loop....but where the first 45 minutes of West Wing, and 15 minutes of The Loop went, I don't know... I'm pissed. Is this how it deals with power outages, too?? On my TiVo, it resumes recording, making a duplicate file (in this case, I'd have a 45 minute West Wing, followed by a 15 minute West Wing). 

%*^damnit...I'm pissed.


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## Wolffpack

syphix said:


> Here we go...the honeymoon's over.
> 
> My R15 locked up tonight (failed to respond to any remote presses) while recording both West Wing (NBC) & The Loop (FOX). I start recording West Wing on my TiVo in the living room, and then go red button reboot my R15. It restarts, and resumes recording The West Wing & The Loop....but where the first 45 minutes of West Wing, and 15 minutes of The Loop went, I don't know... I'm pissed. Is this how it deals with power outages, too?? On my TiVo, it resumes recording, making a duplicate file (in this case, I'd have a 45 minute West Wing, followed by a 15 minute West Wing).
> 
> %*^damnit...I'm pissed.


This has been said....over and over.

This unit still doesn't work.

*Hey, all you DirecTV guys, when are we getting a fix? When will this become a DVR that performs the very basic functions of a DVR?
*
Released what, 6 months ago and still doesn't work. Can you tell the tribe is getting restless?

Let's get *SOMETHING* fixed or you may be voted off of our symbolic Island!


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## beakersloco

Mine just locked up on me while I was searching for episodes of a recorded show. 

My unit was recording a show, I watched half a recorded show ( I had previously seen most of the show so all I watched was first 30 mins of a show then I hit the end button to get it to the end so the wife could watch it from the beginning. Then scrolled down the list found anther show I wanted to watch and started it then I went into the menu find by tittle and put in the first 2 letters and after I hit the 2nd letter it locked up . The show continued to play and I let it sit and watched the show in the lil window up in the corner. Well eventually the window went black ... I reset the unit 


I entered in the wrong zip code. I completed and went back in to change the zip code .. well now it hangs onstep 9 downloading the guide.


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## dgib

Mine sort of froze last night. First time since this latest software version. It started getting slow via the remote. I tried playing something from the list 3 times and it failed each time. It just went back to the live TV channel.

I started to remove old shows from the list to get it down to 50% available which I think is somewhere near the magic number where it starts to work better.

I selected reset from the menu and it's all OK now although all the deleted shows are still there!!!


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## syphix

Froze again last night...I hit the replay button to jump back a few seconds (actually I hit it a couple times), and the show jumped to the beginning...then froze. I had to stop the show, go to live TV, change a channel, then go back to the show and fast-forward to the point I was...

VERY annoying...


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## dminyard

Here's an interesting problem that seemed to develop yesterday, as it has never happened before (I have the latest software for the 500 model, which is 10AF, correct?). Upon calling up my VOD menu, I selected a program to view, but it would not play. The screen went black. I waited a minute or so, then I exited the program, but the system went into the guide menu, and would not let me exit back to viewing live tv full screen. I put the unit into standby, then switched back on. Still unable to exit the guide menu. I pulled the power for 30 seconds, then everything seemed to work fine for the rest of the evening. I was able to play the pre-rec'd episode with no problem.

I woke up this morning and tried to call up another program that recorded overnight...same problem. Black screen, sluggishness, etc. Rather than pulling the power, I just pressed reset this time, and all seemed to be okay; I was able to play the episode in question. However, after it was over and I went back to watching live tv, I was unable to pause or rewind. The status bar seemed to indicate that the show was not "streaming" from the drive as the indicator never gave me the orange proress bar. Had to pull the power again.

I am trying to patient with this R15, but just when I think it is beginning to get the kinks worked out, some new wrinkle develops. I think it can be a great unit...but my wife says she has just about had enough. (Any other husbands with this problem? We're willing to stick with it, but the Wife is building a head of steam that threatens to blow any day now?)


I truly wonder where DirecTV can go from here. If they continue to have problems well into the year, is there any way that they will come forward, admit the unit is defective and offer some kind of replacement? I like the R15, and want it to work, but on the other hand I don't want to get stuck with a defective receiver, either. Software revisions can only go so far, and if these revisions fail to put the device to rights, then someone is going to have to start asking questions about the hardware as well.

...Just wanted to add another remark or two. I know this post is getting lengthy....

Everyone on this forum seems to have some amount of tech savvy, and so these problems, while annoying, also are...interesting. I can only imagine the frustration of someone who is not technically inclined. Calling tech support day after day and resolving nothing. Perhaps it's only my imagination, but I think I can also sense a sort of helpless despair in the voices of the tech support people I have spoken to. It's pretty rough for DirecTV to put them on the front line like this, having to bear the brunt of everyone's anger and frustration with a device that just doesn't function as it should.


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## syphix

dminyard said:


> (Any other husbands with this problem? We're willing to stick with it, but the Wife is building a head of steam that threatens to blow any day now?)


No, my wife has her TiVo in the living room. The R15 is in the bedroom, and she's usually falling asleep when I'm messing with it (or it's messing with me..depending on who you talk to...). All she says when I complain about it freezing, locking, etc. is "Well, you wanted it...you got it."


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## cabanaboy1977

dminyard said:


> (Any other husbands with this problem? We're willing to stick with it, but the Wife is building a head of steam that threatens to blow any day now?)


Yup, my wife reminds me of it almost every other day when we get a lockup. "Why did you get rid of the boxes that worked (UTV)?" I also get, after getting the HD tivo, "Why does that box make the horrible BOOP! noise, when ever you hit a button?"


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## Wolffpack

cabanaboy1977 said:


> Yup, my wife reminds me of it almost every other day when we get a lockup. "Why did you get rid of the boxes that worked (UTV)?" I also get, after getting the HD tivo, "Why does that box make the horrible BOOP! noise, when ever you hit a button?"


You can turn the BOOP off by going into Setup -> Settings -> Audio -> Sound Effects Volume. Personally I like them on for feedback that the unit received a command.


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## cabanaboy1977

Wolffpack said:


> You can turn the BOOP off by going into Setup -> Settings -> Audio -> Sound Effects Volume. Personally I like them on for feedback that the unit received a command.


I want the feedback that it got the comman but not that sound. That noise is almost like fingers on a blackboard. My wife feels the same way. I'll try turning down the volume and see if that helps, but it's the actual sound that I find annoying.


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## syphix

%&*damnit...it locked up AGAIN...on West Wing!

It started recording both Simpsons & West Wing tonight @ 7pm (Central). I come into the room at about 5 after, go into the list, and try start watching West Wing from the beginning (since it's showing Simpsons on screen, and there's no easy way to switch between the tuners). 

It locks up...won't respond to ANY button presses. ARGGH!!! It only does this to me when recording TWO shows at the same time.


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## TheTooleMan

My R15 froze when I was doing a "Find by..." while recording at least one show. Being a newbie I just unplugged it, waited about 30 seconds, and plugged it back in. It came back to life and acted like it had resumed recording, but I stopped recording and deleted the show anyway. Later I noticed I was back to "all channels" from the custom list I had created, but that was easily fixed. 

Overall, not too painful, but reading other accounts on this list shakes my faith. And we only have 90 days to turn this sucker in as defective???


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