# double dash delete



## suzannew (Jun 17, 2006)

I found out the hard way that my R-15 300 now only requires one push of the dash button to delete programs on the Now Playing list, rather than the two pushes previously required. 

Anyone else have this happen? Is this part of a new software release?


----------



## subeluvr (Jan 14, 2007)

suzannew said:


> I found out the hard way that my R-15 300 now only requires one push of the dash button to delete programs on the Now Playing list, rather than the two pushes previously required.
> 
> Anyone else have this happen? Is this part of a new software release?


My R15-300 magically began to do that and I was just as pleased(?) as you.

It is not normal, should be dash-dash. An RBR solved the problem


----------



## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

I've seen people report this in the past. I think a reset fixed it. Have you tried that?


----------



## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

My R15-500 also does this now. And, unfortuantley, it took me awhile to figure it out (like after I deleted half a dozen shows).

Carl


----------



## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

carl6 said:


> My R15-500 also does this now. And, unfortuantley, it took me awhile to figure it out (like after I deleted half a dozen shows).
> 
> Carl


Did it start with an update, or on it's own?


----------



## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

carl6 said:


> My R15-500 also does this now. And, unfortuantley, it took me awhile to figure it out (like after I deleted half a dozen shows).
> 
> Carl


OUCH!!!!


----------



## Rivergoat (Sep 17, 2006)

That truly would explain the instance I had. Since "Smallville" season 6 was just released on DVD (and mine is shipping), I went to delete the season's shows from my DVR via double dash. It seemed to work OK for some, then all of a sudden all of my other saved programs were gone and I now have a "clean 100% free" hard drive. Fortunately nothing too vital was lost, but I had wondered in the past how certain things were "magically" disappearing. I guess black magic had a hand in it. Gotta be more careful with deletes in the future; I'll even do it the long way around, I guess.


----------



## lschwarcz (Sep 1, 2006)

subeluvr said:


> My R15-300 magically began to do that and I was just as pleased(?) as you.
> 
> It is not normal, should be dash-dash. An RBR solved the problem


I had the same trouble with my R15-300 (0x109C). I discovered the hard way after deleting some shows that I wanted to keep. The sad part is that right after my last update I did a full DA-REC reset, wiping out everything. I've learned that this is almost necessary after each update to keep the unit working properly. At that point it was dash-dash to delete. So, sometime afterwords it converted back to "dash" to delete. An RBR yesterday took care of that. But, it comes back occasionally it seems .

It looks like my opinion of the DirecTV programmers is holding true. Although the units are slowly getting better, it seems like it's largely trial-and-error. I get the impression that they really don't know what their doing and seem to make some change and hope that it works without really knowing much about it. If you've ever seen a beginner programmer trying to learn about things like pointers and indirection, they do a lot of guessing and hoping. It seems that this is what the DirecTV programmers are doing. It's my opinion that they really don't know a for-loop from fore-play! I sure hope I'm wrong but personal experience and from what I keep reading here leads me to think that maybe I'm not.

Good luck to all of us!
Larry.


----------



## subeluvr (Jan 14, 2007)

The anomaly of deleting recorded shows with a *single* push of the "dash" button instead of the *double tap* of the "dash" button is back.

Seems to have returned to both my R15s with the latest software.

*Be careful when deleting shows... just try one tap of the "dash" button* or you might lose a couple shows

Anyone else have this problem?


----------



## bww (Feb 15, 2006)

I had this problem and a reboot fixed it straight away.


----------



## dodge boy (Mar 31, 2006)

Mine does it with 1 push of the red buttonnow, of course it asks if you want to delete (thank God). It does it too int he todo list as well..... I wish the caller ID list would...


----------



## subeluvr (Jan 14, 2007)

dodge boy said:


> Mine does it with 1 push of the red buttonnow, of course it asks if you want to delete (thank God). It does it too in the to do list as well..... I wish the caller ID list would...


Interesting, when I'm in the recorded program list my "red" button only "tabs left" as it should. I can't get the "red" button to delete anything, ever.

The "one push" of a designated button with a pop-up confirmation to delete would be logical and is universally applied, even in Windows, but *the need for that simple command and confirmation pop-up has escaped the DTV programmers*.

The change to "single push dash button to delete" seems to come on by itself and is an exasperating surprise when the R15 deletes what you wanted to delete and another program that you DIDN'T want to delete. You know, that race you didn't watch yet or Mama's all time favorite movie :eek2:

What I do now is highlight the show I want to delete and push the DASH button ONCE. If it deletes then I do an RBR. If I hear a "BONG" then I know it will require a *double dash* hit to delete the show.


----------



## dodge boy (Mar 31, 2006)

I forgot to mention I have a cutting Edge version on mine, (got it last Fri.). Sorry.


----------



## Bud33 (Jan 26, 2006)

My R-15 500 started the single dash bit just a few days before I got the 0X115C.\
Once the 115 was installed everything was back to (normal?)??


----------



## subeluvr (Jan 14, 2007)

Bud33 said:


> My R-15 500 started the single dash bit just a few days before I got the 0X115C.\
> Once the 115 was installed everything was back to (normal?)??


Yes, because the R15 has to reload the new software and that seems to clear lots of the little annoying problems.

It'll be interesting to see if the "double dash" problem returns and how long it takes to come back if it does.


----------



## subeluvr (Jan 14, 2007)

subeluvr said:


> The "one push" of a designated button with a pop-up confirmation to delete would be logical and is universally applied, even in Windows, but *the need for that simple command and confirmation pop-up has escaped the DTV programmers*.


KUDOS to the DTV programmers for including exactly that feature in the latest *10BD* software release for the R15-300 :joy: :righton:


----------



## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

One of my two R15-300's started the infamous "one dash and it's gone" routine.

Remembering this thread, I simply did a restart receiver...and boy, it did a lot more than that!!

First, I had to go through the entire setup again. Next, it went and DELETED all the shows in my TO DO list!! And the history log said "canceled" for each show! Next, it put my favorites list names back to custom_1 and custom_2. Lastly, it took any options I set (loud sound effects, 6 second banner timeout) and put them back at default! Luckily, it didn't affect my PLAYLIST or the channels chosen in my favorites lists, but it sure set a lot of things back to default!!

Oh, and the double dash delete went back to requiring two pushes also.


----------



## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

ThomasM said:


> First, I had to go through the entire setup again. Next, it went and DELETED all the shows in my TO DO list!! And the history log said "canceled" for each show! Next, it put my favorites list names back to custom_1 and custom_2. Lastly, it took any options I set (loud sound effects, 6 second banner timeout) and put them back at default! Luckily, it didn't affect my PLAYLIST or the channels chosen in my favorites lists, but it sure set a lot of things back to default!!


Yeah, that happens from time to time. I first experienced it late summer last year. At that time, I was doing periodic "maintenance" reboots to keep it running decently. I hit the reset button one morning before work and came home to find it waiting for my input at the setup screen.

It doesn't seem to happen often, but you'll see someone mention it happening in a post every now and then.


----------



## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

ThomasM said:


> Next, it went and DELETED all the shows in my TO DO list!! And the history log said "canceled" for each show!


That most likely occurred due the guide needing to re-populate. When the receiver started back up, if the guide wasn't fully populated yet, it can't find the shows to record that are listed in your ToDo list. Thus, it removes them. Since it "canceled" them from your ToDo list, they show up as canceled in the History.

- Merg


----------



## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

The Merg said:


> That most likely occurred due the guide needing to re-populate. When the receiver started back up, if the guide wasn't fully populated yet, it can't find the shows to record that are listed in your ToDo list. Thus, it removes them. Since it "canceled" them from your ToDo list, they show up as canceled in the History.
> 
> - Merg


No, that's not true. If the data in nonvolatile RAM isn't corrupted (like mine was), you can press the red button or do a reset selecting "restart receiver" and the unit restarts and you lose NOTHING and you have to restore NOTHING.

Even though the guide is mostly empty, all the selections in the TO DO list are still there as the guide is only checked when you ADD things to the TO DO list. There is also a routine that must run once a day (perhaps at midnight?) that "checks" each of the shows in the TO DO list against the guide, but if that area of the guide hasn't populated yet the TO DO entry is left alone. If a network changes it's programming, the guide gets updated, the show entry gets removed from the TO DO list, *but the "R" in a circle remains associated with whatever show now occupies the time slot.* I found out about this when I read in the local paper that a local station was canceling a regular weekly show that I had in my TO DO list. The description above is what happened.


----------



## Upstream (Jul 4, 2006)

Discovered last night that my R15 is doing a single-dash delete. But even worse, it sometimes deleted on a single-dash, and sometimes required a double-dash.

I accidentally deleted one of my wife's recordings. Surprisingly, she wasn't too upset. She said that she is used to not being able to watch things that we expected to record, and she asked me again to explain why we can't get rid of DirecTV and go to cable (2 year commitment).

I'll do a RBR (when I have nothing scheduled to record) and check again later to see if the problem is fixed.


----------



## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

Upstream said:


> she asked me again to explain why we can't get rid of DirecTV and go to cable (2 year commitment).


Well, I only "acquired" leased receivers and a programming commitment from DirecTV 5 months ago. After dumping Time-Warner Cable and switching to DirecTV SEVEN YEARS AGO after suffering with cable for 9 years, I NEVER even CONSIDERED returning to it. A lost recording once in awhile is NOTHING compared to the AWFUL customer service, outages, lousy picture, oh I could go on for another few screens..... :nono2:


----------



## Upstream (Jul 4, 2006)

ThomasM said:


> Well, I only "acquired" leased receivers and a programming commitment from DirecTV 5 months ago. After dumping Time-Warner Cable and switching to DirecTV SEVEN YEARS AGO after suffering with cable for 9 years, I NEVER even CONSIDERED returning to it. A lost recording once in awhile is NOTHING compared to the AWFUL customer service, outages, lousy picture, oh I could go on for another few screens..... :nono2:


Those were all reasons which drove us from cable to DirecTV about 10 years ago.

But since then DirecTV's SD picture quality has declined to the point it is now inferior to local digital cable. Our local friends and family with cable haven't had significant outages in years. And they tell us that our cable company's customer service has dramatically improved. Meanwhile I have gone through a cycle of utter incompetence with DirecTV's customer service with billing and service errors which have required me to spend 10's of hours on the phone to get resolved. Add a DVR which is somewhat unreliable, programming commitments, annual price increases which make DirecTV as expensive as cable, and an outrageous $300+ upfront cost to upgrade to HD, and my wife is now very jealous of our friends with cable.


----------



## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

Upstream said:


> Those were all reasons which drove us from cable to DirecTV about 10 years ago.
> 
> But since then DirecTV's SD picture quality has declined to the point it is now inferior to local digital cable. Our local friends and family with cable haven't had significant outages in years. And they tell us that our cable company's customer service has dramatically improved. Meanwhile I have gone through a cycle of utter incompetence with DirecTV's customer service with billing and service errors which have required me to spend 10's of hours on the phone to get resolved. Add a DVR which is somewhat unreliable, programming commitments, annual price increases which make DirecTV as expensive as cable, and an outrageous $300+ upfront cost to upgrade to HD, and my wife is now very jealous of our friends with cable.


Your area/cable company must be the exception.

Time-Warner and Comcast (the 2 biggest cable companies) have been losing customers by the hundreds of thousands in the past 6 months according to published data. Meanwhile, DirecTV and DISH network have been ADDING customers. Guess where they came from?

Because of their pig headedness, both Time-Warner and Comcast refuse to carry NFL Network and BIG 10 Network thus frazzling customers nationwide. I'm not a sports fan, but reading my local newspaper, a lot of folks are and are fed up.

The DVR Time-Warner offers is a real clunker. And it's expen$ive. A LOT more than six bucks PER ACCOUNT. Plus, their box rental fee is lots more than $4.99, and you pay for EVERY ONE including the first one. You even pay a monthly charge for the remote! And a franchise fee. And.......

Cable TV? No thank you.


----------



## Upstream (Jul 4, 2006)

ThomasM said:


> Your area/cable company must be the exception.


My local cable company has been bought out several times since I joined DirecTV. It is now Comcast. And my neighbors who have Comcast are very happy.

But I am hoping Fios becomes available to me before my DirecTV commitment is up. My friends with Fios are absolutely thrilled with it.


----------



## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

Upstream said:


> But I am hoping Fios becomes available to me before my DirecTV commitment is up. My friends with Fios are absolutely thrilled with it.


+1


----------



## Upstream (Jul 4, 2006)

It seems that the Single-Dash Delete bug is now back. I just noticed it today (and I hope my wife does not notice that I deleted a show she wants to watch ... it will make for a rough Valentine's Day).


----------

