# Ode to R15 Owners



## Kichigai (Mar 21, 2006)

We are many...yet we are forgotten

We pay more....yet we are forgotten

We deal with more....yet we are forgotten

We wait for more...yet we are forgotten

We are the owners of the R15 and we demand to be heard

Thank you


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## BattleScott (Aug 29, 2006)

Kichigai said:


> We are many...yet we are forgotten
> 
> We pay more....yet we are forgotten
> 
> ...


Offical reply from the D* Ode Review Committee:

"Shut up, give us your money, and maybe we'll talk when your ready for HD..."

_Disclaimer: this was not an actual official resonse, only a satirical response from an un-compensated party._


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## Clemsole (Sep 8, 2005)

If you don't like what you have you can go elseware. No one is forceing you to stay with D* or the R15.


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## Mrpalmer420 (Jan 9, 2007)

I think it was a joke. I know it is how he feels but take something with a grain of salt dude


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## Kichigai (Mar 21, 2006)

Clemsole said:


> If you don't like what you have you can go elseware. No one is forceing you to stay with D* or the R15.


little angry there over just a joke


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

Isn't it odd how those who're satisfied with their R-15 unit(s) express anger whenever someone who's dissatisfied expresses his/her dissatisfaction, even in a thread specifically addressing dissatisfaction? I can understand a certain degree of frustration when those who are dissatisfied express their opinions in unrelated threads. But, those members who are satisfied seem to be going out of their way to contradict the comments of those who are dissatisfied. 

My best guess is that they're motivated by fear. They're concerned that, one day, their own R-15 will begin to exhibit nasty problems. So, to suppress their fear, they lash out at those who express dissatisfaction.

Some will almost certainly disagree with my analysis and diagnosis. But, please conside my relevant credentials: I had a psychology class 36 years ago in junior college and still own the textbook. At least, I think I own it. It's here. Somewhere....

Cheers,


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## Mrpalmer420 (Jan 9, 2007)

I love my R15. So far ***knocking on wood*** everything has been great. but i understand all the frustration that y'all have. If I had half the problems that you had i would want to shoot my TV.


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

wbmccarty said:


> Some will almost certainly disagree with my analysis and diagnosis. But, please conside my relevant credentials: I had a psychology class 36 years ago in junior college and still own the textbook. At least, I think I own it. It's here. Somewhere....
> 
> Cheers,


Well, there you go. You're over qualified! :sure:


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

wbmccarty said:


> Isn't it odd how those who're satisfied with their R-15 unit(s) express anger whenever someone who's dissatisfied expresses his/her dissatisfaction, even in a thread specifically addressing dissatisfaction? I can understand a certain degree of frustration when those who are dissatisfied express their opinions in unrelated threads. But, those members who are satisfied seem to be going out of their way to contradict the comments of those who are dissatisfied. My best guess is that they're motivated by fear. They're concerned that, one day, their own R-15 will begin to exhibit nasty problems. So, to suppress their fear, they lash out at those who express dissatisfaction.


I'm not really worried about my R15 and future problems. Right now all 3 of mine are working fine, I have the protection plan, and even if I didn't, replacements are either free or $99. I also have a well-behaved HR20.

I do sympathize with other's problems.

But the original poster' humorous "ode" was speaking for "we," the R15 owners. Isn't it fair to point out that he is speaking for SOME R15 owners? I would never presume to speak for all the owners, but if I did, my "ode" would have to include appreciation for a solid, dependable, affordable DVR that fills my family's needs perfectly and has never missed a recording.

I'd hate to see the responses to THAT "ode!"


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

paulman182 said:


> I do sympathize with other's problems.


I suppose that you're one of the very few satisfied R-15 users gifted with knowledge, common sense, and empathy for fellow man.

Flattery is like chewing gum. Enjoy it but don't swallow [Hank Ketcham].

Cheers,


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

qwerty said:


> Well, there you go. You're over qualified! :sure:


Drat! I knew that A on the mid-term exam would follow me to the end of my days. 

Cheers,


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## Upstream (Jul 4, 2006)

Mrpalmer420 said:


> I love my R15. So far ***knocking on wood*** everything has been great. but i understand all the frustration that y'all have. If I had half the problems that you had i would want to shoot my TV.


I'm not sure if that many people have all the problems, or even half the problems mentioned here. For example, mine has just enough problems for me to be frustrated, but not enough for me to demand that DTV take it back and cancel my commitment.

I've had my R15 for almost nine months now. There are a lot of things I would like to work better on the R15, but there were only seven times that I had what I would consider a serious defect:


My first R15 had a physical defect, and was replaced about a week after it was installed
My R15 did not record a football game I wanted to record, but this may have been a guide error, not an R15 error
My R15 did a partial record (about 5 minutes only) of a series premier I wanted to see
My R15 failed to record a series link of my wife's favorite program, causing her to comment that we should switch to cable
The picture repeatedly froze during a football game I was watching using trick play, forcing me to jump to end and rewind, and allowing me to see the final score before I watched the end of the game
When calling to complain about the frozen picture, DTV's customer support told me that I needed to reformat; and when that did not solve the issue, they sent me a replacement R15 (which had the same frozen picture problem) causing me to go to effort and expense to transfer the recordings on my old R15 to DVD's
My R15 randomly changed channels during my wife's favorite program, clearing the buffer, and causing her to miss about 15 minutes of the middle of the show (and again causing her to comment that we should switch to cable)


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

wbmccarty said:


> Isn't it odd how those who're satisfied with their R-15 unit(s) express anger whenever someone who's dissatisfied expresses his/her dissatisfaction, even in a thread specifically addressing dissatisfaction? I can understand a certain degree of frustration when those who are dissatisfied express their opinions in unrelated threads. But, those members who are satisfied seem to be going out of their way to contradict the comments of those who are dissatisfied.
> 
> My best guess is that they're motivated by fear. They're concerned that, one day, their own R-15 will begin to exhibit nasty problems. So, to suppress their fear, they lash out at those who express dissatisfaction.
> 
> ...


Don't think it's ay more odd then those who have issues feel the need to lash out at those who don't agree with them.


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

Clint Lamor said:


> Don't think it's ay more odd then those who have issues feel the need to lash out at those who don't agree with them.


I have to agree with you, Clint. Sorry, wdmccarty, but don't you take folks to task for making generic statements about their R15s? As in "the R15 is generally a reliable platform." I've seen you make comments to the effect of "that may be true of YOUR R15..." I don't like when people speak for me either, so I understand your response to those types of statements. This thread is doing the same thing - yeah it may be made in fun, but it's speaking for ALL R15 owners. Sorry, but I don't agree with what's written in the original post. I don't consider myself forgotten by DirecTV. And I don't consider a response countering what's in the original post in this thread to be any different than when you respond to folks who believe that their R15s are reliable.

Personally, I didn't get angry at the OP (that's a pretty generic characterization), I just didn't agree with it. And I don't think there's anything wrong with stating that.


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

And for the record, I do feel sympathy for those with show-stopping problems with their R15s. I can understand how frustrating that is. That's why I make an attempt at responding with suggestions (some good, most not so much) when folks have problems and I believe I may have some insight. I don't get angry when folks come on with legitimate problems. I do start to lose patience when I hear nothing but rants, though. Those are just generally expressions of frustration. I get that way too, but I usually do what Lincoln did when he chastised his incompetent generals during the Civil War. I let loose with my frustration... and then I "rip up" (that is I delete) what I wrote. It lets me vent without having to subject others to my ranting -- my wife gets enough of that  My particular pet peeve is with rants regarding things that folks KNOW the answer to. As in "why can't we get more HD..." We KNOW why, and venting about it won't get those satellites launched any faster. Although, since I JUST ordered an HDTV I'll probably be one of those joining that chorus soon.


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

jpl said:


> Sorry, wdmccarty, but don't you take folks to task for making generic statements about their R15s?


I did recently post a comment suggesting that overgeneralization tends to be unhelpful. Nevertheless, I have overgeneralized and sometimes still do overgeneralize. Occasionally, as in my most recent posting, I do so with humorous intent. Other times, having merely finite cognitive capacity, I do it owing to oversight. Whatever the reason, I acknowledge that doing so is at best an oversimplification and at worst an insult. Therefore, I apologize again for any overgeneralizations on my doorstep. Please feel free to call to my attention any future lapses and anticipate that I will apologize. Eventually, I'll learn to read what I've written. And, again, my most recent posting was intended as twisted humor. I had thought that my remark about "junior college" would make that clear but I'm obviously wrong. So, I apologize to anyone who took it seriously.

I don't see myself "lashing out" with any frequency. I can think of one possible exception. But, I agree that my own perception is not what's at issue: if that's how my remarks are taken, I again apologize. My work entails a great deal of verbal give and take. So, I'm accustomed to boldly challenging claims, and having my own claims even more boldly challenged, without the imputation of significant emotion. I tend to forget that others may not be quite so accustomed to no-holds-barred argumentation.

Actually, I thought my posting about overgeneralization had gone entirely unnoticed. I'm happy to learn otherwise even if the barrel is aimed at me. I really do believe that applying a bit more logic would improve the tone of the forum. That may even be the reason why my professional argumentation seldom results in hurt feelings. Logic provides a set of rules, which all participants have implicitly agreed beforehand to observe. I don't see an equivalent social contract at work in this forum.

Now, having apologized, may I call your attention to the word "seem" in my recent posting. That word was intended to move my argument from the objective sphere to the subjective sphere so that I'm making no generalization about anyone except with respect to my own impressions. If you check , I think you'll find that my postings tend to be littered with such qualifiers. The preceding sentence, for example, contains several. I may have erred in the construction of my proposition or readers may fail to decode my concept of the significance of such words. But, I hope you can see that I'm trying, even in the message in question, to avoid overgeneralization.

Thanks for pointing out my faulty communication.

Cheers,


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Kichigai said:


> We are many...yet we are forgotten
> 
> We pay more....yet we are forgotten
> 
> ...


?? Did you misspell the title? Perhaps you meant "Owed to R15 Owners"... 

Regards,
Tom


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

tibber said:


> ?? Did you misspell the title? Perhaps you meant "Owed to R15 Owners"...


I think perhaps the OP meant "Owed to R-15 Moaners." If anything's offered, I'm in.

Cheers,


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## BattleScott (Aug 29, 2006)

Clemsole said:


> If you don't like what you have you can go elseware. No one is forceing you to stay with D* or the R15.


2 year programming committment...


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Clemsole said:


> If you don't like what you have you can go elseware. No one is forceing you to stay with D* or the R15.





BattleScott said:


> 2 year programming committment...


I take it to mean Clemsole is willing to take on the remainder of your 2 year commitment...


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

wbmccarty said:


> I did recently post a comment suggesting that overgeneralization tends to be unhelpful. Nevertheless, I have overgeneralized and sometimes still do overgeneralize. Occasionally, as in my most recent posting, I do so with humorous intent. Other times, having merely finite cognitive capacity, I do it owing to oversight. Whatever the reason, I acknowledge that doing so is at best an oversimplification and at worst an insult. Therefore, I apologize again for any overgeneralizations on my doorstep. Please feel free to call to my attention any future lapses and anticipate that I will apologize. Eventually, I'll learn to read what I've written. And, again, my most recent posting was intended as twisted humor. I had thought that my remark about "junior college" would make that clear but I'm obviously wrong. So, I apologize to anyone who took it seriously.
> 
> I don't see myself "lashing out" with any frequency. I can think of one possible exception. But, I agree that my own perception is not what's at issue: if that's how my remarks are taken, I again apologize. My work entails a great deal of verbal give and take. So, I'm accustomed to boldly challenging claims, and having my own claims even more boldly challenged, without the imputation of significant emotion. I tend to forget that others may not be quite so accustomed to no-holds-barred argumentation.
> 
> ...


I didn't mean to jump on you for that. I took no exception from your post - it didn't bother me. And you're right - I missed the humor in your post. Not a reflection of you or your post, but more likely due to the fact that I just read it pretty quickly. And there's certainly no need to apologize - I normally really enjoy your posts. I just found that one to be a bit inconsistent on your prior postings, and I just wanted to say "not all of us r15 fans get angry when we read posts criticizing the box." I certainly don't think the box is perfect by any stretch of the imagination - but I like the overall functionality of the dvr, despite some annoyances. And I agree with your assessment that it can't, by any obective measure, be considered "reliable". There are just too many folks out there with show-stopping problems, and just too much inconsistancy to say that. But it is reliable for me and for my purposes.


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

And, yes, I still do like the R15 better than my old DirecTivo, warts and all. I don't want to pick that fight again, and I really did love my old Tivo, but I just like the functionality of the R15 just a bit better - it has more features that are in tune with how I watch TV is all. For others tivo is better suited to their habits, which is why I think you have folks on both sides of that divide.


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## dmichaels1 (Jan 26, 2006)

The people without problems OBVIOUSLY don't use the R15 as much as others. They are the ones with 5 DVRs and not much time to watch them. Just look at the amount of systems these people have. No way are they using their R15 as much some other people.


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

dmichaels1 said:


> The people without problems OBVIOUSLY don't use the R15 as much as others. They are the ones with 5 DVRs and not much time to watch them. Just look at the amount of systems these people have. No way are they using their R15 as much some other people.


Wow do you have that wrong. At least that doesn't fit my situation. Yeah we have two DVRs, but the second is on a spare TV, and doesn't get much exercise. Our main TV has an R15 that gets lots of use. No, we're not power users (we probably have 15 active SLs), but we record lots of stuff. Between shows for me, for my wife, and for my kids, the unit gets a work-out (we do lots of one-off recordings - we're big movie buffs, and we record lots of them). And we have few problems, and certainly no show-stoppers, on either DVR. Sorry, but that generalization just doesn't fit.


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## dmichaels1 (Jan 26, 2006)

jpl said:


> Wow do you have that wrong. At least that doesn't fit my situation. Yeah we have two DVRs, but the second is on a spare TV, and doesn't get much exercise. Our main TV has an R15 that gets lots of use. No, we're not power users (we probably have 15 active SLs), but we record lots of stuff. Between shows for me, for my wife, and for my kids, the unit gets a work-out (we do lots of one-off recordings - we're big movie buffs, and we record lots of them). And we have few problems, and certainly no show-stoppers, on either DVR. Sorry, but that generalization just doesn't fit.


"We have a few problems"

Yes, that's what I said. I'm talking about the people who say thay aren't experiencing any problems. Sorry, but it does seem to fit. The more use it gets, the more the problems SEEM to show up.
(And I am a power user)


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

dmichaels1 said:


> "We have a few problems"
> 
> Yes, that's what I said. I'm talking about the people who say thay aren't experiencing any problems. Sorry, but it does seem to fit. The more use it gets, the more the problems SEEM to show up.
> (And I am a power user)


Again, have to diagree with you. When I say we have problems, allow me to clarify. Really we hit some nitpicky stuff. Nothing serious. No lost recordings, no missed recordings, no black screens of death, no continual RBRs. About the biggest issues we hit:

- Stuck progress bar -- actually this one went away with the last s/w release.
- Phantom calls on our caller id (for secondary DVR - a model 300).
- Looping ffwd on secondary DVR.
- Screensaver no longer working with my main DVR - a model 500.

And... that's about it. I misspoke when I said what we had were problems. I guess technically they are problems, but they're much more nitpicky in my case. Sorry, but you really can't include me as one of those who experience problems due to somewhat heavy usage. We do use our DVR alot (particulary the 500), but the problems I listed above are about the only ones that I hit. Especially since the last s/w release my 500 in particular has gone from being pretty bug-free and extremely reliable to nearly totally bug-free and extremely reliable.


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