# Should a grown woman cry over a DVR?



## fifidanon (Sep 19, 2006)

Planning the move into our new home, I called DirecTV to set up the moving option ("Leave the dish behind . . . blah, blah, blah) and was talked into upgrading our equipment. We had one Tivo DVR and two regular receivers at our old house. Moving here, we decided on two DVRs and one regular receiver, all of which were to be upgraded for free, as encouraged by DirecTV customer service.

We moved into our new home on Friday 9/15, and received our DirecTV installation today, Monday 9/18 (don't even get me started on the customer service/installation appointment debacle). Imagine my surprise when I went to watch my newly set up TVs and discovered this horrible new DVR system which is nothing like the Tivo we had before.

I was nearly in actual tears. I loved my Tivo, and could operate that thing like Perlman operates his violin. (Insert your own metaphor if you don't know who Perlman is, but you get the point.) Moving into a new home is stressful enough, all this change all at once, and now I have this new system that is so confusing and convoluted.

I want my Tivo back!! I know it's only the first day, but this system seems so much less user friendly than my Tivo was. Programming and negotiating through the system was a snap before. This is giving me brain ache. 

Will I learn to love this system, or can I call DirecTV, say this has all been a cruel mistake, and go back to my old system? I still have my old Tivo DVR and receivers. They did not take them away after installing the new stuff. Is it even possible to revert to the old system, or is that being phased out?

Anyone out there feel this way at first, and find it all worked out? I have grave, grave doubts.

Thanks for feedback/commiseration/support.


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## khajath (Feb 18, 2006)

fifidanon said:


> I want my Tivo back!! I know it's only the first day, but this system seems so much less user friendly than my Tivo was. Programming and negotiating through the system was a snap before. This is giving me brain ache.


 Why don't you spend sometime to study the manual, and give this R15 unit a chance. For a typical user (some recording here and there, pause live TV), it's not too bad. I saw some heavy user got problem with it, I have not personally had much problem with it lately, but I don't use it much. My wife actually likes it.

R15 has some good feature over the Tivo: faster, interactive (you might like it), recording xm..

If after two weeks or a month, and you still find yourself misery, then call DIRECTV and ask for an R10 replacement.


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## nneptune (Mar 30, 2006)

fifidanon said:


> Planning the move into our new home, I called DirecTV to set up the moving option ("Leave the dish behind . . . blah, blah, blah) and was talked into upgrading our equipment. We had one Tivo DVR and two regular receivers at our old house. Moving here, we decided on two DVRs and one regular receiver, all of which were to be upgraded for free, as encouraged by DirecTV customer service.
> 
> We moved into our new home on Friday 9/15, and received our DirecTV installation today, Monday 9/18 (don't even get me started on the customer service/installation appointment debacle). Imagine my surprise when I went to watch my newly set up TVs and discovered this horrible new DVR system which is nothing like the Tivo we had before.
> 
> ...


My wife and I have never gotten over the loss of our DISH DVR when we switched.
I can operate the R15 fine (though, truly I don't like it), but the wife has problems understanding all of it.
I can see you being upset. Sometiimes change isn't always great.
I know my local Diectv installer carries some Tivos. Perhaps you can call a local dealer and make a trade.
Good luck.


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## TMullenJr (Feb 23, 2006)

Since you still have your old equipment, it is simple to reactivate it. Just call 800-Directv, and explain that you want to shut off 1 (or both) of the new DVR's and reactivate your old one. The new units are leased, so you'll have to return them. Make sure when you reactivate the old unit, they mark it as owned, otherwise when you do shut it off in the future, they'll try to make you send it back.

I don't know the exact policy, but you probably have 30 days from the date of install to decide if you want to keep the new units before they say that you're locked in. 

You should at least try the R-15 for a week or so and see how you feel once you're used to it. I know there are people that love their Tivo's, but there are also people that hate them. It is really just a matter of getting aclimated to the new interface.

Good luck.


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

Don't listen to any of these folks. Hardcore TiVo people like you and me will never love the R15, even if and when it does work as it's designed, because it was poorly designed. 

It's easy for you since you still have the old equipment. Word is that eBay and Weaknees and the like are the only places with DTiVos remaining. You will not get one from DirecTV no matter how you ask. Just tell them you want to send their pale imitation DVR back and that you want to reactivate your old equipment.


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

I agree with TMullenJr. My tivo died this past summer. I replaced it with an R15, and had a real hard time with it at first. And at first, I didn't like it much either. I got used to the functionality, and now I actually prefer the R15 over the tivo. I know, some would consider that sacrilege. I would give it a week or two. Actually, since you have 2 DVRs, I'm guessing that BOTH are R15s. Well, why don't you just send back one of the R15s, and reactivate your tivo. And make sure you let them know that it's an owned unit. That way you'll have one of each to play with (one R15 and your old Tivo). That'll give you a chance to compare both, and figure out which you like better. You'll still have 2 DVRs, and you won't pay any extra for the service. The only thing, from what I understand, is that you need to make sure, in that kind of setup, that your R15 is your main receiver - and your Tivo is your secondary.


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

walters said:


> Don't listen to any of these folks. Hardcore TiVo people like you and me will never love the R15,


Just so untrue.  I came from multiple years of using DirecTiVos and can see the benefits of the R-15. Earl used to be the hardest of the hardcore TiVoholics over on TCF for who knows how many years and how many thousands and thousands of messages and he learned to adapt to the R-15 and so have many others.


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

Neither you nor Earl are who I am talking about.


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## profbobo (Jan 22, 2006)

walters said:


> Don't listen to any of these folks. Hardcore TiVo people like you and me will never love the R15, even if and when it does work as it's designed, because it was poorly designed.
> 
> It's easy for you since you still have the old equipment. Word is that eBay and Weaknees and the like are the only places with DTiVos remaining. You will not get one from DirecTV no matter how you ask. Just tell them you want to send their pale imitation DVR back and that you want to reactivate your old equipment.


I 1000% agree. Yes, 1000%.

My wife and I put up with the R15 for 2 months. We tried.

Just read this forum for a day. I mean come on, really. Will the thing ever work before it's phased out?

The thing is called a DirecTV DVR in all the advertising. R15 is just a model number. Two years from now when people still have problems and call in. They will send out a replacement DirecTV DVR. It'll probably be a different model number that will work better.

I know it's my opinion and many like the R15. I just think it's a piece of crap. Most of this comes from the fact that I've had DirecTV and TiVo for years and I really like both products. I paid quite a bit for a Sony T60 when they came out. And I've always like DirecTV since cable in my area is crap. I remember when DirecTV was all happy with their 4 millionth subscriber number.

Bad analogy and I'm sorry if I offend anyone. But it's like your two best friends get a divorce and you still want to be friends with both. For now it's working out. I am a friend to both products. But I know eventually it'll end for one. And I don't want it to.

I just think DirecTV messed up. DirecTV's DVR offering was years ahead of cable, Dish, etc. They owned the competition. Now they put themselves 2-3 years behind the game with the R15.

So yeah, what Walters said. Call back and reactivate your TiVo and deactivate the R15. You should have no problems.


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## BattleScott (Aug 29, 2006)

I had the Tivo DR39 for 4 years, then the second tuner died. I got the R15 to replace it and immediately thought the same thing. But I got used to the new interface and menus in a few days. At that point I thought, OK this isn't that bad afterall, just took some getting used to.

Now, I despise it for a whole new set of reasons. The performance of the R15 is totally horrible. It requires periodic resets to recover from total system lockups during playback of recorded programming. The FF and RW controls (which are the very core element of DVR in the first place) are flaky at best.

The R15 was peiced together from existing technology to provide a solution to the TiVo/DirectTV fallout. I have not had a bad word to say about DirectTV for 4 years, but if they don't offer a low cost replacement for this peice of crap now that they have resigned with TiVo, I will have to look elsewhere. 

Inferior quality, lack of customer service and reduction of service is why I left the cable compnay in the first place. Strike one was taking away the Fox Movie channel, strike two was issuing this inferior pile of poo, the pay-off pitch is on the way...


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

walters said:


> Don't listen to any of these folks. Hardcore TiVo people like you and me will never love the R15, even if and when it does work as it's designed, because it was poorly designed.


I agree completely. The R-15 is just now to the point of being usable, so it's worth a try, and you probably will get used to it and maybe even find stuff you like about it, but if you can keep the Tivo unit you love, that is your best choice.

Run them side by side if you can.


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## Blitz68 (Apr 19, 2006)

fifidanon said:


> Planning the move into our new home, I called DirecTV to set up the moving option ("Leave the dish behind . . . blah, blah, blah) and was talked into upgrading our equipment. We had one Tivo DVR and two regular receivers at our old house. Moving here, we decided on two DVRs and one regular receiver, all of which were to be upgraded for free, as encouraged by DirecTV customer service.
> 
> We moved into our new home on Friday 9/15, and received our DirecTV installation today, Monday 9/18 (don't even get me started on the customer service/installation appointment debacle). Imagine my surprise when I went to watch my newly set up TVs and discovered this horrible new DVR system which is nothing like the Tivo we had before.
> 
> ...


Only for HD


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## Blitz68 (Apr 19, 2006)

khajath said:


> Why don't you spend sometime to study the manual, and give this R15 unit a chance. For a typical user (some recording here and there, pause live TV), it's not too bad. I saw some heavy user got problem with it, I have not personally had much problem with it lately, but I don't use it much. My wife actually likes it.
> 
> R15 has some good feature over the Tivo: faster, interactive (you might like it), recording xm..
> 
> If after two weeks or a month, and you still find yourself misery, then call DIRECTV and *ask for an R10 replacement*.


Not possible. ONLY R15's are shipping.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

I think Apk said it best. "It's just now to the point of being usable". After you have used the R15 for a while you'll will really miss the Picture in the Guide and one touch records. Of course you don't have dual buffers or wish lists but what the R15 has to offer is really nice. It's still has kinks in it but it has gotten pretty good lately. If you try it for a month and don't like it you can always send the R15's back and active the Tivo's again (remember the 2 yr's was for the service not the receiver's) so no big issue if you want to switch back at any point.


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

cabanaboy1977 said:


> After you have used the R15 for a while you'll will really miss the Picture in the Guide and one touch records.


I agree plus many more things too. 

I now have my 2 R-15's and R-10 all stacked in the living room so I can sync up my SL's and burn shows to DVD as I plan to disconnected one soon. Leaning towards the R-10 now but still not 100% sure.

I really hate when I go to use the R-10 and have to sit there in silence checking what SP's I have there, rearranging SL's and other things. This might be one of my biggest pet peeves about the DirecTiVos. With the R-15 you can do things when watching recordings, DirecTiVo you cant and it wont even let you see the guide either.


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

I hate the picture in guide/menu. Hate it. Wish there were some way to disable it.


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

walters said:


> I hate the picture in guide/menu.


Sure you do. 

Is it just a coincidence or did I say that was the thing I hated most that the DirecTiVos dont have in the post before yours ??????

No tit for tat arguments with you today. :grin:


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

I'm not sure where you're coming from, here. Are you saying I don't hate the PiG and that I'm just saying that? I wish I could disable live TV on my TiVo, too, but at least I can hit the menu button before turning on the TV, which accomplishes essentially the same thing. I can't stand sitting down to watch something else and having to struggle to avoid finding out who's getting voted off or who won Head of Household or who's in the bottom three or how Michael and Lincoln almost got caught this week, etc.


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

walters said:


> I'm not sure where you're coming from, here.


I am only fooling around and was just joking about how you and I seem to be on here the same time and go back and forth on some subjects. Sorta like we are now.


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

We are not. 

(ah, I see you like to be invisible, too )


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## celticpride (Sep 6, 2006)

I feel for you fifidanon i have 3 hd-tivos and eventhough i live in so cal. and could switch right now,i won't do it even if they replaced the 3 for free,UNLESS they get rid of the bugs. add dual buffers and get nba league pass in hd!


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

walters said:


> I can't stand sitting down to watch something else and having to struggle to avoid finding out who's getting voted off or who won Head of Household or who's in the bottom three or how Michael and Lincoln almost got caught this week, etc.


That part I can agree with, but I still love the PIG normally. I love UTV's solution to this. Make the MYVOD it's own station. We your done with a MYVOD show it would take you a blue screen (both tuners would still record during this). So you never got dumped to live TV unless you where tuned to that station.


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## DishSatUser (Aug 28, 2006)

When the R15 works properly, which fortunately seems to be the most of the time with a prophalactic (preventative, not the use of some latex product) reset press, my spouse is happy.

When the unit stops the recording and displays "delete now or keep recording" on a random basis when the replay key is pressed, my spouse is not happy. Fortunately the frustration hasn't been vented at me, just the device, but it'll be out the window if it intrudes on our marital bliss.

Fortunately we were not familiar with the Tivo product many of you have migrated from but a problematic DVR from a competitor. So our current opinion is that all DVRs have problems and it's the normal state of things. I can't imagine your frustration of moving from a product that sounds like it was fantastic to the current state of things.

It's my children that are the additional qualifier. The moment an SL misses their shows, it's lights out for the R15.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

DishSatUser said:


> When the unit stops the recording and displays "delete now or keep recording" on a random basis when the replay key is pressed, my spouse is not happy.


Is that still happening to you? That was corrected a few updates ago.


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

I still get that message frequently at times that I can't explain. I don't think it's random of course, it's must be some set of conditions that I haven't figured out yet.

Right?


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

Hmm, maybe when the buffer had to change to another channel, because of sometime else recording so the skip back causes the jump to the delete yes/no? Is it still while watching some that is still recording or is it on shows that are completely finished in MYVOD?


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## fifidanon (Sep 19, 2006)

Hello all, and thanks for all the feedback and advice sent my way. I haven't had a chance to revisit the R15 at all today, so I've no idea if I'll like it any better today than I did yesterday.

I am so happy and relieved to hear that I can ask DirecTV to set me back up with the Tivo unit if I so desire. It's such a great safety net, in these trying times of a new DVR! I really did dodge a bullet as well - I almost let the installer take the old units, thinking they were just going to gather dust in the basement (not realizing that the new DVR was such a broad departure from my Tivo).

I really don't have much choice, if I do revert, than to use at least one R15, as we only had the one Tivo unit at the old house, and two regular receivers. One person wrote that I would probably need to use the R15 as my main receiver. What does that mean?

Here's the little I can say after one day with the R15: I too hate the picture-in-guide. When I was performing "Tivo Maintenance," as I enjoyed calling it to jokingly irritate my dh, I didn't want any distractions. I enjoyed the blue screen with the smoke curls in the background. My "Tivo Maintenance" was serious business! Quiet on the set! My dh used to sit there and ironically comment, "Yeah, this is great! I love 20 minutes of menus and guides and smoke curls, dings and bass drum beats, instead of watching an actual show - ANY show!" (Translation: Dh will like the picture-in-guide.)

Second major irritation: What's with the fast-forward and rewind speeds? I was able to get a handle on the fast-forward for the most part, but the rewind didn't seem to have any rhyme or reason to it. Attempting to bypass commercials (which is, after all, my second favorite thing about Tivo after Season Pass Manager - btw, where is that in R15?) I would constantly overshoot the rewind function, and then in my attempts to correct, would catapult forward well into the next scene of the show. Not cool!

One last question (for now): Where is the R15 version of searching for shows based on individual channels? In Tivo, I search by Favorite Channels, plug in the channel number, and get just that channel's line up for the entire day, evening, next day, entire week, etc. Does the R15 have anything like that? All I've discovered is the basic channel grid, which is cumbersome if I want to search over longer periods with only one channel in mind.

Sorry for the overly long post - again. Can't express enough how relieved I am to have people to discuss this with.

Oops! One last question: If I decide to revert completely, and somehow get my hands on a DirecTivo out there somewhere, will DirecTV activate if for me if and when I re-activate the Tivo I already have, if I didn't use a second Tivo unit with them before?

Thanks again for all the great help.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

walters said:


> Don't listen to any of these folks. Hardcore TiVo people like you and me will never love the R15, even if and when it does work as it's designed, because it was poorly designed.
> 
> It's easy for you since you still have the old equipment. Word is that eBay and Weaknees and the like are the only places with DTiVos remaining. You will not get one from DirecTV no matter how you ask. Just tell them you want to send their pale imitation DVR back and that you want to reactivate your old equipment.


A little late to this party, but I agree, so does my wife. I've got a R15 in my office with Tivos elsewhere in the house. The first time she walked in when I was doing something in the R15 menus and the discussion went as follows:

Wife: What ta [email protected]*^ is that?
Me: DTV's new DVR.
Wife: Did you pay for that?
Me: No it was free with the last Tivo we got.
Wife: OK, fine, just make damn sure I never have to use one of those.
Me: Yes Dear.

I didn't even get into the fact that the R15 doesn't do MRV and she wouldn't be able to clean up her now playing and SPs using a web interface. Thought it best to keep that little bit of info to myself. :grin:


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

walters said:


> Neither you nor Earl are who I am talking about.


Walters, you just have to remember that Bobman, Earl and some others are those effected and controlled by the Blue Eye of Terror. They get HIP-MO-TIZED by it's flashing and spinning kinda like folks do in those Avenger episodes when they have that spinning ball. Some of us can resist the BEoT but for many it spells their doom! :eek2:


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

fifidanon said:


> One person wrote that I would probably need to use the R15 as my main receiver. What does that mean?


Nothing, really. I'm not even sure it's necessary, but in your account there's a primary receiver, and I guess they're saying to make sure the R15 is it. That doesn't mean you have to use it more than any secondary receiver or anything.



fifidanon said:


> Season Pass Manager - btw, where is that in R15?)


Press List, yellow, then select "prioritizer". This is also where you'll find the To Do List (a subset of around 100 of the things that the receiver may do in the next two weeks) and history (a useless list of 50 of the things it and you did recently).



fifidanon said:


> One last question (for now): Where is the R15 version of searching for shows based on individual channels? In Tivo, I search by Favorite Channels, plug in the channel number, and get just that channel's line up for the entire day, evening, next day, entire week, etc. Does the R15 have anything like that? All I've discovered is the basic channel grid, which is cumbersome if I want to search over longer periods with only one channel in mind.


When in the guide, go left to highlight the actual channel itself, and then press Info. That's a rough approximation of the right half of the TiVo style guide.



fifidanon said:


> Oops! One last question: If I decide to revert completely, and somehow get my hands on a DirecTivo out there somewhere, will DirecTV activate if for me if and when I re-activate the Tivo I already have, if I didn't use a second Tivo unit with them before?


Will be no problem. Just make sure they get the ownership right. These things are generally leased, now (you return it when you deactivate it). But if you buy one on eBay or somewhere, you own it, and you'll need to tell them that.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

fifidanon said:


> Here's the little I can say after one day with the R15: I too hate the picture-in-guide. When I was performing "Tivo Maintenance," as I enjoyed calling it to jokingly irritate my dh, I didn't want any distractions. I enjoyed the blue screen with the smoke curls in the background. My "Tivo Maintenance" was serious business! Quiet on the set! My dh used to sit there and ironically comment, "Yeah, this is great! I love 20 minutes of menus and guides and smoke curls, dings and bass drum beats, instead of watching an actual show - ANY show!" (Translation: Dh will like the picture-in-guide.)


If your using it and the husband isn't there you can always press pause while doing maintenance. In fact all the trick play functions (FF,RR,pause) still work while the PIG is up



fifidanon said:


> Second major irritation: What's with the fast-forward and rewind speeds? I was able to get a handle on the fast-forward for the most part, but the rewind didn't seem to have any rhyme or reason to it. Attempting to bypass commercials (which is, after all, my second favorite thing about Tivo after Season Pass Manager - btw, where is that in R15?) I would constantly overshoot the rewind function, and then in my attempts to correct, would catapult forward well into the next scene of the show. Not cool!


The R15 doesn't have any error correction on play. What you can do is use the FF or the 30 sec slip and then use the (about) 6 second jumpback to get something kind of like the autocorrect on the TV.


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

cabanaboy1977 said:


> Is that still happening to you? That was corrected a few updates ago.


That message happens to me everytime I turn on the R-15 and its recording something.


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## DishSatUser (Aug 28, 2006)

cabanaboy1977 said:


> Is that still happening to you? That was corrected a few updates ago.


Yes, just the other day infact. Perhaps I've not received updates for some reason? Any suggestions for forcing an update?


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

Bobman said:


> That message happens to me everytime I turn on the R-15 and its recording something.


That is normal. I was just talking about the issue with the 6 sec skip back.



DishSatUser said:


> Yes, just the other day infact. Perhaps I've not received updates for some reason? Any suggestions for forcing an update?


To force an update just hit the reset button and wait of the blue screen then hit 02468 (only once and don't hit any other buttons or it won't work) then just give it a couple of mins and it should start downloading the latest software update. You should already have the most current update thought check that first. When is this happen exactly?


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