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stars
"When it works, it's great" on by tstarn04
Pros: Good PQ, small footprint, Decent GUI
Cons: Misses recordings, audio dropouts.
Summary: Well, I've owned this box for three weeks, and already three software updates in the middle of the night. Biggest problem/issue: It will record a show, but when you go to play it, it freezes up at a black screen with the counter along the bottom stuck at 0:00. It's a known issue, along with others (just check out www.dbstalk.com for details). The latest software update, 10/4, release notes say they "black screen of death" isn't even fixed yet, but it should happen less. How can you release a piece of hardware that requires three software updates in three weeks? Didn't someone beta test it? And this is a machine that has been delayed for months during 2005 and 2006. They should have stayed with Tivo for their software, rather than giving the money to NDS, which also is owned by Murdoch.
David, trust me when I say that there are a lot of unhappy Directv customers out there regarding the HR-20 glitches so far. Granted, when it works, it's great. But if a DVR can't record a program and let you watch it 99-100 percent of the time, it's really not a DVR. At least not yet.Updated
Directv continues to download firmware fixes/upgrades to the HR20, and mine is now working (fingers crossed). But others are reporting ongoing reliability issues (on www.dbstalk.com). Today, Directv began its latest firmware update, and this one finally unlocks the over-the-air tuner (which had been disabled). There are several other "fixes" and some great new features (that get into Tivo territory). Still missing: Dual buffers so you can pause one show and watch another, and vice versa. Not sure if it will be added, but if they get the reliability issue really fixed for everyone, and the OTA and new features work, then this will be a winner. But so far, in 4 months, it's not there yet. Interesting to see how this will all shake out with yesterday's announcement that News Corp. is trading Directv to Liberty Media. Have no idea if Liberty will continue to use News Corps. DVR strategy, or look to other strategies (maybe reconnecting with Tivo?). Anyway, as I said initially, of this DVR becomes reliable, I think it can be a winner. The jury is still out, but the verdict looks more favorable than back in September.
- 5 replies to this review
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I haven't had your problem, but I agree that it was not ready for release. They should have stuck with TIVO.
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1/27/07 and they still don't have the fixes yet. Mine is doing the same thing....black screen of death.
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I've had my HR20 for maybe 2 months now and I'm sick to death of the bugs. I get the BSD a lot, programs truncated at the beginning or end, or not, 18 min. of a program before the computer decides it's had enough. Why is the step 4 fast forward/backward about 100 times faster than step 3 (this is a rhetorial question).<br><br>The picture is great! I was running a Sony LCD HDTV off DirecTV's old non-HD DVR and the picture sucked really big. People's eyes would move opposite to the way their head moved if they shook their heads. I LOVE the detail in the HD programs. But the SW programmers really need to rent a clue.<br><br>Does anyone know what OS they're using? If they're not using Linux or Unix, they're probably using something they made up, which may be why it's so buggy.<br><br>Why are the recorded programs stored mixed in with the program SW? No self-respecting programmer would do that. There should be separate partitions so that if we really DO need to do a fatal re-boot we won't lose our recorded programs. <br><br>STOP THE BLACK SCREEN OF DEATH!!!! STOP THE TRUCATION!!!! FIX THE ff AND fr SO WE CAN CONTROL WHERE IT STOPS!!!! LET US REMOVE THINGS FROM THE PRIORITIZER when there aren't any more episodes for a program!!!!<br><br>And I liked the TiVo control that let you back up in small steps. That was nice.<br><br>Oh yeah, one more thing. I went away for Xmas and when I came back, all my scheduled HD programs on the local channels (non-antenna) had been changed to non-HD. Could this have been the result of a long blackout we had in this area -- some problem with the local stations?<br><br>I'm just too disgusted to go on. I compared it with Comcast, my other choice here, but it looks like DirecTV is better if they can fix the bugs. You'd think 2 months would be enough time to fix the damn bugs.
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See my comments oursixgrandkids@aol.com<br><br>They cannot fix the machine. The engineers are stumped and I am frustrated beyond beyond. Please write to me
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I talked with Directv technical support yesterday after my new HR20 refused to record certain programs, would not fast forward through recorded programs, and was jumpy and jittery on recorded HD programming. They said that they are aware of the problem and are working on it. The expect to have a software update soon. <br><br>Tim
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