Funny you say ESPN is flawless... their ESPN-HD is NOT! In fact, an indise man told me how much trouble D* was having with the signal they get from them -- even went into pointing out HOW to tell: "the graphics/banners will be clear and sharp yet the picture will be poor, grainy and pixelated."

I've had to unplug my HR20 TO restore a GROSSLY PIXELATED reception of ESPN-HD twice -- I even RECORDED a minute of it as evidence of how screwed up the reception was! So, I'd NOT hold them up as any better than the rest. But now you know MY experience.

BTW, I see they've added both ESPN-HD and ESN2-HD to the 200's in addition to the originals in the 80's... I'm sure this is in prep for something... are these in mpeg-4? Do we know if ANY of these new HDs are in mpeg-4? I thought the new 99 sat was purely 4... or was my information about "NEEDING the HR20 and the new 5LNB to get mpeg-4 on 99" not entirely accurate?

Funny you say ESPN is flawless... their ESPN-HD is NOT! In fact, an indise man told me how much trouble D* was having with the signal they get from them -- even went into pointing out HOW to tell: "the graphics/banners will be clear and sharp yet the picture will be poor, grainy and pixelated."

I've had to unplug my HR20 TO restore a GROSSLY PIXELATED reception of ESPN-HD twice -- I even RECORDED a minute of it as evidence of how screwed up the reception was! So, I'd NOT hold them up as any better than the rest. But now you know MY experience.

BTW, I see they've added both ESPN-HD and ESN2-HD to the 200's in addition to the originals in the 80's... I'm sure this is in prep for something... are these in mpeg-4? Do we know if ANY of these new HDs are in mpeg-4? I thought the new 99 sat was purely 4... or was my information about "NEEDING the HR20 and the new 5LNB to get mpeg-4 on 99" not entirely accurate?

The "old" channels are still in Mpeg 2 even if some are remapped.

Oh that sucks.

Please call and or email DirecTV (you can do that from the Contact Us part of their website) to let them know you think this is crap. THey do not seem to think there is a problem with this limit.

BTW, I see they've added both ESPN-HD and ESN2-HD to the 200's in addition to the originals in the 80's... I'm sure this is in prep for something... are these in mpeg-4? Do we know if ANY of these new HDs are in mpeg-4? I thought the new 99 sat was purely 4... or was my information about "NEEDING the HR20 and the new 5LNB to get mpeg-4 on 99" not entirely accurate?To elaborate further on what was posted by joed32: All of the HD channels that previously existed in the 70s (HBOHD, SHOHD, TNTHD, ESPNHD, etc.) that now are duplicated elsewhere are simply remapped virtual channels and are still MPEG2. The remapping was done in preparation for the day when they eliminate the MPEG2 version in the future and at that time, they will transition to MPEG4. Those channels are not being transmitted from the new satellite (103(b)) yet. Additionally, the reason they are still available in the 70s is because the legacy HD receivers (HR10-250 et al) do not have the capability to "stack" duplicate channel numbers, as do the HR20 and H20 receivers.

Is there a techincal reason why when watching an HD channel the volume seems far more subdued than on the SD version of the same chanel? I have an HR20 running S-video and 2 chanel RCA audio for my bedroom setup to an SD tube tv. The picture is essentially the same on HD and SD versions, but audio is much better on the SD set on the SD version of the chanel (and yes, I do also have an HDTV set connected via HDMI in another room)

I noticed tht on my SD trinitron, the SD channels are normal and the HD channels seem to be a few seconds behind and the audio is very quite

It is because the HD version is a DD 5.1 mix and the SD ones are a downmixed stereo version.

I noticed a few references to E-Sata HD size limit at 750 gig for the HR20..is this firm or can this be bumped up, I found a good deal on a 1T that I'd like to use.

I noticed a few references to E-Sata HD size limit at 750 gig for the HR20..is this firm or can this be bumped up, I found a good deal on a 1T that I'd like to use.

I was just wondering the same thing. Although the 2 links below would seem to indicate otherwise.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=103332

http://www.tenbox.net/index2.htm

The remapping was done in preparation for the day when they eliminate the MPEG2 version in the future and at that time, they will transition to MPEG4. Those channels are not being transmitted from the new satellite (103(b)) yet. .

I'm very curious when it does happen just how much PQ degrading will actually happen.

I was just wondering the same thing. Although the 2 links below would seem to indicate otherwise.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=103332

http://www.tenbox.net/index2.htm



It looks like this Tenbox unit can use up to 2T..they must have hacked the
SW allowing use of multiple HD's. I better hold off on upgrading just now. :)

I use optical for audio thru my Home Theater receiver and HDMI for video to the TV. Audio dropouts abound either way. It is a source issue more than the HR20.
Pixelation is also a source issue. I can watch 480p DVD of Friday night Lights and get a perfect picture, when I watch the new season on NBC over 1080i, it is ghosty and pixely. Most of my network HD shows have flaws. ESPN is flawless. The networks should consult with ESPN and Discovery chanels tech crew as they are getting it right.

Well,I am a D* subscriber, but at the moment watching Comcast HD at my Dad's house. He has pixelation and dropouts too:rolleyes:

I noticed a few references to E-Sata HD size limit at 750 gig for the HR20..is this firm or can this be bumped up, I found a good deal on a 1T that I'd like to use.

I have a 750 on mine but I have read of others who have multi-terabyte setups. The way to get more than a single hard drive is to use a multi-drive RAID enclosure. The software does not need to be hacked.

I have a 750 on mine but I have read of others who have multi-terabyte setups. The way to get more than a single hard drive is to use a multi-drive RAID enclosure. The software does not need to be hacked.
So, is there a limit per drive? I'm guessing that 2TB Tenbox setup would be 2-TB drives indicating a single 1-TB drive should work.

Guess it's time to drop in something about the HR21 here:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=105066

Is it possible to do PIP with the HR20. It in essence has three tuner, 2 sat and 1 OTA. You can record on two and watch the third. Seems like more than enough HP is there. Can't find anything about PIP in the manual. Was rather frustrating this weekend to have the football game on one channel and NASCAR on another at the same time. The PREVIOUS button takes about 5 seconds to switch back and forth. PIP would be real nice.:p

Is it possible to do PIP with the HR20.
No.
It in essence has three tuner, 2 sat and 1 OTA.
It has two satellite and two OTA tuners, but only two can be used at any time. You cannot be recording two programs and watch a third one live.

I have a 750 on mine but I have read of others who have multi-terabyte setups. The way to get more than a single hard drive is to use a multi-drive RAID enclosure. The software does not need to be hacked.

EBR, do you happen to know what the prefered enclosures this setup is using, what I'm finding are USB or FW no SATA.

EBR, do you happen to know what the prefered enclosures this setup is using, what I'm finding are USB or FW no SATA.

"eSATA"
here are some from Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=eSATA%20Cable&bop=And&Page=2

Thats what I thought. Darn. Sounds like the hardware is capable but the software is not . Maybee someday.

Lately, I've been noticing a lot of picture pixelation and audio drop outs when playing recorded material on my HR20. I don't think it's related to reception and I was wondering if there's an issue going on with the hard drive. Does the disk need to be de-fragmented from time-to-time?

Does the disk need to be de-fragmented from time-to-time?
No, but yours could be going bad.

I'm very curious when it does happen just how much PQ degrading will actually happen.Based on what I have seen, I doubt there will be any PQ degradation. The MPEG4 HD locals that I receive from DIRECTV appear to me to be every bit as sharp as the OTA HD locals that I receive. I have watched some programming on HBOwHD and SHOwHD (both of which are not remapped MPEG2 and I believe are MPEG4 from the 103(b) satellite) and the PQ is terrific.

Hi,
I got my HR20 installed on Sept. 18. I got an email that my latest bill was available online, so I took a look at it since this one should be a normal bill. I have a charge for a leased receiver of 4.99. I understood that I would only be charged that if I had an additional receiver. Is that correct? The HR20 should be the only one activated.
Thanks

EBR, do you happen to know what the prefered enclosures this setup is using, what I'm finding are USB or FW no SATA.

What VOS said.

It should also be noted that the "pioneers" in this area appear to have found a limit of 2TB for the HR20 (larger drive arrays are only recognized as 2TB). D* insiders seem to feel that this should not be the case and they are looking into it.

It should also be noted that this functionality (external eSata drives) is not officially supported yet. So, anything could happen.

Lately, I've been noticing a lot of picture pixelation and audio drop outs when playing recorded material on my HR20. I don't think it's related to reception and I was wondering if there's an issue going on with the hard drive. Does the disk need to be de-fragmented from time-to-time?

I am having the same thing. I have noticed that it is worst on NBC, but the problem is not exclusive to NBC.

"eSATA"
here are some from Newegg: ]

Thanks, I guess I haven't figured out what the difference is between e-SATA and SATA is other then one is outside the box..is there an actual difference in the hardware or cabling? BTW, my original question was pertaining to multi-drive raid hardware.

Thanks, I guess I haven't figured out what the difference is between e-SATA and SATA is other then one is outside the box..is there an actual difference in the hardware or cabling? BTW, my original question was pertaining to multi-drive raid hardware.

eSata cables are shielded more heavily and, I believe, the connectors are slightly different. Personally, I wish there was some sort of "catch" or lock on the eSata connection. That's one cable you don't want slipping loose at any time...

P.S. Newegg also has multi-drive raid enclosures that support eSata

Re: Hr20-700 Closed Caption problems
The LIL channels for this market that broadcast in 720p have garbled CC during prime time. However, the ota HD at the same time is ok. Recordings of the Fox and ABC program must be from OTA or if LIL they are also garbled. Sometimes, a short burst of foreign language captions is mixed in the the garbage. Last night, the first two hours of network over LIL for ABC was ok, but at 10p.m. Boston Legal's captions were the usual garbage.
D* disclaims any responsibility. The local stations have monitored the signals with their own equipment and do not have a problem. My old Samsong satellite receiver up until being taken out of service, did not have a problem...so it seems to have arrived with MPG4 transmission and the HR-20 receiver. D* technical service is no help.
Any others have this problem.

Hi,
I got my HR20 installed on Sept. 18. I got an email that my latest bill was available online, so I took a look at it since this one should be a normal bill. I have a charge for a leased receiver of 4.99. I understood that I would only be charged that if I had an additional receiver. Is that correct? The HR20 should be the only one activated.
Thanks
If you have only one receiver, then you should have a $4.99 charge with a $4.99 credit. Are you sure there is no credit?

Re: Hr20-700 Closed Caption problems
The LIL channels for this market that broadcast in 720p have garbled CC during prime time. However, the ota HD at the same time is ok. Recordings of the Fox and ABC program must be from OTA or if LIL they are also garbled. Sometimes, a short burst of foreign language captions is mixed in the the garbage. Last night, the first two hours of network over LIL for ABC was ok, but at 10p.m. Boston Legal's captions were the usual garbage.
D* disclaims any responsibility. The local stations have monitored the signals with their own equipment and do not have a problem. My old Samsong satellite receiver up until being taken out of service, did not have a problem...so it seems to have arrived with MPG4 transmission and the HR-20 receiver. D* technical service is no help.
Any others have this problem.

yes, yes, yes, I too am disturbed by the poor chances of getting usable cc's. It is the same on my 100 and 700 model. It is either perfect (rare) or completely jumbled (90%+)

Scrolling was the first thing that i turned off.

Is there a way to have a list guide pop up instead of the grid guide? More along the lines of the tivo r10 or tivo sd40 style?

- Not by default. If you go into the Guide and click on the Info button over the channel, it will bring up the List Guide.

I've been trying his in vein. Anyone want to give me the idiots guide to this? i can't stand the 6 channel x 1.5 hour grid. I need my List back!

Thanks

Go to your grid, go left to highlight the actual chanel number/name, then hit info... It will give you the closest you'll ever see to the Tivo list style guide. It is a tad clunky, but it works and you can page down once the list pops up to just see that particular chanels upcoming shows.

I ended up figuring it out right before a response. man what a bummer. This thing is a bear to scim around. there is so much unutilized space. It's like they made this interface for clind people. Damn, if you shrunk down stuff you could really make the whole thing look so cleaner and nice. Even a element of design not to mention convey more info.

Extreme Lag
Poor Featureset
Bulky Controls
Slow Response Time
A Grid Guide with limited information
Info Screen that doesn't have much info
HD Category in guide that does not show all HD channels?

<--Dissapointed. Thank God I got it for free.

Am I the only one that feels this thing is a crap addition to any entertainment center? Call em a troll or whatever, I just think that new tech should be as good if not better than 3 year old tech.

Rant Over

I ended up figuring it out right before a response. man what a bummer. This thing is a bear to scim around. there is so much unutilized space. It's like they made this interface for clind people. Damn, if you shrunk down stuff you could really make the whole thing look so cleaner and nice. Even a element of design not to mention convey more info.

Extreme Lag
Poor Featureset
Bulky Controls
Slow Response Time
A Grid Guide with limited information
Info Screen that doesn't have much info
HD Category in guide that does not show all HD channels?

<--Dissapointed. Thank God I got it for free.

Am I the only one that feels this thing is a crap addition to any entertainment center? Call em a troll or whatever, I just think that new tech should be as good if not better than 3 year old tech.

Rant Over

I recently moved over from my beloved HD-Tivo (which I got the day they came out) and was very worried I would feel as you do. However, I have been pleasantly surprised so your experience is puzzling to me.

I find my HR20 to be faster and more responsive than the HR10 - especially when dealing with recording things or season pass management.

I also think the featureset is as good as if not better than the Tivo (some will lament the loss of dual live buffers but that's not a biggie for me). What, specifically, do you think is poor/missing?

I don't watch much live tv and don't use the guide that much but I find it to have the same info as my HR10 (except not showing as many channels at once) and it moves faster (by a longshot if you need to go 12 hours or more out). I would like to be able to turn off the picture/audio in the list menu especially. I don't like ending watching a recording and being thrown back into the middle of what is recording at the moment. You have to turn the TV off quickly if you don't want to see what's happening. There's nowhere you can go to escape the live TV feed.

As for the HD channels showing up or not - that may be related to the fact that some of the channels are brand new (some just this past Monday) so they may not be completely categorized properly yet.

there is so much unutilized space.
As I've said before, the interface is SD. Just like the remote, it's designed for the lowest common denominator, which is the SD non-DVR receiver. They could have kept the look the same, but used a higher resolution in the HR20. But no, it's still just 4:3 SD.

The SD interface is probably my biggest gripe with the HR20.

As I've said before, the interface is SD. Just like the remote, it's designed for the lowest common denominator, which is the SD non-DVR receiver. They could have kept the look the same, but used a higher resolution in the HR20. But no, it's still just 4:3 SD.

The SD interface is probably my biggest gripe with the HR20.

Too add to this: what about those that don't have "big screens?" What might look like a waste of space, wouldn't be on a small TV.

Too add to this: what about those that don't have "big screens?" What might look like a waste of space, wouldn't be on a small TV.
If it's a small TV, you're sitting closer to it, so it's not really a big deal. The HR20 is a top of the line HD DVR, and the interface shouldn't be hobbled by being forced to fit within a design that is meant for a 13" 4:3 SDTV. Let's be serious here, the interface isn't even 16:9 natively, it's stretched 4:3. That's pathetic.

If it's a small TV, you're sitting closer to it, so it's not really a big deal. The HR20 is a top of the line HD DVR, and the interface shouldn't be hobbled by being forced to fit within a design that is meant for a 13" 4:3 SDTV. Let's be serious here, the interface isn't even 16:9 natively, it's stretched 4:3. That's pathetic.

The HD TiVo models are the same way, a 4x3 GUI on a 16x9 screen.

If it's a small TV, you're sitting closer to it, so it's not really a big deal. The HR20 is a top of the line HD DVR, and the interface shouldn't be hobbled by being forced to fit within a design that is meant for a 13" 4:3 SDTV. Let's be serious here, the interface isn't even 16:9 natively, it's stretched 4:3. That's pathetic.

I wasn't thinking that small. My 32" Vizio has text just about the right size for the viewing distance.
Would I like more info there? Sure, my 46" could use some of the features of my old Sony SATHD 300 when set to HD resolution.

The HD TiVo models are the same way, a 4x3 GUI on a 16x9 screen.
Were they? I never had one, but I thought they actually had an HD GUI.

Too add to this: what about those that don't have "big screens?" What might look like a waste of space, wouldn't be on a small TV.

All the more reason to upgrade their TVs.

I have noticed that when i change channels, sometimes the bar at the top with the chaneel info and program name get shrunk half size for a second then pop back. i would be overjoyed if they were like that permamnently. That looks nice.

I would much rather see my monitor on my tv at 1600 x 1200 than 800 x 600. Know what I mean?

I have noticed that when i change channels, sometimes the bar at the top with the chaneel info and program name get shrunk half size for a second then pop back.
You must have Native turned on.

Were they? I never had one, but I thought they actually had an HD GUI.

Well, it's native 720p, but if you look at circles, they're actually oval in shape on the GUI, squeezing it back to a 4x3 output brings the circles back to their proper configuration. I tried to Google a pic but couldn't find one.

Well, it's native 720p, but if you look at circles, they're actually oval in shape on the GUI, squeezing it back to a 4x3 output brings the circles back to their proper configuration. I tried to Google a pic but couldn't find one.
At least it's native 720p. The HR20 is native 480p.

You must have Native turned on.

Native is on

Hey great thread evreyone:)

I've had my HR20 for about six weeks or so. Since day one I get a very loud buzzing sound through my speakers when I change channels between HD channels only. I have a tech coming out Monday to re-mount my dish due to a new roof and I'll have him look at then. Just wondering if anyone heard of this. (I mute my system now when I change channels.)

Since day one I get a very loud buzzing sound through my speakers when I change channels between HD channels only.
It's a problem that the HR20 has with some receivers. AFAIK, there is nothing you can do to fix it, aside from getting a different receiver. I wouldn't even bother asking the installer about it, there's nothing he will be able to do.

Hey great thread evreyone:)

I've had my HR20 for about six weeks or so. Since day one I get a very loud buzzing sound through my speakers when I change channels between HD channels only. I have a tech coming out Monday to re-mount my dish due to a new roof and I'll have him look at then. Just wondering if anyone heard of this. (I mute my system now when I change channels.)

What is your audio souce? A receiver or TV? Do you have Dolby turn on? It is defaulted to off, so you have to actually turn it on (if you are using a 5.1)

I have noticed that when i change channels, sometimes the bar at the top with the chaneel info and program name get shrunk half size for a second then pop back.

You must have Native turned on.

Native is on

So, does this mean that I HAVE native turned on, therefore this issue. or I must turn Native on to resolve it, because native is on.

Hi everyone

I want to add to the HD space for the HR-20. I want to setup an external HD with the eSata port. I am wondering about power use for this unit. I see there are some external boxes that have one 750 GB HD and then there are the external units and DIY boxes that support 2 or more drives.

I really would like to have 1 TB but it looks like 2 drives to do this. So how much more power does running 2 drives 24/7 vs 1 drive? I would think that noise and heat might be an issue as well. I also want something that is not too costly.

Thx

So, does this mean that I HAVE native turned on, therefore this issue. or I must turn Native on to resolve it, because native is on.
Native being on is what's causing the issue. It's not even really an issue, it's just the way your TV switches resolutions.

When I first got my HR20, the front panel of it would shine blue in the ring. Lately, there are zero lights on my HR20. It still works fine (although i did have to replug it in today since it wasn't responding or outputting any audio/video).

I can't seem to find out what the deal with the blue lights is though. I don't mind them being off, it's actually better for my HTR to have less light, but I did think it was odd that sometimes the light is on, and sometimes not. Can anyone shed any light (pun not intended) on this for me?

thanks

another question I started to notice some new HD channels popping up, like MHD and TBS, however when I tune to these I get a searching for signal. I believe these channels are coming from D* and not my OTA since the signal is searching on one of the sat ins. Are these some of the new sats they launched? Do I need to do something to get these to work or ?

another question I started to notice some new HD channels popping up, like MHD and TBS, however when I tune to these I get a searching for signal. I believe these channels are coming from D* and not my OTA since the signal is searching on one of the sat ins. Are these some of the new sats they launched? Do I need to do something to get these to work or ?Rather than go through a long trouble-shooting session here, I would refer you to this thread on DBSTalk.com: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=99528

When I first got my HR20, the front panel of it would shine blue in the ring. Lately, there are zero lights on my HR20.
Are you saying that ALL of the lights are off? Including power, record, and resolution? If so, there is something wrong with your HR20.

One of my recently received refurb'd HR20's is having a problem where the unit locks up completely and only displays a solid green screen. I called Directv and have a tech coming out but I wasn't sure if anyone else can report a similar problem? I think it's a bad box but Directv thinks it's a bad multi-switch. :confused:


I had the green screen show up on my unit (HR20-100) several times except I still have audio. Simply turning the unit off and on again clears the problem. I leave my HR20 on all the time and wonder if leaving the unit on causes this?

When I first got my HR20, the front panel of it would shine blue in the ring. Lately, there are zero lights on my HR20. It still works fine (although i did have to replug it in today since it wasn't responding or outputting any audio/video).

I can't seem to find out what the deal with the blue lights is though. I don't mind them being off, it's actually better for my HTR to have less light, but I did think it was odd that sometimes the light is on, and sometimes not. Can anyone shed any light (pun not intended) on this for me?

thanks
?

Is it possible you hit the 'power' button and turned off the HR20? The lights go out on the front(and audio/video are off) when off but it still records in the background.

Hi everyone

I want to add to the HD space for the HR-20. I want to setup an external HD with the eSata port. I am wondering about power use for this unit. I see there are some external boxes that have one 750 GB HD and then there are the external units and DIY boxes that support 2 or more drives.

I really would like to have 1 TB but it looks like 2 drives to do this. So how much more power does running 2 drives 24/7 vs 1 drive? I would think that noise and heat might be an issue as well. I also want something that is not too costly.

Thx

I'm not sure what the power difference would be, but you can have 1TB with only one hard drive. Look at this thread (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=92029&) at dbstalk for what other people are using. You could get a SATA-to-eSATA external enclosure like this one (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121022) and a 1TB SATA hard drive like this one (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148274).

Does anyone know that when you attach an eSata drive to the HR20 (i.e 750 GB eSata drive), does the % Disk Space Usage Bar change to reflect the new HDD space of 750 GB from the eSata or does the % Disk Space Usage Bar a fixed calculation based on the 300 GB HDD internally on the HR20?

I have a H20-100 in the bedroom hooked directly to a Vizio 37" via HDMI....it gives an audible signal tone when checking satellite signal strength.

On my HR20-100, when I go to the "test signal strength" meters, I've got a good signal (96-100) on most transponders. My problem is that I have no "Audio Feedback" tone on tuner 1 or 2 (that may actually be a good thing as that tone is somewhat aggravating). The HR20 is hooked up via HDMI to my Integra 8.8 A/VR.....no other problems other than this.

Any ideas as to why no audio feedback test-tone on the HR20?? :confused: Thanks

Does anyone know that when you attach an eSata drive to the HR20 (i.e 750 GB eSata drive), does the % Disk Space Usage Bar change to reflect the new HDD space of 750 GB from the eSata or does the % Disk Space Usage Bar a fixed calculation based on the 300 GB HDD internally on the HR20?
It is accurate for the new drive.

Any ideas as to why no audio feedback test-tone on the HR20??
It's a bug in all HR20s, it's not just you. For whatever reason, they have never had the tone, and DirecTV hasn't bothered fixing it.

Is there any way to get the nag message off the HR20?

Whenever I switch the remote to TV or AV the dang Reciever pops that message up that the remore is set on TV or AV2. I know this already.

I would love if it just kept to itself when I flipped the switch to adjust my strero or TV.

Native being on is what's causing the issue. It's not even really an issue, it's just the way your TV switches resolutions.

Oh I was just making the statement that when it does that little shrink while it adjusts... I like th shrunken version much better than the big bulky one. Just a passing statement.

Although i am shocked at how if I attempt to channel surf fast it gets confused and seems to select a random channel or if I click channel up/down to much it loses sync with my TV

Or how when I pause it for a while and press play, it will stagger and freeze video for a while till it catches up.

Whenever I switch the remote to TV or AV the dang Reciever pops that message up that the remore is set on TV or AV2. I know this already.
It'll only pop up that message if you press a button that you weren't supposed to press in that mode. If you knew that you were in the mode, why did you press the button?

It'll only pop up that message if you press a button that you weren't supposed to press in that mode. If you knew that you were in the mode, why did you press the button?

It's not that "clear cut".
When I slide it over to TV and use it to change my TV format, I get the same message. Hey, I know it's in TV and that's why I moved it there, so it will change my TV's format. :)

It'll only pop up that message if you press a button that you weren't supposed to press in that mode. If you knew that you were in the mode, why did you press the button?

Bzzzzzzzt Wrong.

Maybe I want to change from 16x9 to overscan or from overscan to pan 'n scan on the fly without trying to find my TV remote. So I tit the Tv switch and press Format on my D* remote.

Plus what if I want to go into the menu and do a quick adjust on the brightness or other adjustment. i am gonna switch over to the TV button and use the menu. unfortunately when i try to adjust, right where my adjustments are is a nice lowerd 1/3rs dialouge box telling me that I am in TV mode.

My question was is there a way to disable this "feature."

My question was is there a way to disable this "feature."
Aside from not using the crappy DirecTV remote, no.

Jeremy took my answer, which was along the lines of getting a Harmony remote and quit using the weak link of a remote.

It's a bug in all HR20s, it's not just you. For whatever reason, they have never had the tone, and DirecTV hasn't bothered fixing it.
Jeremy, thanks. I thought it might be broke. :o

It's a problem that the HR20 has with some receivers. AFAIK, there is nothing you can do to fix it, aside from getting a different receiver. I wouldn't even bother asking the installer about it, there's nothing he will be able to do.
Has someone compiled a list of AVR's that do not exhibit the audio popping--drop out--static etc etc

My older Pio 49TXi does the same thing---but it also did it a few years ago with a Zenith HD D* box.

Am thinking of getting a new AVR---I do NOT want to experience this HR compatibility problem---

A list of compatible AVR's with the HR would be super

I have a Sony something or other that works perfectly with the HR20. I haven't heard of anyone having trouble with a Sony, so they should be one company that's safe.

I too have a sony using toslink, but tonight I am watching Auburn LSU on 206 HD and got loads of dropouts, when I switched to 73, I get none... is this possible?

I too have a sony using toslink, but tonight I am watching Auburn LSU on 206 HD and got loads of dropouts, when I switched to 73, I get none... is this possible?
The HR20 has an ongoing bug where sometimes when you're watching live TV, as in not behind real time, it'll have audio dropouts. Just press the replay button and it will go away. As for 73 and 206 actually acting differently, that is not possible.

The HR20 has an ongoing bug where sometimes when you're watching live TV, as in not behind real time, it'll have audio dropouts. Just press the replay button and it will go away. As for 73 and 206 actually acting differently, that is not possible.

These audio dropouts, are they like 5sec -on/drop1sec/5sec on/drop 1sec and so on? I'm getting that right now on my CBS station with Without A Trace.

I'm while I'm on the subject, it's my understanding there are 3 ways to reboot the HR20?

The "Reset" in the menu, the "Red Button Reset", not sure how that works, and just pulling the plug.

I've reset the HR20 about 4-5 times in the 6 weeks I've had it and the "Reset" menu item has never worked, it just stay off.

Don't know how the RBR works, so I've ended up pulling the plug every time, that works, but I can't imagine that's the best way.


BTW, the reboot seems to have fixed the audio problem, although right now it's 9pm and in between programs, the commercials are playing fine though.

These audio dropouts, are they like 5sec -on/drop1sec/5sec on/drop 1sec and so on? I'm getting that right now on my CBS station with Without A Trace.
They can be. Did you try pressing replay to see if it cleared up?
I've reset the HR20 about 4-5 times in the 6 weeks I've had it and the "Reset" menu item has never worked, it just stay off.
The Reset menu is the preferred way to reset the DVR, since it safely stops everything. But if you can't do it, you can't do it.
Don't know how the RBR works, so I've ended up pulling the plug every time, that works, but I can't imagine that's the best way.
RBR is when you press the red button behind the access card door. It's essentially the same as pulling the plug, but more convenient.

They can be. Did you try pressing replay to see if it cleared up?

The Reset menu is the preferred way to reset the DVR, since it safely stops everything. But if you can't do it, you can't do it.

RBR is when you press the red button behind the access card door. It's essentially the same as pulling the plug, but more convenient.

Didn't know about the replay until I read the above post, I'll try that next time.

Found the reset button, I looked earlier but the unit sits low to the ground and I didn't see it in the card slot.

Odd that the menu reset seems not to work other than to turn the unit off.

I suppose using the menu reset and then the red button to power back up would work?

I suppose using the menu reset and then the red button to power back up would work?
If you're able to do that, it would probably be the best solution. But after you do the menu reset, the unit may be in a state where the RBR won't do anything. You'll just have to try it.

I have a strange issue with my HR20. I get a signal strength in the 90's for both tuners on the 101, 119, 103b and tuner 1 on the 110. But tuner 2 on the 110 gets in the 60's. If I reset the box, the tuner 2 signal strength on the 110 goes up to the high 80's and low 90's. This has happened twice. Since I had never checked tuner 2 signal strength on 110 before this week, this is the way it probably has always been. I assume this is not a BBC issue since I don't think the BBC's affect the 110. Anyone have an idea?

Jim

Swap the cables, and see if the problem starts appearing on tuner 1. If it does, the problem lies with either the cable or the multiswitch. If it doesn't, the problem lies with the HR20.

I tried recording 2 shows at the same time (I had not used this feature yet), in this case 2 football games airing at the same time. While I was watching one I would from time to time check in the list recording info to my sure both games were recording. I had red lights on both the whole time.
I also wanted to create a dual buffer in case I wanted to flip back and forth. In this case I did not because the game I was watching was so good.

However when I went to play the 2nd game I had recorded all I had was black. Yet the timeline showed 3+ hours of recording....red timeline. It would be black and stuck on 0:00. No fastforward or skip could make it play or get off the 0:00.

I had the HR10 since the very beginning and never had that problem (of course it would often crash while recording 2 shows).

Any ideas what happened?? This does not instill confidence.

Was your all black screen show a local OTA or was it local satellite? I had my SD recordings show up like that for a day until I reset the receiver. Not sure of the cause.

I tried recording 2 shows at the same time (I had not used this feature yet), in this case 2 football games airing at the same time. While I was watching one I would from time to time check in the list recording info to my sure both games were recording. I had red lights on both the whole time.
I also wanted to create a dual buffer in case I wanted to flip back and forth. In this case I did not because the game I was watching was so good.

However when I went to play the 2nd game I had recorded all I had was black. Yet the timeline showed 3+ hours of recording....red timeline. It would be black and stuck on 0:00. No fastforward or skip could make it play or get off the 0:00.

I had the HR10 since the very beginning and never had that problem (of course it would often crash while recording 2 shows).

Any ideas what happened?? This does not instill confidence.

Is it possible the channel was blacked out in your local area for some reason? 73(ESPN) was blacked out for us yesterday because the game was shown locally.

I've been receiving all the new HD channels for the last week or so, but yesterday over 20 of the channels disappeared. I made no changes in my system and both of my HR20's are showing the same thing (searching for signal 771) on HGTV, Food Network, MGM and a bunch of others. Is anyone else beset with this problem? Is this a Directv source thing of do I need to contact them for some "repair"? As usual, help is greatly appreciated.

Is this a Directv source thing of do I need to contact them for some "repair"?
It's not DirecTV. What do your signal strengths on 103(b) look like? It sounds like you may have lost all even or odd transponders.

Yep, all the odds have gone to 0 and all the evens are in the mid-70's. Looks like I need to call D* :(
Thanks Jeremy.

Yep, all the odds have gone to 0 and all the evens are in the mid-70's. Looks like I need to call D* :(
Thanks Jeremy.

My HR20 did the same thing. I also thought my dish needed realignment or the multiswitch was bad. I pushed the red reset button under the front cover, and still had 0's on many transponders.
So I unplugged the AC power.
This fixed everything.
So I would try that before calling D*

Please report back

Could be. But they were two Florida teams am I live in Maryland.
Would this unit record 3 hours of black? I thought you at least needed a black burst video signal.

Well its not doing it now.

I've been receiving all the new HD channels for the last week or so, but yesterday over 20 of the channels disappeared. I made no changes in my system and both of my HR20's are showing the same thing (searching for signal 771) on HGTV, Food Network, MGM and a bunch of others. Is anyone else beset with this problem? Is this a Directv source thing of do I need to contact them for some "repair"? As usual, help is greatly appreciated.
Yes the seaching for 771. They sent out a D* tech to look at it.
At first we thought the dish needed to be realigned and that did work they we noticed I was not getting my local off air channels.
Turns out in my case we had diplexed...combined the local coax and one of the sat signals. That worked with my HR 20 but not so with the HR-20.....Mpeg 4 maybe. We rededicated the two sat lines with no spliters right to the back of the unit and all the new HD channels poped in.
Might take a look at that....I was lucky to have a smart tech.

-called D* and the tech offered to send out a repair guy at no cost, but she recommended I try running the antenna setup again first. I did that while she was on the phone & somewhere during the process the signals came back. Everything is working ok now, but I'm watching closely for the next couple of weeks... (<start sexist remark> the tech sounded nice, hope she's the one who comes out for the repair ;) <end sexist remark>)

I am getting lots of audio drop outs tonight with the ALCS baseball game. It seems to be occurring mostly during commercials, but still it is annoying. I am using an HDMI cable. What causes this?

I just received my new "upgrades" this past Friday and have not been able to watch/listen to them until today. I replaced an H10 and H10-250 Tivo with an H20 and HR20 DVR. I noticed on the boxes today that the installers replaced my old equipment with REFURBISHED equipment. On BOTH boxes it says "Factory Refurbished" on the side. Alright, I could live with that as long as they both work. The picture seems fine, BUT in my HT where I had the H10-250 Tivo, now there is a very noticable and loud HUM. I have been checking cables and unplugging equipment but not gotten far yet. Has anyone else had this problem. I haven't been outside to check the ground cable since it is dark and hope that is all it is but wondered if anyone else has experienced any new hums since I had none before the "upgrade".
Also, I have noticed that channel surfing is much slower on the HR20 compared to what I was used to seeing - and I thought that the H10-250 was pretty slow.

The picture seems fine, BUT in my HT where I had the H10-250 Tivo, now there is a very noticable and loud HUM. I have been checking cables and unplugging equipment but not gotten far yet. Has anyone else had this problem. I haven't been outside to check the ground cable since it is dark and hope that is all it is but wondered if anyone else has experienced any new hums since I had none before the "upgrade".
.


Sounds like HD vibration. Try lifting the unit off the shelf.

bob

Tried it but still there...:confused:

At least you are getting HD, for some reason Fox Birmingham, AL is showing SD on both the regular and HD chanels over the satellite.

Sounds like HD vibration. Try lifting the unit off the shelf.

bob

My refurb unit had a loose face - the actual front face of the box was loose and the Hard drive spin made the whole case rattle. I shimmed it up by placing a beach towel under it (classy looking)- it worked like a charm, I called DTV and they could even hear the rattle over the phone - I had a replacement the next day. As for speed of the unit, turn off scrolling effects and give the box about 72 hours to get it's guide together. I think you'll see improvement in surf speed.

I just received my new "upgrades" this past Friday and have not been able to watch/listen to them until today. I replaced an H10 and H10-250 Tivo with an H20 and HR20 DVR. I noticed on the boxes today that the installers replaced my old equipment with REFURBISHED equipment. On BOTH boxes it says "Factory Refurbished" on the side. Alright, I could live with that as long as they both work. The picture seems fine, BUT in my HT where I had the H10-250 Tivo, now there is a very noticable and loud HUM. I have been checking cables and unplugging equipment but not gotten far yet. Has anyone else had this problem. I haven't been outside to check the ground cable since it is dark and hope that is all it is but wondered if anyone else has experienced any new hums since I had none before the "upgrade".
Also, I have noticed that channel surfing is much slower on the HR20 compared to what I was used to seeing - and I thought that the H10-250 was pretty slow.

You meant a hum through your speakers, right...? If so, that sounds like a ground loop. The reason it is a problem now is that the HR20 has a grounded plug while the HR10 did not. Can you change the plug that the HR20 is plugged into?

On the channel changing, make sure you don't have "native" turned on (as long as you can live with one resolution or manually changing it). That should speed it up a little.

You meant a hum through your speakers, right...? If so, that sounds like a ground loop. The reason it is a problem now is that the HR20 has a grounded plug while the HR10 did not. Can you change the plug that the HR20 is plugged into?

On the channel changing, make sure you don't have "native" turned on (as long as you can live with one resolution or manually changing it). That should speed it up a little.

Or leave native on and turn off 480i, and 480p and leave 720p and 1080i on.

The HR20-700 has a 300gb drive in it. The HR20-100 (which I just got - more on that in a bit) has a 320gb drive in it. However, D* reserves 100gb up front for its use so, therefore, the stock HR20 has about 200gb of storage on it and moving to a 750 will triple recording capacity.

D* doesnt use the 750 to store it data there ( the 100gb)?
Or does it contiue to use the internal drive for its on use?
If so thats another good reason for me to get a 750.

D* doesnt use the 750 to store it data there ( the 100gb)?
Or does it contiue to use the internal drive for its on use?
If so thats another good reason for me to get a 750.

The internal drive is completely ignored if you hook up an external one. The 100gb reserve comes out of whichever drive you're using at the time. So, with the stock drive you have 200/220gb of recording space and with an external 750 you have 650gb of usable space. I have a whole slew of HD recorded now and I'm still at 70% free. Gotta love it.

You meant a hum through your speakers, right...? If so, that sounds like a ground loop. The reason it is a problem now is that the HR20 has a grounded plug while the HR10 did not. Can you change the plug that the HR20 is plugged into?

On the channel changing, make sure you don't have "native" turned on (as long as you can live with one resolution or manually changing it). That should speed it up a little.
Are you saying put a cheater plug into my power conditioner for the hum in my speakers. I have had a ground loop problem before and the quick fix for me was to plug my power conditioner into a piece I bought called a Hum X plug then into the wall.

Or leave native on and turn off 480i, and 480p and leave 720p and 1080i on.
I will try unchecking the 480i and 480p to see if that will speed things up a bit. Thanks.

What are the negative side effects of unchecking 480i and 480p?

What exactly is accoplished by only selecting 720 or 1080...

If it helps, I have a 1080p Samsung Plasma attached to my D* HR20.

What are the negative side effects of unchecking 480i and 480p?

What exactly is accoplished by only selecting 720 or 1080...

If it helps, I have a 1080p Samsung Plasma attached to my D* HR20.
Your Samsung has a "native" resolution of 1080p, which means that it takes anything fed into the tv as "converts" it to 1080p. By turning off 480i you are really just disallowing the HR20 to output 480i and it will do upscaling to 720p (unless you only have 1080i on then it will upscale to 1080i), then your set does the rest. All broadcast tv is either 480i (Standard Def), 720p (Hi Def) or 1080i (also Hi Def). Turning off what you don't need can speed up the chanel surfing issues as when you are moving from SD (which would be upscaled by the HR20 to 720p) to another 720p chanel, the HR20 does not have to pause to switch resolutions as often. Some people just leave 1080i on, others leave 720p and 1080i on, beleiving that their TV will do a better job at displaying the native feed - the difference between 720p and 1080i (other than the actual lines of resoltion and progessive v interlaced) is that some chanels use 720p (like Fox) and others use 1080i like Discovery, I personally can't tell the difference.

The internal drive is completely ignored if you hook up an external one. The 100gb reserve comes out of whichever drive you're using at the time. So, with the stock drive you have 200/220gb of recording space and with an external 750 you have 650gb of usable space. I have a whole slew of HD recorded now and I'm still at 70% free. Gotta love it.

Ahhh got it.

Thanks

Your Samsung has a "native" resolution of 1080p, which means that it takes anything fed into the tv as "converts" it to 1080p. By turning off 480i you are really just disallowing the HR20 to output 480i and it will do upscaling to 720p (unless you only have 1080i on then it will upscale to 1080i), then your set does the rest. All broadcast tv is either 480i (Standard Def), 720p (Hi Def) or 1080i (also Hi Def). Turning off what you don't need can speed up the chanel surfing issues as when you are moving from SD (which would be upscaled by the HR20 to 720p) to another 720p chanel, the HR20 does not have to pause to switch resolutions as often. Some people just leave 1080i on, others leave 720p and 1080i on, beleiving that their TV will do a better job at displaying the native feed - the difference between 720p and 1080i (other than the actual lines of resoltion and progessive v interlaced) is that some chanels use 720p (like Fox) and others use 1080i like Discovery, I personally can't tell the difference.

If you turn off native, use 1080i as your setting (turn off all the rest) since you have a 1080 display. It will make a difference. In fact, I can see the difference even on a 720 display (watch a football game on Fox and then one on ESPN - much clearer).

If you have native set to "off" the HR-20 is going to output everything at one resolution (whichever one you set it to). It will never switch regardless of the source. The real time savings here is in the time it takes your display to re-sync when you switch input resolutions.

Are you saying put a cheater plug into my power conditioner for the hum in my speakers. ...

Not necessarily. You can try a cheater plug and, if that makes the hum go away then you know that is the culprit. However, that is a potentially dangerous thing to do so you can also just try a different outlet. If you can get it in the same outlet as your receiver/amp then that might eliminate it too. If that doesn't work, then a ground loop isolator (like you mentioned) is a good option.

What are the negative side effects of unchecking 480i and 480p?

What exactly is accoplished by only selecting 720 or 1080...

If it helps, I have a 1080p Samsung Plasma attached to my D* HR20.

There is one downside for me. I have a Sony XBR2 CRT set. If I am on 720 or 1080, I cannot crop or change aspect ratio. This is a major pain when trying to watch a letterboxed SD program.

This issue seems to be specific to certain TVs. Not all people have the problem.

Burt

There is one downside for me. I have a Sony XBR2 CRT set. If I am on 720 or 1080, I cannot crop or change aspect ratio. This is a major pain when trying to watch a letterboxed SD program.

This issue seems to be specific to certain TVs. Not all people have the problem.

Burt
You can't change aspect using your TV set controls? Or you can't change aspect using the DTV remote "Format" button?

Are you saying put a cheater plug into my power conditioner for the hum in my speakers. I have had a ground loop problem before and the quick fix for me was to plug my power conditioner into a piece I bought called a Hum X plug then into the wall.
Cheater plug did work going in to power conditioner. No hum. Thanks.

You can't change aspect using your TV set controls? Or you can't change aspect using the DTV remote "Format" button?

I'm sure he means the TV. Most won't do any stretching/filling with a HD (720+) signal.

Are There ANY differences between:

KCBS 2 : CBSW 81
KNBC 4 : NBCW 83
KABC 7 : ABCW 87
KTTV 11 : FOXW 89
HBOH 70 : HBOHD 501
SHOH 71 : SHOHD 537
TNTH 75 : TNTHD 245

Any differences at all? Will there be?

I assume that this is from when there were only a few HD Channels and they were all grouped together for convenience. is that correct?

But now they are all over the place, so these 70's Channels are exact mirrors of their HD counterparts? Both broadcasting in I assume MPEG2 and identical in PQ?

Is there any reason NOT to remove the 70s version of HD channels from my guide as to speed up grid surfing by removing duplicates?

Also, I notice that when going to an HD version of a channel from an SD version, the HD channel seems to be significantly behind the SD version. What's up with that?

Oh and for what it's worth, I turned off all resolutions but 1080i and turned off native. There was absolutely no change in speed surfing with the channels I experimented with. the only changes were:

The info bar at the top does not change it's size and then flash back

and

The 1080i light stays lit on the receiver. That is all I have observed in my unscientific 20 minute test.

I have the same intermitant searching for sat 771 message myself and the channels pop in and out randomly.. any final answer on what is causing this?

You can't change aspect using your TV set controls? Or you can't change aspect using the DTV remote "Format" button?

Both. The Zoom function doesn't work on the Sony and the Format function doesn't work on the HR20. Both buttons work perfectly at 480.

Burt

Oh and for what it's worth, I turned off all resolutions but 1080i and turned off native. There was absolutely no change in speed surfing with the channels I experimented with. the only changes were:

The info bar at the top does not change it's size and then flash back

and

The 1080i light stays lit on the receiver. That is all I have observed in my unscientific 20 minute test.

...just wanted to mention - it's possible your picture quality could be improved by having 'Native' on. Maybe you can check and let us know, but your tv will convert all formats(480i,480p, 720p 1080i) to 1080P.

If you turn 'Native' off and set the HR20 to output 1080i, that means the HR20 will have to convert 480i, 480p and 720p to 1080i and then the tv will convert Again to 1080p. There's 2 conversions then with 'Native' off(except for 1080i channels) which might degrade picture quality.

With 'Native' on you'll only have one conversion(all formats converted by the tv to 1080p).

Are There ANY differences between:

KCBS 2 : CBSW 81
KNBC 4 : NBCW 83
KABC 7 : ABCW 87
KTTV 11 : FOXW 89
HBOH 70 : HBOHD 501
SHOH 71 : SHOHD 537
TNTH 75 : TNTHD 245

Any differences at all? Will there be?

I assume that this is from when there were only a few HD Channels and they were all grouped together for convenience. is that correct?

But now they are all over the place, so these 70's Channels are exact mirrors of their HD counterparts? Both broadcasting in I assume MPEG2 and identical in PQ?

Is there any reason NOT to remove the 70s version of HD channels from my guide as to speed up grid surfing by removing duplicates?

Also, I notice that when going to an HD version of a channel from an SD version, the HD channel seems to be significantly behind the SD version. What's up with that?

No. They're actually the same channels - just virtual re-maps of the channel numbers (in mpeg2 as you suspected) - so you could remove the 70s from the guide if you wanted. For grins and giggles there's also a 509 HBOHD - which is just another virtual re-map.

No. They're actually the same channels - just virtual re-maps of the channel numbers (in mpeg2 as you suspected) - so you could remove the 70s from the guide if you wanted. For grins and giggles there's also a 509 HBOHD - which is just another virtual re-map.

Pretty sure LA has MPEG4 locals as well as the MPEG2 locals 81, 83, 87 and 89 listed above. Those channels 2, 4, 7 and 11 should be MPEG4, I think...the others are re-maps.

Both. The Zoom function doesn't work on the Sony and the Format function doesn't work on the HR20. Both buttons work perfectly at 480.

Burt

With the newer Sony XBR2 they've changed it so the format [zoom] now functions with the HD resolutions.

...just wanted to mention - it's possible your picture quality could be improved by having 'Native' on. Maybe you can check and let us know, but your tv will convert all formats(480i,480p, 720p 1080i) to 1080P.

If you turn 'Native' off and set the HR20 to output 1080i, that means the HR20 will have to convert 480i, 480p and 720p to 1080i and then the tv will convert Again to 1080p. There's 2 conversions then with 'Native' off(except for 1080i channels) which might degrade picture quality.

With 'Native' on you'll only have one conversion(all formats converted by the tv to 1080p).

Native "on" seems to work best when your TV scaler is better than the scaler in the HR-20. Some users can't see any difference and others do [mostly with SD programing]. FWIW: I use native.

Pretty sure LA has MPEG4 locals as well as the MPEG2 locals 81, 83, 87 and 89 listed above. Those channels 2, 4, 7 and 11 should be MPEG4, I think...the others are re-maps.
You are correct. The same is true for NY.

With the newer Sony XBR2 they've changed it so the format [zoom] now functions with the HD resolutions.

<sigh> Now all I have to do is afford a new XBR2.

"Native "on" seems to work best when your TV scaler is better than the scaler in the HR-20. Some users can't see any difference and others do [mostly with SD programing]. FWIW: I use native."

With native back on, do you still have only 1080i selected... or what else and why

Pretty sure LA has MPEG4 locals as well as the MPEG2 locals 81, 83, 87 and 89 listed above. Those channels 2, 4, 7 and 11 should be MPEG4, I think...the others are re-maps.

Ah - my bad. I didn't pay any attention to the fact that those were his locals.

"Native "on" seems to work best when your TV scaler is better than the scaler in the HR-20. Some users can't see any difference and others do [mostly with SD programing]. FWIW: I use native."

With native back on, do you still have only 1080i selected... or what else and why

Having native turned on with only one resolution selected would be the same as having it off. So, if you want native on you should probably select all the resolutions you will see in a source (480i, 720p and 1080i) assuming your display accepts them all. Or, you could leave off 480i and make it upscale all SD. However, I'm not sure what it will upscale it to - 720p or 1080i...

Now that I think about this, does anyone know for sure that the HR20 pays any attention to the resolution selections when native is "on"? It seems like it would make sense if it ignored them since you asked it to send the native resolution...

...just wanted to mention - it's possible your picture quality could be improved by having 'Native' on. Maybe you can check and let us know, but your tv will convert all formats(480i,480p, 720p 1080i) to 1080P.

If you turn 'Native' off and set the HR20 to output 1080i, that means the HR20 will have to convert 480i, 480p and 720p to 1080i and then the tv will convert Again to 1080p. There's 2 conversions then with 'Native' off(except for 1080i channels) which might degrade picture quality.

With 'Native' on you'll only have one conversion(all formats converted by the tv to 1080p).Excellent point, but I would change "might degrade" to "will degrade," at least with 1080p sets, although most people probably wouldn't notice. Some stations transmit in 1080i, some in 720p. While it's possible to convert both 1080i and 720p to 1080p without data loss, it's not possible to convert 720p to 1080i without throwing part of the data away when it gets interlaced. If you turn off native and let the HR20 output everything at 1080i, you are losing the benefit of a 1080p set.

what about having it output everything at 720p instead w/ the set upconverting it to 1080p?

1) However, I'm not sure what it will upscale it to - 720p or 1080i...

2) Now that I think about this, does anyone know for sure that the HR20 pays any attention to the resolution selections when native is "on"? It seems like it would make sense if it ignored them since you asked it to send the native resolution...

1- it upscales to the next higher one. [480i goes to 480p or 720p]
2- only to what you've selected in the setup screen for your TV. [if you don't have 480i but 480p then... if you don't have 720p then.... if you don't have1080i then it uses 720p]

what about having it output everything at 720p instead w/ the set upconverting it to 1080p?

This debate has been and will go on, forever.

There are two parts:
1) the interlaced verse progressive plus & minus of converting.
2) the pixel loss of a 1080i down converted to 720 and then up converted to 1080.

Some have explained the HR-20 has access to data in the stream that lets it handle the interlaced to progressive [or the other way] better than the TV can.
The 1080i image is 1920 x 1080 [both frames] while the 720p is 1280 x 720 [full frame].
Pick your poison as to which you think looks best on your TV.

So have had my HR20 for little over 2 weeks now... mostly good, but definitely an adjustment from my HD Tivo... have run across several 'issues' but either resolved them on my own or by digging thru the threads here...

Figured tho at this point I'd ask two questions...

First, is the advertised 50 hours of HD recording space meant to be a joke? I understand that is supposed to only apply to recording new mpeg4 stuff, which is what I'm doing. At the moment, I have about 17 hours of HD stuff recorded all from either my D* HD locals or from some of the new HD channels (ie TLC). My meter tells me I have about 52% of my capacity remaining. Math tells my my machine will max out at roughly 35 hours of recording. This is what I expected on my Tivo or if I was recording mpeg2 content only on the HR20... and is quite a bit lower than the 50 hours I was hoping for. Is this normal? I'd held off on doing the 750gb drive thing in hopes that 50hrs would be sufficient... but 30 to 35 really isn't... so do I have an option other than an external harddrive to actually get the advertised recording space?

Second, what controls the timing of recording on the HR20? Specifically, in some cases I record back to back shows. On my Tivo, these seemed to work ok tho in some instances I learned it worked better to utilize the 'start 1 minute late' or 'end 1 minute early' setting in my season pass... On the HR20 I can't find such functions, and am having an issue where the beginning of the 2nd show is recorded at the end of the 1st show. To further confuse me, the 'start time' for the second show is listed on the HR20 recording list as "9:31" even tho its a 9:30 show... where did this come from? Any ideas on how to get around this issue?

Thanks...

I got my HR20-100 on saturday. the installer seemed to do a good job, and set it all up, checked some things and when he left it was in the midst of downloading the software upgrade. I spent the first little while setting it up (he hadnt even set it for 16:9), and I soon noticed that some of the new HD channels weren't coming in. some others would come in after a significant delay (better part of a minute), but some never did. Then I began to get the dreaded 771 code. I talked to tech support and they scheduled the guy to come back and check it out IN A WEEK!!! well it was a week because I refused to take time off from work to wait around for him to come back.

oh and a new problem also cropped up later that night. I could no longer do a reset of the receiver. neither the red button nor the menu reset worked. it would hang on the white screen where it said it will take a few minutes (I even left it on over night like this in the unlikely event it was just incredibly slow due to an internal problem). the only way I could reset it was to pull the plug. this was combined with the fact that the DVR seemed to work, but I couldnt play back a recorded show. also, none of the pause live tv controls worked at all.

anyway, the next day, sunday, another problem (the death knell) cropped up. now, the receiver will only function for about a half hour or so, before it loses it's mind with the error 745 (unable to communicate with the card). I tried everything I could think of to try to get it to recover, reset, reset with no card in it, download the information using DTV website, etc. no dice.

its seems that in this one receiver I experienced all of the problems everyone on here has been mentioning (well those that I read, I'm afraid to read more).

anyway, last night I talked to a very sweet girl at DTV tech support and she is overnighting me a new receiver. she claims it's not a refurb, but I have my doubts.... we'll see when I get home, I guess.

I have the same intermitant searching for sat 771 message myself and the channels pop in and out randomly.. any final answer on what is causing this?

Mine dropped out again- :( d*'s tech is supposed to show up this morning to check it out, but of course all the channels came back on this morning. 103(b) odds are all showing in mid 80's now (all the zeros went away). My channel dropouts are not random, it's always the same group of 20+ channels that go blank, including HGTV, Food network HD and MGMHD. We'll see what happens next & how long it lasts....

So have had my HR20 for little over 2 weeks now... mostly good, but definitely an adjustment from my HD Tivo... have run across several 'issues' but either resolved them on my own or by digging thru the threads here...

Figured tho at this point I'd ask two questions...

First, is the advertised 50 hours of HD recording space meant to be a joke? I understand that is supposed to only apply to recording new mpeg4 stuff, which is what I'm doing. At the moment, I have about 17 hours of HD stuff recorded all from either my D* HD locals or from some of the new HD channels (ie TLC). My meter tells me I have about 52% of my capacity remaining. Math tells my my machine will max out at roughly 35 hours of recording. This is what I expected on my Tivo or if I was recording mpeg2 content only on the HR20... and is quite a bit lower than the 50 hours I was hoping for. Is this normal? I'd held off on doing the 750gb drive thing in hopes that 50hrs would be sufficient... but 30 to 35 really isn't... so do I have an option other than an external harddrive to actually get the advertised recording space?

Second, what controls the timing of recording on the HR20? Specifically, in some cases I record back to back shows. On my Tivo, these seemed to work ok tho in some instances I learned it worked better to utilize the 'start 1 minute late' or 'end 1 minute early' setting in my season pass... On the HR20 I can't find such functions, and am having an issue where the beginning of the 2nd show is recorded at the end of the 1st show. To further confuse me, the 'start time' for the second show is listed on the HR20 recording list as "9:31" even tho its a 9:30 show... where did this come from? Any ideas on how to get around this issue?

Thanks...

On the first issue - that's why the specs say up to 50hrs of HD material. There is no hard and fast math to compute how much you can record because the compression algorithms are variable. So, how big something is depends on the content. I'm sure the 50hr number is of an HD slide show or something ;).

On the second, the guide should determine the actual recording start/end times but I have read some complaints where people claim their HR20 seems to start recording about 15-30 seconds late. Not sure if this is really the box or if the networks maybe are off a little. Also note that some networks are using funny start/end times on some shows. I've heard conspiracy theorists say this is to mess with DVRs but I think it has more to do with ad revenue (they can charge more for an ad during Grey's Anatomy than the surrounding shows so they make Greys one minute longer, etc.).

You can pad recordings however (look in the options for setting up the recording). Actually the HR20 does a better job of this than the HR10 if you have back to back shows on the same channel. In that situation, you can end the first one late and start the second one early and you'll get the extra time in both shows (the HR10 would cancel one of the recordings because they overlap).

Second, what controls the timing of recording on the HR20? Specifically, in some cases I record back to back shows. On my Tivo, these seemed to work ok tho in some instances I learned it worked better to utilize the 'start 1 minute late' or 'end 1 minute early' setting in my season pass... On the HR20 I can't find such functions, and am having an issue where the beginning of the 2nd show is recorded at the end of the 1st show. To further confuse me, the 'start time' for the second show is listed on the HR20 recording list as "9:31" even tho its a 9:30 show... where did this come from? Any ideas on how to get around this issue?


Specifically, to change the recording options, find your show on the guide, press info, go to the left menu for record series or record show, select your choice, then a new menu pops up letting you pad - both positive and negative padding allowed - a feature that was only half there on the HR10.

Is it just me or are other people having sync issues?

My box isn't responding the the remote. I am currently recording something so I don't want to reset, unplug or turn anything off. Meanwhile I've been unable to change the channel or use any of the menus for the past 90 minutes.

Is this normal? I'd hate to think that everytime I record something that my box will be rendered useless.

Any insight on this would be appreciated.


Edit: The buttons on the front of the box aren't responding either. The record light is on and I can watch the current channel but it seems as if it's locked up.

A KNOWN issue with these things that apparently effects many AVR brands is this loud static pop---often resulting in a total loss of audio.
I know my Pio 49TXi has this issue big tim
From what I've observed--it tends to occur when switching from a non DD 5.1 audio feed to a with DD 5.1 feed/signal.

Obviously not all AVR's exhibit this problem and I'm about ready to upgrade the ole Pio anyway (to get HDMI etc etc)--so, my Q is

What brand or even specific models are issue free on this? Maybe we should have a poll to find out---to summarize the AVR brand's performance in this area?

Specifically, to change the recording options, find your show on the guide, press info, go to the left menu for record series or record show, select your choice, then a new menu pops up letting you pad - both positive and negative padding allowed - a feature that was only half there on the HR10.

Thanks ebr and danmen...

I thought I dug around trying to find those settings and couldn't find them, which is why I finally posted my question. I'll look again tonight and see what I can do. Do you know if these are also accessible for a program/series already set to record, or do I have to delete those and reenter?

BTW, it does seem to me sometimes too that my recordings are starting a few seconds late... I never noticed this with the Tivo, so don't know if its a timing difference on the box, or something else...

Finally, on the space thing... I'm not suprised I'm not getting any more space... but I do find it interesting that for the shows I'm recording (mostly standard network primetime stuff) I don't see a diff in space consumption between mpeg2 and mpeg4.

Cheers,
-James

Thanks ebr and danmen...

I thought I dug around trying to find those settings and couldn't find them, which is why I finally posted my question. I'll look again tonight and see what I can do. Do you know if these are also accessible for a program/series already set to record, or do I have to delete those and reenter?

BTW, it does seem to me sometimes too that my recordings are starting a few seconds late... I never noticed this with the Tivo, so don't know if its a timing difference on the box, or something else...

Finally, on the space thing... I'm not suprised I'm not getting any more space... but I do find it interesting that for the shows I'm recording (mostly standard network primetime stuff) I don't see a diff in space consumption between mpeg2 and mpeg4.

Cheers,
-James
You can edit your series links
Go to your list of shows already recorded. Hit Yello (to do), then go to Prioritizer on the left, the select your show you want to edit, and then you should be able to tweak the times.

Or, you could leave off 480i and make it upscale all SD. However, I'm not sure what it will upscale it to - 720p or 1080i...
If you disable 480i, it will use 480p. If you disable 480p as well, it will use 720p.

There seems to be no solution or common practice.

You can let your tv scale, but you lose PQ because it converts twice or more. Or you can let the box handle everything, however, it has problems of it's own with switching resolutions and dropping signal.

There seems to be no solution or common practice.
Here's what I'm doing, and it works perfectly for me:

720p TV: Native off, locked to 720p.
1080p TV: Native on, 720p and 1080i selected.

Both connected via HDMI.

My HR20-700 says 0x18a - is this latest software?

tried 0 2 4 6 8 at the hello screen and no update - another way to do this?

I can not get a 4:3 stretch mode anymore. I need it occasionally with my CRT RPTV. using HDMI.

any reason to plug this thing into my router?

My HR20-700 says 0x18a - is this latest software?

tried 0 2 4 6 8 at the hello screen and no update - another way to do this?

I can not get a 4:3 stretch mode anymore. I need it occasionally with my CRT RPTV. using HDMI.

any reason to plug this thing into my router?

If you have 480i as as a checked resolution, that may be your problem. Just check 720p and 1080i and use native on. Then you can use the format buttons to make HD content fit a 4:3 sd set.

wouldn't exactly say "issues," but last night's WEEDS on Showtime HD was off for me.

Hey Guys,

I gotta come somewhere and vent about my HR20 HD DVR's.

We bought a Sony 60" A3000 ,and bought a HD DVR to go with it. Our first DVR had a great picture, but had audio issues with it and buzzing from the unit.(loud enough to be heard over the stereo at times.). The second one had a bad picture, and tuner 2 didn't work.

To exchange the second one, my wife (out of the kindness of her heart) drove 30 miles one way, today, to get to a CC that promised they had the Hr20 in stock. I called and verified with the CC guy, and told him it was a 30 mile drive for my wife. He said, "no problem, we have them". When she gets there to pick the unit up she is informed they don't have it. After my wife comes unglued, CC promises to deliver one to our house which, of course, is an open box return. It works half the time, but the other half it is searching for a signal on satellite one. Of the 4 CC's in my area, they are all out of stock.(the reason for the 30 mile trip)

I'm really frustrated, and am thinking about getting rid of my DTV service all together and even paying the cancellation fee. A year ago, we ordered SD DVR's, and the 2 of those we had were junk also, and we sent them back. We had a TIVO SD DVR that was a great piece of equipment. Are the HR20's all junk? Are there good ones out there? Are you guys satisifed with your picture? Should I just return this one to CC, and have DTV send me an HR21?

If the grammar is off, I apologize. I wrote this rather quickly ....

Hey Guys,

I gotta come somewhere and vent about my HR20 HD DVR's.

We bought a Sony 60" A3000 ,and bought a HD DVR to go with it. Our first DVR had a great picture, but had audio issues with it and buzzing from the unit.(loud enough to be heard over the stereo at times.). The second one had a bad picture, and tuner 2 didn't work.

To exchange the second one, my wife (out of the kindness of her heart) drove 30 miles one way, today, to get to a CC that promised they had the Hr20 in stock. I called and verified with the CC guy, and told him it was a 30 mile drive for my wife. He said, "no problem, we have them". When she gets there to pick the unit up she is informed they don't have it. After my wife comes unglued, CC promises to deliver one to our house which, of course, is an open box return. It works half the time, but the other half it is searching for a signal on satellite one. Of the 4 CC's in my area, they are all out of stock.(the reason for the 30 mile trip)

I'm really frustrated, and am thinking about getting rid of my DTV service all together and even paying the cancellation fee. A year ago, we ordered SD DVR's, and the 2 of those we had were junk also, and we sent them back. We had a TIVO SD DVR that was a great piece of equipment. Are the HR20's all junk? Are there good ones out there? Are you guys satisifed with your picture? Should I just return this one to CC, and have DTV send me an HR21?

If the grammar is off, I apologize. I wrote this rather quickly ....

I think I've had my hands on about six HR-20s by now and hardware wise they've all been good. The old software was crap but haven't had a problem since the update in march.
Had a Sony RPTV that had crapped out [pissed at Sony for selling it to me] but my Bravia XBR2 give a great picture with no sound problems either.
I hope you have better luck or can have some of mine.

My HR20-700 says 0x18a - is this latest software?

tried 0 2 4 6 8 at the hello screen and no update - another way to do this?

I can not get a 4:3 stretch mode anymore. I need it occasionally with my CRT RPTV. using HDMI.

any reason to plug this thing into my router?

So you can get a amber link light on the back of your HR20?

Hey Guys,

I gotta come somewhere and vent about my HR20 HD DVR's.

We bought a Sony 60" A3000 ,and bought a HD DVR to go with it. Our first DVR had a great picture, but had audio issues with it and buzzing from the unit.(loud enough to be heard over the stereo at times.). The second one had a bad picture, and tuner 2 didn't work.

To exchange the second one, my wife (out of the kindness of her heart) drove 30 miles one way, today, to get to a CC that promised they had the Hr20 in stock. I called and verified with the CC guy, and told him it was a 30 mile drive for my wife. He said, "no problem, we have them". When she gets there to pick the unit up she is informed they don't have it. After my wife comes unglued, CC promises to deliver one to our house which, of course, is an open box return. It works half the time, but the other half it is searching for a signal on satellite one. Of the 4 CC's in my area, they are all out of stock.(the reason for the 30 mile trip)

I'm really frustrated, and am thinking about getting rid of my DTV service all together and even paying the cancellation fee. A year ago, we ordered SD DVR's, and the 2 of those we had were junk also, and we sent them back. We had a TIVO SD DVR that was a great piece of equipment. Are the HR20's all junk? Are there good ones out there? Are you guys satisifed with your picture? Should I just return this one to CC, and have DTV send me an HR21?

If the grammar is off, I apologize. I wrote this rather quickly ....
Best thing for you to do is call DTV, add the protection plan for $5.99/mo. If you already are paying for this, do not deal with CC anymore, just call DTV and tell them what's going on, the will overnight a new "refurb" unit to you and will keep doing so until you get a satisfactory one. You are not "buying" the box from CC, you are just paying your lease fee to them and they are in turn, taking a cut and forwarding the rest to DTV, DTV owns the HR20 - not you and not CC, therefore I would deal with DTV if you have any issues at all. The $5.99 plan is not bad as it deals with immediate hardware swaps and also any dish or cabling issues that may crop up like mulitswitches going bad, dish aim getting out of whack, etc... all at no additional cost beyond the monthly fee.

Best thing for you to do is call DTV, add the protection plan for $5.99/mo. If you already are paying for this, do not deal with CC anymore, just call DTV and tell them what's going on, the will overnight a new "refurb" unit to you and will keep doing so until you get a satisfactory one. You are not "buying" the box from CC, you are just paying your lease fee to them and they are in turn, taking a cut and forwarding the rest to DTV, DTV owns the HR20 - not you and not CC, therefore I would deal with DTV if you have any issues at all. The $5.99 plan is not bad as it deals with immediate hardware swaps and also any dish or cabling issues that may crop up like mulitswitches going bad, dish aim getting out of whack, etc... all at no additional cost beyond the monthly fee.

I think I'm gonna go ahead and order a unit from DTV. I don't really have a choice because there are none available in a 30 mile radius :confused:. When the unit gets here I'll return the one from CC. Should I ask for the HR20 or HR21? From what it looks like there is not a whole lot of difference between the 2 besides the OTA tuner, which I don't need.

If you disable 480i, it will use 480p. If you disable 480p as well, it will use 720p.

So if a person wants to have his AVR do all the upconverting, he should set the HR20 to Native ON and check 480, 720, and 1080 right?

If I understand it correctly, with those settings, the HR20 will do no upconverting but just send the unmodified signals to the AVR which can then be set to upconvert everything to 10800p and send that signal to a 1080p tv/monitor. That would seem to be the preferred route for people who have a new generation high end AVR.

fafner

fafner

Hi,
Anyone else try to record Planet In Peril on CNNHD last night? I had checked during the day and it was in the To Do list and I checked this morning and it didn't record. History says it was partially recorded but became unavailable. I don't know why it says it was partially recorded because nothing is there. I checked the guide and that episode is not being repeated, so I guess I'm out of luck. I had a season pass set to record all of them. I checked and tonights episode was not set to record either. I manually set it to record 3 times overnight and it is in the To Do List 3 times. I never had problems with shows not recording on my HR10.

So if a person wants to have his AVR do all the upconverting, he should set the HR20 to Native ON and check 480, 720, and 1080 right?

If I understand it correctly, with those settings, the HR20 will do no upconverting but just send the unmodified signals to the AVR which can then be set to upconvert everything to 10800p and send that signal to a 1080p tv/monitor. That would seem to be the preferred route for people who have a new generation high end AVR.

fafner

fafner

yes, leave 480i, 720p and 1080i on, native on (480p is not a native broadcast mode so it can be unchecked).

I think I'm gonna go ahead and order a unit from DTV. I don't really have a choice because there are none available in a 30 mile radius :confused:. When the unit gets here I'll return the one from CC. Should I ask for the HR20 or HR21? From what it looks like there is not a whole lot of difference between the 2 besides the OTA tuner, which I don't need.

When you talk to DTV, ask them if you can just send the bad unit back to them instead of having to return it to CC. If they do a swap out, you won't have to pay DTV anything additional and you just return your bad box to DTV at their expense and you just leave your $299 at CC instead of sending it to DTV... if they'll agree to that (which they certainly will if you have the protection plan) then you'll save a bit of driving.

Thanks ebr and danmen...

I thought I dug around trying to find those settings and couldn't find them, which is why I finally posted my question. I'll look again tonight and see what I can do. Do you know if these are also accessible for a program/series already set to record, or do I have to delete those and reenter?

BTW, it does seem to me sometimes too that my recordings are starting a few seconds late... I never noticed this with the Tivo, so don't know if its a timing difference on the box, or something else...



Cheers,
-James
I have found that sometimes the recording starts late, but it actually recorded the beginning so if you rewind the program you find it recorded everything, but the machine decided you did not want to watch the first 20 seconds or so. It does this at the end too, but it is a bit more challenging because you can't rewind and replay the last minute or so once it gets to the do you want to delete at the end. :rolleyes:

When you talk to DTV, ask them if you can just send the bad unit back to them instead of having to return it to CC. If they do a swap out, you won't have to pay DTV anything additional and you just return your bad box to DTV at their expense and you just leave your $299 at CC instead of sending it to DTV... if they'll agree to that (which they certainly will if you have the protection plan) then you'll save a bit of driving.

I tried that with the 2nd one, and DTV wouldn't do it. They said they could order me a new one, but I'd still be on the hook for the CC one. CC did try to make my wife's wasted trip right by giving us an additional 75$ off the A3000 and delivering us one to our home. Ended up being an open box/return/broken unit though... lol.

I have not had the protection plan before. I've been with DTV for over 8 years, and have been generally happy with them except for their DVR's. All in all, I'm batting a combined 0 for 5 between the SD DVR's and HD DVR's. After I get one that finally works, I will get the protection plan.

My recordings start late sometimes and end early sometimes, too. I also wanted to ask: What is it doing when the RED recording light comes on? I can't find anything about it in the manual. The last 2 nights it has come on around 7:00 pm and stays on about 5 min. and goes off. It shouldn't be recording anything I set up thenm and that is always orange.

HTe late start of recordings an issue many have had about it and reported over at DBStalk. People who have an HR10-250 set to record the same show report teh HR10 starts up on time, then the HR20 starts up 10-20 seconds later. Please call DirecTV about it if it bothers you.

You can edit your series links
Go to your list of shows already recorded. Hit Yello (to do), then go to Prioritizer on the left, the select your show you want to edit, and then you should be able to tweak the times.

Thanks... and on my part, duh... or more accurately double duh...

First duh is that when I had orignally looked at editing my existing list, it didn't occur to me that the way to get to some of the settings was to again choose the "record series" option, since I was already recording it. I figured out tho last night that if you do this, then make a change, the HR20 shifts the confirm option to an "update".

Second duh is of course the settings for adjusting the start and end time of the recording. When I saw them last night, I thought "Oh yeah, they were right there"... but realized my confusion was that when I select one of them the default list is in increments of 1/2 hour. I wasn't smart enough the first time around to actually try scrolling beyond that list to see that there were other more useful options... (BTW, what's the use case for altering a normal start or end time by multiple hours?)

I did notice too the convenience of ending early in addition to ending late. This was one of the things that bugged me on the Tivo. In particular, given the format of HD Theather, all shows end 15 to 20 before the hour... wanted end those recordings earlier to save space, but couldn't before.

Finally, it does seem to be consistant on my HR20 recordings that they starts a few seconds into the actual program even tho I use "start on time". I used the same setting on my Tivo but consistantly had at least a few seconds of the commercial just prior to the start of the commercial. Is this perhaps some lag in the startup of the HR20 recording? Or perhaps some pad that the Tivo added implicitly? Either way seems strange that if both are using the same guide info that "start on time" would yield a different actual recording start...

How do you record a football/baseball or anything else that runs longer then the time in the guide? I know you can add extra time to the recording but is there a way the HR20 knows that the event is still running and keep recording till the actual end?

How do you record a football/baseball or anything else that runs longer then the time in the guide? I know you can add extra time to the recording but is there a way the HR20 knows that the event is still running and keep recording till the actual end?No. There is no mechanism in place that can provide that information to the DVR in real time.

How do you record a football/baseball or anything else that runs longer then the time in the guide? I know you can add extra time to the recording but is there a way the HR20 knows that the event is still running and keep recording till the actual end?

No. You have to pad it manually.

So...haddock - this is the case for adding multiple hours to a recording - sports.

I tried that with the 2nd one, and DTV wouldn't do it. They said they could order me a new one, but I'd still be on the hook for the CC one. CC did try to make my wife's wasted trip right by giving us an additional 75$ off the A3000 and delivering us one to our home. Ended up being an open box/return/broken unit though... lol.

I have not had the protection plan before. I've been with DTV for over 8 years, and have been generally happy with them except for their DVR's. All in all, I'm batting a combined 0 for 5 between the SD DVR's and HD DVR's. After I get one that finally works, I will get the protection plan.

You did say that you had to drive the 30 miles because none of the local stores had the HR20, right? so why can't you just return it to one of the local stores? I would think that one's as good as another for a return... worth a try anyway.

I think 30 miles away IS the local store

(BTW, what's the use case for altering a normal start or end time by multiple hours?)
...
Recording college FB which can go into many OT's or baseball, also endless innings. 1.5 hours should be plently to handle most NFL games as they only get one OT. Alabama-Tenn ran 7 Ot's a few years ago. I thought my 1.5 hour pad was long enough.... It only got me thru OT 4!! Now I use the 3hour pad on all College games.

OK... so guess yeah, it makes sense as a precaution if you're recording sports that could run long... tho I generally run tight enough on space I wouldn't want to squeeze in a couple extra hours that turn out unneeded and potentially delete something else.

I don't actually have this particular worry tho... because as much as I love sports (college football and college basketball in particular)... and as much as I love the dvr concept... I still can't reliably put the two together...

The best I've managed is semi-live viewing of games where I might pause momentarily or do my own instant replays... but outright recording games doesn't work for me... I'm just one of those that can't not know the scores even if I'm not able to watch... and once I know the outcomes, just don't get as much out of watching... Heck, I even skip the previews for the shows I do record just so I don't know too much about the upcoming recorded episodes...

Cheers,
-James

I find football to be quite nice to watch DVR'd. I am often not missing the entire game, but if it's a 6pm kickoff, we can get the kids off to bed by 7pm and know that the trustly DVR is catching the 1st quarter. When we sit down to watch around 7:15, we don't have any idea of the score and as I have learned, almost all plays have exactly 30 seconds between the tackle being made and the center snapping the ball for the next play. So once the tackle is made, you hit 30 sec and they are lined up under center snapping the ball. You catch up to live really fast that way. I also don't care much for baseball except for this time of year, so sometimes I'll record a WS game towards the end because I get sleepy prior to the end, then I'll catch up prior to turning on the news in the morning..

Just an FYI - for those with a HR20-700, the new updates are rolling out this week which allow full Directv on Demand if you have your box networked. There is lots of info on dbstalk.com. Anyone out there have it yet? I just checked mine and I don't yet have the update. My network is connected and working... I'll be interesed to see what they offer on demand... If you have it can you comment of if the stuff out there is HD?

Just an FYI - for those with a HR20-700, the new updates are rolling out this week which allow full Directv on Demand if you have your box networked. There is lots of info on dbstalk.com. Anyone out there have it yet? I just checked mine and I don't yet have the update. My network is connected and working... I'll be interesed to see what they offer on demand... If you have it can you comment of if the stuff out there is HD?

I got VOD this past weekend. There is no HD. As long as content is delivered via the network connection, I think they will be hard-pressed to offer much HD as well. If they start deliviering via the sat maybe we can get some useful stuff in good quality. Right now, its not a very useful feature for me. Easier to record stuff and watch it "on demand" in glorious 1080.

What is it doing when the RED recording light comes on? I can't find anything about it in the manual. The last 2 nights it has come on around 7:00 pm and stays on about 5 min. and goes off. It shouldn't be recording anything I set up thenm and that is always orange.
That means it's calling DirecTV.

here is a question I'm sure you can answer. My TV is an older RP type, and has a DVI input. Will a cable having a DVI on one end and HDMI on the other work? or does HDCP prevent this? are there special types of cables that allow it? I'm sure this has been touched on somewhere but I didnt find it.

I'm just one of those that can't not know the scores even if I'm not able to watch... and once I know the outcomes, just don't get as much out of watching... Heck, I even skip the previews for the shows I do record just so I don't know too much about the upcoming recorded episodes...

Cheers,
-James
I'm the same way, I never watch sports DVR'ed. I may pause an event for a few minutes, and replay as well, but never record to sit down and watch later.

I got VOD this past weekend. There is no HD. As long as content is delivered via the network connection, I think they will be hard-pressed to offer much HD as well. If they start deliviering via the sat maybe we can get some useful stuff in good quality. Right now, its not a very useful feature for me. Easier to record stuff and watch it "on demand" in glorious 1080.

I wonder what DirecTV's position is on net neutrality. ;)

Could get interesting with DirecTV subs DL'ing large files while using a Comcast internet connection to do it, especially with Comcast and others throttling down and/or blocking the transfer of multiple large files.

here is a question I'm sure you can answer. My TV is an older RP type, and has a DVI input. Will a cable having a DVI on one end and HDMI on the other work? or does HDCP prevent this? are there special types of cables that allow it? I'm sure this has been touched on somewhere but I didnt find it.
It'll work for now, because no channels are being transmitted with HDCP required. But that could change in the future.

I think 30 miles away IS the local store

Lol ... sorry if I confused the story here. We had to go 30 miles away because there were not any local CC's with the Hr20-700. We will return the unit to a local one which is about 3 miles away. I spoke with DTV today, and they will send out a tech to install it once I schedule a time and order the DVR.

I wonder what DirecTV's position is on net neutrality. ;)

Could get interesting with DirecTV subs DL'ing large files while using a Comcast internet connection to do it, especially with Comcast and others throttling down and/or blocking the transfer of multiple large files.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I haven't looked at all the fine print on my current broadband account (through the cable company) but way back when I first got one they had a "fair use" policy that allowed them to throttle back your bandwidth after you had x amount of traffic in y time period.

In any case it just wouldn't be very practical to download a 12gb file for VOD. I could practially wait for netflix for that ;).

What I think is somewhat ironic is how using D*'s DOD service would violate the FAP of their own satellite internet service which only allows 200 meg per day.

Speaking of Netflix, if you have an HTPC solution, their VOD offering is absolutely excellent.

peace . . .


Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I haven't looked at all the fine print on my current broadband account (through the cable company) but way back when I first got one they had a "fair use" policy that allowed them to throttle back your bandwidth after you had x amount of traffic in y time period.

In any case it just wouldn't be very practical to download a 12gb file for VOD. I could practially wait for netflix for that ;).

Lol ... sorry if I confused the story here. We had to go 30 miles away because there were not any local CC's with the Hr20-700. We will return the unit to a local one which is about 3 miles away. I spoke with DTV today, and they will send out a tech to install it once I schedule a time and order the DVR.

We returned the 3rd DVR last night to CC. Earlier in the day I was told by a DTV CSR that I could request the HR21-700. When I called last night to order the HR21 I was told that I couldn't specify the model number. :confused:

What I think is somewhat ironic is how using D*'s DOD service would violate the FAP of their own satellite internet service which only allows 200 meg per day.

Speaking of Netflix, if you have an HTPC solution, their VOD offering is absolutely excellent.

peace . . .

I do run all my std DVDs off an HTPC in my main room. I've been meaning to try out the "watch it now" feature on Netflix but have just never gotten around to it. Thx for the push...

We returned the 3rd DVR last night to CC. Earlier in the day I was told by a DTV CSR that I could request the HR21-700. When I called last night to order the HR21 I was told that I couldn't specify the model number. :confused:

That is their scripted answer and is generally true, I'd tell the CSR that you were advised earlier in the day that due to you having loads of trouble, that an earlier rep had told you you can get an HR21, they should be able to check you account notes.

That is their scripted answer and is generally true, I'd tell the CSR that you were advised earlier in the day that due to you having loads of trouble, that an earlier rep had told you you can get an HR21, they should be able to check you account notes.

from my experience it does not matter what you ask for or what they tell you:

they will ship you whatever they grab from inventory and ignore any promises they made to you :(

I want to upgrade from the H20 to the HR20 DVR unit. The problem is I don't have a phone line nearby where my new setup will be. I'm pretty sure I don't need the phone connection to get the unit to work. I know I won't be able to remote order but that's cool.

Very sorry if this has been answered hundreds of times before.

Doug

Re HR20 CC problems (very unusual)
I receive garbled Closed Captions under the following circumstances:
From D* LIL signals only from 720p stations (Fox and ABC); only in primetime 8-10/11p. The 1080i stations are good. The OTA captions from all other HD signals are good, both 720 and 1080p. Recordings of LIL and OTA during the problems show the garbled captions for LIL and good captions for OTA.
D* says it is the stations. The stations say it is D*.
A replacement receiver for HR20-100 with a HR20-700 shows the same pattern
A number of top quality station engineering directors believe the fault is in how D* handles the conversion of the MP2 to MP4 stream.
D* installation techs have observed the problem in my home and are baffled, and are seeking help from D*.
D*'s senior vp for customer relations has not responded to my email.

This has been going on since LIL was first introduced for this market.

Anyone else have this problem?

I want to upgrade from the H20 to the HR20 DVR unit. The problem is I don't have a phone line nearby where my new setup will be. I'm pretty sure I don't need the phone connection to get the unit to work. I know I won't be able to remote order but that's cool.

Very sorry if this has been answered hundreds of times before.

Doug

That is correct. Basically, you only need the phone connection if you are going to order Pay-Per-View stuff. Software updates come via the satellite connection.

Re HR20 CC problems (very unusual)
I receive garbled Closed Captions under the following circumstances:
From D* LIL signals only from 720p stations (Fox and ABC); only in primetime 8-10/11p. The 1080i stations are good. The OTA captions from all other HD signals are good, both 720 and 1080p. Recordings of LIL and OTA during the problems show the garbled captions for LIL and good captions for OTA.
D* says it is the stations. The stations say it is D*.
A replacement receiver for HR20-100 with a HR20-700 shows the same pattern
A number of top quality station engineering directors believe the fault is in how D* handles the conversion of the MP2 to MP4 stream.
D* installation techs have observed the problem in my home and are baffled, and are seeking help from D*.
D*'s senior vp for customer relations has not responded to my email.

This has been going on since LIL was first introduced for this market.

Anyone else have this problem?

I can not use CC at all, they are garbled virtually all the time.

I want to upgrade from the H20 to the HR20 DVR unit. The problem is I don't have a phone line nearby where my new setup will be. I'm pretty sure I don't need the phone connection to get the unit to work. I know I won't be able to remote order but that's cool.

Very sorry if this has been answered hundreds of times before.

Doug

I don't really see a question here. [Yes you can use it without a phone line connected]

I want to upgrade from the H20 to the HR20 DVR unit. The problem is I don't have a phone line nearby where my new setup will be. I'm pretty sure I don't need the phone connection to get the unit to work. I know I won't be able to remote order but that's cool.

Very sorry if this has been answered hundreds of times before.

Doug

I elected not to connect my phone line to the HR20 and D* ok'd it with no problem. As you note, it is primarily for billing purposes for pay tv events.

I want to upgrade from the H20 to the HR20 DVR unit. The problem is I don't have a phone line nearby where my new setup will be. I'm pretty sure I don't need the phone connection to get the unit to work. I know I won't be able to remote order but that's cool.

Very sorry if this has been answered hundreds of times before.

Doug

I may be mistaken, but my HR20 is connected only to my local internet router, and not to a phone line. It took the connection fine, and I assume it's using that to talk to DirecTV.

Mojo

The HR20 also has a Caller-ID feature that displays the caller's name and number on the screen. If you have a phone line connected, and you have Caller-ID service, then this is one reason to connect the phone line to the HR20.

Is it just me or is my DVR dumb as a stump?

I went into guide, then I hit menu to bring up the filter. i selected HD so it Only brings up HD content.

Keep in mind I have also selected my custom favorites list. It even says at the bottom that it is using HD/Favorites 1.

Unfortunately, it shows EVERY channel. Not just the ones in my favorites. So I am seeing movies on all these channels I don't subscribe to.

To add to the confusion, it starts showing movies from midnight the night before. Hello, it's 1PM not 12AM. Why show me those shows, since I can't watch them?

I am interested in getting DirectTV now that they are going to offer more HD channels. I currently only have OTA HD (I do not have Cable).

Does this DVR allow you to transfer videos off the unit? eSATA? Firewire?

I am interested in getting DirectTV now that they are going to offer more HD channels. I currently only have OTA HD (I do not have Cable).

Does this DVR allow you to transfer videos off the unit? eSATA? Firewire?

No, at least not currently.

The HR20 also has a Caller-ID feature that displays the caller's name and number on the screen. If you have a phone line connected, and you have Caller-ID service, then this is one reason to connect the phone line to the HR20.

You're correct on that and I totally forgot that feature of plugging in the phone line. It's a nice touch that works well for us. :)

I have found that sometimes the recording starts late, but it actually recorded the beginning so if you rewind the program you find it recorded everything, but the machine decided you did not want to watch the first 20 seconds or so. It does this at the end too, but it is a bit more challenging because you can't rewind and replay the last minute or so once it gets to the do you want to delete at the end. :rolleyes:

Yeah what's up with that?

I may be mistaken, but my HR20 is connected only to my local internet router, and not to a phone line. It took the connection fine, and I assume it's using that to talk to DirecTV.

The ethernet connection will not send PPV requests to D* like the phone jack will. It will allow Video on Demand, Media Sharing and Remote Booking (all these products are in beta testing).

No, at least not currently.

Upon further investigation, DirecTV has been bought out by the MPAA and believes the DCMA prevents us from taking our recorded shows and burning them to DVD/Blu-Ray, etc., which is of course FALSE. *sigh*

I don't think Dish Network's receivers will be any better. Too bad the TiVo fallout happened.

Maybe I'll devote a few weeks of my life decrypting one of the HD PVRs just so I can put video on my N95 or PS3.

Yeah what's up with that?

have no idea, but figured it out by accident, started a program before my wife sat down and was surprised she wanted to watch so I rewinded to the beginning. :)

when is the hr21 going to be available?

when is the hr21 going to be available?
It's available now.

I got VOD this past weekend. There is no HD. As long as content is delivered via the network connection, I think they will be hard-pressed to offer much HD as well. If they start deliviering via the sat maybe we can get some useful stuff in good quality. Right now, its not a very useful feature for me. Easier to record stuff and watch it "on demand" in glorious 1080.

Where does the VOD stuff show up? I'll admit I didn't spend too much time looking on my HR20 but I would like to see what is offered when I finally get the update. :)

Where does the VOD stuff show up? I'll admit I didn't spend too much time looking on my HR20 but I would like to see what is offered when I finally get the update. :)

Please pardon my abbreviation ignorance :o but what is VOD?

Please pardon my abbreviation ignorance :o but what is VOD?

Video on Demand. I found my answer in the Phil Swann newsletter. It should show on channel 1000 once it's active on my receiver.

Video on Demand...
It is currently rolling out on the new updates for only the HR20-700 boxes (not the 100 yet). Check
here (http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=137)

I am interested in getting DirectTV now that they are going to offer more HD channels. I currently only have OTA HD (I do not have Cable).

Does this DVR allow you to transfer videos off the unit? eSATA? Firewire?

Well, not digitally or in HD, but you can transfer via the analog outs with a recorder of some kind...

Probably not what you wanted, but there it is.

Where does the VOD stuff show up? I'll admit I didn't spend too much time looking on my HR20 but I would like to see what is offered when I finally get the update. :)

Press "menu" and you should see "on demand" which will take you there.

Ok, this was weird. Live TV was working fine. Whenever I tried to watch a recorded show, it would immediately give me the "Delete" option. Recorded time showed the correct amount. Everything I had did the same thing. I deleted a handful of shows that I watched on other DVRS, and even deleted one show I had NOT watched but thought there was a record error. I did a reset, and it started playing recorded shows correctly. Not only that, but a few of the deleted shows returned to the list and played correctly.

Has anyone else encountered this?

Can the HR20 record two HD programs at the same time? Thanks!

Ok, this was weird. Live TV was working fine. Whenever I tried to watch a recorded show, it would immediately give me the "Delete" option. Recorded time showed the correct amount. Everything I had did the same thing. I deleted a handful of shows that I watched on other DVRS, and even deleted one show I had NOT watched but thought there was a record error. I did a reset, and it started playing recorded shows correctly. Not only that, but a few of the deleted shows returned to the list and played correctly.

Has anyone else encountered this?

Only everyone with an HR 20:)

Can the HR20 record two HD programs at the same time? Thanks!

Yes.

Yes.
Thanks!

Only everyone with an HR 20:)

I've had one HR20-700 for over a year, but it never happened with it. I've had an HR20-100 for about a month, and that's where it occurred. At least its "good" :rolleyes: that I'm not the only one...

Need help guys,
I have the HR20 connected to my tv via hdmi and ist freezing, also the picture looks very grainy and has major lip sync issues. I have 4 other hdtv's in the house using the same dish and no other tv looks that bad.

What is the differance with the HR21?
I have an H20 and 3 H21 and the differance is quite notible, also they do not get so hot.

I've had one HR20-700 for over a year, but it never happened with it. I've had an HR20-100 for about a month, and that's where it occurred. At least its "good" :rolleyes: that I'm not the only one...

Happened to me 2x this week on my HR20-100, had to reboot, has not happened yet on the HR20-700

Can the HR20 boxes/remotes be set-up with discrete codes so you can have two boxes in the same room? The old SD Tivo boxes did but I do not see anything in the HR20 manual for this?

Thanks!

I have a HR20-700 and I don't have VOD. How do I get it?

Can the HR20 boxes/remotes be set-up with discrete codes so you can have two boxes in the same room?
Yes, they can. A short time ago I read a posting from Edmond on dbstalk giving the procedure in detail, but right now I can't find his post. It involves giving the remote a 6-digit identifer for the HR20 box it's supposed to control.

when is the hr21 going to be available?

Just got mine this weekend. Just purchased a Sony 46" XBR4 Bravia LCD and ordered the HD DVR upgrade from D*.

We had the Standard Def Tivo DVR before and of course the wife is on a rampage about her loss of Dual Live Buffer.

Does anyone know if the HR10 works with the new 5LNB dishes?

I might buy one off of eBay in order to keep peace in the house.

On Friday I converted from my 3 year old HR10-250 to the new HR21 which my D* installer brought me.

As observed here, the HR21 has no antenna input so I'm going all satellite as the locals are all provided. I tried installing the HR10-250 with just an antenna connection and it worked fine for OTA high def but there is no recording capability as that service comes through D* and expects a satellite connection. Doesn't seem worth keeping the HR10-250 just for that though.

I'm getting used to life without Tivo - the HR21 interface is different and not quite as intuitive as Tivo but seems to have most of the Tivo's features. No problems with the HR21 yet.

Question for the HR20 (?) and HR21 users. The HR21 has an ethernet port. I hear you can connect to a network PC and access photos and music on the TV via the HR21. I set up the ethernet connection in the HR21 and it recognized my network and picked up an IP but I don't see any way in the HR21 interface to actually access pictures on my PC. How do you do this? The manual says nothing on this topic other than the box has an ethernet port.

Thanks.

On Friday I converted from my 3 year old HR10-250 to the new HR21 which my D* installer brought me.

As observed here, the HR21 has no antenna input so I'm going all satellite as the locals are all provided. I tried installing the HR10-250 with just an antenna connection and it worked fine for OTA high def but there is no recording capability as that service comes through D* and expects a satellite connection. Doesn't seem worth keeping the HR10-250 just for that though.

I'm getting used to life without Tivo - the HR21 interface is different and not quite as intuitive as Tivo but seems to have most of the Tivo's features. No problems with the HR21 yet.

Question for the HR20 (?) and HR21 users. The HR21 has an ethernet port. I hear you can connect to a network PC and access photos and music on the TV via the HR21. I set up the ethernet connection in the HR21 and it recognized my network and picked up an IP but I don't see any way in the HR21 interface to actually access pictures on my PC. How do you do this? The manual says nothing on this topic other than the box has an ethernet port.

Thanks.
I have the HR20-100 and it does schedule and record OTA HD broadcasts.

Can the HR20 boxes/remotes be set-up with discrete codes so you can have two boxes in the same room? The old SD Tivo boxes did but I do not see anything in the HR20 manual for this?

Thanks!

You can program AV 1 or 2 for the second receiver. You need to follow the on screen instructions under programing AV 1 or 2. Now what isn't there is that you need to use 00001 or 00003 instead of the codes listed. Mine listed 00004 and it doesn't work. The four codes to try are 00001, 00002, 00003, 00004, but only 1 & 3 seem to work.

Just got mine this weekend. Just purchased a Sony 46" XBR4 Bravia LCD and ordered the HD DVR upgrade from D*.

We had the Standard Def Tivo DVR before and of course the wife is on a rampage about her loss of Dual Live Buffer.

Does anyone know if the HR10 works with the new 5LNB dishes?

I might buy one off of eBay in order to keep peace in the house.

The HR10-250 works off the 5 LNB dish but just won't get the new channels.

Question for the HR20 (?) and HR21 users. The HR21 has an ethernet port. I hear you can connect to a network PC and access photos and music on the TV via the HR21. I set up the ethernet connection in the HR21 and it recognized my network and picked up an IP but I don't see any way in the HR21 interface to actually access pictures on my PC. How do you do this?
On the Quick Menu, an option will appear called Music & Photos. But it will only show up if a compatible server is found on your network.

Has anyone experienced this trick play bug?:
On local SD channels if you 30 sec skip a recording it goes all the way to the start, if you FF any faster than 1x it goes back to the start, if you load the 30 sec skip it goes back to the start.

No other channels do this, just my locals. I have menu reset, red button reset, refreshed my service from D* website, called them and had them refresh to no success. The weird part is after a week or more it will go back to normal. The unit also makes a hum type noise that starts low and gets kinda loud.

How hard is it to get a replacement? I think that I will persue that next.

Just got mine this weekend. Just purchased a Sony 46" XBR4 Bravia LCD and ordered the HD DVR upgrade from D*.

We had the Standard Def Tivo DVR before and of course the wife is on a rampage about her loss of Dual Live Buffer.

Does anyone know if the HR10 works with the new 5LNB dishes?

I might buy one off of eBay in order to keep peace in the house.

Read the Tivo conversion survival guide by clicking here (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=69404)

Can the HR20 boxes/remotes be set-up with discrete codes so you can have two boxes in the same room? The old SD Tivo boxes did but I do not see anything in the HR20 manual for this?

Thanks!
Set one up for Infrared (default) and the other one up for IR. Both boxes and controllers are equipped for each, just go to the remote setup menu on the box you are using for RF, it will walk you thru.

I have a HR20-700 and I don't have VOD. How do I get it?

It is rolling out - you'll get the new update eventually. Tune to 1000, if you have nothing, you don't have the new update. To quickly check to see if you get the new update each morning, just dim your blue ring, when it comes back on full throttle, you either lost power in the night or you got the update. To dim the blue rings, press the left and right arrows on the box itself (around the ring) at the same time - do it several times and it will dim more and more and will go off completely after a few clicks.
No force of the update is possible. To read more about VOD, click here (http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=137)

I have the HR20-100 and it does schedule and record OTA HD broadcasts.

Me too, don't have to worry about rain fade on my Off air network programs.
Looks like the HR21 is not going to be for my other room I set up soon.

I have had enough. Every show that I record with the DTV HR20 records about a minute late.

I have called DTV and got the problem escalated but of course they told me nobody else has reported the problem.

Does anybody else have this problem?

On Friday I converted from my 3 year old HR10-250 to the new HR21 which my D* installer brought me.

As observed here, the HR21 has no antenna input so I'm going all satellite as the locals are all provided. I tried installing the HR10-250 with just an antenna connection and it worked fine for OTA high def but there is no recording capability as that service comes through D* and expects a satellite connection.........

I have the HR20-100 and it does schedule and record OTA HD broadcasts.

Me too, don't have to worry about rain fade on my Off air network programs.
Looks like the HR21 is not going to be for my other room I set up soon.

Exactly!

Sorry late to this thread but I'm getting a new HR20 soon and want to set up an eSATA before I start using it. Can someone please point me to thread, or web page that has step by step set up and use instructions? The closest thing I could find was this for SERIES 3 TIVO. Is it the same process?
http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/04/how-to-use-your-tivo-series3-esata-port-to-add-an-external-driv/

Thanks!

(I used the search and couldn't find one.)

I have had enough. Every show that I record with the DTV HR20 records about a minute late.

I have called DTV and got the problem escalated but of course they told me nobody else has reported the problem.

Does anybody else have this problem?

A fairly simple workaround would be to tell you series link to start 1 min early on each show... To do this, go to you prioritizer, select each show and go to rec options, then tell it to start 1 min early and hit update.

Sorry late to this thread but I'm getting a new HR20 soon and want to set up an eSATA before I start using it. Can someone please point me to thread, or web page that has step by step set up and use instructions? The closest thing I could find was this for SERIES 3 TIVO. Is it the same process?
http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/04/how-to-use-your-tivo-series3-esata-port-to-add-an-external-driv/

Thanks!

(I used the search and couldn't find one.)

It is extremely easy to attach the eSATA drive. I would recommend you turn on the HR20 and use it for a day or two to make sure everything is working well. Also, you should have at least one program recorded on it for verification later that the eSATA drive is working:

1) turn off the HR20 (pulling the plug is the only way to turn it off).

2) Attach your eSATA drive to the HR20, and power it up.

3) Plug the HR20 back in. It will recognize the drive, and format it.

4) Here is where having had one program recorded on the HR20 comes in. Go to the list of recorded shows. Your show should not be there, because you are now on the eSATA drive.

If that is the case, you have done everything correctly and you are good to go. There is also plenty of info regarding this at www.dbstalk.com.

Make sure you use an eSATA drive. Many people have tried to use a drive which does not support eSATA and try to use the USB connection. It won't work. Also, some people have had trouble with the actual eSATA connectors. If you have a drive with the cable in the box, that should work fine. If you buy one, make sure it is eSATA to eSATA. I had no trouble with mine, but some people have had to shave a little bit of plastic off the outside of the connector to get it to fit snuggly in to the HR20.

Good luck.

SMK

We found the ota tuner in the HR20-100s to be better in the UHF channels than the HR10-250 but the HR20 won't receive digital 2 at all (lowest VHF).

I continue to be amazed this is not yet fixed. I am not up-to-speed on all the latest beta software in-process, but it sure appears that this issue is well-known. I waited to get the HR20 thinking I was getting something that had been around a while and yet this "newer" unit has issues the older one was already updated to fix. Very strange...

Glad I still use my trusty 10-250!

Has there been any official response from D* on the issue?

BJBBJB

I have had enough. Every show that I record with the DTV HR20 records about a minute late.

I have called DTV and got the problem escalated but of course they told me nobody else has reported the problem.

Does anybody else have this problem?Many people are having this problem. Also many people don't seem to be affected by it. For some reason there doesn't seem to be much of an outcry to get it fixed. The dbstalk forum has the most in-depth coverage of the HR20. Here are 2 recent links to threads on this subject:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=103952

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=106791

Jay

Has there been any official response from D* on the issue?

BJBBJB

Their official response appears to be eliminating OTA support ;). Given the fact that their new receiver doesn't have an OTA tuner, I wouldn't hold my breath for this...

Their official response appears to be eliminating OTA support ;). Given the fact that their new receiver doesn't have an OTA tuner, I wouldn't hold my breath for this...

If they choose to eliminate OTA support, they had better get their a**es in gear and pickup the rest of the local HDTV channels, PBS in particular.

If they choose to eliminate OTA support, they had better get their a**es in gear and pickup the rest of the local HDTV channels, PBS in particular.

That's probably in the works. Plus there is recent discussion now that D* has made a semi-official announcement that there will be some sort of OTA solution going forward.

However, I don't see why people seem to feel like they are obligated to provide an OTA solution. They are a satellite TV company. They provided OTA in the past because it was the only way to get HD on your local channels. Now they have those for most people with more coming. It wouldn't be very suprising for them to drop the OTA support (and costs) or make it an alternate/add-on service.

That's probably in the works. Plus there is recent discussion now that D* has made a semi-official announcement that there will be some sort of OTA solution going forward.

However, I don't see why people seem to feel like they are obligated to provide an OTA solution. They are a satellite TV company. They provided OTA in the past because it was the only way to get HD on your local channels. Now they have those for most people with more coming. It wouldn't be very suprising for them to drop the OTA support (and costs) or make it an alternate/add-on service.

DirecTv has not been the best on the ota issue. They haven't gone as far to make me leave but many might remember when D* wouldn't shut up about how great it is to combine your satellite receiver with an ota antenna. They even provided antennas and setup for many customers.

They even tried to provide long distance network channels and still do for some(for those who couldn't receive ota) but were shot down by greedy broadcasters in court and most of us lost this valuable source in HD.

Now because they wouldn't provide enough legal support to provide everyone just one or 2 network offerings, D* made the business decision to spend Billions to send the exact same local shows over and over to each individual local spot. To me this is a gigantic waste of space.

Because of their decision to offer locals via satellite, now they're turning their back(or so it seems by their recent lack of support for ota) on customers who have spent time and money on ota setups in conjunction with sat. The H21 sat receiver has no ota tuner at all - which isn't a promising trend.

It's just my opinion that a digital satellite receiver isn't a complete digital solution unless it receives HD ota. There was hope when we received the HR20 and the upper VHF and UHF channels were coming in better but the lack of support for low VHF(especially 2) is discouraging.

They even tried to provide long distance network channels and still do for some(for those who couldn't receive ota) but were shot down by greedy broadcasters in court and most of us lost this valuable source in HD.

Now because they wouldn't provide enough legal support to provide everyone just one or 2 network offerings, D* made the business decision to spend Billions to send the exact same local shows over and over to each individual local spot. To me this is a gigantic waste of space.



They were pretty much forced into this policy of what seems like ridiculous redundancy by the individual networks/affiliates. And, I might say, that is probably a good thing. That is because from the broadcasters point of view it is not really that redundant as the main reason they have content at all is for the ad space - some amount of which is targeted at local markets.

I understand your pain, but, as a provider of satellite TV I also understand D* position. But, take to heart that they have stated they do plan to provide an OTA solution. Most of the speculation at this point is that it will be some sort of add-on device that you pay extra for. This makes sense because I'm sure a large majority of their customers don't need or want the OTA support.

I would think that, with HD, many customers WOULD want OTA support, since D* currently only carries the four major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) in HD, not the CW or PBS. And, from what I hear, D* has no current plans to add those two.

I would think that, with HD, many customers WOULD want OTA support, since D* currently only carries the four major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) in HD, not the CW or PBS. And, from what I hear, D* has no current plans to add those two.

I think their average new customer is happy to forego the antenna part as those four majors are at least 99% of what they want. I'm not saying there aren't a lot of people who still will want OTA access (like people who's locals aren't on the sat yet). I'm just saying that is a shrinking part of their customer base and so it is not surprising that they are moving away from it as a part of their standard solution.

Making OTA support an add-on of some sort (probably for additional cost) would seem to make sense as it will simplify a lot of things for the majority of the install base from here on out.

I don't dig the way subtitles are set up on the HR20-700. I am hoping there is a way around this that I haven't come across yet.

I usually don't watch an entire show with subtitles. I usually only use them when I can't understand what someone is saying.

What I do not like about the HR20 is that to turn subtitles on, I have to go into the menu and turn them on and then exit the menu. Quite the pain in the butt if I want to just see what someone said. Then I have to go and turn them back off when I am finished. Way to much effort for a simple task of turning the subtitles on and off.

Add to this that they also appear not to have any anti aliasing of subtitles. needless to say, they look horrible. Yes I know I can adjust the font and the background and opacity, but anti aliased text is nasty no matter what you make it look like.

With my SD R10 TiVo, all I would need do to have nice anti aliased subtitles would be to hit the subtitle button on my TV and BOOM. Subtitles On and Off with the simple press of a single button.

However with the HR20, I keep getting "Subtitle Not Present" when I press the subtitle button on the TV. This even happens on CC shows. The only way I can view them is if I allow the HR20 to show them with the laborious process I explained above.

What I am looking for is a way to bypass the HR20 when it comes to subtitles. Much like letting my TV do the up converting by turning native off. I would like the HR20 to pass the subtitles to the TV and let the TV display them. The Tv would decide if the subtitles get turned off or on. The Tv would display them in glorious anti aliased text. The HR20 would still record he CC track. And it would pass the info to the TV. however, it would be the TV's decision whether or not to display the subtitles.

Please tell me there is a way to do this. Thank you for your time.

I don't know for sure about the bypass thing but I'm guessing no. That is my guess because there is a huge and long-standing discussion out on dbstalk about CC on the HR20. Specifically, how hard it is to turn on and off. I would think that if it were possible to bypass them to the display then that would mitigate the issue for that crowd. But, judging on how much discussion there is about it - it must not be possible.

But, the good news is with that many people complaining about it maybe it is something that will be addressed soon.

I would say that is hopeful, but my R10 once went 2 years before it was updated. Funny enough, once it got it's update, I switched to HD :-( Boy I miss my Tivo.

Thanks to who ever posted that Tivo -> HR20 survival guide. i've followed this thread for a while and that is the first that I ever heard of it. I'll be sure to do some reading tonight.

Thanks to who ever posted that Tivo -> HR20 survival guide. i've followed this thread for a while and that is the first that I ever heard of it. I'll be sure to do some reading tonight.

Time for a shameless plug for the folks over at DBSTalk.com for their work.

I was the most recent plugger of the Tivo survival guide, and I have zero affiliation over there... I don't even have a login id - I just lurk.
As for CC on HD vs CC on SD, you can not blame the hardware. ALL HD Subtitles are handled by the HD Decoder, which in your case is the HR20, not the TV, What is the fault of the box is the fact that you have to use between 16 and 19 button presses to activate this feature. This could be changed if the engineers at DTV wanted to... So if you were using your internal tv tuner to watch cable or OTA, you could hit the CC on your TV to toggle, but since the HR20 is handling, you have to put up with the buried button problem.

I would think that, with HD, many customers WOULD want OTA support, since D* currently only carries the four major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) in HD, not the CW or PBS. And, from what I hear, D* has no current plans to add those two.

I just switched to the HR21 from the HR10-250. Initially, I did not have PBS but called D* and they added it. I now get 3 PBS channels in my area. This is via satellite. I used to get them OTA with the HR10.

Are you getting PBS HD? Or SD your local station?

I was the most recent plugger of the Tivo survival guide, and I have zero affiliation over there... I don't even have a login id - I just lurk.
As for CC on HD vs CC on SD, you can not blame the hardware. ALL HD Subtitles are handled by the HD Decoder, which in your case is the HR20, not the TV, What is the fault of the box is the fact that you have to use between 16 and 19 button presses to activate this feature. This could be changed if the engineers at DTV wanted to... So if you were using your internal tv tuner to watch cable or OTA, you could hit the CC on your TV to toggle, but since the HR20 is handling, you have to put up with the buried button problem.

This happens with SD as well as HD on this box.

Hopefully they will come up with a fix for the lengthy process of switching them on and off.

Is there any options for making them NOT look like dogshit? They are bad enough as is, but whooooah if there is naration on the program, forget it. Italics are near unreadable when used by the HR20 for CC.

And placement is horrible. give me back 1-2 lines at the bottom of the screen. Why the nead for multi 2-3 word lines on the left of the screen. Don't they know that is where actors like to play?

And as for plugging the survival guide, i am not a supporter or affiliated with that sight at all. just mearly stating that I was looking forward to reading the guide. And that i wish I knew one existed when i did the change over.

I see what you mean.... my guess is that when your SD chanels are fed thru an HD tuner, the Captions are also handled by the box on SD as well. I have yet to find an acceptable caption format. By changing the background to semi opaque and picking a decent font, it is tolerable, but by and large HD captioning leaves much to be desired. No where near what is was on pure SD content having the TV do the work... This is a problem with being an "early adapter" 7+ years into HD ;)

What I am looking for is a way to bypass the HR20 when it comes to subtitles.
It's not the HR20, it's your TV. Most TVs don't support closed captioning on HD inputs. CC worked with your R10 because it was SD.