DirecTV HD DVR - HR2*/ HR34 Master Topic: one thread for all - Page 4

My two HR-21s, also frozen are fine after 2 reboots which need to be within 30 minutes to clear the cache.

After reboot, the system info indicates an upgrade was made at 3:30am overnight.

--HG

Had to do another power cycle on each.

No dice here. Trying to get through to Dtv tech support for service call. Ima smash my DVR soon.

calling D* will not help much

I did notice that even after the two reboots I had to hit the commands a few times until it started to respond

Many are reporting that the two RBR method works. I just did it with my HR20-700, and it worked fine.

I just got the download for my oldest HR20: worked fine with no reboots needed

maybe they resolved the issue?

Same here with my HR23. It's easy to criticize but it is hard to understand how this doube clutch was missed in beta testing. For a lot of D* users who don't read this or other threads, D* CSRs will be inundated. A PR fiasco.

Dana

The consensus is this:

Affects ALL DVRs.

The fault was related to corrupted guide data (again!). The last update cycle started 5/20, so the update itself was not the immediate cause (leaving aside the "letting corrupt data through" issue).

The common symptom is remote doesn't work, stuck on one channel.

Two complete red-button-resets are required within 30 minutes to flush guide data.

edit: I should add that this was my exact experience on an HR20-700 & an HR21-700

Only thing I see different [or to add] is my HR24 wasn't affected, while my HR20s were.

Perhaps beta testing neglected to test with this week's guide data.

HR20-700: Got the new 3D message then black screen. TWO RBR and all is well.

New HR24: No message of anything new and it worked fine during the time the HR20 did not.

just as a bit of background:

I joined AVS in 2001 because my new DirecTV boxes were dropping out every half hour: I searched everywhere for a solution and found nothing til I came here to AVS to learn it was a known issue: D* had a software glitch and it screwed up the box: a new download fixed it a few days later

same D*: different day

Nothing is perfect and I will never switch back to ComCrap.

recently I reactivated my Comcast HD service to see how they compared: I was having outages with D* during bad weather but that turned out to be an issue with the sat dish that D* fixed under my service contract.

Comcast has come a long way back in PQ and customer service: and they will dispatch a technician a lot quicker to respond to a problem.

D* screwed this up and owes its customers something to make up for the disruption: as you point out, nothing is perfect

I have been waiting years for FIOS service: I was assured of FIOS to my home several years ago as a Councilman when we approved the FIOS request to lay fiber, only to find out they have no funding left to run fiber down my street even though most of my town has it

So does 0x3df come after 0x3de? That's what on my HR20-700 right now and it's working fine.

There is NO update related to this.
DirecTV is now sending "reboot" signals to everyone it seems.

Not so fast!

My "all is well" statement above appears to have been premature. That was hours ago, and the updating of the HR20's schedule is going painfully slow.

How slow?
Wednesday's schedule still has holes and nothing shows past Wed.

and ...

navigation is SLOW, SLOW, SLOW

All is NOT well.

My two HR 22s seem to be working OK now, but I've found the power on on both of them when I had not turned them on.

Also, when running a system test, I am told that my receivers are configured for the incorrect satellite dish. Repeating satellite setup and choosing the correct dish does not change this message, but everything seems to work OK.

My HR21-700 locked up today like everyone else...funny thing is I got the update on 6/2 at 7:28 AM...why the wait to lock up...

I didn't leave ComCrap due to PQ (although they still do not use MPEG4 compression which looks much better than anything I received through ComCrap). I left because:

-They do not charge everyone the same. Anyone can call and complain and depending on the CSR you get different discounts. The discounts vary wildly. If you call and try to get the same discounts as someone else, they tell you that the other person is mistaken; those discounts don't exist.
-They do not upgrade their equipment or services. For example, they still use give out the original Moto DVRs. They upgraded the software on their DVRs once that I am aware of since 2002-ish.
-They add new HD channels as slow as possible.
-They refuse to become efficient at handling cable cards; making Tivo use nearly impossible.
-Their customer service is the worst in the business. For example, I had internet issues, they troubleshooted it, and decided there was an issue with the "tap" in my front lawn. They scheduled a tech to come out. I took a day off work, waiting for hours, the tech came (late as always), looked at for 2 minutes, and proceeded to tell me that a higher-level tech was needed and that I would have to call schedule another tech (and take another day off work). I could type for the next six hours listing situations just like this one.
-They do as little as possible because they know they have a monopoly on tv services in most areas. They know that many people do not want a dish on their house and do not want service to go out in severe weather. They have no reason to try and be the best company possible.

Back on topic...

I switched to DirecTV and haven't looked back. My only complaints are less than stellar subcontractors for installs and the rising cost of Sunday Ticket. I love their DVRs and their commitment to improvement.

Received my 0x3de firmware update early this AM. Everything seems to be working OK. No studdering. All my saved programs are there and schedule OK too.

Ha, this was quite a funny read. People freaking out that their boxes aren't working, and within 10 posts, all is well. Guess it "sucks" that I don't want daytime TV and work during normal business hours. Didn't notice a thing...

About 12:30 AM EDT, I received this message via email which is also posted online.


Obviously, a good thing that the glitch was fixed fast. The only thing better would have been that it didn't happen in the first place.

Dana

I think it's a DirecTV software bug, and there's nothing you can do about it. I can't say about the exact range of symptoms you mention, but the yellow error triangles turning up in place of thumbnails for WMP11 running on Vista started happening last Fall. It was reported by several of us to DirecTV. Maybe they'll get around to fixing it -- who knows? I haven't heard about this bug (one way or the other) with other server programs, like Tversity or Twonkymedia.

Actually it looks like Vista SP2 changed how things operate with WMP. Start up a Media Share session to view pictures then look at the system error logs on the PC and you'll see a bunch of errors. This problem doesn't happen with Windows XP or Win/7 systems or Vista prior to SP2. A workaround is to use someother program as the service like TVersity or upgrade to Win/7.

Called D* to see if they would give me a deal to swap out my HR10 for an HR24. They said the best they could do was $149, with professional install. Tried to get them to give me a credit to buy it myself at BB, but no go. Didn't really want the HR24, as my HR20s are doing fine now, so I passed.

I called again today to ask about the "enroll in bill pay, HD free for life" deal they are offering new subscribers. He said he couldn't find that offer, but he'd give me $10 off for a year anyway. So now I wonder I should call again and ask about enrolling and getting the $10, maybe score it twice for a year!

Front line phone reps have very limited discretion. If you have been a D* sub for a while, call Cust Retention directly at 800-824-9077 and ask if they will help you upgrade. It is likely they will which also will extend your commitment.

AFAIK, BB isn't carrying the HR24. In any event, I have gotten deals where I "bought" the model I wanted directly and D* credited my account $100. once it was activated. They also sent a recovery box for the unit no longer in use.

Dana

I notice the specs for the HR-24 mention 1080P. Specs on my HR21-Pro's state 1080 I.

Is is accurate that the Hr-24 upgrades the signal from 1080I to 1080I over the HR21-Pro? Are the DTV birds actually sending 1080P signals?

FWIW, hope I'm not breaking any rules here, but you can already buy the HR-24 online with 2 TB HD's installed.

Your HR21Pro should also do 1080p, they came out with a software update over a year ago to add the support. Go to the HDTV Resolutions settings on the receiver, enable 1080p and if you see the test message your good to go. BTW, it's only 1080p/24, if your TV doesn't report via HDMI that it can do 1080p/24 it won't work. The only 1080p programming now is some PPV's on the PPV channels, some PPV DirecTV on Demand movies and there were a couple free MGM 1080p movies also on DoD, Futureworld was one of them.

There are some places that do install upgraded drives in the HR24's but that probably voids the warrenty with DirecTV since you've opened the box.

Thank's for the clarification.

The source I use to buy 2 TB DTV stuff sells you the box upgraded (you own it) with their own 1 year warranty. I have nothing but good to say about them. Had an HDMI port fail, and they repaired / returned it in 72 hours.

They also sell 2 TB external "plug & Play" SATA port HD's, at least for my 21HR-Pros. Have no idea if external's are available for the HR-24.