Direct tv phasing out the ultimate service - Page 2  

I have been having similiar problems on an origional P4 card# 0008, software ver 3.5 with no scheduled upgrades. Turned out to be just a lose cable. I've had no problems on the 2nd unit which just got an upgrade to P4.

The serial starts with B2 and both of the replacement access cards I just got a month or so ago start with 0006.

The chances? Have you ever heard of a software bug? If this is indeed limited to the B0 units and the 800 cards, then I'd say it's a bug, and not a conspiracy.

Then get a damn Tivo. LOL I seriously doubt there is a big conspiracy. (I'm sure the Tivolutionaries will love that statement.) :) By the way, go over to the Tivo forum, they have there own probs with the new units. There are a ton of posts of people who pre-ordered the new HDVR2's that had probs with them out of the box and had to take them back only to be told they are on the waiting list again. So, is jumping to a "new" Tivo an option for me right now? LOL :D
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb....php?forumid=7

This is just one of them, among others.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...threadid=86224

I would like to reiterate - The software has nothing to do with DirecTV other than an upgrade was necessary to conform to the operation of the new access cards (which I'm sure even the TiVo folks got). Microsoft supplies the software. Surely you don't think they would sabotage their own product and drive away free money, do you? Not only do they have a large pool of customers that are paying for a service that costs next to nothing to maintain, but we're essentially now all beta testers for whatever future PVR or other video recorder technology MS decides to come up with in the future. The get all the bugs worked out on us and the generation 2 service gets a much cleaner start than UTV did.

The information presented here is just weak and unsubstantiated.

Microsoft backed off from the UTV effort many months ago. If DTV wanted to discontinued support for UTV, they would probably send customers a letter saying that programming services for a discontinued hardware product would cease in some number of months. They have not done that.

I believe it is highly unlikely that they would undertake a behind the scenes approach involving sending out bad cards and corrupted software downloads. DTV is trying to be bought currently, and they don’t need these kind of issues now or any other time.

Currently there is no 3.7 UTV software update, so there is nothing to be corrupted. There are some beta claims that an update of some sort may be coming in future months. I suspect this is true as comments from posters, whose previous information has been accurate, seems to point in this direction. None of them has made any comments about corrupted beta downloads.

Referencing information from phone calls to either DTV or RCA is generally not all that useful. There are dozens of posts here over the last 2 years from cases where somebody called DTV/RCA/??? and heard some story about something. Most proved to be just bad information. On any given day one can call DTV and ask a non-standard question about something. If you call 3 times during the day, and speak to 3 different CSRs, you will generally get 3 different answers.

It is clear that some users have experienced problems with the new P4 cards. It’s also clear that many other users have had no problems at all. The bottom line on P4 cards is still unknown.

The PVR effort to date has been mostly unsuccessful. Consumers have not yet jumped on the PVR bandwagon in numbers anywhere near what investors had hoped for. Microsoft appears to have gotten out due to lack luster sales. Tivo has had financial problems for years for the same reason. Replay seems to be in a similar situation.

Most UTV users are fully behind the concept and love our units. Many here have 2 or more UTV units in successful operation. Most have no intention of changing.

Ed

Well, whatever they may or may not be up to at MS, I'm reconsidering my equipment needs at the moment. I wish D* would get me an HD PVR available soon!

And that's likely the real solution to retiring the current UTV receiver, not some stupid bug that affects 1 out of 1,000 boxes. But from the sounds of it, there may just be a software incompatibility with some models' hardware.

Reguardless, after my bug problems with Dishplayer it would only serve to send me back to cable & VCR (or a PC recorder) until they could build a better box.

I agree that DTV not admitting to a problem for a month is wrong. I don't feel they purposely broke UTVs, though, especially to sell DTivos.

One of the problems the PC industry has is bugs. Prior to PCs, consumers had no idea what a bug was. If you bought something and it didn't work as advertised, you brought it back and they replaced. With the advent of PCs, we've become brainwashed that things don't always work as advertised, and if you're patient, we'll hopefully get around to fixing it. Of course, though the fix might be in an upgrade that you have to buy. That's just plain wrong, but it's the way things are. This mindset is moving over to other consumer electronics, especially PVRs. While it's sometimes hard to find where the fault of a bug lies in a PC, with its open architecture and multiple uses, it's unacceptable in a closed, single-purpose item like a PVR. There are far too many bugs in PVRs and other IRDs, and far too little accountability on the part of vendors and manufacturers.

I don't think it's a conspiracy by DTV, but I do think it's bad business not to admit to a problem you know, or even suspect, exists.

Just remember: There're not bugs, they're undocumented software features!:D

Seriously though, if they really want me to get a DirecTiVo, all they need to do is give me a fat discount as a cross-platform replacement and I'm there. The only reason I'm waiting is 1) I want to get a higher capacity unit without having to jump through Linux hoops to upgrade so until 60 or 80 hour DirecTiVos come out I'm waiting and 2) I'm waiting to see how the lawsuit turns out with ReplayTV to see they win and TiVo adds any of those features. Of course, that fat discount might make me less anxious to wait...

Since DTV came out with a good deal on the SAT-T60, and the fee no longer exists since I have TC Premier, I added one to my setup this week. I had them before, and liked the UTV interface better, and after using it again, I still much prefer My Shows to Now Playing. Since 3.5 when UTV grouped series together, it's made UTV a much easier interface, especially considering 120GB drives let you have a lot of recordings.

3.1 of the Tivo software is due soon. I'll wait to see what it improves before I decide to change to DirecTIvos or not. Right now I'm running both, but that becomes a pain.

Kevin, once you get 3.1, you can enable the new sorting feature in Now Playing. It's still an unofficial feature now, but it seems pretty stable to me. To enable it, press the following remote control buttons while the Now Playing screen is visible:
Slow-Mo
0 (zero)
Record
Thumbs Up

Then you can press 1, 2, and 3 anytime you're in Now Playing to sort 3 different ways. (3 is alphabetical sort, by the way).

If you reboot the Tivo, you'll have to re-enable it.

Kevin,

You look different in your picture. Did you have a mustache or something?

Sean

It is not necessarily a DTV problem - it could be a MSFT issue. You have no way of knowing what the engineers at both firms are working on, or if they have been trying code changes to fix the issue. About all you can say is that the specific problem you have is not understood or fixable by the CSRs you talk to. That is not surprising - it may surprise you to find this out, but most firms, including DTV, don't consider their CSRs to be strategic resources. I imagine they'll be briefed once the answer is known and the solution is rolling out.

A cluster of satellites flying around the world beaming complex compressed digital signals to millions or ground based receivers has a technical glitch and you are bitching about them fixing it in under 150 hours? Come on, please - give them a break. You're expectations MAY BE a little out of whack with reality.

It is not like they are asking you to sleep naked and hungry in the snow. You are without TV. Here's a thought. Read a book. Open a window.

Now that sounds like a Tivonut trolling the UTV forums for fun..... because only a Tivonut would try and suggest that waiting lists for new Tivo hardware is the same as "widely available".

Thanks, Brett. I did see that tip over in the DirecTivo community. Why it's unofficial puzzles me, but it least it's there. Do you know if it's going to group series together the way UTV does, like all recorded NYPD Blue shows in one entry, etc.?

Thanks for noticing, Sean. No, it wasn't a mustache. It was an extra 82 lbs. of fat I was carrying around. I've been fat all my life, and at 48 years of age I decided to do something about it. Last March I started to eat a lot healthier. I'm not on a diet, which is a good thing. That means I don't feel like I'm depriving myself and that there isn't an end to what I'm doing. This a lifetime change I decided to make. I've gone from 274 to 192 (this is the first I've been under 200 since the ninth grade), and gone from a 44 waist to a 36". I'd like to get down to the mid 170's (I'm 6' tall), but I'm in no hurry. It has cost me a lot in new clothes, though. I did give away all my old clothes so I'm not tempted to go back to my old ways.

Kevin, congrats on your weight loss. I, too, was overweight and sick of it. However, you stated that you're 6' tall and want to get to the mid-170's. Let me tell you now.....that's too much !! You will look gaunt and skinny at your height. I got down to 182 and looked skinny (I'm also 6' tall). I'm now fluctuating between 190 and 195 and feel great. Mid-170's will be just too much.

No, unfortunately it is only a sorting feature... no grouping. But if you choose the alphabetical sort, it automatically sorts each show by air date, so at least it's easy to see which one is oldest, newest, etc. Check out the Suggestions forum over on the Tivo side... I've put in 5-6 suggestions into a post about a month ago that would make it even better.

As to why it's an unofficial thing... I'm assuming because they haven't decided how user friendly it is, and hopefully are just waiting on feedback from us geeks to beta test it for them. :)

Congrats on the weight loss, BTW! I need to do the same...

Do they still have that $20 for TC Premier promo?

There has definitely been a lot of problems with The UTV's of late. This is evidenced by Thompsen/RCA's inability to fill all the requests for re-furbed units. As of last night there was no gurantee when a refurb would ship. I have already been waiting 2 months.

I definitely feel Direct TV made a change (either in the firmware release or the data stream - more likely the data stream) which adversely affected the UTV.

The same week that DTV turned off the last of the H cards one of my UTV's and one belonging to a friend both began to freeze video. AFter many many tests by DTV and RCA both places agreed the receiver was bad and I was offered a refurb replacement for about $75. My buddy got his, I never did.

DTV recently sent me P4 cards for all my receivers and wouldn't ya know it my UTV now works fine. In effect what I have is the opposite of the other complaints I have seen - The P4 fixed my problem, but there was no problem until DTV broke something either by changing security on the HU card or turning off the H card (I was using HU).

Lastly DTV knows something is up with the P4 because they have cancelled the card swap to all brands of receiver except UTV's and TIVO's.

Corrupt or not it seems the P4 is a must for UTV.

Apart from having a non functioning receiver and now having to fight RCA to get my $75 back I am reasonably undamaged. The problem is just how many UTV owners have been victimized by this problem? Somehow DTV needs to be held responisble for this. Is it RCA's fault that DTV caused a glut of broken receivers. I hardly think RCA us getting rich at $75 a repair and they are paying the shipping!

Is there any way we will ever know - DTV is already being sued for other things, would a class action doing any good here?

I also will say I have 3 UTVs with no problem since new card.

FYI, I have 2 UTVs that have worked fine for almost a year. I put in new P4 cards a couple of weeks ago with no problems before or after. I don't think there is a generic problem that affects all UTVs.

Jay

Thanks, Glen. Congratulations on your weight loss, too. I'm comfortable at 192, but the revised weight tables for optimum health have been lowered, and someone my height should be in the 160's or 170's. I'd also like to be comfortable in 34" pants, too. I'm gauging it on my son, too. He's 6'2" and weighs 182, and is in great shape. I've been working out, and expect to trim down more eventually.

It's great not being overweight, anymore, isn't it? :-)

Kevin

I'll have to check your suggestions over at Tivo, Brett. The new sort feature is better than the current Now Playing list, but nowhere near the clean and functional interface of My Shows. What a shame UTV didn't have the success Tivo has (if you want to call it success).

Thanks for the good wishes.

I believe they do. See this thread at the DirecTivo forum.

Kevin

I doubt it. The more likely and responsible party would be Microsoft, but you can't sue a company for dropping a service unless they made some guarantee of extended service time. They are actually fullfilling their end, anyway. On the other hand, the boys at both Circuit City and Best Buy kept insisting that the next gen units were coming in, even after the hardware production had officially shut down and RCA's web site still touted a new unit coming out. DirecTV still has a link to UTV on their site but I haven't checked lately to see what it actually takes you to. Even after there was no more hardware production, customers were still being recruited with no notice hardware production had ceased. Of course, that really goes more toward DTV not being in on some vast conspiracy to eliminate UTV in favor of TiVo (why wouldn't they stop advertising UTV to create a bigger base for the - at that time - upcoming DirecTiVo?).

There are a lot of rumors being spread about UTV units and p4 cards around the net at this time. Many come from hackers who are trying to stir research and discussion on how to stop the 3.7 software update that will force everyone to use p4 cards which are not yet hacked. The units should work fine with p4 cards and should be around for some time. They do have tuner issues for sure and like any electronic device wont last forever.

I just got a replacement 0006 card today. I inserted it in my utv and activated it and the problems seem to have stopped. I will keep you posted on if they start up again.

The more such discussions I hear about receiver issues, the more I am thinking there needs to be a change, somehow.

I'm thinking future receivers should be like PCs. Build whatever hardware you like and just run the software.

TUVOC, what problem were you having. The P4 card fixed my receiver also.

I don't think there is any conspiracy, I just think some of us (possibly a lot) have been screwed over by DTV because some UTV's have problems with changes in the data stream. This is why DTV is still sending P4's to UTV owners and no-one else.