What in the world happened to consumer electronics? In the last few years I've had problems with the following devices.
- Xbox - Faulty DVD drive. Fixed under warranty.
- Xbox 360 - Three red rings of Satanic fury. Fixed under warranty.
- Zen Micro - Headphone jack stopped working. Warranty expired. Currently worthless.
- Series 2 TiVo - Hard drive failed. Warranty expired but I was sent a refurbished unit for free because I'm a good customer (and because it costs more to obtain a new user than keep an existing one).
- Dell Axim - Squishy directional pad - Replaced under warranty twice.
- Omnifi Car MP3 Player - This thing is responsible for my sole suicide attempt. Piece of junk from the get go. Currently taking up space on my floorboard.
- Motorola MPx200 Smartphone - Horrible reception and pretty much unusable.
I'm sure I could think of a few more, but I already had to take a Valium to soothe my nerves after reliving some of the above atrocities.
It's fortunate I'm not a DirecTV subscriber, because chances are I'd own an HD HR20-700 and according to some reports on the web and comments located in two different posts on this very website (here and here), I just might be trying to figure out a clever way to perform suicide attempt number two thanks to a bevy of issues users seem to be reporting with the unit.
To recap, the HR20 was released as DirecTVs flagship high definition receiving and video recording set-top-box, meant to replace the aging DirecTiVo. As Brad mentioned this morning, the new box has been the driving force behind growth in DirecTV subscriber acquisitions. DirecTV even intends to send every PVR customer a one-page "cheat sheet," with 20 facts about the PVR since customers seem to have a lot of questions about how PVRs work.
Perhaps they should consider sending out a "cheat sheet" that simply informs people how to get their HR20s working.
Jonathan Takiff with the Philadelphia Daily News and some readers of the site seem to speculate that DirecTV "released the product nationally before it was absolutely perfect, and fully baked".
After wanting to throw his first HR20 across the room, Ed Milbourn with HDTV Magazine received a second unit and still found the replacement "as bug-ridden as an Alabama basement".
No offense meant to Alabama residence I'm sure.
For the sake of space I'm only able to place a few of the hardware issues, interface quirks, and quotes PVR Wire readers have reported on the HR20:
Hardware Issues
- Problems with recorded programs starting for the first few seconds then freezing. Multiple reboots required to alleviate problems.
- Slow to respond to commands
- Random reboots
- Random deletion of recorded content
Interface Issues
- When configuring "Series Line" to record "First Run" episodes, the receiver records ALL episodes
- If you press "Info" while viewing a program, there is no information telling you if the program is a first run, repeat and if so what the original air date was
- If you are performing a search to setup a "Series Link" and you find several matches to your title, the receiver doesn't tell you what channels each of the matches are on. You must need to select each match to find out the channel number. Important if you are wanting to record off a HD channel vs a SD channel
- When you find several coming episodes while performing a search and then add the series to a "Series Line. These same episodes should show up in the "To Do" list after adding a "Series Link". THEY DO NOT
- Let's say you added a series to you "Series Link" but there are no episodes listed in the "To Do" list and want to delete the series. YOU CAN NOT. There must be at least one episode in the "To Do List" for you to select it and then you can delete the "Series Link".
- Cannot pause one show and then switch tuners to watch another one at the same time
- Loss of the dual live buffers
- FF/Rew is slow.
- Also, when you are recording one show and watching a previously recorded show, knowing when to hit PLAY from FF/Rew is a total guess. The HR20 will get you to within two minutes of what you saw on the screen when you hit PLAY, but not where you were
- During FF/Rew, no way to skip blocks at a time. No way to skip to end or skip to beginning. 3X speed is a fast as you go
- Program system to requires you to hit GUIDE twice to get to the guide? The filters should be a option from the guide, not the other way around
- The bright LED's on the panel supposedly can be dimmed, but apparently some can't be
- The remote can not be programmed to turn TV and my AV system with one touch like. It requires turing on TV (with separate ON button), changing remote modes, turning on the AV system then changing back to DTV mode. Seems like a small deal, but why go backwards? The little annoyances keep adding up
- In the guide, no way to move forward or back one whole screen. The choices are one program or 12 hours
- Buggy. It doesn't react the same way every time. Sometimes the FF/Rew direction and speed indicator is highlighted in PINK, other times not highlighted at all. Sometimes the 1x FF/Rew is just barely faster than live speed, sometimes it''s normal
Note: Some of these interface issues may be caused by unfamiliarity with the box. There may be documented ways around these.
Quotes of Loathing
- Is NDS incapable of making a decent product? Or is their corporate mission to prove to the world that there's a company out there that programs and designs even worse than Microsoft? - The Jeremy
- DirecTV made a BIG MISTAKE by trying to design their own DVR software as TiVos was flawless. DirecTV should not be selling this receiver because the software makes it unusable. - Vance
- This is an unacceptable level of incompetence! If I am to beta test a new machine, I shouldn't have to pay for the privilege! - John Keitz
- My wife an I are very frustrated with this...to the point that the fabulous HD picture isn't worth the headaches of these glitches. Bottom line, stick with Tivo until DirecTV gets this crap figured out. - Kevin Christians
Other Sources of Angst
There is a not so nice HR20 thread over at the DBS Talk Forums started by a user with the moniker Steve0212. The thread is eloquently titled, Worthless Piece of *$^%.
In general, there are just a lot of issue related threads located in the forums. Head there to have a look for yourself.
I must admit, in true sensationalist fashion, I'm mostly focusing on the negative. There is a lot of good to be said about the unit, and as we all know, the people who have a problem with a particular device tend to be the people who articulate these issues to the masses on the web.
Reader Craig Sanborn likes his HR20 just fine as indicated below.
Quote of Lauding
- Not sure what is going on with everyone's unit. I do not see any of the problems that foks are complaining about. This unit ROCKS!!!!! Sorry to burst everyone's bubble. I like it. As long as they are going to fix the issues, I'm ok with that. Also, the picture quality is worth the wait! - Craig Sanborn
Professional Praise
Cnet reviewed the HR20 and gave it an excellent score of 8.1. There is also this interesting update at the beginning of the review.
Although the sample CNET used for this review has functioned well for a month, numerous CNET users have complained of malfunctions on their DirecTV HR20 receivers. DirecTV has issued a statement addressing the complaints in CNET's user opinions section, and you can read it here. (11/03/2006)
Several of the posts on this thread at the AVS Forum seem to say the HR20 works pretty well.
Even the threads that knock the HR20 are riddled with people stating that their units work just fine.
For every one HR20 user with an issue, there are probably hundreds who are perfectly satisfied with the performance of theirs and that can't be discounted. It should also be noted that DirecTV is rolling out a software upgrade that will probably fix a lot of the problems people seem to be having.
Is this a typical Internet case of a wronged minority being more vocal than the satiated majority? Was it an issue experienced by a noisy handful or was their an egregious error on the part of DirecTV by putting this unit on the market before it was ready for primetime?
If you haven't already spoken up on this issue or even if you have and want to say some more, let your opinions be known in the comments.
1. I've read lots of information and complaints on this unit. I've had mine since the day they became availible on the market. I have to say that it ISN'T a Tivo.... user interface isn't quite the same.
I can say it hasn't given me the problems other users have had. Mine has worked almost flawlessly with only one time I've had to use the red reset button after a software download.
There are so many features that aren't ready to be turned on quite yet. And the upcomming year they say more things will be able to be turned on and used interactivly. I hope they continue to fine tune and correct the units to the point that they will at least be better than tivo's current offerings.
I'll stick by and enjoy each new download and test every feature and keep my fingers crossed that my Directv Plus gets better and better.
Posted at 1:36PM on Nov 9th 2006 by NVTanner