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Hello Everyone,
I used to have a HR10-250 which was starting to get flaky. I suspected it was the harddrive, since it had worked flawlessly before... So I decided to call DirecTV to see how much the new HR20 & MPEG4 dish upgrade would cost me.. After some haggling I got it essentially for free. So I said, Go Ahead!
The installation was done last Saturday and took from noon to 5 pm.. Mostly because the installer spent 3 hours sleeping in his van!?!?!?! Anyway, at the end of the install the HR20 was hooked up and nothing seemed to work right. He called a colleague who had another HR20 in his van, and we tried that one. Also didn't work (no picture). Then we switched from the HDMI to the Component input on my Westinghouse flat panel, and that seemed to work... Apparently the HDMI output on the HR20 has some issues... A software update pushed through within a few minutes, and suddenly the HDMI came to life. Oh well....
First impressions coming from Tivo to this HR20 are:
- Searching for shows to record takes more steps.. Menu-Search-Typing show name- Finding show and channel it's on - The receiving looking AGAIN (?????) for matching shows - Looking up the right show on the right channel again and choosing record - navigating to another panel to set up series recording. Apparently the default is to record all episodes, while I normally want to record just first run. The default doesn't appear to be changeable. Anyway, not a big deal, I'll get used to this one...
- Picture looked good initially on the MPEG4 locals, however, on one of the shows it recorded (CSI:Miami), there were lots of breakups in the picture (pixelation I guess), but what was even more annoying was the audio which seemed to speed up and slow down. This was something you could hear very well when music was playing. In spoken parts, there was just the slightest hint of stuttering. Also, the overall picture quality was more like SD than HD. Lots of MPEG artifacts, very blocky...
- And then came the biggie.. I was forwarding through the commercials and suddenly at the 2nd break it wasn't moving forward anymore, no matter what I did. It was stuck between two frames showing the two frames alternately. I figured out that the skip 30 seconds forward did work though, but that was a WEIRD experience! I really miss the audio "bleep-bleep-bleep" that the Tivo gave you as confirmation of pushing buttons.... Anyway, that leads me to my next issue:
- Fast forward seems to be very "slow" in the sense that it doesn't show you half the amount of frames the Tivo does. So it's much harder to pick the point where you switch back to play. Also, this DVR doesn't compensate for the human slow response and doesn't back up a few seconds when you do hit play coming from the fast forward mode. Also, the 30 second skip is not a skip, but a fast forward. Super lame..
- Reliability seems to be an issue.. I was watching a show on Discovery HD and it seemed interesting, so I hit the Record button to have it record the show. That seemed to work, but a day later when I decided to play back the show, it stopped at 30 minutes of the 2 hour show... Even though the time bar lead you to believe the full 2 hours were recorded. Another issue appeared with a show I tried to play and the bar appeared showing the full hour recorded, but the position indicator said "-0:02".. WHAT?? No matter what I did, play, pause, forward, skip forward, stop, play again, I couldn't get it to play the show...
- Then the last gripe I have.. When you schedule "season passes" or "Series Recording", and there is no upcoming episode after one has been recorded, there seems to be no way to get into the settings of this series recording and either adjust it or cancel it.. Anyone have any idea how to do that? It shows up in the scheduler prioritizer, but with "No Upcoming Episodes", and that means I cannot access it or delete it. What a major oversight!!!
All in all I'm very disappointed in this box. Granted, most of my complaints can be resolved by doing a software upgrade and improving the signal somehow, but my goodness.. The box is a lot faster than my old HR10, but has many, many more issues in reliability and usability..... I'm contemplating replacing the HDD in my HR10 and going back to that unit for the time being until they fix these issues.....
Anyone else seeing the same things? I wish I hadn't signed another 2 yr commitment with them at this point, as I'm very curious about my cable company's offering.. Although I suspect it's probably got the same (or similar) issues as the new DirecTV box...
---
Robbert
I used to have a HR10-250 which was starting to get flaky. I suspected it was the harddrive, since it had worked flawlessly before... So I decided to call DirecTV to see how much the new HR20 & MPEG4 dish upgrade would cost me.. After some haggling I got it essentially for free. So I said, Go Ahead!
The installation was done last Saturday and took from noon to 5 pm.. Mostly because the installer spent 3 hours sleeping in his van!?!?!?! Anyway, at the end of the install the HR20 was hooked up and nothing seemed to work right. He called a colleague who had another HR20 in his van, and we tried that one. Also didn't work (no picture). Then we switched from the HDMI to the Component input on my Westinghouse flat panel, and that seemed to work... Apparently the HDMI output on the HR20 has some issues... A software update pushed through within a few minutes, and suddenly the HDMI came to life. Oh well....
First impressions coming from Tivo to this HR20 are:
- Searching for shows to record takes more steps.. Menu-Search-Typing show name- Finding show and channel it's on - The receiving looking AGAIN (?????) for matching shows - Looking up the right show on the right channel again and choosing record - navigating to another panel to set up series recording. Apparently the default is to record all episodes, while I normally want to record just first run. The default doesn't appear to be changeable. Anyway, not a big deal, I'll get used to this one...
- Picture looked good initially on the MPEG4 locals, however, on one of the shows it recorded (CSI:Miami), there were lots of breakups in the picture (pixelation I guess), but what was even more annoying was the audio which seemed to speed up and slow down. This was something you could hear very well when music was playing. In spoken parts, there was just the slightest hint of stuttering. Also, the overall picture quality was more like SD than HD. Lots of MPEG artifacts, very blocky...
- And then came the biggie.. I was forwarding through the commercials and suddenly at the 2nd break it wasn't moving forward anymore, no matter what I did. It was stuck between two frames showing the two frames alternately. I figured out that the skip 30 seconds forward did work though, but that was a WEIRD experience! I really miss the audio "bleep-bleep-bleep" that the Tivo gave you as confirmation of pushing buttons.... Anyway, that leads me to my next issue:
- Fast forward seems to be very "slow" in the sense that it doesn't show you half the amount of frames the Tivo does. So it's much harder to pick the point where you switch back to play. Also, this DVR doesn't compensate for the human slow response and doesn't back up a few seconds when you do hit play coming from the fast forward mode. Also, the 30 second skip is not a skip, but a fast forward. Super lame..
- Reliability seems to be an issue.. I was watching a show on Discovery HD and it seemed interesting, so I hit the Record button to have it record the show. That seemed to work, but a day later when I decided to play back the show, it stopped at 30 minutes of the 2 hour show... Even though the time bar lead you to believe the full 2 hours were recorded. Another issue appeared with a show I tried to play and the bar appeared showing the full hour recorded, but the position indicator said "-0:02".. WHAT?? No matter what I did, play, pause, forward, skip forward, stop, play again, I couldn't get it to play the show...
- Then the last gripe I have.. When you schedule "season passes" or "Series Recording", and there is no upcoming episode after one has been recorded, there seems to be no way to get into the settings of this series recording and either adjust it or cancel it.. Anyone have any idea how to do that? It shows up in the scheduler prioritizer, but with "No Upcoming Episodes", and that means I cannot access it or delete it. What a major oversight!!!
All in all I'm very disappointed in this box. Granted, most of my complaints can be resolved by doing a software upgrade and improving the signal somehow, but my goodness.. The box is a lot faster than my old HR10, but has many, many more issues in reliability and usability..... I'm contemplating replacing the HDD in my HR10 and going back to that unit for the time being until they fix these issues.....
Anyone else seeing the same things? I wish I hadn't signed another 2 yr commitment with them at this point, as I'm very curious about my cable company's offering.. Although I suspect it's probably got the same (or similar) issues as the new DirecTV box...
---
Robbert
17 Replies
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4788 views
C
I just got an HR20-700 and AT9 and my installer was great. He was there at 8:15, and was gone at 10:30. He ran all new cables, mounted the dish on the roof, and added a room. He only had trouble with the RF remote, but I helped him. 
The receiver got OxE3 right away. All the locals look pretty good except for ABC; it's pretty blocky. However, I rarely watch ABC.
The receiver got OxE3 right away. All the locals look pretty good except for ABC; it's pretty blocky. However, I rarely watch ABC.
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
Cutting Edge
Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
68529 Replies
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2672830 views
The new curated multiview is now live.
While on many of the sports channels and non sports channels there is a multi view option button. It will pull up a side bar with many different multi view options.
While on many of the sports channels and non sports channels there is a multi view option button. It will pull up a side bar with many different multi view options.
6 Replies
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336 views
Why are ViP922s So rare? like its crazy how ebay has none, i checked everywhere, also, i got a ViP222k now, which is actually activated!
2 Replies
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61 views
My year was almost up and we got the new bill for a year of service for $ 360.00 insane sat radio is becoming like cable!!! i logged into my acct and hopped onto chat and told the rep that i wanted to cancel. she understood my concern and went quiet for a few minutes. i figured that she was canceling my service. she comes back and said that she seen that i have been a sub since 07 and then offers me the same package for a year for 120.00 with taxes and fee's!!! i grabbed it. after almost having a stroke 
237 Replies
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11017 views
Mrs. Foxbat reminded me it's that time of the year to do the Cancel Tango
The A.I. agent appears to be better than in the past. It got to the acceptable price quicker than previous years, no human operator involved. $5/mo and I still have over $50 in SiriusXM credit from my FordPartner benefits.
The A.I. agent appears to be better than in the past. It got to the acceptable price quicker than previous years, no human operator involved. $5/mo and I still have over $50 in SiriusXM credit from my FordPartner benefits.
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
Stumbled across this ... http://www.gaspricewatch.com/USGas_ZipSearch.asp
I found no local prices, although it did show stations at my location...
Added these to this post...
USA National Gas Temperature Map
State By State Gasoline Taxes
Gas Buddy
Ethanol Free Stations
I found no local prices, although it did show stations at my location...
Added these to this post...
USA National Gas Temperature Map
State By State Gasoline Taxes
Gas Buddy
Ethanol Free Stations
5552 Replies
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460662 views
Here in Indiana, the difference between Regular and Premium is usually a dollar, but some charge even more:
Ok, I'm bored .... actually - to be more precise - I'm bored of eating the same rotation of 9 or 10 meals that are currently my "go-to" meals. My wife works the long hours - I work from home as and when i feel like it ... which means i generally do most of the cooking ... and so by default - i also make out the shopping list ...
We cook at home 5 or even 6 nights a week - but we always seem to fall back on the same old tried and tested "quick and easy but tastes ok" meals. Week in week out.
Pot Roast - mash and Peas.
Spaghetti
Chicken Pasta in cheese sauce.
Curry & rice
(these are some of mine)
Now it's not that I'm not adventurous in the kitchen ... I'll try anything once or twice ... but we all do it. Unless your name is Martha Stewart or Rachel Ray .. we all eventually fall back on our 8-10 favorite "meals"
So i thought - if we shared some of our own go-to meals with each other ... we might be able to add a few "new" ones to our own arsenal of meals.
So again - I ask you ...
What's for dinner tonight ?
Please give me something new to add to my rotation ... its our weekly shop tomorrow - so i want to pull together a few idea's and try and eat a meal each day next week that I've never had before .. or at least something that is not on my current "go-to" meal plan.
What meal do you always seem to fall back on in your house ? Maybe its something that I've never tried or not had in a while. I need inspiration !! I've got a blank shopping list in front of me - and nothing sounds good .. HELP !
We cook at home 5 or even 6 nights a week - but we always seem to fall back on the same old tried and tested "quick and easy but tastes ok" meals. Week in week out.
Pot Roast - mash and Peas.
Spaghetti
Chicken Pasta in cheese sauce.
Curry & rice
(these are some of mine)
Now it's not that I'm not adventurous in the kitchen ... I'll try anything once or twice ... but we all do it. Unless your name is Martha Stewart or Rachel Ray .. we all eventually fall back on our 8-10 favorite "meals"
So i thought - if we shared some of our own go-to meals with each other ... we might be able to add a few "new" ones to our own arsenal of meals.
So again - I ask you ...
What's for dinner tonight ?
Please give me something new to add to my rotation ... its our weekly shop tomorrow - so i want to pull together a few idea's and try and eat a meal each day next week that I've never had before .. or at least something that is not on my current "go-to" meal plan.
What meal do you always seem to fall back on in your house ? Maybe its something that I've never tried or not had in a while. I need inspiration !! I've got a blank shopping list in front of me - and nothing sounds good .. HELP !
4332 Replies
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331197 views
Smoked some salmon on the grill while enjoying some Blue Moon beer. Kinda cool tonight so I fired up the heaters. Here in FL, we fire up heaters once the temps get below 60 
As for the salmon, I seared them first, then flipped them off to the side not over the coals and brushed on some lemon pepper marinade followed by some salmon seasoning. Threw some hickory chips on the coals and then closed the vents to about 10% airflow. Yum.
As for the salmon, I seared them first, then flipped them off to the side not over the coals and brushed on some lemon pepper marinade followed by some salmon seasoning. Threw some hickory chips on the coals and then closed the vents to about 10% airflow. Yum.
Pub Member / Supporter
America’s Fastest-Growing EV State Isn’t California—Not by a Long Shot
New data shows electric vehicle adoption is increasingly driven by state policies, electricity prices and charging access—not federal incentives
www.autoweek.com
The number-one US state for EV growth, according to the June 22 Yardi report?
Oklahoma.
It has no ZEV mandates and "minimal" incentives, Yardi says, but also has cheap electricity, high multi-car household rates (so, for example, a non-Lightning Ford F-150 pulls their trailers), and a consumer base willing to switch.
112 Replies
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905 views
tomwellborn3rd (@wellborn.net)
This author has chosen to make their posts visible only to people who are signed in.
bsky.app
Never realized that Tesla is losing to BYD at manufacturing too, which IMO is Tesla's biggest accomplishment and area of innovation. Nice writeup about the state of play and how we got here though. I have no faith that we're moving any productive direction though sadly, most changes and efforts feel reactionary rather than rooted in making use of the time being bought by tariffs, with few exceptions.
So: how are the cars so cheap, and what is being cut to get there? The best public accounting comes from the Rhodium Group, which compared BYD, Geely, and Leapmotor against Tesla's Chinese operation, a fair comparison because it removes labor costs and shipping from the equation entirely. Their estimate is that BYD builds a car for about $4,700 less than Tesla builds a Model 3 in Shanghai, roughly 15 percent of the Model 3's price. The breakdown is the interesting part. Direct government grants account for about $292 per vehicle, which is 5 percent of the gap. The biggest single factor is vertical integration: BYD makes about 80 percent of its top-tier components in-house, against 37 percent for Tesla, and that eliminates roughly $2,369 per vehicle in supplier markups. Lower overhead, meaning cheaper engineering talent and administrative cost spread across enormous volume, accounts for another $1,719. And BYD pays its suppliers on 155-day terms, against Tesla's 60, which is worth about $214 per car in float. When people say the Chinese advantage is subsidies, the per-vehicle number says otherwise. When people say it is slave wages, the Tesla Shanghai comparison says otherwise too. The advantage is mostly that BYD decided, twenty years ago, to make its own batteries, its own motors, its own power electronics, and its own semiconductors, and Western automakers decided the opposite.
US EV sales are rising again. Here’s why the recovery is set to last.
Even though sales tanked last year after the end of federal incentives, the American EV sector is on the mend as drivers face sky-high gasoline prices.
www.canarymedia.com
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO_nW-BTlv4
Direct YouTube Link - Microsoft Defender Arriving on Linux
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO_nW-BTlv4
Direct YouTube Link - Microsoft Defender Arriving on Linux
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
0 Replies
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34 views
Ham Radio 2.0
Time for another AWESOME video from Ham Radio 2.0!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDeuQ1SLkQU
Direct YouTube Link - LIVE!
Ham Radio 2.0 Website
Ham Radio 2.0 on Facebook
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDeuQ1SLkQU
Direct YouTube Link - LIVE!
Ham Radio 2.0 Website
Ham Radio 2.0 on Facebook
0 Replies
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28 views