Is my DirecTV HR44-700 receiver going bad?

[Moondoggy51]

Hi,

I have a DirecTV HR44-700 HD DVR and I'm wondering if this receiver is going bad and I need to get it replaced?

My problem deals with the availability of on demand shows via the DirecTV Guide. When I go to the guide for an on demand channel like NBC, ABC or even premium channels like Starz I drill down into the menu, find the series I'm wanting to watch and attempt to select an episode I would like to watch. The guide shows me the title of the series but when I click on the series title I get an on screen message that indicates that there is no information on this series at this time. For example, Monday night I wanted to download the last episode of NBC's show Timeless and when I clicked on the series title I got the message that said that there was no information on any episode for me to select. The reality is that there were 9 episodes in season 2 however the guide said there was nothing to select.

Last week I called DirecTV Tech support who had me do two resets of my receiver in quick succession. The idea was to flush out the system and let it re-build the on demand menus which takes many hours to do. This did work as I was able to see certain episodes of certain series that I was unable to see prior to my phone call. As evidenced from Monday night's inability to select and download the last episode of Timeless, the receiver was again having problems. Once again I did the double reset and the next morning I was able see the episodes of Timeless and I downloaded the episode I wanted.

Is there another way to quickly cause the receiver to display these shows so I can download and watch the show immediately without having to wait hours for the receiver to reload everything? If not is my receiver going bad or is this just how DirecTV receivers operate? If the receiver is going bad should I request a replacement HR44-700 or is there a newer, better model that would be less prone to this kinds of errors that I should ask for?

My problem is that I have some shows recorded on my DVR that I would like to keep and getting a new receiver would nuke everything that I have kept so I'd really like to know what to do before taking this drastic step.

Thanks in advance for any help on this matter.

 

[mdram]

i would say its a software issue
the new interface has created tons of them

 

[raoul5788]

to Satelliteguys Moondoggy51!

It could be software related. What is the version of s/w that you are running? The on demand feature isn't exactly smooth sailing with Directv.

 

[ClemSole]

to Satelliteguys Moondoggy51!

It could be software related. What is the version of s/w that you are running? The on demand feature isn't exactly smooth sailing with Directv.

Nothing is smooth sailing with ATT/DIRECTV any more the whole HR44 sucks software sucks.

 

[Jimbo]

Has nothing to do with the software thats running.
D*'s On Demand really is lacking, its not like a lot of other companies, it has never been all that great.

You can pull up a series of your choice and find that they have maybe 5-6 episodes when you know that there have been full seasons.

In my opinion, this is one thing that D* has really lacked all along.

If I want to see a particular episode of something I pull up Netflix.

 

[mdram]

on demand is controlled by the networks, not directv

also it should not be a priority, as you should not assume satellite tv subscriber has internet

 

[Jimbo]

on demand is controlled by the networks, not directv

also it should not be a priority, as you should not assume satellite tv subscriber has internet

If thats the case then each provider should have access to the same On Demand episodes, and thats not happening.

 

[Joe891]

If thats the case then each provider should have access to the same On Demand episodes, and thats not happening.

I think part of it is in the contracts because there is on demand content I have with DirecTV that people I know with fios don't have access to and vice versa

 

[Jimbo]

I think part of it is in the contracts because there is on demand content I have with DirecTV that people I know with fios don't have access to and vice versa

My problem is, when I pull something up, it may show season 3 ep 2, 6, 12 and thats it ... you know they had all of those episodes in between.
Give us the WHOLE season, not just a few episodes ...
if you gonna give us a few scattered episodes, its useless.

For example, I just pulled up The Orville ...
It shows All 12 episodes ... so thats a bad example ...

Ok, a buddy told me to look into " Sharp Objects" (I haven't had time yet, but ...)
Only episodes that show up are Ep 7 and 8 ... now what good is THAT for someone that wants to catch up or binge watch that show ?

 

[Joe891]

I couldn't agree more, it's a pain but that's what the providers do to us