Losing Faith In Direct TV - HELP ! ! !

[Texaslim]

For the past 2 months or so I've had problems with very slow response time between the time I press a button on my remote until the HD-DVR actually responds. I've contacted Direct TV and told them of the problem several times, even contacting and hearing back from the Direct TV Presidents's office. (Yes, I wrote him). Still the problem persists. On one phone call to DTV I was asked to do several things using both my remote and the menu on the DVR itself. I was told by the "technician" that the problem was NOT my remote batteries, NOT the remote itself, and NOT my DVR. I was told that the problem (whatever it was and still is) was "on their end" and would be "fixed "gradually" but not "immediately". I accepted that reply and thought things would be fixed. Not so. I STILL have the same problem and now have had still another problem with my recording playbacks (mostly HD) being momentarily "fractured" (or broken up, whatever) and I some times have to delete the entire recording because it's so bad. I recently was contacted by somebody from the "office of the President" (of Direct TV) and spoke with them for some time and described the problems I am having. She told me that it "sounded as though my DVR was in need of replacing". Maybe, maybe not.

I've had Direct TV service for a few years and have never had these problems up until now and am near the point of switching over to Uverse because of this ongoing problem.

Does ANYBODY reading this have any suggestions as to what might be the REAL problem? So, basically, most times when I press a button on the remote, the DVR responds fast, or about as fast as all those years I've used it. But, now, especially at night when I'm doing some channel surfing and recording/watching shows, the response time is 10-15-20 seconds, at times even longer. That's too long.

Help?

 

[raoul5788]

I'm going to guess you don't have an HR24 model. There are plenty of posts regarding slow response time. Unfortunately, there are few fixes. First, are you using an external hard drive? If so, try disconnecting it, that may help. They probably suggested a hard reboot, that is, unplug the unit and leave it for 10 minutes or so, then plug it back in. That also may help, but don't count on it. The only real solution I am aware of is to get the newest model, the HR24 units. They are much faster than the older ones. Let us know if any of this helps.

 

[Texaslim]

I checked and I have an HR21/700. So, how would you explain the fact that this HR21 has been working flawlessly all these years yet begin to malfunction just recently (about 2-months ago)? The woman who I spoke with at the DTV president's office (I had sent a letter to the DTV President telling him of the problems and they contacted me) suggested herself that my DVR may be "going bad". None of the others I spoke with at DTV mentioned a possibly bad DVR. One did have me do a few things and make a setting change (or 2) on my menu. I don't recall exactly what I changed but it obviously did not help.
So, I may tell DTV that unless I'm provided with an HR21 that I will cancel with them. That is, if this HR21 is the cause of my problems. I just have my doubts though because it has worked so well for so long with neither of those problems I've described. Possibly this HR21 is just going bad. Any way, THANKS for your reply.

 

[Texaslim]

CORRECTION: I should have said "So, I may tell DTV that unless I'm provided with an HR24 that I will cancel with them."

 

[PMKS]

Not sure if this will help:

I have a HR22-100, not the fastest responding unit in the world, but it works fast enough for me.
One time it got really sluggish, I did the "hard reboot" as suggested above by unplugging it for over 10 minutes, and it went back to normal when plugged in, no problems since.

Worth a shot if you haven't tried it already..

 

[scoop8]

I also have the HR22 since Sept '08. What I have seen with mine, is that there will be periods of sluggish response times as the OP is seeing but I've never had anything near a 15-20 sec delay in responses. I think I have seen somewhere in the area of 7 or 10 sec's on the outside, when I am experiencing the delay syndrome.

What I have seen, is that the longer delay "bug" will disappear without any resets or re-hits, etc. I have no idea as to the reason, but when it's behaving sluggishly, I'll usually see that symptom disappear after the box has been turned on and in use after maybe an hour or less. Then when I turn in on the next day, or several hours later in the same day, the response time seems fine.

 

[raoul5788]

Texaslim, your HR21 may be going bad, but until it doesn't work at all, Directv won't see the slow response time as defective. Try the hard reboot. It may help. As far as getting an HR24 from them, there are no guarantees what they will send you. Getting one from a vendor is the only way to assure yourself of getting one. You might try calling and see if they will issue a credit of some kind to cover your costs of getting one elsewhere. I have read about others getting anywhere from partial to full credit for one. Good luck and keep us in the loop!

 

[carney19]

You can try switching your remote to RF mode and see if that helps....I am a DirecTV tech and I was on a service call 2 times to the same residence where they had the exact same issue the first time. I was told not to replace it that time....cut to 2 months later and it got way worse. You could enter channel number 3-3-1 (for ex.) on the remote, walk away and come back 3 minutes later and finally the channel would change. I finally just changed out the receiver. Sweet talk your tech and you and you might get the HR24.

 

[harshness]

The issue of breakups suggests that the hard drive is failing (or the signal is sub-par -- discounted because it is reported as being a playback problem). As raoul5788 points out, that's often not enough to qualify for a replacement.

I wonder if the drive check utility will help pinpoint hard drive issues.

Another option would be to replace the internal drive with an external drive. If it doesn't work out, most can find uses for a spare hard drive.

 

[Hookem99]

Last night I was at a friends house while she had D* hooked up. They installed 2 HR21-700's. They are painfully slow compared to my HR24's. I switched to RF, turned native & scrolling effects off, and still......turtle speed. I was surprised they are still installing those.

 

[Jkauf55]

Is the HR21 a silver box? I had a HR20 and was having problems very similar and some time while watching tv the pic would drop out and the circular lights on the box would flash in a Y pattern (10,2, and 6pm a clock). Called DTV and told them slow response and pic dropping, did some test over the phone (didn't work) called back few hr later and CSR saw I just called and she schedule a in home service (I have protection plan) and when the tech came out he walked in saw the box and said I'm gonna switch it out even though I'm still gonna do diagnostic test. I asked why he came to that assumption before testing and he said he starting to swap out silver HDDVR boxes as they having problems and "out dated". One thing he noticed and said could be reason for the slow lag was the internal temp was getting hot.

Good thing about this was all he had on truck for HDDVR (HR24) and asked if that wa ok -- AAHHH YEAH!

I also have a buddy that is a tech for D* and he even said when he goes into house for a service prob he swaps out those "sh!tty" silver boxes.

 

[raoul5788]

I think the only silver boxes are the HR20 series.

 

[Texaslim]

Ok. Tried cold boot - actually disconnected power overnight and problem is no better, worse actually I think. Am ALREADY using RF for remote. Unit is BLACK, not silver (HR21/700).

I have (or had) about 33% free space on hard drive and am in the process of deleting some of those programs and, seriously, it takes so long to delete these that I switch over to my OTA (roof) antenna to watch the ball game while the programs are being deleted. (Still deleting as I type here). I think the DVR is about SHOT. I also did one SYSTEM RESET today.

I'll probably have Uverse TV installed, try it out while trying to get the people at Direct TV to DO SOMETHING. I've spoken with them at least 6-times and, so far, no help whatsoever other than to cash my check.

Deletion still going on. "Please wait" message on screen. . . . and deleting and deleting. Thanks to my roof antenna I can watch games.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[raoul5788]

Ok. Tried cold boot - actually disconnected power overnight and problem is no better, worse actually I think. Am ALREADY using RF for remote. Unit is BLACK, not silver (HR21/700).

I have (or had) about 33% free space on hard drive and am in the process of deleting some of those programs and, seriously, it takes so long to delete these that I switch over to my OTA (roof) antenna to watch the ball game while the programs are being deleted. (Still deleting as I type here). I think the DVR is about SHOT. I also did one SYSTEM RESET today.

I'll probably have Uverse TV installed, try it out while trying to get the people at Direct TV to DO SOMETHING. I've spoken with them at least 6-times and, so far, no help whatsoever other than to cash my check.

Deletion still going on. "Please wait" message on screen. . . . and deleting and deleting. Thanks to my roof antenna I can watch games.

Thanks for all the input.

I sure can't blame you for going to another provider, and I hope it works out for you. I do think you would be very happy with the HR24 units, but we should all speak with our wallets like you are. Good luck, and let us know how things go with Uverse. My only advice would be to suspend your account with Directv so that if Uverse isn't what you want you can go back with no issues. It might be worth it to get an HR24 from a vendor like SolidSignal.

 

[Jkauf55]

My inlaws dropped D* for UVerse and they hate it. Went over to watch the ball game last weekend and the HD is not that good. Could be where they live and don't get a good feed or what but I wasn't impress what so ever! I'll stick with D*

 

[joed32]

Is the HR21 a silver box? I had a HR20 and was having problems very similar and some time while watching tv the pic would drop out and the circular lights on the box would flash in a Y pattern (10,2, and 6pm a clock). Called DTV and told them slow response and pic dropping, did some test over the phone (didn't work) called back few hr later and CSR saw I just called and she schedule a in home service (I have protection plan) and when the tech came out he walked in saw the box and said I'm gonna switch it out even though I'm still gonna do diagnostic test. I asked why he came to that assumption before testing and he said he starting to swap out silver HDDVR boxes as they having problems and "out dated". One thing he noticed and said could be reason for the slow lag was the internal temp was getting hot.

Good thing about this was all he had on truck for HDDVR (HR24) and asked if that wa ok -- AAHHH YEAH!

I also have a buddy that is a tech for D* and he even said when he goes into house for a service prob he swaps out those "sh!tty" silver boxes.

I'm still running 3 of them and all are still going strong. Also have 2 HR21s and they are black.

 

[johns70]

The OP should take the cover off and replace the internal hard drive.
All you have to do is remove the old hard drive and put in a new one, nothing special to do.

I did it on my supposedly "sh!tty" HR20 a few years ago and it still works just great.

 

[Gladrock]

Believe me, the last thing you want to do is go to U-Verse. I was an installer there for 2 years and 90% of the problems the customers where having was picture freezing. The problem your having may be as simple as one of your connectors going to your DVR needs to be replaced. And that's an easy fix.

 

[raoul5788]

The OP should take the cover off and replace the internal hard drive.
All you have to do is remove the old hard drive and put in a new one, nothing special to do.

I did it on my supposedly "sh!tty" HR20 a few years ago and it still works just great.

Since his dvr is likely a lease, opening it up isn't a very good idea.

 

[Jkauf55]

The OP should take the cover off and replace the internal hard drive.
All you have to do is remove the old hard drive and put in a new one, nothing special to do.

I did it on my supposedly "sh!tty" HR20 a few years ago and it still works just great.

I'm sorry I was only quoting what he said (then again he likes to use that word alot)! I never a had problem either except that one time and it got changed out.