DirecTV DVR software update hits the stage again, now with slightly less fail

by Richard Lawler posted Oct 21st 2008 at 9:37PM

That botched DirecTV software update a couple weeks ago that locked up DVRs everywhere, causing missed shows, global warming, spousal abuse and general melancholy amongst the populace? It's back and locking up boxes across the land again, however this time, after rebooting their HR2x units and wondering how they'll go on without a DVR'd episode of this afternoon's Judge Judy, DirecTV subs will be greeted with a message proclaiming them the proud owners of a 1080p video on-demand capable set-top box, with improved "cellphone style" search via the remote and enhanced channel guide info including more actors. We probably can't expect more than another apology letter from the satcaster, but tell us, does knowing what all this pain was for make it any easier?

[Thanks to Chris for the pic & everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: DVRs, Satellite

Tags: directv, dvr, HR20, HR20-700, HR21, HR21-100, HR21-200, HR22, hr2x, lockup, satellite, stb, update

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Ben N @ Oct 21st 2008 9:52PM

I have two HR20s. I didn't have a lock up with last weeks update nor this one, on either unit. So I am a happy camper. The amount of updates this thing has gotten over the years is phenomenal. Good job DirecTV!

Neutral

Shawn Parr @ Oct 21st 2008 9:59PM

My HR21 didn't lock up last week either. But today it did randomly. Then to take the cake, it asked me if it could download this update, and since I was actively watching TV I told it to wait until later.

It waited 5 minutes, then just went to town, and now I get to wait for the show to go online tomorrow as I missed over 20 minutes worth of it.

Fan-friggen-tastic.

We'll see how this software works, but if it basically increases the amount of 'ignore what the user just told us not to do' I'll be throwing my HR21 at the next D* van I see driving down the street.

Neutral

Dead_Rebel @ Oct 21st 2008 10:28PM

Mine prompted me to update, ran it, rebooted 2x, works fine afterwords.

Common sense would tell you dolts not to run an update with something recording / set to record.

Neutral

jonathaz @ Oct 22nd 2008 3:53PM

Common sense should tell you that if many, many people are reporting a problem that you didn't experience, that you were lucky.

Neutral

DaveP @ Oct 21st 2008 10:46PM

This update provides not only 1080p, but viewing recorded content from your DVR on your PC (aka Directv2PC)!

I'm using it now as I write this....it was worth the minor hassle to get the required update to support Directv2pc!! :-)

Neutral

skirge01 @ Oct 21st 2008 11:02PM

No update, but I still came home to an unresponsive HR21-700 (still playing live TV, mind you) and had to reboot. Missed House and the first few minutes of Fringe as a result. HD-PVR here I come!!!!

Neutral

crawdad62 @ Oct 21st 2008 11:38PM

Had the minor reboot problems with the prior update but this one went flawlessly. I'm noticing something that isn't confirmed by the D* splash screen. It seems like my HR21-200 seems to scroll through the guide much faster. Maybe not but it certainly seems so and if that's the case I'm extremely happy with this update.

Neutral

crawdad62 @ Oct 21st 2008 11:52PM

On a side note. I just noticed my PS3 now shows the DirecTV DVR as a media server. Unfortunately it won't play anything on it but it does show up.

Neutral

bobjfs @ Oct 22nd 2008 12:36AM

This wiped out three weeks worth of programs we'd recorded while on vacation. It also prevented us from making series recordings and then playing them back.

It looks like they made a quick download at about 4 PM ish Mountain Time today, and the series record and playback appears to work.

Needless to say, I'm asking for compensation. I hope many other subscribers do as well. They wiped out three weeks of my recordings, and I want a credit for three weeks of service. If enough people insist on it, maybe they'll actually beta test this stuff before they wipe out our DVRs with another stroke of genius.

Maybe we should start calling them ACME DirecTV. Wylie E Coyote must be coordinating this stuff somewhere.

Neutral

John @ Oct 22nd 2008 1:07AM

I would love it if TiVo had "cell phone style" numerical data input. I hate having to scroll one letter at a time, so completely remedial.

Neutral

TimBob @ Oct 22nd 2008 1:24AM

My HR20 was locked up again tonight, no mention of an upgrade after hitting the reset button. My old HR10-250 may be slow, but I don't think it has ever locked up and missed recordings in 5+ years.

Neutral

Les @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:56AM

Did anyone else notice that paging up and down in the guide goes about 10 times faster?

Neutral

Justin @ Oct 22nd 2008 10:34AM

Yes, guide paging on both of my HR21-700s is about 30-40% much faster, great improvement.

Neutral

longhairbilly @ Oct 22nd 2008 10:19PM

I noticed this as well. Way to go Directv.

Neutral

Gallo @ Oct 22nd 2008 10:51AM

Both of my HR 21-700's locked up. Rebooted both. Bedroom receiver has no HD channels and very
few standard channels. Local on the 8's works on the Weather Channel in standard def on one receiver.
Channel guide is faster. I'm sure a fix is in the works but it's a little frustrating.

Neutral

Achilles @ Oct 22nd 2008 11:13AM

Had to restart my HR21 when I got home. About 10 minutes later, it asked me if i wanted to download a new SW update or wait till later. I went ahead and did while I played BF2 on my PC. When it was done, it restarted itself and I saw the same welcome message from this article. Mine did lock up several weeks ago but a hard restart (unplugged power and replugged) fixed it. All seems well with it.

Not sure about this 1080p VOD stuff though. My DVR is not connected to the internet so I really don't care too much about VOD. When they can get it to download through the dish itself, I'll pass on VOD.

Neutral

kcmurphy88 @ Oct 22nd 2008 11:36AM

My HR20 and HR21 were both locked up when I got home. I rebooted them (to the old software apparently) and one of them started recording The Shield late. Luckily I still have my HR10-250 HD TiVo, so my backup recording was fine, and I killed the HR20's recording.

Then I started to watch some previous recordings and every 20 minutes or so, I got a "Data download ready, Proceed?" popup. Default response was "Yes" and I assume a timeout would start the download. Annoying as hell. They are REALLY supposed to do this at 3AM, not 8PM.

By and by, I let the download happen (it went ahead on the other box, of course). Now at 0x290, with no apparent difference.

Maybe this will stop the weekly lockups that the last update caused. While the HR2x boxes are MUCH MUCH MUCH better than they were 2 years ago, their updates have a severe trial-and-error flavor to them.

Neutral

pup @ Oct 22nd 2008 12:40PM

I had already noticed cell-phone style data input several weeks ago. Very nice feature.

Neutral

Griffon @ Oct 22nd 2008 5:29PM

I like new functions... but direct Tv has some of the most sloppy QA I have every seen. 3 lock ups in a week then a patch, that makes no mention of addressing lock ups, sound time lag on shifts or the delete of a last viewed recorded data on reboot. Yet they are going to fix search? Um not so much seems about the same to me (still weak). Oh wait we are going to add 1080 if you have HDMI only for vod so we can claim we are competing with DISH on that? That is worth rushing a patch that leaves chaos in it's wake... yeah sure why not, it's not like any one is going to fire us and to a competitor....

Neutral

ProfStevie @ Oct 23rd 2008 6:25PM

That's funny, I completely missed the first lockup, but I sure didn't miss this one. Actually it didn't initially present itself as a lockup -- it just stopped recording. (Everything showed up as "Partial" in History and didn't show up at all on the recorded list.) I had to watch Heroes on *hulu*, for G-d's sake. Hulu! So humiliating.

Neutral

vurdgu @ Oct 23rd 2008 10:13PM

Did the remote stop working for anyone else? We have two HD receivers, and both remotes appear dead. New batteries, rebooting, nothing seems to help.

Thanks

Neutral

Jellodyne @ Oct 24th 2008 3:18PM

Worth noting, on the new firmware, fast forward and then 30 second skip = 15 minute skip. My wife kept asking 'What's wrong with you?" It'll be nice if I want to skip to the end of something without ff-ing through the Whole Goddammned Thing, but annoying if you're not expecting it.

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