HR21 (ALL) CE Release 2/8 & 2/9

[jcrandall]

I updated my software last night at 11:30pm. Menu changed and I enabled the 30 second skip.. After updating, I waited for a couple hours for VOD to start with no success... Checked it again in the morning and VOD was up and running.

Welcome to the site!

Read the sticky about activating VOD in another thread. You need to make a call to the automated system

 

[jcrandall]

Can you guys help me out?

I'm trading in two HR10-250s and D* is going to replace them with two new HD DVRs. Don't know if the new receivers will be hr20 or hr21. Is the color and the ATSC tuner the only differnece in the two? And from what I am reading, there are various submodels within those (i.e. hr20-100, 200, 700,etc.) My installation is scheduled for next Saturday. Is there a particuar receiver model that I should request? Want to get the best I can.

Are the "C.E.s" you guys are referring to software updates? If so, will that be needed on my newly installed receivers, or wil they come loaded with the latest software versions available?

Hope you guys aren't groaning about the newbie asking stupid questions. I suppose I can search the site for these answers, but it would be a huge help if you guys will share your expertise and spare me the agony of researching this.

Thanks

The color and OTA tuners is the only difference.

The submodels mean very little- just the manufacturer code.

CEs are test software releases D* gives us to provide them feedback. Think of it like a beta program for software. Sometimes it gives new features, sometimes just attempts at stability, either way all we ask is you provide feedback of the experience.
Your new box will download the current national release software when installed.

No problems with the newbies, welcome to the site!

 

[MasterChef]

Both of my units now have DoD working. What is interesting is the unit I updated the CE on last night (Sat) started getting it sooner than the one I did on Friday night. It also has a complete line-up of shows and the other one (Friday night) is still getting populated.

I'm grabbing some Showtime shows since I didn't have it back when these episodes were broadcast.

 

[Slick]

Hello all I just wanted to check back in and say everything is working great, I did down load Mr Brooks VOD movie in Hd took about 5 or 6 hours to down load, I really like this new software update well worth it..Cya Slick

 

[WilliamC]

Anyone else notice that the menus are a tad slower and a bit less responsive that the national release?

I have two HR-21 700. One with the CE and one with the National for testing purposes. I compared this on both and noticed that, for example, when I hit guide on the remote it takes a few seconds longer to show up than on the national release.

Other than that, I haven't noticed any problems. The DVR scheduler works flawlessly and DOD works great as well. I like the new menu structure and the ability to finally hide SD duplicates. I know these features may have been available in previous releases, but this is my first CE. I just came back to D* a week ago.

 

[davrollins]

I was able to dowload the code Saturday night, I made the call to active it and left it over night. Sunday morning I awoke to a wind storm and it knocked out the 99 and 103 satellites. After some tweaking, I was able to get them back. My problem is, I still don't see channel 1000. Do I need to call and re-activate it since the my dish may not have been able to complete the download of the new guide? Or is there a way to force it to download the guide again?

Other than that, I do like the new streamlined Menu. I seemed to logically group the catagories together, instead of scrolling to find everything.

 

[MasterChef]

Just wait. My one unit started getting the VOD content in less than 24 hours. The other one took over 36 and still didn't have as much content as the other one at the 48 hour point. If it is showing up just give it some time to populate.

 

[jstoude]

Is there much difference or a preference between HR21-200 and 700? I need to get one and didn't know.
Thanks,
Jay

 

[jcrandall]

there is no significant difference in the 200 vs 700. the numbr indicates manufacturer to directv.

 

[Zman1176]

Not sure if anyone else has brought up some suggestions for the CE releases but I have 2 that come to mind.

1. I noticed that when you hide the SD stations, it does not appear that you can switch to them. For certain shows, ex. The Simpsons, I would prefer SD for it so my TV can stretch it to fit. Can the "RED" button be used to make the channel change from the HD station to the SD sation when the SD stations are hidden? I don't think the red is used right now

2. This would be a suggestion just like having a box that does not have DVR functionality. Could there be an option to let you "auto tune" a station instead of recording it? There are times when I'm watching one station and want to change to another when that program starts but I dont' want to record it. Can this be done just like a Season Pass where you can auto tune just once or every time? Of course DVR recording settings will trump the auto tune settings.

Just 2 things that I think would make a nice enhancement to test out with a future CE release.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[jhaifley]

I downloaded the CE code on Sat night. Called and activated DoD while the code was D/Ling. It took almost 48 hours to kick in for me but that could be because I only have 1 tuner active (can't we have a small SWM that just works for 1 device?). A few hours ago I got the "downloading guide" message, which stayed up for about 60 seconds and then instead of making the bong noise when trying to choose DoD, it went to the Channel 1000 and said it was not available. About an hour after that, the channel came up but no content. Now, it seems to be getting the content list. I expect it will be fully populated by the morning and I can try it out. I do know that remote scheduling works like a charm.

No bugs so far, but will report any I find to the forum. The "only channels I get" is a nice feature, but I wish it didn't show the pay channels since I don't get them either. The menu speed seems about the same as the national release.

 

[MasterChef]

Suggestion Regarding Messages

The broadcast message just went out about the free preview for HotPass. However, it gets placed at the bottom of all of the CallerID messages so it very likely won't be seen by many even if they do click on Messages & CallerID. In a submenu they need to split this into separate listings or make sure that current messages get placed at the top. Otherwise they will never be seen unless the user scrolls down through all of their callerID listings.

 

[almous]

Hello all.
My 1st post and 1st ce download for my new HR21-700. 0x1fe added a few nice menu enhancements compared to my previous National version (0x18a). Online scheduling is very cool.
Seemed to download & install fine, except DOD is seemingly less functional than before... now when I select it in the menu, nothing happens... no beep, no more window saying "coming soon," nothing. I do have network/internet connection and have successfully activated DOD through 1 800 #. Do I need to wait, or should I try to download & install again?

Thanks in advance

Well, VOD came through after letting it sit for a few more hours... very cool. Now if I could just keep my internet connection to the HR21 from crapping out in the middle of downloading... might be a firewall issue. On top of that, it's been completely locking up quite a bit while viewing the menu (about 5 times in the last 2 days) requiring rbr's to get it back. Anyone else experiencing a lock up problem?

 

[jcrandall]

I guess D* feels pretty good about this release - they started rolling it to regular customers today

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

[Blackhawk131]

I talked to Directv about 2 weeks ago and they told me it would be released in March. I then found this site. I downloaded last friday and called the 1 800 number last Thursday before the download. Once it finished I now have ondemand. It is cool, but not much available at this time except for movies. Can't wait till this picks up. Like the guide updates. Other than that we will wait and see.

 

[Blackhawk131]

I belive that I have found a problem with the last update on the 9th. I found that if I pause and try and restart it freezes. I have to either change the channel and come back or start a prerecording and then exit shortly there after. You should be able to pause and restart but I have no luck. How do I report this problem?

Thanks,

 

[silversurfer]

I have noticed a possible problem with this software and NASCAR hotpass. While watching the recorded playback of the Jeff Gordon channel during the Daytona 500 if I switch audio from Hot Pass audio to Team Radio the audio would take about 10 seconds to come in and then when I switch back to Hot Pass audio it would not come on until I stopped the recording and started it again. It was working fine in the beginning but it happens everytime now.

 

[afsilverman]

I have noticed a possible problem with this software and NASCAR hotpass. While watching the recorded playback of the Jeff Gordon channel during the Daytona 500 if I switch audio from Hot Pass audio to Team Radio the audio would take about 10 seconds to come in and then when I switch back to Hot Pass audio it would not come on until I stopped the recording and started it again. It was working fine in the beginning but it happens everytime now.

All I know is im glad i did not buy it because it is freezing up and going in nd out and the Audio is the only thing that is stable

 

[berck]

I haven't really tested out VOD, but I have noticed that the interface on the CE is a tad slower than the old national release. Its been tolerable for the most part, but the other day it did something I hadn't seen with D equipment. I used to see this every other day on Comcast DVR equipment. It took a while for the HR21-700 to respond to my selections, then it caught back up. I watched about four or five operations go off immediately. This was something very frustrating with Comcast equipment, and I hope the wring this bug out before deploying it nationally.

 

[Blackhawk131]

I belive that I have found a problem with the last update on the 9th. I found that if I pause and try and restart it freezes. I have to either change the channel and come back or start a prerecording and then exit shortly there after. You should be able to pause and restart but I have no luck. How do I report this problem?

Thanks,

I did a reboot and everything worked a lot better.

As far as the jeff gordon channel, I wathced it yesterday and it worked fine. But it was not in HD. That sucked.