Guys (with DTV) - are you getting the DVR through DTV or are you buying them on your own? DTV says something about Lease?

 

5.99 + tax for each month of use, for as many DVRs as you have in the house.

You own it, and it is free, as per the current deals. The catch, 2 year contract. Multiply that by (5.99 + tax), that's the lease they are talking about.

Well worth the convenience IMO.

 

Well I have cable, so the DVR is provided by the cable company. It's also an HD-DVR. Think it's also $5.99 per month....

 

Are they any good when provided by DTV? Weird to me to not be able to pick out my "component".

I take it you have one from DTV and are happy with it etc? fyi...These questions are mostly being fired at me from my wife who is huddled in the corner clutching the VCR

 

They fired Tivo; I am not sure who makes them for DTV now. I have the R15 which is pretty good; just a little slow responding to the commands.

 

With DVR - how do you locate a program you recorded? Is is by chapters like a DVD? I am assuming you do not have to search through it to find what you want to see. Are the recorded shows dated so you know what was recorded when?

 

^^ Sorted by Date. I never searched within the recorded items, so I am not sure if that's possible. I usually browse the list.

 

So it will keep a running list of all recorded shows (date, time, channel recorded I guess) and I can pick which one to watch?

OK, finally making leap to DVR and I am getting grilled by wife.

Thanks

 

That is correct.

As an additional note, it can be recording 2 different channels at the same time while you watch a recorded program.

 

The 2 tuner setup is one of the reason that I did not go for TiVo at the time. It is great that you can record 2 shows and watch a taped one at the same time. You will have no idea how often that you need to record 2 shows at the same time.

 

^^ the only thing DTV forgot, was to add a 30 second forward skip button. They have a 5 second rewind skip button tho.

 

Oh the wifey has been working that for years with the VCRs - one upstairs and one downstairs - quite impressive how she has them taping all our nightly shows without ever taping over one or missing one...I think the only negative I see right now is - you have to watch it where you record it. Meaning a show we record upstairs, I now have to watch upstairs, where currently just pop out the tape. Also cannot share movies/shows with in-laws...but that was pretty rare. I wish it had a burner built in at least I could save off some shows or share with others. Is there any way to hook up PC or laptop and download from the DVR?

 

^^ That something I would like to know too.

 

you can hack Tivo to get shows off of it

 

New software update has 30 sec skip for Directv dvr R15...check your software version.

 

^^ Software version and fix info:

The 10B8 software version.

- 30 Second SLIP
Hitting the Clockwise Advance button (forward) the unit will FF exactly 30s of recorded material. It takes 2.5s to move the 30s. You can hit the button multiple times (the onscreen display will tell you how many times you hit it). 6 times will "slip" past a standard network commercial brake. Also during the movement the progress par will only remain on the screen for a few seconds.

- XM Background and Screen Saver
The XM Channels now have an updated background and now have the DirecTV Screen Saver

- XM Trick Play Improved
Some of the previously mentioned issues with Trick Play in the XM enviornment have been improved.

- Stability Fixes; Specifically (but not limited to) Find By Keyword/Title

 

^^ Awesome. I actually found out like 2 days ago. Awesome feature.

There is is still a bug tho. Scenario: Recording program from 2 to 3 pm, watching it deferred. I can fast forward, and then 5 sec rewind so i can skip the commercials. But if its over 3 pm and I press the 5 secs rewind, the message "do you want to delete or keep the recording" appears. If I press "keep", I automatically go back to MyVOD. If I hit play on the program I was watching, it starts over from 2 pm. Annoying.

 

How do you get updates? Call DTV up or is it like a PC and click something on screen that says "update now"?

 

^^ automatically, via satellite, at least the R15 does.

There is NO NEED for the DVR to be hooked up to the landline.

 

How to "force" a download:

 

I have the "Platinum" package through DTV, so my Tivo service is free!

 

aren't you paying like 100 bucks per month or more?

 

^^ yup...pushing 100 bucks.