Directv with DVR issues
 

We've had DirecTV for about 9 months. Never an issue. We have two receivers, one is a DVR the other is a basic box.

The DVR box is having issues today, used the reset button on the box to restart, no change. Unplugged - no change. Called Customer Service, ran through a bunch of stuff, no change.

After hitting the reset button I can hear the drive spin down and start back up. Blue screen says system is starting up, blue screen says checking disk, DirecTV screen pops up and claims it is getting satellite info/signal. Scroll up to 100% then shows what should be a channel, only it shows a banner and black screen. Try other channels, no luck.

If I follow the test procedure I can get to the test screen, but it won't allow me to hit select to actually run the test.

OK, we can live without that box until the tech call on Thursday. My concern is programs that were recorded on the DVR as there is nothing showing up on the Playlist and nothing showing up on the History.

Yeah, I had recorded a couple things over to DVD, but not everything I would have like to kept. The biggest was the new entire season of Curb Your Enthusiasm from the fall.

I am guessing the box is toast and all is lost. What is the likelihood I am wrong and everything is still there???

Box is toast, all is lost. I had EXACTLY the same problem you described a few months ago. Got done watching something that was recorded, and then POOF. Box no worky.
Same startup/test problems, too.
Just before it's death, the show I was watching had a glitch near the end...it froze momentarily, then started...like a skipping DVD...

Thanks Wolfe.

It's only TV to me, but my wife will not be happy. We were just talking about recording some of the programs & movies to DVD.... looks like we're probably too late.

http://www.mythtv.org

http://www.mythbuntu.org/

You can build something that stores and plays darn near anything for not all that much, and still reasonable for redundancy, etc.

My wife wasn't happy at all. Like...it was my fault or something...:rolleyes:

You were right Wolfe, tech showed up this morning, box was DOA, everything recorded was lost. And yeah, like you it was entirely my fault...

I wasn't there, my wife was and the tech told her they typically last about three years, but less 'if they are on a lot'. Okay - so we pay for DVR service and DTV service, but if we want the box to last we can't use it?

Looks like this round we will back up the stuff we really want to DVD.

3 years?

My first DTV-DVR lasted about 6 months.
The replacement lasted about 3 weeks.
The replacement for the replacement has just made it to the 1 year mark.

BS answer from the Tech. The box is always on, otherwise it couldn't record.

Here is the pelican BBS of directv DVRs. http://www.dbstalk.com/index.php

If I have something recorded to the hard drive in my dishnetwork box how can I then copy that to a dvd?

You may find the answer here:
http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdrecorderfaqs/a/dvdrecfaqintro.htm

I wish DirecTV would get back together with TIVO. The DirecTV DVR (HR-20) blows.

We have a DVD recorder that works well. The only issue I can find is that I need to watch the program / movie when recording it from the DVR -> DVD. So if I record something and determine it worth keeping on DVD, then it needs to play again to record.

fuelie600 - I never even gave that a thought. The only time you can hear the drive spin down is if you unplug it in the even a reset fails. So essentially it is always on.