DirecTV confirms HD DVR / receiver glitch, apologizes profusely

So it's true -- hordes of DirecTV users weren't just dreaming about a glitch that required a painstaking reboot to start the week off. DirecTV has sent out e-mails to loads of affected users which were unexpectedly forced to mash the red "Reset" button located within a door on the front panel of their HD DVR / receiver in order to get things going again. Of course, even the mighty satcaster can't replace any missed recordings that were scheduled, but it is "sincerely" sorry for the inconvenience. You'll still be paying your full bill, though, so it's not that sorry.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[allislost @ Oct 8th 2008 4:21AM]

This seems like no big deal. It's not like we depended on the receiver for life support.

[Jash Sayani @ Oct 8th 2008 4:29AM]

Happens some times......

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Oct 8th 2008 4:49AM]

So what you're saying is that none of the recordings I expected my PVRs to make while I was away for the last two weeks actually happened?

I'm gonna be pissed when I finally get home tonight if this is true.

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Oct 8th 2008 4:51AM]

Apparently this happened on 10/6. So I guess I missed the Presidential Debate, but not much else.

[Eric @ Oct 8th 2008 7:31AM]

It happened sometime during the day Monday and the did a forced reboot around 6:55pm. Because all of my DVR's rebooted at the sametime. So I only missed a few shows during the nothing primetime.

[Bobby @ Oct 8th 2008 5:47AM]

OH. MY. GOD. You mean I have to get my fat butt off the couch and press a tiny red button with my huge greasy fingertips and then live without the almighty television for 15 whole minutes?! Are you mad? /sarcasm. It's a reboot. Not the end of the world. Not even really newsworthy.

[Mike @ Oct 8th 2008 6:04AM]

People generally turn on their TVs when they plan on watching something, so yes, it would be pretty annoying having to wade through tech support and miss a few of your shows just because of a careless technical glitch you had no way of preventing. I'm not sure why you think people instinctively knew there was a red button under the front panel of the device that had to be pushed to fix the problem, or why you think DVR owners are fat and greasy, or why you're so angry and bitter over something like this.

[Ignatius @ Oct 8th 2008 7:13AM]

Maybe he is one of those he described. Could explain his anger, I mean, getting up off the couch and all is a big task.

[mewyn @ Oct 8th 2008 11:45AM]

Bobby, actually for those of us who only spend a limited amount of time in front of the tube, it is very annoying. I tend to watch about an hour of TV after I'm done with work before I get to doing my homework, and having 50% of that time being taken up by rebooting my DVR is annoying. Especially when the thing is just sitting at "acquiring satellite info (97%)" for 15 minutes (after the 15 minutes it took to get to that point).

[Erik Stroud @ Nov 2nd 2008 12:34AM]

I somehow didn't have any problems. My DTV DVR was just fine when I got home from school that day. Oh well, as long as it doesn't happen on a Saturday or Sunday, I will be fine.

[Teacher @ Oct 8th 2008 7:26AM]

There's this thing call a book, you can read it for enjoyment or to learn things. Its a crazy invention, but it might just work. Maybe some people should try them once in a while!

[Eric @ Oct 8th 2008 7:25AM]

I wondered what was going on the other day. Very big of them to tell me what was happening.

[Lowest Ranked @ Oct 8th 2008 12:04PM]

You look like the Zune guy, in disguise.

[Eric @ Oct 8th 2008 12:07PM]

Dude come one really......that was uncalled for and hurts.

[murph @ Oct 8th 2008 7:34AM]

%$#@!^%! I missed Heroes!

[The Dom @ Oct 8th 2008 8:10AM]

Go on nbc.com, they stream it for free. I think the newest episode should be there for a week or so.

[Thorny @ Oct 8th 2008 10:09AM]

BitTorrent :)

HD quality without commercials. Stream it to the TV via the DVR's intel viiv features..

[Richard @ Oct 8th 2008 7:46AM]

"A painstaking reboot"?! Push a button and wait 15 minutes? That's it? Methinks it's a generational thing.

[Keith @ Oct 8th 2008 7:57AM]

Silly me I didn't know about the "red button" so all I did was unplug it for a minute and then plug it back in...hey whatever works right. BTW, my first lockup happened Sunday night around 9:30pm CST, then we got another one Monday afternoon.

[john @ Oct 8th 2008 7:57AM]

Two-thirds of the world's population is undernourished, millions of people can't afford to go to a doctor, and a worldwide economic meltdown looms as we speak. And Americans are pissed off because they missed their favorite show on DirecTV. What is wrong with this picture?

[DirtyVegas @ Oct 8th 2008 1:46PM]

All of the our news will seem insignificant compared to starving third world countries or cancer in a 4 year old. Grab a beer mate, this is a tech. website - it reports tech news. There're always other forums to express your compassion ;)

[Jay @ Oct 8th 2008 8:13AM]

I don't know what others experienced here, but I and several others I work with who had this problem had all our recordings done with no problem - even with the remote not working, the both my boxes continued to record what they were set for. For all of us (there's 8 folks I work with with HR2x DVRs) it was simply wait until there were no on-going recordings and then push the red button - no big deal.

[Matt @ Oct 8th 2008 8:07AM]

Glad to know it wasn't just me! More importantly, I'd glad to know (theoretically) my box isn't going bad, forcing me into hours of mind-numbing teeth-pulling with DTV customer service. Luckily I discovered this early Monday morning when I attempted to flip on the news for the morning. Hit the reset button... everything seemed to be fine. However, when I returned in the evening I had to do it AGAIN.

No big loss... the DVR missed the first few minutes of (my wife's) 'Dancing w/ Stars' while the DVR rebooted the second time, but all was well by the time 'Heroes' and 'Life' aired... which is really all that matters. Thanks to Engadget for trackin' this down.

[jay @ Oct 8th 2008 8:12AM]

I *do* read books - lots of them, about 1.5 to 2 a week. I also record a bunch of shows with my HR20. They're not mutually exclusive, you know.

[NationalGrantham @ Oct 8th 2008 9:28AM]

I've got Comcast and the crappiest DVR box in history...it's one of those Scientific Atlanta boxes. We have to pull the plug on it weekly. It is ALWAYS messed up in some way, whether it's OnDemand not working, not being able to rewind live TV, or shows magically disappearing. The difference is, when I call Comcast they play dumb. I'm on my 3rd box this year. They won't admit there is a problem. At least DirecTV is being honest with it's customers.

[targe @ Oct 8th 2008 8:53AM]

The Pres hit the red button. Fifteen minutes later, Laura said "Hey! Someone just vaporized North Korea!"
Irritated, George replied "Shut up! I'm trying to watch the damn TV!"

[DirtyVegas @ Oct 8th 2008 1:49PM]

Dubja jokes for the win!

[ddeo @ Oct 8th 2008 8:56AM]

I am still frustrated with the poor performance of this receiver compared to my old (non-hd) Tivo unit. Has any one heard more details about the new DirecTivo unit due out next year??

[JayMonster @ Oct 8th 2008 8:57AM]

I am running the now ancient DirecTivo version 2, and this has been happening every so often, particularly since the last "update" where they decided to add advertisements to some of the menus. Overall it is not that big a deal, but quite annoying.

[DirecTv wiz @ Oct 8th 2008 9:17AM]

Being an employee in the Protection Plan department of DirecTv, I'll tell you all right now, with the HR2X models, this is far from being a new occurrence, the problem first appeared roughly 7 months ago when every single HR20, and HR21 locked up, I fround this to be odd, because we release software in "waves" across each time zone, to ensure no problems would wipe all the ird's, customers were calling in asking for new remotes, I was among 5 on a team that determined this was not a remote control problem, but more of a serious update gone bad. Our Technical coordinators added this to our list of "Customer Affecting Issues" with a resolution of pressing the red reset button. it appears now that the company has released more information on the subject, so I'm spilling the beans.

Cheers!

[John @ Oct 8th 2008 10:08PM]

I have to do the reset thing almost every other week. That directv dvr is a POS!

[Garrett @ Oct 9th 2008 2:38AM]

Yep my experience with Direct TV after the TIVO went away was horrific. Went through 7 units all with the locking, skipping and freezing problems. Eventually I gave them the $400.00 bucks to get rid of them and I have never looked back!

[Bill @ Oct 8th 2008 9:20AM]

I don't see what the big deal is. Satellite television is still more reliable than any cable television system out there. By the way, DirecTV is more expensive because you are paying for premium content/quality. If you have no money, perhaps you should stick with your cheap-ass dish network.

[A @ Oct 8th 2008 4:05PM]

DirecTV is a serious waste of money. They are constantly having technical issues, and anytime you try to call its always a wonderful experience speaking to "Sally" in Thailand who reads (poor job at that) from a script and only says "yes, thank you for your questions, and if you'll hold I'll look up an answer for you". Waste.Of.Time.

I also have been aware about the glitches with the new software. Its all just a waste of time. The wind blows too hard and you're assed out of service. The equipment is faulty, they "accidentally" delete your packages by mistake when they are helping problem solve, force you to delete everything off of your list "just in case" and yet you always have to pay your bill in full. LMAO. Good times all around.

[Unknown @ Oct 8th 2008 9:48PM]

I'm taking direct offense to that, I'm not from Thailand, I'm from America just like you, and I do a DAMN good job while assisting customers with their issues, I have 32 customer commendations over the 4 years I've spent with the company. True - DirecTV is built on a series of contracts, but they do not source outside of the united states, with the exception of the Spanish support line, and now Russia because NASA can't take up satellites anymore.
When you call me for help, I'm in the same country as you, and I work my ass off to make you assholes happy, and trust me, making you leave your couch to press a little fucking red button is NOTHING compared to the hell we can bring you, hell if I wanted to I could add 1,000 OPPV's to your access card, or just put your happy ass in minimum service for all of eternity. Also, we do not have the ability to "accidentally" delete your shit, if it's gone it's because of a known issue, or your dumb ass playing with the fucking remote control. on another note; nobody is forcing you to delete anything off your DVR, it's YOUR CHOICE to press the little fucking button, if you don't like deleting your shows, simply say "I do not feel comfortable doing this, please note my account with the troubleshooting steps taken so far, and when I back up the material, I will call back." and trust me, we are more than happy to do just that so we can assist then next customer.

So, stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

[burghman @ Oct 8th 2008 9:42AM]

On Monday my HD DVR also cleared it's channel favorites to an empty list. I switched it to "channels I receive" until I can find the time to reprogram the favorites list. What a PITA!

[VS Dude @ Oct 8th 2008 10:23AM]

You have the HD DVR? I'm on Comcast and pay them $5 a month extra for the DVR and another $15 a month for the HD channels. I can't imagine paying $200 on top of that for the hardware too though - and that's what's been keeping me on cable. That and the uncertainty of what reception will be in rainy Seattle.

[Thorny @ Oct 8th 2008 10:04AM]

I appreciate directv being honest about the issue.
But, don't they beta test updates before sending them out? I think this bug would have been pretty easy to spot.

Overall, I'm happy with my HR20 but this makes me miss my old hacked HR10-250. Dual channel buffers, copying shows (without downrez or DRM) to my laptop for playback during flights was nice. And this is a text book case for setting upgradesoftware=false in the bootparam file..

Crashing DVRs to add features we don't want (ads in program guide) is lame..

[voxbeth @ Oct 8th 2008 10:44AM]

I had a DTV tech out at the house yesterday for an unrelated issue, and I mentioned I had to reboot a couple of times the day before, and while I was out of the room he SWAPPED MY DVR OUT! He said it had a bad tuner and needed to be replaced, and that it was no big deal to lose the 20+ hours of recorded programs because "all you have to do is search for the programs and re-record them." ARGGHHHHHH!
Needless to say, I made him swap out the new for the old, and spent a good deal of time on the phone with his supervisor later that day. Bad day for our internet to be down, because I had received an IM from my husband pointing me to the original engadget post about the issue.

[dfwsailor @ Oct 8th 2008 10:53AM]

Not only the "glitch" caused pain by having to reset the DVR, but one of the 2 DVRs that i have lost the audio.... and they want to charge me for a technician....

[rob @ Oct 8th 2008 11:40AM]

I called abd complained on Monday and they took 20 bucks off bill for the next six months. Now I am happy it happened. I also did not lose any of my recordings from monday night. Heroes, big bang, etc all recorded fine

[Scott @ Oct 8th 2008 11:50AM]

DirecTV Sucks Ass...I'm in an area where Satellite is all we can get. Before living here I had comcast HD and the picture was AMAZING, DVR worked great - no problems. Now with DirecTV they may as well call their HD "clear tv" instead as it's only a slight improvement in picture quality over regular 480i - same TV, so it has to be DirecTV HD sucks.

As for this glitch, VERY VERY REAL AND VERY VERY FREAKIN' ANNOYING! I've had to do it at least 3-4 times in the last few months and every time you do it it wipes out a huge chunk of your recorded shows.

Can't wait until I can ditch that POS service.

[Damian @ Oct 8th 2008 12:42PM]

A single reset didn't do it for mine. It started working again after three resets.

[amcman @ Oct 8th 2008 2:37PM]

It's almost January and time to see you DirectTV bill go up... again.

[Farmer Dave @ Oct 8th 2008 4:07PM]

AT&T's U-verse has a similar problem, but they haven't made it public. The U-verse DVR box made by Motorola doesn't work well when connected via its HDMI output port. Turn the system off, and about 90% of the time when it's turned back on you'll have no video and no audio. Occasionally video will appear but no audio. The solution is to reboot the DVR, which takes 5-10 minutes. Fortunately, previously recorded shows are not lost, but if it's recording when you reset, the recording will be interrupted.

The repair technicians claim that connecting via the component outputs will fix it, but they were unable to get it to work with my Denon AVR receiver.

I hear that the U-verse box made by Cisco doesn't have this issue, but they are unavailable in my area (SF Bay Area).

[Philip Loftin @ Oct 9th 2008 5:20PM]

One of my HR22's did it again tonight, AFTER all 3 of them doing so on Monday. What a pain! And yes, I missed Heroes AND Prison Break.

[A @ Oct 9th 2008 7:59PM]

Wow Unknown. "I'm taking direct offense to that..."

Um, okay.

While Im happy that you were able to get your rocks off by getting belligerent and such, you should take a moment to contemplate your issues:

A. Could it be you didn't get sufficient human contact when you were born, and therefore turned into some type of sociopath?

B. YOU were the one I spoke to that time and you REALLY are from Thailand and just don't want to own it. *admit it, its okay

C. You have a dead end job and can only react by personalizing things and then justifying why you have so much power (when you really don't) and you're so much more important than you are (when you're really not)

I pick C.

Thanks for the entertainment.