Customer Reviews

DIRECTV R15 Receiver/Digital Video Recorder--Up to 100 Hours

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(42)

 

 

I've owned the R10 and other Tivo based units. This unit, the R15, is by far the worst DVR of all time. DirecTV is doing first time PVR users a diservice by turning them off to the jobs of PVR ownership.

It's slow.
Impossible to navigate.
Buggy.
Crashes.
Worthless.

Be warned.

This thing won't record correctly when you tell it to. It's slow, and a royal pain to use. We called Directv to ask for a solution to it not recording shows and they wanted us to pay them to switch our paid for box with a rental unit, or we could pay $399 for a new one. This after I told them that THEIR forums are filled with people complaining about the thing not working, and a replacement wouldn't solve the problems. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE.

Read the reviews above and search the net for bulletin boards.
This piece of equipment is absolutely worthless, I mean it. DirecTV otherwise is a fine service, but do NOT get this box, it's terrible along with the software used to run it.
Completely non-functional...I've had three in six months, all terrible.

BE WARNED! DO NOT GET SWINDLED BY DIRECTV!
I have been a Directv customer since 1995 when the receiver and dish cost about $800. Ever since then I have been a loyal Directv customer. NO MORE!!!
I have had a few different DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) through the Directv service. They all have had TIVO software on them and have worked great.
But suddenly, Directv had the bright idea to create their own DVRs with their own software. Hence the R15 was born. It has proven to be perhaps the biggest marketing disaster since New Coke.
We already had a DVR in our living room and wanted one for our bedroom. They sent us the R15, for which I had to pay $100, plus recommit to a new 2-year deal. I didn't think this a problem, since I never had any difficulties with their equipment before and figured 2 more years with the service was a given.
However, we found the new software to be very "user unfriendly". Even worse, it had numerous glitches. Recording only 4 minutes of an hour-long episode, recording only half an episode, and some supposedly recorded programs would turn out to be just a blank screen when we tried to play it. In addition, the unit would constantly reset itself day after day for no apparent reason.
Completely fed up, I called customer service who insisted that the unit is just fantastic and I just got a bad one. When I begged the guy to send me one with the original TIVO software on it, as beyond the technical problems, I simply found the new software to be horrible anyway and very difficult to use. He told me 'no problem'. However, what I received was yet another 'R15'.
I called Directv once again, and they told me the fact that I did not receive what I requested was in fact, 'no surprise' as it was extremely difficult for them to get a hold of any unit besides the R15. They convinced me to give the R15 another try. So I did. You know where this is going.
Not only did I once again experience problems, but it was a WHOLE NEW SET OF PROBLEMS. When I tried to play anything it supposedly recorded, all I got was a blank screen. Additionally, I could perform a menu function or change a channel once, but then the system would lock up for 5 minutes (not an exaggeration) before I could even change the channel again. A total nightmare.
Fed up, I once again called Directv, asking for a refund of my $100 and to let me out of my 2-year contract. They unequivocally said 'no'. When I asked AGAIN for the 'R10' model to replace the horrible R15 model, they once again told me they would 'try'. Once again, another R15 showed up at my door.
So basically friends, Directv swindled me into giving them two years of service in exchange for an inferior product that is essentially a total piece of junk. When my two year sentence is over, I am completely done with them forever. DO NOT GET SUCKERED INTO THIS!!!
Just a friendly warning from someone who is tired of getting screwed by corporations that think they can get away with murder because they have a very recognizable name.

I have never written a review before but my utter disappointment in this product and DirecTV's refusal to do anything to make it right inspired me to reprint my response to their refusal to take the product back for a refund so I could replace it with an older Tivo unit:

I am very disappointed to hear that [you will not refund my purchase] since I have had the DirecTV Plus receiver for such a short time and it has not met my expectations. I also don't understand why you make people pay so much money up front for a receiver that they don't own. Cable companies also lease their receivers, but at least they give them to the customer for free, including HDTV DVRs, whereas I had to pay a total of $600 for my HDTV and Plus DVRs and I don't even own them--that doesn't seem fair at all--in fact, it seems like a rip-off in comparison. At the very least, I trust that (like with the cable companies) I am entitled to free repairs or replacements if my receivers should fail since they are only "leased."

I am obviously stuck with this DVR if I don't want to eat a lot of money, but I hope you will take the following issues and use them to improve the quality of the DirecTV Plus DVRs with new hardware or a software update.

1. Unlike Tivo, the DirecTV Plus DVR is very unintelligent when it comes to knowing the difference between a first-run episode and a repeat. This leads to dozens and dozens of unwanted programs being taped over and over again. I shouldn't have to keep deleting episodes of shows that have already ended for the season and I shouldn't have to delete season passes to those shows just to get them to stop recording--that would negate the whole point of having a DVR. This is a feature in drastic need of improvement.

2. Unlike Tivo, the DirecTV Plus DVR is not smart enough to refrain from recording first-run duplicates. This is extremely annoying when you wind up with 5 recordings of the same episode of the Sopranos and other HBO shows, as well as shows from the UPN and WB that repeat themselves on weekends.

3. Unlike Tivo, the DirecTV Plus DVR does not allow you to switch live between the two tuners.

4. The menu system for the DirecTV Plus DVR is unintuitive and extremely slow, especially when trying to adjust the order of shows in the prioritizer or changing recording options.

I sincerely hope that when the new MPEG4 HDTV DVR comes out in August that it will not be as disappointing as the DirecTV Plus DVR has been. I have always thought that DirecTV had better customer service than Comcast, but in the case of DVRs, Comcast comes out on top and this may lead me to reconsider my options when my two year commitment is up.

These reviews are brutal, and I never would've bought one had I checked here first. But apparently, I was fortunate, in that DirecTV released a major new software version around the end of January 2007, just before I installed mine. So, in doing some reading, I've apparently avoided the worst of the stability problems. So far, the unit has been functional and stable, at least (knock wood.) By the way, I have the R15/500.

The user interface is functional and fairly simple - perhaps too simple. I find the DirecTV guide to be a bit clunky and laborious in general, and so the R15 inherits that. But basic functions are fairly obvious and easy-to-use, if not exactly "intuitive."

The Series-Link function works, mostly, but it seems to be easily confused by programs that appear multiple times, on multiple channels. That is, it's not always able to determine whether a series installment is "First Run" (one of the recording choices.) So, it tends to make multiple recordings of the same episodes at times, which isn't really that bad a thing.

I'd have to say, so far, this is a reasonable unit - stable, quiet, and functional, at a very decent price. The basic functions all work fine, and the 90-minute record buffer is nice. The one thing that disappoints me so far is that there's no built-in networking enabled. I'd like to be able to view recorded programs on other devices on my home network, and be able to transfer recorded programs to other devices.

It'd be interesting to hear from any previous reviewers as to whether the software updates have resolved the worst of their complaints.

I bought a Model R15 Recorder and it started turning itself off and I could not get it to turn back on. I hit the reset, reinserted the card and it still did not work. I unplugged the beast and left it unplugged for 15 seconds (hard reset) without any result. Directv replaced the unit and I have had a brand new one for about four weeks now. The new unit is now starting to turn itself off. This time, doing a hard restart worked but the unit is obviously verging on failure. Directv said they could do a hard drive replacement over the phone but I would lose everything I had recorded. That is like buying a new computer and having to constantly do a restore wiping out your hard drive. This product needs to be taken off the market.

My r10 (the Tivo based DirecTv DVR) crapped out last week. I bought the r15 as a replacement. I knew I was giving up Tivo, but I figured it couldn't be as bad as everyone was saying it was. I figured all the negative press about the R15 was from Tivo worshipers who would poo-poo any non Tivo device no matter what it was like.

After a couple of weeks of agony with the r15, allow me to say it officially sucks.

The r15 should be should be studied in user interface design classes as an example of what not to do. I'm utterly in shock, because I'm forced to accept the fact the designers of the UI for the r15 are members of the same species as the designers of Tivo. The r15 has caused me to loose faith in the intelligence of the human race.

I've only been using the unit for a week or so, and here are the highlights:

1) The manual doesn't match the user interface in my unit. So, fell free to chuck it out the window, it won't help you.

2) The R15 has something like season passes, but it took me hours to figure it out, not nearly as easy as it was with Tivo. It also has the ability to prioritize your season passes, but it was quite difficult to find that bit of functionality as well.

3) The r15 does have a 30-second 'skip' feature built in. However in the r15, you are forced to still watch commercials, because the 'skip' is really an intelligent fast forward that zooms you through 30 seconds of video in about 3 to 4 seconds. Not a big deal, but the 30 second skip on Tivo was way better.

4) There is no way to tell what each tuner is recording. So, if you are recording two programs and you change the channel, I still haven't been able to figure out what happens. The unit offers to stop recording a show to allow you to watch live TV, but I can't figure out how it chooses which show to stop recording. Several times I've had to go manually stop a recording in order to watch live TV, in order to make sure it stopped recording the show I wanted. How stinking hard is it to ask the user what to do?

5) The navigation started out ok, but now it is horrible. Simple actions such as fast forward and rewind respond intermittently. It's like the receiver is schizophrenic, it just ignores you. At times it's almost unusable, and the instant replay functionality is so poor I actually find myself not using it.

6) The unit will miss recordings at random. Important recordings with the highest priority levels.

Bottom line:
Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. This unit totaly SUCKS. If I had the time and money, I would seriously consider alternatives, but I'm stuck. The r15 is still better than a VCR or DVD recorder but it's a very far cry from the Tivo. This unit was obviously shipped out without proper testing. I bet DirecTV just shipped it figuring they could fix the problems later.

Update
After nearly 6 months of use of this product, things have not gotten better. Here are the new highlights:

1) Several times the unit has decided to stop recording a large number of my shows. I have to delete and cancel them in order for the unit to pick them back up.

2) The unit crashes once every couple of weeks. The unit crashed during the first quarter of the superbowl, and we missed most of the 1st quarter.

3) The response time to remote control button presses is horrible. Sometimes you'll wait 5+ seconds to see your show list come up after you press the button. And you know the unit receives the command, because a light on the front panel blinks every time you press a button on the remote. Fast forwarding and rewinding are painful, you over/undershoot your target because the unit response time is so poor.

4) Unit will delete a pre-recorded show while you are watching them.

5) R15 often gets confused if you watch programs that are still taping. Sometimes if you select a program to watch that is still taping, it will start you off watching the program live. Very annoying for sporting events, I can't count the number of times I've started a football game 30 minutes late, only to have it ruined by the fact the R15 started playing the game live. ARGH! Once you see the score, why bother?

I hear Comcast and Tivo are going to become partners later this year. I can't wait, once they do I'm dumping my dish and I'm not going to look back.

I hate this POS (R15)

I Bought the R15 and was told it will be different from my HUGHES SD40 TIVO. Boy they are right!!

The R15 is the worse POS I have ever bought. The system freeze and I have to reboot 3 to 4 times a day. One would think I have a defective unit, I sent this unit back to DIRECTV and they replaced it for another. Does the same thing!! I guess when the hard drive gets past 50% this is what happens.

The unit doesn't record when you go back and forth on 2 channels like the TIVO did. When you record series you can not record the same program on 2 channels.

I had to buy a refurbished Huges from e-bay I hated this so much.

Bottom line, don't buy, lease or plug in the R15.

I orginally had a TIVO and when the TIVO port stopped working, this was my replacement. After installing it, and using I have found quite a few flaws. One, the remote is awful, compared to the TIVO Remote, you have to keep looking at the buttons, way too many buttons to chose from. Secondly, escaping out of menu is not as easy to find. It doesn't record shows you might like, there are no ratings to rate programs. Controlling the speed to which you fast-forward is very fast but it is difficult to push the buttons to slow and stop, this needs to be improved. Another feature is watching two shows at once, you have to actually record a show then you can change a channel and go back, but it is not like the TIVO where you use the "down arrow wheel" and your back to the other program and can rewind. This is a SERIOUS flaw. One I have been a TIVO user for 5 years, and my wife and I decided last night to return the DVR for a HD-Tivo, even though it is more money, its worth it. This machine does have some nice things, but in all reality, its has many flaws which need to take place.