DIRECTV R15 Receiver/Digital Video Recorder--Up to 100 Hours- may require 2 YEAR extension of contr

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.

Buy DIRECTV R15 Receiver/Digital Video Recorder--Up to 100 Hours- may require 2 YEAR extension of contr Now

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.

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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.

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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.

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