DIRECTV R15 price and reviews

I had to move to DirecTV from Tivo and I dont watch TV anymore because DirecTV's DVR are SO bad. I suppose if one didn't come from the world of Tivo and how a DVR should work, DirecTV would be ok but in 2 months of their service, I have had 3 house calls, equipment replaced and upgraded (that I had to pay for) and it ALL STILL DOESN'T WORK RIGHT. I would go for DishTV if they didn't lock me in a 2 year contract. Hmm, I wonder why they do that? They have to lock you in or one would leave. DONT BUY DIRECTV - Tivo if you can and then DishTV. If you can't get Tivo or DishTV, just give up on TV completely and dont get DirecTV

have seen reviews saying its tough to use....WHAT!??? how could it be easier...you go to the guide , press the orange R (record button) and wow it will record it...(DUH), I bet a dollar vs a doughnut these people have a VCR flashing 12:00..(since that is Way harder to set)

This is my first DVR I have ever had.My first use found the guide to be slow so I reformatted it and that solved the problem.The guide is now fast and very responsive.I am very happy with my first DVR and my Directv service.My DVR is the R15-500.

FIrst, I love how people submit a reviewon theur first ever box....nothing to compare it too.

Anyway, this is my third DVR, I have had a Sony Ultimate TV DVR which niether Tivo or DTV chave yet to come close to in terms of functionalilty. I have had the Tivo DVR nice box and well thought out, then the DTV R15, the worse of the three.

1. No 30 second instant skip instead they use a 30 second ff which takes forever to skip through commercials.

2. Limit of 50 programs in playlist, not a limitation with Tivo or UTV. You can hit 50 before your even 25% through programming your series list (SL).

3. Big limitation - cannot handle more ten one series list per program title, so forget about recording a series like mash or scrubs on more then one channel.

4. Manual recordings cannot be modified

5. Primitive search options compared to Tivo or UTV due to the simplified program guide they subscribe too and just poor or limitied application programming.

6. Suffers from overheating problems even in open air environment in a room kept at 69 degrees causing it to lock up or reboot.

7. Suffers from spontaneous resets causing loss of programs being recorded.

8. Keeps limited program information on recorded programs so pressing info for instance to see who the actors are in the movie your recorded will be missing

9. Will not allow for limiting searches to your favorites channels.

10. Awe if you still are thinking of buying one after all the above, listing more won't matter.

This box is one of DTV's first boxes after they dumped Tivo and tried to go their own. After UTV and TIVO you would have thought their marketing and programing people would have taken the best of all those other boxes and created one that made you WANT to use thiers, instead they created a box that makes you want to pay more for a Tivo box or go to ebay and buy a used Tivo or UTV box.

Of the three I have this one is in the room I use the least, my next box will be a Tivo.

Good luck!

My principle concerns are

1.Ease of use
2.Reliability
3.The ability of the unit's software to discern between new episodes and duplicates.

EASE OF USE:
This unit has straightforward on-screen displays that we mastered in a few days of viewing. Compared with other units, this was probably the easiest to learn. There are many ways to search for programs, and they are easy to record. The remote control is faily well-arranged, with buttons organized so that we don't often press the wrong one--although I wish the "stop" button were not so close to the "skip forward" and "skip backward" buttons.

RELIABILITY
This unit has a greater tendency than others we've used to freezing up, crashing and other malfunctions. A few times, we have had crackly audio or rough recording that was so severe that the programs had to be erased. Some users might find the reliability to be unacceptable, although we have coped well.

NEW EPISODES vs. DUPLICATES
Our very first DVR seemed to magically capture exactly the episodes we wanted of series we had set record, ignoring duplicates without ever missing an original episode. The next one we had did a poor job in comparison, frequently picking up duplicates. This model falls somewhere in between. It generally understands duplicates, but occasionally seems to overlook a new episodea serious flaw for us TV series junkies. Heaven forbid I miss an episode of Ugly Betty!

When they update the software, it gets worse!
I am now on my 5th DVR if that tells you anything :(

A DirecTV DVR was installed at my home on February 12, 2007. Unfortunately, I received 2 or 3 replacement DVRs in 2007 due to various problems with them. One of the DVRs would not respond to remote control commands. Have also had problems with the current DVR switching itself off and on.