Corporate Rants, part 1 - DIRECTV

Let me start by saying I have no issues with DirecTV on its own. It's been fairly reliable except during storms (to be expected), and I was happy with the combined DirecTV/Tivo box for several years. Unfortunately, three years in, I started having problems. I was offered the choice of a refurbished box identical to my old one or the new DirecTV DVR and chose the reurbished box. Good. For a year.

Then I had more problems and had to get my box replaced again. Despite asking for (and being promised) another Tivo box, they sent the DirecTV DVR. Since I was busy getting ready to go on vacation, I decided to give it a shot.

I HATE it.

I have to caveat my rant by saying that I haven't spent a lot of time online looking for how to use the system. Maybe there are solutions to some of my issues, and maybe someone will respond with some how-to's. However, I can say that the system is unintuitive and that the system defaults are horribly user-UNfriendly. I've given myself about 5 months to get used to it and I still detest it.

Here's why:

1) The fast forward and rewind are timed poorly. With Tivo, I rarely overshot my goal (i.e., the start of the program after commercials) by much. With DIRECTV's DVR, I always overshoot and have to go back. It's not a question of reflexes - the overshoot is by roughly 2 minutes every time.

2) I can't figure out how to skip to the end of a program and rewind from there. This is important because...

3) The system has recently started to regularly ask whether I want to delete a program while I'm in the middle of watching it. I might be 5 minutes in. I might be 30 minutes in. I might be 2 minutes from the end of the program. The full hour is recorded, but all of a sudden it wants to know if I want to delete. --No! I want to finish watching the program!-- I start the program over and attempt to fast forward to where I was before - I make some progress, then it asks me again if I want to delete. It would be slightly better if I could skip to the end and rewind to where I stopped watching, but I can't do that. The only resolution is to reboot the box. Of course, if I'm currently recording something else, that's not an option unless I want to lose the recording.

4) Let's say I have 5 episodes of The Simpsons to watch. I watch one. I go back to the list and want to watch the next one. Instead of taking me back to the same basic area of the list where I left off, it takes me back to the beginning of the list, every time.

5) I have never gotten a message that scheduling the recording of one program will conflict with another program. Is that because I've never scheduled a conflict? Is that because it has its own rules about what to record when there's a conflict? The TV schedule seems erratic this fall, so I'm not sure whether shows aren't getting recorded or whether my shows are repeats.

6) Information about why a program wasn't recorded is very limited. Tivo had a great History list that showed everything, whether it was recorded, why not (if it wasn't - a conflict, a repeat...), and whether it's already been manually deleted. That was useful information!

The technical issues are getting worse. Today I've had to reboot the machine 3 times already. I could go on with more usability issues, but I've run out of steam for today.

I want my Tivo back!

Unfortunately, I can't get another combined DIRECTV/Tivo box because of contractual issues between the companies. The DIRECTV DVR doesn't work well. I can't do dual-tuner recording from DIRECTV if I get a standalone Tivo. I can't get standalone Tivo and get dual-tuner recording unless I'm also willing to invest in a $300+ Tivo box and HD - and I'd have to switch to cable. Sigh. I'm so depressed.