# THR22 Rebooting and On Demand Problem



## jlseber (Feb 12, 2004)

If you're experiencing rebooting and/or non-recording of On Demand content problems with your THR22 Directivo, I have some information. I just spoke to a DTV representative and they confirmed that there is a definite issue with that model and periodic rebooting as well as On Demand content not recording when requested. I experienced a random reboot earlier this evening, unfortunately in the middle of a movie I was recording. I had been meaning to call concerning trying to download On Demand content and getting the message "The program was not downloaded onto this DVR because it was not found". I did make the call and was told that they are working on a software update to address both of these problems and it should be out within the week. I took the liberty of writing down the software version and ID on my THR22 and will compare these periodically to see if/when the update occurs. As I couldn't find any information on this elsewhere here or by Googling, I hope it will help others who are experiencing the same problem.


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## jlseber (Feb 12, 2004)

I called DTV again last weekend (sorry for the lateness of this post) and they said they were still working on the problem. More when I check with them this upcoming weekend.


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## jlseber (Feb 12, 2004)

Called DTV again yesterday afternoon. Customer advocate group said they're still working on the problem. No ETA mentioned. More soon.


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## newswatcher (Apr 9, 2004)

jlseber said:


> Called DTV again yesterday afternoon. Customer advocate group said they're still working on the problem. No ETA mentioned. More soon.


Just an FYI, Customer Advocate for DTV has a new phone number because they were deluged with calls during the "reboot" problem with some older TiVo's in late October up to the fix around 11/21:

*1-800-465-9213*


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## whippler (Feb 17, 2003)

Any update on this?!?!


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## jlseber (Feb 12, 2004)

I called DTV again this evening and they told me they're still working on the problem. Stay tuned...


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## chepworth (May 24, 2003)

jlseber said:


> I called DTV again this evening and they told me they're still working on the problem. Stay tuned...


Do they ever mention what the delay is? Have you continued to pay the $5 premium for the Tivo service? I can still return mine, however I would prefer to keep it if possible. I do need this On Demand feature to work however!


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

The CSRs, of course, have no idea what the delay is or really anything substantive. Does it still work as a DVR?


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## jlseber (Feb 12, 2004)

The Tivo still functions as a DVR, so I am paying the access fee. And chepworth is right, they really don't give me any details other than the problem is known and they're working on it.

Also, as I do every morning, I tried three downloads. Two of them worked, the third did not. Maybe they're making some progress. I would appreciate any progress reports anyone can offer.

Thanks much!


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## chepworth (May 24, 2003)

jlseber said:


> The Tivo still functions as a DVR, so I am paying the access fee. And chepworth is right, they really don't give me any details other than the problem is known and they're working on it.
> 
> Also, as I do every morning, I tried three downloads. Two of them worked, the third did not. Maybe they're making some progress. I would appreciate any progress reports anyone can offer.
> 
> Thanks much!


Yes, it still functions wonderfully as a DVR. That's why it's so frustating. I'm a big Tivo fan and a big DTV fan so I really want this to work perfectly! Like Jlseber, I can download a couple things, so I'm confident that it's hooked up properly. Most of the time it acts like it's going to download and then the program disappears from the Que. It downloads "African Cats" in HD from Encore On Demand like a champion. A season one episode of Dexter? forget it! It appears that the Tivo has access to a VERY limited assortment of on demand shows. I have not experienced an unplanned re-boot which is a good thing. Thank you guys for your quick responses. I just called DTV and got zero satisfaction on this subject. They just wanted to send a tech. to my house.


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## chepworth (May 24, 2003)

chepworth said:


> Yes, it still functions wonderfully as a DVR. That's why it's so frustating. I'm a big Tivo fan and a big DTV fan so I really want this to work perfectly! Like Jlseber, I can download a couple things, so I'm confident that it's hooked up properly. Most of the time it acts like it's going to download and then the program disappears from the Que. It downloads "African Cats" in HD from Encore On Demand like a champion. A season one episode of Dexter? forget it! It appears that the Tivo has access to a VERY limited assortment of on demand shows. I have not experienced an unplanned re-boot which is a good thing. Thank you guys for your quick responses. I just called DTV and got zero satisfaction on this subject. They just wanted to send a tech. to my house.


After trying a few last gasp things to get the On Demand operating I went ahead and deactivated the thr22 last night. I activated an old hr21 in it's place with the same Decca reciever and the On Demand worked perfectly. We also have the whole home feature activated so all 4 DVR's content is visable which is kind of cool. I will miss the Tivo features however. Damn, I just wish Directv could give you a straight answer about the On Demand issue regarding timing of a fix. They certainly arn't shy about trumpeting that feature when sending out E-mail advertising for the thr22!


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## jlseber (Feb 12, 2004)

I had another conversation with DirecTV last night concerning this problem. Apparently when I was told that they are looking into the On Demand issue, it was actually a different problem from the one I have. Given that, the person I talked to took a lot of information and said that they're submitting this as a new issue to the engineers. He was very thorough and seemed to understand the problem completely. I will post here again when I get more information.


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## kjtuckley (Feb 8, 2013)

I had an unproductive chat with the DTV reps on this issue who lied and said this problem started "about a month ago." I haven't had on demand since mid December, and it doesn't sound like a fix is close if they are even working on it. Kind of hoping the tech they are sending out just replaces the box with a regular DTV HD DVR.


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

kjtuckley said:


> I had an unproductive chat with the DTV reps on this issue who lied and said this problem started "about a month ago." I haven't had on demand since mid December, and it doesn't sound like a fix is close if they are even working on it. Kind of hoping the tech they are sending out just replaces the box with a regular DTV HD DVR.


Yeah, if you really want OnDemand downloads then that's your best solution.


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## kjtuckley (Feb 8, 2013)

litzdog911 said:


> Yeah, if you really want OnDemand downloads then that's your best solution.


That is what they did. I switched to a regular HD DVR, and on demand works fine. FYI, to waive the new equipment charges, I wrote to the customer service section of their presidents office. They called me, agreed to change the box and waived all the charges.


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## jlseber (Feb 12, 2004)

I got the new updated software for my THR22 Directivo last week, really hoping on-demand was fixed. I have noticed no real change from last time. Sometimes I can get content, most others not. I'll be calling Directv again to see what they say. I also want to know why they don't have network (that is ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.) on-demand for the THR22. Works fine on my Directv-branded receiver. If I find anything out, I'll post it.


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## Jerjoe (May 23, 2013)

This is crazy. I called csr today to complain. In January I practically downloaded the whole sopranos series. Everything was working great. Noticed about 6 weeks ago things started to not work as well as they have in the past. Csr said they are aware of the problem ??? I'll be calling again this weekend. Jer


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## Jerjoe (May 23, 2013)

Power went out for about 2 hours today. On demand is now working ???


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## Short Tract (Aug 11, 2013)

Directv Tivo THR22-100 On Demand was working fine until around 8 Aug 13. Now any show I try to download errors out and disappears from the queue. The On Demand Manager screen says "(Preparing)" Then the blue circle on left of show title changes to Yellow Triangle with exclamation point, and the Preparing changes to "(Error)"

Any replies or help with this would be appreciated. I was 11 shows into season 6 of Dexter and the finale won't work. Bigger than that, this might be the straw that breaks the Directv and Tivo back for me.

Calling Directv support twice was fruitless, they didn't have Tivo trouble instructions or even the basic screen knowledge. Tivo chat support wouldn't help me because they said I have to call Directv.


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

You can try calling DirecTV again and ask to speak to a TiVo specialist. Don't call TiVo.

I have never gotten OnDemand to work on my THR22 and gave up on it.


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## robroy1948 (Mar 24, 2008)

stevel said:


> You can try calling DirecTV again and ask to speak to a TiVo specialist. Don't call TiVo.
> 
> I have never gotten On Demand to work on my THR22 and gave up on it.


I agree 100% with stevel. I was able to download DTV Cinema PPV and Showcase Previews without any problems since 12/4/2012 with the THR22.

When I finally retired my Hughes TiVo SD DVR I had bought in 2004 after waiting a year after the THR22 was released then set up the THR22. Until this week there were never any Premium Channel Downloads available. Yesterday they were all suddenly available. Now the THR22 (*Firmware update: 01B5*) will not download anything including DTV Cinema PPV.

Calling DTV Technical including the so called Tech Supervisors is useless and frustrating. DTV Technical support is virtually nonexistent.

Please keep this thread open and ongoing with any updates to the issue. We can help each other.

Rob

DirecTV customer since 1994.


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## NGeorge (Feb 27, 2004)

Yep having the exact same issue tonight with the 'error' yellow triangle then queue delete... Looks like On Demand is broke again 

I just got another THR22 on Aug 3rd to complement my other one and the first thing it downloaded was new software and the On Demand worked... My other THR didn't have On Demand for a good 5 months until they came out with this fix. (01B5)

The last time I tried to download anything was on the 8th so it broke between then an tonight. 

Called D*... Totally useless... She was giving me directions for non - Tivos and was convinced I had something really special because she hadn't got a call about one in a year and thought they were SD only. 

Second rep was convinced it was something wrong with my router because 'any calls I get about Tivos are related to the satellite signal... The Tivo is our most solid receiver. We never have software issues with them... I only see one update since it was released... Most of the other receivers need software updates to fix bugs regularly' - - he was also convinced that the on demand channel screens would come up regardless of if an internet connection was present or not (they wont). 

Bah!!! This is frustrating... Why is it so complex for a box to download a movie or show from a server if it has Internet access? 


Anyone got D* to open a ticket on this yet? I hung up on both my reps since they were convinced I was imagining it...


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## robroy1948 (Mar 24, 2008)

Thank you NGeorge for posting. Any information or feedback helps all of us.

*Update to my last post:*

I had forgotten that the 'Gold Star' of support centers was the Oklahoma call Center since I have not called for tech support since 2006. I started again from 2008 thru 2010 to Oklahoma only checking for any information on the return of the TiVo HD DVR.

Forget getting any help about anything from any other Support Center. The Oklahoma Center takes over the bulk of all calls late at night, after 11pm. Always ask the representative answering where they are located. If not in Oklahoma just politely thank them and terminate the call. Just keep calling back until you have an Oklahoma Support Center or wait until very late at night when Oklahoma takes over the calls.

I talked to tech support in the Oklahoma Center on 8/18/2013. I made a request for the tech to 'escalate' the issue to the engineers. The tech asked very detailed questions for the 'escalation' including very detailed network and hardware details, then submitted the ticket.

I will continue to test downloading On Demand twice daily at 3pm and 11pm. I will contact Oklahoma in a week or two if not resolved to check the status of the escalation ticket and resubmit if necessary.

The more of us that politely talk to the Oklahoma Support Center the louder we be be heard.

Please pass this information on to those you know who are affected.

Rob

*THR-22, direct wired ethernet connection 12Mbps, Premier Package.

Customer since 1994
*


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## Cezzium (Aug 21, 2013)

Just joined. 

Add me to the list of folks with this issue (my tivo is not rebooting). Apparently I have been lucky. 

I got my THR-22 within a week of TiVo being available again in my region. 

Started getting errors a little over a week ago just like those described. 

The REALLY frustrating thing is NO ONE knows what you are talking about. Some guy told me he didn't even know DTV had New TiVos. 

They keep telling you to use the dash key. ..... There is no freakin dash key. 

I had two techs hang up on me and the latest one told me the problem was with "the Internet" because if it was directv there would be a code. 

I am now trying the reset the box option which no one really wants to do because you lose everything. 

Of course the icky DVR in the man cave works just fine. 

Don't the TiVo folks care that DTV is such a pain?


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

Cezzium, what is the problem you're having? 

TiVo doesn't really have much of an interest here. But it is sad that even a year and a half later, many DIrecTV CSRs are unaware of the THR22.


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## Cezzium (Aug 21, 2013)

Hi Steve,

My problem is that after roughly a year or more of working just fine I cannot access on demand programming from the TIVO.

I have called customer support several times and each time get some lame response because they have no clues.

I finally broke down and reset the whole thing last night. I left it to reacquaint itself with the guide and all that.

Later tonight I will see what I get. I am delaying because I am afraid it will be no better.

It is certainly a software glitch *somewhere* As others have indicated it is most likely caused by an update to the box and the symptoms we see remind me of a "paper jam" in the fax machine. Prior to this I would load up a whole season of a show and the first one would just start ... there was no (preparing) step.

One thing that is now crystal clear to me is that it is all BS (again as others have suggested). DTV and TIVO could really care less about each other. This is a marriage of convenience and while they would like customers to think differently it is just good old propaganda. Last night I got a "manager" in Texas and he was not even aware there was a new TIVO box.

My thought is that the TIVO represents a minute portion of the DVR community for DTV and it probably generally just works most of the time. Therefore it is unknown. Kind of like what I do for a living. No one knows it even exists but it is vital to the community we serve.

Thanks guys, this is probably more of a vent than anything else. If it doesn't work I will continue to harrass DTV.

celia

DTV customer since 1992 with a *brief* hiatus when my employer paid for high speed internet and we tried cable.


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## robroy1948 (Mar 24, 2008)

*Repeat of earlier post on 8/19/2013*

I had forgotten that the 'Gold Star' of support centers was the Oklahoma call Center since I have not called for tech support since 2006. I started again from 2008 thru 2010 to Oklahoma only checking for any information on the return of the TiVo HD DVR.

Forget getting any help about anything from any other Support Center. The Oklahoma Center takes over the bulk of all calls late at night, after 11pm. Always ask the representative answering where they are located. If not in Oklahoma just politely thank them and terminate the call. Just keep calling back until you have an Oklahoma Support Center or wait until very late at night when Oklahoma takes over the calls.

I talked to tech support in the Oklahoma Center on 8/18/2013. I made a request for the tech to 'escalate' the issue to the engineers. The tech asked very detailed questions for the 'escalation' including very detailed network and hardware details, then submitted the ticket.

I will continue to test downloading On Demand twice daily at 3pm and 11pm. I will contact Oklahoma in a week or two if not resolved to check the status of the escalation ticket and resubmit if necessary.

The more of us that politely talk to the Oklahoma Support Center the louder we be be heard.

Please pass this information on to those you know who are affected.
_______________________________

Rob

*THR-22, direct wired ethernet connection 12Mbps, Premier Package.

Customer since 1994*


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

Ok - if On Demand is important to you, then the THR22 fails. Furthermore, as you have found, when you complain to DirecTV about it you get a runaround. For myself, I also have an HR44 and use its On Demand feature, which works. I never got it to work on the THR22 and have given up on that aspect. But the only reason I got the THR22 was because my wife likes the TiVo UI and she doesn't use On Demand at all, so she is happy with it.


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## Cezzium (Aug 21, 2013)

Steve

Thanks for the words. The thing worked wonderfully for well over a year. I called again tonight and got yet another person with no clue about tivos. The interesting thing is he agreed to send me a new one and waive any shipping fees. 

I may not be able to get it to work and if I end up having to go to a dvr for on demand I will switch to dish which we have at the cabin. Hub liked that because dish has a "vacation plan" if you are not there year round. 

Either way I will continue to pester DTV. They keep sending me emails telling me about tivo so I will be all over it.


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## Cezzium (Aug 21, 2013)

Rob 

Didn't see you post until after I called DTV. I will be doing that if the new box fails. 

If they would get DTV anywhere fully functional I might not care.


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## norahs99 (Nov 13, 2001)

I switched from DSL to cable internet. Now I'm getting the same download error message that everyone else is getting. I didn't use the OnDemand download much because my DSL speed was so slow (~1-1.5mbps!), but with the relatively speedy cable internet, I was looking forward to taking advantage of this feature more often. But after all this, it's clear that's not to be. It's also becoming clearer that neither DirecTV (understandably) nor Tivo (inexplicably) are interested in solving problems for those of us who want to use this machine. I like DirecTV and don't want to go to cable, but I like TiVo more. So if ultimately if I have to choose, I'll say good-bye to DirecTV and go to cable so I can use standalone TiVo boxes.


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## robroy1948 (Mar 24, 2008)

*Please read my previous entries on 8/19 & 8/21 above in this thread.*

:up: *All On Demand is working perfectly now* :up:

I stress tested On Demand by downloading 25 hours non-stop of 24 HBO Episodes, 4 each from 6 different series and 1 PPV 2 hour Cinema Movie, while simultaneously watching recorded shows in the Now Playing List and also recording 2, 2 hour movies via Satellite simultaneously on 2 Tuners.

All recorded flawlessly without a hint of a problem with perfect HD video playback. Of course I just sampled a small portion of each download and Satellite Recordings .

I called the Oklahoma Tech Support Center around 12AM today and asked what was the issue and how was it resolved. The Tech admitted there was never an On Demand Download problem or issue with the THR22 or other DirecTV DVRs (HR22 thru HR44) which some were also having the same issue. She said that my detailed ticket which was escalated to the engineers on 8/18 was the issue and was always on their end never on the customer's end except for those with improperly configured Home Networks.

She also apologized for all the misinformation and lack of knowledge at the other Regional Tech Support Centers. She said their center (OK) has a huge number of customers who only call their center as I do.

Due to my nature I will be calling back to the Oklahoma Tech Support Center to follow up on exactly what the issue was and what was done to resolve it.

I will post if and when I get the answer for those of you who would like to know the details.

Rob

*THR-22, direct wired Ethernet connection 12Mbps, Premier Package. Always use the Oklahoma Tech support Center.

Customer since 1994*


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## midas (Jun 1, 2000)

Rob, funny that you posted this today. Just this morning I tried again, for the first time in months. And it worked. 

So I do want to thank you for your efforts. I too would like to know what the issue was since, at one point, it did work in the past.


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## NGeorge (Feb 27, 2004)

Yay! Back working here as well...

I'd be curious what the issue is as well... I get the feeling that the THR-22 is sort of a "frankenstein" box--and that these breaks happened because they updated something for their non-Tivo boxes, forgot to test on the THR and broke On Demand. 

Just from looking at the interface, it looks like the On Demand side of things is ported over from D*'s own software and probably has some sort of code translation going on to get the Tivo side of things to work with it (otherwise it would seem we'd have the Tivo On-Demand interface that they wrote for Comcast on the Premier--which works quite well I might add--they basically funnel all of Comcast's content into the Tivo interface)

This is the second "extended outage" of On Demand since the box launched 18 months ago -- the first time it went out for a good 8 months until they released a new software fix... then it broke just a couple months after the new software was out, but in a different way (before it was timing out -- this time it was doing the error/delete thing) 

I really do like my THR-22... but it's painfully obvious that this is a practically unsupported product unless enough people *****.

Nat


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## Cezzium (Aug 21, 2013)

Well my TIVO is here and I'm waiting for the software update to download and install so I am checking the forums ...

Interesting to see an update. It did not even occur to me to do that before hand. Maybe could have saved something.

We all suspect there is something "in the code" that causes issues.

If nothing else I am keeping the shiny new remote!

c


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## robroy1948 (Mar 24, 2008)

Cezzium

This is the latest THR22 Update from May 2013.

*Firmware update: 01B5* *Previous Firmware: 018A*

Again the issue was never with the THR22 Hardware or the Firmware Updates. I am not even going to speculate at this time what the issue was, though I do agree that "in the code" seems to be the most logical cause.

I'll take a new remote also as a backup!
_____________________________________

Rob

*THR-22, direct wired Ethernet connection 12Mbps, Premier Package. Always use the Oklahoma Tech support Center.

Customer since 1994*


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## Cezzium (Aug 21, 2013)

Just got back 

downloads like a dream. 

Rob is correct I believe and had they given me good information it would have saved alot of hassle.

However, if DTV really wanted me to have a new unit I guess that is okay. It does lead one to wonder if there is some part of the high cost we pay to pay for all these tech support people who have no clue and waste dollars sending out stuff.

oh well,

now to reprogram all my season passes.

celia


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## robroy1948 (Mar 24, 2008)

Per my previous post on 8/23 my THR22 On Demand features are still working flawlessly on all On Demand Channels. I was give it a few more days without issues before calling the Oklahoma Tech Support Center and find out was at the root of the issue and how was it resolved.

*Now to address the random rebooting/restarts of the THR22.*

I had noticed this happening first in early fall with my old Hughes SD Tivo. Directv corrected it then and refunded all Tivo users HD and SD versions $10.

After waiting over a year from the date that Directv released the THR22 to the world. I installed the THR22. I waited so the THR22 would have at least a year to mature in the wild to shake out the bugs that are inherent in newly end user devices which are this complex.

The way you can tell if yours restarts when not attended is to leave one of the options in messages & settings highlighted when you place your THR22 in Standby after viewing. I choose to leave mine highlighted on the 'Standby' when navigating to another menu. This way when shutting down for the day I simply press the Tivo button on the remote then the Slow button then Select which is the option I left highlighted. Tivo + Slow is one of the many Tivo Menu Navigation Remote shortcuts.

Then when you bring the Tivo out of standby and navigate to messages & settings if the Tivo has not restarted it will always be on the last option you left highlighted.

I had noticed every now and then that the THR22 had restarted while unattended because in messages & settings it was on 'Messages' not 'Standby'. The Tivo always defaults to highlighted 'Messages' after a Restart. I then checked the System Information for the last service connection time and my Internet Gateway/Modem Router combination control panel for up and down times on port 4 which is the Tivo. When they are identical the THR22 has Rebooted.

It has been four days now without a 'Reboot'. With guarded optimism I believe the bug was corrected and was similar to the early Fall 2012 Rebooting issue. I theorize that the rebooting may have been also addressed along with the On Demand issues.

*If interested here is the list of Remote Navigation Shortcuts and Backdoor Codes for those not familiar with them.*

*Navigation Shortcuts*

There are navigation shortcuts that can make your life easier:

TiVo+TiVo = Now Playing List
TiVo+0 = Plays the boot animation
TiVo+1 = Season Pass Manager
TiVo+2 = To Do List
TiVo+3 = WishList Search
TiVo+4 = Search by Title
TiVo+5 = Browse by Channel
TiVo+6 = Browse by Time
TiVo+7 = Record Time/Channel
TiVo+8 = TiVo Suggestions
TiVo+9 = Showcases
TiVo+Slow = Messages & Settings

In most menu screens, Chan Up/Down will move you one screen up/down in the menu. And Advance (->|) will jump to the end on the first press, then to the beginning on the second press. This can really speed up navigating the menus.

In the Now Playing List, press Enter to change the settings  or just press 1′ to toggle the sort between name and date, or 2′ to toggle groups on/off.

*Backdoor Codes*

30 second skip  There is a hidden 30 second skip feature on the TiVo. While watching a video enter Select-Play-Select-3-0-Select (SPS30S) on the remote. This toggles the Advance (looks like ->|) button into a 30 second skip button. Each press will advance you 30 seconds. It is easiest to enter this while watching a recording.

On-screen clock and Elapsed Time Indicator  Similarly, Select-Play-Select-9-Select (SPS9S) turns on an on-screen clock in the lower right corner of the screen. While watching a recording it also shows the elapsed time of the playback.

Series3 and TiVo HD only  Select-Play-Select-Instant Replay-Select (SPSIRS) toggles an on-screen data display that shows different information along the bottom of the screen depending on if it is a recording or LiveTV. You can see which tuner is in use, the output resolution, etc.

There is one more code, Select-Play-Select-7-Select (SPS7S). On the Series3 and TiVo HD this overlays a kind of map over the video youre watching. It seems to be designed to calibrate the overscan region of the display. But it isnt documented and exactly how it is used is unclear. On other units SPS7S is a toggle which disables the display of the playback progress bar and the information banner at the top of the screen.

To disable any of these, simply enter the code again. You may need to exit the video and return to the menus (Hit TiVo) to clear the on-screen clock. Also, if the TiVo ever reboots, some of these may reset and need to be re-entered.
____________________________________

Have a good day,

Rob

THR-22, direct wired Ethernet connection 12Mbps, Premier Package. Always use the Oklahoma Tech support Center.

Customer since 1994


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