| Mail |
You might also like: WoW Insider, Massively, and more

John Lewis

Member since: Oct 6th, 2006

John Lewis's Latest Comments

Blog Activity
Blog# of Comments
Joystiq1 Comment
Engadget4 Comments
Engadget HD5 Comments

Any problems with your DirecTV HR20?

Nov 10th 2006 4:23PM (Engadget HD)
I'm not even sure it's all software. Something like not being able to handle real-time MP4 decoding could be a processor or memory problem, couldn't it?

Any problems with your DirecTV HR20?

Nov 10th 2006 3:40PM (Engadget HD)
The interface as a whole isn't better than TiVo, but it's much better than the Scientific Atlanta cable boxes my cable company deals with. Definitely usable.

But the bot has SERIOUS issues, not the least of which being MPEG4 decoding, the box just can't handle it. When reading off the HDD in playback only it freezes and pixelates after around five minutes of play. You then have to stop playback and start it again. It's a bad workaround. This is localized only from playlist items. Live MPEG4 display works great. OTA isn't enabled yet which would cure this issue for HD locals. Fast forward can best be subscribed as "buggy", although they say that will be fixed in upcoming patches. The video processor isn't great and when it upsamples 480i to 720p or 1080i it's very blurry.

There's no doubt about it, this is still a beta unit. It functions, but requires a reset at least once a day. (I'm on my third replacement unit.) The boot process takes 10 minutes sometimes as well. Of course DTV csr's aren't always informed of the "known issues" so everytime I call in with a bug they try to send me a new box. I've had to reformat many times as well.

The bottom line is that it's a functional box. If you have an HR10, do not upgrade. You can get most HD locals OTA. Of course it could be worse, it could be an SA8300HD.

Podcast listeners: move the show to Thursday?

Nov 9th 2006 12:40PM (Engadget)
Nooo! Thursday is the day I listen to dl.tv!

But seriously, it wouldn't affect me either way. I'm consistently a few days behind!

The best Guitar Hero video. Ever.

Oct 25th 2006 6:34PM (Joystiq)
That's obviously a result of clever editing. Fake. NO ONE would put a video of themselves on the internet with that big blue station wagon looking thing in the background.

Engadget HD giveaways: win another Philips 42PF9631D 42-inch plasma!

Oct 16th 2006 2:46PM (Engadget HD)
I have a terrible HR20, so, no cablecard.

Some more on the Wiicessories line -- cables and adapters, oh my!

Oct 16th 2006 2:42PM (Engadget)
It's very nice that they are actually supplying a D4 cable. Now I can finally plug something into that port on my TV!

Engadget's relaunch giveaways: a second Xbox 360 Premium pack

Oct 7th 2006 7:40PM (Engadget)
I would love to say Halo 3 is my most anticipated game, but Gears of War looks far too cool.

Engadget HD Podcast 034 - 10.04.2006

Oct 6th 2006 1:29PM (Engadget HD)
I just discovered this podcast.

You guys are right up there with TWiT to me... Keep it up!

Engadget HD giveaways: win a Samsung HL-S5679W DLP with LED backlight

Oct 6th 2006 1:26PM (Engadget HD)
My preferred method is Satellite, although the local MP4 broadcasts from directv are a bit lacking with their current reciever sometimes. (I swear I'm looking at 16 bit color!) I may have to go OTA.

Definitely less buggy than my old Scientific Atlanta cable HD-DVR

Engadget's relaunch giveaways: Slingbox AV!

Oct 6th 2006 12:23PM (Engadget)
I will be using this to hoot up to my brand spankin' new DirecTV HD DVR reciever...

Which I hate. But this just mate be the saving grace... And I know I'll need an adapter for HD. :|

I want to win, Engadget!

Joystiq Archives

May 2012

SMTWTFS
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031 

Featured Stories

Engadget

Engadget

TUAW

TUAW

Massively

Massively

WoW

WoW