I know they are slow-- but sometimes they get so slow it's painful. Any suggestions on what can be done? I notice that that even on the same models, the response time switching channels, menu responses etc, varies drastically sometimes.

What ever happened to the plans for a new HD Directivo??

I do not know about you , but when I am in pain I take Tylenol ..... , lol.

Like any other computer it also depends on the tasks that are running in the background , you could be recording other shows, or the remote TV user could be also recording or watching from the HDD. Who knows. Try reseting the box and see if it clears it. I always turn mine off every night , do not know if it matters.

I did not have any before , so for me , they are as fast as they are suppose to be and since I almost always watch of the PVR only , a couple of seconds slow is nothing compared with the time I save not watching the endless and always the same commercials.

My provider is Bell TV.

Thanks-- but there is no remote use of Directv dvrs- they don't turn off, and the problem is not realted to multiple recordings.

Anyone else??

Let's have more details.

I'm guessing that if you've got the DVR set to be able to output several different resolutions, it will take longer to change channels. The guide and menu are always SD, but maybe locking down to one output resolution will speed up their response, too. "Native" is the slowest because of this.

In related news....
It makes sense to me to send 720p images to a 720 (768) line panel, and 108i images to a 1080 line panel. That way the panel doesn't add to your delay as it adjusts to whatever different resolution you're sending it.

Not only that, if you've got a 720 line panel and you send it a 1080i signal, it has to convert it to 720p; if that signal was originally broadcast as 720p, then it's gone through two conversions before hitting the screen. That can't be good for detail!

Ernie has pointed something that helps slowing the machine (Native ON) but I still beleive that it is the sum of some other factors as well. search the net and you will see most people complaining and they usually have common factors. Not powering off the machine does not help either. although it does not use RAM it has to use the HDD to keep running the OS , like I said, like any other computer , reseting or powwering off clears the memory and starts clean. you are free to keep it on all day , it is your hydro and who cares about Africa or the resources, lol.

I just rarely ever watch live TV anymore , therefore I do not channel surf (makes no sense to me to go through crap even more that 3 times continuosly let alone more than 10 channels) so only access to the menu will affect me, if any. even the menu is not slow on Bell TV's 9242 (DN hardware BTW). Call DTV and see what they have to say about it.

I can not think of anything else, specially when DTV customers have replaced the HD DVR and then after working OK , 2 weeks later , the same problem appears.

These things are designed to have "barely enough" processing power, so if there's a memory leak or it just does something quirky... well things suffer.

For example the SA 8300HD is one of the fastest SA cable boxes for general operation, but that's not saying much. And occasionally it starts to do really weird things, like not responding to commands for 30 seconds and then suddenly doing them all at once.

My Sony OTA HD DVR has also been known (about 4 times over the years) to suddenly become completely and utterly unresponsive. Video freezes, about 30 seconds later audio stops, and it just sits there not doing anything, looking dead. However I've learned that if you just leave it and wait patently for several minutes, it will suddenly start working again - with everything you missed safely recorded. I suspect that something related to playback or general operation hangs and a watchdog timer gives it a kick.

Daniel , your story remainds me of people who after realizing the PC is too busy or kind of non responsive , they keep moving the mouse and pressing keys!!!. Like with your co-worker Just wait for them to finish everything and only then bug them with your problems.

There IS a bit of an art to determining whether a computer is locked solid, just really busy, or locked but going to eventually recover. :-)