July 2018 DirecTV update changes user interface from bad to horrible

A few months ago DirecTV sent out an update to our Genie DVR receiver that sure wasn't an upgrade, because my wife and I found the user interface harder to use than the old version.

But now, July 2018, DirecTV has managed to screw up the user interface even more. Last night, June 10, I fired up the receiver to see what was available for us to watch. 

It took only a few seconds for me to realize that a bunch of our recordings had disappeared. The menu looked different, also. But there on the left side it said "All Recordings." 

So naturally I figured that "All Recordings" meant, oh, how silly for me to assume this, ALL RECORDINGS. Which got me worried, because the Playlist didn't have all of what we'd recorded.

(Note: some Googling revealed that when 0, zero, is pressed while in the playlist, the ordering changes from Latest to Alphabetical, and it appears that when the recordings are in alphabetical order, all of them show up. Of course, then we don't know which are the most recent, so the user interface is still screwed up.)

Fortunately, I had the bright idea of ignoring the literal meaning of All Recordings and clicked on "Continue Watching." There I found the Bill Maher live show that we'd watched some of, along with some other recordings that hadn't shown up on the misnamed "All Recordings" menu.

So now the DirecTV user interface for recordings has gone from bad to horrible. We had no problem with the DirecTV menu system that was used before. It's been getting worse with every update, which, again, in no way is a upgrade.

Here's another gripe. Dates have disappeared from the description of a recorded show. Great, now I know that I've got a recording of Episode 168 of Season 3 of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. 

Is this a recent episode, or an episode from several weeks ago? No way to tell in the dysfunctional DirecTV user interface, so we've got to watch the beginning of the show to see what Trump outrages Colbert is talking about to get a feel for how old the episode is.

There used to be dates associated with recordings of shows like The Late Show. Now, there aren't. I can only imagine that somehow the DISH Network managed to insert a mole into the DirecTV programming team, because it sure seems like with every update, DirecTV is determined to make its customers dream of switching to DISH.

Well, at least now I've got something additional to complain about with DirecTV, given that I've pretty much given up on them ever offering the Pac 12 Networks. When DirecTV was bought by AT&T, I (wrongly) thought that this would bring improvements to our overpriced subscription.

But, no, if anything DirecTV has gotten worse, not better.

I'd "cut the cord" by going to streaming of shows we want to watch, but we've also got a crappy internet provider out here in rural south Salem, Oregon, CenturyLink. They believe that 7 mbps qualifies as "high speed internet," for which we pay way too much money.

Someday, hopefully we'll be rid of both DirecTV and CenturyLink. I only wish that I'll live long enough to enjoy that happy moment.

Comments

[tucson]

I don't like the new DirecTV interface either. Probably many subscribers feel the same way. It sucks man but I still manage to find all my favorite FOX news shows ;-)

DirecTV makes a lot of money on package deals and specials. When they expire you had better be on your toes or your bill will suddenly go up a lot. This happened to me and they did lower my bill back to where it was but not until I saw what was happening and complained. Still, I had to pay for a couple of months at the higher rate. No mercy there. I'm sure this happens all the time. Multiply a $100 bill increase by 10's of millions of subscribers and you're talking about real money. Clever business model. Auto bill pay makes DirecTV a ton of money because many people don't keep track of every month's payment, like me.

I don't hold it against them. Buyer beware as usual. You don't have to take the bait.

[Carole Smith]

I agree, Direct TVs new menu sucks. I did find show dates when I scroll down and clicked on “view list” on the first screen. Then the menu lists all the recorded dates under Colbert.

If you have not watched him, Jim Jefferies is sometimes pretty funny, and Samantha Bee (Full Frontal) is almost as consistently as sharply funny as Colbert.

[Beth]

I don't like it either
It is not at all user friendly
Has an enormous amount of bugs
Got a calendar - started marking off how many days before I can cancel

[Gina]

I’ve had DirecTV for YEARS and if I had more options for cable, I’d switch just because of these updates. Not user friendly at all. The list of my shows is so confusing. Shows disappear and is very confusing when trying to select episodes. I really hope they fix this. There was nothing wrong with the old way!

[Dave]

My parents have been complaining about this since they changed it back in Spring. They've contacted DirecTV numerous times to complain and from what I've gathered from looking online, they are far from alone. Yet DirecTV refuses to do anything about it. This is not how a company stays in business. I've been teaching them how to stream their media from other sources instead, and their slowly getting the hang of it.

DirecTV, your days are numbered.

[Kim]

I have been a loyal Direct TV customer for several years, after they did the update several months it's been horrible! The DVR randomly works or deletes shows for no reason, the channel will freeze and then there's the white screen when you change the channel. I've called them so many times and had several repair men out only to hear we're still working on a fix. They refuse to give a discount for the DVR half ass working . I was then advised that my equipment was out dated and was not compatible with the update they did, and to get the latest receiver that was compatible I would have to sign a 2 yr contact. I did argue the contract stating they should provide me with equipment that would work with their update since I'm already a paying customer.
Needless to say now I'm stuck in a contract and the problems are not resolved.
This just seems so wrong and illegal on their part that they don't have to fulfill their part of the contract but yet I'm held like a hostage to mine!

[Alyssa]

I was just watching a recorded show and halfway through, it turned off and went back to the list of recorded shows. I went to turn the show back on and it’s gone! It was just recorded this morning and now it’s not on my list. I never turned it off or deleted it with the remote....it did that by itself! I’m so frustrated.

[Brian Hines]

Alyssa, you could try restarting the DVR recorder, using the button behind the front panel that has the DirecTV card. I have to do this periodically to get recording programs to show up. Also, try searching for the program using the Search command. I've been able to find recordings this way. It sucks, but until DirecTV fixes the problems, we've got to find workarounds.

[Pell Needham]

DirecTV is now AT&T. A DirecTV tech who came to my house for some of the problems listed above said that the company is experiencing many problems since AT&T commissioned a Korean company who revamped their whole programming interface. He said there was nothing he could do about it. He gets calls for these problems many times a day and there is no end in sight. He said there are big problems and DirecTV is screwed up. He said be patient or go to another service. He said Dish is having problems too.

[Brian Hines]

Pell, thanks for the info. I just got around to calling DirecTV and complaining about the receiver/DVR problems. I was told, not surprisingly, that they get a lot of complaints about this. Supposedly software fixes are being rolled out to customers in batches.

For some reason, non-Genie customers were first, if I recall correctly. We have a Genie, albeit one of the first ones. So I was told that we should be one of the first Genie customers to get an update. Of course, there's no way to know if that will fix the problem of our recordings disappearing regularly.

A receiver reset gets them back, but only for a day or so. A program search reveals the recordings, but it's a pain to have to search for what's already been recorded on our receiver, especially since we pay so much each month to DirecTV. I took the opportunity to also complain about the lack of Pac 12 Networks on DirecTV, something that has bothered me for so many years I've lost count.

[Tamyra Taiwo]

I have been having the same issue since September 2018. My TV Pix-elate, freezes and sometimes completely goes out with only error 775 on the screen. Service technician have been out to my house 8 times. They have changed all the wires, ends on cords, splinters, SWM, main box and 1 of the genie boxes in my daughters room that I was told was "powering back" to the main box. Only to have the same error come back 2 days latter and I am not able to watch tv at all again. I have seen a lot of changes and updates to the menu when the tv was working e.g. PIP, larger guide and other things and when I mention this to the technicians that come out if ATT and Directv upgrades could be the issue I am having I was told know it has to be my equipment. It is very frustrating and my family is very upset to be out of service for so long. Can someone please help me resolve this issue.