DirecTV DVR faces consumer complaints

• Following at least dozens of consumer complaints to the company and on Internet sites about sluggish and occasionally idiosyncratic performance, DirecTV on Tuesday upgraded the software for the second time since the DVR was introduced last month.
• "Some things are not as intuitive as we thought, and we're polishing it," says DirecTV Chief Technology Officer Romulo Pontual.
• It's important for DirecTV, which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., to get things right: The new DVR --- with software from Murdoch's NDS Group --- will enable the No. 1 satellite company to offer video on demand and other services that it considers crucial to help it compete with cable.
• But sales could stall if consumers still prefer the models it has marketed for years featuring TiVo.
• DirecTV has stopped marketing those units --- and is offering a full rebate on the $100 new receivers with the DirecTV Plus DVR.
• "There's a 'back' button on the remote, but it doesn't always go back.
• Sometimes, it takes you to a screen you haven't seen before."
• And Jim Jeffrey, an information technology manager in St. Paul, says he finds it hard to use the fast-forward feature.
• "I can't figure out how to skip through commercials," he says.
• "When I hit 'play,' I'm either too fast or not fast enough.
• So I go back and forth and waste a lot of time."
• DirecTV says it hasn't found that problem: "We do not have this bug in our system," Pontual says.
• He adds that the new software download should make it easier to control the fast-forwarding.
• But it won't mimic a TiVo feature which goes back as much as a second when users stop fast-forwarding.