DirecTV DVR's locking up (auto-software download a fix?)

I didn't know that about the silver and gold connections either... especially since most high end cable manufacturers put gold on all their connectors since it conducts better

Gold is a a better conductor, but when you're talking about video, it makes little difference. Especially with HD or SD, you either get it or you don't- it's on a different wavelength than audio. That's how they can both pass on a coax (the 'co' being send AND recieve, not audio AND video).
Audio is mostly analog, so it's physically passing along the conductors and gold is definitely better. For digital sound, I'm unsure of the need for gold.

one thing that I have seen with the new software update is that when you go to the XM stations and it "times out" to the screen saver the DirecTV logo has been replaced with the song info so you don't have to hit the "Info" button to figure out what you're listening to.