DirecTV's New HD-DVR

Earl Bonovich writes to tell us that he recently had a chance to take a look at DirecTV's new HD-DVR, the HR20-700. His results are posted over at DBSTalk including several pictures and videos. Some of the features include high definition output, dual SAT tuners, dual ATSC tuners, wired RJ-45 ethernet port, external SATA connection, and a 300GB SATA internal hard drive that can hold 30 hours of MPEG-2 HD, 50 hours of MPEG-4 HD, or 200 hours of standard definition video.

Comments

Re:it's a good start,

[MBCook]

Let's see if I can answer your points

• how responsive is the interface? - Pretty good
• how ergonomic? (TiVo's a hard act to follow on this one) - Fantastic
• how often does the machine crash and burn, or just plain lock up? (any comcast DVR users out there?) - Never
• how well does it handle season passes with options of first showing, multiple channel, etc. (once again, TiVo is a hard act to follow on this one) - Excellent
• how well does it do video? any mosaics?, dropped frames? - Perfect quality, just like my normal satellite receivers
• are there things like "wish lists"? (TiVo does this wonderfully) - Yep, very handy
• and, since we're talking about TiVo here too (apparently by my post), are there any impending lawsuits and injunctions against DirectTV for infringment upon TiVo's patents? - Doubt it

Of course, I have a DirecTiVo... which they no longer sell. The fact they made them is why I don't think DirecTV will be sued. TiVo still gets a ton of money from DirecTiVo users.

I love my DirecTiVo. I think it's the best TiVo that was made at the time. Pure digital quality, tons of channels, Dolby Digital, record two shows at once, etc. It's a fantastic little machine. No home media and such, but that's OK, the dual tuners more than make up for that.

But you can't buy them any more from DirecTV. And DirecTV is moving towards MPEG4 which means my box is obsolete.

I plan to stay with my box as long as I can. When it no longer works, then I know exactly what I'll do. I enjoy DirecTV so if I can use one of the new Series 3 TiVos with DirecTV I will. If I can't do that and Dish starts offering true TiVos, I'll go there. Otherwise, I'll go to cable with a Series 3 TiVo.

I've had DirecTV for years and I loved the service. I didn't think anything would get me off it. Then they sold me a TiVo. They sold me the very device that changed my loyalty and will probably cause me to dump their service some time in the future.

I still think they seriously botched the whole TiVo deal. They should have advertised them. You should have been able to get a DirecTiVo for $50 on new accounts, or even better for free. Practically force 'em on the consumer. Consumers would have loved it. They would have struck a big blow against Dish. Their customers would be very loyal.

"Why pay $300 for a TiVo when you can get one from DirecTV for free that will record two things at once?"

They had their chance. They screwed up. Even if it was a 6 month promotion, they could have signed up enough people to make a ton of money off the monthly fees and have so many people tell their friends about it that it would encourage more sign ups later.

DirecTV: Not wanting me as a future customer for over 2 years

When I move to a new place, my guess is that I'll switch to cable and buy a series 3. The fact is the main reason I like DirecTV is because my local cable company has been terrible ever since Comcrud bought them. The local channels look better with an over the air antenna some times, and the cable channels look just as bad (if not like a VCR with bad tracking). If the area I move to has decent cable service, then my main reason for going with DirecTV will be gone. Combine that with my loss-of-TiVo and they will lose me as a customer.

I don't want a DVR, I want a TiVo.

Sorry about this long post, this is a touchy subject