JJ over at PVR Wire has an interesting article up about the quirks and problems people seem to be having with their recently-released DirecTV HD PVR, the HR20. It's the satellite company's MPEG-4-based box which has enabled them to begin shifting customers to the lower-bandwidth codec and hopefully alleviate some of the problems they seem to have with getting enough space for all those HD channels -- without turning others off, of course. The product was launched nationwide just about two months ago -- beta test launches notwithstanding -- so customers have had a chance to mess around with their units and get familiar with its features. Or, perhaps they're doing too much messing around, as the article mentions all the problems and complaints about the device. As Ben will tell you, it's no TiVo, but it should do as well as any other cable or over-the-air box, right? Among the issues mentioned on blogs and forums are freezing and crashes, slowness, and general interface problems.

Are our readers having the same problems? Is it just people who don't know one end of the remote from another? Or are we expecting too much from a new (to DirecTV anyway) product and technology launch? Let us know.