Poll: Is DirecTV's HR20 ready for primetime?

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Jul 27th 2007 at 10:09AM

DirecTV's HR20 has been available for almost a year and with DirecTV's latest bird in the air -- and getting ready to bring all those promised HD channels -- many are wondering; is the it ready for primetime? It wasn't very long ago that HD DVRs were a rare bread, but these days everyone is making 'em and unfortunately switching to a provider also sometimes means buying into their DVR offering. So while we all want those new HD channels, we wonder if it's worth it if. So HR20 owners, let us know, should we let the HR20 stop us from switching to DirecTV?

Filed under: DVRs, Set-top boxes, Satellite

Tags: DirecTV, HR20

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Jerry @ Jul 27th 2007 11:10AM

I personally say stay away from the new DirecTV receivers if you're using a media center. My brother and I had a heck of a time trying to get it to work with the IR blaster and media center remote, only to have a DTV rep tell us that there was no way for the receiver to accept IR signals only, that it also had to receive the RF signals and that this was a security measure to keep non DTV approved equipment from interfacing with their receivers. (So a media center for example...) Maybe this was all hog wash and I was doing something wrong... but I've dealt with dozens of media centers and never had a problem except with the newer receivers, the HR20 included.

Neutral

Kevin Murphy @ Jul 27th 2007 11:51PM

"I personally say stay away from the new DirecTV receivers if you're using a media center. My brother and I had a heck of a time trying to get it to work with the IR blaster and media center remote, only to have a DTV rep tell us that there was no way for the receiver to accept IR signals only, that it also had to receive the RF signals"

Hogwash!

I use a Radio Shack 15-1994 IR remote to control everything in my system. Including the HR20. ONLY infrared. What they told you was complete BS.

If you are having problems with an IR blaster, I know that the Hughes SD TiVo units had overload issues if you put the blaster too CLOSE. Back it off a bit.

Neutral

Ruben @ Jul 27th 2007 10:49AM

Doesn't DirecTV broadcast in HD-Lite (1440x1080i or 1280x1080i)?

This alone would prevent me from switching.

Highest Ranked

Ben Drawbaugh @ Jul 27th 2007 10:51AM

They do for MPEG2, but considering the number of HD channels available and the amount of bandwidth they will have, there isn't any reason MPEG4 will be HD-Lite.

Highly Ranked

Nonya @ Jul 27th 2007 10:46AM

I have had NO problems with this model since March. Directv has done a very good job of working with subscribers to work out the issues. Kudos to DIRECTV and the DBSTALK users for working so well with each other.

Neutral

erics @ Jul 27th 2007 11:32AM

the reason why there is and will be "HD Lite" is that they like to make the most money on the least amount bandwidth used with the least amount of effort possible. pretty much how most corporations operate unfortunately. Beyond that, they might have capacity for 150 hd channels or whatever the claim is, there is not even close to that many channels yet, and won't be for some time.

Neutral

rainman @ Jul 27th 2007 10:56AM

These units run way too hot, compared to the HR10-100s. I've gone through 4 units already which have overheated and malfunctioned. The HR20-700 needs to be redesigned or discontinued.

Highly Ranked

plower @ Jul 27th 2007 10:57AM

I've had this dvr for almost a year with few problems. There are a few bugs and some basic user interface issues I'd like to see resolved, but the latest updates that directv has pushed seem to be improving the box each time.

Highly Ranked

Jeff Regan @ Jul 27th 2007 11:23AM

I have both the HR20 and Dish VIP 622 HD DVR's. While the Dish unit has more features and is better
built, the HR20 is working fine and is easy to use.

I recently connected a 750Gb external hard drive to
the HR20, so now I have a whole lot more record time.
HD programs use up a lot of memory quickly with the internal drive.

Neutral

Steve S. @ Jul 27th 2007 11:39AM

Jeff: I'm interested in connecting an external hard drive as you did.
Is this difficult to do? Do you just connect it to the USB port? Is
it accessable via the HR20 menus? If not how does it work.

Highly Ranked

Steve S. @ Jul 27th 2007 11:26AM

I like the interface & picture quality. I replaced the previous Directv HD Tivo with the HR20 & found it produces a brighter overall picture. It also appears to do a better job rendering the non HD channels than the Tivo. The only problem I've had is that it occassionaly freezes on the YES HD channel. It has some useful features such as letting you know how much space is availablr to record, is extreamly quiet, & is easy to use. I also have the Motorola DCT6412 via COX & feel the HR20 produces better overall picture quality. Though that may be the way COX transmits the signal as opposed to Directv.

Neutral

Ben Drawbaugh @ Jul 27th 2007 12:40PM

HD-lite is a compromise a provider makes when they don't have enough bandwidth to provide all the programming they want. If they have more bandwidth than programming they will not do HD-lite. Initially this will be the case when DirecTV deploys MPEG4 satellites for national channels. DirecTV's CTO has confirmed that they don't have any plans to use HD-lite with MPEG4.

Highly Ranked

Jeff Regan @ Jul 27th 2007 1:08PM

Steve,

It's plug and play with an eSata cable(not USB). I
bought the Seagate Free Agent Pro 750 HDD and it more than doubles the record time of the internal HDD. Note, you can only use one drive at a time,
the external eSata drive will mean no access to the internal drive and you will need to reprogram your record preferences. Just boot up the HR20 with the external HDD connected and you will use the HR20 as normal, except the percentage of used disc space will move a lot slower! Thanks to the
forum members at DBS Talk for this great add on!!

Neutral

Josh @ Jul 27th 2007 11:54AM

The HR20 is turning out to be a very good DVR. So I voted yes.

Oh, and they have already made a hardware revision of the HR20. The HR20-700 is the original model. The HR20-100 is the new model, and it does run cooler, and it has a larger hard drive.

Neutral

Steve @ Jul 27th 2007 12:08PM

I switched from a DirecTV Tivo box to the HR20 about a year ago. After some initial problems were worked out it has worked extremely well for me. I still prefer the Tivo interface but the HR20 interface is far superior to anything else I've seen.

Neutral

Jeff N. @ Jul 27th 2007 12:28PM

Thanks for doing this survey. Sounds like if you get one of these make sure you get the HR-20-100. How long ago did DirecTV switch to the new model and is it clearly marked on the box that it is an HR20-100? Would I still have problems if I use an IR blaster? Most of my system is inside a cabinet.

Neutral

Javier Ruiz-Leon @ Jul 27th 2007 3:10PM

Still no Dual Live Buffers.

Neutral

Kevin Murphy @ Jul 27th 2007 11:43PM

You should have seen DirecTV on a Sony XBR circa 1996. Before they compressed everything because the broadcasters got Congress to make DirecTV give them individual satellite feeds for free. Local-in-local destroyed DirecTV bandwidth for years.

DirecTV's plan was better: regional network feeds plus some non-network locals, cutting the burden in half, but the affiliates HATED that and the NAB controls Congress.

Neutral

DP @ Jul 27th 2007 2:10PM

dbstalk.com has been instrumental in guiding DirecTv feedback on new features & testing. After owning 2 of these boxes since they were released a year ago, I have personally experience the great development path and frequent rollout of upgrades/fixes. My only wish now is that:
1. the eSATA drive addon would not completely replace the internal harddrive, but be a shared/additional resource.
2. they would actually use the ethernet port for something useful - can I suggest streaming shows recorded on one unit to another networked unit within the home?

Neutral

Chriss Cazayoux @ Jul 27th 2007 3:10PM

Have they made improvements, yes. Is it a TIVO, NO! The thing still locks on a still picture while FF or Rew so you have to guess when to hit play. It doesnt back up when you hit play to compensate for the time lag. It does not let you pick up where you left off when watching a show. The menus for managing your "season pass" blow and the remote is a GD UXD disaster.

DirecTV should go back to TIVO. I am seriously considering buying the new series 3 & ditching this hunk of garbage. All of these other posts are having a completely different experience. Good for you.

Neutral

Josh @ Jul 27th 2007 3:32PM

"The thing still locks on a still picture while FF or Rew so you have to guess when to hit play."

Tivos do this, too. It is just a byproduct of digital video.

"It doesnt back up when you hit play to compensate for the time lag."

Apparently it does now. They added the feature recently (like days ago). I never use it, because I use the "jump back 6 seconds" button to resume playback. It is faster.

"The menus for managing your "season pass" blow and the remote is a GD UXD disaster."

I use my Harmony 880 with it, just like I used it with my Tivo. :shrug:

Highly Ranked

Kevin Murphy @ Jul 27th 2007 11:33PM

So, who uses the OEM remote? You must have 17 remotes on the table. There are about 5 different ways to get a single permanent remote, ranging from Harmony to JP1. Google.

Neutral

Stuart Sweet @ Jul 27th 2007 6:18PM

I've had this DVR since October of 06. I've actually had very few problems with it, and unless you're into picking nits, it's been ROCK SOLID since February. I've recommended it to friends (who have since remained friends) and used it for hours on end with great results.

Nothing is perfect and this isn't either, but I find myself spending far more time thinking of new features I would like to see than worrying about bugs.

Neutral

Richard Bennett @ Jul 27th 2007 7:41PM

The HR20 has severe bugs in the area of "Channels I Get" and searching for programs to record. In TiVo terms, "Wishlists" are completely broken. This has been the case since Feb. 2006, and DirecTV has yet to acknowledge or fix the problem. Based on the fact that the unit can't search the channels it already has with any accuracy at all, adding more channels to it is just going to make it worse.

I'd advise anyone thinking of signing up with DirecTV to wait until these problems are fixed.

Neutral

douglask @ Jul 27th 2007 10:01PM

I SEE the blind D* apologists from dbstalk are spamming the board with what a fine job D* and themselves are doing.

Highly Ranked

Kevin Murphy @ Jul 27th 2007 11:26PM

(rant) It's amazing how many uninformed people there are. Particularly those that don't have DirecTV or an HR20, but are sure their other choices were better, after all they made them so they must be. And to validate those choices they regurgitate other people's wrong opinions. (end rant)

I got an HR20 in March. I had an HD TiVo (HR-10) and have had DirecTV for a very long time. I absolutely hated the HR20 at first, and still think that the original designer (and maybe the implementors) needed serious firing. No product should have that many design and/or implementation errors. But things have changed, somewhere around May.

The people who've turned last year's turd into this year's contender deserve kudos (This includes a group of volunteer beta testers at dbstalk who've been working instead of whining). As an engineer with over 30-years of designing real-time communications systems, I know just how difficult and thankless this kind of task can be. Then to have a few idiot snot-nose kids diss you reasons THEY don't understand .. ooops ranting again....

But, grunt by lurch they've polished the thing until it actually works. It doesn't crash. It still has weirdnesses and inconsistencies, but so does my Sony TV. It's actually at the point where I believe I'll be retiring the HR-10 come the MPEG4 Big Bang.

Things that the HR20 does well:

The picture is much sharper than the HR10. I cannot tell the difference between OTA direct to the TV or recorded OTA to the TV via the box. I suspect that much of the complaint about "HD Lite" had to do with the soft image produced by the HR-10. (No, I don't care what your meter read, only eyeballs count.)

It stores HD in considerably less space than the TiVo. The drive can be upgraded, so this is an all-around advantage.

It has a longer schedule (14 days vs 10).

It supports ViiV, and this support is getting better.

There are things that they should improve: search could better -- not that TiVo's search was all that great. The word AND would help a lot. As in "SERIES" AND "PREMIERE"

It needs that second 30-minute buffer. Then again, I've used the single 60-minute buffer to record a movie I almost missed, so maybe they have a point.

"Channels I Receive" should allow me to say that I want to pretend I can't receive them, to keep them out of the searches, etc.

But all in all this thing will be well ready in September when all you cable guys will be screaming about your HD choices and/or why the single channel digital feed won't let you record Heroes and 24 at the same time. Again.

Neutral

Kevin Murphy @ Jul 27th 2007 11:38PM

Since may at least, my HR20 has not failed to operate in ANY way. I'm especially mystified by the "picture freeze" thing. Never seen it do that. Oh, the TiVo is smoother -- the HR20 seems to update during FF/RR at 5fps or so) but I have never, ever not known were in the program I was. Maybe it did this a while back, but not for months now.

Where do people recycle these complaints from? Do they read page 1 of some 546-page forum topic and think that this is all still true?

Neutral

bret4 @ Jul 28th 2007 8:39AM

I was having so many problems with Pixelation and audio drops on many channels with the HR20 700 that I couldn't recomend it to anyone yet. I am going on my third one and directv will only send you so called refurbished junk to replace your old one. The second one has problems that it can't find the satellite signal on some channels and will not always record one channel when watching another. Waiting for the third one to arrive today or Monday. Getting ready to switch back to cable after being with directv for many years. Makes me sick to say the word cable, but watching tv shouldn't be a second job fixing directv's equipment.

Don't go with Directv's HR20 line of equipment! It's not ready and they are not ready.

Neutral

bret4 @ Jul 28th 2007 9:10AM

I am going on my third HR20. The first one worked just ok for months. Most of the problems were directv testing new software on it because it wasn't near ready to be sold to the public. Then about a month ago I started to have pixelation and audio drops all the time on all channels. The service guy came out and found it was a bad HR20.

Now I have a junk refurbished HR20 that they sent me. They will not send you a new one unless you sign up for another 2 year contract with them. Like I want another 2 years with poor equipment! Anyhow, the second HR20 has a problem finding the satellite signal when you change channels. Does it on tunner one and two. It may or may not record one channel when watching another. So directv is sending me another so called refurbished junk HR20. Can't wait to see what problem that one will have. Bet it is the same problem the last owner had.

It's not fair that you can't get a new HR20 when you have problems with your old one. I paid $300 for my first HR20. My HR20 was in perfect condition on the outside. The junk one they sent to me was scratched up and looked like crap!

If they still will not send me a new HR20 if the third one is no good. (Lemon law doesn't apply to directv! Why not!) I will try and get out of the 1 year lease I have left and go back to cable. The word cable makes me sick but I can't take any more stress of using poor equipment from directv.

I do not think the HR20 will ever be ready for primetime. I bet they have to build an all new DVR or go back to tivo to get something that works before they get all the problems worked out.

Customer No Service at directv is not as good as it once was. Some service people are really nice and listen to you. Others are arrogant and seem like you are bothering them if you ask for help with an equipment problem.

Neutral

Tim @ Jul 28th 2007 5:06PM

I've been using Media Center for three years to record TV. Finally got fed up with the lack of HD support for sat/cable and got the HR20 through DirecTV. I've been running it for about five months now with no problems. The interface is not as pretty as Media Center, but it works fine and is hassle-free (unlike Media Center). Image quality is not quite as good as HD DVD but I can't tell the difference between DirecTV and OTA. Can't wait for the new channels in September.

Neutral

Tom Starner @ Jul 28th 2007 11:03PM

I've been an outspoken critic of the HR20 since I got mine in Sept. 06, as my HR20 suffered many of the early issues others saw (black screen of death, freezes, etc.). Now, nearly a year later, it works pretty well. Doesn't miss recordings, good HD PQ (SD still is poor, but that's par for the course). Still get occasional sound and video dropouts on MPEG4 channels, which is really annoying (never got them with old SD Tivos via MPEG2). And, the worst thing is the FF/REW functionality. It still stinks. Other than than, not bad. But is not bad the same as ready for prime time? Not sure.

Also, all this mention of DBSTalk saving the day, etc. Just check out the forum's latest thread on the newest software download for the HR20. Plenty of people still suffering from glitches. Anyway, almost a year left on my contract. When that time comes, it will be a chance for a closer look at cable (Comcast), FiOS (Verizon) or DTV. But no 24-month contract this time. If that's part of the deal, I will probably go elsewhere. I used a Comcast DVR this week on vacation at my friend's beach house, and not bad. If they boost HD recording capacity, it would not be a painful move, especially if they finally get their Tivo interface working. And then there are the new HD Tivos, at $299. Interesting time for HD recording. In a year or so, it will be much more mature, and competitive.

Neutral

Nick F @ Jul 29th 2007 1:50PM

I was a little worried about getting the HR20 because the Tivo worked so well but I have to say that the HR20 is working great for me. I don't even miss the tivo now. My wife loves it. I got mine in March. I don't know how stable it was when it first came out but it's stable now .

Neutral

Kevin G @ Jul 29th 2007 3:43PM

Amen to everything Kevin Murphy said, and Javier Ruiz-Leon, that is the ONLY legit complaint I have for my DVR: they took away the dual buffer. This was far and away the COOLEST feature on the HD Tivo, setting Directv apart from all other providers.
My HR-20 700 has been working fine since I got it last November. I've also installed numerous HR-20s with IR control systems from Philips, Marantz, and Xantech, so the IR/RF "hogwash" ("there was no way for the receiver to accept IR signals only, that it also had to receive the RF signals") is an example of a common problem in the A/V world: ignorant people who spread lies!(dtv rep) I'm currently controlling my HR-20 with the remote for my Denon AVR3806.
Also, not that it's a huge deal, but I haven't seen anyone mention the mix channels, 102 and 104. They're a cool feature if you like 8 channels at once with selectable audio for news and sports. Can anyone get that without the HR-20?
Sorry if I sound like a Directv ad, but the question "should we let the HR20 stop us from switching" is strange to me. I should mention that the cable option for us in Phoenix is Cox cable... Picture quality is comparable to HD-Lite and the menu blows, although you CAN record 2 channels simultaneously, which apparently many cable HD-DVRs can't do. I see HD cable and satellite on different DLPs, LCDs, and Plasmas on a weekly basis, and it's the same story all around: the clearest pictures (more bandwidth allocated) for sports, HD-Lite for most programming, and occasional macroblocking and dropouts with most HD channels, especially during video with rapid motion. I'm hoping Directv will pull ahead of Cox in picture quality once the MPEG4 transition occurs.

Neutral

Tim @ Jul 30th 2007 4:57PM

Looks a lot like Sky+/HD boxes in the UK. Probably no surprise as isn't DirecTV a Murdoch thing now?

He never seemed to like TiVo. Adopted it initially in the UK then ditched it in favour of his own proprietary (and inferior) system. Looks like the same's happened for DirecTV.

Neutral

HighDef Edition @ Jul 30th 2007 2:26PM

I purchased my very own HR20 HD DVR just over 2 weeks ago and from the get go I was impressed.

For one it runs much cooler than the HD receiver I had. After I finished hooking it up it downloaded an update and it's been smooth sailing since.

If there is a concern, it's that I cannot programme the HD DVR receiver to 'view a show'. If i'm already home and watching tv I would love to have it switch channels automatically. I can programme it to record an entire series of first run episodes though.

I'm aware of the problems at the Launch but since I've gotten mine in July, it's been fantastic.

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