R10 vs. H20 on non-HD TV

[matttyl315]

A bit of background...
I just ordered a new HR20 yesterday to go with my HDTV, and replace the two boxes that were there before, the R10 tivo box and the H20 HD receiver.

I'm going to move either the R10 or the H20 to the non-HD TV I have in my bedroom, and would just like to know the pluses and minus with each. My main question is concerning all the new MPEG4 channels. Will my R10 be able to display them? Is every HD channel also "simulcast" (not sure if that's the right word here) in SD so that the R10 can pick them up in SD and display them?

In a perfect world, I'd like to keep the tivo based R10 going on the 2nd TV so that I can watch recorded shows on it, as well as watch my locals (Washington DC area), all SD channels in my choice package, and the HBO and Showtime channels that I was given a 3 month free upgrade to yesterday.

Thanks for any help, and let me know if any other information is needed.

[SFS97]

The channels that you will not get (HD channels with no sd simucast) on the R10 are HDNET, HDNET Movies, Discovery HD theater, and UHD. Am I missing some?

Others might be Smithsonian HD and MGMHD, I don't think they have sd simiulcast.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on any of this.

[matttyl315]

So the downside to going with the R10 is the loss of HDNEt, HDNET Movies, and like 5 other channels. The upside is the 80 GB hard drive and tivo features. I'm still liking the R10. The plus is that I own both, so if the list of channels the R10 can't receive continues to grow (and it will), I can just switch to the H20 at some point, right?

[Stuart Sweet]

I had an R10 and an H21 on the same TV for about 3 months. The H21 is the next generation H20, you can read my review of it here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=92223&highlight=H21

but it is still not "out in the wild", you can't buy one yet.

I will tell you the quality, even on the SD channels, was consistently better on the H21. Plus with the H21 you will get all the new HDs. You can set the receiver to crop 16:9 programs, in other words cut the left and right edges off so it fills the screen if you want.

I was very happy with an R10 for over 2 years, although it was getting old and I suspected upcoming failure.

You're right, you can deactivate the one you don't want to use and change back at any time.

[matttyl315]

This might sound weird to some, but I'm willing to give up a bit of picture quality for the convenience of tivo. It's a 10 year old non-HD 25" TV that doesn't even have an S-video input. Whichever receiver I choose is actually going to connect by coax cable, as a DVD player is using the only RCA input. I'm already giving up picture quality....

I guess it comes down to, how long will the R10 still be able to receive and display a majority of D-tv channels?

[carl6]

Does the H20 even have a channel 3/4 rf output? I didn't think so (but I don't have one so am not sure). You would have to use an external rf modulator.

I would expect the R10 to work just fine for some time yet.

Carl

[Stuart Sweet]

If you are set on an R10, I would pick up a spare now, they are not terribly expensive.