upgrade

[stevie]

I currently have two Hughes Gold series receivers that have served me well for over four years. I am thinking about upgrading to two new receivers for D*. I believe It has come down to the Hughes Director Pack and the Samsung S70 or S75. Which do you recommend between these receivers with regard to PQ, reliability, guide speed, etc. Thanks.

[Jtater]

Get a Tivo and change the way you watch tv forever.

[beegfoot]

I haven't personally handled the Samsung. I've heard good and bad. Go with the Hughes HBH-SA if they give you a choice.

[pez2002]

I have the samsung and it works fine I have 2 of them

[music_beans]

Stick with Hughes Gold. They have a few more years left before putting them in the dumpster.

[Karl Foster]

Unless you need to upgrade to a Directv Plus receiver to receive locals, I'd stick with what you have. Standard receivers hadven't changed that much that I'd invest good money just to say I have new receivers.

[crkeehn]

I'm not familiar enough with the Gold Receiver, did that have the advanced program guide?

I used to have an old (leased) Hughes Receiver, I liked the menus, especially turbo tune. The main thing that you might be adding with any new receiver would be the advanced program guide, in which the receiver stores about 3 1/2 days worth of program guide in memory so that you can retrieve it instantly. When you first power up, it takes a couple of minutes to download the program guide, from that point on you won't be getting the downloading guide message as you look at future listings. The Advanced Program guide also allows you to sort your listings by channel number as well as alphabetically by channel name. You are also provided with a guide search capability.

When I resubscribed to D*, they provided me with a pair of Samsung s300 receivers. They replace the S70 and frankly they look the same to me, same case and outputs. What the difference is, I don't know. They are very nice units, especially for base units. They respond very quickly to inputs, include two sets of RCA output jacks as well as an s-video output. The only thing I would miss with them would be Hughes Turbotune. I did like a listing of the 9 most watched channels, the majority of our family viewing would probably be on 5-6 channels.

Carl

[s. thomas]

My wife said the same thing, "there is nothing wrong with the receivers". She is correct and I haven't decided to make the move yet. The main reasons that I am thinking about it is there are some things such as NASA, the middle eastern news services, CCTV9, etc. that I can't get with the 18" dish. The Hughes Gold series receivers are not multi-sat capable so if I add a new dish, I would have to change receivers. Also, every time you scroll over an hour or so, it says requesting new guide, please stand by", and then it takes a few seconds to show the description. This is annoying, and on the new receivers I can scroll over 3 days in the time it takes me to scroll over 3 hours on this. There is nothing wrong with the receivers except that they are old and outdated as far as software is concerned.

[crkeehn]

You answered my question, the Gold receiver is neither a Plus or Advanced Program Guide receiver. You would see pretty significant improvements with the new receivers both in the accessing of the guide and the quickness of response. Whether it's worth the upgrade cost is up to you and your wife.

DirecTV was offering an upgrade deal for $50. Whether they still are, I don't know.

[Bill R]

DirecTV was offering an upgrade deal for $50. Whether they still are, I don't know.
Yes, they still offer it. Better yet, DirecTV has a special offer on the Hughes DirecTV TiVo receiver for existing customers. The number to call is (866) GET-A-DVR [(866) 438-2387].

[pez2002]

Or go here http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/imagine/TIVO.jsp

[EricG]

Bill,

is that the FFDVR number? Same price?

[Jasonbp]

Get a Tivo and change the way you watch tv forever.


WHY get a Tivo? NOT everyone wants to time shift or record a program. Can't you just answer the question? I am planning to replace a receiver and it won't be a Tivo because extra cost to have it, 4.99 a month (Total choice package).

[beegfoot]

Hey, Jason. All of us that got TiVo just get completely spoiled by it, and start bugging everyone we see to get one as well. I got one and soon my wife made me get her one too.

I just replaced my Hughes GAEB0 receiver with the new HBH-SA, and it's a great receiver. Find a local dealer to buy your receiver who can also service it should you have problems. Find out if he's a Hughes Service Center. Keep your E-series as a backup. The E GOld was a very dependable receiver.