What is the minimum expected from the HR20?

[slaz55]

I've been on this forum now for about 4 months now and after watching a great recording of Paul McCartney on sound stage PBS (OTA by the way) I started wondering isn't this what I ordered this unit for. So I thought I would ask the question seeing this forum has lost some focus (myself included) what is expected from the HR20.
For me it's

1- Deliver a good quality HD picture to the most expensive piece of equipment I have.
2- To accurately record and play back.
3- Deliver quality sound to the second most expensive piece of equipment.

I think it does all these things very well. I will add though as D* adds features to the HR20 they may have opened pandoras box, the menus and interface are not very good, the controls seem disfunctional and may never be fixed to everyones satisfaction. I just don't know if these added features compared to what this unit cost are worth switching service for. Don't get me wrong I'm not giving D* a pass by any means because they have touted this as thier flagship multimedia box, but maybe our expectations have been raised too high. I know everyone has a different opinion on what they expect but I think it's gotten worse as features are added. If it's these new features that are make or break I think maybe we should lower our expectations.

[Strejcek]

I agree with points 1-3. I disagree about the menus and interface. I personally feel the HR20 is a lot easier to use then the Tivo, especially when setting up series links to record; two quick presses of the record button as opposed to filing through several menus and please wait messages with the Tivo. And one other nice thing is that when the HR20 is working in the background, you can still watch TV with the P.I.G., whereas with Tivo, if your working with the box, no TV.

With regards to the multimedia features, they are new to the HR20 and as with all new gimmicks, it will take some time to work out all the kinks. It is my understanding that the HR20 will do video playback of video files from a computer once that feature is enabled, but for now we all just have to settle with pics and music; which, I believe the HR10 is unable to do.

[Tom Robertson]

1- Deliver a good quality HD picture to the most expensive piece of equipment I have.
2- To accurately record and play back.
3- Deliver quality sound to the second most expensive piece of equipment.

I think it does all these things very well.

Alas, everyone's mileage varies far too much. Without using "many", "most", "few", or other superlatives, I can say enough people have enough problems that Directv is working very hard on fixing it.

During the time periods that my HR20s have been stable, I've been satisfied--my non-tech wife isn't overwhelmed, the menus at least work, and it gets the job done. But I can't rely on it fully yet.

Maybe after tonight? :)
Tom