Would you recommend HR20 to friend?

[inbloom]

Okay just by virtue of participating in this forum I would argue that we are more technically sophisticated then the average television user and as such probably play a role in advising the less technical in our lives about what technologies they should adopt. My question to you is knowing what you know today would you recommend an HR20 to your parents, brother, co-worker (the average TV viewer in your life)?

[dallascontractor]

As long as it does not cost in setup fees. $99 would be the limit

[Doug Brott]

Yes, and I have.

[Tom Robertson]

I'd give my standard recommendation:
1) get it when the price is right
2) keep backup technology in place
3) it is the long-term future direction

Cheers,
Tom

[veryoldschool]

I guess I "wold" with disclaimers. :grin:

[jlancaster]

two installations this week because of recommendations family though does that count?

[veryoldschool]

two installations this week because of recommendations family though does that count?
I guess this would depend on whether you like them or not.:rolleyes:

[jlancaster]

mother in law......

[oldschoolecw]

I would absolutely have to recommend it even with all it’s flaws it has a very bright future as a newspaper weight if all else fails.

[mtk67]

I cannot recommend it because it is just not a stable unit yet. Parents (non-techie) have cable with dvr that works reliably, though I would argue is not the most feature-rich dvr out there today. Brothers (very 'techie') have D* with SD Tivo and/or the HR10-250. The HR10 has had it's share of problems over the years (biggest problem was how slow it was) but it never failed to record a program or locked up on any of us.

Problems that need to be fixed before I would recommend the HR20 include:
- Lockups/freezes - they are just way too frequent
- Unreliable at recording scheduled programs
- Audio/video sync problems on playback

These have all been well-documented in these forums so I don't think they need additional explanation here. One last point is that there are not enough HD channels that you can get on this that you can't already get on the HR10-250 with the 3lnb dish. Hopefully, as that changes later this year, many of the technical problems will have been fixed as well. Until then, the answer will be 'no'.

[jal]

I could not recommend it unless the person to whom the recommendation was made was fairly astute with working with inconsistently performing equipment. Further, at least in my area, Time Warner Cable offers their HD-DVR at no up front cost, and $7.95 per month. With Directv, if you have more than 1 receiver, you get the $4.99 lease fee and the $5.95 DVR fee. Since the HR20 is not TIVO, there's really not much difference between the HR20 and what Time Warner offers at no up front cost, and for most, at a lower monthly cost.

[Tom Robertson]

I could not recommend it unless the person to whom the recommendation was made was fairly astute with working with inconsistently performing equipment. Further, at least in my area, Time Warner Cable offers their HD-DVR at no up front cost, and $7.95 per month. With Directv, if you have more than 1 receiver, you get the $4.99 lease fee and the $5.95 DVR fee. Since the HR20 is not TIVO, there's really not much difference between the HR20 and what Time Warner offers at no up front cost, and for most, at a lower monthly cost.

To be clear the $5.95 DVR service fee is only one per account not per DVR. The top Total choice package covers even the $5.95 DVR fee.

Cheers,
Tom

[Spanky_Partain]

Not only would I recommend it, I would tell him everything I know about it. This would certainly give him the knowledge so when he placed his order, he could get a good deal like others have reported. I paid full price and I really don't have any issues so I can't even complain and try to squeeze a better deal.

[DblD_Indy]

Not until DLB is active and unit is more stable. Till then I would send them here first:

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2 F&fkr=1&from=R8&satitle=HR10-250&category0=

Most are upgrading from D*TIVO to HD, I would think this is more of a change then most consumers would expect in an upgrade.

[Clint Lamor]

I have recommended it to a couple of friends who now have it and are satisfied with it. One had a couple issues while he was out of town but his wife said they just cleared themselves up and all was back to normal again.

[islesfan]

Many of my friends look to me for tech assistance. I couldn't, in good conscience, recommend the HR20 to anyone. Maybe, if they ever get it stabilized, I will recommend it, but it isn't there yet. Also, as unofficial neighborhood tech support, I would never have any free time if any of my friends got one of these. I would have to change my phone number!

[islesfan]

To be clear the $5.95 DVR service fee is only one per account not per DVR. The top Total choice package covers even the $5.95 DVR fee.

Cheers,
Tom

This is true, but you have to watch your bill. I had them re-connect my TiVo after my HR20 was installed and I discovered it was a box of rocks. They re-connected for free, and agreed not to charge me for the second receiver until the HR20 was ready for release (Yay! Free TiVo for life!!!). Anyway, they did charge me two DVR fees each month, and I had to call them to remove the secodn fee (at shich point, the polite and astute CSR :rolleyes: also DISCONNECTED MY TiVo service! So I had to call again to get that back online. There's three hours of my life I'll never get back!)

[shendley]

Yes, I would recommend it, but with reservations about potential problems and advice about not spending too much for it given the small (?) possibility of those problems being significant. As for me, I've only had occasional minor problems, easily fixed. So I like the darn box.

[Michael D'Angelo]

I have already got 4 people I know to get a HR20.

[hdtvfan0001]

I have a tribe of 15 now, of which 6 got based on my direct (no pun) recommendation. All but 1 are happy, but that has nothing to do with the HR20. :D

[carl6]

If they were already a DirecTV customer, and if they were planning to upgrade from SD to HD, I would recommend it with no problem at all.

If they were not a DirecTV customer, I would still recommend it, but I would give them a much more comprehensive explanation of what is available from different providers so they could make an informed decision. The HR20 would not be a reason to avoid DirecTV (i.e., it would not be a negative factor in considering DirecTV as far as I'm concerned).

Carl

[katesguy]

I would,, my wife would not. I find it an interesting challange. Wifey just B*tchs

[Drewg5]

The HR20 has given by far to many people for me to recommend it. Maybe once D* gets the bugs squashed and some of the other cool features working. You know the gotta have coolness crap.

[Stuart Sweet]

Three months ago I would have said no, but the one thing that changed my mind, is that we've now been told that all of the developers' resources are now squarely on bug/stability fixes. I think we're over the hump, and so I feel comfortable recommending it.

However, if the person was a Tivo lover, I would temper that by saying that you are going to have to embrace the new UI, you will never love this device if you continually compare it to something else. That's true of everything, from cars to relationships to even one's own self image.

[nikwax]

I wouldn't recommend one to someone that I liked, no. :nono:

[bret4]

No, not yet. It's getting better so maybe in the next month or so if updates keep going as good as the last for me I will be able to say yes.

[Dukie]

Although I have strongly recommended DTV in the past, the R15 and the HR20 have made me apprehensive.

Anybody that has a DirecTiVo and asks me about the HR20, I tell them to wait if they can. While I have hope for the DVR in future releases, it is not worth the headaches right now.

But if they must have a box that can record HD, are an existing customer, and want to watch "Nacho Libre", "An Inconvinient Truth", and "MIIII" in HD over and over and over and over....