Switching from E* to D* Equipment Recomendations

[burtom]

Hi this is my first post on the board:

I am going to be switching from Dish to D* soon and would like help on what equipment I should get. I would need 3 SD DVRs and 1 HD DVR. On the D* website I could not find any information about the various receivers they have. From what I have read here the R15 series would be the SD DVR and the HR20 and HR21 series would be the HD DVRs. Which models of receivers should I be trying to get when I talk to the csr? Also what is the difference between the regular 5LNB and the new Slimline if there is any?

Thanks For Any Input
DaBurt

[jwd45244]

The "regular" 5lnb is the slimline.

[Michael D'Angelo]

Hi this is my first post on the board:

I am going to be switching from Dish to D* soon and would like help on what equipment I should get. I would need 3 SD DVRs and 1 HD DVR. On the D* website I could not find any information about the various receivers they have. From what I have read here the R15 series would be the SD DVR and the HR20 and HR21 series would be the HD DVRs. Which models of receivers should I be trying to get when I talk to the csr? Also what is the difference between the regular 5LNB and the new Slimline if there is any?

Thanks For Any Input
DaBurt

:welcome_s to DBSTalk

The R15 is the SD DVR and the HR20 is the HD DVR. You will probably get a slimline dish but it you do get the old AT-9 5 LNB dish it does not matter. I have had one for about 15 months with no problems.

[LameLefty]

The only difference between the AT-9 ("Sidecar" they're calling it now) and Slimline is looks. Functionally they're the same.

You want the HR20 HD DVR and R15 SD DVRs. The R15 has a bad rep among long-time users because it went a LOOOONG time between software updates. Initially it was quite buggy but the newer software releases have been much, much better. Check out the Cutting Edge forum here and sign up to be notified when new software releases are made available on a limited basis - the CE releases for the R15 have been fantastic. When DirecTV identifies a really good CE release, they slowly roll it out nationally over the course of a few days to a few weeks - right now the recent CE release for the R15 makes it about perfect, I think.

As for the HR20/HR21 thing . . . the HR20 is a known, good, reliable product. There is reference to the HR21 on some DirecTV sites and stuff, but little is known about it and it's not known to be available or even when it might be.

[Tom Robertson]

Welcome to the forums, burtom! :welcome_s

Personally I think SD is dead, so I would get as many HR20s as I could (the only HD DVR today.) Alas, they often limit the number of discounted HR20s to new customers unless you are patient, polite, and persistent--you might get two at a discounted price, something less than $299.

The R15, SD DVR, you likely can get a couple more as I understand things these days.

The slimline is the 5lnb dish these days, so you'll be good that way.

Have fun!
Tom

[burtom]

Thanks everyone for the information and the welcome. I guess I was looking at the D* website and saw them reference the HR21 as an available option to get HD. Hey Tom GO PACK GO!

Thanks Again
DaBurt