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Is the Direct Tv hr 20 hd dvr truelly better than my old Hughes HD tivo 10-250

3K views 37 replies 27 participants last post by  eddy13 
#1 ·
Also my other question is I have seen numerous bad reviews for this new direct tv hd receiver... Ive heard alot of locking up , freezing and people having to go through 3 or 4 swap outs.. Is this receiver better or worse than the hughes hd tivo receiver that I currently have...
Ive heard alot of problems with this new direct tv hd dvr.. I currently called today and ordered my upgrade they told me tta I had to commit for 2 years.... I am moving my older hughes hd tivo to the bed room for the time beeing.... I would hate to have a faulty direct tv hd dvr...
 
#2 ·
There has been a lot of bad things said about this system, mostly growing pains. The HR20 is D* first try at a HDDVR. Yes there have been problems, and your going to get mixed oppions even here. Some of us at this point would throw the old TiVo out the window (or sell it). Others would give anything to get there hands on the good old TiVo.

I for one have been very pleased with my HR20-700, it has been almost flawless. I say almost becouse there have been problems, mostly in the past. The ones I have now appear to be more weather realated. I can say that I do trust the system to do what it is asked to do and get the job done. D* wants this to be the best DVR out there and has been inproveing it by leaps and bounds now.

The GUI will take a bit to become useto from the TiVo and, I dont think meny people love the remote. Other wise I like the system. This thread should help with TiVo lag.http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=72648

Good Luck with your new system. I hope you will be as inpressed with it as I have been.
 
#3 ·
I have had an HR20 for about 3 months and my experience Drewg5, which is mostly positive. I have not had any problems. There are always small changes that are constantly made but overall the box is working well. I hope that the black HD-DVR makes a come back. I heard D* has scrapped the black version for now because of issues with the paint job. O well
 
#7 ·
I have had a series 2 stand alone TiVo, 4 Directv SD TiVo's and a Hr10-250 and I loved TiVo for a long time and was so mad when I heard Directv was going to stop using them at some point and was going with their own DVR's. I got my first 2 HR20's in September and had a lot of problems at first. I got another HR20 a couple of weeks ago and I am working on getting 2 more. At this point I do not miss TiVo at all and I actually like the HR20 much better.

I have not had any major problems since about 5 months ago and very few minor problems. I believe this system may be on the way to being the best DVR ever made once they add a few things. Just my opinion everyone.
 
#8 ·
I have had the HDR20-100s for about a month and have several DIRECTV TIVO DVR's including the HDR10-250. I found the HDR20-100s to be easy to used and the interface to be somewhat different then the TIVO interface. Easy to learn once you understand the tricks listed on the DBSTalk forum. My unit has been rock solid and does the job for my needs. I especially like the ability to add a large external ESATA external disk drive by plugging in a cable to the back of the unit. However, I never let TIVO choose programs for me and this may have influce my thoughts.
Mike
 
#9 ·
The HR20 is usable and fairly reliable these days, but the HR10-250 was much better dealing with wishlists, series recordings, suggestions, and of course it has dual live buffers.

Here's one example... we like to record kids shows for my 7 year old daughter, but the shows repeat too often and the recorder is basically in constant use sucking these in. So we set up a manual recording, but unfortunately these shows seem to move around often so that breaks. In addition there's no way to tell the hr20 to stop recording once it reaches the series limit. So if we tell it to keep only 5, even after it has 5, it just keeps on recording new shows and throwing away the old ones. We just want 5 shows, not the latest 5 shows.

All of this was handled trivially with the HR10 by just clicking some thumbs ups on the shows she likes. It consumed only free space. If we wanted to watch something while it was recording a suggestion it switched over as-if it hadn't been dong anything. It worked great.

Which isn't to say that suggestions are the only solution, but there just need to be more flexibility in how series records work. There should be an option to limit how often it records (I don't want 12 episodes of sportscenter, but I prefer the one at say 3am), and there should be an option to stop recording until an old episode is deleted.

On the other hand, the HR20 receives the MPEG4 programming, it has become more reliable and has some nifty hardware features like support for native output and simultaneous output on all connectors, so my HR10 is dead and gone ... but not forgotten.

The simultaneous output capability is neat if you want to hook up multiple tv's to your DVR, or you want to hook up a VCR or DVD recorder. The HR10 could only do that if you switched it first to 480i mode - which we worked around by connecting a HD matrix switch; but thanks to the new feature we can keep our two HR20's side by side and pipe the S-Video output to the other TVs in the house.
 
#10 ·
The TIVO HR10-250 has a valuable feature that the HR20 does not--a reliable recording feature. Since I've owned the HR10-250, I've had no trouble at all. The HR20 is prone to freeze ups, and even loses the volume if it goes into standby on an MPEG 2 Channel with my Sony LCD. Even after all of the software "fixes" since last September, the HR20 still does not function properly.

Directv made a big mistake abandoning the reliable TIVO.
 
#12 ·
the HR10 will be obsolete in the near future as will the H10. Once D10 & D11 are up and running and beaming down the new MPEG4 HD channels, the HR10 will be good only recording OTA HD and those few HD channels that remain MPEG2 until they are moved to the new sats . Then there will no choice but to switch to the HR20/H20 if you want HD content from D*
 
#13 ·
Hi guys, my first post. Was just wondering about peoples experiences "upgrading" to the HR20 with regards to how much they are paying for it from DirecTV. I called and asked for the HR20 and new dish, lady on phone said $19.99 plus tax. Sounded good, and I was keeping my HR-10. Installer came with the H20. Called DirecTV and they offered HR20 for $199, I decided to wait.

Is that the standard deal now, or are some getting better? Maybe worth waiting to see if they'll offer free swapouts when the new MPEG4 channels are up?
 
#14 ·
convem24 said:
I heard D* has scrapped the black version for now because of issues with the paint job. O well
Where in the world did you hear that?
As that is just rediculously absurd...

Simply put, they did one production of the Black HR20's and after reviewing it, decided they want to keep it at a standard silver.
 
#15 ·
If you get a bad one then just get a replacement. Also get the $5.99 protection plan so you will be worry free. I just got a bad one at CC two weeks ago it was replaced with an HR20-100 and it's working fine. No charge. My other 2 are 700s and they are good too.
 
#16 ·
GregE said:
Hi guys, my first post. Was just wondering about peoples experiences "upgrading" to the HR20 with regards to how much they are paying for it from DirecTV. I called and asked for the HR20 and new dish, lady on phone said $19.99 plus tax. Sounded good, and I was keeping my HR-10. Installer came with the H20. Called DirecTV and they offered HR20 for $199, I decided to wait.

Is that the standard deal now, or are some getting better? Maybe worth waiting to see if they'll offer free swapouts when the new MPEG4 channels are up?
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=62089
 
#17 ·
It would probably best best to just head to the last page of the thread that litzdog provided the link for, Greg, because you'll see what's currently being offered.

Welcome, btw.
 
#18 ·
After 1 week without Tivo after having only Tivo for 6 or 7 years..... I say yes.

The only things I miss about Tivo are:
  1. Dual Live Buffers.​
  2. No Suggestions.​
  3. Remote Control ergonomics.​
Dual buffers isn't that big of a deal when you read the workarounds.

Suggestions, well... I kinda liked finding "gems' that Tivo thought I would like... even if they were 1 in 50 programs it picked for me.

I got used to the Peanut remote over the years, but I'll learn to get used to the new one.

Overall, no big deal considering the fact that I gained MPEG4.

Things I don't miss:​
  1. Waiting 2+ years for software updates that still don't update you to the features of the Series 2 receiver that had been out for YEARS.​
  2. Having a Tivo unit with non-working HDMI (3 units sent to me by Directv)​
  3. Having the Tivo randomly keep the "Press Thumbs Up to Record" stay on for an entire show after the commercial ended.​

Cheers.​
 
#19 ·
halfmoon said:
After 1 week without Tivo after having only Tivo for 6 or 7 years..... I say yes.

The only things I miss about Tivo are:
  1. Dual Live Buffers.​
  2. No Suggestions.​
  3. Remote Control ergonomics.​
Dual buffers isn't that big of a deal when you read the workarounds.

Suggestions, well... I kinda liked finding "gems' that Tivo thought I would like... even if they were 1 in 50 programs it picked for me.

I got used to the Peanut remote over the years, but I'll learn to get used to the new one.

Overall, no big deal considering the fact that I gained MPEG4.

Things I don't miss:​
  1. Waiting 2+ years for software updates that still don't update you to the features of the Series 2 receiver that had been out for YEARS.​
  2. Having a Tivo unit with non-working HDMI (3 units sent to me by Directv)​
  3. Having the Tivo randomly keep the "Press Thumbs Up to Record" stay on for an entire show after the commercial ended.​

Cheers.​
Harmony makes a few peanut remotes that will fit your needs.
Searh for "Harmony" here and you will see all kinds of ideas.
 
#22 ·
CousCous said:
I haven't missed a recording in months. My grandma misses them all the time with her HR10 though. Go figure.

This myth about the HR20 missing more recordings than the Tivo units doesn't hold water.
Yes, unfortunately it does. I've missed plenty lately and no one at D can explain...or even attempts to explain...what the error(s) might be.

I've had Tivo in the past...and I enjoyed some of the features. The box D sells doesn't have to be Tivo to make me happy though. The HR20 has some nice features as well.

It does have to work better than it does. It would also be nice if they had some of the features like HomeNet and the new sharing video files between remote boxes that Tivo is advertising.

I also miss the Suggestions feature.

Mostly, though...I miss having a system I can truly depend on to record what I want. I know some will deny it happens or blame it on everything but the box. Yes, it had gotten better until the last patch but it's still not there.

Hey, I believe some don't have problems...but quite a few do.

I'm sure Tivo has bugs as well...although my T60 was far more reliable than the HR 20 at recording and playing back programs. Other than weather related sat failure (hurricanes will do that) I don't recall ever missing a program with that unit.

Anyway...to me it's not about HR20 vs Tivo it's the HR20 not performing up to expectations as well as it not meeting the feature list that D stated it would have.

Remember with the commitment an HR20 costs the average D subscriber about $2,000 (avg bill of 75/month and 300 for the HR20)...people should know there are potential problems and missing features beforehand.
 
#23 ·
I've missed on recording in the eight months I've had the HR20, and that happened the same night as a software upgrade.

The machine was buggy at first, but particularly the last three months I don't recall having had to to a RBR once. I wasn't particularly wedded to the TiVo format and am reasonably happy with the HR20. I do miss the dual live buffers but have adjusted to life without them.
 
#25 ·
GregE said:
Thanks for the link. Interesting how some people ARE getting the HR20 for $19.95, or even free, but I was quoted $199. The inconsistency of how DirecTV treats its customers is one thing that I really hate. :mad:
I would imagine the ones that are getting those deals are "A" list customers who
have not upgraded in a while and carry the more expensive packages.The things that a Directv subscriber must consider is:How long have I been a customer,When
was the last time I upgraded?.Do I pay my bill on time,What package(s) do I subscribe to?.I believe when you take all those into consideration you will understand why certain subscribers are offered which deals,because believe me Directv definately takes all that into consideration when offering deals.:rolleyes:
 
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