HR10-250 Review

HR10-250 High Definition DirecTV Receiver With Tivo

Review By Chris Blount, DBSTalk Administrator
©Copyright 2004 www.DBSTalk.com, All Rights Reserved.
May 12, 2004 (see updates here - Last Update May 15, 2005)

Introduction

Welcome to my review of the HR10-250 High Definition (HD) DirecTV receiver with Tivo. This receiver is arguably the best HD Digital Video Recorder (DVR) currently on the market. It's stable, feature packed and worth every penny. As most of you know, I was a happy Dish Network customer all the way up to November of 2003. When I saw what was happening with Dish and their DVR-921, I decided to jump ship and wait for the HR10-250 meanwhile enjoying my Hughes Standard Definition Tivo.

I'm happy to report that I made the right decision. The HR10-250 is not only an excellent receiver, but just as reliable as any of the standard DirecTV DVR receivers. But I guess I'm getting ahead of myself so lets begin.

First, a little about the equipment I will be using for this review. My HDTV monitor is the Toshiba TW56X81. It's 3 years old but still works quite well. Since it doesn't have any DVI inputs (sorry), I will only be using the component video connections.

Instead of re-inventing the wheel here, I'm going to refer you to other sources for basic info about the HR10-250. First, the specification sheets can be found HERE and HERE. To download the entire users manual in PDF format, CLICK HERE. Warning! The users manual is 10MB so dialup users beware. Lastly, most of the on-screen menus of the HR10-250 are the same as the regular standard definition Tivo so to save time and space, you can view some screenshots of the Tivo menus HERE. For this review, I will post brand new screenshots of menus that are unique to this receiver which are mainly the HD and Off The Air (OTA) functions.

Physical Characteristics

Here are some pictures I took the day the HR10-250 was delivered showing the box and what you find when it's opened.

This is the entire contents of the box minus the access card (forgot it was still in the box). The box contained the HR10-250, power cable, users manual, component cables, S-Video cable, HDMI-to-DVI cable, HDMI cable, A/V cables, phone cable, phone line splitter, remote and batteries.

Here are some general pics and close-ups of the front and back panel. Notice the "Format" button on the front panel allowing easy switching of output modes (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i).

The remote is the standard "Peanut" remote. The only difference is the "Window" button which has been replaced with the "Ratio" button (more about that later).

Since I already had another DirecTV Standard Definition (SD) Tivo installed, I simply removed the old receiver and replaced it with the HR10-250 hooked up to my Phase 3 triple LNB dish. I will also be using the optical audio output which will be connected to my Pioneer VSX-D812 A/V receiver. This picture shows both the Hughes SD Tivo and the HR10-250 together. Not much of a difference eh?

Specifications

Records up to 30 hours of high-definition programming or up to 200 hours of standard definition programming using a 250GB hard drive.

• Access high definition and standard definition programming, as well as off-air ATSC digital broadcasts from one receiver in digital form on an internal hard disk drive.

• 30-minute buffer of live programming.

• Random access to titled programming

• Digital accurate fast forward, rewind, slow motion, frame forward, I-frame back and high-quality freeze frame.

• Instant replay of live or recorded programs

• 4 Total Tuners: (2) Satellite Receiver Inputs (2) Off-Air ATSC HD Tuners

• HDMI interface

• Digital Audio output

Operation

Installation of the HR10-250 was straightforward and pretty much follows the same routine as the SD Tivo. My only advice is to be absolutely sure that you enter your ZIP code. This allows the system to figure out where you live so the proper local guide data can get downloaded. This becomes very important especially for local OTA digital. Also make sure you have inserted the access card before calling DirecTV. What was interesting to me is that while activating the receiver, the Customer Service Representative (CSR) told me that the HR10-250 is NOT a Hughes receiver. She said it was made by DirecTV. Hmm.

Another thing that should be noted is that over the first couple of days, the HR10-250 will act a little sluggish while navigating the menus. This is normal. I've had my unit in operation for almost 24 hours and it's already beginning to show a marked improvement in speed.

After installation and activation, I went right into the "Settings" menu. You will notice a new menu selection called "Satellite & Off-Air Antenna". When that is selected, you find yourself at a screen also containing a new off-air testing option.

Here is the off-air testing screen. You can step through each channel by changing the number in the "Frequency" field. This is a great way to see how well you are receiving you local OTA digital stations. My previous HD receiver was the Dish 6000. In order for me to watch local OTA, I needed to install a rotator on my outdoor antenna to fine tune the incoming signals because the sensitivity on the 6000 was horrible. Apparently the HR10-250 has a much better OTA receiver. I was amazed that I could receive all local signals without having to re-point the antenna. Very cool!

The Video Settings screen now has new options to adjust letterbox color and aspect ratios.

Here are the closed captioning options. I tested this feature and it seems to work great. There are 8 font types with 8 color options. Some of the font types are very clean and easy to read.

Here is the letterbox color screen. This basically allows you to set what color you want in the blank fields when something is letterboxed on a 4X3 TV, or sideboxed on a 16X9 TV. You can choose either gray or black. I use gray myself. It's nice to have this option.

The Current Output Format screen allows you to change which format your TV can handle. This can also be changed directly from the front panel or using the Up Arrow key. When using the Up Arrow key to cycle through the output formats, the Up Arrow setup screen lets you pick which formats you want sent out to your monitor. Since my Toshiba can't handle 720p, I left it unchecked.

This is what you see when you switch output formats as mentioned above. A nice little graphic appears on the lower right corner showing which "mode" you are in.

The TV Aspect Ratio menu lets you choose which screen output you would like. On the HR10-250, this setting actually means something. It directly affects how the picture looks on certain monitors. When my Toshiba monitor is set in "full" mode with this setting in 16X9, all content is properly formatted so I don't need to constantly change the setting on the Toshiba.

The TV Aspect Correction is something I really like. Depending on how you have the TV Aspect Ratio set as mentioned above, will depend on how this function will work. In my case, it's very handy when I pipe a downconverted HD signal out to other TV's. At the push of a button (the "Ratio" button on the remote), I can easily change the output format to "full" (anamorphic) or "panel" (black or grey bars on the top and bottom).

The only problem is that there is no "Zoom" mode so if I'm watching something like "Enterprise" which is in letterbox format, I need to change the aspect ratio setting to 4:3 and then use the zoom function on my Toshiba to fill the 16X9 screen. Kind of a pain. What I ended up doing is just leaving the receiver in 4:3. I really hope that DirecTV and Tivo will add a Zoom function soon.

This pic shows that "Antenna In" is now part of the system test.

This is just a simple pic of the bottom time bar showing how it overlays onto a 4X3 letterboxed HD image. If this was on a 16X9 TV in full mode, there would be no black bars and the time bar would be overlayed farther up on the picture.

Here is a screenshot of the newly renamed "List Guide" (It used to be called the "Tivo Live Guide"). Notice how my local OTA digital stations are neatly integrated right into the listing (5-1, 5-2 etc). Very slick and immediately apparent as soon as the receiver begins downloading the guide information.

Now here is a screenshot of the grid style guide. All programming in HD is clearly marked. As on the SD Tivo, the guide is still very slow and cumbersome to navigate. I'm very surprised that DirecTV and Tivo didn't fix this problem.

Other Observations

As far as noise, I find the HR10-250 to be the quietest DVR I've ever had. Much quieter than Dish Network's Dishplayer, 501, 508, 721 and even my previous SD Tivo. I can barely hear the fan on the back and the hard drive is so quiet that I wondered if it was even working when I first plugged in the receiver.

Since I have never had any other HD receiver other than the Dish 6000, I can only compare the 6000 PQ to the HR10-250. Quite frankly I see NO difference in PQ quality between Dish and DirecTV HD channels. Granted, I've never had my TV professionally calibrated which could factor into the equation, but while watching DirecTV HD, I see no major artifact problems or PQ issues that could degrade the image quality.

Last night, I sat and watched some of my local OTA digital channels. After about 3 hours, I didn't see one single dropout or glitch. The HR10-250 seems to handle OTA very well so I can't be more pleased. Even with signal levels down in the 60's, the HR10-250 didn't have any problems.

While watching a recorded program in HD, the navigation functions work pretty much as fast as the SD Tivo. When I scan or skip forward or back, there is very little pause time. It's really quite amazing. As of this writing, the 30 second skip is still available and very easy to activate. While playing back a recording, hit the following keys on the remote: Select-Play-Select-3-0-Select. You will hear 3 tones which tell you the 30 second skip has been enabled.

It should be noted that the HR10-250 does NOT have simultaneous outputs from the composite and S-Video jacks while in any of the enhanced or high definition modes. What that means is that only the component or HDMI jacks are active while in 480p, 720p or 1080i.

Conclusion

I've only had the HR10-250 in operation for a short time but it's my summation that this unit rocks! It seems to do everything as advertised and works right out of the box without any major headaches. My total setup time was about 30 minutes and that includes making the activation call to DirecTV. As time goes on I will update this review as needed but in my opinion, if you have been sitting on the fence on whether or not to buy the HR10-250, I would say go for it!

If you would like to ask questions about what I have not covered in this review or would like clarification, I've setup a discussion thread on our forums HERE.

Updates

ADDED 5-15-04

	Is should be noted that the USB ports on the back of the HR10-250 have not been enabled. Supposedly, these ports will be "turned on" at some future date.
	The HR10-250 buffers only the local digital broadcasts while in standby mode. Satellite channels are NOT buffered while in standby.
	After installation, be sure to scan for any other local digital stations. My HR10-250 found a sub-channel in my area that was not listed on the guide. To scan for more local stations, go into the "Messages & Setup" menu and select "Settings". Then select "channels" then "Off-Air Channels" then "Scan for Off-Air Channels".
	As of this update, I still do not have channel logos available to me in the "Now Playing" list. Some other users are reporting that they do have channel logos. Apparently it's hit a miss with some receivers. I would imagine that the channel logos are downloaded during software upgrades so I may have to wait a while.
	If you notice on the back panel , there is NO RF output so if you want to use this receiver with older equipment or for a RF distribution system, you will need a RF modulator.

ADDED 5-17-04

I've added a screenshot of the grid style guide to show how HD programming is labeled. You can see that HERE.

As you can see in the picture of the back panel, there is only one OTA input. The HR10-250 has two OTA tuners but the single input is internally split to accommodate the two tuners. The tuners only receive digital broadcasts, NOT analog.

For the first five days of operation, the HR10-250 showed slow response time when navigating the menus and guides. On the sixth day, everything sped up to normal Tivo speed. All menus and guides are now just as quick as on my SD Tivo.

ADDED 9-18-04

After 4 months of good service, my HR10-250 died.

Starting about 4 weeks ago, I occasionally saw the unit slow to a crawl while navigating the menus. It happened only a few times so I chalked it up to just being a bad Tivo day. Then, about a week later, the receiver started freezing for a minute or two. This happened about every 4 days.

The problem then get worse. Last week I had to continuously do a complete power down/up cycle several times a day just to get it running again. At first I thought it may have been a heat problem but now I think the hard drive was failing.

I called DirecTV on Monday. After describing the problem, the CSR quickly ordered a replacement. No hoops to jump through, no fuss. Obviously I wasn't the only one to have this happen especially since this and other forums are buzzing with reports of HR10-250's failing.

I received the replacement last night and hooked everything up. No problems.

My old receiver had an April manufacture date. This new receiver is dated July. The only differences I have seen so far is that the menus and guides are MUCH faster. I also now have channel logos on the Now Playing list which I didn't have before. I still don't know if the HDMI output ever worked since I never used it.

I guess my advice right now is to keep a close eye on your HR10-250 after about 3-4 months of service. Apparently, many of them are breaking.

ADDED 5-15-05

Last week I lost yet another HR10-250. I came home from work and the hard drive was making loud clicking noises. I tried turning the unit on but all I got was the power up screen. After making a few calls, I was instructed by DirecTV and Circuit City to return the box to my local Circuit City store to exchange it under the extended warranty. They also told me not to take anything else. Just the box. No remote, cables or access card. I had no problems and before I knew it, I was on my way home with a new HR10-250. This will be my third box in 1 year. I advise anyone reading this to purchase an extended warranty for the HR10-250 at time of purchase. If you don't do that, at least go on the DirecTV protection plan after 1 year. You can read discussion about this problem HERE.

Back To The Equipment Reviews Page

	I've added a screenshot of the grid style guide to show how HD programming is labeled. You can see that HERE.
	As you can see in the picture of the back panel, there is only one OTA input. The HR10-250 has two OTA tuners but the single input is internally split to accommodate the two tuners. The tuners only receive digital broadcasts, NOT analog.
	For the first five days of operation, the HR10-250 showed slow response time when navigating the menus and guides. On the sixth day, everything sped up to normal Tivo speed. All menus and guides are now just as quick as on my SD Tivo.