[HarleyD]

I'm thinking about adding an AM21 to my R22, but I'm not sure whether that would require a 2 year commitment or not.

I'm currently out of my contract and I'm not going to re-up for 2 more years just to add an AM21.

I'm being offered an HD-DVR for $99 at the DirecTV web site and I'd do that first and then buy the AM21 from Solid Signal afterward if the AM21 entails a 2 year commitment.

Nothing on Solid Signals site says anything about a 2 year commitment being required on the AM21 listing, and it does have that disclaimer on all the STBs but I thought I'd double check here first.

 

[veryoldschool]

You're buying an accessory so no commitment.

 

[wahooq]

AM21 - no...HDDVR- yes 24 month commitment

 

[HarleyD]

AM21 - no...HDDVR- yes 24 month commitment

HDDVR...worth it.

AM21...not so much.

Thank you gentlemen. I think I'm going to go buy that now.

 

[ThomasM]

No new commitment by purchasing an AM-21 and you'll get a big surprise when you hook it up. You can now record all your locals IN HD on your R22 by picking them up over the air with your AM-21. Plus, you will probably also be able to view and record many of the subchannels offered by your local stations.

 

[wilbur_the_goose]

ThomasM - not quite. Here in Philly, D* only "allows" 80% of the locals to appear on my D* boxes. It stinks, but that's the choice D* has made.

Apparently, this is very common in many DMAs.

 

[HarleyD]

No new commitment by purchasing an AM-21 and you'll get a big surprise when you hook it up. You can now record all your locals IN HD on your R22 by picking them up over the air with your AM-21. Plus, you will probably also be able to view and record many of the subchannels offered by your local stations.

Not a surprise at all.

In fact, that's kind of the point in buying it.

 

[hasan]

ThomasM - not quite. Here in Philly, D* only "allows" 80% of the locals to appear on my D* boxes. It stinks, but that's the choice D* has made.

Apparently, this is very common in many DMAs.

If you had an HMC or HR-34 and an AM21, you would get all the locals that your antenna would permit the AM21 to see, because the HR-34 actually scans for OTA channels and combines the results of the scan with the "database" all the rest of us use. There is no programming detail available for scanned channels, but you can manually record any of the available timeslots.

I have heard nothing positive about this capability being added to the other models, (nor would I hold my breath), but the HR34 does it (with the AM21).

 

[dod1450]

AM21 - no...HDDVR- yes 24 month commitment

The nice thing about the AM-21 you can continue using it with your new HD receiver if you choose to upgrade.

 

[wilbur_the_goose]

If you use an AM-21 on, say, an HR20-700, you'll only get a snippet of your locals.

 

[bwaldron]

If you use an AM-21 on, say, an HR20-700, you'll only get a snippet of your locals.

Why would you try to use an AM-21 on an HR20-700 with OTA built in?

 

[hasan]

Why would you try to use an AM-21 on an HR20-700 with OTA built in?

Good question, because it's not possible. It's obvious all these different model numbers cause confusion to most of us, at least some of the time.

 

[iceturkee]

it didn't for me.

 

[CCarncross]

To be completely fair, there are some markets that may have some minor OTA stations that you can't tune in because they don't exist in Directv's locals database for that DMA...and currently the HR34's paired with AM21's will allow you to receive all channels that your antenna can pull in but you won't have guide data for channels that D* doesnt carry in that market. Don't let the bitter skewed comments of a few scare you off. In the Lansing, MI DMA, I get 100% of the available OTA channels in my guide, and many others can say the same thing.