[lguvenoz]

As an early adopter of the HR20, I had an HR20-700 for nearly two years. It started out painful, but had been pretty solid until four months ago. Since then our HR20-700 became a nightmare once again. Chronic pixelation of all MPEG4 channels that made more than half of all recordings unwatchable.

DirecTV was finally willing to replace the unit about two weeks ago. In it's stead I received an HR21-100.

My first impressions are that this unit is vastly superior to the prior one. It has been rock solid since being setup. Playback seems better, and had only one very brief occurence of pixelation.

If there is one complaint it is that some of the menu response times seem slower, but those are pretty minor especially with our prime time shows coming back into new episodes. I prefer the reliability.

I was wondering if anyone else has had experience with both units, and if they have any thoughts on whether one unit or the other is better or more reliable.

 

[Grentz]

The slowness/quickness and many other issues are a moving target so to speak as they are constantly changing with firmware updates that come out pretty regularly for the HR2x platforms.

 

[MartyS]

I have one of each and they both work just fine. The only problem I have is that the OTA tuner in the HR20-700 isn't as sensitive as the AM-21 attached to my HR21 so I get more channels on the HR21 than I do on the HR20.

Otherwise, they work identically, both on NR's and on CE releases.

 

[lguvenoz]

The slowness/quickness and many other issues are a moving target so to speak as they are constantly changing with firmware updates that come out pretty regularly for the HR2x platforms.

Agree completely on that point. It sped up noticeably just after having been up for a day or two (my guess is the background guide data loading made it a bit slower).

 

[lguvenoz]

I have one of each and they both work just fine. The only problem I have is that the OTA tuner in the HR20-700 isn't as sensitive as the AM-21 attached to my HR21 so I get more channels on the HR21 than I do on the HR20.

Otherwise, they work identically, both on NR's and on CE releases.

That's good to know. The one thing I have wondered about is the reported issues with the HR20-700 in particular and it being highly susceptible to interference. It's strange.

I've been through a lot over the past two years with DirecTV and my HR20 so I kind of hated to let it go, but I've been way happier with my HR21 that, so far at least, makes HD a pleasure.

I've never had OTA hooked up on our unit so that's one point I can't compare. One other thing of note is that when checking signal strength on the HR21 the numbers are constant. On the old HR20 they tended to fluctuate 1-3 points just while sitting on the screen. Wonder if maybe the tuners were going bad???

 

[compac]

What about net working any opinions??? On what better w/21.

Any better deals expected w the hr21 now that the HR22 is on shelves?

tia

 

[BruceS]

I have one of each. Both are connected to the internet with no problems.

 

[JACKIEGAGA]

The slowness/quickness and many other issues are a moving target so to speak as they are constantly changing with firmware updates that come out pretty regularly for the HR2x platforms.

I have to disagree I have both and 21-100 always has a slow response to button pushes on the remote to 20-700. Other than the color they both work fine for me

 

[TomCat]

The reports seen on this and other forums tend to point to less reliability with the HR-21. Hard to quantify that, but that is what it appears to be, to me. Anecdotally, the only experience I have is with a HR20-700, which seems just fine to me. I can't imagine it being characterized as sluggish. It seems pretty peppy. Especially when compared to HR10's.

...One other thing of note is that when checking signal strength on the HR21 the numbers are constant. On the old HR20 they tended to fluctuate 1-3 points just while sitting on the screen. Wonder if maybe the tuners were going bad???

Speculation, I'll admit, but fluctuation may be simply a reponse to how well (or poorly) the tuner responds to multipath interference. There is always some, and can easily be a lot. The measure of the performance of an ATSC tuner is usually in how well it rejects multipath. The amazing change in that capability between generations of tuners is primarily due to improvement in that area. Possibly the new AM21 rejects it so well that there is no fluctuation.

If, on the other hand, you are speaking of the DVB tuners, I don't think things have improved much in that area, which has been pretty mature for some time. It could just be that the update time is slower on one model compared to the other, which is an arbitrary software setting that may have been manipulated to aid setup.

 

[lguvenoz]

The reports seen on this and other forums tend to point to less reliability with the HR-21. Hard to quantify that, but that is what it appears to be, to me. Anecdotally, the only experience I have is with a HR20-700, which seems just fine to me. I can't imagine it being characterized as sluggish. It seems pretty peppy. Especially when compared to HR10's.

Speculation, I'll admit, but fluctuation may be simply a reponse to how well (or poorly) the tuner responds to multipath interference. There is always some, and can easily be a lot. The measure of the performance of an ATSC tuner is usually in how well it rejects multipath. The amazing change in that capability between generations of tuners is primarily due to improvement in that area. Possibly the new AM21 rejects it so well that there is no fluctuation.

If, on the other hand, you are speaking of the DVB tuners, I don't think things have improved much in that area, which has been pretty mature for some time. It could just be that the update time is slower on one model compared to the other, which is an arbitrary software setting that may have been manipulated to aid setup.

I agree that the HR20 is pretty peppy. Most people had limited experience with the HR10 (my parents had one, and I deliberately waited for the next generation based upon my experience with it at their house). I was trying to say that I feel the HR21 is a bit slower.

In terms of the tuners, I was referring to the DVB tuners not ATSC. Seeing so much fluctuation was in part why I was proposing a failing tuner as a possibility. The strange thing was that is was across the board. Watching the signal strength screen was like a stock ticker. Various numbers just changing all the time.

DirecTV tech support's take was that I had a bad dish. Even though I saw this on my HR20 on the non-HD satellites, and no other receiver in my house saw anything remotely like it.

Our new HR21 is still very solid. Watched a ton of HD recordings tonight, and had our first minor glitches. They were only a second or two in one show, and could have easily been broadcast problems so I'm not too concerned. Certainly better than the crapshoot that our HR20 had become.

 

[spartanstew]

I have one of each and they both work just fine.

Ditto.

 

[RAD]

I have two HR20-700's and one HR21-100/AM21 and the HR20's blow the HR21 out of the water on UI performance. On the last CE release doing a 30 second skip near the end of a 1 hour program took over 7 seconds (started out fine and got slower and slower the farther into a program it goes). If you don't have a AM21 you don't see that problem probably, I only see it on ATSC/OTA recordings via the AM21.

Also when doing a DoD download the UI performance also slows down, something else that I don't see on the HR20's.

The UI speed has gotten better as the releases go along but still along way away from what the HR20's that I have can do.

 

[lguvenoz]

I have two HR20-700's and one HR21-100/AM21 and the HR20's blow the HR21 out of the water on UI performance. On the last CE release doing a 30 second skip near the end of a 1 hour program took over 7 seconds (started out fine and got slower and slower the farther into a program it goes). If you don't have a AM21 you don't see that problem probably, I only see it on ATSC/OTA recordings via the AM21.

Also when doing a DoD download the UI performance also slows down, something else that I don't see on the HR20's.

The UI speed has gotten better as the releases go along but still along way away from what the HR20's that I have can do.

I have seen that lag at the end of a recording on the HR21 that I don't recall on my HR20. I do not use an AM21 so I'm guessing that is probably part of it that you are seeing (I'm pretty certain an external device will introduce some latencies that an embedded one does not).

In general though I have to agree that my HR21 UI does not seem as crisp. I just want some stability from the unit though so I'm not going to complain too loudly so long as my shows record, and are watchable.