[thestaton]

First time D* customer this week, and I'm not happy with the leased H-23. I'm curious if it's fine to send it back and replace it with a hr-22 I can pick up at one of the retail stores?

Or, how does it work if I pick up a owned HR-20 on eBay? Does it still stay owned or does it become leased?

If it becomes leased would it be covered under the protection plan?

 

[davring]

If there is something wrong with the H23, I'm sure D* will correct the situation. The HR20 and HR22 are both DVR's and as tuners they function the same as an H23 except they can record programs. What is it you don't like about the H23?

 

[thestaton]

The biggest deal breaker is the lack of any OTA integration. However I'm also not a fan of it's inability to correctly adjust the screen size for non HD feeds like my HR-21 is doing.

 

[joshjr]

Does the AM21 work with the H23? If so that is a better option then swapping to a new reciever.

 

[davring]

I have no experience with an H23 but I have used an H20, I always thought they worked the same. The only difference, to my knowledge, is the H20 does have an OTA tuner. H20's can adjust the format on SD broadcasts, I was sure the H23 could as well.

 

[davring]

Does the AM21 work with the H23? If so that is a better option then swapping to a new reciever.

The AM21 will only work with the HD DVR's at this time. I have read that they may make it compatible with the H23.

 

[Doug Brott]

Does the AM21 work with the H23? If so that is a better option then swapping to a new reciever.

The AM21 will only work with the HD DVR's at this time. I have read that they may make it compatible with the H23.

This is correct, at some point in the future, the H23 will be able to use the AM21 .. It is unknown when that will be.

 

[JLucPicard]

I'm sure DirecTV would be just fine with you returning your H23 and replacing it with an HD DVR that you "purchased" retail (still being a leased unit). You would either have to arrange for a second line to be run if there isn't one there already, or use the HD DVR with the limited capabilities resulting from only having one line connected.

I wouldn't expect any refund of the money you may have paid for the H23, though.

At this point I would avoid picking up an HR10-250 from anywhere since, even though it may wind up being owned versus leased (for whatever value that may hold for you), it will be unable to receive the vast majority of the current HD channels being provided by DirecTV, and eventually it won't be able to receive any of them. Unless you don't care about that and only intend to use it as an SD and OTA HD DVR.

 

[jdspencer]

Question to all.

Other than the price of the unit, why would anyone want a non-DVR receiver?

 

[Bronco70]

Question to all.

Other than the price of the unit, why would anyone want a non-DVR receiver?

Beats me. Perhaps some that have never had a DVR unit just doesn't realize what they can do for viewing convenience.

And now there is VOD, not that I find it all that exciting at this point

 

[rudeney]

Question to all.

Other than the price of the unit, why would anyone want a non-DVR receiver?

I'd have to say that other than cost, there really is no reason to use a non-DVR. We had an H20 in the kitchen, but my wife got tired of not being able to pause or watch recorded programs so I added another HR2o to the account for the kitchen. The H20 is now in the living room connected to the HT so it can be used as a third "live" tuner in case both the tuners on the HR20 are busy there. I also feed a 2nd TV from that system so it's sometimes possible we want to watch two different things and the H20 helps with that. Of course if D* would replace the H20 with a DVR for free, I'd take it!

 

[eakes]

I, for one, have absolutely no need for a DVR. I wouldn't want one if Directv offered to replace all my H20s and 21s (have six total) with DVRs for free. I really do not know what I would use one for, I don't watch movies and there are very few shows on TV I watch. If I miss an episode of one of the series I do watch, it will be repeated at some time. The main thing I watch is football - college and pro - five games at a time.

 

[JLucPicard]

I think you guys have pretty much hit on it. I'm guessing a lot of new customers are coming from cable where they had a receiver, so that's what they get when they go to satellite. They haven't had the DVR bug bite them, so they don't yet have the illness!

There will always be some, as evidenced by eakes, that will never (for now, anyway) go the DVR route.

On a monthly basis it can be $5.99 cheaper (if you don't have ANY DVRs). Me, I've got the illness - and I've got it bad. For me, cutting back was dropping from 7 HD DVRs down to 5. And I chose the two I deactivated based on the fact they were owned and I could just fire them up again in the future - nu muss, no fuss.

 

[dmurphy]

I think you guys have pretty much hit on it. I'm guessing a lot of new customers are coming from cable where they had a receiver, so that's what they get when they go to satellite. They haven't had the DVR bug bite them, so they don't yet have the illness!

There will always be some, as evidenced by eakes, that will never (for now, anyway) go the DVR route.

On a monthly basis it can be $5.99 cheaper (if you don't have ANY DVRs). Me, I've got the illness - and I've got it bad. For me, cutting back was dropping from 7 HD DVRs down to 5. And I chose the two I deactivated based on the fact they were owned and I could just fire them up again in the future - nu muss, no fuss.

Yeah, I've got DVR fever really bad too. It started with 1 DirecTiVo GXCEBOT. I paid $199 for the DVR "Lifetime" subscription immediately. Then I added two more GXCEBOT's. Then an HDVR2. Then an SD-DVR80. Then an HR10-250. Then the HR20-700 that replaced the HR10-250. Then some R15's. Then an R16. And an R22. The DTiVo's mostly got retired, but not all.

Haven't had a 'standard' receiver since 2001.

I have 7 receivers active right now. Mostly DVR+ boxes, but two DTiVo's continue through it all. Looking forward to DTiVo-NG (Next Generation).

Once you have a DVR, it's impossible to go back. I was actually thinking about it this morning... if DirecTV had a multi-room-DVR (such as FiOS has), would that suffice for me? The answer is a resounding "NO!!" Even though it would be nice to have recordings accessible from anywhere in the house, if the 'standard' receiver doesn't do Trick Play, it's useless to me.

I've been 100% DVR-enabled for 7 years now... I'm not going back.

 

[Bronco70]

Same here. Got a Sony SAT T-60 what, 9 years ago. That hooked me. I try to keep a few movies on the HDD as a backup in case the stuff from Netflix has the family groaning on weekend movie nights.

Have an HR-21 now but the deactivated 10-250 still has about 30 hours of unwatched material on it. So it stays in the rack.

But I do recall thinking many years ago when Replay or TiVo first launched, why would anyone need that? Let me count the reasons......

Joe

 

[jdspencer]

The main reason for having a DVR is convenience.
IOW, watching TV on your own schedule not the networks.

 

[trekologer]

I, for one, have absolutely no need for a DVR. I wouldn't want one if Directv offered to replace all my H20s and 21s (have six total) with DVRs for free. I really do not know what I would use one for, I don't watch movies and there are very few shows on TV I watch. If I miss an episode of one of the series I do watch, it will be repeated at some time. The main thing I watch is football - college and pro - five games at a time.

Seriously? I can't watch sports anymore without being able to pause/replay.

 

[Redlinetire]

Question to all.

Other than the price of the unit, why would anyone want a non-DVR receiver?

Considering how unreliable and unstable modern DVRs can be (from any provider) - it's actually nice option to have a unit that simply tunes to the channel you want - without having to pay a premium for functionality that doesn't work as advertised.

 

[jdspencer]

Pssst! All of the DVRs I've had have been very reliable.
Sony SAT-T60, Philips DSR6000, HR10-250 and HR20-100.

 

[dodge boy]

The AM21 will only work with the HD DVR's at this time. I have read that they may make it compatible with the H23.

It (the AM21) will also work with the R22 the SD DVR aswell...