If you add an HR10-250 you will NOT be able to get any of the satellite fed HD channels from DirecTV, you will only get local OTA channels. All of the HD channels now use mepg4 encoding which the Tivo DVRs are not capable of doing.
The HR2x series of DVR (HR20, HR21, etc.) are the only DVRs that are capable of receiving all of the mpeg4 HD channels. They are very stable and reliable DVRs, but as you note they have a totally different user interface than Tivo units. You can read thousands of posts on these forums, as well as others, about Tivo versus DirecTV - but the bottom line is if you want DirecTV HD, you don't have a choice (yet - a new Tivo HD DVR will be available late next year).
Carl
The HR2x series of DVR (HR20, HR21, etc.) are the only DVRs that are capable of receiving all of the mpeg4 HD channels. They are very stable and reliable DVRs, but as you note they have a totally different user interface than Tivo units. You can read thousands of posts on these forums, as well as others, about Tivo versus DirecTV - but the bottom line is if you want DirecTV HD, you don't have a choice (yet - a new Tivo HD DVR will be available late next year).
Carl