Lots of people complain about the up-front lease fee that they may have to pay for HD receivers/DVRs, noting that there are no such fees from the cable companies. They are always reminded that the cable companies typically charge about $15/month for a (crappy) DVR with a tiny hard drive, and that fee NEVER goes away.
<shrug>
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
<shrug>
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.