want to come back to Directv. what receiver?

obeythelaw2004 said:

I was considering coming back to Directv. Always liked it but got lured away more than a year ago with a cheap offer from cable. I have a Tivo which I'm willing to give up and reading reviews about the directv tivo, it just isn't the same so I was considering other dvr solution. I see a lot of talk about the HR34 which my understanding is the home media center. I would like to have a whole home dvr solution. I heard that Directv recently added Pandora to their receivers. Is this something available on the HR34? Are there drawbacks to getting this reciver over the regular DVR (which I believe is the HR24)?

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Currently Pandora is not part of the HR34, but I'm guessing it is in the works to go along with the HD interface that is coming soon, to match the HR2x receivers.

IMO, the HR34 is the way to go, with maybe another HR2X receiver or two if you want additional rooms.

One of the drawbacks of the HR34 is it's new and it's a bit buggy, so it's gonna take a little while to iron things out. However, IMO, the benefits of the 5 tuners and the PiP(if you are a sports fan, this is REALLY nice) outweigh the current issues.

One thing to keep in mind, when you are a "new" customer, they will give you some great deals, especially on things like the HR34 to get you in the door. If you decide to skip the HR34 now, and then decide you do want it later, as an existing customer, it will be a tougher to get a good deal on the upgrade.

What are your viewing habits? How many people in your house and how many different TVs are you normally watching?

Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah, they keeping mailing me things and emailing me to come back to Directv, so they are giving me a nice 2 year deal. The Pandora thing isn't a huge thing for me since I have an Apple TV and I can stream Pandora from my iphone or iPad onto my TV anyway. But it would be nice to not have to switch to the Apple tv or use my ipad or phone. Not a negative for me at this point. As for it being buggy, I know that is the norm for a new release. I guess I'm just concerned about it not recording things I have set it to record. I agree that if I don't go with the HR34 out of the gate, I will screw myself later on. They are offering if for $99.00. I would only have two more standard HD receivers. Since I already had Directv a couple of years ago, I still have the dish on the roof and the wires coming down from it so I suspect the installer won't have much to do.

trh said:

What are your viewing habits? How many people in your house and how many different TVs are you normally watching?

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It's just me and my wife. I have my main TV in my living room which is where we watch TV 90% of the time. In our bedroom I would have one HD box and I have a guest bedroom where I would have another HD box. We aren't big on premium channels since we have Netflix and Hulu and just watch some newer releases occasionally from iTunes. We like our reality TV. What can I say :lol:

But we would like the ability to record stuff in the living room and watch it in the bedroom.

With whole-home service, you can watch recordings from any DVR at any other DVR or receiver location in your home. So with two locations you could have any of the following options to accomplish this:
1. HR34 and an HD receiver.
2. HR24 and an HD receiver
3. Two HR24's

With option 1, you have 5 tuners total for recording, plus a sixth tuner for live viewing at the second tv.
With option 2, you have 2 tuners total for recording, plus a third tuner for live viewing at the econd tv.
With option 3, you have 4 tuners total for recording, two at each tv.

I refer to the HR24, but it could be any of the HR2x series (HR20, 21, 22, 23, 24).

carl6 said:

With whole-home service, you can watch recordings from any DVR at any other DVR or receiver location in your home. So with two locations you could have any of the following options to accomplish this:
1. HR34 and an HD receiver.
2. HR24 and an HD receiver
3. Two HR24's

With option 1, you have 5 tuners total for recording, plus a sixth tuner for live viewing at the second tv.
With option 2, you have 2 tuners total for recording, plus a third tuner for live viewing at the econd tv.
With option 3, you have 4 tuners total for recording, two at each tv.

I refer to the HR24, but it could be any of the HR2x series (HR20, 21, 22, 23, 24).

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What if I just went with an HR34 and two H25s? That is two non DVRs. I'm assuming I can just want recorded content on the HD non DVR receivers and just can't schedule or record stuff from them.

You can record from the H25 (to the HR34). If you just have one HR34 it will automatically select that DVR (we have multiple DVRs plus one H25, so when we select record from the H25, the menu shows us all our DVRs). And my wife (primary user of the H25) records most shows she watches on that box because then she can pause and rewind through 'live' TV. (now if I can only get her to delete those shows she has watched....)

So as long as you don't have any conflicts with "only" 5 recordings on the HR34, I'd go with the HR34 plus two H25s.

Good luck.

Definitely go with the HR34 for the advantages mentioned, 5 simultaneous recordings, PIP, plus a couple others. You get twice the recording capacity (1Tb vs 500Gb) and twice the number of series recordings that you can set up (100 vs 50). Since you only pay the DVR fee once per account, you might think about going with DVR's in the remote rooms (if the upfront is free or maybe $99).

With DVR's, you gain live buffering in the other rooms (w/o having to start a recording on the HR34 and then delete it), but lose the ability to set up recordings on the HR34 from the remote rooms. Although you gain being able to setup recording on those DVR's in the other rooms. And as you know, with WHDVR, you can watch recordings from any DVR/receiver. Plus, with 2 additional DVR's you would have double the storage capacity of having an HR34 with 2 HD receivers. So you could record all the reality shows you want!