HD DVR vs TIVO

[Rosenman69]

I used to be with DirecTV and I had a SD Tivo unit which I loved. After the hard drive crashed, I went to Comcast, and I have had ENOUGH of these POS Motorola HD DVR's! They are useless equipment!

Anyway, I'm probably gonna make the switch back but I was just curious of what everybody thought about the new (I guess they're somewhat new) HD DVR's. How's the interface? Do the menus navigate quick? Will they re-record Weeds on Wednesday after it recorded on Monday and I deleted it on Tuesday? etc....

Just curious, even though my mind is all but made up. I guess I'm just waiting for a CSR to comp the entire $299.......

Thanks guys!

 

[satgirl51]

I have 3 HR20 HD-DVR's and they work very well, when they first came out over a year ago they did have some issues but they are really nice receivers now after many software upgrades, I still have 1 tivo which i do like but the new recievers are much faster. You can schedule recording via your computer and cellphone and unlike tivo it doesn't have to be an hour or so in advance. If you have a show that you want to record just go to the the website on you cell phone and record the program, it usually starts recording a matter of seconds, and is done via satellite so no phone line or internet required. VOD is also available right now with a CE download, and will be national soon, it does require a highspeed internet connection

 

[stogie5150]

After living with the HR20 for six months, I am sending it back. Its no TIVO. If you are expecting TIVO, the HR20 is NO TIVO. In no shape, matter, or form. The HR20/R15 DVR's have driven me from Directv. I don't care HOW many HD channels they have. Some folks like the HR20, you may be one of them. I don't. D* took a great piece that they had and totally destroyed it.

It has ugly graphics, totally disjointed menus and absolutely counterintutive ways of doing things if you are used to TIVO.

Oh, and NO DLB, either. And they have NO plans to add it, either.

One man's opinion. I am sure someone will come along that loves it as much as I dislike it. We're all different.

 

[bgothard72]

Is there a website explaining how to program a HR20-100 from your computer or cell? Any instructions you can give here? THaNKS!

 

[HDhysteria]

it's called remote booking and has threads discussing it here and at dbstalk. Whenever I try to logon, the message states it is in beta and will be available soon. My guess is if you are on a CE release of software it is available now.

 

[ONUOsFan]

it's called remote booking and has threads discussing it here and at dbstalk. Whenever I try to logon, the message states it is in beta and will be available soon. My guess is if you are on a CE release of software it is available now.

Right. Remote booking and VOD are both only available on CE as of now.

 

[smoking_rubber]

Ce?

 

[ONUOsFan]

Ce?

http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-cutting-edge-ce-discussion-forum/

 

[mmach]

I only have a sec, but.... we had standard def DirecTivo for about 3 years and totally loved it. Switched to HR20 about 2 months ago. Yes, it has its quirks. It only has 1 live TV buffer, etc. And it definitely has more glitches/hiccups than the Tivo did, like sometimes it takes me a few tries to get a recorded program to play. The bad one was that soon after I got it once, for no known reason, all of my recorded shows disappeared. Thankfully that hasn't happened again (if it does I'll probably change my tune about whether I like the box).

But overall I have to say I'm satisfied with it and don't regret the change. Going through menus on the HR20 is actually faster than on the DirecTivo. And I'm not finding anything the DirecTivo had that the HR20 doesn't that I can't live without. And, it's HD! One thing I really like about the HR20 (which you probably know about) is it's so much easier to add storage space since you can do it using an external drive.

Hope that helps.

 

[paulsown]

After living with the HR20 for six months, I am sending it back. Its no TIVO. If you are expecting TIVO, the HR20 is NO TIVO. In no shape, matter, or form. The HR20/R15 DVR's have driven me from Directv. I don't care HOW many HD channels they have. Some folks like the HR20, you may be one of them. I don't. D* took a great piece that they had and totally destroyed it.

It has ugly graphics, totally disjointed menus and absolutely counterintutive ways of doing things if you are used to TIVO.

Oh, and NO DLB, either. And they have NO plans to add it, either.

One man's opinion. I am sure someone will come along that loves it as much as I dislike it. We're all different.

I always thought that the Tivo units were how you describe the HR20. And, I really hated the noise it made when you pushed a button. UGH. I love my HR20, especially now that it is stable. I have had four different DVR's (Dish Network, Addelphia (Moxie, talk about unstable), H10-250 Tivo unit, and the HR20. I could not stand the Tivo. It was hard to use and seemed like a step back compared to the others.

 

[Rosenman69]

Thanks guys.

It seems that for the most part, the HR20 is a good unit. Like all equipment, it has it's quirks and it's haters. I think I'll give it a shot!

 

[joeya]

I only have a sec, but.... we had standard def DirecTivo for about 3 years and totally loved it. Switched to HR20 about 2 months ago. Yes, it has its quirks. It only has 1 live TV buffer, etc. And it definitely has more glitches/hiccups than the Tivo did, like sometimes it takes me a few tries to get a recorded program to play. The bad one was that soon after I got it once, for no known reason, all of my recorded shows disappeared. Thankfully that hasn't happened again (if it does I'll probably change my tune about whether I like the box).

But overall I have to say I'm satisfied with it and don't regret the change. Going through menus on the HR20 is actually faster than on the DirecTivo. And I'm not finding anything the DirecTivo had that the HR20 doesn't that I can't live without. And, it's HD! One thing I really like about the HR20 (which you probably know about) is it's so much easier to add storage space since you can do it using an external drive.

Hope that helps.

When u have time, could u expand a bit on adding capacity via an xternal drive?

 

[HDhysteria]

buy an external drive such as a seagate esata 750gb, buy cable, power off hr20, attach cables (power and Esata) power up esata drive, power up hr20, DONE

 

[Aridon]

I've used Tivo, dish and the HR20. Don't get me wrong out of those the best unit was probably the Dish or Tivo box, both are very close but the HR20 is no slouch either. Sure it has a raw feeling to it sometimes but there are moments that it really shines and it does perform the tasks at hand very well. If you are the type to sit there and mourn the loss of your Tivo by all means stick with it until the company is bankrupt and service get shut down you might not be happy with any other DVR. If you can learn new things without wanting to go back to dry humping your Tivo then you'll do just fine with the HR20. Its not Tivo so don't expect it to look like one. It is a very functional and nice DVR, especially when compared to some of the crap cable companies are using. Just expect to spend some time getting acquainted with it.