Would D* send one out to Scott so he can test it or does he only get stuff from Dish to test?
DirecTV does not send me anything, if they would I would test it and give you my HONEST feelings. The HR34 sounds like a really exciting receiver and I can't wait to play with one.
I read the DBSTalk "Review" and I would consider it more of a spec sheet then a review. A review gives honest opinions on the product.
One thing you should notice is I kiss no companies ass... if you don't believe me go and read the review of the Logitech Revue box that DISH Network sent me.
If I review a product you will get my honest opinion on it... I dont want you buying something because I said it was the best thing ever since sliced bread then you get it home and find out its a piece of crap.
DBSTalk likes to tote the company lines for DIRECTV, its very rare that they actually report really satellite news there (hell there wasn't even a mention there or on their homepage about the DISH Network satellite launch 2 weeks ago.. but if it was a DIRECTV satellite being launched you could bet it would have been on the homepage and not just regular letters.... but
BIG LETTERS
Some at DIRECTV don't like us because we tell the truth... to be honest we are not here to please ANY satellite company. We are here to give you honest feedback on whats going on in the satellite industry to help you better decide how you spend your money. We are a website run BY CONSUMERS FOR CONSUMERS.
It is like this new Nomad thing (and I notice most of the negative comments on DBSTalk have been removed.) for me I can see it's use, but after watching the teases from the DBSTalk guys for over a year I was HIGHLY disappointed at what it actually does. However by the same time I imagine a lot of the functionality that we all were dreaming about was removed or altered to make the programmers happy. I think DIRECTV had a really good idea for the Nomad but most of those plans were squished by the programmers. I really do thing they wanted to make it better but their hands were tied.
With that said I would LOVE to test and review the HR34, it sounds to me like the most exciting satellite receiver ever released. It has most of what folks have been wishing for the past 5 years. DIRECTV have made some major strides in the past few years and their equipment and software have gotten better and better over time.
Now another things I want to make clear... you might notice DBSTalk saying they are the exclusive home of the CE program. This is 100% totally false. We run the CE program here with the permission of DIRECTV. As you know we use to get our CE news direct from DIRECTV, but over time they claimed it was too hard for them to coordinate to send notes to both sites (and obviously they would pick DBSTalk over us, not only because they are yes men... but also because the people who run the CE program are "former" DBSTalk staff members). With that said we have full permission from DIRECTV to copy and repost the CE notes here to SatelliteGuys.US.
A lot of our members have figured out SatelliteGuys is the home of the FRIENDLY CE program. Where you can participate and give your honest feedback about the CE program without worrying about upsetting the CE gods over at DBSTalk. (Heck if your worried about offending them create a new username here so they can't figure out who you are. I am told by DIRECTV that they do read the feedback here closely, which is smart of them because we allow our members to give unbiased opinions on things.
Now the entire time we have been doing the CE program there has only been ONE RULE of the CE program that has been told to us by DIRECTV, and that is if you download the CE and have an issue DO NOT CALL DIRECTV. I believe (and DIRECTV can correct me if I am wrong) that all the other CE rules from the other site are made up by the other site. So with that said the only thing we ask is that you do not call DIRECTV is you have an issue with the CE software.
So if you want to help us improve DIRECTV software (which is getting hard because the software has been so dang good lately!) feel free to be part of the Friendly CE here at SatelliteGuys.
I am sure a few of the DBSTalk lemmings will take exception to my comments about and say we are not part of the CE, my only reply I can give you on that is we are part of it, DIRECTV never asked us to stop and again only told us to get the release notes from DBSTalk. If DIRECTV hasnt had a problem with it in the past 3 years then you shouldn't either.
And now you know...