I'll clear a few things up, since I have 2 THR-22 (DirecTivos) as well as a Tivo Premiere (free lifeline Comcast with rent -- I kept the Tivo active for local subchannels and to watch CBC and for use as my Netflix/Hulu/Youtube box)
First off, it does do SWM -- so if you have a SWM switch, you'll be fine. Both mine are set up on single wires -- no issues there.
Secondly, as previously mentioned, it will not talk with the Genies or do whole home at all... it's basically a standalone box. It does do "On Demand" -- many people think the lack of "DirecTV Cinema" means the lack of On Demand -- I can't really tell what the difference is... It seems to have the exact same content as my old non-Tivo D* boxes. I think it just doesn't cache the shows from the satellite for instant playback (basically only the PPV's anyway) -- it has to download & buffer them just like everything else.
Compared to the Premiere, you lose all "third party" software -- no Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, Youtube etc... Your only access to streaming is what is provided by DirecTV On Demand.
As for being a "crippled" Tivo Box, it's crippled in the exact same ways as the old DirecTivo Series 2's; they couldn't get the third party software either. This is "technically" a Series 3 box, not a Series 4 (Premiere), so you don't get the same nice HD Menus (it is actually a custom software port over the HR22 hardware, but Tivo identifies it as a Series 3) -- it's all SD menus -- so any comparisons made to it should be done to Series 3, not Series 4 boxes -- you'll be permanently stuck at Tivo version 11. If you had an old HR10-250, your essentially looking at the exact same box, but with a higher capacity, faster processor, and On Demand abilities (and of course MPEG4 HD, which of course was the main point of this release in the first place)...
So no, don't expect this to be a Premiere... but I'm not going to say it's garbage. What I *will* say is that it is now 2 generations behind the current Tivo boxes (Roamios are Series 5, Premiere is Series 4) -- this is more along the lines of a "Tivo HD", with the same DirecTV restrictions that have been in every Tivo since they released them -- and that there are no signs that DirecTV has even thought about a replacement, so it's pretty much an orphan product.
That said, it was faster than any D* box until the HR24, and if you want a dead simple, rock solid DVR that does Suggestions w/ the thumbs up & down, actually lets you edit the "channels you get" (and pretends they don't even exist), love the Tivo remote, and don't really care about Whole Home service (or don't mind that it won't talk to your Genie), I say go for it.
Even with being outdated, I *still* find the software more pleasant to use, easier on the eyes, and the BIG one (for me) is that it lets you edit the "channels you get" (which on D* is never perfect for some reason--and they always include PPV channels regardless), obeys that list to the letter, and doesn't spring a bunch of movies and shows onto your list because they match a description, then you go to watch them and it's on a channel that you actually don't get, but it thinks you do (this happened to me a LOT on my non-Tivos and is why I changed to them as soon as they were released)... when I want to watch TV, I don't want to have to think about it -- and I really never have to when I'm using a Tivo. THAT is the main selling point -- not the extra features.
Would I love it if they released a Premiere or Roamio-based Tivo that had a faster processor and HD menus? Absolutely! Is it missing any "killer apps" for me? Nope... not any more than the old Series 2 DirecTivos... Unless your "killer app" is whole home--and mine is not--you should be completely happy.
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