Hi Rich,
If you want to record what you want to watch later, the DVR-1100c is a good choice. I do enjoy mine.
The mods may want to break this off to a new thread and leave this one to Hard Drives.
That said, without looking at the information, the system with a single LNBF rather than the dual (2 bullets) would be great to motorize.
AND because I knew I wanted more than one receiver on at the same time, I upgraded to the dual bullet LNBF
http://www.glorystar.tv/p/shop/?ws_pid=429&ws_cat=433.
Since the side braces for the LNBF bracket were added, (in the package) the stability is very good and the dish is light enough for the motor. I believe there is a motorized package on the site -- at least there was on the parent company's site, SatelliteAV.
As far as adding stations to the receiver, it is not hard, at all, to scan and add satellites.
HTH,
POP