Potential new DirecTV customer Q: Is getting the Home Media Center and a HD DVR overkill?

[Silly Burrito]

I just went to DirecTV's site to price out a potential 2 year contract. It looks like with their deal now, I'd be able to get Choice Xtra for 50.99 for the first 12 months, then 65.99 for the last 12 months. If I use my dad's refer-a-friend code, I could save a bit more too. What really intrigues me is that I could get the HMC for $99, and then as a second receiver for the bedroom, I could get a HD DVR for another $99. From my calculations, that would give us seven tuners combined, correct? We don't watch a ton of TV in the back bedroom, but I'm wondering if having the extra DVR space is worth the extra $99. Plus, from what I see on DirecTV's site, you have to have a HD DVR to watch Video on Demand and Youtube.

I realize everyone's situation is different, but is there any reason not to just bite the bullet and get a HMC and HD DVR for the two receivers needed?

[Guardian]

i have 2 HD-DVRs. It's nice to have the added features and after you pay the additional fee up front it's not going to cost you any more per month than what a standard HD receiver would cost (as I understand it).

[SA Holly Springs GA]

I just went to DirecTV's site to price out a potential 2 year contract. It looks like with their deal now, I'd be able to get Choice Xtra for 50.99 for the first 12 months, then 65.99 for the last 12 months. If I use my dad's refer-a-friend code, I could save a bit more too. What really intrigues me is that I could get the HMC for $99, and then as a second receiver for the bedroom, I could get a HD DVR for another $99. From my calculations, that would give us seven tuners combined, correct? We don't watch a ton of TV in the back bedroom, but I'm wondering if having the extra DVR space is worth the extra $99. Plus, from what I see on DirecTV's site, you have to have a HD DVR to watch Video on Demand and Youtube.

I realize everyone's situation is different, but is there any reason not to just bite the bullet and get a HMC and HD DVR for the two receivers needed?

Save your 2nd 100 bucks unless you do some serious recording. There's slot of space on the 34. If you need more space in future then get an external HD for less than 99 bucks.

[Iceberg]

a word of advise...get whatever you THINK you need/want up front...because it will cost ya more in the long run after that. I learned that the hard way

[Iceberg]

If you need more space in future then get an external HD for less than 99 bucks.

That wouldnt work as the external hard drive overrides the internal one

[Muckrak3r]

That wouldnt work as the external hard drive overrides the internal one

Is that going to be changed at any point? Seems silly to have the capability of using an external drive, but at the expense of the internal drive!

Right now the only thing that makes sense is a 2Tb external drive, and eSata drives that size are expensive.

[mcintire123]

With a HR34 and another HDDVR you will actually end up with 8 tuners, not 7... all the HDDVRS other than the HMC have two tuners....

GO FOR IT... thats all I have to say, I had the other guys and wont ever go back to them from D*.... The more tuners , the more DVRs the better. If you dont you will be wishing you did down the road like iceberg said...

[Hutch1814]

With a HR34 and another HDDVR you will actually end up with 8 tuners, not 7... all the HDDVRS other than the HMC have two tuners....

GO FOR IT... thats all I have to say, I had the other guys and wont ever go back to them from D*.... The more tuners , the more DVRs the better. If you dont you will be wishing you did down the road like iceberg said...

HMC=5 HDDVR=2 them both add up to 7, what did I miss?

[Jimbo]

Is there a limit you can add to any of these recvrs as far as HD space goes, I thoughtit was 2tbs, butthat may have been on older units.

That said, don't keep something of major importance on the HR, if the recvr gos bad, you lose it as you can't transfer programming.

Sent from my Samsung Epic using SatelliteGuys

[Silly Burrito]

a word of advise...get whatever you THINK you need/want up front...because it will cost ya more in the long run after that. I learned that the hard way

With a HR34 and another HDDVR you will actually end up with 8 tuners, not 7... all the HDDVRS other than the HMC have two tuners....

GO FOR IT... thats all I have to say, I had the other guys and wont ever go back to them from D*.... The more tuners , the more DVRs the better. If you dont you will be wishing you did down the road like iceberg said...

That's sort of what I'm thinking as well. It's a little more up front, but it would cost more in the long run if I wanted to upgrade. One of the uses that I read about on this board is the padding of the timers. Right now, my Dish will cut off a recording at the end of Parks and Rec to record the Office, and you always end up with a sliver of the show that you can't delete, or if you do, you miss something. Padding all those timers with 2 extra minutes should work with 7/8 tuners, I would think. Plus, I just found out about the DirecTV iPad app, and I'm assuming that if they all share shows, I could easily control the back bedroom DVR with the iPad when no one is using it, and watch any of the shows from there out in the shop.