I appreciate all the info I have read today on this forum and I plan on attempting to get a free HR-20 setup as others have done here. My current problem is that I have an older RCA DVR40 DVR and a standard def Sony television. The current DVR does not have component outputs so I know I am not getting the maximum picture quality using the composite video out on the DVR. I also have only 35 hours recording capability and relatively slow menu navigation. Now my question: since I don't own an HDTV and probably won't for a few years, is there any problem using the HR20 with a SD TV? Is there any concern about picture quality if I don't have a HD TV? I assume not, but I would appreciate a confirmation. Thanks.
HR-20 with non-HD TV?
- Thread starter theman07
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I agree. I have 2 H20's. One hooked up to an HDTV and one hooked up to a widescreen SDTV. Obviously the SD picture doesn't look as good as the HD one, but the HD broadcasts still look better than their SD counterparts (ESPN for example).
Update and a question
I called retention and was offered by the first person I spoke to:
Free HR20
Free new dish and installation
Free HBO, Showtime and Starz for 3 months
Free HD package for 12 months
All seemed fine until they mentioned that the HR 20 will not be installed on a non-HD set. I explained that I intend to have an HDTV in a short while but want the new equipment today (to take advantage of better video quality by having component video plugs and vastly increased DVR storage capacity, etc). She told em that if the installer showed up and saw a standard def TV, they would turn around and leave without installing. She claimed no other carrier would install an HD receiver on an SD set. Is that true? If so, I may just rent an HDTV for a week for the install.
Was she correct?
Thanks
I called retention and was offered by the first person I spoke to:
Free HR20
Free new dish and installation
Free HBO, Showtime and Starz for 3 months
Free HD package for 12 months
All seemed fine until they mentioned that the HR 20 will not be installed on a non-HD set. I explained that I intend to have an HDTV in a short while but want the new equipment today (to take advantage of better video quality by having component video plugs and vastly increased DVR storage capacity, etc). She told em that if the installer showed up and saw a standard def TV, they would turn around and leave without installing. She claimed no other carrier would install an HD receiver on an SD set. Is that true? If so, I may just rent an HDTV for a week for the install.
Was she correct?
Thanks
TOTAL BS. Call back. I had one installed 3 wks ago and a tv which is at least 8 yrs old. It does not even have multiple inputs on the back it's that old. The HR20 will display on either a HD or SD tv.
Why did you tell them that you were going to do that? They are probably afraid you will try to get out of paying the monthly HD Access fee.
I would have the component cables coming from the TV, ready to go into the HR20 when the installer comes. Most of them would probably not even notice it was an SD TV.
They probably will notice (every time they've come to put one in for me, the first thing they do is set the resolutions, and the second thing they do is check the HD channels), but they probably won't care.
I agree it's probably more of a D* thing, not wanting to send out an HD box to a customer who's not going to pay for HD access. I imaging that extra $9.99 (or $14.98 now) is built into the calculation that brings them to the cost of the "lease upgrade."
Not B.S. you had a tech that didn't do his job. It's a requirement just like installing a Dish.
My install was this past weekend and it turns out I got an HR21-700 instead of the HR20 I requested. I've heard it lacks OTA tuner but that doesn't matter to me since I don't use an antenna. I ended up buying a small LCD TV at Walmart and returning it the next day. That turned out not to be necessary since the installer didn't even glance at the LCD TV sitting next to my tube TV and he just hooked it up to the existing TV (fine with me). It would be nice to play around with VOD but I assume that will be coming to the HR21 with a firmware upgrade. So far the unit has been working flawlessly and the installer ended up relocating my existing DVR upstairs and running the necessary coax cables (which DTV originally told me they would not do for free) so it is all working out so far.
I am using my HR21 with a 20-year-old Sony and it works great. The stations which have both SD and HD versions look slightly better on the HD channel, even on an analog set (higher bit rate, less compression).
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