I sent an e-mail describing my problem, much as I did earlier for my first post, and received a response from them. The message had a phone number and PIN for a direct connection, and after I dialed and entered my PIN, I was connected quickly. The man I spoke with was WAY more helpful, and although he was able to pull me back into paying for service, the deal is quite a bit nicer. He told me, much as the first guy said, that DVR service is not available separately from a package. I acknowledged that another CSR had told me this, and he apologized, and said that that's how the DVR's were programmed; no satellite programming(or if your account is suspended), no DVR service. He said that their lowest package, Family, he could offer it to me for $29/mo, or normal. I reiterated, that I didn't have time for satellite programming, and just wanted to record my OTA channels, and he said that I would have to pay for at least the Family package, but that he could give the DVR service to me for free for 6 months. Now we're getting somewhere. I told him that I'm still paying for a service that I didn't need, and he countered with an upgrade to Choice, with free DVR service, free HD upgrade and $10 off the service for 6 months. So now, I've basically got my original Choice Plus HD DVR service for effectively $40/mo.
Like I said, I'm still paying $40/mo when all I wanted was DVR service, but after hearing that you couldn't get standalone DVR service without a package, $40/mo is still cheaper than going to Best Buy and buying a hard drive DVR as far as I'm concerned. I guess now I'll have to make time to watch TV! What's the world coming to!?
Thanks for the help, and hope this info can be of some help to someone.
-Adrian