Considering "upgrading" to HR20 from 10-250

[atp1313]

My 10-250 is starting to have some identity issues:

• It occassionally fails to recognize shows that should be recorded from the WishList
• It seems to reboot on its own when I am not looking
• It sometimes records a garbled digital "collage" instead of the actual program. This could be an LNB problem, but I mention it anyway

I have had to reset the system on more than one occassion as well. So before the new spring season of shows begins, I am contemplating "upgrading" to the D* HD-DVR. It certainly has some neat features, but I have always been a Tivo fanatic. I have seen more bad posts than good in regards to the HR20, but more often than not, happy people don't take the time to post happy messages (no offense to anyone who posts negative issues).

My main concerns are the D* version of the WishList.
I have read in some posts that you can only tell the DVR to record up to 40 different "season passes". Is this accurate? My current Season Pass list is more than 60 shows long.

I know you can "rank" the shows in your wishlist to record higher priority shows first or instead of lower ranked shows. But will the D* brain determine that if a conflict prevents a show from recording at the original showing time, will it scout the next best showing time? For instance, Mythbusters is on at 9PM on Wednesdays, then repeats the same night 3 hours later (for our friends on the left coast to get it at 9PM their time). If the ranking of shows at 9PM on a Wednesday night is say, Lost (#2 on my list) and a Duke basketball game (#1 on the list), will it defer to the 12am showing of Mythbusters?

How does it do with something like The Daily Show on Comedy Central, a show that does not have "New" or "Repeat" flags in the description? Does it try to record every instance, or is it smarter than the Tivo?

Cool concepts
Now that the HR20 can record OTA signals, I understand that it actually now can record three shows at once, while watching a buffered 4th show. Very cool, since all my locals are OTA. If this is true, it may render the above example moot, but I am sure there are other examples I could use.

The interactive channels/options seem pretty cool, if not hugely necessary except for March Madness (in my case) or Sunday Ticket (in the minds of a lot of others).

On screen Caller ID: I had this when I was with E*, and thought it would be a joke since I have the cordless phone right next to me while I am watching TV. But then I saw it in action, and realized how lazy I must be to not even bother picking up the handset to read its caller id anymore... Might be nice to have that again.

So anyway, what I would like to hear/read is honest input. Give me your bad and good reviews. I wouldn't be making a move until after New Year's, so I still have some time to think about it.

 

[Teronzhul]

Cool concepts
Now that the HR20 can record OTA signals, I understand that it actually now can record three shows at once, while watching a buffered 4th show. Very cool, since all my locals are OTA. If this is true, it may render the above example moot, but I am sure there are other examples I could use.

I have yet to receive my HR20 so I can't provide you with most of the input you want, but I know this statement to be false. While the unit does have 4 tuners (2 sat/2 ota) It does not allow recording from more than 2 at once. The manual is incorrect.

 

[atp1313]

I have yet to receive my HR20 so I can't provide you with most of the input you want, but I know this statement to be false. While the unit does have 4 tuners (2 sat/2 ota) It does not allow recording from more than 2 at once. The manual is incorrect.

I guess the important aspect here is that I can record two OTA signals at once, or two Sat signals at once, or any combination. Just thought the triple recording would be cool if true.

 

[Jimbo]

I have yet to receive my HR20 so I can't provide you with most of the input you want, but I know this statement to be false. While the unit does have 4 tuners (2 sat/2 ota) It does not allow recording from more than 2 at once. The manual is incorrect.

I believe you can record 1 Sat and 1 OTA and still watch a third, or 2 sat and watch an OTA .
I have not tried recording 2 OTA yet.

The Caller ID is a nice feature, didn't need it, but I do use it.

You REALLY record 60 Season passes ???
When do you have time to watch anything ?

When your in the S P section you can chose to record 1st run vs repeats and so forth, don't think that answered your question about that though.

I have had very few problem with mine, like if very well, especially now that the OTA tuner has been turned on for Christmas !

Jimbo

 

[atp1313]

You REALLY record 60 Season passes ???
When do you have time to watch anything ?

Jimbo

Granted, a lot of those are shows that are not on every week. For instance, I liked watching the show "Debate" on HDNet. It is ranked somewhere near #60 and rarely, if ever, gets recorded. Most of the shows below about the top 15 are 1/2 hour shows, and then a lot of shows for the kids. I would say my actual TV watching per day is about 2-4 hours. And in that time, I can get through a lot of my buffer.

My point was more like this: are there limits to the number of season passes I can set up?

 

[stevesmall]

Granted, a lot of those are shows that are not on every week. For instance, I liked watching the show "Debate" on HDNet. It is ranked somewhere near #60 and rarely, if ever, gets recorded. Most of the shows below about the top 15 are 1/2 hour shows, and then a lot of shows for the kids. I would say my actual TV watching per day is about 2-4 hours. And in that time, I can get through a lot of my buffer.

My point was more like this: are there limits to the number of season passes I can set up?

I wish i had time to actually watch the 9 shows i have set up to record

 

[Jimbo]

My point was more like this: are there limits to the number of season passes I can set up?

That is a good question, and I do not know.

Jimbo

 

[ericlhyman]

Have the various problems with the HR20-700 been resolved now with the new software revisions or should I hold on to my HD Tivo longer? Are there any problems that people are still commonly having?

 

[Jimbo]

Have the various problems with the HR20-700 been resolved now with the new software revisions or should I hold on to my HD Tivo longer? Are there any problems that people are still commonly having?

Which problems are you refering to, some had some problems while other had different problems while some had no problems.
Most of the problems have been taken care of, and the OTA tuners have been activated now as well.

You will always find something that someone has issues with, sometimesa it will be about a feature not available, That is not really a problem, just something that some are use to with previous TIVO DVR's, these will not be the same alot of features and such, have been changed or removed do to the TIVO patent, and there is nothing anyone other than TIVO can to to change that.

Jimbo

 

[dishrich]

I believe you can record 1 Sat and 1 OTA and still watch a third, or 2 sat and watch an OTA .

Wrong, you can only watch/record up to 2 live shows, either BOTH OTA or BOTH sat, or one of each. There is NO way to do 3 live at once through this box.
As Teronzhul just said, the manual IS incorrect...

 

[Jimbo]

Wrong, you can only watch/record up to 2 live shows, either BOTH OTA or BOTH sat, or one of each. There is NO way to do 3 live at once through this box.
As Teronzhul just said, the manual IS incorrect...

You are correct ...
I can record 2 sat or 2 OTA or one of each, but have to watch one of them.

I thought that it had and addl tuner in it for watching, but I guess that is incorrect.

I still like it, being able to record in HD is the main reasonI got it and I can record one thing and watch anything else I want.

Kinda disappointed about that, but thats ok, not to often I record more thanone thing at any time and need to watch something else anyway.

Jimbo

 

[dishrich]

You are correct ...
I can record 2 sat or 2 OTA or one of each, but have to watch one of them.

I thought that it had and addl tuner in it for watching, but I guess that is incorrect.

I still like it, being able to record in HD is the main reasonI got it and I can record one thing and watch anything else I want.

Kinda disappointed about that, but thats ok, not to often I record more thanone thing at any time and need to watch something else anyway.

I would MUCH rather be able to record 2 OTA at once, rather than like on E* & ONLY being able to record 1 in any situation, since most of my HD recording IS OTA HD, since our HD locals will probably never be on E* anytime soon.

 

[atp1313]

Well,my Tivo unit has finally crapped out (as feared and predicted). After one simple and easy phone call to tech support, my new HR20 will be here in the next few days. HopefullyI can get it all up and running in time for the majority of the new season of shows/bowls. I appreciate the input from those of you who responded, both in this post and other related to this 20-700. Hopefullymy experience will be of the positive form.

Happy New Year everyone!

 

[Jimbo]

I would MUCH rather be able to record 2 OTA at once, rather than like on E* & ONLY being able to record 1 in any situation, since most of my HD recording IS OTA HD, since our HD locals will probably never be on E* anytime soon.

I am testing this as we type.
I am recording Fox and ABC news, both in HD.
Atleast thats what the list is telling me.
I am gonna let it run for a bit and then check to see if it actually did record.

I have strong thunderstorms coming in a hour or so, so I will also be able to check on the 5 lnb dish reliability as well.
So far 3+ months, I have not lost a signal yet, so far, so good


Update : The Fox recording , did record and the ABC recording shows up in the list, but it is giving me the "Do you want to delete" nag.
Ironically, it looks as if you can only record one OTA and one sat, or two sats. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever saw where the unit had 2 OTA tuners, but there are two sat tuners.

Please let me know if this is incorrect, but from my experiment this is what it appears to have.

Jimbo

 

[atp1313]

According to the Tech Spec sheet on the D* site:

2 satellite tuners for access to SD and HD DIRECTV programming and 2 ATSC tuners for access to local HD broadcasts where available*​

To me this reads as if it will (or should) record two independent OTA signals.

Plus they also say:

View and record standarddefinition content, high definition content, and off-air digital broadcasts, where available.*​

&

No need to choose which show to watch - you can see both. Record two shows at once while watching another recording.​

&

Easily find DIRECTV or off-air channels on one guide.* Search the channel guide up to 14 days in advance for what to watch or record.​

Each of these comments combined suggest dual recording of OTA or dual recording of Sat, or a combination of the two.

 

[atp1313]

According to the Tech Spec sheet on the D* site:

2 satellite tuners for access to SD and HD DIRECTV programming and 2 ATSC tuners for access to local HD broadcasts where available*​

After all, why would you need two ATSC tuners if you were going to be able to use both for combined viewing/recording?

 

[atp1313]

Update : The Fox recording , did record and the ABC recording shows up in the list, but it is giving me the "Do you want to delete" nag.

Jimbo

When this "error" happens,can you try to restart the program again and get by this message? Or does this indicate that there was actually no signal recorded and therefore nothing to watch? Also,while it is recording to OTA sig's, can you toggle between the two channels and watch live while it is recording?

 

[rad]

Mine's recorded two ATSC streams, no problems.

 

[Jimbo]

Mine's recorded two ATSC streams, no problems.

Rad,
Mine said it recorded both, have you tried to watch both, the one I was actually on,played fine, but the other one would not load. just asked if I wanted to delete or not, I said NO and when I hit play again I got the same screen.

I thought I had done this correctly before thou.
I will have to try playing with it in the morning

Jimbo

 

[rad]

Rad,
Mine said it recorded both, have you tried to watch both, the one I was actually on,played fine, but the other one would not load. just asked if I wanted to delete or not, I said NO and when I hit play again I got the same screen.

I thought I had done this correctly before thou.
I will have to try playing with it in the morning

Jimbo

Yep, plays fine. I have a SL set up to record Letterman and Leno, both off the local ATSC channels.