The HR-34 is definitely equipped with better hardware, with the ability to record five shows at once, 100 timers vs. the HR-24's 50, double the harddrive and it has PIP. However, the software for the HR-24 is currently better than the software out for the HR-34. Even the beta or CE software that is out for the HR-34 isn't up to par with the national release software on the HR-24, yet. We are all hopeful that HR-34's national release software will someday have the same features (HD-GUI, Pandora, YouTube, functional TV Apps, and full support for 2TB external harddrives) and stability that the HR-24's currently offers. The good news is that those of us testing the CE software for the HR-34 have seen some improvement and have seen some of these features in the new software that has been coming just about every two weeks. We all hope that someday the software for the HR-34 will be as good as or better than the software for the HR-24.