Do you like the current DVR? TWC guy asking.

[flightgamer]

Hello,
I used to have a DTV Tivo box in CA and LOVED it but when I moved I was tempted by TWC's HD signal. Even though TWC is reaming me, the HD sinal, even on an older 60" 1080i sony is just beautiful. Seems that the DTV HD signal under mpeg2 could not compete. Anyway, thinking about going back to DTV. Is the current DVR good, great? I hate the TWC one. Also, is DTV mpeg4 now? Any TWC switchers out there to compare?
Thanks guys.

 

[swampman]

I can only speak for myself on this. I currently have the HR20 with the new MPEG 4 HD programming. Like yourself, I also had the HR10-250 Tivo which I set aside for the new MPEG4 HD channels which required the new DVR. In all the years I've had satellite, this was the worst mistake I've ever made. And although there are those that have had good luck with their HR20s...my experiences have been terrible(and believe me there are many of us). I went through 3 HR20s in 4 months due to faulty units.

As far as the MPEG4 picture, its a good one. A great one...dunno.

Oh and BTW... Directv does required signing a 2 year contract.
Have you ever considered getting the new Tivo series 3 to go with TWC? The Tivo S3 is without question the best DVR out there...bar none. 2 cableCARD slots(no TWC box needed).

 

[CRendall]

I have two HR20-100 DVRs and I haven't had any issue with them. I got my HR20 May 2007, and my second HR20 in September 2007.

I much prefer the HR20 to the Tivo. The HR20 is much fast than the Tivo and I like the interface more. The new MPEG4 HD channels are beautiful.

 

[swampman]

The HR20 is much fast than the Tivo and I like the interface more.

1- Faster? No way.

2-

and I like the interface more

Are you serious?

 

[joed32]

Definitely faster!

 

[CRendall]

swampman,

The HR20 is much more responsive than my HR10-250 ever was. Reprioritizing the to-do list on the HD Tivo took a long time. The HR20 is done instantly. There are many operations where I would just sit looking at the "Please wait" message on the HD Tivo. I don't see that at all on the HR20.

On the interface, I like that I can still see and hear the TV picture when I'm going through the to-do list and setting up recordings.

 

[iwc5893]

I run an R10 TiVo and a 3 R15 DVR's. There are some features I like with the TiVo's, such as the Save to VCR feature and the ability to easily autorecord from a keyword search. On the R15 side, I like the ability to easily navigate through the two week guide by jumping 12 hour blocks (as compared to half hour blocks with the TiVo). The search feature and menu commands seem to be faster with the R15. I also like the additional recording capacity with the R15's, so overall I like the R15 better.

 

[rmmrph]

I use both an HR10 and HR20. The HR10 is much, much slower at running organizational tasks and somewhat less responsive to remote commands. Is the interface on the HR20 as polished as the HR10, no it is not, but it is certainly still easy to use.

 

[bidger`]

HR20 is most definitely faster and I like the interface better, in particular being able to surf the Guide and Menus while watching recorded shows. I also prefer a 30 second jump button on the remote, not one that requires a backdoor code. And since I like Sports, I like the 30 second slip better than skip.

 

[johnfarrow]

Other Equipment

Super Newby Here,

Can you buy a TIVO or other DVR recorder and use those instead of Directv's equipment and still subscribe to directv's programing.?

John

 

[Bob Nielsen]

Super Newby Here,

Can you buy a TIVO or other DVR recorder and use those instead of Directv's equipment and still subscribe to directv's programing.?

John

There are no Tivo-based receivers for Directv which will handle MPEG4.

 

[stogie5150]

Super Newby Here,

Can you buy a TIVO or other DVR recorder and use those instead of Directv's equipment and still subscribe to directv's programing.?

John

No, you are stuck with whatver crappy box your provider ( in your case D*, I had D* up till last month, so I have firsthand experience.) is providing, often a great cost, just like cable.

Its PAST time in this country for some revolution in programming delivery, like using the CAM slot in the FTA receivers that some of us own, to buy our programming. Why no provider on this side of the pond has embraced this I don't know, it would save a TON of money on building, shipping, and servicing receivers.

Wait, I know why. They make a BOATLOAD of money pushing their overpriced underperforming POS on us, and making us LIKE it.

No, I'm not bitter, just very angry!

 

[jdspencer]

I have to jump here and say that I have had no problems with my HR20 since it was install 10/4/2007. I still have my HR10 active. Love having 4 HD tuners available to me. The HR10 is used for my DirectTV HD DNS channels and OTA when it comes in. The HR20 is for the other MPEG4 channels.

Is the HR20 GUI different? Yes. Is the RAV4 I just bought different from the Plymouth Voyager I had? Yes!
Remember "change is good".

As for my going to TWC and their DVR or an HD TiVo? Ain't gonna happen. TWC's HD offerings don't even include all of the major networks.

 

[bigwrm]

I don't like the new DVR

[FONT=&quot]I've had my new DVR for two days and I have a comprehensive list of problems and errors. The Cherry on top that caused me to send back my DVR and reactivate my old HD-TIVO was yesterday while changing from an SD to an HD channel I received a phone call and hit pause while the signal was changing over. This caused the DVR to drop video signal and when I restarted my system The HD channels all had horizontal lines running through them, even previous recordings. This could happen to anyone and should be remedied immediately. The other problems are as follows.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]-Not user friendly[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-Extremely laggy menu and channel switching as well as an initial audio lag[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-When switching from SD to HD the TV reacts violently with a quick change to black followed by colored horizontal lines followed briefly by static then showing signal. I can tell this is aging my TV[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-The remote and software are clunky [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-The programming of the remote is overly complicated[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-The record button is ORANGE as is the timeline. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-The four colored multi-function buttons are aweful and the placement of buttons aren't user friendly. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-There is no skip forward button and holding the play button for three seconds to get slo-motion was a bad idea( when I need slo-mo I need it instantly)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-Fast forward is skippy, not smooth making it difficult to judge time[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-The record first showing feature hardly ever works correctly, even recording episodes dated 2004 and earlier (seriously weird)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-There is a small gap between recordings eve on the same channel often causing lost episode endings[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-There is no quick delete button on the remote[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]But it's not all bad her are a few new features I like[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]-Faster record list sorting(TIVO’s only real flaw)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-Playing whole folders[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-The screen-saver[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-Mpeg 4[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-Bookmarks, though poorly executed it was a great thought and a way to improve it would be to hit pause and allow the user to set bookmarks with the number pad allowing quick access to bookmarks[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Lastly, I have a few problems with the Directv service.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]-I paid for a TIVO and they are purposely crippling it to promote their DVR[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-Sony created a great product and would never let anything with this many bugs out onto the market[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-Streched HD Channels[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]-No local HD though they’ve been broadcast that way for over a year[/FONT]

 

[Happy Camper]

DirecTV does not suck, but their boxes do. We have an HR 20 in our home theater in order to watch everything, but I cling to my beloved HR10-250 TiVo. There are a lot of reasons to have DirecTV, but their horrible DVRs and clunky interfaces are not among them. I fear that when our last TiVo dies, the wife will want to ditch D*. She has tried to learn the new HR21, but she hates it, so she has not tried very hard and refuses to deal with it.

TiVo rules-DirecTV boxes emphatically do not.

Other opinions definitely vary-their are a lot of DirecTV box defenders here-this is a D* forum after all.

 

[iwc5893]

[FONT=&quot]-I paid for a TIVO and they are purposely crippling it to promote their DVR[/FONT]

How is DirecTV purposely crippling a MPEG2 TiVo? Wouldn't it be necessary for TiVo to produce a MPEG4 DVR first, then have DirecTV sign another contract with them again?

 

[Paul Wozniak]

I own a HR10-250 and a HR20-100. The latter is definitely the better box in my opinion. If just for the remote.

 

[bigwrm]

Yes it's been crippled

How is DirecTV purposely crippling a MPEG2 TiVo? Wouldn't it be necessary for TiVo to produce a MPEG4 DVR first, then have DirecTV sign another contract with them again?

DirecTV effectively snubs TiVo users - again

Posted Thursday, January 11th, 2007 at 15:56 by MegaZone. Filed under DVR, DirecTV, TiVo


As owners of DirecTiVos know, DirecTV has deliberately crippled the feature set on those units. Despite the hardware and software both being capable of supporting all of the standalone TiVo features - Music, Photos, HME, online scheduling, etc - DirecTV has deliberately disabled these features. And we know they work fine, because the software is still in the box, just disabled, and there are hacks to enable the features for the more technical users.
So, what’s new? DirecTV’s new HR20 DirecTV Plus HD DVR has a network port. They’re finally enabling it, but only to communicate with Intel Viiv PCs. You will be able to access music and photos from a Viiv PC on the DVR.
After years of not enabling features that would work with any PC *or* Mac (or Linux, BSD, etc) on the TiVo-based units, now they’re enabling a feature - only on their HD DVR, and only if you have a new Viiv-based Windows PC. Thanks DirecTV.
This really reinforces the theory that they’ve kept the TiVo-based units deliberately crippled because it would make their ‘Plus’ boxes look like a ‘Minus’ if they actually enabled the full feature set. The new DVRs are really a step backwards. While it is a long shot, their is a glimmer of hope now that Liberty Media is acquiring DirecTV from Rupert Murdoch. DirecTV switched to NDS based DVRs after Murdoch took over, mainly because he also held a large stake in NDS. Liberty Media is also an investor in TiVo. But there is a lot of momentum behind the switch, so it won’t be simple to switch back to TiVo even if Liberty wants to.


BTW:I already listed mpeg-4 as one of the positives to the new DVR
Also mpeg-4 is only good because it allows more recording time and allows the cheapskates at Directv to save bandwidth so they don't need to put up new satellites If you watch a high energy concert or an action flick on an mpeg-4 channel you will see that there are many more instances of macroblocks than on an mpeg-2 stream

 

[iwc5893]

Now there's an unbiased article...

Did it ever occur to you that DirecTV may not have the rights to use all of those features available on the TiVo? I personally haven't read the contract between DirecTV and TiVo to see what they're allowed to do and what they're not allowed to use.

Given TiVo's recent patent infringement suits, maybe DirecTV is looking to avoid becoming the next defendant.

 

[Jhon69]

Now there's an unbiased article...

Did it ever occur to you that DirecTV may not have the rights to use all of those features available on the TiVo? I personally haven't read the contract between DirecTV and TiVo to see what they're allowed to do and what they're not allowed to use.

Given TiVo's recent patent infringement suits, maybe DirecTV is looking to avoid becoming the next defendant.

Think maybe that's why DirecTV bought Replay?.