H20 with R15 vs. HR10-250 with no Local HD?

[kelewis]

I'm in a frustrating situation - and am looking for input so I can make a decision.

I just bought a 50" Panasonic plasma (don't think I'll ever leave the family room again!), and currently have an R15 connected to it. To get HD, I have two choices:

1) Get an H20 with the 5LNB dish upgrade and keep the R15. I'll be dealing with two separate boxes, but will get the local channels via satellite. I don't like the R15 due to typical issues that many have complained about in the forums. Cost is low, but will it be too much of a pain to toggle between recording standard TV and watching HD channels?

2) Get the HR10-250, keep my 3LNB dish, and pray that an OTA antenna will capture local HD channels. The trouble is, I'm an hour North of San Francisco and have spoken with two different installers from Ironwood who say they are 100% sure that I'm out of range, even with a UHF/VHF amplifier. So this solution would leave me without local HD until the upgrade in April/May (June?), but would give me some HD capabilities and a better/less cumbersome DVR experience.

My family is less technical than I am, so simplicity is a consideration. I've also heard that the 10-250 is Tivo-based, and has the less buggy Tivo OS/features.

Would love to know your vote and why...I'm on the fence.

 

[rad]

I'd say wait a couple of weeks and see what D* has to say at CES next month. The rumor is that the HR20-250 (MPEG4 DVR) is coming soon. While I'll agree that the R15 has more then it's share of bugs it's not that bad for something that's been out a month (guess my 2 years with E* got me used to buggy STB's). If you can't wait until then go with the H20, once you start watching HD you won't be watching that much SD programming anyway

 

[gigapower]

I'm in the same space as kelewis, I'm waiting on the CES announcement myself before making a choice.

 

[kelewis]

Thanks for the help - I might go for the H20 initially, as the cost is very low compared to the 10-250 (I am "one of D*'s best customers" they keep telling me ) and it might put me in a good upgrade path for the new unit. And I agree with you, rad, there's still hope for the R15.

Can't wait 'til Thursday (the venerable Install day).

K