HR 10-250 and New HD Channels

[bartman1999]

My Dad has an old 10-250 (HD DVR), but I don't think the new HD channels will be viewable on it, right? He gets the current version (72, 73, 74, etc). I don't enough about mpeg-4 and that stuff to translate to English and I did try to find this answer through the search. I am just trying to share the world of HD with everyone.

Can someone confirm for me?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

That receiver is an old MPEG2 receiver. He will need a MPEG4 receiver (H20 or HR20) to get the new channels.

 

[bgothard72]

I had an old Hughs HD box, like the first ones to come out years ago. I could only get the basic 70's channels even though my locals were in HD. When I upgraded to my HR20-100 I could get my locals in HD and now all the news channels rolling out! Upgrade! There's nothing like it!

 

[LonghornXP]

Have your father call DirecTV and speak with the customer retention department. Have your father tell this department that he would like a free HD DVR upgrade to get the new HD channels. He may have to call a couple of times to get the free upgrade but they seem to be giving them away like candy these days. He will have to pay twenty bucks for shipping though.

Also have your father make sure he asks that the tech check and see if he has the 5LNB dish. If your father doesn't have a 5LNB dish that needs to get installed as well.

 

[ONUOsFan]

My Dad has an old 10-250 (HD DVR), but I don't think the new HD channels will be viewable on it, right? He gets the current version (72, 73, 74, etc). I don't enough about mpeg-4 and that stuff to translate to English and I did try to find this answer through the search. I am just trying to share the world of HD with everyone.

Can someone confirm for me?

There's plenty of anecdotal evidence spread around this site to suggest that if you call into the retention departement and tell them the situation (the amount of pushing/trying needed varies), they will upgrade you for free and/or just by paying shipping charges ($20).

 

[bartman1999]

Good, thanks for the confirmation and the advice. I am sure we can work out something with them...eventually. Does it seem wrong to anyone else that you have to beg and threaten before they give you something? It really cheapens their customer service when you end up getting something but only after threatening to leave. Thanks again!

 

[scottie_h]

I got a free HR10-250 last year and now a free HR20-100, and have never even mentioned the possibility of leaving or the competition.

 

[LonghornXP]

I see no difference with asking DirecTV for a better deal compared to walking into a local electronics dealer and/or car dealer and haggling for a better price. This is America last time I checked and we are all about the haggle aren't we. DirecTV gives away so much free hardware that they now consider it a part of doing business so don't feel bad about it. If they didn't consider retention and free hardware upgrades as being very important to their future success I doubt they would give away hardware as easily as they do right.

 

[LonghornXP]

I got a free HR10-250 last year and now a free HR20-100, and have never even mentioned the possibility of leaving or the competition.

When I ordered DirecTV about a month ago (returning customer from four years ago) I just told them what services and hardware I wanted and that I don't see any value or incentive for me to switch at such a high cost upfront. I told them I wanted no less than two HD DVR boxes and I also required a third HD DVR at a discounted price within no more than sixty days after my install. I was honest with them and said I was open as far as the price but it had to be a decent discount but I told them I didn't expect it for free either.

This was putting all my intentions upfront to allow them CSR to haggle with me for a little while. I was very nice and didn't make any threats or talked about another company except the one I currently had. I told them I was part of the Comcast triple play premier bundle with three HD DVR boxes and the prices had to be near that price overall.

I ended up getting the first HD DVR for the 200 bucks upfront which was the normal offer at the time. I also got a 100 buck bill credit towards the purchase of a second HD DVR at a local store. So I had to pay 300 bucks upfront at Circuit City for the second HD DVR. So that was a total cost upfront net of 400 bucks.

I got a general bill credit of ten bucks a month for one year.
I got free HD Access for one year.

I also got free NFL Sunday Ticket Superfan as well.

Beyond that I got all premium channels (except Sports Pak) free for three months.

So I considered free Superfan as not being a discount at all as its crazy to pay 380 bucks for the NFL Season IMO.

So I got 360 bucks in total credits to offset my upfront cost of 400 bucks. I also paid 20 bucks shipping for the first HD DVR so make that 420 bucks upfront cost okay.

So I considered myself paying upfront only 60 bucks for two HD DVR boxes so that was a very good deal for me. So after the first Sunday of NFL my Buccaneers team got that 721 error glitch that many people had that Sunday so I had to call to figure out what was going on. I was offered a 25 buck bill credit without asking so I asked the CSR to lookup my account and find my request to get a discounted HD DVR box within sixty days after activation of my service. She spent about two minutes and said she found it and I asked her nicely and said hey just for kicks could I have that 25 bucks applied towards a discounted HD DVR box. She said she would have to ask her supervisor what I could get as I had so many credits as it was. So after waiting an entire 7 minutes on hold I was thinking very bad news but when the rep came back she said would a free HD DVR be fine with you as long as you pay the twenty bucks shipping.

As you can guess I nearly went frantic as I was in such shock. Also I got the third free HD DVR just about two and a half "weeks" after I activated my service just in case you wanted to know. So I'm hoping that this will give you an idea that DirecTV is willing to work out a deal with you if you asked without needing to say anything about what another company offers. I only said Comcast so they would know what I paid so they could know what I really expected is all.

 

[blueguy]

Or he could just carry on. I see no reason to "upgrade" to DTV's lousy DVR when my HR10-250s have better software and only one new HD channel interests me (NFL-N).

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Or he could just carry on. I see no reason to "upgrade" to DTV's lousy DVR when my HR10-250s have better software and only one new HD channel interests me (NFL-N).

The only thing correct about your statement is the part about the number of new HD channels that interest you. The HR20's software is different, but in some ways better than Tivo's. I also find the remote easier to use. Do you have a HR20, or are you speculating about the unit being lousy? Meanwhile the rest of us will be enjoying the reason we have our HR20's, which coincidently is the same reason we have HD TV's, TO WATCH HD!

 

[LonghornXP]

The only thing correct about your statement is the part about the number of new HD channels that interest you. The HR20's software is different, but in some ways better than Tivo's. I also find the remote easier to use. Do you have a HR20, or are you speculating about the unit being lousy? Meanwhile the rest of us will be enjoying the reason we have our HR20's, which coincidently is the same reason we have HD TV's, TO WATCH HD!

The Tivo software IMO is better but not that much better at the drawback of no new HD channels. I will say that the HR20 is like a Tivo compared to my old Comcast POS 3416. That was the only thing about Comcast I just hated with all my guts was the DVR. That is just the personal opinion of a customer that once had an HD Tivo DirecTV unit and now an HR20 or should I say three HR20 boxes.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Having come from Ultimate TV to a Hr10-250 was harder than going from Tivo to the HR20 for me . Ultimate had IMO superior software and ease of operation, not to mention how buggy and slow Tivo was before the 6.3 updates. I've only had one problem with my HR20, that a reset cured just fine. Knock on wood. See as this box is our only option to view the new channels, it really doesn't matter who had better software. At least D* is addressing the bugs in a timely fashion, and the future uses of the box are staggering to this poster. I guess I'm one of the happy customers around here.

 

[grydlok]

Having come from Ultimate TV to a Hr10-250 was harder than going from Tivo to the HR20 for me . Ultimate had IMO superior software and ease of operation, not to mention how buggy and slow Tivo was before the 6.3 updates. I've only had one problem with my HR20, that a reset cured just fine. Knock on wood. See as this box is our only option to view the new channels, it really doesn't matter who had better software. At least D* is addressing the bugs in a timely fashion, and the future uses of the box are staggering to this poster. I guess I'm one of the happy customers around here.

You know it's amazing how people forget the bugs in the Hughes err I mean HR10-250. I was a great machine but I moved on from it.

 

[DetFan]

Or he could just carry on. I see no reason to "upgrade" to DTV's lousy DVR when my HR10-250s have better software and only one new HD channel interests me (NFL-N).

So because only one interest's you, HE shouldn't be interested?
LOL interesting take..

 

[blueguy]

The only thing correct about your statement is the part about the number of new HD channels that interest you. The HR20's software is different, but in some ways better than Tivo's. I also find the remote easier to use. Do you have a HR20, or are you speculating about the unit being lousy? Meanwhile the rest of us will be enjoying the reason we have our HR20's, which coincidently is the same reason we have HD TV's, TO WATCH HD!

The HR20 cannot do the following which can be done on the 10-250:

Tuner 1: pause
Tuner 2: watch a bit of a show, pause
Return to tuner 1: unpause, watch a bit, fast forward, pause
Return to tuner 2: unpause, watch a bit, change channels

You ask when is this done? All the time when we're watching Sunday Ticket. we live on pause. The HR20 requires that you record a program and then you must delete said recording. That's a BAD design.

I have an HDTV to watch HD too. We only watch HD, save for NFL-N. Otherwise we watch HBO-HD and record a handful of shows on NBC - all HD. We don't tivo any other shows. The majority of time our TV is on for broadcast is during NFL season. After football, the TV goes on to watch a few tivo'ed shows. Once in while we'll watch something on Discovery HD or HDNET.

So, what exactly am I missing? Crap on A&E in HD? Or junk on the 500 other channels I never watch? If I spent time watching the other channels then I might care about the HD but seeing as how almost everything I want is already in HD, I don't see the benefit in going to a gimped DVR. You may enjoy the DTV DVR - I think it's a pile of dog droppings because our viewing habits don't gel with the DTV DVR. We've never had a problem with either of our HR10-250s. They're approaching 4 years old and work fine. I see no benefit in leaving them for DTV's branded equipment.

AFAI Recall the HR20 doesn't do OTA? Or is that the HR21 that won't have OTA? Obviously going without OTA is not a choice I want exercise either as OTA is a far better signal than MPEG4 through DTV.

 

[ScoBuck]

My answer - do whatever you feel is best for you.

 

[blueguy]

So because only one interest's you, HE shouldn't be interested?
LOL interesting take..

I just gave my reason not to move away from the 10-250. He may see value in those new channels. It was just another option...save the trouble and stick with the good equipment.

 

[1sweetchevy]

The HR20 cannot do the following which can be done on the 10-250:

Tuner 1: pause
Tuner 2: watch a bit of a show, pause
Return to tuner 1: unpause, watch a bit, fast forward, pause
Return to tuner 2: unpause, watch a bit, change channels

This is my one and only complaint with the HR20. I'm guessing this is a patented feature and a software upgrade to give this functionality would be an infringment.?.

 

[ONUOsFan]

Just like most of the things we argue about here, it comes down to personal preference and how you use it.

By the way, the HR20 does OTA very well.