HR24 vs. VIP722

[gampp]

I switched from Dish to Direct on Monday and was given two HR24s for my setup. Previously, I had a VIP 722 that I used for over 2 years. I have to say that I was a little concerned about moving to a Direct DVR after hearing that Dish's boxes were so much better, but now I'm wondering if that claim is still valid. My comparison:

What I like about the 722 better:
- I think the remote has a little better layout and I like that the pause button is the biggest as opposed to the play button on the HR. I like knowing where the pause button is without having to look at the remote. For play, I have no problem looking as the program is typically paused at that point.
- I like the "Live TV' button on the 722 remote to jump to live without having to hold down a key. Maybe there's a way to do this with the HR that I'm not aware of.
- The DVR playlist and schedule seems a little more intuitive on the 722, but I'm getting used to the HR and it's not terrible.
- The Swap button on the remote to switch to the other tuner.

What I like about the HR24 better:
- The smart search is WAY better than the search capability on the 722.
- If you are actively recording a show and start it from the beginning via the DVR, you can stop it mid-play and resume from there later. On the 722, if you stop it, it asks if you want to stop the whole recording. If you don't, you have to hit the "Live TV" button and then when you go back to watch it on DVR, you have to start from the beginning.
- The ability to pause live TV while using the Double Play feature. On the 722, if you pause one and switch to the other tuner, the first tuner returns to live TV.
- On Demand
- MRV
[edit] - I forgot the Direct2PC and MediaShare capabilities. I haven't used these yet, but seem like cool features. I like the idea of streaming media to the box from the computer, just haven't had a chance to play with it.

Now the big one: Speed. I don't really notice a difference between the two. I'm not sure if the HR24 is just quite a bit faster than the older boxes or if I'm not doing the things that others say causes slowness, but I'm pleased with the response time at this point.

Overall, I think the HR24 wins the comparison as most of the 722 items are minor conveniences. There may be other features that I'm forgetting or overlooking, but so far I'm very happy with my decision to switch.

 

[gopherscot]

On the second TV remote how do you access your MRV on the second TV. Does the remote have a list of recorded shows. Also can you set a record from an H24 or does it only work on an HR24 (main DVR)?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

And whos guide is better?

Thatrs a major one for some folks.

 

[gampp]

On the second TV remote how do you access your MRV on the second TV. Does the remote have a list of recorded shows. Also can you set a record from an H24 or does it only work on an HR24 (main DVR)?

I'm using 2 HR24 DVRs, so not sure how it works with the H24. On the HR24, the list shows all of the programs that are recorded on either box and each is controlled with it's own remote.

 

[gampp]

And whos guide is better?

Thatrs a major one for some folks.

The guide seems fairly similar to me, but I'm not a guide aficionado. I don't use the category sorting or anything like that, just use it to scan through channels to see what's on. Both have the ability to jump forward, the HR24 uses a 12 hour jump while the 722 is a day. It's basically been a no impact thing for me.

These are obviously my opinions and are based on the things I use. I'm sure there's others that think the VIPs stand way ahead of the HRs. I'm just wondering what those things are as these boxes are not that much different in my opinion.

 

[Rusty_Clown]

I use MRV. The programs show up in your list of recorded programs with a notation of which DVR they are located on in the description. You can chose whether or not to share the playlist on any machine, and can also restrict deletion from the remote machine if you choose to. It's really a good feature.

 

[plumfam4]

I have a HR 24,23 and 21. I have external 1T drive with other drives that give me 2.5T of hard drive space I can watch any show on any TV. I have $ 10 for receivers $3 mrv vs 34.00 for dish ( 2 722 and 622) That is a savings in fees of 21.00. There are things I like and dislike about both the HR and VIP but when doing the math the vip's are not worth 480.00 a year to have.

 

[JAG72]

On the second TV remote how do you access your MRV on the second TV. Does the remote have a list of recorded shows. Also can you set a record from an H24 or does it only work on an HR24 (main DVR)?

The second TV can access all of the DVR's within the house. I currently hve 5 DVR's that I access with my H21. You can also start a recording on one of the DVR's if you want to.

 

[fluxell]

We just switched to D* from E* and there is one thing about the guide that is an improvement. On the VIP722, if a show was 5 minutes long (yes there are some) only one show would show in the guide for that 1/2 hour block, even though there were in fact 2 shows. I still prefer the TiVo guide, but that's OT for this post

 

[JAG72]

You honestly can't even compare the Directv MRV with the way Dish is currently doing it. Directv is light years ahead of Dish on this one.

 

[uncrules]

You honestly can't even compare the Directv MRV with the way Dish is currently doing it. Directv is light years ahead of Dish on this one.

The way Dish does MRV is one reason why I've never considered switching to Dish. Not enough flexibility for me.

 

[Rey]

I switched from Dish to Direct on Monday and was given two HR24s for my setup. Previously, I had a VIP 722 that I used for over 2 years. I have to say that I was a little concerned about moving to a Direct DVR after hearing that Dish's boxes were so much better, but now I'm wondering if that claim is still valid. My comparison:

What I like about the 722 better:
- I think the remote has a little better layout and I like that the pause button is the biggest as opposed to the play button on the HR. I like knowing where the pause button is without having to look at the remote. For play, I have no problem looking as the program is typically paused at that point.
- I like the "Live TV' button on the 722 remote to jump to live without having to hold down a key. Maybe there's a way to do this with the HR that I'm not aware of.
- The DVR playlist and schedule seems a little more intuitive on the 722, but I'm getting used to the HR and it's not terrible.
- The Swap button on the remote to switch to the other tuner.

What I like about the HR24 better:
- The smart search is WAY better than the search capability on the 722.
- If you are actively recording a show and start it from the beginning via the DVR, you can stop it mid-play and resume from there later. On the 722, if you stop it, it asks if you want to stop the whole recording. If you don't, you have to hit the "Live TV" button and then when you go back to watch it on DVR, you have to start from the beginning.
- The ability to pause live TV while using the Double Play feature. On the 722, if you pause one and switch to the other tuner, the first tuner returns to live TV.
- On Demand
- MRV
[edit] - I forgot the Direct2PC and MediaShare capabilities. I haven't used these yet, but seem like cool features. I like the idea of streaming media to the box from the computer, just haven't had a chance to play with it.

Now the big one: Speed. I don't really notice a difference between the two. I'm not sure if the HR24 is just quite a bit faster than the older boxes or if I'm not doing the things that others say causes slowness, but I'm pleased with the response time at this point.

Overall, I think the HR24 wins the comparison as most of the 722 items are minor conveniences. There may be other features that I'm forgetting or overlooking, but so far I'm very happy with my decision to switch.

thanks for doing this. excellent info. i'm closer to getting an HR24 after reading this. i do hope they give the guide a makeover to take advantage of the graphics capabilities of the box like the 922 does.

 

[camo]

I switched from Dish to Direct on Monday and was given two HR24s for my setup. Previously, I had a VIP 722 that I used for over 2 years. I have to say that I was a little concerned about moving to a Direct DVR after hearing that Dish's boxes were so much better, but now I'm wondering if that claim is still valid. My comparison:

What I like about the 722 better:
- I think the remote has a little better layout and I like that the pause button is the biggest as opposed to the play button on the HR. I like knowing where the pause button is without having to look at the remote. For play, I have no problem looking as the program is typically paused at that point.
- I like the "Live TV' button on the 722 remote to jump to live without having to hold down a key. Maybe there's a way to do this with the HR that I'm not aware of.
- The DVR playlist and schedule seems a little more intuitive on the 722, but I'm getting used to the HR and it's not terrible.
- The Swap button on the remote to switch to the other tuner.

What I like about the HR24 better:
- The smart search is WAY better than the search capability on the 722.
- If you are actively recording a show and start it from the beginning via the DVR, you can stop it mid-play and resume from there later. On the 722, if you stop it, it asks if you want to stop the whole recording. If you don't, you have to hit the "Live TV" button and then when you go back to watch it on DVR, you have to start from the beginning.
- The ability to pause live TV while using the Double Play feature. On the 722, if you pause one and switch to the other tuner, the first tuner returns to live TV.
- On Demand
- MRV
[edit] - I forgot the Direct2PC and MediaShare capabilities. I haven't used these yet, but seem like cool features. I like the idea of streaming media to the box from the computer, just haven't had a chance to play with it.

Now the big one: Speed. I don't really notice a difference between the two. I'm not sure if the HR24 is just quite a bit faster than the older boxes or if I'm not doing the things that others say causes slowness, but I'm pleased with the response time at this point.

Overall, I think the HR24 wins the comparison as most of the 722 items are minor conveniences. There may be other features that I'm forgetting or overlooking, but so far I'm very happy with my decision to switch.

You will like the media share capabilities with your home pc. You will want to get TVersity for streaming your computer videos. It's free and works in the background. All you do is find the folder or drive that you want to share and movies get played on the tv. Very nice feature. Only problem you don't have rewind/fast foreword capabilities. The HR's have many more features than my 722 did. The 722 was just a basic receiver with no bells and whistles.
I was surprisingly happy when I made the change. I was under the impression the Dish receivers were more advanced but found just the opposite.

 

[Rob052067]

If I remember correctly, Direct doesn't have the 30-second skip ahead button, which makes skipping commercials so easy on Dish.

A lil over a year ago, I tried out Direct but cancelled the next day cuz of all the deficiencies I perceived with Direct's DVR, Guide, and Remote, versus Dish's (I'm sure the old posts with details are still around somewhere). But I have read that Direct has made some software improvements in the interim.

 

[JAG72]

If I remember correctly, Direct doesn't have the 30-second skip ahead button, which makes skipping commercials so easy on Dish.

Yes it does. You can either have 30 sec slip or skip.

 

[satjay]

If I remember correctly, Direct doesn't have the 30-second skip ahead button, which makes skipping commercials so easy on Dish.

A lil over a year ago, I tried out Direct but cancelled the next day cuz of all the deficiencies I perceived with Direct's DVR, Guide, and Remote, versus Dish's (I'm sure the old posts with details are still around somewhere). But I have read that Direct has made some software improvements in the interim.

You can set up a 30 second skip for Direct.

 

[Ronnie-]

Yes it does. You can either have 30 sec slip or skip.

And some prefer one, some the other. Glad we have a choice on which one.

To the OP, thanks for the review. The HRs are good boxes with alot of nice features. The thing that was lacking for most people compared to the VIPs was speed. Looks like that might not be as big of an issue that it once was.

 

[jcrandall]

For those missing the "Live TV" button, I think hitting the Exit button on the DirecTV remote accomplishes pretty much the same thing.

The guide is better on Dish. Dish can do 3 hours instead of 1.5 (a feature I really miss, seeing all of primetime on one screen) and can show extra channels if you chose to turn off the picture-in-guide. Simple features that make the guide much more user friendly.

 

[cditty]

Direct is about to launch my HD locals and I must admit, the MRV is very much tempting me to switch when that happens.

I have 2 more months of credits with Dish for referring friends, so If Direct adds the other HD I watch, I may move.

I know the HR23 was way slower than my 722K... Would the HR24 be part of my install?

 

[DodgerKing]

- I like the "Live TV' button on the 722 remote to jump to live without having to hold down a key. Maybe there's a way to do this with the HR that I'm not aware of.

Just press the PREV button and it goes directly to the live program. Hit PREV button again and it goes back to the recorded show directly where it was when you switched to live TV (no need to pause ahead of time).