Hi All: Been with D*TV before it was even D*TV (over 12 years now) Anyway, I needed to get rid of my old Samsung HD receivers (TS-160 & TS-360) & my beloved Tivo 10-250 for the upcoming HD channel line-up. 1st off...The HR-20 isn't that bad @ all! I was reading horror stories about the unit & aside from the interface; it's a very serviceable HD recorder. My OTA reception is excellent & the remote is just a matter of getting use to it. I have noticed "some" lip-sync issues on a few occasions, but not that much.

All in all I'm pretty happy. D*TV came out & installed the new 5 LNB slim line dish, received 2 each H20 HD receivers & the HR-20. They did charge me for the HR-20 @ $99.00 plus tax & something else which came to about $135.00 total. Not to bad considering I should be set for awhile. Would have been nice to get everything for free, but I'm not complaining.

I guess my older receivers won't fetch anything (or very little) on eBay. I know some of you don't care for D*TV but I feel they have been pretty good to me over the years. Granted my bill runs on average $130.00 including the NFL Sunday Ticket, but they have given me "countless" credits over the years! I never pay for the $100.00 "Sports Pack" to get most of the NFL games in HD. I just call up & complain that I'm already paying for the HD ($10.99 a month) package & they give me a credit.

Yes...I know I sound like a complete D*TV fanboy, I guess to some extent I am. But...The cable companies simply don't "play ball" like D*TV does IMHO. So in short...I think the HR-20 is a decent recorder & I can't find any real issues with it after having it for a little over two weeks now. Getting ready for the Sunday games!

Alex

Can you tell me how you got such a good price?

They want to charge me $299 for the PVR and $99 for each non PVR HD receiver. There is a $100 rebate, but that is nowhere near what you paid.

Thanks.

PS - can you still use your older units once they installed the 5 LNB dish, or do you HAVE to upgrade all of your pieces at once.

Thanks again!

Can you tell me how you got such a good price?

They want to charge me $299 for the PVR and $99 for each non PVR HD receiver. There is a $100 rebate, but that is nowhere near what you paid.

Thanks.

PS - can you still use your older units once they installed the 5 LNB dish, or do you HAVE to upgrade all of your pieces at once.

Thanks again!


Call back and ask a supervisor for their best current offer. And yes the old equipment will work with the new dish. However, you will need the new hd receivers to get all the new hd channels.

Can you tell me how you got such a good price?

They want to charge me $299 for the PVR and $99 for each non PVR HD receiver. There is a $100 rebate, but that is nowhere near what you paid.

Thanks.

PS - can you still use your older units once they installed the 5 LNB dish, or do you HAVE to upgrade all of your pieces at once.

Thanks again!

Hello Pete: At first D*TV wanted to charge me $299.00 for the HR-20, but I complained & told them I couldn't justify paying that type of money considering all the coin I spent on the Samsungs & the Tivo 10-250 over the past five years (Appx. $1500.00) They relented & gave it to me for $99.00+

My guess is that I've been with them for so long & have a direct debit from my checking account every month, so they get their money on time. That's the great thing about D*TV, they help you out to stay with them. Keep on plugging & you'll get the same deal I'm sure.

Good Luck!

Alex

I guess my older receivers won't fetch anything (or very little) on eBay.

Alex

I was able to unload mine on craigslist. For all 3, one a SD DTivo, I got $60. Not too shabby considering I paid $79 total when I originally got D*.

Ted

Thanks - set it up today and got the same deal!

Installation on the 21st!

Excellent!

Thanks - set it up today and got the same deal!

Installation on the 21st!

Excellent!


Pete: Good deal! I thought you would get the same deal as me w/o much of an issue. I love D*TV myself & the HR-20 is a good little DVR once you get use to it.

Good Luck!

Alex

My son got one of the new HR-20s this summer and I had the opportunity to use it fairly frequently when I visited him in July. I was impressed. Although the HR-20’s start was apparently rocky, the latest software updates seem to have turned it into a good piece of gear.

Hi All: Been with D*TV before it was even D*TV

Well, I helped build the first satellite and would like to know what it was called if not D*TV? :confused:

Mike

Hi All: Been with D*TV before it was even D*TV (over 12 years now) Anyway, I needed to get rid of my old Samsung HD receivers (TS-160 & TS-360) & my beloved Tivo 10-250 for the upcoming HD channel line-up. 1st off...The HR-20 isn't that bad @ all! I was reading horror stories about the unit & aside from the interface; it's a very serviceable HD recorder. My OTA reception is excellent & the remote is just a matter of getting use to it. I have noticed "some" lip-sync issues on a few occasions, but not that much.

All in all I'm pretty happy. D*TV came out & installed the new 5 LNB slim line dish, received 2 each H20 HD receivers & the HR-20. They did charge me for the HR-20 @ $99.00 plus tax & something else which came to about $135.00 total. Not to bad considering I should be set for awhile. Would have been nice to get everything for free, but I'm not complaining.

I guess my older receivers won't fetch anything (or very little) on eBay. I know some of you don't care for D*TV but I feel they have been pretty good to me over the years. Granted my bill runs on average $130.00 including the NFL Sunday Ticket, but they have given me "countless" credits over the years! I never pay for the $100.00 "Sports Pack" to get most of the NFL games in HD. I just call up & complain that I'm already paying for the HD ($10.99 a month) package & they give me a credit.

Yes...I know I sound like a complete D*TV fanboy, I guess to some extent I am. But...The cable companies simply don't "play ball" like D*TV does IMHO. So in short...I think the HR-20 is a decent recorder & I can't find any real issues with it after having it for a little over two weeks now. Getting ready for the Sunday games!

Alex

I do wish you continued success with your HD DVR. As stated elsewhere, I am having my problems with the HR20..be it '100' or '700'. I believe the problems are brought on by heat or by updates. It is a shame many are having these same problems when many channels of HD are coming to Directv in a week or 2. I am calling Directv this morn to obtain my third unit in a couple of weeks.

I do wish you continued success with your HD DVR. As stated elsewhere, I am having my problems with the HR20..be it '100' or '700'. I believe the problems are brought on by heat or by updates...Strange, I've had the opposite experience.

Previously, I had an H20-600 receiver that constantly had problems and required replacement several times. The HR-20-700 DVR I replaced it with has been fairly stable and has only acted flakey after a couple of beta software updates. A reboot fixed it. The caller ID hasn't worked too well (broken after the last beta SW update), but that's no big deal to me.

The only thing I miss about the H20-600 is the super OTA tuner in it.

Well, I helped build the first satellite and would like to know what it was called if not D*TV?

Mike

Mike: I moved into the house I live in now around 1996-97. At the time I received two bills one was from a company called something other the D*TV, then the 2nd bill was from a company called like USSB? Then about 10 months later, I received one bill from D*TV with some explainations as to why. I can't remember the finer details but that's how it happened.

Alex

Got the HR-20-700 yesterday and I like it so far, except for the lack of dual buffers. Locals in MPEG4 looked excellent. And can now get the local CW in HD, that was a bonus I didn't expect.

Mike: I moved into the house I live in now around 1996-97. At the time I received two bills one was from a company called something other the D*TV, then the 2nd bill was from a company called like USSB? Then about 10 months later, I received one bill from D*TV with some explainations as to why. I can't remember the finer details but that's how it happened.

Alex

Probably one of the many mergers/acquisitions that occurred in the beginning. As far as I remember, it has always been D*TV. I remember when we all piled into the auditorium to see one of the first transmissions.

Mike

Probably one of the many mergers/acquisitions that occurred in the beginning...I remember getting 2 bills; one from D* for basic service and another from USSB, for HBO, etc., plus a handful of other channels D* didn't offer.

Local channels were only available with antenna, but anyone could get ABC, CBS and NBC from both coasts for around $1 per network pair, ala carte. The networks were from different cities and would change from time to time. Some West coast chs were from San Francisco and Seattle. East Coast channels were from various towns - IIRC, Atlanta GA and Erie, PA, and changed occasionally. To qualify for the networks, you only had to tell them that you hadn't had cable in the past 3 months or so (?), and couldn't get clear reception w/ antenna. :)

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Satellite_Broadcasting) [link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Satellite_Broadcasting)]:
United States Satellite Broadcasting [aka "USSB"] was a satellite television company that ran from 1981 to 1998. It was purchased by DirecTV in 1998.

USSB was founded in 1981 by Stanley S. Hubbard, who is widely considered to be the father of modern satellite broadcasting. Hubbard spent most of the 1980's raising awareness and money to launch a digital satellite television service. In the 1990's, he had teamed up with RCA/Thomson Consumer Electronics and Hughes Electronics Corporation to come up with a practical digital satellite service capable of 175 channels. When the service launched, Hubbard offered programming under the moniker of USSB (mostly premium channels, plus MTV and others) while Hughes offered programming under the banner of DirecTV (mostly basic services). DirecTV later bought USSB .


--
Sam
D* subscriber since Aug '95

I was able to get 2 free HR20 HD DVR's this week. This is how I did it.

I currently have 2 of the DirecTivo HD DVR's,the 10-250. I called in to get the free 5 LNB dish upgrade. I also have a rooftop antenna for local HD channels, and this is Diplexed into my DTV signal to my DVR's. This diplexing of the OTA signal will no longer work with the 5 LNB dish, so I will lose my local HD channels via the antenna. Since the new dish will allow me to get local HD channels anyway, I wasn't concerned. I told the DTV rep on the phone that because of this limitation, I would need the new HR20's, he agreed, and sent me 2 of them for free. I got the first one a few days ago, and it works great. The 2nd one is on it's way. I wasn't trying to be sneaky, just told him the facts. They also upgraded my older RCA DTC-100 with a H20 for HD viewing, no DVR. So I got 3 new receivers for free!

Mike: I moved into the house I live in now around 1996-97. At the time I received two bills one was from a company called something other the D*TV, then the 2nd bill was from a company called like USSB? Then about 10 months later, I received one bill from D*TV with some explainations as to why. I can't remember the finer details but that's how it happened.

It's been DirecTV from the start, with USSB leasing some transponders and selling the premium channels (HBO, etc.) for reception over the same equipment.

Originally there were parts of the country where NRTC (National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative) had the franchise to sell DirecTV subscriptions to rural parts of the country. Don't recall the details, as I've been a direct DirecTV customer since '78. If you were a subscriber thru NRTC, all your dealings were with them, not DirecTV. There was an outfit called Pegasus that was in the middle of all this too -- maybe NRTC contracted the actual work out to them(?). Their pricing was similar, but not identical, to DirecTV's. They went bankrupt, or DirecTV bought them out, or something, only a few years ago, and it got real messy with lawsuits between DirecTV and Pegasus.

I moved to S Carolina from Michigan in 2004, and this was one of the NRTC areas. I had a great deal of trouble getting my DirecTV account moved here because everything was in a state of flux with the changeover from NRTC to DirecTV in this area. (Just kept my Michigan account for 6 months or so til it all got sorted out.)