I am contemplating switching back to DirecTV after about 8 months with cable and an HD DVR. The main reason is that my wife and I are completely fed up with the terrible DVR software on the Explorer8300HD or whatever the model is. We are with Cox, and they will not even give a date as to when they might roll out Tivo software, so we are ready to give up. She hasn't forgiven me for getting rid of the Tivo. I did it for the HD. I tried a Tivo S3 with the cable, but it wasn't capable of getting NHL Center Ice (or any sports subscriptions), and that is a necessity for me.

Anyway, here are my questions:
1) Does the software on the HR20 allow you to cancel a single upcoming recording of a series without canceling all future recordings, too? DirecTivo could do this within the To Do List.
2) Can you search for a show by title across all of the current schedule? Our current DVR searches for a title only within a given day. Then you switch the day, and start the "search" all over, which is really just scrolling through an alphabetical list. And anything that starts with "The" is under "T"! duh.
3) Can you set a series recording to always record extra time, say five minutes beyond the scheduled end of the show? And does it work even when one episode is a little longer than most.
4) Is there a keyword search that will search descriptions in addition to titles?
5) Are episode titles displayed?
6) Is it smart enough not to record the same episode more than once, even if it appears as a new episode each time?

These functions sound petty, but they really could make or break the deal for us. It's all about convenience. And what we have now offers much less than Tivo did. We're looking to get some of it back.

Thanks for any help.

1) Does the software on the HR20 allow you to cancel a single upcoming recording of a series without canceling all future recordings, too? DirecTivo could do this within the To Do List.

Yes. You can do this from either the To Do list or the guide or the prioritizer (Season Pass Manager) and choosing episodes.

2) Can you search for a show by title across all of the current schedule? Our current DVR searches for a title only within a given day. Then you switch the day, and start the "search" all over, which is really just scrolling through an alphabetical list. And anything that starts with "The" is under "T"! duh.

Title search is over the whole loaded schedule which is up to 14 days.

3) Can you set a series recording to always record extra time, say five minutes beyond the scheduled end of the show? And does it work even when one episode is a little longer than most.

Yes.

4) Is there a keyword search that will search descriptions in addition to titles?

Yes.

5) Are episode titles displayed?

Are episode titles displayed where? It works pretty much like Tivo's Now Playing Guide where it shows the title of the series when only one show is recorded and the episode title when it within a group. Also displays episode title and description at top as you select titles in "My Playlist" which is the equivalent of Tivo's Now Playing.

6) Is it smart enough not to record the same episode more than once, even if it appears as a new episode each time?

Yes, but not perfect. Just like Tivo, it is dependent upon how good the listing information is from Tribune.

Whatever problems the HR20 had when it first came out, it is a very nice DVR now. You can add hard drive space by attaching an external hard drive, you can also hook up an over-the-air antenna which the HR20 will show on its guide and record just like satellite channels, they are rolling out video on demand via download over the Internet by the end of the year, and a whole bunch of new HD channels by the end of the year.

You might want to checkout dbstalk.com (http://dbstalk.com/) where they are more focused on Satellite TV. They have help guides there for getting a smooth HR20 installation as well as tips for people coming from Tivo to the HR20.

Thanks for the excellent responses! This is a huge help. I actually did check out DBSTalk.com and I couldn't find a clear answer. I was too lazy to create an ID at the time. I will, eventually. :)

I asked about the episode titles because my current DVR doesn't seem to offer them anywhere, let alone use them to determine what gets recorded or not.

I contacted Cox about getting Tivo on their boxes again, and they still will not offer any timeframe. D*, here I come (back)...

(I realized after I posted that there was a better forum area to post this, but I couldn't figure out how to move it. I'm glad someone found it.)

Thanks!