D* HR20 topic - Page 4  

Yes. And, if I was familiar with the R15 he kept comparing, the review might have been informative.

He did and said his PQ for local MPEG was 95% as good as OTA on a difference receiver.

Then again, his monitor is a plasma with 720p at best.

He said in the main review that he wouldn't discuss picture quality there because he has no objective way to measure it, and would leave discussion of picture quality to the "comments" section. He then put a post in the comments section about his own impression of the picture quality.
What exactly confused you about this?
Struck me as a pretty thorough review.

I did compare a lot to the R15... soley because it has been out there for a year now, and there has been plenty said about it.....

Sorry about that...

I will try to get some more screen shots of the "general" functions...
And we are going to have another thread comparing to the HR10-250

As for PQ....

I did add that to the Discussion thread, as I have no way to objectively compare it.
As I said: "My Eyes to My Brain, on My TV"... may be very different from "Yours Eyes to Your Brain, on Your TV"

I personally think the PQ is better then I got on the HR10-250, on par with what I was getting with the H20... and a hell of a lot better (with SD content) then my DSR704

Just ordered 2... Aug 26th install.. excited.. DTivo's are dying...

What did they charge you? I'm glad they allow 2. I decided I'm going back to D* when we get the HR20 in Dallas.

I just called Directv Retention this morning and told them I was thinking of moving to Dish due to delays in their new MPEG-4 receiver. I already new the HR20-700 had been released to LA from dbstalk yesterday. They said I qualified to get the HR20-700 since I live in San Francisco bay area and that they would upgrade me from the HR10-250 for free.

Then they threw in a $50 customer loyalty credit and $10 per month for 12 months. Always great to get money for an upgrade, even if it is way overdue !

good for you! could you post the retention # the one i have was disconnected... thanks

Can someone tell me what "dual buffers" are? I keep seeing people complaining about how this unit doesn't have them. This is going to be the first DVR I buy, so what is a dual buffer? Wouldn't sending the signal through a buffer twice slow down the response time between changing a channel and seeing the image?

Is there a "primer" for people on DVR info somewhere?

Dual buffers are when both tuners are recording their respective channels so that you can pause viewing on one channel, switch to another channel, pause viewing there, then switch back to the first channel and pick up where you left off. Apparently the HR20 does not allow this. A workaround would be to start a recording of the first channel and then switch to the other channel, pause it, then start your recording of the first channel and pause it. I don't know how long you can hold a pause though, although someone who is channel swapping is not going to pause for very long.

A lot of folks use dual-buffering to watch sports, especially football games.

The HR20 will only be buffering, or recording on the fly, the channel you are watching currently, the other tuner is not being recorded-buffered.

Thanks for the info, Keenan!

That's interesting. I figured the LAST thing I'd use a DVR for would be to watch sports. I want to know what's happening up to the moment, not lagging behind real time. What would be the point of praying that Venateri makes the field goal, if it happed before you started praying?

Think of it as a time warp...

If you don't KNOW what has already happened --- then it is as if it hasn't happened.

One warning though. Don't answer the phone when a buddy calls to comment on how it was really hilarious when Venateri missed that easy field goal!

I've found that threatening to murder anyone so inclined works fairly well...

Exactly, you stop time when you dual-buffer so you can see all the plays for both games.

DirecTV should have at least added PIP so you could at least watch 2 channels on the same screen, that would have been nice, the Dish 622 does this very well. Then you could just swap between the two images, small to large, depending on which channel had the action happening.

just called retention...

first, they offered me the HR20 for $399.99

then they offered me the HR20 for $149.99 plus $180 in credits.

then they wiped out the $149.99 and kept the $180 in credits.

so, i'm getting it for nothing out of pocket.....

installation is set for Saturday morning. fingers crossed that it all goes smoothly....

(i live in Los Angeles and have been a D* customer for over 8 years, fyi).

-CP

Is that for a lease or outright purchase? When I called yesterday the rep. told me it would be $399 for a lease or $749 for outright purchase. I got them to agree to 50% off either option and a similar amount of credits. Didn't push for more at this point as the unit isn't available in my area yet anyway.

Tom

its for a lease.

i have no reason to purchase it if they want to give it to me to use for free.

-CP

CP - I'm on with D* retention now and they won't cough up that deal. I'm in the middle of a move to LA so I'd think they'd really want to retain me (been a subscriber as long as you have).

What secret password did you use

If they're going to give it to us for free I don't have a problem with a lease, but there's no way I'm going to pay to buy something I don't get to own. I do find it amusing that they charge an extra $5.99 a month to give you the features that are actually enabled on the box though. I realize they do this because they can't charge you for guide data since you already get it for free.

When I got my box the rep didn't say anything about a lease, so I'll assume it's mine unless I see something that says otherwise during the install tomorrow.

no magic password, but i did start to "lay the groundwork" for my upgrade to the HR20 a few weeks ago with a few calls to retention, talking with them, getting them to make me offers on the 10-250, having them documented, etc, etc.

then today, i called and, honestly, i was ready to take the $150 deal w/ $180 in credits and then the rep said "well today is your lucky day, i can waive the $150 fee).
i didnt ask too many questions after that.

FWIW, my friend at work just called and tried to get the same deal and the best he could get was $399 - $120 in credits.

-CP

Is it just me, or does all of this wishy-washy pricing seem like a lousy way to conduct business? Reminds me of haggling with street vendors in Tiajuana...

negotiating is the bomb!

sharpens your brain and communication skills, hehe

for non negotiators, you get to pay $399

for bad negotiators you should get $100 off the 399

for good negotiators / people with subs around $100+ per month you should get this unit for free to $50 (WITHOUT an existing HR10-250)....

I ran out of gas when trying to get more than 1 HR20 unit though, they became very sticky then, so each month ill try get another hr20 then I guess.....

Do the deals you guys are getting through D* Retention require that you trade in another unit? In my main living area I have an upgraded HR10-250, which I'd like to keep, but an old Philips DSR6000 that I'd like to replace with a new HR20. What type of deal can I expect? I've been with D* for about 7 years now and have been averaging about $100/month.

The retention number I used was 800-824-9081.

jdreif,

i saw your post and called D* and was told that they are NOT offering the HR20 in the SF Bay area yet. He told me that they are still doing trials only in LA and there is no inventory anywhere else. Did you get any info on when they would supposedly do your upgrade?

Paul

I wished Charlie treated long time customers as DirectTV. D* really wants to keep its high end customers (>100 bucks per month)

When E* released the 622 (Dual tuner mpeg4 DVR) it went out for $299 just for the privilege of leasing and I did not read about any deals on the forums (and I visit ever day

Then around June (5-6 months after release) it started to give only 100 dlls back for existing customers but only if you were not an HD sub (new ones can get the 622 for free with programming credits I believe)

You guys are getting sweet deals

That is unreal. I live in SF area too. I called yesterday and said I wanted to change to cable and they said the HR20-700 is not out yet in this area and when it comes out there will NO incentives for it.

I am glad at least you got a good deal.

Mine is scheduled for tomorrow so we will see what happens, I'll keep you posted if everything goes smoothly.

HI,

I Just got 2 HR-20 units installed at my house. I called up Directv on Wednesday and spoke to a CSR, where it was news to him that the units were even available. I am in the LA area and wanted to replace the HD tivo and the SD tivo units that I have. I was quoted $399, then a $100 rebate. I mentioned that others were getting the boxes for $99 and he agreed to that price. It was very easy, I was given an install date of Friday from 1-5 pm. The total on my account was $229, for the 2 new HR-20, and new antenna.

Now for the fun part...

The installers showed up at 1 today to install. When I asked about the units, they had one SD recorder and one HD box to install, no HR-20 units, and the work order did not mention them. I explained that I ordered the other HR-20 units to replace my current DVR's. I then called up Directv and explained my situation, got no where with the first person (who did not even know they were released), the second person said that I could have one unit for $399 with a $100 rebate, and that since demand was high I could not get a second one. I was upset since I was quoted 2 days before for 2 units at $99 each. He said that the $99 price was for the non HD version of the DVR. I said that I was going to leave and go to dish, after 10 years with directv. I was then transferred over to retention, where the lady was very nice and said sorry for the mix up plenty of times. I was then offered the same deal, one box at $299 and no second unit. I said that this was unacceptable, and would soon cancel and order dish. I explained that the person that took the order understood that the unit was the HD DVR, not the SD one, he even had to read the notes on taking the order since this was the first one he had done. I was put on hold, and she came back with an offer for the first unit at no charge, and the second at $399 - and this was the best that can be done, but the installation would be in 2 weeks. I said that I wanted the units installed today and she arranged for the installers to bring 2 boxes out this afternoon and get them hooked up.

They got everything hooked up in a couple of hours, but one of the HR-20 units did not work, not sure why but he is bringing one back tomorrow morning. All in all I am satisfied, the one that works is a huge improvement to the HR10-250 that was super slow. This unit is much faster in gudes and no lags after hitting record. So far so good. I wish that I could have paid $200 less, but understand that the person taking the order made a mistake.

Hope my install goes better then that. I'm in Los Angeles and have been waiting for the HR-20 to add hd dtv to my home. I currently have two dtv tivo boxes that we love and a regular dtv box. I called the number a few post up and after telling them that dish just called me and offered me an awesome deal on a hd dvr (I lied ) the lady offered me the hr-20 for $399 minus a $200 instant rebate and also included 6 months free hd programing and 3 months of free HBO and showtime. Not bad since I almost paid $399 for the tivo version a few months back at bestbuy. She also said she was upgrading me to a 5 lnb dish. not sure what that means, made it sound real important. Cool part is she was able to get me scheduled for tomorrow, saturday between 8am-12pm. Hope the installers don't cancel on short notice or show up with the wrong box. Thanks for the tips guys.. The cool part is we are not $100 a month customers. Up until now we only had total choice plus and tivo. We've just been with them for 5 years.

The 5-LNB dish is required for the MPEG4 sats, at least that is what the installers told me. It is much larger than the 3 LNB that I had. They could not mount it to the chimney on my house since it was so heavy, but instead mounted it on the roof edge. They asked where I would like it and were quite helpful. There were 3 guys here at one time, and seemed to know the install procedure quite well, I was impressed with their service.

Since you were quoted the $399 price, I would assume that you are going to get the HR-20.

One interesting thing was that the installer said that with the new dish there would be 200 channels of HD coming in December. I will believe that when I see it, but I am thinking that he was speaking of the HD locals across the country.

I find it troublesome dealing with the reps at Directv, it really depends upon how hard you push them to get a better deal, almost reminds me of car salesmen. It is always tough when you find out someone got a better deal than you since they were more agreesive. I would be nice if they had some type of loyalty program and let you know what they are offering.