DIRECTV H21-100 HD SATELLITE RECEIVER DIRECT TV NIB!!!!

Dir-Tv offered 2 of these installed as an upgrade from 2 HR10-250's and frankly they are not an upgrade.

You lose:
1- Ability to flip back and forth between tuners.
2- Doesn't buffer the two tuners. Have to be recording to go back and forth, but then you have to find your place in the recording each time
you flip.
3-No OTA connection. We live between two "markets" and I lose over 16 local OTA stations, most in in hi-def that the 10-250 would record. Worst is losing the ability to Tivo 6 different HD Public OTA stations. D***tv only has 4 of the locals, none in HD
4- User interface is not anywhere near TIVO's.
5- These are leased machines which they want you to pay for, and initially wanted to take my upgraded and owned HR10-250's as trade in....

You Gain
1- Many more HD channels, which look good and are worth having. Many more HD movie choices, NGS, Discovery, etc. About time for what I've been spending for HD service for the past few years.
2- Nice, attractive shiny black box.

I'm going to have them switched out for the HR-20, which I understand has OTA. Wish me luck!

Replaced an HR-20 with this. Definately a good move. Almost twice the capacity thanks to the monster 750gb hard drive. New look is great with the mirror black finish and subduded leds replacing the super bright distracting leds of the HR20.

The over the air tuners of the HR-20 are gone which might be a problem for some but I get all my locals in HD over sat so it's fine by me.

Good unit, great picture and sound, especially on the new mpeg4 channels.

Cable can't touch directv for hd. 85 channels so far and 100 by month end. Sweet.

I recently switched to an HD DVR from Direct TV after years using their Tivo. I am using it with a new Sharp Aquos HD TV. The difference in picture and sound quality is truly amazing and the glossy black unit matches exactly my new TV and is both modern and attractive. There are a few drawbacks with the unit especially in comparison to my old Samsung Tivo unit.
The switch from one channel to another is annoyingly slow and can take up to 6 or 7 seconds. I assume this is because since the unit is capable of receiving both analog transmissions in the old 480i format all the way up to the best HD currently available which is the 1080i format, it probably takes a few seconds to sort out the various incoming formats and deliver the picture. Also it often returns to the beginning of a recording (after a stop or pause) instead of resuming where you left off. This is particularly true near the beginning of a recording and is also quite annoying. Recording is a one button one press operation which is fast and foolproof. The remote is typical Direct TV and is good but not altogether user-friendly. However, it is both Infrared and RF (Radio) capable. It means that when you set up for RF operation, the remote can controll the unit up to 200' away in another part of the house even through walls and doors. Not many people are aware of this useful capability.
You can easily tell what shows are currently being recorded by pressing 'List' and an R symbol will show on the program list channel being recorded.
I hope this helps some people. I have been a Dirct TV customer for years and only paid $199 for the new unit including shipping. They also installed a new HD 5 LNB dish which is very large, but they did it for free. Good service!

Update 12/17/07 - After using this DVR for about a month I am removing a star (*/*****). The machine has frozen several times (to the point I had to unplug it to reset it) while trying to fast forward or rewind, the unit also has very poor support for audio and picture streaming. It needs some serious stability updates!


D*TV customer for 5 years
Previously owned: 2 DSR704 Tivos & an HR10-250 Tivo

About the HR21
The Good: Decent interface design, seems to record what you tell it to, Has an icon in the program guide that shows you if you have marked a program for recording, networking port built in for streaming music and photos, lots of HD channels, good forward and backward "skip" buttons.

The Bad: inability to swap between tuners or quickly see what the other tuner is recording, if you have a DirecTivo you know what I am talking about. Overall the interface is not nearly as nice as a Tivo. The remote control is not really user friendly, I remedied this by using a logitech 880 universal which makes navigating this DVR much more tolerable. NO OFF AIR ANTENNA!!!!, This is almost a deal breaker for me. I was not the person at home when this was installed or else I might have refused this unit. As it is the installer told my wife that all the locals will be available in the next few weeks over the dish. If this is not the case D*TV and I will have a problem. On my HR10-250 I recieved locals from 2 major cities around where I live. Apparently this was done to make the unit cheaper.

Overall: The only thing that really irritates me is the lack of OA support and the inability to flip between tuners or easily see what is recording on the other tuner. The interface is not as slick as a Tivo but suffices once you get used to it. As to how well it records season passes, that remains to be seen. Basically, a fair effort by D*TV at a DVR, not as good as a Tivo, but not as bad as Dish Net. Note: If they fix the local stations issue I would give it 3 stars.

We recently got DirecTV after seeing their ad blitz for 75 HD channels. They brag about their "digital picture and sound," and their great customer service.
The truth is the only way to get digital picture and sound is with a HDTV and an HDMI. Their picture is actually worse than the picture we got with Comcast. Not to mention there is no two year agreement with cable, no picture loss when it rains, you do not have to pay for "leased equipment, and you do not need an ugly dish hanging on your house.
When we purchased our most recent HDTV, we figured we would replace the DVR we had with DirecTV and get an HD DVR to replace it.
DirecTV told us we would have to pay $299 for the privlige of leasing their receiver from them. In addition to this we would have to pay $50 because we were a new customer "and had not established a credit history with them." Also, we would have to pay $20 for shipping and handling and extend our contract for another two years.
Maybe DirecTV thinks it is in the cellphone business because all they want to do is lock you into long-term contracts and make you bleed money to them forever. Their symbol should be a ball and chain because that is what they really are. Cable here I come!