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Ed Milbourn
Ed's View - The DirecTV HR 20- DirecTV Local Channel HDTV DVR, Part 1
by Ed Milbourn on September 21, 2006 Category: Technology

Finally, DirecTV has decided to release to "secondary markets" their HR 20, the HD DVR unit that receives (some) local HDTV channels. While not quite the disaster that was my experience with the HR 10 (see my previous article published last year), it's a close second. Both of these units come under the heading of "don't buy version/1.0 of anything." But I couldn't resist, needing to retain my "early adopter" license.

First of all, please keep in mind these units are true "kludges." DirecTV contracts the reference hardware design, based on their specifications, to one company, the software design to another and the integration and manufacturing to third parties. Good luck! But this type of disintegrated "outsourcing" product development and production model is becoming the norm these days. In this manner the blame can be spread among several entities.

To punctuate the degree of design confidence and stability DirecTV has in this unit (the HR 20), they have adopted a leasing model, allowing them to provide customers with update capability by exchanging the units and/or the dishes, no doubt at extra charges. Gee, just like Cable.

The HR 20 does not receive off-air digital signals in spite of the fact that it has an integrated DTV tuner. Even though this capability is advertised on the carton, one must look very closely to see a little add-on sticker that reads: "Coming late 2006: This box can also integrate local channels from an off-air antenna (ATSC)."

Add this revelation to the fact that the unit only receives two of the advertised five local HDTV feeds (and no other DTV multiplexes of those channels), makes this offering about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. A call to DirecTV - a very painful experience at its best - reveals that extended channel capability continues to be "under negotiation," with no conclusive date for HDTV service expansion. Really!

In a subsequent article, I will discuss the HR 20 performance, as soon as DirecTV downloads the capability to turn the unit "on."

Ed

Posted by Ed Milbourn, September 21, 2006 11:21 AM

Reader Commentary

Reply
Bob Mankin • Sep 21, 1:46pm
Wow, and OTA is such bleeding edge technology these days :wink:

Screaming red flag when you can't have a feature like that enabled on release. This is 2006 and perhaps they should have put the "A Team" from engineering on this flagship product rather than the "C Team"....
Reply
jerfilm • Sep 21, 3:50pm
I';ve been a D* subscriber for about 10 years now. BUT, when our HD dish at our summer place in CO gave up the ghost, I decided to try DishNet. I knew of course that they had about 30 channels of HD programming. Not all the greatest content, but certainly something for just about everybody. What I didn't realize is that I would get all of the Denver market channels including those in HD. THe user interface with the DishNet DVR takes some getting used to - doesn't any change? - but I'm 70 and it didn't take THAT long to master it.

We'll be back in MN ina couple of weeks and I will be contacting DishNet to see if there are any kind of discounts for folks with two locations. I won't need my OTA installation that I paid over $700 for 2 years ago. Although, I still have at least 5 channels scattered around the compass that I can watch as backups.

Here's a curious thing that perhaps someone can sort out for me. It seems to us that the non-HD signals coming from DishNet are...
Reply
Ed Milbourn • Sep 21, 4:57pm
Both use fairly low MPEG 2 bit rates for local to local SD satellite retransmission. Both use MPEG 4 for local to local HDTV. I have not seen a side by side comparison of the two, but would guess that Dish has a higher local to local SD rate. Even at low bit rates, it is hard to quantify the difference because of statistical multiplexing techniques that both use.

But there are other varibles, such as the SD video processing circuitry, but since you say the difference is noticeable only with SD local to local reception, I suspect compression differences are the cause.

Don't hold you breath waiting for all components to embrase the lates and greatest technologies. Consumer electronics technology is advancing so quickly that designs are obsolete before they enter the production cycle. There will always be something better (and probably incompatible) next year. That's what makes the business so exciting, and, yes, at times, frustrating....
Reply
Schmedley • Sep 25, 1:16pm
Two weeks of HDTV recording, the unit is A+, more features than I expected.

The only problem was that Directtv and the installer would not give me the footprint of the new 5 eliment dish. This one weighs 46 pounds and needs a very stable support, I had a steel brace built but we had to drill the holes "on site"....
Reply
Schmedley • Oct 3, 1:46pm
An update:

I have had an HR-20 for over 3 weeks. First, the software upgrade
shows 9-27-06I have had a few intermittent problems with recorded
programs starting for the first few seconds then freeze.The
solution was to turn off the HR-20 and go back to the recorded
program. This problem exists in 480 as well as 1080i programs. The
problem will happen no matter if another program is recording or
not.Once the problem is cleared, it plays correctly and you
can ff and fr and play without any problem.Note to other
users- the recorder will keep recording to the hard drive when any
program is selected for viewing so I do not leave the receiver on
during the night and I always switch the receiver to an music channel
(does not record music)....

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About Ed Milbourn

After graduating from Purdue University with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Industrial Education in 1961 and 1963 respectively, Ed Milbourn joined the RCA Home Entertainment Division in 1963. During his thirty-eight year career with RCA (later GE and Thomson multimedia), Mr. Milbourn held the positions of Field Service Engineer, Manager of Technical Training and Manager of Sales Training. In 1987, he joined Thomson's Product Management group as Manager of Advanced Television Systems Planning, with responsibilities including Digital Television and High Definition Television Product Management. Mr. Milbourn retired from Thomson multimedia in December 2001, and is now a Consumer Electronics Industry consultant.