Normally, I don't do product reviews. Others do that much more completely and with greater expertise than I. However, I am going to make a small exception as I own this product and have copious hands-on experience with it. This unit (the DIRECTV HD DVR HR 10-250) is actually the third DVR I have owned. The others being the R 10 non-HD version of the HR 10-250 and an early RCA Ultimate unit, so I have some basis for comparison.

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I happen to have 2 of these units, and while the comments about the remote and the software are not entirely unfounded, a little practice is all you need to manage the unit. I have experienced none of the software issues in over a year of use.

There is no other DirecTV solution for HiDef, and the quality of the recording is as good as the original (another worthy discussion, but not the point here). The ability to watch hidef while it records (and avoid the commercials cuts 20 minutes out of every hour of watching programs, and IS easy to master.

PLUS, the ability to use two inputs and record 2 programs simultaneously means there is almost nothing that you will miss (Everwood and CSI, Medium and CSI:Miami anytime you want)

If only DirecTV had more HiDef offerings...but my over-the-air reception is fabulous and the unit is so addictive that it is almost impossible to watch TV at broadcast time.

I have no affilliation with DirecTV other than being an early adopter and while the local cable service has caught up in features and surpassed in HD offerings, I'm still a subscriber. Like many I am concerned what will happen to my rather expensive receivers when they make the shift to MPEG-4 (or whateber it is) but I'm happy now.

It is surprising to me that nobody has cared to mention Dish network's great HD dvr with two tuners. I have used it for over a year and haven't had any serious problems. The only problem I had was that one of the two tuners stopped working, but since this unit is a leased unit, I sent it to them and I received a new one. I can record satellite programming as well as over-the-air programs. It has 25 hour of HD memory and 200 of Standard memory. I love it

npalenci@lausd.k12.ca.us wrote:It is surprising to me that nobody has cared to mention Dish network's great HD dvr with two tuners. I have used it for over a year and haven't had any serious problems. The only problem I had was that one of the two tuners stopped working, but since this unit is a leased unit, I sent it to them and I received a new one. I can record satellite programming as well as over-the-air programs. It has 25 hour of HD memory and 200 of Standard memory. I love it

I also have the Dish 942 DVR. Great quality. Also Dish has a great HD lineup.

G.

I don't understand your negativity of your review. I have 2 of these units and 3 SD DirecTivos and they all work great. I think the user interface is very easy to understand and use and even the remote that you so hate works fine for me.

From what I understand the picture quality from DirecTV for HD isn't as good as off-the-air because of compression but for someone like me that lives in a remote area that will probably never get HD off-the-air it is much better than SD.

About the only problem I have other than the lack of HD content is an occasional audio blip. :)

Normally, I don't post to forums, but I felt compelled to share my very different experience with the HR10-250 HD DVR. In all, I have owned seven sat-based DVR units over the last 5 years, and interestingly, of the four different models I have owned in that time period, three of them were the exact same models that the author owned (though my first model was actually the predecessor to the Ultimate TV; the E* Dishplayer 7200).

That's where the similarities between our user experiences end however. I have never experienced a serious software glitch on my HR10-250, and the user interface is basically the same as on all Tivos, which is stable, efficient and user friendly (the latter being of great value to those of us with non-technical family members - in my case, my wife, who would never support all the time and money I commit to my HDTV experience if it weren't for her miraculous adoption of the Tivo interface). The guide can be sluggish at times, and I do miss the PIP feature that my Ultimate/Displayer offered, but overall, I think this is the best setup out there - at least until the MPEG4 models deput.

Regarding the remote, IMO the classic Tivo peanut remote is ergonomically excellent - except for the 'skip back' button and 'power' button being too close in proximity and of the same size/shape. I think I prefer the first-gen Tivo remote. I could also do without the prominent 'thumbs-up/down' buttons consuming some valuable real estate. In fact, there aren't many other remote design that have lasted so long and been copied so often. Not to suggest it couldn't be further improved, but clearly, this design has been well accepted by the general public.

I do get the occasional audio blip mentioned by another poster, but I find that my OTA HD picture quality is actually similar to most of the sat-based HD content I watch. In addition, I have never experienced the HDMI handshake issues that many users have reported, so either a patch was pushed out to resolve this, or my TV just happens to agree with the HR10-250's HDMI protocol.

All in all, I am almost completely satisfied with my HDTV setup (for now), and that is a level of satisfaction that I have rarely achieved in my technical or automotive life!