DIRECTV HR21 (DIRECTV Plus HD DVR)

March 25, 2008 02:08
Good
1.5/5
I have had TIVO for years and now DirecTV has shoved this inferior DVR down my throat saying that my old HD recorder would stop functioning and I had to upgrade (Ha Ha) to this new DVR provided by DirecTV.

When compared to the TIVO unit this unit is missing many features. It only has one live TV buffer where TIVO 2. It doesn't do suggestions. It only has one guide option where the TIVO has 2. It has no over the air tuner and I'm sure there are other missing features but these are the most obvious for me.

Many of the programs in the guide do not fit in the space provided. This makes it hard to use the guide to see what is coming up. You almost have to highlight each program to find out what it is. With the slowness of the guide this whole process becomes long and laborious.

Navigating the menus is very sluggish paging up or down or changing or channels in the guide take almost a second to refresh after each button press. It also seems to take a long time to respond to any button press anywhere. This is almost like it is either lacking in system memory or it needs a faster processor.

The 30 second skip is not really a 30 second skip but a 30 second fast forward. If I wanted fast forward, I would press fast forward.

The most frustrating problem I have experienced so far was last night. I was watching a show on live TV delayed by about 30 minutes. The DVR asked me if it could change channels to record a scheduled program. I assumed it would allow me to finish the last half hour on my current show while it started recording the newly scheduled one. WRONG, it changed channels and I lost the last half hour of the show I was watching.

Since it has only one live TV buffer, you cannot bounce back & forth between 2 live channels and expect to be able to pause. Sometimes I like to watch 2 live sporting events. I will pause one the watch the other for a bit then pause it and come back to the first. With one live TV buffer, this is impossible. When the channel gets changed it is always back to live.

I don't think the menu's or setup procedures are very easy to use or user friendly.

Now that I have described what I don't like about this box, there are a couple of things I do like. I like the 4 colored buttons on the remote that do different things in different areas like a soft button on a cell phone. I like the fact that it has a screen saver that engages whenever you pause the program for a long time. I think the favorites section with multiple levels of favorites is also nice.

I don't recommend this box to anyone. I guess it is OK if you have never had a good DVR and don't know what you are missing. I wish more people would voice their disgust at this horrible DVR and maybe DirecTV would release a better product or do what they used to do and just partner back up with TIVO who already knows how to build a great DVR. I hate this DVR so much in fact that I am thinking of changing TV providers to see if I can get something better elsewhere.

- robeerski

July 18, 2008 07:52
Terrible
0.5/5
On paper this is a great unit, however after roughly 4 years as a DTV Tivo user, I decided to take DTV up on their offer to upgrade to the HR21 series. Wow, what a huge mistake!

This machine was so horrific, I honestly don't know where to begin. In theory outside of it's inability to perform wishlist autorecords (only tivo users know what I'm talking about), it should be a slight improvement to the sd tivo units, however it doesn't do what a DVR is supposed to do. What am I referring to?

1) Scheduled recordings were frequently blank. Yes, the program is in the "now playing" list, but there is nothing behind door # 1. You have no idea how much this disrupted our "Tivo spoiled" household.

2) We worked with DTV to the fullest, and after 7 units, we finally gave up and hooked up the old Tivo again. We were eventually told by DTV that we were far from alone.

3) The unit locked up constantly, and resets take 10 minutes or more to recover.

4) DVR's allow one to fast forward and rewind or even pause programming right? Well, not these.... DTV had a known issue for literally months while we had these units. During playback, we'd often fast forward through a commercial, only to lose control of it. Yes, it took over on its own, and didn't allow us to resume play. We'd sit there for minutes waiting for the fast forward wheels to stop rolling, look at one another and try to decide if we should throw it out the window, wait, or reset it.

4) Don't fall for the On Demand hype. Granted it's in Beta, but holy moly it's far from complete, and the install alone was a near logistical nightmare. Nobody in our area was even remotely familiar how to install the connection for this feature.

***I could go on and on, but my guess is you likely get the point.***

In all, I convinced my family for multiple months it would be worth it to tough it out while DTV worked out the known issues, and continued to update their software. Well, a few months later, I've got the proverbial egg on my face, and would like to help prevent anyone out there from making the same mistake.

For what it's worth, we were assured by the DTV sales folks that all the "known issues" were worked out and fully resolved prior to signing up, so we felt even more misled after going through what we experienced.

In a nutshell, don't do it!

- byronicboom

April 29, 2008 09:32

4.5/5
I upgraded from Direct TV's "standard" definition service to HD, with the HR21 dvr. I am very pleased with both picture quality and DVR functionality. Previously I had one of the TIVO dvrs provided by Direct TV, and am at a loss to explain the negative reviews. The new DVR has most of the features the old TIVO had, and many features that the old TIVO unit did not have, as follows: (Note, I'm not comparing the new TIVO units that you can buy seperately. Those maybe more full featured, but they don't work with direct tv and are expensive.) These include:
* one touch record from guide
* one touch to get to guide sorted by subject
* recent searches automatically saved
* ability to record a series or upcoming episode from list of previously recorded functions
* list of last 5 channels
* ability to scroll through the guide 12 hours at a time
* 30 second advance
* set your own bookmarts to recorded shows
* ability to jump back and forward to pre-set book marks (TIVO you could only go forward).
* set up shows to record on-line.
*show pictures and play music from computer to the DVR
* several hot keys that change function depending on what your doing (watching live vs. recorded shows).

Overall, I'm very happy and don't miss my old unit at all. With over two weeks of use (at the heart of NBA playoffs), I've recorded many shows without a hitch. There are some features that are missing.
* no dual buffer (you can solve this by recording the show you'r watching but it is clunky)
* remote, while full featured, is a litte over-designed (too many clicks and options)
* no "live tv" button

- dgolden

September 2, 2008 07:12
Mediocre
1.0/5
Like many others, I was forced to deploy the HR21 in order to "retain all of my HD programming". I was somewhat pleased that DirecTV did not force me to turn in my HR250's, so I reluctantly agreed to let the installer come in and install 2 HR21's at no charge. I kept the HR250's activated, but for the last 6 months, I had tried to get acclimated to the HR21's and left the HR250's offl line. I had many problems with resets, shutdowns, and lost recordings on the HR21's, but over time (and numerous automatic firmware upgrades) the HR21's both seem to be stable. However, last week I hooked up one of the HR250's and what a huge difference! It really illustrates how bad the HR21 is. My biggest beef with the HR21 is that when watching NFL games, the 30 second skip search skips ahead 40 seconds, flashes the image, then rewinds back to the 30 second spot.. This is unacceptable, especially when you see a snapshot of the outcome of the play, then it goes back to where it should have stopped in the first place. All DVR functions are dog slow and jerky. The HR 250 playback and skip functions are fast and smooth. I hope DirecTV addresses these issues or offers a different unit that uses the same architecture as the HR250 with support of all 5 satellites.

- sierracamper

September 2, 2008 05:15
Terrible
0.5/5
This is worse then the HR-20 at least the HR 20 had the OTA option. Directv need help building a receiver.

- damondlt

September 1, 2008 05:26
Terrible
0.5/5
I am all for automation, but ...I would prefer to be the one to decide when and for how long my show/movid is on pause. The picture just FREEZES whenever it wants. It starts back whenever it wants...and then will pause, again,..... whenever it wants. I'm all for automation, but this is rediculous. This is one product that I'm sure the Quality Assurance team is saying "I told you so" to the management team that pushed this through. This Directv customer of many, many, many years is not willing to put up with any more of it......this box is makiing me switch! .

- apoind1

September 1, 2008 11:11
Terrible
0.5/5
I've switched back-and-forth b/w cable and sat. tv several times over the years. I switched from Comcast to Driectv after being with Time Warner/Comcast for the past 5 years. Every time I switched to sat. tv was because I thought it was cheaper. I would say it depends on the personal preferences of the channels. What I can say confidently is sat. tv's signal reliability and receiver responsiveness do not match up to cable tv's. I often have wait for a couple seconds before my sat tv goes up or down one channel. This makes channel surfing impossible - I've to bring up the guide and surf by the program title! To make customer experience worse, Directv has its channels all over the place, and most channels show up in the line up more than twice (some up to 4 or 5 times easily). It has the HD and non-HD version of the same channel one after the other, which means you've to suffer twice the program up/down delay to go from one to another. In comparison, Timer Warner/Comcast had their HD and non-HD versions of the same program in different blocks... this makes channel browsing more enjoyable. For some reason, my Directv remote doesn't work with my Olevia tv in my bedroom... so I've to use my Olevia control to turn on/off my tv and adjust the volume while my Directv contol to change channels.

If I could do over, I would look at a phone/tv/internet combo from one of the phone/cable companies. It probably would have offset any pricing advantage sat tv has. I definitely will not recommend anyone to sign a 2-year contract. I can't speak for Dish Network but I would think it's technology is similar to Directv's. And as far as Directv goes, I would say it's sub-par. Good luck with it.

- spacecityguy

August 31, 2008 06:38
Mediocre
1.0/5
I didn't want to give up my Tivo, but DirecTV forced the issue. As for the OnDemand bit and more HD channels, maybe those are a small plus, but for all of its other shortcomings, give me back my old Tivo! I was happier before the forced swap.

- otheraustinguy

May 12, 2008 01:14
Terrible
0.5/5
Don't let yourself get talked into the 2 year contract that comes with these unuseable units. They still have lots of problems, and don't work at all for many people. There's no dual buffer, HDMI has problems, freezing issues, lost recordings, lack of picture, problems with many HD channels (directv blames the channel, not their equipment), etc, etc, etc.... Wait until the next series at least, these are plagued with problems and "keep hard resetting" and "wait for the next software update" (which often causes more problems) is the best advice customer service has to offer you. Look for help on the DTV forum board and you'll be attacked by "fanboys" for not loving these broken recievers. DIRECTV will give these to you for free. Don't accept it, you'll probably regret it if you do.

- The Real Newtboy

December 14, 2008 03:21
Mediocre
1.0/5
I've owned two high-def (HR-21) recorders and one standard-def recorder for the past five months, and here's what I found:

1. All too frequently the receiver must be reinitialized using the reset button; this takes 10 to 20 minutes, so if you are intending to watch a program, you're out of luck.

2. They bill for premium channels not ordered and then state since the channels were available reversal of the charges are not possible.

3. Promised credits never materialize on the bill.

4. None of the equipment is guaranteed beyond 90 days; your choice is to either pay for an ongoing monthly service plan or the full cost of the repairs/replacements.

5. They nickel and dime you to death with extra charges (e.g., more than one receiver, HD reception).

6. The remote is not ergonomically designed, with the buttons being unlit, very stiff and difficult to use for anyone with a joint disorder such as arthritis. Unless you hold the remote number keys down just the right amount of time, either the number will not register or it will be repeated (e.g., pressing channel 2 may result in channel 22). However, pressing the up or down arrow key buttons does not result in cycling through a menu; instead you must press repeatedly to arrive at your selection. Unlike other remotes, this one is not at all forgiving if you do not point it directly at the receiver and TV. It is white and dirties easily.

7. Only one channel is available from local stations that broadcast multiple channels. For example, the local PBS station broadcasts one hi-def channel and three standard definition channels, but only the former is available.

8. The audio and video are not always in sync; sometimes resetting the unit helps, sometimes not.

9. Changing channels is not instantaneous, in fact, not even close, taking 4-11 seconds.

10. Sometimes when the DVR requires resetting, previously recorded programs are not available.

11. Although you "purchase" the DVRs at $200 each when initiating service, you don't really own them and must return them to DirecTV or be charged once again for them.

12. Attempting to record only the new episodes of a series does not work if the same episode appears later in the day or the next day (e.g., some news shows on MSNBC). The DVR will record multiple copies of the same show, unnecessarily using hard disk space.

13. If DirecTV physically damages your audio video equipment on installation, they refuse all responsibility, refusing to pay for repair costs (after initially agreeing to do so and firing the tech). I'm out several hundred dollars in replacement costs.

Caveat emptor!

- 4Veritas