HR20-700 - The new HD-DVR for Directv
So it looks like DirecTV is serious with it’s new HD DVR. It just may be enough for me to trade in my HD-DirecTivo. Here are some quick specs.
- HDMI output - Doesn’t say if it will be 1.3
- Dual Sat and Dual OTA tuners - Naturally
- Ethernet - Nice addon
- USB Port - Does it work or does it need to be hacked like the DirecTIVO?
- 300Gb SATA drive with external SATA connector - Will I be able to add external drive space?
- RF remote (but IR can be used)
One thing in the specs that made my heart jump:
Moving the items around in the prioritizer is nearly instant… no lag when moving the items up and down the list…
badda bing. In fact it says that many tasks are much faster.
Also, it seems to cache some menus so interacting is much quicker and smoother plus:
FF 1x,2x,3x (no 4x)
RW 1x, 2x, 3x (no 4x)30s SLIP and Jump Back
Single Live Buffer - 90 Minutes, with autosave.
…The TrickPlay works fantastic… fast, very quick responding, to start the action, and return to playback.
In most cases, it is nearly instant… A few times there was less then 1 second delay for audio to returnThe Jump Back appears to be consistent, and the 30s Slip is just as good
The only drawback I see that I use all the time is having 2 live buffers where you can watch two channels without recording and just jumping around the last hour or so of a show. That will be a bummer if it isn’t implemented.
So am I now more excited to get moved up to this? Heck ya!
Check out our new sister blog on Home Theater, HTBlog.net
August 21st, 2006 at 9:19 pm
[…] Some notes on the new DirecTV HD DVR. […]
September 6th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
haha, don’t buy the bull from DTV.
my friend, who works at TiVo, says they’re collectively pissed off at Hughes since they are the ones that took on programming most of the functionality of the box, even though it’s a TiVo UI. he says that they pretty much made it to where the DirecTV TiVo was nearly purposely crutched to make the released othe HR20-700 that much more “impressive.” it’s not that their new receiver is so great, it’s that they made the HR10-250 so slow that their “new and improved” HR20-700 seems to good to be true by comparison.
it’s the same tactic used by oil companies now…they’re dropping their prices by 10 cents and a whole bunch of people are now saying that “gas is so cheap.” $2.90 is cheap when it was $3.20 a few weeks ago…