This dvr is great if you have direct tv with tivo and you want to keep your service or up grade your dvr size. Our old dvr crashed and direct tv sent us a new one but all the new ones do not use "TIVO" they are just a dvr. After two weeks of a lesser inferior sevice we ordered the HR10-250 and call direct tv said we had a different dvr and we were not satisfied with the current dvr they reconnected us no questions. I did not mention tivo specificly because we had the service and when booted up it was there as before. The HR10-250 says it is a High Defanition reciever which it is but direct tv no longer broarcasts in the frequency needed to convert into HD for this DVR. Never the lesss it is a great picture. In the future direct tv and tivo are rejoinin their relationship and it will be in HD. For now if your dvr crashes or you want more storage space you must by a used dvr on the after market. Chose one with the direct tv logo and the tivo logo on the front of the machince and you will be fine. Research the model number for the specifics of the machine. Just make sure you are buy it with the ID card in it and it has both logos on the face.You must have the specific "tivo" service to begin with, as direct tv currently does not sell new "tivo" service only "dvr" service. Good luck all you direct tv / tivo survivors!!Read full review
I have been with DirecTV since August, 1994. My dish is a round RCA dish with a dual LNB(low noise block), although I use just one cable. In my location, I cannot receive hi-def on the round dish. This DVR is my 4th unit. I cannot get hi-def from the satellite but get everything in standard def. I have an antenna and get and record hi-def from it. This unit could record hi-def from the satellite using MPEG-2(compression). The newer receivers use MPEG-4(higher compression). I got several notices telling me I would have to get a new receiver, but I didn't change because I didn't get hi-def anyway. It appears there is a misunderstanding between buyer and seller and perhaps things could have been clearer. Getting angry doesn't help the situation.
I purchased this unit strictly for parts. I have an owned HR10-250 on which I couldn't get access to some recordings for over 3 years. After much research I decided that I needed a power supply replacement. After swapping in the new (used) power supply along with the fan my HR10-250 is working again! It was much cheaper to do it this way as opposed to purchasing new parts. Although I have a few more current DVR's there's no way I could replace the recordings on my HR10-250's hard drive.
Quite a bit of inaccurate information in the other "reviews". First of all, this IS a HD Receiver...always was, always will be. The problem is that DirecTV stopped transmitting HD channels in the format (MPEG2) that this receiver can handle 1-2 years ago. They replaced their signals with MPEG4 which requires a different receiver (and dish) So, its not that it can't receive HD, its that there is no longer HD material from DirecTV for it to handle. However, you CAN STILL receive HD channels from your local broadcasters by using a suitable antenna. This is known as OTA (Over The Air). Also, as an aside, early versions of this receiver had problems with bad HDMI ports.
This box is perfect for me. I don't even have a card in my old unit that died last week. I watch the Chicago Bears Hi def TV broadcast but listen to the radio. With the tivo I can hit pause for 5 seconds and there is no confusion with the 5 second radio delay. Such a simple thing. The picture is great and free OTA broadcast. Check it out sports fans.
Verified purchase: No
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