DirecTV HR-20 High Definition DVR
DIRECTV HR-20 HIGH DEFINITION DVR 50 Hours of High Def Recording
February 2007 By Jonathan Takiff
If you’re one of the 1.6 million DirecTV subscribers with high definition televisions and viewing packages—or thinking of joining this lot—the new DirecTV Plus HD DVR (aka HR20) could be the answer to your prayers. This isn’t DirecTV’s first high def and hard drive digital video recorder, but it is the company’s first and only combo receiver and DVR that captures programming sent in both MPEG-2 and the new, much more efficient (more compressed) MPEG-4 digital codecs. Both varieties are pulled in by the HR20’s two on-board, high def/standard def satellite tuners and a slightly larger than normal satellite dish, scooping up signals from five satellite locations.
The wave of DirectTV’s high def future, MPEG-4 coding is already being deployed to spot beam local, network-affiliated HD channels to the nation’s top 70 or so viewing markets. And with the two new satellites launching next year, DirecTV will add as many as 150 national HD channels, likewise encoded in MPEG-4—with the first 40 expected mid year. That’s far more HD offerings than MPEG-2-constricted cable services can manage or that the current pay HD leader Dish Network offers with its 30 gorgeous looking national high def channels, mostly beaming in MPEG-2 (with a few recent additions in MPEG-4).
Okay, but does this new DirecTV box actually work well, you might be asking? Subscribers have not exactly been thrilled by the performance of recent MPEG-2-only DVR combo boxes developed in-house by DirecTV without long time associate TiVo or branded participation from the likes of Philips, RCA and Samsung. And the way the HR20 has come to market, in less than fully finished (but “upgradeable” form), could give a person reason to pause, before plunking down the $300 acquisition cost. As this was being written, four months after the product’s national debut, DirecTV still hadn’t activated the two ATSC broadcast digital tuners also built into the HR20, for over the air reception, but it intends to in the future. Ultimately, box users will be able to record as many as three different programs from satellite and broadcast TV simultaneously, while watching a fourth, pre-recorded show.
There’s also potential in this device (as yet unfulfilled) to move at least standard definition DVR-recorded programming onto small, portable devices (from RCA and possibly others), as Dish Network and hardware partner Archos already offer. The presence of front and rear USB ports, Ethernet (RJ45) and S-ATA ports likewise suggests future network applications for the HR20.
The wave of DirectTV’s high def future, MPEG-4 coding is already being deployed to spot beam local, network-affiliated HD channels to the nation’s top 70 or so viewing markets. And with the two new satellites launching next year, DirecTV will add as many as 150 national HD channels, likewise encoded in MPEG-4—with the first 40 expected mid year. That’s far more HD offerings than MPEG-2-constricted cable services can manage or that the current pay HD leader Dish Network offers with its 30 gorgeous looking national high def channels, mostly beaming in MPEG-2 (with a few recent additions in MPEG-4).
Okay, but does this new DirecTV box actually work well, you might be asking? Subscribers have not exactly been thrilled by the performance of recent MPEG-2-only DVR combo boxes developed in-house by DirecTV without long time associate TiVo or branded participation from the likes of Philips, RCA and Samsung. And the way the HR20 has come to market, in less than fully finished (but “upgradeable” form), could give a person reason to pause, before plunking down the $300 acquisition cost. As this was being written, four months after the product’s national debut, DirecTV still hadn’t activated the two ATSC broadcast digital tuners also built into the HR20, for over the air reception, but it intends to in the future. Ultimately, box users will be able to record as many as three different programs from satellite and broadcast TV simultaneously, while watching a fourth, pre-recorded show.
There’s also potential in this device (as yet unfulfilled) to move at least standard definition DVR-recorded programming onto small, portable devices (from RCA and possibly others), as Dish Network and hardware partner Archos already offer. The presence of front and rear USB ports, Ethernet (RJ45) and S-ATA ports likewise suggests future network applications for the HR20.
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