Customer Reviews

DIRECTV HR24D500 / HR24NC100 Plus HR24 High Definition DVR / HR24NC100 *** 2 Year commitment may be required by DirectTV, please contact the seller for details. ***

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

We installed a DirecTivo in 2001. When in 2008 Tivo announced they would produce a new, HD DirecTivo we were delighted, and opted to hold our HD upgrade until it came out. Time passed, and passed and passed and the new Tivo went off to live with Duke Nukem in vaporware land. Finally pulled the string on the purchase of a new AV receiver, a new 46in LED TV, and this DVR. Now it is installed and working, how does it compare to our old Tivo?

First, a warning: the HR24 DVR is designed to work with a SWM dish. That's single-wire multiswitch, a single black coax cable from the dish. If you have what our installer called "a legacy installation," aka Multiswitch, characterized by TWO cables from the dish, then in addition to the DVR you need a pair of "B-Band converters." These are small boxes that go inline with the coax cables to convert something to some other thing. There are no B-Band converters in this box. They are available from Amazon, just search on "DirecTV B Band Converter" and you'll find them. If you have two cables to your old DVR, order a pair of them at the same time as the HR24. I was lucky, my installer had a spare pair in his truck.

I got no kickback from DirecTV when I said I had ordered my own HR24; except that they refused to schedule the installer until I had the box in hand and could read them the device serial number. They admitted that the Amazon price ($199) was the same they would have charged. The installer said that customers who order the MRV (multi-room viewing) option will get an HR24, but those who don't (I hadn't) would get "whatever we have." Which might well be the slower HR23. So I was right to get the HR24 from Amazon, but if you are going for MRV, you may as well get DirecTV to send it with the installer.

OK, now we've used it a few days, how does it compare to Tivo? Well, darn it, it's just fine! The only Tivo feature it lacks is that it doesn't record "suggestions" of shows it thinks we might like. I kind of miss being able to go through the Suggestions folder every few days to see what Tivo found for me.

The user interface is not as polished to look at; the menus and dialogs are square-edged and rather crude looking. The button layout on the remote is kind of bizarre and arbitrary compared to Tivo's "peanut" -- but the response time to button-presses is fine. There are four levels of fast-forward instead of three, and #3 is too slow and #4 is too fast. There is a 30-second forward skip that Tivo had as an easter-egg feature. The "skip backward" function goes back 6 seconds instead of 8. There's a Back button that takes you back through successive levels of menu, and that's very convenient (Note: the Harmony One universal, if you opt for that, does NOT have this Back button; you have to program a soft-button for it.)

Although the search function is designed differently from Tivo's, it has pretty much the same abilities to find programs. There is a nice feature TIvo lacked: when viewing the detailed info on a recorded program, you can select "cast and crew" to get a quick search on the names of cast members, to find other programs they are listed in. There's also a "you might like" search that is sort of a replacement for Tivo suggestions.

All in all, DirecTivo die-hards do not need to fear the HR24. If you are tired of waiting for a new DirecTivo to emerge from the vapor, go ahead and make the jump. It's fine.

I just recently purchased this unit and activated it yesterday. What a major difference from my HR20-700 which this unit is replacing. I mean the difference in overall performance is night and day. One of the major problems I was having with the HR20 was the lag or delay with the response after a button was pressed on my remote. I mean at times it would literally take a full 5 to 8 seconds (I timed it several times) for the action to take place once the button was pressed on the remote. This was driving me absolutely nuts. The HR24-500 is lightning fast. No lag or delay whatsoever. The response time is immediate; the way it should be. Another major improvement is the speed within the guide, especially when navigating to channel 1100's or VOD channels. Again, the HR20 would seriously lag here and take an inordinate amount of time opening any channel. The HR24 opens each and every channel immediately. Again, the way it should be.

On an another note, the HR24 is all Black and matches the rest of my components in my system. The Silver HR20 just stood out and just didn't look right with the rest of my gear. Not to mention the extremely large Orange Recording Light which was overly Bright when recording a show and definitely was distracting. The HR24's recording light is extremely small and does not pose any type of distraction whatsoever. You hardly even notice it is recording a program. Again, just the way it should be.

I am very, very satisfied with the HR24-500 from DTV. They have finally made a product worthy of having.

Mine is the HR24-200 model manufactured by Samsung. You may not know that 4 different companies manufacture these to keep up with demand. The HR24-500 has a rear fan to aid in cooling. The 100, 200, and 700 do not. The 200 and 500 have both optical and coaxial 5.1 audio connections, the 100 and 700 only have the coaxial connector. I would think the 500 model manufactured by the old Hughes company would be the best. Here is a breakdown on the different companies manufacturing Directv boxes:
-100 Thomson (mfg the HR24)
-200 Samsung (mfg the HR24)
-300 Philips
-400 Hughes
-500 Humax (mfg the HR24)
-600 LG
-700 Pace (mfg the HR24)
-800 NEC

Now for my review. Yes I know they are leased, so I`m not going to ramble on about being "ripped off". I `ve been a subscriber since 2004, so it`s not an issue for me. I leased my directly from Diretv for $99 plus tax after asking them for a "good customer" discount. The installer arrived the next day and swapped out my dish with a Slimline 3LNB. It had to be installed on the corner of my home on a pole due to the higher wind load of the larger dish. Other installers may want to put it on your roof with addition braces, I declined that option. Since I had a legacy installation, mine was connected using 2 leads with the B-Band converters. If you have any barrel connectors connecting different lengths of cable it is IMPERATIVE you use the BLUE centered ones designed for HD. Also RG-6 cable is required. After all was hooked up, the problems started. Pixelation, some channels working, some not. The box was reset, and all seemed fine, until the installer left. Some shows recorded that night did not. I had a "searching for signal 1 (771)" error. These were random, some were "signal 2", and others recorded, but were completely pixelated. The box would work fine one day, only to completely screw up the next. After 3 return trips by the installer, the box was replaced. Problem solved, no further issues. I can`t compare the speed to the HR20-23`s, but compared to my 2 R15-500`s standard defs, they are SUPER fast! All in all very happy with the quality of the picture, and overall function of the box.

Despite the fact that DirecTV will tell you that buying and activating this product will NOT result in a new 2-year commitment, they will still code you for that and charge you an early termination penalty of $380 plus having to return this receiver to them if you should switch carriers within 2 years. I bought this receiver in October 2010 upon the advice of the DirecTV rep--they offered it for $150 with a commitment or I was told I could buy it elsewhere and just activate it without a commitment. Which I did, and even verified with the activation guy that I was free of commitment. Then in January 2011 I cancelled DTV to move to ATT Uverse. The cancellation rep told me that their system showed what I was saying but that my account had been coded for a new 2 year commitment when I activated this receiver and she was sorry their rep had given me the wrong information but there was nothing she could do about it. So they billed me a $380 early termination fee, plus they want this receiver sent to them (they consider these receivers to be leased, not purchased and will bill you an additional $500 if you don't return it to them, not Amazon). Full disclosure: I've been a DTV customer for 15 years so this whole thing is completely appalling. Buyer beware--nowhere does it say any of this, I never signed or agreed to any of it, but DTV will treat you like you did, apologize for your misunderstanding and bill your credit card nonetheless.

It seems there is often a great confusion about whether purchasing directv's receivers on amazon will cause a commitment on your directv account upon activation. Well there was no way I wanted anytype of agreement or commitment for 3 years! So I did some research.. thought I'd share!

"New" A new hd/dvr will run you around $350. If you are buying an hd/dvr receiver for less than than, your most likely buying a leased receiver. Example: if you go to best buy to purchase directv equipment, you are NOT buying a receiver that you will than own... you are purchasing a lease.

"Used" When you purchase a used receiver, you will actually OWN the equipment. Owning the equipment outright means no commitment/agreement on your account. Although with my used receiver I did have to purchase a new access card from directv for around $20 if I remember correctly.

Hope that helps!

After suffering for years with performance issues of the original DirecTV DVR receiver (HR20-700), I took the plunge and upgraded to this completely redesigned unit. As DirecTV introduced more and more features, my HR20 was getting slower and more unresponsive to common activites... particularly with paging/scrolling through the guide, jumping between channels, pressing play to bring a fast-forward-through-a-commercial to a real time (or rewind). There were also viewing quality issues, like hiccups in the HD video and/or buzzing audio that were occasionally solved by pausing and un-pausing, switching channels, or sometimes rebooting the entire unit. Internet and home networking was very spotty as well... on demand recording took forever, the media share was unusable, and the "TV Apps" widgets only worked 10% of the time. The HR20 also ran VERY hot, which made me think that was the cause of some of my problems.

Enter the HR24, and all of these problems are a thing of the past. Super fast and responsive scrolling through the guide, channel transitions and menu navigation are now the norm, thankfully. "Un-fast-forwarding" is now precise coming out of commercials, video and audio are rock solid with no hiccups or reboots needed. The Internet and Networking capabilities work flawlessly, and this redesigned unit is much smaller yet runs much, much cooler.

Bottom line... if you're fed up with the performance of your older HR20-HR23 receiver, this is the answer. It didn't earn 5 stars as I would have liked to see more inherent web capabilities with its extra processing power... but maybe that will come in future software builds. For now, I'll live with the new search's YouTube streaming and their klunky widget "store".

And learn from my mistake... do NOT order your upgrade directly through DirecTV. You'll almost assuredly receive an older refurbished receiver that might be the same or older than you already have (I received a used/refurbished three year old HR22, which I could faintly smell cigarette smoke on). Instead, order it from a known and trusted reseller and you'll be able to activate it yourself over the phone with DTV's customer service.

For seven years, we've enjoyed a DirecTV TiVo DVR. If you never had one, you don't know what you were missing: absolutely flawless integration of the TiVo DVR with DirecTV in one box. TiVo is still the king when it comes to the best DVR experience, period.

However, it doesn't look like TiVo will be delivering an HD DirecTV box anytime soon-we've been waiting impatiently since 2009. Last month, our old box died, so we bought the HR24 as a replacement. The good news is, it works pretty well, and it is a huge improvement over the earlier DirecTV brand DVRs (which you probably want to avoid).

Pros:
* 100-400 hours capacity, depending on your mix of HD/SD programs.
* Universal remote can control all of your devices: not even TiVo could control our AV system fully.
* Sparkling clear HD recordings
* Powers down when you are not watching, but still records from powered down state. This saves power.

Cons:
* Occasional recording glitches: It didn't record the season finale of Apprentice! No explanation, no way to track down any conflict.
* It takes several button pushes to skip to the end of a program to delete it. This is just one example of the usability that made TiVo so perfect: two button pushes got you there.
* Software that is generally less polished than TiVo.

Regarding the remote, I was able to program it to control all of our devices. DirectTV support does NOT understand all the issues, even if you get an experienced person on the phone. To do this, it was necessary to program the TV function first (Sony in our case), then the AV function second (JVC home theater), then activate "Volume Lock" (search the web to find this). If you do not perform all three steps in order, you may not be able to get the remote to control the AV volume without switching the mode button, which is a pain. Done right, the channel buttons control the DVR, the volume and mute buttons control the AV system, and the power buttons turn on/off both plus the TV. We never use the TV speakers unless playing a video game, so controlling the TV volume is not useful.

While it still does not equal the TiVo in ease of use and functionality, it comes close. We'll happily use this box for the next 5 years or so, until the Next Big Thing entices us to upgrade.

This unit is much faster than the HR 22 DVR and the picture seems clearer. The only draw back is that the upfront price you pay does not contribute to or result in ownership.
It is like the down payment people make when they are leasing a car. If you want to own the HR24, the price is closer to four or five hundred dollars. Nonetheless, this is
a great smaller yet faster HD DVR.

I have been a DirecTV customer from the beginning. Over the years I have owned many different models of DirecTV receivers. When the HD DVR's first came out, you actually had to purchase them for around $1000 each. Since then, DirecTV has made continuous upgrades and improvements.

We currently have 7 HD DVRs and 1 HD receiver in our home. We utilize the "Whole Home DVR" feature and just love it. Three of our DVR's are the HR24s. We also have some HR21's and HR22's.

One of the first things you will notice about the HR24 is the responsiveness to remote control actions. (On some of the older units, you sometimes had to wait for several seconds after pressing a key to actually see something happen. When using the RF remote control feature, this delay could cause the user to believe that the command wasn't received. You would then press the key again which would cancel the original command. Very frustrating...)

The HR24 will work with existing dual-coax multiswitch installations. If you are still using a multiswitch (instead of Single Wire Multiplex), you will probably need to use the "B-Band Converter" dongles on each coaxial input.

For customers who have already converted to SWM, you do not need to use the B-Band converters. In addition, you only need to use a single coaxial cable. This is great since most homes are only wired with single coaxial runs.

Another benefit of a SWM installation is that all connected DVR's can communicate with one another over the same coaxial cable. This makes it extremely easy to set up the "whole house DVR" feature. Older receivers (HR20, HR21, HR23) required SWM adapter dongles for networking and whole-house DVR integration. The HR24 does not. It is a very clean and simple installation. Power, a single COAX input, and HDMI output to your TV.

Here is my complaint regarding DirecTV. You simply cannot purchase the most current hardware from DirecTV. For example, if you order an additional receiver from DirecTV, you may actually receive an H21 or an H22 or some other refurbished receiver. What a crock. The only way to get what you want is by ordering on Amazon. Can you imagine if you went down to the cellphone store and renewed your 2 year service agreement and they gave you an old StarTac cellphone from years ago? It's insane....

Anyway, here is what I would recommend...

Sign up for the whole house DVR service if you don't already have it. DirecTV will come out and retrofit your installation with the SWIM module (if you don't already have it.) They may also replace some or all of your DVR's to insure that all of the receivers are compatible. If you have a network, they will connect one of the receivers to your LAN and then ALL of your receivers will be able to download movies on demand. It is really great.

Here is a neat trick...

If you need a network connection (for a WiFi access point in a room for instance), you can actually TAP into the network by plugging your network device (access point, computer, etc.) into one of the CAT5 jacks on the back of the receiver (if your receiver has 2 CAT5 connectors.) Note that the H24 does not have 2 connectors. But, the H20, H21, and H22 do!

Summary: The H24 is the best HD DVR ever. DirecTV blows cable away. But the lack of a hardware upgrade path for valued customers really bites.

Great product, Great price. My only complaint is that I was not informed that I needed (B)converters and a oval dish for the high definition to work properly.