DirecTV shows off $1,500 D-HR20P HD DVR

As much as we'd like to find out more information about DirecTV's D-HR20P HD DVR, pretty much everything we know, we've already said. The box, which the satellite broadcaster showed off at EHX last week, apparently has 750GB capacity, an integrated HD receiver, and will sell for between $1,500 and $2,000. If it's ever released, that is. Since DirecTV insists this isn't a "consumer device" (and it certainly does have a sort of retro-industrial, rack-mount look to it), it may just be a prototype box designed to show that the company is committed to rolling out bigger and better HD solutions.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 3rd 2006 12:39PM]

I'll take two!

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 3rd 2006 12:51PM]

what's the big deal in making something like this? throw in a few drives and stripe them. Why WOULDN'T they make it?

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 3rd 2006 12:57PM]

They just need to fix the H20 first, and also make sure their next dvr is mpeg4 compliant, a new dvr that isnt is totally useless.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 3rd 2006 1:03PM]

I will buy it, as long as sony doesn't make any part of it.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 3rd 2006 1:07PM]

Maybe they are developing it as an industry only product that will be used by custom AV installers like myself.
There are a lot of products/brands that most consumers don't know about (or certainly can't buy in the local electronics store)
The products are used by industry professionals on the high end installs, they are usually very exclusive and very expensive.
There's a lot of info on this kind of thing on my site http://www.hightechhomemag.com if you want to knwo more about Smart-Homes and custom installation.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 3rd 2006 2:33PM]

Something like this would actually have some use in a professional environment. Working in the media biz, there are often times when you want to record a show or commercial (in context) to show a client for a media buy, or in case there's something significant to see (product placement or a sponsorship opportunity). It often takes some time to get footage from the networks (if they're even willing to send a copy at all), and commercial monitoring services are expensive and often have poor quality/compressed recordings.

[deecee Posted Apr 3rd 2006 3:02PM]

Does it matter how good the hardware might be if the HD signal coming from DirecTV sucks? The one person I know who receives HD from DirecTV says it looks worse than analog standard def from a cable provider.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 3rd 2006 3:20PM]

To #7 DC.

Please don't throw around unqualified reviews such as that one.

[Carlton Bale Posted Apr 3rd 2006 3:21PM]

I still prefer the HR10-250 TiVo receiver. Mine has been upgraded with two 500GB drives and to serve shows over my home network. I think DirecTv made a huge mistake when they dropped TiVo and went to their internally-developed DVRs.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 3rd 2006 3:49PM]

to #7
Your friend doesnt know what the hell they are talking about. Or maybe their HDTV isnt up to the challenge?

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 3rd 2006 4:04PM]

Damn, the sucker is HUGE!!

[deecee Posted Apr 3rd 2006 4:42PM]

To my critics: my friend is an online television editor in Los Angeles, and knows quite a bit about these things.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 3rd 2006 5:35PM]

I would love to argue with anyone saying that DirecTV "sucks", about 4 months ago DISH network ran an ad comerical, and they came out and said that DirecTV "sucked", I wrote dish network and informed them that infact DirecTV does not suck and maybe you should fire your ad agency, everyone I know has DirecTV and the few that have Dish are switching over to the REAL satelitle provider and not the wannabe. (we actually make fun of people that have the "lower" Dish network) Since I wrote Dish network that comercial has been yanked from the air. I have two LCD's running HD programming from DirecTV, and the quality and UP time is by far a win for DirecTv. Oh by-the-way guess which major satelitle provider had HD programming available first, yup you guessed it, DirecTV.

The only way that Dish Network was able to add HD programming is to buy VOOM network, which in itself tells you that they can not internally handle the support HD needed. DirecTV started internally, they didn't need to buy up a little company to start up in HD.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 3rd 2006 6:50PM]

It would ***actually*** only cost them no more than 500 dollars to build this, and that would give you the same storage space. (3 Seagate Barracuda 250gb HDDs from www.newegg.com @ ~$85 each). Happy arguing. How many hours of HD content at which quality would this give you? For 480i, 480p, 720i, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. And whatever in between.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 3rd 2006 7:26PM]

My Japanese cable supplier sent me a mailshot last week offering an HD capable PVR with twin tuner for just $8 a month rental ($96 a year). If it breaks down I get a free replacement, and within a couple of years they'll probably upgrade it with a more advanced model when technology moves on. Makes $1,500 look a bit steep!

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 3rd 2006 8:17PM]

Good luck getting this thing to see the light of day. DirecTV HD TiVo HR10-250 users can't even get an update to make the UI responsive and have two dead USB ports in the back that can't connect to a home WiFi network.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 5th 2006 1:10AM]

This isn't for you guys. It's a pro unit, just look at the thing. Consumers cringe at spending $400 leave alone $1500.