DirecTV's H21-200 HD receiver gets previewed

If you're quickly growing frustrated with the excess heat that tends to build up within your H20, the folks over at DBSTalk have managed to score a first look at its replacement, the H21-200. This HD receiver (read: no DVR capabilities) is essentially an upgraded H20 that sports a currently unused Ethernet port (shown after the jump), adds a coaxial digital audio output, reportedly responds "much quicker" to the remote than the HR20, and best of all, seems to "run much cooler" than the unit it will inevitably replace. Of course, we don't envision too many of you clamoring to get your palms around a device that doesn't record, but if you're interested in DirecTV's upcoming answer for your secondary (or tertiary) set, hit the read link and dig in.

[Landlocked @ Jul 17th 2007 1:15PM]

They should be working on the HR20 and the poor rewind/fast-foward.

I miss my TiVo...

[pick me! @ Jul 17th 2007 1:27PM]

I have a H20 (haha water) receiver and was wondering how to switch to the local HD OTA channels? Where I live there are a lot of storms and the service gets cut out.

Thanks

[Brett @ Jul 17th 2007 1:29PM]

I have a H20 (haha water) receiver and was wondering how to switch to the local HD OTA channels? Where I live there are a lot of storms and the service gets cut out.

Thanks

[B.D. Ize @ Jul 17th 2007 2:22PM]

Brett-
To pick up OTA HD channels you first need to install a UHF antenna (http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx is a good resource for helping to determine if you need a roof-mounted antenna, and/or what type for your physical location). Take the cable from the UHF antenna and connect it to the coax connector on the back of the H20 that is labeled "Off-air in" (it is the far left coax connector when looking at the back of the unit). Go into the menu, go into "Settings", then "Setup", select "Sat & Ant" then "antenna setup" and then "scan for channels". It will cycle through all of the off air channel frequency and add any local HD channels that you can recieve - once it is done exit out of the menu. Now, when you go into the guide, the channels will show up alongside the D* locals (if you have subscribed to them), as the channel number followed by a dash and then a sub-channel number (1-99). For example, if you have a local channel of 6 that has an HD channel, the HD channel should show up as 6-1 in your guide. Some channels have additional sub-channels (ie, NBC weather or PBS channels) that carry alternate material or completely different programming (NBC Weather, PBS Education, etc.)

On occasion my H20 seems to lose track of some of the locals (once a year or so) and I have to re-scan the channels to add them back in. The later firmware updates seem to be getting better about this, though. Another thing to keep in mind is that UHF is effected by terrain such as nearby hills and tall trees.

Hope this helps.

[Brett @ Jul 17th 2007 7:19PM]

Thanks!

[poboxbrian @ Jul 17th 2007 2:52PM]

I had the HR20 for about 2 months. I went through 3 of them and finally gave up HDTV and went back to my trusty Tivo units. DirecTV needs to get off their butts and sign another contract with Tivo. DirecTv is incapable of creating a legitimate HD-DVR. This is the only flaw in a good company.

[agrajag @ Jul 17th 2007 2:58PM]

This has been worked on heavily in beta. Several versions have been put out and it's improved dramatically since the early releases. My HR20 is now very solid with FF/RW capability and even includes the OPTION to do FF corrections like the TiVo.

[Earl @ Jul 17th 2007 3:36PM]

Folks: This is NOT a DVR... this is a non-dvr HD receiver (hence the lack of an "R" in it's model number). In line with the H20 not the HR20.

[Ryan @ Jul 17th 2007 5:35PM]

I hope this unit fixes the audio/video sync problems that show up on HD channnels. It's not bad, just noticeable with the H20's.

[VOS @ Jul 17th 2007 6:17PM]

This won't replace the H-20 for those that use OTA channels, since there is no OTA tuner. Short of this you will find a nice working SAT receiver for HD MPEG-4 programing.

[Jimmy @ Jul 18th 2007 4:00PM]

I wonder if Direct Digital TV will start carrying this receiver. Hopefully, they are who I deal with for my DirecTV service...

[BB @ Aug 12th 2007 9:49PM]

I can't believe there's no astc tuner in this new unit.I had an H-20 for one day & sent it back. I'll stick with my Samsung TS-160 for now. The H-20 had a 10 second delay between satt. & OTA channels. How else can we check local radar or watch when it's storming ?