DirecTV intros dual ATSC tuner AM21 to piggyback HR21

If your DirecTV HR21 leaves you feeling empty because you want need to streamline your over-the-air ATSC side of the house, listen up. DirecTV's AM21 is your answer. For $59, you can pick one up, stack it above or below your HR21, connect it via USB, and bask in the glow of dual tuner ATSC programming (integrated with your OSG, to boot). It's not a bad looking little black box at all, and the price is reasonable. It's being shown off at CES, and you can expect it to be available at the end of February.

[curt @ Jan 9th 2008 3:56AM]

i wonder if you can use the coupon to buy this the fcc coupon

[Mark M @ Jan 9th 2008 4:11AM]

Nope

[Lazarus Dark @ Jan 9th 2008 6:52AM]

Price is fair for what it does, considering the price of standalone atsc tuners, this is actually decent for the full functionality of connecting to the dvr and program guide. Still, why the hell didn't they just leave the tuner in it in the first place, as the previous model had it inside. I'd rather just pay the 60 bucks extra to have it fully integrated into the dvr chassis.

Then again, I'm looking to switch to the usb DirecTV tuner as soon as it's released, after all I've already got an ATSC tuner in my htpc for dvr use.

[Earl Bonovich @ Jan 9th 2008 10:54AM]

It is not eligibile for the coupon, as the HR21 is not.... the AM21 will not function with out the HR21.

As for why they pulled them out.... to save on the cost of manufacturing the HR21.
ATSC is not for everyone, and not even for the larger portion of their customer base..

~$50-$60 per unit of HR21 is not incurred because the ATSC hardware is not there.
So those that want it, can get it.
So those that don't need/want it, don't....

That dollar amount add's up very quickly when you are talking 100k, 500k, 1mil units in the long run.

[giamirish @ Jan 10th 2008 8:01PM]

Does it have a QAM tuner in it?

[Earl Bonovich @ Jan 10th 2008 8:52PM]

No QAM... just ATSC OTA

[john @ Jan 9th 2008 11:19AM]

Congrats to D* for almost catching up (and in a kludgy way!) to last year's E* ViP622.

[Mike @ Jan 9th 2008 12:05PM]

The HR20 had OTA capabilities, this is a brand new box/solution (so it isn't catching up).

[john @ Jan 9th 2008 4:15PM]

True enough. I misread the summary.

[Matt @ Jan 9th 2008 1:29PM]

I've got to say that this is probably my favorite thing to come out of CES this year!!

[James Pennington @ Jan 9th 2008 4:26PM]

This article makes it clear that the ATSC content will be integrated into the guide but doesn't clarify whether or not this content will be recordable with the DVR.

I would assume that since it attaches to a DVR then you can record what it receives but I guess that isn't necessarily so. Also, if it does give you the ability to record, would this mean I can record 2 ATSC broadcasts AND 2 DTV broadcasts simultaneously?

[Earl Bonovich @ Jan 10th 2008 8:54PM]

You will be able to record the contents on both of the ATSC tuners of the AM21.

The limit if 2 NET recordings accross the 4 live feed tuners, still remains.