HD receiver w/hdmi for Sony LCD television

I am with Dish Network. They have had MPEG 4 a bit longer and most of the bugs are gone.

I was with D* for 10 years. I just got tired of how they treat 100-a-month (tv/only) subscribers.----Oh, I got more tired of the false promises--for more HD. When mpeg 4 was announced 2/3 years ago I was expecting more HD but instead all the bandwidth got sucked up for locals. I had to have a rooftop anyway/from the early days.----THEN---
I read a TWC brochure and saw they has Stars/C-max in HD. That got me interested. I found out they had more HD for less. I ain't a NFL package guy, so they had more for less of what I wanted. I didn't have to buy my DVR and it has the hdmi-out. I know the first Sat.dvr cost a grand;which was to high for me. I'm sure the SA8300hd is better. and much faster.--(I also had Voom and basic D* for about 5 months) I also wonder if D* has added ch.9 for LA?? Cable doesn't make big fake-promises, imo,so we now have ch.9.-hd. It will cost a lot to go back to D* and all my equipment will have to be changed out.--I do pay $8.30 per mo. more, but did I mention the Tennis ch??

About three months ago I finished up my home theater showroom (in my house)and used the opportunity to upgrade several pieces of gear, incl. an HR20-700HD. I ordered it online through Best Buy, then picked it up at the local Best Buy. After 2 or 3 frustrating hours trying to get it to work I went to Cnet and found it's 3 out of 10 rating and pages of angry reviews from frustrated users. I then spent another hour on the phone with a DirecTV rep, trying to get it to work. He finally realized that I had gotten one of the earlier versions from old Best Buy stock. He sent a brand new version by second day air and took the original one back. The new one has worked pretty much flawlessly and I am still finding out all of the amazing things that it is capable of doing. Another maddening example of a defective product being released before it is ready. It's not surprising that it was made by another Rupert Murdoch company, instead of one that had years of experience, such as Tivo. They finallly got so many complaints, and realized how much money and bad PR it was costing them that they seem to have fixed all the bugs.

Last night I switched back and forth from the ESPN HD cast of the Twins game to the recorded version and could not find any real difference between the two in audio and video quality. I have the HR20 set to 1080i output run via 35' HDMI cable to a Sony VPL-VW50 Pearl projector to a 92" diagonal screen. A lot of the quality of the picture seems to depend on the quality of the feed that DirecTV gets from the providers. ESPN HD, Discovery HD, and one or two others are consistently better than the other HD channels. The picture quality is still stunning on all of them, just a tad better on some. I also recently got the 5 LNB dish (free install) and now get local HD Denver channels, which varies even more than the nationals in picture quality, again seeming to indicate that the issue might be more about the quality of the feed that DirecTV is getting. DTV is soon to launch 2 new satellites with over 100 new HD channels coming on. It will probably take them a few days or weeks to get all the bugs out of that setup and tweak it to good quality levels.

I have been with DTV for over 10 years. Their customer service has recently greatly improved. One of their main pluses is their sports packages, incl. MLB, NFL, NASCAR, etc. They also have other perks, such as many of the XM Radio channels, with outstanding fidelity, if you want to play commercial free music without changing CD's or managing playlists, etc.

Anyway, if you are going to get one of their HD receiver/ recorders, be aware that they are $300 up front, then you lease the gear for $4.99/ month, $5.99/month for DVR service fee, and $9.99/month for HD Access. Be sure that you call them and order direct from them, and insist that you get new stock. Overall I am happy with the A/V quality and service.

My charge was $199 without a monthly lease charge, because the $199 is in effect a prepaid lease. DTV continues to own the HR20-700, and should I terminate service the unit must be returned to them. I saved the box. I already had HD service in another room, so there is no extra charge for service to additional rooms. My HR10-250 is unable to access the ABC and NBC local HD stations, though I could receive ABCW and NBCW HD if they were blocked by the local affiliates.

As I understand it, the $199 price is available only once every six months.

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