DirecTV Plus HD DVR

Professional reviews of the DirecTV Plus HD DVR are fairly unflattering. However, they primarily address the DVR in its early form and have largely not been updated to reflect the changes in software and hardware that have since been introduced. Because of that, the best feedback can be found at satellite TV enthusiast sites such as DBSTalk.com and the Satellite Guys website.

DirecTV incurred the ire of many subscribers when it dropped TiVo software in favor of its proprietary DirecTV Plus HD DVR. Things turned even nastier when the first releases of the DVR turned out to be buggy and unreliable. Since then, however, software patches and hardware upgrades have turned this ugly duckling into something that's not quite a beautiful swan, but is at least a competent and reliable DVR. The guide is straightforward and easy to use, though nowhere near as polished as that found in TiVo DVRs. Essential features -- including dual tuners, the ability to pause and rewind live TV, and the ability to search for programs by keyword, actor and more -- are included. An over-the-air digital tuner for local broadcasters found in earlier versions has been eliminated. If you are a DirecTV subscriber interested in high-definition programming, the DirecTV Plus HD is your only DVR choice. If you are only interested in standard-definition programming, the TiVo Series2 DT (*est. $145 plus TiVo service) might be worth a look. However, with the Series2 DT, the full benefits of the dual tuners will be lost.