Looks nice....but never works right!

After just recently moving into a new house, we were excited to learn that we had all the necessary wiring for our HD flat screen to be hung on the wall. Naturally, since we were happy DirecTV customers at our previous residence, we decided to continue with their service, despite the higher cost for comparable service with local competitors.

The Technician installed the HD satellite and Directv HR21-700 DTV Receiver. From the beginning, we have had issues with the box. The receiver is very slow to "reset" if power is lost or you must unplug it for any reason. It takes approximately 10-15 minutes to power up.

The orange recording light stopped working after day 3. This isn't a crucial part of operation, but it is a nice feature to have if you are recording something, or have programs scheduled to record at a later date and you want your receiver to be off, but still want to know it is in record mode.

Daily, the receiver stops displaying a picture on the TV, and we must unplug the entire receiver, and "reboot" the entire system. Like I said previously this takes 10-15 minutes, and often requires more than one try.

Another downside to this receiver is you can only watch or record 2 things at once. For example, you can record a show, and still be able to watch another program. However, if you want to record two shows, you can not watch anything else unless you cancel one of the recordings. There is no "auto-tune" or "reminder" feature with this receiver either.

The manual and technician claim that the receiver can record approx. 200 hours of SD (standard definition) or 100 hours of HD (high definition) In my experience, I have only been able to get approx. 100 hours of SD, or 50 hours of HD. It seems like a lot of recording space, but it fills up quickly.

When this receiver works right, there are a lot of great features. DVR, search feature, modern channel guide, etc. I just wish it functioned correctly the majority of them time.

For the cost to lease the receiver, you would think DIrecTV would replace or fix the receiver, but they don't. Make sure to purchase the extended service/replacement plan, or look into purchasing the receiver through CIrcuit City or Best Buy, and enrolling in one of their protection plans.