Hughes HDVR2 DTV Receiver / 140-Hours DVR
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- Type: TV Receiver Video Recorder (DVR)
- Broadcast Type: Satellite
- Compatible Service: DirecTV TiVo
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Hughes HDVR2 DirecTV Receiver / TiVo Hard Drive Recorder
Pros
Excellent recording quality, easy to use, convenient, time-saver
Cons
Operation could be faster, no inputs for recording from other sources, no Turbo Tune
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
The HDVR2 is easy to use and is very convenient. Being able to easily record any show in its original quality (better than a DVD recorder would...
I got bored with my previous non-TiVo DirecTV receiver. No digital audio out, no ability to record shows, slow operation... It was clearly time to upgrade.
Upon receiving the box with the Hughes HDVR2, I was pleasantly surprised at the multitude of cables that came with it, the heft of the receiver and its advertised functionality. It was time to put it to the test and hope it worked as advertised.
Connectivity
The receiver/recorder has an S-Video out, 2 sets of A/V (composite video and stereo audio) outs, an optical digital out (can provide Dolby Digital for pay-per-view movies), USB ports, 2 satellite inputs (for ability to record one show while watching another or even record two shows while watching a previously recorded one), an antenna input and an antenna out, a phone jack and control outs.
I must immediately warn you that DirecTV programming is largely in stereo, so, although the optical digital out works well in my system, I get stereo sound for most channels (and process it using my Panasonic HE70's Dolby Pro Logic II).
TiVo
Firstly, I would like to mention the primary advantage of combining a TiVo hard drive recorder with a DirecTV receiver: Picture Quality.
In a regular hard drive recorder (TiVo or ReplayTV), the picture arrives in analog form and gets encoded using MPEG2 compression in real time before being recorded. Disadvantages:
1. If you have DirecTV, you are taking a MPEG2 input from the DirecTV, converting it into analog A/V signal, then converting it back into digital signal for recording and converting it again into analog signal for playback. This produces softer image with possible artifacts.
2. The MPEG2 encoding done with a hard drive recorder will be inferior to one used at DirecTV studio, even at the same bit rate.
3. Dolby Digital surround sound for pay-per-view movies will be lost.
Combining HDR and DirecTV receiver in one box allows you to avoid these disadvantages.
You can pause live TV, then resume its playback, fast forward, rewind, pause again, use slow and frame-by-frame playback. Even better, you can record shows by selecting them in the TiVo's onscreen guide (you can search by channel, time, category, etc.) And you can even get "Season Pass" – one of the best features.
E.g. you want the HDVR2 to record all South Park episodes. You can set up so-called season pass and specify if you want only new episodes, new episodes and reruns or all episodes (including repeats). The device will record all of them.
Performance
The HDVR2 is somewhat slow in operation. Although the setup was guided and easy, and the animated menus with sound look nice, the program grid for DirecTV service loads a bit slow. My previous Hughes receiver had so-called Turbo Tune, where I could hit "Select" to display a 3x3 grid of my favorite channels and jump to one of them. The HDVR2 doesn't have this feature.
As I have already mentioned, the picture quality of recordings is indistinguishable from the original and is way better than my S-VHS VCR can produce. In fact, it is also better than either a DVD recorder's or a MiniDV copy.
Remote
The remote control lets you control some TVs and receivers as well. It does control my Panasonic receiver's volume, but not its power. The menus of the device are relatively easy to use with this menu, but some buttons are not well located (e.g. Last/Enter button is in the lower right corner) and the Sat/TV switch is useless – I never need to switch channels on my TV.
Noise
The recorder has a fan in its back panel to channel out the heat of the operating hard drive. The fan spins sometimes when the unit is in standby mode, which is strange, but it does not produce much noise. And the hard drive itself is quiet.
Aspect Ratio Control
The setup has a setting for specifying the TV's aspect ratio. Too bad it doesn't seem to do anything – I set it to 16:9 (my TV aspect ratio) and I still see widthwise stretched faces.
Bottom Line
The HDVR2 is easy to use and is very convenient. Being able to easily record any show in its original quality (better than a DVD recorder would do), pause/replay live TV or get a "season pass" and never miss your favorite show again are great features and are easily worth the price of the unit and $4.99 a month for TiVo subscription for me. Highly recommend.
Upon receiving the box with the Hughes HDVR2, I was pleasantly surprised at the multitude of cables that came with it, the heft of the receiver and its advertised functionality. It was time to put it to the test and hope it worked as advertised.
Connectivity
The receiver/recorder has an S-Video out, 2 sets of A/V (composite video and stereo audio) outs, an optical digital out (can provide Dolby Digital for pay-per-view movies), USB ports, 2 satellite inputs (for ability to record one show while watching another or even record two shows while watching a previously recorded one), an antenna input and an antenna out, a phone jack and control outs.
I must immediately warn you that DirecTV programming is largely in stereo, so, although the optical digital out works well in my system, I get stereo sound for most channels (and process it using my Panasonic HE70's Dolby Pro Logic II).
TiVo
Firstly, I would like to mention the primary advantage of combining a TiVo hard drive recorder with a DirecTV receiver: Picture Quality.
In a regular hard drive recorder (TiVo or ReplayTV), the picture arrives in analog form and gets encoded using MPEG2 compression in real time before being recorded. Disadvantages:
1. If you have DirecTV, you are taking a MPEG2 input from the DirecTV, converting it into analog A/V signal, then converting it back into digital signal for recording and converting it again into analog signal for playback. This produces softer image with possible artifacts.
2. The MPEG2 encoding done with a hard drive recorder will be inferior to one used at DirecTV studio, even at the same bit rate.
3. Dolby Digital surround sound for pay-per-view movies will be lost.
Combining HDR and DirecTV receiver in one box allows you to avoid these disadvantages.
You can pause live TV, then resume its playback, fast forward, rewind, pause again, use slow and frame-by-frame playback. Even better, you can record shows by selecting them in the TiVo's onscreen guide (you can search by channel, time, category, etc.) And you can even get "Season Pass" – one of the best features.
E.g. you want the HDVR2 to record all South Park episodes. You can set up so-called season pass and specify if you want only new episodes, new episodes and reruns or all episodes (including repeats). The device will record all of them.
Performance
The HDVR2 is somewhat slow in operation. Although the setup was guided and easy, and the animated menus with sound look nice, the program grid for DirecTV service loads a bit slow. My previous Hughes receiver had so-called Turbo Tune, where I could hit "Select" to display a 3x3 grid of my favorite channels and jump to one of them. The HDVR2 doesn't have this feature.
As I have already mentioned, the picture quality of recordings is indistinguishable from the original and is way better than my S-VHS VCR can produce. In fact, it is also better than either a DVD recorder's or a MiniDV copy.
Remote
The remote control lets you control some TVs and receivers as well. It does control my Panasonic receiver's volume, but not its power. The menus of the device are relatively easy to use with this menu, but some buttons are not well located (e.g. Last/Enter button is in the lower right corner) and the Sat/TV switch is useless – I never need to switch channels on my TV.
Noise
The recorder has a fan in its back panel to channel out the heat of the operating hard drive. The fan spins sometimes when the unit is in standby mode, which is strange, but it does not produce much noise. And the hard drive itself is quiet.
Aspect Ratio Control
The setup has a setting for specifying the TV's aspect ratio. Too bad it doesn't seem to do anything – I set it to 16:9 (my TV aspect ratio) and I still see widthwise stretched faces.
Bottom Line
The HDVR2 is easy to use and is very convenient. Being able to easily record any show in its original quality (better than a DVD recorder would do), pause/replay live TV or get a "season pass" and never miss your favorite show again are great features and are easily worth the price of the unit and $4.99 a month for TiVo subscription for me. Highly recommend.
