Great HD. So far so good.

Since the start, I've enjoyed the mini dish revolution since day one. Like mac vs. windows, Dish VS. DirecTV brings HD DVR in to a whole new technology with the familiarity of Directv's DVR features. When Direct's installers came out, they brought a silver coloured box with a big sticker that reads "refurbished". Upgrading to the HD system, I felt I needed a new receiver especially after the refurb didn't work. It locked up several times, powered off for no reason, and did some other strange things with guide. The next day, they brought a new receiver and it worked perfectly. It has ever since.

Hooking everything up is fairly easy and the initial menu system is very easy to navigate. They even gave me some codes to use in troubleshooting in case there were issues. None so far. You have a choice of HDMI audio and video out, component video, or composite video with separate audio out. I used the HDMI with an optical audio out from my TV into the audio system.

I compared this system to my Dish net HD. Immediately, I noticed a clean and stunning HD video signal, decent audio, although the level is a bit high. Menus are easy to navigate but sometimes take a little patience as they are a little slow but work fine. This receiver has not given any problems in operation and is very responsive to commands whether through the remote or front panel.

NTSC digital and analogue signals are decent but not quite as good as those of the Dish net in that they lack the same quality in detail. It should be noted that non HD signals look a bit better on an SD CRT type (older type TV) display over that of an LCD. DVR search functions don't work as well as Dish's as they scan slowly even in fast forward or reverse search modes. The skip modes also are a bit slow in speed but work as advertised. I miss the ability to cut ahead or back with out having to scan. After getting used to the function, you can live with it.

Menus and guides are easy to use but reading the manual first is a good idea. I'd like to see features better explained in the manual, however. There are several interactive features that make it a breeze. The remote is clearly marked with functions and can control several other items such as TV, video, audio, etc. There is a really nice interactive feature to program the remote and other equipment remote codes are available on the on screen menu system. Nice if you don't want to fumble through the manual.

There is no RF output (tv out ch. 3 or 4) so direct connection to your monitor as mentioned above, will be necessary unless you have an external RF modulator capable of taking a video source then pass HD and SD signals. There isn't one available so far. This could get tricky as an older TV can't display an HD signal where new HD displays can display a standard def signal.

Is it worth it? Probably. The pricing is better than cable or Dish. Much depends on what you want. Local, movies, and sports extras will cost but they have many choices so some investigation is in order. The DVR works fine and the ability to record two programs, record one/watch another, record two, playback and additional program is a nice feature and plugging in the phone line is an option on DirecTv where it is mandatory on Dish. We ordered everything except movie channels and have not been disappointed.