Comcast HD-DVR: As bad as DirecTV's HR15/20/21/22?

[Mustang_Cougar]

I'm thinking about jumping ship on DirecTV and going with Comcast; mostly because DirecTV wants to charge me $99 to upgrade my SD-DVR to an HD-DVR...plus, I'd have to pay an equipment leasing fee of $5/month. This inspite of the fact that I've been w/them for seven years and have purchased expensive packages like "NFL Sunday Ticket." Comcast, on the other hand, is waiving their HD-DVR leasing fee for one year, in addition to throwing in one free premium suite (HBO, etc) at a total cost of $51/month (Digital Preferred package).

My question is: How does the Comcast HD-DVR unit compare to the DirecTV HR20/21/22 series units? Personally, I haven't been impressed with DirecTV's offerings (the non-TiVo ones); slow, buggy, etc. In that vein, I can't imagine the Comcast unit to be any worse...but hey, the world is full of surprises.

Any commentary on any of this (HD packaging, HD-DVR receivers) is really welcomed. NOTE: I've posted something similar over on AVS Forums, but that's an even more unwieldy forum than this. Thanks for any help!

 

[hate2work]

We have Comcast and the wifey uses the DVR a lot and loves it. Just got it a few months ago, so it must be the newest thing available, no bugs at all.

Our daughter has Direct TV with a DVR and likes it, but would switch to Comcast if she could easily save/transfer all the stuff she's recorded, but she was told it couldn't be done. Plus when it snows and the dish gets snow on it the reception dies.

Around here Comcast is the way to go. Plus their CS seems a bit better than DTV.

 

[brianl703]

Comcast uses both Motorola and Scientific-Atlanta DVRs depending on the system. Here's it Scientific-Atlanta, but 20 miles north it's Motorola.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Have you spent any time at the forums at dbstalk? Lots of good info there!

The HR20-700 is the best model to have. Any of the newer ones use a single processor for guide & for recording which slows down response time. We have an HR20-700 and an HR22-100, the newer HR22 is frustratingly slow.

however, there is NO way I'm going to Comcast. After spending time at a relative's house who had Comcast HD... DirecTV is FAR FAR FAR FAR better for HD programming. And Comcast costs more after the 1st year is up. Another relative made the switch to Comcast from Dtv and HATES it.

While DirecTV has a ways to go with their HD service offering, IMO, it's the best option out there now.

 

[tonycarguy]

I used to have the Comcast HD-DVR. It was a Motorola model from about 3-4 years ago. IT SUCKS SO BAD. What a total piece of **** that was.

examples: Setting a record time was slow because you couldn't enter the time; you have to use the up/down arrows to scroll through from 12:00a to, say, 7:30pm. It was a very clumsy interface. If you wanted to watch halfway into your recording, you have to fast forward to that point. It could take 10+ minutes just to get there.

The device was very slow and unresponsive. Sometimes you would press (say) Up-Channel on the remote but the DVR would take 5-10 sec to respond. During this time you don't know if the receiver "heard" the remote so you press it again, and again. Eventually, it would all respond at once and the receiver would go up 4 channels. Soooooo annoying. Then you press Down-Channel to try to go back, and you get the same deal. You might start at channel 30 with the intent of going to 31, and after 12 seconds you end up at 28 or 33.

I'm a very calm person but believe me, there were times I nearly through that piece of [censored] into the wall.

 

[Audi Junkie]

I haz Dish Network HD DVR, no equipment charges.