Dual tuner DVR - record two shows at once. In general DVRs are a great idea.

Reliability Dual tuner but singe output

I'm submitting this review before reading the others but please make sure you look at any reviews of people that have used this receiver for more than a year. I am at 1.5 years and have decided against having Thompson send me a third receiver. The receiver gets an F for reliability and Thompson gets and F for service. First receiver's second tuner went out. Replacement reciever had the same issue and was fixed by Thompson. It died a few months later but after the 1 year original warranty. Thompson should have to prove these recievers last at least one year - vs. sending me new ones until the year is up and then asking for more money than the product cost in the first place. This is an old product but I still see people dishing out the money for them on ebay and hopefully a few read this before buying. There is a reason they were discontinued! There are better options out there. Buy the latest technology or get something with a lifetime warranty like I am doing with Dish and its dual tuner DVR.

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Getting new Dishplayer 522 dual tuner dual output receiver with LIFETIME WARRANTY from Dish Network. This should be great - now I will deal only with Dish vs. Pegasus, DirecTV, and Thompson - I have no issue with DirecTV (other than doing business with Pegasus) but Pegasus and Thompson are two of the worst companies out there in my opinion.

Lastest Software upgrade makes menus faster and adds lots of needed features. DD on several movies. Cheap. Microsoft. Easy to setup. PIP, w/ dual tuners to let you record 2 shows while watching a third prerecorded show. Doesn't use phone line to get guide or updates - only for MSN TV and Pay Per View.

Clumsy Remote, Can't add capacity easily, Microsoft, Discontinued, $10/month

Actually I bought the system in June 2002. I was hunting around for a DirecTivo, and no one in Tulsa seemed to have one - I already had a system w/ a Dual LNB so I just needed the receiver. I called around after visiting Best Buy, Ultimate Electronics, and a few Satillite and TV shops, finally I found this and I love it - it does everything it is supposed to, although the remote lacks a feature to reprogram the DVD button to a non-RCA player. I have an above average setup and it sounds great, as far as the recording problems about having to reset, that was a software glitch that was fixed in a free software upgrade back in May. I did my homework first. I also wish there was a easy way to add more time as no one seems to make a larger capacity version. You can replace the hard drive in it, however, it only works with certain drives and the old drive is locked, like the Xbox's. Also, I got the whole system for that price, dual LNB, satillite, and receiver. I kept the extra parts in case I ever need to replace the ones I have. The reasons it was sooo cheap is because 1. Microsoft needs out of this Satillite Game, as it moves forward w/ PVR capability in the Xbox 2. 2. RCA has just made a deal w/ Dish Network - regardless of the pending merger, and dropped production of all of it's DirecTV receivers. I also wonder if the merger goes through what will become of my receiver, although Dish does have a PVR I don't like it as much.

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Hughes receiver, Panasonic receiver, and older RCA

Dual tuner, PIP, recording, pausing or rewinding live tv and easy to operate.

Dolby sound, what dolby sound? The sound is better than my old RCA with analog (L/R) outs but my AV receiver (Kenwood VR 5900) has never picked up a DD signal. I mainly watch the PPV and haven't checked all the movie networks as yet so I may come across something that works. The other features are so good it doesn't matter that I haven't received DD sound as yet.

This unit is almost exactly what I was looking few extras I didn't expect. I was only really looking for a Dolby Digital receiver with and IR remote when I stumbled across this unit. DD with 2 tuner, Digital recording capabilty and an IR remote. As most of you know the Sony DD receivers all come with RF remotes which is a pain if every other remote including my universal is IR. And why would you want a separate unit for recording when you can have all the functionality I could ever want in one unit. Well I found this unit and was pleasantly surprised. This unit include dual tuner for PIP and is a breeze to operate. I tell everyone I know about the unit. It is my favorite piece of equipment to show off when I have guests over. My only complaint, which is a biggy, is that I have never experienced DD sound from this receiver.

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Nothing to compare.

Price, User upgradeable storage capacity, Recording options & quality, MSN TV web browsing, optional ($29) keyboard available

Slow dial-up connection for MSN TV feature

This is a phenominal deal for the money. Circuit City (among maybe a few others) are selling these for $49.99 after rebate, including the dish and installation. The 3.5 software upgrade made several enhancements, including a very noticeable performance increase...and regardless of what some may say, they are absolutely on par with what Tivo offers (including a few few extra features that no Tivo can do, plus no Tivo is even close to this price). The units are also very easily upgraded...I changed out the standard 40GB hard drive for a 120GB model. I now can record up to 105 hours of programming! Plus the recording quality is always flawless, it's totally the same as the original broadcast. In all, this is the only way you should want DirecTV. With so many channels, the built in PVR makes it much easier to never miss the programming you really want to see.

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Older model RCA, Sony DirecTV receivers

Two tuners; Tivo-inspired digital TV recording features; Dolby Digital output; three sets of S-Video+A/V outputs; ergonomic remote; PIP function easy to use (though I rarely do)

No alternative to $10/month fee (unlike Tivo); my particular unit stores fewer and fewer programs over time unless I unplug the unit to reset it; WebTV access/Interactive TV functions take too long to access; clumsy Search functions for programs (may be quicker with optional keyboard)

If Tivo offered a two tuner model, I would have gone with them instead--the $10/month for Ultimate TV is too annoying to pay in the long term. I love digital TV recording, believe the hype! Especially great are the automatic recording of live TV, the jump ahead (30 seconds) or jump back (7 seconds) buttons, and the variable speed FF/rewind buttons, hard to watch live TV on cable now! Great picture and sound via sattelite, of course...that is, when it's not too rainy...When lousy weather hits, it's time to dust off my DVD collection.
I worry about the long term reliability of the remote, since it seems to be related to my old RCA's remote that stopped working well after about a year of use (I think the contacts got dirty, but how the heck do you open the remote to clean them?). Also, the remote lacks a backlit function.
It seems there would be a better way of searching for programs to record, rather than just shuffling through a channel's directory, hour by hour. If I had a keyboard, it WOULD be easier, but with only a remote I spend a lot of time pressing buttons on the Guide menu; it takes me about five minutes to check out the next week of programs available, although I can scan six channels simultaneously, thank goodness. What would be a GREAT enhancement is if I could select programs from a desktop via Web TV, which in turn would let my receiver know what to record, instead of sitting in front of the TV pressing remote buttons over and over and over...
Now for the BIG problem, mentioned in the Weaknesses section above: after about a week of happily recording programs and storing them, the unit will start pushing off old programs, even though there seems to be ample room for them (if you can believe the "approximately 35 hours of storage" in the advertisements), until finally NO programs will be stored as new ones are recorded. Incredibly annoying, as there's no peace of mind when it comes to planning your evening of TV watching--will that old Kurosawa movie you recorded last week still be available?
When I called RCA the capable representative suggested I unplug the unit to reset it, which solves the problem...until the unit starts pushing off old programs at an increasing rate until no programs are stored...unplug, begin cycle anew...
Finally, Interactive TV seems like a great idea in theory, but in practice (at least in its nascent stage now) seems like a gimmick. Do I need to spend two minutes hooking up to Web TV to see some boring background info, replete with advertisements, on the show I'm watching? I did it once out of curiousity, now I ignore the option.
I would highly recommend this model if not for the storage problems noted above, but still I'm very satisfied with the performance.

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RCA 4240

Digital taping, enhanced guide, 2 tuners in one box

9.95 fee, annoying I or W icons during shows, Digital audio out only for Dolby 5.1 encoded.

Big box!! $9.95 needed to access record and other tivo type features stinks. Biggest fault is the fact that unlike my previous Hughes platinum DTV reciever, This one only gives digital audio out for certain shows. In other words analog cabling and digital required and usually switching at audio reciver. The old hughes put out a good digital optical signal from all directv channels and my audio reciver automatically sensed 5.1 or DTS or prolgic etc.
Directv rep did not know to activate record on first call,

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none...but have had DirecTV for 5 years

Excellent versatility

Menu needs simplification
Takes to long to change channels
Quite hot- needs good ventilation

I see a complaint that uiltimate TV is about $10. One must remember that this includes the fee for the internal second receiver so one is only paying a little over $5 monthly for the other features. A little high but well worth it.

Very quiet! Not like the older TIVO units. Installed an external fan to keep unit cool. Very quiet for it is a 24v DC fan running on 10v.

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Older RCA satellite receivers

dd records 2 programs at a time

dosen't decode all dd programs

well guess i'm cind of stumped here. plays in dolby digital on programs offerd in dd on stars east but not on stars west, i orderd a ppv that was offerd in dd and it played fine. has anyone elese had this problem?

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rca