For the past 3 years, I have been a very happy DirecTV+TiVo customer. Before DirecTV and TiVo severed ties a year ago, you could get one of these satellite receivers for $50 or less after rebate. With a $120 hard drive upgrade from Weaknees, you’d have enough space to store almost 150 hours of programming. Now that DirecTV no longer subsidizes TiVo receivers, it will cost you around $300 for a TiVo DVR. At that price, the free 100-hour DirecTV DVR seems like a good option.

I had always heard disappointing reviews for both Comcast’s and DirecTV’s non-TiVo DVRs. After convincing my parents on the merits of a (free) DVR, I had the opportunity to try one out myself.

It should come as no surprise that it is quite inferior to TiVo. As I was using it, I kept saying to myself, “have the designers of this system ever USED a TiVo?” However, there are a few welcome features provided with the DirecTV DVR:

  • A bar graph shows you what percentage of disk space you are using
  • 100 hours of storage comes standard and like the DirecTV TiVo, it has dual tuners, s-video output and optical audio output
  • Unwatched programs are marked as “new”

When using the DVR, the negative aspects stuck out more clearly:

  • While in menus, the top half of the screen shows live TV or the currently-playing program–a waste of space.
  • The remote: The “left” navigation button takes you back, sometimes. Other times you need to use the “back” button or the “exit” button. Ambiguous, multi-function color buttons.
  • Non-intuitive interface: it took quite some time to figure out how to set up a “Series Link” (Season Pass). Tasks that should be simple take several steps to accomplish.
  • Bugs abound: during the one week I used the system, it locked up twice and when trying to record a program, it simply told me that “the prioritizer is full.” Huh?

Any DVR is better than no DVR, but if you’ve ever owned, or used, a TiVo, it will be an exercise in frustration. So I will be sticking with my DirecTV TiVo until the Series3 drops below $800. Read a full comparison of the two systems.