A moment with Chris Thompson

We recently upgraded to the new 5 tuner DirecTV HR34 HD 1080p DVR receiver. It’s definely an improvement from our old UVerse DVR receiver, which I felt was slow and clumsy. Let’s go over some of the key features in this review and why I say you’ll consider it a step up.

Note
If you’ve already read this article and are looking for details on the 0×547 (1351) software update, click here to skip to page 3.

Cost
We obtained our receiver via a contract with DirecTV. I was shopping at Fry’s in Northern California and signed up at the DirecTV booth in the television section. The agent who helped me was knowledgeable, she had been with DirecTV for several years and could answer all my questions. Supposedly DirecTV just started offering this receiver in our area, so I thought it would be another good review opportunity. I signed a 2 year contract because we needed installation and I know it’s included for free when you sign a contract. Although I had to pay about $120 up front for the newer HR34 receiver, we ended up getting an all inclusive deal for $47 a month for the first year. That’s the middle of the road channel package, HDTV service, the HR34 (which is shared over a coaxial network) and 2 HD receivers. Not bad considering UVerse was charging us over $100 per month and not delivering on a good user experience. The second year does go up to about $60 per month which is still reasonable, then after 2 years we can elect to cancel. After having service for about a month now (which includes a couple months of free HBO, Showtime, etc) we’re pleased with the service, selection, and receivers. I listed the old HR24 receivers below that are available on Amazon, at these prices I’m not sure why you wouldn’t go for the new HR34-700 instead. The more expensive one is the receiver & DVR, the cheaper one is just a receiver only.


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The Pioneer VSX 1021K. It’s got a lot of technology built in, and a lot of functionality – but is it worth the $550 price tag? Let’s start peeling back the layers and find out.

First, our original VSX 1201-K was giving us a UE 33 error. We purchased from NewEgg using a coupon code from SlickDeals.net. The final price was good, but this was my first return to NewEgg so I wasn’t sure what to expect. My return was approved immediately and an RMA code was issued online automatically. Shipping to me both times was free, but I had to foot the return bill of roughly $18 to send it back. It was well worth it because the replacement model works fine and doesn’t show the UE33 error. This seems to be the only way to fix the UE33 error, because when I contacted Pioneer support, they indicated it would need professional service. The old receiver was also never keeping updates, whether I updated by USB or network connection. The replacement model already had the newest firmware installed, another good sign we could trust this replacement.



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