Price Paid:  $100.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
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.

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

Weaknesses:
Reliability Dual tuner but singe output

Similar Products Used:
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.

Price Paid:  $100.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
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.

Strengths:
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.

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

Similar Products Used:
Hughes receiver, Panasonic receiver, and older RCA

Price Paid:  $175.00 from auction

Summary:
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.

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

Weaknesses:
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.

Similar Products Used:
Nothing to compare.

Price Paid:  $49.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
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.

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

Weaknesses:
Slow dial-up connection for MSN TV feature

Similar Products Used:
Older model RCA, Sony DirecTV receivers

Price Paid:  $290.00 from Bulverde Theater

Summary:
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.

Strengths:
Excellent versatility

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

Similar Products Used:
Older RCA satellite receivers