This is my first review I have ever written so please be kind. I bought a direct tv DVR about 3month’s ago, its ok but it has its problems.
To start off the unit only comes in silver witch is nice if all of your components were silver, but there not most components are black. Color aside the appearance of it is nice its very simple with a blue power light and activity ring, and orange record light. The front has two panels the one on the left has a usb port although I am not sure what it is for I suspect it is for maintenance or maybe for an external hard drive for more rec. time I don’t know the manual says “ For Future Use” well I guess we will just have to speculate. As for the other panel its for the access card and a reset button .
As for the back inputs it has 1 optical output , 2 rca a/v outputs, 1 s-video output, 1 RF coax output, 1 component output, 1 usb port,1 phone line input, and 2 satellite inputs you must connect both to have full functionality of the device.
Now on to the remote its not that good of a remote, its not ergonomic nor is the button placement great and its slow to respond , on the up side it has a excellent rubber non slip grip on the bottom “thank you DirecTV” also the batteries are a tight fight and none of my rechargeable will work it seems that the + end conductor it recessed into the remote and doesn’t make a good connection with my rechargeable batteries.
As far as the user interface goes its not great a lack of advanced options and customizability doesn’t help it. You cant even change the color of the on screen guide small problem you say, yes it is but for $100 come on . But WAIT there’s not more, Advanced options are non existent no real audio options or video options and there is no way to organize the recorded movies , it only puts tv shows in groups it gives the name of the show then you open it and all episodes are in there and even that could be better. I do like the rec. series option it lets you program it to rec. a specific show and rec. all episodes that air ,and you can rec. first runs, repeats or both in a series .
To summarize they put to much focus on stupid things like the activity
ring that does different light patterns according to what you are doing but they wont let me change the color of the guide something I have to look at day after day. Really now you can image how much time they put in to fluff instead of getting the important things like a good cataloging system for recorded shows. I guess that it all comes down to the fact that there is no competition in DirecTV receivers any more, there was many companies like Sony , Samsung ,RCA, Toshiba , and others all making DirecTV receivers not any more there is only one. With competition comes progress . Yes I know you are saying way not get cable or a different satellite service well I refuse to pay the outrages price that cable charges and as for a different satellite company dish network receivers aren’t any better I am told. So what to do well for me hope that they get things together at DirecTV. As for you well take this review into mind and remember this is only my opinion.
DIRECTV Receiver with Built-In Digital Video Recorder
Model: R15
Warranty - Parts 90 days limited
Warranty - Labor 90 days limited
Height 15-7/10"
Width 6-7/10"
Weight 11.8 lbs.
Depth 19-1/2"
