DirecTV HR20-700 HD HDTV DVR Satellite Receiver
Better than TiVo (w/ software upgrade)
I had this installed and kept the installer around until I could try out the machine and as many functions as possible.  There were several glitches, but after a software upgrade (via sat.) the machine is working perfectly...so far (I've had it less than a week).  It's my guess that most of the people writing the poor reviews (on Amazon , CNet, and elsewhere) received bad machines (manufacturing defects as opposed to engineering/design problems) AND/OR they didn't upgrade the software.  The audio and video quality are excellent (I won't go into detail as there are tons of reviews about the specs elsewhere - including the TiVo killing MPeg-4 capability).  Instead I'll just mention a few of the more subjective attributes.  The menus are extremely intuitive and come w/out the annoying TiVo 'PPLLTTT'.  Once again, with the upgrade in software, The speed matches or betters the TiVo menus.  I've recorded several HD movies and HD programs and see no difference between the recorded show and the original broadcast.  In addition to upgrading the software, be sure to adjust the audio and video settings.  They were factory set to odd settings (example: audio was set to PLII-C instead of Dolby digital and screen was defaulted to 4:3 instead of 16:9).  The remote can be set (although through a series of about 20 button pushes)to RF which is really nice, as you can control it from another room.  The LEDs on the front are kind of cool, but I haven't been able to dim them as the manual says you can - they're a little annoying in a dark room.  The HR20 requires a new 5-LNB dish, but the upgrade is nice as   [this dish and the HR20 can pull in off air (ATSC) digital signals (LOCAL HiDef!)**updated below**] --I'm in Minneapolis, so you'll want to check your area for sure. Now I can remove the extra off-air antenna from my roof.  About the only negative I've found besides the LEDs is the 30 second skip which takes about 3 seconds to cycle through as opposed to the TiVo (hacker modified)30 second skip, which is instantaneous.    [update 4/23/07 - I've had it for 5 months now.  No problems. If the naysayers want to spent $800 on the HD TiVo --be my guest.  No this machine does not pull in local HD (off air) without an antenna.  However, Directv does send local HD channels from the satellite in my market - Minneapolis.  The only local HD I don't get through Directv is the local PBS channel]