DIRECTV R15 Receiver/Digital Video Recorder--Up to 100 Hours- may require 2 YEAR extension of contract,monthly fees will apply by DirectTV, may also require to be activated as a "Leased Receiver" as per DirecTV policy change"
I actually like this DVR
I'm going to buck the trend here, and give this DVR a fairly high ranking.  I got one a couple weeks ago, and so far I haven't had any problems with it.  I don't have any issues that other reviewers have mentioned (freezing, constant rebooting, recording a blank screen).  If I do start experiencing those types of problems then you can bet I would change my tune.  All that being said, there are some pros and cons when comparing this DVR to the R10 (with TiVo).  First, some quick background.  I first got DirecTV about 4 years ago, with a couple standard (non-DVR) receivers.  About a year or so later, we upgraded our living room receiver to the DVR with TiVo.  Then a couple weeks ago, that unit died, and I went out and got the R15. <br /> <br />When comparing the R10 to the R15, you need to keep one thing in mind - there are two main sets of features that you need to compare.  The first set is the DVR-specific functionality (recording, setting up season passes, finding shows, playing back a show that's been recorded, etc.).  In this respect, the tivo wins hands-down.  The interface is very intuititive, and very cohesive, and very easy to use, as well as very consistent. <br /> <br />The second set of features are what I term the DirecTV-specific functionality.  In other words, even though this unit is a DVR, it's also a DirecTV receiver, which has it's own set of functions.  For this set, the new R15 wins hands-down.  The tivo DVR had 2 real bare-bones type of receivers included.  All of the nice functionality that I had with my initial receiver (non-DVR) was gone.  For example, the guide was miserably slow when scrolling, there were no channel filters, there's only one set of customized channels, when you hit the guide button, the guide shows up on top of the show you're watching... that kind of stuff.  Very stripped down versions of the receivers. <br /> <br />The new R15 has an ok DVR interface (it's clunky, and you're required to do too many button-presses to get stuff done).  It's not as nice as the tivo unit.  However, much of the DirecTV functionality that I missed with the tivo unit is very much included with the new R15.  Also, the DVR and DirecTV functionality are much better integrated with the R15.  For example, with the R10 (tivo) you switch between live tv and tivo central - which drove me nuts.  I couldn't understand why you couldn't just access the menus while watching TV.  With the R15, you can do that.  The separation between the DVR side and the receiver side is much more seemless.  Some might say that it's too well integrated - you can't use the R15 as a stand-alone unit.  With the tivo unit, you could still do things like pause live TV and record manually without signing up for the tivo service.  With the R15, the DVR functionality is very much tied into the service (I couldn't pause a live show until I had that service activated by DirecTV, e.g.). <br /> <br />There is one feature that I do miss, however, since upgrading to the R15.  Tivo gives you two live tuners.  Each tuner has its own 30-minute buffer, and you can flip between the two tuners with the press of one button.  That allows you to watch two shows at the same time.  Watch show 1 until it hits a commercial, flip to the other tuner.  Rewind show 2 to get back to where you left off, and watch show 2 until the commercial and then flip back to tuner 1. <br /> <br />The R15 doesn't have that feature.  There's a 90-minute buffer, but it's a shared buffer.  There is no flipping between tuners.  However, you can get around this by recording both shows and just flipping between them on the guide (you can watch the shows you're recording, and when you switch on the guide, you now have two buffers). <br /> <br />This runs counter to what another reviewer mentioned.  They mentioned that you can't record two separate shows at the same time while watching a third that's already recorded.  This is not correct.  You can most definitely do that (after reading that review, I did exactly that to prove to myself that it could be done). <br /> <br />Overall, this is not a bad unit.  I wish the DVR functionality were less clunky, and I would love to have to two live tuners back, but aside from that I do like the new DVR.  It also has some nice features that the tivo unit doesn't: <br /> <br />- screen saver -- why the tivo unit DOESN'T have one is beyond me, <br />- filters <br />- additional favorite channels list <br />- you can also move along the guide in 12-hour increments, and the guide is so much nicer in this unit <br />- I also think that the picture quality on this unit is nicer than it was on the tivo unit.