RCA DWD490RE DIRECTV/UltimateTV ReceiverSee Restrictions)
Slow and clumsy interface, but decent DVR features
The UltimateTV user interface is quite pretty and it's simple to understand but it's also extraordinarily slow. Anyone accustomed to the standard DirecTV interface, or just about any other interactive menu system I can recall, will find it extremely frustrating after a while. It requires many selections to perform simple tasks. It often takes several seconds to respond to basic commands. Trying to view the next few hours of programming on a particular channel can be an object lesson in patience. <br />Don't buy this box for the WebTV capability. The browser is too clumsy and slow to do anything useful. You can forget the idea of playing streaming audio and video on your home theater equipment as it doesn't support most of the popular browser plugins you'll need and the modem is too slow.<br />The digital video recording features are great, in theory, but I've seen a few quirks. I've been unable to record more than about eight hours of programming before it starts erasing the earlier programs to record new ones. If anyone has recorded 35 hours worth of material I'd like to know how. It also gets completely thrown if a program that is to be recorded each time it appears has its start time shifted by the broadcaster. It simply gives up on that program forever. It may even skip other programs too, but I'm still trying to figure out exactly what's going on. Having said that, when it works it's superb. The fast scan and skip features become a way of life. You'll know what I mean when you try to fast forward a live broadcast to skip the ads! We've practically stopped watching live TV.<br />The technical support is almost non-existent. I've tried to reach both RCA and UltimateTV to find out how to use the video/audio input jacks on the front panel (there's nothing about them in the manuals, help screens or online) with absolutely no luck to date. Email requests remain unanswered after several weeks and multiple attempts. <br />So, in summary, it works OK but it has some strange quirks, a few incomplete features, a slow user interface and poor technical support. I'm hoping that they will eventually download fixes for most of the technical problems because it's an extremely useful product.