Hughes HIRD-E45 Platinum Series Deluxe Dolby Digital DIRECTV Satellite Receiver
I like it a lot
This is my first DirecTV receiver. I used to have cable, but got tired of the cruddy &quot;digital&quot; picture with its lousy compression technology (i.e., weird digital artifacts on your screen). I also got tired of my nationally-recognized-brand-name cable company hiking my cable bill every 12 months. So, I took a chance. So far so good. As far as this hardware goes: the receiver's strengths seem to be in its software/firmware interface (i.e., menus, ways to navigate, etc.). Unlike a cable company, which pumps the same interface to every one of its subscribers, DirecTV relies on the hardware vendors to implement their own version of an interface. The Hughes interface is first-rate and very user friendly. The receiver looks well made, and as far as the DirecTV content it receives and decodes goes...I couldn't be happier. It's practically the same content I got on cable (in my case, similar to &quot;Expanded Basic&quot; on cable) but a much cleaner picture. The picture quality is hard to describe in words, but it's noticeable when you see it. If it helps, it &quot;feels&quot; like it's about 5-10% better, if that makes any sense. Some things to keep in mind about DirecTV service as a whole: You should have a telephone jack nearby so that the receiver can plug into it and &quot;talk&quot; to DirecTV headquarters about your pay-per-view choices [if any]. This is a short, toll-free call (supposedly in the middle of the night), so there's no interference with your telephone calling or modem, at least as far as I can see. I bought the Platinum receiver with an 18&quot; round dish (so it's called a &quot;system&quot;), and the system comes with a radio-frequency adapter that plugs onto the end of the infrared remote control. This allows you to put the receiver close to a telephone jack that may not be near your TV set. The radio-control does not need line-of-sight, so you can--conceivably--put the receiver in the closet and change channels with your remote control. I can't vouch that the receiver by itself comes with this optional device [remember that I bought the Platinum &quot;system&quot;], but you can buy it off of Hughes' website even if it doesn't.