Dish Network DTVPal DVR

The Dish Network DTVPal DVR ($250) looks to fill the niche for a budget HD DVR, offering the ability to record free over-the-air HDTV--including two programs at once from a single antenna--without any monthly fees. Unfortunately, the caveat list is long and ugly for the DTVPal DVR: there's no way to set up true season passes for a program or eliminate repeats on regular recordings, the user interface is bland and lacks polish, there's only a 90-day warranty from Dish and there are no returns allowed, and online forums are filled with horror stories about frequent crashes and reboots (although our experience was mostly glitch-free.) The DTVPal DVR is a great value if you only need basic recording functionality, and we really wanted to like its cheapskate style, but Dish's stingy return/warranty policy makes it really hard to recommend.

Design
The DTVPal DVR is clearly a utilitarian device. It makes no effort to dress itself up, sticking with a plain gray case with only the white DTVPal logo and some grating on the top to break the monotony. Up front there's a single green status light for power, and below that is a credit-card-like "DTV card." The manual makes absolutely no mention of it, and we were able to take it out without any effects.

There's a "DTV card" slot in the front of the unit, but it doesn't have any use we could discern.

The included remote is nearly identical to the clickers found on standard Dish Network DVRs. There are a lot of buttons, but the layout, colors, and sizing of the buttons make it easy to navigate. We especially appreciated the 30-second skip button, allowing us to easily blast by commercials with just a few button presses. While neophytes may prefer TiVo's simpler remote, Dish's clicker is better suited for the tweaky audience the DTVPal DVR will appeal to.

User interface
The menu system is bland, too. The electronic programming guide (EPG) has a boxy grid layout, and the blue-and-gray color scheme is in stark contrast to the colorful interface found on a TiVo. There are three text size options for viewing guide data; we preferred small text to see the most of channels at once.

Selecting "small text" for the EPG allows you to see nine rows of program data at once.

The usefulness of the EPG is dependent on the quality of the over-the-air program guide data in your area. The DTVPal DVR can pull guide info from two sources, the standard, broadcaster-supplied info included with new digital TV broadcasts and also TV Guide On Screen data, where it's available. If your area has TV Guide data (like us), you'll get about a full week of program info; if you don't get TV Guide, expect just a few days of program info. Even with solid TV Guide data for most stations, we got absolutely no guide data for our local PBS station; those are the kinds of drawbacks you'll have to live with on the DTVPal DVR versus a more expensive cable-company-supplied DVR or TiVo HD.

Summary:

DVR that records free over-the-air HDTV; no monthly fees; excellent image quality; dual-tuner design means you can record two program simultaneously from one antenna; 30 hours of HD recording. Works more like a VCR than a modern DVR; bland user interface; lacks the polish of TiVo HD or Dish's own HD DVRs; terrible warranty and return policy; troubling online reports of crashing and freezing.The Dish Network DTVPal DVR offers up bare-bones, over-the-air HDTV recording without a monthly fee, but it doesn't compare to subscription-based DVRs, and Dish's nonexistent return policy makes it a real gamble.