DirecTV began shipping its HR20 line of HD DVRs last fall, and has recently announced the availability of the next generation HR21. There’s not much of a difference between the two, other than the HR21 being available in black, so I’m essentially reviewing both here. The other key difference is that the HR21 does not include any local tuners. So if you receive your locals over the air, you might want to hold on to your HR20 and not upgrade to the HR21.

In all other respects, these units are more or less identical. Both units are capable of recording both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 signals, meaning that you will be able to receive both current and future channel offerings from DirecTV. They each boast of 200 hours of SD recording and roughly 50 hours of HD recording. They both also have a full compliment of A/V outputs including Component, HDMI and digital audio. Last but not least, they also include SATA and USB ports to support future storage expansion and other connections. A perfect gift for someone with DirecTV, and without a DVR.