I have a similar setup with my two DirecTV HR-21 DVRs. The boxes are connected to the living room TV via component. I ran two 50-ft. HDMI cables (Monoprice #2110) to the upstairs bedroom. I picked up a second RF remote so I could have one in each room. It works great, except in the rare case of watching something with HDCP, since the analog connection doesn't support it. If they had those cheap HDMI over Cat. 5 baluns when I did this, I probably would've gone that way, since the HDMI cables are really thick.
I don't mind being a bit shortsighted when watching broadcast HD. It hides the compression artifacts nicely. It's annoying when playing Xbox, but I just sit a bit closer.
Yes, your DVR has to be connected to the Internet, as on-demand titles are not delivered over the satellites. This also makes it pretty slow, at least on my 1.5 Mbps DSL. I find stuff to download then watch it later. The HD choices are pretty slim, but the selection is slowly improving. The SD selection isn't bad. At least all the commercials are cut out. Also, some content is free, but others, like NBC shows are rentals.
I switched to DIRECTV from cable late last year and have no regrets so far. I was very skeptical due to the negative ads run by the cable company, but I'm glad I finally made the switch.
I live in a small town where the local cable company charges over $100 for basic HD service (no premiums). They also only carry 12 HD channels. While its true that that DIRECTV's "95 HD channels" include subscription and PPV channels, they still have about 60 other HD channels. I'm saving over $20/month and I have lots more channels.
I got a $300 credit for signing up when I bought a new TV, so that more than covered the equipment "upgrade" charges. Also, installation was free and painless. I kept an eye on the installer to make sure that holes were drilled where I wanted them.
The picture and sound quality is excellent, especially coming from a cable company where most of the channels were analog. I have only had weather related problems once, when an ice storm covered the dishes in ice. Even then, I only lost access to one of the satellites, which contained only my local channels. I have never had problems in heavy wind, snow or rain.
It's hard to say which one's the best unless you've used all of them. Can we vote for which one(s) suck? Scientific Atlanta is on the top of my list. I can't imagine a worse interface for a DVR.
The DirecTV CSR was straightforward in informing me of the two-year contract when I signed up. Not that I didn't already know that, as it was also listed on their web site. I already have two-year contracts for my DSL and cell phone, so what's one more? It's well worth it to me since I save $25/month over cable and have lots more channels.
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