The onscreen-guide debate
Debating the relative merits of various onscreen guides can quickly turn into a near-religious discussion. We found that RCA's onscreen guide required a little getting used to, but we grew comfortable with it after a few hours of channel surfing. The DRD420RE's main channel guide displays 1.5 hours' worth of programming for either 6 or 8 channels at a time. When you're viewing the guide, the channel you are currently tuned to is displayed in the corner of the screen, so you can keep watching while paging through the listings. We really appreciated the small arrow located above the timeline that shows the current time.
Beyond the basic program guide, this receiver offers all the features we've come to expect from satellite receivers, such as favorites lists, viewer profiles, and channel lock. Setting up these extras was easy. Not as well thought out is the Scout function, which allows you to set up as many as eight separate Scouts that will search out keywords or phrases in the program guide. Unfortunately, the Scout feature does its hunting only when the receiver is powered off, not while you are watching TV. So if you want to search for The X-Files, you need to enter the search, turn off the receiver, and wait up to 30 minutes before the results appear.
If you're shopping around for a basic satellite-receiver package or you need a second receiver for the den, the DRD420RE is certainly a good value that will serve you well. You might also look at the very similar HNS HIRD-E25 Gold Edition. But the obvious rule applies: If you need more connectivity, you'll have to spend more.
What You'll Pay
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