Why is Anyone Buying the HR21 Instead of the HR20?

[tjk]

The HR21 does not have an off-air tuner, and DirecTV will soon come out with the AM-21, at an added price of $99, as an ADD ON to the HR21 to allow it to pick up off-air channels. Since the HR20 already does this, without the added bulk and added cost, I'm wondering why the HR21 is being purchased while there are still ample Hr20's available, unless it's an incentive offer of some sort directly with DirecTV.

Even if you don't need the off-air tuner, it's still a nice feature to have, especially when there's a heavy thunderstorm and the satellite goes out. Plus, even if all your locals are available via satellite, the multicast channels are not.

Is black that important to some people? Just wondering. I'd love to get the HR21, because Costco has it pretty cheap, but if I were to add the AM-21, it would cost more than the HR20 alone.

[SolidSignal_Mike]

One of the only real advantages to buying an HR21 is that is supports the stacked signal from a SWM8 Single Wire Multiswitch Which means you can have two satellite signals and an OTA signal all on one line going straight into the back of this receiver. For an HR20 you would have to separate these back out with an SWS2 and a diplexer, which would incur some insertion loss.

-Mike