DirectTV guide is OK but I haven't figured out how to limit it to just the channels that we are interested in. Therefore, it takes a while to scroll through. I think you can page through six channels at a time and it shows you one and half hours at a time.

We do ocassionally have reception problems in heavy rain or snow. Nice thing about HD DVR is that we can tape on one TV and watch the taped show on another. Unfortunately, you are allowed only two shows at a time (taping and/or viewing) on the one TV so it is limiting.