You will always have to pay a subscription for the satellite service. DirecTV should offer it's own brand of DVR that requires no additional subscription. I have a Dish Network DVR that I bought independantly off of ebay and it works perfectly.

The only others readily available are the series one Tivo units but they force you to pay monthly fee for the DVR capability. I believe there are also higher end DVR's that do not require a subscription but they cost much more up front.

I would just look into a DirecTv DVR...

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-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250