How many hours of programming can the Directv dvr record up to compared to Dish Network's?

Both Sammy and Steven's answers are only half correct. Some DirecTV HD DVRs have 500 GB disks which provide 100 hours of HD recording and some of their DVRs have smaller disks that only provide about 40-50 hours of HD recording. The HR-22 and HR-23 models have the larger disks, and the HR20 and HR21 models have the smaller disks, so the DirecTV capacity will either be about the same as DISH or about 2 times more than DISH depending on the model that you get. Both DISH and DirecTV let you hook up an external disk for more recording capacity. An external 2TB disk can be had for about $200 or less and that will provide about 550 hours of HD recording on the DirecTV DVR. Recording SD channels with the HD DVR will give you 3-4 times more hours of recording capacity compared to HD recording. All of the SD-only DirecTV DVRs have a capacity of about 100 hours and they can't be expanded with an external disk.

hi im a Dish network technician the 722k hd dvr can record up to 350 hrs of television in sd and 55 hrs in hd but the hard drive is expandable with an optional external hard drive im not sure about direct tv's dvr's but i thought this might help the 722k also lets you watch separate programs on 2 televisions and also enables you to watch dvr recordings in either room

As I recall, the Directv high def DVR is something like 330 GB in size and this can record around 30 or 40 hours of high def content. You can have the hard drive in a Directv DVR replaced though by http://www.weaknees.com/ . They will even copy settings and recorded shows and the drives can be up to 2 terrabytes. I have several hundred hours of high def content recorded and I still have all sorts of free space. ;-) They do not record 100 hours of high def content, as Sammy indicates they do.