The west coast local feeds have already been removed from the MPEG2 stream. While this took longer than I expected, I don't think the east coast will last until the end of the year. Since everything else is now simulcast in MPEG4, channels in the 70s are sure to follow soon after.

I'm interested in the 2009 DirecTivo boxes as well, but I'm not dying living with the HR2x machines. I can't say I strongly prefer one over the other.