Pro's & Con's about Direct TV

Christo Ramo · 10-20-2003, 11:52 AM

I am getting ready to convert from Cable to Direct TV. My main reason is I have a 1st generation Tivo and looking into getting another for a Theater I am building in my basement. I like the fact that Direct TV lets you have a Tivo that has a digital output on it. The 1st gen does not. Also I noticed that some of these newer boxes have component connections on them. Does this mean that they can accept HDTV? I am buying a 40" hdtv and would love to take advantage of that while I am in the spending mood. Does anyone know if this is possible or when somehting along these lines might be available? One other determining factor is I could get another tivo for $99 rather than $500+ - also, does anyone know if those tivo's are activated or will I have to subscribe to the service.

Hope this wasn't too confusing! Thanks.

Robert_J · 10-20-2003, 01:45 PM

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Also I noticed that some of these newer boxes have component connections on them.

If you are talking about DirecTV PVRs powered by Tivo (aka DirecTivo) having component conections, they don't. All DirecTivos have composite and s-video only. There will be an HD DirecTivo out next year though.

You can get a DirecTivo system with a multi-sat dish for under $50 now if you are a new customer. You can then add another DirecTivo through DirecTV's web site for $99+$15 shipping with free installation. The multi-sat dish will already be in place when you get ready to upgrade to HDTV.

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also, does anyone know if those tivo's are activated or will I have to subscribe to the service.

The $5/month Tivo fee will cover ALL DirecTivos on your account. If you upgrade to Total Choice Premiere, then the Tivo fee is waived.

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I like the fact that Direct TV lets you have a Tivo that has a digital output on it.

Other advantages are dual tuners and picture quality that is identical to live TV.

-Robert

Tim K · 10-20-2003, 06:01 PM

As I mentioned in your other post, HiDef receivers for DirecTV are quite expensive unless you get an older version one (RCA HD100 or Samsung T150 I think) off of eBay for $100-200. Most of the New HD receivers are $400+. That is the #1 reason I stick with Cable. The HD cable box is the same price as the regular cable box....$6/mo. Also, you may be close enough to Philly to get the Over-The-Air (OTA) network HD signals with a rooftop antenna (NBC,CBS,ABC,PBS, WB and whenever Fox gets around to it). If so, you will want to consider getting a receiver that can decode both DirectTV HD and OTA HD. I think the Samsung and RCA boxes do so.

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There will be an HD DirecTivo out next year though.

With all the stink that the Motion Picture industry is making over copy protection, I wouldn't think that anyone would release a HD capable Tivo...and if they did, I bet bet alot of studios would try to block their movies from being broadcast in HD. They are really hung up on the idea of people having perfect digital copies of their movies.

Stephen Tu · 10-20-2003, 07:07 PM

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With all the stink that the Motion Picture industry is making over copy protection, I wouldn't think that anyone would release a HD capable Tivo...and if they did

You think wrongly then. This is an announced product and has been demo'd at trade shows. You can find the info on the Tivo web site. It was announced officially in January, although the release has been delayed until next year due to some improvements in the spec (dual sat+ dual ota tuners). Motorola & Scientific Atlanta are also producing their own (non-Tivo) HD cable box PVR combos which are starting to roll out in selected areas.

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They are really hung up on the idea of people having perfect digital copies of their movies

They are willing to permit PVRs because it's temporary storage, and it's not easy to get the content off of the machines. They aren't scared of time-shifting; what they are scared of is people getting the content onto PCs and sharing over the internet like what happened to music. Tivos are relatively non-threatening.

Steve Schaffer · 10-20-2003, 08:08 PM

All HD-capable DirecTV boxes will also tune ota digital and ota analog channels via an antenna.

The quality of the ota digital tuners varies from mfr to mfr. Current Hughes and the old RCA boxes are the worst, new Sony and Zenith boxes are the best.

Like Stephen Tu, I see no problems being able to record HD content on the upcoming HD Tivo units--you probably won't be able to copy the bitstream unaltered from an HD-Tivo to a D-VHS deck for permanent copies, but timeshifting should be ok.

**HTF Ads**

Kevin C Brown · 10-20-2003, 09:54 PM

I have cable but have been on the fence for a long time. With DirecTV, can I watch 1 show, and record (on VHS for now) another, in 2 separate rooms at once? (I.e., 4 separate feeds.) Easy to do this with cable, but I get confusing answers for a dish.

Tim K · 10-20-2003, 10:50 PM

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They are willing to permit PVRs because it's temporary storage, and it's not easy to get the content off of the machines. They aren't scared of time-shifting; what they are scared of is people getting the content onto PCs and sharing over the internet like what happened to music. Tivos are relatively non-threatening.

It may not be as simple as plugging in a cable to copy the material...but don't think that shortly after an HD Tivo is released people won't have found a way to hack it. It really is just a hard drive afterall. There are alot of really smart people who love to hack hardware....and many of them are not honorable people who would be timeshifting and "making backups".

I'm not saying they won't be released, but I will be surprised if the MPAA or whoever doesn't have a fit about it. I'm sure someone will discover an easy way to hack it, post it on the internet, and start a frenzy. I won't be surprised if a few months after this HD Tivo is released, its hacked, and then the studios block the networks from broadcasting movies in HD until this is "resolved".

John Robert · 10-20-2003, 11:45 PM

One West Coast advantage of satellite is the availability of East Coast network feeds. Not only do you get an extra NFL game, but it is nice to watch Letterman/Leno at 8:30 pm if you want. Also easy to Tivo 2 different shows on at the same time in your time zone...

Robert_J · 10-21-2003, 06:48 AM

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I have cable but have been on the fence for a long time. With DirecTV, can I watch 1 show, and record (on VHS for now) another, in 2 separate rooms at once? (I.e., 4 separate feeds.) Easy to do this with cable, but I get confusing answers for a dish.

With VHS, you would need 4 receivers. Two to watch live shows and two connected to the VCR for recording. Another option is two DirecTivos. Each can record a show while you are watching a live show. You can later dump the shows to VHS for long term storage if needed.

-Robert