8 Comments

  1. I’ve thought of leaving Directv many times. I just cannot part with Discovery, Science Channel, and History, especially since they are now in HD. I’d MUCH RATHER use my windows media center as my DVR…however thats not really feasible for anything but OTA. I’d like to follow suit, but I think DTV has my bucks for now.

  2. By the way, what does a TivoHD lifetime subscription run these days? I like the idea of Tivo….just need to find a way to get good content that isn’t OTA. Looks like Amazon unbox service is not yet streaming HD and my Cable provider in the area is much much more evil that Directv.

  3. I paid $199 for a TiVo Lifetime Transfer, so it transferred lifetime from an old Series 1 TiVo to the TiVo HD. You can find a new TiVo HD for $240. The payback period was less than a year for both of the TiVo HDs as well as the lifetime transfers.

    Amazon Unbox is not yet HD. I’m looking forward to when they are (it’s been rumored.) Amazon Unbox videos look similar to DVD but are slightly more compressed. The worst part is that they are all 4:3, even the widescreen movies. So there is letterboxing/boarders on both the sides and the top. Zooming in with the TV aspect ratio controls removes the black boarders, but the video is very low resolution and the flaws become much more apparent. Still, for easy-of-use and immediate viewing, it’s a great service and I’m sure it will improve in the future.

  4. I have to think the future is streaming content over the Internet. It makes too much sense. I know there are near term bandwidth issues…..but I’d think these could be overcome with local Caches of programs.

  5. Why wouldn’t you consider DISH Network where you have all of the HD content you loved from DirecTV, and an amazing HD DVR that DirectTV or Tivo doesn’t offer?

  6. Tracy, let me be honest with you: I hate it when employees of a company leave self-serving comments without divulging their affiliation. I feel that it’s unethical marketing.

    Since you asked, here are the reasons I would not chose Dish Network.
    1) Dish Network is not free and Over-the-Air broadcasts are.
    2) Dish Network does not offer HD local stations in all markets that over-the-air local networks cover.
    3) The Dish Network DVR offers none of the advanced features offered by a TiVo HD. Did you read the post above? Multi-room viewing, TiVo-to-Go, the support of third-party software that allows you play any video stored on your PC on your TiVo, enhanced conflict resolution, overlap protection, etc.
    4) I feel that Dish Network is infringing on several patents held by TiVo. A jury, an appeals court, and the U.S. patent office all agree with this view. I read that TiVo gave Echostar a prototype satellite receiver DVR in the late 1990s. It’s my opinion that Echostar unlawfully copied that technology and used it in their own receiver without paying the TiVo, the owners of that intellectual property.
    5) DirecTV just brought online a new satellite and have more HD channels and options than Dish Network. If I were going to go back to satellite, I’d chose DirecTV again.

  7. I’ve been a lifetime Tivo subscriber since ’99 and a Directv customer. Got the Tivo early on because I liked the idea and thought this is the future of tv. Directv for one reason and one reason only, ESPN College Football Gameplan and NFL package.

    No complaints with either and even though my Gen-1 Tivo box was a Sony, had a warm fuzzy from the fact Tivo & Directv had a good close relationship. And very happy with Tivo great customer service which allowed me switch my lifetime to a Gen-2 Tivo box over a year ago.

    Now as of early 2008, Directv and Tivo have went their on way to the extent Tivo HD has no IR functionality to control the Directv boxes, ergo, Tivo HD doesn’t work with Directv…what to do? I can’t give up my football addiction, but want all the features of my Tivo (so far we’ve really enjoyed the Amazon Unbox as well) in HD.

    Tivo Tech support says maybe someday in the near future they’ll come out with a Tivo HD that again includes the IR functionality, but no definite plans…they point to how the Tivo box can function as a cable box and allows for multi-channel same-time recording (a feature the Tivo tech-guy I grilled said was an absolute need as everyone screamed for it), something that can never be done via a satellite connection.

    Any knowledge on how to resolve this conflict? Any hope on the horizon that Tivo and Directv will see the light and work well together again? (And no, go buy the Directv Tivo HD boxes that are till floating around…for the reason, you can’t transfer lifetime (Directv runs the service even though Tivo holds the software license) and it doesn’t allow for Tivo-Amazon Unbox.)

  8. There is a pretty good chance that DirecTV and TiVo will have a new HD receiver in the future. Now that DirecTV is no longer a part of News Corp, it is much more free to use other software providers, and the two companies have hinted at new produces. The fact that they are still updating the software on old TiVos speaks well of their relationship.

    In my opinion, there is no way Amazon Unbox or any video downloads will be on any DirecTV receiver. They want to control all of the content. If you’re looking for a DirecTV Satellite receiver/TiVo/Internet Download box, it will never happen.

    FYI, the old HR10-250 HD TiVo Sat receivers will no longer be able to receive the Gameplan/NFL packages because they are only being broadcast in MPEG4 — they only decodes MPEG2. It was a great receiver, but has become somewhat obsolete.

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