OTA Digital DVR?

[Mark Holtz]

Hmmmm.... I'm just thinking here.... which is dangerous....

Both standalone Tivos and Replays need a MPEG encoding chip to record the programming OTA, right?

Now, correct me if I'm wrong (including acronyms), but if I recall correctly, the digital TV standard (ATSC) has a variety of modes, including 480i (which is the equivelent of NTSC) and 480p as well at HDTV (1080). Since the signal is already encoded, there is no conversion, right? So, theoredically, someone could build a DVR to record the OTA signal, downconvert it to a regular signal for older TVs, and provide a tuner for true HDTVs.

So, is anyone doing this beyond the satellite providers? After all, the 921 will record OTA as well as satellite signal, and one would assume the same for DirecTV.

Am I making sense?

[Chris Freeland]

Hmmmm.... I'm just thinking here.... which is dangerous....

Both standalone Tivos and Replays need a MPEG encoding chip to record the programming OTA, right?

Now, correct me if I'm wrong (including acronyms), but if I recall correctly, the digital TV standard (ATSC) has a variety of modes, including 480i (which is the equivelent of NTSC) and 480p as well at HDTV (1080). Since the signal is already encoded, there is no conversion, right? So, theoredically, someone could build a DVR to record the OTA signal, downconvert it to a regular signal for older TVs, and provide a tuner for true HDTVs.

So, is anyone doing this beyond the satellite providers? After all, the 921 will record OTA as well as satellite signal, and one would assume the same for DirecTV.

Am I making sense?

I agree it does seam like someone like Tivo or RePlay could do a standalone DVR with a built in ATSD tuner built in, but without the NTSC tuner, which would allow it to record directly off of the terestrial bit stream with no need of an analog to digital conversion.
Like a satellite STB it would convert the output to analog for standard analog tv's to both view and record digital ota, and it could be done for less money then a Tivo or RePlay STB does now with a built in NTSC tuner. The only problem with this is would their be a market for such a box since 80% of the population gets their tv from either cable or satellite? Such a box would only work with ota.

[dishrich]

Guys, there IS such a box, the Zenith HDR230:

http://www.zenith.com/sub_prod/downloads_pdf/HDR230.pdf

FWIW, in Sound & Vision a few months ago, they reviewed this box & they really thought, aside from the fact it WOULD have a very limited market, the PVR functions were very limited; no continuous buffer, (contrary to what the brochure says) one-touch automatic recording is limited to the PSIP guide, of which only ONE station was supplying, which meant having to manually set start/stop times just like a VCR)
I sure have NO interest in this thing... :nono: :nono:

[paulh]

Well, there's the HDTV tuners in a build your own HTPC (Home Theater PC)

Since Nielson cannot measure HDTV viewers, most stations do not place a high priority on their digital station. That means that the digital brodcast is not manned properly, which results in may brodcast glitches on the station end (i.e. no audio, missed swap from commercial to brodcast) plus many digital stations are not up 24x7 like their analogue parents. This could result in many angry DVR customers.