UltimateTV on DiectTV?

[spinnaker]

I saw on the DirectTV site where they offer UltimateTV. Is this service still being offered? I see from the UltimateTV site that the monthly charge is $9.95 not too much more than the $4.95 for Yivo. What does the DVR cost? How does it compare to Tivo? It seems to have a lot of the feature that I was looking for in a DVR like PIP.
Why isn't UltimateTV more popular?

[Mark Holtz]

Karl can probably give you more details, but in a nutshell...

About 2-3 years ago, DirecTV offered two different DVRs: The TiVo and the UltimateTV. Both were fairly the same in that they could record off both tuners and do named-based recording. The monthly DVR price was $9.95 per month. (This was before a pricing restructuring.) However, the TiVo software was developed by TiVo, while the UltimateTV software was developed by Microsoft (who had a partnership earlier with Dish Network and the Dishplayer).

Microsoft elected to discontinue the UltimateTV project. The $9.95 fee included WebTV support. It is still supported by DirecTV, but the units are no longer manufactured. The only DVRs sold are with the TiVo software.

One of the failures of UltimateTV was that it was directly tied to DirecTV, thus limiting the possible customer base. In contrast, the TiVo started out as a standalone unit which could control a cable box. The DirecTiVo came later.

[spinnaker]

Karl can probably give you more details, but in a nutshell...

About 2-3 years ago, DirecTV offered two different DVRs: The TiVo and the UltimateTV. Both were fairly the same in that they could record off both tuners and do named-based recording. The monthly DVR price was $9.95 per month. (This was before a pricing restructuring.) However, the TiVo software was developed by TiVo, while the UltimateTV software was developed by Microsoft (who had a partnership earlier with Dish Network and the Dishplayer).

Microsoft elected to discontinue the UltimateTV project. The $9.95 fee included WebTV support. It is still supported by DirecTV, but the units are no longer manufactured. The only DVRs sold are with the TiVo software.

One of the failures of UltimateTV was that it was directly tied to DirecTV, thus limiting the possible customer base. In contrast, the TiVo started out as a standalone unit which could control a cable box. The DirecTiVo came later.

Thanks, you would think that both DirectTV and UltimateTV would update their websites with this information.

[HarryD]

UTV wasn't as aggressively marketed as Tivo was. The product is excellent and continues to be supported by DirecTV. Finding brand new ones may be difficult as they're no longer in production. It has a very clean EPG (I think the best one in the business) and can display the picture while looking at the guide, something Tivo does not do.
Microsoft changes products too quickly, now pushing the Media Center PC. :rolleyes:

[Karl Foster]

Mark said it all. I have three Ultimatetv units and they work great. I know at some point I will have to convert over to the DirecTivo units, but for now I will be staying put with what I have.

Back in early 2000, Directv had two stations running constant infomercials about their new PVR's. One on channel 227 was for the DirecTivo and 226 was for the Ultimatetv. After watching both stations and learning about each unit, my wife and I decided that we definitely wanted one of these units - not really caring which one. We went to RC Willey (large furniture and electronics dealer here in Salt Lake ) and looked at both. The deciding factor for us at the time was that Ultimatetv had two tuners already activated and ready to go. The DirecTivo only had one tuner at the time, with the second in development and available in the future. We bought our first unit, and about six months later bought the second when Orbitsat had them for $39 after rebate for existing customers. I bought my daughter one for her birthday used off EBay last May. I have upgraded the hard drives in two of them.

As far as integrating them into the family, it was simple. The guide looks very similar to the guide on the RCA standard reciver that we already had, and the remote was the same - with a few additional buttons.

I really believe that M$ threw in the towell way too soon. Perhaps bad experiences with Dishplayers made people hesitant at first, but it is a great product and I hope that D* continues to support it for years to come.

[jdspencer]

Where on the DirecTV site do they offer UTV? A quick glance just showed information about support for UTV.

[Karl Foster]

You can try www.ultimatetv.com

No new units are in production by RCA or Sony, but used units (as well as some new ones) can be found on EBay.

[Richssat]

Some of the worst mistakes in D* history...

1.Not making the UTV service charge the same as tivo

2.Bundling worthless webtv service in with it (probably the reason for problem #1)

3. Dropping the UTV as a platform (Micro$oft more then D*)

I LOVE the UTV platform and will keep it active until either my unit dies and I can't repair/replace it or they decide to no longer support it.

I have TiVo as well (2 of em) and while they are not bad either, I prefer the UTV format.

If they had not dropped the format and it evolved it could truly have been the Ultimate TV platform (If they added broadband capability and HDTV recording)

Rich

[Kenster]

I love my UTV! I hope they never stop supporting it. I'd like to get one for my father in law, who currently has Dish TV. What are they going for these days? How much do you think it would cost for D* to come out, hang a dish (or can they use DishTV 500 dish?) and run a second cable?

[HarryD]

I got $220 for mine on E-bay.

[micky]

Karl: I own a Sony SAT W60 and would like to add memory to the hard drive...please relay info on upgrading that unit if you could...I love UTV!!!...thanks for your help...Micky

[Karl Foster]

It is an extremely simple procedure that will take about a half hour to put in the new drive and an hour to download the software via phone. If you don't have a land-based phone line, you can't do the upgrade.

Here's a link to the instructions I used:

http://www.blindsquirrel.org/utv/

The drives I used were:

Western Digital WD800BB (80GB or 70 hours)
Western Digital WD1200AB (120GB or 105 hours)

Good luck. The added space makes the UTV even better.

[TheRatPatrol]

Karl-

Love UTV! They should have never stoped making them.

Do you think Tivo will take some ideas from UTV and put it in their units? Like PIP, caller ID, the better program guide, one touch record?