HD DirecTivo and OTA

[CAL7]

The Dish 921 is known to have problems with PVR functionality (no recording or pause live, etc.) on certain digital OTA stations. Mark reports this is probably a 921 problem, so I am curious if the HR10-250 reliably records all digital OTA stations.

[Phil T]

Check out www.Tivocommunity.com. 168 units shipped last week and a lot of discussion is going on. I have not seen any problems listed with OTA recordings.

[Chris Blount]

The Dish 921 is known to have problems with PVR functionality (no recording or pause live, etc.) on certain digital OTA stations. Mark reports this is probably a 921 problem, so I am curious if the HR10-250 reliably records all digital OTA stations.

From initial reports, there seem to be no problems with the HR10-250 recording OTA digital. The OTA programming guide is downloaded from the satellite which helps a great deal and coupled with the Tivo software, the HD Tivo is quite robust and stable.

[Danny R]

Looks like Dish blew the lead they had in releasing their product: buggy software, false promises (firewire), and much more limited programming features with no option (not supported for the Tivo, but still there) to upgrade the hard drives... all for the same price, seem to make the HD Tivo the clear choice.

I'm not one who hopes Dish does poorly, but their failure to compete head to head hopefully will open some eyes at Echostar.

I wonder how much trouble it would be for Tivo to adapt their software to the 921 hardware.

[dswallow]

I wonder how much trouble it would be for Tivo to adapt their software to the 921 hardware.
The newest BroadCom chips (the HR10-250 uses several BroadCom chips in the product, but not the very newest one), definitely could support both DirecTV and Dish Network systems including 8PSK and the different MPEG-2 transport streams and conditional access systems. It's unlikely that difficult a step to make if they wanted. But considering the DirecTV/TiVo relationship nowadays, the bigger question might be if contracts would even allow them to, even if Dish Network was interested.

[TowJumper]

Given this title of this thread, I hope this question is appropriate for this forum.

I live in a DMA #122 (Macon, GA) that is not currently carried as a local package on either D* or E*, so I have no locals information when using my current E* 811 HD Receiver.

With the problems getting the 921 to work within its feature set, much less adding more features like the local listings, I am looking at the HDTivo unit. In preparation of the Fall (college) Football season.

1) Would my local stations show information appear on the guide of the HDTivo? Both Digital and Analog?

2) How is the reception of both digital and analog OTA with this unit?

TIA.

[Danny R]

2) How is the reception of both digital and analog OTA with this unit?

HD Tivo does NOT receive analog OTA, only digital.

[dswallow]

There's no way you can receive analog stations with the HD DVR, and there'd be no guide information for them because of that.

Your digital stations would be available in the guide. DirecTV uises the same source for guide data that www.zap2it.com uses; and they have guide data available for WMAXDT, WMAXDT2, WMGTDT and WPGADT. Presumably those are the only local digital stations around Macon, though there might be another market you're close enough to with more digital stations you could receive (you can readily select 2 OTA markets for automatic inclusion in your channel directory, and then add additional channels through scanning).

Again, no analog OTA stations can be received or recorded.

[TowJumper]

Thanks for the replies dswallow and Danny R. :)

At this point, it sure seems that D* is the way to go - never thought I would say that.

[Peluso]

[QUOTE=Danny R]
I'm not one who hopes Dish does poorly, but their failure to compete head to head hopefully will open some eyes at Echostar. QUOTE]

Their is only one thing that opens eyes at Echostar, and that's dollars and lots of them. If Dish got contunally slammed in trade press and their numbers of HD subscribers fell dramatically because of the availability of the HD Tivo from DTV, then you would see some changes happen. But compaired to their total customer base, the HD customers are still too small of a piece of the pie to worry about right now. As the greater majority of customers request HD (within 5 years) echo will get it's act right.

[Throwbot]

Thanks for the replies dswallow and Danny R. :)

At this point, it sure seems that D* is the way to go - never thought I would say that.
Hear hear, I never thought I would say D* was the way to go either, but after 6 years as a loyal Echostar fan, the 921 fiasco has pushed me to D*. Thank God E* didn't get to buy D* a year ago. I will now wait it out till the HD Tivo becomes readily available and then take a hit with my one year commitment. May even wait for someone to slip a 1gig hard drive in, then who the heck needs firewire to backup anything? I'd have more stuff to watch than time to watch it.

[SParker]

I can record OTA locals with no problems at all with my HD TiVo.

[TiredofThis]

Their is only one thing that opens eyes at Echostar, and that's dollars and lots of them. If Dish got contunally slammed in trade press and their numbers of HD subscribers fell dramatically because of the availability of the HD Tivo from DTV, then you would see some changes happen. But compaired to their total customer base, the HD customers are still too small of a piece of the pie to worry about right now. As the greater majority of customers request HD (within 5 years) echo will get it's act right.


YAWN.

What the F#$@#$ do you think motivates companies in the USA? "Making people feel good?"... its MONEY, man, wake up!!

D*.
E*.
McDonalds.
Microsoft.
EVERY company in a capitolist society is driven by money. No money, no more company. Not enough money, no shareholders, and company value goes down.

People love to bash E* for "Charlie's Greed"... Which is the most assenine thing to say. Every CEO is trying to line his pockets. Thats america, and thats why its great.

[JLucPicard]

Anybody out there from the Twin Cities (MN) area, or more specifically, West St. Paul that can recommend the best OTA antenna for use with the HR10-250? I've visited antennaweb.org and it looks like a small to medium multi-directional should do the trick (I'm not too worried about PAX HD, though it would be nice, too, if not too much trouble). And where can I pick one up? Is that a Menard's, Home Depot type of thing or should I venture into Radio Shack or Best Buy? Also, do you think a rotator would be necessary here?

I've been told that my unit may ship Wednesday, so it's moved my timetable up some from mid-June on the initial list I was on.

Any thoughts? One last thing... I'm not entirely handy when it comes to going up on the roof to put one of these up. Do you think, if I don't need a pre-amp and/or rotator, that just mounting it to the chimney is all I would need? Thanks for any wisdom you can impart - and for indulging a novice's basic questions.

[JLucPicard]

You know, now that I think about it a little more, I'm probably looking at 50 to 100 feet of cable from the antenna, so I'm pretty sure I'll need a pre-amp at least. Know of any reputable installers in the area that could take care of what I'll need? Please e-mail me if you have any ideas?

Thanks again,

JLucPicard