721 a niche product?

[DishOwner]

Does E* expect the 721 to become a popular product or is it more of a niche product for the high end people with the 508 being their main focus? With a price tag of $549 and very limited availability (E* doesn’t even have this receiver listed on their web site) I can't see how very many of these units will ever be sold. D* announced yesterday that their new "series 2" box which will include some custom version of TiVo will be $199 for existing subscribers. If E* truly want to get the 721 out there they are going to have to drop the price big time!

[Jacob S]

I think it is a nich product myself, just like the HD receivers are.

[DarrellP]

The new Tivo box only has a 40 GB hard drive, so it is equivelant to the 501. Plus you have to sub to Total Choice to not pay the Tivo fee otherwise it is $5/month.

[Jacob S]

Does it have 35 hours in the best playback mode or the worst playback mode? If the worst playback mode then that is a big advantage of the Dish receiver, that it would have better picture quality playback with the amount of hours it has.

[MrAkai]

DirectTivos don't have (I don't think) MPEG2 encoders since they have the sat feed already compressed (like DP, UTV, and DishPVRs) so there is not quaility setting.

And, just like other Sat based PVRs it cannot record OTA.