[StephenJC]

Is there a way to get the OTA channels from the AM21 to appear in the Android app? So that a remote schedule can take place?

 

[Steve]

Same with the iPad app and the DIRECTV web site GUIDE. There's no way to schedule OTA recordings.

If you think about it, since OTA channel assignments are different in every market, the apps (or the web site) would have to know specifically which OTA channels are available for each customer. OTA is probably such a small % of overall usage that it likely doesn't justify the work that would be involved in making this happen. Just my .02.

That said, the iPad app will see OTA recordings in the playlist, but doesn't identify them as such.

The Nomad device will not show you any OTA recordings are available to download. That one puzzles me, because they are already recorded and should be eligible for transcoding, IMO.

 

[Beerstalker]

The Nomad device will not show you any OTA recordings are available to download. That one puzzles me, because they are already recorded and should be eligible for transcoding, IMO.

I believe this is because the OTA recordings are made in the MPEG2 format because that is what they are broadcast in (the DirecTV DVRs don't have the ability to transcode the MPEG2 broadcast to MPEG4 as they are being recorded). Since the OTA recordings are stored as MPEG2 files they take up more space than the same recording that would have come off the DirecTV MPEG4 channel.

Also, because of this they are not able to be transcoded by the Nomad because the Nomad hardware/software is only able to work with MPEG4 recorded material.

 

[RAD]

But nomad can transcode MPEG2 SD channels, so I don't think it's a limitation of the nomad hardware. IMHO it's probably more of an issue if intergrating the ATSC/OTA channels that the AM21/AM21N can receive into the nomad software. With the word on the street that VERY few DIRECTV customers use OTA/AM21s they might have felt spending the dollars for a limited audience wasn't worth the money, especially with more and more local HD channels coming up on LIL service.

 

[Steve]

Ya. I agree MPEG2 should not be the issue.

I just don't know why they might have to do anything special to let us select OTA recordings already on the DVR. At that point, it shouldn't matter how they originated.

Maybe it's a rights issue? :scratchin