Anyone else think these press releases are bad news?

[Gator5000e]

I mean if I am reading this stuff correctly, we are not going to see any new national HD channels until the end of this year or 2007? I understand the concept of adding the local HD channels but for those of us lucky enough to get the local HD channels OTA without problem, that means another year or two of no real new HD (I am thankful if we get ESPN 2 HD - don't care about TNT HD for its 2-3 hours a night of prime time Law and Order) but why can't they add 3 or 4 movie HD channels? I don't care if upconverted or not, it still looks better on a big screen. I just don't get it. Oh well. Maybe D* will surprise us today at CES.

 

[Bull Moose]

I'm glad I didn't drop a grand on an HR10-250. If I owned one of those I might wonder.

 

[ShadowEKU]

I'm glad I didn't drop a grand on an HR10-250. If I owned one of those I might wonder.

Man am i with you on that... last week i was debating on dropping the change on one... whew glad i waited.

 

[minorthr]

Same here, I just got a bonus from work and I was going to get the HR10-250 this weekend.

 

[hancox]

For me, I'm still probably going to get it. I have a hard time believing that D* would pull an E*. D* has a history of being pretty good to the customer wrt swapouts.

 

[cr0mag]

This could mean that the prices on the HR10-250 will finally drop... Anyone care to speculate?

 

[Barney]

A refurbished HR10-250 (MPEG4 upgrade, 300G & HDMI output working) for $499....that would really make some folks unhappy that just paid $1000 or the $900 deal going....don't think it'll happen.

 

[dreimiller]

I'm still mulling over whether to follow through on my HR10-250 purchase. I called DirecTV just before Christmas and got the $250 programming credit pending the activation of an HR10-250. I almost bought one right after Christmas but decided to hold off until CES primarily because of the rumors of something being announced by DirecTV and a bit because I wasn't entirely comfortable with not knowing their motivation for giving me $250 credit.

-McD-

 

[CWS_kahuna]

I mean if I am reading this stuff correctly, we are not going to see any new national HD channels until the end of this year or 2007? I understand the concept of adding the local HD channels but for those of us lucky enough to get the local HD channels OTA without problem, that means another year or two of no real new HD (I am thankful if we get ESPN 2 HD - don't care about TNT HD for its 2-3 hours a night of prime time Law and Order) but why can't they add 3 or 4 movie HD channels? I don't care if upconverted or not, it still looks better on a big screen. I just don't get it. Oh well. Maybe D* will surprise us today at CES.

Well hopefully as time goes by TNT HD will get better (and hopefully we get it, well i'd lik eit anyway) I also read somewhere that we might get Starz HD in March but who knows. The press release does only talk about local HD with the 2 new sats but lets hope they might leave enough room for a new non local channel here and there.

As for the Tivo HD box, I too almost bought it recently, now I will probably also wait. Maybe D* will start to give bigger customer retention discounts for it if the sells of it start to slow. On the other hand I also wonder with that box being as new as it is if there will be an upgrade path for it to Mpeg 4.

 

[pradike]

Anyone else think these press releases are bad news?

NO.

 

[dreimiller]

Ok, I thought it through last night. Here's my take on why it's not the worst thing for me to buy an HD10-250 right now.

Currently I have a SAT-T60 DirecTiVo receiver and a Mitsubitshi SR-HD5 HD receiver. I'm considering the purchase for three reasons:

1. Ability to record HD
2. Better ATSC/OTA reception
3. Increased recording time for SD programming
4. Ability to record OTA HD programming
5. Save $5/mo that I'm paying for an second receiver by combining HD and TiVo into one unit
6. Reduce the clutter on top of my TV be eliminating one receiver

The way I see the rollout of MPEG4 going, the HD locals will be added in MPEG4 format. People who want to get them will need MPEG4-capable receivers. Eventually, DirecTV will reach a point where they've got all the HD locals up that they intend to (or a significant amount). At that point they may move the other HD content over to MPEG4 format. When that happens they will have some sort of upgrade program to replace MPEG2 HD receivers with MPEG4 receivers. What I don't anticipate happening is a sudden move of non-local HD channels to MPEG4.

At some further point in the future, when the installed base of MPEG4 receivers is big enough and when the inventory of MPEG4 receivers is big enough they will move the SD channels to MPEG4 and they will have a program to upgrade all remaining MPEG2 receivers to MPEG4.

So, if I buy an HD10-250 today for $899 and subtract the $250 programming credit that DirecTV gave me my investment is $649. If I had to guess at the earliest date that I think the total transition to MPEG4 will occur I would say sometime in 2007. So, to be ultra-conservative, I'll assume that I will have a 2 year window of use for an HD TiVo. The $5/mo that I will save over two years adds up to $120, so my investment is reduced to $529. Then, subtracting out the $169 that I was going to spend to add a 160GB 2nd drive to my SAT-T60 (via Weaknees) gets me down to a $360 investment. If I can sell my Mitsubishi HD receiver for $100 on eBay then I'm down to $260 investment.

So, is it worth spending $260 to get a receiver that I hope is better at OTA reception (good enough so that WTNH/ABC WTIC/Fox don't break up due to what I believe is a multipath problem and possibly good enough to get WFSB/CBS, WVIT/NBC, WTXX/WB and WCTX/UPN which I can't pick up at all with my Mitsubishi)? Maybe not.

Is it worth spending $260 to be able to record HD, both from DirecTV and OTA? Possibly, since I'll always be able to use it to record OTA HD (I pick up PBS-HD just fine already and probably ABC and Fox with the better ATSC tuner) and I'll be able to record the non-local HD channels on DirecTV for some period of time until they move all HD to MPEG4.

Put those two items together and throw in the reduced clutter on my TV and add the probablility that DirecTV will offer a swap (either free or at a reduced price) of MPEG4 capable receivers to replace existing MPEG2 receivers at some point and I'm not feeling too worried about buying the HD10-250 right now.

-McD-

 

[caesar gdi]

dreimiller

I like your math/logic. Is this how you explain a 1k purchase to your wife.

"baby, baby, baby... it's really only 260 bucks!"

 

[Darin]

I mean if I am reading this stuff correctly, we are not going to see any new national HD channels until the end of this year or 2007?

From the MPEG4 press release:

The new standard in transmission and video compression is being demonstrated on an HD television set in the DIRECTV booth at CES, and will be used by DIRECTV to expand its video offer by launching hundreds of local and national HD channels later this year and in 2007.

 

[Alan Gordon]

The way I see the rollout of MPEG4 going, the HD locals will be added in MPEG4 format. People who want to get them will need MPEG4-capable receivers. Eventually, DirecTV will reach a point where they've got all the HD locals up that they intend to (or a significant amount). At that point they may move the other HD content over to MPEG4 format. When that happens they will have some sort of upgrade program to replace MPEG2 HD receivers with MPEG4 receivers. What I don't anticipate happening is a sudden move of non-local HD channels to MPEG4.

DirecTV stated in one of the press releases that they plan to add some "national" HD channels in MPEG4 also this year, so I think you might want to rethink your plan...

~Alan

 

[dreimiller]

DirecTV stated in one of the press releases that they plan to add some "national" HD channels in MPEG4 also this year, so I think you might want to rethink your plan...

I missed that bit of news. That would certainly seem to increase the likelyhood of the non-local HD channels making the switch to MPEG4 faster than I expected.

I've already begun rethinking my decision, however. I'm going to spend the weekend considering a switch to Comcast digital cable. I have a cable modem from them and I'm saving $5/mo on my cable modem cost by subscribing to their $10/mo barebones TV package. And since we are considering setting up a 2nd and possibly a 3rd TV the cost of those extra DirecTV receivers has to be considered vs. cable TV. If I'm going to switch then the sooner the better while my MPEG2 equipment still has some resale value.

Who knows how my decision will turn out.

 

[charper1]

Did we get duped into reading another "I love cable" post? I am sorry if we didn't but it sure ended like one.

 

[CWS_kahuna]

As for the HD Tivo, It looks like if we want any other HD DVR it may be a while. In one of the other posts here it says the new D* DVR will be only SD at launch. No timeframe given for an HD DVR version. So if you want to record HD the Tivo may be the only way for a while through D*.

 

[dreimiller]

If I came off sounding like a cable fan that wasn't my intention. I am anything but a cable fan. I dropped Comcast cable as soon as I could convince my wife to get DirecTV (3 years ago when we bought our HDTV) and have been very happy. We love our DirecTV receiver w/TiVo. When I got a cable modem from Comcast a year ago I signed up for the lowest level of cable TV service to save $5/mo (cable modem was $42/mo for TV subscribers, $57/mo otherwise) and I still don't have the cable tv connected to my TV. And I've convinced at least 5 people to switch to DirecTV from cable.

However, my original reasons for signing up with DirecTV were:

1. HDTV (Comcast didn't even seem to know what it was and DirecTV had HBO and Showtime and HDNet was a month away)
2. Cheaper
3. Better picture
4. TiVo integrated into the receiver

As it stands now, the non-local HDTV content is about the same between them, and I'd get more local HDTV content with Comcast immediately and I wouldn't be able to get the MPEG4 CT HD locals even once they were added by DirecTV unless I got rid of the MPEG2 HD TiVo. The picture quality on the HDTV channels on DirecTV seems softer than it was 3 years ago and some of the SDTV channels are overcompressed. I don't think Comcast's standard monthly packages are better bargin per month, but with some of their incentives it might be a cheaper.

What I really want is to time-shift HDTV. The HD10-250 is exactly what I wanted to buy 3 years ago. But I'm faced with the possibility of it being partially obsoleted as the MPEG4 conversion progresses, and totally obsoleted in 2 years when the contract between TiVo and DirecTV expires.

So I'm going to spend this weekend exploring all options. There are some significant reasons to consider cable, not the least of which is the $25/mo for 16 months ($400) that I'd get off my bill for switching from satellite TV. But first I need to compare the SD and HD channels between Comcast and DirecTV. Then I'll need to see what my bill would be. Then I'll want to do some research on their DVR, but I'll probably want to stick with TiVo if I were to go to cable.

It's a tough decision to make because the thing making me consider switching, the HD TiVo (and it's eventual obsolesence), is the same thing that would make me stay with DirecTV (lack of a standalone or OpenCable HD TiVo). I honestly hope that the case for cable isn't too strong and that their DVR isn't "good enough". And perhaps DirecTV can offer something to convince me to stay even if cable is tempting. If I were to switch I'd probably revisit the decision in a year or two once I see how the MPEG4 conversion and the new satellites are working out.

Sorry for being so wordy, but that happens when I write about something that I'm still working out in my head.

 

[Gandalf]

Hr10-250

So I purchased an HR10-250 on Thursday and did all the install; it replaced my Sony T60 and feeds my new 42in Plasma TV.

My HUGE irritation is that D* have, so far, been unable to activate the HR10-250 and the HD-Package due to technical problem on their system - this is despite 5 calls to them (that's 5 sucessful calls, most are unsucessful or say "please wait while we transfer your call... tone-tone-tone... <busy signal>) so all I get right now is channel 100.

I'd go back to the T60 but they sucessfully de-activated the card in that system!

Anyone know what this problem is?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Gandalf

PS What's the $250 programming credit that people have mentioned - any links?

 

[hdtvtechno]

My HUGE

PS What's the $250 programming credit that people have mentioned - any links?

Just Call DirecTV at 1800-600-8977, and ask to speak with an retention rep, to get the Discount