DirecTV HD Tivo News

[Peluso]

Gscott posted this to Tivo Community forum... the link is here..

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=130922&perpage=20&pagenumber=1

I just got back from Cedia and was able to get some exciting info regarding the upcoming HD Tivo. The HD DirecTivo will ship 1Q04 with 4 HD tuners. That's correct, it will have 4 HD capable tuners (2 DirecTV HD and 2 ATSC OTA). It will only be able to record 2 HD streams at one time but can do any combination of the 4 (2 DirecTV, 2 OTA, 1 OTA/1DirecTV). I verified this info with both the DirecTV rep and the Hughes rep at another booth. They both said they received alot of heat after only announcing 1 tuner at CES and the decision was made to push back the intro a few months and include the extra tuners. They also said it will ship initially w/ 250GB of disk space and at a price point in the neighborhood of $800. They also confirmed there will be no Firewire on the first unit. I know others will flame for this but I think for 90% of those out there (including myself) the extra OTA tuner is much more desireable than the ability to archive.

I also visited the Dish booth but the rep wasn't very talkative and wouldn't let anyone play with the 921 demo. Hopefully someone else had better luck. I did hear another Dish rep tell someone they were at least 60 days out with the 921.

 

[James]

4 Tuners is very nice. Now if I could just get the unit subsidized.... :twisted:

 

[Peluso]

My money says that the unit will be subsadized. Rupert understands that to be competative he has to throw in new services with the subscriptions.

The selling point for satellite services has always been more for less. That will continue, because dealing with a satellite is still more of a pain than dealing with CATV.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

From what I understand the 921 also has 4 tuners, 2 for satellite and 2 for OTA.

Now it would be really cool if it had 4 satellite tuners. No more timer clonflct screens.

 

[Guest]

OTA

What does OTA mean?

 

[James]

Over The Air

 

[geneb11]

I will be interested in the HD Tivo's. I have 2 HDVR2's and love them. Now with HD and OTA and larger HD, I will definitly sell both unit's and get 2 HDTivo's. We'll see how much they want for them first though. $800 buck's is a bit high.

 

[Guest]

From what I understand the 921 also has 4 tuners, 2 for satellite and 2 for OTA.

Now it would be really cool if it had 4 satellite tuners. No more timer clonflct screens.

This is the first time I've seen any word on two OTA tuners on the 921? It seems the specs say a single tuner...is there any final word on this?

 

[Bill R]

As belesokar said the specs for the 921 say that it has one OTA tuner.

This would be another good question to ask the "experts" on next Monday's (Oct 13th, 9 PM ET, channel 101) Tech Forum.

 

[Guest]

will this unit do both ota and directv let know soon also there be a fee if so how much

 

[Ken_F]

hildred,

Yes, the DirecTivo HDTV coming next spring at $800-$1000 will do both OTA and DirecTV. As someone else noted, it will have dual satellite and dual OTA tuners.

DirecTV's PVR fee is $4.99/mo.

 

[rad]

From what I understand the 921 also has 4 tuners, 2 for satellite and 2 for OTA.

Now it would be really cool if it had 4 satellite tuners. No more timer clonflct screens.

Hadn't seen this thread updated, the Tech Chat verified that the 921 will have only one ATSC tuner, not two. DRATS! Guess I may have to hold onto the old 6000 for OTA