Is the new MPEG4 HD DVR for DirecTV out?

[SaltiDawg]

...But I dont see SD customers going to mpeg4 and they are 99% of the customer base. As I said before they would have to upgrade every box for every SD subscriber if they went mpeg4 for SD.

Shucks, you’re just being obtuse.

So in ten years you envision millions of Sat subscribers looking at their 10-15 year old boxes on their 10-25 year old sets watching 16:9 images fitted to their 4:3 Screens?

Not everyone needed to run out and buy a color set in the 60's... but as more and more programming became available in Color and as sets grew old and needed replacement, well guess what, Mr. Wizard, people bought color TV's.

When DVD players came out there was a huge migration from VHS to DVD viewing, sales, and rental. Why? Better picture, etc, etc. Sound a bit like HD compared to SD?

The 99% of SD viewers (Hey, I resemble that remark.) will not run out and replace their SD receivers next year, but when they see the neighbor's HD set over drinks and they receive the Annual Bonus and decide to get one of them thar Plasma TV's they might think about upgrading their Sat receiver.

For those Sat customers that receive their locals OTA, they may not feel the need to upgrade to MPEG4 this year or next, as more and more NEW HD stations are added to the Sat lineup and these new channels are available ONLY in MPEG4 it will become more and more a temptation to upgrade.

 

[RIRWIN1983]

I will just add to the rumor mill...When I was speaking to directv about a question I had and then asked about the New HD DVR....He said maybe June....So add that to the thousands of possible release dates!

there need to be, or maybe is one, a bookie in las vegas taking bets on the date, i wonder what the odds are/would be

 

[charper1]

I will just add to the rumor mill...When I was speaking to directv about a question I had and then asked about the New HD DVR....He said maybe June....So add that to the thousands of possible release dates!

The summer 2006 release has always been the targeted time frame.

 

[vurbano]

Shucks, you’re just being obtuse.

So in ten years you envision millions of Sat subscribers looking at their 10-15 year old boxes on their 10-25 year old sets watching 16:9 images fitted to their 4:3 Screens?

Not everyone needed to run out and buy a color set in the 60's... but as more and more programming became available in Color and as sets grew old and needed replacement, well guess what, Mr. Wizard, people bought color TV's.

When DVD players came out there was a huge migration from VHS to DVD viewing, sales, and rental. Why? Better picture, etc, etc. Sound a bit like HD compared to SD?

The 99% of SD viewers (Hey, I resemble that remark.) will not run out and replace their SD receivers next year, but when they see the neighbor's HD set over drinks and they receive the Annual Bonus and decide to get one of them thar Plasma TV's they might think about upgrading their Sat receiver.

For those Sat customers that receive their locals OTA, they may not feel the need to upgrade to MPEG4 this year or next, as more and more NEW HD stations are added to the Sat lineup and these new channels are available ONLY in MPEG4 it will become more and more a temptation to upgrade.

In 10 years I envision still at least 50% of the country still with SD sets not HD sets and SD boxes. If you think all of the channels will be HD in 10 years you are dreaming.

 

[SaltiDawg]

... If you think all of the channels will be HD in 10 years you are dreaming.

I never said that.

I don't believe that half of the nation will still be "with SD sets not HD sets" ten years from now. I believe that many households will still have and be using SD sets in ten years, but as the amount of Network and other programming shifts to SD, I believe that they will be unhappy with the appearance of all the 16:9 HD programming as displayed on their 4:3 10+ year-old sets. As the quality of HD sets continues to increase and the mfg cost decreases over the next decade coupled with the total absence of an analog OTA signal will drive consumers by the grove to the HD fold.

In just a couple of years when Farmer Grey, who has shown no interest in digital broadcasts finds that his analog TV went dark due to the shutdown of analog TV broadcasting he will be forced to take some step to continue watching Desperate Housewives. At a minimum he will need a STB, but who knows, maybe some crafty salesman will put him in a new fangled 16:9 color TV with a built in tuner. Of course, Farmer Grey might not have a digital OTA signal available at his Green Acres farm, but I'll betcha as the day to go dark with analog TV broadcasting that there will be heavy advertising by satellite and cable and whatever types of content distribution will exist (www and other methods of distribution.)

 

[Brewer4]

In 10 years I envision still at least 50% of the country still with SD sets not HD sets and SD boxes. If you think all of the channels will be HD in 10 years you are dreaming.

It hurts to do it but I agree with Vurbano. I have a Sony 27" that was made in 1992. Its going strong and looks great. No need to replace. My Mom still uses analog basic cable and has no need to replace. Now cable will have to do something when the time comes but she has no desire to move away from existing sets unless it dies. And even that, there better be HD sets similar to the cost of SD sets today. If not, she will problably replace with an SD set and force cable to downgrade the signal.

 

[SaltiDawg]

... I have a Sony 27" that was made in 1992. Its going strong and looks great. No need to replace. ...

Like yourself, I hang on to TV's and cars "forever." My newest set (53" Sony XBR) was made in 1992. My wife recently replaced our MBR set with a Plasma. That old set had a great picture right up until it died. That set was a 1985 Sony DXR from the first year that Sony introduced the Trinitron Line.

Again I suspect we would not be happy with that set down the road when most all of the content will be 16:9.

 

[herdfan]

My wife recently replaced our MBR set with a Plasma.

Does she have a sister.

 

[blueflame16]

I was on the phone with D CSR on March 15th. I was going to buy a hd dvd for my daughter. He told me to wait, the new ones will be coming out in mid-May. Now I've spoken to many csr's in the past and this guy seemed to know what he was talking about. We'll see.

 

[vurbano]

Again I suspect we would not be happy with that set down the road when most all of the content will be 16:9.

Excuse me? Again you are dreaming.

 

[SaltiDawg]

Excuse me? Again you are dreaming.

You need to find a hobby. (Other than following me around and posting snippits out of context. )

I suspect that I'm in a reasonable position to opine what my wife and I would find appealing in a future TV image. Certainly a person that has presumably never met us and seems to have an attitude problem suggesting that I am dreaming is not to be taken seriously by anyone.

 

[Hogarth]

I was on the phone with D CSR on March 15th. I was going to buy a hd dvd for my daughter. He told me to wait, the new ones will be coming out in mid-May. Now I've spoken to many csr's in the past and this guy seemed to know what he was talking about. We'll see.

He pulled that figure out of the air.
No release date has been set.

 

[stevesmall]

It hurts to do it but I agree with Vurbano. I have a Sony 27" that was made in 1992. Its going strong and looks great. No need to replace. My Mom still uses analog basic cable and has no need to replace. Now cable will have to do something when the time comes but she has no desire to move away from existing sets unless it dies. And even that, there better be HD sets similar to the cost of SD sets today. If not, she will problably replace with an SD set and force cable to downgrade the signal.

i do not own a tv thats over 3 yeaqr old, only 1 sd tv out of seven 5 hdtv sets plus a 1 hdtv projector, but i am obviously not the norm, most people i know still use sd and although a good amount of them have an hdtv most dont even use it correctly and in my area if comcast if the carrier chances are its not hooked up correctly