herdfan said:Will it come with the bugs that the R15 has?
You shouldn't have to ask this question you know!
MPEG4 HD DVR and Home Media Center news:
- Thread starter LonghornXP
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You shouldn't have to ask this question you know!
DirecTV Tuner With TiVo Software-30 second skip
I know I am in this discussion late, but I read many recent posts to suggest to people that still available in some places DirecTV TiVos do not have a 30 second advance capability, or that DirecTV took it out with a software update. I have three DirecTV TiVos and all have current software versions and all have the 30 second advance. The new DirecTV DVRs do not have TiVo software and do not have a 30 second advance, and, to my knowledge, no hack which will do it. Just to test it I took all of the advances out of my TiVo systems, and then reinserted the feature. If D* put in some software change which "disabled" the advance, it sure did not reach my standard (Sony SAT T-60s) or HD (Hughes HR10-250) boxes. Advance onward, I say.
Since I get my HD network channels in the Dallas DMA just fine OTA, the "new" DirecTV stuff offers me nothing-mpeg 4 is, right now, magic beans to me. They will have to pry my TiVos from my cold, dead fingers. Never give up, never surrender.
I know I am in this discussion late, but I read many recent posts to suggest to people that still available in some places DirecTV TiVos do not have a 30 second advance capability, or that DirecTV took it out with a software update. I have three DirecTV TiVos and all have current software versions and all have the 30 second advance. The new DirecTV DVRs do not have TiVo software and do not have a 30 second advance, and, to my knowledge, no hack which will do it. Just to test it I took all of the advances out of my TiVo systems, and then reinserted the feature. If D* put in some software change which "disabled" the advance, it sure did not reach my standard (Sony SAT T-60s) or HD (Hughes HR10-250) boxes. Advance onward, I say.
Since I get my HD network channels in the Dallas DMA just fine OTA, the "new" DirecTV stuff offers me nothing-mpeg 4 is, right now, magic beans to me. They will have to pry my TiVos from my cold, dead fingers. Never give up, never surrender.
Happy Camper said:
All I can say to you is good for you. I still think this was the worst move DirecTV could have made considering that the telcos were moving into town. Besides Sunday Ticket the Tivo software was the only product that set them apart and they just threw it away. Now when Comcast gets Tivo boxes and Verizon has better offerings and picture quality I see less reason for people to stay with DirecTV. I'm with you and if only DirecTV would listen to their customers they might have a better future instore for them. What good is it to get something for cheaper in house to avoid paying extra when you will lose those extra customers that wanted that extra stuff. Companies don't think this stuff through because they blind themselves to what they want to see only.
Also I haven't heard nor seen the Tivo 30 second skip hack being disabled so I can't comment on that.
Thanks, Longhorn. I agree with you on all points. Comcast is coming our way with fiber optics (they are already here with merely o.k. service, but they have been offering great bundled deals to initiate fiber optic speeds in newly completed areas), and Verizon will soon expand its area coverage to include us. I have always thought that satellite delivery+TiVo software and a decent HD TiVo box were the best reasons to stay with DirecTV, but their cynical calculations with dropping TiVo and using all their bandwidth to rebroadcast HD locals seems stunningly stupid to us and, even at that, they do not rebroadcast ABC HD local or national feeds in our area, which is the only VHF digital broadcast in our and the hardest to receive). DirecTV is bereft of reasons for us not to consider alternatives. Had they used their new satellites to broadcast TNT HD and to add the remaining movie channels in HD, they'd have gotten our attention.
Because we are charter DirecTV premier subscribers with four boxes, and also a Neilsen family for both broadcast and TiVo, we'd have thought someone might target our demo for programming or customer retention, but it seems not. Unlike others here, we neither personalize nor justify our video delivery system-we are just trying to make the best consumer choices for us. From our viewpoint, NewsCorp has sent DirecTV straight down the drain, but Dish and Comcast don't exactly look like geniuses either, do they?
Best wishes for a safe and entertainment filled New Year. I have consistently appreciated your knowledgable and timely posts and info throughout 2005!
Regards,
HC
Because we are charter DirecTV premier subscribers with four boxes, and also a Neilsen family for both broadcast and TiVo, we'd have thought someone might target our demo for programming or customer retention, but it seems not. Unlike others here, we neither personalize nor justify our video delivery system-we are just trying to make the best consumer choices for us. From our viewpoint, NewsCorp has sent DirecTV straight down the drain, but Dish and Comcast don't exactly look like geniuses either, do they?
Best wishes for a safe and entertainment filled New Year. I have consistently appreciated your knowledgable and timely posts and info throughout 2005!
Regards,
HC
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I've came in here late, this Home Media Center, could someone point me in to an area of just what this is going to do? Will this be 1 reciever that will work for every tv, vcr in the whole house, or will you still need to get seperate recievers? Because my parents have a lot of TV's, VCR's and all of that. Even a DVD recorder, and that has kept them from getting satellite.
jhamps10 said:
The Home Media Center is a DirecTV based satellite product first and foremost. This means that VCR boxes can be plugged into the system but the VCRs would work like they do today with no new benefit. Same goes with DVD recorders. Now onto the Home Media Center features. By the way HMC stands for Home Media Center and I'll be using HMC from now on.
The HMC consists of one server and any number of client boxes upto 4 per server. You can't have more than two servers and as such that means you can only have a max of 8 client boxes. This means that with this system you can have no more than 10 total rooms connected via two servers and 8 client boxes. If you do this system both server boxes would appear as just one giant server and all client boxes would also see both servers as just one giant server.
Now most houses would only require one server with say two extra client boxes for a total of three rooms.
The server would support both SD and HDTV recording and playback including anything MPEG4 as well which would include HD locals via satellite. The server can record "four" live shows at the sametime. The server would also have from what I hear a 300-500GB hard drive but the exact size would be based on price but it will be no less than 300GB.
The client boxes will be SD only at first and HD client boxes will be offered within months after the HMC comes out. The server and client boxes would be fed with coax cables via a multiswitch. This means that four cables will be run from a multiswitch to the server itself. Also each client box would also get one cable run from the multiswitch as well. This would allow the client boxes to continue getting live TV feeds even if the server goes bad. If the server goes bad but its only the hard drive you won't be able to record or playback anything on the hard drive but all four tuners would still work for live TV only on the server box.
All the client boxes will be able to playback any recording on the server over the existing coax cables using the Moca standard. Moca stands for multimedia over coax association. This is the multiroom viewing and it only requires the coax cables in the house today with nothing extra. The server can also be connected to a home network to playback music, photos and videos on any computer in the home network. If your network has an active broadband internet connection the server can use that internet access for future services such as video on demand over broadband. Starz has plans with DirecTV for this in the future among other things.
I hope this gives you a good overview of this product. Also keep in mind that this product will be offered as both a purchase and a rental option. Also if you purchase the system you would still need to pay the mirror fees for the client boxes plus you still need to pay the per account DVR fees as well. If you rent the boxes a certian amount of client boxes would be offered free as part of the rental charge and I'm also hearing that for them to reduce the extra costs over cables DVR boxes they would waive the mirror fees if you rent the HMC. That isn't confirmed so you must wait to find if that is true but that is what I'm hearing.
I know this is a lot of information to digest but I think you should know this. Also their are plans for the HMC to support playback of Microsoft's "janus" DRM protected files such as the ones from the Yahoo Music Unlimited, Napster To Go and Rhapsody To Go music services.
JustBob said:"By Grabthar's hammer, by the sons of Worvan, you shall be avenged."
-JustBob
Ah, Bob, someone got it! Thanks.
I looked around the Internet and couldn't find an answer to this. Does this Moca standard work with splitters? I'm looking at my setup trying to see how this will work. Right now, my tv cable comes into a central box and then distributes through out the house. So if the system doesn't work with splitters, I'll have to pay for an extra client, I think. It sounds like I could have a new sat. line run into this box and place the server at this point but if I do that I'll have to have 3 client boxes to cover my three tvs. My other option would be to have a new line, carrying the sat. signal in, run into where one of the tvs is and then distribute it out the existing cable to the box with the splitters. That is if the system will work with splitters. Does this sound right? Are the networked DVRs working on a similar setup? I'm trying to decide which way to go. I have 1 SD tv and two HD tvs but I could live with only one of them getting HD.LonghornXP said:
pstineme said:
To be honest I can't answer this one. I just don't know the answer to this so I suggest waiting until the products get released and I'm sure somebody can try this type of setup and either confirm or deny it.
Yes, MoCA is meant to work with splitters. Its meant to work with darn near everything a "typical" household will have, tho milage will vary for people who are still in rg59 held together with twisted connections.pstineme said:
MoCA link: http://www.mocalliance.org/en/index.asp
Happy New Year!
Tom
LonghornXP said:
What are you hearing about a wireless HMC? My main television is in an older addition and it is difficult to wire that part of our house. Would get the HMC if wireless and I know they discussed that as a possibility. Thanks
Ethernet connections
It has been awhile but somewhere I saw a picture of the back of a HMC Client and it had a Ethernet Connection. I know all photos and the like are prerelease and are subject to change but with the recent talk of Multimedia over Coax I was wondering are there still plans to allow the HMC to run over Ethernet? It would be very intresting if the product did run over ethernet. Has there been any word on if the product will have that Functionality?
Jason
It has been awhile but somewhere I saw a picture of the back of a HMC Client and it had a Ethernet Connection. I know all photos and the like are prerelease and are subject to change but with the recent talk of Multimedia over Coax I was wondering are there still plans to allow the HMC to run over Ethernet? It would be very intresting if the product did run over ethernet. Has there been any word on if the product will have that Functionality?
Jason
Monty said:
It will run everything over ethernet but you will have to pay extra to have an ethernet jack installed while having a coax cable installed would be free of charge. Also to the previous poster you won't be seeing a fully wireless HMC product until at least 2007. For now you must have either a coax or ethernet connection. You can use a wireless card for the internet related stuff but to connect to the satellites and/or play back recordings you must use a coax or ethernet cable connection.
JPShinn said:
Last I heard is that because of limited supply you can only get it at first on a waiting list from DirecTV only. That means you can only get the first batch from DirecTV themselves either by phone or at their website. I would assume it would be by phone order only and a waiting list of course.
pstineme said:
If that's accurate then Rupert and company are in for a bunch of unhappy customers.
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