Video - Echostar Tr50 Atsc Dvr

[Andrewwski]

Yes...I'm also wondering about that.

I know a few people (more than just a few actually) that still only have basic cable and VCR's. This could be a decent replacement...especially if you can also record HD OTA.

 

[Peter Parker]

It has ATSC tuners, so it is going to record HD from the source.Understood. Then again, all of Dish Network's DVR's employed a Broadcom chipset, so we know that doesn't necessarily help matters any.

An ATSC tune might still only record SD---but this one happens to be an HD recorder.

 

[Peter Parker]

the more i think about it the more I doubt that this thing has an NTSC tuner of any kind. If it did it would need a digital encoder to record. I am guessing that it has two ATSC tuners only but this is just an educated guess on my part.

 

[Peter Parker]

I take that back. he CES display said it recives digital and analog OTA. No mention of cable tuning of any kind though.

 

[Derwin0]

I take that back. he CES display said it recives digital and analog OTA. No mention of cable tuning of any kind though.

Shouldn't be that hard. Cable tuning is a few extra frequencies (those in the FM band, between ch 6 & 7) and renumbering the UHF channels, cost difference is negligible. Most analog tv's & vcr's for the last few decades have been "cable ready", this shouldn't be any different.
Plus it widens the market big time.

 

[Peter Parker]

I don't question that it is easy. I am just saying that the marketing releases so far don't seem to confirm it. We will see.

 

[garrubal]

Underwhelmed

I'm scratching my head wondering what the buzz about the TR-50 is.

The CNET article says it all: "EchoStar TR-50: An HD DVR for those without cable or satellite".

OK, a large number of people do not subscribe to cable or satellite. Are these the same people who buy HDTVs to watch only a few HD channels OTA?

Someone mentioned that this was in retaliation to the Tivo lawsuit. Why? I can hardly see the TR-50 invading much of the Tivo HD or Tivo Series 3 market. The only way the TR-50 would do that is if it recorded cable HD channels (premium & basic). Otherwise, I don't see it as a threat to the Tivo.

If all I received was OTA, and I was really aching for a HD DVR, I think the HD Home Run would have been my first choice. It's meant to work with a computer, but that would work just fine for me. Obviously that may not be the most suitable solution for most people, though.

 

[navychop]

I record a few OTA HD programs (DH & ER) onto an OTA HD DVR as well as my ViP622. And around DC, there's plenty of OTA HD. Surely elsewhere, too. But the '50 is useful even if you only have ONE program to want to catch.

 

[steve615]

Any new word out on when this or the TR40 will be available for purchase?

 

[riffjim4069]

More than half of our recordings are the networks and it's hard to beat OTA picture quality. Now that I am with FiOS, I will probably pick up a reasonably priced TR-50 since the 622 UI is much better and the FiOS HD DVR has a small hard drive. We used our Sony 500GB HD DVR with FiOS (CableCard and OTA) and love it. The only drawback is the unit only has a single tuner so we keep it in the Home Theater room.

As far as the TR-40...it looks like I need one to keep my Sony HD DVRs TV Guide On Screen (TVGOS) running since is supposedly will convert/pass digital TVGOS to analog TVGOS. We shall see.

 

[JohnL]

Shouldn't be that hard. Cable tuning is a few extra frequencies (those in the FM band, between ch 6 & 7) and renumbering the UHF channels, cost difference is negligible. Most analog tv's & vcr's for the last few decades have been "cable ready", this shouldn't be any different.
Plus it widens the market big time.

Derwin,

First off Cable's HD channels use QAM which is quite different that just using specific frequencies. QAM is a totally different Modulation scheme. Lastly the TR50 is an Echostar receiver NOT a Dish Network receiver, it also has an Ethernet port, which means it could use some sort of IPTV technology to offer other Content besides just OTA.

John

 

[BlackHitachi]

Derwin,

First off Cable's HD channels use QAM which is quite different that just using specific frequencies. QAM is a totally different Modulation scheme. Lastly the TR50 is an Echostar receiver NOT a Dish Network receiver, it also has an Ethernet port, which means it could use some sort of IPTV technology to offer other Content besides just OTA.

John

Sounds really good! It better not cost too much!

 

[Parakiller]

any new news on the TR50? price? availability?

 

[Stargazer]

Perhaps if they combine this with their new wireless license they bought for a certain frequency they could bring some additional content on the table.

 

[navychop]

Wouldn't it be nice if the TR-50 was announced at Team Summit, with specifics. But I guess TS is a Dish event, and Echostar is a different animal.

 

[BigJohn2]

Hi,

Just wondering if Eco star has released the TR-40 yet? If so how could one get a hold of a couple?

Thanks,

BigJohn2

 

[ciwsguy]

Hi,

Just wondering if Eco star has released the TR-40 yet? If so how could one get a hold of a couple?

Thanks,

BigJohn2

I'm not sure the TR-40 will make it to market. I heard yesterday, 5/30, from a work buddy that the TR-40 was no longer on the CECB approved list.

 

[navychop]

They changed the name, that's all. To be released in June. There are other threads on this.

 

[riffjim4069]

any new news on the TR50? price? availability?

<<bump>>Perhaps Scott can get his hands on some product information that can be shared with members...

 

[WileyKyle]

any new news on the TR50? price? availability?

Bump