#227533 - 16/07/2004 14:25
DirecTV DVR
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veteran
Registered: 25/04/2000
Posts: 1523
Loc: Arizona
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DirecTV is offering their DVR, through a partnership with TIVO, for $99. I was wondering if anybody knew what TIVO model it was, how easy it would be to upgrade from 35hrs (which is my main interest in the model), and if it is worth it. There will be no subscription fee, which makes it that much more attractive. I will mainly be using it for hockey, if that affects the quality of playback (not sure about how 'smooth' it is or if it drops frames). Basically, I'm clueless about DVRs except that my boss swears by them... of course, he is also the one that is now 'Voomin'  Thanks! - Tim
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#227534 - 16/07/2004 14:37
Re: DirecTV DVR
[Re: Tim]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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Quote:
I was wondering if anybody knew what TIVO model it was
They could give you any brand they want, but they're all 35hrs and they're all internally identical anyway. My friend recently got a 2nd tivo through this program and he got a Samsung branded unit.
Upgrading is not a problem on any Tivo. See here.
Hockey looks fine to me. If you have DirecTV now, the picture you get with your normal receiver will be the same picture you get with the DirecTiVo. The DirecTiVo simply saves the stream from the satellite to the hard drive and plays it back. There is no re-encoding going on in there.
I didn't think Voom's DVR was out yet. Does he have it?
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736
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#227535 - 16/07/2004 14:49
Re: DirecTV DVR
[Re: Tim]
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veteran
Registered: 21/03/2002
Posts: 1424
Loc: MA but Irish born
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Well the Directv TiVos don't need to encode the satillite signal at all, it's a digital signal so it just goes straigh to disk. So image quality will be as good or bad as it is now.
Upgrading is pretty straight forward.
There is a subscription fee "Subscribe to DIRECTV® DVR with TiVo® service for $4.99/mo, or enjoy it FREE as a TOTAL CHOICE® PREMIER customer." But if you pay enough allready they give it to you for free.
My father-in-law picked up two Directv TiVo's at Best Buy recently for $79 each, I believe they were Panisonics, though I'm pretty sure they are all the same inside.
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#227536 - 16/07/2004 14:49
Re: DirecTV DVR
[Re: robricc]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12320
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Quote:
They could give you any brand they want, but they're all 35hrs and they're all internally identical anyway
I think he was asking about model, not make. In that case I believe that DirecTV is selling Series 2 models now. However, it's not very obvious by looking at their site, and nowhere that I could see does it actually say Series 1 or 2.
As far as upgrading goes, the best thing I've seen is InstantCake from PTVupgrade. Recently, the old hacks on my Tivo (which I don't think I did right in the first place), caught up on me and I couldn't boot. I said the hell with it and bought this $20 CDROM, hooked up the old hard disk and one of my old 100GB disks, and ran the program. In no time I had a working Tivo again with almost 4x the recording space, and it only cost me $20 (well, with drive recycling  ). The procedure was completely painless. You litterally boot up, choose whether you're using 1 or 2 drives, confirm, and it does it all for you! When it was done I simple unhooked the drives, put them in the Tivo, and everything worked great! To sum up, I highly recommend it.
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Matt
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#227537 - 16/07/2004 17:15
Re: DirecTV DVR eratta
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
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It's neither a series 1 or 2. Since the feed is already mp3, the Directivo lacks the chip that does the mpeg3 encoding. I guess it's closer to a series 2 than a 1.
While there is an additional brodcast tv antenna input, that signal is just passed through and cannot be recorded from.
_________________________
Glenn
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#227538 - 16/07/2004 17:19
Re: DirecTV DVR eratta
[Re: gbeer]
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enthusiast
Registered: 08/08/2000
Posts: 351
Loc: chicago
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I suppose the real question is which version of the software it runs.
--Dan.
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#227539 - 16/07/2004 17:39
Re: DirecTV DVR eratta
[Re: gbeer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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Quote:
Since the feed is already mp3, the Directivo lacks the chip that does the mpeg3 encoding
I think you're a bit confused, but the point you're trying to make has been made twice already in this thread.
There are Series 1 and Series 2 DirecTiVos. The one you get at this time from DirecTV will definitely be a Series 2 unit.
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736
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#227540 - 16/07/2004 17:41
Re: DirecTV DVR eratta
[Re: djc]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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Quote:
I suppose the real question is which version of the software it runs.
My units (all Series 1) are running 3.x. The releases between Stand Alone and DirecTiVos don't have the same features. Home media option and active USB ports are the biggest things lacking from the DirecTiVo.
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736
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#227541 - 16/07/2004 18:33
Re: DirecTV DVR eratta
[Re: robricc]
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veteran
Registered: 25/04/2000
Posts: 1523
Loc: Arizona
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Quote:
Home media option and active USB ports are the biggest things lacking from the DirecTiVo.
How important are those options? What I mean is, what does having the USB ports on the box buy me? Same with the home media option, if I already have a decent stereo system that I like, is the home media necessary? Especially if you compare it to the (essentially) no subscription fee.
As for the DVR with Voom, I think he still has the regular TIVO hooked up to his Dish system on another TV. In April they said that they will have a DVR to offer for Voom (that name kills me... at least he didn't go for the Vavavoom) 'in the summer', so it shouldn't be too long.
- Tim (clueless as ever  )
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#227542 - 16/07/2004 22:33
Re: DirecTV DVR eratta
[Re: robricc]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
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 Yep I wrote mp3 and meant mpeg. I'll also accept that the currently available Directivos are Series 2, but it still remains that they cannot process an analog signal, in addition DTV is in control of the software update schedule for these units. This means no HMO, no broadband connections, and none of the other little bits like having record indicators show in the guide.
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Glenn
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#227543 - 17/07/2004 02:45
Re: DirecTV DVR eratta
[Re: gbeer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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USB is easy to enable on Series 2 DirecTivo units (just need to do some reading on the right forums). And broadband means just connecting a USB to Ethernet adapter. You can also get version 4.x of the software onto them, but as far as I know, no HMO. Pulling video off can be done along with tons of other things possible on Series 1 units.
TiVo series have nothing to do with the presence of an mpeg encoder. Nor the system software on the unit. They have to do with the system architecture, which includes a different CPU (MIPS instead of PPC I believe). Also more memory if I'm not mistaken.
Direc is obviously not as "versatile" (rather portable) as StandAlone (SA) but has a picture you could never hope to achieve with an SA box. An SA box can also be hacked to use almost anywhere in the world - a DirecTivo is a boat anchor outside of the Americas.
Bruno
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