Anything I should know?

 

Did you get one of the latest H.264 MPEG-4 receivers? If not you'll be switching out your receivers sooner than later. Don't become too attached to them if you do have an older receiver.

Also, when it snows heavily the signal will fade if you have the standard size dish (i.e. "searching for satellite signal" on your boxes) . The same applys with heavy rain...

Otherwise DirecTV is going to be the thing to have in the future for HD when they go 100% MPEG4 with their new satellites and stop using the old MPEG-2 birds. With the new birds and using MPEG-4 they will have capacity for 1200 HD channels!

 

I don't have any HD TV's in the house, so that's not a problem for me now. The receiver looks pretty new compared to some other's I've seen. It's extremely slim. I'm trying to find it but don't see it anywhere online.

Regarding Tivo/DVR's, I know they charge a monthyl fee if I get the Tivo through them, but if I bought a tivo receiver myself, I would still have to pay a monthly fee?

I would imagine that DVR's have nothing to do with that, so no monthly payments there.....right?

 

Someone correct me, but I do not believe you can use Tivo with DirectTV. You have to use their DVR.

Oh and Eddie, you know we have a Home Theater & Electronics forum.

Moved.

 

No TIVO anymore through DirecTV. They have their own units now. For non HD it's the HR-15. They are leased, and it's 4.99-5.99 a month. Unitl will not function without the fee (even as just a standalone receiver). Buying an actual TIVO unit and connecting it through your DirecTV receiver, you will pay no fee to DirecTV, but keep in mind you will only be able to have one tuner input, and not two...which is really a waste.

 

I realized it too late...

 

I believe that D* just announced that they will be offering TIVO again. I have 2 older TIVO boxes (3 and 2 years old) and they both still work and they are both still the TIVO software. I believe that D* saw that people preferred the TIVO format and is responding to their desires.

One thing about D*....they compress the hell outta their HD....it's more like HD Lite. Not terrible, but not nearly as good as it should be...

 

Link? The only news I know came down a while ago about extending their "support" for TIVO for three more years. DirecTV is not selling/leasing any TIVO equipment anymore. DirecTV DVR's are their own in-house designs & software....not affiliated with TIVO at all. If you currently have a DirecTV TIVO HD DVR...it only records Mpeg2 and not the new Mpeg4 compression. The only HD DVR for DirecTV that will record Mpeg 4 was just released (west coast only at this time) and that is the HR-20.

 

4.99 fee applies. Call it a lease fee, call it whatever - having DVRs in the house will cost you an additional 4.99/mo. (Total, not per DVR.)

 

Just stopped in to say I'm sorry to hear the news....

 

verizon FTTP Fios IPTV > *

 

BTW, the model # for the receiver is D11, according to what the box says, but in looking for pics online, What I see is not what I got..

 

Waiting patiently to see if you are correct. How is their DVR?

 

While Siggy's comments on the 1200 HD channels is the "plan", I don't anticipate them providing true "HD" resolution on their feeds. Even their mpeg4 feeds are 1280x1080i.

Weak.

 

figures, they did the same crap with their MPEG-2 system. How lame....

 

Ya, that service is awesome. Too bad it's not available everywhere...

 

I have HD Direct TV. Its ok. The only issue I have with it is it goes out if it rains or snows really hard. I am in Dayton,NJ once Verizon Fios is available here,bye bye Direct Tv.

 

i actually have the same motorola box that i had with comcast, its nice, i like the DVR alot, wish it had more features like TIVO, but the DVR function is the same as my comcast service