Finally DirecTV News

[Scott Greczkowski]

Ok a lot of folks have been wondering about the big news. I finally just heard from my contact who couldnt really talk, however he did tell me something that we have speculated on for a long time here at SatelliteGuys.

It appears that DirecTV is planning on rolling out "A DVR in Every Home" where all DirecTV customers will be upgraded to a DirecTV DVR. I was told that this DVR will not use TIVO, however it will use software from News Corp. I was told this DVR will have NO MONTHLY DVR FEES. I was also told that the users will have the option to upgrade to better TIVO based software for a monthly charge.

The new units will have additional hardware such as 8psk which would let DirecTV offer more channels with their existing bandwidth.

No word on if this upgrade will cost the customers anything.

I am not sure if this is the news that will make Charlie Head Spin, but there you have it.

More as I have it.

 

[Alan Gordon]

It appears that DirecTV is planning on rolling out "A DVR in Every Home" where all DirecTV customers will be upgraded to a DirecTV DVR. I was told that this DVR will not use TIVO, however it will use software from News Corp. I was told this DVR will have NO MONTHLY DVR FEES. I was also told that the users will have the option to upgrade to better TIVO based software for a monthly charge.

The first thing that comes to mind is how this affects Pegasus customers...


~Alan

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The other Rumor going around is about DirecTV and Pegasus. But I have heard nothing solid or even small hints of.

 

[platinum]

Will it have two tuners...?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I don't have any more details. I would imagine all DVR's would be Dual Tuners.

 

[Alan Gordon]

It appears that DirecTV is planning on rolling out "A DVR in Every Home" where all DirecTV customers will be upgraded to a DirecTV DVR. I was told that this DVR will not use TIVO, however it will use software from News Corp. I was told this DVR will have NO MONTHLY DVR FEES. I was also told that the users will have the option to upgrade to better TIVO based software for a monthly charge.

Another thing came to mind, and I thought I'd bring this question up even though not much information is known. What about people with more than one receiver?! Will these receivers be upgraded?! If they are, will you pay extra for the other boxes?!


~Alan

 

[gpflepsen]

The question would be; How limited is the DVR? If you are talking about the ability to mimic a VCR, which is record and playback, how appealing would that be?

 

[Alan Gordon]

The question would be; How limited is the DVR? If you are talking about the ability to mimic a VCR, which is record and playback, how appealing would that be?

I have no experience with them, but from what I hear, aren't the Dish DVRs like that?!


~Alan

 

[gpflepsen]

I have never used a Dish DVR, but I assume they can all pause live TV, replay live TV, etc. Would a bare bones DVR not offer any of the features?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Yes they would be like VCR's if you wanted the advanced software, you would pay extra for Tivo service.

 

[htvdo]

sorry, Scott....

NOT head spinning material, your gonna have to do better than that now that you got everyone all worked up. LOL

 

[chorder]

I'm guessing here, but the key might be in the 'can be upgraded for a fee to full Tivo'. Tivo is already producing something called 'Basic Tivo' in some DVD recorders, that is free of all fees:

http://customersupport.tivo.com/tivoknowbase/root/public/tv1199.htm?

 

[Stargazer]

I figured they would come out with a basic DVR that would have no DVR charge and then the option to get better DVR service for a fee. I wonder if they are going to charge $5 or if it will be $10 to make up for the cost of the hardware. Perhaps they figure that at least half the customers will pay for the service in which would make up for the hardware cost.

 

[Tyralak]

Ok a lot of folks have been wondering about the big news. I finally just heard from my contact who couldnt really talk, however he did tell me something that we have speculated on for a long time here at SatelliteGuys.

It appears that DirecTV is planning on rolling out "A DVR in Every Home" where all DirecTV customers will be upgraded to a DirecTV DVR. I was told that this DVR will not use TIVO, however it will use software from News Corp. I was told this DVR will have NO MONTHLY DVR FEES. I was also told that the users will have the option to upgrade to better TIVO based software for a monthly charge.

The new units will have additional hardware such as 8psk which would let DirecTV offer more channels with their existing bandwidth.

No word on if this upgrade will cost the customers anything.

I am not sure if this is the news that will make Charlie Head Spin, but there you have it.

More as I have it.

Not really what I was expecting. Kind of anti-climatic. I was hoping for an HD deal similar to what Dish is offering with the 811. I guess I'll have to go with Dish's 811 DHA plan, because I can't justify paying $500 for an HD reciever right now. Oh well.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Dirk I got to be honest with you it was not what I was expecting as well.

Although over at AVS people are going nuts with the news, I guess some of us are harder to WOW then others.

 

[nuts4scuba]

The new units will have additional hardware such as 8psk which would let DirecTV offer more channels with their existing bandwidth.

The 8psk maybe what they excited about. D* could add more HD per transponders.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

8psk is not only used for HDTV, it can be used for standard def too!

Imagine if 1 HDTV channel took 1 transponder of satellite space, however with 8psk they can squeeze in 3 HD channels on 1 transponder, with no loss of quality.

Now imaging if you have 12 SD channels on 1 transponder, with 8PSK enabled they could put 36 channels on a transponder with no worse picture quality we have today.

Dish is now putting 8psk in all of its boxes. Even the 111 has 8PSK built in.

"8PSK it's not just for HD anymore!" (Sounds like an orange juice commercial!)

 

[jsanders]

Dirk I got to be honest with you it was not what I was expecting as well.

Although over at AVS people are going nuts with the news, I guess some of us are harder to WOW then others.

I wonder if it will mean anything to dish customers. Do we now get tiered VOD fees now so they can compete with direct TV??

 

[Tyralak]

Dirk I got to be honest with you it was not what I was expecting as well.

Although over at AVS people are going nuts with the news, I guess some of us are harder to WOW then others.

That's true. You never really know until it comes out.

 

[thebigjp]

No word on if this upgrade will cost the customers anything.

The answer to this question alone will determine how heads spin.