HR-21 to ever have OTA?

[rlongwell]

I just became a Direct TV "user" in December, with two HR21-700 DVRs (living room and basement) and a standard HD receiver for my bedroom, having nothing but HD in my house.

HD locals are available separately via OTA, but unlike Dish, the HD locals CANNOT be piped through the Direct TV units. I was told that "some day soon" those may be coming. I can only get them by switching the TV to antenna mode, which I do from time to time.

I was told the HR20 units CAN do this however now. I didn't want to wait though (it was just before Christmas I became a Direct TV customer.)

Does anyone have a reliable time table, or ANY time table for this capability from DirectTV? I assume when they made the decision to NOT incorporate this feature from the HR20 to the HR21 it was because they assumed most markets would eventually have HD available as local channels.

Can anyone fill me in when this might happen? Or are we sure it will ever happen?

Richard Longwell

 

[charper1]

VERY VERY soon, I bet by spring, there is an add-on devise mentioned already in another thread. I will search for it; you can do the same and maybe find it faster.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Yes...

http://www.satelliteguys.us/2008-co...orum/120937-video-directv-ota-tuner-hr21.html

 

[rlongwell]

And thereafter - will Direct TV charge existing customers for this capability?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Watch the video its all answered there.

 

[rlongwell]

Cool!

Thanks for the quick response!

I still don't understand the logic of why they didn't include
the capability in the first place when going from HR20 to HR21,
instead of going backwards - I don't expect they'll make a lot of
bucks setting the add-ons!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Because DirecTV expects to have HD locals for most of the country this year, so they figured why build in the tuner at an additional cost if its not going to be used.

With this solution you can have an OTA tuner if you want one or need one.

 

[rlongwell]

Hm..use it for PC later?

And if that happens to me in Good Ol' Burlington, Vermont market
I can thereafter probably just stick it on my PC..... This year? NOT!

Richard

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Since it is just a USB device, I doubt it would be long before someone wrote PC drivers for it.

The tuner will be available in March and is a great buy for $59.

 

[rlongwell]

And there are at least five HD locals in my area that I pull in -

Thanks A bunch Scott!

Richard

 

[charper1]

My original beleive is that since they are not in the market or business to deliver, setup or maintain OTA, that is was becoming a headache for them and their contract installers to make sure customers had the right antennas and were getting and maintain quality OTA signals; again this is not and will never be DirecTV's business. It also saves them a small bit of manufacturing costs. I think they thought since most user have ATSC tuners built into the TVs, that eliminating internal ATSC tuners in the DirecTV receivers would remove them from ANY and ALL need to worry about this aspect; as it did, BUT it also created a customer backlash as most users do not want to worry about extra steps and such, and want the all-in-one/idiot proof setup.

 

[rlongwell]

Ease of use

True, but a competitor whom we all know has that capability in their DVR, and it's not just a matter of making it "idiot proof", it's also a matter of convenience. I have a home theater set up, so it means
changing inputs from Direct TV to OTA.

Also, without the built-in capability, I cannot record to the DVR from OTA! I previously had Echostar's Dish and had that capability!

 

[charper1]

I hear you, I do as well, however if I had to do the other its one press of one button on my remote; whew! In fact my low cost simple HD setup in the bedroom is the exact same thing. ARGH the humanity!

 

[Bob Nielsen]

Since it is just a USB device, I doubt it would be long before someone wrote PC drivers for it.

The tuner will be available in March and is a great buy for $59.

The only other dual tuner device I am aware of is the HDHomeRun, which is $169.

 

[joed32]

True, but a competitor whom we all know has that capability in their DVR, and it's not just a matter of making it "idiot proof", it's also a matter of convenience. I have a home theater set up, so it means
changing inputs from Direct TV to OTA.

Also, without the built-in capability, I cannot record to the DVR from OTA! I previously had Echostar's Dish and had that capability!

You can record with the add on,box, it will hook up to the HR21 no inputs to change, it will be running all of the time. As far as operation is concerned it should be invisible. Or do you have some information that is different?

 

[rlongwell]

Integrated into Guide?

Now I wonder if this add-on for the tuner will allow users to have their local OTA channels automatically listed in the program guide!

Richard

 

[TulsaCoker]

Yes it should since it will allow you to record ota programs. If not then it willl be no differnt then connecting your ota to the tv's tuner

 

[rlongwell]

Guide software upgrade

That tells me too, that will probably mean a software upgrade for the Program guide.

Since I have an Onkyo home theater setup, when I want to switch from Direct TV to OTA I have to change inputs on the TV (to antenna) , turn off the Onkyo receiver, turn up the TV volume, slide over the bar on my Direct TV remote to TV from DirectTV so that I can change channels. Whew! Doable, but easier when it comes out in March!

 

[jeremiahpreston]

Will said add-on allow you to record 2 shows on the DVR tuners while watching 1 through the OTA add on? Or better yet will it allow you to record from both the DVR tuners AND the OTA at the same time? That would make it worth it! I am coming over from Dish and the ability to record 3 programs when you are not watching TV was a plus when you get one of those crazy nights when 3 shows are on at the same time.

 

[Bob Nielsen]

It will probably work just like the HR20 with built-in tuner. On that model you can record two channels simultaneously, any combination of satellite and OTA. You can also watch one of them or a pre-recorded program at the same time. I expect that OTA will be integrated into the guide as it is on the HR20.