HUMAX to make DTV MPEG 4 boxes and DVR

[LonghornXP]

Longhorn, when do you thank that the new satellites will be up and ready to be used? By the start of the fall season? Thanks.

The top 12 markets HD LIL channels will be offered sometime around June or July regardless of whether any satellites go up or not. I'm hearing that the Spaceway 1 should be launched and ready to go sometime within about 2-3 months before the start of the NFL season. When the new satellite is up and working they will start adding additional LIL HD markets and will start adding the WB, PBS and UPN HD feeds to the first 12 markets. They will also start offering new national HD channels sometime shortly after the NFL season starts.

Just to recap.

Top 12 markets HD LIL channels will be offered around June or July regardless of whether the new sats are up and working. Now those 12 markets will only get the big 4 to start (that includes NBC, ABC, FOX and CBS). Customers won't need a new MPEG4 box at this specific time but they will start upgrading customers at that time.

When the first new satellite is up and ready (planned to be working before the NFL season starts) here is what will be done.

All HD NFL Sunday Ticket customers will be required to have their HD hardware and dish swapped to get their NFL games in HDTV and they will start to be swapped around June or July. Also after the sat is up and working customers in the top 12 markets will get WB, PBS and UPN HD feeds. After that additional LIL HD markets will get the big 4 to start and soon after will get their UPNs and such.

They want to get as many markets big 4 channels up ASAP and in their mind UPN and those can wait a little while like in two months.

Now the key we have to consider is that D* will only be doing upgrades on hardware for the top 30 or so markets and NFL ST customers who have HD sets. Because they only have a certain amount of time to get customers upgraded they will focus on them and as such once they have gotten close to finsishing those upgrades they will start to tell customers in their bills that to get current and new HD package channels they will have to call D* and get new hardware and dish (will be free with 1 year agreement). Also current HD package customers will be called as well. I'm hearing by years end all HD Package subs will require new hardware because current HD package channels will be taken down and only be offered in MPEG4 via spaceway 1 and I'm hearing that the deadline will be end of year.

Also customers who have an HD STB will be provided with a new HD STB free of charge or they can choose to upgrade to an HD DVR or the HD multiroom DVR for a rental charge. You will need a new dish and/or multiswitch so they will do this for free with a one year agreement.

Also a customer with an HD Tivo box will have their box replaced for free with the basic HD DVR or they can choose to lease the HD multiroom DVR. Either way still gets free installation with 1 year agreement.

Just remember that if you have an HD Tivo you will get at the least a new HD DVR that you will own with no rental fee. If you have an HD STB you will get a free HD STB that you will own without a rental fee. Now if you have an HD Tivo I don't see why you can't get a free HD DVR and take it off the account after you get it and order the multiroom HD DVR which will be a lease. Now if you upgrade to the multiroom HD DVR will you most likely be denying the free replacement so with that said I would suggest getting the replacement and if you want anything further rent it afterwards.

I hope I didn't get too complex but I'm just saying what I've heard and know.

 

[Seanb61]

Also customers who have an HD STB will be provided with a new HD STB free of charge or they can choose to upgrade to an HD DVR or the HD multiroom DVR for a rental charge.

My question is will i get to keep my current HD STB when the ygive me the new one for free. This way, until the switch current HD channels to MPEG4 I could have to working HD boxes in my house?

 

[bleodler]

So they are planning to have the conversion to mpeg4 done by the end of the year, how is that possible when the HMC won't even be available until the end of the year? Is the standard HD DVR planned to be available long before the HMC?

 

[LonghornXP]

I'm hearing that they are working on having the multiroom HD DVR out before the end of the year but the plan HD DVR will for sure be out before years end and as such a customer who rents the HD DVR can easily upgrade and start renting the new HD multiroom DVR instead of the HD DVR.

Also I don't know if you can keep your current HD box so I can't answer this. The cold hard fact is that the plan is for any current and new HD customer to get anything HD you will most likely after the first of the year be required to get an MPEG4 HD box. Even the channels you get today will not work without a new box but they will work just fine until such time as D* has enough time to give customers the required hardware. From what I'm hearing is that customers in the top 12 markets that have HD will be required to upgrade even if they don't want any new HD LIL or national channels.

 

[markd]

The top 12 markets HD LIL channels will be offered sometime around June or July regardless of whether any satellites go up or not.

Hmmm. Could these be the reason why PQ hasn't improved and no new national channels added since ST is over?

 

[LonghornXP]

Hmmm. Could these be the reason why PQ hasn't improved and no new national channels added since ST is over?

I figured someday someone would figure this out. Also think about the fact that if the new satellite doesn't go well they can still upgrade HD customers with MPEG4 boxes and start right away offering all current HD channels using MPEG4 which would allow them to free up enough bandwidth to offer the big 4 networks in the top 12 markets and offer all NFL sunday ticket games in HDTV but again nothing more would be added until a new sat works. I think most of you can see how they are planning things. Since LA and NY are two of those 12 markets it boils down to offering 40 more HD LIL channels and ST games will whenever possable be mirrored from NY and LA feeds and as such those feeds will soon be offered in MPEG4 but they won't be on spots because they will still say for customers who can get them. Also just so you all know they are planning to get 4 HD national channels per xponder via MPEG4 on current sats. Spaceway sats will work differently.

 

[Alan Gordon]

I'm hearing that the basic HD STB will be out when local HD channels are offered. The HD DVR (not the multiroom but like the current HD Tivo) is being pushed very hard to be out shortly before the start of the NFL regular season and shortly is within a month or so. They also plan to try and get the multiroom HD DVR out before November but at worst it will be out before Christmas. It will be offered online at DirecTV.com as a lease option and customers who currently own hardware will have no problem adding a rental based hardware box. Unlike some of the trial systems they did before you don't have to have all rental boxes or all paid for boxes. You can pay for whats cheap and lease what costs a bunch.

Hmm, around the right time-frame for when I was planning on purchasing an HD-DVR, but hopefully the purchase price on the system is cheaper than the current HD-TiVo.

~Alan

 

[LonghornXP]

Hmm, around the right time-frame for when I was planning on purchasing an HD-DVR, but hopefully the purchase price on the system is cheaper than the current HD-TiVo.

~Alan

Just so you know there are three HD based products I'm talking about.

The first one which will be a basic HD STB with no recording.
The second one is an HD DVR that doesn't have multiroom viewing.
The third is an HD DVR that has multiroom viewing and is called their home media server.

The basic HD set-top box will most likely cost less than 300 bucks and I don't know if they will rent this box.

Now both the HD DVR and home media server will be offered as a rental option with no upfront costs and will be offered to customers who want to buy them.

What I'm saying is that you won't have to worry about how much upfront it will cost compared to the HD Tivo because you will have the option of renting it with no upfront cost like cable companies do today. If something newer comes along you rent the new one.

Edit...Didn't say something. I'm being told that the HD DVR will most likely be 799.99 while the home media server will cost one grand so with that said for a rental charge of say 15.00/month for the home media server you can get about 5 and a half years of use before you have reached the cost upfront and with that said you can bet something new will be out. If they lease it I see no reason why you wouldn't lease it because if it breaks they replace it free of charge so if you buy it and pay for an extended warranty even at 100 bucks that warranty wouldn't go much past 5 years so you still spend more for it. If D* covers it you can bet they will charge you that 7.99/month for their protection plan which again would still cost you more. I see no reason to not rent unless you have money to blow. Also say Voom gets much better or Verizon rolls into town you might not switch to something better if your only two years in and spent 1000 bucks compared to renting the box for a total cost of 360 bucks which is still better than one grand.

 

[Alan Gordon]

What I'm saying is that you won't have to worry about how much upfront it will cost compared to the HD Tivo because you will have the option of renting it with no upfront cost like cable companies do today. If something newer comes along you rent the new one.

]

It's possible that I may rent the Humax HD-DVR until I decide whether I like it or not, or until the Media Center HD-DVR comes out. I have no intention of replacing my other SD-TiVo's, so the Media Center doesn't really interest me that much other than as a stand-alone HD-DVR, so if the features and use are similar to the Humax, I see no reason why I wouldn't just stay with the Humax.

Edit...Didn't say something. I'm being told that the HD DVR will most likely be 799.99 while the home media server will cost one grand so with that said for a rental charge of say 15.00/month for the home media server you can get about 5 and a half years of use before you have reached the cost upfront and with that said you can bet something new will be out. If they lease it I see no reason why you wouldn't lease it because if it breaks they replace it free of charge so if you buy it and pay for an extended warranty even at 100 bucks that warranty wouldn't go much past 5 years so you still spend more for it. If D* covers it you can bet they will charge you that 7.99/month for their protection plan which again would still cost you more. I see no reason to not rent unless you have money to blow.

]

No, I make very little income, so it's not that I have money to blow, it's just that I don't like the idea of renting equipment, and I'd like to have an option of purchasing... $799.99 is a little more than I wanted to pay, but then unless the $15.00 a month has the mirror fee included in the price, I'm not real fond of the idea of paying it either.

Also say Voom gets much better or Verizon rolls into town you might not switch to something better if your only two years in and spent 1000 bucks compared to renting the box for a total cost of 360 bucks which is still better than one grand.

I'm not sure VOOM will EVER serve my needs, but I'd be very interested in Verizon, should it EVER come to my town, but considering Verizon offers no services in my state... with the exception of cell phone coverage, which is
actually one of the main cell phone companies in the area... heck, if I look out my window, I can see a Verizon cell phone tower just down the street. That being said, I expect it will be another ten years before Verizon might offer my area their FIOS service, so I don't expect to leave DirecTV anytime soon!

~Alan

 

[LonghornXP]

]

No, I make very little income, so it's not that I have money to blow, it's just that I don't like the idea of renting equipment, and I'd like to have an option of purchasing... $799.99 is a little more than I wanted to pay, but then unless the $15.00 a month has the mirror fee included in the price, I'm not real fond of the idea of paying it either.

Alan

I don't mean to come off rude but if you don't want to rent at 10-15 a month and you don't want to pay over 700 upfront what do you expect. This box costs money period and I understand the low income but again you seem to be expecting to get something for nothing when that just isn't feasable. Just so you know the media server most likely will cost 15/month on hardware and you will still pay the mirror fee but remember that media server will also include upto 3 client boxes as part of that rental fee. I'm also hearing that the HD DVR will cost 10.00/month most likely and again extra rooms will have mirroring fees.

 

[Alan Gordon]

I don't mean to come off rude but if you don't want to rent at 10-15 a month and you don't want to pay over 700 upfront what do you expect. This box costs money period and I understand the low income but again you seem to be expecting to get something for nothing when that just isn't feasable.

Well, that's not actually what I meant. What I meant was that I was hoping that the HD-DVR would be cheaper (kinda like the 921 is now) or closer to what SkyBoss said that the Media Center would cost ($599 for the high end model)... it doesn't mean I won't buy it (and I may even rent it), I just wish it was cheaper.

Just so you know the media server most likely will cost 15/month on hardware and you will still pay the mirror fee but remember that media server will also include upto 3 client boxes as part of that rental fee. I'm also hearing that the HD DVR will cost 10.00/month most likely and again extra rooms will have mirroring fees.

Right, of course, I have no interest in getting the 3 client boxes as I have no intention of replacing my DirecTiVo's. I'm just (possibly) interested in the Media Center simply for an HD-DVR. The rent fee is better on the HD-DVR at $10.00 a month, and I may try it out for a while by renting it, or I may just simply purchase it. Sure, it will take me a while to come out ahead on buying the box versus simply renting it, but then at least I will have something to show for it.

~Alan

 

[taylor23]

HD multiroom DVR Q?

What will connect to the HD multiroom DVR? Will any MPEG4 receiver have the ability to watch recordings off of the multiroom DVR?

For an example: I trade in my HD TiVo for the standard HD DVR and rent the HD multiroom DVR. Would I then be able to watch recordings on the standard HD DVR from the multiroom? Of course it wouldn't work the other way around..

It would be real expensive if only HD multiroom DVR's can talk to other HD multiroom DVR's..

Really interesting thread. Thanks for the info.


Steve

 

[bestboff]

Is there any word about the dish installation that will be required? Number of cables, size of dish etc.

 

[LonghornXP]

The dish will be a 5LNB dish that from what I'm hearing will only require one cable run if your using the multiroom media server.

The multiroom media server will consist of a server with upto 3 client set-top boxes that will be much cheaper than the server. No other receiver will be allowed to playback shows recorded on the server. That means only the client boxes can playback shows from the server. Now if you have one HDTV set than the media server at launch will meet your needs because the server will be plugged directly into your HDTV set while the other SD client boxes will connect to your other SD TVs. Now for those of you with two or more HDTV sets you will have to wait another three months or so after the launch of the media server until they come out with their HD client boxes.

Again like I said in other threads it seems that they are looking at a few different options. From what I gather is that wireless USB 2.0 adapters could be used and that would mean that the client boxes won't need any cables run at all. The other two options would be USB 2.0 coax and ethernet adapters which would require the installers to run as you might guess ethernet or coax cables from I would assume a multiswitch interfaced with the server.

As of right now they are looking for the best option as far as quality control and they are making sure that the system can handle three HD streams going out to three HD client boxes and they will pick the system that has the best quality to price ratio. For some reason I'm hearing more and more about USB to coax adapters being used.

 

[beast37799]

will they have a new multiswitch for those of use with more than 3 rooms hd and sd mix

 

[colofan]

So I should be able to use my existing 100 BaseT cat5 wiring that is already running my computers to be able to use the media server?

 

[LonghornXP]

will they have a new multiswitch for those of use with more than 3 rooms hd and sd mix

I'm pretty sure but can't promise it. Again I've been told that they might need a new multiswitch.

 

[LonghornXP]

So I should be able to use my existing 100 BaseT cat5 wiring that is already running my computers to be able to use the media server?

If they use the USB to coax or wireless than no you can't use your current wiring. You can only use it if they offer their USB to ethernet adapter and from what I understand when they pick what they will use they will only use that to reduce costs. Having one adapter and method of installation is cheaper and again this is about money. Again they have to teach most techs howto setup and install this new stuff.

 

[colofan]

Well unless the wireless is encrypted and has enough bandwidth I would not be interested in that solution.

Time will tell I suppose. The tough part of this is only one model will be available thus a big restriction as far as I am concerned. Why not offer a pci card that has the sat tuner in it then I can build the system myself...ugh. Yes I want to do this with all the copyrights installed as well. NO THEFT!!!!!