National HR20 release is now 9/13/06

[DTV TiVo Dealer]

At 4:29 PM EST DIRECTV put out a a memo to its distributors asking them to hold off on all shipments till 9/13.

Our distributor had already released and packed 30 HR20's from The FL Branch when they were asked to re-stock the HR20s. The balance of our large allocation has already been scheduled for delivery tomorrow morning at 10:30 AM. As of this moment they can not be shipped either.

I'm not sure if we will be able to ship sooner, but by Tuesday, 9/5/06, all 12 of our fullfillment branches will be stocked and ready to ship.

Any and all charges that were made were fully refunded immediately at 4:30 PM EST today. So if you see a charge the credit will also be posted hopefully on the next line item of your credit card statement, but certainly on the same statement.

Sorry about this false alarm, everything was going ahead of schedule till the last moment of the UPS pick-up.

If we are not permitted to ship earlier than 9/13 at least our nationwide 12 warehouse simultaneous distribution will ensure the fastest possible in-hand date to all of our customers.

I assume one of the reasons for this small delay is to give engineering time to enable more features for us to download upon activation.

-Robert

 

[PoitNarf]

Thanks for the update Robert

 

[asousa]

so the people on ebay that have them in hand must be coming out of LA...

 

[herdfan]

I assume one of the reasons for this small delay is to give engineering time to enable more features for us to download upon activation.

Or to fix bugs.

 

[Brewer4]

 

[bobojay]

Well shoot! I was hoping to be able to schedule one for install in the next couple days.........

 

[rad]

Robert, could the delay be because D* is telling folks in the HR20 notification e-mail that they have an exclusive partnership with BB on this box????

 

[DTV TiVo Dealer]

Robert, could the delay be because D* is telling folks in the HR20 notification e-mail that they have an exclusive partnership with BB on this box????

Yes, I would now have to agree and say it's so.

-Robert

 

[bobojay]

Robert, did they stab you guys in the back or what?????

 

[Brewer4]

Delay or no delay I am sticking with Value Electronics. If I have to wait because the big boys want to play their games fine. VE gets their take and credit for the hardware sale. To heck with BB. I've waited this long I can stick it out a week and take care of someone thats done good to me.

 

[Trav]

If you notice on Best Buy's website, they have listed as "new" the HR20-250 for $399:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...rectv&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1155071079972

So I have to ask 1) are they using the wrong model number (shouldn't it be HR20-700) and 2) why are they selling it for $399 when Directv lowered the price to $299?

 

[herdfan]

It looks like from this post: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=62181 that the national date was around the 12th/13th anyway.

Now if BB has an exclusive, how long will it last? Will no small dealers be able to get these for 3 months, six months????

 

[herdfan]

So I have to ask 1) are they using the wrong model number (shouldn't it be HR20-700) and 2) why are they selling it for $399 when Directv lowered the price to $299?

The actual model number is just HR20. The -700 is the manufactuerer designation and not part of the model number. The HR10-250 uses the -250 desination to indicate disk size, but no other D*DVR uses such a number.

BB might be selling it at $399 because they can. There will huge numbers of people that want one NOW and will pay the extra $100 just so they don't have to call D*. And it may change before it actually goes on sale.

 

[DTV TiVo Dealer]

It looks like from this post: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=62181 that the national date was around the 12th/13th anyway.

Now if BB has an exclusive, how long will it last? Will no small dealers be able to get these for 3 months, six months????

You answered your question yourself. The national roll-out is 9/13.

Why ask if independent dealers will be delayed 3 or 6 months. BB has a 10 day lead on the rest of the dealer network.

-Robert

 

[bobojay]

Sounds more & more that the independents were mislead by D*. Or BB slipped in the back door with more $$$ for D*.

 

[Optical Serenity]

Thanks for the update. So are we going to be able to walk into a BB on the 13th and buy the unit?

 

[vurbano]

Evidently it isnt ready yet.

 

[rad]

You answered your question yourself. The national roll-out is 9/13.

Why ask if independent dealers will be delayed 3 or 6 months. BB has a 10 day lead on the rest of the dealer network.

-Robert

I really don't see BB's lead as being much of anything. I've tried zip codes all over the place and none of the stores are showing any avaibility so it's online ordering at the moment. Their web site says ships in 3 to 4 business days. Next week is only a 4 business day week so it wouldn't ship until 9/7 or 9/8. I selected next day (for $38.34) delivery and their site said 9/12 or 9/13 delivery. So unless they start stocking these things locally in their stores the way I see it is this is a bunch of hype since we're really talking about a 1 day lead at the most over the rest, and you get to pay dearly for this privlage. I think I'll pass on this wonderful BB deal.

 

[mcbeevee]

Delay or no delay I am sticking with Value Electronics. If I have to wait because the big boys want to play their games fine. VE gets their take and credit for the hardware sale. To heck with BB. I've waited this long I can stick it out a week and take care of someone thats done good to me.

I completely agree. If I have a problem, dealing with VE is much easier than standing in line at BB! :up

 

[Trav]

This question is for Robert:

I've written 2 e-mails within the last week but haven't gotten a response. Anyway, I bought the HR10 from VE back in Feb of 2005 for about $800, I think. I bought it - like many others - with the promise that we'd be able to upgrade to the HR20 for free or a "small fee".

How should those of us in this situation proceed? Would we have to order the HR20 directly from D* or could we order it from you guys and get a credit? I don't want to be stuck paying $300 when I really don't *need* to upgrade to the HR20 yet (no ND locals in my area yet) but I am interested in it for the improved speed and better OTA tuner (when it gets activated, of course).