New DirecTiVo DVR

Status
Please reply by conversation.

kbert

Member
Original poster
Jul 10, 2009
5
0
Arizona
Has anyone heard anything encouraging about a shipping date for the long promised upgraded DirecTiVo box?
 
I was wondering if anyone has any idea on if those of us with the current HDDVRs will be swapped out with the new Tivo units for free because they will not support the current DVR's or are we going to have to "suffer" with the currents and upgrade for some huge $$$$$?
 
I was wondering if anyone has any idea on if those of us with the current HDDVRs will be swapped out with the new Tivo units for free because they will not support the current DVR's or are we going to have to "suffer" with the currents and upgrade for some huge $$$$$?

Where has it ever been said that DirecTV won't be supporing the current DVR's?
 
Where has it ever been said that DirecTV won't be supporing the current DVR's?

Nowhere...... That is one of the reasons that I was asking. I didn't know IF D would be supporting the old DVRs OR IF they would force a move back to Tivo.
 
I can only see the new DirecTV being some kind od software upgrade for the current HR line.

Its been over 2 years now and still we have not heard any system specs, see any screen shots or unit mock up units.

While Tivo will be at CES in January, DirecTV will not be there again unfortunately). Something does not add up here.

Look back at the HR-20 how long it was between when we first saw the unit to when it was actually released, and look how unfinished it was when it was released. I dont see a new receiver being released without having any of this information avilable to us yet.

So I say its going to be a software option that DirecTV will offer (much like how they are going to offer MRV as a pay service) and it won't be a new receiver.

I remember one talk I had with DirecTV and was told that the unit will have some TIVO features, but the way the person spoke it sounded like it was an add on and not a new unit.

We can only wait and see. But something just seems funny that 2 years later and no screen shots, no pics of a mock up box, no specs nothing. I personally dont expect to see a DirecTivo instead I am betting on a DirecTV DVR with Tivo features.

I hope I am wrong.
 
I'm pretty sure you're going to see a new receiver (HR24?) to go with the new tivo software, and there wont be any options to field upgrade an existing HR2x from the directv software to the tivo software.

As far as how much of the tivo software will be in it (mrv, tivo2go, netflix, etc) remains to be seen. If they hobble all the extra goodies like they did on the directivo, then its practically worthless as far as I'm concerned.

I'm also quite sure you'll have to ante up $200-250+ to get the new tivo box, send your old 'leased' box back in, and pay more than a $5 a month per account dvr fee. My guess is ~$6-8 per tivo box per month.

My contract with directv is up in April. If the directv dvr box isnt fully stable, have mrv and a responsive remote control by then, I'm just going to buy a couple of tivo HD's with lifetime service and add digital cable. I'm already getting cable internet, and with the combo deals I can get full digital HD cable with the internet for not much more than i'm paying for directv alone. So it'll be cheaper, more reliable, have the features I want, and comcast has every HD channel that I watch. Not much downside.

Then the only thing that can screw me up is if Comcast sticks the 'do not copy' bit on every show, which will prevent the tivo mrv from working. I guess thats a big problem with some cable providers in some areas.
 
I agree with both Scott and cfb. Our solution is to go to Verizon FIOS, but to avoid Verizon's crappy boxes by getting HD TiVos with cablecards.

I was one of the very first HR-250 owners in the North Texas area, but Scott has reminded me of all the drama/delays surrounding that release, and subsequent releases.

There are some excellent things about D*, but their management of change and software are not among them. I actually think switching away from D* is a pretty close call. Since I have retired, however, I am much more attuned to cost, and Verizon's ability to furnish us with a competitive product at a substantially reduced bundled cost is tipping the tables for me. I plan to live long enough to easily ammortize the cost of the new TiVo boxes (less than ten months, actually).

Mrs. Camper still has her antique standard def R-10 box with TiVo. She has never been willing to give up the TiVo interface and go to the DirecTV software in the new boxes. She'd have been more inclined to keep D* if anyone could have given her a straight answer concerning when, if ever, D* was going to offer consumers a TiVo software interface again.
 
Yes... I keep hearing it will be software update that "will add Tivo" features.

If this is true people wanting the true Tivo experiance could be disapointed.
 
It can be a true tivo experience. From the rumors I heard ( as it being software related ) it is a complete overhaul and it is tivo_linux with the dtv on chip firmware upgrade as simply a bootstrap loader for linux hd image. but again rumor mill around here had everything from full blown tivo to just tivo features. But one rumor that I have not heard is that no rumor around here mentions new hardware. But I like to point out . that FTA boxes were not designed to be a pirates tool but they were programed to be. So and not all PCs have to run windows. If it was simply tivo like features we would of had them out ages ago.
 
Everything I've heard was the opposite of what you've heard Scott! All the scuttlebutt and dropped hints, some of them admittedly from over six months ago, were that directv was very uncomfortable about doing a full directv->tivo firmware change down the wire.

But if what you're saying is true and they do what comcast did and layer a tivo facade over the directv core software...I expect that it'll be about as successful as comcasts venture.

Which is to say, not very.

I cant really see them doing that, just because there has been so much probing over how much to charge for the tivo service over and above the standard directv 'dvr fee'. If its just a different UI and pretty much the same core code and features, I cant see why anyone would pay extra for that.
 
If it is a software upgrade the charge will depend solely on what it allows a person do to in my opinion. If you get features like ability to off load content to Network Storage and Netflix HD, I will be willing to pony up the dough. At this point it's still just a waiting game. Too much speculation.

In the end who knows maybe they do a two option, one new box and a software upgrade. In the end a complete software replacement might stop many as it will probably result in a complete Hard Drive wipe of all content.
 
Most certainly if its a real tivo image, since tivo and directv each have their own file system organization.

If its a tivo UI 'layer' on top of the directv software, then it might preserve recordings. Thats probably the piece of a stand-in-place upgrade that scares the pants off of directv the most. People doing the 'upgrade' and not realizing they'll lose all their recordings, or trying the same sort of upgrade and trying to preserve a bunch of programming. Some percentage of those wont work right or may even brick the box.
 
Status
Please reply by conversation.
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)