New Showcases (Movies & More) Feature: HD PPV

[jcrandall]

DirecTV launced HD PPV movies that are pre-stored in the reserved portion of the HD-DVR's hard drive. This space has always been reserved, just never used for much.

To access this area, click LIST, then hit the GREEN button to tab over. The label is Showcases, but will soon be changed to Movies & More.

You'll have a folder that is HD Movies, these titles are pre-recorded from the satellite stream overnight, and can be played on-demand. They are $4.99 for a 24 hour rental, just like traditional HD PPV.

 

[jcrandall]

About the reserved space: I've heard numbers as small as 30gb and as large as 100gb of the 320gb hard drive. If you add an external hard drive to replace the original, it reserves the same amount of space as it does on the internal, so it is consistent among all DirecTV HR2x products.

People have worked on the hard drive in Linux and ballparked the partition for reserved recordings to be 40gb, but there is no evidence to support that, that I've seen.

Anyone, that 40gb has sat empty for a long time, or just with a few small SD recordings. Now they will truly use it.

So, how many HD PPV movies an they hold in that 40gb? This could be a nice feture for people that like to watch the latest PPVs without waiting for it to start at the top or bottom of the hour, or pre-recording the movie. It is just truly on-demand, as long as DirecTV has set it to be there, and the receiver was able to record it during the overnight. (Meaning you don't have recordings going completely around the clock).

Keep in mind - your recordings will always trump and on-demand recordings, they only record if the box has nothing to do, so to speak.

 

[MLBurks]

Though I won't use this often, I think that this is a great service. I know people will complain about the price and about the 24 hour rental rule (which is not D*'s fault) but since it does NOT take away from anyone's personal hard drive space nor does it interfere with anyone's recordings, this hurts no one. If I never use it, it doesn't hurt me. E* has been doing this for quite a while and I used it several times with them.

 

[jcrandall]

Tonight I received word that this feature will be available for the R15, R16, & R22 as well. These SD receivers will get SD PPV movies for 3.99.

It's been a few days and my receiver now has 3 movies: Cloverfield, 10,000BC, & Fool's Gold. DirecTV said they are targeting up to 10-15 movies at any given time. I imagie it may take some time for the database to fill up, assuming it downloads 1 or 2 movies each overnight when nothing is scheduled to record.

 

[skyviewmark]

It was a waste on the E* receivers. And now D* wants to do the same thing.. Of course E* charged $1.00 extra for this waste of space per movie..

 

[Curtis0620]

Tonight I received word that this feature will be available for the R15, R16, & R22 as well. These SD receivers will get SD PPV movies for 3.99.

It's been a few days and my receiver now has 3 movies: Cloverfield, 10,000BC, & Fool's Gold. DirecTV said they are targeting up to 10-15 movies at any given time. I imagie it may take some time for the database to fill up, assuming it downloads 1 or 2 movies each overnight when nothing is scheduled to record.

I only got 10,000BC and Cloverfield on my HR20.

My R15 got Fools Gold, The Waterhorse and 1 other I don't remember.

 

[dfergie]

DIRECTV Movies Now

Here is an overview of the DIRECTV Movies Now service
Basically, customers with DIRECTV Plus DVRs (R15 and R16 models) and Plus HD DVR receivers (HR20, HR21) (not to forget the new R22 models) now have on-demand access to 10 to 15 of our most popular PPV titles.
The benefit of Movies Now is customers don’t have to wait for the scheduled start time or download of a PPV. They simply select a title from the Movies Now folder in their playlist and begin watching immediately.
Movies Now titles are the same price as other PPV titles, and importantly, they do not interfere with the available recording space on a customer’s DVR.
As a reminder, like other PPV selections, the Movies Now titles are available for viewing up to 24 hours after purchase.

From DIRECTV

 

[dcowboy7]

are most of them unfortunately not shown in OAR like PPV either ?

 

[jdspencer]

A previous thread is here.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-forum/140545-new-showcases-movies-more-feature-hd-ppv.html

 

[dfergie]

Ah...looked for wrong name... merged

 

[jcrandall]

I took another look at this today, my DVR now has 9 titles available instantly, in HD.

That's pretty impressive use of the reserved drive space, and is moe than I expected. When D* used the term 10-15, I thought they may have a couple HD and some more in SD, but these are all HD.

I don't watch PPV often, but I will probably use this when I do. It is prerecorded, no waiting for the top of the hour, it's ready to go.

 

[atp1313]

I also felt this was not a top of the list concept, but my wife and I watched a move last weekend from this prerecorded area and it was convenient to have it there without delay.