Ready to buy HD DVR, got a question.

[slinky]

I have called a few companies that re-sell DTV and gotten very similar numbers for equipment. Namely, 199.00 for the first HD DVR and 299.00 for the second. These all have 200 hour (SD) HDD. Can I get more bang for the buck if i just let the DTV reseller supply me with the "free" SD receivers and buy the HD DVRs elsewhere?
Thank you
slink

 

[Jimbo]

I have called a few companies that re-sell DTV and gotten very similar numbers for equipment. Namely, 199.00 for the first HD DVR and 299.00 for the second. These all have 200 hour (SD) HDD. Can I get more bang for the buck if i just let the DTV reseller supply me with the "free" SD receivers and buy the HD DVRs elsewhere?
Thank you
slink

Why not just call D* and work out a deal with them, you would think that you would have more flexability that way.

The HD DVR's have either a 300GB Hard drive -700 or a 320 GB -100

Jimbo

 

[slinky]

Why not just call D* and work out a deal with them, you would think that you would have more flexability that way.

The HD DVR's have either a 300GB Hard drive -700 or a 320 GB -100

Jimbo

Actually, D themselves want to charge an HD Access and an HD service charge that totals 15.98. The re-sellers do not charge this.

As far as the units themselves.....
It's not just "how cheap a price can i get"
I'll elaborate. Are there units available from merchants that i might find here that can do more than the units supplied by DTV?
For instance,
1- i am learning thru another thread how to shift content from two
HD HD DVRs to either of two displays. It. looks like i'll need an ethernet port for this...do all of the HD DVRS have active ethernet ports?

2-maybe some HD DVRS have active USB or SATA ports with which to easily add capacity. If so, I'd like to know what units they are.

 

[bateau980]

I seriously doubt you will get by without the HD access charges. Just because the reseller says it won't be charged... it's D* that you're signing the contract with. Many times resellers are working off of old scripting, or old service brochures. When I was working retail, I found D* brochures on the display that were from 3 revisions prior. Of course, I took care of them before customers found them, but it just shows it is a possibility.

1- I doubt this is a function that is available more than a CE release. Come to think of it, this is the first I've heard of being able to do it. All I have ever seen is that if you have a ViiV compliant PC you can share - via ethernet - from the PC to the DVR, not any other form of sharing is available yet.

2-I haven't seen anything that the HR20 has activated the USB ports any more than allowing them to be powered. The eSATA port is active and will allow you to install a drive; however, the capacity does not stack on top of the internal drive. Instead, the internal drive goes dormant while using eSATA.

If you have anything to show otherwise, I'd be very interested to take a look at it!

 

[slinky]

I seriously doubt you will get by without the HD access charges. Just because the reseller says it won't be charged... it's D* that you're signing the contract with. Many times resellers are working off of old scripting, or old service brochures. When I was working retail, I found D* brochures on the display that were from 3 revisions prior. Of course, I took care of them before customers found them, but it just shows it is a possibility.


Yep. I can believe this scenario. Especially because the HD DVR plus package is 70.00 whereas my friend has an SD package from 3 years ago that has the same SD programming for 70.00 w/o HD. I think that current SD package is 45 or 50 per month. So 70 for programming and 16 for access is 86 per month. Sounds reasonable to me.




1- I doubt this is a function that is available more than a CE release. Come to think of it, this is the first I've heard of being able to do it. All I have ever seen is that if you have a ViiV compliant PC you can share - via ethernet - from the PC to the DVR, not any other form of sharing is available yet.



Has to do with a matrix switcher and baluns to convert cat5 to something that can connect to the back of the DVR. I'm still waiting for more help on that so I may be relaying erroneous info. Here is the discussion...
http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-dvr-forum/102493-place-shifting-dvr-content.html


2-I haven't seen anything that the HR20 has activated the USB ports any more than allowing them to be powered. The eSATA port is active and will allow you to install a drive; however, the capacity does not stack on top of the internal drive. Instead, the internal drive goes dormant while using eSATA.

Yes, thank you... since I posted this thread I have found disscussion on that topic. Am i to understand that discussion correctly in that when you plug the eSATA drive in it automatically copies system files from the origianal drive so that there is no need to transfer an image of the original to the external?

If you have anything to show otherwise, I'd be very interested to take a look at it!

Huh?

Hey,
Thanks for your help.

 

[bateau980]

No problem. Thanks for the link to the Place Shifting thread. Not too complex, but I'm happy with my setup right now.