They still haven't really added squat right?

[Alvarez]

I have the HD Tivos and many have talked about upgrading for more HD channels but D* really hasn't added anything still right? So basically the upgrade over the Tivo is useless right?

I really like the Tivo anyways and am not looking forward to losing it but whenever D* actually adds some HD I will most def upgrade. I figure before the football season they will do a massive blitz upgrade sunday ticket deal anyways.

Any word on anything coming or have they added anything?

 

[boston area dtv]

just wondering Alvarez what HD channels were you looking for that would make you upgrade your tivo?

 

[Alvarez]

just wondering Alvarez what HD channels were you looking for that would make you upgrade your tivo?

Nothing in particular just some more HD... I know D* has been in limbo for a long while with promises to add more HD and with the new sats they are supposed to be adding a ton of new HD. I don't know if its been released but I would love SciFi HD, NFLHD, HGTVHD and MTVHD would be pretty cool.

Any new HD is good HD.

 

[charper1]

... I know D* has been in limbo for a long while with promises to add more HD and with the new sats they are supposed to be adding a ton of new HD... Any new HD is good HD.

No limbo at all; As per their documented plan (their promises), they are still, and have been, adding MPEG4 HD LIL and RSNs at a decent pace. Any national HD additions are not "planned" until AFTER the new birds; as you already know, so no surprises that their isn't anything new on that front yet.

 

[rad]

According to the D* web site for zipcode 46112 (Brownsville IN), with the MPEG4 upgrade you'd get ABC/NBC and Fox from Indy and Comcast Sportsnet Chicago HD channel now. You might want to get the Ka/Ku dish upgrade and at least one HR20 now, just to beat the rush, so you'd be ready to go when they do launch.

 

[Alvarez]

No limbo at all; As per their documented plan (their promises), they are still, and have been, adding MPEG4 HD LIL and RSNs at a decent pace. Any national HD additions are not "planned" until AFTER the new birds; as you already know, so no surprises that their isn't anything new on that front yet.

Yea thats what I meant. I know its according to their plan but I meant customer wise we are kind of in HD limbo waiting for some of the channels that are out there they just haven't added yet.

I am a devoted D* subscriber I have seen how crappy E* treats their customers (my parents) so don't think I am trying to slam them I am just conveying they really haven't done anything and according to the post after yours about the chicago sports net and basically locals I get through my OTA they really haven't added anything if thats all they have added here in Indy... Heck I didn't even know they did the upgrade in Indy. They are prolly waiting for something substantial to announce it I would think.

According to the D* web site for zipcode 46112 (Brownsville IN), with the MPEG4 upgrade you'd get ABC/NBC and Fox from Indy and Comcast Sportsnet Chicago HD channel now. You might want to get the Ka/Ku dish upgrade and at least one HR20 now, just to beat the rush, so you'd be ready to go when they do launch.

I will wait for the rush as that would indicate something to rush over and they will prolly have an incredible deal. I got all my HD Tivo's for free so I am sure they will be eventually offering something like that, D* always does.

 

[rad]

I will wait for the rush as that would indicate something to rush over and they will prolly have an incredible deal. I got all my HD Tivo's for free so I am sure they will be eventually offering something like that, D* always does.

Or it could go the other way and they don't make any deals since they have a backlog of orders (you don't lower the price on something when there is a big demand, else we'd be paying $.99 for gas). You might want to call retention and see what they'll offer you now for the new hardware.

 

[Alvarez]

Or it could go the other way and they don't make any deals since they have a backlog of orders (you don't lower the price on something when there is a big demand, else we'd be paying $.99 for gas). You might want to call retention and see what they'll offer you now for the new hardware.

yea I might do that but like I said I really don't wanna ditch the tivo's. I might get the satellite upgrade and put the new DVR in the upstairs home theater where the wife doesn't view much (she strongly doesn't wanna lose the tivos) or I could just hold the new DVR until they add something worth a darn.

I will prolly try that, Thanks for the advice!

 

[bonscott87]

No need to ditch the Tivo's, if you don't mind paying the mirror fee of $5 then just add the HR20 and you'll be ready.

Assuming no troubles with the launch in June we should see new HD lit up this fall.

 

[rkr0923]

the way it looks right now by the time those new sats go up the HR20-700 will be old and a new receiver will be needed...........I've had mine for, wow, not sure, seems like a forever and nothing new has been added. so don't get in a big rush to buy anything new right now. all I'm hearing from D* (not the asskissers in here) is "soon to have the "CAPACITY" for more HD.
notice Charlie Sheen says "CAPACITY"
Christopher Lloyd says "CAPACITY"
not sure about Jessica Simpson, can she even say "CAPACITY", but she did say 1080i whatever that is

 

[Happy Camper]

You are correct-D* has not added 'squat' in the form of HD national movie channels or other HD programming presently carried by most cable networks and FIOS.

But, D* has Big Plans to squat! So far, they have been squatting press releases, but none of them were in HD, so they were mostly diddly-squat.

D* generally proves that if you wait forever, they will squat on you with 'more' of something and catch up to their competition, this time, hopefully, adding national HD stations already broadcasting.

D* deserves credit-they have mastered being extolled for merely planning to squat. Others have actually had to squat something you could tune in before being acknowledged.

If you wait patiently, D will eventually catch up with, and maybe surpass, it's competition, but you'll have to watch on that crappy HR20 they squatted earlier this year. Say good-bye to your beloved TiVo software.

 

[monetnj]

yea I might do that but like I said I really don't wanna ditch the tivo's. I might get the satellite upgrade and put the new DVR in the upstairs home theater where the wife doesn't view much (she strongly doesn't wanna lose the tivos) or I could just hold the new DVR until they add something worth a darn.

I will prolly try that, Thanks for the advice!

I called D* and they gave me a deal of $199 (about $223 total after tax and S&H) to replace both of my HD Tivos with HR20s. So far the transition has been fairly painless. My wife and I don't miss the Tivos much, although I occassionally miss the dual buffers.

A couple of things to consider:

1. It took about a month from order to installation. I don't see that getting better in the fall when the national HD is launched. Might be better to get it now and beat the rush.

2. I sold one of my old HR10-250s on eBay last weekend for $305, which means the upgrade paid for itself and then some. I will probably sell my second HR10-250 too, which means I will make close to $400 on the upgrade. As we get closer to the launch of the nationals, the HD Tivos may be worth less since they won't be compatible.

 

[Alvarez]

I called D* and they gave me a deal of $199 (about $223 total after tax and S&H) to replace both of my HD Tivos with HR20s. So far the transition has been fairly painless. My wife and I don't miss the Tivos much, although I occassionally miss the dual buffers.

A couple of things to consider:

1. It took about a month from order to installation. I don't see that getting better in the fall when the national HD is launched. Might be better to get it now and beat the rush.

2. I sold one of my old HR10-250s on eBay last weekend for $305, which means the upgrade paid for itself and then some. I will probably sell my second HR10-250 too, which means I will make close to $400 on the upgrade. As we get closer to the launch of the nationals, the HD Tivos may be worth less since they won't be compatible.

The new machines don't keep the 1 channel in memory while you switch to another??? yea that would KILL us... we tend to jump over to see certain channels then flip back and rewind to where we were.... I imagine I would have to hit record to be able to do this with the new box?

I used to hate how some posters would dog D* in every thread there was a guy I can't remember his name he was really bad about it... That was not my intention I have been loyal to D* since 1997. However I was told today that AT&T is bringing in something called U-Verse that has high speed internet and television all by fiber cable to my home. I called and talked to them and for all rooms to have DVR's with all stations and the fastest internet package it would be $145.00 I pay $130 to directv or so every month currently and they don't have near the HD AT&T currently has it seems... If D* doesn't act before then I may leave for the 1st time. A buddy of mine told me that Verizon will be signing a deal with Tivo and the Verizon FiOs will be using new Tivo software soon but Verizon is out of my district.

 

[rad]

Alverez, I'd recommend you check out Scotts review that he did on U-Verse, he wasn't that thrilled with it. Also, currently it support only 1 HD channel at a time, AT&T says they'll do 2 at some future date.

 

[monetnj]

Yes, you would have to hit record. Hitting the previous channel button would then allow you to switch back and forth. On the upside, the new boxes have a 90 minute buffer compared to the 30 minute one on the Tivo. You also can't skip 30 seconds instantly. There is a 30 second slip button that super fast forwards 30 seconds in about 2 seconds. Good enough that I don't miss the skip. There also is a nice meter that tells you how much space you have left on the hard drive, it is generally faster, has a 1 button way of setting series links (their version of season passes) and much better way of handling recording conflicts between shows, so some of it is actually better.

As for U-verse, as rad mentioned, you can only watch (live)/record 1 HD show at a time. Even worse, that is 1 HD show per household at a time, not per tv. Too bad FIOS isn't available in your area. Mine either. I live in the tiny sliver of New Jersey serviced by Embarq.

The new machines don't keep the 1 channel in memory while you switch to another??? yea that would KILL us... we tend to jump over to see certain channels then flip back and rewind to where we were.... I imagine I would have to hit record to be able to do this with the new box?

I used to hate how some posters would dog D* in every thread there was a guy I can't remember his name he was really bad about it... That was not my intention I have been loyal to D* since 1997. However I was told today that AT&T is bringing in something called U-Verse that has high speed internet and television all by fiber cable to my home. I called and talked to them and for all rooms to have DVR's with all stations and the fastest internet package it would be $145.00 I pay $130 to directv or so every month currently and they don't have near the HD AT&T currently has it seems... If D* doesn't act before then I may leave for the 1st time. A buddy of mine told me that Verizon will be signing a deal with Tivo and the Verizon FiOs will be using new Tivo software soon but Verizon is out of my district.

 

[iceturkee]

not that i would ever find myself defending directv.....but remembering the first ads they did in early 2005, i don't think they have lied at all. they said it would be 2007 before their hd capacity was significant enough to add new channels.

they have been fairly good about adding hd lil (more than we can say about dish network) plus the regional sports nets. so in all honesty, i think they are pretty much on track with what they announced over 2 years ago.

 

[charper1]

Exactly! You are using your common sense and ability to listen to what is being said, not what people think they hear or want to hear. How dare you use the facts. LOL

 

[Alvarez]

not that i would ever find myself defending directv.....but remembering the first ads they did in early 2005, i don't think they have lied at all. they said it would be 2007 before their hd capacity was significant enough to add new channels.

they have been fairly good about adding hd lil (more than we can say about dish network) plus the regional sports nets. so in all honesty, i think they are pretty much on track with what they announced over 2 years ago.

yea this is totally true. they are right on track with what they have said be it behind the competition or not. Soon they will have the capacity to pass the competition and the comp will have to step up..

Like I said earlier this thread wasn't meant to bash D*. It was more an issue they have just added locals really and basically 1 HD channel or so.. nothing significant for upgrading a receiver especially if you get perfect OTA locals.

 

[CWS_kahuna]

A buddy of mine told me that Verizon will be signing a deal with Tivo and the Verizon FiOs will be using new Tivo software soon but Verizon is out of my district.

This would be great news TIVO + Fios. I have a very good friend who is a Fios installer. He told me my neighborhood had no plans to install Fios anytime soon a while back. The other day he mentioned that Fios was now going to be installed in my neighborhood because my community was going to redo most of the streets so Verizons cost to lay the fiber behind the street guys would be greatly reduced. He was thinking it would be done by the end of the year, which is probably when D*s full capacity will be fully usable. I'd like to stay with D* as I like the service, so I will have a chance to see if all their hype has been worth the wait. Really more than just a bunch of new channels, I want to see D* really push their bitrates back up to compete with what Fios can do.

This same buddy of mine has Fios HD & internet, the HD looks very good IMO & the internet is super fast compared to my Verizon DSL. He does not have a ton of HD channels yet from what it seemed like but I can only imagine they will be coming. I've been spending a lot more time watching HD-DVDs vs watching D*s HD, I ordered the last UFC fight in HD and while it looked much better than the SD feed, it did not look HD at all, it looked like a nice 480P widescreen picture.

 

[Jimbo]

You are correct-D* has not added 'squat' in the form of HD national movie channels or other HD programming presently carried by most cable networks and FIOS.

But, D* has Big Plans to squat! So far, they have been squatting press releases, but none of them were in HD, so they were mostly diddly-squat.

D* generally proves that if you wait forever, they will squat on you with 'more' of something and catch up to their competition, this time, hopefully, adding national HD stations already broadcasting.

D* deserves credit-they have mastered being extolled for merely planning to squat. Others have actually had to squat something you could tune in before being acknowledged.

If you wait patiently, D will eventually catch up with, and maybe surpass, it's competition, but you'll have to watch on that crappy HR20 they squatted earlier this year. Say good-bye to your beloved TiVo software.

All you beloved TIVO users, I'll never understand.
Granted there are several things you cannot do with the HR 20, but most who have given the HR20-700 a chance , like just fine.

Remember the TIVO was not perfect when it came out either.
The HR20-700 has come along way since it first came out, the unit has been stable for quite awhile now and improvements continue as we type.

Jimbo