Voom PVR Irony

Harrypr

Active SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Dec 31, 2003
23
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I find it ironic that both DirectTV and The Dish will have PVR recording before Voom and neither one on them has more than a handful of HD Channels. I can't imagine shelling out $1000 bucks for a 921DVR and have so little to record on it. Ditto for DirectTv and their upcoming HD Tivo. Am I missing something? Has Either competitor announced a recent significant number of HD programming additions?......Harry
 
They are rumors flying around about new additions of HD programming for both, E* and D* but they are only rumors. I agree with you about the lack of programming yet they both have espn-hd, hdnet, and hbo-hd which V* does not have currently. I feel that we Voomers need a PVR as soon as possible because there is too much HD programming on V* at the same time. Right now I find myself watching very little SD programming as I can't catch up with all the HD programming. I could have never imagined saying this about HD programming.
 
I agree about needing a Voom PVR asap!. I am hoping that Tivo announces some type of Voom support soon so I can cancel my Comcast Cable. In the DVD Recorder Topic I was intrigued that another Poster is recording Voom thru Replaytv (If I understood correctly). Thanks, Harry
 
I must say that Saturday night was an exception, (1-3-04). There were about seven quality programs all on at roughly the same time, so a HD PVR would have been useful last night.

The local HD channels make the difference.
 
For me, I suspect my HDTivo :) (when I get it) will get quite a workout on OTA HD alone. And, being able to record/play HD movies will take-over most of my DVD rentals.

(I'm a little behind on watching the latest stuff so, there's lots of stuff on HBO/SHO that I'd love to see .. just not in SD).

So, I see getting PLENTY of use out of the smaller-than-Voom HD offerings of D*.
 
Again, this HD PVR will be good for timeshifting but if you are really interested in archiving HD material, firewire is a must. The 921 has it but it's not active. HDTivo has made no promise that it will be there and VOOM it's up in the air (somewhere). So after having the HD PVR we all be crying for firewire. Last night I do not think that even with an HD PVR, we had been able to catch every show. This is where the East and West coast feed of showtime, starz, & HBO comes in handy. We'll see how everything develops in a few months.
 
Sean,
Please forgive my repetitive questions concerning Pvr's and Dvd recorders, but I am trying to get as much understanding on this subject as possible before my Voom Installation on Wednesday. I expect Voom will make a announcement concerning their own PVR about the time that DirectTV debuts its HD Tivo. I've been reading up on Phillips DVD-R80 DVD Recorder. Although not HD, it seems to have very nice features. For example, It has component (Red,Green,Blue) Y Pb Pr Inputs and Outputs. This (If I understand this correctly) that would be a alternative to firewire. Connecting Voom's Satellite Box thru that type of component output should result in a High Def signal being recorded as 480p, not 480i. The 480p is a high quality image, although not digital HD, it should be better than standard analog. I am guessing this method would downsize a the image on 16:9 screen to 4:3 ? Besides the Component Input, the DVD R80 also has a Firewire Digital Input. This particular model is about $500.00, which isn't bad compared to $1000.00 for a Dish 921. Time will tell............Harry
 
Harrypr,

I do not have an DVD recorder that records through component but what you describe makes sense.
 
Sean,
After much surfing on the Web, The Phillips DVD-R80 seems to be the only DVD recorder on the market that has Y Pb Pr (Component) Inputs. All the rest I came across have the single yellow (compostite) or S-Video Input. The DVDR80 records using the DVD+R/DVD+RW media which I prefer. I like the fact that It also has a i-Link Digital Input as well, that way (when and if) Voom supplies Firewire out, it would be able to record a digital signal as well. This would allow archiving onto a DVD disc, which I'm sure many of us would like to do. The Voom Box's multiple outputs should work simultaneously (DVI AND Component) right?Thanks to you and this Forum, I've learned quite a bit over one weekend! Many Thanks, Harry
 
I don't know of any component DVD-RW type recoders, and all recoding MPEG to analog to MPEG reencoding.

While at best settings it will look good (1 hour per disc?), it will still be standard def.

If I did go the DVD recorder route, make sure that they can record anamorphic for the widescreen out (I actually don't know if this is how Voom outs on S or composite). I think Philips is one of the few that can. A recent Sound & Vision article did a comparison & listed the feature on a secondary table.

Bring on the real DVRs.
 
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