It is a shame that D* really has handicapped the TiVo--that said, it must have hit the national radio news this morning because my dad heard about it before I could tell him and asked me how he could get one.
What strikes me about this whole thing is that DirecTV seems to go out of their way on their website to talk you down from buying one: "Please note: The TiVo HD DVR from DIRECTV is not compatible with DIRECTV Whole-Home DVR service, 3D and other DIRECTV features. Find out more." and "Please note: The following DIRECTV features are not available with the TiVo HD DVR: Whole-Home DVR service, DIRECTV iPad App remote control and live TV streaming functionality, DIRECTV CINEMA (satellite downloads), YouTube on TV, 3D, and GameSearch™." without really playing up the benefits that it has over the HR series e.g. Wishlists and actual Suggestions, or even the fact that it while it may not do satellite downloads, it still offers On Demand.
...then they tack on a $5 additional fee. I don't remember ever having an additional fee for any of the DirecTivos I've owned in the past. Plus I hope it's $5 per account, not per receiver, although somehow I doubt this.
It's almost like (hell I bet this is exactly it) it seems that this thing was frozen in 2008/09 (whenever the HR22 was current), then the rumors of E* buying Tivo came out, and they had their little patent war--so D* halted everything so they could figure out a way to call it off if E* actually did buy Tivo. That took a few years--but now that there are no more rumblings about E*, they went ahead and released it 3 years late, without having done really any additional work or modernization during that time it was put on hold--I'm hoping that they do work on some upgrades for it (e.g. the HD GUI), and that the D* hardware they are running it on isn't a complete and total rewrite that ensures a huge pain to port to it whenever they want to do an upgrade (which is what happened with Comcast and the Motorola boxes--they used Java or something off the wall to port it over which ran slooowwww)--and that it is considerably faster than the old DirecTivos.
I don't think Tivo itself is exactly dead yet--having recently moved from D* to Comcast (not exactly by choice) I picked up 2 Tivo Premiere's--and aside from the fact that I can't access Comcast On Demand (although I've seen articles that say this is changing in the next year), I have access to my Netflix streaming account, Hulu Plus (which basically fills the void of lack of On Demand--and they gave me 6 months free), Amazon Instant Video (which was previously built in to my TV), and Blockbuster (if I had an account)--and can search across all of them--which is SWEET. The best part? The Premiere is FAST--not *quite* as fast as my HR23 with the HD interface, but WAY faster than the old school DirecTivos that took forever and a day to change season passes, record things etc.--in other words, it's taken me a week to get re-addicted to Tivo and realize that vs. the *current* Tivo software, the HR (even with the HD interface) still pales in comparison--and this isn't even the really brand new Verison 15 software they have on Virgin Media in the UK that is supposedly making it's way here soon.
In addition (I guess I'm in a lucky area), in my area Comcast has NO fees for CableCards (well, "the first card in each device is free"--1 M-Card that can do 2 streams counts as 1 card), nor charges a HD access fee--so I just pay for my plan, then pay Tivo $12.95 + 9.95 for DVR service (Craigslist is your friend for grandfather-rated Tivos)--which actually comes out MUCH cheaper than the $15.95 x 2 + $10 HD fee + $8 "additional digital outlet fee" they wanted had I taken 2 of their crappy Motorola HD DVRs--even paying Tivo the full current rate of $19.99 + $14.95 comes out cheaper than that.
--Nat
