Simple DirecTV HDTV question

[Linflas]

Our DirecTV receivers are now almost 9 years old and I am considering purchasing a new receiver for the main TV. Right now I am not ready to buy an HDTV but was looking yesterday at the new DirecTV receivers and saw the HDTV ones. Is it possible to buy one of these and hook it up to a non HDTV receiver? I know I won't get the HDTV benefits but it would be nice to already have it when I do make the move to buy an HDTV set, hopefully later this year.

 

[NutBucket]

Just get a DirecTIVO then. You'll love it

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: NutBucket
Just get a DirecTIVO then. You'll love it

Heh I was looking at those too but I am considering building my own "Tivo" with one of those new PC cases designed to be used as part of a home theater setup.

 

[NutBucket]

For the $100 (or less) you can't match a TIVO. I'm really impressed.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: Linflas
Right now I am not ready to buy an HDTV but was looking yesterday at the new DirecTV receivers and saw the HDTV ones. Is it possible to buy one of these and hook it up to a non HDTV receiver?

You mean buying a DirecTV HDTV receiver and hooking it up to a non-HDTV television set? If so, then yes, that is possible.

 

[WTT0001]

Yes either way, although at that point just switch to Dish and get the $99 HDTV receiver w/1 year or Free with 2

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: WTT0001
Yes either way, although at that point just switch to Dish and get the $99 HDTV receiver w/1 year or Free with 2

That is a nice price but no way I am switching to Dish. I love my football package too much to leave DirecTV. The TIVO idea is tempting but I cannot convince myself to fork over 5 bucks a month for the convenience of not having to enter simple record start and stop times myself unless there is something more to TIVO I am missing.

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Originally posted by: Linflas

That is a nice price but no way I am switching to Dish. I love my football package too much to leave DirecTV. The TIVO idea is tempting but I cannot convince myself to fork over 5 bucks a month for the convenience of not having to enter simple record start and stop times myself unless there is something more to TIVO I am missing.

The two major TiVo functions a VCR doesn't duplicate are timeshifting (pause a show you haven't programmed it to record) and season passes (record by show name, not by air time).

 

[Dunbar]

The HD DirecTivo is coming out soon but it lists at $1000. It will be the ultimate PVR though. You can buy an HDTV receiver and hook it up to the standard TV. You will need to get a new dish when you do want HD programming. I would just wait until you buy the HDTV though, the deals are only going to get better with time.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: FeathersMcGraw

Originally posted by: Linflas

That is a nice price but no way I am switching to Dish. I love my football package too much to leave DirecTV. The TIVO idea is tempting but I cannot convince myself to fork over 5 bucks a month for the convenience of not having to enter simple record start and stop times myself unless there is something more to TIVO I am missing.

The two major TiVo functions a VCR doesn't duplicate are timeshifting (pause a show you haven't programmed it to record) and season passes (record by show name, not by air time).

Does it still allow you to bypass commercials?

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Originally posted by: Linflas

Does it still allow you to bypass commercials?

Sort of. It's a 30-second forward skip. I think only ReplayTV had actual commercial skip.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: FeathersMcGraw

Originally posted by: Linflas

Does it still allow you to bypass commercials?

Sort of. It's a 30-second forward skip. I think only ReplayTV had actual commercial skip.

heh sorry to keep picking your brain about this but you seem to know TIVO... What quality is the recording done at on the drive? I know when I record with my Dazzle at DVD quality it takes about 4.7 GB for a 1.5 hour movie. Does it have any kind of copy protection that would stop me from dumping something I have recorded on it to another medium?

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Originally posted by: Linflas
heh sorry to keep picking your brain about this but you seem to know TIVO... What quality is the recording done at on the drive? I know when I record with my Dazzle at DVD quality it takes about 4.7 GB for a 1.5 hour movie. Does it have any kind of copy protection that would stop me from dumping something I have recorded on it to another medium?

Actually, I don't own one, but just about all my friends do.

There are varying recording levels, but the highest-quality one translates to about 1GB/hour of recording. The lowest-level quality uses less space but is very artifacty; there's also a medium quality setting somewhere inbetween. (I believe DirectTiVo always records at the quality of the satellite broadcast; not sure about the compression there). Early generations of the TiVo were hacked (by adding an IDE hard drive) to expand the initial capacity; doing so voids the warranty, but just about everyone I know did it without any issues (and consequently can store about 100 hours of recordings).

I'm pretty sure that you can dump recorded stuff to a VCR without DRM issues. I don't know about DVD recorders or the interconnects used for either process.

 

[Linflas]

After sniffing around on the DirecTV site I found out that there would not be any monthly charge for TIVO for me. This has just become more interesting so I guess I will be checking out the DirecTV TIVO's at BB and CC this weekend. Thanks much for all the info FeathersMcGraw.