Ice in Hades? TiVO back in DirecTV's plans!

[renov8r]

http://dtv.client.shareholder.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=331835

DirecTV announces planned availabililty of TiVO HD in second half of 2009...

The interface we love, the content and delivery:) we want. Salvation!

[WK-Michael]

Crazy. We thought it would never happen.

[DrMaul]

AMEN!!!!!!!!

I hate DirecTV HR20 DVR. I will gladly brick it for a TiVo :D

[dchavoc]

AMEN!!!!!!!!

I hate DirecTV HR20 DVR. I will gladly brick it for a TiVo :D

:lol:

My folks have a Direct DVR and I fracking hate the interface on it...I get the how do I do this...and it takes me 10 minutes of searching and then have to try to explain it to the folks how to do it....grrrrrr!

I love our Tivo interface on our unit....now if I can just get the intermittent freezing to stop....it's all good!

[Cahillj]

Tried the HD Tivo route with cable and couldn't stomach it. Cablevision stinks and the HD cablecard thing was a nightmare. Went back to DirecTV and have lived with the HR21 for almost a year while keeping my SD DirecTivo box and watching that when I want to flip.

This truly is a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[WK-Michael]

I've got to say, the HD TiVo with CableCARDs really works pretty well for the vast majority of our customers. On balance, I'd guess the same number of people in the cable world have problems with CableCARDs as the people in the satellite world who have problems with line-of-sight or other mounting issues.

But in any event, if this new unit is as good as the HD TiVos for cable, it will be truly amazing.

[Cahillj]

That may be the case, but DirecTV offers over 100 HD channels while Cablevision on Long Island offers a whopping 65 most of which are garbage. Kung Fu Network in HD??? C'mon...

For those of us who really love the DirecTV service but miss the HD Tivo part today is a great day!!!

[WK-Michael]

It is great news.

But you can get Kung Fu HD? I can't even get PBS HD from DirecTV without an antenna.

[Cahillj]

No Cablevision offers Kung Fu HD, not DirecTV. I am just saying to me it as totally useless channel.

[WK-Michael]

Right - and here I am, with DirecTV, and I can't even get PBS. Strange the way this all works.

[gskeller]

Has anyone had a peek at the specs for this new DTV HD TiVo? My main wish is they have some form of network connection like my Series 3. The TiVo ToGo program rocks and it would be a pity if this new unit did have this feature.

[WK-Jeff]

My guess is that there are no specs available...the box isn't scheduled for release for a year or more....and those who have access are surely subject to a nondisclosure agreement.

[gskeller]

Yeah, good old NDA's... The truth is I hope DTV and TiVo do their homework with this unit. I love DTV, but compared to my Series 3, the DTV boxes have a lot to be desired as far as extended functionality. If this new HD DTV TiVo has a network port and has something similar to TiVo ToGo, I'm on board. If not, I'm going to think twice before getting this unit.

[rknopf]

Now here is the amazing thing: hot on the heels of this announcement I get a letter (arrived today) informing me that I MUST trade in my Tivo-based DTV HD DVR because the old one is going to be obsolete and I will no longer get HD channels if I stick with it. Good news is that at least they are offering to exchange for free. Bad news is that I never installed the disk upgrade I bought a couple months ago....

When I call them I fully expect that a) they are not offering me a DVR, just a receiver, b) if they are it is a leased receiver that I cannot upgrade capacity on. The offer has an Oct 15 deadline on it....

Why oh why could they not wait until the new Tivo unit is available?

[rknopf]

Hah!!! They lied! I called them to find out more. They have NO SCHEDULE to stop the existing MPEG-2 channels, they just wanted me to drink their Kool-Aid. Of course it is free of charge and will include the new antenna I would need to get when the new Directv tivo dvr comes out later, so I might just take them up on it....

[WK-Michael]

They've been claiming to pull them for maybe two years now, but it doesn't seem to be happening, on a big scale. But I am pretty sure a few HD MPEG2 channels have actually been pulled.

[bmillham]

Any ideas on how to get signed up as a Beta tester? I'd be happy to sign a NDA and test the new unit for them :)

[WK-Michael]

Nope - no idea, really. As far as I know, the betas usually work for DirecTV.

[Berniep]

I very much hope the new unit has some capability fro me to put content ONTO it. I use my tivo as much to view content not available in broadcast form around here as I do anything else.

[WK-Michael]

Yup - we're also hoping for all of the networking features that standalone TiVos have.

[Schneibster]

Well, now, let's see.

My HR22 was easy to network- advanced is just what you'd expect, IP address, subnet mask, router, DNS. I've just found out that the HR10-250 doesn't network- at least not easily.

On the other hand, my wife complains that the HR22 doesn't keep real-time recording on the secondary tuner when you flop back and forth. She also doesn't like not being able to filter the guide by subject- sports, for example. She's big on sports. But you can only get Sunday Ticket on the HR22; the old HD games are gone, they're all MPEG4 now. I've heard that the SciFi HD channel is in MPEG4, too, though I haven't checked it out for myself yet.

Overall I'd say it's a push. I do like the TiVO UI better. But I haven't started seeing what I can do with a computer with the HR22 yet, either.

[hshew]

It is great news.

But you can get Kung Fu HD? I can't even get PBS HD from DirecTV without an antenna.
I live in the greater LA area (Ventura), and get HD PBS via the local pkg--something like an extra $5/mo. I can't believe this isn't available to you as well. Or are you being frugal and saving the extra $5/mo by using an antenna for OTA reception?

[WK-Michael]

I can get it now. That was a while ago.

[dmbott]

Did I miss something? It's the latter half of 2009 and I haven't seen this DirecTV Tivo in HD. I've been holding out, but it's getting harder and harder.

What are my real alternatives if this was a pipe dream? I can't get FIOS here in the "sticks" 10 miles west of Baltimore. I like DirecTV much more than I do Comcast (had both at different times). But most importantly, I like the sensible TiVo interface, remote, and two at a time program watching options.

When, how, to change to HD and keep TiVo?

[dmbott]

A little more searching found this:
http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/directv-signup.html

2010 release. Let's hope this doesn't get pushed out further!

[WK-Michael]

Unfortunately, that page has been around for a while. But at least they haven't moved it back further . . .

[delen]

I had a DirecTV installer come out a couple of months ago to move my dish, and I asked him about the new TiVo/DirecTV box. He hemmed and hawed for a bit, then said he didn't think it was going to happen. He wouldn't say why.

Installers aren't exactly in the loop when it comes to new products still under development so you have to take it with a grain of salt, but it makes me wonder if it will ever happen. TiVo itself was supposed to be coming out with new standalone boxes sometime about now, and that hasn't happened either...

[WK-Michael]

We haven't seen rumors about a new standalone box, but we are sure that TiVo will have a new DirecTV box as. They just confirmed that, again, in the quarterly conference call:

http://www.wkblog.com/tivo/2009/11/new-directv-hd-tivo-on-track-for-2010-says-tivo/