New DirecTV unit by NDS to hit stores next week

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New DirecTV unit by NDS to hit stores next week

According to DirecTV's 3rd quarter report, the new NDS DVR that will replace the combo TiVo units will be shipping next week:

DirecTV said it will start shipping its own digital video recorder next week as it transitions from sole reliance on DVRs made by TiVo Inc. The new recorders use software from NDS Group Ltd., another company owned by News Corp.

Another interesting tidbit is plans to show off TiVo ToGo-type functionality at CES this January:

Carey also said the company would introduce new products at the Consumer Electronics Show in January that would allow programming to be viewed on portable devices. The company main's competitor, EchoStar Communications Corp., introduced a portable media player last month that works in conjunction with its Dish Network satellite TV service.

No word on whether the new NDS unit supports HD signals (I'm assuming it does not). [thanks davis]

by Matt Haughey November 3, 2005 in DirecTV, News

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The info I've seen on the about-to-ship NDS box is that it is *SD-only*, not HD capability.

They won't have a new HD DVR until mid-2006.

Posted by: MegaZone at Nov 3, 2005 2:43:19 PM

Hmmm, viewable on portable devices. Here's hoping that includes the iPod with Video and can work with Macs. OK, that's probably too much to ask. Besides if they announce it at CES in January it won't ship until 2008 sometime anyway.

Posted by: Kyle Johnson at Nov 3, 2005 4:45:59 PM

THe NDS box shipping next week is SD but I believe Chase made comments that an HD-DVR would ship in 1Q. Given the delays in getting out the SD box I would suspect it will ship sometime next year, but not in the winter.

Posted by: elect at Nov 4, 2005 4:42:34 AM

Direct TV has been behind the curve holding back TiVo's latest developments such as home netowrking and togo TV. Somehow they think this will make their new box seem "innovative". Meanwhile, the Comcast box that has HD and ondemand programming for just about all programming, and doesn't have to a) use your second channel at night while u're watching _ grrrrrrrr and b} doesn't have to use YOUR disk space for the on demand.. now they want to charge/make money on MY bandwidth (i.e.using that second channel)
Well, I may have my clients pitch direct tv since they won't see tivo improvements anymore, and cable has the ability to give you better technology and now at a better price point when you do combo deals -cell-isp, etc. There is more anger in the DTV market than is being measured..

Posted by: Ugh! Direct TV makes mistake! at Nov 7, 2005 1:30:00 PM

The R15 is indeed SD. The big new things are:

Caller ID
Ir and RF remote
160 gig hard drive
VOD
viewmarks
interactive features

and my fav

a 90 minute buffer

Posted by: Paul at Nov 7, 2005 2:55:47 PM

Knowing that DirecTV would roll out a product that would make current HD PVRs obsolete, I decided for the moment to live with my lo-def Sony DirecTV and opted for the non-PVR DirecTV HD box.

Two surprises:

1. I continued to get dropped pictures using the HDMI input. DirecTV customer assistance insisted that the television or the HDMI plug was bad. I have used the same plug and TV input with the HDMI output on my DVD player without ever experiencing a problem. After visits from customer service personnel to fiddle with the dish, with no change, another call was made by DirecTV's own service man. After moving up the chain, DirecTV finally acknowledged that the HDMI output should not be used since there were known issues which they hoped to fix with a later software upgrade. I switched to component output. Now, a couple of months later, the dropouts are occurring with this output as well, but ONLY on the HD stations. I expect spending another month attempting to have this issue resolved.

2. I purchased the DirecTV HD receiver in May 2005, at full price. In mid-October, I received a postcard advising me that by purchasing this equipment, I had committed to a 2-year contract with DirecTV and that should I ever downgrade my package (which is NOT a basic package) or drop the service, I would receive a hefty fine or would be required to return the unit without reimbursement. First I ever heard of this. More calls to DirecTV and a supervisor got me nowhere. Apparently, when I picked the box off the shelf at Best Buy and bought the unit at the counter, a salesman was obligated to inform me of this commitment. Didn't happen.

What is even more peculiar, if I had been a new customer and sent in a coupon to get $100.00 off the price, I would (according to the fine print on the coupon) have committed myself to a 1-year contract at the basic level.

Beware, I was told that any upgrade of "high-end" equipment (including HD PVRs) commits the purchaser to a 2-year contract at the existing level of service.

Needless to say, as one of the earliest adopters and a loyal fan of DirecTV, I am put off by these high-handed tactics and poor quality of product that DirecTv is now offing on their customers. I suspect this is part of NewsCorp's means for improving profits.

Have any others run into these problems?

Posted by: Mike at Nov 17, 2005 6:01:24 AM

I left Dish Network for DirecTV after getting the run around over their PVR product. I had been a Dish customer for 8 years before dumping them for DTV. Now I will probably dump DTV and go to cable as soon as my one year committment is up. Their heavy handed tactics are unacceptable.

I recently purchased a basic receiver at Best Buy to add another room to my system. After activating the receiver, I noticed a generic DTV Thank You post card my wife had left on a counter and had ignored.

My blood pressure spiked as I read the fine print. It stated that by "accepting your current equipment" (which I purchased) you agreed to pay for 12 consecutive months of your current programming package without interruption for each DirecTV receiver purchased...."

It went on to describe my penalties for not complying. First off, I didn't agree to anything. There was no disclosure from the kids who man the sales floor at Best Buy. I signed nothing. When I activated the receiver over the phone, no mention was made of this cryptic committment.

Most important, I have the most expensive package that DTV has to offer and pay through the nose each month for the biggest package, plus four recievers and DVR/PVR. Next year I will be going to HD format. I never guessed that the retail price I paid at Best Buy was a buy down from DTV for future long term committments. This is more than annoyning and will eventually cost DTV my business. I refuse to be manipulated by these heavy handed tactics.

Posted by: Mike at Dec 24, 2005 9:06:15 AM

Has anyone been able to see this at the CES? I'd love to hear comments.

Todd Lokken

Posted by: Todd Lokken at Jan 5, 2006 10:54:03 AM

I've had the R15 for awhile now. It's a POS with the exception of image quality which is good. Everything else is bad though.

* Frequent lockups
* 4x mac fast forward/reverse
* can't jump to arbitrary time code in a recording, so if you want to get to the end you have to fast forward through the entire recording, no matter how long it is.
* Very bad User Interface
* Actions sometimes queue up and take a long time to execute so you can hit play, but it will keep fast forward/reverse - ing for 15 seconds before actually starting to play
* Sluggish UI reponse
* Extrmemely long boot time
* frequent lockups/reboots

Posted by: William T at Jun 19, 2007 12:05:40 AM

I recently left Directv (for Verizon FIOS - a better and cheaper service), and was more than annoyed to be told by Directv that they won't be removing the unsightly dish from my roof. Per customer service, my three options are to leave it there, remove it myself, or have someone else do it. What's more, when I signed up for Directv, the installation crew came to my house SEVEN times before they got my system working. It would've been comedic, but I had to take off work each time. Each time I called customer service to complain, it was as if I'd never called before. There was never a record of my previous troubles. And as if that weren't enough, the installation guys originally put the dish on the front of my house instead of the back. I asked them to move it to the back of the roof, which they did, but only to find out the next time it rained that they didn't tar the holes they left on the front of my roof. The result was a water damaged bedroom ceiling and me on the roof, filling in Directv's holes with roofing tar. I complained loudly to Directv but was told only that I should get a professional estimate along with a written detailed description AND photo of the damage and send this all to a PO Box in Colorado. I did this and have yet to hear back. I know this is long and winding, but I think it's worth mentioning. So proceed with Directv at your own peril.

Posted by: Rob at Feb 29, 2008 12:32:08 PM

New DirecTV unit by NDS to hit stores next week

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