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"Not dead yet!" - DirecTiVo

Good news from DirecTV and TiVo: It appears they will extend their partnership for another three years. Given the two million functioning units still out there and the reports I've heard that the R15 replacement sucks in terms of interface and functionality, it's good to see DirecTV back off from the abandonment of the dual tuner satellite TiVo box. [thanks, Greg!]

by Matt Haughey April 12, 2006 in News

Comments

Very interesting. Ok, so I wonder what effect this has on the new HD DVRs DirecTV is supposed to release any month now. I've been holding out for this release before getting rid of my crappy Comcast setup, but is this deal an admission that the new equipment "ain't all that"? I have not seen a box but you mentioned that you've heard they sucked? It wouldn't surprise me since everything other than Tivo pretty much sucks.

The bigger question to me is exactly how compatible the exisiting HD DirecTivos will be with the new DirecTV HD channels scheduled to launch soon (including local stations). If they are fully compatible, I may just snatch one up right now and go back to DirecTV already. I have a feeling they are not though.

Interestingly, as well, these units are available from DirecTV for like $299 now. Down from almost a grand when they came out.

Posted by: Mike D. at Apr 12, 2006 9:53:09 AM

The existing HD DirecTivos will not be at all compatible with the new DirecTV HD channels. Don't buy one. A friend of mine spent $1000 for one when they were new, and is now resigned to throwing it away once the new service launches.

Posted by: Sam at Apr 12, 2006 10:35:51 AM

Mike: DirecTV is migrating from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4. I think this deal is more about DTV buying time to migrate several million people off the TiVo platform and onto their own DVR hardware. Still good news for DTV customers and easy revenue for TiVo, Inc.

Posted by: Dave Zatz at Apr 12, 2006 10:58:21 AM

DirecTV can say they want to move to MPEG4 all they want, but it's just like cable saying they want to go digital. It's been 15 years now and channels 1-99 are still analog. What's the holdup, you say? Existing customer base. You will not have your existing HD channels "converted" to MPEG4 for a LONG time to come. They don't even have a box released yet that will handle MPEG4 in hardware.

Posted by: Randle at Apr 12, 2006 11:24:42 AM

Directv has MPEG 4 channels already broadcasting since Nov. I watch all of my locals through HD on MPEG4 using the Directv H20 box(MPEG 4 capable)

Posted by: monal at Apr 12, 2006 12:21:49 PM

Since I get all of my locals OTA through my HD Tivo (better pq than even MPEG-4) I think I'll stick with what I have for now (please don't break!). I have friends with the new DTV DVRs and they BLOW. No 30-second skip, and even basic functions like ff and rewind were implemented badly. If DTV can't get their act together I'll switch to cable as soon as they support the Series-3 Tivo.

Posted by: JC at Apr 12, 2006 1:41:08 PM

The current HDTivos that cost a grand back in the day still record OTA HD, so they will definitely not be junk once DirecTV comes out with HD locals. If they start adding MPEG4 HD non-locals, then those stations cannot be picked up in HD.

Also, buying a current box today doesn’t cost 299 as they charge 499 and you flipping lease the equipment. You have to pay them an additional 5 bucks a month lease fee and you have to return it to them if you quit. Any malicious destruction of the DirecTivoHD and you will have to shell out even more money – I had to ask.

The guys that paid 1K seem to be getting their money’s worth in the deal.

Posted by: AssClown at Apr 12, 2006 1:59:44 PM

Sorry monal, I should have been more specific. Replace the word "box" with "DVR" in my last sentence. We are on the PVRblog site, after all. ;)

And I'm not arguing that new HD channels will be available to users of older hardware, just that existing HD channels they are used to viewing today will continue to be available for quite some time.

Posted by: Randle at Apr 12, 2006 3:38:56 PM

You don't lease the DTV boxes, you buy them, then pay a monthly fee to have it connected and usable. (Same as cable, BTW) If you deactivate the box, you stop paying that fee, but the equipment is yours.

Posted by: Mike B. at Apr 12, 2006 4:53:04 PM

Mikeyb, If you look at the dtv website or you call a CSR, you actually lease the equipment. Meaning that you actually dont own it.

I did see that the price did come down though. Woohoo!!! its 399 and only 100 dollars more expensive than it was 4 months ago.

Posted by: AssClown at Apr 12, 2006 5:09:41 PM

I bought my old hd tivo from ebay so there's absolutely no reason I'd return it to DTV. I OWN it. As far as the new HD DVRs go, you have the option to buy or lease. Mike is RIGHT! $700 or 799 to buy and $499 to LEASE!! I have every intention of keeping my old one. No reason to "upgrade". Get all locals OTA.

Posted by: g mo at Apr 13, 2006 10:46:44 AM

I think I got thrown off by the timestamps and sigs here...meant to say AssClown is right.(:

Posted by: g mo at Apr 13, 2006 10:49:06 AM

TiVo has won their patent lawsuit against Dish, as was announced a few hours ago.

So, looking back one day, it appears DirecTV already knew, with fairly good certainty, what the outcome of the patent case would be.

I expect somewhere down the line we'll see some kind of new agreement between TiVo and DirecTV beyond this temporary extension.

Posted by: TiVo wins! at Apr 13, 2006 4:54:02 PM

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