Full Review of the R-15 DirecTV DVR

Over at the TiVo Community, user ebonovic has posted a very lengthy, comprehensive review of DirecTV's R-15 NDS based 'DTiVo killer' DVR. There are loads of screenshots and details of the signup process (no phone required, it uses the satellite!), along with testing of all the ports and even the hard drive. One amusing thing is the "TiVo Central" screen with your recordings is called "My VOD".

November 10, 2005 in DirecTV, News | Permalink | Comments (58) | TrackBack

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]

November 3, 2005 in DirecTV, News | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack

DirecTV's own HD DVR rollout to start in early 2006

DirecTV users with combo TiVo units (in either standard def or high def) have been kind of hung out to dry for the past year or so. There haven't been any major software features added to the standard def units and the HD units only get a handful of channels (see DirecTV's HD Problem for more).

A reader recently wrote in with this story about attempting to get local current HD programming from DirecTV on his HD TiVo:

...statement(s) showing the LA/NYC HD network feeds from Direct TV are outdated (3 years old). According to Direct TV, they dropped that programming option in December of 2004. Getting network programming in HD requires waivers from the networks and according to Direct TV's HD technical support group, only 20% of waivers for HD network programming are approved [...] you may expect a 30-45 day wait to find out that only 20% of us will ever get approved!

Ever since DirecTV made it known their next DVR would be from their own subsidiary NDS instead of TiVo, everyone's been wondering when the new units would see the light of day. DirecTV sent up a few new satellites for their expanded MPEG-4 HD lineup (they say they will support 100s of channels of HD content by 2007), but current HD and SD DirecTiVo owners would have to wait for new hardware to take advantage of the new channels.

Over on the TiVo Community, it looks like official word from DirecTV is that early 2006 we should start seeing HD DVRs from DirecTV, with coverage in 12 major cities. It also sounds like there will be some sort of trade-in program for HD DirecTiVo units. As always, I'm curious what the user experience will be like compared to the TiVo devices. I've heard good and bad things about the NDS units over in the UK.

September 13, 2005 in DirecTV | Permalink | Comments (91) | TrackBack

Exclusive First Look: The New DIRECTV DVR

TVPredictions has some info and screenshots from their post about New DIRECTV DVR. The information is taken from an early manual that was passed around to distributors (and offered up here by someone) and talks about all the features that will be part of the unit. The unit is rumored to ship in October, but it has been pushed back a couple times and I wouldn't be surprised to see it pushed back further (especially when DirecTV is ordering more combo TiVo units to meet demand for their current promotions).

I'm most interested in hearing about the expanded HD content offerings as well as the recording/playback quality of the new mpeg4 HD channels, or if they're even available yet, but I'm sure we'll have to wait until someone has an actual unit to test out.

August 25, 2005 in DirecTV | Permalink | Comments (68) | TrackBack

How to configure Vonage with your DirecTiVo

Getting a Vonage phone to work with a modem isn't easy, since there are several conversions between digital and analog audio along the way. Khan.org has figured it out, with step-by-step instructions: how to make nightly calls on DirecTiVo with a Vonage line.

Of course, it'd be nice if DirecTV enabled the USB ports so customers could use their broadband connections, but this is a good alternative for those using VOIP on their network. [via MakeZine]

August 6, 2005 in DirecTV | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

DirecTV to start phasing out Tivo next month?

Forbes is running a story on the DirecTV move away from TiVo, which has coincided with TiVo's stock taking a recent hit.

"The research firm said DirecTV could begin to transition its TiVo base to new technology, starting with shipments of the first non-TiVo digital video recorders in August or September."

This news is a long time coming, starting in fall of 2003 when speculation began, and last summer it became official. Reports are that new HDTV capabilities would arrive for DirecTV in late summer of this year, but in a flavor of MPEG4 that current HD DirecTiVos can't record.

Financially speaking, DirecTV's million+ customers make up a decent chunk of TiVo's total userbase and when TiVo starts losing all those customers to new non-TiVo DirecTV units, it may effect their bottom line. TiVo's stock may take a dip, but if the partnership between Comcast and TiVo results in either better integrated TiVos or the TiVo software running on Comcast set-top boxes, it could certainly replace any lost revenue from DirecTV. [thanks, Dave!]

July 27, 2005 in DirecTV | Permalink | Comments (24) | TrackBack

20 million DVRs for DirecTV

Edward Jay Epstein covers Rupert Murdoch's drive to kill off the movie rental business by adding DVRs to the DirecTV network to create video-on-demand.  The main challenge is that Wal-Mart has forced the movie companies to give physical retailers (Wal-Mart) a 45-day window of time where movies cannot be distributed electronically.

Is this a Wal-Mart vs. DirecTV battle?  I can't imagine it being that simple. However, a future where we don't travel to Blockbuster (or Tsutaya here in Japan) is obvious for those who enjoy NetFlix.  With the 100 and 1000 Gb/sec. retail consumer fiber-optic networks in Asia, VoD for movies is not far away.

Even before Murdoch completed his acquisition of DirecTV, he told financiers at Morgan Stanley's Global Media Conference that he planned to marry the satellites above with TiVo-like home recorders below, explaining that "every subscriber will be getting either a free digital video recorder or one for nominal amounts of money." And, to this end, he placed an order for 20 million digital video recorders for his customers.

Murdoch plans to digitally deliver movies and other programming from his satellites to home digital video recorders that would be the same quality, or higher (HDTV), than a DVD. Since there are not enough transponders on satellites to stream movies to individual subscribers on demand, Murdoch needs DVRs in every home to make his digital-delivery system work. With DVRs, the satellites can upload movies in the middle of the night in encrypted form onto subscribers' hard discs without us having to do anything or even be aware of it. (One idea now under consideration at DirecTV is to provide these DVRs with an enormous 160-gigabyte recording capacity. The subscriber would only be told about 80 gigabytes, with the remaining 80 gigabytes reserved for encrypted movies.) Once the movies are placed on the DVRs, a customer "rents" them by clicking on his remote control.

If you haven't invested in companies in the HDD storage industry, now's your chance :)

Full disclosure- I went to elementary and middle school with James and Lachlan, but that was decades ago and half a world away.

Rupert Murdoch Strikes Back - His bold plan to give away 20 million digital video recorders. [slate.msn.com]

June 16, 2005 in DirecTV | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

DirecTV update breaks stand-alone PVRs

Wired is reporting that an update to the DirecTV D10 receiver is causing problems for TiVo and ReplayTV owners. Apparently it's not always accepting commands sent over the serial port, causing some missed shows. The solution listed is to use the IR blaster, which can have the same problem as the one reported.

The conspiratorially minded think that this update is just an effort on DirecTV's part to get them to buy receivers with PVRs built in. A DirecTV representative responds "I can absolutely say this is not a tactic to get people to switch over to another receiver," which is just the sort of thing you'd expect them to say if there were a conspiracy.

June 13, 2005 in DirecTV, ReplayTV, TiVo | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack

DirecTV 6.2 TiVo Software Upgrade

DirecTV sent out a mailer to me tonight that let me know to be on the lookout for the TiVo 6.2 OS  upgrade that should be coming soon to my DirecTiVo reciever. It looks like they've rewritten the menuing system to make the guide more responsive and they've added folders from the TiVo 4.0 OS.

Unfortunately, no mention of any other TiVo 4.0 OS features like the home media option, and no mention of TiVo 7.1 features like TiVoToGo. It appears to be just folders and faster menus, and it's the first major update in quite some time.

Anyone got the new update and get anything more out of their DirecTiVo than just those two things?

May 5, 2005 in DirecTV, News | Permalink | Comments (69) | TrackBack

DirecTV's HD problem

A few months ago, I finally splurged and got a low-end plasma TV capable of displaying HDTV signals (it's only 480p or ED, but still). I longed for a HD DirecTiVo to replace my current (hacked) DirecTiVo box. Last month I called DirecTV to inquire what my options were, and that's when trouble started.

Basically, if I paid $999 for a HD DirecTiVo box plus ten bucks a month extra, I could get their HDTV pack including Discovery and ESPN in HD format, their HDNet offering of various programming, and HBO in HD, since I already get HBO. Local stations in HD format like Fox, ABC, CBS, and NBC were subject to pending FCC approval even though DirecTV has a pretty page set up to sell it.

I called today to see how that FCC ruling went and unfortunately, DirecTV lost. If you get local channels in standard definition format, you cannot get HD. DirecTV can only offer Over the Air (OTA) antennas, which doesn't help me being out in the hilly regions away from Portalnd, OR. They did say if I lived in LA or NYC, I could get local channels in HD from DirecTV, but otherwise the rest of the country was screwed. I don't think five channels of varying content are worth a thousand dollar box (with constant HDMI problems) plus ten bucks a month.

But it doesn't end there -- DirecTV sent up a couple new satellites last year to increase their bandwidth for more HD channels. They're talking about adding dozens-to-hundreds of channels in HD format in the next year, but (drumroll please...) it'll be in a new encryption/encoding (MPEG-4) format which won't work with $999 HD DirecTiVos.

The Washington Post recently mentioned this in an advice column, warning folks to avoid the HD DirecTiVo boxes. Word on the street is that DirecTV will offer their competing NDS DVR for recording HD signals instead of TiVo, with no concrete plans for converting current owners from one to the other. DirecTV says that plans are to have the new channels and DVRs out by the end of the year, so the bottom line is that if you're a HDTV owner with DirecTV in 2005 that wants to record HDTV, you're S.O.L.

It's a bummer really, since I've gotten DirecTV in 2002, I never thought I'd go back to cable, but Comcast now offers their HD DVR in my area for less than the price of my DirecTV package, and I wouldn't have to buy a $999 doorstop to get it. I'd really like to enjoy network shows in HD, and it looks like my only option for the next year.

DirecTV really dropped the ball on this one.

UPDATE: Thomas Hawk says there's a way to route around DirecTV's damage by getting the right rep on the phone and asking for the NY/LA service for a few bucks extra. Sounds like exactly what I wanted, though the reps I've spoken with say they're not allowed to sell that to me. Kind of expensive to get the HD locals for another $10/month on top of the $10/month regular HD package, but at least it's possible.

April 5, 2005 in DirecTV, Op-Ed | Permalink | Comments (70) | TrackBack

The PTVnet DirecTiVo upgrade drive review

Let's face it, DirecTV customers with the combo DirecTiVo boxes have been left in the cold for the past few years when it comes to TiVo announcements. Thanks to an agreement that shifted DirecTiVo customers to DirecTV's control, folks with the units haven't got to use the Home Media Option for the two years it has been out, and there's no sign of when TiVo ToGo or the Home Media Engine developer's toolkit will arrive for the units.

But that doesn't mean DirecTiVo owners don't have options. I've been happily using a PTVnet upgrade drive in my Philips DSR7000 (series 2 DirecTiVo) for the past couple months and I felt it was time to share all the possibilities this upgrade offers.

Stranded by DirecTV

When I first got a DirecTiVo combo unit in early 2002, It was a series one version and I activated it through TiVo.com. I paid for it just like a regular TiVo and got software upgrades at the same time as regular TiVo owners. Soon after, DirecTV stopped handling just the satellite subscriptions and instead moved to control both the TiVo subscription fees and the channel lineups. This made it easier to sign up a new box, since you just had to call one number to get both the TiVo running and your satellite channels paid for, but it also produced a fork in the codebase, where the software for DirecTiVo boxes was now under DirecTV's ultimate control instead of TiVo. This is when things started to go sour for customers.

The turning point was when series 2 DirecTiVos became readily available. Like the standalone TiVos, these new boxes offered all sorts of capabilities with their new hardware. The USB ports could enable wired and wireless networking. The faster processors could do more intense tasks. But unlike the standalone owners that quickly got to take advantage of their new hardware, DirecTiVo has remained essentially unchanged for almost three years. While DirecTV has left its users behind the innovation curve, the healthy hacking underground has been toiling away at various projects for over six years, and the projects have reached levels of maturity in terms of interface and features. The PVTnet upgrade drive draws upon the best projects.

Opening up with the PTVnet drive

The PTVnet upgrade drive fills a void, letting you talk to your DirecTiVo box over a network and opens up a world of possibilities afforded by the hardware. It includes the following:

• Enables single, large drives that go beyond the 137Gb limit (with the LBA48 hack)
• USB ports work (usb 2.0 even) with wired and wireless adapters
• Comes preconfigured with TiVoWebPlus (a web front-end to your TiVo), telnet, FTP, and a small handul of utilities

Installation

I got a prototype version of their 160Gb drive upgrade, padded and packed in a box with a sheet of instructions for installation.

The installation was as smooth as could be, taking only about five minutes to take the case off, swap my old hard drive with the new one, and button it all back up. The obvious drawback is that you lose all your settings and recordings by moving to a new disk, and as always keep away from both the power supply (lower left of the drive) and the white ribbon connector to the top right of the drive.

After it booted up (complete with custom screens) and grabbed the satellite info in setup, a quick reboot later and my old Linksys WUSB11 wireless adapter lit up and grabbed an IP off my router's DHCP server.

Using the web to control your TiVo

Definitely the coolest aspect of the upgrade was getting TiVoWebPlus. This differs from the tivo.com integration dubbed TiVo Central, where standalone Series 2 tivo owners can search for shows and set recordings. Unlike TiVo Central, this is actually running on your TiVo, so when you hit record the show will be added to your ToDo list immediately. If you open up your network to allow outside connections to your TiVo this also lets you set recordings from anywhere on earth.

Every web browser on my home network has a bookmark to the Now Showing list, like the screenshot above. It lets you know what is stored on the TiVo, and if necessary, lets you delete recordings immediately, through the web interface. I only have one TV in the house, and frequently work for hours upstairs in my home office. This page lets me know if there's anything worth watching the next time I take a break.

Clicking on an episode will show you info on it, and what episodes are soon to come (and whether or not they are new, which also helps plan recordings)

The one feature I use most often is definitely the search engine (above is a result for "American"). Even with the upgraded Series 2 hardware, my DirecTiVo box is still slow and clunky to find new shows and set them to record. Given that every computer has a handy keyboard attached, when I think of a show I'd like to add to my season pass list, I grab a laptop and pull this page up. It lets me search for any text string and I can record them in just a couple clicks, without having to use my remote to key in words or get stuck waiting a minute or two at the end for a season pass to get added.

Clicking on your search results brings up an info screen like this one.

Show details feature the additional info about original air dates, which no DirecTiVo can currently do. I love knowing whether or not next week's Saturday Night Live is a repeat from last seaon or not. Setting a season pass and single recording is just a click away and you will be notified immediately if there are any conflicts.

Every feature from the TiVo user interface is included in the package, letting you see the ToDo list of recordings set, the season passes, and what is currently showing. The TiVoWebPlus install also includes HackMan, a script manager that lets you turn features off and on, like an included Caller ID hack.

The info screens offer all the geeky info you'll ever need, including a way to find out how much free space is on the drive, and how that space is being used up.

Other features and extending the package

The other features mentioned at the start of this review, the large drive and the other network services, are great additions that round out the package. The LBA48 hack extends the limit that most TiVos have where the biggest free space they could see on a drive was 137Gb. With this fix in place, instead of running two drives with their added heat and noise, you can stick with a single large drive (as big as 300Gb).

The other network services are handy for any additional hacks you want to try out. As I explained last month here, I used the built-in FTP server and telnet server to upload some scripts that let me show off my TiVo's contents and upcoming recordings. It was all fairly straightforward, requring me to simply connect, poke around directories, upload scripts, make them active via chmod, and they ran just fine after a restart of TiVoWebPlus.

Of course, once you've got networking into a TiVo, the limits are almost endless, though I didn't want to push it further (I'm still new to linux stuff and tcl scripts). I've heard updating the OS to a 4.0 version with Home Media Networking is possible. Adding video hacks and streaming is also possible if you know what you're doing and where to find the scripts.

Conclusion

The obvious question is whether or not the upgrade is worth the cost. I'd say it is worth it, especially if you haven't upgraded your DirecTiVo's hard drive yet, since plain old upgrade drives have comparable price tags. If you're interested in networking or hacking a DirecTiVo, this definitely opens it up and gives you a useful way to interact with your TiVo.

Now that I've had this setup for a couple months, I can't see how I could live without it. I've never liked the limits of using a remote to key in show titles when searching and the way a TiVo UI lags for a minute after setting a recording is frustrating. This package solves those problems and opens up a whole world of fun tricks and features that rekindled my interest in playing with my DirecTiVo. I'm planning to move to a HD DirecTiVo soon and the first upgrade for it will be one of these drives. Building up season passes and finding shows is just so much faster in a web browser compared with using the TiVo UI.

URL: http://www.ptvupgrade.com/networking/PTVnet.html
Cost:: $199-449, depending on how many hours of storage you'd like
Compatibility: Series 2 DirecTiVo models: Hughes HDVR2, SD-DVR40, SD-DVR80, SD-DVR120, Philips DSR7000, DSR704, DSR7000, RCA DVR39, DVR40, DVR80, DVR120,Samsung SIR-S4040R, SIR-S4080R, SIR-S4120R, Hughes HR10-250 HDTV

February 6, 2005 in DirecTV, Product Reviews | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBack