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January 29, 2006

HD PVR

HI, I have been holding off buying a HD PVR as I had hoped Motorola would release an newer version of the DCT 6412,  If I am correct the DCT 6412 was released in the fall of 2004. Is there an new model ready for release, bigger hard drive more efficient ASIC chips, maybe H.264, faster menus?
--Brad

January 29, 2006 in DVR, TV & HDTV

Answers

They announced a new box at CES - but what difference does it make? H.264 doesn't matter for a cable DVR, digital cable is MPEG2 and will remain so for the forseeable future as it is currently the only approved format for CableCARD, which is mandatory. You won't see any difference really, and cable companies continue to order the 6412 currently. The 6412 is already available with different size drives - it is all up to your cable company and what they order.

If you're going to go with a cable company DVR, you may as well just take what they have. If they ever introduce a newer model, you can see about swapping your box out.

You don't *buy* a 6412 - they aren't sold to consumers. You have to get it from your cable company - if that's the box they carry. It isn't the only cable DVR, and you must use the model provided by your cable company. Even if you could acquire a 6412, unless it is authorized by your cable company and loaded with their access keys, it won't work.

Posted by: MegaZone at Jan 31, 2006 1:09:57 AM

From reading your comments along with numerous other threads, blogs, and newsgroups, there is no DVR/PVR that appeals to everyone on the market, the techie and the non-techie. I am in the process of developing a set-top box and would like to ask the consumer what they want in a DVR/PVR. What features would you guys like? What add-ons would you guys like available? What features of other DVRs do you not like and like?

Posted by: Brett at Feb 2, 2006 6:38:23 PM

As MegaZone said, don't worry about h.264, it won't be an issue in the cable space for some time. Just because your STB can handle h.264 doesn't mean they can start using it--they have millions of older STBs they need to worry about, and they won't be swapping all of those out in any great hurry.

Since cable-PVRs record the direct digital signal they receive down the pipe however, there would be an advantage to using h.264--you could save twice as many programs as with MPEG-2 at roughly the same quality. But this is strictly theoretical and will have to wait for the future.

As far as what features DVR owners want--look at Tivo. They do a very good job of supporting what users need. Are there some things I want that Tivo doesn't support? Sure--restricting recordings to only certain days, or only once a day, or allow recording of a show on any channel rather than just one. But while such things would make me happy, they would complicate the interface and maybe make the average Tivo user less happy. Its all a trade-off. You might just want to focus on multiple-tuners. And CableCard support. And HD capability.

Posted by: Glenn at Apr 5, 2006 11:05:57 AM

I have a old Gateway DVD recorder which entry door is jammed. I thought I can put it in use again so I replaced the DVD recorder unit with a 120 GB Hard Drive that I found in the Dish Network Motorola DCT-6412 DVR. The hard drive's power and IDE cables is perfectly fit to the DVD recorder slot. Now it remains the same Gateway but will record A/V to Hard Drvie instead of to the DVD recordering unit.
I keep receiving "Error" on the Gateway, anybody know what's wrong with the heart replacement surgery? How can I make it work? Your assistance will be fully appreciated.

Posted by: Johjo at Nov 9, 2006 9:03:26 AM