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 | Permalink | Answers (4)

January 25, 2006

Standalone HD DVR

Looking for an option besides the soon-to-be-not-so-compatible HR10250 for recording HD content from both DirecTV and off-air sources. Currently have an integrated DirecTV/Tivo for standard-def with a 160 gig drive, but considering getting an HD set and want to do it ONCE. While the previous relationship between Tivo and DirecTV is history, there are those of us who like the Tivo programming system and would like something as close to that as we might find without having to wait until fall for a unit that is Mpeg4 compatible. Do any of the CE manufacturers have anything coming out (SOON!) that might fit the bill?
--Dan

January 25, 2006 in DirecTiVo, DVR, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (3)

January 17, 2006

High Definition DVR

Currently have 2 Stand Alone Tivo's & I'm anxiously awaiting the series 3.  Between now and then I would really love to get an HD-DVR for my OTA HD shows.  I've search high and low and wanted to see what suggestions y'all might have. I have a Toshiba TV and the Symbio is an option - it uses the TV tuner.
--Shawn

January 17, 2006 in DVR, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (2)

January 09, 2006

HD Tuner card with RS232?

My goal: Have a HDTV QAM tuner card in my HTPC control and automatically change channels on my HD set top box. I have asked many sources, the brightest guy told me that to do this I would need a HDTV tuner card with an RS232 control.

Is this correct? Any solutions? Any products?
-- Sergie

January 9, 2006 in Home Theater PC, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (6)

November 25, 2005

Is buying a DirecTV HD Tivo worth it?

With HD getting more popular and as a family upgrading to plasma based HD TVs for the house, we want HD through DirecTV, but we dont want to lose our Tivo.  Is buying a HD Tivo worth it through DirecTV or do they have their own coming?
-- Scott

November 25, 2005 in DirecTiVo, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (9)

June 07, 2005

Need standalone HD-DVR

I just dumped my $85 a month TimeWarner HD DVR. All I really watch is HD content from network TV. Now I need a HD DVR Box with a tuner built in. Is there any others besides the LG LST-3410A? -- Cord

June 7, 2005 in TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (1)

November 17, 2004

DVR for Voom HDTV

Hello I'm looking to buy a DVR preferably PC based that records HD 1080i and 720p. Does anybody know of a company that sells the setup? I know that Tivo and Replay do not have a HD box the best they do is DVD quality.
-- Sebastian

November 17, 2004 in DVR, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (2) | TrackBack

November 07, 2004

LOST / WEST WING conflict

I have a problem -- one that's shared by anyone else who happens to be a fan of both LOST and THE WEST WING (which I'm guessing is a lot of people).

Now that LOST is clocking in at 1:01, it overlaps with WEST WING by one minute -- and hence poses a scheduling conflict.  TiVo says I have to pick one or the other, and can't record both.  Ack!

But since more and more shows are starting to impose this sort of weird scheduling, it seems to me that TiVo should simply give me the option to start a scheduled recording a minute late, or stop it a minute early.  However, currently it only offers the reverse -- I can start a recording early, or stop it late -- but that doesn't solve my problem.

(Furthermore, under "Record by Time or Channel", I can only schedule recordings at 5 minute increments -- which also doesn't solve my problem.)

Do you know if TiVO has any plans to address this?  I can't be the first person to have this issue.
- Paul

November 7, 2004 in TiVo, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (10) | TrackBack

November 03, 2004

HDTV/DVR Choice

It seems there are only three HDTV/DVR boxes right now.  One is DirecTV for $999.  I could buy a DVHS for less than that.  The other two are Dish and Comcast for $10 a month (basically).  I have Comcast cable and want to upgrade to HDTV/DVR cheaply.  Dish says it will hold 30 hours of HDTV.  Comast says it will hold 7 hours (according to my local rep in Atlanta).

Is there any reason I should not go with Dish? Will something better come out during the XMAS season such that I should wait a few months? Does Dish run a XMAS special each year (such as free installation) such that I should wait a month or two?
-- Niel

November 3, 2004 in Dish Network, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (4) | TrackBack

October 27, 2004

HDTV-enabled TiVo?

I know that the current Series 2 TiVos don't current support HDTV (although DirectTV has an HDTV-enabled version for its subscribers). Have there been any hints about if and when TiVo would launch standalone TiVo units that support over-the-air HDTV, or HDTV over cable? I'm trying to decide to upgrade from Series 1 to Series 2 to get TivoToGo features, or hold off. I'm hoping for an HDTV TiVo that would work well as the tuner for an HDTV plasma display. From my limited understanding of HDTV, it seems like such a box should not be terribly difficult from a technical perspective -- since the HDTV feed is already digital, it should be easier to save than an analog signal that has to be converted to MPEG. The only big limitation is extra hard drive space. It also seems rather obvious that TiVo will have one eventually.
-- Robert Jacobson

October 27, 2004 in series 2, TiVo, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (4) | TrackBack

October 15, 2004

More on a True HDTV HTPC

I looked a little more into the 'WinTV-HD' from Hauppauge, and happened to find something else that might fit the need. This card, the WinTV-NEXUS-s, is a digital satellite receiver for the PC however, their site is somewhat lacking in details of how exactly this would hook up to my sat, and how it would be able to decode the channels I've subscribed to...

I've also managed to find another card, the 'TwinhanDTV Sat-CI'. This sat card also supports the use of CAMs (Conditional Access Module) in order to give you access to your subscribed channels!

What I'm not sure about (because it doesn't come right out and specifically say it and I'm not entirely sure what else to look for) is whether or not this supports decoding the HDTV stations and if it will decode them in HDTV format. I like the looks of this card, but I need for it to be able to support HDTV and digital 5.1+ audio signals for it to be worth the investment.

If anyone has any information on this, it would be most appreciated!
-- Gavin Ostlund

October 15, 2004 in Home Theater PC, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (7) | TrackBack

October 14, 2004

HD DVR options for Cable Customers?

The vast majority of america's tech community has the same question: I am a cable customer today, and want to use HD services from the cable company WITH DVR capabilities. What can I do?

Details: Comcast keeps delaying their own Motorolla DVR boxes, and the early units are getting poor reviews. Tivo hasn't (won't?) come out with an "open format" HD DVR to plug into the back of a cable box. Panasonic, Sony, and a bunch of small vendors are pitching HD DVR's (many with MSFT's new Media Center OS), but it's unclear if the cable companies block all, some, or none of these from supporting HD recording?

I'm in the middle of a massive home media center upgrade, and am totally frozen right now because of this -- I don't want to switch to Direct TV because they don't have local HD signals, Comcast isn't going to solve this soon because their DVR isn't close to TIVO quality, and the open format strong brand-name HD DVR's don't seem to work with cable. What is my best option?
-- Byron Deeter

October 14, 2004 in Comcast, DVR, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (10) | TrackBack

October 13, 2004

A True HDTV HTPC

I am trying to setup a "True HDTV HTPC" with HTDV signal in from a satellite receiver (via component video) and HDTV output to a Sony Wega HDTV (via DVI). Every part of the project is ready to go, except for the video capture. I've looked far and wide for a capture card meeting the simple need for accepting component video input. At least I would have assumed it would be a simple thing with all the cool HDTV tuner cards out there... My question being, does anyone know of a capture card that will capture from component video source?
-- Gavin Ostlund

October 13, 2004 in Home Theater PC, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (67) | TrackBack

October 09, 2004

TiVo and HD?

I know TiVo doesn't handle HD, but I'm trying to figure out how usable a Series2 TiVo would be for dealing with SD signals on an HD TV.

Using an HD cable box, would I need to put the TiVo on a different tuner than the cable box? Do some cable boxes have multiple video outputs, one which could send the HD signal to the television and one which could send a downconverted signal to the TiVo?

-- Eric Blair

October 9, 2004 in TiVo, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (4) | TrackBack