[Cialug] OT direct tv

[Dan Hockey]

Would it be better to stay away from the receiver/dvrs?
-dh 

-----Original Message-----
From: cialug-bounces at cialug.org [mailto:cialug-bounces at cialug.org] On Behalf
Of Zachary Kotlarek
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 11:36 PM
To: Central Iowa Linux Users Group
Subject: Re: [Cialug] OT direct tv


On Apr 22, 2008, at 9:39 PM, Dan Hockey wrote:

> Does any one know if direct tv still uses tivo for their dvr/ 
> receivers?

No. The new DVR models they sell are not Tivo-based. And the old  
models that are Tivo-based are not compatible with any of the MPEG-4  
channels -- that's mostly high-def right now, but will be everything  
when their old satellites hit EOL. I'm not sure if the Tivo-based  
systems have firmware compatible with some of the intermediate  
features such as their "interactive" channels, but my guess would be  
they do not.

On the bright side, DirecTV has recently purchased most of the  
holdings associated with the ReplayTV brand. ReplayTV sold pretty  
decent, technologically capable DVRs back in the day, and if DirecTV  
uses a similar system there's hope for a usable OEM DVR from them. But  
when and if that will happen is anybody's guess.

You can also get FireWire mods to output the raw MPEG-2 (or MPEG-4 for  
newer systems) after decryption but before D-A conversion. Then you  
can put the content on whatever DVR/tape/DVD/etc. you like without any  
quality loss. But such systems are not cheap -- IIRC it's about $900  
for a fully-assembled HD-capable modded system. The DIY chip set is  
somewhat cheaper, but I can't recall the price off the top of my head.

	Zach