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Spice Networks has a HDTV porn channel on DirecTV, Spice HD.

http://www.directv.com/see/landing/spicehd.html

There would be less of a problem with a "need" to have hack-cards if DirecTV would only sell the services in the first place. Mainly, network feeds. I'm pretty much barred from getting DirecTV because I want it to have CBS/ABC/NBC/Fox.

Funny, I've had local channels via DirecTV's satellite service for about a year now, and it looks like they have more packages with local broadcasting than without.

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/packages/Landing.dsp

The local affiliates have a policy of "we don't grant waivers", and on top of that, they are not full affiliates anyway (pre-empting prime-time network shows willy-nilly and never re-showing them. If DirecTV could find some way around the local broadcasters' censorship and send network content in the satellite signal, that would be a big plus.

Looks like that's more your local affiliates' fault, not DirecTV's. Sorry.

Just my $.02...

>The same goes for dual VCR's which were opposed when initially
>marketed, but couldn't be suppressed because although they could be
>used to do wrong, they can also be used to do right: and the courts
>can't allow the device to be suppressed just for this reason,
>otherwise they'd be able to suppress knives and all sorts of things
>that have dangerous uses.

What you need to watch out for is the "illegal civil lawsuit" ala DirecTV. You may be able to buy things with dual purposes, but a big company can sue your ass with the only evidence of wrongdoing being an alleged purchase. And you have no choice but to pay money: either to your laywer or the plaintiff's lawyer. Your only defense is never letting them find out who you are.

So go ahead and download/use stuff like PlayFair or smartcard programmers. Just make 100% sure there's no way it can ever be traced back to you. What does that mean? Download stuff like PlayFair at "Internet Cafes" across proxy servers, and buy stuff like smartcard programmers "cash & carry" or using money orders sent to post office boxes rented under a fake name.

"Big money eats up little money."

That is, if Comcast is required to sell ESPN without a dozen other Disney-owned channels

Comcast isn't required to sell Disney-owned channels at all. Under the current oligopoly situation, the cable incumbent and the satellite overbuilders have every right to go all Losing Nemo on their customers, as Dish Network threatened to do with Viacom's channels. Only pressure from the cable and satellite providers, brought on by the FCC's a la carte mandates, will force the networks to unbundle their channels.

BTW, the DirecTiVo units do have two tuners. I have the Hughes HDVR2 and aside from being a little bit slow at some tasks, it kicks ass.
-DaveR

Ok, clarification....

DirecTV's TiVos are all dual turner as suggested here. However, (and this is the part that confuses me), they also appears to have about 35 hours of record time, which really isn't that much.

Dish Network's DVR units come in both varieties. The 510, 508, and 501 are all single tuner, but have 100, 80, and 40 hours of record time respectively.

The 522 Receiver is dual tuner with a 100 hours of record time. It can serve two rooms with DVR capability or you can tell it to record on the TV2 location while you watch something else on the TV1 location.

The DirecTiVo units generaly cost about $99 a pop. Dish's 522 doesn't cost any extra in a Digital Home Advantage Install (at least not according to the website, I'm a tech person).

The 522 doesn't have TiVo name based recording, it only does time slot recording. For some people, that's a deal breaker.

DirecTv doesn't offer a new customer promotion with more than one DVR unit. Dish kind of does, since the 522 will do two rooms as a DVR. (though we're splitting hairs there)

The first post I wrote on this was a tossed off comment. This is more solidly researched. If you have any further questions feel free to contact me.

I'm glad someone is standing up to what amounts to extortion. Viacom wants Echostar/Dish to carry additional programming, and if they don't do it, they pull the rights to broadcast CBS, all the while raising the rates for Viacom networks....

I noticed that DirecTV rolled over and raised their rates all the while taking out a full page ad in USA Today trumpeting that they now carry NickToons. You can also sorta compare the packages they both offer:

Dish Network Total 120: $34.99 or $385 ($32.08/m) a year

Direct TV Total Choice (130 channels): $39.99 a month

(I picked the lowest packages that carried TechTV. And you would need to add onto Dish Network if you want the locals.)

I've been a Dish Network subscriber for 4 years now, and the only thing that really irks me is that all their offers for new boxes or PVRs are for new customers only.

Look for the MPAA to use the DMCA to sue anyone who disables the "anti-copy" circuit.

Or even worse than that, look for them to illegally sue anyone who purchases anything, like a soldering iron, that could be used to disable it.

Don't believe me? Look at how (1) (2) DirecTV is warping the DMCA in its own image. Sueing people for merely purchasing a smartcard reader!

Only 22,000+ people sued so far!

You can purchase a DirecTV/Tivo combo (now known as the DirecTV DVR powered by Tivo) for $99. I think that requires a year commitment to DirecTV, which means you need to have a view of the southern sky and the ability to install a dish where you live (assuming you don't already have DirecTV), but it is $99 well spent. It would be worth it at 5 times the cost. You will even get use out of it as well.

You can buy directly from DirecTV online or you can probably pick one up at your local Circuit City/Best Buy, etc.

And phone line or not, you can always buy your Pay-Per-View shows by going to the DirecTV website.

I have had DirecTV for nearly seven years now. I live in the rainy Pacific Northwest. I have only lost signal at the most 4 times and each episode was less than 30 seconds.

I just replaced my original Sony reciever with a used Sony SAT T-60 which contains an integrated Tivo. I cannot get over how much better the picture looks when viewing a directv/tivo recording vs a separate Tivo unit recording. It also allows timeshifting of all content.

I obtained this reciever from my father-in-law and he had nothing but complaints about it. I checked his signal strength before he replaced it and it was below 70%. His was a so-call professional install. I did my install myself and get a sold 98% signal with both my old reciever and his. I think spending the extra time on the dish alignment pays off.

My only compaint about DirecTV would be the slower response of the program guides as they added local channels and the increased compression on some channels.

I believe NASA TV is carried by DirecTV.

No, I don't think so. I've not been able to find NASA TV on my DTV setup, and a quick check of the channel lineup at DirecTV does not mention NASA TV.

I wish NASA TV were on DirecTV. It would be a good addition.

I have had DirectTV since early 1996 (BTW - I lived in an apartment at the time and had the dish on my balcony) and will never give it up. The satellite picture quality is far above cable (even digital in my area) - with an occasional artifact (very rare). I purchased a 57" 16:9 TV and the local channels (which are cable - I have Road Runner) come out fuzzy compared to the DirecTV signal. If you think about it, where do most cable providers get their signal from? Satellite...

The choice of stations is also far beyond cable. You get East Coast and West Coast versions of most major movie channels (HBO, Cinemax, Starz!, etc.) as well as uncommon channels (Sundance, Independent Film Channel). It was also one of the few stations which carried BBC America, FX and SCI FI until the cable company picked some of them up as well. Cost of these channels from the cable company is usually around $50+ more than what you pay for from DirecTV.

Here is a program listing of channels available:
DirectTV Programming Options

I updated my satellite receiver to a Sony SAT-T60 DirectTivo a few years back and this thing rocks! With a little linux "magic" and Google searching you can have a large MPEG recorder that allows you to dump shows to your PC for editing (bye bye commercials) and burning to DVD or CD. The satellite signal comes in digital format to start so no analog to digital conversion is needed. You can also record two shows at a time or record a show and watch another...

The only downside was the lack of local channels in some markets, but this is being addressed for my area and local channels will soon be carried.

As for blackouts, does not happen unless you screw up the dish setup. As long as snow or rain or ice do not build up on the dish (which it shouldn't if mounted properly - you don't lose the signal, even in heavy storms.

I will never use cable for anything other than Internet access. I plan on upgrading to a HD DirectTV for the HD signals when a decent HD DirectTivo unit comes out.

BTW, if you have kids - there are always good kid shows on the Family Channels (Noggin, PBS Kids, The Science Channel, Nickelodeon, etc.)

BTW, if after all this you buy cable, tell them you are considering getting satellite cable instead and they will most likely cut you a good deal on your subscription costs...

If there was actually something worth watching on TV beside porn, I'd get the latter, if for no other reason than that DirecTV won't carry porn

DirecTV most assuradly *does* carry porn.

1) The signal _rarely_ gets effected by weather.

2) "electromagnetic interference from the sun" has yet to mess with my DirectTV rececption.

3) "The dish could be hit by lightning, hail or high wind": Ground it during installation (as directed). I've had siding come off twice but my dish has never been hurt. In 4 years I've never even had to readjust it. Still get 90+ signal strength.

4) "You can't get local channels": Pure bs. I get all the crappy local network TV in my area. Check out the DirecTV web site for local channel availability.

Compare satellite to cable and you'll see all the static, ghosts and other visual artifacts cable TV provides. There really is a noticable difference and satellite (DirecTV) provides a superior picture. Go with DirecTivo!

-S

Anyone know if this is possible? (It's not listed in their channel guide but I was wondering if anyone might know of another name/channel it might be listed under... or any other channel like it.)

I used to leave the NASA channel on all of the time when I was living in my dorm in school... mainly just for the cool video-feeds they'd have from the space shuttles catching the Earth and stars beyond it.

I considered building a MythTV box a couple of months ago, but when I started adding up what it'd cost I found I could get a DirecTivo for a lot less ($100 w contract). Though I would like some of the MythTv features such as the photo slideshows.

I haven't gotten the DirecTivo box yet. We have COX Digital Cable around here and they just started offering the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000 which you rent for $15 a month). This box is absolutely HORRIBLE! It's features are beta...no, alpha quality.

For example, if you are watching a Live show that is being recorded, and you are watching say 15 minutes behind real time, when the show ends in real time the box will STOP playing from the delayed point you were watching and jump to the next show that is just beginning. Then if you wish to continue watching the show from the point you were at you must access the recorded show list, scroll through ALL of your recorded shows (no search of any kind), find the show that was just on, then you gotta FAST FORWARD to where you were. Oh yeah, you might as well go get a snack as there's only 3 fast forward speeds, slow (too fast for fine tuning), medium and fast (32x iirc, sounds fast but it's not fast enough when you want to get 3/4 of the way through a hour program in a hurry).

I'm ditching Cox for the DirecTivo very soon. Or I might reconsider MythTV again. Only thing is I REALLY like that you can record two shows at once with the DirecTivo, and to do that with MythTv I'd have to have two DirecTv boxes (or two cable boxes)

Anyway why am I posting this......Oh yeah. I was going to ask which capture card you are using. Guess I got a carried away. :p

-TMF

4. Sue Tim Berners-Lee for creating a copyright-circumvention tool

I can almost see someone trying #4. But I just can't think of anyone who would sue people for creating circumvention devices?

publically owned services can outperform the private sector?
This must be a joke.
Mandatory BBC? 190GBP.
Optional HBO? 144USD.
Returning back into reality from the socialist illusion? Priceless.

Definitely worth watching. You can find it on BBCA Channel 264. The DirectTV website has an online programming guide that will help you find your favorite shows.

Definitely worth watching. You can find it on BBCA Channel 264. The DirectTV website has an online programming guide that will help you find your favorite shows.

DirecTV Feedback Page

"To wit, how can they calculate damages based on the price of a pay-per-view movie that's running every 2 hours, on five channels, start time offset by 20 minutes on each channel?"

That has little (if anything) to do with their numbers. DirecTV service with all the stop pulled out (all the movie and sports networks, etc. etc.) runs up to $85.99/month, or $1,031.88/year. They can get their $1,000/(year*thief) number without even having to consider pay-per-view.

Not all businesses operate like the RIAA members.

"I won't even go into the fact they haven't actually lost anything..."

Then you shouldn't mind spammers. After all, you would be paying for that electricity and ISP service anyway...

Uh, OK, DAVE, whatever you say.

Oh should I say Richard Yarmuth? Or Scott Wilsdon?

Let's not talk about how you are filing illegal, frivilous lawsuits based on evidence that you know IN ADVANCE you have absolutely ZERO chance of winning in a court of law. I guess it's ok for you to clearly break the law (read the prior sentence: doing such is ILLEGAL) though.

Idiot. Don't you have anything better to do than spread your BS propoganda???

DirecTV is SUEING people for mere possession of smartcard technology equipment. And how do they prove you possessed it? They use the records seized from smartcard technology websites and state that proves possession and usage.

What they do is they are forcing innocent people to settle ($3500) because the cost of litigating to prove innocence costs a lot more money ($5000-10,000+).

DirecTV claims if you call them and deny using the equipment for signal piracy, they will dismiss the suit, but that is pure crap.

Lots more info here.

Complain!

Corporate types wait for a certain number of complaints before doing anything. If enough people complain (and promise to buy the Home Media Option if DirecTV make it available) then DirecTV will do something about it

Go here and tell them how disappointed you are and how you you want to buy this. Mention that you'll complain to J D Power Consumer Satisfaction Survey which should make them take notice; DirecTV really values their high customer satisfaction rating and use it as a selling point.

Most DirecTV boxes w/ the Advanced Program Guide have a shopware/i-tv thingy creatively called DirecTV Interactive based on XML/HTML technology from Wink Communcations. This "feature" is really annoying. It pops up an "i" icon when the current program or station supports this and downloads docs & images that are interleaved into the datastream. The problem is that it is strictly "pull." You can buy stuff from all the shopping channels w/ the remote, but it still has to dial-home to order your stuff. There are also some dedicated "portal" channels from Weather.com, BN.com, and MSNBC.com.

That sounds like a good deal to me, actually, if you have some sort of broadband connection.

Also, in many markets, even if you only have one cable company (like in my area), you still have the option of going to DirecTV or another satellite TV provider. I decided to completely avoid my cable company, I get both TiVo and satellite for $45 a month. My DSL line costs me about $50 a month. I'm actually paying more than you, although I suspect I have more channels, more features (see below), etc. (No HBO, though.) I believe I can also get some sort of cable internet now, but I'm more likely to switch DSL providers to get a better deal there.

Anyway, my point is that there is some competition, even though there might be somewhat more competition in some places. "Gouging" seems like an excessive characterization considering what you are paying.

I should also note that I can record two channels at once and watch recorded material at the same time with "DirecTiVo" and I get local channels too, but that's fairly old news. I doubt I'd even be interested in a second cable company unless they could match those features.

DirecTV has 36 channels of audio programming. It would be fairly trivial to extract only the audio stream from the broadcast once it's been decrypted and pipe it into your car's sound system.

About all it's missing is talk radio... but frankly you can tune into a cable news station and get pretty much the same thing. Yeah, you have commercials again, but I think that both Sirius and XM have commercials on their talk channels as well.

This isn't a satellite radio killer yet though... way too expensive.

Ahem. This is DirecTV. They offer many digital audio only channels, as well as video: See Here. No commercials, no eye off road.

I already have wireless cable. It rocks.

Directv

Go on, try to do something useful without Javascript. Want to learn more about satellite TV? Too bad...

Napster was as much as anything a symptom that the music industry's 20 year old technology and even older business model . Was obsolete. If PVRs become the Napster of the television world, then this means much the same. The cable companies have to see what it is that customers actually want, and then give it to them.

Satellite companies seem to have no trouble with this concept. BSkyB in the UK is offering a combined Set Top Box / PVR, and charges an extra 10 pounds ($15) a month for customers who want this. DirecTV seems to offer something similar . Given that in the digital world cable and satellite are offering very similar things - essentially a box in your living room capable of decoding MPEG-2 signals, that also contains a CPU, some memory and maybe a hard disk, I cannot see why cable cannot also offer this, if it is what customers want.

As far as the cable companies are concerned, here we have an entrenched former monopoly that wants laws to be passed to protect an obsolete business model rather than attempting to find a new business model that works.

Profitable for the MPAA when they sue the proprieter for unlicensed public performance of their copyrighed works.

That was my first thought also. Of course, they could try to negotiate for such rights, but I doubt the publisher would be interested.

On the other hand, he could get DirecTV; they have plans specifically designed for Business Viewing Areas which would be legal. They don't seem to offer premium channels like HBO (not surprising, I suppose), but they offer plenty of sports channels, which could draw quite a crowd.

Here in Cincinnati, there's a business which is a combination nightclub/laundromat -- customers routinely do their laundry in the presence of a live band! Why not a combination laundromat/sports bar? That could be a hit!

Both DirecTv and AT&T sell a DVR that is "powered by Tivo." DirecTv is just getting ready to release their version, it will be under the Hughes brand.

DirecTv DVR

Old7

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/imagine/TIVOPricing. jsp

It's free with the Total Choice PREMIER package...

As for the upfront costs...it only cost me $99 to get a Dual LNB Dish, DirecTiVo and Installation. Sounds good to me!

I switched from Speakeasy DSL to Optimum Online when I moved (No DSL in new neighborhood... d'oh!!)

When the Speakeasy guy came out 2+ years ago, I had done all the "inside wiring" myself (this was back in the dedicated-line days ...) The guy just looked at it, and said, and I quote "Damn! You did a better job than I would have." The guy literally handed me the DSL bridge (It's NOT A MODEM DAMNIT!), we plugged it in, he saw the lights "go green" and said "good 'nuff for me."

When the Optimum Online guy came out here (I needed someone to come out since I don't subscribe to cable ... DirecTV rocks), I had my Linksys router plugged into my iBook.

First thing he did was go outside, climb the pole and turn the line on. when he did that, the cable bridge (IT'S NOT A MODEM DAMNIT!) "went green" and that was that.

All he asked was to see me pull up a web page. That was good enough.

Seriously, don't give the guy the old chip-on-the-shoulder attitude. Don't sound like a clueless yutz, either. Just explain to the guy that listen, it's my machine and I'll install all the software on it, thanks. It's already configured for the network -- I read the directions (on the web, in the box, etc.)

The installers are usually _very_ cool about that stuff. In fact, the cable guy saw my Sun Microsystems jacket and started asking me some questions... we had a good long talk about IP networks and stuff, since he was looking to go to some Cisco courses and get outta the cable install business :)

Best of luck with the installs! Remember, don't give them an attitude, just convince them that your machine is all ready to go. Remember, if they get out of there in 5 minutes instead of 2 hours, it means they get to take a long lunch ;)

--NBVB

I didn't know that DirecTV leased hardware. I was under the impression that subscribers bought their hardware, and then subscribed to the service to make their hardware useful. I know our Sony receiver came from Best Buy (not that I'll go back there... Ick), and was bought. My in-laws' receiver was bought.

I'm pretty sure Dish Network works the same way, since their hardware is available at Sears and Radio Shack.

I've been able to rip the raw data from smartcards for months using my unLOOPer.

If you don't believe me, ask DAVE.

http://www.directv.com/ Fire at will.

I live in the Bay Area, Northern California, and I have DirecTV. Since they brought a second satellite online earlier this year, I now get every local broadcast station over the satellite receiver, for no more than I was previously paying for just the five network stations (Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS). Now we get WB and UPN and the local independant stations too.
If you have DirecTV or EchoStar and you're -not- getting all your locals, give them a call and see if you can. There was never any "can you receive with a rooftop antenna" question, I believe that regulation went away a few years ago when DirecTV and EchoStar started having local channels available.
I'm happy because I can get ch. 36 (A's games!) and 44 (Enterprise!) on the satellite now instead of trying to get them from the cable modem's split line...

When this case was began, the merge between Hughes (DirecTV) and Dish Network was not yet underway. Neither company has the ability/bandwidth to broadcast all locals (200+ markets x 4-7 channels) However, if the merge goes through, they will be able to cover 98% of the population's local channels-- and those that they can't cover are probably eligible for remote-local viewing anyway.

I would feel much stronger about it if they weren't planning to cover me in the near future (I'd love to get all major Nets over my newly-installed DTV) --but they promise I'll be able to get locals-- so is really worth so much argument? most of the programming on my locals is the same as is on the NYC or LA locals-- and I don't mind supporting my local economy at all.. (and neither should you, generally-- unless you like plummeting local economies)

go here to find out more about direcTV and local stations.

PS As far as PBS goes-- why the hell do we need local stations anyway? All of the best stuff on PBS is national-- it's a waste of taxpayer dollars to have local affiliates. National network capabilities should make them useless-- it's a huge glut of redundancy-- One PBS would be cheaper and better!

I worked as tech support for A Company Which Shall Remain Nameless for a while, and while I had a pretty good experience with the company, I think there's something just wrong about the idea of paying for television.

So it's entirely possible that an AOL employee (on condition of anonymity) would freely admit that he used another service for his own internet needs.

DirecTV is carrying HDTV on channel 199. Of course you need the HD DirecTV Receiver, to go along with your HDTV. They are carrying 16 Hours a Day of HDTV transmitted by HD.NET which was founded and run by Mark Cuban of Broadcast.com and Dallas Mavericks Fame. Currently they are running the Olympics in conjuction with NBC. The schedule can be found here Hey it's not the latest movies yet, but if you're really jonesing for some HDTV it's better than nothing...

yeah, but i can get a cable provider other than time-warner, i can use an isp other than aol, and i can watch news on a channel that isn't cnn.

if i buy a (x86) computer, there is a 98% chance that it will come with windows, and there is a lot of pressure to use windows on that computer in the first place; pressure from friends & co-workers who use it, pressure from employers who use it, pressure from the salespeople selling me the computer. pressure from people on the 'net, who use windows media to give away audio & video clips, or word to present documentation. i don't think that kind of pressure to use aol/tw/cnn exists, at least not yet.

while i agree that aol/tw/cnn/netscape/sun/whatever has the potential to become a much larger, more powerful, and more evil empire than msft, the fact of the matter is that msft has an illegal monopoly, which they extend every day. if aol/tw/cnn/sun/netscape/whatever want to combat that, fine. frankly, the u.s. government seems incapable of bringing msft down, so if it has to come to corporate warfare- so be it. i want to go to a store and buy a pc that runs linux, or freebsd, or openbsd. or whatever other os i want.

In retrospect, XM should have really considered a smartcard system like that of DirecTV. Those are crackable but they are a lot more difficult. Putting the authenticator on a damn EEPROM chip was just a stupid move, and it is certain to result in large-scale piracy.

~wally

In Canada, the movies come out for FREE on DirecTV a few months later anyways

Interesting given DirecTV doesn't provide service in Canada. Sure, you can steal it, but it isn't legally provided by DirecTV.

DirecTV's Canada/Mexico policy