Slashdot Mirror
G4 Tech TV Reviews Three New HDTV DVRs
Thomas Hawk writes "G4techTV does a review of three of the new HDTV recorders. Noticeably absent is Microsoft's Media Center 2005. The Hughes HD 10-250 gets the highest marks and is the 'G4tech TV Lab Pick.' Although I haven't used the other two HDTV recorders I have to say I would concur on their opinion of TiVo's DirecTV box."
As far as I knew, Media Center Edition doesn't have HD support. Not therefore surprising that they wouldn't include it in their roundup.
(perhaps the author meant that MCE was noticeably absent as an HD-DVR?)
No, really! I'm one of the *good* lawyers!
Next week on /. we will see the story: "Major HDTV broadcasters sue HD DVR manufacturers"
My sig would have been a lot cooler if
The folks over at pchdtv.com are now taking orders for the new HD-3000 *linux only* HDTV video capture card.
And yes, they are working on QAM digital cable support for this new card. Here is a nice FAQ about what is new in this card.
In my neck of the woods there are few HDTV providers - Cogeco (a cable system), and Bell Canada ExpressVu (a satellite system). Both of them use entirely different hardware, and thus my choice of PVR box is dictated by my choice of provider (in my case it would have to be a Motorola DCT6208 or a Bell 6120..whatever manufacturer that is), and if I ponied up the $800CDN or so with one and became disatisfied with the service, I'd have to toss the box in the garbage.
Which is why I chose to rent the box for $20 a month - when the two-tuner version comes out (within the year) I'll do a swap. The point of all of this? I guess that ultimately I am choosing provider and the PVR comes along for the ride.
I've owned one of these for the past two months, and I have to say that I love the box. Video from the HDMI port is impeccable. The Tivo friendliness factor is high as usual. I've not blinked over the high cost of the unit since I fired it up.
Only complaint? The usual slow Guide rendering.
This account has been posting karma whoring and troll posts all day, and in fact has been doing so for the last several months. "Pan T Hose, PhD" (Mr. Pantyhose to you) uses a large sig with the PhD acronym in it in an attempt to garner mod points. This technique has been used by several other fake "PhD" troll posters in the past. This fellow is slightly more subtle sometimes, but if you look at the posts overall, most of them only make a nominal amount of sense and are intended as trolls, flamebait or karma whoring, and do not actually contribute meaningfully to the discussion (as this post, which is based on factually incorrect information mixed with some flamebaiting).
Please mod Mr. Pantyhose accordingly.
Call for Help with Leo (now broadcast out of Toronto) and Screen Savers (AKA what happened on slashdot today) and maybe that Martin guy is all I watch on the channel.
One thing that should be noted is that Leo Laporte's Call For Help show got continued by G4TechTV Canada in a primetime slot... but the show is nowhere to be found on the USA version of the channel. Odd for a show to get upgraded and canceled at the same time by two networks that share the same name.
The reviewer mentioned the $10.99 fee for DirecTV's HD package but didn't mention that this box is also fully capable of recording OTA HD programs with no monthly charge. I've had this box since the week it was released and only carried the HD package for about a week but still have plenty of HD recordings each week via OTA channels that I don't pay a dime for.
Ostensibly? Really, you might at least check what the words mean before you post them. I realize that you're just trolling/karma whoring, but surely you might take some pride in at least making semantic sense. :b
Bít, zabít, jen proto, ze su liska!
I think equally important in the discussion is the number of channels that will realisticly be offered in the near future.
... especially when you're talking about $1000 for the PVR!
While I'm not OTA, cable, or dish network expert (neither am I a DirecTV expert!), I do know that the launch of DirecTV 7S earlier this year represented a monumental leap forward in bandwidth capability. It's my understanding that the purpose of 7S is to relieve the other birds from their coast-to-coast broacasts (using it's spot-beam technology), thereby freeing up the frequencies for HD content.
From what I read (sorry I can't provide links), the amount of bandwidth 7S brings to the skies above us is enormous, and the intended purpose of the bandwidth is the carrying of HD content.
DirecTV knows that Cable is ramping up HD offerings. Not wanting to fall behind, I'm sure DirecTV will offer more HD channels in the future.
Personally, I'll hold off until 7S starts broadcasting, and wait for DirecTV to offer ESPN, CNN, FOX, etc in HD before I actually sink my credits into a HDTV. Hopefully by that time, prices of HD-TiVO's will have come down (hopefully to $500).
But, I think that contemplating what future offerings will be provided is certainly relevant when discussing which company to go with.
Hope this info helps.
Do it for da shorties
The reviewer is wrong. The Hughes HR10-250 most certainly can output to non-HDCP-compliant sets. In fact, it even comes with a HDMI-to-DVI cable in the box. Just last night I was watching HD stuff on my 20" Dell LCD, using the (non-HDCP) DVI input.
However, if the broadcast flag is ever flipped on (no one's done it yet), then those people using non-HDCP sets will get downres output on DVI.
The DirecTV service fees listed in the article are a bit misleading..
The $10.99/month is for a package of HDTV channels (ESPN-HD, Discovery-HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, Bravo-HD.) You are not required to purchase this package.
For no additional charge, you can record all of your local off-the-air channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, etc.). And, if you have HBO or Showtime, those you automatically get their HD channels as part of your existing package.