KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
 ·AT&T Yahoo
·AT&T DSL Service
 ·Cox HSI
| reply to Phil
Re: Finally......
You'd think.... but there's this thing called patents.
For example, Dish's PVR's are generally well liked... but they are embroiled in a patent dispute with TIVO.
So, it's possible many the features you like aren't present simply because of said patent issues.
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"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!) |
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psx_defector
join:2001-06-09
Allen, TX
| The one feature I wanted in the DTV PVR and has been claimed as a TiVo "patent" is the ability to flip between the tuners.
So I'm watching one show, commerical comes on. I hit pause, hit down, flip to the other tuner and surf the channels. Once I feel I'm done with that, flip back to the first tuner, and hit play.
Comes in really handy when watching football, especially with the 50 dozen or so commerical breaks that happen.
I've tested and worked with just about every DVR solution from ReplayTV to Myth to TiVo to U-Verse. Even throw in an UltimateTV unit for good measure.  The ability to record, schedule, and playback is everywhere. It's the look, feel, and touch of TiVo that makes me stay with it. DirecTV's HR20 isn't bad compared to some other ones but the fluidity and refinement in the TiVo is what makes it better.
Some people just don't care about it, but as someone who watches WAYYYYYYYY too much TV, I need a DVR that works very well. It also doesn't hurt that the TiVos are upgradeable and hackable. My DSR6000 is already on it's 4th upgrade. The only thing I can do to the HR20 is add a eSATA drive, which kills the internal drive. First thing I do when I get my HD TiVo is to upgrade it to two 750GB hard drives. |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·AT&T Yahoo
·AT&T DSL Service
·Cox HSI
| I've got a replayTV.  Also hackable. It originally had a 40GB drive in there, but I changed it out some time ago to a 250GB.
I love it's commercial auto-skipping feature, but it's getting long in the tooth now and has no support for HD. |
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Heterman
Premium
join:2004-02-28
Fayetteville, AR
| reply to psx_defector
said by psx_defector  :The one feature I wanted in the DTV PVR and has been claimed as a TiVo "patent" is the ability to flip between the tuners. So I'm watching one show, commerical comes on. I hit pause, hit down, flip to the other tuner and surf the channels. Once I feel I'm done with that, flip back to the first tuner, and hit play. That is what makes me the most unhappy about the HR20/21. I want that capability back as fast as possible. |
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apollo80
join:2002-01-31
Richmond, VA
| reply to KrK
said by KrK :I've got a replayTV. Also hackable. It originally had a 40GB drive in there, but I changed it out some time ago to a 250GB. I love it's commercial auto-skipping feature, but it's getting long in the tooth now and has no support for HD. While it doesn't have support for HD, if you hook an HD tuner or HD cable box into the ReplayTv via Svideo and record an HD downconverted source(the highest quality input the ReplayTv will take is SVideo), and then play back the dvr with the progressive 480p option, the video quality looks equal to watching a DVD in progressive scan.
While not HD, it's good enough... |
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psx_defector
join:2001-06-09
Allen, TX
| Ummmmmmmmmmm, no. 480p is no better than 480i. You might as well gouge my eyes out and tell me I'm looking at a Rembrandt.
This is why HD hasn't taken off as well as it should. People get an "HDTV" and still feed it crappy sources. And they say is looks great.
There is a stark difference in NTSC and ATSC. |
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TomClancy
Freedom isn't free
join:2003-04-23
... | Maybe 480p than 480i isn't better on a LCD but on a CRT it is.
But recorded 480i converted to 480p is same crap. (Garbage in, garbage out.)
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Freedom isn't free! |
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