Entries Tagged 'HDTV' ↓

OK, I have serious gadget lust. As much as I love the interface of the DirecTiVo HD box, it has too many flaws. No local HDTV, horrible lags (sometimes more than minute) when saving changes, no folders or multi-room features like Series 2 TiVos…

So I was thrilled when PVRWire provided a link to Earl Bonovich’s review of the new DirecTV HD DVR at DBSTalk. I first wrote about this last October, when it was just a rumor.  The review format is a strange one, chopped into a series of forum posts with pictures available only via links. But it’s loaded with information from someone who has clearly spent time with this product.

Some details:

Here is a brief summary of the HR20 features

• High Definition TV Output (via HDMI and Component)
• 2 Sets of RCA (Red/White/Yellow Outputs) - 1 S-Video
• 1 Optical Digital Output
• Dual SAT Tuners
• Dual ATSC Tuners (functionality is disabled at this time, see notes later in the review)
• Wired RJ-45 Ethernet Port
• External SATA Connection
• 300gb SATA Internal Hard Drive
• RF Remote Compatible with the Included RC24, and the soon to be released RC32RF

Estimated Recording Space (Not a cumulative value)

• ~ 30 Hours of MPEG-2 (OTA) HD
• ~ 50 Hours of MPEG-4 HD
• ~ 200 Hours of Standard Definition (SD)

Unit was manufactured by PACE

The Official Model Number: HR20-700

I could have used more direct descriptions and comparisons of the interface, which after all is the TiVo’s big strength. But the existence of an external SATA connector is a huge plus.

If you’re looking for a DirecTiVo HR10-250 recorder, something tells me I’ll have one for sale real soon.

Rumor has it that Comcast is about to begin beta-testing its HD TiVo. If anyone from Comcast or TiVo is reading this, I’m interested.

This DIRECTV press release has details:

DIRECTV named 14 more markets where it will offer local HD programming later this year. When the markets are added, DIRECTV will offer local HD programming in 50 major metropolitan areas, representing more than 65 percent of U.S. TV households. The rollout is scheduled to begin in the third quarter.

One of those 14 markets is the one where I live. Hallelujah.

The press release doesn’t mention whether new dishes or new set-top boxes will be required or what happens to owners of DirecTiVo units. Presumably, nothing has changed since last October and tuning into the new channels will require a major hardware update.

I had an invite to last week’s dinner in Silicon Valley with Microsoft Windows boss Jim Allchin but couldn’t attend. Thomas Hawk was there, though, and according to his excellent write-up, Allchin was emphatic about the first generation of CableCard-equipped PCs. Reportedly, only “finished systems” from major OEMs (like Dell and Sony) would initially be certified by CableLabs. If true, that’s bad news for enthusiasts and small OEMs.

But hold the phone! Chris Lanier passes along a new report that offers a ray of hope. Anand Lal Shimpi told Chris:

According to my contacts at ATI, the OCUR [(Open Cable Uni-directional Receiver] device will be included as part of a “kit” that will be the box and a new PC. The PC is not certified by CableLabs in any way, instead MS publishes a minimum system configuration and the system has to meet these specs in order to be sold with the OCUR device. The OCUR device itself is the only thing that is actually certified by CableLabs.

In his CES wrap-up, Anand had a nice write-up of the ATI device, including some pictures.

I’ve currently got three PCs running Windows Media Center Edition, with two scheduled for updates to Windows Vista this year. I’ll look forward to that upgrade a lot more eagerly if it includes a way to record HDTV.

This would be funny if it weren’t so sad.

A survey from Scientific Atlanta, which makes cable decoder boxes, finds that HDTV is still a “Fuzzy” technology for consumers. The study says that nearly half of the people who own HDTV-capable TVs are not watching any high-definition programming. In fact, many of them think they’re watching HDTV even when they’re still viewing standard definition signals:

• Close to one in four (28%) of HDTV owners reported that they did not get any special equipment from their service provider to watch HDTV channels because the picture quality was already improved with the purchase of an HDTV.
• 23% of HDTV owners did not invest in special equipment to watch HDTV channels because a message at the beginning of the programs they watch tells them that those programs are being broadcast in HD.
• Nearly one in five (18%) reported that they believed the HD television would give them high-definition channels without additional equipment.

I completely believe this. Last month I visited a friend in Arizona who had recently installed a new DirecTV system with HD converter boxes. My friend complained that he was really unimpressed with HDTV. When I looked more carefully, I saw that his TV was set up strictly for “stretched” SD channels and that DirecTV had not actually enabled the HD service. I called DirecTV for him, and after about an hour on the phone, we got it all squared away.

This technology is still too complicated for mere mortals. Enthusiasts and home-theater pros are the only ones who have the time and motivation to learn how this stuff really works. We’ve got a long, long way to go.

(Via Lost Remote)

DirecTV has a frustratingly incomplete news release about its new plans to deliver high-definition content, Highlights:

• New set-top boxes will be built by LG Electronics, unlike the DVR products, which are from NDS. [Update: As a mysterious commenter points out, NDS Group makes the conditional access software only, not the hardware. No word on who will make the new MPEG-4 compatible DVRs or when they will actually appear.]
• LG “has begun production of set-top boxes” for use in DirecTV’s new MPEG-4 broadcasts. The new boxes use the Broadcom “VSB” chip set and can also decode MPEG-2 SD programming and ATSC (over-the-air) digital HDTV and SD signals.
• The digital signal is locked down using “advanced security and protected digital outputs (HDMI/HDCP) with simultaneous component and composite output.” So, no, you can’t connect the digital output to your Media Center or other PVR. Sorry.
• The new set-top boxes have a USB port, but there’s no indication of what it will be used for.

There’s a lot more HD content on the horizon:

DIRECTV will launch the most dramatic expansion of programming in its history when it begins offering local broadcast channels in HD this fall in major markets throughout the United States. By 2007, DIRECTV plans to offer more than 1,500 local broadcast channels and more than 150 national channels in HD.

Without a DVR, though, why would any early adopter be interested? DirecTiVo owners won’t be able to view the new MPEG-4 content, and there’s no sign that the HD-ready DVRs from NDS will be ready until mid-2006 or later.

DirecTV’s new ad campaign is all about its DVRs. How many people are going to be disappointed when they discover that the new DVRs don’t do high-def and that the old DirecTiVos won’t tune in all those new channels?

(Via PC Magazine and Digital Media Thoughts)

The New York Times has details of the new non-TiVo DVR’s about to be rolled out by DirecTV:

DirecTV’s standard DVR, originally set to be released this past June, will be introduced in late October, and another model featuring high-definition service will be introduced in mid-2006. The standard DVR will feature up to 100 hours of recordable space, compared with TiVo’s 70 hours.

Wonder why the HD boxes are being delayed so much? Could it be that the combination of HDTV and DVR is still a niche product?

HDTV is hot, no doubt about it. But it would be interesting to know how many DirecTV subscribers have the standalone HD decoder boxes. Demand for HDTV is highly driven by sports content. (Look how many TVs get sold around the time of the NFL playoffs in January.) I suspect your average Sunday football fan is more motivated by the ability to watch high-definition football games in real time via Season Ticket than in time-shifting those games.

Just thinking out loud.

Chris Lanier has an excellent response to the ongoing discussion over HDTV in Windows Media Center Edition 2005. I don’t agree with 100% of what he’s written, but I agree with most of it, and I think most of our disagreements are based on market approaches more than technical facts. I’ll have more to say about this later.

I was really, really disappointed by Thomas Hawk’s response, however. I though this remark in particular was a cheap shot:

According to Chris, Vista will change everything and finally give us, through our savior DRM, the closed box within an open box and the HDTV that I and others crave along with it.

Thomas is grossly misinterpreting Chris’s argument. To characterize Chris as advocating for “our savior DRM” is insulting and wrong.

Thomas is not alone. Chris has taken a bunch of arrows in the past few months from people who can’t seem to get past their emotional response. They keep ignoring the most essential fact: The DRM is already there in the encrypted cable or satellite signal. Any company - Microsoft, TiVo, the Myth TV community, or any third party - has to deal with it.

The satellite companies have no mechanism of any kind to allow third parties to access the encrypted data stream. None. TiVo cut a deal with DirecTV to build DVR hardware into DirecTV’s set-top box, but DirecTV sells those boxes and owns those customers. TiVo just collects a few dollars per subscriber for supplying the back-end services.

Cable companies have an umbrella organization (CableLabs) and a technology (Open Cable Application Platform) that third parties can implement to get their technologies into the encrypted data stream. Getting certified by CableLabs means you’ve successfully met their requirements for maintaining a secure data path that can’t be copied.

The implication of the sarcastic remarks aimed at Chris is that he is in favor of selling Windows users down the river by advocating that DRM be imposed on our wonderful free digital world. In reality, Chris is explaining what technology companies like Microsoft have to do to play successfully in the modern media universe. You might not like that universe, but that’s the one we live in.

Thomas Hawk thinks I’m making “excuses” for Microsoft:

My own opinion is that even a closed HDTV system inside of an open box where the cable/satellite provider got all the money and Micorosft got none and got screwed two years later would be preferable to the current strategy of no native HDTV.

We obviously disagree. And I think if you brought that business plan to anyone at Microsoft with P&L responsibility, you’d be lucky to get out of the office alive, much less still employed.

And for that matter… How would you and I and all the rest of Microsoft’s customers benefit from this?

Sean Alexander points to the joint Microsoft/Intel announcement that they’ve thrown their weight behind the HD-DVD format. That decision unlocks at least one new feature in the Windows Vista version of Media Center:

Managed Copy is a guaranteed feature within HD DVD that gives consumers the freedom to make copies of their discs to a hard drive or home server, including Media Center PCs, and enjoy them in every room of the house over their home networks. HD DVD discs also will allow copies of the movie to be played on portable devices.

That adds some detail to the rumors published earlier this month that hinted of DVD-copying capabilities in Windows Vista. Looks like you’ll be able to copy DVDs from the newer HD-DVD format only. (And no, let’s not discuss DRM here. I’ll save that analysis for another post on another day.)

Thomas Hawk is concerned whether the copies will be of HD quality:

I’m assuming (hoping) that when copies are made to your Media Center PC that they are of the same high quality format as the original DVD. If this is the case, and the discs, according to Sean, will be 30 Gigs at launch, then say 50 DVDs for the kids at 30 gigs could take up an awful lot of storage. 1.5 terabytes to be exact.

The alternative would be to have the copies stored be inferior non HD versions of the movies which would be smaller but this is also less exciting to me because I’m a nut for HD quality.

Not every DVD uses every bit of capacity. I suspect that by eliminating DVD overhead and using slightly better compression, you should be able to copy a HD-DVD in an average of 20GB, which means those 50GB will need a terabyte of storage.

A terabyte or two sounds like a lot right now, but leap two or three years into the future and the size and costs will not be so intimidating. In 1992, I paid $1000 for a 1GB drive. Coincidentally, that was the average cost calculated by one industry source. (PDF report here.) Costs of storage are going down 45% per year, on average. Today, the cost of a gigabyte of storage is about $0.42, and by 2007, when Windows Vista should be starting to hit its stride, a terabyte drive should cost $130. By 2008, you should be able to get 10 TB of storage for about $700. That will be enough to hold 500 DVDs. Will there even be 500 HD-DVD titles at that point?

Now, if past performance is any indicator, Thomas will have a very, very large collection of digital video - larger than 99% of the population at large. But even a 500-DVD collection should be manageable on a high-end consumer system by the time Windows Vista hits the mainstream.