The TiVo-DirecTV split gets closer
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.
I’ve had the DirecTV TiVo box for over a year. It rocks. It’s the single best DVR on the market today. I’m not sure how many have been sold and activated to date but it would be nice to know.
I had one of the first DirectTV / HDTV boxes available in March of 2001. At that time the majority (if not all) of HDTV tuners were DirecTV combo boxes. I got it for one reason, to watch the first final four in HDTV. Unfortunately Illinois lost in the Elite 8. I have enjoyed sports in HD ever since. I also got a DirecTV HD TiVo in the second shipment in May of 2004. Since getting it the only thing I watch live is sports again in HD.
I am wondering if in the MPEG-4 era that begins soon for DirecTV will there still be a SD or HD standalone or will the SD one die off?