DirecTv HD owners...Mpeg4 is here for $115.

[Iguana Man]

Hey, just thought I'd share this with you. My buddies Dad just emailed me this:

If you have an HD receiver, Directv has a deal going until 2/28/06. Order a new, H20( mpeg4) receiver, they give you a new mpeg4 receiver, install a new 5 lnb dish to receive the mpeg4 signals (as well as all other directv signals). They charge you $199 for the receiver, $14.95 shipping, $99 for the install, and give you a $200 rebate. You cannot get this offer online, you have to call in. So, it costs you $115 and you are in the next generation of directv equipment. And you keep or sell on EBAY the old receiver.

Unfortunately, this is for HD receivers only. I asked about HD-Tivo receivers and that is obviously something they may or may not address in the same fasion down the road.

Anyway....2/28/06 is the deadline. I think I may go for it.

[Reaver]

Originally Posted by Iguana Man

Hey, just thought I'd share this with you. My buddies Dad just emailed me this:



Unfortunately, this is for HD receivers only. I asked about HD-Tivo receivers and that is obviously something they may or may not address in the same fasion down the road.

Anyway....2/28/06 is the deadline. I think I may go for it.

Wait... I spoke to a D* rep yesterday, and they said the new HD PVR's weren't going to come out until the summer. Is this on the up and up?

- edit -

Oh. I see. My bad. This was just a receiver, and not an HD PVR. Boo...

[Iguana Man]

No prob man, but ask that dude again about any type of deal they may offer in similar fasion as stated above for the HD-Tivo's.

I hope they offer it and I hope the 'summer' timeframe is true.

[Taxi]

My parents had this installed just yesterday. I had to futz with the IR blasters to get the Tivo to work with it. (I hate those damn blasters.. Hopefully a USB-serial adapter will fix that problem soon.) Anyway, I think my Dad said it was going to be another $150 or $200 to get the HD PVR as well.

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by Taxi

I had to futz with the IR blasters to get the Tivo to work with it. (I hate those damn blasters..

What IR (infra-red?) blasters are you talking about. Is it something you had to deal with at the dish or what?

[akrycek]

Originally Posted by Taxi

My parents had this installed just yesterday. I had to futz with the IR blasters to get the Tivo to work with it. (I hate those damn blasters.. Hopefully a USB-serial adapter will fix that problem soon.) Anyway, I think my Dad said it was going to be another $150 or $200 to get the HD PVR as well.

How did the MPEG-4 look? Did you see a lot of artifacting or anything like that? Can you see any difference between the MPEG-4 and the MPEG-2 HD versions? If so, which looks better? Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I am interested in seeing how good MPEG-4 can look since so many were happy that Blu-Ray is sticking with MPEG-2.

Krycek

[Taxi]

Iggy: The IR blasters are used by the Tivo to control the DirecTV box. Normally, these devices will have a serial connector or something that can control the box directly, but this new H20 doesn't have that. It does have USB, which I am hoping I can use somehow. The IR blasters are two little plastic arms that stick out over the top and bottom of the DirecTV box, pointing at the IR receiver "hole". When you do a channel change on the tivo remote, it sends the correct IR codes to the DTV box to change the channel. Obviously, the tivo can't be very useful if it can't control what channels the DTV is showing.

akrycek: I can't compare to previous DTV HD boxes, because this is my parent's first foray into HD. The other night when I was over there, we actually ended up watching mostly standard def shows. What HiDef content I saw looked pretty good, but I didn't really see enough to form a good opinion.

[NotEd]

Originally Posted by Iguana Man

What IR (infra-red?) blasters are you talking about. Is it something you had to deal with at the dish or what?

Probably the ir blaster attached to the receiver sot the Tivo can change channels.


Ooops, beat me to it.
Personally I've got serial control on a older SD box with my ReplayTV and I would only go back to IR as a stopgap. Of course ReplayTV doesn't include IR codes for DirecTV, so I never need worry about that.....

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by Taxi

Iggy: The IR blasters are used by the Tivo to control the DirecTV box. Normally, these devices will have a serial connector or something that can control the box directly, but this new H20 doesn't have that. It does have USB, which I am hoping I can use somehow. The IR blasters are two little plastic arms that stick out over the top and bottom of the DirecTV box, pointing at the IR receiver "hole". When you do a channel change on the tivo remote, it sends the correct IR codes to the DTV box to change the channel. Obviously, the tivo can't be very useful if it can't control what channels the DTV is showing.

Sorry man...you gotta explain this in more depth for me to understand.

I've got two separate units. One, a HD unit only in my HT. Two, a HD-Tivo unit in the living room. Both run off their own remote. The H20 will go in the HT room. Why in the world do I need these IR Blasters to change channels when as of now, my remotes do NOT interact anyway.

What the hell am I missing?

[Taxi]

If you want to record your soft-core porn on Cinemax at 3am, but you don't want to stay up till 3am, your Tivo has to have some way of telling your dtv box to switch to Cinemax, in case you went to bed watching Showtime instead. Right?

If your Tivo isn't built into the dtv box, as I suspect yours is, then you have to have some link between the tivo and the DTV receiver: either serial, or IR (or hopefully USB).

Here is a (bad) picture of a Series 2 Tivo with IR blasters installed (and circled) on the receiver.

[Iguana Man]

Mine is built in so I guess I'm cleared on that plastic arm stuff. And damn. I can see that being a pain. Tell me, did you have to actually move those arms in microscopic movements to make it work?

If so...I feel your pain.

[Taxi]

No, not microscopic. I think they're called "blasters" for a reason.

You just stick them about 1 1/2 inches from the IR sensor, and then run some quick tests, and then they (usually) work. I only had to make one adjustment to get them to work this time.

[reefa]

Originally Posted by akrycek

How did the MPEG-4 look? Did you see a lot of artifacting or anything like that? Can you see any difference between the MPEG-4 and the MPEG-2 HD versions? If so, which looks better? Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I am interested in seeing how good MPEG-4 can look since so many were happy that Blu-Ray is sticking with MPEG-2.

Krycek

Sounds like I may be in Krycek's boat. If I've got the H10, is there a noticeable leap in quality or something?