# Tivo and D*



## rlgold88 (Aug 30, 2006)

Does anybody know if Tivo is going to make another hd dvr box for D* besides the hr10-250.

Or did they completely split? I see that their new box just works with cable and ota. 

Just curious because I have 2 hr10-250 and 1 hr20. I like both types but was wondering if Tivo and D* will still be partners in the future?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

As of right now, there are ZERO indications that TiVo will be making any additional DVRs for Directv (SD or HD)

They basically "completely" split, except for the support aspects of the contract.


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## rlgold88 (Aug 30, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> As of right now, there are ZERO indications that TiVo will be making any additional DVRs for Directv (SD or HD)
> 
> They basically "completely" split, except for the support aspects of the contract.


Is their a time frame when we will lose the support aspect from tivo on the hr10-250???

If so will D* swap it with whatever hd dvr they are using ???


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

rlgold88 said:


> Is their a time frame when we will lose the support aspect from tivo on the hr10-250???
> 
> If so will D* swap it with whatever hd dvr they are using ???


Has far as I know... DirecTV has no intentions of turning off the DTivos.
So basically they will work until they have an internal failure.

The "support" aspect, is for software level bugs and stuff which TiVo would have to fix. That runs till 2011 IIRC.

As for swaps... They will be swaping HR10's with HR20's when they start to shutdown the MPEG-2 HD feeds.


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## rlgold88 (Aug 30, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Has far as I know... DirecTV has no intentions of turning off the DTivos.
> So basically they will work until they have an internal failure.
> 
> The "support" aspect, is for software level bugs and stuff which TiVo would have to fix. That runs till 2011 IIRC.
> ...


Thanks alot for the info. I will probly try to swap them out when the hr20 is a little more stable.

Thanks again 
Rob


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## rod456 (Oct 4, 2006)

D* has not turned off my UltimateTV yet either and it has the best GUI of all.


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## outerub (Aug 30, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Has far as I know... DirecTV has no intentions of turning off the DTivos.
> So basically they will work until they have an internal failure.
> 
> The "support" aspect, is for software level bugs and stuff which TiVo would have to fix. That runs till 2011 IIRC.
> ...


So, do you mean that if I have no desire for HD that my DirecTivo will continue to be supported as long as it functions ? ie: DTV has no plans to kill MPEG2 for standard def content ? Or are they planning on just killing MPEG2 because it frees up bandwidth for them ?


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

outerub said:


> So, do you mean that if I have no desire for HD that my DirecTivo will continue to be supported as long as it functions ? ie: DTV has no plans to kill MPEG2 for standard def content ? Or are they planning on just killing MPEG2 because it frees up bandwidth for them ?


If they kill MPEG2 that means they have to replace almost every DVR and Receiver out there bar a couple models. Thats NOT going to be an easy nor cheap thing for them to do so I don't see them being in a rush to do this.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Clint Lamor said:


> If they kill MPEG2 that means they have to replace almost every DVR and Receiver out there bar a couple models. Thats NOT going to be an easy nor cheap thing for them to do so I don't see them being in a rush to do this.


Bar TWO models.. HR20 and H20

Every other single receiver in the entire DirecTV subscriber base, would have to be changed. Probably close to 30 - 35 million receivers.
(16 million subscribers, average of 2 receivers give or take)

Even if the replacement receivers where only $10 each to make..
That is $350 Million they would have to "offset"... and that is before the cost of the installers, support calls, logistics of doing it, ect....

Bottom line... MPEG2-SD is not going anywhere.


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Bar TWO models.. HR20 and H20
> 
> Every other single receiver in the entire DirecTV subscriber base, would have to be changed. Probably close to 30 - 35 million receivers.
> (16 million subscribers, average of 2 receivers give or take)
> ...


I said a couple knowing those two but wasn't sure if there where any others. 

My guess is that your figures are fairly low considering that a nice portion of the numbers are DVRs which would have a higher cost. Also won't this require a new SAT dish? If so that drives the cost even higher, plus I wouldn't want to dream of the scheduling nightmare it would cause to have every DTV customer require a visit from an install tech.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Clint Lamor said:


> I said a couple knowing those two but wasn't sure if there where any others.
> 
> My guess is that your figures are fairly low considering that a nice portion of the numbers are DVRs which would have a higher cost. Also won't this require a new SAT dish? If so that drives the cost even higher, plus I wouldn't want to dream of the scheduling nightmare it would cause to have every DTV customer require a visit from an install tech.


Oh the numbers are definently low... as I doubt you could build an SD only IRD for $10...

But it shouldn't need new sats.... Two parts of the equation:
Transmission
Compression

They are not dependent on one another.... So they coudl send MPEG-4 over the current SATs, if they wanted to.


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Oh the numbers are definently low... as I doubt you could build an SD only IRD for $10...
> 
> But it shouldn't need new sats.... Two parts of the equation:
> Transmission
> ...


Actually I meant new SAT dishes for the house, to be able to tune the other SATs already flaoting around.


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