# HR20 OTA Activation Date



## JLove336 (Sep 8, 2006)

Just wondering if anybody knows when D* plans on activating the OTA for the HR20.

BTW, if I "move" to NY or L.A. then I don't have to be within the spot beam because the east and west feeds are national correct?


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

JLove336 said:


> Just wondering if anybody knows when D* plans on activating the OTA for the HR20.
> 
> BTW, if I "move" to NY or L.A. then I don't have to be within the spot beam because the east and west feeds are national correct?


Latest word is sometime in October for the OTA functionality to be enabled. This is not official though and is most certainly subject to change.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

They are not necessarily "activating" MPEG-2 HD's in those areas... If you have an HR20 (or H20), both of those areas are MPEG-4 Locals


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## remlle (Aug 22, 2006)

earl what about places like in st.louis where we have channels that are in HD but not provided to us via D* such as WB (CW) and here in stl we have HD weather channel that is part of our NBC affiliate. any ideas?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Same situation that we are in here in Chicago.
There are some cities that have CW and PBS, but I think it is one or two.

I wouldn't expect St. Louis or Chicago to get their "other" ones until the new Sats are up next year.

So until OTA is enabled... Smallville will have to be watched in SD...


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

DirecTV just added Detroit's MNTV station to MPEG4. Fox owns MNTV, so it's not incredibly surprising. We'll see if they add CW, since it's launching tomorrow.


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## vanbo (Sep 6, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Same situation that we are in here in Chicago.
> There are some cities that have CW and PBS, but I think it is one or two.
> 
> I wouldn't expect St. Louis or Chicago to get their "other" ones until the new Sats are up next year.
> ...


Sigh, I think Portland, OR is in the same boat... On the day that they turned on the high-def locals for us, we got two stations. FOX, and NBC. When I called them and asked when the other stations would be available they said they have no idea and that our locals are still being negotiated, and might not be available.

I asked when the OTA would be enabled and they checked and said that "a software update" was suppose to happen mid-september, but it had been rescheduled for "some time before the end of the year". I asked if that meant October, and they told me it could be, or it could be December, they didn't know... They told me there had been lots of bugs they were working on in the next release. Thanks DTV, we are your beta testers???

At least after all this they told me that they would transfer me to the the HD DMA department and they helped me fill out a request for CBS and ABC through the LA station in HD. Hopefully, I get approved by the local stations, somehow I doubt it...

-vanbo


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## mtnagel (Sep 18, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Same situation that we are in here in Chicago.
> There are some cities that have CW and PBS, but I think it is one or two.
> 
> I wouldn't expect St. Louis or Chicago to get their "other" ones until the new Sats are up next year.
> ...


On the Directv site, it says Cincinnati is getting the HD locals this month. Any idea when exactly?

Also, which ones are Cincinnati getting?

If we don't get all of them, can you still get them in SD through the satellite? I don't want to have an antenna.


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## Guitar Hero (Dec 13, 2005)

I've been told "late September" and "mid-late October" so it's anybody's guess. I hope it happens soon, that way I can save a few bucks a month and turn off locals. 

I already have an OTA DVR, eagle-eyed people can see that from my siggie, and it provides a better picture quality than MPEG4 D* channels. I want to know if that's a D* video quality issue, or a HR20 video quality issue.


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## turbobuick86 (Sep 7, 2006)

Guitar Hero said:


> I've been told "late September" and "mid-late October" so it's anybody's guess. I hope it happens soon, that way I can save a few bucks a month and turn off locals.
> 
> I already have an OTA DVR, eagle-eyed people can see that from my siggie, and it provides a better picture quality than MPEG4 D* channels. I want to know if that's a D* video quality issue, or a HR20 video quality issue.


Are we supposed to be paying for locals via satellite?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

HD Locals via SAT are in conjunction with your SD Locals via SAT


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## jamieh1 (May 1, 2003)

My HR20s are coming Thursday, I hope the OTA activation is soon, I watch my HD locals about 65% of the time.

Maybe they upgrade will come in the next few weeks!


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## bigpro (Aug 25, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Same situation that we are in here in Chicago.
> There are some cities that have CW and PBS, but I think it is one or two.
> 
> I wouldn't expect St. Louis or Chicago to get their "other" ones until the new Sats are up next year.
> ...


I'm sure you've answered this before, but WHY would OTA not be active? Is there a precise reason or they just didn't have time to get to it?
I don't really care, just curious.


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## Proc (Jan 19, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> DirecTV just added Detroit's MNTV station to MPEG4. Fox owns MNTV, so it's not incredibly surprising. We'll see if they add CW, since it's launching tomorrow.


I know we got Channel 20 (former WB) in HD, MPEG4 here in Detroit now, but what is MNTV? Which channel (here in Detroit) is it?


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Proc said:


> I know we got Channel 20 (former WB) in HD, MPEG4 here in Detroit now, but what is MNTV? Which channel (here in Detroit) is it?


MyNetworkTV, channel 20.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

bigpro said:


> I'm sure you've answered this before, but WHY would OTA not be active? Is there a precise reason or they just didn't have time to get to it?


The precise reason is that they didn't have time to do it.


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## Proc (Jan 19, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> MyNetworkTV, channel 20.


Ah, thanks Jeremy...now maybe they'll get some programming to actually watch on Channel 20...LOL


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Jeremy W said:


> The precise reason is that they didn't have time to do it.


There is no precise reason.

The reason I was given, was that they needed more time to get it to function the way they want it to work.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> There is no precise reason.
> 
> The reason I was given, was that they needed more time to get it to function the way they want it to work.


Perhaps trouble with getting the recording or scheduling functions to work with OTA digital sub channels? Just a guess.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Proc said:


> Ah, thanks Jeremy...now maybe they'll get some programming to actually watch on Channel 20...LOL


I only watch that useless channel when they're broadcasting a Pistons game. I don't see them getting anything else that's worth watching.


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## rkester (Sep 21, 2006)

Was saddened to hear the OTA wasnt functional yet. Was reeeally hoping to record some of the new shows in HD. I guess I get to wait like eveyrone else. TOo bad the silly lady at DTV did not bother to tell me this when she sold me the unit. Esp after we discussed the fact that I was going to be recording HD OTA channels with it.


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## jaywdetroit (Sep 21, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> I only watch that useless channel when they're broadcasting a Pistons game. I don't see them getting anything else that's worth watching.


Useless? What about the Tigers? ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM


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## YankeeFan (Jan 31, 2006)

jaywdetroit said:


> Useless? What about the Tigers? ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM


I don't think that the watching the Tigers will be an issue in a few weeks   

Let's Go Yankees!


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## RMSko (Aug 23, 2006)

Has anyone with MPEG-4 locals done a PQ comparison of OTA HD with D*s MPEG-4 HD locals? If yes, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

RMSko said:


> Has anyone with MPEG-4 locals done a PQ comparison of OTA HD with D*s MPEG-4 HD locals? If yes, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.


Yes... a lot of have had... but the conclusion is inconclusive...

Why.. it varies city to city, TV setup to setup, and what defeines PQ quality to that viewer.

When I had my H20 up.... I could not see any desernable difference between the OTA and the MPEG-4.... and with my HR20.... I don't know yet, as the OTA has not been activated.


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## RMSko (Aug 23, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Yes... a lot of have had... but the conclusion is inconclusive...
> 
> Why.. it varies city to city, TV setup to setup, and what defeines PQ quality to that viewer.
> 
> When I had my H20 up.... I could not see any desernable difference between the OTA and the MPEG-4.... and with my HR20.... I don't know yet, as the OTA has not been activated.


Earl - I'm in the NY area so there probably haven't been many tests yet. Am I right that you did see a difference with the MPEG-2 channels?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Well my MPEG-2 comparisons where to the New York feeds I got... comared to my Chicago OTA... and those where near night in day for some shows/channels.

When I had the H20 (the non-dvr), I was able to compare Chicago OTA and Chicago MPEG-4 and they extremely close, and that was before the recent software/hardware updates to the encoding facilities.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

jaywdetroit said:


> Useless? What about the Tigers? ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM


My statement stands. 

I'm not a baseball fan.


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## jaywdetroit (Sep 21, 2006)

YankeeFan said:


> I don't think that the watching the Tigers will be an issue in a few weeks
> 
> Let's Go Yankees!


As I understand it-

The strategy for the Tigs, is to blow the division (there-by appearing weak), so they can get in on the wildcard and eliminate the Yanks early. Who wants to read about poor A-rod for next month anyhow? :lol:

What does this have to do with my HR20? My install date is Oct 6th. How can I get that moved up so I can watch these games in HD????????


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## rkester (Sep 21, 2006)

I think the comparison will be difficult. Unless its obviously different, there are way too many variables (connection type, signal quality, unit, tv type, end user's vision and perception of quality, etc).


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## rtphokie (Sep 17, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Yes... a lot of have had... but the conclusion is inconclusive...
> 
> Why.. it varies city to city, TV setup to setup, and what defeines PQ quality to that viewer.
> 
> When I had my H20 up.... I could not see any desernable difference between the OTA and the MPEG-4.... and with my HR20.... I don't know yet, as the OTA has not been activated.


You've got to consider the source but the station manager of my local CBS affiliate claims the OTA quality is superior to either DirecTV or Dish quality. I know it's superior to cable's quality.

From an email I received from him today:

> Tony, if you would be kind enough to provide us with your 
> home address and phone number we will generate a signal study 
> to determine the exact antenna required for your location. 
> By receiving the local stations over the air, your HD picture 
> quality will be far superior to what DirecTV or Dish will be 
> able to provide. Also, you will be able to see the 
> additional standard definition channels provided by the local 
> broadcasters. WRAL and WRAZ have been providing a local 24 
> hour news channel and weather channel for over 4 years. You 
> will also be able to enjoy ABC and NBC additional SD channels 
> which are not provided by DirecTV or Dish.


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## cbearnm (Sep 6, 2006)

rtphokie said:


> You've got to consider the source but the station manager of my local CBS affiliate claims the OTA quality is superior to either DirecTV or Dish quality. I know it's superior to cable's quality.


Actually, it's almost always true. Depending on when you are watching, you can be getting anywhere from 10-18 Mb/s OTA, D* is not going to give you that bitrate. My local PBS station @~14 Mb/s looks much sharper than anything on D*. As much as I like the service from D*, the OTA signal is generally going to be better.
(Unless you are in a market where they are splitting the signal into 4 or 5 or more subchannels. If they are allocating most of their space to the HD signal and 2-3 Mb/s to a digital signal, you might be surprised at how good it looks. This is the reason people complain about D* sending out HD Lite, it's lower bitstream does affect quality, although not as much as many claim.)


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## rtphokie (Sep 17, 2006)

Another email from my local CBS affiliate indicated that they learned of the disabled OTA tuner on the HR20 this week and are displeased about it and that it would be discussed during their next meeting with DirecTV.

DirecTV isn't the only place we should be complaining. Let your local affiliates know you are out there and that you aren't watching them because of this.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

rtphokie said:


> Another email from my local CBS affiliate indicated that they learned of the disabled OTA tuner on the HR20 this week and are displeased about it and that it would be discussed during their next meeting with DirecTV.
> 
> DirecTV isn't the only place we should be complaining. Let your local affiliates know you are out there and that you aren't watching them because of this.


Some of you guys are treating this as some kind of conspiracy. OTA will be enabled in just a matter of weeks hopefully. Keep your pants on!


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

but I want it NOW daddy :lol:
watched willie wonka and the chocolate factory the other day.....


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

houskamp said:


> but I want it NOW daddy :lol:
> watched willie wonka and the chocolate factory the other day.....


Don't make me turn this car around!


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

I think the sheer fact that we HAVE HR20s at this point proves that we are impatient people. Barring those who got it as new customers, we all asked specifically for this DVR, knowing the limitations beforehand. But we just had to have it RIGHT NOW, because it's cool and new.

I know that definitely applies to me!


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

getting slap happy.. not enough sleep/too much dbstalk and new dvr 
P.S. mine works perfectly


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## rkester (Sep 21, 2006)

Keep my pants on? Hmm... do I have to?

I guess when the OTA is enabled, I guess I will have to setup my Season Passes agan... er wait, I mean uh, what do they call it now... Series Link or something? Anyhoo you get the idea...


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## rkester (Sep 21, 2006)

The manual mentions the OTA alot, so I am pretty sure they are working quickly to activate it. I mean, it _was_ one of the things they sold me on when I got mine.

I also read in the manual that you can record from 3 sources at once... 2 DTV and 1 OTA. What a bummer. Manytimes its the OTA that has conflicts.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

rkester said:


> I also read in the manual that you can record from 3 sources at once... 2 DTV and 1 OTA. What a bummer. Manytimes its the OTA that has conflicts.


That is one of the point the manual is incorrect... there will be a NET of 2 recordings


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## rkester (Sep 21, 2006)

DO we know if those 2 will be limited to 1 OTA vs doing 2 OTA?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

rkester said:


> DO we know if those 2 will be limited to 1 OTA vs doing 2 OTA?


The Recording Options will be:

1 SAT
1 OTA
2 SAT
2 OTA
1 SAT & 1 OTA


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## TomF (Sep 20, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> HD Locals via SAT are in conjunction with your SD Locals via SAT


When I ordered my HR20 yesterday, I asked about additional charges for HD locals. They indicated that there would be no additional charge for HD locals. I took that to mean that you get HD locals for free regardless of whether you have SD locals or not. On the DirecTV website there is no mention of additional charges for HD locals and there are no programming tier choices to choose between HD locals or not.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Locals are no longer an option, they're included in all packages. If you've got an old package that does not include locals, and don't subscribe to locals separately, then I have no idea if you'll get HD locals or not. I'd suspect that you wouldn't, but who knows.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

If you pay for locals now then HD locals are included with that. As mentioned above, if you have an old package that doesn't include locals then no, you won't get HD locals either.


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## 420greg (Sep 23, 2006)

I got the new mpeg4 dish installed a few weeks ago with an H20 and the tech installed a 6 x 8 switch in my media closet. This switch has 2 'flex ports' that he said I could hook my off air antenna to to send it to all the TV's hooked to the switch.

I decided to research this before I tried it. I googled the manufacturer's name and found a user guide. Its a Zinwell.

The Zinwell guide said "You can not hook an off air antenna to the flex ports if you using are using a *Ku band Dish*"

Apparently they use the same freqs and step on each other.

Maybe this is what D* is trying to get worked out.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

420greg said:


> I got the new mpeg4 dish installed a few weeks ago with an H20 and the tech installed a 6 x 8 switch in my media closet. This switch has 2 'flex ports' that he said I could hook my off air antenna to to send it to all the TV's hooked to the switch.
> 
> I decided to research this before I tried it. I googled the manufacturer's name and found a user guide. Its a Zinwell.
> 
> ...


Nope, this is well known and there is no way around it. It is most likely them trying to get the software functions associated with OTA working stable before releasing it.


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## 420greg (Sep 23, 2006)

The wife is complaining about her 14 missing PBS stations that we got with the OTA hooked to the HR-15.I hope it is October and not December.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

420greg said:


> The wife is complaining about her 14 missing PBS stations that we got with the OTA


14?


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## 420greg (Sep 23, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> 14?


I pick up PBS stations from Tampa, Orlando, Gainesville, and Daytona Beach with my OTA.
Each PBS station has 4 Digital channels. 15-1 15-2 15-3 15-4, 26-1 26-2, and so on.

With the OTA being disabled I am only getting the 2 offered by D*. So I am short 14 PBS stations until the update.


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## Slyster (May 17, 2005)

we get a lot here in MN too... like 2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 17, 17.1, 17.2, 17.3 etc.. .ALL PBS I don't even know how many since I've never had OTA yet.. but my brother loves it with his DISH unit.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Wow, I get 1 PBS station OTA. They broadcast PBS HD on subchannel 1, and their SD feed on subchannel 2.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

420greg said:


> The wife is complaining about her 14 missing PBS stations that we got with the OTA hooked to the HR-15.I hope it is October and not December.


So why don't you leave your older receiver that got those stations hooked up? That's what I've done. I've got my old E-86 hooked up to just my OTA so I can still watch my locals (yes live but then that's what I've been doing the past 4 years anyway).

Just cause you get an HR20 doesn't mean you have to lose your OTA.


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## mechman (Apr 29, 2006)

Slyster said:


> we get a lot here in MN too... like 2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 17, 17.1, 17.2, 17.3 etc.. .ALL PBS I don't even know how many since I've never had OTA yet.. but my brother loves it with his DISH unit.


Hmmm... I don't get more than 2.1 on channel 2. Do I need to rescan?

mechman


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

You won't see 2.1 until OTA is enabled


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## dsowens (Aug 26, 2006)

When I ordered my HR20 yesterday, the csr told me that OTA will not ever be available. No s/w download would occur to turn-on OTA. Told me I did not need OTA because I live in Dallas. I SURE HOPE she is wrong.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

dsowens said:


> When I ordered my HR20 yesterday, the csr told me that OTA will not ever be available. No s/w download would occur to turn-on OTA. Told me I did not need OTA because I live in Dallas. I SURE HOPE she is wrong.


Wow. Ignorant CSRs are unfortunately to be expected, but that is a shocking amount of ignorance. She is definitely wrong, don't worry about it.


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## rkester (Sep 21, 2006)

Def wrong, considering the OTA is mentioned in the manual, and more importantly they would not have put it in the unit and dimmed it if it werent coming soon enough.


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## mechman (Apr 29, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> You won't see 2.1 until OTA is enabled


Sorry Earl,

I was speaking in generalities. I'm still using a HR10-250 but I don't get all those additional sub channels on 2. Didn't mean to lead you down the path... 

mechman


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## bakerfall (Aug 23, 2006)

I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere, so excuse me if it has, but I was playing with my HR20 which I recieved on Friday and if you search by channel, OTA channels show up. I live in the Chicago area and noticed when I was looking for WBBM, that the 2.1 OTA was also there. Browsing down a bit WCIU 26.1 and WGN 9.1 and 9.2 were also there. I was even able to browse the guide and hit record on a show that was playing. It didn't actually record anything and nothing showed up in MyVOD. Just wasn't sure if anyone else had noticed that.



mechman said:


> Sorry Earl,
> 
> I was speaking in generalities. I'm still using a HR10-250 but I don't get all those additional sub channels on 2. Didn't mean to lead you down the path...
> 
> mechman


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

bakerfall said:


> I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere, so excuse me if it has, but I was playing with my HR20 which I recieved on Friday and if you search by channel, OTA channels show up. I live in the Chicago area and noticed when I was looking for WBBM, that the 2.1 OTA was also there. Browsing down a bit WCIU 26.1 and WGN 9.1 and 9.2 were also there. I was even able to browse the guide and hit record on a show that was playing. It didn't actually record anything and nothing showed up in MyVOD. Just wasn't sure if anyone else had noticed that.


HMMM....
Are you certain it was the HR20 and not an H20?
I have my guide setup with favorites, so I'll have to check that...

OTA definently hasn't been enabled, but it is possible that the guide data is seeing the OTA information already.


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## bakerfall (Aug 23, 2006)

I'm absolutely positive, brand new HR20 installed Friday. I hooked up my OTA to it, just so I didn't have to dig back there when it was activated It does not show up in the guide, but if you do a search by channel it does.


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## R8ders2K (Sep 11, 2006)

bakerfall said:


> I'm absolutely positive, brand new HR20 installed Friday. I hooked up my OTA to it, just so I didn't have to dig back there when it was activated It does not show up in the guide, but if you do a search by channel it does.


Yes, you can search for the channel information, I guess the Guide information is already to go, but you cannot watch the selected OTA channel.


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## munangst (Sep 1, 2006)

BTW, something I found out today is that our local PBS station (WQED-TV/DT) actually broadcasts *different* content on their digital/HD station than their analog/SD station. You can see it on their program schedule (http://www.wqed.org/tv/sched/index.shtml). This makes it all the more annoying that DirecTV doesn't include PBS stations in the HD locals, and hasn't enabled OTA yet...my son loves some of the programs that are only on the WQED-DT station.


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## dervari (Dec 1, 2005)

Something just dawned on me... Will a one hour HD OTA recording take more space than a one hour MP4?


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

dervari said:


> Something just dawned on me... Will a one hour HD OTA recording take more space than a one hour MP4?


Yes, OTA is MPEG2 which takes up more space than the MPEG4 version of the same show.


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## dervari (Dec 1, 2005)

Well, I should have phrased my question differently. Since OTA is full HD instead of "HD Lite" (as some people call it), will an OTA recording take up more space than a _progam recorded off satellite_?


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## mikeny (Aug 21, 2006)

dervari said:


> Well, I should have phrased my question differently. Since OTA is full HD instead of "HD Lite" (as some people call it), will an OTA recording take up more space than a _progam recorded off satellite_?


Yes. Full 1920X1080 mpeg-2 will take up more space than 1280X1080 Sat (HD Lite)


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

dervari said:


> Well, I should have phrased my question differently. Since OTA is full HD instead of "HD Lite" (as some people call it), will an OTA recording take up more space than a _progam recorded off satellite_?


Yes. OTA are local channels, and local channels from D* are MPEG4. From what I've read, the MPEG4 HD from D* is broadcast at it's full resolution. I believe the "Lite" designation only applies to the MPEG2 HD channels from D* (I'm sure someone will chime in on this one way or the other).


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## bakerfall (Aug 23, 2006)

unless you are recording Fox, ABC or some PBS which is broadcast at 1280x720, and it would take up less space then even HD-Lite.

It's all a matter of bandwidth being used. So far as how much bandwidth, that is determined mainly by resolution and compression.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> I believe the "Lite" designation only applies to the MPEG2 HD channels from D*


Specifically, only the MPEG2 channels that broadcast at 1080i. The 720p channels are not down-rezzed.


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## Alan Gordon (Jun 7, 2004)

dervari said:


> Well, I should have phrased my question differently. Since OTA is full HD instead of "HD Lite" (as some people call it), will an OTA recording take up more space than a _progam recorded off satellite_?


Not necessarily... a lot of OTA stations multi-cast which is the OTA version of "HD-Lite".

~Alan


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

bakerfall said:


> unless you are recording Fox, ABC or some PBS which is broadcast at 1280x720, and it would take up less space then even HD-Lite.


Not necessarily. DirecTV broadcasts their HDLite at a lower bitrate than most OTA stations give to their main channel. So in general, OTA will take up more space.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

what people are missing here is the difference between bandwidth and resolution. They are reducing the bandwidth which reduces the update speed (creating artifacts and 'funny' spots) not the resolution


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

So Earl, what's the latest word? Do you think we'll be watching our OTA channels 6 weeks from now?


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

houskamp said:


> what people are missing here is the difference between bandwidth and resolution. They are reducing the bandwidth which reduces the update speed (creating artifacts and 'funny' spots) not the resolution


Not true, they are ALSO reducing the resolution on the MPEG2 1080i channels.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> Not true, they are ALSO reducing the resolution on the MPEG2 1080i channels.


reducing to what? 1080i is 1080i


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

houskamp said:


> reducing to what? 1080i is 1080i


just because your receiver is outputting at 1080i doesn't mean its been encoded/transcoded at 1080i.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

houskamp said:


> reducing to what? 1080i is 1080i


1080 just refers to the vertical resolution. True 1080i has a horizontal resolution of 1920, which DirecTV chops down to 1280. The receiver stretches it back out to 1920 when it outputs to your TV.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

problem is still the banwidth that makes the picture look bad.. like when the peoples mouths look funny because the picture updat is so slow.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

houskamp said:


> problem is still the banwidth that makes the picture look bad


No, the bandwidth AND the resolution COMBINED make the picture look bad. The only channels where it's JUST the bandwidth are the 720p channels.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

PoitNarf said:


> So Earl, what's the latest word? Do you think we'll be watching our OTA channels 6 weeks from now?


I don't ever give firm dates unless I have one.... which I don't in this case.
Per my latest conversations I know they are trying to get it done for October... but it most likely will be late October...
We will know more in a couple weeks for certain.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> I don't ever give firm dates unless I have one.... which I don't in this case.
> Per my latest conversations I know they are trying to get it done for October... but it most likely will be late October...
> We will know more in a couple weeks for certain.


Wasn't looking for a firm date, you told me what I wanted to hear 

As long as they're still shooting for October I'm happy.


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## magellanmtb (Nov 19, 2006)

Being new to this forum, I am sure this has been asked before but how could Directv release the HR20 without OTA capability when a previously released model H20 has it? That just doesn't make common sense.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Because the HR20 is a totally new unit, and the OTA capability wasn't ready to go when DirecTV wanted the unit released.


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## magellanmtb (Nov 19, 2006)

But isn't the HR20 simply an H20 with DVR capabilities?


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## uscboy (Sep 5, 2006)

Doesn't really matter what it is, only that they pushed it out before it was ready... 
that's evident for many reasons, OTA being a big one. IMO, it should be simple 
since OTA is something that's been done for a while now and on previous boxes 
from D*, but with all the other problems they're fighting, I'm guessing they don't 
really give it the priority we feel it should have.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

magellanmtb said:


> But isn't the HR20 simply an H20 with DVR capabilities?


No... not even close.

The HR20 was pretty much an entirely new system.
It is not even fair to say it is an R15 with HD capabilities.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> No... not even close.


To the casual observer, it certainly is. *We* know better, though.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

uscboy said:


> Doesn't really matter what it is, only that they pushed it out before it was ready...
> that's evident for many reasons, OTA being a big one. IMO, it should be simple
> since OTA is something that's been done for a while now and on previous boxes
> from D*, but with all the other problems they're fighting, I'm guessing they don't
> really give it the priority we feel it should have.


There is a lot more to it, then just "OTA tunning"......

Even though "it has been around for a while", it simply hasn't been done yet on the DVR+ series of units... so yes... it wasn't ready to go at the time of launch.

It is not like they could pick and copy the code from the HR10-250 (which is the only other DVR in the DirecTV fleet that did OTA DVRing)


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