Best Option for moving to HD w/DVR

[ddysart]

So we are looking to make the move to HDTV and I'm weighing options on where to get my content.  The biggest roadblock I'm seeing is I need DVR capibility. After having a SD TiVo for three years, I definately couldn't get a non-DVR system approved by the finance committee.  

We are currently DTV subscribers, but calling their local HD channel offering anemic would be a compliment.  TWC looks interesting, especially since they offer an HD DVR and with win-over promotions, the price is good.  But only hang up is I always feel like I need to take a shower after dealing with them - plus I've never been impressed with the UI's on cable boxes.

I'm not opposed to doing OTA for local HD, but I don't see a good solution for DVR that would also record non-local content (SD broadcasts from DTV, Dish, or TWC).

Anyone have some good ideas?  Is the TWC HD DVR any good?

[PJFW8]

Haven't examined it closely, but Tivo just introduced a dual cablecard HD DVR.  I believe it's called a Seriies 3 HDTV DVR.  May increase "boss" acceptance factor.

[borghe]

here is the HD situation for the near future:

D* and E* - HD outlook fairly good. both have MPEG4 implementations in place and both have decent bandwidth up. D* seems to take the lead for future possibilities by having the most bandwidth.

TWC - HD outlook poor. No room for any real future HD growth without either killing cable card and/or analog channels. killing cable card would affect few people, but would hurt the desire to have a boxless cable setup. killing analog cable.. well, the last numbers I heard from early this year were that 40% of SE WI TWC's customers are still analog only.

AT&T - when they finally roll out their service, much like D* and E*, there HD potential is easily all the channels that will come out over the next many years. however, the service isn't out yet and no firm ETA on it.

At this point I would strongly consider either D* or E*. If HD follows SD, DirecTV should have 58 on satellite within the next few months. Hopefully OTA will be active within the next month (hey, they activated eSATA already!!) meaning LIL HD won't even matter, except for space conscious viewers. And the sat companies have enough room to offer us the reported 100+ HD channels that we'll have at our fingertips as of next year.

not trying to knock TWC. they still have the convenience factor, and even with current LIL HD over sat, TWC still provides more local HD without an antenna (only missing 18). but for future HD, TWC is in trouble and needs to figure out how to deliver those mythical 100+ HD channels next year.. and they don't currently have the room to do it.

[ddysart]

So is OTA not an option on the D* box?  Looking at the equipment, there seems to be an input, but is it not activated?

[borghe]

correct, it is not currently active. the date that keeps flying around everywhere is "oct 2006" but nothing is firm, ie it will be active when active.

I was also just looking around and saw that E*'s current HD offerings squash both D*'s and TWC's. Actually had I known that Dish was so far ahead in HD I would have given them serious consideration (though likely would have had to drop at least $400 in hardware for 2 DVRs). I definitely recommend taking a look at them as well. Rumor for E* is that they will have CinemaxHD in time for the Star Wars saga airing next month. But it looks like E* is definitely the HD leader in the milwaukee area at least, as long as you are capable of getting HD OTA.

[ddysart]

AntennaWeb is telling me a Yellow multi-directional will work, so hopefull OTA wont require anything too massive.

I agree E*'s offering looks nice from a quantity standpoint, I just wonder from a non-PQ quality standpoint how often you'd watch an all adventure sports network (much less how long before I start seeing the same show over and over).

FWIW - I called D* to check pricing on their HD DVR and was told it would record OTA for CBS and PBS.  Who knows if that is just a line of... stuff.  

Thanks for the advice - still need to complete the purchase of a TV that can show the content, but at least I have an idea now of what I'm going to hook up to it.

[Mark Strube]

So you're only going to hook this up to 1 HDTV? If this is the case, you wouldn't need 2 DVR's. The DISH HD-DVR has an extra coax output that you can run to a TV in another room, and an RF remote (goes long distances) with a small RF antenna you connect to the back of the DVR, and then that TV has full control over all the recorded content, and one of the two tuners (when that tv is using it).

[Gregg Lengling]

Moved thread to more appropriate forum.

[qawsed]

Some of this may be true for the future, but TWC is far and away the leader right now.  I left D* 18 months ago and I'm glad I did.  Their HD is so compressed, it looks worse than DVD quality.  And I felt like I was waiting forever for those future promises to come true.  At some point they will, and then I may make the decision to go back to them.  Why consider locking into a contract now?  You can go with TWC and dump them whenever satellite actually produces on their promises.  But until then, TWC has my $$.  And yes, I do have to shower after talking with them on the phone.

here is the HD situation for the near future:

D* and E* - HD outlook fairly good. both have MPEG4 implementations in place and both have decent bandwidth up. D* seems to take the lead for future possibilities by having the most bandwidth.

TWC - HD outlook poor. No room for any real future HD growth without either killing cable card and/or analog channels. killing cable card would affect few people, but would hurt the desire to have a boxless cable setup. killing analog cable.. well, the last numbers I heard from early this year were that 40% of SE WI TWC's customers are still analog only.

AT&T - when they finally roll out their service, much like D* and E*, there HD potential is easily all the channels that will come out over the next many years. however, the service isn't out yet and no firm ETA on it.

At this point I would strongly consider either D* or E*. If HD follows SD, DirecTV should have 58 on satellite within the next few months. Hopefully OTA will be active within the next month (hey, they activated eSATA already!!) meaning LIL HD won't even matter, except for space conscious viewers. And the sat companies have enough room to offer us the reported 100+ HD channels that we'll have at our fingertips as of next year.

not trying to knock TWC. they still have the convenience factor, and even with current LIL HD over sat, TWC still provides more local HD without an antenna (only missing 18). but for future HD, TWC is in trouble and needs to figure out how to deliver those mythical 100+ HD channels next year.. and they don't currently have the room to do it.

[ddysart]

Sorry, my original intent was how to best get local HD, but it did quick morph to a best DVR solution topic.

Series 3 Tivo looks nice, but very spendy.  

D* and E* definately look like the way to go, with E* currently beating out on content currently.  I spoke briefly on the phone with a CSR and they are offering their HD-DVR for $199 with free everything else (installation and activation fee waived) with an 18mo commitment.  Monthly pricing seems competitive to what I'm paying D* for SD only.

The only drawback I see is there is only 1 OTA tuner, so if I want to record say, CSI and Grey's Anatomy, one is going to be in SD.

Also, FWIW, D* told me I'd be able to record OTA on their box, but looking at all the buzz over it, I won't be able to do it right now.

I still haven't ruled out TWC, but I really don't like dealing with them.  Plus I've never cared for the UI on cable boxes.  Why does everything have to be branded TV Guide?  Being able to record two HD streams at once seems nice (someone correct me if this is not possibble on their current hardware).  The other attraction to TWC is the integration story with Windows Media Center Edition (a definate possibility in the future for me) is a lot better with Cable then it is with D* or E*.

[Mark Strube]

With E* you can actually record 3 HD programs at the same time while watching a 4th pre-recorded program (or one of the programs that's currently recording). This is because it's got 2 sat tuners and 1 ota tuner. However that is true, you can only record 1 ota at a time. The 4 big Milwaukee locals should get added to E* in HD soon, so that will solve this problem.

[murdoc]

You could try the HR10-250 TIVO from D*.  It has dual tuners so you can record 2 OTA, 2 SAT, or 1 OTA and 1 SAT all while watching a pre-recorded show on the HD.  This is an older mpeg2 box and D* is phasing them out.  All new HD channels added will be mpeg4.  It has been said that D* will swap out or give (you lease it) a new HR20-700 mpeg4 box for no additonal charges.  This is assuming you commit to another 1-2 years with them.  A few people on the board have the new box and got some nice deals.  I have the HR10-250 and am really waiting until D* enables the OTA port before I switch.