DirecTV and Tivo – did I make a mistake?

January 7, 2005 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Television, Weblogs 

Two months ago, I plopped down $1000 for a DirecTV HD Tivo box.  It’s a box that allows me to record 2 programs while watching a recorded program (or watch one and record one) from DirecTV or OTA (Over the Air – broadcast locals) digital source.

Yesterday, DirecTV made several announcements at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.  What they amount to is this:

  1. DirecTV is releasing their own DVR (digital video recorder), based on NDS technology and uCentric technology.  This is expected to be similar to what SkyTV has released in Europe – Fox owns SkyTV and DirecTV.  There are not likely going to be any new Tivo boxes from DirecTV.
  2. DirecTV is going to use new satellites and new technology for their HD local channels and a supposed 150 HD channels.  They will be available starting in 6 months after the new satellites launch.  However, these satellites will be using MPEG-4 encoding and a new modulation technique.  That means that ALL existing DirecTV receivers will be unable to view those channels.  DirecTV promises to “convert” all existing HD customers – whatever that means.

So, the question is – what does that mean to me?  Do I now own a $1000 brick?

Misha tries to answer the question in this blog entry.

Personally, I think I blew it with my purchase.

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Help, or Get Out of The Way

January 7, 2005 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Can't Make This Up, Current Affairs, Life 

Varifrank has posted this gem in his blog about Europeans’ reaction to US tsunami aid.

Unprofessional – maybe.  Absolutely the right thing to say – definately.

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