Why can't HR10-250 be upgraded to MP4?

[SkyBeam]

Does anyone know of a technical reason why D* can't push an update out to the HR10-250 to upgrade to MP4?

[vertigo235]

The MPEG decoder is actually part of the main board.

errr... It's hardware, not software

[codespy]

It's like trying to squeeze apple juice out of an orange. If I'm not mistaking, the hardware in the 10-250 cannot decipher the compression of the mpeg4 signal. A simple software update will not work. Also, kind of like the newer chips in the p4, p5 and d2 cards. The old p3 and previous cannot process the encrytion that dtv sends out. Hopefully that helps.

[HogarthNH]

It's like trying to squeeze apple juice out of an orange. If I'm not mistaking, the hardware in the 10-250 cannot decipher the compression of the mpeg4 signal. A simple software update will not work. Also, kind of like the newer chips in the p4, p5 and d2 cards. The old p3 and previous cannot process the encrytion that dtv sends out. Hopefully that helps.

...
You're right on the money.
Well -- actually, I'd like saying it's trying to squeeze apple juice out of a rock.
TiVos work mainly through the use of ASIC -- Application-Specific Integrated Circuits.

These offload CPU-intensive tasks to devices specifically designed to process that kind of task. For example, while you can play games without a 3D video card, it's really slow, miserable, and looks like crap. The GPU on the video card knows how to process 3D stuff better than your CPU.

Same thing here, except the CPU of TiVo is even slower than that of your average PC, and the MPEG2 chips wouldn't know what to do with it.

There's no MPEG4 ASIC on board.
The HR10-250 was not designed with hardware upgradable sockets.
The CPU of the HR10-250 is insufficient to be able to decode MPEG4 at an adequate rate. (While I have no doubt they COULD write software to do so, it would perform miserably.. maybe 0.2 fps.)

Even if all this were possible, people -- DirecTV hasn't even given us the 6.2 upgrade. If they can't or won't give us a very small, simple thing -- why in the world would they want to do a very expensive hardware upgrade to the same dead end hardware?

If you're still deluding yourself -- please, cut it out.

H

[Markman07]

And with the R15 off to such a wonderful start why really worry!?

/sarcasm off

[SkyBeam]

Many thanks for the great answers! I didn't understand the role that hardware played in my favorite tv viewing device.

Perhaps D* will send us sledgehammers for the next upgrade? ;)

[ebonovic]

There is also the issue that the HR10-250 tuners can not "understand" the transmission protocol that the two new Sats are using...