setanta
09-21-2006, 02:48 PM
Background. Was on the original pre-order (20 something). Struggled through 3.x upgrades of various kinds until I settled down to the fairly stable 3.15f. Bought another one cheap a year ago when D* was unloading them for <$200. So I've had HD Tivo over satellite pretty much since the beginning. Have not received any 6.3 updates yet. Also, I'm not a regular poster but do come back periodically to this forum so I'm up to date on the hot topics around here.
So.. should I wait and give 6.3 a chance or should I get rid of D* altogether and switch to cable and the Tivo3.
Keep D* and wait for 6.3 given that:
-It's painfully slow but 6.3 is supposed to fix that
-OTA is and always has been garbage on this receiver BUT with a very tricky combination of attenuators on the aerial and HD locals from LA, I get eveything I would want to watch (occasional signal loss not withstanding). Next year of course this becomes more of a problem as the remote feeds will presumably go away.
-Picture quality is so so but there's not much else to do on these as both go to late model Panny plasmas over HDMI and are as good as they'll get (yes the dishes are well alligned and signal is very good).
-They're very loud but both units are in closets well away from the viewing areas so this is just an annoyance.
-Very little HD content compared with what cable now offers, no local HD sports for example.
-D*'s support is woeful. Yes, I've had the distinct displeasure of wasting hours of time talking to completely clueless CSRs (D* is the problem here with lousy systems and training) over these past few years.
-I don't particularly like D* as a company (just a personal opinion but must be considered in the decision making process).
-No native passthrough (yes I know I said I use HDMI but until I added this after two years it was a constant frustration to lose very good upscaling in the Panny). If I had NP now I'd consider going back to component.
D* is expensive. There is no package that seems to work for me. Getting everything seems to be the path of least resistance.
-I already own the HR10s so maybe I should just hack them, put them on the network and "hope" that 6.3x is stable enough to use for another year.
Dump D* and switch to cable and Tivo3:
-I already have RCN for Internet which is very good and reports are very favorable about their support for CableCard.
-I don't have to use Comcast who suck just about as bad as D*
-Tivo3 is a nice unit. It's well engineered, quiet, great picture and sound quality, runs the latest code (yes I know there's a few features yet to be turned on but these will happen), it's fast, it has Ethernet (welcome to the 21st century), I can program it from a browser when I'm not at home (kind of like writing this email at work now).
-RCN CSR's are very pleasant, answer the phone quickly and know what they're talking about.
-RCN is much cheaper with Internet bundling and offers a lot more HD, stuff that I'd actually watch like movies and local sports.
-Tivo3 won't be able to support future CableCards that allow for on demand (do I wait for Tivo3.5 ?? or do I care about on demand anyway)
-Tivo3 will have support for Internet delivery of content (Tivocast ?? when is the Netflix thing going to happen, when will it work with Mac).
-I'll probably have to fight with D* over cancelling - I've no idea what fine print they have over me.
-I need two of them which means $799 *2 upfront (net I will save monthly ongoing even with the Tivo sub because of the Internet bundling)
-No more carpal tunnel after going through and deleting daily call messages going back years (and in all that was there ever a real message?)
-HR10s are quickly losing any value they once had. Who wants two of them? Will they have any value at all when Tivo3 drops a couple of hundred bucks and people on this forum start leaving D* in droves?
-Does D* have any future at all for the high end? Will they become the AOL of TV?
So.. should I wait and give 6.3 a chance or should I get rid of D* altogether and switch to cable and the Tivo3.
Keep D* and wait for 6.3 given that:
-It's painfully slow but 6.3 is supposed to fix that
-OTA is and always has been garbage on this receiver BUT with a very tricky combination of attenuators on the aerial and HD locals from LA, I get eveything I would want to watch (occasional signal loss not withstanding). Next year of course this becomes more of a problem as the remote feeds will presumably go away.
-Picture quality is so so but there's not much else to do on these as both go to late model Panny plasmas over HDMI and are as good as they'll get (yes the dishes are well alligned and signal is very good).
-They're very loud but both units are in closets well away from the viewing areas so this is just an annoyance.
-Very little HD content compared with what cable now offers, no local HD sports for example.
-D*'s support is woeful. Yes, I've had the distinct displeasure of wasting hours of time talking to completely clueless CSRs (D* is the problem here with lousy systems and training) over these past few years.
-I don't particularly like D* as a company (just a personal opinion but must be considered in the decision making process).
-No native passthrough (yes I know I said I use HDMI but until I added this after two years it was a constant frustration to lose very good upscaling in the Panny). If I had NP now I'd consider going back to component.
D* is expensive. There is no package that seems to work for me. Getting everything seems to be the path of least resistance.
-I already own the HR10s so maybe I should just hack them, put them on the network and "hope" that 6.3x is stable enough to use for another year.
Dump D* and switch to cable and Tivo3:
-I already have RCN for Internet which is very good and reports are very favorable about their support for CableCard.
-I don't have to use Comcast who suck just about as bad as D*
-Tivo3 is a nice unit. It's well engineered, quiet, great picture and sound quality, runs the latest code (yes I know there's a few features yet to be turned on but these will happen), it's fast, it has Ethernet (welcome to the 21st century), I can program it from a browser when I'm not at home (kind of like writing this email at work now).
-RCN CSR's are very pleasant, answer the phone quickly and know what they're talking about.
-RCN is much cheaper with Internet bundling and offers a lot more HD, stuff that I'd actually watch like movies and local sports.
-Tivo3 won't be able to support future CableCards that allow for on demand (do I wait for Tivo3.5 ?? or do I care about on demand anyway)
-Tivo3 will have support for Internet delivery of content (Tivocast ?? when is the Netflix thing going to happen, when will it work with Mac).
-I'll probably have to fight with D* over cancelling - I've no idea what fine print they have over me.
-I need two of them which means $799 *2 upfront (net I will save monthly ongoing even with the Tivo sub because of the Internet bundling)
-No more carpal tunnel after going through and deleting daily call messages going back years (and in all that was there ever a real message?)
-HR10s are quickly losing any value they once had. Who wants two of them? Will they have any value at all when Tivo3 drops a couple of hundred bucks and people on this forum start leaving D* in droves?
-Does D* have any future at all for the high end? Will they become the AOL of TV?