New HD channels and tivo

See http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=362403
Yes, you can use a DVD recorder in the same manner as the manual points out for "Saving to VCR". However, it will only record the SD channels from a DirecTV receiver. Or the HD in SD from an HDTiVo.

 

New and Upcoming Channels in 2H 2007 and Early 2008

August
Animal Planet
Discovery
TLC
The Science Channel

September
Cinemax (MoreMAX)
HBO (HBO2, HBO Family, and HBO Signature to start, with all remaining HBO channels to follow over next six months)
History
Starz (Starz Comedy, Starz Edge, and Starz Kids)
TBS
The Weather Channel

October
CNN

October/November
Cartoon Network
CNBC
FX
SciFi
USA Network

December
Tennis Channel

1Q '07
ABC Family
Disney Channel
Toon Disney
ESPNews

Dish Network just added the first group a few days ago, and DirecTV will begin adding channels in the second half of September, but they won't be the only ones. You can also expect to see most of these channels on Comcast, FiOS, and other cable providers this year.

DirecTV is using MPEG-4 compression to deliver these channels, so none of them will work with the DirecTivo DVRs. With DirecTV HR20 DVR with their own software is their only DVR with support for these channels. If you want Tivo capability with these channels, you'll have to switch to cable and get the TivoHD.

You'll have to wait a long time to get 100 -- let alone 150 -- HD cable channels with DirecTV. The claims you see on TV are with regard to total future capacity, and even those statements are a bit misleading, since DirecTV figures upcoming HD-PPV in that number. DirecTV also counts sports packages by the number of channels they require (i.e. Sunday Ticket isn't one channel, it is 6+ and the same will go for MLB Extra Innings when it is added in HD).

 

I just got a new TV & would like to stick with Tivo, so I'll probably buy the new Tivo HD & hopefully Comcast will add the new HD channels as you've suggested. One question, though. I thought I saw somewhere, on some site, that the cable companies may start transmitting certain HD channels in some format not compatible with Tivos. Know anything about that?

 

Comcast 860MHz (and 1GHz) systems will not be using SDV anytime soon. Some Comcast 750MHz systems will be using SDV in the next year.

Here's a bit I posted in another thread:

 

Yep - DirecTv's HD-Channel "accounting" makes Enron and WorldCom look like childs play

 

They could easily add 30 channels of HD PPV or VOD or both. They don't lack the bandwidth.