[restart88]

I have been using an Ir hookup. I have an old RCA as a spare with low speed data port but am considering a switch from my current Direct TV box and have seen the old serial port units at thrifts for like $5.

What is the advantage to using a serial connection? Will I still have that hesitation when switching channels?

Aso, since I figure there are only a few of these serial models, are there some to avoid?

 

[Arcady]

Why not just buy a DirecTiVo for like $10?

 

[restart88]

Why?

lol

I just answered that question in another thread but it bears repeating. They're nice. I have one of those too. BUT it doesn't do Tivo2Go and I use a dedicated PC to stream music and store favorite movies. Yea, I have the movies on DVD too, but it's more handy to store a copy on a central PC and I don't always need the higher quality.

Kinda found this out by accident but last time I was out of town I used my laptop to access my home network and low & behold I was playing movies off of my PC back home! I know most of you already knew you could do that, but I thought it was way cool!

 

[robomeister]

This really doesn't answer your question, but if you use a S2DT with a D* receiver, you will only be able to use one of the two tuners in the S2DT. I'd recommend getting a DirecTV receiver with TiVo, and add it to your DirecTV account. That way you won't have to worry about the IR blasters or the serial connection. And you will get dual tuners to boot. All DirecTV receivers with TiVo or DirecTiVos are dual tuners.

More to your question. The advantage of using a serial port connection to control the STB (set top box) or receiver is you will have less missed channel changes. Using the IR blasters to change the channels tends to miss channel changes occasionally.

Not having DirecTV, I don't know if using a serial connection will eliminate the hesitation between channel changes. I think that is a function of the satellite trying to tune the new channel.

Hope that helps,
robomeister

 

[Arcady]

When I had DirecTV, I used several DirecTiVo boxes and just hacked them so I could download shows and all that stuff. I was recording the digital stream instead of the poor digital->analog->crappy MPEG encoder digital system you'll get with a standalone. Especially now that D* has reduced the bitrate on their satellites, double encoding makes it look even worse.

As for playing shows from a remote location, the slingbox connected to my Series3 does a fine job of that.

 

[restart88]

Thanks for the replys!

A couple of things here. Again, I DO have an R10 which I use. However, (looks like everybody kinda missed the obvious here) I am committed to my S2DT for 2 more years.

And though I've considered getting cable because of the bundling of services I like the D* just fine and of course knew I could use only 1 tuner with DBS anyway.

As for the skipped channels I never seem to get those on my 540 connected to a Dish 508. But the Direct TV Samsung which has been connected to the S2DT has like about a 20% failure rate for me when recordings are scheduled. Maybe like 10% - 15% or less when manually entering channel numbers.

As a side note about the Ir type connection for others who might be reading this thread, to test channel changing I hooked up an old RCA (I think it's a 420 model if memory serves) and it seems to work just fine. Still, I can see advantages to the serial connection and probably will be happier with a unit that has it. But of note, it didn't work so well at first. Short version, it didn't like on of the two Ir leads and worked way better without it.

Oh, about the Slingbox. Why would I need it if I can just stream Tivo from my home PC?

 

[CuriousMark]

I use D-10s with a serial cable. Channel changes are pretty quick. They were much slower when I used IR. Reliability on channel changes is 100%. I hear D-11s also work well, but you need the Paterson Tech serial to USB converter cable for them.