Introduction After owning my new 61-inch rear-projection HDTV for about 30 minutes, I started jonesing hard for a High Definition PVR. When I finally made the move to HD, tacking on a few thousand dollars for the set and a extra few bucks to my monthly satellite bill, I somehow had justified in my mind that I could just live with my standard definition TiVo running into my TV and that someday later, I would own an HD PVR. That “someday” came about a week later for me. I called up Dish Network to inquire about the cost of their 921 receiver and, much to my chagrin, it was in the $1,000 range, priced comparably with their HD TiVo competition from DirecTV. (Note: The 921 is currently priced at $549 according to Dish Network.) This price point is a barrier to entry for most home theater enthusiasts, but it just so happens that ...

Introduction One of the more amazing trends today is the absolute explosion in the amount of television programming available to the average person. Technologies such as digital cable and satellite TV have made the proliferation of television channels a reality. My DirecTV satellite service offers over 900 channels of programming, ranging from the Thai Channel to HBO and darn near everything in between. With programming available on most channels 24 hours a day, a nearly limitless variety of shows can be seen. Of course, you may have to be up at 4:00 AM to see that episode of “The A-Team” that you missed back in the ‘80s. With a TiVo digital video recorder (DVR), you can now record those normally out of reach shows with a click of a button, and watch the recording at your convenience. The shows are written to the built-in hard drive of the TiVo unit, allowing you to play, ...

Introduction In a recent poll conducted as a part of an Audio Video Revolution sweepstakes, a question was asked to the nearly 20,000 respondents as to what AV product they are planning on buying next within the next six months. We asked a very similar question in 2003: for a resounding majority, the answer was an HDTV set. In 2004, the most likely purchase was an HD-DVR (or TiVo). This new AV component category led all others, including HD sets themselves, with 28 percent of our readers saying this would be their next purchase. To say HD-DVR is a scorching hot new category of gear is to understate its importance. To not mention how bad and overpriced the category of HDTV tuners have been since the early adopters started dialing into HDTV would be to forget an important piece of recent AV history. Up until now, nearly every HDTV receiver has been practically pathetic in ...

Introduction ReplayTV is working hard to gain ground in the booming DVR (digital video recorder) market. Over the past few years, TiVo has obtained a dominant marketing position, while ReplayTV has had to fight off lawsuits brought by some who feared ReplayTV’s powerful DVR technology. ReplayTV has since put that lawsuit behind them and has been bought by D&M Holdings. D&M Holdings is one of the biggest players in AV, owning several top audio/video companies, including Denon, Marantz and Macintosh and Rio. Now D&M Holdings has Escient as well and, with DirecTV threatening all sorts of ugly moves with TiVo, ReplayTV is quickly becoming the DVR choice of discriminating TV viewers. ReplayTV launched its 5500 DVR series in October 2003. The series is comprised of 40, 80, 160 and 320-hour versions, the 5504, 5508, 5516 and 5532, respectively. The DVRs range in price from $149 to $799, and service can be purchased separately for $12.95 ...

TiVo for DirecTV on the Cheap As one of the millions of subscribers of DirecTV’s satellite service, I was compelled by an ongoing campaign to promote their own Hughes PVR (personal video recorder) for a seemingly unbelievable price of $199 per unit – installed. The unit completes the same tasks as the famous Sony SAT T-60 (about $500 retail – now discontinued), being both a satellite receiver and a TiVo recording device with a 35-hour recording capability, all in the same chassis. The value of the DirecTV offer was too compelling for me to resist, especially considering that to get another used Sony SAT T-60 from eBay was going to cost me close to the same $500 it costs to get a new one. I had a new bedroom system going in with a kickass new Sony 34XBR910 34-inch CRT HDTV set along with all of the other goodies. Why shouldn’t I have ...