I was researching through various satellite deals since my wife wants to put a dish up at the summer cabin and saw that we’re about to see a renewal of the free installation in 3 rooms from the DirecTV System folks.
. What you want to get, though, and what they do not plug very well is a $49 TiVo lash-up is a must for any of these systems. I’ve given up on cable. I’m sitting here in the middle of the SF Bay area and cannot get digital cable although it’s been promised to me since 1998! I only mention this because from I can tell the TiVo device — perhaps the best of breed — is rumored to be shortly replaced by a homebrew device. I have the Dish Networks homebrew TiVo-like system and while it’s OK, it’s not as good as TiVo. Get it while you can if you are in the market for this.
Wired offers more security than wireless. I think cable TV will be finished soon. Television will all go all wireless, because it doesn’t matter if the system gets hacked and goes down. I’ve been looking at high quality antennas. Most of the dish and sat TV hardware is junk. It is built as a throwaway. UHF shows some promise. Here’s some stuff from Rutgers. Very interesting.
The Prescience of Paul Baran: Infostations and Interference Avoidance
http://www.winlab.rutgers.edu/~crose/baran.html
“cable TV will be finished soon”?! Considering most broadband users in the US connect with cable I highly doubt that. Remember, there is no way satellite broadband can compete. First, you get lag, so gaming is out. Second, you usually have to dial in for your upstream.
Once there is an alternative to cable internet, I think cable will die quite quickly, but until it appears, they are in a pretty good position.
Jim, I don’t think you’ve done your homework. UHF shows some promise? Well, virtually all the OTA Hi-Def is UHF. And just about zero channels are running more than 20% power! Satellite folks will probably be getting MPEG4 HD broadcasts of locals long before either cable or OTA.
John, you should be able to hustle a FOUR-room, standard def [SD] set-up from D*. And, actually, the $49 DirecTiVo you should try to get is the R10 — which is currently built by Thomson. They’ve added a number of features from the standalone TiVo that they’ve never before allowed into the DirecTiVo. Stuff that the TiVo Community argues about all the time — like folders — which really do allow you to sort your saved programs a bit more like the file system you’re used to on a PC. Their contract with TiVo still has another couple of years to run — though that won’t slow introduction of a “simpler” version from Murdoch’s captive company, NDS.
And, when some of the nay-sayers tell you to wait and not buy anything till the conversion to MPEG4 starts — later this year, we hear — don’t fall into the usual FUD trap much beloved of our favorite software boffins. D* has a terrific track record of doing the upgrades — for the cost of shipping. And, good old Rupert, who now owns this part of the satellite planet — has even a better track record from when he went through upgrades with B-Sky-B in the UK.
HD-TiVo owners [we discuss this stuff to death — but, have one of the friendliest forums on Earth] have pretty much agreed on the insider info we’ve received about replacements for our $1K machines — for $14.95 shipping and handling. The scoop we hear ranges from basic MPEG4 replacements with 4 tuners — to Home Media Centers with 6 tuners and slave tuners [SD only] for another 4 rooms.
And, like most of my geek peers, I can’t wait!