OT: DirecTivo vs. 'New Direct TV DVR'?

[Richard Soule]

Thomas Charron wrote:
>  Are you connecting with the HDMI cable?  It's annoying, but it will
> only do 1080i UNLESS you use the HDMI.

Yeah, using HDMI. I'm not quite sure why HDMI is an issue? When you have 
a 1080p TV there really isn't that much difference between a 1080i 
signal and a 1080p signal anyway from what I hear. Everything looks great.

>> I'm really worried about switching to a new DVR as I'm terrified that
>> the UI is going to suck.
> 
> But the UI is supposed to be simular to the
> one on the normal HD receivers.  If that's the case, the UI isn't
> really that bad, but it's not good either.

I've got the new box now. The UI is good so far, I think.

The skip ahead 30 seconds feature does a fast forward for 30 seconds 
instead of a true skip. This is slightly annoying but I'm sure I'll get 
used to it. It might even be better as I can actually see when the 
commercial ends and the show starts. Sometimes with the old UI I'd end 
up skipping into a show by 30 seconds when I was right at the very end 
of the commercial before the show starts. Now I'll be able to see that 
I'm at the end of the commercial. This might be a wash.

The rewind feature is 6 seconds instead of 7 seconds. Total wash.

I'm not sure how the DVR is going to handle groups of programs. TiVo has 
folders, I'm really hoping I don't end up with a single big list as 
folders were nice. This one could be an issue.

I never used the thumbs up/thumbs down feature of the TiVo (I don't 
really want to watch more TV), so I'm not missing that.

Basically I'm going to say the new UI is good. Much better than the 
cable DVRs, but not quite as good as TiVo.

My comparison:

No DVR: Walking through a broken glass filled lot with no shoes.
Cable DVR: Like having flip flops on your feet. With holes in them.
DirecTV DVR: Like driving a Mustang through the lot.
DirecTiVo DVR: Like driving a Ferrari through the lot.

>  Must be nice to actually get some service from the farkers.

The schedule was from 9:00 am to 12:00. Around 9:30 the installer called 
me and let me know what his schedule was going to be. He said "I'll be 
there between 11:00 and 12:00 so if you want to go anywhere this morning 
feel free." He showed up at 11:00. He was done by 12:30. He was polite 
and showed me a thing or two about the new system. I guess he was happy 
that he didn't have to live in the frozen wasteland that is New England. ;