Today's DirecTV HD DVR Is Actually Yesterday's HD DVR
By Shane C. Buettner April 23, 2006 — This morning I picked out the weekly Best Buy flyer from my Sunday paper and saw a DirecTV HD TiVo on special for $399 after mail-in rebate. My initial thought was, "cool! Looks like the new MPEG4 compatible HD DVR is finally out!" This thought died of loneliness seconds later as I realized the HD DVR in the ad is the trusty HR10-250 that sits in my own equipment rack. A terrific machine, but not compatible with the new MPEG4 compressed HD channels that DirecTV has very quietly rolled out in the last several months.

A very cool thing has happened late last fall, and that is that DirecTV rolled out a ton of new HD in the form of more local network affiliates. Living in the San Francisco bay area, for example, my HD network affiliates come from LA, and elsewhere on the west coast, not our own "locals" from the bay area. Then in November, DirecTV rolled out the HD locals into 12 markets, including the bay area, with 24 more to follow in the first half of 2006.

To crunch that many more channels into the existing bandwidth pipe, DirecTV was required to use the more aggressive MPEG4 video compression, one of the three codecs spec'd for both HD DVD and Blu-ray. The switch to MPEG4 not only requires a new DirecTV HD receiver, but a new 5-LNB dish as well. Although the vast majority of DirecTV's HD offerings are still offered in MPEG2, without these new components you cannot receive the new MPEG4 HD locals, or any other MPEG4 HD offerings DirecTV might offer in the future.

While DirecTV has released a new MPEG4 compatible receiver, the H20, and the new 5-LNB dish, the MPEG4 compatible DVR is due in stores this summer. And further, while the new H20 receiver is compatible with the 3-LNB vintage oval HD dishes, older HD receivers, including the DirecTV TiVo currently available on special, are not compatible with the new 5-LNB dishes.

Nowhere in the Best Buy ad are these facts mentioned, and from my own experiences at retail, and accounts from people I know, I wouldn't bet my life on you being armed with these facts at Best Buy or Circuit City. I don't begrudge DirecTV or its resellers one bit for trying to sell every last one of those HD TiVo boxes. I just think that potential consumers should be fully aware of the situation and make an informed decision accordingly.

Last summer I made a very similar decision. I'd already heard rumors of a late fall MPEG4 rollout of new HD channels, but I was sick and tired of not watching HD on my own schedule. I decided to bite the bullet and get the HR10-250 DirecTV HD TiVo, knowing full well that it would most likely have a very short life span. And when I bought mine, it was $650 after a $50 rebate, not $399 with rebate. I haven't regretted the decision for one minute. I've watched more HD in these last months than I ever have, and enjoyed every minute of it. But, I made this decision with my eyes wide open, and I just want you to be able to do the same. Caveat emptor!