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The DIRECTV TiVo Is Finally Out – Sort Of . . .

It’s the day many in the DIRECTV TiVo world have been waiting for, December 8. Today is the day DIRECTV has been promising as the release date for it’s “new” DVR based on the TiVo OS. And, according to both TiVo and DIRECTV it’s available. In limited release. In certain markets. Through DIRECTV only.

OK – we TiVo lovers will take what we can get, so this is better than nothing. Given the limited availability of this DVR and  worldwide hard drive shortages, it sure smells like a “let’s get it out in 2011” Hail Mary.  Since authorized DIRECTV retailers won’t get the box until next year, we here at weaKnees have yet to see a physical unit.

Next up, what actually is it? Well, the THR22 is largely an HR22 DIRECTV HD DVR running different software, and shipping with a TiVo peanut remote. Unfortunately, this means the hardware is a bit behind the latest and greatest, smaller-size, faster-running, DIRECTV HD DVR HR24, but, again, beggars can’t be choosers.

And there are some trade-offs involved here. On the plus side, you get the TiVo interface (no, not the HD TiVo interface on TiVo Premiere units, but the SD interface from earlier models). You can record MPEG4 HD channels on TiVo (finally!) and you get the TiVo peanut remote, instead of the rectangular DirecTV remote (more on the remote later).

On the minus side, no Whole Home DVR (also called Multi-Room Viewing, or MRV), no NOMAD or iPad support, no 3D, and some other issues. Now, this unit is capable, hardware-wise, of these options, so there’s a chance that TiVo and DIRECTV will update the software to enable these features over time. But, given the slow pace of software development on this project thus far, we aren’t holding our breath.

Details are still coming about this new release, and we’re sure there are a lot more questions about it than we’ve answered here, but here’s one more tidbit. The peanut remote for this unit will reportedly run DIRECTV IR codes, not TiVo IR codes. That’s good and bad. Current TiVo peanut remotes (including the TiVo Slide Remote) won’t work with this new unit, as far as we understand. But this special peanut remote WILL work with other DIRECTV HD DVRs. So if you have an HR24 and you’re happy with it except for the remote, getting your hands on the new peanut might be the answer.

For us at weaKnees, of course, some of us will be getting these THR22s, partly to learn about them more fully, and partly because we’ll opt for the TiVo interface over the lost features and speed of the HR24. Also, being weaKnees, we want to know how much capacity we can cram into these units. Unfortunately, we don’t yet know how upgrades will work. But we’re on the case, and we’ll post what we know, when we know it.

Meanwhile, we’re being told we’ll have an inventory of THR22 boxes early next year, when the boxes roll out nationally. We hope to be offering upgrades sooner than that.

Stay tuned. We’ll be posting more info here in the coming weeks.

8 replies on “The DIRECTV TiVo Is Finally Out – Sort Of . . .”

Good for them — I’d more or less decided if this wasn’t released by end of 2011 I was going to go to the dark side (cable) and give up on ever seeing this. Not entirely meeting the criteria, since I need to wait until 2012, but I guess I will stay the course on this news. Looking forward to your reports on how well this works, etc.

You should mention that this new DirectV Tivo is still only a (2) Tuner DVR. Many of us probably expected (really hoped) that this would be more like Tivo’s Standalone Premiere Elite unit (4 Tuners, latest Tivo OS). I’m very disappointed in this product.

I have been waiting for over 2 years for this box. I got DirecTV and did not get their HD box because I wanted to wait for this box. But now that it is out and I see what features it has, or does not have, I am not sure that I want to get it. I will have to wait to see what the early adopters say about it and then decide if I want to get the new Tivo box or get a DirecTV box.

Wearing my tin foil hat it seems that the box was purposely made inferior to the top of the line DirecTV or Tivo systems. A marketing scheme to keep people from choosing Tivo.

-Roger

I just spent 90 fun-filled minutes with several DirecTV cust svc groups trying to trade in my DirecTV PVR for the new TiVo … I am on their approved list for San Francisco area … they want $20/month extra on top of $7.50 PVR service & $10/month HD service plus $20/month lease (minimum 2 year commitment) … and they want $149 for the box lease up front plus $19/95 S&H … if you opt to buy the box its $499 and then $7.50/month PVR, and $10/month HD *plus* your DirecTV programming fees

After pointing out we have been on waiting list for several years and been receiving *free* HD monthly for the past 24 months (=$240 saved in HD fees), the cust svcs lady advised the only concession (my words) she could make would be $100 off the $149 initial lease set up price

BOTTOM LINE: I’ll wait for WK to get their hands on these and (as hoped for) resell them at $200 price point with 1/2TB upgrades … I forgot to mention that these are 500GB units (75 hrs of HD per DirecTV) and YES they have eSata and two USB 2.0s but no plans or info about what/when/why/how

Aaron in San Francisco

My family and I are another group that will opt for the TiVo interface over some of the other features. We’re still running our original two Sony SAT-T60s (with upgraded drives) because we’ve been waiting for the new units for years. Now we just need them available for our market in Oregon! Thanks for keeping us posted, Weaknees!

DTV has held us hostage for 3 years since the original announcement of DTV & TIVO “working together again”. A joke! DTV has raped TIVO and put out a product that is missing key features of the DTV DVRs. I belive this is a deliberate attempt by DTV to make TIVO look bad so customers start praising their DVRs. Think about it, why else would DTV release the HR34 on the same day? They have no interest in providing a quality TIVO product (and at a premium price). And remember, this “new” DTV TIVO is actually a DTV DVR running TIVO software, so it will most likely be just as sluggish as the HR22. I can’t imagine why TIVO is so desperate to agree to this. Only the DTV version of TIVO is missing key features. Look at other TIVO products, the Premiere, XL, and Elite. They offer most of DTV’s features. The Premiere Elite is very comperable to the HR34. I am a long time DTV customer, who is probably going to finally drop DTV. I will get a Premiere Elite, and a couple of Premieres. And I will own the equipment. With that I will have most of what DTV has, including multi-room viewing, an iPad app,, and lots of online content (Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, BLOCKBUSTER On Demand), but at about a $30 a month savings over DTV. Yes, unfortunately, it will be cable.

It seems that DTV did just the minimum called for in their contract w/TiVo, which probably maximizes their (DTV) profit margin. If DTV never had TiVo, then that would be fine. Now they are half in/half out, and customers get squeezed.

Remember how DTV screwed HD TiVo subscribers by cutting off the measly 10 MPEG3 channels, which they still provide today to college dorms and hotels, but customers they consider “fly-overs” were denied/cutoff several years ago.

A DVR is all about performance, features and the GUI.

It’s s shame that DTV presses people towards their own hardware and doesn’t allow free markets to compete but it is their prerogative; no one HAS to use DTV. DTV has just 60,000 current TiVo users left. DTV did a great job promoting TiVo in the day when they needed TiVO for DVR service, and now that they (DTV) have their own DVR, they’ve decided it is OK to throw TiVo under the bus along with loyal TiVo subscribers. Thank you very little DTV.

DTV has a product they sell which includes receiver, DVR, content, etc. Nothing says they need to play well with other vendors, even those they’ve embraced in the past, which is obviously what they are doing.

If I had a choice of content providers to use TiVo on, I would have dumped DTV years ago. Where I live, DTV is it as Dish doesn’t do TiVo and we don’t have FiOS or cable access.

So, I get to experience what it is like to live with a monopoly provider, or what it would be like to get services and products I want (not need, TV is not a necessity like water and electricity) if I lived in a place like Cuba.

Michael White (DTV CEO) shame on YOU for treating loyal customers this way.

Man-up Michael White. If your DVR is superior, then bring in TiVo with their best units and see which customers prefer. Free markets work by consumer choices based on preferences, not necessarily quality/performance. The products customers prefer will prevail when choices are given. Beta v. VHS is the perfect example.

I agree with Alix… man-up Michael White you need to give TiVo customers the same choice (TiVo or HR34) they can get with the HR34 and let’s see which unit prevails. Secondly to put the TiVo OS on that junk you call the HR22 is a crime and then to charge a premium price for it… just who do you think you are?

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