Wow. I just read this longish post by Matt Haughey at PVRBlog: DirecTV’s HD problem. And I am very glad that I chose not to drop a grand on a high-def TiVo/DirecTV combo box earlier this year, when it was on my short list. Matt’s post is worth reading in its entirety, but here’s a quick summary:
Unless you live in LA or NY, you can’t get local channels in HD via DirecTV. Matt says:
Local stations in HD format like Fox, ABC, CBS, and NBC were subject to pending FCC approval even though DirecTV has a pretty page set up to sell it. I called today to see how that FCC ruling went and unfortunately, DirecTV lost. If you get local channels in standard definition format, you cannot get HD. DirecTV can only offer Over the Air (OTA) antennas…
Hey, I can put up my own antenna, thanks very much, and hook it up to a Media Center PC that costs less than the DirecTiVo box. Which is about to become technologically obsolete, apparently. Matt goes on:
DirecTV sent up a couple new satellites last year to increase their bandwidth for more HD channels. They’re talking about adding dozens-to-hundreds of channels in HD format in the next year, but (drumroll please…) it’ll be in a new encryption/encoding (MPEG-4) format which won’t work with $999 HD DirecTiVos… DirecTV will offer their competing NDS DVR for recording HD signals instead of TiVo, with no concrete plans for converting current owners from one to the other.
The Washington Post had this story last weekend:
DirecTV spokeswoman Jade Ekstedt said in an e-mail that owners of older hardware [Ed: this means you, TiVo owners] will still be able to watch the service’s current HD lineup, which includes high-def versions of ESPN, HBO, Showtime and other non-network channels, plus the standard-definition network fare it offers now. She added that those owners will get “an offer” to upgrade to the new service but didn’t say what it might be.
So, let me get this straight. I can pay $999 for a TiVo that will get five or so HD channels and won’t work with the exciting new features due later this year? And I will get a chance to pay more to “upgrade” to new equipment from DirecTV? Uh, no thanks.
This is certainly not good news for TiVo.
Update: In the comments, my buddy Michael says that DISH subscribers can expect the same: “DISH will happily sell you a $600 HD/DVR box, with no mention that it’ll be obsolete when they roll out their new mpeg4 technology in the second half of 2005. [The sales rep] tried to argue that their current box won’t be obsolete– you’ll still receive what you currently receive– you just won’t be able to receive any of the new HD channels they plan to roll out in mpeg4. (They must have similar plans to Direct TV’s new advertising campaign. The future is coming… you just won’t be able to see it.)”
Ed Bott 
I just stumbled across the same dirty secret while researching a possible move from Comcast to the DISH Network. (When I asked the hard questions, the supposed Big Kahuna Sales Rep claimed he knew nothing, then hung up to do research and get back to me. What he returned with wasn’t pretty.)
DISH will happily sell you a $600 HD/DVR box, with no mention that it’ll be obsolete when they roll out their new mpeg4 technology in the second half of 2005.
He tried to argue that their current box won’t be obsolete– you’ll still receive what you currently receive– you just won’t be able to receive any of the new HD channels they plan to roll out in mpeg4. (They must have similar plans to Direct TV’s new advertising campaign. The future is coming… you just won’t be able to see it.)
I told the guy, “So it won’t go black… it’ll just be like black & white.”
So obviously, I’m staying w/ Comcast until the new technology shake down.