Jay

DTVuser2009

oh great, another one to drool over that i can't afford

I couldn't even afford the one they offered with Dish Network (and if i could've, it was supposed to be free with signing up but they never honored their agreement)

Aversion

Doesn't seem worth $250. Why not go with cable and rent a DVR box from the cable company? 100+ channels and a DVR for like $30/month seems like a much better than being able to record OTA?

1inxs

It receives an uncompressed OTA DTV signal. The signal received from the cable company doesn't compare in quality. There are no monthly subscription fees. With the included dual tuners you can record 2 HD DTV OTA signals and watch another at the same time. There are currently over 25 channels available to OTA viewers with numerous subchannels in the near future. Currently a person can time shift from all the current OTA program choices making it well worth the $249.00 price tag. The Dish Network DTVPal DVR has an ethernet connection to the internet for future streaming of HD movies from Dish Network to the DVR.

bicker

Cable plus a DVR is a minimum of $57 per month, here (they will not offer a DVR unless you have digital service), so the DTVPal DVR would pay for itself in less than five months.

Even at your mythical $30 per month number, the DTVPal DVR pays for itself within nine months.

Jay

Basic cable service out here in Phoenix metro, AZ is $57/month without a DVR, No HD.

DTVuser2009

Cable (digital) would be my solution, but for those like me who live in the woods it's not like a cable has been run. around here it's either crappy satellite or sorta-crappy OTA depending on how much TV you watch. i'm lucky to be home long enough to catch Two and a Half Men or Frasier, so i don't need 250+ channels and i guess a VCR works fine save for the lack of pausing live TV and skipping those annoying commercials. with a VCR i would have to record one channel and with a DVR i could record many. plus the advantage of one box for two TVs.

98clru

Buy a cheap shirt for $10 that lasts 20 washings before it looses buttons, frays at hems, has dye washed out. Buy a well made shirt $20 out of good materials that doesn't fade or fray or pill up for 100 washings. Which has the lower cost? Which is a better value?

I don't like monopolies, unfortunately I have no choice where I live, it's either cable, satellite or over the air. Cable for an HD DVR here in central florida (Brighthouse) is $78/mo. Dish network HD DVR with fewer stations but the ones I really want to watch is about $40/mo if averaged over the 2 year contract. Haven't really priced DTV but know they start at over $40 for the same dvr type set up. I used to sell Dish, I really like it and the fact it's a David vs Goliath.

I used to have dish and loved it and their dvr but when I sent emails to 5 different "contact us" email points asking at what wind speed should I take my dishes down (hurricanes, remember, Florida) and got no reply 2x decided I couldn't afford to take the risk of having my roof removed by the "sail" that dish provided (the installer did a lousy job, when I climbed up on the roof to remove and return the LNB it turns out he installed in the plywood not the joist as he assured me he would, most homes of the same age don't even have plywood they have particle board).

I went back to Brighthouse, which gave me a good deal for a year to come back to cable (nothing for loyalty once established) and they are raising prices by $2-3/month three or 4 times a year. What was $65/mo a year ago is now $78. I couldn't wait for the DTVpal dvr. I have a DTVpal converter box and it does the conversion better than any other from what I can find in research. My understanding is with the DTVpal dvr the program guide goes out for a week at a time but still to review the schedule you can't watch programming at the same time, just like my DTVpal converter. Don't know if you can cache and watch after reviewing the guide (my guess is you can) but when you get spoiled by better DVR's it would be a step down.

Something I never considered until this week is where I've gone. Tivo hd with 2 over the air HD tuners is $300 (I got one on clearance in box for $148). Lifetime program guide that blows the cable dvr's out of the water =$400 and is better than my dishnet dvr (granted Dishnet dvr tech is now at least 4 years old but wasn't hd either).

That's a total of $700, less than 9 months of cable, for the lifetime of the unit. If anything goes on a tivo it's usually the hard drive and you can replace them cheaply with a free hack if you know anything about tech and should not void the lifetime subscription. I can get all the major networks and some locals not available on basic cable with a jensen amplified set of rabbit ears (hurricane prep), stream netflix for $9/month (only 12,000 choices available) which brings the the total of $820. For as long as the unit lasts.

If I don't like the tivo I get 30 days to get a full refund of subscription and hardware. Why is it Dishnet won't stand behind satisfaction with their unit? Tivo has a 1 year parts, 90 day labor warrantee. If you make a quality product returns for satisfaction and providing a warantee is not much of a cost, especially when considered against potential buyers who may shy away if you don't offer these options.

Then there are lots of free things via tivo to watch directly on your tv- amazon, youtube and in the near future other sources I'm sure. Let's see, someday dish may offer pay/view....

You can watch via tivo broadcast programming on a computer in your home network or you can even transfer to a computer on your network and burn a dvd of most broadcast programs (for now) and archive it or even transfer to an ipod or similar device.

A $10 15ft DVI cable to reach from my desktop to my hdtv will allow hulu and many network programs to be streamed to my tv. Picture quality will not be great but it's free.

To those considering a dtvpal dvr, satellite and cable which is cost ($250+), which is value ($700)?

I hope the ceo's of the cable companies, satellite companies and the manufacturer of the DTVpal (Charley Ergen) read this and make me regret my one time investment, but doubt they will in less than 9 months. That's when I break even compared to my current cable expenses.

Jay

With the market being smaller for the DTVPal DVR, there's probably not as much room for profit and even less for warranty. Just a guess though, but 90 days for DTVPal DVR is pretty anemic.

Things that excite me about this box?

150 hours record time
Pause live TV for up to 60 minutes
Skip recorded commercials with exclusive 30-second skip button
Instant Replay
and of course the dual tuner...

I'm going to have to think about getting one for review here.

bicker

So, there is no monopoly, and you have three choices, not "no" choices. Your decision to eliminate some of the choices from contention, itself, is you making choices. It is very important to not delude ourselves into thinking that things are any different than they really are. There are reasons to go with the DTVPal DVR; there are reasons to go with Dish Network or DirecTV, and there are reasons to go with the cable company and perhaps its DVR. There is no one right answer.