Topic: satellite tv recording --nooby questions--TSKB

[ilduclo]

I'm currently using comcast and vcr to record tv. I don't want to stay with them, they continue to downgrade the service and the price keeps going up. Latest is I lost MSNBC so they could add a local sports cable show....

Any sattelite users out there? What do you really pay for the like 50 channel service including local stations, BBC, and PBS?

Can you record a bunch of shows to vhs on different channels without being there? I heard you may need to switch the channels on your box yourself to get it to work right....

thanks, any info appreciated.



 

[boojum]

A thought: I do not know about cable, but sat is compressed.   

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

It's all compressed.  Digital cable and satellite both transport mpeg2 and mpeg4 streams.  The perceived quality is a function of the compression profile used to squeze the content stream into the allocated bit rate.  A lot of the "secondary channels" are really compressed all to hell on cable too.

You can get Tivo software in some of the DVB-S set top boxes.  If I were starting over, I'd get dish with the Tivo PVR software and then transfer the shows I want to keep to a DVD. 
 

[nickgregory]

in terms of a direct compare between local cable (timewarner) and satellite (directv), to my eyes directv pic quality won out hands down.  Fact is there are still a fair amount of channels on cable that are still sourced analog and the pic quality is awful.  DirectV is completely digital and the pic quality is excellent imo.

[phanophish]

The DirectTV Tivo boxes do not support the Tivo to go functionality so you cant easily transfer the data off of a DTTTivo.  Tivo HD on the other hand.......

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

The DirectTV Tivo boxes do not support the Tivo to go functionality so you cant easily transfer the data off of a DTTTivo.  Tivo HD on the other hand.......

Can you get a DVB-S cards for the Tivo HD to decode dish? 

[nickgregory]

Also, how much lag is there when flipping channels?

this is the one real bad thing...up to 2-4 seconds when flipping between channels on different satellites...mildly annoying

[it-goes-to-eleven]

Very similar delay on comcast.. very annoying for those who surf during commercials.

[phanophish]

The DirectTV Tivo boxes do not support the Tivo to go functionality so you cant easily transfer the data off of a DTTTivo.  Tivo HD on the other hand.......

Can you get a DVB-S cards for the Tivo HD to decode dish? 

I have never seen them.  I don't believe the HDTivo has the tuners for the satellite that are able to switch between the transponders & multiple LNBs.  You do need the Cable Cards from your cable provider. 

I had DirectTV Tivo prior to going to Hd and while there was a bit of lag changing channels I never did it because of the tivo.  I did often watch 2 channels at the same time.  You could pause one tuner, watch another program, pause it at the commercial and swap back to the first paused tuner and catch up.