Paul's Down-Home Page

At last night’s party, a few folks were asking about HDTV in this area. They were a mix of satellite and cable subscribers, some with TiVos and some without. I thought I’d write up a summary to cover the bases, since I didn’t want to bore them all with the details during the party.
So, if you want HDTV in Toledo, here are your choices.

• Get it with an antenna. The local ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox stations (along with WBGU-PBS) all broadcast HD programming at least part of the time. With a tuner like the Samsung SIR-T151 (or the newer SIR-T351, which adds DVI output) and an appropriate antenna, you can get this programming for free. Total cost: $200-400 for the tuner, $50-300 for the antenna. With this approach, as long as you get an adequate signal, picture and sound quality are excellent. You don’t get any premium channels like ESPN or HBO. This is what I currently do, and I’m putting up a better antenna this week– my little indoor unit doesn’t cut it.
• Get it on cable. Buckeye Cable has HD service. For $10/month, you can rent the box (I think they’re still using the Motorola DCT-5100); $4/month gets you the two local networks they carry– CBS and Fox. Another $11/month nets you Discovery HD, Mark Cuban’s two HDNet channels, and ESPN-HD. I had their service and liked it, but the lack of ABC was a deal-breaker. However, Buckeye does throw in HBO-HD and Showtime-HD if you subscribe to them already.
• Go orbital. Dish and DirecTV both offer satellite HD feeds. They have almost identical channel lineups: Discovery HD, ESPN-HD, HDNet and HDNet Movies, and InHD. Both services offer CBS-HD, but we can’t get it in this area because WTOL isn’t owned by the network. Prices vary; for existing Dish customers, you can get an 811 HD receiver for around $150, then you pay another $10/month for the HD content. However, the 811 has tons of bugs in it. Some of them are minor annoyances; others, like the notorious dark picture bug, are more serious. I’d avoid them until they get the bugs fixed. DirecTV has a $99 deal for existing subscribers, and their receivers work fine. Not all of them have DVI out, so if you want to use a projector or TV via DVI, make sure you pay attention to what you’re getting.
• VOOM. There’s a new HD provider: VOOM Stupid name, cool idea. They offer an integrated satellite and over-the-air tuner that picks up locals and their HD channels. Besides ESPN, Discovery, et al, they also have about 15 original channels (a cartoon channel, a couple of movie channels, and so on) that are all HD. Plus, they throw in some standard-definition channels like CNN. Two problems: they’re expensive (MSRP of $749, although there are various rebates that push the price closer to $400), and they don’t carry the same range of channels that Buckeye, Dish, or DirecTV do. Most particularly for us, they don’t carry BYU-TV, which guarantees that I won’t replace my existing satellite service. (Augment, maybe, but not replace).

For TiVo lovers, the picture is complicated by the fact that existing TiVos don’t record HD, and that the only TiVo that will is a) also a DirecTV receiver and b) not actually shipping yet. Dish has an HD PVR, the 921, and VOOM has promised one for later in the year, but I want the genuine article. I don’t watch that much HDTV because I’m no longer willing to set my schedule around when programs are on TV; it’s really hard to go back once you’ve used a TiVo for a while. So, Garrett, if you want HD and TiVo, you need a new unit. You can always add a second box with HMO and copy shows from box to box, though; that way Tiffany can have her “reality TiVo” and you can have your own.
As for me, I think I’m going to take DirecTV up on their $99 offer for one DirecTiVo and two regular receivers. I’ll put a receiver in my office, one TiVo in the bedroom, and one in the living room, and keep my OTA receiver. Iif I can wire it right, I might be able to put our existing TiVo in the basement and feed its signal to a couple of places; that way, we can distribute programs between boxes without a lot of hassle. When the HD-TiVo ships, I may or may not buy one, depending on how stable it is at first release. These guys can experiment, and I’ll wait to see what they find out; when I do get one, I’ll sell my OTA box since the HD-TiVo has a dual ATSC tuner in it too.

According to this press release, TiVo will be offering an extension to their Home Media Option (HMO) service that allows you to stream XM Radio from an XM PCR, through your Tivo, over the network. This is cool, except that I probably won’t have HMO when this feature releases: it doesn’t run on my old faithful series-1 TiVo, and there’s no HMO available for the DirecTiVo boxes (including the HD-TiVo, now only a month from release). Drat.