Has anyone heard that directv is completely dumping the old hdtv broadcasting for the new technology come September?

I just got off the most frustrating technical service phone call ever with them. We have two hdtv receivers. One newer one that has no dvr, but it's not hooked up to an hdtv. And the other is the TIVO hd box.

The newer box quit working this morning and wouldn't reset either by the button or by unplugging. It's cycling between the resolution lights and not turning on or off. The tech couldn't get past the fact that it's hooked up to a tv that doesn't have video 1 or video 2, that the tv calls it a/v imput and that it's channel 92. LOL at old televisions!

In the middle of her trying to figure out that problem, she notices on our account the TIVOhd, and completely hounds me about how it's not going to work with any hdtv channels come September and didn't we get the email notifications. What? I know that the new technology is transitioning over for the 5 lmb dish, but if they were complete cutting out the old technology, shouldn't have mail notifications and phone calls and maybe press releases been done? I know we aren't the only TIVOhd hold outs! (points my finger to Andrew)

Anyway, the tech lady was already putting in the order to replace our tivo without asking me if that was okay. She tells me that it's a free replacement, but it will cost me 20 dollars. To which I told her to stop and that I need to research what she is stating, not that I don't believe her, but I want to be an informed consumer with my options.

She also thinks that our other receiver's problem is because it isn't hooked up to an hdtv so it can't learn which resolution to set itself at because the box is super smart like that.

Has anyone heard that directv is completely dumping the old hdtv broadcasting for the new technology come September? It's been known for a while, unfortunately. DirecTV is switching their HD from MPEG2 to MPEG4 and the DirecTiVoHD box can't decode MPEG4. There have been no new DirecTiVoHD units since DirecTV broke off their partnership with TiVo a few years ago.

In the middle of her trying to figure out that problem, she notices on our account the TIVOhd, and completely hounds me about how it's not going to work with any hdtv channels come September and didn't we get the email notifications. What? I know that the new technology is transitioning over for the 5 lmb dish, but if they were complete cutting out the old technology, shouldn't have mail notifications and phone calls and maybe press releases been done? Yes, in fact they should have at the very least put an insert into your monthly statement. When the DST changeover happened earlier this year, I got two automated phone calls.

I know we aren't the only TIVOhd hold outs! (points my finger to Andrew)

I don't have a DirecTiVoHD, just a standard dual-tuner DirecTiVo unit. As long as DirecTV offers program guide data for the standard (non-HD) units I should be fine--and that wasn't in jeopardy even before the corporate ownership changes (see below).

Anyway, the tech lady was already putting in the order to replace our tivo without asking me if that was okay. She tells me that it's a free replacement, but it will cost me 20 dollars. To which I told her to stop and that I need to research what she is stating, not that I don't believe her, but I want to be an informed consumer with my options.

You will get the new non-TiVo DirecTV HD DVR. All indications are that it really really sucks. Unfortunately, right now it's the only option if you want DirecTV + HD + DVR. However, there is hope on the horizon. The whole problem was that DirecTV was purchased by News Corp (i.e. Rupert Murdoch) which also owns a company that makes DVRs, so DirecTV stopped supporting new TiVo units and instead sold only their own brand. Earlier this year, News Corp. sold DirecTV to Liberty Media, which does not have ties to any DVR makers, and so DirecTV and TiVo are now talking again and it looks like they'll make nice. Early next year should see a software update for the standard DirecTiVo units (like mine) and we can hope that a new DirecTiVoHD will follow shortly thereafter.

She also thinks that our other receiver's problem is because it isn't hooked up to an hdtv so it can't learn which resolution to set itself at because the box is super smart like that. I don't know what to say about that. It sounds like a classic case of blaming the other guy when you don't know what the real problem is. We used to do a lot of that when I was in tech support; if we couldn't figure out why the stupid software was blowing up on the customer's machine, we'd blame Microsoft.

Two sites you might check for more information:

TiVoCommunity Forum (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/index.php?)
DirecTV topics on Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/search.ars?Tag=directv)

When I read your post I was also going to recommend going to the Tivo Community Forum. This has been discussed over there in great detail. Many people over there are very unhappy about all of this.

The good news is that non-HD DTivos should work for a long time from now...

You will get the new non-TiVo DirecTV HD DVR. All indications are that it really really sucks.

We just recently got one of these to use on our upstairs TV (the only HD set we have) and it really is pretty bad. The HD video quality is, of course, a substantial improvement, but the user interface is absolutely dreadful compared to the TiVo software. Trying to navigate through the very badly organized, excessively layered menus on this thing really does illustrate how elegant TiVo's software is.

From a hardware standpoint, I understand that there really isn't a substantial difference between the TiVo based DirecTV DVRs and the non-TiVo ones. With the relationship between DirecTV and TiVo finally warming up again, I really do hope that they go back to the TiVo software as a standard. From a technical standpoint, I suspect it could even be possible to update the non-TiVo DVRs with TiVo software.

-Jeff

I could be wrong, but all of these changes don't absolutely mean that the D* HDTivo is completely useless, no? As others have pointed out, it can (should?) still receive and record SD D* programming...plus, if you are watching your OTA local HD channels through it, it should still be able to receive and record such programming, correct?

I could be wrong, but all of these changes don't absolutely mean that the D* HDTivo is completely useless, no? As others have pointed out, it can (should?) still receive and record SD D* programming...plus, if you are watching your OTA local HD channels through it, it should still be able to receive and record such programming, correct?
You are correct. The current DirecTiVoHD will still work for DirecTV SD and OTA (ATSC) HD programming, just not DirecTV HD programming.