Multimedia-PCs » DirecTV

DirecTV iPad App Now Streams Live TV

Jeremy Jones — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:18:57 +0000

The already awesome DirecTV iPad app got even better buy streaming live TV. It only works in your house, like the whole-home DVR. Not every station allows for streaming. There is a list of around 30 stations. The funny thing is Fox is on the list but DirecTV might lose Fox soon if they can’t reach a deal.

One of the cool features is you can swipe up the live show playing on your iPad to send it to your TV. I’m still playing around with it but I’ll get a full review of the app soon.

More at DirecTV.

Video: New DirecTV HD UI

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:18:22 +0000

As a DirecTV customer I have been waiting for the HD UI to be released. I have three HD-DVRs with multi-room viewing. Updating the UI and speed of the menues will make it a better setup. It is rumored that it will be available starting November 1st. DirecTV has a page up about all the new features and I have listed some below.

* A sleek new look and feel
* Lightning fast scrolling
* 1080p HD resolution
* Visual browsing experience
* One place for all DIRECTV CINEMA™ and On Demand movies
* Recommendations based on your past viewing preferences

Video of the UI below:

Dave Zatz posted about this and asked the question about the DirecTV Tivo. DirecTV should scrap the whole thing. There is nothing that Tivo is going to offer that we already don’t have, especially since DirecTV has been pumping out new features for their current receiver lineup.

DirecTV Multi-Room DVR Now Available

Jeremy Jones — Sat, 15 May 2010 18:06:11 +0000

I reviewed the DirecTV multi-room DVR service back in February. I like the service then and I have been happily using it since. Now that the service is available to everyone there is a fee of $3. That fee isn’t as bad as I thought and really it’s worth it for what you get. I have two HD DVRs that are linked together but I’ll probably order the H24 for the bedroom.

You can find out more about the service and pay for it at DirecTV.

(via ZatzNotFunny)

DirecTV TiVo Won’t Be Premier

Jeremy Jones — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:58:26 +0000

The new TiVo Premier was announced just a few days ago and people were wondering if the DirecTV/TiVo deal would get the new stuff. The answer to that is no. While TiVo might be moving ahead with new software and hardware the DirecTV version will be on the old stuff.

“Their [DirecTV's] next implementation of us is not going to have this look and feel,” said TiVo’s Peter Aquino. “It’s based on the classic TiVo.”

This doesn’t bother me a bit. DirecTV has been making lots of improvements to their own DVR and I don’t see what TiVo is bringing to the table. But it has been a year and a half since their partnership so who knows if it will even happen.

(via highdefdigest)

Details about the new DirecTV H24-100

Jeremy Jones — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:25:31 +0000

DBSTalk has details on the new DirecTV H24-100. There are a few key features to this receiver has that their current lineup doesn’t. The receiver is only HD, not a DVR, but it has multi-room viewing capabilities. If you have HD DVRs in your house it can pull those recordings. You can read my review on multi-room viewing here. The receiver also has DECA built-in. DECA allows you to send internet over the coax line to the receiver. For houses that don’t have ethernet ran all over this is huge. In order to enjoy multi-room viewing, media streaming and apps these receivers need Internet. The last big improvement is speed. If you have used their current HD DVRs scrolling through the guide can be slow. DBSTalk says the H24 can scroll just as fast as you can click the button. That’s probably because it doesn’t have a hard drive spinning to slow down the data.

I’m not sure when launch is but it should be soon. I’ll probably have to order one to replace my bedroom SD box. The multi-room viewing is seller for me.

Review: DirecTV Multi-Room Viewing

Jeremy Jones — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:49:19 +0000

DirecTV announced multi-room viewing a little over a month ago. I finally got around to setting it up and putting it through it’s paces. Like I said before the service is only in beta. DirecTV is not supporting the service right now so don’t call about it if you have trouble. The service is also free right now but they plan on charging later on, probably once it leaves beta.

What you need:
You need to have more than one HD-DVR. You also need them connected to your home network.

Setup:
Setup of multi-room viewing is fairly simple, as long as you already have it wired into the network. I’m going to assume you already have network connections. To get multi-room viewing going you need to “Menu” and navigate down to “Parental, Fav’s & Setup”. When the next set of options come up go to “System Setup”. You will now see “Multi-Room” on the left side menu. You will now see “Name Location” and “Beta”. You need to go into “Beta” and opt-in to the service. It explains that the service is free right now. After that you can name the DVR. You need to do this on both DVRs. After that the DVRs should be able to connect to each other.

Usage:
When you go to your recording list all recording from both DVRs show up in one big list. There isn’t an option to share just certain shows or really any way to organize them by DVR. One option that you do have in the setup is to say weather you want to allow deletion on remote DVR. Allowing for remote deletion is nice but it needs to tell you how much storage you have left on each location. For instance, if I’m in the living room looking at recordings from both locations, it only gives me remaining storage on that DVR. I would have to walk down to the basement to see how much storage that DVR has. I know it’s only in beta so features like that could be added.

Playback from the remote DVR is flawless even in HD. There is a slight delay when starting a remote recording but that is normal while it queues up from the network, only a few seconds. I tried a few different scenarios to try make things not work. I tried recording a HD show on the remote DVR in the basement while streaming to the upstairs DVR. I didn’t have issues no matter what I tried. My DVRs are hard wired into a gig switch so if you are using wireless your results may vary.

Pros:
* Easy to setup
* Easy to use
* Delete recordings on remote side
* Playback in HD is great

Cons:
* Service will cost at a later date
* Doesn’t show free space on remote DVR

Conclusion:
Multi-room viewing is on the wanted list for anyone that has multiple DVRs. Even with the DirecTVs multi-room viewing in beta, it works well and was easy to setup. DirecTV wanting to charge for this service is the biggest problem. They raised fees for equipment, HD and DVR service it is hard to justify another charge that you have to opt into. But the time for DirecTV to charge isn’t here yet and they might change their mind. If you have multiple DirecTV HD-DVRs I would recommend setting this up.

DirecTV App for Android

Jeremy Jones — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:27:11 +0000

DirecTV released their DVR scheduler app for Android. I used it last night to set my DVR to record Lost from my Droid. The interface is very similar to the iPhone app but not quite as polished. The iPhone app has a little more time to mature. It’s a great start and I’m happy to have it. Searching and setting shows to record is easier than using the DVR box itself. Just go to the Android Market and search for DirecTV.

Photo from DBSTalk

DirecTV Multi-Room Viewing is Here

Jeremy Jones — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:37:27 +0000

DirecTV with a new software update has released multi-room viewing to the masses. It is a opt-in service and only in beta. That means you have to know how to set it up and DirecTV won’t be giving support on it. DBSTalk has info on the forums on how to set it up and if you have questions that’s a great place to ask. I said it’s here because lots of people have the new software. Both my HD DVRs haven’t been updated yet but I didn’t want to mess with it now. I’ll probably have some more hands on details later this week when I have time to set it up. Since I use the basement DVR and the wife uses the upstairs DVR it will be nice that we can watch our shows in either location. If you already have it configured let me know how it went.

DirecTV is Launching a 3D Channel Next Year

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:28:31 +0000

DirecTV will be launching a 3D channel next year. They will make the announcement at CES this year. This goes along with their new satellite launch last night that will bring over 200 HD channels and HD locals in more markets. 3D doesn’t really get me excited but I love to see a company I subscribe to keep moving forward. Now what about getting me multi-room viewing?

More at HDGURU

DirecTV Launches TV Apps

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:11:54 +0000

DirecTV has launched a new service called TV Apps. It’s widgets for you TV. The program is in public beta right now. It will work with any receiver with Internet access. You can choose from many different widgets like weather and sports scores. You can manage your widgets online. I was surprised by the number of widgets already on there. You can even get a Twitter widget if you want. Any new services should launch with twitter capabilities, right?

(via DBSTalk)

Multimedia-PCs » DirecTV

DirecTV iPad App Now Streams Live TV

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