I am glad I don't have comcast. Cox has been great to me and recently even added all hdtv channels to cable cards. I never hardly have any service problems.

Living in Oklahoma storm loss is a real issue with satellite. I have had both sattelite companies and great installations but the storms and clouds and sometimes just 60mph wind would make sattellite un-watchable and of course it would always be when we were watching something.

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Dell xps420 w/ dual ATI cable cards
Hdhomerun for QAM
Panasonic 50" Plasma fed by xbox 360
Panasonic 42" plama fed by xbox 360
5TB in storage and counting

I can't wait for the HDPC-20 to be released. My promotions have all expired with my cable provider (Mediacom). I'm currently paying $54.95 a month for extended cable which consists of channels 2-78 only and $45.95 per month for 8MB Cable Modem service. So my current monthly cable bill comes to $108.25 after adding taxes, fees and surcharges. 

I spoke with Mediacom on the phone and will only qualify for new promotions if I disconnect all my services and sign backup one month later.

I'd love to have access to the NFL ST on my VMC, I just wonder if I can use a CableCARD tuner and the DirecTV tuner on the same box, as I usually subscribe to both during football season.

As for the quality. Although DirecTV's MPEG4 channels look much better than their HD Lite used to, just about all the channels are sent via MPEG2 which means DirecTV is converting them and although this might not make them look worse, it most definitly doesn't make them look better. In my exerience in having both FiOS and DirecTV MPEG4 channels at the same time, I'd say that they are very close, but when the source does macro block, the DirecTV one takes longer to clear up. But we're talking a split second here, and I doubt anyone without OCD would ever notice.

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Ben
How good can it be, if it isn't HD?
Engadget HD

pb83:

...I spoke with Mediacom on the phone and will only qualify for new promotions if I disconnect all my services and sign backup one month later.

Do it. I bet you would end up keeping your basic cable the whole time anyway since they would be too lazy to get in unhooked. You would have to "borrow" high speed internet from somewhere though. Anway, I know how you feel. I have experienced them "delivering on the promise" myself.

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MAIN:Gigabyte EP45-UD3P, E8500 C2D, Radeon4550, Silverstone LC16B-M case, 3xAverMedia M780, VistaView Saber DA-1N1-e, Vista Ultimate TV Pack.
Bedroom: HP SL4282N Media Center Extender TV
Basement: P35-DS3R, E4400 C2D, 8600GT, ATI 650PCI, VBox DTA 150

Any updates on the external Directv HD tuner?  Anyone got one for testing?

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Origen AE S21T, Vista Premium, Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3, Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo, 4GB Ram, EVGA 8600GT, 320GB HD, 500GB HD, 2-Vistaview tuners, WS-73411 73" Mitsubishi rptv

I hope this thing comes out soon, I'm getting close to canceling and switching to cable and getting cablecard and probably will if I don't have one bay the beginning of Fall.

dbfresh23:

I hope this thing comes out soon, I'm getting close to canceling and switching to cable and getting cablecard and probably will if I don't have one bay the beginning of Fall.

For me, it's the Olympics. I'm getting them in HD on all the channels that offer it, one way or another, and I'm not buying another PC to do it.

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-- jcf

Getting a little tired of waiting.  Not cmoplaining, just wondered if they are anywhere on the horizon.  Has anyone got one of these DirecTV tuners for beta testing?? 

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Origen AE S21T, Vista Premium, Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3, Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo, 4GB Ram, EVGA 8600GT, 320GB HD, 500GB HD, 2-Vistaview tuners, WS-73411 73" Mitsubishi rptv

Those who have or have not cannot say per non disclosure agreement.

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Dell xps420 w/ dual ATI cable cards
Hdhomerun for QAM
Panasonic 50" Plasma fed by xbox 360
Panasonic 42" plama fed by xbox 360
5TB in storage and counting

Hey Plucky,

OH!  I should have remembered that.  I saw that somewhere before.  Is it OK to ask if there is reason for hope?

 

 

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Origen AE S21T, Vista Premium, Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3, Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo, 4GB Ram, EVGA 8600GT, 320GB HD, 500GB HD, 2-Vistaview tuners, WS-73411 73" Mitsubishi rptv

We all know it's coming. I just want to know if I'd have to buy a new OEM PC to get it.

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Brian Zellinger

What a dip----

pb83:

...and $45.95 per month for 8MB Cable Modem service.

Are you really getting 8MB (as in megabyte) internet, or did you mean 8Mb (megabit)?  I ask because the highest offered is 20Mb in my area.

I hear the testing hasn't started yet, but it should soon.

Either way, no one knows if an OEM PC is required, but the leaked information seems to indicate it won't. With the CableCARD tests, they sent an entire VMC to the testers, this is not the case with the DirecTV tuner. The other interesting thing is that with the CableCARD tuner you couldn't use a analog tuner with it, but according to leaked reports, the test setup includes an analog tuner.

I'm going to optomistically assume that this means you'll be able to use an analog tuner with the DirecTV tuner, and to stretch it a bit, that you'll be able to use a CableCARD tuner and DirecTV tuner at the same time.

As for when, I don't think anyone expects the DirecTV tuner to ship before Christmas, as they'll want to test it for at least 6 months before release. Of course this could change based on the success of the testing, but based on the assumption that Fiji is tied in with the DirecTV tuner, I would be very surprised if there wern't any bugs in a update of this size.

So yeah, lots of speculation and assumptions.

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Ben
How good can it be, if it isn't HD?
Engadget HD

Isn't that what engadget does speculate and assume? :) j/k

I will take it in a different direction and hope it means you can use a analog tuner with cable card with fiji. That would be great to have two analog tuners as backups and without the expense of buying more cable card tuners.

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Dell xps420 w/ dual ATI cable cards
Hdhomerun for QAM
Panasonic 50" Plasma fed by xbox 360
Panasonic 42" plama fed by xbox 360
5TB in storage and counting