HDTV Forum

Has D* reduced it's 1080i HD rez from 1920X1080i to 1280x1080i, resulting in a softer picture? It has certainly looked softer to me, with many channels no longer containing that "WOW" factor of true HD.

This month's Perfect Vision quotes some TiVo community posters making this discovery by hacking into a back door code of the HD TiVo units. The code allows the owner to see a listing of the resolution formats of it's HD satellite broadcasts. Channnels affected are: Discovery HD, HDNet, HBO, CBS, and NBC. The 720p channels, ESPN, ABC and FOX, are not affected because they already are 1280x720. TiVo has updated it's software to version 3.15e that prevents viewing HD resolution.

Equally disturbing is that the new MPEG4 transition will result in the need to replace existing boxes AND you will need a new dish. Sure, there will be a trade in program, but guess what? The new units will NOT have the TiVo software. This really sucks on a couple of levels. One being loyalty and an ingrained familiarity with the TiVo remote and style. Damn, it's pretty much part of my left hand after all these years. More so, are we going to have to suffer through yet another company's 1st gen DVR? Slow, unfamiliar, loaded with bugs and glitches?

Down rezzed with no TiVo....Damn!

MPEG-4 will be used only on the new Ka band satellites. MPEG-2 will continue to be used on the existing Ku band satellites, and all the present channels will continue to be carried on Ku band for several years, perhaps many years. Your TiVo will continue to work fine for the existing satellites. You will need to move to Ka band only if you need HD locals from DirecTV. While Ka band DVRs will not use the TiVo brand, they will likely employ something very similar. -Ken

Ken,
After reading your post I had a question. Will the next gen HD DVR be able to record both the MPEG-2 and the MPEG-4? I sure hope so. I will probably be interested in getting the local HD channels from DirecTV when they come out. Due to this MPEG stuff I have been holding off on buying a HD DVR.

As always thanks for any info you can give me.

I haven

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