DirecTV delays new HD-DVR until fall
DirecTV delays new HD-DVR until fall
David Katzmaier Editorial Director -- Personal Tech
David reviews TVs and leads the Personal Tech team at CNET, covering mobile, software, computing, streaming and home entertainment. We provide helpful, expert reviews, advice and videos on what gadget or service to buy and how to get the most out of it.
Expertise A 20-year CNET veteran, David has been reviewing TVs since the days of CRT, rear-projection and plasma. Prior to CNET he worked at Sound & Vision magazine and eTown.com. He is known to two people on Twitter as the Cormac McCarthy of consumer electronics. Credentials
- Although still awaiting his Oscar for Best Picture Reviewer, David does hold certifications from the Imaging Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology on display calibration and evaluation.
Satellite giant DirecTV told research firm Sanford C. Bernstein that it would push back the launch of its new high-definition digital video recorder, dubbed the HR20, until this fall, according to a in Forbes yesterday. The delay is the latest in a long line stretching back to the spring of this year. The company has continued adding local HDTV channels to its satellite broadcasts in numerous major markets, but until its new DVR becomes available, the only way to watch those broadcasts is live, via the nonrecording H20. And I don't know about you, but like most DVR owners, I hate to watch live TV. (Although DirecTV's current HD-DVR can receive over-the-air high-def, it can't tune those local channels via satellite or any new high-def MPEG-4 channels the satellite broadcaster will add in the future.)DirecTV and Dish Network's current HD-DVRs compared Satellite HDTV and MPEG-4 explained Discussion: DirecTV or Dish Network? Discussion: What would make the perfect DVR?
The report mentioned that many DirecTV customers were holding out for the new DVR before making the leap to high-def. With the news of this delay, I wouldn't be surprised to see some of those customers lose their patience and defect to cable or to Dish Network, which has had its HD-DVR on the market since February, to get their HD fix.
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