Back in December reports of problems with DirecTiVos began to appear explaining that the PVRs were being erratic in their ability to record shows. The PVRs would often fail to record shows altogether and mysteriously delete some recorded programs.
DirecTV then said that it had fixed the problem but DirecTiVo users still continued to have the same problems. Now DirecTV spokesperson Robert Mercer told TVPredictions.com yesterday that "a reboot will clean it up and the unit will start recording again."
So the age old trick of "turning it off and on" should hopefully put your DirecTiVo back on track.
The Xbox 360 comes with some great features extending it beyond a Games Console to a DVD player and media extender connecting your PC to your TV via your home network.
For this reason it's quite nice to have the Xbox 360 remote control, but unfortunately this little convenience will set you back $30. That is unless you have a DirecTV remote control.
The instructions below explain how you can use your DirecTV remote control to control your Xbox 360. There are little details on what restrictions it has but it appears that it will only allow you to skip chapters on a DVD, view the main menu and use secondary select.
Switch the DirecTV remote to AV-1. Point the remote away from your receiver. Press and hold the select and mute buttons until the light above the AV-1 switch blinks twice.
Press 991, then press 2. Now press Power.
Press Ch. Up 35-40 times, pausing between each press. The light above AV-1 should go on every time you press it.
When your Xbox 360 turns on, immediately press Select.
This Xbox 360 hack was done with the RC-32 DirecTV remote control.
In a roundup of problems with DirecTV that I posted a few days ago (which seems to have caused quite a stir) I noted that DirecTiVo users were unable to get some normal TiVo features on their TiVos.
Unfortunately that is not the only issue that people are having with DirecTiVos with glitches in the PVR's ability to automatically record shows.
A spokesperson on CNET has said "it is aware of the problem and should have it fixed by this evening (last Friday)." However, at this point in time DirecTiVo users are continuing to report problems.
Some believe that DirecTV are deliberately sabotaging the DirecTiVo boxes to encourage users to switch to the new non-TiVo DirecTV HD PVR. This seems a little extreme to me and I'd prefer to believe it was a genuine technical glitch.
Either way it just keeps adding to DirecTV's list of problems that are keeping its customers unhappy.
At the CES last year it was announced that DirecTV and Microsoft were working together to link up DirecTV and Microsoft entertainment devices such as the Xbox 360 and MCE PCs.
Many believed that this would mean you would be able to have an installer come out and install a DirecTV tuner into your Media Center PC and get your local cable channels complete with PVR functionality. In other words your Media Center PC is your DirecTV set top box.
From a May interview on Engadget a Microsoft representative said "you can get essentially a receiver device that is a DirecTV receiver and connect it through some digital connection to your PC. [Doing so] lets you get all the great value from the DirecTV service, including High-Definition. If you subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket, you'll be able to get that. All that good stuff."
According to DBSTalk from a quick Q&A session with DIRECTV at CES last week, the HTPC DirecTV Cards are still in progress and in internal beta testing.
However I still think it will be some time before this is released otherwise we would have heard a little more coming out of the CES camp last week. I'd expect the very earliest we'll see this is the middle of this year.
Despite some good news and announcements coming out of DirecTV CES camp this week including 100 new HD channels, the possibility of cheaper PVRs due to improved satellite receiver chips, and an interesting but confusing OnDemand service that could be a Slingbox idea or some pseudo IPTV VoD service, DirecTV is still getting a sharp stick in the belly over the issues with its PVRs and HD service.
Faulty HR20 HD PVRs
There's the ongoing issue of the faulty HR20 DirecTV Plus HD PVR which is reportedly plagued with problems. While not everyone is getting the problems a huge chunk of people are and DirecTV seem to be nothing about it. Tom Starner of HDTV Magazine goes into detail about these HR20 issues (nice work Tom!) and the conclusion is "there's little doubt a significant number of subscribers will hit the boiling point (of course, some already have) if the HR20 isn't fixed real soon."
DirecTV announced it was teaming up with Intel at last years CES, and in September it was announced that DirecTV PVRs will be the first "digital set-top box with integrated digital media adapter (DMA) functionality verified to work with Intel Viivtechnology."
PVRWire then caught wind that DirecTV was rolling out an update to allow Intel Viiv PC owners to stream video from their PC to DirecTV PVRs. Now DirecTV has released an official press release stating that its DirecTV Plus HD DVR set-top has been verified with Intel's Viiv technology.
DirecTV subscribers with the HD PVRs can now access their pictures and music on their TVs directly from Intel Viiv technology-based PCs.
DirecTV has already announced a new line-up of 100 HD channels at CES this week and now it has jumped in with the announcement of its new Video-on-Demand (VOD) service which is cleverly called DirecTV OnDemand.
DirecTV said it will start beta-testing DirecTV OnDemand in the first quarter and hopefully release the service by the middle of this year. Vice president of entertainment at DirecTV, Eric Shanks, said that the new OnDemand service had been enabled by DirecTVs new HD PVRs, so will undoubtedly contain HD programming.
This does not sound like your regular video-on-demand service but is something a little different. The press release was a little fuzzy with the details of the service which talks about bringing DirecTV outside the home through home networking and presumably the internet.
Apparently a new program guide has been created for DirecTV OnDemand and the video can be accessed in a number of ways including via satellite or a broadband connection. All of this strongly hints at a Slingbox type service for DirecTV subscribers.
Broadcom Corp. is showcasing its semiconductor solutions for DirecTV's satellite PVRs and set top boxes. The technology will be used in many DirecTV HD and SD boxes.
Broadcom is a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. A semiconductor is a solid whose electrical conductivity can be controlled over a wide range, either permanently or dynamically. In 2005 the company had a revenue of more than $2.67 billion.
Broadcom is the first company to develop a DVB-S2 satellite receiver chip that integrates both the demodulators and tuners into a single-chip design thus decreasing material costs as well as power consumption over other designs which require separate demodulator and tuner chips. It is these DVB-Sw chips that will be used in DirecTV's PVRs.
2006 was not a good year for DirecTV when it came to High Definition TV. Its HD PVR is often considered inferior and buggy and its HD service has been criticized for not being genuine HD quality and has been given the nickname "HD Lite".
Well at least DirecTV is starting 2007 off in the right way by adding 100 national HD channels to its HDTV line-up. The channels include:
A&E
National Geographic
Bravo
NFL Network
Cartoon Network
SciFi Channel
CNN
Speed
Food Network
TBS
FX
The History Channel
HGTV
The Weather Channel
MTV
USA Network
Currently DirecTV has only 9 national HD channels, about 20 premium HD channels and about 20 regional sports channels so this new line-up of HD national channels will be well appreciated by all those HD subscribers. Now all DirecTV now need is a decent HD PVR to watch and record them with.
The Sat-Go is only kind of "portable," weighing in at 25 pounds. The device folds up into a suitcase-like package for lugging around, and then unfolds for receiving and watching TV.
It was invented by Rick Rosner, a television producer who created CHiPs and The New Hollywood Squares. The chocolate brown color? You can probably blame that in part on Rosner's roots in 70s TV. But he says he also wanted to give the unit the look and feel of high-end luggage.
DirecTV will be marketing the product in outdoor camping, hunting, and fishing magazines. Although to be honest I'm not sure why someone heading out into nature to get away from it all would want to take a TV with them. It might be nice to get weather reports, but I'm not sure I'd be willing to pay $1000 to $1300 for that.
The Sat-Go is expected to launch in a limited production of about 10,000 units this Spring. It'll carry a $4.99 monthly subscription, which is the same amount you'd pay for an extra set top box.
Problems are still coming in regarding the DirecTV HR10-250 with people continuing to say that the boxes mysteriously delete recorded programs. These problems have continued yet still we haven't seen much from DirecTV to fix the issues.
I'm sure many people are hoping that with News Corp out of DirecTV and replaced by Liberty Media, a company that previously invested in TiVo, that we might see TiVo appearing back on DirecTV frontline to give DirecTV users what they deserve, a decent PVR.
Surprisingly I came across a blog today that says "Nothing beats the Direct TV HD DVR". At first I thought the title of the article was joke but it appears not to be. Well I think many of us will disagree with that statement!
As rumored back in September, it has now announced on Friday that Malone's Liberty Media Corp will be getting a 38% controlling stake in DirecTV from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. In exchange Rupert Murdoch will receive Liberty's 16.3% of News Corp
As part of the deal Liberty will also get three regional sports networks and $550 million in cash. The deal as a whole is estimated to be worth around $9 billion.
Many of you will remember that not too long ago DirecTV ditched TiVo and started using PVRs produced by NDS. NDS is a company which Rupert Murdoch is a large shareholder in.
But now that Rupert Murdoch is out of the picture TiVo could be returning back to DirecTV which will certainly make a lot of people very happy. Liberty Media was actually an equity investor in TiVo.
Let's just hope that the trade of DirecTV over to Liberty did not include a clause that the company must continue to use the NDS PVRs.
Way back in October, TiVo announced that Series2 users that had purchased lifetime service packages would be able to transfer their lifetime service to a Series3 unit for $199. While that adds $200 to the price of an already expensive device, it's by far the best deal around for keeping your TiVo subscription bills to a minimum.
Problem was, the offer was only good if you had a standalone Series2 TiVo. DirecTV customers who had received their TiVo's through the satellite provider were out of luck.
Now TiVo upgrader and reseller WeaKnees is reporting that DirecTiVo customers are now eligible to transfer their service -- if they do so before 12/31/06. There's no info about this on the TiVo website yet, but presumably you can get this deal either through WeaKnees or TiVo, just make sure to ask about it before you plop down your money.
Also, keep in mind that Series3 TiVo units will not work with DirecTV or any other satellite provider, so this is only a good deal if you were planning on switching to cable anyway.
Unlike Comcast who seem to be making some headway rectifying problems with its PVRs, DirecTV users continue to be riddled with problems.
DirecTV has issued a number of upgrades but still the general consensus is that of unhappiness, especially surrounding the DirecTV HD HR20-700.
Swanni of TV predictions has his very own DirecTV PVR and he, like many others is not having a pleasant experience. He has had to reboot the PVR many times to fix a number of problems including freezing pictures and faulty recordings.
It will likely still be some time yet before these problems are fixed.
DirecTV is rolling out a new update on its PVRs at the moment which will give networking capabilities to its PVRs allowing them to be connected to PCs.
However, there is a catch. Network functionality will only work with Intel ViiV compliant PCs. Your ViiV PC needs to be running Intel ViiV version 1.5 or higher. This is obviously going to annoy any non-ViiV PC owner who will be feeling very left out.
There may be some hope though; this Digg user has reported that after receiving the update they got networking to work with non-ViiV equipment.
Back in December reports of problems with DirecTiVos began to appear explaining that the PVRs were being erratic in their ability to record shows. The PVRs would often fail to record shows altogether and mysteriously delete some recorded programs. 
At the CES last year it was announced that DirecTV and Microsoft were
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DirectTV is showing off its new Sat-Go portable satellite receiver/TV at CES. We first heard about this 
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