DirecTV's PC tuner (HDPC-20) is real!
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Jan 8th 2008 4:42AM
posted Jan 8th 2008 4:42AM
Picture of the rear and more details after the jump.
posted Jan 8th 2008 4:42AM
The percentage of returned gadgets that have nothing wrong with them.
Of the $13.8 billion worth of returned products in 2007, only 5 percent were because gadgets were actually broken, according to a 2008 study.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Wow, I think I'm sold. No CableCard crap to go through or anything. Which is sad too, if it weren't for the OEM hardware requirements, CableCARD could have caught on in the HTPC enthusiast market.
Ben, read the fine print on the bottom of the back - requires a Media Center PC running Windows Vista.
Mac support?
You're joking, right? ;-)
Product Brochure
http://hr20.dbstalk.com/images/ces2008/hdpc20_front.jpg
http://hr20.dbstalk.com/images/ces2008/hdpc20_back.jpg
When this is released into the wild, I am switching from DISH to DirecTV. It's settled!
if they pull it off sans all the lame cablecard crap they will be the defacto provider for media center and will likely gain quite a few new accounts.
going to be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Right now, I have a standard DTV receiver hooked up to my PC through the s-video on my tuner card and I use Media Center to record. With this, would I still be able to use media center to record, or would I have to pay for DTV's DVR service?
You would be able to use a Vista Media Center PC - but not XP MCPC.
I do use Vista MC. Sounds feaking sweet. Sign me up!
Rumor has it that the official announcement is at 4PM today. The ethernet port is probably for VOD stuff, but might be for over-the-network tuning, too - we'll see.
This is definitely some huge news, if it pans out.
This is about as sweet as it comes. Now, if we can just get a Hi-Def version running Tivo software...
This news along with the sub $200 Blu-ray drive from Sony is making me reconsider Vista Media Center. I'd prefer to have Tivo or Mac support DirecTV but I'm sure that's asking too much.
Okay, this is cool. All DirecTV DVR's include a phone hook. Where is it? Also, do I need a DirecTV access card...where does that go?
I am wondering if this puppy be used with Xbox360? It was mentioned in the small print copyright note.
It will be used with the 360, to extend Media Center from the computer.
If you look at the image of the front of the unit you can see what looks like a flip down panel about a inch form the bottom. Just a guess but that looks like where the access card goes.
but will it blend? that is the question
Earl works for DirecTV in some capacity. He might be an engineer of sorts
Earl does NOT work for DirecTV in ANY capacity. He is not an engineer, or even compensated by DirecTV for his work on DBSTalk.com. He only has contacts within DirecTV -- contacts that he has fostered over years of communication with them.
Has our friend Mr. Dickson come across anything he can't blend yet?
Yes, but does it do HD...that is the real question! If this is just SD quality then it is not that interesting. The CableCard HTPC's allow for HD recording capability. Now if this does HD, I am all over it for enhancing my Vista Media Center setup.
Abed, I certainly hope so. I'm guessing the "HDPC" in the model name confirms that, but who knows...
It's makes a ton of sense for Tivo to support the tuner in TivoHD\Series3. All the hardware is already in place. One Tivo box that could support Cable and Satellite would be incredible. If DirecTV was willing to provide a tuner for MCE then I don't see why they would want to keep Tivo in the cold (unless Microsoft paid them a boat load of cash). Right now DirecTV is losing a ton of potential Tivo customers. I'm not sure how many TivoHD/Series3 boxes are out in the field, but it has to be quite a bit more than the number Vista MCE boxes with cable card.
I'm guessing that this will have DRM that doesn't allow transcoding or streaming, a la Vista MCE with CableCARD?
To anybody here with Vista MCE + CableCARD - what file format & bitrate is HD saved in? I'm trying to figure roughly how many hours of 720p/1080i DVR goodness I can get out of a 1TB drive...
Digital Cable, CableCARD or not, is usually MPEG2-TS, so I would assume thats the format that it would be saved in, no conversion done.
I built an HTPC hoping for CableCard support. If this thing allows me to get around the stupid OEM requirement, I will jump to DirecTV in a heartbeat. Doesn't hurt that I'm already salivating at their HD lineup.
I, too, am salivating. And in some 2-3 years, those of us in Canada (on ExpressVU) will also be able to get this.
I can't imagine that it does not tune HD, but I thought that DirecTV's HD equipment required 5 satellite inputs. Or does the "5-LNB" dish not mean 5 coax cables? Obviously, there are only two coax jacks on the tuner in the leaked pics.
It'll do HD and the 5lnb dish has an integrated multi-switch so only one coax is required from the dish for each receiver. There are 4 outputs like this from the dish that can be connected to a 4x8 multi-switch for a total of 8 tuners.
Count me in as sold as well. I'm stuck in my apartment with cable right now, but once I move into my house later this year (which gives this time to come out as well), bye bye TWC!