Inside info on HD DSTV

SlinkyMike

SlinkyMike

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Not sure if General hardware software is the right spot for this but it seemed to make sense.

Just a heads up: I had DSTV installed at the weekend and whilst chatting with the technician learned the following:

1.) There will be HD broadcasts from DSTV commencing during the 2nd quarter of 2008 (this may be widely known ...just not to me, but wait for the zinger...)

2.) The PVR decoders currently in use will become obsolete!
Whether this means that they are simply not able to decode the HD signal or that the infrastructure is changing in such a way that renders them totally useless is unclear but I imagine there will be some grumpy PVR lovers next year.

If anyone has further info I'd like to know if those channels will cost a premium over and above the full DSTV and what kind of upgrade path (if any) will be made available to owners of the current PVRs.

Its exciting news but as usual the customer gets screwed IMO - typical in SA where competition is all but mythical with these kinds of services.
 
there will only be a few HD channels available next year june. not all of their channels are going to be HD next year june. the rest will come with time.
 
SlinkyMike said:
If anyone has further info I'd like to know if those channels will cost a premium over and above the full DSTV and what kind of upgrade path (if any) will be made available to owners of the current PVRs.
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i suspect they won't charge for these channels as they now actually have to be competitive with the new entrants to their market
 
JK8 said:
Hi can you transfer data from PVR to PVR?
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Not sure, will have to see the format of the data and the indexing used to track data for replay.

If you just want to replace the disk with a bigger one any good cloning tool will do the job.
 
Well I read awhile back, dont know if it was on this forum or maybe another, that you will need extra connectors on your lnb head, for instance with a pvr, you have two connectors, 1 for tv1 and one for tv2. With HD, you will need 4 connectors, two for each tv. And the incoming will then be joined at the back before going into the pvr

So dont really know if that idea of them fell by the wayside, but that was the last thing I heard from them
 
JK8 said:
Hi can you transfer data from PVR to PVR?
Click to expand...

i don't think that's possible, since the pvr's usb port is disabled. also, the stuff that u record on the pvr is encrypted and won't work on other decoders - apparently it's got something to do with ur smartcard. i stand under correction.
 
mercurial said:
i don't think that's possible, since the pvr's usb port is disabled. also, the stuff that u record on the pvr is encrypted and won't work on other decoders - apparently it's got something to do with ur smartcard. i stand under correction.
Click to expand...

You will have to open the PVR, it uses a normal IDE hard-drive to record verything. The USB are reserved, for what not sure. About the encryption i'm not sure.
 
This has tried before and it didn't work. On the DSTV PVR the recorded transport stream is also encrypted, so you would need a valid card to watch it every time.
The fact that it uses a 'normal' IDE HDD is not really significant. The filesystem is unknown. It could be NTFS or more likely, one of the multitude of LINUX formats - not compatible with Windows.
 
It is possble to find out which filesystem is used, woudl be willing to try, but my PVR is like brand new.. No going to void the warranty just yet.

If you wish to do more than just PVR stuff of M Choice, but play own movies etc. something like MythTV woudl be a better option.
 
Gothan said:
Well I read awhile back, dont know if it was on this forum or maybe another, that you will need extra connectors on your lnb head, for instance with a pvr, you have two connectors, 1 for tv1 and one for tv2. With HD, you will need 4 connectors, two for each tv. And the incoming will then be joined at the back before going into the pvr

So dont really know if that idea of them fell by the wayside, but that was the last thing I heard from them
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Gothan, quite right: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/1381.html

SlinkyMike, check that news article for the actual model number of the decoder so you can find some further info. I haven't checked them yet, but also check the comments, I'm sure there's more delicious info to find there.
 
Is there any "new" news on the PVR2, i am the market for a PVR, but don't want to buy the current model just to have the new model arrive a week later.
 
JohnnyQ said:
Is there any "new" news on the PVR2, i am the market for a PVR, but don't want to buy the current model just to have the new model arrive a week later.
Click to expand...

1st HD channel launches something like 8 Aug so it should go on sale soon
 
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