DirecTV HD upgrade help needed

[thunderstruck]

After a year of living with standard DirecTv and SageTV, I'm considering upgrading to HD. I'm looking at the HD A180 card/STV4 bundle. I seem to recall that DirecTV would be switching to MPEG 4 for HD feeds after the first of this year. Is this the case? And if so, does that mean the card would be unable to record HD broadcasts?
I'm not sure what STB I'd be getting with the upgrade-they don't say, and customer service is clueless. Does anyone know for sure if the box can be controlled with an IR blaster? I had to buy a USB UIRT after finding out last time my box was too new for Hauppage to have codes to change channels. I don't want to go to all this trouble and find out I can't change channels again.
What would you guys recommend as a minimum system for this? Right now I have a Shuttle SS51G, a gig and a half of RAM, a Radeon 9000 card and an internal drive. I need recommendations on drive size as I could not find out how much space an hour of video needs for HD.

[Kirby]

DirecTV (D*) is only doing Local in Local in MPEG4. Core HD package channels are still MPEG2 (HD-Lite versions). You wont be able to get the HD from D* into your PC without using either a solution by Nextcom Wireless (R5000 modification) or one by 169time. R5000 writes the data via USB2 connection, 169time by firewire.

[thunderstruck]

I saw a thread earlier stating both solutions were quite expensive. Would I be better off switching to dish network instead? Are its (HD) offerings more friendly with regards to working with Sage Tv?

[dbfresh23]

Same problem with Dish Network. The ONLY way to get HD DTV or DishNet on the pc is the two solutions above. The best bet is to hold off until at least late this year, when MS and DTV are going to provide a solution to record directly onto the pc, though how/if it will work with SageTV still remains to be seen.

EDIT: Basically - with all of the digging around I have done, the only option right now is 169Time - that is if you want it controlled by sagetv. There currently isn't any way to have the R5000 work with SageTV, It needs to use it's own application to schedule the recordings and capture the streams. Also, the 169Time system is only capable of outputting the HD channels, so any SD channels wouldn't be available from that receiver via the firewire connection - seemed like a waste to me so I'm holding off until the new solution just announced at CES comes to fruition.

[thunderstruck]

OK, thanks. Guess I'll be watching the SuperBowl in regular definition again I'm sure whatever MS comes up with have DRM in it. No comskip, no burn to DVD, no copying to another machine. The 169time cost would pay for many many months of the tivo monthly fee, sad to say.

[Kirby]

I have had 169time, and now have several r5000's. they are much better than 169time. I just switched to Dishnetwork from DirecTV this past week as well. Both providers are doing HD Lite (down rezzing 1920x1080i to 1280x1080i) however Dishnetwork still has their core HD pack (HDnet, Hdnet movies, Discovery, ESPN, TNT) at full resolution. The voom channels are HD lite. After a week of comparing the two HDlite's, along with a friend of mine that also just changed, we both agree that Dishnetwork's HDlite looks much much better. But thats just our opinions.

As for getting the r5000 HD stream into SageTV (via a DirectShow filter) I wish I was able to comment on it. When I am able to comment I will. I dont think you will have to wait for the dreaded MS solution......

[dbfresh23]

I think that waiting for the "dreaded" ms solution is the only option. Nextcom obviously has no desire to make a DirectShow filter for the R5000. At this point even if they do it wouldn't be worth it. Figure close to $1000 per modded box vs. most likely ~$200 at most for one of the DTV/MS "tuners".

[thunderstruck]

Wish MS would put half the resources and money they spend on DRM towards making Windows less buggy and more secure.

[stanger89]

Not trying to be a MS/Windows appologist...

I wish people would realize there's not much MS can do about sloppy programmers (3rd party) and stupid users.

[thunderstruck]

So there's no way to have Sage change the channels, and take the S video out from the box and run it to my tuner card? Or is it really bad looking? I re read 169 times web site, and they say make a perfect digital recording. I'm not looking to pirate content, I just want to be able to time shift and zap commercials. As long as I can capture the audio and a good looking picture that would be fine with me.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by thunderstruck

So there's no way to have Sage change the channels, and take the S video out from the box and run it to my tuner card?

Oh, that works just fine (with either an IR blaster or serial cable).

But that does not:
Work without a box.
Work for HD (in HD, it will be downconverted to SD)