jlicea

Greetings,

I currently have a Panasonic PT-47WX49 hooked up to Charter Cable service. Because of the rising costs in the service, I'm planning on switching over to DirecTV; however, my budget's a bit tight and yet, I want take advantage of HDTV.

Question: Since I'll be a new subscriber, how much would I lose if I got a standard Satellite service now and an HDTV Receiver for the Satellite service at a later date? I only have one TV to worry about in the home. In addition, if I should purchase a standalone TIVO, would that affect this setup in any way and it's affordability?

Any help you could provide woudl be appreciated.


_____________________________
Television: Panasonic PT-47WX49
DVD: JVC XV-D723
Receiver: Pioneer VSX-D710S
Speakers: Energy TAKE5+1 6-Piece Home Theater Speaker System
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.ht...=morbidmachine

blawler

I have a Sony KP51HW40 (16:9 RPTV) and both a DirecTiVo and Toshiba DST-3000 HD Receiver. I would highly recommend going with a TiVo... it will change the way you watch TV. The "WOW" factor of HD is really cool, but I don't think it is worth the $$$ ( I can only get the 2 DirecTV stations, there will never be OTA where I live). HDNet has a lot of great content but HBO-HD is really poor- all of the series are 4:3 format with sidebars, and a lot of the conent looks up-converted. To add insult to injury, there is scuttlebut that upcomming HD satellite broadcasts will require new receivers with DVI interfaces (and of course your set will need one too... that would leave us both in the cold).

All of that said, I knew these factors going in and I still bought the HD receiver. I got a great deal on my DST-3000 and I decided I was willing to accept that it may be obsolete in a couple of years. The limited Olympic coverage on HDNet has been stunning, and I am looking forward to the 80 Baseball games that they will be showing over the coming season. Check this forum for more info than you want to know about all of these issues, as well as tweaks to get the most from your excellent Panny set. http://hometheaterspot.com.

TheKobra

Like Bawler I have an HD receiver and Tivo. Now I would also say go with Tivo right now over HD Receiver. I have 2 HD receivers and really dont use them to watch HD channels because there are only 2 right now. But directv did say they are comming out with 10 more channels in the next few months. But who really knows. The best deal on a Directv tivo unit can be found at this LInk it is only $29.00 shipped to you house and includes install. But you need to be with them for at least 1 year. I wish they would of had that when I purchased my Tivo over a year ago. I paid $400.00 for mine in Jan. 2001.

Hope this help you out a little.

Master J

If you are withing range of a big city, your best bet for the most HDTV channels is a standard OTA antenna grabbing HDTV for free. I am in a similar situation, where my cable service does not offer HDTV (some are starting to) and DirectTV gives just a couple channels.

I am guessing your TV does not have a built in tuner, so to get OTA signals you will need an external tuner which may run you 300-500 bucks. If you want to do the tuning on the cheap and have a computer near you TV you may want to look at one of the cards for computers from Hauppage.

J

skar

Another vote for TiVo. I would highly recommend getting a DirectTiVo unit instead of a standalone unit. The DirectTiVo unit records the digital stream right from the Sat while the standalone setup would decode and re-encode the signal with a large loss in picture quality.

bmello

If your area offers Digital Local Channels and you watch alot of primetime television on CBS & ABC, I would get a used HD receiver. You can probably purchase one used or new cheaper than B&M from someone at www.hometheaterforum.com, www.avsforum.com or e-bay. Currently, unless I missed something, Tivo cannot record HD broadcasts so if you are not home often you might just want to get the DirecTivo unit and no HD receiver. My ass sits on the couch every night so the HD route with my Panny was a no brainer for me. Good Luck!

Brian Shannon

I dumped cable 5 years ago for Direct TV and have never regretted it.

I think HDTV is still to far away at this point to worry about.