# This is getting painful



## RangersRBack (Jan 9, 2006)

Not sure what the real answers are, everyone tells me something different. I bought a new 42" Samsung LCD HDTV. DirecTV gives me a good deal on the HR10-250 and I ask if I can go to a local store to buy it. They say sure. I go to 6th Avenue Electronics, and the salesman seems very knowledgeable. He says I only need a 3LNB dish. My house is in West Virginia. DirecTV says I need a 5LNB dish for DC locals because of MPEG 4. The salesman says MPEG 4 won't be available for a long time. I call DirecTV while at the store and they say I need the 5LNB now in order to receive DC locals. Then the salesman says their installer may be able to get a 5LNB dish in a week, maybe more. But I can get a 3LNB dish right now. What to do?

Also, the salesman said an HDMI connection from the Tivo to the TV is all I need for the best picture, but the cable is $125. $125!?! He says I only need one cable even though I have two tuners of course, with the Tivo. True?

Thanks.


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

You can buy the HR10-250 at local stores. It does not need a 5-lnb dish and cannot receive MPEG4 locals.

HDMI cables in stores are very expensive. You can get them online for much less. I've ordered with success from www.impactacoustics.com and www.cyberguys.com


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## LowPingBoy (Dec 26, 2005)

The HR10-250 comes with an HDMI cable that works just fine, and, yes, you only need one - it goes from the Tivo to your TV - which must have the appropriate input, HDMI or DVI. Saved $125 right there.

Don't know about the 5 vs. 3 lnb. An option you may want to consider is getting your locals off the air. But, if you need them from D*, and they are mpeg4 in your area think you'll be needing the 5 lnb.


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## JTAnderson (Jun 6, 2000)

LowPingBoy said:


> Don't know about the 5 vs. 3 lnb. An option you may want to consider is getting your locals off the air. But, if you need them from D*, and they are mpeg4 in your area think you'll be needing the 5 lnb.


Also be aware that the HR10-250 will not be able to receive MPEG4 channels. DIRECTV does not currently have a DVR capable of receiving MPEG4 channels.

If you can get HD locals over-the-air then the HR10-250 is a fine choice. If you cannot then the choice is not so clear.


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## TyroneShoes (Sep 6, 2004)

I think one way you can break it down is to answer the question: "Will I ever want to get the MPEG-4 locals? (MPEG-4-capable PVR or not)". If the answer is yes, I would certainly insist on the 5lnb dish. A week is not very long...you can do that standing on your head.


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## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

HR10-250 can not receive MPEG-4 anything, including locals. The 5-LNB dish is only useful for MPEG-4 locals (over the 3-LNB dish).

So if you're getting the HR10-250, don't bother with the 5-LNB dish. If you can't get HD locals over the air, then you won't be able to DVR them at all anyway, so you'd need another non-DVR HD receiver from DirecTV.

So:
1) Make sure you can receive HD locals OTA (if you care about HD locals). Your TV might have an ATSC tuner, so you can test with that.

1a) If yes, you just need a 3-LNB dish, and the HR10-250 will work fine.
1b) If not, you won't be able to record HD locals. If you want to receive HD locals from DirecTV, you will need another HD receiver (currently the H20, don't get confused with the numbering), and the 5-LNB dish. But you won't be able to record them.

2) The HDMI cable used to come in the box, but it might not anymore (they had problems with it). A 6-foot HDMI cables costs ~$20-30 max, so try the links above, or eBay (a lot of cable manufacturers go on eBay). I bought my 30-foot HDMI cables on e-Bay for around $100 each.


Sadly, DirecTV won't be releasing a DVR capable of receiving HD locals from the satellites until sometime in the next 6-18 months. And when they do, it won't be using the Tivo software, it will be using their own (which to date has been a little sketchy, at least on the non-HD non-Tivo DVR).

Hopefully you can receive HD OTA, otherwise you've got some thinking to do and some decisions to make (like if you want to record HD). Frankly, if you can't get HD OTA, I'd recommend going with cable for the near future. In a year or so, you might have other options (like FIOS, or maybe the DirecTV HD DVR, non-Tivo, will be working).

But for now, for HD, without OTA HD, DirecTV doesn't make much sense.


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

I just got an HR10 in December and it came with an HDMI cable.


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## SpankyInChicago (May 13, 2005)

Get the 5LNB dish. Everyone else is correct that the HR10-250 will not receive MPEG4 channels, but you might as well have the dish that can receive them for future upgrades. The 5LNB dish will work just fine with the HR10-250, so you get full use of your HR10-250 now and you are all set for future units when they become available. If you plan on being with DirecTV for a few years, in my mind it makes no sense to install a 3LNB dish if you are in an MPEG4 market regardless as to whether or not you can currently use the MPEG4 streams.

As far as spending $125 on an HDMI cable, tell the guy to pound sand. The HR10-250 comes with an HDMI cable that works just fine.


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

just to post the offical word (note i didn't say guarantee)....the hd dvr should be out Q2 this year.


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## joed32 (Jul 9, 2005)

Alow said:


> Any closed caption stream has to be decoded and included as an image in the video stream(s) prior to transmission over an HDMI cable to be viewed on the DTV.
> HDMI Cable


This thread is 5 years old.


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## BOBCAT (Nov 28, 2002)

Give him a break, It's his 1st post.
Everyone has to start somewhere.

Thanks for joining the forum Alow!


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## joed32 (Jul 9, 2005)

BOBCAT said:


> Give him a break, It's his 1st post.
> Everyone has to start somewhere.
> 
> Thanks for joining the forum Alow!


Wasn't picking on him, just wanted him to know that he may not get any replies. I also extend my "Welcome". The more the merrier.


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## TyroneShoes (Sep 6, 2004)

Alow said:


> Any closed caption stream has to be decoded and included as an image in the video stream(s) prior to transmission over an HDMI cable to be viewed on the DTV.
> HDMI Cable


Well, now we know who to go to when we need something lifted word for word from Wikipedia. Especially when it has nothing at all to do with the thread it is posted in.

But while we are OT, this is a huge omission for HDMI. The professional equivalent, SDI, has provisions to carry ancillary data, so it makes sense that HDMI both could and should have this capability. They have added some 16 other capabilities over the years, so I find the omission of SMPTE291M protocol a glaring one at best.

As you say (or as Wikipedia says) this requires CC be decoded in the STB first, which may not be as good as doing it in your TV. My current TVs can turn on CC with a single button press. The beloved Tivo HR10-250 takes from 12 to 20 button-presses to do this (depending on your last visit to the menus), and takes you out of playback to do it to boot. Not what we had in mind.

Thankfully, DTV DVRs do an excellent 2-button-press job of invoking CC; I particularly like their "subtitling" feature, which is really just an unsupported extension of the 708 CC standard (yet an improvement).


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

Alow is a spammer, though not a very bright one, judging by their other post.


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