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Posts Tagged “

DirecTV

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espionage

News Corp. Hires Hacker to Break Into Dish Satellite Network, Steal Security Codes for Pirate Cards

This is classic corporate espionage/sabotage at its finest. Dish Network is accusing News Corp.—which used to have a 39 percent stake in DirecTV and still provides its security tech—of hiring hacker Christopher Tarnovsky to break into Dish's network, steal the security codes, and use them to make pirated cards to flood the black market. It sounds insane, but Tarnovsky admitted in court he was paid James Bond villain style, with $20,000 cash payments mailed from Canada hidden inside "electronic devices." More »

6:30 PM on Thu Apr 24 2008
By matt buchanan
8,763 views, 14 comments

Latest by kclofter: @CFStang: Brilliant! more »

industry

Is CBS Blocking Shows From Your DVR?

John Sciacca at Sound & Vision says his DVR no longer lets him record his favorite show, Survivor. Sciacca claims that despite setting his Time Warner box to record every episode of the reality show, when the time comes, it acts as if there is nothing to record. Sometimes, he says, the record light even goes on during the show, but it isn't saved to the hard drive. Apparently he's not the only one stuck without Survivor. More »

8:10 PM on Tue Apr 15 2008
By Benny Goldman
12,717 views, 60 comments

Latest by justrick: My Windows Media Center just reported that it could not record tonight's Survivor owing to a "broadcast restriction" or some such. WTF? more »

oops

Man Uses Gun to Blow Hole in Wall for Satellite Dish, Kills Wife by Accident

This is what tools are for, my friends. Ronald Long of Deepwater, MO, was trying to install a satellite dish in his bedroom. He was having trouble putting the necessary hole in the wall and, thinking himself quite clever, decided to use his gun to get the job done quickly. Unfortunately, his wife was outside and caught the bullet in the chest. She was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival. On the upside, Ronald now has DirecTV. Silver linings, people. [KCTV via Boing Boing]

2:30 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By Adam Frucci
38,345 views, 204 comments

Latest by SkoGoody: The title alone had me LMFAO! Wow...I thought this was joke...Wow, just wow. I can't even fathom the thoughts behind this...I'm seriously 100% baffled. Nothing should surprise me anymore after reading this. more »

satellite

Proof Satellite Sucks: Dish and DirecTV Get FCC Approval to Downgrade HD Channels Until 2013

High-def channels consume bandwidth like Britney Spears at a Frappuccino trough (props, last night's South Park). That's a problem for twinkly satellite providers Dish Network and DirecTV, who just don't have the capacity to blast every channel in HD—so the FCC just gave them the nod to downcovert broadcasters' HD signals until 2013. Basically, it means that just because a channel is broadcast in HD, they don't have to give it to you in HD. More »

1:00 PM on Thu Mar 20 2008
By matt buchanan
12,115 views, 57 comments

Latest by mboesch: I have been with Dish Network for the passed three years. Never had any trouble, but thinking about get HD channels. My question is to anyone to you think Dish will ever catch up with Directv? I have been thinking more »

home entertainment

DirecTV Video-On-Demand to Be Half Satellite, Half Internet Next Quarter

According to the Wall Street Journal, DirecTV is testing a new video-on-demand service that depends on both the customers' satellite dish and their internet connection. To be launched in the second quarter, the service will use the satellite to send a limited number of movies to store in all DirecTV DVRs, for instant on-demand playback, while the rest of the movie catalog will be available not-so-instantly using regular ground-based broadband. Movies like Kevin Costner's Waterworld will be sent on VHS tapes via regular mail from DirecTV's office in Madagascar. [WSJ]

12:10 PM on Thu Mar 13 2008
By Jesus Diaz
3,126 views, 22 comments

Latest by keyser: $20 bet that they will call this (not so) "On Demand" ROFL more »

dealzmodo

Best Buy Says It Will Cover Part of Your DirecTV Bills

Best Buy just announced that it would pay a portion of customers' DirecTV bills each month for a year. That is, if you spend $999 or more on a high-def TV and switch to DirecTV's high-def package, Best Buy says it will credit you $30 per month on your bill for 12 months. If you are cheap enough to dip below $999 on your HDTV purchase (yeah, Insignia buyers, I'm talking about you), Best Buy still has your back, with six months of payments. It's funny how far a chain will go to not have to give you a free HDMI cable, am I right? Jump for the fine print. More »

12:57 PM on Mon Mar 3 2008
By Wilson Rothman
3,798 views, 16 comments

Latest by Murph1908: DirecTV HD blows. I got constant pixellation, 2-3 second periods of black screens, weird sound anomalies, all only on the HD channels. I had a tech come out 4 or 5 times, the dish replaced, the receiver replaced, more »

home entertainment

News Corp Set-Top Box Becomes DVR: Just Add External Hard Drive

How much simpler can it get? You take the HD satellite set-top box already sitting in someone's living room, perform a quick firmware update, plug an external hard drive into the USB jack and voila, it's a bleedin' DVR. Voila is right, though, since this News Corp-owned software fix is currently only available to Canal+ satellite customers in France. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's no such thing for News Corp's DirecTV customers in the US, right? Nah, letting people keep their existing hardware is so un-American. It's bad for business, I tells ya! Press release after jump. More »

4:55 PM on Tue Feb 26 2008
By Wilson Rothman
2,623 views, 5 comments

Latest by chebyrashka: @Wilson Rothman: Ah I see.. sorry.. Dish Network is coming out with the same concept soon also from what I read from their last show. Overall it's awesome. more »

home entertainment

New DirecTV Satellite Capable of 150 HD and 1,500 Local Channels

The latest DirecTV 11 satellite just built by Boeing could potentially increase the total capacity of their programming network to 150 national HD channels and 1,500 local channels. So get ready to fire up those HDTVs—the satellite is expected to launch in March. [Boeing]

4:20 PM on Tue Jan 29 2008
By Sean Fallon
6,864 views, 38 comments

dvr

DirecTV DVRs Get Cellphone Scheduling on the Go

DirecTV's rolling out its cellphone-enabled mobile DVR scheduling for its HR20-700 units. This means that you can hop on your cellphone and queue up American Idol (just about the only new show on right now) to watch when you get home. Other DirecTV models will follow in February. Hit the jump for a list of compatible phones. [dbstalk] More »

3:00 PM on Fri Jan 18 2008
By Jason Chen
4,706 views, 16 comments

directv

DirecTV PC Tuner Photos Surface Online

Scans of DirecTV's PC Tuner showed up on the DBStalk forums. The tuner supposedly has two coaxial inputs, one USB output, Ethernet and USB inputs, Vista Media Center support and a DVR interface that uses your PC's HDD. No word on whether the tuner is HD or SD, but If this is the real deal, it looks promising. [DBStalk Forums]

3:23 PM on Tue Jan 8 2008
By Adrian Covert
6,050 views, 20 comments

roundup

Afternoon News: HP and Compaq Laptops May Brick, Comcast and DirecTV Have a Catfight, I Weep For My Home Town and More

• A security researcher published code that is capable of bricking corrupting Windows boot sectors on most HP and Compaq laptops. That doesn't sound too good. [Slashdot]
• Microsoft continues to rename everything in sight, this time folding IPTV, HD DVD, and Media Center into one group called Connected TV. [News.com]
• Comcast settled a lawsuit with DirecTV about the latter's hissy fit over an ad campaign last spring. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but from the sound of it, Comcast came out on top. However, when anything involves these two companies, does anyone really come out on top? [Ars Technica]
• THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS LOSE!!!...At a chance to show their last game to Time Warner Cable customers after TWC would not agree to binding arbitration with the NFL. Gotcha! [Consumerist]
• Finally, stepping out of the gadget world for a second, here's something that happened in my home city of Detroit. A bus driver transporting special needs students was arrested for soliciting an undercover cop for prostitution at 7 in the morning! It's funny because it's tragic! [Detroit News]

3:59 PM on Fri Dec 21 2007
By Benny Goldman
1,103 views, 6 comments

Latest by Wwhat: Yeah pretty sad for cops to try to entrap people in the holiday season by pretending to be prostitutes, at 7 in the morning, GET A LIFE cops, geez. A guy driving around retarded people deserve some relaxation rather than being more »

home entertainment

DirectTV-Enabled Media Centers Still Coming, Says Microsoft Job Listing

Chris Lanier, Media Center fan, has just found a couple job postings by Microsoft that point to an long-delayed introduction of DirecTV support in their Media Centers. The job postings point to Pay-Per-View access, HD in H.264, two-way communications to and from the satellite, and integration with both US and European satellite systems. The one note that Chris adds is that the Xbox 360 Extender will need to get another H.264 update in order to comply with the DTV's standards before this whole tuner business ships. [Chris Lanier's Blog]

1:34 PM on Fri Dec 21 2007
By Jason Chen
1,587 views, 4 comments

Latest by Galley: Whatever happened to DirecTV integration with Windows 98? more »

roundup

Afternoon News: Harry Potter Is Too Close for Comfort, DirecTV Breaking Promises?, Best Buy's Profits Soar and More

• Daniel Radcliffe, a/k/a Harry Potter, just bought an apartment in Manhattan. Coincidentally, it's only four blocks from our NYC headquarters. Luckily we have our own Dark Lord Balthazaar to protect us from his spells. [Gridskipper]
• Less than two weeks remain for DirecTV to add 15 more HD channels in order to reach their promise of 100 by the end of 2007. Hope you like the sound of Drying Paint HD, Growing Grass HD and Water Boiling HD, DirecTV customers. [Broadband Reports] [Thanks, Erin!!]
• Toshiba is joining IBM, AMD, Samsung, and others to work on 32nm chip technology. Now the alliance is just an wind, fire and heart away from summoning Captain Planet. [Reuters]
• XM Satellite Radio has settled its lawsuit with Universal Music Group over the time-shifting recording capabilities of XM's Inno player. Surprisingly, the terms still allow for the creation of more time-shifting devices. [Digital Trends]
• Best Buy's profits spiked 52% this quarter, due to fewer promotions on flat-panel TVs. Thanks a lot, Best Buy. [Market Watch]

4:00 PM on Tue Dec 18 2007
By Benny Goldman
6,025 views, 31 comments

Latest by StarChaser Tyger: @diverguy: That 'whoosh' noise was the sound of humor going over your head, apparently. more »

dvrs

DirecTV buys ReplayTV for MoneyTV

The oft-bought-and-sold ReplayTV found a new master today in the form of DirecTV. My theory is that they just really liked each other's names. (In case you didn't realize it, there's no such thing as MoneyTV—I made that up.) But the deal makes sense for other reasons. D&M Holdings, the parent of Denon and Marantz, really isn't in the software biz, while DirecTV has boxes that could use better software. Replay has been pushing hard to develop DVR products for PCs and Macs. The real money is in set-top boxes, and DirecTV knows that business better, being one of its largest customers. [Zatz Not Funny!]

8:42 AM on Thu Dec 13 2007
By Wilson Rothman
1,899 views, 10 comments

Latest by MegaZone: I think DirecTV purchased ReplayTV solely for the intellectual property - in particular the patents. I doubt they have any plans at all to use the software, since it has been stagnant for over four years now. My more »

i need my hdtv

What Satellite Service is Better for Your HDTV?

On Black Friday, some of you walked home with your first HDTV. Or second. Discount voodoo is understandably hard to resist. But unless you've got HD content, you've got nothin' but a pretty frame. Since it's the holidays, you probably don't wanna screw around in customer service hell. If you've narrowed your choice down to satellite because of where you live or a prior (bad) experience with cable, we've done some homework for you, sorting through the near-legalese of HD packages and talking to chipper sales reps from the two majors, Dish Network and DirecTV. Which one offers the most HD goodness at the best rates? More »

Feature

4:00 PM on Mon Dec 3 2007
By Matt Buchanan
19,161 views, 60 comments

Latest by opack: Has anyone noticed a decrease in Dish HD channels? I've noticed that since I bought my Sony 50" Bravia XRSD Wega LCD, the quality of the broadcasts have gone way down. One of the reasons I bought the TV and more »

satellite in satellite

Direct TV Offering NASA HDTV in International Space Station, Service Calls To Be a Real Mother

When it comes to product placement, I can't think of a more high-profile scoop than the International Space Station. DirecTV is wisely offering NASA a chance to install a 42" HDTV, DirecTV Satellite DVR/receiver and a remote covered in Velcro to avoid losing the remote to spacewalk in the orbital lab. Guess you'd get tired of viewing the entire friggin' planet from space after a few days. [Forbes]

3:48 PM on Fri Nov 16 2007
By Brian Lam
2,982 views, 20 comments

dealzmodo

DirecTV Sat-Go Gets a $500 Price Drop

For those of you who wanted the Sat-GO, DirecTV's briefcase shaped TV that can pull in satellite broadcasts, but weren't willing to pay the exorbitant $1499 price tag, good news! DirecTV dropped the price of their Sat-Go portable satellite system by $500, to the still relatively expensive price of $999. But hey, $500 is still $500. And Now you will be able to go out and enjoy the great outdoors without missing any NFL action next weekend. [Product Page via Zatz Not Funny]

4:20 PM on Tue Oct 9 2007
By blongo3
3,285 views, 4 comments

Latest by Ericnet69: Wouldnt it be good for boats? I hate you all!!! more »

directv

21 New DirecTV HD Channels Go Live, More To Come

DirecTV rolled out 21 of its promised 100 new HD channels today, boosting its HD count to 37 networks in all. Some of these, such as Showtime too, Starz West, and The Weather Channel, are total fluff. However, some of these, such as the NFL Network and A&E, are welcome additions. Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel were also listed among the new titles, but weren't there already HD channels for these two networks? Either way, we're just happy to have more pretty pretty TV to drool over. [DBSTalk]

10:40 PM on Wed Sep 26 2007
By Adrian Covert
11,522 views, 29 comments

Latest by derrwill5: Take a drive to best buy walk towards the entertainment area and you should find the HR 21 there for $199. This is a bargain, and you can later purchase the receiver replacement package from directv or just purchase the more »