How many are still using UTV? - Page 2

The DTV R15's and HR20's work the same way. There is nothing equivalent to channel 1020 -- no place to "park" and view your playlist. So if both tuners are active, you'll see one of those shows live in the preview window while you review your list of recorded shows or upcoming shows.

Okay, but I get 3rd oldest behind you and Kazak (at least on this thread) . (My diminished level of posting probably counts against me though.)

Sorry to hear that... but it does sound like there have been some improvements made since my HDDVR2 (DTV Tivo DVR) roled off the line. I don't have a "preview" window displayed while looking at the upcoming recordings or my "Now Playing" list.

It took me a whole nother year to find out where the cool guys hung out.

i've used mine for about 5 years, no problems. I've had 3 other boxes (plus windows media extender) but none do as much or as easily. it's worth it just for a usable 30 second skip

Two UTVs here still going strong. Both modded with 120 gig drives. I also have a DTivo HD, but the UTVs still get the most work from the family.

I took mine out of server right before Christmas. It still worked fine....just wanted more capacity and didnt feel like upgrading the hard drive on something I had had for so long (bought it in March 2002). I may end up putting it on eBay in the near future.

I worked for dtv and they gave me one for free when they first came out, and its still running strong.

I am the original owner of a UTV that was still working fine when I unplugged it about 3 years ago (switched to cable). I added the larger hard drive mod and it has a keyboard. I also have the original hard drive that came with it.

I'll sell it to the best offer in the next 10 days. Just PM me if you're interested.

I'll have to bump you one. Still going strong with both tuners here although one tuner occasionally goes out, I just have to unplug the machine overnight (cool down) to get it back.

As 2009 approaches, it will be a sad day for all UTV users. The best user interface going down the tubes with no HD replicate in sight. Ouch! Don't miss HD as long as I have my UTV.
Love,
Mike

I doubt the UltimateTV will be supported by DirecTV in 2009. It is interesting to read this thread as I didn't know there were as many as several hundred UltimateTV users left. It was a nice PVR and along with ReplayTV forced TiVo to step it up. You guys are a tiny minority that actually preferred the UltimateTV. The Dishplayer from Microsoft has a similar number of users left with Dish Network. The HR20-700 works acceptably, don't be afraid to move up to HDTV. I didn't want to accept it but had to replace two HR10-250's to get DirecTV to pay for my move. I still had to pay $100 and although the HR20-700 isn't as good as the HR10-250, it is much better than I thought it would be. I agree the user interface isn't as good with the HR20-700, but you should be able to make it work well enough to be happy. The user reports that it is awful aren't fair in my opinion. It sure beats the Comcast Motorolla DCT6412III I use with Comcast HD cable.

Chris

I'm not sure where the 2009 date came from either. I will be surprised if the UTV service is still going in 2009. There have already been several exceptions made for UTV regarding security updates, but I don't think there are enough UTV users to warrant further exceptions.

The FCC mandated a date in 2009 for analogue OTA to be converted to digital so that they could re-use the frequencies for other purposes. A lot off people think that means all channels will be HD.... untrue, it only means that people using an antenna will need to put a government subsidized box between their antenna and tv to convert the new digital broadcast back to analogue. What will this mean to satellite and cable viewers? Very little.

I've got 5 UTV's had os 3.1, 3.5 and 3.7
wouldn't trade em for anything out there
and yes I've tried Tivo

The 2009 date is just a guess when all UltimateTV's will no longer be in service, at least that is all I meant by my statement. It has nothing whatsoever to do with any mandated date by the FCC or any other organization.

Chris

UTV will be completely dead when DTV shuts down support of all it's other "old" DSS Receivers.

I'm fairly certain that units DTV subsribers have owned for over 10 years now are still operational. My Sony B2 (if I still owned it) a DSS unit made in 1996... is probably still able to function properly under current (and future) DTV revisions.

Just like my various Sprint PCS phones. I don't have a need for my various late 1990's models anymore... But they are functional. Sprint could discontinue support for these "early" models... But as long as the "network" can continue supporting them... Why cut them off? The market will decide when it isn't worth supporting things anymore.

Im till using this kind of unit

Actually, I believe the UTV runs what originally started out as Windows CE. If that's the case, it's the only device ever built that could successfully run that OS without crashing.

Also, if I have my facts straight, Microsoft originally planned on Windows Media Center being a successor to UTV that would not be tied to DirecTV. It would allow practically anyone buying a properly equipped Windows computer to have a DVR.

Unfortunately, with every provider offering some sort of DVR service (and cable companies practically giving them away) WMC really has no real use to most people. It's more of a toy than something you'd actually depend on for normal TV viewing. They also didn't count on most homes not wanting their computer to be in their living room. However, it was perfect for small apartments and college dorms.

We found this place at the same time.

BTW: Thanks for updating the FAQ. I kind of disappeared for a while when the only things being posted were "For Sale" ads and discussions about hacking the drives.

My UTV's are still going strong. I don't really remember when I first got mine, but I know it was at least back in '00.

WOW! I'm amazed this forum is still here!!! Anyway I have 4 RCA ULT tv's, 2 of them with only one working tuner & the other 2 with both tuners working fine. All 4 of them have been upgraded to 120gb HD & they are all well ventilated !! I am actually thinking of sending one of them to CCS to have the tuners replaced. I also have a 70 hr Tivo & as we all know there is no comparison between the two products. A couple of things about the "unacceptance" of the Ultimate tv by the general public was that at the time the ULT TV came out on the market I really believe that the average consumer just really didn't understand what these units were for or what they could really do. Also the price of these DVR's were (at least in my area) $399.00 for a 35 hour model & this was pretty steep for a product that few people really understood in the first place!! Anyway I'm with alot of you guys when you say you're hanging in there until the very end-besides my wife LOVES the way these things work & she continues to call the Tivo "prehistoric" compared to "her" Ultimate tv's!!! Take care everyone! Craig.

What we all know is a minority of users preferred the UltimateTV. We also know that a huge majority that compared TiVo and UltimateTV preferred TiVo. Competition between TiVo and UltimateTV was good for the DirecTV product and competition between TiVo and ReplayTV good for the standalone product, but for the majority TiVo blew both of them out of the water while a small minority of course disagreed. All three products were very good and very good quickly during the early stages of PVR development. I certainly couldn't fault anybody for preferring any of them.

Chris

Tivo's name was a big springboard...Movie and TV stars were all talking TIVO,TIVO.....So the general public was drawn to that name,,,

Your right, the general public didn't understand DVR's....I was at the head of that line....

I remember being at Radio Shack in 99 or 2000 ,and being talked into buying one...I was using (still am a litle bit, Webtv) so I thought I would use the webtv capabilities of ULT too...That never worked out , but the wife also got on my case about why we needed this new big black box , when we already had the Direct tv and a VCR that would dod the same thing as the ULT...
It tookme a couple weeks to figure out how a DVR would improve my tv watching experience , and what all these people fawning over Tivo were talking about , but the real break through came when the wife discovered she could watch Oprah at 10:30 at night , and skip commercials......Then she was hooked ....And when that Ult lost the HD a couple years ago,,,,,life was torture till it got fixed...

Maybe the Ult and Tivo are like VHS and Beta......Beta was thought o be the better format, but VHS was marketed better...

The ONLY thing that that will sink my Ult days will be as Direct gets more HD channels.....And that will only be in the living room for now...

I bought a Tivo for my parents a couple months ago, and I felt like I was learning to walk all over again.....I guess if you only knew Tivo interface you would be fine , but I don't like it much at all.

No UTV here, but I have two HR20-700's. I like the DVR, it isn't similar to UTV, but I can make it work just fine for me. I find most other DVR's I have used, TiVo, ReplayTV, and UltimateTV better, but I don't care about anything other than reliable service and cost, I can make any of them work. I am happy with it. I also have the Comcast Motorolla DCT6412III and I like the HR20-700 better than that as far as PVR functionality. The fact the DCT6412III has firewire means I actually like it the best of all I have ever owned.

Chris

What I like most is the reliability of my utvs. Set it and forget it. I have some auto records that were setup 3 or more years ago (like NBA basketball which caught the entire playoffs). Some, I modify to choose only xxx rating during the offseasons, so it doesn't record things I don't want. 6 months later, I remove the xxx rating filter.

I guess I've just got so comfortable with them (I got 2 with a remote that can switch between them - and switch the video and audio at the same time - so it amounts to a 4 channel system) and have customized my remote that I really would hate to have to do it all over again. I'm too old to change now.

The name Tivo is like Zerox, it has become a verb. I think that has added to its success. But I'm always hearing about things like, they spy on what you do. One of my utvs isn't even attached to the phone.

The utv has held up really well given the last update was, can't even remember. If they could have tweaked a few more features, it would have been near perfect.

As to resolution, I have only a 27" sony tv, and I use s-vid connections. I guess for those with a gigantic set, you'd see lots of inperfections. I find real differences in the quality of the broadcasts. I wonder if this happens with hidef too?

But my vision ain't that good anyway, so I'm still quite happy with what I got. Besides, I mostly watch (more like listen to) sports while I surf the net on my laptop.

Ok, time to hit the 2 minute skip (programed remote to send 4 skips real quick), ok went perfect, took about 1/2 a sec to get over that annoying commercial. Compare that to 8 secs of slip.

-> You just need to opt out...whether with DirecTV or with Tivo.


I think it was last year when I started my HD move. I got 2 HD Tivos DVRs for DirecTV, and they're not all that bad. They have OTA tuners, and I can record OTA HD content in addition to DTV. The bigger the set, yes oh yes, the more artifacts you will see. From my experience, I really don't see too many artifacts with HD Content....every so often, but rarely. But SD content is almost always full of artifacts. Btw, I have a 61" Samsung 1080p DLP in the living room, a 42" Vizio LCD 720p panel in the bedroom, and a 37" Westinghouse 1080p LCD as my office TV/monitor. All three of these clearly produce artifacts when displaying SD content...