DirecTV confirms HD DVR / receiver glitch, apologizes profusely

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Posts with tag set-top-box

Generally, we'd pass something like this off as just coincidence, but when over 95% of 1,000+ respondents confess to sharing the same issue, we simply can't turn the other cheek. It's assumed that DirecTV botched up a software update early this morning that affected a number of HR2X set-tops. Over at DBSTalk, the vast majority of readers who voluntarily took part in a poll affirmed that at least one of their HR2X units required a restart / reboot this morning. We know there's no real point in asking if you too were affected, but that aside, what was DirecTV attempting to send down? The world may never know.

Shortly after hearing TiVo's top dog speak of a "whole home model" to reduce the amount of STBs required for entertaining individuals in various rooms, along comes Time Warner Cable's chief executive talking up some innovation of its own. We'll be frank -- we're not entirely sure what Glenn Britt is getting at here, but through a broken series of quotes, we're led to believe that the carrier is prepping some "equipment" that will easily bring internet content to TVs. Not like there isn't a perfect solution for this quandary already, but we digress. Specifically, he mentions a " new wireless cable modem that will allow you to network everything in your house," which is about as broad / vague as you can get. Nevertheless, it's enough to keep us watchin', though we can't say our expectations are extraordinarily high. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]
This one's just coming across the wires, but apparently, Netflix is actually developing a movie set-top-box with LG Electronics. If you'll recall, there was quite a buzz surrounding such a device years back, but rumblings had remained largely dormant until a few months back. Slated to launch sometime in Q2, the networked player would purportedly allow owners to stream in movies for viewing on their television, and it's being reported that the feature would be "included in all of its various price plans... at no extra charge." Pricing deets on the LG device have yet to be disclosed, but we're told that the firm could "embed the receiver into its $799 dual-DVD player [likely the BH200]." According to Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings, the LG partnership will hopefully be "the first of many such deals" for the company, and he added that he'd love to "see a hundred Netflix-capable boxes," suggesting that there could be deals struck with internet-connected gaming consoles as well as cable / satellite providers. We'll be keeping an ear to the ground for further details.








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